Month: October 2019

Research Plan

Books/Articles:

Websites:

People:
Brian Potter
Lauren Madden
John Kuiphoff

Resources:

  • Lightform or MadMapper
  • Online Tutorial courses
  • Animation course

Field:

Environmental Sustainability

Eric Branchek – Final Concept

Algorithmic/automated composition is an idea that has been around for a very long time now, but has only had major advances in the last 30 years or so, thanks the the advances of computers. Even then, I haven’t found as much research on this topic as other more popular topics. I want to take this research and extend it into the entertainment field.

My project involves a program that takes music from an already existing band or genre, and creates its own music that will sound similar to the music categorized in the already existing band or genre. I have a heavy interest in music and computer science, and I wanted to combine these interests with this project because I feel they go very well together. In the future, I want to expand upon this project by incorporating machine learning elements in order to make this idea more free-form.

I feel that this field could have a great impact on entertainment. For example, it could be used to help musicians with writer’s block by giving them a base to go off of when writing music. It could also be used to aid with incorporating elements of a different, less familiar genre in one’s music. There are tons of possibilities that could be offered by my type of project.

The way I see it working starts by transcribing songs of a specific artist into a MIDI score. This MIDI score will contain the notes played by each instrument in the song as data. The program then takes in this data as input. With multiple MIDI scores, the program will analyze the song to figure out certain characteristics of the song, such as the key. Using the individual notes from each instrument, the program will construct instrument parts for a new song.

One way of doing this last step would be with Markov chains. The Markov chain could store data about the note choices in a song. Along with the individual note choices, it would store the probability of the next note being a certain note. For example, if an A note comes up in the song, it could store the chance of the next note being C as 50% (based on what happens when an A occurs in the rest of the song), the chance of the next note being E as 25%, and so on.

I plan to do some research on other methods that could help me with this step, as I see this being the most difficult part of my project. In addition to that, I will need to spend a decent amount of time transcribing songs to MIDI so that I have data to go off of.

Eric Branchek – Research Plan

I have written up a bunch of resources that I would like to check out.


People
Professor Nakra
Dan Shiffman
David Cope


Books
Algorithmic Composition: Paradigms of Automated Music Generation – Very detailed
Algorithmic Composition – A Guide to Composing Music with Nyquist – Goes over many concepts, but seems to focus on Nyquist
The Algorithmic Composer – An older book, but appears to be a good introduction


Resources
MIDI – For containing the data of existing music scores
LISP – A programming language
Nyquist – A programming language based on LISP
MaxMSP – A programming language created for music applications
Java – A programming language that I am familiar with
Python – A programming language that I am familiar with
C++ – A programming language that I am familiar with


Articles
https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~blackrse/algorithm.html
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/spobooks/bbv9810.0001.001

Caitlyn Connelly — Finalized Concept

For my senior thesis project, I will be producing an 11-minute pilot of an original show “Freak and the Beast.” The pilot will follow two puppet best friends (only known as their bully-given nicknames “Freak” and “The Beast”) on their first day of seventh grade. I also plan on making the actual exhibit at Showcase a major focus of my time next semester. I want a fully immersive, interactive experience with my project sketches, storyboards, a set, and the puppets, and possibly materials for people to make their own mini-puppets or at least a camera set-up for folks to test out performing some of my puppets on-screen.

I was inspired to do this project by the challenge of combining my passions for children’s television, comedy, writing, and set design. I have always looked up to creative icons like Jim Henson and Fred Rogers, and I suddenly realized they were both puppeteers! Since diving into puppets, I have fully realized the potential of this medium to combine all of my relevant skills into something that is passion-driven and also hireable (I hope to work in producing children’s television.)

My project will be different from existing media in the non-traditional themes I will be exploring in Freak and the Beast. First, the protagonists are two girl best friends who do not fall into stereotypes. Female friendships are so often left out of media, even children’s media, and when they are portrayed, are rarely given the nuance of other friendships. Sure, these two girls are fussy and whiny and a little insecure — like all middle schoolers! — but they are also goofy, smart, and a little gross. I am also very passionate about children’s shows that don’t talk down to kids or young teens, and let them indulge in weirdness. I feel like there has been a shift in kid’s TV towards safe, wholesome, moral-at-the-end stories, completely washed of all the weirdness of 90s TV like Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, PowerPuff Girls, and Pinky and the Brain. I’d like to think the two can coexist! I hope to promote healthy themes like being a good friend and sticking up for yourself, along with embracing your weirdness! I never want to feel like I’m preaching to kids, as well as that works with a Pre-K audience. Older kids can read subtlety, and I feel like modern shows underestimate their intelligence as well as their breadth of interests! Kids like weird stuff. If you surround the nugget of wisdom with a weird, goofy, funny show, kind of like a dog’s medicine slathered in peanut butter, you can really hit home with them. And get rid of their heartworms.

Technically, as I’ve discussed in other posts, I’ve been learning how to make Muppet-style puppets all summer. You can find my latest prototype and self-imposed production schedule in my last post.

I’m experienced in woodworking, so I will be using those skills to build sets for the show. They’ll be multipurpose by switching out props/class posters/ surroundings/etc.

Stylistically, I’ve been learning a lot by studying the development of puppets for Sesame Street and The Muppets. I visited the Jim Henson Exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image and purchased Jim Henson’s journals, so those have been a great source of inspiration as well as the Defunctland YT Series on Jim Henson.

Caitlyn Connelly — Research Plan

  • Since I’ve already started the research process, I’ve included both topics and resources I’ve already studied as well as new ones.
  • Books
    • Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones
    • Imagination Illustrated: The Jim Henson Journal
    • The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers
    • How to Make a Good Script Great by Linda Seger
  • Articles
    • Collection of articles from several decades about children’s television in The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/sunday-reading-childrens-television
    • Taking Silliness Seriously: Jim Henson’s The Muppet Show, the Anglo-American Tradition of Nonsense, and Cultural Critique
    • Dobrin, Sidney I. ‘‘‘It’s Not Easy Being Green’: Jim Henson, the Muppets, and Ecological Literacy.’’ Wild Things: Children’s Literature and Ecocriticism. Eds. Sidney I. Dobrin and Kenneth Kidd. Detroit, MI: Wayne State UP, 2004. 232–53.
    • Finch, Christopher. Of Muppets and Men: The Making of the Muppet Show. New York: Knopf, 1981.
    • Flescher, Jacqueline. ‘‘The Language of Nonsense in Alice.’’ Yale French Studies 43 (1969): 128–44.
    • Lecercle, Jean-Jacques. The Philosophy of Nonsense: The Intuitions of Victorian Nonsense Literature. New York: Routledge, 1994.
    • Lopez, Alan. ‘‘Deleuze With Carroll: Schizophrenia and Simulacrum and the Philosophy of Lewis Carroll’s Nonsense.’’ Angelaki: A New Journal in Philosophy, Literature and the Social Sciences 9.3 (December 2004): 101–20.
    • Noble, Greg, and Rebecca Baldwin. ‘‘Sly Chicks and Troublemakers: Car Stickers, Nonsense and the Allure of Strangeness.’’ Social Semiotics 11.1 (2001): 75–89.
    • Rackin, Donald. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass: Nonsense, Sense, and Meaning. New York: Twayne, 1991.
    • Sewell, Elizabeth. The Field of Nonsense. London: Chatto and Windus, 1952.
    • Shires, Linda. ‘‘Fantasy, Nonsense, Parody, and the Status of the Real:
      The Example of Carroll.’’ Victorian Poetry 26.3 (1988): 267–83.
    • Stewart, Susan. Nonsense: Aspects of Intertextuality in Folklore and Literature. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1978.
  • Movies
    • The Muppet Movie
    • The Muppets Take Manhattan
    • Elmo in Grouchland
  • Television (P = for puppet research, T = for theme and tone research)
    • Sesame Street (P)
    • The Muppet Show (P)
    • Fraggle Rock (P)
    • Mr. Meaty (P)
    • Courage the Cowardly Dog (T)
    • Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends (T)
    • The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (T)
    • Pinky and the Brain (T)
    • Rocko’s Modern Life (T)
  • Online Courses

Revised Concept – Elaine Ruiz

For my thesis, I want to create a Virtual Reality experience through Unity to show what being in an emotionally abusive relationship is like. I’ve been working on the script for roughly a year now, getting the facts I know together since it will be somewhat based on a true story. It will be an interactive story as well, with decisions for the user to do their best to get out of the relationship once it takes its turn. I have been researching abusive relationships to figure out the important details and points to keep in the storyline. I want to be thorough in my story, but I’m working on making sure it isn’t too long to get the point across before people may want to move on from the experience to other projects in the showcase. I will need to work on my coding skills for Unity and figure out the best way to create a forest for the environment, whether it be by using assets or 3D modeling and texturing it all myself if it isn’t too much work for one person until May. I’m even considering using a 360 camera to record a forest environment, but not sure how feasible it is for this purpose. Along with the text that will appear on-screen to tell the story, I may use my mic to record lines to read the story. At the very end, I will put more info on abusive relationships, such as facts and any hotline numbers to help anyone going through a similar situation or know someone who is.

Based on my research so far, using Virtual Reality to highlight social issues isn’t new, there is a Virtual Reality experience based on solitary confinement in prison. I’ve seen it be used to help prisoners understand social situations and what life would be like after life in prison when they transition back into society. I believe mine will be similar in that it will be educational and informative, but it would tell a story along with the visuals being more of a metaphor rather than showing what happened in the story. Someone described their experience with VR as a way to really be able to see life in someone else’s shoes and really understand.

Source on VR experiences: https://narratively.com/can-virtual-reality-change-minds-social-issues/

Tyler Rodriguez – Revised Concept

For my revised project idea, I decided I will combine my initial idea and my second idea together. My revised concept will be to create an interactive experience that details the stories of various characters from different types of mythology. In the exhibit, I will create 3D models of each character as well as providing motion graphics with a short animation and description of the character and their story. 

My vision is to have a room decorated with various 3D printed decorations and other little things with motion graphics animations on the projector detailing back stories while I preset the 3D figures in hand for the people to physically interact with.

I initially wanted to focus on one culture’s mythology but after some consideration I think it would be more interesting to incorporate characters from a great variety of cultures instead.

I know what I will have to research a lot about mythology to make sure my information is correct. I will also need to research more about motion graphics and video animation. I will also need to research more about 3D printing and modeling which is something I’m not too well versed in. However, it’s a project that involves a lot of things that I really love so I am excited to see this project progress.

Revised Concepts

My idea is to go with my first idea of making a fun video game for people to enjoy and eventually publish the game for people to buy. My video game idea is to base it off of gambling. From Black Jack to even Carnival style games would be turned into fun mini games in the style of mario party. Mario party will be the biggest inspiration for the video game and the style of it. I was thinking such as Mario party has a board to walk on the board would be a roulette table and you can bet on which mini game you think it will land on. I have ideas for models i can make and some mini games for the content of the game. I can make the animations and hit boxes and everything so i don’t need to borrow models or animations from anything. I have already started drawing designs for the game.

I have just picked up an interest in gambling and how everything is done and how people get so excited over it. It would be a fantastic idea to bring the fun of gambling without actually losing money from it.

some minigames i have already thought of is black and blue jack/ Slot Showdown/ Racetrack Rampage/ Dicey Dodging.

Revised Concept – Rachel Zook

My revised concept is a blend of my initial ideas one and two – it will be a VR museum of cryptids, heavily inspired by the Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed DVD’s special features. There’s a short game you can play where you have to investigate the museum featured in the movie; while in the museum you can interact up close and personal with the different costumes it features. Something about that experience sunk into my brain and I can still hear the voice of the guy who reads off the monster description all these years later. Maybe because I could never beat it? Anyways, here’s the video if you don’t know what I’m talking about:

My project will be that one of the cryptids in the museum has come to life and you have to explore the exhibit to return it to its home. I’m thinking only one of the cryptids comes to life as opposed to multiple because animating on top of detailed and stylized 3D modeling AND learning VR for the first time is more than enough of a challenge to last me a full semester. However, I certainly don’t view this plan as a 100% final version and could change and tweak aspects of it if I got the right advice/feedback. I plan to include at least Bigfoot, Mothman, chupacabra, jersey devil, and maybe the thunderbird or pope lick monster. While there are a ton of cryptid museums out there, I didn’t find anything about a VR related cryptid museum. The only VR experience I did find related to cryptids was called Deadly Cryptids and it’s a horror shooter, so not the feel I’m going for with my game. Here’s that game if you wanna see what I mean:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/754310/Deadly_Cryptids/

This project will require the use of Maya, Photoshop, Sculptris, VR aspects (implementing code, Oculus Rift, etc), and Unity.

Kris Hastings- Revised Concept

Myriad Media- myriadmedianj.com

Instagram-myriadmedianj

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/MyriadMediaNJ/

Revised concept

Myriad Media. If you want to, check out my initial concept below to get an idea for what we do. For my actual project I have a few different ideas that I want to get some feedback on but my overall plan as of now is to document the stages we’ve already been through in starting the business and getting our first sales. Then, hopefully, if we’re getting consistent business in second semester I want to use that to grow the business in a few ways like hire our first employee that isn’t a freelancer, or get our first office space, just little goals like that. So I would want my final project to be a display of where Myriad Media is at the end of 2nd semester, the content we’ve created, and how we built it and grew.

Initial concept

Idea 1: Media Production company

Myriad Media is my LLC based out of New Jersey.http://myriadmedianj.com We create content for small businesses in hopes of driving more internet traffic to their sites/pages, bringing in more customers to their store, and developing their brand. Eventually we would like to be able to pursue creative projects such as short films, traveling documentaries, cinematic trailers or promos, and more. I would like to take what we have now and turn it into an established company that gets more consistent work and has a complete legal structure, hire our first employees that aren’t freelance workers, and produce creative content. I think there are a few ways to make this project interactive and sharable. My strongest idea is to document the exact steps and growth that I can capture and share the different physical and digital media that we are responsible for.