Context 1: Assignment Two: Visual Essay: Work Submission

Design Practice 2: Interactive Spaces: Work Submission

     

              WWW.MEDIADOBSON.COM

My main ideas and intentions that I was trying to express in the project were: 

To develop a comic book themed website that gave viewers the illusion of reading an open comic book on-screen, to place as much content as possible in the constraints of comic book style boxes to reinforce the idea of reading an open comic book. Through using the themes of comic books, superheroes and hand drawn art, I was hoping to represent myself immediately as an animator, creating a contrast between the rawest form of animation ‘traditional’ and the more modern 3D computer animation in which I specialise in. To create a website which had a creative design flare and was aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but which also maintained simplistic elements in terms of an easy to use navigation, understandable language, good communication and a constant layout. Finally the main aim was to grab the attention of future employee’s, to represent myself as ‘not just another designer’, using taglines, logos, biographies, blogs, portfolios and suggestive buttons to hopefully impress viewers enough to contact me for possible future work.

The methods I use to develop my ideas were: (brainstorming, , visual research, storyboards etc)

To begin with I analysed various online portfolios to gather inspiration, there were two search categories, simplistic and creative. This allowed me to understand how online portfolios work; on one side I gathered ideas for making my portfolio unique and interesting while on the other I learnt how to keep my site understandable and easy to use. Next I went about deciding what elements my portfolio would incorporate; I found an interesting online tutorial entitled ‘The 10 golden rules of successful portfolios’, which I followed closely, I selected features from this tutorials which I could use, features such as using taglines, logos, blogs and biographies. Later I created a mood board of my interests and feelings at the time, this provided me with recurring themes, colours and fonts I would use to create the main concept for my site. Next I decided to compile a board of popular logos and taglines to see what stood out and made a lasting market impact. As I was going with a comic book theme I had the idea of researching existing comic book pages for layout ideas, I would use the comic boxes size and positioning to create my own custom layout for my content. Once I’d decided everything I wanted to include In my site I created a wireframe to visually represent these ideas, I used this to reference while producing, so I didn’t go off track. Finally various other online tutorials were used along the way, varying from Photoshop effects to Online hosting.

I took a risk by trying something new. (Explain):

Well basically everything about this project was new to me, I’d never used Dreamweaver properly before and had very little web design knowledge.  But if you’re talking about the most daring thing I attempted which deviated from the lecture basics, I would have to say using JavaScript for my pop-up video gallery. I had to use code found on the internet and customise it to my requirements, It took some time to develop and before long it had become a large part of my project and I was unable to turn back. Luckily I fixed some errors in the code and was able to present my pop-up gallery as I desired.

Some of the unexpected problems I had to solve while working were:

I faced varied problems throughout, these included; I couldn’t find suitable pictures to use on the internet, div tags going out of position on different browsers and monitors, custom fonts not working on other computers, internet explorer not displaying my website and the positioning of content in an unconventional way. 

The decisions and choices I made to help solve these problems were:

For not being able to find suitable pictures to use on the internet, specifically an open comic book for my background image, I decided to collect multiply comic books and magazines to scan into my computer. There was a lot of trial and error but ultimately I got my custom desired look. For my div tags positioning wrong, I had to research a solution on the internet, I finally discover that I had to use relative positioning on my container tag to correct the problem. Likewise with the internet explorer problem, I found information online to correct it. I had to replace the custom fonts with web-safe fonts for accessibility. As some of my content is positioned using absolute I had to change certain values you wouldn’t usually have to, I improvised and used extra padding to display background images.

The things I have learnt from this particular project were: (Specific examples should be cited.)

I have learnt that it is extremely important to actually realise what the code means and does, as Dreamweaver did a lot of the coding for me, It was difficult to understand what’s actually did what, It was especially bad when I encounter a problem and had no way of knowing how to identify it. That creating an online identity is crucial in today’s society; getting yourself out there and branding yourself will get you noticed and open up possibilities for future work. I have learnt some core design skills in visual language, including the importance of repetition, contrast, colour and similarity. Finally I now understand the Dreamweaver software at a beginner’s level, I am more confident in creating and working with web.  

Areas for improvement , If I were to do this project again I would change or do differently:

To use a more conventional way of positioning, my method is unstable and may not work on all monitors and browsers, I would have researched wright from the beginning to avoid this problem and discovered the proper way in which to achieve my desired positions. To add some kind of mailing features, so the user can simply click on my email address or a section and be transported straight to a text box to send to me, this would eliminate the need for a viewer to copy and paste information. Finally I would reduce some of my image sizes and change some file types to increase download speeds.

A new project that might grow out of my experience maybe:

I am thinking about developing a business website for my Dads building company.

Design Practice 2: Film: Work Submission

My main ideas and intentions that I was trying to express in the project were:

Our main aim was to create an interpretation of the script ‘shift’ that was uniquely distinguishable from the other groups, through alteration of the visual style, time period and mise en scene. We set to incorporate our script into the ‘film noir’ style of filming, the main story which already had many conventions and tropes associated with film noir, such as conspiracy and crime, could easily be converted to match the style. To produce a film that audiences could instantly associate and relate with film noir (shadows, high contrast, city scenery, detectives), but at the same time not be restricted and have a unique postmodern twist. For example mixing black and white with modern scenery, old props alongside modern items and the use of electronic music creates an interesting hybrid film. The idea that it has 1920’ film noir elements but is set in 21th century Britain let’s audiences experience mixtures they usual wouldn’t. The main mood throughout the film was intended to be a fast past, thrilling and suspenseful using a lot of varied angles alongside fast cuts, rarely allowing the viewer to relax; we wanted the story to unfold gradually, keeping the audience guessing constantly. Through the use of a flashback at the beginning of the film, I was hoping to develop an interesting equilibrium, the non-linear structure was intended to hook the viewer from the start and allow them to piece together the events for themselves. I intended the tile sequence to set the genre instantly and be able to form a mysterious mood on its own, to become a part of the film and be instantly recognizable and unique to the film, like a brand. Finally I aimed to use light and shadows to create symbolic meaning, in and out of darkness for madness, half face lit for mystery, white flashes to show past and present.

The methods I use to develop my ideas were: (brainstorming, , visual research, storyboards etc)

We began by assigning each other roles within our group, determined by what we wanted to do and the level of experienced we had in the area, I was appointed the editor. Within our first group meeting after reading the script I suggested using film noir. Firstly to get my creative juices flowing I began analysing existing top rated film noir movies for editing influence, I wrote a long list of transitions, effects, shots, cuts and brightness/contrast levels that were familiar throughout the majority of clips, I later collaborated them into a brainstorm board which I used as a reference for editing. Next as I felt quite restricted to what I could actually do being an editor pre-production, I started creating mock-up videos, testing out various effects and techniques, I did this mainly to get better acquainted with the software before the real edit. Next I was assigned the task of finding suitable fonts for the title; I put together a large list of fonts that were found through searching for words relating to the mood of the film, and showed them to my group. For ideas on title animation I analysed existing films and shows from the crime/adventure genre. To develop ideas on lighting I had a practical session experimenting with different ways to create the film noir look, through researching and watching online tutorials I learnt how to create varied desired effects. Finally through viewing recorded material in-between shooting days I was able to create a list of extra shots and angles I desired, this allowed me to improve the continuity of the film while filming was taking place, I could work out which shots worked best together in on the day, before filming ended.

I took a risk by trying something new. (Explain):

I took a risk by taking on an acting role in our film; I usually stay behind the scenes. I was cast to play the part of Kyle, a rough-looking gangster who is trying to apprehend our main character Chris. As I had no prior acting experience I was vary about acting as It can be harder than you think to display emotions and believable reactions on camera, It is usually evident who has had training and who hasn’t, so I didn’t want to ruin the film. After tips from my group and practicing looking mean in the mirror, I started to make my character look believable and ultimately I am happy I took on the challenge.

Some of the unexpected problems I had to solve while working were:

The footage shot by my group when I was not present on set was all twenty second long shots and I needed more varied camera angles and shots to work with, to create a more interesting and understandable story to the audience. Some scene were taking too much time to film, we were in jeopardy of not finishing for the deadline date. Not planning out the continuity of the bag in the film properly and lastly people not contributing to their role.

The decisions and choices I made to help solve these problems were:

For my group producing the long 20 second shots, I presented them with a long list of possible shot and angle additions to incorporate into the scenes, once we had re-filmed these specific scenes with my new purposed camera shots and angles in mind, I was able to piece together the footage much more coherently and create a more desirable fast-paced effect. For the time issues, I decided to help out in both the directing and cameraman areas, I worked alongside my director and camerawomen, telling our actor how to move/what to do and managing/positioning the camera in order to get better results and speed matters up. For the continuity issues with the bag I had to re-evaluate the structure of the story, editing and adding a clip where our character removes the bag from a safe, to ensure it made sense when it reappear in later scenes. Finally I had to make the decision of taking on the role of sound as our sound woman did not contribute any of the required sounds.

The things I have learnt from this particular project were: (Specific examples should be cited.)

I’ve learnt many new techniques in premiere pro which I didn’t know before, these include title key frames, the vignette circle, the colour pass effect, layers and opacity and colour correction.
I learnt that you need to leave a longer time to edit in a production schedule, editing can’t be rushed, it’s more complicated than you think to produce a decent film that flows. I learnt that within a film crew, you need to stick to your roles and take them seriously, the more in-depth people take their role the better organised the set becomes. Finally that it all depends on team work, everyone has to express their opinions and keep up-to-date with each other’s progress, conflicting ideas will occur but you have to work towards the ‘happy middle’

Areas for improvement , If I were to do this project again I would change or do differently:

Defiantly should have planned out the use of time more effectively and been direct about what we wanted each other to do, I would have encouraged people to conduct more role-specific research and planning before filming commenced. Ideally filming could have started a week earlier, allowing more breathing room for feedback and improvements. In technical terms of the film, I would incorporate voice-overs to various clips to create a classic ‘film noir’ style narration. This would add extra substance to the film and help in establishing a more understandable story for the viewer to follow; It would also be used as a device to develop the main characters personality and emotions further.

A new project that might grow out of my experience maybe:

A black & white film noir themed music video for a local band

Context 1: Assignment Two: Visual Essay: Update

Here's the basic concept for my visual essay, a conveyor belt which will continuously move while images and videos travel along it. I believe it's a simple yet effective idea, it provides me with a good formula to visually present my essay.

Design Practice 2: Interactive Spaces: Development (3)

To finish off I added a contact me page and polished up the background image, The only issue is that I'm not 100% positive that my pages work on all monitors. I then went about finding a decent web host and registering a domain name, In the end I registered a domain at GoDaddy.com and purchased a web host plan from HostGator.com after reading good reviews for the two. If your looking to do the same thing make sure you search for coupon dealers, I got my GoDaddy domain for $4.37 /y instead of $7 and got -$7.60 of my monthly HostGator plan, meaning my first month was only $0.01. Then it was just a case of figuring out how to link the domain and host together and uploading my site using the FTP client FileZilla, the HostGator tutorials were perfect for newbies and easy to use. So after a final activation call to America to activate my account I am finally live, I will getting feedback of people assessing my site from different monitors and browsers to check every things working. I've basically published this site for fun and for end-of-year presentation purposes.

                                    Website is live and can be viewed at:
                               www.mediadobson.com

Design Practice 2: Interactive Spaces: Development (2)

Just a quick recap, the main addition since last time is a video gallery, It uses javascript to ease in and out of view when the uses clicks it's thumbnail, I like it a lot and I works perfectly in creating the allusion that the videos are inside comic book boxes.

 I had some good feedback on Wednesdays lecture, so everything seems to be going good. I really only have to add a 'contact me' page and do a bit of tidying up like, such as making the banner a link to the homepage and altering the opacity of the background image. I will also be diving into finding an online host and domain name shortly, to get my website online.

Problems:
A few problems to note are that my website works perfectly on Firefox (Tested on 3 different monitors) But on Internet Explorer everything shifts up slightly (accept on my monitor), This could be due to the use of absolute positioning. I learnt that in my exception using height pixels for div's was acceptable, I avoided this originally as I was informed to and used absolute positioning to put text and images on top of my divs.(Everything was being pushed down using padding, and It was the only way I could figure out how to position over background div images while maintaining the visibilty of the background image).

I have decided that the shifting up is an acceptable problem and will not be altering all my pages code to fix the div positioning, It still works suitable and serves it's purpose, It was a school boy error and I will have to use firefox to showcase my work and explain my problem in the presentation.