After several days of cleaning, re-wiring and destroying 2 LCD monitors, it was concluded that the white spirit used to clean the glue off had destroyed the screen itself. When I plugged it in and used the polarized film over it, I could get the screen colour (blue) to come through but no image or mouse. Around the edges they both had a strange paint like effect which I think was the outline of where the white spirit had soaked through.

However, this was 1 step closer to success and I will try again when I have money to buy another screen...

MOVING ON...

For the installation itself I used a regular computer screen with headphones attached so the user could head what was being said. i set up the other 2 screens on TV/DVD Combi's and ran all 3 films on loops. The viewer had to sit on the floor in the middle of these screens which gave the sense of being surrounded by social networking and constantly being watched. This effect was enhanced by the uncomfortableness of having to sit on the floor having people at the exhibition watching you watching the film. I feel it really said what I wanted it to say. You were watching the screen, the screen was watching you, and people were watching you and you were aware of them watching you watching them.
It was a great way to comment on my culture, I've spent over 10 years social networking, I can't explain why, I haven't really said if it's good or bad, I've just said this is how it is.

This has been one of the hardest projects I've ever done, with so many set backs and distractions, however when all the faces sync'd up (see video above) on both screens it was so surreal, so noisy and so... horrible, that it made it all worth it! Although I could've and probably should have done a lot more with this idea, I think it can be something that carries on into a theatre piece (I hope).

See Datamosh Screen HERE and 2 Screens HERE.
 
This month me and a friend of mine volunteered for a week at Animated Exeter - run by animator Susannah Shaw.
We had an amazing time, helping out with workshops, interviewing people and talking to people and working with some amazing people!
I was lucky enough to work with Forkbeard Fantasy, a great experience. They were projecting onto Exeter Cathedral with a piece called 'Evolumental'

We also did their 'Crossing The Celluloid Divide' workshop, which is a technique I have blogged about previously.

Here is a video of how we got on.

Brilliantly I also caught some of Ed Jobling's explanation of how it's done, so hopefully I will be able to start using this technique once I get my hands on a projector!

I also caught the under 18's awards, which were really inspiring! I'm starting a film project with a youth group soon and this one video has really got me thinking of ways we can make it fun and interesting for the kids! I love how it mixes most types of animation - 2d, 3d stop motion and pixelation.

Wall:mation POV by Suited & Booted Studios

 
Highlights from Forkbeard Fantasy's latest show: an hilarious comedy about the Art World. New dates for Autumn 2010

A couple of great examples of 'Crossing the Celluloid Divide' using film , projection and animation.

This is defiantly something I want to work on, I just wish I felt I could do it alone. I'm not sure anyone else would be interested in trying something so out of our comfort zone. 
 
"Who's ALAN?" (working title)

After watching Johnathan Hodge's Night Club I thought i'd like to make a similar film. A 2D animation of a rave club night to try and capture/reinterpret contemporary culture. 

These parties have outrageous decor - bright, huge, OTT.
The party goers have outrageous costumes - bright shirts, Kigus, animal hoods, anything they want.
The lights are colourful and bright.
The music is loud and bass heavy.
The dancefloors are packed full of people doing all sorts of dances. No one dances the same and anyone can dance how they want without being judged.

I also want to look at the Rave scene and it's culture from another angle. In the past whenever they try to describe acid and other drugs in film and animation, everything seems to go very bright and start melting, I'm thinking Yellow Submarine psychedelic trips. 

I want to explore this from a more realistic point of view. I want the film to be from the view point someone at the rave who has taken acid. 
Although the film will be quite trippy in style, the realism will be there in the sense, the user doesn't go into another world. Things happen though.

Styles & Scenes

Everything needs to be growing and shrinking constantly.
A lot of dark figures with no features to represent the crowds.
POV film of the user walking around the club.
Scenes of people dancing/skanking.
People morphing into animals
2 people changing from people to rats to people to rats, gurning in the dark.
Going to the bathroom - an escape from the scene. 
Bleeding walls (due to spray paint)
Throwing up in the toilet
The lights overcoming the user
Talking to people who speak words (literal words)
Faces coming out of the crowd, shouting, smiling.
Nos balloons - heads growing and shrinking with the balloon.

These are still simple ideas but I think I need to get a loose storyboard and get some film footage in order to make a start at it.