Archive · 2004
Toma Multivision: website for a projection artist
Fernando Toma transforms rooms and façades with moving slide and video projections. In 2004 I designed and built his website, one of my first client websites of my own.
- Year
- 2004
- Role
- Concept, design, animation, implementation
- Technology
- Flash 5, HTML, CSS, JavaScript
The idea
I knew the work from practice: from 1996 to 2002 I was part of Toma Produktionen as a technician, among other places in Berlin, London and Alexandria. That is also how the commission came about. The website was meant to feel like a projection rather than a company brochure: black space, areas of light, images in motion.
Implementation
An intro that assembles the projector
The intro rebuilds the large-format projector we worked with. First the film strip runs into the picture, then the scroller builds up around it piece by piece, finally the housing and lens appear. The lamp fades up, the picture turns white, and the line that describes Toma’s work appears: “the art of multi image in motion”.
A menu like a slide strip
The menu is a small circle that moves slightly. One click and the menu items slide out as a film strip.
Many small films instead of one big one
The Flash site consists of several small SWF files. Only the part a visitor calls up is loaded. With the bandwidth of 2004 that was the difference between waiting and watching.
Everything without Flash, too
All content was also available as an HTML version, each in German and English. Anyone without the plugin still got the whole website.
Today
No browser supports Flash any more; the original files only run in the Ruffle emulator. Toma has since got a new website. I show the intro here as a video.