Essays

I'm done, two short essays, one about social networks and the other one about my contribution to the Urban Mayhem project, I will NOT post them here, they are too long, but here are the links:

We Create Identity (Urban Mayhem contribution)

Web-technology (criticism on social networks)

Worst webpage

...unbelievable, my worst web page was voted third best (or is it worst in this case?) from the whole creative technology course.

thanks for voting for me my friends I couldn't believe it!!!

I'm currently working on my two essays now,

take it easy world

Urban Mayhem was a succes at the interactive video presentation

...it is over, I do say this with a slight feeling of relieve in my stomach, it was a very fun process but not stress-free.

In the end people appreciated the video which can be watched on the Urban Mayhem homepage.

The event was fun too more people came than I had expected to show up so that was always good, Anton Eliens was more than pleased with the overall results of all of us, he said that our video would make 10 points if it was just for visual effects, but we could have had a few more interactions. However I think that if he will watch it again on our website he might find that there are lots of choices you can made, I think we have 11 different choices adding up to a total of 21 independent videos, and about 7 different endings to the videos, more than enough interactiveness for me.

My biggest respect to Sharah for making all the interactive stuff, so glad she was on board for that, also if it got a little stressful in the end.

If you are interested in photos of the interactive video presentation, check out the photo section on the UM webpage, here are a couple of nice ones:

Promoting our interactive video

people standing infront of our big screen witnessing the Mayhem

Portfolio

Hello folks

I had some difficulties on choosing a platform to hold my portfolio, but I think I have found it at www.behance.net, a platform where many creative people post their work, so the surrounding is ideal plus it is very clearly structured.

Here is the page where all my creations are online.

a new teaser to the urban mayhem video

All right we just made a new teaser with the first footage we generated ourselves...

turn up your speakers cause this song likes it loud

We used iMovie to make this short video and the purpose was to show all the other CreaTe students how our end result was supposed to look like, we created it in about 45 minutes and are estimating that the end-result will be in higher resolution and also more detailed. Plus of course there will be the interactive aspect of the video.

you choose what the protagonist does and you choose what he doesn't do.

moved to my new room

hey people,

sorry for not writing on my blog recently, I was really busy with the Urban Mayhem project and I moved to my new room this weekend, it took quite some effort but I think the result is very nice and I'm looking forward to spend some time in my room. Sounds weird I know, but I was living in a garage for almost two months now and it feels really good to have a real bed to lay on and not just a mattress on the cold and damp floor.

Moreover I had two good friends from germany visit me here in my new home. It was extremely fun but we partied a little bit to hard, but afterwards it was really fun again.

Anyway now I'm sitting infront of my huge new window and am staring over the rooftops of enschede.

I like it here!

I think I'm done with things today. But you never know what comes next...

you stay classy San Francisco, and good night

a guide through Enschede

I finally fixed the website and am rather pleased with it's coming along!

Today we decided on when to start filming for the video and are planing to film from wednesday to friday. I hope we get along with the time schedule we set for ourselves.

We also decided on the route we are going to take:

iWeb website on the way

hey everyone,

I just started a new project, we are creating a website for our Urban Mayhem interactive video, we are setting it up on a server we got at the university, with some help from Jan Kolkmeier, so thanks again Jan.

You can find the site HERE

it would be awesome if we could get some feedback or suggestions on how to improving it. I have never made a webpage so I'm totally inexperienced and am completely new to iWeb.

there is a Blog on the Urban Mayhem site as well, so check it out if you stumble upon it.

I'll be working on it some more now since there are still a few bugs I haven't figured out yet, so take care world.

P.S. I guess Anton Eliens liked my site and called it extremely nicely updated...Damn, now I have to live up to something haha, no problemo though. It's fun

A rough plan

hello everybody,

yesterday we made great progress on our interactive video called "urban mayhem"

we came up with the entire storyline, and wrote it down, I'm convinced that this is quite a decent starting of point:

the viewer will have to choice to listen to music on his "Ipod" during the whole presentation, every time a song is over, the viewer will be able to choose a new one.

We are planing to have four computers n the smart XP lab, where the video can be played from. If all goes well, we will be able to link the four screens together and display them all on the huge screen. So the idea is that many people will be playing the game at the same time, everybody on an own computer, but the rest of the people can watch on the big "split-screen" on the wall.

I'm really excited to start filming soon.

I got soaked again

...yep the rain got me again.

her comes an update on our group work. I'm sitting in the cafeteria with chris and we're waiting for sharah and sven to show up. I think we are going to tackle the real storyline today, or at least I hope so. I'm not quite sure which dimension the interactive video will take, but I think we kind of know in which direction we are going to go since the promotional video, which by the way was a full success.

After we were able t0 handle some start up problems we were able to show it on a huge 8x8 meter screen, with huge speakers. the heartbeat in the end really came through nicely. But I noticed, that the last beat should have faded a little bit longer. the end was to abrupt, but oh well...I guess I'll know that for the next time then.

However Anton was pleased and I think the video improved the otherwise rather messy presentation of the group work we were supposed to do within two hours prior to the presentation.

The task was to think of a story which followed a 12-step program

here is a copy of our rough sketch (the story shouldn't represent our real interactive video):

12 steps

Urban Mayhem

1 ordinary world:

-urban environment, city, (Rotterdam).

-Hero: pretty normal life, normal cop (Jason Statham 45, ), wife kid, little boy called james, wife called mary-jane.

2 call to adventure:

Jason arrested a drug dealer who later-on escaped from jail and killed jason's kid in revenge. Jason got hoked on meth, out of grief, and stole some drugs from the evidence room in the police department. His wife left him. He got caught, and got dishonorable discharge (fired). Furious at the drug dealer who he blamed for his misfortune, he swore revenge.

3 refusal of the call:

-how can a drug addicted ex-cop bring a criminal to justice?

4 meeting the mentor:

-Ex wife MJ: get your fucking act together you worthless piece of shit. It's for our son. Stop taking drugs, douche-bag.

5 crossing the threshold:

- jumps over his own shadow, to contribute to a safer world for everybody. Stop taking drugs

6 test, allies, enemies:

-test: parcours, avoid police, running,

- allies: old police officer in his last years at the job. Insider information over earpiece etc.

7 approach to inmost cave:

-got address to “crack-house” , walked up the stairs, the dealer sees him coming, runs onto the roof, chase each other around town, gets info from his insider,

8 supreme ordeal:

-they come to an roof top, they can't go any further, the dealer backs towards the edge of the roof, they talk...you killed my son, my wife left me, I have nothing to loose... shoots him in the foot...talk some more, I lost my job, got addicted with the poison you sell...shoots him in the other foot...they talk...payback time biatch... kicks him in the head and makes him tip over the back of the roof and shoots at him as he is falling towards the street... where his guts will eventually splatter on the sidewalk.

9 reward:

-dignity, victory, revenge

10 road back:

- reflects on the journey which brought him to th epoint he is at...the lessons he learned, the blood he had to shed, the people he met along the journey

11 resurrection:

-gets back together wife...gets a job as an addiction consultant at the local community center

12 return with the elixer:

-the drug dealer was one of the most important supplier, and the whole drug scene in Rotterdam crumbles.

The promotion

I created a promotional video for our "Urban Mayhem" project. I had lots of fun experimenting with Imovie an here is the result.

a new task

I'm very excited...

We got a new project in "we create identity", we were supposed to create an interactive video with a group we formed by ourselves.

The members of my group are

Sven

Sharah

Chris

The theme our group chose is "urban (un)securtiy" we are already planing what to film, have a storyboard and a nice idea on how to make it interactive, but in a way that the audience isn't annoyed.

We are going to film by night to create a slightly gloomy and depressing atmosphere in which the viewers will be confronted with hard facts about the Urban surroundings they are finding themselves in every day.

I'm rather inspired by these pictures I took a couple of months ago, I think the represent the atmosphere we are trying to create:

I'm really looking forward to really getting started on this project. Finally something where we can really let our Imagination all the space it needs to create...

eventful weekend

sorry for not updating my blog over the last few days, but there were some events that were more important and took immediate priority.

A good friend of mine had to be taken to the hospital on thursday night because she cut her hand on a piece of glass...long story short, she lost a lot of blood, passed out, no ambulance came, we took her by car, she had to undergo a surgery and is on her best way to recovery again now.

but it all took up my mind for quite some time...

...well a new day began this morning with a very nutritious breakfast consisting of eggs, ham and toast.

Then I went into the sun behind my house, where I sat in the sun and sketched a little, turned out as a pretty cool piece of work in my eyes. Kind of hard to describe, but here it goes...I might upload it in the next days we'll see...

it started out as a simple playing around with perspectives... houses, a street, but then it evolved into a parallel universe kinda thing, where there are two realities and they are connected through buildings and ladders.

It's funny how the picture just took on a mind of it's own and evolved in a way I never had anticipated it.

I'm looking forward to university tomorrow, only "we create identity", the reason for this blog. I'm looking forward to it, and have no idea what I have to expect from it...

we will see

good night and good fight

letters, internet and cold weather

no update yesterday...no time, no time

so what did I do yesterday? Oh, I recall! My first class of "Introduction to Computer Science" with Angelika Mader.

It was horrible, but this had nothing to do with the content of her lecture, the damn internet connection didn't work for me. But is seems as if the room has a "buggy" system anyway. Many people have had problems there in the past.

The task for the others was to create a profile on the WikiCreate page which has been created to lecture us about the content of all the "electronic" workshops in the CreaTe program.

So after class was over I went to the cafeteria and started to work on that, quite easy as most of us agreed. Mostly learning about naming files accordingly to make them easy to file etc. pretty basic stuff but not uninteresting I have to admit.

After I had a bite to eat with my roommates at my place, I took a look at the graphic design task I had. Improving the style of an Alphabet of our choice. Very fun, Printing it out, working on it with different pens, scanning it back in, improving the lines on photoshop and highlighting the changes. But more of that on friday, I've gotta keep the suspense as high as possible...just kiddin'

This morning I had another four hours of Computer Science and learned a lot about different types of networks and the internet.

Now I'm hanging around in the cafeteria, looking at the construction-site outside, reashure myself that it will look rather splendid when it's done, with the tent-style roof and the little artificial canal running alongside of the citadel...DAMN, that construction-worker needs to pull up is pants... my eyes hurt...I can't think of anything good to write about, NO INSPIRATION... I'll blame it on the weather, lets google something...I just googled construction site...Time to get of the internet if you ask me...I'll get on my bike, drive to the city, run some errands, go home and listen to some musik...

Maybe I'll get back to you a little later again

cheerio guys

still things are really new- graphic design

okay, today was the second day of my "new life" everything is still rather new and weird (in a good way) but I have to say, I'm walking through the hallways and rooms of this amazing and new place with a little more orientation than yesterday and during the "kick-in week".

The first class didn't take place, but the tutor had told us so it was alright, many came nevertheless including me. It was fun to catch up with everybody, recognizing all the faces and trying to remember all the names...I did okay, maybe 50% of them came to my head again straight away...

After lunch we had our first class of graphic design; the tutor is great, a real artist. We had the task to bring a picture to class which meant a lot to us, I chose the one to left...

I choose this picture because I like big cities and I think it really catches the essence of what big cities are about. I took it in Boston last winter when I was visiting my family in the states.

There are many people walking, so there is a lot of movement in the whole picture, it looks very real, not staged at all, especially with the woman in the front, she is a little blurry, which really emphasizes the motion she and everybody else is in. Furthermore I like the smoke in the upper-right corner, such a typical thing for an big American city, the smoke coming from the sewer system.

I know it's a cliche but the way the people are only minding their own business is very typical, everybody is heading in their own direction and there is no interaction between strangers. Except for those who are already traveling in small groups like the little group in-front of Borders book shop.

My picture was in contrast to most of the pictures which were presented by my classmates, because there is so much going on in it, most were focused on a very certain aspect or detail, but in mine there is so much to see and explore, I really like that about it and the tutor agreed. It was interesting how it took everybody longer to say what came to mind when they were looking at my picture. With the other examples, there was always something that sprang to mind right away because it was obvious (nature, wood, destruction, tree, fall...) not so with this one.

Our task for the next time is to find an alphabet or letter which seems particularly beautiful to us in some way, and bring it to class on friday so that we can discuss it. I'm going to look into that now...

...so good night and sleep tight everybody.