stephen dyson

Fresh Entertainment Feedback & conculstion

2010-05-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

Throughout the website how easy did you find the navigation at the top of the page?

Results show the navigation used was simple and easy to understand similar to the on demand services reviewed.

Throughout the website how easy did you find the navigation at the top of the page?

Results show the navigation used was simple and easy to understand similar to the on demand services reviewed.

Throughout the website how easy was it to use the twitter Icon?

I was interested to see the results from this question. I thought because the twitter icon was not labelled and you had to click on the t section and not the bird, people might not understand how to use it. However the feedback was positive and this was not an issue.

How easy did you find it to use the java script slide show to access videos from the day they were uploaded?

This was a big success for 4od in artefact 4 and I was keen to see if the version I created would be as successful. The only slight concern I had was the text would be too small for user to read. However feedback from questionnaire showed that this was not the case and the slider was easy to use.

Did you think it was user friendly to have videos in order of the most recent and alphabetical?

Layout is a key element for on demand services so for my website to be a success I had to get this right. The decisions to order videos by most recent and alphabetical looks to be have been a success.

Did you think it was effective feature lisitng the entire content of the website alphabeticall?

As a users of the BBC iPlayer I find it effective that programmes are listed a to z which is why I used this feature for my website. The user’s response was positive.

How effective did you find the HD section of the website?

This was a last minute decision to include this page because I found I had a lot of HD videos in the website without noticing. The feedback for this page was mixed. I believe this will not finder the website in anyway it will just improve the layout and the ease users can access videos.

Did you find it easy to use the contact form?

The contact form worked effectively the large text areas made it easy for user’s comments to be successfully received. Navigating the users to a page which tells them there feedback has been received reassures users the message was sent.

How easy was it to interact with the live section of the website?

Adding a live section increases interactivity with the user so I was pleased that the users found no problems when using this section of the website.

At any point was you unable to finda video you were looking for?

This was by far the most important questioned asked. Throughout the whole process special consideration had been given to layout and I was pleased to find that the vast majority of users had no problem finding videos.

Though creating a series of artefacts for this project I have discovered that you need the following factors to make a successful streaming website:
The design of the website is very important. If the website looks professional people will use the service and feel safe doing so. A well known brand, if users are familiar with the brand and feel safe online they will have an enjoyable streaming experience.

Quality of content, users will stream videos that are 360p or 480p because they buffer quicker. When streaming videos that are 720p or 1080p I found that users couldn’t see a massive improvement in video quality it just took longer for the videos to buffer. So though my research I found HD is not essential with all users. This is why when creating my own streaming website I made a HD section to keep the videos separate so they could easily be avoided if users didn’t want to stream from them.

Layout, I believe this to be the most important factor of any streaming website. Videos need to be organised effectively for two types of users, firstly for people who know exactly what video they are looking for and for users who want to browse though the selection available.

Though creating my own website that some videos were located in four separate places to make it easy for the user to find the video they were looking for. For instance take Julian Casablancas 11th Dimension can be found in the indie section under most recent, alphabetical, it can also be found in the HD section and the A to Z section under J.

Artefact 5 and 6 Devlopment and Feedback Contiuned

2010-05-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

I changed the main area where the category links and JavaScript to a neutral beige colour, this really emphasized the java script slider making the selection area a lot clearer. I added a twitter link which

fills the space really well. I created an accompanying twitter page for the website in an attempt to get more hits.

The twitter page well tells followers when a new video has been added and when there is a show streaming live from the website. The background is made up of artists that feature in fresh entertainment.

I now have a twitter page and a completed template the next stage is to start adding content.

I had noticed in YouTube and the reviewed on demand services they all had the most recent videos available on their homepages I decided this would be a good feature for fresh entertainment. So the final stage of my home page was to add a selection of new music videos spanning the genres.

Usually when you finish watching a YouTube video you can then view further videos or search YouTube for more videos. I didn't want users to watch one video then go straight onto YouTube so I added this code to the embedded URL disable these features, &rel=0&showsearch=0

However more problems were to follow below is an example of the code YouTube gives you to embed videos:

This code will give you successful results if using Google Chrome or Firefox, however I needed these videos to play on all modern browsers especially internet explorer for the website to be a success. After various attempts at making sure all the code had been selected perfectly the video still wouldn’t play. I had found one solution but it meant you lost the first frame of the video so instead of an image of the video you would just see a black space and I didn’t want to compromise the design of fresh entertainment. After a lot more searching the web I found this was a common problem, I found this code that solved by problem videos would play in all browsers and the first frame was still visible.

With this code in place my homepage was completed and I could move on to creating the individual genres. Special consideration was give to the content of each genre. Once you had selected a genre from the homepage you could view videos by most recent which gave you a description with the artists or alphabetically. Feedback from artefact 4 I also learnt that ordering different categories by alphabetical and most recent was a user friendly feature which made accessing videos easy for the user which was available on the BBC iplayer.

When reviewing the layout of the iPlayer for artefact 4 I found that the service lists all the programmes from A to Z in alphabetical order. This is a quick way for users to access videos of they know exactly what they are looking for. Below are print screens of the iPlayer and fresh entertainment:

If a users selects a letter they will see all artists that are available from the selected letter in alphabetical order. Again though artefact four I found that users favoured sites that limited the amount of scrolling they had to do which is why I added back to the top links on every page.

When creating the website I found I had a lot of HD videos this inspired me to create a separate link for all the HD videos, two of the videos featured are 1080p the rest are 720p.

I also decided to create a live page where users can view various stream from around the world live. Research from artefact showed me how popular UStream they now have 410,000 registers users, 100,000 of which are active broadcasters, with 10,000-15,000 live events being served up daily.

To achieve this I research some of the most popular streams that re regularly broadcast and then it was just a case of embedding the videos. You can also add the comment box so users can get involved with the chat feature. I also added a clock to the website that shows the live time of where the video is being streamed from. Below is a print screen of the live page. I decided to add the time so users would feel more connected to the video.

The final page I added was a PHP contact form that gives the users the option to email me directly for suggestions on how to improve the service. I feel it is important if you are offering the public a service to always take on board feedback to improve your service. When the users clicks submit they are taken to a page that tells them their message has been sent.

The website contains 64 videos all related to music. Special consideration was given to the content of videos and the quality available. As I found in artefact 3 users would not be prepared to watch high quality videos with low quality content. However I did find that in some videos where content was entertaining and video quality was poor videos containing sound were not affected.

The vast majority of the videos come from YouTube, this decision was made when in artefact two 53% of the users decided to stream from YouTube because it was a trusted and well recognised brand users could operate with ease. Users also found it effective you because you have the option to skip though the video before it had buffered which was unique to YouTube.

There were a few sections that I could not get to work on the website that I will be looking to improve in the future. I created PHP pages that would allow the user to upload videos. I also created a PHP guestbook that would allow users to comment on the videos similar to the same way you can do this YouTube. These pages worked when I tested them on the university server, the problems came about when I tried to add them to my hosting package. The issue was I was not able to connect Dreamweaver to my hosting database after a lot of frustration and help from the technicians the issue could not be resolved so I had to leave the pages out.

Artefact 5 and 6 Devlopment and Feedback

2010-05-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

Firstly I would like to say I am very excited and pleased by project has lead me to create my very own streaming website. I aim to combine the effective features from all the streaming websites I have looked at from the start of this process. The final two artefacts combined the knowledge I have gained from this process to create my very own streaming website. The first stage of creating my own streaming website was to create a template, looking though templates of some of the most successful streaming websites in the internet in iplayer, 4od and YouTube the first decision has been made I am going to have a plan background with no pattern to keep the focus on the videos. If it worked for YouTube it will work for me.

All three of the services reviewed in artefact 4 had simple navigation at the top of the page. This is a common feature of most websites, using simple navigation will ensure users don’t get lost or confused. Below are print screens for the iplayer, 4od and ITV player.

Below is a print screen of the navigation that I created for my website, as you can see it is simple and delicate similar to the on demand services reviewed in artefact 4.

As soon as you enter the BBC iplayer you instantly know where you are and what service the website offers which will inform users they are in the right place and they will stay with your website. As shown in the print screen below.

I want my users to have that instant sense of recognising they have navigated to the right place so I added a descriptive sentence shown in the below print screen.

At this stage of the development I had already decided on the name fresh entertainment for my website. The website would be devoted to finding the best new music from hip hop, indie and rock.

For artefact four I set two tasks for users to carry out on the iplayer, 40d and ITV player these task were designed to test the on demand services layout to find the most effective and least effective features. When testing the layout of the BBC iplayer users found splitting the programmes into different categories using big bold sections was effective, this was the biggest downfall of 4od in the second task so I wanted to avoid my website making the same mistake.

In the above print screen is how I decided to split the various genres and live sections. I gave each section a clear colour to separate it from the next which I think works effectively.

The final stage to completing my template was to add a java script slide show that would show users previous day’s uploaded videos. This was one of the best features discovered though artefact four and it came from 4od as shown below.

This java script slide was opens source material. I changed the images to suit my designed and also changed the buttons. When the user hovers over the button it changes colour so the users known they are selecting the button. The image was found from deviant art and I edited the images in Photoshop to include the date. If you select an image uploaded videos form that day appear in alphabetical order.

At this stage the template had almost taken shape however as you can see from the print screen below the page was looking plan and needed some extra colour.

2010-03-18T09:29:00.001-07:00

2010-03-18T09:05:00.001-07:00

2010-03-18T09:03:00.001-07:00

2010-03-18T08:56:00.001-07:00

Web Design and Content Planning, MA

2010-03-02T00:08:00.000-08:00

This programme takes graduates from many disciplines and provides them with the skills to plan, design, build and promote effective websites. It is aimed both at people who manage corporate websites and at those who wish to start their own web business. The design of excellent websites presents a notable intellectual challenge and during the programme, students will develop a modern, professional and real-world approach. Our objective is to provide a balanced education in the three aspects of web design and content management: technical, functional and aesthetic. The technical aspects of the teaching provide an understanding of the tools, technologies and principles utilised for the design and development of contemporary websites. This includes the creation of semantically correct markup, the separation of presentation from content (XHTML & CSS) and the use of web standards (W3C).
The functional aspects focus on the creation of websites with good information architecture that are accessible, useable and findable as a result of effective Search Engine Marketing (SEM/SEO). Students learn how people use the web, how they navigate web content and how they search for information.
The aesthetic aspects of web design are considered with regard to graphic/artistic/typographic and business objectives, including corporate identity and branding.
Typically, our students fall into 3 groups: (1) those with web-related skills (often self-taught) who need a structured and balanced approach to further study, (2) those who have become involved with the web and need new skills to develop their present careers, (3) those who have decided on a career change and see web design and content management as a new opportunity.

Content

Web Page Design
Website Planning
Content Strategy
Web Thesis Project

Options from a range including:

Website Design and Testing
Web Art
Law and Education
Training

For more information log onto http://www.websitearchitecture.co.uk

KEY FACTS

School

Architecture & Construction

Location

Avery Hill Campus

Attendance

1 year full-time
2 years part-time

Entry requirements

Applicants should have:
A good honours degree in any discipline or equivalent professional qualification. Where English is not the first language, a language qualification is required, such as IELTS scoring 6.0.
• Applicants are interviewed.

Assessment

Students are assessed through coursework, project work and online activities.

Career options

This programme offers enhanced skills for use within the applicant's current career or a new career in web design.

Job 4

2010-03-01T10:35:00.001-08:00

job 3

2010-03-01T09:32:00.000-08:00

job 2

2010-03-01T09:29:00.001-08:00

Job 1

2010-03-01T08:55:00.001-08:00

artefact 4

2010-02-19T07:48:00.000-08:00

I have looked into how user’s decisions are effected by video quality and video branding when streaming online. Moving on I will test how user’s decisions are effected by layout. The artefact will highlight the effectiveness of the layout of the BBC iplayer, 4od and the ITV player.

When writing my research document I discovered the ITV player almost tripled revenue for ITV last year. The BBC iplayer popularity is massive in a four month period in 2008 page views totalled 75 million and since its launch in 2006 4od has received a staggering 100 million hits. These impressive figures lead me to choice these services for this artefact.

To test this I will use a screen recorder and set users two task to be carried out on each of the on demand services. The tasks were designed to find out what were the good and bad qualities of each services layout.

The first task was to navigate to the programme that was on at 8pm on Friday 23 of April. The second task was to navigate to the most recent food related programme available.

The age range of users that participated was between 15 and 47 years old. I wanted the results to represent a wide age range of they were a good representation of the general public. In total 12 people participated in each task.

The results for the first task were for:

4OD, the total time was 3.12 minutes and the average time was 0.26 minutes.

The browse by date scroll bar available on the home page made it very simple for users to scroll though previous date’s programmes and the times the programme was aired were clearly labelled. Users who used the programmes link which was also available on the homepage found the layout similar to a TV guide which users were familiar with so finding programmes was completed with ease.

ITV Player, the total time was 8.51 minutes and the average time was 1.10 minutes.

Users found the ITV player the most difficult because they were least familiar with the service. Images on the homepage were distracting. Only the previous day’s programmes were available on the what’s on link making it ineffective for this task. Users felt the addition of the date with the day would have made the calendar of more user friendly. Once users had passed this obstacle they commented that the times of the programme could have been made clearer. Links in the footer navigated users out of the ITV player and into the main site which was confusing. If using the TV guide it takes users to the latest programmes page regardless of what programme is selected.

BBC iplayer, the total time was 5.19 minutes and the average time was 0.43 minutes.

Users found the TV column to be very users friendly, if you clicked the BBC one link you were taken to the last seven days worth of programmes from the channel, users were taken to the same place as the previous page to limit the amount of scrolling. Users felt the more link at the bottom of the TV section that takes you to the channel listing could be bigger to make it eye catching.

For each of the services used users felt an effect feature would be to type the date into the search box to view all day’s programmes from the date which was not available on any service.

The results for the second task were for:

4OD, the total time was 9.12 minutes and the average time was 1.20 minutes.

The explore links found at the top of the page navigated users away from 4od to the main channel 4 website which was confusing. There is an option to view programmes by category but no way of sorting these programmes by most recent. Some users found the category section cluttered and hard to read. Users also commented that a category button in the main navigation would have been a user friendly feature. Users didn’t like the fact they had to work out which was the last food programme available themselves using the TV guide and this wasn’t done for you like it was in the other services.

ITV Player, the total time was 5.16minutes and the average time was 1.10 minutes.

The what’s on TV bar was effective to scan for the last food programme because you could search the entire previous days programmes unlike the BBC iplayer that starts at 7pm. The find programmes link had a simple, effective order of the most recent programmes for each channel. Poor features included programmes not order by category and the search box didn’t find programmes by typing in the category you were searching for.

BBC iplayer, the total time was 4.11 minutes and the average time was 0.34 minutes.

Users found the category link for life style and culture eye catching. The link to food related programmes was emphasised by the image of Sophie Dahl holding food which aided users.

For this task the search box was very effective. If users typed food they were navigated to a page listing all the food related programmes. They were ordered alphabetically or by most recent which made accessing the programme straight forward.

I happy with how there has been a natural progression though each of the artefacts. I am now going to combine the information from artefacts 2, 3 and 4 to create my own streaming website this will be the basis for artefacts 5 and 6.

Clinet project where I am at so far......

2010-02-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

I haven't been keeping up to date with my blog recently so I though I would take time to document my progress so far.

The content has been agreed. The homepage will consist of a mission statement that has been wrote by the client, latest news and opening times. There will be an events page that now will be created using Google Calender, i would have liked to create my own but set backs with php have consumed a lot of my time, however this will be an excellent solution for the client. There will also be a maps page, an images page powered by the light-box that uses java script, which is an excellent feature that is easy to update. There will be a forum page with a login / logout and register page and a lets play darts page an event held in the pub by the client which he is keen to promote.

The client has sent me all the images I need so far, more images will be needed for the events that take place throughout the design process. The music for the website is secured I have the tracks from a local band called Black Dollar Bills that will be controlled using a flash player that I will create in coming weeks.

The domain www.thepintpot.com has been secured for one year from web hosting company Webhosting UK for an annual fee of £29.99. The package choosen is suitable because it provides the following:

Large-capacity for images, media and posts.
Large-capacity file transfer bandwidth
A php application server to run scripts
MySql Database for storing files

The client is very happy that this domain has been secured and is equally happy with paying the fee.

The biggest issues I have faced so far are all to do with php, so I have decided to tackle this problem first. A Login / Logout and Register page has been created. This will be on the forum page because this is the only page thatr users will need to be logged in to view.

Creating the forum is providing to be quiet tricky and very time consuming. I bought a book called php and mysql create modify and reuse by Timothy Boronczyk with Martin E. Psinas which I tried to follow. I spend the best part of a week tiring to create a login and register page that was far too complicated and when I moved on to creating the forum I found the book very hard to follow with was frustrating and disappointing. Pages wernt being named and the structure of what files should go in which folder was very vague.

I have now ditched that book and am now working from a book from the liabary called php and mysql web development the third edition which I am finding alot easier to follow and I am hoping by the end of the week that I will have my forum page completed, this would be a big weight off my shoulders and will allow me to focus all my attention on the css that I am keen to do to have something to show my client. If I can't get the forum to work the other option would be to use a php guestbook that would do a similar job, however I will be dispaointed if I have to resort to this option.

Although it was disappointing to have failed with a lot of code it still provided good experience working with code and I now find myself feeling more familiar with the code so all was not lost.

The next meeting with the client will be on the 28th of feb and I will do my best to deliver a forum and have all the css up and running.

Artefact 3

2010-02-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

The third artefact moves on to test weather users will sacrifice video quality over quality of content. This came about because I found this article which talks about YouTube making the decision to allow users to upload videos that are 1080p resolution.

http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/11/1080p-hd-comes-to-youtube.html

Just how much larger is 1080p look at the following screen shots from this video

Standard 360p

HD 480p

HD 720p

1080p HD

It was estimated that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000. The addition of 1080p is going to send these figures rising even more.

When writing my research document I came across an article that said that 30% of the internet is consumed with video and in two years this could rise to 80%. This got me thinking with the amount of video online is it all being watched?

I wanted to test whether users will sacrifice video quality over quality of content. The idea behind the webpage is to take a video of high quality for instance a Messi hatrick which has high quality content and make the video quality poor and see if users would still watch the video. I would then do the opposite take a video that is high quality but has boring content to see if users would watch the video. There would also be a video in the middle. I made the assumption that everyone is interested in seeing Messi score a hatrick which would alienate some of my users so I then created an extra stack of videos including different content to avoid this problem.

I created two stacks of videos and reversed the order so user’s decisions wouldn’t be influenced by the layout. For this artefact all the videos were available from the same brand (Vimeo) so this also wouldn’t affect user’s decisions.

Here is the questionaire that gathered feedback, a link was made from the webpage was avilable.
Which Video Did You Decide To Stream?

• If you streamed the low quality Messi video go to question 2

• If you streamed the low quality Lady Ga Ga video go to question 3

• If you streamed the medium quality CCTV video go to question 4

• If you streamed the medium quality CCTV video go to question 5

• If you streamed the high quality Field video go to question 6

• If you streamed the high quality Field video go to question 7

Why Did You Decide To Stream The Low Quality Messi Video?

• Quality of content

• Interested in content

Why Did You Decide To Stream The Low Quality Lady Ga Ga Video?

• Quality of content

• Interested in content

Why Did You Decide To Stream The Medium Quality CCTV Video?

• The quality was bearable

• The content was bearable

Why Did You Decide To Stream The Medium Quality Sunset Video?

• The quality was bearable

• The content was bearable

Why Did You Decide To Stream The High Quality Field Video?

• The quality of the video was excellent

Why Did You Decide To Stream The High Quality Drilling Video?

• The quality of the video was excellent

Each question had the option to fill in an other box.

This graph shows the results from the artefact. 55% of users opted for the low quality videos. 29% of users watched the medium quality videos and finally only 14% of users watched the high quality videos.

The reasons 55% of users streamed the low quality video was, they were interested in the video content and because of this reasons they decided that it was worth streaming a video of low quality to be entertained. Users added there was music in the Messi video and the sound quality was not affected.
The reasons 29% of users streaming the medium quality video was, they found the video intriguing and felt it was worth continuing to stream to see what might or might not happen.

Further comments said the video quality was bearable and users could see what was happening in the videos with ease. If the content of the videos was improved users would have no problem streaming videos of this quality.

The reasons only 14% of users streamed the high quality video was, they would not be prepared to watch videos with such low quality of content just because the video quality was high. Users saw point in streaming the video until the end and would just seek alternative viewing.

From this artefact I have learned that when people are streaming online video quality alone can not be the defining factor to get views and keep people entertained. If the video quality is poor people will get bored easily and look for alternative methods when online. You need to get a right balance between quality and content.

The feedback was gathered using survey monkey and a direct link was available from the webpage to the questionnaire. The webpage is also set up to Google analytics to collect data on how many page views the webpage receives and the average time spent on the website. In total 30 people took part in this artefact. The artefact was distributed though facebook, twitter, email and word of mouth.

The webpage can be viewed here at: http://www.thepintpot.com/2.html

Moving on I will now go on to test three of the most on demand services available in the UK talked about in my research document and test how effective they layout of the services are. This will be done by recording users with a screen recorder.

PRP Artefact 2

2010-01-19T04:58:00.000-08:00

Initially I created a webpage with two videos one was a YouTube video and the other was a video created in flash with no branding and test the two to see if users would opt for the video with branding or not. However I scrapped this idea basically because it was poor, the flash video started playing as soon as you entered the webpage and I couldn’t see where it would lead me in the future. I then went with the idea below which I feel is much stronger and has natural progression into the third artefact.

People are watching hundreds of millions of videos a day on YouTube and uploading hundreds of thousands of videos daily. In fact, every minute, 24 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube. For my second artefact I wanted to look into branding and test the brand power of the most successful streaming site of all time YouTube against some of its rival competitors. The competition I decided to use was:

Vimeo is a sophisticated, free video sharing website. Basic users are allowed to upload up to 500MB of video content per week, or pay for an account to upload more. Vimeo attracts a wide array of video artists, and is often used to upload short movies, skits, and portfolios. The website supports full HD streaming and widescreen format. As of March 2010, Vimeo has over 3 million members and an average of more than 16,000 new videos uploaded daily. Roughly 10% of uploads are in HD.

Yahoo! Video began as an internet-wide video search engine and added the ability to upload and share video clips in June 2006. A re-designed site was launched in February 2008 that changed the focus to Yahoo-hosted video only. The site now consolidates all premium video from across Yahoo! properties with user-uploaded video. Yahoo boasts original features that allow users to easily add videos, to face and blogger. Users can scroll though related videos whilst streaming. In the U.S. in December 2010 Yahoo sites hit 59.8 million viewers second to only YouTube.

UStream, A few other numbers shared by UStream: they now have 410,000 registers users, 100,000 of which are active broadcasters, with 10,000-15,000 live events being served up daily. Meanwhile, UStream has announced that they reached more than 10 million unique viewers in June, with the average video view length totalling 30 minutes.

The footage was captured and uploaded to the various websites myself and featured friend’s rats in a cage the video lasted 6.05 minutes. To get the videos on the internet I designed a webpage and used the hosting from my client project to put the website online. The webpage then was linked to Google analytics this gave me information on how many page views the webpage received and the average amount of time spent on the page which would give an indication as to how long the videos had been playing for.

RESULTS
Over a 10 day period the webpage received 30 page views this was achieved by distributing the webpage through, facebook, twitter, email and word of mouth. I created a questionnaire and made a direct link from the webpage available. I did so because I thought I would have a better chance of getting people to take part in the questionnaire if I only had to direct the users to one place. The questionnaire was created though survey monkey.

Questionnaire
1. Which video did you decide to stream?
• UStream
• YouTube
• Vimeo
• Yahoo!

Then users would go to a different question depending on the choice made in question 1.

They then had the following options as to why they streamed the video they did:
• The Chance to watch live streaming
• The first option available
• A recognised brand you have used before
• The option to scroll though other videos whilst streaming
• The option to watch further videos
• The chance to skip though the video before it had loaded
• The option to link the video to the social network sites
• The option to link the video to blogger

The results showed that YouTube were Clear favourites with 16 (53%) users streaming the video. Yahoo came second with 8 views, Vimeo had 4 Views and finally UStream with just 2 views. The feedback was as follows:

The users who streamed from YouTube did so because it was a trusted well known brand. 80% of those users also selected YouTube because they had the option to link to other related videos once the video had finished. A further 60% also streamed from YouTube because you have the option to skip though the video before it had buffered which was unique to YouTube.

All the users who opted for the Yahoo video did so because you have the option to scroll threw other related videos whilst viewing. Users were impressed with the ease you could add the video to facebook and blogger.

Only four people opted for Vimeo they did so because it is a recognised brand and because they associate the website with high quality videos.

UStream had the lowest response of all the videos, people who decided to view this video did so because it was the first option available which tells me layout is an important factor when streaming online. Users also viewed this video because they had the option to link to live streams once the video had finished.

This artefact has showed the power of YouTube. Users need to feel safe and comfortable with the brand they are using when online to make for an enjoyable stress free streaming experience which is what all companies should be tiring to achieve.

The webpage can be viewed here at
http://www.thepintpot.com/new1.html

The next stage for artefact three will be to test how the quality of videos and the quality of content effect user’s decisions when streaming online this will be done by creating a webpage with three different qualities of video and seeing which 1 they decide to stream.

U stream

2009-12-08T08:17:00.000-08:00

For one Of my artifacts I am planning on creating my own stream via the ustream service. Today I signed up to the website which is free. Once inside you can create your own profile, your profile contains infromtion about your recent activity, bullentins, shows and schedules, archived video, info and stats and comments. Yuo get the chance to customise the page where your video is shown.

I am hopeing my stream has a few views as I think the informtion gather will provide intresting primary reserach. I will use word of mouth and facebbok as a way of gaining intrest in my streams.At this stage I am still unsure on what I will actually stream at the minute.

http://www.ustream.tv/sdyson

PRP Essay Plan

2009-12-04T04:37:00.000-08:00

I created an plan for my research document for my tutor to check, I decided to do this because I wanted to be clear about what goes in each section and make sure no mistakes occur in the future. All words counts are estimations.

Introduction (3oo words) - talk about what is in the research document

Research Question (250 words) - objectives, discuss the popularity of the BBC iplayer, 4od and there merge with YouTube and four other on demand services. What are the emerging companies? How legal/popular are website such as Justin.tv, discuss the ongoing battle with the Primer League on the war over piracy. How the rising popularity of online streaming is effecting the way businesses advertise. How will the internet adapt in the future to deal with traffic growth.

Survey of Literature & Works (750 words) - find six examples of popular on demand services along with reviews.

Theoretical Approach for Selecting Data (250 words) - the type of research that will be carried out. Secondary, reviewing a collection of data or findings that have previously been published. Descriptive, describing the phenomena as they exist, obtain information on the issue and summarise information. Predictive, talk about future trends in streaming, this ties in with looking at how the internet will adapt to deal with traffic growth. Quantitative, measuring sets of variables and thier relationship to one another (viewing figures, advertising figures, internet usage). Qualitative, look into people's behavior to streaming football matches and other sporting events for free. Basic research, where did the idea of streaming come from. Reflection analysing the existing technique.

Description of Proposed Practice (5oo words) - talk about two of my artifacts that i will start work on in January, one will be creating my own stream to see how popular this phenomena is first hand. At this point I am still unsure on the 2nd, hopefully writing the document will give a clearer outlook on this area.

Discussion (1000 words) - compare services, try and come to a conculstion over which method is better, tradtional methods of viewing or online viewing. I will go into more detail into the objectives of the research question.

Conclusion (300 words) - sum up the discussion.

I have drawn up a timetable that will have the research document completed by 10.12/2009 are final tutorial before the hand in. This will give my tutor the opportunity to look thought the finished document and I will have time to make changes if necessary.

PRP Reseach Evelauation

2009-12-04T03:59:00.000-08:00

The research process is well underway and I have found some good results and evidence for the relevance of my document. The only down side is their isnt many book on online streaming in the Library I found one book but It was more to do with setting up your own stream which isnt relvant to this.

However I did find a very good book by Jonathan Zittrain on the future of the internet.

" A superb and alarming discussion from one of the most astute and forward-looking analysts on the internet. Zittrain explains how the glorious promise of the internet might not be realised."

Cass Sunstien

This book will help me justify my argument about how the internet needs to improve to deal with traffic growth, to allow people reliability and better quality streams.

Along with the hand out we were given in are tutorial about different research methods I looked at a book called A Designers Research Manual, Succeed In Design By Knowing your Clients and What They Really Need by Jenn & Kev Visocky O'Grady, this was a great help in defining the research methods I will use, this book will also help me in the future with my live client project.

So the vast majority of my research will come from web based papers, I am aware that I should only use reliable up to date resources from the likes of the BBC, Government Statistics, The Guardian and Ofcom.

The findings were, the iplayer is a huge success in April 2008 alone the site revived 21 million hits and requests have totaled 75 million on one Sunday in May the site received 900,000 hits. The BBC are planning a five year £131m budget for on demand services and they are looking to set up an international iplayer that will charge users per show.

4od service has received 100 million views since its launch in 2006. The popularity of the service is growing rapidly the number of people using Pcs to acess 4od is up 110%. 4od and YouTube have merged and full length shows will be available on YouTube. The deal will see around 50 hours of footage made available in a three year deal, this is all part of YouTube moving away from shorter clips and a attempt by Google to make YouTube more profitable.

Microsoft want to get in on the action and they are set to quickly launch a pilot version of its MSN video player, the pilot will make shows such as Shameless and The Young Ones available, when the site is up and running it aims to rival the BBC iplayer.

Hulu is going fro a different approach, they are planning to launch UK version of its successful US platform with such as Family Guy and The Tonight Show made available. This is a tough market to break into smaller companies are being squeezed out all the time this year already, Joost Uk and the internet TV company launched by Skype have gone into liquidation.

I also want to talk about the illegal side that is costing the Primer League vast sums of money. Sites like Justin.tv have streams for top flight matches, most weekends than not all fixtures will be available live and in a cash strapped environment fans are turning to these resources to see their favorite team play and with quality of streams improving popularity is on the rise. The task that faces the Primer League to irradiate this is vast. Fresh streams appear every few minutes policing 90,000 channels is almost impossible and over the course of a 90 minute football match the damage is usually done before the stream is flagged up.

With this huge interest in streaming online its not surprising that advertising on the internet has increased. The UK is the first country in the world to spend the majority of their advertising online. Accounting for 23.5% of all advertising, clocking up a figure of £1.75bn.

PRP question finalised and ideas in motion.

2009-12-03T07:31:00.001-08:00

My original question was, What effect has the Internet had on the music industry? I wanted to research this subject because I have a big interest in music as I am sure most students do. However After a talk this my tutor it was very clear that this was to vast. I tried to narrow down the question down but was really struggling, I decided that I should leave the music aspect alone and home in on something that relates more to my degree.

So I then googled, top ten future trends in web and came up with some interesting results. I found an article on online video and internet TV, even though this trend had already exploded on the web I soon learned their was much more to come.

I then came up with the question How will developments in streaming TV effect users. I took this new idea to my tutor and he suggested that I turn the question around to focus more on the internet based side. This brought me to my final question, How will developments in Streaming TV effect traditional patterns of viewing? Ideas then started to flow about what areas I would cover.

I will look into the effects programs such as the BBC iplayer and 4od are effecting traditional methods of viewing and if this is having an impact on the way companies advertise in the 21st century.

I am also interested in the effect that services such as justin.tv are having, they offer services where people can watch TV from all around the world whilst chatting to friends in real TV for free, these methods are very popular with live supporting events espaically football. I want to find out how legal this is and how it all works.

Traffic growth and reliability are major issues, live streams are regularly lost leaving users frustrated and if users do manage to get a successful stream, usually the quality is compromised, how will the internet adapt in the future to deal with this.

I think a good way to test the popularity of watching things online would able to set up my own stream via websites such as u stream and record the popularity.

The next stage is to research, research, research, its important to get varied references form the web and books to get a balanced opinion.

Design development

2009-11-09T10:51:00.000-08:00

I have used a background with a pattern, though my research I found this was a common used throughout web design. I found this design on the net and I think it gives the page a stylish retro feel. I have used a skull for the logo because it represents death, which is what file sharing is doing to people's jobs / careers in the creative industry. I like the idea of using a skull because its a bit edgy, but the colors do not work to well with the background and the text is not clear. This design has to much white space making it look boring and needs to be improved.

Ive added to side bars, this is an effective way of breaking down heavy text and I think the colors work well with the background. The logo is missing from the design at the minute because I am struggling with the colors and positioning. If I make the logo to small it loses its detail and the text is impossible to read. The addition of the cassette and CD have obvious links to the music industry which is what this site will focus on. I was struggling to find a good image of a CD so I tried to improve it using photo shop as you can see my efforts were unsuccessful, back to the drawing.

The logo has returned this time and Ive added effects in Photoshop and removed the text, the colors are now more in in fitting with the rest of the page and I'm a lot happier with the design. I like the way the logo sits in between the sidebars. The CD has been removed again I feel the page needs something on the other side of the main body to balance the page.

Moving on from the initial CD idea Ive added a vinyl record, I think this works well with the cassette and background adding to the retro feel. I now need to work on the navigation bar and choose a font style.

Ive now added a slogan keep it alive - keep it legal, its clear and to the point. The tatto syle font works well with the skull, the only problem at the minute is how legable the font is. The navigation will appear above, this will be created using css. The page is starting to come together, the white space has been limited.

I decided that the navigation was to plan so I followed a tutorial online and created a new navigation bar using CSS. I was having a problem fitting the bar in the middle section, I overcome this by using a div.Im pleased witht the outcome, the buttons change color when scrolled over and the colors fit well with the page. the only issue is its to small so i will have to make some alterations. The CSS had changed the font on the page and I unsure why this has happen but the issue needs to be adressed.

Editing the CSS has make the navigation easier to read and I have taken out the lines to give a crisp appearance. The attached CSS page no longer controls the style of the other text which is a relief. The final stage to complete the template is deciding on a font.

Mock Client

2009-10-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

The first task of the final year is to create a public information campaign about the legalities of file sharing. My campaign will focus on music file-sharing as it’s more widespread due to its lighter storage and lower bandwidth requirements.

I have been working on gathering information to form my proposal.
Gathering this information has formed the initial structure of my micro site, below is a break down:

1. Homepage, covering what is file-sharing.

2. Is it legal, how to tell if something is copywrited, are p2p programmes legal and consequences.

3. How wide spread is file sharing?

4. What effects does file sharing have on the music industry?

5. What musician’s stance is?

I also wanted to include legal alternatives to download music and a section on bit torrent as it is one of the few that has managed to attract millions of users.

The micro site has to be straight to the point and not make people feel like a thief or a bad person for engaging in this activity. I need to research further to determine my target audience, initial thoughts are teenagers.

The next stage is to gather further information, at this stage I would rather have more information that can be edited down later than not enough. I will then look at similar campaigns if there is any to get inspired. Finally I will draft out design ideas that will be a rough guide throughout. The above will form my proposal.

mockclient

PHP Guestbook at last!

2009-03-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

Finally I have go my guestbook working, but for some unknown reason, the text “testing this amazing guest book” keeps appearing and I can’t find this in the code or the database. I also need to fix the time and the date of the posts. However this is a big mile stone for me because I now have information being entered into the database the user and not just dummy data at last. I created this page using the tutorial on youtube via the ning, I found the instructions to be very clear and the code easy to read unlike some videos around.Once the problem is fixed, I then need to add the guest book as a php island into my css template. I am also going to edit the style of the guestbook.

Flash Game

2009-03-03T03:03:00.001-08:00

I have decided to change my idea for my game because I feel time is an issue, I seem to be spending all my time on PHP.

I am now going to create a game similar to space invaders, users will have to break down a layer of blocks, once they have another ball will appear. The high score and current score will be logged, there will also be a timmer.

Flash Game

2009-02-24T02:49:00.000-08:00

I have decided to create a pinball game for the assingment. I can use alot of the skills learnt when creating the ping pong game.

The game will log the users top score, this will make the users want to play the game more than once. The use of sound will give the game a professional feel. I am exicted about this task and what can be achived.

Below is a link to an example I found.

http://starskyandhutchmovie.warnerbros.com/pinball/pinball.swf

Website

2008-11-26T08:23:00.001-08:00

The theme for my website is graffiti, specifically in the Nottingham area. The site will consist the following pages, enter, gallery, info, video and forum. Graffiti is closely linked with UK hip hop I will use tracks on my site to increase interactivity.

I have been round all the sites I no of gathering my images and looking on the internet and similar sites and sites for thefwa.com to get inspired. Overall I have arround 40 images, below are a few examples

Some of the images didn't come out as well as I hoped, so I need to go out and take some more images and film some videos. If anyone knows anywhere there is graffiti in Nottingham please let me no.

Interaction Design Three

2008-11-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

We were given the task for creating a web site for a new band the grocery shop boys, a band that perform pet shop boy covers and songs of their own. The site had to contain video, sound and a simple animation.

I was excited by this project as it was an opportunity to build on my flash skills. I was not too bothered with the aesthetic of the site, I just wanted it to work. The site consisted of a video, sound, contact and who are we pages.

For the animation I used a simple masking affect to revile the bands logo. The sound page was creating using a very helpful tutorial on NOW, the page is very simple but it works so I was happy, if the user rolls over the play button the song starts and plays in full. For my website I want a play, stop button, scroll bar and volume control. Tutorials on the adobe site helped me with the video section which didn’t pose too many problems, in face I was surprised how easy it was for once. The biggest problem I faced was the navigation, however a surgery session with David helped we overcome this.

Overall the task was a success I learnt new skills that I can use on other projects, if I had more time I would have improved the animation and focused more on how the site looked.

Interaction design Exercise Two

2008-11-26T07:58:00.000-08:00

We have been given the task of creating a public information campaign promoting fire work safety containing , animation and interaction. My design is aimed at families, so anything between young children to parents. The idea is that the parents could show their children and everyone will learn as a result. I think the message should be, don’t fool with fireworks and enjoy them but responsibly to prevent injury.

Before the desgin process began I did my research looking for hard hitting facts that will make people realise the potential dangers of fireworks from the given websites in the brief. I then began drafting out my intial ideas on paper. I then found the images i was going to use and edited them in photoshop, i feel this was a sucess the images stand out and look unique.

Starting the desgin process in flash caused many diffculties due to my basic skills, I looked at some turoials online and a surgery with David was very helpful. I wanted to keep my desgin minimal and tidy so the informtion was easy to absorb, I think this was achived. The desgin used some simple action script, motion tweening and rollover buttons. I split the areas i wanted to cover into jsut four sections, planning a show, sparklers, child saftey and lighting. All the user had to do is scrol over a number and a peice of informtion would appear.

The desgin sucecced in forceing interaction with the user, as the advert wont proceed to the next stage with out being clicked. The use of sound and video would have definatly inporved the desgin, the annimation was very basic and could have been improved also.

Overall, i enjoyed this task, I enjoy the feeling of teaching myself something and having it work. I feel I have learnt aducate skills that I can build on for the next exercise and im excited to see what I will create.

Interaction Design Exercise One

2008-11-18T15:27:00.000-08:00

Question 1
Dan Saffer ‘Interaction Design Is An applied Art’
I found this article very useful, inspirational. and has helped me think more clearly about how to design. Learning the value of teaching yourself is indispensable. Books did exist before the internet use them. Design is a craft that can take you down many paths. What you create needs to fill a purpose to be a success and if it’s pleasing on the eye that’s perfect. Document the stages of your design from an early stage. Find out what motivates you this will make your work personal. Create variations and get feedback at all available opportunities, it will improve your design.

Joel Schafer: 'I'm into minimalistic clean design'
This article is well worth a read. Getting advice off someone in the industry is indispensible, I learnt what is involved in creating successful interface Photoshop skills are essential and using your own pictures is best. He provides excellent information on where to get inspired.

Question 2

Sony
A magnificent example of brilliant subtle web design, very inspiring. The interface is spacious, elegant and stylish. I love the quality of the images and the slider is an excellent way to display the various products. The colour scheme is very easy on the eye.
As a user I found the website very easy to use, the products are displayed on one page and easy to find. The content covers all aspects of the Sony brand, an online shop and customer support, all very relevant.

Apple
The content is organised delightfully again with quality images of products throughout represents the company very well. A user friendly navigation system and effective sub headings make the website easy to use.
The website is split very well with sharp lines between the different sections to separate different aspects of the Apple brand exceptionally. Another effective use of a slider makes products easy to view, a consistent template makes the website very familiar. The colour scheme is very neutral and clean which I like, this seems to be an occurring trend.

IDEO
The homepage is very busy, a little cluttered. the colour scheme is easy on the eye but nothing stands out. There navigation isn’t very easy, there are links all over the page and I found myself just getting lost, confused and overwhelmed. There is a vast amount of information available which I fell could be displayed better. Overall I fell the website isn’t very clear and lacks innovation and organisation.

NOW
I think now shows the simplest designs can be the hardest. A similar style to the pervious but I think it doesn’t work as effectively. It looks boring sparse and uninspiring nothing stands out and jumps at you, the navigation bar is very simple but could be more eye catching.
As a user I haven’t found any problems finding information, the content is exceptional and indispensible to any student, everything you need to now about your course can be accessed. I found the software tutorials very useful.

Question 3

Eva Padberg
This website is exceptional in every sense, it absolutely blew me away, showing me what is possible. It combines sharp sexy pictures with ingenious design. The homepage uses style and glamour. It’s clear and straight to the point which I like. The navigation bar on the left makes the images easy to flick threw. I like the face that everything is displayed without having to scroll up or down.
The drop down music section adds to the websites interactivity exceptionally, the music complements the website very well and adds to the sexy feel. My favourite thing about this website is the video section, its simple to use and fills a purpose. The content is well organised and relevant, this is site represents Eva very well.

Hello sour Sally
Hello sour Sally Is an exceptional example of how to promote healthy eating, it’s clear concise and straight to the point, the information is very limited but I like that because what you see you remember, everything stands out.The images are exceptional and unique. I like the way it forces interaction and can see the appeal this would have to children. With the rise of childhood obesity, this site is defiantly serves a purpose, I believe it could have an educational purpose to teaching children different the types of fruit.

thefwa.com certainty displays the power of flash and has definitely inspired me

Interaction design Exercise 2 - Banksy

2008-11-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

I will be focusing on Bristol graffiti artist Banksy, the self dubbed art terrorist. There is substantial public uncertainty about his identity, because some of his art could be misconstrued as vandalism.

The street art he does combines standard graffiti writing with a unique stencilling method, this is used because it takes substantially less time to do a piece. Banksy's stencils feature striking and humorous images occasionally combined with slogans. The message is usually anti-war, anti-capitalist or anti-establishment. Subjects include animals such as monkeys and rats, policemen, soldiers, children, and the elderly. The weekend long "Walls On Fire" graffiti jam in Bristol drew artists from all over the UK and Europe, and his organisation of the event established his name within the European graffiti scene.

Today his work is displayed all around the world, but was born out of the Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. The most commercial art associated with Banksy is the cover of Blur’s album “Think Tank” in 2003. On 27 April 2007, a new record high for the sale of Banksy's work was set with the auction of the work 'Space Girl & Bird' fetching £288,000, around 20 times the estimate.

In August/September 2006, Banksy replaced up to 500 copies of Paris Hilton's debut CD, in 48 different stores with his own cover art and remixes by Danger Mouse. Music tracks were given titles such as "Why am I Famous?" and "What Have I Done?". Some went on to fetch as much as £750 on eBay. The cover art depicted Paris Hilton digitally altered to appear topless. Other pictures feature her with a dog's head replacing her own, and one of her stepping out of a luxury car, edited to include a group of homeless people, which included the caption "90% of success is just showing up".

At London Zoo, he climbed into the penguin enclosure and painted "We're bored of fish" in seven foot high letters. I admire him because he’s original, pushes boundaries, he’s rebel, highly controversial and let’s not forget very talented.

Here's some of my favorite work.

Explore more at www.banksy.com

Assignment 1 - Web Banner

2007-11-02T00:32:00.000-07:00

The first major peice of courcework we have been given this year is to create two web banners one large and one small. One has to be based on a country and the other on a seasonal product.

We had a semair with Roma on how to manage are time which I found useful. The first thing I need to do is research whats already out there to get inspired.

Flash Game - Shoot em Up

2007-11-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

As Part Of Interaction desgin we have been given the task of creating an interactive game using flash action script 3.0. containing annimationa and sound.

I have decided to create a simple shoot em up stlye game similar to the classic space invaders because its imple not to taxing for the users just a simple game to pass the time, there will be a high score facilty for the users.

when creating the game there are four key elements to think about:

Screen Desgin
How the game will play from the users point of view
What the computer needs to do?
What blocks of code I will need to write?

Hear are some screenshots I have taken,

I am looking forward to creating this game because it will help we devlop my skills on flash which will help me with my web banner desgins.

Year 2 Starts....

2007-10-16T02:42:00.000-07:00

A new year begins, the time to work starts so thought I would put up my first post of the year to kick it all off.

Ident Update

2007-03-20T11:09:00.001-07:00

Here is one of my flyers in the making, i created it using photoshop which i think i am falling in love with.

Help!

2007-03-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

I think the new Kings of Leon song is amazing but seem to be the only one, does any one else out there like it.

Identities Update

2007-03-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

Now the Easter break is upon us I though it would be a good time to document my progress so far. Well it hasn’t been the most productive term to say the least. After my design board presentation which didn’t go as well as planned for one reason or another I am more determined than ever to make this coursework a success.

So far I have create logos, for Trent Media, Fly FM, Platform magazine and Trent TV. I have applied these logos to poster and flyer designs and I am now looking to create a website over Easter using flash. This should go smoothly as I am familiar with the software. My aim over Easter is to return with the website complete.

Same But Diffrent

2007-03-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

The aim Of this task is to find magic in the mundane and to rediscover the innocence of the eye.

Task:
get into groups of four - find mundane object - find lots of examples of examples - look carefully at the differences between objects which are apparently the same - photograph- notes on environment found in.

We Have decided to use take away boxes( the small polystyrene boxes you get your doner meat and chips in of a night out), we have all taken pictures of them in there natural enviorment to present to are seminar group as raw data.

Same But Diffrent

2007-03-13T07:35:00.001-07:00

After presenting our ideas to our seminar group we discussed the possible next steps to take which are:

Recyclable?
Contents
Healthy eating and lack of it?
Name of box
Life story (narrative)

We will now go on to try and build more information around the images we have taken. Then we will go on to work out some way of categorising the boxes we have found.

Same But Diffrent

2007-03-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

We have decided to catogrise the boxes by location, the boxes can usually be found around student accomdation, (is this because of lack of bins). We are going to desgin a map consisting of the main areas they can be found, there will be hotspots to show where the boxes are droped and when clicked will bring up an image. We thoughout it would be pretty cool to dispaly them as crime sceens, with police line and clalk outlines.

Hear is an example of one of the boxes in its natural habitat:

Hadouken

2007-02-20T06:09:00.000-08:00

Check this out its the new video from Hadouken just thought it was cool so ive put it up, love the animation, good song to.

Ident

2007-02-09T03:55:00.000-08:00

For this identity project I will have to research, design and produce corporate identity for one of three options:

Nottingham Trent University Multimedia BA/BSc Course
Trent Media
E Stings E4

I decided to choose Trent Media which consists of, Trent TV, Fly FM and Platform magazine. This appealed to me because it is hear at the uni and will give me a chance to get involved in Trent media which I am very interested in. I think this is the option that needs to be improved the most out of the three, the website in particular.

George Africanus

2007-01-30T13:07:00.000-08:00

The project was set at St Mary’s church and went extremely well. There was a tour guide showing people around the church and at each section there was a speaker building on the George Africanus story. As a way to make money we printed a picture of George and cut into pieces, each speaker had a section and would auction it off. Throughout the presentation we would not mention who it was based on until the end this made the pieces more significant. The presentation climaxed at a plaque dedicated to George near his grave. The whole thing was filmed.

Hear Is the Picture Of George We Used

George Africanus the Icon!

2007-01-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the group meet to discuss there findings on George Africanus, it turns out he is somewhat of an icon and an integral part of Nottingham’s history. We visited St Marry’s church where he is buried, ideally that is where we would like the presentation to take place but we are unsure how feasible this is at the moment.

George Africanus?

2007-01-08T07:37:00.000-08:00

We’ve just been given are latest task, to create a presentation factually based on the life of the life George Africanus, as I have no idea who he is I will need to do some research. We have 15- 20 minutes for the presentation which has to make money, at this moment in time I’m uncertain how to so, the deadline for this is three weeks today. Tonight I will research his life and tomorrow we will meet as a group to discuss are findings.

First Year Multimedia Narrative Module Report

2006-12-05T04:12:00.000-08:00

In this report I am going to reflect on my learning and development throughout this module. I will look back on my reflections form my blog and the visual learning port forum to help me.

For this module we were put into groups and given the task of creating a two minute narrative, I was excited as it gives you a chance to work in a group as it is a gives you the chance to meet your people on your course. Communication would play a big part in this module as we didn’t no each other and all lived in separate accommodation, so we exchanged phone numbers to communicate, this ensured all members of the group would be on time and had equipment used to make the film ETC.

The module was split into four stages three of which had to be completed as part of a group. Firstly we had to come up with a brief outline of are film, we come up with a basic storyline, genre and defined are audience. At first we had clashes on how to make the film some of the group wanted to use stills and the other half wanted to create a motion picture. We resolved are issues and decided to create a motion picture, we thought it would be more powerful and it would give us all a chance to develop are editing skills. Looking back I feel we were being very naïve and optimistic about what was feasible at this point.

The second stage involved creating a presentation about are narrative, I think in rehearsing the presentation the group gained a better understanding of the narrative. This helped us a whole develop and experiment with different ideas. Delivering the presentation personally built my confidence talking in front of people.

We decided all the filming would take place around mike’s house (a member of the group). The next day we hired some equipment and started filming. We found it was hard to keep the camera steady using a stabiliser so we hired tracks and a tracking dolly to get smoother shots, this helped use create the atmosphere we intended, in my opinion we created some of are best shots with this equipment. The biggest disappointment was the lighting kit I hired; we couldn’t get the right light it was always to bright which wasn’t what we were looking for. I think this may have been because we were working in small spaces a lot of the time, we found other options to manipulate the light such as, candles, lamps and even adjusting the curtains helped. We experimented with different apertures, camera positions and lighting which helped us achieve are goal. While we were making the film we tried to make sure that each shot had significance and a purpose in the film, as we only had two minutes.

At this point we were realising how important teamwork was to the progression of the film, time was lost waiting for people to turn up with props, this can really slow things down especially if you need to get the shoots in before it gets dark. Overall I feel the group’s time keeping for the filming was a good, I can only recall one occasion where I went round mike’s house as agreed and nobody was there.

When we began editing there were no free computes with premier, which was primarily are fault for not booking an editing sweet so we had to use a Mac computer which had software called Final Cut Pro which no of the group were familiar with. We were advised to look on the VLP or the internet for a tutorial but couldn’t find anything. We were really struggling to get to grips with this software lucky for us another student had used it before and showed us the basics. We could then start to edit down are footage we had around 15 minutes to condense into just two minutes, this was a tedious process getting rid of footage we didn’t need. Once we had are best shoots we then started to put them on the timeline. We found different effects we could use to change form frame to frame which looked really effective.

As a group we decided to edit the film and then add music afterwards when the edited film was completed but this didn’t prove to be as easy as once thought. The music we had on disc was from itunes so it was in the wrong format so we had to go back and download a file transfer programme which proved to be a success. All the way though we all convinced the best tract to use was Ian Brown, F.E.A.R. However once we put it to the film it just didn’t seem to compliment the atmosphere for the footage and was tedious. In the end we used a track by Massive Attack which I feel worked perfectly. The only major problem while editing was that the film was saved as a quick time file but needed it in avi format which was easily corrected in Final Cut Pro.

At the time I was annoyed I couldn’t use a programme I was more familiar with looking back now I am glad we used final cut pro because I have learned how to use a new piece of software. On completion as a group we then had to complete a pier assessment form.

Overall I think this experience has given me a better perspective of film making on a whole. I am now very much so interested in this area and will peruse it further in the future. Before I was clueless about how to use final cut pro whereas now I have moderate knowledge of the programme which I am keen to develop.

If I had more time I would have liked to make the opening and closing credits more professional using flash, we would have liked to have done this in the first place if we had more than two minutes. Also I would have liked to have showed scenes with the dead boy friend walking round the house like I ghost faded in the background, I think this would have been effective and made the film more powerful and professional on a whole. I also feel I have a lot better understand of all the equipment I have used throughout this module such as the dolly and tracks. We are all now talking about putting the film on youtube so in can be accessed by everyone, hopefully we will get some feedback which will make us better film makers. Overall I think the group worked really well most of the time there were some examples of miss communication but it was a rarity, maybe if we had a set schedule we could have been more efficient. Now I have a good understanding of the types of equipment available and what works best will make filming a quicker process.

Three Point Lighting

2006-11-30T04:24:00.000-08:00

I found this seminar very interesting (although I felt like death) as I didn’t no really anything about this process. I was glad I attended so I could actually be able to use the kit. After the Health and Safety was out the way he got hands on with the equipment, I was surprised at how hot the lights actually get and the damage they can do. We had the task of lighting a person on a chair using different filters to reduce the shadow, which was interesting. This will hopefully help us in filming are narrative.

Flash

2006-11-28T03:04:00.000-08:00

The tutorials were useful as they helped me familiarize myself with the software again after not using it for around a year or so. I am excited about using this software again I feel there is a lot more for me to learn, I am feeling confident about doing so.

Narrative Update

2006-11-25T02:37:00.000-08:00

We have been experimenting with a range of equipment to capture the best shots possible for the narrative. The biggest problem we have encountered is getting smooth shots while moving around. We hired a stabilizer but found it very difficulty to keep still, we have had joy with the dolly and tracks, capturing some good footage. The lighting kit was useful but takes a lot of time to set up.

Banksy

2006-11-19T04:29:00.000-08:00

Check this out its by an artsit called banksy and his awsome.

His artworks are often graffiti pieces of art which encompass topics from politics, culture, and ethics. You can find most of his work around London. He sparks a lot of controversy weather his work is art of vandalism.

For more go to www.banksy.co.uk you wont be disappointed

You Tube Response

2006-11-04T03:58:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzEdITdGht4

Radiohead – Just
An amazing video and an amazing song. I am a great admirer of radioheads work, it makes you think out side the box, and anything you can dream of can be created, they have been a great inspiration for me for many years now. This video just sums that all up perfectly it keeps you thinking all the way through about what’s happening even after seeing it several times which is pure brilliance. If you are not familar with radioheads work i urge you to cehck it out.

Narrative Presentation

2006-11-03T02:22:00.000-08:00

The group presentation went well, I feel we delivered the presentation clearly and concisely and showed the direction we want to take the film. There was crirism but It was all positive and will help us in the future. We need to improve on scheduling and I think it would be a good idea to draw up a timetable. I found it interesting watching other group’s presentations to see where they are taking there films. We are going to book equipment to experiment.

Interactive Narrative

2006-10-30T01:53:00.000-08:00

The group got together to decide how we are to present our narrative story to the group on Thursday. We decided to bring our research together and meet at the library tomorrow at 1.00 p.m. to collaborate our work and ideas for the presentation.

Ideas Composition Continued...

2006-10-24T17:06:00.000-07:00

Following my seminar today I have decided to base my presentation on market square as it is the focal point of the town centre which makes it quiet significant, it leads you off on different paths to anywhere really in Nottingham. The purpose of the presentation will be to show the users the sights of the city. Tomorrow I am going to take the necessary pictures to make this happen.

We also did some work on gava script I have touched on this before at A-level, it gave me a chance to brush up my skills and I am excited about learning more.

My First Short Film

2006-10-24T02:10:00.000-07:00

Today I made my first short film. We had a seminar on the process of multimedia. We learnt what it takes to manage a project and the three key areas of multimedia, schedule, budget and resources.

We had to shot a 45 second film (no longer) on one of the follow subjects:

1. lose something deliberately
2. Victory small importantly gained
3. Temporary manage to take the pain away
4. Find an ally.

We used the first option, the film had to include the following camera shots:2 close ups2 MCU1 wide shot1 POVWe made a 35 second narrative of a person dropping litter and a on looker made this person put the litter in the bin, I think that it worked really well because it was simple and straight forward. We filmed out side the Waverly building, we then returned to give to receive feedback which was positive.

Ideas Composition

2006-10-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

Today we have been given he task of creating an interactive presentation about are favourite place in Nottingham, I have only been hear a matter of weeks so I am unsure of my favourite place or if I even have one yet. My first thoughts were the rescue rooms or my halls of residence. The Rescue rooms is a club/venue that showcases the best new music around, I have seen a few bands there already and think it’s the best place on a Saturday night and you wont hear better music anywhere else in Nottingham but I am unsure on how I will do this, the main problem being getting in there to take pictures.

I properly spend most of my time at my halls so it makes sense base the presentation on that, but I think a lot of people will do the same thing and I want my presentation to be original, so I may give that idea I miss. At this time I am still unsure how I will go about task

Image meaning and Composition

2006-10-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

We have been asked to choose an example from either your own possessions or a photograph of an object that has value to you in terms of both fine and applied (design) and explain what it menas to you. I chose my picture frame filled with some of my gig tickets I have accuired over the past few years. I cherise this as it reminds me of all the good times I have had with my family and friends, each ticket has a diffrent story behind it. I am very prowd of this because it has a personailty about it and is unique to me, I think you can find alot about people from the type of music they listen to. The functionality could be improved as it quiet old the the string has snapped so it just leans up the wall.

Also we have been asked to look at another students image and comment on it, i have choosen Neil Jones’s image of his mobile phone. Everyone can realte to the importance of a mobile phone, most people would be lost without one. You can learn alot about some one from there phone, looking at the music and pictures they have on there which makes the item intresting. This phone defentialty has astectic beauty, it is the latest handset, a staus simple you might say, as people all want to look the best.

Short Film Analysis

2006-10-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

In order to gain a wider understanding of film editing I researched a number of different short films from www.pawky.com which is an award winning short film and animation website, after watching a fair few videos the three I am going to analyse are…

Smash the Kitty – the opening scene is very intriguing, a women is following people around taking pictures arguing over anything really from the last newspaper to getting in a taxi, and it makes you wonder what she’s doing and holds your attention, you later find she’s a journalist. The film is about how selfish people can be and how some people will do any thing to get what they want in this case it’s an exclusive story for a newspaper. The use of sound throughout was really effective as it complimented the mod of the shot exceptionally. The camera work is very consistent and professional throughout with a good use of close ups.

Dealing With Women – this is short animation details the plight of a man though his childhood to adulthood. The story is about his desire for women and what people will do to impress them. Flash backs are used effectively as you are educated about his history with women. The moral of the story is he will never stop sacrificing every important element of his life or his morals for women. The film was narrated by a droning male voice; I found this film to be funny yet so true.

Coffee – a man is forced to deal with his insecurities when he sees God's face in his cup of coffee, I found animation to be every strange but that’s why I liked it, an excellent use of music throughout added to the creepy feel of the character.

Old Gregg

2006-10-14T06:01:00.000-07:00

I dont think this blog could ever be complete if it didnt contain the work of Old gregg, in my opnion possibly one of the greatest characters ever created.

I Have A Blog

2006-10-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to my first blog entry. This is my first experience of using a blog.

Where to start? I’m 19 years old and hail from Birmingham, I studied ICT, business studies and leisure and recreation at A- level. I took a gap year to save some money (not as much as I planned) I just wanted to do anything so I actually had some money for a change. I ended up working in a warehouse order picking and found out how hard work actually is (didn’t appreciate starting work at 7am every morning). After a year I had more than enough and couldn’t wait to start uni.

Moving to a new city exploring different places excites me. The prospect of being able to be creative excites me a lot especially after the mind numbingly boring work I spent last year doing.

I love music and it creates many arguments between me & my mates over which bands are decent, I mean how can any one like the fratellis there awful. I’m an Aston Villa fan for my sins, I say that were doing well this season so far thanks to Martin O’Neil (look out for agbonlahor his awsome).

That was my first blog entry; the blog will be updated regularly with my reflections and thoughts of the present time.