Tutorial: DIY Softbox

This is a video i found that I thought had some clever ways of making your own video lights, that work just as well as ones that you would buy and the store for a ridiculously larger price. If you are an amateur video maker with little money to buy lights, here is a good tutorial that shows you how to make a diffusion screen and a soft box from cheap materials you can find at local stores.

Poster Draft

We were asked to design a poster for a music video we are making in class, and i am having trouble deciding what else it needs. the poster is supposed to convey the message and the mood of the song. if there are any suggestion that anybody has as to how to improve it. i would gladly appreciate if you left any suggestions you have at all in the comments. below is my poste so far and a link the song the music video is on. The message i receive from the song is to never give up and to keep pushing forward no matter what gets in your way, which is why i have the person holding a boulder up a hill, showing that this person is  not giving up. and the I Will Not Bow in the background is representing the fact that he/she is not going to give in, and the reason for it being in the background is to show that it is set in stone and he/she is not going to change their mind.

Listen to the song here

Remember PLEASE leave a comment

Chair Design The Paradiddle

Our last project was to design a chair, and then make it out of foam core. we first spent a class look at other chair designs online, and we each picked our favourite designer. we then had to do a presentation on some of our favourite furniture designers work. we spent a couple of classes brainstorming ideas as to what we wanted our chair to look like. once we got the design we wanted, we did orthographical drawings of them them from those drawings created our chairs out of foam core.

The purpose of my chair was to have a chair that you could sit comfortably on in multiple positions. On my chair you can sit on it straight like you normally would sit on a chair, if you sit on it on and angle you are reclined a bit, and if you sit on in sideways, you are laying down. the shape is based off the shape of a base drum since I play the drums, and the chair had to reflect our personality. The reason for being able to sit in it in all different ways, is that i like to  be comfortable and I can never stay in the same position for a long time, this allows me to be able to change positions and still be comfortable. I named my chair the Paradiddle, Paradiddle is a rhythm, you would hear a lot of drummers, play. 

Artistic Inspiration: Steampunk

Just last night I was looking at Steampunk stuff. I really like the style of steam punk, with its really retro rusty look. You can find all kinds of steampunk things everything from; steampunk vehicles, to steampunk jewelry.

 Here are a few examples. To learn more about Steampunk go to this link here

Music Videos Over the past three Decades

we were assigned to look at music videos that have been made over the past three decades. over that time there has been about every ideo you can think of put into a music video. I've gotten a lot of inspiration from watching all of these music, and since we are making our own music videos in class right now you will definitely see some of these music videos incorporated into ours.


Below I posted three of my favourite music videos i saw while browsing all sorts of styles of music videos.

OK GO - This To Shall Pass

this video was done in one cut it took them over 80 takes to get right. the video is a Rube Goldberg machine that runs through out the whole video and ends in a messy way for the band members. the point of a Rude Goldberg machine is to accomplish a simple task using  all sorts of simple and complex contraptions.

The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar

This was a music video I thought was very cool because of its simplicity and concept. The whole thing was filmed from the window of a train, and pieces of the scenery where copied into different places to go with the beat. Even though there is not much that goes on in the video, it still keeps your attention and is entertaining to watch.

The White Stripes - The Hardest Button To Button

This video is slightly similar to the previous video, in the was that it has pieces repeated in the shot to go with the beat. i like the way that they incorporated stop-motion with the video. it is filmed in normal everyday public places, like city streets and subway stations. it was made by taking different shots then laying them.

Movie Trailer Parody

Our latest project was to take a trailer from a popular movie and recreate it with the audio changed in order to effect the overall mood of the trailer. I picked The Watchmen trailer.  It is a very mysterious movie that is action packed but the audio in the trailer is slow, mysterious, and calm.   I decided to create a more intense and chaotic effect that better reflects the dramatic scenes. I accomplished this by using Dubstep, a genre of electronic dance music for the soundtrack and by separating all of the fast paced scenes of the movie from the slower ones. I was then able to synchronize them more effectively with the visuals. The song I chose was "First of The Year" by Skrillex.  I chose this song because it has lots of big bass drops which were good for scenes with impact.  Smashing windows, kicks and explosions match these stronger beats well.  The introduction of the music is calmer and matches the slower scenes.  The music becomes more dynamic as the action increases.  Below, I have linked both the original trailer and my edit. 

Let me know what you think.

Original Trailer

My Edit

Inspiration: AGO Field Trip

This past Thursday we went to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) to see different forms of art that we would be doing our selves later on, like Renaissance Art. the most impressive work of art I saw was "Massacre of the Innocents" by Peter Paul Ruben oil on wood panel. the painting is portraying the biblical story of the massacring of all the boys under two years old, in Bethlehem. if you would like to see it, there is a link to a picture here on the AGO website.


Another piece of artwork that I found very impressive was a portrait by Chuck Close. He is a very realistic painter, that does mostly portraits of peoples faces. I could not fine the one that was at the AGO, but here are some other works by him. His painting was so realistic that I had to put my face right up to it to be able to see that it was a painting.