Podcast for COMM 2460

My interview I had with one of my good friends, Kaylee Litson. We talked about her and what life has been like for her here at Dixie State College.
Kaylee and Me

Tuacahn Market Video- Re-edited for COMM2460

Here is the link to the YouTube Video:

http://youtu.be/1ICZxDcsOgU 

91-3 The Storm Website

http://913thestorm.com/

Our objectives:
First and foremost we want the audience to listen to us. We also want the audience to been informed and feel involved with what's going on with their college station. EX. using the song request form, watching the promo, and looking at the links on the side (support, watch, find, and listen to us).

Target Audience: Our target audience is primarily students between the ages of 18-35 years old. 

Old Website:
We lost the pictures, but overall the site was very boring and not very interactive.

• The background was all black and had lots of negative space. 
• There were lots of tabs with similar or no information in them, and no homepage. To get to the main page you had to click the logo which you wouldn't think of doing. It was confusing.
• There wasn't a lot of easily accessible links on the side.
• The font was very standard and plain.
• The pictures were out dated on the slideshow.

New Website: Wanted to make it more interactive, fun, and simple.

• We choose to stick with the school colors, since it is the campus station, or blue, red, white, and also black. 
• We changed the logo to match the colors, and took away one of the logos. There was the main one on top which we kept, but we took away the one on the body because it was redundant and just there to take up space.
• Played off The Storm by adding an interesting background of storm clouds and lightning bolts.
• We took away the slideshow- though hope to put one up next year of the new DJs on different page- and replaced it with our promo that is a lot more fun to watch.
• We cleaned up the tabs and can still clean them up further, but we put a request form on the homepage- which we added- so students could be more involved.
• The tabs on the right side are more accessible than before and follow our objectives of interaction and involvement by easily providing the main information they need to know. We want them to watch us live in the studio, support us, find us, and of course listen to us. Which we put on the lower right side as our call to action.

Font and Principles:

• While it was difficult to really change our font we used the Modern font with serifs- Wellfleet, text, and Goblin One, headers. It gave the page a bolder blacker look to capture attention but still be simple and easy to read.
• Wanted balance which the old website lacked. The logo and text at the top balance out where before it was the logo and 2 icons. The logo and text also provide continuity with your eye following the text across. The bottom has balance with the 4 columns and text across. Originally there was 2 or 3 columns and someone used the request form and said it had lots of empty space. People are interacting with us.
• The tab bar and background picture have a grainy texture. 
• Figure/ background relationship with the background picture and the text area.
• The horizontal lines (tab bar)  lead the viewer's eye across the page. 
• Used the contrast of dark background against a light text area.

Axioms of Web Design:

•  We made the website simple and easy to navigate but still provide the needed information.
• We want our audience to interact with us so we put our request form and the video on the home page in hopes it will make people want to stay on the site and so it can be easily seen.
• We put our call to action on the lower right for people to listen to us. The web design axioms talked about how the lower right is the most effective position for placing large images on a text filled page. The links to listen live are the biggest images on that page. 
• The website will convert to different devices though it looks different- long list.

Stardust Mis-en-Scene

Stardust 1:41

Special Effects:

In this movie they had 65 people doing the special effects, which is understandable because this is a fantasy adventure movie that has a lot of “magic” in it. The jobs of the special effect people ranged from being a prop/model maker to being on-set technicians, technicians in different units, and the senior technicians.  One of the senior special effects technicians includes Mark Haddenham (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 &2, Sherlock Holmes, & Batman Begins). There was also Matthew G. Armstrong who was the on-set special Effects technician as well as the second unit special effects technician (Captain America: The First Avenger, Robin Hood, & Hellboy 2).

There were many special effects throughout the movie like making the star shine, seeing the ghosts of the 7 princes, making objects move and explode, and the witches using their powers to transform objects and people. These effects were used to make the story believable in a sense to the story that was full of magical things. In this scene it’s the star shining, after the Witch and Tristan were fighting, that is the big special effect.

Key Graffer- Head Electrician/Lighting:

Also, this movie had many people working on the electric and lighting part of the movie. John Higgins (Mamma Mia, Captain America, Sweeney Todd, and Finding Neverland) and Ashley Palin-second unit (Troy, The Da Vinci Code) were the chief lighting technicians in this movie. This movie had a lot of scenes shot outside in both cloudy and sunny conditions. This movie also had a lot of scenes that were shot at night with light from the candles- period of time- that gave it a believable orange glow. In this scene the candles are still visible but it’s brighter than what candles put out, makes it look like there are sun lights in the ceiling. Also, the star is giving off a lot of bright light making the room seem super bright.

Gestalt Principles: 1:41

The texture can be seen from the glass and debris laying on the floor also the shadows give the staircase and the pillars texture.

Figure/Back ground relationship with the use of the chairs and other debris looking blurry close to the front and everything in the background looking clear.

Contrast with the use of the bright light lighting up the dark shadows.

The law of continuity is seen by the line of the lighting going horizontal across the scene and the use of the lines from the staircases leading your eyes up.

Balance, though, off center a little bit the balance comes from the two staircases and the placement of the candles.

The law of closure also works because of the light shining so brightly and what looks like figures standing in the middle of it.

Rule of Thirds, Diagonal Lines, and Vectors

 This photo follows the rule of thirds with the use of the cloud peaking out in the upper right hand corner. Also the first statue, though it is a little close to the frame is also on that grid line on the upper left hand corner.

This photo also has diagonal lines that really lead you in. Depending on where you look first, whether it's the cloud or the first pillar, you see the diagonal line of the mountain and the diagonal line of the pillars leading you into the photo. With my eye I see the cloud first and follow the diagonal line down till I reach the second pillar and then follow the pillars into the photo, like a zig-zag pattern.

This photo also uses the graphic vector as the tops of the pillars especially,  lead your eye into the photo.

I thought this photo also emphasized the rule of thirds, diagonal line, and vectors.

In this photo the rule of thirds has to do with color. On the first bird in the photo the contrast of the yellow beak and the orange feet fall on the grid points. Also the heads of the first and last bird fall on the grid points.

The diagonal line can be seen from the lines of the building where the birds are sitting as well as the sloping line of the roof as well as the design on the building in the background.

Two vectors are used in this photo, both the graphic and the index. The graphic can be seen from the birds leading you into the pictures starting with the first and biggest bird and ending with the last and smallest looking bird. Also the use of and index vector can be seen from the beaks of the birds, especially from the first, second and the last. Their beaks look like arrows pointing you into the photo.

Design Evaluation: Good and Bad Design

Bad Design

Google Images- Shmeggie's Blurg

This package feels very cluttered to me, and in no way simple. The text is all on the right side and there is no real path for the eye to follow because it has text both above and below the name. The bright white sparkle is also distracting from the main points that are being sold because the eye kind of stops there when reading the name. Also the color is very dull, with the background and some of the text being similar shades. However, the sky blue color really grabs attention because it is so different from the rest of the package, but why? What is the point of the half blue circle? Once you look at it there is no where to go because your either stuck in the looking at the white of the full circle or looking at the top and bottom of the blue instead of moving past that to read the rest of the words to the right.

                                
Good Design

Google Images- Pink dot

However, this package is very cleverly put. Its very simple, sophisticated and straight to the point. Your eye follows the curves of the line at the bottom but also the curves of the S which  points out the words written on the package. The color works to, much better than in the Orbit package because the Stride sticks to two main colors of white and green. Because of this the white is able to stand out more for all the text. Besides the color, obviously the size and position of where the S is grabs your attention. But what I think really makes this design pop is the use of lines and shading to make the S look almost 3D.
                              

Contrast, Balance and Harmony

I think all forms of nature are beautiful which is why I couldn't help take this photo of springtime blooming flowers. 

I also think this photo fits with the assignment of finding harmony, balance and contrast.

This photo has two kinds of balance. The first is symmetrical balance with the use of a big flower in the top right corner and a big flower in the lower left corner. The second is radial balance from the center of the flower expanding out.

The photo also has contrast with the three different sizes and shapes of the flowers, the texture that can be seen on the stem and flower petals, but most of all the contrast comes from the colors. Green and purple are both secondary colors and with the hue of the green in the background it makes the purple pop. Also the use of the yellow in the small flower really contrasts with the purple as they are complementary colors.

However I think the contrasts and the balance work well in this photo. My eye starts at the bottom of the photo in the middle of first flower because its surrounded by the white petals. From there, my eye travels up to the yellow color on the small flower and then up to the yellow on the larger flower. I then see the fuzz on the stem and travel back to the flower on the bottom. To me its like a never ending circle when I look at this picture.

Visceral Response

During the summer I had an opportunity to visit a lot of places and sites in Europe. I took a lot of pictures but one of my very favorite ones was this one.

This pictures touches on most if not all the Gestalt Principles just a little bit, but the main ones it can relate to is Figure/Background Relationships, the Law of Pragnanz, the Law of Continuity, and the Law of Closure.

The Figure/Background Relationships can be seen by the difference in depth of field. I am close to the camera, while in the background can be seen people that are very far away making them appear very small.

The next principle is the Law of Pragnanz. By just glancing quickly at this picture the first few things I see is a long cylinder rising up in the picture also the circle shaped stone barriers on the bottom right side.

The Law of Continuity can also be seen with all the lines that are displayed in this picture. The main lines I see is the ones that go straight up on the tower followed by the diagonal gate lines and the low horizontal line of the grass.

The most distinguished and fascinating principle to me in this picture is the Law of Closure. This law is about optical illusions or trick of the eye and in this picture it looks like I am holding up the tower from falling over, which I could never do otherwise. Also with the Law of Closure it fills in the missing pieces so we know that there is more to this picture with the stone barriers and the other buildings. It also fills in the parts that are missing on me, such as my legs.