YSDN 3009

fin de fin de semana de la muerte

2008-03-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

there she is!

i will post again tomorrow with proper credits, a jazzy little number and a creative brief. i just wanted the timestamp on completion. ^_^

fin de semana de la muerte - day 1

2008-03-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

Here are the fruits of the second last day before the assignment is due.

i know it looks like i'm REALLY far behind, without anything of significant timing ... but i think if i'm going to be animating all of this in after effects like i've been doing so far ...

...

i only want to do it all once.

and that's happening tomorrow.

the following videos are my experiments with what i know with after effects. the last one is essentially what the final product will look like

fingers crossed!

opening credits - pi

2008-03-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

in honour of Pi day

here are some nifty opening credits.

if i could do this for a living, i think i might die happy. i just wanna make 'cool stuff'

colour bleed experiment

2008-03-14T11:34:00.001-07:00

this video is actually a few days old, but in lieu of new material, i'll put up something i should've posted when i made it!

it's a good effect. it looks ... refreshing and enlightening. hopefully i can do something interesting with this technique.

dramazoom

2008-03-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

more experiments!

hopefully after all this technical work, weaving these together into something coherent will be a bit more of a seamless process.

knock on wood.

fingers crossed!

this swirly bit looks nifty. the JPG that illustrator exported for the purposes of this clip was 5.3MB. phew.

flatline experiment

2008-03-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

here's an expanded version of my vector masking effect. i hope to use this effect a few times to illustrate the contrast between stale and 'dead' and things full of life and possibility.

hopefully i can take the dots and swirls motif at the end and reuse them and make them into more complicated images... should be interesting

butterfly experiment

2008-03-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

finally animating my butterfly.

i'm pretty satisfied with the effect, i would like to keep it black, and maybe play around with the speed of the wings, make it realistic.

finally we have our main character!

...

...

after an afternoon of experimenting and losing data, i had to re-animate the butterfly.

i really don't want to talk about it

experiment 2 - Dalai Llama

2008-03-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

i hope i can use this effect a few times, starting with nonsensical dots and zooming out to make a coherent image - it's a bit sloppy, but i do like it,

also working with animating images as cutouts, to create dimension and realism.

lots more to do!

Storyboard!

2008-03-01T18:47:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of the still storyboard that i rendered for this piece. Some of the motion is a little jagged, and the timing could do to be reworked, but it's just a rough for personal reference (and for you to enjoy!) it's also a version of the audio storyboard that doesn't take so horribly long to load.

Some of the images are really confusing. I plan on focusing in on large spots, that then pull out into images, like stippled patterns, and using the same 'veiny' motif that i was using for the vector experiment a few posts back.

Storyboarding intricate vectors and fields of spots usually end up looking like scribbles and blobs. squint a little, use your imagination.

Some more Time based Tidbits

2008-03-01T16:12:00.001-08:00

These videos are just so good.

This band is subtle, i saw them live once, and it was totally mind-blowing. At one point during the concert, the lead singer/MC/DJ pulled out a handful of plastic forks and threw them at us.

Video experiment 1

2008-03-01T13:09:00.000-08:00

Here is my first experimentation with effects, this was the vector bleed that i want to work with, done in Flash. i think most of my project will be done in flash, and then imported to aftereffects for final editing and whatnot.

i think that this effect looks pretty effective, and will help with the sequence in my piece that i'm affectionately reffering to as the 'acid trip dream sequence'

On the topic of brain waves...

2008-03-01T12:08:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of Ken Wilber, hooked up to an EEG machine, and turning off his brainwaves through meditation (he pauses the video, so it's not as impresive as it looks, but still, to see all brain waves go down to zero on command is still pretty compelling

the other thing to notice, that he points out in the video, is that his delta waves are constantly up. (these waves shouldn't even be active in wakened state, they're only really active during the deepest parts of your sleep cycle)

Audio storyboard

2008-02-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

here is the audio storyboard. it sounds a bit hokey and cheesy, and pretty pretentious, but i think the rhythm i set up will be effective.

I won't keep the voice over in the final piece.

the track is 'heysatan' by sigur ros. here is a clip of them playing live. amazing group. solid heritage.

i hope to compose and record my own track for the final product.

next up: visuals!

below is the script for the storyboard.

in a world filled with ...
boxes ..
buttons ...
order, the technical, the routine, the HABIT.
in a shallow world, with shallow worries, it's easy to just

drift off.

or to see a world filled with

hate
fear
loneliness
war
poverty
starvation
environmental disaster
destruction

we become PARALYSED
by the PERPETUAL
this brings about an impersonal PERSPECTIVE

like we're missing something.

....

- sometimes when we dream, we become aware that we are in a dream. this is called becoming lucid, or lucid dreaming.
if you want to experience this phenomena on your own, try making habit of asking yourself while you're awake

"am i -really- awake?"

if you start to become 'aware of your awareness' so to speak, when you're dreaming, it will be easier to slip into a lucid state.
IN YOUR DREAMS ...
lightswitches might not work.
watches won't make any sense
words on a page will change, or be completely incomprehensible
in our dreams, we live in a world of

CHAOS
NONSENSE

have you been paying attention?

sometimes it seems like ... we get caught up ...

wound up....
completely distracted by the world we see.

in our carefully controlled chaos
it seems like we took a good thing
packaged it, wrapped it up, put it in a box, told everyone that they wanted it and then put a price tag on it.

too bad when we opened the box, it wasn't there anymore.
we can't regulate it. or package it or sell it

...

but we are capable of growth. and change.

Brain research is beginning to produce concrete evidence for something that Buddhist practitioners of meditation have maintained for centuries: Mental discipline and meditative practice can change the workings of the brain and allow people to achieve different levels of awareness.

This may sound like fantasy, but real scientific studies are taking place.

Richard Davidson, at the university of wisconsin took on some of the Dalai Lama's most practiced students with 10-50 thousand hours logged in meditation practice.

10 student volunteers were used as a control.
both groups meditated on unconditional compassion.

the results were astounding.

meditation activated the trained monks' minds, showing record numbers of gamma waves, and showing that their brains were moving in a more organized, more powerful way, some monks showing numbers never reported before in a healthy person.

our brains can change
adapt
grow

we can achieve new levels of awareness, that transcend this ordered chaos, this shallow world of fear and hate.

this gives us hope for the future

our path isn't fixed

there is no box

are you -really- awake?

un-process work

2008-02-26T08:22:00.001-08:00

ok so i don't quite have a -storyboard- just yet. yeah i know. i'm really behind. but this is maybe close.

in the meantime, here's a peek into my process for this project (which has been a mix of very rewarding, incredibly frustrating and spontaneously unproductive).

i've been flowcharting my research and ideas and images on my window with post-its. pretty effective, but it also means that my project is looming over my whole bedroom until it's done.

i plan on finishing up my audio storyboard later today and getting my visuals done for later this week.

whoops

2008-02-25T09:16:00.000-08:00

forgot probably the most compelling article i've read so far.

it's similar to the other article about the study of the buddhist monks' meditation, but the writing is from a more meditation-based standpoint.

Creative Brief - Project 2

2008-02-24T14:14:00.000-08:00

Project 2
FA/YSDN 3009
Winter 2008

Liisa Donaldson

Project:

ARE YOU AWAKE?

Overview:

In a world that seems to be drowning in fear, war, disease, chaos, starvation, poverty and forces of destruction, it is easy to simply tune out.

In a society that is founded on the rational, modernist perspective of progress through technological and capital advancements, it is easy to be caught up in the perpetual, unrelenting pursuit of success on the most shallow levels.

Technology and patterns and systems that keep society running on a very regulated schedule, to make order of the chaos, to perpetuate routines, habits.

To make life automatic.

We think that we are somewhere on a timeline, on a road, like a train car, being pulled along the track.

It's time to tune back in.

Our universe is infinite and complicated. Our brains have unimaginable capacity that we haven't even been able to completely map out.

We have a great capacity for love, compassion, change, charity and peace.

Goals and Objectives:

The goal behind this project will be to bring an acute awareness of existence to the viewer.

People who practice Lucid Dreaming (becoming aware while dreaming) often do things like 'awareness checks'. They will ask themselves 'am i awake?' and if this becomes a habit during the day, it will be when they dream as well, making it easier to reach a lucid state.

The title of this project is called 'are you awake?' because i would like the viewer to seriously ask themselves the same question, at least once.

I want to use the examples, of scientifically studied phenomena, like lucid dreaming, out of body experiences, and the benefits of meditation to encourage critical thinking from a post modern perspective about the nature of being.

At the very least, I hope to use the information presented to encourage an optimistic view of human nature, and the human capacity for spirituality and compassion.

Audience:

Anyone who's still sleeping.

Key Message:

If you want to be free,
Get to know your real self.
It has no form, no appearance,
No root, no basis, no abode,
But is lively and buoyant.
It responds with versatile facility,
But its function cannot be located.
Therefore when you look for it,
You become further from it;
When you seek it,
You turn away from it all the more.

- Linji

The Beatles: "all you need is love"
Jesus Christ: "and the greatest of these is love"
Hillel, "What is hateful to do, do not to your fellow man."

Bibliography:

Neuroplasticity & learning
Scans of monks' brains
Neuroplasticity - study of gamma radiation
out of body experiences
lucid dreaming

Brain on the ... right

2008-01-28T14:01:00.000-08:00

Wired Magazine's Website is to be the beginning of our journey into project 2

So, right after reading about the guy who almost killed himself with baking soda, i moved on to things that really interest me, like neuroscience.

This article, on mapping the brain seems really interesting. I love stuff about how the brain works. Every brain i've ever seen looks like a wrinkled wad of cheesecake, but it's the centre for consciousness, science's biggest mystery. The ways they manage this kind of information is really fascinating.

This is an article that I read about a week ago, and I think this might be a great direction to take my topic. Quantum physics is a little side interest of mine, and the way it relates with the human consciousness is unreal.

Project 1 - Ten Second Leader

2008-01-28T11:10:00.000-08:00

Title: "Escape"

About: An Avant-garde exploration of campus and anxiety. I tried to capture the real essence of interactions with your personal space. A strange, off the wall appreciation for the uniqueness for campus under the pre-tense of escaping the space as if it was a mental institution. A visual representation of the darker sides of the creative process.

Story Boards

2008-01-26T21:49:00.001-08:00

Creative Briefs

2008-01-26T21:45:00.000-08:00

Idea 1

Title - "Awkward"

Overview

a document of something everyone encounters, the awkward, silent elevator ride down to the ground floor. This piece will be sweet and familiar and punchy.

Goals and Objectives

to effectively communicate a moment with limited time, to deal with limitatons like including the countdown and a small timeframe with grace and effectiveness. The piece should seem snappy and knowledgeable, while still being familiar, bringing about that 'sense' of awkward space in an elevator. Focus on small things, hand movements, facial expressions, fidgeting. bring out the honesty in the moment.

the absence of 3-1 in the countdown, followed by the 'ding' of the ground floor should be utilized to maximize hilarity.

Audience

The audience would be quick-minded, older people who have an appreciation for the socially awkward. Anyone watching this piece who has had an uncomfortable moment with a stranger should appreciate this piece.

Key Message

Awkward happens.

Idea 2

Title "escape"

overview

A surreal exploration of time and space. Explore the frustrations of a design student as my inner dialogue becomes film. A strange, off the wall appreciation for the uniqueness for campus under the pre-tense of escaping the space as if it was a mental institution.

this piece is an expression against my ability to come up with an idea for this project that i liked enough to pursue with any passion. This is the anti-concept. An attempt at dadaism within the project. (lofty)

goals and objectives

find numbers on campus in strange places, find strange things on campus in familiar places. mash them together into an artful, dark, restless countdown from 10 down to 1 that never fully concludes itself. the piece should be vague and

audience

the audience for this piece is both very broad and very narrow. anyone can appreciate the search for meaning in space, and see the forms of numbers on the screen. A select few will recognize some of these spaces as local, and for them the piece will be much more meaningful and entertaining.

key message

the message that should come through this piece is something about the connectedness of everything. the interplay between the vague and the specific.

brainstorming - concepts

2008-01-21T15:51:00.000-08:00

that date stamp says alot, doesn't it?

maybe too little too late?

can anyone spell creative block? post-winter stress? i dunno what the deal is. I'm not usually this horrible with my time management.

Here are my concepts thus far - hopefully my genius will shine through despite my lateness.

CONCEPT #1

a countdown for a launch sequence. Follow numbers as switches are flipped, dials turned, etc.
countdown to eventual

... explosion?
... lift-off?

CONCEPT #2

numbers somehow relate to ingredients in a recipe, which combine together to become a cake or meal of some sort.

CONCEPT #3

numbers indicate buildup of romantic tension before a kiss. flashes of key, sometimes awkward moments.

... while we're thinking about awkward...
CONCEPT #4

document of an elevator ride. Extremely awkward. Countdown will be in the floor numbers. 3-1 is a mystery, leaving an opening to be witty with the last frame.

CONCEPT #5

animation of numbers. key frames animate growth of number from illustrations, like a flip book

CONCEPT #6

animation, using paper 'cut outs', of illustrated characters.

CONCEPT #7

still photography, time-lapse photos turned into stop motion animation - numbers melting (footage in reverse?) - setting numbers on fire, etc. etc.

Fanta Play

2008-01-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

this ad campaign was alot of fun and sticks out in my memory as something trendy and fresh and creative.