This is a creative project inspired by the freedom and openness of creativity that I believe the DTC program gives an individual. Using elements of html, audio, and images, I wanted to show the viewer that you are not restricted to a single form of media to create a story. My project is a story that is supposed to be viewed as if you were a government official looking into an unusual case file - in this case, a file that shows the live responses of a space crew that has run into a series of unfortunate events. I intentionally left character names, appearances, and specific mission details out of my story because I want the reader to have the freedom to develop parts of the story using their own perspective. Overall, I am pleased with my results, but intend to further develop this story as I become more experienced with my personal software and design skills.
The idea of this project was formed based upon my interest in video games. Video games can give the user a sense of an immersive alternate reality, and I wanted to create a story that had a similar effect. I knew that I wanted to generate a story that was based on adventure, so I began with what sort of related to a medieval quest. I wanted to have the idea of an open mind, and somehow down that line of thinking, I switched my story theme to a galactic mystery file. To prepare for the project, I began searching for creative commons images that I could use as the "envirocam" images in the narrative. I also had to search for a sound for the mystery creature and prepare an html and css file to construct the website. Because of the tight schedule that I have with school, work, and other activities, I had to create a schedule to make sure I would stay on track with this project, as well as my other work.
I have learned that it is important to always be open to new ways of thinking. This project has allowed me to be more open to other's opinions and to not shoot down ideas that may seem to be impossible at the moment. Through this project, I have played with different design ideas, as well as improve on my skills in Photoshop, Illustrator, html, and css. I am definitely going to have to use these skills in my future studies and career, which is why I feel that it was beneficial that I added these to my project. There are many aspects that I would have liked to improve on my project, such as using some jQuery or javascript to make the narrative more interactive like a video game. Though my personal skills are not quite up to par to complete exactly what I am thinking of, I plan to build upon my learning and then revisit this project to make it the way I intended it to be. This project has definitely forced me to think outside of the box when trying to convey my ideas to the viewer. For example, I wanted it to resemble a file, so I used the menu bar at the top to create the idea that the story resided in a manila folder. I also used html and css to create what looks to be like warnings and information being read from a computer source. The biggest obstacle I came across was trying to reflect what ideas I had in my head. I always tend to think big, but by listening to other people's inputs, I was able to tone my ideas back down to a manageable size, and I personally am satisfied with the outcome.