Final Project

From Ohio To Orlando

The Places We Travel

These Photos are taken by myself

Before making this project, I planned to make a project about my feeling of basketball, because I love playing basketball so much. Finally, I find it is hard to express my feeling, as it is too difficult and too abstract for me to express it in a interesting and unique way. So I decide to change my theme. Then I planed to make a project about my trip to NYC during Thanks giving holiday. But, all I did in NYC is shopping. There is no time for me to do some thing about art, and I am exhausted. The reason is that we  drive to NYC by ourselves and it takes us 9 hours on the road. Finally, I use face book to get some inspiration, I go through the photos I upload to face book. Suddenly, The photos I took at Orlando was beautiful. So I decided to use my trip to Orlando as my theme of the final project.

When I begin my project, I have to decide what strategies I could use to create my narrative. I went through the micro project I did this semester. I found that I learnt many skills from this course, such as photoshop manipulation, iMove editing and Garageband skills. Why do I use all the skills i learnt to create a project, which can fully reveal the ability I learnt from this couse. Thus, I decide to create a few separate works using different techniques and combine them together as a whole.

The first picture is a map, it clearly shows my travel path from Ohio to Orlando.I use photos to represent each city. These photos are symbol of each city in my opinion. For example, I use Ohio stadium to represent Ohio and the disney world to symbolize Orlando. The photo of the plane not only shows how we travel but also shows which airline company we choose. The second photo shows where we traveled in Orlando, I use photoshop to put these four photos into four round-edge squares. I think this layout clearly shows the places we traveled. The third photo is composed of four photos taken by myself. This is a more personal photo, it shows what we do in previous four photos. I use the style of jigsaw puzzle to express these four photos, as I think our memories are like jigsaw puzzle. When we recall something, what we got is just some separate scene. When we combine these separate scenes together, they become story.

In the fourth image, I use four photos of Disney castle I took in the Disney land when is there is a firework display. I love these photos best, as they are so beautiful. I think they are the best photos I took ever. Actually, it is hard to catch the firework, because the background is dark and the firework moves quick. At first I can't catch them by using the auto mode of camera.The photo I took is like this:

Finally, I adjusted the shutter and the diaphragm of the camera. And I took the photo of the firework successfully. I really like these photos and my friends also tell me these photos are beautiful. I am very proud of myself. 

The final piece of work is a video named fire work. I used the photo of fire work I took and the song "Firework" by Katy Perry to make this video. This is denotation. I also add some photos of smelling faces, just like the lyrics says " You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine/ Just own the night like the 4th of July/ Cause baby, you're a firework/ Come on, show em what your're worth.This is connotation. I try to use firework as a metaphor to tell everybody that they are special in their own way, just like how every firework has it's own different shape, color, ect. When I met difficulties, I will watch this video as this video gives me esteem and tells me do not be pessimistic about life. More importantly, this video makes me think of the happy memory.

MP 5

My action word is drop. The dictionary meaning of this word is let or make something fall vertically.
The object I choose is egg, as I like to eat them. I eat an egg everyday. In my opinion eggs are all fragile and if I drop them they will break very easily.  My idea is that how can I drop an egg without breaking it. So I designed an egg drop project.
Here are the steps:

Here is the video

Brain Storm

When I am thinking about my final project, I have no idea about it. There is no topic I really want to talk about. The  micro projets I did this semester were all assigned theme and with instructions. When doing a final project of what ever I want makes me mind goes blank.

Before I took this class, I have no idea about art. After taking this class, I learnt that art is everywhere and all I need to do is just to find it. I think about the half year time I spend in USA, and found that make a project about the trip to Orlando would be a good idea. I probably make video about this trip and use some photos took by myself. The night view of the castle was awesome, I still remember it until now.

Failure Statement

My biggest failure this semester is probably micro project 2. In this project I need to make a map that shows my unique journey to class. In this project, I take pictures of my way to classroom and put them on the google map. I try to use GPS tag to locate them on the google map automatically, but I failed to do that. I searched on google about how to do this, but it does not work. So I just put the picture on without GPS tag. I thought I could do better if I know how to do this. And this technique is interesting. If I acquire this technique, I could put all the photo I took on the map. When I look at the photo, I know exactly where I took them and which city I have travelled and which not. 

I keep trying to learn this technique. Finally I know how to do it. 

My biggest success this semester is micro project 4. In this project I need to manipulate the sound to give a sense of place in 1 minute. I use the sound on Lane Ave and add some special sound and manipulated them in garage band. When I listen to these sound I know I am on the Lane Ave and these sound are really interesting. The thing I learnt from this success is that art exists everywhere in our life. It is just outside and inside your house, all you need to do is to find it and show them to others in a particular way.

I would like to redo my micro project 2 if I could.  I would add GPS tag and try to reflect more elements about myself. Make it a more personal map.

Micro-Assignment 4, Identity and Sound (Can you hear it now?)

The place I chose is the W Lane Ave. This avenue is near my apartment and I need to cross this street everyday to go to school. This is a busy street with a lot of people and traffic. My normal activities in this place is waiting the traffic light. If I close my eyes, the sound of passing cars and horn of cars can let me know that I am in this place. I notice there are many car accident happens on this street.

Response to Carver “Cathedral”

This story is about a men who learns a lesson from a blind man, who is a friend of his wife. He learns that people should learn the world with their heart instead of judging the world simply by their eyes.At the beginning of the story, we can easily feel that Carver doesn't like the blind man. The writer doesn't use any word to express his dissatisfaction, but we can feel that from the words. For example, the writer do not introduce the name of the blind man, which shows his aversion of the blind man. However, the writer changed his view about the blind man after talking to him. He found that the blind man have clear eyes in his heart and he knows how to feel the world with his heart.

Two to three ten-second video clips with sound

Response to Wallace "This Is Water"

This article is a commencement address by Wallace. In the speech, Wallace explains what is liberal arts education. Wallace believes students should not believe the degree they get will only help them to get a job. More important is the knowledge, world view  and human value they get from the school. Wallace also said that, as people have different background knowledge, they may  have different opinion toward same thing. There is absolute right answer for these questions. There is no right or wrong questions in our life, all the situation we met in our life are multiple choice questions. It is not matter "what to think" ,but matters "how to think". 

I love this speech, as it tells me what is real value of my college education and what I need to emphasize in my college life. 

Response to Kaprow “Blurring of art and life”

The article wrote by Allan Kaprow, tells an absorbing theory. Brushing teeth, in Kaprow's view, is a behavior related to art. Kaprow believes this action is an art. It is may be strange to us, as we brush our teeth everyday and nobody believes this behavior is related to art. However, it is hard to   determine what is art or not art. As art is originate from our personal life. Our daily life can be art.Life is never lack of beauty, but it just need an eye to discover that beauty. I agree with the author that brushing teeth can be art, as art is the way show the world in a different view.

There is a sentence in the article I really like. " An artist concerned with lifelike art is an artist who does and does not make art." I like this sentence as I think a real artist must discover art in our daily life rather than make art.

Wexner Review

My trip to Wexner Centre was amazing. The photo taken by Annie Leibovitz attracts me most. I really love them. This photo is based on the well-known myth of Romulus and Remus, taken by Annie Leibovitz. The prompts are used to emphasize the main theme of the photo, which are the features of Rome. The setting of the photo is in a coliseum, which is in Rome, Italy, the city that Romulus and Remus had founded. The fur on the models back shows that the model is the mother wolf nurturing the twins and the cup in her hand represents the milk that the mother wolf used to feed them while she raised them. I really like this photo.

Micro-Assignment 3, Identity and Objects (The things you carry with you)

My headphone- I chose this because I love music. I listen to music everyday. Music can inspire me and alter my mood. My favorite singer is Jason Marz. The headphone has noise cancelling function, which reduce unwanted ambient sounds. I really love this function, as I can enjoy my favorite music even in noisy place.

Enjoy music quietly

My cell phone- I chose this because I use it every day. I think cell phone is the device that I use the most. My phone has a 4.8 inches display. I really love this display, as it is large and has a high DPI.  I can get more content from this display compare with other phones.

Information center

My stylus – I love this gadget, as I like to us iPad to take notes. Sometimes my fingers are not precise enough to meet my needs. This stylus provides me with the same feeling of writing on paper using pen.

Precise touch experience

My mac – I really love my mac. This mac is with retina display and the words and pictures on the display are so sharp. The Mac OS X is very user-friendly. I really enjoy the feeling when I using this machine.

Stunning Display

My iPad – Sometimes computer is too heavy to carry everyday. iPad is a great substitute for it as it is light and has the similar function as computer. And the Apps on iPad are awesome. Especially the note-taking app it really helps me a lot. I can use it take notes and recording at the same time, which is very helpful for my study.

Portable small pc

I use pure white as my background, as I am a big fan of apple. I really like Jony Ive's industrial design, which is mainly minimalist design. I think white background will emphasis the things I want to show to the viewers. The size of the photos are relative to the real size of the product, as I want to give viewer a real feel of the product and how big they are. I am really keen on digital products as you can see from the picture, they are all about digital product. I think these devices will improve people's productivity and also enhance the living quality of people.

                                          

Response to “Cardiff, Miller and the Power of Sound”

The article is mainly talk about how to use sound to record life. Miller and Cardiff are artists who are famous for using sound to make artwork. The article tell us the story of Miller and Cardiff when they using sound to make their artwork. They recorded all day long of their life. They record when they are talking, traveling and so on. When people listen their recordings, people may imagine they are the person in the recording and imagine the picture of the recording.

After reading the article, I become very interested the in their way of making art. If I record the sound of my daily life, it would be very interesting. And I decide to do so.

MP 2

I walked to the campus, as my apartment is near the campus. It takes me about 15 minutes to walk to the classroom. I think everybody in OSU know where stadium is.

My professor sends me E-mail about the location of the classroom.  What makes me journey unique is that I just move to the new apartment. The way I went to school is different from I used to be. I used to live in UV, and I need to take a shuttle to campus. And I need to get up early in order to catch the bus. But, now I move to the apartment next to campus. I don’t need to get up early and rush to classroom. I can walk to the classroom and enjoy the scenery on the road. I feel more relaxed than before. I can pay more attention to the people around me.  Some of them are busy,  some of them are happy. 

However, there are a lot a traffic light on my way to school. There is on just besides my apartment, and the time of the traffic light is very long. If I met red light when I get to the cross street, it will waste me a lot of time and I will probably late for class. If I met a green light at the cross road, and don't have to wait I would feel very happy and the happy mood will stay whole day. I think the traffic light seems determines my mood of the day.

I have never study in a stadium. I think this is a very interesting experience for me. 

Response to Nipple Jesus

By reading the text, I think Dave is a tough guy. He is also hardworking.

Dave’s opinions of the “Nipple Jesus” painting changed several times. At first,  Dave observes the artwork from a distance. He enjoyed the artwork and did not find any strange about the painting.  “ So the first thing I thought was, bloody hell, that’s a good picture. Because it makes you think, and I don’t often think about things like that”.  After knowing that the artwork is pornographic, his opinion changed. Dave feels disgusting about the painting. However, Dave’s opinion changed again after meeting the artist and her family. The effort Martha put into the artwork attracted Dave. The more he looks the artwork, the more he likes it.  Dave is also a sensitive guy.

We can interpret artwork in different ways. There is no one way is better than another. However, if the purpose of artist is misunderstood by people, what he or she going to do?