Feedback - Was it a success?

In terms of how many found it engaging and informative (therefore meeting the criteria for my project's goal) then it was a great success. The majority of the 30 people I asked said they did find it useful. While this certainly shows that there is some quantitative success, I would like to acknowledge the oral criticism I received.

Many think it could have been done better, there are some parts where I stutter a bit which should have been recorded again and the overall production that went into the visuals is in need of improvement; it would seem that my  demographic would enjoy the video more if it had clearer illustrations with colour, the type I intended to do if I had time.

I do not have any time left for improving this project but if I were to do it again, then I would consider starting production earlier as to ensure some clear and really aesthetic digital drawings. The use of colour (or lack of) seemed to be the area I received the most criticism, a digital illustration would otherwise allow for quick colouring - if the audience were to believe a different palette were necessary then this could be redone easily too.

Following my presentation with my supervisor, it was suggested that I consider providing some evidence of feedback in order to further prove my claim that the video was helpful or successful in achieving the aims I had established at the beginning of the project - i.e. to create an engaging and informative educational video on the Third Crusade. In the video below, I was able to organise a small focus group to give some feedback after viewing my final video. Their feedback more or less confirmed the feedback given to me from the original 30 people however, I have nonetheless compiled a short video to showcase their thoughts and reactions; one thing I would say is that it was great being able to watch them react to my video and learn more about a subject I am interested in.

Audience Feedback - EPQ from Eughan Wooding on Vimeo.

Presentation

Below I have included a presentation summarising my experience throughout the project, as well as some detail into the various processes I underwent during my research and production. Overall, I think it was a successful presentation.

Epq presentation – educational crusades video from Eughan Wooding

Video!

Below is my full project video:

Online Version from Eughan Wooding on Vimeo.

Production - Audio and Frames

I have recorded the audio for the video, recording each paragraph separately as to ensure that there wasn't a like 20 minute audio clip to edit all of the failed readings from. All I will have to do now is actually edit the recordings together in the video, which should be quite easy given that I've named each recording in order by number.

Currently I am drawing out all of the necessary frames and will likely be using portraits of the main figures as reference points, to ensure the illustrations represent them clearly. This will help distinguish between them in the video too as they all seem to have distinct facial hair - apart from Philip who seemingly has none. Below are a couple of pictures to help showcase some images I will be using:


Richard

Most distinct aspects are his cross, short beard and moustache and his helm - he likely wore something more substantial but this is an iconic means of differentiating his character.

Barbarossa

The red beard is a must, granted I will not be able to colour unless digitally drawn out but the length can be included to differentiate him from Richard - who seems to have a shorter beard.

Philip

 Curled ends to his hair and a clearly defined cut to his hair, quite level on all sides. Noticeably he does not have a beard, unlike the rest of the kings which sets him apart immediately.

Saladin

Saladin seems to be portrayed with a two-pronged beard in both the more and less detailed pictures, his use of a turban sets him apart from the more Western costume designs of those above.

Colours

I am unable to colour these character illustrations with the initial pencil drawings that I will be doing - and likely committing to now that it appears I'm running out of time - but if I was to digitally draw these frames I would ensure a further distinction between the characters through four colours. These colours being red, green, blue and yellow which are essentially primary colours in their own respect.

Richard would likely be shown in red as it is a rather ferocious colour typically associated with the Red Lion of England and even the Red Cross of St George. Additionally he is shown to wear red in the image above. Arguably, this colour should be given to Barbarossa for his red beard however it would not stand out as much with red robes - therefore green should be used. Green contrasts more with red to better accentuate the colour of his beard, which he was well-known for. Philip is clearly shown wearing blue and so the choice for his colour is rather apparent in that regard. Saladin is also rather easy as his outfit is clearly shown as red or yellow and, since red is already assigned to Richard, Saladin would be wearing yellow by default in my video. Furthermore, his black beard would show up nicely against the bright colour of yellow.

Since I will likely not be able to colour in these drawings, I would like to note that I will likely fill in some colours with pencil - namely black. This applies due to Saladin's beard being rather clearly black and so it would be clearer if coloured in.

Script - Drafting

Here is a link to my script:

Crusades Video Script

Script - Planning

Was the Third Crusade a Failure?

Success (8)

• Secured land for crusaders and other Christians of the West (Acre, Arsuf, Jaffa).
• Richard I was never defeated in battle, plus they had forced the Muslims to retreat to Jerusalem.
• Capture of Cyprus was an added bonus.
• Certainly it was comparatively more successful than the Second Crusade.
• Demonstrated Christian support within the Levant as to maintain Crusading ideal.
• Christian pilgrims were granted safe passage to visit Jerusalem again.
• Richard’s behaviour maintained and raised moral of his forces, his leadership pointing to success in their military victories despite the other two Kings being gone.
• Castles and strongholds were rebuilt, establishing safe zones for future forces and even current citizens.

Failure (7)

• Failed to retake Jerusalem which was seemingly the main objective.
• Lack of total defeat of Saladin in the field, just victory in skirmishes and battles where Saladin was able to escape. Insult to injury how he died soon after the Crusade.
• Reduction of Christian power at Ascalon.
• Capture of Cyprus had annoyed the Byzantines, which would lead to tension on future campaigns.
• Waste of potential resources and forces.
• Failed to re-establish Christian power or a Christian ‘King of Jerusalem’, an issue for Crusader States and future campaigns.
• Conflict between Guy and Conrad persisted as to indicate disunity amongst Crusaders.

Issue is that it was only a success in some regards, of which there are clear cons. However, it is perhaps more successful that the Second and all the Crusades following, somewhat indicating it as a success on a wider scale.

Provisional Video - Plan

In realising the time I have left for this project, I am unsure as to if I will be able to finish my product in time and screen it. One issue I would like to address is the drawing of the frames, I have decided to hand draw the frames using pen and paper; it is far easier for me to draw free hand like this than to draw digitally. I believe digital drawings would look better but drawing directly into Photoshop, Flash or Illustrator is far too time consuming. I think that I should draw the frames roughly and that way I can ensure that some content is at least there for the final product, drawing over the pencil would be great and I would even be able to colour the frames but these touches aren't essential. I think that getting a provisional video is more important as I can improve it later if I have the time.

This same issue goes for audio. I believe Mo would be the most ideal narrator but organising for him or any of the other volunteers to record the audio may be difficult. As a result, I think that recording the audio myself (likely in my closet) will help with producing some final product. Again, this is something I could revisit if need be, simply recording it myself just allows for a provisional video to be made so that my project isn't a failure.

When I did my project for GCSE, I had only animated half of my final product due to time constraints and that was a minute long animation. The product I have chosen to create is far more time consuming despite not requiring full animation. I've learned from my experience at GCSE and therefore believe it is best to at least have something to hand in, which I can later improve if I have the time.

Character Design Concepts (Part 3)

Building on from the previous design idea, I decided to maintain the simple style but instead build more substantial anatomy and even add some more detail to the outfits - this takes up more time but I feel it is worth it in order to produce a good video.

The actual anatomy of the character is reminiscent of the Odd1sout, however more detail is clearly given. Notably this style allows for a more expressive face as I made the face more of the prominent feature, the eyes and mouth are large enough to display a range of emotions. I chose to give more thickness to the limbs as the stick limbs from the previous design seemed as though they would get confusing if I drew a fight or again many characters on a single frame.

The designs are detailed enough to clearly showcases a difference between the Crusaders and the Muslim forces and as with my other designs I've clearly placed the area that will contain the initials of each respective character when required. I think this style is great and it is close enough to the previous one that I can revert back to Part 2's design if I am indeed running out of time with my frames.

Odd1sout

Character Design Concepts (Part 2)

I drew the following designs by hand and notably it is rather basic, which would allow for me to draw the frames quicker and therefore add more frames to create some sense of movement or diversity in the images shown. I essentially gave the characters stick figure arms and legs like in much of the styles given below; I took inspiration from ExtraCredits initially but felt the lack of arms and legs might prove to be confusing if multiple people were in frame at once.

Perhaps the designs are too simple as they seem to lack much historical accuracy and are kind of boring. I've continued with the idea of putting initials on the characters to distinguish them but I've noted how difficult it would be to make this style have expressive emotions from the characters, the designs made seem to fit very basic 'emoji' style emotions.

I do not think this idea is entirely a no, in fact I may devolve into using this style if running behind, however I think re-designing the characters once more would be helpful as to ensure the best avenue for a character design.

The design is very simple and combines elements from the content creators below:

Cyanide and Happiness

Tabbes


Tomska's ASDF


ExtraCredits

Character Design Concepts (Part 1)

These initial designs are relatively realistic in terms of being close to real human anatomy. I was mainly inspired by Horrible Histories and their basic cartoony design which still is quite historically accurate. I managed to develop some ideas for my portrayals of the Crusaders and the Muslims respectively, plus I came up with some small icons to act as indicators for them on any maps I use in the final video.

The inclusion of the areas to place "initials" comes from ExtraCredits who do this to differentiate roles and characters. With this I might be able to distinguish between certain Crusaders and Muslims who may look alike due to their armour sets. Additionally, I would like to note that the indicators for the map are done as to provide an opposite top the design for each religion.

These are quite accurate representations of each of the two religions during the Third Crusade, however the drawings are perhaps too based in reality. There's so  much detail that drawing these frames would be a nightmare and occupy way too much time, which I cannot afford to do. As a result, I've decided to redesign my characters into a more simplified style.

Audio - Auditions

Here I have made a short video with the test audio on:


Audio Test from Eughan Wooding on Vimeo.

I will be assessing the participants generally and on a separate basis.


Me:
Quite a nasally voice, seems to struggle with enunciation. In terms of delivery it is relatively standard and isn't too offensive to listen to. The pace is fine but too fast in some parts, which would need work on.

Jon:
Well pronounced and clear. The pace in which the text is read is great and establishes a clear and informative tone. Perhaps too formal, the idea behind my project is to create a very casual and accessible or entertaining means of learning.

Daniel:
Loud enough and quite clear and confident. I know for a fact that Daniel is well-read on the topic of the crusades and would be able to pronounce key terms very well, however in this audition he speaks far too quickly and so his pace would need to slow down for the final piece if he were chosen.

Niall:
A very friendly voice and clearly spoken. Issue at the time (as can be heard after a few listens) is that Niall is very smiley and would often laugh or smile due to feeling the session was 'awkward' due to the silent nature I assumed while he recorded; his inability to take the session seriously may otherwise affect the outcome of the audio, which would need work if he were chosen.

Mo:
A very deep and distinct voice, this is important in creating a memorable video that will perhaps help people learn. His voice might be too low but I think that it would be ideal for the information being presented; names of key events, forces, places and people would have a very cool sound in Mo's voice. In terms of speed  I think he was fine, although I would have to work on my script to ensure he has enough points to rest and breath as he seems to strain a little towards the end.

Holly:
The speech was very clear and calm, which makes the video seem more accessible. I think it is important to offer the role to both genders as media often sees a lack of female narration; as a result, I sought out Holly who is well-read on the crusades and would therefore be able to comprehend the information and not necessarily read it in a confused manner. The only issue I could find would be volume but I am also aware that she is capable of speaking louder.


Final thoughts and judgement:
I think that it is important to note that recording in the music rooms proved difficult to organise and as a result I don't believe either of the candidates are able to fully commit to narrating for me. In the future, I can't guarantee that we will be able to record in the area and therefore think that I should consider recording myself at home, in case the narrators are unable to commit to the project.

I would rank the best as Mo, Holly and Jon due to the clarity they offer in speaking. Their voices are distinct and offer a great range of narrators for me, I think that if one of them can't read my script for me then I'll be able to ask the others. However, I will definitely be recording myself at home, this way I will still be able to finish my product if none are able to record in time.

Audio - Location: Music Room or Closet?

School:
A possible recording location is the school's music rooms in the music department. These areas are filled with music equipment and therefore could be an issue. However, they're reasonably sound proof and provide a relatively lo-echo location.
A major issue would be the fact that these music rooms typically have music lessons going on, either in other smaller rooms or in the major class rooms, in which case my recordings might disrupt those lessons (and I wouldn't be permitted to do that). Furthermore, these lessons would also disrupt my own audio and that would also be an issue.

One benefit is the fact that the location is on school grounds and therefore organising a recording session with my peers would be easier, in fact they're more likely to come during a common free than if I was to have them record at my house. I think that this is a great location to try organising some auditions to see if anyone would be ideal for narrating my video; the issue would be actually finding a time when no other classes are occurring and those auditioning were free.


Closet:
The idea to record in my closet comes from the YouTuber MatPat. His audio is extremely clear in his theory videos and for a time I believed that he recorded in a foamed studio but it has been confirmed that he records from his closet. The clothes essentially prevent the reverberations and allow for him to record extremely clear audio. I will have to record my audio on my phone as I don't have a microphone but this means that the recording from the closet will be too much of a hassle to record - since my phone is smaller than a high-budget microphone.

Teaching Guides

What I read:

• Qualitative Voices in Educational Research - Michael Schratz
• How to Teach - Phil Beadle
• The Teacher's Toolkit: Raise Classroom Achievement with Strategies for Every Learner - Paul Ginnis

Sort of worth it, they're interesting but apply to the more conventional areas of teaching and don't really help given the distinct nature of a video - it's meant to be relatively informal but there is a clear teacher-student dynamic to the structures proposed. The platform I would be using (a digital video uploaded to YouTube) would certainly be applicable within a lesson as - in accordance with Michael Schratz - students are allegedly  fine with having information "poured" at them. The book focuses on the dynamics of group work vs the more traditional lecture style but the nature of my product allows for feedback and discussion on the subject within an online comments section; the aim of my project is to generate  interest and provide some overall knowledge in order to spur further historical interest and education, but the idea of entirely teaching something may not be possible in the time I am allotted. The Teacher's Toolkit was widely useless to me as it focused more on conventional teaching strategy; particular focus was placed upon methods of teaching such as class activities which would definitely not fit the format of my product.

Schratz makes an interesting point about structuring a lesson around an image, showcasing it at the start of a lesson then teaching about the subject and then having students reflect on the initial image at the end. With this, I could include a conventional crusader at the beginning of the video and have the student perhaps question the notion of "victorious crusaders" that the Media has generated. I believe the Western educational institutions fail to acknowledge the human aspect of the Muslims in this section of history; it appears to just be a clear Christian vs Muslim narrative however I would like to balance this out. I therefore have something  to take away from reading Schratz's work.
This method is rather unconventional and coincides with some suggestions  put forth by Phil Beadle. He explains that, within plenaries at the end of a lesson, the formulaic "What have you learned today" is likely to disengage the pupils and signal it is the end of the discussion. At least with this 'picture' method, I can allow for some reflection to occur - even if it is subtle and not outright. My attempt is to make them see the original image in a different light to the initial showing.

However,  there is one last thing surrounding Schratz's work in regards to 'voice'. Essentially it proposes some cultural assumptions are to be made in regards to a topic based on the origin and background of students along with the accent and format of the teacher's speech. In order to achieve some degree of  reliability in being neutral, it is important to tell both sides of a topic. This method is called 'Crosscultural, Comparative, Reflective Interview'; the idea of discussing the Christian and Muslim sides introduces a sense of neutrality and a lack of bias within my work, which I aim to achieve.

Supervisor's Advice

Upon meeting again, my supervisor raised some concern in regards to my audio situation - which I haven't commented on much. In response to this I explained that I wished to hold some auditions, which my following post should be about. These auditions will be in order to determine who narrates my final video as I don't believe my own voice to sound very appealing or clear - I believe someone else may fair better in this field. I would still be writing the script though, in order to ensure the information and focus within the video coincides with my project's aim. I also clarified that I would be recording on my iPhone and that I would scout for areas to record audio (one potential location being my closet).

Additionally, my supervisor mentioned the teaching guides again. I'm currently reading through these guides but they don't appear useful as they mainly offer guidance in regards to conventional teaching; I have yet to finish looking through the guides but again intend on creating a future post around this exact area.

Lastly, we seemed to agree that using my video with a test audience would help to evaluate how effective it has been. The issue with this will be managing a time and place to showcase the video and how I will go about receiving feedback; I believe it would make sense to simply have people state if they found it useful or not and depending on the amount I can quantify that number and make a pie-chart or table to show the percentage that thought it good or bad. Again, this does come down to a timing issue as it might be difficult to set aside 15 minutes of lesson time in History to organise a test group, however actually getting volunteers to commit to a screening time would also be a hassle as many people would likely not turn up. One solution to this might be catching people when they are free and showing my video then, keeping a tally of those who believe it was successful and those who thought it wasn't.

Sound Effects - Worth It?

I do not believe the inclusion of these sound effect is entirely necessary, in fact they might be too distracting from the narration which provides the information necessary within the video. It was a nice idea initially but not really one I think that needs pursuing.

Sound Effects - SFX Production

I considered adding in some sound effects into my video, as to better immerse the viewer in any action that might be displayed. Notably I was able to make the sounds of a sword fight, a horse galloping and some wind.

The horse noise was made by clapping my leather wallet against my chest, I think it turned out quite close to the real thing. I could also layer up the audio as to create the sound of an army on horses and such which might also be cool.

For the sword fight I used cutlery, namely a fork and knife. I clanged them together a couple of times and made sure to just graze them across each other as some fights would include parrying and grazed hits rather than direct blocks and blows. It doesn't sound too realistic, in fact they're quite dull in sound.

To create some ambient wind, I thought of blowing into microphone. I was quite out of breath but in editing I could perhaps extend or loop the noise to make it last longer. It seemed to work but the issue would be blowing directly into the mic may cause lots of harsh grainy audio, so I would need to blow alongside the microphone instead.

A New Book

I managed to get my hands on the Crusades: 1095-1197 by Jonathan Phillips. In this, he gives an overall summary of each of the crusades within his title's period. They are quite in-depth and certainly confirm the knowledge I previously had through my AS study of history, however there are some key facts I will likely refer to such as: Richard having killed 3,000 Muslim soldiers (in contrast to Saladin's generosity albeit he did kill knights after the battle of Hattin) or how Conrad was assassinated and many blamed Richard.

In short, this is a usefully concise book that even has a segment dedicated to a short conclusion of the Third Crusade - assessing the validity of claiming it to be a failure. The belief I hold is that it succeeded in some areas despite failing its ultimate goal of retaking Jerusalem; certainly it was a success compared to the other later Crusades - one of which consisted of women and children!

Reading Asbridge

Asbridge's Work:

Decided to borrow a book from a friend about the Crusades, mainly looking for interesting stories or information that might engage the students. Information like how Conrad - a prominent figure in the Second Crusade - took part in the First Crusade's Third Wave, led by Stephen of Blois. Stephen was defeated in battle and Conrad was allowed to leave the battle alive as he fought valiantly (these figures being important to the First and Second Crusades).

The book is titled the Crusade:  the war for the holy land by Thomas Asbridge. He is widely regarded as an excellent source and even my former teacher approved of this particular book, offering it many times for revision. This is my first time looking throughout the book and noticeably there are some key photographs I can refer to: the images of the maps and routes of the Crusaders will likely feature in my video, meanwhile the pictures of artwork depicting Saladin and Richard and other key figures will certainly be worthwhile for reference.

Certain facts that appear interesting within the Third Crusade:

• Saladin allegedly send fruit and snow to Richard when the King was ill with fever, the snow coming from the mountain and was to be melted into water. Additionally, Saladin had allegedly sent some of his men to deliver a horse to Richard - after seeing the Crusading King has lost his in battle. These actions were bred out of Muslim beliefs (the idea of helping those in need), however many like to believe it was also out of a profound respect between the two leaders. Saladin's chivalry and good character often being brought into Western writing; he even began to build  hospitals in areas he conquered such as Egypt, even denying his men the (then) convention of plundering and pillaging cities he captured. There are some out there that believe he used this as a means of spying on the Crusaders and, in fact, Saladin did discover Richard's forces had dwindled to 2,000 fit soldiers and 50 fit knights to use in battle (according to some research I did). Richard would not have been able to take Jerusalem with this number of men.
• While marching from Acre to Haifa, Richard decided to join the rear of his forces in an attempt to maintain morale and supervise equipment and other means of care and health. This followed after the Crusading forces had split into three, one division under Hugh of Burgundy - as appointed by Philip. A small force of Saracens had attacked the vanguard and word quickly spread to the back where Richard was; accounts claim he galloped to the frontlines like a "lightning bolt" to which morale was boosted.

There are likely more facts that might be interesting like these, however these will likely suffice. I will certainly include reference to Asbridge's work however the narrative presented in his work is too detailed for my video; I will be providing a concise overview of the chronological events however focusing on an ultimate question might be more beneficial to my work, allowing for a clear focus. Below is a picture of Asbridge:

Crusader Appearances

The Crusaders:

I attempted to gain a better understanding of medieval armour by looking at historical illustrations depicting the Crusades and various battles. One such image comes from looking into the Battle of Nicopolis, while it isn't the Third Crusade I am sure the armour will at least be somewhat similar. Additionally, I have noted that these images are not likely going to be accurate due to the art style at the time often being out of proportion or not based within reality.

Some of the patterns in coifs and the size of certain objects in regards to the people depicted raise some questions. Additionally, the likelihood of these images truly encapsulating what the battles looked like is not high; most of these artworks were produced years after the events and not necessarily by people who were there.

With this in mind, I have noticed a trend in that many use nasal helms and a variety of coifs - mail armour being the most common. Tunics are typically worn over the crusaders as to distinguish them however there does appear to be some use of plate armour; it is unlikely all would have used plate armour but certainly gambesons and mail would have been more common. Now these facts mainly apply to the Christians and so I looked to the Muslim side.

The Muslims:

Muslims at the time typically wore (according to a website I found)

Head

Turbans are often wound around presumably conical helmets. Other headgear worn included fluted helmets, low or tall conical helmets without turbans, mail coifs, and brimmed hats or war hats (Nicolle, 327 and 806).

Torso

Muslims also used mail hauberks as their primary defense in hand to hand combat, and for their heavy cavalry. It seems, however, that the bulk of the Muslim army consisted of light cavalry which may have worn only a padded overcoat instead of the mail hauberk (Nicolle xix, Hurley 141).

Arms and Legs

Large riding boots or overshoes were worn by the Islamic cavalry. These were loose enough to fit a small weapon inside. They were often worn in conjunction with the Saq, the Islamic version of the chausses. Cavalry wore additional leggings above the boot known as Ran, a piece of armour comparable to the European cuisses. These were tied to the waist-belt and could be made of iron as well as other materials (Nicolle, 618-619).

Shields

Shields were predominantly round in shape with a boss in the middle.

Logstics of Drawing

Digital drawing of the frames for the animatic would certainly be great, making the visuals really pop-out. Additionally, these digital drawings could be colour-filled and save time with colouring frames being easier; the colouring of images would certainly make the video more engaging and better distinguish characters from one another. In fact, I have the correct software to draw up these illustrations and colour them - either using Photoshop, Flash or Illustrator.

With this in mind, I do have to acknowledge the time constraints I am presented with. I do not have a drawing tablet and so drawing by mouse would take much longer (as it is difficult). One method of overcoming such an issue might be to draw all of the frames by hand and scan them digitally - or photograph them. Essentially this would allow for faster drawing of certain cells but the scanning requires the use of the school library, something that might be an issue due to the times it is open not necessarily coinciding with my frees; scanning in bulk might be a better option although if need be I will just photograph the illustrations and upload them digitally (despite the lowered quality of this method).
An issue this would present is that I cannot digitally colour these frames, it would require me to draw over and trace the frames digitally. This would certainly be easier given the issue of drawing with a mouse, as I would be given a guideline to follow in each frame. The issue here would again be the time constraints. However, by uploading hand-drawn illustrations, I can at least provide a provisional final product - improving with the digital tracing if I have time.

Teacher Help

I made an attempt to contact a former teacher who specialised in the Crusades. My aim was to confirm if he could read over my final script to ensure it is accurate or cohesive; upon agreeing to look over my script, my former teacher also gave some other guidance. This did occur a few months back but I thought to include it now as I'm further into my project.

He gave advice on teacher guides and how some books in the library have segments on lesson structure, although I'm skeptical as I'm not sure how close the formats will be to one another. Additionally, he suggested I look into a YouTuber who doesn't do history videos but has a style worth looking at. I've decided not to do look into the YouTuber suggested as I am aware of his content and do not feel analysing it would benefit my project.

Review of YouTube - Time

The survey results seem to indicate that the video should last from either 5-10 minutes or more than 10 minutes. As a compromise I think I'll settle on 10-11 minutes as it is above 10 minutes but not by too much (as to appease the half who believed it should be between 5-10 minutes. Naturally I decided to compare this idea with the lengths of the videos I have analysed.

Notably, the majority of videos for the content creators I assessed seem to last around 10 minutes - some going slightly lower than that estimate and others much higher. History Buffs is perhaps the longest, it seems, although this is to be expected as he focuses on history from a 'film review' style. The film review aspect means he needs to play lots of clips from the original movie and analyse them according to historical context and fact, therefore his content typically lasts for more than 30 minutes at a time.

It's important to include a long enough time to ensure enough depth is applied but not too much as to result in a bored or disengaged audience. I intend to maintain my viewer's attention. Additionally, as my video will likely go on YouTube, it should be noted that they have changed their algorithm; the changes to YouTube mean that content worth is based on watch time, the most successful channels producing content that lasts around 10 minutes - clearly indicating its effectiveness at ensuring an audience is engaged, since it is the most popular time on the platform. Additionally, new channels require verification before they can upload more than 15 minutes of content according to my research which is an added reason for this choice.

www.minimatters.com

www.quora.com

Television Based History

Simon Schama:
Simon Schama was suggested to me by my peers as someone interesting to look at in relation to my project, however there is only some things I can learn from him. The way he creates historical content seems to be mainly recorded lectures, these are partially informal as he goes into some jokes. These jokes help maintain the audience's interest yet they still seem engaged following the majority of what he is saying - something I struggled to do. The issue is that he sometimes falls into some degree nominalisation by throwing in some needlessly complicated words or sentences into his speech. I feel that the overall content is somewhat different to what I want to create, sure my video will essentially act as a 10 minute lecture but apart from that I believe my content should be more accessible to those who may not be as interested in history; I aim to generate some interest from non-historians but also help educate those interested in the subject.




Terry Jones:
Terry Jones is a competent presenter in this documentary. The formatting is in-keeping with that of a traditional documentary and I have looked at him due to my peers suggesting so. However, while I do appreciate the delivery of information, I feel that a documentary is too different to the more casual and internet-accessible video I aim to create. The formatting is reminiscent to that of YouTubers who include live action and perhaps real images pertaining to the subject; Jones does present the information with an exotic background however I - along with the YouTubers I looked into - are unable to do this and so if I were to add live action then I would likely need a set. Overall, this method of educational entertainment is somewhat irrelevant to my project but it was nevertheless interesting to look into.

Review of YouTube - The Production and Viewing Aspects

John Green Crashcourse:
The esteemed author runs a YouTube channel in which he analyses or otherwise talks about various parts of society, history, psychology and politics. Interestingly his work merges live-action with animation and graphics - notably there are more of these in his later videos. The production value for the videos is rather good and judging by the amount produced are clearly popular enough to warrant more videos to be made.
An issue I have with his style of video is how he often deviates for comedic purposes giving insight into his personality with comments about things like his "bias towards Canada!"; this excited fast-talking video combined with such comedy seems forced and awkward, not having much relevance to the topic at hand. History is surely interesting enough that I don't have to saturate it with my personality in order to engage with the viewer, although it is likely John Green does this as he is famous and therefore in the public eye - providing an incentive to entertain his fanbase and followers.
Additionally, in terms of the video quality itself, I do not believe I could draw much from this as I have firstly decided against full animation but secondly don't believe I have a set or team to produce the live-action aspect of the video to a high enough standard; there then comes the issue of locating an area for the shoot whilst simultaneously ensuring quality audio, plus from my experiences within my Media Studies I'd be running the risk of continuity errors.

John Green Before - an earlier video
Jonh Green After - a later video


ExtraHistory:
ExtraCredits typically run videos on video game design but frequently branch out into providing overviews on historical topics that their Patreon supporters vote for. They occasionally bring on other artists to work on the show when they need to give their usual animator a break or they simply want to have a guest work on the video and showcase their own art.
From a technical standpoint, it is great to see them own a distinct art style of their own that is simple despite the lack of animation - animations typically being relatively simple as to make drawing frame-by-frame easier. Although, more detail seems to have gone into the recent stills used within the videos; I have considered the detail of my characters somewhat but will likely need to finalise such thoughts in a separate post looking at character design. Regardless, their use of animatics is useful as I have decided to draw from their content such a technique. This will otherwise ensure the work isn't too time consuming.
Onto the videos' content, I'd certainly say they are set out clearly with the narrator even establishing either what they will talk about or opening up with a description of the historical figure in the future of their story as to best provide context or intrigue to the viewer. However I would like to criticise them for the fact that their videos are too narrative, in some of their recent work they appear to pick up on some factors but generally they seem to focus on the annecdotes of historical figures and not factors or asking specific questions of if the topic was a 'failure or victory' in a way. I would personally like to explore more factors with my own audience but acknowledge that ExtraCredits aim to provide information accessible to those who don't necessarily study history and therefore have to provide more context when bringing in factors - instead choosing to explore a narrative as it is easier to understand.
Another criticism is the use of a voice changer, I am aware that some of the comments on YouTube have been complaining about the voice however I personally don't mind it. I assume the changer is used in order to make the narrator truly seem 'cartoony' but it doesn't necessarily entice people to watch the video as much as it is something which either polarises them or doesn't register as something worthy of note. I would however consider the narrator as a whole, upon making this post and analysis.

ExtraCredits - video with some animation
ExtraHistory - video as an animatic


Knowledge Hub/Alternate History Hub:
 Overall, the channels appear to give a fairly simple and basic understanding for the viewer to follow - in regards to history. Within most of his content, Cody touches upon certain factors however his content on Alternate History Hub focuses more on a speculatory narrative. In this aspect, I would say I have mixed feelings with applying his approach to content within my own; factors are briefly mentioned and dictate the way in which the supposed "alternate history" occurs, additionally he does have an overall question which he refers back to and aims to answer.
In terms of the technical areas of Cody's work, I very much like how he represents countries by colour and typically having a single on-screen character embody the country. Such personification helps to establish some humour and perhaps add perspective to the content. With this in mind, the Crusaders are usually led more so by specific leaders rather than by countries, or at least not countries as we know of them today. As a result, I will likely not be basing my character designs on this creator, plus his designs are perhaps too simple to represent specific leaders and otherwise distinguish them. However, I shoul mention that he does include an animatic style which I believe to be something I have clearly decided to focus on. Additionally, the videos include real life pictures and maps, likely saving the creator time but also helping to focus the audience's attention as they are intrigued by images that directly link to reality and the subject matter.
Lastly, the way in which he delivers the script is very good. It's prose enough for it to be something casual and informative whilst still embedding information, he's clear with his pronunciations and his deep voice makes him rather distinguishable from other creators - memorable to a point in which might benefit the information he gives. However voice is something which I likely cannot mimic although I should keep an ear out for someone with a similar voice.

Alternate History Hub - a video with some pictures
Knowledge Hub - a video with more pictures and maps


Zepherus:
He's a smaller YouTuber than most of the others I have analysed and clearly it is due to his career only being relatively recent, as a result he seems to be a lot less experienced in terms of his videos from a technical standpoint. Around 0:21, in the video I will link below, he makes a very hard cut on his audio and his intro is rather loud and he therefore needs to balance his audio better. Another note about the audio is the bad quality of it, sure his performance is somewhat clear due his accent however the performance is quite an unconfident one and he messes up some words - leading me to ensure I re-record audio in my own project as to avoid amateur quality. Furthermore, there is some noise within his audio (as in the echo and air are audible) so to avoid this I would need to look out for a good padded location to record clear audio.
On the topic of the technical areas in his videos, Zepherus uses images from real life sources and as such does not draw characters or assets to represent reality. This is a more conventional method of relaying information to the audience as it saves time and allows for them to clearly see factual images of the subject in question, however I will likely only use some images in my project - the main video being comprised of drawn characters of my own, as to represent the historical information I put forward.

Zepherus - the video I used to represent these comments


Military History Visualized:
Interesting use of minimalist visuals but the editing may be too complex given the amount of branches that occur under his 'factors'. This mainly applies even to the diagrams and visuals he uses, often the number of people is represented by a lot of onscreen assets that I don't believe I have the time to replicate. Additionally, his visuals appear to be self-made but don't feature historical characters or cartoons - likely due to his work centering around mainly facts and figures as opposed to a narrative. This provides an extremely clear video with easily digested information and visuals to further aid such information.
Unfortunately, English appears to not be his first language so some of the pronunciation may be hard to understand however his accent is rather distinct and may engage some people. His overall voice and line delivery is rather flat but I suppose it fits with the style of video, plus his audience seems to be those who are more specifically interested in history - my demographic including those who may not be as interested in history, therefore requiring more engaging audio. The lack of narrative focus may take away interest from a casual viewer and disengage them from the video; the large amount of figures perhaps alienating some viewers.
The video I used to base most of these comments on is linked below. It is quite useful in providing some added knowledge on castles for me, however the extent at which this content will feature in my work is still debatable.

Military History Visualized - a video using simple visuals and lots of facts, figures and statisitcs


History Buffs:
This channel focuses on correcting historical misconceptions and inaccuracies in film-review styled videos. A review of the film is given overall but the historical accuracy of the film is also taken into question and history is provided to help clear up any errors. It is in these areas that the channel stands out the most as it engages a casual audience by gaining their attention through well-known films and bringing the discussion about history through such a link. The content seems to be very narrative in following the chronology of history in relation to real events however the host ensures to focus on key facts to support his review.
Notably, History Buffs includes an animated avatar to refer back to and represent himself. He fully animates the mouth and makes sure to lip-sync however the other body movements of the character occur in an animatic style; this style is quite jarring if multiple videos are viewed at a time, plus the lip-syncing would take so long. It is perhaps just easier to maintain a fully animatic style within the video as to keep it consistent.
In terms of visuals, there is sure enough a decent amount of the animated character however the majority of the video is comprised of movie clips and real life pictures and sources in order to evaluate those very clips. Given that the video focuses on the reality of a film this makes sense, however I aim to keep the majority of my work drawn as to still maintain a clear style within my video and engage the audience with never-before-seen visuals.
Below is a video linked to the channel, the content of which I analysed is around the Kingdom of Heaven film. This helped provide some historical information on a time near to the Third Crusade; I may perhaps use some of the information provided if it is applicable to my overall project.

History Buffs - a video with context on the crusades


The Great War:
Content is specialised around the World Wars but it is nice to clearly see a lot of attention and depth around a major part of history. With this in mind, it is unlikely I will be able to glean any information relevant to my subject choice from the Great War. The technical areas of the channel are pretty good, the formatting seems to be similar to that of John Green's in terms of the live action however there is a more serious and educational tone (Green often being too 'internet casual' or adding in humour and high speed talking). The visuals used are all real photographs or paintings and clips, therefore adding to the realism aspect; it is likely that the Great War doesn't focus on providing cartoony visuals as a means of maintaining some solemn respect for the subject he is talking about.
There's not necessarily much I can learn from his videos, but I figured he was worth checking out as I discovered him through a collaboration he did with History Buffs, additionally his channel shows that he is affiliated with Knowledge Hub and Extra Credits. It is interesting to see how closely affiliated all of these people are despite their clearly different styles and focuses.

The Great War - a video which I based most of my comments on

Character Designs - The World

Countries can often be represented well through a character of sorts. This can be seen in the Japanese anime Hetalia which is about the dynamics between different countries but with them personified and drawn as anime characters - however this is obviously too detailed. One other example is the infamous CountryBalls that are frequently seen across the internet on message boards such as 4chan or Imgur, with them being used in comics exploring similar personified interactions between countries; the CountryBalls even feature in AlternateHistoryHub and KnowledgeHub so there is a direct link to this example of representing countries through characters to creators I've studied. By including a character to represent specific countries, it might arguably be easier to display interactions between countries or even how they would appear on a map.

However, I would like to avoid such a representation of countries as singular characters, I would instead like to just focus on particular historical figures and some battles - the map aspects could simply feature colours and arrows to signify territories. It is more important to focus on the nationalities or the houses/leaders of the crusaders. On that note, I could just differentiate between soldiers by attributing them a palette matching that of each character/historical figure. I believe ExtraHistory did this particularly well in their character designs for their series on the Crusades. They also include little initials on characters to differentiate them from one another even more explicitly.

Not the First Crusade!

The First Crusade is decidedly not my focus as firstly it wasn't chosen within the survey I did, the Third Crusade was. However, in addition to this, I have discovered that AlternateHistoryHub and ExtraCredits (ExtraHistory) have both produced videos on the First Crusade.

I firstly would like to avoid directly copying their work or producing content too similar but would also like to produce an educational video which could benefit my peers; as there is some clear attention given to the First Crusade, it makes sense to produce some content around one that isn't as commonly studied - the Third Crusade.

The Videos:

Basic Animation and Character Designs

Initial Animations

I was able to produce two proto-animations of sorts, essentially exploring my use of two different styles of Flash animation: frame-by-frame and symbols/tweens. These are relatively short gifs which depict a Crusader of my design swinging a sword and each has its own positives and negatives.
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Crusaders from Eughan Wooding on Vimeo.

Within the symbol or tween animation, I will say it was much quicker to do as the tween usage means that the symbol is generated between two separate areas by the computer. Essentially if I placed it at A then selected 20 frames ahead and placed the symbol at B then the computer would animate the transition of the symbol from A to B in those 20 frames for me. While this would certainly help given the time constraints I face, I don't feel that the animation is good enough to warrant its use. The movement is too basic to fully capture the fluidity and realism within the battles that would be portrayed during my explanations. Additionally, time might become an issue in that I would have to generate a library of symbols in order to make my work efficient but I don't have the time to build up a library of twenty army positions for a tween.

With this in mind, frame-by-frame appears to be the better choice right? Well the issue is that while it does, in my opinion, look better and less rigid I must acknowledge that it takes a long time. While the tween took two hours - most of which being me deliberating over character design as I did the tween first - the frame-by-frame took nearly 4 hours of continued work; producing a longer high-quality video would require more time and perhaps even animators, neither of which I have at my disposal.

So what am I to do? Well the most logical step to producing a video at this rate seems to be an animatic. I am aware that time is a massive issue with producing animations, especially as a single creator. My experiences with my previous Project on animation reinforced this fact to me, since my final animation wasn't complete in the end.
I am aware that some creators use animatics for their fast yet visually engaging style. People like ExtraCredits (who I will be looking into at a later date) and many animators on YouTuber aiming to update their fans without having to focus on fully animating it. Plus animatics typically come before a full animation within the planning process therefore this just means cutting out an extra step and therefore making my content easier to manage time-wise.



Character Design

Within my animations, I am aware of some flaws within the context of my character design and the Crusades - specifically in regards to the periods I am willing to look into for my project - in that the design I went with perpetuates some misconceptions surrounding crusaders. This isn't necessarily a problem in these proto-animations but would certainly render my content inaccurate if used in the future.

For starters, not all crusaders wore the red cross. In fact, only the Templars and other religiously devote/founded factions really did although there are likely some accounts of particularly pious individuals adding crosses to their attire. Throughout the First, Second and Third Crusades it is more likely that soldiers bore the appropriate sigils of either their house or the houses they swore fealty to. Additionally, the helmet poses some more issues in that the latest period I have considered for my video is the Third Crusade which occurred between 1189-1192, in which many agree is out of the time in which Great Helms were used - although some perhaps had begun to be used as they are recorded in the 13th century, relatively close to the period. The trope of a crusader in a Great Helm is so common within today's depiction that even a quick Google search reveals that the majority show the iconic helmet.

Lindybeige and the correct helm:

Below is a video by Lindybeige, who I often watch. In the video, he explains the three most common helmets used within various Crusades and only just misses my period of focus but his video provides some helpful information.

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Notably, within Lindybeige's video, he explains something which I already presumed which was the commonality of the first helmet in his video. The version he has uses a faceplate however he notes that the most commonly used versions would typically consist of just the top half and the nasal piece or nose guard.

These are based off of the Norman style of nasal helmets given their influence around Europe, many pieces of armour even being developed in Italy which was considered a hub for trade and smithing/manufacturing. This appearance is certainly one which I have seen in my studies of the Crusades, crusaders appearing in tapestries and artwork at the time without full face helmets. The rounder helmets would also have been more useful in allowing the crusaders to see enemies as they were open but also take more damage to the head as the 'bucket' style of the Great Helm and many more usually meant strikes to the head received more force and therefore hurt more, whereas a rounder helmet has the benefit of a weapon sliding off of it.

Some links used:
http://www.eduref.net/kct/kids/crusader/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_helm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Crusade