Logo and brand design

These days i have been doing the logo design. I consider using ‘THE SIGH’ as my site name and branding. I use so many fonts to design my logo, finally i chose Verdana font, it is good looking and suits my project. Also i use a light green circle around the text and dark green as background colour to highlight my logo. The text colour is white, i think it is clear design and it has good feature making people think of crop circle stuff. Anyway, it is my first rough design.

Narrative story telling

Everything surround us is narrative, every event happened to us is narrative. We know this world by narrative way, we shape our knowledge and memory in narrative way. We are so familiar with narrative things, but still, as a question, it is hard to answer, what is narrative?

In the book <Fim’s Art>, it says, ‘narrative is a chain of events in cause-effect relationship accurring in time and space.’ ‘things begin with one situation, a series of changes accurs according to a pattern of cause and effect. Finally, a new situation arises/brings about the end of narrative.’

So, clearly, we know that in narrative, there are two key things: time and space, cause and effect. When we discribe a thing to someone, we will tell them when it happened, where it happened, how it began, how it developed and how it ended. This is so easy a narrative way for people to understand. Moreover, people pay more attension to the how it developed, that’s plot of the story. Why is a story so interesting? “The plot may arrange cues in ways that withhold information for the sake of curiosity and surprise. Or the plot may supply information in such a way as to create expectations or increase suspence.” That ’s the point behind narrative, why we enjoy story telling so much, since we were kids.

The crop circle game

When i was doing research about my project, i found a crop circle game. I played it for several times and get tired of it. I have to say, it is quite boring game. The users pretend to be the farmers, for every stage, farmers follow the fix route the gain the points, at the mean time it will draw a diagram or grahpic that looks like a crop circle. Every stage has different grapics, and it is becoming more difficult. The whole feeling is the game is too simple, and it doesn’t show much about the crop circle, it just give people fun of making a similar image as crop circle. I think it can be improved a lot, from the content to de design, i wish i will be done better than this.

      

About the movie

“Colleen Hess (Kalember) is killed in a car accident. Her husband, Graham Hess, (Gibson) is a minister, family man, and after her death, Hess lost his faith and quit his job. Six months later, Graham is living with his brother Merill (Phoenix) and two children, (Culkin and Breslin) living in rural Buck County. When they wake up one day, they discover 500-foot long crop circles in their front-yard. The kids think it is extra-terrestrials, Merill think it’s pranksters, and Graham is not quite sure. But when weird noises and movements, terrifying news reports and one of the kids buys an alien-based book, the Hess family realizes that it just might be aliens…” Cited from IMDB.com

“Signs” takes place in rural Pennsylvania, 45 miles outside of Philadelphia. Gibson plays Graham Hess, a man who lives on a big farm with his two young children and his younger brother (Joaquin Phoenix). We eventually learn that Graham’s wife recently died in an accident.

One morning Graham wakes up to find huge crop circles have appeared in his vast cornfields. Soon the family dog tries to attack Graham’s daughter, but his son (Rory Culkin) manages to save her. That night Graham looks out the window and observes a strange human-like figure.

Next day the Hess family sees television news reports of crop circles having been found in India. Then Graham’s son uses a baby monitor to pick up trilling noises that could be some form of communication. When Graham goes outside his house that evening, he hears similar trilling noises and catches a fleeting glimpse of a leg disappearing into the tall corn. Later, the Hess family watches TV and sees a live feed of unidentified air vehicles hovering over Mexico City.

As the Hess family struggles to come to grips with the mysterious events they find themselves caught up in, we gradually learn more about Graham. He used to be a reverend, although the film never identifies his denomination. But since Graham’s wife was killed six months ago, he has stopped wearing his clerical collar and tells people not to call him “Father.” Indeed, Graham has lost his faith.

With all signs pointing to an impending invasion by extraterrestrial aliens, Graham must protect his family as best he can. And his problem is immediate because of indications that extraterrestrials are already present in his area. The film then goes on to show how Graham deals with the threat from the extraterrestrials at the same time he grapples with his crisis of faith.

I think the best thing about “Signs” is the atmosphere of ominous dread that Shyamalan creates. Even though I was at home, I almost jumped out of my seat a couple of times while watching it. I also enjoyed the film’s humorous touches, and I found Mel Gibson to be very charming in the role of Graham Hess.

Some circular stories and facts

Eye-witnesses: There are around two dozen eye-witness accounts of crop circles forming. All describe similar events; an invisible force coming out of nowhere in otherwise calm conditions and spinning the crops down within seconds, usually with surprising violence – yet little damage is found in the laid crop. Tornado-like funnels, light phenomena and high-pitched whistling sounds have also been reported.

Quick on the draw: In July 1996, a 915′ spiral of 151 circles appeared in full view of the busy A303 road, opposite England’s ancient monument Stonehenge, Wiltshire, within a 45 minute period one Sunday afternoon. A pilot, gamekeeper and security guard confirmed it had not been there before 5.30pm – yet shortly after 6.00pm, the massive formation was spotted. Much smaller man-made designs have taken several hours to complete.

Longest crop formation: This occurred at Etchilhampton, Wiltshire, in 1996 – a chain of circles and pathways approximately 4100′ long crossed from one end of a field to another.Most circles in one formation: The record is currently held by a motif at Windmill Hill, Wiltshire, in 1999 – 288 small circles made up a cross design held within a standing square.

Largest expanse of laid crop in one design: The seven-petalled mandala which appeared at Alton Barnes, Wiltshire, in 1998 contained an unbroken flattened area 300′ across.Most geometrically perfect formation: Most would agree that the formation at Windmill Hill, Wiltshire, in 1996 takes this award – an endless procession of perfect equilateral triangles, from large to small, could be drawn by overlaying geometrical shapes onto a 1000′ triple-armed spiral of 194 circles. If just one of the main circles or arms had been even slightly misplaced, this geometry would not have worked.

Most visited formation: Stonehenge, 1996 – it is estimated around 10,000 people entered this pattern, very visible next to such a major landmark. Most publicised formation: Alton Barnes, 1990 – many global newspapers and TV stations reported the appearance of this, the first of the large pictograms.

Scientific tests: Work by Dr W C Levengood, a respected Michigan-based biophysicist, has shown notable biological changes taking place inside circle-laid stalks, which could be attributable to some kind of microwave energy. No man-made test formation has ever produced these results, yet 90% of the hundreds of crop circles sampled have proved positive in this regard. Dr Levengood?s papers have been published in scientific journals. In 1995, tests on crop formation soil samples were conducted by ADAS, a division of the English Ministry of Agriculture. Although preliminary, they showed distinct anomalies in the nitrogen/nitrate ratios which could not be explained. There have been other scientific tests carried out by different bodies over the years which have produced peculiar unexplained qualities.

Strange effects: There have been many reported effects on people?s health, sometimes of cures, sometimes of ailments, which have come on while within crop circles. Electronic and mechanical equipment, videos cameras and even combine harvesters have also been known to malfunction in very odd ways, far above the average one would expect from chance.

Information and knowledge about Crop Circle

Today, i found a really useful website talking about the Crop Circle phenomenon, it is a
official website of Glastonbury Syposium organization. (http://www.glastonburysymposium.co.uk/index.htm) The Glastonbury Symposium is the world’s longest-running crop circle-related gathering. Held in the unique environs of mystical Glastonbury in Somerset, England, the Symposium has grown and evolved massively since its very first event in the upper room of the Blue Note Cafack in 1990. In case of using these information, i just cite them here:

-About Crop Circle:

“Huge, complex and beautiful patterns are being found swirled into crop fields around the world every year. Their origin and purpose remains a complete mystery. Despite attempts to dismiss them as the work of human artists, some believe the evidence points to a much stranger explanation. Wherever they come from, these spectacular designs often display very clear symbolism, scientific, esoteric and astronomical, and demonstrate some extraordinary unexplained effects.”

“How many appear?Around 250 crop designs around the world appear each year on average. Several thousand have been documented since records began.

Where do they appear?Crop circles are a global phenomenon, but predominantly appear in the Northern Hemisphere with Southern England as the main centre of activity, particularly Wiltshire.

When do they arrive?Off-season formations have occurred, but most appear during the three main summer months of any given country.

What crops do they appear in?Any crop can be a potential target for the phenomenon: wheat, barley and oilseed rape (canola), as the main crops grown, are the most common in England, at least, but they have also been reported in rye, oats, flax, peas, potatoes, sweetcorn maize and many other mediums, including rice paddy fields in Japan. Formations have also been found in wild grass and undergrowth.”

-A brief history of Crop Circle:

“When two retired English pranksters, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, claimed in 1991 to have invented the crop circle phenomenon as a joke a decade or so earlier, they couldn’t have been aware that almost 300 documented formations predated their alleged exploits. Reports go back centuries and a seventeenth century illustration even shows the figure of the Devil creating what certainly looks like the type of marking in fields which began to attract serious attention from the 1980′s onwards.

Swirled into growing crops, these circular indentations of carefully flattened stems looked at first like the result of freak whirlwinds. Some were a few feet across, but others were the size of tennis courts. It wasn’t long before the appearance of symmetrical patterns and other unusual variations began to throw the weather theories into doubt.

By the late 80′s, rapidly increasing numbers and seemingly evolving designs, still based largely on circles, had begun to capture the public imagination. Tantalised by reports of glowing lights and other bizarre phenomena associated with the circles, everyone from UFO buffs to eminent scientists was trying to unravel the mystery.

In 1990, the arrival of ‘pictograms’, long symbolic chains of circles, rectangles and rings gave the crop circles their place in history. Newspapers and television channels eagerly reported these astonishing patterns. But the claims of Doug and Dave and other supposed hoaxers soon left the media disillusioned.

Despite this, crop formations continue to be discovered in designs of growing sophistication and size which leave many convinced that there is an unexplained force at work.”

-And some background theories and evidence:

“There has been intense debate over the circles’ origins. Some believe they are communications from Extra-Terrestrials, pointing to the many sightings and videos of aerial phenomena seen in connection with formations. Others feel the lights may be the properties of an unknown natural energy which produces complex ground patterns. Others still have cited everything from Mother Earth to nature spirits being responsible. Experiments with the power of the mind have suggested it is possible to influence the creation of certain shapes, leading some to believe psychic forces are involved.

Beyond this, most other popular explanations for the crop circles have revolved around human activity, either involving satellite technology or, more usually, the simple actions of pranksters and landscape artists. However, in demonstrations, human teams have struggled to reproduce designs as geometrically complex as many seen in the fields or have taken many hours to produce anything approaching them. Certain formations have been shown to have appeared within very short periods of time and the geometrical calculation and construction required for some simply could not be carried out in one night.

Some of the patterns have shown breathtaking symbolic qualities. In 1994, several galaxy-shaped glyphs displayed a conjunction of planets over the star constellation Cetus as it will be in April 2000, and in 1995 an accurate diagram of the Earth’s inner solar system was discovered. Other shapes have been more obscure, but may yet be interpreted.Work by laboratories on circle-affected crop has shown biological changes taking place at a cellular level, suggesting the involvement of microwave energy. Other physical tests have shown anomalies not yet replicated by man-made experiments. These, together with the lights, eye-witness accounts, reports of malfunctioning electronic equipment and health effects on people visiting circles, suggest the phenomenon should be looked at more closely.

Whether the crop formations are warnings, messages of greeting or abstract doodles remains to be seen. As they amaze and frustrate in equal measure with their stunning beauty, no doubt they will continue to create further controversy.”

Online Research

(1)http://www.williamgazecki.com/cropcircles.html

This is a website about the film maker of a film called ‘Signs’. They wrote down in it: ‘Quest For Truth is a fascinating examination of the exquisite geometric patterns that have been appearing for years in fields all over the world. The phenomenon fascinates the public, regularly making news headlines and also was the subject of last year’s hugely successful feature film Signs, directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Mel Gibson. In Crop Circles, director William Gazecki takes the exploration from fiction to fact, drawing some shocking conclusions as he offers a rare glimpse into the inner sanctum of scientists studying crop circle formations. Visually stunning cinematography shot on location enhances this feature-length documentary which includes rare footage and interviews with leading researchers. ‘

(2)http://www.stateoftheart.nl/phenomenon/index2.html

This site is about some mysterious and unexplained phenomenon in the world, they offer some images, news and reports about the crop circle, but this site put this phenomenon in strange way such as Alien stuff, quite interesting an website.

(3)http://www.cropcircle-archive.com/

One of the commercial usages of crop circle, they sell stuff and goods with crop circle graphic.

(4)http://www.x-cosmos.it/cropcircles/

A very detailed information about crop circle events, time, location, type, some photos and diagram, very clear, good resource!

(5)http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/forum/

A famous forum for people to exchange their ideas and thoughts about crop circle, also offering some news, articles and research analysis about these events. People ‘s opinions about the issue are useful for my research.

(6)http://www.partyvibe.com/archaic/crop/2005.html

OXFORDSHIRE CROP FORMATIONS OF 2005, not very useful….:(

(7)http://www.lucypringle.co.uk/photos/2006/jun.shtml

Here i found some good images and diagrams of crop circle, because these crop circle are too far from here, only i can refer and use their photos in my project, thanks to these researchers’ work.

(8)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_circle

Wikipedia, what a great encyclopedia! I always find out what i don’t know or don’t understand here, so crop circle!

(9)http://alien-ufos.com/

Aliens make the crop circle? I am not sure, let’s take a look here.

(10)http://www.cropcircleinfo.com/

Also some useful information and resource of crop circle phenomenon. .

Getting Started

It is the time to start doing my master project–the real final one and the most difficult one. We have been learing a lot about the practical skills and related theory of interactive media, also with some experience and knowledge about interactive media project management. So i think i am more confident now to finish my final project by myself, but obviously, with help of my supervisor and other staff. As i presented my master project proposal in the project presention, i have been thinking doing a interactive online product of a crop circle topic. I have been doing some background research both online and offline, i found that there were lots of information about this subject, but, not much stuff in interactive way to explore more experience about crop circle. So i consider using some flash stuff to make some interactive games, or to show some interactive stories telling people more about this phenomenon. I think this idea will be great, let’s do it!

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