Music video for “Lost & Found” by Johnny Flynn.

All animation done in AfterEffects.
Special thanks to Martha Grant for green screen and lighting help.

An experimental comedy about tennis balls, dancing cars, and God.http://www.langanfilms.comhttp://www.doxologyfilm.com© 2007 Michael Langan

Created by Jordan Clarke

I have been looking at trail cameras. These are hunting aids to help scout when animals are about. They stamp the picture with time of day and cycle of the moon most will take video and stills. They have sensors that detect motion. This trigger will “wake up” the camera and a picture will be taken. The second picture will be taken after the “wait” period, usually 30 seconds.  Because game gets skittish if bright lights flash in their eyes at night these cameras often have infra red LED flash and Black and White night camera modes. Trail Cams come in weather proof housings, some bear proof housings are available.  Security straps and locking are available.

Much to my delight the cameras are priced between 75 and 350 dollars. Obvious uses in the city are time lapse movies of construction, animals in the yard and general garden growing. Here is a link to a build your own site.

A part of a larger project called Tales of a Digital Immigrant. I have always been fascinated by the crossing from virtual worlds to real ones. IRL or In Real Life is a phenomenon occurring in this new interconnected universe of MMORPG when the virtual world merges with the real one.

Here is a brief introduction to Alice Labs’, Studio Clouds. They currently have a plugin for Maya and Max and are developing new features all the time. With the increase in popularity of 3D Scanner software

1 take a picture of the building
2 using point cloud make a model of the building – http://alicelabs.com/
3 model in 3D added elements
4 light in 3D
5 project with the same focal length lens of the original

Very cool line drawing tool working in 3D. This feels a lot like making drawings with wire.

Amazon has run a contest.

All of these finalists could have made these posts with a small amount of knowledge, a mid-grade camera, and commonly available software. Overall they underscore an obsession with the acquisition of things as a creative act and are a bit disturbing. An active and creative life is not a the simple act of having the objects of our desires delivered to our door in cardboard boxes. The undertone of these ads is a magical acquiring solid objects. This magical transformation is done with small energy-less efforts such as lifting a finger or thinking a thought. These ads are very female and most depict the main character as passive. They say; the manufactured things I want will make me happy in life. This is an old industrial trade. The common voice here is.. We do not make the things we use… we purchase them from others who are far better at the creative act than ourselves. Artists are born creative and we are not them. We consume and we should leave the creative act to the corporation. These adverts attempt an association between acquisition and happiness except for the last; Kindlicious.

The Finalists

Not Available – This ad trashes street performers and older brothers. Although it does try to make an argument that there are only a few annoying things not available on Amazon; it does associate Amazon with rejection of anything that cannot be manufactured and purchased in a box. Even such creative acts as drawing on a doll (albeit without regard for a sister’s feeling) has no room on Amazon. Amazon is a warehouse of things. No messing with sales people or anything human. No human emotion… just lots of stuff sans tribulations of life.

Paper Amazon – Because this is shot in first person it paints Amazon as distinctly female friendly. My trouble with this ad is it is just not broad enough. Amazon is simply a wish list. I question the association with Amazon being a paper catalog. Most of the world has grown up without the Sears and Roebucks Catalog. It fails to hit the mark that Amazon will help you make the choices which expand your knowledge of the world and the oppertunities the world has to offer.

Wish List – This is a laundry list. I doubt the premise; to tap into the kid in all of us we just need to have box companies ship the items we lust to our empty rooms.

Proceed to a Better Life – A list ad. This time we see some process of choosing. This looks like as if it were made on a shoestring but with access to common software and just a little creative knowledge. Amazon makes you feel a little god like. Make that little finger-move of clicking a mouse and things appear by magic. Gets closer to the point of all the list ads without the baggage. The star of this film feels more like she is undergoing some interactive problem solving. The choices she makes are not extravagant. These are the basic things to make us comfortable.

Kindlicious – This takes a page out of Apple’s playbook. It associates the creative act of the ad itself as the face of Amazon. Rather than listing objects of desire; it associates being active, on the go, adventurous, fantasy full as a result of the curious knowledge the written word can bring. Animation is often done with the camera pointing down. The ingeniousness of this ad is the scale change. The one act of enlargement creates an opening for association with Amazon. Amazon is the big river full of adventure and imagination. it is Victorian adventurism made contemporary. simply smart

ALBUM out now – get it at iTunes here http://tinyurl.com/pkf9l3Calvin performs a version of his new single Ready For The Weekend on a unique human synthesiser. The instrument employs 15 bikini cla…