Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
2D Final Animation Treatment
Poem:
My Father Taught Me
the dull primer of a’58 MGA
a gunmetal flask of gin
an unusual affection for tweedy
sweater vests, peppery beards, khaki-colored corduroys
a preference for understatement
live jazz in smoky clubs
a need for leaden silence
clouded skies, muted palettes
the musty smell of turpentine, September waves
to walk in dappled water
to honor light and shadow
dusty veils of charcoal
to pause at dusk, not miss
the pewter glow on the horizon
an aversion to extremism
evangelism, fundamentalism, racism
black and white thinking, right and wrong reasoning
he taught me
infinite shades of gray
Narrative and Technical Notes:
I wanted to do a visual interpretation of a poem and I spent a lot of time reading through poems, song lyrics, and short stories. I decided on doing a personal project, animating a poem that my mother wrote to my grandfather.
I was looking for a poem that produced strong visuals and since this piece is about my grandfather, I hope to incorporate both abstract images and memories. The poem will be read and recording and the voicetrack will be edited for pacing purposes.
My grandfather was a painter and the majority of the poem has the theme of a color pallet and paints. I’d like to implement this in both the narrative structure and through stylistic choices. I’m also getting digital prints of many of his oil paintings, so I plan on manipulating the transfer modes of his backgrounds and sections of his paintings to create different painted-on effects.
The narrative structure of the animation will follow pretty closely with the poem. The images will enter and exit the frame as they are mentioned, sometimes morphing and blending into one another as they are read. There will be a 12-15 sec musical break in the poem during the line “live jazz in smoky clubs,” where I will be using a Miles Davis song and creating animation loops of a saxophone and drums playing along. The smoke will be filmed and animated (I’m not sure of this technique yet), then layered to swirl within the instruments.
The hardest section will be the stanza:
- an aversion to extremism
- evangelism, fundamentalism, racism
- lack and white thinking, right and wrong reasoning
I plan on creating miniature picket signs and photographing them on a green screen. They will be animated moving up and down as if being held up by invisible protesters. The final lines of the poem will be read and I plan to videotape someone writing out the last words on a notepad. I’ll manipulate the frame rates so that approximately 1 in 10 frames are used, then trace over and smudge to create a flickering abstract image.
My storyboards consist of mostly stock photos, so the look of the storyboard DOES NOT reflect the look of the final animation. I will be taking photographs (of paintbrushes, paints, sunsets, textures, etc) and shooting video, which will then be traced over in Photoshop and blurred using the smudge tool. I hope to simulate painting on canvas through the animation style, so most of the images will be drawn cleanly, then smudged and manipulated to create abstract, blurred, flickering, and swirling images.
My Father Taught Me
the dull primer of a’58 MGA
a gunmetal flask of gin
an unusual affection for tweedy
sweater vests, peppery beards, khaki-colored corduroys
a preference for understatement
live jazz in smoky clubs
a need for leaden silence
clouded skies, muted palettes
the musty smell of turpentine, September waves
to walk in dappled water
to honor light and shadow
dusty veils of charcoal
to pause at dusk, not miss
the pewter glow on the horizon
an aversion to extremism
evangelism, fundamentalism, racism
black and white thinking, right and wrong reasoning
he taught me
infinite shades of gray
Narrative and Technical Notes:
I wanted to do a visual interpretation of a poem and I spent a lot of time reading through poems, song lyrics, and short stories. I decided on doing a personal project, animating a poem that my mother wrote to my grandfather.
I was looking for a poem that produced strong visuals and since this piece is about my grandfather, I hope to incorporate both abstract images and memories. The poem will be read and recording and the voicetrack will be edited for pacing purposes.
My grandfather was a painter and the majority of the poem has the theme of a color pallet and paints. I’d like to implement this in both the narrative structure and through stylistic choices. I’m also getting digital prints of many of his oil paintings, so I plan on manipulating the transfer modes of his backgrounds and sections of his paintings to create different painted-on effects.
The narrative structure of the animation will follow pretty closely with the poem. The images will enter and exit the frame as they are mentioned, sometimes morphing and blending into one another as they are read. There will be a 12-15 sec musical break in the poem during the line “live jazz in smoky clubs,” where I will be using a Miles Davis song and creating animation loops of a saxophone and drums playing along. The smoke will be filmed and animated (I’m not sure of this technique yet), then layered to swirl within the instruments.
The hardest section will be the stanza:
- an aversion to extremism
- evangelism, fundamentalism, racism
- lack and white thinking, right and wrong reasoning
I plan on creating miniature picket signs and photographing them on a green screen. They will be animated moving up and down as if being held up by invisible protesters. The final lines of the poem will be read and I plan to videotape someone writing out the last words on a notepad. I’ll manipulate the frame rates so that approximately 1 in 10 frames are used, then trace over and smudge to create a flickering abstract image.
My storyboards consist of mostly stock photos, so the look of the storyboard DOES NOT reflect the look of the final animation. I will be taking photographs (of paintbrushes, paints, sunsets, textures, etc) and shooting video, which will then be traced over in Photoshop and blurred using the smudge tool. I hope to simulate painting on canvas through the animation style, so most of the images will be drawn cleanly, then smudged and manipulated to create abstract, blurred, flickering, and swirling images.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Pixellation Pitch - New Idea
So after rereading the project guidelines and re-listening to my section (Pixellation 5), I've decided to go a different route.
I just came across a glow-in-the-dark spin art at a thrift store the other day, so I plan on on scanning in and taking still images of the rotating/streaking paint images to create the background plate. The different images will probably be rotating, changing opacity, and shifting blending modes to create a variety of different backgrounds.
A small, rubber stick figure will drop from the top of the frame to synch up with the noises. This will be done by taking one still picture of the figure and then parenting his arms and legs to bend when he lands. He will then look around and begin to rotate, examining the colorful world he fell into. This will be the pixellation loop - approximately 8 frames, looped and repeated as he rotates 360 degrees.
As I begin working, I will most likely adapt and change this idea. I am still trying to figure out how to create more textures/elements and add them within the scene.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Pixellation Pitch
For my pixellation project, I am planning on taking digital photos of a toy and animating a dance cycle. The toy is a small, wirery creature that can bend easily, so it should be fairly easy to create a pixellation sequence to animate. I will shoot the creature on a green screen, then use the magic eraser tool to get rid of most of the background plate and probably use the magnetic lasso tool to get clean edges. I'm also considering one clean roto, then one smudged/blurred roto, so I can layer the two animations in After Effects and play with the blending modes to get an abstract image.
This creature will be dancing over various grungy scenes that I will create in photoshop. The backgrounds will be blended, smudged, and morphed into one another to create a constantly changing and evolving environment.
I'm not yet sure how this will fit into the project as a whole, but I'm hoping that I can adapt it to fit with my section of the project.
This creature will be dancing over various grungy scenes that I will create in photoshop. The backgrounds will be blended, smudged, and morphed into one another to create a constantly changing and evolving environment.
I'm not yet sure how this will fit into the project as a whole, but I'm hoping that I can adapt it to fit with my section of the project.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
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