One Shot 300 word rationale

I really enjoyed working in groups for this project. It was a good opportunity to get to know new people. 

At first we struggled to get ideas for our video so we did a brainstorm together. This helped us to generate many ideas and we were then able to pick an idea to focus on. We decided to do a horror film that incorporated zombies. After doing our practice video many many times, we showed our video in our seminar and got some constructive feedback:

-The camera zooms out too early, people need to be able to see the victim's expressions.

-Liked the shot at the end under the bridge

With this in mind we planned to reshoot our video in order to improve it. HOWEVER..

Seeing as we had some very bad weather we had to change our ideas as our initial idea used 2 people hidden under leaves. These leaves were now covered in snow and the people may have got too cold. We changed our story and our place of shooting but still incorporated the zombie idea and the bridge.

The snow had a positive effect though, as we used red paint for some blood and it really stood out well.

We decided to do individual edits of the video and I am quite pleased with my edit. Although I haven't done a lot to it, the effects at the end really emphasise the attack on the victim. I am looking forward to doing another one shot project during term 2 & 3 and I hope it is as good as this one!

Quite possibly the most amazing One Shot video of all One Shot videos!

Click to view!

Amazing!

Re-Designing CRAP

Design Before

Design After

Seminar task - Re-designing CRAP

In the CRAP lecture we learnt a lot about crap.

Contrast

Repetition

Alignment

Proximity

Our task for this lecture was to bring in a design which had bad layout due to the crap elements being, well basically, crap.

I took in my dad's business card (hahahha) as it is pretty awful. Here are the reasons my group discussed as to why it was so bad.

C - The colours on the business card contrast with the image but due to this, the text is lost and you can hardly read the most important parts of the business card. This could result in error of contact number and therefore loss of potential customers.

R - The only repetition was that the most important pieces of info on the business card were in the same colours. However the colours picked were so poor you cannot see the info very well.

A - The alignment of the text changed so much it made the business card look very messy. Also the way the text was aligned over the image made it hard to read.

P - Because the text was such a large font it made it all seem very close together. This makes the business card look as though it has a lot of text on it and reduces the chance of the business card being eye catching.

In our seminar we then had to look at the business card in a group and our seminar task was to redesign it. This will be posted in my following blog :)

I HATE PREMIER PRO.

Not only does it decide to blue screen on me while encoding my animation, it then goes on to crash 4 times so I can't finish my animation.

Fantastic! Thanks Adobe for making me fail Animation :)

Animation - 300 word rationale

In our first animation seminar we created a simple animation so we could get used to the basics. We created a Jelly word and made it animate to look like jelly. I found this pretty easy as the step by step guide was straight forward an so was simple to follow. I was quite pleased with my final outcome :)

CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO

In our second seminar we went on to create a 'Jellyhead'. This was a bit more complexed and I had to start over a number of times. This exercise gave me a better insight into the programme and increased my knowledge of the different ways I could animate my character.

CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO

We then went on to create our own character. This would be the main focus point of our own TV ident. I looked at a few tutorials on the web and looked at some video tutorials on youtube. I found these quite useful as it visually showed you what to do step by step and gave you an idea of what the animation should look like. If mine looked wrong I obviously knew I'd made a mistake and so I was able to go back and look at the tutorials in order to correct myself. I wanted to make something more complexed than what we had looked at in our previous seminars and I had an idea of creating some form of fish. I chose to make a dolphin So that I could play with the 'Slice Plane' tool quite a bit. From learning about this tool I was able to create some eyes on my 'Jellyhead' in an effective way rather than just creating 2 simple spheres for eyes. I struggled animating it but with help from Andy I was able to create quite a nice animation effect :) So I was quite happy with it overall!

CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO

Let's look into TV idents..

Just to get a better idea of what tv idents actually are, i've found some that I really like :)

BBC Three Idents

Click here to view the video

I really like the BBC three idents because they are quite humerous. They are so simple yet they would appeal to an audience of all ages. The style of this ident would work alongside my brief as they are purely made by animation. Obviously my idents won't look as professional but I could definitely take this idea into account

CBBC Idents

Click here to view the video

I like the CBBC adverts because they are full of colour and grab your attention. There are some recognisable characters in some of the idents which help the idents to be fully compatible to the channel. I could also use these as inspiration as they are very animation based.

Living TV Idents

Click here to view the video

I particularly like the living tv ident with the balloons. The background and text is in white and the balloons really stand out due to the vibrant colours. This creates a great contrast and helps the letters to stand out as they are next to the coloured balloons. Due to these idents not being very animated, I can't gain very much inspiration from these. Living TV broadcasts a lot of 'girly' shows. Most of the idents represents this by including girly things such as models with professional make up, balloons, bright colours etc. The idents make the channel more diverse by including security lasers, snipers and simple use of light.

Now I have a better idea of what I can include in my tv ident. Now to make a character! :D

My final Interactive piece.. Finally posted!

Due to some techincal difficulties, my interactive piece has only just been posted onto the making new maps website. I am actually really pleased with my final outcome :D here is the link for it! Leave comments and tell me what you think :) Enojy!

Click here

Oh my god....

" Students in universities in England face tuition fees of up to £9,000 per year, as the government confirmed plans for higher education. Fees will rise to £6,000 - with an upper tier of £9,000, if universities ensure access for poorer students."

WHAT?! Is David Cameron mad?! As soon as I read this I sent the bbc a comment straight away! I can't believe they are limiting the amount of people that can actually attend university. People from low income backgrounds will never be able to get the education they desire! Personally, I think they should find some other way of saving money, like cracking down more on people who are claiming benefits unnecessarily. That is a bigger problem! The government should be investing in students. At the end of the day, we are the country's future. People will be inevitably put off going to university due to the high fees, and as a result, less graduates that the country depends on e.g. doctors will decrease and could result in a shortage of medical staff. Are they mental? Sometimes I think I should go and sort them out, this decision is beyond ridiculous. Nick Clegg was totally against raising tuition fees! Ugh! Such a hypocrite. 

What are your opinions? Leave comments!

P.S. I hate David Cameron, always have, always will. What a wanker. However, this picture I found made me feel a little bit better.

THIS IS JUST PURE GENIUS!

Interactive space - 300 word rationale

My first ever uni project is now completed. I thought I would find it hard coping with the HTML coding, but in the end, it was pretty straight forward!

At first, I struggled for ideas for the photos I would use. But in the end, I based my idea upon uni life. The idea that someone wakes up in a random place after a night out drinking probably ties in with most students’ university lives. I wanted to make my ‘story’ fit in with the student life so it would appeal to them, and maybe even bring back some memories of previous years in education. When it came to linking the photos together, I struggled at first because it was kind of new to me, and I couldn’t get the hang of it at first. However after a seminar of playing around with it, I finally got the hang of it and was able to finish my project in plenty of time and have a play with the images. I found that using Adobe Dreamweaver was a lot better than using notepad, as I could get a preview of what the pages would look like so I have an instant view of any mistakes that needed adjusting.

My blog from 22/10/10 shows what feedback I got from the seminar and what changes I should make. I made these changes in order to improve my project and I must admit, I’m glad I did get feedback. I made the pages easier to navigate around by adding arrows and question marks for places people can look/go. I used these symbols consistently through my project in order to prevent confusion and make it less frustrating for the user.

Overall, I am really happy with my final project. I must admit, it was an interesting piece of work and I have already learnt so much in just 3 weeks. It instantly pulled me into the heart of the course and has kept me there as I am working with software I am not used to, and I haven’t done a lot of the same sort of work in previous educational years. I am hoping my next topic (animation) is just as enjoyable!

My first animation!

Just finished a really simple animation. I made the word 'jelly' jump and move like jelly. I didn't find it too difficult, and I think I will highly enjoy this topic! My animation will be posted at a later date :)

Interactive space - Feedback on my project

On thursday (21.10.2010), our interactive space projects were shown to the whole group. Simon gave us some feedback on our work and so did the students. From my feedback I learnt that:

1) I need to make it easier for users to find certain things by making it more obvious, e.g. where the phone might be in each room.

2) One of my images is distorted - I need to make it right

3) It is frustrating how there are so  many places to look and there is nothing to find.

I will improve my project by inserting some interactive arrows and question marks so that it is easier to navigate around. Using these symbols will make it easier for the user by making it easy to follow. Using a too big range of ways to navigate could confuse the user and make it difficult for them. I will alter the image that is distorted in order to make it look right and I need to try and include something else that the user will find but it isn't the right item. e.g. Could have lost something from a long time ago that they then find.

Hopefully this will make my project much better and I will finally get to finish it. Hurrah!

Pecha Kucha Presentation... You what?!

I still have no idea what this presentation is meant to be about. I don't know what Pecha Kucha is or how i'm meant to go around presenting my presentation!

I found this...

"PechaKucha 20x20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images forward automatically and you talk along to the images." - http://www.pecha-kucha.org/what

So basically, it isn't as hard as I thought it would be. But when we are told we cannot directly say what our design process is, that makes it that bit more difficult! I'm quite confused and I don't know if I will be able to do it properly... Ah well, i'll give it my best shot!

My 15 22 images

Obviously my images need putting together, but here are my final ones :)

Developing my ideas - Interactive space project.

To get some ideas for my project I did a quick brainstorm to generate some ideas. I picked out an idea I liked best. I wanted to create some form of interactive story that involves looking for a lost object. I decided to have the object as a lost mobile phone and the character has lost it due to a 'mad' night out the night before. I thought this idea would tie in with students' uni life as afterall, we are all party animals! Here is a visual plan of what my interactive project will look like: 

(click to view in full detail)

Multimedia, Art or Science?

In our seminar on the 12th of October we had the task to argue if Multimedia was an art or science. I found this quite an interesting debate because personally, I can't decide between the 2. Here are my reasons why.

"Multimedia is an Art rather than a Science"

Multimedia can be classed as a creative subject, this relates to art and design. It is also found within the art and design subject area so clearly it must be an art? Multimedia is a way of expression that invloves a lot of human input. If you take away this input, there is no creativity so surely there would be nothing left? Animation requires the ability to be able to draw characters and you need an 'artistic eye' for photography and film in order to get the perfect shot. In order for something to be a science, something has to be proven. Multimedia is purely based on opinion so it cannot possibly be a science.

"Multimedia is a Science rather than an Art"

The area of art is a very broad and opinionated topic. Due to it being so broad, people define different things as art so there is no definite view as to what art actually is. For example, recently the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern art gallery has been filled with millions of small ceramic sunflower seeds. I personally do not class this as art due to it's simplicity and anyone is able to copy it. However, due to it being in the Tate Modern art gallery, some people obviously do class it as a 'work of art'. The scientific development of software and technology has allowed certain equipment to become more complexed and therefore has the ability to be multifunctional. For exapmple, Surface Mount Technology was developed in the 1960s, and went on to be widely used in the 1980s. This meant that electronic circuits could be made more intricate and take up less room. This would lead to the development of plasma tvs, plasma monitors, ipod touch, small computers, laptops and so on. With the electronic circuits now taking up less room, more can be added into the computer, camera, tv or whatever and make it have more memory, run faster and have the ability to do more than 1 thing at once. Without the development of software and technology, we wouldn't have the same equipment we use today in the world of Multimedia.

I have views for both sides, so I can't really say if it's an art or a science. What's your view?

My Multimedia

During my product design course in year 12, we did a series of mini projects. One of the projects was to create a clock for a subject area in the school. When it came to choosing materials for our final prototype, I decided to use Acrylic (polymethyl methacrylate). When it came to producing the body of the clock we had major problems making them look right. My school didn't have a very wide range of machinery to use in order to get a good finish on our clock bodies. One student that was on consortium from another school highlighted that their school owned a Laser Cutter. Immediately we jumped at the opportunity of using the software and equipment in order to make our clocks look professional. 

The laser cutter works by using x and y co ordinates and a high powered laser which the strength can be altered depening on the thinkness and type of materials being used. I had no idea such technology existed in schools until I saw this one. The design of the clock was produced on Techsoft 2D so that the colours of the outline could be changed. This would allow the laser cutter to identify which lines it needs to cut. I found the laser cutter surprisingly easy to use and was fascinated by how it worked. It took no time at all for it to cut out my clock and it did this with amazing precision and gave a really good overall finish. The amount of time me and the rest of my group spent trying to cut our clocks out using hand tools and band saws was ridiculous. This piece of technology really did make our lives a lot easier.

HTML & CSS coding.. the basics!

I tried adding a link so you could see the site itself and interact with it, but I guess a screenshot will have to do.

Web page 1

Web page 2

Photo opportunity

These are just a few photos I have taken that I really like :)

May I introduce the first year Multimedia students!

My Design Process

I would have written about my A2 Product Design project, but seeing as I do not have my coursework I have shown examples of my AS project and have provided a 3D model of my final logo for my A2 project and the final business card.

When it comes to generating ideas I always get stumped. I don’t know where to begin or what to start on. At the beginning of my AS product design project I started by having a client interview. This form of market research narrowed down the pathway I could take in order to come up with a design. Based upon the feedback I got, I went on to do a series of small quick sketches. Using this technique allowed me to generate a lot of ideas and they all flowed from each other. It is a fast way of generating a lot of ideas onto one page. 

When developing ideas I believe it is essential to use as many techniques as possible in order to get a good perception on what the final design may be like. I would get client feedback from my generated ideas by asking them to select a small amount of sketches he/she likes. In my A2 product design project I developed my ideas by doing rough, quick mock ups on programmes such as Photoshop. This allowed me to change certain aspects of my ideas quickly, add colour effectively and I could send my ideas to my client electronically. I think that this is a great benefit as computers are being more widely used every single day within businesses.

Once I have my final idea from client feedback, I then go on to create prototypes of my product by using different techniques. I create a simple model out of simple materials so that it is a quick and easy process. This allows me to identify any problems with the design of the product and see how certain components can fit together. I would then use more complex materials so I can experiment with them to see what I could use in my final product. I have also created models on computer programmes such as Techsoft 2D and Pro Desktop. Pro desktop was particularly useful as it allowed me to create a 3D model of my final design. This was beneficial as it gave me a 3D visualisation of my final product, changes could be made easily and the final assembly is automatically changed when 1 component is altered. Yet again I could send my work to my client in order to get feedback.

Throughout my design process I heavily rely on client feedback. This helps me to avoid bias and I can learn to create work to suit my client and their customers and not made upon my own expectations. Following these processes allowed me to be successful in Product Design and both my client and I were happy with the final outcome.

Screenshots of Techsoft 2D.

The image on the left shows some of the tools that are on the programme. I used the programme to create a net (right) for my point of sale in my A2 project and it was also used to create stickers to put onto my point of sale. The right image has different coloured lines because it codes for how it is cut out by a CADCAM machine. The red lines were scored and the black lines were cut. To create my stickers the same principle was used. A small CADCAM machine was used in order to cut them out. This made them look more professional and they had a better final finish.

Screenshots of Pro Desktop.

ProDesktop is a programme I used to create 3D electronic models of my work. This was another way of making prototypes. I was able to send my models to my client via e-mail and she sent me feedback to me via the internet. With businesses growing more to depend on the internet, this was a beneficial way of sending my work to my client.

Picture on the top shows an example of work that was done on ProDesktop. The picture on the bottom shows what the starting point is on the programme. The pictures below are examples of what I created for my final 3D logo.

 

Design Practice 1 - Visual Storyboard Sequences Task.

For our 'homework' we were set a task to create 3 sequences of 5 photos using different techniques. I chose to use different techniques in each one so I could show I can produce a variety of work. I know it's not the best, but at the end of the day I am here to learn!

Sequence 1 - Emptying Glass

  

Sequence 2 - Saturation

 Sequence 3 - Progression - Making tea

I think i'm gonna enjoy doing this topic!

Design practice, practice

This was just a quick sequence we did during our first seminar. They were all clips from the film 'Vertigo'. We now have to create our own sequences using our own images. Our final piece for design practice 1 will be based on this style. I am looking forward to using my own images and seeing what results I get!