In high school I was in a design program called CyberARTS, and it was divided into both traditional and technology based design classes. During my four years there I began to explore the Adobe suite and my interest for digital media grew. I was so upset last year, which was my first year out of high school, because I had decided to listen to my parents and go into Management like they wanted - I thought I had left digital media classes behind forever. That year was not the greatest, and I decided that it was time to take control of my life and applied for RTA. 

After being accepted I was so thrilled to find out that there was a class in first year, first semester, dedicated to learning design principles and using the programs that I had fallen in love with in high school.  It was a dream come true and a huge blast of nostalgia. Because I had come into the program with some background knowledge of how to use the Adobe Suite, this semester I focused on absorbing information from the lectures about design, typography, and the changing world of media. I learned a lot more about the theories and behind the scenes work of the industry, and it made me even more interested in possibly pursuing a career in a related field. 

I was surprised to learn that through RTA we can even major in Digital Media. I won't lie, I love television production as well, but I didn't even know that I had this option when coming in to the program. Now that this new door has opened I'm very inclined to see where it can take me - digital media is fascinating and ever changing and I would love to work in the industry. After learning how to use After Effects properly I became especially interested. Who knows, maybe I could still work in television but design the graphics for them? 

I thought it was great having the lecture and the lab divided so that the information I learned from lecture could be applied during a leisurely two hour block in which to work on whatever project we had assigned. I think that my sense of design has improved a little this semester, but I've always been a strong supporter of 'practice makes perfect' and I think the more active I am working with design the better I will get - all the more reason for me to keep taking digital media. 

Whatever field I decide to major in, I think it's important to have at least a basic concept of design, typography, and honestly - how to use Photoshop. This class definitely did that, and I think the knowledge I learned will be carried through and help me greatly. 

I'm thankful to have taken such a fun class, that turned out to be incredibly useful as well. 

When it comes to interactivity in web media, I'd like to make the argument that nearly everything successful in today's Western society, on the web, has some kind of interactive aspect to it. 

We've gone past the point where just looking at something is enough, if we like something we aren't satisfied with knowing that anymore - we need other people to know it too. Facebook added a like button, tumblr runs off of like buttons, and comments have been enabled on almost everything on the internet. Do we really have so much to say that we need to have the option to vent our angst ridden feelings to the world? That seems what Youtube has become. 

Youtube is a great example of interactivity and fan culture on the web. Youtube 'celebrities' were once regular people, but through gathering millions of subscribers they have build an online fan base that even the most famous movie stars can't boast about. Although many people complain about it, including myself, the written comments on Youtube have created an entirely new form of blog on its own. People may begin by discussing things relevant to the video but it will stem off and turn into a debate about religion. 

The connection Youtubers have with their audience is uncanny. From a single video  tens and even hundreds of succeeding videos are often made in response to it, to parody it, or just to get a few views to see if fame can be challenged and won. 

The growing interaction of everything on the internet has left us with short attention spans - always wanting to be engaged with something more all the time. Websites such as The Ugly Dance and others similar offer the audience to create something of their own in return for some of their time in order to showcase a product. It's becoming so easy to integrate marketing and advertising in once ordinary things, and because we as a society are so starved to have some bit of 'social' interaction we will just at the chance. 

I love how far much the web has grown, and how involved everyone has become in it - and I am by no means advocating that we should go backwards and forget how far we've come, but I think that people should be wary and more careful of how they are using the interactive features, and try to better the world with them. In the United States they are currently undergoing one of the fiercest battles against control of the internet, and unless the users of these interactive platforms take a stand, the web as we know it could change drastically in the next decade. 

We value being able to express our opinions, create and share content and interact with people from all over the world - but in order to keep this and progress we need to keep our internet safe and free. Watch this video and spread the word to any Americans that you may know!

Mr. Nobody is futurist science fiction drama that is set in a future where human beings are immortal. The story follows last mortal human being, Nemo, trying to recount his life. He remembers multiple past lives, however, and throughout the movie the psychiatrist who accompanies him is trying to figure out what was Nemo's actual past. It is an existentialist themed movie, very color oriented and stylized, and also very clean cut.

I wanted to embody all of these principles in my After Effects teaser trailer for the movie. Because the movie is set in the distant future, I decided that I wanted to stick to something very vector looking and clean cut, but I didn't want to lose the color that I heavily associate with the movie. Nemo's past starts in the late 50's/60's and continues on with three different women, and the main colors used are warm reds and yellows. This is why I chose the circles to be these shades. As well, because of the mysterious mood of the movie, I chose a harmony from a song a friend of mine recorded to play over the short animation. It is very folky, and almost mystical in a religious way. I tried to make the camera within the animation move to the rhythm of the song to make it integrated more and have the viewers eyes and ears follow the movements.

The reason I chose using blossoming circles was because when I think of a circle I imagine a continuum. Circles are never-ending and never-beginning all in once. They symbolize the essence of Mr. Nobody perfectly. Nemo doesn't know who he is, where he came from, how his life began and where it went. He is lost in his bast and the rest of the world will lose theirs as well as their lives are lived for eternity. The circle of life is not completed on either side in the movie, and by creating so many I wanted to symbolize this.

I did this by creating two circles and offsetting them in time and made them both scale up from zero to one hundred percent over time as well. I also eased in the key frames using the curves to make the transition more gradual and fluid. I then precomposed the two circles and began to layer them over top of each other, always offsetting them in the time line so that they would start at different times. I then created another precomposition and kept doing this until I was happy with the variety that I had achieved.

I added the text at the end so that the viewer would understand what movie the teaser was made for, and I applied a few effects to, again, symblize themes within the movie. I applied an effect that played with the characters of the word 'Mr Nobody' and went through a series of different letters before it stopped on the final word. I also made the word desintegrate at the end by using another text effect.

The variety of characters was meant to represent Nemo's different lives and pasts, and him not knowing who he is. The desintegration of the word was also meant to symbolize the unknown, as well as Nemo being a mortal who will have to face death and dissapear into nothingness. I also faded the main light that followed the title sequence at the end of the clip and blurred out the background to make it seem like the scene was being extinguished instead of everything fading to black. I wanted the viewer to still be able to see the outline of things after the animation was over.

I had a lot of fun learning how to use After Effects and using basic effects to create a much larger 3D project. I learned how to animate shapes with different speeds, how to apply different effects, work in 3D space with lights and cameras, how to precompose, and link layers together. I am very pleased with the final product and think that I conveyed the message I was trying to get across very well.

The circle of life may be a phrase used a lot, but it provided me with some very valid inspiration.