Crit week 8 My presentation

Firstly here is the link to my progress report for crit week so you can have a look at what I showed;

http://prezi.com/uuwmlionw2ev/amy-warnock-progress/

Ok so Im not going to go into to much details as everything that I talked about in my presentation is basically in my blog but for grading purposes I will talk a little bit

I firstly started talking about what I have been seeing/reading the past four month. I talked about Les illuminations with the scottish ensemble and video artist Netia Jones doing live visuals during the concert. I have also been reading Digital Harmony- on the complimentary of music and visuals. Even though this book is over 30 years old and times have changed significantly its still good to look back on some basic concepts that are still used today. I have also been reading a lot of books on colour theory, reading about timing in animation, musical texture and aesthetic theories.

I then went on to explain what I was listening to as music is a big part of my project. After reading a lot on musical textures I have been listening to a lot of jazz, dubstep and after les illuminations, orchestral music and classical music. I have been particularly inspired by Totally enormous extinct dinosaurs- Garden while its amazing into.

Then I went on to what are currently my inspirations/points of interest just now. I talked about Wassily Kandinsky as he loved to paint tones and cords that he heard and he also loved the communication between the eye and ear. Leopold Survage was a new find and he is a french painter who did a series of painting called "symphonies in colour" these beautiful works of art encapsulise the music and are absolutely stunning. John cage and his "prepared piano" is also very interesting. He put lots of different things into the piano to alter the sound when played. After les illuminations I have also been looking into the artist Netia Jones as i was bitterly disappointed with her video art that night so I wanted to find more about her and why she is so popular; maybe its just down to a taste thing and I happen to not like her. William Moritz is also still in my interest as he is a film historian who specialized in visual music and experimental animation. So if I need to know something I am pretty sure he is the guy who knows it, shame he is no longer here! I have also been watching/ reading/ studying the beginning of Fantasia and Finally taking a strong interest in Maura McDonnell who is a key element to the visual music world currently.

So, the important part...What have I been actually doing? Well if you look at my presentation, it shows lots of snap shots of just SOME of the work I have been up to, I have been particuarly interested in the movement/textures in music as well as visuals so Ive been playing with texture/movement in visuals. For example, Oil and dye, Water and dye, Salt and the washing machine, Salt and the hoover, Nature, leaves, trees, lighting, vibrations, rice and dye, colour etc. I have also been in talk with a local musician who I will be making a music video for as part of my pre-production. I have also been looking into instillation art with the TV screens that my last year video was on in the "imagination will take you everywhere" exhibition. I am thinking about visualizing the textures of the music on the tvs so when the sound is small it will be on the small tv and when it gets louder it will go on the big tv so it looks like all the movements are moving around and is just one big video joined together when it will be 7. I have also been playing with transitional videos like the example I showed (love and theft).


If you wish to read anymore about what I have talked about on this post, please dont hesitate to have a look on my blog where there is a dedicated post to each area so you can learn more about what I am studying.


Once I had finished, the floor was open to questions/discussion;

David: " Does it matter about music being totally in sync with the visuals?

Me:  " Its not necessary but what I want to create is a totally submersive experience for the eye and ear so that the two (visuals and audio) harmonize so well that you forget that they actually to separate things. But this is what my post-production stage is about, playing with different types of submersion (less for example a music video).

Belinda: "I really like your practical work, its amazing it kind of reminds me of Johnny's work, have you     looked at what he has been doing recently?

Me: " No I haven't, I will defiantly take a look at his work, I actually had a little meeting with Johnny yesterday and he gave me some great advice on my project so I will go check it out!

Another lecture: " Did you know how they did the skies in Jurassic Park" They used a fish tank, half with salt water and half with normal water and the effects to made clouds in there where really cool, you should have a look into it...

Me: Wow, that sounds so cool, Sounds like a really cool media test to try out!

Lynn: There's a NEON night on tonight, and they are working with lights and visuals, you should go look at that...

Me: I did not know that, I will certainly be going along tonight to have a look.

Please have a look at my post in the next few days, I have so so much things planned this week so watch this space...

Crit week- 1st-3rd

Overall I was very impressed with the progression that my group has made. There has been significant progression and development in each of their work and I wish them the best of luck for the deadlines. Here is a break down of my group:

Whayne- He has made great improvement, especially with his 3d modelling class. He basically has it all modeled and ready to go. I said that he might need to work on the texturing a bit better as the face that he has put onto the space man's face was quite squint and distorted but thats just nit picking really. I was a little bit concerned with his Screenwriting for digital media as I felt the story lack in any sort of catalyst, good use of characters and a proper structure. But he has a good basis of an idea he just needs to work on it a little bit more. Typography is very easy as because of David Lyons teaching techniques they will most likely have all the typography coursework finished before teaching weeks are over.

Lewis-  Lewis has improved so much. I was so so impressed how well he has worked on his after effects skills. He had only a few media tests done in after effects but they were really great. I have high hopes for him and I'm sure he will get really good grades for his video based coursework. He has followed a lot of online tutorials which has enabled him to do some really cool stuff. But i was a bit concerned that although he is doing well, they are just going to look exactly like an example of the tutorials so hopefully he can put his own style into them. His team project is going well, they all seem to be getting along which is the most important thing of that module really. I was a little bit concerned that he doesn't seem to have that much to do as he is the "graphic designer" or something like that and there is already a character artist and an environment artist so he is a little bit stuck at what to do apart from the name/logo etc just now. But thats for them to sort it out really and for him to stand his ground to get more work or his grade might suffer for it.

Sophie- She has made good progress since week four, in particular her 3d illustration. In week four she had no idea what to do and now she knows what she wants to do and is well on her way to a good coursework submission. Typography, like Whayne is going very good thanks to David Lyons teaching techniques so I have no doubt that she will struggle as if she needed help, David asks everyone how they are doing each week and can ask him. 

All in all I was very impressed with the amount of progress and I wish them luck for the every luring deadlines!

Week 4 Pitch!

Well the first pitch is over and done with, I am quite pleased how it went and the feed back that I go but before I go into more detail, here is the link to my presentation for you to take a look:

http://prezi.com/pdlo2znmf9of/present/?auth_key=cpolopz&follow=8lhnjpqlcrgw#4

I wanted my presentation to be clear, precise but not boring to look at. I wanted to be clear on three key points, and I would expand on them in the presentation. The three key areas was "what" "why" and "how".

Firstly starting off with "What", in this area I talked about what I am wanting to do for my honours project, what inspired me and what I have been looking at for the past four weeks. I talked about my experimental video that was part of a module for third year. The video that I created last year was a visual representation of what you feel when you hear loud music. I then went on to explain that I want to expand on this idea and more specifically, visualising music. The key areas that I have been looking at currently were colour theory, the history of visual music and different types of techniques that current artists have been experimenting with. For example, animation, performance art, film, cymatics, electronic software, physics and music videos etc. The noticeable difference that I noticed in the different techniques was that they where split into two different categories, art that literally visualised music or art that  enhances and creativity expresses music.

 Then I went onto "Why" so why do I want to do this project. I explained that out of all three years is was the only module that I really really felt motivated, inspired and passionate about. I have so much more to experiment and explore within this domain. It will also give me a year to see if this is really where I want to take my life/career. I also explained that it will improve my editing skills as I have been working in only final cut pro so I need to learn and be confident in using after effects. This project will also help me build up my portfolio for jobs once I finish university.


Finally I went onto "How". This is where I went into talking about how I was going to go about doing my projects. As we are only 4 weeks in I have mostly been focusing on reading books, doing small experimental media tests and doing extensive research on my domain. I also am planning to start doing weekly video blogs, which sums up what I have learned/found out and my thoughts on my development so far. In these video blogs I plan to put into practise what I have learned during the week from after effects and incorporate this in my weekly blog. I also plan to do an extensive amount of media tests experimenting with different styles and techniques. I then showed some of the tests that I have already done.



The feedback I got was great. Belinda, David and Lyle. They all really liked my presentation and was very impressed with the way I presented my work. David seemed to ask most of the questions, he asked what area I was particularly interested in to which I explained that I was particularly interested in colour theory, the psychology behind colour and emotions and shooting in film as aposed to animation, performance art, VJing etc. But I will be doing some media test with each technique just so do some trials. He also asked me about my third year video and why I put the drum in a volcano. He also made it out that i had taken my film and twisted it into representing music and why did I do it. I explained that before the volcano I did many media tests with out the volcano and the film had no narrative, context and story. I said that I felt it really effected the final outcome of the video and by adding some context to the film it gave a narrative to the film and was easier to understand. I also explain that I did not twist my film the way he insinuated and that I simply edited it so that the visuals and sound were in sync so that the viewer was not confused. I think he was just trying to get me to justify why I did what I did but I answered all of his questions. Belinda was very interested in my domain as she was very impressed with my 3rd year video so has a lot of belief in my project. She said she was very excited to see what I was going to do with this project



In summary I am very pleased with how my presentation went and will keep on going with my project as no one seemed to give me any ideas as to what to do, I think they are quite happy to let me keep going in the direction that I am.

Pitch Presentation- 1st-3rd years

Well I took a little group of 1st-3rd years to talk over their modules with them. They still really need to get into the swing of things, but seem to be going in the right direction

Lewis Taylor:

Although he had been ill he had made a good start to his modules. He is particularly interested in mountain biking so hopefully because it is something he is passionate about he will be more motivated. He already had some interesting idea to do with his personal project module with is great seeing as his group hasn't even met up yet so I think he will have a good impute with his ideas that he has already been thinking about. Lewis has two modules that involve film, he is wanting use mountain biking as a theme for both but was not sure if this was allowed. I gave some ideas that maybe instead of the physical mountain biking itself maybe experiment with making a film that explore the emotions, feelings, environment that enhances the mountain biking experience.

Sophie McMorrin:

For her 3D illustration module, she was struggling to come up with a book for her project. Like her at in 2nd year I was not a keen reader so I suggested on trying to focus on the fact that she is going to have to read, I suggested that she could maybe think about books that she was made to read in high school. For typography, she was unsure about her interactive piece as coding is not her forte, I suggested that she just worked with buttons as they are effective, add the interactive element but does not demand code. All in all Sophie has made a good start, she has to have more confidence in her ideas and just run with them.

Wayne Allen:

For entertainment design, Wayne had some good ideas for his game but there was very little research to show where he got his ideas from, current games that has inspired him, art styles etc. For his 3D illustration, Wayne wants to do an alien scene, I think it should turn out well as long as he doesn't do a direct copy and put his artist impute it should be great.


Billie Thompson:

Billie had very little to say or show, I am not sure if this was because it was her first time pitching or that she hasn't done that much. Because she was still quite unsure I couldn't give much creative input to help her. She had about 3 pages of sketches for the whole 4 modules which isnt a very good start. She really needs to lock down her ideas and get a move on with it or she will struggle to get good outcomes as she will be rushed



All in all, they have made a good start to this year, the one thing I would say is the lack of research. It is so important to have researched what you want to do, look at things to inspire yourself and fill your sketchbooks. It looks good if you have a good researched idea with lots of concept development because if you have that to back you up and your final product doesn't turn out the way you want it, you at least have illustrations and ideas of how it could have looked.