Final Product

Link to final website:

http://seeyouthereonline.com/mywebsite/

Post-Production: Evaluation

Evaluation

 Our goal this semester was to create an interactive multimedia website that incorporates the use of different media programmes such as Adobe Photoshop, Premier Pro, Audition and so forth.  My group and I decided to expand on the website that I created last year because as I had explained to them, most of the material was already there and all we had to do was create extra pages, shoot some video interviews and create a logo and header.

My job as project manager was to overlook the whole project and make sure that everyone was on schedule. I created the shooting schedule, budget form, meeting notes as well as creating accounts on WordPress and HostGator on which we formed and hosted our site. I also created the header as I had the tools to complete it at home. Lawrence was the editor, director and producer of the video content of the site and Eliana was the social media marketing executive and designer of the logo. She designed the logo for the website and is in charge of the Facebook page and she also wrote articles for the website.  Even though we all had clear, distinct roles, we all tried to help each other as best as we could and tried to meet up as often as we could.

I enjoyed working with my group members as we had an easy rapport with one another and were able to communicate effectively with one another. Eliana created a group on Whatsapp entitled “Media” where we could send messages to one another and organise when we were going to next meet up in the Mac rooms and edit together. We also exchanged e-mail addresses so we were able to send files to one another and have easy access to each other’s work.

The main problems we encountered were related more to the weather and technical issues. There were many times during the video shoot where we had to relocate or go inside to shoot because it was raining heavily and the wind was interfering with the sound. As a result of that, our video shoot got delayed by a few days and we were behind schedule. We also had technical issues with the Sony camera and microphone. The Sony camera did not automatically format the memory card so on the first day of shooting which I now refer to as a test shoot, we lost all our footage and data. We also found out that the microphone we borrowed had no batteries so even if we did have footage, the absence of the audio would have rendered the footage useless anyway.

What I learnt from this whole project is that organisation and double checking all aspects of the project are vital in making it successful. Overall, we worked well together as a team and supported each other in producing the final project with the main problem being technical issues that we did overcome. 

Link to Semester One Website

 http://studentnet.kingston.ac.uk/~K1109528/

Production and Post-Production: The Videos

Lawrence used Premier Pro to edit the videos for our website and then uploaded them to YouTube.

To add the videos to the website, I clicked on "Widgets" on the left hand side toolbar and clicked on the "Text" widget. I then added the "Text" widget to the content sidebar and each for each video, I copied and pasted the URL link inside a new "Text" widget so that it would appear the right hand side of each article.

Here are screenshots of the work that Lawrence did and links to the videos on YouTube:

Links:

Production: Social Media

 Eliana was in charge of the social media aspect of the website so she created a Facebook page to support the site.

Here is the link to the page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/See-You-There/580898585340573?fref=ts

Screenshot of widgets.

To display the page on the site,  I clicked on "Widgets" on the left hand side toolbar and clicked on the "Text" widget. I then added the "Text" widget to the content sidebar and copied and pasted in the link for the page.

A screenshot of the Facebook page.

Production: Colour Scheme + Final Header

My group and I chose the colour scheme of black and white for the website because we wanted to be different to other travel sites that we had searched. I also thought that having a black and white colour scheme would help the pictures stand out more which I feel they do. 

I created the header for the website using Adobe Photoshop

1. I went onto WordPress to check the dimensions for the header and created a Photoshop file with the dimensions of 1260 pixels in width and 240 pixels in height.

2. I then changed the background colour to black to fit with the colour scheme of the page.

3. I then imported the logo of the website and placed it on the right hand side of the header.

4. I then imported 3 personal pictures and resized them us using Edit--> Transform-->Scale. I adjusted the images to a smaller size whilst holding the shift key.

5. I placed all 3 images on the right hand size of the page.

6. I then downloaded the font "Lato" from http://www.latofonts.com/lato-free-fonts/ and installed it onto my computer to use on Adobe Photoshop.

7. I then clicked on the "Text" option and wrote out the title of our website "See You There" and the tagline "Be everywhere all at once".

8. I changed the colour of the font to white and added these 3 styles to the text: "Bevel & Emboss", "Satin",  and "Drop shadow". I applied all these 3 styles because I wanted the writing to look as if it was being lifted from the page.

9. I then clicked on the "Move tool" to move the text to the left hand side of the page.

10. I then saved the files first as a Photoshop file and then as a jpeg. to be uploaded onto the website.

Production: Plugins

I needed to add plugins to create a gallery so what I did to achieve this was go to "Plugins" and click on "Add new". I searched for a gallery plugin and came across "NextGEN Gallery by Photocrati". Once I had installed and activated this plugin, I clicked on it on the left hand 

side of the toolbar and began to create a gallery.

1. I clicked on "Galleries" and then on "Manage Galleries".
2. I then clicked on "Add new gallery" and named one gallery "Freedom" for the pictures for the 
    freedom page and the other gallery "team pics" for the "The Team" page.
3. I then clicked on "Add Gallery/Images" and proceeded to "Add files" to my selected gallery.
4. Once the files had finished uploading, I then linked the galleries to the pages they were made for.
5. I then clicked on save and the gallery tag appeared on the pages they were supposed to be on.

Production: The Logo

Eliana had the responsibility of creating the logo. She created the logo on Photoshop and kept us updated on her progress.

Below are the screenshots of the different designs for the logo and the final one. I was there as she created the final logo so I can offer some insight into how we reached the final design.

This is a screenshot of the various designs Eliana came up with on Photoshop. She also tried out different fonts and made a note of the name of each font.

 

When Eliana showed me this a few days, I liked it because I thought it was cute and quite humorous but when I put it on the website, it didn't match the with the vibe so me and Eliana went back to the drawing board and came to the conclusion that the plane was the problem.
   

When reviewing the previous logo, me and Eliana agreed that in order to make the logo more sophisticated, we have to get rid of the blue smoke and change the plan completely. We downloaded a plane from Google Images and then proceeded to change the colour and wheel size to avoid copyright. I then changed the colour of the plane to white and then deleted the old plane, and replaced it this this one. I changed the colour of the font to white and Eliana then tilted the plane to make it look like the "T" was a runway and the plane was lifting off. 

Production: Creating the Menu

Creating the menu proved to be a difficult challenge as I had never done it before on WordPress and needed the help of various forums.

I used this link to create my custom menu: http://en.support.wordpress.com/menus/#creating-a-custom-menu

To create the menu, I did the following steps:

1. Click on "Appearance" and then "Menus" on the left hand side of the dashboard.
2. Click on "create a new menu" and then name the menu. I named mine "My Menu 2". 
3. I then scrolled down to "Menu Settings" and chose to have the menu as the "Top Primary Menu".
4. I then searched for the pages I had created earlier and clicked on "Add to menu" so that they would become tabs on the menu.
5. I then re-ordered the pages to appear on the menu as I wanted them and then clicked on "Save menu".
6. I clicked on "Visit site" to see the menu displayed and voila! 

The finished menu: 

A screenshot of the menu creation page.

Production: Creating the Posts, Categories and Pages

WordPress is an easy to navigate so it wasn't hard creating the posts, categories and pages. I did all of that with relative ease however the main issue was linking the posts to the right pages. I started creating the posts  for each travel destination and so far I have Cyprus, Barcelona and New York and hope to add more as I go along.

When I created the New York page, I couldn't figure out how to attach the post to a page so after scrolling through many forums, I finally figured out that in order to make a post show up on a specific page, I had to create the page names as "Categories" as well.

After I had done this, I logged into the New York post, scrolled down to where it said "Categories" and ticked the "City" category.

I then double checked to see if this had worked, which it had, and then proceeded to create posts and categorize them accordingly.

There is a screenshot of the process:

Ticking the "City" category to make sure the New York post appears on the right page. 

Creating the posts is easy on WordPress, all I had to do was click on "Add new" post and I was on my way and it was the same process with the pages, I clicked on "Add new" and proceeded to write what I needed to.

A screenshot of the "Pages" section of the site.

A screenshot of the "Posts" section of the site. 

Production: Presentation

Link to the presentation we did on Prezi for when we had to present our website's progress to the class:

http://prezi.com/ftecsag24g-w/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Producton: The Webpages

During one of our group discussion in the editing suite, Lawrence pointed out that we should not make our travel site like typical sites and that the site should, in some way, reflect our own personalities and the types of holidays we like going on.

That is where we got the idea to create 3 distinct pages that, in a way, reminded me of Earth, Rain and Fire:

Party
Experience
City

Within each page, the audience will find our own personalities shining through so we wanted to create posts that would cater to each of our personalities and the personalities of our readers.

Eliana contributed heavily to the Experience and Party page,  I contributed to the Experience and City page and Lawrence contributed to all by making videos that reflected the party scene and a video montage of the beach scene.

We felt that by categorizing each page associated with a vibe and emotion, we would be offering our viewers the ability to roam around the site without knowing what to expect like other sites.

Below are some snapshots of each page:

Screenshot of the City page.

Screenshot of the Experience page.

Screenshot of Party page.

Production: Second and Third Day of Shooting

Having learnt from our mistakes in regards to the equipment, filming was easier. We filmed on the 3rd  and 5th of March as I had gone away for a few days to attend a family function in Norway. I notified the group weeks in advance that I would be absent for 5 days and they were okay with it. 

I told them that they are more than welcome to film some interviews in my absence but Lawrence and Eliana both said that it would be better to do it as a group. We decided to film without leaving many days in between because the weather was nice and more students were around.

Below are pictures from our 2nd and 3rd day of shooting: 

Myself interviewing a student. 

The Panasonic camera we were using attached to the tripod. 

Shooting ourselves on the 5th floor of one of the main university buildings. 

Lawrence asking me the questions we had created for the interview. 

Production: WordPress & HostGator

Last semester,  I used Adobe Dreamweaver CS6 to create y website for which the link can be found here:

 http://studentnet.kingston.ac.uk/~K1109528/

Personally, I found it hard to get to grips the Dreamweaver's features as it was so new to me and I had to learn a lot in such a short space of time. To help me, I found online tutorials that allowed me to create the website from scratch but I encountered a lot of technical issues that I could not solve because I was not an expert.

This time round, my group and I felt that it would be better to develop the website further on WordPress so as to make use of the templates already available and useful plugins such as the gallery plugins and social media plugins to enhance the website. 

I created a WordPress account on 28th February along with the HostGator account. I chose to host on HostGator because it was easy to use and it was recommended to me by people who host their own websites through it.

Here are some screenshots of the HostGator and WordPress subscription e-mails. I have hidden the username and password of each account to protect the website.

HostGator e-mail.

HostGator welcome screen. Easy to navigate with clear options.

WordPress dashboard. Easy to navigate again and not too complicated. 

WordPress e-mail.

Production: Communication

During the production aspect of our project, we communicated in various ways to ensure that we were all on the same page and knew what everyone was doing.

Eliana created a Whatsapp group which allowed us to enter into a group conversation with one another and know that if we send a message, the other member would receive it instantly.

We also exchanged e-mail addresses to send over files and pictures for our blogs and website.

Below are some screenshots of the Whatsapp group and e-mails:

Production: Formal First Day of Shooting

Yesterday, we had our first day of shooting after our preliminary day of shooting.

We went to the loans room to take out the Panasonic camera, tripod, headphones, microphone and used my memory SD card to store the footage in.

We interviewed 3 people today and below are behind-the-scenes pictures of our day of shooting.

All group members were present.

Lawrence is setting up the camera. Ready to record our interview with Rohin.

Eliana is taking a turn at directing whilst I ask Rohin questions from my question sheet.

We had to move the shoot to a different location as it started raining.

A student was kind enough to answer some questions for us as well. 

Production: First Day of Filming

On the 13th of February, we did a preliminary shoot to make sure we understood how to use the equipment and to overcome any problems that may have occurred.

The first time we took out the equipment, we were given a Sony camera instead of the Panasonic and like last year,  I thought the Sony camera would detect the memory card itself and we could shoot from the get-go but that wasn't the case.

We shot two interviews and some extra footage of the students and the town but when we inserted the memory card into the computer, the files didn't show up.

Naturally, me, Lawrence and Eliana panicked as our footage wasn't showing up so we ran to see the IT technician for help. He formatted the memory card to the Sony camera however in the process, we lost all the footage that was actually stored in the camera and not the memory card.

We also had an issue with the microphone we were using. The loans room gave us the microphone without any batteries in it so it was only later on that we realised that even if we did have any footage, we wouldn't be able to hear anything.

Here are the things I learnt from that disastrous day of shooting: 
1. Always format the memory card to the camera before shooting
2. Always move the video files from the camera to the computer before formatting if necessary.
3. Always, always check the microphone has batteries inside.

Pre-Production:Researching Leave Your Daily Hell

Leave Your Daily Hell- http://leaveyourdailyhell.com/

I did my own research a few days ago and I came across a website called "Leave Your Daily Hell".
The site is owned by Robert who decided to travel the world and document his journey through blog posts, pictures and videos. When I stumbled across the site, I was so inspired by his work that I decided I would want to use personal pictures and stories to help create our site. The personal pictures would come our friends and submissions to the e-mail address I will create for the site as the aim is to make it user generated content.

Colour scheme:

• The colour scheme of the website is a very simple white and blue- common colours that are associated with fresh air and travelling. I liked the colour scheme because it complimented the pictures and correlated with the theme of the website which was to inspire readers to go on mystic journeys. 
  

Logo: 

• The logo seems to be a blue bird which I feel fits with the website perfectly. It is simple, refined and elegant which matches the content and vibe of the website. 
  

Font: 

• The font is very easy to read and matches in with the vibe of the website. It's not too fancy or cartoon-like rather it is simple, straight and pleasing to the eye and doesn't overwhelm other aspects of the page. 

Social media: 

• Each page has links to Robert's different social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Considering that our site would just be starting out, I think a Facebook page would be enough for us and move on to Instagram later on.
  
   

Pre-Production: Theory

When designing the website first time round in Semester 1, I liked the idea of bringing together people from different backgrounds and experiences and asking them to share these experiences on one, single platform.

During one of our first meetings, Lawrence mentioned that the website should aim to promote a feeling of "togetherness" and his suggestion made me think of a term coined by Marshall McLuhan.
McLuhan stated that due to the rise in electronic technology, time and space was compressing and that the world has turned into a "global village". McLuhan published his work in the 1960's and predicted that the next technological revolution would be an "extension of consciousness" whereby people would be able to store their whole lives online and share with others.

McLuhan didn't know back then the Internet would gain so much momentum in the 1990's and become what it is today, something that people depend on.

I realise that I am drawing upon the most smallest aspect of the "global village" when in fact, the theory and term is more than the idea of togetherness however I feel that for our project, this theory serves us well.

So whilst designing the website, my group and I led with the idea that we want to bring people together on one platform and connect them with people who may be living on the other side of the world and that is the theme that underpins the whole project.