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.