Frannie's NM3208 Learning Journal

Final project

Finally! It's time to present our final project.

For our NUS video, it was commented by one of our classmates that the video did not have the punch. We expected this to come as we did not have the dance footage when we did the first version.

As for the CNM video, many did not get the message we were trying to portray in the video. Too many words were flying all over. And most could not comprehend what was the video about.

With the comments given, my group has decided add in the dance footage for the NUS video to get a better effect. And for the CNM video, my group redo the whole video. The main focus of the video is the interview with Dr. Millie and the building!

Our final versions of the videos

"NUS: The place to be."

CNM video

Assignment 6

This assignment is very different from the other assignments we've done. It's the only assignment that is non-school related. It's more like a creativity assignment, which calls for more brainstorming.

This video roughly sums up all that we've learnt during this module, from assignment 1 to 4 and final project, moving from just static images to full motion with effects. The main objective of this assignment is the making of special effects in the video.

During lecture, we were shown effects such as, time freeze, time reverse, etc. Through this lecture, I'm amazed how movie are being produced. It relies pretty much on video effects to make the movie a interesting one. Images of transformers movie scenes played in my head as I learn about video effects.

Here's mine SUPERHERO video!

My SUPERHERO story is about a girl who possess superpowers being stalk by a "Wanted Man". She used her superpowers to protect herself and deal with the man. She "helped" the police to nab the "Wanted man". In this video, I used effects such as time reverse, teleport, particles and time freeze.

My "SUPERHERO" documentation...

Superhero documentation

Assignment 4

Well, for assignment 4, it is link to our final project. We have to come up with the a Preproduction documentation for our final project video.

This assignment gives us a great insight of how commercial videos are being produced. Every process in the production, from storyboard, to scripting, to filming, are meticulously planned and prepared ahead. Furthermore, after the lecture, I have greater understanding to terms such as Transition, Cutting and Dubbing. This assignment requires as to plan how should our video transit from scene to scene, which will affect the final outcome of our video. Through this assignment, we also learn more about Budgeting for the production and get a feel of how a Small Project Management is like.

After much group discussion, we have decided to do a promotional video for NUS, with the tagline “NUS: The place to be”. It features a student’s life in NUS. It will alternate between scenes of the person dancing and participating in academic activities. The video seeks to convey the message that NUS is a place not only for academic purpose but develops individual into an all-rounded person. The video will be mainly set in school and in particular lecture halls, library and the multi-purpose sports hall. The music genre will be hip-hop.

Our Preproduction documentation presented in class...

Preproduction Documentation

Assignment 3

For this assignment, we are required to do 2 kenburn effect video - one for NUS and the other for CNM.

The NUS video is a 1 minute promotional ken burn video for NUS. It features a paper aeroplane making its journey through NUS. It will include scenes of the paper aeroplane flying and the several places in NUS. The video seeks to promote NUS as an institution that aims to bring its student into greater heights. The video will be set in school and in particular faculties, sports hall, and university hall.

The inspiration for this video came from a butterfly flying free-spiritedly in the school compound inspired me. It gave me the idea of making a journey through NUS. After much consideration, I felt that a paper aeroplane would be a more appropriate choice, as it is able to signify bringing students to greater height.

I presented my first version of NUS in class. There wasn't any comment given during class.

Fly high with NUS

CNM Swirls of Thoughts

After watching the videos several times, I felt that the message was not clear enough. So I decided to come up with a tagline that would make the video more understandable. After much brainstorming I came up with the tagline, "One place. One heart. Endless ways to dream. Soar with us at NUS." This tagline will be flashed as on-screen text towards the end of the video.

At the end of the video, I hope to portray the goal of NUS bringing it students to greater heights, and make possible for students to achieve their dreams.

As for CNM, I was given feedback that the message for the video is not clear as well. So I decided to add more words. At the same time, also tried to make the transitions smoother.

So here it is... the final versions

NUS video

CNM Video

Assignment 2

Yesterday, Jiahwa and I made a trip back to school just to take photos for this assignment. We chose to do this on a Saturday because we felt that it will be easier to take photos with lesser people around. Many thanks to Jiahwa who played as a character in my story. Initally, I was totally clueless about what story should I go about doing. This problem was the same problem I encountered in NM2208 photo narrating. But the good thing is, this time the story doesn't need a twist. So it gives us more freedom as to what kind of story we would like it to be, even though we are being restricted by the topic given, "A Day in School".

Anyway, you can take a look at my story just by clicking on this captured shot.

Assignment 1: MDL website

I seriously have to say this is one of the most tedious project ever... revamping a website with 54 pages is no joke. But I'm really glad that I have nice group members. The good thing is all of us are good in different areas, which makes the group a pretty balanced one :) During the Chinese New Year week, all of us met up on Friday 12pm noon in SOC to work on this project. Guess what, all of us stayed overnight till the next morning.

At 8.15am on Saturday morning, we were all still working on the website.

The tired humans as well as the 4 tired laptops...
who have worked continuously for 20 hours.

The guys...

(Now now, where am I? Needless to say, I'm taking these photos.)

Anyway, this was the prototype of the website layout I came up with on the night before. And I was glad that everyone was agreeable to the layout, especially after meeting quite a few times and we couldn't really decide on the layout.

The theme we have chosen to go with is a crisp and clean look. Initially we wanted to try something different, which was a black background instead of a white background. But after sometime, we realised that the black background seems rather straining to the eyes. Furthermore, white seems to be a better choice for a educational website. The colour combination we have chosen is orange, grey and white, with black text for the main body. And so I started working on the background and layout of each individual pages. Each different section has a different background picture to give a relation to the section.

Example:
A page from the AUDIO section...

As for the coding part, Chuyao and Jiahwa were both working very hard on it.
Canisius was very brilliant in documenting our work, justifying our choices to ensure that we are on the right track in following the design rules and so he was the mastermind of our powerpoint slides.

We took a pretty long time in deciding whether to do with or do without the film strip in our main pic on the index page. I being the one who came up with the main pic wanted the film, but the others felt that it was out of place. So in the end, I had it removed. Seems like it's quite a good choice afterall.

With film roll