Learning Outcome 3 - Evaluation of Interactive Media
To evaluate my Interactive Media products, I believe that they have provided me with extra skill which will be able to prepare me for a wider range of projects that I may want to create to build upon my personal skill and skill in the media Industry when creating products for clients. I have never had experience with Aurasma or other applications that allow you to create your own Interactive media product but I have had experience with virtual reality and gaming applications where you are put into a virtual reality or augmented reality world using your mobile devices. Knowing how to create your own visual product then applying it to aurasma where you are able to scan business cards or any 2D image to bring to life, will allow your clientele to have wider expectations of how they would like there business to be broadcasted on social media. The more eye catching, interesting and fun the product is then the more than likely you will have lots of clientele that will be submitting commissions to you for their own business purposes. This is the whole idea of Aurasma and Blippar, Blippar is a very similar application only it is more based around the 3D vision of augmented reality.
My first product I created to get a real sense of an augmented reality product was using the Intel logo. "Intel designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world's computing devices." Because Intel is such a futuristic computing technology company, I wanted the animation to be professional when used on business cards and futuristic like as it is a computing company. This way the simplistic animation would fit the needs of the company so that the clientele would almost know what they would be expecting. To be able to see my auras created on Aurasma, you would need to download the Aurasma application from either the Apple store or Play store and then follow the user named 'Callie161' to be able to see my products. You then go onto my Wix page and scan my trigger images to watch them come to life on your mobile device.
To create my first product, I used Photoshop to align my trigger image in the film and video guidelines sector while exporting the final image into after effects to create the final animation I want to be overlayed over the trigger when importing it into Aurasma.
What went well and even better if:
I really like the dissolving particles effect as I believe it looks professional and unique and goes very well with the intended logo. If I were to create this again then I would use sound as the particles are unravelling. I would also make the particles less blurred and a little 3D and shadowed maybe by using light. I may also use camera angles and movments in after effects that will zoom past the logo at one tilted side to make the logo 3D looking.
My second product I created was of a black labrador image that I had found on the internet. To create this image, I put it straight into Photoshop and aligned it within the middle sector for television and various other video products then I added a 3D animation to it in after effects. I used the plug-in Trapcode Particular onto the image in order to give it a more 3D particle feel. I created this second product to experiment further with what I can do with Augmented reality. I wanted to take my augmented reality in a slightly new pathway by adding 3D particle elements in after effects which has improved my skill massively. This means that if future clients are interested in 3D elements then it would be useful for me to know how to add a slight 3D particle element to images and animations when I am creating the Aurasma requested by the clientele. If I were to create this product again then I would experiment further with the 3D particle effects by adding more animation to it and using slightly more complicated pictures where the animation can take apart and build the image entirely.
What went well and even better if:
I really liked this project as it is different and original. To do it I followed a youtube tutorial with my new plug-in purchase for after effects. I like how I have used added camera techniques in after effects to move through all of the 3D particles created for the dog. If I were to improve this aurasma then I would have added in light in after effects to give slight tinted colours and shadows in areas.
My final product was where I had got given a course to study and animate the pdf brief of the course. The pdf of the course given to me had to be the trigger image that I could then animate and play about with it until I feel that I am happy with my final outcome. I began with going to the catering courses and filming the kitchen in order to create a time-lapse of the course in action so that the public or people whom are interested in the course, will be able to see the course taking action. I then edited this 40 minute video to a cut down of about 2 minutes. I fast-forwarded the clip so much and added motion blur that it made a time-lapse of the video and the students working in-between me speaking about the course. I also colour graded this clip and I then recorded my voice over for the final product. I recorded my voice over on quicktime player and I added all the recordings together on Premiere Pro to make the sequence. I created a few screen recordings also using quicktime player on the mac and I added them all together in Premiere Pro also. Lastly, I downloaded the instrumental to the song of my choice to make my backing music for my product. I downloaded the instrumental music and the original song from youtube converter where I was able to add a natural tone to overlap my narrative audio clips. The backing track allows the audience to feel more entertained and connected to the product as it sets the natural tone of not only the audio but the visuals too.
What went well and even better if:
For my final attempt of creating an Augmented interactive media product, I was very pleased with the outcome. I put in a lot of had work to make this project the best I possibly could and I personally believe that it has shown as it took a while to create. I like the backing track because the start and finish is the original mp3 sound and throughout the whole of the middle where I have my narrative, it is the instrumental to the song so that there is one ambient sound to settle the narrative but not where there are words to overpower the narrative. I like the time-lapse I have created and the moving button at the end where you can tap it and it takes you to the intended MidKent college page where you can sign up for the course. To improve this project, I would of liked the seperate overlay in aurasma to of worked. I originally had two layers, one for the whole whole project and the second layer was the button at the end where you tap it and it sets you to the MidKent page. For some reason, having two layers did not work so instead I had to add in the button to my original project and set the hyperlink the the first layer instead of having two layers as having two layers did not work out. This was okay as you can still tap the button to be sent to the page except you will be able to tap the video at anytime and not just at the last few seconds but that did not bother me too much.
What have I learnt from this experience with Interactive Media?
I believe that this project turned out very well as I had learnt how to screen record, voice narrative record and create a time-lapse when editing. I have been able to increase my understanding of what Interactive Media is and what the impact is on its audience. I understand that Interactive and social Media is where you find the most clientele as the public are majoritarily on the internet which means any business organisations, commissions, emails or anything business based, is usually plastered over social or interactive media to entice customers into their business from online to in person. That is what sells the customer as it makes the business or company widely accessible, user friendly, professional and pretty to many. Interactive media also makes getting up close and personal easier as with a touch of a button, the animation and hyperlinks send you to where you need to go while allowing you to experience the new and exciting ear of augmented reality where your mobile device will allow you to play short games, see live animations from right in your living room and get up and about with the new applications available.
What will I take forward from this experience?
Now I have the basic knowledge and understanding of how augmented interactive media products are created, I will be able to take this further and build upon my knowledge on potential 3D augmented reality products where clientele could submit their commissions to me and I could meet their requests with potential augmented or virtual reality. Taking my business and productions down the route of Interactive media is a very clever way of enticing customers as it is pretty new and not heard of too much. This means that you would easily be able to catch the attention of many with the animations in your augmented reality business and gaming world. I would also like to think that I would later on be able to take gaming and my own animations down this route of Interactive media as I would be able to bring my animations to life. This could be using applications such as Aurasma or for 3D, Blippar.
Three specific examples of improvements:
Within the first 2 seconds and the last 3 to 4 seconds of the labrador aurasma, I would have had a blue light in the bottom right hand corner as the camera zooms into the labrador and I would have a white light in the top left hand corner.
In the first aurasma I had created which is of the Intel logo, I would have added a blue light in the first 3 seconds and the ball particles would be 1080p HD with no blur while the logo would be tilted on the right and looking up to the top left hand corner. The camera movement would go past the logo while the logo is coming closer and disappearing on the right hand side of the screen like the logo is 3D and is coming through the screen. After this movement, the camera would be behind the logo and would fade into the dark blue and zoom out of the dot of the i in Intel and would come further away as if we are coming out of the dot in the eye. The logo would then sit still face on to the camera and would be animated so the Intel logo would disappear as solid particles.
My very last example that I would change is to make my final attempt at aurasma shorter. My final attempt of aurasma is the Catering course trigger image. I would change the narrative a little so that I would show how to apply for the course at the very end and this would be only a few seconds, 30 seconds maximum. I would then add in a interview of the catering course tutor and he would talk about the course, what the students do, the projects and work they produce and what the course involves and maybe two or three interviews of a few students saying what they like most about the course. This aurasma would be much shorter and time consuming as I believe most people watching this would get bored and tune out of the aurasma about half way through.
Here is an Interactive product I have found to support my research:
This product is called 'Juice Burst' and what juice burst is, is pretty self-explanatory. It is a juice that has a choice of many different flavours and colours as shown in order of being the lightest to the darkest. As you can see on the second image, their are 3 steps that you can follow in order to play an interactive media game involving the drink. Once you have downloaded the application from either the app store or play store, all you have to do is scan the image and follow the instructions on screen to know how to play. The game is very fascinating and fun, I believe what makes the game so addictive is the simplicity of the game where anyone with a mobile device and a Juice Burst bottle could play. The game is simple, you have two shoot buttons one either side of the screen and once you see fruit fly in the air in the virtual reality world on screen, you have to shoot them with your lasers using the buttons. The game is as simple as that, shoot the fruit accept as you go along you will that you are able to get combo's and X2 which means double the points when shooting the fruit. The aim of the game is to get as much points as possible in the limited time given. Here are some screenshots I have taken of me playing the game:
This product is a very nice touch to the juice brand as it intrigues particular young individuals into buying the juice product because of the interactive media gaming purposes. Young individuals are intrigued by the interactive media terms of a product as that is what gets the product recognised, seeing as the majority of young teenagers spend most of their time online. The simpler, more fun and interactive the product is, the more likely it will be a hit to the target age.
To conclude all of my Interactive Media products, I believe that they have helped develop my abilities to edit and take my production skills to the next level. Knowing how to create augmented reality products is very impressive in the Media Industry as most clientele will be looking for talented and indifferent individuals who will be able to make they're business looking stunning and impressive. I will be definitely expanding my knowledge and skill on my Interactive Media projects as I find them to be very widely used in the Media Industry and a very useful tool to enhance the natural animation or motion graphic sequence.
