Research
For our research, we looked at various existing Rube Goldberg machines and idents. We looked at Rube Goldberg machines so that we could possibly take inspiration from the mechanisms and techniques that they used, as well as to see what type of materials are universally used and something we should think ahead of purchasing/collecting before we start making our machine. We looked at existing TV idents to get an understanding of their purpose, too see how they communicate their themes, and the structure of how the ident is filmed/edited together. We wanted to make sure that when we came to editing our ident, we had a clear understanding of how the ident should tell it's story, and at which point, for example, should the 'Up Next' and Channel Logo come up.
Rube Goldberg Machine - Honda Commercial
This machine was very neat and clean, all its parts were planned to perfection, and there was no background distractions. This made watching the ad/machine work very relaxing and made it look even more impressive. This machine also had objects that all associated with Honda and cars. We thought this was quite a nice touch, as not only does the machine end with a purpose of advertising the car, but also the whole machine and all it's components do so. We thought this could be something we could also do within our machine, have objects and pieces that all relate to Art & Culture somehow.
Rube Goldberg Machine - The Cake Server
This machine was a lot more DIY and chaotic than the Honda ad. This was because this machine used more daily life objects and the mechanisms within the machine were more light-hearted and funny. We liked this DIY approach more and thought this would approach would suit the Art & Culture theme better, as Art & Culture is a part of everyone's daily lives and there are many daily life objects we encounter that could symbolise and represent Art & Culture.
Rube Goldberg Machine - Music Video
This machine was created specifically for a music video, with the task at the end being spraying the musicians with paint. What I liked about this machine was that a lot of it's mechanisms and components were created with the audio in mind, and so the machine feels to fit the soundtrack. I thought this was quite a nice idea and something we could consider when choosing the audio for our ident, that the music/audio fit into the scene or pace of the machine, so that the whole process is elevated and the events that happen within the machine are highlighted by the audio.
Rube Goldberg Machine - Pass The Salt
This machine also had the DIY style, and used a lot of components that related to its theme. The ending goal was to 'pass the salt' which gave the whole machine a food theme, and so a lot of the mechanisms within this machine utilised food items and utensils. I thought this was very effective, because much like in the Honda Rube Goldberg machine, the mechanisms and machine components also communicate the theme, not just the ending result does. This was something I thought we should consider and include within our machine, and possibly use objects that are associated with Art & Culture as part of our machine .
Ident - Channel 4
In these channel idents, the giants character is made up of shaped that included in the Channel 4 logo. I thought this was a very clever and interesting way to communicate the channel from the very start of the ident, without having to wait until the end to reveal which channel it is showing. Within our ident we could also reference the shape of the Channel logo, possibly within our rube Goldberg mechanisms in a more subtle way, or even more obviously by having the machine reveal or draw the channel logo.
Ident - Channel 4 Simpsons
In this ident, both the channel and the programme/theme are communicated together. The shapes are again taken from the Channel 4 logo, but the iconic colours are taken from The Simpsons. I think this is a clever way to marry the two key bits of information, the Channel and the programme. I think it is also more visually interesting to look at, as the communication of both bits of information is quite subtle, so as a viewer you feel a small sense of accomplishment for being able to decipher the meaning of the ident before the text and logo come up. The clean aesthetic of this ident is also very pleasing to look at, so it's something that we could consider also. Do we make it very clean and controlled so it's clear and clean, or do we go for the more DIY approach where it's more chaotic and fun.
Ident - MTV
In this ident, the meaning and purpose of it is more subtle and less clear. However, visually the ident is very engaging and makes you want to keep on watching. The abstract and creative characters within the ident give a lot to look at, and the viewer will notice something different each time they see the ident. This is something we quite liked the idea of, that the audience has something different and new to spot each time they see the ident. We could also make our ident quite abstract and creative.
Ident - ITV Creates
In these idents, ITV asked different artists to create their logo in their artistic point of view. This gave the viewers of the TV Channel something different to look forward to each week, and a new perspective in which to see the channel from each time. I thought this was very effective and interesting, as it makes the viewer want to see more and each time they watch the ident, they expect to see something different or notice a new detail within the artworks. This I thought was something we could do as well, not all idents have to be crisp and clean, they could be quite chaotic and exciting and give the viewer a lot to look at.
Initial Ideas
We began to discuss or Art & Culture theme, and how we could communicate it through the perspective of a Rube Goldberg machine. From our research we were inspired to consider how the machine components, as well as the objects around the machine could aid in communicating the theme. We started discussing various materials, colours, shapes, references and etc.
My idea notes:
- Mechanisms release different paints/materials. Forms swirl in the end.
- Each material paints/draws it's own swirl.
- Close up shot of the mechanism, then zoom out to reveal a swirl made from the mechanism components/objects. The mechanism itself could be a swirl, or the ending result could be a swirl.
- Lots of materials thrown onto a canvas. Eg. paint, powder, glitter. Then a fan turns on to blow away the materials and reveal a swirl where the materials have stuck to glue.
- The machine/ident is very busy and chaotic, then slows down at the end to reveal the text and logo.
- Everything is one colour/shot in one take. Seamless and flowing would be aesthetically pleasing.
- The 'behind the scenes' video could be chronological, showing our progress each day.
- A mini zine/mag of the process or and instructions manual of how to re-create our ident.
After various discussions and bouncing around ideas, we all settled on the idea of creating a 'set' within which our Rube Goldberg machine would take place. The 'set' would be a room in a home of a person who would be watching Art & Culture shows. We thought that this would be a nice way to bring all our ideas together, as well as implement what we had learnt from research. In our research we found what was very effective was using objects that associated with the theme, so by creating a set design, all the objects that are part of the Rube Goldberg machine, and all the objects surrounding it will communicate the Art & Culture theme as they are given a context of why they would be there. By creating a 'home' setting/context we are allowing ourselves to be quite creative and include almost anything we wanted as decorative elements. We also learnt in our research that for the ident to be engaging, one technique to use is to give the audience a lot of information and a lot to look at, as well as something to look forward to. By making our ident quite busy with lots of objects and lots of references, we will be giving the audience the opportunity to notice more details each time they look at the ident. Which will not only make it engaging for the viewer and make them carry on watching, but also make them likely to look forward to watching the ident again so that they could notice even more stuff.
To started discussing our 'set design' and what objects specifically could be included, how the Rube Goldberg machine will fit into it, and what overall atmosphere/aesthetic we are trying to create.
After we all had a clear idea of what we wanted to do with this ident and how we wanted the Rube Goldberg machine to work, we needed to figure out a location where we could create our machine. We knew we wanted a 'home' setting, so Meg from our group suggested we use her living room to build our set design and machine. On the first day we went to her house, we all also brought along with us some objects and materials that we could use. I brought along a variety of different art supplies that could potentially be used to help us build our Rube Goldberg machine, and the other girls brought similar materials as well as some stuff that we could use as part of our set design.
When we went to Meg's house, we first cleared a space and then collected some of the furniture from around her house to create the foundations for our set design and Rube Goldberg machine. We wanted to create some layers and have some different heights so that it was easier to create our Rube Goldberg machine, so we used both a table and a small bookcase.
We then began to start collecting some objects we thought would suit our Art & Culture theme and could become part of our set design. We also began playing around with materials and creating mechanisms that could be used within our Rube Goldberg machine.
We decided to move the set design to another wall inside the living room, to give ourselves more room to work and also a larger area within which our rube Goldberg machine would sit in.
We had to submit a summary of our work in progress/development/rationale half-way through our project. So after our initial idea stage, we created a quick sum-up of what we were doing.
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