Final Project: Sarasota Film Festival

This project was started in our Concept class, where my process for creating the storyboards and concept for this animation can be found here.

Below is a simple animatic of my storyboards with the original sound byte of interviews.

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Beginning

Critique:
. Replace elements
. Find new image of globe
. Introduce globe earlier on anticipation
. Increase stroke width on square
. Slow down the globe!

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Middle


1) In the beginning, instead of the square expanding out before bouncing back into the shape of a circle, we made the transition quick and simple.

2) Rather than the globe be far back in space, having it popup and come to the front, mimicking the same movement of the way it appeared, was more effective so the viewer could see the cutouts better.

3) Tilting the globe on it's side so the equator pointed up made it easier to see the iconic popups.

Critique:
. Work on the rotation of the objects on the globe
. Add a camera movement [Of it swaying back and forth? Forward or back?]
. Figure out how to make cutouts! 

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Final

Looking back, we ran into a lot of challenges with this animation. Although both of us grasp the storyboards, we had never actually made a 3D sphere completely in After Effects before. I managed to find a simple way of making the globe work, however, it was a flat shape, so actually forming "popups" out of the globe was far more difficult than we anticipated. With our combined efforts, we managed to create something that looks and feels 3 dimensional and we are both extremely proud of the final outcome. Enjoy.

Exploration 6: Image examples

I find the mood the light gives each of these images very compelling. Its a strong directional light giving clear contrast between the shadows. Its almost as if its giving a calming, reflective, or lonely mood.

LIGHTS VIDEO

I wanted to tell a small story with only using lights and sound within a 3D composition in after effects. The idea was to make it seem like someone broke into an empty abandoned house and were caught by the cops.

20 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT AFTER EFFECTS LIGHTS …

            

1-Which type of light would be best to replicate a bare light bulb?

            Point.

2- How do lights affect 2D and 3D objects differently?

            2D layers ignore lights where 3D layers are affected by them.

3- What is Ambient Light?

            Light that does not have an identifiable source.

4- How is an Ambient Light different from a Source Light?

            Source light has a clear and identifiable source and direction, which can be positioned within            the composition. Ambient light doesn’t consider a specific source and illuminates compositions evenly.

5- What is a Parallel Light, and why would one use it?

            It is a variation of point light that lacks a cone structure.

6- Describes what happens to the illumination of an object as it moves away from a light.

            The further you move the object away from the light source; the illumination of the object itself begins to decrease.

7- What happens to a layer as it rotates away from the light source.

            The illumination of the object decreases.

8- Describe a light's Cone Angle?

            We use the cone angle for a light to control how spread out we want our light rays to be. The wider the angle is, the more area is illuminated. The smaller it is, the more focused on one area we become.

                  

9- How do I move the light without moving the POI?

            You manipulate the light’s actual position and location.

10- How do I move BOTH the light AND POI at the same time?

            By manipulating the position of the light within the comp layer.

11- Which type of light is the ultimate 'FILL' light?

            Ambient Light.

12- What does the term 'Diffuse' mean?

            It is the scattering of light. It will generally soften an object, reducing sharpness an reflection.

13- What does the term 'Specular' mean?

            The area of reflection of light that is the strongest highlight on an object.

14- Can a precomp layer cast shadows?

            Yes

15- What are the 5 requirements that must be met for shadows to work?

            1) A non-ambient light must be directed at both the layer you want to cast a shadow and a layer to receive the shadow.

            2) Cast shadows option enabled.

            3) The layer casting a shadow must have cast shadows on.

            4) The layer receiving a shadow must have accepts shadows on.

            5) There must be space between both layers in z-axis.

16- As objects get closer to the layer receiving it's shadow, does the shadow get sharper or more diffused?

            The closer an object is, the sharper it becomes.

17- If a layer's  'Light Transmission' is set for 100%, how does that affect the layer?

            It mixes with the layer’s colors. The back of the layer are also illuminated and become transparent.

18- A 'GOBO' is like a stencil placed in front of a light.  Does the layer have to have an alpha, or can             the luminosity of the image work?

            It must have an alpha.

19- Adding lights really slows down the render of a scene, what are 3 things that you can do to speed up visual feedback?

            1) You can turn off lights that you don’t need as you work.

            2) Turn off realtime updating by pressing Option (alt) as you scrub.

            3) Enable Draft 3D.

20- Can I adjust the brightness intensity of a light below the value of 0?  What happens if I do?

            Yes, it removes illumination.

Exploration 5

With this exploration, we developed knowledge on camera movements with After Effects. We were to select a high resolution image, cut it up with photoshop in order to fake a 3D believable space with the use of a simple camera movement.

With a previous blog entry, I posted several images I wanted to use for this animation with the help of shorpy.com's high resolution historic images. I chose the one with the girls looking at a roller coaster because I felt as if it told a clear enough story and illustrated enough depth for me to work with.

The easiest aspect of this exploration was cutting up the image with the use of photoshop. I feel as if I already have such a clear understanding of how to use photoshop that I knew exactly what I wanted to do to fake a 3D environment with this image.

The hardest part of this exploration was actually moving the camera. However, once I realized the smaller or the simpler the movement of the camera, the better everything looked. I even had fun trying to play around with focusing and aperture.

One thing I absolutely took away from this project was setting up my 3D space; knowing how much distance to put between layers and how important that distance is.


Version One

Critique: Pull back on the use of aperture
make the tree less noticeable as it moves to the left
play around with the movement of the roller coaster so it isn't so slow-motion but more real-time
pay close attention to the edges around layers to make sure there is no fringing
add music.




Version Two

Critique: Fix the roller coaster.






Version Three

Exploration 5: Images examples

This is a shot of the city I grew up in:  Jacksonville, Florida Main St. circa 1910. Its a charming shot of life back 100 years ago, people just populating the streets. The wires would be really hard to get around but the file is big enough to cut down into it.



 

 

This is a little charming photograph of one of the first roller coasters. I thought it gave a charming little story of two girls planning to go ride on it one day as they looked at it from a distance.

A little bit of action. Fire. Rescue. I thought it might be a little dynamically interesting.

PROJECT 1: Videos

FIRST PASS


Notes: One major problem I was having was trying to figure out how to make lights and shadow. This was a failed attempt at using a 3D light with After Effects.

Critique: Actually 'fake' lights and shadows with masks. Don't have the text centered in the screen. Make the colored 'bubs' the light source.





SECOND PASS

Notes: I was having a lot of trouble figuring out exactly how I wanted to animate the shadows. And then after I rendered the shadows seemed to be really light and soft. Also, I noticed later that the color lights should have some movement to them.

Critique:





FINAL PASS

Notes: I got a really helpful video from Ed and I changed a lot of things around. Like I made the logo a little bigger and instead of white on white, its now black on black. Also, I animated the color lights so I could add a bit more motion to the piece. I like this effect a lot better.

PROJECT 1: Sounds & Style

Stings

Story Boards

Style Boards

PROJECT 1: Idiation

Brainstorming


Five Aspirations
1) To provide fun and exciting entertainment to others.
2) Help bring a community together.
3) Inspire people to broaden their perspective and ideas.
4) To reach out and touch or change lives.
5) Express deep and profound emotions and feelings.




Five Concept Ideas
 1) Bring beauty and life to the streets of Sarasota, as colorful pop design graffiti wraps around a damaged brick wall and forms into the Art Network Logo.

2)  The brush stroke is a fundamental form of expressing creativity and paint brings color into our world. Enjoy the drip like letter forms of Art Network's Logo through the mixture of bleeding paint.

 3) Artists see a world through form and shape, light and shadow. Follow the Art Network Logo as it is a beautiful 3D sculpture through fun and interesting shapes with the use of simple paper, as light and shadow falls across it and reveals the forms.

 4) Sarasota is known for its beautiful famous beaches, and its basically our back yard for Ringling. Discover Art Network's Logo as it is built up out of the sand and blows away.

5) Students live each and every day through their sketchbook. Follow different unique interpretations of Art Network's Logo through the student's point a view, showing process and development through individual styles.

Exploration 3

Our third exploration is to research methods of how to combine images using techniques that we have learned so far. We had to utilize things like luma mattes, masks and modes towards three images to make a 7 second animation featuring a job title related to movies.

The most difficult part of this project is to specifically find three images to translate the job title's description without being "cliche".

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RESEARCH 

Storyboard Artist

Storyboard Artists translate screenplays, or sequences from screenplays, into a series of illustrations in comic book form. These illustrations have two functions: to help directors clarify exactly what they want to achieve, and to illustrate to all other heads of department exactly what is required, e.g., prosthetics for makeup, computer generated Images (CGI) for visual effects, props for the art department, etc. In many ways comic books are the art form that most closely resembles cinema.

Working under the direction of the producer, director, or production designer, the storyboard artist illustrates a sequence of scenes to help everyone involved in the production grasp the same visual image. The storyboard artist may also be called upon to sketch the production designer's ideas for various sets and locations. “A storyboard is very similar to drawing a comic strip or book,” says artist Mike Harris. “You take a sequence of events and make them visually exciting.”

“There are two kinds of storyboards. The first is what I would call a presentation storyboard. This is generally quite finished and quite slick. It may even be in color. It is to either sell the concept to the client or, in the case of a movie, to sell the concept to the people who are banking the project. The second type of storyboard is what I call a production storyboard—so that everyone on the crew is on the same page—and is less finished.” It may be no more than a rough pencil sketch.

A storyboard artist has to have a good ability to convert verbal information into physical drawings.

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VERSION ONE

The three images I chose were a spine, a blender, and a clock/timer. 

The Human Spine represents how the story board artist is pretty much the backbone of the movie, they go in and bring the director's vision to life. Without the storyboard artist, the entire movie would have no visual direction and the entire project could fall apart. 

The blender represents how the job requires mixing in so many creative ideas, blending them together, and creating something out of it. 

The clock/timer represents how everything is on a budget and time.

Critique:
Instead of writing everything that was said that is wrong with this, I will point out the biggest flaw: it doesn't make any sense. Other things I picked up where to have the job title in a lower font, keep things moving through the whole piece, create a sense of animated movement and watch where the type is placed.

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VERSION TWO

I scrapped the first idea entirely. This version focuses more on actual drawings by Ryan Woodward. I might change a few things, like find a better higher quality signature and.. well, use a marker instead of a pencil. But for right now I'm happier with this version. I think some of the animated movement needs to be adjusted but I tried to keep a few elements moving at all times on the screen.

Exploration 2

Our second exploration is making realistic 3-D ball bounces in Adobe After Effects.

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VERSION ONE

Our first pass was just to get into the graph editor and see how well we could do with just making a simple 2-D ball bounce in After Effects. Although we will be editing and moving a lot more in the 3d ball bounce, the major motion is the actual bounce, and the most time we spend will be on perfecting that bounce.

CRITIQUE

The one thing I really have to start to utilize is a null object to map out the path of motion to determine my deterioration. I also learned to really go in and have control over every single keyframe, not just the ones controlling the curve of my parabolas. Also, to be sure that I make parabolas and not arches. My first light ball bounce is more successful than my second ball bounce, the heavy ball seems to lack the weight that it needs because it is very floaty. The first ball needs to be tweaked a bit, it needs to go faster.

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VERSION TWO

Thinking ahead before I dive into this part of the project, I want to be sure I know what balls I want to bounce. The light ball I want to animate is a tennis ball, I want it to seem like someone volleyed it onto a court and off screen. Also, giving it a spot light, like its a game being played at night with bright heavy lights on. The second, heavier ball I really don't know what I want to do. I kind of want a marble, abstract, planet-looking thing.

CRITIQUE

The very first thing I need to look at fixing is the sound. Lots of props to Kevin for bringing up how to find good soundbites with adobe through Resources. Also, Creative Commons was mentioned. So I will try to dig out something more suitable for my ball bounces.
Moving away from that and to my actual bounces. I had comments on the tennis ball not ending with enough bounces, maybe to add a couple more at the end to really fit into a nice decay. Also, it was pointed out that I need to really tweak the second parabola because it looks like it goes too high.  As for the heavier ball, it bounces too much, and I really need to look at the first bounce of the heavy ball. I also need to hold a point on the heavy ball so it doesn't look like it slides across the surface of the floor. I also need to make it slow down and come to a stop. I also should look into playing a bit more with the z-axis so it isn't completely horizontal.
As for textures, it was commented that the texture I used for my heavy ball wasn't that great. So I will probably look around and do a different texture for that. The tennis ball was okay, but the background didn't feel tennis-court-y? If I find a better tennis court background, I will replace that as well. I also should darken the edges around the bigger ball.
The spotlights need to be bigger. And I need to add something in to the background to give it a bit more depth and environment.
A cool idea for an extra added effect was to add a crack to the ball for emphasis on it crashing into the floor. I might take that idea, but crack the surface of the floor instead. If I have time!

This was a very helpful critique and I hope my final turns out even better.

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FINAL

Motion Graph Editor Quiz

GRAPH 1:
The object is positioned at 45.


GRAPH 2:
The graph represents an ease-out.


GRAPH 3:
The second keyframe has an ease-in applied to it.


GRAPH 4:
The object traveling across the screen to the right with an ease in and an ease out.

GRAPH 5:
The object goes from left to right in value fast for the first 15 frames then slowly travels across the screen then increases in speed for the last 15 frames.


GRAPH 6:
The object starts off at 0 frames located at 70, gradually reaches it apex at 30 frames going from the right to the left positioned at -5 then quickly descends back to 70 after 60 frames.


GRAPH 7:
The object begins to tumbles away from you at frame 15 to frame 30. Then comes back towards you at frame 30 to frame 45 then stops and holds.


GRAPH 8:
From frame 0 to frame 30, the object first starts out small while in the negatives, decreases in size for a couple of frames until it disappears and then rapidly increases in size at a constant speed. Then it stops suddenly and slowly eases out, decreasing in size.


GRAPH 9:
The ball falls rapidly from off screen left to the right at frame 0 to frame 30. Then it slowly (with an ease out) flies back up within the next 30 frames.

GRAPH 10:
You get a simple movement of a ball swinging down rapidly from the left to the right for 15 frames, hits and then bounces back up towards the left of the screen for 30 frames, then ending as it softly falls back towards the center at the last 15 frames.

GRAPH 11:
The pendulum swings counter-clockwise for 15 frames, then swings back clockwise for 20 frames then swings back counter-clockwise for 15 frames then ends back to starting position within 10 frames.


GRAPH 12:
The object slowly rocks back and fourth going counter-clockwise to clockwise back to counter-clockwise as its face falls towards the left side of the screen.


GRAPH 13:
Because the object can't exist in the same place at the same time as it tries to do at frame 30 on the Z-axis.


GRAPH 14:
This graph represents an overshoot because the object goes a bit further in the same direction before falling back up and reaching its resting point.


GRAPH 15:
No, the bezier has an awkward apex by not being in the center of the parabula.


GRAPH 16:
No, because the bezier is in the wrong direction. It needs to be going towards the negatives on the y axis for the object to go up and the handles are not horizontal making the angle coming in not matching the angle coming out.


GRAPH 17:
First thing I would change is the end points of each parabola. They need to be all on the same value line 70. Second, the handles of the second keyframe is need to be even. Third,  Change the fourth keyframe to value 20.


GRAPH 18:
Object is moving away from us, it is moving from the right to the left then back to the right, holding for a few frames, easing into the right, then quickly going back to the left, and repeating this a second time as the ball goes up and down a few times.


QUESTION 19:
Because some animated actions don't require both an ease out or ease in. Also, it will look very mechanical, and have no personality.


QUESTION 20:
So you have more control over the amount of curve you want on your graphed lines.

Problem Solving Exploration 1

Worked with Klarissa Parduba to answer these questions.


1)  Your director has just given you a project to combine three videos from very different sources.    Source 1 appears to have every other line in the image offset, especially with objects that are moving fast. This was shot at 30 frames per second.  Source 2 is a PAL video.  Source 3 is an HD video shot at 29.97 fps.     

a. What would be the first question you would ask to be able to successfully complete this project?
"What would you like your final video settings to be?"



b. What name is given to the process of bringing together sources of different formats and making them all the same format?
Conforming. You can check this in the Interpret Footage window in After Effects.



c. Why does Source 1 have a 'combing' effect, and what do you have to do to be able to use this footage?
The 'combing' effect, or Interlace, can be fixed by going into Interpret Footage window and de-interlace the fields with upper fields or lower fields.




2)  You just sent your client a finished AE project.  The video was requested in Standard Def.  The client says that the animation looks stretched out.  Their round logo looks squished.  You have to do it again.

a. What would be the first place you would look to find answers to solve this problem?
Look at your Pixel Aspect Ratio.


b. What are two possible settings that might have caused the problem?
Look into the 'interpret footage' window at the pixel aspect ratio. Look at the source footage and the composition.


c. Do you have to re-animate it?
No.


3)  The project you just completed was thrown back on your desk.  Your technical director is frustrated because the logo you created is not keyable.  The background that should have been transparent, isn't.    

a. Where do you check to see what was actually rendered?  
Look into your composition's Render Queue


b. What should have been the render settings to make the background transparent?
Make sure RGB + Alpha is selected.


c. How could you have checked this before you rendered the animation?
By checking the Output Module under Video Output: Channels.

EXPLORATION 1B: Element BG

With this exploration, we are given several different audio tracks to animate a seamless repeating background to. The main goal is to learn how to pre-compose and nest within After Effects to create our animations. Pre-composing, or "nesting", is a very useful tool to learn to keep your projects organized and make your work-flow go smoothly.

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The audio sample that I was really attracted to was called "The Hive" by David Travis Edwards/Christian Telford because of the atmospheric "creepy"/"suspenseful" qualities it has. There were several things that came to mind when I heard it. Being a fan of paranormal stories and movies, I thought of different aspects of suspense that they like to create in title sequences of these kinds of movies. Some that came to mind were: "The Final Destination", "Splice", "The Reaping", and even branching off from "Dexter". http://www.artofthetitle.com/ and http://www.watchthetitles.com/ are great places to go for inspiration for movie title sequences.

Breaking down a paranormal movie, or a suspense movie, or even a horror movie, you get basic elements to work with.Branching off onto that idea I had to consider different ways to be obscure about that topic and also keep with a 'paranormal'/'creepy' theme.

The first idea that came to mind was very slow vibration movements with simple shapes to match the tone of the audio, pulsating and fading into darkness and as the audio picked up, so would the movements.

The second idea, almost branching off of the first, was a network of cells mutating from each other and then dying off slowly. Kind of like a science fiction idea of some human experiment gone wrong.

The last idea was a network of nerves, using "fractal geometry" that I had learned about in my Creative geometry class to repeat the same shape over and over to make a nerve ending.

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FIRST PASS:

I really liked the ambiguity of the nerves because they could also be taken as weird veins or anything bio-related and it sounded creepy. Since it was supposed to be organic, I wanted it to have a very natural feel. But I needed to figure out how I wanted to animate it. I decided to pull the "pulsating" idea from the first concept and use it as a glow effect following the nerve shape.

I also decided to look outside at the way trees move with the wind. And that gave me the idea to add a wiggle effect on the shapes to give it a creepy 'alive' feel.

And the bulge was just an experiment that I liked.

I only ran into one major problem during this whole process, and that was while rendering the element.mov file (the first file before we composed the music and made the animation loop for 20sec). I needed to render it in HD. However, I would wait about 20 minutes, and at 99% After Effects would crash on me. I ended up rendering the video at half resolution after the third time this happened. And now the final animation is very blurry.

Also, I am unhappy with how the animation loops. So when I go into my second try, I might fiddle with the original movements so they loop better.

Maybe even blur it a bit more so it has more of a background feel.

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SECOND PASS:

I'm really upset that this second pass has that hiccup at the end of it and isn't as seamless as I wanted, I will be redoing it so it works better even though its not for a grade. But over-all I feel like this entire project was very fun to do and very successful. I think what really made mine stand out was due to the fact that it didn't just have elements randomly flying about in the screen, and I achieved the over-all tonality of what I wanted from the piece of audio I worked with. Also, the biggest thing I learned from this was how to work with nesting comps, which made the whole process so much easier and cleaner.

Exploration 1A: Pictorial Composition

Proof of Concept
Some rough storyboards I did to come up with my designs for this project.
Some were better than others. I kind of just kept sketching as many ideas as I could come up with. I picked three of my favorites.

Introduction to Luma Matte project.

INTRODUCTION

One of the first projects we're working on for our sophomore fall animation class is creating a hand made "luma matte" with our stop motion lab. The basic idea is to transition from a completely solid black image to a solid white image by hand, which we will later use on the computer.

Its interesting to consider creating this type of transition by hand when you have so many pre-made options available already in programs such as After Effects. Not a lot of people pay attention to transitions but they're most popularly noted in movies such as Star Wars (that Lucas Films).

I don't find something like this too much of a challenge, I just don't want to keep it too bland or go too crazy with my ideas. I really want to see imperfection/spontaneity with it, though. I enjoyed how well my ink and watercolor projects did in my first year so I might implement my knowledge with those into this project as well.

BRAINSTORMING 

PAPER

1) Folding from right.

2) Folding from left.

3) Ripping in strips from right.

4) Ripping in strips from left.

5) Rolling from right.

6) Rolling from left.

7) Tile pieces from right at angle.

8) Tile pieces from left at angle.

LIQUID/INK

9) Drip from center horizontally.

10) Drip from center vertically.

11) Drip at random.

12) Splat from center horizontally.

13) Splat from center vertically.

14) Splat at random.

15) Sprinkle at random.

16) Paint line down center horizontally.

17) Paint line down center vertically.

18) Paint random lines.

19) Paint in fluid sweeping motions.

20) Sponge at random.

21) Sponge from left.

22) Sponge from right.

23) Filling liquid tank.

24) Draining liquid tank.

OTHER

25) Crosshatching w/ pencil.

26) Crosshatching w/ charcoal.

27) Cubes turning at random.

28) Cubes turning in sequence from right.

29) Cubes turning in sequence from left.

30) Seasalt spreading from center.

31) Seasalt spreading from right.

32) Seasalt spreading from left.

33) Coffee spilling in middle and spreading outward.
34) Coffee blowing off screen left.


STORYBOARDS

OBJECTS

EDIT


Going back and reworking some more ideas to break out of the box a little more. My initial thought process was to try to keep things a little simple. Things I know I can control with stop motion without having too much trouble working with them. 


New ideas:
1)  I had this idea about cereal. Instead of eating it away, I would do it backwards by starting out with a shot of white milk and then placing the cereal inside, most likely chocolate cereal like cocoa pebbles or cocoa puffs. Then it piles so much into each other it blacks out the screen. I could adjust the saturation and the curves in after effects to make it solid black and white looking.


2)  Burning paper. Although I wouldn't burn it in the studio. My initial idea is to take a stack of paper and do a process of burning. That way I can take a photo of each paper, making it look like the white was burning away and showing the back paper underneath. Not exactly sure how this will translate in black and white, though.


3)  I wanted to play with lights but I couldn't work out how I would do it.


4)  Nail polish. I saw an interesting DIY on how to mix nail polish into swirls. I thought mixing black nail polish into white until the white was completely gone, then reversing or inverting it in after effects?

5) Strings and pins. Although I would have to figure out an interesting way to animate it, I was inspired by this photo: 

6)  Newspaper and ink, maybe a super close shot of folded up newspaper coming out of plain white paper and then the letters mixing into each other as ink is splashed onto them. Then reversing this in after effects so it looks like the black blotches turn into letters and then seep into the white paper.

7) Black crayons on white or white crayons on black. Melting the crayons with a hairdryer onto the paper to give a cool melted effect. The black on white one could be reversed in after effects.

8)  Liquid magnets/ferrofluid and milk. Something I can really play with my manipulating the black liquid with magnets while it forms interesting shapes within the milk.

The two ideas that I really want to try to do are the liquid magnets and the crayons. I ordered a bottle of the ferrofluid on Friday.

EDIT: Its thursday and still no ferrofluid. :( Guess I will have to try the crayons.

FINAL

I feel that even if this was a very interesting process, it isn't very unique looking. And, even if I went about this is a different way of getting this effect, it still just resembles paint dripping. Its kind of disappointing when you have a really interesting, awesome idea and suddenly really annoying circumstances gets in the way. Which is what happened with my liquid magnets not arriving in the mail in time for this project. However, I am proud to say its done and I went through the process. I might even make a few more different ones if I have free time just to have in my files for future use.