Dissertation

Many critics ‘dismissed the creative opportunities’
of the electric guitar.

‘The volume and aggression of his sound, [Hendrix] alienated many people outside the rock circle and
public. But the audio visual feast provided, with
smashing and burning guitars fulfilled his audience’s demand for a cathartic experience.’

‘Guitar Hero gives you all the excitement and thrill
of being a rock star without leaving your home!!’3


This study investigates the rise of the electric guitar in popular culture, looking into the role played by both Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townshend whose performances pushed the electric guitar into the mainstream.
The electric guitar became a tool of expression and a symbol of mass resistance. The third chapter looks at Guitar Hero and the affect it had on the cultural
significance of the electric guitar.

Baa-Studs

the1secondfilm.com

The worlds biggest shortest film.
I found out about this through the METRO newspaper, its an amazing campaign to raise money for charity. Anyone can become a producer (they currently have nearly 12,000) and everyone will be listed in the credits, with a simple system of the more you donate the higher in the credits you will appear. I am an associate producer asfter donating $1.


They have raised over $300,000 for charity already and are on a road trip around North America to meet Opra and hopefully sign her up to be a producer.

SIGN UP NOW!

3D Cinema

'Wow! 3D cinema!'

Is what I would have liked to have said after watching Avatar in 3D. I am in no way criticizing the film, it is in fact one of the best films I have ever seen in my life! The annoyance of the experience was the so called '3D'. I have, at aged ten or so, experienced 3D at Universal Studios in Florida, the IMAX Terminator 3D ride/show was truly amazing, with all kinds of robots and flying objects coming right up to your face.

The 3D in the Taunton Odeon was to be frank distinctly poor. Without being IMAX the 3-dimensional elements wre restricted to the boundaries of the screen and it was, in effect, like looking at a 3D world through a window, personally I would have felt more connected and involved with the story without this half hearted and toned down 3D technology. There was even more than one instance where the perspective and clarity of the picture were incredibly poor, the 2 layers used to create a 3D effect becoming separated. 

A couple of times I raised my glasses and there wasn't even any 3D added to the scene!

I most definitely won't be watching 3D in a cinema again unless it is at an IMAX, complete waste of money in my opinion.

Muscle Computer Interfaces and Air Guitar Hero

With the air guitar and guitar hero existing currently as separate activities this invention shows how the two worlds can be merged. The outcome has true potential for the gaming world, but Muscle Computer Interfaces have amazing possiblities beyond this throughout everyday life.
The video is a little cheesy but pretty awesome, I wouldn't mind having a go on air guitar hero!
Find the full article here.

Creative Meanings

My final book for the Creative Meanings project. A piece of information graphics about my radio alarm clock, title taken from its product name/code 'AJ3121'

After receiving audio feedback from Ruth, I can see where improvement can be made to this project, having said this I do still feel I had a strong outcome.

The final outcome was a book with information graphics on my radio alarm clock that sits on my window sill next to my bed in cardiff. I enjoyed almost every part of this project. The photography is something I have always been interested in and having a chance to get into the studio for a project is always great. With many different aspects being tackled I was also able to get stuck into some vector graphics to illustrate the object, something I have experiemented with before with an iPod with some pleasing results. The layout was a challenge as there was a large amount of information, I in fact had even more that had to be excluded. The information that was included, I agree with Ruth, could have been a little more entertaining/interesting and possibly flowed with a better narrative through the pages.

Aesthetically I am very pleased with the outcome, but the tint of the type is to light, an error I can learn from and one that occurred through priting. Always make the tint 10% greater as its appearance on screen is clearer than that when printed! I definitely will not forget this for the future and have learn a valuable lesson on reflection of this project.

If learning these lessons and developing skills isn’t what education is about then I’ll be flying to the moon tomorrow. This project in particular taught me some hard lessons and developed all manner of design knowledge and skills.

Pop-up Typography

An amazing discovery! A book published by French designer Marion Bataille. Exploration and experimentation taken to the extreme with the pop-out typography book shown in the video above. This book is now on my Christmas list!