Research and Development Update

The gap between posts on this blog is the consequence of two things; increased workload and the creation and submission of a research and development document.

The creation of the R&D document drew my focus from other creative processes, meaning the development of visuals for the advert animation have taken a backseat. Since the last post, there has been a number of new concepts and alterations to the proposed idea.

Most notably, the concept of creating an infographic has shifted to creating an advert. This advert will have the sole intention of convincing the audience that the product is actually real and commercially available, and will provoke the audience to visit the website for more information. As you may have guessed, there is now also a website that will be created. This website will inform any duped viewers that the product is in fact not real, and give some information into the concerns around technological and commerical advances into personal memory and privacy.

The project is still thematically identical, trying to raise awareness of the aforementioned social issue, however I intend to achieve this by developing an eerie sense of reality for the advert. If the audience can believe that such a product exists then they would be more inclined to purchase something in the same vein. One example of a convincing concept is Sarif Industries. A website advertising new tech from a company called Sarif Industries was released, convincing most famously The Sun Newspaper into believing the products they displayed (body augmentations etc.) were real. The company featured on the website was in fact a company from a video game series: Deus Ex: Machina.

sarifindustries.com

This website is incredibly technologically impressive, and not something I could replicate easily within the timeframe of the project. For this reason, I only intend to create design proposals and storyboards for how the website will work if it were to become a reality. Web design is something that I am relatively new too, and therefore this aspect of my project will push a new set of skills to develop for me. Stylistically, the website will replicate the style constructed in the animation, using modernist minimalism and effective minimal design. The font Quicksand will be used for most (if not all) text in both the animation and the website. Quicksand offers a number of options which can all be utilised to develop a sophisticated online space.

You can request the full R&D PDF by emailing alexwheeleralex@gmail.com.

Finalising Ideas

Now I've decided on the infographic style to portray a exaggerated future of technology, I've researched further into the topic, and found some points that I can reference and generate discussion on.

Following on from a discussion in Society, Aesthetics and Digital Media, I have formed opinions on how I believe the future of technology will affect society, and in particular the way lives and social interactions are archived. Technologies like Google Glass and SenseCam have brought the reality of augmented reality and 'life logging' closer to the present.

SenseCam, a Microsoft research prototype, is a device that captures images and video depending on the change in conditions that the user experiences. Prototype users have re-watched and re-lived key moments in their past by going back over the footage that their SenseCam's have recorded. Whilst some are concerned regarding the overstepping of privacy boundaries, the project is still in prototype phase with few users in the public sphere. Below is an overview video of SenseCam.

Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror had a whole episode based on the concept similar to SenseCam, where users of an augmented reality recording system could record everything their eyes could see and then replay them at will. In the episode the main character begins to wonder whether his girlfriend is having an affair, and begins meticulously re-watching scenarios in which she interacts with other men. Below is a link to a trailer (apologies for not embedding YouTube itself, it didn't want to play along).

http://youtu.be/CWN9WEU2NP8

The show is available on 4OD and Netflix.

Theorists suggest that these technologies could be used to create Big Data including the general movements of users, and things that stimulate and improve the lives of its users. This sort of information could be used to improve inefficiencies in society, for example solving route-planning issues as well as helping with crime reporting and prosecution processes.

Similar to social networks that generate revenue through fundamentally selling their users to advertisers with specific information about their users, the capitalist opportunity within these technological developments is great, allowing an insight into everything that consumers do, from the music they listen  to and the shows that they watch but also the people they interact with and places they visit.

One scene from Black Mirror shows the protagonist attempting to travel by plane, and one step of the security checks requires him to rewind the last week of his recordings to show to the security guard who scans the faces of those seen. This is a prime example of something that consumers may currently consider too intrusive, however it may be something that evolves alongside the uptake of such devices.

Whilst this technology may still be a little way off, it is something that seems to be becoming more and more realistic. Using this as the basis for my infomercial styled animation, I will script a description of how such devices might interact and intertwine with society, set against the backdrop of poverty in third  world countries. The tone will start as acerbic and humorous, but slowly slip into more impending and unsettling one as the future prediction steps closer towards the privacy-breaking and almost dictatorship-like devices.

Concept Evolution

As with all projects, the desired outcome for this piece has changed. Originally, as mentioned in my previous post here, I wanted to create an animation of people going about their business in a dictated manner, following instructions and societal norms.

After researching some similar animations and relevant artworks I have chosen to evolve my idea slightly, opting to write and record a speech to then animate visual cues for. The best example of this is an animation of Ken Robinson's Ted Talk on 'How Schools Kill Creativity', in which a visual representation of the speech is drawn as the talk goes along.

Whilst the hand holding the pen and drawn art style are not the particular style I intend to design, the visual references to the audio is something I wish to replicate. With this in mind I will begin writing a script discussing societal shifts towards technological dependancy.

Once this is written, I will time the script and storyboard an appropriately long animation (aiming for 90 seconds to 2 minutes, but this might be optimistic - time will tell). It is also my intention to work with a peer from Audio Production for this project to help me record the audio, and perhaps develop a short soundtrack to underlay the dialogue, which may help to enhance the overall quality of the piece.

With all scripting, storyboarding and other pre-production completed it will then be time to begin the animation process. Simple.

Project Proposal

Following on from the previous post regarding my initial idea, a proposal has been written and submitted for assessment. 

The initial ideas that were suggested in the previous post have evolved somewhat, and they will continuously throughout the development of the project. I am still interested in looking at the dystopic theme of technological dependancy and how that will develop as society develops. The proposal for the animation was as follows:

My animated short is based on the concept that 'By knowing everything, we know nothing'; an issue raised in workshops. The quotation suggests that in an age of online databases of knowledge there is a decrease in the number of people who have an area of expertise, and simply rely on the answer to a question being available online. Combined with the proliferation of smart phone technology, and looking forward to virtual and augmented reality technologies, the concept within the quotation seems set to get worse.

This is combined with a topic raised in another modules lectures (Society, Aesthetics and Digital Media), based on the similar idea of attention economy. This concept will inform the animation based on the idea that digital attention is a capitalist commodity.

The animation I intend to make will depict a dystopian future where this is the case, where people no longer retain knowledge and constantly refer to cloud-based databases with friendly interfaces (akin to Siri), whilst being marketed as data points for capitalist conglomerate corporations. The people in the futuristic animation would be seen going about their business in a slow laborious manner, following the instructions of the artificial intelligences that support them. The aim of the animation is highlight the risk of reliance on technology, and suggest there is a bright future with the inclusion of technology and innovation rather than reliance.

In terms of audience, I considered a suitable audience to be tech literate, as detailed in a further part of my proposal:

The intended audience is those with an interest in technology, and perhaps a cynical perception of society and the way it approaches technology. The current generation of liberally minded and technologically fluent teenagers and young adults are those most intertwined with digital media, and therefore those most likely to interact with this particular piece of media.

By highlighting the potential future through exaggerated circumstances I aim to incite debate and thought around how we approach technology, and the way it is involved in our everyday lives.  

As well as developing this concept I have also considered the skills-based benefit of what I intend to create, looking at the skills and techniques that I will garner from this project.  This was touched on in the proposal.

This project will enhance my Illustrator skills, developing my ability to create and draw art assets to be manipulated in After Effects (AE). I will also further my knowledge and understanding of AE through animating and creating in the program.

Utilising the visuals I will create in Illustrator to animate in After Effects will help me understand what aspects of digital creation are important, for example where to dissect images to be used in AE easily. 

Since the animation will be informed by a cartoon-like style, I will learn the best ways to animate in this fashion with a hands-on approach. 

Also in the proposal was an opening discussion on styles, artists and examples that will inspire my project, however I will touch on this on following posts. It also goes without saying that this idea is a very early one, and will more than likely not be exactly what the final piece resembles.

Semester B R&D Project Begins

For the last few weeks the group has been debating and sharing ideas on concepts starting with 'Drones' and The Southbank Centre. The two concepts inspired discussion in the way people thought of them, and these inspirations in turn generated more ideas.

Ideas were perpetually created and added to a cloud based document that everyone could contribute to, meaning the document was a recepticle for collective creativity. The document spanned different layers, meaning you can specify on one area of discussion and focus more intensely on relevant suggestions.

Screenshot of the group document

Throughout the discussion I proposed the phrase 'By knowing everything, we know nothing', in reference to the ideas that were explored in terms of collective database knowledge and online encyclopaedias. The phrase sparked a debate on whether the availability of information via the internet has limited the knowledge retention.

I remember watching films with my family and regularly hearing the question "what's he been in before?". When I was younger this would incite a conversation in which everyone tried to remember what previous show an actor had been in, however today with the dawn of smartphones, WiFi and online encyclopaedias the mystery is gone. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is now a regularly consulted website and app in the living room, swiftly answering the common questions. 

Although the previous example is slightly whimsical, it does highlight a shift in attitudes from memory to database. This is also apparent in the way people store and review photos. Since the advent and rapid growth of Facebook, in tandem with the digital photography boom, photos are no longer kept in physical albums, but online. With this societal change towards digital memory and knowledge there is the risk that the companies and organisations that hold our information for us may evolve into more ominous beings, threatening personal security and privacy. 

I want my work to evoke thought around the topic, and the risks of a dystopic future based in a digital space. 

Semester A Final Product

Apologies for the delay, but here's the final product.

Overall, I'm happy with the way the animation came out, and particularly with the masking of the branch.

Watch the video on YouTube for a better resolution.

Animated Logo Design

For this assessment an animated logo is required, and is also something that will help develop branding and identity across all of my design and animation work. The logo will form the basis for branding design on the portfolio article too.

The logo is the first thing that will be seen on the article and the video, and is therefore something that will set the tone and precedent of my work. I intend to use flat design, with relatively minimal style.

As you can see from the finished product above, the design is minimal and simplistic, with no intention of being over-complicated. This is to ensure a clear image to represent my work and not be too complex.

For this piece I used Adobe After Effects CC which allowed me to utilise animation and layer control. The animation aspect was relatively basic, however it achieved the style that I desired. Two slightly transparent blue circles collide, which is achieved by key-framing the position details of the circles, then a white layer flashes over the screen, revealing the text on top of the circles. The flash is achieved by key-framing the opacity of a white shape over the whole composition, from 0% to 100% and then back to 0% in quick succession.

The font used for the title is Trajan Pro, an all caps serif font. I'll also use this font for the article design, to continue the branding over multiple pieces of work.

The next post will be the last post for this project, containing the final video and the design development for the article.