Labyrinth Tales, a #ds106 radio show

Labyrinth Tales promo poster, by Rockylou Productions, licensed CC BY-NC 2.0
Labyrinth Tales promo poster, by Rockylou Productions, licensed CC BY-NC 2.0

 

There were two open, online versions of #ds106 this summer:

The Burgeron Family Fairy Tale Festival
#prisoner106

Though some of us focused on one and others on the other, many of the open, online #ds106 participants came together to create a joint radio show combining themes from both summer #ds106 experiences.

The result is a fairy tale, with some themes from the tv show The Prisoner, which #prisoner106 was based on.

Labyrinth Tales Poster, by Ron Leunissen.
Labyrinth Tales Poster, by Ron Leunissen.

This show was collaboratively written and performed by:
Melanie Barker
Mariana Funes
Christina Hendricks
John Johnston
Ron Leunissen
Rochelle Lockridge
Kathy Onarheim
Vivien Rolfe
Karen Young
plus, a cameo by Christina’s son Sasha as the page who announces the princess

 

Ron Leunissen & I volunteered to edit all the bits together, but really, Ron did the bulk of the work. I did three scenes and he did all the rest! John Johnston did the whole of scene 7, the one that is only sound effects of the Princess in the labyrinth, with no dialogue.

Here is the show, which was premiered on ds106radio on Sunday, Sept. 6, 8pm UK time, during the ds106 Good Spell show. It is licensed CC BY-NC 4.0. Please credit “DS106 open players” as the creators.

 

Music credits:

Music by Viv Rolfe:

Motion Picture Plays No. 2A Allegro Agitato, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Motion Picture Plays No. 4A Misterioso e Lamentoso, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Motion Picture Plays No. 3 Agitato Misterioso, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

 

Music by Kevin Macleod (http://incompetech.com), all licensed CC BY 3.0

“Black Vortex”

“Drums of the Deep”

“Life of Riley”

“Pop Goes the Weasel”

“Suonatore di Liuto”

“Teller of the Tales”

“Unseen Horrors”

 

Sound effects credits

Many sound effects were used from freesound.org that were licensed CC0, and those are not credited here. Some sound effects were created by the collaborators on this show themselves. The following are credits for sound effects that require attribution.

These are all from http://freesound.org:

 

“Galloping Horse” by prosounder, licensed with the CC sampling plus 1.0 license

“Fanfare1,” by neonaeon, licensed CC BY 3.0

HighHeelsWendyQuick” by acclivity, licensed CC BY-NC 3.0

sw_mild_surprise” by jppi_Stu, licensed CC BY 3.0

Human-Man-Uh_Oh” by D W, licensed CC BY 3.0

“Royal Sparkle Whoosh Left to Right” by alex@vsi.tv, licensed CC BY 3.0

“Garment Rustle 1” by unreadpages, licensed CC BY 3.0

“Opening_Cardboard_Box,” by Tony Whitmore, licensed CC BY 3.0

“Rummaging through the recycling bin” by daveincamas, licensed CC BY 3.0

“Frantic Searching” by Vedas, licensed CC BY 3.0

“Footsteps 3” by Paul Messier, licensed CC BY 3.0

“Yawn 2,” by lauriesafari, licensed CC BY 3.0

“04099 Magic String Spell,” by Robinhood76, licensed CC BY-NC 3.0

“traditional_bavarian_folk_music2” by reinsamba, licensed CC BY 3.0

“Crowd in a bar (LCR)” by Leandros.Ntounis, licensed CC BY 3.0

“Drinking” by limetoe, licensed CC BY 3.0

“drinking in big gulps,” by mwmarsh, licensed with the CC sampling plus 1.0 license

“Old Man Walking,” by reinsamba, licensed CC BY 3.0

“going down quickly on an inside metal staircase”, by arnaud coutancier, licensed CC BY-NC 3.0

door_slam” by primeval_polypod, licensed CC BY-NC 3.0

Poison Spell Magic,” by qubodup, licensed CC BY 3.0

 

computer voice:

http://www.fromtexttospeech.com

 

 

 

 

Campaign video for Number 2

It’s been quite awhile ago, but for week 5 for #prisoner106 one of the assignments was to create a campaign video because we seemed to be missing a Number 2 and we might need to hold an election.

I’m treating this very belated video as a kind of final project, since for it I made:

… all of which were created specifically for this video. Yes, it took me a long time to finally finish the video, but I decided I wanted to follow through on my idea for it even if it’s very late!

 

 

The Process

  1. I did screen recordings of several clips of The Prisoner (the episodes are all found on the #prisoner106 site) to use in this video (see credits for which episodes0. Since I didn’t need audio I just used screencast-o-matic, which is a free screen recorder (though with the paid version, which is very cheap, you can avoid the watermark with the company logo on it, which I did). I thought I might want audio with one of the clips, and followed instructions here for how to use Quicktime and Soundflower on my Mac to record the screen and system audio. Problem was that I got a horrendous echo. Actually, the effect was kind of cool, but not really what I was going for. Good thing I decided I didn’t need the audio recorded, but when I do I’ll need to figure out how to do it right.

2. I was a bit stymied by how to get my animated gif into the video. I thought maybe I could just import it into iMovie and it would work, but no go. There are a number of workarounds posted on the web, but they were time consuming and didn’t seem to lead to the result I wanted anyway. So I just did a screen recording of the gif against a white background. Since I had made the gif pretty small in order to reduce the file size, it doesn’t show up very large in the video. I could have scaled it up using GIMP, but in my experience, once I try scaling something up from when it was smaller the quality goes way down.

3. The images were imported directly into iMovie and I used the “Ken Burns” effect to give them a little movement. The one with the campaign poster was a little challenging because it was so long vertically, but hopefully the panning down works okay. Images I didn’t make myself (the question marks and the number 2) were CC0 from Pixabay.

4. I recorded the voiceover audio in Audacity, where it’s much easier to edit than in iMovie, and then imported it. I wasn’t sure how to add the voiceover to the video, but selecting it and dragging it over the video put it in the right place (leaving room for background music below the video). Since the voiceover and the video weren’t synced up well, I had to cut up the imported audio and make space between the parts to sync with the video. I looked online to find out how to do that in iMovie (click on the voiceover, go to “Modify,” then “split clip”).

5. Background music came next (see credits below). I wanted the first part of the video to be a kind of “retrospective” of past Number 2’s, a bit nostalgic and somewhat sad. Then I wanted the second part, where I talk about the Village Philosopher as saving the day, to be rather over the top patriotic or heroic. Kevin MacLeod’s great site, imcompetech.com, has wonderful descriptors to help you find the right thing (the “epic” category was great for finding the second piece of music!).

6. After realizing that I had used many pieces of music from MacLeod, and that I wanted to thank him for providing such great music with a CC BY license, I went to his donate page and donated. I have decided that when I can, I usually prefer to pay for some great service or app or something rather than “paying” in other ways like having lots of data collected about me and used in ways I don’t really understand. Plus, people like him are doing a great thing and I want to say thank you!

 

Music credits:

“Stages of Grief” by Kevin MacLeod (imcompetech.com) is licensed under CC Attribution 3.0. Direct Link: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100408.

 

“Hero Down” by Kevin MacLeod (imcompetech.com) is licensed under CC Attribution 3.0. Direct Link: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100880.

Vote philosophy!

The leadership at #prisoner106 has disappeared. Number 2 hasn’t been seen for a couple of weeks. My Super True Friend I am Talky Tina filled in for a week, but now it seems to be a free for all. Participants are still making art, though, because we are #4life.

During one of the recent weeks we were to make a campaign video to run for Number 2’s spot (playing off the “Free for All” episode of The Prisoner). 

I developed an idea for one and started working on it (I made my campaign button), but then . . . I found a way out! I escaped for a week. I’m still not sure how . . . I was out for a swim, flagged down a passing boat, and managed to get away with them. Rover didn’t come after me; maybe the disarray at the top in the Village means Rover is taking a break too.

I’m not sure where we went; I just know there were glaciers! I snapped a couple of pics.

 

IMG_1555

It was a lovely time away, but then they turned on me! I woke up a week later, back in the Village. Someone must still be in charge, somewhere.

 

When I got back I was even more determined to run for office. We need someone who won’t just follow orders, who will ask questions and demand answers. Who better than a philosopher?

VoteVillagePhilosopher

The process

I used the poster design from the “Free for All” episode, adding a couple of new elements such as the button and the tag line at the bottom.

I made this using GIMP.

1. I had the head shot already from the Village information card I made during week 1. I just copied and pasted that layer onto a new image with a white background.

2. I used the Filters menu, chose Distort (I think) and then Noise Generator to add some noise to the image. I wanted it to looks a little like it had been badly photocopied and blown up. I also used the smudge tool on my hair because the edges were too stark.

3. I used the eraser tool with a “smoke” brush to do the effect of the image fading out at the bottom and on the left side (this is what the images on the posters in the episode looked like, approximately). I also did some erasing at the top of the image.

4. I added a layer with the button I made earlier.

5. Then it was just text layers with the Village font and finis.

Number 2 as anvil

In the episode of The Prisoner called “Hammer into Anvil,” Number 2 pretty much loses it by the end. One part that really intrigued me was when he was shown towards the end stroking the penny farthing. I’ve seen some suggestions online about what the penny farthing is all about in the series, and in an interview McGoohan talks about the problems with progress…it seems to maybe have something to do with an ironic statement about the progress we have achieved (not much, really, despite our advances in technology). Maybe we haven’t progressed very far morally, for example.

So with that in mind, I find it very interesting that when Number 2 loses it he ends up stroking this ironic symbol of progress, as if he thinks it’s going to be his saviour. It’s what he believes in; it comforts him.

It’s also just a creepy sequence, as I tried to capture in this gif.

HammerIntoAnvil-ThePrisoner-long-fnl

the process

I made this in GIMP.

1. I used screencast-o-matic to do a screen capture of this part of the episode while it was playing on my computer.

2. I opened it in MPEG streamclip to capture just the frames I wanted, and then used “export other formats” and “as image sequence.” I exported to jpg with 8 frames per sec I think.

3. In GIMP, I had 32 layers, and I had to repeat some of them to get him to close his eyes again after he opens them. I just reversed those layers. So by the time I was done I had many, many layers, and I wanted to reduce the file size.

4. I cut out some of the layers, every other one, for part of the sequence. When I did it for all of it then parts were too choppy.

5. I resized the image to be 400px wide.

6. I tried changing the colour mode to “indexed” before saving, but that made the finished gif even bigger than it was before. Even when I set the max colours on indexed to 100!

 

So it’s 1.5 MB as is, which isn’t too bad.

 

And just for fun…

I created two more out of this sequence.

Eyes closed:

 

HammerIntoAnvilShorter

 

Now, just the eyes opening and closing:

 

HammerIntoAnvilEyes

 

Village Philosopher Badge

This week in #prisoner106 we are to make a campaign video for running for office (the position of Number 2 seems to be unoccupied right now).

In preparation for campaigning I created a special badge for the Village Philosopher–that’s me! I need a special way to identify myself so you know whom to vote for.

I am not a number, I am a … Greek letter.

VillagePhilosopherButtonBeveled

The process

I made this in GIMP.

1. Images used, each on separate layer:

2. Scale and order layers so the phi is on top of the penny farthing. I had it under the penny farthing for awhile and was scratching my head trying to figure out how to get the Phi image to not be transparent because the wheel spokes were showing through. Oh my gosh…unbelievable…complete brain freeze not realizing it was just a matter of layer order. Yikes.

3. Add a white background layer under both image layers. Add alpha channel to that layer. Use the ellipse select tool to select a circle on the white background layer, then go to Select->invert to select everything but the circle.

4. Go to Edit -> clear to get rid of the white stuff outside the selected circle on the white layer.

5. Add bevel. Use ellipse select tool to select around the white circle on the background layer (the following will only work if something is selected, I think).

  • Use filters -> decor -> add bevel
  • I used the max size for the bevel, 30px

Done!

 

Issues

1. When I uploaded to Flickr it had a red background:
The Village Philosopher

This was very puzzling, until I learned that when an image has a transparent background, not all file types will preserve that. png does (what I saved it as), but jpeg doesn’t. Not sure what happens on Flickr, but it doesn’t show the original image in the view window. The red disappears if you go to the Flickr page and download “original.”

2. I couldn’t get the bevel to look as nice as the one on the badge on the right side of this site. There is a way to make a bevel manually, but it’s more complicated. This auto-bevel script has little in the way of customizing choices. I think there might be another GIMP script that has more.

3. I don’t know why the bevel only shows up on the right and bottom sides. Must be something built into the script?

 

Update

I tried playing with the “light and shadow” filter on GIMP, and got this one. Still not sure what to do to make the top left look like it’s standing out a bit from the background.

VillagePhilosopherButtonBeveledShadow

4 icons and I still don’t get it

Here’s a belated post for the “one story, four icons” assignment for design week in #prisoner106.

I wanted to do this assignment for an episode I just don’t understand, even after watching it twice.

Here are the icons … can you guess it before I explain below why I am still puzzled by this episode?

ThePrisonerFourIcons

WTF?

I watched this episode twice because I didn’t get it the first time. I didn’t get it the second time. And putting it into four icons didn’t help.

If you didn’t get it, it’s the “It’s Your Funeral” episode of The Prisoner, which, funnily enough, was the subject of at least two other four icon assignments this week I just discovered: one by Melanie and one by John. I love how we’ve picked different things!

What makes no sense to me is the following: Why would they involve Number 6 in the plan to get rid of the old Number 2 in the first place? If they wanted to get rid of Number 2 through the use of the watchmaker, what was the point of getting his daughter to get Number 6 involved? What did they want to do to Number 6, or have him do to others, and why?

Of course, he foiled their plans to get rid of the old Number 2, so from what I can tell there was just risk in involving him and I can’t see the possible reward.

They went through the rigamarole of recording Number 6 telling the new Number 2 about the assassination plot so they could create a film that would convince the old Number 2 that Number 6’s warning isn’t credible. But why involve him in the first place? It could all have been blamed on the jammers who, this time, weren’t joking.

I just don’t get it. Help, please?

 

At least we got to learn a new sport, and you can always tell Number 2 because he wears the white helmet and the other guy wears the black one. They both have cool shoes, though. And, as Melanie points out, Number 2 has some styling glasses.

Attributions:

  • Glasses by chiccabubble from the Noun Project
  • Helmet public domain from the Noun Project
  • Watch by Becca O’Shea from the Noun Project
  • Medal by Kris Brauer from the Noun Project