Narrations (I actually did them this time!)

The last title was a bit misleading because I didn't actually do the narrations, but now they are finished and ready to be put to the "Lego Bricks".
I've also included in this post photos from the Intro montage for you to see. This montage was nice and easy to make and a nice rest from the hard work of getting everything else done, yet still was productive.

Speaking of the Montages I've also finished the Decembeard Montage and the Title which is an animation of Vince's beard growing and showing the letters which spell out "DECEMBEARD" an apt and simple title I thought.
The photos are one of the set up I used to make the title and the other of a still from the mini title animation. The others are from the December Montage.
To make the title I marked out where the letters were going to go and then laid another image of vince over the top and using the light box (the platform thing they're on) I traced bit by bit the beard growing around the letters underneath.
This works quite effectively if I do say so myself and gives the viewer a taste of what the documentary is like, that tongue in cheek style of work but it's not a half assed spoof.

Next I am going to finally get round to making Vince so that I can actually make a proper start on The History of Beards.


Take care,
Joe.

Narrations

It's been pretty hectic getting MEDI 262 out of the way but now it's finally done I can focus again on Decembeard.
This week, well tuesday I went to Jeff's and filmed his mouth for the Vince introduction. This went really well and it also turns out that one calendar transition (the one from Jeff's interview into Phil's) doesn't logically work, it's meant to go from What Women Want (the Peskett Family interview) into History.
So whilst I was at Jeff's I was able to create a transition from one interview to the next via a photo frame which I've put in the same scene as Jeff's interview to tie the two together nicely.
Little setbacks like this are starting to creep up so I really need to get going with this Vince animation but tonight instead I'm going to start recording some narrations then crack on with Vince tomorrow.

Until then take care,
Joe.

Back to Uni and Poo Hits the Fan

I went back to uni this week and in some ways I'm glad and in others I'm not.
Firstly to get the bad out of the way it turns out my first scenes are subject to copyright, along with the first calendar transition because I have a "Family Guy" poster up and a Scooby Doo t-shirt on. This now means I can't use those scenes and since I don't want to go through shaving my beard off all over again, I have decided to open my documentary with a montage of famous beards and facial hair.
To do this (and here comes the good news) I have gone onto the Prelinger Archive where they have a vast selection of royalty free videos and images.
From here I have made the montage of such greats as Mr.T, Chuck Norris, Henry VIII, Santa Claus and a few others which I am now going to have playing whilst a narration goes over the top.
It is from here on in that I have started working a lot harder to get this documentary done in time but with enough time for me to be able to fix things should they need be.

Following on making this first montage I then made the second one about December 2010 and so if I'm honest this little hiccup of copyright has actually given me the boost I needed to keep going and get this all done in time for the deadline. It's still miles away but I've had a lot of stress trying to finish MEDI 262 (Experimental Animation) and so now that that is slowly getting done I can try and balance the two. I hope.

Anyway enough doom and gloom the bottom line is I have finished the two montages and although panic and stress are sinking in a little I need to keep reminding myself that I've taken on a lot but I'm on target.

Check back soon after MEDI 262 is finished and I should be of a calmer disposition and be able to tell you what else I've finished.

Take care,
Joe.

Final Scenes in Manuary

With the research animation finished and out of the way I was able to finally style my beard tonight even though it is now the 8th of January A.K.A Manuary to those who take in part in Decembeard. It's called Manuary because this is where we are allowed to style our manly beards and so I have filmed this and finished the final scenes.
I've sped up my girlfriend styling my beard (As it's easier for her to see what she's doing than it is for me to see the underside of my chin!) and this is going to go between the montage I'm going to include of the month, and the final scene where I say goodbye.

I'm really happy with what I'm calling an "Extended Anchor" although I still wish I has the confidence and the length of beard to pull off the Sparrow. Perhaps in the future maybe? haha

Also in this post are the pictures of my To Do list. I've just made a new one so thought I might as well put photos of them up then show you the new one later on so you can see how my ideas have changed. I'm sorry if you can't read them but I have posted them as the biggest size allowed so fingers crossed!

From here on in I am going to be focusing on the History of Beards as next to the Vince introduction when I get back to Uni, these are going to take up a LOT of time so the sooner I get started on them the better!

Check back soon for the next instalment of work where I'll (hopefully) be talking about a finished History animation!

Take care and Happy New Year!
Joe.

The Extra Strand "B" Workshop Stuff

Here in this post is exactly what the title states, the extra Strand "B" workshop stuff I said I'd get off Amy, but instead happened to have myself hidden away on my Hard Drive :)
Also sorry for the delay in posts, it's been quite hectic what with trying to get my MEDI 262 work finished in time for the deadlines and getting my MEDI 236 documentary project going too! But It's here now so let's start off with the rest of my "Strand B" audio file stuff. :)

This first video is the track of Lyndon Running up the stairs in Scott and then back down to us.
If you listen from 0.24 you can hear the part I looped and used as a drum beat in my "Logic Tryout" track:



Next is our "Tapping Medley" Track where we used a mouse and a desk to make a rhythm out of tapping, which I used as the "Hi-Hat" part of my "Logic Tryout" piece:



This piece was a group exercise from the second session (the same one the "Hi-Fiving Exercise" came from) and was created by 5 of us, including myself and Amy, standing each in front of one of the microphones, but at different distances from them.
Then as Andy Warren pushed Liam Hogg amongst us whilst Liam sat in a trolley reading a newspaper (No I don't know why either...) we had to say "Happy Birth Day To You", each having a different word. Mine words were "You" and "Happy" as I was the last person who then had to repeat the cycle to go back again.
You can hear the spacial awareness in the piece as our voices and quieter and louder depending on how close we were to the microphone, which worked very effectively to help us learn about this spacial awareness in sound. Also We learnt about how even the length of cable from Microphone to Computer can alter the sound by there being either more or less static added to the sound from the cables!
It truly is incredible how much there is to learn about sound, even though it's an aspect of life most of us have been aware of since birth!

Happy Birthday To You:



Here is another Sound experiment we did where at different times Me and Amy Rixon had to ring our friend Jeff White.
This mini experiment into recording and working with sound and others pieces such as "Jumping in a Line Final" and "Me and Amy Dying", were all from another groups list of experiments.
Each group had to make a list of sound activities another other group had to do and they did the same. We then swapped lists and these mini experiments are our interpretations of those instructions. :)

Me and Amy Ringing Jeff:




Space Invaders was from our second workshop (the mini experiments like the one above coming from the first) and was a group project using the 5 microphone and speaker set up again.
This piece was great fun to make as we played out a game of "Space Invaders", the classic arcade game.
Everyone in the group was an invading alien (With Scott Nelson being the bonus alien making the "WooWoo" sound) and had to shuffle left to right whilst holding a piece of newspaper. I especially loved this piece because I played the turret and so when I shot people, they had to scrumple up their newspaper to make an explosion sound which worked very effectively.

Space Invaders:




Here we have "Popping Medley" and I've then added on at the end the short clip we had of Amy shouting "Squeak" as both were used in my "Logic Tryout Final":



Here is the last of our tasks from another groups list, involving me with the Marantz Microphone around my neck whilst Amy stood behind me and Lyndon in front. We then had to jump down a corridor shouting our names aloud, and yes it was as hilarious as it sounds.
The second part of the file you hear is us jumping around randomly shouting our names, the second part of the task.

Jumping in a Line Final:



And finally here is a clip of me and Amy pretending to die for Nathan and Scott's group. I've also added Amy singing "Hey ya!" by Outkast on the end which you can hear on my "Logic Tryout" track.
Me and Amy Dying and Amy "Hey Ya!" On Her Own:



Working in these sound lectures was surprisingly challenging in a fun way, as you can probably tell and helps you to realise just how much there is to learn about sound and creating certain effects.

However, now that those workshops are over and the files uploaded, it's time for me to show you what I have learnt and produced so far with this knowledge.
All this work leads up to my final piece (obviously! haha) but for this next section, the focus was mainly on the presentation we had to give to put across our idea and explain what stage of development we were at and how we would proceed.
These presentations were then presented to the group we were in for our first Carousel Workshop, which for me was Strand A.
I think I've put enough in this post for today as don't want to bore you completely haha so check back soon for the original notes and designs I keep promising and my presentation work and how it went. :)
Take care,
Joe.

The work from the Strand "B" Workshops (It didn't attach for some reason)

"Logic Tryout" and "Hi-Fiving Exercise" pieces which didn't attach to my original post: "Carousel workshop Strand B: Experimental Sound" so fingers crossed they've worked this time!
Take care,
Joe.

Carousel workshop Strand B: Experimental Sound

As I said in my previous post, we took part in workshops to help us formulate our ideas into actual possibilities, for example the first Carousel workshop I worked in was Carousel workshop strand A: The Image: Still/Moving.

However, due to large numbers wanting to work in the Carousel I originally chose, the Strand C Workshops on "Digital Cinematics" (where they got to work with the lovely new HD cameras the lucky sods!), I ended up instead taking part in my 3rd choice of workshops which was Carousel workshop Strand B on "Experimental Sound".

Looking back, working in this workshop "B" on sound instead of "C" was the best choice because I learnt a lot about sound and music I didn't have a clue about!
For example, over the summer I made all original music for my animation work because originally I had used copyrighted music, and to do this I used Garageband, the built in music software for Macs.
Now Garageband does the job really well when you're working with small animations as the loops can easily be changed and altered to become more unique, but when we looked into how sound and music works (and especially how to use Logic, Garageband's ridiculously professional older brother) the possibilities to create music and sound were just mind blowing!
I was quite happy plodding along fiddling with effects in Garageband, but the possibilities these workshops and Logic gave us were incredible!

When I look back at these workshops, this is where it became a no-brainer that I HAD to create my "Mechanical Instrument" to fully quench the thirst I had for making music with all this info I'd learnt.
I've always had an intense passion for music but while my original idea had stemmed from this love, these workshops, both strands "A" and "B", were what gave me a whole new world to work and play with.

After these workshops, the ball was really rolling as the ideas for how I could achieve my goals became more and more of a reality.
Working with Amy and Lyndon in a small group and also working with everyone for the bigger projects was really enjoyable and taught me a lot as well.
I noticed from these sessions that I have become more confident when working in big groups, which is great because I have always been quite shy yet wanted to be more assertive than I actually am.
Being assertive has always been a problem for me, most likely because I'm already quite short and so quite insecure over it at times, but now that I'm at University I feel much more confident with who I am and don't feel as insecure about being "vertically challenged". To have realised this positive, personal change I must say that these workshops were much more helpful than I thought! :)

Soon I'll upload the original notes I made before, during and after these workshops, but for now here's the work I made during the Strand "B" workshops as videos because I don't think I can upload them as MP3 files.
The first one is "Logic Tryout" from our third and final workshop. Here we used the clips of audio we'd recorded in workshops 1 and 2 to make music or just sound.
I know it's rubbish but I was trying out using the clips of Lyndon running down the stairs and tapping on the desk as drum parts, whilst Amy Rixon Squeaked and made popping sounds using her finger and mouth. Sadly I ran out of time and so never put them together or in time properly so my apologies for that. :)

Next is the "Hi-Five" exercise we did as a whole group using 5 microphone and speaker set ups in Scott 105.
In this exercise we learnt about spacial awareness in sound and so the whole group walked up and down the room at different times in front of the microphones and Hi-Fived whoever passed us, hence the clapping sound in different places and timings.
This was a great exercise and very helpful for understanding spacial awareness when it comes to making music and sound, although if you weren't sat in the centre of the room it was hard to hear exactly what was meant to be happening.

I think Amy has the rest of the work so when were back to University after the Christmas Break, I'll get it off her hopefully and put it up here soon, but for now here is the link to "Tango" by Zbigniew Rybczyński from my previous post, and the "Toshiba Time Sculpture" Tv Advert which was in a similar vain:

"Tango" by Zbigniew Rybczyński:
http://www.wat.tv/video/tango-zbigniew-rybczynski-2882h_2f1q3_.html

"Toshiba Time Sculpture" TV Advert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1etBYlrmtg

That's it for tonight as it's pretty late and I've rabbled on a lot. My apologies for that!

Check back soon for the original notes and possibly the extra work Amy has from the Strand "B" workshops.

Take care and Happy New Year,
Joe.