Category: Collaborative Project Development

Purpose & Description
For the final project, my partners Theresa, Sabrina, Vicki and I made an audiovisual website for the Sapporo Upopo Honzonkai. We wanted to create an audiovisual website because we want to help better represent the Sapporo Upopo Honzonkai group since they wanted to establish a modern image as one of the only Ainu Preservation groups that live in an urban environment. We divided the work amongst our four members. Vicki and Theresa were in charge of website design and layout, and Sabrina and I were responsible for creating content. Moreover, we also collaborated with the other group working on an Ainu game. We shared all our footage with them and in the end, we included their game onto our final website which really tied the website together.

Live Demo

Process
We first tackled the assignment by researching about the Ainu. We learned a lot about their history and also grasped a sense of identity that the Ainu wanted to preserve. Later, we communicated with our clients, the Sapporo Upopo Honzonkai, who told us that they wanted to create a more modern image as the Ainu. This is particularly interesting since the Sapporo Upopo Honzonkai is one of the few groups that live in an urban cityscape. Therefore, we were determined to connect their cultural heritage with their modern identity for the final product. Initially, we wanted to incorporate a podcast on the website, but as our idea developed further, we changed the podcast idea into an interview, since they spoke in Japanese, so it made more sense for subtitles to appear, and video works better than audio this way.

When the Preservation Society came to NYU Shanghai for their performance and workshop on April 12, it was our only chance to talk to them and record footage. Sabrina and I split up our duties and she mostly concentrated on shooting their performances on a tripod as I moved around and took pictures. Sabrina was also in charge of recording the interviews, and Roslynn was there to help translate during the process. Our other teammates contributed as well. In addition, we also reaffirmed their requests when we talked to them about finalizing the website. We showed them some WIX templates for them to better visualize the final product. We decided to use WIX because it is easy to use, and when we pass it on to them, they can continue with the website or add new information. Also, they told us some new requests, such as including a members page and making the website bilingual. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to execute the ladder request, due to the time crunch and language barrier. However, if we had more time and resources to translate, we would make the website in both Japanese and English. As for now, our target audience is mostly English speakers, for them to understand more about the Ainu heritage in an interesting and appealing way.

After we filmed with the Sapporo Upopo Honzonkai, we started editing the content. Sabrina edited the interview videos, and I edited the performance videos. Also, I made a one-minute montage/intro video. I combined the workshop and performance footages to create one performance video which included the name of each performance as well as a short description of the piece. For the intro video, I included archived footage provided by the preservation society and created a mashup and upbeat montage video, introducing Sapporo Upopo Honzonkai.

Challenges
One of the challenges we faced was the language barrier. Although we had Roslynn’s help to translate everything, it was still challenging in terms of content editing. For editing the interviews, Sabrina had a friend help translate everything they said during the interviews, but she struggled at first with getting started since everything was in Japanese. For me, I also had trouble with some descriptions for the performances. But with the help of Roslynn and some research, we were able to properly describe each performance and translate the interviews.

Feedback
We received numerous helpful feedback from our classmates over the last 7 weeks that allowed us to take in critiques to make the project better. One of the first feedback sessions, our classmates questioned the color choices we used for our website, which was navy blue and yellow. Navy blue was a primary Ainu color, but we chose yellow since it went well with the overall color scheme of the website. We later consulted with Roslynn and sent the Ainu group some color palette options. Eventually, they chose navy blue and a turquoise green, which looked much more cohesive and matched the desires of our clients. Also, we took in some feedback for video editing from Ann, such as audio editing and smoother transitions.

(earlier templates)

Conclusion
Overall, I am satisfied with the overall product. I think that my team members and I did a good job of creating a website according to the requests from our clients. I’ve learned about during this project about teamwork and working with real clients, as problems come up, or clients add on to their request, which in turn, requires changes. In the end, we created a product that will hopefully educate people about Ainu culture and the Preservation Society.

For the group project, Ashley, Sabrina, Theresa and I worked on building a website for the Sapporo Upopo Hozonkai (Preservation Society). Before we start to actually design the project, we all first did some primary research on the history and culture of the Ainu and later on asked them for their specific needs and requirements on the website during the meeting. 

After the video meeting, we divided the work into website design and video editing. Theresa and I mainly worked on designing the website while Ashley and Sabrina worked on editing the videos. Theresa and I decided that despite the basic pages a website usually includes, we want to specially add three pages- the sounds of the Ainu where we showcase their traditional instruments, the textiles of the Ainu where we set a gallery for the pictures of the details of the embroideries, identity where we interview the Ainu people who came to Shanghai and ask them about their life experiences growing up as an Ainu. Below are the basic layouts we came up with initially.

On the day the show was held,  we interviewed each member of the team. Before the interview, we presented the basic layouts we planned for the website and showed them some templates, they gave us really useful feedbacks on things we need  to pay attention to. They said they want the website to be simple and easy to change. Therefore,  we decided to choose WIX to build our website.  Besides, we decided to add a member page where they can put the pictures and names of each member. Also, they wanted all the blogs to be shown on our website, so we also transported the blogs on the original website to the new one. In terms of the colours, they said they want it to be the colours used in their clothes, so we picked blue as the main colour for our website. After understanding their needs, Theresa and I started to work on the layouts and design of the website. We each worked on a different template, just to give them more choices to choose from. 

Below is what we had for the first in-class feedback session. 

 

During the first in-class feedback session, someone pointed out that the colour yellow and blue might be a little too much for the website, so we sent Roslyn the colour schemes to ask for their preferences and they picked green, blue and white as the main colours. 

During the second in-class feedback session, someone suggested that the “sounds of the Ainu” and “textiles of the Ainu” does not correspond to the other tabs. Thus, Theresa and I decided to add a culture tab and put the sounds, textiles and performances under this tab.  Also, we improved the hovering on the home page and added fade effect to make it clearer.  After getting feedback from the class and people from the society, we decided to continue our work on Theresa’s design.

Th last few weeks we basically worked on improving the design and adding the information and videos into different tabs. Under the “sounds of the ainu” tab, we used the anchor function and put pictures and videos under each instrument. For the “textiles of the ainu” tab, we created a small gallery with pictures and a short description of each embroidery.  For the performances tab, we first put the edited video on top and listed videos for each performance with a short description. 

Below if the live demo of our website.

In all, I am really happy to see what we are able to achieve in a short period of time and I also want to say special thanks to my teammates and everyone who helped us throughout the way. You guys rock!!

Theresa and Vicky

We worked mainly on the design of the websites for the past few weeks. We finalized the layout and added more details into our design. For the home page, we added hovers to each box that link to different subpages of the website. We finished the about page with a short description of the Sapporo Upopo Hozonkai Society and a small gallery with some pictures of them. For the events page, we transported the blogs they had on their old websites to our page. Before, we had two separate tabs for “Sounds of the Ainu” and “Textiles of the Ainu” that show pictures and videos of their traditional instruments and clothes. However, after the feedback session, we decided to combine them into one tab “culture” so that it won’t complicate the viewers. We also did a contact page at the end with the information on their social media accounts.

For the upcoming weeks, we will be working on the members’ page and perfecting the culture page. For now, we only had information on two members. So we decided to put pictures and short descriptions of the two members first and maybe the person who takes over the website later could add more members. For the culture page, we will update it with more materials we got last week from Roslynn.

Demo of Website Navigation

Sabrina:

Over the course of the past few weeks, I have been assisting with web design and condensing/translating content from the Sapporo Upopo Hozonkai Preservation Society’s original website. I spent about two weeks working with a friend outside of class to translate the entirety of the interviews. After translating, I sent Roslynn a draft cut of two full interviews with subtitles included to verify and edit the translation. After gathering feedback from both classmates as well as Rosylnn, I condensed the interviews into four final cuts focused on culture/tourism, design, dance, and purpose/mission statement, with additional photo/video assets based on the content of the segment.

Ashley:

This week’s progress report consists of finalizing the performance video and creating a one-minute intro montage video introducing the Sapporo Upopo Hozonkai. There were some details about the performance that was confusing, so I met up with Roslynn and discussed the details about the performances as well as the names. She went over the names of the performances during the workshop and explained the significance of each piece. I am also working on a montage video to put under the About Page describing who the Ainu are. The other performance video will be under the Culture Page. With the footage that we already have, compiling the video should be fine. For the background of the montage, we contacted Roslynn and she provided some audios we could use for the background music. Both videos should be ready to go by the end of this week.

Storyboard:

Our storyboard is still in the preliminary stages, but the next iterations will be more focused on singular scenes as well as the interactions and animations featured in that scene. The storyboard will also be cleaned up to make it easier to read. 

Research/Easter Eggs:

So far we have narrowed down our research to a few facts that we plan on implementing in Easter Eggs. These Easter Eggs will look like pieces of trash or animals and users will be able to click on them to receive information. Listed below are the facts that we plan on adding to the Easter Eggs. However, they haven’t been refined into the text we’re planning on adding to the website. 

• Microbeads are forms of micro plastics that float around in the ocean. 
• Gyres – permanent spirals of ocean currents
• If we don’t do anything, seafood can be wiped out in 40 years —> in 100 years, jellyfish may be the only wild seafood left
• In the stomach of whales: hosepipes, plastic pots and disposable bags
• Plastic acts as a chemical sponge known as bioaccumulation

Graphics:

Listed below are some of the characters featured in the comic. 

This is Jelly the Jellyfish. He’s scared of being eaten and will unfortunately witness a turtle eating a plastic bag (which it has mistaken for an actual jellyfish). 

This is Trashley. She’s the main character whom you will be following throughout the comic. She’ll explore the ocean, coming across many different animals. 

Meet Prince Louis, he’s a trash bag that just came back to the New York harbor due to the ocean currents. He has traveled the world and is much older than Trashley. He shows that trash in the ocean doesn’t just affect one place and it takes a long time for plastic waste to even disintegrate. 

Website:

Some of the graphics are placeholders, but they will be replaced with our own drawings. We are also looking at changing the text size to make it easier to read as well as more appealing to our target audience (6-10 year old children). 

This is the beginning, clicking the start button will cause a gust of wind to blow Trashley into the harbor. 

As she lands in the water a seagull will fly past and give instructions on how to proceed through the comic. The user can then start scrolling to go deeper into the ocean. 

Trashley will be following the user’s mouse in the future. On the right you can see an anchor which will indicate how deep you are. There is also a placeholder image for how many Easter Eggs you have found to give the users an idea of how many left they need to find. Users will also be able to go through each animal’s story by clicking on the speech bubble. 

Here’s the end of the comic. The piles of trash is meant to show how polluted our waters actually are. The subway cart is an Easter Egg that will tell users about how they are acting as substitutes for coral as home for fish. 

Audio:

We have some audio to emulate what it would sound like if you were actually underwater. These include bubble sounds as if you just went underwater, as well as general underwater ambiance and background noises.