Creative Technology

The menu page was very simply created, i used pictures taken from the world of warcraft website and the fan site kit to create 3 button linking to the appropriate page on the official site. You can see them here.
Blizzard, the creators require a disclaimer added to your pages, i did this with a mouse over on a ©. There is a bouncing arrow above this until you have viewed it once. This ensures people at least see it once. yet does not engulf the page so much.

Creating the intro.

I created several layers each tweening the text i wanted to display. The text comes in from the side and then comes at you and fades out. Animations can look very boring and automated. I have found that this can be avoided by easing in or out the animations. This gives the animations a little acceleration and makes them look much smoother and fluid. I added an audio look to make things sound interesting and a skip button so the user could skip the intro if they desired.

Creating the preloader.

My preloader calculates the total bytes of the movie and then displays the number of bytes loaded. From this a percentage is displayed as a blue loading bar.
I created some flashing "Please wait" text to add some extra movement as this reassures people that something is happening.
The load bar works by going to a certain frame within a 100 frame shape tweened Movieclip (MC). The trigger for completing the preload is put at the end of this bar at frame 100, 100%. At this point _root.gotoAndPlay("intro") is called.

This code can be found in the loader MC and within the first 2 frames of the main timeline on the Actions layer.

Flash Project

I have been looking forward to this project.
Here's how i went about creating my Movie.

Adding Audio

I had some of my own stock samples taken from my audio project, i cut and took the sections i wanted in the same way as i did with the video. I then put it onto the timeline into the audio section.

It was then a simple case of lining up the sound sample to activate at the correct times to make it look like the events were taking place.

The video

Working with the timeline.

I now had an assortment of files on my time line. I put them in the order that i wanted.

SUSPENCE

I wanted to create suspence so i used another layer for things like the oncoming train. This made it look more real, like it was happening there and then. It also helped me save time as cutting to a new angle to show the oncoming train would have took more of my valuable 10 seconds.

Then at the end i wanted to leave on a cliff hanger as everyone should feel "ohh it was all a dream" just before she hiccups again at the end. I used a fade to black so people could keep guessing as to where she has gone.

Creating the film.

To create the film i dragged each AVI in turn to the preview window, here i could specify sections of the clip that i wanted to use using the "Set in point" button at the start of a selection and then the "Set out point" at the end of a selection. When these 2 points have been set i can drag just my selection to the time line as it's own clip. I did this until i had all the footage i wanted to use on the main timeline.

Film Idea.

I feel it would be a good idea to go over what i had as my idea for a 10 sec film, so here it is.

I decided to build on an idea i had in my audio project. In this project we created audio for a guy that bought a can of "Coke Hero" and every time he hiccupped he would teleport somewhere exciting and dangerous. I liked this idea and decided to visualise it with my 10 second film.

The camara follows a young girl who goes into a shop to buy a can of coke, after drinking it she is teleported to the middle of a train track with an oncoming train. She freezes scared but before she is hit she hiccups again teleporting her to the top of a tall building almost falling, She then hiccups and very embarresingly is almost naked in a shower. Not knowing whats going on she tries cover up then hiccups and arrives in bed. She sits bolt up right and sighs... "must have been a dream" But then she hiccups and screen jumps to black.

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0

I decided to use Adobe Premiere to edit my footage, it was very intuitive to use and very much unlike Avid Express Pro which i could not even work out how to import footage into.

First thing i did was import my converted AVI files.

Problems Cont...

Well it seems Adobe Premiere will not import DVD footage. (aka: *.VOB). I then spent all day and night trying to find a program for free that will not watermark my footage to convert it into AVI. Finally found a prgram that would do it for me. "DVD Rip master" This managed to do the job and the "10 minute restriction" didn't effect me. The downside to this method; and i can see no cheap work around is that it seriously reduces your resolution. My footage will be well below TenSec's requirements. Very frustrating as i could have got the same look using my digital phtoto camera to get these results and it would have been much easier. What a waste of time. Lesson learnt do not used a DVD capture camera if you intend to edit.

Problems Problems Problems.

I went out and recorded all the footage i needed, took the camera home and put the DVD in my computer. The DVD was showing as blank, I then put it back in the camera and it said it wanted to format it, not wanting to lose my hard work i went to the shop asking them if the camera was faulty they told it was because i was using DVD- discs and they will lose all data if not finalised. I then bought some DVD+ discs and had to record everything again. Not happy.

New DVD camcorder.

I bought a new camera, Cost around £300. I thought that getting one that records straight to mini DVD would be much more convenient... this turned out to not be the case at all.

See the stats down below:
Product Description: Samsung VP DC161 - camcorder - 3" DVD-R, 3" DVD-RW, 3" DVD+RW, 3" DVD+R DL
Product Type: Camcorder - Widescreen Video Capture
Dimensions (WxDxH): 5.5 cm x 12.2 cm x 8.7 cm
Weight: 400 g
Webcam Capability: Yes
Media Type: 3" DVD-R, 3" DVD-RW, 3" DVD+RW, 3" DVD+R DL
Sensor Resolution: 800 Kpix
Shooting Modes: Digital photo mode
Lens Aperture: F/1.6
Focus Adjustment: Automatic, manual
Focal Length: 2.29 mm - 75.57 mm
Optical Zoom: 33 x
Digital Zoom: 1200 x
Image Stabiliser: Electronic
Microphone: Microphone - built-in
Viewfinder: LCD monitor - 0.16" - colour
Display: LCD display - TFT active matrix - 2.5" - colour
Supported Battery: 1 x Li-ion rechargeable battery ( included )

Picture #5

I quite liked this piture to start with but i'm not so sure about it now. I dont like the mirky feel given to it by the dull Lincoln weather. I have made it a lot more cheery in post production but looking at others on big stock i'm wondering if taking a photo outside is every really going to be viable in Lincoln.

Post Production:

Levels; RGB, Red, Blue, Green individually.
Saturation modification.
I then tried to play with the colours to make the seagul look more white.
I then tried bluring the backgound to make the seagul and post the focal point but i decided it didnt look to great so left it as it is.

Picture #4

I liked this picture, it seemed to used the rule of thirds quite well. It relied a lot on the post production to look good but i felt that the finished result was acceptable. I also added a clolur overlay on a new layer just to see what it looked like. I decided it could easily be used in a tourist leaflet.

Post Production:

I used the exposure adjustment to brighten the picture up.
I then tweeked the saturation and levels.
I decided to remove the labels from the signpost to make the picture more usable. People on bigstock photo seem to like blank templates to work with.
I then cropped the picture at an angle to level out the horizon.

Picture #3

I chose this picture as i liked the double frame within a frame. Although the picture within both of the frames is not clearly visible due to the intense light it still looks good.

Post production:

The usual Contrast, Levels adjustment as described in picture #1
I then zoomed in a noticed that the AnneSummers logo could be made out. So i used the healing tool to remove this and blend it into the rest of the white light.
I then cropped the picture to remove the babies pram seen to the left of the original picture. This also adds more focus to the main frames.

Picture #2

This picture didn't like being tweaked too much, i tried using all of the saturation and level tools on it, as i do with all my pictures but it just didn't work. All the levels were perfect. All I did with this picture was use the burn tool to accentuate the rings and grain within the wood.

Picture #1

Post Production:

I adjusted the levels RGB, and then Red, Green and Blue individually.
Played with the contrast until it looked how i wanted it to.
Adjusted the saturation to make it look more alive and interesting and changed the hue to make the bricks look more red.
Next i traced around the bird and pillar using the quick mask tool. This tool lets you make selections by drawing on the canvas using any of photoshops tools, i consider this the best way of making a selection as it is very versitile.
I used a guassian blur on the background and cropped the picture to make the bird the center of focus. It's eye is actually in the dead center of the finished picture.

Photography Part 1

I take my camera with me everywhere now. It's weird how I am starting to notice things that I never really looked at before. I can be walking along and the all of a sudden spot something I think would make a good picture.

I have been getting a good few odd looks. People seem to find it funny when you are laid on the floor taking a picture. I really like this method seeing things from a new angle really spices things up and makes a normal picture seem kind of new and interesting.

While out and about and have always had the of the photo tips in the back of my mind. Things like the frame within a frame photo style. Although not a very good example you can see it here along with the strange low angle.

I spent a lot of time tweaking the settings of the camera; I wanted to get a feel for what each of the modes did. I managed to take photos of fireworks, macro shots and delayed shutter speeds. By the end of the week I had take just under 200 pictures. I then chose 5 of the ones I liked and began working with them in Photoshop.

New Camera

I went out and bought myself a new camera at the start of the assignment. My camera was 3.2 Mega pixels but unfortunatly had no macro mode. My new camera is the Nikon Coolpix L1. It's is very similar to the ones that were bought to hire out at university which is helpful as it uses the same camera modes taught to me in the lecture.

Stats:

COOLPIX L1 6.2MP DIGITAL VIDEO CAMERA

UNLIMITED VIDEO&SOUND RECORDING

1Gig SD MEMORY CARD + TRIPOD

5x Optical Zoom - 4X DIGITAL ZOOM.

Large 2.5-inch TFT color monitor

640x480 @ 15fps movie with sound

Macro focus with AF as close as 1.6 inches

Program AE and 15 pre-programmed Scene modes

Creative Technology - CMP1014

Finished product

Menu page.