February 27, 2004

Interactive Fiction in the 21st Century

Magic Words: Interactive Fiction in the 21st Century is a nine-chapter article on the past, present and future of text adventure games.

Discussion on this also on Slashdot

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February 24, 2004

Market review of pre-viz

Pre-vis, previs, pre-viz, previz, previsualistation... whatever you call it, tools are appearing.

S.D. Katz and DFD and Digital Film Design and Storyboard Lite and Curious Labs and Poser and Animatic Pro and FrameForge 3D Studio and previsualization and and 2D Storyboarding Software and Model Databases and Texture Databases

FrameForge 3D Studio is a "3D virtual film set" equipped with actors, outdoor and indoor scenery, furniture, and other elements that directors and others can use to depict scenes. The software was developed to help provide a more effective representation of the director's visual intentions, complete with pictographic and technical information.

http://www.frameforge3d.com/


Posted by .M. at 02:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

XML representations of AAF and MXF

A number of organisations are developing XML representations for AAF and MXF and it has become clear that a standard representation is required. BBC Research and Development have made their work in this area available to help in the development of a standard XML representation for AAF and MXF.

BBC R&D - DP - converting AAF or MXF to XML

Posted by .M. at 02:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

CinePaint Digital Film Library

The CinePaint Digital Film Library is the world's first online archive of cinema-grade imagery.

Cinepaintis an open source painting and image retouching program designed to work with 35mm film and other high resolution high dynamic range images.

Posted by .M. at 02:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The GALA Committee/Melrose Place

In 1995, the GALA Committee inserted original public art into each episode of Melrose Place as props and set design.

MP Art - Art by the GALA Committee as Seen on Melrose Place

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007 - Everything and Nothing

Wired reviews the latest 007 game and finds itself reviewing a bad movie.

"EA built its business on sports titles that vow to put players "in the game." It is growing into an entertainment behemoth by perfecting film-licensed games, such as its recent Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter titles, which put players in the movies. One can only hope that as EA continues to develop its interactive-movie mastery, it will use those cinematic production values to please a broader, more mature audience. "

Wired News: James Bond: Great Game, Bad Movie

EA built its business on sports titles that vow to put players "in the game." It is growing into an entertainment behemoth by perfecting film-licensed games, such as its recent Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter titles, which put players in the movies. One can only hope that as EA continues to develop its interactive-movie mastery, it will use those cinematic production values to please a broader, more mature audience.

Posted by .M. at 02:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Neuro

"From February 26th to 29th young artists, filmmakers, musicians, theorists and activists from all over Europe and many other parts of the world will meet at the Muffathalle in Munich for a number of events, speeches, discussions, presentations, performances, concerts and actions reflecting the pulse of the age."

http://neuro.kein.org/

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February 23, 2004

Swimming upstream - uploading

Systems that allow communities to manage and produce their own media are increasingly visible.

They range from gigantic global endevours like OneWorld, that brings together more than 1,500 organizations from across the globe — to promote sustainable development, social justice and human rights.
http://www.oneworld.net

to

Community Edit, a solo artist project that "uses Broadband but is NOT television and NOT a website but which allows a community to produce its own media."
http://www.softhook.com/comedit.htm

Posted by .M. at 02:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dark House wins BAFTA

The producers of the BBC interactive drama series, Dark House, talk about their approach wherein the audience has a "subtle influence" over events. The project won a BAFTA Interactive award last week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/darkhouse/production_izzy_nick.shtml

Posted by .M. at 02:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 19, 2004

Vocaloid - vocalist in a box

Vocaloid is licensing "singing synthesis" technology to various companies whereby you can do text-to-singing in one of three different voices (so far). The preset result, while as bland as you would expect from a purely digital device, is quite amazing. It's being marketed as a solution for instant backing vocals.

Zero-G Development - Vocaloid LEON

http://www.vocaloid.com/en/sample.html

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