video experimentations

Minimal Narration 

As stated in our action plan, we have made a version of our project using a lot less of the voice over than used previously, as this was stated by the users as a good way to improve the project.

When we showed this to a group of peers the general feeling was that this worked alot better than the previous version. Abbey said: “way better, feels less clustered and I understand the story all the same”

So with this in mind, I feel that this version is a lot better than the old one. The voice is more subtle, and this is closer to what we initially wanted to make, with the story just being told by our animation, rather than a voice over.

Separate Stories Experiment 

As specified in our UCD feedback, we created two smaller versions of our animation, to see how it would work So here are the videos:

I don’t feel these work particularly well. I think its becuase they are not designed to be used separately and the feedback we got was to create short animations, with different genders/ genres of stories in them, however these two stories are too similar, but if we was to do the project again, we would perhaps create shorter animations as a series to reach a wider target audience.

Render Man Experimentation – international source

Since Pixar have announced Render Man being free for none commercial uses I have taken advantage and experimented with the plug-in. To get to grips with the interface and the settings of Render Man I followed these useful tutorials:

I’ve conducted some tests following the tutorial, and I’ve rendered each image at HD960x540. To compare the results I have also rendered the scene using Maya’s Mental Ray, the renderer that we used for our project.

Rendered Using Render Man

Rendered Using Mental Ray

Rendered Using Render Man

Rendered Using Mental Ray

Quite clearly the results show a massive difference in the overall quality, the materials are much more detailed. The down side to this renderer is that it’s far too time consuming, even at this quality each image took around 30 minutes to render. With our animation being around 2000 frames using this render wouldn’t be feasible considering the hand in deadline is tomorrow. If I’d have utilized this resource earlier I would have had the time to further understand the interface and how it works. This is a missed opportunity as it would have significantly improved the overall quality of our animation however I will continue use Render Man with future projects.

International source

After reviewing my workbook blog I have noticed that there is no post that outlines our international source. This is something that was flagged up during the interim feedback and since then I have been searching for a relevant source and yet all of this time we have been referring to one without identifying it. Throughout the design and development of our animation our decisions have been influenced by Disney’s Pixar Animations. During the early experimentation’s with the SCAMPER methodology we have created moodboards that contain images from several different Pixar films. The Pixar Animation studio is based in Emeryville, California thus making it our international source. The animation studio is responsible for films such as; Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Cars, Monsters Inc & University, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, WALL-E, Ratatouille, UP and Brave. In particular we have used Toy Story, Monsters Inc and The Incredibles as our main inspiration and have tried to replicate the art style with both the characters and environments.

(Toy Story, 1995)

(Monsters Inc, 2001)(Monsters Inc, 2001)

(The Incredibles, 2004)

During the course of the design stage my decisions were impacted/influenced by the art style of these selected images taken from each of the films. With the environment I wanted to replicate, not directly copy, the art style of these films. Pixar has a unique style of combining different proportions and scales, for example look how exaggerated the curves are on the desk in the Toy Story bedroom and how tall the legs are on the baby chair in The Incredibles.

Pixar Animation Studios recently announced that their render program ‘RenderMan’ is now free for none-commercial use. I will be taking advantage of this and will look to experiment to see how this can further improve the quality of our animation. 

UCD results – Analysis and action plan

Since sending out the questionnaire we have had 6 dads that have completed the questionnaire, this is a bit disappointing considering we had approached 15 dads. However quality is better than quantity and we’ve had some positive comments along with some constructive criticism. To keep this organised we’ve numbered each respondent and picked out the key questions and answers that will help us understand why they were or were not inspired by the animation.

The questions that we’ve picked out are:

Did the animation inspire you to read to your children more frequently?

Why did you answer question 6 (the above question) as you did?

Can you make any suggestions that you feel would improve the animation?

Here are the answers we have received:

Respondent 1: 

Did the animation inspire you to read to your children more frequently?

NO

Why did you answer question 6 (the above question) as you did?

I really like the concept but I think the connection between the father and son wasn’t strong enough. A bit more footage of them reading together and the son interacting, maybe pointing things out on the page or joining in with the reading would be good. You could have the father start to read and then the child pick up the story before it goes into the visual stuff. At the end, as a father, I would want my child to give me a hug and say goodnight following a story, maybe with a ‘thank you for taking me on that adventure Daddy’ type thing would be good.

Can you make any suggestions that you feel would improve the animation?

I think if you showed the Dad and Child picking up the story together and then maybe transport them both onto the pirate ship so they are both part of the story and the Dad has an investment in what happens, maybe helping each other as they go along through the adventures. If you want Dads to spend more time with their kids, you need to show that in the video. ‘Reading to your kids takes you on the adventure with them’ is a good message to give. I sometimes get my kids to tell me a story out of their head with no book and the things that come out of their imagination are amazing, but that’s because I’m normally part of the story rather than just watching a story being read. I realise you probably only have a small amount of time for the video so may not be able to incorporate all these thoughts but the Dad being part of the adventure and a good, happy closure is key for me. You don’t want your child having nightmares about being made to walk the plank at sword point.

Respondent 2:

Did the animation inspire you to read to your children more frequently?

YES

Why did you answer question 6 (the above question) as you did?

I already read nightly, but if I didn’t, I believe I would feel more inspired to read more.

Can you make any suggestions that you feel would improve the animation?

I think the voice over was too long, I felt like it didn’t need to give that amount of information. Also I think it needed a bit more character.

Respondent 3:

Did the animation inspire you to read to your children more frequently?

YES

Why did you answer question 6 (the above question) as you did?

*No response*

Can you make any suggestions that you feel would improve the animation?

Could you do more than one video?, but shorter…I would do a series of videos, a different book and a different adventure. Then you could also do stories for girls as well.

Respondent 4:

Did the animation inspire you to read to your children more frequently?

YES

Why did you answer question 6 (the above question) as you did?

*No response*

Can you make any suggestions that you feel would improve the animation?

Well thought after design with a very clear, strong message.

Respondent 5:

Did the animation inspire you to read to your children more frequently?

YES

Why did you answer question 6 (the above question) as you did?

The video reminds us that children can actively imagine and put themselves into scenarios and stories in a way adults have probably forgotten to do (or don’t do often enough).  Adults tend to read and enjoy a story as a ‘reader’ or third person – Children immerse themselves much more into the story.

Can you make any suggestions that you feel would improve the animation?

Raise the music levels, and perhaps introduce a little more ‘dramatic’ effect in the voiceover and sound effects

Respondent 6:

Did the animation inspire you to read to your children more frequently?

YES

Why did you answer question 6 (the above question) as you did?

*No response*

Can you make any suggestions that you feel would improve the animation?

During second adventure there perhaps needs to be more interaction between the father and son to reinforce the message of doing things together. The narration lacks a little sense of fun during the fight with the pirates. Perhaps needs a slightly quicker tempo.

You can view each of the respondents answers in more detail here:

1.SavetheChildrenQuestionnaire 2.SavetheChildrenQuestionnaire 3.SaveTheChildrenQuestionnaire 4.SavetheChildrenQuestionnaire 5.SavetheChildrenQuestionnaire 6.SavetheChildrenQuestionnaire

Action Plan From Results

The feedback we received was really positive, but we also received suggestions that are really good ideas,

The main points were:

– More interaction between father and son

– More Dramatic voice over/ voice over lasted too long

– Multiple short videos with different stories

So now that we have these results and have found out what our users actually think about our project, and have a list of what they advised we change, we need to decide what we can change, in the little time we have left. We can edit the voice over and take pieces out to shorten it, recording a new voice may be possible, either mine or Jordans dad may have to do it, as we haven’t got time to arrange an actor. We can edit the video to create two smaller ones to see how they feel as an experiment. Having more interaction between the boy and his father may be a bit tricky as re animating a scene in a week is a near impossible task so will have to be left out for now.

Here is our action plan for this week running up to the hand in:

– Edit the current Voice over
– Edit two shorter videos with separate stories
– Record a fresh voice over, with a more mature and exciting voice.

Constructing UCD questionnaire

User Centred Design.

During the early stages of the project we chose our two design methodologies, SCAMPER and User Centred Design. Throughout the design and development we have continuously used SCAMPER to take existing designs/ideas and adapt then to our project. However we haven’t executed User Centred Design properly, at times we have asked dads close to us what they think to a certain design but we haven’t utilized UCD to its full potential.

What is User Centred Design?

“User-centred design (UCD) is a project approach that puts the intended users of a site at the centre of its design and development. It does this by talking directly to the user at key points in the project to make sure the site will deliver upon their requirements.”

The ‘user’ of our product is dads. Throughout the design of our animation we have considered the interests of dads, we have put them at the centre of the development with the intention to inspire them to read to their children. Whilst we have ‘considered their interests’ we haven’t got any feedback directly from them, which would potentially have changed the outcome of the animation.

Constructing the questionnaire

Last week we constructed a 1st draft of our questionnaire and presented it in our tutorial. You can see the post about it here: https://jordangook3d.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/questionnaire-first-draft-and-tutorial-response/

1st draft:

Following this we have emailed Danny Kaye, who specializes in statistics, asking him to review our questionnaire and suggest any changes that are needed. He emailed us back with a revised version of the questionnaire, this has helped massively as it will increase the effectiveness of the questionnaire:

With this feedback we have then amended the suggested changes:

Initially we wanted to have focus groups where we could book a room to have several dads come and give their feedback in person. However due to the availability of dads this isn’t feasible. To compromise myself and Jordan have contacted around 15 different dads with this message:

Hi *insert name*
I’m currently developing a short 3D animation for a University project with the aim to inspire dads to read to their children for just 10 minutes every day.  As you fit right into our target audience I was wondering if it would be possible for you to complete a short questionnaire to help further develop our project. You will find a link to the video inside the word document. Thank you.

Reference:

http://www.webcredible.com/blog-reports/web-usability/user-centered-design.shtml

Other interesting reads:

http://images.pearsonassessments.com/images/tmrs/tmrs_rg/UserCenteredDesigntoDataManagement.pdf?WT.mc_id=TMRS_Applying_a_User_Centered_Design_Approach

http://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/benefits-of-ucd.html

http://www.usabilitynet.org/management/b_overview.htm

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/U/user_centered_design.html

Acting on Feedback

In a post on the 7th February I displayed the feedback that received on the design/layout of the bedroom scene. During that stage in the project I didn’t have enough time to act on the feedback which was discussed in the blog post. Since successfully submitting to the competition brief I have been working on the suggested improvements to the scene.

Original feedback:

Original bedroom scene:

Revised bedroom scene:

New feedback:
Overall I am happy with the quality of this render and as suggested I wont be making many if not any changes as I don’t want to “over do it”. Whilst this isn’t UCD feedback it is feedback that has helped develop the quality of my product. This links into my PPP module as this piece of work will be the center piece of my portfolio.

Production Schedule Reflection/Plan

At the beginning of the project I constructed a Gantt chart for the production schedule that both myself and Jordan worked from. We have been using Gantt charts for the past five years now and we understand the importance and value of creating one at the beginning of the project to plan and set deadlines to ensure the production flows efficiently. 

This Gantt chart only contained the 10 weeks plan for the competition brief and any time after that we haven’t had a production schedule to follow. Throughout the development of the project myself and Jordan made excellent use of the Gantt chart as we both work efficiently to meet each suggested deadline. I have worked alongside Jordan on our previous course as we were both project managers of a team built up of 10 disciplines. We’re both organised individuals that share the same ethos when it comes to time management. As we have done with previous projects we planned the development to be concluded a week before the deadline giving us “backup time”. By scheduling this we were prepared for any “hiccups” that would delay the production. This plan worked perfectly as during week 8 of the production we had to focus on our PPP module as we had a deadline to meet. As a result the production was pushed back a week but due to our production schedule were able to successfully complete and submit the project for the competition brief.

Since then we haven’t followed a production schedule as we began improving our individual work for our workbook and PPP module. With the university deadline fast approaching we need a schedule to manage the remaining time in order to successfully improve our project on time. We cant afford to be complacent at this stage we must continue to deliver both the quality and quantity of work that we have been doing.

Whats left to be done:

• Research UCD – Who are they? How do we find them?
• Complete Questionnaire/Focus group
• Amend improvements suggested from the questionnaire
• Develop a new voice over – needs to be an older voice
• Evaluation

I’ve created a Gantt chart for the remaining weeks left. There’s a lot left to do but as long as I remain motivated and organised I can meet each suggested deadline.

Questionnaire First Draft and tutorial response

Following the previous research myself and Jordan started developing the first draft for our questionnaire. The research we carried out has influenced both the structure and the type of questions that we have included. As the research suggested we started off with some easy questions to ease the user into it.

What is your gender?

Male                       Female

Firstly, how often  do you read to your child/children?

Everyday                Every 2-3 days                Weekly              Not at all

Do you think your child is a confident reader?

Yes                      No

The link provided is a short 3D animation that both Jordan Gook and Jordan Williams have developed as part of our final University project. The intent of the artefact is to encourage dads to read to their children for 10 minutes a day. Please watch the video carefully and then answer the following questions:

Do you feel like there is a clear message in the narration of the animation?

Yes                               No

 After watching the animation do you feel inspired to read to your child/children?

Yes                                No

If so why do you feel inspired/if you don’t, why don’t you feel inspired?

 

From the animation do you understand the importance of reading to your child/children?

Yes                                 No

 

After watching this do you personally feel like you read to your child enough?

Yes                                 No

How can we improve the animation to further inspire dads to read to their children every night?

 

Feel free to add any further suggestions/comments to help us develop this animation:

We have carefully constructed the questionnaire to contain two key questions before and after the user has watched the video. By asking “how often  do you read to your child/children?” before the user has watched the video and “After watching the animation do you feel inspired to read to your child/children?” after watching the video we can see how successful our artifact is. We can present the data by using an info-graphic to show a visual representation of how many dads who didn’t read to their children now feel inspired to do so. This links to the BJ Fogg “Fogg Behavioral Model”, the dad now has the “motivation” and the “trigger” to create the behavior which as a result will form a habit.

Tutorial Response: 

In our first tutorial back on the 13th April we presented our draft questionnaire to the group in order to gain some feedback. Alex Esden, who is also developing a project for the same brief, suggested that the questions should be more direct. He also discussed the FBM and how we can relate it to the questionnaire. Alex mentioned that we didn’t have a question asking whether or not the dad has the ability to read. This was a really useful suggestion as if the dad doesn’t have the ability to read then no behavior occurs and the test stops there. He advised that we use this type of question to open with as it is extremely important.

Another suggestion was to include a “first impressions” question which allows the user to express how they were impacted by the video after their first time viewing it. This is an extremely good suggestion as if this going to be used as an advertisement on TV or even before a YouTube video the viewer can only watch it through as it plays. This will help us understand the effectiveness of the artifact, if it needs to be played more than once it is not a successful campaign.

Our tutor suggested that we book a surgery appointment with Danny Kaye, a tutor that specializes in collecting and collating statistics. This is something we will be doing as we need to maximize the effectiveness of the questionnaire before using it.

Father/Son relationships and why we chose a boy

When we started the project we decided straight away that the child in the animation should be a boy, and we did a little research into this that justified it in a sense, but now that we have a finished version of the animation, have we made the correct choice in choosing a boy character rather than a girl?

Psychologist Melanie Mallers says that the father and son relationship is crucial for a boy’s development, and it’s more impactful in later life than father and daughter or mother and son relationships.

“What men can do for boys, the way they play with them, the way they talk with
them, the way they teach them to be assertive, the way they teach them to
problem solve, it has profound lasting implications.”

“They matter for their daughters too, but they’re especially significant for how
adult men, the children who grow up to become adults, how they react to stress.”

This is echoed by author James Patterson who whilst campaigning for more fathers to read to their children said:

“There is evidence that boys are slipping further behind girls in reading – and this
emphasises how important it is that dads are positive role models to their sons as well
as their daughters when it comes to reading.”

So from research here and elsewhere, we can see that the father and son bond is crucial, and can be made stronger through reading. And this is not to say that father shouldn’t read to their daughters, all this piece of research shows us is that choosing a Boy was perhaps the correct choice, given that we are targeting fathers and that bond is crucial in both father and sons lives.

References:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/father-son-relationship-may-play-important-role-in-later-life-stress/article1376968/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21545204

Further reading:

http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/importance-father-son-relationships-23229.html

http://readingagency.org.uk/news/reading-facts003/

http://www.parents.com/parenting/better-parenting/style/the-role-of-fathers-with-daughters-and-sons/

Unsuccessful Feedback – Questionnaire Research

Five days ago we posted our artifact on the Polycount forum, a Forum where professional 3D artists share their work and give each other constructive feedback. We initially posted this to gain feedback for technical side of the project but “hoped” to gain some UCD feedback too. We have yet to have any response, reflecting back on this we believe we have been lazy. Rather than carefully constructing a questionnaire for a focus group we just posted this online and hoped for the best. As a result of this we have conducted some research into how to effectively set up questionnaires to gain feedback.

Question Placement: 

“One of the most difficult tasks facing the survey designer involves the ordering of questions. Which topics should be introduced early in the survey, and which later? If you leave your most important questions until the end, you may find that your respondents are too tired to give them the kind of attention you would like. If you introduce them too early, they may not yet be ready to address the topic, especially if it is a difficult or disturbing one. There are no easy answers to these problems – you have to use your judgment. Whenever you think about question placement, consider the following questions:

• Is the answer influenced by prior questions?
• Does question come too early or too late to arouse interest?
• Does the question receive sufficient attention?”

Question placement is something we must first understand before constructing a questionnaire. This source suggests that you shouldn’t leave the most important question until last and neither should you open with it. With this in mind we should open our questionnaire with something along the lines of “ Do you read to your children often?” as opposed to “Do you feel inspired and motivated to read to your children after watching the video?”.

Personal Wording:

“With a change of just a few words, a question can go from being relatively impersonal to probing into your private perspectives.

• Are working conditions satisfactory or not satisfactory in the plant where you work?
• Do you feel that working conditions satisfactory or not satisfactory in the plant where you work?
• Are you personally satisfied with working conditions in the plant where you work?

The first question is stated from a fairly detached, objective viewpoint. The second asks how you “feel.” The last asks whether you are “personally satisfied.” Be sure the questions in your survey are at an appropriate level for your context. And, be sure there is consistency in this across questions in your survey.”

We feel this is extremely important and is something we will consider when constructing our questionnaire. With the nature of our project the user experience is key to the success of our artefact. We need to implement this and make our questionnaire personal, we want to know how the user “feels” after watching the artefact.

Response Format: 

When creating a questionnaire there are two types of response formats; structured and unstructured. Structured response formats are questions that are; fill in the blank, check the answer and circle the answer. These questions help the researcher collate the data and present it in an infographic style to display the results.

“Structured formats help the respondent to respond more easily and help the researcher to accumulate and summarize responses more efficiently. But, they can also constrain the respondent and limit the researcher’s ability to understand what the respondent really means.”

Unstructured response formats are generally; “Please add any other comments”. This type of question gives the user freedom to express their opinion however it doesn’t give them any structure to follow.

“While there is a wide variety of structured response formats, there are relatively few unstructured ones. What is an unstructured response format? Generally, it’s written text. If the respondent (or interviewer) writes down text as the response, you’ve got an unstructured response format. These can vary from short comment boxes to the transcript of an interview.”

When developing our questionnaire we will focus on having structure response formats that contain yes or no answers which in return will help us analyse the data efficiently. We will end with an unstructured response format question to then give the user the freedom to express how the animation made them feel. The format of the structured questions answered prior to this will help keep the users comments on topic and will influence their response to the unstructured format.

Reference:

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/quesplac.php