Beautiful photographic of the Photographic Trip—A review of Eric’s film

I always like Eric’s film. He has a very good eye for art. For all his previous film projects, even though not completely perfect, I found that the composition, the color, the shots’ angles were very artistic, fluent, and beautiful. And these components are definitely the foundation of a film.
For the beginning, the title shot was, no doubt, a big success. I think Eric got inspired by the film title we watched in class. He used a long-take to show all the photography gears on a desk, the shot was very fluent and classic. Also it was an introduction of the whole film. The story was built on a photo shooting trip. There is no other better way to show the beginning but the cameras and lenses.

In addition, I liked how Eric jumped from the dream and the reality, by using color fading. First, he showed half screen of the camera and half screen of the guy’s face. The movie language was very clear: he is dreaming. And at about 1:13, the guys eyes faded into color. By doing so, we all know: now the real world scene begins.

In the taking picture scenes, I really loved the background music. I found it was a romantic way to show the photographers’ passion and the beauty of the nature. The director used different film techniques here, such as fade in and fade out, on focus and out focus, separate screens, as well as a bunch of different shots, wide shot, close-ups, long shot, etc. Therefore, even though the 4 mins long scene was all about two guys taking pictures, we would not feel very boring of it.

The shot I liked the most is about 4:50, when the two guys running together into the sun. The director used some effects to make the shot to be up-side-down, and it gave us a very surrealist feeling. I considered that to be a release of passion from the two young guys.
As for the last scene when all of these came back to reality, and they were just dreaming it or imagining it, I still have different opinions about it. On one hand, I think it’s a good closure of the first scene when the guy woke up; on the other hand, I wonder if this is really necessary.

What makes horror scene horrific? —-a review of James’ film Lucid

Lucid really surprised me because I literally had to put my computer on mute and make the screen smaller when I was watching. That was my typical reaction to horror movies.

There is one type of horror film which I would appreciate the most: no bloody killing-people violence, no disgusting ghost haunting around, no ugly alien gun fighting, however, all the story happened under a very normal circumstance, in daily life, in the reality. Yet this “common” environment would give you the scariest experience, because they feel so REAL.

In this sense, Lucid definitely reminded me of Paranormal Activity (2007). Both of the stories happened during the sleep. Something we all do every day and every night. A lot of shots even seemed like too normal and too slow, however, a feeling of curious and scary has already been developed in the story. To convey this, Lucid used several film techniques: firstly, the color: It happened during the night, so the room seems dim and dark. We can see a kind of bark and blue shadow on the actor’s face. Second, the sound: I really appreciated the whole film was so quiet. There was no music, which I think would’ve ruined the film; no big loud sound, the audio was exactly the sound happening during sleeping. Third, different shots from different angles: Although the actor was sleeping, the director did not just use similar shots. We have close-ups on his eyes, on his lips; we have wide shot of the room; we have the full shot of the house, etc. We also have seen the shot when the actor woke up and being paranoid. All of these were telling the story in different ways. And, remember the very beginning? With the green UFO thing floating near the window, the story has already given the hint of something “bad” was going to happen.

For the things that I maybe not quite agree was the last shot. I felt like I had already built a very tense feeling for the past a few minutes, but the last scene did not release all my fears. I think the whole film was very humble (which is good), so the ending could’ve gone better by making it more dramatic. I wanted to see a big surprise at the end.

 

 

The Classic Horrors —-A review of the film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

 

If we critique The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in this age, comparing it to the popular horror movies which are popular today, we might think The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was such a cliche, because a lot of scenes seemed like exaggerating and over dramatic. However, consider the year which the film was produced, that was in 20s, last century when the “fancy” filming techniques have not been invented yet. The Cabinet of Dr. Cagliari has only depended on the most basic rules of filming to convey a horror story, which as far as I am concerned, it was already a phenomenal success.

What I found the film element most fascinating was the color. Not only the color of the film itself—-black and white with an orange tune, but also the color of background and the “ridiculous” heavy make-ups on the actors’ faces. If you paid attention to those props, you would notice that the direct had done a lot of work on building a horror/scary environment. The actors were “wearing” an “abnormal” expression: for example, they had dark eye shadows, strange hair styles and crazy cloths. Also the background, we can see all kinds of weird shapes on the wall, they made the whole story flow have a sense of uncomfortable feelings.

What also worth to mention is the music. The music in this film was as dark as the stage and the film themselves. Those film techniques, although easy and basic, I have to say: they have served the story so well and so right. It was a story full of confusion, depression, desperation, etc. The producer created a world that everything was different from the real world therefore to convey the surrealism and expressionism.

 

 

What I have learned in Interactive Design class

 

I did not have any design background in my career path, however I was still eager for this class, because: one, I am fascinated in art and design; two, I am ready to pursue a career transition in the digital video creative field. Even though video production does not exactly belong to design, but the major rules are the same. I am very glad that I’ve gained precious knowledge of Interactive Design from two aspects in this class:

 

• User-Centered Analysis and Conceptual Design

In class 2, I have gained a lot of inspirations from a professional designer’s point of view: a deeply thinking of design usability. Before the class, as an amateur, I did not consider quite enough what factors are affecting users/audience; what do they expect from the design; what are the users’ aspirations, problems and motivations, etc. Those thinking should be pondered before actually starting the design process.

A good design should be interactive with the audience. Design is related to art, yet design is not exactly the same as art. I like this saying in the reading material, in the book The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda, design makes people clear, while art makes people wonder.

I have learned that before conduct a design, we should analyze the user first. Such as: Who are the users? How do users think and work? What do users want or expect from the design? Gathering and considering the users’ information will be significant for a good design.

In addition, I have learned the components of a design strategy. It includes: business goals, target users, general tasks, technological constraints, marketing goals, and critical success factors.

What I found most interesting and useful was to create a persona (a characterization of a single user group) and scenario, in order to evaluate the design. This persona should not be described as a real person, but it represents the key audience who will be using the design/product. I really like the conclusion of “focus on probabilities, not possibilities” The persona profile could really address all the challenges in the design strategy and pull the designer way closer to the users. We can actually feel how does the user feel.

 

 

• Visual Design Components

Not only have I learned how to conduct a design, but also how to critique a design. Class 3 was very important for me. I have learned the characteristics of usable interface. Is the interface easy to remember, easy to use? Is it consistent? Is it efficient? —-They are all necessary components for a designer to think about. And then, the class introduced the Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics. This is my first time to hear the concept. The 10 rules include:

1. Visibility of system status

2. Match between system and the real world

3. User control and freedom

4. Consistency and standards

5. Error prevention

6. Recognition rather than recall

7. Flexibility and efficiency of use

8. Aesthetic and minimalist design

9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

10. Help and documentation

 

I also found the design analysis part was helpful. I have learned to separate the components and appreciate/critique them one by one, such as the color, composition, typography, grids, visual perception, and so on.

In class 4, we brought the theory into the real world. Students presented the good design works and bad design works. It was very interesting too see and feel how a design affects our lives in a way maybe we did not even pay attention before. Good designs make things easier, while bad ones really bother people and make us confused somehow. This class made me realize: design really matters!

 

 

All in all, the Interactive Design class I took gave me the knowledge and ability to analyze a digital product, to generate ideas and thoughts of conducting a design, it also taught me how to gather information to make a strategy, especially from a users’ point of view.

 

 

 

 

Chart of Egypt unrest affect on the social media

Proposal for the final project

A virtual Campus Tour proposal for the University of Washington

 

Overview：

A virtual tour is digital media tool which can showcase the outlook of a particular location. It is a simulation of an existing location, usually composed of a sequence of video images. They also include other multimedia elements, such as, voice over, background music, and text. Simply put, virtual tour makes the users experience almost the same thing as in the real world.

As the digital technology is growing fast, more and more universities are using the virtual campus tour projects. It is more like an online expedition that is close to real campus walking tour. Not only can it showcase the beauty of campus environment, it is also a useful reference for the new students or freshman who is not familiar with the campus and facilities.

To sum up: the Virtual Campus Tour is considered as one of the necessary applications for universities.

 

 

Key elements analysis

• Audience: the current and future students, the faculty at the University of Washington.
• The Present： Current UW virtual tour: http://admit.washington.edu/Visit/Virtual
• The Challenges:

Challenge 1)      The current UW virtual campus tour only allows very limited audience to get the access. It needs a particular plug-in to view the tour, and most of computers do not have the application. It needs specific browser and flashed latest version to watch the tour.

Challenge 2)      Time/speed

Viewing the current tour is slow, even the speed of downloading and installing the whole tour file takes a relatively long time. Some parts of the building tour is broken and needs to be fixed.

Challenge3)      The function of the current UW virtual campus tour is concentrating on the map and directions, so the imagines are rather rough. It neglects showing the beauty of campus.

Solutions To Create A Virtual Tour

1)      Video montage + voice over, combine with an interactive campus map

Film the UW campus with HD camera. Showcase each building and the inside. And then, add voice over as the description.

Estimated Price: Basic material expense, estimated no more than $100

2) 360 degree tour. Flash or other animation format

There are existing software could be used:

http://www.easypano.com/index.html

http://360dof.com/products/index.html

Example Showcase: http://www.easypano.com/showcase-list.html#

Estimated Price: varies according to the different software. Estimated price   would be approximately $600

3) Ask a virtual tour production company to produce the entire project: http://www.virtually-anywhere.com/pricing/

Estimated Price: $500-$3000

1)      Photo Slides + descriptions

Estimated Price: free

 

 

Recommendation

By comparing various solutions listed above, if funds permit, the most efficient and economical method would be the first one: video montage + voice over description + digital interactive map. The budget would be less than $1000, and the estimated time of completion would be around one academic quarter.

Technician personnel: video producer, photographer, IT specialist, along with communication staff.

Download option suggestion:

Not only the users can view UW campus online, it is also recommended to provide a whole content downloading option. All the virtual tour content is showed in one folder that could be downloaded to the wireless devices. Or, it can provide an e-magazine/e-brochure which can be easily downloaded.

As a conclusion: updating and rebuilding a new virtual campus tour is necessary and important to UW. It would not cost a lot of money and time, but it certainly can broaden the public awareness. I believe its outcomes would be very optimistic.

 

 

 

UW Library Mobile Application

Game Play Experience and Game Sitemap charts

In my first Interactive Design class (MCDM program at the University of Washington), I got an opportunity to play four games, including online game, mobile game and Wii. As fun as the games themselves were, that experience actually was the first time I consider a game totally from a designer’s point of view, instead of a gamer, and it really differed a lot from what I usually felt from a game.

In this Blog entry, I am going to talk about the four games I played in class, to discuss and comparing several aspects of them.

The first game I played was:

http://www.games.com/game-play/star-marbles/single/

When I was searching for games, I just googleed “online game”, and this was the first website showed up. It was a very simple and easy game, frankly speaking, not so much fun, however, surprisingly, it’s a very popular online game, and gets a high hits.

In my opinion this game belongs to the category as “puzzles”. Interesting thing is: the simplicity of this game is exactly what makes it popular. You do not even need an instruction to play. Meanwhile, the sitemap for the game is simple as well. The main menu is just “start” and ”high scores”. It’s a game suitable for those busy workers who cannot be stay in games for a long time, but take a little rest from now and then.

Second game, another online game, called “Escape games”.

http://www.escapetheroomgames.net/play-11708-basementescape.html

I am not very sure about the U.S, but Escape games are very popular in Asian countries. It’s not a traditional type of game, as it does not need to be trained for fighting or killing. It looks like very easy, but you might need a couples of hours stuck in a room and have no clue how to get out of it.

It belongs to “Adventure game”. The rules for the game: the player needs to find a way to escape from a mysterious room. The room usually consists of a locked door, several objects to manipulate as well as hidden clues or secret compartments. The object is: the player must use the objects to interact with other items in the room to reveal a way to escape.

Certainly, it’s a fun game, but more accurate question is fun to whom? As far as I am concerned, the audience/fans of Escape game are the group who likes detective novels, crime film, and so on.

Third game: Wii

http://wii.com/

No one would disagree that Wii is popular, Wii is a success, Wii brings not only children, adults, but also even the older generation to the game planet. I would say, the most remarkable feature of Wii is the universality.

The amazing element of Wii is its wireless controller, the Wii remoter, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and detects movement in three dimensions. There is barely “learning curve” at Wii games, as it is designed just as the real world. In this sense, if you know how to play in the reality, you then know how to play in front of the TV. You move with your character in the screen, and you feel his/her feels.

Wii is like a combination of the reality of and game world.

The last game: Kinect —control free!

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect

If Wii would be considered as a bridge to the real world and game world, then kinect probably could be considered as a “real” world itself.

Kinect enables users to control and interact with the Xbox games without the need to touch a game controller, through a natural user interface using gestures and spoken commands.

Kinect definitely is the coolest game in these four, even in all kinds of games. To me, it even felt like Sci-fi, like we are living in the future. Kinect’s sensor should take most of the credits. It is a horizontal bar connected to a small base and is designed to be positioned lengthwise above or below the video display.

Players do not even need to touch anything, or you would say, the only thing they touch is the air.

In some words, Kinect releases human beings from computers and programs. It’s a time for us to PLAY the game, not being played by games.

Game sitemap

http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=gamesitemap-110122202219-phpapp01&rel=0&stripped_title=game-sitemap&userName=lzw0699

Thoughts After Class

Normally, I donot pay attention to Digital Media news quite much. One of the most important reasons is I personally feel like the digital media industry is growing too fast to catch up. When I am considering buying a iPhone4, people told me “donot bother! The iPhone5 is coming soon.”

Sometimes I even feel its tiring to catch all the news, since everyday there is new things comes up. So my attitude is just let it be! However, I am very appreciated that we could get the news information during class. This kind of conclusion about the past week helps me a lot.

Vlog: the future of web