Creating a Visual Narrative: Animal Kingdom

This multidimensional photographic project was focused around the core concept of creating a visual narrative using a set series of three images to tell a story.

PHOT 3195: Fall 2015

This project was created for use in my Fall Photography 3195 Digital Imaging II course to challenge the students to first think creatively about the "story" they wanted to tell with an "animal" of their choice, and then to think critically about how they would execute their vision of this story with only three images. Below you can see the various animal "characters" chosen by some of the students. 

The Assignment

Students were given a lot of creative license to interpret the assignment in a way that was meaningful to them personally, and to tell a story they felt a connection to. The students were given a set of constraints, such as choosing from a finite set of paper low-poly animal masks, all work was to be printed in Super A3 format, and all students must create an image series of three works, no more, no less.  All of the work was to follow the distinguishing characteristics of the visual narrative:

• contain a persuasive story with a point of view
• high quality imagery, still or moving
• subject matter with pressing social, environmental, or spiritual value
• an appeal (explicit or implicit) for transformation in attitudes and behaviors

The Masks: The low-poly masks are a component that I have worked with a few times before, and it is a rewarding object to use, as students assemble and decorate the masks however they like, and the ease of which they can be put together makes them very accessible, even to students who claim not to have any skill in the "arts".  The masks come from http://wintercroft.com/ where you can choose from a growing selection of masks.  They are relatively simple to put together, and only require cutting, gluing, and taping (and in some cases using some push pins) and can be assembled in a couple of hours. One of the reasons this element was incorporated into the project was to provide a prop element for the students to use when creating their work.  This provided an added element for their execution of the project, by working with elements that needed to be shot correctly in-camera and balancing the work load from in-camera and post production. 

Below you can see a few of the student projects (in no particular order).

Wolf Mask: Amanda Cochran
Hare Mas: Yogesh Sajnani
Bull Mask: Daniel Cuadra
Owl Mask: Kylie Luteraan
Stag Mask: Valentine Billette de Villemeur
 

2016 Faculty Exhibition - May Gallery

I am happy to announce that I will be showing some recent work in the annual faculty exhibition in January 2016.  The work I have selected to show was from an earlier post on Low-Poly Portraits I created.  

Gallery Dates & Times
January 22 - February 19th, 2016
May Gallery - 2nd Floor Sverdrup Building
8300 Big Bend Boulevard
Webster Groves MO 63119

Opening Reception on Friday January 22nd, 2016 from 5-7pm (CST). 
For more information on the photography exhibition, and a complete list of other artists please visit the May Gallery Website.

For more details on the creation of the portraits, please see the original Low-Poly Portraits post detailing the idea and process of how the images were created and how the masks were made.

8-bit Cinema: Star Wars Original Trilogy

I have long been a fan of the 8-bit (well technically 16-bit) recreations of popular movies and delivered in this suede game-play format. These creative videos are the work of David Dutton and crew from CineFX.  

One of the reasons I enjoy these is the creative process involved to distill a movie down to its core story (or essence) and then retell that story through a new medium.  To achieve this, the crew at CineFX need to draw new pixel-art for all the characters and backgrounds etc. as well as remix the familiar soundtracks into the MIDI styled sound of old video games. 

Like what you've seen so far? Checkout the behind the scenes video on how new 8-bit Cinema videos are created, from pixel drawing, to animation, and sound production. 

For more 8-bit Cinema check out the YouTube channel and see if one of your favorite movies has been given the 8-bit treatment. 8-Bit Cinema Playlist by CineFX.

MSU Spartan Holiday Snowflakes

The 2015 holiday card from my alma matter Michigan State University is a creative way for faculty, staff, students, and alumni to personalize their snowflake and showing their Spartan holiday spirit. 

You can create your own Spartan Spirit snowflake here: https://msu.edu/holiday2015/

General Relativity Explained

One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein completed his general theory of relativity, which explains how the gravitational force works. This made Einstein an international celebrity during his time, and the theory is widely recognized as one of the greatest achievements in the history of science.

I recently discovered this great video from Fusion featuring biographer Walter Issacson, in which he narrates a concise explanation of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity in 3 minutes.  

“One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein completed his general theory of relativity, which explains how the gravitational force works. This made Einstein an international celebrity during his time, and the theory is widely recognized as one of the greatest achievements in the history of science.”

— Fusion

New Promo Video for BA in Media Comm

To help increase the exposure of the BA program in Media Communications at Webster University the Netherlands, I created a short promotional video to serve as an attention-grabber, and a visual interest tool.  This short video was developed and rendered through Adobe AfterEffects CS6 last spring.  The visual intent was to showcase the four production tracks in the program offered at our campus.  To this end the video rolls through Media Communications, Interactive Digital Media, Photography, and Video Production.

The visual assets in the video are all videos, images, and graphics that are currently in use by the department in some form.  Part of the mission of this video is to showcase not only what students can study, but to show them this by example of using images, and other assets that are actually from the department. 

Bringing back the Flash!

“Presenting for the first time on radio, the amazing interplanetary adventures of Flash Gordon and Dale Arden.”

— Flash Gordon 1935

This rendition of Flash Gordon Ep1 On the Planet Mongo was performed by Webster University Leiden Media Communication Students as part of a learning exercise on script reading and audio production. This recording is from the original script that aired on April 27th, 1935.

In a recent graduate course for Webster University (MEDC 5331: Communication Production Tools: Video) I was looking to create an experience for the students that would allow for a fun yet practical hands on in-class exercise that would allow them to practice recording high quality audio.  This exercise would give the students the experience recording audio in a guided low stake environment where failure or technical issues can be addressed.  What I developed was a quickfire based on recording an oldtimey radio show, from pre-television days.  This in class activity served as an active learning experience in which students needed to move quickly to organize radio performance parts, and discuss and plan out how they would record this performance all within two hours. 

Students rose to the challenge of this in-class assignment to recreate the 1935 radio performance of Flash Gordon “On the Planet Mongo”. This rendition of Flash Gordon Ep1 On the Planet Mongo was performed by Webster University Leiden Media Communication Students as part of a learning exercise on script reading and audio production. This recording is from the original script that aired on April 27th, 1935.

Project 5x5: a video vignette

What is Project 5x5?

Project 5x5 is a short and simple video project.  To shoot a 5x5 you need to come up with a story, or theme to use (this can be almost anything) and create 5 shots each 5 seconds long.  Only the original audio is to be used, no additional audio tracks etc. Further, no use of titles, transitions, or credits, just pure video.

Project 5x5 has been around on vimeo for some time.  The inspiration behind this post is the successful use of the 5x5 project to help teach video production students how to think in shots and to take a story or theme and distill it down to the bare essential components.  One of the main advantages to using this project to teach video production is the highly structured yet simple parameters for the video.  This allows students to focus on the steps and process of video production without letting the project get too big or complicated.  This project lends itself nicely to be paired with a storyboard project as again, the main parameters of the video are set and are short and simple enough that it is not overwhelming. This short project allows students to go through the entire pre-production, production, and post-production phases of video production in a short amount of time with limited stress or confusion.

For the project I assigned, I broke the assignment up into two main parts, the written portion and the video portion.  To complete the written portion, students go through the pre-production phase and develop a video "pitch" or concept that distills their story or theme into a one or two sentences.  Students will then prepare a short but descriptive storyboard to go along with the pitch.  Once completed, students move onto the production phase and shoot their 5x5.  When all of their shots have been filmed they then move onto the post-production phase to edit the final video together.  To edit the project, any non-linear video editng platform will do, for my class I had the students use Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, but any will do.

Storyboard:

storyboard of iced coffee video

Behind the Scenes:

video camera recording coffee maker

Video Tutorial: