Creative media practice project

For my final project in creative media, I decided I wanted to use QR codes to tell a story from around Liverpool. My story that I wanted to tell was of Batman saving people around Liverpool, but instead of Batman saving people, I created his character so that he was not very good at his job to make the story more of a comedy for people. The idea of the QR codes and place them on a map to show that if this was a real project in Liverpool I would have the QR codes placed at different locations to show what crime Batman would have fought in that specific place.

I had to plan out different scenes which I thought would be good for a Batman scene. I thought of a few different scenes, one being a man robbing a shop where it takes a few seconds for Batman to realise what has happened and the man gets away.

Once I had all of the scenes that I wanted to shoot written out, I then needed to find actors. Unfortunately there where not many people available due to many having work to do themselves. I also had a problem on my first day of filming, not long before we were supposed to film, I had a text from the main actor saying he would not be able to make it as he was sick. This caused a set back but luckily I managed to get another actor to take his place.

Once I had all the actors that was needed for the shoot, I then went to film my project. Unfortunately, due to the bad weather, we were only able to shoot 4 out of the 6 scenes that I wanted to film. The rest of the week also had heavy rain weather which meant that there was no other night that we could have filmed the rest of the scenes.

I thought that my final project could have been expanded and improved on. One of the main things that I should have added to the project was making a reason as to why people would be interested in going out and exploring these QR codes around Liverpool. One idea could have been that we could reveal who Batman actually is at the end of the experience.

Below, I have added the picture of the Google Map that my QR codes have been placed on.

Our interactive YouTube video

For my interactive YouTube video, I was in a group with Mark and James McKeown. In our group, we discussed several different ideas as to what we could create for an interactive video. Some ideas we had discussed was a mystery story or a story of a boy piecing back together what had happened the night before by several objects around the room.

We had all agreed that a boy piecing his night back together by clicking on different objects would be fun and entertaining for the player. When we were discussing our idea in more detail, the group then decided that instead of creating a story based on just a boy, we came up with the idea of a girl and boy that are in a relationship that take a break from each other for a week due to them having so much work on.

From this, you are then able to choose whether to go down the path of the girl or the boy. Our group planned out that they are both going to out, the girl goes on holidays and the boy goes drinking all week. Because we did not have anyone that was able to act in the video, James and I had to play the part of the boy and girl.

Depending on what path you chose, it gave you different options of extra clips to click on. I thought our idea was good and was enjoyable for people interacting with the game. Our over all project was finished really well and I thought our group created a great interactive video.

Below I have added the link to our interactive video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyqKv6vXOok

Interactive Youtube videos

Interactive YouTube videos have become quite popular in recent years. Interactive videos are when you play a video on YouTube and it will then give you an option as to what path you want to go down.

These types of videos have been used for advertising, education and also to make people aware of things such as bullying. They are also used often as just a game adventure such as murder mysteries and zombie interactive videos where the player can choose their own options to tell different stories.
This gives the viewer the opportunity to pick which path they go down within a video.

In class, we looked at a few different interactive video's on YouTube. The main one that we looked at was a young boy where we had to choose whether or not he took a knife out with him. Later on in the video we then had to choose whether or not he would get involved in a fight that had happened. This type of video gives youths the opportunity to look at what small decisions can have big impacts on their lives.

Below, I added in a link to a zombie interactive video which gives the viewer different choices to make throughout the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p1yBlV7Ges

Creating our own QR Codes

Once we had learnt about QR codes, we had been given a brief to create 5 or more QR codes in a group. Our QR codes could be anything from a story to a mystery or even just advertisements.

Mark, James and I worked in a group together to create our QR codes story. We discussed some different idea's of what to do but we decided to create QR codes telling how a robbery had gone wrong, where the girl in the group gets caught and the three boys get away. With the QR codes, we decided to tell the story of the woman and what happens when she gets out of prison.
Mark, James and I then discussed what we wanted to have on each of the 5 different QR codes. First, we found a clip of a robbery using Youtube, where it showed one person getting caught. We used this footage to show the woman in the group getting arrested.

We then used the rest of the QR codes to tell a story of how the woman in prison along with one of the men in the group where together. One of the QR codes we used to show that the man then hid the jewellery that they had stolen away from the rest of the group. We then used text messages on another QR code between the couple to show how the man had killed the other two men in the group so that him and his partner could be together when she got out of prison.

I thought that the QR codes where a good idea. They create a fun way of getting connected with the internet as is it very simple and quick to use.

Below, I have added the google map with our QR codes.

QR Codes

For our third session of Creative Media Practice, we learnt about QR codes and what they are. QR codes are codes that we are now able to scan with smart phones which takes us to a specific link that has been added to each QR code.

QR codes are being used world wide now for many different reasons. Many QR codes are used for advertising and as a fun way of looking up different websites. Many clothes shops, museums, restaurants, drinks and many more businesses throughout the world have created their own QR codes to promote their products.

QR codes are a simple and easy way for people to connect to websites which makes the chances of people going to these websites a lot higher as it is a very quick way of looking up the website.
Below is an example of a QR code advertisement which was for Calvin Klein and was shown on a large billboard in New York city centre.

Split Screen Part 2

Once we had decided on what exactly we all wanted to do for the split screen, we went to mark and James flat to film our project. Unfortunately because we had limited people, James, Emma and I had to act for the project.

Our group started of by filming Emma talking in the living room, we made points on the floor so that she would know where to walk to and from and still be within the camera shot, but also so that when we were putting the split screen together she would be walking into James space and making his screen smaller.

Next we filmed James' part. for his part, he was just sitting down on the sofa reading a book. Because we were going to be making his screen smaller, we had to get him to act annoyed and to try and push the screen back to make more room and to make the split screen more entertaining to watch.

The last part that we then filmed was when I had to act as though I was having a party. For this, I used a big balloon to try and push into James' screen and to take up some of his room.

When editing our split screen project together, we used AfterEffects to create the effect of the screens getting smaller and pushing against each other. Our group also used sound effects to attract the viewers attention to different screens and different points.

Split Screen

For our first class of creative media practice, we looked at split screens. Split screens is when the camera screen is decided into several different pieces and has different things playing on each screen. 

To begin our first class, we looked at different ideas that can be created through using split screen and watched different examples of split screens. Once we had all a good understanding of different split screens, we then gathered into groups of 3 or 4 and came up with our own idea for a short split screen idea. 

I was in a  group with Mark, James and Emma. In our group we came up with an idea that we were going to have one screen appear first with someone reading, next there will be a screen appear to the left with a girl talking and inturpting the person on the main. We then added in another screen on the right side which was someone having a party. 

Once we had our split screen planned, we decided to go to Mark and James' apartment to film the footage that we needed for our first class and continued to create the rest of our project the following day in class.

Below is a link to a split screen music video showing what each of the different instruments are doing at each stage.

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

The start of third year.

For the start of our third year, we all had to complete a work placement as part of our course. Luckily, I had the opportunity to work in a production company called Motion Blur. With this company, I got to go out and experience what filming on a set is like first hand. I also got a chance to work on my editing skills and had a chance to create and advertisement in After Effects which gave me the opportunity to gain more skills.
Our first class back at University was mainly to discuss our dissertations and to make sure that everyone has a rough idea of what topic they want to write about. For me, I had already decided that I wanted to talk about how the music industry has changed throughout the years and how piracy has become an issue.
Over the next few weeks, we will be able to discuss further in detail what we have decided to write about and have the opportunity to discuss our ideas with our lecturers in class.

Putting together our presentation

When working on our presentation, my group worked close together so that we all knew when and where to add our research in so that the presentation would flow smoothly. We met up on several occasions so that we could work together, find out what research we had all done and if any more needed to be finished.
When it came to making our presentation, each of us wrote out what we had researched individually so that it would make it simpler. We then gathered all of our research and discussed what we thought the conclusion was from all the information that we had gathered.
After deciding on our conclusion, we then all discussed what design we should have to make our presentation more presentable and fun. From this, we decided we should make it look like a book and show our journey as we found out the answer to the question we had been given.
I thought that our presentation went really well as we all knew when to speak and if someone had forgot to mention anything, we were able to fit it in at some stage. I enjoyed working with the group that I had been given as I got on really well with Mark and Ian and I thought we worked well together.

http://prezi.com/wuszg5rjzbcf/applied-media-research/

Questionnaire

In our group for Applied media research, once we had completed our own individual research, we met up to discuss what we had discovered. Mark and Ian had mainly based their research on gaming as they know more about gaming that what I would. I decided to base my research around Life in a day, Dan 3.0 and heavy rain.
Once we had looked over what we had found, we then decided it was time to make a questionnaire so that we could find out what other people thought about storytelling and whether they would want to contribute to other peoples stories or would they rather just to be apart of the fictional world that had been created. The questionnaires proved to be quite helpful when it had come to our research however I would have liked to have done more research through gathering evidence such as more questionnaires and having focus groups to find out in more detail what people thought of storytelling altogether.

Changing our hippie theme

In Beyond the camera, Emma and I where both working on our hippie theme, after we had collected visuals and sounds, we tried to fit it altogether within After Effects. Unfortunately, we then realised that we did not have a good enough storyline for our hippie themed artefact so we both had to sit down and try to figure out how we were going to piece our project together. After coming up with a few sketchy ideas, Emma and I both decided that we needed to change our idea altogether.
Emma then came up with an idea where we create an artefact based on a stick person that is learning how to play the piano for the first time. We had to create drawings on Photoshop to put into After Effects. I then used the internet to find sound files to match up to the visuals as Emma created the visuals in After Effects.
Once I had found a sound that I wanted to use, I had to download it and then add it into Audacity. When in Audacity, I needed to make sure the level of sound all matched up to each, check that I had the length of each piece of music to make sure it matches up to the visuals that Emma was creating. I thought that our piece was rushed and if we had more time we could have made a more professional looking artefact.

Researching

Once we had picked what question we wanted to do for Applied Media Research, Sarah put us into groups with people what wanted to do the same question. I was put into a group with Mark Nugent and Ian Gardner, I was happy with my group as I had worked with both members before and I thought we worked well together.
When researching, we decided to break it up so that we could all work on things that we know more about. I decided to look at the film aspect of storytelling along with some gaming online that had audience participation.
Mark and Ian then decided to base all of their research on gaming as it was the main aspect with audience participation that they were very interested in and that they know most about.
I decided to look at Life in a day which was a documentary that told a story through the audience participating by uploading their own videos onto YouTube. I also decided to look at dan 3.0 which was a boy who had decided to let the audience take over his life for a year by creating ideas of things for him to do, depending on how many votes each idea had got would depend on what he would do for the day.
We are continuing on researching more to make sure we look at all aspects of storytelling with audience participations so that we make sure we have the best result for Digital Fiction Faction.

Beyond the camera project

For beyond the camera, we had been given a project where we had to we had been put into groups of two. I was working with Emma Daffern. This project was to make a one to two minute artefact using After Effects adding in sounds and using as many techniques such as zooms, pans, spins and zoom outs on After Effects to help us show that we know how to use the software.

Emma and I decided to go for a hippie theme as we thought we would be plenty of things to work with for sound and visuals. Emma and I researched hippies so that we could get a better understanding of everything that they are associated with and what life was like for hippies.
We had visuals such as camp fires, smoking, acoustic guitar and protests. Emma decided to work on trying to put the visuals together on After Effects while I found more visuals through searching online to use and also found different sound clips to use from a free website that I discovered on the internet.

Digital fiction Factory

The next few classes for applied media research we had guests coming in to talk to us from different parts of the media industry. From this, each guest gave a presentation on what they do and how the media industry is changing. Once each presentation had been finished, the presented us with a question that was based within their field of the media industry and we were then asked to pick one of the three questions so that we could research the question we had picked and present them with an answer for their question.
The first guest we had was a man from the Digital Fiction Factory. Automatically I new this was a question that I would be interested in answering. Their question involved looking into how storytelling has changed more due to audience participation and what affect the internet has had. The main question  was to look at how we are able to change stories without treading on the authors toes? I decided to pick this question because I felt this would be good to look into and would be a question I would enjoy researching about.

TV studio show

Once we had our guests decided for our televisions show, we researched about fashion shows to see what would be a good set to have and what would be suitable questions to ask our guests. We also researched what our pilot was for our show so that we could get a better understanding of what way to decorate our studio, colours to use, seats, how to stage our cat walk and any other extras that needed to be added to make our set look professional.
We decided to have a plain white background but add splashes of colour from the chairs, balloons, and lighting. I thought that our set looked very modern and matched the pilot that we had been given.
Our show went very well i thought and looked very well. There had been a few mistakes that our guests had made referring to football dates but unfortunately we were not able to edit this out because he was continuing on with an important sentence.
I thought overall out television studio show went great. I was very proud of what we created.

Qualitative and Quantitive research

When starting Applied media research, we started of by learning about qualitative and quantitive research. We looked at the differences between both qualitative and quantitive research and the positives and negatives of both types.
Qualitative research is a more in depth form of research. When we are trying to find out qualitative information, this is a more detailed source where it involves questionnaires that have room for people to write their own answers rather than just yes/no answers. It also can be focus groups to find out what a group of people think of you are researching. This allows you to take into account different peoples views on things and also gives people a chance to explain why they think in one particular way.
Quantitive research is also a good way of finding out information however it is not as detailed as qualitative research. When researching with quantitive research, it is easier to get a clear answer as you are only asking people yes and no questions. Even though it may appear you are getting a clearer answer, this does not answer the question as to why they are picking those answers and therefore you do not get the full benefit from this type of research.
From using both qualitative and quantitive research, i found that qualitative research you were able to get more specific information where quantitive you where able to find answers quicker however you may not get the best information from them.

Television ideas

Once we had been put into our groups and had picked production roles, we then discussed and researched different ideas for what we could have for our television production.
When researching, we had to take into account the pilot we had been given so that we could find guests that would be appropriate.
Our group discussed several different guests such as boxers, dancers, footballers and fashion designers. When we researched some guests, Stevie found two fashion designers from Liverpool who had their own website and had very unique clothes. We all agreed that they would fit with our pilot so we then contacted the men.
They had agreed that they would do our show and also take clothes in to be modelled.