Month: February 2022

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High School Baseball Coaches, This One’s For You

“Create some sort of graphic. Design the overall graphic to convey some sort of feeling or theme, but then have text saying something completely contradictory to the theme or feeling. Sort of like one of those old anti-motivational posters, but with more design than a black box with a white frame.”

Contradiction Creation

This is based on those motivational posters only found in counselors or high school coaches’ offices. Like so…

So I had to flip the script. ‘Give up’ seemed appropriate and was the first idea that popped into my head. Once I found good references for the style I was going for, I thought of the byline, chose a photo of an army guy because so many of the similar posters had military people in them, and voilá! I used photopea and also a little bit of preview to add the words, lines, and white and black borders. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I spent a lot of time trying to find a similar font, but I think I nailed that part at least.

Now, after some light digging, I found that this style of poster is also popular with fans of a certain show whose name rhymes with ‘Moy of Mainting’.

Some of these are just as inspirational as the one I made…

^now this is just some good fun…

Feel free to print and frame {mine or the B Ross ones} for some great office decor!

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What if a Beach Cult Tried to do Advertisements?

“Design a poster for an upcoming event, it could be a concert, a car show, really anything you want, the event can even be made up. Be creative and have fun with it. When you finish your poster, advertise it on your social media accounts so people will know about the event.” 

Event Poster

So obviously this isn’t an actual event. I’ve been watching a lot of creepy horror stuff lately that I wanted to do something like that here. My main thought process was what if a beach cult tried to do advertisements?

I used canva to make it, which is a super-easy way to do this kind of design. Like most things I do now, I do it the Bob Ross way. Mess around and try things out until it looks pretty good.

What the heck? let’s do it.

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Squeaky is Relative

“Make a collage out of your pictures in the software of your choice and turn it into some rad Album art! Experiment with filters, add shapes and colors, and think about how you can create a design out of your photos.
Finally, come up with a band name and album title to add to your design piece. Think about your music genre and what decade it would be released in. And most importantly, be creative, and have fun!”

Create Rad Album Art From Photos

I have a note page on my note app with band names that will probably never get the musicians to host them. Something about the syllables of certain words just sound like band names and it is sad enough that they will go to waste, I have zero ability to music, so it is at least enough to record them.

The band names I was going to chose between were Lethal Muffin, Squeaky is Relative, and Concrete Ass. As you can see, I chose Squeaky is Relative.

For the album cover, I searched back through all of my photos and combined these.

I made the first two photos opaque and layered them over the painting in the photo. I layered them many times just to mess around with how much either one can be seen.

Then I just played around with the fonts and bolding on Preview until it looked kinda cool.

This album cover would for sure be for a band in the early two-thousands. Probably a band with some aggression or anger issues. Maybe punk rock? I could probably screen some lyrics and get a friend to make some sick bass guitar riffs.

Well, now when this impossible band does form, I’ve got an album cover.

This has been Squeaky is Relative, stay safe and good night!

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Maria Popova Does The Unimaginable

The extent of my design knowledge is pretty much just me saying “oh, that looks like a sick album cover” at any picture anyone takes that looks like it could be a sick album cover. I’ve never really designed anything. Though I have heard many blanket requests for various club t-shirt designs, I usually left that task to others who were more inclined towards visual art. I just bought the finished product. Up until this point, I have paid very little attention to movie posters or advertisements beside the simple do I want to see this movie or buy this toothpaste. I thought the video on colors in movie posters has definitely changed how I look at said movie posters and the assumptions that I make from them. 

The stranger things video was cool to watch because I love stranger things and also never skip the intro. It was so informative to pull back the curtain to see the process of making something that I found so captivating. 

<Please stand by to see my fledgling photo editing skills combine with my similarly novice understanding of the principles of design at a letter date>

A Kid’s Guide to Graphic Design by Iconic Designer Chip Kidd

I really liked reading the article for Chip Kidd’s book because not only did it help me look at design in a new and more attentive way, it was one of the most engaging online articles I have ever been assigned. My ability to read long pieces of online text is ridiculously bad for someone who loves reading giant epics of printed books. And truth be told, I was mostly planning on reading the beginning of the article and skimming with increasing speed until I hit the end. Maria Popova however, has other plans. The mix of text, audio, and photos, kept me reading until the end. This sort of format will be something I think about as I make my own digital projects for this course. 

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Report # 8-2-5-B, Regarding Complexes 1-6, Subject J6

Report # 8-2-5-B.

Subject J6 is revealing curious tendencies, namely fixations on specific subject matters. These fixations change every week with what is now unsurprising regularity. Research Assistant B1R0l admits fully that he was slightly familiar with Subject J6’s most recent fixation: Audio Complexes. This resulted in a renewed vigor in Research Assistant B1R0l’s work and assignments. It is my own opinion that Research Assistant B1R0l should be next in line for a promotional raise.

Subject J6 had its first complex regarding a fictional retelling of the moon landing. Research Assistant B1R0l has written up his report as can be seen below.

“Neil, You Gotta Hear This”

The second complex was a regurgitation of information surrounding foliage and subsequent vegetable masses. Subject J6 was able to transmit this over broadcast directly. The Technical Stereo Team Ash is still trying to work out the mechanics, but in the meantime, see Research Assistant B1R0l’s report as follows.

Fungi Growing on the Radio Waves

The third complex was in relation to the second. Subject J6 had indirect contact with Research Assistant B1R0l and requested such actions to be perpetrated. After due consideration, and bringing the matter before the board, Research Assistant B1R0l acquiesced to its request. Report appearing after this.

Disco Siri Takes One For The Team

In compliance with Protocols ReG56, Research Assistant B1R0l wrote up three separate reports for the fourth complex. This fourth complex was heavily regulated and Research Assistant B1R0l was very diligent to follow even the most fatuous sub-conditions.

They Change Colors?!? And Make Sounds?!?

A Homemade Bone Chilling Concoction

When The Crickets Fall Silent…

Subject J6 often betrays specific actions that bear weight on ensuing fixations and complexes. Here in the report on the fifth complex, Research Assistant B1R0l expects and prepares for a potential future complex.

Coroner’s Tale

Here, as Subject J6 approached the end of its most recent fixation, our readings became so erratic that we completed a full systems check and extrapolated another set of data. The data still stands, complementary to the first readings. Research Assistant B1R0l has tried his hand at making the most sense out of them in the next report.

Shadows of a {scholarly} Uni-Fox

In addition to all of the many reports that Research Assistant B1R0l wrote up this week, he also made remarks on his fellow Research Assistant’s reports as evidenced here. The following signatures are in code for security:

http://digitalstorytelling.worldempress.net/uncategorized/just-a-taste/#comment-36 

http://naomiljones.com/blog/ds106/nightmare-soundtrack/#comment-27 

http://emdesignlife.com/uncategorized/14-stars-visual-gif/#comment-12 

http://cpsc106.ceciliachianese.com/week-5/guess-the-song/#comment-29 

https://ds106.briannadalbis.com/2022/02/07/photoblitz/#comment-14

http://celiashively.com/ds106/ds106-radio-bumper/#comment-161 

http://celiashively.com/ds106/ds106-radio-show-ideas-bob-ross/#comment-162 

https://blog.wadenelson.net/blog/ignore-me-please-i-am-testing-blog-assignment-1/#comment-36

http://digitalstorytelling.worldempress.net/uncategorized/one-key-to-sound/#comment-37 

http://celiashively.com/ds106/all-the-relaxation/#comment-164 

This report has been declared viable and verified by the Committee of GF8-TROD, as well as passed through custom set 909RT and cleared by HER. It has also been officially notarized.

May the insentient heavens bring you much peace,

Commander Grant C.

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Coroner’s Tale

{TW: mentions of blood, dead body, and a coroner} 

So I was thinking about what environments tend to have recordings, and I thought about the coroner’s office. My only knowledge of such things comes from movies or tv or books, but there seems to be a consensus. When doctors or physicians perform autopsies, they have a recording tape running nearby so that they can document their findings verbally. I suppose that is better than trying to write as you go, seeing how that might get messy or tedious. Writing with bloody gloves or pausing to take said bloody gloves off would not be very efficient. 

Like most of my story ideas, this one is more like a premise or a setting. A doctor/physician/medical student performing a post mortem. And this person is on a spaceship. 

I want to pay attention to the medium that this story would be told in, to get the best results from it. Boy, would it be cool to make spaceship sounds. Even if it is a pretty big spaceship, coming up with the normal-everyday sounds of a spaceship would be really fun! 

Anyway, this person would be performing some sort of post mortem operation in a spaceship and some sort of mystery will unfold. Maybe there is something wrong with the body, more than just it being dead. Maybe it isn’t quite dead. Whatever happens will come up as I begin to write the script and do more research on coroners. 

Now you might be thinking, how the hell does an intergalactic medical practitioner and a dead body relate to Bob Ross? Well, dear reader, there is more to The Joy of Painting than what appears on the screen or in the audio. One aspect of that show that I want to bring into this project is the pacing. Bob Ross always paints methodically. He begins at the back and paints his way forward, adding his own little bits of story as he paints the necessary parts of the landscape. I would want to start off like he does, slowly, logically, methodically. I am not saying I want to give the listener a whole history of why there is a spaceship in the first place, but I’d start with the immediate situation being pretty obvious. The coroner would begin the audio with the necessary introduction and bits and pieces of the wider narrative, both the facts of being on a spaceship and also why this body, in particular, is a mystery, would be sprinkled in as they completed the autopsy. And in general, I want to bring the attitude that Bob Ross has to this project. To say ‘going with the flow’ is a bit cliche, but it is a simple explanation. Just like Mr. Ross, I want to go wherever this project takes me, and let it pull me along.

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Shadows of a {scholarly} Uni-Fox

My three daily create tweets for the week.

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A Homemade Bone Chilling Concoction

“Within this assigment, you must find some spooky sounds and create a scary audio clip. Select more than four sounds and overlap them on a program like Audacity. You can use Freesound to select your sounds. Make them as spooky as possible. Good luck!”

Spooky Season

It is always Halloween in my heart, it is always time to be spooky.

I did make the mistake of doing this assignment at night, so I hope I didn’t accidentally manifest any ghosts, but my dorm is already said to be haunted so I am already all ghosted up. 

Speaking of, I started with something called the ‘Ghost Frequency’, a certain frequency that can’t be recognizably heard, but one that causes fear in the listeners. So I recorded a couple versions of that for a baseline. I used Audio Hijack to grab all of the sounds from youtube. 

Then, I did some research. I found a couple of historical sounds that were used to create a fight or flight response. The one I chose was a sound used in a war to scare the enemy out of their hiding places. I don’t know if it worked, but I could hardly sit through it, so I added it.

Then I thought about jumpscares. Pretty easy to do with sound. I put static under the whole thing and made it really loud at the beginning and end. Just to spice things up, I also added some sirens. I know for me personally, hearing any sort of siren wailing causes my heart rate to increase, and I think the feeling is pretty standard for humans. And probably other animals too. I don’t think many dogs like the sound of tornado sirens. As a final touch, I put in some sounds of a ghost man crying.

As we all know, the first virtue of our patron saint is that “there are no mistakes, only happy accidents.” In this case, that is more than applicable. Any ‘mistake’, any part of the audio that is disjointed or uncomfortably edited is all the more perfect for this prompt. You are supposed to be unnerved. If that is by my poor editing skills, so be it.

Hope your bones are sufficiently chilled,

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Fungi Growing on the Radio Waves

I don’t often listen to the radio, and when I do, it is not much of a radio show but more like a Spotify playlist broadcast into every car within the right radius. Tuning into ds106 Radio on Tuesday night at around 8 o’clock was like landing on the moon; one giant step for mankind. Or in this case, bird-kind. 

The audio production that was shared was so well done and much more entertaining than I thought it was going to be. The use of narration and different effects and music to differentiate scenes and characters was so expressive. It was like seeing a painting in color for the first time, and then it turns three-d and discusses the intricacies of fungal root systems. It was awesome. 

The fact that I was kept engaged throughout the whole show was a feat in and of itself, but the content of the show was not exactly the most riveting high-stakes plot. If written in a textbook, it would be boring as hell. But between the speakers being genuinely fascinated, the pacing of the scenes, and the audio effects, I was riveted. 

I think the best works of media inspire creativity. Whether it be a book that made the reader want to be an author, the movie that inspired a song, or a painting that breathed life into another painting, it is a mark of success. The audio project presented gave me the itch to play around and with audio as a medium, to make stories of sound.

In reading this over, I just realized 3-D paintings are just sculptures. So this audio project was like going to see what you thought was a black and white painting and really getting a technicolor sculpture that you could float around in that discusses the intricacies of fungal root systems.

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Disco Siri Takes One For The Team

“Now that we have a #ds106 radio up and running creating a 15 to 30 second bumper for the station. What is a bumper? It is a short recording that identifies the radio station with signature music or an expression that makes sure the listeners know what they are tuned into (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumper_(broadcasting)). So for ds106 it should certainly include “DS106 Radio” and some sort of message about the station with voice over music.”

Create A Ds106 Radio Bumper

This assinment grew around the fact that I don’t really like to hear my voice in recordings at the moment. So I recruited Google translate to do the speaking for me. 

I found a cool song on Freesound that I think matched the vibe of the computer generated voice as best as a song cloud, then played around in iMove to get it how I wanted it to be. Basically I just added a few fades and called it a day. 

I did try to add another beat and also a buzzing noise to the clip for extra dimension, but both of those experiments turned out ear-bleedingly badly so I kept it simple.  

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