Friday, June 3, 2011

Final Evaluation


Evaluation
In the second semester of the first year of Mcast I had learnt some new skills and these are a good foundation to a higher level of learning. Personally I felt this semester was more informative than the last one.

Unit 19 was the unit that we started to learn how to use photoshop and that is one of the things I wanted to learn most about. I had photoshop at home but I had no idea what was what and inept at making some simple stuff. After some lessons I started to understand these tools and then began to learn some stuff by myself and started by making banners and then I progressed to make pictures and T-shirt designs.

I didn’t really have trouble for most of the assignments such as theone where  we had to research about Pixels, Raster and Vector images, Bit Depth, Colour Space, Image Capturing and Optimising and then, create an infographic to explain all these terminologies. In one of the assignments we had to great a blog and that was one of the biggest things that there is to do in the assignment and that was the hardest one I found.

In the blogs that we had to do I found it hard to find relevant data that actually makes sense instead of just posting a video and say I like this a lot. This was my biggest problem as I found myself unable to post most of the time. Overall I am very disappointed with the amount of information that I was able to post ithe information I gave I felt was good its just that the lack of it disheartened me.

We were also asked to make a group blog in which was more enjoyable since of the planning and co-ordinating the people into a very effective group and then discussing what to put in it, I proffered that blog instead of the personal one to some extent.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Unit 30

Pre-Production:

Resource List
Props
Tights- black and white
Red shoes
Doll
Blanket
Laptop
Desk
Papers
Sofa
Television
The Soul Support Book
Chair
Soft Toy
Talent
Magic feet- Jorje Bosios
Mother for the first scene- Nadine Falzon
Father for the first scene- Luke Soler
Person for the second scene (job-changer)- Stephen Cutajar
Woman for the third scene- Christine Toledo
Man for the third scene- Claudio Cilia
Girl for the last scene- Jorje Bosios
Location
After searching for different places where it would be suitable to film the production, we came up with the idea of using the TV Studio of the school (MCAST Art and Design).

Equipment
JVC camera
Tripod
Pocket recording
Battery
Red heads
Sd Card
Risk assessment:
 







Production Roles:













Script:
Magic Feet AdvertBy Nadine Falzon,Luke Soler, Stephen CutajarNadine FalzonThe Soul Support Book by Deb KoffmanEmail: naddi12@hotmail.com

INT. STUDIO (MAGIC FEET) - DAYFeet wearing striped tights and red shoes are walking acrossthe floor. Feet sparkle with a jingling sound.The room is filled with light.INSERT TITLE CARD:Magic FeetINT. STUDIO (PARENTS) - DAYThe sound of a baby crying and screaming is heard. Theparents appear holding their crying baby.They try to make the baby stop crying but he does not. Theycradle the baby and are make shushing sounds. The babycontinues to cry and they are feeling extremely stressed.INT. STUDIO (MAGIC FEET) - DAYSuddenly the magic feet reappear. The feet click their healsand make a magic sound.INT. STUDIO (PARENTS) - DAYMagically the baby sleeps and a lullaby is heard. Theparents are revealed and very happy that they can now enjoysome peace and quiet.INSERT TITLE CARD:Helps New Mums and DadsINT. STUDIO (OFFICE) - DAYA man wearing glasses is sitting at his office desk. Hestarts to type. His eyes are wide open and his face is veryred.Suddenly he starts throwing papers everywhere and he slamshis elbows on the desk and starts crying.INT. STUDIO (MAGIC FEET) - DAYSuddenly the magic feet reappear. The feet click their healsand make a magic sound.

2.INT. STUDIO (OFFICE) - DAYMagically the man looks happy. He has a big smile on hisface. He is drinking coffee and his work looks sorted.INSERT TITLE CARD:Helps Job Changers!INT. STUDIO (COUPLE) - DAYSounds of a man snoring are being heard from a far.A man and a women appear sitting down on a sofa and they arewatching TV.The women seems to be very upset. She is frowning at herboyfriend and her eyes are watery, about to burst.The man is sleeping next to her, and he is snoring loudly.INT. STUDIO (MAGIC FEET) - DAYSuddenly the magic feet reappear. The feet click their healsand make a magic sound.INT. STUDIO (COUPLE) - DAYThe couple appear to now have made up and they are about tokiss. Hearts are floating around them and a sound of a kissis heard.INSERT TITLE CARD:Helps Newlyweds and Couples!INT. THE BOOK - DAYINSERT TITLE CARD:There is a good alternative toMagic Feet!INT. STUDIO (MAGIC FEET) - DAYThe magic feet reappear.AS THE CAMERA TILTS UP FROM THE MAGIC FEET IT STARTS TOREVEAL A GIRL WEARING THE STRIPED TIGHTS AND RED SHOES.She is reading a book called "The Soul Support Book".(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 3.She looks up and she is smiling.INSERT TITLE CARD:Graphics: The BookHelping you throughout life.Graphics: logo of Publisher.The girl winks and swings her legs while she continues toread.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/52820440/Magic-Feet-Advert?secret_password=1lsn8pvlrb0bi9a3idav

Unit 30

Ideas:
Idea Generation
The final idea was finished after some reviewing of the plot and how it was going to turn out. I got most feedback from friends and teachers who saw a lack of gusto from what I had which made me change my approach completely towards it.

Recording of Ideas
My Ideas were place on a paper roughly drawn just so that I would have the same frame of mind when reading the storyboard. It was then eventually polished and improved which made it seem far superior to my previous originally thought one.
Initial Plans and Proposals
One of the plans was for there to be a smashing of a plate and the child crying on the floor, this will be taken at a low angle of the plate being thrown on the floor to show that, the person committing those actions had the superiority.
Another  Idea was for a table or something that looked heavy to be knocked over and then the child show with liquid coming out of his nose. This would represent the physical abusive and the hardship that he had to endure when meeting with his mother.
Identification of Message
The message would be conveyed as a sort of “guilt trip” as the child would look into the camera and ask for help, it would be then that the book is to be shown for the highest possibility of the audience to feel compelled to buy it, which is ultimately the message.
Style
The content would be mostly horror as that is what the book is mostly about, and I would find it a bit weird to convey myself from something completely different that is found in the book.
Relevance to Audience
The advert I selected will influence the people to care for that child and that will be the ultimate bargaining chip for them to buy said product. 

Unit 30

Background Research:
Idea generation-
For my book I had the idea that the advert would mostly be in a dark colour and events where there are the person’s flashback they turn into greyscale. The basic plan was that the child would be talking about what was being done and then  there would be flashes that indicate a flashback and there would be a dramatisation of it occurring to give the people who watch it a “shock” effect which may be able to intrigue them into looking up more about the book or even make them purchase it.
Budget-
To make what I have in mind the budget would be near minimal and if at most would cost maximum up to around 5 euros. S as far as money this commercial dosent have much of an issue.
Target  Audience-
This commercial would be targeting the people who are of 18+ as this commercial would most likely shock them more than younger audiences, so it would seem more reasonable to target them.
The planning of what to do:

March
April
May
June
Ideas
Generation
Recording
Initial proposal plans
Pre-Production
Script
Storyboards
Production schedule
Location plans
Risk assessment
Production
Shooting

Technical Resources
School equipment will be used so that shouldn’t be a huge problem, the shooting will probably take place at school but I am still deciding on what may be better in the long run.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Mediacast Blog design

Colour Scheme
Orange/golden
·    Orange
·   Dark orange (about 30-40% darker)
·   Gold colour to compliment it
·   Dirty gold
·  Text would be black
Green/Red/Copper
·    Green will be the main colour (mcast green)
·   Copper to surround the green (borders)
·   Dirty gold to compliment if needed
·  Text would be Wine Red
Font style to consider in being used:
Arial Black
Lucida console
Times New Roman
Font size will be around the size of 12/13 so that the viewer is able to see it without the text taking too much of the screen and the viewer wouldn’t strain their eyes to read it.
Layout:

Monday, May 2, 2011

Review: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic


Ok so I decided to review this TV series due to the fact that some people claimed “It’s the best thing on TV at the moment”. I quickly ignored that fact and went on my merry way until it started to come on the forums and said to myself, fine ill put out a review the damn thing.

So before talking to some fans of the show I decided to set off by myself and go in fully blind after watching a few episodes I posted my review on the forum (link http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/893666-TV-My-Little-Pony-Friendship-is-Magic!/page12)

“Well I decided to give it a shot and see some episodes of them, and after watching a couple I have my verdict, its a pretty good show but not perfect considering the current shows today on TV this is pretty good compared to some other really bad shows that are airing. It however will not overtake my entire fandom for Ed,edd n eddy, courage the cowardly dog, cow and chicken (and others), although My little pony may not be 100% ethically correct it dosent matter a damn since shows such as South Park are not ethically correct but still very very good.
 The Animation is crisp clean and very well done quite impressed with it, the humor can be dry at times but got me Lol'ing at times, the story and plot is there and quite interesting compared to most of (sorry to say it) Ben 10 plot. The only thing I hated with a passion was the beginning music, no offense but I REALLY dont like that but at least a note to its favour its better then the crappy original one, other than the beginning music sound is good for the ears and actors are bloody fantastic I must say to represent and pull of the characters of each one of them.”

So after that small review I decided to go more indepth into what makes the show good and what they could possibly fix. I decided to talk to a fan who gave me a direction in which to go after I saw what I was told to see, I went off by myself again to see more episodes (shocking I know)
So lets start with the plot, so the plot is based about “a unicorn pony named Twilight Sparkle, who is a pupil of Equestria's ruler Princess Celestia. Seeing the young pony buried in books, the princess sends her to Ponyville and gives her the task of making friends. Along with her assistant, a baby dragon named Spike, she becomes friends with the tomboyish Rainbow Dash, glamorous Rarity, hard-working Applejack, timid Fluttershy, and hyperactive Pinkie Pie. Together they explore the ins and outs of the town and solve various problems. Each episode usually ends with Twilight Sparkle reporting back to Celestia on some aspect of friendship that she has discovered in the process.

The six main characters are written as young adults with a maturity level in the 12-18 year old range, but several episodes focus on the exploits of a much younger trio of pony characters called the "Cutie Mark Crusaders" who are trying to discover what their special talents may be (and thus gain the corresponding "cutie marks" on their   flanks).                                                                                               Reference:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Little_Pony:_Friendship_is_Magic

Now I couldn’t really explain it any more simply that just taking it off Wikipedia without it being 2 pages describing completely what they are and whom they are associated with, however I am going to describe them lightly now.
Applejack: The character is of a hard working country folk, in the story she works on an apple orchard business in which her whole family works on. The voicing sounds Texas and many of the slang is acquainted with it (eg. That’s quite neighborly of ye), she is good hearted and honest although she doesn’t particularly like Rarity due to her being less down to earth and more fancy and stuck up and in an episode she had a fallout with her.



Rainbow Dash:  This character is a tomboyish pegasus, she is extremely competitive and does most sportive activities with Applejack. Although she is headstrong, sometimes reckless and doesn’t think things 100% through she is loyal to the group and not likely to ditch them in their time of need even when the going gets tough and will generally have a fighting attitude.




Pinkie Pie: She is the most hyper pony of them all she likes to spread laughter and party for any reason possible no matter how stupid (or insignificant) the reason is. Apart from partying she likes to talk, A LOT and play the practical joke or two. (I haven’t seen her place a joke on Fluttershy which implies that she respects her shy and timid behaviour)






Fluttershy: Another pegasus however she is probably the most unique out of all of them since she is very shy and timid especially when you  have just met her, however when pushed she is assertive and will stand her ground.





Rarity: A unicorn that is to be honest a bit of a snob, she thinks highly of fashion and speaks highly in a sort of royal manner, she is generous however and become easily very dramatic on hard times.


Twilight Sparkle: The main character, she is a unicorn that is very literate and spends most of her time reading she is very intellectual and runs everything by the book word for word. She gets help from her assistant Spike and very eager to help the princess due to her being a student of hers, she is a bit of a control freak and leads the group most of the time. At times of utter chaos she is known to go a bit off the deep end.


The story basically goes in this fashion, Everything is going ok –a problem occurs – they set on a quest to solve it- and discover something new (the moral of the episode). The fantastic part of it is that it dosen’t always go in this fashion it shakes the story up and may place the problem upfront or whatever, this is a great way keep the viewers interested and at the moment the plots aren’t really that predictable since absolutely anything can happen.

Lets talk about the animation, sound, and voice acting. The animation is really really good as my previous small review said  it is crisp clean and in an art style that suits it very well and it can easily soften the heart of any heartless bastard if they just take a look at those “puppy eyes” of theres. There isnt really a lot of complaints that I can really give to animations since its pretty much flawless, the sound is pretty good the sound effects are fantastic in representing the clopping of their hooves, closing of door and others however as my previous small review the beginning music is entirely horrible (my opinion) since it starts with a high up tune it sort of makes quick dash to go lower so that the beats start for something more modern and less girly. Along with that whenever Pinkie Pie sings it just isnt that good on the ears even with music with it, the only good thing of music if you can call it was the ending credits music which it stays in the same beat but its easy for the ears and able to slip by my good meter.

Ok so with that wrapped up ill talk about the voice acting, the voice acting to be honest is utterly UTTERLY…brilliant the voice actors manage to portray the character of the pony seamlessly with the voice as if it was meant to be there, personally I think the hardest one to do was between applejack and Rarity but they still manage to pull it off, very impressed.

Lets start talking about some complaints that some people had, if we view http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/12/09/my-little-homophobic-racist-smarts-shaming-pony/
This person complains about that the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is teaching girls:
§  Magical white ponies are suited for leadership; black ponies are suited to be servants.
§  Stop learning! You will overcome any obstacle by resorting to strength in numbers (of friends).
§  Girls that wear rainbows are butch.
§  You need the government (ideally a monarch invested with supreme ultimate power and a phallic symbol strapped to her forehead) to tell you what to do with your life.”

At least this person isn’t just trolling by saying the show sucks and that’s it, if you have no construction then it is not good criticism (AKA Constructive Criticism is needed-see what I did there?)

So let us analyze her claims “Magical white ponies are suited for leadership; black ponies are suited to be servants.” Well that’s wrong due to the fact the leadership is shared by two ponies a black and a white one since she has servants that are black is merely a coincidence. If I recall the white one represents the sun while the black one represents the moon (Nightmare moon if im right).

“Stop learning! You will overcome any obstacle by resorting to strength in numbers (of friends).”
Well from what I know in the series Twilight sparkle is still studying and all she is getting is social interaction and some good life lessons, so she is blatantly wrong there.

“Girls that wear rainbows are butch”
What? Are you serious? Its like claiming if you wear black your emo. People have characters like this series, the characters in them have something special and unique (herpy derp the cutie marks), some people are like that others are not deal with it.

“You need the government (ideally a monarch invested with supreme ultimate power and a phallic symbol strapped to her forehead) to tell you what to do with your life.”
Well that’s a yes and no answer, yes you need the government for stuff like schools and what not but YOU choose the way you live your life and in the series the ponies find their own special stuff that they are good at (oh look it’s the cutie marks again) they are not directly told to do a job they aren’t specialized for from what I tell.

Well as to my conclusion:
This is a great show although it will scare off men/boys due to its girly appearance it is still a good show and can easily be enjoyed by them. The thing is that the series you kinda watch once then since you had nothing else to do you watch another then another , another , another till you noticed you spent 20 hours watching  “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”. Its comedy is dry at times but the cutesy parts make up for it really. Although I do find the show great I do not find it appealing to me, sure it has some parts making me laugh but I find more joy out of smart ass humor and some stupid ones here and there.
Ok so lets wrap this up, this at first glance it’s a kids show and well it kinda is, the creators went to get their target audience which were children (mainly girls) but it just happens that grown adults like the thing to so go figure eh?
So there was my review take it or leave it-Nefarious 
Link of picture below
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW9eKvGypmRKGD517jkSVWtuZu_-lsZnR7zdM4LPktBROqyE-JMjE9W-2GJ3tX3IyijU_1tguHAhiXG9Rp4zyXSjF6xsWBvN0159kDso0_9WtC9czLjrWH_Ds-znOIrxIlRo5lzYxOJKs/s1600/teh_comic___1___c_t_p__by_qct_mrsmiles-d3d4t5w.png

Update:
If  you have any interest to view this series here is a link-http://www.youtube.com/user/pensivepony. God wont help you now.



Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Infographic

My infographic with my creative touch to boot.

Notes:
Pixels- Pixels make up an image, it is the smallest unit of picture that can be controlled.


Raster-It is an image made from pixels.


Vector-Is generated by mathematical relationships between points and the paths connecting them to describe an image.


Bit depth- Depending on the bit depth (eg 3bit of picture) it will show the amount of colours it is able to make so that it turns into a pixel.(3 bit shows 3 colours black,grey and white)


Colour Space-A way of calculating the different types of colours an example of such image is found bottom right above myself.(RGB=Red,Green,Blue It makes up electronic screen so you are able to see colours on it. CMYK=Cyan, Magenta,Yellow and Black these just define a specific colour space).


Image Capturing- It allows the user to download photos from their camera to their computer this is done with a program given by the camera itself, you can then upload those images onto the web.


Optimising- Optimising is important as it deals with the Size,Quality,Bit Depth,Resolution and Dimensions.(TIP: If you are having problems with uploading images on your web it would be best to only change the filesize and the quality and keeping the right balance between them)

Sunday, February 27, 2011

First Photoshop "Work"

Browsing around some daily  forums I view I spotted a person asking for help with Photoshop in which I decided to help him.
His main problem was turning the background of this:



Into "a lighter blue" and below is my result:



How:
I managed to get the background blue by using the colorizing technique and from that I polished the image up by removing any excess blue areas on the main picture (the amphora).

Proof:
Incase anyone wants to see the link of the forum you can find the URL here.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Colorizing a black and white picture

In our lesson we were thought to colour an image that was black and white: (below)




Using photoshop tools I have managed to colour the womans burqa and her eyes


(Burqa is in a red wine colour)
(Eyes in a clear blue sky colour)

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Photoshop Designs

I had spent some more of my time designing some Photoshop text styles.
Here is a really easy metallic text that didn't really take me too long with a background thats also metallic to make it like the text had come from the metal itself...
...and here is a Horror/Blood text done in Photoshop also with a dark fleshy background to give it that certain eerie feeling.

Friday, February 18, 2011

The Next Three days - Review

The Next Three days


This film is a  thriller film directed by Paul Haggis and starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks.The film was quite slow at the start but then started to get more interesting later on during the film. The story is mostly based on John Brennan (Crowe) getting his wife out of jail legally or illegally. At the start of the film he was a happy family man but until his wife was arrested and charged with murder over a dispute with her boss she was jailed for 20 years. John began to visit his wife with his son in order to "reunite the family" even though they are being supervised by guards. 


It was only until his wife tried to commit suicided that he started to plan on getting her out of jail by asking previous criminals how they had managed to get out and most importantly STAY OUT.


Had they managed to get out? And live happily forever after?


I can't really spoil it for you, you'd have to watch it yourself but personally the movie was good, just nothing ground breaking or generally interesting. Is it really worth it in getting the biggest bang for your buck? I can't really tell since id rate the movie pretty decent, which is ok but nothing that you would remember after 5 mins leaving the theater

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Info Graphic


These are some examples of Info-Graphics, my favorite one is the second one (The google graphic) where it is simplistic yet extremely effective and quite interesting.