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 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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
Coming up with the setting for where my character lives is a central part of crafting their personality. For Krissy, I wrote about her background, stating that she grew up and lived on the farm her parents worked on and that she would one day take over. I had Krissy live in a big farmhouse in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I chose Pennsylvania for her home state because I know many people in Lancaster have very traditional values, and my thought for Krissy was that although she may have some traditional beliefs, she believes she is meant for bigger and better things than what her fellow Lancastrians believe. Additionally, it’s essential to be distinct in what area of Pennsylvania she lives in because Lancaster is so dramatically different than the big cities of PA like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Typically, there aren’t many farms in those cities. This particular house perfectly depicts Krissy and her family. The house has four bedrooms, perfect for her, her parents, her sibling, and a spare guest room. It only has two bathrooms, but the house is amazing in every other way. There is also a large plot of land in the backyard, perfect for crops, animals, equipment, etc. The house is unassuming, but the inside is gorgeous, rustic, colorful, and well-decorated. This is similar to Krissy, who should seem destined to continue her life as a farmer, but will get to one day save the world. The house was built in 1971, but it looks like it was built in the 1900s. The furniture looks like it was pulled from the movie For Richer or For Poorer. It shows Krissy’s taste for the old-fashioned aesthetic. This house is the perfect fit for Krissy, and I know Krissy would consider it her dream home!
This week had a large to-do list, and unlike last week, the tasks were not short and sweet. With doing the assignment banks, creating a course character, reading 6 chapter, and having everything accompanied by a blog reflection, I was overwhelmed. However, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the work that I did. In fact, I am really proud of some of the assignments I turned in.
The Daily Creates
When I first saw that we were doing Daily Creates, I thought it would be a chore. The first Daily Create, art about unexpected coincidences, confused me and I really struggled to come up with an idea. I landed on making a graphic with lyrics to Sabrina Carpenter’s Coincidence.
Lyrics to Sabrina Carpenter’s Coincidence
After seeing other posts, I realized that the Daily Creates didn’t have to be revolutionary. This took a lot of the pressure off and I ended up having a lot of fun with them. The next day was “Make bad art.” That was perfect for me! I decided to make the Devil and the Goat, and as you can see. I nailed the prompt.
Devil & Goat
The next prompt was my favorite, make your shadow as long as possible. I waited until the last possible second to take the picture, which made me nervous because if I waited too long I would miss the sun all together. I made it though, and I was very happy with how long my shadow was.
Longest shadow ever!
The prompt after that was, “Say Happy Birthday to DS106 radio.” For that, I just made a quick image on Canva. This prompt was one of the easiest from the week.
Happy Birthday DS106 Radio! To many more
The last prompt of the week was “Make a poem out of emojis,” so I turned the “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” song into an emoji poem. I thought the idea was clever, and thankfully most of the emojis already existed. I admit doing the shrugs for shoulders, was a little bit of a reach, but I was committed to my idea.
Translation: Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes And eyes and ears and mouth and nose Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
Overall, I had a lot of fun with the daily creates and I’m excited to continue doing them!
Assignment Bank
The assignment banks were very time consuming, but I am happy with how they came out. My favorite one to do was the Compilation of Chidi and Eleanor. I love their relationship, I love that show, and I love that song. Working on it was really fun, and felt more like a hobby than something I was doing for class. I also had a lot of fun with the “That’s Not It” prompt where I edited together scenes from Mean Girls & Clueless. Both movies are so iconic. In the scene, Cher is trashing Regina, but if they were actually in the same universe, I can’t decide if they’d be best friends or enemies. Lastly, the third assignment I did was “My Dream Life” where I showed my ideal life through Pinterest. This one was the hardest assignment because I could not figure out how to effectively embed the link. The assignment was relatively easy but the embedment took so long that I wnted to throw my computer away. I did the best that I could, but even still I feel like I didn’t fully figure it out. Still, completing my assignments helped me advance towards completing my D106 goals, and for that I am happy. Here are the links.
Comments
I enjoyed getting to read about a lot of people’s perspectives and creative choices. It was so interesting to see everyone’s creative takes. I loved the course character from Liv It Up With Liv . I could tell that they put a lot of time and effort into their character. She felt very fleshed out and was giving me Veronica Mars/Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes. I commented: “This is great! The thought and care you put into your character really helped me envision her. I love that you tried to break the norm when you created your character. I also thought what you said about her liking flawed characters was very interesting. I wonder why she likes them. Maybe because she relates to them or because she knows they make for a good story? Either way, it was a great detail. I’m curious to know if you drew inspiration from other characters when you were creating Veronica. She reminds me of Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Again, great job crafting this character!” I also read Rylie’s goals from Rylie’s Riveting Region for this class, and what they said about lighting design, I completely agreed with. Lighting is one of my favorite aspects of theatre, so to see another fan was very cool. I also told them how I felt that lighting may subconsciously tell the audience how to feel which is so crazy that it can have that kind of effect on people. Lastly, I read ‘One thought on “Black Mirror: We Love Women Working Together!”‘ from Bloog. We coincidentally watched the same episode of Black Mirror so it was interesting to compare and contrast our thoughts. Additionally, because we watched the same episode, I was able to share my theory from the episode. I just left the comment this morning, but I’m eager to see if they respond and whether or not they will agree with me.
Final Thoughts
I’m grateful that I got to flex my creative muscle this week. I love creating and it’s to get in the habit of practicing. This was also a great reminder that the work doesn’t need to be perfect. My ‘That’s Not It’ edit wasn’t flawless but I still liked the way it came out. Other people must agree with me because I posted it on YouTube so I could embed it into the blog, and it got a couple hundred views. While I did have fun with the assignments this week, I’m glad that the digital bootcamp is coming to an end. I’m excited to focus on one project for the week
Tech Noir and Cyberpunk intrigued me because I had never heard of those genres. While I’ve come across some content within the categories, I was unfamiliar with the terms themselves. On top of being unfamiliar with the names of the genre, I have seen very, very few Tech Noir/Cyberpunk shows, movies, video games, etc. That being said, from what I read, the content sounds interesting, and after watching an episode of Black Mirror, I am definitely open to learning more. I enjoyed reading the Wikipedia article on Cyberpunk, which explained the mood and the setting of Cyberpunk. The way they talked about their location and wanting to emulate “Hong Kong on a bad day” was a great way to describe the setting and gave me a good visualization. Learning about how the term Cyberpunk was coined was also interesting. The name perfectly fits the vibe of the genre. When I first read about Cyberpunk, I thought movies like The Hunger Games or Divergent were also in this genre. I then learned that Tech Noir and Cyberpunk are different from Dystopia. Tech Noir/Cyberpunk may have a dystopian feel, but overall, Dystopia can refer to any society with great injustice, while Cyberpunk and Tech Noir must have themes of technology and corporate power tied in. After the readings, I chose to watch Black Mirror from the list of Tech Noir/Cyberpunk Media. I’ve always wanted to check it out, and I chose the episode “Joan is Awful.” The episode follows a woman named Joan, and she discovers a TV show has been made about her, where Selma Hayek plays her, and they make her look identical to Joan. Joan has made some not-great choices, but the show takes creative liberties to make her look awful. The worst part is that everyone in her life can see the show, causing her to lose her job and her fiancée. I was immediately captivated by the epepisode’s concept and how the story played out. Eventually, we discover that Joan subscribes to the streaming service’s terms and agreements, stating that the service reserves the right to use her life as content. Now, Joan has to fight the service to stop them from making a show out of her and others’ lives. This episode fits into the Cyberpunk/Tech noir genre so well because it explores the darker side of technological advancements. While technology has become more advanced, corporations have become more greedy, leading to humanity’s downfall. Thankfully “Joan is Awful” concludes with a happy ending, allowing Joan to regain control over her story. Still, it’s a cautionary tale of what can happen if we become too obsessed with whatever the new shiny tech has to offer. When I finished the episode, I immediately recommended it to my friends. Now, I am immensely interested in the genre, and I plan on watching more content in the category!
