Evidence / Research FMP

Before I could undertake this project I needed to teach myself to code in CSS, to do this I first borrowed the lynda DVD tutorials from the library





Using the lynda DVD's gave me a better understanding of what it is possible to achieve with CSS

I next need to put in to practice what I had learned in the lynda DVD's. Having never wrote any CSS before, I looked for some templates where I would be able to edit lines of code, to enable to learn, what the various parts of the code control.

I found a brilliant CSS layout template website named csseasy.com Using this website allowed be to configure certain design element of the code with out having to learn to script every thing





As I started editing code to change design elements it quickly became clear how a CSS website is structured.

From learning this I was able to put together some simple websites



By this point I was confident enough to try to skin a blog, after a failed attempt with both wordpress and tumblr, I decided to use blogger, as I have used this platform before.

Photography and Photoshop

My friend is studying for a degree in Art and Design.

This weekend he requested my help in Photoshop. He wanted to mock up a design for a piece of clothing he is going to make for a project

I enjoyed getting to do the photography for the piece (photography is an area I would like to increase my skill in) While editing the piece I realized how much I have improved in Photoshop.



I would really enjoy a job in photo-retouching (I am actually starting to think post production is my kind of thing, I really enjoy Photoshop and I have started to use After Effects)

Basic in HTML and CSS Tutorial

Samsung's Viral Sheep

Over the last couple of days I have noticed people mentioning a viral advert that used sheep with LED's attached to them to recreate images of a fireworks display and retro Atari game pong.

I thought I would check the advert out to see what I had been missing, considering all the attention the advert had been getting.



These are my thoughts after watching the viral advert

The first thing I noticed is the duration of the piece is 2 minutes 44 seconds as general rule viral adverts should not be over 3 minutes (with 2 minutes being an optimal length) already this viral is a little on the long side

The opening titles of the piece introducing the viewer to each sheep hearder and their quirky job (Ermis The Electrcian, Gerry The Player, Rob The LED Master and Bernard, The General) In introducing each character this creates a sense of suspense and makes you want to find out about the characters and what they are about to do.

I did however find some of the time it is not clear what shapes and images the sheep are making.

I also find the ending scene of the video to be a weak point. It ends with the text "With thanks to Samsung Smart LED technology. Look at there LED TVs. Oh go on!" It would have been nice if the had of included a URL or even a search term.

Over all I felt the viral video did not relate to the product enough and did not inspire me to go check out Samsung Smart LED TVs

On the plus side I did find out that the advert was made by The Viral Factory and I will be adding them to my student wiki space of companies I would like to work for, as well as dropping them an e-mail to make them aware of who I am and asking for advice on how to get in to the viral video market

CSS Websites

A few CSS websites that I want to remember for my final major project

http://css-tricks.com/

http://www.cssplay.co.uk/

http://www.csszengarden.com/

http://designshack.co.uk/


My initial idea is to set up a set up a WordPress blog

Create a number of static pages, each one contains a different tutorial on how to skin a WordPress blog.

By following all the tutorials on the blog you will be able to teach your self how to skin a WordPress blog

Milk Still Matters

*N.B.* This blog has been wrote as a rough note of my thoughts.

I remember last year (I will add the link asap) writing about a stop motion Cravendale milk advert that caught my attention

Cravendale have done it again



The most striking elements of this advert are there brilliant sound design, and the simplistic approach of the animation

I watched this advert for a second time with out any sound, and discovered that it is actually the sound that it telling the story (try watching the advert with out any sound. It does not flow and makes little sense.)

---

Being interested in social media I furthered my investigation in to this advert by doing an immediate search on YouTube

I quickly found that the channels "MilkMatters", "CravenDale" and "CravenDaleMilk" were all ready being used by people who appeared not to be from the official Cravendale milk company

It would appear that the Official YouTube Channel for Cravendale milk is http://www.youtube.com/cravendaleUK All though for the casual Internet user it may not be apparent that this is their Official YouTube Channel

If I was doing some consultancy work with Cravendale I would advise them their channel needs to have some of their branding on it so people are easily able to instantly recognize it belongs to them

I have been teaching myself to make YouTube backgrounds in Photoshop so I will possible try to mock a Cravendale YouTube background to demonstrate this.

They should also use their YouTube channel to drive traffic to all the other places that they exist on the web. Providing links in their YouTube profile would be the most simple way to do this.

I notice in this video they have provided a link in the description to drive traffic to a related game on their website

---

To further my ideas on using social media to promote Cravendale milk if you have read my blog recently you will know I am using DailyBooth I would recommend CravenDale to start using DailyBooth, posting a picture of a milk based drink or product each day. The blub under the picture would be the recipe for the drink or product. They could then encourage people to post a picture comment after they have followed the recipe

---

Milk Still Matter