Saturday, June 12, 2010

The Video

Dreams of the Sleep Cycle from braeden cox on Vimeo.



Here is the video. It looks pretty cool when it's being projected on the side of a building. I was rather pleased and surprised how well it worked for the big showing.

On a side note, Thank you everyone for a great class... and for not killing me after a week of having to hear that Ratatat song

Friday, June 11, 2010

The Idea

I talked about my idea earlier, but I feel that I should go into it a little more as somethings have changed. When people ask, I explain that my idea as an abstract representation of a dream about a dream cycle. I'm interested in how shapes found in minimalistic and Russian constructivist work convey a feeling or idea and I wanted to explore that. I researched sleep cycles and tried to portray each cycle in its own way. In the first part it starts off slowly to follow the N1 stage where drowsy sleep occurs. Then into N2 where conscious awareness of the external environment disappears the animation speeds up a bit. When N3 occurs I start to use a faster pace and sharper shapes. Then back to N2 where it slows down a bit. Then going into REM where I use more rounded shapes. I timed it to a song and tried to match it to the beat. That is basically the idea behind the animation.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Screen Shot and Another Picture


Inspiration for Ideas.

Here are a few shot of images that I found that helped me get some ideas. I'm interested in Russian constructivist and abstract minimalists. I find the use of geometric shapes quite interesting in describing a certain tone.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

mez log

3:42am June 9th

All sanity has been lost, I fear the worst. The Mez lab has claimed another. I wonder when it will finally get the best of me, or perhaps it already has...

MEZ loG

12:06am June 9th

I have become unsure over the last few hours about the decisions I made. I fear the outcome. Supplies are, at this point, non existent. I hope no rash judgements will come from the lack of nourishment. I am losing my sense of awareness but must continue on for success. Time has become scarce and I know that once the sun rises, I will have one day to reach my goal. The summit looks so far away from here...

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

More Pictures of PROGRESS!!!


It's a geometric party up in here.

Mez log

1:50pm June 8th

I have sat in solitude for many hours. My company has left me to my own devises for the time. After many hours of contemplation I believe inspiration has struck. I will pursue it to the fullest and hope the outcome is favorable.

Mez LoG

2:08am June 8th

It's late and ideas are becoming scarce. I can tell that my compatriots and I have become weary and I fear we will have to retire before we have reached our desired destination for the night. However, moral is still high.

Monday, June 7, 2010

MEZ Log

9:53pm June 7th

After replenishing our rations, my comrades and I are back at work. With the warm night ahead we are determined to continue on. Perseverance is all we know.

PICTURES!!!!!

Here are some pictures from the animation, well actually only the last one is still in the animation. The first two were from an idea that I was trying but decided to go work with. I still liked how they looked so I decided to put them up anyway.

Mez Log

6:55pm June 7th

I believe something of a breakthrough was made. Spirits are high, though there are many more obstacles to come. Rations are low.

Mez Log

3:45pm Monday, June 7th.

Currently in the mez lab. going on hour 4 for the day, no end in sight. difficulties have arisen. Some have been conquered while other still persist. I am determined to continue. With any luck there will be some sign of success, however that is doubtful.

Animation Idea

So I realized that I never talked about what my animation is about or where its coming from. The idea comes from the subject of dreams, which was one of the prompts that the class was given, that and absence. Now instead of making a dream narrative I decided to look at the idea of the dream cycle. My plan is to make a minimalistic geometric abstract animation that describes the sleep cycle. Using the shapes I'm taking the animation through the cycles of sleep, N1, N2, N3 and REM. In N1 it's a slow simple start where the viewer eases in to the subconscious. In N2 the grid of conscious awareness starts to break down and disappear. N3 is when things like night terrors happen so I will start using sharper shapes like triangles to express this feeling. Then the longest part of dreaming happens, REM, here I will explore the most vivid part of dreaming. Then it's the waking up part. In a way the animation is a dream about the dream cycles, if that makes any sense.

Screen Shots




Here are some shots of my animation. As you can see I am playing with very simple geometric forms.