Friday, June 5, 2009

Multimedia Poetry Investigation

Flavy Sen Sharma
Design Technology 10
Mrs. Katarina
14th May 2009

Multi Media Poetry
Multimedia Review
After watching all the Multimedia poems, I can conclude that
The best projects included:
‘Runaway’ by Pan because it starts off with a small clip and then it goes on with pictures. Also the pictures used are really clear.
The worst projects included:
‘Devin’s poem’ because the pictures are not clear. The resolution of the pictures were really bad. Also the text doesn’t stick out from the pictures. It does have a very funny concept and it had the potential to be really amazing but due to these two factors it was not able to reach those standards.
Design Specification
To start with this project I must first get my poem approved by the English teacher. While creating this project I must keep in mind that there are time limits. The video has to be from 1 minute to 3 minutes. The images I use, have to be of high resolutions- images above 1000 pixels. The slide with the title of the poem has to be self created as I want some originality in it. The rest of the pictures will be played around with in Photoshop. I might change the backgrounds of the pictures link each slide with the first slide. The backgrounds have to be less exciting than the pictures and the video clips, so I want a single color for the background. Since my poem is quite depressing, and the color of the text is of a lighter shade, I plan to use a dark color for the background on the slides which consist of text. All the texts used in the project have to be of the same color and font except for the title. To fulfill my time limit, I must use very few words in one slide of text. So, I will place 2-10 words in slide depending on its context. To make up for the excess time I will add more pictures. I will use music which does not consist of any vocalization. The music should be very catchy and in certain points of the poem the music should be more intense. After the trailer project, I have learnt that I should use clear transitions to make the image more visible. So, I will use clear but sophisticated transitions to let the message of the poem reach out to the audience. Like the text, the transitions will always be the same throughout the project. At the end of the project, I have to make sure to include the Credits. I will mention all the Video URLS I used and the links to the images I used. I will mention that this project was created with the help of the DT class. And I won’t forget to mention that the poem and the project was created by me!
Testing my MMP
To make sure that MM poem is effective of the right quality, my first audience will be my classmates as they have created similar projects and therefore they can judge my project better than others. My next audience would be my DT teacher who can guide me through the right path to make this project successful. My parents are my best critiques, so I will take into account what they have to say and modify my project. Then I will make my project available to the strangers who will come to see my project.
DESIGN
Design Storyboard 1
Shots:
1. Title-(Name of poem-FEAR)
2. Image1
3. Image2
4. Text displayed on Image3-(Only first two words)
5. Image 4
6. Text displayed on Image 5- (Next 6 words)
7. Image 6
8. Image 7
9. Text displayed on Image 8- (3 words)
10. Text displayed on Image 9- (6 words)
11. Image 10
12. Text displayed on Image 11-(4 words)
13. Text displayed on Image 12- (4 words)
14. Image 13
15. Image 14
16. Text displayed on Image 15-(8 words)
17. Text displayed on Video1- (4 words)
18. Text displayed on Video2- (10 words)
19. Text displayed on Video3-(6 words)
20. Text displayed on Video 4- (6 words)
21. Image15
22. Image16
23. Text displayed on Image 17-(6 words)
24. Image 18
25. Image 19
26. Text displayed on Image 20- (8 words)
27. Text displayed on Image 21- (6 words)
28. Credits

• Text:
Font- Matura M7 Script Capitals
Color- Dark Red
Size- 28
• Background:
Color- Black/Grey
Backgrounds will have shadow effect to add to the depressing situation.
• Audio:
“River Flows in You” as it’s really soothing and increases and decreases in intensities at certain points.
• Visuals:
Resolutions of over 1000 pixels
• Transitions:
No transitions to smoothly link the scenes in my project.
• Special Effects:
I do not want any special effects. If the project doesn’t look exciting enough without a special effect, I will choose a special effect which suits the theme of the poem.
• Credits:
Image links
Video URLs
Music name and composer
Mention DT class
Creator of poem and project


Design Storyboard 2

Shots:
1. Title-(Name of poem-Fear)
2. Text displayed on Image1-(First 2 words)
3. Text displayed on Image 2-(Next 6 words)
4. Image3
5. Image4
6. Text displayed on Image 5-(3 words)
7. Text displayed on Image 6-(6 words)
8. Image 7
9. Image 8
10. Text displayed on Image 9- (4 words)
11. Text displayed on Image 10-(4 words)
12. Image 11
13. Image 12
14. Text only-(8 words)
15. Text only-(4 words)
16. Image 13
17. Image 14
18. Text displayed on Image 15-(10 words)
19. Image 16
20. Image 17
21. Text only-(6 words)
22. Text only-(6 words)
23. Image 18
24. Image 19
25. Text only- (6 words)
26. Text only-(8 words)
27. Text displayed on Image 20- (6 words)
28. Credits

• Text:
Font- Matura M7 Script Capitals
Color- Dark Green
Size- 28
• Background:
Color- Light Green/Grey
Backgrounds will have shadow effect to add to the depressing situation.
• Audio:
Some movie soundtrack.
• Visuals:
Resolution of over 1000 pixels.
• Transitions:
No transitions to smoothly link the scenes in my project.
• Special Effects:
I do not want any special effects. If the project doesn’t look exciting enough without a special effect, I will choose a special effect which suits the theme of the poem.

• Credits:
Image links
Video URLs
Music name and composer
Mention DT class
Creator of poem and project
I have decided to choose the first storyboard as it is more logical than the second one. Also the second storyboard doesn’t consist of any videos and videos add to the effect of delivering my message. Also I prefer the font and color of the text in the first storyboard. I think “River Flows in You” suites the situation better than the any random movie soundtrack. As mentioned earlier, I don’t want a light color for the background as that ruins the image formed by the poem.
PLAN
To successfully complete this project, I will use Movie Maker which I have used quite a few times. My knowledge of Movie Maker will help me complete this assignment. To edit images, I will use Paint and Photoshop.
The deadline for this project is 26th of May. I plan to collect all the media by 14th of May. And complete my project by 20th of May. From the 20th –the 26th of May I will go around showing my project to other people to receive advice to improve the project. So, I have the 26th for any modification or editing.
EVALUATION
I have successfully completed my task on time. Most of the elements I had planned to incorporate in the project were accomplished. However, I did not have the time and resources to add videos as the project was completed in school and we are not able to download videos from Youtube on the school computers. Also, I did not use any transitions as planned as that seemed to link the different scenes more smoothly. I used the same font for the entire poem. However, I had to change the color of the font in several scenes as the pictures would often camouflage the text. The quality of the pictures was not a problem at all as all the pictures I had chosen had high resolutions.
On 3rd June 2009, I presented my project in the LS Multipurpose Room in front of the parents of students and my teachers. The response was quite good. Several teachers claimed that the projects created this year were a lot better than last year’s projects. Out of all the projects, I liked Nikola Garic’s project the best as it had a combination of both videos and photos which were edited in such a way that it linked to the theme of the poem really well. Also, his poem was really good. It was a lot of fun watching my classmates projects.
I am really proud of my work as this year I started off with absolutely no knowledge of Moviemaker and Blogspots and now I have my own school blog and I have made 3 projects in Moviemaker. Also, from this project I learnt how to use Photoshop well as all the pictures were first edited in Photoshop and then incorporated in my project.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Testing my MMP

TESTING my MMP
To make sure that MM poem is effective of the right quality, my first audience will be my classmates as they have created similar projects and therefore they can judge my project better than others. My next audience would be my DT teacher who can guide me through the right path to make this project successful. My parents are my best critiques, so I will take into account what they have to say and modify my project. Then I will make my project available to the strangers who will come to see my project.

Multimedia Poetry- Design Specification

DESIGN SPECIFICATION

To start with this project I must first get my poem approved by the English teacher. While creating this project I must keep in mind that there are time limits. The video has to be from 1 minute to 3 minutes. The images I use, have to be of high resolutions- images above 1000 pixels. The slide with the title of the poem has to be self created as I want some originality in it. The rest of the pictures will be played around with in Photoshop. I might change the backgrounds of the pictures link each slide with the first slide. The backgrounds have to be less exciting than the pictures and the video clips, so I want a single color for the background. Since my poem is quite depressing, and the color of the text is of a darker shade, I plan to use a light color for the background on the slides which consist of text. All the texts used in the project have to be of the same color and font except for the title. To fulfill my time limit, I must use very few words in one slide of text. So, I will place 2-3 words in slide depending on its context. I will use music which does not consist of any vocalization. The music should be very catchy and in certain points of the poem the music should be more intense. After the trailer project, I have learnt that I should use clear transitions to make the image more visible. So, I will use clear but sophisticated transitions to let the message of the poem reach out to the audience. Like the text, the transitions will always be the same throughout the project. At the end of the project, I have to make sure to include the Credits. I will mention all the Video URLS I used and the links to the images I used. I will mention that this project was created with the help of the DT class. And I won’t forget to mention that the poem and the project was created by me!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Web 2.0

What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is letting go of control over someones data, it’s mixing the global with the local. Web 2.0 is about new ways of searching and accessing Web content. Web 2.0 is also a platform not just for developers to create web applications like Gmail and Flickr but also to build on for educators, media, politics, community, for virtually everyone.

How has Web 2.0 evolved?
The traditional World Wide Web, also known as Web 1.0, is a Read-or-Write Web. In particular, authors of web pages write down what they want to share and then publish it online. Web readers can watch these web pages and subjectively comprehend the meanings. Unless writers willingly release their contact information in their authored web pages, the link between writers and readers is generally disconnected on Web 1.0. By leaving public contact information, however, writers have to disclose their private identities (such as emails, phone numbers, or mailing addresses). In short, Web 1.0 connects people to a public, shared environment — World Wide Web. But Web 1.0 essential does not facilitate direct communication between web readers and writers.
The second stage of web evolution is Web 2.0. Though its definition is still vague, Web 2.0 is a Read/Write Web. At Web 2.0, not only writers but also readers can both read and write to a same web space. This advance allows establishing friendly social communication among web users without obligated disclosure of private identities. Hence it significantly increases the participating interest of web users. Normal web readers (not necessarily being a standard web author simultaneously) then have a handy way of telling their viewpoints without the need of disclosing who they are. The link between web readers and writers becomes generally connected, though many of the specific connections are still anonymous. Whether there is default direction communication between web readers and writers is a fundamental distinction between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. In short, Web 2.0 not only connects individual users to the Web, but also connects these individual uses together. It fixes the previous disconnection between web readers and writers.

Benefits & drawbacks of Web 2.0:
The emergence of Web 2.0 technologies has created opportunities for the visualisation of much information on the web. For example, a dashboard showing the current state of a business can summarise a great deal of information on a single page and highlight areas of interest or concern.

Unfortunately, the way this information is presented may mean that it is difficult, or impossible, for people with various forms of disability to access it. For example,lines on a graph can be distinguished by colour but should also be distinguished by the type of line (dashed, dotted, thickened etc) or by the tick marks along the line (crosses, boxes, circles etc). Areas in a pie chart should be distinguished by a pattern as well as the colour. Furthermore the designer should consider how to use the power of Web 2.0 to improve the accessibility. In this case the slice of the pie could be highlighted when the legend is chosen and vice versa. This information would not be accessible to the color blind.

Sources Used:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/web2explorer/?p=5
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/04/web_accessibility/

Web 2.0 tools I'm using:
1. Blogger
2. Facebook
3. Youtube
4. Firefox
5. Gmail
6. Igoogle
7. Picassa
8. Google Talk

Monday, March 2, 2009

Fear

Fear

Deep, down, buried beneath the layers of flesh,

there it is, smiling back at its evil endeavor

of enslaving my thoughts, my beliefs and me.

Its presence, signified by the lack of air,

the rapid heart beats

and the emptiness is exposed more with each passing day.

Surreptitiously, it seeps through my veins

to pervade the essence of dissuasion.

My actions influenced by its charisma,

changes its direction to meet my cowardly reflection,

the image of a terrified human.

By Flavy