Blog Ten: Final Project

Working with flash is probably one of the most challenging things I have ever had to do. This project was really difficult for me because I had all these great ideas in my head of everything I wanted to do but when it came down to actually trying to do them, I found that it was very hard for me to get the program to do what I wanted it to do.

I think the hardest part for me was the coding/scripting. It was really confusing and frustrating in the sense that just to do a simple task there was so much you had to consider. If there was just one thing wrong with your coding, it threw the whole thing off.

It was also really hard to break down my ideas. When we first received the assignment, I had a totally awesome vision of what I wanted to do but realized that it would be impractical to attempt it, considering that there was not enough time and I hardly had the basics down.

I found that it didn't necessarily have to be an elaborate project to get the idea across. Something simple and straightforward worked just as well. I feel really good that I was able to overcome the obstructions I faced though - although it may not be the best flash video out there, I was at least able to learn the basics of the program. I also feel good about creating something from a quote - it is a lot more difficult than I imagined it would be but in the end I am happy with the results.

I am not exactly sure whether I'll use flash again but I know that if I do, I at least have a better understanding of the program and how it works, and have the basics down. I'm not sure if I'll read Jameson again - to be honest, I found it quite dry, even though his ideas were brilliant. I think that's what's awesome about this project though - the fact that we were able to take something dry and boring and create something interesting and interactive.

I think that in a post-paper world, these projects could have a lot of widespread use since they make it easy to convey a complex idea in an engaging format which is very useful in many aspects of today's society, from politics to education. However, I think only a few people will be gurus at it and will dedicate their time to creating projects like these because it takes a lot of patience which is something most people don't have.

Blog Nine: The Falling Times

I think that The Falling Times does a really good job of creating a visual represenation of the news. However, you have to actually click on the images and read the articles to get the full story. You can't actually "read" the news by just looking at the pictures. I think it's really interesting though because the images, at least for me, intrigue me and get me to actually read the stories/news which I usually tend to ignore.

I don't think you can really convey "news" by using only visual iconography, at least not fully. It's more of an artistic expression. The artists feel that content should be reduced to images and headlines to represent a "universal language." This doesn't really give you the whole story though - just one person's version of it.

I think it is scholarly multimedia though because it is taking one medium and presenting it in a different way, showing a whole new aspect of it.

Blog Eight: Content of the Form

What struck me most about A Little Atomic Bomb was how the narrator's voice was slow and rhythmic, like someone who had been through war and was now weary of it. I think it fit well with what the poem was about.

What also stuck out was the graphics and the text- they fit the voice. The motion wasn't too quick - it flows. There are some parts where its faster than others, much like the speech patterns of the narrator. I also noticed that the images were somewhat grainy - to represent something historical. The text was like handwriting, and the images were like silhouettes.

What Barry Says, on the other hand, moved through a lot quicker. The voice as well as the motion were faster than the previous clip. The colors used mostly are red, black, and white - also representing something historical but the motion of the graphics as well as the text represented a more futuristic theme. It seems a lot like something you might see on the news, especially with the music in the background.

Overall, the content and the form fit really well for both clips.