Our project based on highlighting ideas about the metaverse and the idea of ‘2 Lives’ was an overall success. We were able to complete the project within the time frame to a sufficient standard. My artistic intention was to deliver a project which used a-lot of digital techniques to relay a futuristic aesthetic. I believe through the use of animation and various other effects, along with the sound-design we achieved this artistic direction.
I feel we effectively spread the workload amongst the whole group. Everyone had something to do at all times when working on the project.
Matthew
Camera man
Animator
Reuben
Actor
Secondary editor
Ollie
Director
Manager
Myself
Main Character
Chief Editor
This was valuable as the editing process was intricate.
Although class time was used effectively in this way, I do feel more out of class work could’ve been done to help iron out any creases in the film as I do think it has room for improvement. For example some sections of the film do not flow seamlessly but rather cut quite chaotically and therefore more out of lesson time could’ve been spent on transitions.
Our project represented the idea of having social circles online and in the physical world which reacted to the theme of community well.
Our work was inspired by artists like Beeble and I feel we effectively displayed this aesthetic using the digital style of work
Title: Online / Offline The concept behind our NFT video is that two friends each have two separate lives; one offline and online. Our video shows how anything can happen on an online medium, but real connection and friendship occurs in real life. As technology develops relationships of all kinds are growing apart. An example of this occurred in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. People only experienced contact with family members in the same household and the only way to speak to people outside was via an online medium. This effected the mental health of everyone and looking back on the first lockdown we can see how much we relied on technology to keep connected with family and friends.
Creators: Oliver Shiplee, Matthew Brown, Michael Kenealy and Reuben Jeanne
Before we planned teh shoot we established initial ‘job roles’ for the project:
Matthew
Camera man
Animator
Reuben
Actor
Secondary editor
Ollie
Director
Manager
Myself
Main Character
Chief Editor
We will shoot our video using a DSLR paired with a drone. Referring back to the story board, the DSLR will shoot close up shots and eyelevel perspective shots, while the drone will take the birds-eye-view shots.
We will shoot during the day time, during overcast weather to remove any harsh lighting and add drama to our footage. We found an open field area with a cliff which is were we will film as we plan for the main character to appear as he is isolated when shooting birds-eye-view shots. The cliff also adds to the drama and the cliff will add more sublime romanticism to our footage. We want our narrative to be obvious and we are using characters who will act out this narrative effectively. In terms of props we will be using a VR headset which we have crafted ourselves using accessible materials.
Behind the scenes:
Matthew controlling the drone while I ran towards it Me showing off the central handmade prop
Am I satisfied that I have enough images/ material? – Yes I am satisfied we have shot an abundance of imagery. What are you going to do differently on next shoot? – Do not rush the takes as much and refer to the storyboard more directly. How are you going to develop your ideas? – Add animation and editing to piece the narrative together and further add visual effect to the piece to relay a more emotive campaign.
Film Inspirations:
Editing:
Video
I began by laying delegating the task of finding a backing track for the video. We found a royalty-free electronic song with a fast paced beat which would complement the narrative and visuals well. I then laid the soundtrack in a new sequence in Adobe Premiere pro. Thereafter, I began introducing clips into the sequence and cutting them to the beat. Once satisfied with how the clips where positioned and the overall sequence, I moved onto the next element of post-production, colour grading and Effects. I added a grade on all of the clips using adjustment layers. I went for a high saturation and high contrast grade to dramatize the action in the video. I then added video-game style overlays such as the one below.
For the split screen concept I first had to motion track my face to stabilise the clip more so that my facial features lined up with the animation characters features. The animation was designed by Matthew. You can see his editing process for this HERE
This involved an intricate frame-by-frame masking process.
I added speed ramps to add a sense of hyperreality and the idea that time is controllable in the metaverse more. Finally I added sound FX to add a more immersive feeling.
Image
Matthew made the the digital image in photoshop. He used a screen grab from one of the videos of me wearing the VR, and the 5 animated scenes all at the same timeframe so the character lines up.
He then added some glitched text effect by using 2 layers behind each text. To make it better he added some blending mode features, such as, emboss and bevel, etc.
He used shapes and clipping layers to add all the images into to ensure all the shapes are even.
This is the final image which represents the whole NFT film. It shows the most important scene, which is the split scene that includes the animation as the NFT exhibition is called 2lives (online and offline), it shows the real world and the virtual meta verse.
As a unit we began to learn about the vast world of animation. This was done by receiving a presentation from an animator from Jersey, Liam Nunn.
Liam Nunn has spent over a decade smashing the creative industry with precision, energy and finesse. Working with many brilliant people on oodles of ravishing campaigns – including multiple locally and nationally award-winning ones. A multi-disciplined media monster, Liam was once described by a colleague as “quite good but sometimes a bit bizarre.” Wait…
Fact #1 Liam once illustrated an award-winning dog poo.
Fact #2 Liam is a three-time professional wrestling tag team champion of the world and he probably owns more spandex than you do. Gosh!
Fact #3 Liam produced a whopping 52 weekly self-portraits over the course of a year just for larks. You can see them here.
He began by giving an in-depth power-point regarding the basics of what animation is. From this I learnt about the intrecacies of animation in as a carreer in the industry and the different types of animators, for example;
2D animator.
3D animator.
Background artist.
Character animator.
Clean-up artist.
Digital ink and paint artist.
Image editor.
Key frame animator.
I gained a unique point of knowledge regarding the nature of how something can be made to look natural when being animated
Liam then proceeded to further my knowledge on Adobe After Effects, an important piece of software for any kind of animation.
He created a template for us to start experimenting with called a rig. I then learnt how to keyframe an animation together using the stopwatch tool
And the rig controls Liam set up for us
The following is my experiment with this animation template:
A storyboard is a collection of images that tell a story. Basically it is a sketch of the ideas a person is trying to portray. It is another way of showing a game plan to an individual with interest on what is going on. The visual elements along with the captions allow for the story to be seen by the person reading it. Disney is to be credited with the creation of storyboards since 1920. Ever since then, it has been a great way to share information.
The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres long and 50 centimetres tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.
It was commissioned to celebrate the ‘William the Conqueror’s’ conquest of England. It begins with the events that led up to it – the death of Edward the confessor the King of England, and the succession of a new king; Harold. It runs through each scene of the Normans invasion and ends in the killing of King Harold.
Death of King Harold showing an arrow in his eye, Bayeux Tapestry, Bayeux, Normandy, France, Europe
The Bayeux tapestry is one of the supreme achievements of the Norman Romanesque. Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 12th century.
The Channel Islands became part of the Anglo-Norman realm when William the Conqueror defeated King Harold and won the English crown at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Jerseymen, or at least close relatives, serving under their Normandy lords, were said to be present at this historical battle. Just who was and was not at Hastings has been the subject of argument for centuries, but Onfroi, Mauger and Roger de Carteret, the sons of Godefroi de Carteret, are believed to have fought in the battle. It is likely that Onfroi’s son Renaud was the first de Carteret to become established in Jersey, and was thus the founder of the dynasty which ruled Jersey for such long periods over the centuries.
The tapestry is actually not a “true” tapestry in which the design is woven into the cloth in tapestry weave; it is technically an embroidery. It was embroidered on tabby-woven linen in crewel. It uses two main types of stiches: backstitching for the lettering and outlines and coaching for filling in the figures. Nine linen panels were sewn together to make the full 70m piece.
At least two panels of the tapestry are missing, perhaps even another 6.4 m . This missing area may have included William’s coronation.
Lisa Reihana is a New Zealand artist of Maori descent.
is a moving image interpretation of the French scenic wallpaper Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique.
In Neoclassical France, entrepreneur Joseph Dufour used the latest printing innovations to produce Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique (1804), a sophisticated twenty panel scenic wallpaper. Mirroring a widespread fascination with the Pacific voyages undertaken by Captain Cook, de Bougainville and de la Perouse, the wallpaper’s exotic themes referenced popular illustrations of that time. Two hundred years later, Maori artist Lisa Reihana employs twenty-first century digital technologies to animate Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique. Enlivened with the sights and sounds of dance and cultural ceremonies, a vast video panorama is populated by a myriad of people drawn from across New Zealand and the Pacific.
Separated by two centuries, both the wallpaper and video are set against an utopian Tahitian landscape. While Dufour’s work models Enlightenment beliefs and ideas of harmony amongst mankind, Reihana’s reading of the past is darker and more nuanced. The artist foregrounds the complexities of cultural identity and colonisation by including scenes of encounter between Europeans and Polynesians.
in Pursuit of Venus is a major video project that has been in development for several years. It reflects the wallpapers utopian ideals, is eight minutes long and presented on two-screens. in Pursuit of Venus has been exhibited in historic homes, art galleries and museums – repurposing each presentation offers new insights and unique presentation opportunities.
This epic piece of living, moving, animated wallpaper eventually led to her representing New Zealand at last year’s Venice Biennale, where it was described as the best exhibit by critics including those from the Spectator and the Sunday Times.
Read article HERE in the Guardian and watch Lisa discuss the making of her film.
Embroidery
I learnt a lot from my experience with embroidery. Initially some inspiration based stimulus, to gain inspiration into a more tangible world of art, was given to us. I studied the work of El Anatsui who is a Ghanaian sculptor who’s work focuses on reusing materials in an in orthodox way to give it new meaning. Such as this piece below where he uses bottle caps to create a piece that looks flexible and embodies themes of consumption, transformation and the environment.
We then learnt about the different types of stiches we could attempt to use in our work.
I made use of the back and the satin stich the most. The back stitch is a good method to create a continuous line. It involves, as the name suggests, stitching cloth in a line and then stitching back onto that line to make it more continuous. Satin stitching is an effective way of filling/colouring in a section of your work and it involves a consistent long portion of string being stitched parallel to fill in a space. Below is an example of where I used these methods in the same piece of tapestry.
My embroidery experience involved a lot of experimenting and compiling of many different elements.
Because there was free reign of creativity I almost allowed my hand to guide the string where I wanted it to go to create visual elements that popped into my head. I decided to create a piece with a central focus with other elements and materials sewed to it.
My focal image was that of influential figure in the occupation and art scene of Jersey, Claude Cahun. I additionally decided to use various stitching methods to create an intriguing design around her face to mask her eyes representing the oppression she faced during the occupation.
To further showcase my workflow around my embroidery I created a GIF by taking continuous photos of my piece every few minutes. I created it in photoshop by following these steps:
1. Create layer for each image 2. Window > timeline 3. Select > Create Frame Animation 4. Drop Menu > Make frames from Layers 5. Timeline > select Forever 6. File > Export > Save for Web Legacy > reduce image size to 720 x 720 pixels
I believe making this gif inspired thoughts of how tangible art can be infused with digital art. I believe using inspiration from the work of Lisa Reihana this GIF can be developed into a more in depth digital movie with the addition of a narrative. The GIF could be improved by taking images more frequently to create a smoother animation and keeping the embroidery in the same location of the table – not move it around as much.
Davy Evans is an award winning multi-disciplinary artist and designer based in Brighton. With a background in graphic design, Evans fuses practical effects and digital techniques to create ethereal abstract imagery. He often manipulates light and liquid to replicate colour, form, and distortions inspired by natural phenomena. His work is combined into beautiful still, eyewatering creations:
And also animated distortive art visuals:
His works combine real life natural elements such as flowers with hyper realistic and futuristic astrophysical elements into one hypnotic visual. His work makes me use big words like I just did; to describe what is to be seen in Davy’s work is quite a challenge as it is so out of this world. Davys work sets a bar for what is possible for the future of digital art and the world of NFT’s.
His work inspires th efuture of art, not only for how evolutianary and digitaly advanced it is but also for how he creates it, remembering the basics of the creative process.
“I try to play with new materials and photography techniques whenever I can, allowing for happy accidents to form organically,” he says. “I like the challenge of making something out of nothing; for example, I’ll often try to use everyday household items to create effects.”
I want to include the digital design and colourful abstract elements of Davy’s work into my NFT project.
The above image is from Evans latest series during the UK’s lockdown from the Covid Pandemic. He created this work using the simplicity of flowers, water and glass. The simplicity of the arrangement adds to the absurdity of the artwork. Turning simple elements into such a complex looking, hypnotic piece.
The composition of the piece is chaotic with many elements for the eye to take in. The water droplets forming perfect cell like structure in the foreground combined with the colour they adapt taken from the flower in the background, make for a staggering piece. The image looks like a digital artwork with how supernatural it looks. Colour leaks into every corner of the composition, leaving no pixel monochrome. For how abstract the image is, Davy still manages to include tonal elements, some of the pink/salmon areas of the flower are bright and highlighted, while in the centre of the composition and the frames of the waterdrops, we see shading. I also like the blend of cool and warm temperatures in the same composition.
William is an artist from my hometown Johannesburg, South Africa. Unlike the majority of successful white South Africans, he still lives there, and operates out of the heart of ‘Jozi’. He makes drawings which he often turns into animated films. Sometimes there are also performers in front of the animated film and his work integrates into a theatrical piece. He describes this as a ‘drawing in four dimensions’. His process all starts from charcoal drawings. He uses charcoal for a varied number of reasons but mainly its flexibility, room for change and experimentation in the animation process. “You can change charcoal as quickly as you can change your mind”.
Charcoal is easy to erase and it has an abundant granularity to it. Its tonal range is good for photographing. It is also not as meticulous as other art mediums and has a speed and flow that the artist can adopt. William creates his animations frame by frame. This means his process involves making slight adjustments, step by step, and making photographs in between each adjustment. This proves to be a timely method and therefore the speed the charcoal adapts it important.
Williams normal animation setup in his studios include a physical walk from the camera to the canvas where his drawings are made. His frame by frame process involves his walking between the camera and the canvas hundreds of times. He describes this process as a physical but also mental process when new ideas are suggested.
William believes that art needs an initial impulse which has to be enough to get the first drawing done and then in the physical activity of making the drawings, new ideas emerge and new possibilities engaged with until the piece takes shape.
Williams position as an artist is one of self awareness, this is prevalent in every piece from start to finish. Williams art holds political and polemic weight. He describes himself as a child of privilege – he grew up a white middle-class South African who had the first 40 years of his life under the white privileging apartheid regime and the other 20 living in the South African democracy. He is highly aware of his privilege and also the lack of privilege the majority of South Africans experience. His work highlights both his insider and outsider aspects. This is why he choses to stay in South Africa and not flee the madness of it, is envelopes him in his work focusing on the community.
These two artists have two different takes on digital art. Davy’s work encapsulates a movement of new ideas and forward thinking. This is represented in his very colourful and digitally advanced work. His work is much more futuristic and out of this world. His work is very much a part of the metaphysical and futuristic aesthetic that is emerging in modern times. Williams work, however, uses a much more tactile form of art, and one that is very much a classic method of expression dating back to when cavemen would draw on walls. He uses this dated method and gives it new life by going through a digitisation process and animating it. Unlike Davy, his art reflects on events that have already, or are currently raking place, instead of focusing on movement into the future. His work is a lot less colourful; for the most part William only works black on white.
Before embarking in the research of my NFT project I want to recap on the foundations of the project: community in Jersey.
The Government of Jersey is currently consulting the public about what makes Jersey special through a project called Island Identity.
I brainstormed a reaction to what the above question was asking to set a foundation for my NFT project.
The ISLAND IDENTITY project has produced a website and a report that has identified distinctive qualities of island life in Jersey. It discusses:
Constitution & Citizenship Communities International Economy Education & Sport Heritage, Culture & the Arts Environment
I want to keep these themes prevalent throughout our NFT project.
What is an NFT
An NFT is a “one-of-a-kind” digital asset that can be bought and sold like any other piece of property. As with crypto-currency, a record of who owns what is stored on a shared ledger known as the blockchain and maintained by thousands of computers around the world.
NFTs can be used to represent items such as photos, videos, audio, and other types of digital files. This therefore marries the art and photography with the digital, crypto realm.
CryptoPunks – one of the first non-fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. The project was developed by American studio Larva Labs.
In economics, a fungible asset is something with units that can be readily interchanged – like money.
With money, you can swap a £10 note for two £5 notes and it will have the same value.
However, if something is non-fungible, this is impossible – it means it has unique properties so it can’t be interchanged with something else.
It could be a house, or a painting such as the Mona Lisa, which is one of a kind. You can take a photo of the painting or buy a print but there will only ever be one original painting.
NFTs are “one-of-a-kind” assets in the digital world that can be bought and sold like any other piece of property, but which have no tangible form of their own.
The digital tokens can be thought of as certificates of ownership for virtual or physical assets.
Traditional works of art such as paintings are valuable precisely because they are one of a kind.
But digital files can be easily and endlessly duplicated.
With NFTs, artwork can be “tokenised” to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought and sold.
The idea theme that this digital art exhibition is going to fixate on, is the idea that we all live two lives and these lives co-exist between tangible and virtual worlds.
2 Lives was created by Francesco Vincenti & Claudia Runcio
The future of community in Jersey as a metaverse will be an extremely diverse and flourishing digital environment.
Paragraph
The future of community in Jersey as a metaverse will embrace physical elements of community and embrace them on an active and divergent digital platform. The community will flourish and connect many islanders no matter where in the world they might be. I see this being in a highly technologically advanced and immersive fashion. The metaverse will be a mostly amiable platform however I pre-empt some of Jerseys overly, patriotic, protective and xenophobic idiosyncrasies unfortunately lingering into the future.
Content
Our film will feature a seamless combination of real digital images combined with a more metaphysical and fictional animation side. We will use a split screen method to combine the two elements of film. We want to use futuristic props and a consistent, futuristic colour scheme. We want to use a futuristic, fast-paced soundtrack with an emphasise on synthesised instruments. We will also used strategically placed text to further convey our message.
A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
A few discussed ideas regarding the continuation of the concept of community into the future of humans every day lives:
I emphasise the word lives and draw attention to the fact that in these modern times, and continuing with a great deal into the future, we are living two lives. This refers to our physical, tangible life where we interact with people face to face and engage in careers, passions, hobbies and all aspects life offers in a physical way and then also our online lives. Both are thriving with different communities of people. These two lives merge in many ways but they also can juxtapose massively where we see people escaping one life to interact with contrasting communities in the other. A few of these communities are brainstormed below:
Below is a mood-board which is going to act as the foundations for the visual aesthetic of the project. The idea behind the images is how humans will react in a community in the future. We want to base our aesthetic off of an exaggerated sense of the future, e.g., flying cars, heightened technological advances. We also focussed on the word metaverse when brainstorming these ideas.
What is the metaverse
The word “Metaverse” is made up of the prefix “meta” and the stem “verse”; the term is typically used to describe the concept of a future iteration of the internet, made up of persistent, shared, 3D virtual spaces linked into a perceived virtual universe.
