Thursday 29 May 2008

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.

Wednesday 28 May 2008

kristos animal nets







Tuesday 27 May 2008

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/

Thursday 22 May 2008

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:

Wednesday 21 May 2008

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.

Tuesday 20 May 2008

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

Sunday 18 May 2008

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

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...

Thursday 15 May 2008

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...

Wednesday 14 May 2008

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...

Tuesday 13 May 2008

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.

Monday 12 May 2008

Wargames - Club Transmediale



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

Friday 9 May 2008

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.

Monday 5 May 2008

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.