Irradiation

First project for New Media: Video Installation class was to be an abstract video. I chose to use a video I took with my poor quality phone of my ceiling fan and brought it into Adobe After Effects CS5. I can't quite tell you what I did from there because this was my first time using this software so I pushed a bunch of buttons and put a lot of effects. Then I brought it into Adobe Premiere CS5 to work out the timing, audio, and video editing.

I enjoyed my first video but during our first critique I was told that it was too simple and that the sound needs to be changed. Also my idea of it just being a ceiling fan didn't sit well with anyone. I do not think in an abstract way so it drives me a little crazy when these sorts of projects are given. But oh well...I changed it. For the sound I found a place that gives free sounds and found a drone sound than I recorded it playing using Photobooth and just edited out the video in Premiere while adding some effects as well.

I've been told its creepy and someone commented on youtube the beginning verse of the Twilight Zone XD....love it!

Here it is:

The Mentor Robots + Life + Blog Update

Hello everyone, Sorry I've been on a tad of a hiatus from the blog realm. Classes started, my brother's wedding, and a bunch of stressful stuff in between has kept me away. I will try my bring this blog back up from the grave once again. One special project that I would like to bring up is a side project I've been helping with for the past few months. My robotics teacher (Mr. Henry) called upon some of his loyal servants...I mean students and some professional mentors to help design two robots.

These robots are specifically designed to be teaching robots for new mentors arising in San Antonio. This will be very handy for demos, classes, or possibly for sponsor meetings. Most teams in San Antonio need their robots for the competition and because of the price of the equipment, they can be very hesitant when lending out their hunk of metal on wheels. So these will be very handy for many purposes. Mr. Henry has a few sponsorships already on hand so we are well on our way to building.

We started with an already built robot that students had built for a past game. Our first job was to tear it apart...WOOHOO!! We kept the chassis intact since it was just easier that way. Than we had to take apart the gear boxes, which my friend Rudy did since he is a pro, and took apart the wheels to take out some spacers that weren't needed. Anywho we have had 3 meetings so far and will continue till it is built.

I promise to document a little more than I have been and hopefully I can get some footage in photos or video before we get too far in the process. This will give me the experience I need since I plan on applying for the AmeriCorps VISTA Program with F.I.R.S.T., I'll explain more about that later, to help me be able to learn how to make a robot from the ground up.

I also need to ask if I can use some of the other mentors names on here as well, that wouldn't be good if I did and they weren't happy about it.

Anywho I will be adding a few more movie reviews, some posts about some work I'm doing in my classes, and a possible new blog dedicated to me reviewing TED Talks...maybe. I don't know yet. We will see...

STAY TUNED!

Straight "A" Semester...Sweet!!

After having a horrible morning, I found out that I got two A's for my summer classes. Only semester to have straight A's and I am pretty stoked about it.

Anywho, I have not been able to get a copy of my phonotrope animations back from my professor but I do have my final animation which was a collaboration with Ri Chavez. Our animation is a stop motion animation made out of paper cut outs. We used Frame by Frame and had about 800 frames overall which took a very long time. With the added titles at the beginning and end and slowing it down on iMovie, we got 1:25. The story is as follows, this is a high school reunion where the fork guy is trying to hook up with the girl spoon but she ignores him and he storms off. A dish comes in with flowers, a high school sweetheart I presume, and whisks her away (the dish ran away with the spoon bit). Then you have the background characters to the right that have their own little things going on as well...but you have to watch for yourself. Enjoy!

Reunion from Brittany Smith on Vimeo.

Studio Art Problems: Final Project

Ah...the completion of my summer classes. What a relief! I had a post earlier talking about some ideas I had for my 5-week project and I finally came out with a product. It happened to be quite stressful because of financial strains but I think I accomplished what I wanted within the parameters given. We had critiques yesterday and today, mine was today, and it went fairly well. My biggest issue was the motor I used spun too fast (I did borrow it off of a mini-robot). My sculptural piece was a box made from acrylic with holes drilled on each side at an inch apart. I twisted wire using a drill and a hook looking bit to give it that nice and even look (my grandfather is a genius).With the wire, I pulled the wires through the holes and made a cross hatch pattern with different colors of twisted wires. After that, I laced the wires up the side like shoe laces which gave it a really nice aesthetic to it. Then having inspiration from Lazlo Moholy-Nagy's Light Space Modulator, I wanted it to spin and have lights. My good friend Rudy helped me out with the construction of the motor box using the program Solid Works. I then borrowed a motor from my former high school robotics team, Grease Monkey's, and some pieces of lexan for the base and motor box. I wish I had a better camera to have taken a picture while the lights were turned off. The reflection of the L.E.D.s off the metal wires made it look really neat and the shadows it created was also pretty awesome! Anywho, this was the result...

In the process of completion...

Close up of L.E.D.s and motor

A better look at the wires and motor box

Final Critique Set Up

Studio Art Problems: Final Project from Brittany Smith on Vimeo.

A special thanks to all the people who helped me out with this project: Grandpa Sam, Grandma Mary, Rudy, Mr. Henry, Ri, Brandon, Cale, Osiel, Mr. Binks (Class Professor and the one who told me about Maholy-Nagy), Grease Monkey's - Team 457, and anyone else I may have forgotten to mention.

Here is a random picture of a squirrel who is quite popular at our campus, not very shy either. If you look at his tail, it is much longer than most squirrel tails that I have seen...SQUIRRLY!!

Random Squirrel Picture

STAY TUNED FOR MY POST ON MY WORK IN MY ANIMATION CLASS!

Fighting Animation!

So I was perusing the good old Youtube for some stop motion animation ideas for my class, and came across these two videos. I am a fighting/martial arts fanatic so I get a tad giddy when I find some awesome videos. My second phonotrope animation for my class was actually the move "Au Sem Mao" in Capoeira. Anywho, on to these spiffy yet cheesy videos I just so happened to stumble upon...hehe.

First up, Bruce Lee vs. Iron Man. This is sadly not even a real fight! Bruce Lee could kick any robot's behind! But neat to watch anyways...



What can go wrong with stick figures fighting??? Though I've seen most of these moves in various films, stick figures give that added touch.

TED Talk with Theo Jansen...I am such an absolute nerd

Today in my animation class we were learning about motion. Our professor showed us some videos on animation and kinetic sculpture. My eyes sparkled and I got all giddy when he showed us Theo Jansen. Mr. Jansen is a kinetic sculptor from the Netherlands who builds grand sculptures made from tubing that move. They do not need motors, oil, or anything else you would think because it is actually WIND POWERED. Yes, I know what you are thinking...why is that so neat? Well, I'll tell you why! First of all, having a wind powered anything is very economical since you are using a endless source if you live in a windy area. Two, the way these creatures move are absolutely beautiful and very life like.
Three, technically it is a sculpture but the math and engineering that went into building these is quite mind boggling. Four, he has made them to actually live on the beach and has found creative ways to keep them from being damaged from the elements. Five, well...I think its neat so there! Anywho, he happened to show us the TED Talk of Mr. Jansen which is embedded below. Looking at this website called "TED: Ideas Worth Spreading" I seem to have been sucked in. They explain on their website as follows:"Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world" They hold conferences for people who have remarkable ideas but available for everyone to see since they are a non-profit organization. Being my nerdy self I click on to the Robotics section and that's where I am at currently. Though they have so many interesting topics from some of the most interesting people that its worth taking a look at.

Studio Art Problems Class - Summer 2011

Adam's Lamp (L.E.D. Lamp I made)

This is the first week of summer classes...yaye! Studio Art Problems is a studio class where you spend five weeks working on a project for further study of your concentration. Currently I do not have have a concentration though I've focused most of my classes on New Media type classes. So for my project I wanted to find a way to mix some of my hobbies. One hobby I enjoy is making objects with L.E.D.s like the lamp to the right, I got the idea from this Instructable called Tilt activated LED glow cube though I could only find a baseball case at the hobby store. I soldered 3 Blue Super Bright L.E.D.s together with a 100 ohm resistor a piece which in turn was connected to a phone charger and I covered the inside with frosted paper and filled it with clear and blue marbles. One piece of advice, make sure to use the right adhesive because marbles are heavy. The octopus on the top was a drawing that Adam did, thus the name "Adam's Lamp". I also can crochet, crazy I know. This past weekend I found this book called "Creepy Cute Crochet" where it shows you the patterns for making amigurumi creatures.

Book of neat crochet projects

A Crocheted Bear I made for my niece

I just used the standard pattern and did the ears, nose, eyes, and mouth on my own. It came out very cute, though my cat Jack thought it was his and put it in his water bowl. After drying it I gave it to my niece.

Circuit Board Project

I did a project in my New Media: Basic class in the fall of last year where I created a vector image in Adobe Illustrator and transferred it onto circuit boards using the chemical copper etching process. The chemicals were deadly and it was a pain in the rear, but the effect was neat and different. This probably had to be my favorite assignment so far.

My plan for this project is to combine these three in some way. Either it be crochet a circuit board or use it to build a structure. My professor told me to look at this artist László Moholy-Nagy and his "Light Space Modulator". The video below shows a replica of this piece, which is one of the first sculptures to combine light and kinetic sculpture.



So......

In conclusion, I have no idea what my project will be in the end...but I will keep you posted.

Video Artist Presentation: Nam June Paik

Nam June Paik

Born: June 20th, 1932 in Seoul, Korea
          Fifth son of a textile manufacturer
          Fled in 1950s to Hong Kong/Japan from the Korean War

1956: Graduates from the University of Tokyo, History of Art and the History of Music
         
1965: First solo exhibition "Electronic Art" in the USA at Galeria Bonino, New York; buys the first portable video recorder

1966-69: First multi-monitor installations; works with magnetically distorted TV recordings; "Electronic Opera No. 1" is performed at the live program "The Medium is the Medium", GBH-TV, Boston

1988: Erects a media tower, "The more the better", from 1003 monitors for the Olympic Games at Seoul

The More the Better, (1988) Three channel video installation with 1,003 monitors and steel structure; color, sound; approx. 60 ft. high. 

Died: January 29th, 2006.

Video Journal: Save Our Schools Rally #1

Save Our Schools Rally #1 from Brittany Smith on Vimeo.

The spirit of people massed together for a single cause can be invigorating. Voices can be heard and government can be changed. Education is fundamental to society. The sad truth is Texas ranks at the bottom of education. When the possibility of cutting education funding is mentioned, of course people will be infuriated. Teachers jobs will be cut and funding to even the poorest districts will be lowered and Texas may even slowly fall in rank to be one of the poorest states for education. The governor should really think twice before cutting the already low budget of schools to even lower funding.

Brittany Smith: "Save Our Schools Rally #1"

Date: March 17, 2011

Running Time: 3' 06"

New Media: Video

Spring 2011

Video Journal: Save Our Schools Rally #2

Save Our Schools Rally #2 from Brittany Smith on Vimeo.

One out of eleven thousand people, standing in the blazing sun on a Saturday afternoon. 

For what cause? Education. 

Standing in this sea of people you feel part of something bigger yet you feel ambiguous. Everything becomes a blur, the noises fade away, and the heat lingers. All the many signs of people's anger provide entertainment and information. Faces and sounds blend together and you feel overwhelmed. Was it worth it to stand in this crowd and show my support for this cause? My answer is yes, it was worth it. It gave me something for this video journal project.

Brittany Smith: "Save Our Schools Rally #2"

Date: March 17, 2011

Running Time: 1' 17"

New Media: Video

Spring 2011

Video Journal: Beautiful Grids

Beautiful Grids from Brittany Smith on Vimeo.

 
The serenity of being in the air, almost weightless and yet still the thought of falling still lingers. Peering through the window, you become entranced. Entranced with a new place, a new idea, a new journey that is about to become real. Reality for a moment is paused. You get lost sitting still and gazing at nature interacting with the man-made. A great beginning to a journey of a place that is home to many yet unexplored by you. The secrets it holds, the places to be uncovered, the people you will meet intrigues all your senses. But this feeling still stays, longing to never land you capture absolute beauty...the grids. So you will never forget.

Brittany Smith "Beautiful Grids"

Date: February 24, 2011

Running Time: 1' 50"

New Media: Video

Spring 2011

Sunburst

              "Sunburst", beams of light radiating from a central point.

The beams of light are radiating in kaleidoscopic forms to produce this heavenly glow that the sun gives when you first wake up in the morning yet it is surrounded by darkness. Along with the eerie music its very difficult to feel sublime. Still there is still a serene nature to it. The golden colors give way to the bronze colors giving this video a somewhat spiritual nature. Is it the light at the end of the tunnel or is it just the beginning? Is it light giving way to dark or is the light the one that it is conquering? 

Brittany Smith "Sunburst"

Date: March 7, 2011

Running Time: 5' 58"

New Media: Video

Spring 2011

Sounds: Stone Temple Pilots "No Memory" and my niece laughing, slowed down to 20%

Video Painting Example

irregular flow from ozan tekin on Vimeo.

       The video "Irregular Flow" from Ozan Tekin, I believe, shows a great example of a video painting. When I think of video painting I see it as using a video taken from real life and using it to create a visual piece of art. In this piece there is a girl standing near a wall and touches the corner of it in different spots and where her finger touches vertical ink drips horizontally across the wall. The artist took a real life video and added a surreal touch with the ink. This video drew me in because of the simplicity of it as well as the false reality of the ink being dripped across the wall. I found it to be very striking and very pleasant to watch. It didn't completely envelope your attention so this piece could be set in the background on a loop without anything being missed. Video painting is very hard to pin down to a specific definition so this is not the only example that can be tied to this genre.

Walk

 

         When trying to decide on what to do for this study, which was supposed to be a sixty second shot with no editing, I ran into some bumps. What can you shoot for sixty seconds that will captivate your audience and be something interesting? These were questions I was struggling with while making this video. It occurred to me to shoot “Walk” while I surprisingly was...walking. It's something that is done everyday almost subconsciously so this made me want to look into it more. I'm a fast paced walker and usually just look down while I walk but being lost in my thoughts I never really pay attention to where my feet are being planted other than to avoid holes and such. After the process of shooting this, I learned that trying to keep a camera phone steady enough while walking and trying to look down was quite a daunting task. The video was grainy and the quality was very low which worried me at the beginning, but as I watched it more and presented it to the class it actually gives it kind of a nice quality. The blurriness of it helps with the idea of walking since most of us don’t really remember all the steps we take. The quality of my camera phone has given me some incentive to do more studies and work with the overall process of the low quality video.

 

Brittany Smith "Walk"

Date: February 15, 2011

Running Time: 1' 09"

New Media: Video

Spring 2011

Man's Dream

 Liberty...Democracy...Freedom...Using your mind to blow up people.



This is the American Dream. The Land of the Free where you have the right to bear arms, freedom of speech and religion. For years, Man has used their minds to build this country from the ground up. Building houses, bridges, monuments, and everything that we see and use today.


But what has man wanted more than anything else?

When you get cut off while driving by some crazy kid, getting scolded at work by your mean boss, your wife nagging at you; what is it that man wants most during these times of stress? These daily nuisances seem to be an everyday phenomena, but what would we need to get rid of these pests that plague us in our daily lives?

We use our minds to make marvels and world wonders, why don't we use it to destroy the people that stress us everyday. What if we could just blow people up with our mind?

That crazy kid driver...BOOM! That aggravating and mean boss...BOOM! That nagging wife...BOOM!

All with just a thought, a thought which started this whole country. The thought of a new world, the thought of freedom, and the thought of prosperity. Now using thoughts to blow up people...

This is the new Man's Dream.

Brittany Smith "Man's Dream"
Date: February 12, 2011
Running Time: 16 Seconds
New Media : Video
Spring 2011

Chromakey Blue Screen Project

This was my first blue screen/Final Cut project so I was very skeptical and slightly intimidated by the process. I got my first taste of Final Cut and I rather enjoyed it even though I do not really know exactly how to describe what we did on this video in professional terms. We started by shooting ourselves doing mundane things that have motion and uploaded it onto Final Cut. There we used the Blue Screen/Green Screen filter instead of the Chromakey because it seemed to take out the blue screen completely compared to leaving splotches with the Chromakey filter. Than we layered it in a way where everyone can be seen at one point or another. After this we went on to figure out how to turn the background white and ourselves into grayscale.  I do not quite remember what we used for this process, than Cale made the sounds for the video which we added. Than last but not least we added titles and mirrored the image. Voila, a video is born!

For my first experience, I found it rather informative and am quite excited to learn more about Final Cut.