Extra Workshops and Inspirations

Since I last entered into this blog, a lot has happened in terms of where the project is going and how.

We’ve had extra workshops these last couple of weeks on a specialist subject of our choice. This allowed us to hone in on what specifically we wanted or needed to learn in order to create our chosen ideas. I chose advanced HD studio work which was I thought was going to be a workshop on using dollys and runners to get smooth camera work, but instead if was on lighting and although this was still very helpful, I needed to learn how to keep a smooth camera for keeping up with the marbles on my machine.
Never the less the other workshop I took part in was a 2 parter on “Creative Programming” which consisted of using coding and processing of data to make things happen via a computer.
Examples of what we made are simple exercises such as a trail of colourful balls to follow the mouse as you go across a page and a synthesiser type programme which responded to your mouse’s movements up down and across the screen by changing the pitch and frequency of a sound it emitted and also the colour of the box in which you moved the mouse.

However, the main thing that processing could do was that using what Chris our lecturer called a “Sparkfun - Arduino Starter Kit”, we could collaborate the processing with these physical pieces of computer chip and equipment to make the marbles set off sounds and lights by moving past sensors and hitting pressure pads! This sounded fantastic and the Sparkfun - Arduino Starter Kit is roughly £50 so although it’s very expensive, it might just be worth the money if it’s going to make the machine look even better!

It’s still early days but this could be very beneficial to making my project seem all the more professional so check back for how my plans may include this technology.

Moving on I’ve also included some videos here which help influence my idea of an alarm clock and the machine waking me up.
This video is of my Wallace and Gromit Alarm clock which as you’ll see has an alarm clock which sets off a ball bearing to set off another at the top of the clock which comes down to hit bells and a button which sets off a Cockerel sound at the end.
This (very noisy!) wake up is what inspired my alarm clock idea overall as it was a present for Christmas which I’d seen around the time I was debating more narrative before voicing it on here, but I have decided I am going to stick to my original plan of the machine making music only.
This is because with videos such as “Crème that Egg!” I find the main purpose or narrative is lost halfway through the piece as you focus more on what the machine is actually doing instead of why, so I feel that my piece will work better if it is machine only and the music carries a narrative as it includes more and more “instruments” to it.

Moving on from the workshops, I've also included some inspirations I have found along the way to where I am at the moment with the project.

Firstly here is my Wallace and Gromit Alarm Clock:



Also here is the Google logo as a machine which I found very interesting:



And here is an advert which had a similar style of machine:



And finally here is a tryout I did of a train I bought trying to play the xylophone pieces.
Originally the plan was for the xylophone and train to be going around underneath the main drum machine or something but as you'll see and hear the xylophone bits aren't very loud so I'm going to re-think this bit:



These inspirations etc. have been collected over the months and in my next post I will show my second presentation as we get closer to Easter and actually making this piece. :)

Take care,
Joe.

More research and Proposal

Here is the extra research I have partaken in to further my ideas on how and what my marble run is going to do.

Starting with “Rube Goldberg Machines”, these illustrations are the foundation upon which all other styles of machine like this are based. These cartoons are humourously clever ways to extravagantly do a very simple task such as make breakfast or open a door.
Speaking of breakfast too, a machine such as the ones described can be seen in a film called “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” by Tim Burton and starring Paul Reubens.
This machine “Pee-Wee’s Breakfast Machine”, is a real life version of the cartoons by Rube Goldberg and both have been massively influential on where my head is at presently.
At the moment, I am debating whether my machine should make more than just music and perhaps should have a narrative and a purpose such as making breakfast or opening a door.
An idea I’ve had is to have the machine wake me up by an alarm clock setting off the marble run to make music and possibly breakfast.
This would be a big copy of “Pee-Wee’s Breakfast Machine” but at the same time I believe I can alter it enough to be more original and have a very different narrative, focusing on waking me up instead.
My final bit of research for this post is from a Youtube video called “Creme That Egg!” which, like Rube Goldberg’s work shows a very elaborate “A affects B” kinetic styled sculpture which eventually results in the egg being crushed.

Again these pieces I have spoken about all have a narrative and so again I am wondering about my own piece. Will the music being made be enough to keep the viewers interest? I am going to look into this more after this post so as a final note, here is my proposal I handed in a while ago but have forgotten to upload. I’m terrible at remembering to upload!

My proposal:

Joe Skinner - 10203714

Media Arts – MEDI 259

10/1/2011

MEDI 259 EXPERIMENT MODULE PROPOSAL:

MARBLE RUN MUSIC/THE MECHANICAL INSTRUMENTS

For this module project I am going to be producing what I have titled at the moment, “The Mechanical Instruments” or “Marble Run Music”.
These are just working titles for now, but the actual piece is going to be a combination of chain reactions, cause and effect, marble runs, Dominoes, Drums, and other instruments and objects all working together and affecting each other to make music and sound.

The initial idea for this project began when I was younger, where I played with Lego and other construction style toys.
I started exploring and became fascinated by the mechanical side of inventions, the nuts and bolts of how such things work. As I got older I extended my enthusiasm through looking at processes of mathematics and interconnecting movement, such as cogs and gears, the binary use of computers (i.e. If User answers A, continue with program B etc.) and mathematics itself.
However, it was during the lectures that we had at the beginning of this module, in particular one on “Space and Time”, and the Carousel workshops (of which I took part in Strands “A” and “B”) that I saw how this idea could become a physical reality.

Originally, after working in the Strand “A” workshops on animation and using “After Effects” software, I had planned to combine a chain reaction piece with some form of animation so that the two combined to create an interactive story.
Sadly though, the more I got into this idea, the more I realised that that would be just too much work and there would have been no way of creating such a piece to such a high standard, let alone alongside my other modules!

Going back to the drawing board I went on to look at using the chain reaction side of this project to tell a story somehow, and it was this expansion of the idea which led me onto the inspirational work of Eric Staller and in particular his piece entitled “KNIKKERBAAN”.
KnikkerBaan translates from Dutch as “Rolling Ball”, and the piece itself is a giant marble run created for a reception in a Dutch school. The marble run works by children moving a ship’s steering wheel that releases footballs onto a marble run styled track.
These footballs are then kicked up an elevator by football boots and then dropped down a run, triggering different sounds and lights as it descends until it is shot into a goal at the end and put back on the elevator by a goalie, ready to repeat the cycle.

The almost perpetual movement and consistency of this marble run is what inspired me to create a piece based on a marble run. I would then, instead of using animation, tell a story via music and sound.
From here I have furthered my research into this genre of physical chain reactions and cause and effect by looking at the work of Tim Hunkin, and in particular his Television show “The Secret Life of Machines”.
In this show, Hunkin explains how everyday objects work and then creates his own version of them. Watching Hunkin create his own versions of these objects, e.g. a fax machine, I recalled the “Wallace and Gromit” clay-mation films by Nick Park and the inventions and gadgets they created in those films, for example “The Wrong Trousers”.
The “D.I.Y” nature of Hunkin, Staller and Park’s creations really inspires me and reminds me of when I first became interested in how things work.
This cause and effect solution to working made it a natural decision for me to create a “D.I.Y” musical invention in my own unique and un-conventional way.

As of the 4th of January 2011, I have completed the main blueprints and actual construction of the main machine, which is the piece that will create the drumbeat providing the backbone structure and timing for the entire piece.

This main machine works by using a marble run with an elevator to bring marbles up to the top of the elevator and drop them down a chute onto the heads of drums with enough force to create sound from the drum and then bounce back onto a second track, which returns it to the elevator to repeat the process.

I’ve started with this machine, as the entire piece relies on it being completed and perfected, i.e. the timing and beat had to be laid down first and as close to perpetual motion as humanly possible, so that I can have the freedom now to gather the other materials and tweak the final blueprints of the other music making machines.

To make this project however, I have come to realise through the Carousel Workshops and lectures that working in groups is very beneficial to the overall outcome of a project.
For example, teamwork during the process of trial and error whilst creating must be balanced and co-operative in order for a successful outcome.
Alongside this need for excellent teamwork, I also need good communication between the team members and balance in general. A heck of a lot of patience is needed as well, especially when working with a project such as mine where physics are a large part of production yet I have very little knowledge of the subject!
This became apparent particularly during the “After Effects” and “Rotorscoping” sessions of the Carousel Workshops from Strand “A”, where a lot of work was essential for completing the tasks that wouldn’t be possible to finish without assistance.

To complete my project to the highest level I am capable of, I will be enlisting the help of friends who are also Media Arts Students, (and anyone from home I can drag in too!) to assist me in constructing the machines.
The equipment is all blueprinted, but there are certain effects and techniques which I have developed and applied successfully whilst constructing the main machine and the plans for the other pieces. To help achieve the highest level, I will be explaining these techniques and effects as I build and direct the construction of the project alongside everyone who is willing to help.
This way I am directly involved with the project and can steer it in the best direction for successful completion and quality.

The actual piece will be constructed and filmed in one of the photography studios up on the second floor in Scott building.
I still need to speak about renting out a space but the actual project will not take up much room so even a corner in one of these large studios, out of the way of everyone, will be sufficient.
I understand that I may not get a lot of time to work in these studios, due to pressure on space and time from other students wanting to use it, so to work efficiently as possible, the overall piece will be broken down into individual components and built separately as prototypes outside of the studio to clarify they work correctly, and then re-assembled in the studio and connected together to complete the final installation for filming.
For example, I have already completed the prototype for the main machine and so am now working on the other parts and how to connect these machines to the main one.

I will be presenting this piece as either a video on a show reel, or if it is permitted I would really like to create a mini installation in the same vein of the actual piece, which will combine a marble run and other objects using chain reaction to turn on and off a television which will show the actual piece.
This marble run will be interactive in that the viewer will be able to set off the marble run to view the video of the main piece.
The actual installation will not be very big or complicated which will make it more accessible to anyone, and in view of the materials used, it may appeal to those in the younger age groups.
However the nature of the project can be understood and appreciated by anyone, resulting in a non-specific target audience.
In terms of exhibition space, the physical piece will be able to be moved to a more appropriate location should it need to be.

Bibliography:

Eric Staller – KnikkerBaan. Eric Staller. Eric Staller 2003 – 2007, all rights reserved. 10 Jan. 2011.
.

Staller. Eric. Out Of My Mind. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Staller Studio Nederland, 2006.

Tim Hunkin/Tv Index”. Tim Hunkin. Tim Hunkin. 10 Jan. 2011.
.


Also as a final final note, here are links to the influences I have noted here for you to see for yourself ☺ :


“Creme That Egg!” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrCb_fNmSTA

“Pee-Wee’s Breakfast Machine” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWd5D8wUc88

Example of Rube Goldberg’s Illustrations - http://www.google.co.uk/search?um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1024&bih=851&site=search&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=rube+goldberg&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=

So that’s it for this post but check back soon to see how what conclusion I have come to and how things are going from there. :)



Take care,
Joe.

Photos of Making The Main Drum Machine

Here are some photos of making the main drum machine pieces.

That's it for now but check back soon for more research and my proposal I had to submit for this project.
Take care,
Joe.

Work from over Christmas :)

Here is the work I have done over the Christmas period. Essentially it is the main drum machine which will keep the beat throughout the piece and the tempo as well.

The first video is of the main machine showing it working on the tom and snare and then returning the marbles back to the elevator. This main drum machine took roughly 3 days to perfect to how you see it now, from scratch to perfecting the loop back:

http://vimeo.com/23425571

The second video is of the Hi-hat which will accompany it and took very little time to create since the main frame of marble run is the same one used for the main drum machine, we just had a go at the Hi-hats after dismantling the main drum machine:

http://vimeo.com/23426076

By we I mean me and my family and girlfriend Eden (who is in the videos), who have all helped out in some way, whether it be holding track whilst I moved pieces of actually pointing out and helping me figure out how the machine can work.
For example, to get the marbles back to the elevator we tried many different versions of hills and slopes along the run to get enough velocity to get back.

That’s it for this post as the videos have narration to explain further so check back soon for the extra research I’m doing for inspiration into where to go from here.
Take care,
Joe.

Beach Soundscape, the final Strand B audio File I'd forgotten to upload!

I thought I'd uploaded this one along with the rest but apparently not so here is the final (and most important for my piece I believe) audio file from the Strand B Workshops.
I know there has been a lot you've had to listen to but here is our groups idea for a beach scene, complete with annoying seagulls and a pirate or two! This was great fun and the whooshing sound you can hear represents the waves and was made by five people each wooshing "Mexican Wave" style at one end of the speakers whilst "up the beach from the sea" at the other end of the room we had the seagulls and pirates.
A great sense of positioning, space and believability is given by this piece as the microphones really helped us to figure out how the beach was lay out in audio, starting with the sea at one end then going up the "beach" to the seagulls etc.
The way the piece sucks you in to believe in the beach existing is what I want the music to do in my piece. I would love for the viewer to be sucked into the machinery and be really interested in how it works and why.
This quizzical nature is what I'm trying to create to give my piece the power, entertainment and interest factor it should hopefully deserve.

Beach Soundscape:




Check back soon for more on how the project's coming along, and in particular the research and work I have done over the Christmas holidays.

Take care,
Joe.

Presentation and Initial Designs and Ideas

Now that we're finally finished with the workshop stuff, I can at last show you my initial drawings and designs then later on in this post tell you how my presentation went.

Also I'm extremely sorry for the delay in posts! Things have been VERY hectic getting MEDI 262 (Experimental Animation) and MEDI 236 (the Documentary project) finished in time and so now things have quietened down a bit so I can continue with this blog and crack on at a gentler pace with my next two modules.

So to get straight back into things, firstly we have my presentation slides as photos, which also includes my original drawings and designs. We had to present our ideas to the rest of our Workshop Strand A groups and the presentation itself went really well, it was great to see what people are up to and I look forward to the exhibit at the end of the year even more and I was really pleased with the enthusiasm everyone had at seeing my piece, so let's just hope I can deliver haha!

Firstly we have the title slide and the second explaining my initial ideas.

I don't think I've explained my first ideas yet but basically I was going to create a "real time" machine which interacted and played an animation, (e.g. dominoes would release a flip book by a chain reaction knocking over something holding them down. Then when the weight is taken off the flip book flips through showing the animation).
This as you can already tell is a massive project as technically it would be making two pieces!
So instead of animation a story or journey will be told via chain reaction effects and certain objects making music.

The research and inspiration for this project comes from loads of sources (as I've had this idea since I was about 10/11!) but the main ones would be things like clockwork, marbles runs, cog and gears, machinery etc. etc.

And below I've also added some more artist based inspirations as there are many pieces in the same style as I want to make but here are 3 listed which have influenced my work: Tim Hunkin, Eric Staller and the band Ok Go!

These artists have created really interesting and exciting work in this field/medium and so from looking at their work I have moved on to actually start making my own mini experiments into this line of work.

Here is the link to my Vimeo page where you can see the first video:

http://vimeo.com/20246720

Which was a quick experiment to show how a project like this could be done. This piece had a marble come down the run, hit the motor on and land in a bowl of water. The motor then turns the elevator which lifts another marble up to the top of the marble run and drops it down to turn on the CD player, before I add a second to pause it again.

I used the Canon EOS 5D for this experiment and it was also an experiment into using that camera too. Unfortunately, the 5D when in video mode has to be manually focused so trying to keep u[ with the marbles and focus at the same time was incredibly hard, so this next video is my experiment into using the JVC 100 camera to film instead.

Here is the link to this video which shows the same marble run but filmed with a JVC 100:

http://vimeo.com/20250542

This video shows how the focus is perfect throughout, but the colours and depth of field are no way near as vibrant and impressive.

So to test the two properly, I have created third video which compares the two:

http://vimeo.com/20259292

As you can see, I haven't figured out the colour correction for the 5D, but still the overall focus of the JVC 100 is what impresses me most (plus colours can be edited in post-production) so I am going to film my final film with the JVC.

The next few slides are my original designs and the notes on how I will hopefully accomplish such a piece. As you can see these designs are pretty complex but fingers crossed I can pull them off or find a simpler way to do it!

Below are some close ups of these designs again so I hope you can read what it says but overall they're just instructions on what's what and how it will be affected. :)

That's it for this post but check back soon to see how things have progressed since this presentation.

Take care,

Joe.

IT'S FINISHED!

As the name suggests, IT'S FINISHED!
It's taken roughly 3 months but it is finally finished and exported from Garageband with music and everything.
It wasn't as easy getting to here mind as putting it all into Final Cut Pro and matching up the clips took a while. Then once this was done it took over 6 hours to render!
The reason for this is because the files are so large but once the compressor got to work it only took 2 hours to export from Final Cut Pro which was a nice change!
Putting it into Garageband, the free music loop based royalty free software which comes with all Apple Macs, was where the fun began as I was able to finally create a soundtrack to my visuals.
I found that using only bass and drums was a great combination and whilst doing it's job, didn't distract the viewer from the dialogue and narrations. However for the more music based areas (such as the Intro and Credits) I could be a lot more expressive in terms of music and the ending I'm really proud of as it's a nice cheerful ending to go out on, rounding up what I'm hoping has been an enjoyable watch.
So far those who have seen (my family and the Peskett Family) have really enjoyed it so fingers crossed most others do too and they're not just being nice because they know me!

To sum up this module, I have really pushed myself to limits I never knew existed. But whilst doing this I have really enjoyed being so involved with a project again. Over the summer I have craved big projects like this and finally I've been given the chance and if I'm honest I was over enthusiastic and ended very nearly burning out half way from exhaustion.
On the other hand, if I hadn't taken on this project I wouldn't have learnt the things I have, both about facial hair and myself.

I've learnt an incredibly valuable lesson which is pace yourself. Don't go burning out rushing through things. I need to do what I have done on this project and prioritise and think realistically.
Last year I made myself very ill working so hard and not sleeping properly etc. and so this year I've made sure no matter how tired I am I've eaten properly, got my 5-a-day etc. and have planned out my next move so that when I need to sleep I can wake up and keep on track.
The second valuable lesson I've learnt is that if you plan ahead you can accomplish such a big task as this. Without planning and being as organised as I possibly could I would never have been able to finish in time. But here we are with me talking about finishing it thanks to organisation and efficiency.

In a way I'm sad to see this project go as it's been a big part of my life these past few months, but deep down I'm ready to move on and take these skills to the next project and see what I can do.

So as a goodbye present I leave you with the photos of all my lists as they were nearing completion. Uploading these is also very rewarding for me as right next to me is the same sheets but all ticked off and finished with.

So thankyou for reading and hopefully you'll visit back soon to see what else I've been up to and where the skills I've learnt in this project have taken me.

Until next time take care,
Joe.

HISTORY IS DONE!

Pulling a fair few all nighters I have finally finished the history animation!
But again there were a lot of set backs or what!
The main problem was that I had cut out all these photos with the intention of animating it by hand. However trying to do so proved very tricky and more time consuming than was needed so instead I went back onto the computer and inverted each photo, which I could of done at the same time as colouring them to save time in the first place.
Then once all these images were inverted I put them into After Effects with the actual book as the background.
From here on in it was just a slog for a couple of days but I was able to make some much more interesting transitions than what I was planning to do. Once all these transitions were done I was finally able to export it. Which took 11 hours!
Turns out as I'd been going along I'd zoomed out from the time line, which actually means you've zoomed out in time too not just scale so where I was putting in points of movement, they were minutes apart instead of seconds.
However, once it had finally exported I compressed it for another two hours and then was able to put it into Final Cut Pro and cut and trim the video down into separate films per information from the narration going over the top. I then matched the video to the audio by changing the speed of the videos and voila it was completed. Piece of cake......

On the other hand, whilst all this rendering, exporting and everything else was going on, I was able to get the rest of the narrations done, the final calendar transitions and the credits.
The credits as you'll see from the photos I've uploaded are of the people who starred in my documentary (Jeff and the Peskett Family) holding up fake blue beards. This way everybody grew a beard!
I've also finished the animations of our beards growing to go in front of this after the final scene and they look great so a big thanks to Phil and Jeff!
I aligned the photos so that the transition is smoother and then added disclaimers at the ends saying what happened, such as Phil going for a Handlebar and Goatee style with extended Sideburns and Jeff sadly having to shave because of a family gathering he had to look smart for!

With all this finally finished it was time to put it all together and make the final "Lego Model".

With the photos you can see the calendar transitions first, then stills from the History animation, then the credits.

Check back soon for my overview of this project as I hopefully complete it all in time!

Take care,
Joe.

VINCE IS DONE!

What a hectic week!
But the best part of it is that Vince's Introduction is done and dusted now!
However there were a few problems which sadly have altered the final version of this scene.
Firstly and most importantly, it was proving too problematic to map Jeff's mouth to Vince's face.
This was partly due to Jeff moving his head around to much and also the face I'm fast running out of time to be fannying about.
We tried re-filming Jeff's lines but again it seems that mapping the mouth up is going to be a long job and so it was with great upset that I opted for a more simplistic option of using Vince's normal open happy mouth.
This mouth doesn't move but most people I've shown this piece to have said they don't really focus on Vince and are more focused on the images he is pointing to.
What they mean by this is that whilst Vince is speaking I have included images to help explain and visually accent what he is saying, for example a map of Australia when Vince explains that Movember (the original challenge before Decembeard where moustaches are grown instead of beards) was created in Melbourne.
This animation is very simplistic compared to my original ideas but that's just the way things go sometimes, you have to make compromises and prioritise so perhaps in the future Vince will be able to talk properly. If anything, this way his mouth does match all the photos of him so I guess in that way the lack of moving mouth ties his image together well.

I also forgot to mention that this mouth to face idea was furthered the other day when I saw a kids programme on Cbeebies called "Dirtgirlworld". The animation used in this cartoon is very surreal and quite unnerving for a kids show but still the effect is brilliant as it saves out on days of lip syncing.
Sadly though I'm going to have to use this reference later on as for now it's not possible to complete effectively like they do on this show.
Here's some links to who makes it first:

http://www.hackettfilms.com/

And what it actually looks like as well:

http://www.mememe.com.au/projects/dirtgirlworld


Never the less I've also finished some more narrations and got the history images together too. It's taken a couple of all nighters this week and last but I finally finished the History research and am now ready to animate.

With the history I am going to be making images which highlight certain points of the narration (e.g. Cows wore metal false beards in Ancient Egypt and so a cow wearing one will pop up from the book) and animating by hand from an actual book. This has resulted in lots of photos being printed out and cut out ready to be animated later on. These photos are all hand drawn by me but I have traced over certain parts (e.g. the photos of famous people like Freud and Einstein) to save time. This was absolutely nakkering trying to get these all done and then colour them in Photoshop and print them out then cut them out but I've done it. My housemates were a big help cutting some out for me as well but still I need to get a move on.
In this blog I've included photos of all these cut out history pictures as well as some stills from Vince's animation.

Next time I blog I should (fingers crossed) have finished the History animation and be finally thinking about putting all this together! Again, fingers crossed because the clocks ticking.

Here in this post I've included photos of all the History photos cut out, photos of the original pencil drawings as well for comparison and also some of the photos from the Vince Animation as well. Oh and finally there are a couple of stills from the Vince Animation.

Take care,
Joe.