Its finally out! My latest collaboration with Gerald Walker is up and out for the world to see on the front page of Dailymotion.com. This is the second video I’ve had featured and I hope there’ll be many more.
I have a love hate relationship with this project because of how much work it required me and honestly I could keep working on it forever if I wanted to. There are almost 50 shots in it that all needed to be keyed, animated, and composited with other shots. Like the shot with the two girls nagging gerald sitting in the chair… thats like 17 after effects layers just to get it to look almost natural. However challenging an idea may be to execute, I know one thing, I’ll never shy away from a challenge if I believe the payoff is worth it. If I succeed then I sore with the birds. If I fail and fall flat on my face then I’ve just learned a major lesson firsthand. Either way the experience it worth it. Not being afraid to failure really helps creativity.

Oh and if you want to compare this to Kanye’s and Jay-z’s Niggas in Paris Video go ahead. I’ve been working on THIS for the past few months so I know I didn’t copy any body. Been using the mirror effect since the Missing Piece last summer. lol

Okay, now back to work on another video that’s supposed to release tomorrow

Check out more of Sydnee’s music at www.facebook.com/sydneeBmusic

So I was extremely pleased to hear that 2 of the 4 music videos I worked on last year made the cut to be nominated for BEST MUSIC VIDEO in this years annual radio Milwaukee awards

Jungle by Prophetic

The Missing Piece by Gerald Walker

Winning would be great but just the two nominations mean a lot to me.

You can vote here

Designer Noé Duchaufour Lawrance has fitted out an alpine ski lodge in the French Alps with a trunk-like hearth, curved fir walls and a floating bed.

The chunky fireplace is anchored to the centre of a family living room, located beneath the sloping timber eaves on the three-storey Chalet Béranger’s top floor.

Desks, chairs and other objects by Duchaufour Lawrance are placed around each room alongside other designer furniture pieces.

Wall and floors of both fir and Vals stone surround a Jacuzzi on the first floor, while concrete floors can be found in rooms elsewhere.

We’ve also recently featured designs for a lodge with a sloping roof you can ski over – take a look here.

See also: our story about a Paris gallery with a white Corian interior that Duchaufour Lawrance designed in 2010.

Photography is by Vincent Leroux.

Here’s some more text from Noé Duchaufour Lawrance:

Far from the geometric construction methods of a traditional chalet, the interior architecture of this family home is a domestic landscape whose forms emerge from the ground like small functional mountains rising from a valley.

Resolutely fluid and modern, the result is a set of lines and organic forms composed around a wooden ribbon.

A large, main room is set above the whole construction, defining the central point of the chalet where the family comes together around a warm hearth.

St Martin de Belleville (French Alps)- 2011

Some new hotness from director Roman Gavras (I think)

So last night marked the 1st day of filming for this latest project that I’m working on and we had the pleasure of filming Nikki Jean for it!
Fresh from a video shoot with Brother Ali in her home town of Minneapolis after touring in Japan and Australia Nikki made a stop at lil ol’ MIAD to give us a performance of her latest single Million Star Motel.

Can’t wait to cut it together for the people!

cinemetrics from fb on Vimeo.

If you’ve ever wondered how movies vary in color and motion, scene-by-scence, don’t worry any more. Cinemetrics is a project that’s decoding and visualizing films, and you can see it in action here.

The brainchild of graphic designer Frederic Brodbeck, Cinemetrics is an attempt to to create a visual “fingerprint” for films. He analyzes the editing structure, color, speech and motion of movies, then transforms them into graphic representations that can be compared side by side.

He strips data out of DVDs — video, audio, subtitles — and then processes them, frame-by-frame. It’s a time consuming business, but the results are fascinating. The fingerprints that Brodbeck creates look a bit like pie charts, but don’t be deceived. The length of the broken ring represents the duration of the film, and the segments that make it up are separate shots.

The motion of the segments represents in-frame movement, and the hues represent the palette of colors that make up the scene. I find the variation of color with time particularly interesting, especially when you see different films next to each other. The Simpsons Movie stands out as being a bit odd, for instance.

On his website, Brodbeck explains:

“Not only cinema enthusiasts and people doing film studies might benefit, but also for regular people an alternative way of looking at movies could provide an interesting new way of choosing movies based on formal criteria. For instance: ‘I don’t want to see the dark one with lots of motion, that colorful one with the great amount of spoken words looks much more interesting to me.’”

Whatever they’re used for, I just like the fact they exist.

I know I’ve been gone for a while but I’m coming back strong!

Featured on 2dopeboys.com

A short teaser for the latest video from Gerald Walker and director Xavier Ruffin off The Other Half of Letting Go Mixtape. Coming to Dailymotion.com Late January 2012 Vimeo and Youtube Feb 2012

Thanks to my former professor Anne G.G. the Auga Independence Project was published in the first volume of Iridescent this past month.

You can download a free pdf of the book here Download we’re on page 36.

Taipei (Taiwan – Chinese Taipei) – The inaugural printed volume of Iridescent: Icograda Journal of Design Research was launched on 27 October 2011 at the Icograda General Assembly 24 in Taipei, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei).

“Through the global reputation and network of Icograda, Iridescent has become a distinct contributor to the international design research journal community.” said Omar Vulpinari, Iridescent Editorial Director. The initial volume includes papers from the Education Conference of Xin: Icograda World Design Congress 2009 and the International Design Research Lab presented at agIdeas International Design Week 2011.

Above: Omar Vulpinari presents Iridescent, Volume 1 to the Icograda General Assembly 24 delegates. Photo: Sean Teegarden.

Iridescent provides a comprehensive resource to educators worldwide and strives to ameliorate and impact design research dedicated to communication design. The journal is an open access platform for all papers published online.

Iridescent, Volume 1 was designed by Fabrica, the Benetton Group’s communication research center, based in Treviso, Italy. Omar Vulpinari, Icograda President Elect, supervised a team of Fabrica students to represent the spirit of the journal through the vibrant design. The journal cover was inspired by the Ig Nobel Prize, an American parody of the Nobel Prize, with the intent to spur people’s interest in science, medicine and technology through laughter and fun.

Beijing Kingee Culture Development Co., Ltd sponsored the print production of Iridescent, Volume 1. “The generous sponsorship of these two Icograda members has resulted in a publication that will be a reference for educators internationally,” said Vulpinari.

Above: Spreads from the inaugural print volume of Iridescent. Photo: courtesy of Fabrica.

The peer reviewed publication is available to all Icograda members and non members alike. Educators, mentors and media may contact the Icograda Secretariat to order a copy of the publication for a nominal fee.