Donna Massam

Thankfully after sticking with the project, i managed to get the sound to work so now when you enter on of the screens after pressing a button a sound effect, which is relevant for that scene plays and also stops after a while so it don't become to annoying. I have still decided to keep the thoughts and thought bubbles as the rollover voice effects for the buttons are too long, also i like the thought bubbles as i think that it helps the user to become more engaged n the program as they have something to read.

Firstly i thought i should let you all know that although i have had a lot of experience in becoming familiar with flash, i am still really terrible at it, the information goes out of my head quicker than it comes in. Also with only around just over a week to complete the task and the new actionscript 3.0 being different to 2.0 it really confused me. I dunno i think flash is just one f them things i don't have a knack for. After trying day in day out (literally) to add the sound how i had originally set out to, i ran out of time as i still have my presentation to do and cannot do it without this. I felt that my only option would be to come up with an alternative way of narrating to the user, which was through the use of text rather than sound.

Original flash template

To begin with in flash i added simple buttons which i created using the Rectangular Primitive tool, i then added bevel effects to the buttons to give them a 3D feel, i did this using new effect options that have been added to CS3. I have placed them in each of the bottom left and right corners to give the template a simple approach, helping the user to understand the template with ease.

I converted only the text above the orange rectangular images to buttons as this was more simpler for me to code the buttons in flash.

A preview of the images before:




After about 3 days of attempting to add the sound to the timeline and getting the sounds to stop once a button had been clicked and for a new sound to play once it then skips to the next frame and also getting the voice rollovers for my boyfriends buttons to work. i decided that i wouldn't complete the task in time so i took a different approach, instead i added though bubble and speeches, basically telling the user through word rather than through sound like i had originally planned to do.

A preview of the final template:

The button actionscript:

stop();

function handleClick0( pEvent:MouseEvent ):void
{
if( pEvent.target == get1 )
{
gotoAndStop( 10 );
trace ("click! new frame: " + currentFrame );
}
else if( pEvent.target == bath1 )
{
gotoAndStop ( 20 );
trace ("click! new frame: " + currentFrame );
}
}

get1.addEventListener( MouseEvent.CLICK, handleClick0 );
bath1.addEventListener( MouseEvent.CLICK, handleClick0 );

To be honest i also had a bit of trouble getting my buttons to work, as what i did was start my project from scratch and referred back to the template we were given to help me to remember and understand the actionscript code. thankfully i managed to get these working, and i now understand what this section of coding means. yay.

The images i will be using

Below are the images i have taken for my interactive narrative project. i have explained in my flow chart post about each of these images.

This is the first image that will show when the file is opened, the image is of Dave laid in bed with an alarming expression on his face, combined with the alarm going off too this will give the viewer a clear indication that he is late and should have been up by now.

This one shows Dave getting dressed ready for work, this will be displayed when the get dressed button is pressed on the first screen (above). I am expressing to the user the fact that he is dressing by taking a shot that shows him mid way dressing i.e putting the tie on, with a wardrobe in the background backing up the fact that he is dressing. On this frame the sound of ruffling will be heard in the background to again help the viewer to understand that he is dressing.

This is the image that will be displayed when the have bath button is pressed on the first screen. I have taken an image of a tap with running water to give the viewer a clear indication that he is taking a bath, this will work really well with the running water sound in the background because the image will automatically interact with the viewer helping them to understand better.


This is the image that will appear when the leave house button is pressed on the second screen that appears. There is a clear indication that Dave is about to walk out of the house because his hand is on the handle also with him being bent slightly forward this shows he is about to move forward without actual movement. I will be having the sound of a door opening too, to express the whole opening the door factor. Dave is also still wearing the shirt and tie uniform to keep the movie consistent, not even changing slight detail that might put the viewer off.


This image will appear if the make tea option is selected on the second screen. It shows the basic environment of what is used when you make a cup of tea. The kettle, tea container and the cup, this will express to the user the whole idea of the tea making. Then with the sound of boiling water in the background, this will give the typical ides of the tea making environment

This image will be used as a restart screen, expressing to the user that they have chosen the wrong option because it shows the time with the sound of a clock ticking in the background, this sound will be quite low though as i would like to add a short audio clip at the beginning of Dave saying "its too late now i wont get there on time".

This image will also be used as a restart screen, for example when frame 5 is selected as it will have a ring in late button, this will show the user that they have chosen the wrong option. I have taken this photo as i have the rest, with a particular stance in mind, Dave is stood on the phone with a disappointed look on his face which is clear and shows that the option the user has chosen is wrong, also in the background i want a ringing sound to go off. If you notice i have also used the same area/environment as i have for the image that shows him leaving the house.


This is the final image, this is the screen that shows the user that they have chosen the right path and have completed successfully. This image shows Dave meeting his 'client', again there is a sense of movement within this image as it shows Dave half sat down, looking as though he is about to sit down, what i also like about this photograph is that Chris (my other model) has his hand outreaching towards Dave as if he is happy he is there. Again Dave is still in the same clothing to show the consistency within the images.

As you might have already noticed all of the images have a black border around them, i have done this as i think if i just used the images themselves the user would have problem with navigating there eyes around them but with the black border they have a boundary stopping their eyes from wandering.

After watching other different groups movies i decided to review this particular movie as it was my favorite out of them all, i liked the main idea behind it and other ideas they placed with the footage afterwards.

Ive chosen this movie from Kirsty Sheehans blog.
The members involved in this group were, Kirsty Sheehan, Diana Sowter, James Scott and Stephanie Wooley.
'The movie is called 'Voices Within
I am going to be discussing Kirsty's edit of the movie.

One thing that first caught my eye was the fact that the man and woman are silhouetted and that the top half of the frame is dark (obviously this being from the ground) and the top half is light (obviously being from the sky). I couldn't make my mind up whether this worked or not because in one way i think that the darkness at the bottom of the frame sort of loses the character a slight bit but in another sense the bright contrast makes the silhouettes stand out more. But after watching it again, i noticed that my eyes are instantly drawn to the top of the silhouette, so the contrasting of the sky over rules the bottom darkness of the frame, so i would say that this is a strength to the movie. There is two separate occasions when this occurs.

The effect starts to work a little less as the movie gets towards the ending because the contrast isn't as bright and is a lot more duller, making it hard for your eyes to focus on the character walking, it makes your sort of become confused because their not too sure where to settle on the frame. I think here it could have been improved slightly by increasing the contrast to avoid the points above occurring.


I really like the added sound, the whispering, i think that this works really well and shows a narrative to the viewer (to me the movie seem as it is about a couple, i'm guessing the bloke has hurt the woman, she runs away and wants him to leave her alone but he wants her to take him back, she don't want to but then in the end, ends up taking him back). I also like how the volume has been lowered slightly as the movie becomes nearer towards the end, i think this works as quite a clear and effective narrative. Although i like the above effects i think there is room for improvement for example the same words are being repeated over and over again, maybe more of a dialogue could have been included to express more of an in depth story.

The title and end frames are very simple, I think that using this title display that they should have been placed in the same place for both the frames as this keeps a familiar feel to to the use and allows their eyes to move around the screen with more ease. The white colour for the text works well against the black background on the titles frame as it contrasts making it stand out and easier for the viewer to read, but the end text uses a slightly duller colour making it harder to see. It is also a good idea to keep the two different titles the same font size as this can also make it familiar for the user and easier to read.


I think the placing of the two texts both work well as the title has been placed at the beginning of the left side of the frame and the ending text is shown on the right side of the frame, portraying to the viewer beginning and end.

The teamwork worked well for us, although it was sometimes hard for us to keep in touch due to some members not having a computer or a phone. Aside from these factor, after we had all prepared each of our tasks we swapped our details so that everyone knew the whole structure of the movie. Then when we met up to film the movie we all had suggestions on the lighting and camera, with as all having input on how we thought the lighting worked best on the camera, the positioning of the camera, best positioning for the characters and basically deciding between us what would work best for our movie.

We communicated well through ideas but i feel this could have been better for reasons i have stated above.

Whats happening?
(I will be using my boyfriend David Gapski as my model, photographing him in certain ways to express what is happening to the user)

Frame One:
Image of Dave (panic expression) - Alarm sound in the background
Two buttons will be included on this frame

• Button One - Written text - Get Dressed?, Voice rollover - "I should get dressed first or ill be late!"
• Button Two - Written text - Go in the bath?, Voice rollover - "I really need a bath, but it could make me late"

Frame Two:
Image of Dave putting on his shirt - Ruffled sound
Two buttons included on this frame

• Button One - Written text - Leave house?, Voice rollover - "Ill leave now and ill get there on time"
• Button Two - Written text - Have tea?, Voice rollover - "But i right fancy a cuppa"

Frame Three:
Image of running water - Sound of running water
Two buttons will be included on this frame

• Button One - Written text - Have tea?, Voice rollover - "I really fancy a cuppa"
• Button Two - Written text - Get Dressed?, Voice rollover - "I should get dressed"

Frame Four:
Image of Dave leaving the house - Sound of door opening
Two buttons will be included on this frame

• Button One - Written text - Run?, Voice rollover - "Ill run ill get there quicker"
• Button Two - Written text - Walk?, Voice rollover - "Ill walk i'm too tired to run"

Frame Five:
Image of Kettle and cup on side - Sound of kettle boiling
Two buttons will be included on this frame

• Button One - Written text - Ring in late?, Voice rollover - "Ill just tell them i'm going to be late"
• Button Two - Written text - get dressed?, Voice rollover - "I really should hurry, i'm meeting a client"

Frame Six:
Image of Dave putting his shirt on - Ruffling sound
Two buttons will be included on this frame

• Button One - Written text - Leave house?, Voice rollover - "I have to hurry, i'm going to be late"
• Button Two - Written text - Ring in late?, Voice rollover - "Ill ring in late but i could get the sack"

Frame Seven - Restart Screen
Close up image of a watch on an arm, showing lateness and a clock ticking?
Image of Dave on the phone, sad face showing he has been sacked?

Some images will be repeated for example, the getting dressed screen will be displayed on more than one outcome.

I will begin my presentation by introducing what it is i will be discussing within my presentation (I will be discussing the three narrative projects that i have took part in, explaining how i went about producing the final outcome, strengths and weaknesses and my thoughts on the projects).
I will also express to my audience that they are free to ask question whilst i give my presentation.

For the first three minutes i will discuss the Narratives Pixelation project, explaining how me and my group produced stop motion video, how we went about it, our ideas, what we did to produce it, where we produced it and our reasons for doing so an the my own individual work that i did within the project.

For the next three minutes i will discuss the Narratives One Shot movie again explaining how me and my group went about producing the movie, our ideas and plans, what we did to produce the movie, where we filmed it, our preparations, scripting, dialogue, pretty much everything we did in the preparation of the movie, filming the movie and then my own individual edit of the movie and strengths an weaknesses.

Then for the next three minutes i will be discussing Interactive narrative project, my planning for the project, how i produced the project, editing, flash coding, how the program works, why i wanted it to work in that particular way, any problems, strengths and weaknesses, then i will discuss my opinion on the final outcome, whether it was how i had planned, was it better or worse?

Finally for the last few minutes i will discuss what i have learned from the three projects, premiere? flash? actionscript?, what i would improve. What i got out of the three projects and how they have increased my interest on audio/visual.

Hayley Jennings Edit

The only differences between mine and Hayley's edits is the title and the credits. The video footage is the same.

Titles:
Hayley's title is centered, whilst mine is set to the top left. I set mine to the top left as it wasn't the typical place to put the title and also looked effective.
(Mine)
I have used bold and sharp looking text and Hayley has used a more curved and slender style. In my opinion i think that the bold and sharp text works better as it reflects onto the movies characteristics.
(Hayley's)
I actually prefer the colour that Hayley has used for the text because it stands out and contrasts against the black background whereas if you look at mine it is dark against the background so it is more difficult to read.

Credits:
One thing that i have noticed about Hayley's movie is that she has used the same text for both the title and the credits, i think that this works well as it keeps familiarity within the movie. This actually makes it easier for the viewer.
(Mine)
Again Hayley has used a brighter white while i used a dull Grey, making her text stand out better against the black background, making it easier for the viewer to reader.
(Hayley's)
I have also included music at the end of my movie whereas Hayley hasn't, this gives the two movies different feels, where mine will give off a sad and quite depressing feel off to the users, Hayley gives off a blunt stop, with no sound, although i think that this actually works because it gives the user a silent minute to take in what has happened in the movie i actually think the music works better because i think that the music creates more of an atmosphere to the viewer.

Betrayal

On the whole i am very happy with my edit of our groups one-shot movie. We had a lot of fun filming the footage and i really enjoyed writing the script. This project has influenced me a lot and has increased my interest in audio/visual on a whole

Obviously before we could film our footage we had to prepare the details for the script, dialogue, storyboard, the composition, the style.

The first thing we did was decide on the roles each of our group members would obtain. (below)

Donna: Scripting and character profiles
Hayley: Storyboarding and Lighting assistance
Cliff: Lighting
Tom: Booking equipment and studio and Camera duty

After we all agreed on the basic storyline of what we wanted to happen i filled in all the details for the rest. I included character profiles on my blog as i wanted to give others who watched the movie some idea of the characters backgrounds (although when filming we took Hayley's character out mainly because of film timing issues).
From the basic idea which was to have one guy standing there with his friends stood round him whilst the main guy talks about them and how they left his life, I produced the dialogue, what he would say about each person. For this i decided he would say very little but these little sentences would explain a lot to the viewer giving them a good idea about what is going on.
(All of the details above are explained in previous blog posts)

Tom then booked out a studio and a camera and the lights out ready for us to film the movie.

Movie Strengths:

• It includes narrative, expressing to the viewer a story in such a little time and using little dialogue.
  
• The credits at the end, with the use of the sad music i included here, it a) fits into the characteristics of the storyline and b) creates an atmosphere after the viewer has watched the movie.
• The title screen, i like this feature to the movie, i have use a bold and sharp text as i felt that this helped to introduce the characteristic of the storyline.
• The dialogue, the spoken dialogue is very clear, we chose cliff originally to be the main character as he has the most strongest and deepest voice, meaning that the camcorder would pick it up most clearly without distorting the sound or making it hard for the viewer to hear what is being said.
  

Movie Weaknesses:

• The footage includes a lot of negative space on the left side of the screen, remembering from previous seminars this is bad to include due to the framing and how the viewer sees the movie. Our reasons for filming it this way is because with the darkness it helps to create a loneliness and alone atmosphere. Also with me and tom being on screen then removing ourselves off screen it was hard to avoid as this was how we wanted the movie to look.
• There are a few camera issues which distorted the quality of the movie in certain places, for example the footage blurs around half way.
• I feel that the lighting could be improved for one me and tom are lite up as well as i thought we would have been once we put the footage onto the computer.
  
• The sound at the end of the movie, after showing a few friends my movie, they noted to me that the sound in which we had intended to be of a body dropping to the floor, they thought that it sounded more like a gun shot.
  

Movie Features:

Audio: The first sound that is included in the movie is the spoken dialogue, this is simply Cliff telling the story from the script to the camera, this was recorded using the camera itself. I feel that the camcorder picked up this really well. The other sound included in the movie is the music included at the end of the movie for the credits. I included this as i wanted to give the movie a 'realistic movie feel' (as films generally include sound for the credits). I used this particular sound loop as it holds characteristics that the movie holds, sad and slow which then gives off a sad atmosphere.

Filming: We didn't use any camera effects on our movie we just simply adjusted the positioning of the camera to how we wanted the characters to be placed within the frame. Hayley pressed the record button the simply pressed the record button again after we had finished the filming.

Lighting: This was one of the main features that we wanted to include in our movie as it was used to create an atmosphere to how the main character was feeling. We spent quite a lot of time adjusting the light to how we wanted it, firstly using both a key light and a fill light but we found that using them both created a lot of shadows that we didn't want, so we experimented in using just the key light and found that this worked better for us, as it lite cliff up well and reflected onto me and tom (although when we put it onto the computer if found that this hadn't worked as well as we thought.

Added Features/Effects: As its a one-shot movie, this means that no editing work is to be done to the movie footage itself the only thing we were able to add was the title for the beginning and the credits for the end. I have explained these two features above. The only edit that i did do to the actual footage was adjust the contrast slightly, this was because the light hadn't worked as well as we expected.

This is the final edit for our one shot movie video, i did this edit individually after creating the footage with the rest of my group. As you can see i have included a title at the beginning of the movie, then comes the footage, after this i produced the credits including who played a role in the production of the movie (who did what). With the credits i included a short music clip, i found this on www.flashkit.com and the sound loop is called cryi-edgen. I chose this particular sound as it creates a sad mood/atmosphere, giving a dramatic feel to the ending.

During the production of our movie we had a few changes to our original script. Firstly we decided to take Hayley's character out of the movie because a) With Hayley's character included the movie would be too long as the time i had predicted the dialogue to take wasn't long enough and b) It was really hard for Cliff (bless him) to remember all of the dialogue (theres a few slight differences in the final dialogue used). Also i don't think that the lighting worked as well as we had hoped whereas mine and Tom's characters are concerned, because although we are lit up, it would only light up the person stood next to Cliff, so we had to change it and have it so that im on screen first then when my dialogue finishes, i walk backwards and Tom walks on screen. The are the only major differences to the script.

Below are images of our set for our One shot movie, we needed to film inside a studio as the look and mood of our movie would be created using lighting. We had the curtain pulled over behind Cliff so that you couldn't see it, this was then used for me and tom to disappear behind so we could then walk round to the front of the camera without being seen. The paper was taped to the floor for us to identify the places of where each of us had to stand. As you can see Cliff is using the gloves for the lights to avoid getting burned because they became very hot from being on so long.

I chose to evaluate this ornament which i found at my boyfriends house, the reason i have chosen this is because i think that it a very pleasant object too look at.
The object is a simple ornament of a woman bent on one knee and the other leg bent up towards the back of the woman, meeting her arms at the back. The stance that the woman is holding sort of gives me the idea that she is dancing, That this would be a move included in a dance routine.

The object is grey stone marble, with a rough texture to it.

What i like most about this object and what i think makes it more pleasing to the eye is the shape of it, how the arms being not two arms but one as they are joined together, with the leg meeting them and also joining together with the arms. This gives the object quite a curvilinear look as it hold a lot of curves.

• The arms are curved round almost into a circle.
  
• The ladies head is lent backwards.
• The womans stomach is rounded as the back is arched forwards.
  
• The leg is curved round towards the arms (giving the whole object a very interesting shape).
• The womans curved back leads down towards her rounded bum, connecting to the leg that leads to the legs and arms.

These points i think show that the designer of this object was planing on giving the object a curvilinear look.
Finally the woman is sat on a stand, this stand is obviously there so that the object can stand up but to keep with the whole marble theme the stand is also in the same style.

Roles:
Donna: Scripting and character profiles
Hayley: Storyboarding and Lighting assistance
Cliff: Lighting
Tom: Booking equipment and studio and Camera duty
(We all have roles in the movie)
We all have each others phone numbers in order for us to communicate with one another.
Our workload is pretty much the same as the roles written above, I have produced all of the information below whilst the others are doing what it says beside their names.

Character Profiles:

Character One - Played by Cliff Cook
Name: John Thompson
Age: 21
John is the main character in the movie who has been betrayed by all of his three closest friends.

Character Two - Played by Donna Massam
Name: Jeniffer Saunders
Age:21
Connection to main character: Ex-girlfriend
His ex girlfriend Jeniffer gets drunk one night with John and Daniel one night, John passes out because he's too drunk, one thing leads to another and she sleeps with Daniel - Afterwards she realises that it wasn't a mistake and that she has feelings for Daniel and wants to be with him (Daniels feelings are mutual). She admits everything to John and leaves him

Character Three - Played by Hayley Jennings
Name: Jade Cunningham
Age: 20
Connection to main character: Friend
Jade was friends with both Jeniffer, Daniel and John. When she finds out what has happened between Daniel and Jeniffer and as her and Jeniffer are best friends she stands by her and Daniel, despite John never failing to be there for her.

Character Four - Played by Tom Pearson
Name: Daniel Jackson
Age: 20
Connection to main character: Best Friend
Daniel gets drunk one night with John and Jeniffer one night, John passes out because he's too drunk, one thing leads to another and he sleeps with Jeniffer - Afterwards he realises that it wasn't a mistake and that he has feelings for Jeniffer and wants to be with her (Jeniffer's feelings are mutual). Jeniffer leaves John to be with him.

Name of movie: Betrayal

Story Synopsis:
John Thompson (Cliff Cook) has been taken for granted, used and betrayed by the three people he most cared about, Jeniffer (Donna Massam), Jade (Hayley Jennings) and Daniel (Tom Pearson). In this short movie he tells the story of what they have done to him , but the story then tells of a dramatic twist of fate and how these three selfish people held johns fate in their hands.

Story - What will happen:
The setting starts off black, lighting then turns on, focusing on the main character (Cliff) The lighting will also reflect onto the three 'ex' friends in the background, making them less visible than the main character. After 5 seconds have passed Cliff will begin the dialogue about the first character (myself) who has betrayed him (this lasts for 15 seconds). He then goes silent. this character then walks backwards slightly, gradually leaving the light completely. (This silence then lasts for 2 seconds). Cliff then begins the dialogue about the second friend - Hayley, explaining what she has done to betray him. (This also lasts for 15 seconds). After this everything falls silent, Hayley then like myself walks back gradually removing herself from the light. (2 second silence). (now only cliff and tom are in the frame). Cliff then begin the dialogue about about the third friend (Tom Pearson), explaining what he has do to betray him. After he has finished, Tom steps back, removing himself from the light. All falls silent for 5 seconds. John (Cliff) portrays a sad expression on his face throughout the whole time, he then finishes with an end dialogue, a simple and short description, explaining to the audience about the incident that sealed his fate, (5 seconds).

Without no added effects or titles so far the movie will last for a total of 64 seconds.

Spoken Dialogue:

On Jeniffer (Donna Massam) (15 seconds)
"I was in love once....
She broke my heart....
Then she betrayed me....With my closest friend....
The she left....
She chose him...."

On Jade (Hayley Jennings) (15 seconds)
"I was always there for her....
But she let me down....
When i needed her most....
I gave her a shoulder....
She closed the door in my face....
She chose them...."

On Daniel (Tom Pearson) (15 seconds)
"We grew up together....
We were best mates....
Through thick and thin we stuck together....
But not through this....
He took everything from me....
He chose her...."

End Dialogue:
"I seen him down the pub
he was mocking me
I left
He followed
I saw a glimmer
a blade"

"Now i have no body,
And no body has me"

Everything then goes black (Sound of a blade falling, and a body falling on the floor to follow).

The atmosphere and the look of the set will hold a dark, hidden and mysterious feel, this will be to express the characteristics and feelings of the movie, portraying the feeling of betrayed and hidden selves as well as the feeling of being alone. We will create this mood by having the set completely dark with the lights on the characters being the only light source on the set. Also we will be wearing dark clothing as to not distract your attention at all within the movie.

The main character will be the main focus of the movie so we need him to be placed will in the frame to keep it balanced, also so that the three characters stood behind him don't take any emphasis off his role in the movie, i was thinking if we have cliff closer to the camera so that we have a shoulder view of him, also leaving room between the top of his head and the edge of the frame so that he doesn't look squashed onto the screen, with us other three characters stood just behind him so that we catch the light but don't distract the audience's attention away from what the main character is saying.

From Hayley Jennings Blog

It will start with John (Cliff) stood in the middle with the spotlight focused on him. However, the light will also show the features of three people stood around him. A person each side, and one person almost hiding behind him.

He will talk about person 1, Jeniffer (Donna). Once he is finished talking about her, she will step away from him and out of the shot.

He will talk about person 2, Jade (Me). Once he is finished talking about her, she backs off out of the shot too.
Finally, he talks about person 3, Daniel (Tom), who steps from behind him to once side of him so he's more visible. Once he's finished talking about him, he backs off.
He will say a small piece of dialogue afterwards all alone, then the light will cut.
Lights go out.
The sound of a body hitting the floor is heard, then silence until the final line "Now I have no one...and no one has me." I'm hoping this will be hard hitting, as it's will make people realise that he's dead. I also like how poetic is sounds, as it turns the sentence around part way through.

The reason why I chose Tom to be stood almost hiding behind Cliff is because I thought it would work better for people wondering why he is obscured, and also shows how he hid himself from Cliff by staying behind him.

Three point lighting is used in a number of media productions such as film, tv, photography, video and also in CGI. It simply forms the basis of light.

The technique uses three different lighting setups, these different setups are called, The key light, the fill light and the backlight.


The Key light:
The key light is the main light to the setup, usually being the most strongest. It has the highest influence on the footage being filmed, photographed etc..
It is placed to one side of the subject in question as to have on side fully lit up causing shadows on the other side of the subject which is not yet lit, this is then where the fill light comes in.

The Fill Light:
This light sits on the opposite side to the key light, filling in all of the shadows created by the key light. This light is usually not as powerful as the key light as it is a secondary light, used to contribute to the effect that the key light is forming.

These two lights used together form a seamlessly lit mood to the subject in question if used effectively, with added effects such as black, white, blue and orange colored sheets of fireproof sheets, you can create different mood settings so that you could be filming in a brightly lit film, yet the subject being filmed could be quite dark and moody, creating different moods for different subjects.

Backlight:
This light is set behind the subject, lighting it up from the back, (As Deborah explained to us it is sometimes referred to as the ready breck effect, as it was once used in an old ready breck tv advert, giving a light glow around the main character involved in the advert). This light provides more definition to the subject being filmed as well as providing subtle highlights to the subject, this helps to pull the subject out from the background, separating them and giving a 3D look.

Image Source: http://www.oreillynet.com/digitalmedia/blog/images/diy_studio_lighting.jpg

Last week in our seminar Deborah explained to us the health and safety issues that we have to take into consideration before setting up the lighting, whilst setting up the lighting and also afterwards. These are to both ensure the safety of the person setting up the lighting and the people around the area.

This is what i learned from the seminar:

Firstly before plugging the lights in you have to check that the lights are safe to use. These steps will ensure that the lights are safe:

checking the cables for any kind of split or cuts and that there are no revealing wires, if there are none then the to check the plug and that it is connected properly and again that there are no wires revealed. (This is obviously to avoid being electrocuted)

Check that the light have been correctly connected to the stand (This is to avoid the light falling off the stand which could injure people around the area, it is extremely dangerous also as the light become very hot and could burn somebody.)

Make sure that the light have been placed in a suitable place, avoid putting them near any kind of exit as it is clearly in everybody path. (For example if somebody isn't looking where they are going then the could bump into the light, causing a lot of hazards for both that person and people around that area, somebody could get burned because if some thing falls a persons initial reaction is to reach for it to stop it, if this happens they could burn their hands. If the light falls to the floor it could cause somebody to fall over the light.)

Use the safety glass or scrim (which should be with the lighting kit) to avoid the light becoming so hot and smashing. (This could be dangerous as it could hit somebody and cut them or go into their eyes)

Once the lights have been plugged in make sure the wires fall down horizontally down the side of the light, goes straight along the floor and then that all loose wire is positioned near the wall it is plugged into, then place a floor mat over the wire laid across the floor.(This is to avoid anybody tripping over the wire. (if the wire just hangs above the floor then this obviously could case someone to trip over it.)

As the lights are so bright it is a good idea to warn others around you that you are going to turn the lights on, as to not suddenly surprise them with the intense lighting in their face. (This could cause problems for example if there is anyone in the room with certain health conditions.)

Always wear safety gloves when handling the lights as they become very hot because they are so powerful.(This could result in someone seriously burning themselves on the lights.)

When you have finished using the lights, it is best to warn others around you that the light is still hot and is cooling down by turning the light to face the wall and lowering the head of the light towards the floor. (If it is not set out light this, somebody could just go for the light not knowing that it is still hot and again seriously burn themselves.)

• Busy


• Person standing out from the crowd


• Natural Light

Indoors -

• Claustrophobic


• Camera - Close up - Dark Lighting

The Park -

• Quiet


• Empty


• Lonliness

After discussing these we all decided that it would be more interesting to use a dark, indoor location as we could experiment in an effective way with the camera angles and the placeing of the area.

Style:

• Dark - Lonely atmosphere


• Indoor - Studio?

Ideas:

• Talking? mumbled or clear voices?


• No Talking? Cue Cards? (could be shown by the character in the movie to express their words)

Dialogue Ideas:

Relationship Break-up: An obvious relatioship break-up, Maybe the character could be holding a photograph of their ex-partner, cries etc. (Although this was my idea i think that it could be too cliche and used quite a lot, also i dont think that it could really lead to an interesting ending, i think that this would make the movie not very entertaining to watch).

Friends Gathering: One person will be the main character in the movie, with a range of people stood behind the character (these will be the friends). The lighting will be focused on the main character as he is the main focal point of the movie. Gradually the friends dissapear into the darkness once the friend has finished talking about the particular friend and describing why this person has deserted him . (We all agreed that this would be the most strongest idea for our movie).

As we had agreed that the second idea was the most strongest, we decided to meet up on Thursday at 12.30 after all coming up with our own dialogue ideas, then we will put the best ideas together to form the movies final dialogue.

My Ideas:

I have mainly been thinking about the lighting within the movie, i think that a main spotlight should be directed onto the main character, with dimmed lights on the friends, once the main character stops talking about one friend, this friend walks into the darkness and the dimmed light turns off once the friend has dissapeard. I think that this would add an intence feel to the movie making it more watchable for viewers.

Whilst in tutorial on Tusday afternoon, one of the students Jay, did an interesting book synopsis on media production, and as the book was passed round the room, i noticed that it had a section on framing and the positioning of characters in a frame. I thought that this would help as we need to consider the framing and the composition as to not leave any negative space around the area.

How to make an effective presentation by Elizabeth P. Tierney

Although this isn't a book of the reading list from our VLP's (I couldn't find a book that i know be as useful as a presentation book as its one of the things i struggle with most in this area)the one that i originally wanted which was on the reading list had all of the books taken out so i settled on a book similar.

I can see that this book is going to become a very big help to me as i know we are going to have to do a number of presentations (we have to do a short presentation on the book synopsis)

I like the quote written in the introduction section of the book because i know that this would be something that i would do.

"I often tell the story of the first time i gave a speech. I was so nervous that i kept my eyes closed through most of the monologue. I kept hoping that if i didn't look at them they would quietly go away. When i had finished, I opened my eyes and discovered that unfortunately, my wish had been granted. There was only one person left in the audience. He was a bookish-looking fellow wearing a sour expression. Hoping to find some solace in the catastrophe, i asked him why he had stayed. Still frowning, he replied,"I'm the next speaker."
(Victor Kiam, American Businessman)

The book consists of 13 different sections which each help you with different sections to presenting an effective presentation. The first section of the book 'Introduction' gives you an introduction to presentations, explaining to the reader what they will get out of reading the book, this is of course that you will become a better presenter, being able to give better talks, run meetings better, talk at seminars better and to speak more coherent and clear in conferences too. The book has been written on the experience of Tierney from her education years and also from her education teachers and tutor, based on the mistakes Tierney mad and on lessons they taught her.
The second section to the book is called 'How to Communicate' this section explains the process of communication, expressing to the reader how to have a clear message and how to get that message across to the audience, helping you chose your choice of words carefully. The section i thought was most helpful in this section was the Common Problems heading, as this explains problems that you might come across and gives you more confidence on how to avoid them.
The third section of the book looks at Nonverbal, This section of the book expresses to the reader the body language the hold, including the ways they move their eyes aroun, the way they hold their body posture the way you hold your head as to look more at ease with thae audience rather than looking scared of them the last thing that she talks about is appropriate clothing to wear, making sure that you dress for the type of presentation you are to give.

The remainder of the book talks about the voice, how and when to speak with the right pace, when to pause, the type of pitch you use and how loud you talk. it helps you to prepare yourself for the presentation, how to structure it together. How to answer questions in an appropriate manner and how to respond to the audience with your voice. The book also helps you to handle your nerves, what to consider doing to help you complete the presentation in an effective way. The last section helps you with how to engage with the audience, how to handle any kind of disruptions in an appropriate way. It then tells you to reflect on your performance thinking about what you could have done better, what you would have done differently and also to ask for feedback on what others thought of your presentation so that they provide constructive criticism which will then help you with any upcoming or future presentations.

This is my final edit to the stop motion animation that my group produced, the music i have chosen to put to the animation is called Hypnotize from Flashkit.com. This sound loop was placed under the dance and techno section. The reason i chose to use this type of music track was because i thought that it made our animation look a bit more up beat because of the pace to the music.

Before starting at uni i previously studied Multimedia at West Nottinghamshire College in Mansfield. I completed a two year National Diploma in Multimedia. During this course of time (similar to Sarah's answer in our lecture last week) i had a very big problem with time keeping, always assuming that i had more time to complete my project work but the time always flies by and i found that when i came closer to the projects deadline i would have a pile full of work that still needed completing. So what i did to help myself with this was at the beginning of starting my FMP i wrote myself a checklist out and set myself date targets for when each section of the project would have to be completed by. This worked for me and i found that i wasn't panicking as much when it came close to the deadline because i had things completed and with having a checklist i found that i knew exactly where i was with my project work.

Thankfully my timekeeping didn't effect my grades as i would always get the work completed in time it just meant a few late nights and i finished my course with DDD which was good.

Through my time at Uni though i think what i struggled most with was the fact that i had to get in front of the camera, and seeing as me and cameras are not very friendly with each other, i was very nervous and scared, whilst i was studying at college i had to do a few presentations which had to be filmed, i was that scared i was shaking but i know that i've some how got to get used to it so instead of panicking when we were producing the images for the animation i jumped straight into the job at hand, i got in front of the camera and instead of worrying i just did it. I was really proud of myself and felt more at ease with the camera i was also really pleased with the outcome of the animation.

All in all my favorite subject to multimedia is website design, this is what i think i will be specializing in when i reach the second year. my plan is to hopefully start my own business as this is something i have always wanted to do and what better way than to do what i love to do whilst earning money. :). I am hoping that uni will give me enough experience and confidence to achieve my goals.

To begin with for this module we have to create a similar animation to the two examples below, using humans as the puppets in our own animation. Our animation is to be 30 second long, which means we have to take 360 images, obviously taking extra images to give us more to experiment with.

Working in groups we had to produce the photographs for our animation. Originally i was working in a group with Hayley, Abdul, Carl and Guv but this week a late starter joined our class so we took him under our wing and he joined our group, i was quite chuffed with this as Jason had a lot of good ideas to offer the group. Our group at first begun to struggle because we failed to agree on a specific idea, so we decided to come in last Friday and shoot our animation in our own time. This worked for us and we actually managed to produce all of our images.

We edit our images to create our animation in the up coming week, ill post the result when it is finished.

This image here is part of the second task we were set during induction week. The pinhole camera technique actually really impressed me as i never even knew this way of taking a photograph was possible. This took me a few attempts to produce an image with anything other than a blob on the photographic paper, this happened because on both my first two attempts the edge of the paper was covering the pinhole, with that section of the paper only being visible to the light i kept producing the blobs. Finally on my final attempt i created the image to the left, which if you look you can see the trees and parts of the building. What i particularly like about this image is the contrasting on the sky, i think it looks extremely effective. Some of the images that others produced in the group were very impressive too, some have extreme detail and you would find it hard to belive that a normal camera wasnt involved in the process.

I found this task quite frustrating to begin with because i was producing blobs and others had some really creative and detailed images, but i was really pleased at creating this image using an empty beer can.