Evaluation

Introduction:
For this project we were asked to create a website, I wanted my site to promote my work in a professional manner and also show possible employers that my work is of a high standard. I think that creating my own online portfolio will help me not only organise my work but it could also lead to opportunities and work in the future. Before starting this unit I had no experience with using the Muse software however I had created a few websites before (in previous educational work.) I knew what a good website needed to work well and look smart although, I wasn’t too confident with actually putting a site together on a software. This unit has helped me gain these skills.

Research and planning:
Before starting to create mt site I needed to do the correct pre-production; research and planning. I firstly analysed various portfolio websites, this helped me work out what works well, not only for a site in general but for a portfolio site too. It also helped me come up with some ideas of my won as to what I wanted to put on my own site. This influenced my ideas and overall site as I compared everything I was doing on my own site to what I saw on other peoples websites too and so overall my site looked professional because of this research. My research portfolio included creating a mood board, colour scheme, font styles and logo. Doing all of this planning allowed me to create my own ideas for my site. When doing my mood board I put a range of images (that I found from sites that I liked), together to compare and generate ideas for my own site. I also chose my colour scheme- this helped me make my site flow throughout and look professional on each page. I chose a font style I wanted to use on my site and this was massively influenced by what I saw on other site, I knew it needed to be simple but smart, and that is what I chose to use. I made sure that I created a site plan- giving a small amount of detail as to what I wanted on each page and how many pages I needed on my site. This helped me organise my site and work and I then got a clearer idea of how my site would be set out.

Creating your product:
At first I found that the software  quite tricky and not very clear, however I overcame my issues buy watching the Muse tutorials that we were shown in lesson and also asking people in my lesson/ course for help when I had a problem.

The design ran smoothly throughout, the colour scheme was plain and simple also making the site flow. I made sure that each page looked the same to make my site look professional. The side banner worked properly and all the links took me to the correct page. I made sure that the text and font was the same throughout so overall each page looks very smart. I added some social media buttons to a few pages- the hyperlinks all worked and made my site look professional. On some of my pages I added in photos and slideshows- they all worked well and looked eye-catching. I went into a lot of detail in my text so I think that worked really well to communicate to my audience, as it was clear and easy to read. Overall, I think my site is really good and professional- I am happy with my final site.

When I tested my site in the browsers it all worked well: the page hyperlinks (to other pages) worked correctly, image links worked and all the video links worked etc. The only problem was that the images on the portfolio page weren’t loading as quick as the rest of the page- they took a minute or so to load. However, other than the problem with the images the site overall loaded and worked really quickly. One of the main problems I faced was that my social network sites weren’t working properly, they weren’t taking me to any page and so I had to sort this out on each page. I re-linked each of the buttons a few times and asked for help and it was sorted quite quickly. Other than this issue I didn’t really have any other problems when making my site. My original intentions were to promote my work whilst making my site look professional too. Overall I believe I met this as my site looks smart and also shows off all my work including professional and education. I am happy with my site.

HOME PAGE: I think that my home page looks really smart and professional, the image slideshow that links to the YouTube videos work well and links to the correct videos. Also the social media buttons above the images all work correctly too and also makes the black and white theme look good as well. Overall, I like this page a lot although if I would’ve had more time I would add in a moving graphic for my background so that there isn’t loads of white space left over.

ABOUT ME: This page mainly consists of text and even though this text is detailed and helps the audience know more about me personally, I think if I had more time I would change this page so that it has more images of me on it. Generally I like this page and I believe it looks professional overall.

PORTFOLIO: My portfolio page is my favourite from my whole site, is it very eye-catching and makes my work (personal and educational) look professional too. I have put a range of images and videos on this page and overall I think this is the best page out of them all. Everything on the pages works including the links and buttons etc and the small amounts of text I added in brings the page together. The only thing I would change about this page would be to add more images so there is less white space showing on the page.

RESUME: Similarly to the about me page it consists mainly of informative text and information about my education etc. If I had more time I would change this page so that there are more images and widgets to make it more eye-catching and interesting.

CONTACT: This page is fairly simple and doesn’t have any images on it, it works well as the buttons and hyperlinks work fine however there isn’t much on it so if I was to change it I would add in more images and widgets just to make it look more interesting.

If I would’ve had more time I would’ve added in more images and widgets to cover up white space that was left on some of the pages. I would also hyperlink some images from other social network accounts, for example: Facebook- I would do this because I only linked in my Instagram images. I believe that by doing this it could’ve made this page a lot better and more professional.

Feedback:
I created a quick and easy survey for my class mates to fill in for my feedback. Two people filled in this survey and another gave me a detailed paragraph instead. A few questions were skipped in the surveys however overall I got a lot of good feedback from my peers. Here (below) is the survey I created and the feedback I received.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/HWQC252

 

Reflective Journal

 

I will be using the Muse software to create my website but first I started off by planning my website- what pages I want, how many I need and what I want on each. In order for my site to flow well I needed to add in different sections of my site. Before I started creating my site I planned out what I wanted on each page- this helped my organise my layout for each page, and have more of an idea of what each page will consist of.

I chose to have an About me page to add more personal information about myself, a portfolio to put my videos and photos on (personal and educational), a resume page to give more info about my experiences and a contact page to add my social media and email onto.

As I had never used Muse before I needed to figure out how to ass in more pages and also a master page too- I learnt how to do this by watching a range of Muse tutorials in lesson and in my spare time.

Session 1
In my first session my aim was to create the main layout for my site and finish my  home page. I firstly created a master, home, about me, portfolio, resume and contact page. To create the main layout of my site I used the master page- this put the same things on each page on the site and kept the colour scheme flowing. When creating my master page I took into mind the colour scheme I had chosen and also the font I had chosen when planning for my site. I first created a blue banner to go across the top of the page using a box shape and just filling it in to match the blue colour scheme- I thought this looked nice and made it look professional. I then added in a side bar widget-this also matched my colour scheme and font, I hyperlinked each section on the bar to each page so that when I clicked on each part it would take me to the correct page easily and quickly. I also added the logo I created at the top of the widget bar.

1. 
   My master page looked like this- each page then had this layout with the same widget, banner and simple professional look.
2.  
   Here is what my final layout looked like, including my master page and home page linking to all of the other pages.
3. 
   I researched and downloaded a range of widgets to add to my website, including the main banner widget that is on my master page.

Once my master page was finished I then started to personalise each page- the first thing I did to each page was adding the titles of the pages to the center of the blue banner, I did this on every page.

I then started on my home page by adding in a photo widget- I screenshotted images from my YouTube videos and added then to the widget (slideshow.) I then decided that it would work well if I hyperlinked each of the images to the video that they’re from. After looking at the widget with coloured images I then decided to change them to black and white, I had seen this on various websites and I thought it made the websites look smart and so I chose to use Photoshop to edit each image to black and white and then added them back to the widget in the center of the page. I gave the slideshow a title “Recent Projects” (above the widget) and a caption ” click the image to view video” (underneath the widget.) I then went on to add the main title “Welcome to my site!” and then underneath adding in some black and white (to match the images and text) social media buttons, that I linked to each social media site. I had my layout and home page finished by then end of the first session and was happy with the work I produced.

Here is what my final home page looks like.

Session 2
In this session I wanted to start & finish my about me page and so as I completed my home page in the previous lesson I got straight on with this. I found an image of myself to put in the top center of my page underneath the page title- this also matched the other black and white photos I used on the home page so I wanted to use this to make it flow. I then went onto adding in some text about myself, my hobbies/what I enjoy doing, what the website is about, favourite films etc. The text was the main part of this page so I made sure that I was focused on what I was writing rather than adding in widgets that I didn’t need to add. Although there isn’t much on this page it was time consuming and did take the full session to do this page as I went into detail when writing.

Here is what my final about me page looks like.

Session 3
My aim for the end of this lesson was to start and finish my contact page. To start my contact page I found I widget that I wanted to use and I had a good idea on how I wanted to set it out. I wanted my contact page to simple but also look professional too. I had a look at a few examples of contact pages before I started to get an idea of what needs to be on the page. The first thing I did was adding in the widget I found on Muse, to the center of the page. Underneath this I added in the social media widgets I used on my homepage and a small text box saying “Any enquiries? Please feel free to contact me via email, social media or simply fill out the boxes below…”. After I put all this together I felt that I didn’t need to add in anything else as it looked simple and professional-just how I wanted it to look.

 

Here is what my final contact page looks like.

Session 4
My main objective was to do my resume page. Similarly to my about me page this mainly consisted of text rather than widgets and images. I first started with writing about my education: where I had studied, grades achieved and where I am currently studying. I then went on to talk about the roles and experience I have had in the past and what I plan on doing in the future.

 

Here is what my final resume page looks like.

Session 5
Leaving my portfolio till one of the last sessions was done purposely as I wanted to focus more on this page, as it needs more images and widgets adding in than the other pages and also needed some text and links adding in too. I added in a large photo widget to go into the center of the page of my personal and educational work. I then linked in my personal images from my Instagram account. Although I didn’t get this page finished in this session I did get a lot of it done and I was happy with my start to the page I also knew what I what I wanted to add to the page (more text.)

Session 6
In the last session I knew that I needed to finish off my website and tweak some things on each page. This included repositioning images and text, making the font size the same throughout, resizing images etc- to make my site look and work better overall. I also finished off my portfolio page by adding in small text boxes to fit the layout of the page. After I checked everything over and was happy with how my site worked I then exported and saved my work to my desktop and Sally’s USB. Overall I am very happy with my website.

Montage Pre Production

LOCATION RECCE

RISK ASSESSMENT

SHOT LIST

STORYBOARD

Montage Proposal

Rationale

Before creating my film I had already acquired skills that I need to create my project. I have worked a lot with cameras and also with editing so with this experience I will be able to start my project without having to learn all the skills I need from scratch. In previous work I have used softwares to edit such as Final Cut Pro, I have chosen to use this programme to edit my final shots that I record. Also in a lot of work I have done before (including educational and personal), I have used cameras for not only recording but taking photos too. So overall I don’t need to learn any new key skills that I will need for this project as I have all the skills I need to create my montage.

Project Concept
For my project I have chosen to do the theme of happiness and have the type of montage being tonal- where shots are chosen based on their emotional content. I am planning to show various shots of happiness including people (my family and friends) smiling (close ups, medium close up etc), laughing – range of shots etc and I will try and find shots that represent happiness in various ways and cut them together to fit the tonal style of montage. In my research I will look at montages that other people have made with the same theme as me to help me gain some ideas for my own piece. I will research (ask a range of people) what their thoughts, feelings and opinions on happiness are and use their answers to help me decide what shots/objects I want in my video I may also add their answers as audio in my montage. I will also look on various sites to help me generate more creative ideas for my montage and this will also help me when editing- by looking at how other people have edited their shots together.

Evaluation
To reflect on my production I will keep a blog on what has happened/ what I am doing for my project, how it is all going and what I have planned. I will make sure that this is updated regularly and is clear on what part of my project I am working on. I will comment on how I am feeling about my production and also what is going well/not so well. I believe that this will be the easiest way for me to get my point across clearly and easily too.

 

 

Secondary Foley Research

The foley sounds that I will need to create (for the video I have picked), will have already been made by people in the past for similar shots etc in videos and so I researched the noises that people have made before for their videos and whether I could use the way they made the noises to help me in my video. The ways that other people have made their sounds helped me decide how to make my own noises and what props etc I will need to bring in/use to get the sounds I want.

I started looking at George Melies videos from the early 1900’s, watching the old humour that features in the videos, whilst thinking about the ways they had to record their sounds before advanced microphones and technology were created. My task is to create sounds that sync with the what ever was happening on screen (to the video I have chosen); foleying. This is a more difficult task than it sounds, creating background music (atmosphere and sounds that will cancel out the silence) and using certain crops etc to make sounds that fit to the ones on screen. For example, the sound of a watermelon being crushed would be used for the sound of someone’s head being squashed. In order to make this noise I will obviously need to get a watermelon to make this noise with and also make sure that the sound of the watermelon being crushed is in time with the timing in the scene. I decided on The Devil and The Statue to use for my foley project, I wanted to do this one because I thought that it would need some interesting noises adding to the video. But first of all I had to do some research into what foleying is, why it is used and what it is used for.

I looked into the sounds that I could use for different scenes, first off I found research into making fighting, pushing noises etc, and even though I didn’t need these sounds for my video it helped me generate ideas of my own. According to P. Weir “I’ve used the newspaper rolled up approach in the past and it’s hard to get a satisfying sound out of it. One of my favourites is wet mud, jump up and down, hit it with a bat, add some foliage for extra texture” for the noises of hits to the face and body, he states that in order to make clear crisp noises that match the “body hit” noises newspapers etc are good for this. Although I won’t be needing these sounds in the video I have chosen I think that it has made me think more about how to produce the sounds I need to make and what I can use to create this noises. This quote helped me come up with some ideas of my own to add into my work, and think more about how I want the noise to be heard; adding in foliage and texture.

At the start of my video (the devil and the statue) there is a man playing the ukulele, to create this noise I will need to find props that create a similar noise or use an actual ukulele. I couldn’t really find any research for the ukulele foley sounds as most people just use an actual ukulele when recording their sounds. This research has helped me decide how to create my own sounds, it has also made me more confident on my choice of props and how I plan on making this sound. Instead of creating a ukulele noise using different props (provided for me or from home),  I have chosen to use an actual ukulele to make the sounds more accurate and clear- and this is also the most popular choice for foley artists to use too.

Also I researched how people have created wind/air noises- I will need this throughout the clip, in different sections from start to finish. I originally thought that I could blow down the mic or try and create the noise myself, I could also use a glass bottle and blow into it to create a louder noise. After coming up with these ideas myself I decided that I wanted to see what other people have previously used to create wind/air noises and see whether I could create these sounds the same way.

According to (Watson, S) “Try turning a bicycle upside down […] Spin the tire and press a piece of stretched silk/parachute-pants/winter-parka against it. Out comes wind in the form of a modulating white/pink noise.” (http://www.epicsound.com/sfx/)

After looking further into different peoples ways of creating wind sounds, I decided that I will stick with my original idea of blowing into the microphone- this is a popular choice and I think this will work well in my final piece and I have easier access to a bottle than a spare tyre (as recommended above). Even tough, if I had more time (and more access to a bigger range of props) I would’ve chose to use the bicycle tire method to get more professional sound for my project. Although I won’t use a bottle to blow into a bottle as many people don’t recommend it as being a good choice to create the sounds I need.

I also did some further research to find out more about microphone technique and mixing techniques. According to (Patrick, M) “This mic has great audio quality on both the boom and attached right onto the camera, but it’s going to give you the best results when used professionally. The mic is weather proof and can be used for outside recording as well as inside, and it’s generally got great range and pickup.” (July 3, 2013) (http://stillmotionblog.com/gear/.) From looking at this site I found that the best microphone to use would be a directional microphone, I have chosen to use this to collect my final recordings. There are many positive reasons to use these types of microphones, with using these types of microphones before and having experience with them also helps a lot too. I know how to set them up, where I should put them, how close I need to be to the mic to get crisp clear sounds etc. This type of mic blocks almost all of the background noise and any interference out that you don’t want in your recordings, and as I will be recording my sounds in college I don’t want to pick up any sounds from people in the corridors etc so overall I think this will be a good choice to use.

As part of my research I needed to find out more about what methods were best to mix and sequence my audio. After practising with a few different software’s whilst in lesson and in my free time, I have become comfortable with editing my audio to what I want it sound like and also giving a professional feel to my work too. 

According to (Stillmotion, M)”Another big part of handling sound in post is simply just staying organized. Develop a track structure so that you put your narration or voice over on one tracks, your characters are on another couple tracks, your sound effects or ambiance on others, and then you have a few for soundtrack […] it is a HUGE habit to develop and make it much easier to bring in a sound designer and to add to your own sound design in an efficient way.” (May 1, 2015) (http://stillmotionblog.com/sounddesign/)

After researching which ways were best to mix my audio, I found that I will still use software that I use currently with my work (Final cut pro) however I will make sure that my work is more organised. In this quote (shown above) it made me realise that if all of my sounds etc are organised, it will make my work and editing a lot easier when putting together my final piece. And so overall I will make sure I group my videos, name each video (simple but effective titles) and just make sure that it is all arranged before I start my edit in order to create a professional audio mix.

From doing this research it has helped me a lot with deciding how to create my sounds, what props I will need in order to create the noises I need for my video and it has also helped me with helping me mix my audio and making sure that my work (when editing) is more organised to make my work more professional throughout.

 Bibliography:

• Stillmotionblog (May 1, 2015) (http://stillmotionblog.com/sounddesign/)
• Stillmotionblog (July 3, 2013) (http://stillmotionblog.com/gear/.)
• (http://www.epicsound.com/sfx/)

 

Primary Research

For my primary research , I think that it went really well and helped me a lot with coming up with ideas for my final piece. Once putting the sounds we recorded together (on final cut pro) I found that some of the sounds were really distorted and either too loud or too quiet. This reminded me of how important it was to check the sound levels when recording and to see whether or not the sounds are clear or not- by listening to them back a few times, when collecting sounds for my final piece I will make sure that I check these or/and do more than one recording for each noise I need. Some of the noises we created didn’t come out as well as expected, some of them had background noise or didn’t come out clear enough to use, so these recordings wont be used in my final piece.

What went particularly well for my research was the range of sounds created using the props. For my final piece, I will bring in any props for the noises that I found (when doing my primary research) the hardest to make. For example, at the start of the (chosen) video there needed to be a ukulele noise however, we didn’t have access to one and didn’t really have enough time to borrow one or buy one and we couldn’t really make a similar sound using the props we were provided. So, for my final piece I will bring in a ukulele (from home) to create these noises I needed. If I had more time to do my primary research sounds I would’ve probably chosen to create the noises with an actual ukulele (borrow or buy one) or try to make the sound with other instruments and props (if given time to collect more props.)

Most noise was easy to create and I could also do most noise without props too. These sounds include: clothes rustling- moving my clothes, blowing a kiss- making a kissing noise, walking- recording my footsteps in time to the video, air/wind noises- blowing down the microphone or in a bottle, clothes being dropped- dropping a coat etc.

The noises that I thought were a little more challenging were: rumbling ground- will need more than one person making this noise (moving banging tables etc.) Bars clanging was also needed, made by rattling and scrapping metal bars, etc- also needs more than one person doing this to get the right sound I needed. And so for my final product I will spend more time on perfecting these sounds and also I may need to take home equipment to record sounds in my own time too as these were the hardest to create when doing my research.

Below is my final recordings (edited together) from my primary research: