Production

In order to create our project, we needed to place two videos into final cut- one of the gherkin and one of the flames. The plane was an animation and so was not another video to layer and mask. Due to the lack of tools able to delete specifically chosen areas, we had to rely on tools which were only able to delete big sections, and would only erase/mask from one side. This meant that the video of the flames which we had layered over the Gherkin was difficult to crop as we could only do in in sections, and then having to rely on colour correction to make the smoke more visible. We did this by changing the mid, dark and lighter tones to create contrast in the smoke. We also had to rotate some of the frames so the smoke did not look too square. The feathering technique was useful to soften the edges, rounding them so they again appeared less sharp.

We encountered some problems in that the footage of the smoke was at first too slow when we imported it into final cut, so we speeded it up, but it was then too fast. This meant we had to slow it down again, making it appear out of sync with the Gherkin footage. The flames then lasted for three and a half seconds longer than the other footage, resulting in the need to copy the last few seconds of Gherkin film, reverse it- so it played back to front.

However, the flames appeared very jerky because the film had been slown down, and each individual frame had to be moved into position- meaning they did not align up properly. We then turned to stop animation blur to try to blend the smoke better, and image stabilizer to steady the handheld Gherkin footage in an attempt to try and stabilise the images.

We had the idea to import each individual frame into photoshop to get rid of any unwanted smoke that made the film look unrealistic, but at 24 frames per second with ours running at about 9 seconds, it would take too long to individually edit each frame and import them back into final draft.

Room A5.7 Floor Plan

In order to present the project to its full potential we decided that we would need two projectors and consequently a suitable space. Fortunately due to forward planning we were able to book A5.7. The room already has a projector fitted to the ceiling and has another clear wall opposite, with space on other walls, making it perfect for what we need. The room plan above highlights how we plan to utilise the space. Projector one will show the ‘Gherkin’ footage and projector two will show the live reaction, streaming through ‘insideLondon’ our personal internet television channel.

The Telegraph

When deciding on papers to use for this project we thought we should use the last remaining broadsheet, as they were once a very tradition British icon.

BBC Ticker

The Daily Express

We used this paper, as it is a middle of the road conservative paper, and it has very strong political right wing message against immigration and other foreign policies, and are used to running fear tactics in their stories.

'Key scratch artist' admits hoax

An artist who claimed to have vandalised nearly 50 cars in the name of art has admitted it was a stunt.
Mark McGowan, 37, said he had taken pictures of himself scratching vehicles' paintwork as part of a project.

But the London performance artist has since admitted the cars were already "keyed" and the photos were "staged".

He said it had been an art project that had gone "horribly wrong" and said he was "very, very sorry".

"I never keyed any cars...the whole thing has just been a nightmare," he added.


At least I've shown people do care about car crime
Mark McGowan
"All I wanted to do was highlight the plight of people who have had their cars scratched, which has somehow spiralled out of control.

"My family and friends have shunned me and someone rang into a radio show and said they wanted to rip my head off.

"But at least I've shown people do care about car crime."

Mr McGowan said the cars in two of the pictures, taken for his latest exhibition, belonged to his brother-in-law and a barmaid from a pub in Camberwell, south London, and had already been scratched.

The Met police had said on Monday that if any criminal allegations were made they would be investigated.

Mr McGowan's latest project is just one of many bizarre stunts by the artist who describes himself as "the British alternative to David Blaine".

In 2003, he used his nose to push a monkey nut seven miles to 10 Downing Street in protest against student debt.

He also rolled on pavements for four miles across London singing Christmas carols to highlight the work of office cleaners.

Rolling news24 creation

The News 24 layout is a well known news format and so we decided to use the logo and scrolling update in our project. In order to create this, we had to use photoshop to separate each logo part- this is to create the layers for Flash which is important in order to let the text flow infront of and behind other layers.







Using the cloning stamp, we got rid of the time that was on the screen shot from the internet, and cut each section up before inporting them into the Flash library.

In Flash we then positioned each segment correctly on the page, and typed the text which we wanted to scroll along the bottom of the page, and created it into a motion tween to it would end up the opposite side of the screen it started from.

We decided we wanted a clock which actually worked, so had to search the internet to find action script instructions.

The news section works really well and looks more realistic than the first BBC one we created.



Also, we are really pleased we decided to use the real time clock as it makes it look more professional and gives a sense of living in the present- making the event seem like it really has just happened