Creative Media - Presenting Gravecode (Finished Artifact)

I was quite confident about my presentation today which I think was because I was really confident with my Idea, it was something I came up with and developed by myself which gave me a great sense of achievement, along with my presentation I included a Prezi just including brief notes and prompts about my artifacts which I thought would be useful to me in-case I needed prompting but also useful for my tutors incase they couldn't quite understand what I was saying or wanted to look further into a specific item. I chose to include a Prezi as I find them more interesting than a PowerPoint to help guide you when your talking about an idea. 

My Presentation:

http://prezi.com/q0dmsuscd9ua/present/?auth_key=mdfsssa&follow=qenhm29eiugz&kw=present-q0dmsuscd9ua&rc=ref-9918083

Evaluating my QR codes: 

This first QR code on my interactive graveyard takes you to a little video giving a brief explanation of the whole idea, the video was already on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFb-A4Fhziw - This was a video which was already on YouTube and was basically my idea, I wanted to include this because it was a really good way of explaining what I wanted to do with the idea, I also included it to show that the idea had already been portrayed. 

The second QR code will take you to the website of the ‘Amy Winehouse’ foundation. I linked it to this as it is a really good cause and I don’t think many people other than her true fans would know about this website, even though I like her music I didn’t know about this. It is also a good way of keeping up to date with her life in a way, seeing videos and music that were never released. http://www.amywinehousefoundation.org/ - I think if i had more time I would of like to have done a video montage as well of all her greatest hits to include within the code. 

Thirdly I decided to do some research on Audrey Hepburn, she was one of the most iconic actresses of her time and I found it quite strange how her stone was just a simple cross as she came across as such an elaborate person. I decided to link her QR code to her Biography, as not many people have seen this and it was not very well advertised - I would of liked to have found a way of mashing all four parts of the biography up instead of just including one part in my QR code.

http://youtu.be/cUbMGsN0jjA BAT Scene

http://youtu.be/smBGz6ZU0gM?t=13s  part 1

http://youtu.be/1tMssJPpFhU part 2

http://youtu.be/ciILNoAJuBQ part 3

http://youtu.be/bm1ZKzygwiM part 4

The third celebrity I have looked at is Tupac, Tupac was legend of his time the American rapper sold more than 75 million albums worldwide making him one of the bestselling music artists in the world however most people recognize him these days for his feud with Biggie Smalls and his brutal death, which he was shot in Las Vegas in 1996. I chose to link the QR code to the music video of ‘Dear Mama’ which is a sort of biography of his life through music. http://youtu.be/Mb1ZvUDvLDY - I though as he was a musician this was the best way to portray his life, as it has words from his mother also included in the song.

The last celebrity I looked at was Michael Jackson, his death was such a scandal and so interesting, I think people were genuinely heartbroken when he died and no matter how many different stories came out about him I don’t think anything could tarnish his reputation as he made such a contribution to pop. His QR code links to his website as there is such a mass of information on the site for people to discover. http://www.michaeljackson.com/us/home

The fifth person I have used on the interactive graveyard is Catherine Carol Duffy, who is also one of my lovely Nans and she died in my arms. I could stand here and tell you all about her because she was one of my favorite people who growing up I spent almost every day with, she lived my childhood with me she would tell me story’s about places she’d been to in the world and was proud of me no matter what decisions I made & although I miss her terribly I know my mum doesn't just miss her but feels like a part of herself is missing as well. Therefore I have decided to link her QR code up to a voice mail she left my mum and my mums thoughts on this. - In the end I did not get to do this as the voice mail I had planed on using was automatically deleted from my mums phone, although I could of still recorded my mum I decided to link this QR code up to the last picture of me and her which was are hands together which also linked to the Facebook status I posted with the picture the day she died. 

Last but not least is My Dari, who was also my Granddad a very influential character especially to my dad his son-in-law. We can discover this through his QR code link. - My dad was to upset talking about my granddad as he was like his second father, in the end he wasn't able to record which left me a bit short handed, therefore he was the gave me the idea of using the Scottie Press to link to his QR code as he was so well known in his community. I then decided it would be good to link to an article on his death which was published but I couldn't find it online. 

In my presentation I decided to include some pictures which were sentimental to me as although it wasn't based around my experiences, ,my experiences are what fired it up. 

I Included the last picture of my mum and my Nan which I really believe shows the love and respect my mum had for her and shows what bond I wanted to portray in her QR code. 

I included the Picture of my Dari that was used in the Scottie Press seeing as I could not find the article 

Lastly I included a picture of a letter I had wrote to my Nan when she was sick in hospital when I was younger which I think shows how close of a bond me and her had as well. 

I think the success of my project for me would have to be my whole idea and the way I developed it, it came from just a thought and through the development process it really flourished right down to choosing who I was going to research as I needed to include people that would be interesting and also how I would get my idea across, which through my interactive graveyard I thought that was really creative. I think my shortcomings like most projects I do would be software, most of it has never interested me and because of this I have never experimented with it but then that limits me as to what I can produce which is a real downfall as to do something which requires more advanced software I need a long amount of time and this was only a short project so that was not the case. I think if I was to develop this project in the future I would expand I would make the interactive graveyard bigger, maybe even a wall and interpret more software into my QR codes. However overall I got a real sense of satisfaction when presenting my artifact and I am proud of myself, I have turned my bad experiences over the past couple of months and come up with pretty good (i think) ideas for all the tasks I have been set, I feel I have done my best and for this I am happy! :) 

Creative Media - Gravecode

After proposing my Idea I decided to really concentrate on it and develop it further:

For my Creative Media project I have come up with the idea of ‘Gravecode’. I thought about this idea as I have been to many funerals just over the past couple of months and having two of the closest people to me die, I thought it would be amazing if people could interact from beyond the grave as when visiting graveyards I always seem to have an interest in the other gravestones and not just the person I am there to pay tribute to. I find myself reading the stones and seeing if I could imagine what that type of person they would have been. I also think it a good idea for families by keeping their loved ones in the forefront of their minds.

The idea behind ‘Gravecode’ is having QR codes placed on Graves, the codes would be quite small making sure they don’t impose on the stones themselves but they would just give that little more insight into what that person was all about. When scanned by a smartphone the QR code (on the stone) would launch a biography webpage of the deceased. It would work by having the families write a biography and upload videos and pictures to a webpage, like a simple way of putting more into a memorial than just words on a gravestone.

I think this idea would be of great interest to people who want to know more about famous people when they pass. If this choice was given by every funeral directors I am sure a lot of icons would opt for this being what they want when they die to maybe feel like they can still connect with their fans, or it may be the decision of their families if they knew that it is what they would have wanted. As celebrities are normally very private although their lives get splashed all over the news this could be a way for them to leave snippets of what there life was ‘really’ like and what type of person they truly were especially if it was someone who got a lot of bad press.

 Researching further into my idea, I have found that very few but none the less some do offer this service ‘A business in Tonbridge is offering to put quick release (QR) codes on gravestones and murals which, once scanned, will bring up a treasure trove of information on a deceased person’s life.’ Here is the link to the article from the Kent messenger http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent_messenger/news/-rip--your-life-5952/ To be honest I have never heard of such thing but it goes to show that when you think of something there could be someone else out there who is thinking the same or has already thought of the idea.

For my presentation I have decided, instead of taking you to a Graveyard where I have researched into a handful of people’s lives and place QR codes on their stones I have created my own interactive graveyard which will be shown on an A3 poster. I have looked into 6 persons lives four of which are famous and two of which have a close connection the four famous persons headstones are the real ones located on the poster.

                                                           

I think this conception of the ‘Gravecode’ would be good to have in museums as even with my original idea you might not get many people that would want to go hunting graveyards to find out about different people. Especially if they are famous or have impacted in the world and there gravestone is miles and miles away, there would be no need to travel all that way if you could go to your local museum where pictures of their grave was located plus a QR code which would link you to more about the person’s life. For example it is quite a way to Paris just to see Jim Morrisons grave. 

Hopefully with all my research everything will go to plan and my presentation will be just fine. :) 

Creative Media - This one or that one?

So I have decided I am doing QR codes, & today was all about deciding which idea to propose I had two ideas in mind:

Idea 1 - My first idea was to do a 'MISSING PERSON' scenario, the story I came up with was the idea of a young girl going missing from her city, but she is believed to have been abducted. I am not to sure yet how I would present this story but each QR code would be a clue of finding her, so either a picture of evidence, a witness statement and everything would then link up together. I also like the idea of the last QR code being linked to a mobile phone number where you would text this number to find out if it was the the abductor and there answer would give you the information you needed. I came up with this idea from watching the documentary about Madeline McCann on Crime watch, however I would base it on an older girl but just with similar circumstances. 

Idea 2 - Secondly I deecided that using QR codes to tell the story of someones like would be really interesting, but even more interesting if they were dead. I decided I would pick a number of gravestones & take pictures of them & then place a QR code on each of them that will link to their profile a bit of background about their life, links to photos & maybe even videos. I would then make a montage of graveyards with grave stones and pick 6 different people & show a snippet of their life through the QR code on the grave stone. I Couldn’t take the whole class to a grave yard although I could use and Interactive poster to be shown in museum


I went and proposed my second Idea I went with this idea as I found it more interesting, even though it was just a rough idea I knew there was so much more I could do with it and when I proposed it my Tutors seemed to like the idea and support me which was the confidence I needed to progress with it. 

I've got so many ideas for different people, I do worry whether I will get all I want done in the short amount of time we have to do it but I will do my best!

HERE GOES...

Creative Media - Individual Artifact

It has come to the time where I have to decide what I am going to explore further and develop for my Final Individual Artifact, I must admit when I found out that we would be working by ourselves it frightened me a bit as I am so used to working as a team and having others there for reassurance. It is funny because during School & sixth form most of our work was individual so when I first started this course I must admit I did not like the fact of always working in groups, I liked my own ideas and I was not very open to suggestions or change, which just shows you how you adapt over the years because doing a certain amount of group work has made me dependent on others input. I think this has helped me a lot however I really think throughout education team work and individual work should be split down the middle as not matter what line of work you go into there is always going to be a time when you are working with others and a time when you are working by yourself.

Moving forward I got over the fact of working alone and decided which Artifact I was going to use I also had to take into account that I had missed most lectures and therefore I am not confident with most of the software discussed.

-Triptych: I really like the idea of Triptych, it is creative, it seems quite simple yet interesting however would I be able to familiarise myself with it in time to create my project?
-ISADORA: Isadora is a no go, I am really unfamiliar with the software and I know I would get myself too worked up to continue with my idea!
-QR Codes: I'm really familiar with QR codes, however I missed the session so do I know all I need to about this artifact? They seem pretty straightforward, however I would need to make an interesting narrative, what could this be?
-YouTube annotation: This was the only session I got to attend really, it seemed pretty straight forward. However because it is quite simple you need and interesting narrative, could this be done in time? I am not to good with editing software!

Above is a brief outline of a list of pro's and con's I made about each software, I think the idea of only having two weeks also unnerved me a bit so I ruled out Triptych & Isadora straight away as I thought these would be the two that I was less confident with as I have never used them. Which then left the decision between QR codes and YouTube annotation, at first I thought it would be best to go for YouTube annotation as I was there for the lecture, I understood the software and I had produced a mini artifact so new I could produce something however I thought by using QR codes even though I am familiar with them this would give me a chance to explore them properly and as they don't take long to generate come up with an interesting narrative.

QR codes it is!

Creative Media - Interactive YouTube

FINALLY! This is the one & only project I could tackle from start to finish I was quite excited about this as I never really got to experience any of the others first hand so I really enjoyed listening to this lecture. We discussed how surprisingly easy it is to create and YouTube annotation using their own annotations editor and how the complexity comes from how you would like to show or tell your annotation and how the narrative can be enhanced during the process. 

I found looking at this page http://www.youtube.com/t/annotations_about on YouTube was very handy as it is almost a step by step guide, there is no tricks on how to use the software is is fairly basic however again it is a software like QR codes which you can make as hard or as easy as you like & as long as you have a YouTube account you can use this software as much as you like. If you already have Videos uploaded to YouTube they can also be annotated, by clicking a simple button on the video whilst in the software it will bring up a new page which allows you to add annotations to the existing video. 

When I think about it I have seen these Interactive videos done for advertising purposes, I have come across them on pop up adds which is quite annoying but I have also seen them on television however you are not actually interacting with the questions, for this they do a survey and on the whole make the interactions based on the results of the survey, which I do think is a good idea. For this we had a Mini-brief which was to plan and implement and interactive narrative using the YouTube annotation software, having the idea of different outcomes. 

I teamed up with Orlagh and Tom and after brainstorming our ideas we decided we wanted to do something that would challenge the audience, like a game of some sort, and therefore we came up with the idea of Rock, Paper, Scissors (obviously not the actual idea) but we took the idea of that simple game and wanted to turn it interactive with this idea we imagined the audience choosing or almost guessing the one they want and seeing if they win
. 
This is a picture of our Storyboarding ^

Opinion?

Although the idea of the video was quite basic and not very exciting, I think it was good for our first time experimenting with the software and if I was to do it again I would like to make it more complex 

You can watch our video here @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF3DCx_7vBI

Creative Media Practice - ISADORA

When I heard about ISADORA from looking on blackboard I could of even guessed what this type of software is! So I had to look for a definition 'Isadora is the award winning, interactive media presentation tool that allows you to follow your artistic impulse. Whether you are an artist, designer, performer, or VJ, you can quickly and easily harness the limitless potential of digital media and real-time interactivity with Isadora.' and what I gather from that definition is that ISADORA is maybe never complete you can use all your skills in digital media to create something but there is always more that could be done? Maybe I'm wrong thats just my theory. Although I was not there for the lecture on ISADORA or did not get the chance to play around, I came in when Orlagh was finishing her ISADORA piece off and although she seemed to have figured it out and had a good idea, she played around with different doors putting different things behind them, the software seemed to get her very frustrated. 

Opinion?

Looking at ISADORA it looks to me like it's software is a set of building blocks, there is always room to learn with this software and you have limitless options as to what you can portray, however I think this software needs time. Especially as I am not the best with software I know I would need a couple of weeks alone just to figure the software out and that's before even coming up with an idea and putting it in to practice and seeing as we only have 2 weeks for our project I don't think this would be a very good decision for me to make by choosing Isadora to work with. Maybe ISADORA will cross my path again and at least I will actually know what it means.

Creative Media Practice - Scan me

I understand that we had a lecture on QR codes, which I was excited about although they do not seem that exciting I find them quite interesting. Most things now such as food packaging, Facebook  pages, shop windows, film trailers, websites etc have QR codes which makes it easier for smartphone users to access more information than is already being given and me being my nosy self always seem to be the one scanning these codes to find out what lies beneath them. The fact of not knowing what information is held within them really interests me. 

QR codes can be generated on to pretty much anything now I suppose, you see them on all different types of clothing and signs and even on billboards and I think they are a really creative way of giving people more information on a subject without boring them to death with a load of writing, as they can be linked up to pretty much any type of media. When we had one of our 'Production Project' lectures I found in really interesting with the Block of Flats that had been made up of QR codes, where the QR codes represented different people and their witness statements and you had to scan each code to piece together a murder mystery which had taken place in the block of flats. I was really impressed by this idea because I had never thought about using QR codes in this way before and found it really creative.

OPINION?

In my opinion although QR codes are quite easy to generate it is all about the information you are generating them too and therefore you can make them as easy or as complicated as you like. This for me is a big pro as I am not the best with software which I make no secret about, the thing I like about this course is the point of coming up with ideas, I like story telling, I like marketing my story and attracting people to my story however the putting them into practice is a whole different game. So for me QR codes would be a really good option for my final project as I am familiar with them and know how to use the software. 

Creative Media - Power of 3!

So this year has not really been very kind to me, especially during the beginning of the semester which just has to be classed as unfortunate. This however meant I missed a lot of my lectures to start, however I have done my best to quickly catch up on everything and continue to move forward and get the best out of my last Uni year as I possibly can. 

CREATIVE MEDIA - POWER OF 3! 

The first lecture I missed was on Triptych photography & videos, being honest hearing the word Triptych i was like Trip-what? I have never heard of this is my life and therefore I thought it would be quite hard to understand. However when researching it back to basics it came across quite simple, basically starting out Triptych is the idea of a panel, with three different carvings/paintings on by doing this you can tell a story which is quite clever because obviously the painting/carving would no be able to speak or move yet it would still tell most of the story through three images. I found this quite interesting as I have seen these kind of art works before although never new what they were called or for what purpose they were put into place. When typing 'TRIPTYCH' into Google 'Francis Bacon' seems to be one of the most popular artist's for this style and it is believed that he painted 28 known Triptychs between 1944-1986 an example below: 

Three Studies for a Crucifixion. 

He uses images in series, like in sequential order of what is happening he claims 'The triptych format was attractive, he believed, because it physically broke the images and prevented forced or constructed narrative interpretation; a tendency in painting to which he was particularly opposed and found banal.' The 'Three Studies for a Crucifixion' was his first large Triptych started in February 1962 and not finished until March. 

ADAPTATION!

Triptych has rapidly developed over the years and can be used by not only paintings but by video as well, like with a painting it is used to tell a story they three 'screens' if you like combined on one screen can play simultaneously or at different times depending on the desired effect. However it can be used in a way to tell a story for example that leads somewhere and develops as it goes on, or it can be used to develop a story of one item showing three different motions unrelated but on the same topic. E.g: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_ZSEuaqcHI

Opinion?

Looking into Triptychs, i did find understanding them more quite interesting it is amazing the advantage having three screens instead of one gives you and how much more it effects the story you are telling. I understand we have to do a final project using one of the different techniques we will have been shown during the lectures & I think Triptychs would be an interesting one to however like anything its which way you are going to use it which is the hard part?