My initial thoughts after being given the brief were about being given an opportunity to experiment further with After Effects techniques and create a VFX sequence. This is much more in line with my designs for career and job moves after the course is finished.
Initially I decided to think about what was meant by the term ‘music video,’ videos that I had seen that I like/influence my view on aesthetics (the two being very different things.)
The sort of a/v that have influence the way I work are by people such as Phaphinderai, Chris Cunningham, Quayola, 1024 Architectre, anti vj.
They are all progressive in their field and radically different.
Quaola has been a huge influence this year/ In particular the new shorts he has done with Minus records that are on his website. quaola.com
But the main influence for this particular project has been the Cunningham video for ‘WindowLicker.’ The brilliant sheen and mastering illustrated in the video is immense and the colours so full and exuberant.
First of all we had to select a track from freemusicarchive.org
This in itself was a challenge as there is page after page of dross.
This in mind I decided to choose something that was entirely different, a sound that I had never heard before.
This ended up being Alexandre De Gabrial’s ‘La Route.’ An avant-guard, experimental spoken word track that seemed to put me in a strange mental place when I listened to it.
So to kick start the project, I put the song on repeat for a few hours and wrote words and imagery that I associated with the audio that I was hearing. I also knew I wanted to use time-lapse technique.
-Discordant, noise, poetry, beat, minimal, stylization, colour, original, innocence and creativity, naivety, abrasive yet flowing and rythemitical, sleaze, culture, character, open expanses, travel-
These words influenced the video in the sense that my aim was to make a VFX sequence that went someway to representing the audio faithfully. This, I feel was achieved to a degree.
The reasoning behind the colour scheme and the ‘sky’ theme was really an evolution on from previous projects. The colourful ‘vice’ sunset sky, that can be seen over Miami on a regular basis. I have become infatuated with these colours and what they represent. The blue meaning peace and tranquility, the reds and purples bringing some fire, truth and passion, and the pinks just add a little flamboyance, flare and arrogance to the pallet. In doing this I made up some swatches. These were linked together as a storyboard that gave some direction and external narrative that had been missing up until this point.
Filming was a complete failure due to weather. I planned on doing a timelapse of the sky from my back garden. Due to the time of year, the sky was either all grey, or crystal blue. This meant that the picture was either full of dull, grey information, or brilliant blue and nothing else.
This was frustrating, especially as Ken was supposed to be the camera operator.
So after three or four failed attempts to capture the footage, it was decided as a team, and okayed by Will, the director, that stock footage would be used.
Collating the footage was easy enough, although the quality of some of the footage was poor. This had to be expected. There are plenty of sites that do stock footage, you just have to pay obscene prices for it. So due to a tight budget, this was not doable.
Due to the lack of raw footage gathered, Ken took on the role of editing the video. This gave him Art direction and control over the composition of the video. This would have been the same whether stock footage, or raw footage was used.
He did a great job, collating all the footage and composing and arranging it. It was done over a short period of time, allowing for more time to be taken over the VFX, something that I did not think would be as advantageous as it was. It provided a much bigger window for experimentation in post.
Will okayed the edit, and we moved into VFX. Due to Wills’ skills and knowledge with After Effects, I enlisted his help as an advisor on the sort of effects that were going to be employed. This was very advantageous and speeded up the whole process no end. He suggested using the Gaussian Blur to smooth over some of the edges left by low-resolution footage that worked a dream. As everything was experimental, its hard sometimes to justify why certain actions were taken, other than that it was tried, and if it felt right and it fitted, (narratively and aesthetically) then it was kept. Really I was doing the experimenting, and Will would always tweak the end result so it wasn’t too brash or abrasive. Will dictated the ‘bandwidth’ of the parameters used. This meant that the footage could be almost completely deconstructed, safe in the knowledge that the level of effects would be moderated at a later date. Basically meant no restrictions with the amount of experimentation done.
The audio Key framing really gave the video some backbone and brought it all together. Gave in narrative and interactivity. The result of which can be seen, although subtly, in the video. I was worried about the amount of time this would take, but using it in the simple and naïve way that I have, its effect Is lessened. Further experimentation with this function Is essential and I would like to use it again in projects to come.
Despite all the time management issues and stress caused by needing to stick to my production chart, I feel the sequence ended up ok. I definitely feel the Audio keyframin could have been utilized to a greater extent. Possible used for the manipulation of more obvious perameters. Also, the contrast sometimes blows the highlights out and the white balance needs to be altered.
The colours in general are ok. Again could have definitely spent more time on manipulating the hue and saturation to highlight more purples and reds.
Ken also did the Box art for the sequence. He watched the video and decided to use abstracted skies, sea, and various other textures, using the colour pallet from the swatches made earlier in the process. Apart from it turning out a bit dark, which i believe too be down to the quality of printer, it has the right aesthetic. The only thing i would have done differently is use Helvetica as the font.
Working as a team has never been an issue for me. This time it really hit home how fast a product can be turned around. The production process, when broken down into roles and tasks becomes simple, quick and easy. Having worked with ken and will before, this was made even easier in as much that we all know what sort of aesthetic result the other is after. (less questions asked).
I feel we all worked cohesively and efficiently together. To the point where I feel this group of people would work well under the pressure of industry standards.
No comments:
Post a Comment