Music Videos Through the Decades (Part 2)

Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai (1997)

In this music video,  the pacing is very funky and smooth. Jay Kay is dancing in a bright room, and the floor appears to be moving. That's the whole gimmick of this video. The walls are actually moving, not the floor.  With his funky dance moves and the illusion trick, it fits to the meaning of the song. The video is the virtual insanity: it's a man wearing a huge hat, dancing around, with the floors moving. My head hurts just from thinking about it. There are also roaches, a bird, and some people getting blown away by the wind. It was weird, but that's what makes it compelling to watch. I think that this music video predicted what will happen to our world today. This world's technology is growing, and we use that technology for good and bad. There are also the presidential election for 2016 and terrorist groups like ISIS. It's like we are in a "virtual insanity". The weird dance moves and the illusion is like the confusion we have in our world today. The stark room and lighting reflects to our modern technology today.

Overall, I think that this music video is a compelling video.

Music Videos Through the Decades

1. From what I seen, the music videos were bizarre. There was definitely more variety of ideas and creative gimmicks in the music videos. even though the technology wasn't advanced as it is today, the music videos had some inspiring dance routine, costumes, and camera shots. There was also some great story-telling. Some was adventurous, like in the music video, "Take on Me" by a-Ha, while others were silly like "Coffee & TV", by Blur. And there was some simple illusion tricks like the one from "Virtual Insanity" by Jamiroquai. Overall,

2. I consider the music video, "Here it Goes Again" by OK Go, to be considered works of art in their own right. The video only consist of a simple camera shot, but the choreography was very complex-and it was all on treadmills. They even got the dancing in sync with their music, which is very hard to do when you have to film this in one take. And the fact that they have to attempt this 17 times to get it right is impressive. This is why I consider this to be a work of art.

3. Throughout the decades, music videos change overtime. In the early music videos, technology wasn't that advanced compared to music videos today. The techniques used with technology was much simpler like in the music video "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads with the fake water background. Many of the videos at the time have to come up with creative ways to make a good music video using the tools that they have at that time. Later on, technology has advanced and became much more accessible to people. Visual effects are more flashy and costumes are starting to become more extravagant like in the music video "Telephone" by Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce.

4. The fire arcade video compared to the earlier decades both have something familiar: a neighbourhood. Your childhood neighbourhood is already personal, so the fire arcade video makes it like your own music video. The video was much more interactive than the earlier decade videos. You get to move around the birds and write a letter to your younger self. In the earlier ones, you can really do much except watching it.

5. I think that technology will further advance, possibly making videos more interactive like the fire arcade video. They also might make the costumes and sets more crazy. But I hope that in the future, there will be more creative music videos, unlike some music videos where you just shake your butt.

5 Portraits

I took all of these photos of my brother outside in the Mimico Centennial Library Park. These were taken at sunset so the lighting was good. It's has a soft looking touch on the subject and the things around it. Most of the photos here are direct sunlight except for the last one. The subject was in a playground tunnel so it's open shade light  These shots also show the park in the background. The theme for this is that I made all of the photos B&W, and that the park was used to make some interesting shots. The conceptual part of the theme is that all of these photos are to tell about a teenager visiting a park that he used to go to when he was a child.

 In this photo, the subject's face has a curious look to it, as he watches something over in the distance. And the pose works well with the background because the bars and his arms lead your eyes up to where his face is. The composition of this photo is nice because he is off-center,and the bar acts as a frame, which is appealing.

In this photo, I like his face because it looks like he's talking with a hint of a smile. Also, his hand pose adds personality to the photo. The composition here is simple. His hand is kind of pointing to his face, which can lead your eyes to it.

In this photo, he is looking straight at you. I like the intensity of his expression on his face. I also like the symmetry with his arms. It goes well with the playground set behind him. The background and his arms gives a solid frame around him which I think is a nice composition.

In this photo, his expression on his face has a gentle look and a little bit of a smile to it, which actually fits him well. The pose is different is different from the others, but I like it because it gives more variety. And the composition is fine because the slide acts as a line that leads your eyes to him.

In this photo, the expression on his face makes him look vulnerable. The pose is different too, because the hand got blurry as it got closer to the camera. In the background, there are graffiti inside the playground tunnel. I feel like that it gives more personality to the photo. And the composition has lines from his arms that lead you to his face. 

Overall, I'm satisfied with these photos and I had fun with my brother while taking these shots.

Neoclassicism

My Prezi on neoclassicism

Portrait Lighting Workshop

We got into a workshop with the cool photographer Steve Carty! :DD Here's the photos we took with him.

This photo was taken outside in open shade with a gold reflector underneath her face. You can tell because there is a bit of a golden glow under her chin.The weather at that time was slightly overcast, so the sunlight was not that powerful. That was our only light source. The camera was close to her, maybe about an arms-length. The subject Alex was a step away from the background so that there will be no shadow. I like the background because it contrasts with her black shirt, making it look darker and her face brighter. The expression on Alex's face is very lovely and makes the whole photo brighten up. The placement of the subject was a bit far from the wall in the center and I took the photo in a vertical stance. Overall I like this photo because of that glow on her face.

This photo was taken in the CyberARTS studio with a white background with 2 rim lights shining on the background to make that hazy effect. The main flash light was not used in here and there was no reflector in here. Here in the diagram, it shows the placement of the subject, lights, and camera. The lights were 4ft from the background on the same power. And the lights were placed in an angle so that it can make a X on the background. That way, we can be sure that the background will have even lighting. I used the white background because that's what everyone is using at that time and it will be a hassle to change it. I also was sitting down close to the subject Kris when taking this photo so that we can have an even viewing level. For the subject Kris, his expression is very dramatic against the soft lighting in the background. I love it because it contrasts and also because Kris has a handsome face in that photo. The placement of the subject was in the center a bit far from the background so that there will be no shadows. Again, I took the photo in a vertical stance. Overall, I like this photo because of the dramatic expression and the contrasting lighting.

And lastly I took this photo outside with direct sunlight. But the sunlight was not powerful because it was slightly overcast on that day. No reflector was used in this photo. The only light source was the sun. I was an arms-length close to the subject Basma and she was close to the blue wall which creates the shadows on the wall. The lines in the background frames nicely on the subject and it also leads your eyes to her. Also, the blue works well on the subject. The expression on Basma's face is beautiful and brightens up the photo. The sunlight on her face also helps. I had to crop the photo so that the composition would work out. And I took this photo differently: it was in a horizontal stance. Overall, I like this photo because of the lighting on her face and the lines in the background making a nice composition.

Yeah. Steve Carty was a cool guy. :)