MURRAY+Kirsten

Entry 1:
For this next task, I have decided to research and create flash animations and games. My aim for the end of the term is to create and write my own game in flash. I am going to first create games that have already been written and then use those to direct me in creating my own game. [|www.kirupa.com] is a sight that provides tutorials on how to write codes to create animations and games in flash (and also many different tutorials on how to use many different other programs). I am going to start with more simple amintions and eventually build on my knoweledge of coding so that I can eventually make my own code and create my own game.

1) Falling Snow: This consists of making an animation that has a coloured background and a circle in the foreground that falls to the bottom of the screne in the way snow does. the tutorial for it can be found at []. To make the snow fall in such a way so that it looks realistic, the code below needs to be applied to the frame that has the white circle that has the falling snow on it: If you start with the **init** function (a function sets up the object that will be animated) It started with:

**init** ** = function ** ** {** This began and named the function **width** ** = 300 ;** This defined the width of the stage as 300 that the snow flakes will be able to use/float in ** max_snowsize = 10 ;** This variable defines the maximiun size of any snow flake as 10
 * pixels// ** This defined the units of the width of the stage as pixels
 * height = 200 ;** This Defined the height of the stage as 200 that the snow flakes will be able to use/float inpixels This defines the units of the height of the stage as pixels
 * pixels// ** This defines the units of the size of the max snowflake size as pixels
 * s ****  nowflakes = 50 ; ** This variable defines the amount of snowflakes on the stage at any one time as 5 quantity

**for** ** ( i = 0 ; i < snowflakes ; i ++) { ** The snowflake's propities are placed inside this **for** loop (the loop's range is determined by the **i=0** -so that it is now between 0 and 50 (the number in the **snowflakes** variable above)

**t** ** = attachMovie ( "snow", "snow" + i , i ) ;** This symbolises that the variable **t** references the movie clip/ allows you to access the **snow** movie clip from the library through providing the arguement **"snow"** in the brackets and then allows it to be duplicated. The **"snow"+i** shows that the movie clip's name has been changed to a different name for each duplicate of the movie clip, and that this can range from **i** (which equals 0, as shown above) to 50 (The **snowflakes** variable) (so the names are **snow1, snow2** etc.)

**t** **. _alpha = 20 + Math. random * 60 ;** These lines basically perform some mathematical equations to set the alpha, x, y and xscale properties of the **t** movie clip. The Math.Random makes sure that no two snowflakes look the same. This line says that as soon as the **t** movie clip enters the frame, it will convert to the mover function (which is responcible for the movement of the snowflake.
 * t . _x = -( width / 2 )+ Math . random *( 1.5 * width ) ;**
 * t . _y = -( height / 2 )+ Math . random *( 1.5 * height ) ;**
 * t . _xscale = t . _yscale = 50 + Math . random *( max_snowsize * 10 ) ;**
 * t . k = 1 + Math . random * 2 ;**** t . wind = - 1.5 + Math . random *( 1.4 * 3 ) ;**These two lines also specify the movie clip's properties, but they declare the variables **k** and **wind**. **k** is a reference to the vertical speed of the snow and **wind** refers to the horizontal speed of the snow.
 * t . onEnterFrame = mover ;**

It ended up like this: media type="file" key="Falling snow.swf" align="center"

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To create and produce a video that conveys a certain emotion. The film has to be comprised by different video clips from different youtube movies or from a self made movie created through morphing or warping certain graphics. These are then edited and put into sequence. The editing of the videos may invole adding film affects like transitions etc and these effects are available to emphasise the emotion portrayed. The input of text and graphics should be used to enhance the presentation. In five minutes, the audience should be greatly affected by the images presented in the way that the author wished.======

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Today was the first lesson that we had on this task. When I first recieved the task, I had many potential ideas that, i know, would be very successful. After watching the sample videos provided by Mr Blackwell, My ideas came down to: ======
 * ====== Sadness/ inspiration- using 'Everybody Hurts' by REM and using a series of alips that are dark and emotional. This emotion is a very strong one and one that i believe will be very easy to portray. everyone has felt a degree of sadness in their life, whether it was derived from loss, the enlightenment of certain information or loneliness. So presenting this emotion will appeal to just about everyone's emotions if it is presented in an effective way. [|Everybody Hurts, REM] ======
 * Happiness- using 'The Romp' by My Friend The Chocolate Cake (fully instrumental piece of music) to give an inspirational feel to the movie. And use images like families and happy, smiling and laughing scenes in movies. (maybe use different scenes in one particular movie to create a story :-Harry Potter series). [|The Romp, My Friend the Chocolat Cake]
 * Frustration- use Monty Python, Mr Bean or other footage to create a story or give certain clips that gives the audience the feeling of frustration (something that is so simple, but difficult for the character in the footage would give the audience great frustration). No music would make a bigger impression for the film. [|Monty Python]
 * Anger- use 'Crazy' or 'Welcome to my Life' or 'Shut up' by Simple Plan or 'Behind Blue Eyes' by Limp Bizkit and give a visual presentation of dark, red and black clips with people crying/fighting etc. [|Welcome to my Life, Simple Plan]

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Today I looked at youtube clips to gather inspiration. I am the most interested in the theme of sadness (mainly because the sone "Everybody Hurts" is such a good song!!) but i do not no what story I can use to go with the song. I could use different clips from one particular movie and show a story through that? (had the idea of using Harry Potter because of all of the action and suspence that is used in it, but I think it would be a bit too cliche). I would use the same movie so that the main character does not change. I also do not no how a story would be able to fit in the time limit. a story like that would thake at most 3 minutes. Also, I could not find a video with rain that wasn't to do with sports.======

I also thought that anger would be effective because it would be easy to find video clips to that convey this, like war movies and music videos. one video that inspired me was the music video and music of Watercolour by Pendulum: [|Watercolour]

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I continue my search of movies and ideas. I have had the idea of using advertisements or create one or create a story. I have previously created a movie like this: an advertisement that was aimed to develop sympathy for people in developing countries: (was unable to upload because of eras, but do hav it on usb if u want to see it?)======

I also definately decided to use sadness and found some help in Lost by Michael Buble: [|Lost]. I still do not know what to do for a story though.

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I have decided to change my theme, because making a story would not be completed within the time limit. I have now decided to do sympathy as an emotion. I am deciding between doing an advertisement for poverty, starvation, domestic violence, bullying, disabled people, injustice, etc. (i know, its depressing, but it is easier to envoke an emotion with something that is more confronting, rather than something more subtle). An example is The Goo Goo Dolls, Sympathy: [|Sympathy] and World Vision ad like: [|World Vision]. ======

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I have found advertisements for human rights and have decided to use them to create an advertisement. These advertisements are great for evoking emotion and, I believe that they will be great if they are all put together to make one 'big' advertisement. a full set of these can be found on the Youth for Human Rights website: [|Youth for Human Rights]. They are very facinating and provide information that is astonishing and confront many people about their beliefs about Human Rights.======

Entry 6:
In these lessons (in week 6, 7, 8), I downloaded and converted all thirty videos and picked out and edited some of them that I deemed the most effective in creating or envoking an emotion. I added text to emhance the meaning of the video and used some music to build the atmosphere.

Evaluation:
====All in all, I believe that I created a movie that effectively conveyed the emotion of sympathy. It also conveyed hope at the resolutions of each story. This sympathy is established through the creaton of character and the identification of those who are considered the "under dog". this combined with an adorable physical look establishes a connection between the character and the audience. Through the use of sound and ease of transitions (using text to incorporate each video), the movie was enhanced. The lack of music also enhances the production by making it feel more serious and impressive. However, some of the transitions were not as smooth as I had hoped. Also, some may argue that the text that was incorporated interrupts the storys too much, and thus, taking away from the effectiveness of conveying the emotion. Also, the constant change of scenario may confuse the audience because it is constantly changing.====