New website for Aton Digital Media

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Aton Digital Media is pleased to announce the release of our new website, designed with a fresh new look and user-friendly navigation, updated with the latest information about our projects and assignments.

You will be able to review the various media products, watch the related videos, browse among different image galleries, and read the most updated news.
One of our main goals was to build a responsive and simple to navigate site. The new design allows the users to quickly find the contents thanks to its low hierarchical structure, and sleek colour scheme.
For the time being, you can play the flash games on the website only on desktop computers, but the members of our IT department will look after this right after the semester has ended.

We hope that you will enjoy browsing our new site, finding more options and information each time, and that it will be yet another tool for strengthening our business relations.

http://atondigi.com/

#responsiveashell
#bestdesign
#wordpressismindblowinglyeasy

Music for the masses

Portfolio Development

This is my chosen audio piece for the portfolio I will create.  I have shortened and edited it.

https://soundcloud.com/airgidfaolchu/portfolio-mix-2-minutes

The original song is called Beyond (Original Mix) from Bedrock3tz, which can be downloaded from Soundcloud.

Research

Interview with Dan Kennedy (Tipp FM)

As part of my continuous assessment at the LIT/ Limerick School of Art & Design, I had to  find a company representative in an area of the digital media industry that interests me for work experience, and ask a set of questions. 
Hereby, I would like to share the answers of Dan Kennedy, a previous student  of the same course I am enrolled in, currently working at the Tipp FM radio station.

1. 1. What is your role at the company and what does it involve?

I am a sound engineer, outside broadcast assistant and presenter at Tipp FM. The 3 jobs are different and entail me to do different things, as an engineer, I sit in on some shows where we have a presenter already but a presenter who does not play his own jingles or music so I sit next to him and do the tech side of things and he just talks into the microphone when I tell him to. As outside broadcast assistant, I do a similar job to the engineer role, except instead of having the presenter next to me in the studio they are out and about somewhere.
As a presenter, I have to engineer my own show as well as talk in between songs.  Presenters usually do their homework on songs for the day or news and events before going on air also and many presenters have special features in their shows, e.g. “Who am I” where the presenter plays an audio clip of something…in this case someone describing a celebrity and then the presenter looks for people to guess. These clips involve someone recording the audio and the presenter editing (if needed).

1. 2. What roles are available in your company?

There are 4 main roles. News (Journalists who spend their day gathering and delivering news updates), Head of music (Arranges the music for each show, they often have a really great song on at the top of the hours to keep peoples interest), Traffic (Admin in charge of what ads get played and where they get played, sales reps who get ads and editor who makes ads), Presenter (who preps for their show and then does their show), there are other roles such as receptionist, accountant, general manager, and board of director roles in the company too.

1. 3. What are the requirements for attaining a work placement/graduate/intern position in your company? What skills are necessary? (Interpersonal/software/hardware)

A vacant position is what would be needed for any sort of regular work, if it was work placement; the company is quite good with taking on people. Skills aren’t so much the main attraction for this company, obviously skills in audio recording and editing is helpful, but a lot of the skills I use on the job are skills I’ve learned on the job. Good Communication is a must both with the listeners and with your co-workers. I would also say that being a quick learner is helpful because things can change quickly and you want to be able to adapt as soon as possible.

1. 4. What do you look for in a graduate showreel?

Good communication skills, good personality, good drive and determination to improve and work for the company and past experience in the industry are great.

1. 5. What do you look for in a potential graduate hire? Have you any advice for how graduates can distinguish themselves from the pack?

To get this job, I got a degree in a subject I could deem useful to the job, I had completed 5 years of work experience in the industry, I had shown desire on many accounts to get into the desired company, and I had developed a skill (presenting) which made me a good potential employee to them.

So I would say college education, past experience, desire to work for them and something extra about you which shows how much you want.

1. 6. What is the most frequent issue that arises with new graduate hires?

Translating skills you’ve learned to the work place. In my roles, I rarely use any major skills I learned in college during my job. When I started work, I had to spend 3 weeks training before I knew what I was doing and that is something every new person has to do. Every company uses different systems and programmes and what works somewhere might not work somewhere else, so being able to learn something new quickly is very important.

Also I would say another issue with graduate hires would be the difference between them thinking they can do something as they studied it in college and them actually doing it. I studied how to make a website throughout college, and I would never mention that to my employer as I know I’d struggle in reality making one on my own, and I know no matter how good mine is it probably wouldn’t be as good as what a professional working 20 years could do, if I made it clear to my employer that I had skills but they weren’t the best and they still went with me and it didn’t fully work out, then that’s no problem, but if you lead someone on to believe you can do something and when you get there, you can’t that’s when problems arise. It’s why people have to be honest on their C.V’s.

 

Dan Kennedy’s willingness to help out wherever there is a need is greatly appreciated. Thank you, Dan!

Logo Design for Aton Digital Media

The name is Aton, derived from Attila and John. Aton (also Aten) is the disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology, and originally an aspect of Ra.

Most importantly, it is easy to memorize it, has only four letters, and starts with an “A”, which helps at listings.

The colours represent the Hungarian and the Irish flags. Moreover, the red and white combination is used by well-known, successful companies, such as Coca-Cola, Vodafone, Virgin, Marlboro, etc.

 

Steps:

I renamed my company to make clearer what its specialization is. However, I chose a name that is still quite broad.

Here I wanted to emphasize the red and white colours, since I’m quite obsessed with this combination. Well, it did not work. The font does not fit the design, but I discarded these ideas before I would have moved forward with them anyway.

The fourth design is somewhat interesting, as it seems to be in motion or let just say it is dynamic. With a black background, and a unique font this could have been the winner.

I tried to use the old logo with a dark background, but I found it boring. After playing around with square, circle, and rectangle shapes I realized that I want to use a triangle, that can be associated with the words “emerging”, “stability”, and “divinity”. Additionally, I have planned to use a letter-based logo.

The reflection will be only used in videos or websites. For printing purposes I will use the logo without reflection. Also, I modified the font that is used in the final logo, to match the style of the logo itself.

Animated TV advertisement for lovefurniture.ie

This is my submission for lovefurniture`s “Viral Video” contest.

Kinetic Typography Project – 03

Hereby, I share some details about the making of the Bohemian Rhapsody (operatic section) kinetic typography assignment, which can be  watched on YouTube.

Bohemian Rhapsody Kinetic Typography by Attila Farkas

1. Research matters

The background pattern is similar to the design of the Italian clown character, called Scaramouche. The colours I used are taken from the mask I uploaded in my previous post.
The man silhouette in the background is edited, so it looks he wears the mask of Scaramouche.

 2. Gimme a nice font, and I’ll be happy for hours

The font I used for “fandango” is Ithornet by Dirt2.com – SickCapital, downloaded from dafont.com. Fandango is a Spanish dance, but in this context is the road from a cell to the place of execution. While walking to the certain death, people were throwing various vegetables and stones towards the convicts, in the Middle Age. As the prisoners tried to avoid the flying objects, or were hit by them, and stooped in pain, they looked like dancing… To balance the font’s playfulness I changed the vivid colour theme to a black and white one, which has a darker mood.
Another funny story – and here comes the trivia – I did not notice for months that I misspelled the word, and  as you can see above, I wrote “fundango”.

3. Galileo

Although, the lyric is not about Galileo Galilei, but about “Galileo figuro Magnifico” – translated as “Magnify the Galilean’s image” (See more in my previous post – Kinetic Typography Project – 01), I couldn’t miss using the image above. The mad – and frightened – scientist is a vector image of “Doc”, from “Back to the future”.

4. Welcome to the punch

The idea of the wiping laser thingies cannot be found in my initials sketches/drafts, because it came to my mind during the development process, after watching the movie “Welcome to the punch”. It is not just an exciting and entertaining film, but its title screen is so impressive I had to incorporate it to my work.

5. Happy for hours

Yep, it is the font – Scary Monsters by Chloe 5972, from dafont.com. Added some blood, and a slightly disturbing effect, to make it monstrous.

6. The lost symbol

The sign above is in Arabic – Bismillah means “in the name of God”.

8. Let me go(o)

The arrangement of the words looks like a smiley face. When our hero or his patrons are asking for mercy, the main colour is green, whenever they are denied it turns red, and the “smile” disappears.
Also, the fast movement represents an intense/fierce argument.

9. Under pressure

As the judgement becomes final, and the certain death inevitable, the pressure is getting to be unbearable. In this assignment, the word “NEVER” suppresses the other words, and the argument.

10. Will against steel

The chain of the letter “O” represents… well, a chain or handcuffs. The desperate “No”s are tying to break out.

11. A pile of NO

This part is technically might be interesting: I used a virtual camera in After Effects and move it backwards. While the “O MAMA MIA” is being revealed from behind the camera, the pile of “No”s is getting blurry.

12. Visual roller coast

For one of the grammatically most challenging sentences of all rock songs written in English  (Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me) I used a huge font, and made it moving fast. I intended to increase the excitment, as this revelation might be the peak of the story.

13. Ego

The vector was found on Clipart.com. It is a sitting devil from a pre-1920’s magician’s program, from the Library of Congress.

14. Crown jewel of the tribute

I’m sure you recognize the closing image of the kinetic typography animation. If not, visit this
website of LIT.

That’s it folks! I really enjoyed working on this assignment. It took ca. 40 hours hard work to create this kinetic typography project. I have listened to this song a trillion times while making this animation, but still love it. Or if it’s possible, I love it even more :o)

Kinetic Typography Project – 02

 

 

These are the rough sketches of my design:

The imagery I intend to incorporate into the animation:

 

 

 

 

Here you can watch a short teaser from the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18yT3CYwf4I

Kinetic Typography Project – 01

Our brief is to animate, in time, the text that occurs in the audio in a visual style sympathetic to the subject, mood and delivery of the piece.

Piece of chosen music: Bohemian Rhapsody (Operatic section) by Queen

Lyrics:

I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango.
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very fright’ning me.
(Galileo.) Galileo. (Galileo.) Galileo, Galileo figaro
Magnifico. I’m just a poor boy and nobody loves me.
He’s just a poor boy from a poor family,
Spare him his life from this monstrosity.
Easy come, easy go, will you let me go.
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go.
(Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go.
(Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go.
(Let me go.) Will not let you go.
(Let me go.) Will not let you go. (Let me go.) Ah.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
(Oh mama mia, mama mia.) Mama mia, let me go.
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me.

Meaning and lyric analysis:

Kinetic typography—the technical name for “moving text”—is a technique mixing motion and text to express ideas using video animation.This text is presented over time in a manner intended to convey or evoke a particular idea or emotion.

Scaramuccia, also known as Scaramouche, is a roguish clown character of the Italian commedia dell’arte who wears a black mask and, sometimes, glasses. He entertains the audience by his “grimaces and affected language”.

Galileo figaro Magnifico

This so-called “nonsense” is a great battle for the soul of this poor guy, in which the heavenly hosts and the Hell’s demons participate. That’s why one choir demands to let him go, while other choir says – we will not let him go. He isn’t let go by the ones who made the boy escape from the reality, kill a man, and now they’re making him to commit suicide to get his soul forever. It’s demons, one of which has been sent by Beelzebub to overwhelm the soul of a poor boy. The boy is in a terrible trap – he wants to get out of this nightmare, but he can’t. And, like a last hope, the choir calls: “Galileo figaro magnifico”. It’s the key phrase, which reveals the entire meaning of the song, and usually it isn’t translated by the researchers. And, if they DO translate it, they translate it from Italian, getting “Galileo is a great barber”.
What Galileo? What has barber to do with that?
Yes, it’s a nonsense. But don’t make Freddie an idiot. Actually, it’s a slightly corrupted Latin phrase, “Galileo figuro Magnifico” – translated as “Magnify the Galilean’s image”. “Galileo”, repeated five times, translated from Latin as “Jesus Christ” – that was His name in the ancient Rome. In other words, the only way to get out of the demonic nightmare is to magnify Jesus Christ and ask Him for help. But the boy can’t believe that God is concerned about him, and refuses the salvation (“nobody loves me”). Along the Catholic and Muslim prayers, the heavenly hosts are trying to save the boy, but they lose – because he didn’t want to help himself, and, as we know, nobody can be saved by force.

Bismillah (Arabic: بسم الله ‎) is an Arabic phrase meaning in the name of God.

“Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me” is not an imperative sentence. It is the devil that has been “put aside”, in other words “reserved specifically for me”. (Beelzebub is the chief angel of darkness and is supposed to rule over other devils).
The complete sentence would read “Beelzebub has a devil (that he has) put aside for me”.

There’s no imperative in the sentence. “Put aside for me” is an adjectival phrase describing “devil”.

To “put aside” is a phrasal verb, meaning to store, to reserve, to select for some future purpose. So, to paraphrase: Beelzebub, one of the Lords of Hell, is keeping one of his devils especially for me.

I presume the purpose of that devil was to torment Freddie when he’s dead.

Essentially the song appears to be about a poor boy who kills someone and subsequently gets arrested. This appears to be a manifestation of his psychosis as he waits for his punishment.

Sources:

Elyrics.net

Wikipedia

AskVille

Mercuty And Queen.com