Last Final Leg: DVD Menu

When Julian told us we are to present all our works on DVD, my thought was - just drop my works and burn into DVD. To my horror, I discovered I need to create a professional looking DVD using Adobe Encore.

From my last post of enjoying all the new skills learnt earlier, for once I really dread and hate Adobe products suddenly. After procastinating for weeks, i finally got serious and went to borrow Encore Books from the Central Library. That book i borrowed was my saviour! The instructions were simple to follow and not too complicated. Some questions that were not found in the book but were quickly solved when I googled on the net.

My Final DVD Menu rolls out on Sunday Morning 4.00am. It was a simple menu but at least I knew how to do it! The only problem I faced was i couldn't make it animate for some reasons despite I had import them to Adobe After Effects to play with key frames. It was something I knew I had to find out and see why it doesn't work. But I was really glad I could create something what I see in most DVD menus. At least I have music playing the background when the DVD menu appears.

That marks the end of my NM3208 journey in NUS :) Thanks everyone I really enjoy alot!

Final Project - MTV

We started this project even earlier when we did the SuperHero filming. *Time is not on our side* sigh.

It was something new for all of us and though we had did similar project in our home university, this was a whole new genere for Huang Shu and myself - MTV. We were required to compose our own song, sing and act. Huang Shu and I decided to be brave and attempted everything on our own. From singing, acting, filming and acting.

Huang Shu's younger sister, Serene helped us to write the following song titled Gone Gone Gone. We were inspired by Corrine May style of music that speaks of its own. Song lyrics that will stand out on its own. Music was composed by Huang Shu's colleague, Bob Du. He had a wonderful voice but it was such a pity that the song he had composed does not match his singing style thus Huang Shu decided to take up the challenge to sing. Thanks Huang Shu :)

Gone Gone Gone
Verse 1

For the past hour and hour and hour
In a cell that is almost so empty
oh no
that's the basic building block in biology
I'm losing my sanity
Trying to string up the numbers
they used to be so simple
but no, no not anymore

Verse 2

For the past hour and hour and hour
In a cell that is almost so empty
oh no
that's the basic building block in biology
I'm losing my sanity
Remembering jargons formed by abc's
they used to be so easy
but no, no not anymore

Chorus

It has gone, gone, gone
A long time gone my dreams
I, I had tried to flee
But I get dragged back into reality
Oh, if only
one two three
i'll be away from these
Save me somebody
Such endless mental cruelty

Background:
Students often listen to music when they study so that they can focus better. We decided to use music to portray how students expressed their frustrations in their studies. The theme of this MTV is “Give Me a Break”

A girl is studying for her final papers in her study room. The more she studies, the more difficult for her to understand what were written in the book. She yearns to escape from this room, from reality to take a break.

To help students to see that in the midst of preparing their assignments and exams, they should still find time to do their favourite things to give their mind a break.

Timeline
Week 1: March 3 – March 9
We will need to designing of graphics that used in the videos. Graphics will be developed in Photoshop and Illustrator. Some of the graphics required to designed are: alarm clock, numerical numbers, stress level bar, clouds or bubble dreams and etc exaggerating designs used in the website. We would also need to prepare the props for the main talent. The talent will be wearing a pair of thick framed black glasses which will be made by us.

Week 2: March 10 – March 16
This week is set for buffering. To complete any activities that is not completed in Week 1.

Week 3: March 17 – March 23
Video Production will commenced in this week

Week 4: March 24 – March 30
This week is set for buffering. This is set aside in case any scenes taken last week is not complete or poor video quality, this week is set aside to retake or to take more scenes.
If all is well, video editing will commence in this week.

Week 5: March 31 – April 4
This week will continue on video editing and adding on the final touches.

Week 6
Final presentation will be done in Week 6.

Conclusion: It was an interesting and challenging project. It would been a better opportunity if we could work with other NUS students. After 1 year of exposure to video editing in both Adobe Premiere Pro & at a later part of dealing with Adobe After Effects, I appreciated and surely gain a better understanding on how movies were made. It had helped me to look out for certain details when i watched any TV shows or movies that embedded with special effects. I began to develope a keen interest on how these effects were made in the TVs and what were the other "easy" way I could do to achieve the same effects. The final project and other projects that I had done for this semester had enabled me to learn new skills that I would never thought of learning. I would very sure I would put all these skills in good use not only in studies but also at work!