Video Week 13

This week we were editing our video. Although this version was much better then the first one, it took some time to make it look good. We were changing white balance, colors, and even cropping the shots because in some of them sockets were seen.

We decided to turn our video into sepia tone  in order to make it warm and chocolate like. 

The only thing that we still need to do is to find some music for the commercial. We are thinking about whistling or some other funny music which will match the comic idea of our video.

Video Week 12

This week we were shooting 2nd version of the commercial.

We took professional lightening (2 spotlights) from the school, and also changed the place of shooting, because more space was needed for all the equipment. 

We also took out all zoom-in shots. We tried to do our video as accurate as it was possible. All video was perfectly divided into separate scenes, were no extra camera movements was needed. So every scene had a different angel of shooting, which was most appropriate for the scene itself. 

It took approximately 3 hours to create the video. We have done 3-4 takes of one scene, in order to avoid different mistakes, and reach the perfection. We also marked every scene and take with a number, in order to not be confused.

I think that finally we have done everything pretty well. Our previous poor experience helped us to understand our mistakes and improve.

Video Week 11

This week we have agreed on the final idea of the commercial, and started shooting it.

Here is the idea: A serious grown-up man in suit comes home shirks his work in order to take pleasure of his chocolate. His wife catches him and sends back to work, but after, steals his chocolate in order to enjoy it herself.

Valeria and her friend were chosen as actors, me and Alex as directors and camera operators.  

During the shooting we have changed our script a little bit, because in practice some shots became not so good as they were in theory.

There were two major mistakes in the process of shooting. First - lightening. Second - Zoom-ins and outs. Without professional lightening, our video was to dark and grainy, and with zooms, we were just wasting the time, because commercial became to long and also as far as it is very hard to make a plain and accurate zoom-in, our video became a little bit untidy.

So, we decided to re-shoot our video, taking in consideration our old mistakes.

Video Week 10

This week we were watching a film named Koyaanisqatsi. Koyaanisqatsi can be translated as crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living. Film depicting the world consisting of nature, humans and technology. 
The movie itself is a bit depressing; it shows our world spoiled and hopeless. After the class I've found one quote by Godfrey Reggio, director of the film: "So it's not the effect of technology, it's that everything exists within it. It's not that we use technology, we live technology. Technology has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe..."I hope something will change one day...

Video Week 9

During this week on Video production we were showing the final version of our videos.

I think it was a great job, and also a great experience for me. 

Also we started thinking about our next task - 30 seconds commercial for a chocolate. We should create our own brand name and slogan. What is important that in commercial every shot should be perfect. No camera shaking, or slipshod zoom-in and zoom-out. 

Our team (me, Lera, Alex) had some funny ideas, such as grown-ups who eat chocolate like children and muck themselves in it, or girls who want to be slim, but still eat chocolate.

I think we need some more ideas before choosing the one and only!

Video Week 8

Finally I finished editing my video!

Firstly I thought that it will be a very serious and sad video, but then together with the teacher we decided to make it more funny, because Alex standing behind such a thin tree, and Lera speaking with the closed mouth definitely is funny. We come up with the idea of the old silent movie.

It was really hard for me to find the music from old movies, but finally I succeeded!

It looks really good! The old movie style fits my video a lot!

Video Week 7

This week I started editing my video.

Unfortunately, I have no ideas how to make it  look nice. I just "glued" together the two parts of it, and stopped. Only now I understand some mistakes that I have done while shooting. Lera wasn't opening her mouth, Alex was walking away too happily, with the light step, and it's not really clear that she drops the photo.

Now I understand why professionals take hundred shots of the same moment. It is impossible to make everything look perfect from the first time.

I had three shots and these was not enough.

Good lesson for the future...

Video Week 6

Hurray!! 

I did it! I shot my video!

It was great fun! In St. Istavan park, we found a perfect place for shooting.

This was my first experience as cameraman. Firstly I was a little bit afraid, but then I realized that this is not so scary and is actually very interesting!

I can't wait to edit it and see the final result!

Video Week 4-5

We have got our first task - short video based on contrast. 

This was my first idea:

Eventually, it was very hard to implement, because a kid was needed, a car was needed, and the way to give all this dangerous things such as cigarettes to a kid was really hard without harming him. 

Thats why I came up with another idea:

I think that it's a good idea to show the contrast in love. One who makes you happy, could make someone unhappy at the very same time. I know that it sounds sad, but such situations happen. However I want to show that the ex-girlfriend is not going to make a row, she lets her beloved to go. People should learn to forgive. 

P.S. This is not the situation from my life! :-)

Video Week 3

During this week we were learning about the three stages of video production process -- Preproduction, Production, Post-production. The Preproduction stage is writing the proposal, the storyboard and the script. Also actors should be chosen. Production stage is actual shooting. Post-production is a final stage which is editing. 

I think that preproduction stage is actually the most important one. During the preproduction all the major decisions are taken. Without it video can not come to birth.

We also had some practice in  preproduction. Our task was to create a small coffee commercial in typical Russian stile, with 4 animals. Although coffee is not a kind of Russian drink and I (as a typical Russian person) had no idea how to represent a typical Russian style, it was great fun, and great experience! :-)

Video Week 2

This week we had our first class of Video Production. We started with the theory: importance of writing a clear story board, different people who are involved in video production, and other major facts.

I'm a little afraid of this class, because I have never held a video camera in my arms before. But I think that it will be a good experience for me. I'm really glad that I have such an opportunity to learn about video production - one of the major parts of the art world.  

13th Website Design Class

This week we were required to show our BAAM website to Dr. Phil, but suddenly we've find out that nobody has it. It was on Valerka's SD card, and unfortunately she left it at home. It is our shared mistake, because we forgot to make backups. I learned a lesson from it.

Also we have some problems with photos and interviews - they still are not ready. But I think that we will do our best and finish it till the next week.

Sculpture - week 13

This week we worked with the carton. Our task was to create a 3D object or animal. I have chosen a penguin. I wanted him to look fat and clumsy, as a real penguin on the dry land (because in the water he is very graceful). I cut the forms and glued them together to make the body. 

I enjoyed this type of sculpting very much! I think I will try to make something like this on my own!

12th Website Design Class

At last we have background images! So programmers team started working. We've found out a lot of interesting things - who to put YouTube videos and Flickr photos to the webpage, who to make an object on the background clickable, etc.

There was only one problem. The homepage background image was too large so we had to scroll up and down. We edited it a little bit and made it suitable.

Our website is nearly ready!

Sculpture - week 12

This week we had Strawberry Garden Field Trip

Unfortunately only few of us came, but at least it wasn't crowded. We've visited all the workshops, and enjoyed the artistic atmosphere of the garden.

The most amazing thing we have seen was the bronze casting. It was wonderful! Red-hotted bronze overflowed into the forms, and then started to burn on the top. It was breathtaking and seemed to be magical!

I think that this trip will dwell in my memory forever.

11th Website Design Class

Today we had a lecture about the podcast. The word podcast consists of two - iPod and broadcast It was really interesting, especially because I've never heard about it before. It is digital audio or video file that can be downloaded from the Internet. I think now this is a very good idea, because usually this is free and you can watch it whenever you want. You will not miss your favorite radio-show, if you are subscribed to it. It will be automatically downloaded.

Sculpture - week 11

This time we had to sculpt a nude. It was really difficult!  But also it was interesting! I was curious if I will be able to implement this task.

Before starting I remembered that Mr. Georgy said before: create the figure at once. It is much more complex work, but it looks better, and it is stronger, so the arm and the leg will not fall down from the sculpture. Surprisingly, I succeeded in making the model! Of course it is not perfect, but it was only first try=)

Sculpture - week 10

This week I had the mood to do something really artistic! For the few minutes I was thinking about it, and then come up with the idea of Dali's melting clock. I like a lot his painting 'The Persistence of Memory', so I started working. The most important here was to made the numbers carefully and neatly. Because small pieces of clay that may remain near the numbers will make the work untidy.

I'll publish the photo of my work a little bit later.

9th Website Design Class

This week we were rearrange the list of responsibilities, because some new members came to our group, and also thinking together about the design. We worked out the idea that the style of our website will be 50s. Rock'n'roll, black&white photos, and some old stuff! 

After some more time for deliberation, and Dr. Phil's help, we decide to create a room, were every object is clickable.

I think that this is a good idea! And we will continue working on it.

Sculpture - week 8

This week the task was to create an animal into a sponge stone. I decided to create a bird, but unfortunately I spoiled it. I tried to follow the teachers instructions, but there was no result... I tried to start a new one, but again it was just expenditure of the stone. 

I was very disappointed.

Maybe it is not for me?

8th Website Design Class

As I said before, our new task is to make a BAAM website. So this lesson we've spent on deciding who will do what. We had 6 variants: Design, Structure, Photo, Programming, Interview, and Text(content). At the beginning everybody wanted to be at the design section, but after some discussion we've arranged the areas of responsibility in the normal way:-) 

Finally, I am doing the design and also programming. I will do my best!

7th week! PRESENTATION!

During this class the task was to make presentations of our websites. I am very afraid of presenting but I decided to go first. And I think that it was good! I was so worried about it, but now I'm so happy!

I enjoyed all the presentation. I think it was a great experience for us!

Our new task is to build the BAAM website. Good luck!

Sculpture - week 7

 Today I've finished the mask!

But before that my task was to pull it out from the negative. Once again I realized that I'm not strong enough. Mask was glued to the plaster and it was really hard to peel it. It was also very important to do it carefully, because  the mask can be broken easily. But with the teachers help I did it.

Next step was to paint it. I have chosen two colors black and red. They fitted my idea of the African mask. 

Here you see the result!

6th Website Design Class

During this class we were working on our websites. I did nearly everything at home, but I had some little problems which I decided to solve in class. I wanted to put a song on my website, but unfortunately our school computers don't work with this.

The funny thing is that I have 15 pages instead of 5. I understood it only when I started doing the Pictures page. But I think that it is not a problem. I'm not thinking about the amount of work I'm just trying to do my work better.

Sculpture - week 6

This week I continued working with the mask. The task was to put the layers of papers inside the plaster negative. I started with the paper towels in order to mark out the details, and then continued with the newspapers. I soaked the papers in the wood glue mixed with water and laid them carefully in the negative. Carefully because if there will be some air bubbles, the mask will be defective. I made nearly 8 layers of papers, and left the future mask to dry.

5th Website Design Class

During this class we were comparing websites. Layout, design, etc. Some of them were nice and some so ugly! It was very important, because we discussed what was right and what was the mistake. Now I will try not to make these mistakes in my website.

Also we talked about what information should be given on the website and what shouldn't. I think that it is really significant. Your home address or other personal information on the WWW may cause some great problems.

I think that I have some ideas about my website... But still it is green as grass.

Sculpture - week 5

This week we were doing the large clay sculptures of small everyday objects.

For this lesson garlic became my 'model' :-) I finished it quite fast. And... The clay twin was just like his original brother!

I was inspired by my first work, and decided to make something more. My next model was an aubergine. And again I was very happy with the result that I've got!

After, I decided to make something more interesting and also more challenging. Luckily Alex and Valeria were thinking about the same thing, so we've made the co-operation. Together we created one 'masterpiece', called rose-like cabbage.

It was great! 

4th Website Design Class

During this class we were working on thumbnails and also hyperlinks. 

As we all know, usually on the home page we see a thumbnail and when we click on it, it becomes larger. It seems so simple when you are a user. Now I understand that for the page creator it is not. For every picture separate page should be created. And if you want to make the button that will shift you to the next picture, it is even harder. 

It is not complicated but it is really a HUGE amount of work.

I still don't know what my website will be about... I'm very afraid that it will be a disaster.

Sculpture - week 4

Today we were making coins. First part was to draw something, and then to carve the negative in the plaster. It is a  miniature job, and small mistake can ruin everything.

When the negative was ready I pressed the piece of clay onto it and get the positive! My coin was with the sailboat, maybe because I miss sea a lot...

Sculpture - week 3

During this lesson we were creating a mask! Unfortunately I was absent on week 2, when everybody started working on it, so I became one week late.

Firstly I was required to make a positive mold out of clay. I decided to make something similar to African mask. But to make the idea material was not so easy as I thought. But after some work, I've got the result! After that I've covered clay with the plaster, in order to get the negative, and left it to dry. Surprisingly, for pulling the clay out of the plaster negative, the men's strength was needed. I realized that I'm not strong enough :-( 

But the result that I've got made me to forget my sorrow. It was really nice! The next step will be creating a paper mask.

2nd Website Design Class

Second class was much more interesting then the previous one! We started to work in Dreamweaver. With the help of this software is much easier to create web pages. After I wrote some text and added few pictures I decided to click on the code button. The code was incredibly long!!

I enjoyed this lesson a lot! It was very interesting to create my own website! As far as it was my first site, it is not ideal, but I will develop my skills, and make it better!

1st Website Design Class

With the new semester, some new subjects appeared!

One of them is Website Design! Very important thing in contemporary life, as I think. Impotant... But not very interesting as I thought. So I wasn't very glad to attend my first class. But surprisingly I understood that it is not so bad and I like it! 

On the first lesson we did some work with HTML. Typing long list of codes was not really interesting, and I don't understand how programmers do that every day. Thankfully Dr.Phil said that we will never do that again!:-) But it was a great experience! I understood how important every little point, slash, and quote is.

 

Sculpture - week 1

Today we've met our Ceramics and Sculpture teacher Szász György. He is a very kind and interesting person with the deep knowledge in his subject.Our first task was to make a concave clay "drawing". It was fun! I decided to draw Cheburashka, Russian  cartoon character. The next step was to cover the clay negative with the plaster, so after some time when the clay will be taken off, the positive will appear!!!

This lesson was really great, I enjoyed it a lot!