Out with the old, in with the new

Who know's if anyone is looking at my blog still! I like to think so but it appears that most of my ex-classmates have abandoned the use of their blog proving it to be more of a university thing!
Despite this I will try to keep an update on my goings on and thoughts on the digital world, at least this way I may feel like a Student again and it helps me to keep up to date with the fast moving technological improvements around us. I will make a plea to my ex classmates to keep using their blogs as facebook and myspace is continuously loaded with dare i say it "crap applications" and so forth and communication between is seems to be fading!

Anyway it's good to get things of your chest and this in a way is my digital therapy! I recently became a 'project manager assistant' for a company called Virtusales (http://www.virtusales.com/) whom hold a perfect publishing track record with some of the biggest publishers in the world such as Penguin, Random House, Faber & Faber, Dorking Kingsley and more. I have to say I am enjoying it so far and the impressive Biblio range of software/products that we use and promote to our clients is enough to rival any publishing methods around the globe! I am very excited about meeting clients and getting involved with some real hands on work. Meeting Egmont next wednesday who I believe have contracts with Disney and other very popular famous childrens sectors. This will be my first Client meeting under my new role so fingers crossed and very excited...

Track created for AV Wars simulation - Exam project

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/8/1059701/track%20for%20exam%20project.mp3

Here is a link to my exam project track I created using Garageband (despite having reason, fruity loops, able ton live etc.). I just thought this would be an easy and quick to carry a beat with 4 layers, representing the 4 different visuals triggered by DJ's in my AV wars simulation I am currently finishing for tomorrow's deadline.

kristos animal nets

Online Communities - Metaverse

Courtesy of my exam project research, here is an interesting link about what makes a good online community:

http://www.digital-web.com/articles/building_an_online_community/

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhction Script 3

I am finding Action Script 3 a bit of a chore every time I use it, and considering that I creating the final artifact in this exam project with the latest Flash CS3, I have to start understanding code in this language. Here's a useful video for any beginner:

White glove tracking

http://whiteglovetracking.com/downloads/source_code/yelllow_box_WEB.mov



A quality new project which I have thought about incorporating into my exam project, recording the DJ and projecting that onscreen with other audiovisual imagery.

Exam Project Idea - Audio Visual War Logo Idea

Im sure you all remember the Budweiser Frogs, this advert is a great influence on my Exam project logo idea. I am entitling my project Audio Visual Wars , abbreviated to AVW; my idea involves around animating these three letters in a similar, diagetic sound based animation as the Budweiser frogs. This will also give a clear hint towards what the concept of the game is:

"Visuals triggered by audio, audio triggered by a DJ, all of which add up to an exciting audiovisual experience. DJ's must combine their mixing skills together, with each DJ representing a specific layer of a song e.g. Bass, Drums, Riffs etc.

Together they produce semi random visuals via the complex coding in Flash and as each layer is brought in, visuals representative of the audio layer are brought it also. 

As well as visuals being triggered by the audio, a rhythm slowly forms and the DJ's work together, improvising, to create an interesting track, this is the new era of digital and musical jam bands"

FROM SKETCHBOOK!

Also see this previous blog post for more on diegetic sounds:

http://danstoneman.blogspot.com/2008/03/diegetic-sound.html

AS3 Audio Spectrum Work

Follow this link to see some quality audio visual spectrum work using action script 3....EXAM PROJECT RESEARCH.

Heres a couple of my favourites:

http://lf8.org/simple2.swf

http://www.dougstudio.co.uk/mumik_2/

http://www.chrisbenjaminsen.com/temp/flash9/2.swf

http://www.dougstudio.co.uk/mumik/

Awesome audiovisual work

Something I have been trying to achieve for some time in my exam project now, executed very nicely if you follow this link...

Couple of nice animations to attempt in after effects

DJ ANIMATION



MUSIC INTO VISUALS ANIMATION

Goldfrap Music Video - Processing

http://asianmandan.blogspot.com/2008/04/goldfrapp-processing.html

A cracking video all made in processing, looks very similar to the work of Robert Hodgin (see blog post) and ideal for my exam project research. It seems processing is becoming increasingly more popular in music video production...

Niche Bass Boyz

http://nichebassboyz.co.uk/

For my personal music collection and DJing...

OFFF

http://www.offf.ws/

The digital media festival that Chris Kelly and Kelly Purves went to was apparantly a great resource for my research into the exam project, playing with audio visual syncronisation etc.

The website has all the artists who had work on at OFFF, a vast majority using audiovisuals in their work...

V Squared Labs inc

http://www.vsquaredlabs.com/

These guys are quality, have done the visuals for various famous music performances from likes of 'The Police', '50 Cent', 'Red Hot Chilli Peppers' and more...

Check out there site via the link above for some high quality show reels...

Xavier Van Wersch

Heres the creator of Sonic War Games at CTM 2008 in Maria Am Ostbahnhof, Berlin. I personally cant believe he's nodding his head to that slightly off beat feedback. Music needs rhythm, especially one that if your going to nod your head to, needs to be exciting and interesting. This is why i am trying my hardest to incorporate rhythmic audio into my exam project.

Nevertheless, Xavier is a major area of research for my project and I admire his attempt with sonic wargames to inspired others.

Wargames - Club Transmediale

A video taken from club transmediale - Wargames - essential research for my exam project

Dissertation Review

It was nice to produce a solid piece of writing after so much practical work this year. I enjoyed writing the dissertation and was relatively pleased with my final product. Although my conclusion was controversial, I feel it reads fine and some interesting perspectives of the suspiciously capitalist moving image industry are raised.

Corporations and amateurs in the moving image industry are quickly realising the distributing and marketing power when ever developing technologies are combined with modern paradigms like Wikinomics. The Wikinomics website even states:

"Wikinomics explains how to prosper in a world where new communications technologies are democratizing the creation of value. Anyone who wants to understand the major forces revolutionizing business today should consider Wikinomics their survival kit."

Tapscott and Williams (authors of Wikinomics) state; The new art of Wikinomics is based on four powerful new ideas: openness, peering, sharing and acting globally.
When these four key elements of Wikinomics are applied to the digital world and moving image industry we can see corporations and amateurs using increasingly more accessible software and moving image material, spread throughout the digital world.

As various moving image corporations unite with the paradigms of Wikinomics, their target audience (the prosumer whom supplies the corporations with material and profit) will develop a new understanding of a “cinematic experience” as it continues to percolate from the big screen into the digital media devices of our everyday lives (DVD’s, Computer consoles and so forth). Traditional ‘big screen’ cinematic experiences are no longer entirely dominant in the moving image industry. There are now methods of accessing high quality material from our computers, interactive TV Channels, DVD collections, home theatre systems, online distribution networks and so forth. Most distributed material (For example a Blockbuster movie or moving image software) can usually be found free if enough “surfing the web” is done, however the majority of material shared is a capitalist product, therefore encouraging corporations to get involved and distribute their brand name and material.
This mass distributed material could however lead to a decline of cinema ticket sales as corporations attach themselves to new digital technologies and find new ways of making profit through these mediums, promoting and distributing new, exciting and immersive cinematic experiences. The everyday digital online user will also become more addicted to technologies as computers and processing speed drastically improve concurrently with Moore’s law (theory that processing speeds of computers will double every two years), bringing the average user more moving image material, software and power to their desktop. Easier accessibility, cheaper affordability and more freedom to share intellectual property and moving image material between corporations and amateurs alike will be the most likely outcome as Wikinomic ideals become embedded within this industry.

Of course Wikinomics and the marketing and sharing power behind digital technology seen today would not even have been considered in the traditional moving image world. In my essay I compare the developing digital world with the traditional (Zoetrope etc.) and prove how the "cinema" was in fact not invented, rather a concept realised centuries ago. Digital media has simply aided the cause and made it more simple for anyone involved with moving image industry to produce and share intellectual property.

I personally feel that the moving image industry (no matter how suspiciously capitalist it is) will continue to be supported from growing digital phenomenons. People can even become directors via playing a computer console game (Machinima etc.) and people can share their creative works and express themselves freely online. Design brings debate, and debate bring us together, exactly what the developing digital world has done to the moving image industry.

I found that when I was writing my dissertation it was hard to not criticise capitalism too much, profit making is a capitalist perspective and I wanted to express my true feelings; that the moving image amateur and the passion and love they put into their work should be the most important thing, not making money.

Many areas of my dissertation I could discuss in this blog post but essentially what I am demonstrating is that the moving image world and persons involved can be brought closer through the digital. Production and distribution is now stronger, harder and faster than ever before...

The Zoetrope (only one person at a time can view the moving image illusion), a massive comparison to today, digital technologies allow masses of people to view and share moving image material, it is spreading viciously like a virus throughout the digital world.

Tax in Second life

Just had a quick chat with Zac informing me about Tax Laws being applied to Second Life. Now I am not a regular user, but I was appalled by the thought of tax laws being applied to a virtual world, supplying Second Life with even more revenue as users invest into Linden Dollars. I found the video above from sky news, unsurprisingly the video portrayed is a recording of the interview done in the virtual second life world:

DESCRIPTION

"On Monday, 15 October, Tax Anderton made his first appearance at the Sky News Second Life island to talk about future tax liabilities in online virtual worlds like Second Life. Tax Anderton is a chartered tax advisor and member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, UK's leading body in providing tax advice. The event was very well attended and many questions were asked. Here on Skycast you can watch a 5 minute version of the hour long event. If you find it interesting and want to hear more answers, then come to the Sky News island in Second Life - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sky% 20News . In our viewing room you can watch a 30 minute video of Tax Anderton's responses. Tax Anderton has promised to discuss some of the questions asked by Second Life residents with his colleagues and will be returning to Sky News island with even more information and ready to answer more of your questions. Join the Sky News friends group inside Second Life to keep up with the latest developments."

This relates to my dissertation studies into corporations and profit seeking capitalist organisations, adding tax in second life will of course result in more revenue for Second life and the Linden Lab.

Cramming more components onto integrated circuits

ftp://download.intel.com/research/silicon/moorespaper.pdf

This article helps aid my conclusion in the dissertation, interesting concepts and theories made by Gordon E. Moore, specifically about processing speeds doubling every two years and the effect this may have on technologies (the moving image industry in the case of my dissertation).

Why is Movie Theatre Revenue Attendance Declining?

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2005/07/declining_movie.html

Great link for my dissertation and leading onto the conclusion, a few pointers to why cinema revenue is declining through underlying factors that i have been exploring e.g. home theatres and mass distribution.

Creating your own visual landscapes

http://electroplankton.com/



The game 'Electroplankton' is inspirational towards my exam project concept, the game allows you to create strange visual landscapes via the various audio that the user triggers (by selecting various in-game plankton).

It would be interesting to create some of interactive music sampling piece that creates random visual landscapes as well.

A quick outburst - exam project

Post modern, Pseudo Modernist, NOSTALGIC animations to work with my visuals audio synchronizations idea for exam project - use animations which show tribute to classic music videos, DJ's . A shrine to music and design...

MUSIC -> VISUALS, EXAM PROJECT

Some links to various VJing, DJing, Audio-Visual Syncronisation for my exam project research:

http://www.theestateovcreation.co.uk/ - Great Brighton based moving image artist

- Mr Scruff VJ set, the opening tune you may remember from DJ Scotch Egg's visit and his remix he played to us


TO BE UPDATED

Chat with John Gihooly

Yesterday I had a chat with my tutor John Gihooly, I wanted to clear up a few things in regards to my dissertation which I have included onto this blog for easy access:

• Fredric Jameson - Postmodernismor, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/jameson.htm
• The TV series Madmen contains nostalgic references to traditional moving image, and mimics the style of cinema, heres an example:
  
  
• I need to try and avoid getting involved with small arguments e.g. Charlie Gere's Digital Culture Rant in my dissertation
• THE TITLE NEEDS TO BE CHANGED, DONT FOCUS TOO MUCH ON POST-MODERNISM
• Mention the key period from the 1920's, the transition from small film studios to hollywood studios, for example Buster Keaton.
• Comment more on final section of Leo Enticknap's 'Zoetrope To the Digital', in regards to Moores law (POWER DOUBLING)
• Focus more on mass distribution than narrative and post modernism, this is definately my main focus

STEAL THIS FILM

A link supplied by Alan Toner earlier this year in the 'Greying the Commons' lecture at Transmediale, Berlin.

This link is great research for my study into mass distribution and accessibility to information in the 'digital era', discussed in my dissertation.

Leading onto the conlcusion...DISSERTATION

In the early years of filmmaking, we can see that technology was no way near as advanced as today’s technologies. The ‘Blockbuster’ Films’, or the films which are astonishing and groundbreaking in today’s society are those where filmmakers choose the correct technology to manipulate the moving image most intelligently.
I have lifted this from my dissertation as I felt it was more appropriate for the conlcusion...

Film is like an addictive drug

This post explores an interesting perspective of film and the cinematic experience, relevant to my dissertation and studies into film and film technology.
The following quotes are lifted from Fredric Jameson's 'Signatures of the Visible', one of the contextual pieces used for my dissertation research:

"Movies are a physical experience, and are rememberd as such, stored up in bodily synapses that evade the thinking mind" (Pg 2)

"Film is an addiction that leaves its traces in the body itself" (Pg 2)

Both quotes made me think about how the experience of the cinema and watching films can be related to a druggy looking for their next fix. Craving new knowledge and trying to unravel a films secret (putting the various puzzles of a non-linear post modern film together) causes the body to trigger the Dopamine Hormone. This can be related and backed up by the Steven Johnson book 'Everything Bad is Good For You' where he quotes:

"The neuroscientist Jaak Panskepp calls the dopmaine system the brain's "seeking" circuitry, propelling us to seek out new avenues for reward in our environment. Where our brain wiring is concerned, the craving instinct triggers a desire to explore. The system says, in effect: "Can't find the reward you were promised? Perhaps if you just look a little harder you'll be in luck - it's got to be around here somewhere".

(pg 35 - Steven Johnson - Everything Bad is Good For You)

"You might reasonably object at this point that I have merely demonstrated that video games are the digital equivilent of crack cocaine. Crack also has a powerful hold over the human brain, thanks in part to its manipulations of the dopamine system. But that doesn't make it a good thing. If games have been unwittingly designed to lock into our brain's reward architecture, then what positive value are we getting out of that intoxication?"

(pg 39 - Steven Johnson - EVerything Bad is Good For You).

In a world where films are embedded in computer games and vice versa (e.g. Hitman, King Kong, Lord of the Rings to name a few) I feel inclined to say that film is almost like a gateway drug or partner drug to computer gaming, following a similar perspective to Steven Johnson's theory discussed above.
Steven Johnson discusses that we seek out new information and reward in computer gaming causing the body to trigger the dopamine hormone (as a crack addiction fix does to the body). This in my opinion is not so different to watching a film and trying to unravel its secrets and putting various puzzles together. When we are revealed interesting and surprsing answers in films, the body is rewarded and must therefore realease a simliar hormone to dopamine.

The more I think about this, the more I begin to consider how I could possibly relate the film industry (or games industry) to the drugs industry.
I am aware this is a highly controversial area to discuss, but I felt intrigued to create the following diagram in relation to this study:



This diagram portrays an area that I am willing to discuss in my dissertation, I feel it is an interesting and different perspective, one that could be explored further, potentially for the end of year examination.

ALIZE REMIX

Nice website design and interesting competition that I am currently participating in...

"Digital" has become a trendy buzzword, redolent of the computer - the icon of our age"

"Digital" has become a trendy buzzword, redolent of the computer - the icon of our age. Calling anything digital implies praise and precision , event though the meaning of the term is rarely understood"

Hans Fantel, 'Digital TV: Clear Outlines, Sharp Detail, True Colour', The New York Times, 10 MArch 1983, p.30.

The above quote is relevant to the entire BA Digital Media Course and my dissertation. Does digital really imply praise and precision?

You would assume that with new digital technologies it is easier to be precise due to certain tools available (for example selecting areas of an image is easier due the magnetic lasso tool in Photoshop).

My dissertation looks into various technological improvements over the years in cinema up to the present. It is interesting to see how new digital technologies aid the precision of cinema production, you only have to look at groundbreaking CGI Effects in films like Sin City which prove perfection and precision in cinema.

Comments please..............

“Gentlemen, you have now invented the biggest time-waster of all time. Use it well.”

Baird versus the BBC

“Gentlemen, you have now invented the biggest time-waster of all time. Use it well.” –

Isaac Shoenberg, head of the Marconi-EMI TV development team

___

My reason for litfing this quote is in relation to my dissertation studies, in particular looking at how the cinematic experience (i.e. paying for the big screen, attention to detail) is almost ruined via television and digital TV, also other mass distriubtion and accesible methods add to this cause such as the internet and sites like peekvid or even youtube.

Exam Project Ideas

Today we had a class discussion and shared our ideas for the exam project (intentions deadline 21st April, actual deadline frdiay 30th May).

I have two to three major ideas consisting of:

1) Inspired from the London 2012 logo (image right) and looking at typography, logo design and viral marketing, I feel that one route I am interesting in studying is how any publicity is good publicity.

The 2012 logo has been highly criticised and the fact the near £400,000 has been spent on it has caused even more controversy.

To be fair, when studying the other not so original logo designs (CLICK THIS LINK) I can see why the judges went with this one.

I also found these very intersting articles as well:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/olympics_2012/6718243.stm - BBC ARTICLE

http://www.digitalthread.com/webdesign/promotional_design/london_2012_oly.php - DIGITAL THREAD ARTICLE

http://www.davidairey.com/london-2012-olympic-logo-disaster/ - DAVID AIREY ARTICLE

http://www.wolffolins.com/ - THE DESIGNERS OF THE LONDON 2012 LOGO

http://www.wolffolins.com/pdf/2012_case_study.pdf - WOLF OLINS DESIGN CASE STUDY ON THE 2012 LOGO

http://www.designobserver.com/archives/025852.html - THE LONDON 2012 LOGO ATE MY HAMSTER!?

Wolf Olins are the designers of the London 2012 logo, if you study there website you we see that they have worked on iconic landmarks and projects such as the Tate Modern, Sony Ericsson, Macmillan Cancer Research and more. This company have already branded London, so why not use them for the largest global event to hit London for years - the olympics of course.

My idea for the end of year project would look into various factors involved with "good" or "bad" design, what gives a logo publicity? Any publicity is good publicity, no matter how much people dislike or like a design.

Maybe my task is to create a logo / viral marketing campaign that is simple, effective but open to easy criticisim like the 2012 logo.

2) The second idea I have is based on the Sonic War Games concept seen at Transmediale 08 - Club Transmediale earlier this year in Berlin (image below).

The artist behind this concept is Xavier Van Wersch...

Here is the link to the sonic war games website as well...

The concept is basically an arena where the battle for audibility is raging. It is described on the website as:

"Musical gladiators engage in a contrapuntal combat with an arsenal of electronic weaponry. Sonic Espionage, in-filtration, atonal behaviour and hostile overdubs, its a full spectrum attack..."

Competitors within the game vote for each other whilst strange noises and samples are looped continuously between them. I found it hard to understand this concept at first but eventually saw its potential.

My idea for the end of year exhibtion would be simliar but more simple, maybe incorporating visuals into the battle as well. I would probably practice with a group of VJ's and fellow DJ's to make this work for the exhibition, making it more of a show than a competition. I would also try to ensure more rhythm and opportunity for people to dance, nod their heads or tap their toes is available. This severly lacked at the war games seen at Transmediale, there was no rhythm, rather strange loops and noises which anti-climaxed and never actually burst into a tune or beat.

My task is to create rhythm, create a visual / audio battle and to allow opportunity to bring this into future projects involving DJing and VJing.

____

So theres my two ideas, I need to decide which, what, where and how...

MTV VIRUS - D & AD AWARDS - ADDITIONAL FLASH / VIRAL GAME

CLICK THIS LINK TO PLAY MY MTV VIRUS BEATBOX GAME -
(D & AD AWARDS 2008 - PART 2 / 2 DELIVERABLES)

One of the other deliverables I created for the MTV Virus Brief - D & AD Awards 2008 is this flash based game. It is the same principle as the animation I created but instead this game allows you to create your own beatbox and samples, simply follow the on-screen game for instructions.

CD DESIGN.COM - PORTFOLIO

http://www.cddesign.com/cd-design-portfolio.html

For my personal research here is a CD Designers portfolio for the client brief.

ALBUM ART & CD COVER DESIGN - CLIENT BRIEF

Before I go into detail, just a quick summary of my whereabouts at the moment:

The last few posts including this one have been created using an extremely old laptop in the quiet suburbs of Gibraltar. I am currently in my Great Aunts house and have been searching the internet for the last hour or so whilst indulging myself in one of her famous mixed paella's and a delightful sangria. It is a strange contrast using this sort of technology in a traditional beautiful Spanish house. I can only feel guilty using this equipment when I should be exploring the rocky monkey ridden great rock of Gibraltar.

So onto the point of this post:

I fell upon this interesting blog post on album artwork design and Cd cover design being aimed at the college market.

http://www.cddesign.com/covertalk/archives/2006/07/

The article discusses how companies prove to be taking advantage of college or school students because of our apparent "unawareness" of cost and love for music.
I also find this to be an interest article in response to the client brief because the main digital requirement I am currently working on for my client is an album / mix tape.

MTV VIRUS - D & AD AWARDS 2008

DAN STONEMAN MTV VIRUS BEATBOX

This animation was created for the D & AD Student Awards 2008 in response to the MTV Virus Brief.

Using the MTV Channel Characters (Designed by 'This is Real Art') I completely recreated the visual components using Photoshop, illustrator, Flash and After Effects.

The sound track and samples are my own put together using a complex series of layers in Reason, Fruity Loops, Audacity and Garage Band.

The idea is that the virus is represented via the various sounds of illness from each character. The first character (MTV TWO) has the virus and sneezes onto the next character (MTV DANCE) which sets of a contagious musical rhythm, hopefully appealing to MTV's heavily musical fan base.

Fingers crossed for the competition, I hope you all like it..

Getting back into the swing of things....

As i am sure all the BA Digital Media Students are aware, Micheal has supplied us with the following tasks which I thought I could blog for clarity to myself and others:

1)Think of one thing you picked up during the last two weeks which was relevant to your course and research but not the result of deliberate study. In other words a surprise, accidental or chance discovery, observation you have made during the break. Might be the result of a social event, a holiday, while walking down the street, anything.

I guess one of the things I can say I accidentally noticed which refers to the course is the previous post about Paramount Comedy - Follow this link.

I can also say that throughout this client brief, I have dealt with a variety of different digital media requirements and really felt the urgency to get tasks done in time. My client has been ruthless and so they should be, without this urgency and demand I would not have been fully aware and dedicated to the cause.

I have also noticed opportunities arising for new working partnerships, clients involved in the music and design industry that I would not have thought about before. In fact these have been competitors within the industry which have turned out to be professional working partnerships which i have been approached about and due to help out with work very soon.
I guess the lesson learned is:

"keep your friends close, and your enemies closer"

Accidental work is better than no work after all and this has been a real journey.

2)Also give me an example of one source of Secondary Research (a book or text say) which is influencing you at the moment and why.

Well this is a tricky one, not because I don't have one but because I have too many. Recently I have been reading the following in response to the projects listed alongside below:

The Dissertation - Leo Enticknap 'Moving Image Technology from zoetrope to digital' (IMAGE RIGHT)

This book is ideal for my dissertation, exploring technology in cinema from manual to digital methods. It deals with moving image sources and how the technology affected the way these sources were produced and seen. A great read so far which I still need to get my teeth into or my dissertation.

The Client Brief -Mary V. Knackstedt - Marketing and Selling Design Services: The Designer Client

This book explores an interior designs client based relationship work and really opens your eyes to client based work. An ideal read for this project which again I need to get my teeth into due to the heavy workload I have at present in terms of client requirements and the dissertation. I definitely recommend this read to anyone looking into design based client work and selling yourself.

Review of Easter Break

Been working incredibly hard on the client brief over the easter period, mainly due the fact that my client 'No Long Stories Promotions' has required an extreme amount of work which had to be done to keep my strong relationship with them (and to keep the income flowing ;) ).

I have recorded every major job role with them within my client brief research folder, this has included the following (paid) work:

- No Long Stories Logo Design
- No Long Stories T- Shirt Design and printing
- Launch Night Flyer / DJ Raph B'Day Bash Flyer
- DJing for above events and regular Friday slot
- DJ Raph Relentless 2 Mixtape launch involving album artwork and photography, studio sampling / producing / mixing, distribution, promotion

The main task I have recorded in response to the client brief is the mix tape launch although the others were very time-consuming.
I am currently waiting a response for the various look and feels proposed to DJ Raph in regards to the artwork. The producing and creation of the album has been going on for about 2 weeks, working in the studio approximately two hours every day.

This has been an enjoyable task and ideal for the client brief.

It would have been nice to concentrate some more on the dissertation which I am now up to 3000 words but comfortable that I will have it completed (first draft) by the end of next week.
Due to my 21st Birthday Celebrations last weekend, and due to the ruthless and constant bombardment of work from my client, I feel that I haven't really focused on the dissertation enough.

Now that I have apparently become a man I feel it is my duty to act like one, so its time to concentrate on this project fully and the dissertation.

Overall it has been a very enjoyable Easter Break, Presents, Partying and of uppermost importance, Projects. I am happy with the projects and happy with my time management, looking forward to getting back to Uni and sharing some thoughts!

PARAMOUNT COMEDY IDENT - CLOWN

I noticed an advert on paramount comedy with a clown dancing around the screen and making sound samples simliar to that seen on Lasse Gjertsens Hyperactive video and my recent MTV ident I made for the D & AD Awards.

The paramount comedy logo even gets splatted against the screen at the end, exactely like my advert!

I dont know whether to feel happy or sad about this! Maybe its a good sign as this style is in fashion!? Anyhow it didn't really leave me feeling too great as this may not look like an original idea anymore! i hope the concept of the virus beatbox (e.g. beatbox made through sounds of illness caught of the virus) will be appealing to the judges!

If anyone finds a youtube video of this advert please comment!

Trevor Jackson

Introduced to me by Chris Kelly and following my research into the end of year exam piece, Trevor Jackson is a great link to what i am trying to achieve.

Audio Visual Syncronisation and , mainly audio triggering visuals (Like DVD seen at transmediale 08) specifically looking at connecting DJ turntables and mixers to programs like processing which trigger visuals when a specific sound or technique (e.g. scratching) is produced.



Trevor Jackson - Arpegio



Trevor Jackson - RGBPM

The Newton Virus

I found this virus looking for references towards my project, it doesn't relate to my idea it is an interesting concept! In relation to the D & AD Brief, Imagine the Newton virus with an MTV logo on it, what would that do to the system...

Diegetic Sound

• Diegetic sound: It is any sound where the source is visible on the screen, or is implied to be present by the action of the film:
  • Voices of characters;
  • Sounds made by objects in the story; and
  • Music, represented as coming from instruments in the story space.
  • Music coming from reproduction devices such as record players, radios, tape players etc.

Part of my research for the D & AD Brief is into Diegetic sounds - a technique used in filming and animation:



This Milky Bar Kid advert is a great reference and inspiration to my MTV Virus idea ( D & AD Brief). You can hear where the sounds are coming from which slowly build up to an overall rhythm. Very similar to my concept.

There are also books i am reading for my dissertation involving diegetic sound as a film technique. These are discussed in more detail in my sketchbook (D & AD), writers such as:

Elisabeth Weis - Film Sound: Theory and practice

D & AD CD Cover Design

To try and make my project stand out amongst the hundreds of different entries and Cd's received from students in the D & AD Awards, I have designed this cover using the characters expressions made throughout the animation, also highlighting my name, email address and chosen brief.

MTV Animated Shows

Following on from my research into other Animated MTV Programs I have found a few short clips for my own research into the nature of these programs and the appeal they have to MTV's Audience. Specifically looking at comical animations...



Aeon Flux Animation



Beavis and Butthead - Crude Comedy!



Celebrity Deathmatch - Slapstick, Sinical Comedy!



Celebrity Deathmatch (The Game) - Shows how MTV publicise through different mediums, extending the brand to interactivity, just like the MTV Game I created as part of the D & AD Awards 2008 (MTV Virus Brief.



Mother Goose and Grim - Comical Animated Cartoon shown on MTV!

Sequential Design & Illustration

http://www.brighton.ac.uk/art/programmes/comm-media-arts/pdf/ma-sequential.pdf
An idea for potential MA Route...

Masters...Masters...Masters....

After the discussion with the External Examiner today I have been more inspired to look at completing a masters after this degree.

It has been one of my potential routes after this degree, along with looking for design related jobs, philosphy and psychology, travel, continuing my DJ Career and looking at design with music (audio-visual work).

These are only few of my thoughts and I quote from the character Pistol in the Shakesperian Play 'The Merry Wives of Windsor":

"Why, then, the world's mine oyster, Which I with sword will open."

Indeed the world is my oyster and I won't attack it with a sword, rather my actual skills and abilities developed through education and work experience.

Anyway lets stop babbling, basically I am considering a Masters after this Digital Media Degree.

What Masters? - Im not sure

Why? To stay in education, to learn, to improve my skills and CV.

I will later look at Masters but for now i feel that the D & AD Brief is of uppermost importance...

Guest Visitor - Jon Rimmer

Jon Rimmer is primarily a researcher into human behaviour and attitudes, specifically whilst engaging with interactive products and environments.

His talk today was inspirational and raised a lot of issues that we have been dealing with throughout this BA Digital Media Degree.

For example, understanding communication, interactive design and design futures are just some of his major studies. These studies have taken Jon around the world, experiencing different countries and cultures, something that I am envious of and enthusiastic to do after my degree.

Developing user-sensor design is one of Jon's recent studies, looking at how things work and how things dont work (inspired from Don Norman's "Design of Everyday Things" and Jacob Nilson's "Interactive Design" - PERSONAL REFERENCE - LOOK UP THESE BOOKS). Jon has gone around photographing and studying things that do and don't work, and looking at general design and interaction through different mediums.

Interaction Design also relates to film (According to Jon and also in relation to my Dissertation). Narrative structure is arguably the most important factor of my dissertation and looking at linear structure in interactive design can help my research, for example creating a film or interactive piece for a target audience of say children, causes you to produce a linear narrative for them to understand.

Narrative structure is toyed with in post-modern film and culture and raises many issues of how films should be produced and created (another sector of my dissertation).

More of Jon's studies can be seen on the slideshow via the student shared space and I will study his perspectives and work in more detail when I have more time after the D & AD Awards Brief.

To end this post I will raise an issue mentioned in Jon's Talk. Should we design for the "Empty-Nesters" - the upper class and rich target audience? Make money of those with money...

Interesting idea, makes sense but this relies on understanding what people want. People with money want to spend money...

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - Spoof of Lasse Gjertsen's 'Hyperactive'

I found this spoof of the 'hyperactive' video by Lasse Gjertsen (mentioned in this blog post). Shows that this hyperactive video had an effect on commercial TV as well as the youtube phenomenon, good reference for my current MTV Idea for the D & AD Brief.

Jon Burgerman

A 2D Illustrator, following on from research into the popular 2D characters at the moment! Backing up why I am using 2D characters for the MTV Virus Brief.

For my own personal reference I also need to record Jon Burgerman in my sketchbook.

Chat with Tutors - What Needs to be done (D & AD Brief)

I came in to class today with aspirations to decide with tutors what the best action plan for the D & AD Brief would be.

I firstly discussed my current status with Micheál, explaining that I am coming to the end of the first MTV virus animation. As stated throughout this project, I wanted to create another animation (with music track) or a viral marketing game based on the idea of this first animation / MTV ident.

Many ideas were raised which can be seen within my sketchbook, also some issues were raised such as:

• Getting the brand name advertised within the viral marketing game / animation.
• Alternative versions of the animation (mocking pop music using similar Virus style).
• You tube space maybe?
• Should I produce a couple of audio tracks that could later be animated (propose the idea to MTV).

I then spoke with Karen Cham, explaining that I will probably create an online viral marketing game based on the animation. My reasons for this are to improve my Flash Based Portfolio for future job opportunities and because it literally works with the idea of a 'Virus' (i.e. Viral Marketing).

Mentioned in the discussions with tutors is the idea of improving MTV's brand identity, recognising the company via a noise or jingle such as Nokias famous ring tone:

Alternative jingles could have been mentioned, for example the McDonalds Badabadaba - Im Loving it Theme.

Their have been many famous theme tunes / jingle composers within film and tv, however none of them match up to the awesome Jonnhy Williams and Danny Elfman.

http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=john+williams - Johnny Williams
http://www.mfiles.co.uk/composers/John-Williams.htm - Johnny Williams
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000384/ - Danny Elfman

MTV-U

In "Kick-start your career with MTV" (UpFront, Feb. 13), the correct name of the MTV Networks television channel for college campuses is mtvU. The broadband channel on the mtvu.com Web site is mtvU Uber.

This Is Real Art...

http://www.thisisrealart.com/

After some serious research and in-depth investigation into MTV I managed to find the artists who created the latest MTV characters - 'This is Real Art".

I have emailed Georgina Lee (only available contact on the website) and I am currently awaiting a reply about copyright issues (if any). I also explained the full situation about this D & AD brief and MTV brief, and the fact that I am using the characters as the main targets for the MTV Virus.

To be honest its so late in the project now that if I were too change the main characters It would seriously detriment the animation and my overall potential for doing well in the student awards.

Fingers crosses and lets keep the animating going, which is proving to be quite an arduous task. Its confusing enough animating 5 characters, let alone 5 characters with approximately 12 layers per character being animated!

I still hope to create another one maybe two animations and soundtracks, possibly more simple and showing the idea more clearly.

Anthropomorphism

"The attribution of uniquely human characteristics and qualities to nonhuman beings, inanimate objects, or natural or supernatural phenomena." - wikipedia definition

For my own personal reference and research into the MTV Brief (i.e. Animated MTV Characters) I have been looking into giving the animated characters anthropomorphic mannerisms and personalities.

Click the title for a link to wikipedia definition and explanation...

New Leopard

I recently had a problem with my Imac causing a flashing question mark on a folder to appear every time I attempted to reboot the system.
After a very stressful morning and huge concern that I could have lost all my work, I was only grateful that i backed up all my files in the past! I guess i am trying to warn everyone to seriously consider backing up your files if not done so already!

I managed to fix this problem by purchasing and installing the new leopard Software (which may I say is very snazzy) and have freed up some room on the hard drive.

I have lost a mornings work and production for the D & AD Brief (deadline a week on Monday) in result of solving this problem! However I am still confident I will have my idea completed and i still wish to produce two or three alternative animations / idents so they can see the future potential of my idea for the MTV Virus brief.

Lets get these guys animated...

So I have re-created the MTV characters and put them into after effects, heres how the set looks...

Now for the fun bit, Animation and Syncronising, everything I have researched has led up to this point!

PS/ Some of the characters mouths and expressions are actually different layers for animation purposes.

D & AD Awards - Deadline Dawning

So with the Deadline Fast approaching I thought I would summarise what needs to be done:

1) Create one or two alternative 'virus beatbox' beats.

2) Animate one or all of these beatbox beats with the characters.

3) Create a basic viral marketing game (beatbox sampler) to be included in the deliverables

4) Finish off the sketchbook, lots to do in there such as analyse past MTV projects and recent adverts / idents, record technical developments, testing the ident / game, summary, rationale etc. etc.

So once this is out the way I can really focus on the client proposal, definitely comfortable with my position and have a very good relationship with the client so I have no worries that this will fall through!

PRINT YOUR BLOG (AGAIN)

http://developer.tabblo.com/index.php/hp-blog-printing/

Hi everyone, heres the link for printing your blog...

Youtube or not Youtube? That is the question...

One issue raised at the end of Seraphina Samet's visit was the way artists, designers, animators and film-makers choose to publish and publicise their work.

Does youtube downgrade your work (in the ideology of Ellie Rees), should we stick to youtube and myspace and other forms of digital based mass publication!?

Maybe it's only artists who cant put their work in exhibitions and public domains that use youtube and these mediums?

I know I use youtube but I focus more on getting out in actual public space before this medium! After all, youtube allows amateurs to become famous, even it is just recording yourself singing a foreign song...



You cannot deny that youtube get's yourself heard...

Seraphina Samet - Guest Visitors

www.myspace.com/self_conscious
www.youtube.com/ladycritter

"I use sound to create rhythm, mood, texture and colour, which all contribute towards a place in my mind that I 'paint onto video'" - Seraphina Samet's Quote from Blurb...

Seraphina Samet, an independent film-maker came in today and showed us a show reel of her work from 2005 to 2007.

She showed us six pieces, all with a self-indulgent themes portraying what seemed to be a troubled or isolated childhood:

1) Me, Myself and I (2005)

A surreal, jolty and dream like piece, however it some relation to my initial idea for the MTV brief i.e. rewinding and fast forwarding video footage - SEE SKETCHBOOK.

2) 84 (2005)

Simliar to my idea for the MTV game where sound is composed with imagery, the idea relates to my beatbox sampler idea and current ideaq generation for the D & AD Awards.
Essentially this piece consisted of 84 cubes which had various animations played within them, these were triggered at various times throughout the film and made me consider that this is a way in which my MTV game could be portrayed - with each cube being a different sample.

3) Dancing in Circles (2006)

Various mediums brought into this piece such as water-paint, animation, rotoscoping and film editing. My interpretation of this piece is that this resembles her personal self issues. Also the grainy black and white look and feelin some scenes reminded me of my DISSERTATION studies into nostalgic film techniques such as those seen in George Clooneys - Good Night, and Good Luck.

Another style to her film creation reminded me of the opening title scene to the film 'JUNO' I saw the other day - here is the ideal link to check out this title scene.

4) It's What on the surface that matters (2007)

The main thing I took from this animation is the lack of audio, the footage didn't really grab my attention and make me realise that audio used within animations and film footage is vital for creating an overall powerful effect.

I am stressing this point as my current MTV idea generation relies on powerful audio as much as the animation itself - SEE D & AD SKETCHBOOK.

5) Empathy with trees

"Always back of the queue" and "with the freaks of the class" are quotes from this movie, an interesting concept explaining possibly a troubled childhood at school?

6) Coming Back

A film explaining her change of name and dreams of being reborn, the light at the end of the tunnel and looking good on camera. I have to say these ideals have been done before and I will look for references...

There were some very interesting techniques used which were not necessarily original but did have some appeal.

One influence mentioned was Derek Jarman.... I aim to research him and record and influences in my sketchbook.

Quick Review of Projects and Job Opportunities

D & AD BRIEF - MTV IS A VIRUS

Had a very productive day and managed to create the major assets that will later be animated in after effects. I have also finished the soundtrack (beatbox) and this will be accompanied with the track during animation.

I have had some feedback with Angie Taylor about my idea and I am looking for technical and storyboarding help. Angie requires a storyboard of my animation which i am currently modifying and will send as soon as possible.

CLIENT BASED PROPOSAL

Still all systems go with No Long Stories Mobile DJ and music Specialists. Website is needed similar to scratch and groove site which I helped in the production of (www.scratchngroove.co.uk). I aim to create a flash based one for No Long Stories and also help with a wide range of promotional advertising, marketing and directing of the DJ company itself. This will be explained in more detail after the D & AD Brief.

DISSERTATION

Had an excellent chat with John Gihooly today and managed to narrow down the core concepts of my essay. I will probably adjust the title and alter some of the chapters prior to our conversation as well as look and and purchase some useful books and theorists mentioned by John himself.
This will be explained in more detail once the title and chapters have been decided.

WPM INTERNET

Have sent my CV and Cover letter to the company whom seem keen, I am currently awaiting a reply from the managers previous email about what vacant job roles I have preference over.

Beardyman - Kitchen Diaries - Beatbox Research

Really unique idea and relates directly to my current idea generation for MTV, each component adds towards the final outcome and creates an effective tune.

Gerald McBoing-Boing

I was having a chat with Colin about my current MTV virus idea and he mentioned the childrens cartoon Gerald McBoing-Boing. As you can see from the footage above (the Gerald McBoing-Boing Film in 1950) the character can only communicate via making sound effects such as 'Boing' hence the name Gerald McBoing-Boing. This is the sort of effect I am trying to give off in regards to the MTV beatbox virus attacking the characters in my animation...

Flash - Bitmap Hittest

Following over from my discussion with Mike Blow on Monday this week I have been researching Bitmap Hittest. A technique and specialised coding for FLash which enables you do the following:

http://www.nocircleno.com/experiments/bitmap_hittest/draw_boundaries.html

http://www.nocircleno.com/experiments/bitmap_hittest/game_example.html

http://www.springerlink.com/content/q15664g2844q5070/ - The Wonderful World Of Bitmap Data - Book Reference to read and include in sketchbook

This is response to the current MTV Brief and my attempt to create a viral flash game based on my current idea generation - see sketchbook for more info....

MTV Virus Videos

I was looking at MTV virus videos online and found the following:

Adobe After Effects CS3 New Tools

Click to download pdf and manual for after effects CS3 new tools

Adobe Photoshop Vanishing point tool

Tutorial 1



Tutorial 2

Again in response to Angie Taylors tutorial the other day I have been researching some of methods and techniques - such as the vanishing tool above.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Merge to HDR Function

Just been going through some Angie Taylor Notes and found this demonstration on how to merge photos together to HDR format in Photoshop, very useful and effective tool.

Virus and Viral Marketing

Some great links forwarded to me by Karen Cham - really interesting insights into the world of virus and viral marketing. Something I have considered for the MTV brief, after all a viral game is quite literally a virus. I could portray an MTV viral ident or game within the final product...

1) Virally Yours

2) Cheap? Insulting? No, its viral art

DISSERTATION & D & AD REFERENCE

DA Pennebakers - Daybreak Express - Click for link and watch video

A brisk little film, beautifully photographed, around the 3rd Avenue Elevated railway in New York. Apparently it was due for demolition so Mr Pennebaker immortalised it in this film. We see lots of stark monumental railway architecture silhouetted against the morning skies, 1950's commuters in trilby hats and overcoats, and swirling images as the trains plunge into central New York. A good experiment with technique, a great soundtrack, and now a great piece of nostalgia.

This refers to my studies into syncronsing visuals and audio together, text painting and mickey mousing for the D & AD MTV brief. Also now is a great example of nostalgia for my dissertation...

Food Standards Research - Germs Spreading

Some more research into the spreading of a virus or germ - follow the links to see these well known advertisements:

1) Food Standards Agency

2) Domestos Germs - Millions Of Germs will die



3)Toilet Duck

Patapon PV

All credit to Chris K for this one, basically the idea is to control the army using a drum beat controlled by the various key presses on a PSP. Direct relation to music triggering visuals and also could be seen as the catalyst for the virus in my current studies for the MTV brief...

Guest Visitor - Jon Bird

I was doing some research on Jon Bird as I have currently been looking at the software 'processing'. A lot of Jon Birds work involves using processing to control mechanics and robotics. Also DVD (The tokyo trio seen at transmediale 08 in Berlin this year) use processing to create their Drums - Visual - Drums interactive exhibitions. This program appears to be used widely in the industry to work with syncronising visuals and audio together, also making audio trigger various visuals and vice versa.

Click here to download pdf file for 'Tabula Rasa' project explanation by Jon Bird, Andy Webster and Joe Faih (2002)

Puppet Tool Animation Experiment - Adobe After Effects CS3

Following on from Angie Taylor's tutorial on after effects CS3 last Thursday, I have attempted the above puppet tool experiment based on my research into shoe animation for the D & AD project.

As you can see it is very rough and i am working on syncronising the puppet tool in time with audio for a more proffesional looking animation.

Lasse Gjertsen

Ok, so if nobody has heard of this guy before, check out the videos below - this is all down to time line editing and a huge influence to one of my D & AD ideas...





DAN STONEMAN IDEA GENERATION

Im in a dancing mood, so go and put on your dancing shoes...

Some more research on animated shoes I actually found a few which are not stop frame aniamted!



3D Shoe Animation for VJing

3D animation is a potential route for production in this project.



Sesame Street tap dance animation - I know, strange reference

More to come - see D & AD sketchbook for more...

SHOE ANIMATION RESEARCH

You will notice in my sketchbook for the current D & AD brief I am researching and developing new ideas. Here are some videos for my own personal reference...



Stop frame shoe animation



Stop frame shoe animation - the patterns being made could be seen as a virus...



Shoe frame stop animation - Break Dancing

(NEW IDEA IN SKETCHBOOK FOR VIRUS SPREADING BETWEEN SHOES - CHECK EMAIL - PERSONAL REFERENCE)



Shoe frame stop animation - Sequence



Stop frame shoe party

Its quite amazing how there is so many videos of stop frame animated shoes on youtube. I am actually thankful for this at this present time in the D & AD project.

MTV Virus Reference

Sony - Music like no other

This advert could be seen in relation the MTV virus Brief.

The music is the virus, affecting each instrument and causing a "bigger picture" being the entire tune.

This works well with my current idea route...see sketchbook for more info...

MTV Virus (new idea - maybe?)

So I was just walking back from a friends house and thought about a new idea for the MTV brief. Im not going to give too much away but the idea involves around shoes. This post is more of a reminder and catalyst for idea generation in my sketchbook over the weekend.

BBC Idents

Some of BBC's recent idents, a lot of them have some interesting environments and scenarios which would work well when manipulated by the MTV virus in my current idea for the D & AD brief.

Robert Hodgin

http://www.flight404.com/



Magnetospere

Following on from my research into how the virus would spread, and music effecting visuals. The magnetosphere is the a wonderfully sophisticated piece. MORE INFO TO COME...

Angie Taylor Chat

Following on from the tutorials with Angie Taylor I managed to have a chat with the after effects guru and discussed my ideas and current status for the MTV D & AD Brief.

I firstly showed Angie my storyboard for the introduction of my project, I also explained I was at a stand still. I explained that I was concerned with the effect or animation that zooms out from the initial intro scene to a world image.

Angie forwarded the following link:

http://forums.creativecow.net/

This a great link for tutorials on after effects and other software, I am sure you will all get some use out of this site!

On this site is a great tutorial for a 'cosmic zoom' effect I was looking for, I found this video to portray the effect I was looking for:



Angie also suggested that the vinyl and turntable should be photographed and animated, rather than just filmed. This will be more time-consuming but it will appear more proffesional and allow more opportunity for further animation and future adjustments.

Thankyou Angie Taylor!

Angie Taylor Tutorials

Today we had the after effects guru Angie Taylor in to give us a very insightful tutorial on Adobe photoshop, bridge and after effects itself. Here are some notes taken from the tutorial followed by my discussion I had with her in regards to the current MTV / D & AD Awards Brief 2008(see next post):

- Storyboarding - vital for anything with a storyline (complex or not) which I am already aware of. Angie showed us some tips on storyboarding and her style for visually representing things like zoom, text scrolling etc (SEE SKETCHBOOK FOR MORE).

- Creating Animatics is a really nice way to get a rough overall perspective of the story you will be creating. This was done in the first year and I have worked upon this technique ever since.

- Apparantly there is a lack of storyboard artists in the UK, this is something that I have considered for a while and would be great to have such a major role where communicating with all areas of production is vital.

- For royalty free / public domain imagery visit Angie's Favourites below:

• www.artbeats.com
• www.ablestock.com
• www.creativecommons.org

- Adobe Bridge is a good tool for making PDF Presentations (showreels).

-Combing Adobe Bridge & Photoshop has a feature where you can merge photos together - see sketchbook.

- Vanishing point tool on Photoshop allows you to make perspectives more clearer and can make an image more 3D for importing into 3D Studio Max or After Effects.

-Healing tool is an excellent tool when used with clone stamp tool in Adobe Photoshop. This is how airbrushing is done - just look at an FHM cover model. Align Tool and non-align feature is also excellent for being more or less precise...

- Left and Right Brackett buttons = shortcut for paintbrush size in Photoshop.

- Apple + J - copies the selected area on photoshop and places it onto another layer.

- Overlay Tool is excellent for matte effects in Photoshop.

- Using RGB channels is a good way to edit and manipulate imagery.

- When sketching, use blue for shading as this can be altered easily when scanned into Photoshop using the RGB channels and de-selecting blue.

- The latest feature in After Effects CS3 is the Puppet tool, this tool is superb for real time animation. It allows you to select areas of an image and animate them without the lengthy process of keyframe animation. This is also a superb way to animate my MTV logo on the vinyl and has opened up a whole world of possibilites for other animations and effects e.g. virus spreading throughout movie.

- After Effects CS3The motion sketch tools allows you to "real -time" animate your components in the composition.

- Expressions are always a good way to animate, loads of links online for various expression in After Effects.

- When animating using the puppet tool over keyframed layers (traditional animation method) you will see parts of the image will detach. To solve this increase the expansion on mesh feature.

- Puppet tool is great for facial expression animation.

Computer Console Games - Virus Research

Chatting with the classmates and tutors, heres a list of games I need to research:

Rez HD

Spor

Geometry Wars

Resident Evil (see last blog post)

Silent Hill (movie & game)

Soul Reaver

Loco Roco

Patterpult...

Researching outbreaks of germs & virus

An interesting clip showing the outbreak of malware (malicious software).... Could be used to portray the virus spreading as the 'bigger picture' - see D & AD sketchbook for more info...



A very nice animation showing how germs spread through sneezing... a potential idea for how my virus for MTV could spread, also I like the "gooey" and slimey texture. Also giving the virus a face could make the MTV logo and virus come to life...



Really nice introduction to the Resident Evil Outbreak game, this helped me think about how the virus could spread from an original source using clever graphics and attractive animation...

DVD - Transmediale 08 Berlin - Video footage WITH SOUND!

No surprises that I could find a video on youtube of the japenese trio doing their stuff, this time with sound so you get the idea!

This idea relates to my current MTV D & AD Brief, referring to the idea that the actual audio being played can act as the virus, infecting the surroundings in a contagious manner.

DVD - Transmediale 08 Berlin - Video footage

DVD - TRANSMEDIALE (PART 1)



DVD TRANSMEDIALE (PART 2)


I managed to record a couple of short videos from the DVD performance at Transmediale 08 in Berlin. Unfortunately the equipment I had didn't record sound so the video footage is only shown. DVD linked two drum kits to a flash based / processing software and syncronised the visual footage on show to the various drum hits being played.

Skins - TV Series

Skins Series 1 Trailer



Skins Series 2 Trailer

Skins is a great reference and inspiration to the type of moving image I would want to use in the MTV virus project. See sketchbook for more info...

MTV Select Ident

A quality ident for MTV Select, again useful for my idea and focusing on synchronising audio-visual components together.

MTV Hat ident

As i am thinking about ways in which the MTV virus can be portrayed, it was interesting to see this MTV ident. In this case the Virus could be seen as the hat, the character is walking and acting quite subdued and chilled out until the MTV hat flies in and attaches itself to him. The character then appears to be put in a drunken or drugged stupor, almost like capturing an illness of the hat (or virus).

MTV Light Ident

Really like this MTV ident, also clever use of audio and visual synchronisations, perfect for my research.

MTV Sound Design - SI Begg

MTV - SUMMER IDENTS - MTV International
MTV - SUMMER IDENTS - MTV Base
MTV - SUMMER IDENTS - MTV Dance

Visit the above links to hear SI Begg's Sound design for MTV summer idents. This is again to help me design and produce the audio to be used in my MTV 'Virus' campaign for the D & AD awards.

I prefer the MTV Base and MTV Dance tracks, they seem to relate to my genre of music and I feel that I can produce similar but obviously different and more appropriate track for my idea. I will also need to work simultaneously on the track as well as the visuals so I can syncronise them together for a more professional and powerful look.

SUB TV Ident

I really like this ident, the music and graphics are equally important and I can imagine a virus working through the MTV logo in a similiar fashion.

Ident Research - Ident Zone

IDENT ZONE WEBSITE LINK

From researching idents I came across this site which links to various idents over the years.

TV Idents Research

One of the first things that came into my head when looking at the MTV brief is to create an ident for MTV, a unique animation or moving image which best portrays MTV's personality, character and uniqueness. I have gathered the following videos for TV idents for my own research, better explained in my sketchbook:



Channel 4 Tokyo Ident



Channel 4 Simpsons Ident



BBC one - Montage of all their idents



MTV ident found - shows how MTV can transform environments and be affected simultaneously by other components



MTV TURNTABLE IDENT - Perfect for my research



SMTV Ident - Remember this one!?



E4 Ident (1)



E4 Ipod Parody Ident



Apple Ipod Ident

All the previous are starting points to my research into idents, all of them are effective in their own way, refer to my sketchbook for more info...