Sight Sound and Motion

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Motion at the Tailgate

Here are some vids from the Ravens tailgate. Sadly this Jets fan couldn't inspire his team to victory with this ~~really short~~ alright kegstand. The Ravens put a whoopin' on the hapless Jets, dominating both sides of the field.

And here we have Judge Doctor Chris himself at the tailgate. We had been there an hour and were losing hope, but sure enough our knight in shining Ravens gear showed up.

Ravens Tailgate

On a cold, dreary Sunday afternoon (October the 3rd) a few Red Pandas and some other members of our class ventured forth to the frozen tundra that was the Ravens tailgate before their Sunday night matchup with the N.Y. Jets.

Considering it was a night game and we were there at 2 in the afternoon, only the most dedicated fans had started tailgating. They were pretty legit with portable TVs and a great smelling grill.

Ah, Lot O. A little birdie told us that we could park in Lot O for free... well, maybe not. Upon our arrival we were asked for a cool $40 to park in an empty lot... welp, cya later. We found a nice spot on a side lot that we could post up for a while. A strange man was coming around asking us for $40 to park there, so we boogied on out real quick.

Ah yes, my artistic photo of the day. I have no idea why this kid was posting up on a backhoe, but he was...just chilling, minding his own business.

A true Ravens mobile. I was pretty sure this was Doc Chris' car when I first saw it, and if it's not I say we start a fundraiser right now to get him behind the wheel.

Overall the tailgate was pretty legit. I wish we could have gone later in the day, but alas JR had to get back for the Yankees (yuck) game. I will post the video later of a rowdy Jets fan doing a kegstand for us. A+ investigative journalism.

Chapter 9 Outline

The Three-dimensional Field: Depth and Volume

The Z-axis
i.      Describes a point located away from the frontal plane
ii.      How far an object seems to be from the camera
iii.      Illusory third dimension – depth – is the most flexible dimension in film and video
iv.      Originates from the screen and goes backward from the camera lens to the horizon

v. Screen width: x-axis
vi. Screen height: y-axis
vii. Screen depth: z-axis, appears to be infinite
viii. Stereovision or hologram projection : z-axis extends not only to the horizon but also to the viewer
ix. We judge the perceived distance relative to ourselves and not to the screen

Graphic Depth Factors
1. i. The farther away an object is, the smaller it appears and the higher it seems to be in the picture field
2. ii. Objects in the foreground are more clearly defined than those in the background
3. iii. Light and shadows create volume, the presence of the third dimension
4. iv. Five Graphic Depth Factors
  1. Overlapping Planes: the most direct graphic depth view
    1. The object covering the other object must be in front of it
    2. Relative Size: can guess a size or know how large an object is by contextual clues, such as other object
      1. Can tell how far object is by relative size of screen image
      2. Larger object appears closer; Smaller object is farther
    3. Height in Plane: if there are no contradictory distance clues, you will perceive objects to be more distant depending on how they are on the screen until they reach the horizon
      1. Not always reliable
    4. Linear Perspective: among the most powerful and convincing graphic depth factors
      1. Parallel lines can merge in the distance
      2. b. All lines converge and disappear at the vanishing point
      3. Horizon Line: straight forward, parallel to ground
    5. Aerial Perspective: see objects that are close to us, some more sharply than those farther away
      1. This difference in foreground and background is especially pronounced in fog
        i. Colors lose density and become less saturated
Depth Characteristics of Lenses
1. i. Optical characteristics of lenses can greatly enhance or hinder the illusion of a third dimension on the video or movie screen
2. ii. Lens choice is important in achieving the certain “feel” of a screen event
3. iii. Overlapping Planes
  1. Wide-Angle Lens
    1. Overlapping planes are reduced in prominence, but are not eliminated with the wide-angle lens
    2. Narrow-Angle Lens
      1. Overlapping planes are a major depth cue because the lens enlarges the background objects where things look crowded
      2. Foreground and background images look similar in size
4. iv. Relative Size
  1. Wide-Angle Lens
    1. Wide-angle lens greatly exaggerates relative size
    2. Objects that lie close to the camera appear relatively large, while objects on the z-axis that are only a short distance behind the close object appear dramatically smaller
    3. Narrow-Angle Lens
      1. Two objects seem much closer to each other because the narrow-angle lens enlarges the background
5. v. Linear Perspective
  1. Wide-Angle Lens
    1. Accelerates the convergence of parallel lines and the z-axis appears elongated
    2. Narrow-Angle Lens
      1. Inhibits the convergence of parallel lines and thus reduces the illusion of depth through linear perspective
      2. Squeezes space and makes objects appear narrower and closer together than they actually are
6. vi. Aerial Perspective
  1. Manipulating depth of field – the area along the z-axis that appears in focus – can achieve aerial perspective
  2. Using selective focus – focusing on a specific area along the z-axis – can achieve aerial perspective
  3. Wide-Angle Lens
    1. Wide-angle lens generates a great depth of field, de-emphasizing aerial perspective
    2. Most of the articulated z-axis appears in focus
    3. Narrow-Angle Lens
      1. Shallow depth of field, which emphasizes aerial perspective
      2. Once focused on an object in narrow-angle lens, the areas to the foreground and background of the object become out of focus
    4. Selective Focus
      1. Allows you to choose the precise portion of the z-axis that you want to be in focus
    5. Rack Focus
      1. Involves changing the focus from one location on the z-axis to another
      2. Focus on one object until another object comes into focus
      3. Need a relatively shallow depth of field to achieve a rack focus, so a narrow-angle lens is used
3D Stereoscopic Projection
1. i. Stereoscopic projection is strictly illusory and exists only in our minds and is based on a dual-lens view
2. ii. In stereoscopic projection, the articulated z-axis extends through the screen space toward the viewer
3. iii. Achieved through a dual-lens recording system, whereby the lenses are set apart similar to our eyes
  1. To show the two different scenes viewed by the lenses on one screen, one is colored red and the other is cyan
  2. Optical system in the viewer’s brain melds the two images into a single three-dimensional projection
4. iv. Different from traditional, single-lens 3D depth cues, which are contained in the visual representation of a scene from the screen back to the horizon

Thursday, September 29, 2011

1 Sight 1 Sound & 1 Motion

Sight - My nephew Wyatt just killing it. Honorary Red Panda.

Sound - A great weekend jam to bring on el fin de semana.

Motion - One of the coolest videos I've ever seen.

New Facebook Changes

An extremely relevant article to our class...

Did Facebook Just Change Social Networking Forever?

Week 3 Reflection

Last week's class was pretty exciting. Not only were there few Bad trials, but an overwhelming amount of Good trials handed out by Judge Dr. Chris himself. Everyone's blogs were in tip-top shape, especially JR's, who won a trial and immunity for the Red Pandas.

Also the Red Pandas keep their undefeated coin flip streak alive.

A large part of the class was the chapter presentations by each group. It was great to see each group utilize a different aspect of the class. One group used their chapter outline and blog to present their information and show relatable videos. Another group used Google+ to drop knowledge on the class. The Red Pandas took the hands-on approach with a delicious lighting presentation over at GreyComm Studios.

Some Starbucks Awards were handed out to James and Genna while Rob kept up with the live Facebook updates. I think the live updates help to keep a timeline of what happened in class and allows us to more easily reflect on what happened in class that week.

Thanks to everyone dominating everything, for next class we only have to find 1 Sight, 1 Sound, and 1 Motion.

Go Red Pandas.