Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Film Project: Post-production Reflection

My group consisted of Nick Balan, Cameron Bellamy and myself. We chose to do a film about a day in the life of a student at RSGC. Basically this involved following an RSGC student (Nick) on his trip to school and leaving later that day. We filmed Nick at his home as he got ready for school in the morning. We shot Nick while he ate breakfast and then when he headed to the Old Mill subway station on his long board. Filming continued on the subway train. After Nick arrived at Bathurst subway stationed he was filmed on the walk to the school.

Each member of our group was assigned specific tasks for the production of the film. Nick was the subject of the film so we shot him as performed his usual daily routine. Cam and I shared the filming of Nick and the editing responsibilities.

We faced a few challenges. One of our biggest challenges was getting together to complete the project since we do not all live in the same area. Another challenge that we faced was filming in a high traffic area like the subway.

The editing process involved going through the footage and determining where each clip best fit in the film. We also needed to select music that complimented the footage. We also adjusted the speed and cropped out sections that did not fit. Some challenges were faced during the editing process. For example, editing the film to be the ideal length to meet the project requirements and following the layout of the storyboard.

Overall, I think that we were successful with the transition of our ideas to film. However, we lacked consistency in bringing all the elements that we had identified in the pre-production process to the film. We were successful in translating the pitch and some elements of the storyboard. The in-school filming was not possible for us to complete. Additionally, we did not end up using our script. The film captured our ideas without the use of dialogue. One thing that I learned was that making films takes longer than I expected and it is challenging to meet all the elements that are part of the pre-production process when you don’t have a lot of experience with film making.

Our group worked well together. We did not encounter any conflict. We did not have any disagreements. We had good discussion and input form all of our team members. Decisions were made by building on each others ideas and by consensus. My personal contribution was to share my ideas and listen to the ideas that my team members had to offer. We seemed to be able to reach agreements easily. Our most lengthy discussion was coming up with the pitch. In the end, we all agreed to proceed with the day in the life of a student idea.


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Web 2.0 Evaluation








The tool that I reviewed was Time toast. It is a professional timeline building site. You can browse through other people’s timelines without an account, but to create your own you must sign up. It is a online free program that You can customize your own timeline and add events and descriptions. This site is visually appealing and easy to use. There are many categories you can browse through and look at. You can sign up using Facebook and the site has abilities to post timelines straight to twitter or Facebook. You are able to upload videos and photos into your timeline easily.

I think that this application is very useful. You can make timelines for school and to help you study. You can find other timelines that are interesting and help you learn about different periods in time.



Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Website Evaluation

Website Evaluation http://www.videosoniclab.com/

This site is a strong example of poor usability and poor web design.

There are no visual cues to identify relationships on the page. The text on the page is larger than the name of the store on the page or the store motto. There is nothing to draw you in. There is too much colour, different font type sizes and some of the labels are blurry and difficult to look at. The images are pixilated which makes them unappealing to the eye. There is an attempt to group related services into three columns, but it is not effective. Some of the colours chosen to use for text (e.g., lime green on white) are impossible to read. It would take too long to actually determine how to navigate the site, so most people would not even bother to try. The site looks so unprofessional it would be hard to take them serious.

The links used on the site are not the traditional colours. Where traditional colour is used and you would expect a link there is none. The links for Home are in the traditional spots (top right and bottom of the page). Assorted fonts are used to present the text. Text is difficult to read. It is sometimes small and italics are over-used. Screen resolution is poor. Some underlined text is not a link and some text that is formatted like a button is also not a link. While there are no broken links, the Online Store is closed. To see much of the content, you have to go to the second-level.