Sound Design Post 12 - Lara Croft GO Evaluation

I had to hand up my Lara Croft Go assignment today. The assignment was highly similar to the Pingu assignment in the last semester. So I had a generally good idea of what to do. I was also really looking forward to it because I am a huge Lara Croft fan ever since I was a kid. The music from the original games and the creepy feeling that you get when you find an artifact was part of the reason a got into creative media. Knowing that I would be working on something relating to my childhood got me excited. In saying that, it came with the same problems. I would consider myself an editor but I am not sound mixer. I don’t like the process nor do I like pro tools.  I don’t mean to sound like a reviewer but I find that Pro Tools is the dodgiest and Non-User friendly software that I've worked on. Constant bugs, crashes and generally unclear design. I spent most of my time on this project figuring out ‘what problem it is this time?’ I still enjoyed the editing part but all these problems left me behindschedule and left the project unfinished. I had to convert the video into a mov. file, whilst been given out to by the technician for not having it done sooner.

Oh well, it's just one less project to worry about now.

Sound Design Post 11

Things are getting pretty close to the end of the year but even closer to the final Sound Design project. There is a lot of assignment due this week and next week, however I manage to stay on top of all the other assignments so one of the last things I have to do is start and finish my Lara Croft assignment. I am entirely put of by doing this however for 2 reasons...

1. I needed to record my sounds off of a Zoom recorder. Since equipment has become fairly tight by the end of the semester, the last thing I would want to do is have to deal with the main technician. I won't say any names but he is known to all the students and even some lecturers to be unnecessarily rude (especially to students) and just generally unpleasant to deal with. So I was given the advice to just get my sounds off of the website 'Freesounds.org' and manipulate them inside Pro Tools. Which leads me to number 2...

2. I hate Pro Tools. It's definitely not the worst sound software, in fact it is the best if you know what you are doing. But it's definitely not user friendly and it crashes a lot. There always seems to be an issue where I am scratching my head trying to figure what I just did, or have to eject my hard drive and re-enter or have to move computers. I love editing, I'm just not cut out for sound design.

Well, I have a week to do it. Let's see how I do...

Project Management Web Log 4

Most recently we are coming up to the final project. Myself, Emma Nicholl and Jessica Browne had completed the majority of our assignment just after Easter, bar the Reflective Journal and the Presentation. But everyone got a 2 week extension for their projects and web logs, etc. It wasn't necessary for us because we were almost done, but we were still under a lot of pressure at the time. This allowed us to put the project on hold and continue our filming work and our other assignments which were getting on top of us. However when I talked to the other students, it seemed like the majority of them didn't even start their work during Easter. So I can't imagine how they felt. Either way the extension was a good thing, as much as I would have wanted the assignments out of the way, I needed a break in some shape or form. 

In class we just discussed how to make a good presentation and how to prepare for it. I'm good with presentations because I've been on stage all around Ireland for years, so a lecturer and a couple students don't frighten me. However I still need a rush of caffeine before I start presenting. I find that the best way to do a presentation, for me at least, isn't to rehearse, but it's to know what you are talking about. If you have cue cards, you aren't looking at the audience and it makes you seem weaker. If you are reading off a script you have memorized in your head, you speech can suffer and you can lose your place or pace. I always have an image on screen and a couple very small bullet points so that I just have to look at the screen for a second and ramble of what I know. This also allows me to get as close to the time limit as I want to. Whereas a script that you have may go over or under time, and you rush over necessary information or feel that you have to finish even though you are over time. Anyway, that works for me, but not others. You have to find your own way.

I hope you enjoyed the 4-part web logs. I'm Ryan Duffy, and this is the end. Bye-Bye! ;)

Project Management Web Log 3

During our tutorial classes, we are usually given a set of challenges to do in relation to project management. I remember the first tutorial class I went to, we were split into 3 groups and we all had to think of an interactive webpage for dublin zoo, as if we were contracted by them. Myself, Paul and Donard decided that we would make it like an information game. Where the background would be an animal zoo yard and would have a bunch of  cartoon animal avatars and once you click on the avatars, a real picture of the animal you clicked on would come up and loads of fun facts and attributes would come up. I actually borrowed this idea from myself 2 years ago when I was told to do the same thing in my advanced creative media PLC, except to do it individually and to actually make it in adobe flash. 

This tutorial that we had recently was more light a tutorial for Law. We had to form 2 groups and discuss the recent controversy over the FBI wanting to crack a terrorist's phone to recieve information, however it can't be done since no one can crack an iPhone password and they want Apple to develop a cracking software that would only be used for these occasions and that only they could use. Apple said no. Many called that obstruction of the apprehension of terrorists. However it was obviously just their dedication towards the privacy of their customers. I was on the side agreeing with Apple's decision. The others were against it.

I enjoyed the debate and from the looks of it, we won. It was my belief that once a crack was created, it would be highly sought after to be replicated. Also if the FBI say they would only use it on occasions were terrorists are involved, what's to stop them cracking the phone of a non-terrorist while using the terrorist-card. Also know as 'The threat of terrorism. 

The other group had good points but all in all, we had more information whereas they repeated the same answers over and over again.

Sound Design Post 10

Something pretty cool happened this week in relation to sound. A while ago I was asked to help with a Music video but I said I can't because I had too much work, but honestly I didn't want to be part of another music video where people thought that it would be easier than it actually is, fumbling about and all that. But earlier this week I heard that it was a Film and TV project and it was all about the operators doing their job right, not the performers. Also, about 7 of my friends were part of it as well. Anyway, I heard that they lost their percussion player, so I offered to help. I only played on a Cajon, (pronounced KO-HONE), once but when you've played drums as long as I have, you can pick up any percussion instrument fairly quickly. Anyway, I had a rehearsal with them, we were playing Space Oddity and Starman by David Bowie.

After my day, full of filming and rushing and directing, acting, etc, it finally came to doing the music video, and how shocked was I when I saw the production that was going in to filming just the 3 of us playing 2 songs. It was class! My film and Sound lecturers were also there working with the student and it was a lot of fun and a good experience. I hope I did well enough :)

I wasn't able to go to class this week because I was just overloaded with work, (because I took on a lot of extra work as well as normal assignments, such as Editor for a 10 minute short film, Project Manager for brief work, Graphic Artist for a Film and TV Short Film Group and now I'm gonna be a Social Media Officer for the Islamic Society... Yeah, a lot of extra work), and I missed a lot of other classes to just so I could either stay at home or Starbucks and work. I'm not to worried about the Lara Croft Assignment. As long as I get the sounds recorded, the rest should be straight forward just like the PINGU assignment. It's just getting the time at the end to do it. That's why I'm trying to clear all my other assignments as soon as I can so that I can work fully on the Lara Croft Go video.

Project Management Web Log 2

In my last post I talked about the advice I was given by my lecturer for the Graphic Design job that I would be having later that day. I was given a lot of good advice, but what I would consider the best advice was that if my going-rate was say... €250, tell them that your going rate is €500 and say, "but since you're a new customer/small business, I'll give you 50% off". That eliminates the possibility of negotiation to lower the price, it gives me my maximum payment, it puts me in a good light to the client, makes it look like I'm helping them and of course, people love discounts and makes them more agreeable. Now obviously it's a very manipulative strategy but when you desperately need a job like I did, that advice is fairly agreeable. Now it's not like it's a bad thing. I'd be charging €250 anyway and it's not like I would charge €500. It's just very sneaky.

I though the best thing to do would be to write down where all the money was going, such as Research = €65, Concepts = €80, etc. In the end I came to a more agreeable sum for a student like myself. It worked out well and I got the job.

As for the Group Project I joined Emma Nicholl and Jessica Browne. We would start working on the project over Easter. 

Project Management Web Log 1

In class we discussed our brief. That we could pick our own teams and that we had to present a interactive narrative pitch to Kilmonday Games, a studio famous for their creation of Salad Fingers and Fran Bow. Although I was looking forward to creating something i'd like to work on, I was just a bit nervous because I had to find a group to join. I like picking my own team members for things like creating a film, but when it comes to Project Work and Essays, I have no idea who I can rely on. 

I also got help from my lecturer as I recently came into a Graphic Design job where a DJ from Dublin recently came out of a 4 year college degree and is looking to work freelance full time and was in need of a logo. A couple people recommended me to her and we got in touch via my Facebook page, No Purpose Designs. We were going to meet later that day which I was looking forward to, but it being my first job, I didn't know what to do at first in terms of how I should present myself and what amount of money I should charge. He gave me what I would consider, the best advice ever. What was it? I'll tell you in the next post ;)