Introduction to Digital

Today was the first lesson of digital and was mostly an intro to the course and what we will be doing for the rest of this semester. I'm looking forward to creating a portfolio and working with the various programs in the course that I am currently unfamiliar with. I've used Photoshop previously and know the basics, but getting a more in depth understanding of the tools will be handy. I've also used in design in the past, but all of the other programs are completely foreign to me.

 
I have one idea that I might consider for the portfolio, which is something to do with abandoned buildings/urban exploration. I've had an interest in abandoned buildings and areas for a few years, and the reclamation of man-made structures by nature is something that I find artistically inspiring. Some content creators and curators that have grown my interest include https://abandonedkansai.com a website run by a photographer/blogger that goes by the name Florian.

I have also found great inspiration from Bright Sun Films and Defunctland, two YouTube channels dedicated to telling the stories behind abandoned, destroyed or forgotten structures in the modern century. While many photographers can capture images of these abandoned places, learning about the history of these places makes them feel that much more special. These are all places that people reminisce about and have memories of, and it reminds me that these places have stories to tell, even if the modern world has seemed to forgotten and abandoned these places.

Lots of media products have used famous abandoned locations as inspiration for storytelling, one of the most famous being the Japanese island of Gunkanjima, used in the 2012 film James Bond: Skyfall.

 

The American abandoned 'Pontiac Silverdome' also made an appearance in the Transformers Series, and is another example of real life abandoned places holding a significant part in modern cinema.

 

Abandoned locations are also a common occurrence in any dystopic/apocalyptic media product, and can be seen in many famous films, games and series, including Fallout, Mad Max, I am Legend, as well as a plethora of other action, zombie, survival type media products. 

I've mainly just been thinking of ways how to use my interest in abandoned places to create work for the portfolio. I haven't really come up with any other themes yet, so I'm likely to stick with this unless I can think of something else. I feel like with this theme I already have a lot of inspiration to work with, I just need to find a way of making the work my own.