Flaneur: Developing the Star Idea. (Visualization)

Wrote out a HUGE blog entry for this section, and lost it with google downtime.  So apologies if this particular entry feels a little rushed.

Video kind of unrelated to the project. More appropriate than Austin Powers I guess.  Sick visualization though.

With the visualization aspect of this project we had initially planned on using maps of the stars, constellations etc. We discussed possibilities, and what we were capable of doing without letting this become an obstacle.  We moved away from this idea though.  After brainstorming, we came up with the concept of creating musical sound from the footage we shoot.

Flaneur: Developing the Star Idea. (Apparatus)

We eventually decided to run with the idea of filming the stars.  We still had a long way to go before we reached the idea we are currently working on.  I will split the development stages into 'Apparatus' and 'Visualization' sections to distinguish the growth we went through with each.

Flaneur: Second Concept (The Stars)

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 Our second concept was all about the stars.  Creating imagery and sound out of the celestial canopy. This bad boy above is what set the ball rolling after initially coming up with the idea.  Just happens to be shot with a fisheye lens too.

Flaneur: Initial Idea (Underwater)

Our initial concept was to utilize water to show a different side of Auckland city.  We were to fully submerge the camera in water to show the city after it had been completely overrun by the ocean.

We were aiming to demonstrate the future, beyond human civilization. After the city had been swallowed by the ocean, after mother nature had taken the planet back.  We aimed to employ the idea that human life is insignificant, and that the planet has us at its mercy.  Something which is easy to forget living in densely populated areas.

Project 4: Flaneur (Project Dissection) A little bit boring-you have been warned

Task: To analyze what is expected within our new assignment -which is to design and build a piece of 'Flaneur Apparatus'.

Wearable Interface.

Short project blog-wise.

Struggled throughout the entirety of this project.  Initially ran with using a gun (I realise this was frowned upon from the get go).  I wanted to get the project rolling so left the creative aspect up in the air.  The gun fit in with the theme of our movie, and allowed me to focus on getting the work done.

Max/MSP was a disaster.  Programming was an aspect of the course I was completely unfamiliar with, and missed the immediate introductory lessons.  I quickly found out though, that the majority of using this program involved searching for existing code on the internet.  It was relatively easy to find, and if something didn't suit, forums easily provided Max/MSP enthusiasts who were keen to help.

To this end I came up with the basic idea to manipulate the tempo of the gunfight scene from our last project.  The tempo was a focus of our film, we built slow throughout the story and finished with the gunfight.  We were aiming to flip the slow pace on its head and create contrast between the plot driven scenes, and the action scenes.

Latest Project Woes

Latest project is proving really tricky.

We are designing a wearable interface to work together with the video produced last time round.  This means we essentially have to take a keyboard or other input peripheral apart, and redesign the systems to work via something that we wear.  we then have to use the new fangled piece of equipment to manipulate the video onscreen.

Some of the examples of similar work blew me away.  At this stage I have no idea how I'm going to use the little programming knowledge, and even less experience with the inner workings of the input devices to achieve what I think is expected.  Most of my time so far has been spent getting my head around the tools, and not on how i can creatively utilize them.

The tricky part I am finding is not the hardware aspect of the project but the programming, and what to do with the material onscreen to re-tell, or re-imagine the video in a creatively inspired way.

I missed a few classes immediately after the last hand-in, and as a result feel like I'm just fishing in the dark. 

Stop whining...

Figure it out.

Love Ryan
xoxo