Monday 23 February 2009

Michel Gondry



I was thinking about how I could use objects in my animations (such as the previously mentioned etch-a-sketch and spirogaph...)

Lego could be an interesting choice and the video is impressive, but then again...Michel Gondry is impressive in general!

.x

Beastie Boys



'Made for the Beastie Boys some time back, but has only recently surfaced on ol' you tube. I drew every last line of this sucker. A slightly crisper version can be seen if you double click on it, and select "watch in high quality" in the bottom right hand corner.'

Awesome. It must have taken a Long time!
I really like the simple black and white...or at least keeping the colours simple.
Although it isn't continuous line, I still thinks its appropriate research.
This also shows how effective music can be in an animation (seen as it was produced for a band...)
Lovely.
x

Friday 13 February 2009

Statement of Intent

What is a Line?
'Lines are considered to be indefinately long'

I intend to explore the idea of a continuous line and the animation of that line. Arguably this line could be indefinately long and therefore the animation could always be added to in the future and could go on forever. To give my investigation context I will focus on architecture and interesting structures such as ferris wheels. From my research I hope to produce a number of videos/animations that represent my interpretation of 'What is a Line'.

Areas of research to pursue after crit:
Tomato's Animation (need help to find this)
Michael Gillette - Beastie Boys.
Lego
Spirograph
Etch-a-sketch

.x

Thursday 12 February 2009

Module 2 Self Evaluation.

1. What practical skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Throughout this module I have learnt new skills and developed old ones that have contributed strongly in the work that I have produced. Previous to this module I had never used InDesign and now, I feel confident enough to produce a variety of things using the software, for example, my A6 booklet and my final resolution for the book brief. It has proved very important in my work, as it was what I depended on to layout the pages of my final book and to print it out in the correct order. In addition to learning how to use InDesign, I have developed my skills in Photoshop, especially with the use of layers; I don't think I would have been able to produce work like I did without the help of the workshop. I had already practiced book binding before this module, however, after the workshop it made me feel more comfortable with the process which encouraged me to make more in my own time. I used perfect binding for my final resolution in the book brief and athough I didn't experiment with different types of book binding, I think this method looks the most professional.

2. What approaches to/methods of problem solving have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

Due to the nature of the module being very research driven, I definately feel that my approach to research has developed. If I hadn't done this module, I feel that I would still go about my research in the obvious way and produce somewhat boring work, however because of the freedom that we were given and the length of time we had to complete the work, helped me to see that I didn't have to just think of one idea and go with it, even I got bored. Getting feedback on initial ideas from others benefit the group work as it helped us come to an informed and joint decision. The interim crits really helped me with my individual work, in terms of idea generation, because it made me realise that if I find an idea boring, my audience will do too, so scrap it and move on. I don't have to stick with something predictable, I shouldn't think so literally.


3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I think that I have got better with evidencing the development process of my work and evaluating it along the way, although I feel I could still get better at it, I am pleased with the progress I have made in this area. By getting better at this, it has informed my work more because I can remember the design decisions I have made. The use of my blog as a way of documenting my work has become more evident in this module. I think that my crafting is a strength in my work as, in my opinion, when work is well crafted it gives a more professional and aesthetically pleasing finish. Finally, as my research has developed in this module, it has proved much more useful to the work that I have produced therefore I feel this is now a strength.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

The most obvious weakness in my work is time management. Due to the length of time we had for each brief being a lot longer than we were used, I seemed to be very laid back for the majority of the brief and then as the deadline approached I paniced more. I intend to address this by using the methods shown to us in the time management sessions for examples, making timetables for the week ahead. I have also identified that my contribution to crits etc. is quite weak. Although I concentrate on the work they are presenting, i find it hard to give constructive feedback. I feel I am getting slighty better at thinking of research suggestions and so on, but I still feel it is a weakness.

5. Are there any things we could have done differently that would have benefitted your progress?
-

6. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?


1 - Write action plans for the week ahead - Better time management.

2 - Document work with photography as soon as it has been done - More documentation and I shouldn't forget to do it as much.

3 - Be realistic about the amount of work I can do in set time - Time management.

4 - Contribute more to crits - I give them better feedback, they give me better feedback.

5 - More contextual research - a better understanding of the contemporary graphic design world.

7. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

(5=excellent, 4=very good, 3=good, 2=average, 1=poor)

Attendance - 4
Punctuality - 4
Motivation - 3
Commitment - 4
Quantity of work produced - 3
Quality of work produced - 4
Contribution to the group - 2

Sunday 8 February 2009

Turn back time...

What is a line?

I have done this the wrong way round.
I just did something that I liked...and got carried away. I need some research!

Here we gooooo...

Wikipedia:
- In geometry, a line is a straight curve. When geometry is used to model the real world, lines are used to represent straight objects with negligible width and height. Lines are an idealisation of such objects and have no width or height at all and are usually considered to be infinitely long.
- A line in poetry is a unit of language into which a poem is divided which operates on principles which are distinct from and not necessarily coincident with grammatical structures such as the sentence or clauses in sentences. Although the word for a single poetic line is verse, this term now tends to be used to signify poetic form more generally. A numbered group of "verse lines" is normally called a stanza.
- Queue areas are places in which people in line (first-come, first-served) wait for goods or services. Examples include the DMV, checking out groceries or other goods that have been collected in a self service shop, in a shop without self service, at an ATM, at a ticket desk, a city bus, or in a taxi stand. In economics, queueing is seen as one way to ration scarce goods and services.
"In-line" entertainment can be added. This is popular at amusement parks like Walt Disney World, which uses TV screens and other visuals to keep people in the queue area occupied.
- The equator (sometimes referred to colloquially as "the Line") is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the plane perpendicular to the Earth's axis of rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass. In more simple language, it is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface approximately equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole that divides the Earth into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere.

Dictionary.com
Line
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/line
Probably the longest definition entry i've ever seen. 82 different 'definitions' to be precise.
1. a mark or stroke long in proportion to its breadth, made with a pen, pencil, tool, etc., on a surface: a line down the middle of the page.
2. Mathematics. a continuous extent of length, straight or curved, without breadth or thickness; the trace of a moving point.
3. something arranged along a line, esp. a straight line; a row or series: a line of trees.
4. a number of persons standing one behind the other and waiting their turns at or for something; queue.
5. something resembling a traced line, as a band of color, a seam, or a furrow: lines of stratification in rock.
6. a furrow or wrinkle on the face, neck, etc.: lines around the eyes.

I decided to move on to imagery...
as a starting point, I simply typed "Line" into Flickr and it came up with these:

I love this, how the camera is set up so central. The colours are nice and vivid aswell.


This is crazy. I love it.

The brief stated something about queues of people, it looks simple but it could go somewhere interesting?

I went on to look at some of my own photos that I took a while ago (Last time it snowed, in...november? or something)

Lines as tracks from something...

A formation of thing behind each other :)
Close up trees always look good, they could be anything.
Graveyard. Very structured layout.

Vanishing points?

Anyway! From this I have (obviously) gone on to look at continuous line, taking inspiration from
"Lines are....'
considered to be infinitely long'"

I will post research on That soon!
Night.x

Wednesday 4 February 2009

Oh no...

I Really need this Time Management tutorial.
Where has all the time gone?
Book deadline is in a Week?
I got totally distracted with What is a Line.
Looks like my module evaluation is going to be about time management again!

On the plus side...I found this for What is a Line.

Wow. A new Favourite of mine.

x

Tuesday 3 February 2009

Frasier...

I'm presuming with where Frasier is set, this is Seattle skyline, but I just thought about it earlier today as a nice example!
Due to the weather today, I missed my crit this morning but I had one after Critical Studies this afternoon and
they basically said I had a nice idea and go ahead with it.
For next week I am going to gather more research on line, as I kind of just jumped straight into it.
x

Monday 2 February 2009

Patent pending.

Well! I was just gonna make 2 books to use as notebooks but to demonstrate book binding aswell...However! After I had bound them and got to putting the cover on...I decided to incorporate my theme as carrier bags.
I got rather excited when I finished them! :D

Bin Book!
The pages are made with my favourite pearl grey colour paper...which is lovely.
And the cover is...a bin bag lol.
My mum thought it was 'pleather' haha.

I don't usually get 'excited' by my own work.
But this just makes me smile.
I should totally Dragon's Den this beauty haha.

Carrier Book :)
The paper inside is a pale sugar paper, I don't usually like sugar paper but in a book it is Nice!
I like it.

Joy.
x

Well, I was watching Nick Toonsters...

...because thats how I roll...and I was watching Doug when the opening credits came on and I thought "well...thats a line?"



And then I wanted to find more videos that related to how I want to pursue this brief...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XJXZkOczGC4 Embedding is disabled on that video...but its just the music video for Honest Mistake by the Bravery.

Aaaand,


I just love this music video? So simple...but so nice :D

The end. For now.
x

Sunday 1 February 2009

140 Drawings later...

After seeing this video posted on the course blog:
http://www.thedirectorsbureau.com/media/archive/GM_GoldenCage.mov
I decided the ideas that I have for what is a line would look quite good as an animation, so this weekend I set out to make a quick(ish) animation that would demonstrate my intentions.


x