Showing posts with label visual effects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label visual effects. Show all posts
Saturday
Sunday
Coldplay Wristband audience interaction
Recently Coldplay have been using wristbands which are controlled through radio signals as part of their show at arena gigs, shown below in use at Wembley during the X Factor final and in the video, an audience member at the Glasgow concert demonstrates how the audience experience is enhanced by the bands which create a sense of togetherness and interaction with the show.
An interesting and novel way of creating participation and a communal feel for audience members. This technology could be pushed further to react with all notes and beats automatically, or through tracking of position and different colours implanted within the lights could be used to display images when filmed from above.
Monday
Jamie XX x Quayola
Jamie XX (of The xx fame) teamed up with Quayola—as part of RizLab‘s series of collaborative projects—to road test the latter’s Partitura sound visualisation software, which he built in collaboration with Abstract Birds.
What ensued was a perfect melding of sound and vision. Jamie XX’s laid
back pulsating beats gave life to Quayola’s highly rendered graphics,
which flowed and formed on 17 meter HD screens, immersing the captivated
crowds in their glowing fluctuations. The intricate forms that played
out across the canvasses danced and splintered, breaking and reforming
in flickering structures, turning music into a visual entity.
Someone remarked that it was the best screensaver they’d ever seen, but it was much more than that—a real-time music visualisation tool with 500 different visual parameters that uses algorithms to generate a beautiful palette of colors inspired by artists like Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Impressively, the unfolding graphics are not pre-sequenced, so it becomes an exploratory piece and is addictive to watch. It’s so smooth you forget that it’s actually responsive, as it takes on a life of its own, coming alive in bursts of color and assorted shapes.
(original article)
Someone remarked that it was the best screensaver they’d ever seen, but it was much more than that—a real-time music visualisation tool with 500 different visual parameters that uses algorithms to generate a beautiful palette of colors inspired by artists like Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Impressively, the unfolding graphics are not pre-sequenced, so it becomes an exploratory piece and is addictive to watch. It’s so smooth you forget that it’s actually responsive, as it takes on a life of its own, coming alive in bursts of color and assorted shapes.
(original article)
Tuesday
Research Project
I'm really struggling to word my question, I know what I want to get across and what I want to create but I can't find a way to sum this up...
How can visual imagery for performance effect audience mood through projection and lighting?
Synaesthesia has been explored throughout history, Plato, Pythagoras and Aristotle all explored the relations between music and colour. This research project intends to look at how colour and music are linked and how these links can be used to create projections for performance. How do audiences react when unexpected effects are used? Does it make the music and atmosphere more intense or does it cause confusion? As an example, Beyoncé’s performance at the Billboard awards in May 2011 which was designed by New York creative consultant Kenzo Digital. The performance received rave reviews partially due to the visuals created by Kenzo Digital, in which a variety of novel animations created an interactive with the choreography on stage. Animation, colour and lighting were used to draw the audience’s attention to different parts of the stage, then distracting them with special effects – adding to the performance on stage. The performance pushed traditional lighting effects and brought forward new ideas for set production and how projections can be used. Traditionally stages use lighting set ups which highlight or dim, and project colour, drawing the focus to a certain area of the stage, however with digital projections a new realm of colour and imagery can be used to manipulate the size of the area and change the performance completely.
In 1994, Patricia Valdez from the University of California’s department of Psychology lead an experiment in to the effects of colour by shade, hue and brightness which based on a scale of pleasure, arousal and dominance. The study, which is found in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, confirmed emotions which were felt when subjects were shown colours, proving that colour has a definite impact on mood and atmosphere. Mentioned within the notes of the experiment is another experiment carried out by Alexander Schauss in 1979 at the Naval correctional institute in Washington State, in which compounds were painted a pale pink shade, titled Baker-Miller pink, which had an extreme calming effect on inmates. The Navy’s report on the experiment states that "Since the initiation of this procedure on 1 March 1979, there have been no incidents of erratic or hostile behaviour during the initial phase of confinement". This confirms how colour can change mood and atmosphere.
This research paper intends to find how colour, light and imagery can be matched to music to change how the audience reacts and feels as a result of the audio visual projections. The research will be carried out on a small scale with the intention that the results will easily translate to other more elaborate or technically challenging locations. Results will be collected through a series of focus groups of between 1 and 10 people, who will be asked to respond to a series of artefacts designed to provoke a reaction either through shocking imagery, colour or lighting. By shocking it is not necessarily implied that the subjects will be gross or sexual but rather unexpected. The aim of the study will be to show how individuals perceive imagery along with music and how the results could be translated into different medias such as television or live performance in a club or larger venue, taking inspiration from light shows and projections and current technologies readily available in clubs and concert venues.
How can visual imagery for performance effect audience mood through projection and lighting?
Synaesthesia has been explored throughout history, Plato, Pythagoras and Aristotle all explored the relations between music and colour. This research project intends to look at how colour and music are linked and how these links can be used to create projections for performance. How do audiences react when unexpected effects are used? Does it make the music and atmosphere more intense or does it cause confusion? As an example, Beyoncé’s performance at the Billboard awards in May 2011 which was designed by New York creative consultant Kenzo Digital. The performance received rave reviews partially due to the visuals created by Kenzo Digital, in which a variety of novel animations created an interactive with the choreography on stage. Animation, colour and lighting were used to draw the audience’s attention to different parts of the stage, then distracting them with special effects – adding to the performance on stage. The performance pushed traditional lighting effects and brought forward new ideas for set production and how projections can be used. Traditionally stages use lighting set ups which highlight or dim, and project colour, drawing the focus to a certain area of the stage, however with digital projections a new realm of colour and imagery can be used to manipulate the size of the area and change the performance completely.
In 1994, Patricia Valdez from the University of California’s department of Psychology lead an experiment in to the effects of colour by shade, hue and brightness which based on a scale of pleasure, arousal and dominance. The study, which is found in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, confirmed emotions which were felt when subjects were shown colours, proving that colour has a definite impact on mood and atmosphere. Mentioned within the notes of the experiment is another experiment carried out by Alexander Schauss in 1979 at the Naval correctional institute in Washington State, in which compounds were painted a pale pink shade, titled Baker-Miller pink, which had an extreme calming effect on inmates. The Navy’s report on the experiment states that "Since the initiation of this procedure on 1 March 1979, there have been no incidents of erratic or hostile behaviour during the initial phase of confinement". This confirms how colour can change mood and atmosphere.
This research paper intends to find how colour, light and imagery can be matched to music to change how the audience reacts and feels as a result of the audio visual projections. The research will be carried out on a small scale with the intention that the results will easily translate to other more elaborate or technically challenging locations. Results will be collected through a series of focus groups of between 1 and 10 people, who will be asked to respond to a series of artefacts designed to provoke a reaction either through shocking imagery, colour or lighting. By shocking it is not necessarily implied that the subjects will be gross or sexual but rather unexpected. The aim of the study will be to show how individuals perceive imagery along with music and how the results could be translated into different medias such as television or live performance in a club or larger venue, taking inspiration from light shows and projections and current technologies readily available in clubs and concert venues.
Thursday
Research
Visual Effects Supervisor
What does a visual effects supervisor's job involve?
Visual effects encompass everything in a film that cannot be captured on a single piece of film in the camera. It often falls under the umbrella of special effects. But technically special effects concerns live sequences that take place on a film set such as animatronics, pyrotechnics or wire-work.
Visual effects involve everything that is created as more than one element but will finally be put together in a digital environment. It often involves compositing together computer generated effects with live sequences that are filmed using blue/green screen techniques or miniatures.
A visual effects supervisor will usually be called onto a film during pre-production. I'll need to talk to the director and the production designer as concept art is being created and as a story board artist is laying out a movie so we can discuss the scope of what is needed and what effects we can do.
For example, they might want to shoot a scene in a studio of a set piece 15 stories high. But their studio might only be 30ft high and can only fit in a set a few stories high. In order to extend it, I need to know the exact dimensions of the set, and how the camera has moved around it, how it is lit, and what it is constructed of so I can fit the computer generated version on top.
I recently supervised the visual effects for the big budget film Sahara. My biggest sequence was of a solar energy plant in the middle of the desert which, of course, doesn't exist in real life. Little pieces of it were built in the desert so we could shoot close shots with no visual effects enhancement or extension. But the wider shots needed substantial visual effects extensions. My visual effects team and I went to Morocco with the main filming units to see make sure that wide shots were covered in a way that allowed us to extend them, and to take reference footage, stills and measurements.
Back in London, the background shots filmed in the desert were digitized by the post-production visual effects company, Cinesite, and the solar plant that we had designed and built digitally was animated and composted into the shots.
How would you recommend getting into the business?
A lot of people start as assistants at visual effects and post-production companies. They are very good places for getting the basic knowledge of the techniques. There really is no better way to learn than on the job.
It's a good time to get into the business. There is a huge market at the moment as more and more films are being made using digital techniques. In fact, there is more work at the moment than there are artists.
To get into the business, you need a good basic knowledge of camera equipment and techniques, film lab processes, compositing techniques and software. You need a good visual sense and a creative approach to telling a story. The rest is just experience.
from www.moviestaff.com
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