Second Life

Woop Woop! I managed to change my outfit!!

Journal Task - Online Interactivity

I have looked at several different websites, thinking about how they look, the purpose of them, the content, how the design reflects the company, how they reflect the philosophy of the companies brand and how successful the interactive elements of the website were.

To be able to do this I chose to look at three different websites that each have a different purpose.

The first website I looked at was for Netdiver Digital Magazine. The purpose of the website was to 'uncover reviews and to publish outstanding work by the International community involved with the industry' (digital design). So the main purpose of the website is to share information with people, to try to connect poeple throughout the industry together. The website is very easy to use, the navigation bar at the top makes it easy to follow. The context is clear and contextualised so the user can easily navigate around the website. The website has a white background with red subheadings and thumnail images. So text is easy to read and images are easy to see. However I did not like how the content was all layed out in a thin column to the left of the screen, I felt that that meant there was a lot of unutilised space. I understand however that this layout may be to accomodate people who used hand held computers to view the internet. The website does reflect the company, as soon as you log onto the website you see links to work and reviews on practitioners.

The second website I looked at was the Currys (electrical retailer) website. The purpose of this website is to sell the companies products to the user. Straight away the website is colourful and attractive to make it appealing, this is important as the user will feel good about what they see putting them in a better mood to purchase from them. The website is very easy to use, the navigation bar is on the left contextualising all the product to make it easier to understand. A search bar at the top means that people who know what they want can go straight to it so there is not frustration. All the leading deals are posted on the main page to act as eye catchers and to appeal to the user. This website has been positioned to the left of the page, I believe this is to accommodate people viewing the website on all screen sizes. The style of the website reflects the company as Currys is an electrical retailer selling products for all households. This means the website is designed to be very easy to navigate and explains fully the extra services that the company provides such as delivery, installations etc. Anyone would be able use this website and understand it easily.

The third website I looked at was the GCSE bitesize revision site by the BBC. This site is there to provide a service to young paople by aiding them to revise for their exams. The website is very colourful, making it appealing to young people which automatically helps against bordom. Calming tones of blue white and orange have been used which helps people use the website so that they can actually absorb the information that they are being given. The large navigation bar at the top helps the user navigate the website with ease, they can easily find the area of study. It targets its users by breaking the subjects matter into a language they can understand. As well as textual learning the users can download audio to aid them with them with their learning so the website is catering for students with different learning needs. The website also has a great level of interactivity by having a noticeboard for students to get in touch with each other and descuss the subject matter. This website reflects the BBC as it is utility for young poeple to use to aid their learning, the BBC are controlled by the government and this aids with the process of the exams which are laid down by the government.

Drawing Kelly

Here is a little animation I made of drawing my Niece.

Identities

I came across several different artists who use found obejects in their work.

Joseph Cornell.

I could use this approach to display my objects, put them together as they are, each object adds to the balance of the piece on a whole.

Mark Dion.

I love this layout for the objects, they are all strategically placed on the tree. I could attempt this layout in my virtual identities project. The user could navigate their way around the tree (or another item similar) to come across the different objects I choose to include. It would give the website a theme or a purpose.

Louise Nevelson.

Another approach would be to paint everything the same colour when put together to add a sence of unity between the objects but I think this would take away meaning from the indevidual objects rather than add.

Peter Blake.

I have always liked how Peter Blake adds objects to his compositions. They make the pieces personal to Blake. One of these images displays pictures that his classmates produced.

Researching Cabinets

As part of the holiday journal tasks I have been looking a different 'cabinet' websites, where different objects are used to together to create an image for a website and also are used as liks for the user to explore the website further.

I remembered JK Rowling's own website, years ago when I visited it it was designed as a desk full of objects that could be clicked on and would react in some way or open up another page of the website. I remember you could only open one part of it after collecting clues and at a cirtain time in the evening to get a sneek preview of some of the Harry Potter pages before the book was released.

Now the website has changed in its look a little but the idea is still there, I especially like how she has a photo in the bottom right hand corner, it adds a real personal touch to the look and feel of the website.

Second Life

Over the holiday (in between working millions of hours for DSG) I have been logging onto Second Life, creating a virtual character and exploring the world created by other on the T'interwebb.

I created a lady named Paige Skute:

Using Paige Skute I began to explore the virtual world around me, Of course I joined an Irish Pub and had a boogy on the dance floor.

Learning how to fly was great, I managed to get lost loads of times which was fun. I'd find relly cosy spots in the middle of nowhere.

I also found plenty of art galleries where people have uploaded work for others to view.

After exploring things did start to get a bit boring really but then I started IMing several different people. One guy was really helpful and added some landmarks onto my list where I could go to get some new clothes etc and he said he'd be happy to help so that was nice.

The whole website was very detailed, I found, there are lots of buttons for different things which I thought was a bit confusing. I suppose the more I use it the better at it I will become, hopefully.

Narrative Flow Chart

Here is the flow chart for my interactive narrative project:

I am really happy with my Flash project although there are plenty of changes that can be done to improve it even more.

Evaluation

Adventure Holiday is aimed towards poeple of diferent ages (but probably no younger than around 8 because of the text) It is of a fiction genre designed to tell the user a story that they can have a degree of control to.

The story is set in New Zealand where a group of the people (the user included) decide to go on a road trip for the weekend and do some adventure trips including caving and hiking. For most of the text slides I chose a black background, this is because I thought It tied in better with the theme of the caves, the text over that became blue to create what I think is an effective style.

I have not added much sound to the project as of yet, I have however added some sound to the buttons, this helps guide the user through the story so that as well as the buttons changing appearance as they push them they can hear that they have pushed a button too. I did attempt to add some more ambitious sound effects such as different sounds coming through on different slides but I could not quite grasp the method of doing this. I will continue to try this until I get it right and upload it to Deviantart.com when I am happy with it.

I also have not uploaded the project onto Deviantart.com as of yet. This is because some of the pictures I have used came from Waitomo.co.nz which is the website giving all the information about the Waitomo Cave trips. I do plan to remove these pictures and replace them with my own pictures therefore eliminating any copyright issues.

Throughout the production of my Flash project I asked several of my fellow students to test it for me and give me any feedback. This happened several times and was very beneficial for me as several issues were raised, such as the text being hard to read on some slides, this meant that I could go away and adjust the problem areas and make the project even better - Thank you to all who gave me such feedback!

So far...

After today's lecture I realised I have failed to keep updating my blog on the progress in this Interactive Narrative project.

I am well into my 'Holiday Adventure' narrative project now, which follows the story of a person who goes on a weekend trip with their friends to the Waitomo Caves and hopes to go hiking the next day as they return back home.

The idea came when I found myself sat down thinking of a story or a reason why someone would want to 'interact' with my narrative. This story came from my own experiences that I had a few years ago during my travels, this also made me realise that I have a lot of stories that I could re-tell. In the narrative the user can make their own decision as to which 'path' to take as they encounter various choices throughout the story. The user is actually having to face the same obstacles that I encountered in this trip so I find will it very interesting when I see what choices they will make to overcome the obstacles.

This is the first time I have used Adobe Flash so I was a bit worried about not being able to handle the software but as I have been creating my Interactive Narrative I have been given great tips from other students and my lecturers which have been a great help. Also, the online tutorials through NOW have been really beneficial to watch as I am quite comfortable with the interface of Flash, making it much easier to figure out what goes where etc.

At the moment I just need to add the sound effects to my story, which I will find out how to do by watching the online tutorials. I am still not sure wether to upload my project yet or not because of copywrite reasons. I was already well into the project when I was told this may be an issue, therefore I plan to complete it as it is for now, submit it on disk to my lecurers on thursday and in the future I will change the pictures I used from the Waitomo website to other non-copywrited pictures and upload that in time.

Interactive Narrative

Seeing as I cant sleep I decided to have a look at the lecture and seminar notes that have been posted onto the NOW. I looked at all of the different example pieces mentioned in the lecture notes and looking at those pieces i'm now quite excited to be starting this new project, it is something that i've always been interested in trying. I hope I get a good enough idea (narrative/story) for me to work with.

We shall see.

The Meeting

Here...Finally...is the final edit of my one shot movie:


Camera Angle: Out of the other takes, I thought this angle was the best one to use as both characters can be seen clearly both in front of the computer and on the actual screen. The viewer is positioned behind he characters where they have a good view of the characters interacting with the web cams.



Camera Movement: There is no camera movement in this one shot movie, the story was played out in front of the camera in its still position.

Mise-en-Scene: The viewers are made aware that they in a computer room as there is more than one computer in the shot, if there was only one computer then it could be anywhere such as in a persons home. The web cams are in clear view and the reflective images on the monitors are very clear to show that the characters are interacting with the web cams. The smiles and funny faces performed by the acters let the viewer know that they are happy at that time and can easily see when the faces change to evil and scared letting the viewer see that the mood of the scene has changed.

Lighting: The lighting in this film had to be made so that the main focus was the monitors, the room is not over lit allowing a good view of the characters in front of the monitors but an even better view of the images on the screens.

Sound: The sound in the film is all non-diegetic, the characters do not hear this music it is for the viewer only. It starts with low tones which are quite ominous instantly letting the viewer know that this is bad or threatening. This then changes to a happy, upbeat tune which mirrors the feelings of the characters as they play. The shift back to the original music emphasises the evilness of the character being revealed on screen.