BAF

The Bradford Animation Festival was a rather interesting experience despite being slightly irrelevant. Why? Because pretty much all of it was focused around the gaming industry, an industry that right now doesn't appeal to me. Paradoxically though, as a result of the Animation festival, I addressed my then nebulas thoughts on what games could be and I rethought my whole stance on the gaming industry and thus came up with a hypothetical reason as to why the gaming industry could appeal to me one day! Now seeing as these new thoughts are fully discussed in an earlier post entitled "I'm not a gamer anymore but I've only now realised now how genius they are" I won't digress. I will however go further into what prompted this epiphany and in doing so discuss what really stuck out for me at BAF.

The day kicked off with Amanita Design talking about Machinarium their latest creation. This point and click adventure had already picked up an award for best visual art at this years independent game festival. Upon hearing this my ears were already pricked! The game involves the guiding of a rather cute robot through a fantasy world of scrap metal mountains and weirdly quaint industrial landscapes. The game is in effect a rather endearing interactive cartoon. What really caught my attention though was the soundtrack. It was composed by the Czech musician Floex, who used a variety of different sounds and effects to create a highly atmospheric patchwork of sounds. The attention to detail with the soundtrack and the careful artistic approach taken with the design made me again consider my thoughts on what games could be; a work of enlightening and uplifting art rather than another mindless addiction.

The other speaker that really stood out in my book was Ian Livingstone O.B.E. As the the co founder of Dungeons and Dragons, Games Workshop and key member of Eidos interactive (responsible for the landmark game, Tomb Raider) it is certainly safe to say that this man was probably one of the most experienced members of the gaming industry around. He communicated two very valid points to me. Firstly he catalyzed my undecided thoughts on how computer games could appeal people other than nerdy teens and antisocial adults. Simply by listening to such an interesting and educated speaker who was obviously very into his games one began to realize that all sorts of people could be gamers. Then when he came out with facts such as 25% of gamers are in fact girls and theories declaring that computer games were the only entertainment medium that almost by definition got more entertaining due to technology I again realized how games could easily be so much more than what they are now and more importantly so much more creative and artistic.

Filming of Gigs

I was doing my usual browsing of You Tube for a song to listen to wile I worked. I settled on this video of one of my top bands, Placebo playing at the 2006 Reading festival.

This video got me thinking of what goes into the decision making process when filming large gigs. Do they have a generic way of filming large stages or are the shots and cuts carefully decided upon for each different band or even different song?

One would first of all jump to the conclusion that they would of course select each shot with the upmost diligence however it is also not implausible to consider the fact that the people behind the lens know that the fans watching the footage are going to be so enthralled by their favorite bands, that any sort of slow moving picturesque image that shows a rockstar strutting their funky stuff is going to get their juices going.

I think the only way to answer this question is to compare the above act with the Prodigy's performance at this year's Glastonbury.

The footage of Placebo has two obvious differences to that of the Prodigy. Firstly the Placebo video's cuts are far less frequent. As we know, frequent cutting creates a far more energized feel to the footage and seeing as one can't really get much more energized than a live Prodigy gig the second video is cutting left right and centre!

Secondly the camera is far more static in the Placebo video. At least a fifth of the shots in this video are completely static and the remainder of the shots involve very little movement at all. The Prodigy video is of course a completely different kettle of fish as aside from the start, the "calm before the storm" so speak, the camera is constantly moving. It pans left and right and zooms in and out. I suppose it's doing a rather good job of mimicking the head movements of the crowd! I should know, I was there!

PUNK

This image for me is a perfect example of what the Punk movement seems to be about. Yes, I choose my words carefully and say "seems" as I believe that the Punk movement is slightly confused in it's ideology and thus makes it's message slightly unclear to me. It advocates principles of "Anarchy" however anyone who knows anything about political philosophy will tell you that real Anarchism is absolutely nowhere near anything that was ever practiced by any spiky haired, Sex Pistol loving, establishment hating nutter! Anyway, I digress as I usually do!

This image is the cover for one of their well known singles "God Save the Queen". The title is in fact advocating nothing of the sort and is of course ranting about the Queen's unfair position in the world and her "fascist regime". The sentiments behind this song are of course typical of the punk ideology; anti-authoritarianism, free thought, discontent and rebellion. These ideological principles are translated into the musical sense through the making of Punk Rock.

I believe that Punk Rock was a necessary evil. Punk rock came around during the early 70's as a reaction to the then seen to be pretentious and pointless progressive rock that was being made during the 60's. Punk rock was about overturning musical conventions by doing away with real musical talent and focusing more on the "look" and "attitude" that came with the music. I for one hate Punk Rock as most of it not only doesn't appeal to my ears but more importantly is just plain amoral as it flies in the face of what music is all about; pleasing one's eardrums by stimulating one's emotions through sound. It tries to somehow pretend to be music by appealing to the listeners' desire to fit into some kind of trendy counter culture! If people want to join gangs and wear odd clothes that's fine, just please let their ears not be tainted with music that isn't anything to do with music.

Still I stand by my initial statement that Punk was necessary as I believe that it thankfully gave way to a whole new world of musical creativity as it allowed people who didn't necessarily have any musical talent to consider making it. Yes this may have lead to even more utter rubbish being recorded but that can still be put aside when one considers the bigger picture involving the music that could only have been created by the so called "non musician musicians" out there.

Symmetry

Here's a little scene from one of my favorite films, Spun.

Here the director utilizes symmetry juxtaposed with asymmetry to heighten the sense of chaos that infuses when the troublesome Latin character is stuck by Mickey Rourke's character as well as the calming down once he has finished.

Leading up to the moment when he strikes the shopper, there are cuts between multiple shots involving symmetry. Shots such as the view of the pair of shop workers from both the front and behind, the shot of the aisle overview, the interior of the fridge and the mid shot of Mickey Rourke's character walking down the aisle.

Then during the striking of the troublesome Latin character there cease to be as many shots of this nature. The cuts are now more frequent and the shots more asymmetrical. The shots are also cropped in a number of instances.

However after the chaos has passed and Mickey Rourke's character has finished his work, the frequency of cutting decreases and the shots go back to being more symmetrical.

Nice Editing

I'd always heard how a film editor was in effect a second director.

This clever little video works through a series of very clever and precise cuts as well as the expert timing of the dancer's movements to the rhythm.

The precise yet straight forward nature I feel reflects the song's mood perfectly. I think this is exemplified most clearly after about 30 seconds when there is a sudden change in the song and this is complimented by an equally obvious yet equally precise cut in the footage before both the footage and the song return to their original path.

My Archetypal Character

Name: Quentin 'n Quake

A two headed, double personalitied schizophrenic who bounces ideas of both his personalities to formulate the best resolution. This actually ends up being quite effective.

His many colours are representative of his multiple thoughts and emotions. Still, despite this he ends up being remarkably balanced.

His moustaches and little beards are always kept in good nick!

Quentin 'n Quake was born from the violent chemical reaction that took place the first and only time that somebody mixed tea and coffee in the safe mug. It is not certain where Qentin 'n Quake's roots lie however we do know that he has spent his life wandering all over the earth absorbing but never intentionally seeking out wisdom wherever he can and he has also spent a great deal of time (and still does for that matter) in calm secluded parts of the world such as greenland and various unknown pacific islands. He does this to compute the multitude of information that both his

personalities absorb.

Habits include sudden streams of consciousness out loud, sneezing and drastic changes in the volume of his voice. At least one head will always be talking and the total decibel level of both of Quentin 'n Quake's heads will always be evened out by the other i.e Quentin 'n Quake is always talking at the same volume level; if one head is silent then the other will be at its loudest.

Quentin 'n Quake doesn't really have a specific goal. This is because he is quietly content in his constant unintentional quest for knowledge and insight. His only weakness is his occasional tendency to succumb to the other comparatively ignorant people on this planet who ask him for his view or knowledge on a certain topic who then go on to use this knowledge for unproductive or evil results.

Quentin 'n Quake is a still a complicated character who's likes and dislikes are ever changing and contradictory. This results in ultimately an overall neutral take on pretty much everything he comes across. This is convenient in that it ultimately gives him room for his constant unintentional pursuit for knowledge and wisdom.

Examples of the Uncanny

The Uncanny

This extract examines the feeling of the uncanny through the writer Jentsch's telling of the story of "The Sand Man" in Horrmann's Nachtuchen. Jentsch declares that one of the most effective devices for creating feelings of the uncanny is to leave the reader unsure as to whether or not a figure in the story is human and do it in such a way that the reader doesn't want to clear up their doubts immediately.

The Story is about a villain, "The Sand Man", who tears out children's eyes and the story opens with the memories of a boy, Nathaniel who is still plagued by the mysterious death of his father. On certain evenings his mother would send him early to bed warning him that the Sand-Man was coming and then Nathaniel would hear the tread of a visitor with whom his father would be occupied.

One night Nathaniel is curious and decides to see for himself who the Sandman is and creeps into his father's study. He recognizes the visitor as the lawyer Coppelius who the children are afraid of. The laywer discovers Nathaniel and comes close to throwing hot coals into his eyes but Nathaniel's father prevents this. This little episode can either be interpreted as an allegorical delusion by the child or reality. A year later there is another visit from the lawyer and Nathaniel's father is killed in a big explosion. The Lawyer disappears without a trace.

Years pass and Nathaniel the horror from his childhood an optician, Giuseppe Coppola. Hey buys a pocket spy-glass from Coppola and uses it to look over at the house of Professor Spalanzani and spy his beautiful daughter, Olympia with whom he falls in love with and thus forgets the girl he's betrothed to. However the girl is an automation made my the professor. The professor picks up the eyes, throws them at the professor and all of a sudden Nathaniel's childhood memories are rekindled.

At last now Nathaniel seems to have recovered and he intends to marry his betrothed. They are walking in the city market and the couple decide to climb the tower of the town hall and leave the girl's brother below and upon finding Coppola's spy-glass Nathaniel falls into a new attack of madness. The tries to throw his betrothed into the gulf below but her brother saves her. However Nathaniel continuities to rush around on top of the tower. Amongst the crowd of people below is Coppelius and we are lead to suppose that it could've been him that Nathaniel spied through the glass. Nathaniel's madness continues and he throws himself off the tower.

A feeling of uncanny is created through uncertainty of the reality of the characters and uncertainty over their roles. For example this story begs the question as to whether or not Coppola the optician really is the lawer and also the Sandman.

We know that we are not looking upon the results of a madman's imagination yet this doesn't detract from the sense of uncanniness.

The penultimate paragraph baffles me a bit and it only really seems to talk of how bad it would be to loose one's eyes and compare that idea with castration.

The final paragrph I find equally confusing and arbitrary.

Bloody Pencil

I finally got round to finishing that stupid project with pencil.

Yes, I hate Pencil and Pencil hates me.

For one thing I can't draw to save my life. I also hate drawing even more than I hate queuing or checking my bank balance.

So here is my lovely Newton's cradle that yes, I'm not joking, took the best part of 3 hours.

I'm not a gamer anymore but I've only now realised now how genius they are.

I've had an epiphany!

Computer games are objectively (potentially) the highest art form on earth.

Yes that is a bold statement. It's a lot to say that that any art form is "higher" or "better" than another as yes it's all down to opinion but bare with me....

Computer games have the potential to encompass EVERY single art form known to man in one great big interactive bubble.

Think about it

Art (in the game's design), Music, Narrative and of corse the beautiful and complicated art of software writing!

Add that to the original point of computer games, gameplay, and you have one great big ball of entertainment! No wonder computer games are now the highest earning media industry!

Games such as Max Payne and the Metal Gear series exemplify perfectly how much a story-line can have such a critical role in a game. And for years games like Final Fantasy have been proof that games can be entertaining for their visual qualities alone.

I think what it really comes down to is the fact that because one is in effect creating another world and playing virtual god, pretty much anything ever conceived by a human being ever can be put into the context of a computer game!

Wow. Who would have thought it? The addictive pastime of nerdy spotty teens is in fact potentially more sophisticated than anything made my Bach or Stanly Kubric.

Yeah just imagine! A fantasy first person shooter with a soundtrack composed by Bach, Animation and Design by Kubric and a story by say, I dunno Tolkien!

My First Efforts in Maya

My Character Development and Design for my Brief

Quayola

I came across this moving image artist on you tube a few months back but didn't give him my full attention. I thought I'd give him another look.

In the above video I was completely perplexed and of course amazed at the extreme amount of complexity and precision that was evident in the making of this. I've actually been all over the net but haven't been able to find out what building this involves. I think it's St Peter's but I'm still not entirely sure as I was there about a year ago and it doesn't look 100% familiar. Anyway it's still a pleasure to watch. Also this is just as much a piece of music as it is moving image; I find that the sounds sit perfectly with the movement of the pieces. I'd actually be perfectly happy to hear the track on its own!

The below interview with the artist is regarding an exhibition he had dealing with natural scenes and how they could be manipulated with a clever new piece of software which is unavailable commercially. The interview speaks for itself really. It's also another nice example of the artists work and insight into how he thinks.

About Me Poster

After a few sessions using photoshop I finally tackled making a little poster about myself.

The select few images that I chose all connote specific areas of my personality.

The background is of my midi controller which I use as a multi functional tool for my electronic music. It's precise layout juxtaposed with the doodling connotes my combination of untidy and cut and paste attitude and precise attitude towards my work.

Stephen Hawking in the top left is representative of my respect of great intellect and (thanks to his famous best seller) my interest in life's important questions. This is also linked closely to another photo.

The picture of the Buddha. This has spiritual connotations and is a further representation of my interest in life's big questions and buddhist philosophy.

Both the toasted sandwich and the cup of tea are representative of my slightly more relaxed and casual attitude to life that just makes me want to sick back with a snack and a cup of tea.

Finally my pointy shoes with headphones are symbolic of my interest in the fashionable and edgy. Combined with my headphones they again refer to my interest in music and in this case, thanks to their combination with a pair of "fashionable" and "edgey" shoes they refer in particular to my love for edgy music.