My Hero Project: Final Summative (Poster)

My Hero Project: Final Summative (Video)

Follow this link to view my hero video on Muhammad Ali:

http://vimeo.com/4893280

My Hero Project: Final Summative (Essay)

My Hero Essay: Muhammad Ali

By: Mike Mida

May 2009

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr was born in Louisville, Kentucky on January 17, 1942. After joining the nation of Islam in 1964, he changed his name to Muhammad Ali, now one of the most recognizable and famous names in the history of sport and culture. Ali has now been retired from the sport of boxing for 38 years and lives with his wife in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Muhammad Ali is one of the most accomplished and famous sportsmen in history. In boxing, he won the won the 1960 Gold medal in Rome at only 18 years of age. This was just the start of his boxing greatness – he held the world heavyweight crown for a total of 9 years between 1964-1979, was elected into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1987 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990, and was named “Sportsman of the Century” in 1999 by Sports Illustrated. Ali has also been involved in two of the greatest boxing matches in history: His 1971 fight with Joe Frazier has been dubbed ‘The Fight of the Century’ and his 1974 with George Foreman, known as ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’, has been ranked #7 in the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.

Muhammad Ali’s fame has also allowed him to accomplish a lot outside the sport of boxing. His accomplishments outside of his sport have benefitted people all around the world. In 1966, Muhammad Ali was drafted into the United States Army to fight in the Vietnam War. However, Ali refused to fight in the war as the war was “Against the teachings of the Holy Qur’an.” Because of his refusal to fight in the war, Ali spent four years in prison and was stripped of his boxing title he held at the time. This action inspired many around the world, as Ali, one of the most visible figures of the time, refused to compromise his beliefs. In 2002, Ali went to Afghanistan as a ‘United Nations Messenger of Peace’ and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US, in 2005. Ali was also awarded the Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold of the United Nations for his work with the US civil rights movement that same year. Muhammad still travels 200 days a year to fight poverty and hunger all over the world. His donations and assistance has helped provide over 22 million meals to the hungry.

Ali’s accomplishments in and out of the boxing ring, as well as his animated, eccentric personality made him the most adored and well-known sports figure in history. To honor this, Muhammad Ali was named to Time Magazine’s ‘100 Most Important People of the Century’ in 1999.

Muhammad Ali is a hero and has made a difference in my life. In sport, Ali gives me inspiration to work hard everyday, as I play a competitive sport. Ali is a sporting champion and he inspires me and many others to work hard. His quote “Don’t’ quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion,” is one of my favorite quotes and words that I keep in my mind while playing my sport. Ali’s humanitarian work is something I admire as well. Unlike many other sports starts these days, Ali has used his incredible fame to help assist those less fortunate around the world. Muhammad Ali was also diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1984. My family has lost a grandparent to Parkinson’s and one other grandparent living with the disease, and Ali gives hope that those with Parkinson’s can still survive and function and make a difference even with their condition.

Because of all of this, Muhammad Ali is my hero.

Untitled from Mike Mida on Vimeo.

Final Cut: Video

On The Run 

By: Mike Mida

Song: Runnin' Away - Sly and the Family Stone

http://vimeo.com/4186494

Unit 3 Summative: iMovie (Still Images + Narration)

Click this link to view the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STAqyO8PsFE

Unit 2 Summative: Pop Art #2 (Jay-Z)

The original image of Jay-Z on the bottom with the finished pop art on the top.

Unit 2 Summative: Pop Art #1 (iPhone)

The original image on the bottom with the finished pop art on the top.

Unit 2 Summative: Pop Art- Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol first acquired  his pop art inspiration/education from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh where he studied commercial art. He later moved to New York City where he gained fame for his hand-drawn  advertisement magazine illustrations, specifically of shoes.

Beginning in the 1960s, Warhol first exhibited his iconic pop art that he is so famously known for today. It was during this time that he began making paintings of American icons - products and celebrities. Some of these included Coca-Cola bottles and Marilyn Monroe. This was the start of the pop art revolution. Warhol’s work in the 1960s specifically focused on USA pop culture, such as celebrities and products of the time, as well as controversial news headlines. Later on in the later 1960s and into the 1970s, Warhol began painting portraits of some of the most famous people of the time, who are still icons to this day. These included Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, and Mao Zedong.

Andy Warhol was the first artist to take commercial art into the fine art industry. He did this by putting commercial images of popular products and public figures of the time and put these on silkscreen prints and called this fine art. This caused controversy in the art world, though Warhol sparked a revolution in art and his works became popular.

Warhol’s art, although produced in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, is still relevant today. Today, people have become objects of consumerism. Warhol was criticized during his time for being a ‘business artist’ and ‘surrendering to consumerism.’ This remains the same today: consumerism and advertisements are all around us, everywhere we go - for our drive, while surfing the internet, and especially while watching TV. Warhol was able to realize that popular culture (popular objects, people, etc.) is what is important to society and in 2008 this is especially true. 

Warhol coined the phrase ’15 minutes of fame’ more than 25 years ago. This refers to the fame and attention a person or objects receives for a short period of time, and then this fame passes onto a new object ‘as soon as the public’s attention span is exhausted.’ Warhol captured this in his art and he couldn’t have been more correct.

Pop Art Formative #1

Summative #1: Triptych

This is the final copy of my triptych. 

*Click on the image to see a larger, more detail copy of the triptych*

Unit 1 Summative: Triptych Questions

Question 1

Explain what each panel represents about you.

In my triptych each of the three panels represents three different things, specifically three different aspects of like that I enjoy. Panel one represents my love for the game of tennis. I have been playing tennis since I was 4 years old, and it has always been an important athletic aspect in my life. The second panel represents my like of travelling to places across the world. This panel includes pictures that my family and I have taken while visiting various places in Europe and in the US. Lastly, the third panel illustrates three things in life that I enjoy all in one panel: music, movies, and games. These things (music, movies, games) are a big aspect of what I enjoy.

Question 2

Explain how you used the elements of line, texture, colour and shape in your work.

I used all four of these elements in a different way in my work:

• Line: I used different directions of line in my work. For example, some of the pictures were rotated. This changed the "line" of the picture to diagonal. As well, each of the pictures is placed either vertically, diagonally or horizontally. In my work, there are examples of wavy, zigzag, diagonal, horizontal and vertical lines in the pictures on my triptych. For example, in the picture of me playing tennis, there is a diagonal line/stripe on my shirt.
• Texture: There are also different uses of texture in my triptych. The two types of texture are visual and physical. Visual texture is implied/simulated texture. For example, the transitions between each of the panels of the triptych falls under physical texture becuase I have blended them together in order to imply a soft, "effortless" transition between panels. Physical texture has also been used. Physical texture is any object that has a "surface feel" in real-life. For example, the grass tennis court has smooth, soft texture while the stone-work on the Pantheon appears more rough.
• Colour: Each object in my triptych has a different colour, though I have used both the warm (yellow, orange, red) and cool (green, blue, violet) colour palettes in my work. More specifically, intermediate (for example, blue-green) colours have been used as well.
• Shape: Of course, each picture in the triptych has a different shape. Geometric (circles, squares, triangles, rectangles) are found in the triptych. Organic shapes (shapes that are found in nature; non-geometric) have also been used in parts of the triptych.

Question 3

Choose one area of the triptych which you feel is an area of strength and write why that is so.

The first panel (far left) is the strongest area of my triptych. I put this panel as the first panel to symbolize that tennis is the thing I enjoy doing most. It shows four different pictures of me playing tennis, and those things "gravitating" around a tennis ball, the most important thing in the game of tennis. The background used, the grass tennis court, helps to make the composition in this panel of the triptych strong. The background makes it appear that the tennis player (me) is standing on different levels of a tennis court. Since the tennis court background is somewhat blurred, it makes the four images of the tennis player appear as if they are moving swiftly across the court, adding excitment to this panel. Overall, these aspects, and since tennis is my favourite thing to do, make this panel the strongest as well as my favourite.

Question 4

Choose one area of the triptych that you feel could use more attention to make it more effective and write why.

I feel that the far right side of the triptych (the third panel) could use more attention to make it more effective. Most of the pictures in this panel of the triptych lack excitment/action, as they are mostly pictures of album, game, and movie covers. To make this area of the triptych more effective, I could've used pictures with people actually in them, for example a picture of me listening to music, or physically holding my favourite album, movie, etc. Pictures of me/people in them always helps draw the viewers eye to a certain area. As well, more photoshop effects could've been used to make this area more interesting. For example, blended layers and masks, and more photo-in-photo.

Photographic Formative #3: Colour

Photoshop: Photo-in-photo

Photoshop: Blended Layers

Photographic Formative #2 - Texture

Photo description: A tree found in my backyard. Taken by Mike at 2:00 pm on Thursday, September 17, 2008.

Why this picture was chosen: I chose to use this picture becuase it best exemplifies texture out of the numerous pictures I took. It also shows that texture is found everywhere in our environment. In this case, the texture found on this tree is mostly rough texture, though some parts of the bark show smooth texture.

Photoshop: Dwight Howard/Superman

This is a photoshopped picture of Dwight Howard, dressed in a superman costume, and a picture of the actual Superman.

The pictures at the top show each of the pictures used in the final photoshop copy. (shown separately).

Photographic Formative #1 - Line

Photo description: The Don River, shown through the bars of the protective metal barrier on the bridge that crosses above the river. Taken by Mike at 4:30 pm on Thursday, September 11, 2008.

Why this picture was chosen: This picture incorporates line into the composition effectively. For example, the picture of the Don River was taken through the bars of a protective barrier. Therefore, lines are in the forefront of this picture. These bars (lines) also represent the difference between life and death --> if those protective bars were not there, many people, animals, and cars would be at serious risk of falling into the river. This shows that line can be a powerful thing. Also, the shape of the Don River is a curved line. This curved line creates a sense of mystery in the picture, because once the line curves, you cannot see around the corner --> creating imagination/mystery in the viewer of this picture.

Animation Experiment

Five Key Questions

1. Who created this message?
2. What techniques are used to capture my attention?
3. How might different people understand this message differently than me?
4. What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in or omitted in the message?
5. Why was this message sent?

First Class

My name is Mike Mida and this is my media arts electronic work portfolio for the grade 10 (2008-09) school year.