Blog Assignment 9-A

Our presentation of our game design went well but we definitely did not elaborate enough on a couple of the key concepts.  While we presented a very good description of the rules of the game play and the environment we were trying to create, I felt that we didn’t discuss the ways in which the actual mechanics would operate.  Because the technology we described doesn’t actually exist, we were only able to describe it in comparison to other gaming platforms.  This was a problem for us because there aren’t any technologies that operate in the same way.  The drawings that we made give a good mental image of how it would work, but our description left many questions unanswered.  Do you have to run in place?  What about handicapped people?  I think that we should have focused more on how the game controllers would work since it is such a unique part of our game.  Something that would of helped our presentation would have been if we elaborated on different options of game play for players who are handicapped in physically unable.  Something else that I felt we didn’t explain well enough were the actual objectives of the game.  While we established that the story involved a U.S. Army troop coming to America to fight Korean forces there, I felt that we didn’t discuss exactly what our “mission’ was.  We said that our objective was to reach Washington D.C., but I feel like that implies that we are the one division of the army sent to save the capital and that doesn’t seem realistic to me.  I think that something that could have really helped improve our presentation would be if we had explained how the individual levels would drive the narrative in the game and what the objectives would be.  I found the most difficult concept to discuss with others was the objectives.  This was due to the fact that our game only existed in theory, and so working out the details of how the individual levels will work within the story was too difficult to foresee.  Therefore trying to establish what the objectives in the game will be with others was especially hard.  The assignment was too broad for us to work out such details.

Blog Assignment 8-A

www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/178/superpowers

For this blog assignment I tried several times to create an audio post explaining my choice for the superhero.  While I had it in the correct format each time, the blogger website wouldn’t load the files.  The super power that I decided on is the ability to cure the fears and weaknesses in a person’s mind with the touch of my hands.  This power is seen in an episode of the TV show Tales From The Darkside called “Distant Signals.”  The picture I’ve posted is of Mr. Smith, an alien from a distant planet who has been sent to earth to complete a detective show that was cancelled in the 1960s.  I am very drawn to this character because he is able to cure the actor in the episode of his alcoholism as well as his anxieties about acting for the first time in twenty years.  He does this by simply placing his hands on his head.  If I could have one super power it would not be to have any physical abilities like strength or flying, but rather the ability to create inner peace in the minds of anyone I wanted.  Not only would I have total happiness in my own mind, but I could bless all those I love with true inner peace.  While it is exciting to think of super powers that would give us glamorous abilities, I believe that the greatest happiness would come from an ability to center the human mind and physically cure mental ailments.

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