Week 8 in Digital Media: After Effects

As we established in our lab this week, After Effects is Photoshop on steroids. In fact, it's Photoshop on steroids and a high protein diet. Our ability to make things move and bend the laws of the dimensions to our will is quite fascinating. Like cats with yarn. However, with all the amazing things in After Effects comes with a lot of new gadgets and toys that we have to learn how to use. After Effects is definitely more complicated than photoshop, in that it has more complicated "Operating Procedures" than photoshop. Not only do you we have the details of still images to worry about, we always have to worry about what those images (or videos) will do when we start moving them around. All those lessons are worth it though. After Effects is a great addition to our digital design arsenal.

For my motion graphics assignment I was hoping to do a title sequence of sorts for a favourite movie or t.v show of mine. I've always wanted to put my spin on things like that, to see if I can kick them up a notch in my own way. Right now I'm thinking of doing a title sequence-ette for one of my favourtie shows, Man Vs.  Wild. It's an awesome survival reality show with a guy named, Bear Grylls.

There is a particular landscape near my house I think would be perfect for shooting some kind of video I could use for my assignment. I enjoy editing videos so I hope to combine that with my new found interest in After Effects. I hope to create the intensity Bear creates in his show when he jumps off a cliff or eats a wild snake, but with only five seconds this will be a challenge. Much like the challenge of surviving the heat of the sahara or the cold of the arctic.
I am also considering doing a title sequence for The Waling Dead, another amazing show.

Trying to create the horror and suspense that this show has in five seconds but if there's a will, there's a way. I don't know where I'm going to get a zombie from, but I live in Toronto... Shouldn't be too hard.

Week 7 in Digital Media: Type

Font selection in design is a subtle art. The right kind of font can subconsciously suggest certain themes to the audience and therein conveying a message without the audience even knowing.

This is a poster for one of my favourite movies, The Boondock saints. The movie is about two Irish brothers who live in Boston. They become vigilantes and do everything they can to destroy the criminal underworld, through any means necessary. As the title "Saints" would suggest, the brothers are religious (also implied by their Irish background) and their mission of justice is one of biblical proportions. The type they use is suggested of this biblical proportion. This type looks like that "Times New Roman" we find in microsoft word..... Times New Roman - Roman Catholic - Catholic - Catholic Bible - Bible - Biblical proportions. The type they use helps suggest that religious intent that can be seen in the movie

 

This is the title screen for one of my favourite Television shows, Spider-Man The Animated Series from 1994. The type used here is pretty coll in my opinion. I think it help illustrate that although this is a cartoon it still has teeth (Which the show actually has, which is why it is such an awesome show). For me, the sharp tails of the letters give the impression of the webbing of a spider and also the legs of a spider. This type was also used in the video games and comics that also came out at the time, which were also amazingly awesome. I've watched the show so many times that whenever I see a font that even looks a little bit like this one, the first think of is spider-man.

This is a "screen shot" of the iconic computer seen in the movie, The Matrix. Now you might say: "Waaaait a second... This isn't even a real font or a type..."   To which I respond....SO??????  In the movies, we never find out what all the different symbols mean but the characters in the movie are always able to interpret them. This type falls from the top of the screen in a sort of waterfall effect. So now whenever I see a bunch a patterns falling on a screen in any way, I think of the Matrix. This is effective because now when I see this, or anything like it I think of something computerized and mechanical. Which is basically what the Matrix is all about. Humans hacking into computers and transporting themselves through computer software to fight the machines who have driven the human race underground. Literally. Also, the colour green is very effective because, to the right viewer, it would evoke memories of the ancient computers that were once used. The only colour they could produce was this pale green. It all adds to the theme of human vs machines.

Week 6 in Digital Media: Motion!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQGCen355Ns&feature=related

This is a link to an example of motion graphics that I love. It is the opening title sequence for the HBO series Dexter. I remember when the series first started and I saw the title sequence for the first time my mind  was blasted by the downright coolness of the opening. Before the show even started I was in awe of everything that was going on. The Music and visuals work together in such an amazing way that as soon as it starts you forget where you are. Well, maybe that's just me, but no one can watch it and not be interested or entertained. Six seasons into the show and the title sequence hasn't changed one bit, and for reasons I think. I believe creators know exactly what kind of genius that sequence is and how it compliments the show so well. Even if they wanted to change it they would be hard pressed to find something that works better than the opening they have now.
When I say the opening compliments the show, I mean that it sets the stage so well for the what show is about. The series, Dexter, is about a man who is a serial killer, but the good kind....if there is such thing. he kills for, what he thinks, the betterment of society. This weird approach is illustrated through the opening sequence as well. In the sequence, we have the main character, Dexter, going through his morning routine. Eating breaking breakfast, shaving, and getting dressed. But if you notice, he does everything backwards. He puts his shoes on before his shirt and drinks his coffee before his juice. This jumbled order of events is one that represents his "jumbled" personality. He is a police blood spatter expert by day, and a serial killer by night. If that's not messed, I don't know what is.

I actually had trouble finding an example of motion graphics because these days, there is a very fine line between cartoony animation and motion graphics. My biggest question is what constitutes what. How do we know what is animation and motion graphics. I guess they are the same thing, depending on what context you are looking at something in. If it were two separate categories, then both would borrow from the other different aspects each had. Hopefully some digital guru comes to write a dictionary that defines these two so that we can differentiate the things we see.

Week 5 in Digital Media: Album Cover

This is a prototype album cover for my band Crimson Rice. I say prototype because even though it is finished for the moment it is still a work in progress. I designed this with the idea that if we were to come out with our first album this very day, what would it look like.The yellow/orange like colour scheme for the whole cover is based on the instant the background picture was taken. It was taken before we played our very first show (the very first show we put on and sold ticktes for). The title of the album "Red Knights" comes from a life long obsession with star wars the whole band shares.  The'Knights' part coming from the term 'Jedi Knight' and also a word play on the time of day, 'night'. The 'Red' just comes from a variation on the colour crimson which is part of our band name.I think one of the most important parts of the cover was unintentional, is the sculpture in the background. It is call 'The Pieta', by Michaelangelo. The show we played was in the basement of a church which is why they had it there. This is significant to me personally because my favourite band and life long heroes Rush, played their very first gig in the basement of a church as well.
The font I chose for "Red Knights" looks like it has been etched ans scratched in, my hope was that this font gave the the impression of that "Teenage Angst" that many teens talk about. When we write, we like to stick to things that we know, that "Angst" is part of it. So hopefully a teenager who feels the same stuff we feel looks at our cover and is able connect with it, even if only on sub-concious level. The faded picture of human like figures is actually the band itself. I wanted to have our faces in it some way so that people knew who we were, not a new brand of rice coming out or something. The purple in the band name "Crimson Rice" is used for a few reasons. Firstly,  because purple is one of my favourite colours and secondly I thought it contrasted very well with the yellow/dark orange colour scheme. For this particular piece, everything seemed to jsut fall into place. I had the original idea before I started and it turned out even better than I first expected. The colours didn't need any adjusting and all the layers complimented each other very well.

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