Career research

After my discussion with Jools and Simon about my portfolio and defining career direction I looked into some ads.
I found this one on bannerblog.com :

http://www.bannerblog.com.au/jobs/2008/01/rmg_connect_seeks_flash_designer.php

This is interesting for me as it is requiring Flash animation skills and video editing - two of the things that I am most adept at. (It is in Australia though so i won't be applying).

This also sounds interesting for a long term future type job:

http://www.bannerblog.com.au/jobs/2008/01/spin_seeks_senior_interactive_producer.php

I am thinking of splitting the main page of my online portfolio into two sections though - video and Flash, as most branding & advertising companies seem to look for 1 or the other and not both Flash and video.

I saw a report on TV that said there is a direct correlation between the low happiness level of a nation and the high level of advertising it is exposed to. (UK having the highest level of adverts exposed to each person and lowest level of happiness). Do I want to be a part of that, is a good question.
So I am also looking into joining a convent and devoting my life to God as I bet it's such an easy simple life and two elderly ladies who knocked on my door said it would be good for me.

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.

Multimedia Portfolio

I have started making an online Multimedia portfolio which can be found here:



What it actually is, is a homepage which links to individual pages that hold my videos and other bits of web work. Most of these pages already existed and can be found within this journal.
I should also point out that it needs lots of work:

• for one thing the pages containing videos need proper control panels, and I need to balance load time Vs picture quality.
• Also lots of little things like having the links open in new Tabs instead of replacing the homepage.
  
• I would also like to make the homepage look and feel more friendly and personable.

After showing the page to Jools and Simon they both pointed out that what is needed is a clear strategy for what should be included in the portfolio. They suggested looking into job adverts, seeing what sort of things are demanded by the area of jobs I want to apply to and then amend the portfolio accordingly.
So, I need to look at job titles, bite the bullet and think about post Uni existence.............. I think I'll do an MA ;¬]

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:

Live Client Project

Click above to link to General Store.

Following a meeting with Graham of General Store a few underlying principles have been established that must be adhered to in the production of the advert .
Key bits:

• (a visit is an) Experience
• Finding things out - Learning
• Ethical sources
• Quality Ingredients
• Specialist in hard to find items

The store must be set apart from main stream coffee shops - General Store customers do not tend to be Star Bucks customers - and the store should capitalize on a feeling of loss of identity that coffee shops like Star Bucks are suffering from (http://tinyurl.com/ypxfy3).

General Store has real advantages in it's character and quirkiness. The store is eclectic in it's presentation and Graham notes that the layout of the store is designed to reveal surprises along the way as you walk through.
The sort of items stocked are intended to provide customers with all the items in order to be self sufficient in their coffee/tea making. For instance grinders, percolators, stove tops, containers, etc are stocked. This is a deliberate attempt to make people more knowledgeable and progressive in their consumption habits. Books are a big part of the store and the web site also has a 'guru' explaining thousands of words and terms used in the coffee/tea/chocolate worlds.
Graham prides himself on his ability to cater for people looking to avoid or find certain ingredients.

Insect Advert follow up - quality control

SEE PREVIOUS POST -
Insect Repellent Finished version (Wednesday, December 05, 2007)

"What I need to find out is how to convert video clips into web friendly versions without loosing so much quality. The horizontal lines that appear during movement seem to be a familiar characteristic that occur after file converting."

After a number of failed attempts at exporting the video from Premiere with varying compression types resulting in worse quality, I went back to exporting as DV AVI but with the deinterlaced box ticked (still lower field first). Then normal procedure of taking the file through Flash results in far less horizontal lines on the swf exported file.

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.

Insect Repellent Advert - Finished version

Right click and open in new tab on the still above to see a low quality version of the film.

Production thanks to:

Edward Allan - actor
Matt Choules - acting and crewing
Russell Tanham - Voice acting and foley
Adrian Snodgrass - use of flat at an inconvenient time

What I need to find out is how to convert video clips into web friendly versions without loosing so much quality. The horizontal lines that appear during movement seem to be a familiar characteristic that occur after file converting.
I tried using an AVI to SWF converter which was a bit more dynamic than Flash itself but still did not achieve the required level of quality.
See any depict shortlist (http://www.depict.org/shortlists/206) for a good bench mark of what the level of quality should be.

Client short follow up - Static & Noise example

Moon Shot UK by James Harris

A good example of the use of static and noise to depict time elapse of an undetermined length:

http://www.depict.org/shortlists/206/


It's actually very convincing transmission break up with varying degrees of static, flicker, buzz and white noise.
Will try to find out from the makers how it was achieved.

I got my static burst in Insect Repellent from an old VHS tape which has break up between programs. I recorded it from VHS to Mini DV and then captured into Premier. Problems arose during the transfer because the player seemed to automatically cut out static break up in order to keep quality high. Luckily for me this cleaning process is not perfect and a short burst - maybe 1 second - was recorded onto the DV tape. This was enough to use in the advert.
A more controlled and deliberate creation of the affect (as I presume was done in the above "Moon Shot" video) would be what I would want if I were to use the affect again.

Client Project Progress

Following an evaluation of a rough edit by Debs several problems have been identified.

See Storyboard here
The main problem is with the lack of suggestion of the passing of time between 1 scene and the next. The time passing between scenes needs to be roughly 2 minutes. So, too short a period of time for a fadeout and also needs to happen too early on in the ad for a fadeout as that would ruin the pace.

What I plan to do is to create a 1/4 second burst of static and noise that mimics a channel being changed on an old TV. This could be used in between every scene that requires passage of time suggestion. This is a relevant solution as the TV featured in the ad is a retro TV which really does make this static burst.
The below video demonstrates the visual static i am talking about.




I have also edited in a short scene of the fly changing the channel on the retro TV (much to the mans annoyance) so aesthetically this can all link in. Granted - the audience may not notice this link but it makes me feel better about making this change.
In trying to solve this problem I have edited in a montage of very short scenes in what is frame 3 on the storyboard. This in part solves another problem that I have - the video has a lack of variety of shots and feels a bit flat as a result. The montage section livens things up a good deal and accentuates the build up of the man being irritated. I hope it also reinforces the way the passage of time should be read by the audience.
I will try and find an example of how this channel change technique has been used before and post a link.

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.
  

Insect repellent advert PRODUCTION

These are a selection of on set photos from the advert production that happened last night.

Good things about the shoot:

1. It was a good learning experience in realising alternatives to ways of shooting certain scenes.
2. It was useful to hear other ideas from cast/crew not just for the scenes filmed but for alternate scene ideas along the same theme.
3. The location was perfect aesthetically and had a luxurious amount of space.
   
4. It was fun dressing Matt Choules up as a fly.

Bad things about the shoot:

1. My 1st choice Fly cancelled due to a foot injury.
2. 2nd choice Flies were not available.
3. 1st choice crew had to step in to be the Fly and so I was one crew man short.
   
4. Scenes that I thought were straight forward turned out to be technically tricky to film. (This is also good point number 1)
5. There seemed to be no ideal way to light the set in terms of creating the correct mood.
6. Getting all the elements for production to fall together on one evening was stressful.

The film is now also captured and ready t edit.

Full fly costume

CLICK PICTURE TO ENLARGE
This shows the costume almost finished.
The wings still look too angelic and black face paint is needed around the eyes.
It also goes to prove that you can't do a superman pose wearing tights without looking camp.

Insect repellent advert costume making

This video shows the beginnings of the fly costume required for my AV advert.
I am hoping the look says "fly" and not "terrorist bomb maker".
All you need is :
A balaclava
2 sieves
A belt strap
Some black card
Black tape
And some sticky back plastic .... sorry I went all Blue Peter then.






Also full storyboard:

White Rabbit

Continuing the rabbit theme ..... here is my AV narrative from year 2. Click here to see the WEBSITE for the project and click on film to see a low quality version of the entire film. The rest of the site is a bit text heavy and boring so you might not find it all interesting. (Something which i have to remedy with my next site). You might like to see the original artwork through STORYBOARD though.

The Greatest Multimedia designer of our time?

Anybody else love those channel 4 logo idents ? (the floating channel 4 icons you see in-between the programs). Then read THIS ARTICLE about Brett Foraker - creative director of channel 4 and probably a genius. http://www.dandad.org/inspiration/creativityworks/5/pdf/Channel4.pdf

The animation What I'm into like...

Run Wrake’s short animation ‘rabbit’ is an example of how a myriad of tools and sources can be used to create a world that is familiar but brand new, exciting and scary. It was made two years ago and It won (and still is winning) a series of awards as it travels around the globe including best short film at the British Animation awards, the Audience award in San Francisco and was even nominated for a BAFTA.

‘rabbit’ is a film aimed at adults that uses 1950’s children’s educational illustrations (R is for rabbit) to build the entire world on top of a backdrop of a 3D grassy plain and speeded up real footage of turbulent clouds. The mix of 2D, 3D and real footage builds a strange atmosphere and is aided by very real sound; the wind blowing, a fly buzzing. The sounds are crisp and immaculate and in stark contrast to the eerie music and the fact that none of the characters speak. The land created by the 3D plain and the movement of the camera feels immediately like a children’s TV show – the Telly Tubbys perhaps – which further aids the strange atmosphere.

The story follows two main characters – possibly brother and sister – whose quick but devious minds are revealed when they trap and kill a rabbit for its fur. When a strange creature pops out from the body of the dead rabbit, and reveals magic jewel making powers, the boy and girl devise a plan to use the creature for their own ends – namely to become rich and powerful.

This is a film about the loss of innocence and the exploitation of the natural world as Wrake points out at http://www.runwrake.com/ and I think is wonderfully done because he hasn’t fallen into the trap of the default look that the animation tools will imprint into most films.

This “default look” is something I am discussing further in my SPP essay.

SEE rabbit HERE

Nice crow

Carrying on the crow theme I started (in the web design banner advert post below) I have found a nice projected animation of a shadow of a crow.

http://www.ubutopia.com/crowshadow.htm