SAME… BUT DIFFERENT (COMPLETE)

After a few weeks of putting together the Same But Different project, it is finally finished.

I spent this evening putting the image files together in Dreamweaver and then uploading it to a friend’s web space (which they have kindly said we could use) Looking back, the work load turned out to be a lot more than I first expected. James (the gentleman who I have been working with) had a very certain minds eye view about how this project was going to unfold, but to be honest I got stuck in when I could and challenged most decisions and ideas where it was due. I don’t think the outcome would have been the same without our collaboration...

Click on the image below to view the project, or click HERE.

ENJOY!

WORKING TOGETHER

Quick update, I have been putting in the hours recently working with James on the Same But Different project. It is taking time but I believe the final product will be worth it, from what we have put together thus far, I think it will be something that I’ll be proud of being involved in. Even if it is a week behind schedule (apologies Jools)

“24 more hours …”

I’m enjoying it very much, eager to input, maybe a bit too much sometimes. Check out here and here to find out more… I have also posted a few preview screen shots.

SAME… BUT DIFFERENT (TIN CANS)

I’m working with my comrade James on a photographic based project, entitled “Same But Different”. We have based our photos around tin cans…

Tin cans (like the ones you get baked beans in) are out there… and they are EVERYWHERE! They are in the shops and supermarkets; they are in the factories, in the bins, on our streets and in our rivers, by the road sides, in land fill sites and in people’s homes… all over the place, the list goes on…

I guess we are trying to show the life cycle of the tin can by documenting some of the many possible routes that a tin can might take. From being made, containing food, being purchased and opened, being thrown away, rusting away in a field somewhere or maybe even recycled.

We have logged certain pieces of information to go along with our photographs; we then plan to arrange them into an order and hopefully develop some sort of interactive web based piece from them and maybe even a print version.

Here are a few select photos, more to follow…

COMPETITION DEADLINE

It took a total of five hours today to put my 3 estings onto a DV tape, ready to be posted off to the Channel 4 competition ...

To finally get my 3 idents onto a tape it took an army of computers, which included x1 Apple Mac (appalling machines) and x3 PCs. I had many problems throughout involving the use of different codecs and compression formats. In the end I had to use the audio from one compressed version and the video footage from a different version, it worked, perfectly, but it wasn’t the “correct” way of going about it.

All in all... I achieved the what I set out to do, which was to get my competition entry together. I even took a photo (above) to document what I sent off...

CAT FOOD - E4

This is my final version of the cat themed TV sting for E4 (I might edit at least two more seconds out of it to bring it down to eight or nine seconds) I have developed the starring role of our cat Butters, I went from simply sticking E4 logos on him to actually having the logo at the bottom of his food bowl.

After looking into working with animals and how best to do so I discovered that there is nothing more reliable than bribing the friendly little feline with treats (food).

So that’s what I did… Observe!

ODD REPORTER

I was in hysterics when I first watched this…
... and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th time too!



AdamBuxton - "Odd Reporter (Signing For The Deaf)"
youtube.com

DROP IT!

I was told at my design board presentation to NOT go ahead with producing the vinyl record concept for one of my E4 TV idents.

The test version can be seen here. (its been done before… supposedly)

BUT… I have had nothing but positive feedback and good reactions from the people that have seen it thus far, so instead of "dropping it" I’ve decided to develop it into something more.

I have decided to inter-cut lots quick shots that will illustrate the DJ and how he/she interacts with the instrument that is two record decks and a mixer.

This video here and… here are good examples of what ill be looking to achieve visually for some of these quick cutting shots.

And just for the funk of it here is a quality video I came across whilst doing some research…

NEVER WORK WITH ANIMALS

It’s an old showbiz saying (apparently) that you should never work with children or animals. After filming my cat themed test ident for E4 Stings
- which can be seen... here - I started to consider how I could get the best results out of filming our pet cat ‘Butters’. I came across two very relevant web pages… here and… here, that talk about photographing and filming animals (in my case a pet cat)

The following is what I found significant to my production…

Photograph your pet in great light. In the case of animals, that's almost always natural light, which is to say, turn off your flash and go outside.
The light next to a large window or open door or late day sunlight makes all animals (and people) look great. It's all about the light. I repeat.

Get close to your pet whether it's a horse or a goldfish. Fill the frame with the animal you love and leave out all other distractions like furniture, telephones, and background objects.

Look for backgrounds that will contrast against your pet. In other words, if you have a black dog, look for a light background. If you have a white cat, look for a dark background.

Keep your camera at the animal's eye level. Avoid the view point from a human eye's, which is to say, looking down. Get down on your hands and knees.

You can take wonderful pictures without looking through the camera.
Try holding the camera 12 inches from your pets face without using the viewfinder. Of course, luck is required, but you will be surprised how often this turns out some good results.

When photographing a living creature, it's almost always best to focus on the eyes. Make the eyes sharp. It's where people look first.

Animals may need to be enticed to stand still long enough for you to push the shutter button or for you to record that shot. The easiest way to do this is to use the time-honoured tradition of treats.