#ART311

[spencersamoil]

WEEK 2: The Timeless Nature of the Hero’s Journey

I’m someone who considers myself a huge fan of film and storytelling in general, as I think fiction provides people a wonderful means of delving into another reality, one that might just leave them changed afterwards. That’s what effective media does. However, I also consider myself someone who is very critical of recurring and tired tropes in the media I consume, as I hate feeling like what I’m watching or reading is nothing but a retread of ideas seen in previous media. However, I still have yet to feel that way about the “hero’s journey”, which might just be the most overused narrative structure trope of them all! 

While normally I feel like I would be inclined to criticize the predictable nature of the hero’s journey, there are so many beloved stories that I love that follow that exactly same structure, which I think proves the concept’s raw effectiveness in shaping a compelling story. This path of comfort into conflict is what makes so many moments from things I love like Lord of the Rings so darn effective in their storytelling. I feel moved every time, which amazes me considering it's all the same narrative structure just with different portrayals. 

[shanaoka]

Hereʻs more information about how ethnographic research is applied to our creative media field. Good read and helpful for our Assignment 1.

[kailah-tokushige]

My First Class

I am currently in a class called Art 311 - Interactive Storytelling, and so far, it seems to be an interesting class that has allowed me to understand of how to tell a good story. I feel as thought that stories can be so mundane and so bland because people do not know how to tell a good story, and to be quite honest, I am one of those people. So, I am hoping that by the end of the course I will be able to tell intriguing stories that will captivate my audience because I want to inspire and motivate others. 

For our second class, we went over the Hero’s Journey, and I had not heard of the Hero’s Journey. (Maybe in high school, but I do not remember anything.) After learning about the Hero’s Journey, I did not realize most stories use this guideline in the books and movies that I have read. It was crazy that using those 12 guidelines will I then be able to tell a good story. Of course, I do not have to use all of it or go in the same exact order (because they are guidelines), but  I will try to use those steps at my next public speaking event. (I am actually really excited to use it because I think this is a first great step that I am taking. It is not going to be perfect, but I am going to try my best.) 

[recursodemulta]

       ¨Art. 311. Trafegar em velocidade incompatível com a segurança nas proximidades de escolas, hospitais, estações de embarque e desembarque de passageiros, logradouros estreitos, ou onde haja grande movimentação ou concentração de pessoas, gerando perigo de dano:        Penas - detenção, de seis meses a um ano, ou multa.¨ #art311 #CTB bondmultas18anos https://www.instagram.com/p/BnlSGwzAO50/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=fmbshn8u94hx

[chibitantei-5-blog]

Class relfection

My semester with Art311 class was fun and challenging. I had fun when we did group projects and class discussions together. I got to see and learn different media skills from my classmates . Also got to know how hard it was trying to work in a large groups but the finish product that we created together came out great. We got to learn each others skills with some of our own weakness in certain areas. Doing solo projects was a major challenge for me with lots of research that was involved in each topic. My classmates and teacher helped me understand the instructions better when I was confused . Research was always important when communicating through your art work or project products. Learned a little more of what media was like in the outside world. I learned new skills fro  my classmates and teachers throughout class and how I could improve the skills that I’m not strong at in certain areas that could help me in the future. 

[nankaitorahu]

村上 タカシ　MURAKAMI Takash

美術家、一般社団法人MMIX Lab代表。http://mmix.org

熊本生まれ。 1986年より畳やお米を使ったインスタレーション作品など美術家として東京で活���を開始。国内外の展覧会やアートプロジェクトに参加。 これまでの作品としては「内から外への弧に近い運動」「GreenCircle」「GreenStripe」「ア－ツ・センタ－構想」「TANABATA列車」やビデオ「IZUMIWAKU Video1994」やCD-ROM、プロジェクトマネーの制作も行う。 また、東京杉並区で1994・96年のIZUMIWAKU project「学校美術館構想」展や「ヨーゼフ・ボイスと10年」、2003年より仙台でT.ORG「観光とアート」展や2010年より「アート・インクルージョン」など数々の学校やまちを使ったアートプロジェクトを企画実施。最近は「プロジェクトワーク」を含め芸術普及や文化・教育政策をテーマに文化施設等でレクチャーやワークショップ、アクションなども行う。 2011年東日本大震災以降は「3.11メモリアルプロジェクト」（のこすプロジェクト）や「桜3.11_学校プロジェクト」（しめすプロジェクト）や社会観光（震災ダークツーリズム）の拠点として石巻に「コトのアート研究所」などを展開中。  

　　　 国立大学法人宮城教育大学教育学部准教授

宮城県文化芸術振興審議会委員 一般社団法人MMIX Lab代表理事　http://mmix.org 一般社団法人アート・アンド・パブリック協会理事 http://artandpublic.jp 一般社団法人アート・インクルージョン理事 http://art-in.org

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

      MMIX Lab（媒体融合Lab）／3.11NPO+

　  村上タカシ （MURAKAMI  Takashi）

      mmix@mac.com         070-6970-1976

 👉http://kotoken.org「コトのアート研究所」

      http://mmix.org（MMIX Lab）

      http://www.facebook.com/takashi.murakami.7737（FB_MT）

　  https://www.facebook.com/mmixlab/   （FB_MMIX） 

      http://art-in.org （アート・インクルージョンAi）

　  http://www.aapa-japan.com（アート・アンド・パブリック協会AAPA）

      http://sakura-art311.net（桜3.11プロジェクト）

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

[nakoafromkaneohe]

Paying It Forward Oath

Not only am I more optimistic about my abilities as a designer after taking this class but I also revere the design industry upon realizing the power design has.  I am pledging to design informatively and thoughtfully so that society doesn’t have to double-take and misinterpret public service announcements!

After taking this course, I think that I can describe myself as a designer with a little more weight to it as opposed to before I enrolled in Art 311.   As a creative media major, I think that the influence that a course can have, such as this one, grants us the opportunity to make an impact on society in a progressive and beneficial way.  Three motives challenged me as a designer to make the final outcome of the projects and assignments in this class more meaningful which were intention, research, and outcome.  I believe each one gave purpose to the assignment and aided the focus that I desperately need at times to finish things on a timely manner.  These are motives that I believe will aid me in future projects especially in the field of design and allow me to make positive change in society.

Knowing clearly what oneʻs intention is for whatever you are designing gives you a purpose for doing the project.  An example of this would be with the cause advertisement assignment. I had to be set on not only what I wanted the cause to stand for but why.  I had to find something that not many would be against.  Saving the ʻohiʻa seemed to make a lot of sense because it’s a locally based epidemic and it was around Merrie Monarch week.

Research has never seemed so important to me until I took this class.  That could be a lot to say having taken four writing intensive classes so far.  One could say all one does is research in those classes.  However, when designing something, especially for public spaces, research is the tool that makes the designing process smoother from beginning to end.  The Age-Friendly Cities Project is a good example where research held the entire project up.  After we figured out what we wanted our project to be about, we dove into possible solutions to our problem.  Research gave us examples of what others had done and implemented in public spaces and made our idea more tangible.  Also, when giving a presentation, the more research gathered and learned makes answering questions a little easier.

I believe the outcome of what I design culminates both intention and research.  I now stop and question myself during the designing process if what is being implemented is helping my vision as what I intended for it be and also if there is enough research done to have the outcome I would like to have.  How will my design influence the future even after it is implemented?  What is the lifespan of this particular design?  These are questions influenced by the importance of realizing the impact that a design can have on society.

[alexisrightbrain]

YOGA BROCHURE- after many trials, my finished yoga brochure. I designed it to be different from the typical tri fold brochure, but still simple enough to convey a lot of information and have visually appealing graphics.

[spencersamoil]

WEEK 5: For Me, Social Media is a Teenage Time Capsule 

I think social media is one of the most powerful storytelling tools we have today. We live in an age where everything can be documented and posted online for all to see, and while social media is a great medium of storytelling, it is also very much a great documentation of reality to look back on. For many young people today, myself included, social media has acted as a time capsule of sorts —one that is often hilarious and possibly embarrassing. 

Facebook often reminds its users of their previous posts, as every month or so I’m prompted to share an old picture or post that had any mild engagement. These are sometimes threads of comments from almost a decades ago, or a post marking some milestone occasion—  real life stories that often fall shuffled away into the endless feed only to be resurrected with a laugh and a share. I know many people who refuse to delete social media posts from when they were young teens, because as embarrassing or cringe worthy as some of these moments may be, they provide great opportunities of reminiscence.

[shanaoka]

Food for thought

[kailah-tokushige]

Hero’s Journey and Video games

Well, in class, I learned about the Hero’s Journey and behind the scene of the video games. Like I said in my d2l post, I thought the hero’s journey was really interesting because authors and directors use the same guidelines to recreate some amazing works of art that I do fall in love with. I do like to watch anime, so when I was learning about the Hero’s Journey, it reminded me of different animes that I have seen. For my learning, I can not say too much about them as I have not learned too much that has affected my daily life. For the video game group project, I thought there were some interesting concepts especially the reasons and the usage of first person, second person, and third person. I am not a gamer, but I have respect for those who do play or make games because it is not an easy task.  

[chibitantei-5-blog]

My idea for project 1 for Art311. Sketchbook /notebook. Might change later the lay out .

[nakoafromkaneohe]

WEEK 8-9 TYPOGRAPHY

I believe that my attraction towards design stems from typography.  As I recall my first interactions with a computer were diving through the different fonts that were available on my older sisterʻs high-tech Macintosh LC 575 model home computer.  I remember feeling like spent the entire day in ClarisWorks browsing and typing with different fonts like Bazooka, Chicago, and the local favorite, Old English.  

There was always something that fascinated me about typography and how it is very much a pillar with design in public spaces.  After I read the article about the influence of typeface, I wondered how could an accredited expert decide to use Comic Sans as the typeface of which presented the groundbreaking findings.  I immediately thought of my classmate from my high school English classes who insisted on using the font Papyrus as the typeface for all of the essays and papers that we had to turn in and these were AP courses.  His mentality was that his papers were well-thought out and written (which they were) and he didn’t feel it should make a difference on his final grade.  My teacher decided to print special copies of assignments and readings for my classmate using the font Impact.  This is a very bold and tall font used mostly for headlines.  I tried to read it but I got a headache. Lol. My classmate then understood that it wasn’t he that was reading and grading his assignments and learned why using certain fonts are used for reading text.

I absolutely agree with the article about how typeface influences society.  I, like my high school English teacher, would automatically discount any accredited, extraordinary findings if it were presented to me in Comic Sans.  Time and place people, time and place!  Does this, however, open up an entirely new conversation about typeface discrimination???

[alexisrightbrain]

I’ve played this game once before, but I love how technical and therapeutic it is to just mess around to what feels or looks right. Perfect for the OCD neatly placed inside you somewhere.

[spencersamoil]

WEEK 6: Storytelling in Marketing, and the Curation of Brand Identity

I think most people would agree that many of the best and most memorable advertisements have a story to tell, beyond merely looking to sell you a product or service. Often you’ll see these high budget ads during large audience heavy events like the Super Bowl, where companies know that their marketing dollars are being to work for millions to see. However, advertising slots like these don’t come cheap by any means The big question is how do companies seek to most effectively use this time?

It’s clear that companies strive to present their brand image in the most engaging manner possible, after all you only have 30 seconds to a minute to give those viewing a lasting impression. Creating this engagement with viewers doesn’t come from low prices or high energy sales men --unless you’re a used car dealership. Instead it comes from a story that resonates with viewers through it’s narrative and the brand identity a company attempts to create. 

For example, this Apple advertisement linked in class follows a group of scrappy office associates hustling themselves to hopeful success through hard work, late nights, and the seamless beauty of Apple technology. The story is meant to endear you to these hip innovators looking to redefine a long established product... the pizza box. The message is clear and is conveyed through tight pacing, snappy dialogue, and the constant presence of the Apple logo. People see this and associate Apple with ‘go-getter’s’ on the cutting edge. This is the influence of storytelling in advertisement, as instead of just selling you on the power of Apple’s sleek hardware, they sell you on the potential and the identity that comes with it!

Speaking of which, I feel the sudden urge to invest in an iPad... 

[kailah-tokushige]

Week 4

As for week 4, we are almost done with finishing the class. Next week is basically our last week of classes which is very crazy to me. I also think that time just flies by so quickly. This past week I finished watching a show called Schitt’s Creek, and it was one of the best shows that I have watched. Schitt’s Creek was not your typical Hero’s Journey. Although there were elements of it in the 6 seasons, I went from being so bored and hating the show to absolutely loving it after falling in love with the characters in the show; the show put me through an emotional roller coaster of laughter and cries. I think that was a great example of storytelling. With that, I think that are so many shows that people get invested to because of the fact that people get so invested with backdrop of different characters, idolize a certain lifestyles of different characters, and the fact that there are stories that uses so much emotion. Since we learned about social media storytelling this week, the elements I talked about earlier and more was so interesting. There is also the fact on social media there is an algorithm to the marketing, so posting consistently would help to become popular. But, this lesson and making the presentation pushed for my passion for the marketing world and being able to tell peoples story.