The Wilderness Downtown

I'm sure a lot of you guys have heard of this because it came out a couple of months ago, but I thought it was really cool and relevant to the class. It's a project that google created to an arcade fire song and I think they titled it an "interactive film." Anyway, I had never really seen anything like it before and it's really cool, so you guys should check it out here.

Saving Private Ryan re-make

I found this cool video of 3 graphic designers remaking the beach scene from the movie "Saving Private Ryan". I found it to be really cool and interesting and would like to share it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRS9cpOMYv0

Free Radicals

Here is another great piece by Len Lye, this time with sound. It is a mesmerizing piece, try to see the whole thing and you will know what I mean. At first it appears that it is just scribbles on a surface, but there is an interesting 3D effects as well as the scribbles seem to turn in space.

Turn the volume up!

Len Lye and the origins of Motion Graphics

"One of my art teachers put me onto trying to find my own art theory. After many morning walks...an idea hit me that seemed like a complete revelation. It was to compose motion, just as musicians compose sound. The idea was to lead me far, far away from wanting to excel in...traditional art."

Len Lye (1901 - 1980) Painter, poet, sculptor, kinetic artist can be considered as one of the hundred great innovators of twentieth century art with artists such as Picasso, Duchamp and Brancusi.

He was one of the first artist to make films without a camera in the 1930's by drawing and scratching directly on celluloid and using Technicolor to extract patterns that expressed kinetic energy and feelings.

He once wrote: "There has never been a great film unless it was created in the spirit of the experimental film-maker. All great films contribute something original in manner or treatment".

He was born in Christchurch , New Zealand in 1901. You can see the influence that the art of the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand had on his early work. He studied the dance rituals of Polynesia and the Australian Aborigines and became involved with film-making which was an ideal medium to express his ideas about motion.

His first film, Tusalava, (London ,1929), was a semi-abstract animated film influenced not only by modernism, in particular the Futurists that were doing similar experiments but also by the art of Samoa, the Maori and the aboriginal people of Australia where he had spent several years in the early 1920's.

I have not found a copy of the film with the original soundtrack which I believe is a Django Reindhardt tune. In fact I have played the video along with this tune and it is a perfect sync!

Free music

Most of you may already know this but I thought I'd post it anyway. If you're looking for free music to play around with and add to video projects or future animation projects check out freeplaymusic.com

After Effects Basic Training

For those of you who want to learn the basics of After Effects I recommend visiting Video Copilot and working through the Basic Training. This site has some really cool projects and tutorials. All of the tutorials come with downloadable project files to get you started and they're really well done. So yea check that website out because it's got a lot of cool ideas on it from anything from title sequences to explosions.

fun and mindless

Here is a link to the random music generator I was playing with in class. Such a fun and mindless toy, I could play with it for hours. If you're looking to kill some time this link will take you to the page where I found "Ball Droppings". It showcases what their making with Processing.js. The program looks like a mash-up of processing and java. Yeah, nobody really wants to play with code and set parameters, well at least I rarely do, but we all love a little distraction.

How To Do It

Welcome everyone!. The following project structure is intended to provide you with a methodology to be both specific and help you track the progress and meet your milestones. Since individual projects vary widely some points might not apply. However, you can use it as a roadmap to define/clarify your deliverables and go back to it frequently and methodically.

It has four distinct phases:

DISCOVERY

This phase helps you understand the big picture and the opportunity to achieve the main goals of your project; to take an idea from conception to completion in the most effective manner.

Brainstorming, sketch models, scenarios, analysis and feasibility assessments.

Define the requirements, scope, timeline, budget (your time and resources) and benchmarks for the project.

Requirements of Analysis:

• Prioritize and validate requirements based on quality(1) and strategic factors
• Determine success criteria and metrics
• Define a preliminary list of production requirements.

Synthesis:

• Produce a final document with the discovery result.
• Develop a high-level implementation plan. (storyboard)
• Present a timeline and a budget estimate.

DESIGN

During this phase, create the look and feel of the solution (style). Develop the story requirements, the creative components, the technical design and infrastructure that supports the project.

Creative Design:

• Storyline
• Script
• Storyboard
• Art Direction
• Audio Design
• Production Design

Technical Design:

• Software requirements
• Set/backgrounds/location/plates
• Lighting diagrams
• Special efx design
• Models, textures

PRE-PRODUCTION

Develop and integrate all the creative, technical and information components.

Creative Production:

• Story
• Character Design
• Prototypes
• Graphics, 3D video/audio production needs
• Technical integration

Technical Production:

• Green Screen
• Lighting
• 3D camera
• Sound
• System testing
• Problem resolution
  

DEPLOYMENT

Demonstrate the solution after all final specifications and testing results.

Live environment:

• Rendering
• Audience Test performance and feedback
• Implement promotion/communication strategies

Showtime!

That's all folks!

1-Quality: the true nature of things, the peculiar and essential character

All Illustrations custom made by Rich Powell