The Corporation Questions

1 ) What is the principal purpose of this documentary?

The purpose of this movie is to make you ask questions about Corporations. It is also to show the development of a "living" business corporation from a legal thing that started as a government-chartered institution, to the rise of the modern commercial institution entitled to the legal rights of an actual person, that it is now. One theme is its assessment of corporations as people, the result of a Supreme Court case in 1886 which led to corporations having the same rights as human beings.

2) What does the film critique? How do you know that?

This movie critiques how all corporations only have "The Bottom Line". How much money can they make? They are to put "The Bottom Line" above everything, including the public good. It's not a law of nature. It's a decision. They care only for the short-term profit. A corporation's only obligation is to themselves. I know this because everyone seems to believe it and it says so in the film.

3) What methods did the filmmaker use to increase public awareness about Corporate responsibility and affect people’s beliefs and behavior?

They interviewed multiple people, some from corporations, and even regular people that were passing by. Through vignettes and interviews, The Corporation examines and criticizes corporate business practices.

4) Which methods of theirs did you think were most effective in supporting their position on corporate responsibility. Why?

I think the interviews are effective enough to support their position on corporate responsibility. I think this because if the people are honest (and why wouldn't they be?), then what they say is really how things are.

5) Did you have any issues with this documentary? What were some parts that you did not agree with, or question. Why?

I did not have any issues with this documentary. I am not interested in any documentaries, and this was no exception. Therefore I did not raise any questions.

6) Describe another film you have watched that had an impact on your values. How and why did that happen?

Honestly, How to Train Your Dragon. It teaches that no one should judge others based on appearance and and rumors. Instead, think positive of others, or don't think about them at all. You also should never underestimate someone. Just because they may seem cold or dark, doesn't mean they an't be kind and caring, and vice-versa.

Ball Bounce Animation

I used Photoshop to create my background and animation. I used a provided sound effect at the end.
I decided to do a ball with a simple "X" design on it, bouncing in a park. It bounces off the ground, then the tree, and then the ground again before exploding like a firework. I did not have an influence for this work, although now I feel like I could've done something darker to go along with my chosen animator (Tim Burton)'s work. In this work, the viewer easily follows the ball as it bounces and "sticks" to the ground and tree to add a realistic effect to it. I thought this project was cool because even though I don't have the best drawing skills, I have always wanted to animate something, and with this I was able to. I think this went very well. I was surprised by how well this turned out. With additional time, I likely would've made the background slightly darker and gothic to match the theme Tim Burton is known for.

Tim Burton

Tim Burton is an American Film director, producer, artist, writer, and animator. He was born in Burbank, California on August 25, 1958. He began as an animator for Walt Disney Pictures, but soon moved on making his own kinds of movies and projects. He is known for his dark, gothic, macabre, and quirky horror and fantasy films. He is most known for:

• Peewee's Big Adventure
• Beetlejuice
• Batman
• Edward Scissorhands
• Batman Returns
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Cabin Boy
• Ed Wood
• Batman Forever
• James and the Giant Peach
• Mars Attacks!
• Superman Lives
• Sleepy Hollow
• Planet of the Apes
• Big Fish
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Corpse Bride
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• 9
• Alice in Wonderland
• Dark Shadows
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
• Frankenweenie
• Big Eyes
• And the upcoming film: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

He was the animator on "The Fox and the Hound" (1981) and "Tron" (1982)

Corpse Bride Analysis

The setting of the movie is in a small town, with a forest nearby. It is shabby and dark, solemn and reeks of despair, much like most Tim Burton movies. The characters are Victor Van Dort, Corpse Bride, Victoria and Barkis Bittern as the main characters. Their makeup is tired looking, with purple shadows under their eyes, with Victorian-era fashion.

The movie is a stop-motion animation, and most of the scenes are at night, and very dark colours are used in this movie. Tim Burton has used many varieties of shots, and because of the small characters like the worm and the spider, there were a lot of big close-ups. However, they were a lot of zoom ins to signify the shocking factor, like when Barkis Bittern swallowed the laced drink and was dead.

They were mostly shot to shot, straight cuts. The black and white contrast is very high, and ala Tim Burton he used many stripes on his character’s costumes. The camera angles that were mostly used in this movie was also from low angle. The transitions are commonly the continuity shots. This movie is also a sort of musical, because there were several songs played, and the songs composed were very much fitting, as it was haunting, while some are a bit cheeky and contain some dark humour. As usual, his main voice actors are Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

There is also montage shots to signify that the character is very laden down with the stress from his parents and his peers. As the scenes are beautiful, there were a lot of establishing shots or long shots that show the character and its surroundings.

Overall, the movie gives a very gothic feel, the stop-motion was flawless, the colour schemes albeit dark goes very well with each other, and paired with the music altogether forms a perfect jigsaw piece of a great movie.

The storyline is where Victor has to be wed with Victoria, who is the only daughter of Lord and Lady Everglot, who decides to marry beneath their status because they are close to being in poverty. Overall the plot is going around one of the seven sins: Greed. Victor, who was nervous about his vows one day before his marriage, practiced on what he thought was a branch, but ended up being the bony finger of a corpse, whom then takes him underground. The corpse bride, Emily was killed before uniting with her lover, who turned out to be Lord Barkiss, who was a greedy and cold man. He stepped in before Victor could take Victoria’s hand in marriage just because he assumed that the Everglotts, being Lords are rich and powerful, but that was not the case.

After marriage, when Lord Barkiss found out that Victoria was not filthy rich, he threw a big tantrum and swore to get something out of the marriage, but then was interrupted by the underground residents, who came up to celebrate the wedding of Victor and Emily, whom Victor has decided to marry because Victoria was already married to Lord Barkiss.

From there we can deduce that Victor has given up hope that he would find anyone like Victoria, and would rather live without his life, and at least make someone happy rather than no one.

In the scene where the underground residents came above the ground, when they approached the people, at first the people were scared. However, it showed a boy, who due to his innocence, can ignore other elements and recognize his grandfather despite the bones and haggardness, and it is thanks to this this boy that the others began to look at the underground residents properly and recognize their loved ones, re-united once again.

This movie symbolizes that love can go beyond the grave, and that karma will come to those who deserves it. It also shows that love is not about status and money, and that true love will find its own way to shine. Although it is quite the typical love concept, Tim Burton put the element of dark fantasy in it that we are blinded to the fact that it is yet another love story.

The clay-like stop animation is very smooth and very symmetrical. The lightings are very “concert”-like, as it shows spot lights of various colours come from all directions; top, bottom left and right, which can be clearly seen in the scene where the bartenders are explaining about Emily’s death to Victor when he was just brought down to the underground. However, this kind of lighting can be seen in various parts of the movie, and it actually used quite often.

Spirited Away Questions

Spirited Away incorporates many elements from classical Western literature and folklore: people who magically turn into pigs (the Odyssey); the hero’s quest; the prohibition against eating the food of the Faerie (Irish folkore); a girl who goes to Grandma’s house (“Red Riding Hood”); the need to solve riddles. Do these familiar elements make the story easier to understand, or does their appearance in a Japanese film make them too alien to be helpful?

• I'm not sure. I didn't notice any references to classical Western fairy tales, so I guess that means it may be too alien.

Does it make sense to think of bodies of water as possessing spirit? Have you ever had a relationship with a river, a pond, an ocean, or the rain that prompted you to speak to water? Have you ever been rescued by a body of water? Have you ever cleaned a body of water?

• I think it could be believable that bodies of water are possessing spirits. I have (I guess) had a close relationship to a lake by my grandma's house, but not close enough I would talk to it. I have never been saved by a body of water. I also don't remember having cleaned a body of water.

Video Game Art Brainstorming and Reflection

STEP ONE: (On your BLOG...)
You will need to brainstorm some possible THEMES for your piece of art that focuses
on a social/political/environmental/school/family situation that you would like to talk to
your viewer about, through your game. For example, you could think about world
events that you are passionate about, OR, think about an object and then think about
the environmental and social impacts of that object. What could be problematic with a
bottle of water? A gold chain? A cotton shirt made in China?
a. Please BRAINSTORM at least THREE different political/environmental/social
problems that you think you could address through a video game.
b. For each of the ideas above, please write down one object that could represent this
problem, and then at least three ways that it affects our world.
ex. A Pineapple- the problems that this object can represent are the clearing of the
rainforest for plantation, unfair labour practices, transportation, mining to extract tin for
cans, forestry for paper label, natural resources for manufacturing such as water,
electricity, waste, processing, shipping, etc.
ASM3M Video Game Art
c. Choose your favourite theme from above and explain why you are most interested in
turning this into a video game.
d. Please write descriptions of your plans on how you will re-create the following:
#1 for Flappy Bird
1) The instruction screen background 2) The game background
3) The flappy bird/jovia bird graphic 4) The pipes
5) Fonts/game description/messages 6) The Lose Screen, messages
OR
#2 for the Memory Game
1) The instruction screen background 2) The game background
3) The question side of the cards 4) The picture side of the cards
5) Fonts/game description/messages 6) The Lose Screen, messages

A)

• The world never seems to be at peace (i.e Always fighting/always at war)
• Country stereotypes
• Homophobia

B)

• Two swords clashing
• There is always 30-40 wars going on at any given time
• People must fight to survive everyday
• People lose their lives everyday due to wars
• A globe
• Country stereotypes causes prejudice
• It prevents people from learning more about different countries
• People automatically assume everyone from a country will be the same
• A rainbow 
• Homosexual stereotypes causes prejudice and bullying
• People who are gay/lesbian are treated as inferior to "superior" straight people
• Gays and lesbians have rights taken away just because some see their sexuality as "wrong"

C) I am most interested in the Country Stereotypes idea with the Memory Game. I can easily imagine an idea for the game. I also hope that by showing people the country stereotypes, they will understand that not everyone in that country is like the stereotype and may instead be the opposite.

D)

1. The instruction screen background - I used the same background for all the screens. I changed the font and size of the text.
2. The game background - I took a picture of the world with a yin-yang form and put that over top of a picture of many, many country flags.
3. The question side of cards - For the question sides of the cards I used a picture of the world with a questions mark int he middle.
4. The picture sides of cards - For the picture sides of the cards I took seven flags and put something symbolizing that country's stereotype in the middle: Canada - A beaver, U.S - A hamburger, Japan - Anime, Italy - Pasta, Russia - Alcohol, France - A baguette, Brazil - A soccer ball.
5. Fonts/game description/messages - I changed the fonts and sizes to keep it interesting, but kept the text mostly the same as before. The message is that even though there is a stereotype, it doesn't mean that the countries are like that.
6. The Lose Screen/Win Screen messages - I used the same background as the game. I also used the same font, size, and colour for the text on both screens to keep a pattern.

Danielle MacDonald

Country Stereotypes

Flash CC and Photoshop

April 23rd, 2015

TECHNICAL

I used an already existing memory game on Flash CC to edit and become my own. 

I edited reusable pictures from the internet on Photoshop, and created my own cards and backgrounds. I also used Flash CC to change the text font and size.

IDEA OR CONCEPT

My idea was to make a memory game about country stereotypes. I was thinking that by showing different country stereotypes, people will realize it's only a game and not believe everyone from that country is like the stereotype.

Originally, I was thinking of making a Flappy Bird style game about how the world is never at peace and is always fighting. But I decided on a memory game of Country Stereotypes.

INFLUENCES

I did not really have any influences for this piece, although, the anime Hetalia where the countries of the world are represented as people who behave very stereotypical for that country helped with the idea.

COMPOSITION

Because my background has many colours, I had a more limited colour choice for my text on some of the pages, such as the main page, the win page, and the lose page. I feel though that I was able to choice colours that are clearly visible. On the back of the cards, I feel that my picture goes nicely and that the front pictures are clearly visible, making it easy to play.

MOTIVATION

I thought that making a game, even as simple as a memory card game, would be fun. I really liked being able to make my own images for the game and making the whole game my own.

I had the idea of a globe in my head to symbolize the numerous countries around the world. I was happy when I was able to work this into a couple of my images.

CRITICAL ASSESSMENT

I think the background and the back of the cards looks the best. I think the background of the world with country flags behind is cool. The earth with a questions mark for the cards looks cool too.

No parts surprised me too much. I've never used Flash CC before so some of the things surprised me, but nothing else really did.

I would likely work on the fronts of that cards (the countries and stereotypes) a little more. They seem a bit too basic and don't show my true potential.

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The Barbiesaur Reflection Questions

1. If you were to box and sell this, what would you market it as? (What is the purpose?)

If I were to box and sell this, I would market it as a "Barbiesaur". The "Barbiesaur" is for all ages and for either gender. Its purpose is to show that no matter what you look like, whether you have cool clothes, or are even part dinosaur, you are cool, and you are you.

2. What do you like the most? Least? What would you do if you could re-do it?

I like how I was able to figure out how to get the head to move so it's not always staring downwards. I also like the eyes on the Barbiesaur's head so it looks like it's looking at you even when it's not. I also think the cape/coat on it is cool.
I don't like the way the bow is painted. Also the nails. Both could have been done a bit better. I also think something could have been done with the tail.
If I could re-do this project, I would have painted on fangs. I would have also maybe figured out something interesting I could do with the tail, either replace it or change it in some way. If I could find things that interested  me, I would have also likely changed the coat or body in some way.