Month: May 2016
Week 12 Initiative Post – Learning English
According to a report, there are more than 300 million Chinese studying English, more than the total populations of the United States. However, the Chinese should try hard to improve the overall standard of English.Here are the common approaches to improve English learning.
Firtstly, interest and perseverance. English learning is a long and arduous process, and only the interest can make you adhere to learn. For a beginner, at least half-hour for studying is necessary and, the moring and evening is the best time to learn.
Secondly, reading original English articles and listening to English materials which correspond to the English proficiency, which is the best way to learn the authentic English and can help you to think in English way.From Joozone.Com.
Thirdly, brave enough to speak English. The English of many Chinese is “Dumb English” because they can listen, read and write all but speak. Many of them do not speak English on account of face. Mistakes make them embarrassed.
Last but not the least, practice. Practice makes perfect. Adhering to practice listening, speaking, reading and writing to cultivate a good sense of the phrase which makes English learning to achieve a multiplier effect.
To sum up, if one wants to learn English well, he or she should be interested in learning English and be remorseless and brave. I think media course help me a lot not only for media knowledge but also the English very well.
Week 12 – Workshop
In week 12’s workshop (PB4 Group work) :
| Failure to produce rough cut of video essay |
| Consolidated sources and information |
| Completed script and audio recording for video |
| Video editing |
| Supervision & delegation of documents for project dossier |
We disscussed a lot of example for our video essay, such as:
Antonio Olmos is a middle-aged photojournalist from Mexico who has been working for almost 30 years. He is one of many photographers who sees this century old industry as under threat of being dismantled by smartphones. With the ease of capturing and uploading images, more traditional cameras may not be needed anymore, thus possibly decreasing the income of many photographers.
Another example, Robert Capa is a world famous war photographer known for his iconic photos taken in the Spanish Civil War and WWII. His camera of choice was a Leica SM 35 mm camera; it’s not a large model, but heavy and complicated. If the film inside was waterlogged or ruined in any way, the whole camera would be disabled. Tinkering with the technical aspects of the camera would more likely place Capa in a dangerous situation; winding the film, adjusting the aperture, shutter speed and ISO manually, then releasing and winding the film again, all requires time in a war zone.
Collage
The collage collection things look like unrelated, but actually the unrelated things may combine to a idea from the artists. It is hard to they how close or unrelated to every collage collection, because the relationship is created by people. It not just a simple random combination sometime, it is a combination of creative ideas.
The idea of my collage:
The first collage: I wanna present about the relaxing life. I wanna present that one day we can live without other people’s comments, we can do what we exactly wanna do, not just in our home alone to do these things. When we are at home , we won’t care other people’s thinking. Nowadays, we care too much about other’s thinking, sometimes it will narrow our eyes and lifestyle.
The second collage: Nowadays, media is more and more important in our daily life. However, most of us even can not live with out internet. Even we are having meal, our eyes still can not move from the smart phones or laptops. It is really danger if we continue this, it will reduce people’s communication and let life chaos.
Week 11 Initiative Post – Multimedia Technology and Education
Nowadays, one of modern teaching devices called multimedia have been brought into public concern, and the heating debates are right on their way. Some people hold that multimedia technology is necessary and significant to education. Besides, I also agree that multimedia has made great progress with its contribution to education community.
There are reasons accounting for my view. First, multimedia provides more ways and wider resources for students’ learning. Compared with the traditional teaching model, multimedia allows teachers to spread knowledge in a more flexible and optional way. Second, motion pictures, slides, and cards are used as training aids, which will raise students’ interest and help them to be more concentrated. Therefore, with the help of multimedia, our learning will be more effective and efficient.
On the other hand, this technology might distract students’ attention sometimes, but I think its advantages far weight than its disadvantages.
In short, I consider that multimedia technology has a great contribution to teaching. Here, I advocate that all schools should try to use it in teaching and introduce more advanced technologies to improve our education.
Christopher Day – New Reading Order
When I visited the Centre for Contemporary Photography , Christopher’s photos catch my eyes. The alternative processing techniques he used in exhibition is collage. The whole photos are black and white tone.These six pictures present are my favorite. At the first , i can’t really understand about these photos, then i read the article on the wall. It said there is no exactly meaning of these photos, but need the viewer have their own reading of these photos. Christopher may have a lot of reading through these collage in his mind. All of these college photos are from his own photos. The artist focus on the link between everything. He said that he start adding information to introduce an artificial language, like a documentary would, blurring fiction and reality. And he also know to deep the things which have history. He also said his collage could be from a personal experience, a comment, a part of a movie – or practically anything. Viewers may not get the reference, but hopefully they will have a own idea about his photos.
As i do the collage photos before, i like combine different materials in a idea too. So the way of i doing collage is very similar to Christopher. And in his way, I can learn more about where can i find these ideas and how can i have ideas, it is really important to link everything together. And i think the collage which take materials from myself is really interesting. It need you to have a carefully look of the things around you or find out some, and combine them together. It is a real challenge for artists to do these things, but it increase the collage’s interests. I real wanna have a try in future, combining things or ideas together and using own photos to create a collage photo. It will let photos more meaningful.
Week 10 – Workshop
This week’s workshop is talking about our audio essay :
| OBJECTIVE |
| Build up camaraderie |
| Consolidated Sources |
| Prepared Script for Audio Essay |
| Edited Script |
We stucture our audio essay be a form of radio style. And we started to write the conversation. We will exploring the modern camera as an effective communication tool in today’s participatory culture.
Audio Essay will based on “How The Phone Camera Affects Our Memory”
Week 10 Reading – TV social
Nowadays more and more people like to watch TV.So TV plays a very important part in our life.But watching TV has both advantages and disadvantages.Generally,the advantages can be listed as follows.
Firstly,you can expand your knowledge by watching TV.As we all know,learning things by TV is much faster than by listening to the radio or just by reading books.For it has colorful pictures as well as wonderful music.
Secondly,you may know anybody you want to know such as famous singers,super stars,scientists and so on.
What’s more,you can go everywhere by traveling programs.Let’s suppose,if you like traveling very much,but you have to work on weekends or holidays,you must be very sad.And now open your TV and it’ll take you to anywhere.
Every coin has two sides.The disadvantages are also obvious.For example,watching too much TV can easily become short-sighted,especially for children and students.To make matters worse,some young students are keen on watching TV so that they give up their studies gradually.
Through above analysis,I think watching TV is a way of studying,it is good for us to watch TV.But when we watch TV,we should make a plan otherwise watching TV will destroy our life.
Platinum Print
“Platinum Print”
Platinum prints are made by photographers and favored by collectors because of their tonal range, the surface quality and their permanence. A platinum print provides a broad scale of tones from black to white. The platinum tones range from warm black, to reddish brown, to expanded mid-tone grays that are unobtainable in silver prints.
Platinum print is a true analog craft that involves creating and coating paper, traditional darkroom techniques and chemical reactions to create prints with unique tonal characteristics.
Platinum prints are the most durable of all photographic processes. The platinum group metals are very stable against chemical reactions that might degrade the print—even more stable than gold. It is estimated that a platinum image, properly made, can last thousands of years. Some of the desirable characteristics of a platinum print include:
- The reflective quality of the print is much more diffuse in nature compared to glossy prints that typically have specular reflections.
- A very delicate, large tonal range.
- Not being coated with gelatin, the prints do not exhibit the tendency to curl.
- The darkest possible tones in the prints are lighter than silver-based prints. Recent studies have attributed this to an optical illusion produced by the gelatin coating on RC and fiber-based papers. However, platinotypes that have been waxed or varnished will produce images that appear to have greater D-max than silver prints.
- A greatly decreased susceptibility to deterioration compared to silver-based prints due to the inherent stability of the process and also because they are commonly printed on 100% rag papers.
In 1832, Englishmen Robert Hunt and John Herschel conducted experiments that utilized platinum to create photographic prints. The experiments resulted in monochrome images with exceptional tonal range. Unfortunately, the photos produced by the duo all eventually faded after a few months of time. By 1880, chemist William Willis began producing a stable solution for platinum paper that boomed throughout Europe and the United States producing what is a modern equivalent of over 6 million dollars.
During the printing process, platinum is absorbed into the paper and, due to the nature of the metal, can produce prints that surpass the quality of and longevity of standard silver prints. Characteristics of platinum prints include large tonal ranges, a more diffuse reflective quality, and a tendency not to curl over time as prints do with gelatin.
Platinum printing eventually died out in the early twentieth century when platinum became over 50 times more expensive than silver. At the time, Russia controlled nearly the entire world’s supply of platinum and had put it towards the war effort. However, to this day platinum printing remains an alternative process for those seeking the distinct styling.
Here is the two platinmum prints i found. They are print by Peter Henry Emersons and Thomas Frederick Goodall in 1866.
Week 9 Initiative Post – Fans and Fandom
Fans in my prospective During these years fans as a new element of entertainment has become rather hot,especially among the popular youth.people play a role of fans,I think ,on account of the extraordinary affection which encourage you to support the stars with your full energy,meanwhile it is also a variety of the latest culture trends. You are willing to be a fan in a mutual way, that is to say ,the stars can not be excellent without the inspiration of the fans ,they are of a group just as we see. For me, I think being a fan is not a bad thing,but also not an attractive thing.I think it rather essencial to build yourself a successful future,worship or admiration can only be a hobby,but not the main tune of your life.we are not always supposed to be a person to acknowledgeothers brilliant career.we also should concern ourselves,right?so I in some degree may would like to be a fans,but I can't be addict to it.after all everyone's heart can be moved by the beautiful!
Week 9 – Workshop
In week 9’s workshop, our PB4 discussion is based on our Annotated Bibliographies:
| Narrowed Project Statement: |
| Exploring the modern camera as an effective communication tool in today’s participatory culture. |
| Defined Audio Essay: |
| “How The Phone Camera Affects Our Memory” |
| Agreement on essay concept: |
| Radio program series about “Mediums and Technology” |
| Delegated Work: |
| Source quotes and references for audio essay topic |