How To Create A License Plate Using Photoshop

This link is brought to you by Devan Birch and his desire to create his own vanity license plate(s) as a final project in Intro to Media Arts.

Happy viewing.

-Mr. Hoban

Scenes from Media Arts Class: Construction of OTS Graphics

Section I busy making a media mess of the joint!!



Ava, the Designer Extraordinaire, pulling some strings.



Eddie's answer to Edvard Munch's iconic image or just a normal student expression during mid-terms? You decide.



Matt R's design for the OTS graphic for the winter musical "Tommy". (Reflected image is that of John Gutierrez, playing the lead in the winter musical.)



Group shot, with work on display, in academic hallway.



Another group shot.



Hey! Where'd everybody go? Oh snap!! It must be winter break! (Make it a safe one.)

Plans For The Final Two Weeks:

As promised students, this post will act as an "online prompt" to remind you of all the good work you've done and all the solid learning that went on during this past semester in Intro To Media Arts.

Below are the list of individual and group project-based assignments (as well as BIG concepts) that we covered in class. Use this information to help you decide what your FINAL CULMINATION PROJECT will be for this course. And of course, go back in time by reading older posts on this blog to help stir up the memories and to come up with something totally cool!

Have at it...and don't come to school "empty-headed"!!


Projects & Concepts:
Paper Airplanes
SMS Shorthand Poetry on Cellphones
Vanity License Plates: The First Ever Text Messages
The "I Wish For" Postcards
The Bic Pen (doodles, etc)
Newspaper Jargon (Ball of Confusion...failed project!)
Logo Initials
The Maul
Skype (Hoban Telecommutes!)
Media Artist Research Paper (Comic Life)
Over-The-Shoulder Graphics
The Media Art of Kevin Van Aelst

One Week Into Winter Break!

Wow! It has indeed been a while since my last post. Busy, busy times.

Three weeks ago (when school was in session!) the media arts students began their final "guided" lesson of the semester. For two weeks they studied the graphical design work of TV pioneer Mr. Ben Blank. To learn more about Mr. Blank's contribution to TV news broadcasting, you can view this video as well as read more about him in the New York Times obituary. Mr. Blank died in February, 2009. He was 87.

Ben Blank's seminal contribution to live televised news is the now ubiquitous "over-the-shoulder graphic". The concept was straightforward: draw the viewers into the news story through simple yet captivating imagery that summarized the import aspects of the topic in a single graphic.

This idea was what the media arts students devoted two weeks into studying and ultimately creating their own over-the-shoulder graphics for an upcoming HUN TV news show. The potential stories, for the month of January, were: Mid-term exams, the winter musical: Tommy, a piece on Myron Rolle and auditions for new HUN TV hosts.

The final 2-D graphics created by the students were well thought out concepts that become eye-popping imagery, ready for broadcasting! Photos of the students work will be posted soon.

Enjoy your break, one and all!!

Look! Over-The-Shoulder Graphics Lesson

If you have a spare moment tonight, or tomorrow before class, do a Google search of the phrase: "over the shoulder graphic" and immerse yourself in the world of the news story told in a single image. We'll pick up our exploration of Ben Blank's pioneering technique in the world of television graphics tomorrow.

Also, here is the promised link to Kevin Van Aelst's web site.

Enjoy!

-Mr. Hoban

Photos from "The Maul" Exhibition

A class unto themselves.

(Um...I forgot to take a

picture of the advanced section!)

Early exhibit explorers.

Learning about the exhibition.

A closer look at the art work.

Student Reporter from 'The Mall'

gets the facts straight!!

Ms. Joan Roux's English 3 class

viewing the introductory video.

Mr. David Bush engaged in

conversation with a student.

The "Front Office"descends

upon the exhibition!

Video I students wondering

why they never get "mad props"!!

Mr. Larry Kidder, Mr. Frank Dippery, Mr. Bill McQuade

...posing at "The Maul".

An interactive experience!!

"The Maul" Exhibition

Ms. Lynn McNulty & Dr. Kay Kiefer take in

"The Maul" with Media Arts students.

Ms. Jen Mitchell and student reading up

on the inspiration for "The Maul":

Nancy Chunn's 1996 Exhibition entitled

"Frontpages".

Mr. Todd Loffredo hanging with
students at the exhibition.

Been Too Long...

Much has happened in the past three weeks: the Phillies made it to the Series, but choked under the pressure of those damn Yankees! I produced a commercial (with classmates from '05) for entry in the Doritos "Crash the Superbowl" contest. Besides school, these two "on going" events took up the remaining time I had, hence no blog writing. I'll do better..

This week we returned to looking at newsprint, but in a whole new light. After re-learning the "anatomy" of the newspaper, we explored the work of artist Nancy Chunn and the media art sensation she created in the mid-90's with her work entitled "Frontpages". Ms. Chunn created imagery (using stencils and colored pastels) of political commentary on the front pages of The New York Times for an entire year. View this video of a recent tour she gave of her exhibition.

I experimented with the technique of drawing directly on newspaper at the beginning of the school year. I created a Chunn-esque collage of playful images and semi-biting commentary on the front page news stories featured of the September 12, 2009 Times. [Picture to be provided soon.]

The students and I explored the possibilities of applying Chunn's concepts and techniques to a more local rag--The Hun School's own: The Mall. Limited to Sharpie markers and high school newspaper content, the media arts students' work ranged from quick and cursive graffiti to more planned and detailed sketches. Two paths to choose were taken by each student: 1. create an image/design that represents the specific article or 2. change it up (photos/text) to create a whole new meaning.

The spirit of Nancy Chunn's "Frontpages" exhibition lives on! Check out the students' work:

Wednesday, October 28th...54 Students Out (And Me!)

This (very early) morning my daughter Anna was up at 2:30 and then 4:00 trying her best to not wake Mommy and Daddy while she was, in her words, "threwing up". How's that behavior for an almost 5 year old!? What a trooper!! As a result, I stayed home to tend to the kid (who is doing much better, thank you very much!) But don't count me out of the school day doings just yet! As I write this blog account, I am now 2 hours and 14 minutes into a video chat session with all my classes using Skype. Isn't technology wonderful!! (Note to viewer: I'm currently in dress code from the waist up!!!)

First and second period classes seemed to go off without a hitch. Special shout out to Jack Horton, Jordan Wang and Robert Merfield for kicking off the first of ___ (fill in the blank) video chat/distance learning events for the Intro to Media Arts Semester. After a bit of scrambling around and a few minutes of shaking off the "novelty" of Skype, the students, with me remotely, screened the Comic Life Tutorial I posted on yesterday's blog. Then they went off to their respective computers (for the first time this year) and got familiar with the program in preparation for tomorrow's formal walk through. Homework for tomorrow's class will be sent via email...so check your inboxes Media Arts students!

All told, this was an unexpected, but in the words of Bill & Ted: "A most excellent" use of the technology in the classroom. Below are some screen grabs of the class.

Until tomorrow....

Jack Horton setting up the screen at the HUN TV booth iMAC.

Robert Merfield and Jordan Wang looking pretty groggy. (1st Period blues...)

2nd Period class, l to r Devan Birch, Gilles Merckx,

Eddie Paparella, Quashea Hendryx, taking in the

distance learning project.

Tuesday, October 27th... 61 Students Marked Out as "I"

Sixty-one students have called out for being ill (I). That's up from yesterday's count of 48 students. I believe we have confirmation of several H1N1 related illnesses on campus (day and resident folk combined). Classes continue. For those students who missed today's lesson, here's what we did:

The scheduled 'quiz' for today, covering the 5 handouts: 4 Shepard Fairey news articles and an excerpt from Lawrence Lessig's "Remix" on Greg Gillis was given today to those students who were present. It took the form of an oral exam where we discussed the topics in the handouts. First period class (Devan, Gilles & Eddie) did a fine job, coming prepared by reading the work and demonstrating their understanding of the content in the articles. Eighth period class, with everyone in attendance, did not do as well. NOTE TO MEDIA ARTS STUDENTS: DO THE ASSIGNMENTS YOU ARE GIVEN!! YOUR GRADE DEPENDS ON IT!

We covered new ground in unearthing more information on the web about our three media artists. A video posted on fora.tv (an excellent online video resource) of a Lessig & Fairey talk at New York's Public Library from March, 2008 showcased our artist's view on copyright laws, fair use, etc. Watch the portion of the video after Shepard Fairey is introduced--those of you who were out of school today.

We also reviewed a recent article concerning Shepard Fairey and a new twist on his battle with the Associated Press. Please read this article, as well.

Tomorrow we begin assembling what we've learned about Fairey, Gillis and McCloud into a coherent (I hope!) outline on which this research project will be based. The 8th period class got a sneak peak at the format the final "papers" will be presented in: comic book style!! Below is a sample page I mocked up demonstrating the potential/fun in working with the program--Comic Life (watch this video, too).

Until tomorrow, mein kinder.

--Mr. Hoban

Cool Concepts, Thanks To Scott McCloud

Students:

In a continuing effort to make it up as I go along, I thought it would be most righteous of me to provide you, the eager young minds in Media Arts, with several points I find MOST important in Scott McCloud's TED talk. Feel free to absorb this information, which may mean that you might have to investigate further what Mr. McCloud means by certain topics. As an assistance to your understanding, I have provided the times during the talk where he mentions each concept.

Engage!!

-Mr. Hoban

McCloud Concepts & Some Vocabulary:

"Learn from Everyone

Follow No One

Watch for Patterns

Work like Hell" (5:45)

Comics are essentially a visual medium,

but try to embrace all the other senses within it. (7:54)

Resemblance

Abstraction/Abstracted (8:10)

Visual Iconography (8:30)

Sequence--an important aspect of comics (9:15)

Comics present a temporal map (9:19)

Art form collides with a given technology (9:38)

ex. Paint on Stone, Bas Relief Sculpture

artifacts of modern day comics (9:59)

Moore's Law (10:31)

McLuhan-esque mistake(11:02)--appropriating the shape of the previous technology to the content of the new technology

Interactivity/Hypertext comics (11:35)

Spacial relations in comics (11:50)

Computer Monitor as 'page' VS. Computer Monitor as 'window' (12:50)

A Durable Mutation (13:47)

"All media provide us with a window back into our world." (16:00)

It's Been A While...

Over two weeks since my last post...not good. But, alas! Here I type...

Last Thursday's school day was annihilated by the scheduled Career Day at The Hun School of Princeton. What remained after the dust settled in the morning were afternoon classes that lasted 27 minutes (never an ideal amount of time to teach). Because of the shortened periods, I instituted the first in, I'm sure, a series of "Special Topic" classes that will pop up throughout the school year as unique opportunities to do something quick, fun and hopefully educational!

Our first special topic was a return trip to our preK days to re-learn and recite the ABC's--except with a media arts twist. I screened the ultra-short video I produced for last year's Student Visitation Day at Hun--a compilation of 26 different text-based logos from the first letter of 26 different companies/ products. I attempted to post this video on YouTube, but when played back no picture appeared, just a blank screen. I checked that uploading of the clip went properly. I also double checked that it was indeed the correct video. Everything seemed to be as it should. The only explanation of the technical glitch, that I can figure out, is that YouTube immediately recognized the "unsanctioned" use of corporate logos in a video post and stripped away the video signal from the piece. Wow!! That's power!! As a result, no video to show!

Anyway, the "Logo ABC's" video was a nice lead-in to another hands-on assignment where the students used pastels to design their own initials using the corporate logos from the video. The purpose was for their final renderings to be as close a match to the colors, shapes, size, and dimensions of the original logos. To succeed the students had to study the relationships between the various points on the logo. They needed to understand the concept of negative space. They needed to demonstrate a willingness to try techniques of different color applications to the paper; shading, mixing colors (and in general getting a little (or a lot!) of charcoal colors on their fingertips). And above all, I needed to see EFFORT. (There it goes

again...that word 'effort'.) I really like what's been done so far. It's great to see this sort of activity in such a high-tech room! Work will continue on these projects outside of class time till the end of this week, as the students make attempts at perfecting their designs.

This is a screen capture of the Media Alphabet.

Can you identify all the corporate logos?

Which ones spell your initials?

What Is Your Bic Cristal Inspired Art Work??

Here are the notes from class last week--a list of examples where forms of art were used in the Bic Cristal documentary screened during Media Arts class:

-doodling/drawing

-animation/cartoons

-sculpture

-advertising

-the pen design, itself

-performance (i.e. music, etc)

-documentary filmmaking

Tonight's Homework: Leave a comment to this blog post about what you're considering as an art project using the Bic Cristal pen.

Thank you.

The COMMENT RULE still applies: last one in your class to post a comment must comment on all the other student comments.

-Mr. Hoban

I Wish...

The studio, this past week, was filled with flying paper scraps, spent glue stick dispensers, scotch tape stuck on any flat surface and the sounds of freshman working together and alone on their first project-based, in-class assignment.

The "I Wish" List project stemmed from the investigation and follow up discussion of the two web resources-- a viewing of The All-American Rejects video "Dirty Little Secret" and a guided (read: censored) tour of the PostSecrets blog for inspiration and examples.

What came out of the week was, I thought, a very solid and interesting array of thoughts regarding what each individual student wished for: for themselves, for their school and for their world.

For our first public exhibition of the students' work in the Academic Building, I purchased two recycle bins to build a display/representation of the process of creating the postcard pieces. The students and I then got to work attaching the final assignments (complete with a blurb, in their own words, about their wish) to the display board along with the recycle bins and a sizable amount of reclaimed trash left in the studio. The final exhibition is, IMHO, an eye-opener/head-turner!! See for yourself:

(photo credit: Devan Birch)

Scul Daz

Ds10t n dun
Bel ringz n ear
SumrX ovr
Scul dazr here
Tchr mouz rulz
Lyk latr day Mozs
Frosh cnt w8
2 gro n2 thr nozs
Iz sht tyt
Kds cnt b waknd
Scul dazr here
Thrs no mstakn


-M. Hoban




If I could submit a txt mssge poem to The Guardian, this would be my entry. Working on this project took many hours (maybe 4) to hammer out. The sensory/facial imagery was the first anchor point on which to build this poem about moments during the first days of the new school year. (Thanks to a freshman early riser walking ahead of me just after he was dropped off at the Heart of Hun--nozs and Mozs became the first rhyming pair that determined the structure of the piece.) The rest of the content came swiftly. The majority of my time was dedicated to squeezing the poem into the extreme limits of text messaging culture: no more than 160 characters, spacing included in that count! This is where real thinking and creativity came into play:


After a couple days of solitary work on my iPod Touch, I wrote the poem on the board for some feedback from the students. I originally thought that '+r' was a clever shortening of 'summer', but the kids weren't buying it. So I had to invest a few more letters by expanding the word back up to 'sumr.' I originally had the word 'time's' as part of the compound word 'summertime's' written as 'tymz', but that along with 'mouthz' and the two 'ther's needed to be compressed further since the 160 character limit was well maxed out. So 'summertime's' became 'sumrX', 'mouthz' now 'mouz', and the 'ther's now 'thr'. (Note to reader: The author and his word processor have never allowed so many red dotted underlines, ie misspellings, to continue through to a final draft!)


After a few more spin cycles on the sophistic centrifuge, the poem clocked in at a staggering 170 characters (including spaces). In an act of sheer desperation, I had to squeeze, squeeze, squeeze the air out of this jibber-jabber jaunt. Away I say, to three spaces! This done at the expense of putting two words together that sound fine when spoken, but are grammatically incorrect when written. Then 'like' became 'lyk' and 'time' became 'tym'. Further stamping off spaces and gnashing of keystrokes brought us to the final entry. Finally! I was able to wrangle the thing down to 160 characters exactly. (Count 'em if you doubt me!)


Weekend Homework Assignment (entered on blog at 2:09 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25th):

Using the comment function on this blog post, write a review of Mr. Hoban's poem 'Scul Daz" in SMS shorthand. You must use no fewer than 50 characters (NOT including spaces!!!) and no more than 160 characters (NOT including spaces!!!) in your review.

Your comment post must be entered before class time on Tuesday Sept. 29th.

If you are the LAST PERSON TO POST you must write a review on everyone else's post!! (Go through the list of comments from classmates in your Intro to Media Arts section to see if you are the last one!)

Also, make sure you include your name in the post.


--Mr. Hoban

The answers for tomorrow's quiz are:

Numbers 1 - 4 from my Saturday September 19th post

The line from a Jay-Z song I used in my first blog post

rock, paper, scissors

That's all!

-Mr. Hoban

The Weekend...She Is Here (Finally!)

Stemming from our text messaging readings, discussions and activities I guided the classes through a study of--what I consider to be--the very first examples of text messaging in the history of modern society: vanity license plates.

We first defined what it means to "text" someone and then determined the basic elements of this form of communication, which are:

1. The use of text (letters, numbers)

2. The need for it to be short (abbreviated)

3. A quick method to send/receive information

4. Ability to communicate over some distance.

Do vanity plates do this? They sure do!!

Through the dozens (and dozens and even more dozens!) of examples of vanity plates that I "gathered" over the last several months during my daily commute (with a few side trips to parking lots at malls and work complexes), the students had a great time guessing the messages from my presentation (made using Keynote). Once I figure out how to add it to this blog, I will post the piece.

This week coming up, we'll continue our exploration of ancient media--more on text, a new topic on writing implements and our workshops this week will focus on drawing and collage creation.

There ya go! Have a great weekend!!

--Mr. Hoban

Text Message Class

Today's Media Arts classes were the best of the week...certainly a step up from yesterday's. What's really great is we only got to half of what I had planned to do!! So the week of discussions/activities will bleed into next week. (A little sigh of relief heard here.)

Because I didn't have my cell phone yesterday, today was the day to receive text messages from the students. The first "interaction" was for everyone to text me one thing I didn't know about themselves. I then turned these messages into content for a little guessing game. This was a good bonding moment for the kids, to get to know one another a little better during this first week of school.

Here is a sampling of messages received in my inbox. (Pretty unexceptional, if you ask me, but fine.):

Msg 1: I love golf.
Msg 2: I love hockey.
Msg 3: I'm not wearing socks right now
Msg 4: I don't txt much

Playing this little guessing game reminded me of a potential "connection-to-be-made" to another type of lo-tech yet very creative example of self-expression through messaging. I will show The All-America Rejects' music video for their song "Dirty Little Secret" and then talk about the web site that inspired the video--PostSecret. (I wonder if this is appropriate material to show a class of freshman...I think so, but I will make my final determination before tomorrow's classes.) From this, the students will then create their own mixed-media postcards to send somewhere. More on this later.


Next, I expanded the in-class, online activity and delved into a more involved texting assignment--SMS shorthand poetry as first done by The Guardian newspaper some eight years ago. Click on the link above, it's quite an interesting read about this newsprint poetry contest driven by text messages sent to the editors by Guardian readers.

The following are two examples of what was texted to me during class:

Sitin her media clss
w8 4 the time 2 pass
i hope ths isnt read


Even my beats are funny.
I can get you to jump
like the easter bunny...grr


Though poetry is certainly not my strong suit, I believe I was able to discuss/explain one of the winning entries as if I were a part of the English department! I found this to be a really great example...perhaps the first in the class...of media and arts coming together. And having students involved made it all the better!

The adventure continues tomorrow...


-Mr. Hoban

Mid-First Week

Three days feels like two weeks!! What is up with this school year's first few, eh? It's all good, though. Things do seem to be settling into a routine, even though we have two more days to "figure out" before the weekend!

In today's Intro class, we unfortunately only glanced at the short handout I gave the students to read, an excerpt from William Powers's: Hamlet's Blackberry: Why Paper is Eternal. I believe my expectations were a bit on the high side--eager freshmen pouring over six pages of a Shorenstein fellow's dissertation...on the 2nd day of a fine arts elective class! It wasn't happening. Not meant to be, I guess. I bagged the planned discussion, mere minutes after attempting to break through their early morning sleepy headed looks (this was, mind you, 1st then 2nd period class). Instead we played with cell phones! Wa-hoo!!

After quickly surveying the types of phones and services each student had in both classes, we began to experiment with sharing files (photos and video clips) of the class with each other. A few students emailed movie and photo files to my gmail account and I performed a test to see if the file formats were compatible with Final Cut Pro. I will ultimately use much of what the students shoot on their cell phones to document the progress of the class in an end of semester video. This little exercise, today, proved very enjoyable (to them) and valuable (to me).

Starting tomorrow and going into early next week, we get back to basics in Media Arts and devote some attention to another ancient form of media--text. But with a modern day twist.

--Mr. Hoban

Note to reader: I announced to all Media Arts students that, contrary to school policy, cell phone use during this class was acceptable...in fact encouraged. At first they were shocked to hear this proclamation coming from a teacher. But their questioning gazes gave way to widening smiles when I cited examples of approved behavior: taking calls, texting, snapping photos/videos, even playing games (of all things!!). Then I provided one small caveat to the excited hordes: any use of cell phones during class time will be documented by me for future use. That is to say, any videos/photos shot must be emailed to me. Any text messaging or phone conversations are to be recorded or transcripts provided to me. Any games played must be demonstrated to me and if I find it impossible, boring or beneath me they are to never play that game in my presence again.

I will of course, amend this policy, throughout the year, where I deem it necessary.

First Day of School...In The Can

Whew! What a day. My head is still spinning a bit. I chatted with one of Hun's illustrious foreign language teachers in the parking lot at the end of the day. Her groans matched mine...long day! (Give us another day or two, then we'll be back at the top of our game, kids!)

Media Arts: we met during 7th and 8th periods, though during the mid day as opposed to the end. The flip-flop schedule was due to the convocation/installation of the new Headmaster--Mr. Jon Brougham at the beginning of the day. Nice event. Well received, I believe.

Since classes were only 25 minutes in length, I determined the best possible activity to get the kids "kinetically thinking" along the lines of media...and messages...was to construct--what else?--paper airplanes. After a crash course in aerodynamic design, we marched up the hill and proceeded to zing 'em into the Headmaster's office through his open windows looking out over the Mall!!

I know, I know. It sounds a bit too "Dead Poets Society"-esque, right? Teacher sneaking his charges out of class to do the whole "carpe diem" thing out on campus. Could this be a prank potentially fraught with calamitous ruin? Kids throwing paper airplanes into the Headmaster's office!! Tsk, tsk. Or is this exercise merely a demonstration of the limits and strengths that paper embodies in our digital world? Of course, it was the latter (since Mr. Brougham was in on the event from the start and threw open the windows himself before we readied, aimed and fired!)

I'll back up a bit on our story: the students were given the assignment to write a short message to the new Headmaster on regular letter sized paper. Then, without any prior knowledge, they individually constructed a paper airplane out of their letter, guided by the design developed by "alphageek" Takua Toda as seen in the September '09 issue of Wired magazine. With the remaining time (mere minutes) in the class periods, we trekked up the hill and launched our flyers! A fun time had by all, including Ms. Sherry Roberts (Assistant to the Headmaster) who couldn't stop laughing at the many failed attempts at getting the planes "off the ground/into the window", shall we say!!

Tomorrow's class: "Why Paper is Eternal"

For Week One

This first week of Intro to Media Arts will focus on getting to know one another, having fun with the stuff in the room and exploring "ancient" forms of technology that allow us to communicate, collaborate and create.

The aged implements of choice will be, of course: paper & pen. We will write. We will draw. We will re-examine the obvious and build a new platform of understanding from which we can launch into an exploration of media and arts for the remainder of the semester.

--Mr. Hoban

note to reader: Each Sunday I plan to lay out the agenda for the upcoming week. Stay tuned!

The New School Year Starts In Two Days

There is, as always, quite a bit more work to get done before Monday AM. This will be a whole new beginning of the new school year for me with (currently) two sections of Intro to Media Arts scheduled and only one section of Video Production I (of course there is also Video II...but who cares about them!! (tee hee, just kidding)).

Syllabus, etc. for the Intro Class is good to go...can always use a polishing up here and there, but that's what the next day is for! We'll see. Looking very much forward to how this class goes. Another great experiment about to get underway.

More during the week.

Thinking, Outlining, More Thinking, Jotting Down Notes

16 week course ( 1 semester)

It would be great if I could break down each topic by week. I'll give it a go when I'm near the final organization phase

Week 1 is a sampler of the entire course:

working with text, images, sounds;

defining "media" and "art";

investigating technologies (history, impact, etc.)

exploring examples of media and art (and both combined)

Random Thoughts

Mangled Media Moments

Ancient vs Modern Technology

-commonplace books vs. palm pilots, etc. (Hamlet's Blackberry)

Mix It Up (Lab Day/Week?)

The Digital Handprint

Word

The Original Text Message

Concepts:

Images, Sounds, Print and Interactivity (including social networking)

As Jay Z would say:

"This ain't the show,

I'm just EQin' it..."

Check back for further developments as the summer progresses.

-Mr. Hoban