Working In Digital Media – Trip to Dáil/Science Gallery

This Tuesday, 23rd March, we went on a trip to visit the Dáil and then onto the Science Gallery in Trinity College.

We started the day by meeting outside the Dáil at 10:45am before being greeted by Ronan Mullen, a CDM lectuer at ITB but who is also a senator in the Seanad. 

As we waited to be given a tour, we went to get a cup of tea or coffee (which was made a lot more complicated than it should have been – which people moving from one side of the room to another ), as Ronan spoke to us briefly about his role as a senator, about how the Dáil works and how the Irish polictal system works.

During the tour, out tour guide brought us around the bulding filling us in on the history of the building and giving us more information on how the system works.

Sadly, we didn’t bump into Mary or Brian on our way around the building, but the tour was intresting and our tourt guide was very helpfull and answered, sometimes pretty odd, questions.

After the Dáil we all boke off for lunch, before meeting up again at the Science Gallery in Trinity College. Here we were given a tour of the current exhibition – Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef. We were shown some amazing exhibits on display, all created by a knitting technique which created a Coral Reef effect.

Below is a video which shows Margaret Wertheim, the woman who – with her sister – began the project, explaing the exhibition and the science behind it in greater detail.

Below is just a small selection of some of the work on display (images taken form online gallery).

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

 You can get more information on Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef @ http://crochetcoralreef.org/
Or visit the Science Gallery exhibitions page @ http://www.sciencegallery.com/crochetcoralreef

I don’t really see where a viisit to the Dáil or the Science Gallery really fit in with doing Creative Digital Media, but it beats a lecture anyday! I think the exhibition was intresting, but the science behind it didn’t really intrest me.

 

We have a few exciting assignments coming up, which includes the stop-motion story which I can’t wait to get started on. The group that I am working on have some great ideas and I already cannot wait to see the finished movie!  A lot of work ahead – it’s going to be a busy Easter break!

Working In Digital Media- Ron Crabb

This week we didn’t have a guest lecturer, so instead we were all instructed to watch a video on Creative Inspirations, I chose a talk given by Ron Crabb. Ron Crabb is an American motion graphic/visual effect artist and matte-painter who works on big film productions.

Ron got his first taste of working with graphics when he moved to California and started working printing sports t-shirts. Designing the t-shirts lead into logo design. He managed to get an interview, and a job, doing graphics for newspapers. However, when computers arrived in 1985, Ron lost his job as a primary graphic designer for the newspaper – but he did get a freelance job at night. Ron was allowed work on the computer all by himself during the night, creating 1-2 graphics for the newspaper and then learning and creating on the computer. Ron admits that his career path has been unplanned, and that he has been lucky to have been given the opportunity to work and create and to learn new skills.

Ron says he is a man of faith and wants to be an artist and wants to create because “there was somebody who created me, created us”. Ron says that is his inspiration and that art is something that connects people, brings people together and something everyone has in common. He says that being good at what he does makes for a “pretty good life” and although it can be tedious at times, he knows he is lucky to have a job that he can create in order to out food on the table for his family.

I was so impressed and amazed by Ron work as a matte-painter. A matte-painter is somebody who creates backgrounds for movies. Ron first work as a matte-painter was on the X-Men films, working on the dramatic film scenes of the films. He has since worked on other big Hollywood films such as Speedracer and The Bucket List.. Ron says the work can be challenging, as computer technology grows he finding clients are requesting and expecting close to photo quality scenes, and he says that crossing the fine line between artistic and real can be very difficult to close – especially coming from a fine artistic background.

Ron showed off some just some of the work he has done, creating matte-painting for scenes in Speedracer and The Bucket List. Ron has to put every little detail on a separate layer, and make his paintings work depending on how the camera will move in the film’s scene. The paintings must also be very high resolution, sometimes over 12,000px.

Ron says working in the digital world allows for more “what if .. “. It allows for errors, and it allows for change a lot easier than phyical work, such as oil-paintings.

http://www.crabbdigital.com/

Working In Digital Media – Fiona Kelly

Today, Fiona Kelly came in to talk to us about “Seeking Inspiration”.

Fiona Kelly was a freelance web designer. She started working in print, before applying for a Interactive Design FÁS course. She was one of 15 to be accepted out of over 500 applicants. After the course she began her own company, Glimmer, and specialises in designing web pages, flash banner adverts and logos. She has been working in the area for 15 years.

Fiona Kelly started the lecture by quoting Jim Jamush – “Nothing is original.” Everyone steals from each other, and steals little bits from everyone else’s ideas or creations.

Fioan Kelly went on to talk to us about some previous jobs she had worked on. Her previous jobs included;

ScootlerIsland
Fiona Kelly created a web page for the company “Scooter Island” Her brief was to make it “lightweight” and ”easy to update”. Fiona told us how she used websites like iStockPhoto (www. istockphoto.com) to find images to fit with the websites theme. She told us that she could spend up to two weeks researching photos and designs before starting the project. She may take small parts of loads of different designs to create her banner for the website. The design may go through 5-10 different outcomes before a final one is selected.

Fat Kitty Films
Fiona created a logo for the film company, Fat Kitty Films. She told us how she would again spend weeks researching images for the logo, before creating many different variations before sending a select few off to the client. The client would then select the final design.

MyHome
Fiona also showed us of an example of a flash banner she created for MyHomes.ie. She told us about her “inspiration folder” where she keeps images and designs that she has loved but never got around to using before. In the case of MyHomes.ie, she finally had a job where she could use a design from her “inspiration folder”. The result was a flash design using straight lines that curve, with text passing through and images borrowed from other designs.

Fiona also told us of some difficult clients she had:

Dublin Gay Theatre Festival
Fiona said it as difficult working on a web design for the client because they didn’t want to change that much of their original design.

Puca
And it was difficult working with the above client because they had unclear guidelines.

Fiona recommended that as first year students we take on as much experience as we can because it can all go towards a portfolio. Even the wort clients can lead to good portfolio material.

“Talent is the desire to practise”

Fiona’s Website
http://www.glimmer.ie/

Working In Digital Media – Emma Wade

This weeks guest speaker was Emma Wade. Emma Wade is a visual arist working in the field of Digital Meida.

Emma Wade spoke to us about how she became a professional at what she does. She attended National College of Art & Design in Dublin where she recieved an MA. She told about how she worked in New York as an intern during the summer of 2008 before returning to work in dublin, where she is now based.

Emma said how her work was mostly “playful” and how she tends to focus on audience interaction.

Some of Emma’s work includes “Rexotrek”.  An art project which aims to allow the user see the world through a dogs perspective. The user is required to get down on their hands and knees in order to experience the work, which is made up of video and audio to mimic th dogs world.

Below is just a short example of the “Rexotrek“.

Rexotrek from Emma Wade on Vimeo.
Another project Emma Wade worked on was titled “The Cheer Up“. The aim of the project was to cheer-up members of the pubic by applauding the user with various levels of enthusiasm each time it is activated.

It worked by using a sensor matt. Eeverytime a person stood on the matt, applause would sound and the persons photo was taken. Below is a photo of the peice being used by a member of the public.

Cheer Up

 

The entire peiece was designed and created by Emma Wade.

Emma’s most recent project is titled “H.U.G.S” and it is based on the need for human affection and the relationship between humans and machines. The peice is made up of a machine that the user puts on. the machine then applies a certain amount of pressure onto the body which mimics that of a hug, leading a posative effect.

Emma Wade hopes that with her work to investigate ”the physiological effects of deep pressure and cellular memory in a fine art context”.

You can get more information on Emma Wade and her work on her website: http://emmawade.com/CV.html

You can also get more information on “Rexotrex” and “The Cheer Up!” below:
http://www.rexotrek.com/
http://www.thecheerup.com/