Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 10 - Benefit of Empathy in Design

This blog post is in reference to the topic 'Perils of Empathy' as seen in the Wallstreet Journal article that was put up as part of our course. I had also researched the article on the Universal Mind website called 'The Power and Perils of Empathy'.

Empathy is a powerful innate ability to understand and even feel the pain of the person/character that you are either seeing or hearing about. It cannot be taught. Whether you are upset by a family member not getting the Christmas present that they wanted, or seeing a movie character get punched in the groin and it makes you wince, you are experiencing empathy.  It is well documented that diagnosed psychopaths have a lack of empathy, fear or remorse (as seen by the lack of activity in their cerebral cortex). However new studies have found that it isn't that they have a lack of empathy, as they do with fear & remorse, but rather they have the ability to switch it off and decide who to feel sorry for.

Empathy can be a powerful muse for design in the creative industry. It can be seen more-so in games and film/tv. We can create characters that make the audience feel connected to and make us feel like we are a part of their struggle. The audience would follow the character every step of the way and be emotionally driven when the character gets hurt or heartbroken when the character dies. In one of Alfred Hitchcock's film's, a boy character died in the film and Alfred once said "I should never have killed a character that the audience cared about". But nowadays, the biggest moments in some of the biggest shows in the world, (such as Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, etc), are when a fan favourite dies as it creates an overwhelming sense of loss and empathy, which in turn make the show all the more memorable.

But empathy can also be a restriction on ideas that you wish to put in as it is now important to fulfill the needs of the viewer to keep them watching. Also now as we are in a very 'PC' culture, it is important not to offend any viewer.

Most importantly, empathy can be a powerful source of inspiration for creation. There was a video that went viral across the internet, as well as the news, of a game developer that had a mother who had always wanted to own a beautiful villa in Spain. But a year before, she was no longer able to walk and was bed ridden from illness. The daughter bought a Oculus Rift developer kit and in the end was able to create a walking simulator which allowed her mother to walk around a photo-realistic spanish villa using the VR hedset.

There are plenty of times where we wish we could turn off our empathy but in fact, we need it for much more than we think.

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 9 - Semantic Violence Wall.

Semantic Violence Wall, displayed within Dublin's 'Design and Violence Science Exhibit'.

This Exhibit shows a selection of words and phrases that are commonly used throughout daily life,
who’s meaning is in some shape or form related to violence. Either by concealing the violence behind
the words by substituting the words with more subtle euphemisms that conceal the damage and ease
the tension, or by society forgetting/overlooking the literal sense of the violent words in favour of
their new meanings that have been acquired over time. The philosopher and published author by the
name of Slavoj Zizek refered to semantic violence as, “relations of social domination reproduced in
our habitual speech forms”. (Violence, Slavoj Zizek, 2008). He also gives the argument that language
in it’s own right has the potential for violence in the way it gives us the ability to think and
communicated in various ways.

We are so de-sensitised in our culture that we are ignorant to the violence that we overlook in our
everyday life. We choose to be outraged and appalled by certain, more well known acts of violence
such as suicide bombings, terrorist attacks and assassinations of political figures, and yet it makes us
blind to the more common and standard forms of systemic violence that plagues our everyday life.
There are the high majority of people that believe themselves to be no more than mere innocent
bystanders, whereas in fact, we are the perpetrators that disturb the balance of peaceful life. We only
see the major acts of violence that we have accepted and overlooked the minor acts of disturbances
of peace that we have committed on a daily basis.

In this piece that was on display in the Design and Violence Science Exhibition, we can see a list of words and phrases that we may not use in the literal sense, or even the new, more laid-back sense, we can actually use them as part of comedy. The phrase ‘Take Care Of’ has been used multiple times in comedy, where it actually is used for telling someone to murder a person to deal with a problem. Or even the phrase ‘killing it’ which can be used to compliment a persons successful attempt at whatever act they put on. When in fact, they are saying ‘good job, you are successfully killing’.

We should keep in mind the minor acts of violence that we commit and share with people before we become completely blind to the power of words.

P&PI PROJECT 2A PART 2 - Light Sensor

For this project, we had to use a combination of the breadboard circuit + the Arduino/Processing software to create/build a dynamic visualisation of information read from an analog sensor. Afterwards, we had to modify the code so that the design, such as the strokes and colours, would be styled differently.

I was not able to understand what an analog sensor was or how to get/build it. However I did understand that if I was able to correct this properly, I should be able to build a circuit that can create a visual representation of the amount of light in the room. It would act like a sonar and would react differently depending on the amount of light that would shine on the sensor. It would create longer lines the more light there was and smaller to no lines the darker it is.

I tried following the example pictures and programming as best as I could. Although after wiring the breadboard circuit and connecting the 5V wire, I noticed that in the example it was clearly labeled '+5V'. I was unable to understand the difference that the posistive symbol would make, but I was sure it would have a hand in this connection not working.

Once I inputed all the code, I uploaded/ran the program. The was an error in the arduino code, but unfortunately I was unable to understand it. The only graph design that appeared was a dot. The lack of lines and placement of the dot lead me to believe that it is unable to see any light. I knew at that point that it was because I was missing some sort of analog sensor. I tried messing around with the circuit and the only notable change was that once I took out the resistor, the graph started the sonar by showing lines, but at full strength. Meaning I removed the part that enables accurate measure.

Video result of my FIRST attempt --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiBnU1ULOuk&feature=youtu.be

I am pleased to say that I finally got it working after being stuck on it for 2 weeks. I didn't realise that all the resistors had different values. I thought that they were all the same and I was using the wrong one. So I switched it for the proper resistor and I got it to finally recognize light.

Video of the Completed Result --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvg26PvIq6w&feature=youtu.be

Once I completed the original task, my next task was to modify into into a different style. I knew what I was going to do with this because I messed around with star radius's during my time in graphic design. You can see from the image below that I modified the map size to allow a larger image. I also changed the size of the stroke, the speed of the angle and the frame rate to allow space. Like I expected, by concelling the light sensor in darkness and slowly raising my hands to shine light, I was able to create a star pattern. Of which, you can see below from my screenshot and video result of the modified version.

Video of the MODIFIED VERSION'S Result --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo3hjtdBlbc&feature=youtu.be

P&PI PROJECT 2 - TUTORIAL 6 - Choose from Communication Examples.

For our final tutorial on Arduino & Processing software/hardware, we had to pick our own tutorial from the list of examples in the Communication section of the built-in Arduino software examples. One of my previous tutorials, the PhysicalPixel, was also from this list. I was really interested in 2 of the examples that were listed. 

At first I decided to pick the 'Dimmer' tutorial, where you can control the brightness of an LED light using the movement of your mouse. I found this control interesting so I thought I would give it a go. Looking at the hardware required I seemed to have everything I needed. Although as I looked at the diagram, I became incredibly confused. I couldn't figure out where it was asking me to insert or connect to the LED light. In both diagrams I tried understanding the placements, however it was a no-go. So I moved on to trying the 'Graph' tutorial. 

When I tried the Graph tutorial, I noticed that the hardware required was something called an Analog Sensor, (Potentiometer, Photocell, FSR, etc). I assumed from the diagram it meant the F-M Cable that we were supplied with. I tried to connect it up but to no avail.  

Once I tried moving on to another tutorial I started to notice that they were all looking for an 'Analog Sensor'. Which is something that I either didn't have, or something that I did have, was under a different name, and couldn't figure out how to connect it. 

The only example that didn't require one was the 'Serial Event' tutorial. So I spent a good while trying to figure that one out, but I couldn't get it to work. 

No video result this time as I was unable to get any reaction or completion.

P&PI PROJECT 2 - TUTORIAL 5 - ANALOG INPUT/FADE

This is the final part of my pre-chosen tutorials on Arduino for my college assignment. This one was similar to the first 'Blink' tutorial, but with an added feature. I had to hook up the breadboard and program arduino so that the LED light would gradually get brighter from being off to being fully on and then at the same pace, gradually turn the brightness down until it goes off and then starts over again. The main physical difference is that the LED light is now on the breadboard rather than the UNO board.

In Arduino, the main piece of could that you can mess with is the 'delay()', as it changes the speed of the brightness. I changed the delay from 30 miliseconds to 500 milliseconds and I could actually see the brightness going up a small amount once every 0.5 seconds. I dropped it down to 100 milliseconds to get a slow but smooth change. Finally I put it to 0.1 second as it has enough of a delay to be quick and smooth but not too quick that it may as well be blinking.

Video Result of Tutorial 5 --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCChGJjgfIo&feature=youtu.be

In my next post I will be running through a tutorial that I got to choose myself.

P&PI PROJECT 2 - TUTORIAL 4 - PHYSICALPIXEL

This post is for tutorial 4 for my Arduino Project. For this tutorial I had to use both Arduino and Processing software to create a small square on screen that has 2 seperate reactions once I hover my mouse icon over it. One being a standard hover reaction, which added a thin white outline around the square and the second was to make an LED light on the Arduino board light up once I hover over it.

This was the easiest and most interesting tutorial so far as it showed how interacting with a fake square graphic with a mouse on a computer screen can create a real world, physical reaction.

Combining this tutorial with the last one, I can now fully understand how it is that I can get my Playstation 4 controller to how instant reactions on my TV screen as I push a button.

I didn't really have to do anything for this tutorial since all I had to do was stick on an LED light onto the board and then click onto a pre-made example on the software. It was more to show me how something that doesn't technically exist, such as graphics on a computer screen, can have a real world reaction. Fascinating really.

Video Result of Tutorial 4 -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov0cesGmKIY&feature=youtu.be

P&PI PROJECT 2 - TUTORIAL 3 - Digital Read Serial

This post is continuing my Ardunio project by following the tutorial - Digital Read Serial.

I was finally getting the hang of these tutorials and understanding what it was supposed to be doing and yet the obvious issue had me stressing and looking everywhere to understand where I went wrong. For this tutorial, I had to set up the wires and Arduino board so that I would be able to monitor the serial communication of a pushbutton in real time through 1's & 0's. I understood that's what I was looking for but I wasn't that smart. I thought the moment I connected everything together, 1's & 0's would start popping up in my Arduino code or in a text document. I was searching everywhere online to figure out what I was doing wrong.

It turns out that in the Arduino program board, I just had to go up to 'Tools -> Serial Monitor'.
I should have known since i set it to send 9600 bits of data per second. This would mean that every second, I would see 9600 '0's, until I pushed the button to '1's. This shows active communication between button and laptop. Video and images of result are shown below.

Video result of Tutorial 3 -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeNiPWttxaU&feature=youtu.be

P&PI PROJECT 2 - TUTORIAL 2 - Pushbutton

This post is relating to the 2nd tutorial for my project where I have to create a push button. I connect a button onto a breadboard and once the tutorial is complete, I should be able to turn on a light by pressing the button and turn off the light by letting go of the button.

It took me a while to figure out what the proper way to use a breadboard is. As the 2 tutorial pictures were different in design I was worried that I wouldn't be able to figure it out. However I found that only certain parts of the connections that I made had to be specific. Namely the a1. b2, c3, etc, row.
I could actually connect the other wire to any of the negatives and it would still work. However if I put it into a positive, it would cease working.

I took the photoresistor out and although the light would only turn on once I pushed the button, it refused to turn off after I let go of the button. It was from this process of messing around and taking them apart that I was able to understand what they were used for. I am finding that the majority of this assignment doesn't make sense until I mess around with the board after tutorial completion. I will continue to try out this process.

Result of Tutorial 2 -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8GcxHBopbQ&feature=youtu.be

P&PI PROJECT 2 - TUTORIAL 1 - Blink

For our second big project, we have been given an Elegoo Basic Starter Kit and have been told to download the applications, 'Arduino IDE' & 'Processing' onto our own laptops. After doing this, we must complete the following tutorials on the brief and document the process, via our blogs, using images & text. We must also record short videos to show our results on each test. All of this is only Part 1 of 3 of this assignment.

Within this post, I will be documenting the first tutorial: Blink.

I was put off this assignment for a while since I was unable to attend the tutorial class, I was deeply confused by how the tutorial started off. As you could see in the picture, I was worried that I was supposed to automatically understand what all the 'D13' stuff meant straight away. But after getting a lesson from a couple students in my class, they showed me how to start off that assignment amd told me to just continue down the tutorial and it will make sense afterwards. It certainly did. Although I will admit that I don't really understand the specifics, I can certainly understand the basics and how to make them work.

This tutorial was to get a light to flash a specific timeframes using programming in the Arduino software. There were a couple hiccups along the way, such as not realising I had to connect the port and upload the code once it is changed, but I got there in the end. I set the light to stay on for 800 milliseconds and turn off for 300 milliseconds.

Extra test - I had it on 50 miliseconds on & off to see how fast it would go. Afterwards I set it to 5 milliseconds each and it stopped working. At first I thought it decided to recognise my '5' as '5 seconds' but it seems that it just simply can't go that fast and it just stays on to combat the set speed.

Video Result of Tutorial 1 -> https://youtu.be/2ArXfrkV2Xc

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 8 - Basic Income

Universal Basic Income. It's a concept that I never even heard of until recently in class. But is now a subject that I have great interest in. Now I definitely am not fully educated on Basic Income or know if it's even possible. I have a basic knowledge from what I listened to in class, talked to among my peers, looked up onine and talked about to my dad who I have always that had great business sense.

I'm gonna feed you some information about my personal earnings and expenses as it is important to mention to humanise this subject.

What it is in simple/Irish terms is that normally if you are unemployed, you get the dole. If you are over 21, like myself, you could get roughly €160. That is your basic living wage. However, you can give up your dole and get a job. Once you work roughly 17 hours, that will equal to the basic living wage that you would get from being unemployed. Then everything after 17 hours of work, is for you.

What Basic income is, is that you would be able to get the same money from the dole, while working. So your living expenses are covered automatically, and every hour you work, is for extra cash that is there to benefit you. Basic Income is seen as a standard human right and that we shouldn't have to work to survive. That we should work because it fulfills us in many other ways.

It might be seen as we are just being lazy. But here is where it would benefit me. I pay €100 a week to cover my rent. I get on average €120 from working over the weekends. So I get only €20 for myself for working over the weekends when I should be free to do my college work. That being said, I might not even get that much. Plenty of weeks have gone by where I only get €90 because there are just not enough hours in my workplace. Leaving me unbearably tight for money.

But what about the grant? Well I get a very low grant since I have 2 parents and home is close to college. But in fact, I am a son of a divorced family and my father doesn't support me financially and my mom is unable to either. I also don't live with my family, I live separate to them and pay for my own rent, food, etc. So I get less than €35 a week. That is to cover ALL my expenses, (food, class materials, repairs, school tour transport, medical expenses. etc.) Which, by the way, is not nearly enough. I can't tell you how sick I am of eating 60 cent butter and bread for dinner. Forget about being social.

With basic income, I wouldn't have to worry about being unable to pay for rent every month. I could have my social life and not worry about how many hours in work I will get per week. I can decide to work the weekends or spend more time on assignments. I could decide if I want to work to purchase healthier food or pay for bike repairs. I would be no longer jealous of people that are unemployed, and aren't in college, that earn a lot more than I do.

The main issue with this is that taxes would increase significantly. As well as prices of items going up. People could decide not to work, halting production, security, safety, etc. As well as many other issues. However researchers believe that more people will decide to work, knowing that they'll benefit far more by doing so.

Also, speaking future tense, now that we are in an age of 10 or 100 employees being replaced by 1 machine, the difficulty to work and to earn a livable, healthy wage has increased significantly. It is now more important than even to introduce this system before it is too late.

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 7 - How to be an Editor

In this blog post I will be going through the detail and plan of my presentation as well as going through some thoughts of my chosen profession: Editor.

Before editing, storytellers had their own way of mixing and cutting stories together. Novelists had flashbacks, Live theatre had narration and comics could splice scenes together whenever they pleased. But filmmakers were afraid of cutting and splicing film together because they felt that it would just confuse the audience. But by doing so, they realised they could now tell much more complex pieces of story, such as 'The Great Train Robbery' (1903). The earliest form of cutting would be when the cameraman stopped cranking at the end of a shot and then started cranking at the start of a new one, with a different angle. This also allowed for special effects such as George Melies who had his character detonate a smoke bomb at the end of one cut and started filming after the actor left the stage. Giving the illusion that the man disappeared.

Editing has progressed significantly over the years. To get a job as an editor you must have great knowledge in various kinds of editing software and the post production process. You must understand narrative and the ways to create dramatic stroytelling in film as well as the ability to create tension, pace, rhythm and manipulate the audiences emotions. You need to be creative even whilst under pressure and have good imagination. Have excellent communication skills and be able to lead a team. Not to forget, patience, attention to detail and good organisation skills. As well a few other things...

Normally for a standard feature film there would be an Editor and an Assistant Editor. However for big budget films there would also be Second Assistant Editors and Trainees. Normally a good entry point into this field would be to get a job as a Runner (the guy that gets tea and coffee and does little errands for people). Then you can work your way up to being a Trainee, Second Assistant Editor, First Assistant Editor and then eventually - Editor. However, depending on your degree or access point, you could start of as an Assistant Editor or even straight into being an Editor. But don't expect to be hired for any big budget films without any good experience under your belt.

At the moment any further advances in technology would end up helping the editor and making it easier to create films. However, with IMAX in theaters and 4K resolution TV's becoming standard
home items, an editors attention to detail is now more important than ever. It's very easy for an audience to see a tiny mistake and post it all across the internet so the world can laugh at how crap your movie is for not noticing a little thing. A great example of an editors mistake would be at the very end of the Pirate of the Caribbean movie where you can see a crew member in the background of the ship, wearing a cowboy hat, white shirt and jeans. Clothing that is entirely inappropriate to the timeline of the movie.

Even further, news came out not too long ago where engineers and filmmakers created a computer AI that was able to edit together a scene all by itself. Now before editors all around the world start to pack in their job, it should be noted that there was still a human process in this. First of all a human had to input the style, action and genre for the scene as well as organise all the files together. Then the AI scanned thousands of movies for similar scenes and cut the files into the way the AI thought was best. That being said, it still may not have been the director or the editors vision, and they would still have to make a good few changes to the cuts that the AI have made.

Maybe in the future, AI's can help organising standard film ideas or cuts where the director isn't looking for anything special in a particular scene and just wants the scene done. Or maybe the AI can organise a rough cut/box car cut for the editor and then they can start on the more detailed edits.
That is my prediction.

 

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 6 - Blockchain

Blockchain is a open accessed database that is able to record and store information on transactions
within blocks inside a visible accounting system. These blocks contain timestamps along with links to
other blocks that were previously generated. These blocks within blockchain are supposedly resistant to any form of data modification or hack due to it’s inherent design. By default, once data has been recorded inside a block, the data can no longer be touched/altered.

The idea of blockchain is that, while our money and transactions are already controlled in mass by
governments and banks, they track their money movements by gathering information based on trust
and are secured and protected recognised authority. Our money can still be lost through transactions.
With blockchain, all movements are controlled through data of no physical appearance and are secured and protected through heavy security encryptions and complex algorithms that would make
it uncontrolled by any single authority. However since all money would be handled through data instead of exchanged through hands, a different form of currency would be needed. This would be where ‘Bitcoin’ comes in. Bitcoin is a virtual currency invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, which is an alias for an anonymous programmer/group of programmers. Bitcoin uses blockchain as a public distributed ledger, while blockchain uses bitcoin as it’s units of account.

The possibility and past of bitcoin, as a potential violence and threat, can be seen by going back to one of it’s first and main uses was to buy items on the site ‘Silk Road’. Silk Road is a marketplace site only found on the ‘Dark Web’. On the site they sell guns, drugs, stolen information and illegal services as well as other items that aren’t quite illegal.

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 5 - Presentation CA & How I should do it...

In class we were given an assignment for a presentation that we have to do based on what specific job that we could possibly do after we finish college. It could be something that we would like to go into, or just any job that is in the creative media field. Our main job is to deeply analyse a chosen career in the creative media field. It must be 7-10 minutes long and it has to be analysed within Irish context. During my presentation, I need to give a clear understanding of this profession to my fellow classmates as well as it's development, how to gain entry into the career and any future prospects.

I am not allowed pick 'film/games/ movies' as a whole because it's far too general. Instead it needs to be a specific career such as 'post production house editor, company web designer, dubbing mixer, gaffer, etc.

My analysis should include the following:
- A very brief description of the historical emergence of the particular role. So I should just quickly mention the importance that this role has played in the past and how the role came into existence as well as it's current popularity.
- An outline of the set skills required and how they can be acquired. For this I'll talk about the skills that are important to have to grant access to this job, as well as whether I can gain the skills through apprenticeships, college, on-the-job experience, etc.
- An overview of the job opportunities within the field as well as the working conditions of the role. So whether there is room for promotion or a much larger job through practice in this field. Also the conditions of the job such as being boxed in a cubicle, having to frequently fly country to country or whether working in the outdoors, etc.
- A description of common access points into the industry. I think that means I have to talk about general/standard ways that people are commonly hired for the job.
- Insight from a person/people working in the industry already - if possible. So I have to find someone that is in the industry and get advice or details about their job from them. I wonder if I could talk to someone in the general industry and not the specific job that I'l be picking. This part doesn't seem required but I imagine I would get more marks for doing it. My family isn't really in the creative media industry so I don't really have any contacts. I have a cousin that is a successful animator but I'm not sure I would be interested in picking that field anymore. I also don't think he would be able to get back to me in time.
- A prediction of how new technologies will affect the career into the future.

Now this point I find very interesting since I've studied the advance on technology and how it is decimating job numbers and how a thousand people can be replaced by 1 robot that is efficient, cheaper and better for the customers, making you obsolete. Now the interesting part is technology within creative media. How can a robot be creative with no imagine or emotions? Well it's been done before and everyone at some point is replaceable.

In my next blog I will decide on my chosen career and will discuss how I will make my presentation.

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 13. Testing out the Controller.

My prototype controller is finished. I made it out of an old article I read. The finished model will be white and coloured and sized better. But now I could finally test out my buttons and see if the whole thing works. I've only ever tested out the first button I made. I left the rest to see at the end. So I fitted in all the wires and I've been talking about making this controller to my housemates and they know I've been freaking out for the past month because I didn't know how to do it, so they all decided to watch and see what happens. If I am able to type out, 'wasdfg', then it works perfectly. Here's what I expected:

1. Either it to freak out and create a lot of spaces                                                            <-- like this...
2. It to type out: 'wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwawa'.
3. Or simply do nothing at all.

I made it very clear to my housemates that if it doesn't work, I'm handing it up as is, and that I just want to get rid of it and hope for a pass. So I plugged it in and immediately looked at the screen waiting for it to freak out. But nothing happened. So I was like, 'Okaaay... good start'. Then I started pressing buttons.

Here is what happened:
Button 1: Worked perfectly fine.
Button 2: Wouldn't work.
Button 3: Had to press very hard but works.
Button 4: Worked perfectly fine.
Button 5: Had to press a bit harder but worked.
Button 6: Thought it didn't work but the wires just fell out. Worked fine, just had to press low.

So I was ready to leave it but then I got so agitated that the 2nd one didn't work. So I kept working. I cut open the sponge because I thought it wasn't working because the hole in the sponge might not have been big enough. But after I cut it open, it didn't seem to be a problem. I assumed the wires weren't properly exposed. So I snipped off the top and remade it. So I plugged it in and tada!
All 6 buttons fully functional! ;)

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 12. Finalizing the design.

This is the final design for the Play Top. Notable changes are seen, such as each square of the PlayTop represents the section in which the button exists. A colour on the outer rim of each section indicates the colour of button on screen. The center of each square also has a coloured dot which indicates the exact location of the button you wish to press. I have also created a simple, sleek pressure pad that you press with your writing hand. This will be used as the strum mechanic and is easily played and can be moved around to whatever position that you are comfortable with. Since it is separate to the PlayTop, I've decided to give it it's own name. I'm calling it the 'PlayPad'... yes... inspiring.

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 11. Small. Simple. Easy. Modern.

After much consideration I decided that a simple approach may be the best approach. Something that is cost effective, easy to move/use and doesn't take up a lot of space. If this was ever to be properly developed, I would create this controller out of sleek plastic material. But for now, I will just make the cover out of standard A4 paper and superglue. This controller design is similar to a keypad that sits on the table and is easy to understand. The buttons would be in order as they are on screen and would be colour coded to increase your understanding of the controllers as well as giving the pad a little style to the design. I am still deciding upon the strum mechanic but I am pretty sure that I will be going with a small pad controller that would be played using your other hand.

I was playing around with a few names for the controller. I have settled on 'PlayTop'. It's a mix between 'Play Pad' and the fact that it sits on 'Top' of your table/desk/counter. The only issue with this controller is that you wouldn't be able to play this on your lap or holding it in your hands like a standard console controller.

Further details in future blog posts.

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 10. Glove scrapped. Back to basics.

Now that my buttons are created, all that's left (which is the bulk of the assignment), is to make the controller. In the process of making the buttons, I believe that making a glove controller just isn't in my best interest for the following reasons:

1. Although I've made my buttons quite sizable, I still think that they are too bulky to fit inside of a glove controller.
2. As well as that, there are a lot of movement in the design of my controller, which I believe will lead to easy 'wear and tear' of my buttons. It would be silly of anyone to make a controller that would only last a couple of playthroughs.
3. My glove controller hinged on the idea that there would be 4 buttons and the 5th would be the strum mechanic. But since I need 5 buttons with the sixth being the strum mechanic, my design just falls apart. I thought maybe if I just have a button on each fingertip and press them against the table, I could have the strum mechanic be on my left hand which would bang against the table with your fist clenched. Leading the strum to be more like a kick drum. There is just 1 big problem with that idea...
4. A fellow student had already created something quite similar to this new idea of mine and he had already shown it off to the other classmates. And since he fully created his while I was still creating my buttons, I believe I would be marked down for copying, even though that wouldn't be the case.

However I didn't think it was worth it to fight against the idea of plagiarism, so in the end, I and dropping the glove controller idea and returning to the drawing board.

Here's what I'm thinking. I dropped the idea of the table top controller that looks like a keyboard/drum pad because I thought it was to simple and easy. But nowadays all people are making is simple and easy to use controllers. As well as the fact that User Experience has show that the majority of players aren't interested in physical gimmicks such as six-axis or motion controller. Maybe I should move on to something simple, small, basic and modern that is also easy to use. Sure I might not get marks for creativity, but I can back it up with statistics and ease of use... as long as it works...

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 9. Button Problem Solved.

I brought my five buttons into class and showed my lecturer the issues that I've been having. He had to pull apart one of my buttons to figure out the issues. He saw the problem and then helped me figure out the solution.

1. The hole in the sponge should have been a proper chuck that was cut out of it instead of the small cut/rip that I had made. The reason for this is so the that there is enough room for the 2 pieces of tin foil to connect, but not too much space that they are always connecting.
2. The sponge should have had a bit of superglue around the top and bottom of it so the it would stay properly attached to the tin foil. The sponge in not needed for the connection process but it adds a springiness that makes it a button.
3. Along with the double sided tape, there should have also been a small bit of superglue to attach to the wire to stop it from being easily pulled out.
4. The wire needed to be more exposed by ripping off the plastic around the tip of the cable. This allows the wire and the tin foil to easily conduct electricity and the tin foil acts as a much larger connection rather than just the tip of the wire. If the two pieces of tinfoil, (with the wires attached), are connecting, it gives the same effect as the tip of both wire connecting. Just on a larger scale.
I knew that the wire had to be exposed but at the time I though that having the very tip of the wire exposed would be enough.
5. The second wire that goes into the makey makey board needs to connect to Earth.
And just to be clear, the cardboard at the top of the button is just there for stability for your fingers.

I went home and I re-created all 5 of my buttons, as well as a sixth for the strum mechanic, and even made them smaller. I felt as though I was advancing my buttons in the same way the engineers make microchips smaller and yet work better as years go by. I play tested them and they work perfectly. I just hope they stay that way by the time I demonstrate them.

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 8. Creating the buttons.

I finally got a one on one with my lecturer on how to create buttons. It took me a little while to figure it out but now I not only know how to make a button but I also understand it. My lecturer showed me the materials I would need and also gave me a Makey Makey board, which is a small and simple circuit board that let's you easily connect your creations to your computer for you to either see if your creation works and also let's you play games using your creation. There are many different ways and variations to go about making a button but I will go through the process of the one I've created, which also seems to be the most DIY of them all.

First of all, you start with a sponge. Cut a square piece off roughly the size of the top of your finger. Then you cut a hole within the sponge. You then place a piece of tin foil on top and then on top of that, some double sided tape. Then you attach the Cat5e Network Cable on top of the tinfoil. Finally you put a piece of cardboard on top of the wire. You do the same on the other side of the sponge. Then you connect the opposite end of the wire into whatever key in the makey makey board that you wish the button to connect to. (Such as W,A,S,D, Space, etc.)

On my first attempt making all five buttons, I encountered a few issues, such as the buttons falling apart, the computer thinking I'm constantly hitting the spacebar as well as just not knwing where the second wire goes into the makey makey board.

In my next blog I will talk about the changes I made when creating the buttons as well as the reasons for all the pieces of the buttons.

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 7. Difficulty.

I am at the stage now where the sketches & concepts are done and now I have to get on with making the actual controller. After the controller is finished, I have to make a video of the controller in use. Along with that, a 600 word written document on the process and evaluation of the project.

The main issue I am having at the moment is that I don't know how to make the actual controller. I don't know what parts to buy, I don't know the details of constructing the device, etc. I was unable to attend the classes where my lecturer was going through the process of creating the controller. Therefore I am struggling to know what to do. I never have an issue with projects in which I completely understand what it is that I am doing. But due to this being entirely new to what I usually do, I feel like I am stuck in limbo. I will have to be late handing up the project and put more detail into the prep work and leave the project in next week after I've talked to my lecturer in more detail.

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 6. Motor Control with Dyspraxia

The reason why I would like to stick to the glove controller is because it will help players with their motor skills. The reason why developing motor skills is important to me is because I have dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is a motor and speech disorder and from a very young age it affects the signals received to the brain. Making your reactions slower and skills such as playing an instrument, skateboarding, etc, take a lot longer to learn and develop. If caught very early on, it can be a lot easier for a person affected with dyspraxia to practise their co-ordination skills. Gaming has helped the younger generation considerably in this aspect. Since I had a lot of trouble moving the right finger in the right way, it was very difficult for me to write, draw, type, etc. I was given exercises where I would have to tap my pinky finger to my thumb, all the way up to my index finger and back again. That's where I was given the idea for the controller.

Although it might be difficult for some people to use the controller, that would just mean that they should keep trying and keep practising until they get it right or at least, get better. Not just for getting better at the game, but it can also increase the player's co-ordination for typing and playing guitar, as well as other things.

That is why I am going to stick with the glove controller until I get it right.

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 5. Sticking with the Glove.

As I mentioned in my last blog, there were several reasons why my glove concepts doesn't work. Adding to that list is that I was recently informed that the controller needs to have a strum mechanic, similar to the Guitar Hero franchise. I don't know if that means I have to create a strum mechanic that I would need to to hit every time I have to hit a button or if the strum mechanic is allowed to act as 1 of the 5 buttons. Assuming that it can act as the 5th buttons, I have come up with a new design for my glove controller. Instead of the pressure pad being on the palm of the hand, I now have the thumb acting as the pressure pad. So four of the buttons on your four fingers are engaged by tapping on or lightly clicking the thumb to the respective finger. As for the strum mechanic, it will be placed on the wrist of the glove and will be flicked/strummed using the fingers on your opposite hand. You would be free to strum however you wish, although I would prefer it be advertised as flicking it with your index and middle finger, just like you would with a bass guitar.
I like this concept because it removed the issues I had before. There would be a lot less strain on the hand and you would be able to strum at the same time that you are clicking the buttons. However, this concept goes down the drain if this project requires the strum mechanic to coincide and be pressed at the same time with the four buttons. There is a reason why I am dedicated to the glove controller as it increases your motor skills. I will go into more detail in my next post.

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 4. POWER GLOVE! ... Sort of.

In my last post I mention that I have decided on a controller. I decided to go with a glove controller. I haven't yet found out about the mechanics or how to go about making it, but I believe I have found the concept I will be going for. On the first stage of design I have the controller being a wearable glove and the buttons that you play frets on fire with will be on each of your five fingers, (for the sake of ease, let's just say your thumb is a finger). Each will have a different colour corresponding with the Frets on Fire buttons. On the bottom palm of your have will be a pressure pad for your 4 fingers and there will be a 2nd pressure pad for the 5th button on your thumb to connect to. For your main four fingers, you will tap them with the palm of your hand and your thumb will hit the left side of your palm just below the baby finger. There are a couple problems with this design however, as the awkwardness of the buttons could cause strain on the hand and also it is actually impossible to hit a finger pressure pad and the thumb pressure pad at the same time. Because of this I will have to go into a re-design.

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 5 - They Terk Ur JERBS!!!

This week's class consisted of us going to the screening room about watching a documentary about the history, making of & future of the internet, as well as touching upon artificial intelligence among other things. In another class we were watching this video called, 'Humans Need Not Apply'. It's a very interesting video and also quite disturbing when you think about it. The idea that almost every job with a human worker can be replaced with an robot seems very real and is likely to happen soon enough. I have read many other things relating to the future of mankind's connection to A.I and the more bleak future of A.A.I (Advanced Artificial Intelligence).

But I want to could about normal robots for a second. The kind that makes our lives easier and gives us a faster and more comfortable experience in almost all aspects. But there is a problem that you can see happening very soon. What happens when 100 workers are replaced by 10 machines and 1 worker to maintain and overlook the 10 machines. That's 99 workers out of a job so that we could all have a more comfortable experience. It's already happened in so many places. Most noticeably Amazon drones and carriers replace the need for so many stock workers and deliverers. Again with Tesco where we see 1 worker standing in the corner keeping an eye on roughly 8 self service tills.

It's not just jobs. I mentioned in class that there is currently a population crisis in Japan at the moment. Schools and hospitals are closing everywhere due to the lack of people in the area. According to the researchers, people nowadays are having 1 child per couple, Whereas to maintain a steady population, a couple must have 2 children. A survey was conducted with over 7,000 japanese residents ages 20-39. There are more detailed figures but roughly 37.6% of Japanese people aren't interested in sex or relationships.

There are several reasons but a study shows that the main reason is because of the amount of virtual boyfriend/girlfriend game simulators and sex items that are commonly sold around Japan is staggering. Japanese sex laws are a lot more loose than western laws and because of this, sex is very easily sold, especially since the legal age of consent is 13 years old, opposed to the usual 18.
Because of the high rate and many forms of relationship/sex simulators, a lot of Japanese people are now uninterested with a standard relationship or sex, causing the population to decrease.

So there you go. Robots. Taking our jobs and now taking our wives. Oh the humanity...

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 3. Controller Ideas...

At first I came up with an idea of a small board with 3 piano keys in the board and either side would be a pressure ball that you would have to hammer your fist onto the pads so that way you are playing a mixture of piano and drums. I like the idea but I think it is too simple and that having 3 piano is a bit lazy since I might as well just make a keyboard. I'd like to come up with something better.

My next idea is an odd one that is hard to describe. I got the idea from a viral video of a Marble Machine Instrument by the musician/innovator 'Wintergatan'. ->

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q

It would be an L shaped board with a spoon-like lever on the bottom board, that has a marble roll down the handle and you knock the handle to throw the ball to hit one of the pressure plates. But there are so many problems with that. First of, the accuracy you would need would have to be spot on. Then you would end out missing and losing the marble ball is you hit it too hard. It would also mean that you can't hit 2 buttons at the same time and most importantly, it would be too slow. So that idea is completely scrapped.

I ended up thinking, what if playing, could also significantly increase you're motor skills... Then I came up with an idea, that I will reveal in the next blog.

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 2... Assignment Time...

We were given the assignment for this module. There is a game called 'Frets on Fire' that we have to design a controller for. The game Frets on Fire is a clear knock-off of the popular game serious 'Guitar Hero'. The game consists of coloured icons scrolling down towards you, down a guitar fret board and you have to press the correct coloured button in time with the button on the screen. There are five buttons that you could use. That means our controller must have five buttons. We were told not to make anything the is very similar to your standard Playstation/Xbox controller as those are too popular and we are being graded for innovation. So I need to think of a good few designs and pick the best one. Obviously since timing is a very important part of the game, I can't make anything that won't react to the same speed as the player. In my next post, I'll talk about controller designs.

Physical & Pervasive Interfaces Post 1 - Circuit Bending

One of the first things we were shown in this class was that there is an ability of some sorts to take pieces of technology, such as children's toys, open them up, switch around the circuits and the flow of electricity to make the toy give out a range of distorted wave sounds. There is a culture around this idea, with circuit bending camps being created where people all meet up with each other, mess around with toys and show the result of something they have created. There are also cafe bars that have people go up on stage to show off what they have created. People are quite passionate with this culture, with famous musicians also taking an interest.

The reason why the majority of the technology being used for circuit bending is children's toys is because to circuit bend, you need to pick apart and manipulate microchips. And the problem with microchips for modern technology is that they are extremely small as they made by small computers and robots. Whereas back then, especially with children's toys, the technology was made by hand. So it's easier for the technology to be manipulated by hand.

I find the culture fascinating, but at the same time I have no interest in it whatsoever. It would be interesting to know more about it though.

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 3 - A similar reality...

I'd like to talk about a video that was shown to me in class today by our lecturer. It was called HyperReality. I have seen a lot of videos on the internet. I mean an obsessive amount. I have integrated myself in internet culture to the point where I am fully aware of my addiction to be up to date with everything that I see. And through my countless hours of technology news, evolution advancements, FAILS and crappy cat videos, there are very few videos I have seen that have blown my mind to a point where I feel deeply educated and changed as a person. HyperReality is one of those videos.

I would also mention the video 'To This Day', made by a poet Shane Koyczan, where he uses his words along with amazing visual effects to deliver a message to all of those people the were bullied and brought to the brink of suicide, just to let them know that although things may not turn out the way they could have, that there is still hope.

Another video that is just as incredible is a music video named, 'MEMEME' and I can't stress enough that it is not safe for work and not for the shy, due to the nude and bloody animated imagery. Most people will look at it's flashing imagery as hentai, (japanese animated porn), however it most certainly isn't. It's as much porn as Game of Thrones is. But it shows the power of obsession to the internet, games, and isolation through unbelievable visuals and a song that switches genres multiple times throughout the 6 minute video. How your life can be torn apart by the fascination of living like a hermit, obsessed with a better reality that is not real. And that trying to get away from it and back into your normal life can be as easy as getting off heroin.

HyperReality shows what the near future could be like if we changed our way of life to blend in virtual/augmented reality. It was so well done and so realistic that you could easily believe that it is possible to happen with the next 20 years tops, if we decided to go in that direction.
I brought up in class that nowadays, due to video game culture has become a huge part of everyone's lives in some shape or form, we all yearn to change real life into a game.
But when you think about it, life already is a game. Just less simplified. We gain experience as we do something. We gain intelligence/strength when we read a book/go to the gym. We Level Up when we get promoted at work or learn to do a new skill like backflipping. We spend our money earned on things we want or we can spend it on food to fill our 'Hunger Meter'. We changed the 'skin' of our 'Avatar' by dressing into new clothes. Life is so similar to a game that we, mostly ages 40 and under, want to treat it like a game. HyperReality shows this beautifully and I would love to talk about this more to anyone who has also seen it.

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 4 - Data Is The New Oil...

Class today was very eventful.

Before we get onto the topic of 'Free Information', I MUST mention that I finally got to have a go at the Samsung Gear VR during class!!! I absolutely love VR and I have been keeping up to date with everything on the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and the one that I will be getting myself - Playstation VR (AKA Project Morpheus). I begged to play the Horror experience that was on the lecturer's phone. I can't remember the name of it but it reminded me so much of American Horror Story Asylum, so much so that I was convinced that it was made by the franchise owners. I had a great time on it and although it wasn't as scary as I though it would be, it was far more freaky, disturbing and immersive than I thought it would be. One point I was hanging off a staircase and I actually got nauseated because I felt as if I really was on the edge and was about to fall if I move. It's crazy how my brain can make me believe that what I see is real.

We also were talking about the belief that media/data should be free and/or shared. Although this topic was brought up to me before, I would like to believe that we could live in that kind of world but it just isn't realistic. If media was free to public access, then although the creators could potentially have the passion to bring something brilliant to the world, the company would have absolutely no reason to back/fund them. Which would either reduced the quality of the product or cease production entirely.

I remember the highly acclaimed, award winning game The Witcher 2 came out and it got near perfect reviews. But over 8 million people pirated the game before it even came out. The creators had to release a video saying that although they are proud of the fact that people love the game and that it became the most pirated game in history, they had to address the fact that if it keeps getting pirated, 'There would be no Witcher 3, which would leave the trilogy on a cliffhanger'. So that's how things are.

As media students, we are constantly being told to be up to date with everything that is in media, but of course there is no way to afford everything. I have 1 simple rule:
Pay for the things I want. Use other methods for the things I need. I support my favourite franchises. It's my own little justification for doing the things that we all do, but can't mention in case we get into trouble. We all have a way to justify our criminal acts to make ourselves believe we aren't the bad guys.

It is in every human to believe that we are always right, in some shape or form.
"Thieves are bad. I pirate music to promote the band to everyone else".
"People who do drugs are bad. But when I do drugs, it's just for fun". etc. etc.

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 2 - The Year Ahead...

We were given a 20 page questionnaire called "The Year Ahead". It's basically a book filled with questions on how you would describe your past year and what you thought of it. Then you would move on to how you would hope your next year goes and what you hope will happen.

We didn't need to fill it out or hand it up but our lecturer said it would be a great way of understanding yourself and what you will want in the future.

I decided to bring it back to the apartments and show my roommates. Since they are like-minded 3rd year media students like myself, however they are in the game development course. As well as them, I also brought it down to my neighbors in the student apartments and since they were all 4th year music students, they all had very different answers.

With each group I showed it to, we started off just making jokes of all the questions. For example, to the question, "What was the biggest risk you took in the past year?" our answer was, "Not pulling out". Then for, "What was the biggest surprise of the year" our answer was, "The baby".

But then the more we got into it, the more we genuinely considered our answers and we took the time to answer properly. I found it amazing to see how everyone was genuinely interested to hear what others had to say and how people wanted to think more about themselves as they answered the questions. It made me learn more about myself as well as the people around me. It actually made us closer and have a good laugh. It was worth the time answering it.

Professional Issues in Creative Media Post 1 - What would I like to do...

I had my first official class for Professional Issues in Creative Media with Richard Price and in it we were told to think about what we wanted to do when we left college.

Ever since I was doing my Junior Cert, I always had a grand plan of what I wanted to do. It may have changed around a bit, but the general path was the same as I always expected. I would do Transition Year, finish my Leaving Cert, do a Level 5 PLC in Graphic Design to increase my art skill, do a Level 6 in Advanced Creative Media to enhance my knowledge of technology and creative arts, then finally move on to do a Level 8 in Communications in Creative Media.

But as I progressed through my 4 year college degree, I can't figure out exactly what I want to do after college. It always changes. For a while I wanted to be a Graphic Designer, but over the past year I realised that I absolutely hate Graphic Design as a job. Mainly because I don't like working on my own and dealing with clients myself. I have to search everywhere for a job opportunity, I work with unprofessional clients that never understand what it is that they want, they try to skip payment and I'm never happy with my product.

I love filming and I love editing. I always had this great feeling whenever I create a story that I am able to show someone. I also love working with a team that has a genuine interest in what they are doing. So at the moment, I would love to work in a film crew or in a post-production house. Or be the head/supervisor of any sort of project crew.

One thing I have noticed is that since my Level 6, I have falling in love with Media Studies. It's the one topic that I go into so much detail when talking to someone outside of college. Even the idea of being media savvy and knowing how to manipulate someone and not be manipulated by any form of media is quite fascinating. Although I probably wouldn't want to work in journalism. But ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a teacher. So that I could do better than the teacher before me.

I would love to be a lecturer because I enjoy presentations and most the students you are talking to have some sense about them.

It's a stretch but my dream is to create stories in either film or animation, then go for my masters degree when I earn enough money, then become a college lecturer teaching Media Studies.

Sound Design Post 12 - Lara Croft GO Evaluation

I had to hand up my Lara Croft Go assignment today. The assignment was highly similar to the Pingu assignment in the last semester. So I had a generally good idea of what to do. I was also really looking forward to it because I am a huge Lara Croft fan ever since I was a kid. The music from the original games and the creepy feeling that you get when you find an artifact was part of the reason a got into creative media. Knowing that I would be working on something relating to my childhood got me excited. In saying that, it came with the same problems. I would consider myself an editor but I am not sound mixer. I don’t like the process nor do I like pro tools.  I don’t mean to sound like a reviewer but I find that Pro Tools is the dodgiest and Non-User friendly software that I've worked on. Constant bugs, crashes and generally unclear design. I spent most of my time on this project figuring out ‘what problem it is this time?’ I still enjoyed the editing part but all these problems left me behindschedule and left the project unfinished. I had to convert the video into a mov. file, whilst been given out to by the technician for not having it done sooner.

Oh well, it's just one less project to worry about now.

Sound Design Post 11

Things are getting pretty close to the end of the year but even closer to the final Sound Design project. There is a lot of assignment due this week and next week, however I manage to stay on top of all the other assignments so one of the last things I have to do is start and finish my Lara Croft assignment. I am entirely put of by doing this however for 2 reasons...

1. I needed to record my sounds off of a Zoom recorder. Since equipment has become fairly tight by the end of the semester, the last thing I would want to do is have to deal with the main technician. I won't say any names but he is known to all the students and even some lecturers to be unnecessarily rude (especially to students) and just generally unpleasant to deal with. So I was given the advice to just get my sounds off of the website 'Freesounds.org' and manipulate them inside Pro Tools. Which leads me to number 2...

2. I hate Pro Tools. It's definitely not the worst sound software, in fact it is the best if you know what you are doing. But it's definitely not user friendly and it crashes a lot. There always seems to be an issue where I am scratching my head trying to figure what I just did, or have to eject my hard drive and re-enter or have to move computers. I love editing, I'm just not cut out for sound design.

Well, I have a week to do it. Let's see how I do...

Project Management Web Log 4

Most recently we are coming up to the final project. Myself, Emma Nicholl and Jessica Browne had completed the majority of our assignment just after Easter, bar the Reflective Journal and the Presentation. But everyone got a 2 week extension for their projects and web logs, etc. It wasn't necessary for us because we were almost done, but we were still under a lot of pressure at the time. This allowed us to put the project on hold and continue our filming work and our other assignments which were getting on top of us. However when I talked to the other students, it seemed like the majority of them didn't even start their work during Easter. So I can't imagine how they felt. Either way the extension was a good thing, as much as I would have wanted the assignments out of the way, I needed a break in some shape or form. 

In class we just discussed how to make a good presentation and how to prepare for it. I'm good with presentations because I've been on stage all around Ireland for years, so a lecturer and a couple students don't frighten me. However I still need a rush of caffeine before I start presenting. I find that the best way to do a presentation, for me at least, isn't to rehearse, but it's to know what you are talking about. If you have cue cards, you aren't looking at the audience and it makes you seem weaker. If you are reading off a script you have memorized in your head, you speech can suffer and you can lose your place or pace. I always have an image on screen and a couple very small bullet points so that I just have to look at the screen for a second and ramble of what I know. This also allows me to get as close to the time limit as I want to. Whereas a script that you have may go over or under time, and you rush over necessary information or feel that you have to finish even though you are over time. Anyway, that works for me, but not others. You have to find your own way.

I hope you enjoyed the 4-part web logs. I'm Ryan Duffy, and this is the end. Bye-Bye! ;)

Project Management Web Log 3

During our tutorial classes, we are usually given a set of challenges to do in relation to project management. I remember the first tutorial class I went to, we were split into 3 groups and we all had to think of an interactive webpage for dublin zoo, as if we were contracted by them. Myself, Paul and Donard decided that we would make it like an information game. Where the background would be an animal zoo yard and would have a bunch of  cartoon animal avatars and once you click on the avatars, a real picture of the animal you clicked on would come up and loads of fun facts and attributes would come up. I actually borrowed this idea from myself 2 years ago when I was told to do the same thing in my advanced creative media PLC, except to do it individually and to actually make it in adobe flash. 

This tutorial that we had recently was more light a tutorial for Law. We had to form 2 groups and discuss the recent controversy over the FBI wanting to crack a terrorist's phone to recieve information, however it can't be done since no one can crack an iPhone password and they want Apple to develop a cracking software that would only be used for these occasions and that only they could use. Apple said no. Many called that obstruction of the apprehension of terrorists. However it was obviously just their dedication towards the privacy of their customers. I was on the side agreeing with Apple's decision. The others were against it.

I enjoyed the debate and from the looks of it, we won. It was my belief that once a crack was created, it would be highly sought after to be replicated. Also if the FBI say they would only use it on occasions were terrorists are involved, what's to stop them cracking the phone of a non-terrorist while using the terrorist-card. Also know as 'The threat of terrorism. 

The other group had good points but all in all, we had more information whereas they repeated the same answers over and over again.

Sound Design Post 10

Something pretty cool happened this week in relation to sound. A while ago I was asked to help with a Music video but I said I can't because I had too much work, but honestly I didn't want to be part of another music video where people thought that it would be easier than it actually is, fumbling about and all that. But earlier this week I heard that it was a Film and TV project and it was all about the operators doing their job right, not the performers. Also, about 7 of my friends were part of it as well. Anyway, I heard that they lost their percussion player, so I offered to help. I only played on a Cajon, (pronounced KO-HONE), once but when you've played drums as long as I have, you can pick up any percussion instrument fairly quickly. Anyway, I had a rehearsal with them, we were playing Space Oddity and Starman by David Bowie.

After my day, full of filming and rushing and directing, acting, etc, it finally came to doing the music video, and how shocked was I when I saw the production that was going in to filming just the 3 of us playing 2 songs. It was class! My film and Sound lecturers were also there working with the student and it was a lot of fun and a good experience. I hope I did well enough :)

I wasn't able to go to class this week because I was just overloaded with work, (because I took on a lot of extra work as well as normal assignments, such as Editor for a 10 minute short film, Project Manager for brief work, Graphic Artist for a Film and TV Short Film Group and now I'm gonna be a Social Media Officer for the Islamic Society... Yeah, a lot of extra work), and I missed a lot of other classes to just so I could either stay at home or Starbucks and work. I'm not to worried about the Lara Croft Assignment. As long as I get the sounds recorded, the rest should be straight forward just like the PINGU assignment. It's just getting the time at the end to do it. That's why I'm trying to clear all my other assignments as soon as I can so that I can work fully on the Lara Croft Go video.

Project Management Web Log 2

In my last post I talked about the advice I was given by my lecturer for the Graphic Design job that I would be having later that day. I was given a lot of good advice, but what I would consider the best advice was that if my going-rate was say... €250, tell them that your going rate is €500 and say, "but since you're a new customer/small business, I'll give you 50% off". That eliminates the possibility of negotiation to lower the price, it gives me my maximum payment, it puts me in a good light to the client, makes it look like I'm helping them and of course, people love discounts and makes them more agreeable. Now obviously it's a very manipulative strategy but when you desperately need a job like I did, that advice is fairly agreeable. Now it's not like it's a bad thing. I'd be charging €250 anyway and it's not like I would charge €500. It's just very sneaky.

I though the best thing to do would be to write down where all the money was going, such as Research = €65, Concepts = €80, etc. In the end I came to a more agreeable sum for a student like myself. It worked out well and I got the job.

As for the Group Project I joined Emma Nicholl and Jessica Browne. We would start working on the project over Easter. 

Project Management Web Log 1

In class we discussed our brief. That we could pick our own teams and that we had to present a interactive narrative pitch to Kilmonday Games, a studio famous for their creation of Salad Fingers and Fran Bow. Although I was looking forward to creating something i'd like to work on, I was just a bit nervous because I had to find a group to join. I like picking my own team members for things like creating a film, but when it comes to Project Work and Essays, I have no idea who I can rely on. 

I also got help from my lecturer as I recently came into a Graphic Design job where a DJ from Dublin recently came out of a 4 year college degree and is looking to work freelance full time and was in need of a logo. A couple people recommended me to her and we got in touch via my Facebook page, No Purpose Designs. We were going to meet later that day which I was looking forward to, but it being my first job, I didn't know what to do at first in terms of how I should present myself and what amount of money I should charge. He gave me what I would consider, the best advice ever. What was it? I'll tell you in the next post ;)

Sound Design Post 9

In Sound class this week, I was so late to class. A good hour and 40 minutes late to be exact. Just in time to find out what I missed. It turns out that what I missed was our first step into our Lara Croft Go project. What we had to do is look at the footage over and over again to find what sounds we think we need and what moment. Then we had to make think of props and ways of using those props to get the sounds that we need. It was a very important step in the project.

Fortunately, I already did all this. Reason being that I was far more interested doing the Lara Croft Go project, rather than the interactive sounds project. Also I understood this project far more than I understood the first project. In layman's terms, I was procrastinating. But it worked out in my benefit in the end... at least until I see my results for the Interactive Sounds Project...

Sound Design Post 8 (Easter Thoughts Part 2)

After 3 years of being in a band I did a 2 week course in creative media, back when the Carroll's Building in DkIT only just opened to the public. I met this guy and we became very close friends during that period.  After that small course ended, everyone was told to bring in an instrument for the final day and to sing or play. That friend brought in a guitar and played on the Starbucks grand piano and held everyone's attention after playing a couple songs. I was completely amazed and he became the center of the room. Later on he told me he only knew those few songs but he always made sure to finished before revealing how little he knew. As for the piano, as long as you know how to play, you can make up anything good. I thought that maybe I should finally learn a song on guitar. So I went to learn House of the Rising Sun on guitar and my dad got me piano lessons to learn piano. I already could read music due to my drum teacher and my school music teacher so I would have a head start. Eventually I got to his level and then wanted more. I started playing ever since.

That is just one part of my life that was changed by going to that Creative Media crash course. Best decision I ever made.

Sound Design Post 7 (Easter Thoughts Part 1)

During the course of Easter I was considering where music and sound belongs in my life. When I thought about this, I thought about my life from when I started playing music. When I was younger I went through a phase where I wanted to learn every instrument. At first it was the primary school tin whistle, recorder, etc. I liked the sound of music and rhythm and I also like the attention - something I can't really deny. But I always had that idea of being popular and famous. At that time I didn't understand the hardships of being in a band and the reality of being a musician, because movies and the media only showed the fun parts and, of course, I fell for it.

My mom tried teaching me guitar. She had this beautiful 12-string acoustic guitar that she had since she was 16 years old. Later on it would be utterly destroyed by a future band mate just because he was bored. But back to when I was learning... It was far too difficult for me at the time. I couldn't get my fingers in the right place quick enough. At this point I still hadn't found out that I had 'Dyspraxia', which is a motor function disorder. Basically, I can't process things as fast as others and I don't have full control of my body, which causes me to trip up a lot and seriously affects the control of my hands, fingers and sight, (such as losing my place when I look at my copy book to the board, or from my left hand on the frets of a guitar to my right hand strumming/finger picking). Eventually I decided on drums but it took at least 2-4 years of drums lessons and a lot of hard work to pass as an adequate drummer.

Continue in Part 2

Sound Design Post 6

This week was the last class before Easter break and our first project was due later this week. We had to make 8 sounds for our interactive website/video. It was a collaboration between the Sound lecturer, Film lecturer and the Web Design lecturer. The idea was that we could create an interactive website that would hold the short B Movie film that we created in Audio and Visual Production. Before that we had to create input sounds to fit the tone of the B-Movie. The sounds will be heard anytime that the user clicks on the sites pages, video links, successfully logging in, canceling, etc.

I tried creating sounds the way my lecturer showed me by using pitches and manipulating the waveforms but I couldn't get it working. So I ended up creating 8 sounds using Xpand2 and the keyboards. I messed around for a good while trying to find the right instrument that suited the tone of my werewolf film. After creating the 8 sounds I then created 2 extra sounds that I may use eventually. One was to play during the reveal of the werewolf in the film and one was to be background music in case I would use it for anything else.

Sound Design Post 5

This week is RAG week. (Raising And Giving), but it has seemed to loose that meaning in Irish Society. The 'RAG' starts to stand for, "Let's get and drunk/high as possible" nowadays. But I'm not complaining, (at least not until the next morning), there reason why I brought this up is because when I went to all the house parties, there seems to be a generic staple in music nowadays where the most played and most popular tend to send the same, are at the same tempo, and repeat the same line of lyrics that were said from the beginning. Now, I understand that this style of music is highly appealing in nightclubs because when the song never has a bridge (a chill down moment in a song that usually takes place after 2 verses & 2 chorus', which then lead into another chorus), that leads the audience to keep dancing. Sure there is a build up moment where the audience waits for the beat to drop, but that creates the opposite of a chill out. It instead creates a really tense atmosphere where the audience feel more relieved after the beat drops. The problem I have with this music is that nowadays it's everywhere, all of the time and feels like I'm listening to the same song on repeat. Not  just in house parties, but gyms, swimming pools, trampoline parks, etc.
People use the expression "shit music". I don't believe in bad music. That's like saying Liverpool is shit and Man City is the best. It's always just sticking with the majority / minority. Why not have it all? I think all music is good, as long as it was mad to be good and has a constant rhythm (the only exception to this is the geniously made, but horribly sounding 'Piano Quartet by Gerald Barry *shivers/cringes*). However when a song is overplayed, it gets to a point where it is unbearable. My best example is 'Let it Go' from the Disney Animation "FROZEN". Let it go is one of the best songs made by Disney and the Video that went along with it was just stunning. However it has gotten to a point where it has been so overplayed that you can't help but go like "ARGH!!" every time you hear someone sing it.

Sound Design Post 4

This week in class, we were instructed that it's about time that we should be making sounds for our interactive website. There has to be eight sound, all of which have to be different from the other whilst still maintaining the theme of the website. However the problem with them is that the sounds for the website are due very soon, however the website, the film the interactive website is based on, etc, etc are nowhere near completion. This is making everyone nervous because we have to think ahead of what we may need, which is difficult since no one is quite sure how they will do everything. Even right now the films are only finishing shooting and are now moving on the the editing process, which happens to be my favourite.

In class I was having difficulty creating sounds. Mostly because I was confused by how we were supposed to go about it but also because I was unsure how to create short sounds and tones using waveforms. My lecturer guided me through the whole process and now I finally feel like I am capable of creating the 8 sounds. It doesn't actually seem like it would take that long. It's moreso the idea of all the work we have to go through by the end of the semester is just clouding the near future of taking one thing at a time.

Sound Design Post 3

I have decided that what I am going to do for my posts from now on I that I will have the first part containing information on what I have done in class and then I will briefly talk about my own personal experience on Sound that I had within the week.

In class Richie was telling us how to manipulate pitches in Pro Tools. Which can both be used for our sound assignments and our film projects. During class I watched and rewatched the Lara Croft GO video that we were given for our assignment. Then I created a column list for 'Sounds For LARA', Sounds for MONSTERS', 'Sounds For Environment' and 'Miscellaneous'. I also put into the other columns 'Creation' - which contained information on what props I could use to recreate the sounds. Then 'After Effects' for what I may need or want to change about the sounds in Pro Tools.

This week I was playing an MMO game called Final Fantasy XIV. Normally I wouldn't play MMO's because the take too much time and I'm usually not interested. However I am a very strong Final Fantasy fan, and the music is just incredible. So much that sometimes I stop what I am doing, just to listen to music and it just takes my breath away. When I was a little kid, I played a game called Kingdom Hearts, which hit me on a very emotional level and I grew a deep connection with the game. It taught me about Great Storytelling, Friendship, Art, Colour, and most importantly Music. I had a very strong connection with this game and it is fair to say that if I never played it, I would never have become a musician nor would I have gone into the creative media field. Kingdom Hearts draws a strong relation to Final Fantasy and the music within this game is so strong and powerful that I just can't get enough. It really is orchestral music at it's finest. Here is a link to one of my favorite tracks, played by a famous Tokyo Orchestra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1JgIg38QBU