The Flash is done and it feels like i'm 20 kilos lighter. i think asking us to learn flash in 1 week was a bit much, especialy as we got 3 weeks to do the 1 shot. however i'm happy with the result and did enjoy making it. hopfully the embed will work but if not check out my deviant art its under the name matter1901


Chase and his Case by ~Matter1901 on deviantART

one shot crit

The one shot film in my opinion was not a success and there are several reasons for this. The first is the narrative is a bit overloaded. With sub-titles and voice over’s it hard to follow anything. The opening lines also go to quick for u to really read and so the viewer misses what’s being said. The voice over’s themselves sound tiny and artificial which detracts from the over all affect. The camera operation was also lacking. The cameraman stopped recording to soon at the end of the scene, which made it hard to edit the end of the scene with out it looking abrupt. However the concept was sound and I wouldn’t mind doing it again. Maybe with proper actors who don’t mind taking their time with it? This project was also a very pleasant experience from the team working perspective. Every one was more than happy to give ideas and take part in at least some part of the production. This was most telling in the concept stage, as the final idea is quite a leap from the original and the complexity of the concept is credit to the way the group brainstormed together.

contrast task

Two simple images with a colour in them changed to a contrasting colour. I have left in some of the original colour so you can see what it used to be.

really good seminar

The lighting seminar
The lighting seminar, in my opinion was a great success. I have never really given that much thought to lighting before and in hindsight this was a big mistake. From the photos you can see that with the correct lighting you can make even dull situations look cool. So imagine what you could do on a cool looking set. It was a definite eye opener and something I will have to think about in future.

the one shot begins

One shot.
We have finally settled on an idea for our one shot concerning a meeting. It’s a couple meeting after a one-night stand (this is the exact kind of theme you get if you let us do what you want). The girl was very drunk and upon seeing him again regrets it. The conversation will be sub titles and her thoughts will be audio. Some photos of us scouting for a location.

One of few pieces that caught my eye, Spectral Red Light by Richard Kenton Webb. I like it for the very reason that it caught my eye. Once I had seen it I couldn’t stop looking at it. That subtle difference in shades of red and slight change in texture create depth and draw the eye in. the irregular pattern and lack of contrast makes it hard for the mind to conceive the real shape and it sucked me in for at least 63 seconds.

Is it a failing that I don’t understand or enjoy nearly all conceptual art that I have been asked to view? I don’t consider myself to be an artist, or at least not in the way people studying fine art would. I just worry that this lack of understanding will one day come back and bite me in the arse.

Inspiration seems to be a rare and valuable thing worth more than any physical commodity, as it’s the concept that proves your worth. Basically you are only as good as your next idea. Presently I have seen that it comes from many varied forms but the main if not easiest one is from your peers which highlights the single biggest reason to come to uni, which is the company of your peers. As an example after staring into space fruitlessly waiting for some inspiration to dawn I went into the kitchen to prepare lunch. While I was eating I realised much of what I was doing at that moment had been inspired by a new friend and student I had meet through my course. A was reading a book that looked at the theory of film making which was greatly increasing my understanding, eating a pizza of superior quality, even wearing a jumper lent to me that was warmer than any thing I owned. Although none of these things are great world changing ideas they add up to a greater quality of life for me at that moment, and isn’t that what we strive for? A greater quality of life. Thus highlights the point I wanted to make about inspiration. By putting ourselves in this environment we have at our fingertips a great source of inspiration in each other. So work together, collaborate, ask questions, criticize and ask to be criticized because in the end the work will be greater that the sum of the parts.

Part 4 of Rags To Riches. Check out the other parts by Luke Burton, Sonney Johal, Jamie Langton and Tom Frecknal for the full story

The item of design I’m looking at is the Nintendo DS Lite. The original DS (duel screen. fig1) was a very desirable piece of kit due to its duel screens, one of witch being a touch screen on the opportunities in unique game play this offered. However I didn’t buy one at first, not because of price but because I think it’s aesthetically unattractive and as a human I needed to find it attractive and cool. When they redesigned the DS into the DS Lite (fig2) it was the same functionally but was smaller and looked cooler. For this reason I then bought one but at a higher price than the original. This high lights the importance of good design and how it some times supersedes economic sense

Journal Task 1

The release of the Phone earlier this year sent shock waves through the technological community. It reached further and was more capable than anything else at the time. Apple didn't even refer to the Phone as just a phone, it was a media centre and contained enough gadgets that it even encroached on ipod territory and made the 8gig Ipod touch obsolete. Competitors have since caught up but like when Apple released the Ipod the trend has been set. In the future I see all of our gadgets merging into 1 piece of equipment (this has already started) and they will continue to get smaller. Soon no one will carry separate phone, camera and music player, everyone will own an item that is at least all three. But this is just the first step as other technologies catch up (like free city wide wireless internet coverage) the capabilities of media units will increase to the point that they will be like small computers capable of browsing the internet (the real one) sending and receiving e-mails and take photos and video of good enough quality to take advantage of new services like Youtube, all on the move and no longer tied to the desk top.

A step that I think the hardware will take that has been shown in some Sci-fi writing is the movement form internal data and software storage to it being stored on an external hub and the media unit accessing the data through the internet when and where it needs it. This would lead to almost unlimited storage space (or at least as much as you could afford) and the possibility of the units being used as mass storage devices.

The effect on society I envisage this having is one of speed and flexibility. With vast amounts of information easily and readily available and the ability to use it on the move, people will not only be better informed in most walks of life, they won’t have to stop to access the information that was previously available from fixed points.

Freshers week is over

So freshers week is over and i have a question. Am i the only one who is not disapointed? From talking to people i have meet throughout the week i don't think so. It was a bit of fun and a nicely orchestrated week but now the real work can begin. Its what i have worked towards for the last two and a half years and i can't help think that if i thought it was hard to get here, its nothing to what its going to be like being here. I am really looking forward to my first assignments as a chance to prove to myself that I actually belong here and dispell the sence of unease that has built up over freshers due to the relative inactivity. I supose it comes from so much change in such a short time and the lack of a defined routine. I know i haven't settled yet and that it dosn't happen over night but the start of lectures will be welcome as that is what I'm paying over three thousand pounds a year for and ultimately why I'm here.

In the first week of Multimedia at Nottingham Trent after attending one large meeting with all the design students, I then went to a much more useful meeting for those of use on Multimedia. We where intoduced to all the tutors then asked to to play a game of jules concoction called speed meeting. This is where i met the sex panther. Luke's description of himself didn't come as a suprise however as he lives on the same corridor as me and his mind work in very strange ways.(however i do lock my door at night). there where also some fun opening studio days the consited of making and then taking a picture with a pinhole camra, and then as a group creating a animation using a whitebord and digital camra. for the first week i thought this was pretty good, especialy after I heard what my flat mates had to sit through. If the work stays like this the rest of the year should be pretty good

Form this course i want two things. The change to develop my tecnical capabilitys. the chance to work among my peers as i beleve this is the best way to improve.