Here is the link to the Prezi I made for my Tarot Card Presentation, enjoy:
Saturday, 16 November 2013
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Evaluation - Improvements and Developments
After creating my final piece, I am quite happy with the results considering the limited amount of time I had to create it. Looking at improvements and developments, I think it would have been a nice idea to have the image for each tarot card faded behind the QR code. Often what's so interesting about tarot cards is the beautiful and unique picture for each card and through my modernization of the cards, I've lost that quality and so by still keeping it in but making the focus the QR code I think it would have helped to improve my version of tarot cards.
I also would have liked to have made the videos more professional with actual actors and better locations, due to only having 4 days to complete the new idea I did not have the time to cast actors or recce locations which is a shame because it could have really improved the quality of my videos. It would have also made filming easier as it was rather difficult trying to both film and star in my videos.
I like the way my cards look, I tried to keep with an antique style whilst still making them my own and I like what I created, though I could have came up with a better name than 'Gemma's Tarot Cards'.
As for my videos, overall I think they look good, I could have done with better lighting but It was difficult trying to light a scene I was meant to star in and get the light on my face right. I think the video for Justice could have been better, my friends from class didn't have much time and so it was quite rushed and filmed in one take. I would have liked to have filmed from different shots/angles and maybe had more action going on. But other than this I am pleased with my films, especially The Empress, I like the look and feel of that film.
As for The Lovers, I don't particularly like that moving piece, I created it quickly to show what else could be done with QR codes but I didn't have my own image to use and i'm not very confident with After Effects and so I don't think that video came across professional at all. This is similar to The Fool, I used this card as a still image to show another QR style and as The Fool is all about Folly I tried to take a daft picture, which I don't like. I think a more professional picture would have worked much better
The Star is an idea that I really like, it again didn't come across that well due to my lack of time, basic knowledge of After Effects but I like what I was going for and as a prototype of what could be created I think it shows that well.
I like the way my cards look, I tried to keep with an antique style whilst still making them my own and I like what I created, though I could have came up with a better name than 'Gemma's Tarot Cards'.
As for my videos, overall I think they look good, I could have done with better lighting but It was difficult trying to light a scene I was meant to star in and get the light on my face right. I think the video for Justice could have been better, my friends from class didn't have much time and so it was quite rushed and filmed in one take. I would have liked to have filmed from different shots/angles and maybe had more action going on. But other than this I am pleased with my films, especially The Empress, I like the look and feel of that film.
As for The Lovers, I don't particularly like that moving piece, I created it quickly to show what else could be done with QR codes but I didn't have my own image to use and i'm not very confident with After Effects and so I don't think that video came across professional at all. This is similar to The Fool, I used this card as a still image to show another QR style and as The Fool is all about Folly I tried to take a daft picture, which I don't like. I think a more professional picture would have worked much better
The Star is an idea that I really like, it again didn't come across that well due to my lack of time, basic knowledge of After Effects but I like what I was going for and as a prototype of what could be created I think it shows that well.
As for developments there are a lot of different ways this could go, the obvious development is to create a QR Code video for all 22 major arcana cards, but there is also the opportunity to have each video show a short symbolic video for each of the four representations a tarot card has, or even the option of a card displaying four different QR codes, and each code representing one of the actions. I quite like that idea for the fact that tarot cards are often used in readings which are all about your choice and how what you choose is representative of an aspect of your life, and therefore whatever action to chose to look at first could be seen as 'fate'.
Whilst researching, I discovered different cards reinforce and oppose each other, it would be interesting to find a way to convey this with the QR codes, to see whether cards to pick in a reading link together or not.
As well as this there is the possibility for the cards to become part of an interactive tarot card reading website, in which you can click on a card on the screen and scan it to reveal which card you have chosen and what it means, this would take the interactive aspect of my project to the next step, cutting out the need for a 'middle man' in terms of a person laying out the cards for you and explaining them at a reading.
While there are improvements and developments I could look at, just like any project, overall I am happy with what I have created. I have taken an old fashioned concept and brought it into the modern technological era.
Monday, 11 November 2013
Creative Media Practice - Videos
And just in case you don't want to scan the codes, here are the videos I created.
Death
The Devil
Justice
The Empress
The Lovers
Death
The Devil
Justice
The Empress
The Lovers
Thursday, 7 November 2013
Creative Media Practice - Filming and Creating
Due to the amount of time I had, I did not have time to find actors and a location and therefore The Devil and Death were filmed by myself in my home and starring me. Whilst Justice was filmed in university with class mates, the only film I was able to get a location and actress for was The Empress in which my friend said she could help me out. Whilst it was a shame I couldn't find better locations and use actors I still think it came across rather well.
When filming Death, I wanted to show an ending whilst not showing an actual death and being very literal, I liked the idea of one door closing and another opening but as this was the Death card I still wanted it to have a creepy feel and so I decided to have death knock on the door, I wanted it look symbolic of death and I think that worked quiet well, dressed like a black widow with a black rose.
For the Devil I was focusing on materialism and I thought a good way to represent this would be to show a very self absorbed person, in today's world I felt a good way to represent this would be through a girl getting ready in a mirror, pouting and basically loving how she looks. Therefore focusing on how she looks and not who she is, I brought this up to date by taking a 'selfie' to upload to Instragram.
With Justice, I wanted to show two people arguing over something and someone else stepping in, showing them that they didn't need to fight and could settle their differences. It was all about doing what is right and seeing both sides but insisting on fairness.
The Empress was all about nature and so I had someone looking 'at one with nature' picking up a flower and connecting with a tree, again this was a very symbolic video and it's the video I like the most.
For The Lovers I decided to find a picture (as I didn't have one I could use) and have it move across the screen with music to give a basic idea of the theme and what could be done. This is a very simple prototype for what could be created.
For The star, I found a GIF of a shooting star and added on text through After Effects to again show the kind of thing that could be done.
Those are the ideas for the videos, with the other QR codes they were a simple case of creating a text or speaking QR Code.
Once I had created everything I choose to edit mainly in Adobe Premier Pro as I feel confindent using this software but I also needed to use After Effects when it came to creating The Star and finally Photoshop for the actual Tarot Cards.
When filming Death, I wanted to show an ending whilst not showing an actual death and being very literal, I liked the idea of one door closing and another opening but as this was the Death card I still wanted it to have a creepy feel and so I decided to have death knock on the door, I wanted it look symbolic of death and I think that worked quiet well, dressed like a black widow with a black rose.
For the Devil I was focusing on materialism and I thought a good way to represent this would be to show a very self absorbed person, in today's world I felt a good way to represent this would be through a girl getting ready in a mirror, pouting and basically loving how she looks. Therefore focusing on how she looks and not who she is, I brought this up to date by taking a 'selfie' to upload to Instragram.
With Justice, I wanted to show two people arguing over something and someone else stepping in, showing them that they didn't need to fight and could settle their differences. It was all about doing what is right and seeing both sides but insisting on fairness.
The Empress was all about nature and so I had someone looking 'at one with nature' picking up a flower and connecting with a tree, again this was a very symbolic video and it's the video I like the most.
For The Lovers I decided to find a picture (as I didn't have one I could use) and have it move across the screen with music to give a basic idea of the theme and what could be done. This is a very simple prototype for what could be created.
For The star, I found a GIF of a shooting star and added on text through After Effects to again show the kind of thing that could be done.
Those are the ideas for the videos, with the other QR codes they were a simple case of creating a text or speaking QR Code.
Once I had created everything I choose to edit mainly in Adobe Premier Pro as I feel confindent using this software but I also needed to use After Effects when it came to creating The Star and finally Photoshop for the actual Tarot Cards.
Tarot Card Research and Finalised Idea
I have discovered there are a total of 78 tarot cards, 22 of which are called the 'Major Arcana' and depict principles, concepts and ideals in reference to big events in life, whilst the other 56 are referred to as the 'Minor Arcana' and link to the major arcana, they makeup four suits - wants, swords, cups and circles/pentacles. The minor aracana represent the more minor practices of daily life.
Some websites about tarot cards:
Some websites about tarot cards:
- http://www.learntarot.com/cards.htm
- http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/extrasensory-perceptions/tarot-card1.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot
- http://www.holisticshop.co.uk/articles/beginners-guide-tarot
As 56 is a lot of cards, I plan on focusing on the Major Arcana, especially as these are the main cards in tarot readings. My next step will be to narrow the 22 down to cards I can create for my project, I want to chose subjects that will not only be easy for me to create but will also be interesting to look at.
These are the 22 cards, each card has 4 different actions, for instance this is the information on The Hanged Man. There are four different actions to allow for different interpretations.
After looking at each card and their actions, I have decided to create the following:
After looking at each card and their actions, I have decided to create the following:
- A video for Death showing the representation of bringing something to a close
- A video for The Devil showing a representation of materialism
- A video for The Empress showing a representation of nature
- A video for Justice showing a representation of respecting justice
In addition to this, to show what else is possible which QR codes I have decided to create these:
- A moving image of The Lovers
- An animation of The Star
- A speaking QR of The Sun and The Hanged Man
- Text of The Hierophant
- An image of The Fool
Monday, 4 November 2013
Creative Media - Change of Idea
Unfortunately I did not have enough time to create one of the ideas I had came up with. While I could still create one of the split screen ideas, with the limited time I have, it would not be up to a standard I would be happy with for final year and so I have decided to change my idea (again). I think creating something with QR Codes would be the easiest for me to do in this limited time.
I like the idea of taking an old age practice, that hasn't changed how it functions and bringing in into the modern century. My first idea was scratch cards and replacing the 'scratch' with a scan-able QR code to find out if you have won or not. Whilst I like this idea it is too simple for this project, but this idea led me onto tarot cards.
Tarot cards have been around since the 15th century and haven't really changed in all that time, they still look the same and do the same thing. I want to take this old practice and bring it into the modern technological era by replacing the still image on each card with a QR code. There is the opportunity to do a multitude of things such as videos, moving image, text, voice. It could be a really interesting and different way to interact with the cards but first I will need to research more into tarot cards.
Because of the limited time I have, what I create will be viewed as a prototype of what could be created.
I like the idea of taking an old age practice, that hasn't changed how it functions and bringing in into the modern century. My first idea was scratch cards and replacing the 'scratch' with a scan-able QR code to find out if you have won or not. Whilst I like this idea it is too simple for this project, but this idea led me onto tarot cards.
Tarot cards have been around since the 15th century and haven't really changed in all that time, they still look the same and do the same thing. I want to take this old practice and bring it into the modern technological era by replacing the still image on each card with a QR code. There is the opportunity to do a multitude of things such as videos, moving image, text, voice. It could be a really interesting and different way to interact with the cards but first I will need to research more into tarot cards.
Because of the limited time I have, what I create will be viewed as a prototype of what could be created.
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