Secret Six: I waited for you to show up and object...

(Spoiler warning: If you'd like to view the secrets and see what your ideas about them and the people who possess them are then maybe do so first, as my thoughts on what I'm trying to create could potentially influence them.)

"I waited for you to show up and object. But you never came."

Point of view: Women, recently married
Issue: Clearly hoped someone in particular would intervene at her wedding and prevent her from going through with it

Elements on page include: photos from the wedding, past emails to the man, self directed questions etc

Follows a young women who proir to her wedding day was having an affair with another man whom she fell in love with and was at least led to believe that he cared for her also. After saying she would leave her fiance for him, he became apparently distant. Too scared to call off the wedding and be left on her own she attends her wedding only to be disappointed when he does not arrive and object to her marrying another man.

Secret Five: When I said goodluck, I didn't mean it

(Spoiler warning: If you'd like to view the secrets and see what your ideas about them and the people who possess them are then maybe do so first, as my thoughts on what I'm trying to create could potentially influence them.)

"When I said "Goodluck", I didn't mean it. I can't stand it when you do better than me."

Point of view: Brother to a successful, graduating sibling
Issue: Resentful of their sisters successful and how proud the parents are of them as a result.

Elements on page include: photo together at graduation, pulling faces at a party, congradulations card - what he wanted to write/what he did write, graduation bear and flowers

Follows a resentful and bitter brother who hates his sister for her success whilst he struggled through high school and life and she graduates as a lawyer and is the apple of her families eye.

Secret Four: I whispered to her...

(Spoiler warning: If you'd like to view the secrets and see what your ideas about them and the people who possess them are then maybe do so first, as my thoughts on what I'm trying to create could potentially influence them.)

"I whispered to her that it was ok to give up. But I wish she hadn't listened."

Point of view: A grand daughter

Issue: feels responsible some how for her grandmothers death but not encouraging her to fight on

Elements on page include: hospital bed, text messages from friends, funeral flowers, photos of granddaughter and grandmother.

Essential follows a regretful and upset girl who wishes she never "encouraged" her grand mother to give up the fight and ultimately feels partly responsible for her passing away, not coping at all well with the loss. Aside from a hand written "what did I do?" all text comes from others messaging her to represent her silent, grief and inability to function after the passing of her grandmother.

Secret Three: Every once in a while...

(Spoiler warning: If you'd like to view the secrets and see what your ideas about them and the people who possess them are then maybe do so first, as my thoughts on what I'm trying to create could potentially influence them.)

"Every once in a while I'll write you a letter. But I'm still too scared to send it."

Point of view: a young girl

Issue: wants to met her real mother but is scared that if she does her fantasies of what it will be like, will be ruined

Elements on page include: letter to mother, diary entry, ballet shoes, photograph of mother dancing, framed photograph of the mother, crumbled piece of the past letters writen and not sent

A young girl who has never met her mother but is old enough to know who she is, idolises her and watches her dance, as she is apparently a famous ballerina. She girl knows her mother gave her up for her career and hasn't made an effort to contact since but still she attends her mothers shows and practices ballet so that they might one day meet and dance together and be happy. Despite her happy fantasies there is still that element of fear that her mother will not like if she meets her, or as to why she didn't wish to keep her in the first place and so the girl never sends the letters that she writes and they wind up crumbled about her room. The only photo which she has of her mother is framed and keep aside a photo of her mother dancing in one of her shows.

Secret Two: I will never be her...

(Spoiler warning: If you'd like to view the secrets and see what your ideas about them and the people who possess them are then maybe do so first, as my thoughts on what I'm trying to create could potentially influence them.)

"I will never be her. And I just wish that didn't matter to you so very much."

Point of view: A young women, properly later teens to early 20s
Issue: The boyfriend appears to care still and more for his ex, constantly placing her needs and wishes above his current girlfriend

Elements on page include: photos of him and ex together, photo of him and her together, diary entries, rhetorical questions, list of differences etc

This is a powerful secret of an incredibly sad and broken person given that if this is her fear then she likely stays, feeling trapped or blinded by her feelings for the guy. The secret expresses how the boyfriend will do things and she'll find connections between his actions and the last girlfriends wishes. Its hard to see clearly, given it's from the girlfriends point of view whether she is simply feeling insecure or whether she is just in her concern. Regardless the boyfriend appears to do little to calm her fears. I took typical slip ups such as the phone (not deleting or recieve suspect messages from an ex) or forgetting who likes what (take one girl to a show she hates because the last one liked it) and added them to the page to give a sense of reality.

Secret One: I'm tired of people telling me...

(Spoiler warning: If you'd like to view the secrets and see what your ideas about them and the people who possess them are then maybe do so first, as my thoughts on what I'm trying to create could potentially influence them.)

"I'm tired of people telling me that young love is pointless. Because I don't care if it is or not."

Point of view: Of a young couple who are in love

Issue: people telling them there is no point to their relationship. That is wont last forever.

Elements on page include: Photos together, pressed flowers, hand holding, text messages

This is mostly a joint secret between a young couple. The issue it centres on is how 'childhood sweethearts' don't always end up together further down the line and that a young person can not truely be in love given that they do not possess the experience to fully understand what love is. I attempted to express the couples affection towards one another through imagery and initimate texts spending over a couple of months of their relationship. The images are brighter than in most of the other secrets to express the 'happiness' within this particular secret.

Some general important information...

Having left things a little later than planned I've decided to alter the site from Seven Secrets to Six Secrets as it's taking me longer than I thought to create the images which I want for my site. The idea is from each of the pages the viewer will be able to infer information about the person's who's secret it is - not only their rough age and gender but also giving a glimpse into their lives through understanding a certain part of it which is most important and secret to them. Thus the viewer can see a little glimpse into who this person is.

Each image contains little sections which become clearer or brighter when the viewer rolls over them so that they can piece together the individuals secret. Yet each image needs to be taken in slowly and thoughtfully, so that the sometimes subtle under meanings won't be lost.

The navigation of the site goes Intro>>Main page>> Select a secret>>enter into the secret

For my intro I am making a short flash animation to a edited version of "Requiem of a Dream" by Clint Mansel. The majority of the images used on my sight belong to me or my friends, with some images obtained from stock website, though have primarily been vastly altered regardless.

More secrets

The following is a list of the secrets which will be presented in the intro into my site. The intro will be done in flash and will just be a simple animation to help express the atmosphere and content of the site:

“I love him, but the thrill of something new is too much to pass up.”

“Sometimes I wish it would break, because if I got her pregnant, I’d be in her life forever.”

“I know what you did isn’t meant to hurt, because I always said I didn’t care. But I did and it does. And it still kills me that you left.”

“I printed out every photo of us together and stored them in a box. I found that box the other day and burnt it because of what you did.”

“Ive worked at my job for nearly two years. And I still don’t know what I’m doing there.”

“Apparently I’m meant to work out exactly who I want to be before I finish high school
40 days to go, and I still don’t have a clue.”

“I was so much nicer before I met you. “

“Please stop thinking of you for five seconds and listen to me… I don’t think I’m going to be ok this time.”

“Everytime I see people laughing and having fun, I get jealous. I’m still waiting for the day I feel that way again”

“I don’t smile anymore.”

“If I had get over you will be a hard trek through rough terrain. But still I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

“I waited for you to show up and object. But you never came.”

“I don’t paint anymore.”

“Sometimes, just sometimes, even I believe I could do better than you.”

“I’m scared that if I left you, they’d be no one else. Ever.”

“I can’t express how much you mean to me”

“The best feeling in the world is knowing I proved them all wrong.”

“Just because I try not to talk about it, doesn’t mean that I’m over it, that I feel better or that I’m ever going to be ok.”

“I regret trusting you.”

“I wish I could take back what I said to you. Even though I meant it. Every word.”

Revealing Secrets...

Re: "It would be useful at this stage to really start mocking up a sample of how you would make their secrets revealed.. a gradual revealing perhaps? Just a still graphics? How would the whole site flow from the point of displaying 7 friends private selves.... ? "

My original thought to the secret revealing was simply to display the secret through a still image, with the other images helping to further explain or otherwise relate to the secret to help create the mood and hopeful add a certain element of realism to the secret its self. for example, let's say the secret was about a break up and to steal one directly from the Post Secret archives (which I will not be doing for the actually project of course) "I promise to smile next time I pass you in the hallway...please try to do the same." So for this example I would try to find things symbolic of a break up, maybe past love letters, notes passed in class, a diary entry and piece of jewellery or some other significant present or even a photo together. But this would all be displayed to be looked through by the view, rather than revealed piece by piece.

However that is an interesting thought...perhaps I could have the users see these symbolic pieces and move through them before the secret is actually revealed at the end. But finding these pieces will be harder for some secrets than others...also without the secret first being knowning it might be too hard to pick the connection. Maybe, if I work out how, I can have the different elements appear one after the other in a simple animation. But first I should probably find my secrets and work out the pieces that should go with them.

Slicing up my Layout

The other day in class we did a tutorial on slicing up an image in photoshop and using it for an example website layout. I found this technique to be very useful and a lot more simple than attempting too use divs, which I still find fairly confusing. The following sites are further tutorials I have found on the web that would help me to explore this technique:

http://www.entheosweb.com/photoshop/slice.asp
Simple to follow text tutorial with helpful screenshots

http://www.layersmagazine.com/taking-image-slicing-from-photoshop-to-dreamweaver.html
Video of the process, very good!

http://www.astahost.com/info.php/Creating-Webpage-Photoshop_t4182.html
slightly more advanced, follows further techniques in photoshop for websites than just slicing

Final Concept

The free online dictionary dictates that 'Identity' can be defined as any of the following;

1. The collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing is definitively recognizable or known

2. The distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity; individuality.

3. Information, such as an identification number, used to establish or prove a person's individuality, as in providing access to a credit account.

In this way I can surmise that Identity can be distinct personal information which makes a person definitively recognizable or known. Therefore information about a person helps to create their identity. Similarly what a person hides reflects as much of who they are as what they put on display.

Due to this I have decided on centering my website around the theme of "SECRETS." The website will be about seven different, unidentified people, each being given their own page to spill a secret. Their individual pages will contain their secret in a simple text and image layout similar to the PostSecret cards, they will also display an image of themselves but it will be in some way artistically altered to hide who they are such as having their eyes covered or their face moved into sections. Other items will also be displayed on the page which further explain or relate to the secret. They might be in the form of a postcard, post-it notes, letters, diary entries or any other form of expression related to the exposed secret.

It will not be the aim of my website to inform or lecture, rather its purpose is to evoke emotion and reflection from the viewers as they gain piece of others peoples lives through the revealed secrets. In this way the site mostly relies on images, potentially some simple flash based animation and some text. It would be a form of entertainment in a similar style to the Identity Website previously shown in blog posts below.

I would obtain these secrets from seven friends, likely either male or female between the ages of 20 and 25. Whilst these secrets may be embelished and altered perhaps with a certain degree of poetic license their essence will be retained and enhanced through use of images and the items displayed on each of the pages.

The site will aim to be a window into the hidden side of seven peoples lifes.

Mock-Ups
Main page:















Other pages - "The Secrets"

Memory Box...

Building on my "secrets" idea I just had another thought...when I was younger I used to store little things away into a 'Memory box', just things like post cards or notes passed in class, little toys or certain pieces that had a significance to me at the time. If someone was to go through my little memory box they could probably take a reasonably accurate guess on who I was, what my interests were and from that gather a little piece of my identity. Combining this concept with the idea of 'secrets' I could make my web page based on say four different peoples memory boxes, with each person getting their own page containing items that would inspire information about their identity - e.g. a secret, letters, postcards etc. The purpose of the sight would be merely for reflection and contemplation, so perhaps more art than design?

Dirty Little Secret

Just found another example of the sort of idea I was looking into. It's a 2005 video clip to the song "Dirty Little Secret" by the All American Rejects. In it several people hold up cards, covering the most part of their face, on which they reveal a little secret about them selves. It would be something I could probably told me friends into doing for me, even though since I know who they are I will probably not be getting very "juicy" little secrets but thats not really required.

Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ikv7TI87io

In Class activity - Week 5

My original draft concept design attempt...

















As altered by Josh...

Secrets

Just had a random thought provoked by looking at this website http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ it is a blog in which people post in their secrets as written on post cards into the blog. A simple enough concept but the thing I realized whilst looking through it is that by giving away something so precious and close to them as a secret (dark, embarrassing or otherwise) we as the reader get a short glimpse into who they are as people, perhaps even gaining a deeper understanding than if had we met them and knew them in person given that these secret would not otherwise be told.
In this way our secrets become an important part of our identity. I was very much inspired by looking over these postcards and am now interested in incorporating that into my website...perhaps by getting friends to send in secrets and making the focus on our what we hide is still as very much a part of us as what we like to display. I feel its a bit of a twist on the idea of identity, as generally we focus on the parts of our identity which we show to the world, rather than the parts we hide, yet these still make up who we are as people.

Activity Task - 700-800words

Normal 0 0 1 250 1430 11 2 1756 11.773

Website: www.sonypictures.com/movies/identity

The website I have chosen is the official movie website to the 2003 film "Identity," directed by James Mangold, where stranded at a desolate Nevada motel during a nasty rainstorm, ten strangers become acquainted with each other when they realize that they're being killed off one by one. Throughout the film the individual characters are brought to life to the audience; their identities and depth of character come to light. The website itself is very interesting, though not especially informative. It is a flash designed site which I can only assume is there to create the atmosphere of the movie rather than informatively explain as whilst text is used through the pages it is brief, with the main focus of the website left on the visual elements. These visual elements are images taken from the movie, graphically altered and then through the use of flash broken apart into different interactive elements.

a. Whether it falls into design and/or art (and why):

My basic definition of design would be that it essentially has a job to do whilst art is more for aesthetics and tends to be there primarily for thought provoking purposes. Using this definition I rather feel that the Identity website actually comes more under art than design. Whilst the website creators would have designed the site with the purpose of projecting the films atmosphere and hopefully selling it to their audience and potential viewers of their film, the way in which they are doing this is essentially by presenting the viewer with a series of digital artworks of which the purpose is therefore to provoke a feeling and an emotional response, thus making it more artist than design-based.

The sites navigation is sometimes confusing, perhaps also because it is more art based than design based as it effectively encourages the user to navigate through in a random manner to find different sections of the site. The numbers one to ten are positioned in small font in the bottom right hand corner of the site and it is by these simple numbers that the user can move about the site. Each number is connected to a flash effect which responses each time the mouse scrolls over it; the number changes colour and a ‘blood spurt’ type of effect sprout from it. In other sections of the site a red line move over the images to highlight areas in the image which work as hyperlinks about the site. Other sections allow for different forms of interaction; at one point the mouse is used to scratch a lottery card and another to drag a tape into the tape player.

b. How it relates to other art/design forms on the web:

I believe the type of artwork style found on the website is fairly commonly used in movie websites. The concept of taking shots from the movie, turning them into stills and using them as part of the interface design to the website is not a new idea, though often very effective at expressing the mood and tone of the film via web. Definitely the use of flash in websites is making a huge appearance. This is probably due to the level of interaction which flash websites will allow with their users; they let the user become physically involved with the site through interactive elements or else entertain the user with forms of animation and effects. It is understandable that this would appeal to most people on the net as it differs from the standard basic website layout found in most and would certainly appeal to a film lover who are likely the websites primary target market.

Some of the most common forms of art and design on the web include animation, photography and graphic design all of which made an appearances in this site as photography is combined with graphic and web design then animated through flash to create the artwork for the website.

c. How it may reflect in content or style your final project.

Unfortunately I don’t believe I will be able to make use of flash in my project, having little knowledge or skill in the area to rely on. Also I actually don’t like how vague the sites navigation is despite the fact I feel it is effective at reflecting the atmosphere of the film. For my site I would like the navigation to be clearer and would probably make use of considerably more text. I would love to incorporate some form of animation, but I am not convinced it will be within my skill to do so. The style of the images however may be able to be reflected in my project, as the simplex black background juxtaposed against the scratchy, faded into the background images style artwork could be incorporated into my websites background design through the skills I have learnt in Photoshop.

Website design Ideas - Identity Movie

Just had a look over the Identity movie's official website, which can be found here:
www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/identity from there you go to enter the site and are greeted with a flash designed web page with little text and a primary focus on images. Numbers are used in the corner to navigate through the pages but each page generally consists of images which movie around in relation and some times to interaction with the mouse. These page hold little information about the movie but are rather there to create the essence and atmosphere of the film. This is greatly intensified by the sound effects and music used to accompany the images. Whilst the flash work is very impressive, I didn't particularly like the site given its complex appearance.

Some examples from the site are as follows:

HTML Dog

Just doing a little bit of research but this website looks like it may be of some use: www.htmldog.com

The website offers you tutorials, references and articles for both HTML and CSS starting right at beginners! (Though does also cater for intermidiate and advanced too) The sites layout is simple and after a quick look around I can see that it contains a fair bit of really helpful information for my project :) Shall definately be using it as a resource once I've settled on my websites design

CSS Zen Garden

It was suggested in class that we take a look at this website: www.csszengarden.com

The website explores different CSS design, allowing users to look through a selection of CSS designed pages and download the code for training and reference. Looking through a couple of the designs available there are some very beautiful works out there. Each allows you to download a sample HTML and CSS file which you can then add to, alter and play with to develop your own designs. As someone new to HTML and CSS this looks like it has the potential to be a very helpful resource of information.

Also the layout of the website itself is clear and simple, with elegant art works and standard fonts. The colour scheme of blues, whites and greens is calming and the majority of the important information can be found directly on the main page with out any complex nagivating required in sight!

Identity

Not so sure of how to approach my original idea properly so am heading back to the drawing board to gather further ideas about identity; just some definitions and associations.

Some definitions as sourced from 'The Free Online Dictionary by Farlex" at http://www.thefreedictionary.com:

Indentity:

1. The collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing is definitively recognizable or known: "If the broadcast group is the financial guts of the company, the news division is its public identity" (Bill Powell).

2. The set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group.

3. The quality or condition of being the same as something else.

4. The distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity; individuality.

5. Information, such as an identification number, used to establish or prove a person's individuality, as in providing access to a credit account.

6. Mathematics

a. An equation that is satisfied by any number that replaces the letter for which the equation is defined.

b. Identity element.

Issues associated with identity:
Personal identity -Who am I?
Cultural Identity - how background and culture effect who we are
Identity theft
Hidden identity - masks, online personas etc
Second life identity - online personas, avatars

Inclass Activity

Just a couple of web images I made in class using photoshop during a photoshop skills activity:

Image One:

I words are lyrics to a Greenday song and the background images were both sourced from the web.

What I think works:

I like the combination of the building and the overlay of the scribbles and text from the second image. It makes me think of grafiti on the walks which I believe helps to build the atmosphere of the image.

What I don't think works so well:

I'm not too sure about the text. I like the font, its easy to read, but it has no direction - its just broken up about the page. Perhaps if it lead to the doorway or faded into the distance?

Overall:

I still like the image, the words do encourage me to read then and the background is interesting and effective, I just feel more could be done with the text.

Image Two:

The background image was sourced from the internet and the font was added on in photoshop with differing levels of opacity.

What I think works:

Again, I like the background. The bright green and yellow colours and the red lines work well together and grab the attention of the eye

What I don't think works so well:

Again I'm not sure about the text. I like the fading of it at different levels of opacity and white was probably a good choice too against the yellow, green and red. However, this time I'm not sure about the font and I'm not convinced that running the word "peace" backwards is very effective.

Overall:

Not such a fan of the text on this image, maybe need to look into different fonts and experiment with photoshop techniques related to fonts.

Inner Identity vs. Outward Identity

A couple of images focused on identity:

The first image is by Komplikator the second is by Voogee, both can be found at http://www.deviantart.com/. Representing the importance of appearance, in particular the face, when it comes to having an identity.


My original thought when it came to constructing an online identity was how users will often create a second online 'self', often referred to as an avatar, which is used as an online representation of their physical self. However as is wildly known it is not always the caes that a person will create a character based truly on their real, actual physical appearance, thus creating a second identity based rather on how the user wishes to be perceived than their actual appearance. This then got me thinking about how we as individuals view ourselves versus how others would chose to view us. If outsiders view us in a certain way, what is it that makes them form their opinion? Is it based in the clothes we wear? our manner? Our choice of hobbies? If so, it could be said that all these factors come together to build up an 'outward identity'; but how is this outward identity different from the view we have of ourselves? If an outsider will often form their opinion based from their background, their epxeriences and their expectations, a person's opinion of their self will likely be completely different. When judging ones self often people will become overly critical or may even be blissfully unaware of how they affect others either positively or negatively. This concept of different perspectives adding up to create a persons inner and outward identity is one that I wish to explore further over the course of the semester.