Far be it from me to revel in a bit of html5 tech geekery – but airing enthusiasm for that in a pro public arena, strangely seems uncomfortable – culturally incompatible with being a real creative. Even so – bear with me while I live dangerously for one blog post.
I remember going to a Frankfurt Motor show some years back (now rebranded ‘international’ and held in Munich). It was a massive – a good day’s workout – with endless halls with gleaming ‘Blech’ on rotating stands. I had produced CGI style stock imagery, which was selling very well (those were the days) and I was looking out for my print work in brochures and stands .
‘Blech’ is a rather contemptuous German term referring to automobiles. This is a piece of German-irony reserved for certain occasions, since cars and car manufacture were then, and remain the pride of the nation. Blech is sheet metal – but it is also reference to cans, as in disposable cans, which get chucked in the trash after you have decanted your baked beans.
The furthest thing on my mind while wondering around that days was irony – the audience and staff were like the cars – up to date, well groomed, stylistically well presented and a general feeling of health and wholesomeness prevailed. It was a picture of modernity and the future, as envisaged by artists in the 30’s was manifest. All that was missing was flying cars filling the cityscape around us.
Then, in my thoroughness to check out every display, I made a turn into a gigantic sub ground level floor in one of the major buildings. This was where the technical support stuff was being presented. Tools and garage equipment. Endless rows of auto body repair equipment – jacks, trailers, hand tools, paint and so on.
But most noticeable, were the people down there. These were a different subterranean race of people with twisted expressions, odd shaped skulls and strange Neanderthal bodies in ill fitting clothes. Modernity here was an HG Wells ‘Time Machine‘ and this basement was where the Morlocks lived and died. If felt weird and dreamlike – as if one had been transported to a foreign country. And yet all one had to do was go up the steps to one of the exits to the streets – look out and the normal people and then turn around again and look back into the hall, to reassure oneself that this was not some mind switch perception aberration.
These people did not mind that they did not look attractive. They did not even try control their facial expressions to offset any the potential stigma. They did not mind that the objects of their interests were mechanical ugly too. They were into their equipment which lifted things – tore holes in other things – and such like. And that was simply it.
This was my epiphany – this is what it means to be a member of a tech underclass. One can choose which world one wants to belong to – but even in regimented Germany, never the twain shall meet.
Anyhow – back to HTML5 animation. Now that put this site together and found that I am forced most of the time to use MP4 for my ‘behind the scenes’ animation sequences, I hearken back to animating these things with HTML5. It is not that novel technically but it is still a minority thing. Much less to download – much smoother (frame rates limited only by your graphic card) – much less need for damaging image compression. I am a Morlock for a moment – I don’t even care. Maybe even I liked it. I might talk about the assignment some other time.
