thenumber creative in Victoria, BC

Creative Thinking – Dove

admin — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 00:59:47 +0000

I saw the above commercial while at the movies earlier this week and it completely caught me off guard. When was the last time you saw a commercial featuring a visually impaired person that wasn’t for a charity or medication? Or any other disability? Ever?

Now, the morals of this in a marketing context may be debatable (exploitation vs. empowerment), but the statement is a refreshing and positive idea either way. Hearing a blind woman’s perspective and relationship to colour reminds the sighted that we don’t own those feelings. Colour is not simply light and pigment, but experience.

In design, colour is probably the easiest device to associate with emotion. But can you flip that? I’m now really interested in the challenge of how I can arouse a vision of colour through texture, shape, sound, etc. Can I write a song that makes someone picture a vivid blue sky?

Further to that, the commercial reminded me of this must-watch TED Talk I listened to while on a road trip a couple years ago. Caroline’s speech in that really stirred me (read: broke me down into a sobbing mess). Looking out across the stunning vistas of Northern California, I began questioning my whole relationship with sight. I’m a designer, photographer and videographer by trade, but out of passion. How could I continue these things without my sight? Would I be strong and resilient and work around my disability, or would I move on to new passions? How would I cope?

Above all, it’s just really exciting that potentially millions of other people are having this same dialog.

-Aaron

Processing – Audio and Beat Reaction

admin — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:20:59 +0000

I was treading through Behance earlier today and somehow came across this beautiful video piece by Diana Lange. She uses the Processing language/environment to first parse the audio into a text file full of data points matching amplitudes to frames. Then she translates that data into these beautiful spirographic shapes that flow and dance with the music.

I played around with Processing a few months ago, and really loved how quickly I could make tangible visual programs. I even had some MIDI I/O functions running, which was really exciting. This has sparked my interest in picking it up again and trying to make some more complicated works. Especially since Diana has tutorials for how she made this on her Vimeo.
-Aaron

Into the Thicket

admin — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 17:57:55 +0000

I gave up on trying to skateboard back when I was in college. I finally accepted that I’m just not coordinated enough (and too afraid of hurting myself) to ever get any good. But I’ve remained a quiet fan of skateboarding since. Chris Long showed me this trailer for an upcoming video by Sitka, filmed here on the island, and I’m super excited to see more of it. Skating an idyllic mini-ramp in the middle of the woods is like utopia. I can only imagine how much fun these guys had filming this. Kevin (our newest team member here) tells me they shot some of it on quadcopters, which is something we’ve all been wanting to try at the office for a while. So many of our dreams in one video!

And if you like that, you should watch this other mini-ramp video also featuring Vancouver skater Chris Haslam.
-Aaron

Amazing Lego Machine

admin — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 04:17:49 +0000

It took a triple take for us to actually “get” this… yes, it’s machine that sorts Lego peices.

Made out of Lego.

>mind blown<

‘Malaise Era’ by Balacade

admin — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:54:25 +0000

Local Victoria songwriter Andrew Reynolds quietly released his latest record under the Balacade moniker this fall. Malaise Era at first sounds like much of Balacade’s catalog of moody bedroom pop songs and hushed lullabies. Except he’s stepped up at every level: tighter songwriting, sharper production, lusher arrangements.
While his last album read like a love letter to the Washington state and Twin Peaks, he seems to have turned inward on this record. It’s definitely full of heartbreak, but executed with such charm it never turns bleak or pathetic.

It’s the perfect companion for the wet, grey, blanketing winters of Victoria. Had I made a more complete list of favourites from 2012, this would have definitely ranked in my top 5. Pairs well with: your favourite blanket, a cup of tea, loneliness, cold feet, and sleepless nights. -Aaron

History of Nintendo

admin — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 01:06:35 +0000

We love motion graphics and animation. We love video games. We have a certain fondness for Busy P. Of course we love this! But where’s the Virtual Boy?

thenumber 2012 in review

admin — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:23:11 +0000

It’s been a fun year. There have been a few changes, some new faces, tons of work that we’re proud of, a brand new office in Rock Bay and lots of great new clients. Needless to say, we’re extremely excited about 2013 – there are some great new projects that we’re eager to work on and there’s a really promising staff bathroom cleaning schedule we’re amped to start enforcing… but in the meantime, we thought we’d recap a few things that made our 2012 great. So here are those things in a list type thing. Thing.

Scott Milligan – front end web

a song → Tame Impala “Be Above It”

an album → Mount Eerie Ocean Roar

a book → I re-read every Harry Potter book this year. Also I read Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, but mainly Harry Potter.

a movie → I also re-watched every Harry Potter movie this year. I am hesitant to calculate the quotient of my year that has officially belonged to J.K. Rowling

fave work-related thing from 2012 → Still Life was one of the first places I started shopping as an autonomous teenager with expendable income, so building their site and watching it fill up with cool pictures and attractive clothing is pretty great

fave non-work related thing from 2012 → Running shirtlessly among giant boulders at sunset in Joshua Tree National Park

Aaron Bergunder – creative director

a song → 2 Bears “Bear Hug” & Loose Joints “Tell You”

an album → Dirty Projectors Swing Lo Magellan, Ladyhawk No Can Do, Hot Chip In Our Heads

a book → Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami

a movie → 50/50 sometimes you just need to cry in public…

fave work-related thing from 2012 → There were plenty of really amazing moments while making RifflandiaTV, but Vickers’ E.T. inspired bike stunt while filming “That Rifflandia Feeling” might top them all. For a brief moment I felt like I was making America’s Funniest Home Videos, and it was a dream come true. I even tried to convince him to do a second take. Vickers’ confidence going in really had me sold that he could do it. Instead, I think he was pretty lucky he was only sore for a couple days.

fave non-work related thing from 2012 → Hot Chip at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. Waited 6 years to see that show and it was still better than anything I could have expected.

Will McFarland – web developer

a song → The Nathaniel X Project “Jer & Iz”

an album → Celer Panoramic Dreams Bathed In Seldomness

a movie → TV but nonetheless, Adventure Time is one of the best things that’s ever happened to my LCD

fave work-related thing from 2012 → Getting my start making things @ thenumber!

fave non-work related thing from 2012 → Tying the knot with the love of my life was pretty great

Chris Nohr – director

a song → Destiny’s Child “Bootylicious”

an album → fuck albums, I discovered songza this year

a book → the Bernadine guide to canning

a movie → Midnight In Paris (technically 2011, but I watched it this year)

fave work-related thing from 2012 → Moving to thenumber the pirate castle, allowing everyone more then their submarine-style 4 feet of desk at our old office. The great people that joined us this year.

fave non-work-related thing from 2012 → Had another baby, and he sleeps through the night!

Mark Garrison – account manager

an album → John K. Samson Provincial

a book → Survival In The Killing Fields by Haing Ngor – an autobiographical account of life in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge

fave work-related thing from 2012 → Coming back to Victoria and rejoining a great group of creatives

fave non-work related thing from 2012 → Motorcycle trip along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in rural Vietnam

Julia Gummo – video production

a song → Purity Ring “Obedear”

an album → Bahamas Barchords

a book → The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

fave work-related thing from 2012 → Joining thenumber creative this fall was pretty amazing. Even greater is the new assortment of nicknames I’ve been given by the whole team… sometimes it’s hard to remember what my real name is.

fave non-work related thing from 2012 → Accidentally finding a secret entrance to the sold-out Patrick Watson show – turned out to be one of the greatest concerts I’ve seen in a long time!

Lewis Dupuis – front end web

a song → Captain Murphy & Earl Sweatshirt “Between Friends”

an album → Tame Impala Lonerism

a movie → Wreck It Ralph

fave work-related thing from 2012 → Getting my awesome new desk

fave non-work related thing from 2012 → The world not ending (fingers crossed)

Chris Long – account manager

a song → Hrdvsion “Prettier Than That [Hrdvsion Remix]”

an album → Daphni Jialong

a book → On Some Faraway Beach by David Sheppard – a biography of Brian Eno

a movie → not seeing The Hobbit

fave work-related thing from 2012 → Making the Hyperlinx video for RiffTV. I do not consider myself a “visual” person, my knowledge is in the audio realm. But within a couple of months of being hired at thenumber, I was filming on a rooftop in LoPan & feeling like I actually might be doing alright at it (mainly due to Mr. Bergunder’s expert coaching).

fave non-work related thing from 2012 → releasing my second EP of original music for people to dance to, Bounce 4 Life

Our Neighbourhood: Rock Bay

admin — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 23:16:58 +0000

The Point Ellice Bridge

Rock Bay’s origins set root in the 1800s when it was built as part of Victoria’s then downtown core. The backbone of the area’s day-to-day activities were heavy industrial processing: sawmills, coal gasification, asphalt, propane and a concrete were all heavily present through the area’s formative period.

Through the latter half of the 19th century, the Point Ellice Bridge, rooted in the Rock Bay area, stood as the main structural artery connecting Victoria’s downtown core to Vic West. But on May 26, 1896 a streetcar filled with 143 commuters collapsed the bridge, crashing into the harbour, killing 55 people (at the time, the worst transit accident in Canadian history). Despite the tragedy tied to the name, Point Ellice House still stands in the Rock Bay area as a historical museum and garden and in the place of Point Ellice Bridge now stands the Bay St. Bridge.

2725 Rock Bay

The building at 2725 Rock Bay was built by Stephen Daniel Pope, one of British Columbia’s most prominent educators. In 1904, he created Queen’s Academy, a school for young girls. In 1907, to accommodate the growing number of students, a second school was built adjacent to the the first. Despite Pope’s passing in 1910 (and the subsequent closing of Queen’s Academy), the second school building still stands at 2725 Rock Bay Avenue – it’s where thenumber creative holds it’s offices today.

The young students of Queen’s Academy standing outside the first school building at 78 Henry Street. Queen’s Academy 1904-1910.

Drying the awnings!

2725 Rock Bay

Push

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:17:34 +0000

You may or may not know that three of us here at thenumber spend our time off producing electronic music. And as much as we daydream of being analog heads, we know we can’t live without Ableton Live. So the announcement of Live 9, and a new control surface from the Ableton camp definitely has us excited. The new ~~controller~~ instrument, Push, puts a massive amount of Live’s function right in front of you. Unlike controllers which basically allow you to fire off samples and beats or tweak effect values, this is built with composing in mind. Being able to properly play notes, move through key signatures, and switch easily between sequencing and looping means that Push gets you to step back from your keyboard and trackpad/mouse. Live definitely has a steep learning curve, and it looks like Push could really break through that and lead to a much more comfortable and intuitive process. Can’t wait to get my hands on one!

-Aaron

Waterpark Skateboarding

admin — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 19:17:14 +0000

Clearly we are big fans of GoPro cameras. We use them on every shoot we do. Even if the job doesn’t call for it, we just like to timelapse ourselves at work. It’s always nice to see great things other people are making with them too, so I was pretty pleased to come across this on YouTube. Russian skateboarders bombing down waterslides with GoPros on board. It’s so many great things all at once! If All Fun hadn’t ripped out their waterslides, we would definitely be on a staff field trip there right now.

-Aaron