Thursday, April 28, 2011

Finish Catfish.. Posting due Tues.

Start catfish at 37min...

we are going to finish this..

Due Tues. a blog posting giving your analysis of "catfish" how does it fit in to our larger discussions of democratized media and web 2.0?

Use examples from class, other videos, and readings

equivalent to 3 or more pages..

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

START CATFISH TODAY

next time start at 36:36

so many people were missing last time, we couldn't start CATFISH YET.. so we are starting it TODAY..

for THUR. please read the articles (about the film) posted below

thanks,

Thursday, April 21, 2011

CATFISH: a docu-drama---hitchcock meets jersey shore

Review: Catfish, a documentary that begins as a love story, shifts into a mystery, and ultimately ends as a somewhat touching and sad portrait of life.
Catfish is a difficult film to review, as the biggest moment in this documentary is also the one that can’t be revealed without spoiling it for anyone that has yet to see it.  It is a documentary from filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman that focuses on Schulman’s 24-year old photographer brother, Yaniv “Nev” Schulman, as he experiences a shocking surprise stemming from a romance that began on Facebook.  If you have seen the trailers or commercials, then you know that the film is based around this surprise, and the rest of the plot revolves around this major twist like planets orbiting around the sun.  But what you won’t gleam from the trailers is that while the surprise might be the driving force of the documentary, the film really shines in the deep and thoughtful examination of why things are the way they are in the first place.  In doing so, it elevates Catfish from the internet cautionary tale that it could have been, to something far more.


Catfish is a 2010 documentary film involving a man being filmed by his friends as he builds a romantic relationship on the social networking website Facebook with an attractive girl, and the mysterious results  when they all go to visit her.
Plot: In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel’s brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, Catfish is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.

READ THIS FOR NEXT tues:

LINK TO FILM
http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/player/divxden.php?id=7jaykhwc0z0j

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

FINISH WATCHING EXIT / blog posting due thur

START AT 1:10


THEN WE WILL DISCUSS AND I WILL GIVE YOU ASSIGNMENT DUE THUR.

____________________________________


WAS THIS A "PRANKUMENTARY"

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article7041650.ece

http://www.fastcompany.com/1616365/banksy-movie-prankumentary 

Possible Topics:

Compare and Contrast the work of MBW to that of other street artists profiled in the film. How does it stand up?

What does the anonymity of Banksy say to the audience and to the ideas behind his work?

Would MBW's quick rise to fame have been possible without the internet or global networking?

How Did this documentary compare to reality TV?

Do you feel that "Mister Brain Wash" is a legitimate artist who is creating meaningful art?

What does the street art movement say about our voyeuristic culture of surveillance?

What do you think about Terry Guetta's idea of the importance of filming everything. Was he famous before his art? What happened to his family?

Does the fact that the work is illegal change the meaning of the work? Does it weaken or empower it?


DUE THUR.
Create a blog posting equivalent to a 3 page paper (single-spaced) that initially analyzes Banksey's Exit through the gift shop, describing the over arching meaning and point, followed by answering one of the questions from above.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Thursday, April 7, 2011

private lives as public theater: from Wells to Banksy



Some Background into our culture of Surveillance:

In recent years, televisions's reality shows and talent competitions have offered people a conflicted chance at fame, while various kinds of Web-Based social media have pioneered new forms of communication that people increasingly use to perform their private lives as public theater.

Durning the same period, governments worldwide have asserted vast new powers of surveillance, placing unwitting "participants" on an entirely different kind of stage.

Discussion Topics:
What are some examples of Web-Based social media have pioneered new forms of communication that are used to put our private lives of public display?
How important is "fame" to the average person?
Do people follow the trends set by popular media?
Is it appealing for people to invite others to view our private lives?

Soliciting the collaboration of others with (and without) their knowledge:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_for_Fake

Culture Jamming

Culture jamming, coined in 1984, denotes a tactic used by many consumer social movements[4] to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Culture jamming is often seen as a form of subvertising. Many culture jams are intended to expose apparently questionable political assumptions behind commercial culture. Common tactics include re-figuring logos, fashion statements, and product images as a means to challenge the idea of "what's cool" along with assumptions about the personal freedoms of consumption.
Culture jamming sometimes entails transforming mass media to produce ironic or satirical commentary about itself, using the original medium's communication method. Culture jamming is usually employed in opposition to a perceived appropriation of public space, or as a reaction against social conformity.
Banksy is an anonymous British graffiti artistpolitical activist, film director and painter. Hissatirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world

Street Art, Situationists and 


And: EXIT THROUGH THE GIFTSHOP..

Watch in class
start at 24:24

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Rasterizing Vectors and Vectorizing Rasters














1. Tutorial Rasterizing vectors

show the vector text in photoshop
explain rasterization
explanation of optimization of vector graphics (rasterizing) from .ai to .jpg/gif


2. Tracing Bitmaps in Illustrator


due Thurs.

1. Posting with your illustrator art on your blog next to the original graphic you reproduced.

2. a second posting, with a trace of a bitmap photograph, vectorized using the live trace option in illustrator
***how to imitate a scanner darkly in Illustrator CS5