Monday, 31 January 2011

Interactivity..

Had a lecture on interactivity for context with Jools today. We discussed it being a form of communication between an object & person e.g tv, radio, internet. It is a two way exchange. Also discussed user choice & user control & watched a 20 min video of Ted Talks which was quite interesting discussing how lots of choice in the modern world can now be seen as a negative thing & lead to more disappointment than if there was less choice.

Also watched this video:



Also some examples of visual essays are on the NOW so will have a look at them to get some idea of what I need to be doing.

Thursday, 27 January 2011

Skins (L)

Skins series 5 starts tonight (L) I am watching so much rubbish on tv lately - Big fat gypsy wedding, sun sex and suspicious parents, waterloo road, also got brought misfits series 1 and 2 on dvd which I loveeeeeee.

So excited for skins the script is written by young people so can relate to the audience. Characters are also so strange and edgy.

Awhh Yehh :D

Got a B in my first assignment :D

Wednesday, 26 January 2011

Animation. Mardy. Depressed. Want To Quit Uni.

Yesterday we had a seminar on materials & textures ( can be seen in previous post ) but I got so wrapped up in doing that & trying to do it right I didnt even get started on my haunted house :( so now i'm feeling more behind than ever. I've done the track & plan and that's it. I went in to uni today to do some but I just find it so hard to use the software I ended up doing pretty much nothing.

I have 2 weeks left in animation, the last week will be mostly rendering & adding sound so next week is pretty much it.

Big fat fail.


:(

Assignment Number 2..

The deadline for this isn't until 27th may but i'm going to start it now & hopefully find stuff that will help me produce it.

Title: I am choosing my Pathway because…?

Background: Towards the end of Term Three you will be expected to choose from one of the following pathways as your course of study throughout Level Two.

Those pathways are:
Moving Image Pathway
Interactive Media Pathway
Virtual Environments Pathway


Task: Produce a visual essay that outlines and describes your pathway choice for Level Two. This explanation and description is your thesis.

Your essay should identify and discuss three pathway practitioners.
One of these practitioners must have been identified on the Multimedia
Field trip. You need to make the relevance of these practitioners to
your thesis explicit. Remember your task in identifying; describing and
examining the work of these practitioners is to reflect on your own
work and your pathway choice.

Why have you chosen these practitioners to discuss above all others?
Pay particular reference to particular concepts or ideas that these
practitioners or their work espouses.

I'm unsure what pathway I am yet to choose, either film or interactive! Hopefully over the next few months when I have the task for each one I will be able to decide :)

Tuesday, 25 January 2011

3d Textures

Right now we are learning about textures & material editor on 3dsmax. I have started with a simple box in which I have changed the texture to bricks.



Also created this window imaged box:

I Hate The Feeling..

Of dread :( which is what i'm feeling right now as I have animation later & I feel so behind & like my design is so so bad.

Tomorrow is my day off & i'm going to look at the other tasks for the other pathways on the NOW to have a good idea of what i'll be doing when I finish animation.

I also need to look at year 2 and 3 blogs to look what work they do for film / interactive.

Monday, 24 January 2011

Narrative

Data Vs Information.

Data: Often viewed as lowest form of abstraction from which information and knowledge is derived.

Information: related to notions of constraint, communication, control, data, form, instruction, knowledge, meaning, mental stimulas, pattern, perception & representation.

How is data turned into information & then this turned into knowledge?!

Narrative Vs Authenticity.

Who am I ( autobiographical )

Who are we ( organizational )

Future stories ( visionary )

- don't arrive at question "who am I?" - continue living it.
- narrative is who we wish to be.
- culture values.
 - conditioned thoughts.
- who are you writing it for.

Sunday, 23 January 2011

Task For Jools...

In preparation for Monday's Threshold Concept:Narrative Lecture I want you all to find a website for a company/organisation. From examining that website describe the type of brand that site represents.
I want you to define a brand as "something that company/organisation offers that that company/organisation would to be seen as making them distinctive from other similar companies/organisations."
The website can be for any type or organisation. A water company, a sporting gear company, a political party, anything really that is represented through a website.
After choosing your website/company you need to find three elements from the site that demonstrate how you came to your brand description.
Bring your notes and the url into the lecture. be prepared to discuss your choice and reasonings.





Apple is a well know brand for products such as computers, laptops, ipods and phones. The website makes them distinctive from other brands that do these sort of products such as Windows, Sony, Nokia and Dell because the layout and navigation of the website is visually inspiring- already giving it advantage to it's competitors. Colour scheme is kept to a minimum - grey and white which adds to the feel of class. The constant show on the website of the apple logo shows proffesionalism.

Thursday, 20 January 2011

LDN

My photos from the multimedia field trip, will explain about them when I have researched into them more :)

Images from V&A:





Isotype could realte to web design in which it is how to structure information. The sense of ordering information and creating a rationale for why i'm doing what i'm doing. How space is used in paintings could relate to how space is used in painting to create space for a website.




















Science Museum:














Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Entrance & Cart For Haunted House..

Now I have decided on a theme for my animation I need to think of the extras such as music I will use, entrance, cart and props.

Signs at the entrance usually say "Ride not recommended for the faint of heart," "Turn back now," and "Not responsible for dying.

Most of these rides have some sort of cart that seats two or three
individuals and moves along a predefined track. The motion and speed of thecart is not particularly fast but filled with quick, jerky turns. As the cart turns, the riders view props and scenes that are intended to elicit a shriek or scream.

Ideas for my cart:


I did like the pumpkin cart idea for the theme which I have now decided on however it will be really hard to make on 3dsmax so I may have to keep to a simple square cart with space for one child. I also like the idea of a sweet which will go with the trick or treat title. The sign entering the haunted house will say "Enter If You Dare.."

Entrance:

:(

Finding this so so hard :( creating the floor and walls to the haunted house:


Track:



Pasaje Del Terror

When I went to blackpool we went to the Pasaje Del Terror haunted house read about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasaje_Del_Terror

In which visitors walked around the house to see real people as the scares. It was really scary & I thought if I did the death/murder scene I could have some ideas from Pasaje Del Terror.

This video is really bad quality that I found but shows the possessed girl scene which was so frightening!



I could perhaps have a scare of a bed with a possessed person on it if i choose to do this theme.

I'm still undecided what theme to choose from; halloween or death! :(

Trip To Landannnn

Tomorrow we have a field trip to londonnnnn :) Going to V&A museum & science museum. The purpose of the trip is to get ideas / photos / names for our visual essay "that outlines and describes your pathway choice." Essay should discuss three pathway practitioners which have been identifed on trip.

By seeing other work the research process will begin. I will also look at 2nd/3rd years journals to see projects they are doing & if I will enjoy doing that on the pathway.

Monday, 17 January 2011

Theme & Moodboard

I had the first intial idea to create my haunted house animation based for young children with the theme of halloween. The scares would be props such as witches, pumpkins and ghosts.


The track could go through the mouth of the pumpkin with flashing lights to create the idea of it looking like a candle burning.


Witches on broomsticks could be flying over head whilst the cart is moving.


Ghosts are a common theme of halloween and most children will find ghosts spooky and associate them with the theme.

The name of "Trick Or Treat" could work well.

I then however, decided that the theme of halloween may not work that well for a haunted house due to the event only happening once a year. Children do enjoy halloween but it may seem a bit of a pointless ride to have apart from in the month of october.

I then had the idea of perhaps changing the audience to an older generation such as teenagers / young adults as I could have more of a "scarier" theme such as vampires, dracula etc.

I came up with the theme of death/murder and my ride would somehow tell the story through the 3 rooms of the lead up to the murder, the death and the graveyard. When thinking about names I had "The Dead Reunion" "Death" and maybe including something and "red" which connocates with blood and danger.

I created a moodboard for both halloween and death theme as the death theme would mean creating skeletons and deathly people on 3dsmax which could be really difficult so will ask Roma and my tutor Andy which idea would work best.

Halloween Theme Moodboard:



Death/Murder Theme Moodboard: