#introbct

I am proud of my achievements this semester. I have thoroughly enjoyed my classes, studio work and challenges I have faced thus far, It’s not just the further technical skills I’ve gained that I’m especially pleased with but the knowledge in how to draw on these technologies and more importantly how to bring them together in a cohesive form. It’s this fusion of technology I think that is essential in becoming a successful creative technologist.

I am happy with the Moving Image Project with the Final Project ‘Shapes Shape Emotion’ a vast improvement on multiple levels then the initial project. I was perhaps a little too consumed by some of the technical aspects of the earlier studio projects with not much time allocated to contextual thought and development however I feel as though as the sememster progressed it was much improved which in turn lead to confident design decisions.

I feel now at the end of the first semester that I have learnt a lot more not only about myself but academically have developed into a willing and motivated creative technologist in this program. I am very much looking forward to challenges of next semester with an application underway for an exchange in Netherlands in second semester of year two.

This semester has definitely been quite a change from what I'm used to with regards to schoolwork, having to adjust to an entire new way of learning, with regards to lectures and the projects we have had to do. I'm not sure what I thought being a creative technologist was when I started this course, and even now I'm really not much more certain. I could give examples of what creative technologists have done, but can't actually describe the role very well. In any case, this has been an interesting semester, in terms of my expectations and the reality of the course.

Studio 1

Cards for Play

Our first project was “cards for play”, in which we got into groups and, after some encouragement to “[sic.]stop playing DOTA” we came to the conclusion that we would quite literally make some cards to play with, as in, cards which aren't part of a game, instead being designed to be fiddled and toyed with. Matt did much of the actual design, being the one versed in CAD, and we then laser-cut the components out of thin MDF. The product worked just as well as we intended, and was certainly suitably distracting and fun to fiddle with.

Sound Projects

This one was about sound, and in the end was quite cacophonous. We started out making collages, before moving on to appropriating sound to mix to make a 2-3 minute  soundtrack. For this one I heavily distorted some of the noises my computer makes, coming up with a suitably dismal sounding track which echo's and is reminiscent of caves. After than we began the final part of this project, which was to create our own instruments from found materials, which we then used in a sort of band performance. In all honesty I did not enjoy this part of the project project: I have no musical talent, and getting some sort of band to play in a cohesive manner was very frustrating and wearisome.

Moving Images

The final project was to do with moving images: We began making flip books, which I enjoyed much more than the previous project because I can and do draw. For my flip-book I made a transforming orb, wanting to keep things simple and easily understandable, which I'd say I was able to achieve. After this we got into groups again to make a 3 minute “moving image presentation”, which for our group consisted primarily of various shots and pans of the city of a somewhat depressing soundtrack. I didn't especially enjoy this project, as for me it was unable to meet my “artistic vision.” (If I can even say that without seeming like a knob)

Final Project: Vernissage

For the final project I felt it was time to do something on my own, to create something from only my own input. For this I took some footage from the moving image presentation which I overlaid over meaningless data entry, which I have displayed on an old CRT monitor with a raspberry pi. (Oh man, bringing the monitor into town was a chore) The installation was meant to instill the despair of a depressed corporate cubicle mouse, to which end there were far from encouraging post-it notes on the screen. This project I enjoyed because it gave me the freedom to do as I pleased.

Introduction to Creative Technologies

I'mma be honest here, there are a few aspects of this paper which I found disagreeable, first and foremost the 5 creative event blogs. The ambiguity of what a creative event entailed and what we actually had to blog about left much to be desired. I got them done well enough, but it took a bit of head-scratching to come up with suitable creative events, though I have to say my own time management on the blog posts was pretty bad. The video I found enjoyable as a project, and it allowed me to brush up on how to use Premiere Pro, as well as giving me the initiative to finish a thing I'd started a while back.

The semester has ended and I have gained so much, in the last months. I have learnt a range of idea’s and practices. I have been able to explore and experiment throughout, which has made this first semester quite fulfilling.

When I produced my video for intro to BCT I didn’t research enough into creative technologists and their practice. I knew that they combined many disciplines to come up with new prospects for the future. But making the video allowed me to learn about my classmates and the range of interests our class has . Attending different creative events has helped me gained a better understanding of creative technologists.  Normally I would not attend many events but this paper has pushed me to try new things. I have attended creative workshops and visited new places in Auckland. And I have found all the events thoroughly enjoying. Seeing real creative practitioners and listening to their visions or interacting with their work. Gives me a better idea of the work I could be producing. Blogging about the experience was a hassle but I see how it would help get a better understanding of what you just experienced .I have decided to try and continue going to these events.

I enjoyed the Intro to creative technologies talks that where held rarely but when there was a talk. It was immensely interesting, seeing how creative technologist have evolved in history or listening to guest speakers. Has left great impressions on me. Their jobs weren’t typical and left me wanting to go out my comfort zone and produce something of quality.

Studio has left me feeling more confused about what to specialize in because I have found nearly each project interesting. The first topic cards for play was a learning curve for me. But it did give an indication to what I was doing wrong. And after that I found my projects are improving as I’m starting to question my moves more. Instead of impulsively jumping from idea to idea. I also found that experimenting more has led to better outcomes. It’d great to be able to explore different topics that i am unfamiliar with like sound. I never produced my own track and i found it really rewarding. I skill that i revisited in the vernissage. The hands on approach to learning is greatly rewarding and I am intrigued in class and have never been this excited to learn new skills. As the semester progressed I found that my collaborative skills are getting better and I am able to contribute more in group discussions. I also found that when working by myself I am much more lazy compared to in a group setting where other people depending on you.

Programming has been tough. But I see how important this skill is to have now. I found learning processing difficult to keep up with. But deeply rewarding when your program works! Programming needs to be practiced and experimented which i haven't given enough time to. But seeing how the Arduino will add to projects I see that I should improve my skills in this area as I could integrate programming into my projects. I always knew programming was an important skill to learn as it can open doors to new creations and allow more interactivity digitally. 

This past semester has been an interesting and educative time. I’ve learned a variety of skills as well as learned a lot more about myself. Studio work was a step into the unknown and it proved to be a challenged as I went through a number of tasks that reflected a lot about myself. I had a chance to expand my knowledge and thinking in programming and it gave me the opportunity to push myself to go beyond what I’m comfortable with and be ambitious. 

Through my time working in the studio, I’ve grown to learn to be more versatile, learning a number of new skills, from sound manipulation to card game development. The most prominent skill that I’m still trying to improve on is blogging regularly. I’ve found that though I go through the reflective process, internally, I struggle to document it. By going through the different fields of creativity in studio 1, I’m starting to explore and identify different aspects that interest me. One area that particularly interested me was exploring the concept of interpretation. I went through a process of development for interpretation in my vernissage, creating a sound visualiser, in hopes to interpret sound visually. Interpretation is a concept that I’d like to carry on in future projects because it’s a form of changing one’s perspective, which I like to dabble with.

Creative Programming was, by far, my favourite. It was something that I was somewhat familiar with which made me comfortable and confident about my abilities. With that, it allowed me to become more ambitious and try to set a higher goal. Going through the numerous lab exercises, I found myself enjoying the task at hand and learning felt rewarding. For the final project, being given the opportunity to work at the level that we wanted to was a freedom that I took advantage of. Working with the kinect and the different issues/bugs that comes with it was an interesting task as it made me, both, resourceful as well as aware of my capabilities. It made me determined to come up with solutions and make it finer whilst making sure that I asked for help and advice to ensure that I was headed towards the right direction.

Introduction to Creative Technologies, at first, seemed like a wasteful class. There weren’t any classes for half of it so we didn’t get to learn a lot. But thinking about it now, it served as platform for people to come in and work on their project of choice and get into the habit of working at their own times. It set a nice environment where people have the time to go around the room and ask people for help or provide help. In a way, it wasn’t just an introduction to the course, but to the overall creative industry where people with different expertise come together and share their knowledge

As one of the creative events to blog about I went to a talk titled New Zealand Arts Funding – A Desert Wasteland? which, as the title indicates, regards the state of funding for arts and culture in New Zealand. The talk was between four people all involved in different aspects of the NZ arts scene: Anne Rodda, a director,  Elisabeth Vaneveld, who is part of The Big Idea, a creative community,  Dr Ella Henry, a senior lecturer of sociology at AUT, and  Grae Burton an actor and artist. These four people discussed where the funding for a good chunk of New Zealand’s art comes from, and a need for a change in the way that it is handled. I learned today that much funding comes from the lottery and gambling, and has previously come from Cigarettes and Alcohol. They offered various perspectives on where money came from to make art happen, talking about crowdsourcing and how having an active and widespread community helps grow the arts and keep it funded, but also how the government should go about funding art, citing Helen Clarke becoming Arts Minister (if I recall correctly) and giving the arts plenty of attention.

Creative technologist event documentation #3: Mad Max: Fury Road

So, going into this film I had very little prior knowledge about the series, and knew only that there were cars, deserts, and desert car chase action sequences. I was suitably impressed by this film: while it hasn't done anything particularly new plot wise, what it did it did very competently: the cinematography was excellent, the visual effects highly immersive, and the vehicle, costume and set design were inspiring. Much of it reminded me of some of the Ork stuff in Warhammer 40,000, with things cobbled together oout of multiple vehicles too form truly ridiculous moving behemoths. I found the film quite inspiring overall, primarily visually, as I find myself to be a very visual person, and the saturated, punk style of this film.  (see Coma the Doof Warrior, the dude in the red onesie rocking out whenever Immortan Joe’s convoy is moving)