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...

599 Productions - Time Lapse

599 Productions home-page link



599 Productions is a new production company formed in 2006. Based out of the Burbank/Los Angeles area. 599 Productions deals with timelapse stock footage along with short films, music videos, photography and other projects. Timelapse footage is done using a Canon 40D and the RED Digital Cinema Camera.

During my current early idea generation I fell upon these artists and film makers whom use time-lapse as a powerful and aesthetically pleasing form of video editing.

My idea relates to how some of the video footage will be recorded in response to MTV D & AD Brief. SEE SKETCHBOOK FOR MORE

CULTURAL AD CRITICAL SESSION WITH JOHN GIHOOLY

TAKE THINGS FOR GRANTED - HONDA CLICK ADVERT

Following on from our session today I mentioned the advert which "takes things for granted" i.e the everyday objects that we don't appreciate enough, here it is thanks to the wonderful world of youtube:

D & AD BRIEF - SONG TO POTENTIALLY USE

One of my songs that I am currently producing could be used in the MTV idea (see previous post):

DAN STONEMAN - BTT

Just click on the link to hear it, I have included some powerful scracthing and sampling. This would also promote my music scene as well as designing....

D & AD AWARDS - MTV BRIEF

After some serious consideration and talking with Mike Blow and colleagues alike, I feel that addressing the MTV Brief is the best form of action.

Music has always been a huge factor in my life and I almost feel like Music has infected me like a virus (like the brief suggests) over the years. I have always performed music (currently Djin and Prodcing) and truely felt the power of music, this can be incoporporated into the idea of this brief.

With the DJ equipment available and access to musical venues such as clubs, I feel that I should utilise this and include these components in the project.



The video of my portfolio introduction (above) has evidence of scratching on a vinyl. I was considering an MTV vinyl getting scratched and attacking the DJ like a virus. THis would then effect the whole environment e.g. the street, then the city, then the world.
I could produce a track in Reason along with other equipment available which could be included in the MTV project.
This track would work with the visuals in a virus style e.g. audio of vinyl rewinding and then the visuals could rewind along with the music.

Berlin Baby Woohoo! - Entering Transmediale...

"Berlin is renowned for its traditions of openness and diversity..."

(Quote from resolution of the united states congress in transmediale 08 building - James C Wright Jnr)

To conspire (definition from dictionary.com) was the theme of Transmediale 08 (the art and digital culture festival in Berlin), not a very specific word and if I was to summarise this I would to say it was to 'plot'. This diverse and broad subject area was clearly portrayed in the varying digital art pieces on show throughout the entire week.

Many art pieces were inspirational and opened my eyes to new techniques, software and styles of digital design. I could dedicate this blog to every piece I saw but I feel that I should discuss the most influencial pieces on show which inspired me the most. I will later put up a blog post with all photographs and videos I recorded in Transmediale.

The festival started with a not so convincing opening presentation which could have been more powerful and informative. It foucsed on the idea 'To breath' where the main curator explained that all the people involved with organising transmediale 'Breathed together for a conspirational journey'. I feel that it didn't do justice to the concepts behind the pieces I later saw but I was very impressed by the photographic journey based on the story of the 'Sick King'.

TO BE UPDATED...

- BERLIN (THE CITY ITSELF)

- TRANSMEDIALE (MAJOR INFLUENCES TO PRACTICAL PROJECTS)

- TRANSMEDIALE (DISSERTATION INFLUENCES - ALAN TONER / CULTURE JAMMING / EMBEDDING FEAR /

- BERLIN LANDMARKS ( REICHSTAG / BAHAUS / BRANDENBURG GATE)

- BERLIN ( GOING OUT / NIGHTLIFE / FLEA MARKET ETC. )

Custom Brushes - Illustrator

Same applies for Photoshop really! Just drag and drop onto brushes panel once completed!