Jane's digital box

END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

2009-02-13T05:22:00.000-08:00

BA (Hons.) GRAPHIC DESIGN – END OF MODULE SELF-EVALUATION

Module Code - OUGD202 Module Title DESIGN FOR DIGITAL MEDIA

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
I have developed a new range of skills throughout this module such as, Storyboarding and Animation skills. The technical skills needed to put together a piece of moving image were new for me. I also learned skills for designing and producing a web site, developing schematics and organisational skills to make the website work. A lot of organisation was required to make my pieces of work successful, I am happy with the logical approach I put forward when it came to designing for digital media, especially with my iweb site.
I learnt without these organisational skills the outcome I was trying to achieve was very difficult, I found storyboarding my ideas extremely useful before sitting down and producing moving image on screen. Planning and using these skills made the process of turning my ideas from paper to screen run more smoothly and less of a headache. I enjoyed the paper based work and preparation more enjoyable than designing actually on the computer, I hope to use the skills I learnt and adapt them into practices I do enjoy such as print. Organisation is a key skill throughout any practice, and also a key lesson learned from this module is not to trust technology to do what you want it to, being prepared for any mishaps with software etc. especially iweb shows patience is also a good skill to have when designing for digital media, which I think I had throughout most of the module.

2. What approaches to generating work and solutions to problems have you developed and how have they helped?
Understanding how storyboards can be used to communicate an idea was interesting and a part of the module I enjoyed, if I were to work with moving image again I would want to focus on this part of the design process. I have learnt the importance of mapping out schematics for websites and how these help the problem of organising a mass of information to be shown on a site. I enjoyed working out where everything went and this approach definitely helped my final solution on the iweb. Collecting and categorising my research and then developing it into a design direction was a new approach to me and allowed me to generate initial ideas more efficiently, I found a direction early on in the brief which allowed me time to learn the software skills I needed and develop my idea in a decent time frame. I will use this approach in future.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
I can work schematically quite well; following a structure I created allowed boundaries and helped me work to the limits of the software available to me. I think the biggest strength in my work is the idea generation and concept development, having a strong idea helped me develop my work quickly and quite successfully. Having a strong idea masked my inexperience in the software. I found after effects challenging but rewarding when it came to viewing what I had achieved from no knowledge about the software at the beginning of the module.
I think my iweb is the strongest piece that has come out of this module, I enjoyed producing the site and experimenting with the layout and the interaction the audience will have when viewing and navigating through my site.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how could you exploit these more fully?
The first weakness in my work that I can identify is the finished look of the animation, the photography used could have been shot more accurately and I could have learned more about using lighting more effectively, also after the final crit it was brought to my attention that the final stage of my animation didn’t need to finish outside of the microscope and if I changed this the piece would be more successful. I feel although I learned a lot technically I could have read around the subject more and develop my technical abilities in after effects. I spent a lot of time on the iweb compared to the animation so my time management was weak in this area, I would in furture plan out equal time for both aspects of the brief. I feel I spent more time on the iweb because I enjoyed the process a lot more than putting the animation together.

5. Identify five things that you will do different next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. Make more use of the specialist staff, this will help me know my limits and also gain valuable knowledge when it comes to designing for digital media.
2. Experiment more with after effects software and do more test pieces to make my final animation more successful
3. Make sure I use my time to make full use of the different computer facilities. This will allow my technical skills to improve by trying and testing using the different software.
4. Push myself, be more ambitious with my initial ideas, if they don’t work I can gain the knowledge of why they wouldn’t work and how I could make them work.
5. Balance my time between the two products; the iweb and the animation more evenly to get a stronger resulting finished piece.

6. How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

Attendance - 4
Punctuality - 4
Motivation - 4
Commitment - 4
Quantity Of Work Produced - 3
Quality Of Work Produced - 3
Contribution To The Group - 3

tests for title sequence

2009-02-08T14:19:00.000-08:00

testy tests test my patience!!!!

detective mittens

2009-02-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

Meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow. MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW.

http://www.filmcow.com/

BPM

2009-02-03T14:57:00.000-08:00

A title sequence using a turn table.
The music is :(Wickaman & Hoodlum - The Stomper).
Jerky stop motion using photography, like how i am creating for my title sequece.

Catch me if you can

2009-02-03T14:53:00.000-08:00

Kuntzel and Deygas's memorable and idiosyncratic title sequence to Steven Spielberg's comedy drama thriller Catch Me if You Can (2002), starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, depicting the career of the world's most successful con artist, Frank Abagnale Jr.. The slender Lowreyesque figures run through environments that symbolise key plot points from the film, and are accompanied by John Williams's floaty, 1960s jazz-era score. The title design credit is discreetly featured in the shelf, while the papers blow past the pursuer's face.

Thankyou for smoking

2009-02-03T14:52:00.000-08:00

Typographic tobacco-styled title sequence from the movie "thank you for smoking" created by shadowplay studios [http://www.shadowplaystudio.com/]

Handmade nation

2009-02-03T14:50:00.000-08:00

Here are the stats:
The opening sequence to Handmade Nation was shot in August 2008 at Radar Studios in Chicago, IL. This is the opening title sequence for the featured length documentary Handmade Nation (to be released in 2009). This sequence of stop animation was in 26 hours over the course of a 2 day "weekend". The original score "Hands On" was composed by Joe Wong and Didier Leple (www.noisola.com), vocals by Annie Killelea and Zach Peiper.

For more information about Handmade Nation (book and documentary) visit www.handmadenationmovie.com

*****
Director: Sam Macon
Art Director: Faythe Levine
Producer: Jonah Mueller
Creative Assistant: Annie Simeone
Original Music: Noisola.com

Richard Morrison

2009-02-03T14:38:00.000-08:00

Richard Morrison has many works including title sequences for the following films, The Constant Gardener and Sweeney Todd.

Saul Bass :)

2009-02-03T12:41:00.000-08:00

Saul Bass (May 8, 1920—April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Academy Award-winning filmmaker, but he is best known for his design on animated motion picture title sequences.

iweb - induction

2009-01-14T07:01:00.000-08:00

Easy way to generate a website ... So far. No doubt technicalities will frustrate me when it comes to linking all the pages and adding my designs, heres the first two pages i made and linked them to each other:

Top Ten Worst Diseases

2009-01-12T20:12:00.000-08:00

I have started putting together the interesting points and visual material i gathered as research for the top ten worst diseases. Here is the 1st example, simple layout with key facts and information and images:

Black Death

2009-01-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

Photo slideshow:

Black death.

disease

2009-01-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Top Ten Worst Diseases:

For my research project i started
looking at a broad range of ideas until i found one that i was
really interested in researching. I seem to have quite an interest
in science type topics. But hey I think diseases will give me a lot
of scope and plus it will give me the challenge of a different audience
and how i will put across my work as i feel i will have to be
sensitive in the approach as lots of people have been caused hurt
and suffering from terrible diseases.

I wanted a research topic that i could learn from as well as be
interested in, i think the more i can get stuck into the research
the better my designs will become. Anyway waffling on a bit now
but here are some videos/anims ive found so far:

Stop HIV, AIDS. video.

AIDS anatomy

Annoying voice over but this is an anim about cancer.

Anim about cancer cells. If cancer cells could think and talk ...
Written and directed by Nina Paley

Typography Kicks ass

2009-01-08T08:09:00.000-08:00

Typography Kicks ass

E4 Games

2009-01-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

Designing games for the internet... fun fun fun

E4 Stings

2009-01-01T10:30:00.001-08:00

E4 Stings are great! no more needs to be said at this time, just marvel at their brilliance and their creators.

Widgets

2009-01-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

The different widgets available for mac are really useful and the designs are always done with the user in mind, which makes them easy to use. Last year i even designed a widget for mine and Jonathan's collaborative project. It was a countdown timer. Some parts were quite technical to set up but i enjoyed creating the designs.

Final Silent movie - 10 sec animation

2008-12-21T05:46:00.000-08:00

Pop test

2008-12-21T05:45:00.000-08:00

Pop test for silent movie

Screamin' Beans

2008-12-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

Screamin Beans

This is another interactive site, all just in the aid of fun, well if you find torturing beans fun, one is really annoying though, you'll see what i mean if you eventually get to trying to squash the ninja bean! I was successful, i am in fact mightier than a bean!

Through looking at these sorts of interactive sites i can see how playful and fun design can be through digital media and its all about engaging well with the audience, but then i guess that's key throughout all design!

Don't click.it

2008-12-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

Don't Click.it

Explore a site that requires no click at all from a mouse! Interesting way to design for web differently.

Take this dance

2008-12-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

Take this dance

Mister Nice Hands

2008-12-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

Mister Nice Hands

This is gross and pointless, i can't believe someone took the time to design this! i only put this on because i know at least one person on the course that will enjoy it muchly. I think ill test my theory on Monday to see if he laughs, Silly silly silly.

Autopsy

2008-12-06T07:47:00.000-08:00

Autopsy

Ever wondered what they did in an autopsy, well here you can find out. i don't think its that gruesome as a process, i mean it has to be done, i think if i had to design this i would look it that way, it becomes more horrible when you think about in relation to actual people. I think this would have been a hard thing to design, because you want your audience to learn from it and look at it but then again its not something your audience maybe willing to look at.

Universcale

2008-12-06T07:19:00.000-08:00

universcale

This is pretty awesome, the animation and interactivity is a great way to get the audience involved, i think this is an easier way to learn information, and a great way as a designer to deliver it.

Interactive music video

2008-12-06T07:17:00.000-08:00

Here's a music video that is interactive! pretty cool. Click on the link:

Neon Bible

Dexter

2008-12-02T17:19:00.000-08:00

So we got a brief today, for designing for digital media. So on here i'll be putting my research and analysing what i find.

So 1st thing i wanted to put on here was the Dexter intro sequence. I love the use of frame and composition in this sequence and i think it sucessfully suggests the subtle hints that theres more than meets the eye to the man called Dexter. Incase anybody doesn't know (shame on you) Dexter is a serial killer, who has to balance a "normal life" with his dark passenger. Its now onto the third series! yey. Any way back to the intro, i also love the music, infact this intro is so good i never fast forward it, even though i can.