Selected Courses on Digital Art-UOWM

the 2D Field: Area

Screen Space: fixed borders that defines the new aesthetic characteristics
-the screen based experience and the projection based experience 
• Aspect ratio: relationship of screen width to screen height

• Horizontal orientation

• Standard ratios

• Standard TV / computer screens adopted 4×3 ratio of early motion
pictures (1.33:1 ratio)

•Digital/HDTV16x9(5.33x3or178:1)                                                                                                                                                                       

• Standard wide screen of motion pictures (5.33×3 or 1.85:1)

• Panavision / Cinemascope has extremely wide aspect ratio – 7×3
(2.35:1)

• Wide-screen – format of most U.S. films

• Framing

• 4×3 frame (film standard was established as early as 1889)
• advantage is that the difference between screen width & height
does not emphasize one dimension over another
• works well with close-ups

• 16×9 frame
• have to pay more attention to the peripheral pictorial elements/events    
                       
• Changing the Aspect Ratio

• Matching aspect ratio

• Letterboxing: wide screen letterbox is created by showing the whole
width & height of the original format, and masking the top and
bottom of the screen with black, white, or colored bands called
dead zones


• Pillarboxing: fitting a standard 4×3 image onto a 16×9 screen
(vertical pillar bars)

• Cutting, stretching, squeezing

• Secondary Frames


• Masking – blacking out both sides of the screen (ex. D.W. Griffith –
Intolerance)


• Multiple screens

• Moving camera

• Object size > context

• Knowledge of object

• Relation to screen area

• Environment & scale

• Reference to a person

• Image size

• Size constancy – we perceive people and their environments as
normal sized regardless of screen size

• Image size & relative energy

• Power of image is related to screen size & format

• People & things


Chapter 7 – The 2D Field: Forces within the Screen

Main directions

• Horizontal (ex. Renaissance architecture)

• Vertical (ex. Gothic Cathedrals)

• Horizontal/Vertical combination

• Tilting the horizontal plane

• Level horizon: stability

• Tilted horizon: dynamism

• Tilted horizon: stress


Magnetism of the Frame
• Top edge (ex. Headroom)

• Sides (ex. Positive /negative pull)

• Corners

• Centered object: even pull (ex. pull of entire frame)

• Large disc: expansion (ex. attraction of mass)

• Small disc: compression


Asymmetry of the Frame

• Up/Down diagonals

• Screen left/right asymmetry

• Tend to pay more attention to the right side than the left

• Figure & Ground

• Characteristics

• Figure is “thing like” – you perceive it as an object

• The line that separates the figure from the ground belongs to the
figure not the ground

• The figure is less stable than the ground

• The ground seems to continue behind the figure

• Superimposition – ambiguous figure/ground relationship

• Figure/Ground reversal
Psychological Closure: tendency to mentally fill in gaps in visual information to
arrive at complete & easily manageable patterns & configurations

• Gestalt – pattern that results from applying psychological closure (whole that
is larger than the psychological sum of its parts)

• Example 3 notes played together become a chord

• High & Low definition images: high definition images has more information
than a low definition image

• High – HDTV/film

• Low – standard TV

• Requires constant psychological closure

• Facilitating Closure – low definition image is helpful only if it facilitates,
rather than inhibits, closure

• Proximity – when similar elements lie in close proximity to one
another we tend to see them together

• Similarity – similar shapes are seen together

• Continuity – once a dominant line is established its direction is not
easily disturbed by other lines cutting across it

Vectors – directional forces that lend our eyes from one point to another (force
with direction & magnitude)

• Vector Field – combination of vectors operating within a single picture field;
picture field to picture field; picture sequence to picture sequence; screen to
screen; on screen to off screen events

• Vector Types
• Graphic Vector – stationary element that guides our eyes in a certain
direction

• Ambiguous direction

• Index Vector – points in a specific direction

• Vector Magnitude – determined by screen direction, graphic mass, perceived
object speed

• Z-axis vector: points toward or away from the camera

• The larger the graphic mass in motion, the higher its vector magnitude

• The faster the speed of an object the higher its vector magnitude

• Vector Directions

• Continuing Vectors – point in the same direction

• Converging Vectors – point toward each other

• Diverging Vectors – point away from each other



Structuring the 2D Field: Interplay of Screen Forces

Stabilizing the Field Through Distribution of Graphic Mass & Magnetic Force

• Graphic Weight

• Dimension

• Shape

• Orientation

• Location

• Color

• Hue

• Saturation

• Brightness

• Screen Center – most stable position of an object

• Off Center – the more the object moves off center the greater its
graphic weight and the attraction of the frame increases

• Counter weighting – achieve balance with another object of similar
graphic weight

Stabilizing the Field Through Distribution of Vectors

• Structural Force of Index Vectors

• Nose room & Lead room – need to leave enough room otherwise it will feel
cramped

• Nose room for index vectors

• Lead room for motion vectors

• Converging Vectors – can balance an index vector with a converging one
within the same screen

• Graphic Vectors – can use mass to contain other graphic vectors
Stages of Balance

• Stabile Balance – symmetrical structuring of visual elements

• Neutral Balance – graphic elements are asymmetrically distributed

• Golden Section – division of the screen into roughly 3×5 units

• Rule of Thirds – divide screen into 3 horizontal and 3 vertical fields

• Modular Units – adapted golden section proportions into a modular
concept

• Labile Balance – distribution of graphic weight, frame magnetism, and
vectors are pushed to their structural limit, creating a tendency for
imbalance (high tension)

Object Framing

• Facilitating closure – organize structures into easily recognizable patterns

• Graphic Cues – facilitate psychological closure by arranging the vector field
within the screen area so that all the vectors extend easily beyond the screen
into the off screen space

• Premature Closure – improper framing can lead to early psychological closure

• Natural Dividing Lines –premature closure when framing at natural dividing
lines

• Illogical Closure – tendency to group objects together into patterns regardless
of whether they belong together
The Aesthetic Edge Unusual Compositions – breaking compositional rules for
emphasis

• Emphasis through off-center placement

• Emphasis through partial onscreen placement
Multiple Screens

• Increased information