JONATHAN GALES | THOUGHTS NOT THOUGHTS

Film - 'MEGALOMANIA'

2011-06-29T11:48:00.002+01:00

Here is the final film from my Masters in architecture at the Bartlett, UCL.

Factory Fifteen Launch

2011-06-09T20:03:00.003+01:00

I'm excited to announce the launch of a new studio venture between Paul Nicholls, Dan Tassell, Kibwe Tavares, Chris Lees, Rich Young and myself... Factory Fifteen.

Factory Fifteen is a design studio specialising in film, animation and architectural representation. We are kicking things off with a small exhibition and screening night in Brixton Village on the 25th June. Come down and join us for a drink to launch us. In the meantime, here's a teaser of what is to come...

Portfolio 2010-11

2011-06-07T19:48:00.001+01:00

Here's a couple of images of my main portfolio for 2010-11. It is essentially a larger and sturdier version of my 2009-10 one last year, consisting of three booklets encased in a birch plywood case. It will be accompanied by full size prints of my large drawings and all my films I have made this year. It has been a fun but tough year's work and a great run up to what lies ahead. There is however still a show or two to build and a few ends to tie off, unfortunately not finished quite yet!

Chronographical construction drawing

2011-06-07T19:46:00.001+01:00

Animation stills

2011-05-28T12:45:00.002+01:00

Animation still

2011-05-24T08:41:00.000+01:00

Royal Academy

2011-05-21T18:34:00.003+01:00

Today I received a letter informing me that one of my drawings has been selected and hung in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Megalomania (left) will be showing at the Royal Academy from the 7th June until the 15th August. Another drawing from the same series entered was shortlisted for the exhibition (right).

Animation still

2011-05-21T10:17:00.000+01:00

Animation still

2011-05-20T07:48:00.002+01:00

Here's a graded still from one of the the latest sequences I've been working on around 'The Great Wheel' scene.

The Giant Wheel

2011-05-19T12:15:00.003+01:00

Above is the most recent concept still from another referential environment in my project. I've incorporate plate IX of Piranesi's Carceri through the Millenium Wheel as 'The Great Wheel', now speculatively re-appropriated and inhabited by seemingly precarious structures. Below are some details of the graphic, I'm currently working towards moving image explorations of all the scenes for next week.

Panopticon

2011-05-10T11:12:00.006+01:00

In the lull of the thesis hangover, I've been re-cooping and planning out the final weeks of the year. I've been extremely quiet on the blog front as I have mainly been working on the scenes I've setup so far. Although I haven't posted much recently, Ethel Baraona Pohl of DPR-Barcelona kindly published my project on the dpr-barcelona blog with a thorough and interesting review of the project so far.

In an attempt to get back in the flow of things, I had an urge to create a new scene around the structures I have been drawing. I wanted to reference back to Bentham's Panopticon using the visual language I have developed. Above is the scene graphic.

Post crit re-group; 'Fanciful drawings of construction sites'

2011-04-04T08:47:00.002+01:00

Since the end of term crit last week I have taken a little time away from my project (hence recent posts of things I've been up to outside architecture). Whilst I write up my thesis I plan to render from the scenes I've setup and bank some footage as MS word runs alongside. I've collated the concept graphics that support what I want to progress, eliminating the tangents and unnecessary elements that I have arrived at for the sake to the immediate future. This is not to say I won't include them at all but I want to focus the film around the city and my fanciful speculations of it.

Behind the scenes at McLaren shoot

2011-04-03T12:14:00.005+01:00

In January Claire, Tash, Tim and I went to Woking for the 2011 Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Team Collection photo shoot. Here's a behind the scenes video from the photo shoot featuring Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Martin Whitmarsh, key members of the Vodafone Mclaren Merecedes team and fans. The music was designed and created by the awesome Matt Parker from Nedry under his solo name EarthKeptWarm.

Photographer - Claire Pepper

Photographer's assistant - Harry Ward

Lighting - Natasha Alipour-Faridani

Backstage - Tim Bowditch & Jonathan Gales

Editing & Post production - Jonathan Gales

Music - EarthKeptWarm

clairepepper.com

natashaalipour-faridani.com

timbowditch.com

jonathangales.com

earthkeptwarm.com

Laurel Collective - 'Sunshine Buddy' Music Video

2011-03-31T10:15:00.002+01:00

This is the first single from the debut album by Laurel Collective and is released on 11th April, 2011 on Tape Club Records.

Video directed, shot, edited and produced by Tim Bowditch and Jonathan Gales.

Lighting and smoke by Natasha Alipour-Faridani.

laurelcollective.com

tapeclubrecords.com

Towards a new megalomania of which we are still found wanting*

2011-03-11T18:36:00.005Z

*alluding to Meades (1997)

Scene concept graphic

2011-03-06T12:06:00.001Z

Here's the latest scene concept graphic I've been working on. It will show incomplete buildings under construction being demolished alongside larger construction sites to allude to a city that is increasing in development plans faster than it can be realised.

Balfron scene concept

2011-03-02T11:19:00.003Z

Here's the latest concept graphic for a film scene. I am reworking my storyboard at the moment but the premise of the film will focus on a subject/patient of the Centre of Attention. The film will explore the patient's perception of the city as a landscape of continuous construction and development. This will be shown as a fictional environment implied as an extension and exploration of the patients imagination. I have decided to feature the patient as an inhabitant of the Balfron Tower showing it in the epitome of their perception; a simultaneous state of demolition, maintenance and construction.

FIREDIVE - Trailer

2011-02-28T22:34:00.004Z

I've recently joined Tim Bowditch's FIREDIVE project as editor working towards a short documentary film and exhibition in early September this year. FIREDIVE will be a contemporary documentary recollecting memories of the swimming galas in the coastal pools in (...hmph) Guernsey. Here is the trailer which I put together from Tim and David Angus' lovely rushes accompanied by an audioscape of samples by Matt de Kersaint.

Laurel Collective Video Shoot

2011-02-28T22:21:00.003Z

This weekend Tim Bowditch and I shot the music video for the Laurel Collective's new single Sunshine Buddy due out on April 11th on Tape Club Records. We had the amazing Natasha Alipour-Faridani working her magic lighting. Here's a sneak peak at what is to come....

Film concept graphics

2011-02-27T21:26:00.002Z

I've been working on the concept imagery for my film. Taking onboard my recent focus on a city in constant construction, demolition and unfinished development I have been designing scenes that will be being constructed and demolished at the same time. Here are a couple of images I hope to animate at a later date.

Notes on a crit

2011-02-24T18:16:00.004Z

Over the past few weeks I have developed my project in a number of areas which this Tuesday were highlighted in their juxtaposition alongside each other. It is clear to me that I'm not yet developing my film or spaces in the way I am happy with so I have spent a bit of time evaluating what I have produced to date along with my previous works to decide how to progress.

It is evident in many of my projects that my architecture has been represented and focused around the construction process even setting up an ambiguity of whether it is being built, demolished, fixed or abandoned. My eVolo entry in 2010 involved reusing abundant office space, The Ministry of Fire proposed as a continuous architecture of extension and creation, and in Speculative Landscapes I imply an exaggeration of construction within the built environment. Above was a initial concept sketch of a Carceri of construction I made for Tuesday.

Within my current project I am focussing on perception and imagination and began writing a treatment around how people perceive their environments and augmenting geometry within that to interact with them. I have decided now to focus on the imagined perception of an individual's environment not merely a literal one around them. I feel this will allow me to explore my ideas about space that is in construction/maintenance/demolition further. As Nic put it "the idea that architecture is either unfinished, incomplete or broken..."

Photo: The Shard at London Bridge currently under construction.

Concept still: The Scaffold Labyrinth

2011-02-21T23:01:00.000Z

Camera transition construction drawing

2011-02-21T13:34:00.000Z

Chronographic break down of eye test sequence

2011-02-21T13:31:00.001Z

Environment and subject tracking

2011-02-19T19:58:00.000Z

I've started to sketch out parts of my film to develop my ideas in relation to physical space. I'm planning to evolve the story board that I initially made into a series of sections moving away from a linear edit. One section will focus on my subject Dan in a series of tracking shots through the city. I have filmed a test shot to begin to map out an elaborate sequence involving real and virtual cameras. Here's some screen shots of the initial tracking taken.

2nd hand motion embodiment

2011-02-15T16:04:00.001Z

As part of the test sequence I wanted to generate some more abstract geometry sequences that I can put into the stereoscopic views. These will be very short (second or two) but cumulatively will hopefully create a compelling point of view (P.O.V) experience sequence. I re-tracked the rendered footage that I constructed from the P.O.V footage to generate point cloud and motion data of analogue movement within a 3D environment. This second hand embodiment of the camera movement was purely to produce a few seconds of dots but theoretically it ties in quite nicely with my thesis subject as it is rich in camera/3D environment interpretation and process, adding another layer to the embodiment of motion within virtual experiential space.

Embodied camera movement

2011-02-14T01:09:00.003Z

One of the production methods of my film is to shoot scenes with body mount rigs such as a shoulder mount Redrock. Then in a sequence of post-production events, track the motion of the footage, interpret a virtual camera from it and render a 3D or part 3D environment synthesising real world organic movement in virtual space. I started doing this last term and used this method to construct Speculative Landscapes using match move software such as PF Track. I have now discovered a simpler way of using 2D x/y coordinates to generate POV camera motion in 3Ds Max; exciting, I know.

One scene, or flash scene as I am referring to it is of the Centre of Attention's testing and treatment clinic. Here is a render and a Stereoscopic POV comp of how some footage may be used.

Carceri environment concept drawing

2011-02-08T01:05:00.003Z

One of the reveals in the film will be to align augmented environment geometry into detourned geometries from Piranesi's Carceri. I've tried to model the geometry from plates 3 and 6 to construct an environment around the site of the Centre of Attention. Below is a breakdown of the composition and geometry, above is the composited concept image.

Carceri D'invenzione

2011-02-04T19:42:00.002Z

Over the past couple of days I've been planning out my design strategy refining my project and thickening the complexity/confusion. However, it is making sense to me at the moment so it's probably time to try and articulate it.

The Centre of Attention will be situated on the site of the former Millbank prison as a reincarnation of the facility in the form of a contemporary panopticon. The architecture of the centre will utilise embodied augmentation of vision based perception to construct and manipulate spatial environments around its users. Within the site of the Centre of Attention, augmentation of the built environment will reveal a series of virtual spaces detourned from Piranesi's Carceri D'invenzione alongside the neoclassical architectural system of the Tate Britain. The existence of the Centre of Attention's built presence is a reference to the Millbank Prison as a Carceri D'invenzione in a synthetic space observed by only the user. Above are the 16 plate of Carceri D'invenzione. Below is the beginnings of the environment model I am constructing for the film.

The reveal of the Tate Carceri is one of the later scenes in the film; I hope to sketch out the eye test and bus sequence also over the next week.

Site texture samples

2011-02-04T13:06:00.005Z

As part of my site analysis I've been recreating textures to apply to the 3D geometry I am proposing in the virtual environments. To do this I've sampled areas of wall from site and made my own textures. Although this is something I've done in the past I thought it would be good to break it down this time as the project revolves around image based augmentation of real world environments. There are three main stone textures I'm using at the moment, all taken from site photos, skewed to elevation and painted tillable so map any size of geometry. Here they are should you want to download them and use elsewhere...

Quick Comp test

2011-02-03T18:32:00.003Z

I'd like to get some footage from site and start tracking to decide where I will implement elements. Until the I've mocked up a quick comp of some bits to test out materials, possible lighting, render elements etc.

Site analysis: Architectural elements

2011-02-03T14:47:00.002Z

As part of my analysis of site I have extracted elements of the existing architecture. The Tate Britain, formerly the National Gallery of British Art was Neoclassical in its design style imitating the Corinthian order of Greek and Classical architecture. I plan to manipulate the space of my site using elements from context to construct new geometries that could exist but do not. My proposal essentially is the construction and manipulation of a perceived space through vision and observation. Although I will be suggesting an array of form and utilising architectural elements from existing built forms my architecture is the spatial augmentation embodied in the user and should not be read as a neoclassical extension to what exists.

Site visit: Tate Britain

2011-02-01T12:46:00.001Z

Yesterday I went down to the Millbank to take a visual survey of the site. I'm quite fixated with the Tate Britain building at the moment which will feature prominently in the project. After storyboarding a rough sequence of scenes I'm quite clear of what and how I'd like to film the site and my subject. Now I will start exploring and designing the film and architecture together. I plan to start by extracting elements of the existing architecture to construct an initial palette from which to expand.

Centre of Attention - Film plan

2011-01-31T11:58:00.002Z

I've begun to map out the film by story boarding parts of programme of the Centre of Attention alongside a film structure strategy. This is just my initial thoughts from which I expect to expand the narrative and scenes. There are three main sets/sites within the film, some parts digital and some requiring filming. Centre of Attention is intended as a prequel to BULB, I hope to use Chris again as my subject.

Dogtanion Music Video: Sneak peak

2011-01-27T21:51:00.004Z

To kick off a big week of filming, on Monday Tim Bowditch and I shot the music video for Dogtanion's forthcoming single 'Islam'. We were lucky enough to get an amazing location house on Bishops Avenue, here's a still from the footage as a sneak peak of what will come when its released. Massive thanks to Dave Angus for his help throughout the day, and to Pete and Kerry for their straight faced slow singing skills.

Site: The Millbank, Pimlico

2011-01-22T14:05:00.001Z

The Centre of Attention: Design studio proposal

2011-01-22T10:02:00.002Z

So far this year I have focussed my work around perception, the embodiment and role of cameras and the construction of a synthesised space from the 'real' and the virtual. These themes I began exploring within the three films of last term have informed what I will discuss in my thesis as well as what I will do now and how I will do it. Recently I have been reading Jonathan Crary's Suspensions of Perception and Techniques of the Observer and propose to develop my focus on perception, attention and the observer.

Proposal

We are dominated by media, device based interaction, social networking, YouTube, constant advertisement and micro blogging; we have further lost our ability to develop attention as a skill. I am speculating that vast amounts of the population no longer develop crucial skills to focus their minds and lack the ability to interact and understand their surrounding environment and society. I am therefore proposing to design a Centre of Attention; a rehabilitation and educative facility to screen and re-stimulate the ability to focus and interact in order to develop attention.

The facility is to exist as an architecture of both physical and virtual parameters operating within media and embodied synthesised applications as well as in the physical built environment. The architecture of the Centre of Attention will interact with its user as its user is expected to interact with it. It will augment the perceived view of the spectator to transform them once again into an observer. The architecture of the Centre of Attention will look to utilise medical and physical embodiment as a design strategy.

The Centre of Attention

The Centre of Attention takes observation as a programme stimulus engaging its users in a contemporary London Panoptican. The Centre will be sited on the former location of the Millbank Prison existing as a synthesised reincarnation of the prison inspired by the philosophy of Jeremy Bentham. The Centre will act as a ghost architecture parasitic to the Tate Britain which now exists on the site, providing a stable architectural framework to augment. The Centre will be synthesised by only its users/patients/prisoners as a virtual architecture as well as a physical architectural system. Who the users are and are not will be ambiguous to imply it may be one or everyone. The treatment/programme of the Centre of Attention will be designed to stimulate the users attention away from their media devices by generating a new vision based interaction with their environment. In doing so the Centre of Attention employs the methodology of technology the user has suffered from in order to treat them.

Interim Portfolio 2010/11

2011-01-08T17:51:00.002Z

I have recently taken a step away from producing new work to collate what I have created over the past three months in preparation for the interim portfolio review this coming Tuesday. Here are a selection of some drawings that will accompany my films and production booklet. These first three express the production process of my most recent film BULB.

These two drawings breakdown the process and construction of my film Speculative Landscapes.

This drawing accompanies the first film I made last term The Elephant Subway.

Film: BULB

2011-01-05T11:22:00.000Z

Soundscape concept audio sketch

2010-12-13T01:15:00.003Z

This weekend I started working on a soundscape for my current film. I had quite a clear idea of how I wanted it to be, but when I mapped it out it just sounded so sinister and 'dubby' in a bad way. In my head it was going to be more like Godspeed but I guess things sometimes come out wrong! So I reworked the melody, chords, BPM, took away the soundscape and decided to play different instruments. Here's what I've ended up with. I plan to dissect it a bit and integrate ambiance through the film so it won't just play along.

Scene concept graphic

2010-12-10T08:47:00.001Z

I'm working my way through each shot in my rough edit at the moment to try and get the majority of the film to a more complete level of production for the crit on Tuesday. Here is another graphic that has come out of decision making and preparation for post-production work.

Bulb sequence graphic

2010-12-09T00:29:00.002Z

I've started to use the work that I have done so far to generate graphics and drawings to support my film. This is a graphic taken from the bulb sequence constructed from larger renders and overlays. It has been a useful exercise to make decisions for the grading of the film as I have been a little indecisive in my treatment of clips and graphics recently.

Snorry cam

2010-12-08T13:27:00.003Z

One of the sequences I am working on in my film is a long tracking shot of Chris walking. This shot will carry the edit of the film and help structure the overall narrative. To shoot the shot I whipped up a make-do snorry cam rig to get a consistent frame on Chris as he walks. I've shot about 17mm, really wide to get a distorted perspective creating a slightly disturbing atmosphere. I'm really happy with the take as the rig keeps Chris consistently framed and focussed whilst the background moves around him.

Scene drawing

2010-12-06T13:06:00.001Z

This is a work in progress drawing/scene still that I am working on at the moment. I have felt that I've made slow progress this week. I've been working constructing a rough edit of the whole film and keying all the clips that I will be using in it. I'm still a bit off getting a rough edit complete as I'm trying to coordinate film, animation, sound and quick cut editing to sketch out the narrative which is taking longer than anticipated. Hopefully for the crit next Tuesday I will be able to show some drawings and an edit though it may have unfinished clips, sound and need tightening up.

Green screen compositing test

2010-11-28T21:18:00.002Z

I've had a quick go at keying a screen matte and compositing Chris into a rendered environment. Hair and glasses seem to be the problematic elements though he is blending well considering I've not done any light spill, wrap or grading. Its going to take me quite a while to get the clips I've selected from yesterdays shoot all keyed and composited to this basic level for editing. This is essential as I can build the framework for the majority of the film from them before working into each frame more.

Green screen shoot

2010-11-28T19:12:00.002Z

Yesterday I filmed a lot of footage of my current subject Chris against a green screen. I must thank Chris for his patience and cooperation and apologise in advance for the somewhat unflattering footage he has given me. Here's a couple of screen shots from the shoot. I'm currently sorting through all the rushes to see what is usable and how to edit before taking into post for keying.

Alpha-ville in Canada

2010-11-25T13:55:00.003Z

Today Alpha-ville festival will be screening films from their Visionary Cities programme as part of “Film for Thought” in the University of Manitoba, Canada. Alpha-ville will be screening my recent film Speculative Landscapes in the Visionary Cities programme alongside previous Unit 15's Keiichi Matsuda's Augmented 3D City and George Thompson's The Resort.

3D environment development

2010-11-21T18:36:00.004Z

I've been working on the lighting, modelling and texturing of the bathroom in more detail as this will affect the reflections in the bulb glass a lot. I've not rendered an animation test in this environment yet but have exported some stills to have a go grading and adding some post attention. Here's the results so far.

Light bulb grading test

2010-11-19T14:20:00.002Z

Here's a quick test of the light bulb element in a test environment. The Bathroom is a bit dark and grim looking but I hope to model this with a bit more care for the actual scene.

Smashing a light bulb

2010-11-19T09:56:00.002Z

I've been playing around with a bit of demolition software learning how to smash stuff. As part of the first scene I intend to deconstruct the environment around my subject starting with a light bulb. Here's some production stills from my first test. It took a lot of fiddling with the physics to get the aesthetic I wanted in the smash. Gravity is nearly nonexistent as I want the pieces to spread out forming their own space/infrastructure. It brings to mind solar systems and the big bang. I plan to film within this environment treating the deconstruction as an architectural space itself though I'm not entirely sure of how much work and time this will take yet to pull off. It is also just the first scene and stimuli for the film so I don't want to get too hung up on it.

Synthesising [un]Reality

2010-11-18T20:09:00.003Z

"...dreams are real, only as long as they last. Couldn't you say the same thing about life?" - Richard Linklater, 2003.

Following on from my experiments so far into synthesising environments I am planning a short which will expand both my thoughts on the subject, and skills to realise my thoughts. My initial idea is to set up a couple of scenes that deal with the subject using dreams as a medium for envisaging it. The first on an individual domestic scale where the subject is not in control of the space. The second on a larger external scale where the subject has the ability to affect and depict the qualities and content of their environment. I have only planned the initial scene so far and want to really nail this with an edit in next couple of weeks letting me expand into scene 2 until the end of term.

The film will unfold a series of scenes and environments in which the subject (and viewer) are intended to question what is real and/or unreal. The narrative will focus around the subject who is unaware what state of wake they are in using dreams as the carrier for unreal space. The subject will react to activities and environments they are in although the film will switch between a defined real and unreal set of environments. The film will question the real or at least the assumed real with elements of comprehensive unreality we assume cannot take place in a normative environment.

I intend the film to be lead both visually by the augmentation of environments, audio soundscape and by spoken monologue from the subject.

The first scene set about a domestic environment where the subject is pictured in the bathroom. The space begins to deconstruct initially with a relatively normative event of a light bulb smashing, this extends to the entirety of the room shattering before cutting back to the subject in the bathroom unchanged. Above is an initial storyboard for scene 1 outlining main frame shots from which I will expand on. It is intended to be about 2 minutes in duration setting up a mise-en-scene to be evolved in scene 2.

Unit 15 3D Showreel 2010

2010-11-16T21:18:00.003Z

Here's the 2010 Unit 15 3D Showreel put together kindly by Paul featuring work from this year and the past few.

This Is Not A Gateway 2010

2010-11-15T14:03:00.005Z

A couple of weeks ago I attended This Is Not A Gateway Urban Festival with Nick Blomstrand at Hanbury Hall in Spitafields. Nick presented his thesis work 'All of this has happened before, and it will happen again...' in a discussion chaired by Ben Campkin 'On the Phenomenon of Perpetual Empty Office Spaces in London'. Nick's work opened a discussion focussed around ideas of ruination, dereliction, current financial markets and vacant office buildings in London. Nick presented my competition entry for the 2010 Evolo Skyscraper competition as a development of a theoretical proposition and continuation of his work into a design situation. The presentation formed the basis of an interesting discussion for both notional and rational developments for existing and potential development within the city. Pictured left is Nick presenting at This Is Not A Gateway 2010.

Film: Speculative Landscapes

2010-11-06T15:52:00.004Z

Here's the final edit of my recent film Speculative Landscapes; a short animation that digitally reconstructs a train journey evolving the environments that it travels through into a suggestive re-representation of the existing and possible future.

Original footage was recorded on the Maglev train in Shanghai during October 2010 and used as a base from which the film was constructed. The footage was motioned tracked generating a 3D data map from which the context was recreated and choreographed into three main scenes linked together to appear as one shot. The environments were created using 3D, 2.5D and matte painting techniques with HD footage of the subject composited on top.

Film strip

2010-11-05T18:36:00.002Z

I'm catching up with a backlog of work produced for Tuesdays public crit. This is a film strip drawing made post-production to chronologically lay out the continuous scenes and events of the films as one drawing. Here it is cut from its original 12 metre format into 4 strips arranged on top of each other.

China

2010-11-05T18:20:00.002Z

A few weeks back, Kibwe Tavares and I were lucky enough to go to Shanghai for a week. We spent most of our time at Tongji University though we made time to get out and enjoy the city as well. Here are a couple of photos from the trip. To see more from Shanghai and the 2010 Expo please click here.

Track - reworked soundscape

2010-11-03T21:37:00.001Z

As a bit of post-crit relaxation, today I had a play around with the soundtrack I wrote for my latest film. Here is an evolved edit.

3D Particle transitions

2010-11-03T18:57:00.002Z

One element I introduced to the film recently was a couple of particle sequences that form a transition between the first main sequence of the interpreted environment and the second main sequence of the more speculative environment. The existing is relatively rural and green so I have taken a leaf as my sprite and created a cresendo of spiralling leaves towards the end of the first scene. The opening of the second scene emerges from a passing train to a flock of newspapers taken by the wind. Here the papers replace the leaves as an urban metaphor creating continuity between the two very different environments. Here are some compositing breakdowns of the particle sequences showing the white particles as spheres, animated sprites and composited animation. Also a couple of drawings aestheticising the mass of floating sprites.

Film construction and compositing method

2010-11-03T18:40:00.001Z

My film is intended to be viewed as one continuous shot from a train moving through a landscape. As mentioned earlier I have been constructing the film environments in 3 main chunks; an interpretation of the existing, speculative representation of power and construction and visionary speculation for future urban density. These sequences are each made up of 3D, 2.5D, matte paintings and motion graphics with HD film overlaid on top. This complexity in layering has evolved partly to reduce pressure of sole 3D renderings as time was very limited, and also because it is incredibly difficult to blend a number of sequences to appear seamless. Here is a diagram of the construction of the film placed around the 3D tracked environment of the original footage.

Subject compositing

2010-10-29T19:18:00.001+01:00

During the process of frantically rendering arduous sequences of 3D still in preparation for next Tuesdays crit I realised that I may have bitten of more than my measly i7 can chew through. The result will be environment render not to the quality or detail content of what I would like, HOWEVER this is a valid lesson learned and has forced me to consider other elements and production methods. I have decided to address the question of the camera in a direct way introducing a subject who is viewing/making this journey. This re-grounds the context of my film viewed from the point of view of the subject just as the original recorded footage was. It also gives me the opportunity to play some camera games that I so enjoy. Last night I recorded some footage of my friend Laura who I will be compositing throughout the animation. Here is a brief breakdown of my compositing. Top left is the original footage, below the initial postproduction and right is it composited with the animated footage.

Section through environment model

2010-10-26T00:35:00.004+01:00

It seemed logical to cut a section perpendicular to the path of the tracked camera. Here you can clearly see the distinct areas of the model I have set up to create a narrative of scenes through one continuous shot. The film's focal frame will be a lot closer in than this objective view but this section, much like architectural discourse represents the space formally and therefore abstracts it from a more immersive visual medium. I did enjoy modelling some visionary developments during construction, a welcome change to watching footage track.

Project Two + Three - Intentions

2010-10-24T20:15:00.003+01:00

The second and third projects this term have asked to develop experiments in methodology over two weeks leading to a second short film. The first week was to use 2.5D layers to create the notion of a three dimensional space; as I was in Shanghai at Tongji University I was unable to partake in this initial project. The second week has asked to develop similar themes using 3D software. I'm not sure how much I will be able to produce for the review this coming Tuesday but have planned out my intentions to create a film over the coming weeks.

Whilst in Shanghai I recorded some footage with these two projects in mind. I will be using a short video clip recorded from the Maglev train travelling between the city and the airport as a starting point for my work. I am interested in the idea of travelling through space developing a theme I began to establish in the first film of the term. I will be motion tracking the video clip to generate a digital reading of the space travelled across. This will help generate a three dimensional environment from which I can work into in various 3D, 2.5D and composting software. It is my intention to rebuild the existing environment from the video using 3D elements and 2.5D matte paintings. The virtual camera will then be able to move through the digital reconstruction of space which I will be able to control.

The idea is to reconstruct the analogue environment that I recorded and implement new propositional elements unable to be created in the actual space. I will recreate the notion of the journey manipulating the content of the landscape to build a more distinct narrative across the duration of the film that will exceed the actual time recorded. This is a theme I have developed from Sokurov's Russian Ark, retelling over 300 years of Russian history within 96 minutes in one continuous flow. Here is an initial drawing I have been working on, mapping out elements from the existing footage that I will construct an environment from.

Synthetic Space

2010-10-22T15:39:00.004+01:00

Synthetic Space exists between the actual and the virtual, between the analogue and the digital.
Synthetic Space is a hybrid space.
Synthetic Space unites formal architectonic concerns with spatial and temporal practices.
Synthetic Space is not a model for something else: it is a site of explorations and a site of propositions in its own right.
The architecture of Synthetic Space is speculative: it is not constrained by cost, patronage or function; it is an architecture of the possible.
The limits of the Synthetic Space are the limits of the imagination.
Synthetic Space - Nic Clear

So far this term I have begun to experiment with digital analytical software that can interpret and construct a three dimensional environment from two dimensional moving footage. I now intend to use the digital interpretation data taken from real world information to construct a propositional space within a digital environment. This reconstruction of space provides opportunity for the augmentation of the original space, providing a platform for speculative experimentation in a digital environment directly taken from the analogue. This space does not retain the constraints of real world parameters, but allows the synthesisation of new developments in the retelling of space. In some respects it is my intention only to retain the notion of moving through space as the reconstruction of an inhabited environment, differences in topology, scale and orientation are completely possible. This propositional reinterpretation of space also allows for speculative development in the context, narrative and atmospherics of a space. This trialectic incorporating analytical interpretation, re-representation and speculation joins the existing with the propositional, constructing a synthetic space.

Radically Rethinking London’s Empty Office Space

2010-10-21T20:02:00.003+01:00

I've just been made aware of an article by Danielle Del Sol explaining my competition entry for the 2010 Evolo Skyscraper competition.

"London architecture student Jonathan Gales doesn’t just think the 20^th century’s iconic office skyscraper is outdated — he thinks it should be buried. Or chunks of it, at least."

To see the article in full click here.

Urban design symposium; Shangahi Expo 2010

2010-10-21T17:40:00.005+01:00

I've just returned from an urban design workshop and symposium held in the Tongji University, Shanghai. The workshop was coordinated by Tiziano Cattaneo from the University of Pavia, Italy and brought together students and professors from China, Korea, Italy, Norway and the UK. The theme of the workshop was to explore the re-use of the Expo site after the exhibition closes. Six teams presented proposals for the site of international best practice in the Venice pavillion of the 2010 Shanghai Expo. I was part of a team lead by Xiahong Hua and Dr Kai Wang of Tongji Univerity; we achieved a special mention for thoroughness of design coming second overall. The jury consisted of professors and deans from all Universities involved and was chaired by Professor Angelo Bugatti (left) of Pavia.

Here I am presenting out group's work to the jury and other teams.

Film: The Elephant Subway [Kaleidoscope Edit]

2010-10-13T13:44:00.000+01:00

Film: The Elephant Subway

2010-10-13T11:44:00.001+01:00

The subterranean pedestrian network at Elephant and Castle was constructed during the rebuilding of the area after the damage of World War II. It was originally built as a forward thinking piece of infrastructure prioritising the car as primary means of travel into and around the city. Now the network of tunnels are recognised as a major design fault providing opportunity for anti-social behaviour in the area. The Elephant Subway documents one of the many homogenous journeys under the road system showing the vibrancy and practicality of the infrastructure as it was originally intended.

Soundtrack design

2010-10-10T23:18:00.002+01:00

I have had quite a distinct idea of how I want the audioscape of my film to be since filming. I want to remove all existing ambient audio from the footage in place for a new soundscape. I've decided to have something quiet melodic although still ambient and have had an urge for it to be piano based. I've laid down a draft soundtrack using my midi-synth, guitar, canon and sequencer. Its not exactly how I imagined but I think it has the spatial quality, cliché and atmosphere of how I want my film to be. Here's my screen view of loops and live tracks...

Subterranean chronographical drawing

2010-10-09T20:45:00.004+01:00

I've made a start at a drawing to accompany my film. This has been a bit of an experiment so far and I wouldn't say its complete but something I had to get out of my head to clear some room for other thoughts. Inspired by the work of Idris Khan, Atta Kim and Krzysztof Pruszkowski; I've tried to graphically develop an image that conveys the sense of travel through space. This is not a chronogram.

Synthetic representation

2010-10-08T14:19:00.003+01:00

I have had a quick play with some match moving tools to analyse the footage I have taken over the last couple of days. As I mentioned earlier, some of my aims this year is to use digital analysis tools to interpret and synthesise space. Camera tracking and match moving software is able to interpret image sequences and generate three dimensional meshes, paths and cameras. Recognition of distinct pixels provide vectors for the software to calculate distance and position from. Here I have tracked a short segment of my sequence to generate a three dimensional analysis. The match moving process can transfer the analytical information into 3D modelling software to work with. I have brought in the mesh and rendered the distinct vertices as small white balls. This is only an exercise to understand how to use the information gained and not a proposition for the graphical development of my work, although it does have an interesting screensaver vibe. You can see anomalies that float in space captured from a pedestrians head. This artefacting is similar to the disturbance created in the scanning of Thom Yorke's face when 'filming' the House of cards music video.

Flying the pilot

2010-10-07T13:48:00.002+01:00

After doing a number of test tracks with the full steadicam suit I have mapped out a suitable route that takes around two minutes to track. I want to play with levels and enclosure to capture the essence of the network hopefully showing a couple of tunnels without speeding up the film. I still can't comprehend how Tilman Büttner can sustain 96 minutes without collapsing, I feel like I've run a mile after 96 seconds. Here's some production stills...

An architecture of infrastructure

2010-10-07T11:21:00.001+01:00

I'm returning to the Elephant and Castle to commence this year. I've chosen to focus on the infrastructure built as part of the 1960's regeneration of the area due to be restructured over the coming few years. The design and reconstruction of the area after the damage of WW2 was coordinated with the London County Council 'New Sights of London' plan which prioritised the motor car as a primary means of travel into and around the city. A network of pedestrian subways were constructed as a subterranean landscape connecting the various roads around the roundabout.

The subways are due to be filled in as part of the new regeneration of the area. The regeneration program however has been postponed and stalled continuously over the past decade due to management and funding issues. The fate of the infrastructure has been uncertain over recent years with plans to demolish and rebuild it yet without any apparent action. I would like to represent the pedestrian subway at Elephant and Castle as it was initially built with positive aims and a utopian edge similar to the Smithsons' 'streets in the sky'. It is currently viewed as a major design fault in the infrastructure of the area. Here are a couple of photos from 'site'.

Steadicam preparation

2010-10-06T21:46:00.001+01:00

I've been getting to grips with rigging up a steadicam in preparation for shooting. I got my hands on a Steadicam Pilot sled, vest and arm. The Pilot is the smaller of the full jacket systems produced by Tiffen designed for use with lighter cameras and rigs than the Flyer, Archer and larger grips. I have pretty much got my head around how to set up the sled which holds the camera and monitor system. A three way gimble controls the rotational pivot of the camera and should be situated just above the centre of gravity on the sled. The monitor and battery pack act as counters to the camera so it is only just top heavy but can freely rotate in a smooth and balanced motion. As I'm shooting on a DSLR which is lighter than a large HD video camera, I have used the additional weights provided to weigh down the camera bed so that the gimble sits over halfway up the sled. It takes quite a while tuning the balance on the sled to achieve level dynamic balance when the rig rotates.

Here's a snapshot of my level sled ready for tomorrow.

Project One - Representing Spaces

2010-10-06T13:11:00.001+01:00

Our first brief asks us to make a short film of an existing piece of architecture. This is a one week exercise to kick start the year with a burst of productivity. The film should be between one and two minutes in length and be accompanied by two drawings, one pre production and one after production.

I'm would like to use this project to explore a camera technique I feel particularly difficult to achieve; continuous stable tracking. Two minutes or less is not a long time to track but will be long enough as a challenge to capture stable choreographed footage. I've recently be looking at the work of Mark Lewis who is an artist that uses film. I was made aware of the work he has made in South London through my interest in the Heygate and Elephant and Castle. I find Lewis' film Children's Games (2002) particularly stunning and very different to film Dan Tassell and I created on the same site eight years later. Sokurov's epic masterpiece Russian Ark is a major reference and influence for single shot films not just because of its length and complexity of cast but its choreography and concept as a piece of work.

Over the next day I will be experimenting with stabilisation methods to understand its possibilities and limitations before writing a specific treatment for an architecture I wish to represent.

I'm uncertainly certain

2010-10-04T10:36:00.002+01:00

Over the course of the following few months I hope to develop a thesis relevant to the area of industry in which I am interested in working, as well as my perspective on architecture. Let me begin by stating my 'uncertainty' to what this thesis may specifically be. At the moment I have a 'wish list' of ideas that may have the potential to evolve into something with some more thought and consideration.

I am interested in exploring image based modes of spatial analysis and representation and how they can be utilised as a design tool to synthesise new space. I would like to look at a few techniques and methods of working within film and animation in order to develop a process that can be propositional and not just technical.

I'm extremely interested in the way in which we scan and interpret our environment. Our eyes see with region-adaptable sensitivity recording a constant high dynamic range of information for our brain to assemble images from. Cameras record images using similar principles to our eyes. To capture a high dynamic range images must be recorded with bracketed exposures and composited together. In photography it was once only used by professionals to achieve images that were well balanced in highlights and shadow but can now be done with an app on your iPhone. For film though it is still relatively unused. RED cameras are able to record in RAW format allowing a higher dynamic range to be captured than regular compressed digital video. Recently a company called Soviet Montage released examples of an HDR film shot using two 5D MKii's.

Another methodology I'm interested in is match moving. I would like to learn how to use it well as I think it is a useful skill to understand. I would also like to explore its uses as a mode of working as it is a sophisticated analysis tool capable of scanning and generating a digital environment from footage. James Frost's music video for "House of cards" by Radiohead was created without cameras by digitally scanning geometry of the environments and band.
I'm not certain whether this will be technical or theoretical thesis but as a starting point it could go either way.

Audio: Treading Water

2010-10-02T17:13:00.004+01:00

Here's a little by-product of my audio explorations.

Audio soundscape test

2010-10-02T10:46:00.011+01:00

So far I've been insistent on designing soundtracks to accompany film projects I undertake. This something I'm interested in coordinating with the cinematography of a project and also something I really enjoy. Recently I've been playing around with some instruments and tools other than what I'm used to in an attempt to produce something different from my usual string based pluck. Here's a test soundscape from yesterday.

NYC

2010-09-20T21:08:00.003+01:00

I've just come back from New York, where I've been staying for the last couple of weeks. Here's a couple of photos from my trip. To see more photos please see my Flickr.

Alphaville Visionary Cities Competition

2010-09-11T16:21:00.002+01:00

I've had my film shortlisted for the Visionary Cities Competition organised by Alphaville Film Festival. The winners of the competition will be determined by public vote so if you have a moment and would like to vote for me, please visit the vimeo page and press the like button to vote.

http://vimeo.com/groups/visionarycities/videos/12084636

Thanks

Wunmi Mosaku Viral

2010-09-02T17:01:00.003+01:00

Here's the final edit of the viral for Wunmi Mosaku created for Dash Design Studio.

Wunmi Mosaku Viral | Film Stills

2010-09-02T13:59:00.004+01:00

On Tuesday I joined Dash Design Studio in Shoreditch to shoot a new promotional viral of Wunmi Mosaku. Wunmi's new film 'I am slave' received 1.4 million viewers on its broadcast release this Monday on Channel 4. It was a great fun working with Alisa from Dash who directed the shoot.

I'm just tweaking the final edit of the viral so will hopefully post it soon, in the mean time here are some film stills taken from the edit.

Motion tracking / image stabilising

2010-08-28T15:52:00.004+01:00

A couple of the shots I have storyboarded for my current project involve tracking shots on a bike. In order to achieve these I have attempted a number of ways of shooting with different camera rig configurations. Initially I set my bike up with a tripod attaching to the frame shooting over the handlebars. There was so much movement with this all footage is unusable. Secondly I rigged an Opteka X-grip to my handle bars which proved better, however the footage is not at all forgiving to the rough pot-holed tarmac of South London. Finally I ended up tracking holding the X-grip rig in my hand pointing and hoping that the subject is in frame. This produced the most usable footage however it is far from ideal. I am still getting used to shooting with a D-SLR video camera and am learning a lot about its strengths and problems. I set my ISO relatively high (1250!) and shot with a low but not ridiculous aperture (f7-9ish) so my shutter speeds would stay above 250th, however there is still motion blur from vibration although the majority of the footage is relatively steady (considering cycling a drop handled racer one handed whilst attempting to frame the cyclist in front).

To iron out the wobbles I took the footage to AE and tracked the back of the bike. I then stabilised the footage and adjusted the scale and position of the frame to keep the shot as smooth as possible. The result has given quite a good smooth track, but the motion blur remains and every second or two the cyclist (Lucy) blurs. I hope this footage is good enough for what I want. For similar future shots I would like to be able to resolve this better. I shot at 25fps on a 5D mkII, I wonder if I shot 50fps on a 7D or even higher on RED would the footage be better to save? Also is there a way of stabilising any tracking shot without rigging a dolly or steadicam unit into a motorbike or car?

Here's a production shot from post...

Short film: production shots

2010-08-28T15:46:00.006+01:00

Yesterday I started work on a new short. Its intended as a small project to be completed within a week (hopefully) to get some creative juices flowing and test out some new kit. The premise is simple following a subject (Lucy) across the city. Here are a few production shots of what I shot yesterday. They have had no real post-production or grading yet but already have quite a nice aesthetic from the camera (I think).

The Summer so far

2010-08-28T10:02:00.007+01:00

It's been quite a while since I last posted anything. I ended the academic year with the final edit of my film so I thought it would be good to blog what I have been up to since.

June saw the construction of the 2010 Bartlett Summer Show at the Slade Galleries and the creation of a New Works Unit 15 booklet.

This 94 page booklet features the work of 14 students and comes complete with a DVD of films and animations produced this past year. New Works Unit 15 will be on sale at the Bartlett School of Architecture and The Triangle Bookshop (at the AA) in Bedford Square for a limited time only.

Shortly after the Bartlett Summer Show I was fortunate enough to have my final film screened as part of London Festival of Architecture by RARA (Redundant Architects Recreation Association). The screening titled Metropolitan Journeys featured a number of shorts exploring a journey within a city.
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/5001880.article?origin=BDdaily

Dan Tassell and I were approached by M.A.D. Collective to screen our film Utopia Revisited as part of their event Archinoise#1. We exhibited our film alongside accomplished film makers such as Emily Richardson, Esther Johnson, Tal Rosner and Wanda Yu-Ying Hu.

I've been working as a 3D artist at Allies and Morrison Architects with Paul Nicholls and Kibwe Tavares. This was a great opportunity to develop my 3D skills in work environment and gain experience in visualisation work. Here are a couple of examples of work. All images © A+M.

It has been a busy and exciting summer so far and it's not over yet. I hope to post my intentions for the coming year soon (when I decide what they may be).

Film: The Pentecostal Ministry of Fire

2010-05-28T09:16:00.006+01:00

The Pentecostal Ministry of Fire from Jonathan Gales on Vimeo.

This is the final edit of my film complete with trolleys and rubble displacement. I may adjust the audio for the show although I'm happy with its overall structure and content.

Portfolio 2009-2010

2010-05-24T11:47:00.005+01:00

Tomorrow is the end of year portfolio hand-in. I'm 99% ready, my main portfolio is a compilation document of my whole years design work including the initial 60 second film "it started with a mouse", "Utopia Revisited" documentary made in collaboration with Dan Tassell, and of course my design project and film, "The Pentecostal Ministry of Fire".

Final Crit 19 May 2010

2010-05-21T12:11:00.005+01:00

Here are the 4 A2 boards produced for the final crit. They are also the proposed book pages for this years Unit15 works publication. I'll post up the final edit of the film soon, I have to make a couple of little adjustments and tweaks to the audio levels before I upload it.

Film Audio Design

2010-05-15T12:34:00.007+01:00

This weekend I'm working on the audio design of the film. I thought I'd post a screen shot of my track sequence and mixer as it is at the moment. I've layed down a sketch edit to a click [metronome] for consistency, and cut my film edit to it. This flagged up a few clips that were too long, not long enough etc. and also highlighted opportunities for new shots [should I have time]. Now my video edit is cut to a consitent time module I am arranging the audio design with the knowledge of where the clips are.

I've chosen to record the audio and sequence it at 140bpm to create an ambient yet energetic sequence. This also happens to be the tempo used predominantly in dubstep so there is the opportunity to turn it into something grimey at a later date.

Scene environments storyboard

2010-05-12T10:49:00.003+01:00

Sketch storyboard

2010-05-12T10:32:00.000+01:00

Locating shot - Production still

2010-05-09T18:22:00.003+01:00

The latest shot currently being rendered for animation is one of opening locating shots introducing the site of the project; Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre. For this shot I have replicated a virtual crane starting low and rising up and to the side. This is partly to follow a cinema convention used in locating shots and partly to make the most of the relatively detailed model I have been working on through the year. Here is frame 1 as it came out...

Screen shots

2010-05-06T19:50:00.005+01:00

Heres some production stills of two scenes I'm working on at the moment. The first is inside the ruin of the Shopping Centre showing abandoned shops post-disaster. The second is inside the Ministry, focusing on the regeneration of the Shopping Centre as a large religious architecture; here the statue of the Elephant and Castle takes position as a contextual focal point or sanctuary.

Combusting Formwork - Reworked

2010-05-05T13:33:00.004+01:00

I've just reworked the combusting formwork animation to slow down the fluids and link it to an external sequence. Here is a the comp; internal and external geometry rendered in Vray, 4 fluid simulations rendered in Scanline, all composited in AfterEffects. More post production to come as the rest of the film takes shape.

Combusting Formwork sequence - Reworked from Jonathan Gales on Vimeo.

Recent green screen production shots

2010-04-29T21:19:00.003+01:00

Heres some stills from the scene I'm currently working on. It will form the opening sequenc of the film locating the project inside the ruin of the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre. These are all green screen video footage composited with renders. At the moment I am setting the up with little post production so that I can sketch out the scenes and work on them once I have draft.

Lighting candle green screen test

2010-04-19T17:35:00.002+01:00

Green screen test from Jonathan Gales on Vimeo.

Green screen production shots

2010-04-19T17:05:00.006+01:00

One of the sequences inside the Nave of the Ministry will feature Mr Namakando lighting a candle in front of the sanctuary. For this I have begun to green screen Mr Tavares into the space to test my green screening abilities and to work out what shots I want to focus on getting this coming Saturday in G02.

I've used a small pop green screen in my flat lit by a single soft box. The lighting isn't fantastic but the screen did key well using keylight in AE. Here you can see the different passes, from top to bottom: raw green screen footage, screen matte generated with keylight with two masks either side of Kibwe, the initial render from my model and the two elements composited. Lining up the camera angle wasn't too bad as I measured the distance and focal length in reality and matched it with a virtual camera in max.

The raw composited elements didn't look overly convincing at first so I used light wrap to spill the baground tones onto the figure and applied some subtle volumetric shadows using Shine. In addition to these I also relit the elements in AE to help grade them together. The orginal footage was also slightly grainy so I added some noise to the render to match the video. Below is a still of the result.

Ministry of Fire Nave

2010-04-19T16:55:00.003+01:00

One of the main environments I will be focussing on in my film is the Nave of the Ministry of Fire. This is essentially the main congregational space of the building. Here is a graphic of it to the developed Ministry 2028.

Hand Krafted Films

2010-04-15T15:56:00.004+01:00

Hand Krafted Films have selected Diseñando para Guanabacoa to be screened on tuesday 20th April in 93 Feet East on Brick Lane. To have peep at the film online click here.

Combusting formwork test

2010-04-01T11:23:00.003+01:00

I'm been working on integrating a fire sequence within my film over the past week. Here is a test of where I have got to. Its part of a larger animated sequence that will connect the shopping centre to the Ministry. I'm not completely happy with the fire but it's a firm start. It took half a day to simulate and two days to render out so I'm going to put it aside until I work up other compositions. Stupidly I have managed to move my camera path so if I do re-render either fire or formwork will have to do both again.

Combusting formwork test from Jonathan Gales on Vimeo.