For the remaining weeks of our module, we are to tackle a problem raised by our classmates in week 10, so I selected a piece of writing by Kris based on the issue of loneliness during COVID-19.
I stayed in for 2 months, barely having gone out at all and lived on a lot of Food Panda. At first it felt kinda great, but after about a week or so it really made me miss my friends, normal life and the kids at the college, whom are having a hell of a time trying to catch up with online lessons, and some even fell out not being able to cope with the stress of having to stay home and not getting the physical support theyd’ normally receive at school ; if it bothers the teacher enough, can’t imagine the kids.
So my solution is to come up with a way to allow people to meet and talk, that seems to have been done a long time ago yes? But, the problem with the existing social apps (here in HK), is that they tend to attract a lot of people just looking for a date. I know because I met some one on Scout before, and that the reputation for these apps in Cantonese is “find a boy/girl app”, in other words they are now labeled as dating apps.
My fiancee out of bordom and interest in the Middle Eastern culture decided to go on Tinder one day just to make friends, she started talking to these guy who first gladly spoke to her about cultural differences and would show my fiancee around streets of Iran with his camera. I hate to say I told you so, but it was around the 3rd day, this gentleman started to say sexually offending comments and expressed a whole lota’ desperation that didn’t go well with me. No more Tinder.
People in HK and I do suspect other countries also, get embarrassed when asked about dating apps, never have I met a friend that would openly admit the use of dating apps. Now that it’s the time for me to make my own, I really want to fix this problem, and be able to play the advantages of the internet, to make socialising on social networks safe, in order to do that I started generating some rules.
My app was named Topic, it is to focus on simple conversation and casting out the need for profile pictures, instead all that juicy personal contact info, real identity and out look is something locked away, and is treateed as a celebration at a point when people are REALLY connecting with each other.
The way it works is that any one can host a topic, details are provided as in what aspects within a topic is of interest, along with a response rate of the host and little details if one decides to provide. Once 2 are engaged in conversation, the two can only enter Pen Pal Mode, which messages exchanged can only be recieved over a day’s time, good ol’ fashioned writing back and forth with sincerity. So to unlock that “friendship” in the end, one would have to recieve 3 unlocks (which are also 24 hours apart) in order to let another person in to your life, you can then chat in real time, exchange details and you can even go on a date if you wish later on. BUT, the focus is on meeting with rules, without it, it will just turn in to a mating fest. with odd people leaving odd messages.
The app is user-centered in making the user feel completely safe and in control, and to re-establish a real friendly app which people could be in isolation but still be able to engage in contructive conversation with any one in the world
ANDY WAS HERE
WEEK 12
The video took a commercial approach to the app. There is mentioning of Covid-19 in order to tackle the main task in hand, but I do believe that this concept is capable of evolving even when times locked up at home are over.
The footage is exactly taken on one sunny day when i woke up on a week end, my fiancee was out doing stuff and I really felt alone. It’s funny that I actually jumped on this without a plan really, and have spent days just randomly filming shots to see what I can come up with; but then the shots that worked out for me were filmed with me just sitting in my room. In search of a metaphorical symbol to express the feeling of being trapped, I went to seek help from my pet turtle!
I usually tackle editing by first selecting a sound track, the first isolation part was easy, and I took the instrumental parts of Falling by Julee Cruise to go along with my dragging, depressing, empty shots. Then when it came to the animating the app, I looked in to music by my band Ni.Ne.Mo and all other creations in my Garageband, but with me, my music is usually pretty depressing and loud. So I took some time and made a soundtrack based on a drum pattern with an electric sounding synth pattern to make everything sound more technological, and counting was done to fit all motions going on. A fun fact is that the logo pop I recorded myself doing a pop sound with my mouth.
Again, I concluded that music really makes the video propelle. I gave After Effects my best efforts in a really limited time, but when the timed music was brought in thats when everything really started to click together.
My video is focuses on the many benefits of this app and making it look easy and simple to use, most of all, the emphesis is on the user having total control, safety and also in taking the time to know somebody, which I think we are all lacking in this day and age.
check out the video here:
ANDY WAS HERE
ANDY was here š¤ 