Project 03 Screening

I held a screening of my documentary in my hostel last night.  The idea was to get some feedback from all kinds of students, not just design focused, in order to see some things that my I missed being too close to the project.  It was very helpful and I'll be going back into studio on Tuesday to make my final edits.

For some reason my titles aren't rendering properly when I export the final video.  I had them working really well before, so I just need to figure out what changed along the way.  Besides that, I just need to do a few spots of color correcting and website shifts (although I'm still waiting on feedback for that) and then I will be fully done.  I mentioned this in a previous post, but this is really my most successful project.  I feel very good about and am extremely proud of the final product that will be.

Documentary Update

I presented roughly three and a half minutes of my documentary in class on Friday and received some very useful feedback.  I think I'm on a solid course with the direction I'm taking and now I just need to finish.  I plan I'm being completely done with the video by this afternoon.  I have the whole video segments edited, just need to add in some B roll and fix a few audio issues.  

Some color correction also needs to be done to bring a cohesive feel to the whole piece.  This is probably my most successful project, at least on a personal level, and I'm really excited about the final product.  I'll be checking in later.

Project 03 Updates

I finished the website portion of my project yesterday and also completed going through all of my interviews and marking which portions I'm going to use.  Now I just need to get back to my Avid project and throw in those last bits of interviews, touch up the soundtrack, and just generally make sure everything is looking clean.  I should be finished well in time to get some good sleep tonight, which is an exciting prospect.

Documentary Concept

I've have finished writing up my concept for project 03, which is basically a refined version of my last post.  I'm going ahead with the divorce effects idea and already have completed most of the interviews.  Besides the interviews, I am also going to need statistics and animation from after effects to display them,  plus some ambient shots that compliment what is being said in the interviews and shown with the data.  Even though (as of right now) the documentary is based on the effects of divorce in the States, I don't think filming ambient scenery around Wellington will be a problem, as long as what I get is universal with know key Wellington or NZ landmarks being shown.  

As far as what shots I will need, this I won't know until I finish sifting throw all the interviews and decide on a definitive structure for the video; what to focus on, how many interviews to use, what is actually being said, when to smoothly transition into statistics.  I have sent off a storyboard and sample footage to my friend and composer Joe Kennerly and he has already begun work on a score for the film.  Once I have the final (or close to the final) video, we'll be able to really refine the score to fit the mood, transitions, etc.  It's all coming together nicely and I don't foresee too many issues as of right now.  Knock on wood.

Project 03 Concept

For my documentary I originally wanted to study the Wellington wind turbine, the effects if had on Wellington, and how wind turbine is being used in general to shape the future of energy.  After doing some research into this and brainstorming some more, I decided that I would rather do something more unique, something more personal to me.  I came up with doing a study on divorce and how it can effect the children of a divorce differently, depending on their age.  Divorce is something my siblings have had to deal with on more than one occasion, and many of my friends are also children of divorced parents, so it is something that interests me.  I'm going to interview three or four people with different stories and mix in some facts on divorce and separation. 

 As of right now I don't know if I want to focus on world statistics, New Zealand and U.S., or just the U.S.  The U.S. is obviously the most relevant to me and will make it the easiest for gathering interviews from the people I know.  I'd also like to bring in NZ, since I'm here now.  However NZ and the U.S. are  not actually related when it comes to divorce issues, so it might be a bit of a stretch to try to tie the two together.  On the other hand, it may be interesting in that regard, to see its effects in two totally different parts of the world.  Maybe not culturally, but at least geographically.

At any rate, I still have a lot to work out, but the ball is rolling and I've already begun interviewing and collecting data.

Project 02 Final Night- Part 3 OR: Project 02 Final Morning

So I've learned my lesson in regards to trying to access servers from abroad.  I'm not entirely sure what the lesson is, but I now know at least to try from not-Vic networks, because there seems to be some firewall blocking my connections.  As with project 01, I ended up having to FTP my files to a friend, who then assisted me in uploading them to my webpage.  I've been able to reach my domain from coffee houses and hostels in NZ, but the Vic network is a no-go.  But the project is finished.  While not as flashy as my previous website in terms of interaction, I think the layout and design of this site is much better.  Plus I wrote it all myself in HTML!  Learning learning learning.  Spent a good couple hours reading HTML tutorials online, but I actually really enjoyed that.  Here is the URL:

http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~coliveria3/proj2web/siteNonsiteWebpage.html

I'm excited to present this in a few hours!  I hope honesty ranks higher than procrastination in terms of marks... but I really have enjoyed the crazy ride this project has been mentally.  After changing my mind many times I finally settled on a final product that I am proud of.  Now time for project 3, which is way more my kind of work!  I'm looking forward to it!

Oh, and one more thing.  We weren't able to access my individual server due to me being abroad and the registrar changing my password and what not (totally unrelated from me not being able to access the school's server), so the website is temporarily being hosted on my friend Ryan Oliveria's page.  The link on the website does still link to my portfolio, however, and the project will eventually join all my others there  Maybe after I give my portfolio site a much needed face lift. :)

Project 02 Final Night- Part 2

As was to be expected, my website creation is going slower than I'd like.  I need more experience in this area, but this is definitely making me appreciate web design.  I'm also having issues accessing my server at home.  I've done it before, but sometimes the Vic network interferes with the connection.  I should be able to get a solid connection for FTP if I move down to the wireless room in my building.  Other than that I'm finished.

Project 02 Final Night

I have concluded the editing of my videos as of a few hours ago and am now taking a break from finishing the web design to post an update.  I am happy with the final video product.  I think it effectively captures the perspective I was going for, while still maintaining the focus on the location, not the unicycling.  The video will be posted as one video for the sake of keeping it synched together, but it is actually two side-by-side videos.  Total combined running time is around 3 1/2 minutes.  I had it longer, but felt that there was no need to drag on.  I think for a location video the shorter the better.  We're posting this to a website, and there's only a small window of time that the casual web surfer will give an online video, especially a non-narrative piece about a static location.  

The website is coming along.  While not as involved as my last site, I  think the simplicity is a nice contrast with the action in the video.  This video also is much more self-explanatory than the three-perspective idea of my remix project, so it doesn't need the separate 'about' and 'credits' pages.  On another note, though, since I'm an exchange student, the website will not be linking to any Vic homepage of mine, since I don't have one.  I have linked it to my portfolio home page back at my school in the States.  This is the closest thing I have to a home page like Digital Media students here would have.

She'll be comin' 'round the mountains when she comes...

Earlier today I concluded the filming for Project 2.  Tomorrow I will add in the new footage and polish the video into a final product.  I want to do two side-by-side videos; one from the unicycle perspective, and one showing the location of the Civic Centre Square.  I can also used the combine double screen to be a kind of super widescreen for an establishing shot.  

The website needs a bit more thought than the video, especially since I am relatively untrained in the area.  But I'm confident I'll put out a solid product.  I am much happier with this route than the one I took before, with footage from the wilderness whilst on the road.  While I felt a bit anxious about a week ago, a now feel very at peace with the project, and I think that means this take on the unicycling perspective is going to come across better to the viewer and to myself.