Task 4: epup commentary evaluation

Overall I am very happy with the end result of the published iBook! It actually didn't take as long as I thought to create. The program iBooks author is very easy to catch on too and I found this task quite simple. I wouldn't change much about my book except maybe add in some more exciting backgrounds and headings. Because I was just learning the program I went with the really basic template. This is exactly what i pictured in my head when we were first given the task to have a little video and commentary about each scene. The movie overalls as a very simple, calm and chilled atmosphere And so I wanted this to
Be the same with the book. I did this by having a very simple blue background with alot of the same tones used in the movie. Throughout the making of the film I had no difficulties however when it came to exporting it I did! I do the last finishing touches on my Mac at home and this was a more updated version of iBooks. When I went to export it to my USB in class it wouldn't open as it says this version is to old. Then I had to tell me Andrews that I would hand it in the next day so I could export it at home. I hope this was not to much of an inconvenience to him. I had the big movie to make all the little scenes so i just had to cut it up. I also had to write the content that was going to be put in. First I had to make the poster for the movie this would act as the front page of the book. I did this in photoshop using a screenshot front he movie and some text. Then I had to work out each scene and cut it up into individual m4a movies. Once I did this I could write a directors commentary and spoken part for each scene. Then I had to record the spoken part of my voice over the top of each scene in garage band. I then exported it as a iPod format so it would go into the iBooks. I did this for each scene and then I just basically dragged each video into the appropriate place. Lastly I just tweaked the details like backgrounds and text. I used a contingents page at the start of the book so it was easy to navigate to each scene. I think I managed my time very well as I always had something to do. It all finished just in time for the due date. I had a plan for each week so I knew what I had to get done.
Maybe I could of blogged a little but more on what I did each lesson but I have included each step that I went through.

process

To make the each indivual scene movies i have to do the following:

- Import the whole movie into iMovie

- Select the part of the first scene and drag it into a new movie

- export the movie as a Mov

- change the file format to a m4a (ipod version so it goes into ibooks)

- drag the scene movie into garage band

- make a new recording over and speak the part i have prepared in the directors commentary

- go share to disk and name it

- drag it into the right spot in my ibooks

- copy and paste the written directors commentary into the blurb next to the movie 

REPEAT FOR EACH 4 SCENES 

updated directors commentary

Scene 1: outside in car park (long shot)
The mood of the first scene is very relaxed and calm. It basically is trying to show that going to the coin laundry is a boring day to day thing that has to be done. In this shot we had the camera station set up across the car park. We used a laptop to take our photos because we needed to take them in the program iStop. The actor would take a step and a shot would be taken. This created a rigid type of walking effect. It looks effective also with the clouds jumping around at the same time. It was quite difficult to slowly get that shirt to drop. We had to pull it out a bit each time and then at one point it just falls on to the floor. There is one shot of me reaching for it and then it just appears in my basket. Problems that we encountered in this scene was the fact we were shooting in a public place. When we first got there there was too many cars parked right out side the laundry so we had to waste a bit of time waiting for a few to drive away so the shot looked better. Once we started shooting we had to make sure that we did it quickly but not rushed. We had planned to stand at the door and the doors to open for the actor however the door was locked open and so we had to take this part out. To fill in time, this is were we put the part were the shirt falls out of the basket. This part was very straight forward and i think we did it really well so therefore i would not of done it any different.

spoken: in the opening scene to the music clip the girl arrives at a coin laundry to do her daily duties. this scene is a short one but is important as it shows the viewers were the clip is set at.

Scene 2: Inside the coin laundry
Now the actor moves inside the laundry and the camera follows. The meaning behind this part is she is quite bored doing her washing and starts to imagine things, with the song playing in the background this acts as her train of thoughts. The actor moved really slowly so we got a smoother result of video. A lot of shots had to be taken so it was gradual and not jerky. This part was really hard to do as once we had filmed it we needed to match it up perfectly with the song. In the song there is a little dropping sound (of a coin) and then a sliding sound. We filmed exactly that and then matched it up as best as we could. It had to be done very slowly to create a smooth look. After I pick up the coin I then continue to put it in the washer.This part took a very long time however it had a very good effect. The idea came up to tie all the clothes together so that they were all together and could then gradually go into the washer shot by shot. I had to stay still while someone pulled them in slowly bit by bit. All of a sudden I appear up on the washer because in the lyrics it says “sitting on top of the world” We then go on to animate a world as the round washer so this looks like she is sitting on the world. For something different we added in the newspaper. The song then talks about being a queen, and a maze stick and crown appear on the actor’s head. As she walks to the washer the sparkles appear to tell the watchers that there is something magical in there. All of the animated sections were done in Photoshop were we had to import and edit each individual shot. The sparkles were aslo done in photoshop by using a custom made sparkle brush (skill learnt from previous project). When I crawl into the washer we wanted it to look like the camera was following her in. Once the actor got to a certain point that was close enough she grabbed the camera and brought it in with her so the door could shut. This created an effect that we were aiming for which was a bit jerky and abstract.

spoken part: Once she moves inside her imagination starts to wonder as her boredom sets in. The song describes exactly what she is doing and this acts has her train of thoughts. Towards the end of the scene sparkles coming from the washer tells her there is something magical happening. Her curiosity leads her to a magical land.

Scene 3:
Once she goes into the washing machine there is a magical land in there. She ends up in this place because her creative imagination takes her there. We did this entire scene using a mixture of iStop and Photoshop to create a more animated style. The first part is the house moving up. We used iStop and took multiple pictures when the hill goes up slowly. This was very hard because the house was only paper and kept falling and flopping. The next part was the walking with clouds in the background. This involved using istop and photoshop together as the clouds in the background were done on iStop and the girl was done in both iStop and then Photoshop. This method of iStop was very tricky and time consuming. First we had to take the shots of the girl in motion of walking. Then we had to cut around out each individual girl which was over 500 frames. After this we had to match up a cloud background with a shot of the girl. After putting this all together this resulted in the girl with walking with the illusion of her walking because she is in front of clouds because they are moving. The book comes in and this is done separately in animashin-ish. The next part was very tricky, we had to incorporate the hill moving in (in photoshop) while still creating the walking effect on the other side. It slowing mirages into her sitting on a cliff hanging over the ‘edge of the earth’. After looking around for a bit the character stands up and jumps off. This part was so time consuming that we had to shorten it a lot to finish it. If we were to do this scene again i would make sure that when we are editing the cutout girl onto the background that we keep her the same size each time otherwise she grows and shrinks alot.

Spoken: This is the magical land she is imagining. The video corresponds to the lyrics in the song. The theme of this magical land is quite dark and mysterious as it is supposed to be inside a washing machine. This was the most time consuming scene of the whole movie you can tell it has had alot of time and effort put in as it is very detailed.

Scene 4:
in this scene the camera starts in the washer to make the effect that she is coming out. The camera follows her out of the washer and stays inside as she walks away. She just picks up her washing basket like nothing happened. The media tools used in this scene were very simple just in iStop. However the position of the cameras were used very clever. Overall this scene was effective with the little amount of detail and time put into it. Perhaps it didnt make much sense though because when she comes out of the washer all her clothes are already dried and back in her basket. this makes it a bit unrealistic, but so isnt the rest of the movie.

spoken: in this scene the camera starts in the washer to make the effect that she is coming out. She comes out picks up her basket and walks out of the laundry like nothing has happened. 

what i did this lesson

Creative Media ePup planning

Shot 1: outside in carpark (long shot)

In this shot we had the camera station set up across the carpark. The actor would take a step and a shot would be taken. This created a rigid type of walking effect. It looks effective also with the clouds jumping around at the same time. It was quite difficult to slowly get that shirt to drop. We had to pull it out a bit each time and then at one point it just falls on to the floor. There is one shot of me reaching for it and then it just appears in my basket.

Shot 2: with the basket (close up)

This part the actor moved really slowly so we got a smoother result of video. A lot of shots had to be taken so it was gradual and not jerky.

Shot 3: hand and coin (extreme close shot)

This part was really hard to do as once we had filmed it we needed to match it up perfectly with the song. In the song there is a little dropping sound and then a sliding sound.

We filmed exactly that. It had to be done very slowly to create a smooth look. After I pick up the coin I then continue to put it in the washer.

Shot 4: (close up)

This part took a very long time however it had a very good effect. The idea came up to tie all the clothes together so that they were all together and could then gradually go into the washer shot by shot. I had to stay still while someone pulled them in slowly bit by bit.

Shot 5: (long shot)

All of a sudden I appear up on the washer because in the lyrics it says “sitting on top of the world” We then go on to animate a world as the round washer so this looks like she is sitting on the world. For something different we added in a newspaper. The song then talks about being a queen, and a maze stick and crown appear on the actor’s head.

Shot 6: (extreme close up)

As she walks to the washer the sparkles appear to tell the watchers that there is something magical in there. The next part was quite tricky. When I crawl into the washer we wanted it to look like the camera was following me in. Once the actor got to a certain point that was close enough she grabbed the camera and brought it in with her so the door could shut. This created an effect that we were aiming for which was a bit jerky and abstract.

Coin Laundry Poster

Sabrene's film Analyses essay

FACTORY

Artist: Miwa Matreyek's

Miwa Matreyek’s piece of work conveys many different meanings to the viewers through visual language. One way it is interpreted is that Miwa is trying to show in an abstract way in which in todays working society the labour required it very boring stuff. In our days technology is so advanced that they have found a system or machine to do everything for us that there is no skill or fun involved in work anymore. The cost of life is extraordinary and people are forced to work everyday with no freedom and no fun.

The film “Factory” shows the day off a working factory. The whole film is black and white and has very much detail using different shades of greys. The style of animation is very complex and it looks like some form of iStop with the use of Photoshop as well. Each element in the factory looks like an individual photo that has been edited and placed to form a working system. This shows that lots of little things put together can create a bigger and better overall result. This is simular to the running of a factory itself. All the different station and element come together to form the overall product.

Right from the beginning of the movie with the workers going into work their body gestures tell us they are not happy or excited to be there as they are walking fast in a straight line into the building.  The colours are very dull and plain however there are quite a lot of detailed objects in the background, which includes the smoke coming out of the building. As they enter the building it shows people at work. One lady looks like she is in charge of several computers and machines. Her movement on the computer is repeated several times. This gives us an idea on how repetitive and boring the work must be.

Now in modern days as technology has increased machines and computers do a lot for us however it leaves us with a very boring simple job. The very busy and detailed background in the factory gives the impression with a complicate busy workplace that there is a lot to get done. However the abstract side of the film creates a more humerous affect on the workload and overall film. The hand in the background is acting like a mechanical claw this portrays a metaphor. Matreyek is trying to interpret the way it used to be. Before all these machines were created to pick up and transport things such as the mechanical claw, everything was done by hand, which was hard labour. The workers aren’t complaining however it has just made the workforce a boring place to be forced to work at. Towards the end section a man is using the gigantic spanner to fix a problem. Usually a spanner is a smaller item, and this spanner that is being used is bigger then himself. This is implying that for big jobs you need a big tool to get the job done. In this section Matreyek has added a more humorous aspect of the workforce.  

Matreyek as obviously thought out this film very thoroughly as when you look closer there is so many meanings that it portrays from the use of visual language and the overall point of the film.  Overall it is a very clever film in the fact that it is so detailed yet such a simple idea. Every part of the movie is there for a reason and Matreyek has done a very good job portraying these messages.

Describe

DIGITOPIA MOVIE REFLECTION

• How did the film make you feel? (Excited, intrigued, happy etc)

To be honest this film made me feel really sleepy. The music was very calming. I was also really confused on what was going on.

• In your opinion, what was the most striking element of the film?

The film was mostly black and white and the only colours that you could see were blue and red. This really brought out the things in colour and made a statement that they were important and significant t the movie.

• List three other things that you found interesting?

-      the body was shown inside

-      the title of the movie was very weird

-      the word utopia was repeated throughout the whole song

• What meaning did you think the artist was trying to convey?

Somehow this movie made me think of docters and hospitals. I think it was the colours, sad music and the diagrams of the body and the blood moving.

• What is your overall impression of the film’s mood?

My impression is that the film is very sad and depressing.

• Did sound play an important part in your response to the film?

yes it was a very important element in the film as it set the mood for the whole movie.

• What comments can you make about the animators technique? (i.e. was it simple, complicated, smooth, jerky etc)

I think that the animators technique was quite simple. Also the movements were very plain and a bit stop start so a bit jerky. It wasn’t really a well flowing movie.

• Do you think that this animation would have been well planned?

No maybe not as it was quite random and simple. Maybe they would have had an idea on what they were going to do the movie about but they didn’t actually full on plan which bits for which parts.