Artistic Inspirations

Another short documentary that I also enjoy watching when I feel like I need some motivation or inspiration is called "Art Angel" and was produced by The FADER. "Art Angel" follows singer/ producer/ artist Grimes. Grimes produces all of her music, videos, album covers, and more by herself. This documentary shows a behind the scenes look at how she produces her music and the concepts behind her album "Art Angels." She also talks about what/who "Grimes" is and how she has evolved in pop culture. The video starts out showing clips of Grimes from past events in her career, out on the road, on a photoshoot, etc. and uses a glitching effect when transitioning between the clips. This glitch effect makes a lot of sense because it fits with her music, which is mostly electronic and focused around technology and science fiction. Most of the video is a sit down interview, where she discusses the reasons why she makes all of this on her own. She explain...

A short documentary that I always find myself going back to on YouTube is called "Back in My Body," which follows singer Maggie Rogers, in which she discusses her inspirations behind her music and follows her journey venturing back to Alaska to perform a show. The reason this journey is so meaningful to Rogers is because two years prior on a trip to Alaska while she was in college, she had a sort of epiphany while hiking in the Alaskan landscape. This realization led her to write her popular song named after the state, which became her breakthrough into the music industry. She is also working through writing the song "Back in My Body," and debuting it live. It's a really gorgeous film to watch. It intertwines home video style footage Rogers and her friends filmed themselves with professional videography and drone footage, which gives the documentary a personal feel. Rogers narrates the film herself, giving us insight to her music and what goes on in her min...

I found this great video on YouTube that explains a few editing tricks in Premiere Pro that are simple, but can make your video look more professional. I think this is a great video because it is simple and most anyone can understand it. The tools used are not too advanced and complicated, like some tutorial videos are. The video explains how to use text in a more effective way, by making the text large and dropping the opacity of the video in the background to give it a glowing effect, making it easier to read. I think this will be helpful to me, as I am considering if I should add in some text in my video. The next few tips are about audio. He shows how to drop audio levels without key framing, using a much easier shortcut. Some sections of background audio should be dropped when narration is happening. He also suggested finding some pre-recorded sound effects to enhance the audio from the original shot. You don't always have to use what you have and you can design and manipu...

Additive Color-  how the colors red, green, and blue are used together to make other colors that are perceived by the eye. Blue and green create cyan. Red and green create yellow. Blue and red create magenta. All three together create white. CMYK Color- Cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (key). Often used in printing, and the four colors are blended together. They become darker as they are put together (subtractive). Color depth- the number of bits per pixel to make a color on a screen. Most computers support 32- bit color. Color wheel- a wheel of colors that represents the relationships between primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. Greyscale-   range of shades of grey, white to black. Hue- a color or shade, the name we use to classify a color (blue, green, red) Monochromatic- consisting of only one color or very similar hues of one color. RGB Color- red, green, and blue are used blended together to create colors. Useful for screens. Added together, they create ...

Like everyone else during this quarantine, I have started watching Tiger King, a docu-series on Netflix. It's about people who own their own wild animals and have "sanctuaries" where they have shows and attractions like tiger cub petting. There are obviously animal rights activists who claim abuse and go after these people, but those that own the tigers say that they are treated fairly and live happy lives. The series follows one of the most popular owners, Joe Exotic, the "Tiger King" and his saga which includes a feud with a woman named Carole Baskin who owns Big Cat Rescue. The story takes a surprising turn in which murder may or may not have happened and someone plots to have Carole killed. It's truly a wild story in every sense. The directors do a great job at highlighting interesting characters and telling the story from each of their own perspectives. It makes for an interesting yet also humorous documentary hearing how each person remembered each ...

4-Color Printing- method of printing that uses 4 colors, CMYK (cyan, yellow, magenta, and black). The colors mix together to make most of the color spectrum. Bleed- the bleed is what goes beyond the trim edge. Anything that goes beyond the guidelines will be trimmed off after printed. Direct to digital printing- method of printing where the image is printed directly onto the final product instead of paper or a transfer. Hard proof- a printed example of what your final print will look like. Soft proof- viewing the example of what your print will look like digitally. Inkjet printing- a printing process that prints a digital image by spewing out ink onto paper. Letterpress- ink is applied to rubber stamps and pressed against paper to form image. Offset printing- printing process in which the image is transferred from a metal plate to a rubber blanket and then to the print media. Pantone colors- a standardized color system from Pantone Inc. used across many industries. Eac...

Defining Terms for Logo Design Logo- the symbol used to identify a company or brand. Abstract mark- an abstract logo that is not a recognizable symbol, it is completely unique and different from anything else. Lettermark- a logo that uses typography, usually the company's initials or name. Mascot-  when a company uses a character or spokesperson as the logo. Emblem- a logo that is a symbol with text inside of it. It often looks like a family crest. Pictoral Mark or Symbol-   an "icon" logo, a simple symbol logo, such as Apple or Nike swoosh. Wordmark- a simple logo that just uses the company's name as the logo. Utilizes typography to create an effective design. Graphic Design Above the Fold - relates to website design, utilizing the what is visible when first opening the web page. Branding/ Brand Identity- logos, colors, designs, typography and more elements that are used together to create one identifiable brand for a company. Gutter- the unused...

I am a huge Disney fan, so watching The Imagineering Story, directed by Leslie Iwerks, was really interesting to me. The docu-series focuses on the Imagineers, the physicists/creative minds behind the Disney Theme Parks and attractions. The documentary starts out explaining Disneyland's beginnings and how Walt Disney pulled off making the world's most popular theme park. We continue on to follow the imagineers and how this group of people basically built and made the theme parks possible. This is particularly an interesting documentary because it explores the history and uses much historical footage and archive imagery. We get to hear from original Imagineers and know their exact thought processes when creating iconic attractions. Iwerks does a great job at storytelling and giving the audience a behind the scenes look into the creation of basically every attraction and park that Disney operates. The trailer is inspiring for my documentary because it uses quick cuts...

Last week, we visited Donna Lawrence Productions. Donna Lawrence makes incredible short form documentaries that are installed in museums. She has made films for the Kentucky Derby Museum, the Statue of Liberty Museum, the New York Historical Society, and many more. After viewing a screening of some of her films, I really got an idea of what a professional documentary looks like and how a true genius in the field of documentary works. I made sure that I paid attention to the way they use interviews and voiceovers. Most of the interviews were played over top of imagery, they weren't just videos of a person talking. The audio clips were not too long either, they were just snippets of important statements and information that gave some context to the imagery we were seeing. This will be important in my documentary because the message will rely heavily on what the people involved are saying. What I really took note of was the music that was used. Each soundtrack was perfectly timed ...

I found an awesome video on YouTube that explains some simple methods to color correct in Premiere Pro. It is simple and easy to follow and explains the Lumetri Color channel. We learn how to affect the hue (what we call the colors), saturation (the intensity of those hues), and luma (the brightness of the shade). The video then goes into how to read the Lumetri scopes, understanding how to correct exposure, white balance, and saturation. The white balance selector automatically corrects the temperature and tint, which is a very useful tool in Premiere Pro. Using the basic correction panel, we can fix the exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks to create a more cinema film look, making a more professional looking video. The settings that we change can also be copied over to the next video clip. The HSL secondary panel can mask certain parts of the video so we can correct or change certain colors in the clips and create some contrast. We can also utilize the RGB c...

Here's a reference guide on the different parts of typography. Apex - the part of the letter where two strokes meet, for example the top of the "A" where the left and right strokes meet. Arm - the arm is one stroke of the letter that does not connect at both ends, for example one side of the "V." Ascender - the part of a letter that extends out from the middle of the character, like the line that extends at the top of the lowercase "d". Baseline - the invisible line on which the letter sits. Bowl - the rounded part of letters like "d," "o," and "b." Cap height - the measurement of a capital letter from the baseline. Counter - the area of some letters that is enclosed in the rounded parts. For example, in "o" and "B." Crossbar - the horizontal lines that join two strokes, for example in "A" and "H." Descender - the part of some letters that descend down under the baseline, l...

Miss Americana is a documentary film surrounding pop star Taylor Swift. It chronicles the struggles Swift went through leading up to her album reputation being released, her life behind the scenes on tour, her journey to stardom, and behind the scene studio footage creating her album,  Lover. The scenes surrounding the pop star aspect are all interesting and entertaining to watch, but the most compelling parts of the film are about Swift finding her own voice. Early in the film Wilson highlights Swift's struggles from online hate and bullying. At one point we learn about the years 2016-2017, when the entire internet would tweet about Taylor's career being "over", her body type, her "obsession" with writing break-up songs, and pretty much would make fun of every aspect about her. Several clips from news outlets and talk shows play, showing TV anchors joining along with the trend, bullying her on national television. Swift speaks about the effect that a...

I'm currently making a video project surrounding the topic of women's golf because I play golf. Originally, the project was going to be a short documentary on the history of the LPGA. The idea has changed over time, and now my video will be a short documentary on my final year playing competitive golf and my team. A documentary that has inspired me is the recent Netflix docu-series Cheer, directed and created by Greg Whiteley. Cheer focuses on a college cheerleading team and their preparation leading up to competing for the national championship. It focuses on a few key characters as they tell their story and what cheering means to them. Whiteley is able to make the audience really feel for and connect with these people. This is series, so it features 6 episodes. Obviously mine won't be that long, I'm looking to be under 5 mins., but I like the way that the trailer for Cheer is edited. The trailer has very quick cuts and is only 2 minutes long. Although the the cl...

Alex Prager is a self-taught photographer and filmmaker. She was inspired to create work after she saw an exhibition of William Eggleston's photos. Her work has a classic Hollywood feel using highly saturated colors and most of her films feature female protagonists. The films in particular examine the emotions and feelings that go through our minds during different experiences and how we react to them. Many of her photographs resemble film stills (much like Cindy Sherman) and she gives the viewer just enough information to make up stories about characters in their own imaginations. Face in the Crowd is perhaps her most famous series from 2013. Prager depicts large crowds in separate locations, each individual person being a character that the viewer could write their own backstory for. Prager works with huge sets, hundreds of actors and extras, and lots of props and costumes to compose her photos and films. The accompanying short film stars Elizabeth Banks as a woman ...

I came across this infographic while scrolling through Pinterest that describes "The 10 Commandments of Typography." I thought it was a great way to not only to describe the general rules about typography but a great way to visualize them. https://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2018/09/21/website-typography-rules-infographic/ Definitions of Typography Terms for Reference  Serif Font - a serif font has a little line attached to the end of the letter and makes the type more legible. Sans-serif - does not have the line attached to the letter.  Slab-serif - fonts that are thicker than the average serif font. Typeface -  refers to specific characteristics of font, like bold, italic, condensed.  Font - refers to the specific member of a type family, like Times New Roman. Kerning - the spacing that can be adjusted between letters. Leading - is the distance between lines of text.  Points - the standard for measuring type. Picas - 1 pica is 12...

Hilma af Klint was creating abstract art long before the abstract movement in 1940s. She may have even been the first person to ever explore abstract art. Despite this work being made as early as 1906, no one had ever seen it until af Klint's first solo exhibition in the 1980s. She died in 1944.  Group IV, no 2. The Ten Largest, Youth, 1907 https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-swedish-mystic-hilma-af-klint-invented-abstract-art Her work is so unlike anyone else's, especially for her time period. She had studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, acquiring classical training such as painting landscapes and self-portraits. She created a group with four other women in the 1890s, named The Five. They met regularly and had séances where they attempted to communicate with spirits. During one of af Klint's experiences, she received a "commission" from a higher being to paint her abstracts. All of her work is spiritual and...

"One really beautiful wrist motion, that is synchronized with your head and heart, and you have it. It looks as if it were born in a minute."   -Helen Frankenthaler https://www.wsj.com/articles/growing-up-with-helen-frankenthaler-on-cape-cod Helen Frankenthaler has long been an inspiration to me. As I have have embarked on a journey of abstract painting, I have looked to her as one of the masters of abstract expressionism. Frankenthaler was born in New York City in 1928. She attended Bennington College and graduated in 1949. Her work was being shown in exhibitions almost immediately after graduating and she quickly gained fame in the art world. She is one of the pioneers of the Color Field style of painting.  Cool Summer, 1962, Oil on Canvas Frankenthaler is known for taking her paints and watering them down and applying them in a way that almost looks like a watercolor painting. In doing this, she is creating different tones of color in areas...