Introduction:
The conceptual project begins to help students develop their own unique style in their chosen form of art. It starts by having them develop their technological skills for their art, including photo taking and framing, skills using Photoshop and other adobe programs, and finally, setting up their wordpress website to display and document their ideas.
This conceptual project has helped me open up to forms and perspectives in art that I hadn’t considered before. At the beginning of this project, I was skeptical about if I would enjoy this project or even be able to properly communicate my concept to the audience. But in the end of it, I feel proud of my final product, and I’ve learned lot from it
Art Reflection:
Earlier this year, we went to the MoMA, and each student chose a piece of art that they liked to make a video on explaining it and connecting to it. This project had us learning script-writing, video editing and sound editing. This was a challenge, working with video and audio, which I never really had beforehand, and challenged me to learn this new medium and helped broaden my possibilities as an artist.
Parody Production
My process for this was fairly simple. Choose a song, write funnier or more dramatic lyrics, record, edit, and done! I discuss it a bit more in my artist’s statement.
I chose Sia’s “Chandelier” to parody for a couple of reasons. It’s a fairly compelling premise to ask the question “What if this didn’t end so well?”. I wanted to challenge myself in terms of actual ability, – Though I don’t think I was quite able to pull this off. And simply, because it’s the first song that I tried that got me any reasonably good lyrics when I tried to rewrite it! Although I obviously respected him massively before this, I have even more respect for Weird Al Yankovich. Making a good, compelling parody song is hard!
For the lyrics, I pulled up the original lyrics & tried to concept what I could replace them with that would be funny. I had a few different ideas, but the one that really stuck was “what if it ended differently?”. I think out of the process of production, my favorite part was the recording itself. I like singing, there’s not much else to say.
This isn’t anywhere near my usual art, which tends to tackle heavier topics, a lot of grief, or just lots of emotion. Unfortunately, I find it hard to do this with a medium that is so heavily associated with comedy, so I just went with the “nonsensical funny” route just so I could submit this assignment and feel good about it. Mostly, I’m proud of the little split before the first chorus with the funny sound effects. A friend offhandedly suggested adding the iconic “Wilhelm scream” somewhere in the song. The idea just kind of stuck in my brain, so I added it! I think it’s what makes people crack up the most when they hear it the first time, and I’m pretty sure it’s just as funny the second listen-through.
Parody Lyrics
Chandelier (the bad timeline)
Party girls can get hurt
Can feel everything, and it all hurts
I’m on the ground, in the gro-o-ound.
An ambulance, you should call,
On a gurney, roll me down the hall
I feel the blood, feel the blo-o-od
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 clink
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 plink
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 clink
Crystals on the floor, I’m losing count
I’m gonna swing from the chandelier
From the chandelier
I tried to live like tomorrow doesn’t exist
But it does exist
I tried fly like a bird through the night
But it ends in a cry
I tried to swing from the chandelier
And, now, for my bones I fear
I couldn’t hold on for dear life
I looked down, I opened my eyes
And the glass shattered down from the light
I Ended up ruining tonight
Help me, I’m held on for dear life
But I looked down, I opened my eyes
The broken crystals were such a sight
‘Oh, I’ve totally ruined tonight
Ruined tonight
Standing up, I made a mess
Oh hell with it, I ruined this dress
It’s a true shame, a true shame
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 think
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 think
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 think
What the hell, do I do now?
Cause I ruined and entire chandelier
A chandelier
The host, of this event, will now act like I don’t exist
Like I don’t exist
I’ll, have to pay for all the damages
Cause I caused all this
A cause I tried to swing from the chandelier
From the chandelier
I couldn’t hold on for dear life
I looked down, I opened my eyes
And the glass shattered down from the light
I Ended up ruining tonight
Help me, I’m held on for dear life
But I looked down, I opened my eyes
The broken crystals were such a sight
‘Oh, I’ve totally ruined tonight
Ruined tonight
Ruined tonight
‘Cause I totally ruined tonight
Oh, I totally ruin tonight
Ruined tonight, ruined tonight
‘Cause I totally ruined tonight
‘Cause I totally ruined tonight
Oh, I totally ruined tonight
Ruined tonight, ruined tonight.
Photoshop Blend Mode Editing
This is a project we did to learn how to use the various blend modes that photoshop offers. I used these to create a multitude of what I consider to be visually interesting images, or at the very least, visually pleasing images.
Using the Photoshop blend modes allows me to edit photos & manipulate them in very cool ways to create different effects. It allows for a lot more juxtaposition and more options to make my photography better. When using photos for anything, I can make them look better for ant purpose I need them to (or make them look worse to prove a point). I’ll likely use them in a lot of creative ways in my work, maybe for the album cover for our cover songs.
Design
In this Design class, we learn how to use a range of different mediums, techniques, and tools to complete our assignments.
So far we’ve learned photography, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and their various tools, are learning about color theory, and conveying Narrative through Photos. All of these are important for many reasons. As w learn more of these tools and mediums, it expands our horizons and possibilities.
Alpha Name Photography
For this project, we went out and took photos of natural things that resembled letters of our names, the combined them together to make full spellings of our names. A fairly simple concept, but deceptively difficult to find things that look like letters
Conceptual Photo
For the Conceptual Photo Project, we are given a prompt. For example, mine was “Desperation through writing”. The student is meant to interpret and communicate this concept through their photo.
I am exploring the feeling of desperation through writing.
To the right, we see the tools for writing: a brush, inkwell, and blank paper. Many cultures and traditions have used these as tools to write and convey feelings, over many centuries. It unifies humans in a sense. To the left of the frame, there is a classic, empty scan-graded test answer sheet, the kind where you fill in a million little bubbles. For most people of my generation, this is unifying, nearly everyone has had to deal with one of these at some point. The empty sheet is always daunting. You know it’s for an important test, and you know you can’t mess up, only using a noº 2 pencil, and not getting any pencil marks outside of the lines. This is the desperation part. Together, you are given the impression that you might have to try to fill in the tiny little bubbles with the flowing ink that has a mind of its own, and you certainly don’t want to get it all over the paper. I was also fairly intentional with the framing, the tilt makes it feel more urgent, and the same for the focus. The back and front of the frame are unfocused to make the viewer feel the adrenaline of taking a test you are unprepared for or unsure of yourself in.
When taking these photos, I tried a lot of different settings, distances to shoot from, and so many different options for lighting. I landed on this one because I felt like it helped convey that dramatic sense of urgency and desperation as well as I wanted it to. It highlights the texture of the ink against the pattern and grain of the bowl. It is also reminiscent of a common trope in police flicks, where they put someone in an interrogation room with harsh lighting and uncomfortable chairs. The lighting feels like a force, pressing down on your head and making your shoulders slouch. For editing in Photoshop, I did a couple of things. I adjusted the curves to make the lighting a bit lighter, and turned the exposure up a bit to make everything more visible, while keeping the background dark. I also made the ink seem darker so it was more foreboding, even more permanent. But other than that, I didn’t change much. I felt I’d already done a pretty good job with the framing, the tilt of the scene, and where the objects were in frame.
