Blog Assignment 8-B

Mark and Ryan's 
http://markadelserger.blogspot.com/

The primary element that Mark and Ryan’s drawing use to contrast one another is movement.  Mark’s drawing of his villain, Abe, uses lines to create upward movement.  The lines extending out of his feet act as a way of indicating that he is being propelled upward.  The downward triangles created by his head and waist provided parallel downward motion from the center of his body while the horizontal lines of his arms contrast this motion.  Ryan’s drawing of Awesome Hero, in contrast, establishes downward diagonal motion.  The lines of the sidewalk behind the character provide a strong foundation for the movement of this image.  Parallel lines are created with the skateboard and the bent leg of the character, while the upward lines of his body, leg, and the pole he is carrying contrast the downward movement and provide weight to the image.  Weight is also created by the slight bend in the leg that is supporting the character on the skateboard.  These two contrasting movements in the image are further established by the horizontal lines of his belt and the shoe on the skateboard and the downward line created by the other shoe.  Contrast is not only established by the opposing movements of the images, but the two characters create virtual lines with their eye-lines that look in opposite directions.  When looking at these two images together, the contrasting direction of the eyesight of the two characters can also create affinity by establishing that they are looking at one another.  A sense of affinity is also created by the fact that the overall shape of the two images creates the same diagonal line, even though the villain drawing creates movement in the opposite direction.  Finally, affinity is created by the similar use of dulled colors in the two images to highlight their specific characteristics as super heroes.

No assignment posted for Tony Hermane




Ashton Rutledge's
http://rutledgemedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/character-nexus.html

           Color is definitely the element most heavily implemented in Ashton’s assignment.  The color scheme of the villain, Nexus, is primarily grays and other muted colors.  The grays of the character’s armor utilize varying levels of both brightness and saturation, which creates the effect of a reflection on the armor.  These muted colors allow for the bright red and blue of the character’s eyes to pop out much more in the picture.  This is important for the drawing of Nexus because the eyes explain much about the character.  The red hue of the one eye contrasts with the blue hue of the other eye, which functions to show the two-sided nature of the character.  While the red symbolizes the mechanical parts of the character, the natural blue eye shows his human side.  Color is equally important for the presentation of The Janitor.  This character’s color scheme is of slightly muted green with a highlight of yellow.  These colors complement the red and blue that highlights the drawing of Nexus.  The muted colors are important in establishing The Janitor as a character, whose background is that he is a school principal who secretly fights crime as a janitor.  Contrast is established in this way between the character’s dynamic story and his bland appearance.  Contrast within the drawing of Nexus is found between the red and blue eyes.

Blog Assignment Week 7

      These two videos take two different approaches to the same joke by utilizing different visual elements.  One defining difference in the two videos is the use of space.  In “Mommy Knows Best,” majority of the images consist of very flat space, providing a sense of claustrophobia with the boy in his mother’s world.  Toward the end of the video, the images suddenly utilize very deep space as the actions become more dynamic.  In “The Bitch in the Kitchen,” the majority of the images contain much more deep space separating the mother and the son from each other.  The son is in a colorful playroom while the mother exists on a completely separate plane in the kitchen.  When the boy is sent to the basement, the images are suddenly composed with flat space to contrast with the “free” space he has upstairs.  A visual element that is similar between the two videos is a similar motif involving line.  This motif is of the knife in “Mommy Knows Best” and the ladle in “The Bitch in the Kitchen.”  In both of these the tool that the mother is using acts as a stark line to break the flow of movement in the scenes.  These tools symbolize the authoritative function of the mother and the means by which she attacks her son.

      The videos also differ in the degree of contrast and affinity between the sound and the images.  In “Mommy Knows Best,” the music is classic horror-movie music that creates affinity with the use of black and white to generate the atmosphere of an old horror movie.  In “The Bitch in the Kitchen,” the soundtrack is light rock music and contrasts with the general theme of the video which involves an abusive mother.  Even when the son is in the basement crying the music maintains a sense of lightheartedness.  The music indeed is a central element in how the two videos distinguish their different approaches to the joke.

Animation Assignment (Chad's)

Joke Video Mommy Knows Best

Joke Video Bitch In The Kitchen

Blog Assignment Week 5

5A.                                                           Sally Mann Original

Edited

     I was drawn to this original photograph by Sally Mann because of the abstractions found within the picture, the contrast of light and dark as depth cues, and the use of both actual and virtual lines to create movement within the frame.  In the original picture, the lines of the road give the image three-dimensional space and focus the eye directly on the girl with the cigarette in the center of the frame.  The bright white of the girl, her dress, and her hair all contrasts with the dark background to focus our attention on her immediately.  The white of the girl also creates affinity with the white of the figure on stilts in the background and the white of the sky above the tree line.  The girl on the right is facing the opposite direction, establishing a virtual line following her perceived eye-line to the figure on the stilts.
     I chose to re-frame the image in this specific way because I felt that it created a new and interesting space with the limited background and changed to focus of movement in the image.  By eliminating the white sky above the trees and the grass to the right of the girl smoking, the image becomes much more abstract in that we only see a road leading into blackness without knowing the setting or location.  I believe she chose to include the white skyline and grass not only to create affinity with the other colors of the gray scale, but also to establish the blackness as trees and the area as being outside in nature.  By cropping the image in this way I also changed the focus of the movement.  I found that by eliminating the other girl in the picture the direction of the movement becomes indicated by the figure in the background’s virtual eye-line to the girl and the girl’s virtual eye-line off-screen.  This overall movement from the background to the off-screen space in front of the girl feels distinctly different to me than the movement in the original image which is defined by the eye-line of the girl to the right.  I believe Sally Mann included this portion of the image to not only great a more connected sense of movement between the three primary objects, but also to establish a thicker narrative involving the differences between the two girls and their attitudes toward their surroundings.


5B.

In-Class Video Assignment