Back from the Dead

BCT Year Three, Studio V, Entry One

"Baby Steps"

Hello again! After a year of complete inactivity, I'm bringing this old BCT blog back from the dead to help you all keep up with my work, so that the current blog section of my website can be repurposed into a digital portfolio. So without further ado, I'll bring you up to speed with what I'm doing.

...Uh-oh.

Disappointingly, I've had a very bad start to this new project. This year I will be redesigning and repurposing the current BCT website at creativetechnologies.ac.nz to serve as a central hub for both students and staff. The unfortunate part is that I've had an incredible amount of trouble actually getting off the starting line. That said, with some help from my tutors, I'm well on my way to getting back on track and getting this done.

The first step was to come up with a battle plan. I've wasted a lot of time, so it'll be a lot of work for this to come to fruition, but now that I've found a solid starting point I believe it will be much easier to get things done from here on out. I've put it up in a convenient .pdf format, which you can view here if you'd like to gain an insight into how I'm working. It'll be hard work to catch up, but certainly worth it.

Now! On to the actual site.

Basically - the current BCT website, though functional, is highly outdated both technologically and informationally. At its most basic level, my project aims to take the site and turn it into something modern, functional and useful beyond simply linking to student's webpages and blogs. This encompasses a complete rethink of the site's frontend and visual design, as well as a VERY significant change in mechanics. Information on exact aspects is thin at the moment, as I have not collected enough data from my 'clients' to pin down any rock-solid site features, but at is basest level I'd like to incorporate some kind of account and content management system that will replace the current method of simply editing the very HTML code of the site itself. Beyond that remains up to the faculty staff and students, though I've seen a very positive reaction to the idea of a BCT wiki and portfolio system.

Over the next semester I want to collect all the information I need to decide on site features and the technologies I'll use to implement them, and subsequently get a working prototype going by the assessment on the 24th of June. Subsequently, I aim to polish and expand the functionality of this model over Semester 2.

Though the tangible output of this project will be a working website, my main concern is learning the process of web development itself. This includes not only learning code, standards and programs, but also interaction with clients and extensive documentation. I also want to give something back to the Bachelor of Creative Technologies, leave something useful in my wake. And of course, I'd love to have something good for my portfolio when I'm seeking employment.

For more information, head over to my website at creativetechnologies.ac.nz and check out the 'portfolio' section. I'll be updating both it and this blog periodically with progress, musings and artifacts from the project at hand. Stay tuned!

New Worlds

Semester Two, Entry Three
'Un-Reality'

This final project was one I was very interested in from the get-go, as it is quite different from any of the assignments we have done before. It represents something that not only tested the regular BCT skills of time management, working under pressure, ingenuity and observation, but also a key aspect of interacting with others. Unlike, for example, a piece of design work, the alternate reality game presents the challenge of tuning in to a person's intuition in order to move forward. In addition to telling a compelling and interesting story through a new world, we had to take into account the many ways a person could interpret the clues they were given, the decisions they would make and, ultimately, ways to keep them on track.

One of the reasons I found this project so enjoyable was because although the real world is our medium, the exercise as a whole drew numerous parallels with disciplines such as video game design (a huge influence in my decision to enroll in the Bachelor of Creative Technologies). For one, it must be interactive which presents a unique set of issues, often centered around the fact that involving people introduces a lot of variability. Each step must be carefully calculated in order to give the participant a sense of freedom within this new world that they have been thrust into, and a challenge - yet the challenge itself must be obvious enough to be followed in a linear or semi-linear fashion. Additionally, precautions must be made in order to direct the participant back to the path if they have strayed off course.

Our particular alternate reality game focussed on somewhat of a Truman Show meets Fallout 3 scenario, in which the world is in a state of turmoil after the Cuban missile crisis went wrong in an alternate timeline, resulting in the fall of many world superpowers. As humanity itself crumbles, a small, faraway country is chosen not only as a safe haven, but an experiment on the few unharmed humans left in the world. We establish that what is known to us as New Zealand in 2011 is actually a massive 'vault' experiment not unlike those seen in the Fallout series - a way to observe human behaviour in an idealized environment cut off from any outside factors.

Our main character was an escaped 'convict' who was wise to the machinations of New Zealand's governing bodies, who were upholding the illusion. Our participant meets him in the first and final segments of the game, following his tracks in between through artifacts such as a flash drive containing top secret files, to QR codes, to a dropped nametag and beyond.

 Have you seen this man?

Eventually these lead to a room where the participant is then asked to give the drive to either the convict or the government representatives in order to facilitate freedom and moral choice into our otherwise linear story. Both decisions had their respective outcomes, though neither was designed to elicit any real sense of closure or gratification. To the participant, the world then continues as normal.

One of our main problems was that, in the process of trying to create immersion through detail, we ended up puting too much focus into the backstory and mundane aspects of the game that we somewhat neglected the actual journey and execution. One example of this would be the web page the participant is directed to with a QR code - I spent a long time editing the HTML, finding a host and integrating the news stories Sam had written that I ended up neglecting the world as a whole. We were criticised for the game being too short, and were also ill-prepared for the run through as we had not properly rehearsed all of the 'scenes'. For example, none of us were prepared when Maggie came through the wrong door during the final scene, and were thus caught off guard and not in position. However, Sam (the convict) actually used this to our advantage - he asked myself and Ke (the other security guard) to go talk to Maggie and then burst out and started the game without us having a clue what was going on. This added considerable immersion as we were just as bewildered as the participant as to what was going on, something comparable to a hollywood technique known as 'method acting'. Though I was absent from much of the run through due to my role, I'm told that the rest of it went through without a hitch until the final area.

Overall I would say that this project was a showcase of my own personal growth throughout the BCT. I am often plagued with doubt about my own work, for example, and made the resolution to be confident and push my ideas in a constructive manner. My group members have told me this was evident. Additionally, I feel that my need for better quality, more polished work showed up in some of the methods of immersion that I suggested, though they were not without their flaws. This is the next personal barrier I hope to overcome, along with my work ethic, which often still leaves something to be desired. That said, I am still proud of our result despite its inherent flaws, and would like to experiment more with alternate realities when the opportunity for working with them arises.


The fake news site from our game can be viewed here, along with a video explaining the convict's story.

Putting It Out There

 Semester Two, Project Two

'You The Designer'

Ah, the humble CD case. Beyond our ongoing frustration with the fragility of the jewel case (and those stickers, good God), very little regard is paid to the ways in which we physically distribute music. What can be done to improve the CD case? Do we need CD cases at all? These are questions we aim to answer as the BCT Year One students begin their Second project for the semester.

First, there was the performance. A man mucking around with a guitar, or an entire orchestra filling a concert hall with some of the greatest music mankind has ever seen. For a long time this was the only way to experience the wonder known as music. And then, in 1877, the act of listening to music was taken in a completely different direction - Thomas Edison had invented the first recording/playback device, the wax cylinder. Then came the record, a refinement of the previous format that saw widespread production and distribution. And then, with the introduction of CDs, the act of distributing music became the backbone of the industry as we see it today. Since then, various forms of digital distribution have become commonplace, but so far none have surpassed the CD in fidelity and sheer number.

Still, at first, I didn't want to create a CD case at all. I wanted to try a new format, something that could store more music at better quality with a smaller size and better compatibility. I went through dozens of different methods to distribute musical content, many of them embracing the digital trend that music is taking. However, with digital content, especially with a tangible format such as a flash drive or SD card, many issues arise with the nature of the format. First and foremost, some people do not have or cannot efficiently operate a computer (let alone any dedicated audio equipment that supports digital formats). Though small, this is an entire audience that something like a memory card or flash drive would alienate entirely. And of course, none of the other formats would work with standard musical playback equipment such as a stereo. Additionally, there would always be a looming risk of the music files being even easier to distribute illegally than those from CDs. One could introduce encryption, but this creates compatibility issues with software and non-PC equipment. DRM could also be used, but given its track record of being restrictive and arbitrary would not be a suitable method. Lastly, unlike a CD, the data on a memory device is vulnerable to being erased, modified or completely overwritten. Interestingly, this was the basis for one of my other preliminary ideas, which was to have a flash drive or other storage media containing the music, and a blank CD with which to arrange the album how the consumer wishes. My main reason for abandoning this idea was that it would take away the focus from the music contained in the package, as the consumer could easily write alltogether different files to the disc or even use their own CDs.

With this in mind, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel in terms of musical arrangement, my solution was to simply make the case more interesting. To do this I looked to one of my favourite cases, the packaging for Tool's '10,000 Days', which has a system for stereoscopic 3D viewing of artwork included in the package. Though I did not necessarily take cues directly from this design, both the idea of the lens and the idea of an album being more than just music (something I originally got from this video of Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson) stood out to me. Next, I looked at The Resistance, by Muse. Though the actual packaging is not particularly interesting, it represented a clear logistic choice - have the packaging take up as little space as possible and at low cost. With this in mind, my final design was a synthesis of these ideas coupled with my own personal spin.

The case itself consists of a few segments (much like slices of pizza or pie) that fold out to reveal the CD. These segments wrap around the radius of the CD on both sides, and are clasped together in the middle in order to keep it secure. To remove the CD, one must rotate all of the segments until at least 50% of the disc is exposed, and then unclasp the middle to release it. The true artistic merit of this design, however, is the artwork. It is not simply a singular image printed on the front cover. Rather, it is a series of images printed on each transparent segment, and when overlaid create a complete picture that is greater than the sum of its parts. The art design itself represents the recording I used for the CD, a track from our previous project entitled 'Song for Steve'. The object of this assignment was to take various sounds and arrange them into an 'aural terrain' and, in much the same way, my CD case has various separate images that are then arranged into a cohesive whole as the package is opened. The images themselves (such as water, rope and a silhouette of the Auckland CBD) are direct representatives of the sounds used in our recording coming together in a new soundscape.

My main issue with the theory of this design has simply been the fragility of a compact disc. With the thin, transparent and flexible plastic the cover is made of, it leaves the CD prone to scratching and breakage. I believe that with the precision of modern mass production techniques, the design can be modified to use harder, thicker plastic that will both protect the CD and ease operation of the system.

Unfortunately, my physical prototype did not turn out so well, owing to both a rushed construction and the absence of modern manufacturing techniques and materials (can you say scissors and sticky tape?)

...So to clarify the aesthetic and function of this final design, I would also like to supplement it with a final model that I constructed and rendered in Blender:

 Logo courtesy of Downfall of Humanity.

This is a design that I feel is competent, but to be successful and fit my own personal goals would need more development. Nevertheless, I have certainly both gained and refined some key skills throughout this project, and would like to further explore the realm of design in the future.

Did You Hear Something?

Semester Two, Project One

'Aural Terrains'

Unlike any of our previous projects, this particular one was not done in a single large assignment, but rather in a series of four smaller projects of about a week each. This presented a unique set of challenges centered around innovation, working under pressure and time management.

The first assignment was, admittedly, the most fun and interesting to me (as well as having the best result). It involved taking various and often mundane sounds from our environment and arranging them into a new aural experience. Our goal was to create a calm, subtle recording with an underlying sense of tension and unease. We have named this monstrosity "Song for Steve".

For the basic material we ended up using a variety of noises from around the city, often subtle ones that would be missed in the day to day rush. However, we recorded them with a twist (somewhat literally) - for each sound sample, we rotated our recording device in order to fade the sound between both speakers. This created a profound sense of motion and, when coupled with other samples moving at different rates, became very disorienting. Additionally, we furthered the sense of tension and unease by using the sound of a squeaking rope as well as a very low frequency hum from an air conditioning unit. The end result was a calm, flowing piece that made people just a little uncomfortable, without the sensation being overpowering.

Listen to "Song for Steve"

The second part of the project involved a practice known as "circuit bending".

Though the final result was something was quite happy with, the method by which I came to it was a little rocky. Seeing as the idea of the project was to 'circuit bend' i.e. use simple electronic circuits such as those from a toy, and modify them to create different noises - my end result was somewhat less technological. Due to problems I had with the toy I used as a basis for my instrument, I improvised over the last day or so of the project. The result was a piezo microphone attached to the neck of a bottle, capturing the percussive nature of something that is generally seen as gentle and flowing as it is forced into a bottleneck. With my partner TJ's instrument finished, our performance ended up being somewhat of a 'call and answer' piece, much like sections of classical music. As one audience member pointed out, it was much like a battle; my instrument making these percussive 'strikes', and TJ's screaming out in pain (or possibly anger) after each offense. This end result was somewhat unexpected but I was very happy with how it turned out.

 

Our Performance

Unfortunately, I fell ill during the course of our third assignment and was out for too many consecutive days to produce a presentable result. However, I did come up with a few designs which I tested whilst at home. One of my favourites involved a membrane at the end of a long tube, with water inside. It created a very interesting sound but I was unable to finish it completely before the due date. Still, it was fun to experiment with some of the materials I had at home and I'd like to give it another try at some point in the future.

The final project, I must say was somewhat of a nightmare. I stand by our final design, however its execution was wrought with problems from inception to final demonstration.

After having split up from our original group of four, my partner Shams and I went to work on an extension of what we had been doing with the original idea of people's movements, and how unaware they were of the sound they were making. What we came up with was a network of piezoelectric microphones attached to the surprisingly reverberant railing on the stairs at the Audio Foundation. The microphones picked up subtle percussive movements from people walking around on the stairs and even talking (provided it was loud enough), and the signal from them was then routed to a set of speakers in a separate room. This completely removes the person from the sound they are making, and allows others to experience the pure creativity coming from someone completely unaware of what they are doing.

Unfortunately, after already having been too sick to work on a previous project, I was again unable to help present the work Shams and I had done. On the morning we were to present the piece, I came down with a migraine (the first I've ever had, and yet I've experienced around three since then) too intense to allow me to present. It would have been fine, though, had I been responsible when working in a team. I had carried much of the conceptual work on my own back up until that point (to no fault of my partner, I was simply being - for lack of a better word - a control freak), leaving Shams a little bewildered as to how she was meant to present our work. Still, I'm told that the presentation went okay despite some issues with the installation not quite working as expected.

Listen to some of the sounds we recorded while testing the installation

Interestingly, I was told time and time again (especially in this final project) that the concepts we were dealing with in this project were foreign to musicians like myself and that we would not understand them as well as the others. This statement wasn't a particularly big deal, but I was very surprised to hear someone who preaches experimentation and open-mindedness to claim that an entire group of people is unable to understand something that completely encompasses what their art form is about. In this regard, it was rather satisfying to come up with a result that meets the criteria and is personally fulfilling as well.

I wouldn't say this project was, by any definition, my cup of tea. However, it did present unique challenges that helped to better my own work beyond its scope.

Trent's BCT Journal

'Purgamentum'

Of all the words I'd use to describe our final project, I'm willing to bet "arduous" and "frustrating" would be among the top contenders.

To start with, all of the people who made up our final group were in some kind of bad situation trying to find people to work with. At first it seemed like Brian and I were set to be in a group, along with Sam and possibly Jonathan. However, this was short-lived as one of our members had already taken off with another group by the next day. Similarly, Jonathan was forced to go with another group and I was left all by my little lonesome (I saw nothing of Brian for a long while). By this time, it was somewhat too late to force myself upon another group, so as soon as Brian turned up we got stuck in to the project. Eventually, we heard word of another member who would come in as soon as they could, Reuben.

With just myself and Brian, after tossing a few ideas around we came up with a good starting point - a large "f*** off" rig that one of us would wear, along with a hidden camera in a backpack or shopping trolley to capture people's reaction to the outrageous contraption we were wearing. Eventually, this evolved into a slightly different hidden camera scenario, in which the big rig was stationary, with a large camera and a sign saying something along the lines of "YOU ARE BEING FILMED AND STUFF". A small ways away from that, a small setup would be placed, likely a bin, with a hidden camera inside. We would then use this to observe the ~difference~ in behaviour between people who are aware they are on camera, and those who do not believe they are being filmed, hoping to see something along the lines of people 'showing off', or at least shying away. However, this did not meet all of the paper requirements, and though we had some leniency because of our group situation it was not quite enough to simply write off.

By this time, Reuben had come in, and Brian resumed his sporadic attendance. From this state, Reuben and I worked on a solution to our compliance problem, eventually taking the bin from the second concept and putting focus on developing it while omitting the big, eye-catching setup entirely. From this point onwards we would not be observing people, but their rubbish. We accomplished this by way of a webcam mounted under a cone that would deflect rubbish, with a clear plastic window on top so the camera could see out without being affected by refuse. In part, this fulfilled the psychological aspect of our first few ideas in that we were able to analyze the type of rubbish people were disposing of with respect to their appearance, location etc. More importantly, with the bin came an environmental aspect in which the purpose was to use the data we had gathered to better understand waste disposal methods. In turn, this would allow for a better infrastructure in waste management.

Once we had our idea down pat, I mocked up a concept in Blender to illustrate our entire setup, while Reuben worked on a Solidworks render of the piece to be fabricated.

The next step was visualizing the data, something we accomplished with some clever Max patching and Reuben's Macbook. Instead of simply capturing raw data, we set the webcam to begin recording when it detected motion. This eliminated the often long waiting periods between people putting rubbish into the bin, a complication which was not surprising at all (I mean, who's not a little suspicious of putting rubbish in a bin with a wire coming out of it and a trollface on the front?).

After some quick testing, at last we had our final product, working exactly as we intended it. The bin, along with our exhibition and a portfolio of previous projects, will be available for public viewing on Thursday 16 June, from 5:30.

Trent's BCT Journal, Entry Two

'The Three Little Pills'

Well, I have to say, this project was... Interesting.

Taking a radical departure from building and programming robots, this time we were asked to do film... With a twist. Instead of just simply making a film about whatever we fancied, we were to make an adaptation of a fairy tale. Of course, there had to be another twist, and we were put in groups based on the results of our last project in which we were each given a specific genre to make a film of.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) a few of us were stuck floating between groups, but after some awkward running around the final two of us came together to form a small group of our own. So far, it was myself and Jonathan (AKA The Swedish Box Man), whose idea from the start was to make a movie entirely in flash. Being a person who is quite familiar with and interested in Flash, I was on board from the start. However, we were told that two people was simply not enough and we had to either find someone else or split. By the next day, we had 'poached' a new member from another group - Conor. With our small size sorted, we continued to develop an idea, eventually settling on a black comedy adaptation of 'The Little Red Riding Hood'.

Our success was cut short, however, when we talked to one of the tutors and found out that we would not be able to do the movie entirely in Flash as it would omit much of the filmmaking process. We discussed various way around it, and settled on a 50/50 approach - half Flash, half live action. Many concepts for Red Riding Hood were created, but it was decided that it would be too hard to blend these two approaches with the fairy tale we had selected. After some discussion, we decided to use the Three Little Pigs as a basis instead, using fast food restaurants as analogues for the three pig's houses. Of course, we had to have some way of stopping the actor in the real world at the equivalent of the biggest and baddest house, which we solved by having the character run out of money at BurgerFuel (home of the biggest, baddest and most expensive burgers).

With the idea sorted, we laid down a simple script for the movie. Interestingly, we left the live-action script fairly open while the Flash script was quite strict. We did this in order to both make the Flash easier for Jonathan to do at home, and to provide contrast as Flash is a highly scripted, programmed form of video whereas film has much room for improvisation - something I, as the actor, did quite a lot of.

Filming was straightforward enough; aside from the complication of acquiring a burger without filming inside the premises of a restaurant, it went fairly smoothly... Even with the obligatory asshattery in between takes. Afterwards, Jonathan put in some late nights working on the Flash content and we were almost done.

The last touch was the soundtrack, which we used to better take advantage of the film's cartoonish nature. Along with old-style cartoon sound effects, we used a lively classical soundtrack. This was in part due to the fact that it made the film seem rather whimsical, and also because most music that old is free from copyright. Needless to say, Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' was a rather fitting compliment to my ecstasy upon smacking a large burger into my face.

Overall, I would say this project has been both the most stressful and most fun out of everything we have done this year. Due to the nature of the film we were able to have a fair few laughs, but it also highlighted the importance of time management and planning - something we (myself more than anyone) were somewhat lacking in - as well as helping us develop our skills in filmmaking. Still, even with our somewhat unorthodox approach to the video, it was well worth both the final product as well the skills and insight we gained from making it.

Can You Sing Like a Robot?

Trent's BCT Journal, Entry One

The Chronicles of

---

Well, here goes... My first [belated] post for my BCT blog.
This post covers our most recent project, a robot that paints... With light!

This project was the real starting point for us in terms of significance and application of skill. Instead of simply spending a day or two tinkering with different tools and software, we were given a little over a week to produce a robot that 'draws'. This, of course, draws from the previous exercises with robotics and visualising data. These two disciplines fuse in much the same way as our final robot fused machinery, art and science.

The project itself, once again, involved use of Lego's NXT kit - an entry-level robotics set designed by Lego for aspiring programmers and students. Naturally, this encouraged a few jokes about playing with Lego at university, but these soon died down as we all realised what sort of predicament we were in. To start, we decided to spend a full day coming up with ideas and then research that night, instead of jumping headfirst into an unstructured project.

 Pictured: Structure

After many ideas, drafts and prototypes (up to and including designs with lasers, fire and explosive compounds) we came up with a machine that 'painted' with light. Now, at the time we felt rather original, but as time progressed it became increasingly clear that we weren't the only ones doing light painting. Of course, this could have been avoided if any of us had given the brief a thorough read (cue facepalm) - right smack in the middle, it suggested light painting as a viable output. Nonetheless, after we came back with conclusions drawn from research done that night, it seemed like a feasible and interesting idea so we kept at it.

The first problem we faced with the actual robot involved the way it was going to move. Would it paint on a grid? Or maybe abstract? Where, on the floor? The wall? The ceiling? This was something we needed to sort out early in order to progress to another stage of construction. Meanwhile, a few of us were toying around with different modes of input. Some of the ideas involved music, images and even touch. Eventually, we decided on using coloured balls with the NXT's colour detector in a sequence as both instructions and modifiers. As this decision was made fairly early, it gave Jared enough time to work on the ball holding mechanism, which ended up using the weight of one ball to push another aside to be read by the sensor. This idea eventually morphed into what Ben called 'Colour Without Colour'. In short, the purpose was to take one form (colour) and translate it into a completely different one (movement), while also incorporating time. Interestingly, this was also described as '4D art' in that it uses the dimension of time in addition to the other three spatial dimensions we are all familiar with.

 If you look closely, it almost looks like we're making progress!

With the input sorted, the issue was then focused back onto output. By that time we had decided to pursue a more abstract approach to the light painting, in that it would not form any recognisable image, but rather a new one - the robot's interpretation of its sensory input via the colour sensor. This was in part due to mechanical limitations, as we only had three motors and one NXT brick, but also because it looked a little more like a cool idea we'd had around the same time - wavelengths. The idea was to fuse science (physics, in this case) and art and depict the wavelength of different colours in an abstract manner. Of course, the actual light painter moved in a circular pattern as well as up and down, so it was more a spiral than a wave. Fortunately, when viewed from the side, this movement closely resembled a sine wave.

At this point, most of the construction had been completed and it was time to test our robot, now named 'Frank'. Unfortunately, a good portion of testing took place in a small baby changing room, as it was the only place that was both dark enough and didn't have anyone in it. That said, we had a good deal of success the first time around - the only hitches were the colour sensor missing the ball occasionally, and the part with the LED on it coming up too far and breaking the whole setup. Thus the nickname 'Frank the Suicidal Robot' was born, to aptly describe his tendency for self-destruction. Thankfully nothing required any significant rebuilding, only some minor adjustments to the sensor and the code.

Turns out, things like this are quite prone to breaking. Who knew?

By this time we were nearing the deadline, and after some extensive testing, we found a good place to demonstrate Frank's amazing abilities. Unfortunately, this became a problem as the presentation had to be done in the studio, so we were effectively stripped of our presentation. Nonetheless, what we did manage to pull together went without any significant hitch.

Looking back, this was both a stimulating and entertaining project that had a lot to offer to all participants. Not only did it give us a good introduction to robotics, it was also a great opportunity to explore ideas more fully and work more effectively as a team. Also we built a freaking robot, which is totally awesome.

 The Final Product

Definitely looking forward to the next project!
(read: watch this space for impending disaster)