Interactive Media

Basic layout complete!

2012-02-22T02:20:00.000-08:00

I'm really liking this website already. Think I've gotten the hang of modern design quite quickly. Especially the footer. Seems as though most websites have footers crammed with info, so I've followed the same principle but I don't want to overload it with little bits of information.

More to come on this project, but for the rest of today I will be concentrating on Wordpress! :)

Time flies when you're having fun!

2012-02-21T13:50:00.000-08:00

Further progress on the design for the Bitter Strings website :)

Started the Bitter Strings mobilised website!

2012-02-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

Here's a print screen of the banner & the layout of all the divs.

NOTE: The colours of the divs won't be this colour!

More examples of Wordpress websites.

2012-02-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

Click here

Wordpress

2012-02-21T10:07:00.000-08:00

I can't get Wordpress to work on my laptop for some reason, so I have decided to do some research into Wordpress websites and things I may want to use.

Wordpress is a great tool for people to use if they want to add things to their websites after they have been built by a web designer. It is also a good tool to use to make a website as it is so flexible! Wordpress is becoming more and more popular and I feel it is important that I get a good understanding of it.

This website shows some really nice examples of websites that use Wordpess for much more than just a blog. Click here to view it.

After Thursdays seminar i'm going to start making my own simple wordpress website. I really need to get into the swing of using it and become familiar with the interface.

Freelance project

2012-02-20T13:28:00.000-08:00

Final logo for my client. Made to her requirements! Spent all day sending her ideas and tweaking them until we got a logo she was happy with. Very productive day!

Wireframes galore!

2012-02-20T04:58:00.000-08:00

I've done some more wireframes for desktop on photoshop, here's what i've come up with! Only a rough idea but it gives me something to work from.

Responsive websites.

2012-02-17T07:37:00.000-08:00

These websites show incredibly good examples of responsive design. I particularly like the Owltastic portfolio website. Looking at these websites, I need to identify key points to leave in my mobile website and what I could include in my desktop website to "jazz it up".

Colour schemes

2012-02-17T07:05:00.000-08:00

I have been looking at some possible colour schemes.

The guys have specifically stated that they want a 1960s vintage theme, so I felt that these colours would suit their chosen theme best. I think that the last set of colours will be best to use. Not too much colour but one bold colour to give a bit of impact.

Wireframe development

2012-02-17T06:58:00.001-08:00

I've been sketching some more wireframe ideas, both for desktop and the web. Here they are!

Next I am going to develop my wireframes more, then come up with some final ideas in photoshop.

Wireframe ideas

2012-02-17T06:57:00.001-08:00

After having a sit down with the lads, we've come up with a few wireframes for me to work from.

Productive day at Proud Camden before their gig! :)

More to come soon.

Mobile Vs Web.

2012-02-17T06:53:00.000-08:00

As the brief describes, our websites must be mobilised. In order to help me get to this stage, I need to look at how websites change when they go from a web state to a mobile state. It is important to not over crowd the mobile site, but still have the same detail as the desktop site. I have found 2 websites that I want to compare. The first is the portfolio website of Simon Collison.

This is the home page of the desktop version of his portfolio website. Simon's website is a good example of a responsive website. This means that when the page is minimized, it will respond by making it the right size to fit the resolution. This is shown by the next 2 images when the browser is minimized twice.

This particular display may be that of which would be displayed on a tablet computer/netbook. No information is taken out or replaced, it is simply just realigned to fit the width of the resolution.

This last image shows the display for possibly a mobile phone device. Again, no image or text is left out, it is all just realigned into the centre of the screen. This keeps the design consistent and easy to follow, but is there too much information on the one page? There is a big space left for users to scroll through which may become frustrating for them. For my website, I may want to consider how I lay my links & main information out.

Website number 2 is TGI Fridays.

TGIs is famously known for it's extrovert restaurants and over the top staff. it sets the perfect atmosphere for the restaurant'a "friday feeling". This is also reflected in their website, particularly the desktop version.

The home page of the website is pretty in your face. Graphics that surround the main DIV reflect on the many objects found pinned up on the walls of the restaurants. Clicking onto the "cocktails" link brings up a flash animated introduction to their cocktails.

The guy starts talking about the cocktails, and then gradually more and more stuff appears before it reveals the cocktails page. I can't decide if I like it or not, it does look really flashy and modern, but I just want to see the damn cocktails list! This is something I'll need to consider in my desktop website.

This is the cocktails "menu" navigation. It is flash animated and separates all of the types of cocktails. It's really nice to see navigation done in a different style, but it's something that will definitely not work on a mobile website.

Now to take a look at the mobile version...

The mobile version of the website is no where near as flashy as the desktop one. It could be said that it is pretty boring, nothing special about it. However, at the end of the day it is a mobile website! It does it's job. It's clean, simple & straight to the point. The main thing people want to know about a restaurant when on the go is food and where to find it! This is a good example of a practical mobile website!

DP3 - Inspiration images

2012-02-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

The band really like the simplicity of The Vaccines' website.... Just not as pink.

The band are strongly influenced by The Beatles. The washed out feel of this image reflects on how they like to edit their photos. It almost have an orangey warm feel to it. This sort of colour should be incorporated into the website.

Having a look at some possible fonts I could use. The colour scheme of this album cover fits in well with what they have specified.

Another good example of a 1960s album cover colour scheme that could work.

Bitter Strings' twitter page. I really like the opacity on the main div and the background image is visible through it. The background image in my opinion is too busy and needs to be toned down a lot to prevent the attention being driven away from the main content.

DP3 Assignment 2 - Design for Mobile.

2012-02-03T07:38:00.000-08:00

Now that I have my artist for the current DP3 project, I have started some research into the sort of theme I should follow for their website. After a meeting with Bitter Strings, they identified some key points that they wanted to incorporate into the website.

1- Pages

Home page with a brief introduction.
About page with a brief introduction on the band as a whole, then individual information.
Media page with their videos and photoshoot images.
Gig page with a list of their upcoming events.
Contact page with clear links to their social networking sites and a form to contact them.

2 - Colour scheme & theme

The band stressed that they want an old, vintage sort of feel but the website needs to be very simple. Not too over crowded with information or pictures and be straight to the point.
Brown, cream and orange will be the main colours with orange being the colour used for impact.
Old paper style background would be well suited to their desired theme.

3- Some key components

Javascript image banner on the home page. This will be usde to grab attention & showcase some live gig photos.
1960s theme.

4 - Inspiration

The band have identified that they really like the simplicity of The Vaccines website. This website can be found by clicking here

All of these points will be taken into consideration when designing the initial idea of my website. I do also need to take into account how the website is going to look when it is mobilised. My next task will be to look for some images for inspiration based on the specified theme and compare mobile & web interfaces.

Sneaky peek of my portfolio.

2012-02-01T08:48:00.000-08:00

Pictures are not finalised yet, i'm just trying to get the coding sorted! Still a looooong way to go.

All 3 columns are floated divs, so this project is a really good way of practicing floating divs and getting into the swing of it.

Well on the way with my new portfolio!

2012-01-31T12:10:00.000-08:00

My context 2 portfolio is coming along nicely! Main things I have included so far:

1- Javascript one page scrolling site! I have finally cracked the devil that is Javascript. Had a look at a few codes for the easing effect on a scrolling site. It wasn't working at first but I've got it to work!

2- CSS3 transition navigation.

3- Colour scheme - Orange, peach & Grey. I chose these colours as orange is my favourite colour and I feel it best reflects myself. I have used a pastel orange & grey as pastel colours seem to be very current with websites at the moment.

4- My 4 pages; Home, about, portfolio & contact. On my portfolio page I will be showcasing my web, graphic & other media works.

When I produced my very first portfolio website during first year, I can remember my feedback being that my website didn't fit in with my moodboard. It was too corporate & didn't go together well because of my bird style logo. I have taken this into account and really toned my website down. I'm happy with the outcome so far and I'm going to be spending a lot of time on it!

Another web design client. - Cupcake Creations by Becky.

2012-01-30T23:59:00.000-08:00

Becky Wilkinson is my newest client. She runs her own cupcake business off of facebook and is very popular within her local community. Even though she gets a lot of business through facebook, people who are not part of her page would not know about her and therefore may be losing out on crucial sales. She produces a wide range of cupcakes, from vanilla to baileys, chocolate to Guinness, she has the lot! Even gluten free, dairy free & egg free cakes! All made with free range & fairtrade products (where possible) and of course, some TLC.

I have a little meeting with her on feb 13th to discuss key elements for her website and to collect my valentines day cupcakes! :D

Her current website is in desperate need of an update, in order to suit her business & include some up to date designs & offers.

Her current website can be found by clicking here
Her facebook page can be found by clicking here
Visit if you dare, you will just want to buy the lot!

Floating practice

2012-01-30T12:02:00.000-08:00

After the brief feedback from Giselle on Friday after everyone's restaurant website presentations, she said that it would be essential to use a floated layout if we haven't already. To get used to floating & clearing I have just been having a play about on dreamweaver to get used to doing it.

My finished restaurant website re-design!

2012-01-26T13:45:00.001-08:00

Apple announces iBooks interactive textbooks 19/01/2012

2012-01-20T01:45:00.000-08:00

22 months, 1,357 hours, 30 people, 2 ladders, 1 still camera, 288,000 jelly beans

2012-01-18T13:49:00.000-08:00

End of the world for a vast majority of people...

2012-01-18T13:46:00.001-08:00

Header trouble.

2012-01-18T12:47:00.000-08:00

With text or without? I'm pretty stuck. Also here you can see that i've included the valentines day promotion in the banner :) progress!

Vhojon redesign progress

2012-01-18T12:45:00.000-08:00

Slowly getting there. Have a feeling Shaun is going to completely slate my black background & white text! Oh dear :(

The alignment needs sorting out, but the basic coding is almost there!

Things to include in my redesign.

2012-01-18T12:30:00.000-08:00

I have come up with a series of components that I wish to include in my website.

-The colour scheme will be black, white & red to follow the theme of the sign they have in the car park.

- Use a calligraphy style font to add some sophistication to the website & follow a similar font to what they have on the restaurant signs.

- Include the jquery image gallery on the home page, but add in the free delivery & valentines day promotions to help grab attention.

- Move the navigation to the left hand side, possibly make buttons.

- Get rid of the awful header & footer! Make something a bit more interesting.

- Make a new image gallery on Adobe Bridge.

- Include a booking form?

Let's get started!

Main points to consider for my restaurant website redesign.

2012-01-18T12:26:00.000-08:00

After looking through a number of different restaurant websites I've identified some key points I need to include & consider when doing my website.

1) When looking at a restaurant website, people want to know about the food! Including a menu for people to look at would be a key point of the website, it needs to be clear & easily accessible.

2) People may not know where the restaurant is, so include plenty of information about the location of the restaurant.

3) In order to book a place at a restaurant, you need to know some form of contact number! No contact details = less potential customers.

4) Because restaurants attract a wide range of ages, the website needs to be appealing to all, easily accessible & easy to use.

5) Images & offers that are displayed immediately can help to grab the user's attention, so these may be key components of the home page.

6) Use colours that work. Come up with a nice colour scheme, don't include too much colour & try to avoid using a lot of green. In my opinion, green just reminds me of mould and I don't want to be seeing a lot of that at a restaurant!

7) Consider feedback forms, contact forms and even a booking form so people can book a table without having to pick up the phone!

8) Make sure the website is consistent, the name is clear & there isn't too much information on one page.

I think these points will be the key to creating a successful restaurant website. More updates to follow!

Restaurant website redesign - My chosen restaurant.

2012-01-18T12:10:00.000-08:00

It didn't take me long to find a website that was pretty piss poor. Considering how good the restaurant is that I have chosen, the website does it no justice at all.

My chosen Restaurant website is that of Vhojon restaurant, my favourite Indian restaurant back at home that I go to quite often when my boyfriend and I fancy a meal out. We both love curry a bit too much.

I couldn't help but laugh to myself at how crap the website was. Finding the company that made the website gave me even more laughs when I looked at other websites they had made. What a joke.

The Restaurant website - www.vhojon.co.uk

So this is the so called home page. I hate everything about it. The background colour is vile, the title looks like it's been made in some shit old version of word, the navigation is nothing special & its font is horrible, the special offer bit has just been stuck onto the header, the header isn't even in line with the website and it just looks gay. Way too much pink for my liking. However, it has a nice jquery image gallery at the top of the page, but it's not really necessary to have it on EVERY page.

The promotion for valentine's day isn't displayed very well. Personally I think it would be better to advertise it in the animated banner along the top. I don't like the footer either. Boring, plain & pointless.

The image gallery is completely pants too. There are 2 pages of images and both pages are different. One has an arrow and the other has a word as navigation. They don't follow the same design as the rest of the website and the images are a bit confusing as you can only scroll over them. Think the image gallery needs improving a lot in order to make it look any good.

Hate the cheesy picture on the about page. This definitely needs removing & replacing. & why is there any need for the gay pink background? TOO MUCH PINK.

Even though the menu is very clear to read and each part of the menu is set out separately, they've brought back the hideous pink background and the links for each part of the menu is just utter rubbish.

The contact page is a good way of contacting the restaurant as people use the internet more as a form of communication. The telephone number & address could be more clearly set out. The facebook link is completely random & unnecessary, it needs to be placed on it's own and the free delivery promotional image looks horrible & you don't see it straight away. This promotion could also be included in the animated banner on the home page.

All in all, it's a pretty horrible website & needs a lot of improvements. The restaurant itself when you go in is very modern, it's contemporary, it's smart, it's sleek. It's not pink & gay and unorganised. A sophisticated establishment such as Vhojon Restaurant needs a website to reflect this. I have a big job on my hands I think!

Just so you lot can have a laugh too, here is the company that made Vhojon's current website. http://www.creativeend.co.uk/

Well done creative end, you absolute knobs!

Context 2 notesss

2012-01-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

Started my Context 2 Portfolio

2012-01-11T10:33:00.000-08:00

Here is what I have so far...

There is still a long way to go, but so far I like my design :) Further development will be posted in time.

Logo for Bitter Strings - Initial idea

2012-01-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

Needs developing, but the guys said they liked it which is a brilliant start!

My artist for the second DP3 project.

2012-01-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

Bitter Strings are a three piece rock/indie band consisting of, Ben McConnachie (Lead Singer/ Guitarist), Mike Smith (Bassist) and Luke Pratt (Percussion). The band were formed in 2011 and are due to release their EP in February, an early 1980's 16" tape recorder. Bitter Strings are influenced by 60's rock music and their name originates from a 1960's British Film.

I have worked with them in the past on a photoshoot and loved working with them. I contacted them about working with them again on this DP3 project. They also want me to make a website for them! I can't wait to get started!

Happy new year! Now it's time for action...

2012-01-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

Due to the disappointment of my abysmal voyage project I have got myself motivated for an amazing 2 terms packed full of self study, hard work, freelance opportunities & applying for potential work experience placements. I really need to kick it up a gear! Now that I have got all work & home issues sorted, it's time to really crack down on my work.

So what's my plan?

The second assignment for context 2 is to make an online portfolio showcasing my work within my pathway. I have already thought about what sort of site I want to do, and I have downloaded Adobe Illustrator so that I can add that personal touch to my website in a professional way. (hand drawn graphics are so last term).

The next DP3 assignment is to Design and build an artist / arts organisation mobile website / app. This needs to be based on a real client & can be anyone from the arts industry. I have already found my client & I have organised to keep in contact with them so they can see my development of my design. My client is a local band consisting of 3 members that only started in 2011. Details on them will be posted at a later date :)

I'm actually really excited about these two projects. Working with people is right up my street as I love the satisfaction of making something for someone!

Side project - The Dollars christmas gig tickets.

2011-12-09T04:52:00.000-08:00

I did these gig tickets about a month ago for a local function band. My first bit of freelance work! :D

Had no time to blog about this at all, so thought I would put it on at least before the party! Looking forward to it :)

Footer research

2011-12-09T02:38:00.000-08:00

After a long time debating over what to do with my footer, I have done some research into existing footers to help me design one for my voyage project. Footers can be a bit boring so I wanted to create something that looked interesting, but didn't draw too much attention away from the main content of the website.

One footer I really like is one the website for Lambley Riding Club (click here to view). I really like how on each page the season changes & there are small additions to the scenery. The colours work well with the theme of the website and it adds that artistic touch to each page.

Another footer I like is that on the website Thin Martian (click here to view). It's not too fancy but it gives a nice feel to the page, incorporating a couple of characters & adding some style to the footer. This seems likes the easiest option to go for considering how much time I have left, so I will probably make something similar to this :)

Voyage Progress

2011-12-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

Actually love my javascript home page! :) I prefer this a lot more to the design I had before as it is more personal & is definitely a lot more interesting!

Drawings for my website

2011-12-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

These are just the graphics I am going to use to incorporate into my website.

Changes

2011-12-08T16:01:00.000-08:00

After much debating over whether my website was good enough or absolute dogshite, I have completely changed my design. After talking to Shaun he explained to me that I should include some personality within my website. After all, this voyage is based on a personal journey, so I might as well reflect on things such as my memories and places I went to! To make it more personal I am thinking of including some hand drawn graphics. I think this will give it a really nice touch.

I am struggling with the javascript elements still, so i'm gonna try and concentrate on that :( Wish me luck!

Voyage - Development

2011-12-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

Finally have my wireframe sorted. Really struggling on what content to include! :(

Voyage - Wireframes

2011-12-08T15:55:00.000-08:00

To help me get ideas for how I want my website to look I have made a few wireframes up.

I like the idea of having a javascript navigation and some form of interactive map, so I think I will combine these ideas along with a simple wireframe as I don't want to over complicate my website.

Constantine & Lockwood design principles

2011-12-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

The principles of user interface design are intended to improve the quality of user interface design. According to Larry Constantine and Lucy Lockwood in their usage-centered design, these principles are:

The structure principle: Design should organize the user interface purposefully, in meaningful and useful ways based on clear, consistent models that are apparent and recognizable to users, putting related things together and separating unrelated things, differentiating dissimilar things and making similar things resemble one another. The structure principle is concerned with overall user interface architecture.

The simplicity principle: The design should make simple, common tasks easy, communicating clearly and simply in the user's own language, and providing good shortcuts that are meaningfully related to longer procedures.

The visibility principle: The design should make all needed options and materials for a given task visible without distracting the user with extraneous or redundant information. Good designs don't overwhelm users with alternatives or confuse with unneeded information.

The feedback principle: The design should keep users informed of actions or interpretations, changes of state or condition, and errors or exceptions that are relevant and of interest to the user through clear, concise, and unambiguous language familiar to users.

The tolerance principle: The design should be flexible and tolerant, reducing the cost of mistakes and misuse by allowing undoing and redoing, while also preventing errors wherever possible by tolerating varied inputs and sequences and by interpreting all reasonable actions.

The reuse principle: The design should reuse internal and external components and behaviors, maintaining consistency with purpose rather than merely arbitrary consistency, thus reducing the need for users to rethink and remember.

Voyage - brainstorm

2011-11-29T13:11:00.000-08:00

To help gain some inspiration as to what to do for my Voyage project, I did this brainstorm. Completely forgot about scanning it, so it's a tad late!

Voyage research - Cruise website review (thomas cook cruises)

2011-11-29T12:40:00.000-08:00

The Thomas Cook cruise website seems to be made up of 2 main divs, with floating images & a separate header & footer. The colour scheme is very similar to the other 2 cruise websites I have already reviewed, so maybe I need to consider using the same sort of colour scheme for my website?

The navigation of all 3 websites have been pretty consistent. The navigation is situated at the top of the page and the offers are displayed directly below it to help draw attention to them. Rather than having a drop down menu from each link, all the links are set out which essentially makes it easier to find what users are looking for. This would prevent the users getting frustrated and make the website easily accessible.

The footer is slightly different to the other websites' as it doesn't contain as many links to different pages. This makes the website a lot more simple to use and prevents any confusion the user may encounter when trying to find something specific.

Voyage research - Cruise Website Reviews (Royal Caribbean)

2011-11-29T11:51:00.000-08:00

On the home page of the Royal Caribbean website, there is a large banner at the top that is animated. This shows a series of images to do with the cruise's activities. This animated aspect really stands out and immediately draws your attention to the top of the page. This is also where the offers are displayed to help draw customers to them.

The colour scheme is very similar to the P&O website, using a lot of blues & yellows that would be associated to the sea and sun.

The navigation situated at the top of the page involves a drop down menu just like the P&O website. The navigation is well set out, easy to follow and easy to read. This type of navigation seems popular so this may be something I need to incorporate into my website.

The footer shows all of the possible links for the website, and also contains some further information such as contact information & legal information. This small print can be very important, and I feel that it is not made clear enough on websites such as this one.

Unlike the P&O website, there is no social networking links. Social networks have become increasingly important with businesses. I may benefit from incorporating some form of social network link so this will be something to consider when I am adding content to my website.

Nokia UK - Nokia Lumia Live. Nokia lights up London with an amazing 4D projection and deadmau5

2011-11-29T06:49:00.000-08:00

Just another great example of what we can do with modern day technology. This event was to celebrate the launch of the Nokia Lumia 800. Amazing!

Voyage research - Cruise Website Reviews (P&O)

2011-11-23T04:15:00.000-08:00

To help me gain more inspiration for the design of my website, I have decided to analyse 3 existing cruise websites. These are P&O, Royal Caribbean and Thomas Cook.

This is the home page for P&O. I really like how the main container is centered in the middle of the screen with the blue gradient background behind it. Immediately I think of the sea when I see this type of background, so this could be something I could incorporate into my website. The image located at the top of the home page is really eye catching and contains an offer which would help to drive sales.

The links at the top of the page have a drop down menu which leads to different areas of the website. This is a good way of linking pages as it is very clear & people can easily find what they are looking for. To make it even quicker, a search bar is incorporated into the home page in the top right corner.

The footer of the website contains a majority of the links that are within the navigation at the top of the page. There are also links to their facebook, twitter and youtube pages. I think these social networking links need to be made more prominent so that people can find them easier. Maybe add them to the top right corner of the page so people can see them as soon as they get onto the website?

On all of the pages also, there is a fixed DIV to allow users to give website feedback. I think this is a really good aspect of the website as they can make improvements to the website to make sure the usability of the website is up to standards.

Moodboard for voyage

2011-11-22T12:30:00.000-08:00

Because I am basing my voyage project on a cruise, I have decided to make a moodboard of cruise/holiday related things to help me gain inspiration.

What is Voyage?

2011-11-22T12:01:00.000-08:00

Voyage is: "A long journey involving travel by sea or in space."

So how is this going to fit in with my project?

In July, I went on a cruise around the Italian Mediterranean. I thought this would be the perfect subject to base my voyage project on. I want to make it sort of educational, so that people can learn more about the culture, landmarks & traditions in each country.

Rockstar games presents - GTA V

2011-11-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

I NEED AN XBOX.

http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/19461/grand-theft-auto-v-trailer.html

Loved GTA San Andreas, and seeing as GTA V is set in SA, I need to play it!

Graphics looks amazing, as per usual.

Massive Kudos to Rockstar!

The history of the Google Doodle.

2011-11-01T05:09:00.000-07:00

I was looking through all of the past google doodles and found it quite interesting. It was nice to see how the graphics have changed over the years and how the amount of doodles per year increases as each year goes by! Take a look!

http://www.google.com/logos/index.html

This doodle was my personal favourite (click image to view)

Weekly website review - Week 4

2011-11-01T05:03:00.000-07:00

Website of the day for the 1st November 2011 - The Google Puzzle

FINALLY SOMETHING IN HTML5! :D

This was a chrome experiment with HTML5, which was very similar to the HTML music video "The Wilderness Downtown" featuring Arcade Fire's single "We Used To Wait".

The concept of the game is that Google has lost one of it's letter o's and you have to complete the game to get it back. I really love the way each of the windows are set out and how the game is displayed.

It's easy to use, has clear instructions and even saves your progress! I think this is a really nice experiment with HTML5 and I hope google plan on doing more with it!

Colour schemes

2011-10-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

So for my voyage website I've had an idea of basing it on my cruise I went on in July. Thinkin of making is educational so people can sail around the med visiting the places I went to & learn more about the country, culture & famous landmarks.

When I think of a cruise, I immediately think of the ocean, so greens & blues would be a pretty obvious colour scheme to use. However, I want to make it quite cartoony & animated so I'm thinking of creating some form of map, almost like a typical treasure hunt pirate map. The bottom colour scheme shows the main colours I would incorporate into this website design.

I need to do some more research into voyages and see if I really want to base it on the cruise I went on.

Colour - logo redesigns (SB)

2011-10-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

As a seminar task I have been asked to redesign popular logos just to see how colour effects them. What I tried to do was investigate colours that create a completely different mood, colours that don't work well together and colours that wouldn't be suitable for companies. I think when it comes to branding, colour is really important. The colours need to suit the consumers, go with any ethnic backgrounds & follow their target market. For example, Barbie is directed towards female children and the colour most directed to them is pink. Food logos are also very important because if you use the wrong colour, it may give off the wrong impression. You wouldnt want to make a bread logo in different shades of green because green can often be associated with mould, urgh.

JQuery

2011-10-28T02:27:00.000-07:00

Syntax	Description
$(this)	Current HTML element
$("p")	All <p> elements
$("p.intro")	All <p> elements with class="intro"
$("p#intro")	All <p> elements with id="intro"
$("p#intro:first")	The first <p> element with id="intro"
$(".intro")	All elements with class="intro"
$("#intro")	The first element with id="intro"
$("ul li:first")	The first <li> element of each <ul>
$("[href$='.jpg']")	All elements with an href attribute that ends with ".jpg"
$("div#intro .head")	All elements with class="head" inside a <div> element with id="intro"

Event Method	Description
$(document).ready(function)	Binds a function to the ready event of a document (when the document is finished loading)
$(selector).click(function)	Triggers, or binds a function to the click event of selected elements
$(selector).dblclick(function)	Triggers, or binds a function to the double click event of selected elements
$(selector).focus(function)	Triggers, or binds a function to the focus event of selected elements
$(selector).mouseover(function)	Triggers, or binds a function to the mouseover event of selected elements

Function	Description
$(selector).hide()	Hide selected elements
$(selector).show()	Show selected elements
$(selector).toggle()	Toggle (between hide and show) selected elements
$(selector).slideDown()	Slide-down (show) selected elements
$(selector).slideUp()	Slide-up (hide) selected elements
$(selector).slideToggle()	Toggle slide-up and slide-down of selected elements
$(selector).fadeIn()	Fade in selected elements
$(selector).fadeOut()	Fade out selected elements
$(selector).fadeTo()	Fade out selected elements to a given opacity
$(selector).animate()	Run a custom animation on selected elements

Function	Description
$(selector).html(content)	Changes the (inner) HTML of selected elements
$(selector).append(content)	Appends content to the (inner) HTML of selected elements
$(selector).after(content)	Adds HTML after selected elements

CSS Properties	Description
$(selector).css(name)	Get the style property value of the first matched element
$(selector).css(name,value)	Set the value of one style property for matched elements
$(selector).css({properties})	Set multiple style properties for matched elements
$(selector).height(value)	Set the height of matched elements
$(selector).width(value)	Set the width of matched elements

5 Design Principles - Seminar task (SB)

2011-10-26T09:56:00.000-07:00

"Individually search the web for websites whic display the five design principles detailed in the handout".

Alignment, Repetition, Contrast, Proximity & Balance.

Alignment - ?????

Repetition - Choccywoccydoodah

Not only is this company my absolute favourite cake & confectionary company, I also love their website. On each page of the website the big red banner on the left hand side of the website & the big logo is displayed. The colour scheme is kept very consistent throughout & the same font is used for each title on different pages.

Contrast - Toopix Creative

I really like the contrast of the black background & then the main div being white. It really makes the main information stand out. However, because of this black background the links at the bottom of the div are hard to identify.

Proximity - Vie At Home

The main div is quite central & small, so all of the main things on the home page are within close proximity of each other. This may make it seem messy however, each seperate part is set within a box so it is clear to see where things are.

Balance - Aardman Animation Studio

I really like how centred this website is, giving it a good balance. The animated characters in the centre show what Aardman are all about and I really like the animated navigation at the top.

Weekly website review - Week 3

2011-10-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

Today, The FWA's website of the day is ALDO, a shoe brand. This website isn't the company's main selling website, it's more of a promotional website which I find quite confusing.

And yet again, we have ANOTHER website that is Flash operated. The amount of times I've seen that HTML 5 and CSS 3 is taking over is starting to seem a bit silly. It seems as though people can't move away from Flash! There's not a lot wrong with it, but the website did take a while to load because of it being flash. Honestly, think people should look into HTML 5 more!

Okay, so the whole idea of the website is to try and promote some sort of offer. There are 3 games based around the products and if you win every game you get 15% off your next purchase. Just by playing you can get entered into a prize draw for a life time's supply of shoes.

I think it's a really quirky way of trying to promote the offers, but not everyone will know about the site so it is essential they advertise it on their main website, in stores, flyers etc.

There is a link in the top right hand corner of the screen so that when you click on it you can just view the range of shoes available. I think this isn't very practical because they then have to find another website, find the same pair of shoes and then buy them if they want to. I think the link to view the collection should be replaced with a link to the main website.

This is a screenshot of one of the games. I think it's a really nice way of seeing what's available from them and the experience is totally interactive.

Even thought the website is meant to be interactive & all that, there isn't really a lot to be interactive with. You click on a few things to pick them and then everything is done by flash. It gets a bit boring as you go further on so it may lose people's interest.

I like how the links are all positioned along the bottom, keeping them close together & easy to find. However at times, I think it is a bit hard to read them. I have no idea what relevance the white tiger has to the brand, so I just think it's a bit weird. This website gets 7/10 :)

Here's one for you.

2011-10-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

Shorthand coding. (GL)

2011-10-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

For Giselle's next seminar we've been asked to look at shorthand coding. Shorthand coding makes the CSS style sheet a lot easier to read & a lot shorter.

Colours
Hexadecimal colours consists of 6 letters or numbers that corresponds to a single colour. The 6 letters/numbers represent 3 colours, Red, Green and Blue. Each set of numbers/letters identifies how much of red, green or blue there is in a colour. If there are colours for example that are made up of 3 pairs or is 6 letters/numbers of the same then the colours can be shortened to just 3. For example:

#FFFFFF - white can become #FFF
#000000 - black can become #000
#FF0000 - red can become #F00

& so on & so fourth.

Margin & Padding
The code for margin & padding consists of 4 values that stands for the top, right, bottom & left. The values work in a clockwise order hence top, right, bottom then left. Rather than writing out something like :

margin-top: 1em ;
margin-right: 0em;
margin-bottom: 2em;
margin-left: 0.5em;

It can be replaced with:

margin: 1em 0 2em 0.5em;

The 0 doesn't need em after it because 0 is 0 and the em part will be ignored anyway! This is also the same principle when it comes to the padding.

Borders.
Borders can also be shortened to help make the css style sheet easier to read. Let's say for example the border has the following code:

border-width: 0.25em;
border-style: solid;
border-color: #FFFFFF

It can be shortened to:

border: 0.25em solid #FFF; (hexadecimal codes can be shortened remember!)

If you want to put a border around a set of text, to make the box you use the same principle as with the margin code. So it would be as follows:

border-width:1em 2em 3em 4em;

Backgrounds
Codes for backgrounds tend to get quite long winded. So if your code for your background looks like this:

background-color:#f00;
background-image:url(background.gif);
background-repeat:no-repeat;
background-attachment:fixed;
background-position:0 0;

It can be shortened to this:

background:#f00 url(background.gif) no-repeat fixed 0 0;

Fonts
From looking at the codes above, it seems as though they all follow the same pattern. Font codes can be shortened too.

font-style:italic;
font-variant:small-caps;
font-weight:bold;
font-size:1em;
line-height:140%;
font-family:"Lucida Grande",sans-serif;

shortened to:

font:italic small-caps bold 1em/140% "Lucida Grande",sans-serif;

Weekly website review - Week 2

2011-10-20T11:23:00.000-07:00

I have decided to review the website that is site of the day on the FWA. I will do this over the next few weeks just so that I can see why those websites are sites of the day!

Nespresso - Dhjana

This is FWAs site of the day for today. It's a website for a coffee brand from a number of countries including Brazil & Costa Rica.

As soon as you go onto the site it has animated aspects to it, and you can immediately tell it is built in flash. The start page tells you a bit of information about the brand.

The coffee bean then disappears into the background which turns into the ground and a tree grows from the ground. I really liked this aspect of the site as it is quite interesting & is a nice connection to the main content of the site.

The first page you get to introduces the company. I think the navigation on the right hand side could be a lot more clear & maybe more decorative to fit in with the theme of the site. The pages are bright, eye catching & have animated aspects to increase the interactivity of the site.

When you click onto a link, even the loading bar fits in with the theme of the website. I think it's really clever and I like the way the little leaves represent how far the loading process has progressed.

On this particular page, the text on the right had side has no scroll bar. It moves according to the movement of the mouse when you roll over the text. I really liked this method of replacing a typical navigation bar, however people may find it is a bit difficult to control & the mouse may get in the way.

Overall, the website is very consistent & the theme is followed throughout all of the pages of the website. I find the graphics quite interesting & the way each part of the website is on a different part of the tree is a nice touch. I'll give this site 8/10 :)!

DP3 Seminar work - class selectors

2011-10-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

In todays seminar I learnt some new ways of adding css rules to certain aspects of my site. I was quite surprised as to how easy it was to code just one thing to make it different to everything else. I always thought coding would be really long winded but really, it isn't!

A particular type selector I liked was the em selector. This can be applied to any tag so that it has the css code of the em selector.

Class selectors help to single out bits of text you want to make different, but may have the same tag. For example, Two lines of tags may start with the <p> tag, but to make one line blue, and the other have no style code you would apply the class selector to one p tag.

<p class="big">This text would be displayed according to the class "big" css code.</p>
<p> However this will not, because it has no class selector added to the p tag. </p>

You can also combine classes which I didn't know you could do! So as shown below, one sentence is bold in font type, and also has padding. Say the class selectors are called bold & padding it would be written as;

<p class="bold padding">

Tags such as <h1>, <h2>, <h3> etc all change the size of text. This is particularly good when creating headers for pages for example. However, sometimes you may want to use the same size h tag, but for them to have different characteristics. Class selectors can also be added to these tags to help define different headings!

Slightly off topic, I also learnt that using em as a measurement rather than px is a lot better. 1em = 16px but em is the standard measurement so it is best to use this so that devices such as mobile phones can display the website correctly. A px to em converter should be used when wanting to size things up such as divs & content boxes.

My image of the internet.

2011-10-19T11:52:00.000-07:00

Coming sooooooon

Dan Saffer: 'Interaction design is an applied art' DP3 discussion task. (DD)

2011-10-14T03:41:00.000-07:00

I came across this article when I was creating my visual essay last year, so it's nice to know that Dan is quite well known & people are picking up on how good he is at his job.

The article can be found by clicking here

This interview really highlights how important it is to learn as much as possible while I have the chance to. When he was at university, he talked about how all of the technical language & knowledge was taught to him, and he found it useful as he never would have imagined himself piecing something so technical together. It seems as though Dan is really focused and passionate about what he does, which is a really good vibe to have especially when I will be applying for jobs soon. Following his path by attending all of my lessons and doing my own personal studies, I think I will get just that little bit further than others and will hopefully be successful when it comes to job interviews/working with clients.

With the current explosion in the smartphone market, applications have become more and more widely used within today's society. Applications are linked to interface & interactive design which seems to be a key area to concentrate on, as Dan highlights they are very intertwined. Without good interface & interaction design, I would probably fail as a web designer.

By the time I have completed my course at NTU, web design aspects would have probably changed dramatically. Technology is forever sprinting forward and it can be hard to keep up if you're not being taught what's new & current. Dan said this at the end of the interview:

"The way to become a great designer is to learn as much as you can and put what you've learned into practice by designing a lot. That's all!"

I think this just shows that in order to be successful I need to take my time and learn what it is people want so I can create websites that people would love & use often. There isn't really any point in me going into this design field if I wasn't prepared for a challenge.

I really like how Dan gives a few tips as to what you shouldn't do. People tend to think that web design is really easy & anyone can do it. Dan clearly states that there is more to interaction design than just sitting there and sticking something together. It will take a lot of time, effort, creativity, perseverance, endless cups of tea & possibly putting up with some awkward clients. Obviously it isn't that easy to do, becuase one of Dan's principles he follows is "If it was easy, then everyone would do it". Well said Dan!

2011-10-11T09:05:00.001-07:00

2011-10-11T09:02:00.001-07:00

Got a little side project :D

2011-10-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

I've been asked to design some tickets for a christmas gig for a local function band :D I know christmas seems ages away but the tickets need to be sold in advance! I'm gonna get them done for the end of next week. This is a great opportunity for me to get a taste of graphic design! :) Development & pictures to follow later on in the week.

2011-10-07T06:53:00.000-07:00

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs

DP3 Seminar work (DD) (SB)

2011-10-07T06:44:00.000-07:00

For our seminar with David & Shaun we were asked to do a task. For David to review a website & for Shaun to find 3 interactive medias that we liked. So this post is gonna kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

Interactive 1 - BooBahs children's website

This website is an interactive entertainment website for pre-schoolers based on the BooBahs TV programme. The age range that the programme normally is aimed at is 3 - 5 years old. What is particularly good about this website is that there is no text at all. This makes it easy for children to use as they can't read at all or can read very little.

Every aspect of the website is interactive, full of different sounds, movements & activities to do. Everywhere you click it leads to a different page with something different to do. The fact that it is so diverse and has all of these interactive components helps to keep the children entertained. The use of bold, bright colours also adds to this effect.

The above image is the home page. As the cursor rolls over different components, different sounds can be heard and different animations occur. The coloured spots at the top of the page all lead to different pages with different activities to do. This also goes for the characters & the present in the centre of the page.

The image above is an example of one of the activities available for children to do. Even though the website looks like it's been made by a bunch of fairies on crack, i'll definitely give it 10/10 for practicality!

Interactive 2 - Plants vs Zombies Application

Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense action video game developed and originally published by PopCap Games for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The game involves a homeowner using many varieties of plants to repel an army of zombies from "eating their brains". I have this application on my iPhone and I can honestly say it's a guilty pleasure. I love the range of different characters involved & that each level is set in different environments. Not only is there the main game, there is also a series of mini games that incorporates the same characters. A new aspect to the game is the Zen Garden, where you can grow your own plants & sell them in order to make money faster to buy new plants/tools.

The App itself is very easy to use. You get a tutorial in how to play the game when you first play it and the same goes for the mini games. I have spent many hours on this game & I can say it is definitely one of the most entertaining!

Thanks to this little gem of a game, I now know how to survive a zombie apocalypse. I'm just hoping plants evolve on time!

Interactive 3 - Mauricio Studio

This is the online portfolio for Web Designer & Illustrator Mauricio Guimaraes. I love how he incorporates both of his practices into one webstie. As soon as you go onto his website, you can immediately see what he is capable of. Even though it has been built in flash and can sometimes take a while to load, I think it is a well thought out creative website. You can navigate around the "map" to find the different parts of his site. If you have difficulty finding things then there are links at the bottom of the screen. The theme, style & colour scheme is kept throughout the website & the text is legible. I think the text could do with being a little bit bigger & the navigation around the map is a bit slow. All in all, it helps to express what Mauricio is all about & is a good way to present a work portfolio.

New year, New start, New Projects!

2011-10-07T06:25:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about starting back at uni :D First week has been pretty good, I just can't wait to get stuck into the projects we get set!

My film poster

2011-05-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

Photos from shooting day... Because I'm being bugged to death for them.

2011-05-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

I bloody love this advert

2011-05-20T06:05:00.001-07:00

mmmm, Travis Barker <3

My finished Animation!

2011-05-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

FINALLY finished my haunted ride animation project :) I'm really happy with the outcome! Feedback pleasee!

My very first OFFICIAL website.

2011-04-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

I can't actually believe I have my own website ahahaha!

www.cm6792.co.uk

This is just my online portfolio from my Interactive media project, but seeing as I was really pleased with it I may as well publish it!

:D HAPPYYYYY

Olaaaa!

2011-04-28T08:42:00.001-07:00

I haven't blogged a lot this past week, sorry! Been dead busyyyy.
Anywho, my laptop is now fixed and my mac has arrived! I can finally do some work out of uni time which is going to be greatttt. No more spending hours in uni :D! Hurrah!

Research on short films.

2011-04-14T04:17:00.000-07:00

Award winning low budget college short film. This was a film showed to us by Phil in the seminar on 14/04/11. I think it is a really clever idea and thought the ending was unexpected!

Our ideas pitch presentation!

2011-04-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the presentation we are going to use to pitch our ideas that I have made :) Initial ideas presentation film

View more presentations from CLM6792.

Camera research, thanks to Dan!

2011-04-13T06:44:00.000-07:00

We thought it would be important to research different camera techniques so that we could use the correct language when finalising our script.

Camera techniques

As i will be the cameraman, i have researched into certain techniques which i think will be useful for our film.

Camera Techniques for research

The use of different shot sizes can influence the meaning which an audience will interpret.
The size of the subject in frame depends on two things: the distance the camera is away from the subject and the focal length of the camera lens.
Common shot sizes:

Extreme close-up: Focuses on a single facial feature, such as lips and eyes.
Close-up: May be used to show tension.
Medium shot: Often used, but considered bad practice by many directors, as it often denies setting establishment and is generally less effective than the Close-up.
Long shot

Choice of shot size is also directly related to the size of the final display screen the audience will see. A Long shot has much more dramatic power on a large theater screen, whereas the same shot would have less of an impact on a small TV or computer screen.

Spin look:

The camera spins around an actor to get a glimpse of what he or she is looking at. The camera may also begin by viewing the object then spin back around to view the character.

Also the spin look is an alternative to the popular technique of “ Cutting away” when a character looks off-screen.

Establishing shot:

An establishing shot in film and television sets up, or establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects. It is generally a long- or extreme-long shot at the beginning of a scene indicating where, and sometimes when, the remainder of the scene takes place. Mainly used at a new location to give the audience a sense of locality.

POV shot:

It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character's reaction.

Cut zoom in:

Cut zoom in is a technique that adds emphasis to another wise static shot. This technique usually has three stages, a very wide shot, a wide shot and finally medium shot.

Jump cut sequence:

A jump cut sequence is a specific type of montage sequence in which jump cuts are used to show similar actions occurring over a short period of time.

Tracking shot:

A tracking shot is a segment in which the camera is mounted on a camera dolly, a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken.

Reaction shot:

It is a shot which cuts away from the main scene in order to show the reaction of a character to it.

Our final script with camera shots!

2011-04-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

1 EXT. STREET.
(close up)Teddy is found laid in a muddy puddle.(camera zooms out)
TEDDY

(vo)

There'll come a time when I'll look at the world and it will look back at me

Pedestrians/cars rush past the Teddy without noticing it.
TEDDY

(vo)

And I won't be there to see it

Teddy gets up and starts walking off.

2 INT. BEDROOM.
(teddy walks into shot) The Teddy finds the house of its owner. It enters the house, climbs upstairs (camera from teddy’s P.O.V or follows it) and goes to the girl’s bedroom. There is a row of photos perfectly lined on the window sill. A desk with a pile of study books, homework and a laptop. There is a cork board on the wall with a perfectly cut out exam timetable to leave no excess. (camera cuts to show each thing the shows teddy leaving room)
TEDDY

(vo)

I've always been invisible. Had the ability.

My mummy had me for a limited time only

Teddy exits the room.

3 INT. LIVING ROOM.
(camera facing teddy then cuts to show girl entering) Girl walks homework under her arm and delicately places it on the coffee table. The Teddy is sat on the sofa and she sits on him. (camera is facing side so you can see teddy being sat on)
TEDDY

(vo)

And if I shouted she could sometimes hear me

(camera facing girl) Girl looks puzzled as she hears the Teddy. She pulls him out from under her and throws him to one side of the room. (camera follows teddy as he flies through the air then camera cuts to show teddy getting up and leaving) Teddy gets up and exits the room.

4 INT.KITCHEN.
(medium shot) Teddy is sat at the kitchen table. The stereo is playing. (close up on stereo) We can see the volume has been turned down to zero
TEDDY

(vo)

But of course she couldn't

Teddy goes to turn up radio and Celine Dion’s “All by myself” is playing. (full shot of table) Teddy places head on table and starts to cry.

5 EXT. PARK.
(camera pans and stops to show swing & teddy walking away from it) The empty swing gently moves back and forth.
TEDDY

(vo)

If you let me creep up on you
(medium shot) Teddy is seen drinking a bottle of vodka (close up shot of bottle)The bottle of vodka slowly empties
TEDDY

(vo)

I can make you disappear too
(camera moves away from teddy and teddy moves towards it) Teddy is staggering around the park, pissed out of his face.
TEDDY

(vo)

I could just tell you some things. Things you don't want to hear. Things no one should have to hear

(close up)The Teddy snorts a line of cocaine (crushed up paracetamol) and injects himself with heroin (syringe from a fancy dress shop filled with water)

(full shot) The Teddy makes its way over to the car park.
TEDDY

(vo)

But it can't be your fault

(medium shot of the teddy) The sound of a car engine is heard followed by a horn, the Teddy turns around (faces camera then camera goes behind the teddy to show the car) and is struck by a car. It flies through the air and lands on the ground.
TEDDY

(vo)

(close up of teddy laying on the ground)

I am invisible you see. And now I am gone

THE END

Film treatment, thanks to Dan :)

2011-04-13T05:35:00.000-07:00

Film treatment for 'Gaze'.

Title: 'Gaze'.

Outline of ideas:

Resource list: Camerman (& lighting), director, producer, sound engineer, one character, video camera. A set time without being in a rush to make the film look professional. In terms of props, some study books, a teddy, a stereo, a bottle of vodka, a cork board and a laptop are the main objects we need for our scenes.

Strengths: Knowing suitable locations which will fit the scenes well is vital. Locations will be local to reduce travel time and more time for filming.Easy access for props.

Weaknesses: The main limitation to making this film is the weather. If it rains or the lighting is poor then a plan will need to be created before our first filming day incase we have to change our schedule. Another weakness could be that we won't be great our roles that we have been assigned. This could cause the final outcome of the film to be worse than it should be.

Conclusion: Ultimately I believe that our film will work well. It will relate to people closely through our ideas about how toys played a big impact on our childhood life. In order for this film to work, we will need to be organised and need adequate research involved.

Little video to introduce my haunted ride

2011-04-11T12:17:00.000-07:00

The video is of the front of the building of my haunted ride to show what I have done for the entrance. This will be at the beginning of my ride video to make it longer and introduce the ride :)

VIDEO YET TO COME

Edited script

2011-04-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

I have edited the script so that people can see what changes I have made. This script goes along with the storyboard I have created.

1 EXT. STREET.
Teddy is found laid in a muddy puddle.
TEDDY

(vo)

There'll come a time when I'll look at the world and it will look back at me

Pedestrians/cars rush past the Teddy without noticing it.
TEDDY

(vo)

And I won't be there to see it

Teddy gets up and starts walking off.

2 INT. BEDROOM.
The Teddy finds the house of its owner. It enters the house, climbs upstairs and goes to the girl’s bedroom. There is a row of photos perfectly lined on the window sill. A desk with a pile of study books, homework and a laptop. There is a cork board on the wall with a perfectly cut out exam timetable to leave no excess.
TEDDY

(vo)

I've always been invisible. Had the ability.

My mummy had me for a limited time only

Teddy exits the room.

3 INT. LIVING ROOM.
Girl walks homework under her arm and delicately places it on the coffee table. The Teddy is sat on the sofa and she sits on him.
TEDDY

(vo)

And if I shouted she could sometimes hear me

Girl looks puzzled as she hears the Teddy. She pulls him out from under her and throws him to one side of the room. Teddy gets up and exits the room.

4 INT.KITCHEN.
Teddy is sat at the kitchen table. The stereo is playing. We can see the volume has been turned down to zero
TEDDY

(vo)

But of course she couldn't

Teddy goes to turn up radio and Celine Dion’s “All by myself” is playing. Teddy places head on table and starts to cry.

5 EXT. PARK.
The empty swing gently moves back and forth
TEDDY

(vo)

If you let me creep up on you
The bottle of vodka slowly empties
TEDDY

(vo)

I can make you disappear too
Teddy is staggering around the park, pissed out of his face.
TEDDY

(vo)

I could just tell you some things. Things you don't want to hear. Things no one should have to hear

The Teddy makes its way over to the car park.
TEDDY

(vo)

But it can't be your fault

The sound of a car engine is heard followed by a horn, the Teddy turns around and is struck by a car. It flies through the air and lands on the ground.
TEDDY

(vo)

I am invisible you see. And now I am gone

THE END

Rough schedule

2011-03-30T06:58:00.000-07:00

This is a plan of action I have created in order to keep my group organised (hopefully)!

Task	Date completed by	Completed by who?
Role description	Week 2 - 11th April	All members
Rough storyboard	Beginning of week 2	All members
Treatment - Visual	End of week 2	Dan
Treatment - Sound	End of week 2	Matt
Images of locations	Week 2 - 13th April	Charlotte
Description of characters	End of week 2	Lucy
Ideas for costumes/props	End of week 2	All members
Initial ideas presentation	Week 2 - 13th	All members
Examples of short films involving toys	End of week 2	All members
Final storyboard	Week 2 - 13th	Charlotte
Risk asessment	Week 3	Charlotte
Check permissions (if needed)	Week 3	Charlotte
Risk asessment check by tutor	Week 3	Charlotte

Hopefully we wll stick to this and get everything done on time!

"Interpretation" movie research.

2011-03-27T03:37:00.000-07:00

The idea of our film project is to interperate a script that has been given to us. To see how this has been done in the past, I am going to look at some films that have been interpreated over the years.

Example 1 - Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

The first movie to be released was a 1971 musical adaptation of the novel created in 1964 by Roald Dahl.

The novel was titled "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" but the film took a little twist and named it "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". To me this is a bit odd as the novel is so well known, it seems almost rude to call it something else.

The first movie was released on 30th June 1971. Here is a trailer showing parts of the movie:

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In comparison, the same movie was released again in 2005. However, it was a completely different interpretation altogether. Here is a trailer for that movie :

In both movies, the story line is kept pretty much the same. A poor boy finding the last golden ticket, nobody has ever been in the factory, Oompa loompas, everything is edible as they go in, the weird boat ride, ever lasting gob stoppers etc etc.

Only a few slight details have been changed, the story is still the same, the characters are still the same but some aspects of the film have been changed.

Example 2 - Robin Hood

Robin Hood is a heroic outlaw in English Folklaw. He is well known for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. He and his "merry men" go out and do this whilst trying to avoid the Sheriff of Nottingham. Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire is a well known place due to the story of this Folklaw as this is where Robin Hood supposedly lived. Robin Hood has influenced a series of movies, but I have picked out 2 in particular.

Robin Hood Prince of Thieves was released in 1991. This movie concentrated on the traditional story of the battle between the outlaws and the Sheriff of Nottingham and his men. In the process, Robin Hood falls in love with Maid Marion and it is a never ending fight to keep her by his side. Here is the trailer from that movie.

In contrast, in 2010 another Robin Hood movie was released but was more like a prequal than a re-make. This concentrated on the story on how Robin Hood became an outlaw rather than what happened once he was one. Here is the trailer from that movie.

Obviously, this movie still contains a lot of fighting, cos that's what people like! But to say it is an "interprated" film, they are both completely different story wise. Also, I really like the phrase "Rise and rise again, until lambs become lions". Just shows that anyone can become anything they want!

Research

2011-03-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

Seeing as our film is going to have a bear as the main character, we found this video that has a bear as the main character!

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We really liked the humor behind it, and hope to portray this in our film!

My Role.

2011-03-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

For my film project I have taken the role of Director. Even though I am not doing film next year, I still want to really challenge myself and prove I am capable of such a big role.

A director has been defined as: S: (n) film director, director (the person who directs the making of a film)

And: A film director is a person who directs the actors and crew in the making of a film. They control a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors.

To me a Director is the key person to hold the group together, a bit like glue. I think it will be important that I am organised in order to keep everything running smoothly and to allow my group to know what they are doing. People can sometimes get carried away when it comes to assigning roles. I don't want to come across as a complete bossy bitch, but if anyone is lacking, I won't be hesitant in saying something. At the end of the day, the group depend on each other and if one person doesn't make the effort, the whole group suffers!

I am actually really looking forward to this project now :) Got a good script and a nice little group going on!

My blog is gonna be a bit muddled up. Sorry!

2011-03-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

Finally encoded my animation after it spent 37 hours rendering! Here is my test video :)

From watching the video I picked up a series of things that needed to be changed. I felt that some aspects of my ride were very bare. So i've added a couple of things in!

A blood splat to the entrance wall.

More spider webs in the spider room

Film - Day 1

2011-03-24T05:47:00.000-07:00

Brief:

In your allocated group of five people and working in a specific production role you should plan, film and
edit the short fiction script allocated to your group.
Roles to take are: Producer, director, camera & lighting, sound design and production and editor.
( if there are 6 in your group then this person should take lighting and camera assistant roles.
Other jobs and roles, not attached specifically to a major role in pre and post production should be divided
amongst the group in an organised way. For example a location researcher, booking equipment, risk
assessment, etc. The producer will need help to complete these tasks and should allocate the jobs in
preproduction as appropriate.

Director - Me!

Producer - Lucy Alexander

Camera & Lighting - Dan Bissill

Sound -

Production -

Editor - Matthew Bennett

Our Script is Gaze!

1 EXT. STREET. DAY 1
SHE stands there eyes closed. In the midst of the crowd. As the crowds
pass she opens her eyes
SHE

(vo)

There'll come a time when I'll look at the

world and it will look back at me

She is obscured by the crowd
SHE

(vo)

And I won't be there to see it

2 INT. FLAT. DAY 2
The jars of provisions are extremely neat. The magazines are extremely
neat. A shopping list, pinned to the neat noticeboard has been printed
out and neatly cut so as to waste no excess space
SHE

(vo)

I've always been invisible. Had the ability.

My mum had me for a limited time only

3 INT. OFFICE. DAY 3
She walks paper under her arm and delicately places them on a
colleague's desk. The colleague is talking on the phone and doesn't
acknowledge her presence
SHE

(vo)

And if I shouted she could sometimes hear me

4 INT. LOUNGE. DAY 4
The stereo is playing. We can see the volume has been turned down to
zero
SHE

(vo)

But of course she couldn't

5 EXT. PARK. DAY 5
The empty swing gently moves back and forth
SHE

(vo)

If you let me creep up on you

6 INT. KITCHEN. DAY 6
The glass of water slowly empties
SHE

(vo)

I can make you disappear too

7 EXT. STREET. DAY 7
She stands in the street, staring at us.
SHE

I could just tell you some things. Things you

don't want to hear. Things no one should have

to hear

A passer-by temporarily obscures her. She now closes her eyes
SHE

(vo)

But it can't be your fault

A tear runs down her cheek
SHE

(vo)

I am invisible you see. And now I am gone

THE END

So, who likes my new piercing? :D

2011-03-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

Visual essay - the opening page

2011-03-23T06:40:00.000-07:00

I think I might be well on the way to creating my layout for the visual essay. I've come up with this intro page.

There are 2 reasons why I particularly like this:

Introduces which pathway I want to take
Includes one of my main practitioners

Obviously this is only the intro page, so I need to come up with a main layout that flows through the rest of my website.

Fuck my life.

2011-03-23T03:24:00.000-07:00

I actually want to cry.

Animation is almost finished!

2011-03-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Just got to render my animation, which will take 16 hours. Oh god. Soooo happy with the turnout of it :)

Just got to alter a couple of bits n bobs. But this is practically my finished piece! Gonna start finding some sounds and get some cool music :) Yaaaay!

Storyboard!

2011-03-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

I missed Friday's seminar because I was poorlyyyy, so I've caught up with the work and made this storyboard :)

I've just included the main things in my ride. There will be little bits n bobs dotted around, but this just shows the key parts of my ride.

Note to self:

2011-03-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

Things I need to finish:

Make a swinging pendulum
Make a spiders web
Sort the camera out
Do the entrance
Think of a couple more props to dot around
Flickering lights for some candles/chandelier

Got quite a bit to do but I'm almost there! :D Hurrah!

Almost there!

2011-03-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

Added some trees and some creepy lookin' fog. Added 2 main lights. One to illuminate the clown face to make it stand out and one that lights up infront of the cart to create shadows as it goes past props.

This shows how I've added the fog. Had to get Roma's help but I played around with it until I was happy with the effect :)

This is just to show off my trees.

The 2 ghosts on my roof are just pictures! I wanted a simpler way of modelling props and was told to do it this way. The next image shows how I did it.

The 2 planes have opacity maps that allows the images to be shown and the rest to be see through.

This is a view of my grave yard on the roof along with my scary trees and my lighting! All the shadows help to add to the spooky effect!

This is a splat of slime I had added on the floor. There are also drops of slime that drop from the roof as the cart goes past it.

These are 3 spiders I have made that drop from the roof. This is my second scare scene of the ride and with the lighting (top left) the shadows really do look pretty creepy! Eww spiders!

A shadow monster that I have created has been made the same way as my ghosts further up. I really like how it's all dark and mysterious. You don't really know what it is as it approaches which adds to the scary effect.

This just shows how my shadow monster looks!

Overall I am really pleased with my progress. I'm just starting to get the hang of using 3Ds Max and I'm actually sad it's nearly the end of Animation! I've loved this project and feel that I have learnt an awful lot about the software :)

Weeee, more work!

2011-03-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

Made it so the tunnel looks as if it's gonna lead into the clown's mouth. The last thing someone wants to do is get eaten by a big scary clown! I also got rid of the tunnel and made a new one. The last one wasn't exactly big enough to fit the cart through.

For the part where my cart spirals up to the upper level, I have made a giant spider! I want to make some little ones drop from the ceiling to be part pof my scare scene, but big spiders always scare people just as they are! I didn't want to over complicate my props, so i've only made a simple spider. Think this is the best I'm gonna get it!

Oops! Forgot to post this!

2011-03-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

I was meant to post this ages ago, but completely forgot to do it :( Anyways, here are my cart designs!

I decided to go with my clown design as it goes with the "Nightmares" theme the most :)

More work updates

2011-03-10T10:22:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update on my work that I'm slowly progressing with!

Managed to finish my cart :) I think it's pretty cool! Added some arms to the side of it and a bit of stereotypical clown make up.

For a particular scare scene, I've enlarged my clown face from my cart and used it to overlook the rider on the upper floor. The idea of the rider looking up to something scary adds to the effect of the ride, it's kind of like "ahhh shit, there's a massive scary clown above me" sort of thing. Also i've added a texture to the floor of the upper level. I chose a dead grass effect as I want to create an outdoor feel to the upper level. I want to include a graveyard and some scary looking trees to it.

My first scare scene featuring the orbs from a couple of posts back. I've made the coffin lid open and then as the cart gets to it, a skeleton pops out suddenly. This will hopefully make some riders jump out their skin!

This is my texture for the walls on the lower level of my building. I wanted to create an abandoned building effect and make the walls look really worn out and old. Old buildings are often associated with haunted locations so thought this texture did the trick!

I still need to make loadsssss of props and I think i'm gonna struggle to get it all finished. I still need to:

Make some trees with scary eyes
Make some sort of shadow monster
Make a ghost
Make a graveyard
Add lighting
Add sounds
Animate all my props
Adjust the speed of the cart in certain areas

Plus loaadssss more! Hopefully next week I can get more help than what I've been getting so I can actually make my ride look half decent! 3D studio max WILL be the death of me.

Actually cannot wait.

2011-03-09T06:25:00.000-08:00

With a bit of help from a second year student, I have found a really good deal on getting my portfolio PUBLISHEDDDDD! It's gonna be live as soon as I've done some more to it, which means getting dreamweaver (again). I am actually really excited and I can't wait until people start looking at it for real :D Hopefully it will be a good way of getting employed!

Updated design for my profile.

2011-03-09T06:20:00.001-08:00

Wanted to create the same sort of feel my portfolio will have. Used the same colour scheme and I am just doing a little header for myself :)

Fed up, can't do it, want to go home & eat pancakes.

2011-03-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

So today is the second to last seminar with Roma for my Animation project. I am sososososo stuck with everything and I just can't work out how to do stuff :( Gonna try and get loads done on Thursday when I ask Andy for some help. Haa.

Also, I think I need to start focusing on my visual essay. It's only 2 and a bit months before the hand in date and I've hardly done anything! I NEEEED DREAMWEAVER!

Progression with my work

2011-03-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

So, after many hours of tackling the hell that is 3Ds max, I have managed to actually create something! Yay!

The view of my track from the front

The view of my track from behind. This shows the upper level on the roof and some of the ground level. Initially, the track was all on one level. But to make it that bit more exciting, I've added an upper level to maximise space I have to use and so I can include more things.

This is a tunnel I have created for my cart to travel through that is situated on the upper level.

The start of some scary clown face for the front of my cart.

A couple of props! 2 floating spiritual orbs and a coffin that will contain something to pop out. The lid opens on approach to it.

So far, I am happy with my progress. But, it does seem that I have a lot to do in such a little amount of time. And to make it worse, we finish Animation in 2 weeks so i'll be practically on my own. Great.