OhmyNews have published my story about Sundown 2008. The editors have included a Youtube video of the invite to Function 08. To make the space for this they have missed out my photograph of Budleigh beach so as this is my blog I will concentrate on this for a bit. So far I have managed to include a photo of the beach on each occasion.
So possibly there is not much point in repeating the photos of the beach or trying to do the same story each time. there are still some readers who know nothing about the demoscene so some things have to be explained.however there are now many videos on Youtube and other places so a new phase in reporting is called for.
There is a page for a possible TV series from Rougemont Global Broadcasting. It also works as a webpage with links and over time there is more video available anyway. My impression at the moment is that the demoscene is better reported on the Web than the earlier work shown by Greg Kurcevicz as part of a New Canvas. UK work from a similar timeframe is covered in books but there is not much by way of example online. So I think this could be a priority to create enough links for people to choose their own route.
Meanwhile, here is the first try at embed html for Demoscene TV. Their code is not accepted by Blogger so I had to use YouTube as a guide......
Sundown again in East Devon. I am still trying to make some links between the demoscene and the "New Canvas" era.
A major problem is that the early stuff is not much available. Curated as cans of film and stored away in a secure place. Quite right too but there is still a problem in attempting to show what it is. Although more is available on YouTube it is not clear how much official support there is for this. A recent search has found the Official Page for John Whitney senior, curated by Siggraph. So this must be legit. Not sure of the web access at Sundown so I have downloaded two Quicktime files at LifeBytes. They are Arabesque and Digital Harmony. I think both could work ok for a demoscene audience. More next week, don't expect a live blog.
The two MOV files are also stored away on VitalstatistIx in Life Bytes. Opposite the Odeon on sidwell Street, Exeter.
At Spacex till 20th September there is a Summer Screen. Not sure what to make of it yet. The gallery space could be seen as a series of small cinemas. The screens are big enough to be different to viewing the same content on YouTube. But for some reason I can't find much so far. There seems to be a lot more of comment and lectures, but this is an encouraging sign.
Animate Project has some content on the home page and details about Stop Watch....
Tank TV has some work online but on YouTube is interviews, such as this with Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Picture This has info on Small Wonders but not many YouTube links I can find. Lady Lucy is an alias, complete with Myspace page linking to video.
Commotion (You Made Me Love You) is curated by Claire Doherty. University College Falmouth has loaded most of one of her lectures in several sections. I will come back to this later, may help to make more sense of the actual Spacex. The actual title of what is being shown there is not that easy to predict so I think previous browsing could be helpful.
Using Share to host a 7 meg PDF. I think this should work. Acrobat 9 extended has a plugin for Microsoft Powerpoint that can include video. There is something similar now in Google. Not sure if I have blogged about this laready. the weekend was confusing but the week ahead will feature more tests.
The potential is interesting. I have a collection of clips that need explanation. Maybe one day I will make sense to an editor.
The title for this post assumes things will work ok. I am trying out the video in presentations. If this is ok I will do more as the combination of explanation in text with short clips could be useful. So the direct link is here.
World TV has made possible a sequence of video from many sources on many sequences. So far I have just looked at YouTube, mostly from this blog. The first sequence is at
I have concentrated on showing both demoscene and early computer animation. I think there is a comparison but people used to one group do not often try the other as far as I can make it out. Later there is some Second Life and documentary from Devon.
It looks like the sort of animation that could turn up in a cinema, not some demoscene arty stuff for a niche. More on "arty" when you watch the link. But it is open source, so more connections are possible.
These pictures were taken during Animated Exeter when a film by Cory Arcangel was showing at the Black Box in the Phoenix Media Centre. It took a while to get permission to display them and then I was uncertain what to say about them. The previous set from the launch of the Spacex show was ok but then I asked permission to video the lecture. It turns out that permission to video is almost impossible to obtain. The web seems to be in two modes. Casually there is a mass of digital photography that just happens. Trying to work more officially is very complicated.
So my next phase is to move to Second Life and Photoshop. Second Life requires bandwidth. Exeter City Council have a block on Flash for bandwidth reasons so SL is also not for everyone. Photos mixing SL characters or backgrounds then reduced in file size could be an approach to link things. I have done some avatars that could be based in or visit Exeter at different times. Also some backgrounds from the Black Box. More on this later. There is a PDF guide to the avatars on Scribd. All Creative Commons on Flickr so feel free to use them but please send a link.
There is some animation already. The background seems to me to be a change of direction towards Flash and away from Postscript and PDF, now rarely mentioned. The 'platform' unit is now merged with mobile so 'platform' may not have much space for PDF.
Meanwhile in Exeter there is still no Flash on the council website, apparently because Flash is not supported on their own browsers because of bandwidth constraints.
Round about now there is a bit of a crunch in what time travel can cope with. The web has gone from text to video and animation is part of this.
If you download a magazine and the dlls fall in the right place you can read an interview with Temis Nunez who explains why Nvidia is supporting a demoscene party as part of an event about "visual computing".
off topic maybe some other company in San Jose could suggest a magazine format that allows text to be copied out but maybe I have just lost track of what a magazine design should concentrate on
back on topic It turns out that Temis Nunez is a genuine fan who collected "cracktros" for Apple II and C64. Also Jensen Huang has said of Nvidia "we are at the intersection of art and technology" so the demoscene is of interest to show off what a graphics chip can do.
Temis mentions Debris, already on this blog and also Andromeda's Lifeforce.
SUN are moving further into software as a service and open source. Blender is one of the services available. Current charge is $1 per CPU hour. This sounds cheap but may result in lots of new projects. Somehow it is always tempting to use the full chance on offer.
Blender is one of the projects featured at the 2008 meeting on Libre Graphics. More on this later.
Time travel seems easier if the space stays much the same. So I am trying to repeat the week ending 23rd Feb with another attempt at creating links of various kinds. Things could heve been even better with some slight changes. So imagining next year is the same as trying to change memory.
The YouTube connection is difficult partly because Exeter City Council have no support for Flash and so they do not host pages with Flash. It is therefore quite difficult to explain YouTube to people who work for Exeter City Council. Trying to get permission to video something depends partly on showing previous work which in this case is not possible. So Exeter TV might have recorded more including interviews had there been a release policy.
Try to imagine a shift so that there is support for Flash and YouTube is accepted as part of a festival / culture event. Someone who has no wish to be identified in this blog observed that this development has been a small step for manking but would be a giant leap for Exeter City Council.
Following that it would be easier to connect Second Life and actual events. There were two interesting events. See previous posts for more on Viral Duets in Exeter and D.R.O.I.D. in Bristol.
In theory the D.R.O.I.D. content could have been part of the Beatz and Bobz closing party at the Phoenix in Exeter. I have no information yet that this happened. But something like it may later. Sound and vision can be live or from the archive. It seems that the island of Prados Azules is set up for the summer at least so more could follow. And the dance steps goodies bag is in Diecicento.
Access to Second Life is the next frontier for organisations, even beyond Flash. A journalist from the Financial Times recently explained that they had to go home to write a story about business schools in Second Life as the firewall prevented installation at work.
As well as trying to repeat events through time travel i am also thinking about forms of fiction, so repeat the script outline from a previous post.
So assume VJs B1 and B2 who arrange an event without web access but hear about another one a week later with web streaming. They discuss various issues arising and are not entirely convinced. Not that they are luddites or anything but there has to be scope for acceptance of some form of development during the story. One concern is that animated dancing online may not work too well. The next week B1 and B2 are somewhere else where they could stream something but are not sure. Fortunately Kola Spellcaster turns up with a set of code that allows anyone to dance really well. The only problem is that she has put a timeout into the code so it will all fall over unless her Arts Council grant for next year is confirmed before midnight. This story ends at about 11.47 but there may be another one. If you feel any characters are based on yourself you may request changes or write your own version. Creative commons : attribution requested. I may claim other forms of copyright if I write something longer or for a later production.
Recent video of seats in Exeter. When the light is reliable there could be interviews if there was permission. What sort of release form would be required? By the way, this test is done on a disgo, GBP24 so the future could be much better if Exeter TV had more resources.
Just in case the Luke Vibert style of music is not what you would choose, here is another video from Second Life which may make more sense for people who like the Voodoo Lounge for example.
This post is for both animX and WifiExeter. I am still getting used to the events of last week, the outstanding Second Life events and the video on YouTube from Prados Azules. i think this means that bandwidth is ok. There are enough people in Exeter and Bristol or at least somewhere online for this sort of thing to be viable. So other forms of files such as work with hard copy should be ok. A lttle slow maybe if TIFF-IT is still required but definitely possible.
Meanwhile Google have launched a service around Sites for collaboration. seems a little too controlled for public use but the elements of Docs and video can be widely available. I have an account for Internet Express so have started a page at InXpress/landofGoogle or something like it. Actual url is too long to remember so best to bookmark this page.
Pipsi and Eric did get to the D.R.O.I.D. event if only through Photoshop.
Previously, script idea
So assume VJs B1 and B2 who arrange an event without web access but hear about another one a week later with web streaming. They discuss various issues arising and are not entirely convinced. Not that they are luddites or anything but there has to be scope for acceptance of some form of development during the story. One concern is that animated dancing online may not work too well. The next week B1 and B2 are somewhere else where they could stream something but are not sure. Fortunately Kola Spellcaster turns up with a set of code that allows anyone to dance really well. The only problem is that she has put a timeout into the code so it will all fall over unless her Arts Council grant for next year is confirmed before midnight. This story ends at about 11.47 but there may be another one. If you feel any characters are based on yourself you may request changes or write your own version. Creative commons : attribution requested. I may claim other forms of copyright if I write something longer or for a later production.
So the mess of bits and pieces from the actual week of Animated Exeter will be gradually rewritten and retested. Surely Exeter City Council will connect with Flash at some point, then everything else could be attempted again.
Monday, February 25, 2008
The goodies bag is here but what effect it has is still a mystery. Right click on the stars in the floor and then choose dance. The camera save previously is still just a test. Go back a couple of posts to Prados Azules for something sensible.
This is amazing. I failed to persuade Director Jo to stay at Life Bytes and record D.R.O.I.D. Good thing too as the sound at the Voodoo Lounge was probably good enough for a future video and this record on YouTube already is fantastic and shows what is possible.
What else is anywhere? and when will Pipsi turn up?
