Final Project Reflection

I found myself sitting on the couch at beginning of April watching a Cincinnati Reds game. The announcers were reminiscing on the no hitter that Homer Bailey had thrown in the previous season. It was at this time that I knew exactly what I wanted to do for my project. There had been a handful of plays in Cincinnati Reds' games in the past few years that had really stuck in my mind. I felt like I was at Great American Ballpark for each and every one. These plays painted a picture of the hard work and determination that the Reds had held in order to achieve what they had. I decided that if the professional players could make such incredible plays, me and my friends could do it too. I planned on getting a few of my roommates and going to a baseball field near my house. We would listen to the audio from some of these big plays and reenact them to the best of our ability. Then I would match the audio up to it and put into a video with iMovie.

As we laced up our shoes and threw on our jerseys (a very random assortment), I got extremely excited. I never really did much work with video production and I was anxious to try my hand at it. We had never actually gone to the park behind our house but we knew there was a baseball field so it would be perfect for filming. What we found as we entered the park was the remnants of a baseball field where dirt and bases once existed. I could almost imagine the little league baseball games that had been held there many years before. It wasn't what I had imagined, but it would have to do. The filming went extremely well and each of my roommates really added their own personal touch to the production. After we filmed, I went back and started to compile the film. It was my first time editing a video in iMovie but I figured it out very quickly and I really enjoyed the success I had with it.

In the few days that have passed since I took on this project, I have been very happy with my end result. I know that the skills I learned from this class went directly in my ability to edit and film the way I did. I've already shown the video to numerous friends and the reviews have all been good so far. Of all the projects we have done in this class over the course of the semester, I was most excited about this one. The main reason was the complete freedom I felt with this project. I was able to do exactly what I wanted and execute the project the way I had imagined. As I move on to other classes in the coming semesters, I honestly believe that I enjoyed this project and this class more that I have enjoyed anything else so far, in terms of curriculum. I think my final piece turned out awesome and I only hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I have.

Brainstorming

As this semester has come to a close, I looked back on all the projects I have done for this class. I thought about all of the different mediums of art I have explored and I realized one thing: I hadn't my favorite thing in the world into any of my projects in a large way. I am a huge baseball fan and always have been. If I was told I had one day left to live, my choice would be to spend at least some of that time at a baseball field watching the game I love. I grew up in a baseball family and it has stuck ever since. While I did incorporate baseball into my journey project, I wanted to revisit baseball and try to make my final project center around it. I'm not quite sure what I want to do with it yet, but baseball will be the main focus. I also believe it will incorporate some sort of video production. I didn't really give myself a chance to enjoy the video production aspect of this class and I really want to revisit it. I have played with iMovie a little bit and I think it will lend itself handy to me in this final project.

Failure and Success

If there was one major thing I learned throughout this class that will stick with me as I move on with my college career, it's that failure is in only in the eye of the creator. When talking about art, you can't let someone else tell you if a project is good or bad because the only opinion that matters is your own. I believe that my biggest failure in this class was probably playing it safe too often. As an accounting major I kind of figured my art skills were sub-par. Since I knew I wasn't going to be very good, I let that restrict my creativity. I found myself doing projects the way I thought someone else would want them done, rather than doing it the way I wanted to. I actually learned a lot from this failure. I learned that its better to go for it and put yourself out there than to just skate by with the bare minimum and try to please others. With art, I learned that failures are going to happen on a daily basis and you can't let them hold you back from what you aspire to do. 

I think my biggest success in this class was opening my eyes up to the art world and giving myself a chance at enjoying art before I get too old. Before taking this class, i had rare,y ever been to an art exhibit and I didn't have an appreciation for art as a form of expression. Now, after being in this class for 13 weeks, I can honestly say that I feel more exposed to art and the effects it can have on a person. I really enjoyed going the art exhibit at the Wexner Center and I only hope that in the future I can learn more about other forms of art and continue to draw an interest in the fine arts. One of the biggest things I learned from this success was just how lucky we are at Ohio State to be surrounded by art. We are very privileged to have the resources at our disposal and the chances to see so much art. When I decided I was going to school here, it was for a lot of reasons, none of which had anything to do with art. I now add that to my list of reasons why I love this school. 

If there was one project I could do over again, it would probably be MP5, only because it was the most recent one we completed and it's still in the forefront of my thought with this class. I feel like I could've been a little more creative with this project and I played it safe with the way I presented it. I probably would have tried to incorporate my other action word into my picture, rather than just using the one word I was comfortable with. Other than that, I really enjoyed every project I did and I loved the creative freedom that was given to us throughout the semester.

MP5

My action word: to disarrange.

For MP5, I had to decide on an object that I used on a daily basis. What's more important to a man than his wallet. I decided this was something that I never leave the house without and always have handy. Most of my pants are worn in the back pocket because of how often my wallet is in them. My action word was disarrange and when I think of this word, I think of unorganized chaos. This presented an opportunity to do something I rarely do, be disorganized. Im kind of a neat freak so this was a step out of my comfort zone when this word was assigned to me. When it comes to my wallet, I have designated slots and pockets for different items so it only felt right to make an organizational change. Since disarrange means chaos to me, I decided to take every single item out of my wallet and put them back in places where they didn't belong. Cards were facing every direction and cash was scrunched up into small pockets. Overall, I really liked to way it turned out. It expressed a side of me that most people don't see. Most of my friends see me as the one cleaning up after others and going out of my way to make sure things look nice. The funny part is when some of my friends open up their wallets at a restaurant or store, they actually resemble what my alteration looks like. They have no type of organizational structure and everything is kinda just thrown in there. This project was a great way to end our set of micro projects because it gave us a chance to pick an item that matters to us, and alter it to match, or in my case the complete opposite, of our feelings, habits, and emotions. This was a fun project and I really enjoyed the openness and creative freedom that came along with it. The pictures I took of my action word can be found below:

MP4

For MP4, I chose to film on my front porch. normally after a long day of class, I like to sit out there and take a second to think. It gives me a chance to unwind and reflect on my week. On a normal day, I hear the sounds of cars going by and depending on the weather, I can also hear wind blowing or precipitation. On this particular day, I could hear the pitter patter of rain and the splashing of water as cars drove through large puddles. When I first sat down on the porch, the rain was really relaxing to me. I felt like I could've sat down and fallen asleep. The splashing of water was soothing and it felt nice to sit down for a little bit and throw worry out the window. By the end of my visit to this place, i felt refreshed and renewed. I was ready to tackle the rest of my week and look forward to the weekend. The emotions I wanted my final piece to express was a bit of suspense and thrill toward the beginning and then a calming feeling by the end. I wasn't totally sure what I wanted to do with this piece so I kind of learned as I went. Overall, there were several happy accidents throughout where I added a sound effect or instrument and it seemed to fit well. This experience was satisfying because I learned how to work with both iMovie and Garage Band. Also, I really enjoyed the freedom to make what I wanted, which made my possibilities endless. I also really liked my final product and the pictures that went along with it. Overall, I was very satisfied with this experience and I hope to work with these programs more in the future.

Carver Response

For the response, I will discuss my thoughts on the short story Cathedral by Robert Carver. The story follows the life of the Narrator, who is never named, and his wife, who is also never named. It tells of the narrator's wife and her experiences with a blind man, Robert whom she met in Seattle. After Robert's wife dies of cancer, Robert goes to visit the Narrator and his wife. The Narrator is pretty uneasy about the visitor, but after meeting him and learning of his gentle and humble manner, the Narrator is content with their visitor. Towards the end of the story, Robert asks the Narrator to draw a cathedral after being unable to describe a cathedral in words. Overall, the Narrator and his wife are very humbled by their visitor and their lives are put in perspective.

Overall, i really enjoyed this short story. I gained an emotional connection to Robert as I read into his life and the experiences he has been through. It was very warming to think of the adversity he had overcome along with the life-long friendship he had built with the Narrator's wife. His experiences and determination through adversity helped me to reference times in my life where I was put in a bad situation and had to look at the bright side. This is by far my favorite piece of writing that we have read in this class. I really liked Carver's writing style and now want to look into other things he has wrote. This story was very touching and I liked the way the titles wrapped into the story towards the end and built a better understanding of how sometimes, it is better to feel something rather than physically see it. Robert had built an understanding of his environment while never actually seeing it in person. To me, this was amazing and I loved the story because of it.

Wallace Response

The article focuses on the commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace to the Kenyon College graduating class of 2005. For starters, I really liked the way Wallace delivered his speech. I could almost imagine a man standing at a podium in front of thousands of people delivering a speech like this. He had a very fluid transition throughout where he would switch between a story and his expectations that went along with his speech. I especially enjoyed his stories, most notably the one about the two men arguing religion. I found it very interesting how he opened the speech with the "What the hell is water" quote and ended it stating "this is water", resembling a metaphor of coming full circle in terms of what these graduates had done in their time at the university. As a current college student, it really struck a chord with me in terms of its relation to me and my life. Overall, there wasn't much to dislike about this speech, besides the fact that it was rather lengthy. I only hope that when I graduate from Ohio State, we have a commencement speech and interesting and well-written as this one.