What I learned

What I learned this semester?

 

This semester challenged me to use unfamiliar computer programs in order to realize my creative ideas.  The assignments forced me to plan ahead yet afforded me space to create and understand the value of editing.   In addition to the technical lessons learned, like how to splice and edit on Final Cut Pro, or create a button in Flash, this class has made me realize how to best use the rules of design to create, without hindering artistic impulses.

 

For the first creative video, I had a very developed idea.  I had planned out a mockumentary about the graffiti in the Hunter bathrooms.  I storyboarded to the best of my abilities everything that I wanted to do for the project.  But the majority of my plan relied on spontaneous interviews.  Additionally, a lot of the footage that I relied on as ‘b-rolls,’ could not be planned.  I just went into the bathroom to shoot all the graffiti I could find.  When I sat down to edit, my thought out premise and storyboard definitely came in handy.  For example, my plan to end the video with one of my ‘characters’ writing ‘the end’ on the wall proved to be a good creative choice that I had thought of earlier.  But some spontaneous decisions, like filming a painted over bathroom stall, gave one of the students I interviewed material to comment on. 

 

For the second major project, the flash animation, I struggled.  Because I was new to flash, I did not know all the functions and things I could do on the program.  I had no idea how to tackle the project.  I started with the concept of motion tweens and the ability to make things grow and change.  The idea of Pinocchio’s growing nose immediately came to mind.  By using different layers, tweens, text and inserting an image from the Internet, I was able to create a short Pino Keyo flash animation.  In the flash exercise, it was through the process of getting familiar with and learning the program that my creative juices began to flow.

 

MEDP 150 and 160 gave me an introductory overview to the skill set needed to succeed in the fields of creative media art.  Yet the best lesson, I’ve learned is the balance of planning ahead and encouraging sporadic creative choices.