operational

The site is at last fully operational, if not yet polished.

I had issues with layering the flash movies as i was unaware that flash scripting automaticatly set the z-index at the highest possible value (very irritating) which led to me recompliing much of Nicks content so make it work. The param name="wmode" value="transparent" also proved next to useless as it still had interactivity issues with the menu.

flah menu

the navigation now has to be flash with such a small amount of time left.
I am making a toggling nav bar to minamise clutter on the site. a poor version of this type of navigation

link >enter site

alternatives

I have installed a splash page to catch users who do not have flash and in addition to this i have also hosted stills for those that do not wish to install flash, this makes the comic far more accessible.

the due date is looming closer and I am run off my feet. working on this at 9pm through till 2am after working during the day has some obvious draw backs, eg. slower work, uglier, designs and all round less productivity I have had some mock ups on the net in a few different versions. The navigation issue is still unresolved but my flash tests have proved successful.

sizing

we have recently decided to change the size of the site to 800x800pixels to accommodate for the size that the web comic really needs to be.

The navigation is proving troublesome as the css that I am familiar with and have used in the text has, when I tested it in several browsers failed in some of the older versions of IE. I feel that this is unacceptable because of the amount of people still using the browser. I shall try to remedy this with some hacks that I noticed on W3schools.

store 2

In an attempt to get this stupid store up I have downloaded a plug in for Dream weaver which is supposed to make it much easier... this has not been the case... at all. I have already invested far too much time in this with absolutely nothing to show for it.

I have also been doing some basic positioning of elements to get it the way that we want on the page.

store

I have been researching building a store for our site using in dreamweaver support and W3 schools and the adobe forums(by far the most helpful for this. I have attempted afew of the coding examples but with absolutely no results as yet.

sketches

As yet all our work has been on paper. I have been familiarizing myself with the web comic that we shall be using, (Mass Produced Kill Bots) and figuring out the style. The majority of the work shall be in xhtml and css, I may also use flash for parts such as navigation if my tests work and time allows.

collaboration

I had not previously realized that this could be a collaborative assessment. I have been approached by a couple of people including Nick whom I have decided to work with. Our goal to produced an animating and interactive web comic and host site. He shall handle the majority of the animation and I will work of the web content.

I am a little nervious on starting a collaboration due to the amount of assessments and out of university commitments (eg. work, and a freelance web designer position that I have taken up for an advertising agency in Newcastle) however I am am confident that at the very least I can build a site to successfully support Nicks work.

assessment 2

this is probably the vaguest assessment that I have ever had. I am thinking about doing a flash wesite as I have not done that before. However a lot of the animation strand seem to be doing this so I might try something a little different.

mpi 206 begins

My first impressions of this subject are that it will be consistently vague in nature, but perhaps that will be helpful in developing something that I am actually interested in.

finished

The animation is finished I have some tweaking left to do In Premier Pro 2 especially some of the speeds are inconsistent. I have picked a track that will help to advance the visuals and am fairly happy with the results so far.

models

Having started the shooting I have noticed a few things, even though I am shooting at night with only one fixed light the lighting seems to change noticeably with the movement of object behind the camera. I had not realized the impact that this would make and will have to re-shoot segments.

also the damn models keep falling over. I have extended the bases on there feet and tried hard to be careful but it is a long and painful process.

drawing closer

as I near the date I have already started to shoot some of the text. I have decided to animate the white text on a black background, still using claymation. The models are nearing completion and I will be ready to shoot the whole thing soon.

skeleton

at Big W I have found artist manikins that are about 30cm tall and about 15 dollars

I bought 4 as I am planning atleast that many characters. and have started to decorated them.

As for the story line I am making an exploratory piece on sin. The claymation will be spliced with text that prompts the viewer to explore their own idea of what sin is.

I have invested a lot of time in this Idea and have started to storyboard a narrative structure. I think it will be challenging to fit it into one minute. I have shot everything in DV format and in stills so that I have a good choice between styles when it comes to shooting for real.

the things I have learned

the things that I have learned:
1. claymation is expensive the cheapest plastasine i could find in $5 a tub. I shall definitely need at least 4 of these to make large enough models.

2. the clay mation will definitely have to have an anatomical skeleton as tried to make humanoid models with clay alone is next to impossible.

3. I will need to build a set. I have some ideas for this. eg. a printed background could do wonders. here is an example that a photographer friend of mine in Canberra did.

other angles

With the test done I am compiling some other test scenes, I have shot the same thing with a DV camera and shall see how this looks sped up. I also took shots of an underground car park and got some actors to play out a drug deal using Icing sugar,

sin built test

I can now compile the photos in premier pro 2. I am pleased with the result, it reminds me of drug induces speed shifts, this could be the basis of my film.

sin tests

I have taken a series of about 40 shots driving up the main street of Wagga. With one second exposure on consistent shooting I have producede images that I am happy with. I wish to make them into an animation of sorts in premier but have had trouble importing and arranging them in Premier. (I shall ask at this weeks workshop).

stock motion

It has been nearly a week and i cannot think of any descent and achievable ideas for film, so I have taken the opportunity to explore stock motion. Claymation is also something that I would very much like to try. I shall buy some plasticine tonight and have an experiment.

back to the drawing board

After consultation with Hages, I have abandoned this whole idea. It seems like a massive waste of time now. Atleast I suppose I have after weeks to pull something else together.

So back to ideas. I have again been stuck on 7 deadly sins and the bible.

I shall leave it for a few days and try coming back to it with fresh eyes.

Sin

The sin video.

My first responses to this topic have been very stereotypical.
7 deadly sins- dante's inferno

Biblical meanings, heaven hell, judgement

I have been thinking about these a lot and have decided to try to do something a little out there. I would quite like to tell a story through video as I have never done this before. I am borrowing a cannon Digital SLR and going out shooting tonight. I'm hoping to get some night lights that could give a darker aesthetic.