edsonweb.co.uk

Hey, this is just a brief message to say check out my new photography stuff @ tomedson.deviantart.com - and please leave comments and constructive critique!

I'm also working on a flash based Photography website which I'll post the link up here when I'm happy with it!

I also desperately need to post up all my identities work and my second life review - aghh been so busy.

Finally I've done my best to watch more films that safe to your retinas over the festive period so film reviews will also be on the way, just gonna get through the rest of the stack until i decided what to waffle about on here!

Merry Christmas!

As youtube or blogger won't allow flash content to be uploaded i cannot post my finished product here, however you'll get it here on deviantart.com... http://tomedson.deviantart.com/art/Skate-or-Die-105811255

Below is a rough draw out of my idea for the interactive narrative project:

My next project in the 'Narratives' set of work is to create an interactive narrative using Flash! Which means thinking of a scenario/plot. Creating all the potential images (time for some serious Photoshop action), and oh yeah...learning Flash! I am actually quite looking forward to this project as it should prepare me for some greater challenges outside of my University work. After the initial seminar and having a quick play around it is evident that Flash is very powerful. Although not quite the friendliest of programs, sort of like a third world dictator...without a moustache.

After viewing previous examples of work I've come to the following conclusions:
I want to use computer generated/edited images, not photos (just seems to fit better)
Having an in-depth plot seems more important than flashy (no pun intended) moving things
Quantity over 'some' quality (as regards to the images) might actually improve the quality of narrative

The plans will be up soon!

I have never been able to get my original one-shot film to turn out exactly how i wanted it to despite the amount of variations I produced. I decided to try and film, star in, and basicaly do everything for a one-shot film.

The result:

When shooting our one shot film the location decision became obvious. We decided to start our shooting at the Co-Op site in Wollaton. The decision was made as it was the location with the most positive aspects and which everyone could locate in order to do the shooting. Whilst on location we tried a number of different ideas, all linked to the different storyboard ideas with a number of different narratives methods and improvisation at times.

After a while it became obvious that the footage was 'OK' however could be better. One member of the team did not show up to the location and as a result the remaining members could all be transported in a single car. As a result we decided to go and try out shooting at the Cossal location.

Most filming's taken on the day went fairly successfully however the move to another location was wise as the best shoot was taken in Cossal.

My edit of the final film is shown below:



As you can see from the embedded YouTube video there are still a number of issues surrounding of the edit - despite being edited fully in a PAL format the size of the video is still incorrect.

All comments welcome, and if anyone knows why this has happened please let me know.

In todays world of photography it is easier than ever to alter an image in order to provide it with a different sence of meaning. In order to show the meaning of colour within an image I have taken two photos and partialy changed the colours in areas of the image. The image on the left is the original and the image on the right is the edited version.


As you can see from the above images i decided to alter both photos with much warmer colours - both red as a base colour, the top image with a distict tint, the second with almost a pure hue, although it was implemented with some about of shading.

The effects applied to both images change the feeling of the image somewhat. The first image is given a very warm, almost comforting glow by the alteration. Whereas the alteration to the second image has given the photograph a much deeper and sinister look. Two very contrasting impressions whilst using the same colour to edit an image.

Love More, the oil painting by Rebecca Partridge, is a very interesting piece of art work with a soul focus on colour, lights and all blends of the two.
The image as a whole is very aesthetic to the human eye. I believe this is down to a number of reasons including the idea of simultaneous growth and graduation. The ‘Nature of Colour’ is made up of four key variations of colour; Hue, Tint, Tone and Shade. However this image uses only half of them, Hue (pure colour) and Tint (colour and white) in order to provide an artistic spectrum of the two.

The centre of the image starts with small cylindrical shapes with a very pure hue of colour to each one – the image seems to expand toward the edges of the page.

As the cylinders get further out they get larger in size and gain greater tint respectively until the edge of the page where the shapes are so large they can hardly be made out.

Also, at the far edges of the image the colour is to the very far end of the tint spectrum and as such it is almost impossible to see what colour or hue the shapes were.

In preperation for the shooting of our one-shot film my group met up, to discuss potential ideas and story themes. After arguing our way through literally some ideas we decided the most plausable for good results would be those we would all be able to edit in our own unique way.

The three final idea's are shown below in the form of storyboards.

The first idea we had was to set the camera up in a building with a fairly open staircase. We intended to place the camera as high up as possible to provide a 'CCTV' type effect.


The second idea is based around the idea of a meeting in a illegal or suspicious sence, the actions are portraid of some sort of 'deal' taking place however no narrative is ever specifies this. The story board for this shown below:


The final idea is that of a meeting in a unwilling sence, a meeting between two strangers in which one is mislead in order to be open to an attack.

As with any film location is a prime choice and being from Nottingham I took it upon myself to be the location scout for our one-shot film project. Below we're the most likely shooting options:
Sainsbury's, Beeston, Notts:

Pro's: Large Space, many different camrea points, all storyboards could work here
Con's: Strict security, difficult to get to for all members


Cossal Lay-bye Car Park, Cossal, Nottinghamshire


Pro's: Secluded Place, no security issues
Con's: Hard to locate, only work for 2 of 3 storyboard ideas


Tesco, Ilkeston, Derbyshire:

Pro's: Massive space, would work for all storyboard ideas
Con's: Tight security, very busy at all times, hard to locate for team


Ilkeston Retail Park, Ilkeston, Derbyshire

Pro's: Large Space, little security
Con's: Possibly too busy, also hard to locate


Hemlock Stone Pub, Wollaton, Nottingham



Pro's: Easy to locate, would work with all storyboard themes
Con's: Very small area to work with, potential security issues


Co-Op Wollaton, Wollaton, Nottingham

Pro's: Easy to access, large area, would work with all storyboard themes
Con's: Small security risk


Bramcote Park, Bramcote, Nottingham

Pro's: Varied Landscape, 2/3 storyboard themes could apply, large space
Con's: Hard to locate

CRAP Questions

1. I have recently completed the visual design of a professional website, after working on the site for about 6 months no-one was ever completely satisfied with the look of the site until the number of colours and text types used were limited and unified across most pages. This seemed to be a very effective way to make a much higher quality piece of design. Are there many other ways of using repetition that can drastically improve the quality of design?

2. Alignment - during the slideshow presentation it makes a point of saying that good design should be aligned, it also makes a point of showing that left or right alignment is good, but for an item to be centralised is not good design. I understand the theory but surely on occasion having text centred as opposed to being justified to one side of the screen can have a better impact on an image and the message it portrays?

The rule of thirds is a theory which can be subject to any image. The theory states that that if a key element of an image lays upon one of the vertical or horizontal lines it increases the aesthetic properties of the image.

Below is a 5 second film showing how the 'Rule of Thirds' works with one of the worlds most recognisable painting, Edvard Munch's - The Scream.



As you can see from the short clip, and this image;


The main focus of this painting (the 'Scream' figure), is located almost perfectly on the lower horizontal lines, the figure also comes very close to both vertical lines. Due to the physical scale of the image (much higher than it is wide) means that the focus point is close to many lines. I believe that this may add more aesthetic properties to the image. This could also give partial explanation to the fame of this piece.

In theory, any aesthetically pleasing image should use this rule in one way or another. This technique, and others, including the 'Golden Rule' which has a similar theory but uses different methods to view any of the focus points has been used in images that can be traced back over hundreds of years. Many people believe that abiding by these rules is the only way to conceive an aesthetically pleasing image be it painting, photograph, video shot or illustration.

When purchasing a product there are certain things we take into account, possibly subliminally, sometimes very well acknowledging the fact. However, it is more than likely that we will purchase a more expensive version of a product for little gain except its physical appearance.

A prime example of this is with iPods and specifically the iPod Touch (shown below).

The iPod touch was considered a revolutionary MP3/MP4 player when it came out In September 2007. It was also considered to be the best on the market.

I purchased an iPod touch in the first few months of 2008. When searching for an MP3 player I initially went out looking for an item under the £100 mark. Whilst searching for an MP3 player there’s two options. Either, the cheap end plays MP3’s, or, there’s the brand name models which come with a few more features ie contacts, calendar etc. As you may be able to guess, the iPod touch costs a ‘touch’ (no pun intended) more than £100. In fact it is twice the price, £199.99.

So why did I pay twice the price I was originally willing to? Was it because it came with a calendar? Or was it because there were games available? Personally I don’t think it had anything to do with any of that. After all don’t we already have items that tell us where to be and when, and don’t we have over-priced Sega’s to play games on? So why is it that we pay more? I believe it is the design and media glorification of a product that sways our decision.

I believe that the design of a product and how it is portrayed in the media work hand in hand to convince us to buy a product at twice the price of its rivals. The reason for this its obvious – well sort of. I believe that the reason we buy these products is because we’re made to feel that they will make a much bigger difference to out life style than the non-branded Japanese import. We’re never really told how they will improve our quality of life, but it seems we are willing to believe it anyway. The other reason is entirely due to the design of the product. I think that it’s our subconscious idea of wanting the best. As with anything, if its aesthetically pleasing it is considered in our minds ‘better’ than a product with identical functions.

Below is my final Pixelation Sequence. Out of all the animations that I have trialed through this project I have decided that this is the most advanced for a number of reasons. The main reason i have chosen this one as my final piece is that it seems to flow much smoother than any other of the animations i have done previously. I also belive this is more impressive as different filters and effects were required for different parts of the sequence. Finally I would like to say that i'm really happy with it. Let me know what you think!

Tom.

Below is my final edit of the pixelation sequence attempted within our groups.

The mobile phone; a modern day necessity and on many occasions a burden to its users. For the last 10 years mobile phones have become commonplace in our society. We’ve always hoped to achieve the very most out of them, and usually ended up disappointed. However, the next generation is creeping up. There are already several models on the market and many will be released in the next few months. A glance at these specifications suggests that they may finally have caught up with our expectations.

The first mobile to seriously ‘wow’ its audience was the Apple iPhone, which has now evolved into the iPhone 3G. 3G Technology is basically a mobile form of high-speed Internet. As with the iPhone and its soon-to-be competitors, a mobile phone is no longer really a phone, it’s a hand-held media device designed to organise and co-ordinate every aspect of our social and personal lives. All this power in a product that fits in the palm of your hand must bring some changes to our life? Surely?

A recent study has taken place to show that modern technologies – notably the Internet and mobile phones, were initially viewed with a good deal of scepticism when reviewed in the media. Look at any technology magazine or website from the last 10 years and without doubt you’ll find a letter of complaint or article written with a negative slant. Many of the articles stated that these newly developed technologies and the production of social networking websites and virtual worlds were dumbing us down. There were reports of teenagers forming their life around the Internet as opposed to the real world and as a result this generation was becoming incapable of interacting with other people. However, the study's findings have revealed that far from developing a generation incapable of communication, this technology has facilitated communication and that thanks to the ease of internet access, family relations are on a modern day up!

The report which was documented by the BBC states that the correlation of mobile phones and the Internet are helping family members maintain stronger social ties. It can only be presumed that the more advanced this technology becomes, the stronger its capabilities will be at keeping people in touch. Speaking from personal experience, maintaining contact with loved ones in Australia over a decade ago depended on erratic air mail correspondence or a very expensive phone call. Communicating across the globe can now be achieved by a very inexpensive message posted via Facebook, MySpace etc, which thanks to these new mobile technologies, can be done from anywhere!

I believe that as these products become even more refined we will keep in touch with more people than ever before. I believe that these products will change society in a way that will increase our ability and willingness to stay in contact with those we may not see on a regular basis and will give a new dimension on ways to communicate with those that we do.

In conclusion I think the next generation of smart-phones and highly complex web compatible mobile phones will change society more for our own good than bad. However, I don't believe that this change will be recognised as significant and will be taken for granted much like every other piece of technology. That is unless it is perceived as having an adverse affect and then we’ll no doubt here about it!

OK, so i keep putting together strange little clay men. Which come out "OK" but I've never been that happy with so I decided I should try and do something with some sort of story/theme. I decided to do a minature evolution themed animation. The results are below:

Quick Animation Update!

Below are videos from my latest (and best) clay animation video and pixelation animation.

The clay animation:

Out of the two clay animation video's I have produced so far this is my favourite. However, I still feel that attempting to create a clay animation video of a high enough quality may require more experience.

The pixelation animation:

This video has come out better than I initialy expected. I am pleased with the current effects that have been added using the 'Batch Processing' tool in Adobe Photoshop. I am also looking foward to trying out other effects and styles.

This weeks seminar was based around the practise of pixelation. Pixelation is the production of video footage from a series of still images (as in stop motion) however whereby people are involved.

A series of images were produced in groups of 4 and we will individualy process those images individualy. My group decided to do our filming in a local Nottingham pub - can't imagine why =) Unfortunatly those images won't be worked on until next week.

However as a continue to my animation/pixelation work I am working on producing two other small clips:

The first uses clay models as my 'puppets'. The raw image sequence for this below, as you can see sound and visual effects are still to be added, some timing issues also need to be resolved:


The second sequence i'm working on is involving the use of toy cars. The raw image sequence for this below, as you can see sound and visual effects are still to be added, further images may also be added:

As a follow on to 'Pin-Hole Camera-ing' during freshers week we were also tought methods used to create stop motion animation. This was achieved using a stills camera (standard digital camera), a tripod, a whiteboard and a couple of marker pens.

We were split into groups of 4 and told to think of interesting ways to transfer a box from one side of a house, to the other side.

The results of this are shown below (my groups animation is from 1.06 to 1.15)

Creating a Pin-Hole Camera was one of the activities done on welcome week! The idea is to make a very basic camera using simple materials and creating a good picture from it.

The Pin-Hole Camera was created using:
- A Can
- A Circle of Cardboard
- A Strip of Cardboard
- A Lot of Gaffa Tape
- A Piece of Electrical Tape
- A Hole
- A Piece of Photo-Sensitive Paper

Then its as simple as point, 'shoot' (the shooting part being removing the 'shutter', being electrial tape' leave for as many seconds as required), and finally replace the tape so no more light can enter into the camera (can with a hole in it).

Finally to produce the picture the photo-sensitive paper is put through the standard photo-development process:
- Developer
- Stop
- Fix
- Wash down with water

We now have the negative which you can see below:














The negative is scanned into a computer and inverted to give the genuine image, the final result shown below:

My first week at NTU has already been an exciting and enjoyable experience. The first day was a combined mixture of, talks about NTU, talks from world class athletes, talks from our tutors, and running around Nottingham looking like a member of the SAS jumping over poles avoiding push-ups from the ‘Fresher Reps’. All this was before we’d had much to drink.

My first practical session in Multimedia involved creating the images for a ‘still image sequence’ initially when I came here animation was not one of the subject I felt most interested in, however, after just one session I already want to learn a lot more, and that leads us to today, right here, right now, writing my blog – best bit is, its not even over yet!

What do I want out of Multimedia at NTU?

I want a number of things including, a better perception of industry tools and techniques. A good understanding of all covered topics, most important being: animation, audio engineering and especially website design.

The most important thing I feel I can gain from this course, with the exception of a great qualification, is a precise idea of what I want to do when I leave - it'd be nice to think i'll have a good time achieving all of the above.

Tom