Elk Cloner is one of the first known microcomputer viruses that spread in the wild, (outside the computer system or lab in which it was written).
It was written around 1982 by a 15-year-old high school student named Rich Skrenta for Apple II systems.
Like many of the early viruses, Elk Cloner did not cause any deliberate harm...
But it did cause annoyance: on every 50th booting the virus would display a short poem, as follows:
Elk Cloner: The program with a personality
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It will get on all your disks
It will infiltrate your chips
Yes it's Cloner!
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It will stick to you like glue
It will modify RAM too
Send in the Cloner
Artist Statement
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I have been incredibly influenced by the cultures that the internet has created. The fate of anyone can be changed with the freedom of information that is now available. People now find their favorite influences much quicker. This culture will not decay, it will only grow with enhanced technologies.
I have sought to create a time-capsule from the future. This time-capsule acts as a virus upon the realities of the human mind. Forced full of dangerous warnings and strange excitement of the things to arrive. With a sky of soot, abstracted ideals bloom unto the perplexed viewer. Will anything be understood and taken from this insistent virtual reality?
Without leaving the realm of artist foundation, I valued total experimentation with persistent themes through a fluid narrative structure. Conceived and totally constructed within one semester of school, by one artist.
Very early obscure Influences
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*****First impressions of how/where to start
*****(projects prior to elk cloner conception)
Time Capsule Narrative
NOS TAL GIA
Fly Tricycle
Lines Lines
Recursion Excursion
In-Production Influences
(reading while riding the subway)
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Book: Idoru by William Gibson (my favorite, cyberpunk nectar)
Book: Hyperion by Dan Simmons (OH-SO epic,: absolute best sci-fi! read the whole Cantos!)
Book: After Yesterday's Crash by Larry McCaffery
Book: True Mutations by R. U. Sirius
Book: Islands in the Net by Bruce Sterling
Comic: Transmetropolitian: Back on the Street by Marren Ellis & Darick Robertson
Movie: Idiocracy by Mike Judge
Movie: The Fantastic Planet by Rene Laloux
*****and of course, the glorious internet becoming cyberspace!
*****Websites: boinGboinG / Waxy / Slashdot / RealityCarnival / MetaFilter
Post-Production Thoughts
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Maya 8: middle-mouse total-freeze-to-crash. (middle-click whilst trying to zoom) let me count the times...
-----Maya still has some way to come. Really had to strap down and find some animation methods.
-----Praise the almighty deformer! Joints can bite me.
-----What surprised me about 3D animation within Maya is that your final export is merely a huge series of images. This surprised me because I assumed that Maya would export into a .mov or .avi. So I see the final export as a perfect emulation of traditional animation; even the alpha channel mimics the hand-drawn cell-shaded multi-layered traditional animation. Except that this process is much quicker and versatile within the powers of After Effects.
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After Effects 7 is beautiful. Clear and distinct in its potential. I can't imagine CS3!?
-----Easy Ease = F9. The hotkey of added spice taste!
-----I have much more to explore.
Website: CTheory / Kurzweil AI / Neural.it / Neometropolis
Artist: Zdzislaw Beksinski
Animation Method (with specifics)
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*****NOTES FROM THE WHOLE PROCESS
1: Create rough story / Don't settle for just an idea
2A: Start creation of maya modeling / deformer testing
2B: 'Photoshop + Google images' matte painting (rubber stamp!) / Color palate specifics
3: Storyboard and Script flesh out, work out kinks, finalize
4A: Request Milieu's permission to use music
4B: Record character audio narration
4C: Mix pre-final sound (editing: Final Cut Pro / tweaking: Audacity) {unused alternate-ending}
5A: Pose-to-pose keyframe animation to match sound in Maya / hypershade / render
5B: Animate photoshop characters / match sound in After Effects / further character's expressions
5C: Combine Maya final image into After Effects animation / get specifics finalized
6: Render final image in After Effects (final timeline screenshot / keyframe detail)
7: Title frame, credits, sound equalization, tweak various elements
8: Polish
9: Website creation (Flash Video Player)
*****For those who are curious and love to dig... here is an ARCHIVE of the original animation elements;
*****But only files of a reasonable size included: Photoshop unflattened .PSD's and Maya 8 polygonal models! Play!
Here are some tutorials I browsed
(found while researching techniques)
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Creating a gear and rendering it with mental ray
THE Gnomon Workshop Tutorials = WOW
Great Rigging Process
My realisation of powerful layers
3d-tutorial.com tutorials
Fluorescent
Displacement power
Male green frog
Creative Cow Tutorials 1 2 = 1337
Yafray
cmiVFX
Tons of tutorials = 1337
Maya lighting and rendering tutorials
HDRI lighting and reflections
Sunflow
After Effects render double quick
Codec Central = extra 1337
h.264 insane specifics = holy tasty, the nerd secret sause!
h.264 tutorial collection
LOVELY EXTRA FUN
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---If you still reading this, then please download the FULL QUALITY version for the highest quality experience! (485 MB)
---Wish to see it SUBTITLED? (351 MB)
------Homespun Wallpaper! (Formatted exactly for Powerbook 15")
------Lollapalooza Banner Entries (none accepted/chosen): 1 = 2 = 3 OR HQ
August 20, 2007: Submitted Elk Cloner to 21 Film Festivals! (all via Withoutabox)
AFIA Film Festival
Ann Arbor Film Festival
Athens Intl Sci-Fi & Fantasy Short Film Festival
Carolina Film and Video Festival
Cinema Society of San Diego
Cleveland International Film Festival
Florida Film Festival
Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
Gen Art Film Festival
Olympia Film Festival
Ohio Independent Film Festival
Portland International Film Festival
RiverRun International Film Festival
Sedona International Film Festival & Workshop
Smogdance Film Festival
Three Rivers Film Festival
Tiburon International Film Festival
Victoria Film Festival
Victory Media Network
Washington DC Independent Film Festival
Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival
