DCD YEAR TWO CAMY KUMAR
THE DADA MOVEMENT To the Dadaists, logic was a pestilence. They believed as whole that peoples’ logic had led to a widespread culturally and morally deficient society. These artists were so appalled by World War I that they violently rejected existing notions of culture, aesthetics, and even reason. Their work was anti-war, anti-bourgeois, and anti-conformity. Freedom was the goal; Dada sought to liberate a variety of media and its meanings from the shackles of the past. Through sheer determination, the Dadaists’ most powerful tools were biting satire and brazen provocation. Their ideology laid the foundation for Surrealism and their delight in anarchy makes them a cultural precursor to the punk movement that was born half a century later. (Redding and Redding, 2010) -Dada had only one rule: Never follow any known rules.
MANIFESTO BRIEF
-Dada art is nonsensical to the point of whimsy. Almost all of the people who created it were ferociously serious, though. -Abstraction and Expressionism were the main influences on Dada, followed by Cubism and, to a lesser extent, Futurism. -Dada self-destructed when it was in danger of becoming “acceptable”. (Esaak, 2014)
GROUP WORK I, Lucy, Dalveen and Shannon as a group researched the goal to Dadaism and the impact it had on society today. We began to realise that the movement was about expression and the ability to be free. We all assigned different roles, my role was to put the information and material all together and create a video that represented and showed the data. In order to improve the video, I would definitly change the voice of the man speaking as it is a dull, montone voice that can put anyone to sleep! I would change the voice to a male who is showing expression in his voice. I also would change the design of the visual by perhaps having the illustration of the man walking through an art gallery speaking to the user who is watching and listening. Overall I am happy with the outcome to the group work as we worked together as a whole communicating via various mediums.
Still frames of group’s presentation video
IS THE ADVERTISEMENT INDUSTRY BENEFITTING YOU AS A GROWING DESIGNER? MANIFESTO EXPLAINED My individual manifesto is based on advertising: the ability to advertise faithfully than to advertise falsely thus misleading the consumer. Advertising, what is it? and how is it affecting the public emotionally and economically? Advertising is promoting competition and lowering the costs of providing information to consumers and the distribution of goods. Economic Function: “noninformative,” or image, advertising is used when customers demand to see
a difference in themselves, as athletic, adventuresome, or even spontaneous. However advertising messages can sometimes be used to mislead, but a heavily advertised brand name limits the scope for deception and poor quality. (Bittlingmayer, n.d.)
INDIVIDUAL MANIFESTO
BANKSY MANIFESTO
Designers limiting their talent in order to produce what the media say the consumer’s want.
It’s rather typical adbusting, or subvertising, theory but it’s also inspirational for all those who don’t give much thought to our Baudrillardian world.
If you let the media fuel you, then you will.. 1) Limit your potential to grow as a designer. 2) Become ignorant of what design growth is. 3) Repeat the unnoticed mistakes that you make. 4) Lose insight to the value of postmodernism and what has shaped design to this era. 5) Become demotivated. 6) Create complex situations out of simple designs. 7) Become arrogant of technology. 8) Not be wary of the flaws in yourself. 9) Consider the aesthetic and not functional side of design.
FIRST THINGS FIRST MANIFESTO 1964 ‘We propose a reversal of priorities in favour of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication – a mindshift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design.’ (FIRST THINGS FIRST MANIFESTO, 1964). Similarly to mine, the manifesto was created to rebuke the prominent call of advertising and to design to give information socially that will help give knowledge to the public, isntead of creating a cultural war between advertisers. It proposed ‘a reversal of priorities in favour of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication.’
In 2000, the manifesto was ‘imporved’ stating: ‘Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design. Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development are supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact. To some extent we are all helping draft a reductive and immeasurably harmful code of public discourse.’ (First things First, 2000)
WHO OWNS THE FUTURE?
My manifesto links in well with the ‘Who owns the future?’ manifesto. It relates to it by the fact that the who owns the future manifesto concentrates on people, the middle ‘Any advert in a public space class in particular, being conthat gives you no choice trolled and absorbed by the whether you see it or not is Siren Servers (organisations yours, yours to take re-arrange like Facebook and Twitter) and re-use it. Asking for perwho use the middle class’s mission is like asking to keep data in order to increase their a rock someone just threw at wealth and reputation. My your head’ (Banksy, 2008) manifesto is linked to the ‘Creative Process’ (Designers Great comparison to my and Artists) who are limited manifesto where ‘you owe to their potential in design. the companies nothing. They The creative process, us the have rearranged the world to designers, are siding with the put themselves in front of you. organisations in order to earn Don’t ask for their permission’ a living from our job(s). Even this is quite clearly someone as freelancers we are to search who has been affected by ad- for what the consumer’s want, vertising and is now expressand what information teching their thoughts through nology expects of us. this manifesto!
Non-Commercial Artefact Posters
These manifestos are great examples in favour of supporting my one.
Still frames of 2 minute video framing the debate around my manifesto
Commerical Artefact Posters
MOTION GRAPHICS IN TRAILERS SAMPLE QUESTIONS AND REPLIES
Design Investigation Brief
Q) In regards to any CG that you’ve worked on (please state), what was the biggest challenge on the project and how did you achieve it? ‘Working on Rise of the Guardians, the biggest challenge was to help everyone feel included and productive. Many people felt alone and they would get contradictory notes from many different supervisors. This lead to many animators feeling hurt and discouraged with their work. What we did was create specific character teams, for Jack Frost, Bunny, North, etc., so that people had a network of support and feedback to make their work better. The better each animators work got the more satisfied and rewarded they felt. This helped us to overcome most of the issues in this area.’ ‘3dsmax crash reports and corrupt save files. That mostly makes me crazy.’ ‘Time is the most important thing that you take from a person’ ‘Honestly, this was the biggest project for me at that time in my life. It was incredibly challenging on multiple levels, and I learned my fair share of life lessons on this project. I had never been on a project for this lengthy span of time, and so my biggest challenge was staying in love with it. I had to keep digging deeper within to continually be 110% on each and every stage of the project. Keeping that momentum and love going for over a year and half became emotionally and mentally exhausting, since I use my emotions to fuel my creativity. Also, since I work remotely out of my home office, it was challenging to stay connected with everyone and be on the same page at all times. However, with all these obstacles, it just makes the result
that much more rewarding at the end of it all.’ ‘Biggest challenge for me was realizing that motion design is essentially a filmmaking medium that utilizes design theories.’ Q) Have you had any collaborations, if so who with and what experience did you gain out of it? ‘We have collaborated with people/clients ranging from electronic arts, Sony pc entertainment, the big people.. Commercials we work with Scottish agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi which is a big achievement for us. This is why it is so important to us to hire only the best of designers who have a high skillset and creativity.’ ‘At the start of the project, I was focused on things like font families, grids, and object layouts. Then it shifted towards the stage of putting the designs into motion, and then into the film. There was a great deal of back and forth with Matthew Butler, G Creative, and the other teams, once we got things moving in the scenes. Matthew really has an expert eye for picking up subtleties. We would have lots of meetings and remote calls to discuss the tasks and solutions of each shot. It was truly a great collaborative experience with everyone. At times, the challenges could get incredibly taxing and exhausting, but I believe we accomplished what we wanted and got it done to the best of our abilities. Although the journey on this project extended over such a vast amount of time, ultimately, I couldn’t leave what I had started and I had to help see it through to the end.’ Q) Was there a shot or a sequence that prevented you from sleep?
‘During Kung Fu Panda 1 where we had to animate Po being hit by obstacles during his training! That was most entertaining for us but the mechanics took us forever to master! ‘ Q) Did any of the team act out the characters? ‘ had team members get up and get a feel of the characters in Guardian and Kung Fu Panda, we simply took their personalities and applied it to the characters! ‘ ‘Yes through the learning process of the production in animation, we adapted ‘hiccups’ and accidental mistakes that looked natural and cool. The ones that we felt were worthy of putting in the trailer were put in due to the authentic look created, we were proud of the time spent relaxing and not paying attention to the abilities and characteristics in depth as that made the outcome look more authentic.’ Q) Did you try to tell a narrative through the trailer and if so, did you want to bring the narrative to life? ‘The approach we had was to show scenes involving the rivals in the game and hoped for the players to be able to familiarise themselves with the relationship between the characters and personalities. Rather than creating a new narrative ‘
toilet or having a tea break, ideas will come and go, sometimes I write them down and expand on them. ‘I take inspiration some of my friends who have very interesting stories that need to be shared. I also get inspired by songs and song lyrics.’ ‘In the work environment where my colleagues all act out scenes, ideas spawn from that.’ ‘TED inspires many of us, we watch videos for innovative ideas that we can expand and elaborate on.’ Q) In one sentence, can you describe your relationship with your closest work colleagues? ‘We work closely together to make each other better. One animator alone can be good, but together we can be the greatest animator. ‘ ‘We all work with humour, we are all leaders and work together.’ ‘I think my colleagues would say that I am the loudest of them all but equally we all put in the same amount of effort.’ ‘We rely on criticism from each other to create the best piece
Q) What editing software programs did you use? Photoshop cs6, 3ds max, Maya, After Effects & Element 3D, motionbuilder, cinema 4d.
of work, it’s nice to be a part of a team!’
Q) Where did you go to gain inspiration and what inspired you? ‘Dreams give me a lot of inspiration.’
‘I have good judgment about people and an intuitive sense of their talents and their ability to contribute to a given problem. We have a strong skillset that makes us able to produce satisfying work together.’
‘Moments where I am on the
‘There’s never a dull moment in the work environment.’
4) From the rearch gathered, I then created a process chart of how Animated Motion Graphics are created. it seemed fitting as I did not understand the ‘process’ myself.
VISUALISING DATA Through the primary and secondary research I had done, I created a representation of visualising that data through Qualitative and Quantitative data shown.
I found a simple layout template which I got inspired from. (Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methodologies, 2007)
1) I created an illustration of the emails sent, answered and recieved as busy. Fortunately I was able to get responses from personal emails.
5) Lastly from the software used by the companies, I created a chart that was inspired by (Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methodologies, 2007) as well as (Cairo, 2013).
2) I then decided to create an illustration of the location where my answers are based. This is because I find it interesting that I managed to speak to random people from the around the world. It’s also nice to compare their responses to the cultural environment in their area.
I learnt that Adobe suite and Autodesk suite were used the most amongst other programms. This is due to the 3D modelling and effect editing being combined together. The softwares were reliant on each other in order to finish the final piece.
The world and annotations I got inspired from (Cairo, 2013).
3) I created an illustration of the colours that the companies and individuals use in their work. I managed this by going onto their official websites and transferring those colours into the colour wheel as shown.
THE IDEA The idea was inspired by a random daydream of mine where I was in a virtual fight between myself and my other half. I then thought about making it come to life, but in an animation.
I used a ‘Paint Brush’ font for the title as I felt that this was convenient for the illustration topic.
That is when I said to myself that this will be a great learning curve for me as I have never attempted 3D Animated Motion Graphics before. As posted on my blog, there is a story board of the scenes.
Commerical Artefact Posters
The narrative was to have my other half attack me and seem strong, whereas I am not scratched by his attacks.
MOTION GRAPHICS EXPLAINED VIDEO
MODELS
For one of my artefacts, I created a motion graphic video explaining.. and showing what motion graphics is. I experimented in photo manipulation which is creating a still image to life through the use of photoshop and after effects! That was a fun experience and has encouraged and got me excited to apply the technique to images in my life: creating a timeline that has life.
Still frames of video
Commerical Artefact Posters
THE ADVENTURES OF DR PAVITT: PROTOTYPE ONE For my final artefact, I create a 3D animated motion graphic with the use of using Motionbuilder, Photoshop, After Effects, Maya, 3DS Max and Brekel.
Still frames of video
PROCESSING Before creating my Ludic artefact, I experimented with processing. I create various different things in order to get to grips with the program as I found it very challenging at the begining.
I also experimented with the kinect which allowed me to use my body with finger tracking in order to make progress with my interactive artefact. Problems that I face included not being able to get the kinect to work with various code, whilst others
THE ARTEFACT
included not being able ot get some libraries working. In addition to that, once the kinect was working with some important libraries such as the OpenNI library by Daniel Shiffman, I was able to being to build my code for my artefact.
PROTOTYPING
The idea of my artfefact evolved from a trip to the aquarium where my younger cousin went to buy some new gold fish.
Ludic Brief
I thought of the ability to be able to touch the fish without creating a mess! And so the idea developed from processing. The ability to use the sketch book to create almost anything that oyu likeed aswell as with interactivity! MY IDEA. To create a fish tank that is interactive and 3D projected onto the wall to make it look real. To be able to touch the fish so that they will swim away through the ‘vibrations’.
USER INVOLVEMENT (Stone, 2005)
Prototype one. Created a form of a ‘fish’ but still adaptinp it to hide the trails left behind it.
Prototype two. Inserted a background and adapted the length, width and speed of the fish. Still unable to hide the trails left behind it.
Prototype three. Create a fish of some sort and managed to hide trails. AIM: To give a texture to the fish as well as make it interactive.
Becoming Olafur Eliasson Brief The Fishtank source code links the code to the Tentaclass class which involves differentiation in the movement, speed, size, ripples and regeneration of the fish. The code is quite simple to read once written, but complex when approaching the final piece. It uses differentiation in maths and physics to create the fish, I sampled some code from a used on the forum who gave me a start in the code. WWW.CAMYKUMAR.CO.UK
MY BECOMING
“My ambition is to put our knowing into our bodies, to show that knowledge and physical presence are intertwined and inseparable.”
MY INSPIRATION: Inspiration: I am motivated by my friends and love. Combined together they both make me smile and help me feel alive. They give me the energy to be able to tackle reality. My friends are my Baudrillard: they make me see that life isn’t all fun and games, but with the right people you can be blessed with happinness.
GROUP WORK PRESENTATION I worked in a group of three people.. I, Tom Arrowsmith and Vijay. As a group we collected data on Olafur Eliasson’s beliefs, interests, childhood background, current lifestyle, likes and dislikes. Olafur Eliasson defined: A man who experiments with sculpture, time, distance and light. A man who believes in showing the mechanics behind production as well as seeing a new side to life.
MY DEMOTIVATION:
Demotivation: As seen in the image, you can see me handing out an endless supply of my love to my family, who in return ‘step’ on me. (I am drawing a happy face on the piece of paper!) Family you always put first.
ACTIVITY RESULTS
With this we came up with a presentation that define Olafur Eliasson.
BECOMING POSTER I illustrated a becoming poster representing the layers to Olafur Eliasson. I incorporated a few of his works such as the sun and little sun. I put the little sun onto his eye as I felt as thought this gives a great reflection on the idea of him seeing life at a different angle. I also illustrated mechanics onto his skin, I wanted the poster to feel as though Olafur is being ‘build’ and ‘created’ by the qualities that he has and enjoy.
I included a graph with Time and Distance labelled on the x and y axis. This being, that Olafur is mathematical and believe in incorporating physics into his installations. I used circles to show the complexion of his work. I also tried to include water, as he has built a waterfall installation in New York. So I did thi by making it look as though his body mass of water is showing.
MAKING WAFFLES
REFERENCES
In this installation I did, I cooked waffles. I did this to resemble and show an aspect to Olafur Eliasson which is that he enjoys the mechanics being shown in his work. He does not believe in restriction. and keeping knowledge hidden from the public.
Banksy, (2008). Banksy Manifesto. [image] Available at: http://deathandtaxesmag.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/banksy-advertising.jpg [Accessed 25 Apr. 2014]. Bittlingmayer, G. (n.d.). Advertising. In: THE CONCISE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ECONOMICS, 2nd ed.
I used ingredients from home as ‘budget and the speed of production can limit the range of materials selected to complete a project.’ (Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methodologies, 2007)
Cairo, A. (2013). L’arte funzionale. 1st ed. Milano [etc.]: Pearson.
I SEE ME
First things First. (2000). [image] Available at: http://www.mobius-studio.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/firstthingsfirst-2000.jpg [Accessed 25 Apr. 2014].
The ability to see yourself through colour, space and time. I created this using Processing and a kinect. I had people from different backgrounds to wave into the camera and in response, a mirrored image of them would appear- but in the form of ‘particles’. This is a great way to interactively and digitally show Olafur’s idea of seeing the unknown. For the illustrated ‘mirror’, I used illustrator and I created it to relfect on Olafur’s installa-
Esaak, S. (2014). Dada Art - History of Dadaism (1916-1923) - About.com. [online] About.com Art History. Available at: http://arthistory. about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/dada.htm [Accessed 25 Apr. 2014]. FIRST THINGS FIRST MANIFESTO 1964. (1964). [image] Available at: http://camykumar.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/first-things-first.jpeg [Accessed 27 Apr. 2014].
tion of Little Sun. I think that this is a great idea as it looks appealing to watch. I am pleased with my progress throughout this brief as it has given me the chance to experience what it is like to walk in another artists’ shoes and relate to his work. Great Inspiration!
Redding, D. and Redding, D. (2010). Art Manifestos and Their Applications in Contemporary Design | Smashing Magazine. [online] Smashingmagazine.com. Available at: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/21/art-manifestos-and-their-applications-in-contemporary-design/ [Accessed 25 Apr. 2014]. Stone, D. (2005). User interface design and evaluation. 1st ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methodologies. (2007). 1st ed. AVA Publishing.