Project 6 Critique

- What ideas did you incorporate into the piece?
The whole conversation taking place on Skype was an interesting concept. A lot of the ideas just came from the banter. I feel that there is a weird sense of irony with the whole thing, which I directly mention in the video. 

- Do you think the piece is successful? Why or why not?
As much as it could be. It's very direct, but it gets the point across. It wasn't what I had in mind at the beginning of the project, but I did what I could considering the circumstances. 

Self-Evaluation
- What skills did you learn through working on this piece? How did you employ these
skills in your work?
I used most of the skills I already had before starting this project. I used the panning tool a bit in some instances, manipulated the volume levels, etc...

- What challenges did you face?
My hard drive failed at the last minute, so anything that hadn't already been put in the video was lost. I tried to salvage the project the best I could, but the limitations show.

- Did you find a suitable resolution—if yes, what? If no, what would you change?
I had come up with other ideas during the later stages of my project, but they had to be scrapped. Instead, I went with a blog style video with what I had. Not sure if I'm completely successful.  

- What revisions would your make if you were to do the work a second time?
I would love to have been more creative with some of the original footage, or at least my original idea. I would have loved to have been more exaggerated.

Project 5 Critique

PROJECT CRITIQUE FORM
Name: Scott Farrell
Class Section: 008
Critique

- What ideas did you incorporate into the piece?
I noticed that my average involves a lot of water. For example, I often wake up, wash my face, and have a cup of coffee, so I decided to run with this theme of water. At the time of the project, I felt like I had too many things to do and not enough time to do them, so I had an idea of drowning or trying to hold one's breath. There's a heavy sigh in the beginning and one at the very end, so there's a feeling of holding one's breath, as though we need to hold our breath to get through our work day.

- Do you think the piece is successful? Why or why not?
For the most part. There's only so much you express with sound alone and I feel like the sounds of water are distinct enough to drive the point home, but the idea stands enough that someone might pick up on it.

Self-Evaluation
- What skills did you learn through working on this piece? How did you employ these
skills in your work?
Learning to use Audacity for the first time. This is the first program we've used this semester that I wasn't already familiar with, so while I had no trouble learning it, I had to make time to actually figure out what I was doing.

- What challenges did you face?
I attempted to keep other people talking out of the recordings as much as possible. While there is background chatter, no distinct language can be heard.

- Did you find a suitable resolution—if yes, what? If no, what would you change?
Yes, I would say so. The background chatter indicates a public area, but there is no real conversation heard.

- What revisions would your make if you were to do the work a second time?
I'm not sure how to revise a project in order to make water sound more like water, but that's what I would do if I could.

Project 4 Critique

PROJECT CRITIQUE FORM
Name: Scott Farrell
Class Section: 008
Critique

- What ideas did you incorporate into the piece?
I tried to incorporate some sense of paranoia into the shots; the mask emphasized the point more than anything. There was also a very limited view of the room, while shots involving doors and windows were saved until the end, giving little sense of the outside world. The focus on the person instead of the media was to illustrate how people have reacted to news media, rather than the news media itself.

- Do you think the piece is successful? Why or why not?
To an extent. The mask sells the point, but the small anxious hand movements also give a feeling of unease. The contrasting voice-overs were an interesting idea, but trying to get both the shots and the narration perfect was incredibly difficult.

Self-Evaluation
- What skills did you learn through working on this piece? How did you employ these
skills in your work?
Image sequencing in my editor was the main skill used, which, besides timing, isn't difficult. Trying to create dynamic shots that work in stop motion was also difficult, and sometimes the camera would be uncooperative.

- What challenges did you face?
Attempting to sound as something other than an angry teenage boy was the most difficult aspect of the project. Other than that, trying to get the right shot to convey the right mood was also  a challenge.

- Did you find a suitable resolution—if yes, what? If no, what would you change?
As much as I could. If anything, I would have taken far more shots but used more nuanced facial expressions.

- What revisions would your make if you were to do the work a second time?
Really, just the nuances between each shot. Some worked and some didn't.

Project 1 Critique

PROJECT CRITIQUE FORM
Name
Class Section

Critique

- What ideas did you incorporate into the piece?
-War
-Struggle
-Individual struggle
-Wartime Media

- Do you think the piece is successful? Why or why not?
 The piece is successful in that it portrays individuals during wartime, especially the main focus of an old man with a flintlock rifle. A very visible struggle is occurring in the picture.  When first reading the assignment criteria I intended to use more color in my picture, but it was not suitable with the subject at hand.





 Self-Evaluation

- What skills did you learn through working on this piece? How did you employ these
skills in your work?
I used the selection and marquee tools selectively, the most obvious example being the overlaying text. I used layer masks and the gradient tool in order form most of my image.

- What challenges did you face?
Managing to find the right amount of text while not obscuring the image was the most technically difficult aspect of creating the image. Trying to form an image from what I had at hand was also challenging, as was hoping to incorporate brighter, bolder colors into the image.

- Did you find a suitable resolution—if yes, what? If no, what would you change?
I enjoyed how the image came out. With my limited experience and the images at hand, I think this was the best resolution of the image.

- What revisions would your make if you were to do the work a second time?
If time permitted, I would incorporate a border into the image in order better capture how war can erase the individuals' identities.

Collage Critique

Some thoughts about the previously posted collages:

• I enjoyed how the "Serenity" picture came out. While it wasn't a collage in that it wasn't an amalgam of pictures put together, but the two pictures came together quite nicely. I somehow managed to get a small transparent effect when creating layer masks, which gave a small ethereal effect. The simplicity of the image contributes to the feeling I was attempting to convey.

• My first collage was forgettable. I made it, felt like it sufficed, and continued on my way.

• I did not use the selection tool on many of the images. When I did try to make a selection and incorporate it into the image, I felt as though the image felt cheapened. I didn't get creative with the tool, which may yield some nice effects if I play with the same way I did with layer masks. 

• The "Technology/War" collage came out well. The way I arranged the images gave the image a very structured and rigid feel, good for expressing the coldness of war and the technology used. 

• During the whole thing, I was more interested in color and unity than creating a unique collage.