Social Change Through Animation

I find that some of the most effective ways to trap people's attention about something important is with well designed motion graphics. Below are some social messages I found on Vimeo promoting social issues, and what we can do about them:


The Innovation of Loneliness from Shimi Cohen on Vimeo.



Water Changes Everything. from charity: water on Vimeo.





TakePart: Participant Media - Waiting For 'Superman' - Infographic from Jr.canest on Vimeo.



Beyond Bytes from Florian Köhne on Vimeo.



The World Is Obsessed With Facebook from Alex Trimpe on Vimeo.



History of the Internet from Melih Bilgil on Vimeo.



Master Plan - About the power of Google from Jonas A on Vimeo.

Gifs as art

Since this is my last post and since I've been putting off doing other work ever since I finished Arturo's three projects, I figured that I'd write about something (a little too) near and dear to my heart. Gifs.

I don't care how you pronounce it (although if you say it with a soft G you'll really jet on my nerves) or which ones are your favorites; everyone who has used the internet in the last five years has some sort of appreciation for gifs. This led me to think that maybe, just maybe, gifs will one day get the appreciation and attention that they truly deserve. Turns out, they already are.

Recently, Google Plus held a competition dedicated to finding gifs (which some are beginning to call 'motion photography') that can really be considered as art. They got over 4,000 submissions from "artists" in countries all over the world.  Most of them are really awesome, too; beautifully framed, well shot, crisp, and continuous loops. Professional gifs, if you will.

However, as Joseph Flaherty mentions in his article on the subject of gifs, the competition didn't really capture the general...well....point of gifs. Culturally, they're not used to be beautiful. They're used as witty responses in Facebook comment threads, or as come-backs via texts, or to make blog posts *cough cough* look more interesting. In that regard, gifs continue to just be reposted ad nauseam on Tumblr and in the Cracked/Working Title Facebook groups.

As Flaherty also pointed out, Graffiti was largely considered pointless and not treated as art by the general masses until Bansky made it cool a few years back. Gifs, as far as I'm concerned, are just another form of self-expression. Sometimes I can't quite put my feelings into words, and that's where gifs come in. Sometimes I just want to make somebody laugh. And sometimes I just want to see Joe Biden fondling a hot dog.

This doesn't have anything to do with After Effects or Greenscreens or Mike Levien's title sequence, but I'll be damned if it's not related to motion graphics and or animation. Maybe I'm just trying to justify my procrastination by calling gifs art, or maybe I genuinely think that they are. We may never know. Until then, here's what google tells me is the best gif ever. Enjoy.

An Effective Yet Chilling Video Game Promotion

It has been said that the things we search for on the internet leave a trail. By going to a certain site, that  generates certain ads which follow and display products based on the type of person the internet thinks you are, and markets accordingly.

Recently I came across a video-game called Watch Dogs (PS3, PS4, X-Box 1 & 360) which involves hacking other people's phones and computers for information. One of the things I've find interesting about this game, is the promotional campaign used.

The website I included takes your Facebook account and analyzes it and calculates several things about you.

1. Your approximate net-worth
2. Stalkers in your life
3. People that could be used against you 
4. Pawns in your life
5. People you'd run to in the event you were ever pursued by authorities  
6. Possible internet passwords 
7. How well you can be identified 
8. What type of person you are and how easily can you be manipulated 
9. The times you you most uses Facebook and what times you'd be most vulnerable for an attack

While I realize that this is only part of a game I'm surprised at how surprisingly accurate some of the things this app mentioned about me, and yet I'm not. Ever since I first got my hands on an internet accessible computer, my parents continually warned me about the dangers what particular information I put out there for the world to see, since that data is never truly deleted. 

The game itself takes place in an alternate version of Chicago where the entire world is connecting by a smart phone internet like operating system. With this world wide internet system it is possible to control just about any function of the city through a smartphone.

Functions including:
Traffic Lights
City Block Power
Subway Systems

Amazing what we can do with our phones

A lot of this potential ability to access and control different internet connected functions reminds me a lot of the TV series and video game franchise of Rockman EXE (MegamanNT Warrior for you American-folk), where things were not only connecting to an all-ecompassing internet system but people were able to battle with their smartphone equivalent avatars or NetNavis. 

NetNavi Rockman/Megaman

TV Series

A PET
Not only used as a phone an for internet access, but also for
fighting computer viruses and other malignant programs that
appear is this world.

Megaman Battle Network 6

…Wow, had not idea of the connections between these two things myself.

Facebook Takes Away Hopes and Dreams

     The Oculus Rift is a wearable head mounted virtual reality screen created Oculus VR that as yet to be released to the public. Through their kickstarter campaign they have earned almost 100 million dollars.
   
     Palmer Luckey, through online forums, developed his idea for a head mounted virtual reality unit that would effective and inexpensive. Around this time a game programmer named John Carmack was doing his own research and came across Luckey's ideas. During the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo Carmack presented Luckey's prototype.

The Rift in Action

     Oculus Rift was making everyone in the video game world very excited. Popular game developers were making there games compatible with the device and had plans to make new games for the The Rift. However that is mostly over now. Many developers have pulled their support for the Virtual Reality headset once Facebook acquired the technology for two billion dollars.

     It is far too soon to tell what will become of the Oculus Rift now with Facebook's acquisition of the technology. However despite "insider sources" saying that Facebook plans to rebrand and redesign the headset, Facebook is denying those claims. Oculus thinks that Facebook's ownership of the technology is better for gamers, they believe Facebook will be able to produce a product that is better and cheaper than before.
 

The Innovation of Loneliness

So this is my first blog post ever. I am looking forward to seeing all the different sources, videos, materials, and articles the students of this class will post this semester. The internet is an incredible source, when used correctly and intellectually.
With that said, I thought it might be somewhat interesting to look at the internet, specifically social media, in a new light. I found this video a few months ago browsing. It was ironic that I decided to post it Facebook and send it to a few friends because of what it is about. Even though it somewhat shut down Facebook, I knew people would see the post and potentially watch it.
This video's animation is so simple, yet so interesting to me. The color palette and style of this particular animator, Shimi Cohen is interesting and neat. The short The Innovation of Loneliness was nominated for the 2013 Forster Film Festival's Best Film and won the creativity award for the Festival. Aside from the animation of the work I do also identify with the message and position of the piece. I hope you enjoy!

Shimi Cohen source: Vimeo


The Innovation of Loneliness from Shimi Cohen on Vimeo.
What is the connection between Social Networks and Being Lonely?
Quoting the words of Sherry Turkle from her TED talk - Connected, But Alone.
(http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.html)
Also Based on Dr. Yair Amichai-Hamburgers hebrew article -The Invention of Loneliness.

Script, Design & Animation: Shimi Cohen

Final Project at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design.
Source

The Dissolution of Communication

This video is an interesting application of clean, consistent design to express in an "infographic" way the theme of how social media creates the illusion of communication without actually achieving it, and in fact, most likely, creating in us a feeling of loneliness that grows as we collect more "friends" 

 You can probably figure out by now most of the techniques used in this piece, but the most interesting aspect is the use of color, composition and simple shapes to convey a powerful idea.

 

Sweet Video (pun intended)

I just thought this video was cool. It doesn't use any hi-tech programs, just simple sidewalk chalk, a camera, and a talented artist. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups just surpassed 10 million fans on Facebook and this was their way to thank them. The video reminds of the Blu video we watched in class a few weeks back. The design is far simpler and there is no motion to the art. It's simply a 3-d drawing on a 2-d surface. It took 37 hours, 27 pieces of chalk and 3700 photographs to create this piece. I enjoyed the video. You probably will too.

Artist: Chris Carlson

Photos by Mike Larremore

Never.no and Vizrt to be partners

Over the past two years and especially during the current presidential race there has been a growing trend of integrating social media into live television. Viewers can tweet everything from questions for a political debate to comments about a live broadcast with the chance of it showing up on television screens across the nation. I'm sure a few of you, like myself have wondered exactly how this is done. As it turns out the system is much more complex than I first thought. Apparently television channels like the BBC and NBC out source this function to a variety of companies offering various options for creating an interactive environment for viewers by integrating  social media and mobile phone applications with live television. On top of the company who develops the technology to make this happen an entirely separate group of companies are hired to design the real time 3-D graphics you see on the screen. According to braodcastnewsroom.com two of the leading companies on both ends of this new technology have just announced a partnership that will not only be lucrative for them, but also has potential to make getting access to this technology a lot easier for clients. The website quotes the CEO of never.no (one of the companies involved in the partnership) as saying "Vizrt is the world leader in real-time 3D graphics, and never.no is the world leader in social TV solutions. Together we bring to the market an unmatched end-to-end solution to connect the audience directly to the action on TV." So, will we be seeing more and more social media on our television screens over the next couple of years? My guess it yes. Let's at least hope they come up with some good looking graphics to go with it!

Youtube My Facebook

I found this cool project on vimeo. This would be great to use as a commercial for facebook.  I figured I would post this video because it reminded me of our classes about motion tracking.


I also found a tutorial to create light streaks with particles.  This guys does some really great tutorials, and he explains everything so you will learn what everything is actually doing. CHECK IT OUT