// age-brown.co.uk :: BLOG

General comments

Thought its been a while since i commented on my project process…

Things are going well at the moment. My project has progresed on to a national community information system, with the local study based only in Plymouth at this stage, with the future progression to the rest of the country possible. Using google maps system, users can upload there views directly on to the map, along with an audio interview or statement from themselves detailing what they think of the area they live in, work in, study in or visit with any specific views they’d like to get across, be they positive or negative. The information is designed to be informative to those within the community but especially those outside the community considering moving to teh area for any of the above reasons. Users do not necessarily have an inside view of the area they wish to move to or study in or find out about, and this network of community views will provide useful information that can only come from people who live in the area!

To add depth to the project and further insight, i have managed to get hold of a number of ward councillors for certain areas of main and surrounding Plymouth, who have agreed to provide me with interviews and useful information that can be added to the site, for people who wish to find out more about crime rates, future development plans etc.. from a professional viewpoint.

The project is still in development, but should be live and srunning within the next few days where i can start gathering information that will be valuable for my presentation.

the entire COAST report and project information is available to download as a pdf from this:

HERE HERE HERE
Its a large file so please be patient.

So the processes thus far are as follows: (Thorough Details will be included in the pdf to be uploaded in the next few days)

• Gather Readings at Site - incl. Temperatures, Wind Speed, Altitude using an ANOMOMETER.
• Record Footage - incl. Hundreds of photos of the beach and path areas and video footage
• (This included a number of visits to the site, in fact 10 different visits in total to gather as many readings as possible)
• Incorporated Video Clips into AFTER EFFECTS - Exported as JPEG Sequences for use in BOUJOU Match-moving tracking software
• Tracked and matched all the camera movements for each sequence, then exported them back into AFTER EFFECTS for incorporation of virtual element
• Created Smoking particle effects (after some thought this seemed like the most appropriate way to represent windspeed) using Trapcode Particular Plugins and the null object positioning thanks to BOUJOU.
• After completing all video footage and exporting - All movie clips imported in to FINAL CUT STUDIO 2 and the MOTION software, so that i could create a 3D world for the information board footage.
• Created each video together then recorded the camera movements individually and exported these as separate movies.
• Imported these movies into FLASH to create the presentation of the Information Board and its functionality in the site using the information provided.

Below is a representation of an early design for a basic noticeboard, and below the final style i decided to use, in keeping with the site. The Screen is based on the idea of a touch screen, so when you arrive at the location you can view the various parts of the route down to the beach and the likely wind strengths in each place, and also take a virtual tour of the beach itself from various angles and positions.

SO i have  10 readings now, which i’ve put into a series of graphs, which i will upload to this location for you to view. This information has been combined to show the separate and average readings of wind speed across the whole site and the trip down to the beach.

I will be using this information within the video footage, to represent the different sections of wind speed to expect in the different areas. An interesting idea arose as well when looking at tracking the graph details across a terrain. I am also looking into mapping out a new terrain for a cliff face for example, from the readings i’ve gained from the site, which i feel could be quite an interesting project i itself.

Although no blog posts have appeared for a while, i’ve been working very hard on my site project in the background.

Since December, i’ve been back to the site and gathered much more information including anomometer readings and temperatures each time, and continued photographic footage and video to establish the best angles and ideas to pursue for the project.

Essentially i decided to look  into windpseeds as my main source of info from the site as well as the raw video footage. The concept of the information board became important in my research, mainly because i didn’t want to provide your average info board, with lifeguard details, safe swim zones or even tide times, weather reports, because they already exist online and often on noticeboards at the site already.

My info board will be focusing primarily on the kind of information you want to know when you arrive at the site, but that never presents itself. For example, what the route down to the beach is like, any hazards to look out for, how windy it will be in different sections and obviously what the beach is like when you get there. Freathy Cliff (my site) is a beautiful cove, which can’t be seen from the road, much like a number of coves in the area of Whitsand bay. So this info board would provide good information to the passer by, who for example may want to go down and fly a kite - they can see that theres not a huge amount of sand but lots of rocks around, so it is not ideal for this. It woud also provide families with older or younger people with info on the trip down, and if everyone in the family could get down and back up ok!

How to represent the info board is the next important feature that iam currently working on.

Available Here

You can view the final project here:

4d - Tracking Lies

It seems to be a little shaky in places, think this might be my connection or the compression.

The Blog for this module is available as a PDF by clicking HERE

So the project is recorded edited and has been rendered, so hopefully it will go down well. I suddenly realise that i haven’t written down the context of the narrative that makes the film watchable! The basic premise was to include as much communication media that the general public could use realistically, so this included GPS, Mobile Phone, Text Message, Internet and Computers.

The idea behind the choice of footage has been influenced from series such as Spooks and Films such as Enemy of the State and The Bourne trilogy. I wanted to use programs such as After Effects, Adobe Premier Pro and IMovie, as i’d never used them for anything before and wanted to learn some specific new skills. It was important to me to avoid the awkwardness and amatuer type of video recording often associated with uni projects and after a meeting with Mike, i was pursuaded to use less footage of actual acting and more edited scenes and content that shows the technology rather than the acting - which was important, because the concept behind the story isn’t necessarily the plot line.

The plot line as i have previously mentioned is based on adultery, and to me would be one of the logical reasons you’d want to track someone elses movements online, other than chasing a rogue government agent! (This doesn’t mean i’m paranoid)

Essentially there are three main characters in the short film - the girlfriend, the existing boyfriend and the boyfriends mate drafted in to catch the girlfriend with someone else. The Conversation that starts the film off sets the scene - allowing the viewers to relaise that the girl is lying about her whereabouts and actions, and the boyfriend to an extent knows it. The following scenes represent text conversations between the girl and the other guy showing where they are likely to hook up. The boyfriend has his girlfriends profile on tracky and also that of this other guy whom he suspects is with his girlfriend. Using this software he is able to view their movements in real time and then direct his mate to where he expects them to meet. Directing his mate with text, his mate arrives at the exit and is able to transfer a live video stream of them leaving together via qik.com for the boyfriend to see for himself - thus confirming his suspicions.

The context of this project within 4D and transportation is seen through the ability to transfer yourself to other places through the use of modern technology. Not only can you theoretically be anywhere in the world via phone text or conversation, but you can view other peoples live locations from your laptop and view live video streaming from the place your looking at miles away, as long as there is someone else there with a phone video camera and a qik.com account.

the slogan for Qik.com is “See what happens“, which is exactly what it allows you to do in this film.