Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Breakpoint over Easter



Breakpoint is over the Easter weekend in March. There will probably be people there who also go to Sundown. So this blog will try to keep up. A couple of years ago it was suggested that Ubuntu may feature short intros as idents while booting up. Recently booting up takes less and less time but Breakpoint may be an occasion for clarification, even if it is to record this as a non-starter.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

DROID links Second Life and Bristol


Details now exist online for D.R.O.I.D., an event both on Second Life and in Bristol 23rd of next month.

Apparently

We are now fast entering the post-televisual age, where we are no longer the passive recipients of televised news and commercials, a world where we think we have choice, but only within the strict confines of what the programmers wish us to see, but rather the protagonists, programming our own lives and living our own dreams.


The line-up at the Trinity will feature live acts, DJs and VJs, and using a number of video cameras, this will be streamed live into Second Life, where avatars will be able to enjoy the sites and sounds of the event in Bristol.

Having tried to keep up with a similar event at the Phoenix I can see some advantage in a relatively low bandwidth approach such as this blog. Text is still quite effective in making connections and most systems can cope. The full Second Life approach is some way off for most people, I think.

Meanwhile book link on Amazon found through imasaka.org

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Video Swicki updated and visit to the Phoenix

Following a lunch conversation yesterday, (this blog is based on some active travel in Exeter, not just staring at a screen) I have added three new words to the Video Swicki for Animation. They are "cel", "cartoon" , and "BVH". Cellophane was the original medium for Walt Disney and others as it was explained to me. Somehow i had forgotten about cartoons. BVH I still do not understand but I have been promised a longer conversation.

So now all the boxes have something in them except one. That is ok, I await suggestions. "Intro" finds nothing but "Ident" works fine.

I went to the Black Box for the "Untitled Translation Exercise" from Cory Archangel. The soundtrack is shifted a few frames to give the effect of dubbing even though it is still in English. Not sure what the point is. Galleries do seem attracted to displays of technology that fails to work correctly. I still think this may be promotion for simpler technology such as watercolours. Hang them on the wall and they just work. I still have no reply to my friend request on MySpace. Maybe this is the subtle malfunction that makes it art.

The Phoenix galleries are already prepared for Animated Exeter. Forkbeard Fantasy has the sapace around the box office. There are some props from "The Fall of the House of Usherettes", now available on YouTube. There is comment regetting this move into digital but I have put another comment in support. Online can support live performance. I can only find Semay Wu on MySpace with a list of the FF performances at the Northcote later this month. Surely the more publicity online the more Arts Council targets will be met. Excellence in video networking, that is the future for obscure places like Exeter.



The other gallery has comic art from Studio Blink in Bristol. They have a website and blog but no links displayed in the gallery that I could find. Not sure why. Symbiosis could be the word I am looking for but I am not sure what people think it means.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Rougemont Global Broadcasting and script development

Over the next few months I plan to work on some scripts that could become video, maybe for Rougemont Global Broadcasting (RGB). There is an outline that gives an overview of the topics. Recently the video Swicki has turned up and may have a similar effect. The keywords could each be an element in a series of programs or chunks. RGB is currently an attempt at a script or text structure. Short videos appear through Exeter TV, mostly through Youtube.

There are three questions that can be asked in many contexts. What is changing for content through digital technology. What is changing for how content is promoted? Is there a viable business model for online content?

These could be asked about fine art or animation or Exeter TV. There could be a series of interviews and work out more structure when editing.

The blog will relate to events such as Animated Exeter. For example the Untitled Translation Exercise at the Phoenix next week. I am still a bit puzzled as to what the show at the Phoenix is about. Is Cory Arcangel taking a dim view of the web and YouTube? I have tried to befriend him on MySpace but no reply so far.

The thing that strikes me about searches for digital animation is that the early stuff is not turning up. John Whitney has Arabesque on YouTube. That is about it. So this point will be repeated.

The demoscene is far off for Exeter as the next Sundown is not till September. Still, there are plans for a visit to Breakpoint from the 21st to the 24th of March 2008 (Easter weekend)so there will at least be a report back. There is a Pouet thread on the idea of an intro for Ubuntu. (They don't think much of my story for OhmyNews but that is ok. Someone else should write more for OhmyNews so they can group stories together. OK I did muddle up an Atari and an Amiga in a photo caption...)

Second Life is a constant factor nowadays. There will probably be something in Bristol towards the end of Feb that is also on Second Life. Details later as if it matters where or when. Previously

So the blog will connect to events as they happen or turn up on archive. The Swicki Video is the best route to content.