In our approach we were focusing on abstracting the audio-visual conventions of traditional cinema, in which the positioning of the camera and the linear succession of footage are the key parameters. In the first place we investigated the possibilities of applying camera movements to sound and image generators in a way to try to structure the generated output.

The most interesting discovery in this experiment is the lack of reference points. Where in normal narrative film the key elements (people, objects, landscapes) form references by which one reads the camera movements, in the abstract computer generated image world this is not the case. Due to this "absence of reference" it is unclear whether it is the camera that moves or the objects. This allowed us to create our very own references in the form of the laws governing the world in which objects find themselves. Placing the values of these parameters (pitch, amplitude, panning,..) inside a matrix which invisibly lays on top of the elements, creates a relationship between the parameter and each element. Now instead of moving the camera or the objects, the entire parametrical matrix or 'world' is moved and rotated, changing the relationship between each element and every parameter.

Image Generator

"Clipper" is a image generating module which allows the user to explore 3d objects by making cross-sections of these objects. The cross-sections are made by telling the virtual camera at which depth on its relative z-axis it is operating. The program allows the placing of several key frames between which the cross-sections width and position and the objects rotation and position tweens. Intention is to make custom objects and to think of abstract animation as sculpting instead of on a time and motion level.

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