Bsc Digital Arts and Technology

We had our presentation for Hugo’s module this morning/afternoon.  But before that Keepsake had another meeting. 
 
 The final meeting was to run through the presentation a couple of times, test the DVD and update the site to make sure everything was working fine and worked smoothly.

 This included running through the DVD and it’s menus to make Ollie familier with it, the site while timing it to check we were in the limit.

 It wasn’t long till the time of our presentation was up, we were all nervous as we obviously wanted it all to go smoothly and run correctly.

 We did encouter a couple of problems though, Ollie went to connect his laptop to the projector and it wouldn’t work…which was just our luck!
 Luckily I had my computer so we plugged mine in which worked, however it wouldn’t connect to the internet which was another problem was we needed it to show our site.
 This meant we had to keep switching between the computer in the room and mine (this did just involve pressing a button) which thinking about it afterwards probably worked out better because the DVD was already running full screen when Ollie switched over to it.

 The presentation went great…we managed to run the DVD and the website from two different computers perfectly and we had plenty of time to show the clip on the DVD also. 
 

 We also got good feedback from other groups which is always a good thing, hopefully we’ll get the results from Hugo either next week at the end of the term or the beggining of next term 

As the group manager I called a group meeting for this Friday just to see if we can get as much done together as a we possibly can for Monday. 
 Mainly because with work all weekend there will be little I’ll be able to get done unless working late into the night. Although I am prepared to do that if need be. 

 The meeting went well, we were there for four hours which I do think is a lot longer than we all hoped it would take but it was worth it.
 I was able to show Claudia the DVD menu’s I’d changed (only some of them) we were also able to look through the website and make any changes to finialise the site.

 The best  acheievement of the afternoon was the script we wrote for the presentation on Monday. 
 Not only did we write it we also practised it again and again to really perfect the presentation. By timing it we were able to see if we could get everything done within the five minute time line. 
 Which we succesfully did, it also gave Ollie a chance to get used to navigating around the site to fit in with mine and Claudia’s speech and to see if we had time to watch the 20 second clip on the DVD.

 Eventually four hours after we met up we had finished, we each had a task to do for Monday and arranged to meet after John’s before the presentation to run through everything again.

 Here’s to another busy weekend!

We had the third meeting for Keepsakes yesterday, we’ve got the layout of the website done, and we’re all happy with the design.
 Ollie still has to make some changes but only minor ones, he’s going to do another layout but without gaps between the links as at the moment there is a little gap between them (just to see what they both look like to compare them to see which one we all think about them)

 We still need to decide how we’re going to present the print material, either have a popup window similar to the Apple site or it opens a new page with a secondary navigation menu to switch between the print styles.
 Again we’re going to have a look at both of them and compare them side by side to see which one looks better.

 We’re also debating on the logo Claudia had created a couple of logo’s for us to look at, there is one in particular that I like, but Ollie doesn’t agree, there is a bit of oppositon here as to what the logo should be aiming at.
 I think we should have a professional looking logo afterall we’re a business that supplies professional books, prints and calenders.
 The want to attract clients who want something they can be proud off…and photo album that they want to show people and not one that looks too ameature (which is what a lot of the sites who offer these services look like)
 

 Ollie disagrees he thinks we need a friendlier logo and the one I like is too corporate (don’t see how he views it that way but oh well) Claudia is going back and see if she can change some of our favourite logos for us to pick the final one next week.

 For my part I’ve done some research looking for sites who offer the similar services to Keepsakes and looking at how they layout their products and promote themselves, I have to say the ones I’ve found so far are rather amature and you can tell by their sites.
 

 Last night I also learnt how to produce a DVD menu that links to other menus that the user can navigate through and that you can start the movie from a certain frame.
 The next job for me is either editing the footage (still waiting on some from Ollie) or creating the menu’s which I can do without having any footage.

Now that last weeks meeting has been blogged I can start on this meeting the second/fourth which is fresh in my mind.

Ollie showed us a couple of designs he had thrown together in Photoshop for me and Claudia to look at and decide together which would be the best one to use or what we thought.
As it turned out we all pretty much agreed on which design to use and what the changes should be made if any, this worked quite well as it meant we were able to move fairly quickly, this meeting we did just go over the design but by focusing all our attention on that today, the design is pretty much complete only needing to add a couple of features mainly how we’re going to do naviagation.

I have also set tasks for each member of the group to do as the deadline is getting closer we need to get more of the product work done, Claudia and I have been waiting for the design to be done so we can get on with the work we need to do, and although we don’t need the design to start it does help.
As this means we can work our ideas around the colours, and the layout of the site so when we do present our work to the group it fits in well with the layout and doesn’t contrast too much.

We also briefly discussed our profile pictures, I think what we’re going to do is have black and white photo’s and then have somet item or body part in colour so it stands out, some ideas of Claudia’s is me having my blue eyes stand out, her and red lips and we’ve got to work on Ollie we think it’s going to have to be a logo on his t-shirt.
We do have to be careful about these pictures because we need them to remain professional as well as looking good, don’t want them to look cheesy or just out of context etc.

The designs of the sites will appear shortly as Ollie who has them on his memory stick/computer is having problems with his internet connection.

But in the mean time here is the notes I took from this week’s meeting:

Meeting 4 aka meeting 2

I didn’t post this last week because as a group we were still a bit up in the air about the group itself, and each others roles as it looked like one member of the group might be leaving the course.

The three still remaining looked at everything and made decisions/new roles on what we all thought, none of us wanted to put this post up until we were sure if they were leaving to prevent any arguements resulting in that group meeting.
Unfourtantely they did leave which is a shame because they will be missed, and I hope that they get on well in whatever they decide to do now.

So meeting 3 as Keepsake or since the brief was given is going to be referred to as meeting 1 with the new group (that’s just what we’ve called it).
We kept the same roles just taking over the roles of the other member of the group and distrubuting them equally around the group, I am the new manager so I have a bit more responisbilty but what I’m hoping to acheive with this is just everyone has a bit more say and we check with each memeber of the group before making finally decisions.
I think this will work well as all members of the group will feel involved, and it won’t feel like a dictorship on my part or that I’m taking control of everything.

Below is a list of what we went through last week, and our new roles.

Meeting 3 aka meeting 1 new group

We had the second group meeting with the full group today to discuss our pitch, with the video editing idea…we didn’t get a chance to talk to Hugo much as we had to sort some stuff out with the group frist…which I think went kinda well. Only kinda because I’m not too sure how the other members of the group feel it went.

Our idea has evolved a little in the case we’re widening out our products/services we’re combining the video editing stuff with professionally photo albums, calenders, books etc. Basically our company will provide a service for the client to buy a professionally made DVD of their holiday, a party, a wedding etc of all their film footage, or if they wanted can send us photo’s and choose another service of ours such as getting a calender of their photo’s, or a book with them all in etc.

We also sorted out the roles of who is doing what offically, so everyone has their own title and role and we all know what we’re going to be doing and what is expected of us.
Here are the roles:-
1. Kat – Team Manager, Desginer, Journalist
2. Claudia – Logo Desginer, Photo editor/producer
3. Vicky – Video Editor, DVD Producer
4. Ollie – Website Developer/Programmer

Claudia will be the team memeber who will produce all the photo albumbs, the calenders and books, and I’ll be taking over all the video production so I’ll be doing all the editing of the video’s we’ll be using for the samples as well as making a DVD prototype for the client.
In the mean time Ollie will be coding the website, making sure all the links work, the layout is ok and everything fits in fine, and Kat will be looking over everything and designing the site.

Kat as the manager has also set us tasks to do this week so that next week when we have another practical with Hugo we can see what everyone has done/come up with and can start building our site properly.
Ollie will be making the basic layout, have the pages linked, have the pages up nothin on the site yet or a colour scheme but just a wire frame basically just to give us something to work with.
Kat is researching the design, she’ll be looking at other websites and taking ideas from them, and I thinking thinking about the colours and layout but I’m not sure.
Claudia will be researching the photo album idea and sorting out our logo.
As for me I’ll be learning how to make DVD menu’s and researching the quality of video that people will be looking for and what type of menu’s they’d want etc.

As we are adding to our company and also the age group of people we are aiming at we’ve changed our name to “keepsakes” as with the photoalbum and calender we thought it’ll be a nice gift for the older generations.

That was it for our meeting, was a bit more successful than previous meetings and I think we’re finally getting somewhere as a group!

 Second meeting with Chris today well the official one anyway (when we managed to talk about something) he liked our idea and even said it’ll be a  great assessment tool.
We split up what jobs we’ll be doing and Ollie will be doing the php and XML with the RSS feeds, and I’ll be doing the action script…I’ll be writing the code to show the bacteria , to show who’s bacteria is who when the cursor hovers over the cell and have the cell change size when dragged into a Module cell, and if no posts have been made the bacteria cell disappears and is gone until you start the program again.
I’ll be looking over the code for the asteroid game, and any other action script code I can find/read about to help me with this assignment, this has to be done before next week when we need to present a demo…I have some time issues as I’ll be working all week and then away for the weekend which is unavoidable and even if I weren’t away I would be working and won’t be able to much work therefore not much time has been lost.
I think I could do it I’m confident that I can at least start it and have something to show if not completing it…I just need the other person to agree!

Anyway better start doing some work!

We pitched our festival idea to Hugo last week, he wasn’t too eager about it…and admittedly we did leave it there and haven’t spoken about it since.

Before the practical today we again met as a group minus one to discuss our ideas…this is when a new idea propped up. A Video Editting Company.

Basically customers send us their home movies which can be anything from holiday footage to a birthday party and everything in between…we then edit it all together, work on the sound…cut out any screaming or unwanted sound and either put music over it or leave it as it is depending on the customer.
Once all the editing and sound has been done we will produce a DVD for them which would be professional made, and include chapters etc as well as the covers od the DVD’s.

All three of us agreed on it and seemed to like the idea, we still have to ask the other member of the group to see whether she likes it or not, and pitch the idea to Hugo in today’s practical.
We also came up with a name for this idea “Popcorn” after going through some others that were less ideal, such as Films for U including gestures!
Ollie didn’t seem to be too proud of that…but me and Claudia were only messing around anyway.

Time to talk to Hugo about it…watch this space!

For our first assignment for IDAT 205 we have to sell our product or services via a website, in groups of 4 or 5 we have to create a website and sell whatever it is it’s about as long as it’s related to Digtal Art.
In my group there is me, Kat, Claudia and Ollie, we haven’t come up with a name yet (which is needed) but that’ll come once we get our idea or our product/services decided.
Yesterday we did come up with an idea that sounds promising, it does need to be adapted though…the idea was to promote a festival.
Have a site showing what the stage will look like, how much the tickets will be, what bands we’ll be playing, etc. We thought of doing the stage in 3D, have music playing songs from bands we’re doing…basically promoting our festival…not sure about a name of this festival but it was a work in progress.
I think that when we told Hugo our idea it didn’t come across the way we wanted it to or what we were trying to sell…he did suggest that we approach it from another angle, like as people who promote festivals and go to companies who have festivals like Reading, or Download and sell our promoting services to them…not too sure if that’s what we’re going to do or an avenue we’re going to go down.
More meetings with the group will hopefully sort what idea through.