Past Present & Future, Web

Another new website uploaded!
Check my Index out, online!

Chroma Key Processes, Animation

Today in animation we have learned about the various chroma key processes that have been created over the past century or so, for film makers. Ever since the 1930's filmmakers have used various techniques to create visual illusions and other special effects. In order to help learn, we were given questions to answer in a blog post.

The Chroma Key Processes

1. Magician’s Medium: The magicians medium is basically film effects. The first filmmaker to use effects was in fact a magician, and spent his life studying illusion: Georges Méliès. He used glass to cover stuff up and was able to film over film and fill in holes made by the glass.
2. Williams Process: The problem with the glass, or "matte", was that it was static and could not move. This is when a "Traveling matte" became a thing. The process was patented by Frank Williams, hence the name. The process itself involves photographing subjects against a pure black background. The film then was copied to increasingly high contrast negatives until a black and white silhouette emerged. This silhouette was used as the matte-called a traveling matte because it was able to move around.
3. Dunning Process: An alternative to the Williams process came around in 1925 by C. Dodge Dunning. The process used colored lights, lighting a background screen blue and the subject in yellow using dyes and filters. The different light could be split apart to create moving mattes. It's only issue was that it only worked with black and white film. 
   
4. Yellow Screen: In the late 50's, another alternative to the blue screen emerged: the yellow screen. Using sodium vapor to light powerful lights on a white screen, and a specially coated prism, wavelengths and SCIENCE automagically created a black and white traveling matte. The remaining light from non-sodium-vapor lights was unaffected. This technique created the best traveling mattes of the time.
5. Color Matte Difference: This was a complicated process using multiple colors and a blue screen. It requires 12 film elements to get to the final product but was remarkable in that it solved the fine detail issue with blue screens. It was so successful that it was in use for 40 years.
6. Digital Process: The digital process is the birth of the green screen. Green was better overall because most peole didn't wear green, and green is cheaper/easier then blue. It worked especially well for outdoors, where the sky isn't green.

Responsive Web Design Intro, Web

In order to prepare to make our websites responsive, we needed to learn HOW they are responsive. This is done mostly through media queries. Break points are important for the code, however. Break points are used to separate sections of code so it is easier to read and change, but  media queries are what we use to make websites responsive to the device, and they became a standard in 2012. They are a CSS3 module and basically tell a website when to shrink and grow.

The website I have chosen to show as having good responsive design is http://stephencaver.com/
This is because the website shows a good example of shortening content for mobile users, and also looks great on each screen.

 This is the full, desktop screen page. The motto is clearly defined with the logo in the top left, and there are buttons conveniently right below the text, with more links above the text as well.

 


When you shrink the website to a middle, tablet size, the buttons stack on top of each other, the logo moves to the center, and finally the motto shrinks a lot to give the specifics above room to grow. The buttons form 2 columns, and the font increases in size.

 
Finally, when you shrink the website to about a mobile device, the motto shrinks substantially and the buttons below completely disappear. The specifics become the buttons and remain above the motto, and the rest of the content comes up to replace the space of the buttons. There are no columns, and the font increases in size again. 

Website, Web

I now have a website published LIVE and ONLINE.
It's the full photo composition website that was on a earlier blogpost, now worked to be viewable on any device.
Go check it out! 
http://eravensonline.net/students/117mjs15/