And with some sound.... :)

Interactive narrative without sound.

This is the first draft of my interactive narrative. The theme is "interogation" hence the violence involved in getting the truth from the sufferer. I will be adding text and sound shortly, to make the narrative more clear. Currently it needs making smaller so it embeds better but I will do that later too.

Thanks Scotty x

Object....

Well, I've decided to tell you how beautiful I find my bass guitar (shown below).



The design of my bass is basically a replica version of a fender precision bass guitar. Often I dont just play my guitar, but stroke it lol, as the finish is well beautiful and I dont care that its well bright in colour. I love the contrast between the black scratchplate and vivid pink on the body.

If I ever get bored, I pick up this little fellow and give him a twang. :) This is why I have chosen to talk about my guitar. Some more photos are shown below...







I have now gone on to discuss, why the bass was designed as it is, whats cool about this design and how it differs from other designs.

Personally, I chose the P bass shape, due to its ease of play and functionability. The shape of the body sits nicely when playing, to give the bassist the most comfort and pleasure it can whilst playing. This is both when sat down and stood up. Now there are many shapes of bass, but this particular shape became popular with all musicians in the 50's. My bass may be as aesteticly pleasing as some Fender basses, but the quality is not as advanced as one with the fender badge, due to the size of pickups, quality of electrics and general care taken in the production of each guitar. This is why my bass is more budgeted than say a 1960's vintage precision bass.

Alternative models of bass do not interest me. However, Fender do have a similar bass called the Jazz (shown below) which was also extremelly popular with bassists and has even better pickups than a precision.



There is little difference between these two basses, apart from a slight change in shape and the metal cover for the volume and tone switches.
Below is a bass made by gibson. Gibson are primarily a guitar manufacturer, however make some really impressive basses too. Personally, I dont like the shape of the Thunderbird bass for example, however the sound is so much clearer and crisp than that of a Fender, in my opinion. These guitars are big dollar though.



Finally, is an SG shaped body, again first produced by Gibson. This shape is popular with guitar lovers, however I feel that this shape is far to underproportioned for a bass guitar, and doesnt have the beefy apperence of the Fender Basses.

This is why I would easily choose a Fender bass over others. It is simply down to the beauty and care taken in their craftsmenship. The basses have become a perfectly developed trend over time, and are now seen as the "norm" in the music society. Only now as individuality is becoming everso more popular, do we see that people are moving away from these shapes to those like the SG.

Latest and final stop-start animation

Single-shot, all scenes unedited

Here are all the scenes, unedited, raw, and down right silly on occasions :) lol

Audio recording for single-shot film

Today we recorded the audio content for our one-shot film. We decided to record the whispered thoughts of our character, as this meant we could portray the narrative that bit more, and suggest that there were events that happened before that of the one-shot video.

With much help from John (a propa pedigree legend), we found a quiet room to do our audio recording. However, if we were to do this again no doubt we would use the recording booths for this task, but as of yet we have not been instructed on how to use these.

One-shot video evaluation

So the video is completed and shown below. We still have whispering to add at the start of the video, which will be recorded very soon. All in all the video has given us a positive output towards the brief, showing the effect you can gain by shooting in one-shot as well as the focus involved to get the end result. I feel using the sunrise almost aided the work produced, as we were on a set time in which the film needed to be completed, before the sunrise was lost.

We had two rehearsals before it was time to shoot the actual shot, and experimented with different angles and ways of presenting the shot, before actually filming the final one. These can be seen above on my next blog.
The use of natural lighting really gives our video somewhat of a professional look, without us putting to much into the consideration of studio lighting. I must admit though I would have liked to have done some studio work, but there is plenty of time for that in the future :).
The next step is to gather feedback on the one-shot video produced, to see what improvements can be made to make the video more appealing or more suited to the brief.

I have decided to blog a short diary of what I and the group did, and when we did it:

Day 1:

The first day was talking about some ideas we had within the Waverley building. We came up with several ideas, including a scene in an office where the character is bored and passes the time by doing amusing things to entertain theirselves. We rejected this idea due to the lack of props to create a successful scene in which we could film in.
The second idea, and the one we took and improved was to shoot a surreal female in the moors or on some steps in a rural area. This was then expanded to perhaps a chase which resulted in a male figure following the female. We then came to the conclusion that this was clearly going into Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice territory, and used this to create a love scene, which gets the audince thinking into the past events, as well as what is to happen next.

Day 2: We visited the location, took some photographs (shown below) of the location and decided the position in which the sun would rise as well as where the camera would be placed and how we would film the characters.




We then returned home for tea and buscuits :):):)

Day 3: We woke at around 4 o clock in the morning to catch the sunrise. Having checked the weather forcast, we realised that this would be the best day, as it was a fresh, clear morning. Filming began and we caught some really clever shots. We left at around 9 o clock and returned to the Waverely building to edit the video.

Day 4: The video was completed using Premeire, music was added.

Day5: The video was posted on my blog and youtube.

Single Shot Video

So heres the video :)

x x x

Scotty

Pixelation; influences to my design, how I went about the ideas, and possible improvements.

During the creation of my pixleation, I began to think what I actually wanted to do, and started to research an area which had struck me as interesting, reversing video or animation to make an effective end result. This started to get me thinking, that it would be easy to do this also with pixelation. Of course it was a hard task changing all of the file names to suit the order I wished them to play in, but it works effectively, particularly with the flower petals. Below is one of the videos which inspired the way in which movement can be presented backwards.


"ESREVER" Backwards Video - The top video clips of the week are here

I did several other draft pixelations before my completed pixelation, and have found that some of my ideas worked better than others. For example, I took shots of a dandelion, well one of those things were all the seeds can be blown off, and reversed this. It worked fairly well but I needed something more professional and more smooth for my final piece, hence the groups work with the petal picking.

A major problem with my pixelation is the lack of narrative, which I am fully aware of. I clearly need to add some form of story to the ideas, whether an account of events or even a more individual idea of creating some written work to play along with the pixelation, perhaps a short poem for example. But I am currently undergoing work into this, as I can see that it will need improving to suite the brief.

Another technique I attempted to use during my pixelation work was timing between audio and visual aspects of the design. The movement linked to audio was something that Andy mentioned in an early seminar, and attracted my attention to the possibilities when exploring this further. A good example of this can be found in the music video for The White Stripes "The Hardest Button To Button" shown below.



In my video I attempted to do this at the stage where I jump backwards over the fence, as well as where my group move around the circular flower bed in the arboretum. This works well in my pixelation, however I could have used clearer, more defined movements within the pixelation to emphasise that I had attempted to do this.

Where do I go from here?

Right, so I finished the pixelation, but below are the improvements I will undergo before presenting the final piece to my peers and course leaders.

1) Firstly, I will consider and apply some form of narrative, most likely a short story or poem that adds to my pixelation to meet the brief.
2) Secondly, I will attempt to emphasise the link between audio and movement in my work by precisely applying the two together on the timeline in Premiere
3) Finally, I will put together all drafts, as well as the final piece to show that I have experimented with different ideas, and chose those I, and others felt where the strongest.

Thanks,

Scotty x x x x :)

Today's single shot film...Tiring as it was :)

Hello. :) Today Me and the gang woke up literally at the crack of dawn to go take some cool sunrising film. Well the whole narrative to our film basically consists of a female (played by Diana) running from something in the moorlands in Beeley. The audience at first has no idea of what is happening and the narrative opens interest into past events before the film, something we hope to achieve, and also leads the audience into their own ideas/opinions on what has happened in the lead up. After a short time of running through the Heather and moorland vegetation, a male figure (played by myself) appears in the distance, the character then falls to the graound anf the male approaches her, picks her up and generally gives her a nice cuddle and makes sure she's ok :) The narrative does lack some realism and we could probably have improved on our acting skills, but the result, thanks to some fantastic sunrisen lighting this morning means we did'nt regret setting our alarms rather early on. Kirsty, was on the camera today and did some awesome zooms in and out of characters, and Stef with some rather abrupt directing and compromising costumes means our end result will certainly avoid being branded student-like by critics. At the moment of course this is just the basic, raw video with no editing at all, so when some slow-mo's are added and some nifty tricks in premiere, we may well end up with the perfect result.

The next stage we have decided to take is to carry out some approaches towards the audio of our video, for example one idea yesterday was to use whispers, as hints to what is going on in the film, perhaps with revealing messages to the audience.

Okay, we admit its cheesy, but its well different in my opinion, and deserves credit for how early we awoke to achieve it!!! :)

Laters x x x

Scotty

Single-shot film examples

Films shown from www.Single-Shot.co.uk Automotive action painting by George Barber Here is the first Single-Shot video I have decided to look at. The film uses a view from a birdseye position, which adds to the effect of the idea. The idea itself is very clever and uses some interesting sound and visual aspects. Clearly the film was well thought about and planned, and a fair amount of people involved. The film also has an aspect of humour involved, as it uses some rather clever what appears to be non-intentional cars.Suprise by Ken Dodd A clever little video which uses a range of camera angles and techniques to put across the visual narration of the film. As with my pixelation project the creator has focused on the idea of making things go backwards. The video also uses very little in colour and high amounts of saturation to show the dramatic edge to the story.

Idea's for AV short single-shot film

Well today was'nt too productive, and ideas weren't coming all that naturally. However, we did decide that we wanted to use a location that would be far from student-like and allow us to carry out some form of surreal shot. A well cheesy movie but awesome in my opinion, Pride and Predudice uses some awesome shots in a really beautiful location of Chatsworth. We talked about choosing a location similar to this for our film, as it will cool to boast some shots using natural lighting and effects. The shot is shown below from Pride and Predudice, so skip to just near the end where the sun is rising :) This scene always gets me thinking to what the light represents as an inner meaning to the film, for example a "new start" or "fresh relationship".



The theme of a surreal female figure also cropped up in our ideas, which could be used really well in a location which is natural. I also know a rather talented piano player :) might come in useful.

We now need to consider who's doing what. Job wise I mean. So we will sort that no doubt when we meet up next :) and also explore other ideas which may give us options to the narration of our scene.

Books for tutorial.

This week I have visited the library and taken out a couple of books I thought might proove useful for my course. I also read through one of my books, purchased for a hobby of mine, photography. This book is called "Digital photographers Handbook", and is written by Tom Ang. The other two books, one I have got through the library and the other as an ebook are both relevant to the subject of Multimedia.

Digital Photography Handbook - Tom Ang

Tom Ang is a developed photographer who has been around the world taking pretty much every type of photograph. The thing I like most about this book is the fact it goes into loads of details in improving the quality of the images taken by any standard of photographer. This book is useful in my course, as it combines taking photographs, displaying the end result in an attractive, appealing way, as well as showing us basic skills on how to create pieces of artwork, or alternative methods of using photographs.

One section of the book for example goes into much detail on the way we can output out work, considering all problems and aspects of this task. Such things as copyright are discussed.

The book has certainly aided me in the past with my A-level work in Applied ICT and no doubt will help me when developing images for any area of my Multimedia course.

The Photograph As Contemporary Art - Charlotte Cotton

This book, taken out from the Boots Library, shows how previous photographers and artists gathered unique ideas for the development of their work. The book has a range of photographs, which cant help but raise a smile on the readers face when seeing them, but when read about allow the reader to take a more serious approach to evaluating the true meaning behind the images or artwork.

One particular section has caught my eye when reading this book. The second chapter explores ways in which different photographers have explored surreal and fairytale like situations in their work. I found an image called "insomnia" and when reading through the VLP the other day realised this is highly relevant to the next stage of our narratives unit. The book shows a male character curled up in a ball in a rather dadgy looking kitchen. The objects around the male character suggest things which have possibly happened before this point, and the angles of the furnishings allow us to consider narrative and reflect on the events which may have happenend. Something to consider for the next section of the narrative unit I'm sure :).

Although I could not find books from the reading list, I have realised just how useful some of these texts could be in my modules for this year.

Thanks Scotty :)

Final Pixelation

Today...

yes today I've been messing with my animation and made something rather bizaare. I wish you could see it on my comp as the quality is so much better. Thats the Mothers eye that I used to apply my previous stop-motion animation to. I have found whilst carrying out my pixelation, I have a thing about making things going backwards, which can be seen in my design. I will continue to play around with my pixelation, and with some comments, will be able to change the animation to not just my preferences but others too.

Thanks Scotty :) x x x

Next bit...

First Draft part 2

Well I've completed a first draft of my stop motion pixelation animation. I have used Adobe Premeire CS3 for the production of my work. Because I have never used premiere before, I started by familiarise myself with the software, and below is the result. Today I have practised combining the audio with the movement of the images, and tried to combine them as one piece. I would like people to comment on this draft to see what could be done to improve upon my first draft ideas,

Thanks Scotty:)x x

First draft of pixelation

Motion still images

Right, All our images are sorted i.e. taken, and now its time to edit them to the correct sizes and preferences. Andy taught us a nifty trick on photoshop, using the "action" tool, making it simple to edit all of the images to the same specifications. I have used this method on my section of the images, to change the sizes of each image. It could also have been used for things such as desaturation, hue and colour modifications, however because I have specific areas in my images which need editing, I chose to do this individually. I have now put all the images together to form my section of the 30 second stop motion animation, all thats left now is to add audio and organise the sections accordingly.

Some ideas for animation...

Our pixelation animation has begun and we have some good ideas. We now need to move into different locations as all our work has currently been undergone in one location. We will be doing this on Wednesday afternoon

• Now we've started experimenting with ideas, to move from one scene to another scene, we could perhaps use a character throwing the chair and another catching the chair in another location.
• Different views and perspectives would be cool. Using some Matrix type sounds as the camera images rotate around a character would work well.
• Some tricks and effects such as balancing the chair on our noses would be clever, this could be done well in a low area with someone holding the chair from an elevated position.
• Add some humour to the project :)
• Do some stuff around the arbortum

:) James :)

Some of my photographs :)

Here are some photo's I have taken over the last year. Looks like everyone else is banging things on so I thought id join in :)

First tutorial, Start of project, Introduction to pixelation

Learnt some good stuff today. Firstly I began with my tutorial leson with Jooles. Sorted out linking this blog to the ntu bloggers webspace, as well as meeting the people who would be in my tutorial classes this year. After this I attended my first seminar with Andy on pixelation, where he summed up an interesting history of animation. This was informative and helped build a backbone to the type of work we were expected to produce this year. Finally, me, ollie, Kirsty, Katie and Craig were split into a group to carry out our first year module on animation. We began some basic ideas with moving chairs, with some pretty effective results :) We will be carrying on with this Wednesday which will be a fun day no doubt :) o yeh and I went up Notts for Georginas birthday. Happy Birthday!

Thanks, Scotty

Second Blog, Started Multimedia

For some reason my first attempt at making a blog failed so here we go again. Last week I met fellow students and staff of my Multimedia course. Throughout the week we were set tasks such as creating a pin-hole camera from a used beer can (not hard to find) and also producing a whiteboard animation. These tasks were awesome, helping introduce lots of new people and making new friends. The whiteboard animation can be shown below, ours is the non-detailed one, by myself Scotty, Ollie, Kane and Craig, who were really fun to work with. To create the animation were had to draw whatever we wished on the whiteboard, and then redraw it in a slightly different way, each time a shot was taken to create an animated series of images, much like someone flicking through a note pad reeeeealy fast, as on the new Orange advert.