#project 15

Casteel: 2nd in jazz, 3rd in hip hop

Highland: 1st in Pom, 2nd in game day, 3rd in jazz

Cinematic platformer (Another World, Heart of Darkness)

Friday the 13th for NES

The first is obvious. The cinematic platformer is all about mood and horrifying character deaths as the visceral punishment for failure. It does stand as a stark opposite to what I’m doing with the books since these are aimed at middle grade readers and no humans are allowed to die (my rule, though heavily riffing on R.L Stine's rule for Goosebumps). Absence of dialogue in these games lends a lot to their atmosphere but the books are chock full of it. I would have to rewire my brain to show not tell. I originally had a Frankenstein game in mind for this exercise but now that I’m developing this whole big project it feels fitting to implement it there. Who knows, maybe I make a middle grade (rated E10+) version of a Frankenstein cinematic platformer.

What I dwell on about Friday the 13th is also its mood, how effective that mood is at stoking the player's unease, and making a game of its vintage scary. But! It also has a party system with multiple characters available to help reach the end of the game. There is zero character development or story for those characters beyond the notion that they are camp counselors working together to survive and ultimately kill Jason. Functionally, each character is a “life” and the player fails the game when all characters are killed. All characters have the same attributes but in varying quantities. One kid is the fastest, one kid has the most health, etc. and switching between them becomes an important part of exploring the world. It's a mechanic we see in games like TMNT for NES or, far more famously, in the brilliant horror-comedy adventure Maniac Mansion.

With this project, I initially was going to work alone and create some motion graphics blip-verts. But, I was approached by Katherine early on about possibly collaborating and I realised as we haven’t collaborated on anything officially apart from one project this would be very fun! So we decided to make a music video together.

Here’s a few examples of blip-verts we were shown for our project when the brief was given.

Lung. Blip Verts - Student Example. 

Radiohead - Blipverts

Shadow Dancer - Golden Traxe

Make Her Say - Student Example

On 8th Janruary 2019 Jason gave us the music project brief.

Introduction: 

Over the last 30 years, music videos have helped cement the emotional connection between visuals and music, and have been used as a tool for communicating the message of the artist or musician who is performing. Music videos became a genre of video production in their own right, peaking with budgets to rival some small independent movie productions in the 1990s. From the 7-inch, and 12-inch sleeve design of yesteryear, to the cd packaging of the present day and the digital demands of new formats, the industry has consistently embraced change. Motion design in music promotion is evolving rather than dwindling, and it’s clear that the secret weapon in its armory is diversity. Websites, Facebook sites, content for mobiles, animated sequences, television commercials, the list goes on.

The Brief 

For this project you are required to select and produce ONE of the following:

 MUSIC PROMO ‘BLIP-VERT’:

It is your job to reject the whole concept of the pop video and create a series* of animated “blip-verts” that illustrate a selection of tracks from a music artist of your choice. (series* - minimum of 5 short 10sec blipverts) This method of advertising is intended to bridge the gap between both audio and visual elements and communicate the concept of the chosen tracks as mini teasers for your selected musical artist. These “blip-verts” are designed to run during TV ad breaks, iTunes video media and/or viral mobile phone media. A large majority of musical artists are particularly vigilante about how they are represented visually. This is your opportunity to create a series of animations to visually enhance the listening experience whilst holding true to the musicians intentions. In order to carry this out successfully it is important to analyse your chosen genre of music, breaking down the lyrics (if any) and appropriately interpret the meaning and message of the songs. The success of this campaign comes down to many contributing factors. The idea is of course a priority, but making your content universally accessible will of course increase its popularity. Similarly, if it is available in every format on every conceivable device then people can consume it in the way they want to. 

ILLUSTRATED INTERPRETATION OF A MUSCIAL TRACK : 

Your challenge is to choose a band or artist and create a moving illustrated response inspired by ONE of their tracks that could be used as a backdrop to a live performance or as a stand alone film. In doing so, you’ll be facing this issue head on and demonstrating your vision of a brave new world for moving illustration in music and interactivity with performers. The target audience intended for the moving illustration will be the fan base of the musician/band/artist you select as part of answering the brief. Think of other ways you can utalise this work to be instrumental in the promotion and brand of the artist. Successful pieces will demonstrate how illustration can reinvent itself as a powerful tool for promotion and expression within the world of music. We are looking for work that explores new ways that illustration can be integrated into the music experience. You should consider how musicians are reinventing the way that they interact with their fans and the increased importance of building intimate relationships and new experiences between fans and bands.

MUSIC VIDEO : 

Your challenge is to choose a band or artist and create a full Music Video for ONE of their tracks. There have been countless debates around the origin of the first modern day from AC/DC playing on the Australian show ‘countdown’ to the ‘video concert hall’ in America from the late 70’s but no-one can argue the impact MTV had on this genre. In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV was launched and it began the age of 24-hour music television. They launched the channel with the video, "Video Killed the Radio Star." Throughout the 1980s, MTV expanded to become an important tool used in music marketing. Singers like Madonna not only used music videos to promote their albums, but to create their images. In 1983, the almost 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson's song "Thriller," was released. It became the world's most successful and influential video in music video history It is very unlikely that you will have access to the band you are going to choose so be inventive with regards to how you are going to generate a sequence without using the performers in question. Think moving illustration or unique ways to tell the story of your chosen track but in NO WAY substitute yourself or colleagues to ‘pretend’ to be the band. This brief is intended as a live project that could be broadcast not a night out at a karaoke bar or an episode of ‘stars in your eyes’ from the early 90’s!

Outcomes. 

Use any medium possible to create your digital submissions in the most appropriate resolution and aspect ratio for its intended use rendered out as Apple Pro Res (HQ) codec together with any digital artwork that you may create in response to your chosen option

Learning Outcomes (as specified in the validated module descriptor):

1 Manage time, personnel and resources effectively by drawing on planning and organisational skills 

2 Explore the more advanced aspects of Motion Graphics, including the use of image, typography, colour, space, format, etc. as well as developing technical proficiency in software and hardware. 

3 Creating high quality motion design, effective storytelling, and attractive visual communication.

Grading Criteria – Pitch (15%) 

1 Research / Concept development – 30% 

2 Design Connection between Sound and Image -10% 

3 Technical Ability – 10% 

4 Final Music Promo / Blipvert – 50%

Initial Thoughts: 

Honestly, I’m quite excited about this project as I have worked on a music video a couple of years ago which I really enjoyed doing. I think that possibly re-visiting doing something like that is quite exciting. But also after last year, I loved doing sound sync (and it was one of my highest grades), so doing blipverts may be a fun direction to go too.