I am very pleased and happy with my project. For the first time, I accomplished exactly what I pictured in the beginning. A lot of times during the creative process, things change and take different forms, which is great. However, this project aligned with my blueprints pretty accurately. I had to cut a few things of course for times sake and to preserve quality, but the final product works!
Obviously in my work I am showing off my photoshop painting in a concise and simple way. In earlier posts, I shared youtube videos of inspiration and I utilized several aesthetic elements from the videos. I am pleased with the minimalism and simplistic style.
I am also very happy to have captured key moments from the movie in title sequence form.
I'm also so surprised to have finished the project yesterday, a day early :) Its been a great project!
Pitch : I want to create a title sequence for the movie 10 Items or Less with Morgan Freeman. There are key moments of the film that will translate well into cartoon-esque scenes that I will smoothly transition from one to another. The aesthetic will be Saul Bass inspired to the extent that it will be simple, sleek and shapes will lead the transitions. Every character and prop will be silhouetted and manually painted. It will be very colorful and energetic to reflect the film's mood, and I will be using a Mariachi tune from the film.
Storyboard: This is very tentative and subject to change or various omissions.
Reference: As I researched title sequences, I found inspiration in the following videos.
hehe, here is my attempt at greenscreen. I enjoyed the keying portion of the assignment. I had to mask out some elements, and I probably could have spent several more hours detailing it. After we learned how to use particles I thought my wand could use some :) I think the best adjustment I made to the footage that must be pointed out is I used motion tracking! The camera was really shaky and it made my scene less believeable. The motion tracking really stabilzed the whole thing. I mean I know the lighting could use work to also make the background and the foreground blend in a more believable way, but my main focus was to illustrate my understanding of keying out for greenscreen and motion tracking. So there! :)
I want to take the end of this clip when I throw off the cloak and cast a spell, and I kinda like the moment when I put the wand in my back pocket so I hope I can use it. I'll probably find a Harry Potter photo of Hogwarts or something to put in the background. I'm not sure yet if I want to do any motion tracking, but I think this footage could use it. Not sure if it is possible however. We will see!!! :)
Here are two pictures I'm considering for my Hogwarts scene. I think the window one will work well because I think it will be easy to make it believable.
In regards to the making of, I took their logo and put it into photoshop. I changed it up, masked some stuff, and "save as"-ed the stars. I used text along a path to animate it in a circle. I parented the stars to the text, and bada bing bada boom! :)
My friend wanted me to make a simple moving logo. He told me exactly what he wanted and its very simple. I posted it here, but I intend to redo it more stylistically and with more attention to detail. To be continued...
I am finally done with my 3D project :) I finished it Monday night, which is a good two and a half weeks of work. I learned a lot. My toolbox is not big enough yet to do the things I want to do in a timely fashion. I never realize what I can't do until I get into the process, and instead of giving up I just keep figuring it out. So thanks Ben for allowing us that freedom! These are just exercises, but when I get ideas in my head I don't want to not do it. With all that said, I love my project and am proud that I finally had a break through even though it was a large cause of stress for awhile!
I took a lot of time with detail which means I made a lot of mistakes. You can't randomly manipulate things when you are dealing with time and Z space....and all the other factors. I would change one element on one part of the timeline without realizing that it would affect the entire thing up to that point. Its hard to explain, but I had to learn how and in what order to manipulate all the elements. I used puppet tool for the first time, VERY nifty that tool is! I'm pretty picky and it took time, but its a fun tool!
I drew and watercolored the images, and then I scanned them into the computer. I did not create a background because I had the intentions of making it so deep it was dark. The light is parented to the camera to make it like a submarine POV shot. I did have intentions to animate the treasure chest opening, but I liked the simple zoom-in reveal with it already opened.
This project was a beast, but there is always that learning curve...
I am going to use these billboards to create an underwater fictitious setting. I'll simply make my background a gradient of green to resemble under the sea. I want the camera to simply move forward through Z-space and the treasure chest will be the surprise at the end of the movement. I still need to paint the treasure chest and I actually want to trace five more frames of the chest. Each one will be slightly more open than the last, so hopefully I can animate it to look like it is opening :) I am toying with the idea of making the setting deep under the ocean so that the space is black and the camera POV is perhaps a submarine with a light on it. So as the sub moves forward and the light explores the empty space, these creatures will come into frame and fly by. And then the sub will find a treasure chest!! I am playing with the idea still because I am not sure how easily I can make plankton and microorganism specks across the frame because without those reference points it won't look like the camera is moving forward through the darkness. Those are my plans, and I am excited!!
I am very happy with this project! The snowman was awesome fun to make and the lume matte did wonders. Obviously, I took my last project and I added shapes for the binoculars as well as a snowman. I used mostly shapes with this project, lots of precomps and parenting, and ease eases. I added a blur to my snowman to create some depth, but I actually changed my mind and took it off. With the construction paper look and (cool) lack of depth, I decided not to blur the snowman.
All in all, I love this revision of the 2010 Winter Olympics!
Of course I used construction paper for all the assets because I must (love to) have my hands on my work. Call me old school, but I am more comfortable with organic, tangible materials. And I love the blend with digital work. It was a lot easier for me to create this way and I like the way it turned out.
This clip took me a while. I've been hanging out in the DML and using lab proctors' help. I am realizing that I understand the program in theory, but I am messing up in practice. This is due to my inexperience, obviously. So its better for me to hang out at school and have helpers near by.
I got the sound effects from UT's stock library. That resource is the bomb!
So this is my second After Effects project EVER, yay! :)
Wow, this is silly, I know. I am definitely in the process of getting use to After Effects. This sorta makes me blush, but you know what? This is where I am in my learning, and I cannot change that. As I work more with the interface and explore the program, the quality of work will improve. Hopefully, sooner than later.
I really like the way this turned out. It has a cool look to it. The great thing about it is I'm not doing extravagant things but with a few basic skills I can make a stylized image. I had a picture I took from the zoo and I blended it with the map. The text was the last thing, and I like its multiple meanings. Very self-expressive.
I got the background photo from one of my grandma's photo albums. The vintage look, aaahhhh :) And yes, leave it to me to do something with kittens, hehe. I tried to use color balance and a blur filter to blend the kittens and mouse to the background. I like the end result, its cute and simple. In regards to photoshop, I will say that I heart masks!
I'm starting my last semester at the University of Texas and graduating in May with a degree in Radio-TV-Film and a concentration in Race, Ethnicity and Ethics. I am a part of the ACTLab Program and have taken courses such as Dream & Delirium, Trans:Dangerous Border Violations, and Death in which I express my creative and artistic side. I sign American Sign Language. I am a newbie at Sunstone Yoga and starting my yoga practice. I enjoy singing and playing my piano. I love cats.
I'm very excited to take Visual Effects and Motion Graphics because I'll get an experience in multiple programs and learn various skills! This blog is a documentation of my journey :)
