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For this movie, I used the leftover Halloween costumes. Unlike a traditional approach, I did not start with a storyline. In fact, our entire plot was built around the character’s costumes (horse head, unicorn head, flowers, drapery, iPhones, rings, etc.). After I knew what props I wanted to use, I then built a storyline and began the shooting process. I hope you enjoy the movie. I admit it is a bit wacky, but we had a ton of fun with it so it was definitely worth the memories!

I employed some “manual” transitions into the film, too. See if you notice when I use stop-motion as a transition to the next video frame. I thought that this was a really neat way to do things, so I picked it up and went with it. I also multiple audio tracks to help carry along and guide the feeling of the audience. If I added horror music, I’m sure that the entire video would be perceived differently! In addition, there were no verbal speaking parts. That is why I used the titles to help narrate the story for clarity. I adjusted the length of each title depending on how much text was displayed. Lastly, I faded in/out the audio tracks so that the music wasn’t abrupt.

Enjoy!

I took a different approach to character development. In this 34 second video, you don’t physically see the character. Instead, you see the result of the character’s actions. He’s having a nice college dinner. The video begins with clearing off the desk he was doing homework on, then setting up for dinner. The storyboard of the video shows the result of the character eating and drinking the food on the table. When it is all done, the napkins flip over to reveal “THE END” of the video.

There are a total of 208 images this 34-second video. Each picture lasts about 0.2 of a second. I wanted to take many photos for the sole purpose of creating a stop motion that seemed fluid enough to easily follow. My idea was each time I moved an object, I would only move it a small distance before taking another photo for fluidity. I also wanted to make each frame short enough to keep the viewer’s attention. The viewer has to keep scanning around the video to keep up with the pace of the frame progressions. For example, you see the coffee fill up on the left side of the screen just prior to the sour cream being dotted on the pizza on the right side of the video. I was sure to keep the aperture locked on my iPhone so that the lighting didn’t change. I was also careful to make sure that I shot the video at night, without the interference of the shadows from natural daylight. In all, I met my expectations for my very first stop-motion video. So much fun!

Unlike a regular still photo, a stop-motion video (even only 30 seconds long) illustrates a series of events over a given time period. The viewer can familiarize with the setting and connect with the experience the character is going through. It tends to be more emotionally captivating. Because there is movement, the viewer isn’t able to look all around the frame like they can with a still image. Therefore, because of the inherent nature of this type of art, the creator has a lot more control over the motion of the viewer’s eyes. In this particular video, the character is given 208 frames to illustrate his identity. He can steer the viewer in whichever direction he chooses because eyes follow motion. In this case, it’s something as simple as preparing and eating dinner on a school night.

Lastly, I purposely chose an upbeat tempo for the audio because college students are constantly scrambling around to get schoolwork done. Therefore, making time for a meal may take the backseat.

Doing this creative project with photoshop was certainly an exciting challenge. I ended up enjoying it a lot. What I envisioned for this project versus what came to fruition were completely different. At first, when I began brainstorming for this project, I imagined a collage of different aspects of me. However, to satisfy the minimalist in me, this project turned into a pick-and-choose of my identities that fit very well with the theme of my art piece. Looking at the left-hand side, The “shade” is really just a bunch of miniaturized numbers (zoom in really close if you have your doubts!!). This represents my major, which is mechanical engineering. Behind the numbers (by adjusting the opacity), there are some engineering tools that shine through to add to the texture of the left side. This also represents the logical left side of the brain. The numbers and calculations of my academic work are evident throughout this side of my piece.

However, a lot of my identity has nothing to do with my major at all, which I love. This is why I dedicated the other side to my creative identities. The music notes represent the instruments I play, including saxophone and guitar. I love listening to music as well, for I feel that good music is unlike anything else in this world. The paint bursts are symbolic of the freedom of what I would like to see in myself, even in a somewhat technical engineering setting. If you look at my picture in the center, I used a marble texture to make me look like a statue. This is because as I am going through college, I am becoming more solidified (like a statue) in my morals and values and in who I am and who I want to become. I brushed over my eyes with a brush to top off the plain look of a statue. I then used the softening brush to help blend in the magic wand cut-out of me with the new background I was working with.

To construct this piece, I used a LOT of layer masks (see for yourself!). I learned early on that using the eraser tool is a VERY BAD method of editing because it physically erases the data stored in each pixel and is very hard to undo. Rather, by using layer masks, I was able to fade in my arm from the paint by using a very textured and special brush pattern and not worry about over or under doing it. I used this same brush to gently bring in the music notes through the paint and colorful powder. Almost every single layer (with the exception of the “NT” text layer) had its opacity adjusted so that this seemingly flat art piece also carries dimension and depth. I also used a clone stamp tool to bring out the colors of the paint and powder that I wanted. Lastly, I added the “NT” text layer over the top of the layers on the left-hand side. The white color also matches nicely with the background on the right side. Overall, I feel like there is a balance with the geometry and the free forms of the piece, which is what I feel like I seek in everyday life–a balance between hard science and creativity.

**Note: I submitted the .psd file in Carmen, for the file size is too big for here, but I did use the .jpg file as you can see. Thank you!

First, let me state that I think that magazine covers are way too cluttered these days. I am 100% a minimalist when it comes to design.

I kept the color palette of the text strictly black and white (with the different grayscale gradients). The vivid colors were present in the rainbow parrots. I was very careful to make sure that the only color was from the images, the black, grey, and white was used for the geometry and text that laid behind the images.

I used the magnetic tool and magic wand to pull the images of the parrots off of their backgrounds. I needed to isolate the parrot in order to produce the greyscale color scheme behind the birds. The simple beauty of the colorful birds is what I’m trying to communicate. It’s eye-catching, and I wanted to capture that with this project. The clean, professional text emphasizes this.

I typically prefer that sans-serif font be used for digital displays and serif for printed text, such as this. Because this image is supposed to be printed on the cover of a magazine, I used a serif font (Big Caslon is the name of it if you’re curious). The font size is 160pt, but I used the free transform tool to stretch the font vertically because it looked too short for how long the A4 page is. I placed the title behind several layers of birds, as you can see the wings tip over the text. Then I increased the opacity of the text at the bottom to help it blend in a little more. Since it isn’t the main text of the magazine, it didn’t have to be quite as bold as the title was. The shape tool was used to create the checkerboard that geometrized the look of the magazine cover.

To top off the fun I was having with this project, I included a fun little scan code in the bottom left-hand corner of the image. Now it’s really ready to print!!

This first photo was taken with my camera and a flashlight. Since the long exposure app I was using only gave me a few seconds, I couldn’t go over areas that I wanted more dense with light. However, as I went through the results, I was drawn to this photo. It was taken in the dark, so I added some blues to give it more of a color feel than a strictly black background and white light. The shape of the light (kind of like a “V” and a heart) is captured at several moments as the circle pattern was being drawn out. I was hoping to get a sharp, defined photo with the light source. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that because of the photo app I was using.

This car at the intersection was creeping forward as the light turned green. I especially love how the back of the car seems like it is holding still while the front is already transitioning out.

This photo was taken on a windy day. The flags on campus were blowing roughly, and I thought that this would be a great opportunity to take a time-lapse photo. Because the flags are fastened to the pole, not all of the flag disappeared even though it was moving in a whipping motion.

Lastly, I used a layer in Photoshop to change the hue and tint of this photo. Buckeye colors are stark and bright, so I added some darks and blues to balance out the overwhelming amount of red in this photo. I then tweaked the contrast and enhanced the darks of this photo to balance out the highlights that were already there from the natural light. The most interesting part of this photo is shown on the sides and bottom. People moving down the aisle and fans looking from left to right is captured by this long exposure.

Overall, these four photos contribute to my identity because I am always living a life in motion. There is very little time for breaks. I feel that long exposure photos (even for just a few seconds) capture the daily rush more accurately than a still image that is only a fraction of a second. A lot of people say art is movement. I think these photos feel like they are moving.

This was lighting of my own choice. Realistic, clean, professional, and ready for a magazine cover!

In this photo, I used the spot correction/heal tool on the acne spots. I then sharpened the eyes and eyebrows using the sharpen tool and some of the dodge & burn tools to make them pop in the photo. Lastly, I went over the skin of his entire face and neck with the soften tool to make the entire photo appear cohesive and blemishless.

Golden Hour Shooting into the Sun.

I used the curves feature of Photoshop to enhance the purples in blues in the picture that gives it a dramatic feel. I was considering using black and white, but it takes out the “golden” feel of this time of day. Shooting into the sun really brought out the outline of the head and face.

The hard light capitalizes Urban Meyer’s facial features. It was a late-morning sun that brought intensity. And no, those are not my hands in the photo. But this was only moments before he reached my stretched hand.

Soft lighting in the shade. The face is lit up well, despite having no direct sunbeams striking his face.

The different lighting of the photos can completely change the mood. The different lighting is very contrasting. The intense light shooting into the sun has a much more dramatic feel than the gentlemen in the first and last photos that use a soft lighting. The hard lighting captures emotion, wear, and distress while the soft light accentuates beauty, youth, and ease.

Hard light is very strict on the texture of the photo, while the soft light is much more forgiving. Depending on what the photographer wants to capture, each type of lighting has its advantages, as seen above.

I really like how the curvature of the stadium draws the eyes out to the right edge of the photo. Same with the sidewalk lines in the second photo, except it draws the viewers eyes out to the bottom edge.

The second photo is (obviously) one of the most iconic, symmetrical structures on campus. The stadium really gets to show off its symmetrical form (mind the cherry pickers) in the third photo below!

I lived in Morrill Tower my freshman year, so I decided to include a thirds composition of the tower standing in the late evening light. The center of the tower is nearly exact with the left 1/3 line of the photo if you were to place a grid over it.

These photos show how creatively people at OSU seem to have a preference for geometrical structures (sidewalks, building shapes, squares, ovals, etc.) no matter the event.

Lastly, I enjoy eating at new places around Columbus. I got the macaroons (pictured in the flat lay of the closed composition), from the North Market at the beginning of the school year. For the curious minds, the beige macaroon was coffee flavored, the pink was strawberries and cream, and the green was pistachio. Yum!

Open Composition 1

Open Composition 2

Symmetrical Composition

Thirds Composition

Closed Composition

This photo of the stadium is overexposed. It almost looks like it was clipped out of a very old & worn newspaper.

This is clearly (or not so clearly) the underexposed image.

This warm tone gives the sunset a more “golden” feel. It’s a lot easier on the eyes, too.

The amount of blue light in this photo is much higher than the last photo. Because of this, the sunset appears to be a bit colder than the other photo.

This picture was taken out near Fred Beekman Park. I enhanced the vibrancy of the photo to emphasize the life that was buzzing in this moment.

In the calm before Saturday’s game, I snapped this photo of this projection onto the dome of the ‘Shoe. I inserted on a B&W layer, then I used the eraser tool over the projection itself and the stained glass inside the stadium. Such a simple adjustment can really direct the viewers focus towards the top and inside of the stadium.

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OSU is more than just a place. It’s the true spirit of a Buckeye in each one of us that shapes the university. This may express itself through football, concerts, or just through the roots of Columbus itself. With the incredible amount of opportunity right here in Columbus, the possibilities to achieve greatness are limitless. That’s why I decided to become an RA–to give the best resources possible to my residents and to give back to my community as a whole. I’m also constantly challenged by the rigor of academics, but I also have a passion to help shape student life at an even larger scale, which is why I am hopeful of joining OUAB. The collective identity the OSU network challenges each and every one of us to achieve a higher mission.

I chose to critique Apple’s website. I love their visual marketing, and I think their website is a very good representation of this. Their landing page is a simple carousel consisting of 3 product images. The front is very clean, and I don’t feel overwhelmed by the amount of text. The “blocks” of information at the bottom of the landing page are kept to four, so as not to overwhelm the user with different places to click. Simple and clean. My favorite feature of this site are the color schemes and transitions. The fade-ins as the user scrolls through the website are captivating. The simple header at the top quickly summarizes all the Apple product lines and are very geared toward making a purchase through their website. You can experience their website here.