What Makes SCSU Great Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQwcgmU4z2w&feature=player_embedded

Campus Safari #5 SCSU vs. UNH

 VS.

  This Saturday I attended the football game between the Southern Owls and the UNH Chargers. Unfortunately we were completely man handled and lost 9 to 38. Although we did not win I did enjoy my time there. There was a lot of school pride from both schools, but nothing to the extreme. They were both good sports, not only the players but the viewers as well. I had a very good time because there was so much enthusiasm in the crowd and the atmosphere was so positive that it would have taken a lot of work to not get pumped up or riled up.  I have to say though it was a little embarrassing that we lost by such a large margin especially because I went with my friend who is a student at UNH, but since this week has been so focused on school spirit, I stood by and showed pride in Southern even though we suffered a humiliating defeat.

What I Think About Tharp

After reading the first three chapters of “The Creative Habit” my initial thoughts were that it really was an interesting, fun, and easy read. The actual set up of the book with different fonts and sizes makes it hard to get bored or drift off and the actual content is interesting to read as well. I found this book to be interesting because a lot of what she mentions is very conflicting with what I have grown to believe. Her idea that creativity is a habit and is trained through a routine was a very different idea to me. Like Tharp mentions most of us do believe that creativity means on the spot and spontaneous, and that it just comes naturally. I am not a dancer but I do draw and paint, and now that I have been introduced to this idea, I really started thinking of what I do and how I create my artwork. For me, I realized that everything is very much planned. I sit there and I think of what color I want to put where and from there I have to think of all the other colors that I am going to use and where I want to put them so that they go together, your basically trying to think three steps ahead. I never realized I did that, I always just imagined that I had that picture in my subconscious and it all just flowed unto the canvas in a strike of creativity. I also realized that I do have a routine when I am trying to create art. First off I always do everything on the floor, so I set all my materials in front of me and I blast my music. From there it’s easy to see all my materials and visualized what would go together and what I can create. Another idea that I think Tharp was right about it, is that we fear creativity. I feel that fear all the time when I first start off. The first line is always the hardest because you’re so afraid of ruining the canvas or of not creating something good enough that you do become paralyzed by that fear and a couple of time I did end up just putting everything away because I just didn't “feel’ creative at that moment. I am interested in learning more about Tharp’s ideas and suggestions of how to be creative in the readings up ahead, I can tell that this book is not only fun to read but it really does make you think out of the box and or out of the normal for you, and I am excited to read more. 

Reflection: Video #2

This video project, I thought was a lot easier and more enjoyable than the previous. Having already experimented with the iMovie process of actually putting the video together and having an idea of how to navigate through the maze that is iMovie, the process of putting it together was easy and for me it went quite smoothly. I liked this video project better mainly because I did not have to get interviews. Last time this was one of my biggest problems because the audio from the recordings I took would not play and it was complicated to make the video run smoothly, so that it would look like it flowed. For this assignment we were able to be more creative. We picked our own topics and really didn't have many criteria that we had to meet. This video I think I did a lot better than my other one, mainly because I already had practice with the iMovie program, and secondly because I planned better. I left myself enough time so that if a problem would arise I had enough time to fix it, I spaced the work out, and I didn't procrastinate. As far as how good I feel about the final product, I would say that I am pleased, I mean there is always room for improvement and more that one could have done, but I’m pretty content with it. I think that one of my video’s strength is in the pictures and the set up of it. I feel like I did a good job distinguishing the intro, the middle (informational part), and the conclusion. I feel like my video lacked in the audio department. I did my video in the Mac Lab at school and I wasn't quite sure of how to get my music to the computer to be able to use it. So that is something I should look into for the next project.  Even though this time around I had a much more pleasant encounter with the video assignment, I still wish we didn't have to them.