General Updates - Pre-Rag Week Deadlines are on Schedule

So with Rag Week around the corner, we have only a few precious days to reach our pre-Rag milestones. But big progress has been made on all fronts.
The video footage has finally all been organized and converted and is now completely ready to go through and make a plan of which takes to use. Then they go straight to compression to into the application. Casting ads go up this evening for our final shooting to take place in 2 weeks, that of our commander figure in the narrative, Foster.
We have a working prototype app with 3D backgrounds and test video clips within. And it looks sweet.
We are compiling a list of all audio to be recorded the week after Rag Week so that we will have all assets needed for the final piece with 3 weeks from now.
And finally we have reached that point of progress with the Kinect that we were hoping for: We have a basic Flash Air program working with Kinect inputs. We also discovered the possibilities in working in Air for multitouch elements, so that even if, for any reason, the Kinect was to fall through, this provides more concrete confirmation that we can utilise multitouch with the alternative interaction method: the touchscreen using wiiMotes.
All looks good...

1st Adobe AIR application

Hello Again!

We are almost 100% going ahead with using Flash/ Adobe AIR as the platform for our project, reason being; it supports multi-touch functionality and we can make our .fla into an .app to run on any desktop. We are at the early stages at the moment but the AIR programme doesn't seem to be much different to Flash CS4, just publishing settings but it seems easily manageable.

***UPDATE***

Just create

d first Adobe AIR application and is available for download by public. Cannot seem to post on blog but its there anyway! Its merely just a link to our blog but getting there. Now to get the multi-touch functionality working...

We keep you posted with anymore updates.

hmmm...wonder what our project would look like as a phone app???

Flash and Adobe AIR

Hey All...

While we are still experimenting with the Xbox Kinect we're not forgetting about our tactile interaction method with the wiiMote and Flash. However we have recently found out that our two finger tactile interaction may only be compatible with Adobe AIR. Moderately new software that allows flash developers to make phone applications compatible with apple and android operating systems. We have not worked with Adobe AIR so we are relatively new to the programme. However. . . .

We are in contact with a newly formed company/business, consisting of a 3d Animator, Sound Engineer, and a highly skilled programmer who have received an investment for their skills, from entrepreneurs to develop phone applications. We will hopefully be meeting up with this team later on in the week to see if they can give us a step in the right direction in regard to Adobe AIR and our application.

We will keep you guys posted of any advances with out project.

Laters...

Video Capture and Conversion...

Oh I knew it was going to be a pain but but I didn't really consider the total extent... Between converting the h.264 compressed footage from the 7D and 5D to ProRes using a custom Compressor droplet and having to recapture the DV footage without timecode auto-cuts (oh and not to forget converting and de-interlacing the HDV 1080i stuff), it has been far from fun sorting our multi-cam, multi-format footage issues. But almost there now, capturing the last DV tape as I type... Now all I have to do is name and sort haha! Oh fun. At least all camera formats are converted and tested in FCP and looking good!

CCTV - a threat to freedom?

Yes Because...

The House of Lords have expressed their view that privacy is an "essential prerequisite to the exercise of individual freedom". We can no longer say that we live private lives when every move is being watched by one out of the four million CCTV cameras in Britain. Our every move is being watched. Such surveillance renders our society as equivalent to a large scale big brother. Our every move can be traced and information can be gathered about our daily activities. If this information were to be misplaced, which central government seems to do frequently, then who knows what other breaches our freedoms will endure.

(1)http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/06/surveillance-freedom-peers

No Because

'Freedom of privacy' is a redundant concept. Just as a celebrity cannot claim privacy when they are out walking the streets, neither can we. We accept the high level of protection and we accept the Crown Prosecution Service help in building a case against a magnitude of criminals; just as celebrities accept the magazine deals for photos and money for high exposure. In accepting such protection, such financial reward for the celebrities, we impliedly accept the fact that hand in hand with those positive aspects of society comes the negative side of being watched.

The media have hyped up CCTV's in our society to make it seem like an Orwellian state. It is a fact that CCTV's are a huge aid in catching criminals, for example if not for CCTV's the perpetrators of 7/7 would not have been caught. This is the same for the Jamie Bulger case. New legislation is also being introduced so that the data protection act will protects people' s freedoms and liberties.

So what do you think…

Sorting and Sounds

Now that we have (almost) all the footage we need, we are currently sorting all the takes so that to select the best one for each set-up.

The audio captured in the Marshes was good quality, but we still have to lip-synch one of the actors, because of the impossibility to use some of the mics we borrowed. The good think is that DKIT has everything we need to do that.

We are starting to have all the elements getting in place... All that allow us to already picture what our final project can look like, which is kind of exciting, don't you think?

Keeping our Options Open. . .

Kinect VS Wii:

As you may know from our previous post we have the wiiMote hack working with flash.

We are very excited about that but we are currently ahead of schedule in relation to our interaction research and development. So... we have decided to give the xbox

kinect a go to see if we can get that working too, and if so, how well can we get it to work.

Currently, we are experimenting with various source codes on the internet. We are in plentiful supply, in terms of the software out there so we are really working hard to try and have two

forms of interaction working by the 27th of February. We have Actionscript code for flash, now it is just a

matter of breaking the code up and manipulating it our way to best suit our needs. We will update very shortly with any progress made.

Laters...

File Conversions and a 3D Background

After some concern earlier today about the compatability of using animation created in 3ds max with flash we were slightly worried that we would be unable to use a 3d animation as our interface background. Im happy to say that after a little research and some file conversions it looks like any animation created in 3ds max can be used in flash, and with no loss in quality and in a small file size too. Getting closer to that ideal interface...

Interface Design

The stylistic element to the movie 'Minority Report' was heavily referenced when we were pitching ideas on how we wanted our end product to look. Given the healthy progress of the interaction using motion tracking, it's important that the design of the interface doesn't let us down. While we may not have holographic technology to work with we want to our interface to appear as technologically up to date as possible. In the 'Minority Report' interface one of the key elements to its futuristic appearance is the obvious lack of a monitor, allowing the user to see the surroundings lying behind the interface. In order to try and create a similar feel to our interface we hope to create a constantly moving background to the icons and video clips. We hope that this will create an environment behind what the user sees on the screen in front of them, creating a more modern feel.

The key to a smooth shoot...

Im hardly a pro DOP just yet, but I've a fair bit of experience on shoots at this stage, and I know the value of good homework. So before we headed to the Marshes with our 8 cameras myself and Baptiste did a MASSIVE amount of preproduction. It really paid off in the end because it was easily the most hassle free shoot I've been on, despite the amount of cameras, the lack of radios, and the RAIN! So I thought I'd upload just one example of how much detail we went into, other than pages and pages of storyboards and shotlists... This is what I had on my wall at home; a map of the Marshes, with sat maps printed from Google Maps for the carpark scenes, along with recce shots and a step-by-step walkthru. And ignore the crossed out €2,000,000 figure... it was just too tempting to imagine ourselves planning a heist!!

Major Script and Filming Shoot - all in 2 weeks!

Wow, what a couple of weeks... So much has happened since the last posts but it was for this reason that we never got around to updating the blog! Firstly our 'Script', the single biggest submission before the finished project itself, was due on Wednesday this week. It was almost 100 pages long, and detailed every single aspect including Narrative, Interactivity, Programming, Audio, Application Design, Video Production etc etc... A massive body of work; and my thanks to the rest of the team for putting so much into it (Especially Ben who took the awful job of searching through headings looking for every small 's' and 'r'... long story!).
Secondly we had our major shoot this week, on Wednesday and Thursday, in the Marshes SC down town. We shot with no less than 8 cameras! Fantastic work, and despite many dropouts and struggles with castings, we even managed to finish a whole 9mins ahead of schedule! A big thanks go out (in no particular order) to Leah, Randal, Alan, Roger, Eamonn, Ronan, Gocky, Karl, Peter, Fin in HMV, the Marshes management, Roy for doing CSI Dundalk perfectly, Ben's bro and Keith's Dad for trusting us with their shiny cars, and I'm sure I'm forgetting someone else, for all the help during the shoot. And of course to the Obsurveillance lads, well on the way to Best in Show!