First ever experience of designing for screen and digital media. Similarly to the last module, this was also a massive learning curve. We were to produce design work purely based on something that we have never done before using a programme that we never used before. The basics were still the same, as in, the same rules of design still applied to everything we did, only that we had a few more things we had to consider. Things like, time, movement, product being on screen, timing ( rendering, uploading files etc.) These extra considerations we had to make, made such a difference to the way that I worked.
I found myself working quite differently from the last module ( print).
Also, rather than one big project we had a smaller one before the main one to get us used to working with After Effects. I found the project really helpful and useful in terms of learning how to use after effects.
What problem did I identify?
The problem was to design a 50 second title sequence for a made up TV programme, Top 10....
My chosen brief was " Top 10 most bizarre cults"
What evidence did you find to support your decisions and How did these inform my response to my problem?
I researched into the different cults and chose the top cults that I thought were the most 'bizarre' (hence the show name) but I also considered the cults that would be the most visually engaging. I needed cult that would be interesting to interpret into something visual. These are the top ten cults.
1. Scientology
2. Church of all worlds
3. Prince Phillip Movement
4. Nuwaubianism
5. Heaven's Gate
6. Jediism
7. Realism
8. The Russian cult of Gadget Hackwrench
9. Ho No Hana Sanpogyo
10. The church of Maradona
I looked into their beliefs and practices. and I chose one or two main beliefs from each cult to feature into my title sequence. I decided that I didn't want to give away too much in the title sequence but was still inviting the audience to become intrigued. After looking at some design context and researching the appropriate theme and visual ideas for the 'cult' idea. I decided to just use image in the title sequence. I found some really interesting imagery and decided I wanted to use illustrations and collages. I thought it was appropriate but it was also a personal choice. I wanted to work with image for this brief and it seemed fitting.
When I first came up with the 'cult' idea I actually intended it to be humorous and almost mocking the beliefs...but some of them juts turned out to be really creepy and a little disturbing so I changed the tone of voice. I also didn't want it to turn into a kind of spoof, I wanted to make something that looked 'pretty'. ( for once) It was now kind of mysterious, creepy and 'cult' like.
So, I was personally motivated to do an image based project but it was also my chosen topic. Another part of the research that really helped me with my decisions were the design context. As I have never designed anything for screen like this before, looking at all the different title sequences was such an eye opener. From never considering how they were made before. Now, every aspect of animations made in After Effect interested me. Anyways, after looking at all these title sequences I decided that I wanted to make mine using a camera moving through the different layers of the compositions. TO give the audience the feel that they are moving through deeper deeper into this unknown world.
Audio : When I decided on the theme/ style of the animation, then I looked for the appropriate soundtrack and I think I found the perfect one for it. I also wanted to use the 'heaven's gate' cult initiation video posted on youtube by the cult leader in the video. Talking about his father being an alien and his voice, just made the video that much more creepier.
What research could I have carried that would have proved more useful?
More research into other possible techniques. I kin of jumped straight into wanting to use a camera that constantly moves through the whole animation. May be I could have experimented with other techniques that could somehow have been incorporated into the animation along with he camera.
Also, apart from the techniques. I didn't research into other styles/ theme for the video either. I think the theme of the video was mainly oriented around the style of my drawings and the imagery I used. It was that way round rather than the drawings; imagery oriented around what theme I decided. But I'm not sure if that was a bad thing or not?
I considered the use of type but I didn't really experimented with what the animation would look like with type in. Eg. incorporating the names of the cult featured in the title sequence ( but the again, I didn't want to give anything away)
5 things that I have learn about design process over the last five weeks
1. Technology can smell it when you're doing something really important and turns round and says, no I don't want to work today and crashes on you. I must have had After Effects crashing on me, even illustrator so many times.
2. The same rules of design still applies. Composition, Type,...etc, but there are just more things to consider now like time, pace, movement, etc.
3. Audio makes all the difference
4. Storyboard/ sketch. Its so much easier to know what you what your video to look like before you start animating it. I mean I didn't stick to the story board 100 percent but it was helpful knowing what needs to go there and when.
5. Be Organized. I had so many folders and sub folders for this module with so many " mythical creature:faun" "mythical Creature" unicorn"... just really anally labeled files and folders. ....they proved to be very useful.
5 things that I would do differently next time
1. I spent so much time preparing ALL my assets ready for the animation, which in a way, was really helpful, then I definitely started animating to late. and I ended up leaving my idents quite late into the project
2. sketch more. I get caught up with after effects and when a new idea comes into my head, i tended to go straight onto after effects and just animate it. The I'd forget what I was doing and the only reference I had to go back to was after effects.
3. I would probably try and use more techniques than just using a camera. but then again the video is quite complicated already but perhaps I could have moved the camera around a bit more. Rather than just having it move in a straight line.
4. Ask Mike for more help. All the times that I have asked Mike for helped they have been so ridiculously useful but then there were also a lot of times that I was just too lazy to ask and ended up trying to do these things myself. I manged to but if I had asked Mike or Lorraine, they would would probably look a lot better...
5. evaluate as I work. I haven't done much of that in this module (probably not as much as the last one )
Short evaluation for Silent Movie:
Similarly to Top 10...., it was in so many ways different to animate type rather than just having them static. considering, the timing, the pace, the moving, the alterations to the shapes of the type themselves. But then again, the main rules still apply, the appropriate type face, the composition, etc.
I found it extremely helpful to have this brief before we had the main one, in fact, I feel that it was necessary. I would have bee so lost if we had to go straight into producing a 50 sec title sequence and four 10 second idents. When we first started learning to use after effects 5 seconds felt like such a long time to make something move.
I really liked the fact that we constraints to work with such as the colour, the time, the words to animate. It really made me focus on the actual animating itself and working with After Effects... I don't know if that was the aim of the project but it was a really good start to the module and got me excited about after effects.
The design context was also an eye opener...you wouldn't realize how much animation you can do with just purely type.( kinetic type animations)
No comments:
Post a Comment