Evaluating unit 19

My first impression of the unit was a negative. The main reason was the fact it was all about design (something I'm really not good at unless some great idea comes to mind) and nearly nothing about the media. The idea to have a blog individually I think is great, and this is where the unit started to add up to the rest of the course. The only thing I can complain about is the obligation of post AT LEAST two times per week. Unless I feel like or find anything worth posting about, it's not healthy to force a post or two just to fill the blog and shut the lecturer's mouth. It's not right for both myself as the student nor the lecturer. This case reminds a lot of the oh so great Reflective Journal along with the new comer Technical Journal (why not just add a spiritual journal as well). But now I'm getting out of point.

About learning basic Photoshop and Illustrator I can say I'm happy with what I learned. If I ever come up with an idea for picture manipulation or photo-montage, or even a quick cover for some work I've done and want to present, I can just do it. It will not be to professional standard, that's why I stick with the idea of leaving these things in the hands of those who know better, but at least now whenever I can, I just do it myself.

The infographic task gave me a hard time, until I came with a clear idea of what to do, how and why. Once I had the idea clear it was a matter of using what I know to get close as possible to what I imagined and I guess the result is nearly better to what I had in mind. In the end it was fun, especially once I saw the funny infographic which still gave the information clearly.

Then came the mediacast blog! Like everyone first thing that came to me was, not another blog!  The funny part was that it wasn't just another blog. I may have learned a thing or three during the making of this blog but I have to confess (like there was any need) that I hated the thing. The team work thing didn't work out well with this one, even though we were with whom we work best. The only simple reason for this was that no one really knew what to do, what was happening, what's the next step etc. Well in the end we managed to do what we were asked, even though I'm not sure if I fulfilled my role of Developer right.

Overall there were things I most definitely hated and others that I enjoyed, well mostly the knowledge of using Photoshop and Illustrator. 

Giovan out!

The Mediacast Blog

This is a screen shot of the Mediacast blog main page (not that other pages look much different). This is the link for the blog http://mediacastblog.blogspot.com/  

Not sure what else I can say...so,

Giovan Out!

Mediacast blog Posters

Same as the banners I was new to Photoshop but most importantly I had no inspiration, no idea to what can I do to promote our Mediacast blog. So I went with trial and error and achieved some good yet strange designs. I first came out with this;

which was then turned into this;

both have the same concept just a slightly different approach. Even though I like them they lacked the spark for a promotional poster. Remaining nearly on the same formula I made these;

They're actually the same with different colours and some position changes in text etc. They maybe eye catching but they also lacked the spark and they look funnily retro as well. After these I made two more posters with the pictures I took.

These lacked originality but achieved some spark. In the end the second one was chosen (after some touches) to promote the blog accompanying two other posters from other members of the team.

Giovan Out!

Final Banners

Realizing how much the previous banners sucked I tried  to experiment with other ideas. The first one I did wasn't much of an improvement.

The main problem was the border. To make it short this one was also scrapped. So then I tried to stick with black/grey/white colouring and went more experimental (with an uninspired mind). This was the result:

To be fair I actually liked this one. The only problem is the burn surrounding both the logo and the cartoon camera is cut out of the picture, and I imagined how strange it would look as a banner. I didn't scrap this one, I left it for discussion with the team. Next I went more colourful  and wanted to make it resemble one rendition of the posters. 

It's not half bad but I guess the colours aren't much applicable for a serious scheme. It reminds me of a retro disco flyer or something. I may have tried different colours but this one worked most in my eyes. Next is the most simple in terms of Photoshop stuff, and the most applicable for the blog banner.

It's just a black and white photo of a desk full of media related things, with a block white title on top. By the end this was voted as second preference for the Mediacast blog.

Giovan out!

Media Cast Blog banners

For Task 3 of unit 19 we had to individually present at least three banner designs to the rest of the blog team to decide and choose one. These here are the ones I made. I was out of fresh ideas and inspiration is out of the question, I'm not that excited about this blog. What I mean here is that, Media Cast having a blog/site is a great idea and is actually needed, but I'm not interested to take responsibility for such a thing. Whatever the case these are the banners:

All I did in this one is took a picture of my camera, put it on a black background and added the title for the blog.

For these two I just kept the black, white and green theme and put the title in a sort of style but keeping it serious.

Origami Project Update

The pictures on the right are showing the first finished stage that I'll be using to present the animation on.  The first finished stage because this one was brutally attacked by one of my cats. Ok he only slept in the stage three times and broke down the green screen in the process. The second version is just the same thing with a darker green screen and stronger support.

Also the storyboard is ready with detailed instructions on what to do on stage whilst giving light to the story. Oh yes the title is the one written above the stage. I went with a free hand calligraphy just to make it more raw and simple. I know it's a long title but it's understandable.

On the 26th of April I began my first shooting day. Not everything went as smoothly as planned but it was fun. One of the draw backs would be the crappy and cheep tripod I used. You would do a smoother tilt hand held while tap dancing. The second draw back is more of a disappointing problem. The green screen didn't work out as panned. Due to lighting, shades and other small defects on the cardboard, the keying process couldn't work out well. On the bright side the animation is awesome and it's not half bad with just the green cardboard for background. I'll just think of something to make it more interesting for the rest of the scenes.

Giovan Out!

Introducing the Origami Project

The origami project consists of a short stop motion animation using origami characters to narrate the story. The story is planned to be not much longer than 3 minutes and will be presented on a small cardboard stage. It is about the tale of an origami duck's life adventures, and will be told by animated captions, the way characters interact with the environment and with a musical track. The track is a simple composition I made mostly on piano and was recorded on 8th April 2011.

The concept for this project has been running around in my ming for quite a while now. What made finally start working on it was the AEGEE-Valletta and CommA Short Film Festival. The funny part is when I was told about it, it was three weeks from the deadline (24th April 2011) and it's possible that I don't finish the job on time. This id due the fact that it my first time doing stop motion and because I have other stuff to do, like school assignments, which are a higher priority at this stage. Right now I only finished the track, a rough storyboard and the stage (which still needs some finishing touches).

Reaching the stated deadline or not I'm now all fired up to finish this project and will update more as I progress.

Giovan Out!