Author: hrm305

Our idea for our video project is to have an interactive mystery story. The storyline would center around an un-solved murder that occurred on NYU Shanghai’s campus. First the video would introduce the crime (show the crime scene). Then, the user would be presented with the 3 main characters. The user can pick one of the characters, and then an interactive, first-person video will take the user through the day of the crime, as seen by that character. By interacting through the various character’s days, the user can eventually solve the murder mystery.  

Link: http://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~hrm305/Audio/

Partner Collaboration:  I worked with Cara on this audio project. We both worked together on the audio remixing until we agreed what sounded best for the remixed song. For the code, Cara figured out how to create the slider and position/style it, and I figured out the code to make the slider responsive to change the size of the circle. The audio buttons were a team-effort and we used our in-class example knowledge to create the different button effects. 

Description: The concept for our audio project was to recreate dance club/rave themes with remixed EDM music. In addition to remixing a song, we also wanted to add interactive elements for both the visual and audio components of the website. The visuals include a black background and rotating multi-color disk in the center of the screen. Inside the circle there are an arrangement of buttons which allow the user to control the audio in various ways. A slider bar at the bottom of the screen controls the size of the disk. The whole concept is to allow the user to act like a DJ, making the sound of the song more varied/interesting through the buttons. The final webpage turned into the following: 

Process:

Our initial process and work on the project centered around the idea of a split screen which showed two different club “scenes” with varying music on each side. We wanted to incorporate some kind of hover effect to change the sound. 

However, in the end, we decided to go with a more simplistic, symbolic approach to the club vibe. We wanted to keep the background black both for simplicity, and to simulate the darkness of a club environment. The main focus of the page is a rotating circle, reminiscent of a CD or disk used by a DJ. We made the circle “animated” using the following code: 

The @keyframes rule specifies the animation of the object of interest. In this case, it uses transform: rotate(0deg) to transform: rotate (360deg) to rotate the “animate” object in a circle. Then, inside the circle div, the code, “animation: animate 1.5s linear infinite” is used to apply the animation to the colorful circle, where “animate” is the name of the animation defined in @keyframes, 1.5s indicates the speed of the rotation, linear is the “animation-timing-function” which specifies the speed curve of an animation (making it change smoothly), and infinite is the “animation-iteration-count” which specifies that the animation should be played an infinite times. The rainbow color gradient is created using the code: “background: linear-gradient(#7FA1FF, #F55F5F, #F7FC58, #58FCCA)”. 

Once the spinning disk was created, we created play, pause,  random, fade in, fade out, speed up, slow down, and volume up and volume down buttons. These button can be used to alter or distort the audio, making for a wide variety of interesting new “remixes” on the spot. 

Our other interactive component is a slider bar at the bottom of the screen which changes the size of the spinning circle. In html, the code to create this was: 

The “range” type makes it a slider, the min and max values specify the beginning and end values, “value” specifies where the slider should initially be set at, onChange creates a function which controls what happens when the slider value changes, and the class and id are used to style and call the slider function in css and js.  After styling the slider in css, js was used to change the size of the circle: 

In this js code, document.getElementById(‘sliderStatus’).innerHTML=value; calls the value of the slider and sets it to ‘value,’ while x is a variable which calls the id for the circle. Finally, x.style.height=value+”px”;  and x.style.width=value+”px”; changes the width and height of the circle by setting them equal to the current value of the slider (value) plus “px”, which increase the value 1px at a time. Since the slider’s ‘value’ is initially set to 600, which is the initial height and width of the circle as defined in css, this js code makes the circle resize from its initial height and width, which makes for a smoother effect. 

Post-mortem: 

I feel that our project did meet our goals overall. We wanted to make an interactive sound experience which reminded the user of a dance club/rave experience. By making the interaction indicative of a DJ, by creating a contrast between dark an bright colors, and by choosing and remixing EDM music, I think we met our goals. If we had more time to work on this project, I would have liked to add some different interactive elements which perhaps added some other sound components into the webpage, instead of just altering the remixed song. 

I found this article interesting, because it address some contradicting issues in the question of copy write. When Joy Garnett first takes Joy’s photograph of the Molotov Man and turns it into her work of art. After Joy claims copy write rights on the image, an artistic movement to turn the photo into different forms of art becomes famous. It is at this point that the question is brought up, “Does the author of a documentary photograph–a document whose mission is, in part, to provide the public with a record of events of social and historical value–have the right to control the content of this document for all time?” This question is tricky, because while the photographer clearly has some rights over the content, are these rights absolute? I would argue they are not, and that someone drawing inspiration form another piece and making it their own is not “copying” per say. 

However, the other side of this question is not a legal one, but a question posed by some, “Who owns the rights to this man’s struggle?”. By asking this question, the focus is turned back toward the individual and the context in which the photo was taken. As Susan explains in her section of the article, the photo has huge cultural, revolutionary, and personal context for the man in the photo. Because this important context could easily be missed in the artistic renderings of the photo, I agree with Susan that above all, the context of Pablo Arauz is being taken away, and this, if nothing else, is problematic. 

“The first words I spoke in the original phonograph. “Mary had a little lamb its fleece as white as snow. And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go’.”

Kenny G – Auld Lang Syne: The Millenium Mix:

The 20^th Century in Pictures

“Today, frightened investors ordered their brokers to sell it whatever the price and the stock market crashed.”

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

“Horrific place ladies and gentleman. The smoke and the flames now, oh the humanity.”

“The help and support of the women I ah? ???”

“People to evacuate the city as Martians approach.”

“Never to go to war with one another again.”

“this country is at war with Germany.”

“December 7^th, 1941..The Japanese have attached Pearl Harbor…a day that will live in infamy.”

“Bob command performance hope telling each Nazi and Russian today that Crimea doesn’t pay”

“I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth” “President Franklin D. Roosevelt…”

“ The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima”

“reports from Germany tell of horrors leading to the total extermination of the Jews of Europe.”

“Iron Curtain has descended across..”

“Jackie Robinson goes to bat in the first time in a major league..”

“Those soldiers never died, they just..” “Lucy?” “Fade away”

“It was a little cocker spaniel dog, and our little girl Trisha, the 6 year old, named it chex”

“are you a member of the communist party?” “Oh, a cop, eh?” “Or have you ever been a member of the communist party?”

“Baby, you’re the greatest” “…Elvis Presley…I’d like to thank all these warm folks and I’d like to thank you”

“Three young singers were killed today in the crash of a light plane”

“American Bandstand. And now here he is, the star of our show, ..”

“ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

“Standing up, waiting to see him…”

“Happy Birthday, mister..”

“Wondering how, and why, Marilyn Monroe died, in her…”

“President Kennedy died at 1pm…Lee Harvey Oswald..”

“I have a dream, my four little children one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
“And I say, segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.” “I have a dream today’

“I’m about to sign into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964”>

“The Beatles”

“I have today ordered to Vietnam the air mobile division. Additional forces will be needed later and they will be sent.”

“Very sad news for all of you, Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight”

“He said many times, many thoughts this nation. Some men see things as they are and say why, I dream things that never were and say why not.”

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

“It’s a free concert form now on…We must be in heaven man”

“Four persons including two women were shot and killed in Ohio today, hundreds were involved, as..”

“agreement, to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam”

“That ball is going to be out of here…There’s a new home run champion of all time.”
“I am not a crook” “Heeeere’s Jonny!” “I shall resign the presidency, effective at noon tomorrow” “Absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon”

“My name is Jimmy Carter and I’m running for President.”

“Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night.”
“Elvis Presley died today at Baptist hospital in Memphis.”
“John Lenin was brought to the emergency room, he was dead on arrival”

“today marks day number 64 of the hostage crisis in Iraq.”

“I Diana take thee Charles..to my wedded husband.”
“Disease striking primarily in the gay community, called Acquired Immune Deficiency”

“25^th base of omission…the Challenger…we will never forget them or the last time we saw them, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped through bonds of earth to touch the face of God.”

“I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the Presidency..” “Senator you’re no Jack Kennedy”

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”  

“I don’t think it was wrong”…”We did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages”…”I think it was a neat idea”
“Everyone on Sesame Street is always talking about love…yuck”
“Berliners from east and west standing on top of the wall.”
“Skies over Baghdad have been illuminated”

“Read my lips..”

“We the jury in the title action…Find the defendant, O.J Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder”
Princess Diana died of injuries suffered in a car accident”

I’m Ellen and I’m gay.”

“Yeah, baby”

“62..and we have a new homerun champion”
“Welcome, you’ve got mail.”

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman”…“the vast, right wing conspiracy conspiring against my husband”… “Indeed I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate, that was not appropriate…In fact it was wrong.”

“The young killers of Columbine High School do not stand for the spirit of America. We can rise up and we can say, no more.”

“Let the world go forth from this time and place, and the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans”