Monday, April 20, 2009

Final Assignment FINAL SUBMISSION

Finally completed the assignment, im pretty happy with how its turned out, i had to throw some of my ideas regarding the titles out the window but ive come up with some new ones that im pretty pleased with. Im really digging the score in this now - especially when the volume is high - really seems to work well with the titles. Still would have like a less shaky camera move - i tried the stabilize the motion in after effects but that feature seems more suited to non moving camera motions. I hope you enjoy. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS6z990iy3c

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Update 3 - Final Assignment

Finally finished my R&D on the title effects im going to use - im pretty happy with them. It was kinda fun just experimenting with the different filters within After Effects to see how one can combine them to get different effects. I havent touched the score in the assignment, im pretty happy with my attempts at it in update 2. As far as the final screams go - i left these in because i intended to use the titles to add a way of synching them in with the rest of the project. Im pleased to hear you like it! i have to admit, it was a very frustrating experience to finally get it to this point - because of the sparing use of sounds and their visceral and strange tambre.

My initial idea for the titles was to have them track to the footage - unfortunately though, because the footage builds up in speed - this would make the titles basically unreadable. So ive opted for these 2 sets of effects which when given priority to their placement on the screen should get the overall effect i was after - which was to lead the viewers eye.

Only thing left to do now is sych these titles into the rest of the footage then add some more audio fx to accompany them and synch them with the rest of the piece. I left my initial ideas over whether this would be a opening sequence or teaser open - and this has continued to the very end - im pretty sure this piece can be used as either - but ive leaned towards a teaser more because the score comes to a crescendo - which is a regular thing with most teasers.

Also im more of less happy with the color correction, although i have been playing around with a purely black and white scheme and am thinking of leaving only the titles in color - so as to make the piece all the more darker and atmospheric - not to mention this would further help the titles lead the vievers eye. Im quite sure ill probably end up making both versions and finally submitting one of them in the end.

Nevertheless here is a link and an embedded version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB7vPnCEiyc


Sunday, April 12, 2009

Update 2

Finally got the soundtrack to synch with the visuals to some extent - more or less happy with the score for now. Im gonna move onto the titles now - so a lil R&D is gonna be needed in getting the effects im after and also seeing if i can stumble on some new ones. Ideally i would have like to have some sort of rig to get smooth pans across the content of the visuals but alas - doing the best i can with what ive got for the moment. With the score ive removed any high paced beats or upbeat sounds from the score entirely - basically thinning it down and making it really minimalist also - relying on the unnerving and jarring sound inbetween the coarse silence to bring about an earie and uneasy feeling within the audience. Ive also tried to support this dark mood through the high contrast and vignetting done in the color correction - which also changes with the score moving from an unsaturated and bleak - almost bleach washed look - into an oversaturated and hyper-real look by the crescendo of the score. Now onto the titles - i still have some ideas about the video i might try if i have time left over... finger crossed. Heres the Current Update:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alDtwXAYIRo

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Final Project Update 01

This project has got to be THE most frustrating in terms of pre-production. I think ive changed my idea like 5 times and as a result have lost alot of time because of it. I finally decided after much deliberation to make a opening title sequence. It would be a precursor to a project i can work on in my spare time during the holidays - based around lil creatures in the woods. I decided on a pretty slow and dark mood for the opener - kinda moody, wallowing and discomforting. Most of this up till now has been done through the score which has gone through numerous variations. I'd initially decided to make a score and then cut footage to that - but my score ended up too high paced and kinda cheery - so after gathering footage from the wooods nearby my place and cutting it to a rather slow rhythm - i did a bit of a tap dance between the score and editing, finally getting them to mesh to a certain extent. Im still not completely happy with the result as portions of the sound track still dont propel the editing. Also the cutting seems to all of a sudden get really fast when it gets near the end - but working with stock sounds has its limitations.

For the moment though its not all that bad, and ive completed the rough cut of the footage and the soundtrack. I'll be doing all the after effects portion of the work in the coming week - with titles and color correction at the top of the list. Ive found working in premiere very constricting with regard to the animation controls on the effects - its very confusing compared to After Effects and so im hoping to do most of my effect work in there. However it is really great for getting your timing and playing with sequences in the initial stages of a concept - where premiere seems to offer the most flexibility. I cant say i use soundbooth much at all - its a very limited package, and really offers little besides noise reduction for me as most of its effects can be duplicated in the other adobe packages.

The reason for the continual change in my concept was a result of trying to be minimalist in my approach - my initial assignment was very after effects oriented and had loads of content that went into it, but after having a look at the opening sequences of gattaca and eraserhead i can definitely see that one can put forward an idea and create a mood with the clever use of color and sound - this is what ive been hoping to do with this project. Its quite unnerving though as i cant see the final visuals until i get into the after effects portion of the work - but the soundtrack is really getting on my nerves coz i cant get it to roll with the cutting - definitely a cause for concern - maybe its just me, i could really use some feedback and suggestions guys Cheers.

Ive uploaded an update on where i am with the project on youtube and the link for it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-JF5_KMo24 Ive also embedded it here - i hope it works: