This project is a website for the 30 minute film festival. Our film was titled Rise of the Planet of the Cats. The first step was to create a wireframe. I made two options, one of which had everything on one webpage, and another option with three webpages. I browsed through movie websites online, such as the Joker, and found that the simplest designs worked most successfully because they detracted less attention from the movie itself.
The overall theme and aesthetic I was going for was something playfully comic and pretend scary (serious but not really), as the film itself is a pastiche of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Therefore I chose the colour black, to make it a bit ominous, and orange to match the colour of cat eyes, but also lightened it up with a white background. I chose a font style that I thought was nearest to the Planet of the Apes font. I wanted to create an interactive experience for the user, and thus I included features like mouse hover, and links to social media.
One of the main challenges I encountered was figuring out how to transition from one webpage to the next. After hours wracking my brain, I met with the professor, and we found a solution. My initial expectations were quite high, because I thought web design would be easier than it turned out to be. During the actual project implementation, I found that even small tasks like aligning things correctly were more challenging (even frustrating) than they seemed. Thus my final expectations had to be toned down to be a bit more realistic.That being said, I accomplished practically everything on my wireframe. I did switch a few things around, though, such as adding a photo slideshow and a separate page for the film trailer. My final project is like a combination of the two wireframe options I had prepared.
For our comic project, we decided to create a comic on Migration, inspired by the many news stories we read nowadays about refugees from Central America, Syria, Afghanistan. We decided to keep the location and character anonymous, so that the comic captures the essence of the migration experience. Our initial idea was to create multiple, alternate paths that the reader can choose by literally flipping a coin on the screen. This was in the original wireframe.
Gauraang drew the illustrations using harsh, black and white style to reflect the tension and violence of the story. Majo added effects on Photoshop to distort the illustrations a bit and add a gritty and rougher shaded effect, to reflect the harshness of the journey. This is also reflected in the distorted background image with a winding red path, like a map.
Eventually we realized that the coin was quite complicated to implement, given our inexperience. Instead we went for a scroll and stick effect to show a transition between different scenes. The action of scrolling reflects the passage of time, so you have to wait a bit before reaching the next step. This was challenging to implement but we managed to use the resources on the syllabus page.
We chose a basic color scheme of black, white, beige and red to convey the seriousness and gravity of the situation. The final touch was to add audio clips for the main panels to create an immersive experience, going with our aim of eliciting a more visceral and emotional reaction. We included the info page with two links to increase awareness after they read the comic.
The inspiration for this audio project actually came from some techno music pieces I have heard, which combine different industrial sounds from everyday life to create a beat. We decided to create an audio artwork that portrays a day in life during quarantine, starting from the morning until the night. Our intention was to capture the mixture of emotions that students feel as they go about their routines. Our initial plan was to create multiple songs for multiple times of the day that the person can click on to play, but we decided it would be more realistic to focus on just one audio. We therefore sent out an open call on social media and email, asking NYU AD students to send us brief audio clips of them performing an activity that they do on a daily basis, as well as telling us the time at which they perform the activity. We received audio clips such as jogging on the treadmill, brewing coffee, blending a smoothie, etc. We also recorded ourselves performing some activities. I also got some audio clips off the internet such as the Netflix sound, iPhone alarm, a person snoring, a person crying, and various world leaders speaking about coronavirus
In this project, we divided the work so that I, Gauraang, would handle the audio piece, and Jude would handle the website mechanics. I actually did not have a detailed script to start with, other than that the audio clips had to be placed in a chronological order. So I started experimenting with different functions on Audacity, and really making it up as I went along. This spontaneity in the creative process also allowed me to tap into my own feelings about quarantine.I wanted the music to have a gritty undertone, to capture the ominious environment that underlies our daily activities. Thus in the beginning, the alarms create a stressful beat. I wanted the music to capture ups and downs, therefore, for example, I distort and play the audio clip of my friend saying I am scared on repeat, which then transitions to a more uplifting sound of a friend practicing piano. Thus there is negativity which turns to positivity, fast pace which turns to slow pace beats, capturing the rollercoaster of emotions. Towards the end, I move from the individual to the global experience of coronavirus, by overlaying the sounds of different world leaders speaking. This was to capture the oversupply of information and bombardment of news today. The website background starts flashing in different colours, conveying the disorientation and stressfulness.
Jude was in charge of handling the website design. We wanted the website to look quite basic, with a satirical Zoom theme. Thus in the center we have a Zoom screen, upon which we flash different images. I came up with the idea of using absolute positioning to achieve the different images coming on the screen (which we acknowledge is not ideal). Ultimately, if we had time, we would have liked to do a film that plays in the zoom screen as the audio progresses. I made two more additions to the website implementation: 1) At the climax, when the audio clips of leaders speaking comes on, I make the website flash different colors, to reflect the sensory barrage of information. I also made the website gradually take darker colors as the audio progresses, to reflect the mental state of students slowly sinking deeper into despair.
My initial expectation for the audio piece was met. I was quite satisfied with the piece, though I definitely would have liked to incorporate more recordings. Unfortunately, I did not receive as many recordings as I would have liked, and many were of poor quality. I was a little dissatisfied with the website, as it does not have much user interaction. The user role is quite passive. In the future, I would like to add a feature where the user can possibly record their own audio and add it to the sound piece.
The inspiration for this video project came from Buzzfeed murder mystery videos, in which the viewer has to guess who is the murderer. We decided to create an NYUAD specific murder mystery in the time of coronavirus. Our intention was to create something lighthearted that people can play for fun in this stressful time of quarantine. We had a lot of different initial ideas. For example, we first wanted to do scenes before and after scene of a dinner date through Zoom, wherein the viewer is a detective spying on the zoom call. Another idea we had was an apocalyptic movie from the point of view of coronavirus. However, we finally decided as a group on the idea of a murder mystery, and collaboratively wrote the script on a Googledoc. Each person wrote the dialogues for their character, though we all provided input to each other.
After we wrote the script on Googledocs, we started filming our parts individually. I took on the ghost character, and with the help of a friend (Lulu), painted my face to fit the part. After I wrote my dialogues, I told my roommate exactly how I want the camera shots filmed, such as zooming in and out, side angles, and he helped me with that. The challenge was I had to get all the shots correct on one day, because I would then have to wipe off the makeup.
Dania took on the main responsibility of editing and putting together the video. My contribution to the editing process was I chose all the audio clips and soundtracks that we play in the background. I chose suspenseful yet a bit lighthearted sounds, to capture the humorous and mock serious tone of the video. I suggested to Dania to use a blue filter on the video clips of myself, to create a spooky and otherworldly atmosphere.
Haneen was in charge of creating the website. We decided to use a detective theme to match the video. It is a blend of modern college life and a vintage detective whodunnit, kind of like the movie Knives Out. Thus we include a biometrics scanning with a modernist, technological font. We decided to keep the interface clean and uncluttered, so that the main emphasis is on the video. By giving an option for the viewer to input their name, we give a personalized feeling, as if the viewer is really the detective.
When I reflect back, my initial expectation for the video piece were surpassed, as we managed to implement more things than I had originally envisioned. In the future, I would like to use more advanced software, like After Effects to add spooky animations for the ghost, and use professional recording equipment. A big challenge was we had to film ourselves. For example, in the video where I reveal the murderer, I did not have anyone to film me and had to self film. Thus I could not use as many camera angles as I would have liked. One interactive feature we wanted to implement was a poll, where the viewer can choose who they suspect to be the murderer. We did put this in, but its functionality is limited. Ideally, a different video would play depending on who you choose as the murderer. However, we could not do this due to lack of time.