I decided, though, that my skills might be employed in supporting the effort in a different way. I volunteered to make a music video of one of the songs to post on youtube.com to support the cause.
Here is where you might come in, if you are so inclined.
As readers of this journal will know, I enjoy collaboration and quirky expressions of creativity.
I enjoy them so much that I still intend, someday, to finish the rose meme, which remains stalled out mid-rose-bush, before I have presented each and every fragrant blossom. But today I come seeking GIFS.
I am hunting for volunteers to provide GIFs to be used in an animated video I am going to create. I will provide you with the song title, and then each volunteer will provide me with a series of GIF
drawings, 30 or so, which will be used to create one section of the animated film.
To create GIFS useful for me is simple. I'll give you the song title I choose. Then you'll send me GIFs with which to build an animation. If you wish to build the actual GIF animation, then feel free. But I am perfectly happy if you draw 30 GIF pictures which I will then animate. As you might expect, each of your GIFs should be derived from the prior one, so that the "card flipping" aspect of animation gives the look of a cartoon when you put them all together.
My film "Plant Invaders" is a primitive sample, located at:
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0hC9UDGGcw
I am not particularly worried that your GIFs be of high artistic quality. My only concern is that they be suitable for adults or children to see, and that they be your own intellectual property, and not someone else's. I want original creations only.
I dislike fiddling with copyright issues, so if you agree to participate, then by so agreeing you license the GIFs under a Creative Commons Attribution license. You can figure out what this means by going to http://www.creativecommons.org. My goal in seeking this license is that anyone, anywhere, could use your GIF for anything, provided they gave you a proper credit. Your GIF is your gift to the world.
Is 30 GIFs too overwhelming? Not to worry. You may choose the lesser quest of 1 GIF, and I will then inexpertly modify it to create the rest.
When do I need it? I want you to turn it in one week from when you get the song title. You'll have the song title by Saturday.
Can I be more specific about what to draw? No. I will give you a song title, and the whole fun is your creativity.
Can you make a longer animation than 30 frames? Sure. If we run over, we'll merely do another song, even if the GIFs are an imperfect "fit".
and last, but not least, the newbie question: "how do I make a GIF?". In Windows, use MS Paint or Corel Draw, and save the resulting drawing as a GIF. In Apple, they have a similar drawing program, whose name eludes me, but it is not iPod.
Want to play? Send me a message that says: "Yes! I want to make a GIF for progeria! Send me the song title! I will promptly respond! I will license you the resulting work of pure genius under a Creative Commons attribution license! I will put in the e mail which encloses it how to credit me in the video! Frabjous Day! Calooh! Calay!
I look forward to working with the intrepid volunteers!
from Simon Waldram:
"I have an instrumental album called 'Songs Without Words' which I planning to expand and sell on CafePress. I plan to give all the proceeds to charity, and hopefully that charity is going to be the Progeria Research Foundation.
I'm looking for contributions for this, so if you have any interesting instrumental pieces I can build on: drones, bass lines, ambient stuff, keyboard parts...anything, then please note me or send them directly to Simon_Waldram@hotmail.co.uk. You will of course recieve a writing credit but due to the non-profit nature of the CD I won't be able to pay you. Please get in touch if you feel you can help in any way.
And if anyone would like to donate a complete song that would be fantastic as I perfectly happy to give the album a group name with a credits to as many performers who end up playing on it".