The Project
Produce a 90 second or longer movie title sequence (beginning or ending) that you think needs a remake. Use your personal voice to tell the story, meaning your personality should come through. However, you still want the title sequence to relate to the movie or setup the story being told in the movie.
The Objectives
To explore narratives + story telling
To understand the methodology of New Media and Motion Graphics Design
To understand the process of preparing to tell a time based story
The Process
For this, and future projects, we will be following the process discussed by Hillman Curtis in MTIV between pages 21—93 Listen: ask questions to understand the problem & what needs accomplished. Unite: working in a vacuum doesn’t generate new ideas – work with others, especially clients & fellow students, a.k.a. critiques. Theme: what message will the piece deliver, what’s at the core? Concept: how will you deliver the message? brainstorm, sketch & storyboard! Eat the Audience: you are not designing for yourself, take the audience into account. Filter/Justify: is it necessary, free the piece of unnecessary frills.
Production Schedule
11.15: Project Introduction
11.22: Read plots/narratives & review storyboards
11.29: Review imagery
12.06: Publishing methods (mobile devices, internet, t.v., etc.)
12.13: Final Project Due
The Presentation
Your final composition will need to be in the HDTV1080 29.97 setting and 90 seconds or more in length and saved as a mov file.
OK, last week to finish your stop motion piece. The project is due October 4th. Don’t wait till the last minute to ask technical questions! I might not be available to answer questions at midnight on Monday.
You will need to bring an .mov file to class on the October 4th so we can watch/critique the movies. To do this in Final Cut Pro X, click on the “share” menu button and then click on “export” and leave the default settings the same.
We will also jump into learning After Effects and introduce the new project.
Due 09.20.11: Final revisions to stop motion narratives and storyboards. Begin production of sets, illustrations, etc. To finish the project by October 4th you will need to finish all shooting by 09.27 so you will have at least one week to make adjustments based off the 09.27 in progress critique.
What you should post to the comments: revised narratives and storyboards and a link to where ever your photos are.
The Project
Produce a 30 second stop motion narrative using Apple Final Cut Pro X based on sliced white (Wonder) bread.
The Objectives
To explore narratives + story telling
To understand the methodology of New Media and Motion Graphics Design
To understand the process of preparing and telling a time based story
To teach a design process of thorough exploration
To understand aspect ratios + frame rates
The Software Skills (Apple Final Cut Pro X)
Importing/Exporting videos + photos
Importing audio
Exporting photo stills from video
Stacking/overlaying video + keyframes
Creating titles
The Elements
Your video must be based on a story related to the American icon, sliced white (Wonder) bread. The video must be 30 seconds in length or longer and contain either opening or closing credits.
The Process
For this, and future projects, we will be following the process discussed by Hillman Curtis in MTIV between pages 21—93
Listen: ask questions to understand the problem & what needs accomplished.
Unite: working in a vacuum doesn’t generate new ideas – work with others, especially clients & fellow students, a.k.a. critiques.
Theme: what message will the piece deliver, what’s at the core?
Concept: how will you deliver the message? brainstorm, sketch & storyboard!
Eat the Audience: you are not designing for yourself, take the audience into account.
Filter/Justify: is it necessary, free the piece of unnecessary frills.
The Presentation
Your final composition will need to be 30 seconds or more in length and saved as a mov file on the project due date. You must turn in all your source files and original Apple Final Cut Pro X files in class at a later date.
Project Timeline
09.06 Week One: Introduction.
09.13 Week Two: Written Narrative and Storyboards due.
09.20 Week Three: Initial shooting due. In progress critique.
09.27 Week Four: All shooting due. Final production begins. In progress critique.
10.04 Week Five: Final critique. Mov files due and uploaded to Dropbox.
In the next project you will have two choices. You can either do the Bruce Mau Shifting Emphasis project or you can create a Public Service Announcement. The project will be due November 15th.
Option One: Shifting Emphasis
The word animation comes from the Latin word anima, with means life or soul. As an artist working with images, you bring them to life when you make them move. Bring to life one of the forty three points from Bruce Mau’s “Incomplete Manifesto for Growth” that explore design principles and the control of emphasis on type, image, and space. Produce (2) 4:3 (720×480) 15 second narratives. Use the NTSC DV setting in Adobe After Effects.
The Software Skills (After Effects)
Using layers + keyframes
Opacity and blending modes of layers
Effects
Color Modes
The Elements
Each of your layouts should include all of the following elements:
the following credit – an excerpt from Bruce Mau’s “Incomplete Manifesto for Growth”
(1) diagrammatic illustration / line art
(1) continuous tone image (photo)
(1) indexical texture (visual) element
Each of your layouts should also use the same 120 pixel grid system (download examples) and the same imagery. You will break and use this grid system in different manners for each of your 3 layouts.
All typography will be limited to (1) of the following fonts and it’s family members: Garamond, Gill Sans, Futura, Franklin Gothic, Helvetica, or Universe. Use this same font and family members for both layouts.
The Layouts (ratios are approximate ) (download examples)
#1: 16/24 image, 4/24 negative pace, 4/24 type – image dominant
#2: 16/24 image, 4/24 negative pace, 4/24 type – type dominant
#3: 16/24 image, 2/24 negative pace, 2/24 type – negative space dominant
The Process
For this, and future projects, we will be following the process discussed by Hillman Curtis in MTIV between pages 21—93
Listen: ask questions to understand the problem & what needs accomplished.
Unite: working in a vacuum doesn’t generate new ideas – work with others, especially clients & fellow students, a.k.a. critiques.
Theme: what message will the piece deliver, what’s at the core?
Concept: how will you deliver the message? brainstorm, sketch & storyboard!
Eat the Audience: you are not designing for yourself, take the audience into account.
Filter/Justify: is it necessary, free the piece of unnecessary frills.
The Presentation
Each of your final compositions will need to be in the 4:3 (720×480) aspect ratio and at least 15 seconds seconds or more in length and saved as a .mov file.
Previous Examples
Option Two: Public Service Announcement
You see these every day on TV, some type of announcement for an anti drug campaign, breast cancer awareness, go exercise, anti this, anti that, etc. Your job will be to make the public aware of some compelling fact and try and get them to move into action. You must produce at minimum a 30 second narrative at 16:9 (1280×720). Use the HDV/HDTV 720 setting in After Effects.
The Software Skills (After Effects)
Using layers + keyframes
Opacity and blending modes of layers
Effects
Color Modes
The Process
For this, and future projects, we will be following the process discussed by Hillman Curtis in MTIV between pages 21—93
Listen: ask questions to understand the problem & what needs accomplished.
Unite: working in a vacuum doesn’t generate new ideas – work with others, especially clients & fellow students, a.k.a. critiques.
Theme: what message will the piece deliver, what’s at the core?
Concept: how will you deliver the message? brainstorm, sketch & storyboard!
Eat the Audience: you are not designing for yourself, take the audience into account.
Filter/Justify: is it necessary, free the piece of unnecessary frills.
The Presentation
Your final compositions will need to be in the 16:9 (1280×720) aspect ratio and at least 30 seconds seconds or more in length and saved as a mov file.
Keep it coming! I have seen that most, but not all, of you have been working on your stopmotion pieces. Remember that the project is due October 4th.
So, in order for me to keep giving you a process grade you need to show process. Do that by giving me links to images you have already shot, scans of revised story boards, short animatics, etc.
Your narratives and storyboards are due next Tuesday at the beginning of class. You will be pitching your narrative to the class so be prepared for a critique. The storyboards are loose at this point. Their main purpose is to help give us a sense of place and the actions of the characters. Here is a good article about creating storyboards that might help you.
If you are a little unsure of how to go about writing your narrative, here is some advice to help get you started.
Ideation: Begin the process with a word association list. Ask yourself what are all the different things you associate with a piece of white bread? Answer with the usual things associated with piece of bread for instance “make a turkey sandwich” and then think of how you can alter the expected to become unexpected for instance “make a brick sandwich”.
What are the material properties of bread? What does it do? For instance a sheet of paper can be folded, cut, perforated, burned, drawn on, crumpled etc. What can bread do? You can tear it, toast it, squish it, soak it, flatten it, etc. Think of the natural properties of the bread and work with that as your starting point for creating a simple animation with the bread.
What are the contexts that you would find bread? What are the things around it? A bread knife, a toaster, ants, a lunch box, from this list, find still images that you could incorporate into your piece. These images do not have a piece of bread in them, but suggest a context or action associated with the bread. Think of how juxtaposition of images can create a new meaning, for instance an image of an ant might suggest who is eating the bread. Cause and effect are another way to think about the subject. Think of human responses, jump back, scream, laugh, cry.
When words are added to images the result should be a new meaning. For instance the word bread juxtaposed with an image of bread does not expand the meaning, but the word mother juxtaposed with bread begins to add another level of meaning by suggesting that a mother is who made the sandwiches you took to school. Words can be made of bread, applied directly to the bread or overlaid digitally.
Blueprint: After you have come up with great ideas, determine which of your ideas will be the best to develop. Create a simple storyboard before you begin your piece. The storyboard does not need to be tight, but should help you to plan what you are going to create.
Production: Gather all of your props. Gather all of the items you will need to produce your piece. Think of what you would need to make the bread do what you plan: glue, wire, tape, staple, etc.
Don’t forget to comment on this post with your name, email address, and link to your narrative and scans/photos of your storyboards. If the link isn’t posted, you wont get credit for this week’s process grade.