I think our group worked well together as there was good communication through out and we all enjoyed working together.
I think the video could have been better, we could have chosen an inital base video with less cuts so it didnt look as messy, how ever it was hard to find a simple video with only one or 2 actors to replicate so i think we made the right choice based on our selection.
I feel we could have uped the production design and quality, such as finding a location and props more acurate the the orginal film to highlight the change in memory more, how ever as we only had a week to 2 to finilise and plan the idea i feel we did the most we could.
i think they video shows its original concept of how memorys differ from person to person even if it wasnt in the layout we orginally planed.
In the pre production process once we had finalised our idea, leanna/hannah/amy created the story boards and scripts ( interviewing there friends on what they remembered about the video ) for the parts they would be directing. I organised all the paper work and other preparations, they main part to this was the prop list and shooting schedule.
As the 3 videos are so similar, continuity could easily go astray so making sure the same props and changes were kept in each video was important ( eg if leanna use brown cake mix she didnt then pick up amys pink cake mix in the next shot )
The shot list was also important as we needed to film all the raw cake mix shot before placing them in the oven, and then shot it film by film ( eg filmed all of amys, then all of hannahs ) as too make sure the ingredients didnt spoil under the lighting making it look bad.
Filming -
when filming we had an isssue that the kitchen needed a middle work surface but the location only had counters on the outside meaning we had to make a table into the kitchen, this took up most of the space meaning there was limited movement and no more than the necessary amount of people could be in the room.
leanna, hannah and amy each directed there shot and i was ad and continuity, it was pretty simple to film as we were copying shots from the original video so we knew exactly what needed to be scene
Editing
when editing i edited the videos to the timing of the original video, amy composed them all into the correct order and layout, hannah recored the sound and leanna did the colour correcting.
when editing the video as we were basing it off of peoples memories, they didnt remeber some of the shot eg close ups of her cooking
i orginally made the shots before and after the missing ones longer how ever this went out of time with the orginal video so ended up looking all clutted and messy when all 4 played at the same time.
see rough cut - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eP1FXlULU4
to over come this we edited the original video to look all hazy as if it was a really vague memory and cut that into the footage we filmed so we could keep the timings correct with out having blank bits.
we also decided only to play 2 videos at a time rather than 4 so people wasnt bombarded with information.
see final - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G22l8MlygqU
I decided to change the presentation style, to look like a the photos are decplayed in a living room as in my house there are miss matched photo frames all over the walls and i felt this looked better than a book.
this is an example of what i wanted it too look like
how ever as i probably wont have the space to do it like this, i have decided to mount the pictures onto wall paper and put them in frames to make it seem as if they are on a living room wall, depending on how much space i have i might cover my area in wall paper and place the frames on top of that to make it feel even more homely.
the final 5 images i have chosen are
i choose these 5 as i thought they were better edited than the other and the ones with my dad in seems a bit out of place with the rest being of just me and my mum
i think the series works well together as it shows the meaning i wanted to say with out me having to explain it much and it has more of an explanation be hind it than my original idea of make up storys for abandon buildings. If i was to do it again i would probably try a different editing technique so it dosent look like if just just coloured out the necks/sleeves in photoshop.
To make the images i used the smudge tool in photoshop to make the collars/sleaves on the outfits, i then used the clone tool to cover up her head and arms. i then used the burn tool to make the insides of the shirt seem in shaddow
I kind of wish i stuck with my first test of trying to cut wholes into people ( see example one here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k84Q3qFrs5o&feature=youtu.be ) and paid more attention and care with it, rather than just thinking it looked rubbish and deleting it becuase it flowed better and looped back to the beginning. All though the wholes i put in her were a bit rough, with a bit more time spent on it could have made it look better. I should have also used a batter camera which would have allowed me to track the motions better making the wholes look smoother, and would have over all gave me a better video that i would have liked more, how ever i think i manage to get the point across of what i wanted to say in my final video.
How ever as i spent so much time doing tests and trying to fix unusable videos rather than focusing on one idea and making it correctly, i forgot to make it loop at the end back to the beginning. When filming this i managed to get the green screen straight but the lighting was a bit off so it was still awkward to edit but not as bad as before because of this i didnt want to make the colour tolerance to high so it ddint take chucks out of her face/ outfit. But this left me with a faint green line around the outside of her. I tried to hide it but using a green back ground how ever it is still pretty obvious. If i was to do this again i would use more lighting on the green screen to make the colour even. Id also use the correct camera rather than a compact camera to get the best quality.
Before changing my idea from putting holes in people ( SEE THIS POST ) i did a few tests on how i could do it and if it was possible.
I first used a layer mask to cut out holes in still images to see if was realistic.
i then tried to use a layer mask and track it to a tracking dot how ever it didnt work, so i watched a tutorial which said to use a solid and use a track mattee to cut a whole.
in the first screen was an average day in someones life , a girl enters the bathroom completes he morning activities then leaves again, this allows the video to be played on a loop and run smoothly.
i used 3d text and pictures on the phone to make it look like the phone was turning on and the writing was popping out of the screen, the shows the viewer what day it is and allows them to make sense of all three screens
the 2nd screen was the same girl but a few months later ( as shown on the phone and change of outfit )
this time she repetes the same actions with the same timings as the above example but she looked more tired and have things bubbling up under her skin this was to make it look like things were eating away at her. i did this effect by liquifying the video with a bludge and shrink tool and key framing it to make it look like it was moving around her body.
the third screen was again a few months later using the same timing and movements how ever the girl looks really drained and sad this time instead of things bubbling up under her skin they have started to eat away at her. i showed this by trying to cut holes in parts of her body. i did this but creating a solid layer and masked it on the layer above and used an alpha matte in the track matte section to cut a whole out of her, how ever the motion tracking ( i used both moca and track motion ) wouldnt track the movement smoothly, i tried to do it by hand but it still looked really jittery and bad, i also couldnt work out how to add a shadow i tried to draw one in photoshop and use the puppet tool to make it move with the hole
it looked really jittery and bad so i decide to give up on the idea and went to showing how stress builds up over time ( see post )
I planed to have 5 people all working in the same office and repeteting there actions over and over again , i was going to rotoscope around there movements. I rotoscoped around a few of the layers how ever it was taking far too long for the amount of time i had to sit and move ever frame to get the detail correct and it looked really rough , also the lightening kept changing making it look even worse ( see example 2 in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k84Q3qFrs5o&feature=youtu.be ) I decided to use a green screen instead.
I did a green screen version how ever the studio we booked out we couldnt pull the green screen flat enough so it had crinkles in it, when i tried to edit it it was really hard get rid of the green screen meaning the image was all glitchy and rough looking ( see example 3 and 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k84Q3qFrs5o&feature=youtu.be )
i decided to give up on the idea of of making the main character an animation to focus more on trying to get the green screen correct ( see final post )
i didnt use clips from richards interviews in the end as i felt they didnt fit in with the rest of the sounds and were a bit random. I think the idea of making the audio sound like it was going around your head in a circle didnt come out very well it just seemed to be playing loud from one side then back to the other . if i was to do it again id use two microphones and move the objects i was using to make sound around the microphones rather than changing the audio in adobe audition to play out of the left or right ear as it would give a more convincing effect.
reaserch into 3d audio 3D audio effects are a group of sound effects that manipulate the sound produced by stereo speakers, surround-sound speakers, speaker-arrays, or headphones. This frequently involves the virtual placement of sound sources anywhere in three-dimensional space, including behind, above or below the listener. Some 3D technologies also convert binaural recordings to stereo recordings. MorrowSoundTrue3D converts binaural, stereo, 5.1 and other formats to 8.1 single and multiple zone 3D sound experiences in realtime.
i thought it i changed what ear the sound was coming out of and how loud it is it would make it seem like the music is playing round in a circle, ie if somthing was on your left it would sound louder in the left .
In the nature of things:
Art about mobility, lightness and freedom.
Simple creative acts of walking and marking
about place, locality, time, distance and measurement.
Works using raw materials and my human scale
in the reality of landscapes.
The music of stones, paths of shared footmarks,
sleeping by the river's roar.
Quote from richards website
Richard long is a english artist who is most know for his work with land art.
land art is when a piece of art is inextricably linked to the earth. It is also anart form that is created in nature, using natural materials such as soil, rock (bed rock, boulders, stones), organic media (logs, branches, leaves), and water with introduced materials such as concrete, metal, asphalt, or mineral pigments. Sculptures are not placed in the landscape, rather, the landscape is the means of their creation.
Nature has always been a subject of art, from the first cave paintings to twentieth-century landscape photography. I wanted to use the landscape as an artist in new ways. First I started making work outside using natural materials like grass and water, and this led to the idea of making a sculpture by walking. This was a straight line in a grass field, which was also my own path, going 'nowhere'. In the subsequent early map works, recording very simple but precise walks on Exmoor and Dartmoor, my intention was to make a new art which was also a new way of walking: walking as art. Each walk followed my own unique, formal route, for an original reason, which was different from other categories of walking, like travelling. Each walk, though not by definition conceptual, realised a particular idea. Thus walking – as art – provided a simple way for me to explore relationships between time, distance, geography and measurement. These walks are recorded in my work in the most appropriate way for each different idea: a photograph, a map, or a text work. All these forms feed the imagination.
—Richard Long
I think circles have belonged in some way or other to all people at all times. They are universal and timeless, like the image of a human hand. For me, that is part of their emotional power, although there is nothing symbolic or mystical in my work
I like the fact that every stone is different, one from another, in the same way all fingerprints, or snowflakes (or places) are unique, so no two circles can be alike. In the landscape works, the stones are of the place and remain there. With an indoor sculpture there is a different working rationale.
How ever the detail in the movement made it hard to mask round and looked bad. To get the outlines perfect and to draw an animation on top it would take more time than i have so i decided to try a different technique.
Testing 2 -
i thought it might be easier to go back to my original idea of having holes apear in people.
In this one i filmed the same person doing the same actions 3 times, starting by walking in a room, putting her phone down ( with a message appearing so the veiwer can see a date ) rubbing there face , washing there hands, brushing there teeth picking up the phone and then leaving again ( these way the video would loop easily )
i tried to put an image on a phone by making it 3d to get it in the right position then used the corner pin to make sure it lined up correctly. I then added 3d text to show the message on the screen and make it look like it was popping out of the phone.
I then used liquidfy to add bumbs and bulges to make it look like thing were bubbling up under her skin.
i then created a black solid and used an alpha matte to make it cut a hole out of her , how ever when tracking the motion it wouldnt recognise my tracking dot so dint move smoothly so i had to sit and move the solid frame by frame which was very time consuming and also didnt move smoothly. I also could get a shaddow to make it look like a hole and not just a blob on top of her so i dint feel it looked as good as it should have
Over all i felt the video didnt look as good as i wanted to too so i am now going to go back to the office scene ( testing 1 ) and just green screen each movement, this will give it a cleaner outline so it will look nicer and wont be very time consuming, i am also going to get rid of the animation i said i wanted to do in my initial treatment so i can focus on getting the green screen right :)
im thinking of going through old family photos and erasing the people in them who have died but leaving the clothes there so its like the memory still exists but the person dosent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUVs7vXNZiw
aristion on and on
I like this video becuase as soon as one person leaves they re enter again making it flow nicely.
http://vimeo.com/81078328
loopde loop
I think whats makes this video work is its timing and how everything flows neatly from one to the other when making my video ill will take note of the time as to make it flow nicely
http://vimeo.com/3703561
repititons
I liked that the same person played several characters how ever i thought there were to many to focus on that it became disorientating. When creating my video i will use the same person but limit the amout of people on screen so it dosent become to hard to watch.
Important things to remember when filming my video
- timing is key
- flow nicely is important
- no to much going on that it distracts
I want to use sound of what it would be like for someone walking in circles on a mountain to replicate what richard would have experienced ,
I have recored sounds of
someone walking
gravel falling
wind
rain
birds
rivers / streams
clothes russeling
breathing
and i have got sound bits from richards interviews and japanese musical instruments. which i will play on a loop and use a 3d audio technique to make it circular as i felt this was one of the key things he kept saying in interviews .
