Website

http://web65.rollins.edu/~RDEVENEY/Renee_Website/Home.html

I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment and can honestly say that I look forward to further exploring web design and creating new spaces. I loved having the freedom to create an entirely new website from scratch and the creative options that it entails. I wanted my website to reflect my work, but also highlight it. I chose a simple design with key repetitious elements that highlight the work without overcrowding the space or overwhelming the visitor. I think it is a successful site because it is easy to navigate and has a classic and timeless feel representative of my body of work.

Video Project

I initially wanted to highlight "the hunt" of the outlet mall shopping experience. However, after consideration and review, I decided to focus my project on the hunt for a parking spot at the mall, rather than the actually shopping experience itself, as this search can take far longer than navigating any clearance rack or bin. I combined several shots of the parking lot and worked with the color, speed and length of these shots in order to create a feeling of uneasiness and even car sickness in order to convey the frustration and near impossibility of finding a parking spot on a busy day. I started the video with a ground shot of cars entering the mall. The perspective limits the viewer, as he or she is not able to see where the cars are coming from and going to, setting the scene for the uneasiness of the video. I combined long shots with shorter shots with cross dissolves to convey a sense of prolonged time in which the hunt for a parking spot almost transforms the viewer into an alternate form of time and reality as the focus is solely on the task of finding a spot. The sound, a simple recording of cricket night sounds aids in the otherworldly tone as images of daylight are combined with hopeless sounds of the dark unknown. Finally, I titled the video "The Empty Lot" in order to draw a metaphor for the anxiety that the hunt for a parking spot can produce as the searcher may begin to feel alone and incapable as he or she is surrounded by parked cars, with no space for the him or her.

Loretta Lux's Depiction of Childhood

A young boy stands silently in a vast and nameless scene of small stones and distant mountains. A grey sky floats still above him as his blue raincoat, matched only by his glossy eyes, offer the most color in his deserted world. The blonde child looks intensively off into the distance, but not at you. He is an unknown child, in an unknown place, with unknown thoughts. This mystery, Boy in a Blue Raincoat, is one of Loretta Lux’s many young subjects depicted in her digitally manipulated photographs. Lux, a German born painter turned surrealist digital artist, offers insight to the unknown and forgotten world of childhood in her photographs.

Loretta Lux photographs children in a dynamic manner, which enables her art to be executed in the very controlled environment of digital editing. By combining photos taken from portrait sittings with personal paintings and photographed backgrounds, Lux is able to create an alternate reality that may be all too real to the subjects of her work.

Loretta Lux ‘s work discusses the vast realms of childhood. As Carolyn Sayre states in her article in Time Magazine, “Lux’s Starkly pale, prepubescent subjects haunt the viewer from inside the image as if they were hiding some terrible secret.” Lux’s models are seemingly perfect examples of childhood in terms of innocence, dress and appearance. However, the mixture of the almost too pastel lighting (which Prose describes as post nuclear), unknown backgrounds, and distant looks in the faces of her models contrast the images of smiles and popsicles that the idea of Childhood would normally evoke. In her essay, “Imaginary Portraits”, Francine Prose says, “part of what is artful about these photos is the sly intelligence with which they raise unanswerable questions and refer us back to the emotional rather than then cerebral” (9). Lux’s art not only offers the viewer an interesting and striking image, but also an emotional connection with a child, perhaps their former selves, in a manner that engages and mystifies. The artist aids this connection with blatant titles such as The Rose Garden and The Drummer in order to allow her viewers to think critically as well as personally about the children and situations that are depicted.

As an individual and artist fascinated by the world of childhood, Lux’s work provides an interesting and exciting take on the idea of life as a child. Her work is both aesthetically sound, yet remarkably thought provoking and engaging. Not only does she capture the unknown essence of childhood, but also the secrets of humanity in general as it pertains to identity, reality and the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Bibliography

Prose, Francine. “Imaginary Portrait”. Loretta Lux. New York: Aperture Foundation,

2005.

Sayer, Carolyn. “Loretta Lux”. Time. Online. Accessed 10/14/10.

http://www.lorettalux.de/.

I visited EPCOT’s World Show Case a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be a great place to take photos for the montage assignment. For both of my montages I used the inspiration of the nations represented at Disney. My First Montage is entitled “The World is in My Backyard” and is my fantastic montage. I love living in Orlando because of all the great cultural attractions and international interaction that is available. I wanted to convey that idea in my fantastic montage by placing landmarks, literally, right outside my window. I took a photo of the lake at my apartment complex and created an image encompassing many worlds. I’m very pleased with the result. My favorite part of the image is the integration of the Eiffel Tower behind the trees. I worked a lot more with color adjusting on this project, which I think gives a great effect to the overall image.

My second montage is a collection of photos that I took while at the Morocco Pavilion at EPCOT. I integrated several photos into one to create a scene in which a musician plays while a little girl dances. The shadows made it a bit difficult to integrate the photos into the image. However, overall I feel that they all correspond nicely. My favorite part of the image is the minaret in the background. I feel like I was able to add it to the image successfully. Altogether, I think that the complete image embodies the beauty and energy of the Morocco Pavilion

Collage: My First Experience with Photoshop

My collage embodies the theme of “Georgia on My Mind.” I wanted to convey a message of home and highlight some of the most iconic landmarks of the peach state. Seven of the eight images used to assemble the layers of the collage are personal photos of places and images that are important to me, giving the image as a whole a more familiar tone. I also added an image of Scarlet O’Hara in order to convey a feeling of traditional southern living, making the idea of Georgia comfort unmistakable. While I am happy with the results, I would change a few things if I had more time. I would possibly redo the tulips and the fountain to reduce the distortion of stretching them and possibly work a little more with color, particularly in the Atlanta skyline. However, overall I am very pleased with the results of my first endeavor with Photoshop.

Pixar's Digital Animation Soars

Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures

As a follow up to my previous post about Disney animation, I’d like to touch on Pixar animation, which has deeply changed the standards of film over the last 20 years or so. I highly revere animation as an art form, and its evolution over time and our perception of what it is and should be is an interesting topic. We are all familiar with the Disney-Pixar brand of animation, but Pixar’s history goes back a bit farther, to a division of Lucasfilm, entitled Industrial Light and Magic, which created light saber and other special effects in Return of the Jedi. John Lasseter, the familiar Hawaiian-shirt-wearing man behind today’s Disney-Pixar films, joined ILM in the early 1980’s and took advantage of the RenderMan software (which is used today in Pixar animation) to create the company’s first short.

The Adventures of André and Wally B opened a new window of opportunity for the animation world and particularly for Lasseter, who went on to make numerous other shorts and eventually full length films. Another notable name entered Pixar’s history in 1986 when Steve Jobs purchased Lucasfilm’s computer graphics division and thus created Pixar. The company began producing shorts and various advertisements with their technology before finding a niche in the feature film entertainment industry. Luxo Jr., Tin Toy, Red’s Dream, and several commercials and other short films were developed in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s before Pixar became the powerhouse that we know it as today.

With the release of Toy Story in 1995 and the combined efforts of Disney and Pixar, the animation world made a huge leap and saw a turn for the digitally animated preference that continues to dominate the screen today. The trailer above showcases the beginning of a new generation of animated film, accompanied by a generation of children more familiar with and more receptive of technology. Since the release of Toy Story and the subsequent flood of successful digital films, lead by Pixar, traditional animation has suffered, including the works of the Disney Studios. However, the move towards digitally animated films has perfected the art and developed many films into fine works of stylized art. A progression can be seen within the Pixar Library as the studio moves from the playful feel of Toy Story to the otherworldly look of Finding Nemo to the comic-inspired angles of The Incredibles and the industrial atmosphere of Wall-E. The following clip from finding Nemo demonstrates the stylistic development of a digital underwater world.

It is interesting to note how the animation of the sea changed in a decade as Nemo’s take on the ocean differs from the style of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Although both have artistic value, Finding Nemo showcases the new digital standard for animation in the 21^st century.

With the introduction of digital media as an art form in film with the birth of 3-dimensional animation, Pixar has been able to revolutionize an entire industry. The results have been quality films, not only for their topnotch animation, but also for their storylines and emotional pull (who else cried when they watched Toy Story 3?). Digital media has pushed the limits of animation and kept filmmakers and audiences on their toes as this new form of animation pushes boundaries and encourages new ideas and creativity. I am excited to see what comes next from Disney-Pixar, as well as other studios that continue to work towards exciting new developments in the world of animation.

Here are a few interesting links about Pixar that relate to the discussion above.

Pixar

The Pixar Story

Behind the Blockbusters

Digital Media in Disney Animation

From Saturday morning cartoons to full-length feature films, the medium of animation has long been a part of American culture. Disney animation is among the most popular and my favorite, by far. While Walt Disney revolutionized animation as an art form in terms of storytelling and creative visuals, the animation company continues to set standards with digital art in the entertainment world today.

Technology has long been a part of film, but as digital media became prevalent in the 1990’s, animation studios like Disney were quick to adapt and continue to learn how to establish a marriage between traditional animation and the digital platforms that have recently developed. One of the most significant changes that digital media has had on Disney animation can be seen in the 1991 film, Beauty and the Beast, which earned an Oscar nomination for best picture aided by its appealing storyline and exceptional animation, particularly in the scene below.

The ballroom scene shows the effectiveness of digital animation, while also foretelling the future of animation in regards to digital media with the influx of computer animation.

The success of Beauty and the Beast and its predecessor, The Little Mermaid, marked the beginning of the “Disney renaissance”, in which several successful musical films were produced, aided by the advancements of Digital media. Disney’s Aladdin showcases one of the first CGI characters in a full length animated film while also relying heavily on the CAPS program which allows for computer color filling in hand drawn images. The first three minutes of the following clip serve as an excellent example of the use of digital media in the film as Aladdin’s attempted escape from the Cave of Wonders on board the computer generated carpet showcases the new technologies used.

The animation studio continued to be successful throughout the early 1990’s with its combined use of digital art and traditional animation. Digital media continued to be helpful in expediting the process of filmmaking and enabling new angles and technologies to be used in film. However, with the introduction of Pixar and the revolution of completely computer-animated films, the Disney studio began to suffer throughout the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, producing a scanty line of relatively unsuccessful films, while its Pixar counterparts lead the industry (which will have to be discussed in different blog post). However, with the recent release of The Princess and the Frog it seems as though the studio is finally finding it’s place and perhaps finding a way to blend the digital arts with the traditional animation values in a way that will garner positive audience reaction and maintain the studio’s reverence as a leading producer of animated films.

Here are a couple links to some interesting websites pertaining the Disney animation, including the Walt Disney Studio website.

Walt Disney Studios

The History of Disney Animation

Walt Disney Pictures