Saturday, August 22, 2015

Michalea Weight Lifting Video

The premise of the project "Michaela" was to show that an average teenage girl can be an extraordinary weight lifter. It shows what she does and that her father is her coach. The project helps illustrate how the father and daughter relationship is altered when both are in the gym. It also shows how it brings the family together and makes Michaela (the lifter) happy.

The work is generally well put together from a design point of view. Most shots do use the rule of thirds and place the subject in the frame properly. Shots such as the one pictured on the left are accurate representations of well placed and filmed shots. This work has some very nice looking shots while others are a little too wide or too close for the shot to meet the standards of the shot it was to be. Shots such as the one below are much too close to be an accurate close up, for the interviewee's head is being cut off.

This project had a very interesting story about an unlikely heavy-weight lifter, a young woman. Her and her family are drawn closer together by her participation and her father's coaching. The story is told well with multiple representations of what people think about Michaela lifting and how it is affecting the community. Shots of the weights and her training as well as competing help to tell the story as well and do a wonderful job of this. The voice overs also help to bring more understanding to the minds of the viewers and help round out the creator's way of storytelling.

I learned many things from analyzing this piece of work. One of these things was that not every shot needs to be focused on the subject, sometimes the camera is focused on the weights. I will apply this to my works to add more depth to them. While I learned from this deep look into this work, I also found things that I had already learned. Much of the framing I saw I had already learned, which can be seen above.

The creator did many things well in within this short project. The project showed a definitive subject focus and kept the viewer entertained for the allotted time because of the way shots were continuously being played through behind audio. Much of this project was done well, sometimes though, framing was an issue. The reason framing shots wasn't done as well as it could have been was because some shots were hard to identify because the hips were shown but not the feet, leading the viewer to wonder if it was meant to be a medium or wide shot.

In the end, the project did the job it was created to do. It entertained the viewer and told the story of the subject accurately. While it could have been framed more properly, that did not take away from the story as much as bad audio could have been. I personally enjoyed the story involved and was intrigued by it.


Video: 


Thursday, August 20, 2015

What Is Graphic Design

        Graphic design is a way of expression and communication through images and other graphics. It is a technological form of art. It is about making certain things display a message either via typography or visual effects. Graphics also help pass on feelings from the creator to the the viewer. Graphic design applies to everyone and everything. Nearly every product on the market has some sort of design on it, anything from cars to cracker boxes.

        Graphic design connects with me by way of how I express myself and communicate my thoughts to others. I use music but sometimes it isn't enough to convey what I want. I prefer graphic design because it allows for me to write things and show specific messages that directly relate to something else. I also connect through representation. I like how graphic design allows for me to represent different countries, companies, people, and places. Graphic design is so free flowing and has many freedoms, there is truly no limit to how much you can do with graphic design. Everyone with a business or product needs a logo and I love that it allows for my creativity to flow.

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTi5SNgxE3U

http://www.adigitaldreamer.com/articles/what-is-graphic-design.htm