The Video WORKS!

Ok, some good news for the day. I had decided to give up on using a video from youtube and converting it to an FLV. with the use of an online video converter - none of them actually seem to work. I decided to try out my pixilation video that I produced last term, and import that within my quiz. I hope I'm allowed to do this because it totally works. My online problem is, obviously there would be one, I don't know how to stop the music from playing when you click on that frame, as I have music playing throughout the entire quiz. So currently the video works, but now you can't hear the music playing from it as it overlaps with the background music. When will the problems end!!!!

I must be cursed with bad luck

Trying to be organised and eager to start editing, our group met early this morning. Manage to get an editing kit and eventually set it up correctly, but then our tape decided it didn't want to display our whole of yesterdays work correctly. It was a thousand per cent on the write setting, and to be honest, we did notice this whilst filming, yet we were sure it wouldn't be like that when we were to capture it. It is almost pixilated in three lines across the footage - where Stan is in the workshop. Some of the group thought this was a good effect to have seeing as technology is meant to be 'taking over'. I then decided the award ceremony looked slightly dark too, even though we used lights. Are you being serious that we may just have to START AGAIN? We intend to edit what we have and then alter and re-film a few other bits and make a new edit. At least this way we have something to compare too. Time is getting tight so this is really quite annoying and frustrating.

Oohh Yea

Finished filming today! Managed to get various shots of 'Stan' in the workshop where something strange is going oooonn. Was quite funny trying to jump in on set and get all the computers to turn off - ended up the actor having to do it almost discreetly himself. We shall see if it worked! Also managed to find an empty lecture theatre and a few corridors to add onto our 'end of the world' extra scene. All we need to do now is cut down and order about 30 minutes of filming to about 5. Tomorrow is going to be a loooooonnng day.

Story board

Below is a hand-drawn version of our script. It shows an image for each scene so far, based in two locations, the award ceremony and the workshop:

Think think think..

9AM Friday morning is never a good time to have a group discussion about our work and collaborate ideas for group questions - especially today. This mornings question was pretty tough, we could only come up with three, not five, it was the word demonstrate that was throwing us off -:

What questions do I need to be asked that allow me to demonstrate my technical ability?

1. Since starting the course, how have you progressed?

>>In terms of softwares, a lot. I didn't really know what kind of softwares we were to be using when coming into the course, but now I feel I have got to grips with most of them, or at least know the basis of what they do.

2. How well do you understand the functions of the software?

>>When it comes to Flash, I know how to do create most things, yet when it comes the the Actionscript, I don't necessarily understand it. It's easy to just paste in the Actionscript and for the buttons for example to work, however I don't understand what the meaning of it actually is - I would have to copy it from somewhere first to do what I intend to make work. Apart from this, I'm pretty confident about picking up new softwares and trying to have a good understanding of them.

3. From a scale of 1 to 10, what would you rate yourself on your own technical ability? Explain why

>>I rated myself about a 5 - due to this being an average score. I know I try and work hard, yet the final outcome will not always amazing. Especially when you compare yourself to other people - I hate that. If I don't get or understand something, I like to use my own time to figure things out, by the use of online tutorials for example, or go into uni and just concentrate on it. But I was told I'm about a 7? Not entirely sure why, but thanks!

Things to think about

When watching footage back (not just our own), we need to analyse:

>>How does it feel composition wise?

>>How was it put together?

>>Can we see a film?

Lift off

It turned out to be a success with the camera today - we actually got it. Also finally we have an actor thanks to Kieron. This has probably been the most difficult part of the project, finding available actors when the cameras and locations are available too!!

To start, we filmed the award ceremony scenes one after the other. This was because we didn't know how much time we had in the lecture theatre, and also saves a lot of moving about with the camera going from one place to the other. We shot all of the scenes several times over, changing the camera angle every time to get different perspectives. We intend to edit the other scenes in-between all of these, and mix up each so we are including the various angles.

Learning from our previous mistakes, we gave the equipment back, and booked our next time already. We have our actor for Monday morning, so are hoping to film the workshop scenes then. The rest we are able to do without the actor - as its 'the end of the world' we just need deserted locations. Feel much better about it all now that we have started, at least its one step forward.

P.S - WHERE WAS OUR PRODUCER TODAY?? Annie you better be there monday!

You've got to be kidding me

Not happy. Reminder to group - not everything is down to the director.

Slightly unsuccessful with filming so far this week, turns out our organisational skills are not all there. High five to Kieron for making the effort with props, and also to Annie for organising locations and actors. However, the big downfall is...all cameras are all booked out. Definitely can't start filming without one of those, and all other equipment. Blame cannot be passed on to anyone..except all you people who have stolen the cameras. The man specifically said they have been booked out all this week and next, so when is our turn?

On the upside, almost, we think we have the camera for 12.30 tomorrow - yet this is not for definite and we can't guarantee our actors are available then. A lot of hard work needs to be put in from now right up till the end of term. Little help group please.

500 word rational: Take two

Online Environments - Interactive Media: "Who wants to be a millionaire?"

Music Quiz: The layout for this quiz was entirely based on improving my previous quiz through feedback. As I were also more familiar with the software, I added in a lot more animated text, using this as the homepage. As mentioned previously, asking 20 questions in one go for an online quiz seemed to be a bit too much, I decided to create several different quizzes into one, therefore still meeting the minimum of 10 questions, yet not one after the other. Realising early on that I had background issues with the previous quiz, I made sure I used a very light minimal background for this one, whilst concentrating on not making it too plain and boring. I used a relevant image again created on Photoshop of musical notes and graphics, which worked quite well with the bold bright questions and answer options. The homepage layout consisted of different artists names, including a video and instructions option, sliding in from different directions, with the option to click on each for a different quiz. I used different fonts of different sizes and colours, making it look fun and interesting to want to play. Each artist had their own separate homepage with their name sliding in and 'play' button. Each only consists of 4 questions, as I didn't want too many this time. This is a nice small number to answer, seeing as I have the option of 8 different answers, making a total of 32 questions. The good thing about this layout is it will not seem tedious, as you don't have to answer these questions simultaneously, as after each separate quiz you can go 'back' or quit the game. I'm very proud of this layout, as I know I took on board all criticism in order to make this one successful. In terms of user interaction, I have had positive feedback. This wasn't designed specifically at a certain audience, but I guess it is interesting to anyone with an interest in music. My feedback I received is from other students of similar age. The design and layout are perceived much better, and overall enjoy the quiz a lot more. I added a music track that runs throughout the quiz to keep the user engaged. The score is recorded at the end of each individual quiz so the user knows what their score out of 4 is. The Actionscript used was the same as the driving quiz, yet I had to change the premise of the scoring system so that I could use the same Actionscript for each quiz.

My influences for this quiz were my own personal interest in music and an old TV show called 'My kind of Music'. This show consisted of playing a clip of music and guessing who the artist and song name were to gain a point. I experimented with having a question based on a song where there were two buttons on the frame, 'play' and 'pause' within the question. I felt as it is a music quiz it works much better with music running throughout. In order to think of different artists, I gathered and selected a few well known names from the top 40 in the charts. This was as the users testing and playing the quiz were all of similar age range, they may have a strong idea who each were. Therefore I made some questions quite tricky, so it wasn't a waste of time making it easy, and also it can therefore be informative as the users can learn about their chosen or favourite artist.

I added in a video of a different artist, not stated on the homepage, basing the video on one question of who is the singer. I've had a few display problems with this but I think it may finally be working!

500 word rational

Online Environments - Interactive Media: "Who wants to be a millionaire?"

Driving Theory Quiz: I designed a quiz that was targeted at learner drivers. To meet the criteria, this had to be informative, interesting and above all fun. In order to meet this, I first had to think about the layout. From taking online theory tests to give me an idea of the sort of questions asked, their layout was plain, consisting of a blank background and simple question and multiple choice answers. I then thought back to when I was learning my theory, and remembered how boring it was to learn the theory side of the test. So, this is where the coloured backgrounds came in, obviously keeping a relevant theme - an image which was closely linked with the question being asked. I edited these on Photoshop to make it my own, giving it something a bit different and seen to be more interesting than a simple imaged background. The image therefore was different for every question, including the colour font. Each question changed colour, and also the answers, however each answer on the same frame would be the same to each other. This was in response to how dull the original theory tests were, so I thought changing the consistency of colour would help achieve this. In terms of user interaction, I added sounds to incorrect answer, so the user would know instantly whether they were getting their question right or wrong. However with slight difficulty this only worked on one question. I intended to add different sounds to the different questions, again making them relevant to the question. For example, when asking "At which times can you not sound your horn?" the sound added was a car horn. Simple, yet effective, and hopefully making it more fun. I also got feedback not only from the targeted audience, but other people too. This was so I had a varied analysis to work from. The Actionscript used made sure that only one out of three possible answers were correct. I created 20 questions so this then showed their score out of 20 on the last frame, with the option of playing again.

Meeting the requirements: I produced a quiz that consisted of at least ten questions, incorporating sound and animated graphics. However I have not included a video that will work as an flv. file. I do intend to keep trying as I know this needs to be met. The quiz records the users answers and the end of the quiz, however it does not show the option of seeing the correct/incorrect answers. This is something I was not taught, but have been looking for tutorials on it. Optionally for added difficulty it should record the users name, keep track of the highest score and randomise the order of the questions. Again, like before I am unaware how to do this but I can only try my best!

Improvements made: After receiving the feedback, I was told that it was quite tedious to have 20 questions - seeing as its not a quiz people would optionally choose to take, it something that is required as part of learning to drive. I took this into consideration and came up with an idea, however this involved me wanting to make another one to try this out. Also, it seemed the coloured fonts were quite hard to read on the changing backgrounds. I therefore lightened every image and changed the fonts so that the colour was consistent. This was for the purpose of actually being able to read and answer the questions.

Sum up of reflections

From what I heard, in terms of development, it seems that he is focused on what he is doing as he has been receiving feedback to progress his work. However, it doesn't seem as though he has used any other influences other than his own interests to develop his work further. Getting a few influences from other resources might inspire some new ideas. How this compares to me: I tend to get my ideas from other people/designers in order to start a project - ideas don't generally come from the top of my head. For example, with my current project, moving image, the script gave the general idea of basing it on technology. We then related this to films we that reminded us of this - Tetsuo the Iron Man and I am Legend. However, I need to display where my ideas come from on my blog more than just how I am progressing with the project.

Research and Development

I had a look at several different blogs and found that there are various different methods of research to help with developing your work. Below are all the ones I came across:

>>Movie trailers

>>Short films

>>Film directors - influence own work

>>Similarity of courses - Theatre Design/Film

>>Feedback

>>Local design companies - web/media/graphics/multimedia

>>Designers - Chris Pallaris was one I came across

>>Websites - ilovedust/youtube/deviantart

>>Internet - artists and designers for inspiration

>>Interactive games

>>Video games

>>Software tutorials

>>Own sketches/own work/own skills

>>Novels/comics

>>Interviews

>>Practitioners

From this, I have realised that I rarely put my research methods on my blog. I think showing your research is a major part in the design process, as it helps not only you, but the audience/user have a greater understanding of where your ideas have come from and how they have developed. I tend to write up and explain what I'm doing, but not necessarily how I got to that point. Maybe now I will make a note to self and do this.

Todays seminar was almost like my tutor sessions - we got into groups to come up with 5 questions between us that you could ask other students about their work in terms of development. Below are the five questions my group came up with, including the answers from someone form another group.

1. How do you begin to start your project?

>>Caleb: Use ideas from personal interests - for online environments project, like games and quizzes so made a quiz about games!

2. Where do you find your research from?

>>Caleb: Idea for this project actually came from the top of my head

3. Why does your research influence you?

>>Caleb: Just based on personal interests

4. From looking back, have you changed it in any way?

>>Caleb: Multiple times. You're always looking at your work thinking of new ideas. Getting peoples feedback also helps with this.

5. Has your development helped you choose your pathway?

>>Caleb: Yes. I knew from when I came into the course what I wanted to do.

I was then asked his groups five questions:

1. How much time do you put into your work each week?

>>Me: In terms of my Online Environments project I would say definitely more time than given seminar time. I worked on mine almost everyday using tutorials etc to help me progress further

2. Where did you get your resources from?

>>Me: I thought of a particular target audience and based my project focusing on that, (learners). I could then use the internet to collect a number of theory questions, and view hazard perception clips. Feedback was another resource that made me realise some faults and I chose the option of making a new and improved idea.

3. How do you go about critically analysing your work?

>>Me: I usually get feedback from my tutor and other students, and also if necessary the targeted audience. I also analyse my work personally to see how I can improve my own skills.

4. How does the final work help progress the next piece?

>>Me: After completing a project I tend to feel more confidence about starting the next one. This is in terms of having developed my skills and knowledge on the software.

5. How has your work changed since you started the course?

>>Me: My work has definitely changed since I first started - Most softwares I had never used before and am now feeling pretty confident about them all. Therefore my work has developed through new skills and a new way of working. Since starting the course I can see where my strengths and weaknesses lie, helping determine which pathway to choose for year two.

Huh?

Focal Peripheral Contextual (?)

I was slightly confused over todays lecture. Started off talking about 'where is the narrative?' in last weeks film (Homicide), only understanding 'an anti-semitic conspiracy' as one of the points, which then somehow lead on to the relationships between things. I was going to state them on here as I made notes of them, but to me I feel I gained nothing from it.

Ok, so I did learn 'what are things?' apparently anything and everything is a signifier, (semiotics):

Signifier:What it is

Signified:What it means

A signifier achieves meaning (becomes a signified) through its relationships to other signifiers.

?????

But still, why do I need to know this? If I'm missing the point then feel free to fill me in, but I want to learn something that will benefit me in the course.

ALSO - Field of View, Timecode:Mike Figgis, 2000.

This film was interesting in the way it had four different perspectives to view at once, which you could only really follow by the audio, although sometimes two were playing at once! I think we only really needed to view a 5 minute clip to value from this. The hour and a half didn't really serve much purpose, especially as the storyline was quite dull.

Take two

Our group had started filming our extra scene last Thursday, but it turns out we were getting ahead of ourselves and pretty much doing everything wrong. So, this Thursday is take two.

Things we need to consider this time that it seems we hadn't before:

>>Check the white balance - manual

>>Check the exposure - manual

>>Check the focus - manual

>>Shutter speed must be 50

>>Use a rycote/fluffy/boom pole/XLR cable/headphones/K6M - in addition with the HDV camera and tripod

This week's seminar consisted of finishing the story board for our film, one of which is hand drawn and one that I have attempted to create on Frame Forge 3D.

These snapshots are quick mockups of our storyboard - I was getting used to the software and trying out different camera angles. I know the whole point of the story board is to know exactly how to film each scene. Therefore I am going to adjust these so they are a lot more accurate.

Also this week, I have re-wrote the script on Celtx - this has made it a lot clearer for us to see where each scene is taking place, what the actors are doing and saying, producing the storyboard and even slightly in terms of editing.

To help with shooting our 'award ceremony ' our group set up a Facebook group, inviting people to sit-in as our audience- and also find our main character 'Stan". This has worked so far so good.

Our group:

ME - Director

ANNIE - Producer

LARS - Camera Operator

ALEX - Sound and Lighting

KIERON - Editor

This week in writing

This week we started filming our extra scene: the end of the world. We so far have found and shot 2 locations - the graveyard, and a deserted building. We have done several takes so we can see what works best, and most are going to be from Point Of View - the last man standing.

Here are some work in progress shots of our chosen locations so far:

Abstract

We were asked to create an abstract for our desired pathway next year for this weeks seminar task. I was able to read others, while unfortunately didn't turn out to be very helpful as they were not very clear, or were not aimed and my chosen pathway. However, other people were able to read mine and leave comments focusing on four specific questions:

1. Is the pathway clear?

2. Is the research process clear?

3. If it is, why? If not, why not?

4. How did they talk about practitioners?

This part I found useful to me, as I got some interesting feedback. It made me realise that my pathway choice written in my abstract wasn't all that clear. I realised that I had stated reasons against choosing the other too, and not entirely discussed many reason for specifying in the one that I have. Therefore this then made my research process not very clear. I definitely need to make this clearer and state my thinking and research process. Also, when talking about practitioners, I have only stated certain softwares, not anyone in-particular.

From this, I feel I want to re-write an abstract that I can post on my blog for new feedback. I know that I at least need to consider the four above questions to make this successful.

The last person to have read my abstract, then had to start creating a visual essay for it on PowerPoint. These are the images that someone had chosen for me:

These images are something I wouldn't of thought of creating and are different layouts to how I would normally work. I feel they have helped broadened my knowledge for the visual essay.

Homicide

Homicide is written and directed by David Mamet which was released in 1991. We were watching this in terms of its context, as we have previously studied and looked at form. The plot: a Jewish homicide detective investigates a murder scene - an elderly Jewish woman, owner of a candy store was gunned down, presumably for her fortune hidden beneath the basement. The detective is put to the test with his loyalty to the badge and also his new found Jewish consciousness.

I think the story seemed to take elements of a story dealing with issues of identity. conspiracy and duty.

Moving Image: SEM 2 - Figure

Admittedly as a group we didn't really collaborate any ideas for our project. It turns out no one was really getting our initial ideas for the script - slightly far fetched. We completely stripped down the script and cut out everything that wasn't relevant to our ideas and that we just didn't understand, whereby adding in our own input.

The general idea: We are keeping the two places where we will be filming - a stage and in a workshop. Initial thoughts are the Byron lecture theatre for the stage, and the one of the design workshops within Waverly. 'Stan' is a guy who is winning an award for creating 'something' that is actually going to destroy the world. We intend to have shots that flashback to the workshop of Stan making the 'something', whilst at the same time things are already starting to get bad - lights flickering, TV's turning static, possibly in a chain reaction, where it gradually gets worse (technology based). Our extra scene will be added on the end where '3 Weeks Later' may be edited on to the shot, showing various shots of deserted buildings/areas etc - this could be from 'the last man standing's ' point of view, or a security camera etc

I am Legend is a film that has influenced our ideas for this. Also music we have thought about so far is: System of a down-World at end, for the additional scene.

How do you know if your work is good!?

We had to come up with 5 questions to ask others in our tutor, basing it on whether your work was good or not. Questions we came up with:

>>Have you met the marking criteria?

This is quite a good question as it turns out none of us had actually looked at the marking criteria, and considering this is based on all 3 projects as a whole, we should know what they are already! So, the marking criteria is as follows:

LO1. Demonstrate knowledge of issues which arise from your relationship with audiences and/or users

LO2. Demonstrate evidence of problem solving through iterative and incremental development.

LO3. Understand approaches to exploration and enquiry leading to the development of innovative and novel ideas.

LO4. Demonstrate knowledge of design, management and publishing issues through the use of appropriate systems and formats.

>>Have you had any feedback from others?

This is a vital question. After completing a second quiz, which was an improved version, it turns out after more feedback from tutor, there are a few things I can amend to make it even better.

>>Does it relate to similar pieces of work?

This might help in terms of design and layout - why you have designed something in a particular way, why it worked or didn't, how can you improve upon this.

>>Is it an improvement to projects you have done before?

Similar to the question above, however this is directly aimed at comparing it to another project - possibly the same pathway project. e.g comparing the interactive narrative game to your quiz.

>>Have you received feedback from your target audience?

Each project is more than like;y to be designed or created with a target audience in mind. Receiving feedback from that particular group, will help gain further knowledge for improvements and what's working. It is thought that having a target audience in mind limits your creativity, yet on the other hand it can make your more creative.

Music Quiz

This is my almost finished version of my second quiz. I'm so much more impressed with this one. And believe it or not, despite a few problems along the way, as expected, I quite enjoyed making this one. Getting to grips with Flash I think.

Also thanks to CALEB who sent me an flv. version for my video - although I cant seem to get it working on here!!!

Music Quiz by ~hgregory1990 on deviantART

Imagination:Secret Knowledge - David Hockney

This was a documentary which I found no relevance to Multimedia, however, in some way I was quite intrigued. He discovered that most old mater pieces had created many of their paintings with the use of lenses - in effect tracing their subjects. Although he said this was not cheating, I have to disagree. Thinking of all the times Iv'e had to sit and do observational drawings, when all along the 'great well known artists' didn't even do it themselves! Quite impressive how he figured this out though. Clever man.

Apart from that I didn't gain much else from watching this, except 'Optics do not make marks'. ?!

Google SketchUp 7

This is a program that you can download for free, where you can create 3D models quite easily. Iv'e not used 3d s max yet, but this version looks as though it's a lot simpler. So this might come in use when practicing for it. It reminded of of ProDesktop, a program I used to use in Graphic Design. Both programs allow you to create 3D models from 2D drawings.

What is technology?

What is technology? First thoughts...umm computers. Thinking a little harder..umm possibly the idea of it speeding up or improving things to help configure possible problems. It could be thought that it therefore makes life more easier and enjoyable- such as mobile phones, ipods, laptops I guess. I think technology is a continuous development, as it always seems to create or discover something new.

Definition taken from insme.org of 'technology':

"Technology is a human innovation in action that involves the generation of knowledge and processes to develop systems that solve problems and extend human capabilities".

What is history? Who makes it? Who writes it? Initial thoughts were ANYTHING. Technically true - anything thats happened before the present. I also thought it was generally thought of as a period of time where something significant has happened that the majority of people are familiar with. It could be a recording of the past from your own perspective. However, it doesn't necessarily have to be a recording, as your still making history all the time. It was also thought that is is a human interpretation of past events. Personally, I think anyone makes it. If its from your own or someone else's past events or perspective, history is still technically occurring. Therefore the same goes for 'who writes it'.

Definition taken from wordnetweb.princeton.edu of 'history':

"The continuum of events occurring in succession leading from the past to the present and even into the future; "all of human history" "

Newer Draft-Driving Theory

I've changed the backgrounds for the quiz so the colour level is much lighter, so the question/answer is easier to read. Also I made the font colour co-ordinate all the way through. I know I still have to add sound and video. Hopefully done tomorrow.

Newer draft- driving theory by ~hgregory1990 on deviantART

Moving Image: SEM 1 - Figure

Project Title: "Interpretation"

Week One: Reading and writing. Unpicking the script. Defining your role.

This project seems like it's more of a challenge than I first anticipated. Our script 'Figure' is rather odd, and if anything slightly confusing. The background basis of it, I think, communicates how technology is moving fast, and how people don't want to be left behind. It starts off with an award ceremony, though we don't know what for- something as a group that needs to be decided on. A workshop is another venue mentioned in the script, where a guy - Stan - is making something small and white, again we don't know what.

From this, we need to interpretate this in our own way and also add an extra scene, making sure we use a wide base of coverage and different camera angles.

Competition: ITS ON

To make things a little more competitive, two groups have been given the same script. Yet, I know we will both make 2 very different movies. The other group who will be making 'Figure' presented some good ideas so we need to get our backsides in gear!

Initial Ideas:

>>Winning an award for being an inventor - what? Something significant to technology?

>>Use of flashbacks(forwards) - in the use of black & white/Sepia to show definition between present/past/future

>>What he is making in the vice in the workshop - weapon/universal remote/his own award

>>Whole event could be serious - a traumatic event has happened, having flashbacks about it all

>>A dramatic insight into how technology could affect us all if it continues to evolve at such a rapid pace