Dynamic Communication
This project began way back in January, where our brief was given:
Narrative interface. Create an interactive multimedia interface and graphic content to tell an original story sequence in a non-linear media environment.
A bit cryptic? Well I thought so! However, with a bit of explanation from our excellent lecturer, Ryan, it became more apparent as to what this project was all about. Basically, what we were going to be making was a sort of web-comic that would have potential multiple outcomes or scenarios within. To do this, we would use a combination of Photoshop and Flash.
To begin, I thought up a number of possible storylines that I might want to follow in the form of a mind-map. Not my cup of tea in the way of generating ideas, but it's always good to try and push yourself out your comfort zone (something I am not that adept at doing!).
1- A goblin bounty hunter framed for a crime.
2- A unit of soldiers stranded on a dark island.
3- Sorcerers seeking souls (alliteration! :D).
4- Infectious butterflies wreak havoc in the wild west.
5- A village is subjected to violent hauntings.
6- A human experiment that has otherworldly powers is condemned by society.
From here, I cut down the ideas to just 4 and began to produce concepts for them:
1. Goblin Bounty Hunter
2. Stranded Soldiers
 |
| Research for goblins, bounty hunters and futuristic soldiers. |
 |
| Goblin bounty-hunter and futuristic soldier concepts. |
3. Wild-West Butterflies
4. Outcast God
 | |
| Research for butterflies and fictional pandemics. |
 |
| Wild-west butterflies and outcast God concepts. |
I decided that for a project that was going to require a lot of work, like this one, I should pick the concept that I felt flowed from my hand most easily. To me, this immediately ruled out the 'Stranded Soldiers' and 'Outcast God'. The reason for this is that I found it difficult to concept futuristic soldier designs without them looking too similar to already existing designs and for the 'Outcast God', I found that ideas for concepts were thin on the ground - not good for such an extensive project. Thus, it came down to goblins or butterflies. With a bit more research into the idea of a butterfly disease, I struck metaphorical gold. As it turns out, the disease Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) was exactly what I was looking for. Children who suffer from this horrific disease are commonly termed 'butterfly children' due to the sheer fragility of their skin that flays off with even minor frictional contact. This, to me, left the goblin bounty hunter high and dry! This is also the point at which I came upon the name of my story, 'The Butterfly Children', again, in homage to those who suffer from this disease.
However, my original idea had been to make a comical horror story, but when I became aware that my project was going to be based on EB, I realised that I didn't want to make a funny story any more. Just a tale of horror, to represent the lives of those afflicted with the dreadful disease.
With this in mind, I went on to decide on where my story would be set and ended up with Victorian England, London, in a chemist shop, and began the research:
 |
| Research for Victorian costume and scenery. |
I also had to decide on a style that I wanted my story to be done in and thus did some more research:
 |
| Research for story style. |
Over time, I was also developing the actual story and characters. The final story became:
Dr Elijah Bayard and his son, John Bayard, live in and work in a chemist shop in Victorian England, London. Elijah is a renowned chemist, while John is an avid butterfly collector. It is when butterfly and chemical meets that things go wrong. London is delved into a horrific pandemic and it's only hope is this father and son who started it all by accident.
With my story in mind, I went on to develop character designs, also trying to concentrate on style:
 |
| Concepts for Dr Elijah Bayard. |
 |
| Final Design of Dr Elijah Bayard. |
 |
| Concepts for John Bayard. |
 |
| Final Design of John Bayard. |
I also concepted as to what the infection process would look like:
 |
| Concepts of the Infection Process. |
As well as concepting the chemist shop environment where the majority of the action was to take place:
 |
| Concept of Chemist Shop |
 |
| The Storyboard. |
From here I went on to slog through, hand drawing, scanning and then painting in Photoshop, all the images for the story. Here is a selection of my favourite images, some hand drawn, some complete and painted:
 |
| Title Page. |
 |
| Instructions Page. |
 |
| The first encounter. |
 |
| John escaspes! |
 |
| Hand drawn Elijah punching Infecetd. |
 |
| Elijah gives an Infected 'The Ol' One-Two'! |
 |
| Elijah is set upon by the Infected! |
 |
| John Hides. |
 |
| John is not alone... |
 |
| John runs for his life! |
 |
| Infected-eye view chasing John. |
 |
| Elijah gives the Infected a nasty uppercut! |
 |
| The end... Or is it? |
The final thing to be done was to use Flash and its Actionscripting capabilities to allow the series of images to work like a proper web-comic and also allow for the non-linear story to work as intended.
Actionscripting done.... project completed.... let's hope for a good grade....
On reflection of this project, I feel that I should have spent more time concepting the initial designs. I feel this because I'm sure I may have come up with different and possibly even better designs for my characters. Though I am happy with the final outcome, I just feel that it could have been perhaps more polished, and a bit better designed. This has helped me to learn that for a project like this, as much work needs to be put into the research and concepting as into the final piece. I'm glad that I've realised this and will not continue to blunder on making the same mistake.
Also for this semester, we had to write an essay. Here is the question, my short overview and my full essay:
How has interactivity and the nature of new media platforms affected approaches to media content production?
Is YouTube the Hydra or the Hercules of new media
platforms?
In this essay I will discuss: the availability of
YouTube; as to whether it is an educator or a time waster; does it spread love
or hate; and is it a friend or foe of the music industry. Using references, I
aim to come to a personal conclusion on these matters, whilst delving into the
topic’s contents.
The social media giant that is YouTube only raised its,
then juvenile, head back in February 2005 and yet it is hard to think of a time
when it did not exist, at least for the younger generation of today. In its
beginnings it was nought but a site for uploading humorous videos of comical
blunders and sharing them to the general public, and though that may still be a
fairly large usage of it today, it has grown far many more heads. There is a
major reasoning behind YouTube’s popularity and success: it’s available to just
about anyone. These days it is extremely rare to come across a household that
does not contain a computer of some sort and of course, connection to the
internet. But it’s not only computers that YouTube is available on; mobile
phones too now bear the all-too-easy ability to surf the web. But is this
really a problem?
‘According to a digital ethnography study conducted by a
Kansas State University working group led by Professor Michael Wesch, more than
150,000 videos are uploaded to YouTube every day. Many of these videos were
created by teens (YouTube policy forbids users under the age of 13), and while
the vast majority of youth-created videos are relatively innocuous, a few more
incendiary uploads have raised considerable concern.’ (McBride 2008)
It is clear then, that YouTube is indeed popular and yet
potentially dangerous. As the above statement proclaims, most uploaded videos
are but innocent tom-foolery, however, there are those other videos clearly
aimed to hurt and humiliate. This is, at its most basic form, cyber-bullying,
which as everyone knows, is a dangerous thing. Many would think that
cyber-bullying would take part between teenagers, however, this is not
necessarily the case; racism and other hate crimes are aimed at anyone and can
affect anyone. The seriousness of this is reflected by this statement:
‘Education Secretary Alan Johnson… has slammed the
video-sharing website YouTube, which carried a film of a teacher having his
trousers pulled down in class, and said such humiliating stunts were driving
people from the profession… "Without the online approval which appeals to
the innate insecurities of the bully, such sinister activities would have much
less attraction."’ (Anon. 2007)
And yet still, it is a website with what could be deemed
as good intentions. Though plagued with ridiculing videos, it also bears
thousands of educational ones too. There are many uploads for people to learn
new skills, such as playing guitar, decorating cakes, painting models etc. It
has been appraised by many as a haven of knowledge that, being so readily
available, is truly a hero amongst the social media websites.
‘For thousands of teachers, YouTube.com is more than a
modern day video store -- it's a chance to redefine traditional education by
engaging students in a format more tailored to the Modern Age… Education is a
component of the site that continues to grow, said a spokeswoman for YouTube.
The site is home to a number of student projects, instructional videos and
professional development clips.’ (Cardine 2008)
Schools, universities and other educational facilities
certainly would see benefit from embracing YouTube then, giving them the
opportunity to connect with students who have grown up in the ‘technological
age’.
The other major part of YouTube is its ever-swelling
music collection. Something which many use on a daily basis, without thinking
about the consequences of it. Again, just because of the ease at which one can
access YouTube, just about any song by any artist can be found and listened to
and it doesn’t cost you a penny to do so.
‘If you’re looking for the best source of free music in
the world, look no further than YouTube. Good for you, but for artists maybe
not so much… on a structural level, the site’s success with music could have a
big, negative side effect. YouTube’s strength as a free music source might be
hurting music subscriptions and, by extension, artists by offering users a free
place to hear just about any song they want.’ (Buskirk 2011)
This could pose a serious threat for musicians everywhere
then, causing them to lose out on what’s rightfully theirs. You’d complain if
you did a job and didn’t get paid, yet others got enjoyment out of it, so why
do it to them? The simple answer is because we can. It’s all too easy. However,
it seems strange that musicians still go on, bringing out new albums and songs,
if they’re losing out a great deal, so there must be another side to the story
that we don’t see.
‘Alan Lastufka: I am a musician. I am also a YouTuber. I
upload and monetize all of my music and music videos on YouTube… In less than two years’ time, my record label
sold over $1,000,000 of music using YouTube as our ONLY source of promotion. No
radio, no music blogs, no nation-wide tours and no marketing department.’
(Lastufka 2011)
So according to Mr Lastufka, YouTube would seem to in
fact be a good thing for the music industry. If anything, his argument seems to
entirely disprove the one from ‘wired.com’, promoting instead that YouTube is
good for both artist and listener alike.
So where does this leave the social media giant? Is it
indeed a hero, seeking to educate and entertain, or is it a multi-headed
monstrosity that spreads hate, lies and hurt? I have come to the conclusion
that YouTube is indeed a hero of our time, based upon the research that I have
conducted. Though it may be the source for a lot of damaging things, its main
purpose and intentions these days is to help, not hinder. It is as anything: a
weapon in the wrong hands; a tool of aid in the right ones.
So, that's all for Dynamic Communication! Think I'll go have a lie down....
