Viktoriia Journals

  I am writing my last post this month, as I am finishing Term Two and moving on to Term Three. These nine weeks of Creative Media Production have been hard for me because my biggest problem was getting the job done. I liked the work on the project of photography, as I love to make photos and edit them. I fully enjoyed the whole process of this work. Working on Creative Writing was difficult for me as it was my first experience as a writer. Perhaps this project was the most difficult for me, as it required the most attention and editing. However, I am pleased with my result. A free project turned out to be the most interesting in my studies, as I was not limited to certain boundaries and could do what I wanted. I managed to achieve the result that I could satisfy. Most of all in this work I liked the process of shooting and Photoshop. The most boring process for me was writing all the blogs because every week I had to write from 3 to 5 posts. However, there were posts that I was intere

  Since my free project is mobile photography, I decided to do a study on technical tips for improving shooting. In this post, I will share my results. For the project I will use my phone iPhone 11, so here will be the results associated with this type of phone. - Usage of gridlines to balance shot To turn on this function I opened my Settings, clicked Camera, and switched 'Grid' on. This is a really useful tip, as it helps with building the frame. With Grid I can make my composition more interesting by using the rule of thirds, golden ratio, or lead room composition.  - HDR Mode 'High dynamic range or HDR, is a camera app feature that helps balance the light and dark elements in a high-contrast photo'. (Cox, 2022) Regarding this advice, I will try to experiment. After all, shooting without this feature can make my picture pretentious and disformed color, which is what I need. However, I will also take pictures using this mode. -Mobile tripod  I have two tripods at home

In today’s post, I would like to share with you the work of Ira Cohen, which is a source of inspiration for me and my free project. Ira Cohen’s most iconic works are his Mylar images which he created in the late '60s in his loft on the Lower East Side, New York City. (October Gallery, no date) What I love most is the way the photographer works with shapes, light, and color. Ira Cohen's artistic practice involved capturing images using a polyester film surface technique called mylar. This technique produced photographs that showcased distorted figures and mirrored shapes, creating an illusionary effect within his art. (Cara, no date)   I think this is quite a useful technique for my project because I want to play with the shapes of the objects and the composition in general.  His work Alien Intelligent, in my opinion, reveals a deep study of the human psyche and a deep understanding of the power of images. The blue color scheme of the photo radiates cold and at the same time a s

 

This semester I have a free project. For a free project, I chose a photograph, which I will carry out with my phone. When I was thinking about the idea of this project, I couldn’t think of a red/orange color palette. However, I found it boring to do the idea of some color. Next, I looked for inspiration on Pinterest and came across these images.  I was so impressed with these images that I had the idea to do a Vertigo photo shoot.  In order to achieve the result I’m going to work with different equipment. Since I want to achieve bright and unusual colors in my photos, I decided to use bright, colorful light. For this, I have a special lamp. Also, I will use the ring lamp to achieve additional light. I guess I’ll need a tripod. I also want to show more professional Photoshop skills.  I want my photos to have the Motion Blur Effect.   Album cover  Gost - Vinilo This photo is an album cover of Gost-Vinilo. I really like the color palette of this picture, because it consists of literally t

 In this post, I am going to pick image for my book's front cover. However, firstly, I want to search for few pictures which are related to my book genre. As my book is written in horror genre I looked at picture with terrifying atmosphere. In addition, I was thinking about composition of my cover. I was using Unsplash and Pixabay .  I really like this photo below. Probably, I am going to use it. As I have one story connected to mirrors this picture is going to work. Also, I already have an idea how to place the text with this photo. I want to use black backgroung which I will pich in Photoshop. So, this picture will perfectly match with the plot and topic of my book.  The second image has occult atmosphere. I wrote some dark story linked with occultism. However, I do not like this photo for horizontal orientation. I could place it below and write the text abobe, but it is not the thing I want as my final result.   I quite like this photo as it shows some way without the end. It

  My decision for my book was to make a series of horror stories. However, when I started writing the first story, I got so carried away that I realized I could make a whole book based on that story. Although I had no previous experience in writing, I started my lyrics in class. Below you can see what it looked like initially.  After analyzing the story I started, I realized I’d made a big mistake. I started writing right out of my head, without thinking about how I would develop my story. However, I made research on the structure of the text, and I realized I had to write a plan. Below you can see the plan I made and now I am following it.  Flashback  The main character and his description Friendship and mental connection with a friend Flashback  Conflict with a friend. Fight Outside assistance Forest familiarity  Physical forest testing  Emotional bonding Mental forest test  Revealing the truth The internal conflict of the protagonist Resisting  Realization of the truth. Acceptance L

 In this post, I want to share with you my research that I made to understand how to write a horror book right. As it is my first experience in creative writing I decided first of all to look at the structure that I have to follow in my piece of writing. To do this I want to compare Western and Japanese story grammars. Firstly, I want to look at the Western model of storytelling. This model was invented by Thorndyke in 1977 and shows and separated into 4 different categories, which you can see below. This scheme is quite simple and fits the style of Western and European writers. The fact is that one of the distinctive features of their writing is the directness of the writing, which can be seen in the scheme below.  The whole plot is built on direct movement to the goal without any large number of sub-items. On the way to the target, the protagonist encounters a number of obstacles that help the reader determine the end result. In the Western structure, there is no such point as the re

  Junji Ito, is probably, one of the most famous people in horror mangas history during all the time. Many of his manga films have produced anime films that are now quite popular. An example of such success is the Collection of Junji Ito. To be honest, I am the owner of two books that contain his manga. In this post, I want to analyze his work and the writing process itself, as it can help me to write a real horror book.  First of all, I want to say that our work with him will be different in the genre of writing because he is a manga artist, which suggests visual novels. I’m going to write a usual horror book. However, his works are filled with the atmosphere that I would like to achieve in my work. A very great role in the creation of his stories is his drawings. Analyzing his work not only in writing but also in design is important enough for me because I want to include in my book some drawings made by me. Junji Ito Collection   "Ito has been painstakingly rendering the enviro

  His name was Nik. Nik was a high school leader. Everyone liked him or made a view that he did. Every girl wanted to be his girlfriend. However, he was not interested in any relationships. He remembered only one thing. ‘He should stay’. These words belonged to his mother. She said them four years ago when he was 14. Then, no one knew what happened that day. She did not say a word anymore. She was gone. No one else had seen her. She was such a beauty with black hair and green-as-moss eyes. It was the only thing Nik remembered about his mother. He did not even remember if he loved her at all. But he knew he would never forget those eyes. They went right into his brain and stayed there forever. Many legends surrounded the disappearance of the missing woman, but Nik did not believe in any of them. Someone was spreading gossip that his mother was a loose woman and ran away with her a young lover to another country. Someone began to spread whole mystical stories. This type of person claimed

His name was Nik. Nik was a high school leader. Everyone liked him or made a view that he did. Every girl wanted to be his girlfriend. However, he was not interested in any relationships. He remembered only one thing. ‘He should stay’. These words belonged to his mother. She said them four years ago when he was 14. Then, no one knew what happened that day. She did not say a word anymore. She was gone. No one else had seen her. She was such a beauty with black hair and green-as-moss eyes. It was the only thing Nik remembered about his mother. He did not even remember if he loved her at all. But he knew he would never forget those eyes. They went right into his brain and stayed there forever. There were many legends surrounding the disappearance of the missing woman, but Nik did not believe in any of them. Someone was spreading gossip that his mother was a loose woman and ran away with her a young lover to another country. Someone began to spread whole mystical stories. It was this type

 In today's lesson, we were talking about our future writing project. We will create Chapbook.  ''Chapbooks are small paper-covered booklets, usually printed on a single sheet or portion of a sheet, folded into books of 8, 12, 16 and 24 pages, often illustrated with crude woodcuts.''(National Library of Scotland)  ChapBooks Idea It was hard to create an idea for my writing project. By thinking about what I want to write, I remembered that I am really a fan of horror films and stories. Especially, I like psychological horrors, which can make you scared not because of the screamers, but because of the atmosphere, conversations, and just the whole situation. So, that is why I decided to write my book in the horror genre.  Generating this idea I was inspired by Junji Ito, who is a Japanese horror manga artist .  Please, look at the example from his manga 'Collection of Junji Ito' below. I like how he explains and shows the whole horror in his stories. He masterf

Her family was full and happy. She got marriage when she was 24. It was nothing to worry about. However, She felt that something was wrong. One time She woke up, prepared the dishes, prepared herself for meeting with father. She went out from home and walked along the road. She saw a guy, so beatiful and young. She look straight to his eyes and he respond: ''Fake''. What did it mean? She closed her eyes for a while and then, when She opened them noone was there. It felt so strange. She came to her dad. There was nice sunny lit room with old teapot, plates and cups. They were drinking, when She closed her eyes and remembered about this man from the street. She said: ''Fake'', straight to her dad. However, his eyes were empty, he heard this. One second and he started to cry. When She tried to ask him and find out, what happenned he only responded: I love you so much. It was strange day for her. Something could not leave her alone. Some thought or maybe eve

 In previous lessons, I was completing my Photography Project. I was inspired by Thomas Struth and his photos of Dusseldorf. So, I tried to take photos in his style. To create photos, which I will like I had to work with Photoshop to make them in black & White.  I almost did not have any problems with naming my photos, because I already created a concept for my project in my mind. However, sometimes I had troubles with names, because nothing come to my mind.  I was pleased with the composition and frame in Flourishing. I wanted to show how spring comes to Leicester with all beauty of the trees and flowers. In the middle stands a church that usually looks menacing and gothic. However, in my photo, it is surrounded by nature, which is a sign of blossoming. A sign that spring has come.  Flourishing   If you’re talking about my The Way in Nowhere, this photo came from a little experiment. Usually, I take a photo holding the camera exactly straight, without unnecessary deviations. Howev

 Finally, when I did Class Photoshoot and self-study, I can upload all my favorite pictures to my website. But firstly I have to think aboutfirst the frame. To be more clear, I will put my pictures on canvas.  I opened Photoshop with my pictures and copied it by clicking on the Move Tool and 'Select-All'. Then I clicked on 'Edit-Copy'. That is how I copied my image.  Then, I pushed the File-New buttons and choose print A3. After that, I clicked on Edit-Paste. That is how I got my picture on the canvas.  I completed all images like this and moved to web site part.  I created a new sub page called 'Mistery of Leicester' as I want to call my project. Then, I moved to 'Add section-Gallery' options. Here, I chose 'Slider Gallery' as almost all my photos have vertical orientation.  My next step was adding my photos to the website. I deleted all photos that were in this Slider and uploaded mine.  My last action was putting the heading and paragraph that

Last lesson I took some shots of Urban Landscape. In this post, I will do Quality Control and Curation. Checking My Image   The first step was to check the quality of my image. To do this, I opened Photoshop and uploaded my first image which I picked previously from the whole range of photos that I made in the previous lesson. I clicked on the View-Actual Size buttons to make my image bigger. Then, I clicked on the Hand Tool button in the menu on the left side in order to move my image around and check the quality of every detail. I checked my image for different blemishes, dust or spots that could be blurry. Finally, when I did all of these checking steps, I was sure that I chose the right photo. So, I returned the original size of the photo by clicking on the View-Fit on Screen buttons and moved to another step.  If my image was not bad, but a bit blurry I used Unsharpen Mask by clicking on the Filter-Sharpen-Unsharpen Mask.  Crop&Straighten  Most of my images should be straighte

After our photoshoot in class, I decided to go for a walk and took my camera. I wanted to catch and put a spring atmosphere in the photos. Firstly, I was inspired by Thomas Struth, as you remember from the previous posts. However, his photos convey an atmosphere of rigour, where every detail has its meaning. That day, I was in a cheerful, joyful mood, so I wanted to capture it in the images, which you can see below.  Firstly, you can look at my Contact Sheet from the self-study.  This is maybe my favorite image. I like everything about it. Probably, I would lower the exposure in the settings to make the colors more intense. But I really like the way the colors interact with each other in this photo. I also like the composition itself. The trees with flowers and green leaves transmit this air of a sunny spring day.     I’m not really a fan of this picture. I love that warm sunlight comes into contact with a dark blue cloud. However, there is something repulsive about this photo for me.