Final Video Project

This is my final project. We talked about sound in the second to last class and I thought that I could play around with sounds and make something cool with it. So I recorded some simple noises and made a little song out of it. I wanted to do a lot more with it but I couldn't work with anything other than iMovie, but I'm still glad I was able to make something. Hope you enjoy and I'm glad to have had this class with everyone!

Can Art be made with Technology?

I believe art can be made with technology. A good example of this is the video art project for class. The recording is taken with a camera, which is a piece of technology in and of itself. And in order for the footage to tell a story, the clips had to be strung together and edited. That's using technology to make art. But that's just one example. Musicians can also use technology to create art. For example, keyboards are electronic instruments. And many music artists can create their own sounds through technology. Even painters can use technology. Digital artists use software like Photoshop to edit and create their own paintbrushes, utilize practically any color, and use layers to streamline the process. So, art can be made with technology.

Musical Movements

The virtual music movement involves the use of voice synthesizer software to create the songs. Most of the time, the music videos are animated, but there are also concerts that make use of DILAD screens, as seen below. These screens can show projections on a transparent background to make it seem like the projection is really there. The Off the Hook video (2nd vid) displays the screen in use very well. Vocaloids like Hatsune Miku are iconic examples of this movement, as vocaloid software can create the voice needed. This movement really has a lot to do with the intersection of technology and music because the live performances rely on technology to thrive. I find it interesting that a persona can be created from just a voice, as many vocaloid stars have origins in this way.

The disco movement started in the mid 1960s. It was popularized by films like Saturday Night Fever and gained popularity with African Americans and gay men. This music style emphasized dance by having prominent bright and peppy rhythms. The disco movement eventually swept the nation, to the point where acts of violence were made against disco records. This led to the disco movement's swift end. Although the music itself didn't have major use of technology, the music videos were developing into performance art pieces and had better editing than before. Also, dance clubs around this time developed more technology as a result of the popularity of disco. The disco ball is an example of one improvement.

The girl power movement focused on women rising to positions of power. The kinds of music are like pop songs today, but still have elements of the other music types. For a long time in the past, music and theater were mostly populated by men. So movements like this helped women make an impact on the industry. 

New Wave music was an evolution from rock and blues. Synthesizers and electronic tones were more commonly used in these kinds of songs.

Xerox Project

For this project, I created an image using cut outs of the copied body parts and centered them around a copy of my face. I really like the center image because you can even see my hair. I had to close my eyes really tight to avoid getting harmed by the bright light of the scanner, but I think it adds to the tone.

This was an interesting project to complete. I preferred putting it together over scanning myself, but I do like the result.

(The image is turned sideways. That's annoying, but I can't rotate it in any of my applications :\ )

21st Century Technology Developments

One recent 21st century technology is the Nintendo Switch, a portable game console released March 2017. A lot of different things contribute to its development, but the real beginnings are in 1986, when the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was released in America. There were many other hone gaming consoles before the NES, but the NES had more launch titles to help it stand out among the crowd, along with innovations on the controller. The NES introduced the D-pad, a plus-shaped button that allowed for more movement options, as well as the Start and Select buttons. The Switch Pro Controller has a D-pad, and although the Joy-Cons (seen on the left side of the above image) do not have a designated D-pad, the buttons on the bottom of the leftmost Joy-Con act as a D-pad.

The Switch controllers also use dual analog sticks, which allows for much greater control in 3D environments. Unlike the D-Pad, the analog sticks allow for a full 360 degree range of movement. In most games, one stick is used for character movement while the other helps move the camera. Analog sticks can go back to arcade games, as many used joysticks for control. Eventually they found their way onto console controllers as the jump to 3D in games required better movement methods.

The image at the top shows a Switch console in the charging dock. In this way the Switch can present images on a TV screen. But the Switch can also detatch from this base to be portable (see below). In this form, the screen is on the console itself, and the monitor also acts as a touch screen. Touchscreens have been around for a while now, with their use being popularized with the iPhone. Touchscreens weren't widely used in video game consoles until the Nintendo DS, and they are widely used on portable consoles.

These are just a few technology improvements that led to the Switch's development. Honestly I typed a lot but if you read this far thanks for coming to my TED talk

Skittles Grid Art

On class last Friday, we learned about the grid and to demonstrate how grids work to display images, we created pixel art with skittles and frosting. On a monitor or TV screen, many pixels make up a grid of colors to display images in greater quality. Bitmap image formats such as .jpeg and .png also use pixels in this way. This project simulated this so we could see how each skittle color in a single row eventually makes up a whole image. My image was of an unicorn. The body is the red skittles, the horn is pink, the mane is green, and the background is blue. This project was fun and I'm glad to have been able to work with my hands a little in this class. 

Performance Art Video

This performance art piece is of me running with various pieces of trash strapped to me. In between are segments of me writing. Eventually I get slower and slower as the garbage drags me down... Eventually the word is finished being written - it spells out "Free". Then I put away the garbage and am free to run again. I wanted to show the effects of worry in our everyday lives - it slows us down and drags us back. But letting go of such things allows us to be more mobile.