Animation Degradation

These two images are from the Miyazaki film Totoro. However, the use of light in the two images gives them both drastically different feelings, moods, and meanings. The first image is drenched in sunlight and conveys a mood of joy. The bright actions of the characters is indicative of the surroundings and the lack of shadow represents a lack of mystery among the characters as well. By presenting a setting in such high lighting we are able to feel at ease with the actions which occur in the scene and the emotions of the characters are conveyed better, especially the ecstatic emotions of a scene such as this one, which involves such enthusiastic outbursts of ecstasy. The other image on the other hand is from a very different portion of the movie in which the characters are still discovering the mysteries of the depicted world. The use of shadow in the lighting helps to perpetuate a feeling of mystery and a general sense of unease in the viewers mind. By obscuring the Totoro creature a sense of interest and fear is cultivated in the eye of the one watching the film. the mood is far darker here and the darkness in the middle ground and background is reflective of that fact. The little girl is kept completely in the light in order to make her seem more innocent and vulnerable. The use of light here creates tension. The colors in the two scenes is very important as well. The bright and highly saturated colors in the first image contrast strongly with the dimmed hues of the second. The second image uses many muted colors to convey a sense of unease and worry, whereas the first image uses vibrant colors to express a feeling of joy. The brightness is toned way up in the first image and way down in the second. Both images use very strong hues, but the saturation creates completely different vibes. The lighting and the color really work in tandem here as far as mood goes. By increasing the use of color in the first image and severely underplaying the use of color in the second image, while greatly increasing the contrast of lighting and shadow in the second image while severely underplaying the use of shadow and lighting in the first image, the overall contrast is greatly intensified, as much by what is left out of the images as what is put in.

Burning Ring of Song Comparisons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIBTg7q9oNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W61l6Y_IGT0

Tempo- Original song: medium

Cover version: fast

Source- Original song: drums

Cover version: drums

Groove- Original song: walking

Cover version: driving

Instrumentation- original song: acoustic guitar and horns

Cover version: electric guitars and bass

Structure- Both verse chorus verse chorus verse chorus

Emotional architecture- original song: starts as a pulsing trance, balloons up to emotional tumult, this cycle repeats three times

Cover version: starts as energetic rhythm, bursts into punky jam, this cycle repeats three times

Balance- Original: Height is low to middle, width is balanced, depth is about five layers

Cover version: height is low to high, width is balanced,  depth is about four layers

  The song "Burning Ring Of Fire" by Johnny Cash, is a classic piece of American culture. Cash was a legendary performer, writer, and figure in our cultural landscape, and this song was one of his trademarks. The cover of the song was done by Social Distortion, a band who tote around much clout in the punk scene. They are a completely different type of cultural icon, admired by angst riddled teens, and frustrated adults alike. Henceforth both the original and cover version of this song say much about the performers who recorded them.

  Johnny Cash's recording is a mid-tempoed classic, which has a pulsing bass line and light drums, while Social Distortion pump up both the tempo and the volume to achieve a nineties rock feel. The intensity of the instrumentation may be far more evident in the cover version, but the emotional architecture of the original is profoundly more pronounced.

   Cash sings with more feeling and a completely different range than the singer of Social distortion. Cash's voice is bass heavy, deep, and smooth, while Social Distortion"s singer is treble heavy, high, and scratchy. The timbre of the original is contained and clear, while the timbre of the cover is distorted and rough.

    Lyrically both songs are the same, but Cash has a slight southern drawl and Social Distortion's singer has a southern California accent.

    The pitch is much lower in the original and the highest pitch is the high note from the horn section, which is still relatively in the middle of the sonic spectrum. The cover has much higher pitch's from the vocals and the guitar's than the original.

      The instrumentation of the original is rooted in folk tradition and contains acoustic guitar, stand up bass, and trumpets. All of these are non-electric and produce clean tones if recorded correctly. Meanwhile, the instrumentation in Social Distortions version consists of electric guitar, electric bass, and a full drum kit. The first two of these are electric instruments, and the guitars produce a distorted tone. The electric bass isn't as deep or resonant, but it does have more sustain and sharper attack, which means it makes a more percussive sound when the strings are plucked. The full drum kit on played in the cover version is much louder and has many more symbols and toms, while the original is a much smaller kit which focuses around a snare drum played with brushes rather than sticks, which makes for a smoother and more roll oriented sound as opposed to a more brash and sharp pounding sound.

       The melody of the two songs is also the same, with any differences being strictly minute artistic contrasts.

     The organization of the two songs is identical.

     Overall the two songs are a great example of how two artists can express the same thing in completely different manors. I prefer the Johnny Cash version because it is cleaner and more emotionally gratifying. It also is a classic which defines a time, a place, and a person, the way the cover simply does not accomplish.

Yo howl, where you at?

 http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/51.01.YourHowl

        Jonathan Flaum's article contains a story about a wolf who has to learn how to howl again. The wolf does this by being reintroduced to the woods and learning from other animals. The metaphor the story is using is that we all must die to ourselves to find our place in the world, and that the place we find will define us to all as our "Howl"

        If we were created in God’s image

then when God was a child
he smushed fire ants with his fingertips
and avoided tough questions.
There are ways around being the go-to person
even for ourselves
even when the answer is clear
clear like the holy water Gentiles would drink
before they realized
forgiveness is the release of all hope for a better past.

I thought those were chime shells in your pocket
so I chucked a quarter at it
hoping to hear some part of you respond on a high note.
You acted like I was hurling crowbirds at mockingbars
and abandoned me for not making sense.
Evidently, I don’t experience things as rationally as you do.

For example, I know mercy
when I have enough money for the jukebox.
You know mercy whenever someone shoves a stick of morphine
straight up into your heart.
It felt amazing
the days you were happy to see me

so I smashed a beehive against the ocean
to try and make our splash last longer.
Remember all the honey
had me lookin’ like a jellyfish ape
but you walked off the water in a porcupine of light
strands of gold
drizzled out to the tips of your wasps.
This is an apology letter to the both of us
for how long it took me to let things go.

It was not my intention to make such a
production of the emptiness between us
playing tuba on the tombstone of a soprano
to try and keep some dead singer’s perspective alive.
It’s just that I coulda swore you had sung me a love song back there
and that you meant it
but I guess sometimes people just chew with their mouth open

so I ate ear plugs alive with my throat
hoping they’d get lodged deep enough inside the empty spots
that I wouldn’t have to hear you leaving
so I wouldn’t have to listen to my heart keep saying
all my eggs were in a basket of red flags
all my eyes to a bucket of blindfolds
in the cupboard with the muzzles and the gauze
ya know I didn’t mean to speed so far out and off
trying to drive your nickels to the well
when you were happy to let them wishes drop

but I still show up for gentleman practice
in the company of lead dancers
hoping their grace will get stuck in my shoes.
Is that a handsome shadow on my breath, sweet woman
or is it a cattle call in a school of fish?
Still dance with me
less like a waltz for panic
more for the way we’d hoped to swing
the night we took off everything
and we were swingin for the fences

don’t hold it against
my love
you know I wanna breath deeper than this
I didn’t mean to look so serious
didn’t mean to act like a filthy floor
didn’t mean to turn us both into a cutting board
but there were knives sstuck 
in the words where I came from
too much time in the back of my words.
I pulled knives from my back and my words.
I cut trombones from the moment you slipped away

and I know it left me lookin’ like a knife fight, lady
boy I know it left me feelin’ like a shotgun shell
you know I know I mighta gone and lost my breath
but I wanna show ya how I found my breath
to death
it was buried under all the wind instruments
hidden in your castanets
goddamn –
if you ever wanna know how it felt when ya left –
if ya ever wanna come inside –

just knock on the spot
where I finally pressed STOP

playing musical chairs with your exit signs.

I’m gonna cause you a miracle
when you see the way I kept God’s image alive.

Forgiveness
is for anyone who needs safe passage through my mind.

If I really was created in God’s image
then when God was a boy
he wanted to grow up to be a man
a good man
and when God was a man
a good man
He started telling the truth in order to get honest responses.
He’d say,
“I know.
I really shoulda wore my cross
again
but I don’t wanna scare the gentiles off.”

         This poem is called "Hurling Crowbirds at Mockingbars" by Buddy Wakefield, who is the winner of multiple national world poetry competitions. This poem speaks to me on many levels as a creative person.

         The first is that it is incredibly well written. As a writer myself the use of metaphor and bold imagery is astounding. The way he seamlessly navigates from one metaphor to another creates a swirling passage which manages to feel aloof but at the same time touching. He uses images I have never seen before and also eloquently captures the drama of a breakup. The poem cover several subjects and even breaks certain grammatical rules, such as using mixed metaphors. He sets up the mixed metaphors so that instead of detracting from the work they add to it.

        The next thing I love about this work is how emotionally engaging it is. Every time I read it I am overcome with a deep sense of awe and wonder. I get such a strong sense of wisdom from this poem that it is always inspiring. It makes me want to write, to think and to live. That is why it is so meaningful, because true creativity is not just an original idea for a movie, song, or book. It's something that will reflect the human experience in such a beautiful way that it makes people feel more alive. And that's what this piece does for me.

Reflections on sound design

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mMEDRdcMeo

EXT.- DAY

Team is assembled on the beach when they hear a woman's scream- AGHHHH

JOHNSON

Stay here!

Johnson rushes over to find her laying bloodied on the beach

Johnson

Hey, hey, take it easy it will be o.k. just relax

As he comforts her she succumbs to blood loss

Johnson then looks up and hears a ferocious growl- RAAAAWR

A giant Piranha jumps out of the water at him and he falls to his back

The music swells

He begins kicking an ensemble of the creatures away from him- THUD! SQUISH! THUD!

Finally he kicks one into the camera, ending the scene

This scene uses space very effectively by limiting our perceptions to a minute area. We are surprised first by the woman's cry, and second by the piranha attack because we can only see what is on screen. The way the film gives the outdoor shots tension is by using this technique. The movement in the scene is also important. When the piranha attack we are kept in the action by the flow of their movements and his movements. He kicks them towards us making the action seem more immediate.

This scene also uses time well, despite being very short. The use of speed has us hold on the girl dying for just long enough to where we are surprised by the attack. The timing of who inhabits the screen when is what keeps this clip interesting. The constant shift from three people, to two, to one helps it move along and shift the narrative flow and aide our recognition of the character to whom we should be aligned. 

Media 203 post #1

There's no limit to how much we can see and learn in one lifetime. Experience leads to perspective, perspective leads to wisdom, and wisdom leads to contentment. The minute we stop using outward pleasures to attain inner peace we can transcend  the mundane and hopefully, if we try our best, change this world for the better in our brief time here. I chose this picture of Ta Prohm Cambodia because it represents the amazing things out there in the world waiting to be found and learned from.