Thoughts on installation:

On installation there was a suggestion the animation had lost some of it’s visual impact relative to the uncut version. This may be because:

In the remake I have kept the glucose molecules/lancet caps directly proportional to the glucose content of the food in question. This reduces the glucose molecules/lancet caps/impact for some foods, such as bread. The animation is essentially aimed at being an educational resource, and these changes were made to hone if for its informative purpose.

I have limited the number of glucose molecules/lancet caps. The current thinking about the management of Diabetes mellitus type 1 is insulin should be matched to and administered with the consumption of the determined amount carbohydrate. In the animation we see 7 foods releasing their carbohydrate load but no release of insulin. If the visual field of the animation had become overwhelmed by glucose, in the absence of insulin, I believe many Health Care Professionals (HCPs) suspension of rational belief would (quite rightly) rupture. Again, as the primary purpose of the animation is education then it needs to be endorsed by the ‘powers that be’ and not rub against the grain of their (very clear) message. The very fact that the insulin is not introduced until the very end of the video is sailing rather close to the (off-message) wind. I imagine this is probably how the animation is received by HCPs in the USA.

Finally, I do not believe there is any lost of visual impact between the rough cut and the animation for the Final Show, if anything the lancet caps are more animated engaging in the processes of eating, exploding, crawling, eating again, pushing and shoving, and eating whilst producing a rising sea of glucose molecules/lancet caps. If the glucose molecules/lancet caps were allowed to chaotically escape their boiling morass then confusion of the visual field and the message would be the only result.

Final sequences and Improvements:

Lancet Chaos: To emphasis a sense of rising crisis and chaotic movement of the lancet caps/glucose molecules I will extend the glucose moving into the bloodstream sequence. This sequence will most probably need to be remade. I had left spaces at the margins, devoid of lancet caps, into which I could digitally introduce cell boundaries. This will not be so easily to keep and is probably undesirable given the need for a sense of increased lancet caps and movement. I think the best way to do this will be to crop the sequence I already have and keep the visual field smaller and more tightly packed before increasing it again in the “Insulin is the key”. The only way to find out which way will be most effective is to make them – time permitting & both variants my be useful. . .

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Arrival of insulin: In the rough-cut version of the animation insulin was administered using an insulin pen. Gavin suggested the even though he knew what it was the silver wand was it does not explain itself and it’s function might not be clear to all viewers. I have decided to replace it with a more traditional insulin syringe (that I also carry in my armoury). The insulin syringe in the animation will hopefully synergise with syringe drawn on the wall in “What keeps you going?”

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Insulin is the key: Into the morass of lancet caps/glucose molecules the syringe will deliver insulin. The insulin was visualised using cardboard cut out keys in the rough-cut animation. The key motif was used in the education classes I attend ended during my week of DAFNE training. I think it its a good motif to use hear but agree with Tania’s suggestion the images will be stronger using real keys (I have collection of these) instead of drawn keys. Once released the insulin key will out to the edge of the visual field as the camera pans out they will insert in the bounding membrane of cells (previous just beyond the periphery of the visual field).

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Simple message 1: Before trailing into the digital cells the lancet caps/glucose molecules gradually and somewhat chaotically assemble to will spell out the mess “Insulin helps cells take up glucose”. This presents an intriguing problem as I have considerably improved the clarity of the lettering (relative to the rough cut version) by making the literal parts of the animation in reverse. This perhaps one of the most important parts of the animation and the message, I believe, need to be of comparable clarity.

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Simple message 2: Once the glucose molecules have entered the cells and all but disappeared. From the darkness they will spell “Glucose gives cells energy” before vanishing. Only to reappear and spell out my email address.

Epilogue – meaning of the white dots: For the exhibition I link a series of the animations to play in succession, to avoid the big rotating arrow problem of the pause while the media play reset and starts again. The number I can link to peter will be determined empirically as the more data on the disk the longer the media play spend scanning the disk when it restarts. Ideally every, say 5, runs of the animation I would like include a short video of one of my blood tests to demonstrate the origin of the lancet caps – time permitting.

Post production. Certain part of the animation will need digital processing. At the moment I am uncertain the extent of the postproduction phase. I may experiment with the inverting some of the sequences.

Sound. I have consider applying different sort of sound to the video. I have spoken to a drummer regarding the recording of co-ordinated “fast taps and crashes” soundtrack. I also spoke to some ‘underground film’ people and university lecture about recording sounds and the legality of using other peoples music. The answer to that latter question was it would only become an issue if was a massive commercial success she he thought unlikely.

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Screen shot of the post production process in Adobe After Effects.