Mind Moves

Mind Moves was an attempt to combine 2D, 3D and interactive video/animation into one project. The simplest object to create in 3D was a cube, and as I was a collector of Rubik's Cubes (go figure) it seemed a natural fit to animate. I used to charge $1 to solve the Rubik's Cube at school and I was pretty quick. But seeking a wider opportunity I decided to plagiarise a How-to-Solve book by typing it out, drawing my own cubes, xeroxing it, and then colouring in the cubes (thanks Mum). I charged a $1 for the stapled bound publication which funded my expanding Cube collection. Needless to say, cubes are pretty reliable objects to work with. And it seems digital artist Pak came to the same conclusion when he released his Cube NFT sale for millions of dollars in 2021.

The basic premise of the video was a befuddled guy tries to solve the Rubik's Cube and goes down a trippy journey involving a cube that comes to life. Whilst in the world a Mondrian artwork appears for no reason (hey more cubes!) with bouncing eggs only to then return to the guy's bedroom and haunt him in real life. This narrative arc is barely entertaining but like a lot of video art is more of a demonstration of techniques and technical attempts. Deep in my Mind Moves production I scored my own music to it (not to be confused with Bob Seger's Night Moves). Sadly a really bad saxophone sample became the feature instrument which even today cannot be forgiven. It's like Dire Straits was rewritten to a jazz prog-rock corporate soundtrack odyssey - with saxophone - that no one asked for. Certainly not in 1989.

Once I convinced my friend Tony to act like he couldn't solve the Rubik's Cube (wasn't hard), I shot some footage on U-matic Low Band 3/4 inch tape. The moody lighting was provided by Ikea in a cinematic attempt to show Tony's mind closing in on him. The video sequences were edited together which then provided the timing for the climax of the film when Tony would interact with the cubes (just like Roger Rabbit interacts with live actors). I then started animating.

Animation over the top of footage

There were a number of 3D programs available at the time on the Amiga including Sculpt 4D Animate - which was very good at rendering, and Videoscape 3D. Videoscape 3D had the most intuitive interface but required an intense amount of XYZ planning. One had to render frame by frame, then piece the frames together to watch in real time. The same happens today except it was really really really slow in 1989. Usually I had to redo the math because some object went somewhere it wasn't meant to go. There was a lot of trial and error but I became particularly obsessed with the transition from 3D to 2D and back again. I wanted the cube to 'melt' in 2D (in Deluxe Paint) after it had done it's flying 3D work. Likewise on the Mondrian shapes. However, I could never match the frames perfectly between 2D and 3D which made the transitions pretty clutzy. My frustration is still evident on the mastertape which has 1 frame of colour bars accidentally inserted on the exact transition point. I couldn't be bothered going back and taking it out because it meant dubbing to another tape and losing a whole generation of Umatic Low Band. And losing a generation of Low Band meant losing a lot.

Planning Mind Moves - folders of the stuff

Mind Moves was repetitive and overly long at 7 minutes. However, it taught me a great deal about editing, timing and diminishing returns. It opened the gate for more serious experimentation with video equipment. I would rewire the university TV studio and insert my Amiga into the patch system to take advantage of real time video processing through the vision mixers. I would put the computer upstream, downstream, in the middle to work out the possibilities. This was a regular late night weekend activity whilst making music videos. Over a couple of years the work got better and I started getting paid to do it. Ironically, it was also the beginning of the end for the Amiga. Commodore Computers were going broke and it meant I was now noodling around with a Mac and a new piece of software called Cosa After Effects 1.0. With Avid, and Media 100, I bet everything I had on non-linear editing and 'multi-media'. That's when I co-founded a studio called The Woolly Mammoth, which later became Steam Motion and Sound. Oh and the Rubik's Cube collection is still gathering dust .