February 2020 Project
I love the carnival project I created! It is my favorite storytelling project I created while pursuing my degree at the Art Institute (BFA 2008, Interactive Media). It’s memorable, it’s delightful, and I was told I couldn’t pull it off.
I needed an idea that would marry my photographic skills with my web design skills, and I wanted a topic that would be extremely colorful and fun to photograph, and then turn it into a story.
I decided to create a behind-the-scene story of what goes on at a carnival.
When I pitched this idea to my professor, he politely told me it was not a good idea because I did not personally know anyone who worked at the carnival… I didn’t have an “in”. I listened. I nodded. I understood his position… but he didn’t understand my determination!
It was fair season, and that weekend I proceeded to the North GA fair where I spent the entire weekend. I approached carnival workers I didn’t know, befriended them, pitched in a helping hand where I could, and asked a lot of questions.
Every single carnival worker I approached was receptive to me and my cause.
Once I friended Mike, the guy in charge, he walked me over to the ferris wheel and asked the operator to take me to the top of the wheel and stop. From there I was able to take several photos of the carnival grounds that became the basis of my project. I was grateful for such cooperation.
That evening I had my tent in my car so I was ready to stay into the night with my new found friends. Yep, seriously.
I received a full tour of what the carnies did at night and where they slept.
My story is told through photographs, text, graphic images, hover interactions, and audible sound clips. The user’s journey travels across the map of the carnival grounds.
Update for 2020
My original project in 2007/2008 utilized Flash technology that published a .swf file to an HTML website. To update my project so that it renders in today’s browser, I will need to convert my ActionScript 2.0 to ActionScript 3.0, then output my work to a compliant HTML5 format. Hover treatments used heavily in 2008 will be updated to a touch-friendly technique. Lastly, I want the original navigation buttons to be more intuitive.
That’s three, large, to-do items I want to complete for my February project. Today is February 8th, and it’s unfortunate it took me 8 days to decide what my February project is. I need to finish 1 week early so I can test and revise for that last week (what I learned from project #1 last month). So now my month-long project is effectively 2 weeks. Can I get it done?
First I look at the calendar to see what other commitments I have. I shouldn’t expect myself to work on February 14th or the 18th.
A little project plan for myself:
- Update Action Script – 9th – 15th
- Update navigation buttons
- Convert hovers to HTML5 animations – 16th – 22nd
- Review & self grade – 23rd
- Improvements – 23-29th
- Decide next project for March 23 – 29th
- Final self grade on 29th
If I can stick to my plan here and if I don’t get tripped up too much on ActionScript 3.0, I should be able to get the carnival project up and running for February 2020.
