Introduction to Audio

So for Audio, I first started with the idea that I wanted to do a Rap, but as things went on I realised that it would not be as much of an impact as I wanted it to be. So the next thing that I decided to pursue was to have a storyline within my advert. The next thing which came to my mind was the various charity adverts which have a very short time to appeal to the audience. In which they have to pitch their message and attract the people listening to support. So I thought about that and realised that most of them were to do with Africa so I wanted to put a bit of a spin on that concept.

So the next stage of my recording would be to think of the kind of setting it would be in. By the things the Narrator is talking about, the visual imagery is created by what he talks about and envisioning what is happening.

So the listening would imagine which kind of person would be speaking and what they might look like. Although the beginning of the recording is purposely made to be someone else who speaks in a completely carefree manner.

I wanted it to have a sort of African and Caribbean feel to it as that would best represent me and my roots. But I didn't want to make it a typical advert with emotion and a simple line. But to confuse the audience a bit and make it quite loud and randomised.

After that was planned out, I started to mess around with talking about things in relation to African situations and found a recording which I liked the sound of. Then came the Merging on the sound files of the musical beat and the voice recording.

Here was a sketch of the kind of character I wanted to depict in my advert, a man of emotion who wants to save the world with education, particularly the Centre of Excellence in Abertay.

So after I knew what I was going to do, I started to adventure into the world of sound production and started to use Fruity Loops to create my own Hip Hop track to back my story. I spent some time on youtube trying to get the hang of it, because for a n00b it can be really confusing with all the dials, buttons and etc...

After playing around with Fruity loops I finally got to a stage where I liked the outcome, in the end it all comes to keeping things simple yet really nice, so nice you wouldn't mind listening to it again and again which is really hard to achieve at the end of the day. Although this was one good lesson for me to learn for the future.

So here is my final outcome, which I used Soundforge to combine both my hip hop track and my voice tracks and also sounds which I created myself.

My Final Outome

Elementary Animation

To start off, I researched a lot about the 12 principles of animation which were really interesting, because you think you know about these things out of experience and by the amount of media you watch, but I discovered a lot by reviewing these principles and how they really do effect the natural laws of physics as well as visual outcome and it actually takes a lot more effort then originally perceived by the audience.

For example, here is a golf ball being shot out at 150 mph:

Here is a video which explains in good detail the 12 main principles of animation and their uses. He explains it using Maya which is also helpful for future reference.

So moving on from there and after completing my flipbooks and realising the immense amount of time it takes to animate as well as experimenting in flash for a while, some ideas came to me on what I wanted my 3 words in animation form to be like. I particularly wanted to make my animation as abstract as possible and stay away from using just words because I wanted to do something different and also have more freedom to express myself originally. Here is one animation I stumbled on which Inspired me quite a lot, plus its just 8 seconds long :]

Also, this tutorial helped me to get more perspective and also made me realise that Tweening was not really what I liked to use, and that I much prefer hand drawn frame by frame.

Then I remembered seeing one of last years students doing an abstract animation of bubbles floating up and using Black and White, then I researched in youtube and stumbled on this Video:

After looking at this video, It inspired me to visualise something similar and to fully experiment with the abstract concept and make something awesome. From that moment, I knew I was set and I knew exactly what I was going to do and started to do it and made an animatic of my final animation. The 3 words I decided to experiment with were:

"Crash, Float and Howl"

My Animatic

Can you see the words being used?

Here are some images which I looked at in order to get a feeling and visual of what was going to be happening in my animation.

I wanted to use a wolf to literally "howl" in my animation

This is what I wanted my abstract object to look like.

So I started to animate my final animation and realised that frame by frame has no mercy and it takes much much longer then expected, I guess 24frames per 1 seconde and if you even spend 1 minute per frame it would take you 6 hours for 15 seconds, but thats very unlikely to take 1 minute each one and if your animation is complexed and over 20 minutes, IMAGINE THE TIME! OMG

After a lot longer time then expected and a lot of crashes (arrghhh) I finally completed my animation and really tried to visualise the 3 words in the most interesting and unique way possible, I also realised how much difference sound can make to your animation.

My Final Outcome

Dynamic Communications

My Seed:

SPLATTER EFFECT

So my seed is splatter effect, which is the effect of the impact of a liquid substance hitting an object. I got inspired by this topic by looking at the Sony Bravia advert which was filmed in Glasgow. I watched the making of how they made the advert and I thought it was so creative and beautiful, so I wanted to engage in something similar.

Here is the Sony Advert which started it all:

After finding my inspiration and direction for my project I began to research the splatter effect and its wide uses in today's world.

In Graphic Design

In Art

In Video Games and CGI

Then I started to research any artists which had work which was somehow connected and I remembered a famous artist who really encapsulated this form of expression in his art, and that was Jackson Pollock.

Then I stumbled on more recent examples of his legacy being passed on to the new generation. Below is a video of a virtual and interactive display at a museum based on Jackson Pollock.

After this I stumbled on an online flash representation of Jackson Pollocks art style, this was a breakthrough in which I could expand me ideas in a field I was highly interested in. The website and game is here: Miltos.

After further research and decisions I decided to make an animation expressing the medium and concept of Jack Pollock's paint and the flash game in a more entertaining way. So after researching the stickman videos out there I decided that I wanted to make a short clip showing the the splatter effect in a commercial liking similar to the Sony Advert.

After researching a lot of stick animations I decided to make my own one, but to have a splatter effect followed by each hit instead.

Complexity: My seed spawned from the Sony Bravia advert, then onto researching Jackson Pollock and his original artwork formed from random yet beautiful drips and drops of paint, then further expanded towards interactivity along with software and virtual systems.

Serendipity: My moment of serendipity was when I discovered that the way I could venture and allow my seed to grow was not through experimenting with physical tests of the splatter effect, but the virtual sphere, I discovered this when I found a website which allows you to create flash based versions of Jackson Pollock's work which I really found astounding.

Interactivity: The interactive side communicating my final project is that it is a universal video to be seen as if it were an advert to all the masses. Specifically it is showcasing the wonders of paint and its diversity. I made a quick poster advertisement and my final product will be a parody video showcasing the beauty of art in a modern yet intriguing way which is not only visual, but includes sounds and effects.

Thus, my final project I will upload here when it is finished:

My final Outcome

Visual Literacy

OK, so my PowerPoint app decided to randomly fail due to licensing, so I guess I will transfer my ppt work to here from scratch. So first off is my Visual Literacy

Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image. Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading.

Aspects of visual literacy which are used in everything that we see today from advertisements to movies and everything seen by the human eyes which is analysed and read.

Fully utilizing the aspects of visual literacy and its abundance of options allows you to portray different things to the audience and allows you to create a different feeling or different desired outcome for the viewing audience.

So after researching and studying the principles and aspects which build a visual outcome. I chose some random objects and took pictures of them, but I did'nt really like the all the ideas I had in relation to the objects. So I decided to choose one, which was the Alarm clock heart Idea and I liked that the best.


I started to thumbnail some ideas for my 4 2D images and after much thought and trail and error I came up with these 6 ideas which I though were quite strong. So I decided to choose 4 of these and just go for it.

I chose the alarm clock idea because during the last pitch and crit I had there was a good response regarding it and I thought I wanted to progress and develop on it.

So once I had my ideas clearly envisioned, I was more confident in starting the manipulation process in photoshop. I sourced some freestock images of some clocks.

I used this one for my heart concept

This is the clock which I transformed into speakers

I decided to try and let my creativity run loose but fully aligned with my original concepts. Each image is closely related with the concept of breaking the boundaries of time and the expressing how time is such a large issue in today's society.

Here are my 4 2D images:

In this image I used the numbers of a clock and switched them around, and tried to show that time and space are a deep void and only once we pin point the time does it become relevant to out lives.

The concept here is that we don't know how much time we have left in life till we will pass away and that time or the lack of time can be a painful thought.

I used an image of the clock above and turned it into a speaker, you can still see some of the numbers on it if you look close. This is that annoying alarm that wakes you up everyday. This is a bit different from my final one as I changed the glowing rings with the ring of the actual clock to vary things.

The concept here is what I really like, that its a new way to perceive time in a futuristic way.

Next are my 2 2D Images from my chosen book.

I experimented again with the concepts of of manipulating an image and what is read by its appearance. Here I was experimenting with character design and if a story can be seen by a simple image.

I liked this futuristic clown character I did and I might experiment with it in the future.

So the book I chose was "A Bold Head and a Strawberry" which is a spiritual book about faith and religion and life. I decided to take one small story that is told at the beginning of the book.



The story goes as follows:

Strawberries
Once upon a time there lived a humble farmer that toiled in the rice fields throughout the day. One day, he took a nap and as he awoke, night had already fallen. He got up and immediately started home. Attempting to expedite his return, the farmer decided to cut through the forest. As he walked, the sounds of midnight stood still as a lone owl could be heard in the distance. There was something in the air.
The farmer quickened his pace, as his breath began to pick up. He could hear something -- something tracking him, following him to make a kill. So he began to run. Undoubtedly, the farmer now heard heavy strides quickening their pace from behind -- something was coming. He could hear its breath, dripping with hunger. Fearful for his life the farmer began to sprint with all his might.
But suddenly a cliff emerged in front and the beast was closing in from behind. He leaped. He tumbled through the air as his and fortuitously grabbed hold of a single vine that now suspended him from his doom. From above, the beast emerged peering over the cliff -- it was a monstrous tiger. It said, "Come up and I shall devour you." At that very moment, the man peered down and from the blackness emerged yet another tiger saying, "fall down and I shall devour you." But it didn't stop there. As he looked up he noticed one black and one white mouse gnawing on the very vine that sustained his life -- the life vine. At that precise moment he gazed in front and beheld a luscious strawberry. He picked it and ate it -- how delicious it was.
Now what is this story supposed to meant? Didn't it seem like a rather abrupt and ostensibly unfitting conclusion? Well, the story is supposed to represent us all -- our human condition, so to speak. We are all hanging on that life vine. The black mouse and white mouse symbolizing night and day propel us towards the inevitability of death or suffering -- which ever comes first. We are all going to die (the one thing we can be sure of), or experience a desperate moment.
But as we hang there the message of the story is to recognize the "strawberries" in our lives, like a sunset on a Sunday walk in the park, or even an argument with a friend, you fill in the blanks. Our lives are filed with wonderful, rich, aromatic strawberries, if we are willing to pay attention to the moment here and now. Our lives are filled with moments that are more wondrous than wonder itself and all its synonyms combined, if we pay attention.
But something remarkable happened as I told this story to Abba. He immediately said, "Yes, my son, but then you must give the strawberries to the mice and to the tigers"! Upon hearing this I fainted! Here was a response that was not a thought-out rejoinder, but a reflection of Abba's being, as he just blurted it out. He, without pause for thought, blew me away with this profound elevation of compassion -- to have the heart of giving ones life "strawberries" to the very beings that are trying to bring about your demise -- to completely love even your worst enemy! I fainted. When I awoke, I was bald.

Reference freestock images I used to help me with my finals.

Here are my Final 2D Images:

This is also a bit different from my final version as I wanted to make it look more depressive as the man is against all odds hanging off a cliff with no mercy from nature yet he is still able to share his found strawberry. I tried to make this have a lingering feeling as if there was a lot of emotion in the air and if you look closely even the mountain has eyes and is against him too.

Here I manipulated the image of the man above as I though he was perfect for the farmer. I merged it with a texture which I thought was fitting. I also merged some grass on his head to make it seem as if he has a strawberry on his head. The main effect I wanted to achieve here is that it is very nostalgic and sympathetic towards the man that faced an ordeal in which everyone and everything (nature) was against him. Although he was still able to give his last grace to them.