MMc401.7 Concept Art

Dream Diaries

Bedside Dream Journal A Nightime Memory Book from Amazon.co.uk

 “I used to keep a record of my dreams...at least the vivid or recurrent type...in a plain notebook. Having a bound book with a space for recording the actual dream and space below for listing any "symbols" one can recognize in a dream. At the end of the book, there are a few pages telling you about the general meaning of some symbols, but it's very cursory. I usually don't see any of the listed "symbols" in my dream, while there are other objects or people that come up repeatedly in my dreams which are not listed.”“Page layout helpful for recording dreams
- first half of each page: space for date, key symbols, interpretation notes
- second half of each page: space for dream description - have to be brief and write down just the important things, good practice if you expect to write daily because it becomes just a small part of your day - prevents me from rambling. you can span multiple pages if you want and split up your dream into parts, which can make the interpretation process easier
- you could also draw your dream if you prefer, which is something I have found useful since reading The Nightmare Solution: Simple, Creative Methods for Working Out Your Dream Problems

Short dream dictionary in back
- plan to have a secondary more comprehensive journal like (there are many good ones out there)

Overall, this a good value. i would recommend it as a gift for yourself or someone who keeps telling you about their crazy dreams!” – From customer Review

Dream Journal by Knock Knock

 

“It's a cute little journal. I love all the little extras it has. A place to draw, a couple questions, space for interpretation.. . What I don't like is there is NOT enough room to actually write about your dream. Unless it was a very short dream or you want to leave out 3/4 of the details. If you are a Clif notes kind of person you'll probably love this. If you're like me and you could write a book about your dream (or at least a chapter) don't bother. I suppose you could just use up more pages. But that seems kind of wasteful since you're unlikely to use the extra feature spaces more than the once. I'll be going back to a plain journal.”

“I bought this for a friend who kept talking about his dreams and wanting a way to keep track of them. The outside of it looks a little girly but I don't think he minded. The inside is really cool. It is basically 2 pages for each dream divided up into sections that allow you to describe the dream itself, the emotions you had, place to draw a picture, just very thorough! Great purchase!”

Strange Dreams: A Journal by Andy J. Miller

(This is by far the favourite of the journals I looked at due in a large part the creativity it uses but also the forms are cool. I like forms)

“Despite the fact that the illustration looks slightly childish this is a really great journal. It has different options to choose from to set the tone for your dream instead of just blank pages. The book itself was smaller than I thought it would be but all in all I am very happy with the purchase and would recommend it to anyone looking to a great dream journal.”

Featuring quirky prompts and illustrations by Andy Miller (artist and designer of The Indie Rock Coloring Book and The Indie Rock Poster Book), this dream journal celebrates the totally outlandish qualities of dreams. Complete with guided prompts and checkboxes, a 'strangeness meter' (ranging from 'Ridiculously Boring' to 'Human Language Cannot Explain This!') and plenty of space to write details about each dream, this journal invites users to reflect on the idiosyncratic aspects of their dreams. Includes --short introduction --'dream entry' spread is the bulk of the journal (space to write your dream, guided prompts, checkboxes, etc.). 10 spreads with full-colour artwork and fun facts about dreams

Dream Interpritation

Freud's theory on dream analysis, which he published in The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900, states that yourunconscious, which stores your repressed desires, expresses those desires through dreams in order to protect your conscious mind from disturbing thoughts and urges. Additionally, he believed that the motivations for your dreams often came from day residue, or your experiences from the preceding day.

Freud's theory relies heavily on symbolism - the manifest content of your dream (what you remember) isn't the same as the issue it represents; rather, the latent content (the underlying cause of your dream) must be deciphered. For example, Freud believed that a falling dream signified that a person is about to give into sexual urges in real life.

It's worth noting that, to Freud, most dreams' latent content was sexual in nature. Here are some examples of symbolism according to Freudian dream analysis:

·         Phallic symbols: guns, snakes, neckties and other objects that are longer than they are wide

·         Vaginal symbols: doors, tunnels, windows and other types of openings

·         Sexual acts: climbing or descending stairs or steep inclines

While Jung began his research in dream analysis as a colleague of Freud, he disagreed with many of Freud's findings and branched out to form his own dream analysis theory. Jung's theory holds that dreams are a vehicle for your unconscious mind to reveal your desires to your conscious mind - not hide them from your conscious, as Freud believed. Additionally, Jung believed that the unconscious is comprised of two parts: one belongs solely to the person, while the other is collective - it belongs to all of humanity and contains universal symbols. Any given dream can take from both the individual unconscious and collective unconscious. Note that Jungian dream analysis does not rely on interpreting symbols, but rather the archetypes of dreams. Here are the common archetypes in Jungian dream analysis:

 Jung identifies seven such symbols in what is referred to as the major archetypal characters:

1. The Persona is the image you present to the world in your waking life. It is your public mask. In the dream world, the persona is represented by the Self.  The Self may or may not resemble you physically or may or may not behave as your would. For example, the persona can appear as a scarecrow or a beggar in your dream. However, you still know that this "person" in your dream is you.

2. The Shadow is the rejected and repressed aspects of yourself. It is the part of yourself that you do not want the world to see because it is ugly or unappealing. It symbolizes weakness, fear, or anger. In dreams, this figure is represented by a stalker, murderer, a bully, or pursuer. It can be a frightening figure or even a close friend or relative.  Their appearance often makes you angry or leaves you scared. They force you to confront things that you don't want to see or hear. You must learn to accept the shadow aspect of yourself for its messages are often for your own good, even though it may not be immediately apparent.

3. The Anima / Animus is the female and male aspects of yourself. Everyone possess both feminine and masculine qualities. In dreams, the anima appears as a highly feminized figure, while the animus appears as a hyper masculine form. Or you may dream that you are dressed in women's clothing, if you are male or that you grow a beard, if you are female. These dream imageries appear depending on how well you are able to integrate the feminine and masculine qualities within yourself. They serve as a reminder that you must learn to acknowledge or express your masculine (be more assertive) or feminine side (be more emotional). 

4. The Divine Child is your true self in its purest form. It not only symbolizes your innocence, your sense of vulnerability, and your helplessness, but it represents your aspirations and full potential. You are open to all possibilities. In the dreamscape, this figure is represented by a baby or young child.  

5. The Wise Old Man /Woman is the helper in your dreams. Represented by a teacher, father, doctor, priest or some other unknown authority figure, they serve to offer guidance and words of wisdom. They appear in your dream to steer and guide you into the right direction.

6. The Great Mother is the nurturer. The Great Mother appears in your dreams as your own mother, grandmother, or other nurturing figure. She provides you with positive reassurance. Negatively, they may be depicted as a witch or old bag lady in which case they can be associated with seduction, dominance and death. This juxtaposition is rooted in the belief by some experts that the real mother who is the giver of life is also at the same time jealous of our growth away from her. 

7. The Trickster, as the name implies, plays jokes to keep you from taking yourself too seriously. The trickster may appear in your dream when you have overreach or misjudge a situation. Or he could find himself in your dream when you are uncertain about a decision or about where you want to go in life.  The trickster often makes you feel uncomfortable or embarrassed, sometimes mocking you or exposing  you to your vulnerabilities. He may take on subtle forms, sometimes even changing its shape.  

Archetypal dreams, also refer to as "mythic dreams", "great dreams" or "grand dreams", usually occur at significant times or transitional periods in your life. They often leave you with a sense of awe or that you have learned something important about yourself. Such dreams have a cosmic quality or an element of impossibility if occurred in reality. They are often extremely vivid and stay in your mind long after you had the dream. 

http://www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/dreams_psychoanalysis.html

http://decodingeden.com/real-life-dream-interpretation-examples-and-islam/

Animation in live action films

Pink Panther (and its sequels)

Return of the Pink Panther

The only depiction of the Pink Panther in the films comes from the cartoon opening credits in the form of an anthropomorphic panther (so popular it spawned a cartoon series) In these surreal sequences we see a caricature of Detective Clouseau chasing the titular character through a series of dream like sets. Clearly the “real” Pink Panther is not a cartoon character and instead the opening sequence could be viewed as a dream-like sequence using metaphor.

Dreams in games

Yume Nikki https://gs1.wac.edgecastcdn.net/8019B6/data.tumblr.com/ab61f80600df91fa0c700c17a2b54b93/tumblr_n9p8p6ehEo1t2tsbmo1_400.gif

LSD Dream Emulator

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC4QtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dol4OSIGGukA&ei=qBRyVNeUGO_asATe3oKoCQ&usg=AFQjCNHkj0flrC9RvFdCDffNk27Wo0SpaQ&sig2=WjlGLcKsAKkn0O4ZJXsWpw&bvm=bv.80185997,d.cWc

Dream Heist (Inception themed boardgame)
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--NqChzvM1--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/t0rrycirvahpkumvxvn1.jpg

Typography in gaming

http://type.method.ac/

http://www.evilhat.com/home/5-graphic-design-and-typography-tips-for-your-card-game/

http://ccxvii.net/gargoyle/
                http://www.fabiszewski.net/kindle-gargoyle/

Things inspired by dreams

Dreams (Akira Kurosawa)
Terminator
Xenomorph and other HR Giger creations
The Na’vi/Avatar
The Castle of Otranto
Twilight
HP Lovecraft’s works; Nightgaunts and Nyarlathotep
Frankenstein
The Hellbound Heart
Steven King’s Misery
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The Rolling Stones apparently got the beat for "I Can't Get No (Satisfaction)" by listening to a recording of the frontman sleeping. He actually hummed it in his sleep.
Most of Dali’s work
The M-9 electrical anti-aircraft gun was invented by David B. Parkinson after it came to him in a dream, despite the fact that he designed recording equipment for Bell Labs and had no prior experience working with ballistics of any kind. The M-9 ultimately turned the tide in the Battle of Britain.
Majora's Mask was stated to be based on the series director's dream of the moon falling and crashing on Earth.
LSD: Dream Emulator

Just found this awesome looking DOS game, looking forward to playing it as it is abandonware.

Lucid Dreaming

I found NeuroSoups discussions on Lucid dreaming very useful, I came across them when searching some of the shamanic drugs I had previously researched.

The Float Center in Oakland, Alabama offers sensory deprivation to assist in meditation and lucid dreaming.

I took an astral projection test online to see if I might unwittingly be Astrally projecting... It seems unlikely, and considering I have only ever had one semi aware lucid dream I question how I got 45%.

Test for predisposition to Astral projections, lucid dreams and out of body experiences

Astral Projection: 28% Out-of-Body-Experience: 6% Lucid Dreams: 45% Your parameters correspond to those of a common man, you live in this world and you're used to the physical plane only. Your subconsciousness will obstacle the development of your abilities, which does not mean you don't have any, it'll only be harder for you to uncover them. However, other parameters indicate that you will easily master the technique of lucid dreaming and make your life brighter and eventful ;)

I also found some Apps to help induce lucid dreaming, not had a chance to try them yet but hope I can soon. Had mixed luck with sleep apps previously.

MMc401.4 Part 2 Idea Development and Realisation

Given my initial research into motion graphics and it's related fields which of the Summer Briefs lend themselves to this project?

Sea of Slumber - This is the project I did and I could certainly build something from a tangent of the work I have already done. Initial Ideas involve time a lapse derive around Nottingham with a sketchy illustrated overlay.

Right vs Left Brain - Not quite sure about this one

Illustrate a Classic Novel - This is potentially the easiest; it could either be a panoramic scene or effectively a book trailer, perhaps something akin to a motion comic. Gustav Meyrink's Der Golems? Just about anything by China Meiville? Frankenstien? The Windwork Girl? Battle Royale? The Lost Symbol (Back to sigils + glyphs again? too much?) Casanova's Historie De Ma Vie*? A Song of Ice and Fire? Dune? Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Explore the concept of Utopia - This is what my mind initially jumped to and that is creating a short animation about how "Utopia is not a place, but a state of mind." promoting a eco-conscious, philosophically guided transhuman outlook and pushing for a cultural shift.... But in 30 seconds? it would be crammed.

Top 10 Science Myths - Another data heavy one, I'm not convinced 10 myths could be adequately covered in 30 seconds. Perhaps an infodump style thing? (Steam of thought a practical option**?)

* Historie De Ma Vie - Create a short about the crazy life Casanova lead?

**Stream of Thought - Design the animation as an infodump with the fluidity of stream of thought.

Out of these Utopia and Sea of slumber, much as before grab my attention best. There is a lot there to sink my teeth into and so I start; after attending GameCity by brainstorming with my most excellent friend Millie who has a most wonderfully unorthodox view on things, I thought this would be an excellent way of putting disruption into practice, by finding what emerged.

We went on to discuss the ideas more at length with more discussion



We discussed the idea of personal utopia in relation to the idea of a societal utopia and what political viewpoints and lend themselves to utopian living and how the binary of masculine and feminine dynamics affect up this.

By approaching utopia from a personal view point inevitably lead to the analysis and abstraction of the idea of self in both a Jungian and biological sense. Our modern society, thanks to technology such as the internet seems to support this partitioning of conciousness into multiple outwards phasing personas. These are particularly visible on-line where I have met people who are wholly fictional constructs while others live in a state of duality, altering what facets of themselves they show to others.

This comes back to the idea of people as an amalgam of various parts, and our struggle to harmonise them. Looking at this from a psychological perspective the idea can certainly be viewed through the lens of "Sea of Slumber".

So I have settled on sea of slumber, given how little time I had to develop the idea for my summer project I decide to remain grounded in the ideas that brought me here. Following the train of enquiry I spent a lot of time pondering on the manifestation of unconsciousness in dreams and the idea of multiple competing facets of personality.

In Paprika the titular character is a dream avatar created by the main character to help her interact with her patients in dreams. Being a dream construct Paprika is not bound by the normal rules of reality which are really shown off in the title sequence here.

In Dali and Disney's collaboration Destino we once again see two figures traversing dreamspace and warping it to their will. Its an excellent example of surrealism, I also appreciate Dali's dream sequence in Hichcock's Spellbound.

In Vanilla Sky Cruise's character reconstructs his ideal self to continue life but over time the illusion begins to break down as his demons come back to haunt him, confusing the two women through whom he defined his life as his scarred "dream" self haunts him and only through his acceptance of his reality can he be free, forsaking everything for nothing and a hope of a future.

In Fight club after a bout of insomnia The Narrator's subconscious manifests itself as Tyler Durden who through a combination of hallucinated conversations and outright "possession" attempts to bring the Narrator's life more in line with "his" ideal. The Narrator wished for more excitement and agency in his life and in his mentally fragile state dreamed up Tyler Durden to do just that

In the real world, shamans and lucid dreamers both call upon spirit guides in their dreams. Again these are agents of their unconsciousness and only the most blatant of many examples of people giving their subconscious the semblance of personification in order to gain a deeper understanding of themselves or the universe around them.

Then of course there are those with multiple personalities but I don't know an awful lot about that and I'd worry about misrepresenting a serious illness, still the subconcious manifestation of a specifically unwanted personality construct is an interesting one.

Looking at it through the lens I approached with Millie really makes things interesting, if our personalities are literal manifestations of "the collective is much greater than the sum of it's parts" then what is to say a secondary personality is any less valid. Why not look at things from the Tyler Durden character's perspective. Here you have a being; with a purpose, born with dreams and formed whole, not put together through random experience and long personal growth, influenced by numerous people. You are the manifestation of a desire, a muse like spirit urging creation yet separate from the host conciousness.

Today we're quite happy to live unamazing lives as long as our basic needs are met, breaking the mold can be risky and as such is a scary prospect, the arrival of such a desire may not be welcome and so we ignore it through procrastination until it disappears from our mind. But if it was a concious being then a more literal approach might be neccissary;

Psychological auto-cannibalism

And here the idea forms, a being born of dreamstuff and unfulfilled desires, rises up out of the primordial sea of slumber and breaches the world only to be swept up and devoured by it's host who then merely returns to his slumber, unfulfilled, slothful. The short in my mind shows its influences well. the tiered reality transition of Paprika, the unwanted manifestation of dreams from Fight Club, and the dream logic of Dali.

But what is this creature? looking inwards for inspiration one of my most fantastical desires is a transhumanist one, surely this if manifested would seek to be free of it's human limitations?

Wthout a scanner I've had to upload these with my phone, I'll repost some cleaned up versions when I can.

MMC401.4 Motion Graphics Part 1.5 GameCity Talk: Arcane Play/Playful Occulture in the New Aeon by Charlene Putney

Firstly this is the first talk I've actually gotten to at GameCity despite my best efforts but it was definitely an interesting one mostly discussing how magickal practices can be used as tools for creativity.

The talk was broken down into an introduction and four sections: Deconstruction, Transformation, Inspiration and Disruption.

Deconstruction focused on opening your mind to new ideas through ideas like selective believe and the "Dice Man" method (the act of using random selection to decide your action) to force yourself out of your comfort zone and allow you to look at the word from other perspectives, even those in stark contrast to you own. In doing so the practitioner becomes aware of how cultural labels and personal views shape your perception of the world around you; the example given being a omnivore and a vegetarian walking down a meat produce isle at the supermarket.

Transformation discussed forms of meditation and practices to help quantify your passage through time through the day. Some idea generation methods were discussed but generally more in line with automatic writing, not to create something usable in it's pure form but rather to catalogue the thoughts in your head, to allow you to filter through for good ideas.

This neatly flowed into Inspiration which discussed idea generation through the use of tarot cards, I Ching and even other objects such as scrabble tiles, generally distilling ideas from around you but in a wholly creative way such as cutting up passages of text and rearranging them into new meanings.

Finally we came to Disruption, was about maximising your idea generation but accepting your ability to be wrong, breaking out of your habits to become more aware of the patterns you are following. This can be as simple as making wild exclamations or as extreme as randomising your approach to daily tasks forcing you to break with routine.

The talk rounded off with a number of books for further reading, from Grant Morrison's "The Invisibles" to Alistair Crowley's Magic Book Four, the One Year Manual by Israel Ragardie and Prometheus Rising by Robert Alton Wilson.

While I have some very general but minor knowledge of this take on "Magick" it has been a very enlightening discussion on how to use this approach to inform your development cycle. As someone who hasn't been able to get into a pattern of meditation I'd like to try to approach mandala patterns from both a meditative and graphic design perspective.

MMc401.4 - Motion Graphics Part 1

Initial brainstorming

Going into this projects a few clear ideas come to mind, as do some limitations that I will have to keep in mind, clearest among them in the 20 frame/15-30 second animation limit, this significantly limits what I can fit into that space, I have decided to try to identify particular sequences at around that time scale primarily;

TV

Blackadder the Third

Mad Men

X-Files

1950s Bank of America Ad

Bert the Turtle "Duck and Cover"

Monty Python Venus Animation by Terry Gilliam

I decided to primarily focus my initial research on TV because they lean towards the shorter and slightly less extravagant, even if they don't directly influence my final sequence they are still great use for gauging pacing and its been interesting to look into some of the techniques used to make them.

Film

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Doctor Strangelove

The Adventures of Tin Tin

Buried (Teaser Trailer)

For cinematic reference I narrowed my search down to rather minimalistic titles and trailers. From these I was able to concentrate on the use of composition and colour.

I also looked at the James Bond opening credits, it was interesting to see say with the recent Daniel Craig films how much they fluctuate in theme;

Casino Royal has a strong compact set of motifs that fit with the theme of the film of high stakes and the opulent glamour of the casino. The minimalistic figures are a throw back to Saul Bass' work on the groundbreaking opening sequence to Anatomy of a Murder; the first title sequence as we know it today. Meanwhile they show excellent use of contrast with the ornate patterned backgrounds and hints of photographic images of faces hinted behind the roving targets, The iconic gun barrel lead in is a much needed familiarity to fans adjusting to this new gritty bond but beyond that other most recognisable motif is missing from these scenes; the implied female nudes are gone, perhaps in keeping with the new modern bond and I think it is stronger for it, the sequel quantum of Solice seems to have backtracked on this and reduced the sequence to sand and the female figure and seems dated in comparison.

Skyfall attempts something more ambitious in it's credits, without such a clear and iconic motif as casinos, its name instead taking its name from the Bond family estate; a fact only revealed in the second half of the film the sequence instead capitalises on the pre-credits cliffhanger where Bond is shot and sent tumbling, possibly to his death. Instead of the iconic gun barrel, we see Bond's limp form hitting the water and then dragged under by a a giant female hand. Much like in QoS the female form is still present here, perhaps unnecessarily but arguably not, either way particularly towards the end the of the sequence the motif is relied on far to much and as such the narrative suffers,

The credits approach Skyfall for what it is, a character piece. Bond is world weary and stretched thin, he remains steadfast in his service to queen and country despite the challenges he faced in previous films. When Bond hits the water death seems like a final release and the hand pulls him deeper into water where we are greeted by bond shaped targets bleeding and gothic graveyards. 

The credits are a metaphorical journey through the underworld interspersed with hits of the past (or perhaps future?) and scenes of bond battling shadows in darkened catacombs - actually an abstraction of a chase in the London underground later in the film. Perhaps showing Bond finally defeating his demons; again is this a hint of the future or perhaps it is referencing death and rebirth rituals that have existed in many belief systems for thousands of years, from Christianity to Buddhism, Ancient Egypt and the freemasons. The imagery may well be from bond's own psyche (hence the women and his family estate). 

Finally this theory may also reveal the true motif of the film. Death, Rebirth and the ascent. As a enduring icon Bond is more than a man but the past two films spent a lot of time stripping back to show him as more human and taking him out of his element; elements Skyfall brings back to the franchise and leave us with Craig's bond becoming the bond we have recognised for all these decades. The hand we see at the beginning is probably in fact the hand of his fellow agent *spoiler removed* dragging him from the water, not into death but back into the violent hell his life was becoming. Bond "dies" but is brought back anew and becomes more than the man he was, there are obvious religious parallels here but I think they are obvious, Unfortunately as I said towards the end this thread seems to be lost among kaleidoscopic women and the sky raining fire on skyfall, an apt omen perhaps but somewhat detached from what seems like an ambitious narrative and metaphor.

Other

Google Science Fair 2012

Take Google Maps indoors

Ten Days of Style on Newgrounds, 
I really wanted to add something from Newgrounds as it has been incredibly influential on short animation.


Short animation by Vince Kenneth

The shortest of these are a little over 40 seconds, still above the designated length of the animation I must produce, many of these shorter are also quite minimal. How much information can I put in without over saturating the media?

The Google videos have an advantage in how it conveys it's information as that is their primary purpose where as title sequences must fit into the context of the larger film and has a very simple set of information to provide, while they offer excellent artistic reference on a practical level they have little in common.

http://www.speechinminutes.com/ states a one minute speech allows for on average 130 words. Halving this to 30 seconds (the maximum time limit) gives us 75 words. Pacing may force that to be further limited. Edge Studio's Script Timer lists an average reading speed at 90 words in thirty seconds, this is also likely to be reduced due to transitions and pacing, probably down to par with speech.

This seems like a good point to look into kinetic typography and how this can be used. As pointed out in class there's a lot of it out there that is fun and imaginative but doesn't really dig deep into the subject. Here is one piece I found that does scratch the surface:

Neil deGrasse Tyson - The Most Astounding Fact from David Pickering on Vimeo.

This short successfully uses the typography with fitting imagery for the spoke words, its more than just syncing and composition as pretty as that may be. Still, I think there could have been better integration of the text INTO the image itself, at this point you could splice them onto two separate screens and loose very little, which is clearly not the intention as much or the typography make great and sometimes painful effort to mix things up and balance with the images yet still feels like it is just sitting on top. I also think there could have been more build up to the closing comments but thats as much the animation as the typography itself..

who are we humans from thiago on Vimeo.

And here we have a very similar motion graphic with a very similar theme and yet, this is so much better, The graphics are far more minimal but you can see that the typography has been considered every step of the way, it is fully integrated in the image and as a result immensely more engaging. Zooming through space depicting the life cycle of solar systems is fancy for sure but here the thought out use of typography gives the whole graphic a much more thoughtful feel to it. Its rather wonderful and damnit if its making me reconsider what I want to do.