1. Are you satisfied with the
final result?
Yes, I am very satisfied with the result, as my iBook has a lot
of content in it. I like how I added in pages about the creation of the
animation and props and my introduction video for the iBook. I think these
added a unique touch to my iBook.
2. Did the e-pub require more/less
time than you originally thought?
The e-pub took a lot more time than I originally thought. I
spent weeks planning out templates of the iBook and writing and recording the
director’s commentary took a very long time than I thought it would. I initially
thought that the director’s commentary wouldn’t take very long, as in my mind
it didn’t seem like it would take very long.
3. Would like to change any
aspects of your final project (layout, links, images, video and audio content, colour
scheme etc)?
I would probably change my poster. I inserted my poster I made
in the iBook with blue surrounding it, as I couldn’t really fit my desired
image onto the front page by itself. If I had more time, I would photoshop
another image and place that as the front image. I would keep the same design,
but I would change the size of the image so it is able to fit on the front
page.
4.
If you
could start the project again what would you do differently?
I would probably start
the project a bit earlier. I left the iBook about one week before it was due. I
focused more on my Miwa Matreyek assignment, as I thought that required more
work than the iBook. I should have alternated between the two, so I could
finish them both at around the same time.
Part Two: Respond to each of the following
dot points (using complete sentences or paragraphs). You should include as much
detail as possible in your responses.
1. Discuss whether your e-pub and
poster have turned out the way you pictured them?
My e-pub turned out way
better than how I pictured it. Honestly, I thought my iBook was going to turn
out terrible as I didn't think I was able to make an iBook that matched the
storyline of my animation, as I don’t think I’m very creative. I didn’t fully
understand the task when I got given it, so it made me think my iBook was going
to terrible. But after the first couple of lessons, the task became clearer to
me and my iBook started to come together. My poster (the picture) turned out
the way I thought it would. Taking the picture was very hard, as I had grab
different LEGO buildings and all the minifigures I owned to create a busy city
environment. I took many photos and I had to keep re-arranging the setting to
make the picture look perfect. But after this work, I think both my poster and
e-pub looked better than I how I pictured them.
2. Explain whether your e-pub and
poster clearly depicts the style of your animation and describe some specific design
principles that you have used to achieve this;
My iBook clearly depicts
the style of my animation. My animation begins in a black and white world to
symbolise Annie’s emotions at that time. I decided that the backgrounds of each
section and chapter would start off black and white and they would gradually
turn to colour as the story progresses. I did this so it would suit my animation’s
storyline and theme. My poster is a picture of a black and white Annie in a
city of colour. I chose this design, as it shows the difference between Annie’s
depressing, sad emotion being different to others around her in the big city.
The bright colours in the city show that these people are kind, approachable
and nice. Overall, I chose this design so it would have a meaning that is
obvious to readers. Some design principles that helped me achieve this are:
Emphasis
I used emphasis in my
poster, as Annie is a different colour to the city and others around her. This
emphasises Annie’s importance to the animation. It is also an eye-catching
image in the poster.
3. Describe any problems or technical
difficulties you encountered while creating your director commentaries in
GarageBand. These may include; sound or video issues, corrupt or missing files,
difficulty using the iBooks Author or GarageBand software, problems
importing/exporting files, etc;
Sometimes when I recorded
my director’s commentary, iMovie would quit unexpectedly. This would happen
whenever I was in the middle of recording my commentary. This was very annoying,
as I had to restart the commentary constantly. Since I borrowed out a school
laptop that same weekend, I decided to use the iMovie on that laptop. This
fixed my problem, as this iMovie didn’t quit constantly.
I faced another technical
difficulty when I needed to export my iBook to submit it. Whenever I selected
‘Export’ iBooks Author would quit unexpectedly. It took me the whole lesson to
try and export it, but I had no luck. I tried on numerous computers, tried some
of my classmates USB’s but it didn’t work. I then had to go see Mr Powell and
he was able to fix my problem. I was very relieved when I found out he was able
to fix it, as I spent a lot of time and effort on this iBook and I didn’t want
it to be a waste.
4. Did you have all of the
necessary resources to complete your e-pub and poster or did you have to create
new materials?
I needed to create lots
of new media for my iBook. I made an introduction video, which informed the
readers what this iBook contained. I made video messages that the characters
left for the readers, I divided the movie into scenes and I also had to find
previous attempts at animating scenes. Making the introduction and character
videos required a lot of work. I used LEGO minifigures as the characters in the
videos. I used iStopmotion and Photoshop to create these animations. I had to
use the skills I learnt in the last two terms, as I had to photoshop the mouths
again. This is very time consuming and can get very annoying after a while.
Dividing my animation into scenes wasn’t very difficult, as I just had to
import the film into iMovie and cut the animation into separate scenes. I didn’t
come across any problems while doing this.
For my poster I did have
to use Photoshop. I just desaturated an image of Annie and used the clone stamp
tool to paste her in the background image. I also placed my title in this
image, which wasn’t difficult at all. I didn’t come across any problems while
creating my poster.
5. List the steps you used to plan
and develop your project;
Firstly, I decided on a
template from the selection that iBooks Author had. I picked ‘Antique’ as I
thought it would suit my animation and I thought it was the one that looked the
best. I then planned the colour scheme of my iBook and found images that would
be useful in my iBook. I decided on black and white and the images should
gradually turn to colour, as I wanted my iBook to closely link to my animation.
Also, it was the theme that I thought would fit the iBook. From that, I thought
about what I would put into my iBook and how I could make it appeal to both
younger and older audiences, as I don’t believe my animation is for a certain
audience. I think it can appeal to audiences of all ages.
6. Did you use content-lists, flowcharts
or other documents during the planning process;
I did write down any
ideas I had and other ideas they linked too. This is similar to a flow-chart.
In this chart I thought of what the different colours and images I wanted to
use would symbolise. I had to think about this, as I intended to have some meaning
as to why I chose these elements for my iBook.
7. Clarify any time-management
issues you encountered during the creative process and describe the steps you took
to improve in this area;
I think I planned my time
well; I wasn’t under stress while making this iBook. I did leave it until a
week before it was due, but that was enough time for me to make it. Sure it
would have been lovely to have a couple more days so I could add in extra
content, but two weeks was the perfect amount of time to get my iBook finished.
I had a lot of fun making this iBook and I didn’t really think of it as an
assignment, I made sure that I was making something that was different and
interactive.
8. Discuss whether you undertook
adequate and detailed reflection throughout your project. i.e. Have you provided
enough evidence to support your work? (Look back at your blogs and think about
whether it looks like a whole terms worth of work);
We weren’t required to
reflect during this project, as it wasn’t something to really reflect on. I
can't say that I need to improve on my reflections, as it was not needed. But
if I did need to reflect, then obviously I would need to improve as I only did
one reflection this term.
But, I do think my iBook
does look like a whole term worth of work, as I did put a lot of effort and
time into this task. I had fun making this iBook and I tried to make it different
to a serious director’s commentary. I didn’t want readers to feel bored while
reading and listening to my iBook. I wanted them to connect to the characters
and the storyline and I do think my iBook did do that. I tried to make it an interactive
and a fun iBook and I do believe I achieved that in this task.
