Final Piece of "Digital me" project

Interactive Media- "Digital Me"

My Online Portfolio

Please give me some comments of what you think. =]

Redo my “Digital me” project as an improvement

After lots of consideration, I decided to redo my “Digital me” project. The reason that I want to re design for my online presence. I realised that my website looks like a promotion website more than a personal branding website. This is due to the big Polaroid’s camera at the beginning of my website. Also, from a audience point of view, I felt the style of the website does not work as an online portfolio, because it is too colorful that makes too much to read. For an online portfolio, I will prefer simple and claim. Therefore, I decided to re- do my digital me project as an improvement.

Before create my website in Dreamweaver, I have to…

Create a wireframe. 

After I considered re-creating my website, I have looked through some designers and photographers portfolio. The layout of Matt Guegan’s portfolio is the one that I prefer the most. However, I won’t copy the layout that he got. The thing that prefer is his name at the top of the page that make it clears of what is the website about.

My ideas:

Idea 1:

Idea 2:

Idea 3:

The theme:

Referring to my previous post "Moodboard", I did mentioned I like "simple and plain". Therefore, for my new website I will use this as my theme. 

My network plan:

Typography:

This time I will use 2 typeface. I will keep what I had decided before “Tahamo”, because this is a common available sans-serif font and it is an ideal font for presenting information on the screen. The other one is hand-written typeface that makes the website more personal and friendly.

How to make my website looks more personal?

I realized a logo is an essential for a personal website, especially for a designer. A logo represents an identity. Therefore, I have design a logo for my website and I will paste it on the top left corner of my website. I decided to put it on top left corner, because people usually read from the top left to the bottom right.

Portfolio is like a showcase of my work and which will enhance my employment. However, a blog is necessary, because the employer will be interested in my design process. Therefore, I will include my blogger link into my website.

Improvement from my evaluation:

From my evaluation, I said that I would like to have more interacted in my website. Therefore, on my homepage, I would like to have some rollover images to make it look more interest. And these rollover images would be the best works that I did so far. These images will link a page that the work will enlarge either in a gallery or in a video.

I am re creating my website now, I hope I will finish it on Sunday. After that I will get my own domain website and web hosting space, so my portfolio is actually present "online"!!   

Lighting and Track back

This week I have learnt some lighting and camera skills and things that we have to plan beforehand such as: floor planning- where actors stand, lights setting... etc. For example:

Theme: Interviewing someone

Place: Waverley Theatre

Theme: Track back of someone

Place: Graveyard 

The following is what we have done during the same, and I have added some text to explain what had happened.

Suppose to film...

We were supposed to film today, but our actor didn't up for it which screwed up our plan. Initially, we planned to film it before the easter holiday! Therefore, we can have time to improve if anything goes wrong. But everyone is going back home for the easter and the bank holiday- means 2weeks off. Now, we plan to film on the 03.05.2011


Initial plan:
"Hey tomorrow we can pick up the equipement between 4-4:30 so could some people come and help collect everything about 4-4:15ish and then maybe we could go set up and have a few practice runs at filming while we have the light and everything?
On Wednesday the flat is free from 1:30 so we can go and film when our seminar finishes.
Cheers!" 

End up:

"Ugggggghhh, I've been really screwed over, Lucy can't film tomorrow in the day either. I'm thinking we quickly try find a new actress or we are gonna be way behind our schedule. I'm really sorry guys, I thought she'd be more reliable but I guess not :("

Our Presentation and the first seminar with Phil

P.S. Editing effect video:

This is whatI want to create at the start. E.g. Introducing the actors.

There will be stop frame in our film and this is the style that I am looking for.

Fade in and fade out transaction. 

We were the first group presented, nervous! But Phil was happy about what we have done.

Finally...

Recently, I was busy on my haunted house project and I have tried to figure out the lighting and camera in order to deliver my work in a good standard. And today I have spend 6 hours to render my animation. Click to view and leave me some feedback please.

Overall I was appreciated with my effort, but this was not the perfect one, there are areas that I can improve such as:

1.    1.   More light can be add when the cart passing through the corridor before the sudden drop.   

2.    2.  Background music can change to a Japanese music, so this may enhance the scary feeling of the animation.

And I have posted this in my Facebook and our NTU multimedia Facebook group which allow my course mates give me some feedback of what they think.

Moving Image… start today

This will be my last project of my year 1. It is about interpret a script- adapt into your own version. I am in a group of five which are:

Producer: Helen
Director: Natasha
Camera and Lighting: Chris
Sound design: Ajay
Editing:  Amanda (Me)

My role is consisting of raw camera footage, dialogue, sound effects, graphics and special effects. Editors are skilled storytellers, charged with cutting hours and hours of shot together to create a cohesive story.

We have been given the script called “DOG”. The script is about a man who eats dog food due to having no food in his cupboards.

Brainstorming:
1. Depression, alcoholic

2. Brake in, eats food, crazy person, mental problem, mourning the loss of…

In the seminar, we discussed the script together and we thought the story is more about depression- a man trying to cope and mourn the loss of his dog.

Therefore, we decided the film is focusing on the girl rather than the story of a dog. We have started adapt the script to be a story about a girl using alcohol as a means of coping with the loss of a loved one or family member.

The initial idea that we got is the girl is attached to an object of sentimental value leaving the audience to guess who it belonged to, at the end she appears to have passed out on the sofa clinging to the sentimental object and a letter connected with it. We have replaced dog food for alcohol, sick instead of poo, passes out at the end instead of turing into a dog.

Also, this week I have learnt how to use celtex to edit the script which I found it quite useful, and our team are pretty organize we recorded what we discussed in the seminar. Therefore, everybody knows what stage we are at.

Example of our works:

Screenshot of my progress

 Props:

Scare Scene:

Lighting and Camera setting:

Storyboard

Scare scenes (edited)

After created the props, I realised the idea that I got did not work as good as what I imagined (read below entries). Therefore, I decided to slightly change the idea. I will change the first half of the animation, because I think if I make the animation as a storytelling, audience may get bored. So I have re-draw the scare scenes again in order to create the new props.

1. A table with a TV, showing a scary boy.

2. Cup pick up by a ghost (invisible ghost)

3. Sliding door open and close with banging sound effect, a scary ghost (from the Japanese horror film called Ju-on) appear.

4. A girl with swing on a rocking horse, then the ball suddenly dropping down on the floor, with girl's laughing sound effect.

5. Ghost climbing down the stairs.

6. A sudden drop in a rabbit mouth.

7. A ghost chasing the visitors (cart).

Obviously I have added more scare scenes then before, these are start from the beginning until the end, because I would like my animation looks more interest. These will make the audiences watch my animation until the end.

Texture and preview of my process

After some helps from Roma, I was managed to put texture on the object.

And today is a day off, so I decided to spend some times on my work, and the following are what I did for today.

Walls created.

Preview of my props:

Tomorrow, I would like to create some smoke and fire for my scare scene. I was trying to look for my tutorial from the internet, but I can't find any good one, so I will ask some help from Andy at tomorrow tutorial session.

Scare Scenes

These are the drawings that I done during my seminar, the following are the scenes that I want to happen in my animation. The producing process sounds really complicate to me and Yelena as well. Therefore, she recommended that make it simple e.g. I can put texture on wall instead of create the real object, and then effects can add on the top like fire. The problem she was said because of the time constraint (2weeks left). And especially for the characters, the skills that I got now is impossible to create these. However, I still want to post these drawing, I think these are good evidence to show my ideas. And these scenes are the start of my haunted house...more drawings will post later on this week.

Progress of devloping

Track created

My track inside the theatre (top view)

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Cart design from a rectangle to a cart!!!
Blending the back.....

All I had used was keep extruding and  Swift Loop the shape.

Where polygons had deleted, I had used the "Bridge" function to make the empty space in solid. This was taught in the first seminar, which I found is quite useful. 

Here we go, finished! 

However, I will put the some texture on the cart. And I knew that there was a seminar about texture, but I had missed it. Therefore, I am experiment with the texture at the moment. Once I successfully add texture on the cart, I will update it in my Blog.

Finalise of the Cart

I had decided which cart that I will use for my final piece, I found this design is the one that I can manage to create it in 3D max. Then I end up with a finalize drawing of the cart.  

The bottom of the cart I will use a black box, because most of the Japanese's chair are without the chair legs. (refer to my previous entry). 

Cart and Entrance

In today’s seminar, it was about designing a cart and entrance for our haunted house. As the theme of my ride is Japanese Haunted house. I decided to use Japanese chair as the cart. For the entrance, I will either research an image from the internet or drawing my own one. The following are some drawings and research that I done so far.