MCM Expo October 2012!

A Selection of photos from MCM’s comic con at the ExCel centre in London.

Future Cinema and the Passive/Active Lemon Sponge.

With the step up to 2nd year/Level 5, it’s time to hit the ground running. First day back,  and we get our first double brief: Future Cinema, and Building a UI. After the “freedom” of the last few projects, the lectures and frameworks of these projects have proven to be a bit of a shock, but at the same time, something of a refreshing change.

Especially with Building a UI, the world of MaxMSP and Processing coding language has opened up to us in all it’s bewildering glory. From the outset, I was pretty certain I was going to work towards the Future Cinema brief, although according to Deputy Head Lecturer Liam Birtles, the two flirt dangerously closely. An emphasis was placed on working in a pair with each person working towards both briefs, so that the UI and FC aspects could compliment each other. With that in mind, I agreed to revive the North/South Production duo with Rob Moore ( whose blog can be found here: http://rcmoore2.wordpress.com/)

Having worked with him on both the Principles of Computer Graphics AND Sound & Video Production briefs, I’ve found his working style and Artistic Vision to work well with mine, so it (hopefully) will be a good fit.

Our initial idea-generation hinged on an important issue: the Active/Passive Audience Experience divide. Much of the media we were shown focussed on the concept of varying degrees of audience interaction;

• Use of mobile phones in cinema to influence a multi-linear plot.
• Multiple-choice online videos.
• Mass-audience motion capture interaction.

However, as a consumer, I’m a fan of the passive cinema experience. While Active cinematic interaction seems to be a legitimate path that cinema could take, it will effectively shatter the idea of Auteur theory, and the idea of concise, revised writing, and in essence destroying the traditional film production technique. While I appreciate the right of people to engage in an Active Cinema, I myself do not see the appeal over traditional cinematic experiences.

With that in mind, I hoped to explore the envelope of PASSIVE entertainment. Going and sitting in a cinema/theatre and losing yourself in a piece is an experience I enjoy greatly; affecting an entire audience, leading them to experience the same/similar emotions and reactions, is a true artform.

It was at this point that Rob pointed out that his older brother Mike (who is now at Level 6/3rd Year) had worked on a 9.1 surround sound project for HIS Future Cinema one year previous. The piece proved to be highly effective (and slightly unnerving), and while limited to audio (the test subjects were blindfolded), it expanded greatly upon the fairly 1 dimensional audio that is prevalent in most cinemas: while the application of low end power and high definition is immeasurably superior to the home cinema experience, the utilisation of surround sound is fairly limited when considering the capability of technology we have at our disposal. This is the test reel of their project, which I think you’ll agree, is pretty spiffing.

The idea driving their project was a strong one, and while they explored the realms of sound to it’s fullest, they chose not to progress to the actual cinematic application of the technology. This would prove to be the core of our project.

Taking our seniors idea of immersive surround sound, we would then apply that to a physical Cinema setting, and expand upon it, using:

• Surround sound.
• Atmospheric manipulation (temperature, directional wind).
• Vibration.

While, for the sake of the time frame and the physical production of the piece, it would be best to make a mock-up for a single user, when I began designing the system, I considered how it would be incorporated into a tradition cinema setting (as I hoped to support the future of the traditional cinematic experience, rather than an interactive one).

As with our previous projects, we set our sights rather high, but as with most things, if you don’t shoot for the stars, the odds of taking off are slim. Here’s a taster of what’s to come:

I’m Back B*tches! 2ND YEAR

*Sound of shuffling papers*

I swear I left that book around here somewhere

*Drawer opens*

Good grief! A blog! I’d forgotten I had one of those!

WHAT’S UP!

Hello again to all 3 of my followers, it’s been much too long. I haven’t posted in MONTHS, so it’s high time I updated my log.

How was your summer? MIne was PACKED! Placement work was….long, is really all I can say. Design on the site progressed fairly well, until it fizzled out at the end when our client lost his hosting rights, which led to our project being mothballed. A great pity, but that’s life.

So, what to talk about. I made a Sailing Ship in Maya2013 to try and enhance my skills with vertex manipulation and curved surfaces; most of my work has been with straight lines and industrial, factory-stamped looking machines, and while that’s great, ignoring objects with natural/hand-tooled curvature would leave a gaping hole in my skill set…

As it is, the (not yet) finished result is far from perfect, but through use of Mirrored  objects, it was possible to produce a symmetrical, nearly smooth hull and decking features. Have a gander:

I’ve also got my first paid freelance filming project coming up….tomorrow, as it happens; filming a series of interviews for a wedding DVD, courtesy of .5 Lecturer Elliot Trent. Perhaps not the most creatively open brief, but everything’s got to start somewhere, and being paid to do something course related is a big morale booster.

That’s all for now, plenty to be getting on with, as we’ve received our new Briefs for Level 5 (2nd year), so I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about that soon!

See you around and about!