Saturday, February 21, 2009

Day 14.

Hihihihihihihi. Kenny here.

We have no school today so stuff will not be long here.
Yes we have changed our mind on the World of Warcraft idea. We have figured out that alot more time will be needed if we really wanted to attempt it. Therefore..

We have decided to embark on an 'advertisement-based' kind of video. As HaoWei has said in the previous post our audience may rather prefer short and fast advertisements. This video will reveal many different interesting facts about MOI. Probably at the end of every short advertisement for each sectors of MOI, a catchy tagline would be used, such as ' Come to MOI! That piece of crap u drew actually came to life!' Or something like that. Well we are going to consult Amanda tomorrow on this and some of our other ideas, and finalise on the one that we want to do. Hope it turns out well!

Quote of the day:
Technology adds nothing to art. Two thousand years ago, I could tell you a story, and at any point during the story I could stop, and ask, Now do you want the hero to be kidnapped, or not? But that would, of course, have ruined the story. Part of the experience of being entertained is sitting back and plugging into someone else's vision.
Penn Jillette

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Day 13.

Hello guys, I'll be sharing again for today. Today's post will be mainly about my new idea for MOIP1 and some of my thinking process, together with some of my personal comments about the presentations I have seen these few days.

For the past few days we have been looking at presentations that defined different ideas; some of them were vague, and some were lost in the midst of technical aspects, some were but big and ambitious dreams (*talking about myself), while some has lost its track on its original target audience. And most of these presentation had one common objective in mind; "To promote MOI". Seems like all of us is doing fine, but on the contrary, that might spark a marking crisis; with the fact that videos produced would be vague in expressing the core message behind the story and most videos would end up being similar to each other; which meant that the marks would have been roughly the same.

I guess by exemplifying the scenario of watching videos produced by the year two seniors, it would have sucessfully conveyed a particular message that I was try to express above. And I have a feeling that we might be gearing in the direction the year two seniors once was heading and there is no need to be discreet about it, because at the end of the day, I believe, when it is time for presentation in front of the lecturers; and if all of us are going to answer their question of "What is the message of your video?" with "Promoting MOI", they are just going to faint badly. Let's refine the question of
"What is the message of your video?" into "What is the unique message that your video wishes to express about MOI?" (Unique here is defined as something that you want to bring out especially). Logically speaking, there are many things in MOI that are worth promoting about; but what exactly are you trying to promote? If you are going to order a plate of rojak because you think that it consists of all tastes; then you are going to fail and look exactly how a rojak resembles.

And, I believe by now all of us would have realised how the masses in MOI were aimming for a 7-9mins of full length video rather than a full animation or a video accompanied by animation. Hence it is going to be competitive.

I don't know what you guys think about how to go about doing the video up; but here's what I want to share. A theory that would make things much easier. The formula goes like this;

-Set a message as the foundation. Be it "The beauty of MOI" or whatever, choose it wisely; as at the end of the day, this is where your video and your story is build upon.

-Create the story according to your message. Ensures that the story is a medium that enables the surfacing of your message clearly; if it does not, don't even think about using that storyline because its going to fail badly.

*If you can actually pass this two points; generally you shouldn't have much problems creating a good video. Although the next thing to consider would be how with the help of a particular style, it actually refines and beautifies your video; bringing out the message in its most crystal clear form to the audience. (I am not very sure about the style thingy, still trying to sort out though).

Here's my idea for MOIP1;

The idea is about how you can create a set of advertisements that are finally combined to reveal the different facets of MOI that are worth promoting about; and each of them were accompanied by cheeky taglines and catchy short storylines to capture the attention and to entertain the audiences. And of course; as Alphie was telling me how it is like a compendium of advertisements. But I had in mind wondering that perhaps the audiences might prefer a set of short and interesting advertisements rather than a long-winded video that only wishes to express one single message? Hmm, that would have to be proven to the client/lecturers through the studies of surveys and interviews I guess. But this is an unconventional way; and in fact Boonchong and Kenny, together with me, were eagerly anticipating how this idea would really turn out to be.

An in depth detail to the content of the video that we are making;

(Sample) 1. The story tells of how a student encounters an event about how he wanted to have a huge fart in a room full of other students engaging in works while he was doing up his final production for a video. And just as he was struggling inside himself; he heard the magnificent sound produced faintly by the brushing of leaves; and ahead of him was an enthralling vision of lush green lands covered richly with short beautiful trees. And he thought he has and is alone in this quiet garden, and so he released the gas in his stomach; a long, huge one that is so deep that it would have utterly disgusted himself if not for the heavenly garden he was in. But no sooner, the music faded and he found himself amidst the room full of students in distress of the need to grasp for clean air, while the others had fought hard with the now diffused methane gas by pinching their noses while giving the protagonist a ridiculous look. This is when the tagline "In MOI, you can release it anywhere, any time." appears.

Well the aim of the advertisement is to promote MOI, and specifically in a delusional way of telling the audience how in MOI, you will be able to create beautiful scenes and audio sounds that even yourself can be amazed and be fully captured by it. It is the truth that is in MOI, but the message was not put plainly across to the audience; while leaving the audience some room to ponder about the message behind the idea and at the same time, giving them a sense of entertainment.

Of course the video would not have started and ended just with advertisements. Things such as an Introduction, or an ending would be necessary to package the set of advertisements properly into seemingly like a one final product. And if need be, an illustration of the set of advertisements or the repackaging of the advertisements in to a story would do good.

I am currently watching lots of Superbowl advertisements though; just to get a feel of how those advertisements were like. But I guess what I really have to consider would be the "Context" and the variable tastes of advertisements that would entertain the audiences. That should be all for today, thanks for being in the post with me; enjoy.

Haowei

Quote of the day: "
In much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. " - Unknown.

Day 12.

Hihihihihihihihi. Kenny here.

Day 12 of our MoiP already. Today is day 2 of our presentation of our ideas. Yes i presented today and it was so so only. Haha yes i admit my second idea was not really well planned. Actually i jus thought of it the morning before! Yes. I think my first idea could work out well with abit more planning. Like i said in an earlier post, it is going to be an animation + video thing. I have already wrote about it before but this is the clearer and edited version.

It starts out with a silhouette walking in a deserted alley. This part is going to be 2d animation, which can be done with Adobe flash. The silhouette looks lost. He walks down the alley and discovers a nostalgic looking door. The door has strange symbols carved on its edges. On the top the door, is a rusted plate which says MOI but is faded and the silhouette squints. He gives a shrug, and walks in. It is very dark in the room. The only things visible are the silhouette's eyes which are glowing. The silhouette stumbles and barely makes out the outline of a treasure chest. He bends down and feels the treasure chest, and opens it. A glowing effect is used here. A video will start rolling and first shows our team making the words MOI from coloured stones on an open field. This is taken from a high perspective and sepia is used. After the team forms finish the word MOI, it will burst into full colour.

At the start, we will interview Moses. The question would be - What do you think is MOI. Moses would give a candid and interesting answer. We will den start rolling in our topics. For example, one of my chosen modules is drawing essentials. The video will be a handicam held at waist level and walks all the way to the 5th floor drawing essentials room. All this time the silhouette will find himself in the video but he is invisible to everyone else. We will here showcase our students work and use voiceovers of our teamates on their view on what the module is like. Near the end after showcasing all our teammates work and opinions, the silhouette sees a bright light and everything changes back to the dark room. He looks down and sees the treasure chest unopened. He walks out of the dark room and looks at the sign. The word plate Moving Images now is shiny and colourful. The silhouette finally gains form. Beside the plate a word animation 'See you here!' flies out.

This would be my idea haha! Alot of the time, in the animation part, interesting sounds will be used to catch the audience's attention. Time to work on DesignHnC. Till 3 days later!

Quote of the day:
I envy people who drink. At least they have something to blame everything on.
Oscar Levant

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Day 11.

Ok, It's my turn again. Well, for today, there is not much to write about as it was presentation for final two ideas today. Ok, for class time, we had presentation and basically what was said was people's final idea that they came up with and the reasons for doing so with storyline plot and so forth. Amanda said to us that we concentrated much on the style's we are doing instead of giving a good clear storyline. That is, she gave an example stating that it would be better than we gave a good storyline then a flashy style of doing it adding effects and stuff and that without storyline it would seem as an white elephant effect.

So, ya. Point taken. It seems that everyone's presentation touched more on the style of doing the idea rather then to explore on storyline. (That's what I noticed) Surely, as written above, yes storyline has been magnified greatly in a making of a good video. And i agree. Storyline first and then we can work on to the style we are doing. However, style is something that is important in showing how different our works are from the rest. But regardless, this can be thought of later rather then current because storyline is the main thing in mind now and for how our styles would be like. So yes, Amanda certainly made a point there in showing us that storyline for now is most important compared to other aspects of the video.

So, ya about my presentation, it is still rather not clear on how I am going to approach my idea's yet. I asked if i could do still photographs as a video but was rejected. And so I had to approach one new idea. But, for the other, it is about a group of cops solving a new case that as been presented to them. These cops will then start to find clues about it and go around the school searching for clues that will help them solve the crime. And these so called "clues" are then our portfolio. So in describing these "clues" they start to talk about the work and then each of us will have time talking about it. So, when these clues start to add up, all of our chosen portfolio will be introduced as well as going through the crime and almost reaching to the end of the story whereby the mastermind is found and it is a person from another school whereby he/she came to steal works and wanted to use them for his/her own assignment. And was caught at the end and so forth apologised. Ending the story.

Sounds will play a big part fast and slow paced, with some explosive starts to the video. Of course, camera angles would be important too. Budget wise isn't that important I guess as not much props are needed. And that's about it for today and for my first idea.

Let's hope i do well for my presentation tomorrow!

Here is your daily dose of quote:
"Those who know do not tell; those who tell do not know."
Lao Tzu

Friday, February 13, 2009

Day10.

Good evening, I will be sharing today again.

Things were so peaceful and quiet today eventhough I was still recovering from the aftereffects of the presentation on wednesday. And what was left behind now was but a bunch of entangling-tossled knots that had nearly made me lost every bit of my sanity; we aren't really able to address the issue of bridging the gap of young and old directly are we? If any of you guys that are reading this current post; someone who had witness the discussion on thursday; those questions I asked were questions to me that can't be solved too, so apparently I was trying to look for answers from you guys too lol. Yeah, pardon me for being a hardcore gunslinger or whatever you call it, I was hoping that you know; there's really a solid answer to those questions.

My self evaluation from this event is that; it seems like all of us are trying hard to be coming out with design solutions, but nevertheless; there are always flaws after another, and those that are found in yet another, you've got to keep coming up with new solutions repeatedly like that of an endless cycle. A good explaination would be looking into how from the main objective of solving communication issues to the perfection of handphone models and its utilities has led to yet another new objective or aim which all in all would be easily summarised into one single unreachable target or goal. Good luck to us as designers, and embrace the never-ending journey of perfection.


Enough of nonsense, here's more nonsensical information on the rough update of my work ;


I wondered how it feels like being an aged elderly. Does it feel as if I am detached from this globalizing world if I were to be one of them? Will I still know or understand this familiar yet estranged world that was once my home? What will I feel when recalling the old memories, was it melancholic eventhough the recount were full of happy events worth celebrating and to reminisce; or has the recall made me further saddened with bitterness? Are my eyes and ears still as openminded or has it turned old and conservative; or was it purely about the merciless swiftness of time of which my mind and heart was not prepared? What would be the last thing that I would thought of and how would I feel as when I am near death? *Random stuffs you might wonder, but these are the ideas of my ideas; and the answers of my answers.

Here are some interesting pictures from World of Warcraft's new expansion pack: Wrath of the Lich King. Among my ideas for Final Assignment, one of them is similarly attributed to how World of Warcraft is for it's design and its style. So these pictures

is actually a glimpse of how my idea roughly looks like or feels like.

The content of the idea will be presented on monday, so I can't release it here yet. Thanks for reading the post; enjoy your day.

Haowei

Quote of the day:
“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1).”



Thursday, February 12, 2009

Day 9

Hihihihihihihihi. Kenny here.

This is day 9 of Moip1. Schedule is getting tighter as they days grow shorter. Plan, plan, plan. Next monday is presentation of individual ideas. And the production of our final would start. STRESS AHH. Mmmm, some sotong, potato wedges and beer can help : D

Okay. Today we had a talk by wahidah at LT 24. It concerned our final assignment and many things were explained in detail and cleared much of our doubts. Firstly the final had to be in a video format, that means animatics were not quite appropriate. We had to let go the idea of animatics so.. we will embark on a tough mission ==> to do a full 7-9 minutes animation!!! No we are not mad. The ideas have been set already, stuffs are carefully planned out.. All that we need are endurance, patience and determination.

I will stop here for the time being as i m a little sick. 100% effort must be put in for the best results. NO the beer is not taking its toll.

Quote of the day:
If you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong.
Mo Udall <--yes very nice name

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Day 8.

Ok, today was not the best day ever. I would not be the last to admit our work was not great. Other facts to include that it is not easy to work out certain issues for some and for some others. K. Whatever, today was presentation for third age council. I guess our group was a tat long-winded in the presentation but ya it is to present. Our idea of gameshows or rather broadcasted on tv seems to not be too great with our lecturer but ya, we understand. So, just suck it up and try harder the next assignment then. It's over anyway so just let it go taken it as an experience for the future.

And yes, the entire lesson concluded on when everyone's presentation was over. So we listened to everyone's idea on their third age council program and some of them were quite impressive, I must say. Ok, So let's move on. Amanda said there would be a 12:30pm class at LT24?(I believe) for issues concerning the Animatic. Cause some lecturers did things differently and all the classes seemed to be jumbled about it including ME! So ya it is a good opportunity to clear things out of the way since we will be starting on it sooner then later already. And about that, I am worried about the animatic that Hao Wei has mentioned though. Whether we would be finish a 7-9 min of that. But, lets hope we take a day off and seriously think it over instead of just choosing it randomly because, there is time constraints and for me and kenny there is 2 modules to work on currently for the block and we might not be that free to do it. Since when we finish, it will be 6pm and 2d animation labs would be closed. So, looking/discussing for a more proper feasible way to approach this would be nice. Not that I disagree, But, handing in a half finished project still would not be great fun for us and the lecturers if the time deem us to just do that.

I like the animatic idea. No question. Just that, with the manpower and manhours available certain elements need to be in check for it to happen. Certainly, whatever happens, I hope for the best possible solution and the best result that can happen in doing the animatic. Cheers if we finish. Cheers again when we finished. Let's not keep our heads down. But rather learn from every experience.

Written By:
Boon Chong (B.C.)

"
You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind."
Author Unknown