Principles of Communication

As a communications major, you learn the basic functions of all forms of communication pretty early on in your education. One of the most interesting aspects about all these principles is that they can be applied to many different areas in the world. One of the first aspects we learn about is discourse. Discourse is just basic communication through words, talks or or conversation. While this sounds very basic, there are plenty of different kinds of discourse that are appropriate in particular settings. Secondly, ideology is another huge form of communication. Ideology is a set of beliefs that fuel a particular social movement, group, or class. Thirdly, one of the most recent and what I feel to be one of the most important parts of communication is signification. Signification is the act of signifying by using signs of other symbolic means. Many signals are shown in our everyday conversation and media without us even knowing it. That right there shows the true power of communication. When it comes to animation, all of these principles are key to keeping a viewers attention. By understanding all of these different aspects of communication, animators are able to create characters that everyone can relate to. Animators can customize and bring more life to characters when they understand all of these examples. By doing this, they create a successful animation with much more energy and life to them for all audiences to enjoy. How else do you think that they came up with characters such as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck that still remain relevant in today's society? The power of animation is infinitely multiplied when animators can understand all of these concepts.

One Step Closer to Graduation

While I was pretty nervous when I first started Capstone, in the end everything turned out really great and it was a eye opening experience. To create something that I had truly wanted to create for a long time was an indescribable feeling for me. I was extremely with how "Through Different Eyes" turned out simply because it was what I had envisioned the moment I had the idea to do it. The most memorable part about the whole experience was when I had finished the video. I wanted to show it to so many people, and that was something new for me. I was truly proud of what I had made and was really happy with the positive reception I got. Even with all the stress of presenting it to the whole faculty, I stuck it out and got through. Overall, my experience in capstone was really awesome to me simply because I got to do something that I love and added another piece to my portfolio. I most definitely consider "Through Different Eyes" to be my best work so far, and I can't wait to see what I make next to further develop my style.

Think Fast!

During the final stretch of the semester at Shepherd University, they brought in a live trivia game show for students to participate in called "Think Fast!" Some friends and I got to attend the event and even though we did not get to go on stage, it was fun just sitting and participating in the audience. The questions that were asked referred to a wide variety of pop culture references which really made this even fun for students. There was a lot of energy at this event as people in the audience were screaming and trying to help out their friends who were on stage. One of the coolest parts about this was that some of the questions they were asking referred back to some of our earliest childhood memories. For example, some of the questions asked you what a specific song was, and in some cases it was the theme song from a cartoon that was popular when we were growing up. That being said, this event was not only referring to recent pop culture, but to things that are nostalgic to the student body. In the end, the match was extremely close with the person who came in second only being one question behind the winner. The contestants got a variety of prizes just from participating, and the winner actually got a pretty hefty cash prize which is pretty awesome! With the stress of finals week creeping up, this event was definitely a great opportunity to get out, clear your head, and just relax and have fun.

A Night at the Movies: Horrible Bosses 2

I had the pleasure of being able to take a trip to the movies and see Horrible Bosses 2 the other week. Since this is the second installment in the series, I was a little bit skeptical about going to see it. The first movie was absolutely hilarious due to an extremely diverse and well picked cast. When I first saw that this movie was coming out I had no idea what they could possibly use to make a story possible. After watching, I was completely satisfied with the sequel and thought that they did a fantastic job on it. The movie was just as funny as the first movie and the original cast was brought back along with some new characters as well. Not only was the movie hilarious, but it was beautifully shot. The cinematography was awesome and they even had some really well edited sequences throughout. Like the first movie, the strongest aspect was the cast. Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day all work so well together. With the additions of Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine, and Christoph Waltz, this movie hosted a cast full of stars. If you are a fan of the first film, I highly recommend that you go see this movie and get some good laughs out.

Actively Imagining

Using your imagination can open your mind to a whole new world of opportunities. As humans, we actively get to use our imagination everyday, whether doing it to create something or even just for fun. Actively using our imagination leads to a more healthy brain in the long run. Carl Jung realized that using our imagination is a great thing to do. By using our imagination, we can develop new ideas as well as envisioning future endeavors. When speaking about Jungian theory, one of his ideas dove deep into the idea of an active imagination. What he means by active imagination is taking an idea and fantasizing about it to discover the flaws and strengths of a certain idea. This could range from a project that you are working on or even thinking about what you want to be when you grow up. In his theory, Jung divides the psyche into three different parts. The first is the ego, which is the conscious mind. Secondly we have the personal unconscious. The personal unconscious can apply to his idea of an active imagination since it dives into ideas that we remember and some that we suppress for an unknown reason. However, Jung's third part of the psyche is what can relate to an active imagination the most. The third part is what he calls the collective unconscious, and this is what makes his theory stand out from others. In an article about Jung's theory Dr. C. George Boeree states, "It is the reservoir of our experiences as a species, a kind of knowledge we are all born with. And yet we can never be directly conscious of it. It influences all of our experiences and behaviors, most especially the emotional ones, but we only know about it indirectly, by looking at those influences." To me, this almost explains our imagination perfectly. We never really know where some of our ideas come from and those unconscious thoughts definitely influence our ideas. In popular culture, one could argue that we would not have any of the resources that we have today without people using their imagination. Computers, TV's, laptops, computer software, and the internet would not exist without someone using their imagination. All the videos and music that we see and hear everyday are a direct result of someone using their imagination and bringing it to life. For me, I like to make videos. If I never used my imagination I don't think I would even be making videos like I am today. You cannot beat the feeling of bringing and idea that you had to life no matter what form it is in. Using our imaginations helps us progress as a species because if no one had any ideas, how would we have created all the wonderful things we have today.

Conservation Film Festival

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the American Conservation Film Festival right here in Shepherdstown, WV. I only got to attend one of the blocks of the festival, which was hosted by the opera house in town. During the time I went there were four films that were shown, all having a nature theme to them. The first film was about a paleontologist who talked about some of the parks across the country that are great locations for digging. While this film was very entertaining, it was my least favorite out of the four that were shown. Secondly, we saw a movie that was about a wildlife photographer who traveled to different parts of Alaska to experience the natural beauty of the state. The film was broken into five different parts that corresponded to each area that he was filming at. The camera work in this film was incredible and some of the shots that he was able to get were amazing. We saw everything from bears playing to glaciers that were hundreds of feet tall. The third film that we watched was about a couple who had met through the National Park Service and through a mutual love of the outdoors. It begins by the couple explaining how they met in a specific park in Wyoming and ends with their wedding in the park they met in. While the film also had a lot of great camera work throughout, the story behind it was extremely heartwarming and that had a really powerful effect on the tone of the film. Lastly, we watched "Sticky" which was an animated short film about a type of stick bug that went extinct on an island off the shore of New Zealand. While many scientists believed it to be extinct, there was one group of scientists that visited the island and found a group of the insects still alive, the last of their kind. The film was extremely informational and taught me about a type of bug that I didn't even know existed. In addition to that, the animation in the film was flawless and extremely visual. After attending this film festival I felt inspired and even had some new ideas for ways to edit my final video. If you ever have the chance to attend this film festival I would definitely recommend it!

The Final Stretch

With our presentations coming up next week this past week has been a busy one. I have been editing my video almost everyday and working hard to make it exactly what I want it to be. Most of the footage I shot is turning out really well in post production which is extremely exciting for me! I have also finished up my audio track for the video which is definitely helping me along in the editing process. I have been heavily editing a lot of the footage and playing around with various effects and some of the plug-ins that I purchased. Messing around with a lot of the effects in Final Cut has actually been a very fun process because there are so many possibilities when using effects. Their was actually a point this week where I thought a lot of the footage for my video was destroyed. After a really long talk on the phone with Apple Tech Support, I was able to fix the problem. Hopefully this is the only speed bump that I run into before presenting my project! The presentations next week make me nervous but I am going to do whatever it takes to get this video done!