Assignment 004

Visit the FIGURING LIGHT, Colour and The Intangible Exhibition at Djanogly Art Gallery, Lakeside. Choose a piece of work and write 200 words about the artist use of colour and light.

When you look at this painting for the first time, you instantly focus on the stronger colours in the centre. This is because the artist uses bold colours and dark shadows which absorb more light that the outer colours. Rebecca Partridge has used many different colours in this painting. Each shape is made up of shades of a colour and the combination of contrasting and complementary colours give the painting depth and create a strong focal point. The first place your eyes focus on is the white shape in the middle of the painting.

When looking deeper into the concept/idea behind this painting, Rebecca Partridge has used a combination colour and light to create intensity and to make you concentrate on the centre of the painting. This intensity towards the centre of the painting, could relate to an explosion or a sound blast of some sort. The fact that the outer colours are brighter show that the further away from the centre you are the less intensive it is.

Take two photographs based on a theme of your choice. Using Photoshop change and replace the colours to express complementary pairs of colours. Explain your choice of colours.

What are complementary pairs of colours? Lets ask the wonderful Wikipedia...

'Complementary colours are pairs of colours that are of 'opposite' hue in some colour model. The exact hue 'complementary' to a given hue depends on the model in question, and perceptually uniform, additive, and subtractive colour models, for example, have differing complements for any given color.

• red complements (blue + yellow) = green
• blue complements (red + yellow) = orange
• yellow complements (red + blue) = purple'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_color

Above is the original photograph and below are the two photographs with their colour replaced.

Assignment 003 - The Rule of Thirds

Describe the Rule Of Thirds and make a short, 5 second film that demonstrates this rule visually. Post your Rule Of Thirds description and your video to your online journal.



The Rule of Thirds states that an image can be divided into nine equal parts. This is done by dividing the image with two horizontal lines and two vertical lines. (See 5 second film above) The horizontal and vertical lines can be used to align objects in an image. An example of this is when photographing or filming people. It is common to line up the body with a vertical line, and having the person's eyes in line with a horizontal line. Another example of the Rule of Thirds is when photographing or filming landscapes. It is common to line up the horizon with a horizontal line and objects with vertical lines.

Assignment 002

Think about what goes on in your head when you buy something new, take a photo of your favourite designed object and answer the following questions:

• Why is it that we want our belongings to do more for us than to function well?

• Why are we willing, as soon as we can afford it, to pay extra for things with appealing forms?

When buying something new, the first thing that comes to mind is how good it looks. But the question is – ‘How do designers make objects look good?’ Let’s take Apple’s iPod as an example. Why is it so successful and why do we like them? Personally, I think the reason we like iPods is because their shiny! The objects we find pleasing are the objects that reflect light well. It doesn’t matter what shape or material it is, as long as it reflects light, we love it! A good example of this theory in action is diamonds. Diamonds are rocks that reflect the light well. If diamonds didn’t reflect light well it wouldn’t be as appealing therefore you wouldn’t buy it. However, there are other reasons that we want our belongings to do more than just function well.

If you’re buying anything from the latest mp3 player to a new pair of shoes, we can look at how it could improve our appearance, our social status or how it could make us more appealing to others. These are all factors that play a part in buying something new. A good example of this would be label or logo recognition. With many young people today, labels play a big part in their social status and the way the make themselves more appealing to others. Occasionally when buying a new object we are ashamed to own something which could be considered ugly or unattractive by the people we respect the most. Objects that have labels or logos on them can be expensive and there could be a cheaper alternative but, with the fact that ‘fitting in’ plays a part in our decision making many people would buy the more expensive object.

We are willing to pay extra for things with appealing forms because of two reasons. The first reason is lasting appeal. We all like to buy new object and know that in a few months, if not years time be able to say that the object still appeals to you. The second reason for paying extra for thing is lasting value. Why should people buy a cheap old iPod that only has 1GB of memory when you could buy newer iPod with 16GB of memory? People should be buying the ‘best of the best’ when it comes to certain objects because then it will last longer and you will be able to get more use out of it.

Assignment 001 - Mind Control Technology

Write a 300 - 500 word article that tells the audience about a recent multimedia technology that is being or has been developed in the last six months and explain what you think the impact of this technology will have upon society.

I’ve recently been wondering... ‘How cool would it be if I could use my brain to control a game character, like Halo's Master Chief, to throw a grenade into a group of brain eating zombies whilst taking out a large vehicle with a massive bazooka?’ Whilst looking up ‘thought control’, ‘mind control’ and ‘how to take over the world in 80 days’ on Google, I came across an article _[1] that hinted at Nintendo having the same idea as me. What more could you ask for? Well, could movements and emotions be processed through the same character? If so, this would be the very last hurdle in communication via text or messaging – Emotion in context. Your character smiles when you smile.

So where has this mind control technology come from? Mind control has been the next step in interactive technology after touch screen technology. Being able to manipulate objects with multiple fingers was one thing, but being able to manipulate and interact with objects using your mind is another kettle of fish! Today, touch screens can only be developed to be more accurate when pointing on a screen, or more sensitive to pressure being applied. However, by using mind control it opens up a whole new world in the development of interactive technology. Not only would using mind control technology impact society in a positive way, it could also have a negative impact.

With all new technologies questions arise - How expensive will it be? Will it run with Vista? Can I use it as a TV remote too? But these questions are all irrelevant. The real question is – ‘I control it, but can it control me?’ In answer to this question many Police forces and other law-enforcement agencies have shown an interest in using mind reading technology to replace lie-detector tests _[2]. This is proof that mind control technology could be used against its user.

Now let’s look at the brighter side of mind control technology - The positive impact it would have on society. Mind control would be a powerful tool when it comes to certain disabilities. Medical researchers believe that mind control technology could be used by patients to control the next generation of prosthetic limbs _[3], or to give stroke victims new ways to communicate. Patients would be able to use their minds to write sentences, draw pictures or even play games.

Now the conclusion - On one side, mind control technology could help thousands of patients across the world regain independence, bring a more realistic side to gaming and completely change the interactive world. But, there is also a darker side. Mind control technology, if in the wrong hands, could get messy.

I believe in a few years’ time, this technology will have a big impact on society as it will be continually developed and new ideas for its usage come into play. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be writing this article using mind control technology!

[1] http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/gadgets_and_gaming/article4354041.ece

[2] http://thoughtpolice.wordpress.com/category/mind-control/

[3] http://thefutureofthings.com/articles/1004/mind-controlled-bionic-limbs.html

Assignment 001

"Write a 300 – 500 word article that tells the audience about a recent multimedia technology that is being or has been developed in the last six months and explain what you think the impact of this technology will have upon society."

So where do I start? Well, the first thing to do is research multimedia technologies!