Category: 4D Studio

Bryce Mathews

I enjoy education when it is entertaining, whether through visual effects or interactive media. For my project, I wanted to present a narrative to the class while also challenging myself. I decided to give a timeline of the future of the universe, including researched facts, animated sprites, and interactivity via a webpage.

I began by animating my videos in Aseprite, a pixel-art creation tool with built-in animation tools. For the challenge, I asked some friends to provide some relevant obstructions to my work: I was limited to 9 videos to tell a complete story, I couldn’t use orange, green, or violet, and I was limited to a 121 by 121 canvas. On top of learning the application, I feel that these obstructions “gamified” the experience more.

Using Aseprite, I created pixel animations detailing the 9 major events in the universe, ranging from 1-3 second animations running at about 10fps.

I needed a way to present and add more context. I had taken what I had learned from Dreamweaver and created a webpage that integrated the sprites (now GIFs) I had made.

The finished product is a basic website with animated sprites and a scrollable website for reading. Some key areas for improvement are: improved website UI, or more interactive features.

How do these fufill the requirements?

Animated Narrative: The project is a complete narrative of the universe’s future, with sprite animations as visual complements to the educational material.

Game Design/Play: To introduce a challenge, I forced myself to learn Aseprite and had friends choose obstructions that would define the project’s scope. Users must also engage with the text and video to learn or entertain themselves.

Video: Each sprite is its own video that enhances the text-based storytelling.

Link to Google Drive for HTML download:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oxC7-vocP0t2yOEpSg66HCCTeoC2cwnk?usp=sharing

Using a phone flashlight, paper towel roll, and various materials to cover one end of the roll, I experimented with how objects interact with light and how those interactions affect an audience’s experience. The light was projected onto the ceiling. The materials that changed the light the most created the biggest reactions out of the viewers. Neither myself or the two friends who were watching had seen the light interactions beforehand, and while I expected the light to change, I did not anticipate it to change as drastically as some did. It created a few interesting visual effects that were surprising.  

Having audio of the live reactions helped to convey what it was like. My friend can even  be heard saying at one point, “It looks better in person.” It also allows those watching the video to be immersed with the original audience and brings them into the time when we were experiencing it. Even though the reactions are already recorded and can’t directly be interacted with, you can still watch the light show with them and compare your experience. 

For my final I decided on an original story which is when a person gets killed at a party it’s up to a small group of people to solve the crime before the killer gets free. I feel that this would best fit the final as it combines animation (mainly stop motion) and game by needing the player to select choices that could affect the story (inspired by Telltale Games).

Bryce Mathews

I was heavily inspired by the use of projectors to display text over large surfaces, like building walls, to convey a message. Unlike graffiti or murals, projectors create non-invasive mediums for art. My project was inspired by Guerrilla Projections, projections that spoke calls to action. Instead of a still image, I used my video, “Time Stops for No One”. The video is a timer that ticks down from 24 hours, with the text “Time stops for no one…”. The goal of the video (and the projection) is to remind people of the constant passage of time. The projection bypasses the limitations of a traditional screen by making surrounding surfaces, like the wall and ceiling, canvases. Oftentimes, we get so caught up in our lives that we forget that our time is limited.

I projected the video in the dark areas of my apartment: my closet, bedroom wall, and bedroom ceiling. I also copied the video to other media devices, giving the impression that it is spreading to more people. Below are images of the projections and snippets of video that I took.

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Closet Video: https://youtu.be/n3ru1GIQKq0

Cieling Video: https://youtu.be/Ii37kYdPngI

Multiple Screens Video: https://youtu.be/k7j2TjREZpA

For my projection experiment, I used a projector, a shower sheet, and a cutout box to project a circular, ocean-like light. I set up the projector on the floor and pointed it toward a small hallway in my suite. Then I taped up the shower curtain to project it onto and then placed a small box in front of the projector. Then I went behind the curtain to show the final projected animation. (The video will not upload, so I sent it through email)