Ultimately, I had fun with this project. It was frustrating, tedious, challenging and many other annoying things, but for some reason I was very much invested in making this work as well as I could, given my skills and the timeframe. This certainly doesn't mean it's anywhere near perfect or that there are things I wouldn't do over (or may do over in the future) but I am satisfied with the final results, which is more than I can say for some of the other final projects I've completed over the years.
I think I stuck fairly true to my original intent, which was to create something that was simple and emotional and light. The final project was perhaps less "grand" in scope than my original intent (I wanted to have the two characters go through an entire day, rather than have it transform from afternoon into night immediately as it did in the final project) but this also stemmed from my underestimation of the sheer amount of time it would take just to get a few seconds out. It definitely makes me appreciate frame-by-frame animation a lot more!
It also challenged me in the sense of sound. In many of my previous projects I either utilized sounds that came from the environment or pre-made themes (such as the "Mission Impossible Theme" used in "Freedom"). For this one, because I wanted to do something a bit different, I decided to just create a simple tune on the piano that would hopefully add to the sweet aura I was going for. The song was created entirely through GarageBand, on TCNJ's provided keyboards. I think the final tune is decent and fits well thematically, although my meager piano skills could use a bit of work.
Because I do love to draw, the actual animation of the sequences was a great learning experience, though it did take a big chunk of time. Certain parts of the movie are better quality than others though, and it's probably easy to tell at which points I was becoming tired. All the same, I do feel somewhat accomplished for finishing it in the first place. Interestingly enough, I also feel as if this is a project I could still work on and hopefully improve in the future, as I do think it deserves fuller, more patient treatment as well.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Comments on "Freedom"
Of all the projects we had this semester, this one proved to be the most challenging. Being completely new to After Effects, it was perhaps a bit ambitious to have an animation project come out in the exact way I imagined it, but I would like to think that I got a crash course in the basics of the program.
My idea was to have an art piece come to life on the page and attempt to escape the confines of its paper. Initially, I wanted to have it take place on a desk but the lighting and the need for consistency made it a bit too difficult. Instead I decided to have it take pace on the face of the refrigerator which I actually thought was an improvement from the first. In regards to the actual animation, I was disappointed with some of the motions and the pacing, as things were a little too slow for my taste (going back into After Effects and changing individual things was a bit too much for my timeframe). The first few seconds turned out well though, I thought, at least the scene where she's still moving in the paper.
Overall, I think there's a lot of room for improvement in regards to some of the animation aspects and though I'm not entirely dissatisfied with it, I think that this can be seen as more of a basic outline of what should be a bigger project.
My idea was to have an art piece come to life on the page and attempt to escape the confines of its paper. Initially, I wanted to have it take place on a desk but the lighting and the need for consistency made it a bit too difficult. Instead I decided to have it take pace on the face of the refrigerator which I actually thought was an improvement from the first. In regards to the actual animation, I was disappointed with some of the motions and the pacing, as things were a little too slow for my taste (going back into After Effects and changing individual things was a bit too much for my timeframe). The first few seconds turned out well though, I thought, at least the scene where she's still moving in the paper.
Overall, I think there's a lot of room for improvement in regards to some of the animation aspects and though I'm not entirely dissatisfied with it, I think that this can be seen as more of a basic outline of what should be a bigger project.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Final Project Proposal
Looking back at much of the artwork I've done recently, one would likely envision me as some sort of gloomy, isolated outsider, as a lot of my work for one reason or the other tends toward a more gloomy atmosphere. Things are always very grungy or industrial, and there seems to be a lot of references to desires of freedom or escape. Funnily enough, I consider myself a rather cheerful, optimistic person. So why does my art not reflect this, I ask myself? In answer, I want my final project to be something happy, for lack of a better word, something that ends on an unambiguosly high note, with no anxiety-inducing cuts or mysteriously dark symbolism involved. Of course, aspects of my seeming fixation on “garbage-chic” may still permeate this piece, but ultimately I want to transform it into something lovely and simple and unburdened. The piece will follow the story of two different characters, neither of whom have a solid past or future, and a fleeting but joyous encounter that occurs when one character decides to take the other on a bit of a “journey”. I have no aspirations to change the world or totally rock the sensibilities, but perhaps it will draw out a smile.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Project 1 & 2 Experience
Having virtually no experience with sound editing/recording, this project definitely challenged me creatively and technically. However, I did enjoy the learning experience it put me through and though my sound clip was not produced exactly as I wanted, this project afforded me the chance to make something that I wouldn't ordinarily be able to make.
One of the hardest parts was the integration of voice into the project. I'll be the first to admit that public speaking or emoting is not my strong suit, so my voice recording was not quite what I anticipated, but at the same time this allowed me to focus on ambient sound and setting. Nowadays, our minds are almost constantly stimulated by work or technology, etc., and it's hard (for me at least) to think of a moment where I was just at complete peace. Since I didn't bring my car with me to college, I am an avid user of public transportation, and one of the most hectic and wholly uncomfortable positions to be in is waiting at the bus stop on a cold, dreary day, dreading all the work that I would have to finish once I returned home.
The sounds I used in my clip were meant to evoke that hectic, urban atmosphere and the heavy breathing/coughing was included to represent my personal feelings. The latter half of the clip, with the quiet walk towards the wind chimes, paralleled an abstract desire to be away from that comfortable position, using typical sounds that remind me of being home without any pressures. Looking back, I do believe that this intent could be made a bit clearer in the piece's structuring, as I could see how it could be difficult to track the "action" of the clip.
Because there was some form of narrative and setting in the sound clip, no matter how obscure, I actually wanted to go even more abstracted in the Still-Frame Project, and got rid of almost any form of linear storytelling. The obvious characteristic that ties most of the pictures together is the focus on a circular shape, which came about when I was trying to think of things that were common in my sounds (for example, a bus wheel from the bus sounds, a clock from the ticking). I wanted to keep the pictures in full color at first, but the result was too cluttered and the circle shapes were lost (plus, I love black and white photography!). Although I did have a wide range of pictured items to choose from, many of the photos I couldn't use because they didn't fit size-wise or thematically. I wish that I had been able to get some of the photos I initially included in my storyboard (ex. police sirens, bus wheel) but for some of them I wasn't allowed or didn't have access to.
One of the hardest parts was the integration of voice into the project. I'll be the first to admit that public speaking or emoting is not my strong suit, so my voice recording was not quite what I anticipated, but at the same time this allowed me to focus on ambient sound and setting. Nowadays, our minds are almost constantly stimulated by work or technology, etc., and it's hard (for me at least) to think of a moment where I was just at complete peace. Since I didn't bring my car with me to college, I am an avid user of public transportation, and one of the most hectic and wholly uncomfortable positions to be in is waiting at the bus stop on a cold, dreary day, dreading all the work that I would have to finish once I returned home.
The sounds I used in my clip were meant to evoke that hectic, urban atmosphere and the heavy breathing/coughing was included to represent my personal feelings. The latter half of the clip, with the quiet walk towards the wind chimes, paralleled an abstract desire to be away from that comfortable position, using typical sounds that remind me of being home without any pressures. Looking back, I do believe that this intent could be made a bit clearer in the piece's structuring, as I could see how it could be difficult to track the "action" of the clip.
Because there was some form of narrative and setting in the sound clip, no matter how obscure, I actually wanted to go even more abstracted in the Still-Frame Project, and got rid of almost any form of linear storytelling. The obvious characteristic that ties most of the pictures together is the focus on a circular shape, which came about when I was trying to think of things that were common in my sounds (for example, a bus wheel from the bus sounds, a clock from the ticking). I wanted to keep the pictures in full color at first, but the result was too cluttered and the circle shapes were lost (plus, I love black and white photography!). Although I did have a wide range of pictured items to choose from, many of the photos I couldn't use because they didn't fit size-wise or thematically. I wish that I had been able to get some of the photos I initially included in my storyboard (ex. police sirens, bus wheel) but for some of them I wasn't allowed or didn't have access to.
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