Matthew+Brigstock

Matthew Brigstock

**Major:** Political Science with a minor in Fine Arts **Computer/Software Experience:** I have lots of experience using photo editing software such as Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop  **Experience with art:** I have taken photography classes through high school and my freshman year at GW. I have loved photography for as long as I can remember. **Something interesting about me:** I spent this past summer in South Africa taking pictures of wildlife and nature  **My artistic interests:** This is a video of one of my favorite photojournalists Sebastiao Salgado media type="youtube" key="nHJWgQxTous" height="360" width="640"


 * Manovich article examples: **

1. Numerical Representation 2. Modularity 3. Automation 4. Variability 5. Transcoding

Part 1: Size- 958KB Dimensions- 1920x1274 Color Space- RGB Part 2:
 * Photoshop Exercise: **

Part 3:

Part 1: Removal
 * __ Project 1 __**



Part 2: Masking









Response:
 * Manovich Reading**

Before reading the article by Lev Manovich on the Velvet Revolution, I had pretty much no clue about the emergence of new visual aesthetics during the 1990’s. I never really took time to think about, or research, how video editing, graphic design, and moving imagery got the place it is today. Overall, I though that Manovich made great points throughout his article, provided a helpful history of the topic, and used relevant examples that backed up his claims and helped the reader understand the point he was trying to make.

There were two sections of this article that I found particularly interesting- Media Remixability and the section on Layers, Transparency, and Compositing. To begin with, I found the Media Remixability section interesting because it shows how this hybrid language came to be. I thought it was very clever when he compared this to a petri dish- in which computer animation, cinematography, graphic design, and other areas were starting to interact with each other for the first time. This example shows how it wasn’t necessary the advancement of these areas that made this period so important, but how they all came together as one. Manovich said, “The result is a hybrid, intricate, complex, and rich visual language- or rather, numerous languages that share the basic logic of remixability,” which shows how important this combination was. With new processes such as being able to add motion blur to 3D computer graphics, it completely opened the door for a new era of editing and video creation. Also, I thought it was interesting how he ended this section by discussing “hyper-real aesthetics” and how the remixability during the Velvet Revolution lead to this modern period where these edits are almost completely invisible.

I also found the section on Layers, Transparency, and Compositing very interesting because of how it has so much to do with the current project we are starting in class, and I was able to relate lots of what he was saying to similar advancements in photo editing. Essentially, everything became smoother. He explained that you could now use transparency when stacking multiple layers, and multiple images and scenes could now be added to one frame. He explained that one composition could now feature hundreds, if not thousands of different layers. He showed the importance of this by claiming, “In short, digital compositing was essential in enabling the development of a new hybrid visual language of moving images that we see everywhere today.” I liked how he ended this section by also showing how compositing, while originally designed to support the aesthetics of cinematic realism, is also now showing the opposite effects. Now, some artists are making the juxtaposition of objects purposely visible instead of making them fuse together.

In closing, I thought this was a very well written article and that Manovich’s arguments are valid and make sense. I learned a lot that I didn’t know, and will be thinking about The Velvet Revolution when using the tools that were created during this period.

Three discussion questions:

1. Do you think it is appropriate for Manovich to label this as “The Velvet Revolution" and compare it to a political event?

2. After reading this article, do you think it is fair for him to call these advancements the creation of a new “visual language,” or do you think these changes were simply the result of improving technology?

3. If After Effects would not have been created, do you think visual imagery technology would still be where it is today? Or do you think After Effects is the main reason "The Velvet Revolution" took place?

In Lev Manovich’s article, //The poetics of augmented space//, he discusses how people react to augmented space. He discuses a number of examples of how exactly dynamic data is delivered to, or extracted from, physical space, including Augmented Reality. One of the interview questions directed at Manovich is, “What is special about AR compared to other forms of Augmented Space.”
 * Augmented Reality Article**

To begin with, it is important to note what augmented space and augmented reality are. Augmented space is the physical space overlaid with dynamically changing information. This information is likely to be in multimedia form and is often localized for each user. However, augmented reality is the laying of dynamic and context-specified information over the visual field of a user. Essentially, augmented reality is one, of multiple methods that data can be added to a physical space.

While there are multiple technologies in which data can be added to a physical space, augmented reality is one of the most sophisticated and unique methods. Augmented reality is special because through the addition of technology, ones view of reality is changed. Take, for example, ubiquitous computing, another development in the context of augmented space. While this advancement does overlay physical space with dynamic data, it doesn’t have give an individual the unique experience that augmented reality does. Augmented reality can either ad new information to our experience or may add an altogether different experience.

Electronic displays mounted in shops, streets, lobbies, train stations, and apartments certainly fit the definition of augmented space, given that it is physical space overlaid with changing information, they simply don’t provide the individual with the same effect that augmented reality does. As noted before, augmented reality uses new technological advances to change one’s unique perspective of reality. Take for example the navigation function on Google’s new wearable technology, Google glass. This allows the user to look down a street, just as they normally would, but now they have street names, directions, distances, and speed all listed on top of what they would normally see. This is an example of how augmented reality can literally enhance or completely change one’s perspective of reality.

In closing, augmented reality is special because of the effect it has on the individual. It allows one’s perspective of reality to change. Other forms of augmented space provide information to an individual, such as an advertisement in Times Square, but it doesn’t change the way individuals see the world; augmented reality does.