RLJ 25/09/12

In this afternoon's lesson, we reflected on what we did last week, such as the things we were excited/nervous about on our respective courses, as well as discuss and be reminded of what we will need to have handed in for this module. We will have to hand in all our notes and handouts, as well as what we have done in our spare time, and write a 1000-1500 word commentary about what we have learned in this module and how I'll find what we have learned useful in the future.

We then had to discuss all the meanings in making art, such as the "Formal Qualities" (how it was made, the materials/techniques used), the context of the art (what, where, who, when, the style/genre, the cultural contexts and meanings in the artwork etc.) and the intentions of the art (how is it supposed to make people feel, what messages is it trying to get across.) We then had to look at 3 different pieces of art, and discuss all the meaning listed and how these meanings were expressed in the artworks, and write down what we think these pieces of art mean. First of all, we looked at the oil painting "The Execution of Lady Jane Grey." After we discussed the meanings behind the painting and what the painting was about, Neil Wood showed the class a YouTube video discussing how the painting was created, and now it has been restored and is now displayed in the National Art Gallery in Trafalgar Square in London (I've been there!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0576WatAPQE This is the video we watched about the history and restoration of the painting The Execution of Lady Jane Grey.

The second piece of art we discussed was a sculpture of an armless woman, which represented equality, and how just because some people are disabled doesn't mean they can't do the things they aspire to do, and doesn't mean they can't inspire people and change the way people think. However, at first glance, I did find it difficult to notice these meanings, as did the rest of the New Media students, and did look quite strange and unfamiliar at first. One of the students pointed out though, that it does seem this way because people are used to seeing things that look attractive to them. Neil then told us about the pillars in Trafalgar Square, how 3 of them have had the same sculptures on them since forever, and how the 4th one is used to display sculture artist's work, and a new sculpture is displayed there every 6 months or so (This sculpture was displayed on the 4th pillar around a decade ago. This reminded me of when the first time I saw Trafalgar Square (around 18 months ago) I saw a pirate ship in a bottle, but then when I returned to Trafalgar Square in the Summer holidays this year something else was displayed there (A giant rocking horse, I think)

The third and final piece was a quilt which had a lot of mixed messages on it that expressed the life and feelings of the artist, and how there's a lot of angst and regret in her life, and how she wishes she could live her life differently and be more carefree.

To be honest I kind of feel that these lessons with Neil Wood seem to benefit the Art students much more than us, the New Media students and the Photography students, and the things said in today’s lecture didn’t really make much sense to me, as they were talking about the deep and hidden meanings in art, which I feel are important and I find interesting, but I felt I kept on getting these meanings wrong. A lot of the other students seem to be very interested in these lessons, and are also very drawn into the lessons, which can feel a bit daunting at times. I try to contribute when I feel I can though, and try my hardest to understand what is being said in these lessons.

RLJ 27/09/12

This morning we had to continue with our debating session, which again I found incredibly tough, especially because as soon as I got to college, two of the students were making fun of the way I spoke in the debate yesterday, which to be honest, did upset me as I did find yesterday difficult and I did try my best, even though I didn't feel terribly confident in what I was saying.

After Neil recapping yesterday, I had to have some time out of the room with Lisa, my support helper in the class, to try and calm me down so I could carry on with my day. I went out of the room for a while to speak to Lisa about what just happened and the events of this week and how well she, Linda and Jane (my other helpers) all thought I’ve been handling the stresses and challenges this week, which did make me feel better, but still needed to calm down for a bit. She also commented on my strength of character, how I am always able to overcome things, my determination to get things done and that the two students that upset me this morning shouldn’t have said what they did to me. I really do appreciate having support and having people that I can talk to whenever I have a problem, I feel this helps me to cope a lot better at college, and I feel I really benefit from having support.

The debate went much better than yesterday, as I had a lot more to talk about and that I could actually relate to the point of view I had to express, unlike yesterday. I felt a lot more confident in what I was talking about as well. Neil did say that it did go a lot better, and he said that I probably did find today's debate was a lot easier for me because I actually meant what I said, when I was talking about how the 3D graphics in the Avengers helped improve the film. Neil also said that nobody really likes student debates, and he wished he could have said that I didn’t have to take part because of how stressed it had made me, and he said it did remind him of the time when I was first introduced to unwrapping models, and how stressful I found that at first (to be honest, I can’t really remember how I found the first time I was first introduced to unwrapping models, but it can be a difficult and very time consuming process)

I remember in my spare time watching the special features of the Avengers Assemble movie, which went into detail about how the movie was filmed, and what special and 3D effects are used. For instance, Iron Man's suit is all made from CGI, to make it easier and safer to film for the actors. It also makes things that would be humanly impossible possible in movies. The alien army were also made from CGI and the stuntsmen who played the alien army were just in very simple one piece suits. The knowledge I gained from watching the Avengers Assemble special features really helped with writing up my debate, as well as giving me a broader understanding of how 3D special effects are used to enhance movies.

After the debate we carried on working on the 3D model the room we have most of our lectures in, BE301, Neil gave me some very positive and constructive feedback on what I’d done with the room so far, and showed me a couple more techniques to use in Maya. I was showed how to make better legs for my chair, by using the Special Duplicate tool, and managing to rotate them to a certain angle by using this technique. Before this, I had to move the Pivot Point, the point of a model you move, scale, or rotate around, by holding the D key, like I had to just there, while clicking and moving the pivot point. I remember using these techniques briefly in one project last year, where we had to make a modern French Villa, which wasn't my favourite project, as Maya kept on playing up when trying to build the Villa. Also, I don't want to go into an architectural job anyway, but I think it was just trying to get me used to certain tools.

This afternoon we continued to model and texture parts of the room. I’m feeling really happy with how my room is looking in Maya, and have enjoyed making it so far.

I feel it's been a very difficult, stressful, emotional and tough week, and I'm just glad I've managed to get through it, and I feel I've done very well in carrying on through this week, despite finding it tough.

RLJ 26/09/12

Found today really tough. First of all I had a really restless night’s sleep so I wasn’t feeling my best at all this morning. First thing we had to do was to watch through the second year’s presentations which were updated from last week. I kind of felt that I was giving out wrong opinions about the second year’s work during this, especially since Neil thought I was being too critical on one, and too generous on another. I also notice that some are a lot more confident than others.

Then, we had to work in groups in a student debate, which I found really tough. We had to argue that games were NOT art (which I don’t feel is true, I feel that games CAN be classed as art) and how 3D graphics improve films (which I feel CAN be true, it just depends on the film). The first part, up until lunchtime, I felt I did well in, because I did contribute a lot of ideas to the argument we had to make, but when we had to do individual research, I found that really tough and broke down a bit, which is a shame, because that’s the first time I’ve properly got upset since the start of the new course. However, I did feel I knew the answers to what I was researching, from general knowledge and experience, as well as the discussion this morning, however, I just wanted to justify my thoughts on the argument with research. My questions/statements were very hard to research too, and I was stressing as well because Neil didn’t give us that much time to research things.

When we got to actually debating the argument, I felt that I didn’t come across as very clear, I felt I messed up my words a lot, and repeated myself a lot. Neil also said we had to talk for 2 minutes too, and I found it very hard to fill that time. I felt I was put on the spot quite a lot. However, Linda did say I did do very well to overcome my nerves and that I shouldn’t be too hard on myself, and did so well despite how upset and stressed I was before. She told me to try and focus more on my positives, and she did help me to feel better about myself. I just felt like how I felt when I told all the first years about my Autism yesterday, I was worried how others would react if they were to see me upset, I was worried if they would judge me or reject me or think I’m an idiot, freak, etc. This did remind me of the time I felt when I first got to Rome and everything was really overwhelming, and when Jake and Zoe tried to make me feel better, which did really mean a lot and I really valued their friendship.

Although I did notice that Annanda was giving a very good argument, and it looked as though he and Todd were going to have a really huge debate at one point. I think Todd found it quite hard to understand what Annanda was saying, but I feel Annanda did make a lot of valid points in this debate. Something I’ve noticed about Todd is that he’s very opinionated and is not afraid to speak his mind, and I feel sometimes he does come across as a bit brash with what he has to say, and one thing he did say that bothered me personally is that he said I was the “weak link” in my group because of my honesty. I think this was because I remember saying that I’ve cried at the stories of some games in the debate, despite having to write an argument against games having emotional connections with the designers and audience (I didn’t say this in the actual debate, just in the discussion this morning.) I do feel, however, that I’ve always seen my honesty as a strength, not a weakness, and that I do disagree with some of the things Todd says, such as he would have found it a lot easier to write an argument against games being art, and I found it really difficult.

I feel that I've learned from today that I can find it difficult to be forced into talking, or "debating" in front of a large group of people, especially if I'm not prepared. I also think that I do need to have more confidence and believe in myself more, something I've always struggled with.

RLJ 20/09/12

This morning I continued to work on my typewriter from yesterday in Maya. Neil was giving the others, and occasionally me, some Maya tutorials throughout the day too. Neil also mentioned that he wants me to be the best I can be and make more detailed models than last year, seeing as I have had more experience with Maya than the other first years. I think is good that he’s pushing me to do this, because I feel it will help me to enjoy using Maya more if I am better at it, and it’ll make me more likely to use Maya in my spare time and not just for college. A very useful tool Neil told me about today was the “Bevel” tool, which allows you to create a sort of rim around the edge of a shape, thus making smoother edges for your models. This helped me a lot with making my typewriter

                                                                                                                                                                         

I’ve also noticed that I tend to get very drowsy using Maya in particular, which make me want to take frequent breaks, and in some cases, make me quite hungry for snacks I bring with me to college to eat throughout the day, and it does kind of feel bad if I do eat a lot throughout the day. I definitely feel it’s best to take a 10-15 minute break every hour from using the computer for a project, or just in everyday life when using the computer, as I do feel very drowsy if I use the computer for an incredibly long time. My eyes would also hurt a lot too if I used the computer for an incredibly long time without any breaks. I noticed this on my last course too, and I never really understood how people could spend a lot of hours working on a project without taking breaks.

I managed to finish the model of my typewriter by lunchtime, and started to texture the typewriter using planar mapping, which I feel is pretty good progress on this task, especially seeing as I haven't been using Maya for a while.

This afternoon I was doing the same project as the other first year students, building a 3D replica in Maya of the room we have our lectures with Neil Brewis in, BE301. Neil recommended that we take photos of the room so we know where things are in the room and the shapes of the desks, apple macs etc. However, I decided to use my powers of observation instead to build basic structures of the furniture and technology that are in the room. I decided to make only one of each object for now, and then duplicate them later, after I've textured them. After having used Maya for 2 years, I know that doing things in this order is better, more efficient and quicker. Neil assigned us to finish off whatever we didn't finish in our own time, but just building models, not texturing yet. I found this a relief, because I didn't want to have to do too much to do before Wednesday, as well as other hobbies and commitments I have in my life.

RLJ 19/9/2012

Today was the first 3D modelling lesson on the New Media course. As I have had a lot of experience using 3D modelling on the BTEC Interactive Media course, I didn't have to go through the basic tutorials that the other first year students had to do, because they have not used Maya before. I also went through the basic Maya tutorial in the first year of my old course, so I already knew a lot. The second year New Media students had to explain to the other first year students what Maya was and what companies in the working world use Maya for their 3D modelling, which are companies that make 3D animation in films, such as Pixar, Dreamworks, Weta and ILM (Industrial Light and Magic.)

The second years had to show us what they are doing as projects, which all seem to have a marketing element to them, and they all had interesting ideas, I feel. I just wanted some popcorn when they were showing their Powerpoints. However, I didn’t have any, so I had to settle for a packet of yoghurt covered raisins instead. But joking aside, Neil wanted us first years to see what they were doing, because we will have to do something similar to what they're doing this time next year.

My task for today, to get me back into using Maya was to make a 3D model of a typewriter, which I did enjoy making, and it was a good challenge for me. Linda, the woman supporting me today, seemed very interested in what I am doing on my course, and how Maya works. I was surprised at how much I remembered, and managed to very quickly get the basic shape of the typewriter. I was also pleased with the detail of the keys of the typewriter so far too.

RLJ 18/09/12

IRE Neil Wood

Today there was a LOT of information to take in. Firstly, Neil went through a Powerpoint presentation which discussed about what art is, which people contribute most in the world of art, the different varieties and priorities of art.

Just before we had a break in the lecture we had to quickly write down what we were most looking forward to before starting this course, and what we were most concerned about before starting this course. I found this particularly easy after thinking about it, as I do think about college a lot, and it is a big part of my life, and a lot of things also worry me about college too.

After break we were given a couple of sheets of paper which asked us some self reflecting questions. One of these sheets of paper discussed the Espoused theory - which we learned was things we think we are good at, but if you thoroughly think about it, might not be so good at whatever it is you think you're good at. At first I thought to myself, I kind of know what I am good at (games, making friends etc.) and what I'm not so good at (skiing, singing etc.) so I was thinking what I could write that I am good at but maybe need improving on, which is basically what I think this espoused theory is about. At the end I decided to write down "I think I am a good driver," because, despite not passing my driving test yet, I do feel I can drive well, however, my driving skills may still need improvement.

The other sheet was about how we're finding the course so far, is it what we have expected and why we chose the course we are doing.

We then looked at this Johari Window, which what I found out today is a self reflecting technique used by the Chinese, which involves a box being drawn and split into four equal sections;
The first section being what you know about yourself that others also know. This is known as the "Free Open Area." So really, people know that my name is Rob, I am blonde, I like Sonic the Hedgehog, those sorts of things.
The second section is what you know about yourself that others don't know. So really, your secrets and private thoughts and feelings. This is known as the Hidden Area. This could be things like my weight.
The third section is what you don't know about yourself that others have noticed about you. This is the Blind Area. So people could think that my voice sounds different to how I think it does.
the fourth and final section is what nobody knows about you, not even yourself. This is the Unknown area, but can have potential to be known facts. So for instance, I've never tried Archery before, so I'm not going to know how good I am at it, nor will anybody else know.

So really, I've had to learn a lot today, and take a on on board. Taking all this information in today has been exhausting, and coupled with the fact I was still recovering from the gym yesterday, I was SUPER TIRED!

RLJ 13/09/12

13/9/12

The work today was quite interesting, yet challenging today. We learned about Matte Paintings and Concept Art which I think I'll find interesting, seeing as I attempted creating concept artwork on my last course without any official training., and learned that scenery in films is often just paintings with lighting manipulating them to give them more depth. I also learned that people can take weeks, or in some cases months, to complete Matte Paintings, and discovered that they exist because it is very difficult to find the perfect scenery in real life, and also, in some cases, you could have to go to extreme lengths to find an ideal scene, such as climb a mountain, so it is physically easier to create a Matte Painting, especially by using Photoshop, because you can take parts of photos that you need and mix them up together.

Our first task after a short insight in how Concept Artwork and Matte Painting is done was to find examples of Matte Paintings on mattepainting.org. I found quite a few examples on there that I found particularly impressive, with a wide variety of matte paintings of different landscapes.

It was difficult to narrow it down but I will post some of my favourite matte paintings from mattepainting.org. I probably find it difficult to narrow things down, as all my family tend to be an indecisive bunch.

After presenting a matte painting I found on mattepainting.org to Neil and the first year New Media students, I then had to create a decayed image in Photoshop of what a cityscape would look like in the future. After looking through some photos of city landscapes I could potentially manipulate, I decided to decay Blackpool in Photoshop. 

Our task today was to create a “decayed or destroyed city” in Photoshop by 3pm, and seeing as we started this task at about 11:30, and with having an hour for lunch and an afternoon break, we only had a couple of hours to do what we could to create this scene. I decided to decay/destroy Blackpool, which was quite fiddly and challenging, and was also quite difficult to find ideal images to use for my task, but I was satisfied with the end result, considering the short amount of time we were given. The other students seemed impressed by what I had done too.

I started by finding different images of Blackpool, then trying to find images of stormy skies and water flooding cities, because one of my ideas for showing a decayed Blackpool was to have a Tsunami flooding most of Blackpool. It was very difficult to find an appropriate picture of a Tsunami to match the angle of the image of Blackpool I wanted to use, so I spent quite a while finding the appropriate background images of both the stormy skies and a Tsunami.

Lots of different images that I wanted to try out with making Blackppol look flooded and wrecked by a Tsunami.

After lunch, I then had to decide how I was going to destroy some of the buildings, such as Blackpool Tower.

Working on what areas I want to edit in Photoshop to make Blackpool look more ruined.

Finished result. Needed to find a newer sky, and have now merged all the image together.

Reflective Learning Journal 11/09/12

11/9/12 Investigation, Reflection, Expression (IRE) Neil Wood

This afternoon we had a lesson in Study Skills with Neil Wood, who handed out, like a million pieces of paper out to each and every student in the room, to do with this module, and these Reflective Learning Journals (RLJs), which are basically what I'm writing in this post, and will have to continue to write for every module for the duration of my Foundation Degree Course. I also spoke to and had a laugh with David, the student sitting next to me during this lesson.

I remember at times I felt myself losing focus on the lesson so I had to ask Jane, my support in the lesson, to make sure I hadn't lost focus when Neil was saying something important. This wasn't from boredom, I think this was just because I was still in "Summer Holiday mode" today.

However, I did learn a lot from this lesson. I learned about how studying mostly works, as well as learning about time management, and the importance of balancing everything else in your life with studying. The group also put together a list of things that could distract them from their study time, such as family and socialising.

Another thing Neil said that I remember is that it's important to find your best "time of day," and I could definitely understand what he described because I experience a lot of this already at home. For instance, my dad always feels refreshed and wide awake in the morning, but struggles to stay awake and focused after about 10pm, whereas my Mum is quite quiet in the mornings, but can still do a lot of jobs in the evenings. I think for me, my best "time of day" when I'm not at college or busy with other commitments will be the afternoon or evening, because when I'm not at college in the mornings, and don't have too much work to do, I just like to have a cup of tea and watch Spongebob. I'm not really a morning person, and I think that knowing this will really help me a lot with my time management, and to stay focused as well.

Neil also mentioned that it's not a good idea to just spend a whole day studying at home, because if you set a whole day devoted to studying, you are likely to go off and do other things, and it is hard to concentrate on studying for a whole day. Instead, it is best to break down studying into little chunks of time across the week

We will also have to use "Reflective Learning" and "Reflective Writing" in these modules as well  as in our RLJs. This is describing what we have done each day and what we have learned, analysing what we have learned, and then evaluating it, explaining what went well and what perhaps didn't go well. For instance, I am a little bit frustrated with myself because I want to do the best I can with these RLJs and I feel that I've done more describing, and maybe wrote down a few points that may not be entirely necessary in this post.

However, Neil did say that at first, the descriptive part of your will take up most of your writing, and the evaluation will not be as detailed as the descriptive part. Being a bit of a perfectionist, I do want to try and be the best I can be with these RLJs, as well as everything else, as soon as I can, but hopefully we will be taught more techniques as the weeks go on.

RLJ 12/9/12

12/9/12 Understanding New Mediaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 1

I remember this morning feeling extremely nervous about today, because today would be our first full day with just the New Media students and I wasn’t sure what I thought of them from the past two days, whether I will get on with them and whether they will be good friend material.

The Second year New Media students were sharing the room today, and probably will for our lectures with Neil Brewis. One of them gave me the nickname Happy, which isn’t really a bad nickname at all really, even though I think he called me this because I apparently didn’t look too happy when I first got to college today. This was probably due to nerves.

I also mentioned to Jane, who supported me yesterday how, if possible, I would try and sit as close to the door as possible, so if I did get upset and had to leave the room for whatever reason, I wouldn’t distract the other students or draw too much attention to myself, and today when I sat down in between two of the first year New Media students, Neil asked me to sit at the computer next to the door because there was “more room” there. Maybe Jane told Lisa or Peter, the man supporting me for today and tomorrow about this. I’m not sure, but it was where I ideally wanted to sit anyway, despite having to sit away from the first years and sitting next to the second years. 

Had lesson today with Neil Brewis, which was a mixed group between the first and second years of the New Media course. Today Neil was going through a few exercises on Photoshop, to freshen up our Photoshop skills.

Firstly, we had to edit a cityscape in Dubai in photoshop, where I was reminded of the Clone Stamp and Marquee tools. I actually found this a very simple exercise that eased me into using Photoshop again. Hopefully these skills will improve over time.The Clone Stamp tool allows you to copy one part of an image and paint it on another part, and the Marquee tool allows you to select a part of an image, which you can then copy onto a new layer, so you don't disrupt the original image. Speaking of layers, it is also crucial if you are doing any major work on Photoshop to duplicate the background or original image so if you make an error on the layer you're working on, you always have a backup. You should also do this regularly and also save regularly so that you can go back to work if things go wrong. This also shows progress in your work.

Original Dubai cityscape image

The Dubai cityscape image after I edited it in Photoshop using various tools, as well as copying and pasting some areas.

Next, we had to edit an image of the Taj Mahal in India, getting rid of every human being in that photo, and then we were supposed to create a reflection of the Taj Mahal in the water outside of it. It was difficult to know where to start with removing the people in this image, but soon got into it. By the end of the exercise, which I think brought us up to Lunch time, I didn't get around to creating the reflection of the Taj Mahal in the water, and I did feel like I was working quite slowly and I feel like I will need to learn to erase elements I don't want in a photo in Photoshop a lot quicker. As I said, hopefully these skills will improve with time.

Original image of Taj Mahal with tourists

How far I got with erasing all the tourists. We were also supposed to get the Taj Mahal to reflect in the water, but I ran out of time to do that.

I have however used Photoshop before on my previous course. I was good at using Photoshop on my previous course, and did enjoy using it, but I didn't specialise in using Photoshop, so I'm not a super pro at Photoshop.

After lunch, we then had to 'restore' a painting, the "Ecce Homo" which was unsuccessfully attempted by an old lady in a news story. I was also unsuccessful, and found this really difficult and confusing, as I have not been on Photoshop for a while before today,  and I can't remember ever having to "restore" something, especially an incredibly old painting using Photoshop. I was struggling to know what were the ideal tools to use and I feel I will need to get more used to and get more confident with the tools in Photoshop again.

Aged Ecce Homo painting, alongside a failed attempt at restoring it, by an old lady

A less worn and torn Ecce Homo image, that I used for reference.

How far I got with this nightmare task. Used clone stamp and colour copy tools a lot with trying to restore the painting.

I think when "restoring" the Ecce Homo, I did remember feeling a familiar feeling that I often felt during my previous course, which was that everybody seemed to be learning things a lot quicker than me, hence making them seem better than me, which can be quite upsetting. I think this also comes down to a lack of confidence, something I've always struggled with, and often get embarrassed when other students ask to see my work because of this. Because I'm worried if they'll lose respect for me if they think my work is poor.