Reflection

After this assignment, I have made great process in the operation of Max and I realized that inspiration is very important at the same time. Maybe I adapted to the way East countries educated me, which let me feel it was very hard for me to take the initiative and do a work alone. However, during the process we made a production, inspiration is the most basic, and this assignment requests us to do some interesting things.

So, according to the requirement of assignment, we are required to start with a specific emotional/intellectual goal: to make audiences feel or think about something. At first, we just want to make two extreme expressions which are a smile and angry because we think these two faces occupy lots of people’s emotion and this can make a sharp contrast. Then we set a voice induction system which can detect the volume and then according to your voice from small to loud, the image will turn from smiling faces to angry faces. After that Amy think we can enrich the meaning of our production according to our daily life, so, she points out that we can make this production as a ‘class warning system’, which remind people when you voice is loud in the class and it will disturb other classmates. Then with the help of the teacher, we set up some numbers to make the voice system more sensitive, when people’s noise reaches a certain volume, the smiling face will change to the angry face, and there is a camera to catch the audience’s face and freeze in the window at that moment. I think this is a very interesting and meaningful work for each of our group members because we have contributed to what we have learned and our own unique ideas during the process.

However, after we show our work to other students, lots of problems arise. Some of the classmates said that when they shouted in front our computer, they feel embarrassed instead of angry. At the same time, when they were testing, the sensitivity of voice is not very good, participants need to shout many times to succeed. So, they suggested us to adjust the sensitivity to be stronger to make it more sensitive. At the same time, when our teacher tested other’s work, I feel these works are really attractive and amusing. I have very appreciated these unique and interesting assignments because these works reflect their inspirations and creativity.

ACMI is the most profound lesson for me at this stage because it inspires me to open my mind and help me to get some inspirations. There I can see a lot of interesting, unique and charming works of art. Although I have not understood them fully, I am always be attracted to them. I remember when I stood in an open small room surrounded by cameras and I know if I did some actions the cameras will catch these moments. At that time, I felt the artist was trying to communicate to me and I was involved in this interactive art. I love this feeling, and I find that art is like magic, I want to explore its mystery. So, my independent work is based on the works in a museum, and with the help of my teacher, I think I made an interesting work.

In the previous reflection, I mentioned that our biggest problem is that we cannot show our idea clearly via Max. However, throughout the development of study 1 to major project, I have learned some knowledge about the creative process. For example, often when thinking creatively I can image an end product before having completed any research or strategic thinking. Setting a goal can allow me to have a clear mind and create motivation to work towards it, so I think this can be beneficial to the whole exercise. I think I still need to explore the technical producers in Max, I believe this is not something that can be grasped overnight. Once you understand the terminology and system, you can use it adroitly. Also, I have learned a great deal from my peers throughout these studies. Each student has created a range of amazing works which show their creativity and uniqueness.

After these two stages of assignments, I firmly believe that I didn’t choose the wrong studio. Although I doubted in the beginning, and I also considered whether I was suitable for this studio, during this time, I find the meaning of making a program. So, I believe it is important to push yourself into things that you may not be as comfortable with, I choose lights, camera, interaction with the understanding that I was providing myself with a challenge. Overall, it is important to remember that I chose this studio in order to push my media abilities. As my skills develop, I hope I can make a complete product independently. I am really looking forward to seeing what everyone come up with over the remainder of the semester.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=19bD3v-zF07OGLIBpCGZewgi79c_BL5Hh

Statement 3

<Find Me> is the assignment done independently with the help of my teacher. I think of it as an interesting game. You can see a building image when you open my work and then you need to find a small window which is hidden in the back of this building. When you press the correct a position of the small window, an image of a clown will come out and the picture says You Win and there is also a clear voice said that you win. That means you find the window and you passed the game. Although this procedure is not very complicated, its inspiration is the most important part of the whole program. We went to ACMI and museum last week and I appreciate many brilliant and interesting works. What impressed me most is that there are many buildings like apartment or school in the middle of an open space, and a child’s voice wanders in the air, he said, “help me, help me.” I felt very scared at that time but it also keeps me fresh. So, I want to do a program based on this production and I didn’t want to make it feel horrible. After I discussed with Sarah and then I decided to do a relaxed game. During the process I made the program, our teacher helped me a lot and when I watched Rachel’s work, I knew her download some effects in Max and did a wonderful production. This motivates me to take the initiative to understand Max and discover more magical effects.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HkKh9XKvGASrapLX-G9ldjz9zdH4UsqG

Statement 2

Study 5 is an improved work. Once study 4 is complete, we need to show it to members of the class. If unsuccessful, we need to use insights from study 4 to try again in study 5. If successful, we will try to refine this goal or make it more sophisticated in study 5. After we demonstrate, some of the classmates said that when they shouted in front our computer, they feel embarrassed instead of angry. At the same time, when they were testing, the sensitivity of voice is not very good, participants need to shout many times to succeed. So, we tried to change the number to make the code become more sensitive. I remember we tried a lot of numbers, and the code became more and more sensitive, but when we set 0.02 the effect didn’t work. So, our teacher helped us tried more numbers to make the program successful. Then we add two symbols of equal sign which means when you feel embarrassed, the image and emoji will stop and show your face clearly in windows. Also, we add original text to explain our program meaning to people. Overall, inspiration is very important in these assignments, I think I have made great breakthroughs in the source of inspiration after finishing four studies, I can open my mind through minor things in my daily life and use some different ways to express, like use Max and lots of codes to show what I think. Although we still need lots of help from our teacher in the process, all of this help will deepen my impression and make me better to use Max next time.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WY9XVjVwRSxJkrE_CiBTgE-OtIv9BOpM

Statement 1

Study 4 will start with a specific emotional/intellectual goal: to make audiences feel or think about something. In everyday life, tranquility and anger are two extreme emotions and occupy most of the people’s mood. So, our inspiration comes from that when you are in a quiet place like a library or classroom, if you have a lot of noise, it may make others uncomfortable or angry. Then my group decided to choose the two extreme emotions of calm and angry to express people’s expression. When your voice is loud, the image will change from calm to angry, like a hint. At the first, we found two emoji faces on google to represent people’s calm and angry, and then we wanted to control the change of mood with the size of voice. The most difficult part of our teacher’s help is how to use Max to control sound, and it helps me to learn a new skill and deepened my impression. After that, we divided a window into nine pieces to catch the audience’s expression. The result is that when you make noise or speak loud, the emoji will change to angry and the camera will catch your expression and freeze in the nine pieces.