In yesterday's seminar we discussed and practiced the use of lighting in film. I learned that in most lighting situations there are 3 different lights - 3 point lighting. This includes a key light (hard), back light (hard), and a fill light (soft) to fill in the shadows.
I also learned the three main properties of light
-Coherence (quality)
-Colour temperature (colour)
-Intensity (strength)
Taking all we were taught in the first hour into account, we were then given a task for most of the rest of the seminar. Our group was given the task of creating daylight inside a studio, and to evidence it with a short interview style film.
We found this quite difficult at first as it seemed very dark in general, with the subject's face very bright. Once we viewed the film on a PC, iwe also found the quality to be much lower because of the use of automatic settings on the camera. Here is one of our first examples of experimenting with the lighting...
Later on we realised this was due to camera settings not our poor use of light, so we fixed this and refilmed our interview. We did this by using manual settings - resetting the white balance automatically and setting the iris setting to 0dB. Once we did this, everything was much clearer and the background was black with no obvious shadows. This is the final result of our experimentation with lighting and filters...
In response to the feedback we got from Deborah whilst on set of our mini practice film last Friday, we decided to keep the same basic idea of an idea drop off, but give it a TWIST! (:
The main idea for this "twist" in our idea sessions was one involving comedy. So this is what we are going with. We have also come up with a few more important aspects for our final film....
Materials/Props:
Party poppers
Party hats
Small cake?
Newspaper/magazine?
Mobile phone?
Envelope
Birthday card
Roles:
Me - Camera person (whoopeeee)
Amanda & Hollie - Party-goers
Leigh - Envelope person (oh rubbish vocab)
Elliot - Birthday boy! :|
Basically, it will start serious, like the other example, where a person appears with an envelope then when the "birthday boy" arrives, the envelope will be passed over - birthday card. When this is revealed, the party goers will jump into the shot with party poppers, party hats and cake! Pretty silly really, but hopefully an effective way of audience trickery (genre). Hope it all works out well.
Here is a very simple storyboard I did. Sorry for the poor picture quality couldnt be bothered to scan it properly haha.
We had to go in at 9am today for a lecture on our end of module presenation and assessment... It seemed to help confirm my worries about how to produce it, but has also stressed me out a little. :P
We have been told to produce the main bulk of our presentation using our "best work". This means the work I think best answers the brief and has been the most successful overall. I am still not sure but I think I will mainly base mine on my interactive space project (improved version since the online link I posted here!), as I think it is now much more effective and has had some good feedback so far. I am in the process of getting more feedback.
It was also suggested to make our presentations using other methods than just a powerpoint presentation, as this would be the least they expect of us. I have decided, to link in with my work, I will produce a HTML coded interactive-style presentation. I am in the process of producing the first few pages of this at the moment on photoshop and notepad. (Dreamweaver is against me. Won't work on my laptop. Boohoo!) So it could take a while. Start early hmm!
After the lecture, I also met up with 2 of my One Shot team in the library to discuss and finalise some ideas for our final film this week or next week. We decided on going with the comical twist on the "drop off" idea. Perhaps using an envelope containing a birthday card instead of a bag? I will update my blog when I have finished the storyboard I started and finalised what we are doing.
Here is the first improvement of the rather rubbish graphic designer CV I uploaded earlier in the week. I maintained the style it was in, using a simple photograph of line paper as a background, and screen-drawn squiggly sort of shape for the titles. :) I also just aligned sections in order of relevance, and used a computerised font for easier reading.
Another design I found that I personally thought wasn't very effective overall was this Forrest Gump DVD cover...
I didn't like how the image was from the back and seemed to have been clumsily placed in the middle, whereas the title was placed to the right, and the award reference placed on the left. Not following the CRAP rules much? Bad times. I also didn't like how most of the design was neutral colours, then the title was in bright red and blue. I think this was too much of a contrast in comparison to the low contrast feel of the rest of the design, which is more appropriate to the film.
Therefore, I edited it on Photoshop to make everything aligned to the right of the design, and used a better, clearer picture of a similar style, but showing the front of Mr Gump. I also lowered the contrast of the text and sized it appropriately. I think it looks more professional myself. :)
Today we had our first seminar with Deborah... We basically did a few takes of the simple practice film we planned in groups today. Plus Hollie joined our little team. Welcome! :)
We did a simple version of the complex plan I wrote about last night, aha! Good thing really. It involved two main characters dropping off and picking up a secret package. We tried this from various angles. These are my favourite of the four we produced today...
So today I started the third and final subject in my Design Practice 1 rotation. Moving image - One Shot Film.
I am going to be honest, this is the one out of the three subjects that I have been looking forward to the least. I'm not really into film and cinematography - I much prefer still photography. I am also not too keen on working in groups to produce work as I am often referred to as an independant learner... However, I plan to try and enjoy the subject as much as possible and get some productive work done with my group.
Today, we firstly discussed the concept of a one shot film and what limitations it will involve. For instance - we have to make our film using only one shot and are only allowed to pan, zoom or track the camera once in the whole film.
We also discussed briefly the process of risk assessment. The main mood of this discussion was BORING. But I guess it has to be done. :P I think we will have to do it tomorrow before starting filming our practice piece.
I gathered that...
Risk - The possibility or likelihood of danger or an accident occuring. (e.g. there is high risk when filming in a crowded place?)
Hazard - Something present that could cause danger or accident. (e.g. a steep and/or slippery surface could be a hazard when producing a film with action)
We walked around the aboretum for half an hour today too, picking possible settings for our first short film. We decided on one of two places - either under a tunnel/bridge area towards the back of the park, or on a bench near the large monument.
The main idea that arose in our short group talk after this 'walk' was a discussion/confrontation between two characters in a suspicious sort of style. For example, one character (let's call him Bob) is sat on a bench (organised meeting place?) with a large bag or object to sneakily leave for another character he will meet (Fred) to pick up. However, when he gets to the meeting place, a poor, homeless person (Tramp!) is already sat there.. 'Bob' would leave the bag under the bench and walk off, but the 'Tramp' would steal the bag and run. 'Fred' would turn up and then run after 'Bob', starting a confrontation in the background.
This is my interpretation of the basic idea we discussed anyway. We will probably alter this or simplify it in one or two ways to make sure it doesn't get too long or complicated, as it is only a practice one shot film!
The objects associated with risks/hazards I thought up whilst brainstorming this idea were...
-Wet floor/leaves
-Uneven floor
-People in the same area
-Filming equipment
Although this is a very different genre/mood of film and uses a lot of tracking, panning and zooming, it is still a one shot film using similar subjects and composition that we discussed in seminar. (i.e. over shoulder shots of people sat on a bench) so thought it was appropriate to share on here.
Today I had to bring in a few examples of what I consider to be bad layout design (i.e. that does not follow the C.R.A.P way of designing ;) )
So what is this 'crap'ness I hear you ask?
Contrast - This can be achieved with variations in colour or boldness, etc. Repetition - By using the same font or technique over and over and over and over... Alignment - Using invisible lines of alignment to link sections together. Like in this list. Proximity - Making things that link together closer.. andviceversa,perhaps.
These are factors that should always be considered in layout/composition of design. This is something I will remember for all of my future work. Whether written or visual. :D
Now to the task. We looked at our examples of poor layout design and discussed what was wrong or could be improved. Now we need to pick one of these and re-make it, improving the layout and overall design as much as we feel we can or need to.
I chose this design. It is is a CV for a graphic designer. Or as they like to call it "grahic designer". Epic fail. The first thing on my list is to correct this spelling mistake if I am going to improve it at all! Although, to be honest, I will be starting it again on Photoshop. I will take a photo of lined paper, manipulate it, add text and other details similar to the title in the original, and put the sections in order of relevance. I could even remove one or two sections due to irrelevance. (e.g awards?)
I also need to find another example of bad design and improve this in a similar way. I will probably use one of the DVD/CD covers I looked at before today's lecture...
Watched this film at the weekend. I heard Tim Burton produced it so persuaded my boyfriend to let me borrow his copy of the DVD. I reaaally liked the styling of it in general... The plot was very strange and honestly creeped me out a bit (I am a wuss for weird films, lol.) but totally loved the characters and environment. (Although I was convinced 9 was a strange rip off of Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet! :P)
Over the past three weeks I have been focusing on the practice of animation in my Design Practice 1 module. My task was to produce a 30 second animation on 3DS Max to be used as an ident on my own TV station.
I decided to just use my initials as the station name in my ident. This very simply but effectively represents me and gives me a chance to use some typography in my work; therefore adding written clues to what the station could contain. I also decided to include a quite basic character based on the skills I learned in my second seminar. This character was loosely based upon me and my interests – the glasses being the main feature of my influence! The rest of the alterations on the character were mainly just to give it a cartoony, cute style, as this is quite simply the style of character I would most want on my own TV station!
I experimented with animation on 3DS Max for a while before deciding on the motion to be used in my final ident. I played with tools such as bend, extrude, stretch, melt, etc. to try to mimic jelly-like movements when jumping and sliding across the screen. These are movements I decided on using due to my experimentation working out quite well.
I also experimented with materials, cameras and lighting for a short while to help me figure out how to make my character and its surroundings look as good as I could with the little knowledge of modelling I had. I think this worked out quite well, although I would have liked to have learned more about textures and lighting to enhance the quality of my renderings.
I have found this project very interesting, mainly due to specialising in animation in my previous course. I have always found animation fascinating; particularly stop motion pieces (Coraline, etc.) However, now I have discovered how 3D animation can be produced, I have grown a great interest in improving my skills and discovering more about the subject.
I found the movement of the glasses slightly awkward near the start, so I will try and improve this in 3DS max and render these frames again before adding sound to my finished piece.
Here is what I now consider as my final ident design. It may change as I can be picky with things like this and alter them constantly :) but I think this will be my main edit. I have tried to alter the fault with the glasses slightly and have added a few sound effects to make it more interesting.
Here's how some of how my animation's going so far.
Only done about 275 frames and it looks quite slow as it is. How to fill the rest without it all being text falling or my character zooming about? HMMM..
Did a bit of sketching to plan my final idea today... To make up for my missed seminar yesterday... Stupid cold keeps coming back to haunt me! :(
Anyway, heres my main character idea and quick storyboarded sketches of what movement I could try and include in my ident.
This idea very much uses the tutorials we have followed in seminars (text and jellyhead!), as these are features I think I can now use fairly well on the software. However, I have added certain aspects I have explored and discovered myself - glasses, teeth editing, arms, character movement/bending/stretching, etc.
This idea has a strong use of moving text (falling or spinning, perhaps?) so I have looked at a few current idents using similar styles to help me decide how to approach this. Here are a couple of my favourites...
Did a lot of messing about on 3ds max today...
This is the main thing that came out of it...
Very much based on the character we did in the seminar I think you will notice, but plan to edit it even more to make it suitable for the brief. I just really liked the cuteness of it :P and simplicity.
I also finally managed to make a shape that looked slightly like glasses today to fit in with my main idea for the ident. So might actually persue with this one now.
Done this so far.. surprisingly easy when you get used to it.
I won't save it though, I shall redo it tomorrow to get used to the process more and help my friends if they struggle. I'm quite liking this stuff now. Still doubting whether I will be able to produce something totally different from this style, but can I can always try! :)
Just looked at the notes for my 2nd animation seminar tomorrow. Actually making a character? A cool jelly character? Yay!
I hope this isn't too difficult to follow, I could try and do it now as I have the software... but I might leave it till tomorrow when I have guidance and friends to share my annoyance with >:D haha!
Perhaps I could use a character like this with glasses on for my animation? Ideas are coming along nicely... until I realise I really can't do the modelling. Aha D:
