‘Very Special’ Effects

The video below demonstrates how Adobes Design software has been used to create some of the elements in the film including the use of Photoshop to create some of the textures seen on the creatures, Premier Pro used to piece together demonstration material [though they skirt around the fact that Avid systems will have been used for the final production] and Lightroom to preview and categorise the image libraries created for the film.

Review

Cameron has undoubtedly created a masterpiece of special effects that will lead a new era of film makers into the next decade. The story is unashamedly [by Cameron's own admission] a lame framework with which he can hang the story together and there are many subtexts – not only of war, destruction driven superpowers ploughing their way through indigenous populations – also a spiritual, new age theme of ‘mother-earth’ fighting back at the forces trying to destroy her. However, possibly unintentionally, there is another theme at work here and something that has been an ugly side to the internet for many years now…..that people online may not be what they seem. I wonder if all those abusive comments on YouTube and other social media would actually be said to people face-to-face in the physical world? In Avatar the power difference here is physical in that the user is a courageous [yet initially misguided] soldier injured and unable to walk.

Conclusion

* the brief states that the Flash animation must not be a linear Powerpoint style presentation.

Design Tools

Two of the most efficient tools for beginning a design project are a pen and an A4 or A5 pad. These can be used in a variety of ways:

• Spider diagram or Mindmap exploring initial thoughts from the design brief and gradually narrowing down more clearly defined lines of thought through the use of a tree structure. This tree structure can also contain links between some of the branches where there are relevant links between similar levels of the tree structure. You could use something like FreeMind.
• Consider all the topics and issues surrounding a subject by entering it into the search box at WikiMindMap.
• To do lists. A very important part of a designers thought processes – acting as a reminder for tasks, lists within certain areas of a mind map or a break down of timescales and deadlines for delivery of design work. Try creating a Google Homepage using iGoogle and adding Remember The Milk as an addon to iGoogle – this is a great way to help keep activities listed in a useful way.
• Sketches of the layout, logos and colour scheme for the product. A designer rarely begins this part of the process on his or her computer. Ideas can be quickly tried out and explored using this method and the pen and pad is a couple of tools a designer should rarely be without.

The designer may use the sketches created to show to a client in a meeting or scanned and sent over the net – using [free] screen sharing facilities on www.acrobat.com or even Skype can be very useful – in tests Skype has always come out as the most efficient tool for this purpose. This can often lead to a significant leap forward in client / designer communication [depending on the quality of sketches] without sacrificing too many hours of the project. These precious hours can then be spent refining the final chosen design.

One thing that should not be underestimated is the use of written documents and emails. These should be stored for future reference and will often act as security or insurance for decisions made or problems to resolve. When an email can be referred to during any part of the process it allows the designer to be confident in his or her development of an idea. Ultimately, the best approach to dealing with a client is not to need these emails to refer back to in the way that ‘proves a point’ but to foster a culture of trust and understanding as described in the Design Process 1 article.

Evaluating Your Design

One of the main ways to evaluate your design is to compare it to the original brief and associated questions asked at the beginning of the project. If your questions were not detailed enough then evaluating your design and concluding the project becomes more difficult. Your brief and questions should be the key statements whereby the design is evaluated and should you feel that you have made your case then you can proceed with contacting the client and demonstrating your product. On the right is the sort of development image that could be presented to a client along with an explanation of how the app would work. The reaction to this initial presentation is crucial in terms of establishing whether you are on the right lines or not.

When contacting the client, be prepared to take notes, negotiate changes to the design and evaluate new ideas. Clients are busy going about their daily business and will often not have considered how many options and trials the designer reached before his or her conclusion and will need talking through these clearly in many cases so that the benefits to the work you have done are clearly identifiable. Agree another evaluation date and set a list of tasks to conclude this next design evaluation. Be careful not to undersell your skills if the costing is set but also ensure that the client gets the maximum value for their money.

The process of evaluation and conclusion will be covered elsewhere in this blog at a future date. For the moment, the principles mentioned above and their relationship to establishing a solid and clear brief are sufficient.

< Home >