Week Three Entry: iPhone - apple

The iPhone (pronounced/ Eye-fone) is a line of Internet and Multimedia enabled Smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was released by Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

The way the iphones are designed is that it can match and be personalized according to the user, its is like a small Pc, different users have different approach to the device, i will use examples from my own experience to explain this point.

My whole family use an iPhone, both my parents, and the three of my brothers including me. but all of us use it in a different way, My dad is a businessman where he has to keep track of all meetings and notes of any important information, and most importantly being online all the time, connecting with people via email or even checking the stock market. Certain programs were downloaded to meet his requirements, for example the stock alerts software or other security softwares.

But when it comes to my Mum she is religious, she does alot of charity work which requires her noting down important information like groceries for the poor people and more, another point is that she uses her iphones ipod feature to listen to religious speeches downloaded through the net or Pc, or even recording HD speeches using the voice recorder.

My elder brother is 26 years old, he is an aircraft engineer, he is usually involved alot in the technical side, he uses his iphone to snap pictures of the proccess of dissembling an engine from the plane, usually notes down important points and uses his iphone to go through diagrams to double check at the end of the proccess. certain softwares are downloaded to his phone whether it involves calculations or instructions fool tools used.

My younger brother is 22 years old, still studying in a university, he is into business like my father, but he is intrested in cars and guitar too, he uses his iphone recording speeches in the university so that later he could go over them, and spends most of his time surfing on the net looking for upgrades and tune ups for cars, if not then checking out videos on youtube. certain softwares are downloaded to his phone like the stock market updates and some guitar guide book to match his preference.

The youngest brother is 10 years old, basically he uses the phone strictly for games, my dad got him the phone just to stop him from taking our phones and playing games :P

the way i use the iphone is more in the multimedia side, i definitely note down all the tasks i have to finish, and enjoy taking pictures and edit them with a variety of editing applications, just recently i have been trying to develop an application for the iphone which involves architectural visualization walk through s using UDK.

iPhones are the next generation of phones, because the way it can be bend and personalized according to the individual is great, it has great Hardware specs that can hold up with good performance, it is very user friendly and makes life much easier, any task that needs to be tackled can be done by simply downloading a specific software application.

Week Two Entry: The Silhouettes

This is a video i came across recently, i think it is very creative and interesting. To perform arts with a team is very hard because it involves very smooth transitions with all elements and members working together in harmony, this is why i found this video interesting. This is a video of a bunch of students dancing together, the dance is so synchronized that they will be able to draw illustrations and make a story with their own silhouettes.

Marina Bay Sands - Singapore

Marina Bay Sands Sky park

Behind Marina Bay sands at the harbor - Night shot

Lion King the musical event

Week Seven Entry - Universal Studios

The creators of the Theme park have designed it in a way that from the second you walk in the park you have physically escaped reality and entered the designed world, by which I mean you have been disconnected, literally once you have entered the zone the creators control all your senses, what you See, Hear, Feel, Smell and Taste, everything is been chosen to match the themes accordingly, the park was divided to Seven parts and each part had a completely different theme, from the structures to the objects to the props to the rides and games to the shops and the restaurants and the sounds and the real characters walking around too.

As you know there are many different forms of Art, like Storytelling, illustrations, music and more, but what makes a theme park unique and special is it caters to all the senses, it is literally designed to have those immersive themes that make the environment a form of art, the way it utilizes all the senses to give the person the illusion of being somewhere, whether its in the past or future or even teleported to a hot spot somewhere around the world.

What was nice about about the theme park is that they try their best to perfect it in the sense that they would hide all evidence of the outside world, emergency exits are covered in a way that the person would not notice them, and the same thing applies to the Staff where they try to blend them with the theme and environment and the reason is not to break the mood and feel of the place, because that is the whole point, is us experiencing the place with no flaws and signs indicating that this is fake and put together.


Sections in Universal Studios Singapore:

The Theme park is built like a a big doughnut, which was pretty easy to navigate within, the Transitions are pretty obvious because everything changes with a step, starting with section one which was Hollywood that later splits to two other sections, the one to the right was Newyork and the one to the left was Madagascar, when i was there it was a very simple decision to make, i was already in America so might as well go to Newyork :P



Sections:
1) Hollywood

This picture was taken at the entrance of the theme park

This is a picture of Mel's Drive in Diner, which is known for its all American saucy Burgers

2) New york

This picture is taken in the street of Newyork,
the building opposite is the 30Rockfeller Center and the
entrance to the Subway is on the left

This Picture is taken at the Que waiting for the show to start,
this show is hosted by Steven Spielberg, you can see the props all around the place to
give the person an idea of what is coming next.

3) Sci-fi City

This picture is taken at the entrance of the Sci-Fi City, you can see how futuristic

and robotic the environment is.


This is the Battlestar Galactica roller coaster ride in Sci-Fi City

4) Ancient Egypt

This is the Entrance of the Revenge of the Mummy
indoor rollercoaster Ride which is in Egypt... Veryy Egyption!

5) The Lost World

This picture is take at the entrance of the Lost world,
Very much like the Jurassic park theme

6) Far Far Away

The Main big castle in Far Far away section, which held the biggest
event which was Shrek 4-D adventure, the building becomes smaller as it goes higher

7) Madagascar

Madagascar was a tropical beach environment, where there were small huts
with bamboo sticks all around.

Things i have noticed during the observation period:

Bad Points:

Cleaning Staff- did not blend much with the theme


Security Staff and Actors/Characters - walking together in the street


An Emergency Exit on my way out of the Madagascar ride,
i took a peek at what was out side! and i did not like what i saw because it
shattered the reality i was in


Poor Effort- in the sense that this Big JBL speaker was right infront of me at eye level which actually blocked my view which i thought was very poor effort in hiding the speaker by just painting it green

Good Points:

This is a Speaker which is been molded to a shape of a rock, good effort in hiding the source of the sound which makes it realistic.

Steam coming out from sewage pipes, good effort in simulating the effect made the place look more real and genuine


Rides were build mostly for all ages so that parents can ride with there kids, which was a good point that parents don't have to wait anymore



Props all around the area making the place very realistic, as if there are really people there using these things everyday

In conclusion what i came to understand is that any environment can be simulated if all five elements were covered, from what we see to what we smell to what we hear to what we feel to what we taste, if all these elements are controlled by a theme we actually experience it as reality, because that is how we percept our reality.

Week Six Entry: Transformers Dark of the Moon - 3D

1. The use of the screen space: on, behind and in front of the screen; the X, Y, and the Z axis. How well was it used, or was it over-used ? Did you get a realistic or a hyper-realistic sense of depth in the film and why?

-The X , Y and Z axis were used properly, in the sense that the scenes in the movie had realistic depth, for example when the space ship hit the ground hard, the result of the impact left debris flying towards the viewer on the Z axis which was very realistic.
The only thing that killed the illusion of depth was when the objects flying would hit the edge of the screen making it look as if it has been tucked behind the screen.


2. Consider the director’s shot designs. How does the cinematographer maximize the sense of 3D by placement of the camera, choice of angles, placement/direction of actors ?

-Maximizing the sense of 3D was by making sure most of the scenes taken had a depth of field where there would be a foreground and a background, objects and characters direction would be coming towards or away from the viewer, building the sense of 3D.
Another point was making sure in most of the shots objects do not hit the corner of the screen to keep the 3D illusion.


3. What shots or visual sequences remain in your mind as visually strong ?
Discuss specific examples that you liked and why.

-One of the scenes i remember the most is when the soldiers jumped out of the plane with Wingsuits which are special jump suits that give the soldiers the ability to fly, and the camera chasing them gave me the experience as if i was flying with them through the warzone.
The reason why i liked this scene is because i felt like i was actually flying as things passed by right next to me, it really made the 3D experience very realistic.


4. Consider the overall “soundscape” of the Transformers film.
Did the sound match the 3D visuals? Add to the visuals, or dominate the visuals?
In your opinion, what is the role of sound in a 3D film such as this one?


-The over all sound scape did match the 3D visuals, this created the sensation of experiencing the environment, the sound affects were so loud and earth shaking like a real war zone.
having the Dolby Surround system added really build the whole feel, you will be able to see the object coming toward the screen from left to right, and at the same time hear the sound coming from the left side to right and as it gets closer to the viewer the sound would get louder. The Sound was as important as the visuals that made the experience realistic.


5. Compared to any other 3D film you have seen, what was the best part of this one, and why? Give examples for your comparison.

-Comparing the 3D experience of Transformers and Alice in wonderland, two totally different movies with a different approach too, the best part of the movie Transformers is that it is much more exciting and interesting because there is always something flying or exploding coming towards the viewer, and this kept the 3D experience more alive.
But in the movie Alice in wonderland the scenes had less action, there were scenes that had depth of field, objects floating in the screen creating a fore ground and a background, but for some reason i kept on noticing the subtitles popping out which was pretty distracting, therefor the 3D experience was not as exciting as The Transformers.


6. Discuss any other aspect of the film that you found added to the 3D experience.

-Before a 3D movie is created, creative ideas are noted down on how to maximize the 3D experience and this is what makes this movie better than other movies that were shot normally and converted later to a 3D version. In the movie Transformers there are some shots taken that gave the user the feeling as if they are really there with the actors, one of the scenes is when shockwave breaks the tower into half, all the actors slip and slide inside the building and so as the camera which makes the viewer experience the fall too, especially when objects start to fall towards the actors and viewer, Another scene is when the soldiers have to evacuate the plane because it has just been shot down, the camera and the soldiers jump of the plane with jump suits giving the viewer the experience of the fall and flying with the soldiers through the warzone. Adding scenes like these to a movie really adds alot to the 3D experience, and makes it really worth watching the movie in 3-dimension.

Week Five Entry: About 3D films

3Dimensional film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception. This all comes from the stereoscopic photography, where to cameras are used to record the images as we see from our eyes using two perspective points, once all the data is captured and edited a special set of projection hardwares and eye ware glasses are needed to view the film in 3D providing the illusion of depth.

3Dimensional films have existed from the 1950's, but mostly became worldwide in the late 1980's which was driven by the huge high end IMAX theaters and Disney.


Technologies for Eye wear / glasses:

there are many types of 3D glasses today in the market and they all work kind of the same way, which is by tricking our brains into seeing a 3Dimensional image from a 2Dimensional source.

Anaglyph images were invented in 1853 by Wihelm Rollmann, the lenses in the anaglyph 3D glasses were the typical Red and Cyan glasses, produce a 3-dimensional effect through a process known as anaglyph color filtering.



Polarized 3D glasses are comonly used in movie theatres today, and the way they function is by restricting the amount of light that goes into each eye.



The last but not least is the LCD shutter glasses, this pair of glasses works by alternating blacking out one eye at a time while viewing screen shows a different image for each eye.


Heres a Video demonstrating the 3D Glasses and how they function in Details.