#reflective feedback

I gave my planet projection a test run to see how it would look projected on the board. It looked really good, better than I had expected it to look. I just had to line up the Neptune and Earth planets better. I took images of it, then went back to AfterEffects and lined it up in the same place. I was also told to change the typeface, because it didn't look good. With some assistance on which one to pick, I picked a different one and played around with how the text appears, so that it would look much nicer. Overall, I am very pleased with this and hope it looks great it in the exhibition too. The lights there will be darker, allowing the projection to be brighter and show better.

I ended up changing my idea from hanging planets to a board with planets stuck onto it. It was suggested to me by tutors. Instead of hanging them from the ceiling, I would have the planets cut out into halves, which are then stuck onto a board that is hung on the wall and projected onto. This was decided because hanging planets would be difficult to do, this would be much more easier and doable. You don't know if the weight will hold or not either. It would better for projecting onto and having images appear too. Also, the big planet would be able to become a circle better too, matching the planet shape.

Since I was projecting onto planets rather than painting over them, I had to create my own projection for it using Adobe AfterEffects, as it was the best suitable program for creating a video projection with effects. I needed to figure out a way for creating rotating spherical planets that looked good and realistic enough. I came across a video that showed me how to do this. I used the video as a reference and tutorial to follow.

Firstly, I had to download the planet textures from online at solarsystemscope.com. After importing them into aftereffects, I used CC Sphere to instantly turn them into spheres. I used a bit of glow with the radius to 100, and some colour correction curves to change it a little so it would look more realistic. Luckily for me, it instantly gave the planet a shadow on the side when converting it to a sphere, which is perfect and realistic just like an actual planet would be. I was also able to make the planet spin too. By going to the rotation Y setting, I typed into the timeline "time*5" to make it spin slowly. I decided to change it to 7 to make it a little bit faster, but it was supposed to be slow since planets are like that anyway. I did the same thing for Earth and Neptune too. The good thing here was that I can drag and move the planets around whenever I want, so I can always adjust it to fit onto the board properly.

To create the stars moving in the back, I created a new, completely white solid layer. Then I went into simulation, CC star burst to turn it into moving stars. I lowered the size and grid spacing so they wouldn't be so large, and slowed down the speed too.

I also wanted there to be text and images popping up too, so it could get a message across. The text would be talking about how small we are in the universe and how insignifcant and worthless we may feel. Like the text popping up next to Earth saying "you are here". But then there would be images of Earth showing us how it doesn't matter and that we should just enjoy and make the most of what we have and be happy. I got images from online of things including people enjoying life, doing activities, animals and nature, as well as space. I made them pop up throughout the video, fading in and out. However, my tutor came over and said that it was too slowly popping in and out. It needed to contrast the slow spin of the planets. I was told to make it faster and increase the number of images, which I went ahead and did by gathering more images and making them go by faster by decreasing the time they stayed there and showed the next image. I realised it would take so much time though, but time was running out and I had to be faster so I could finish everything. After some looking at Youtube, I realised there was another way. I could just duplicate the timeline slots of the other images popping up. Then, I would drag in new images into AfterEffects. From the side, I just hold down option key while dragging it onto the image I want to replace in the timeline. And it worked. This saved me a lot of time, because otherwise I'd have to constantly drag in each image, adjust the position, scale, change the duration all the way down and adjust the duration position, as well as adding in fade in and out. Doing this with so many images that only pop up for a short while would take so long. This really sped it up for me.

I also tried to make some images pop up in the spinning planets too. I did that by duplicating the planets, replacing the planet texture with an image using the same method as before, and keeping it there for a few seconds with fade in and out.

At the end of the video, I also lowered the brightness on everything except Earth, so it would stand out with the message of 'how are you going to spend your time here?' I did this so it would give some time to think about it, focusing only on Earth.

I also had a problem where I accidentally lost some of the images when trying to drag them all into a folder. This ruined the video because the images all disappeared, and I couldn't have the video like that because it was incomplete. But then I went into my recents in finder, and they were all there, so I just dragged them all back out again and the images were back. I had to carefully place them into the folder to avoid losing them again. I also decided that I needed some music to bring the whole atmosphere together, so I got some space music downloaded and added in. Music and audio always helps to complete pieces.

It could be argued that ethically, some stuff is stolen, like for example, planet textures, images popping up and music. People might say that the work is not original enough or fully made by me because of these things. I think it's fine, because I am using it for educational purposes only and am not making any profit off it. If it doesn't break any copyright laws, then there isn't an issue. On top of that, there is also royalty free work you can use whenever you are unsure. Royalty free means that it's free to use however you want to, so you don't have to worry about copyright. Also, I am not a music composer so I cannot make my own music.

For safeguarding practices, I had to make sure I get enough breaks throughout, otherwise I could strain my eyes if I don't look away enough. I could also get back pain if I slouch, sit in a bad position or don't get up and walk around enough. It's also very bad for posture. I should make sure that water doesn't spill or equipment to damage it or cause an electrick shock. I need to be careful around the computer. I need to make sure it doesn't overheat too.

I put together a pitch presention to present to the class about my topic for my FMP project. Presenting is important because it helps to pitch your idea, gives you an opportunity to tell others about it and get them hooked, recieve feedback for improvement and opinions, as well as building confidence and preparing you for future presentations.

I recieved both tutor and peer feedback. From this feedback, I have self reflected and gathered what I have done well at, as well as how I can improve.

My strengths are that my concept is good, and I am clear and well understood about what it is I want to create and achieve. It is said that I presented confidently, and the presentation itself had a clear colour scheme and typeface.

We were supposed to do an etching workshop. However, it never happened because the person who was covering didn't mention it at all and have us do it. It was quite unfortunate because the day basically ended up being a waste of time when we could have been doing this instead.