Pre production/ assignment work update so far:

so this morning I sat down and continued work on my pre production, updating it with designs I have been working on and annotating them.

As of yet I haven't started on flash actually getting code for my website and thinking of ideas on how the website could look / run but right now I think I'm going to go with the multi swf approach and have a website like that, this could be a good idea as we learnt it a couple of days ago and then I could use that basic design and add make it more suited to the film I have chosen and hopefully make a mockup site for the page by tomorrow I'm hoping.

spiderman page maybe?

So I spent a bit of time on photoshop making a kind of design, possibly for one of the pages, I'm thinking I might use this design for the downloads page and on the outer part of the picture have thumbnails for the downloads.

anyway here's the picture:

JOHN (character for the game I am making in glbasic)

So today we started coming up with ideas for characters and making a character design for the main character in the game, so I made a design and my character will be called 'JOHN'.

as you can see he doesn't have arms that attach, kind of a thing relating to rayman and also the fact that it will be easier to animate, and he also has no legs. He has a fancy suit that reminds me of Agent 47 (hitman) with the red tie and all, and although it may look like he has one eye then don't worry he does have two, you just can't see the other eye.

Fancy spiderman button:

Today we learnt a little more in flash this time with some buttons, and in this button it involved some awesome transitions using the classic tweens to make the image rotate into the border and zoom a little bit but the code we used was this:


onEnterFrame = function(){
if (bob.hitTest(_xmouse,_ymouse,true))
{
bob.nextFrame();

}else{
bob.prevFrame();
}

};

the instance name for it was bob again it does not have to be bob I just like having random instance names that are easy to remember/type out into flash.

the image above is what it looks like before you hover over the image, and actually in the swf, it zooms out and rotates a bit so you can see more of Spiderman

Copyright and intellectual Copyright, privacy and contracts

What is Copyright?
Copyright is something that protects something that you or somebody else has made, and as soon as something has been made it is automatically copyrighted with or without the c logo, examples of things that could be copyrighted are, writing, music, pictures, videos, films etc.

Copyright doesn't last forever, copyright lasts for as long as the person who has made it is alive and another 70 years at the end of the persons life, and when the copyright runs out, it goes to the public domain meaning anyone can copyright it themselves and call it their own.


what are the three moral rights?
The three moral rights are;

1. The right of attribution
2. The right of integrity
3. False attribution

The right of attribution:

this is all to do with the creator of the work, making sure they are 'identified' this could be done by quoting them and adding in the persons name to who has posted the information, or a link to where you got the information from.

This moral right can also affect peoples work or blogs such as mine as I need to make sure that i'm mentioning the author so I am not plagiarizing somebody's work. But this is not just in writing this could also be through videos as well because it is their information or work that the author has posted and I need to make sure that the person who has made this is identified as the author of the video.

The right of integrity:
the right of integrity is about how somebody's work cannot be changed or modified with out their permission
however this does not apply to everything, basically the author can decide whether or not people can change or modify something they have made, a good example for this would be some video games such as Minecraft where they are very community based allowing people to modify the game to add more to it.

Then another part of this moral right is to do with deep linking, this is when you add a link to a different page and this could be to a specific post instead of the actual homepage, and this also can be to do with using parts from other websites in yours for example using a picture that's the exact same on another website and when the picture changes on that site it will also change on your website.


False attribution:
This final right is about making sure you don't say that your work is somebody elses work

How might copyright affect you and your work with interactive media?
Copyright with my work could affect it as I may not be able to use images/videos because of copyright and this could also affect the music that I use,





what does 'intellectual property' mean?
Intellectual property is someones original work and the work has also been made in a certain way such as on paper so that they actually own it as if it is physical property and this can be bought, sold, hired  and there are different types of IP(intellectual property);

• patent
• designs
• trademarks
• Copyright

What does creative commons do?
creative commons means some rights reserved whereas copyright means all rights reserved, so CC means that you are able to use the image but you need to make sure that you quote the author and post a link to the website, and authors using CC let other people use their image and change it to what they want it to be like.




How can you use an image from Creative Commons in your blog correctly?
you can use a CC image in your blog correctly by making sure you show who the author is and by saying its a CC picture and that some rights are reserved.


Privacy/Internet privacy:
People wonder what should be in the public interest and what shouldn't be in the public interest, whether or not it is good to publish stories or if it would be a bad idea for example if the government knew about something that was going to happen, would they hide it from the public to stop a mass panic?

However what if something about you would be posted all over the internet, that would invade your privacy, and should you be able to decide what should and should not be public, and since Facebook came out there have been crimes that have happened that have invaded peoples privacy.

here is the link to some crimes that have happened because of privacy issues and Facebook(my friend dan given me this link):
http://www.oddee.com/item_97855.aspx


another link:
http://mashable.com/2012/03/01/facebook-crimes/


but there are more examples in magazines with celebrities and things like affairs with other people and people will think about if its right to publish a story like that.

but with privacy issues a good example would be wiki leaks, governments were saying that its a bad thing but wikileaks are showing people what the government wont, the government could come up with excuses about how it needs to stay private and how they can't publish it, but if a newspaper gets the story do they have the right to publish it.

another good example would be with 'star wars kid' and how the internet was actually more responsible than newspapers, because the wikipedia page didn't actually publish his name, whereas the newspapers actually put his name in the story, so another part of privacy for this case is that he should be able to choose what is kept from the punlic.



The pro's and cons of 'Internet piracy':

There are different views about internet piracy, there are people who are against it and think that it is hurting the industry and just the people who actually do it, there are also views and opinions all over the internet about how piracy is good or bad.


The pro's of internet piracy:

This is a good link to look at about why video piracy could be considered as good:
http://www.airbornegamer.com/2012/09/03/why-video-game-piracy-is-good-business-for-the-pc-gaming-industry/

In the link above there's facts about what someone has done after pirating a game, but people might pirate one game and actually buy the squeal or even go out and buy it it's the same with movies on how someone could use piracy for a lower quality version and they could decide to actually go out and buy the actual film for maybe the blu ray version just to have a better quality version of the film.


So although most people think that internet piracy is wrong and bad for industries such as the gaming industry, but actually there aren't any facts or statistics backing up the fact that the gaming industry is losing money from internet piracy, another kind of thing similar to this would be the fact that if people download certain things like softwares and games for free that it could help with advertising and spreading the word of the company who have made that product.

Piracy is basically like lending a friend a game or a film to watch, they can watch it for free and movie companies won't earn any money from it, so how is that any different from P2P file sharing except it's done over the internet and all over the world instead of one of your close friends.

The cons of internet piracy:
the one major con of internet piracy is the fact that it is illegal for people to use P2P file share, it is also considered as theft and how industries are dying because of internet piracy, industries and companies lose money because of internet piracy as well, but on the other hand in the video game industry it's not actually making them lose money.

contracts:
A contract is a legally binding agreement between 2 people, and you can get a contract from pretty much anything e.g. when you get a job, you could get a contract for what you have to do, and also it could be what you have to agree with to certain things you will and will not do.

there is also a type of contract which is a 'disclosure agreement' and this is an agreement where you aren't allowed to tell the public about something you are doing, a perfect example for this kind of agreement is when infinity ward work on a new call of duty game, the employees aren't allowed to leak the game or spread any information about it, so they have to keep it a secret, and that is a type of disclosure agreement.


and when a contract is broken the person who has broken the contract can be sued for not following the contract, or there could be an agreement in the contract to what will happen if you break the contract, so being sued could be just one of the things that could happen.



Ofcom and BIMA:

Ofcom is the "Independent regulator and competition authorityfor the UK communications industries"

Ofcom make sure that people in the uk get the best in their communications services, and to also make sure that people don't get scammed, Ofcom is mainly responsible for tv and radio waves, communications and services, they also do and do not do certain things, so you can see what they're responsible for

here is a link about Ofcom, it has information about who Ofcom is and also what they do and do not do:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/what-is-ofcom/


BIMA(http://www.bima.co.uk/about-bima/index.asp):

BIMA is the British Interactive Media Association, they help support the british digital indutry, they also represent the british interactive media industry, they are only local in the UK at the moment but they are always expanding, and changing its 'activities' to help represent the needs for its members, you can join BIMA and become a member of it.

Multi swf

So this afternoon Julian taught us how to do a 'Multi swf' It's actually pretty simple it was using multiple .fla files and publishing them into .swf's to put them into on page known as the 'background' so basically with all of these separate .swf files they would all load into the background using this code:

loadMovieNum('nav.swf',5)

but then on the nav file it had more code which would load the other files into it so the nav file acted as a database with all the code in whereas the background was just the loader of the code.

here is the code that was used in the nav file:

gary.onPress = function (){

loadMovieNum('page1.swf',1)

}
gary2.onPress = function (){


loadMovieNum('page2.swf',1)

}
gary3.onPress = function (){

loadMovieNum('page3.swf',1)

}
gary4.onPress = function (){

loadMovieNum('page4.swf',1)

}
gary5.onPress = function (){

loadMovieNum('page5.swf',1)

}


all of the separate pages were in different files, the gary, gary 2 and such were just names for the instances obviously they could be called anything it's just I decided gary would be fine for this, here is also what the multi swf folder looked like so you can see what the background would load(all of the swf files into 1 .swf)




with the final part though on the background we had to make sure we published all the files before we finally published the background otherwise the other parts wouldn't be updated.

What I have done today: An after effects/update

So today we did both After effects work and Photoshop work.

In after effects we made some 3d text spin after figuring out how to make 3d text that is, It was more difficult then it sounds, but it's a pretty awesome effect, anyway here's a video link so you can see what the final product looked like, also the final video was also changed so the text will go off the screen but we changed the work area so it made the final render smaller. and you might notice the motion blur, it wasn't needed but it looks awesome:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcWaVgMNqtA

machinima logo/raspberry pi logo

On my day off yesterday I decided to work some more on Photoshop and I wanted to remake the Machinima logo so I went on Google, found a Machinima image and started getting to work on remaking it I also recorded all of it, sped it up and uploaded it to my YouTube as speed art:


The link to the Machinima speed art:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er9rg7ANfp0&feature=plcp


The Machinima logo and my design:

And for the raspberry pi design my dad wanted me to do something using the name he likes to use "M0BND" and it also had to relate to the raspberry pi and again I opened Photoshop and got to work on making a logo, I think one thing I could change about this would be to change the colour of the actual raspberries to blue which I thought would be a nice idea so I might work on that so they are all blue instead of that pink colour.


here is the link to the speed art video for the raspberry pi logo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2gnz1Vg5Xo&feature=plcp


here is the image for the Raspberry pi logo:

creative commons image:

http://opencage.info/pics.e/large_7349.asp

this is an example of a creative commons image where some rights are reserved, obviously this image is my own and this is owned by the author, to see the author you can click on the link above and you will also see the picture on the page as well.

"Storm tracker" photoshop

Today Julian was teaching us a bit on Photoshop and we made a "storm tracker" logo with lightning and clouds in, we followed one of his tutorials on YouTube:

part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMvjc2FHBMg&feature=relmfu

part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkeX4MK3ILE&feature=relmfu

part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1sNmew-J7Y&feature=relmfu

Also in the picture below has an exploded part of the text on, this was because Julian told me to try and add something like that in where the lightning hits the sign and part of the sign comes out of it.


And after following all of these I was able to make this:

obviously the text could be different, I just thought of that

the software development cycle:

There are 6 different stages in the software cycle:

• Analyse
• Quote and Approve
• Mock up
• Create
• Stage and Test
• Release

The software development cycle is the cycle that goes on throughout the game into the final release, first the company will get a game to make and they will come up with an idea for a game this is called the analyse stage. 

The next part is the quote and approve where the idea for the game will be approved by the company asking for the game and this stage will also decide on how much money the company has to make the game on.

For the third stage a mock up will be done except this will mainly be done by the artists designing ideas for the story or characters and what the game could look like.

The fourth stage is creating the game where the game will actually be made into "alpha" ready for people to test and feedback on what the game is like and how it plays, this part will be done by the scripters, programmers, game designer, sound designer, artist and the project manager (obviously I may not of named all the job roles for this stage as I don't know them all).

The fifth stage is called "stage and test" this is mainly done by the game testers so they are able to test the game and find bugs so the game designers, scripters and programmers are able to fix these bugs ready for final release, and when this is done the game goes into beta where the game is for the public to play who aren't in the company, and then feedback is given so the company can finish the game ready for release.

And the last stage is the "release" stage this is when the game is open for people to buy and play and this stage can go in a circle as there could still be some bugs with the game that the company will have to fix in patches to make sure the game works properly and there aren't any bugs or errors with the game.

The software development life cycle

Understanding the Interactive media industry: "Job roles"

game designer(http://www.creativeskillset.org/games/careers/article_4724_1.asp):
The game designer is responsible for what a game has in it and how the game plays and certain parts of the game such as:

• the rules in the game
• characters
• structures/props
• vehicles
• modes
• also parts that are allowed for the players character

the game designer could also work on the concept for the game or the vision of the game, so what they would like it to look like and play like. They will also figure out how to make the best game they can with whats been given to them as they get the base of the game and build it up to make it better.

game designers after designing the game e.g. the story characters and such they will give this to the other people who work on the coding and art for the game to make the game look and play better for the new features and parts added by the game designer, it is also the game designers job to make sure the whole team understands the vision/concept of the game.

key skills/knowledge:

• understanding the game play theory
• storytelling development skils
• communication and presentation skills
• imagination/crativity
• relevant health and safety legislation and procedures

qualifications:

there aren't any specific grades/entry requirements for game designer roles, however most new game designers have just graduated.

programmer(http://www.creativeskillset.org/interactive/careers/profiles/article_4753_1.asp):

a programmer will make/produce software to give something a function such as a game editor, where instead of the scripter having to write out all of the code the programmer will make a software that can simply let them put what they want into a game using the editor that a programmer has made.

programmers are similar to a developer except it is to do with more high level programming and is also more technical, programmers will usually work more with systems or databases instead of visual design/interface.

programmers are employed for usually in:

• permanent jobs
• short-term
• full-time

different levels:

Junior level:

junior programmers will put certain things into an interactive media product that is given to them by someone else, they will also work under supervision and in a group.

Senior level:

sometimes the senior programmers will work alone but will still usually work as a team and the senior level programmers could be the ones determining the specifications.

key skills/knowledge:

• knowing programming languages
• time management
• relevant health and safety of legislation/procedures
• knowing programming principles
• knowledge of database design

training needed/qualifications:

most programmers will have a bachelors degree however its not always needed as some employers could be just looking for the right attitude and wanting to work/getting the job done, also programmers will need to know some programming languages such as C and C++ etc.

scripter:

scripters mainly add things to the game to make them better such as by adding sound affects or maybe adding in certain things to fight or even interact with, they could also use game editors to add things to the game, the game editor will be made by the programmers to save the scripters time and make it easier for them to make levels.

A game can also be developed by the scripter as well as the game developer.

certain things the scripter will write:

• events that are going to happen in a game
• the environment and what it will look like or what will happen in that environment
• adds certain material e.g. sound affects and music

artist(http://www.creativeskillset.org/games/careers/profiles/article_4733_1.asp):

artists will work on the visuals in the game, character designs, textures for the environment, vehicles, weapons etc. as well as props, artists will also help make concept art for the game and storyboards which also help design the game and to how it will play or how the final game could look.


artists will work under supervision(from the lead artist) and the artists will make art for the game which suits what the game is about or a description of what it should or look like.

key skills/knowledge:

• art and design skill
• colour, modelling and texture awareness/techniques
• work as a team
• work individually
• good communication
• knowledge of health and safety requirements/legislations

training/qualifications:

most people in the artist industry for interactive media have a degree in HND and an art subject and also in areas where they have new high end software.

sound designers(http://www.creativeskillset.org/games/careers/article_2768_1.asp):
sound designers could make sound for the game as well as sound affects for when something happens in the game, the amount of people who work on sound design and the audio in general could work as 1 or 2 people or it could be more then that depending on the size of the company working on a game, and the sound designers are also responsible for sound effects(SFX).

sound designers can also work on voice acting and recording sounds or dialogue, and the sound quality can also depend on how much money is being put into sound so this can also change what sounds they have to make as well as the type of job changing of what the sounds will have to be.

key skills/knowledge:

• creativity
• imagination
• communication skills
• organisational skills
• be able to work under pressure
• knowledge of health and safety legislation/procedures

training/qualifications:

junior level sound designers will usually have a "B.Mus" qualification, the competition to get into the sound design industry is high, and another qualification that could be useful is a post graduate level in film and tv sound.

quality assurance(QA) / Testing (http://www.creativeskillset.org/games/careers/article_4729_1.asp):

game testers will test a game to find bugs or problems with the game so the scripters/game designers can fix these errors and problems to make the game better/to obviously make the game work, game testers will also test the games to make sure that they work and the game has little to no glitches, and this also helps test the performance of the game to see how the game runs.

after testing the game the testers will give feedback and any problems they had with the game such as bugs/errors that could potentially break the game, and the testers also act as an audience so that the people who design the game to see if it has a replay value, but not only at the start of testing the game, the testers also help decide the final quality of the game.

usually testers will work as a team, and sometimes testing them together for the multiplayer, and the game also requires the testers to play the game over and over to find the bugs.

this job is a good job for entry level into the interactive media industry.

key skills/knowledge:

• communication skills
• attention to detail
• patience
• persistence
• being able to play games for a quite a long time
• passion for game playing
• knowledge of the health and safety legislation/procedures

training/qualifications:

no specific qualifications, but some knowledge of programming is useful and could also be needed and good English both written and in speaking, this is needed to note what you have found and to be able to communicate with other people. 

Producers / Project managers (http://www.creativeskillset.org/games/careers/article_4737_1.asp):

The project manager or producer will work on making sure the game is successful when it first comes out and to also make sure that work is being done on time and in time for the final release of the game, they also work with the financial parts of the game with costs of things needed to make the game, this also is needed to make sure that the game stays in budget so they aren't spending over the amount they have. And to make sure that the game keeps the same quality and that it is high quality.

the producer works on all parts of the game from start to finish overseeing the game and making sure everything is finished or making sure parts of the game get finished on time

key skills/knowledge:

• ability to manage people
• communication skills
• leadership
• good organisational skills
• negotiation

training/qualifications:
there aren't any specific qualifications however experience is needed/very important as they work on the whole life cycle of the game making sure that everything is going to plan and that all of the game is finished and it is in the budget.



Marketing:
marketing in video games is usually done externally to make sure that the game gets out to their target audience and to advertise the game so people know about it and this will help raise the games popularity to make people want to buy it and to also let people know about when the game is coming out.

What preproduction is needed for Website Design and are the elements important?

“You should never proceed with a business venture before doing extensive planning, and a website is no different. If you wish to publish a successful website you need to lay the groundwork before you even code your first page. With the right planning and foresight you will in a much better position to power your site to the top once it is built.”

- http://www.websitepublisher.net/website_development/preproduction/

Just like a business preproduction is needed to help make the website successful and you can’t just go into making a website straight away otherwise you won’t have a good idea on what you want the website to look like and what you want on it, and with planning and preproduction it can make designing the website a whole lot easier compared to if you didn’t plan as you have information ready and an idea on the design. Preproduction for a website design is extremely important for making a website and also working with clients, one thing which could be important for preproduction on a website design is getting feedback on your preproduction work for the design of the website so you could do a questionnaire, getting this feedback from questionnaires or surveys helps change the sites design

Preproduction is needed for a website so you can get to understand certain things like, how the website will be presented, what your website is going to be about, what information the website is going to have etc, and all of this can be found and planned in different ways, and they are all needed to make sure that the website makes sense, that the design you have is suitable to what the website is about and also to make sure that it is suitable for your TA (Target Audience)

Preproduction can be extremely important for your website, because preproduction will be the difference between a good website design and a bad one, and without preproduction you won’t have a general idea on what the website will look like, whether or not it will have certain pictures or video on the website. this is because if you go straight into the design of the website you could end up making mistakes and changing a lot of it before you get your final website and you may also not have all the information that you need for the site or have a straight idea on what you want it to look like which is another reason why you could change a lot on the website before you get your final website finished, whereas if you do preproduction for a website then you will be able to make it suit your target audience, and you will have the design/information ready for when you make the site, and although it takes time it’s more important as you are able to make sure that everything you have ready is good for the website and will also help decide how your website will look.

(Site pre-production):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwGl-nDi1-A

Before making the website preproduction is needed to make sure you have a website planned, one example of preproduction is a site map:

A site map is used to show all the pages on your website and how they are like each other, this can help with the focus on the website or what it will be based on. In the site map you can have all of the pages and what page they have to come from to get to that specific page, so this could be important as it helps make the design of the website as you can see where the pages will go or what other pages can lead on from that one. Site maps are good preproduction to help with the website design as you can see what you want to have on each page of the site and it also shows on which page you want certain parts on

Here is an example of what a site map can look like:

http://www.irvineengineering.co.uk/images/sitemap.jpg

 

Another way of preproduction for a website is designing the website, this can be done by sketching each page or the layout for the pages and this can be done in different ways e.g. on paper using a pen, using software on a computer such as Photoshop, making a design for your website is important so you can plan where everything will go and where each bit of information, pictures, or just any text will be put on each page, making this design can also help you decide the style of the website. A way you can think about the design of your site or how you would like it to look is by doing research like finding other websites on the internet that relate to your style for a website/ what your website will be based on and this is the same as making the design of the website for importance, so looking at other peoples websites can help you decide what your website can look like and you can just get general ideas on what you want to have on your website/what you want it to look like, you could also make a draft website just

Info on web design:

http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=26921&seqNum=5

Something else that could come under planning the design of the website is also if you want any media on the site such as pictures, logos or audio this is important because if you are working with a client then you will need to know and understand what they would like on the site, this helps to make sure the information you have for the website relates to the client, however adding in these images, audio, video etc. It will also affect the design so when planning what media to have on the site it could change what the design of the website will look like, this is important for preproduction because you can sort out all the media you want on the site and design around it whereas if you didn’t plan out before it could be difficult to change the design whilst you are adding it all in, this also links in with how it is easier to have it all planned out before so it helps make it easier when it comes to designing the final website.

The 8 steps of web design:

http://www.killersites.com/articles_2005/techniques/eight-steps-of-webdesign.php

These steps are quoted from the website:

1.       “Figure out what the focus of the website will be.

2.       What specific features do you want in the website?

3.       Create a list of sections for your website and give them a hierarchy of importance.

4.       Write out your content and finalize it.

5.       Find a style / look that meets your website’s and your industry’s requirements.

6.       Build the website.

7.       Evaluate the website and make the required changes / updates.

8.       Go live – register a domain, find a host, upload the website.”

As you can see from these steps that preproduction is important as only at step 6 do you start to actually build the website, until that point the other work is based on what the site will be about, what will be on the website such as information and the content and what the style will be for the website.

About building/designing a website:

http://www.soyouwanna.com/build-flash-websites-26019.html

Something else that could be important for the preproduction of the website is the interface and how people can get around the website, the reason this is important is just so you can make sure that the site is easy to get around and so it’s easy to use, this could also relate to your target audience and how the interface will look because if the target audience is for adults then you aren’t going to make the interface almost childlike and this will affect your design of the website because of the Target audience and how this will affect how the UI(user interface) looks and works.

Preproduction on a website and how important it is also relates to the group project that we have just done in college, so for our website we decided to do about catering, we did a bit on preproduction for the site before we designed the website where we looked at other websites for inspiration on how our website should look, and maybe what kind of information we should put on our website, this was important because we actually found some good designs and were able to figure out how to incorporate some of those ideas/ designs into our final website, we also looked at finding pictures for the website so that on each page on the site there would be pictures and also some background images to suit catering so pictures of food, so us doing our project helped us see that without preproduction designing a website from scratch would be extremely difficult, and without it you would have difficulty coming up with ideas, so not only is preproduction for a website design good to help decide what will be on the website, but it can also be very useful to decide how a website can look and what kind of design it will have, and also how it will help design the UI for the site.

Overall there are loads of different ways for preproduction to be done for a website and they are also all important for different reasons but they all help to make up a good website design, and without website preproduction it would be difficult to make a good website that suits your TA and what your website is meant to be focused on, also because without preproduction work on designing the website you may become stuck on what to do, how to design the site and so on.

-Daniel Sherman

Production Research:

Production research is the research that goes into producing the game and how they make the game, this could be done through looking at history if the video game is based in the past, and also if the game is based on a historical event or if its based on some kind of civilization.

Assassins creed is a video game which is perfect for production research as it is based in the 1100's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9zvmnMwIeU

A video of the making of Assassins Creed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvQXjsPbps8

that video looks at the how assassins creed was made, with game engines and also looking at the history of assassins, and how the game works with structures and how the system of the game works, so through historical research assassins creed was able to look at when and where the game is based, Ubisoft Montreal also looked at location research to show the structures in the game, how they look, and what the areas would've looked like in the places that they are based.

Organisational:
defining the goals(so the objectives/missions for the game)


Technical research:
this could be to do with, how realistic the game is, if its based on true events, how historically accurate it is, what platform it will be released on e.g. Xbox 360, Ps3 etc. and also the animations in the game.

Casting:
This type of research will be for things like casting voice actors, and finding out what the people may of sounded like and getting the right people for the voice acting.

Storyboarding:
this part of production research is made up of different parts:
Writers(who write and make the story)
Scripters(think about the gameplay and what it will look like/play like)
Copy writers(scripts for voice actors/actors)
Map creators(people who make the maps)

With marketing game companies also need to look at other video games coming out at the same time as their video game so they know what kind of competition they have, but marketing is also to do with getting the game out into the market by advertising it and they also need to think about how much they will spend on marketing.

My review on the first assignment:

My Review of the assignment “Unit 62”:

Overall I feel this assignment has gone well considering it was our first assignment, I found that probably the hardest thing about the assignment was either the essay mainly because It was my first essay which I have had to write, or the website because of the fact I’m still quite new to flash and learning the code was quite difficult and putting it into a 4 page website and making sure there weren’t errors and if there were I was able to fix them.

The filming I wasn’t really involved with as I was working more on the site with Tom, but the bits I did help with, the booking of the equipment and helping with the risk assessment being one of them it was quite simple to do however we did have some issues with sorting out the risk assessment as some parts were a little annoying to fill out. But again I expect that is just because this is the first time I have had to do something like this where we have had to book out equipment when we have no previous experience of doing so.

Making the website overall was also fun to do as it given me the chance to learn a bit more about flash and how to use it, however at times it was difficult but maybe that was just me underestimating the code I was trying to deal with and use for the first time, I didn’t really think about how difficult it could be until I was in the middle of coding the flash site.

Writing the essay I would say was the most difficult part about the assignment as at first I wasn’t really sure about what to write even though I had read the brief on what the E-zine article was about, I think I found it difficult as well because it took some time to get my head around the structure and what I was actually going to write about. One of the things that helped me think about what I was going to write were some videos on YouTube about how interactive media has changed the world and we also watched part of a TV show to do with interactive media and how it has changed since the internet/the web was invented. The show was called: “The virtual revolution”

But in general I would say that this assignment was both good and a little annoying to do, but I did enjoy doing this assignment and working with other people to get this done, but it was also fun doing this assignment as I was able to learn more about certain software’s and a good assignment to start the course on, my favourite part about the assignment had to be working on the website and figuring out what code to use, and my least favourite part was the essay just because I found it a little boring to do as It was just writing and some parts were difficult to write about.

-Daniel Sherman

My essay Understand principles of digital video technology in interactive media

so for part of our assignment we had to write an essay:

"Understand principles of digital video technology in interactive media"

Here is my essay:

Understand principals of digital video technology in interactive media(essay structure)

“Social media has dramatically changed the world, and whilst you can lock down and censor, if you like, the venues, it is hard to lock down and censor and prevent things from happening in social media”

David Jones

When social websites such as Facebook, twitter and YouTube came about. More people have been able to broadcast themselves and report news/opinions and about their lives, this has also made it difficult for governments to hide certain parts of things like wars when anyone can upload videos of the whole story, whereas before the internet people would watch the news or read about it and they had to believe it and they couldn’t show there opinion on the facts, but now with sites like twitter and Facebook millions of people can give their views/opinions on the stories that are in the news, so censorship used to be easy to control as big companies where the only people able to have the power to broadcast what they wanted and they were able to hide what they want. But now with the internet it’s extremely difficult if not impossible to censor anything that is put on there as millions of people could put the same video on the internet and it would be practically impossible to do anything about it.

The revolution of interactive media has changed the world over the years making it easier for people to find things on the internet and also upload and comment on certain things to help show there opinion, but the revolution of interactive media hasn’t just made it easier for people to comment or see something but they have also connected people and brought people together this can be shown in the china earthquake in 2008, on YouTube people were able to record and upload to YouTube to show people all around the world what was happening and also report on what was going on almost minute by minute and this also encouraged people to go to china and help people. There are also more and more ways for people to see these opinions and videos through different platforms such as:

·         DVD’s

·         Smart phones (iPhone iPod iPad)

·         Email (this could be accessed through a mobile device or a computer)

·         CD’s

·         Mobile devices (blackberry, android device)

·         The internet

·         Presentations

My personal experience of video technology on YouTube:

When I started doing YouTube and uploading videos I was able to find out about how I can upload and all the different formats I can upload In, here are a few:

·         Mp4(mpeg4)

·         Avi

·         Flv

·         Wmv

·         .swf

·         .mov

·         Mpg

·         3GP

With all of these options to upload in people can also edit/render the footage now to make it upload in different resolutions and whether or not it is in HD or not so people can upload in 720p here is a difference in 720p and 360p:

720p clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIefeaFN1yY

360p clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UNpz-qqbEM&feature=g-user-u

Clearly you will be able to see that the quality in both the videos is different as the 360p clip is more blurry whereas the 720p clip is clearer, but the difference in uploading in 720p and 360p is the fact that the file size is very different, both of these clips where uploaded in mp4, but a 24 minute video rendered in HD at 720p would be around 1gb in size where as if a 24 minute video was rendered in 320p the size would be around 500mb. But usually people will upload in any resolution if they just want to get an opinion across or if they want to show something that’s happening.

When hurricane Sandy hit the east coast of America people where uploading footage of what damage the storm was doing, such as ABC news, as well as being able to broadcast it over the TV they have footage put up on YouTube about hurricane Sandy and also a video on the aftermath of Sandy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKR_2T__cB4

People putting this footage up is also good for people in other countries as in places like the UK we aren’t able to get American TV and the American channels so YouTube and other sites are able to put these videos up so people can see them worldwide

There are also many types of software that people can use to record their screen on pc and also there is recording hardware such as:

·         Webcam

·         Video camera’s

·         Capture devices

·         Screen cap softwares

·         Mobile Phones

This gives people a chance to record videos and upload them to different sites such as YouTube, Whereas before the internet people couldn’t upload there videos to anywhere they would’ve had to go through big companies to even have a chance of getting people to see their videos, so the technology that is around the world now is making it cheaper and easier for people to upload and record and if video technology keeps growing then it’s only going to become easier to record upload and share videos with people close to them and from the other side of the world.

When people have this footage on their computer then there are different ways in which you can watch them, through different softwares such as:

·         Windows media player

·         VLC media player

·         DivX

·         Real Media

·         QuickTime

·         Flash Player

And with certain videos they can be at different frame rates, the frame rate that looks smooth to the human eye is 24.97fps and usually you can tell the difference when the fps is higher you are able to see that it runs smoother.

Here is a comparison video of 30fps and 60fps:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yBsgtA8WSE

It won’t matter if you record at 30fps or 60fps your file size will be exactly the same, it’s actually to do with your bitrate:

http://superuser.com/questions/283515/video-encoding-how-much-does-the-video-file-size-increase-with-fps

Download rate:

Download rate isn’t just by a file(progressive) but it can also be about streaming download where people can live stream to the internet and your pc will download the video as you are watching it so you are able to watch something that is live whereas something like a YouTube video is a progressive download where it will stop downloading when it is fully downloaded.

Where you can watch live streams(streaming download):

http://www.twitch.tv/

where you can watch videos which will download progressively:

http://www.youtube.com/

Bitrate is just like download speed so it can be measured in:

·         Bps

·         Kbps

·         Mbps

Bitrate will change how quickly a video loads from a site, and also the quality of the video, but the video can also have the quality changed because of the resolution that it’s recorded in as well but it can also be used in audio as well as video because if the audio file is compressed at a lower bit rate then it won’t sound as good compared to an audio file compressed at a higher bitrate.

Definition of Bitrate:

“The number of bits per second that can be transmitted along a digital network”

Also with how social websites and YouTube can also connect people together, I have been able to talk to people from all around the world just because they have seen the videos I have uploaded and we’ve been able to talk over Skype, Skype is also something that has connected people together, for them to talk to each other and also get to meet new people

A video example of the social media revolution in 2011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SuNx0UrnEo

“We don’t have a choice whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it”

-Erik Qualman

With all the technology around us it is difficult for people not to be involved in the social media revolution or the interactive media revolution with technology like IOS devices, android phones and tablets more people can connect with each other through social media, it’s just a fact on how people will do it, as you can post comments on videos, talk to people on a social networking site, tweet what your doing, looking at other tweets, sending people tweets, so Erik Qualman is right on it’s how well we DO social media as it’s extremely difficult to not to do it.

“YouTube is the 2^nd largest search engine in the world”

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SuNx0UrnEo

“In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views or around 140 views for every person on Earth”

-http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics

This is from the YouTube press statistics page and that was from 2011 this year YouTube has just grown more and is growing more and more each year, so it is understandable that YouTube is the 2^nd largest search engine in the world when they got over 1 trillion views last year, and the videos on YouTube are also watched on social websites such as twitter and Facebook and the videos can be shared to Facebook and Twitter as well.

The timeline of YouTube, this Is a good example on how you can present interactive media and how much videos have changed over the years, and how much technology has changed so you are now able to record and upload:

http://www.youtube.com/t/press_timeline

Advertisements are also on YouTube videos now, and this will help businesses/companies to show people what they do in a small amount of time and this also helps promotes a business, and people who upload to YouTube will also get paid for people clicking on these advertisements, and companies pay to have their ads shown on videos.

To summarize:

There is more and more technology becoming available to the general public and its making it easier for anyone to become a reporter as they are able to upload to the internet easily and to share their opinions to the internet and the world, and in the future if everything keeps going with technology then it’s only going to get easier and more people will be able to connect, share their opinion and upload to the internet, it will also become harder for companies to hide certain things from the public as it will only be posted on the internet as it happens

A video example of the social media revolution in 2012:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=0eUeL3n7fDs

More sites on the internet have made it possible for people to connect, talk and share opinions with sites such as:

·         Google+

·         Twitter

·         Facebook

·         Bebo

·         Msn

·         Myspace

·         Formspring

And there are more than just those sites as well, so people are able to connect with other people from around the world or even close to them easily.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19147393

The website and the assignment update:

So me and Tom have been working on the websites whilst Dan Stevens and Dan Boneham have been editing the video for the site.


The reason we have two websites is because we have one which is a backup just in case the other site with fancy effects on won't be finished in the time for the deadline on Friday.

I have also been working on the e-zine article to get that finished by Friday, I am hoping to get the article done by the end of tomorrow so I am able to focus on finishing the smaller part of the assignment.

Dan Stevens is working on the video and making sure it is edited and rendered ready to be put on the sites video page.

Dan Boneham is working on the logo for the site so I can replace the current one as we found the text doesn't look very good on the background:

as you can see the text is a little blurry and doesn't look very good, however with each page the logo is the same but it matches the colour of the background aswell.

Assignment/Essay work

So for our assignment in our groups we have to make a flash website for a department on the college in my group are:

Dan Boneham
Tom Millen
Dan Stevens
And me Dan Sherman

At first for the course we wanted to do stone masonry, but after we found out that it was based in Poundbury we decided to go for a course inside the college so we decided on catering.

On the first day of our assignment we made a plan using excel, deciding on what part each person should work on and this included start dates and planned finishing dates.

What people had to do:

Dan Sherman:
-Flash website
-Filming
-Planning

Dan Boneham:
-Camera man
-Filming
-Editing

Tom Millen:
-Filming
-Flash website
-Planning

We also had to book a camera and a tripod from the media center, to rent the equipment out we had to fill out a risk assessment and make sure we had the minimum of two hours before we could take the equipment out. we also filmed some footage in the catering area as well as in the cygnets restaurant which is part of catering.

The flash site:
With the website the designs of the pages are using the mx.transition code to swap between the pages and there are 4 different pages on the site all linked with different coloured buttons to match the pages so when you are on a page with the same coloured button it looks like the button has disappeared.


(plan)pages on the flash site:

Weymouth college catering:
This is the main page It will have information about catering and a brief intro to catering on

Catering video:
this page will just have a video on which is edited through adobe premiere cs6

About catering and career aspects:
This will be more detailed than the main page for catering and it will also have career aspects on e.g. what jobs you can go into


Contact us:
This page will just have information on how to contact catering in Weymouth college and a number for the Weymouth college also the address for the college and e-mail addresses for people to send emails