And at last but not least...

Don't forget to spice up your life! :)

Thank You For Reading!

-Lotti

Critical Evaluation

A few months ago, we have started working on a group project in order to demonstrate that we are able to create either an animation, interactive story or a video narrative using our own skills combined with relevant theoretical and practical work. We have created a screen-based interactive story which encompasses a variety of mixed media, different techniques and an instructive story-line. The project is not aimed at a particular age group, because it is for anyone who feels or has felt that they were stuck in a routine and their lives were dull or boring and wished that they could take a look at their lives in a different perspective. 

Therefore, we have created a character and we let it on a journey in order to demonstrate how many people currently feel frustrated, stressed, monotone in life and by using him, we tried to show that there are opportunities in life that can make our lives more colourful, happier and make us realise that we can’t accept one set of routine, it is up to us what we make out of situations and how we perceive the world around us.

The project’s main goal was to share this message and make use of moving image and audio. The message is intended to make people think about their lives, but it is not designed to change people’s lives. It is only an idea, a thought that users could start thinking about. We have divided up the roles diversely so that everyone could contribute to the project with their own skills as well as learning form one another. Catherine has drawn the character and the different positions we needed him to be, I drew most of the backgrounds and the ‘candy world’ and Mai put the scenes together. Later on, Catherine and I worked on buttons in Flash in order to make the story interactive and connect some options with certain scenes. Unfortunately we have encountered some problems during the development of buttons in Flash so we were not able to use those for our project.

We have successfully achieved to create moving image, make use of audio and incorporate our sketches by using a variety of Softwares such as Adobe Photoshop, Flash and Sony Vegas. However, we have also encountered some problems whilst we were working on the project such as time, technical difficulties and issues with following the same idea as we had planned in our minds. It was difficult to adapt to each other from time to time as everyone had other duties to do besides the project; therefore, it was harder to find time when we were all free to meet up and keep working on the project and developing it. Another issue arose from the fact that we had a certain image in our minds and we couldn’t quite produce the same outcome as we had imagined it. 

The main problem happened towards the end of the project because we were not able to deliver the interactive story in Flash due to technical difficulties and unexpected personal events. Therefore, we have decided to upload it on YouTube as it made it possible for some of the video-features and interactive parts to work properly.

We have achieved a colourful and exciting piece of work, but some of the scenes visibly differ from each other in look and quality because they look quite unprofessional. But then again, it has to be kept in mind that we are not professionals. In the future this could be improved by carrying out more practical work and developing our skillset further by exploring certain Softwares and relevant theories in more depth. 

However, I would say that we have managed to work very well as a group and constantly helped each other when it was needed. We have found our strengths and weaknesses but we tried to focus on how we can make this story as best as possible, which could only come true because we all added our own and individual skills to it. Thus we became a very effective group and managed to achieve our best.

Overall, I think that it was important to think about the digital media theories in order to use practical skills and pursue our goals. This was certainly achieved by taking part on lectures and workshops which personally helped me a lot because I have learnt to accomplish new skills and get to work with different media platforms that I have never used before and didn’t have much knowledge on, such as Photoshop and Flash. Our project became effective through the application of this newly gained knowledge and our individual skills which define our work and show the audience the creative interactive story with a message to think about.

Blog Update!

Unfortunately,towards the end of the project due to technical difficulties and unexpected events we were not able to present the interactive story on Flash,therefore we have decided to upload it on YouTube as it made it possible for some of the video-features and interactive parts to work properly.

Finish Line

We are towards finishing our project, we are just doing finishing touches on the video,putting scenes together,making sure that audio works and so on. We have been an effective team working together and constantly helping each other out,we have encountered some problems throughout but we have leart a lot from each other an generally gained some new skills in this module.

Buttons and Problems

For our project,Catherine and I made an attempt to create button in Flash but unfortunatley,we have encountered some tehcnica fiddiculties in Flash so we were not not able to deliver the buttons. As alternate ideas we though about drawing the buttons and use those in Flash which I have sketched out but unfrotunatley that also seemed to be a very time-consuming work.I have however, included some sketches of the original button options here in order to show what sort of things we have been working on even though it didn't work out in the end.

Sketches 2

Final Sketches

These are the finalised drawings and paintings I have done for our project,some of them are in their original state(pen sketch),whilst others are either edited on Photshop or painted with watercolours.I have also included some further character sketches by Catherine and one of them is an edited one by Mai using Photoshop. Enjoy!

Presentation Week + Storyboard

On the 26th of April,we had a little presentation in class about our interactive-story in order to demonstrate what we have done in the past few months.We included a time-line to show how we divided up the work load between us and also showed the individual work each of us did.We also included basic things like the materials we used for our interactive-video and the storyboard so it's easier to see how the animation scenes are made up.Finally,we have included some finished sketches and a little sneak peek of the animation. To see the presentation and sneak peak of the video click on this link:

http://prezi.com/pes2fgiajkgo/untitled-prezi/

Additional Note: This is also the link where you can take a look at the storyboard for screen-based interactive story.

Inspiration

For the project I have made sketches for the street and buildings and also the candy-world which is one of the options the character can choose from. For the street and building sketches I simply just looked up small streets and shops and built up a drawing from those and for the candy land I was inspired by certain scenes in movies such as Charlie and the chocolate factory, Wreck-it Ralph, Alice in Wonderland (especially the flowers).

Inspiration

In our interactive video,almost everything is made up of individual sketches that Catherine and myself drew. Catherine did the character and I have done most of the backgrounds such as the buildings,streets ,candy land and so on. I have collected a few images here to demonstrate where I got my inspiration from for my sketches. You will be able to see some ideas that I have inserted into my sketches/watercolour paintings.

Adobe Photoshop Practice (Basic Trials)

As well as working on the group proposal for our project we have also been intorduced to Adobe Photoshop and some other softwares such as Premiere and Flash.We have been practising and playing around with different techniques particularly in Photoshop in order to get used to the software and help ourselves and each other to reach the aims of our proposal and add to our interactive story.

Here are some examples I have made in Photoshop. (Not going to be in project,this is just practice)

Group Proposal

Spice up your life!

Concept:

        Our concept will be based around the phrase “Spice up your life”. The idea came from the thought of how many people aren’t really happy with what they have accomplished in life, or regret that dream they never pursued.

In an interactive exercise we’ll help you create that exact world – with the intention of making you realize that while we can do so with the help of a computer screen and technology, your dreams can only be achieved by you alone. That by doing the small things – the life you’re leading can become colourful and fun. And who knows what that big step will do? You’re in charge of your life and it’s up to yourself to spice it up by adding the ingredients you want. Not the ones you’re expected to put in.

We wanted to tell a story which inspires the users themselves and help them to accept change in life. The motivation is not to just complete a project and tell a basic story, but to push people into thinking about their own life, and whether they are happy with it. 

Main idea:

With this in mind, we decided to create a project based on the hidden desires of every “grown up”. Do you dream of travelling and seeing the world? Living on a candyfloss cloud? Maybe that romance you imagined at 15?

The group project we are working on is going to be an interactive story revolving around an unhappy person who can be seen on screen, walking through the grey city, where everyone and everything looks the same. We would like to demonstrate this by making the beginning of the story black and white which emphasizes the miserable mood. Thought bubbles appearing over his head, weighing him down. 

Suddenly between all the grey, plain shops, one shop stands out – it’s colourful. The person enters, and finds himself in what seems a different world. The shop “Spice up your life” is extraordinary and offers as it says to change people’s lives by adding flavour. Here the user will be able to choose ingredients from four different categories, in addition to a special “surprise” package. This is where the interactive part will start.

After having tried as many options as the user wants the character to, he can click on the “back to reality” button, which makes the shop dissolve, putting the character back on the street which is now colourful and sunny. The person walks away, without worries, a smile on his face and fades away in the distance. Meanwhile a voice gives the users a message, to remember and take with them, which enhances the idea that in real life it is possible to create or “spice up your life”, because it really just depends on our attitude towards things and whether to dare take chances and risks. 

Target audience:

People from all backgrounds, who at one point has felt stuck and bored with their life. It is not designed for a certain age group, it is designed to promote a creative interactive story in order to remind people who are stuck in a routine that it is their job to spice up and have fun with life.

Project requirements:

We are planning to draw a character and use photoshop/flash to animate it. Proceeding we will use both drawings and photography for the background and adobe premiere to place the character into the setting, adding in music and mood sounds. This will mostly be done using the school computers.

Project timeline:

Week 7-8: Street backgrounds done, sketch for the shop outside and interior, and some sketches for the character, divide responsibilities for the break.

Break: Finalize designs, keep in touch via facebook, working individually, have as much of the photoshop and ground work done. 

Week 9(10): bring everything together, create video and use flash to finalize the project.

At January 2013 we have been assigned to work in groups in order to complete an interactive screen-based story/animation. Myself,Catherine Nothum and Mai Vabo have been working on this project.Before anything productive happened via computers,softwares and other materials,we had to sit together and brainstorm ideas about what we are going to do for our project,which involved quite a few questions to think about.We were asked to write a group proposal/narrative which explains pretty much everything about our interactive story.It is more or less about the time-line of the project,what the interactive story is going to be about,the possible software and materials used throughout the making of the video and what sorts of digital media will be involved.Towards mid-February we started writing it and we had to submit it in the beginning of March. Here is a copy of the original group proposal of our project.