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.

FACTORY MOVIE REFLECTION

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

This movie made me feel very intrigued on the detail and content shown in the parts of the film. I was very interested of how they possibly put that much element in.

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

The most striking element of the film was the odd factor of the hand interpreted as a claw. I was shocked as it was a very weird part added.

• List three other things that you found interesting?

Something I found interesting was the fact that all the elements in the movie had a real life factor to them. I’m not sure if that was really good cartooning or actual real pictures used and edited.

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

The point of the movie was to show how olden day factories operated. It had a few little metaphors show in a way. Like the hand was acting like a claw.

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

My impression of the films mood is it is very serious. Also it gives me the feeling at the work going on is very busy and rushed.

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

No not really. There was only a few sound affects which just impacted the movement a little more.

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

it looked very complicated. The movements had a more jerky feel to them. I think that most of this movie would have been made with IStop because of the jerkinish.

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

Yes I think it would have been planned very well. All the little parts of every sing bit would of needed to be thought out and discussed otherwise the meaning of the movie would not of made sense.

using actions

Shooting with green screen

This lesson we got done all of the green screen shooting we needed. First we worked out we needed 2 seconds of walking facing the back. The setting was on 12 fps so therefore we needed to take 24 frames to get to 2 seconds. I was the girl walking and Madi and jazzy was taking photos. We then needed 4 seconds of just walking to the left. So we would need 48 frames what we did was took 8 frames and then repeated it 6 times to get to 48. After this we had to act out me walking and then I had to pretend a flying book just floated past. After that we had to pretend a shooting past goes by and I point. And then I run . All we have to do is the falling part were I fall off the cliff.

paths in photoshop

This lesson was very important. Mr andrews took us through how to cut out an image with a paper cutout affect in photoshop. First we went down to the green screen to take some test shots to work with.  We then transferred them from is top into phtoshop and learnt the path tool. Once you create one path by dragging it around the person roughly (to create that cut out paper look.) you fill it with white and then delete the layer on top of the person so you end up with the person and whtie outline. From there you just have to copy the whole path and edit it to suit the next body shape so its a quicker process. i had a go of this process and i got it. so next lesson we will start to take the actual photos on the green screen and begin this new path process in photoshop!

Green Screen Lesson

This lesson Mr Andrews took us down to show us the Green Screen. Its really big! its like a big sheet of green paper that drops down so we can shoot in front of. The green is really easy to recognized difference from so when we are cutting me out of it in Photoshop its really easy.  We just did some test shots of walking. At first we were thinking that i couldnt move distance when i walked so i was just kind of marching on the spot. We then realised that it didnt matter if i moved a bit because we were cutting the background out anyway. I then just started to move slowly and walk. At this point jazmin was just taking random shots every say half a second. Mr Andrews then came down and reminded us we needed one shot for every frame we took with the back drop. We agreed and now we know how to do it. The lesson was then over so we couldnt do anymore but next lesson we will begin shooting. I will upload a video shortly of out walking attempts.

This lesson Mr Andrews showed us how to put all the aspects of the film together, music and video in iMovie. This was really helpful so when we come to do this we know exactly what to do! For the rest of the lesson we planned how we were going to start using the green screen lesson as we have finished our work on the diorama.

lesson 12

Today we had heaps of problems and didnt do much. First we were making the edge of the earth to slowly come in. We did the good side on the wrong side so we had to start again and make it on the other side. We then realised that to slowly make it come into the set we needed a hole through the box to get it on from the back. Mr Andrews had to use a knife to cut out a large rectangler hole just to fit the edge in. Once we started we could see the tape we used so we covered it up with more paper. This just made it look worse. We took a few shots and then realised that it looked really bad. we decided to scrap it but i will upload it so you can see.

This lesson we got all the cloud part done !! all 11 seconds of it. We worked really hard. It was really fustrating because they kept falling off but then we just put more blue tack and stuck them on. We all worked really well together, i was moving the clouds, mady was taking the photos and making sure the clouds lined up. Jazmin was away that lesson. This is a video of what we got done!

Monday lesson

This lesson we got through alot. First we printed out a house on a hill and cut it out. We just made it a simple outline with a few details like windows. We then placed it on the diarama. The motion that we are aiming for is for the hill to rise from the ground with the house on top. It was folded so only the tip of the house was showing and 3 shots were taking. We then folded it again so a bit more was showing. And took photos and so on until the whole picture was shown. An issue we came across was the rest of the house that hadn't been revealed yet was showing down the bottom. To camouflage this we put a plain white piece of paper over it. This was the color of the floor. We then moved on and started the clouds moving. This is to go in the background of the photoshop work. We make them move to the left to make it look like I am walking to the right but really I will be still. Moving every single cloud and then taking photos is very time consuming and it was particurly hard because we were under the desk filming as we wanted the darker light. We had done about 4 seconds of clouds and all of a sudden the program quit unexpectedly. We lost all of the cloud part we just started. This was a real set back. But the bell rang and we had to leave there was nothing we could do.

SPARKLES

This part were the sparkles appear is the end result. This took me one lesson to add all the sparkles and effects using photoshop. Once i got the hang of it it was quite quick to do!

Week 3 Monday Lesson

This lesson we worked reallly well. Maddy was working on the earth spining in photoshop and Jazzy was working on the queen stick and crown in photoshop. While they were doing that i was adding a sparkle glissen to when the washer opens up to show that it is a magical land. I found a detailed turorial on the internet and followed it in photoshop. i found it quite easy as i had already done something like that for my previous avatar.

lesson 3

This lesson we did alot! first we exported the specific frames that we need to have animation on. We exported it to my USB and then from there opened the first frame individually in photoshop. From here we found a picture of the earth to use for the earth animation.  as thats how we wanted it to look. after this we copied and pasted it to the photoshop in a new layer and placed it over the glass part on the washer. i turned the opacity right down so that you could just see it i think it was about 15%. I then made a mask and rubbed out the title handle bit that goes over the washer circle. we got a type of animated one. i then saved it as a png and labeled it fade 1. This is meaning the fade of the earth so i can keep them in order when i go back to import into the istop file. while i was doing this jazmin and mady were working on the part were the queen stick and crown gets animated on my head. They were doing it basically the same way but with a crown and stick instead of earth. Once i had finished fadeing in the earth on the next frame i started to turn the earth. I only got 2 frames into that though because we had to save and packup.

Sunday filming part 2

The next part was filmed on me sitting on top of the washer. At first i just sit there and sway my head. Because whilst that is happening a world will be animated onto the washer. We though it would be good to have a newpaper apear in my hands for like 1 second just to keep it interesting. Then after that i hold my hand out and we will animate a queen stick to be in my hand and a crown on my hand. These animations will match the lyrics of the song. 

 Mady and Jazmin were directing me on what to do at which parts so the timing was perfect. they were going by what the planning board said. and the time down the bottom of the istop program was used so we could see what time we were up to.

 This is the next part were i go hop in the washer because my character gets bored waiting. she climbs in and the camera is following her in. This is why mady is holding the camera because she is following me in. This created a jerky kind of wobbly camera action which looked really good at the end. Once the camera was in reach for me i grabbed it and then more bits were shot of me bring in the camera to the washer and then finally just pushing to the edge so the screen goes almost black. That is the end of the real life part of the whole movie. Now in the washer is the magical land which will be filmed at school.

overall the filming went pretty smoothly although there was some problems along  the way. Like we had planned for me to walk up to the front door and open it. But at the laundry the door was locked shut so we had to improvise. to fill in this time i just drop a peice of clothing and then pick it up. This worked good. another problem was that we were filming in a public place and therefore had to wait until people had finished using the washers so they wouldnt be in the shot. This just made the process a little slower but did not effect the overall result.

Sunday filming part 1

On Sunday we filmed the first scenes for our movie. It is the real life part before she goes into the washer into the magical land. The first part we filmed was the part were i walk into the laundry mat with my full basket of clothes. Jazmin and madi were set up across the carpark about 10 metres away from the entry. They had a laptop sitting on a brown square on a piano stool this gave it a perfect height to film from. i would take one step and then they would take about 2-3 pictures then they would call out step!!! and i would take another step and hold it. thats pretty much how we did the walking in part. Jazmin was in charge of taking the photos and madi was working out the times and how much time we had left to stay on track of our plan. 

 We then moved in side. First the camera was set up in the postion below and then we started to film. i just moved continously and they took continous shots to get a kind of smoother look. once i got to the machine i put the basket down. we then stopped filming for a bit and tied all of the clothes together in a big chain. We then put them all back in the basket still joined. For the next part i was basically still just waching the clothes move. Madi was taking the shots while jazmin was coming over and moving the clothes in one by one. This created the effect that the clothes were being dragged into the washing machine in one long chain. 

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Story Board 8

Story Board 7

Story Board 6

Lesson 2 Term 3

This lesson we got through alot! First we went to  the art rooms to get black and wide card to make our set. We then finished off our planning list. This was explaining for each scene if we need any animation included and the exact movements of the photos we need to take against the green screen. once this was finished we printed all the sheets of planning we have, the shot list and the plan of animation and photos. While i was printing Jazmin and Madi were finishing doing the last story board for the ending scene. Once we had all finished we got a large white piece of paper and stuck every sing bit of planning we had to help us shoot the movie. The image below shows what the planning board looks like. Up the top on the numbered paper is the story boards in order. Underneath is the very detailed shot list and photo and animation plan. This will be very helpful to use when we are filming as it will all be there ready for us to look at. instead of trying to find each sheet and find the orders of them it is already there clear and in order! Lastly we went to the library and hired out a laptop for the weekend so we can use iStop when we are filming the first scene at the coin laundry. 

The movie

I noticed the environment of the movie was relaxing and calm. The animation was limited as the scenes were jerky. I though it was very interesting how everything was made out of paper books.

Practice Start

this is our first practice of filming the scene where in the washer. we need to fix the cut out of the hill and the house as it kind of looks like batman. so it gives the wrong impression! We also need to correct the lighting as it is not right yet.

Story boards