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New projects, new theme. That theme is music and as the title of the project suggests, we were assigned the task to create a music video for a song of our choosing. However, there were some restrictions as to what song we could pick because rather than create a music video that conveyed a specific meaning or message, our videos had to convey a feeling or emotion. Basically, an abstract music video.
I decided, due to technical complications, to create my video using stop-motion techniques. This is the song I chose because whenever I think of stop-motion styled videos I think of quirky, strange, happy little things and this song is all kinds of strange. The video itself displays a typical morning routine with some not-so-typical magical powers.
As I said before, the song is quite a quirky and upbeat tune. I was unsure of whether to use this 'morning routine' idea as it didn't seem abstract enough to follow the criteria of the project brief. But I feel like it manages to convey that sense of silly happy-go-luckiness easily without getting into anything too specific (except that mornings would be a lot simpler if you had magical powers).
Animated imagery is not normally something I do personally, so my audience would be able to see this as a bit of variety in my work. As part of my audience are those who would interview me for a job or a spot in university, having variety is very useful to have in my portfolio to show that I can do a bit of everything if it's needed. Those who I work with are also my audience as they actually see the process of creation throughout and we sometimes give feedback to each other which means that if I take their criticism on board then I am catering my designs partly towards their needs, making them my audience.
I tried two different methods of recording footage. I briefly used a video camera College provided, but I thought about how much of a hassle it would be having to constantly rent it out and lugging the huge thing about so I decided to scrap using that and as I had none of my own I went with the alternative. A 'photo' camera in which I can create a stop-motion video. That's when the real experimentation began as I had to try different angles and positions to see which would be the easiest spot to consistently take photos at without any disruptions or inconveniences. As for materials I didn't really have to go through much due to the simplistic nature of the video.
By using the little *poofs* to signify an object vanishing it creates this sort of fun happy atmosphere because of it's popular association with cartoons as well as the little *poof* clouds being clouds which are quite soft fluffy looking things. The same goes for all the little *clicks* and *alarms* in the sense that words popping up in correspondence to the sounds brings a comical effect to the scenes.
Throughout this project I never really 'managed' my time in the sense I planned it out. I simply did it whenever possible. It's just a good thing that "whenever possible" happens to be most of the time. When it came to actually creating the video things started to get a little hectic as I had to change my idea near the end of the project which cost me a fair bit of time that could have been spent refining any little bits in my work. I liked that last minute change though because I had previously wanted to make a stop-motion video but I thought that didn't fit into the outline of the brief where I thought we had to use the video cameras to create our footage. To be honest though I my time management became rather poor when it came to the creation of the video as I left it til last minute because of my fascination with the other project. At least it's something to improve upon though.
Stop-motion requires a lot of patience and motivation. Patience is definitely one of my strong points as I have to constantly wait around to get anywhere as well as what little experience I have with stop-motion. I also happen to really like the results of such techniques so being able to get through all the mistakes and having to do it all over again because the camera tilted VERY SLIGHTLY to the left.
Even though I actually liked my last minute change of idea, I really could have done with having my own video camera. That way I could have stuck with my original idea, saved a lot of time, and still be able to record footage whenever I wanted without asking College for permission.
I believe my improvements are most needed in my research now. I feel like I'm lacking in variety and quantity for it. I'd also like to improve how my sketchbook actually looks as well. After all, it's a creative course and I should be showing that I am also creative in everything I do. It may make the difference in whether I pass an interview or not :). Oh, and I feel like my video lacked quite a bit in content. The fact I had to resort to looping says it all. All of this just comes down to managing my time better though which I can be sure of doing so in future.
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Project: Music Inspired Imagery - Evaluation
DFB = Dead Flag Blues
This is always fun to explain. We had to choose two different songs, one of our own personal choice and the other from a selection of handpicked songs by Mark. Then we had to create one storyboard for each of the two songs we chose which we then pick two stills from each storyboard which we then create and turn into still images.
So basically it went like this:
One Song > One Storyboard > Two Still Images
+
One Song > One Storyboard > Two Still Images
My personal song choice was Brunch - Imagine, and the song I chose from Mark's selection was Godspeed You Black Emperor - Dead Flag Blues.
DFB:
The images I created for the DFB song were photo illustrations where one was a centered shot of an underground sewer with shadows of people, but there is no one there to cast from, only shadows. The other image is a rather dirty scenario where a simple book is on the ground surrounded by rocks.
Imagine
For the Imagine song, one image shows a tangerine falling down a hill which leads to a bright and promising path. And the other image shows two people walking along a path that seems to lead nowhere as one side is covered in rocks and the other covered in hills.
DFB
I wanted to make the sewer scene to be a very dark and creepy place which left a haunting effect on the audience. It's meant to correspond with the line "and the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides". I thought I'd keep the location in the sewers because that can be quite a scary and uncomfortable place as it is. The lone shadows are there not only to haunt you, but to show you that something did happen here and as you may be able to tell by the dark style it wasn't something nice. The other image with the book is about the reality of what is happening. The book is there to symbolise made-up stories that are often not true, but outside of this book is a real messed up world of horrific happenings. This isn't a fairy tale, it's real (kinda).
Imagine
Firstly, this song is all about hope, happiness, equality, and breaking down the barriers that keep us apart. There is no second. The image that shows two people walking down a path is a literal metaphor for choosing their own path, which is why you don't see where the path leads to because it's there for those who take it to interpret it as they wish. The buildings and the hills are like sides of an argument in basic terms. Throughout the storyboards there are pathways to either buildings or hills and so rather than following these defined paths of specific actions the two people are taking their own path. The second image is very similar, but slightly more metaphorical. There is still a path which is also about taking your own path, your own journey, but the tangerine is the focal point as the tangerine, in Japanese culture, symbolises happiness, wealth, prosperity, and most importantly, hope. Hope for whether this path shall lead it to happiness.
Audience
I put a fair bit of effort in trying to improvise with my photos. Due to the weather a lot of the things I needed like hills and water were quite hard to get clean shots of. The hills were either too dirty or completely covered in a cloak of white snow or the rivers were frozen up in ice. I had to try and make my own water which I tried to do in my bathroom, but the water didn't have any colour or definition to it so I couldn't use that as you wouldn't even be able to tell there was any water there. I never actually tried creating an entire room from raw textures either so I had to kind of go along as it developed when making it, but I didn't quite count on a few things colliding with each other. I intended on darkening the whole thing anyway though so I wasn't too worried about a few imperfections as they would be hidden within the shadows. For some of the key objects like the tangerine I tried making my own 'light studio' of some sorts using a particular arrangement of taped up paper and torches (very professional) so I didn't have to do much editing on the computer to blend the different photos together.
DFB
I think just about every photo I used had some sort of dirty quality to it which really helps make people think negative thoughts when looking at the images I made. The fact I used photos meant I was using real objects which also let the audience 'feel' for those who may have been involved in these scenes I created because they are real things we see with our own eyes as we're out and about.
Imagine
The tangerines I used were a very key element in using particular resources to communicate my ideas across. I'm not sure if many will get it at first, but hopefully the focus on the tangerine will make them think that there 'is' a message and the composition of the image will eventually lead them to realising the meaning behind the image.
During the design process I was quite organised in the sense that I planned a day (one when I'm not at College while the day is still light) where I would take all the photos I needed for my images and then throw them all together in Photoshop. Whenever I couldn't do something due to some sort of complication I would then do something I 'could' do like my evaluation for the images I had done, so I wouldn't waste any time.
When I did begin the Photoshop my knowledge of photo manipulation came in handy as that was all there was to do after I got all the resources I needed. Even though I tried doing a few things I hadn't done before (like creating a room from textures) I managed to almost pull it off (there were still a few noticeable imperfections).
The weather was the only thing preventing me from completing my designs with ease. It covered everything in snow which wouldn't have suited my images because then people may have thought I was trying to convey something with the snow. It also made finding flowing rivers impossible as they were all frozen solid, so if there was anything I could have done differently it would have either been the ability to control the weather, or build a time machine so I could go back in time and take some clear photos then.
This is always fun to explain. We had to choose two different songs, one of our own personal choice and the other from a selection of handpicked songs by Mark. Then we had to create one storyboard for each of the two songs we chose which we then pick two stills from each storyboard which we then create and turn into still images.
So basically it went like this:
One Song > One Storyboard > Two Still Images
+
One Song > One Storyboard > Two Still Images
My personal song choice was Brunch - Imagine, and the song I chose from Mark's selection was Godspeed You Black Emperor - Dead Flag Blues.
DFB:
The images I created for the DFB song were photo illustrations where one was a centered shot of an underground sewer with shadows of people, but there is no one there to cast from, only shadows. The other image is a rather dirty scenario where a simple book is on the ground surrounded by rocks.
Imagine
For the Imagine song, one image shows a tangerine falling down a hill which leads to a bright and promising path. And the other image shows two people walking along a path that seems to lead nowhere as one side is covered in rocks and the other covered in hills.
DFB
I wanted to make the sewer scene to be a very dark and creepy place which left a haunting effect on the audience. It's meant to correspond with the line "and the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides". I thought I'd keep the location in the sewers because that can be quite a scary and uncomfortable place as it is. The lone shadows are there not only to haunt you, but to show you that something did happen here and as you may be able to tell by the dark style it wasn't something nice. The other image with the book is about the reality of what is happening. The book is there to symbolise made-up stories that are often not true, but outside of this book is a real messed up world of horrific happenings. This isn't a fairy tale, it's real (kinda).
Imagine
Firstly, this song is all about hope, happiness, equality, and breaking down the barriers that keep us apart. There is no second. The image that shows two people walking down a path is a literal metaphor for choosing their own path, which is why you don't see where the path leads to because it's there for those who take it to interpret it as they wish. The buildings and the hills are like sides of an argument in basic terms. Throughout the storyboards there are pathways to either buildings or hills and so rather than following these defined paths of specific actions the two people are taking their own path. The second image is very similar, but slightly more metaphorical. There is still a path which is also about taking your own path, your own journey, but the tangerine is the focal point as the tangerine, in Japanese culture, symbolises happiness, wealth, prosperity, and most importantly, hope. Hope for whether this path shall lead it to happiness.
Audience
I put a fair bit of effort in trying to improvise with my photos. Due to the weather a lot of the things I needed like hills and water were quite hard to get clean shots of. The hills were either too dirty or completely covered in a cloak of white snow or the rivers were frozen up in ice. I had to try and make my own water which I tried to do in my bathroom, but the water didn't have any colour or definition to it so I couldn't use that as you wouldn't even be able to tell there was any water there. I never actually tried creating an entire room from raw textures either so I had to kind of go along as it developed when making it, but I didn't quite count on a few things colliding with each other. I intended on darkening the whole thing anyway though so I wasn't too worried about a few imperfections as they would be hidden within the shadows. For some of the key objects like the tangerine I tried making my own 'light studio' of some sorts using a particular arrangement of taped up paper and torches (very professional) so I didn't have to do much editing on the computer to blend the different photos together.
DFB
I think just about every photo I used had some sort of dirty quality to it which really helps make people think negative thoughts when looking at the images I made. The fact I used photos meant I was using real objects which also let the audience 'feel' for those who may have been involved in these scenes I created because they are real things we see with our own eyes as we're out and about.
Imagine
The tangerines I used were a very key element in using particular resources to communicate my ideas across. I'm not sure if many will get it at first, but hopefully the focus on the tangerine will make them think that there 'is' a message and the composition of the image will eventually lead them to realising the meaning behind the image.
During the design process I was quite organised in the sense that I planned a day (one when I'm not at College while the day is still light) where I would take all the photos I needed for my images and then throw them all together in Photoshop. Whenever I couldn't do something due to some sort of complication I would then do something I 'could' do like my evaluation for the images I had done, so I wouldn't waste any time.
When I did begin the Photoshop my knowledge of photo manipulation came in handy as that was all there was to do after I got all the resources I needed. Even though I tried doing a few things I hadn't done before (like creating a room from textures) I managed to almost pull it off (there were still a few noticeable imperfections).
The weather was the only thing preventing me from completing my designs with ease. It covered everything in snow which wouldn't have suited my images because then people may have thought I was trying to convey something with the snow. It also made finding flowing rivers impossible as they were all frozen solid, so if there was anything I could have done differently it would have either been the ability to control the weather, or build a time machine so I could go back in time and take some clear photos then.
Thursday 7 January 2010
Project: Video Jockey - Stop-motion
Even though it is rather late to be researching into anything right now, I figured I should at least take a look at a few examples anyway just so my idea can be as good as it possibly can be within it's restrained time limit.
Punch Drysdale
Punch Drysdale
I was looking for something exactly like this. A showcase of a regular morning routine being displayed through the wonderous (new word) potential of stop-motion :D. It's more 'how' they take advantage of stop-motion that I find interesting and useful for ideas on the techniques I myself could use for my video. The way they remain stationary as well gives me some ideas about remaining in one position throughout the video regardless. Or maybe do something where everything remains still, yet things happen. For example, I could be making myself some tea (even though I don't like tea) and rather than showing me pouring it the milk in the mug, the glass of milk could magically empty out and the milk just pops right in the mug. Basically I'd be taking out the process and only showing the results.
ALARM
While this is not the kind of stop-motion I want to use, it does have nearly the same exact idea I have about a morning routine in a comedic style. What I really find interesting about these short films is that they almost never use any words, and simply let the actions speak for themselves. It kind of lets you get into the flow of the movie because you're only hearing a steady flow of sounds rather than an abrupt voice popping out every now and then.
It's a typical morning where the person doesn't want to wake up, but is continuously disturbed by several forms of a wakeup call. The way all of them eventually collaborates, it's almost like an orchestra reaching its climax. Then you realise this isn't an ordinary morning when he pulls out the Desert Eagle .50 and shoots the clock right in the face. From then on it seems to be relatively normal with the exception of some ninja-like skills being used to perform simple tasks such as fetching a glass of milk. Then he slowly realises he's drifting into a nightmarish world of ever-moving wakeup calls and intense toast-making.
What I really like about this is how there are all these slightly out-of-the-ordinary scenarios being created in such a casual form that they almost seem normal.
www.motionserved.com/Gallery/SAAB/292464
This one works well with my other idea for a video where I show the process of something being created from paper and then being brought into the real world. I doubt I would be able to create something as smooth and as realistic as this, but to show a clear transition between the object within the paper popping out of the paper and becoming real is my goal. There's one thing that I really like though, and that's the usage of sound. They don't just use the music as the audio, they add the sounds of each action like the light bulb being flicked. It really adds to each action being done and lets you get a feel for what's going on.
Wednesday 6 January 2010
Project: Video Jockey - Reworking
Right! Due to a few particular complications I thought I would completely change my idea in a way that allows me to actually complete it within the deadline. I've changed the song, the style, and everything about it. It will no longer be a smooth-running video, but instead a stop-motion animation. Due to the nature of stop-motion though I didn't think it suited the genre/theme/style of my song choice, so that had to change.
I wanted to go with a happier 'quirky' theme of song because for me stop-motion is generally done in this form, and it's just a lot more fun to work with :). My mind instantly went to the soundtrack of Soul Eater, an anime series that just oozes quirky, fun, and really strange. I eventually narrowed it down to two songs, but both gave me different ideas for an accompanying video.
Soul Eater - In his mind, DB sways his shoulders and dances
As soon as this song played, my mind began creating a scenario of someone doing their morning routine combined with the capabilities and potential of stop-motion to make it slightly more interesting.
Soul Eater - 4242564
I had to think a little longer with this song, but then I got it! It's still somewhat vague but I was thinking of showing a process of something like a drawing, a sketch, or just 'something' on paper and then bringing that to life through the magic (lol) of stop-motion.
These are simply rough ideas at the moment, but that's why I'll be looking at a few different examples of stop-motion. I've seen quite a few that showcase the morning routine with a slight 'twist' to it before, so I know I can find some good ones for that. Hopefully looking at some examples will help me make a final decision in song choice. If not though, I'll just make storyboards for them and let that help me decide.
I wanted to go with a happier 'quirky' theme of song because for me stop-motion is generally done in this form, and it's just a lot more fun to work with :). My mind instantly went to the soundtrack of Soul Eater, an anime series that just oozes quirky, fun, and really strange. I eventually narrowed it down to two songs, but both gave me different ideas for an accompanying video.
Soul Eater - In his mind, DB sways his shoulders and dances
As soon as this song played, my mind began creating a scenario of someone doing their morning routine combined with the capabilities and potential of stop-motion to make it slightly more interesting.
Soul Eater - 4242564
I had to think a little longer with this song, but then I got it! It's still somewhat vague but I was thinking of showing a process of something like a drawing, a sketch, or just 'something' on paper and then bringing that to life through the magic (lol) of stop-motion.
These are simply rough ideas at the moment, but that's why I'll be looking at a few different examples of stop-motion. I've seen quite a few that showcase the morning routine with a slight 'twist' to it before, so I know I can find some good ones for that. Hopefully looking at some examples will help me make a final decision in song choice. If not though, I'll just make storyboards for them and let that help me decide.
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