Week 12: My Thoughts about Digital Media

As someone who doesn’t have any previous experience with digital media, I found this course a great introduction to the mad amount of creative and productive projects which can be produced from learning the skills the course teaches.

My favourite part of the lab class was the flash project. It was difficult at first because it was so different from anything I’d ever done before, but once I spent some time on it (okay A LOT of time and a lot of help from other people) it got to be really awesome to see the project advance. I had no idea I could learn to create something like that in such a short period of time. Again, it was a great introduction to what I could possibly create in the future if I kept working with the program.

My favourite part of the lecture class is the creativity of the slides. It’s a really great representation of how the use of digital media can improve any type of presentation. It’s great to learn about current uses of digital media, because it makes it more interesting and important to learn about.

As far as improvements go; I would suggest having more assistants in the media lab (229) during class times and times around project due dates because a lot of students have to wait hours to get questions answered because the one assistant is helping a list of people ahead of them. This is hard on the students and the assistant.

In regards to the lecture, I would suggest either slowing the slides down a bit or posting them all on Blackboard. I can sometimes keep up with taking notes, but then I have no time to answer questions.

Although I have decided to wait until I have had a taste of the video and other courses next semester before deciding what I want to focus on in the future, I know I won’t be spending most of my time in digital media classes. However, like Lauri has said, digital media is in everything we do, especially if I choose to focus on video. The reason I know I won’t be taking a lot of digital media focused courses in the next few years is because, although I enjoy working on computers, I don’t want to spend EVERY MOMENT while I’m at school/work working on one. Audio allows you to work on boards, create sounds, record sounds, work with other people etc. While it doesn’t always have to be this way, digital media can be completely done on the computer and without the help of anyone else. I like to work in groups, even if it is challenging and frustrating at times.

The most important skill I learnt from this course is probably flash, although web design will no doubt come in handy as well. With Flash I can do everything from animation to movie credits. Web design is handy because, no matter what you do, your company will have a website, and if you know how to make one, then it will save you from having to pay someone else to do it for you. I think Photoshop is essential, but I didn’t actually learn much about Photoshop in this course. The most important thing I learnt from the lectures was definitely the CRAP principals. I have never been very good at visual art, but now that I know to use the CRAP principals, I know I can create something that looks professional and attractive.

Week 10: Web 2.0

Characteristics that define Web 2.0:

1. Dynamic content, viewable on multiple platforms

Twitter has a new application called tweetwally.com. Tweetwally allows you to customize a page that will only display the tweets which you want to follow. The content on Tweetwally is dynamic as well as user generated and social: Web 2.0. Tweetwally can be used for multiple platforms like projectors and smart phones.

(http://www.tweetwally.com/blog/2009/11/25/2/introducing_tweetwally)

2. User contribution (user generated content or user generated value)

YouTube is a perfect example of user contribution. YouTube is a website which relies on content of the users. Not only does YouTube rely on the users’ content, but YouTube also keeps track of the most popularly viewed videos, videos being watched now, as well as allowing users to comment and rate the videos. The video created by the guy who wrote “one world” on his hand and received thousands of video replies is an example of user generated content and value.

2. Social media

Facebook is generated by online media that provides opportunities for socializing, connecting, and sharing. Facebook is the ultimate socializing network; users create profiles (creating an image and personality: online identity), event pages (organizes and plans parties and meetings), groups (connecting people who have a similar interest or hobby), ect. Facebook also allows users control what other people see and what they don’t. Connecting through Facebook is easy. People will never get bored of connecting with people in new and different ways. The need to share pictures is one of the main reasons Facebook has become so popular. Socializing, connecting, and sharing: Web 2.0.

4. Online applications (http://www.go2web20.net/)

http://memoov.com

Memoov.com is an example of an online application of Web 2.0. memoov is a website which allows the users to create simple animation movies and post them up on the memoov site and YouTube.com. Memoov is dynamic, generated content, which is shared amoung users = Web 2.0.

5. Harnessing collective intelligence

BitTorrent is a program used for sharing audio and video. Users upload and download files for and from other users.

BitTorrent uses Peer-to-Peer Networking (P2P): communication/file sharing between users/computers/nodes ect.

Flash Project

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Artist Statement

For my animation project I have created an interactive Family Tree. I got this idea because I want an easy way to keep track of and keep in touch with my family. Someday I hope to turn the project into a family website, but for now I’m keeping it simple and close to my parents.

I started by spending a lot of time on the phone with my parents asking about names, dates, and who is related to whom. Once I knew whom I was going to include in my family tree I tried to draw it on a piece of paper. Turns out families don’t really look like trees. It took a while before I came up with a style that looked good and made sense.

Once I had a solid sketch I sat down in front of the computer and copied the sketch onto Flash. I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to fill the tree in after I drew the outline. I eventually put the tree on Photoshop, filled it in on there, and took it off as a .psd file. Then, inspired by a flash project watched in digital media lab, I erased a small amount of the tree in the second frame, and then a little more on the third frame, and so on. Once I had erased the entire tree I reversed the frames and watched the tree grow.

I wanted the tree to have some life to it so I created a movie clip of a leaf blowing slightly in the wind. I spent hours trying to make it turn at the right point, and then I had mistakenly created a tween within a tween, so it was going too fast. After lots of help and time I eventually got the slow tween I wanted and added the movie clip all over the tree.

The buttons on the tree were a little tricky too. I made them grow in the over stage so the words are readable, but then some of the names overlapped or escaped the screen. I played with this for a while before I realized I could simply make the stage larger so see the names when they escaped the page. If I had the time I would make the tree a bit smaller and find a way to make the names readable without adjusting the stage size.

The profile frames were easy to make but consumed a lot of time. I couldn’t find the right type on Flash so I created all of the text on Photoshop then imported the file over, which didn’t always fit, so there was a lot of re-saving and re-importing. I had to compile pictures and information about people, some of whom I don’t know very well at all. I decided for the purpose of this project I will keep the profiles simple, but if I were to expand the project I would make the profiles more personal, and definitely include birth month and date, not just the year.

I kept the color scheme simple. I knew the tree was going to be brown, the leaves green, and then I experimented with the background until I realized a light yellow with spray painted yellows and oranges looked best. I wrote down the exact green and brown that I liked and copied these colors for the text and picture frame in the profile frames. Brown: 4F2509 Green: 07a507.

Finally, I added a forest ambiance to the project and the effect tied everything together beautifully.