I will be submitting my portfolio soon. I know that this is the best that I can do for now given that I don't really have much time to make any changes any more.
Worked through the night rendering, compressing, converting, burning videos. What a tedious process. At least through all this, I know my stuff better now. Ask me about videos? No problem. I learnt from my mistakes in this module, and from my classmates. I really, really learnt alot, so much more than the other modules I have taken this semester. I have also made good friends from class, especially my group members, and I have them to thank for being able to come this far without much prior knowledge about video. I've always been more of a design for print person.
Like in NM2208, we never know what mistakes or what we left out unless we show it to others to help us see. Take for example our CNM promotional video. During in-class critique, we asked the class if they thought certain sections of the video took too long to transit. The class didn't think it was fast, and that was because it was the first time they saw it. But for us, we felt that it was long and because we've been watching the video for goodness how many times, we don't notice alot of things. More like, we became numb to the video.
Other than learning about video, I learnt how to present my videos. The one which I spent most effort on the presentation part was my Superhero video - SuperFeero. I know that giving viewers only visual pleasure was not enough, I had to also explore the auditory aspects of a video. And as I have mentioned quite a few times in this module, I get my inspiration from Tom & Jerry cartoons. These cartoons, despite having minimal dialogues and movements (they are drawn anyway) are able to evoke different types of senses in the viewer. I love watching Tom & Jerry not only because it is funny, but also because I liked the way they had an orchestra to accompany the cartoon. Totally fabulous planning and choreography.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone in this class, especially Dr Julian and my group members, for making my last semester in NUS such a memorable and fun one. Thank you everyone.
:]
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Portfolio Woes
I've been trying to burn my files onto a dvd-rw for the whole day and each time, it can't be played on a dvd player. As I wait for the com to format the disc again, I don't know what else can I do except wait. This is really quite frustrating.
Assignment 3 - Ken Burns Effect (Part 3)
Based on the comments given on ivle, I've made changes to both my videos.
For the cnm video, I've made the picture sizes consistent by zooming only until the picture fits the frame. I realised that having black 'pillars' in some of the footages really kind of spoils the video. So, that's gone now :]
In the nus video, the first most noticeable mistake was the audio track. Due to my own ignorance, I had altered the volume in AfterEffects. So when the video started, the music was way louder than it is supposed to, resulting in a 'cracked-speakers' effect that was crappy and caused the video to have a low quality effect. I only realised this mistake after the lecture on sound, and I'm glad Dr Julian had that lecture, or I wouldn't had known what was the problem. I had initially rendered both videos and no audio came out, so I thought I had to adjust the volume. It was because of some setting in AE though, not the audio volume. Anyway so now the audio is much better.
The music I chose has some rather meaningful lyrics. I don't know how to bring it out though. I wanted to put subtitles or something, but then I realised it would be too confusing to watch as the lyrics will be taking attention away from the pictures. So I think I shall just leave it as it is.
I've also extended some of the footages so that people can catch them properly. I've also added another picture of the nus identity, to further reinforce the nus spirit, following the comment on ivle.
For the cnm video, I've made the picture sizes consistent by zooming only until the picture fits the frame. I realised that having black 'pillars' in some of the footages really kind of spoils the video. So, that's gone now :]
In the nus video, the first most noticeable mistake was the audio track. Due to my own ignorance, I had altered the volume in AfterEffects. So when the video started, the music was way louder than it is supposed to, resulting in a 'cracked-speakers' effect that was crappy and caused the video to have a low quality effect. I only realised this mistake after the lecture on sound, and I'm glad Dr Julian had that lecture, or I wouldn't had known what was the problem. I had initially rendered both videos and no audio came out, so I thought I had to adjust the volume. It was because of some setting in AE though, not the audio volume. Anyway so now the audio is much better.
The music I chose has some rather meaningful lyrics. I don't know how to bring it out though. I wanted to put subtitles or something, but then I realised it would be too confusing to watch as the lyrics will be taking attention away from the pictures. So I think I shall just leave it as it is.
I've also extended some of the footages so that people can catch them properly. I've also added another picture of the nus identity, to further reinforce the nus spirit, following the comment on ivle.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Assignment 6 - Superhero video (Part 4)
After the critique session.
The class laughed at my video, which is good because it means I have achieved what I intended. Dr Julian wondered about the scene where I was in the toilet, but yes, it was all real. I didn't do anything special to the video at all because I didn't really know how to. The keying out of the blue screen was already the greatest test if my AE skills.
Watching fellow classmates' videos, I realised most of them had really cool effects and their videos were so much more interesting. I think that was why Dr Julian wanted me to make my character dissolve into particles when teleporting.
I tried doing that by using masks and applying the effect on it, but it couldn't work on all scenes. So there are only some parts where I dissolve, other parts where I simply fade out. I still don't really know the workings of AE afterall, despite having read up on as many guidebooks on AE as possible.
At least now my video has sort of a balance of both camera trickery and special effects from AE. I think that was what Dr Julian wants us all to achieve, machine-made effects applied to real footages to enhance the video. It also made my video look abit more polished :]
Here's my video on youtube. Enjoy (and comment)!
The class laughed at my video, which is good because it means I have achieved what I intended. Dr Julian wondered about the scene where I was in the toilet, but yes, it was all real. I didn't do anything special to the video at all because I didn't really know how to. The keying out of the blue screen was already the greatest test if my AE skills.
Watching fellow classmates' videos, I realised most of them had really cool effects and their videos were so much more interesting. I think that was why Dr Julian wanted me to make my character dissolve into particles when teleporting.
I tried doing that by using masks and applying the effect on it, but it couldn't work on all scenes. So there are only some parts where I dissolve, other parts where I simply fade out. I still don't really know the workings of AE afterall, despite having read up on as many guidebooks on AE as possible.
At least now my video has sort of a balance of both camera trickery and special effects from AE. I think that was what Dr Julian wants us all to achieve, machine-made effects applied to real footages to enhance the video. It also made my video look abit more polished :]
Here's my video on youtube. Enjoy (and comment)!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Final Project - NUS
I like our NUS promotional video so much more than the CNM one. I think it's more interesting, and also because we spent more time on it than on the CNM video. We made some changes since our pre-production documentation, like the business student one because it was quite true that relating NUS business students to karang guni men was not exactly very glamourous.
We filmed the scenes over 3-4 days, separated outdoors and indoors. As we didn't have enough people, we had to enlist the help of Chu Yao, Canisius and Jia Hwa again. Even my sister came to help. We were lucky that for the indoor shots we managed to get an empty place, the SoC students' lounge. For that part there wasn't much problem at all. For the outdoors shot, it began drizzling a little halfway through the filming and our work was delayed for awhile. But we still managed to get it done in one day as the rain didn't last very long, luckily for us. That's the problem with outdoor shots, the unpredictability of weather. Especially in Singapore, we never know when it will rain, or when it will shine. We need to milk every minute that we possibly can.
During this time, we still have not come up with a proper idea for our business student, so after filming, we would always head back indoors to discuss and do post-production work. We couldn't really split the work for these projects, as there was only one raw footage to rip, which took some time, and then one person had to cut out the footage and delegate the jobs.
I got the idea of using SecondLife tutorials to promote the business faculty as I felt that it could both promote the faculty and also NUS. We felt that having tutorials in SecondLife would appeal to prospective students and so should use it in our video somehow. However, SecondLife tutorials are not held everyday, and permission needs to be granted before a student can have access. Thankfully, one of my friends will be having a SecondLife tutorial the next day. As I only found out about them having classes the night before, there was a mad scramble for me and meiyuan to attain permission to access the tutorial and also to film the process using an onscreen capture program. We're thankful for the tutor who granted us access even though everything was so last minute and unprepared. Nevertheless, we got what we needed and there we have, our Business student idea.
Another part of the video and filming process was that we wanted to link each scene together. We achieved this by having a recurring object/scene from the previous scene in order to achieve a smooth transition. However, this means that each shot must be planned carefully beforehand and we had to remember where the object left eh frame, ie. left frame or right frame? This helped ensure that we had a seamless video.
The result of all our hard work and late nights: our very own NUS promotional video. Hope you enjoy it!
We filmed the scenes over 3-4 days, separated outdoors and indoors. As we didn't have enough people, we had to enlist the help of Chu Yao, Canisius and Jia Hwa again. Even my sister came to help. We were lucky that for the indoor shots we managed to get an empty place, the SoC students' lounge. For that part there wasn't much problem at all. For the outdoors shot, it began drizzling a little halfway through the filming and our work was delayed for awhile. But we still managed to get it done in one day as the rain didn't last very long, luckily for us. That's the problem with outdoor shots, the unpredictability of weather. Especially in Singapore, we never know when it will rain, or when it will shine. We need to milk every minute that we possibly can.
During this time, we still have not come up with a proper idea for our business student, so after filming, we would always head back indoors to discuss and do post-production work. We couldn't really split the work for these projects, as there was only one raw footage to rip, which took some time, and then one person had to cut out the footage and delegate the jobs.
I got the idea of using SecondLife tutorials to promote the business faculty as I felt that it could both promote the faculty and also NUS. We felt that having tutorials in SecondLife would appeal to prospective students and so should use it in our video somehow. However, SecondLife tutorials are not held everyday, and permission needs to be granted before a student can have access. Thankfully, one of my friends will be having a SecondLife tutorial the next day. As I only found out about them having classes the night before, there was a mad scramble for me and meiyuan to attain permission to access the tutorial and also to film the process using an onscreen capture program. We're thankful for the tutor who granted us access even though everything was so last minute and unprepared. Nevertheless, we got what we needed and there we have, our Business student idea.
Another part of the video and filming process was that we wanted to link each scene together. We achieved this by having a recurring object/scene from the previous scene in order to achieve a smooth transition. However, this means that each shot must be planned carefully beforehand and we had to remember where the object left eh frame, ie. left frame or right frame? This helped ensure that we had a seamless video.
The result of all our hard work and late nights: our very own NUS promotional video. Hope you enjoy it!
Final Project - CNM
I realised I haven't blogged about our NUS and CNM promotional videos!
For the CNM video, we interviewed Mr Mustaffa Ehsan and his friend from Ogilvy PR. This was the very first time I experienced true outdoor filming, carrying the camera and tripod around. However, we noticed that the interview often strays off the topic of CNM and this resulted in alot of footages being not very useful for our project. Moreover, the entire interview was about 19min long, and no one would want to watch such a long interview video right?
So what do we do with 19min of interview footage? We sift out the goodies and use his face but not the entire interview.
We finally brainstormed an idea for our CNM video, which was to depict the progression of media over the past ten years, just like how the CNM Programme has developed and evolved with the times and educated students in this area. So the video goes like this: We first show how an interview would be covered by the media in old media formats like radio, newspaper, magazine. Then we move on to new media formats like the computer and social networking via the Internet. Basically, we are trying to present the evolution of communications to the mass audience.
We used static images to combine with the video footage, clearly showing how new media students work in NUS, another aspect which we hope shows through in the video.
For the CNM video, we interviewed Mr Mustaffa Ehsan and his friend from Ogilvy PR. This was the very first time I experienced true outdoor filming, carrying the camera and tripod around. However, we noticed that the interview often strays off the topic of CNM and this resulted in alot of footages being not very useful for our project. Moreover, the entire interview was about 19min long, and no one would want to watch such a long interview video right?
So what do we do with 19min of interview footage? We sift out the goodies and use his face but not the entire interview.
We finally brainstormed an idea for our CNM video, which was to depict the progression of media over the past ten years, just like how the CNM Programme has developed and evolved with the times and educated students in this area. So the video goes like this: We first show how an interview would be covered by the media in old media formats like radio, newspaper, magazine. Then we move on to new media formats like the computer and social networking via the Internet. Basically, we are trying to present the evolution of communications to the mass audience.
We used static images to combine with the video footage, clearly showing how new media students work in NUS, another aspect which we hope shows through in the video.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Assignment 6 - Superhero video (Part 3)
Time to do post-production editing.
I tried to edit the footage using AfterFx. And I failed. I couldn't get the result that I wanted.
So I tried to edit in PremierePro. But I didn't know how to use it.
Switched back to AfterFx to try again, and again, I failed.
Back to PremierePro. Sought for help from Meiyuan, who seemed to know everything.
Within 15minutes, I knew how to extract the footages and more or less understood how PremierePro worked. Thanks to meiyuan! So I worked on my video and exported it into AfterFx. It was much easier for me to work in AfterFx as I was more familiar with it. However, I am not skilled in it to the extent that I can make flowers sprout out from the sky or anything, just making text inserts and manipulate timing issues. AfterFx is tedious though. To make just a simple transition I need to adjust keyframes until they are perfect, and make sure that there are no times when the screen is empty between footages unless I specifically want it.
After placing all the necessary transitions, I decided that I want to make the video into something like a video of a comic book, with comic book-like fonts (like those in marvel comics).
Then it was time to source for audio for the video. Initially I had wanted to put just one soundtrack for the entire video. But then I couldn't find a quirky enough track to fit the effect I wanted my video to have. So I thought back about Tom and Jerry, where they have an orchestra that played along to the actions in the video. So I decided to source for specific sound effects for different points in the video. I had to use different keywords to search for a sound effect that suited the video. My desktop was plastered with many audio files which could be used for my video.
After that, I had to import the audio into AfterFx and test each file out. Some tracks were too long, some too short. There was one where it was too short but I wanted to use it. So I duplicated it and cut the end of the track to make it transition into the duplicate track as seamlessly as possible. (Also remembering my mistake in Assignment 3, I didn't dare to do anything to the volume of the audio.)
Finally, the video is complete! Uploaded onto Youtube and the server and will wait for comments during critique session in class. I definitely learnt more about using AfterFx and matching audio with footage in this assignment.
I tried to edit the footage using AfterFx. And I failed. I couldn't get the result that I wanted.
So I tried to edit in PremierePro. But I didn't know how to use it.
Switched back to AfterFx to try again, and again, I failed.
Back to PremierePro. Sought for help from Meiyuan, who seemed to know everything.
Within 15minutes, I knew how to extract the footages and more or less understood how PremierePro worked. Thanks to meiyuan! So I worked on my video and exported it into AfterFx. It was much easier for me to work in AfterFx as I was more familiar with it. However, I am not skilled in it to the extent that I can make flowers sprout out from the sky or anything, just making text inserts and manipulate timing issues. AfterFx is tedious though. To make just a simple transition I need to adjust keyframes until they are perfect, and make sure that there are no times when the screen is empty between footages unless I specifically want it.
After placing all the necessary transitions, I decided that I want to make the video into something like a video of a comic book, with comic book-like fonts (like those in marvel comics).
Then it was time to source for audio for the video. Initially I had wanted to put just one soundtrack for the entire video. But then I couldn't find a quirky enough track to fit the effect I wanted my video to have. So I thought back about Tom and Jerry, where they have an orchestra that played along to the actions in the video. So I decided to source for specific sound effects for different points in the video. I had to use different keywords to search for a sound effect that suited the video. My desktop was plastered with many audio files which could be used for my video.
After that, I had to import the audio into AfterFx and test each file out. Some tracks were too long, some too short. There was one where it was too short but I wanted to use it. So I duplicated it and cut the end of the track to make it transition into the duplicate track as seamlessly as possible. (Also remembering my mistake in Assignment 3, I didn't dare to do anything to the volume of the audio.)
Finally, the video is complete! Uploaded onto Youtube and the server and will wait for comments during critique session in class. I definitely learnt more about using AfterFx and matching audio with footage in this assignment.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Assignment 6 - Superhero video (Part 2)
Filming on saturday! Boy, I don't think I was ever that excited before.
Since we were part of each others' video, we took turns filming. Lugging the camera and tripod, we filmed meiyuan's part first.
I never knew how hard it was to actually be filming something. The scenes need to be carefully planned, position, lighting, and especially so since we were using bluescreen for some parts. The lighting needs to be consistent. It is also important that we are filming with the post-production in mind, because we needed to know what we can do and what we will need to do to the footages. For example, my teleportation scenes with clean background needs to be in the same position as when I'm in the scene. I am able to tweak the position slightly in AfterFx, but there is a limit to what I can do as I want to keep the footage realistic-looking.
We had alot of no-good shots, because our expressions were not good enough, not clear, there were unwanted things in the scene, etc etc. When it came to my turn, I was stuck some time because I didn't know exactly what angle or things I wanted in my video. There was alot of improvisation too, because I had not visualised filming on location, only how it looked like on the storyboard. On the storyboard it was just paper and transiting from frame to frame. But on video, the images are not static anymore. Everything that I did while the recording button was on meant that those footage will be captured. So we had alot of shots of me walking away, laughing, face looking funny, and so on. There were also scenes of guanjie running back and forth due to positioning problems.
Overall, I understood camera angles better after the filming, and I'm thankful to my group members who helped me film my video. :]
Since we were part of each others' video, we took turns filming. Lugging the camera and tripod, we filmed meiyuan's part first.
I never knew how hard it was to actually be filming something. The scenes need to be carefully planned, position, lighting, and especially so since we were using bluescreen for some parts. The lighting needs to be consistent. It is also important that we are filming with the post-production in mind, because we needed to know what we can do and what we will need to do to the footages. For example, my teleportation scenes with clean background needs to be in the same position as when I'm in the scene. I am able to tweak the position slightly in AfterFx, but there is a limit to what I can do as I want to keep the footage realistic-looking.
We had alot of no-good shots, because our expressions were not good enough, not clear, there were unwanted things in the scene, etc etc. When it came to my turn, I was stuck some time because I didn't know exactly what angle or things I wanted in my video. There was alot of improvisation too, because I had not visualised filming on location, only how it looked like on the storyboard. On the storyboard it was just paper and transiting from frame to frame. But on video, the images are not static anymore. Everything that I did while the recording button was on meant that those footage will be captured. So we had alot of shots of me walking away, laughing, face looking funny, and so on. There were also scenes of guanjie running back and forth due to positioning problems.
Overall, I understood camera angles better after the filming, and I'm thankful to my group members who helped me film my video. :]
Friday, March 20, 2009
Assignment 6 - Superhero video (Part 1)
An assignment that sounds interesting, but also sounds very tedious to do.
First, we had to come up with our storyboard. Knowing that my AfterEffects skills aren't that good, I tried to think of ways I can still create a superhero video without exposing my weakness in this area. Initially, I thought of having the 'time-reversal' skill, whereby I just film things backwards and use it as my superpower. It was easy and I could do it. However, I couldn't think of a good enough story to complement the power.
Then guanjie and meiyuan asked if we should combine our stories and make it into sort of like a different perspective video. We met online and discussed our storyline. So it was setttled that I would have teleportation powers, but it would be malfunctioning most of the time. The general idea was to have fun with our videos and make it interesting for others to watch.
I drew the storyboard on paper, with my superb stickman drawing skills (NOT). Added one line captions to some of the scenes and hope that the class will understand the story. Will update again after critique!
First, we had to come up with our storyboard. Knowing that my AfterEffects skills aren't that good, I tried to think of ways I can still create a superhero video without exposing my weakness in this area. Initially, I thought of having the 'time-reversal' skill, whereby I just film things backwards and use it as my superpower. It was easy and I could do it. However, I couldn't think of a good enough story to complement the power.
Then guanjie and meiyuan asked if we should combine our stories and make it into sort of like a different perspective video. We met online and discussed our storyline. So it was setttled that I would have teleportation powers, but it would be malfunctioning most of the time. The general idea was to have fun with our videos and make it interesting for others to watch.
I drew the storyboard on paper, with my superb stickman drawing skills (NOT). Added one line captions to some of the scenes and hope that the class will understand the story. Will update again after critique!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Assignment 4 - Pre-production Documentation
For the final project, our group has to create promotional videos for NUS and CNM. In this week's class, we presented our pre-production documentation for the NUS video.
The basic concept of our video is to pique prospective students' interests by presenting them with scenarios which they are not likely to associate with studying or even NUS. For an example, the scene will begin with a person who seems to be gambling. As the video progresses, the viewer will see the caption that this person is a student majoring in Maths and calculating statistics through the study of gambling probabilities.
The main focus during the presentation was on our storyline and how we play with the transitions. It is still rather difficult to tell how the video will turn out until we actually begin filming. However, based on the concept we have in our minds, we are determined that this would work, although of course, we will make changes should there be a better idea.
Dr Julian also mentioned that perhaps our presentation of the business student is not appropriate and would draw flak from the people of the business faculty, so that is one point which we can work on.
From this assignment, I realised that the preparation of a pre-production documentation is really tedious and time-consuming. The script needs to be properly written out, the timeline carefully planned, storyboard accurately depicting the scenes in our video and of course, manpower distribution needs to be equal. We might face difficulty in getting our cast, and therefore need to have a backup plan. Given our time constraints however, the group really needs to meet up effeciently and follow the filming schedule as we need to borrow the camcorder and necessary equipment from the MDL.
Another comment raised by the class was whether we will infringe any copyright issues by using Lego. In my opinion, there shouldn't be any problem as we will not be capitalising on the brand nor product and are not defacing it. Moreover, our friend Esben from Denmark gave us the go-ahead ;p
Filming process will start soon and I will update again when that happens.
The basic concept of our video is to pique prospective students' interests by presenting them with scenarios which they are not likely to associate with studying or even NUS. For an example, the scene will begin with a person who seems to be gambling. As the video progresses, the viewer will see the caption that this person is a student majoring in Maths and calculating statistics through the study of gambling probabilities.
The main focus during the presentation was on our storyline and how we play with the transitions. It is still rather difficult to tell how the video will turn out until we actually begin filming. However, based on the concept we have in our minds, we are determined that this would work, although of course, we will make changes should there be a better idea.
Dr Julian also mentioned that perhaps our presentation of the business student is not appropriate and would draw flak from the people of the business faculty, so that is one point which we can work on.
From this assignment, I realised that the preparation of a pre-production documentation is really tedious and time-consuming. The script needs to be properly written out, the timeline carefully planned, storyboard accurately depicting the scenes in our video and of course, manpower distribution needs to be equal. We might face difficulty in getting our cast, and therefore need to have a backup plan. Given our time constraints however, the group really needs to meet up effeciently and follow the filming schedule as we need to borrow the camcorder and necessary equipment from the MDL.
Another comment raised by the class was whether we will infringe any copyright issues by using Lego. In my opinion, there shouldn't be any problem as we will not be capitalising on the brand nor product and are not defacing it. Moreover, our friend Esben from Denmark gave us the go-ahead ;p
Filming process will start soon and I will update again when that happens.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Assignment 3 - Ken Burns Effect (Part 2)
I've finally finished the videos for this assignment!
They can be found here:
CNM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYJtxXZsBpg
NUS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afAvNao3YYE&feature=channel
Not very pleased with the final product, I would say, because the video looks very amateurish. But then again, it is my first time using Adobe AfterEffects to complete a project and I am still quite proud of them. As with last semester's nm2208, I think I will pick up more AfterFX skills during the course of the module.
For the CNM video, which I titled "i heart cnm", it's an extension of the idea I presented in class. However, due to time and resource constraints, I didn't manage to get enough pictures for this video. I am still unsure of how to control the camera and transitions in AfterFX, resulting in jerky looking footage. Also because of the pictures, which aren't in very good quality in the first place, the whole video looks rather grainy, which is worsened with the compression in order to upload onto youtube. My original file size was 2GB plus. That's insane right? Thank goodness for my portable harddisk.
The whole idea for this video is to show how cnm students love their course. Even the music chosen is similar, titled 'Psycholove' by Borea. In the lyrics, the singer can be heard singing the phrase, "Looking for my psycholove", which I feel is suitable for prospective nus students who want to pursue a course which they would love. I took on Lyanna's suggestion in class, which was to put words instead of the pictures, but as the assignment requires pictures, I added some in and put her idea in front. In case people don't watch the entire video, they can get a glimpse of what it is trying to convey with the first few frames.
As for the NUS video, I chose the song "Big Blue Sky" also from Borea. By the way, their song can be found on jamendo.com, which is a site for music under the creative commons license. This song is upbeat and cheerful, with instrumental intro, providing a good ambience for the starting of the video. The different scenes in the video also tries to follow the rhythm of the song. Camera views are modeled after the different places in NUS, for example, the central library is above the central forum and therefore the camera moves upwards. Not much comments were given for this video's storyboard in class.
I hope this video managed to encapsulate the theme of "My Life, My NUS" which leads to "My choice." It's the little things around school, the paths taken when we are there that make up this part of my life. Which was why I ended the video with photos of me in past activities and also the "I WAS HERE" sculpture in front of the UCC, to show my life at NUS.
What I learnt from this assignment is that alot of thought needs to go into producing those few minutes of video. (No wonder people like copyright.) The production schedule needs to be managed properly and accurately, as time lost means the shortage of some valuable resources. I really need to learn more about using AfterFX too, (seeing how I rendered the video 3 times without audio, thank goodness for google) as it can be a really powerful production tool if I know how to use it correctly.
Sidenote: I like how AfterFX makes a small *ping* sound when the rendering of a video is done. Especially useful if you fall asleep at the computer while waiting for it to be done.
They can be found here:
CNM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYJtxXZsBpg
NUS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afAvNao3YYE&feature=channel
Not very pleased with the final product, I would say, because the video looks very amateurish. But then again, it is my first time using Adobe AfterEffects to complete a project and I am still quite proud of them. As with last semester's nm2208, I think I will pick up more AfterFX skills during the course of the module.
For the CNM video, which I titled "i heart cnm", it's an extension of the idea I presented in class. However, due to time and resource constraints, I didn't manage to get enough pictures for this video. I am still unsure of how to control the camera and transitions in AfterFX, resulting in jerky looking footage. Also because of the pictures, which aren't in very good quality in the first place, the whole video looks rather grainy, which is worsened with the compression in order to upload onto youtube. My original file size was 2GB plus. That's insane right? Thank goodness for my portable harddisk.
The whole idea for this video is to show how cnm students love their course. Even the music chosen is similar, titled 'Psycholove' by Borea. In the lyrics, the singer can be heard singing the phrase, "Looking for my psycholove", which I feel is suitable for prospective nus students who want to pursue a course which they would love. I took on Lyanna's suggestion in class, which was to put words instead of the pictures, but as the assignment requires pictures, I added some in and put her idea in front. In case people don't watch the entire video, they can get a glimpse of what it is trying to convey with the first few frames.
As for the NUS video, I chose the song "Big Blue Sky" also from Borea. By the way, their song can be found on jamendo.com, which is a site for music under the creative commons license. This song is upbeat and cheerful, with instrumental intro, providing a good ambience for the starting of the video. The different scenes in the video also tries to follow the rhythm of the song. Camera views are modeled after the different places in NUS, for example, the central library is above the central forum and therefore the camera moves upwards. Not much comments were given for this video's storyboard in class.
I hope this video managed to encapsulate the theme of "My Life, My NUS" which leads to "My choice." It's the little things around school, the paths taken when we are there that make up this part of my life. Which was why I ended the video with photos of me in past activities and also the "I WAS HERE" sculpture in front of the UCC, to show my life at NUS.
What I learnt from this assignment is that alot of thought needs to go into producing those few minutes of video. (No wonder people like copyright.) The production schedule needs to be managed properly and accurately, as time lost means the shortage of some valuable resources. I really need to learn more about using AfterFX too, (seeing how I rendered the video 3 times without audio, thank goodness for google) as it can be a really powerful production tool if I know how to use it correctly.
Sidenote: I like how AfterFX makes a small *ping* sound when the rendering of a video is done. Especially useful if you fall asleep at the computer while waiting for it to be done.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Assignment 2 - A Day In The University (Part 2)
After the critique session, I saw that there were many ways to present the pictures. Some of my fellow classmates had rollover effects, used css or discarded colour information from the pictures to decrease the file sizes.
From this critique, many commented that my 3rd picture at the Yong Tau Foo stall was not significant enough. I had removed colour from the rest of the picture, except for parts where I want the audience to focus on. In this case, the coloured part that remained was less than 20% of the picture and the focus was lost. So I've taken another picture, this time with the coloured section about 70% of the entire picture, with the focus clearly set on the food.
In addition to the picture change, I've also used another html formatting in Dreamweaver to layout my pictures. The final file is very small, compared to what I had previously. Quality was not compromised and yet I managed to get my pictures and captions to fit. This was with the help of some css formatting. I was lucky to had found a book from the National Library that taught web design layouts and I learnt this method of displaying pictures from this book. For this module, one really needs to do alot of individual learning, and the library is your best resource for this :]
From this critique, many commented that my 3rd picture at the Yong Tau Foo stall was not significant enough. I had removed colour from the rest of the picture, except for parts where I want the audience to focus on. In this case, the coloured part that remained was less than 20% of the picture and the focus was lost. So I've taken another picture, this time with the coloured section about 70% of the entire picture, with the focus clearly set on the food.
In addition to the picture change, I've also used another html formatting in Dreamweaver to layout my pictures. The final file is very small, compared to what I had previously. Quality was not compromised and yet I managed to get my pictures and captions to fit. This was with the help of some css formatting. I was lucky to had found a book from the National Library that taught web design layouts and I learnt this method of displaying pictures from this book. For this module, one really needs to do alot of individual learning, and the library is your best resource for this :]
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Assignment 3 - Ken Burns Effect (Part 1)
I guess everyone from the monday nm3208 class should be doing their assignments now. I already have a concept in my mind, but don't have the pictures. Which means I will have to come up with the storyboard with sketches. I'm still trying to decide whether I should use Illustrator to sketch or should I use pencil and paper. I prefer pencil, of course, but I need it to be clear enough to be seen when I present it tomorrow. And on another note, I hate drawing. Stick figures are about the only things I can draw.
I'm actually quite excited about this assignment, where we have to bring still pictures to life through the use of the Ken Burns effect. However, I'm very worried about the execution. I'm still not very sure how to use AfterEffects despite attending the workshops. This software is so alien to me, compared to Illustrator or Photoshop. Even Illustrator was much easier to pick up than AfterEffects, honestly.
Ok, I think I shall go with pencil and paper. I will update my progress on this blog tomorrow!
I'm actually quite excited about this assignment, where we have to bring still pictures to life through the use of the Ken Burns effect. However, I'm very worried about the execution. I'm still not very sure how to use AfterEffects despite attending the workshops. This software is so alien to me, compared to Illustrator or Photoshop. Even Illustrator was much easier to pick up than AfterEffects, honestly.
Ok, I think I shall go with pencil and paper. I will update my progress on this blog tomorrow!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Assignment 2 - A Day In The University (Part 1)
Oh my goodness. I've done my assignment 2, with all the compressing of pictures to gif and using only 32 colours, everything fit under the allocated 180kb. But when I checked the folder, it says the file size is 211kb. Removed caching of thumbnails, still 211kb. But when I select all the files, the size is only 169kb!! So where did the extra kbs come from? I really don't understand! Need some help here!
~edit~
I managed to solve the problem by selecting the files manually and cutting and pasting it to the assignment folder. Suddenly the file size dropped back to 169kb.
Will update again about the critique session in class.
~edit~
I managed to solve the problem by selecting the files manually and cutting and pasting it to the assignment folder. Suddenly the file size dropped back to 169kb.
Will update again about the critique session in class.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Assignment 1 - MDL Website Revamp
First assignment for this module, and there's alot of crazy things happening.
First of all, this was a group assignment. Initially, Yiting, Audrey and I were in one group. We didn't want to, since we were all from arts and worried that it would be too tough for us to handle. But no one else was left and we weren't that willing to split up, so we remained as one group. Then audrey decided to drop the module, and our group was left with only Yiting and I. There was no way we can do everything ourselves, that's for sure, so we had to ask Dr Julian for help to make arrangements for our group. He got me to join Ben's group, and Yiting to Mei Yuan's group. However, due to some reasons, we switched and I joined Mei Yuan, Guo Sen and Guan Jie for our 3208 group.
I think it's really unlucky for them to have me too, as I had to break the news of me going overseas during the period when we were supposed to work on the assignment. So no choice, we did what we can before I flew off to Taipei. So, sad to say, I had to leave most of the work on the three guys.
Another problem was that my CSS and web skills were not very good. I only knew basic html and the guys being from SoC, were speaking in a language that sounded so foreign to me. Really felt kind of useless and a liability to the group. Luckily they were really nice and helped me alot along the way. Really need to apologise for giving them so much trouble.
Back to the website. We used CSS to redesign the website, to make it easier to edit and make changes in the future. We were not allowed to change the header and footer, so the colours we chose for the main body of the site needs to complement the NUS orange. We chose grey and blue as we felt it most suited the orange colour. We also cleared up some orphaned links, links which trap users at the site, and made invisible links appear (these links can only be found on certain pages). There was also a problem of the arrangement of the graphics in the page which showed the different equipment available for loaning. Guanjie edited that part, making it look much neater and organised. Overall, our final website looks similar to the previous one, but looks much, much neater with a cleaned-up interface. The menu is also more intuitive compared to the previous one.
From this assignment, I learnt that it was important to improve readability on a website and it was essential to keeping visitor traffic. Navigation was also another aspect that users would appreciate as it will help them find what they need quickly.
First of all, this was a group assignment. Initially, Yiting, Audrey and I were in one group. We didn't want to, since we were all from arts and worried that it would be too tough for us to handle. But no one else was left and we weren't that willing to split up, so we remained as one group. Then audrey decided to drop the module, and our group was left with only Yiting and I. There was no way we can do everything ourselves, that's for sure, so we had to ask Dr Julian for help to make arrangements for our group. He got me to join Ben's group, and Yiting to Mei Yuan's group. However, due to some reasons, we switched and I joined Mei Yuan, Guo Sen and Guan Jie for our 3208 group.
I think it's really unlucky for them to have me too, as I had to break the news of me going overseas during the period when we were supposed to work on the assignment. So no choice, we did what we can before I flew off to Taipei. So, sad to say, I had to leave most of the work on the three guys.
Another problem was that my CSS and web skills were not very good. I only knew basic html and the guys being from SoC, were speaking in a language that sounded so foreign to me. Really felt kind of useless and a liability to the group. Luckily they were really nice and helped me alot along the way. Really need to apologise for giving them so much trouble.
Back to the website. We used CSS to redesign the website, to make it easier to edit and make changes in the future. We were not allowed to change the header and footer, so the colours we chose for the main body of the site needs to complement the NUS orange. We chose grey and blue as we felt it most suited the orange colour. We also cleared up some orphaned links, links which trap users at the site, and made invisible links appear (these links can only be found on certain pages). There was also a problem of the arrangement of the graphics in the page which showed the different equipment available for loaning. Guanjie edited that part, making it look much neater and organised. Overall, our final website looks similar to the previous one, but looks much, much neater with a cleaned-up interface. The menu is also more intuitive compared to the previous one.
From this assignment, I learnt that it was important to improve readability on a website and it was essential to keeping visitor traffic. Navigation was also another aspect that users would appreciate as it will help them find what they need quickly.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Round 2
Back from NM2208. And this time, in NM3208. Looking forward to the projects and assignments, though very worried that I won't be able to cope. Jiayou bahs.
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