Evalution

My final outcome is a video, which advertises a documentary season that would be broadcast on BB3.  An additional piece is a zoetrope I made, which was supposed to feature in the short film I made, which was not originally planned as a final outcome piece on my project proposal.

I have used my sketch book to experiment and document my progression and ideas. My blog was used to reflect and review my progress and allowed me to highlight areas for improvement, this helped me as I was able to take time out from experimenting and look at my work from a different perspective, and make any changes that would benefit my outcome. I found group reviews helpful as I got a look into what other people thought about my work at each stage, and how they thought I could improve it; sometimes even pointing out things I may not have noticed.

All my targets were met from weeks 1-4 which included gallery visits, researching other artists, initial ideas and development, experimentation and drawing up initial story boards. After this I spent my time experimenting and producing each element for my final piece, which took longer than anticipated, but I was still able to finish the project on time.

One development that really helped me achieve my outcome was my technical skills using Adobe Premier, I used this project as an opportunity to practise and expand my skills. As a result I was not limited to using Photoshop and iMovie for editing animations/video clips.

Over the duration of the FMP I received loads of advice and feedback about my work. At the beginning of the project I had to pitch my project concept to a group, who would then feedback to me. I found that my peers liked my project idea and thought it was an interesting concept to work with, which meant it was something I could pursue without making too many changes. Group reviews in the final weeks of the project really helped my work, as I was beginning to make my final outcome and gave me a chance to use the feedback from others and apply it to my outcome. As well as this I got advice as to how I could make improvements on my blog, by not only stating what I did each day, but also critiquing my work and thinking about what I could change and do better.

Something I will take away from this project is my approach to time management, although I was able to keep to schedule for the first few weeks of the project, I think I underestimated the time it would take to produce each element of my final outcome, and then to piece it together. I personally think my outcome could’ve been a lot stronger if I had factored this in and given my self more time to develop and produce the different elements for the outcome. I think I also need be more specific with the artists and inspirations I look at, I tend to be quite broad and look at many artist/works at the same time, but being more specific and looking at least one artist in depth may help me to consider a wider range of art styles, that could have been considered in my final outcome and improved the visual aesthetic.

I used this project as an opportunity to prepare me for next year, where I should be studying Motion Graphics. Initially I was planning to use Adobe After effects to produce my animation, however as I have only a very basic knowledge of how it works I thought using stop motion as a technique would be a better option, as trying to teach myself to use After effects would have been very time consuming. I did try to improve on my stop motion animation skills, by hand and digitally drawing a walk cycle so I was able to grasp the basics on movement. As much as I enjoy the illustrative/animated side of Motion Graphics, my main focal point for next year and the near future is more based towards creative directing, I wanted my outcome to have a narrative throughout, so I needed a good concept to work with that. I plan to work on my own personal art style and continue developing my technical skills over the next few months, so that when I start Motion Graphics next year I’ll be in better place than I am now, and be able to be able to produce stronger outcomes with a good visual aesthetic and a strong concept and narrative behind it.

Over all I was able to produce the type/style of outcome I intended to initially, however I can’t say I’m completely satisfied with it, as I had to cut out some sections due to time restrictions. This resulted in a narrative and visual that looks rushed and doesn’t show my true intentions, but I will take these experiences away with me and factor them in with my next project to ensure I produce the highest quality outcome possible.

Finished result

Week 7: Ending

I used the BBC3 logo for a split second on screen, just so the audience recognise what channel the advert/season was being broadcast on.

I then decided to continue my own theme and give the rest of the information in my own format- using the font commodore 64. I continued the black, white and pink theme BBC3 uses, so the audience would still associate the information given with BBC3.

Week 7: Editing and Finalising

To continue the theme of silent movies and Black & White films I made my own short clip, trying to replicate the effects an old camera would have on the film. Above is the original video, the intention was the at the end of each scene the person/character would interact with an object, which would then trigger the next scene. In this scene the character picks up a VHS camera, which then triggers a colour scene, also implying the change/evolution into a new era.

To create the desired effect I started by simply applying and black and white filter to the video, next I played with the brightness and contrast as typically in early Black and white movies did not have a high contrast, but more of a faint/faded look. To play on the faded look even more I adjusted the tints on the video, using a dark brown instead of black and a light grey instead of white, this enhances the old features and gives it a more authentic aesthetic. Lastly I added a spotlight effect, this lightened a specific area and lowered the contrast in that area.

 Final result- including sound

I was happy with the overall visual result, however to improve this and make it more realistic I would need to decrease the frame rate which would make the film appear to move faster. Older films usually had lower fps as, due to the technology restrictions they had at the time.

Using the same background from the previous scene I tried applying the animation to the live scene, I didn't really like the result as the character blended into the back ground too much, and there is still the problem with the way the sprite walks.

Week 7: Archive footage & Editing

I wanted my advert to have a direct relation to some of the era's I was trying to represent, I thought the best way to do this would be to use some archive footage from recognised silent movies. This would be one of the first visuals the audience would see, so they would get an idea of the time this video is based around initially.

I don't plan on showing each clip for more than 3-4 seconds, as I want to be able to show a variety of clips. Something a long the lines of static/white noise will be used to break each clip, to then move on to the next; the use of static also gives a glimpse into the future and will be a reoccurring theme throughout the advert, as it's something I can relate to TV, media and technology.

Here are the clips/films I will be using: 

Charlie Chaplin- The Kid (1921)

Charlie Chaplin is widely recognised and known for his silent movies, therefore using this in my advert would definitely help establish the scene/era I'm trying to portray. 

               Alice’s wonderland’ (1923)- Walt Disney’s laugh-o-grams

One of the main reasons I picked this film was because of the combination of live action and animation, this was one of the earliest examples of this technique and is still effective to this day. 

Buster Keaton- Back stage (1919)

 

Frankenstein (1910) 

Week 7: Animating levels

Following the start screen I created, I made a simple animated level that my sprite would run through. I continued the main theme of black and yellow, but added an additional red to use for other features such as the hearts(lives) and floor- which was to represent a danger zone where the sprite was was not supposed to step.   

My advertisement is supposed to show the evolution of technology and media, I chose to loosely follow the chronological order of technical events, by starting of with black and white/silent movies and progressing onto colour film and then to games, tv and the modern era. I wanted to show glimpses of each era, or the upcoming era in each scene, just to keep the theme of evolution and technology going. I used a VHS camera app, as I did not have access to an actual VHS camcorder to get the background image, and used lego as a platform for my sprite to move across in order to give a sense of reality and a cross between the different media platforms. 

Using the previous scene, I drew over it creating similar platform so the sprite would follow the same path across the scene. This would let me flicker between the two scenes without any disruption to the sprite, so it would look as if only the background changed. 

Week 7: Game themes, Start screens and Character selection

 Today I focused on creating animated Title screens for my game sequence, which will be featured as part of my final advert.

(Needs to be played on a loop)

I kept the start screen very basic as this is typically what you would see when arcade/retro games came out.

I used yellow and black as they contrast well against each other, the black background brings more focus to the title.

I drew around the the shape of the sprite in it's running position and used the outline to make the yellow running man on each side of the screen, to be used as a discrete reference to the rest of the game/video and so that the start screen didn't look to empty, but also didn't have too much detail.

It took only two frames to make the "Press the start button" flicker on and off, as it was as simple as switching a layer off in the second frame (looped on forever so that it doesn't just blink once like in the video above).

To make this look even more retro I plan to add scan lines, like the ones that would appear on a CRT tv screen and also give the text and shapes an outer glow filter to give a smeary CRT look.

I also animated the character selection screen to make it look as if it was from a first person point of view, and that they were controlling it.

A yellow highlight, similar to the outline of the running sprite is used to highlight what the player is hovering over, and allows the audience to follow what is going on in the scene, this also plays on the first person point of view.

One thing I wasn't sure about was the sprites when they were placed with the black and yellow background. I wanted to continue the black and yellow theme, however if I did this the sprites would blend into the background and I was trying to stick to the NES 64-bit colour palette, in order to maintain the retro aesthetic.

After trying out a number of colour combinations this one was the best one I came up with, and matched the background closest.

If I had more time I would re-design the sprites completely and give them a less basic look and something more along the lines of futuristic/space themed, as I feel they lack detail and don't compliment the surroundings.

  

Week 6/7: Walk Cycles

I re-drew my walk cycle with my character placed in each frame. I had to take extra care ensuring that in certain frames the character was slightly shorter, in order to create the natural bounce in a walk- which was a problem in my initial walk cycle.

I bought my images into Photoshop as individual frames and moved them into place so the character would walk.

I started of with a basic outline of the character, so it would be easy to make any tweaks I needed to. I set the duration of each frame to 0.00, so that it would play with no delay. When played in photoshop it seemed to be the perfect speed, but once I rendered the video it was a little bit too fast, so in future I should try a speed somewhere between 0.00 and 0.1.

Another thing I noticed was that the arm movement didn't synchronise properly with the leg movement, which made the arm movement look overly exaggerated. Also each step looked a bit jumpy, as if a frame was missing. To correct these errors I would need to re-draw the walk cycle with more precision and maybe a few more frames, so that it runs smoother.

I intended to put my animation on a live background, so I needed to change the fact my character was just an outline.

As a quick attempt to trial the character in colour I used the paint bucket to colour it grey and white, this did not colour all the pixels and left it with white gaps and looking speckled. Something to try would be turning each frame into a vector using illustrator, and then colouring it in there allowing me to have a smooth and fully coloured character. However this version does just give me an overall look as to how the character looks animated in colour.

Week 6: Walk Cycles

As well as producing digital animation I would also need to produce some hand drawn animation, as the advert I am planning to produce is intended to have some mixed media content and various techniques the would have been used throughout the evolution of media.

I first drew a walk cycle on a sheet just so I could get the simple motion of walking, I could have drawn the walk cycle with less frames however it would look jumpy when animated, therefore making sure I had a detailed walk cycle was essential.

Even though I planned to hand draw my animation I first did a digital trial. I used a drawing tablet to trace each frame, and then put it together in photoshop to see how it ran. I think my walk cycle definitely needs some work, my character is missing the natural bounce that people have when they walk- therefore it looks more like it floats across the screen, rather than walks. To fix this I would need to alter the character/walk cycle slightly, making sure when there are bends in the knee, the body of the character goes down with it; then creating a natural bounce/flow in the walk.  

Week 6: Animating

Using my sprite sheet I made two quick GIFs in order to see how the animation flowed and if I would need to make any changes to the frames.

I started of having my sprite running on the spot, so I would be able to notice any faults in the framework. One thing I definitely need to change is the still background, I need to make the background move along to the left, so that it makes the sprite look as if it is actually going somewhere. However this would mean I would need a long strip as the background; otherwise the sprite would look as if it was just running on the spot again.

*I need need to create a short moving looped background which will allow me to animate a sprite that looks like it is constantly running. 

I also made a sprite that ran from one side of the frame to the other, this was a simpler way of making the sprite look as if it was moving somewhere, although I did really want a background that moved with the sprite, so that it had the same feel as playing the actual game. I should try and slow the frame-rate down in order to slow down the speed of the sprite, so I can see the individual steps properly; but also so the scene doesn't end so fast.

Next I will need to try and re-draw the sprites on a bigger scale, whereby I can add more detail to the sprite. This will allow me to have more zoomed and detailed shots when ever I need to.

Week 5/6: Spritesheets

Initial character design trials

 Although I wanted my sprites to mimic the style of Super Mario I made a few changes so that my sprite had some individuality. My first sprite design had a hat, however I changed this to hair as it would suit the person I used as a reference to design the character more, therefore allowing the audience to see that the live action and animated characters are supposed to be the same people.

After deciding on my final sprite design I made a sprite sheet, having pre-drawn sprites will make animating easier as I will just have to place the correct sprite in each frame to create movement. The walking sprite would be a short frame animation, so it make look a bit jumpy- or as if the sprite is only moving one leg to walk, but this is what creates the desired look of a retro sprite.

I placed my characters on a VHS tape recording background (which I had acquired), as this was the kind of thing I was intending to place my sprites on for the finished and final piece. I didn't feel as if they blended with the background, and stood out a bit too much; to fix this I would need to add some filters onto the sprites in order to distort the quality and add an 80's/CRT TV aesthetic.

Week 5: Colour Palettes and Pixels

Before trying to draw my sprites I looked at the origins of pixel art and how game sprites were built.

Due to restrictions with technology at this time game creators were limited with the detail they could put on their sprites. They had to create with pixels, which is basically a block of colour; which when composed together with other pixels can be used to create an image.

Tv's at this time had a low resolution which also impacted the amount of detail and colour that could be produced. 

One of the most iconic Mario sprites from the game, Super Mario Bro's (1985).

Technology also restricted the colour palettes in some of the first video games, as shown in the Mario sprite above. Mario consists of two colours, Brown and Red. Due to the low variety of colours to pick from the designers had to be smart with where they used certain colours, to avoid Mario's arms blending in with his body when he walked they placed red over-alls on him. This meant when Mario walks you can see the arm movement.

Having this much of a close look at the Mario sprite allowed me to see just how each pixel was used to make up the sprite, although it used very simple shapes, they are very distinctive and are very similar to how Mario is shown today and throughout the eras. An example of the simplicity in the way the pixels have been put together is in Mario's foot/shoe, which is made up of four pixels on the bottom row, and three pixels on the top row.

Example of colour palettes from Super Mario Bro's

Week 5: Retro Game Characters and Scene Design

Part of my advert would be based around 80's retro games, such as Mario Bro's and donkey kong. I plan to draw and animate a sprite in a similar style, using just pixels to create the sprite, backgrounds and title screens etc.

I found articles online that explained the basics to designing your own retro games. They explained all the technical elements such as softwares to use, measurements/dimension and preferences, and also how to animate your content:  
 http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/going-old-school-making-games-with-a-retro-aesthetic--gamedev-3567
http://design.tutsplus.com/articles/learn-how-to-draw-hand-crafted-pixel-art-in-photoshop--psd-5284 
http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-create-an-animated-pixel-art-sprite-in-adobe-photoshop--cms-20428

I found this particular section very helpful, it shows you how you can replicate the same aesthetics as you would see on screen when actually playing these games in the 80's on a CRT (Cathode ray tube) TV. These are definitely techniques I will be experimenting with and applying to my own work.

Week 4: Characters

 After story boarding I moved onto character design, starting with the 1930's disney inspired animation which would be one of the first scenes of my advert. I started with this first as I thought this would be one of the more time consuming parts of the project.



I drew a character directly inspired from one of Walt Disney's first animations, 'Oswald The Lucky rabbit'. I tried to keep a simple shape and outline, an innocent look for the character and also a basic face; such as simple black eyes etc.    

This is one of my initial sketches of my first character, however I was unsure on the look as although I was going for an innocent looking character, I thought this character looked a bit too childish which is not want I wanted. 

I then re-drew the character in a way I thought would appeal more to an older audience, as this advert would be set to broadcast on BB3, therefore would need to be age appropriate ranging from teenagers to adults.  

I tried to re-draw my character in a vector form, just to see what it would look like. However I did not like the aesthetics and use of colour.

Next I focused on re-working my character in order to make it have a less childish appearance and appeal. I made the head less rounded and gave it more hair so that it did not look like an actual baby, I also looked at facial expressions and eyes and how they change the aesthetics of the character, this allowed me to create a more refined and final design.

Week 3: Story boards

With my research complete I moved on to creating a brief storyboard to plan out the order in which my advert would run, but also to make sure I got the order of events and technology correct. I also used this to brainstorm my initial ideas of what could happen in each scene.

Next I made more detailed storyboards of each scene, this allowed me to explore the different options I had for the narrative direction and try and tackle any physical or technical obstacles I may come across. I was also able to think about what techniques would be best in producing each scene, and consider the time frame I would be working with.

Creating more detailed storyboards abled me to visually see what would happen in each scene and also allow me to branch out from my initial ideas of what would happen in each scene, and consider other possibilities/outcomes.

Visual representation Ideas

(Advert for clothing line: Black Pyramid)

I want to create an advert the very literally shows the evolution of technology through time and demonstrates how the media and techniques can be combined.

This short advert for a clothing brand 'Black Pyramid' has a very retro/analog look to it. It like something you would see on an start screen of an old video game- an NES is even shown at the beginning before the black pyramid screen is shown, I think this is intended to give us a sense of what era this is based/set in, which also corresponds with the quality of the graphics used.

One thing I really like bout this this is the way it's cut, I like the flashes of static/interruption and how it is used to cut to another scene. Seeing this gave me the idea to use something similar in my own advert, as a way to jump from one scene to another and portray the idea of a new era of technology as well as the combination of different techniques.

Feedback on project concept

Week 2: Illustrator workshop

During this workshop I was given an image in which I would have to use the pen tool to trace and recreate the image/typography.

I started out by dotting the points on a piece of paper, which would be the points I would mark with the pen tool to create smooth curve.

I then traced over the letters with the pen tool, using the anchor point tool to create handles in order to adjust and smooth out the curves/line.

 

Outline of the shapes

To finalise the shapes I had drawn I decided to try and recreate the original image/typography as it appeared. I filled each shape with a slightly different tone of grey, I changed the opacity to the two shapes at the top; therefore you could see underneath the shapes and how they overlapped, just like in the original image.

Overall I was happy with my outcome as I felt my shapes had clean curves and lines, and resembled the original image closely. 

I enjoyed this workshop as even though I was already quite experienced using Adobe Illustrator I learnt a new skill, which was using the handles with the pen tool to adjust the shape of the line/curve. This will help me in future to create a more professional standard of work, as this improves the aesthetics and creates correct proportions with a shape.

FMP Research week 1

As part of my initial and contextual research I went on a Gallery visit to the Tate Modern. I looked at the Texture & Photography and Gustav Metzge displays, along with other displays such as Andy Warhol, Modern Times, Barbra Krurger and Cildo Miereles.

Gustav Metzge- Liquid crystal environment 

Five projectors which each contain a single slide of liquid crystals. The projectors are equipt with rotating polarising filters and a cooling and heating system, which cause the the liquid crystal to liquefy or freeze, resulting in a constant change in the appearance of the crystals which are being projected.

I did not really see the purpose in this display, except for it's aesthetics.

Cidlo Meireles- Babel 2001

A tower of radios all playing at once, in order to convey ideas of information overload and failed or thwarted communication.

I thought this display was slightly more relevant to my project as it incorporated technology from different eras, as the radios ranged from new modern radios, to old retro radios. It made me think about other ways I could display my work, rather than just producing a visual in a digital format, and instead produce a visual installation. 

Andy Warhol- Marilyn Diptych (1962)

Brabra Kruger

Overall I did not find the displays very relevant to my project, therefore the research wasn't very helpful to me in terms of inspiration, however I did help open my eyes to different mediums/techniques I could consider working in.

Project Idea

We live in a world where technology is forever evolving. Some forms of media such as videos and tapes have been forgotten in the past, as we now use DVD’s and CD’s; and even those are beginning to come outdated.

For this project I would like to look at the way technology has effected the way we produce graphics and other forms of media. The aim of this project will be to produce a set of visuals to advertise a season about the effects of evolving technology being used in graphics and media, which will be broadcast on BB3.

I plan to produce outcomes in the form of both imagery and film as I feel this will give me the opportunity to have a more diverse range of outcomes in terms of aesthetics and technique. I will be exploring both traditional and digital animation processes, as well as how analogue and digital processes can be be combined and how this contributes to the aesthetic qualities.