Making the Blob Wait

After we'd drafted the character, we had to animate it... doing nothing. I made the stage the resolution of an iPhone 6 screen (1080 x 1920) then grabbed the sketch of my character front on from the model sheet and converted it into a symbol. Then I made it get slightly bigger and then return to its original state using motion tweens. This gave the illusion of it breathing. To improve, this animation, I'd like to make the character blink at random.

Character Draft

In lesson we had to create a character to later animate. I kept it fairly simple and made this blob. It changes colour when feeling different emotions (red=angry, green=envy, blue=sad etc.). I first drew him as a doodle (pictured below) when I got sidetracked from trying to draw a human.

I liked the look of it so developed it into a character, and drew it from many different angles on this model sheet, with some different expressions and the colours that go with them.

Shape Tweens

To create a shape tween I drew my initials with the brush tool, then went 10 frames ahead and drew my initials in a wavy style. Inbetween these two frames (frame 5) I clicked and selected 'Create Shape Tween'. This was the end result:

Motion Tweens

For this task we had to use motion tweens. I made an animation of 2 cars racing. Motion tweens are a simple way of animating an object which is fairly effortless compared to frame by frame animation. To do it, I drew a car and duplicated it to make a second in a different colour, then converted them both to symbols. Then, in the timeline I right-clicked the frame with the car on and chose "Create Motion Tween", then I moved the car to the finishing point. I did this for the other car and drew a background. Lastly, I double clicked on the motion tween in the timeline and added 'ease' so that the cars sped up smoothly.

Evaluation - FlipDeck

This is a picture of the final prototype for the board game 'FlipDeck', that me and my group decided to make after getting the brief. Our task was to design and produce a prototype for an original board game/reworking of an original title. There were guidelines for the product and we managed to overcome all of these. The idea for FlipDeck came about because me and Max are both skaters. We downscaled a game we play on our skateboards to a small board game scale. After coming up with the initial idea, we did some research to check there were no similar games on the market (online and in shops), then tweaked the game so it fitted the brief and was playable. With a group of four, we were able to get the prototype created fairly quickly, and we didn't come into any problems with technicalities.

Overall I would rate the product a success, which could work as a real game on the market. One thing that it could improve on however was the skill level it takes to play the game, making it hard to play for a wide audience range. To improve this we could add a dice with much easier tricks. If we had more time to respond to the brief we would have sourced and created proper dice as opposed to paper ones, and would have put more effort into the rule book. Nevertheless, I think this was an effective idea which worked well as a board game.

Production

For this project, I didn't need to record any wild tracks separately to add in to my project, as the report would just contain the reporters speech and idents created digitally.

I didn't need much administration for this project. All I had to record was 3 different news stories and an introduction and outro. I planned this by writing a script that could be read off.

When I composited the report in Premiere to take out the parts I didn't need and add idents, I made sure that the audio levels were suitable throughout by checking the Master Audio Levels. I adjusted the sound of all my clips so that they were around -6dB at all times, so no clipping occured.

Here's a screenshot of my timeline:

I also made album art for this news report so that at first glance the listener knows what the thing they've downloaded is. It also makes the report more professional.

Evaluation

Overall I think that this project went fairly well and was quite easy. The end product ended up sounding professional and is an effective broadcast which communicates short news pieces well with the listener. One thing which I could've improved on is equipment. I used a zoom h4n microphone to record the broadcast but I could've used an additional external mic connected to the Zoom for clearer speech recording. This would've been the most fitting setup for a news report.

Something which worked well was the script which made the report sound realistic and professional. This is because in my research I found examples of news reports and took note of how the reporters welcome in the audience and the language they use. 

Another thing which I could've improved is the ident, as it is very simple. I could've made it longer or added drums or something similar, similar to the idents I found when researching for this project. I made it using Logic Pro X (screenshot below). 

As you can see from this screenshot, the ident is only made from a simple melody and two chords. If I do this again I could try and use more complex chords or additional instruments.

In conclusion, I found this project fairly easy, however I should have spent more time planning the technical side so that I could have used the most effective equipment and more time making the ident.

Designing my Brief

For this media product, I will be making a factual radio broadcast (non-fiction) which quickly reports on a few news stories. There will be one reporter who communicates with the audience. It will begin and end with a musical ident made with Logic Pro X and will be recorded using a Zoom H4N microphone. The musical ident will help listeners identify that this piece of audio is a news broadcast. I will composite the broadcast together in Adobe Premiere and upload it to soundcloud.

Script

This is Bath College news with Aiden May.

An ancient city has been unearthed by archeologists in Egypt. It lies by the River Nile, and experts say that the city dates back more than 5,000 years and contains houses, tools, pottery and huge graves.

It is believed that this location was home to important officials and tomb builders who may have been involved in the construction of royal graves in the nearby sacred city of Abydos.

St Gregory's school in Bath was forced to cancel all of its after school clubs on Wednesday October 12th after the a threat was made on social media. Police were forced to step up patrols at the school, as the threat received was from a 'killer clown'. The killer clown craze began in the United States, but sightings of clowns holding fake weapons and airguns have been reported in the UK - most recently in Keynsham near Bath.

Headteacher Ann Cusack issued a letter to all parents stating that they took the report seriously and followed council safeguarding guidelines. The email sent stated that 'all students would be sent straight home after school and all after school clubs and fixtures were cancelled.'

Police have warned clown pranksters they are risking a criminal record.

Lastly, three young suspected joyriders from Bath have been charged with vehicle crime offences after a stolen Porsche was found in a hedge in West Harptree. Police were alerted at 3.15am on Friday the 18th November that a Porsche 911 had collided with a hedge in Harptree Hill, 15 miles from Bath. The three suspects were later arrested at 5.45am on the A368 in Bishop Sutton.

This has been Bath College news with Aiden May, thank you for listening.

Copyright & Release

When creating my report, I plan to use snippets of audio and maybe some background music, as well as a musical ident. These things will need to be sourced, which raises the issue of copyright. The three most common types of copyright are:

• Creative Commons - This is a license where a copyrighted work is enabled to be used/distributed for free. Its used when an author wants to give people the right to share, use, and build upon a work that they have created.

• Royalty Free - Can use the material/intellectual property without paying royalties or license fees
• Fair Use - Where content is used to criticise or comment on

For my project, I'm going to source my material from various places online, dependent on what it is. Because it's a factual news report, I'll use some audio snippets related to the news that will be reported on, which I should be able to find on YouTube. These snippets will be fair use as they're only short extracts being commented on.

For background music and the ident, I will use royalty free/creative commons music which can be sourced from a range of websites online:
https://creativecommons.org/about/program-areas/arts-culture/arts-culture-resources/music-communities/

http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

http://www.purple-planet.com/

I aim to make the ident using a DAW on the college computers such as Logic Pro X or Ableton Live, which means that the content will be made by me and not at risk of copyright issues.

Board Game Brief Analysis

For this task we've been given a brief which asks us to design and produce a board game prototype in small teams or as individuals. I feel working as a team for this task will be more effective and productive as it will allow us to share ideas and help each other create. It also means that someone who might not be very good at a certain aspect of the task could be helped by a different team member who excels at it and vice versa. Therefore for this task I think I'll work in a small team.

There are some parameters concerning the board game production which are:


-The board must be no bigger than A3


This should be fairly easy to work with as for the task we're expected to use photoshop. The only thing to keep in mind is scale when working on a screen as it will be translated into a real life board.



-It should not be harmful or hazardous in any way


This will change depending on the target audience however the ergonomics of the board and pieces should be considered to ensure that they aren't sharp and that pieces aren't too small.

There are also some object requirements which are:


-The game must include traditional elements (such as playing pieces)

To follow this requirement I will have to do some research into the common conventions of playing pieces and the most effective to use considering the style and target audience.

-Must have a clear target audience

This will either be a game for adults, families, elderly people or children. When doing research I will decide the best audience to choose with my team.

-Must have a clear product identity which includes an effective logo, name, colour scheme and style


This will be achieved with trial and error in photoshop, along with research of other effective board game designs and considering the target audience.

Characterisation - Nerve

Protagonist - Vee (Emma Roberts)

Vee works as a protagonist because she's a shy character who keeps to herself and doesn't take risks. This is focused on in the opening of the film so that when it's flipped on it's head the audience is shocked. Her brother also died some time ago so she has a strong relationship with her mother. When she decides to take risks on this app the film becomes very exciting. Another thing which makes Vee a good character is that she's an average teenage girl, enabling the audience to relate to her. With the films target audience being teenagers, this works very well. Vee is also a lonely character without much of a love life, so when a potential partner is introduced during the film, the audience become more engaged. Lastly Emma Roberts acts as a kind, intelligent and thoughtful character so the audience build a liking to her and want her to have the best possible outcome in the situations presented to her in the film.

Antagonist - Nerve App (Not a person)

The truth or dare based app 'Nerve' is what the film revolves around, and acts as a good protagonist in the film. Immediately it comes across as slightly strange and shady but relatively fitting in with other websites and apps. As the plot goes on the app takes a dark turn putting the protagonist and other users of the app in danger. It's also uncovered that the app has a shady history and has existed in previous years. Because the antagonist is an app and not a person, it is a lot more powerful and scary as it cannot be 'killed' and its power is unknown. It also adds a level of mysteriousness as it's unknown who or what is behind the app and controlling it. The main thing which makes this
application an effective antagonist however is the realism of it. The idea of an app like this being real is very possible and could have the same dangerous effects, making it all the more scarier.