Update on 1st Blood Promo Vid

So many many problems later, were finally getting on with the promotional video edit for the band 1st blood. The footage itself looks really good, all it will take now is cutting the pieces into steady shots, layering live audio over a track provided by the band and sequencing everything so it makes sense to the purpose of the video, a live promotional artist profile.

As for the promo video for gatecrasher, we have been told by the clubs management that they cannot afford to pay us for the edit. Personally i wouldve done it as a freebie, but as there were 3 of us filming, I had to consider their needs as well.

Look out for the finished cut very soon!

Network Map

Prof Green + 1st Blood @ Gatecrasher

So I and a few lads I know from Confetti Studios are going to be filming the gatecrasher night on the 12th of November. While our plan to begin with was to film and edit together a segment on a local hiphop group (1st Blood - Check below for links), the management at Gatecrasher have since asked us to shoot the whole night, including the likes of Professor Green, Killa Kela, 1st Blood (Live), Citadels (Live), Masters in France (Live), Club NME DJ's, + the Horseplay DJs.
This will require completing a seperate edit for 1st blood and then everything else (creating a promotional video for Gatecrasher's use + a live gig profile for 1st blood), as we have been hired by two clients for the same night (clients are aware of this fact)...

So to plan for this I have been collecting research together on capturing live music on film. I'v been looking at a number of different live videos including some of 1st bloods earlier attempts. My research included some DVD sources aswell, but its alot easier to link them via youtube than uploading:









I took note of the above video as it shows the kind of angles needed for a professional representation of a DJ live show. Not only does 1st blood include a DJ, but DJs will be a common focus with the Gatecrasher promotional video.





even though this is a amatuer video, it shows of a interesting artist/crowd angle. This is something that will be heavily used throughout the night if the crowd is lively and responding well.

Because of this research, we have decided as a group (theres 3 of us in total)to each rent out a z1 camera each. As theres no narrative involved, theres not alot of pre-production planning to be done. The bit of planning we have done includes:

Camerawork

With 3 people acting as cameramen on the day, we can cover alot of the performance, capturing a semi-professional array of different shots. We have discussed setting a main camera up, that covers the whole stage, with 2 cameras covering closeups of the stage, one focusing on closeups and side angles of the artists + instruments, the other can focus on sweeping crowd and atmospherical shots.

Lighting

Obviously we cannot light the live show independently, which may cause a problem as locations like clubs favour a darker feel. A high ISO and a well thought out post-production should help to solve the potential flaw.

Sound

As the gig itself is a show, within a professional club setting, we have arranged with sound technicians to record everything that goes through the mixer within the 1st blood gig alone. There is still crowd reactions to take into consideration though, so we have decided to take out a unidirecional microphone to pick up every cheer from the audience, this will be recorded via the 'full stage view' camera and then dubbed over parts of the final edit.

for the promotional video, we have arranged to take a single song recorded from the full night, as a promo video is usually accompanied by just one track, making the vid short and sweet. Material like this is often used on a website, which requires content to be easily accessible for its viewers (especially when talking about streaming).

Recce + Risk Assessment ECT ECT

As the location is a live music venue, there are alot of things to consider when filming. Firstly, in regards to risks + H&S, a venue full of the general public (especially intoxicated) is obviously full of issues. This is something we will be compiling and analysing once we visit the location further into this week, so we dont miss anything out.

Also, as some of the film will include shots of crowds and the general public, it is fortunate that Gatecrasher is fully licensed to use images of the people who go there. This is due to the club being heavily photographed (they hire photographers for most nights). This wouldve been something to consider if the gig was at a smaller and less popular location.

MI - Tea

Time to get cracking with our fiction project!

The group I am in for this project includes:

Myself - Lighting Manager & Sound Technician
Eric Yuan - Wardrobe Manager, Post Production Effects & Sound Assistant
Dave Roddis - Director
Daniel Stewart - Producer
Alessandra Chapman - Location Assistant, titles assistant
Leigh Harrison - Editor
Sonny - Camerawork & Lighting Assistant
Phil Bircham- AD, Locations Manager, Health & Safety rep, Photographer & Titles Designer

For my role i am responsible for the following:

- Resreach into different sound and lighting plans
- Sound Treatment
- Lighting plan
- Testing the lighting at locations specified
- Atmosphere tracks, recording audio on day of shoot
- Music tracks, if director decides to include

The script we have been allocated is called Tea.

Our adaption of the narrative twists the story of Tea into a tale of a relationship turning sour. A couple has just moved into a new flat, but all is not as well as it appears. As the film continues, it becomes evident that the couple are 'falling out of love' as the process of making and drinking tea is the only thing left that binds them together. The audience watches tensely as the pair begin to deteriorate, finally viewing the destruction of the couple. The qestion is how this 'end' comes to be... Surely it wont be their beloved tea thats responsible?

More on Tea to be posted v.soon!!!

DCR - Promotion

Well alot of stuff to catch up on. Good job im in the mood for blogging tonight.

Within my radio side project throughout the summer (and ongoing), promoting has been an obvious requirement. This is a transferrable skill aswell, which could help out in the future if i decide to work in the MI industry. Ill be posting another segment on DCR soon, about the sound and technical aspects that could provide invaluable skills.




ACCESSIBILITY

Because an internet radio station has the potential of a world wide audience, we had to make the site as accessible as we could. We did this by doing the following:

- Contact web directories (ie: Internetradio, shoutcast) for listings.
- Apply for a listing on media player listings such as itunes, winamp ect.
- Provide a balanced bitrate so listeners could stream easily without suffering too much audio quality.
- Provide URL links for different popular media players such as itunes, winamp ect. As an option.
- Provide a on site flash player

MARKETING

To market our radio station we went through a number of routes, although we havnt got a permanent bit of adspace out there currently.

Firstly we trawled the major music forums, targeting obviously those that were dominated with electronica and dud/reggae. We posted on those generating interest and in doing so built up a respectable postcount. I designed some banners, logos and graphics to use within the forums to give the impression of a semi-professional station.

Another route we took is partnering up with a few other internet radio stations. Swapping affiliate space for sharing traffic. This has provided other connections aswell, establishing a relationship like that has provided artists and Djs that we might have never got.

We then used facebook , twitter and other networking sites to gain further interest. I wont bore you with those details, I think we all know how a group and organisation is set up by now!

Dub Concepts Radio

www.dubconcepts.tk

Over the summer I was pretty busy setting up a new internet radio station. Now we are fully set up and consistenly on the air, I feel I can finally show off our hard work via this blog.

DCR Management & Development

The project is split between me and a good friend (Laurent Duval) as the co-founders of the company... Our named roles are as follows:

Me: Technical Admin, Web Developer & Assistant Promoter
Laurent: General Admin, Bookings Manager & Promotions/Advertisement

When we began to design the station, the first thing i did was to conceptualise the website itself. As I did this the co-founder to DCR (laurent) began to drum up interest on facebook and other networking mediums. This also includes communicating with different artists and getting mixes/releases of them to put within our archives (which would in turn play out within
After I introduced the basic design we then launched the servers and put the first lot of DJs on for a show that went from 7pm to 2am. This gained quite a few listeners and gave us the confidence that the project has potenital.

Designing the site was especially simple because of my past experience within web development, and the lack of advanced coding needed.
The site itself is done with basic HTML and javascript, with iframes supporting changeable features like the shoutbox and the schedule (as its in the format of a calender type document).
Although I, among many others, find iframes to be unstable and not worth using, they were definately needed as such features would be ever changing. Meaning that I could develop and change the code (or document within the code) seperately to the main sites.
The toughest bit of the site has been implementing a flash banner that acts as a slideshow, giving listeners latest news info and artist profiles all linkable to an internal or even external page. This is STILL in development I'd like it looking as good as possible, with smooth transitions and scripts to stop on hover/click ect ect.

DCR General Info

We are a fully licensed station (covering DJ sets with a creative commons license) who aims to bring the world the best in the bass driven, electronica music. We have recruited members within the local music community since going live. There is now over 10 regular DJs, an assistant tech admin and another promoter. We tend to view the project as one that belongs to the community. We are purely non-profit at the moment, and are willing to recruit anyone who is willing to help out for free.
We do have plans to introduce advertisement schemes in the the future, although this is something we want to avoid until we cannot afford to keep the site running without it.

We broadcast 24/7 with the majority being live DJs performing over our relay server, which is rented out from an american company called serverhostingcenter.com who offer out cheap shoutcast (which is a type of encoding used in broadcasting live streams on the web) servers.

So, please, if you like DNB, Dubstep, House, Jungle, Reggae, Garage OR anything else with a thumping bassline, stop by our site @ www.dubconcepts.tk (soon to be a .com as i cant bear the lack of a professional touch that .tk provides).

MI - Malac

On the day of the shoot we ran into a number of problems throughout the process. Although it all came together in the end these issues definately set us back, lowering the standard of our production.

These problems were as follows:

Incomplete shot list - Completely my fault as the director, I was unprepared in regards to the shot schedule and shot list. As I struggled making my mind up on my individual ideas, I wrongly assumed that the group would be able to discuss and decide as to what shots are best on the day, admittingly blagging it. I realise I shouldve approached the team and asked for help, or to swap roles.
Obviously the situation quickly turned into a problem as each shot was being discussed HEAVILY before being taken, which meant each shot took about 25-30mins to get right, even longer in certain aspects.

Loss of Control at times - I have learnt that I shouldve took control in certain situations as well. This also relates to the above point as moments were stressful, resulting in crew members not knowing what to do while others were in needless debate. Again I'll accept responsibility due to the shot list being incomplete.

Sound flawed - A pure mishap, the boom wasn't configured properly. This meant the sound that was recorded was from the panasonic mic. This might be the reason the female actress Ellie was quiet.

We did however manage to capture some really good shots, especially for the title sequence. Tom P did a fantastic job to help create some of the shots that wernt planned also... While Ben, Tash & Leigh covered up the flaws really well within the final edit.

Ill upload the final edit soon!

MI - Malac - Treatment

Benjamin King compiled our films treatment, which is as follows:

Treatment

Malac is a story of depth and one in which the set unravels. Heartbreak and emotions run wild and spillover. The mental torture of ones past relationship becomes another ones physical torture. A dark twisted encounter, set in a unforgiving, picture perfect basement reveals a hidden story.

I personally think this treatment sums our groups ideas up really well. Our plot is focused on a serial killer who kills to cleanse herself from a painful past relationship that went sour. The twist to our plot is her next victim is actually her assisstant's partner.
Although the treatment doesnt do justice to the depth and complexity of our narrative, i believe it really shows off the methophorical feeling of our story. We want to convey dark and twisted characters, who are all in pain, one way or another. Whether it be mental, physical or memory based, Malac is a tale of pain and suffering.

While I feel confident on our selected narrative, I can also see potential flaws and setbacks. The biggest potential problem is the complex plot itself. As we have only about 1.30-2mins to convey this plot, I personally fear that we will not be able to show our characters background story well enough in the given time.
This is only a potential problem however, so aslong as we keep that in our minds while we develop the plot and screenplay, hopefully, we can get past it.

Screenplay + Shotlist Concepts

While my main role within the production is direction, it also falls into my role to compile a shot list with the cinematographer. Here are my current ideas for shots and shot types:

- Quick, 'flash' shots of object/character closeups within the room, to build tension within the title sequence. Also revealing plot clues?
- Extreme closeups. Tight shots angled to hide certain unwanted aspects regarding the location.
- Med/Closeup shot of the briefcase, opening, contents unrevealed.
- Panning shot of turtore objects and visual plot clues.
- Over HER shoulder shot. Tracking HIS movements (writhing in pain)?
- Extreme Closeups of hands + HER face, to add tension and contrast between drawn out shots.
- Vertical panning shot revealing photos and end plot twist at end CREDITS.#

Expect the full shotlist and shoot schedule soon!

New year, New Project.

So back again. Fun times.

We have been given a 2 week project to get our teeth in and refresh our minds before the real first assessed piece of work.
The script we are adapting and filming is MALAC... A story which hints at torture, dominating behaviour, physical and mental anguish.

The full script is:

MALac
Fade in from black: white text on black background:
Courage is the belief that there is
something more important than personal safety
Fade to black
Int.Day.Room
HE is sweating. Hard.
SHE stands impassive. Unconcerned.
HE rubs his wrist and we see HE is chained to the chair.
SHE
(Bright. Breezy)
Are you sure you wouldn’t like a drink?
(smiles)
Never too late to change your mind.
HE
(Afraid)
I swear, I swear. Please. Stop. Please?
SHE
(placing a briefcase in front of the chair)
Shush. Be quite quiet. It will no longer be necessary to
lie.
HE
I swear…
HER
Shush, shush.
(popping open the case)
I have here a malac. God it’s beautiful.
Could you hold him please?
MAN steps out of the shadows and forces HE’s hand
horizontal.
HE
Don’t. Don’t. I swear.
SHE
(pleased)
MALacs. Now no more shall we part on this path of truth we
find ourselves on.
Playing with the MALac in the case, its metallic sheen
plays on SHE’s face.
SHE
Pain, enlightening truth. This is what MALac brings.
Shall we continue?
SHE removes the MALac and shutting the case she steps
forward.
HE screams.
THE END

Initally we were put into groups, within which we decided on the roles that we wanted to play for the film project. here is our group and each persons roles:

TOM PIERREPONT : Camerawork + Art direction
BEN KING : Producer + Sound Manager
LEIGH HARRISON : Location Manager + Runner
NATASHA GAYNOR : Editor + Camera Assistant
ERIC YUAN : Wardrobe Manager + Lighting Manager
TOM FRECKNALL : Direction + Screenplay

Flash Quiz Final Outcome

Finally finished my flash quiz.

Although its slightly off what the brief has set (couldnt figure out how to do action arrays for the life of me) i believe its still successful as a stand alone piece of interactive media.


UNI project - FLASH by ~DJ-Analysis on deviantART

Quiz Redesign...

After evaluating my previous design, I decided that graphically it was to a low standard. My revised result is this:

Moving Image - Roles

While im trying to figure out why youtube wont accept our final outcome here are the various roles I furfilled whiled within this project.

Director

One of the most important roles within the industry, directors are more famed then anyone else within the crew.
Their job is to control and direct the actual filming. This can be anything that immediately relevant such as actor performance and review, screenplay and visualisation, artistic and dramatical camera movement and technique and a large portion of input into the final outcome.

Although public knowledge diticts these people as gods within the film industry, their creative power is limited. Usually producers will have the final say and veto any ideas unliked from director or anyone else within the production.

My favourite director is Park Chan-wook (oldboy and the rest of 'the vengance trilogy) seen below:



Park Chan-wook (born August 23, 1963) is a south korean director/filmmaker, specially noted for his brutal and realistic themes and subject matter, alongside immaculate framing and clever storytelling.

While even Tarantino is a massive fan of Park, he is listed as one of South Korea's best and most famed directors, pulling in over 3 million people (in S.Korea alone) to watch his latest films.

Oldboy is a success all around the world, with the film and actors winning 17 globally recognised film awards. These range from the british independent to the golden trailer awards.

And on a more personal note, Park Chan-wook also turned down the chance at remaking the evil dead (something that could be easily done and would pull in a huge amount of profit).. This makes him a film hero in my eyes.

Light and Sound crew

These 'technicians' of the film crew are there to plan and devise appropriate light and sound for the production. While within this project I took on both roles, real life would see a crew of around 3-4, just for the sound aspect.

These would include (from sources at wikipedia):

* Production Sound Mixer

The production sound mixer is head of the sound department on set, responsible for recording all sound during filming. This involves the choice and deployment of microphones, operation of a sound recording device, and sometimes the mixing of audio signals in real time.

* Boom Operator

The boom operator is an assistant to the production sound mixer, responsible for microphone placement and movement during filming. The boom operator uses a boom pole, a long pole made of light aluminum or carbon fiber that allows precise positioning of the microphone above or below the actors, just out of the camera's frame. The boom operator may also place radio microphones and hidden set microphones. In France, the boom operator is called the perchman.

* Utility Sound Technician

The utility sound technician has a dynamic role in the sound department, most typically pulling cables, but often acting as an additional boom operator or mixer when required by complex filming circumstances. Not all films employ a utility sound technician, but the increasing complexities of location sound recording in modern film have made the job more prevalent. This role is sometimes credited as "cable man" or "python wrangler".

Camera Operator

Another role that is taken on by alot of people within the industry, the camera operator is what it says on the tin, someone who operates the camera.

This is actually a really hard role as without professional equiptment alot of the pressure is put onto the operator. Without a clean take of each scene, filming would go on and on, something which the operator is aware of obviously.

Although given credit, operators are never noted for fame within the industry. This is for good reason though, as operators are not meant to give creative input (especially if the production is massive). They are there to simply film what they are told to film.

3d Studio Max - Lighting

Below is my attempt at lighting within studio max, i have used a few different types within the standard lights section of the program.

Omni Light - Produces lights in all directions, good to use with a lightbulb for a realistic effect.

Direct Light - Directs light in one constant direction. This is good to use to fake sunlight.

Spotlight - As youd expect, creates a spot of light in which you can direct at any object. You can either spot

Rendered with a heavy enviroment effect to create a foggy woodland scene:



Rendered without any enviroment effects:



Rendered with a different render device:

Superhero Cave - Research

I have compiled some pictures of superheros and there HQs, specially within a cave like area.

Quiz Q&A's

I found a really good site to help me out with the quiz project. http://www.triviaquizgenerator.com is a triva quiz generator. The site generates a free quiz to print out and do whatever you want with it... This will give me decent triva questions to use within my own quiz design.

Here are the questions i generated, under them are a list of answers. If youd like to try and complete my quiz then dont read below the numbered lines below.

1. What does the name 'Ghengis Khan' mean?

2. Feline refers to cats, bovine refers to cows, what does Aquiline refer to?

3. A Dorset shop sells bookends made from 140 million year old what?

4. Tchaikovsky died of what disease?

5. Where was the setting fot the TV show Rin Tin Tin?

6. Roosevelt won the 1932 election. Who did he run against?

7. Sandra Wes of Texas, died in 1977 and was buried in what?

8. Jamie Farr played what role in the TV show M*A*S*H?

9. The song 'Here we go round the mulberry bush' actually refers to which tree?

10. Who is Warner Brothers' oldest cartoon character?


Answers: 1. Very Mighty Ruler 2. Eagles 3. Fossil Dinosaur Shit 4. Cholera 5. Fort Apache, Arizona 6. Herbert Hoover 7. Her blue Ferrari 8. Corporal Clinger 9. Tree in Wakefield prison walked round 10. Porky Pig

Journal Task 2

Although most of my creative life centralises into forms of digital art, my skills have also started to branch into music and video (specifically film), as my interests have always been in those areas as well.
While I have sold web products in the past, within the past few years I have been building my skills up, along with deciding on the direction Id like my ‘end goal’ to be at. My design work is always something I would be a perfectionist about, whether it is ‘for’ me or not, this means all my results are mostly to my own liking. My musical interests will always be a hobby, as I’m realistic in my chances within the field.
As for the future of my design work, web or video, I am aiming for an eventual position within the professional industry, which means all my creativity will be demanded into that area. Obviously creativity in day to day problem solving will always remain, as that is key to sharpening my critical thinking and increasing personal development. However other areas could suffer due to the demand of a professional position.

To enhance my knowledge of my possible creative future, the need for research would take me through such media as the internet, books, film, digital art collections and public journals. Other artist profiles would be revenues of research to draw on, specifically my favourite filmmakers Chan Wook-Park and Luc Besson, as well as my favourite web design company, 2advanced. I am wary to focus my research into one specific area, as I my options are still slightly open, not to mention that if I were to research multiple pathways and possible options, my final decision will be a more informed one.
It is however irrelevant to research music and other hobbies further, although due to personal interests I will continue slight research into them, not for an end goals sake, but for purely personal interests.

3d Max: A wierd fountain thing

Ok first efforts with 3D studio max:



Well i did attempt to create a fountain... but it came out really abstract looking for a reason im unaware of as of now.

Oh well, it still looks pretty funky!

Oh yea.... The quiz....

Although its took a long while to come to my journal, i have been designing the flash based quiz for the interactive media project.
The style of the work has been inspired by a few things. namely who wants to be a millionaire for its 'classic' multiple choice question layout.

To keep to my own 'theme' however i have turned this into a pub quiz type game, hosted by a animated version of Al Murray (famous for his pub landlord act).
Itll be ten questions, getting harder as the quiz goes along.

This is the first draft of a page from the quiz:



More will be done very soon!

Poor Adhension Site - Shot List

Here is the shot list for our groups upcoming film 'Poor Adhension Site'. Its slightly rough at the minute as we are still finalising the extra scene, along with its placement. The extra scene is unlikely to be at the end of the film.

The script of course is here: https://now.ntu.ac.uk/d2l/orgTools/ouHome/ouHome.asp?ou=63212

1.

Shot 1 - Medium Shot, Slowly panning to left, from Alex to Max (contuine until
''I dont want to live here''

Shot 2 - Medium/Close Shot, Fixed on Alex (approx 1 line)

Shot 3 - Close up, fixed on max (approx 1 line)

2.

Shot 1 - Wide Shot, from opposite the road. Max is the focal point. Possibly sped up.
(approx 1 line), Slowing zooming in.

Shot 2 - Medium Shot, facing side of forming queue (approx 1 line)

3.

Shot 1 - Close up on max (over alexs shoulder).
Fixed for 1 line, slow zoom out to include both characters (back of alex's head).

4.

Shot 1 - Wide tracking shot of queue. Focal point is Max.

Shot 2 - Medium Shot (over the shoulder), fixed on max.

5.

Shot 1 - Medium Shot on max, including keycard spin. Over the shoulder of alex. Fixed

Shot 2 - Close up (different angle) on max. Fixed.

Shot 3 - Wide shot of full table. Fixed (for next two lines and ''if these walls
could talk''

Shot 4 - Medium shot of alex. Fixed.

Shot 5 - Close up of Max. VERY SLOWLY zoom in, continue until ''sticking the posters''

Shot 6 - Medium shot of alex. Fixed (same as shot 4)

Shot 7 - Medium / Wide shot of pair of characters, including table. Fixed.

EXTRA SCENE?????

Shot 1 - Medium/Wide shot of bus queue. Fixed on max

Shot 2 - Close up of max. Fixed with the 'bad habit' being the focal point.

END.

Is it a game? A film?? or is just... Heavy rain?

On my break from shot listing, I stumbled across a new release for the ps3. While have not played it I watched a good few hours of walkthough footage on youtube and I'm immensely impressed.

The game itself is a crime thriller, packaged as a interactive drama type of action button pressing adventure.
Check below for a trailer, and a IGN, which explains the games premise:



IGN.com is a fantastic reviewing platform for entertainment media. It is to games what IMDB is to movies.



What appeals to me greatly in this, is the massive link between film and game... Showing how the industries are becoming more and more alike every day.

Within the gaming industry, there has always lacked in emotion. The pure fact that your viewing a digital representation of the world (something which is not yet to the standard of high end CGI) has blocked most games from connecting with the audience. There has been some exceptions (most notably ico), but most have failed to reach out to most individuals.
Films however, have always lacked interactivity. There have been obviously flawed attempts at bringing this to films within the past... And you also have to consider that one of the ideas behind films, is to show an audience a certain perspective of the world... rather than their own.

So for an interactive film, that shapes itself accordingly to the audiences will, it makes perfect sense to bring these two industries together. This HAS been done before of course, (farenheit in the xbox days) but theres a key difference in that to heavy rain. While both titles use action buttons, as a way to 'directly control' the media, farienheit had little sense of a interactive plot. There were 2-3 certain possible endings, however the ending was the only possible difference. Heavy rain is designed so any failure or success can be played through, meaning that the plot is heavily twisted depending on your actions. Any one of the 4 playable characters can die given the chance, which discards any involvement of them later on in the plot. Even mundane tasks (which are completely rewarding with the controller system) change throughout each play. The ultimate goal is to make it your game, and heavy rain seems to have done a cracking job at it.

With this in mind, and the advances of 'easy to control' gaming (as in project natal and motion capture), I'd assume more and more games to come out with the same intentions as Heavy Rain. The stage is truly set for the next generation of interactive media.

Poor Adhension Site - Narrative and Context

Poor Adhension Site is the title of our groups script for the upcoming 3 minute film project.

I have read the script and tried to define its narrative within the overall plot, plus the possible underlying meanings underneath it.

The plot consists of a mentally troubled man (Max) describing a series of events to an authoritive figure such as a therapist, or counseller (Alex). The events take place within a bus queue, involving bizarre interactions between Max and the public around him.

After discussing with Christine, the other half of my group, we came to the following underlying themes within what we would like to take the script into:

- Mental Health, particulary the decline.
- Public Tolerence of such sufferers, including attitudes from parties known to them.
- Social Adaption towards these people in socially difficult situations.
- Personal and social disconnection.
- Mundane and repitive routine, also known as life.

With this current script and these thoughts we can begin to write the extra scene, along with storyboarding, shot lists, film schedules and risk assements sheet.

Expect our revised script very soon!

EVE - Corporations, contracts and calculus

Ok, now more than a month into the game, Iv finally learnt all the basics and began my quest at success within the stars.

And yes, getting to grips with the basics has REALLY taken me this much time.

So while I have been training my character towards combat, I have also gained the skills needed for a mining barge. This makes mining highely profitable, pulling in around 3.5 million ISK an hour.
Mining has become a solid income to support my many lost battles and ships. As PVP in the game is amazingly difficult and every decision is final, (ship gets blown up thats it... no getting it back) this semi boring profession is just what my character needs for the boost in cash.
I have also just trained to mine ice! This is alot more exciting than your standard ore because it pulls over 100k per unit that you mine! While you only get 1 unit per mining cycle (with my current skills), it still means a bigger influx of finace.



In other news i have recently joined a corporation. This group of players acts much like your average guild or clan, except working together requires much more thought and planning. While there is still the option to go out and destroy people as a group, every other in game profession (whether big or small) can also be done together. This means if you cant afford to buy your latest ship, you can work it out with your corporation to build one instead... Ultilising everyones skills and abilities.
The word party is replaced with fleet in eve, and 'fleeting up' for a specific task in known as a operation. There are daily operations in many corporations including the one I have joined. These operations can range from simple mining ops (members are assigned roles such as foreman, miner, hauler ect) to exploration groups that hunt down new systems and complexes to farm (mine/loot/hack ect).
This is a MUCH better way to play eve as you feel like your actually a part of something, and your group is actually effecting the rest of the universe.

Below is a huge ice mining operation in action. ALL of the [+]'s you see are players, working together to pull as much ice as they can.



Also, my corporation is planning a move to live in wormhole space. To which I will be a recon specialist for. I provide more details of this at a later date... as its going to take another full post to describe the mechanics involved in such a move.

Until next time!

IGN Predicts the future of gaming

IGN got video game specialists together to predict what 2020, will be like for us game neeks.

IF you like your games, then its a cracking read:

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/106/1066907p1.html

The first weeks of Eve

Tutorials and Training

So after creating your character and choosing your race (which only affects what part of space is your start point), your thrown into the open wilderness with only two options..... Do tutorials based on your preferred career path OR go out and find your own way.
The tutorials are all a set of 10 missions designed to give you a good start in the universe. They will give you skillbooks, basic equiptment (known as 'civilan') and also a few basic ships to set you on your way while also teaching you specific techniques that will boost your rate of survival.

After completing the tutorial (or tutorials, as you can do them all), youll be well on your way at making some ISK (international space kredits). To pay the bills however, your gonna need the skills. This can be very confusing to start with as there is a expansive list of books to learn, especially if your still undecided on a specific career path.

I decided to get the best of all worlds by creating a alternate character. This means I can focus on combat based skills with one account, and industry type skills on the other character. Ill let you know how that very confusing task goes.

The Universe is BIG

The Eve universe is quite honestly, a universe. Just flying about within the first week, I quickly realised just how big this game is. The following 'star map' shows this point off. Each dot on the following map is a star system, and within the systems are as youd expect, many planets, asteroid belts and space type structures. Each system is linked by a stargate which means while the game gives the feeling of a massive, playable area, the stargates are the only way to other systems, making each system like a 'room'. Bear in mind the following map however and thats right, each TINY little dot on there is a complete system (the map is set on a players in the last hour filter, to show how busy the game can get):



Until next time!

My Journey into EVE online

Ok so I finally did it. I finally crumbled and gave in to what PC gaming has demanded off me for the last 5 years.... thats right... iv subscribed to a MMORPG, a massively multiplayer online role playing game. Im now in the same league as them World of Warcraft kids you see on the news, getting sent off to counciling because they have played so much there now intrepreting the real world as if it were still fantasy, jibbering spell translations over breakfast before trying to dejuice a frog into there A level science project. Or much like the ones that turn so pasty that they become allergic to the sun and.... uhmm.... life.

However, the same league does not mean the same game. Thankfully iv fallen for a MMORPG that is so ridiculously complicated there are no kids, because quite frankly, most kids wouldnt be able to understand the point of EVE online. The learning curve is in fact a cliff, and thats great for keeping immaturity out of the formula.... And lets not be fooled, this is a hard game, alot of adults would simply turn down the effort it takes to realise the mechanical genuis behind this massive sandbox of a game.

So the game itself is set in the distant future. Space travel is in its golden age... Average humans can now become a space pilot with ease, which means exploring the heavens, fighting distant aliens or conquering the universe corporately is open to almost anyone.
Then, for some crazy reason the games story twists, depicting a blackhole sucking alot of human civilastion up to a distant part of space they now call eve. Your avatar starts from here, with the universe of eve at their feet. Now i dont really see the point in this twist in narrative, but i can only assume it was the only way they could create a believable plot that gives specific reasons why you cant visit earth and walk about on planets.

As for the general gameplay its all about you and your ship. Sorry but there is no walking about currently in the game (CCP is developing a walking in stations system, which will be described later in my miniblog). The bulk of the game is made up with various careers, which can be mixed, developed and partaken in any way you see fit. Careers involve mining, trading, mission running, couriering, manufacturing, inventing, piracy, pirate hunting, pvping and MANY MANY more.
These careers will require certains things to be successful. Ships and equiptment will make your career easier and more profitable, such as expanders for your cargo or upgrades for your mining lasers. Now buying this equiptment isnt the be all to end all however. Skills are required to use certain equiptment and act as 'levels'. Eve doesnt use a normal level up system to dictate how good your character is. Instead skills are trained in real time (ie: Refining skill takes 2 hours to train to level 2, 8 hours to train to level 3 ect) and these skills train even when your offline.
Skills are the most the important thing and because there are so many, careful planning must be taken in order to boost your chances at success within your chose practice. Industry skills need to trained for traders and miners, while combat and mechanic skills need to be learnt for a.... well... combat profession.
Now the sandbox part of eve kicks in... as what you do with these professions/skills/ect is completely up to you. Missions are given by agents around Eve's many stations that are usually directed towards combat. These agents come in levels, the higher ones paying big enough bucks to make many eve players what i said earlier as: 'mission runners'. People who gear themselves towards the industry however are completely on there own, having to utilise the player driven economy to buy and sell there way into profit. OR they could mine away the many asteroid belts, refine the ore and either sell it on. Ore can also be used to manufacture in game items or ships to sell on. Basically, what im trying to say is... The choice is really yours.


Whatever you do, make sure its making you ISK!

Look out for my continued posting for a more detailed explanation of Eve.... I cant begin to describe the many features in this post, so look out if space ships interest you as much as me.
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My most recent mixes

So i realised i havnt actually posted any of my DJ sets/mixes on here yet.

Thats gonna change right now.

The first is a straight up Ragga Jungle mix, featuring tracks like The dream team - stamina, Topcat- Junglist, Diamond Geezer - Dont cry and lots others.

You can download it here:

http://www.dnbshare.com/download/knowname-RaggaJungleMix09_1.mp3.html

The next is of the harsher sides to Drum & Bass, inlcluding Evol Intent, Spor, Break, Renegade hardware and more.

Download it from the link below:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZGR0EA8S

And the below youtube mini mix is for anyone who likes their jungle to be of the old school nature. Features tracks from ST flies, DJ Nutnut, Spider Don and others.

Watch below:



Hope you like! If you do please visit this blog and my youtube account for more mixes coming soon!