Production Chart - Time Management

Briefing Date
24/10/2010
...Free music archive for Track
...Research videos and effects i would like to use.
...Decision as to what track
...Make MoodBoard/brainstorm what comes to mind as a direct relation to the music.
...Make colour swatches and story boards based on Brainstorm.
...Decide on colour and the order of shots

Intrim Crit(s)
26th November 2010
...Filming / Finding useful footage
...To Ken For Editing of footage
(Final cut)
...To Me for visual effects and refinement
(Aftereffects)
...Will is directing and overseeing the development of effects

Final Crit
10th December 2010
9:30am
...Have A 75% finished product to show for feedback
...Finish off and tie up loose ends
...Experiment with subtle effects and mastering/different output settings

Deadline
17th December 2010

Location / Health + safety / risk assesment / Team roles

As i plan on filming the sky over an extended period of time. I need somewhere that is secure as the camera will be on display.
I will need to be able to keep a close eye on it.
I think i will try to get the footage out the back of my house. Its a locked car park, secure and open enough to get a clear shot of a lot of sky.
The other implication is the weather. I am going to have to be able to react to the rapidly changing weather. So my schedule is a floating one. I need blue skies and defined cloud coverage.

As this is at most a 2 man shoot, (purely to take turns watching the camera) The risks and health and safety issues are minimal.
The location also adds to this being made simple.

It will be cold so warm clothing is essential, keep moving to keep circulation going, dont stare at the sun..
Risk assessment is minimal. Keep a close eye on the equipment at all times.

Team Roles.

Will is going to be doing some 3dVFX as well as helping me edit and complete motion graphics.
Ken is going to be my art director, cinematographer and aid me with the concept art.
I will be editing VFX and i suppose producer, although all of us will have contributed to that title.
It will hopefully be an interactive process and i can rely on both ken and wills skills as designers and practitioners.

Aftereffects shortcuts

General (keyboard shortcuts)
Result

Windows

Mac OS

Select all

Ctrl+A

Command+A

Deselect all

F2 or Ctrl+Shift+A

F2 or Command+Shift+A

Rename selected layer, composition, folder, effect, group, or mask

Enter on main keyboard

Return

Open selected layer, composition, or footage item

Enter on numeric keypad

Enter on numeric keypad

Move selected layers, masks, effects, or render items down (back) or up (forward) in stacking order

Ctrl+Alt+Down Arrow or Ctrl+Alt+Up Arrow

Command+Option+Down Arrow or Command+Option+Up Arrow

Move selected layers, masks, effects, or render items to bottom (back) or top (front) of stacking order

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Down Arrow or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Up Arrow

Command+Option+Shift+Down Arrow or Command+Option+Shift+Up Arrow

Extend selection to next item in Project panel, Render Queue panel, or Effect Controls panel

Shift+Down Arrow

Shift+Down Arrow

Extend selection to previous item in Project panel, Render Queue panel, or Effect Controls panel

Shift+Up Arrow

Shift+Up Arrow

Duplicate selected layers, masks, effects, text selectors, animators, puppet meshes, shapes, render items, output modules, or compositions

Ctrl+D

Command+D

Quit

Ctrl+Q

Command+Q

Undo

Ctrl+Z

Command+Z

Redo

Ctrl+Shift+Z

Command+Shift+Z

Purge all

Ctrl+Alt+/ (on numeric keypad)

Command+Option+/ (on numeric keypad)

Storyboard / Colour Swatches / Concept art

These are a few experiments done from Photographs i have taken, in photoshop. Testing a few different colour variations on skies and themes of colour that have developed into a storyboard. I played with various colours and have a few variations, but these are the best ones.
I Think i want there to be fluctuations in the colour of the sky anyway. Its an important feature of the video as it wil be a constant throughout.

The main thrust of the concept lies in the flowing sky glitching, reacting to the audio and then move in the opposite direction.
As the glitch occurs, a flush of colour will ripple out from the glitch point and the sky will evolve into its next next set of colours.
This will only work if the syncopation of glitch to the audio is precise and accurate.
I think conceptually when i think of all the things that this track is comprised of, i feel this visual representation will complement the audio, whilst highlighting its bizarre discordance.
Most of the process is in editing and trial and error with effects perameters and settings. Im looking forward to collecting the raw footage and experimenting with different techniques in aftereffects. There are also a couple of effects that i would like to try in Final Cut. These will be documented accordingly.

Time lapse - visual research

Four Tet & Burial - Moth

Kieran Hebden - mezmeric again.




High Speed Camera shots
An original take on a Music Video

Character progression

More character Scribbles

Having done basic research, these are the initial sketches of characters....
The first one, (which was the last one i drew) is the closest i have come to yet to creating a suitable character. I think this is the basic model i will follow and refine into a character with a back story..
This process has been a lot more enjoyable than i initially though. Still finding thinking but a backstory pretty hard...

Character Moodboard

Having scoured my brain for characters from games of the past, Abes Odyssey is definitely the character i can identify with for this project. An Odd alien life form, gangly and awkward, exaggerated features seem honest and true. It must have taken many minds to create such a bizarre concept. Im drawn towards its naivety.
I chose to look at older characters due to detail. For my character, i want it to be simple, easily constructible making life easier for animating due to my skill level and restraints with MAYA.
Next step is to draw some more characters and refine them towards a concise result, coupled with a caracter sheet the infuse the character with a story and some meaning.

Initial scribbles

This is my initial response to the brief, without having done any research.
As stated before my drawing is not up to much so this part of the process is incredibly challenging for me.
Im trying to have fun with it but the scribbles really are poor.
Going to create a moodboard and do some research then draw a few more, from which i can hopefully choose a design to move forward into doing turn arounds and concept art..

Simulacrum -Character Design - introduction

Part 1 - focus on developing MAYA skills in animation and asset creation
Part 2 - Develop an environment prototype based on the ideas from part 1

p1 - Using MAYA, develop your own 3d, humanoid, Game character archetype.
Beginning with character worksheets and notes, a design will be translated into a basic 3d model with texture.
Finally the character will be rigged and animated for a demo showreel, consisting of walk cycle, idle and jump animations.

I am apprehensive about this project as game art is not an area i am considering moving into. I struggle with thinking up backstories for imaginary characters, and the visualisation of my ideas is let down further by my lack of ability in drawing.
Therefore my designs, concept art and turn arounds will definitely suffer.
I want to try and have fun with this brief and not get too wound up by incidental details. Im looking forward to furthering my MAYA skills as at the moment i am below a novice. Going to be great going back and picking up techniques again as it has been almost a year since i ave touched it...
This in mind, my design will be simple and functional, to ease the burden in translation into, and animation of the design in MAYA.

Research - Funckarma - Fuse

I really like the clever blend of masking and the illusion of 3d in this video..
The colours used are akin to the sort of colours i want to be using for my sky. It suits the ongoing 'vice' theme that i would like to further with this project.
The aesthetic of straight lines and negative space are also intriguing. Well thought out and cleverly used it represents the audio faithfully.

Research - Quayola

Cityscan 4.11 from Quayola on Vimeo.

I bought a book by D-Fuse about the art of vj and vj culture. It was a fascinating insight into the world of vj's, the scene as a whole, individual companies and respected figures, it also came with a DVD. Some of the videos are technically sound but are let down by a lack of focus or narrative, some are 3d masterpieces, others have great ideas but are let down by poor execution or bizarre experimentation with film - digital techniques. All in all a very interesting purchase.

The quayola video here is my favorite from the DVD. Its clean, precise, direct. I really like the colour usage and the natural forms within. The split screen is the most intriguing feature. It adds dynamic and shifts the viewers point of reference with ease.
I would like to use this feature in my music video. To what extent i dont know. It will be discussed between the other members of my team and hopefully written into the art direction. I will definitely be experimenting in editing.

Research - Moderat / Chemical Brothers

Moderat "Rusty Nails" from Pfadfinderei on Vimeo.

Apparat and Modeselektor......

The lighting in this video is brilliant. Crystal clear and used to create beautiful dynamic.
The high speed camera shots are stunning.
I have been thinking about using the high speed camera a lot recently. I would like to attain a similar visual to this one in terms of using fabric for flowing forms filmed with a high speed camera and intense lighting.

Chemical Brothers - Star guitar



The video has a great pace to it. In a way similar to the speed and rate of the flow of information in my video. It has also been the main influence video wise on the open spaces and big spanning shots of landscape...

Music Video - Moods

Music Video - Idea

For this brief, we have been asked to make a video to a track selected from the freemusicarchive.com.
This has provided an opportunity to be expansively creative and utilize many of the skills learned in previous modules.
The main creative challenge is that we have to work in groups. Each taking on an individual roll in the making and production processes of the piece.

Ken - art director
Will - director
Ben - Editor and Visual effects.

I have chosen
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/AlexandreDavidGabriel/la_plage/5-la_route


Imagery and thoughts from listening to the track.....

Discordant, noise, poetry, beat, minimal, stylisation, colour, original, innocence and creativity, naivety, abrasive yet flowing and rythemitical, sleaze, culture, character, open expanses, travel,....

I chose this track because i have never heard anything like it, and over recent months, i have started to read more poetry. This coupled with the last project where i was given the opportunity to learn more about Jim Morrison and his writing, songs and poems, i felt i wanted to explore this spoken word theme further. I think it sets up a creative challenge to make something visually that faithfully represents the sounds expressed in the piece. It is crafted superbly and has such a strong character.

My initial idea is to do with the relationship between harmony and discord. I want the video to be an absolute reaction to the sounds in the audio. And although the sounds in the audio work in harmony, i feel there is a lot of confliction in the music. Its abrasive in nature, yet strangely calming...... Film multiple sky shots. Blue sky, hazy with bold defined cloud coverage. Film over extended periods of time from multiple but specific locations. It would be an experiment with harmonious visuals and colours representing tones from the audio. Expression could be found in manipulating the colour, using colour theory, using the clouds and information in the sky to represent sounds and acute changes in the music. I like the idea of this with scratchy lines and interference or 'noise' to emphasise obscurities and convulsions in the music.
The juxtaposition of contrasting imagery and sound could provide some interesting results.
Most important is to replicate the feel of the track in the video.

This would also mean i could further certain aspects from projects in the past and develop the themes further.
Mid 80's decadence and the 'vice' colour theme, typography and use of text/foreign language, clean concise and direct imagery.

Want to push further into Aftereffets. Thinking initial editing will be done in Final cut, then straight into Aftereffects for the main chunk of the project including layering, effects and post production elements. I would also like to incorporate some element of 3d. Whether this is imported in from maya or the basic 3d functions in Aftereffects. And i would like to use audio key framing to have elements reacting precisely to the wave form of the audio....
This has been one of the most exciting features of aftereffects for me.
Would love to experiment with Max..

Hyperreal + Genre + The Gaze

The Hyperreal and Disney

"Maybe a mental catastrophe, a mental implosion and involution without precedence lies in wait for a system of this kind, who's visible signs would be those of this strange obesity, or the incredible co-existence of the most bazarre theories and practices, which correspond to the improbable coalition of luxury, heaven, and money, to the improbable luxurious materialization of life and un-discoverable contradictions."
- Jean Baudrillard

I don't think Disney is there to show America is real, it's there to show the logical extension of fantasy into reality and the impossibility of truth. Based on the fact that the United States is one of the few democracies founded upon an idea, that of the "city on a hill" (John Winthrop) serving as a beacon and almost 'prototype' society this creation of a closed environment where ideas become reality with no reference to their external possibility or probability is just another manifestation of this. Disneyland isn't there to show America its real, its there to show America what it looks like to the rest of the world.
---

Final Sequence - evaluation

The final sequence has turned out really well.
Aftereffects was a joy to use despite little bugs. The initial tutorials given in Aftereffects were great and extremely useful. This coupled with tutorials off Video co-pilot, I feel I really got to grips with the basic functions from the outset and spending more time with the software meant it just came to life. It’s a piece of software that I have been dying to use and it has not been disappointing.
After the crit, i re edited the music to sync with the vid through bringing the tempo down in Ableton. This helped dramatise the changes in imagery and structure the fade ins and outs.
I went back and masked all the areas that needed to be black to neaten everything up compositionally instead of roughly blocking them out with a solid black layer.
Leaving the ‘Blake’ quote at the start to run for longer gives the initial imagery more impact and makes the start more dynamic. The same with the title of the documentary (NO ONE GETS OUT OF HERE ALIVE) that appears as the end of the sequence. Altering the timing of the masking and opacity on the two right hand images to fade out (in) earlier, allowing the title to remain on a black background, with the sound of the crash at the end helps round off the sequence to a more professional, industry standard.
I wanted a scrapbook, indie documentary feel but did not want it to look unprofessional. Masking, and the inverse of masked layers allowed this to be achieved. It provided blanket cover and accurate solid layers for blanking spurious bits of information within the images that didn’t need to be shown or that looked scruffy. In particular around the edges of the frame where the images constructed may have not fitted snugly or be over lapping pages
I decided to use Helvetica as my font. I looked at hundreds of '60's" fonts but they were all just simply far too obvious and characatures of themselves. Having looked at documentary title sequences the type is always clean, readable, concise and small, allowing the imagery to take precedent. Through out the editing process it became more and more apparent that this style of clean typography would fit the feel of the sequence much better. I feel it really bought the whole piece together.
Being made in 58 and renamed Helvetia in 1960, its creation is from the right era, its just neutral instead of being another means of subconscious symbolism. The text I feel achieves this direct, clear and concise aesthetic I wanted and in the animation process, working in direct syncopation with the still images of the characters in the film as they pass through the video window.

Due to not story boarding the sequence to begin with, a lot of wasted time on this project in editing was lost, having to go back and redesign certain aspects 2 or 3 times. In future projects this has to be done as soon as the initial ideas are complete. This preparation saves time.
Time management was the thing learned most harshly from this module. Finished well within the deadline but failed to deliver a full product at the crit wheich was extremely disappointing. However this is the first piece of work since is started Uni that i am genuinely proud of. Finding Aftereffects and the subject matter, the brief and the scope given has really inspired a new motivation for ‘making things’ again. I began to doubt if I was good enough or if I could make things to specification that were good enough. This evaporated over the course of this module and am looking forward to making a video fully syncopated to music for the next brief.

Aftereffects is definitely a program that i would like to invest in and use a lot more. Out of all the software used so far it has been the best and the Adobe interface and familiar set up meant for quick learning. The functionality and compatibility capabilities it has make it an incredibly useful tool in as much that Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign are programs that I use a lot. Importing pieces with layers or vectors, all this information can be directly transferred, layers and vectors still in tact. Opens up new worlds of detail that can be animated and effected. It’s a program where expression is managed more easily than others.
I would like to look at M.xMSP as another potential. An opportunity i hope to get in the future.

No one gets out of here alive!