VFX

VFX INTRO SEQUENCE

For this units professional toolkit we were tasked to;

 Plan and deliver a title sequence for a major film or television series. A title sequence is a delicate balance between text and audio visual aesthetics.  One could argue that the function of a title sequence, as being a sequence of titles, is paramount.  However, a title sequence is often a component of the narrative body and form of the film, and must flow between scenes or adequately play on the excitement/trepidation of an audience – a gateway into the temporal space generated within that particular narrative construct.  

For my idea, I began looking at some of the most well-known film intro sequences such as: 

Vertigo (1958)

Superbad (2007)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

North by Northwest (1959)

Rocky(1976)

Gold finger(1964)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Psycho (1960)

The breakfast club (1985)

Monty python holy grail (end outro)

This gave me ideas of what kind of intro I’d like to do and consider the visual aspects of what I’ll be creating in adobe after effects. The length of the piece was set to be 30 secs long (minimum) but for personal achievements, I wanted to create a piece that had a length of a minute long. Throughout the workshops, we began to work on text in AE with animation manipulation then moving on we began learning how to animate objects in AE and creating behavioural patterns for them to follow, movement and bringing figures designed by us to life by animating them and also puppeteering characters to life.

My first idea came after doing a little bit of digging around on YouTube and came up with an idea that could work with the intro for ‘Interview with a Vampire.’ (1994) by Neil Jordan.  Using glitch effects and cutaways, using imagery and also film graded overlays to give an eerie effect to the intro sequence. as well as some colour filters, too to imitate blood and redness to symbolise it as a whole.

 As much as I did like this piece and the idea itself i did not go ahead with completing the intro sequence (adding in the credits.) It was however not what the requirements of the assessment were looking for. As the imagery used was done using free stock imagery and upon discussing the idea further with my tutor I realised that it had to be constructed more so in my own design as opposed to using stock videos found online.

So, I went back to the drawing board and pondered on what I could do next and eventually came to my second idea which was creating an intro sequence for Austin Powers influenced by the 'Catch me if you can.' intro sequence.

The whole piece was done in After effects using rotations, enlargements, slow motion, rapid-fire shots to bring the piece together. The text itself had been taken from a font formatting website online and using it I added in the credits and title in. Much of the coloured imagery you see, such as the colour flashing background was done by me but the pictures of the male sex symbol, the peace sign and the silhouette figures were taken off stock imagery. The whole process took a day to complete and was exported in H.261 at the highest possible quality through media encoder. Estimated a minute long. 

I am quite happy with its overall, although I do wish to have amended some points that didn't seem to correspond with the timings set and I didn't have the original saved data, unfortunately, I had made the mistake of not saving my efforts in AE before exporting the finished piece, leaving the editing rooms in Uni. Adding to this, some of the imagery used had become blocky and not so much in detail which I think ruined the element of this piece a little! Despite all this what I could do with my own potential skills has given me more confidence to try and perfect those area skills.

  

PRESENTATION

DANCE FILM / FIELDS&FRAMES

My first idea for dance film was inspired by the tv series Feud (2017) based on two prominent actresses of the day in the mid-1900s who were locked in a feud to become the better of the two in a high- flown showdown for the limelight. Using this idea I wanted to create a competitive glam foxtrot between two individuals in a space with three spotlights.

We first began with a dance workshop that involved putting together our ideas and create some sort of choreographed piece. The idea behind this workshop was to demonstrate the necessary skills to direct dancers, what would be needed for them to operate and perform in a suitable environment and what to expect and how to guide them through our concepts.

over the course of the day, we managed to actually create a full three sequenced dance for my idea which was a great start to developing my idea. From here I began to think of available space and the sort of look id go for. So with this in mind, I began creating up the dance concept and had someone draw up the storyboard.

What made me choose this topic? 

Well, the reason I chose to work on something like this was because of the recent events that have transpired in Hollywood and the 'Time's Up' movement that is happening now. It made me think, As this is an industry I wish to make a career in. It is vital to stay relevant and active with ongoing affairs and more importantly be an advocate for equality in an ever-expanding industry,  that is why I believed it to be relevant to reflect the times before this movement and what it meant to the women in particular, which then took me way back with this tv series to mid 1900s, what it meant when equal rights weren't yet on the mend when ethnic and minority groups were still being ignored. Which then subsequently brought me to the tv series about two of those fighters in a Hollywood styled brawl.

Moving on. After, came the tutorials, in which we discussed the basis of my idea and it was concluded that the idea needed to fit in more with the basis of the theme and be more defined in visual richness with the idea of incorporating experimental elements into the dance piece instead. Unfortunately, the tutorials didn't have the desired effect and inevitably threw me back to the drawing board, unsure of the next approach to the dance,  I postponed my development on my dance piece and began looking at Plan B, An experimental film for the theme of fields and frames.

Beginning with my first idea which was titled 'Elementals of the deep.' was almost like serene tranquil sounds of the deep concept inspired by Guillermo Del Toro new film 'shape of water.' To begin a creative flow I first took to mind mapping the common features under the sea and for experimental film purposes, try and interpret that in a unique way. The most common theme I found doing the mind map that appealed to me most of all was 'Isolation.' A powerful concept that I wanted to base my film around. 

Isolation for the large part could be lost or found, you could lose it in a crowd, a group or even with one other, and find it again by let's say, going to the highest mountain in the valley or to the loneliest parts of the forest. It gave me the idea that isolation is a place we go to, Often to reflect or to unplug from the world we live in. This led me to my second idea for fields and frames. Creating an almost inspirational film that had similar qualities to a fast-paced Nike advert. 

So far the idea is still being developed with a third concept on the way. A concept reverting back to the environment mixed in with ideas of isolation. 

I wanted to do dance film originally, for the purpose of trying out and testing my ability with this new category of film art. This is something I haven't done before so wanted to initially do a traditional dance piece, to begin with, to better know my strengths.Hence the piece that I've chosen to do was loosely based on these two individuals. However, at this moment in time, I've only begun conceiving the idea of a second version of the dance film project. But due to impending deadlines its uncertain if time will allow me to pick from where I left off but I keep my fingers crossed.

INTO ISOLATION RESEARCH

ISOLATION VIDEO 
RESEARCH

Pocket Piano MIDI - Art Video

https://vimeo.com/31126604

LANDMARK” by AKITO SENGOKU and DOMINGO

https://vimeo.com/110661182

Story Of O” -An Improvised Collaboration- Dance, Music & TIME PAINTING

https://vimeo.com/26729784

Tilda Swinton x Gentle Monster

https://vimeo.com/204336605

TIM WALKER - STRANGER THAN PARADISE

https://vimeo.com/148575334

THE BOX

https://vimeo.com/64303738

I managed to find a corrosponding link between these short films into my idea which I'll be focusing my experimental film on (Fields & Frames.) Although these short pieces are randomised they are in the natural order I found them in. Leading me to one another all carrying one particular element that correlates with my ideas and thats of course isolation. But, not just lonliness, these few videos also show the importance of refelction in isolation, which is something many of us will do when we have time to oursleves. To me this was interesting to see and even more to see where it could g in my reasearch development.