Monday, February 23, 2009

demoscene intro on YouTube

Ahead of the next Adventures in Technology I have edited several extracts from a talk by rc55 last year about the demoscene. The examples he chose are all on YouTube so there is just a short sample from the copied versions. Edit of titles and descriptions maybe next week. This is a rough version, comment welcome.



















Wednesday, February 18, 2009

What's Your News?


Some photos now on Flickr from last Saturday. Robert Tygner explained how some of the technology works arround "What's Your News?". Lots of computing involved but all the people involved started with puppets as such. It has set me thinking that this could be a way to do local news reporting.

Too late for Dorkbot, Berlinale photos tomorrow

Not checking email yesterday so missed the news about Dorkbot in Bristol. However there is something Dorkbot happening quite often and I rarely get to Bristol just for an evening. The day of Adventures in Technology on Feb 28th is much more likely.

Tomorrow in Twinity Berlin there will be a show of photos from the Berlinale Film Festival. There are already a selection in the Sony Centre but the new display will be in the C/O Gallery. Requires Twinity of course. Not sure about the actual Sony Centre.

Monday, February 16, 2009

hard copy for questions

I have printed out an A4 sheet with questions for the week. "Imaginary friends" continues as a theme but even with friends it can help to clarify issues-

Press background for animX blog 16th Feb 2009

This is hard copy to clarify earlier email. Response could be a text
comment, or a video interview.

Currently animX is mostly a text blog with video links.
There are some short video tests.

This week the blog will follow the imagined lounge and the DVDs about imagined friends, as the DVDs are distributed the lounge could be
extended.

Stills exist from the Picture House, Life Bytes and Spacex so composites for the imagined lounge are possible. Feedback welcome on permissions and/or suggestions. There have not been any objections to the blog or Flickr or YouTube so far but other versions would be interesting and contribute to the idea of the lounge.

Either as email response, conversation or video the questions are still much the same. So far I think the digital aspect of Animated Exeter has been under represented. The website could be improved with Flash and connect with a lot of online stuff also in Flash. So far as I know Exeter City Council do not support Flash on the computers in council offices.
So YouTube is not possible for example. There has been an investment in Exeter buildings. There could be a blended approach with more
attention for an online presence.

So question number one

When will Exeter City Council look at Flash and YouTube?

One benefit if YouTube was supported would be better awareness of the demoscene and connections with other computer animation. There is the Sundown demoparty at Budleigh Salterton but so far not much
connection with Animated Exeter. Some of the content from A New Canvas is now on YouTube, for example Arabesque by John Whitney. How can this be promoted? The term a “new canvas” is not widely understood. There are Wikipedia pages on “Expanded Cinema” and also on “Visual Music”. From recent conversations it seems the music aspect is most likely to be widely interesting.

Question number two

What tags or words to use to describe computer animation, and generate links starting with John Whitney as an example?

Hunky Mouse in Barcelona

My friend the Hunky Mouse has started the gossip posts from the phone conference in Barcelona. apparently there are not so many people there as usual. So the economic background could be a major issue. This won't stop other news about mobile devices for video.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Trailer for Varmints

wrong weekend for the closing party

There may be less experiment this coming week as I need to recover from mistakes. I got confused about the closing party for example. It was this Saturday, not next Saturday. BennyBen has already loaded the photos. Animated Exeter continues all next week. So the aim of persuading BennyBen to include some virtual worlds into the mix is a bit off the agenda till next time. Unless the timescale is extended round the year. Wifi instant communication is all very well but something stoered from earlier is often more reliable. All it needs is something as data for the event. So next week I will continue some email around next weekend being not too incoherent.

Suggest meeting in Prados Azules as they have a dance environment already established. The Spirit Hall is still in Twinity Berlin and there is dance sometimes.

Music seems a useful direction for the New Canvas thread. "Visual Music" covers a lot, including the Noise Box in the Phoenix, still there for another couple of hours.
More Flickr

Saturday, February 14, 2009

PDF flier ahead of comics tomorrow

I have done a flier to seek links to Spirit the the movie and space in Twinity Berlin.

animxflier09

You should be able to download if you would like to print out some more.

Over the weekend I will be either at Life Bytes as now, or near the Phoenix or somewhere in between.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

For Publication

This post will be copied to local media. During Animated Exeter is a good time to make some links. Topics are in the rest of the blog so far.

Following an interview with Lee Morgan during Two Short Nights it was discovered that actually the Express and Echo do make it possible to link to their video and also have made a start on YouTube. Also the Western Morning News have a blogger page where they link to local bloggers.

So although I think there are still some issues around how print journalism adjusts to the Web, this is a good time to explore current realities. Youtube is a place to start.

Meanwhile as far as I know Exeter City Council still do not support Flash so may not be fully aware of YouTube as an animation resource. Apparently there is a budget constraint so that Animated Exeter or the Summer Festival may have to alternate or cease. The Web is a fairly cheap way to prolong the presence of an event. You could just have an intense online occasion one year or late in the year, combined with Sundown for example. There are many possibilities but I think the Flash issue is a bit of a block in getting to where the web is at for this moment in time.

Maybe the Express and Echo has a view on this.

The Western Morning News has a blogstop page but as memory serves it has not changed much since the launch. The video about creatives as imagined by the RDA is still the top feature. Good to see the RDA involvement. They obviously have access to Flash content. So Exeter as somewhere in the region is another aspect of this.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

YouTube links - Captain Pugwash

Looking up Google for weblinks from the Phoenix galleries. It all seems very illustration based. More Flash online. More later but here is one to start with.

Twitter as Dreamworld

This story makes some sense of Twitter as a dreamworld.

I may try out Twitter a bit more and link up with my imaginary friends.

Third Wave movie tomorrow

On Phonic FM from Third Wave at the Phoenix there will be a program about film making 11th Feb afternoon. Make and edit within 90 minutes, film to be less than two minutes.

So I will be in Life Bytes and try to record video from Twinity Berlin. say the Sony Centre around 3 unless updated on this blog.

I need help about cameras in such situations...to be continued.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Faked photo - International Film Guide in Twinity Berlin



Not sure if this is ok for copyright. I have pasted in the IFG to celebrate the new website for the International Film Guide. This is an event so could be discussed in the Twinity Sony Centre. Books will continue but now coexist with online. Apparently all 45 books will be scanned during this year. More than you could carry around with you.

If there are objections I can go back to just words, but if not expect more cut and paste.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Tag options for New Canvas

Trying out words to find / promote New Canvas type material online. Started a sort of word cloud that others can edit. Let me know if you want an invite.



Visual Music is a term used by the Center for Visual Music. They will be in London for a meeting about Expanded Cinema.

So these words might help. Also orf interest are dimensions such as pop/minority , high culture/low culture , entertainment/culture, etc. In other words why has this sort of work got to be from twenty years ago before it is shown as art? And why is film important for digital content?



Expanded

Friday, February 06, 2009

Animated Exeter on YouTube

So far as I know Exeter City Council has no support for Flash, either on their own website or in the offices. They may be right about this. Text is easy on low bandwidth. However the Web aspects of animation are easier to point out if YouTube is an option.

Fortunately South West Screen do have a YouTube policy and have posted an interview with Susannah Shaw.



Meanwhile Twinity Berlin have announced that there will be links to the Berlin Film Festival starting soon. I was in the Sony Centre the other day but not much happening. Flickr record.

Actually I was at Life Bytes. Twinity will not load at home and I manage to crash the system at Life Bytes when trying out video. Maybe there is enough bandwidth in Bristol to record more readily. The web aspects of animation are probably best thought about without a specific place in mind.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Spirit in Twinity tests

I have tried to edit clips from Twinity together. There is a launch of Spirit as a movie currently. Video is saved a Ogg Vorbis, then converted to AVI, but not AVI as known to Adobe Premiere. Unsupported audio or something. Could someone please explain this? Also what to do about a camera that works a bit better. suggestion so far is to get a better mouse. AVI loads into YouTube ok but can't edit together.

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five

Friends imagined, new video and photos

I have done a lighting test ahead of the Imaginary Lounge, screen for Imaginary Friends short animations coming up soon.

Outside should work ok for lighting but there is still snow.




Stills





The Hunky Mouse is part of Newswireless. I carry the hard copy image in case he is anywhere nearby. He offered to buy readers a drink once after a show at Olympia but it turned out he had forgotten the name of the pub. He may turn up one day though and I find the idea that a journalist somewhere understand things is inspiring.