Freak Factor

David Rendall's- Freak Factor (Click)


This manifesto, states that the key to success is not to overcome our weaknesses, but to embrace the corresponding strengths that come with our weaknesses.  Section 3 of 9 talks about people being or thinking they are flawless.  This shows that with every strength that we have there is also a flaw, on thing can never be considered a strength because the negative impact of the strength that could happen is the weakness.  If someone is a very reallistic person, they will say what is on their mind and what they want, but at the same time this person could be very negative.  Its the same as comparing self-confidence to arrogance.  I see this one in a lot of people especially being in college with a bunch of tough guys.  The next section, the foundation is for building on your strengths.  Here he says that people working on their strengths should feel very good because it is what they are comfortable with.  Your strengths are your natural abilities that you should be able to succeed at.  Many people find the wrong strength for themselves and work on the wrong thing for their entire life.  A common myth about this category would be "I don’t need to work on my strengths because they will always be there. 
but in reality If you don’t use it, you lose it".  My biggest weakness is my tendency to feel a little too well. My life is often a  rollercoaster ride of emotions not only because of my girlfriend, but because I am always highly affected by life emotionally. I think too much; this leads to feeling too much pain or hapiness. I'm also initially uncomfortable venting with people, but when I force myself to talk about them I am almost always happy. I dislike the fact that I sometimes get depressed.  I’ve also realized that this tendency is what causes me to bring the good out in me.  I have learned to be vocal about my feelings because if I keep them bottled up inside, it saddens me.

"BRAINWASHED"

Brainwashed- Seth Godin


In the section "Acknowledge The Lizard," Godin says that the part of our brain that is designed to keep us safe is comparable to a lizard's tail. He continues to say that artists are afraid of being laughed at, people don't want to be demoralized.  Which results oftentimes in the depletion of creative ideas and art. The resistance is when we abandon our creative desires and our art for fear of being judged or punished. All of us are forced into lines, to live an "average" life, it is what tells us to follow the directions we have always been brainwashed to follow. In order to resist the resistance, we must acknowledge its presence and accept that it is an obstacle we must overcome to become a creative outspoken mind.


I personally think these exercises are both good and bad. I believe that they have a specific time and place, but I would not say that they are appropriate for blogs. First of all, I thing blogs in general are waste of time and are filled with useless thoughts of people that I don't care to hear from. The only point the author makes that could be applied to these blogs is 'connection'.  By spewing your stream of consciousness to millions of people, the probability that someone will read and maybe enjoy it.  The resistance lives in all of our brains. We were all born with it. The resistance is the little voice in the back of our heads telling us to follow instructions and by doing so it shuts down our art. Working on this blog has helped me be a better artist because it has given me the chance to ignore that negative voice in the back of my head, making me able to create my own art and deconstruct other works of art, to better my own creativity in the long run.   By using the “Be Generous” layer it can make you become a better person by learning to give without planning on getting something back.  If people plan on always getting something back when they give then they don’t put all the effort into what their giving but if you learn to give without getting back you can create things way better than you could with your new mindset. Art is a gift, it is a change that someone like me truly enjoys and strives to become involved in.  Failing is what I believe a majority of people are afraid of.  Taking the easy way out is always something you hear to those who want to avoid failing. 

Scene Deconstruction: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

Scene Description- The film opens in San Dimas, California in the year 2688 AD. Rufus prepares to use a time-traveling phone booth to travel back to 1988 to ensure the Two Great Ones–Bill S. Preston, Esquire and Ted "Theodore" Logan –remain together to form the band "Wyld Stallyns", whose music will become the core of the future's Utopian society. Rufus finds that Bill and Ted are on the verge of failing their high school history class, and, should Ted fail, his father, Police Captain Logan will ship him off to an Alaskan military academy, effectively ending the pair's dreams of forming a band.

Line-  There are many lines in this scene, none more important than the eyes of the spectators though.  As Bill and Ted approach Socrates all of the surrounding people stare at them, creating clear, yet invisible lines.  The pilars behind them are the literal up and down lines in the scene, and they do not impact the shot much other than to show how it is old and in Ancient Greece.
Space-  The space in this is close between Bill and Ted, as it is through the entire film.  They are best friends so they remain very close, and Socrates is far away because they do not relate to him.  Socrates standing alone shows that he has a lot of power, and has no relation with Bill, and Ted.  
Rhythm-  Rhythm is used in this very well because the whole clip flows well.  The way that they speak two different languages, yet are still able to communicate shows the flow is great.  The sand is touched by all three characters and a lesson is learned by both.
Movement-  The movement in this is first the fact that they teleport into the scene.  As dramatic as that seems, they aso get to meet a historical icon by the name of Socrates.  They have to walk up a lot of stairs to show that Socrates is so great and powerful, and all knowing.  As they stand next to him, socrates moves like he is very startled to see these young boys in crazy cloths, speaking a different language.

Animation Deconstruction

These two pictures come from one of my favorite animation series Rocket Power.  In the first picture it shows the characters doing what they do best which is riding their bikes or skateboards around on the boardwalk.  The second picture is something they are not as familiar with, cave tubing.  The colors in these pictures are very different, as well as the lighting.  First off, the main colors in the top pictures are much brighter then the bottom, and have a much warmer feel.  As for the lighting, the bottom picture is darker considering they are in a cave, while in the top picture the sun is setting on the beach.  The reason it is so much brighter is because the yellow and red hues on the top picture are overpowering compared to the blues, blacks, grays, and greens on the bottom picture.   The movements in the pictures are very similar however, because there is a lot of action in both shots.  As usual for the show, the character squid is always awkward and not able to keep up with the intense movements of the other three athletic kids.  The green strings/worms on the top of the cave are very contrasting lights that give the picture energy.  The  top picture gets more energy from its beautiful sunset and intense biking.  Either picture you choose, the animator took a lot of time to put extreme detail into these pictures.  I would say that the top picture is more dominant because it is brighter and over powering.  The top picture was probably taken near the end of an episode because it feels right and the characters look relaxed.  Comparing the top to the bottom, the lower picture is most likely in the middle of an episode where they are climaxing in action sports, and are running into some trouble.  The darker the picture, the more likely it is that it is either nearing night time or something bad is about to happen, while the brighter pictures represent peace and harmony.  These pictures seem very similar, but in reality these characters are in completely different situations, and are just living their regular crazy lives.

Storyboard Imitation

In this scene from Billy Madison the director did follow the 180 degree rule.  This rule states that after a line of action is established, the camera cannot cross over that line except under certain circumstances.  There is a lot of movement in these shots so the camera does pan back and forth to whoever is doing the talking.  The scene is rather simple and the camera did not seem to move very dramatically, therefor all of the shots are very similar and seem almost the same, and as if you were right there.

The director definitely used the rule of thirds well in all of these shots.  Weather it was a solid distance to give people room to speak or putting a character in a certain place to provoke emotion.  Especially when the two men are talking is when it was used the best.  The bus driver is place on the right side while the teacher is on the left when he looks up her skirt, this demonstrates rule of thirds very well.

The rule states that you should change the size of your image by 30 percent—or two size levels—when switching views.  This was somewhat relevant because in the first shot it was a medium shot, while in the rest of the scenes it was a close up shot.  Changing the size of these characters keeps the viewer interested.  The shots switch when the two men start talking, creating a more dramatic scene.  I think that this director clearly knew what he is doing, and it shows it in all of these Happy Madison productions.

I am a huge fan of Happy Madison production and enjoy almost all of their films.  The way the director sticks to the rules such as 180 degrees, rule of thirds, and the 30 rule.  Clearly this director is very talented, and chose very funny talent for his movie as well.

Song Deconstruction

For this blog I have decided to use two songs that have the same beat therefor one is a cover, and they are in different genres. The original song I am using is called Walking on a dream by empire of the sun.  The artist that took the beat and made his own song was Wiz Khalifa and the song is called The Thrill.

For Empire of the Sun Click Here

For The Thrill Click Here

Although both versions of this song use the same instruments, and general melody, they end up being pretty different songs as finished products. I think this is largely, first and foremost, because of the different lyrics and attitude of the singer in the songs: in Empire of The Suns original version, there is more of a fantasy feel, whereas in Wiz Khalifas version it has a hip hop vibe because of what he raps about.   However, both songs rely on the usage of drums and guitar to drive the song and create the tempo. The varying qualities of Empire of The Suns voice and Wiz Khalifa's voice differentiate the songs, too.

The partying attitude, and original lyrics making this song hip-hop results in a very different feel to the verses of the song—unlike in Empire of the Suns version, this version’s verses is more fantasy like because of the voice modifications. The choruses make these songs similar because Wiz Khalifa still used the original with a few overdubs layering the lyrics.  In the original, the song has no extra lyrics, it is simply the original.  In Wiz Khalifa's verses they are very different because Instead of relying on increased tempo in the drop, he relies mostly on his raw talent of raping fast and saying what his listeners want to hear.  Empire of the Suns version of the song has a bit of a filter on the voices of the singer, therefor; it is hard to hear some of the things they say. This is what helps compare the fantasy compared to hip-hop feel.

The tempos of the songs, overall, are exactly the same.  Both of these are classified as a moderato tempo, I think the original song by Empire of The Sun is much more groovy, but I enjoy both. Like I said the panning is not a problem or a differing factor in either of these songs because they are both central. The high and ow pitches in this song are created by the bass(deep) and the lyrics(high). The tempo and emotional architecture in these songs are the same. I honestly am a fan of both of these songs and if I were to try and pick which I like better, I would not be able to.

Reflections on Sound Design

Critique: The modes of sound used in this are rather clear.  The casual setting is obvious because of the school setting.  You can hear kids in the background and see them in front of you, it is a feeling everyone has had.  Getting on the bus is not a problem but it seems the bus driver has one.  He makes weird movements that are caught on sound and this makes it semantic and realistic.  You can hear the shoes clicking against Ms. Vaughn's heal as she walks up the bus steps.  The director used his space well too, the two main characters talking are bigger then the rest, they also are much louder, giving them more attention.  The movement in this scene is simple so the sounds were easily retrievable.  You get quite and emotional response to the vulgarity of the bus driver.  He is fat and loud making him quite obnoxious.  The dialoge is directionally spoken from person to person and it is easy to hear.  The loudest comments are made by the bus driver because he is a very funny character.  From the hair to the double chin this character is hilarious in many ways.  The semantic noises he makes create a familiar yet whacky environment fo the viewer.