Unused Images

Faith and her alter ego

Faith and her alter ego

Faith and her alter ego

Sadly we couldn’t end up using these, but we all enjoying seeing them and I enjoyed making them.  Sometimes that’s just the way it goes!

Team Chemistry

Though we came together to form a team almost randomly but we ended up having all the skills that we required. However, JAMAKA was a team beyond skill sets as we also had good mutual understanding, which helped in flow of ideas. Good working compatibility was most evident during last tough three days; this was when we were running our own little factory, where things were being passed on from one person to the other while getting processed on each step on their way to final integration. This process went really smooth when it could have been really tough considering that a lot of things were being edited by person B after they were received by person A who had spend some good time editing them too.

We’re finished!

We're finished!

AirStyx was a project that brought individuals together with a variety of skills and it gave each other a better insight of what can be done when these skills are used to their full potential.

It’s around 3 a.m. and we just finished our last rendering of the endings! We finally see all the puzzles pieces come together and realized how much the final product resembled our storyboard. It was a great experience and much was learnt from each other. We are very happy with the result and we are ready to present in 6 hours.

Special thanks to MDM Faculty, Staff, and Cohort who have helped us with the whole process and without you it wouldn’t have been possible.

“I thank the whole team for sticking through the last 5 days to make this possible and climbing a huge scope hill that is ‘AirStyx’. I couldn’t be more prouder of all you for staying on track and fighting through the tough times at the crunch period. I salute to your talents and am thankful for a great experience in working with you all. We made it and we can now enjoy a well deserved rest during winter holidays. Team Jamaka Out.” – Al Sinoy

Final Synopsis!

Air Styx is an interactive narrative, which allows the user to explore the inner thoughts of characters who will ultimately die in a fiery plane crash. Themes of judgement and redemption are explored through your relationship with the characters as their final moments solicit unsurfaced thoughts and feelings. The user is introduced to the characters, sees their memories and ultimately their final thoughts. Inspired by Greek myths, the use of green screen and complex modelling to the soundtrack of famous operas creates a dramatic experience appropriate to such significant subject matter.

(Note: Incorporating the “user” in the synopsis is kind of tricky. It’s necessary for this “interactive” medium (although it’s kind of applicable to all media) but it is still kind of difficult to write in how we want “you” to interact with it. Yet the users reactions to the characters are an essential part of this piece. In our final we are still undecided as to whether we should synopsize before showing the demo or not….)

The Green Screen Process

greenscreen stage 1

greenscreen stage 2

greenscreen stage 3

greenscreen stage 4

Hard at Work!

Now that the group has finished the building virtual worlds project, it’s time for Team Jamaka to switch gears and finish AirStyx. We knew that we had much to do and we were ready to do our best.

Due to the fatigue of late nights of the other projects, the team had a hard time to focus and deliver quick results. After realizing so, Al gathers his energy and starts drawing a tally chart of a ‘to do list’ to make the group aware of what was left to be done.

After doing so, the team gathered their focus back. Since Al had to integrate all the assets into the flash project, he had a good idea on how far the team progressed. Eventually it led to a Director/Producer role with the support of Jen and Airlia who sat beside him to confirm the visuals with the story.

We then found out that the green screen footage for selecting the characters did not go well. Therefore, Al needed to quickly think on his feet and reorganize the process in order to RESHOOT these clips make them optimal of Khadija to process the images. It was very nerve wrecking and it took a lot of energy to make sure that no one will get lost in the process within the fast pace we were working in. With the help of the tally chart and re-iterating what had to be done, we maintained the focus level for two more days before the submission.

Hard at work

Khadija working on our Green Screen Video

Al searching for our icons

Mo working on our Green Screen images

Jen working on our Sound Effects and Music

Everyone worked very hard on their roles and fed all the different puzzle pieces for Al to build together.

The Boards – Charting our Progress

So it’s our final weekend, here at school and with Air Styx. We would have all loved to put in more time earlier so we wouldn’t have to push now, but it’s irrelevant. We have to push now. So Al has made up a handy board of completion – with each task laid out so we can check them off each time one is completed. The “achiever” in me is pretty excited. We have few checkmarks now, but I plan to be a big part of filling up the board.

I am currently working on the sound recordings we’ve collected, specifically with Andrew’s recordings as the pilot, of which I wrote the dialogue. I am very interested in the pilot as this unseen character and I hope he reflects the “ambigous” nature of the characters in the piece. I also want his dialogue to punctuate each scene. Luckily his superb voice acting should make this happen. My inspiration for the pilot was from bus drivers and pilots who tend to say too much. Charon starts out as merely as eccentric but as the flight goes on what he’s saying should just seem strange. (Obviously his words are laced with foreshadowing.) Some of my favorite parts include – his choice to avoid the safety instructions (which actually was because we didn’t know how to get them in but it obviously works for the flight anyway) and his choice to turn off the non-smoking sign. The fuzzing of the PA is also serving to punctuate important phrases – as well as make him strange and “other-worldly.” A little “verfremdunstwerk.” (Brechtian’s – to mke strange in order to provoke thought. Also called alienation effect.)

Bloopers

Practicing his moves

Strike a pose!

Oh Yeah!

Waiting for her man

Waiting for his woman

The happy couple

Don't worry no Khadija's were hurt during the filming of Air Styx

Waiting to start

Shooting

Director of Photography

We had a lot of scenes and characters to shoot.  With the help of many of our fellow classmates we got it all done!  Using images and videos for high impact we could develop the characters we created.  Working with busy schedules and tricky weather and lighting, it was a fun learning experience for us all.  We also did a lot of Green Screen which was a lot of work, but another great experience!

Character Charts

Layout of our 4 characters

Completion chart of each scene for each character

With the many scenes we had for each character we made use of these charts to keep track of what each scene required in terms of actors, video or still images, props, locations etc.  It also provided a sense of accomplishment when checked off as complete!