win the $500 poster contest prize

George Brown College’s 17th Annual LABOUR FAIR
Contest open to all GBC students – full-time or part-time

George Brown College’s annual Labour Fair is a week-long event bringing 75+ trade union representatives into the college, to give students a chance to find out more about the occupations they’re training for. The Labour Fair features in-class sessions with union speakers, information displays, videos, music and cultural events. Date and location: All GBC campuses from Monday, March 9 to Friday, March 13, 2009.

Our theme this year:
“Small Victories, Big Gains: Unions in Hard Times”
Despite very tough times, this year the labour movement has had a lot of gains – unionizing a Walmart store, getting agricultural workers & part-time college workers the right to join a union.
We’ll celebrate these gains and explore how these have improved everyone’s working lives!

Here’s what you do to win the $500 poster contest prize:
- Design a colour poster on our theme, “Small Victories, Big Gains: Unions in Hard Times.” Make sure your poster is ready to be printed
- Size should be approximately 11” x 17”
- Highlight the event’s dates and places
- Leave space for the names of 6-10 sponsors and for event details

DEADLINE: Monday, January 19, 2009 (before 3:30 p.m.)
- Drop off your HARD COPY design, marked “To School of Labour”, with your name, phone number, e-mail address & program on the reverse in Room 524A, St James Campus, 200 King St East.
- For more info, to hear more about our theme, or to see samples of previous posters, call Maureen Hynes at 415 5000 x 2549 or drop in at Room 524A, St James Campus or check our website at www.georgebrown.ca/schooloflabour

PROJECT#4 Due Next Week

The final interactive version of the poem is due next week. Be prepared to present the work to the class.

Be sure to include a design rationale with the project, and all process work and in-class scripting exercises.

Flash Scripts

http://ffiles.com/

Total Sums and Output code

on(release) {
_root.calculator.outputBox = "";

TotalSum = 0;

for (var i:Number = 0; i< MySums.length; i++) {

_root.calculator.outputBox += MySums[i] + newline;
TotalSum += MySums[i];
trace(TotalSum);
}
_root.calculator.outputBox += "---" + newline;
_root.calculator.outputBox += TotalSum;

}

= button

on(release) {
// = button
NumberTwo = _root.calculator.outputBox

// You will need to add numbers
/// You can use the parseInt()
var Sum:Number = parseInt(NumberTwo) + parseInt(FirstNumber);
_root.calculator.outputBox = FirstNumber + newline + "+"
+ NumberTwo + "=" + Sum ;
}

+ button

on(release) {
// + button
FirstNumber = outputBox;
_root.calculator.outputBox = FirstNumber + newline + "+";
}

_root.calculator.outputBox = what.charAt(1)

// movie clip is the button for each number

on(press) {
// b2

// name each instance... b0...b1...b2...b3
var what:String = this._name;

// what.charAt(1); strips the instance name of the "b"
// gets the character at index 1
// TIP: remember indexing begins with 0,
// so index position 1 is really character 2
// then it puts the result in to the output window
_root.calculator.outputBox = what.charAt(1);

}

Project#4: Interactivity

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Upon successful completion of this project the student will be able to do the following:
• Integrate the User (through User input) into the presentation
• Design Actionscripts creating interactive functionality
• Understand complex objects and integrated systems
• Recognize design principles across multi-media forms
• Demonstrate how type, sound, graphics, and interactivity can be integrated into telling a unified story

PROCESS & CRITERIA:
Represent the kinetic story with text, sound, images and interactivity.
i) Submit a FINAL kinetic story built in FLASH, integrating text, sound, graphical images and interactivity. Include on the CD, the .fla, .swf, PC & MAC Projector.
ii) Submit a written (one page) report explaining your comments about the whole process of creating a digital multi-media presentation using text, sound, images and interactivity. This report should include a self-evaluation of how you valued the process and your project outcomes.

Due Dates:
1) Sketches & Model: Due Week #13
2) Working Revised Model: Due Week #14
3) THE FINAL INTEGRATED STORY: Due Week #15

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Include all Process stages (1,2,3) when submitting PROJECT #4,Week #15.

Basic Computer Concepts & SCRIPT EXAMPLES

Basic Computer Concepts (Storage, Selection, Repetition)
1) Store items in a variable.
2) An Array is a related list of items.
3) A conditional (if/else) statement functions like an on/off switch
4) A "for" loop is a counter loop

EXAMPLE 01:
• index variable
• Pushing data into an Array;
• text field/variable output
• Trace output

// The script is on an instance of a movie clip
on (press) {
// variable num is rooted at Stage
// add item to the Array
var num:Number = _root.myData.push(this._name)-1;

// OUTPUT to STAGE: text field on the screen
_root.whatclicked = "num: " + num + newline +
"_root.myData[num]: " + _root.myData[num] + newline +
"_root.myData: " +_root.myData;

// TRACE window output
trace("num: " + num);
trace("_root.myData[num]: " + _root.myData[num]);
trace("_root.myData: " +_root.myData);
trace(_root.myData.length);
}
---------------------------------------------------------

EXAMPLE 02:
• Repeat loop
• index variable "i"
• condition using length
• increment i++
• Array item

on(release) {
// clear the text field
_root.whatclicked = "";
// output to the text field the items in the Array
// each item is placed on a new line
for (var i:Number = 0; i<_root.myData.length; i++) {
_root.whatclicked += _root.myData[i] + newline;
}
}
---------------------------------------------------------

EXAMPLE 03:
• startDrag()
• x and y locations
• stopDrag()
• setting a variable + 1
• duplicate this movie clip
• assign a location x and y

on(press) {
this.startDrag();
whereX = this._x;
whereY = this._y;

}
on(release) {
this.stopDrag();

_root.iteration++
trace(i);
// this is what is duplicated, new name, depth
this.duplicateMovieClip("clip=" + _root.iteration, _root.iteration);
this._x = whereX;
this._y = whereY;

}
---------------------------------------------------------

EXAMPLE 04:
• Drag and drop album covers to play mp3 file
• Selection structure (if else)
• FRAME SCRIPT example for movie clip instances

// all in FRAME SCRIPT
var dancing:Sound = new Sound();
// ALBUM #1 ****************************************************//
album1_mc.onPress = function():Void {
this.startDrag(true);
reply_txt.text = "";
reply_txt.text = "Selected Album#1";


// snapback code begins ************************ //
if (album1_mc._x == squareTarget_mc._x) {
snapback = true;

}else {
// start position
startpositionX = album1_mc._x;
startpositionY = album1_mc._y;
}
// snapback code ends ************************ //



album1_mc.swapDepths(this.getNextHighestDepth());
// xstart = this._x;
// start = this._y;
dancing.stop();
};

//ALBUM #1
album1_mc.onRelease = function():Void {
this.stopDrag();

// snapback code begins ************************ //
if(snapback) {
album1_mc._x = startpositionX;
album1_mc._y = startpositionY;
snapback = false;

}else {
// snapback code ends ************************ //


if (eval(this._droptarget) == squareTarget_mc) {
reply_txt.text = "Playing Album#1";
// this.enabled = false;
// snap album cover to the movie clip target //
album1_mc._x = squareTarget_mc._x;
album1_mc._y = squareTarget_mc._y;
// ----------------------------------------- //
counter++;
dancing.loadSound("1.mp3", true); // true is for streaming mp3 file
dancing.start(0,1);
onoff = true;

} else {
reply_txt.text = "Try Again";
this._x = xstart;
this._y = ystart;
}
} // include this closure of the snapback else
};

// end of ALBUM #1 **********************************************//

Contest: Describe your most rewarding learning experience

NISOD Student Essay Contest

The National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) has announced a student essay contest to mark Community College Week.

The winning essay is awarded a total of $3,000US to be shared with the student author, the faculty/staff/administrator featured in the essay and the college.

The essay topic is: Describe your most rewarding learning experience with a faculty, staff or administrator at your community college.

Entries from GBC students will be eligible for 3 prizes of $300, $200 and $100 from GBC's Vice-President Academic's office. Deadline for GBC is December 1, 2008 please send GBC entries to Michael Cooke at mcooke@georgebrown.ca.

More details available at www.nisod.org/student_essay.html

Three arrays and assign them items.

var myPics:Array = Array("myPicsfirst", "myPicssecond", "myPicsthird");

var myAudio:Array = Array("myAudiofirst", "myAudiosecond", "myAudiothird");

var myType:Array = Array("myTypefirst", "myTypesecond", "myTypethird");

this._name & myShow.push(this._name)

ACTIONSCIPT:
this._name
// the _name property: gets the name of this, whatever this is.

myShow.push(this._name)
// pushes what's inside the brackets into the array myShow

// FOR EXAMPLE:
// MOVIE CLIP INSTANCE SCRIPT
on (press) {
_root.remote.what = this._name;
/* gets the name of this Movie Clip instance
that is on the Stage, and places the name
in the variable/text field: _root.remote.what

_root.remote.myShow.push(this._name);
/* Pushes the name of this into an array named myShow
located within the Movie Clip _root.remote
}

Kinetic Poetry (Sound & Image and Type)

A graceful movement though time:

http://www.ashesandsnow.org/

http://codex.ashesandsnow.org/en/codex.php

enjoy
P.E.R.

hittest scripts

In this example, drag the girl over the seashell.

// girl instance script
onClipEvent(mouseDown){
startDrag(this);
}
onClipEvent(mouseUp){
stopDrag();
}


// FRAME 1 script
// girl movie clip instance
girl.onPress = function() {
this.startDrag();
};

// girl movie clip instance
girl.onRelease = function() {
this.stopDrag();
// seashell_01 instance
if (this.hitTest(seashell1)) {
_global.totalpickedup = 1;
_root.seashell1._visible = 0;
trace("you picked up a SeaShell");
}
// seashell_02 instance
if (this.hitTest(seashell2)) {
_global.totalpickedup = 1;
_root.seashell2._visible = 0;
trace("you picked up a SeaShell");
}
};

Week 10: Automation & Scripting

In Photoshop you can automate a batch processing of a series of files.
For example, Photoshop can automate the renumbering of photos. After they are renumbered, you would be able to write some Javascript or some Actionscript to place the pictures on the screen based upon their numerical sequence ( 1,2,3,4,5....).

The following video shows how to automate the renumbering process with a 1-Digital-Serial renumbering:




After renumbering the jpgs, they can be resized using an image processing script, as follows:

Week 09: Moving Pictures (Actionscripting)

Find below, the Actionscript used in today's example.
In this example, the VIEWER will select a category (SOIL, SOCIETY, SOUL), and then click the NEXT and PREVIOUS buttons to move through the slides that are located in folders.
Each filename is formatted as follows: img#.jpg, where # is a sequential number.
Each file is located in a folder according to the category it fits into.

Include the photo only presentation AND this application in PROJECT#3.

// FRAME SCRIPT
stop();

// SOIL Button
on(release) {
category = "soil"; // what folder to look inside
nextone=1; // what image to play first
limit=5; // number of images in the folder
loadMovie("images/" + category +"/img"+nextone+".jpg", mypics_mc);
}

// SOUL Button
on(release) {
category = "soul";
nextone=1;
limit=2;
loadMovie("images/" + category +"/img"+nextone+".jpg", mypics_mc);
}


/* NEXT Button script */
on (release) {
if (nextone>=limit) {
// Do nothing
} else {
nextone++;
loadMovie("images/" + category +"/img"+nextone+".jpg", mypics_mc);
}
}

/* PREVIOUS button script */
on (release) {
if (nextone<=1) {
// Do nothing
} else {
nextone--;
loadMovie("images/" + category +"/img"+nextone+".jpg", mypics_mc);
}
}

Pictures And LoadMovie()

// Assume the image files are inside a folder called images, and that the files are named mypics1.jpg, mypics2.jpg, etc....

// frame script
set nextone = 1;
// ------------

// next image button
on (release) {
whichImage = "images/mypics" + nextone + ".jpg";
loadMovie(whichImage, "imageLoader")
nextone++;
}

// TODAY'S EXERCISE:
// Can you figure out a previous image button?
// Create an application that runs your SOIL, SOCIETY, SOUL images.
// The application must first, choose the show ( SOIL, SOCIETY, SOUL) then run the images inside that show.

Have fun!!!

Field Trip ... if anyone is interested

See Shamanic Journeying in Toronto

WACOM 21" Cintiq at Henry's Photographic Show

Project#3 (Assignment 1) Soil, Society, Soul

Thanksgiving Day walkabout.

To be an Earth Pilgrim

Project Three will look through images.

We will research through the lens of soil, society, and soul.

Some inspiration from Satish Kumar:
To be an Earth Pilgrim is to revere Nature as our sacred home, and see all our life as a sacred journey to become at one with ourselves, with others and with Nature. The starting point for being an Earth Pilgrim is humility in the face of Nature’s immense generosity and unconditional love. Take the apple tree. We eat the fruit that has been freely given – and finding a bitter pip, we spit it out. Here the pip immediately starts to cooperate with Nature. The soil provides hospitality for the seed, which is nourished by the rain and the sunshine. Soon the pip has literally grounded itself and realised itself as another tree bearing innumerable apples and countless pips. When people ask me about reincarnation, I point to the apple tree. And when offering its fruit, the apple tree does not discriminate between human and animal, educated and uneducated, between black or white, man and woman, young and old. All are equal, and all receive.

http://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article2644-To-Be-An-Earth-Pilgrim.html

A Reminder: Keep it simple!

Benjamin Zander Video

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, October 15 - 19

Volunteer for imagineNATIVE!
A volunteer orientation session will be held Sunday, October 5 from 4pm-5.30pm at the Al Green Theatre at 750 Spadina Avenue.

The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, October 15 - 19, is an international festival that celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio, and new media. The screenings, parties, panel discussions, and cultural events attract and connect filmmakers, media artists, programmers, and industry professionals from Canada and around the world.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!

As a non-profit charitable organization, we depend on the support of volunteers. As well as being a lot of fun, volunteering can provide a way to gain valuable experience and meet key players in the entertainment industry while helping out a community-oriented organization and supporting Toronto's art scene.

We are seeking enthusiastic volunteers to fill a number of positions before and during the festival, October 15 - 19. Some positions include:

- Guest Relations
- Airport Greeters
- Theatre Ushers / Ticket-Takers
- Workshop Attendants
- Party set-up
- Office Prep (pre-festival)

ImagineNATIVE volunteers are rewarded for their hard work with a Festival Pass, which gives access to festival screenings, special presentations, workshops, and parties.

If you are interested in volunteering please contact: Amy Rouillard, Volunteer Coordinator, web volunteer@imagineNATIVE.org
http://www.imagineNATIVE.org

The basic process of graphic design

The basic process of graphic design in terms of Communication Theory: it is the role of the designer to maximize the effectiveness of the total transmission, What he starts with is the alphasignal, the content devised generally by someone else. What he deliberately adds is parasignaI, the form devised by himself as his
contribution to increased effectiveness. What he injects of his own personality, his own idiosyncrasy his own eccentricity, coincidentally in the process, is infrasignal. It is to be hoped, if he does get some infrasignal in his work, that it is positive, that is, an asset. It is the mark of a good graphic designer to make sure that his work radiates no negative infrasignal.

Reference: Alphasignal, Parasignal, Infrasignal: Notes Toward a Theory of Communication By Crawford Dunn

Alphasignal, Parasignal, Infrasignal

When we listen to instrumental music, we are receiving parasignaI completely without any alphasignal. In such, there are no hard data, only soft data that require a far lower level of energy to decode.

Alphasignal is, by its very nature, encoded into a specific language either alphabetical or numerical - and requires specific linguistic knowledge to decode properly.

For this reason, alphasignal can be stopped dead still at many language boundaries and not allowed to pass.

Parasignal, on the other hand, although rarely truly global, is allowed remarkably free passage across language barriers. Thus, parasignal can be used where alphasignal is worthless.

Read: Alphasignal, Parasignal, Infrasignal: Notes Toward a Theory of Communication, Crawford Dunn, from Print Magazine, Nov./Dec. 1970. [Crawford Dunn]
http://visualstudies.buffalo.edu/resources/classnotes/art319/exercises/parasignal/Dunn_article/Alphasignal%20Parasignal%20Infrasignal.pdf


Also read: Universal Principles of Design, by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler:

Archetypes (p. 24)
Heirarchy of Needs (p.106),
Iconic Representation (p. 110),
Mimicry (p. 132),
Mnemonic Device (p. 134)

Using one generally recognized and accepted symbol, trademark, service-mark, word or phrase, develop and execute four variations of that symbol exemplifying each of these four approaches for manipulating parasignals:

Alphasignal with neutral parasignals
Alphasignal with common parasignal
Alphasignal with contradictory parasignals
Contradictory alphasignal[s]

Search for advertisements, magazine illustrations, magazine layouts, book jacket designs, etc. for outstanding examples of each of the 4 approaches for manipulating parasignals. Or start out with one commonly understood alphasignal and parasignal combination and create variations 3 and 4 for them.

PROJECT#4: Type, Sound, Image, Interactivity

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Upon successful completion of this project the student will be able to do the following:
• Integrate the User (through User input) into the presentation
• Design Actionscripts creating interactive functionality
• Understand complex objects and integrated systems
• Recognize design principles across multi-media forms
• Demonstrate how type, sound, graphics, and interactivity can be integrated into telling a unified story

PROCESS & CRITERIA:
Represent the kinetic story with text, sound, images and interactivity.
i) Submit a FINAL kinetic story built in FLASH, integrating text, sound, graphical images and interactivity. Include on the CD, the .fla, .swf, PC & MAC Projector.
ii) Submit a written (one page) report explaining your comments about the whole process of creating a digital multi-media presentation using text, sound, images and interactivity. This report should include a self-evaluation of how you valued the process and your project outcomes.

Due Dates:
1) Sketches & Model: Due Week #13
2) Working Revised Model: Due Week #14
3) THE FINAL INTEGRATED STORY: Due Week #15

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Include all Process stages (1,2,3) when submitting PROJECT #4,Week #15.

PROJECT#3: Type, Sound, & Image

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Upon successful completion of this project the student will be able to do the following:
• Capture graphic images (original pictures) and prepare them for digital output
• Organize graphic images according to specific categories
• Match type (text) images to graphic images
• Tell a story with graphical images and sound
• Integrate graphical images with type to strengthen a story
• Demonstrate how the introduction of graphic images can affect the story
• Demonstrate how type, sound, and graphic images can be integrated to tell a unified story

PROCESS & CRITERIA:
1) CAPTURE GRAPHIC IMAGES: Capture original graphic images to tell a story.
With a camera take pictures that can be organized into the following three categories: Soil, Soul, Society.
i) Capture a minimum of 90 (30 per category) pictures using a digital camera. The pictures must represent the text of the original poem.
ii) Organize the pictures according to the following categories:
• Soil (Looking Down / Earth / Ground),
• Society (Looking Across /People / Humanity),
• Soul (Looking Up / Spirit / Sky).
iii) Store the pictures (in JPEG format) on a CD, in a Folder named: IMAGES. Within the IMAGES Folder, create three sub-folders (SOIL, SOUL, SOCIETY). Organize the pictures into the appropriate folders based on the graphical images they represent. Name each image by category then by image name: For example: Soil_sand, Soil_water; Soul_bluesky, Soul_birdsflying; Society_chessplayers; Society_peopledancingtogether.
iv) Create a Sketch/Chart/Report matching the text from the story to the images captured.
v) Submit the IMAGES CD and the Chart/Report.

2) A STORY WITH ONLY IMAGES: Represent the poem with only images.
Re-create the poem with images only, by replacing the text with the appropriate images.
i) Substitute the images for the text lines.
ii) Submit the poem, but this time with graphical images (pictures), sound, and NO TEXT. Include on the CD, the .fla, .swf, PC & MAC Projector files.
iii) Submit a written (one page) report explaining the following:
a) Rationale for the choice of images in the recreated story
b) Shifts or changes in the story due to its now graphical image form

3) AN INTEGRATED STORY WITH TEXT, SOUND & IMAGES: Represent the poem with text, sound & images.
Create a new kinetic poem integrating text, sound, and graphical images.

Due Dates:
1) CAPTURE GRAPHIC IMAGES: Due Week #10
2) POEM WITH ONLY IMAGES: Due Week #11
3) AN INTEGRATED POEM WITH TEXT, SOUND, & IMAGES: Due Week #12

IMPORTANT NOTE: Include all image process stages (1,2,3) on the CD, when submitting the complete project.

PROJECT#1: Animated Type

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Upon successful completion of this project the student will be able to do the following: • Demonstrate animation principles applied to type;
• Explain the ways the meaning of a story can change with animation;
• Apply traditional design principles in a digital space/time-based environment;
• Create a new animated story;
• Deconstruct a story (finding key letters & words);
• Compose a digital story (reconnecting key phrases) constructing meaning;
• Tell a new story using kinetic type.

DESIGN PROCESS & CRITERIA:
1) Finding the type
a. Photograph images (letter pictures). The images must look like the first letter of the thing they represent. For example: The letter W looks like a wave. The letter S looks like a snake.
b. Save all images.

2) Tracing the images (using Flash) into the letterform
a. Using Flash, import the image into the Library, create a graphic symbol and trace bitmap the image.
b. Save the fla.

3) Creating a morph animation from the original image into the bitmap, and then into the letter
a. Using the original image, the traced bitmap, and the letterform, produce an animation illustrating the transformations from image, to traced bitmap, to letterform.
b. Save the animation as an .fla, and .mov.

4) The animated poem
a. Choose/compose a poem.
b. Translate the poem into an animated sketch.
c. Create a design rational explaining each animation in relation to the poem.
d. Complete the digital poem using Flash, applying design and animation principles.
e. Save as .fla and .mov.

5) Share the animated poem
a. Share the work through an in–class presentation (original images, traces, letterform animations, animated poem, design rationale).
b. Post to YouTube, blog, web site.
c. Describe the ways your design fulfills its purpose of communicating your ideas and the messages embedded within the poem.

Important Notes
1) Do not include music.
2) Do not include photographs
3) Do not include interactivity
4) INCLUDE TEXT/TYPE ONLY.

PROJECT#2: Animated Type & Sound

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Upon successful completion of this project the student will be able to do the following:
• Edit digital music (cut/paste, fade in/out and output .wav/. aif formats)
• Demonstrate how sound can affect the emotional impact of a story
• Explain sound design principles and how they affect and integrate with visual design
• Demonstrate ways type and sound can be integrated to tell a compelling story.

PROCESS & CRITERIA:
1. EDIT & INTEGRATE BACKGROUND AUDIO: Produce a background sound track file.
a. Listen to different music tracks while watching your Kinetic Type (Project #1) presentation.
b. Decide on a music track, edit it, and insert it into your Flash presentation.

2. FIND, EDIT, & INTEGRATE SOUND EFFECTS: Integrate sound effects into the poem.
a. Markup your poem with sound effect cues.
b. Find appropriate sound effects to insert into the poem.
c. Create a poem with integrated sound effects.

3. Kinetic poetry using Type and Sound.
a. Create a new kinetic poem integrating sound (music & effects) with type.
b. Submit a one-page rationale explaining how (the ways in which) the music and effects support the story.

Free Flash Source Code

http://www.levitated.net/daily/

Just check it out.

GarageBand - Music Composition

View all the tutorials on the Apple site.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#garageband


Basics in Editing:

Select a Region: Click it in the timeline.
Copy A Region: Option-drag a region to create a copy
RETURN KEY – return to the start of the song
SPACEBAR KEY– toggles between Play/Stop

Resizing Regions
You can resize regions either by shortening them (1) or by duplicating/lengthening (2).
1. Move the pointer over the LOWER right half of either edge of the region. The pointer changes to a repeat pointer (a vertical line with an arrow pointing away from the region). Drag the edge of the region to shorten it or lengthen it.
2. Move the pointer over the UPPER right half of the region. The pointer changes to a circle-pointer. Drag the edge of the region to lengthen it.

Sound Commentary

What some people say about the power of music:

Music is spirit.

Music has exercised a pronounced effect on history, on morals and on culture; that music… is a more potent force in the moulding of character than religious creeds, precepts or moral philosophies.

The particular emotion which a given piece of music depicts is reproduced in ourselves. Furthermore,… the essence of the actual musical form tends to reproduce itself in human conduct. … – as in music, so in life.

There is no agent so powerful in giving us real rest as true music….
It does for the heart and mind, and also for the body, what sleep does for the body alone.

I partake of other people, as I partake of the music. Whether it is others, in their own natural movement, or the movement of music itself, the feeling of movement, of living movement, is communicated to me. And not just movement, but existence itself.

Week 05: Out of Nothing... Sound

Principles, sound theories, and facts about sound:

Sound is Vibration
When we hear a musical tone, we hear a vibration.
Music is made of tones in time.
The “pitch” or height of a tone is determined by the speed of the vibration.
Fast is high, slow is low.

Frequencies:
A = 440 Hz (cycles per second)
C = 261.626 Hz
See chart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_key_frequencies

Other (cycle per second) examples:
2 Hz, 120 bpm, one of the most common tempos in music.
10 Hz, cyclic rate of a typical automobile engine at idle (equivalent to 600 rpm)
50 Hz or 60 Hz (50 Hz for European AC, Tokyo AC or 60 Hz for American AC, Osaka AC), electromagnetic — standard AC mains power
-------------------------------------------------

Hearing:
The human ear is capable of detecting sound waves with a wide range of frequencies, ranging between approximately 20 Hz to 20 000 Hz. Any sound with a frequency below the audible range of hearing (i.e., less than 20 Hz) is known as an infrasound and any sound with a frequency above the audible range of hearing (i.e., more than 20 000 Hz) is known as an ultrasound.

Humans are not alone in their ability to detect a wide range of frequencies.

Dogs can detect frequencies as low as approximately 50 Hz and as high as 45 000 Hz.

Cats can detect frequencies as low as approximately 45 Hz and as high as 85 000 Hz.

Bats, being nocturnal creature, must rely on sound echolocation for navigation and hunting. Bats can detect frequencies as high as 120 000 Hz.

Dolphins can detect frequencies as high as 200 000 Hz.

While dogs, cats, bats, and dolphins have an unusual ability to detect ultrasound, an elephant possesses the unusual ability to detect infrasound, having an audible range from approximately 5 Hz to approximately 10 000 Hz.
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Four Organizing Factors
1. Rhythm – beats of time (number of beats per time unit) plus the distribution of accents.
2. Melody – variation of pitch in a sequence of tones. Do re mi …
3. Harmony – combination of tones of various pitches, sounding simultaneously. Chords are an example of this.
4. Tone (timbre) – the character or quality (or colour) produced from the combination of the fundamental tone (pitch) and overtones, blended together. For example, a trumpet and guitar may play the same note, but the tone quality/timbre of the note will be different.
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The Four Brain Wave States
1. Beta (14-20Hz): This is the state of active awareness or active consciousness during our normal activities. Attention to activities of the external world.
2. Alpha (8-13Hz): Mentally awake, alert, and relaxed. We are powerfully creative and productive in this state. Daydreaming. Closed eyes. Meditative state.
3. Theta (4-7Hz): In this state we may be able to sense the energy of people and things fairly acutely. This is the half-awake, half-asleep state. High creativity. Shamanic states of consciousness. Deep meditative state.
4. Delta (0.5-3Hz): This is the deepest level of consciousness. This state may simulate a near-death experience. Deep meditation may produce this state.
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Binaural Frequencies

By pairing frequencies, another frequency may be experienced. This pairing up of frequencies is known as “binaural frequencies” or “binaural beats”.

For example: pairing up the pitch of “A” (A as 440 Hz, is 440 cycles per second) and “A sharpened” (410 cycles per second), sounded together would produce a frequency of 10Hz, which is an Alpha state frequency.

Chanting has a similar effect upon our brain waves and states of consciousness.
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Entrainment (active)
Entrainment is the effect of changing frequency to align with another close frequency. A less powerful object is set in motion by a more powerful one. Pendulum’s will eventually swing in-sync with each other

Resonance (passive)
Resonance is a cooperative phenomenon between two objects that share the same frequency. It is a meeting of the natural vibrations of one with the natural vibration of the other. One object may set another object of the same frequency into a state of movement. Shattering a wine glass with a resonant voice, is one example.
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Sound samples

George Frideric Handel’s, Pastoral Symphony
Influenced by the Victorian Era 1700’s England
Music effects: Formalism, Formal in character, grandeur, unsubtle, glorification of repetition of phrases, chords, imitation, conventionalism.
Human conduct effects: Love of outward ceremony and adherence to convention.

Johann Sebastian Bach, Little Suite
German music, 1700’s
Effects: grandeur but also mental, intellectual, mathematical, with counterpoint, complex, rich, philosophical.

Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827), Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major
Effects: portray in sound every variety of human emotion. Sympathy-inducing aspect to the works. Through Beethovan’s music, the listener realizes the troubles of others, grief, deprivation, sickness, yearning and the vast emotions that go along with these sufferings. The music evoked the feeling of sympathy toward fellow humans. Emotional relief (weeping) – the music gave utterance to all the feelings that could not be expressed in any other way.

Edvard Greig’s, Peer Gynt Suite
Music of the Devas, or nature spirits
Suggests dancing gnomes.
Intermediary between the little nature-spirit and humanity.
Nature music, Nature-spirit world, spirit of the woods, landscape.

Gregorian Chanting
Gregorian is meant to train one to rise up out of the body. The whole technique of building churches is to amplify the high frequencies, to give the sensation of another centre of gravity above the head.
Effect: well-being, rising upwards, above the head.
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Vowels/Sounds in words
Pay attention to the sound/pitch of a vowel in a word.

E (“eee”): is a high sound.
A (“ah”): is a heart sound (found in the words: heart, art).
I (“eye”): suggests a centering in the self.
O (“ooh”): is like the ocean from which all sounds emerge.
U (“uh”): is a low sound.
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Check out Ralph Steadman

We need a voice that unites us and speaks this truth to our blighted world

http://www.ralphsteadman.com/

ttp://www.ralphfancygoods.com/

I speak to the world and to you. I don't want anything for myself (I have everything I need), but I do want to see PLAGUE and the MOONflower performed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on 112th Street in New York in the Spring of 2009. Somewhere else too- who knows?- the Vatican? and why not?? I’m not proud!

I cry in the wilderness to those whom I consider to be soul brothers — those I have met over the years from wilder times when it seemed that we shared a common cause and we pursued the same dreams, but expected different results, claiming different private aspirations and shutting out the possibility that we could ever be wrong.

Hunter S. Thompson, who cursed us all, would have wanted that even though he thought we were all wrong anyway. When I showed him the pictures, he nodded and uttered some grunting, reluctant approval, but when I showed him the Libretto, the very blood and guts of my efforts, his response was- ‘I told you before. Don’t write Ralph! You’ll bring shame on your family. It’s gibberish’. ‘Your problem, Hunter’, I replied, ‘is that you just cant stand beauty, particularly if I created it. You are jealous. That’s your dark secret!’

Week 04: Peer to Peer Evaluations

Today we will look deeply into the work and critique.

Remember the following:
1) graphic design principles
2) animation design principles
3) motion (stillness – moving hold, up/down. left/right), positioning (left, centre, right), skew, depth (x,y,z), colour, shape, opacity, morphing/transformations (shape tween), transitions (alpha, colour/tint), pacing (mixed).

What's due next week:
1) Letter animations (3 examples). Include the fla, swf, mov. Include original photographs.
2) All sketches with detailed design rationale for each move/transition.
3) Include on the CD: fla, swf, mov, m4v
4) POST to the web: YouTube, Web Page, Blog.
5) Describe ( pdf or .doc) the ways your design fulfills its purpose of communicating your ideas and the messages embedded within the poem.
NOTE: Do not submit a .docx file.

Week 03: Rationale, Animated Poem Sketch

This week we will accomplish the following:

• view more kinetic typography examples
• share all poems and rationales
• revise the rationales
• share Flash animations of poem
• work with arcing and moving hold techniques
• start work with dissolves and fading in/out techniques

Arc example:



Moving hold example:



Fade to black example:


What's due for next class:
• Animated poem with a revised rationale for each movement.
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Other things I should do this week:
• Check out YouTube, ... try searching with the words Kinetic Type, Kinetic Typography, Kinetic Poetry.

Moving Hold Animation

Creating an Arc Animation

Animation Technique: Anticipation

Design Process

Week 02: Animation & The Poem

What we covered in class this week:
1) Review design process (6 steps) see video: design-process

2) Viewed animated type from our explorations last week.
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3) Discussed some aspects to consider when sketching the animation
• x, y, z planes
• past, present, future ( simulated by how the type enters, holds, and leaves the stage)
• movement of objects and symbols: stillness ( moving hold), up/down, sideways, movie clip, colour shifting, morphing, transparency
4) Shared poems & created an animated sketch of two poems
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5) Animation techniques: Squash & Stretch, Ease-In With Anticipation


Squash & Stretch:



Ease-in with anticipation:



6) Begin animating the poem using Flash
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What's due for next class:
• Animated poem sketch, describing all the animation effects with a rationale for each movement.
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Other things I should do this week:
• Check out YouTube, ... try searching with the words Kinetic Type, Kinetic Typography, Kinetic Poetry.
• Bring headphones to each class.
• View the YouTube video's on this site.
• Eat healthy, get lots of sleep, and start the project now!!!
===========================================

TIP: iMovie: Use m4v encoded videos

Import m4v encoded video for use inside iMovie.
I found that a .mov would not play properly when creating a project in iMovie and posting it to YouTube.

Animation Technique: Squash & Stretch

Donovan The Poet Speaks About Creativity

Kinetic Type Exposition 2008

http://kinetictype.blogspot.com/

The Web & Data

Example of Kinetic Typography from GRAF1105

Week 01: Creativity & The Narrative

What we discussed in class today:
1) i3 = imagination, intuition, inspiration
2) r3 = release (let go of old paradigms, designs, images, ideas, clear the space, get open, get out of the way) , receive (wisdom, illumination, new knowledge, skills, i3) , return( share findings with others, community, give back to those in need, teach someone else about what you have learned).
3) UNITY: the highest and absolute end of all design principles.
4) Design process ( 6 steps)


5) MULTIMEDIA: We will search for unity across multiple mediums.
6) NARRATIVE: Imagine there is ONE EARTH SPIRIT speaking/telling the story. What are you hearing and seeing?
7) DEEP, WIDE, HIGH: Look here for the narrative.

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What we did:
• We reviewed the course outline and discussed project #1
• We looked at examples of kinetic typography from Carnegie Mellon, and from GBC multimedia students.
See http://kinetictype.blogspot.com/
• We went to the King Street Park searching for letterforms in the natural world and recorded them.
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What's due for next class:
• Three examples of animated letters found in the natural world. The animation must include the photo image, the traced bitmap, and the letterform.
• Poem for use in the four projects. This may be a song lyric, poem, dialogue from a movie or podcast, or original composition.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Other things I should do this week:
• Check out YouTube, ... try searching with the words Kinetic Type, Kinetic Typography, Kinetic Poetry.
• Bring a camera and headphones to each class.
• View the YouTube video's on this site.
• Eat healthy, get lots of sleep, and start the projects now!!!

Seligman speaks at TED Conference

The World Flag Project

The World Flag Project, whose vision is "to raise global awareness, inspire innovative solutions and promote action toward challenges facing our world today", support grassroots organizations like BWB who share their mission. They have offered to give BWB 10% of the proceeds of all World Flags and other items sold to the Burner community before Burning Man this year. We will continue to collaborate with The World Flag Project after the event, and you can check out their work at www.theworldflag.org. BWB volunteers are proudly flying the World Flag at our headquarters in Peru and you can too! It's easy,

Burners Without Borders (BWB) coalesced from a spontaneous, collective instinct to meet gaping needs where existing societal systems were clearly failing...

Links:
The World Flag
BWB

Black Rock Arts

The mission of the Black Rock Arts Foundation is to support and promote community-based interactive art and civic participation. For our purposes, interactive art means art that generates social participation. The process whereby this art is created, the means by which it is displayed and the character of the work itself should inspire immediate actions that connect people to one another in a larger communal context.

Links:
Black Rock Arts
Burning Man

Leave No Trace
Practicing a Leave No Trace Ethic is very simple: leave the place you visit the same or better than you found it; leave no trace of your having been there, so that others – both human and animal – can enjoy the land the rest of the year.
Leave No Trace

The Noetic Journey

The word "noetic" comes from the ancient Greek nous, for which there is no exact equivalent in English. It refers to "inner knowing," a kind of intuitive consciousness—direct and immediate access to knowledge beyond what is available to our normal senses and the power of reason.

What are 'Noetic Sciences'?
Noetic sciences are explorations into the nature and potentials of consciousness using multiple ways of knowing—including intuition, feeling, reason, and the senses. Noetic sciences explore the "inner cosmos" of the mind (consciousness, soul, spirit) and how it relates to the "outer cosmos" of the physical world.

Links:
Article on noetic sciences
Instutute of Noetic Sciences site

PROM-ART Program Cancelled!!!

The following alert was issued earlier this week to members of the Writers' Union of Canada in response to the latest assault by the Harper government on funding to writers, artists, musicians and other members of Canada's cultural industries.

To read more on the latest cuts to arts funding in Canada, click here:
Globe & Mail Article
and here:
Ottawa Citizenl Article

To help stop the Harper government's cuts to arts funding in Canada, send a letter of protest to Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative Cabinet ministers listed below.

PROM-ART Program Cancelled!!!

Last week the federal government cancelled the $4.7-million program Prom-Art. This program administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade assisted artists with travel costs when promoting Canadian culture abroad. The program is scheduled to end March 31, 2009.

The media has reported that the program has been cancelled because the federal government is uncomfortable with some of the grant recipients.

Anne Howland, director of communications for Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson, said the decision to scrap the Prom-Art program was largely a budgetary one. She is quoted in the Straight as saying, "The government committed to a more disciplined approach to managing its spending and focusing on programs that are our priorities, so more than anything, it's a budgeting expenditure decision, and we feel Canadians want accountability for their tax dollars, and we're following through on that commitment."

This program was cancelled by the conservatives once before, and national protests saw it reinstated. It is time to call on our federal government to recognize that words count, to reinstate the Prom-Art program and to reinvest in our cultural programs and maintain the vitality of Canadian literature at home and abroad.

Contact your Member of Parliament and express your concern with the cancellation of the Prom-Art program. Here are some key points to share with your MP.

- Writers play a crucial role in our country's evolving international policy.

- Every year the list of Canadian writers who have earned prestigious international awards gets longer and canceling Prom-Art will reverse this growth pattern.

- The international recognition Canadian writers and their stories are enjoying has resulted in a tremendous increase in the industry's export sales and this is possibly Canada's least heralded export success story, but this can not be maintained without adequate funding.

- Readers the world over are clamouring for Canadian writing, buying our stories in hundreds of languages and awarding prizes to writers from Canada.

- Foreign Affairs Canada has a mandate to promote Canadian arts and culture abroad; this will not be attainable without a program.

- Prom-Art's support of international touring has elevated Canadian artists in the international forum.

- Cultural industries contributed $40 billion to Canada's GDP in 2002 alone. During that same year, Mining and Oil and Gas Extraction contributed only $35.4 billion. The Agriculture and Forestry industry contributed $21 billion to Canada's GDP, approximately half that of the cultural sector. [1] This translates into 3.8% of value added contribution to Canada's GDP, in 2002, through cultural industries.

If you have personally benefited from DFAIT's programs you are encouraged to share your stories.

To find the e-mail address of your Member of Parliament by postal code go to: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC

In addition to your MP, please copy your comments to:

- Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada: - Harper.S@parl.gc.ca
- The Honourable David Emerson, Minister of Foreign Affairs: Emerson.D@parl.gc.ca
The Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages: Verner.J@parl.gc.ca
- Hon. James Flaherty, Minster of Finance: Flaherty.J@parl.gc.ca
- Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: Obhrai.D@parl.gc.ca
- Kevin Sorenson, Chair, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development: Sorenson.K@parl.gc.ca
- Bob Ray, Foreign Affairs Critic, Liberal Party: Rae.B@parl.gc.ca
- Francine Lalonde, Foreign Affairs Critic, Bloc Quebecois: Lalonde.F@parl.gc.ca
- Alexa McDonough, Foreign Affairs Critic, NDP: McDonough.A@parl.gc.ca

All Members of Parliament receive mail (no postage required) at: House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

Chris Abani on stories of our shared humanity

Clay Shirky on Collaborations

Check this out!

Student Work: