demos that communicate concepts - top fives
category: general [glöplog]
What are your all-time top five (or less than five) favorite conceptual demos, and why?
Qualifiers:
I'm not focused on excellence in craft -- technical achievement, good music, good graphics, or pacing/direction -- but a use of visual elements (and music ideally, but usually not so much) that communicates an argument or an concept more effectively than could be communicated with words or images alone.
Don't include demos which have one really good part but otherwise don't hang together. Don't include demos that are too long (e.g. "exactly as long as the track").
So. Here's my list. These aren't in an order because they are very apples and oranges.
-Debris, by Farbrausch (2007)
-I am, by Traction (2004)
-Ömega, by Ümlaut Design (2010)
It is an utterly bizarre list, and I am aware of this.
If I had fewer qualifiers I'd add at one particular ASD demo and parts of one particular Farlight demo.
(If this were a different top five list, Ino, by Quite (2010) would be on it. Sigh).
This is just what immediately comes to mind. Maybe I forgot something.
So, thoughts?
Qualifiers:
I'm not focused on excellence in craft -- technical achievement, good music, good graphics, or pacing/direction -- but a use of visual elements (and music ideally, but usually not so much) that communicates an argument or an concept more effectively than could be communicated with words or images alone.
Don't include demos which have one really good part but otherwise don't hang together. Don't include demos that are too long (e.g. "exactly as long as the track").
So. Here's my list. These aren't in an order because they are very apples and oranges.
-Debris, by Farbrausch (2007)
-I am, by Traction (2004)
-Ömega, by Ümlaut Design (2010)
It is an utterly bizarre list, and I am aware of this.
If I had fewer qualifiers I'd add at one particular ASD demo and parts of one particular Farlight demo.
(If this were a different top five list, Ino, by Quite (2010) would be on it. Sigh).
This is just what immediately comes to mind. Maybe I forgot something.
So, thoughts?
yeah here's one: suck it.
i like that concept.
erm... all demos are communicating concepts...
/me liked aswell, stole that bucket off that reed, then renamed myself in a (w)hole!
variform2 of course!
duplicate thread(s) already exist
State Of Mind - dont be a slave to commercial society. cliche political message
3.5 inches is enough - just because something is old does not mean it is irrelevant.
deeper meaning of a tunnel - Mr.qrwx explains how to make a tunnel!
Variform 2 - suck it
State Of Mind - dont be a slave to commercial society. cliche political message
3.5 inches is enough - just because something is old does not mean it is irrelevant.
deeper meaning of a tunnel - Mr.qrwx explains how to make a tunnel!
Variform 2 - suck it
STREBER!
my top5 has 1:
total triple trouble by Rebels
why?
--> it´s totally about just one copper-fucking-effect! ;) :D
why?
--> i love it!
why i love it?
--> basics of computerism in one perfect demo! :D
my top5 has 1:
total triple trouble by Rebels
why?
--> it´s totally about just one copper-fucking-effect! ;) :D
why?
--> i love it!
why i love it?
--> basics of computerism in one perfect demo! :D
why?
--> its still totally fucking off the copper while not coppering off the fucker at all, ehrmm, meant to say the copperfucking-effect isn´t fucking up the copper at all!
FREE Copperlists FTW!
--> its still totally fucking off the copper while not coppering off the fucker at all, ehrmm, meant to say the copperfucking-effect isn´t fucking up the copper at all!
FREE Copperlists FTW!
i second "deeper meaning of a tunnel"
I always liked Faded
Thank you to folks who gave recommendations. They are helpful.
Interesting thread. Not exactly sure what "concept" is in this context, so took perhaps some liberties with it (themes, ideas...). Anyway, demos exactly like this my favorites.
caero (evolution, pre-history, dawn of man)
(core) (industrialization, technocracy, man-machine)
hello:friend (relationships, difficulty of communication, empathy)
one million lightyears from earth (insignifigance, futility, meaning of life)
{ (neurology, fuzzy logic, abstractation)
I'd like to hear more from people about those concepts they percieve :)
caero (evolution, pre-history, dawn of man)
(core) (industrialization, technocracy, man-machine)
hello:friend (relationships, difficulty of communication, empathy)
one million lightyears from earth (insignifigance, futility, meaning of life)
{ (neurology, fuzzy logic, abstractation)
I'd like to hear more from people about those concepts they percieve :)
Odd - World Domination. It communicates the concept of Odd world domination.
Espen loves BZH
The concept should be obvious
The concept should be obvious
In my opinion most people at parties don't get it when you add to much meaning in a release. Most of the releases I've done with a story, like (terug naar de) Grondtoon ended up being booed away. (Sorry this one is in dutch btw)
A lot of times people don't even get that there is a bigger plan at the basis of a release, like when I made Sunny Ray and people commented on it for having twos utterly distinct separate parts.
The entire concept resolves on the contrast between those two parts, it was never meant as two demos.
Or nobody in the audience and the entire internet gets the message.
De Bloemschikmaffia was about waste recycling and consumerism. Managed to score a lot of negative votes, or as Gargaj put it "heh, apparently this IS the first ever release that managed to score minus in the history of breakpoints :)". Although I'm happy with unlocking this achievement, I thought the visual language would tell the story. It didn't.
Maybe the message wasn't clear. I thought bringing in shopping carts of flowers and rearranging them was obvious. To be honest, if I was to remake this I would have included five minutes of shifting through the garbage of the local flower kiosk to strengthen the point.
So in my opinion, don't do it. Concepts and messages in demos I mean. Or make it really, really obvious. I kinda liked how Bring Me A Flower was received.
Some more conceptual demos are in the pipeline, so visit Outline 2014!
A lot of times people don't even get that there is a bigger plan at the basis of a release, like when I made Sunny Ray and people commented on it for having twos utterly distinct separate parts.
The entire concept resolves on the contrast between those two parts, it was never meant as two demos.
Or nobody in the audience and the entire internet gets the message.
De Bloemschikmaffia was about waste recycling and consumerism. Managed to score a lot of negative votes, or as Gargaj put it "heh, apparently this IS the first ever release that managed to score minus in the history of breakpoints :)". Although I'm happy with unlocking this achievement, I thought the visual language would tell the story. It didn't.
Maybe the message wasn't clear. I thought bringing in shopping carts of flowers and rearranging them was obvious. To be honest, if I was to remake this I would have included five minutes of shifting through the garbage of the local flower kiosk to strengthen the point.
So in my opinion, don't do it. Concepts and messages in demos I mean. Or make it really, really obvious. I kinda liked how Bring Me A Flower was received.
Some more conceptual demos are in the pipeline, so visit Outline 2014!
numtek: And sometimes simple mistakes can garble the message, like in Save The Earth where in the picture after the 'piracy is a crime' intro I could have written something about 'you are doing good by keeping your old computers alive' instead of 'the global warming/ecology' message which triggered a bunch of negative reactions that I did not expect at all.
If you really want to communicate a message, you shouldn't be concerned with whether people like it or not. I don't really see the point in trying to appeal to a demoparty crowd anyway. Voters are drunk, vote for what they already know - or who they already know - and the prizes are usually too modest to be considered an incentive to emphasize crowdpleasing instead of simply doing what you know will be a good demo.
We've got one or two of our own (shamlessly selfpluggin'):
Leap of Faith
and
KHEPER
Both rather esoteric. Well, bold in your face actually :) but at least it gets explained a bit in the readme files.
Appendix - I Want To Be Machine is quite a nifty one, conceptwise.
Leap of Faith
and
KHEPER
Both rather esoteric. Well, bold in your face actually :) but at least it gets explained a bit in the readme files.
Appendix - I Want To Be Machine is quite a nifty one, conceptwise.
Thank more folks!
The kind of talking about what works and doesn't work from numtek and dbug is very helpful to me.
jobe: the thing is, do you just make the demo for the party, or for the party AND later?
Can you make a conceptual demo (or a message/visual essay demo) that can also please a crowd a little. And I say this knowing there are a bunch I don't get yet.
Haven't watched all of the suggestions yet, but the first part of Artphosis is closest. I feel like there is something there in a lot of demos at the edge of my being able to tell if there is -- Uncovering Static for example -- where I feel like something is at the edge of my perception. I claim no perfect perception. Ceasefire made sense to me except the parts with the tiki heads, which I sort of get symbolically but feel out of place somehow.
The nain demos I didn't include are Happiness is Around the Bend, which I am of two minds about, Lifeforce . . . several others.
ButI also think there a lot of overlooked demos trying to get a point across.
The kind of talking about what works and doesn't work from numtek and dbug is very helpful to me.
jobe: the thing is, do you just make the demo for the party, or for the party AND later?
Can you make a conceptual demo (or a message/visual essay demo) that can also please a crowd a little. And I say this knowing there are a bunch I don't get yet.
Haven't watched all of the suggestions yet, but the first part of Artphosis is closest. I feel like there is something there in a lot of demos at the edge of my being able to tell if there is -- Uncovering Static for example -- where I feel like something is at the edge of my perception. I claim no perfect perception. Ceasefire made sense to me except the parts with the tiki heads, which I sort of get symbolically but feel out of place somehow.
The nain demos I didn't include are Happiness is Around the Bend, which I am of two minds about, Lifeforce . . . several others.
ButI also think there a lot of overlooked demos trying to get a point across.
(sorry incoherent and typos, it is 6am on a phone)