I have now re-implemented my new Flash app (see previous post) in AS3! which has been a great learning curve I must say and I’m actualy very fond of the new way of working, everything is so much faster! tweens are now so sleek and efficient.

This app is still in development and will soon contain another piece of uni work, along with a few freelance portfolio elements in the future too. Roll on AS3.

Check the new version out at the same location:

http://portfolio.chris-boardman.com

As part of our new studio project this term entitled ‘Utopia/Dystopia’ I was tasked to illustrate a series of designs which conveyed either or both of these themes in the form of a book. - Taking ‘Dystopia’ as my topic of choice I drew inspiration from a few personal photos and started experimenting.

I actually really enjoyed this mini task and thought I’d expand on it by publishing a digital version of this book and wrapping some kind of package around the content. I am always looking for a little sideline project that will help push my skill set so I thought I’d develop a dynamic Flash app to allow interaction with these images. Feel free to have a gander at my initial development:

This is still developed using AS2, and the images are sourced using xml all well and good, but there is something niggling at me, something telling me to bite the bullet and start getting to grips with AS3!…….So I’ve decided I am going to use this application as a foundation to develop these skills and implement a larger scale interactive ’surface portfolio’. My intention is for this subdomain to eventually house an interactive version of my work, represented in a much more visual way. - Imagine a surface with different pockets of work, they can be chucked around, transformed and viewed. Right, kool, go.

I’m well on my way developing my ‘day in the life of’ project and after considering a range of possibilities, I have chosen to run with ‘a day in the life of a car tyre’. Previously, I felt this idea lacked momentum and I was more inclined to persue the idea of a 404 page, however after further consideration, I concluded the idea would require a multitude of varying people to collaborate and ‘act’, which I believe would have put the project’s visual and contextual standard at risk.

Instead, I have now developed a storyboard for an animation based on a car tyre, shown below.

Conceptually, if a car tyre were conscious, I believe that it’s constant rapid rotation upon movement would ultimately cause its memory to falter; to be distorted and to be cut. My storyboard is therefore based on this theory. The tyre’s day is left in wonder and uncertainty. Events occur but the tyre never sees the outcome.

Visually, I have attempted to convey a sense of mystery and sinisterness in order to represent the character’s non-conclusive intentions.

My next step in developing this project is to experiment with different mediums and footage in order to realise the feasibility of my intended visual language.