Here's a link to my Synopsis PDF.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16074114/INTERACTIVE%20ADVERTISING%20AND%20YOU.pdf
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Illustrated Pocast 05
I've re-rendered my 3D shots, using these to make my podcast has taught me a valuable lesson.
Always export my 3D work as a bunch of PNGs rather than a MOV or AVI! The reason behind this is so that if something messes up, you only lose one frame instead of everything. As well as giving you more control in editing. And it looks better!
And I just finished recording my VO. Hoorah!
Always export my 3D work as a bunch of PNGs rather than a MOV or AVI! The reason behind this is so that if something messes up, you only lose one frame instead of everything. As well as giving you more control in editing. And it looks better!
And I just finished recording my VO. Hoorah!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Illustrated Podcast 04
Yesterday I got quite a lot of work done for my podcast, here's a few stills from my footage.
I decided to use my character Flabby in my podcast to save time on making another character when I already have one that works fine for the job, and I'm enjoying working this way so I was considering doing more podcasts in future and using Flabby in a similar way to tie them together.
'I decided to use my character Flabby in my podcast to save time on making another character when I already have one that works fine for the job, and I'm enjoying working this way so I was considering doing more podcasts in future and using Flabby in a similar way to tie them together.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Stereoscopy 02
In my last post I mentioned how Stereoscopy uses the way the eyes perceive depth to trick the brain into seeing a 3D image. I'm going to explain that a bit better now.
Stereoscopy makes the eyes "unhook" from their usual focus, and have the left eye focusing on the right image, while the right eye focuses on the left image. Some examples of how this can be achieved include;
A Stereoscope is a device that you hold in front of your eyes to distort what direction they are seeing.
Colour filtration is when you take the left image and the right image, and make them different colours, then you wear special coloured lens glasses that tells your eyes which side to focus on.
Lenticular Screens use small cylinders in columns rather than a flat surface as a display, this makes it so that your eyes see different parts of the cylinder and allows a 3D image to be viewed.
Stereoscopy makes the eyes "unhook" from their usual focus, and have the left eye focusing on the right image, while the right eye focuses on the left image. Some examples of how this can be achieved include;
- A viewing device called a Stereoscope.
- Colour filtration (anaglypics)
- Lenticular Screens
- And even simply training the eye to focus on the correct areas of the image.
A Stereoscope is a device that you hold in front of your eyes to distort what direction they are seeing.
Colour filtration is when you take the left image and the right image, and make them different colours, then you wear special coloured lens glasses that tells your eyes which side to focus on.
Lenticular Screens use small cylinders in columns rather than a flat surface as a display, this makes it so that your eyes see different parts of the cylinder and allows a 3D image to be viewed.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Character Rigging Tuturial - Illustrator & AfterEffects
Putting this here so I can access it when I need it.
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/index.cfm?featureId=1627
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/index.cfm?featureId=1627
Monday, April 4, 2011
Podcast 03
Based on my last post, I'm thinking I should make my podcast about Interactive Advertising based around usability and how to improve the way it connects to the user in future.
Let's try and set up a 'rough script'.
01 "Interactive Advertising and You"
02 "Do those ads that want you to click all over them get on your nerves? Do you start worrying about your computer safety whenever they pop up?"
03 Animated Character looks worried and nods.
"Times are changing, the old way of EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE! advertising is losing steam, and a new wave of Selective Interactivity is approaching"
Animated character is engulfed by ads, appears to be drowning in them. They disperse into the sky then a wave of ads washes the exposure ads away and leave a few ads sitting around the Character.
04 "Advertisers know this, but many don't quite know how to deal with it yet, and the result is all of these annoying banners telling us to CLICK, DRAG, MOUSE OVER, POINT. But users aren't looking for this when they're browsing they're favorite sites. They don't want to be pestered and annoyed, it's like having someone knocking on your door every time you walk into the next room of your house and trying to make you complete a simple puzzle before they'll leave you alone. Not only is this irritating, it often leaves the intended message unheard, and if the user isn't hearing the message, they're not going to be buying the product."
3 people in glasses sitting at a desk nod. Character running, ads chase him. Character opens a door, man at door offers Character a rubix cube, Character slams the door and . . . is shown faded through the door.
05 "These ads need to get simpler, more subtle and in most cases more entertaining. When a vast ocean of information is at your fingertips, for any ad to grab your attention, it's going to have to be good. There are some already out there, the rest of the market just needs to catch up."
Man at door loses rubix cube, turns transparent, gains red nose. Character holds a sphere with an ocean inside, a big happy face rises out of the water and Character smiles.
06 "But the Internet isn't the only place Interactive ads can hang out. To quote Professor Duane Varan, an expert on New Media. "And wouldn’t it be great if you could forever ban that annoying TV commercial from your screen?". I certainly agree. And this is something the professor is working on at the moment. He wants to change the one-way method of television we currently have, and give viewers more control over what they watch."
A TV with static. An annoying face appears on the screen. Pan back to a big BAN button, it gets hit and the static returns. An arrow comes out of the TV and at us, then a second arrow comes from us and goes back to the TV.
07 "Now for me this inspired an idea. A streamlined, more interactive and easy to use tv remote."
Off lightbulb. Turns on. Pans out to show the remote.
08 "Another thing that inspired this was trying to teach my parents how to use a new remote when they bought a digital set top box. After half an hour of going through all the buttons with them, they still had no idea how to use it because there was just so much to take in. Which is fine for some people, but most of us don't have the time to be thinking about a remote. So why not make it simple?"
Character stands with parents pointing furiously at a remote. Parents have question marks appear and hover over heads. Show timepoor image.
09 "On my remote, there is the big power button at the top, the what's on button below it would bring up an overlay of program information with one press and an Electronic Program Guide with 2 presses. Underneath that you have your number pad and below these there are 3 buttons, Menu, Aspect Ratio, and Sleep. These are the standard bits. The exciting parts are on the side. Once you've set up and your comfortable, this remote is designed to be held like this. The purple button on the thumb would work as a BACK/CANCEL, and the 2 wheels above it sitting side by side are used situationally to either navigate menus, or function as channel and volume control. Now these last buttons are where the Interactive Advertising part comes in, each button is assigned to one person, this button functions as OK in menus for that person but more importantly whenever someone hits this button it tells the TV that they are the one watching at that moment, the user can hit this button during an AD to say "I'm not interested in this, don't show me again." and the TV will take this information and filter what kind of ads this person sees, they're happy they only have to watch ads that appeal to them, and the advertisers get exposure to the right audience. Everyone wins."
Starts with a view of the full remote, zooms into the power button, then to the whats on button, then to the number pad, then to the 3 bottom buttons. then to the side, then a hand shows how to hold it, then zooms into the back button, then to the wheels, the wheel rollout comes out from under the remote, then zooms into the other 4 side buttons. Rollout of the side button comes out from under the remote, letter appears on the button.
Crossview of character looking sad and button, button is pressed and character looks happy.
3 people behind desk nod.
10 "I hope you enjoyed my podcast, check out my blog for a more detailed look at how my remote works. See you next time!"
Blog Link/Credits/Bibliography
Let's try and set up a 'rough script'.
01 "Interactive Advertising and You"
02 "Do those ads that want you to click all over them get on your nerves? Do you start worrying about your computer safety whenever they pop up?"
03 Animated Character looks worried and nods.
"Times are changing, the old way of EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE! advertising is losing steam, and a new wave of Selective Interactivity is approaching"
Animated character is engulfed by ads, appears to be drowning in them. They disperse into the sky then a wave of ads washes the exposure ads away and leave a few ads sitting around the Character.
04 "Advertisers know this, but many don't quite know how to deal with it yet, and the result is all of these annoying banners telling us to CLICK, DRAG, MOUSE OVER, POINT. But users aren't looking for this when they're browsing they're favorite sites. They don't want to be pestered and annoyed, it's like having someone knocking on your door every time you walk into the next room of your house and trying to make you complete a simple puzzle before they'll leave you alone. Not only is this irritating, it often leaves the intended message unheard, and if the user isn't hearing the message, they're not going to be buying the product."
3 people in glasses sitting at a desk nod. Character running, ads chase him. Character opens a door, man at door offers Character a rubix cube, Character slams the door and . . . is shown faded through the door.
05 "These ads need to get simpler, more subtle and in most cases more entertaining. When a vast ocean of information is at your fingertips, for any ad to grab your attention, it's going to have to be good. There are some already out there, the rest of the market just needs to catch up."
Man at door loses rubix cube, turns transparent, gains red nose. Character holds a sphere with an ocean inside, a big happy face rises out of the water and Character smiles.
06 "But the Internet isn't the only place Interactive ads can hang out. To quote Professor Duane Varan, an expert on New Media. "And wouldn’t it be great if you could forever ban that annoying TV commercial from your screen?". I certainly agree. And this is something the professor is working on at the moment. He wants to change the one-way method of television we currently have, and give viewers more control over what they watch."
A TV with static. An annoying face appears on the screen. Pan back to a big BAN button, it gets hit and the static returns. An arrow comes out of the TV and at us, then a second arrow comes from us and goes back to the TV.
07 "Now for me this inspired an idea. A streamlined, more interactive and easy to use tv remote."
Off lightbulb. Turns on. Pans out to show the remote.
08 "Another thing that inspired this was trying to teach my parents how to use a new remote when they bought a digital set top box. After half an hour of going through all the buttons with them, they still had no idea how to use it because there was just so much to take in. Which is fine for some people, but most of us don't have the time to be thinking about a remote. So why not make it simple?"
Character stands with parents pointing furiously at a remote. Parents have question marks appear and hover over heads. Show timepoor image.
09 "On my remote, there is the big power button at the top, the what's on button below it would bring up an overlay of program information with one press and an Electronic Program Guide with 2 presses. Underneath that you have your number pad and below these there are 3 buttons, Menu, Aspect Ratio, and Sleep. These are the standard bits. The exciting parts are on the side. Once you've set up and your comfortable, this remote is designed to be held like this. The purple button on the thumb would work as a BACK/CANCEL, and the 2 wheels above it sitting side by side are used situationally to either navigate menus, or function as channel and volume control. Now these last buttons are where the Interactive Advertising part comes in, each button is assigned to one person, this button functions as OK in menus for that person but more importantly whenever someone hits this button it tells the TV that they are the one watching at that moment, the user can hit this button during an AD to say "I'm not interested in this, don't show me again." and the TV will take this information and filter what kind of ads this person sees, they're happy they only have to watch ads that appeal to them, and the advertisers get exposure to the right audience. Everyone wins."
Starts with a view of the full remote, zooms into the power button, then to the whats on button, then to the number pad, then to the 3 bottom buttons. then to the side, then a hand shows how to hold it, then zooms into the back button, then to the wheels, the wheel rollout comes out from under the remote, then zooms into the other 4 side buttons. Rollout of the side button comes out from under the remote, letter appears on the button.
Crossview of character looking sad and button, button is pressed and character looks happy.
3 people behind desk nod.
10 "I hope you enjoyed my podcast, check out my blog for a more detailed look at how my remote works. See you next time!"
Blog Link/Credits/Bibliography
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Podcast 02
I've been looking into one of the speakers from the article I choose, his name is Duane Varan.
http://new.www.murdoch.edu.au/About-Murdoch_old/Murdoch-discoverers/Professor-Duane-Varan/
In the first paragraph of the above link this line stood out for me "And wouldn’t it be great if you could forever ban that annoying TV commercial from your screen?".
This is regarding interactive television, and I think it's an interesting idea, although I can see a few problems with it in such a primitive form. If people were able to ban a specific ad I imagine they would just start spamming this function during commercials, until eventually they saw very few to no advertisements. And when the occasional new ad would pop up they might get angry or feel wronged that they're being made to hit that ban button again and again. Effectively making the user hate the products they're having to deal with on their screens.
Now I think (or at least I hope) that the research team is clever enough to be thinking about these sorts of problems and coming up with solutions. Something I would suggest is perhaps putting a limit on the amount of ads you can ban and/or having the ad play all the way through once you've hit ban so that it isn't a "skip" function.
There are a great deal of benefits from this system too however, like being able to judge what individual users like and targeting the right sort of ads at them. An issue that comes up here would be what if multiple users are using the same television? How do you differ between them? Optimally this should be something that the user doesn't have to put any effort into at all, but that's tricky. The first idea that comes to mind is a Log In system, maybe it could connect to their facebook and give them notifications and show their friends what they're watching? This still requires a bit of user input however, and signing in and out between say family members would be a bit of an inconvenience. Another idea, though it would require higher tech, is putting a device in the remote control that recognizes the users hand, or alternatively, have multiple colour ban buttons on the remote that the users can assign, everyone who uses the television would have their own button on the remote to press to ban an ad and when they use it the television would automatically know who's watching and configure itself accordingly. Or! Remove the remote entirely and have voice command, the system could identify the voice and say "okay so this is sally and she doesn't like ads with puppies and trampolines." etc. The remote could remain optionally though for people with vocal disabilities.
Another thought would be to change the way ads are received in the commercial break. Instead of rolling them our one after the other, a selection screen with categories on one side of the screen, and an ad viewer on the right side. In the ad viewer there would always be an ad playing, but the user can select categories from the list on the left that they like best and then they'll get ads that are more suitable for them. There would also be a button to make the ad viewer full screen once the user is comfortable that they've selected everything they like.
I've accidentally gone and written a wall of text of ideas that sprouted from that one sentence "And wouldn’t it be great if you could forever ban that annoying TV commercial from your screen?". I had intended to write about the whole article but I think I'll stop now and I may come back to this article in a future post and see if I can draw inspiration from it again.
http://new.www.murdoch.edu.au/About-Murdoch_old/Murdoch-discoverers/Professor-Duane-Varan/
In the first paragraph of the above link this line stood out for me "And wouldn’t it be great if you could forever ban that annoying TV commercial from your screen?".
This is regarding interactive television, and I think it's an interesting idea, although I can see a few problems with it in such a primitive form. If people were able to ban a specific ad I imagine they would just start spamming this function during commercials, until eventually they saw very few to no advertisements. And when the occasional new ad would pop up they might get angry or feel wronged that they're being made to hit that ban button again and again. Effectively making the user hate the products they're having to deal with on their screens.
Now I think (or at least I hope) that the research team is clever enough to be thinking about these sorts of problems and coming up with solutions. Something I would suggest is perhaps putting a limit on the amount of ads you can ban and/or having the ad play all the way through once you've hit ban so that it isn't a "skip" function.
There are a great deal of benefits from this system too however, like being able to judge what individual users like and targeting the right sort of ads at them. An issue that comes up here would be what if multiple users are using the same television? How do you differ between them? Optimally this should be something that the user doesn't have to put any effort into at all, but that's tricky. The first idea that comes to mind is a Log In system, maybe it could connect to their facebook and give them notifications and show their friends what they're watching? This still requires a bit of user input however, and signing in and out between say family members would be a bit of an inconvenience. Another idea, though it would require higher tech, is putting a device in the remote control that recognizes the users hand, or alternatively, have multiple colour ban buttons on the remote that the users can assign, everyone who uses the television would have their own button on the remote to press to ban an ad and when they use it the television would automatically know who's watching and configure itself accordingly. Or! Remove the remote entirely and have voice command, the system could identify the voice and say "okay so this is sally and she doesn't like ads with puppies and trampolines." etc. The remote could remain optionally though for people with vocal disabilities.
Another thought would be to change the way ads are received in the commercial break. Instead of rolling them our one after the other, a selection screen with categories on one side of the screen, and an ad viewer on the right side. In the ad viewer there would always be an ad playing, but the user can select categories from the list on the left that they like best and then they'll get ads that are more suitable for them. There would also be a button to make the ad viewer full screen once the user is comfortable that they've selected everything they like.
I've accidentally gone and written a wall of text of ideas that sprouted from that one sentence "And wouldn’t it be great if you could forever ban that annoying TV commercial from your screen?". I had intended to write about the whole article but I think I'll stop now and I may come back to this article in a future post and see if I can draw inspiration from it again.
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