Mood board..

My Mood Board below, has been created to begin the design process of my website. I began by collecting images which I was interested and visually attracted too. The Mood board has helped me to understand my own personal branding. I began by choosing things which I was interested in, I started with using the website image spark, which enabled me to see collections of images which I were drawn towards. I have used tones of reds, pinks, black and greys, this is the start of the colour palette I'd like to  use on my design, however I am sure that I will not use all of the colours and styles. My Mood board has a feminine feel, which I believe is reflected from my own style of work and art which I have created in the past.

I have used a central image of Alice in Wonderland because I am drawn towards the 'wonderland' style, with the imaginative and creative characters related with it. I am also a fan of reading books and whilst I was completing my A level art,  I used a lot of lettering and collaging in my work- I felt that this is important to include within my mood board . I like too travel- so I have included some images which I have taken myself whilst travelling, I have used an image of Albert Dock in Liverpool and also the Cavern in Liverpool.

I plan to alter the designs/colours/images a lot before I finalise any kind of design ideas and decisions.  Completing another mood board will also encourage me to try and combine all my interests into something which reflects my style- so that my portfolio echoes my work and passions.

Design Practice Two

Today we had our first seminar and we met Gisele and Sean who are the tutors of the Interactive Media Carousel. In this section we will be looking at ways to create a five page website which will be converted into our portfolio in our later professional years.

In our introduction semis we were practising using Dreamweaver and using tags to create a functional website. The title of the interactive media is called 'Digital Me'. Sean has asked us to create a mood board to being the design process and also look at existing websites which interest us- I'll post them when I've completed them...

Film Edit 2

Right, I have decided to complete another edit of my film! I've been inspired by soo much by the work I've seen completed by people in the group. I might be here all night, but I think it's definitely going to be worth it..

HERE GOES!

Stresssssssssssssssing out!

I'm stressing out to the max! Really panicking about the presentation, I feel as though my animation and film and no where near as good as others on the course!

Hopefully next term I'll be able to learn some new things on the softwares!
Roll on next Friday 4pm...

On a lighter note, its nearly Christmas :)

Final Animation

I am not happy with the Version Three (final), I feel as if I have tried an idea which is slightly too complicated for the first time using the software. I understand now that I should have remained with a simpler idea- and concentrated on my After Effects skills. I am frustrated with my final result I have many changes which I would like act upon if I get the chance, however If I do not have the time to make another edit, I will take the lessons I have learnt from this module and take it forward with me to my next design project.

I feel that my earlier versions (one & two) were more successful than this final version. This is because It stuck to a specific style. This style used simple drawings and sketches which I then added onto background and used an photographic image to finish the animation. This simplistic style worked really well and was not too complicated for my first animation.

The things which I think work well were:
• The background, the glow I added on the brush tool on Photoshop, adds another dimension to the stars and lets them stand out. Also how the layers move together in the background. I used five different layers which each moved slightly differently; creating a space effect.
• The Gaussian Blur was used to experiment with composition and dimension, this was added to try and add depth of field to the animation. This worked well but If I was to complete another version I would try and play around with this more, using the space ship to dodge in between the planets.
• I changed the photographic image from the 'screaming guy' to an image of an eye. I think both of the photographic images visually stand out, and I think that I could have used either of them in both of the animation. I am happy with the eye, because it creates a relationship between the composition., and transitions really well into the space scene.

The main elements of the animation that I would like to change, would be the planets, as I have mentioned before- I was much happier when the planets appeared two-dimensional, because It generated an audience of younger children, whereas the final version seems to have lost its purpose.
This is something which I definitely want to reconsider, the axis which the planets rotate on isn't as accurate as I would like. It has given me much practice on After Effects and in DP2 hopefully I will be able to take what I have learnt and will not make the same mistakes as I have.

Animation: Version One from Zoe Stroud on Vimeo.

Here is my first version of the animation. I have not created an animation before, so I was intrigued to get started. When I first saw the software I was a little bit concerned that I would not be able to use it confidently. I have carried out some experiments so I understood the basic elements; because I have done this I am happy to be able to complete a second version.

For me, the space theme works really well. However after seeing it as a completed piece, there are some significant changes that I want to carry out. Although I really like how all the different layers move for the background, I think the colour and appearance could be improved. I am going to adjust the background so that it is darker, I am going to experiment with the glow effect and the brush tool to create some shapes that look like stars. 

Although I think the background and the photo image work well together, I want to try and make the lines on the image smoother; currently they look quite rough. I am going to try and create these images now on Adobe Illustrator. The pace of the animation is a lot slower than I though it would be, I need to increase the speed so that more can happen which will include the spaceship. I want to try and add even more layers and animmate the layers to move at different speeds. 

Animation Insipration

This is just such a beautiful animtion, plus its from one of my favourite films!