Showing posts with label time art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time art. Show all posts
Final Project

My final film consists of two screens showing a variety of found footage clips of the effects and factors that cause Global Warming. A hurricane can be seen at one point, representing the dramatic increase.  The middle screen is of the Earth slowly deteriorating from this. 

What I've Learned

  • Using CC sphere
  • Using textures to create a planet
  • Working with lens flares (even though this was not used in the end, it can be seen in my trial of the earth previously posted)
  • Overlaying video clips onto one composition 
  • Practising with creating explosions (Not used in final) 
  • Rendering of videos in AE 


Feelings

I had a hard time with the project as I found getting to grips with After Effects to be very challenging. As a beginner, even learning the effects proved to be stressful and left me very confused at many times. However I feel that the whole process has been a learning curve and I can now use AE to a certain extent. I'm happy with the effects that I have learned to use and hopefully this will be a good start to continuing with my learning of the software in the future. I've enjoyed seeing the Earth (screen two) come together, as it was a lot of work and I think it turned out to look semi-decent. If I had've managed my time better, I would have preferred to add some text showing some facts based around Global Warming. I feel the hurricane doesn't make sense without it. 

If I had to re-do the project, I would probably use a less after - effected route and try and make the project more simple. I think I was too ambitious with what I wanted to achieve through it based on my lack of knowledge of AE before the project started. I also think I would narrow my theme down to something more limited that Global Warming, and while I am interested in the topic, I feel like it was too broad and I got confused as to what I should include. 
To make it more clear as to what will be exactly on each screen here is a brief of what I hope will occur.


  • Screen one and three will have found footage of the sources that cause Global Warming such as power plants, smoke, burning fossil fuels etc
  • At one point on these screens a hurricane made using tools of AE will come towards the screen.
  • Text will be over laid, showing facts and figures on the topics.
  • Screen two will be a steady shot of the Earth, and as it is rotating it will be seen to be deteriorating due to the effects of the other two screens. 
  • Ending of middle screen could be of the Earth exploding 
  • At the very end will reform and loop back to beginning in a fluid motion. 
I am not sure if all these ideas will definitely get transferred into the final project, as it is taking me awhile to get my head around the software, but this is the rough plan for the layout and I aim to try and get as much into the piece as possible. 
One screen is going to be of the Earth rotating. This is what it should roughly look like in the final edit although some things may get tweaked slightly, such as the Earth spinning slightly slower.



Effects Used

  • CC Sphere 
  • Earth textures
  • Lens Flare
  • Rotation of sphere 
  • Adding images and layers 




Idea

My film is going to be about human wastefulness and how it is effecting the planet. It will target issues such as global warming, climate change and environmental degradation,  showing what may happen to the Earth if we continue being not resourceful. Having some concerns about the well being of the planet, my aim is to get across to others the severity of the issues that we may have to deal in the future if not careful. 

Three Screens

Screen one and three will be a collection of found footage clips and photographs of the action of destroying the planet, such as sewage being piped into rivers etc. These will be most likely take from news reports and other such sources.  

Screen two is going to be a moving image of planet Earth. This will flicker between different periods of the Earth, beginning with the Ice Age and showing its development from there, eventually forming an image of what it will look like due to the problems we are currently creating. This screen will loop several times throughout before all screens reach an end and return to the beginning again.

At one point I would like all three screens to merge into one scene, showing a collection of stars and space. Also, I would like to incorporate text on to the screens as well, showing different statistics associated with the disasters and issues. 

Visual Inspirations


How will this be achieved

Everything will be done on After Effects using a variety of different methods to animate, distort and add visual effects to already existing images. The majority of tutorials to help me with this shall be found on Youtube, Lynda and Video Copilot.

Relevant tutorial links (so far)





















Research

Check list of environmental issues that can be used (quick find info from links)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_environmental_issues

Water (depletion) — Aral Sea • Dead Sea• Lake Chad. Other Wikipedia articles on water problems are Water pollution, Water crisis/scarcity, Wastewater, Anoxic waters


Video Research (so far)
Sir David Attenborough: The Truth About Climate Change (graph)



Global Warming Facts
Global Warming The Signs and the Science
Man (animation on how humans are impacting the planet negatively)

 Effects of global warming and signs of end of the world (picture video for reference ideas)
Other useful websites

If the polar ice caps melted, how much would the oceans rise?

 11 facts about global warming

 Global warming facts

 33 facts about global warming

Storyboard Outline (rough)







Idea One


This one is kind of based loosely around The Twilight Zone and the sort of visuals that come from the TV show. The concept involves a person being sucked into another dimension- the fourth one (ie time when concerning physics). Based off the Tower of Terror in Disney, in which all the different objects in the ride suddenly merge into a mixture of darkness and stars, I'd like all three screens to display stars at one point panning upwards. 

Idea Two


This idea is centred around the phrase "time flies when you're having fun." The left hand screen will show the fun, exciting side which will be sped up so everything looks like it is moving fast, similar to how it feels as you're participating in the action. The middle screen will show more everyday activities that don't really effect our sense of time that much and therefore I will keep them at a normal pace. The third screen is focused on more boring situations, such as studying for an exam or taking a long journey before you get to your favourite place and therefore the action will be slowed down. 

Idea Three

\
I thought about doing something related to past, present and future, but didn't want to worry about having to find costumes etc to represent each time period, so I thought about centring it around space. The first set of screens will show the beginning of the universe, the big bang. A rough idea -the  two left screens will show particles bumping off each other while the third will explode representing the bang. Afterwards the screens will move on to the present time, showing the universe as we know it.
Lastly, the final selection will show how the world may possibly end.

These are only rough ideas and which ever one I choose to pursue I will look a lot more in to detail as to what can be done with the story and style etc. 





Just a quick update about the workshop today. Vicky showed us a lot of her own work and talked about how to do effective research. I thought it was cool how she had used bits of the body to make her films/ art, such as painting her feet and walking over a film reel. I found these to be interesting ways to show human movement through video and it got me thinking about if there are similar ways in which to show time.

We were also put into groups and told to discuss our ideas with each other, which proved to be helpful as we were able to contribute ideas to one another in order to make improvements and provide inspiration.
Time is a very open topic, and the amount of ideas that come with it are endless. However choosing an idea that will mean the three screen installation will work effectively is very tricky, as well as considering what different aspects of After Effects to add to the video. 




I found this really interesting as Brian Eno talks about time in a manner of being able to 'specify a starting point' but just like the garden he mentions the ending will be unpredictable. I like the idea of movement within time as well as the fact we can't really control certain things, so maybe I could try and incorporate that in the video in someway.


This short film on moments got me really thinking that sometimes time isn't about doing just massive things, but that it should be spent in the little things that make you happy as well. It's such a simple idea but for me is massively effective. It shows different time periods in people's lives such as birth, chasing after a bus, crying and tying laces to name a few, stuff that everyone goes through in everyday life. I feel like it makes the video a lot more relatable to the audience and the viewer becomes more engaged in appreciating a more tinier, but equally important aspect of life.




When listening to some music, these songs came on and it definitely got me thinking about the aspect of Time again. I thought about how time is running out and how quickly it can move sometimes, particularly when having fun. In the grand scheme of things are life is short and over quickly...this is something I'm definitely going to consider. 

On Friday we were given our brief for the Time Art project. It is to be played on three upright screens, with a duration of one minute. While the idea of time really interests me, the installation type aspect of the project sounds very daunting to me, being something that I've never had an opportunity to do before. However I am going in with an open mind and seeing what I can come up with! 

We watched a documentary style movie called Samsara (directed by Ron Fricke) to get us engaged in the concept of time in film. This is a style that I have never seen before and it was a very new way for me to view a movie. I found it interesting how it was shot, and the imagery throughout was absolutely stunning. I'm not going to lie, possibly if you aren't really a film person you may find it a tiny bit boring or typically artsy, but there is no doubt that anyone cannot appreciate the effort put into making such a large scale production. Filmed over a five year period in over twenty five countries, the work involved to create it is astounding. I also was able to check out Samsara's predecessor, Baraka (also directed by Ron Fricke) which allowed me to engage further into this style of film. 

Samsara
Baraka 


What really grabbed my attention was the following scene in Samsara...


At first I found the whole thing very strange and didn't quite understand the full intention behind it. After the film, Simon questioned me and Rob on what we thought it might mean, and we basically said we assumed it was to show the man releasing tension from being confined to working in a boring office. It was then revealed that this may be a case, however the main objective was behind the previous shots of a robots taking over human work, and thus this performance by the office man was used to show the amount of emotion that humans can convey where robots can not. This became a very effective scene for me then and after fully understanding it made me appreciate the message displayed. The talk with Simon also made me realise that I need to start looking deeper into the meanings and think more carefully about what is being conveyed - not just looking for the obvious. 

Both films definitely helped me think more about the project and I enjoyed expanding my knowledge of the more styles that films can take on. 


About Me

My Photo
Lauren Fox
Third year at UCA studying Digital Film and Screen Arts
View my complete profile

Popular Posts