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Showing posts with label Design Practice 3:2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Design Practice 3:2010. Show all posts
Sunday, 30 September 2012
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Design Practice 3: Assignment 3: DePict: Inspiration and Brainstorming: Part Four
As people are having some trouble understanding my idea I have decided to break it down into manageable scenes with a short explanation for each, I have also produced a visual aid to accompany each of the scenes, hopefully this will give a sense of the mood, pace and tension I am trying to achieve, as well as elaborating on the main story of the piece.
Scene 1
A mentally disturbed man who has recently been released from hospital is sitting crouched up in a dimly lit corridor, we cannot see his face. We hear mysterious voices and see that the man is experiencing a sequence of traumatic flashbacks, by the looks of it they have something to do with a letter. At the very same time a post vehicle is heading for the man's house, we see ourselves getting closer and closer to the man's house and front door, until eventually some letters are posted through the letterbox. The man hears the letters being posted and 'wakes up' from his psychotic episode in the utmost shock, the mysterious voices disappear and a sense of normality kicks in, it is as if he has woken up from a terrible dream. The man proceeds to stand up to go fetch the letters, he walks down the stairs and inspects his porch.
Scene 2
As the man is sorting through his letters he comes across one entitled 'DO NOT OPEN UNTIL TIME OF DEATH', at this point the mood begins to build tension, we see a look of terror on the man's face as he reads the title. He quickly walks out the front door in a hurry and proceeds to a old shack type building he has in his garden. He opens the door to his 'shack' and we see it's creepy interior, newspaper clippings everywhere, cobwebs and mysterious objects in jars and test tubes. The man paces up and down nervously, until he decides to sit down at a desk in the middle of the shack and inspect the letter once more, he is nervous, restless to the point where he can't keep his hands or body still, he is putting off opening the letter. He paces up and down the room for a while longer until he finally gives into the allure of the letter, we see him grab a letter opener.
Scene 3
The man rips open the letter to reveal lots of individual scraps of paper inside, he lifts it upside down and they all float down to his desk. The mood begins to get even tenser now, he starts to breathe heavy and aggressively looks through the scraps of paper for some sort of answer... until by luck he eventually pieces two pieces together. At this point we see that the scraps of paper in fact make up a photograph. He proceeds to tape the pieces together in a hurry, his breathing getting heavier all the time, until finally the complete picture is formed and repaired.
The tension stops and his breathing calms, we see him lifting the picture up to his face in complete shock, the picture is revealed to the audience , we see it is the man himself holding a gun up to his own head. He flips the picture around and on the back it reads 'patience was never my strongest virtue', before we have time to process what has just happened we hear a sharp noise behind him, the man jumps up and looks around, the scene fades to black. The scene is brought back and we see the man is dead, face down and lifeless on his desk, pools of blood surround him, we are left at the end with a shot of the photograph lying in a pool of blood.
Scene 1
A mentally disturbed man who has recently been released from hospital is sitting crouched up in a dimly lit corridor, we cannot see his face. We hear mysterious voices and see that the man is experiencing a sequence of traumatic flashbacks, by the looks of it they have something to do with a letter. At the very same time a post vehicle is heading for the man's house, we see ourselves getting closer and closer to the man's house and front door, until eventually some letters are posted through the letterbox. The man hears the letters being posted and 'wakes up' from his psychotic episode in the utmost shock, the mysterious voices disappear and a sense of normality kicks in, it is as if he has woken up from a terrible dream. The man proceeds to stand up to go fetch the letters, he walks down the stairs and inspects his porch.
Scene 2
As the man is sorting through his letters he comes across one entitled 'DO NOT OPEN UNTIL TIME OF DEATH', at this point the mood begins to build tension, we see a look of terror on the man's face as he reads the title. He quickly walks out the front door in a hurry and proceeds to a old shack type building he has in his garden. He opens the door to his 'shack' and we see it's creepy interior, newspaper clippings everywhere, cobwebs and mysterious objects in jars and test tubes. The man paces up and down nervously, until he decides to sit down at a desk in the middle of the shack and inspect the letter once more, he is nervous, restless to the point where he can't keep his hands or body still, he is putting off opening the letter. He paces up and down the room for a while longer until he finally gives into the allure of the letter, we see him grab a letter opener.
Scene 3
The man rips open the letter to reveal lots of individual scraps of paper inside, he lifts it upside down and they all float down to his desk. The mood begins to get even tenser now, he starts to breathe heavy and aggressively looks through the scraps of paper for some sort of answer... until by luck he eventually pieces two pieces together. At this point we see that the scraps of paper in fact make up a photograph. He proceeds to tape the pieces together in a hurry, his breathing getting heavier all the time, until finally the complete picture is formed and repaired.
The tension stops and his breathing calms, we see him lifting the picture up to his face in complete shock, the picture is revealed to the audience , we see it is the man himself holding a gun up to his own head. He flips the picture around and on the back it reads 'patience was never my strongest virtue', before we have time to process what has just happened we hear a sharp noise behind him, the man jumps up and looks around, the scene fades to black. The scene is brought back and we see the man is dead, face down and lifeless on his desk, pools of blood surround him, we are left at the end with a shot of the photograph lying in a pool of blood.
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Design Practice 3: Assignment 3: DePict: Inspiration and Brainstorming: Part Three
Storyboards for my first and favourite treatment: The Letter: Arranging your own death.
Design Practice 3: Assignment 3: DePict: Inspiration and Brainstorming: Part Two
Here is the mood board for my idea the letter, it includes shots from other films, shots I wish to use, colours and textures and the general feeling I want to incorporate into my Mystery/Thriller/Drama piece.
Treatment 1: The Letter: Arranging Your Own Death?
The establishing shot starts with a post delivery vehicle moving down the road. An unknown deliver man moves down the driveway through a first person perspective in day light, mixed into this shot is doley shot of a male ages 30-40 sitting face down on an the floor in a dimly lit room with a bluish tint. The fast pace of the alternating shots is brought to an abrupt end when the letter is finally slid in from outside, our character jumps up startled by the noise, revealing his face fully.
The next shot we see our character moving hastily down the stair from a quirky angle in daylight. he sorts through the letters, one of the letters is entitled, 'DO NOT OPEN UNTIL TIME OF DEATH'
At this point the mood becomes tense, we move to the kitchen, he sits down at a counter and begin to procrastinate, twiddling the letter in his hands, unable to sit still, the camera keeps cutting away to the title of the letter. He paces up and down the kitchen, finally stopping at the fridge with a serious expression on his face pondering whether or not to open it. He finally gives in and walks off screen, we cut to a shot of a letter opener being grabbed.
The man sits back down at the counter and a rips open the letter, he tilts the letter upside down and shakes, numerous shreds of paper fall out and float to the counter. We see the numerous pieces of paper closer, he moves the paper aggressively around until he rearranges two pieces by luck, we see that they are in fact the shredded remains of a picture.
We progress to a sequence of him taping pieces of paper together to try and reveal the picture, the music increases in pace. The music finally settles and we end with him slamming the picture down on the counter, we move to a tilt shot of him slowly lifting the picture to his face with a look of terror, The picture reveals the main character in a suit pointing a gun at the camera, he turns it around and the audience sees the writing 'you should have waited' or ' 'patience is my worst quality'
We hear a sharp noise and the character quickly looks behind him, it fades to black. The shot reappears from black and we see the man head face down on the counter, a gun is visible in the picture but distorted. We move to a final scene of a either (mailbox, desk, pile of letters) The camera comes into focus to reveal the letter once again.
Treatment 2: The Letter: How Is That Possible?
Same premise until the picture is revealed.
Treatment 1: The Letter: Arranging Your Own Death?
The establishing shot starts with a post delivery vehicle moving down the road. An unknown deliver man moves down the driveway through a first person perspective in day light, mixed into this shot is doley shot of a male ages 30-40 sitting face down on an the floor in a dimly lit room with a bluish tint. The fast pace of the alternating shots is brought to an abrupt end when the letter is finally slid in from outside, our character jumps up startled by the noise, revealing his face fully.
The next shot we see our character moving hastily down the stair from a quirky angle in daylight. he sorts through the letters, one of the letters is entitled, 'DO NOT OPEN UNTIL TIME OF DEATH'
At this point the mood becomes tense, we move to the kitchen, he sits down at a counter and begin to procrastinate, twiddling the letter in his hands, unable to sit still, the camera keeps cutting away to the title of the letter. He paces up and down the kitchen, finally stopping at the fridge with a serious expression on his face pondering whether or not to open it. He finally gives in and walks off screen, we cut to a shot of a letter opener being grabbed.
The man sits back down at the counter and a rips open the letter, he tilts the letter upside down and shakes, numerous shreds of paper fall out and float to the counter. We see the numerous pieces of paper closer, he moves the paper aggressively around until he rearranges two pieces by luck, we see that they are in fact the shredded remains of a picture.
We progress to a sequence of him taping pieces of paper together to try and reveal the picture, the music increases in pace. The music finally settles and we end with him slamming the picture down on the counter, we move to a tilt shot of him slowly lifting the picture to his face with a look of terror, The picture reveals the main character in a suit pointing a gun at the camera, he turns it around and the audience sees the writing 'you should have waited' or ' 'patience is my worst quality'
We hear a sharp noise and the character quickly looks behind him, it fades to black. The shot reappears from black and we see the man head face down on the counter, a gun is visible in the picture but distorted. We move to a final scene of a either (mailbox, desk, pile of letters) The camera comes into focus to reveal the letter once again.
Treatment 2: The Letter: How Is That Possible?
Same premise until the picture is revealed.
We go to an over the shoulder shot and the image is blurred, he turns it around and the audience sees the writing 'you should have waited' wrote on the back, we hear a sharp noise and the camera cuts away to a mid shot of the character quickly looking behind him, it fades to black. The shot reappears from black and we see a slightly out of focus close shot of the man head face down on the counter, the camera moves in and into focus on the picture which now sits on top of a pool of blood in his hand, we see the picture is in fact the exact scene that has transpired just moments before, the character has seen his own death before it has happened.
This version adds a hint of the paranormal, you could add the (mailbox, desk, pile of letters) scene at the end to add to the eerie phenomenon of the letter. Yet it still question the mentality of the character, had he imagined it?
Treatment 3: The Letter: We Know It Going To Happen.
Same premise until the picture is revealed.
In this version the audience gets to view the photo of the main characters death before it has actually happened, giving us the eerie realisation that he's witnessed his own death. He turns the picture around to reveal writing and hears a noise like the other two treatments. This treatment could leave out the death scene as we have prior seen it on the photo, leaving it to the audiences imagination. It could end with or without the mail box scene. This treatment has a stronger sense of the supernatural, he could be recalling the memory over and over or simply having a premonition.
Treatment 3: The Letter: We Know It Going To Happen.
Same premise until the picture is revealed.
In this version the audience gets to view the photo of the main characters death before it has actually happened, giving us the eerie realisation that he's witnessed his own death. He turns the picture around to reveal writing and hears a noise like the other two treatments. This treatment could leave out the death scene as we have prior seen it on the photo, leaving it to the audiences imagination. It could end with or without the mail box scene. This treatment has a stronger sense of the supernatural, he could be recalling the memory over and over or simply having a premonition.
Design Practice 3: Assignment 3: DePict: Inspiration and Brainstorming: Part One
The main central focus for my 90 second film is going to revolve around a letter, the working title is 'The Letter' The piece revolves around the central themes of questing reality, characters mentality, time and general mystery.
Although my differing treatments alter the plot of the film slightly, the general idea is that their is character who receives an mysterious letter, the content of the letter questions the characters reality and the audience is left to decipher the outcome.
I have drawn influence from various sources, mainly other existing film. Notable influence include aspects from the film Memento (2000), the idea that a character cannot recall writing a letter to himself and posing for a photo struck me as particularly interesting.
Other influence comes from the film Fight Club (1999) as it deals with distorted reality's and questions the mental stability of the main character throughout, the idea that we see events through the blurred lens of a mental illness and that 'the truth' is somehow revealed to the audience at the climax is a big influence.
Another Small influence Come from The letter in Back to The Future, the one titled 'do not open until 1985', this is an interesting notion to explore, a mysterious letter through time.
the chicken and the egg scenario. It relates heavily to the plot that surround GroundHog Day (1993)
http://www.depict.org/2009/alice%E2%80%99s-adventures-in-wonderland/
Design Practice 3: Assignment 3: DePict: The Brief.
For this coursework I will produce a short 90 second film for entry into the DepicT film competition, there are no strict guidelines as such as DePict accepts a huge variety of mediums and genres: documentary, horror, animation and many more options are available to select if so desired.
From a first glance at the DePict website I notice that many pieces are simple yet elegant, they strive to display artistic vision rather than complex story lines and effects, a simple yet effective statement is present at the climax of many piece. For example I found 'Fag & Egg', a film that stands alone as artistic vision with little intrinsic meaning, and then there is a little gem entitled 'the Laundrette' that has a sweet simple message of love, mixed in off course with masterfully crafted and well thought out camera shots and lighting.
The Laundrette
http://www.depict.org/2011/the-launderette/?category_request=2011
I believe this brief will be a breath of fresh air as I finally get to experiment with cinematography, creating the magic through interesting lighting and characters rather than Cgi and After Effects. Should be fun
Design Practice 3: Assignment 2: Projeted Visuals: Work Submission
Originally designed to be projected on stage behind a local Nottingham Hip-Hop group. The piece is intended to be a collection of abstract visuals, which harbour no identifiable storyline, plot or characters.
Basically it was meant to deviate from the conventions of the cliché' rap video, e.g. cars, girls. The Key themes are Mirrors, Death, Time, Energy and Anger. The extra two minutes at the end when the song repeats were designed in case the band performs over schedule.
I used a lot of After Effects and filmed most green screen and live footage using the Canon 7D. This work was also assigned by the Nottingham design agency Urban Angle.
Enjoy, Rate and please leave a comment.
Friday, 2 March 2012
Claim To Fame.
Well kinda, nothing huge but it's worth a mention here, remember my last project? The political advert I made about foul ingredients found in everyday fast foods? Well that very video has been embedded on http://www.fittvo.com. Fit TeleVision is an online service which offers content that helps users find a range of information on daily fitness and fitness products. Maintained to keep up to date on topics and products relevant to users and provides information on a variety of health related topics.
I discovered I was on their site while analysing my monthly youtube view statistics, a large amount of views were being redirected from an external embed on a mysterious site. I browsed through Fittvo's article base and discovered a post entitled: Mechanically Seperated Meat: www.fittvo.com/6174/mechanically-separated-meat/
Sure enough my video is there at the very bottom, the article shares very similar themes, concepts and view points to my political advert, it's nice to see that the intended meaning I designed, which was: to inform the public to think twice about ingredients found in their food, has been recognised and related to by Fittvo. It makes me happy to think that maybe just two or three people have been inspired by my video after a viewing on this article, makes it all worth while.
I discovered I was on their site while analysing my monthly youtube view statistics, a large amount of views were being redirected from an external embed on a mysterious site. I browsed through Fittvo's article base and discovered a post entitled: Mechanically Seperated Meat: www.fittvo.com/6174/mechanically-separated-meat/
Sure enough my video is there at the very bottom, the article shares very similar themes, concepts and view points to my political advert, it's nice to see that the intended meaning I designed, which was: to inform the public to think twice about ingredients found in their food, has been recognised and related to by Fittvo. It makes me happy to think that maybe just two or three people have been inspired by my video after a viewing on this article, makes it all worth while.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Design Practice 3: Assignment 2: Projeted Visuals: Development: Part 1
There has been heaps of development since the last design practise 3 post I wrote here, two separate filming sessions have gone by, scenes have been built up in after effects and tweaked. Finally new ideas entirely for scenes have formed around the development of my existing ideas and I'm working on incorporating them into the 4 and half minute music video.
Lets start with the filming sessions as that's a chronologically suitable place to start: my first session fell last Wednesday and was a combined arrangement by me, Jordan Brooks and Joe Burns, we helped each other set up equipment and act/model in each others videos. The lightning went well, we had an evenly lit green screen with no shadows and a correct exposure on the 7D. A main outstanding problem I believe disrupted filming and limited what I could achieve was the inherent time restrictions we had on our DSLR camera.
I hate being rushed and that's exactly what it felt like, we had the camera 10 - 4 for one day so some scenes didn't turn out the way I'd hoped, it was cramming at it's finest. I later had a contingency shoot day the following Monday with Chris Thorby which allowed me to replace previous bad footage and collect new material, I also had the chance to experiment with my new time lapse timer in Nottingham Square, i was pleased with the result.
Moving on, I'm not going to document the entire process of editing my assets, as frankly it would bore and take to much space, I'll give you a basic overview of progress. The main scenes I have started work on and subsquentially almost completed are:
Scene 1: Man In Mirror:
Scene 2: Mirror Scale
Scene 4: Flickering Room
Scene 9: Alive in Toilet Mirror
Scene 13: Time lapse at Nottingham Square
New Scene: Passing through mirror
In conclusion I proberly over estimated what I needed to film to make this video, I'm about 2 minutes into the song and i don't think I'm going to need to produce every last scene, so a few will be scrapped. Besides resources for the project are dwindling so I'm going to use what I've got for now. Another thing to note is that I do think the whole thing is a bit after effects heavy, I'm starting to feel like a computer hermit, I'm looking forward to the 90 second drama FILM next project.
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Design Practice 3: Assignment 2: Projected Visuals: Inspiration & Brainstorming: Part 3
Production Files
Here is my complete production log in essence, obviously it will be refined and updated as further information is gathered. Everything appears to running smoothly and I am looking forward to starting this project, below are a few production stills at a location I'm using, it is to be noted that the majority of the 'magic' will in fact come from editing in After Effects post production:
I have also collected a vast amount of textures for use in 3d planes, text and for characters silhouettes in after effects, although i could make my own I thought it would be nice to step away from the virtual world and get some real world ones. Here is the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/56511472@N08/sets/72157629070319613/ and here is a sample of my favourite ones:
Here is my complete production log in essence, obviously it will be refined and updated as further information is gathered. Everything appears to running smoothly and I am looking forward to starting this project, below are a few production stills at a location I'm using, it is to be noted that the majority of the 'magic' will in fact come from editing in After Effects post production:
I have also collected a vast amount of textures for use in 3d planes, text and for characters silhouettes in after effects, although i could make my own I thought it would be nice to step away from the virtual world and get some real world ones. Here is the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/56511472@N08/sets/72157629070319613/ and here is a sample of my favourite ones:
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Design Practice 3: Assignment 2: Projected Visuals: Inspiration & Brainstorming: Part 2
Now that my Influence search is over I brainstormed what it was that I actually wanted to do, these ideas are far and wide and completely preliminary. It is to be noted that I have selected my music track, the track I have chosen to accompany my visuals is track 8, mainly for its slower pace and sadder tone, which believe will match my visuals betters.
Brainstorm ideas include:
Here is a still image I shot last weekend which I wish to use with a time lapse sky, most likely my whole project will be a random collection of visuals like the above and below, as was stated in the opening brief they will not necessarily be synchronised to the music so there's no point in trying to create too much of a coherent structure.
Brainstorm ideas include:
Time lapse streets/cars and people, time lapses with stills, sky changes colour, travelling through 3d corridors, travelling through 3d with stills, travelling through 3D with green screen person, particle effects, energy effects ,3d earth, spinning stars, mirrors, running from mirror, surrounded by mirror, alive in mirror, ambiguous light, ipod style movement, static on a tv, cloning objects, white stripes style scaling, ink blotches and primitive shapes. Obviously they wont all be included but I have some good ideas to go on.
Here is a mock up video for some of my ideas including mirrors and scaling, not polished or anything.Here is a still image I shot last weekend which I wish to use with a time lapse sky, most likely my whole project will be a random collection of visuals like the above and below, as was stated in the opening brief they will not necessarily be synchronised to the music so there's no point in trying to create too much of a coherent structure.
Design Practice 3: Assignment 2: Projected Visuals: Inspiration & Brainstorming: Part 1
I have watched a considerable amount of live concert videos to gather up some inspiration for this project, a noticeable contributor has been T4 on the beach, they have a whole array of interest projected visuals, sometimes standing out more than the actual artists performance.
Here's one that uses falling fruit for the entire performance:
Another recommended to me was Beyonce Run The World, this one is spectacular, it uses a mixture of 3D models, primitive shapes, particle effects, cloning and other effects perfectly synchronised to the performance.
Another one that instantly came to mind was that off Gnarls Barkley - Crazy, that uses a sort of ink blotch effect throughout, this is the style:
A pre existing idea I had in mind for this project before it started was manipulating and using mirrors for abstract effects, mainly influenced by the abstract use of mirrors in The Shining
Here's one that uses falling fruit for the entire performance:
Another recommended to me was Beyonce Run The World, this one is spectacular, it uses a mixture of 3D models, primitive shapes, particle effects, cloning and other effects perfectly synchronised to the performance.
Another one that instantly came to mind was that off Gnarls Barkley - Crazy, that uses a sort of ink blotch effect throughout, this is the style:
A pre existing idea I had in mind for this project before it started was manipulating and using mirrors for abstract effects, mainly influenced by the abstract use of mirrors in The Shining
Design Practice 3: Assignment 2: Projected Visuals: Brief
Will the briefs never end?! No but seriously it's that time of year again, the time I have to make the awkward transition from relax mode to work mode. There's nothing more motivating to shake off the old dust then the brief post, It's the beginning of a new chapter, a fresh starting point to develop from.
This brief is entitled 'projected visuals' and is the result of a partnership between Nottingham Trent and Urban Angel, we are to produce a set of visuals (6-8 minutes long) to accompany one of fourteen hip/hop, these visuals will later be preformed to live, projected on stage behind the artists. The main outlining requirement is that these visuals have no recognisable narrative, they must be abstract and deviate away from genre conventions (e.g., girls on car bonnets, clubbing, fast cars).
The overall tone I received from the opening lecture was that of total creative freedom, the whole exercise has no right or wrongs, it's completely open to our own interpretation and encourages experimentation. Every question such as "Does it have to fit the theme of the music" and "How many projector are we using" was met with the reply "What ever you want", so I am to assume that I CAN do what ever I want, I will however not deviate from what the leading director at Urban Angel wants: Something not obvious.
Example of abtract Visuals
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