Website Updates

Working on the website to try to improve the galleries - particularly the photography gallery as this needed several galleries that it is able to accommodate each project individually.  Also, the final project is a film and this will need to be under the performance section will also need to work in a similar manner. 

Originally I had tried to add all the galleries on one page but this looked very untidy and really did not work - it looked like this:

So I started working on creating buttons from the original portfolio pages and adding links to make these navigate directly under the titles:

I think this works much better and now each project is clearly signposted to the viewer and the button takes them directly to that gallery whilst still retaining a 'homepage' on the portfolio navigation and keeping it clean and simple in the top menu.

The portfolio of conceptual postcards for instance now looks like this - I have added here a button to ensure that the viewer can easily click back to the portfolio main page

I think taht this site is now really starting to work in a user friendly way and is consistent throughout - there are still tweaks needed but overall it is just about ready...

Website: Mobile View & Adjustments

It is important to check the look of the website in the mobile view as it is likely this is how most people will view the site.  My home page here I have removed the white space between the image and the copyright footer however there is still a small white area underneath that I have yet to be able to remove. I will try to remove this before publishing.

My portfolio pages worked well and everything links into these and scrolls for good navigation. 

The photography section here just needed the title to be made smaller to fit into the page correctly - this I adjusted. 

These writing links I thought were too large and so I made all these links smaller so that the majority could be seen and clicked into as you open this page as below. 

I was happy with the about page as I felt this was easy to read and well laid out 

Although my mouth does not fit entirely on this page I actually still like this and so made the decision to keep this as it is.

Overall I think now the site works really well on the mobile - at the end, this will be tested again when all galleries and projects have been added and prior to publishing 

Experimental Slow Beauty

As you can see here this is a short draft of my idea and how I would like Slow Beauty the final film to look.  The images here work quite well and I chose to use black and white throughout, I lie the soft movement and I think the music serves these images well.  The music needed to be deeper and stronger.  The narrative is still coming together and needs work.  I will continue to work on the storyboard as I have been exploring this using the images that I am unearthing. A lifetime of images....

Movie Maker: Software Investigation

To begin the rendering of my project I will investigate Movie Maker and make a short practice film to explore the possibilities of this software.

Movie Maker is a simple tool for film making and if you are not looking for stunning effects this method really is quite simple - I really do want quiet and simple for this so this is a good way to try this out.

I began by adding my initial photographs to the Movie Maker by just clicking on the Home - add photos or videos. As you can see below this the home menu.  On this menu, I always added titles and captions to each image as I have made the decision to subtitle this film with the narrative

In the next image you can see the titles and also you can see I am on 'animations' in the menu this is where I changed the transitions from shot to shot.  I wanted again a slow and gentle transition - I do not want any hard jumps throughout thsi - I want this to flow like a stream of consciousness or a dream.  Therefore I also changed here the pan and zoom so each shot slowly zooms in closer and then the transition comes in.

Here you can see the effect withe transuition, the caption added and the duration.  I have applied the same pan and zoom to all shots.

Next I added very minor effects to one of the images just to make it sit slightly better with teh other images - just making it less sharp. I added a very minor blur to this and applied the same transitions to this. 

Lastly I added music and some temporary end credit just for this piece.  I used a free music archive bensound.com which it states you must credit.  I chose Ofelia's Dream as I thought this was sad and dark and matched the mood of the film.  In my next post I will show the final experiment.

Website Creation Continued

To continue with my website I have now added the contact page.  I chose a form for this and then changed the colours to match the rest of the website and the text so that this also matched the design.

I then went back to my Portfolio main page to add the writing section and to add the writing links.  These are links to my work online where I have written about photography and photographers

I then worked on the home page and changed the title to reflect the rest of the site and I moved the text to align on all the pages and added a background colour.  I also added a photography piece however this gallery will still need more work when I add further pieces - this is what it looks like when you click into the image. 

The galleries are the areas that really need work so I will keep working on these to ensure that these are ready for my project work that I need to add at the end of this term.

Website Creation: Home & About Page

I chose a template from Wix to create my site.  I began just by changing the background strip to a generic photography picture from Pixabay just so I could decide how I wanted it to look.  I like the one image on the home page.  Not sure about the title at present but I will consider this further later.

I clicked on the left-hand menu to choose menu and pages and when I had looked at images I chose my own front image which I had taken,  This has a sepia look to it and therefore I considered that those beige/cream colours might work well throughout.

 After doing this I looked at the text, I kept the Cinzel font and have used this throughout.  I also changed the copyright to my own so that this is at the bottom of each page throughout.   I then went to the About page and changed the image and began to wite my Bio and changed the font.

This is the image I changed this to in keeping with the sepia colours I also ghanged the coloured background by right-clicking on the right-side column and find a colour that would work with the image and my home page.

I think the font looks better like this and is larger and easier to read.  The navigation bar probably will also be changed however at the moment I am leaving this until I have decided on how all the pages should work.

I have also started to play with the portfolio - I have added one film and will add photography and writing.. This is the progress so far!

Slow Beauty: Project Plan

Still from The Hunger (1983) Directed by Tony Scott

Here, an appropriate image where time has speeded up and the character, played by David Bowie, rapidly ages.  Time does march on...' At its core, though, the film is really about fear of aging and loss of youth. The aging effects on Bowie (done masterfully by Dick Smith) are great and through his condition, there’s real sadness and loss being communicated here.' (Gordon B. 11/09/2012).  Perhaps in my own work this sense of loss will also be present, often wish I could feel the energy I felt when young, now I feel (like in this film) that time is speeding up and the end is much closer.

I actually really love this film as it has Susan Sraradon, Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Bauhaus, violence and sex - a perfect combination!  Empire magazine disagreed with this: 'The Hunger remains a baffling, obscure effort – too arty to work as a horror film, too pretty-pretty to be a character drama. Tony Scott’s first mainstream directorial credit, it’s the tonyscottiest vampire movie ever made' (Newman K. 01/06/2006) which is a pity they couldn't see the joy in the film!  I love the arty horror and I feel now that there is less beauty being communicated in film as technology stands in the forefront. 

Here is my Project Plan in an attempt to organise time: Slow Beauty: Project Plan

I will update this each week as I go along to ensure that I keep a record of work completed.  As it is the end of Week Four now my next posts will show you the website I have been working on.

References

Gordon B. (12/09/2012) Horror Fanzine: The Hunger (1983) [Online] Available from: http://horrorfanzine.com/the-hunger-1983-directed-by-tony-scott/ (Accessed 26/10/19)

Newman K. (01/06/2006) Empire Magazine: The Hunger Review [Online] Available from: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/hunger-review/ (Accessed 26/10/19)