water project

http://dic-water.blogspot.com/

cross pathway blog

http://cppaardvark.blogspot.com/

The Guardian Newspaper article

THE GURADIAN

Mark Sweney

BSkyB has unveiled the biggest overhaul of the on-air look of flagship entertainment channel Sky One in its 20-year history, with idents featuring Lost star Naveen Andrews and Bones' David Boreanaz.

Sky's first use of on-screen talent in channel idents forms part of a radical rebrand of its entertainment services, based on the theme of "solids, liquids and particles".

The new on-air look, supported by five new themed promotional idents to push the channels, will go live at 6pm on August 31, when the broadcaster's autumn schedule launches.

Sky's facelift for its entertainment programming will see Sky One, Sky Two and Sky Three rebranded as Sky1, Sky2 and Sky3.

The branding strategy also aims to better marry key programmes such as Lost, Prison Break and Bones to the on-air channel identity, with on-air promos featuring talent.

"On my very first meeting after I joined we discussed the look of the channels. I felt that [the look of] Sky One wasn't fitting in with the new direction and strategy I envisaged," said Richard Woolfe, controller of Sky 1, 2, and 3.

"It represented programming from a different time and era in Sky1's history. We are about Lost, 24, Prison Break, Gladiators and our own dramas. Now both programmes and brand values on and off air are in alignment."

The aim of the relaunch is to broaden the view of Sky's entertainment channel and create a "premium champion brand" for Sky1.

BSkyB's in-house agency, Sky Creative, has created a brand theme across the family of entertainment channels based on the various "elements" or "states" that objects can take.

Sky1 is represented by a solid blue number "1", Sky2 by a green liquid number "2" and Sky3 as pink particles in a number "3".

Each of the channel's natural states is revealed in action scenes in the five idents that have been developed – two of which feature Andrews, who plays former Iraqi soldier Sayid in Lost, and Boreanaz, the former star of Buffy and Angel.

Boreanaz is seen in a target range shooting at the three Sky channel logos, each of which disintegrate in accordance with the state that each represents.

Andrews gets disoriented in Lost-style fog and ends up having his mind read by the Sky logos.

"We are starting to get a real family of faces and we want the channels to be better associated with programming. It makes the family of channels stronger," said Andi Granger, the creative director at Sky Creative.

Other idents such as "whack-a-mole", which features a family at a fair ground bashing Sky channel numerals with a soft club as they pop out of holes, will be used to promote a wider range of entertainment shows such as Gladiators and the Simpsons.

An American-shot ident called "Twister" will be used to promote shows such as Lost and "best of US" programmes.

Sky1 launched in 1989. Sky2 and Sky3 launched in 2005.

Sky 1 Ident history

http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/skytv/skyone.html

This web address takes you to a catalogue of all the Idents used for Sky 1. As there is such a vast amount of Idents for this channel, it would be stupid to put them all on, so here is the link to see them all.

foreword

After looking through the Idents and promotions for Sky One, i feel that they have developed with age, progressing with time and constantly redesigning in order to appeal to the younger audience whilst also keeping the original one.

As they are constantly changing the style of their Idents, it means that they aren't afraid to change. This is something which works well when designing ideas as it means that there really isn't any boundaries which i need to stick to.

After looking through the history of this channels Idents, I'm liking the direction that they are going in.

Sky One original promotion

Possibly the cheesiest way to advertise a new channel. Good job they've gone towards a better style

Sky Idents- the history

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFplcvLwV_Q

embeding was disabled so until im able to get the video, here is the URL instead

enjoy the cheesy use of sax's and the american style voice over

Sky 1

In thinking about what channel i want to do an Ident for, i feel that it would be a good idea to look into the background in order to understand what styles that channel has done, as well as any similarities that they have.

As i have already looked into the Idents for the Sky 1, 2 and 3 channels, i think that this will be the best place to start from. Sky One has been running for just over 20years now and throughout their history, they have redesigned their Ident many times in order to stay with the times. This is something that will work in my favour when looking into designing my own Ident as i can look at the style of the channel as well as the style of programming.

SKY current Idents part 3

Most channels have TV shows which are either specifically for that channel, or at least shown on that channel before any other.
This then leads onto Idents being created for the purpose to both promote the channel as well as the Show as well. Here, Sky have created at least 2 for both Lost and Bones.

SKY current Idents part 2

This shows that the colours are always something used to distinguish between these channels.

This set of Idents also reveals that each channel has its own material/ effect.

Sky One has a solid material, one similar to thick glass which has a solid structure and shatters.
Sky Two uses a thick globular material which splashes around.
Sky Three resembles particles, shiny and mysterious, almost like 'fairy dust' or at least the image of fairy dust imprinted upon us by Peter Pan and similar children stories.

SKY current Idents part 1

Based around a gas station, this scene provides an almost supernatural feeling about the Ident, one which suites the shows on this channel. Each channel has a different colour. This is something which enables a clear distinction between channels.

BLUE - Sky one
GREEN - Sky two
PINK - Sky three

IDENT

Our current project is to design an Ident for a chosen TV channel.
Although this seems simple, especially considering it only has to be 10 seconds, this is in fact something much harder than it looks.

The first problem is that there is a vast amount of TV channels out there. With so much choice, how do i decide which one to do. I dont watch too much TV any more so i don't have a favourite channel or even a favourite TV program which could lead onto a channel.

What should i go for?

The second problem is that each TV channel will have a specific theme in which most of their programs are tailored around. Dave as an example shows re-runs which are humourous in one way or another. FX shows crime and thriller programs along with the occasional horror such as TRUE Blood. Do these channels also have a specific colour theme that they stick too, one which people can recognise easily?

Number 3, how much can you show in 10 seconds?

development

City redevelopment research.

In order to help with the project, i looked at different ways in which a company or corporation advertises the redevelopment/ renovation or certain areas.

From looking at the above images, they employ many different methods, from concept designs to environment mapping.

I feel that the leaflets and hand outs are the best examples to help with my design.
I shall use the style abundant in each of the examples, as well as the layout of image surrounded by simple text.

Flight 404 no.2

Magnetosphere/Nebula from flight404 on Vimeo.

This is a second test, trying to create a feeling of flying through a nebula.

This shows that even a finished piece can be tweaked and revisited to make it better

Flight 404

Older Magnetosphere/Turbulence/Nebula render from flight404 on Vimeo.

This is a piece by flight 404, one of the artists exhibiting as part of the ONEDOTZERO exhibition.

As the piece in the V & A really caught my attention, I thought a small bit of research into other pieces he has done would allow me to see if this was the usual style or not. This piece particularly caught my attention as it reminded me of a simpler version we did with Flash in the 1st year.

Music and Video, actions and reactions.

DECODE- ONEDOTZERO exhibition

During a recent visit to London, i was able to visit the V&A gallery and the ONEDOTZERO exhibition called DECODE.

I was lucky in the timing of the project linking in with the dates in which the exhibition is in London before it heads of to other ends of the world.

The meaning behind the exhibition, the style of the work and the name of the company is based on code. ONEDOTZERO (1.0) is all about the fundamentals of digital work, the binary code that is at the base of everything. This is clear when looking at the exhibition, that all the pieces, interactive or not, are based around the world. This includes a map of flight paths in north america, a digital clock which displays the time through a series of pictures which are uploaded to the sight, allowing audience participation, even a tree which interacts with the audience by detecting foot placement so that the leaves on the floor move when you stand near them.

All the pieces in the exhibition were fascinating and visually exiting however, there is a vast amount i could say about each one so on this basis, i have chosen a few pieces which i felt stood out from the crowd, pieces which were both visually and technically amazing.


Solar by Flight 404. The creator, Robert Hodgin had already created a piece called Solar, much like the one in the exhibition however, ONEDOTZERO approached him and asked if eh could rework the piece so that it was audio responsive.
According to his blog (http://www.flight404.com/blog/) he felt that his usual creative path wouldnt help in this situation, so the music was turned off. He began by making simple noises into a microphone. This soon became tedious and unenjoyable so subsequently scrapped. The answer came about through a call for help on twitter in which many people suggested a podcast called WYNC's Radiolab.

'I took a snippet from the episode entitled “Musical Language” which features a beautiful soundscape created by Jonah Lehrer. In the episode, Jonah and Robert Krulwich are analyzing the notion that sound is “touch, at a distance” '

At the exhibition, i found this piece very personal in an interactive sense as the digital object reacts differently dependent on the volume, tone and pitch. This meant that it was constantly changing between each person interacting with it.

The gentleman infront of me found that Charlie Uniform November Tango was particularly enjoyable to say into the microphone.

Another piece at the exhibition, one which fascinated the masses was a piece called 'Weave Mirror' by Daniel Rozin. i found that this piece was unique as it was the one thing that was visually amazing from the front as well as the back. The participant stands infront of the piece in which a camera is focused on, this image is then relayed through a program which causes hundreds of semi-circles (each shaded dark to light) to react and transpose the image of the person. As the person is being filmed, the image changes if they move.




The reason i loved this piece so much was because you are able to watch the program at work. The back of this piece reveals all the mechanisms working to transpose the image. Each of the semi-circles is controlled separately and this is fascinating to watch.

The exhibition is full of amazing things and i highly suggest that anyone interested in this style or even the company should take some time to have a look.

initial research- city 2

The disappearing city could be represented the demolition or destruction of the world or cities.



These images are from Steven Spielberg's A.I. The representration of the future comes through neon lights, sexual structures and this constant need to sell themselves. The future, although sometimes bleak, comes with a hint of sexual fun, without the consequences. (Prostitutes and Gigolo's are mainly cyborgs in this film)


This final image mixes the styles of old and new. Traditional stone structures and oriental huts are surrounded by water and an arching dome which engulfs the whole scene.

initial research- city

This image is a concept design which explores the idea that structures are built, but carry on growing after they are created. This concept for the Eiffel Tower caught my eye straight away. The structure has expanded and curved, flowing like root and branches from a tree.




One of the first things that i did when thinking about 'the disappearing city' or 'the everchanging city' was research into the idea of constant development (building upwards and outwards). The image of the NY bridge waterfall shows the change to past structures.

By raiding all the images i've found in the past, i found a select few images which really caught my eye.

Ink Ball test

This is a quick test to see if i could create an object which seems to have a constant motion but without being too distracting if other elements were in the frame

lilium urbanus

One of the first things that came to mind when reading this brief was this video which i found last year.

Lilium Urbanus portrays the design view on the building of a city. The city came about from nature and the environment, built upwards and subsequently designed to represent the natural environment which it came from.

The design of the animation is visually exciting and easily enjoyable.

The only problem with identifying this early on in the competition process is that my design could quite easily trail off into something similar. This is something which i will have to deal with during the idea and design process.