I tuned in at 7:05 to listen to DS106 radio. It took me a good minute or two to understand what I was listening to because I had tuned in part way through. I was listening with my friends in the room, and I asked them if they knew of anything called Limetown, and they were able to fill me in. The story was interesting, I wanted to listen from the beginning because I was hooked, but I was also playing catch-up. This episode was a good one to tune into because Dorothy explained who Max was, how she ended up in Limetown, and vaguely described the technology enough for me to understand. Some of the acting was a little cheesy, but that’s typical in a fictional podcast series. Knowing what I know now from this week’s lesson, it was interesting to see music and sound effects applied. For example, in the park, there was a nice ambiance to let the listeners know they were outside. The sound effects were seamless, so I wonder if the audio was recorded outside because the sound was blended in so effortlessly. Another interesting thing was that Dorothy said that when she was sneaking out to get the chip implant, she described the scene as “something out of a tech noir”; coincidentally, my friend described the episode as something out of Black Mirror. It’s funny and meta that she would compare it to tech noir when she is very much in a tech noir setting herself. I’m glad I tuned in because I saw that Limetown was not only a podcast series but also a book and a TV show, so I’m interested in looking into the rest because this is a terrific story.
Author Archives: www.iConi.com
POV: You’re Charlie Brown – Sound Effect Story
The prompt for this assignment excited me because it’s a clever idea and a good way to get creative. Once I started editing this story together, I had an easy time, but coming up with an idea was really tough for me. The problem I kept running into was I would think of the story I wanted to tell but couldn’t find any sounds for it. However, if I tried to do the reverse, downloading sounds and then coming up with a story, I became overwhelmed with options and didn’t know where to begin. Another challenge was that I could not find inspiration for a prompt online. I thought because this assignment was fun and easy, multiple people would have their own takes on it, but I couldn’t find anything. Eventually, I decided to do the sounds of a class period. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but I was stumped. I started downloading the sounds I wanted, and when I went to download the teacher’s voice, it only gave me Charlie Brown Teacher voices, but I figured that would be a much more interesting take, so I went with it. The process of editing the story together was fairly quick. I took the downloaded sounds and compiled them in the order I wanted. I used the cutting tool to end some clips early or split them up. After that, I exported the story and uploaded it to SoundCloud. Again, it’s a simple story, but I hope the Charlie Brown aspect makes it a little less mundane.
Radio Show Idea
When I was brainstorming radio show ideas, I was inspired by WTOP’s radio show which is short for Washington’s Top News. WTOP is a staple for anyone who lives in Northern Virginia. Their slogan “traffic and weather on the 8s and when it breaks” is so nostalgic to me because my parents would always put it on before a long car trip. I thought it would be cool to do a cyberpunk take on WTOP. This would show all the top news happening where the cyberpunk characters are. This would tell listeners how the traffic and weather is, what the current events are, and how the politicians are dealing with those events. I think this a great way to build the world and set the scene for my group’s characters! Each segment would need to be at least five minutes to meet the minimum time limit, but I think we will probably have more that twenty minutes worth of content. I’m excited about this idea and I look forward to see if my group will end up using this.
Soundtrack to Krissy’s Life
I think this assignment was a really good exercise for developing my character’s personality. I was inspired by Live it Up With Liv’s version of this assignment and I thought it looked fun so I wanted to give it a try. For this playlist there were a few elements I wanted to apply: country, independent woman, and wanting more. For the country element, you can see that in songs like “Fancy” by Reba, “The Other Side of the Door” by Taylor Swift, and “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma”. I think she would like these songs because she works on a farm in a small town so country music is in her roots. The independent woman part can be seen in “Woman” by Kesha and “You’re Just a Boy (and I’m Kind of the Man)” by Maisie Peters. Krissy is a confident woman and that confidence will be important to have on her mission. The last factor of songs that give off the feeling of wanting more can be seen in the song “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast as well as “1985” by Bowling for Soup. I think the sense of yearning for more is a relatable feeling in the Innocent Bystander Archetype. In the beginnning of her story, she feels that she is meant for more but by the end, after all the action, she will be changed for better or for worse. Some songs have overlapping themes. For example, “Girl in a Country Song” by Maddie & Tae and “girl i’ve always been” by Olivia Rodrigo shows both elements of country and independent woman. Additionally, I made Krissy with very similar interests to mine, she is a strong, independent woman, so of course I want to feel represented by her. While reflecting on this assignment, I realized that Krissy has very similar music taste to me. I think in Live it Up With Liv’s assignment, Liv went out of her way to find a healthy mix of music that she regularly listened to and music that fit the vibe of her character. In constrast, this assignment went very fast for me because I would think “Oh! This song I like fits, and this one too!” so I see a lot of myself in this playlist. As I mentioned earlier, this assignment was a great way for me to develop my character’s personality, and in turn I hope anyone who reads this has a better understanding of who Krissy is.
The Dreamlike State of Storytelling
The two biggest takeaways I got from Jad Abumrad’s videos were Co-Auhorization and creating a connection to the story. Abumrad says the lack of pictures in forces listeners to use their imagination. By telling a story, he is painting the picture, but by listeners using their imagination, we are holding the brush; this is called co-authorship. He is telling the story and I am illustrating it, and in turn adding a few details in myself. Additionally, in order to create co-authorship, a storyteller needs to be able to create a dream like state to connect the listener to the story. If a story is interesting enough, it will immerse the listener into the story where they can add their own takes. Sound in a story is like seasoning on a dish, too little is bland and the listener becomes bored, but too much is overpowering and overwhelms the listener. In Moon Graffiti, the effect that made their voices sound like they were coming through walkie-talkies helps remind the reader that the story takes place in 1969. The sad, quiet, monotone song that plays while the astronauts are putting down a memorial, knowing that they will have to be memorialized too, and sooner than they thought, adds an eerie depressing tone to the story that makes your heart break for these men. Abumrad said in his video that co-authorization creates empathy, and that definetly rings true in this podcast. Because I am illustrating the story, it makes me feel like I am in there shoes, like I have two hours left to live with little to no hope of surviving. It makes the listener sad, but it also helps put into perspective how amazing and impressive it is that, in real life, they were able to put men on the moon and get them back unharmed. Knowing what could have been the outcome, I am so happy that these astronauts were able to achieve this dangerous feat and still return back to Earth. In summary, I found it very interesting how Jad Abumrad emphasized the role of imagination and creating a connection with the audience, it gave me a lot to think about when it comes to crafting a compelling narrative.
Third Week’s the Charm – Week 3 Summary
I found this week to be much more easy going than the last which was a very nice break. The assigned tasks were really fun and engaging! The Photoblitz was definetly my favorite. I put it off until the last minute because I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but it was really easy and I got a good walk in. My least favorite assignment of the week was the Dream House assignment that I chose from the assignment bank. I acknowledge that this was my responsibility and I probaly should have just quit and chose something else, but I’m stubborn so I stuck with it. The thing that I didn’t like about this assignment was having to justify my why this was my character’s house. I don’t know if I had writers block or made a bad choice with the house, but that blog was really hard for me to write. I did push through, however, and the blog is up if you’re curious about Krissy’s house. Still this was a god week, and if all the weeks end up like this one, I think I’m in good shape.
Daily Creates
The Daily Creates were hard for me this week. I really enjoyed them last week but this time around, I just felt uninspired and I think you can see that in my work. I did Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday’s prompt. I looked at Monday’s prompt and thought it was really cool and I wanted to try it but the day slipped away from me before I got the chance.
Tuesday’s daily create was to make a header for the new create page. I used Canva to make the banner. I added some neon tech, which I know from watching the movie poster video that shows themes of action and cyberpunk. Then I added some text with fun fonts to convey what the page was about.
Wednesday’s Daily Create was the anti cloud. I thought the concept for this was really cool. I can’t even imagine how long it took for them to find every word that wasn’t in those books. There were quite a few books to choose from, so I’m thinking at least a year to compile what they had. For my DC I used the first six words to make art. It was hard because the words are so random but I did my best. Once again, I used canva to compile the images and the text.
The last one was rate how woke a sandwich is. This one was easy because all I had to do was google my favorite sandwich and then rate it’s wokeness. It did make me start craving this sandwich though which was really unfortunate for me since I had no means to get one.
Assignments
The assignments were easy this time around. I appreciate how much freedom there is in being able to choose the assignment. I really liked how my video game screen turned out. The image is good on its own but I think the video glitch effect I added really completed it, and made it look like a real videoo game screen.
****flashing lights****
I liked making my logo, it was one of the easier assignments, and I was excited to make it about me instead of my course character. Making content for Krissy is fun but the only hard part is you have to really think about what she likes and doesn’t like plus the decisions she would and wouldn’t make. I didn’t realize how relaxing it is to just know what I like.
My last assignment was finding a house for my character. This assignment wasn’t all bad, I had a hard time writing the blog but looking for a house was fun. I really like this house, I think it’s beautiful. There are pops of color while still maintaining a classic look. For those who read my Pinterest assignment, you know that I love old fashioned homes and colors, so I think it’s fitting that Krissy would have some of the same interests as me.
Finally, for Photoblitz, this project was really cool. I saw that Photoblitz originally came from a Daily Shoot, which is like a Daily Create but with photography. When I was doing the Photoblitz, I had some ideas for pictures but they weren’t possible given the time constraint so I wonder how these prompts would have turned out if I had the whole day.
Comments
I tried to leave one comment every day on a different blog. I think it’s funny to look back on my comments, because as my work load for the week got heavier, my comments became shorter. On Monday I left a really long comment on The Digital Canvas, to paraphrase, I explained how I agreed with their reflection on Graphic Design and I think it’s cool how a font can reflect the air of a show. Tuesday, I commented on Tigerflora’s game screen and I said “I love your “Game Over” metaphor. It’s a wonderful reminder that the game isn’t over until you quit. As long as you keep trying and failing, you’ll eventually complete your level and, one day, maybe even finish the game!” I thought the message was nice and could be applied to more than their character. Wednesday, I commented on Oh Noir You Didn’t’s Shakesperean cat. I said “Mango is adorable! I love to see a fellow Canva user. It has been so helpful for this class, and it has saved my butt for the Daily Creates. The prompts that don’t involve taking pictures or screenshots have me running to Canva. I whip something together with the mass amount of resources it has, and my Daily Create comes out looking so good! I can also completely relate to having hundreds of pictures of my cat on my phone. I liked the quote you used and how well it matched the picture. Do you know which play this line is from? I’m not the biggest Shakespeare fan, but he does have a couple of plays that I like.” I appreciated the thought that went into matching a Shakespeare quote to a picture of their cat. The picture focused on Mango’s eyes so they picked a quote that also focused on eyes. Thursday, I looked at Rebecca’s Radient Realm and I commented on their Tattoo art. I said “These tattoos are crazy good. I’m obsessed! I think each color option is really cool, too. It’s so fun to see how the colors add a different vibe to the same tattoo! I like the acknowledgment that Evelyn is a classy gal. Do you think she has multiple tattoos, or is this her only one?” I was really impressed with the artwork for Evelyn’s tattoo, the sketch was gorgeous and the each color pallete was a nice compliment. Finally, on Friday I commented on Sam’s Club’s GIF: “LOL, this made me giggle! I like the contrast of his quiet character with his loud actions. His eyes and mouth remind me of Sussie from The Amazing World of Gumball. Great job!” The gif was really funny, and as I mentioned the difference between the sullen character and their extravagent face movements was very silly.
Closing Thoughts
I had been looking forward to this week because I was overwhelmed from the Digital Bootcamp, and I’m glad I stuck it out because this was a nice workload. I wasn’t overwhelmed with the amount and I enjoyed the assignments. I hope week four is even better!
Your Time Starts Now! – 20 Minute Photoblitz
I started this journey on a rainy Friday morning at 9:13 AM
The items that I was sent to capture were:
- Fences and walls can divide or demarcate. Make a creative photo of a fence or wall.
- Make a photograph of a smile, either literal or symbolic
- Represent or express something loud
- Gauges, meters, and turn signals are all signs of indicators
- Make a photograph with your camera at floor level
- Create a self portrait, without your face, that represents you
- “Music is what feelings sound like” Make a photo of something musical
For “fences and walls can divide or demarcate” my first thought was the construction fence that blocks people from getting too close to Monroe. This fence was perfect because it splits in the middle, one side is painters tape blue while the other is chain link. I walked over to Monroe and snapped the picture at 9:18.
I figured while I was outside I would get the next picture: “make a photograph of a smile, either literal or figurative.” There are a lot of leaves by Virginia Hall so I used them to assemble two eyes and a smile. The rain was unideal weather for this activity, but for this picture it helped to have something weigh the leaves down to keep them from blowing away. The smile only took me a few seconds to assemble, I took the picture at 9:19 and went on my way.
The next picture I decided to get was “gauges, meters, and turn signals are all indicators.” For this prompt, I was completely stumped because I couldn’t think of any indicators on campus. However, on my way back to my dorm I ran into the poll with different arrows pointed at different places. I figured that was as close as I was going to get to an indicator so I got my shot, and by 9:20, I was moving on to the next prompt.
Once I was back at my dorm, I went into the common room to “make a photograph with your camera at floor level.” I took a picture of my shoes because these are the shoes I wear everywhere and these were the shoes that were protecting my feet from the rain on this fine morning so it was only fitting. I’m sorry if there are any sneaker heads reading this, I know they’re creased, I apologize. For this picture, I set it up against the wall and set the timer, t took me about 10 seconds total. The picture was done and taken by 9:23.
For my next picture, I did “create a self-portrait, without your face, that identifies you” I chose to take a picture of my corner of the room. I live in a dorm with a random roommate, so we each have our own sides of the room decorated. I am obsessed with my corner because I think it perfectly represents me. You can see the stuffed animals I sleep with every night, you can see the decorations I chose to adorn my bookshelf, and you can see my friends in the pictures that are on my wall. This picture reminds me of the song “In My Own Little Corner” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. The picture was taken at 9:27,
The next prompt I did was “represent or express something loud” so I turned my computer all the way up and started blasting music. On top of that, I chose a Lady Gaga song because her fashion and some of her music is very loud. I had to take a picture a few times because I wanted the volume level to show in the picture but every time I moved my hand to take the picture, it would go back down. Eventually I learned to shutter the camera to get as many pictures as possible and I figured one of them had to be good. By 9:30 I the picture was taken I moved on to my last prompt.
For the last photo, my prompt was “make a photo of something musical.” By this point, I thought I had gotten all my pictures already so when I saw that there was one more, I scrambled to find something. Thankfully my dorm has two pianos so I chose the closest one. I like this picture because you can see the sheet music says “The Office Theme Song” which is great because if you can play the piano, you should absolutely play The Office theme song! What a great use of free will! My last photo was taken at 9:30.
I finished the activity at 9:31 AM
I had fun with this activity, it felt like a scavenger hunt. I think if the weather was nicer I would have enjoyed it even more because I didn’t start getting into the groove of it until I got back inside. My favorite picture I took is the one with my shoes, I think it’s the artiest of all of them and you can see how much my shoes have been through.
My Logo
I’ve been developing an online portfolio to showcase my work for internship applications, so I knew this logo project would be an excellent opportunity for my website and me. I added the logo to the navigation bar to serve as a link back to the home screen and to use as the website’s favicon. My hope for this logo is that it demonstrates my skills to potential hiring managers.
I’m not very good with graphic design software so for this assignment, I used Canva, which I don’t know if that’s classified as a graphic design software, but I wanted to show that I at least have an eye for aesthetics. Typically, I prefer bright colors and bubble letters, as those better reflect my personality. However, this logo is different because I want to convey a sense of professionalism and class. I incorporated my initials and intersected it with my first and last name, so that viewers can easily identify who I am. Adding my role title was a difficult decision because I didn’t want to limit myself. However, I realized that I currently manage social media to market events, and the internships I’m applying for are in social media marketing. So, I figured if the shoe fits, wear it. I’m pleased with how this design came out because I think it is versatile and I will be able to use it for years to come.
Art & Advertising
I love well thought out and amazingly executed graphic design. As a double major in marketing and digital studies, it combines the two things I love: Art & Advertising. I have known that posters from different genres tend to follow a theme, many studios run with whatever’s successful. However, I thought it was so interesting to see and understand why they follow those trends, especially with color schemes. It’s cool how each genre followed a color scheme, for comedies it was white to make the main characters and their silly antics pop, for Indie films it was yellow because they have a low budget for advertising and yellow is a great way to capture attention. What was even more interesting, was when films with mixed genres would mix and so would their elements. For example, Little Miss Sunshine used the negative space that was common in comedies and the yellow coloring that was common in Indie films, and that movie has one of the most iconic posters to date! It was also interesting to see different videos reference similar things. For example, the TED talk explains how design and storytelling have to be connected, and then in the Stranger Things video they talk about how they landed on their iconic font by researching fonts from thriller books in the 80’s which is the genre and time period of Stranger Things! Adam Brody said in an interview “I probably like movie trailers better than movies, and I probably like posters better than trailers.” and he is so right. Movie Posters are their own art that are able to capture customer’s attention and leave them wanting more.
New Game! – Your story as a game!
I chose to do a design assignment for my character Krissy Ryan. I don’t know why, but I always pictured Krissy as a movie character and less of a video game character. However, I thought the prompt of making a video game home screen was really cool, and I have been inspired by other people doing this prompt so I wanted to take a swing at it. This prompt was challenging for me because I don’t play a lot of video games, and the ones I do don’t have that classic “Game Over, Play Again” screen, so I needed to look for inspiration. My goal for this assignment was to get a very basic sense of Krissy’s story (to really boil it down, she has a very dramatic change in scnery) from the home screen, while still keeping the video game look.
*****Flash Warning*****
I used Canva to create the screen, and I was messing around with the different elements they offered. I love Canva, but I often forget that you don’t have the most freedom when it comes to designing your image. If I had the skills, I would use Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, but I don’t so I have to settle for Canva and whatever it has. Like I said, my goal was to show the general sense of the story from the home page, so I did a split screen of Krissy in front of her normal life and Krissy in front of the future. The image I used for the Cyberpunk future was inspired by one of the readings we did from the first week where it says the vision for Cyberpunk is “Tokyo on a bad day.” I added some glitch effects to add to the cyberpunk theme. Other than coming up with an initial concept for my home screen, the hardest part was the play button. I wanted the A to be in the symbol of a triangle, but the spacing was really hard to get just right.
I like how my home screen came out and although I still picture Krissy as a movie character, maybe this can be a video game made to market the movie. I’m not a video game fan, other than the classic Dress to Impress, but I think I would play this game!