#bct2015

To finish off the project I decided to have a looping pattern instead of letters of something fixed because it shows what kind of cool patterns you can come up with when using only a 4x4 LED matrix.

I feel really bad that I couldn't finish the code at the end even though I did spend quite a significant amount of my time trying to understand and teach myself the programming that establishes the connection between the keyboard, Arduino and Processing and controlling the neo pixels right at the beginning of when we received the neopixels. However, I found it a challenge to program the whole installation without it being set up. So we chose to stop with the coding for a while and focus on soldering and setting up the installation. Because our installation was allocated right at the area where there were lectures held, we had no choice but to wait till all the lectures were over to set up and it took us more time than expected (even with 3 other people helping us) setting it up, so we ran short and did not have enough time for the coding at the end.

I gained inspiration to build a LED drawing pad from this glove controlled robotic hand using an Arduino. When Bobby and I discussed our project, we both agreed that it would be very practical and also amazing to be able to draw wireless to an LED screen using a special glove with accelerometer sensors.

Bobby and I decided to take a new direction with our studio project and begin developing our app for a new business idea:

Pelican Limited is a New Zealand owned smart logistics service aimed at providing the most efficient delivery system in Australasia. The Pelican delivery system, will be an on-demand delivery service that connects customers with local businesses. Through the Pelican marketplace, people can purchase goods from local merchants and have them delivered within an hour - this is available through our revolutionary logistics technology.

Bobby Eng, Michan Fukushima I came up with this idea during a discussion over lunch whilst attending the Auckland University of Technology, located in the Auckland CBD. The three of us had been talking about the smart phone logistic services that were very quickly emerging in the United States and Europe.  In particular the text message delivery service ‘Magic!’ that recently exploded in the United States sparked our creative intuition to bring a similar service to Australasia, specifically New Zealand Pelican Business Structure

There were two main goals we wanted to achieve with the Pelican service: 

1. The customer could order their product on a Graphical User Interface mobile application; allowing them to order literally anything, prepay the price and have it delivered to their chosen location within one hour.

2. The deliverer would work in conjunction with our mobile application technology, allowing them to sign in and work when they want to, and earn money as independent contractors. They would receive an order via their mobile application depending on their location which they can choose to accept or decline. They then could fulfil the order and deliver it to the customers requested drop of location. Their service fee would be paid out once the customer has confirmed the delivery of their order, the business model is similar to that of Uber’s Taxi Service.

I decided to collaborate with Bobby Eng for Synethic Realities to start planning, designing and developing this idea into a final product that could be released into the market place within the next 12 months. 

Bobby and I spent an extensive amount of time both using various delivery services and dwelled in extensive research into what services are currently available in New Zealand. We have gained an immense understanding of what customers would want and need from a smart logistics service, and have applied our creative proficiency to design a user interface that will change the way the standard logistics system works. We decided collectively that I would be in charge of designing the front end graphical user interface and Bobby would design the backend using Javascript Android Studio as our pilot application. 

When I originally designed the front end I spent 80 hours designing and adding all the product detail into each shop and food store so we could convert the HTML model straight to javascript format. Once the website model was finished it managed to emulate a fully functioning E-Commerce style app. After hours Bobby spent trying to convert the website into Javascript, he realised that it was pointless to create a website that functions just like the app, so he started creating the app from scratch and asked myself to help redesign a more simpler website where users can only register or sign in, edit their account and view the info on the company. Going through countless tutorials, understanding the XML and Java as well as understanding how the structure works, Bobby began making progress on the application.

Originally I spent hours playing around with the design of a website that would be on display with our Pelican android application, But decided I would take a slightly different approach for explaining our company information and service idea. With the help of Ben Bray and Michan Fukushima, Bobby and I made a short film which was part of our Entrepreneurship and Innovation paper. The video gives a short overview on our service and explains each of our roles in the business structure.

I always remember Clinton Watkins - Creative Audio Lecturer saying to me in a previous project that “If your project is not coming from a genuine place, you will loose interest very quickly and there won’t be depth to your output. Utilise the skills and passions you love and your project will develop naturally”. I was first hesitant to get involved in creating another business because I wanted to explore something a little different, which concluded me to originally propose the idea of creating something with an Arduino. I soon realised that this was not my passion, and that my creating new products and service for a market has always been my passion since I started the Bachelor of Creative Technologies.

8 weeks of designing, planning and building our app

1 week writing up our business proposal

2 days of filming our video

2 days of editing our video

When you get your first letter and he not only explains how the hardest thing is being away from his girls and how he loves & misses us.....

then that one side comment stating -----> hes bald lol.

Synthetic Realities: Pelican Delivery Video

After meeting Stacey (@staceypretorius) during the second class of Creative Audio, I decided that I wanted to collaborate with another musician to bring a slightly different factor into my second semester project. Stacey and I are both musicians with a similar style and approach to composition of music.

I came up with the idea of mixing abstract and alternative sounds from objects into original acoustic composition. We concluded that we would write two original composition pieces uninfluenced by one another and combine them into one final piece by cleverly transitioning from one to the other. I also came up with an idea to focus solely on vocal and mix that with alternative instrumentation such as the whistle of a crystal glass, or the waves from the ocean.

Personally I wanted to find three alternative sounds collected from locations or items that most represent my personality and/or style of music I write, I then wanted to use these samples as a backbone or foundation for the composition whilst recording vocal melodies over the top.

My research included an artist in Prague, Czech Republic who created a instrument using different sized crystal glasses to give him a range of notes in a scale to use. He uses the secret technique of rubbing his finger gently around the rim to vibrate the crystal to form a high pitch soft sound. I first heard this musician when I was travelling through Europe and I was reminded when trying to come up with a relevant type of alternative instrumentation that I was  looking for to included in my creative audio project.

Our direction for the project changed when Clint our lecturer set us into groups of four to have our current progress critiqued by others. This allowed for us to gain a wider perspective or different ideas to further the development of our project. Will shared an interesting idea that really stood out for me; he suggested that Stacey and I create our composition in a Call and Response style.

This is when the song contains two artists, usually a male and a female that are singing in duet form and create a story line around stating and replying conversational lines to each other. An example of this can be found in the song “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart - Elton John” where one vocalist states “Don’t go breaking my heart” and the other artist replies with “I wouldn’t if I tried”.  We thought this composition technique would create a really unique sense in which the song structure would emulate the artists talking in conversation with each other.

Our song was quite hard to piece together as Stacey’s composition was in a different time signature to my composition. It required a planned transition and in the end worked very well. The two songs are completely independent of each other but are mashed together to emphasise the theology of similar circumstances, especially the metaphorical techniques we used such as harmonising particular lines and a ghost lyrical effect during the transition.

The picture we wanted to create in the instrumental for listeners was the Son writing his experience of listening to his mum arguing with his dad during a feud emphasising a lot of tension and frustration. They’re in their kitchen that looks out to the beach, kinda like a bach feel - open ranch sliders and a sunny afternoon with birds chirping away. Although peaceful around them and what appears to be ok, within each one you sense tension. I always remember Clinton Watkins - Creative Audio Lecturer saying to me in a previous project that “If your project is not coming from a genuine place, you will loose interest very quickly and there won’t be depth to your output. Utilise the skills and passions you love and your project will develop naturally”. I was first hesitant to create an audio piece using my guitar because I wanted to explore something a little different, which concluded me to propose the idea of solely on vocal and mix that with alternative instrumentation. I soon realised that this was not my passion, and that my acoustic guitar needed to be in the creative audio piece because it was the core element to my style of music.

5 weeks of structuring and piecing together the song

7 hours of recording the song

3 days of mastering and editing the musical piece

Pelican Delivery

Entrepreneurship and Innovation + Synthetic Realities: Pelican Delivery