More about books....

So I get out of bed this morning to be greeted with something on BBC news about how interactive novels are elping children in America become engage with books... This kind of evidence suggests that my current project would be a good idea. I also got a reply back from a tutor saying I can propose a number of ideas for my FMP and she'll help me decide the best idea to pursue... so that's good...

Secondly... I've handed over one of my websites (yesh)... and nearly finished another (double yesh)

It's all good in the hood :D

Having a great time....

So it's been a while... but I've reccently been out and about in the world, visiting Edinburgh and going to Liverpool at the Matthew street festival... both of which were fantastic... tomorrow I'm handing over to one clients and then handing over to another one next week

But... now comes to serious business... I was thinking of my project some more... On the way home from Edinburgh... I was reading the book 'invisable cities' which is a fantastic book, it's one of those very intellectual books to read, but at the same time, the themes in it and the story itself should be shared with everyone in the world regardless of what their reading ability may be... and this book is so very visual in it's lushcious descriptions... (THIS BOOK IS BEGGING FOR A NEW MEDIA MAKE OVER IN MY MIND)

it then got me a thinking....

There are so many books like this... so many classics that people may have heard of but have probably never read... so this lead me to thinking... surely new media can give something new to these stories?
and after watching this demo of HTML 5 http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/ I thought it might be a good idea to buy some classic books and get reading.... So at the weekend I bought

Journey to the Centre of the Earth- Jules Verne
Doctor Jekyl and Mister Hyde- Robert Stevenson
Sherlock Homles- Sir Arthur Conan Dolye
The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde

All for a £5.... brand new... I love HMV sales... I'll let you know if anything develops

Wow! Thumbs up from clients (My heart is singing right now!)

Joy and salutations! Finally after a great deal of faffing around on my part, of getting colours to look okay and fixing layout problems, I'm at a stage where I have 3 unique website designs for 3 different clients... and they all like their own design (at the same time!)

This is the first time this has ever happened! I might even be getting paid soon! WOOT! This is good... and the money is much needed.

I am so happy about it! I'm lucky that all my clients have been nice and pretty patient with me :D...


I found this song today... and I understand this man's pain lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90vlUuu8eg8-

Basically it's about a web designer who has some clients who come out with unreasonable requests like...


Client: I want something that light is pleasant brightly Is cool; and a feeling with the impact
WEB DESIGNER: Its too vague I DON"T UNDERSTAND I DON"T UNDERSTAND I don't have ESP

Another Client: Can you match arrangement with the other pages There are many ways to do it?
WEBDESIGNER: I DON"T UNDERSTAND I DON"T UNDERSTAND I don't have ESP

Another Client: I want it in "pink" even though the image colours are"blue gray", I changed them, but it's not possible to change them anymore,

WEB-DESIGNER: What?? Let's make the site more than 50 pages and its quoted as 100,000yen? Too cheap!! 

haha... yea... so that's the song basically... there are other bits in it... but I don't really understand it so well.

Anyway.... I must away... I haven't done any project work lately but once these are done I can :D

Adieu

I've Been so busy reccently!

Wow! So there I was all set up to get on with project work, when suddenly a number of my leg clients start to shake a leg! I'm happy, but of course that means my project will have to go on hold for a while I suppose... well I'll get back to it soon enough!
Funnily enough, my friends and I decided to start a blog the other day about Japanese pop culture it's called Baka-gaijin (if you know anything about Japan, this will be vaguely amusing), it's about all sorts of stuff, so I've done the design for that and it's quite nice... ya know
Here is a link btw :D  Wonderful fun blog  It's great I can write about something I acutally know about :D good times.
So other than that, I decided I would try and learn PHP and Java-script... I've bought a big fat book on it, that should be interesting... if not a little tricky... AND I changed my modules so they will help me more after I leave uni...

Life is good... :D 

Thinking about ideas

Well today I thought I might think about doing a mim flash adventure in the time I have left over the summer, I've done some website design so it's not like I've been wasting my time... but I was thinking about digital storytelling and games...
Because... it's not so popular in the western world. In the east (but really Japan) visual novels are very popular, but they are a very specific type of game and not too interactive... really they are just books with dialogue and nice pictures really...
No what I'm talking about is this:

WARNING SCARY FRENCH GAME!

This is a great narrative... I don't know the language that well yet it freaks me out like no ones business! This is a great narrative device! POINT AND CLICK ALL THE WAY!... Maybe also with a book too? (Blame the documentary I watched on Ninokuni for that...)

I want it to be really interactive and intriguing... the short one I'm doing now... is just going to be fun and nice I think,... ho hum

FMP ideas

I've reccently been thinking about what I'm going to be doing for my final year project. I've had a few ideas going around my brain for quite a while. However, I think I've narrowed it down to a few ideas (finally):

OLYMPIC GAMES MULTIMEDIA PROJECT:

I figured that this project might be a good one simply because it's current, it's got good research potential and almost everyone in the world would be able to access it. That gives me a fantastic challenge... how on earth do I make something that anyone can access? The answer.... no language... Having a product that relies on imagery and symbols... wow... that is a challenge, but accessibility wise, the idea would be phenominally outreaching.

WORLD WAR TWO EDUCATIONAL  SOFTAWARE:

Now I am aware that there are probably quite a good number of these types of things around, also with holocaust memorial day having a fantastic presence online already click this.

I want to do something a little different, through multimedia follow the life of one solider and his ordeals during the war... and then alternatively his families at home. But I want it to be edgy and dark... I want to aim at the older end of school/ college kids. Maybe it could be used in class or at a museum.

INTERACTIVE VISUAL NOVEL:

See video here 

After loving the new media narrative module last year. I'd love to make something as amazing as this. Ceremony of Innocence is a masterpiece in new media story telling. And I want to make something with this feel. The whole experience is fabulous...

I'm not sure whether I'd make a new story up all together or, alternatively find a story to make into a new media novel like this story was. I'm not sure... but to do something like this would be my favourite project... I feel there is a need to push the boundaries of new media storytelling... It's my main interest in new media... I mean, I like games, but games and new media narratives aren't the same are they?

Ho hum...

An introduction

Welcome,
I'm a student at the University of Leeds studying new media. It's a really interesting subject which encompasses a lot of things. I'm now entering my final year, so I'm using this blog to post my ideas and musings.
I have previous studied quite a lot of art and I'm thinking that I want to create something really really special for my final year project... Something outside of the box (this is the artist in me talking) so I think there will be lots of random things coming on here as I come up with ideas... many of them scrapped i'm sure, but I needed somewhere to post them, I'm sure some of the things I post will have nothing to do with my course either, they will just be new media related things... So that's about it!
Thank you for reading