Spark Arts Digital Festival

I had never been to the Salt Lake Public Library before and it's honestly gorgeous. We asked around and finally found it a couple levels down. We were greeted by a mirror image of Harry Potter, no I am not making fun, but besides looking alike they both appear to be very intelligent. In this case, the phrase: Looks can be deceiving, is just a phrase. McKay really knew and understood the material he presented to us. It wasn’t just a boring festival because it really got my attention, which made the whole experience that much better. We walked in during a lunch break, so not a lot of people were in there. There was a projection screen, Dance Dance Revolution- -a popular video game, and computers spread out within a small area. McKay asked us to take a seat and watch a few demos. I didn’t really know what to expect, I thought more of the photography side of “digital” but I was very wrong. I grew up with all brothers so I was familiar with demos and video games, but I had never seen anything like the demos McKay showed us. Before he showed us the first demo he explained it was like a “geek music video,” where I laughed a little too hard at his comment. The first video was called, Life Force. It is too hard to explain what was in each demo but I was in awe. When I looked at the others they all had the same face: mesmerized. I am not trying to exaggerate how cool it was, but when he explained what was going on, it made it that much cooler. These demos are not like videos/ movies where there are frames or slides. This process takes out the middle man. The best example Mckay gave us was that, once the producers of a movie like for example: Toy Story, have had the actors record their voices for each frame/ slide, they send it out (the middle man) for the digital aspect. By taking out the middle man it saves a lot time and space. The demos are actually rendering in real time (calculating what comes next mathematically), making it a smooth transition. I didn’t understand at first so I had McKay explain it a couple times. Since this process saves so much time and space, why don’t they actually use it in making movies? Mckay informed us that movie makers don’t care about space and time. My reasoning was that the movie makers aren’t smart enough. It is true, these guys that make these demos are geniuses. For the demo: Lapsus, the maker’s purpose was to make something impressive in the smallest amount of space. For this demo the amount of space used was 10k, which is ridiculous because an empty word document is 60k. The makers are generating the calculations instantaneously for 30 frames per second. If you are amazed by just reading this imagine being there and witnessing this masterpiece in the digital world. I guess I am exaggerating if the audience was indeed a maker but I doubt one of these geniuses would be wasting time reading a college student’s blog. If you missed this festival I encourage you to check out the website: I had never been to the Salt Lake Public Library before and it's honestly gorgeous. We asked around and finally found it a couple levels down. We were greeted by a mirror image of Harry Potter, no I am not making fun, but besides looking alike they both appear to be very intelligent. In this case, the phrase: Looks can be deceiving, is just a phrase. McKay really knew and understood the material he presented to us. It wasn’t just a boring festival because it really got my attention, which made the whole experience that much better. We walked in during a lunch break, so not a lot of people were in there. There was a projection screen, Dance Dance Revolution- -a popular video game, and computers spread out within a small area. McKay asked us to take a seat and watch a few demos. I didn’t really know what to expect, I thought more of the photography side of “digital” but I was very wrong. I grew up with all brothers so I was familiar with demos and video games, but I had never seen anything like the demos McKay showed us. Before he showed us the first demo he explained it was like a “geek music video,” where I laughed a little too hard at his comment. The first video was called, Life Force. It is too hard to explain what was in each demo but I was in awe. When I looked at the others they all had the same face: mesmerized. I am not trying to exaggerate how cool it was, but when he explained what was going on, it made it that much cooler. These demos are not like videos/ movies where there are frames or slides. This process takes out the middle man. The best example Mckay gave us was that, once the producers of a movie like for example: Toy Story, have had the actors record their voices for each frame/ slide, they send it out (the middle man) for the digital aspect. By taking out the middle man it saves a lot time and space. The demos are actually rendering in real time (calculating what comes next mathematically), making it a smooth transition. I didn’t understand at first so I had McKay explain it a couple times. Since this process saves so much time and space, why don’t they actually use it in making movies? Mckay informed us that movie makers don’t care about space and time. My reasoning was that the movie makers aren’t smart enough. It is true, these guys that make these demos are geniuses. For the demo: Lapsus, the maker’s purpose was to make something impressive in the smallest amount of space. For this demo the amount of space used was 10k, which is ridiculous because an empty word document is 60k. The makers are generating the calculations instantaneously for 30 frames per second. If you are amazed by just reading this imagine being there and witnessing this masterpiece in the digital world. I guess I am exaggerating if the audience was indeed a maker but I doubt one of these geniuses would be wasting time reading a college student’s blog. If you missed this festival I encourage you to check out the website: http://www.sparkarts.org/