Mural in Motion

See the Mural in Motion review in the ISTE Daily Leader

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:28:28 -0400

See the Mural in Motion review in the ISTE Daily Leader

Mural in Motion Performance 6-26-2011 Mural in Motion is the...

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 09:46:00 -0400

Mural in Motion Performance 6-26-2011

Mural in Motion is the first student-created projection mural in Philadelphia. It is the result of a partnership between Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and the Mural Arts Program. This site specific projection was made for the exterior wall of the Fabric Workshop and Museum. Students created their own soundtrack using GarageBand and learned how to animate using Motion.

Lead Artist-Ellen Fishman-Johnson
Contributing Artist-Eric Okdeh
Assisting Artist-Karen Kolkka

Mural in Motion-Behind the Scenes Springside Chestnut Hill...

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 07:59:33 -0400

Mural in Motion-Behind the Scenes

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy students partner with the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program on the first student-produced projection in the city. This documentary goes behind the scenes to highlight both the power of partnerships and a super-sized project exploding with innovative and creativity.

See the Mural in Motion article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer!

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 10:00:00 -0400

See the Mural in Motion article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer!

Meet the Students! 6.29.11 at ISTE

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 08:47:05 -0400

Please come and meet the students who have worked so diligently to create the multi-media mural projection! On Wednesday, June 29th, the students from SCH Academy and the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program will present at ISTE from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The students will demonstrate the tools they learned and used to create the components of the projection including, GarageBand, Motion and Final Cut Pro. They will happily share the process of planning, of meeting with community members, of brainstorming, and collaborating. You can find them at PACC Broad St Atrium, Table: 1.

Karen

5 days until the Mural in Motion Projection! Here is an excerpt...

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 09:41:00 -0400

5 days until the Mural in Motion Projection!

Here is an excerpt of Henry’s song, “Sunset in a Cup,” which will play during the credits for the mural.

What does it mean to be site specific in Multimedia? Lots of...

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:00:51 -0400

What does it mean to be site specific in Multimedia?

Lots of calculations! The squares on the wall of the Fabric Workshop building had to be mapped in a 1920 X1080 resolution projection. Talk about a great math question! Here is Eric Okdeh’s first calculations of the wall that he acquired by measuring from the roof of the building. As it turned out Ryan from Starlite Productions, the company that is providing the projector and sound, provided this mock up of the projection space which allowed us to map the squares in our piece. I looked all over the Internet to find out how other artist map their walls and one group (Seeper) has created their own mapping software.

The Mural in Motion projection premieres in just 8 days! ...

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 09:28:00 -0400

The Mural in Motion projection premieres in just 8 days! Students from Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and the Mural Arts Program share their thoughts about creating the Mural in Motion Projection.

Students from the Mural Arts Program and Springside Chestnut...

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 16:39:22 -0400

Students from the Mural Arts Program and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy learn to animate geometric figures in the program Motion for their Mural in Motion Project.

Mad rush to the Projection!! - EF-J

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 10:49:07 -0400

We are in the final stages of finishing Mural in Motion and we are going at full speed. Eric Okdeh took students out last week to get some video to fill in the holes and Karen Kolkka took a morning hike to gather a few more shots of Kelly Drive. Elizabeth (student) is busy constructing the very fast paced fourth section and Deirdre (student) is completing her green screen cut outs. I presented the first three sections (out of four) to an arts panel at the Mural Arts Program headquarters, and they gave us some constructive feedback and new ways to think of the work.

There are many details to attend to in order to do this projection, and we have a mighty team at both Springside School and the Mural Arts Program supporting the work of the students. This is truly a collaborative effort!

Philadelphia has a wealth of statues placed throughout the city...

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 10:56:00 -0400

Philadelphia has a wealth of statues placed throughout the city and the students gathered a good number of images of the statues from the Art Museum and Rittenhouse Square area. In keeping with idea of creating high contrast images, students brought the statues into Photoshop to create the silhouette effect. EF-J

Photo

Mon, 30 May 2011 10:17:01 -0400

Gathering green screen footage in the Mural Arts garden

Mon, 30 May 2011 08:27:00 -0400

5/6/11 Karen Kolkka

The plan for today’s session was to have teams of students work together to create additional footage and animations needed for the projection as well as gather images and manipulate them using Photoshop. Ellen and Eric worked with two teams in the Mural Arts computer lab. In the Mural Arts garden behind the building, I worked with three students whose goal was to capture video footage of people in motion in front of a green screen.

The dynamic was relaxed and easygoing. Everyone seemed interested and willing to help with the different roles. Several students worked together to set up the portable green screen and find a place in the garden with the most even lighting. Once the gear was set up students took turns behind the camera and in front of the green screen. The goal was to capture footage of people in motion and included people running, walking, making jump shots, and dancing. The students gave one another direction and helpful tips. Needless to say there was a sense of collaboration and of fun.

When editing the video, I became really fascinated with the...

Sun, 29 May 2011 10:31:00 -0400

When editing the video, I became really fascinated with the video the students shot from the courtyard at City Hall. The silhouetted images of people walking out of the tunnels into the streets of Philadelphia quickly became a controlling idea. Because of this, we decided to gather footage in front of a green screen so we could create silhouettes that we could put with various backgrounds. Because silhouettes are high contrast, they are particularly very well suited for this type of projections project. EF-J

Digital Media Overload – Looking for themes Ellen Fishman-Johnson

Sat, 28 May 2011 09:45:00 -0400

April 15, 2011

After gathering photos and video from Downtown Philadelphia, the next task was to weed through all of the media. Eric, Karen and I began making categories for all the student work. Since we met with students once a week, we needed to have a sense of all of the media before deciding how to proceed before the next class meeting. We knew we needed to represent the history of Philadelphia in order to achieve the “City in Motion” theme we established after the community meeting so we decided to begin by using the shots of historical Philadelphia first. In addition, I introduced the program, Motion to the students who hadn’t used it. Students divided into groups working in Motion and those working with historical stills. Liz and Katie were given the geometric first section to work on since they are both experienced Motion users.

Footage and Stills Outing in Center City Philadelphia Karen Kolkka

Thu, 26 May 2011 20:09:45 -0400

We met in the heart of downtown Philadelphia to gather photos and video footage that could be used in the mural. The starting point for the outing was the corner of Broad and Locust. From there students formed into two groups and one headed west toward Rittenhouse Square, the other headed north toward City Hall and Love Park. The goal was to capture images of people or objects in motion as well as images of statues, buildings, and the patterns and textures of the city. The students were excited to get started and took turns using the cameras. The day was overcast but the rain held off. The outing was a success and while future sessions included gathering more images, much of the original material will be used in the final projection.

Photo

Wed, 25 May 2011 06:10:00 -0400

This photo was taken in the downtown area by a student. The...

Tue, 24 May 2011 19:52:34 -0400

This photo was taken in the downtown area by a student. The image of Ben Franklin with layers of old posters helped to shape some ideas in the mural. We decided that our animations should be layered and have historical elements that help identify Philadelphia as a primary subject.

Community Meeting about the Projection – Ellen Fishman-Johnson

Tue, 24 May 2011 19:48:00 -0400

April 8^th,2011

Mural Arts begins the planning stage for each mural with a meeting with the community to gather ideas to shape the mural. Since our projection is a one time performance and the location of the mural is in a business district, we knew this meeting might be different than most. However, we were incredibly energized by the ideas generated at this meeting. We made a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and constraints and then talked through the ideas in the room. This group of businessmen emphasized that the projection provides an opportunity to show Philadelphia as the vibrant city that it is. They asked us to go beyond the Liberty Bell and cheese steaks to show the “Urban Energy” of the city. We discussed our notes at the next class meeting and began to work around the idea of a “City in Motion.” We also brainstormed visual ideas for our photo shoot the following week.

An Idea – QR codes in the Mural– Ellen Fishman-Johnson

Mon, 23 May 2011 19:48:00 -0400

May 1, 2011

At Springside, I had a student creating QR codes for an outside event in the ViDCAST studio. Stephen, Elizabeth and I began discussing QR codes and the artistic possibilities of using the codes. Suddenly someone (don’t remember who) said, “Hey why don’t we use QRs in our projection.” We had fun imagining the image of all of the ISTE educators holding up their Smartphones (kind of like the famous photo of an audience watching a 3-D movie complete with dorky glasses). This idea is on hold until we finish the majority of the projection but have your QR app ready if we decide to go through with it!