Filming
Today I took in my Dad’s HDV camera, a spade, a big ruck sack, some pickaxes, and some blankets oh as well as some little boxes to film my willing volunteers Simon, Claudia, Ollie and Ken.
They’ll be digging using the spade and pickaxes for the Drake’s Leat part of the film, and then huddled together for the World War II scene.
We didn’t know where to film, they didn’t want to act in too much of a public area, so Portland Square was out, instead we filmed it on the 3rd floor of the Scot Building where you can control the lighting and also it’s all white so be easier to get rid of the background using masks.
I would show you the video that I filmed, but because it filmed in HD it won’t open in anything other than Premiere which won’t allow me to compress it down enough for the web…but keep checking for me to change it.
Ill
Last night I couldn’t sleep very well, I kept waking up and not being able to breathe usual cold symptons so I was unable to make it to my meeting with Chris Speed this week, which does mean I haven’t seen him for 2 weeks because of him being away last week.
However that does not mean I haven’t been working on anything since last week! In the past week I’ve been searching for footage of people in an air raid shelter during the war, because if I can get real live video rather than my friends acting out it would look more realistic.
But no matter where I looked, on many royalty free sites, youtube etc. I couldn’t find any footage from inside a shelter, I did have some footage of Plymouth being rebuilt from a DVD called ‘Rising From The Ashes’ which I cut down in Premiere to see if I could use it.
After viewing the footage I imported from that DVD I realised it didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the project, as most of it was just bits of Plymouth after the war, and not much to do with Portland Square, which wasn’t even showed, so I decided not to include it in the project.
I also found some footage of a lady finding a public shelter with a siren going off, when I imported this into After Effects to change the colour and distort it, it wouldn’t allow me not sure why, so I won’t be able to use that…it was still worth a try though.
Didn’t go well
I think it’s safe to say my presentation didn’t go well…they didn’t like the idea as it’s ‘been done before’ and also they said I seem to be very stereotypical of the people who I’ve personally classed.
Chris Speed also said that I didn’t really have any references only what I’ve seen when I’ve gone shopping (or around town) and I haven’t spoken to anyone in a particular group to find out about them.
Like for instance with a goth there are different forms of Goths which I admit I was unaware off, so I can see where he’s coming from.
And to be honest even though it could be classed as a bit harsh they are right, I agree with them I didn’t have very many references, it has been done before and looked at and discussed at length…and there isn’t much more that I could add to it – or more importantly show in a new creative way.
So looks like it’s back to the drawing board for me…they did say though if I looked at these ‘groups’ from a certain way either go about it in a stereotypical way angle or more of a sub-culture angle I would have better luck.
I’m a bit stuck as what to do now…I will have to look into it more…or be do a drastic change…we’ll just wait and see! lol
Presentation/Crit
Right, so I have my crit tomorrow in front of Joasia and Chris Speed…and honestly I don’t have much to show them…all I really have is my idea and that’s about it.
I’m going to try and sort out a power point or something to show them, I’m quickly looking at my references to see what I can do.
I’ve also been giving some ideas by Ollie and Simon which have been a great help.
I’m also thinking about incorporating the history of music too, and concentrate on the different groups music and how that along with clothes define someone…i.e. we see a person and class them in a certain clique by what they’re wearing or what they look like.
I’m panicking slightly though…as I don’t feel I’ve got enough, but hopefully after tomorrow I’ll get some new references and pointers and have some where to start.
Magic Trick 2
After doing some research we found out that most sites to teach people how to do a magic trick like most books just run through a list of instructions.
And although this is informative it doesn’t nescessarily mean it’s the best way to teach someone a card trick or something similar.
The user doesn’t know if they’re doing the trick right, cannot see someone run through the trick to check if their doing it right, and also won’t be able to tell which step they can’t do until the end when it goes wrong.
Which is why we propose to make an application which will make it easier for someone to run through each stage at their own pace and have someone else run through the trick with them.
We’re hoping to have an animation of the card trick being played showing what they need to do next, a little character to talk them through the trick. With the added option of watching a video with a professional doing the trick at the end of each stage so the user can check they’ve done it right.
They’ll also be able to navigate quite easily between the two stages to check that they have followed it properly, or if they go on and realise they haven’t quite got the previous stage they can back track.
We’re also hoping to make the application usable for those with sight and hearing problems.
Brain wave
Since I missed the lecture on Wednesday being in London (for the Video and Broadcasting Live Forum at Earls Court) I had to rely on what my friends told me they’re expecting. And to be honest I’m still no clearer than I was on my previous post.
However like always I have a rough idea what I would like to do my piece on…I actually got my idea a couple of weeks ago when we were having a Dome session with Chris Speed.
The idea came to me while I was listening to a song on my iPod – there was a line in this song going “I wanna be just like you” and it got me thinking…(bad idea! lol)
There are so many cliques around you have the “goths” “Emo’s” “Chav’s” “Preps” “Skaters” etc and they all try to be different from each other group…yet they do look all the same to everyone else in their particular group i.e. their clothes, the music they listen to etc.
So my thought for the project was to show how people want to be different from everyone else but at the same time are exactly the same as everyone else in their specific group.
I just have to think of ways I could show this, and how to present it.
Video Test Part 2
After reading through the tutorial I thought I’ll give it ago, just to show Chris what I’ve got.
The website give you all the support materials which you need, this is handy as it means I don’t have to attempt the first go on my own video (which is what I’ll be using for the actual project)
I have to admit it did take me longer than I expected it to to complete, but considering it was the first time I’ve done anything like this as well as using after effects I’m quite proud of it.
Below is a couple of seconds long sample of the hologram video I’ve just finished in After Effects
Video Test
Now I know what to do for the hologram I need to find out how!
My first thought, would be to do something in Premiere, perhaps have two video clips laid on top of each other, and change the opacity of the other two…however that doesn’t quite give the holograhic look more of a ghost style. Although that does distort the video, it’s not quite what I’m looking for.
After quite some time typing various things into google, I’ve found the best tutorial! It can be found here http://www.computerarts.co.uk/__data/arts_pdfs/tdw66_lead.pdf
As you can see it runs through every step to get the effect you need. It’s perfect, I’ll have to look at it some more later on.
Meeting with Chris
My second meeting with Chris went well I think, I have something to do for our next meeting which is in two weeks. As I am going with the idea of ghost likes figures in my video’s Chris suggest I do something similar to a method used in Star Wars when Princess Leia leaves a hologram message for Obi-Wan Kenobi. So for our next meeting I have to do a bit of a video test.
