Crit Changes

Since crit there are quite a few things that I have changed.

The first thing that I did was take away the blocky heading in my opening movie and created a title page which is made to look like a book showing the user where to start the story, this also sets the scene and tells the viewer what the story is about and where it happened, as like the rest of my book this is all in the cut out effect.

The next things I changed were the photo gallery on section two and the phone interaction on section three. The complaints I received about the gallery were that it was too close to the side of the page and was meaning that when people swiped it was turning the page instead of the photo and the other problem was that some people didn't realise it was a gallery, so to solve both issues, I added thumbnails to the gallery so that it could be clicked rather than swiped and it is now obvious that there is more than one photo to see. The phone in section three was not interactive before crit and people suggested that I do as I planned and make it ring or do something, so i sourced a couple of sound effects so that the phone sounded like it was dialling a number then ringing it when it is clicked on. 

The next big thing I changed was the whole scene for section four, this was originally the same scene as the previous scene but it was suggested that I make it more interesting by changing it to a different scene like in the reception of Kit Wilson, I agreed that it was a better idea to make it different so I fully remade the scene to look like a reception desk keeping the same cut out effect as all the other scenes. I also then added animation and sounds to the scene to make it interesting, I added a ringing sound behind the phone so when it is clicked it can be heard and I also added a search on the computer for my mothers details which can be played when you click the screen.

On the home scene we had the same suggestion that I make an animation to keep it from being a still static page, so I have created a short animation of my mother and the dog walking toward the front of the house.

The second opening house door scene had the same problem as the phone in which people said they didn't want it to be the same scene. So like with the other I made a whole new scene to flow on from the last, to do this I took the same brick wall effect and added a window and a tree, when the window is clicked the blind rolls up and an animation of Archie playing with his ball runs across the inside of the window, then blind then rolls back down when the animation is over.

The last couple of things that I did were create a front cover which I have done to look like a red leather bound book which suits the theme of my contents page with the open book on it and I have also added two extra pages at the end still carrying the theme of the red book. In the second to last page I have a page in the book giving an ending to my story and concluding it nicely and along with that I have photos of Archie, one of which is with the other dogs to show how he is now getting on with them and fits right in. The last page which continues off from the previous shows more photos of Archie, one of which is with my mother to replicate the fact that she had said he was part of the family. There is also a note pad with my book credits on it, saying that I created it and my mum and Archie started in it. The final thing I added to the last page is a business card for Kit Wilson, when you click on this it takes you to their website so that you can see all the good things they do, they did an amazing job helping save all of those dogs including Archie from the shed and I wanted to make sure that they got a mention in my Ibook.

Crit Feedback

After giving my work to the class to crit I am feeling much better about my piece. The feedback was mainly positive and I hav realised that my list of possible changes was much longer than theirs! 
The comments I got about things needing to be changed were:

• Change the fourth scene (second phone scene) so that it is in the Kit Wilson reception, this will show that they called my mum and also to keep the scene from being the same as the previous one
  
• Change the last scene (second door scene) for the same reasons as above
  
• Change the front cover, this is something I had been meaning to do so I am glad this was bought up
  
• Add motion to the scenes that are just still images
  
• Make sure that the boarders are either all the way round or not there at all

These are all things that are very manageable and I am very happy to do, on top of these comments I have also created my own list of things that I would like to get done if possible, those things are:

• Add sounds where necessary -  to the phones so that they ring, possibly in the opening movie also
  
• Change the contents page background so that it acts as a title page pointing to the start of the story
  
• Get rid of the black box and font in the opening movie, If the title page is done then there is no need to have the title dumped in the opening movie
  
• Add a page or two at the end to show photos and videos of Archie now, I still need to decide wether these will be in the cut out effect like the rest or realistic. Having these last pages will stop the story from ending so suddenly and will also make the viewer realise that the story is true and Archie is real.

Added Scene

Because I have had problems with using the radio for my news report, I have had to change my mind and use the laptop to show a video version of the news report. However in this news report there will be less chance of the viewers seeing the photos in detail so I have decided to add another scene which looks like a close up on the news paper story about the dogs. This will have a new report on it so that if the viewer missed anything from the laptop, or even missed the laptop all together, they can read the story and in the corner of the page will be a gallery of the images so they can take their time to look at them. Here is what this new scene looks like.

News report problems

Yesterday I started trying to put my news report on my first scene, the original plan was to have the key words of the news report coming out of the radio to emphasise them, however with the news report that I have, the key words seem to be grouped turning out to be more like key phrases than words. This means that my original idea doesn't really work as having pauses between interesting phrases coming out looks wrong. This lead me to try and make every word that is spoken on the report come out of the radio, but I found as I was doing this there are so many words the animation becomes messy and unappealing to look at let alone understand. The other big problem that I did not think about when drawing up my scene was that the radio is on the left hand side, meaning the words have to come from left to right which means you are effectively reading them backwards when there is more than one word. All together I have decided that this idea is just becoming a problem and is going to look terrible so my solution is that I will use the laptop to play the news clip as if the viewer is watching the news online. This way I can keep both the news report and the photos of the dogs. And to stop any confusion for the viewer I have decided to take away the radio as it does suggest that it plays audio. 

So i will now get on with creating a video/animation to go along side the news report to play in the screen of the laptop.

Final Scene

Here is my last scene for my Ibook, this scene will be used for the last two sections of my book where it shows what Archie couldn't do when we got him home in comparison to what he is now like six years later. In this animation you can see that I have made everything in the same cut out style as the rest. The animation in these sections will both start with the door opening when you click it, then there will be an animation of Archie not knowing how to play with a ball in the first one and the second will have an animation of him chasing it. The door will close again once the animation has played. As you can see from the two images below, the first scene has small trees and to show that time has passed the second scene has got larger trees, this will make sure the viewer knows it is six years later.

Home Scene

I have now finished another scene for my Ibook, this scene will be used for the part of the book where my mum takes Archie home. In this scene you can see that there is a long path up to the house, this is where I will animate my mum walking the dog towards the front door. This scene will be accompanied by a quote in the open blue sky area that will be from the interview and carry the story through to the next scene. Here you can see my home scene without any text.

Scenes

I have now finished drawing up another a couple more scenes which are covering the second, third, fourth and fifth sections of my Ibook.

This is my scene which is going to be used on the second and third section of my book, here you can see that I have created a scene that is based around my house phone by the front door. For this scene I have made all of my images have the cut out effect and have given the background a subtle pattern to keep it from being plain. The plans for these scenes are that they are mainly stills with text quoting from my interview, I may add a small animation or sound effect onto the phones to make them more interesting and I may possibly have a mock phone call between the woman at Kit Wilson and my mother on the second scene.

Here is the scene that will be used for the fourth and fifth section of my Ibook. This scene is based around the Kit Wilson's building entrance. Like before I have given the whole scene the cut out effect and when these scenes are animated the user will be able to click on the double doors, they will then slide open and reveal an animation inside that will show my mother going to see the dog, once on her own and on the fifth section she will return with the other dogs. The doors will then close again and the animation will be over, here you can see the doors open to show the window I will be animating in.