Title Sequence for Dysfunctional Art 5:02 pm

With this mini project i have set myself. I have successfully achieved two things rather than just the one. While learning the ways of Adobe After effects, I have simultaneously produced a nice working title sequence to represent my efforts in any future moving image productions i am involved with.

Using After effects and a photoshop document I created this:



I produced it from a hand drawn title font scanned from paper, and a photograph of this beautiful little cloud captured by my Canon D400. The cloud was all alone in the air as it caught my eye through the window as i was on the very computer i am tying this blog post, unfortunately the clouds outside at this moment in time are much larger and more populated and also much darker with moisture falling from them, I believe its commonly referred to as typical english weather?

Yeah, Comment... Criticize and ENJOY

Premier of Fallout 6:47 pm

So earlier this afternoon myself, james and Graeme hosted a linked Youtube premier of our entry to the horror competition/ college video drome project.

As of now the Video is going down quite well on youtube collecting small amounts of feedback and getting over 90 views in 3 hours. This in my opinion has ben a good start and a success in terms of what we was trying to achieve.

Here is the video now uploaded for refrence and enjoyment to all you crazy mofos:



Please watch, enjoy and leave some constructive criticism on my youtube page.

On that note that was the last hand in of the year for the DDM course.. how fast that went. I only wish the course went on through summer, that would be awesome =D

Instead i intend to do some personal development and hone my skills in various techniques including Adobe After effects and some film techniques... But more on that at a later date

Adobe After Effects: Muzzle, Flash and Pull Back Effect 8:06 pm

Behold a Gun Muzzle, Flash and Pull Back Effect I put together in Adobe After Effects.

This being the first of many mini projects to come over the summer
I am exited and pleasantly surprised with how simple after effects can be! As David once said " Its a simple transition from using Photoshop and any form of timeline/video editing software"

Watch The Video:

Learning Journey 12:49 pm

Here is the finale of the PPD module...

It comes in the form of an animation produced in flash



Evaluation to follow!

Flash Website 10:59 pm

Since i now have an interest in flash, i decided to have a look around for some nice flash based examples.
I came across this really nice example of a flash website.



This websites flash design has sparked off some ideas for my development to the personal/professional development project.
But for now my ideas remain a secret! SUSH!!

imac touchscreen? 6:07 pm

The Power of the ipod touch/iphone in the imac!



Something that i believe looks awesome but is completely inappropriate!! and useless in most ways.

Aesop Fable: My Inspiration 11:06 am

Like a large percentage of my personal work and my inspirations for it, and in this case! My Aesops Fable project. It all revolves around one man, and his outstanding ability of never failing to impress me.

Alex Pardee:



The unmistakable styling of pardee, with his black ink and brown paper is by a long shot one of the most influential creative styles in my design career to date. Not to sound really obsessed but this is the style I am aiming for in the animation of the Aesop Fable : The Chicken that Lays the Golden Eggs

Interactive Media: Flash Websites 10:17 am

Aardman Studios: Founded in 1976 as a low-budget project by animators Peter Lord and David Sproxton. Famous for the animated sequences in Vision On, for which they created Morph, a clay character. Aardman, together with Nick Park are also responsible for the infamous Wallace & Gromit and the Creature Comforts shorts.

The Aardman Studio has a very advanced interactive flash website: Take a look



Almost all the websites surface is interactive, this makes the website engaging and non repetitive. I have been on the website numerous times, and still find something new on each visit. The design of the animations and layout is also something to be appreciated for its exceptional quality. I only wish i could produce something like this for the Aesop's Fables Brief.

Applying Video Filter Layers: Photoshop 3:48 pm

With the animation that was posted earlier, with a feeling of in-contention, it was eating away at me to play with it further. Doing just that, i have applied a vintage look to my animation by applying a new adjustment layer in photoshop. By doing so, it has allowed me to do multiple things in editing the look and feel of the film.

Here are some examples:


I have noticed previously that this technique can either destroy or make a video. Its something of an art from. with the AESOP'S FABLES being hundreds of years old, i have gone for a destroyed vintage feel to give the animation some flavour!!

Here it is again!



Looks better already!

My Flash Development: Using audio 2:40 pm

During today I have created a test sequence for a title or introduction to my interactive animation on the Aesop's Fables Brief. I have created the sequence using Photoshops frame by frame animation program. to do this, as before I have cut an illustrated character into what will become the moving limbs. These "Limbs' will then be placed into a new document ready to animate.

Below is a photoshop screenshot on how the limb editing process happens:



The separated limbs are put into A new document and are processed in the same way each time. By the limb being the only layer, It made it easier to erase the execs white surrounding the limb using the pen tool. From there, all the separate limbs are placed into a new document corresponding to the laws of perspective so that limbs in the backdrop will fall behind limbs in the foreground as the cross paths in the animation process.

After completion of the animation i wanted to input some audio to enhance it. In a horrid scuffle with the exporting in IMovie, I must have been doing something wrong down the line, as it was not exporting the video file, hence i ended up with a quicktime file of which only had audio and a black screen. So... i decided to be brave and try the audio editing in Flash. And what a result it was. I did struggle with it slightly, and still have only a faint idea on how it was managed, but luckily i produced a working animation with audio in sync. I did this by using the time lines and adding key frames where the audio would start and end.

Here it is, the end product of today:



Getting a little better, moving multiple things simultaneously was a good challenge to take on.

P.S: The line drawing is looking good as it is with no rendering involved. I will carry out some rendered tests purely to see the difference,but i reckon am favoring the linear approach