The imagination is the limit in the University of Lethbridge’s New Media program, so “Amalgamedia” is the amalgamation of the imaginations of the program’s participants.
There will be several different projects on display at the Dr. Foster Penny building during the Amalgamedia exhibition, April 7. Projects include classic modulations of classic video games, recreation of ’60s stop motion movie film techniques, music videos, posters, an assortment of video games, home made board games and much more.
The projects will be on display, April 7 and the students themselves will be giving presentations about their work on April 8-10.
“ We have a lot of studio projects the students have been working on all semester. There is a wide variety,” said University of Lethbridge New Media professor Will Smith, adding many of the projects are interactive so you can play the games and test out virtual reality for yourself.
He is impressed with his students’ work.
“ It‘s astounding,” he said.
“There is a 15 minute music video, hand drawn motion stop animation and there’s original games and they have created and board games on the tables so people can sit down and play,” he said.
While some of the students’ ideas have been gestating for years, they have been actively working on these particular projects since Jan. 6..
“They’ve spent at least 20 hours a week over the past 13 weeks. This is the cap stone course most of them take before they graduate,” he said.
Allyson Cikor has always been interested in virtual reality.
“I wanted to play virtual reality games so I convinced my parents to buy me virtual reality goggles and I started playing around with them,” she said, adding that lead her to think about programming for virtual reality.
“I got the opportunity to do that last semester. I didn’t make a game for this presentation. I made a demo to show what you can do. There’s no controller. It’s all hands and head motion. You can use your hands to touch things in it,” she explained, estimating she put 320 hours into her demo.
“ There was a lot of programming,” she said, noting she is planning on creating a 3 D interactive online game.
“ This is really my toy box I’m playing with,” she said.
Emerson Scott incorporated his interest in pre-CGI ’60s and ’70s action movies, into his project — a short film.
“I’ve always been interested in ’60s and ’70s films where they used models,∏ he said.
“ There was a lot of work in post production. But most of the work was in pre-production, finding locations and working with actors’ schedules and working with their calendars,” he said, adding he wants to be a film maker when he graduates.
“That’s what I want to do,” said Emerson who has worked on local productions like Badlands, which was filmed in Drumheller by a group of local film makers.
Amalgamedia is a free, family-friendly exhibition which opens Friday, April 8 at 7 p.m. at the Dr. Foster James Penny Building, 324 S. 5th St. The exhibition is the end of semester showcase for new media students, which runs from April 8 – 13, is open from 1 to 5 p.m. on the weekend and 1 – 4:30 pm weekdays.
On Saturday, April 9 and Sunday, April 10 the public is invited to view a wide range of student presentations, time-based artwork, original games and motion-capture animations.
Saturday, April 9 Presentations
Allyson Cikor- Project IKIRYO, narrative with VR controllers, using Oculus Rift, Mixing High Fantasy and Cyber
Court Davies - Rocket Knight Recreation, sidescroller recreating the beginning level of old game with original contributions; “Rocket Knight Adventures” standalone
Tory Christensen - Project Citadel, environment of futuristic 3d castle with furniture/assets
Stefie Simms - TACC TV, MMOG game [artwork, marketing]
Ian Wong - NovaWolfPrimePlays, gameplay channel youTube
Jesze Kaszas - Project Cheeseboy, “Snowman Sidescroller” [game] standalone
Ayden Broadhead - Amalgamedia, poster series utilizing historical methods of composition
Alex Gimson - Veilia, Story-driven exploration/adventure game using the UnReal engine
Phil Rockerbie - Daybreak, architectural projection mapping
Sunday, April 10 Presentations & Festival
Motion Capture Festival - 8 mocap animations, and 4 time-based standalones
Scott, Emerson - Balalaika, short film homage to 1960s movies using Miniatures
Ehrler, Eric - This Grand Life, animation 5-10 min, mixing media
Bird, Dion - Find Your Passion, 8.5-min motion graphics experiment using moving text
Dapilos, Alinar - Grind Now/Cry Never, 15-min music video
