electroplankton

it's FUN.

it's the kind of computer game i like because it isn't really a game. there's no high scores or items to collect or any of that palava. you poke at the screen and clap you hands and say random words into the microphone and things happen.

it's creator, Toshio Iwai, was obsessed with looking at things through a microscope and playing super mario bros. on the NES as a child. he also liked fiddling around with a tape recorder and a synthesizer, all of which he managed to incorporate into electroplankton.

the game has two modes, performance mode which lets you play around, and audience mode which lets you kick back while the little plankton do all the hard work. there's ten different kinds of pankton, there's tracy which follows lines you draw on the screen, hanenbow which bounce off leaves, luminaria which follow arrows, sun-animalcule which grow and fade, rec-rec that record what you say into the microphone, nanocarp that respond to your voice and claps, lumiloop which you spin around really fast to make sounds, marine-snow that you disturb, beatnes that remember beats you tap onto them and volvoice which distorts your voice. it's all good fun.

pretty colours O_O

pretty.

since i've had to abandon the bunny costumes and pantomime cows, i've decided to go something a bit more katamari-ish, and have a trippy rainbow sequence with some of the characters from the shows on CBBC on sunday morning. i've finished cutting out most of the characters i'm going to use (need to see if my mac has recorded anything else useful when i get back to it). now i'm starting to create the other elements (PRETTY RAINBOWS!) i'm going to be using. i'm creating them in illustrator, and i'm planning to make the move around and get bigger etc. in after affects.

here's one of my first attempts (keep in mind i barely use illustrator so need to get used to it again!)

i've taken the colour scheme from the cover of my notebook for now, may change it a bit.

on the sound design side of things... which is really making me worry abit and making my head hurt... rahrahrharhahrahaahh... i've been thinking making something along the lines of this... or this.... or this. only not as good as i'm not that talented.

video games live...

their fans are awesome.



spot the fio and i'll give you a cookie.*

the actual concert itself was also really good, although i still haven't been converted to halo (i saw the man who composed the music and he sang the intro music and they did music from all the halos, hate me fanboys), i may now be atleast interested in metal gear solid and some other games now just based on their music.

another cool bit was when the orchestra played the music to space invaders in real time as a fan ran around the stage with a sensor on him, controling the space ship.

i also ate lots of noodles.

*i might not.

oh someone please kill me

childrens tv is incrediably mind numbing.

oh it's painful.

i'm slowly going through the shows i recorded during the day looking for stills i could possibly use in my ident. yesterday it was chucklevision and arthur (i don't mind him, he's cool). today it's best of friends, the cramp twins and krypto the superdog.

so far today i'm half way through best of friends and i want to start banging my head against the table. it's actually quite hard to find a clip or still that could be used, i wanted to use the presenters but may end up using the characters from the intro instead. the show itself is quite strange, one group of children are pelting a middle aged man with sponges and the other group is being tested on it's cake icing abilities.

i'm supposed to be able to export the clips from my tv card program thing as ipod movies, so i hoped i could use some footage and sound from what i've recorded but for some reason that option has decided to grey itself out.

on the side of things going well, the best of friends intro is pretty similar to my idea. there's rainbows. and pretty colours. and random characters that don't appear in the show.

video games live

i'm going to see them next week. ^_^

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

so... yeah...

pretty still from a pretty film by shynola about a pretty leaf. i really like the style in this image, and would like to do something similar, but with more bright colours.... and rainbows.... yeah.

plan b

since i can't afford to use costumes to create my own magical wonder happy land, i have instead decided to look at what is actually on CBBC on a sunday morning...

the line up on sunday morning (7am - 12:00pm) looks like this:

The Batman
Krypto the Superdog
Cramp Twins
Arthur
ChuckleVision
Hider in the House
Young Dracula
Basil Brush
The Crust
Best of Friends

i'm thinking of using characters from these shows in the intro. hopefully looking at the design of these characters will help with coming up with other elements.

i need to get me some yellow modeling clay.

as much as i would love...

to have some volunteers in one of these...

or maybe one of these...

or one of these...

having a little tea party in hyde park, at £20 - £35 to hire a costume i'm not going to be able to afford it.
and masks just might end up looking scary.

i may just have to animate everything.

dammit.

(photos taken from fantasy world.)

storyboards

first one:

(the one that should have been up here last week but i was vomiting violently)

the ident starts with a yellow blob jumping on screen (which is plain white), morphing and suddenly obtaining some eyes. he then blinks a couple of times, and yells CUSTARD!! the background suddenly bursts into colour, and the camera then zooms into his mouth.

when then find ourselves in a "magical happy joy land" akin to YO! gabba gabba. there are strange men in costumes jumping around and acting crazy in an innocent childish manner. the footage of them frolicking is then imposed onto a moving rainbow background. then the end screen appears, which features real footage of pink custard being dropped into yellow custard, with the program information on top.

this idea developed a bit more:

(oooh colour)

yellow blobby thing plops onto screen, starts stretching himself into different shapes.

a set of eyes pop into existence, he blinks at us a couple of times, in a daze maybe.

he finds his voice and screams CUSTARD!! the bright rainbow background starts spinning around him. the camera then zooms into his mouth mid-scream.

here we find ourselves in a strange world populated by bunny men, (video of some volunteers in front a green screen or more likely just pratting around in hyde park.) jumping around and generally having fun in an innocent child like manner.

a rainbow then descends over the scene, and there is still shots of the bunny men on top of the rainbow. (lots of fast editing to keep it interesting)

the background then flashes different colours, with the bunny men strutting their stuff on top. the background then changes to a circular rainbow design.

the bunny men disappear and the camera zooms into the yellow circle at the centre of the rainbow. the final shot of pink custard being dropped into yellow custard is then shown, with the program information on top.

the reason i decided to go with video footage of the bunny men instead of illustrated world and characters is that it will make making the ident simpler and take less time. it's much easier to film volunteers messing around in costume rather then animating several characters and designing them. i would have liked to design the costumes but i don't have the time or the resources to.

the yellow blob will most likely be stop motion. since it's more textured and stop motion is sometimes used in childrens programs.

i love katamari

here we see the king of all cosmos and his family with their little animal friends, running rampant around the world spreading stars, clovers and mushrooms where ever they go. i love the brightness and randomness of the katamari game intro animations, the previously relatively dull world transformed by the arrival of the family, now complete with rainbows, giant flowers and dancing pandas.



the part i really love of this animation is the spinning circles and the kaleidoscope effect at the start, which is quite hypnotizing. I also like the inclusion of everyday events, such as doing the washing and chasing after their son. although the animation itself is relatively simple, the inclusion of so many elements makes it look extremely complex.



this is my personal favourite, i love this version of the soundtrack. i love the hearts created by different objects at the start. i think the use of still images in the intros is done really well, although the images are mostly static the editing makes the intro fast paced, and the inclusion of some animated elements on top of the static image creates a nice effect.

instant cuteness =

use pastels and add faces to inaminate objects. with rosy cheeks.
kawaii not by meghan murphy.