Cecilia's

As good as it gets

2010-05-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

Where I ride in Espinho, north of Porto, there are some stunning deserted beaches. This was on Sunday 16th May. To have the beach just to myself and and galop all along the beach front is such a marvelous and calming experience.

By the way, my horses name is Bendjy!

In Panama with Paradise

2010-03-10T11:33:00.001-08:00

The view from Playa Venao beach in Pedasi, Panama, 6th March. I spent three amazing weeks in Panama there with my boyfriend Manuel.

At the Houses of Parliament

2010-01-19T13:39:00.000-08:00

This is me tonight, 19th January, after the Evening Drinks Reception at the Houses of Parliament for Brake's Annual Reception. My certificate as winner of the 2009 30 Seconds to Change your Mind Competition was presented to me for my video entry as part of my final year project. I was so pleased and managed to talk to other road safety professionals about further ways my video could and is being used to educate young drivers. Apparently it is being used by a local council in the UK. The Brake representative wasn't able to tell me where it was, but was going to send me the website they have posted my video on!

Everyone congratulated me for my video, and I hope to continue helping Brake in their campaigns to reduce deaths and victims of road accidents. I am going to speak to some people at Leeds University and other establishments in the city, and see if they are interested in showing the advert in their premises, seeing as Leeds has many people in the adverts target audience of 16-24 year olds.

Somewhere, Someday, I'll be them

2010-01-15T01:43:00.000-08:00

These are some of the residents at the care home where my Grandmother Ulla has been living for a bit more than a year now. I find some of them extremely interesting people, each with a sparkle of individuality still alight inside them. These photos were taken with my Iphone on various occasions when visiting my Grandma. They were a kind of study/experiment for something I wish to do in the future.

This last picture is of my Grandma Ulla and Grandad Armindo. My Grandma is very weak and not very well health wise, my Grandad lives every moment of the day for her. Here he is doing his daily walk routine so she gets to stretch her legs. This picture of course has a deeper meaning to me. I am hoping to do a photography project with the residents of the care home, and try to elevate people's spirit there, as well as mine towards the subject of old age and care homes.

My entry for Webtel.mobi's The Challenge on Zooppa.com

2009-12-31T03:28:00.000-08:00

This was my print entry for Webtel.mobi's competition on Zooppa.com. I worked on the build up of The Challenge when working at Unruly Media this winter on Twitter.

On November 25, the Webtel.mobi Intercontinental Challenge positioned Yves Rossy to be the first man to cross the North Atlantic Ocean between Africa and Europe using Jet-powered wings. Heavy clouds and wind conspired to create impassable turbulence, and Rossy was forced to ditch his wings and save himself.

Webtel.mobi believes that almost any barrier– no matter how difficult or impossible it seems – can be successfully overcome with focus, determination, and the pursuit of personal excellence. Be assured that there will be another attempt at the North Atlantic Crossing!

I wanted my print advert to inspire everyone that anything can be accomplished in life if we set our minds to achieving, and remain focused and determined. This reflects Webtel.mobi's ethos and philosophy. The Webtel.mobi challenge was a physical representation of what the company believes in, and this ad reminds us and illustrates how 'real' the event was, and literally, how Webtel.mobi connects the world through its service – effortlessly, and in a unique way. It propels the public to get connected and inspired through Webtel.mobi's philosophy of communicating, by adhering to it's Specialized Mobile Provider service.

Helen Mervill, Brake Fundraising Officer talking about my advert

2009-11-25T07:48:00.000-08:00

Helen Mervill attended my Cinema Advert screening at Hyde Park Picture House on 24th April 2009. This was just before the start of the afternoon cinema sessions. In this video Helen says a few words about my advert and how it will help contribute for raising awareness of road safety issues, as well as how Brake will use the video.

Making of Cinema Advert

2009-11-24T14:49:00.000-08:00

This image is an overview of the production involved in the cinema advert. I used a green screen to film the girl pretending to be hit by a car, and then added effects onto that layer of the footage, before placing it on top of the layer of the car moving. I filmed this outside my house in Leeds, with a green cloth that belonged to my Motion Graphics lecturer. I hung the cloth on some rods similar to tripods, which unfortunately kept falling on the floor because of the wind...so I had to be quick at getting the takes perfect. Before this, I had to made sure my road was the same width as the one I filmed the car, so that when both footage was collated, it was as close as possible to looking believable for the target audience.

I also had to animate separate images of the hood of the car, before and after it runs over the girl, to create a more realistic effect of a run over.

The bottom images show the amount of layers and effects on the main time line of the final edit, and how I used the Puppet tool in After Effects to animate the girls body frame by frame as she gets hit by the front of the car.

This part of the video, which lasts no longer than 1second, took around 2 months to get completed perfectly. Firstly, I went through some technical troubles, and then I wanted to spend enough time so I could get the exact moment the car hits the girl looking as precise and vivid as possible. I worked on each frame very carefully.

There was a lot of stressful days and nights to get this how I wanted, and it was so worth it in the end! It was the first time I worked with a green screen work and found it fabulous, you can create incredible things form using it.

Final Year Project Exemplified: Implementing the Campaign

2009-11-20T14:33:00.002-08:00

The image above illustrates how the advertising campaign I created for Brake Road Safety Charity should be implemented, and how it would be executed if Brake were to take the campaign ahead in the future. Click on the image to enlarge and zoom.

My final year project video wins Brake's 2009 national '30 Seconds to Change Your Mind' Competition!

2009-11-20T14:33:00.001-08:00

This is a screen grab of Brake Road Safety Charity's' YouTube page where they have posted my video that I made for them, as part of my final year New Media BA project at the University of Leeds this Summer. The cinema advert won Brake's 2009 '30 Seconds to Change Your Mind' Competition. I found out on Friday 25th September in the afternoon when the chief fundraiser officer for Brake emailed me and told me the good news!
I won an Ipod Shuffle, many vouchers, and I was also invited to Brake’s Annual Reception at the Houses of Parliament on the 19th of January! So happy..

My project was also featured on the New Media BA Awards site!

Final year project road safety Cinema Advert video here:

2009-11-20T14:32:00.002-08:00

This is the video and main artifact I made part of the advertising campaign for the road safety Charity Brake. This video was screened at Hyde Park Picture House on 24th April 2009 as part of the implementation of the campaign in Leeds.

Leeds Univeristy Union SubTV Teaser Advert

2009-11-20T14:32:00.001-08:00

This short teaser advert was made for broadcasting on Leeds University Unions' SubTV Channel. It was broadcast for one afternoon for the implementation of my final year advertising campaign for Brake. Ideally, if the project would be taken forward, the teaser would be broadcast in a loop with other adverts each hour, 7 days a week, for two months before the release of the cinema advert in UK cinemas. This is the second and penultimate stage of the Brake Advertising Campaign, created for my final year Project.

Final Year Project: Brake Advertising Campaign Explained

2009-11-20T14:31:00.004-08:00

The image above explains the stages of the advertising campaign I created for Brake, which was my final year New Media BA University project.

The first stage was a Facebook Cause Application I created for Brake, as they had no presence on the Facebook platform. I managed to gather more than 300 members to the cause over 3-4 months. The second stage is a teaser advert, to be screened at Leeds University Union's TV plasmas (for this project) and it could also be screened at pubs with TV's or other public venues frequently visited by 16-24 year olds. Finally, the third stage of the camopaign sees the introduction of a cinema advert, to be screened at independant and local cinemas in Leeds. This is the main artefact of the campaign.

Click the image above to enlarge and read all the details!

Motion Graphics Final Year Project - 'Leeds and Me'

2009-11-20T14:31:00.003-08:00

This is the video I made for my final year project part of my assessment of the Motion Graphics module. I used After Effects, Avid, Photoshop, Adobe Soundbooth and Adobe Premier for the completion of this video. I entered it in the 2009 'Curtas na Rede' competition, based in the Galicia Provence of Spain.

The film describes and illustrates my emotions and experience as a student in Leeds throughout my 3 years as a student. Some scenes describe feelings that are quite personal to me, and have a much deeper meaning than it may appear.

This was a project I really enjoyed doing and completing during my last months at University, and grew crazy with the powers of After Effects and how useful special effects are in video production.

Expressions Morph: Motion Graphics - 'Leeds and Me'

2009-11-20T14:31:00.001-08:00

This is a morph of 25 photos of different expressions and faces of myself. The images were first prepared in Photoshop, and then exported as different layers into After Effects where the background was keyed out, and effects were applied to it in order to create the morph look. This included a forced motion blur effect. This piece is silent as it was made to be inserted part of the narrative of the 'Leeds and Me' final Motion Graphics project.

Explosion Video: Motion Graphics Assignment

2009-11-20T14:30:00.000-08:00

This short video was created for a formative assignment part of my Motion Graphics module in 3rd year at University. It took about 5 days to complete and used tutorials from videocopilot.net for guidance. I also used Adobe Soundbooth for sound editing, and Adobe Photoshop to enhance the still image before inserting it in After Effects.

Virtual worlds avatars followed election too

2008-11-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

Photo form Associated Press.

I think virtual reality worlds are becoming a bit too real, therefore too surreal for me. In Second Life, avatars could volunteer to campaign for their favorite candidates. Some people were spending Election Day as their online avatars in Second Life. volunteers could create unofficial campaign headquarters, hold rallies, hand out virtual buttons and T-shirts, and you could sign up as an actual voter in Second Life.

Some people might of felt too lonely on election night, and didn't want to spend it by themselves with nowone to discuss the live poll progress with. The answer seemed to be to join a virtual world and discuss progress and the tally live with avatars. I know this is a completely normal thing of our time - virtual games and spaces. The power of the internet and its use is growing by the day. I'm not old fashioned at all in terms of technology, but my point is: are virtual worlds a waste of time or just great entertainment? Can virtual world improve the real world?

I read recently that Second Life is paying $10,000 USD to resident or team inside the VW for an innovative in world project that improves the way people work, learn and communicate in their daily lives outside of the virtual world. This makes perfect sense and makes me feel more relieved that Second Life is doing this, because I agree that VW residents' work can have significant value extending into the real world. For example, Second Life residents have developed medical research, innovated and explored new business opportunities, and educated others using the virtual world by creating experiences that teach complex topics, using revolutionary simulations.

It just feels sometimes that we're loosing real life 'people contact', and interaction. How immersed do we want to feel in these VR depends on each of us. I understand how it gives an 'escape' to people and a second identity, only visible in virtual worlds.

It just makes me wonder if Second Life is still going to be around in 10 years, will still demand virtual reality worlds as an escape to our real world identities? Will we still freedom at this level from our real world environments, when the world is probably more messed up than it is now?

Obama or Mcain? Today is THE day

2008-11-04T02:25:00.000-08:00

photo from: www.donkeydish.com/images/
Although I am on the other side of the world, I have felt a strange tension and pressure over these past days as if my opinion counted for the American presidential election.
The tension has certainly increased during the last two days, and I've been eagerly watching out for recent news on candidates positions.

During the last couple of days I've stumbled across this subject in conversations with so many people my age slightly older. It's everywhere, everyone has an opinion and now one can help not talking about it. It's the greatest political show on earth, and even if you don't understand too much about politics or enjoy the subject in general, I'm sure you'll have paused on a news channel at some time to know whats going on in the US election.

Although I have slightly despised the USA for the last few years, especially due to Bush's actions, this campaign has certainly uplifted my feelings towards a better American influence for the world.

I believe that if America chooses Obama it could mean to the world that Americans have changed. He's a breathe of fresh for Americans, and certainly for the rest of the citizens around the world who want to see Bush go, fast.