Timo Arnall » Television http://www.elasticspace.com Design, media & research Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:34:11 +0000 en hourly 1 Design for television http://www.elasticspace.com/2004/03/design-for-television http://www.elasticspace.com/2004/03/design-for-television#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2004 12:16:11 +0000 Timo http://www.elasticspace.com/2004/03/design-for-television Typographer.org / David Earls has covered the basics of design for television in a clear and accessible way. I have been meaning to write up some guidelines specific to (interactive) television, here is a start.]]> David’s reference to 18 points as the minimum size equates to 18 pixels if you are coming from a web background.

On some iTV projects I have pushed the type down to 16 pixels, but be very careful about colours and contrast, and enquire about the production path to air: if the work is going to be transferred via DV tape, squeezed through an old composite link, or online-edited with high compression, then you might want to leave type as large as possible.

In some cases – such as using white text on a red background – you can add a very subtle black shadow to the type, which will help stop colour bleed and crawling effects. Even if you dislike drop-shadow effects, it will still look flat and lovely on a broadcast monitor.

Safe areas need to be taken with a pinch of salt. The default safe areas in most editing and compositing software date from years ago before the widespread use of modern, widescreen televisions.

Try extending the safe area for non-essential text in interactive projects, and consult broadcaster guidelines for their widescreen policies: many channels now broadcast in 14:9 to terrestrial boxes, and offer options to satellite and cable viewers.

The largest problem is that widescreen viewers often crop the top and bottom of the image by setting their TV to crop 4:3 to 16:9. Some cable/satellite companies remove the left and right of the image to crop 16:9 to 4:3 for non-widescreen viewers, leaving us only a tiny, safe rectangle in the centre of the image to work with.

Robert Bradbrook (maker of Home Road Movies) has a some technical but excellent information on designing graphics for 16:9 television and film formats, including a sample safe area.

There are also excellent documents on picture standards from the BBC.

But this is one thing I don’t understand: according to the BBC: “Additional [20 or 26 horizontal] pixels are not taken into account when calculating the aspect ratio, but without them images transferred between systems will not be the correct shape.” Can anyone confirm that this is the case for PAL images?

]]> http://www.elasticspace.com/2004/03/design-for-television/feed 0 Mess TV: SMS and MMS community television http://www.elasticspace.com/2003/12/mess-tv http://www.elasticspace.com/2003/12/mess-tv#comments Thu, 18 Dec 2003 19:59:00 +0000 Timo http://www.elasticspace.com/2003/12/mess-tv I have just completed the first round of design for an interactive television application for TV Norge in Norway. The show encourages communication through SMS and MMS, while offering content tailored to an interactive environment.]]> Mess TV runs every night from around 2am until 12 noon the next day. Television is an effective way of communicating in Norway where the population is distributed evenly across a wide geographical area. The show is used by a variety of communities and individuals needing to connect.

I completely rebranded the show with a visual design that reflected the branding guidelines of TV Norge, refined the SMS and MMS interaction scenarios, and advised on linear broadcast and interactive content.

interface showing location based community services

interface showing location based community services

interface showing location based community services

Features

  • The show has a standard layout, similar to other SMS television shows, but with a high attention to detail and clean, compact layout
  • clean background colours foregrounds the messy user-generated content
  • simple use of fonts and colours to lessen the visual overload of multiple messages
  • clear divisions between different areas of content
  • MMS pictures can be submitted and displayed as part of competitions or themes

    We conducted specific audience analysis on themes and content that generated most interest, and adapted the interface to audience demands.

    Future developments

  • Location based services, personalisation and competitions
  • MMS video diaries: ability for the audience to submit diaries of community projects or daily life, and to allow for some editorial control over editing and presentation, perhaps through an online interface

    interface showing location based community services

    interface showing location based competition

    ]]> http://www.elasticspace.com/2003/12/mess-tv/feed 0 Broadcast design books http://www.elasticspace.com/2003/01/broadcast-design http://www.elasticspace.com/2003/01/broadcast-design#comments Sun, 26 Jan 2003 14:07:00 +0000 Timo http://www.elasticspace.com/2003/01/broadcast-design Pause: 59 Minutes of Motion Graphics

    Julie Hirschfeld, Stefanie Barth ed.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Anime

    Robert Klanten, Hendrik Hellige, Birga Meyer. Includes 4 ½ hours of motion graphics work on DVD, but the book itself is disappointing.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Type in Motion

    Jeff Bellantoni, Matt Woolman.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Understanding Animation

    Paul Wells.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    2-D Animation

    Jayne Pilling.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    The Animator’s Survival Kit

    Richard Williams.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    After Effects in Production

    Trish Meyer, Chris Meyer.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Creating Motion Graphics: with After Effects

    Trish Meyer, Chris Meyer.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    ]]>     http://www.elasticspace.com/2003/01/broadcast-design/feed 0     Film books http://www.elasticspace.com/2002/09/film http://www.elasticspace.com/2002/09/film#comments Mon, 23 Sep 2002 11:47:55 +0000 Timo http://www.elasticspace.com/2002/09/film Film Art

    David Bordwell, Kristin Thompson. Classic textbook, required reading.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Sculpting In Time

    Andrey Tarkovsky.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Time Within Time

    Andrey Tarkovsky.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Kieslowski on Kieslowski

    Danusia Stok, Krysztof Kieslowski. A thorough insight into Kieslowski’s process, thinking and ideology. Wonderful.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    The Art and Science of Screenwriting

    Philip Parker. Essential reading for screenwriting, not just the usual Hollywood basics.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Film Architecture

    Dietrich Neumann.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Audio Vision

    Michel Chion. Essential for anyone thinking about the interaction between audible and visible.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Directing: (Screencraft Series)

    Mike Goodridge.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    First Cut: Conversations with Film Editors

    Gabriella Oldham.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    The Director’s Journey: The Creative Collaboration

    Mark Travis.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Making Movies

    Sydney Lumet.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Film Directing: Shot By Shot

    Steven Katz.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Directing the Film

    Eric Sherman.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Making Movies Work: Thinking Like a Filmmaker

    Jon Boorstin.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    ]]>     http://www.elasticspace.com/2002/09/film/feed 0     Narrative books http://www.elasticspace.com/2002/05/narrative http://www.elasticspace.com/2002/05/narrative#comments Tue, 14 May 2002 23:43:18 +0000 Timo http://www.elasticspace.com/2002/05/narrative Hamlet on the Holodeck

    Janet H Murray.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Pause & Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative

    Mark Stephen Meadows.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Computers As Theatre

    Brenda Laurel.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    The Hero with a Thousand Faces

    Joseph Campbell.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Interactive Acting: Acting, Improvisation, and Interacting for Audience Participatory Theatre

    Jeff Wirth.
    amazon.com

    Tell Me a Story: Narrative and Intelligence

    by Roger C. Schank, Gary Saul Morson.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Understanding Comics

    Scott McCloud.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Comics & Sequential Art

    Will Eisner.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    Graphic Storytelling & Visual Narrative

    Will Eisner.
    amazon.co.uk / amazon.com

    ]]>     http://www.elasticspace.com/2002/05/narrative/feed 0     Interaction and narrative workshop http://www.elasticspace.com/2002/02/interaction-and-narrative-workshop http://www.elasticspace.com/2002/02/interaction-and-narrative-workshop#comments Mon, 11 Feb 2002 00:34:00 +0000 Timo http://www.elasticspace.com/2002/02/interaction-and-narrative-workshop Notes from a lecture given at Channel 4 in London, covering ideologies, examples, processes and practicalities in interactive narrative.]]> This lecture covers some specific ideas that are aimed at traditional designers or filmmakers that want to make narratives involving user/audience interaction.

    It was first given at Channel 4 in London, to filmmakers on the digital animation Mesh Scheme.

    ]]>     http://www.elasticspace.com/2002/02/interaction-and-narrative-workshop/feed 0     Honeysphere collaborative storytelling platform http://www.elasticspace.com/2000/02/honeysphere-collaborative-storytelling-platform http://www.elasticspace.com/2000/02/honeysphere-collaborative-storytelling-platform#comments Tue, 01 Feb 2000 19:34:00 +0000 Timo http://www.elasticspace.com/2000/02/honeysphere-collaborative-storytelling-platform In 1999 a team of six (including myself and Jack Schulze) won the London Institute Award for Innovation for a collaboration around narrative and interactive television. We researched existing web-based projects dealing with community, gaming, multi-user space, and interactive narrative.

    The project aquired an extensive archive of research material and proposed a number of design patterns that could be used for future development of collaborative television software.

    We presented our findings to the public at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2000.

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