My brand name is ksquared,

I chose this because it refrences my name as I have two similar names with containing k's in them.

 I initially wanted to make it even more simplified from the first few designs I made on photoshop below is an example.

I created this in illustrator although I thought it didn't give the message I wanted to create with the emphasis on the k's.

For this final design, I created a white seeming streak that lightly suggests a shadow of another k letter.

This is a timeline of how I wish to carry out the tasks

 

Instead of creating a afro futuristic movie I decided to make an interactive comic version instaed.

Below are images of me reading 'Shuri' a black female character from black panther.

I think it would be great if I explored creating stories as there are not many in mainstream comics with black female leads and with a science fiction type of technologically advanced environment.

 

 

Using the videos I took, I edited a video in premiere,

I also used phohoshop and made graffiti layers that I placed upon the video during different frames.

Additonally, using annimate I created a character in a superhero type costume , I used syd's "on the road song" and with the charater in the video travelling continuously I thought that would blend greatly with the song. 

Above is a mood board I created using powerpoint, representing the aesthetics and backgrounds that I would like to imitate in my project.

Below are some character designs, showing the ways I would like my characters to potentially look like.

 

 I filmed some videos from a trip I made from london to Hatfield.

I took some wide shots accross milenium bridge, south bank. Then some at Kings cross St Pancreas of the escalators.

I then arrived in hatfiled and took some shots in the tunnel with graffiti.

 Degree project 2

I had my first tutorial and I showed my tutor my initial ideas for my project. From this it was made knowledge to me that the wearable tech with an app was to costly of an idea considering my budget and the time I had to make it.

Also with developing an already existing app, there are limitations as I have to be careful of plagiarism along the way. 

And thirdly the market for digital 3D comics is already emerging,

There was a more solid idea at the end of the tutorial about creating a multi screen installation.

I then had another tutorial with another tutor, 

through this we both agreed that since I am interested in multiple things I could create a mixed media app and really focus on subjects that are very interesting to me.

To tackle the plagiarism involved in developing an already existing app, it was made a suggestion to perhaps target a different audience or even a different culture.

Furthermore, I could maybe add more helpful coherent knowledge but constantly keeping careful of plagiarism is a hard job.

Degree project

To begin the degree project, I have been advised in the early stage to generate and construct a main idea. Additionally, to get to that stage I have been advised in the first week to come up with at least three ideas to get the ideation stage rolling.

Our tutor, suggested focusing on areas that display our strengths in digital media whilst challenging us creatively. Furthermore, it should be an area possibly closely related to an area within the media industry where we aspire to work.

The medium of the work could be anything ranging from moving images(animation) to interactive advertisement, overall digital media has many variations.

From brainstorming my own general interests, these are some of my ideas:

-Digital comic

-Wearable tech with an app(interactive artefact)

-XD Design app

I have become fond of the action visuals in general comics, I was curious about the space online for digital comics and so I looked online to find more information. Wilsons article on Pcmag highlighted how online comics are more advantageous for discovering older comics since newer comics are more readily available in stores(1).

Wilson also stated how digital comics are mostly used on iPads and androids using 'standalone' apps to seamlessly stroll through the pages much easier. There was even an instance where Spotify formed a deal with Madefire where Archie comics were voiced and provided to Spotify members with subscriptions. Through this research I have now become curious about 3D digital comics and whether it is an area I want to explore.

Another interest of mine is wearable tech, I have interested in how technology has infused its way into fashion and in general health.

one area that deeply interests me is the ideation of a smart ring mainly since I have a strong interest with rings, and would possibly like to create something similar but useful to a lot of people and possibly connected to a mobile phone app.

My third idea would be to maybe adapt an already existing app with the purpose of creating a better user experience.

References:

1)Wilson,J,L.Everything You Need to Know About Digital Comics.Pcmag

2)NFC multifunctional waterproof digital ring.Ebay

Storytelling and Gaming

This is one of my audition screenshots, I had to convert this file from mp3 to wav in order to work with it.

I eventually decided I did not want to just start going straight into the game story and I wanted to make a cover and loading page, since my game has mild comical violence I found it suiting that it has the pegi 3 age rating.

  

This was my first design in illustrator, I drew two diagonal question marks which aligned together with one dot. Over a few days I decided that I did not like the blue circle so I removed it and left behind was white circular space. I also made the name 'out riddled' its short and memorable whilst being very relevant to my game. 

This design is okay, the colours do work together, but they work even better with just two main colours so I removed the blue.

I created layers of question marks in the background to emphasise the thinking that my game may involve.

 

Storytelling and Gaming

For the game music, I researched mysterious puzzle game music, overall I found some great non copy righted music and sound effects from 'Bensounds' 'Incompetech' and 'soundjay'

I used the music from ben sounds and imcompetech as the background game music, I imported the music firstly into adobe auidition where I would crop and make changes with the volume. Then I would import the wav file into animate where I would assign the music to the beginning of a significant keyframe with a riddle question.

I then assigned the celebratory bells sound effects into the keyframes where the navigation would lead to a correct answer and 'fail' music to whenever a 'wrong' button was clicked.

I also had to assign codes to stop music playing in most frames as I noticed there seemed to be a lot of overlapping.

 

 Storytelling and Gaming

This is a screenshot of the option the player falls under when they score few points,

Max is gradually falling into the hole and as mentioned earlier the facial features are movie clips. I used a different set of eyes in this ending clip to emphasise the shock on the face.

I used photoshop to crop the body sectionally, to make the falling a bit more believable , I think it was succesful.

I also animated the chair and gave it exaggerated facial features for a more dramatic impact.

This screenshot shows me in the progress of creating functions for my buttons, and as you can see I already have many frames filled out with navigation codes.

Game scripts

Using animate I scripts for navigation and audio mostly.

Before I realised I could access the codes I manually learnt how to write some of them.

I watched this video from 'Reppa's Tech' where they talked about basic navigation codes,

I then made a word document where I wrote some code and would copy and paste into animate, below is an example of a pasted script.

Eventually,I realised that the navigation scripts were already accessible so I begun using them.

I would click on the buttons, give them an instance name, change the colour of their hit keyframe and then click on either the jump or replay codes, 

I decided to format my riddle questions with 3 icons

1 would be the correct icon and the other two false,

upon clicking the correct icon the player has a stronger chance of securing more points

Although, in the first few tries clicking on the wrong icon is not the end of the game as the navigation allows you to try again until the game progresses where extra turns are limited.

1)Reppa'sTech, Animate CC Navigation Buttons,2016.YouTube

 

Storytelling and gaming

I made some more button and screen assets for the next riddles. I converted most of these into buttons where I made navigation codes in the action scripts prompting that when clicked for to either go backwards or forwards when clicked on by the player.

this is a button of a computer I made on illustrator 

 Another background scene created on illustrator

More mini assets 

 

 Installation plan

this is my plan for my installation which is heavily influenced by 

John Akomfrah: Purple

installation, where he had multiple screens in a dark room, I also want to have bean bags for the viewers so they have a more comfortable, viewing experience.

I plan to have a picture of the final shot (the purple moon) projected on the roof of the viewing room if possible.

Designing game assets and scenes

I designed some assets for each of the riddles using using illustrator, I did make overly complex designs and I stuck to simple colour designs so the objects were not so difficult to make.

I used illustrator to design some scenes for my game

,

The first scene I chose to create a living room area aesthetic 

I did some research and found this artwork by Vectorpouch from 'freepik' .

I was inspired by the colour selection and I made an illustration below using a similar pallet but simplified and a bit softer in terms of gradient.

I then made a simple background with clouds and grass which was simple to make.

Afterwards I made this to display a room with a later opening door, using the line and brush tools.

final video edits 2

I added graphics to show my title and final credits, 

this was needed but before I added them the film had rendered very smoothly, but soon afterwards the flow of the frames became stagnant again. I used keyframes to move the moon around which I think worked out well, I also used a clearer and close up shot at the end of the moon. I thought that would be important since its the main objective for the viewer it makes no sense for it to be blurry.

I loved how the music worked coherently with the flow of the film, I still intend to work on the movie to create a smoother outcome though.

 

Part of final edits

I cropped out a lot of the animation dialogue when I noticed I preferred using the song created in auidition, I also removed the bouncing moon since it was hard to transition smoothly and seemed very out of place to me. I also added the new videos I recorded which seem alright, but I want to remove the scenes where I am walking up the stairs now after watching the video. My favourite thing so far is the water transitions, but everything else seems a bit too shaky for me I will have to render the video.

Another thing I dislike are my shots at the end, they are too stiff and need some transitions.

 

 Final filming

I filmed for one last time where, I took medium, long and close up shots of my friend running,

Even though the weather conditions were harsh I was still able to capture decent footage. With the help of another student i directed a shot where they walked inside a deep puddle to create a wide ripple.

I had to take a couple shots of my friend and choose the best one. this was the same for the rest, therefore I would have a large selection to choose from when I edit them.

More music editing

I placed my favourite versions of noir jazz and classical horror songs into audition. 

I used music from mcleod and 'the hunt'. 

I first inserted the jazz music which is in the first column, and had one continuous song playing, in the next column I inserted parts of 'the hunt' which i cropped, I also decreased the volume each time before I cropped the tracks to help make it sound smooth. I did the same for the other columns.

Overall the sound produced sounded mystifying, chilling and yet relaxing.
 

More editing /film

Using photoshop, I used some older pictures I took which I then edited them one by one making them significantly darker over time, I did this because I noticed some of the pictures I took were better than the footage of the sky I captured in videos,  it was because the weather progressively became more unpredictable meaning less consistent sunny skies  and I ended up filming a lot of gloomy looking clouds. Overall, I liked the edits and I intended to blend them into the final film.