TBC Overlap

With the beginning of the new semester, interestingly enough my two time-based communication classes are now overlapping. I had feared that this would happen and would throw me off with too much work, yet am now pleasantly surprised at how rewarding having both is.

TBC1 has provided me with a backbone to motion graphics, FinalCut, editing and execution, sound, and everything video. TBC2 is pushing me forward to what is out there, not letting me forget what I had already just learned, and giving me the freedom to explore into new projects.

Starting work on my new P1, a 15-30 sec profile on myself as a designer, thanks to TBC1 and the rotoscoping project, I quickly animated this storyboard of still drawings to set the stage for my concept in video, really helping in expanding my idea.

* * *

Rethinking my NYC rotoscope and getting several extra critiques, I decided to add a narration of text from ‘The Beach’ movie directed by Danny Boyle starring Leonardo DiCaprio. I had been re-watching the film for many years and absolutely love some of the soliloquies.

In the movie the character philosophizes about chasing paradise and a utopian community. Reading the script however, many of the philosophies presented are applicable to surviving and chasing a dream in an urban city such as New York; a city where the opportunists and profiteers come to feed, to realize the american dream, to experience something never experienced before, and the feelings that are born within when in such a city.

This is where the hungry come to feed. Circling the globe and searching for something we haven’t tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what? It’s probably worth it.

and believe in paradise. But know it’s not some place you can look for, ’cause it’s not where you go. It’s how you feel for a moment in your life when you’re a part of something, and if you find that moment… it lasts forever…

Reflection – Take On Me

After re-watching the original rotoscoping video we watched in class, I noticed a few things that i could have implemented and will use for the future remake of my project. Instead of animating and redrawing every single frame, which does look amazing, some of the action and animation could be just as effective if done by zooming into one single still image.

…

Project Three

Rough Rational.

Working on an extremely tight schedule and scavenging to finish by the newly pushed deadlines, I produced this final rough video as a representation of what direction I was pushing my project three towards. Trying to reproduce what I hoped to be a look alike to Stephen Wiltshire’s detailed drawings fell extremely short, yet the style in which my quick penciled rotoscopes came alive in had it’s own effect and kinks. Never working with any animation previous to this, I am pretty impressed with what I came to produce in such little time. Redrawing the same scenes over and over with a small shift seemed so useless yet they blew me away entirely once animated!

Wanting to show the several iconic features of New York, the idea and meaning behind the video started to be washed away, as I concentrated more and more on rotoscoping images. I agree with the critique I have received that the video is now pretty meaningless.

The sound that I had recorded from piano matched my frame rate and video well, and this will act as a background in the final edit once rerecorded for better quality. As for the editing, I stuck to having a different image for every new frame to show animation. It has only occurred to me after submitting this rough cut that instead of rotoscoping every frame I can pan and zoom into the images for the effect of movement, like in the ‘Take On Me’ video  watched in class. Once again, I seem to always want to produce something that is outside of my skill level. With that said, I remain hopeful for the final project three submission.

NYC Sound

Starting to look into sound, I had always planned to hum Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York New York’ as New York Cities iconic Theme. I started with a duration of 00:15 from my frames but at 00:10, after humming along to the rough video, I had realized that my frame rate matches the songs beat perfectly.

Instead of humming, I had actually gotten a friend who plays the piano to play the tune in a sped up version to match the cuts between the shots. I am pretty impressed at what the video is turning into, although I wish i had the time to draw more then 15 frames per second and in a more detailed pen style.

NYC Rotoscoped

I began drawing my NYC video frames after printing my video out at 15 frames per second. The video is a compilation of shots from the gossip girl tv show, particularly season one’s pilot episode which shows cases the shows setting: new york.

I had previously thought that i would work with an inking pen on tracing paper, yet my concept developed further in which i wanted to use a cheap blue office pen to symbolize new york as a hub of offices and a business district, where pen use is abundant.

test sketches: (I love the style the pen produces when sketching and doodling, especially when more detailed, however the pen smudges very easily on tracing paper and takes a longer while to dry. For my final video i’m considering redrawing everything in pen but for the rough cut the pencil will produce the same effect without the smudge, something i have to settle for.)

NYC videos

Looking up beautiful aerial shots of central park and the city skyline wasn’t too challenging yet didn’t always have the camera angles and shot lengths that i had envisioned for my video. However it was hard to find a good video of the yellow taxis driving down park avenue and the shopping district, so i had to move on to city shots only.

Looking though gossip girl episodes seemed like a quick way to find new york video clips yet also proved very time consuming. An example of some of the shots i was searching for is the first few seconds of Ne-Yo’s Miss Independent video:

NYC loop

Abandoning my previous idea because shooting my own video and then rotoscoping it is out of the question time wise, i turned to my other fixations of travel and the urban environment. I have been thinking of moving to new york for a while and decided to make a loop on the “american dream” and the iconic symbols of new york, the skyline, central park, taxis and traffic, and frank sinatras ‘New York New York’. I’m also considering a text component from catcher in the rye that features the ranting of Holden Caulfield about central parks ducks and what they do in the winter, as well as his descriptions of New York and specifically it’s taxis.

Inspired by Stephen Wiltshire’s urban city works, I decided to detail my rotoscopes in a similar way, and will not settle until it is finished. The key is finding the right aerial shots.

Consumer loop

Brainstorming further on loop ideas I wanted to present my consumption addiction through showcasing bought packaged goods, particularly lime green objects, juxtaposed with my collection of quotes: words as commodities. The idea was to go out and shop for these objects, get them packed for the holidays and stop motion their unraveling. This also helps because i have a collection of these high end department store bags…

Loop inspiration

Looking up some inspirational videos for a looping effect, I bumped into an old favourite sunday morning song by Royksopp. It’s not a rotoscope however it produces an interesting loop through what could be personal photographs from my own travels. I love how each photo is linked into the next and always wanted to produce a similar video.

Fixations

Fixations.

Generally, people go through a few fixations here and there that come and go over the years. Creative people especially seem to have out of the ordinary and rather odd fixations that I’d like to believe make them more interesting. Thinking over my own interests, I realized I tend to engulf myself in these manias a bit extremely…

1. Lime Green

For over 8 years lime green has been dominating my life with its presence. If some people have a nickname amongst friends, my social identity is in colour. Everything that can be tastefully bought in lime green, I own. Coffee cups, little accessories, bed covers, and pillows are a start. My room walls are also in lime green, which seems insane but they look surprisingly nice. The green is also always complimented with perfect white and birch. The Kawasaki ninja comes in lime and I crave it. I plan on owning a lime green mini with two white stripes. Even my wedding will probably be lime green and white, in a birch wood setting. If I had a colour pallet, green, white and birch are it.

5. Traveling

Ever since I first flew on a plane at the age of two I’ve been obsessed. Thanks to my parents who travel at least twice a year, this privilege has become a constant need and fixation. At the age of 19 I realized I have been to 19 countries and swore to keep the count up every year (I’m a year behind ). Travel really expands your methods of thinking and I would recommend it to everyone, even if it were a small road trip across the boarder to America or a hop over the pond to Britain. But it also makes you realize how small our planet really is.

2. France

I fell in love with France after visiting it for the first time in grade 10, seeing not only Paris but also a few coastal towns like Biarritz and the south. I soon started to fixate on everything French, supported the French team in FIFA, sported the flag, and took two years of French studies in university. I was practically turning myself French. While visiting Las Vegas, Paris was obviously my favorite place to eat and stay. I visited Paris twice more since, however on my last trip, this year, the love vanished. I now absolutely hate Paris.

4.Commercialism, commodities and consumerism.

Following Karl Marx’s theory on commodity fetishism, as well as our societies rather ridiculous abstraction of value, I found myself embracing consumerism rather then fighting the system that will prevail regardless. Why not bask in the luxurious marketing and abstracted realities that we are fed commercially, since they are a reflection of our own desires. Thus I fixate on commercial products, well-designed packaging, beautiful wrapping, the act of unveiling a new commodity, the hunt for new luxurious products as a guilty pleasure, and engulfing in the lifestyle marketing that these products entitle. To reject capitalism, commercialism and consumer commodities is to reject the system we inevitably live in. Taking away the purpose of money is to take away the purpose of going to work everyday, which will eventually lead to a boring and depressing existentialist view on life and economic suicide, a direction I cannot take. Love the system.

5.René Magritte

I have always been fond of witty surrealist paintings and the works of Dali, but my fixation on Rene Magritte probably started after visiting his museum in Brussels when I was young. I felling head over heals for his “Le Fils De L’Homme” painting, also known as the faceless business man, and what it signifies, the “conflict between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present”. Over the years I have attached many personal theories into what such a painting might imply on society, social manners, and people’s false facades in general. This painting also lead to my love for bowler hats and everything corporate, linking to good ol’ capitalism.

http://www.musee-magritte-museum.be/Portail/Site/Typo3.asp?lang=FR&id=languagedetect

5. Sugar

Many years ago my cousin showed me a few sugar packs she had collected while on a trip through Ukraine, and this made me realize that in Europe, every establishment had their own sugar packs, much like business cards with a purpose. First thinking she was being ridiculous, I ended up jumping on her band wagon and have been collecting sugar since. It’s turned into a mission rather then just taking the ones I come across, since I made an effort to visit almost every single casino on the Las Vegas strip for their sugar. Everyone around me usually also gets involved and brings me back sugar from their travels. Special thank you goes out to Elaine for her Asian contribution last year.