Our assignment was to find two flash videos on the web and post them, along with our questions, comments, and concerns. One video had to be vector-based (Adobe Illustrator), and the other was to be rastor-based (Adobe Photoshop). The videos I picked were Xiao Xiao 3 (Vector) and Charlie the Unicorn 2 (Rastor).
The first video (Xiao Xiao) is really interesting. Only using stick figures and geometric shapes, this has the potential to be lame and boring. But once the stick figures start fighting each other and you get caught up in the arcade music and Steven Seagal-type action sounds, it becomes entertaining. The figures move with fluid motion, despite the cut hard edge of the layout. All the action takes place with the figures, and the background never changes or moves. There is little to the movie, other than pure action, but it is still entertaining and the motion of the characters manages to keep the attention until the BOSS at the end. And I have to admit…I watched this movie, like, six times….because I really liked it. But then again, I am a fan of action flicks.
Charlie the Unicorn 2 is a sequel to a totally random rastor-based flash movie about a completely bored-with-life unicorn with heavy sarcasm. He is a quiet white unicorn pestered by psychotic, random, irritating pink and blue unicorns who lead him on a quest…to be a banana king. Okay, so it’s not exactly Baby Einstein, but it is certainly a crazy video to waste your time on. The images are vibrant and have depth and shadow. There is much movement and change in the background, as well as interesting sound effects, as well as a random song about bananas in your ear. There are some weird Communist propoganda in it, such as the communist symbol, and the title “Ex Oriente Lux Banana” on the golden pyramid. Ex Oriente Lux means “From the East, the light.” Apparently, it’s a reference to culture coming from the East and influencing the Western world, such as the Silk Road and Eastern religion and inspirations influencing art and culture in the West. I have two theories as to the meaning of those symbols. One: The people who made it are Communists, or are trying to integrate communist propaganda into the minds of America or two: It’s just a freakin random video and the people who made it are wierd.
So for our class today, we were supposed to make two 150×800 pixel 72 resolution animated GIFs in photoshop and upload them to our blog. The content was to animate our name. So in all their glory, here are my GIFs.
Just so you know, I had to shrink them to fit them on this page. But the real size is 150×800.
Well, I was doing a little browsing/researching, and I came upon something called a “Xerox Alto.” I was looking for widgets, and my search brought me upon this. Apparently, back in the day of 1973, it was one of the first personal computers ever. It wasn’t a commercial product, but several universities used it. While reading this article on the Alto, I skimmed over the technological jargon to find that Apple was heavily influenced by the Alto, and that the Alto was one of the first to incorporate GUI widget-y workstations. GUI = graphical user interface; user interfaces that allow people to use stuff like computers, PDAs, iPods, etc. So basically, every time you look at your screen, you’re staring at a GUI. Doesn’t that just tickle you pink? It did me. You learn something everyday.
To progress my knowledge, I decided to look up interfaces of my favourite company ever, Apple, Inc. http://toastytech.com/guis/indexapple.html lists old Apple products to the latest and displays the interfaces of those products. I clicked on “My Apple Lisa Screen Shots” and was able to look over one of the first Apple products ever. It’s so simple, so rudimentary. I can’t imagine the thought and problem-solving that went into creating it from essentially nothing. Then I clicked on Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard”. http://toastytech.com/guis/osx15.html The change from “Lisa” to “Leopard” is interesting to watch.
It got me to thinking. We take for granted the work and creativity that went into creating the earliest products. We laugh at how simple and tiny the early products were, because when you’re staring in the face of a iMac G5 27 inch screen you tend to pass over how it got there.
And so, over the course of about 35 years the Apple has changed drastically into the sleek, sexy, interface we see today. But like all artistic, creative things, there is a progression, a method, a problem-solving that must happen before the finished product appears. From “Lisa” to “Leopard” you see the progression, and even though it’s over 35 years, as artists, we go through that progession ourselves in every project.
So that is my goal. To make every project go from “Lisa” to “Leopard.”
