Amalgamedia

Getting Acquainted

This week had an overall theme of getting acquainted. From our initial meeting with Jesse Jones, the manager of Anti-Flag, to experimenting with the new equipment we will be using to film, it was a week of familiarizing ourselves. This week we were able to scout an office that we will be using for the filming portion. Delta Development (where Pat’s Mom works) has been gracious enough to lend us their office to use as the main office for the film portion of the experience. With that crossed off the list we have begun focusing on casting as well as prop gathering. This week we were also able to storyboard half of the film portion along with creating some concept art for characters in the game.

We also have been familiarizing ourselves with the ETC’s new camera we will be using by taking some test footage. It films in slow motion so we have had way too much fun filming mundane things and seeing how awesome they look in slo-mo (i.e. playing with water too much.) Taking the footage we shot, we then have been testing the editing and compositing in After Effects and Premiere. We are learning how to composite logos into a shot and how we can manipulate someone’s Facebook photos.

On the tech side of things, the rapid prototyping phase has begun. We have been testing an HTML5 game engine known as Construct 2. Frank and Himanshu have been getting familiar with making games with this engine. The team has been researching games in general by playing games and dissecting what exactly makes them fun. We are also playing with Facebook and will finalize what information we actually want to pull for the experience.

Next week we will be working on finalizing all the storyboards and script for the film portion. Along with this we want to finalize our schedule so we can set dates for filming and make sure everyone that is needed is available. Game-wise we want to start making a rough prototype of how our gameplay will work and start pulling information from Facebook and working it into some test footage. We are looking forward to Anti-Flag visiting the ETC!

Newsletter 1-25 (PDF Version)

Kickoff Week!

Amalgamedia has been getting settled into it’s new project room at the ETC.  Amalgamedia will be producing a transmedia experience for the band Anti-Flag.  This week we established team roles as follows:

Patrick Shore: Producer
Alex Loughran: Director
Frank Hamilton: Technical Director
Chen Yang: Editor
Simeng Yang: 2D Artist
Himanshu Vartak: Programmer

We feel confident that with our powers combined, we will create an experience unlike anything anyone has ever seen.

This week we have been finding our groove and finding out how we work together as a team.  We have come up with how we want to brand ourselves, poster art, and a tone for the experience we want to convey.  We also have a very rough storyboard and timeline laid out for the film portion of the experience, and a rough estimate of how long we want each part of the experience to be.  Research includes current transmedia experiences and also video games.  Specifically we have been looking at what makes these things fun and successful, in hopes that they may guide our own vision.  The team has also begun location scouting and figuring out casting for the film.

On the technical side of things, Frank and Himanshu have been figuring out some tips and tricks with HTML5 and Facebook interaction, which game engines will work best with HTML5, and specifically what would be the best option for actually hosting the experience.

Amalgamedia is very excited to start working on this project for the semester.  We want to create an experience that not only engages an audience but makes them want to come back for more.

Newsletter 1-18 (PDF Version)