WDIGTS Research

My current research consists of a lot of books, websites, and videos. I'm comparing and contrasting how other people organize learning these subjects from the ground up, and seeing what I like and don't like (based on my own learning experience). I'd like to give a list of recommended books, as well as the website, video, and picture links that I will be providing. I still enjoy getting information through books, and I usually have no trustworthy source for recommending them. I've purchased a lot of video resources, throuhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifghout my learning experience. One ofhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif them was a video seminar by Vincent Laforet. This was very extensive, especially for video. Another video seminar was released, similar to his, by Philip Bloom.
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I'm almost done with Vincent Laforet, and then I willhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif move on to Philip Bloom. I have a few more videos to consult, and then I should have a final list for my video section.

In the realm of Photography, I have a lot of videos that I've been going through, including those by Joey L., Zack Arias, and Dean Collins.

For both video and photography, I have many more resources that I am looking through, but right now I am focusing on resources that are not free, to see how I can cover all of the bases that they cover through the free materials online.

I have over 35 books in the realm of video and photography that I'm consulting. I find that looking through table of contents sections of these books is helping with the organization of information. [Again, there's no reason to re invent the wheel.]

Graphic design is a little bit different. As far as http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giffree resources on the internet go, graphic design has had so many that I haven't ever needed to pay for any video training. Video and photography training were pretty exclusive, when compared to graphic design. But, since the rise of things like YouTube and cheap hosting, photography and video have been catching up. So, I have only Lynda and a few other paid graphic design resources to look at. I feel comfortable with this, though, because of the extensive options that we have in the realm of free resources for graphic design. I have plenty of graphic design books to supplement this section of the website.

I'm excited to get through more information! It's nice, being able to do research about things that I thoroughly enjoy!

Type in Motion 3

One thing that I really like to see in still typography design is creating a scene and or things, creatively, out of only type. It is something that takes time and a lot of detail work. I was surprised to find a well done animation using this visual technique. As much work as it takes to create a still frame of typography like this, adding motion adds a new level of complexity.

There are three elements of animation going on in this video: animation of the camera, animation of elements (groups and separate within and outside of the groups), and masking (creating a drawn on affect).

I love that each element used is a letterform of some sort. The beginning really caught my eye, where the commas are falling as rain. One of the most brilliant parts of this entire video is when the commas hit a surface, bounce up into an exclamation point, and a ripple is made out of parenthesis.

Even without lines defining a ground, this video demonstrates some really intuitive techniques for showing space and perspective, including linear and areal perspective minus elements that we're used to seeing as signs of perspectives (defining lines).

The sprouting growth of the "Y" trees was also something that I liked. Some of this video, however, I didn't like. Some of the camera movement wasn't very well done, and a lot of the letterforms looked very bitmap/non-vector. Also, it doesn't look like the project was rendered at a very high quality. This, however, was a fun project to observe, and the person responsible did a great job.

WDIGTS - Site Design

I'm thinking a lot about the design of the website [not the development]. I'm the type of person who loves a design for a month, and then wants a new one. It's really hard for me to settle on a design. I want something that will come across as a neutral design, but I know that even a "neutral" design will have to conform to styles and colors. I would love to define an age group, but I know that my audience is not age specific. I can estimate that most of the viewers will be male, based on career statistics and purchases of equipment, but I do not want to appeal to males, only. I want this to be open and welcoming to everyone.

The thought of having a few designs and customizing it when you enter the site crossed my mind, but I don't actually feel like coordinating that. Plus, I want brand recognition, and - because my product is a website - I want to have a standard.

I'm really attracted to so many different styles that I'm not sure what to go with. I definitely want a clean look. Part of the reasoning behind the website is organization of information on the internet, so I do want something that isn't distracting: I don't want grunge, particles, or small detail stuff.

I'm thinking of a very clean 3D look with some soft shadows and high key lighting, only using slight shadows to define and separate text or simple shapes.
















Copyright Videocopilot [Andrew Kramer]

I'm potentially looking for something like this, but with more diffused and feathered shadow, brighter light, and the light source would be closer to the camera, making the shadow closer to the text, itself [not so dramatic].

I probably won't go the 3d route, just to make things easier in the design process and workflow with consistency. But, it may be an option for the logo.

I'm currently tabbing pages in a book that I ordered with a lot of visual inspiration. I'll have some updates [hopefully something to show] soon. I'm going to have to start working on the logo, as a part of the design. I have a little cartoon school stuck in my head, but that really goes against the look and feel that I'm going for. WDIGTS is too long and hard to remember to use as a good logo, probably. We'll see. I've got to put a pencil to paper to get some ideas.

Waka Flocka - A Serious Lyricologist

For my video, I chose the contemporary literary genius Waka Flocka, the most lyrically gifted artist on the market. The video does highlight some women. Some Questions that we will look at are those presented by Sut Jhally: How are women shown?, What is their role? Whose desires are being fulfilled?, What is their attitude?, Are they a part of the story, members of the band, dancers, or the audience?

Some of the women highlighted in this video are shown in quick cuts back and forth between the girl and the artist. [This implies that, somehow, Waka FLocka is responsible for or has some connection to hardly clothed women who dance and want you (the audience).] The women are hardly clothed, and what IS covering their bodies is skin tight. Wind is blowing in their hair as they dance and have gangster looks on their faces. The gangster looks are interchanged with confident “I know I’m hot” looks, involving eye contact with the camera, and looking off camera, still with the sense that they know they are being viewed.

Another woman highlighted in this video is a woman in the car with the great Waka Flocka. She is seen doing her makeup in the car, and holding the phallic stick shift with Waka Flocka. This girl is shown looking at Waka Flocka in a very admiring and flirtatious way.

There is one shot showing only the hands, phones, and breasts of women. The women all have their phones out texting people, as if that is a gender role. [Ex: stereotype of women always texting on their phones..]

Something very interesting is the exclusion of women in shots of people having fun, dancing, and being a part of the group. There ARE group shots including women, but that is when the shots are of the whole neighborhood. When it is just a select group of 25 or less, the shot usually only contains males. This shows a distinct separateness of women and men. Regardless of the intercutting and the shots of women with men in shots of the whole neighborhood, there is a distinct separation of women and men in most of the shots in this video.

In conclusion, women are shown as a part of a young male fantasy in this video. They are shown dancing in similar settings as the main singer. The highlighted women of the video all seem to want sex from the great Waka Flocka or the audience (when the dancer makes eye contact with the camera, as if piercing an arrow of true love right through audience members’ souls). The role of the women is to be a sexual figure that is unrelated to the video, other than the deeper implied meanings and connotations. The only thing that seems close to a story, including a woman, is when Waka Flocka is in a car with a girl who is all over him.

WDIGTS

I'm still in the beginning phases of this concept, but I have a very clear and organized vision. Everything seems extremely straightforward; this, however, will be a very tedious endeavor. I am currently still working out details for topics in my three main areas of education [Video, Photography, Graphic Design]. It's hard to cover everything that I think someone would need to know, without getting too strung up on details. I want this to be organized in a way that is simply organized, but gets into heavy details for those who want them. A lot of this learning can go out of order, and I am keeping that in mind, when coming up with the final order of how these topics should be listed.

The hardest part seems to be some technical aspects of the site. I really want to combine a blog style site with a normal website, but I'm really not sure how to organize it. The main content isn't what I'm worried about. I'm most challenged by the overall layout.

I renewed the domain that I will be using.

I've got a few ideas for some things to drive traffic to the site. One has to do with keeping content free. The other has to do with giving valuable things away for free. More on that later..

Type in Motion 2

Well, I was actually going to choose another video. But, I stumbled upon this video afterward, and it can't be ignored. One of my favorite things to do is animate to music and sound. This music had some very interesting effects, and it's an animator's job to express different sounds, visually.

Some things could be better, but I really admire the way this animator stuck to good composition. There was good positive and negative balance, and the letterforms were interestingly played with. The motion had a good vibe; it had a good combination of fluid and jarring motion, to go with the music. Everything looked very controlled. One important aspect, that I always look at in video, is that if I were to take a still frame at any point where the text held for a second [not in the middle of a transition], it would make a good static design. It is easy, in video, to forget good composition [in animation AND cinematography]. Keeping the quality of a photographer or graphic designer -- even when in motion -- is what separates the best from everyone else.

Type in Motion 1

The reason I chose the opening sequence for Panic Room is because of its simplicity [of the idea]. Technically, this is an extremely complex feat: motion tracking, reflections, texturing, lighting, etc.. The idea, however, is to make text look like it's a part of a scene. Now, this is not a new idea. We've seen practical effects, where people actually create type in a scene out of food or written in a newspaper or license plate. This is unique because the text is not made to look like it is a part of an object in a scene. The text is an entity of its own. The scale is also something that I like. Generally, with this sort of typography in movies, there is a sense of believability. [I could believe that a license plate could have that on it. Or, I could believe that the tag on the shirt said that.] But, the scale of the text, when combined with the wide establishing shots, makes for something that we could never see in real life: suspended massive typography that perfectly melts into the scene as if it is there. Generally, in video, we stay away from serif fonts that have little baby serifs. They used a font with little serifs, but it seems to work because the text is so big. [And, because it is intended for a huge screen.] From the reflections on windows to panning perfectly with the shot this text really sells the idea of it being a part of the scene, and has made its mark on opening film sequences, forever.