PRP artefact 6

I have started to create a DVD for my White Rabbit narrative in order to explore the possibility of a DVD (or CD-ROM) as a taster to a film, which links to the full film shown online. The idea is that the interactive experience of the DVD menus and sample clips becomes a hook into watching the full film, and with TV moving more and more to the internet, this idea seemed like a relevant experiment.
The problems I have encountered are that with the PC format using Adobe Encore there is no native support for hyperlinks from the DVD content to a web page. It has worked previously in conjunction with Sonic eDVD and a media player called InterActive player and despite this software being largely defunct I found a trial version of eDVD.
I thought I had found a solution and could still create a DVD menu which links to the web. I planned to build the DVD, burn several copies and send them to people to test. It meant they would have to install the InterActual player, which shouldn't have been too much trouble.
However......... I havn't been able to get the project to load in eDVD due to the player not working. A solution for other people with the same problem was to run any DVD player on the PC and therefore have the necessary codecs installed. This hasn't worked.

See my post on creativecow: http://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/55/859392

In not being able to user test what I have made, I have ended up with an artefact that is the same as the previous in terms of it's idea.
A bit stuck as to where the artefact is going at the moment ...

In the mean time, enjoy a screen shot of my new DVD menu:

Reseach Artefact Number 5

Artefact 5 examines web access from DVDs as an extension of a branded feature such as a film.
After researching the software that enables DVDs to have embedded hyperlinks in the menus, I discovered that it is a troublesome feature,
See this: www.2-popforums.com
and this (nice use of sarcasm) : www.tfdvd.com
The problems sounded like technical glitches that the software developers had no appetite to fix. This lack of appetite may be to do with the DVD industries belief that people just don't watch DVDs on systems that have internet access.
I couldn't think of a DVD that I had watched that had this feature so I created a short questionnaire asking people if they had experienced web access from DVDs and if so what it was like. See this survey.
I also set about creating my own DVD with Studio Pro which uses apples DVD@ccess applet. The other option seems to be Adobe Encore which has no ability itself to include hyperlinks and relies on Sonic eDVD to be used in conjunction. Studio Pro seemed like the easier option and I so I created a DVD of my White Rabbit narrative which links to the website that I had previously created for it. I will evaluate my artifact based on the findings of the DVD and the survey.

DVD menu plan:

Artefact 4

The idea was to use the animation from the previous artefact but to adapt it so that the user had a browse button to upload their own mp3 track which would play along to the animation instead of having a selection of pre-defined track play buttons. Customisation is the name of the game for this experiment.

Technical hurdles have meant that the coding for the design has not been completed in time for the deadline. It has not been a simple matter of getting the correct code within the flash file (although that isn't completely figured out) but also having a web host that allows writable file permissions on the folders.

As a result I wrote the evaluation based on these technical difficulties (couldn't have talked about anything else!) instead of the evaluation being based on the idea of custamisation.
After discussing this with Jools at the presentation we decided i should move on for the next artefact. However, I feel I have invested too much work (and about 35 quid for a new web host) to abandon this. I think I will put it on the back burner.

version 1 - (artefact 3)

version 2 - (artefact 4)

Research project Progress

It isn't until I have finalised artefact 1 and 2 that I have come to really understand what i am researching by making them.
The artefacts are about console and interactivity, but as I have said previously, it is the interactivity of the visual and audio play between the user and environment that they are presented with (see Guiness ad). It is not about the interactivity of giving more user control (differing, non-linear creating options - see aveaword). This second type could be tested in future artefacts.

The ads and the questionnaire are up (see here) and I have posted the link to 20 facebook friends as a guinea pig test. 1 response from a user was that it all seemed to work ok and that the process I created was not confusing. This is good news.

I really want to keep going with testing interactivity via the play of visuals and audio but also combine it with the user control element. The next was artefact was intended to be a player that gave the user different AV clips and enabled them to edit their own advert around a given theme. This could be great fun as stuff I have made in the past has been exciting when audio has been laid over the top of visuals without knowing what the outcome will be.
By chance I have stumbled on something which does exactly what I have described:
The Sweeney Todd website has a cut your own trailor section and I think it's pretty good: SWEENEY

Replicating it might be difficult - I might do a media night with friends - maybe I could control a adobe premiere time-line while they told me where to place the clips maybe...

Artifact #2 defined and ready

I now have two versions of an online mock Oxfam advert. They have differing levels and types of interaction and as part of my second artifact I want to have some user opinions.

I haven't created the questionnaire yet using auto form, but the questions have been made. I want to test the process on a guinea pig first before committing to a questionnaire and emailing the URL to Multimedia students and Facebook users.

This is what it looks like at the moment (no link to questionnaire):

http://www.adamart.co.uk/client-projects/welcome.htm

I am also thinking about future artifacts and ways of evaluating which I hope to discuss in the near future.

Artifact #01

Click the picture above to link to a page containing my artifact.
Let the clip play and then the writing appear before clicking on anything as it could get confusing otherwise.
Much more scripting is needed to lock up buttons until the instructions have disappeared and been read by the user. I consider it to be a work in progress as their are many more things to adapt to make it more of an interactive experience. It is complete enough in order to evaluate though.
The main thing missing is sound and I would like to create and implement sound clips as my second artifact. The advert could then be re-evaluated on the basis of quantifying the improvement as an interactive experience post added sound. This could be done on line using a questionnaire perhaps, or hosted live with a group of people.

PRP Artifact #01

My first artifact is to be an interactive web advert. After looking into stop motion animation, and then having a go at a short animated video I set out to make an advert using the Oxfam logo.

The reasons behind these choices are as follows:

Making a stop motion video requires a still camera which I had over the Christmas break and so I could begin the artefact before starting term 2.

The rambling aesthetic stop motion creates suits the materials I used which in tern suits an advert for a second hand shop.

The concept is an old school work desk littered with bits of bric-a-brac, some of which spell out the Oxfam logo. The pieces scatter and it is the users job to form them up again Into the logo.

Following my literature reviews new found understandings of interactivity I plan to centre the entire advert on the desk and the items on it in an attempt to engross the users attention fully on a small world of bric-a-brac. ActionScript Programming will also play its part and is still under way.

Certain underlying principles of web design (as taught by Snodgrass in year2: accessibility, low file sizes etc) will not be achieved by this artifact. I am deciding to ignore these on the basis that this is an experimental element of the project that just deals with ideas of interactivity within an area of personal interest - brand design.

Test video: I created this purely to realise the process needed for non-digital stop motion to work within Flash, and is an indication of aesthetics to come in the finished advert.

Advert base:



With buttons:

With buttons and video:

Research Artifact Number 1

First Artifact will be a web page advert using still photos in which the user determines the narrative/aesthetic course that the advert takes. Depending on what area of the image is selected should determine the next photo seen.
Whatever direction taken; what should be revealed in the final shot is the product or logo.
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Ideas for the actual aesthetics/content include:

Stop motion idea
Bird's eye view shots of trinkets (jewelery, Lego, action men, string etc) which move to combine and form the shape of the product being advertised using stop motion animation.
Watch the above video by PlanB. The shots from above - like the opening shot with the ball of cotton that reveals the PlanB logo - could be simple scenes to mimic. However, it is not obvious how to make a non-linear scene and I need to figure out how this could be done.

Bedroom scene
Shots that gradually reveal more of a saucy bedroom scene (will it be saucy or will it show something unexpected?).
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The challenge will be in finding out the ActionScript needed in producing a non-linear set of shots and this will be what I will investigate over the Christmas break. I would also like to have all of the photographs taken and be ready to post produce the advert.

Personal Research Project

Abstract

This research examines the use of the word, ‘interactivity’, in order to come to an understanding of what this word means within advertising on today’s World Wide Web.
In outlining the current changeability and progression seen through the advancement of web 2.0 characteristics, what is identified is also the new direction of interactivity that advertising will take in social networking.
Interactivity is shown to be a complex and all-encompassing engagement of any media, which in the case of internet advertising, the report divides down into two descriptions: physical and psychological. What becomes apparent is that a broad understanding of interactivity already exists due to the presence of some rich media adverts which make reasonably advanced use of both physical and psychological definitions. In addition to the more playful interaction previously seen in adverts, the increasing use of network sites opens up new possibilities for conversation between brand and consumer.

Click on the image below to link to the finished project pdf:



Thank you to Laura Bolt for proof reading skills.

Research project progress

Lev Manovich - Super good theory of interaction
Section from "The Language of New Media" discussing interactivity:

The Myth of Interactivity

"....Used in relation to computer-based media, the concept of interactivity is a tautology. Modern human-computer interface (HCI) is by its very definition interactive....When we use the concept of “interactive media” exclusively in relation to computer-based media, there is danger that we interpret "interaction" literally, equating it with physical interaction between a user and a media object (pressing a
button, choosing a link, moving the body), at the sake of psychological interaction. The psychological processes of filling-in, hypothesis forming, recalland identification, which are required for us to comprehend any text or image at all, are mistakenly identified with an objectively existing structure of interactive links..."

Manovich goes on to explain that the concept of interaction goes back through the ages and encompasses Classical and Modern art, painting, sculpture, theater etc. He includes these examples by defining interaction as any process that provokes the human mind to use the imagination as a companion to what the eyes see.
I really like this - it is making me think about what "interaction" is and why it is played with by artists and ad agencies alike.

Research project progress

My Research project so far went something like this:

• Lots of reading and writing around the subject of TV advertising.
• Finalising an idea around the title "Examining mood and style created by choice of sound and image in audio visual advertising"
• Having the idea rejected by my tutor.
• Reforming the idea with tutors advice around the title "Advertising's progression with Web 2.0: An exploration of content, style and interactivity"

This title has stuck so far and research now consists of exploring the current state of internet advertising concentrating on rich media.
After reading a good deal more from some of the sources below, I have concentrated my searches on defining interactivity on the web and asking why it is wanted (or if it is wanted). I also like the questions of ethics and psychology of ads in the form they take on the web. Reading so far has revealed that a lot of time has been spent by ad agencies on tricking the web surfer in order to get 'click through' success.
By broadening my topics to the areas described above I have felt more relaxed about the project and confident about writing.

Sources so far:

• jiad.org (journal of interactive advertising)
  
• Advertising by Tony Yeshin
• Electronic Commerce by Gary Schneider
• The Soul Of The New Consumer by David Lewis & Darren Bridger
• The Virtual Dimension Edited by John Beckman
• Design Research by Brenda Laurel
  
• The language of New Media by Lev Manovich
• Online journals:
  Marketing Theory.
  Media, Culture and Society.
  Television and New Media.