Development of an idea

I was originally going to use the cropped mage of James for the front cover of the book. But it really does not have the impact I feel a front cover should have.

Original family group and cropped image

I have been toying with the idea of using it graphically. I have converted it and used it as a mask to make an image of his face being cut out of bricks. I have used two layers, one where I took all the cement out from between the bricks. This image I place over the original wall and used the mask to cut out the brick. I have introduced a shadow to add to the depth of the image.

Wall face

I have played around with text. Originally I used black type, then in the process of making the intro video I have the extended wall with the type cut out. It seems one idea is feeding another. I felt that that idea of cut out letters did not work for the front cover and I made a version using chalk as the text for the cover.

Wall face work outs

Looking at all three I prefer the last one using chalk.

Development of original idea

The animation are progressing quite well It time to focus more on the book content it self. My initial idea was to have the e-book quite bookie lots of text illustrations the intro video and interviews.

Initial layout for book

 

I wanted to draw on the elements in the videos to illustrate the book. From my limited understanding of i-books author I have constrained my ideas. This week I have had a chance to see one of my fellow colleges work for his book and feel that I have to change parts of my design. As in an earlier blog there are two types of e-books. One which realise on original text, ie a traditional book and the other a more media rich book which draws you in to the books own world. The key elements I want to employ in my updated design will draw more on the graphic side of the imagery I have created. I want the elements to flow graphically. 

Well used wall of bricks

 

I have repeatedly used the same elements in the video. This brick wall has been used for a number of things, the mine shaft being one of them. I intend to use this wall as a back drop for all the elements of the book. When the pages are swiped you will see one long connected wall.

Photo album

I have taken the family photo album and cleaned it up in Photoshop I will use this a s a backdrop for my bio gallery. I like the idea of including elements personal to James. The child in the picture is James' granddaughter. I have James pocket watch which must have belonged to his father that image I will use as well.

A break through with After Effects

Original image and converted to graphic image.

 

I been working every other day with After Effects. I have been generating ideas in photoshop and then animating them in After Effect. I have an image of the winding gear from Thurcroft colliery. It is in black and white, I have added colour and I am now on the third version of the animation of it.

Photoshop layered image.

 

In last version I have redefined the colour in the image, added the cable. Then creating 8 more layers I have added dark and light elements to the spokes of the wheel and light and dark elements to the cable. When imported into After Effects it give a feeling of moment. To further enhance the animation I have sourced sound clips of machines and lifts. As this is part of the illustration of the text I know I need more animation. The text talks about going down in a Hoppet to where the work is inside the shaft. A Hoppet being a type of lift cage or bucket to take you down the shaft. 

Wall image and grid used for animation.

 

I have created a wall and a grid, using a spot light effect in after effect I have managed to create a shadow on the wall and animate going up or down passed the wall. However it was not until I spoke to Chris my tutor that I was able to remove the grid from the image, leaving the projected shadow on the wall. It is these little victories that make a project worth doing. From this it has lead me to a third image of scaffolding illuminated by a torch.

 Early version of lift shaft with artifacts and sound effects

Taking a fresh look

I been taking a look at what work I have produced so far in context with all the material I have gathered. I want the book to flow and have a narrative. My initial idea was to have part of the story in the introduction. This has always troubled me. I felt I would be repeating my self if I used elements later in the book. I had already thought of using a voice over for parts of the text to give a flavor of James for those who never meet him. I would like to carry this theme in a new introduction. I have some historical records about James early life other than his writings, census records from 1901 and 1911 and with those and his writings I want to construct a script of James introducing himself.

1911 Census

 

I have written a new intro part and have asked Mike McCrory to kindly re do the voice over for me. This will be the third set of recordings he has done. The original complete readings, a new set of reading plus alternative lines for the old introduction and now the text below.

 

My name is James Hunt I was born in Chorlton Manchester in 1892. We are now living in Rotherham with my mother Emma and my father George, Flow, Nellie, Elsie and my brother Walter. My dad comes from a mining family they all worked down the mine, not him he's a bricklayer and finds work where he can. I left school at thirteen and started work at the pit head I had to walk six miles every day, I worked there for six month, then my dad got me a job closer to home working with him. I aways found work where ever I could And have work as a bricklayer all my working life.

 

I am now creating a story board to populate the new text. It will still include a young James in front of the mirror with the addition of a picture of his father George.

 The above video is a workout in After Effects to help with the generation of ideas.

More Recordings

Having got home I have listened to the recordings of my mothers interview. I am not very happy with the initial results and wish to repeat the process again. I have edited some of the recordings to help me with the process of creating the video.

Using Audacity

 

After opening Audacity I open a sound file in the program. The best thing to do is to listen to it and work out what part are best from the interview.

 

I then create a second track under the first. This track is to receive a copy of a section of the recording I wish to use.

 

I highlight the section I wish to keep in the finished sound track, copy and paste it into the track below.

 

I have built up a collection of snippets of the interview. I do all the post production work on the snippets. As part of the process I save the two set of tracks as a project this allows me to revisit the project in the future. Collectively I readjust the levels and add any effect if need to all the selection in the lower track. If I don't need to use the original track I close it. Once all the section are ready to use I save them as snippets by highlighting each section one by one and export as .aiff file to a folder of assets that I am going to use in After Effect. I name them after the first line that is spoken making it easier to identify later when importing into After Effects.

I have found by using the sound snippets this allows me to move section of the sound track back wards and forwards in time to help it fit better with the images used and change the pace of the finished video.

I could kick myself.

I have listen back to the recording from the previous week, I now know that I have to do the whole process again. The sound levels are low the microphone is picking up my hand moving. I have now set up another date to re-record the interview again. It is lucky I can do it again, a better understanding of the equipment would have helped.

Audacity® is free, open source, cross-platform software for recording and editing sounds.

Recording the interview

I have set a side this week to record the interviews for the bio part of my book. In discussion within the class the BBC programme The Listening Project has been high lighted as a model for the type of interview / sound track, we should employ for our illustrated interview.

The BBC inform us on their web site “ The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants.” Many of these interview are going to be held by the British library in longer forms.

BBC Listening Project

 The Listening Project

Research for interview

Looking at all of the archive materiel I have on my Great-grandfather James Hunt I have draw up a list of topics I hope my mother will cover in conversation.

Where did James Hunt come from. What was his families background. What kind of person was he, physically and personality. We have a copy of article from the News of the world 1952 how did that come about. In family folk law James like to gamble on the horses. The other major family story of a bomb dropping in the middle of the street during the war.

Many of these things I all ready know about, what is important is its my mother has to tell the story.

I am going to my mother house, and in quite room conduct the interview without notes in a cam a relaxed atmosphere.

Equipment

 

For the recording process I will be using a “Zoom H1” to record the interview and to edit the recording I will use the program “Audacity”. The Zoom is a hand held stereo mini recorder with built in microphone. It can be mounted on a tripod and has a removable micro card or it can be connected to your computer by cable to down load files. Its saves as mp3 or a wav file. Levels can be set manually or set in an auto level mode. There is one simple record button to record or stop the recording. It comes with a build in speaker to hear the play back.

Zoom H1 Recorder

 The day of the recording

I went to my mothers house late morning and we used her dinning room and sat near each other near the table. I sat at a distance which was comfortable but not to close, almost side on and at arms distance from my mother. I set up the recorder and held it close to her face. Before we started I set out what I hoped would happen during the interview. I asked if my mother could repeat the question if I ask one tell her this would help with editing. I started by making sure the recorder was on and recording. I first asked who was James Hunt. My mother started by saying that James was her grandfather and continued the story of his life. She spoke for 8 to 10 mins with a few interruptions from me to steer the interview when needed. I pressed the stop / record button only to discover it had been on pause. After we both laughed about it we went through the process again. The second interview did not flow as well as the first, we took a short break and went through the process for a third time. After that I returned home to work on the recordings.