EVALUATION & PRESENTATION
My two final pieces
RESEARCH AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
My final project for this years unit went down a route I hadn't anticipated but was pleasantly surprised with the turnout. My original first idea for fields and frames and experimental film, first based itself on water and the openness of the sea. Influenced by Guillermo del Toro's latest film 'shape of water.' Then after a while working onwards, It transitioned into fluidity and movement which then found its way to science and the Biology of the body, what we are and what we are made of, before then opening itself to the ideas of material and then industrial cycles.
So a recap of what I did recently. I delved into the biology of a human being and looked at themes of fluidity through our blood, DNA and structure and worked to make a silent piece which emphasised these components.
I became fascinated with marble paints mixed in with acrylic during the making of the previous piece 'Fluid Science.' So made an extensive development that consisted of these qualities which again emphasised the flow of life and the materials our bodies absorb and consist of.
After this, I decided to take a field trip to the Science museum in London to see if I could get any more enlightenment to help me with my project and eventually, came across the biology section to do with molecules and materials.
The question that popped up to mind was what is materials?
well, it is solids, liquids or gas - every substance on earth, even you are a material. However, the nature and properties of a material depend upon its structure. How its atoms and molecules are arranged and joined together, these properties of a material determine the ways in which we can use it.
It took me down a route of industrialisation after exploring the area further and brought me to this particular short film based around the necessities of materials that fuel our resources and consequently provide us with the access and comforts of today.
It also touches base with a common environmental issue we face today about deforestation and how it may impact us as a whole because of the industrial cycle.
EDITING
After my filming had finished I then took the footage to post-production to have it developed, using the skills I've gained throughout my term time and the workshops to help enrich my projects overall look and give it a polished look.
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| Adobe Premier pro |
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Adobe Audition
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Media Encoder Adobe After Effects
Most of the filming a good chunk of it 80% was edited through Premiere Pro then 10% each for VFX and sound did in after effects and adobe audition. Overall it took about two days of solid working in the library and editing software rooms to see it completed. I then spent the last few days polishing it off ensuring that I had abided by the assessment criteria.
The project consists of many video transitions and effects such as overlaying footage, mirroring, glitching where it could be seen with the marble paints and acrylics but mostly in my tree film piece I did this so it could almost be emanating a sense of dreamlike state. A psychedelic rendition of reality to show that something that was real is now becoming more of a fictional dream. I back up this with the fading of the colours during the end where it is nothing but dark and foul smog. Into darkness, a metaphor for death and this is the moment when sound can be heard of a lift-off sequence.
what helped me edit the piece and perhaps be an anchoring point to help me with my idea was the cycle of life and death, rebirth and resurrection. These ideas could be seen metaphorically in my film piece but the intention was to purely focus on the materiality and the before and after.
All the different effects used in my final piece were achieved through collective research from both Lynda.com and Youtube. I found using the editing software to be challenging, and I have identified that much more learning and practice needs to be done in this area. I frequently kept hitting one problem after another and at times had to restart from the very beginning. However, this being said I am very proud of the work I managed to produce in such a short space of time. My particular favourite was the effect I managed to create at the moment of travelling into space and also creating a moving environment for the appropriated images (all royalty free) used to create the space background effect.
The soundscape was tricky but finally managed to create a piece that suited to the piece nicely. Looking for the right music I had to do a bit of extensive research online and found a few royalty free sounds that I then processed through an audition to deepen the sound or manipulate the sound to give it a more ambient space feel. This was a combination of both sounds made by me in and those royalty free that assisted with me in creating the sounds I couldn't such as the steam and the grinding of metal gears as well as the factory ambience.
Overall I am pleased with how it all came together successfully, better than I had originally expected. During the beginning of this project, I hadn't given this second unit much thought as my mind became distracted with other commitments. Including my first intention to make a dance film and then deciding it felt best to discontinue this and progress on with what I had already made for fields & frames. Despite my concerns and doubts, especially when using After Effects, I was pleasantly surprised with my own abilities and the experience has motivated me to do more in After Effects but also has greatly increased my confidence in post-production and my level in editing is better than it was when i started off. I will say that I wish I'd had more time to produce and improve my film for example, during editing and reviewing my footage I had noticed some mistakes, some large. If it hadn't been for the lack of time I would've of most likely mended the mistakes and increased the quality of the film, however one thing I have learnt about individual projects involving Adobe After Effects, is to ensure timekeeping is kept efficient and consistent. I am happy I managed to amend some mistakes such as the quality which is now high-quality thanks to external help.
