constadean.com

This is a short interactive film that uses the Database Cinema technique of Lev Manovich. A group of teenage hikers are walking by a river when a grizzly bear surprises them and attacks. Your mission is to keep Gachy alive by choosing the correct option from the interactive panel while the story unfolds. For the best possible control set the video quality to HD 720p or 240p. Try to click your option at the last time in order to watch the whole scene of the film.

Lev Manovich, His New Media Project

The purpose of this essay is to develop an idea how the two concepts of Lev Manovich, 'database cinema' and 'spatial montage', are used in his 'Soft Cinema' collection. Finally, it answers why they are appropriate effective tools for contemporary times, the age of Google and blogging. Particularly the essay begins with an introduction to Lev Manovich and some topics that does develop in his book “The Language of new Media”. Subsequently it emphases on important filmmakers Dziga Vertov and Peter Greenaway that Manovich does write about them, indicating the gravity of the his project. Then it focuses on the digital editor ‘soft cinema’ and its two concepts 'database cinema', which is a method that the narrative evolves by selecting scenes from a media collection. and 'spatial montage', the technique that software manages and place on the screen different sizes of diverse footage. Consequently it answers why those techniques are appropriate effective tools for contemporary times.

Software: Final Cut Pro X
Module: Media Cultures

In this in-class exercise I had to make a video game scene in 20 minutes time.

Software: Photoshop

Signs design for the slides of Waterland Waterpark in Thessaloniki.

Software: Photoshop

In this project I had to select a title of a video game and design a new control panel using computer media. Specifically, I was requested to design the desktops of the Main Menu and the Settings including all the necessary information for the navigation of the video game.

Main Menu

The Main Menu was designed using the Concept Art technique, also known as digital collage. I downloaded several images and snapshots of the video game in order to create a new synthesis of layers having the concept sketch as a reference. I removed all the unnecessary parts of the images using the Polygonal / Magnetic Lasso Tool in Photoshop and I placed them into different layers. Then, I created a wooden sign for the menu using screenshots of the video game and the Horizontal Type Tool with the Papyrus font. Finally, I created some shadows using the Brush Tool, the Opacity and the Inner Shadow for the embossed text effect. In addition, I used the Colour Balance, Brightness, Contrast, Levels, Curves, Burn Tool etc. in order to make the composition more interesting and fix some issues.

Settings Menu

The main requirement for the game settings was to create a proposal of an interactive menu. I decided to create a simple design using an interesting character of the video game. I proposed to use the fire of the candle as a selector. The character would move the candle and light the word that the user selects. The design was created on a black canvas in Photoshop. I downloaded the character from the official webpage of the video game. The fire from the candle was missing for some reason, so I used a random image to light the candle. Then, I added the text using Horizontal Type Tool with the Dark Ages font. Finally, I edited the colour of the text using the appropriate shades of grey in order to create the light effect.

Report: click here

Software: Photoshop

Module: Art Design and Media Practice within the Digital Environment

This is a diary with the animations, films and music videos that interest me during my weekly lectures "Film, Animation and Games History". Contain notes, details or explanations why those media are interest me.

Analysis of the film La strada by Federico Fellini

Software: Photoshop, Word
Module: Contextual and Cultural Referencing in Art and Design