Brand J! from the beginning

Nine months ago I shared an email address with my partner. That is it. That was all the online involvement I personally had. Don't get me wrong I would use the internet regularly to check out my favourite sites that I have mentioned in previous posts, and I love all technology, but as far as publishing and adding to the internet, I never did anything.

I have already stated that I wasn't interested in things like facebook or twitter, as any friend that I wanted to talk to, I would simply meet up with. I also think that I felt I had nothing to offer, there were people out there doing things bigger and better than I ever could, so why bother. Well I was naive and this year on this course has helped me see the light.

The reason for this tale was to highlight the point that only six months ago I got myself a facebook account and created a simple (rubbish) website, and that is how far I have traveled in these short months.

Below are some screen grabs from my first web site.

My TV Bumper V2.0

This is my second attempt at my final bumper. Not much is different from version one, just the opening few seconds.

Rather than having the normal sized front cover to the comic, with the white borders around the edges, this over-sized version keeps the audience within the scene, rather than following the white spaces, which in turn increases the suspension of disbelieve. This is only a small change bur one which hopefully adds to the piece significantly.

The final thoughts

Overall I would say the project was a success. I say this because we didn't fail anything we set out to do, and the idea worked. However if I could change two things, then I would say that I would have liked to have nailed down a final idea as a group slightly earlier than we did, and linked to that point I would have loved to have been able to have taken this project down to Union Street and test it on location. I think that if we had been able to do these things then we could have seen where our idea would have affected people in the way we hoped, then whether it did or it didn't we could have adapted the project further to suit the location and brief. However there is always a point where you have let go and say it is finished, and I believe we did that at the correct time when we had an idea then realised it effectively.

I have to say that I have learnt a lot in this first year through this module, and I also believe that as I keep saying it has helped me to think outside of the box and see that you don't need the world to achieve your goals. As a group I feel we worked well, but as with any group some people excelled were as some people preferred to follow. If I were to start the project over now, I believe that the core ideas would stay the same but I would be more ambitious perhaps, because I have a skill set where 6 months ago I had none in this area.

Below are just a few pics from the final test.

Testing project

We tested the projection using the same set up as we would on location, the only differences are that we are obviously not on location, and the light source has come from a strip light and not a traffic light. The project works in the way we planned, and outlined in the previous posts. These movies show our project working from start to finish, Ben is holding the light sensor to the light source, Luke is filming the action, and I am at the controls of the computer this is all running through. The first video below is the groups 'official' final film, which as previously mentioned was filmed and edited by Luke Mears, the second video is a video I took of the first test run. Both clearly show the light sensor triggering the mic sensor linked to the arduino board, which in turn triggers the animation of RSS feeds.

How I hacked the toy

Whilst I was changing the remote from a push button to a light sensor, I decided it would be better to document it on video, rather than writing a boring list of instructions. I feel this should be included as it was a large part of our project, and I worked hard on getting it working. It isn't the best quality video, and may not even be the best quality hack, but I found it both fun and interesting, I owe a great deal of thanks to our lectures for opening my eyes to a way of thinking that had never even occurred to me before. Anyway here is the video which I have posted on YouTube. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did making it. J!

The final, final, final project design

Due to some unknown blip in the space time continuum, I am entering this post now, as I believed I had already done so about a month ago. Anyway after the meeting we had as a group to establish what we were going to finally settle on, as a practical doable project idea, we all went away individually and came up with suggestions which we could bring to the table. My idea is stated in a previous post.

When we sat down as a group again certain elements, which had been present all the way through, were obviously set in stone and would not be altered. The main points were that our project was going to be projection based, it was to be based at the 'Old Theatre' location on Union Street, Plymouth, and finally it had to show the bright past of the building along with its modern tragic state. Therefore with that in mind, and everyone's ideas considered, the final project idea took shape.

Using the electronic sound machine, and modifying it so that it is activated through a light sensor, rather than a button press, the remote unit would be placed against the red traffic light nearest to the projection location. When the light turned red, it will activate the remote through the light sensor, and send a signal to the sound unit. This unit will be placed within a sealed unit (i.e. plastic Tupperware box), along with the microphone which is attached to an arduino board, to prevent or limit outside noise accidentally setting off the microphone sensor. When the microphone attached to the arduino board registers a sound, it sends a high reading (1) to the serial port. Along with the arduino, Processing will also be running, and when, and whilst, Processing registers this high reading (1) on the serial port, it will activate the projection.

The projection will consist of thought provoking, controversial, messages and text which will be made up partly by RSS feeds taken from thisisplymouth.co.uk, which show the very dodgy recent past of the building as the 'Dance Academy', it will also start and end with the famous red curtains of the theatre to represent it's great history as a theatre. The projection will last slightly longer than the light change so that people do not become bored before it ends, but also they stay long enough to miss the light change and provoke a reaction from what is happening and what they see.

Below are a couple of images which were produced by group member Luke Mears, the first is a visualisation of what it could look like at the location, and the other two are images of the unfinished RSS reader which he is working on.

Final bumper V1.0

Again just a short post and link to my final 30sec bumper about myself. It follows all the ideas laid out in the animatic, which can be found, with a description, earlier on my blog. I am very pleased with the outcome, especially as it was my first true use of AfterEffects, and was also completed ahead of schedule so that if anyone out there over the next few weeks does have any suggestions for improvements, I will be able to improve it.

Anyway I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it. It can be found on YouTube, or slightly better quality on my website. Cheers J!