Feedback From Peers

Today I have been asking for some comments regarding colours on my website. My current design is a lemon shape background with blue writing. I asked the people on my course to give some feedback. The background has been something which is quite popular and worked well which is pleasing but people have claimed there has been problem with the blue and that they have found it difficult to read and that the font could do with changing. So this is something I will look at doing.

From the feedback regarding my lemon background is quite pleasing for me the reason I did this is because a lot of the practitioners I have looked at mainly use a black and white background so I feel that doing a yellow background makes my site out and its quirky. In the future I may look at doing a logo based around a lemon. Maybe make this part of my brand.

So this is my original homepage with the blue writing. For myself it works because the blue and yellow seem to work together but as other people have commented on it I have decided to look into trying some other colours to see if I can improve on this.

I have decided to go with purple instead because I feel that with the yellow and purple being contrasting colours it means that the text will stand a little easier to read. I have also changed all the text to Times New Roman and removed the shadow so this will not effect the readers when they are reading my site. I will then apply this to all my pages after to keep a running theme though out my work.

Other feedback regarding my was that my buttons at the top of the page where a bit large. I had changed the original menu because I felt that the writing was a little small and by changing to buttons it would allow the viewer to scroll though the pages a little easier but I have adjusted them to a smaller size now.

Thinking About My Photography

I have taken the decision to add a bit of photography onto my page. For me I love taking pictures of nature and landscapes. The reason behind this is because it is very natural and can't be altered when taking the image. I think to develop my photos I will look to experiment with photoshop a bit more to give some of my images that little bit of an edge.

So adding photos to my site I will just adding pictures of some of the flowers I have seen a various other photos current I am using a lensbaby composer pro sweet 35mm and Canon 40mm f/2.8.

Adjusting My Portfolio From Feedback

From getting feedback for my portfolio one thing I had not thought about was what it would look like on a mobile. When i had sent my portfolio out for feedback I had not thought about what it would look like on a mobile. Lucky on Wix it allows you to adjust it for mobile as well as desktop which is something that is pretty helpful because it means there is more access to my site and for example if you wanted to show your work to someone you had met instead of having to pull out a laptop and show it you can load it up on your mobile there and show your work and its pretty simple to sort out in the editing process on the site.

Below is an image of what my homepage will look like a mobile

Reason I Haven't Used A Logo

After giving some of my peers some feedback one thing that I have noticed is peoples use of logos for their sites. This is one thing I have not done so far. If I am being honest it isn't something that I had not thought about doing. A logo is something that can make you more noticeable and makes you more of a brand or product.

For now I will not a use a logo in my work until for maybe a year or two. My reason behind this is because I want to build up more a portfolio and clients before I start thinking about logos. But once I have got to that level then I will think about doing a logo to include of my website, videos and pictures for example. For now I just want to keep it simple by just being myself and allowing my work to be more of my brand instead of my logo.

Making Adjustments To My Portfolio

I am looking at changing various items on my portfolio website. One of the first things that I have looked at doing is adding a photography page. The reason I want to look at doing this is because one thing that is similar between photography is doing the frame work for the picture of the video.

In sense it should make work that having both photography and video shows my frame work is up to scratch. For myself personally i think that my video is much stronger then my photography but I feel that my photography is something that is a working process so when I am thinking about the context of my development i think that is something I can add to my strengths.


Though my main love remains with cinematography and editing which is something I have enjoyed doing in my time during university and outside. But now I have started to experiment with different lens such as  40 mm, 35 mm, 24-105 mm for example I have got a new look at my work from always using the 50mm or 18-55mm which I have regularly used during my time at university. The whole journey is meant to be that I have developed from first starting. I remember coming to university interview with some still images that I had done on a disposal camera. But when I think about it I was pleased with that work because unlike on a digital camera you have to make sure you get the picture perfect because you can't go back and delete and re take the picture.

Another thing I will look into changing is the sizes of the buttons on the page because I feel that at this current state that they are a little on the small size and that if i change them to be a bit bigger it will allow the viewer to look though the site a bit easier. Im waiting for other feedback to help improve on my work.

Below is a look at the design of how I want the page to look

Another Practitioner

http://mattprior.tv/

Matt Prior is a Camera Operator from Sussex. What I like about his site is the detail that has gone into it. He has given a description of himself and his work which ranges from promo videos to music videos. He has a nice showreel on his site so people can get a feel off his work and what he is all about. The only thing I don't like is the grey background on his site I think its a dull and a bit of turn off as if i was looking at this I would be a little put off.

But once you start looking into his work he has got range on content on his site to please the audience below is just a taste of some of his work. Once again because of some of the bright colours on his site it highlights the grey even more so one thing I will look to do in terms of my website is looking at making a brighter site in terms of my background.

 One more page that he has included on his website is a little about his equipment. On one of my prototypes I have wrote about what equipment I use but in reflection I don't think I will do this. My reason for this is because if a company hires you without knowledge of the equipment you have it seems pretty useless having a list equipment the only way I could justify having that in there is if you are going to give some context to the actual equipment and how it could benefit a company and why they should hire you. This is something he has not done 

Portfolio Update

One of the aspects of my current module doing my portfolio is learning to become a lot more a analytical in how I develop my ideas and give more reason. So far during my research into my portfolio I have just done stuff that for my visually I like and not gave a bit more reason as to why I have chosen this ideas I have gone for so far.

To help me give a bit more justice as to why I have gone with the concepts I have for it is a case of doing a bit more research into current practitioners and learn what current established practitioners have on their websites or blogs for example. By doing this it will allow me the chance to develop my current idea.

One practitioner I have researched so far is Scott Houston but i never really went into fully why I liked his site and why I have followed his kind of website. On his home page he has got a little bit about himself with links to some of his work. This is something on my website that I haven't done. But this is something I may change. My reason for doing this is because as soon as someone looks at my website I want them to be able to look at who I am straight away instead of having to look at other pages on my site to look at. This could be a case of just writing about who I am, writing about my skill set and what equipment i use. He does have a more detailed about page where he writes what work he does and how he has built up his skill set over a period of time. It also has links to social media sites of his.

He then has a page with a show reel of some his best work which is something I have done. Show reel is something that will change over time(hopefully) the more projects I can get involved the more i can add. While he has done a show reel he has also shown a variety of different work of his on a separate page. Which is something I have done but personally I feel i could add more to the page but for now I am happy with what I have added. He has also added a list of his clients which as a freelancer makes sense because he is showing how he has built up his impressive portfolio for me right now I can't really add a client list because a lot of the work I have done is for my university so it is more of a case showing my work in the video sections and highlighting my current skills.

On my site I have got like a blog section which I will be using to write more about current projects I am involved in. I think it is important to show potential employees or clients that you are always doing something instead of waiting for something to just come along. This is also a good way of showing your work behind the camera like how you prepare etc.

and finally one more thing I have included is how to contact me via email for any enquiries




http://www.scotthouston.co.uk/

Reviewing My Feedback For My Portfolio

The feedback for my interim portfolio has highlighted the fact i need to start thinking a lot more critically about work. Though this is something I don't personally enjoy it is something I should do. Another thing i need to make sure i start looking at is making sure I realise what I should include in my work and why it is important I do this.

Because I want to get into work within the video world it is vital that I show a variety of different skills and a range of different videos I have worked on to showcase I have gained different skills though out each video. But I have to figure out why I need to do this by looking at a range of different practitioners and how they have set up there portfolios and how it can base my site on this. This way I can give a justification as to why I have done it the way I have done my site in a similar way.

Other feedback was just making sure that I give my videos on my site a bit grading and correction which is something I will probably look into doing on after effects. But my only concern is because I have put in on to a YouTube channel that it will be squashed down and have a grainy effect.

Pages On My Portfolio

This will be a review on the pages I have chosen to use on my portfolio

This is my homepage the reason I have chosen to use the yellow is because i feel it is a warm inviting colour and the lemons are something that stand out. I hope for a viewer that when they enter the site they feel the same.

My next page is where I have just done a bit about myself and what kind of work i do. I feel by doing this i have shown a personal touch and making a viewer more welcome instead of professional. The reason I have done this is because I have not built up enough of a professional work to warrant doing it that way. In two years time for example I could look at changing this when I could change it so its written in a more biographical way. 

The next page is my show reel. On here I have looked at getting some of my best work. I am going to be selling myself as a camera operator and cinematographer so the work i want to include in the video is variety of pretty good framing and visually look appealing to a viewer. This way during an interview I can explain how I went about getting this shot and talk about my role during the production. 

The next part of the video is some of my work. On the page before I have a show reel which only show a snapshot of myself. The reason I have included both is because I want to show a variety of my work. On the videos I have included so far is a interview which I did. This is one of my first productions I had been involved in. The second is my Paul Smith video which I directed and I feel this is one of my strongest work. The last is a video which I filmed for Trent TV and this show a range of shots and framing.

I have chosen to use a blog page on my site to keep my work up to date. This can show what work I am currently up to and one thing I may look into doing is putting reviews of films or videos for example.

Then the last part is my contact page with my email this is so if anyone does have any enquiries they can email me.