Assignment 3: My Valentine - Reply to all 10 comments

Hello All:

Thanks for you comments. Here are my replies.

rebecca oh said...
I think you should add in 2 people towards the end of your video. Your video will stand out (in a good way) because many others are using people in their pictures but your main characters are soft toys. By using soft toys, it gives your video an extra 'awww... so cute' factor. I also think you should remove the proposal part in your storyline if you're plaaning to focus on the heart thing. This way, the audience will be able to retain the heart thing easier becuase that's the ost important part of the video.

Hi Rebecca: thanks for the suggestion. Will focus on the heart shape and try to refine more. For the 2 people I will continue to explore and see what is best. Once again, many thanks!

jacyie huiyi. * said...
actually i thought the natural change in the lightings pretty nice as it somehow brings out a little difference and an added ambience to the whole effect..
i dunno how it'll look if the lighting on the items are casted the same throughout the entire motion.. but it'll be nice if you could try it out and finally see the differences in the outcome? (: and yes.. i like the idea of focusing on the heart as the final ending as it'll leave room for imagination.. because with the proposal ending.. it'll be like.. the ending is fixed..
just my two cents worth.. ^^
NICE JOB!

Hi Huiyi: Thanks for the comments! I see what you mean it does give an unusual visual approach for the image. Agree with the part on not fixing the ending. Thanks!

Anonymous said...
Just a comment is that will soft toys limit the ability to convey the emotion? Cos I tried something like that for NM2208 but it is a bit hard to get them to smile or have some other expression as the soft toy's expression is fixed. Just something I encountered and thought I can share with you.

Hi Anonymous:
Yeah I get what you trying to say. I will take note and that why I had the 2 main actor and actress to be part of the video now and still allow the soft toy to be there. People will start to notice there is always the same girl and guy in the video. Thanks for the helpful comment!

aline_hs said...
hi katherine, good try for the stop motion part.. i think u should try making it slower...hmm... for the difference in lighting, I'm not sure where the source of light is coming from...the light source seems to be blocked by the books... maybe you can try different places, as the casting of light intensity will differ... else will need to try adjusting it in photoshop to make all the same feel... in my most humble opinion... =)

Hello Huang Shu: Thanks! Yes will have to try different places so that I can improve and yes the video is not going to move as fast as what you see today! Accepting it with in my most humble manner =)

Devi said...
Hey Katherine, it must have taken you ages to come with that sequence! Good technique to use with the soft toys. Perhaps reduce the speed as what aline said. Other than that, looking forward to final product.

Hello Devi: Thanks! It is actually the part on taking pictures that is a trial and error thing but I really enjoy the process.

peiru said...
hi,
ya i think that if you are going to add 2 real people with the soft toy would be interesting. and i really like the storyline of how the different journeys of love would end up meeting together at the same point again.

Hi Peiru: Thank you for your kind comment!

me-myself-i said...
I think the light changes for every picture cuz the books are in the way of the light source and hence blocks off some light in every shot? I suppose if you use an area where the light source is from the top it would be better? But i'm not sure too cuz i've never tried it out. i like the stop motion. i was thinking of doing that too! :) cheers!

Hello Me-Myself-i: Thanks for the comment too. Yeah I will have to surely improve on the light source now. Taking pictures are tough!!

Mark said...
hi, woah stop motion can be a pain to do though, that is if you are considering 27 frames per second.. =X but I liked the effect, and I guess it would be practical to use stop motion with those plushies too so yup, looking foward to see the final vid!

Hi Mark: Thanks for the comment too. Not all will be using stop motion otherwise is going to be tedious!

jamiechew82 said...
Katherine..
jus found out u are Chr's friend. Anyway.. I like stop motion. But probably soft toys can do a better job at stop motion ? For people will be funny right ?Yes but people do better at the protayal of emotions. =p

Hi Jamie: The world is so small! Haha, is possible for people to do stop motion too. I will send you a few copies and take alook! That why my idea is inspired from there.

Joon Yong said...
hi, i think the stop motion idea is great. but just a thought, would some scenes be
difficult to execute? like the train one. but it would be refreshing to see something different though. looking forward to see the final work.

Hi Joon Yong: Thanks for the comment. As mentioned to Mark, not all scenes will be using stop motion. So that I will maintain a fresh feeling throughout the video (I mean this is how I hope I can achieve!)

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6.30pm deadline was so rush! I nearly missed the deadline :S :P

Assignment 3: My Valentine - Stage 2

Introducing the 2 main leads in my video - Their names are Whitsun & Happy!

Hello All:

I manage to do a few test shots on Whitsun. I will be showing how much he loved comics. I had done this in Adobe ImageReady and generated a GIF animated image since that will illustrate my whole idea better. The technique I am trying to achieve is stop motion technqiue.

Stop motion (or frame-by-frame) animation is a general term for an animation technique which makes a physically manipulated object appear to move. The object is moved by extremely small amounts between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames are played as a continuous sequence. Clay figures are often used in stop motion animations, known as claymation, for their ease of repositioning. Software applications such as Stop Motion Pro, istopmotion and monkeyjam have made the technique popular among young filmmakers.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_motion

There you go:

I had positioned my camera on the tripod thus I could maintain the same position for the background. However I seem to have another problem and that is lighting. Apparently whenever I add the comics in, the lighting seems to have changed. Do advise me if you all have any good idea to ensure uniform lighting when we apply stop motion technique.

Thinking through...

I am thinking of changing the ending. I may not use the idea of proposal but instead focusing on the heart shape in this video instead.

In the previous feedback that I was advised to use people to be the main characters instead of using soft toys. I decided I might include the 2 people after all, together with the soft toys. Somewhere in the picture, the girl will be beside/watching Happy and the guy will be beside/watching Whitsun. This idea was inspired by the Will Smith's "The Pursuit of Happyness" where in the last scene Will Smith waved to a black guy which was the actual person in the movie - Chris Gardner.

Do give me your honest feedback! Many thanks in advance.

P/S: I love what Google did on V-Day.

Assignment 3: My Valentine - Stage 1

What is this assignment all about?

Title: My Valentine Medium: “Motion Photograph” /DVD

Design of a simple movie using photographs (i.e. still image)

Theme: Movie with a love theme (Create a .mov)

Description:
Develop a plot on the theme (e.g. something about your boyfriend/girlfriend, glorifying love, what you wish to have in Valentine day, or just a Valentine spirit)
Follow the procedure below
Render the video to .mov
Submit the final product (i.e. mov) through IVLE

Procedure:
Take as many pictures as possible (with love theme) (e.g.
about my love, something good about your boyfriend/girlfriend..i.e. why you idolize her/him, what you wish to have in Valentine day, Valentine spirit or A valentine day in NUS)
Choose 40-70 pictures
Build a story around the pictures taken
Use Microsoft Photo Story, Windows Movie Maker, Premiere or after effects to do the panning, tilting, scaling, and transition etc.
Add the title/credit in your movie
Add voice/a narration/song/background
Requirement: min 2.5-min to max 4-min clip

Storyboard

Most people think that a couple with similar personality or likes can be together for a very long time and couple with opposite personlity will have problems facing each other. But haven't you heard - opposite attracts?

My story illustrates a couple who often has to walk in opposite direction in their relationship. Nope, is not usual turn left turn right love story. What it seems that they are moving further from each other, but actually they are moving closer to each other each day.

(1)(2) They both studied in the same secondary school - He studied 5N and She studied 4E. Many think that they would never work out because of the different academic level.

(3) They both take the same Bus 132 to JCs but the bus moves in opposite direction.

(4) They both take train to work but the train moves in opposite direction.

(5) However despite moving in opposite directions, they always manage to hold hands to walk closely with each other

(6) There are times they felt stretched when they moved in opposite directions.

(7) A wise man once told them - Why is LOVE in this shape? Not a circle not a square? They both begin at the same point. As they walk, there are times they seem that they are moving away from each other. However if they had persevere on and believe that they can work together against all odds, they would find themselves moving together which strengthed their love. The solid line represents where they are right now in the relationship. What seems to be in opposite direction now seems them that the 2 lines will meet again. Will they continue to walk following the dotted lines? Or will they continue to walk in and meet at the finishing point when the heart shape will be completed?

(8) At times, when they felt they are moving away distant from each other, they turned to God and prayed and allowing God to hold their hands to make the distance in this relationship more bearable.

(9) The day came and He got down to propose to Her.

(10) They reached the final point of the heart shape. Together they start another heart shape in their new chapter of their life.

For He & She, I will not be using any actor and actress. They will be replaced with soft-toys. I had purchased them for this project (I really adore them!) However I will be asking my friends to help me in this project. Example, if SHE is hanging out with friends playing or chatting, the SHE-Softtoy will be surrounded by my friends.

Music

I will be giving a shot to compose my own music using the Apple keyboard and other musical instrument to test. The music genere is not fixed yet and i am still exploring.

Video

If time really permits, I would hope to use Adobe Premiere for this project as the features are more exciting! Otherwise, I would be using Window Movie Maker and I think is one of the best video maker that allow you to put a show together in like a few steps! No need to be Steven Spielberg or Peter Jackson to produce a 5 stars rating movie. Hehe...

Feedback from Class

Some commented the meaning of the "Love" shape was interesting and can be further build on the highlight. I was also advised to use actor and actress for the main leads as it will be better. However I think i will still stick to soft-toys as it gives a more interesting visual as human can be kind of distracting.

Assignment 2: Just another day

What is this assignment all about?

Title: Just another day Medium: Web (html file)
Design of a simple webpage.
Theme: Create a web based visual narrative of any simple daily/weekend
activity/event.

Description:
Select a simple activity (e.g. marketing/food court/ window shopping,
hobby-building/making/doing something etc)
Take as many pictures as possible
Build a story around the pictures taken
Create a web page using lots of images and a little text (you may use
attached template - download the file in zip format)

Procedure:
Pictures: try to keep background of your picture clean.
Crop images as tightly as possible
Try to use as few colours as possible
Take picture in well lit areas.
Soft lighting: keep shadows to minimum

Here are the selected pictures I had taken from my holiday last year June. It was winter. In my presentation, I had used a black background and centralized my pictures so to bring out the colours taken by the camera. Not sure why I can't seem to place a table in this blog page.

Just Another Day - Travel

One Family

We might have come too early *opps*

Heading to Blue Mountains

Through my eyes...

I am in awe with the Creator's hands

Driving into the town to...

Look for food!

True Friends are a gift from God

Camera Used: Fujifilm FinePix Z2. All pictures are taken in the highest rest of 5 mega pixels in Chrome mode. Macro mode is turned on closed up objects like the sandwiches. When taking landscapes, Nature mode is turned on and knowing the weather is freezing cold when you are the mountains and you have a pair of frozen fingers, I am glad that I have my trustworthy tripod to help me stablizing for most of the photographs.

Process of working on this assignment

I had crop and optimized the pictures using the Photoshop Tools. As you can see some of the pictures have very vibrant colours and thus to make sure I fit the criteria for the webpage size of not more than 180KB, i had used the JEPG "HIGH" quality mode. There are several quality mode you can choose from - From Low to Maximum which of course bring out the best colors.

Assignment 1 – Dream Poster Design – Final

Based on the feedback, here are the updates and the final output of the poster.



I added in the model with a dropping shadow that is shows her past that she is actually a plus size girl. I removed the audience as it was very distracting.

I added a few publicity media icons to make the poster more real.

Below is the presentation I used in my final video presentation.



After Thoughts: I had used Photoshop in my design many areas especially at work. This is quite an interesting assignment as I get to explore more with Adobe Illustrator. I might think that using AI would make the picture more visually interesting as well. Got to continue to work on my AI skills.

Assignment 1 – Dream Poster Design - Draft

Here is the background of the “Dreams” Poster.

Esther, an average looking and plus size girl who designed many award winning and high end clothings.

Her works received recognition and was on its way to compete in an International Fashion Show.
Esther faced a tough decision whether to lose weight in order to look good at the International Fashion Show or to be herself but risked a chance of winning the Top Fashion Designer Title. In the fashion industry, it was known to be ruthless. What will she do to achieve her Dreams?

Comments Given by Tutorial Class:

The audience shape look like balls and isn’t very flattering. Need to improve on the design

The main focus of the character is not in the picture. It is very hard to visualize.