Logic Pro: Cliché Soundtrack Play-Around

Cliché Soundtrack Play-Around 

In this moving image lesson we experimented with different sounds in Logic Pro. We were told where everything was such as instruments, sound loops and how to add software tracks and how to use the typing keyboard as a musical keyboard. After that we played around creating various different sounds and getting a feel for Logic in general. 

Once we all had a general play around and had gotten a feel for the software we were then set a task to create a backing track to a clip of our choice from a short film from the previous second year Moving Image students. 

Below is the clip that I chose and the final music that I created:

Impact on the characters:

The music I created for this was made very specifically to fit the scene. In the scene there is a person tied up to a chair in a dark room with a bag over their head and they are screaming. Straight away I wanted to create something that would turn emotions cold for the audience so I decided to use a medium pitched synth and a lower-end pitched synth. These working together created a tense atmosphere right from the start, especially when you are greeting with a tracking in shot into this tied-up character. The amount of music/instruments used is very minimal but I wanted it like this because anything else added to it would create a completely different atmosphere and where it was, was just spot-on. 

What did I know before/what did I learn?
Before I was aware of everything that we had taught in this lesson but I had never actually independently tried it out myself, I was aware because I just followed what the teacher did in school on the projector. 

It was good to have that Independence to just crack on and get the job done and experiment, that's one of the best ways to learn for me I find because It actually stays in my head more. So I was aware of everything we had been taught but it was good to have it fresh in my head and hopefully I wont forget it as quickly or as much as I did 3 years ago.   

Christmas: In Design Christmas Jumper

Christmas: In Design Christmas Jumper


In todays lesson we were assigned a Christmas task, this was where we had to design our own christmas design and follow and set of instruction from a website, that can be found here: http://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-create-a-christmas-jumper-pattern-in-illustrator

What did I know before?
Before I had basic experience in shapes and how to rotate/colour them, I was also aware of how to duplicate a shape by holding down 'alt'. 

What have I learnt?


Today I have learnt how to merge two shapes together. This can be done via the 'Pathfinder' tab. You select the shapes you wish to merge by holding shift and click them both, and then click the 'Unite' icon on the far left. Once this is done you will have a shape that has merges various shapes together. 

Here is the final version of that poster: 

You can also find a time-lapse video of the process here:

Art Movements

Phycedelic 60's

The Phycedelic 60's was all based around drugs and hallucinations, believe it or not. It was seen as 'funky art' for some. The main drug that initiated the whole psychedelic era was LSD, this basically caused people to alternate between states of consciousness, causing them to hallucinate and paint what they see. When other drugs were used this cased people to have different experiences, causing the art to be slightly different.

The design idea is still used but very rarely, for example, some Music Festivals sometimes use the idea. It is also used on a popular youtube channel, known as Good Mythical Morning.

Post Modernism:

Post Modernism was very popular around the time of 1960's and onward. It was a move by a lot of artists to try something different and breaks some rules to create a great new movement of art. It doesn't strictly follow any structure either so the possibilities are endless. Well-known people such as Banksy, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollcock all use this style of art in the modern age. 

Futurism

Futurism started in the 20th Century in Italy.It appeared to be based off of the concept of the future, such as speed and technology, often empathized with objects such as cars or a plane and the industrial city. It was also about geometrical shapes, curves and jagged edges. The 'main players' of this movement were David Bomberg, Gino Severini and Primi Conti.

Soviet Realism

This is a realistic style of art that was developed in the Soviet Union, it became a dominant style in other countries too. This was an officially approved type of art in the Soviet Union for nearly 60 years. The whole purpose of it was to enhance the goals of socialism and communism. 

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is an international style of art, used in many places across the world and influenced the design of man-made items such as furniture jewelry and so on. It was one of the most popular art styles from 1890-1910 and because in 1880. From then it spread around Europe. It then even went onto being used in art and craft forms/movement. It also has no political references and is easily recognizable.

Swiss Style

Swiss Style started back in the 1950's and is mainly a graphic design style designed in Switzerland (big hint in the name). It likes to show cleanliness, readability and objectivity. The font style was sans serif. Interestingly the style is also associated with photography in place of illustrations or drawings, that's something I never knew! The main players of this art movement was Josef Muller-Brockmann.

Even 60 years on Swiss Style is still very relevant, you see it all over the place where that being big block colours on posters or websites. Ikea is also heavily know for using it with their designs of furniture.

Bauhaus:

Bauhaus was actually a an art school in Germany that focused on design. It was founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius. It later closed in 1933. At the time 'Bauhaus' in German literally meant 'House of Construction'.  Bauhaus became on of the most influential design styles in modern design and art. It had a big influence on developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design and even typography. Bauhaus appears to be very neat with it's layout, everything lines up and is all the same angle, typically 45 degrees. 

Potential Political Campaign at College to Encourage Teenagers to Vote

College Campaign to Encouragement Teenagers to Vote

-What are young people interested in?
Most young people of today's generation are interested heavily in digital items such as phones, computers, tablets and so on. This is mostly because of how they've been raised into a generation that uses it the most compared to previous generations. It is also much easier to access information, images etc.. Not only that but there is something about technology that intrigues younger people. Myself included.

- How can these interests be used to get young people to vote?
This is pretty much self-explanatory, technology is a major part in advertising or gathering information in this generation. Even visiting a website is technically being part of the view-count for that website, which is classed as primary research. If you create a really interesting and visually appealing website or video or some form of media that can be posted around on social media sights, then people are much more likely to view it other than a poster in a corridor. 

- How can the act of voting in the election be made interesting/How to get young people interested in politics/voting?
Make the concept look more interesting, even adverts about politics/voting on the TV look really dull and boring, but imagine if that advert had a concept of teenagers going into the voting hall to vote (possibly alongside adults) and the whole colour-grade of that advert looked really visually vibrant and the graphics at the end were all various different shapes and colours. That would surely have even the smallest effect on persuading teenagers to vote?

- Which media formats would work for the campaign?
I would say various formats. Mainly something that is quick and easy, like the play of a button on a video. Most teenagers wouldn't want to pick up a newspaper or magazine because it's 'boring' or 'what old people read' or 'it won't look cool'. But some surprisingly do! Think of it in social media terms, a teen is scrolling down their news feed with a white background, and they suddenly see a video with a really vibrant and colorful thumbnail, it will stand out to them and all they have to do is click play and the information is being fed to them on a plate, whether they choose to keep listening or take in what is being said. he trick is to get them watching within the first 10 seconds, that's the most important part. 

- What would the style, content and information be like?
It would almost definitely have to be vibrant and colorful - it's just what attracts the eye. They create a much more positive mood and atmosphere compared to darker and dull colors. The information would have to be visually interesting, use graphs, graphics/images to illustrate what is being said. And the information would have to be compacted into short and sweet sentences. 

-How would I go about researching this to find out?
There are various ways, one would be to create an online survey and ask people to fill it out on various social media platforms. Another way would be to physically go out and ask people themselves. 

What people at college currently think of politics/voting?
As you would expect, the majority of people in college don't know or have any interest what-so-ever in politics. Some don't even know who the prime minister is, whether they were joking or not I don't know but some people genuinely don't. I recall only 2 or 3 people out of 50-60 asked read about politics everyday, which is such a small amount. 


What media I could create to promote voting?
Myself being heavily interested in the video world would mean that I would probably make some form of graphical video with some actual video element involved also. What would be best is to research into the best format that teens like, both in college and in general over the entire country/world and then work around that. 

Interactive Media: Adobe Flash

Interactive Media: Adobe Flash

In todays lesson we started another brief which involved using Adobe Flash. Adobe Flash is a software in which you are able to make animations digitally. We first started off creating basic shapes such as circles and squares on each key frame, making them move around the stage. 

Below is a link to the first animation that I did first. I wanted to create a ball bouncing and try to give it physics, what I mean by this is the shape of the ball on impact with the ground. I also wanted the ball to change colour. I did this by drawing the circle and then changing the shade of blue each for each individual shape. There are much smoother ways of changing the colour where it cycles through the colours between the two colour you are choosing (Red to Blue for example). But this creates a slightly different effect. 

I then went on to creative my own name in Flash with the Line Tool. I should also add that I changed the style of the line in 'Width' under the 'Fill and Stroke' tab. Doing this changed the style of the line to go from thin to think and then back to thin again. To the right is a screenshot to show this. After, I then went frame-by-frame drawing out my name, it would be a step further to make the lines rounded but to keep things simple I wrote in a 'box' style. As the screenshot below shows:

As I've said, to create the animation I simple drew each part of the letter on a new frame each time. The frame-rate of this document is 12 frames per second. The total amount of lines on this document is 13. This means that the average duration of this animation will be just over 1 second. Very quick. To slow this down It would be a simple case of pro-longing the time you add each part to the letter. So every 3-4 frames or something like that. 

Here is the final result of my name: 

Pre-Production: Shedule

Pre-Production: Schedule

As I've discussed in a previous post, Pre-Production is a vital part of the film making process as is all the other processes. But a lot of things come under Pre-Production; things like script writing down to casting and crew.

Today I'm going to talk about Schedule. As part of our 3 minute shorts that we are writing, shooting and editing,  we are required to do the whole process from start to finish.

Schedules are absolutely vital - as I've mentioned in other posts. It'll be like walking down a path in pitch-black without a schedule but with it you’re walking with a light at your feet - you can see/make out the direction you’re going to be heading.

There are usually schedules for each part of the production process, each involving different things, for example; a pre-production schedule will probably not have the things a production process will have in it. In big films, Pre-Production schedules typically involve things such as: 

Scripting

Shot-list

Risk Assessment

Recce

Script Locking

Script Drafts

Kit List (And hire)

Crew

Casting

Props

Auditioning

And, of course, so much more.

Because Pre-Production is basically what brings the film together in the first place, it's good to actually have something to follow in terms of times, it's good to be strict with yourself. It's a good motivation to get work done, this is what I find on personal project. But on bigger projects, it's there to actually keep everything in order and organised, and so multiple people can focus on what needs to be done and when.

It's good to break schedules down into days, some people ever go to the extreme of having hours and even minutes, Sometimes this is necessary tough! 

Below is an image of my own personal Pre-Production schedule for my project. You'll notice It's colour-coded and has a key. This not only helps me to view it easier, more quickly and helps me understand it more. But it is also visually interesting for me. I can't stand things that look boring. There's no harm in making things look more attractive, if the information is there then what's the harm? And if it serves multiple jobs then even better!

Biscuit Evaluation/Analysis

Biscuit Evaluation/Analysis

At the start of todays lesson we were each given a number from 1-5 and divided into groups. We were first told to open up an audio recorder on the computers and then presented with a plate of two biscuits.

There was a sheet on the table that said the following:

1. First Impressions

2. Smell

3. Texture

4. Taste

5. Visual Representation

6. Quality and Cost 

As soon as I saw this sheet and the biscuits I knew exactly what we were going to do. It all added up. So.. what we had to do was record ourself tasting a biscuit and then comment on the 6 things listed above. 

It all seems a little odd doing this, why biscuits? The whole idea of this was to get us into a 'focus group'. This is where people come together into a group and discuss about a topic, so similar to a survey and is a form of gathering research. 

So what did I do? 
I ate the biscuit and then described what I fought about the First Impressions, the smell, texture, taste, visual representation and the Quality and Cost ( as already described).

What did I know?
Before this task I was aware of what a focus group was and I knew what happened within a focus group but I haven't ever really been in a focus group too much so it was good to get into a focus group and do this task. 

Below is a link to our audio recording:
After this we then tought of the goods and the bads of a focus group. This is what the class came up with:

Positives:

Speed of response

More detailed opinion

Honesty?

Personal response

Negatives:

Influence 

Time for researcher
Not always what you want to hear
Questions not always answered
Difficulty with language

After this we were then assigned to a small group with people from the class and we had to find a group of people (focus group) to discuss our posters designs from the people in our group. We thought of guidelines to help the people in the focus group along with the analysis of the poster:

Target Audience?
Eye catching design?
Legible text?
Clear message?
Encourage you to vote?
Do you like it?
Best place to display?

After the focus group had finished discussing their views of our posters we asked them to fill out a survey to get a demographic. Below is the results of that survey:

We also recorded the focus groups audio so we could get their very first opinions/impressions of the poster, below is the link that somebody in my group uploaded:




Here are the images of our posters from the group:

First Impressions
Visual Impressions
Colour
Text
Effectiveness

Colour Harmonies

Colour Harmonies

There a 6 different ways that colours can work/mix together. As you can see in the pictures above. The 6 ways are as follows:

Complementary

As the picture shows, Complementary colours oppose each other. For example, Red and Green. Or Blue and Orange etc... 

A high contrast of these colours can create a vibrant look. From my research, complimentary colours are very hard to use in large masses. But they work well when you want something to stand out. They are also really bad for text. This makes a lot of sense, when making posted in the past, colours such as Red or Green as text just don't work, they seem too 'harsh' on the eyes, for me anyway. But when I want something to stand out they always work really well.

Analogous

Analogous colours schemes basically use colours that are next to each other on a colour wheel, as the picture shows above. They would normally match quite well and would feel/fit with designs. Analogous colours are known for being pleasing to the eye, as well as found in nature colour schemes.  

Triad

Triad colour schemes are typically know for their use of colours that have been used evenly around the colour wheel. They are usually vibrant too. I have also found out that for the use of triadic harmony to be successful it would require a carefully balanced use of colour. 

Split-Complimentary

 This harmonic scheme known as the Split-Complimentary is a variation that has been based off of the complementary colour scheme. As well as the main base colour it also uses two other colours that are adjacent to it. Typically, it has the same strong visual contrast as the complementary colour scheme.

Rectangle/Tetradic

This colour scheme typically uses four colours that are arranged into pairs, as the picture above shows, Red with Orange and Green with Blue. Because the colours are so rich it offers a broad range of variation. With some research I have found out that this colour scheme only works best if one colour is dominant. As well as a balance to warm and cool colours. 

Square

The diagram above looks similar to the rectangular harmony. That's because it is similar, it's just that the colours used have been selected more evenly around the colour chart. Just as the rectangle, the colour scheme works best if you allow one colour to become dominant. And again, a balance to warm a cool colours, such as Red, Bue, Orange and Green.  


We were also assigned a task to design 3 small posters just using text and shapes based around 3 different colour harmonies but using red as the starting colour. A perfect way to show this I thought was to have the background as red. Below are my three examples:

Rectangle:

Split Complementary:

Triad: 

There is something very clear about these posters, and that is that red really doesn't work very well with any of them, it probably works best with 'Rectangle' but even then it could be better in terms of colour-use. The other two just irritate my eyes. It looks almost blurry, yet they aren't. Interesting.

What have I learnt? 
Over this short brief I have actually learned quite a lot about colour. I was never aware of the 6 different harmonies and how colours work inside the colour-chart before, it is quite fascinating actually. I have also learnt that some colours used in the digital world are not possible to make in real life and some colours in real life are not possible when it comes to digital use/world - something I never even thought about before and when I first heard about it, thought it was a ridiculous idea. But now I know. I have also learnt about the difference in RGB and CMYK 

Podcast Creation

Podcast Creation

Today in moving image we have edited together a podcast of ourselves speaking. Below is the link to that:

Research Report

Research Report

Introduction

What is research?

Google’s definition of ‘Research’ is: “the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.”

My own views on research: Research is a key part to anything that you want to become successful. Without research it’s like you're walking in pitch-black but with research you’re walking with a light at your feet - you can see/make out the direction you’re going to be heading and not going in any direction. Think of it as a path, if you can make out where you are walking, you will arrive at your destination. If you walk without knowing where you are, you’re going to be heading into the wrong direction.

Research is basically finding out information in various different ways that will help you with your production/product/whatever you are creating. As Google says; "it’s there to to establish facts and to reach new conclusions." This can be based on almost anything, hardware for computers, cameras. New phone technology, who likes bigger or smaller phones etc…

Types of Research:

There are various types of research that are used to establish different results. These are:

Secondary Research:

Secondary research is basically collecting data from the original source or

distribution of primary research. In other words, Gathering information that has already been gathered. Secondary research is great because you can use it to support primary research. You can use it to compare your own findings and come up with all sorts of results.

Primary Research:

Primary research is new research, carried out to answer specific issues or questions. It can involve questionnaires, surveys or interviews with individuals or small groups. What is carried out yourself. It is personal to you, and you can adapt anything to suit you. You have complete control over how or what you find out from people. Things like the style of question you are asking somebody.

Audience Research:

Research into habits and make-up of the audience from a specific tv or radio show/

programme/network.

Audience research basically gives a company an idea of what product they should produce/how the should produce it for the broadest audience. It is great to do, as with any research, because they can then design a product that should sell quite successfully, this is because they are designing the product to what customers will want and, therefore, purchase or view, which ultimately gets the company money.

Market Research:

How other products are competing/ How can the company create something in competition to other similar products, e.g smart phones.

Market research, it’s researching into the latest technology that’s out. A typical example would be a company looking at other companies idea and then twisting it and put their brand on it, just like Apple and Samsung - there are constantly copying each other with ideas. But it can be successful and it does get companies sales.  

Production Research:

Researching into the factors, competition etc.. to satisfy the recognised needs/want of a service

/product. Helps you make your production as best as possible. Also ensuring that the production process will go smoothly and safely.

Similar to audience research, production research is finding out what customers would best want when it comes down to a service or product. Such as a tv, console, phone and so on.

This is great because the company will then go away and review what customers wants. They can then create a product or design a service to that exact specification and then the customer will be happy. It is best to do it to the broadest option however. Because this will get the company the most amount of money.

Uses of research:

Just imagine trying to create a product with no idea of who would like that product or what about that product would be their best selling point. They would make a product that isn’t successful and that not many people will purchase. But if they research into what people actually want they can cater best for the largest scale. Research is a vital part of any production process. It puts the lens in focus, as it were. Different types of research is required to gather different types of information. It will also give you the broadest result when various different research is gathered.

Conclusion:

Research is just so important to people who want to create media. As I said at the beginning “Without research it’s like you're walking in pitch-black but with research you’re walking with a light at your feet - you can see/make out the direction you’re going to be heading and not going in any direction.” This is exactly the reason why it is so important, so they can see where they are heading, so they can plan and aim for the goal that they have set. With a goal they are much more likely to achieve it with ease instead of a bumpy ride where they are on and off of the tracks.