Thursday, May 24, 2012

blog #6- Animation Deconstruction



 These are two images from the same movie. They are from one of my favorite animated movies, Finding Nemo. I love this movie not only for the cute story line but for the great use of color with all the sea creatures.
1.       color- The hues used in the first one are blue, yellow, orange, green, pink, and purple. The color scheme used here can be classified as split complementary with the red coral and Marlin's orange color in contrast with Dory's blue and the blue of the ocean. The hues in the second one are blue (many different shades) orange, white, and grey. The colors scheme in this one is mostly monochromatic, with Marlin being a complementary color.   The top picture has a great amount of saturation. There is a lot of light in the scene and the colors of the fish as well as the surrounding coral and plants are very bright. The brightness, or value, of the first picture is very light as compared with the second one. In reverse, the bottom image has a darker value. The water surrounding them is a lot darker than in the first. This change in value has to do with creating a more frightening emotion with the shark looming behind them.  The saturation of the bottom image is less than the top.
2.Lighting- In the top image there are very little shadows. The only real shadow is the one that Dory’s fin makes on her body. There are also slight shadows within the coral and plants. Overall however there is a lot of light in this image.  This lighting symbolizes that they are happy and that nothing is wrong. The mood of this image is calm and happiness. In the bottom image shadows are used a great deal. It is a darker image and the water all around the shark is one big shadow. This use of shadow symbolizes the ominous situation that they are in while being stared down by a big scary shark. The mood of this image is dark and frightening as indicated by the darker lighting.

Blog #5- Story board


 






I have always really liked the way this scene flows. A lot of the camera movement is fluid. They don’t cut to different frames, the camera moves around the scene. In the beginning when the car is pulling into the parking lot of the pool hall it follows the car that Randal, Mitch, and David are in. When it cuts to the next scene the director used the 30 rule. He used this by being 30% or more closer to the actors when David flings open the door. As the actors begin to walk in the camera slowly zooms out slightly and then goes backward in front of the characters as they make their way through the hall. It then cuts to another frame of an establishing shot of the room showing people hanging out and playing pool and foosball. It uses the rule of 30 again here by rotating the camera 30 degrees. Then the scene cuts to inside of the foosball table while people are playing. This again uses the 30 rule by being more  than 30% closer than the last frame. This one is really close up to the ball and the actions because it is literally inside the table. In the last frame the rule of 30 is used again when it zooms back out to show the people surrounding the table that was just zoomed in on. I could not really find an example of the 180 degree rule in this clip. I think this is because there was no direct dialog between two characters that was shown close up. The rule of thirds is used in just about every frame. Most of the important objects and characters line up with the lines when the frame is divided by the rule of thirds. I don’t think that the rules were really broken in this scene. The only one I couldn’t find was the 180 degree rule, and as I said there was no dialog that was applicable to this rule. Other than that the director followed the rules. I really like this scene and the way it was directed. I particularly enjoy the way the characters move in relation to the camera and the music.

Blog #4- Song Deconstruction



Elliot Smith- Between the Bars



Metric -Between the Bars (cover)



Listening Framework
Elliot Smith- Between the bars

Listening phase 1- rhythm



Tempo- (slow, medium, fast) – the tempo is medium/slow

Source-(where is rhythm coming from)- The source of the rhythm is the guitar strumming

Groove-(describe personality of rhythm)- the personality of the rhythm is slow and sad


Listening Phase 2- Arrangement

Instrumentation- (which instruments drive the song)- the only instrumentation in the song is Smith's voice and the acoustic guitar

Structure/organization-( order, patterns) the song has an A A B A A B verse style

Emotional architecture- the song starts out with a very soft guitar part fading in. the vocals also start very softly and eventually gain a little bit more at the end. However it is a fairly soft and slow song the entire way through.



Listening phase 3 – sound quality

Balance
-Height- (high and low of frequency)

The song has a fairly low range, because Smith's voice is fairly low. When he gets to the lines that start with “people” he reaches the highest note.

-Width-( stereo panning)

stereo panning is not used much in this song. It alls seems to sit fairly in the middle.

-Depth-(layers of instrumentation)
There are not many layers in instrumentation. The only instruments used are the acoustic guitar and Smith's voice.







Metric- Between the Bars cover


Listening phase 1- rhythm

Tempo- (slow, medium, fast)

The tempo is a bit faster in this one. It is a medium speed.
Source-(where is rhythm coming from)

acoustic guitar


Groove-(describe personality of rhythm)

this groove is not quite as gloomy. It also seems to be in a slightly higher key.

Listening Phase 2- Arrangement

Instrumentation- (which instruments drive the song)

Acoustic guitar and Emily Haine's voice.

Structure/organization-( order, patterns)

It has the same AABAAB structure that the original had

Emotional architecture- (draw how song builds up and drops)

She doesn't start quite as slow ans soft as the original. She also builds up a little higher and gets alittle louder on the last verse.

Listening phase 3 – sound quality

Balance
-Height- (high and low of frequency)

It is about the same range as the original, but her voice is higher because she is a female.

-Width-( stereo panning)
not much panning

-Depth-(layers of instrumentation)
again only two layers, voice and guitar.





I chose to do these songs because it is one of my favorite bands covering one of my favorite artists. What could be better? The song was originally written and performed by Elliot Smith off of his album Either/Or, and the band metric did a cover of it for a Rolling Stone interview. The two performances are very similar in many ways. The first way is that the lyrics are identical. The melody is the same progression wise, but is just about a half a step higher in the Metric version. The organization of the song is also exactly the same as the original version. There are also a couple things that are slightly different than the original version. The rhythm in the Metric version is a little faster as well. As I said the Metric version is a higher pitch, it sounds to be about a half step higher. I assume this is to accommodate for Emily Haine's voice which has a higher timbre than Elliot Smith's. It also goes at a slightly faster speed and is a little less gloomy.( which is hard to do with lyrics like those). They also keep the same instrumentation in the Metric version which I like,because it sounds good as a simple acoustic song. I don't think it would sound as good with full band accompaniment. It is really hard to say which version I like better because I enjoy both of these artists so much. I have thought long and hard about it, and I have to say I like the original version better. I hold this opinion simply because nobody can do Elliot Smith like he can. He just has this certain sadness that puts a unique emotional charge to the song that I have never really heard a cover accomplish. He has a unique timbre in his voice that somehow makes it just a touch gloomier. It might also have to do with the fact that he was the one who wrote the lyrics so he would have a bit of a deeper connection with their meanings while performing the song.