Project 1: Animal Cookies

Five hours later everything has fallen into place nicely. Some frames have been tweaked, and now the whole thing has been synched with some appopriate sounds. If everyone said they thought it was cute there was no point fighting what it was – so I ran with the playful, cute thing instead.

DESIGN STATEMENT

This project is a ten-second leader based on the idea of eating shortbread animal cookies. Using stop-motion animation, a playful spin is put on the concept – the animals act as if they had a mind of its own, scattering in all directions and avoiding the hand when it swoops in from out of the screen to capture one of the shortbread victims. Every second mark is queued by the ‘munching’ sound, suggesting that the animal cookie captured from the preceding second is being eaten. The short zooms in on the last two animals at the two second mark, and concludes with the very last animal (a fish) being partially eaten.

The ideas of good composition, interesting narrative and light-hearted humour were considered throughout the production, and this resulted in the animals forming numbers in a fluid manner, shifting from one number to the next naturally (relatively, accounting for the fact that this was a first attempt at stop-motion animation). The fluidity of the short is juxtaposed with the mechanical precision of the second-mark sound blips, only to bring more interest to the end when the one-second sound blip is delayed to emphasize the idea of the last animal cracker being eaten.

Also, the animal crackers tasted wonderful. It was fun snacking while working on a design project.

Credit goes to: hardPCM for the burp .wav; heigh-hoo for the ‘crunching’ sound; afterguard for the diner ambience sound.

Project 1: Test

So although it says test, it’s more like I decided to save the work at the midway point to see how it looks. Some parts look more fluid than others, but overall it looks okay. Too many people have described it as “cute”…anyway, time to add in my sounds!

The Digital Designer/Filmaker: Overcoming Motion Sickness

The article begins by restating what we already know: cheaper technology has allowed for the democratization of what was once an ‘elite ‘practice (filmaking); the Web has further accelerated the exposure of more DIY design and film; and that the Web has become the primary breeding ground for the cross-breeding of both practices. The author also mentions how the role of director and editor are slowly becoming interchangeable with the proliferation of digital film.

Real estate websites have online tours where users manually control pre-shot cameras through homes. Potential homeowners have an an enhanced impression of the home with this greater sense of realism. Innovative ideas have changed online advertising, since the most memorable Burger King launched their SUBSERVIENT CHICKEN in 2004. Having said that, there is little disagreement in the author’s statements.

That statement brings up one particular United Nations website. The informational webpage describes the different standards of living in different parts of the world, and the user can navigate from place to place through a world map. Clicking on any one location expands more and more in-depth information about how people live in a region, and in what kinds of homes, determined by the wealthiness of that family and the country. The website is brought to a whole new level by the integration of film: not only are their very well-designed informational graphics to illustrate the kinds of homes families live in, a short 15-second video is also attached to each home to further emphasize the drastically different environments others live in (for example, one video has a family of eight live in a shack with haystacks as beds and a brick fireplace). Without a doubt, film is rapidly finding a place in design, much like how graphic design had carved out a place in film decades ago (in movie intro sequences and credits, for example). The link…can’t find it anymore unfortunately.

Pika Pika

Pika Pika is an abstract art movement that began in Japan around 2005, but has gained a global following rapidly over the course of the past few years. Their work basically turns the slow-exposure rates of a camera lens into the medium of a new kind of digital artwork. It reminds me of when I accidentally set the camera to the wrong exposure level so that all the light captured in the camera end up as streaks of yellow and orange!

“PIKA PIKA is an abstract animation film made with flashlights.

A series of photographs using long exposures are edited together to make them appear as an animation.”

Simple as the idea may be, the final edited films this group produces are captivating and highly entertaining. Just as how my ten-second leader will be created through editing and compiling of multiple photographs, PIKA PIKA is a compilation of many photos to give the appearance of drawings that come to life. The compiled slow exposure photos show all sorts of people drawing simple objects and animals.

What is really most interesting is how this form of time-based media really creates something that otherwise would not be seen in the real world – the final artwork is only possible by placing the movement of light in a very specific framework. The fascinating appeal of the PIKA PIKA videos is largely due the fact that they captured a playful manipulation of light that cannot be seen without the camera lens.

PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE Live Action and Graphic Design

http://www.prologuefilms.com/

A group demands respect when their work precedes their name. The site itself is minimalistic, clean, and opts for a sleek interface. The straightforward interface is effectively juxtaposed against their advanced, professional and highly-polished digital work. With a whole slew of blockbuster movies’ opening credits authored by this group and an equally hi-tech website, viewers and clients are left with the impression that this group are wizards at motion design.

With the use of two colours and designs that imitate the preliminary sketches of storyboards, the site stays on target both in terms of unity of design, as well as in function of the site (as a portfolio site). The work is divided clearly into three types of media outlets (film reels, television, other media), navigation is clear and simple, and everything remains conveniently accessible in the side menu.

Looking beyond the no-frills website structure, their works really show how serious these guys are. With main title sequences done for big-name movies like Bridge to Terabithia, Curious George, Dawn of the Dead, Eurotrip (their intro sequence is my personal favourite), Spider-Man 2 and 3, and Superman Returns, it goes without saying that Prologue have been doing this sort of thing for a while, and doing it right.

Now if only I can be a creative wizard at time-based media and work for them…

PROJECT 1: Creative Brief 2

Creative Brief TWO

1. Title – Animals
2. Overview – Still captured animal crackers are brought to life as they happily march in the shape of the number that is respective to the time of the movie. As the counter goes down, some animal crackers are eaten while others run away in fear, until the last one is eaten up in two or three bites! At some point close to the end a shadow resembling some kind of monster will approach the remaining animals to bring up the anticipation even more.
3. Goals and Objectives – to put a quirky, humorous spin to the popular animal cracker snacks in a ‘faux horror’ style video, so that we can all appreciate our deliciously not-too-sweet snacks more after watching it.
4. Audience – people that can appreciate a parody of a horror film and have eaten or at least know of animal crackers.
5. Key Message – ideally it will be a film that will be so memorable that just the mere sight of a box of animal crackers will evoke the images of this short in the viewer’s mind. Essentially, to make the audience humorously consider how animal crackers would react if they were fully sentient beings with minds and feelings of their own.
6. Content Planning – All content can be captured with video, but it will probably be easier and more effective to composite photos and sound together into a motion piece. A box (or two, just in case) of animal crackers is really all that is needed.
7. Schedule – Week 1 (Jan 7) – Week 2:
   Complete creative brief and storyboards
   Buy a box of animal crackers
   Week 2 (Jan 14) – Week 3:
   Refine storyboards
   Borrow camera from labs (if necessary), capture content
   Begin editing
   Week 3 (Jan 21) – Week 4:
   Finalize editing
   Output to DVD
   Complete documentation
8. Bibliography – relevant sources used in work
9. Visual/Conceptual References

Storyboard can be accessed here.

*I also had an alternative concept of a man preparing to go on a DATE: he would groom himself before a mirror, get his bouquet of flowers, chocolates, spray cologne, comb his hair, etc. etc. and the video concludes when he meets his date. Although the concept itself is very enticing, it seems too hard to convey the idea within ten seconds, and it requires too many jumps in the film such that the viewer might not understand what is going on.

PROJECT 1: Creative Brief 1

Creative Brief ONE

1. Title – Lottery
2. Overview – A person begins scratching a PICK 10 LOTTO card. Each circle scratched will reveal the number respective of the time, i.e. scratch the circles to reveal 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 and then 1 at the respective time. By the 5-second mark a voice will say under their breath ‘no way!’ to express disbelief; after the two empty seconds a shot of the person’s eyes widening cuts to the person getting up and screaming with joy at winning the lottery.
3. Goals and Objectives – to bring the audience along for a short and increasingly suspenseful ride up to the point where comic relief will release the viewers’ attention.
4. Audience – an adult or more mature audience that will understand and relate to the kind of suspense you get when you get a chain of lottery numbers right in a row. They will get the most out of the ecstatic reaction of the protagonist in the end because these viewers, too, would want to be in that character’s shoes … and win a million dollars.
5. Key Message – by halfway at least, the audience should have gotten the gist of the video and know where it’s headed – the protagonist will reach the ‘end’ when he scratches out the ‘1′. Knowing that it is about a lottery, this video really shifts the emphasis towards the reaction of the protagonist after realizing he won; the audience will look forward to it. How will this person react when he wins a million dollars?
6. Content Planning – All content will be captured with video. I will most likely need to buy quite a few lottery cards, one of my theatre friends to be shot in the film, and a lot of editing (to splice the numbers that get revealed in the proper order, at the right time)
7. Schedule – Week 1 (Jan 7) – Week 2:
   Complete creative brief and storyboards
   confirm actor’s help
   Week 2 (Jan 14) – Week 3:
   Refine storyboards
   Borrow camera from labs, capture video content
   Begin editing
   Week 3 (Jan 21) – Week 4:
   Finalize editing
   Output to DVD
   Complete documentation
8. Bibliography – relevant sources used in work
9. Visual/Conceptual References – “Bingo”

Storyboard can be accessed here.

Rinpa Eshidan

My friend told me about this group earlier this break. This group of artists takes the idea of ‘art as process’ to heart – they create organic works with various mediums, like paints, markers, papers, leaves, etc. that never stay in one static state for longer than several hours. Once a piece reaches a certain level of ‘completion’ these artists proceed to break down what they had just created and recreate something completely new, sometimes from scratch, sometimes using one or two of the previous elements.

I was doing a small job this break and was running dry of ideas. Watching their videos instantly inspired me though – the bold, thick illustrations was a style I certainly clicked with. I love this one in particular, titled “1 week of art works”. Great illustration, and you could see how they start anew or isolate one element of one state and take it to the next – essentially showing exactly how these artists think.

From their site:
“Rinpa” is a word created by the founders of the group meaning “to bring people together, while “Eshidan” essentially means “art crew.” The Rinpa Eshidan is a team of artists brought together by a common creative expression.

With their philosophy of truly organic art, their emphasis shifts from the creation of the piece to the process of creation – and this is all recorded on tape. Thus the record of the process of creation becomes the actual artwork, which are all put on their website at http://rinpaeshidan.jp/works/index.html