Since (frustratingly) I haven’t been able to do much with the computer lately, I’ve had time to do a lot of thinking about where I want to go with this Flash project. Somehow it seems that thinking about these things whilst sitting on a park bench or in a cafe generates rather better ideas to when staring aimlessly at a monitor in a dark room late at night. There are essentially 3 components to the project – the animation, the installation proposal, and the documentation:
Animation
- I feel I have the individual animations pretty much cracked – at least the idea for each image. What needs some thought though is the transitions between images. I’m happy for the 5 main images to transition via a simple fade out/in effect, representing the monotonous boredom of the respective spaces. The transitions between these 5 images and those that represent a “glimpse of the spectacular” however, may need a little more interest. Possibly an interactive method of transition? I’m drawn to the idea of a mask as a method of transition – something dragable which demands effort from the user to reveal the spectacular.
- I’m also currently toying with the idea of framing each animation. This could simply be to place them within a white container, but the aim would be to unify the images and bring a consistency to the animation which should hopefully help tie things together visually. A frame further resonates the concept of the window which is integral to my animation.
- I’d like to think about how the animation will be presented online. I plan to have it embedded into a custom web page which I will design to reinforce the theme of my project. This page could also possibly contain instructions on how to view the animation, links to drawings of the installation proposal and excerpts from my original description of the project.
- The final idea, and this is very much time-dependent, is to explore the possibility of incorporating a soundtrack into the animation. This will most likely be a piece of ambient instrumental music that would play in the background as the user explores the animation, rather than specific sound effects that are triggered from the animation.
Installation
- Although I have a number of ideas for the installation, I feel that this is the area of the project that still needs most consideration. It seems obvious firstly that my main images/animations should be projected in a way that reproduce some of the sense of enclosure and claustrophobia that the actual rooflights generate.
- My initial idea for the installation is a raised platform into which viewers will climb. This platform will be enclosed above by the projection screens, which will be positioned above head-height and angled inward to resemble the orientation of the actual rooflights. The screens will be projected from behind.
- Behind these main screens will be further screens featuring the images which represent the “glimpses of the spectacular”. It will not be immediately obvious to the viewer that these screens exist, and so it will be a matter of chance or determination whether or not these glimpses are revealed.
- The next question is how the transitions between the main images and the “glimpses of the spectacular ” occur. One thought is that the screens are roller-blinds, which the viewer must operate to reveal what is beyond. Another is that the roller-blinds are automatically operated at random, and so the viewer has no input into what is revealed to them. A further, interesting possibility is that the viewer does trigger the automatic roller-blinds, but through hidden sensors, i.e. pressure/proximity sensors. This would mean that the user is triggering the “glimpses of the spectacular”, but they are unaware of just how.
- There should probably be a clue given of the existence of the secondary images which are behind the main ones. An idea for this is that small sections of the screens are cut away in areas that correspond to gaps in the image. For instance a crack in a window pane of a stairwell will actually be a cut through the corresponding projected image, and this would offer the viewer a small glimpse of what is beyond.
- It may be interesting to use the projectors themselves as part of the installation. Since most of my secondary “glimpse” images are of bursts of sunlight, there may be an option to use the projectors to further enhance the experience of viewing one of these “glimpses of the spectacular”. The screens would be projected from behind, and so when the the screens featuring the main images are temporarily removed to reveal the secondary images, a projector would be potentially projecting directly into the face of the viewer. Instead of having the projector temporarly shut off, it would be appropriate to leave it running, representing the blinding sun as it pierces through the horizontal slit windows in the studio before setting.
- Something else I’d like to look into is using sensors to control the animations. I’m aware of an Arduino-to-flash script which which would allow users to control animations through physical movement when viewing the installation. One idea is to have a proximity sensor mounted on the screen which features one of the “glimpse of the spectacular” images. As this bright, vibrant image is revealed, the viewer would naturally be drawn to explore it more closely, but upon doing so the image would gradually become more desaturated, depending on the viewer’s distance from the proximity sensor. In this way the viewer truly only experiences a “glimpse”, and experiences the frustration of isolation in the studio space.
Documentation
- I’d like to think more deeply about the method in which I document this project, and a simple A4 bound booklet seems rather inappropriate. Using the fantastic Things Our Friends Said On The Internet 2008 project by Really Interesting Group as a precedent, I plan to create something unique and pertinent, which could almost exist as a project in its own right.
- Since the project is about windows, the glass, what is beyond it, isolation and striving to discover something spectacular, it would prove relevant to experiment with an origami-style document. Initially in a folded state, the document must be unraveled by the viewer to unveil the money shots. During this process of unfolding, the document would reveal snippets of the development of the project.
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A while back I was asked to submit a photo from last year’s Cambridge Folk Festival for possible inclusion in the new Schmap guide to Cambridge. I’ve just found out that the pic has made it into the guide, which is pretty sweet, but the one they chose is strangely probably the worst photo I took that day…
and something for the iPhoners
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Well I had a run in with a pint glass last week and came off a fair bit worse. My wrist more specifically – I’ve cut thru a tendon that makes my fingers work. It’ unfortunately my good arm as well, so I can just about type, but otherwise its unlikely there’s going to be much work from me for at least the next month…
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This is the 7th image, and one of the “Glimpses of the Spectacular”. The idea here is that the user has managed to discover this glimpse by finding a small gap in the window. Once discovered, the user strains to take in the spectacular view, peering through the thin crack in the filthy glass.
Look with your mouse…
Here is the full sized version
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Ok so this is the third image animation which again has taken me a ridiculously long time! I started by duplicating the original image and turning it into a night-time shot in Photoshop. Then I created a button from the top fluorescent light which triggers a fade transition between day and night.
This was all pretty simple stuff and I introduced a flicker into the up state of the button to signify its function. The cloud animation behind the glass, on the contrary, caused me a great deal of stress. I had to introduce “depth” into the AcrionScript of a simple movie clip to generate the dispersing cloud effect, and then use the cursor tracking function to apply the movie clip to position of the cursor.
The result is that the user can draw a cloud trail across the glass. The next problem was limiting the cursor trail animation to the area of the window, so that it appeared as if the clouds were forming behind the glass. I initially used the StartDrag function and limited the active area to top, right, bottom and left boundaries, but this had the disadvantage of restricting the area to a rectangle, whereas the window consisted of a series of rhombus-shaped panes.
After some further research it seemed the way forward was to create a button with a hit area which filled all the glass panes, and to assign the cloud trails movie clip as a RollOver state. This button had to have an instance name, and I then had to duplicate its hit area to be used as a mask for the animation.
Finally I had to create an empty movie clip which was subject to the mask, and give it an instance name. Again the process was rather long-winded and certainly more complicated than I’d expected, but the result is quite effective.
I feel I need to work on the actual cloud trail animation, specifically for the night-time image. Please test the animation and send me any feedback you have: rich@rafolio.co.uk
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