#dsdn101.project3

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Final Stop Motion film (uploaded straight to tumblr)

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Final Stop Motion Film (linked from Youtube)

Young Boy: My younger brother Music: I created on Garageband and my own voice over  

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Final Brief Project 3

For project 3 the brief is to create a 40-60 second stop motion film to encourage children aged 11-18 to take part in the Caritas Challenge. My main aim is to rase awareness for the Caritas cause and give these children insight into how developing countries live and how they can help.

I am portraying the Mighty K's challenge in my stop motion as it worked well with my aesthetic. I chose to photograph my younger brother as the main subject and to then edit the images to resemble a cartoon version of our world. This was because I want it to be fun, interesting and original and this aesthetic also takes away from the intensity of what Caritas is helping. 

I will use the images as the encouraging and fun aspect of the stop motion to show the challenge itself and what the kids can do for 24 hours. I will then use a voice over to talk about the cause and who they are helping and why. I felt this would work well as you watch the fun activities that are playful and encouraging, while listening to the cause which creates both empathy and excitement without being too full on for younger kids. 

Finally the music I chose will vary throughout the film, starting and ending with slow and empathetic music to tie in the cause and voice over. In the middle while we watch him playing the sports I will have fun, exciting and upbeat music to again encourage the kids to want to join and make the challenge look exciting and like something they would want to take part in.

I think that when all of these aspects tie together I will achieve my goal of creating an advert that creates awareness and empathy while also getting the kids excited and wanting to join in with the challenge. 

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Peer critique review part 2: Thomas Kay (Presentation)

Tom expressed his ideas clearly, projecting his voice and using sufficient body language so that his ideas could be understood with ease. 

His narrative is going to explain what’s going on, and from what he has said he is going to use a combination of textures to build up his environment. 

He has stated he is going to make the backtracking and narration himself.

What I have seen from his clip to date: LBP precedent used for textures and intro quite heavily, and the way he has used the textures has been done really well. Great aesthetic – elements in introduction being pieced together turned out to be really effective. In LittleBigPlanet, the introduction uses the same techniques and I am glad that he has taken my advice on board.

One thing he has still to fix however is that his intro is still in my eyes a little too long, although once he has finished the full clip it may not need adjusting.

[hinkstadesign]

Peer review critique: Thomas Kay

Tom’s current progress looks very promising. I like the use of natural textures and a cardboard interface he has produced, I think it mirrors the organic feel he may be going for – something that in my eyes would suit the type of poverty charity theme. The limited color palette in his clip also looks really effective and makes the clip stand out.

From what I have seen from his initial trial stop motion video, it appears he may be trying to emulate the Mighty K’s challenge, with the changing conditions during the video. The framerate of the video however was quite low and made the video seem very sluggish; increasing the number of pictures taken should alleviate this issue. There was also a lack of sound in his video, Tom should look into including this and I’m sure he will.

Our tutor and I suggested that looking into the types of textures and backgrounds that the game “LittleBigPlanet” uses could be quite effective with Tom’s Animation. Including a mascot such as the one in LBP in his animation could also be something he should look into doing as I think it will enhance his clip by involving the audience more.

In terms of the storyboard, I liked what his ideas were. Something simplistic and visual will really engage the audience.

Overall, great progress and I can’t wait to see his final clip.

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Half-way clip that was handed into the R:Drive

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DSDN101 Critique: Oliver Marshall

The first thing I notice about Oliver’s work is that he has a lot posted to his blog and already has lots of test videos. He also has a lot of inspirational videos and I think this research is evident in his work.

 From Oliver’s brief I can understand using empathy to try and encourage people to get involved. He has used black and white photographs that are all framed in the same way. His most recent video has audio which he says is a New Zealand band and it is an upbeat tempo that edges on the happier side. Having seen Oliver’s storyboard I know that it has been done on box nets to reflect the Slum Challenge.

 By reading Oliver’s brief it helped me more understand the composition of his videos. The brief explains that he wants to use empathy to grab the attention of viewers and then try and encourage them to want to do the challenge by challenging them with words and the actions of the actor. His video’s so far are successful compositionally and give a clear idea of what it’s like to live in a box for a day. I like the use of a casual setting to hint that it’s a regular teen boy taking the challenge. I also like the way the frame rate slows at nighttime. I think that Oliver’s videos are very well done and look very good, but I think the idea could shine through more and Caritas Challenge could be more involved, perhaps a narration to explain the challenge.  I also think that the challenge should appear more fun to encourage viewers to want to be involved maybe by showing the activities you do in the box or doing it with friends, although the audio does begin to add this to the video.

 Overall it looks like Oliver has put a lot of research and thought into his work and his effort shows through in his videos. The main thing he should work on is how to make people want to do it and how to target his audience more specifically.