Piano Promo Update

Today I continued my first piano tutoring service promotion for Instagram. I used Premiere Pro for the editing process, here is a screenshot of my 15 second promo:

Here is a close up version of the individual video clips and the different audio layers that used. I filmed all the visuals and played the piano for the background audio, as well as using my friend Imogen for the voice over.

This next image is a zoomed up version of my piano playing, showing the different levels in audio volume throughout. For example at the start before the voice over begins, the music is slightly louder then decreases when the voice is heard. This is the same at the end of the audio, when the narration ends.

Finally I uploaded my first promotion onto my Youtube channel, here is the finished product:

Promo Research

Here is an example of a short 15 second promo for a music studio:

This was the closest video promo I could find to a piano tutoring service. I used this as my secondary research for this project because it gave me a good idea of how quick the edits need to be, to make sure the audience don't lose interest, as it is such a short video.

What I also found, is that there usually is a musical background with a voice over as well. This is so the visual is not wasted by title screens and therefore is much more efficient to have it spoken over the rest of the clips.

For my own Instagram promotions, I will also adjust the volume of each audio clip, so that the necessary information can be heard.

Peer Evaluation

Review of Rachel's Film

I looked at Rachel's cold fusion film, 'Downfall'. I really liked the sound effects during the film, especially at the beginning. They create an intense atmosphere because of the gun shots and the screaming. I think is very clever as there is no visual until 0:54, yet still seems to capture the audiences' attention without losing interest.  I also liked the camera shots/angles and one that stood out to me was the close up on the tapping foot. This clearly shows the character's build up towards presentation, and distinctly demonstrates the 'waiting' process.

The majority of the dialogue starts at 1:27, I like the fact that the male character is unaware that a scientist has found the answer to preventing the use of fossil fuels. This is cleverly shown by short clips of both characters talking about their future plans, sharply cutting between to keep the audiences concentration and the desire to watch on.

Some adjustments that I think could be made to this film would be the dialogue volume on the male character clips, as I think these are difficult to hear and therefore makes the storyline quite hard to understand. Another area of development would be to make sure that the camera is in 100% focus, so the clips are as clear and sharp as they can possibly be.

Review of My Film

In my film, the areas of development would include my colour balance on certain clips, as the contrast is slightly different and is fairly obvious when cutting from clip to clip. Here is a screenshot side by side to see the difference in colour:

Another improvement I would make is to confirm that the camera is set up correctly and can move freely on the tripod, as in some clips the camera appears tilted and the pans come across quite sticky.

From this project I have learnt to film a bit before and after on each clip, so that the editing is a lot easier and so I have more scope when cutting from individual clips. For example, when Imogen exits the lab, it quickly cuts to another clip as I didn't completely film Imogen walking out the door. This looks unprofessional and affects the film as a whole. Here is a screenshot from this scene and this is taken just before the next cut:

Watch Craft Toy Animation

Today I started my toy invention animation for Blake and I's 'Watch Craft' construction set. I used Adobe Flash to create this and here are some screenshots of how far I have got:

I chose a pale colour for the background, as I wanted the clock faces and title to pop, this will draw in the attention of the target audience, which is young children who enjoy bright colours.

The font I used for the title 'Watch Craft' is an appropriate type face, as it fits with the construction theme. This is because it is fairly simple, has structured edges and is clear to read, so that the audience can easily understand.

Here is another image, demonstrating the sequence at which my stages are organised within my toy invention animation. I individually placed each number of the clock face separately, so they would appear in sequence one after the other.

My Cold Fusion Film Reflection

I think the production of my film went well, as I had organised when and where I was filming within the timetable of the rest of my group. For example booking when I could film in the science lab and arranging members of my group to meet on Tuesdays to do so. Although I got the actual production of my film completed fairly quickly, I couldn't go onto editing straight away, as I was acting in various other films for my peers. In hindsight I would have made sure I had given myself enough time to edit and to act, so that I could spend longer adding other techniques to my edit such as fades instead of quick cuts.

I do however, think my project was successful as I have completed the whole narrative of my story in the film, and have included everything that I wanted within the film. My final short film turned out to be 3 and a half minutes, so I probably could have been a bit more strict with myself when cutting out unnecessary clips and shortening certain scenes.

I also got some feedback from my peers and did this by getting them to watch my film and for them to feedback on their views and opinions on the overall execution of my short film. Summer said that she liked my camera angles and enjoyed the humorous side to the narrative. She also said that the music suits the theme well and thought it was clever how I filmed all the scenes in the same location.

What I would do differently, is make the narrative a bit less complex so that I could focus more on the effect/intensity of the film. Rather than just trying to fit every aspect of the storyline in 3 minutes. I think if I did this I would of had more time planning individual clips and angles, to make the film look more professional and to keep the target audiences interest throughout. I think that in parts of my film, it can come across quite boring as there is a lot of dialogue within every scene. This can sometimes make the audience loose interest, as the clips don't really vary enough.

As far as pre-production, I really liked my storyboards that I drew, as this helped me to gain an understanding of what shots would look best for certain scenes. I also think that my character descriptions helped with developing their personalities further and made it easier for the actors and actresses of my film to get into character.

Here are the some screenshots of my storyboards and character details:

My production team was very effective as we decided at the start who was going to film when, in our moving image lessons on Wednesday's. This made sure that we each booked equipment out when necessary on the correct days at which we were filming. We all worked well together and helped out in each others film, by either acting or ensuring lighting and microphones were set up/working correctly.

For my next project I would plan everything ahead of time and given myself longer for the editing process and not just the filming aspect of the production. I would also make sure that all post-production work was completed on time and to a high standard.

Toy Comparison

I have researched other toys on the market and a lot of them are more technology involving, as children are more exposed to modern day technologies at an early age. This would affect the toy market, as most of the target audience would be interested in more computerised games and therefore may not be focussed on traditional construction toys.

I have taken this into account and have come up with an 'in-between' of sorts. Watch Craft is still a construction/building toy, however it incorporated the technology side without being to complicating for a younger target audience.

Here is another toy already on the market that was the closest I could find to our 'Watch Craft' toy idea:

The similarities of this toy compared to mine is the bright colours used and the idea of making a clock face. However, this is not actually a watch and for the audience, the wearing element of this idea could be a selling point.

The rest that I could find were just ready made children's watches like this:

But not actually a build your own wrist watch kit for children, as a lot of the results were professional kits for adults, here is a screenshot:

For both of these they are not similar enough to compare as they are completely different. So overall this is a unique idea because there is not a simple wrist watch making kit, aimed towards younger children on the market.

Audio Copyright

Music copyright it the legal protection given to the music creator. Copyright makes sure recording artists, composers and musicians have a chance to be recognised and paid for their work.

Creative commons is material that can be copied and used, without breaking any legal rules. It is a non-profit organisation that enables the sharing and use of creative works available for other to build upon legally.

Fair use is where content can be used under certain circumstances legally. For example, educational purposes and news reporting. It can mean that you can copy copyrighted material without needing permission from the owner.

Royalty free is where the content is available for the public to use and does not need the contact of the creator for a licence to use their work. However this does not necessarily mean that it is free to purchase.

Watch Craft Toy Poster

Here is the poster that I have designed on Adobe Illustrator for my construction toy idea:

I made sure it was very bright and colourful as this would attract a younger age range, which is the main target audience of this product.

I added a title and small areas of text, so that the audience want to read on, to find out more about the product and an explanation of what piece does what. I kept the text to minimum, as I think this would distract the audience from the image design on the poster. I also think the hierarchy on this poster is the larger images in the centre and this could intrigue the audience and make them want to gain knowledge on the product.

Adding Hover States

A hover state is when a user hovers the curser over a link on a web page. For example when you hover over a topic heading that is a link, it could change colour or become underlined. Here is some research images that I screenshot from other websites that have this hover feature:

Before

When hovered

Before

When hovered

On my desktop website design, I have added some hover states to make it easy for the user to see what they are about to click. Here are the screenshots from my website:

Hover state no.1:

Before

When hovered

Hover state no.2:

Before

When hovered

Hovers can be in a more general sense, for example when hovering over either links, icons, images, windows or just objects on the page.

My Perfume Website Homepage

I have designed my website homepage for both desktop and mobile viewing, this is a screenshot of my desktop version:

I have made sure that all the type is within the guidelines and that everything has equal spacing between each segment of the website so far. I have kept the main layout quite simple because I think this works best for the product, as I want it to comes across high end and classy to my target audience. Whereas if this was more cluttered with lots of text and information, this can be quite over-whelming and therefore does not have a good user experience.

The CTA (call to action) on this website is the 'Buy now' button. I have put this near the top on the main product image, this is so the user can clearly see how and where to purchase the product, without scrolling or trying to find the link.

Here is a screenshot of my mobile version of the website homepage:

This was harder to design because I wanted to stick to the same layout as the desktop, however this would be appear too small and would be hard to navigate across the site for the user. I made sure to increase the sizes of all the important text, so it is clear and easy to read and click. On the other hand, this can take up a lot of space, and some major design layouts needed to be changed. For example the two middle images are next to each other on the desktop version and on the mobile version, they are placed vertically. This makes it easier to see the information without having to zoom.

I have the same CTA button on the mobile version so it is easily recognisable and understandable to the target audience. Again placed at the top, for quick and easy access for the user.

All the photos on the website I have taken myself, and all images appear on both the desktop and mobile version. I took quite a variety of photographs, however the ones on the website were the final photos. Here are the other images that I could have chose:

I picked the best quality and the more simplistic images, as this works best with the theme and style of my website.

On both platforms I made sure to organise all my layers on Adobe Photoshop, so I can clearly see whats what. Here is what the organisation looks like:

I colour coded and created folders according to which part of the website I was working on. As you can see above, I have separate groups for the header and the footer of the website homepage, so if it comes to having to move them, I can just click on the folder to move the whole segment.

Here is what it looks like within one of the folders:

This I found very helpful because before I would have to search through every layer to find what I wanted and would take a lot longer than just having it all there for you already.

I designed these website layouts from my wireframes that I created, here is a link to my website wireframes blogpost.

I have also completed a blog on website hover states.

Piano Recording Test

Today I decided to test out different recording methods of me playing the piano. Also it gave me an idea of which method will be best for when I record the final audio on my piano at home. This is just an experiment of sound, as the piano used is not the best of quality and therefore would sound quite different to mine at home. Although this helps me to figure out the best set up of equipment at home. As well as recording from different positions and angles, I used different recorders also, so I can develop a sense of how the music will sound.

The recorder that I used was the handheld zoom H4N and the microphones I used were the Rode NTG1 and Sure SM58 dynamic vocal. I also used the Rode mic with and without the wind shield.

Here is a link to a test recording I did, to experiment with the audio and to be made aware of the quality of each device used. Here is an example.

Communication Platforms

Today we looked at communication platforms. Radio as a communication tool is good because the audiences are focussed on one aspect of the platform, which is sound. There are different purposes of radio including, the latest news or music/talking for entertainment. For example Radio One's target audience would be fairly young ranging from 15-30, because of their contemporary music choices and comical speech. Whereas on the other hand the demographic for Radio 4 is much older, as the radio station tends to stick more to conversational content.

Next we looked at Ofcom. Ofcom is a regulating authority for communication industries in the Uk. They also deal with complaints and can offer advise for businesses. Ofcom regulate communication services including; phones, internet, TV, radio and post.

For example, if you were in a TV programme and/or weren't happy with the viewing experience, Ofcom can deal with your complaints. Also Ofcom have a claim to protect children from harmful or inappropriate material, as well as advising parents on guidance for protecting their children in the digital world.

I have picked this article on the Telegraphs website:

Changes to Responsive Online Shops

A lot of company's that have online shops, tend to have a website that is clear and user friednly on both desktop and mobile. The screen should shrink smaller when on a mobile, however it should aslo adapt so the text and images are clear and easy to press/read.

For example the Amazon website adapts to different sizes depending on how big or small the desktop or mobile you are using. Here is a screenshot of Amazon's website on both desktop and mobile platforms.