Images as arguments lecture:
We began this lecture by asking 'what is an argument?' and were given three types of argument from this:
Rational, emotional and rhetorical. A rational argument is taken by philosophers who try and reason with evidence and solutions. They usually follow a deductive argument which has a logical form. An example of a deductive argument is: i) All people are mortal. ii) Socrates is a person. iii) Therefore Socrates is mortal. However, they may also follow an inductive argument which is based on empirical evidence (which is evidence that relies on the senses). Inductive arguments are contingently true.
Rhetorical arguments are used by Sophists (360 BC) which used persuasion. It was received negatively in Ancient Greek but it was re-evaluated in post-modern context.

We then moved onto images that could be used as an argument and we began by looking at the Gestalt Shift with the image of the rabbit/duck.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Duck-Rabbit_illusion.jpg

This image is labelled as an illusion as there is two ways of looking at it. From one perspective, it looks like a duck and from the other perspective, it looks like a rabbit. However, you can't see both animals simultaneously. It is an intensive experience as it has a logic of thresholds although it is still centred on representational form.

We then looked at another image that followed the idea of distortion and perception. It was Hans Holben the Younger who created the piece- The Ambassadors in 1533.

http://users.clas.ufl.edu/tharpold/resources/holbein/index.html

This image could be quite easy to create with photoshop in recent day, however, this image was hand painted. The image of the skull at the bottom of the painting can only be seen when it is looked at from the side. However, when you can see the skull, you are unable to see the rest of the image. 

The person on the left is a traveller and the person on the right is a member of the clergy. Both of these people are supposed to portray different views of what happens after we die. The inclusion of this distorted skull is supposed to signify that, whatever happens, you are still dead at the end. However, you have to look from a different point of view and ignore the other points of view to see the blunt message of the painting. This makes it a vanitas painting. 

A similar thing was recreated by Robert Lazzarini in 2000. He 3D printed a distorted skull from real bone. 

http://db.westcollection.org/sites/default/files/rlazzarini872_0.jpg

This followed a similar idea of distortion as you could only see the skull if you looked at it from a certain angle. Lazzarini was alluding to Holben's painting. 

This lecture was interesting as it give yet more background information to art which can support my studies and will come in handy when revising and referencing different time periods. I found it very interesting and shows how powerful image can be. 

7 Stages of Design Process Lecture:
In this lecture, we learnt about the 7 different stages of design process, which are:
1) Define
2) Research
3) Ideate
4) Prototype
5) Select
6) Implement
7) Learn

Stage 1 consists of asking these questions:
-What are the key elements of the product?
-Who is the target audience?
-What is the design?
-When will it be needed?
-Where will it be used?
-Why does the client think a design solution is required?
All of these questions should point you in a direction to follow. Even if it is the wrong direction, at first, these questions will provoke an idea and then that will progress.
It is important to realise that the product may not appeal to everyone and narrowing down your target audience will help you in creating a design as you will not be considering everyone.

The second stage is research, and this is where initial ideas are found. You will need to find both primary sources, which comes from your own experience or findings, and secondary sources, which come from other peoples experiences and findings. It is important to create your own information as you can't completely rely on someone else's knowledge to back up your design.

The third stage is to ideate. We looked at a quote from Gavin Ambrose, who said:
'Creativity  conveys a sense of pure inventiveness and lack of boundaries, yet design requires applied creativity towards a specific end'.
This introduced this stage nicely as this stage is about ideas and not vocabulary. It is advised to avoid preconceptions also. A range of examples were given that support the idea that, the simplest idea is usually the best one. I recognise Okham's Razor from studying Philosophy at A-Level and in the case of proving the existence of God, it worked to an extent. However, when applied to other concepts, such as an idea for a design, it is good to keep it simple and not over complicate ideas or concepts.
At the end of this stage, you should have some kind of rough language of what you are going to create. This may include sketches or thumbnails or trying out ideas.

The fourth stage is the prototype stage. This is about testing the feasibility of  each idea and how they work with the guidelines from the brief. This stage is about exploring what the outcome may look like. This is an example of good animation that probably was defined in the prototype stage.
Tine Milk - Olympic Film from Echoic : Music and Sound Design on Vimeo.
At the end of this stage, you should have a comprehensive layout or a 'comp' for short. As well as this, you should know what idea you want to take forward.

Stage six is implement.
This is building the output and defining the details and refining what has been trailed and clarified. This stage is where the outcome forms and you finish your work.

Stage seven is to learn from the project.
This means you should encourage feedback and reassess your work. Note improvements and things that work well so the next brief you work on, the outcome can be even better and more efficiently done.

This lecture gave a very interesting insight on how to work through a brief and I think that I will stick to a structure like this as it is solid and easy to follow. I enjoyed learning about a different way of working and definitely took the stages on board for the next time I am given a brief.

Final After Effects Session:

I have thoroughly enjoyed all sessions that have involved After Effects, including this one. In this session, the aim was to create a whole animation with the whole group. We were given this example by Adam Gault for inspiration.It is a great animation with a lot of character and detail.


https://vimeo.com/44893686

We began by choosing a creature that lived underwater and were told to recreate it using different layers for its body parts. I decided on an orca.

This is the image I created on Illustrator for the animation. We were given a specific colour to use as a background so that had to be taken into account when creating the creature. This worked well as it was very bold black and white. I then had to take it into After Effects, without a background, so I could start animating it. This would be fairly simple to do as I am now very familiar with how After Effects works and how to animate an object, as long as I have converted the individual layers across to After Effects. I could then animate different parts of the orca. This meant I had to have two compositions, one for the individual layers, and one for the whole orca. This meant that the parts of the orca would move as well the whole object would move across the screen, within a 10 second time period. 

Using the transform controls, I could move the orca in a swimming motion so it could swim across the screen. However, some of the parts of the orca were hard to move because they did not align properly with the fins, body or white spot on the orca. This meant that I had to alter the position of the orca so it would look right as it moved. However, I screenshotted how the tail looked at different periods in the animation to show an idea of how the tail moved and also how I've altered some of the positions of the layers. In the first screen shot, you can see how I can select each part of the orca individually. 

Once done, we sent the videos to Sara, who composed a video of each completed animation and put them into one animation. 

The session refreshed all things that I have learnt from After Effects this year and was, as always, highly beneficial. I love using After Effects and feel I have picked it up quickly.