The Assignment

In this assignment you are to create 3 GIFs of your own design, focused on the following broad topics: a routine, an interaction and an experience. For routine and interaction, focus on the narrative aspect. Do your best to tell a story, and make that story understandable. The experience GIF does not need to be a narrative.

The Result

Routine: I took the prompt quite literally and filmed a version of a 'morning routine' as a series of actions that I do in the morning. While the narrative isn't the most compelling, I think I was successful in showing the beginning (brushing), the middle (coffee) and the end (leaving for school). I think the last shot was particularly effective, as the door closing sort of signals the ending. 

Looking at the completed GIF, however, I feel that the narrative would have been more successfully depicted in a more continuous shot than a series of shots stitched together. Another thing that I had a lot of trouble with was properly depicting a complete narrative in such a short length of time. It would definitely be easier in a longer format video, where there is time to set up the context, etc. Another thing that I wanted to try would be some sort of stop-motion, since it is highly suitable for a GIF, but alas, did not have the skills or time for that! Something I think the GIF captures well is the mundane-ness of the whole routine — I'm not entirely sure what implicit decisions made that possible, but I think it's the shower clip and the coffee clip, and how the shot lingers on them for just a bit longer than required. The infinite loop of the GIF also gives it a feeling of repetitiveness (even though most other GIFs have this property).

Interaction: My first decision was to think of an interaction that I could easily film by myself, but also involved various steps that required a certain order. This would enable the interaction to have a beginning, middle and end. Most other interactions I thought of tended to be single-action, snapshot type actions (like opening a door). I also chose to shoot it in first-person view so that the interactions would be in focus, rather than be framed by some background. While filming, I shot the entire process in one take, but edited it down to only the key interactions in a series of cuts. Again this was to put the focus on the interactions (as well as to make it a suitable length). 

I think the first-person view was a successful way to shoot it — seems appropriate for this kind of human-machine interaction, since the interaction itself tends to be private and only between the human and the machine. I was not entirely satisfied with the editing of the video, as some of the interactions were a bit too short and hence the GIF cuts away too quickly — before the viewer can fully take in what is happening. This is most apparent in where the human is selecting buttons on screen, as those tend to be quick interactions.

Experience: While thinking of experience, I decided to not think about a single experience (like riding a roller coaster), but about how everyone has different experiences, and hence different perspectives. I went back to one of the ideas I had while thinking about interaction — opening a door. While it is a very simple and common action, I wanted to show that interaction from a different perspective — hence a series of shots where we can see a door closing, but from a perspective that you would not usually see it from — inside a drawer, microwave, fridge, mailbox, washer, dryer and garbage can. 

I think since the clips were of similar lengths, there was a rhythm formed that makes the GIF pleasing to view. There is also a firm 'ending' to each clip, which makes it a lot more satisfying. I would definitely work on fine-tuning the angles of the shots, as well as the editing of where each clip starts and ends.

The redux

Based on crits in class, edit one of your 3 GIFs from last week.

What did you hear during your critique?

Almost everyone agreed that my narrative could use some more spicing up by introducing a problem or twist to the story. I also completely agree with this assessment, but was having a hard time figuring out what could be done to make the ATM have a problem.

What did you do in response to your critique?

The main feedback I focused on was strengthening the narrative. The first part was easy enough: setting up context for why I needed to go to the ATM, and adding a "time-passing" clip, i.e., me walking to the ATM. Introducing a problem or twist was a bit harder, because it would be hard to make something go wrong at the ATM for me to film. In the end, I decided to have a twist at the end, when everything seems to be going well, catching the viewer off-guard.

Why did you choose to work with this GIF?

I chose this GIF because it was my weakest GIF in terms of storytelling. Originally, it was hard to think of an interaction that was not just a single moment in time, so I was extremely focused on getting an interaction that had a beginning, middle and end in itself. While doing so, I sort of lost the plot and didn't end up with a compelling narrative. So I wanted to see if I could take this interaction further and make it more interesting to watch while also telling a story.

Reflections

I enjoyed the constraint of working without sound. It forces you to not take for granted the fact that your audience will be able to tell what's going on in the video. You don't realize how much context is given by sound. This also forced me to think about including context (but not too much) to create a feeling of satisfaction in the narrative.

Overall, this class taught me the importance of storytelling. For UX designers, it is often hard for us to explain to people why UX should be considered when designing a product. Being able to lean on another tool besides wireframes and mockups seriously augments my ability to convince people about the benefits of UX and human-centered design. Watching a product in use allows stakeholders to directly connect with the product experience and imagine themselves in that situation.