Mobile Coverage

If we're making a web app that needs internet connectivity for it to work, we need good mobile signal at the site. Here's some coverage maps:

3

O2

Orange

T Mobile

Vodafone

According to these maps, all the networks have good outdoor coverage at Glynde Place. It looks like 3g might be a bit dodgy though so we might have to make a low-bandwidth version

Video Legal Things

As well as an app, we will make promotional videos for the festival.
Before we make films onsite at the festival for uploading onto the web we need to check the legal issues involved. I've had a look on the internet:

I thought I'd look on the Glastonbury site, because that's the biggest festival and they're likely to have a policy regarding filming.
They have two!
Glastonbury Broadcaster internet and filming access policy

You may not film or record on site without the Festival’s official permission.

We're alright there then because we're OFFICIAL!

No live performances may be recorded without the Festival’s express prior permission. Even if granted you will usually need the artist’s and where relevant their record label’s permissions as well. 

We will have to check with all the artists that this is ok.

Crews must be kept to a minimum and be sensitive to the Festival public and their privacy. 

As it is private land (i think) we might also need permission from the land owner.

Glasto Public video camera policy

You are free to record your own visit to the Festival for your own personal home use. You will not be able to sell on any moving images of the Festival for commercial or other gain.

Please respect the privacy of other festival goers who may not want to be filmed.

The UK Film Council said:

You do not need to ask passers-by for permission to feature their faces in a film. Under UK law, the copyright of film shot in a public place resides with the filmmaker.

I'm not sure about vox-pops though. do they need to sign anything? lets find out!

Consents can be given in Release Forms and/or on camera. You need to get consent from anyone who either gives you an interview or who otherwise speaks on camera. It's worth having a paragraph on your release form stating the general objective of the film to show informed consent. You don’t need a release form for people on the street as long as your camera was not concealed. You will need release forms for people who are identifiable in sensitive places even if they are not speaking eg) hospital waiting rooms, gay clubs, law court corridors.

http://www.4docs.org.uk/wiki/index.php/Legals

I don't think we'll need release forms as long as we say. HI we're making a promotional film for the Meadowlands website, could we ask you some questions?

Copyright

If there is music playing in the background and it is captured on film, it is likely that it will need to be cleared for use within the film and you will have to pay for it. It will also involve spending time completing the necessary paperwork. There is also the possibility that it may be prohibitively expensive, in which case you won’t be able to use that footage. For these reasons, try to avoid filming in places where music is playing, unless of course you are only shooting pictures and intend to discard the audio track.

http://www.4docs.org.uk/wiki/index.php/Copyright

This advice is really for people making small independant documentaries. Hopefully the bands wont mind if we ask them nicely

Try to be conscious of what you are filming and whether there may be copyright in it. If a contributor reads or quotes from a book, newspaper or magazine, or sings or even hums a line from a song, the likelihood is it will need clearance before it can be included.

Be careful not to film interviews and actuality next to artistic works such as paintings, photographs, posters, billboards, sculptures etc. Before filming, look closely at the location to see what, if any, copyright works might be in shot that might cause problems later.

Should be alright there unless people have massive logos on their clothes, then we can just blur them out.

Might need insurance?

A major reason for needing insurance is liability. For example, if someone trips over a wire or you bump into an old lady who breaks her hip - the law will hold you responsible. Without insurance, those people can file a claim against you and you'll have to pay for their injury.

http://www.4docs.org.uk/wiki/index.php/Insurance
Glastonbury require that filmmakers have insurance:

You must have full public and employers liability insurance and provide us with a copy of your certificate of insurance in advance of filming. 

 http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/Information/media/broadcaster-internet-and-filming-access-policy

Meadowlands Festival App

As a group we will be making either:

•  A native app for iOs

or

• a web app, that works across multiple devices and mobile browsers (most likely)

It's for Meadowlands Festival. It's a music festival that is in it's second year, and is held at Glynde Place.

There are a few festival apps already available, the best known is probably Glastonav, the free Orange app available on most smartphones for Glastonbury festival.
Last year's version had an augmented reality feature exclusively on the iPhone version, where users could hold up their phone and see the view from the camera with overlaid location pointers:

I don't think this would be as useful at Meadowlands because the festival is on a much smaller scale. Also the app is likely to use a LOT of battery, using GPS, camera and is probably heavy on the processor. The normal map would be handy though, and so would the 'now and next' feature for each stage.

Looking at a review of last years app and last years iPhone app it looks like the software was rushed and consequently buggy, lacking features and not well thought through.


James Whatley on The Really Mobile Project reckons:

[At a festival] The only good piece of software is one that SAVES BATTERY. Full stop. End of. If your mobile app depends on any of the following things, forget it:

• GPS to find out where your mates are? Forget it.

• Connecting to your online database of musical choices and downloads your pre-planned schedule? Forget it.

• Interacting with other people using a specific app or mobile website? Forget it.

At any festival, the ability to make and receive phone calls and text messages is literally THE ONLY THING THAT IS OF ANY VALUE.

http://thereallymobileproject.com/2010/06/festival-season-and-mobile-the-ugly-truth/

Hmmmmm

Orange provide a solution to this at Glastonbury, they have a 'Chill 'n' Change tent' where people can go to top up their phone for free. It's still a bit of an inconvenience though, especially as you'd have to wait in the chill n charge tent while your phone fills up. Maybe you could chill though and it would be well good. ?

People have made unofficial apps for Reading and Leeds and there's one called iFest that can do all the festivals! It doesn't have any reviews on the app store though, so I don't know how true that is.
Features of existing festival apps:

• Up to date Schedule
• Now and Next for each stage
• Tent finder
• Map
• Friend finder
• Weather
• festival tips
• links to band sites/youtube/itunes
• 'Check in' at acts with Facebook integration
• Bar Guide
• Augmented reality map
• Publication (eg. Q)'s recommendations

Other Features that could be included (Virtual lighter and torch already exist as standalone apps)

• Torch (screen goes white)
• Photo / video submission to Meadowlands site OR could go on big screen
• Reviews / ratings of acts
• Virtual Lighter!
• Scheduler with alert 30 mins before for acts you choose. (idea from a user review)
• Webcam showing stage, could have different angles (not live streaming, just every few minutes)
• Free mp3 downloads
• Tweets from the bands

In class we talked about competitions that could be entered using the app.  These could be the best video / photo submissions to win merchandise or access to VIP areas. Uploaded photos and videos can go on the desktop site as well to make it look hap nin.

PFD

Here's a Jpeg-ified Version of my PFD for submitting to the client.

I tried to make it look interesting by including lots of pictures and not having too much text. 

The only things I would change is maybe make the title page a bit more in keeping with the style of the actual adverts, and have some mock-ups of the adverts in situ on the Underground. Other than that I'm pleased with how it looks and I think they should be kept engaged until the end!

Print Ads

The print ads are for displaying inside the carriages on the Underground.

I had already used the animation to show how the clipper service can be used for tourists to see and go to London attractions, so these print ads show other benefits of the service that were outlined in the brief and on their website

• Free Wifi
• Guaranteed a seat
• Costa Coffee

This one repeats the message of the motion advert. SEE London.

I think now that 'A better view' would have been slightly better but it's the same message.

Software

To make the water flow into the frame I first used masking, but it was hard to make it smooth, I kept getting corners between the keyframes. After playing around with effects like 'write on' and liquify I found the glue gun effect. With it's settings on default it makes shiny lines that look like they are made of glue like this:

I do quite like this look, but it doesn't fit with the flat landmarks and boat, so I turned off the lighting and made it flat. This way I get the smooth animation of a blob of glue, without the fancy 3D effect.

Clippers

Because my Clipper has to turn round to meander down the Thames, I had to make a series of frames from different angles. I used photos of the boats that I found on the internet to trace in illustrator:

I made it orange, navy blue and white to contrast with the more subtle colours of the buildings and river. The blue and orange are taken from the Thames Clippers logo and their website. 

It's turning is still not that smooth, I'd like to try and make a 3D model of the boat before the competition deadline to get it just right, but it is a lot better than it was when there were only 3 different frames.

A side elevation drawing of Tower Bridge and a 3D model of St Paul's in Google Earth were perfect for tracing in illustrator to get a straight on, flat angle for my landmarks in the animation.

St Paul's is a bit more detailed that the others, but I felt it just didn't look like St Paul's without the pillars and darker dome.

No Thames

After talking to Giles, my new idea for the Thames Clippers campaign is to take the River Thames off of a map of London with major landmarks and stations still visible. Then after a few seconds the river will come in and link it all together. The main idea here is that Londoners can sometimes forget about the Thames being a transport link, and the advert saying 'did you know, theres this really handy transport link that goes right through the centre of London'

The animation will have to be in a graphicy style, and not too close to a satellite map, so that when the Thames eventually comes in it doesn't look like a disaster movie.

I thought about using the very well known tube map and distorting it to make the Thames stand out.

Big Ben

I was going to show an over-complicated tube map to show how much easier and simple the Thames is in comparison, but it cluttered up the design of the animation.

An early layout

This screenshot from Google Earth shows how the O2 and Canary Wharf are so far away from the other landmarks, which are all quite close together near the top of this picture. I had to use some artistic license to fit them all in. 

This was when I decided there weren't enough landmarks and I added the Tate Modern and 1 Canada Sq. (Canary Wharf) but my family said it was better before, and now looking back at it compared with the final one (below) I agree.

The Final layout, showing Houses of Parliament, London Eye, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge and Millennium Dome/O2 with a very simplified/mutated Thames.

Final Animation

Thames Clippers Brief

I have decided to do the Thames Clippers Brief.

We need to engage with people that live in London, and people that visit London, at the times that they’ll be most receptive to understanding the benefits of river travel. 

 I think the best way to do this is to advertise on the London Underground. I can use the Underground's digital advertising; LCDs, Digital Escalator Panels and Cross Track Projections. I could also do static adverts for the stations without this infrastructure.

Some of the adverts use more than one screen at a time to make a big advert like this car one:


To make a big impact I could use multiple screens to make a kind of virtual tank of water that fills up and empties out on a loop. When the water drains away it could leave behind a slogan like 'A better view' and the Thames Clippers logo. but that doesn't have much to do with the water.