This Articulate challenge is to create your own background images. The idea is to plan your shots, shoot photos, then manipulate them to work in your project.
The Project
I wanted to share a software training piece I’d created at the eLearning Guild’s SolutionFest, but had to change both the branding and the industry before I could. That involved a lot of new development, including new background images and some video. Time for a photo shoot!
My Shot List
I scouted out a nearby business park and showed up with my shot list in hand. I’ll only share a couple of them in this post, but the shots I wanted and got were:
- From the parking lot looking back at the office building with my vehicle in plain view in the center.
- From the office building looking out to the parking lot with a field in the background.
- Looking down the alley of office park building back doors, plus some closer shots of the doors.
- A stop sign at the end of the alleyway.
- A video focused on the stop sign, then quickly panning down the alley and back.
Image Manipulation
For the still images I cropped and manipulated them to match the style of the rest of the course, which I’d designed to de-emphasize the background to make it easier to focus on the content. Since I developed this in Articulate Studio ’09 it was quick and easy to use the PowerPoint image formatting options. I used a tan color and the “pastels smooth” artistic effect.
Shot #1: From Parking Lot to Building
For this shot I cropped the image so that the vehicle was easily visible between the characters so I could add the company logo to the door.
Shot #2: From Office to Parking Lot and Field
I wanted this shot to be very simple, with just a hint of parking lot stripes and nothing else to act as a distraction.
See The Whole Thing!
If you’d like to see the entire demo as I showed it at SolutionFest, which used all of the other shots on my list, you can view it right here. If you’d like to learn more about how I designed this project, all of the details are right here!
Dan Sweigert says
Nice job Jackie, great idea to put the software training on context as well.
Jackie Van Nice says
Thanks, Dan! Didn’t I see you at this business park on the morning of the shoot as well? Thanks for all of your help on this project. :)
David Anderson (@elearning) says
Great use of PPT’s artistic’s tools for subtle effects. I like the logo you added to the truck:-)
Jackie Van Nice says
Thanks, David. I liked that one, too. :)
Miranda Verswijvelen (@mverswijvelen) says
Very cool Jackie. I’m doing something similar for a fire training course at the hospital I work for. Your posts to the challenges are always an inspiration.
Jackie Van Nice says
Thank you so much, Miranda! It sounds like your topic could give you a lot of room for creativity in the shoot. I hope it goes well and that you have great success in putting it all together!
Zifang Su says
Great job! Loved the idea of using effects on the background. I usually fade them.
Jackie Van Nice says
Thanks so much, Zifang! Do you mean you make them more transparent? That’s a great technique, too!