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Alice Partington FE Foundation (Media Production - Stage 2: Developmental)

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Project 3: London

A commercial brief: rethinking the way we imagine London for current representation. Create a response to the idea of 'Your London' that is suitable to use in a mass-market magazine or online publication, with a diverse audience and a wide readership.

IDEA GENERATION

Auto-ethnography

Presentation Notes
Class notes on autoethnography, methods and examples.
My Personal Experience With London
Notes on my experience with London.
Other People's Experience With London
Looking at other people's experience with London.

Brand Ethos

Presentation Notes
Task: Understanding Brand Ethos
Initial Ideas

CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH

Location and Artist Research

Emmanuel Cole
  • incorporation of bright and bold colours to capture a playful mood
  • capturing the chaos of carnival
  • street photography of everyday people
  • use of graffiti as a backdrop - the almost boldness creates character
Photos from (Cole, 2022)
Street Photographers London
  • photographically exploring London's dynamic shapes and architectural structures
  • interesting use of natural light and contrast to create interesting compositions
  • use of bold and bright eye-catching colour
  • voyeuristic capture of individuals
  • use of architectural sub-framing, adding a narrative impression
Photos from (Street Photographer London, n.d.)
Nicholas Goodden
  • use of symmetry in the top left and top right photos, creating visual harmony that draws the viewer in towards the line of symmety
  • use of asymmetry in the top middle and top right photos, skewing the viewer's eye towards the direction of the asymmetry, creating a sense of movement
  • use of overlaid illustration and bold colour palette to enhance the intrigue of the landscape and add a narrative personality
  • I really like the fun purples, pinks and oranges of the bottom left and right photos that create strong and intriguing dynamic
Photos from (Cowan, 2016)
London Street Art
  • Places with street art to visit in London
  • I particularly want to explore the bright colours and interesting shapes in London for my project, so I am interested in looking at graffiti street art
From (inspiringcity, 2020).
Photos from (inspiringcity, 2020).
Vexx - London Street Art
  • making street art in London
  • filming regular everyday people and their reactions to street art being made
  • use of bold colours to create a visual spectacle
  • looking at the process of making street art in the way of spray-painted murals

Video from (Vexx, 2021)

Colour - Meghan Trainor Song/Album Covers
  • use of bold colours, particularly pink, blue and yellow to create a fun and exciting colour dynamic and visual energy
  • link to primary colours - almost red, blue, yellow except for pink, linking to street photography techniques and creates a more exciting view of everyday life
  • pastel and neon versions of the same colours give slightly different vibes; this combined with the contrast between the close shot and the frontal full-body shot creates two different outcomes with alternate audience feels
Left from: (Trainor, 2018). Right from: (Trainor, 2022).

PLANNING

Summary Of My Idea At This Point

I am currently thinking of creating a zine spread or a short promotional film for a fashion or accessories/lifestyle brand, using the bold colours and unique architectural environments to photograph branded items. Incorporating my personal London experiences, I want to create a product that will create a sense of freedom, independence, and fun, as going up to London with my friends and by myself has given me so much personal development in terms of travelling independently and being confident in public spaces. The brand I am planning to use is Typo, a stationary/accessories/home decor shop that has the ethos of having unique and quirky products, targeted towards young adults. I think Camden would be the best place to shoot due to the bright colours and fun architectural decorations, as well as due to my own personal experiences of independence and fun in there. In this way, utilising Camden's expressive outdoor spaces would be the best place to film due to it linking to my experiences, my plans to express brand ethos, and showing a real side of London.

Zine or Film

I have already decided that I don't want to do animation for this brief, partially because I want to explore other media but also because I think photography and film works a lot better for documentary/promotional style pieces. Below are some reasons for and against creating a zine or a film for my final outcome.

Due to the reasons above, I am leaning more towards a zine than a film, however I may try and do a zine in this week, and a film next week. Either way, I will want to interview people about their experiences of independence in London and use for either the written contents of the zine, or for the main structure and focus of the film.

Deciding Who To Interview

My plan is to interview a couple of youthful people who enjoy spending time in London and ask them about what places they enjoy going to, fun stories that they have, and how London makes them feel.

BRAND RESEARCH

Typo

The brand's ethos from (Typo and Cotton, n.d.).
Brand Colour

Exploration looking at the brand's colour choices when presenting their brand and products online. Below are some colour swatches I took from the Typo's recent Instagram posts. All photos from (Typo, n.d.).

Greens and pinks, bright pops of red over pink. Fun, bubbly, variation on traditional Christmas colours to create an exciting but still Christmas-like feel. Bubbly, exciting, fun.
Bright contrasting colours, using subtle variations on traditional Christmas colours of red and green. Fun, playful, bold.
One of the most recent posts: cooler, more muted with pops of warm colour. Understated, smart, winter.
Limited colour palette, using contrast between cool purples and warm reds, oranges, and yellows. Matching the background to the background of the calendar makes the warm tones pop more. Slightly muted tones to not overwhelm with the abundance of bright colours. Directional flow of product makes the colours stand out and enhance its wavy shape. Simple, contrast, motion.

COLOUR: as demonstrated from the posts above, Typo uses bright, contrasting colours that are slightly muted to not have the abundance of colour become overwhelming. Recently, the brand is promoting their products as Christmas gifts by choosing colours similar to traditional holiday colours - pinks, reds, greens. For my outcome, I will aim to use bright contrasts that are slightly muted to have my piece tie in with the brand's colour palette.

Typeface & Graphic Design

I will be using the Typo website (Typo, 2022) to look at the typefaces used and graphic design choices.

This is the first thing you see when you open the website.
Analysis notes of the opening font.
Analysis notes on the function text buttons.
Content and Audience Awareness

Below are screenshots taken from the Typo website (Typo, 2022), showing examples of creating content that relates to young generations, from around teenagers to under-30s.

The first thing you see when you open the website (Typo, 2022). The phrase "POV:" is a common social media trend, particularly on TikTok: straight away on the first page there are internet phrases used to draw in and relate to the younger audience.
Using pop culture and collaboration with big names that have cult followings. Use of talkative phrases rather than simple and unexciting section titles.
Use of conversational, gossip-y phrases to again intrigue the young adult target audience.
Video Format Promotion

A promotional video from Typo's Youtube channel. All of their videos are very short, only a couple of minutes max

Video from (Typo, 2018).

ELEVATOR PITCH

INTERVIEW

How To Interview

Class notes on how to conduct an interview properly.

Planning Interview Questions

First draft of questions to ask the interviewee.

After asking my questions to Ella, I found that the questions seem good for provoking stories and making casual conversation, which is good because it is what I want. I added a few sub-questions to clarify the first question as seen below.

Updated questions and sub-questions to interview.

ORGANISATION

This is a list I made of everything I needed to do to complete the project.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Photo Shot Plan

Sketches of a variety of different potential shots for different Typo products I own.

PHOTO SHOOT

Location

Below are images of the shoot site from (Buck Street Market, n.d.). As seen in the images, the location is full of brightly coloured architecture and fun design choices, which matches with my brand link and with my personal experiences in London.

Images from (Buck Street Market, n.d.).
Colour swatches taken from the images of Camden above. These colours link nicely to the boldness of Typo's previous colour choices, using contrast and link to primary colours to create fun and exciting visuals.

Taking The Photos

Testing out different presets on my camera.

I had my best friend model my Typo objects. We went up to Camden Market and used various locations within the food market on Camden Market Buck Street. The camera I have and used for this shoot is a Nikon Digital Camera D5200 with a Nikon DX VR lens 18-55mm. Throughout the shoot I explored using the different settings to capture different levels of light, and change the depth of field. In the photo above are the different available presets, of which I found the close-up (flower symbol), the portrait and the auto the best for the lighting we had. The shoot took place at midday around 12-2pm. The market was a lot busier than I expected, next time I do a photoshoot I will need to plan ahead more in terms of scouting ideal times in the location, as well as checking things such as the weather and that the location hasn't changed since planning to go there.

Selecting the Good Photos
Photos of how I want to crop my photos listed below.
Going through all of my photography and selecting the ones that could work in the zine, noting down which need cropping or lightening, and what each photo offers.

I have split the photos into which products are pictured. Below are the selected good photos, as listed above. I realised that quite a lot of the photos that were taken from afar work a lot better cropped.

Plant Pot
I am pleased with the variety of quality shots here, even though some are almost exactly the same and need to be cut down.
Donut Pillow
I think there are a many good photos here, especially the cropped ones as they have interesting and more varied compositions.
Highlighters
I am really pleased with the variety of shots and the quality of these photos.
Bag
Pens
The top right is the uncropped version of the top left photo. For the final zine the last two are two different versions of the same shot, I would not use both for the final zine, as they both provide the same things to the viewer.
Notebook
Out of these, I think the top left one is the best photographically, but the bottom right may be better for showing the notebook's detail.
Mini Embroidery Hoop
Badge
Environment and Model
These photos could be used in the zine as backgrounds or transition pages.

Lightening Photographs

Changing the brightness of photos to balance the colour tone and make the products pop.

Further Photography Plans

I plan to also photos of all the products in a studio-like setting, which will be good for showing the functionality of the products. This will also create a catalogue effect, ideal for showcasing the items to buy as well as using enticing and creative photography.

Final Photos to be Included in the Zine

ZINE

Zine Plan

Sketched out ideas for different page layouts and how to overlay the interview text with the photography.

Graphic Design Tests

Test 1 - borders

I like the bright colour palette in this first test. I chose these colours as they are warm and stand out well. I wanted to use fluid shapes to make an interesting background for a double-page spread; they ended up more like page boarders. I think this is a good start, but I think the white background may be too bright. Looking back, I dislike the font choice as it is too angular rather than smoothly round and is serif, which does not match Typo's normal font choices.

Made on Adobe Illustrator.
Test 2 - background with shapes

This design feels more cohesive as a background, but I am not sure about the blue shadows on the circles, it could be better if they were a darker pink rather than almost the same blue as the background. I hadn't changed the colour of the title in this version, but the font is slightly similar to the Typo shot front logo, compared to the previous test font.

Made on Adobe Illustrator.
Test 3

For the next few outcomes I experimented with different overlay settings.

I like the colours of this first outcome, but it may be too strong to use as a background.
This background is simpler due to the more limited palette, but the vibe does not match the intention as much, and the overall composition feels too busy and would distract from the photography.
Test 4
I wanted to try out a different shape and cooler colour, but I dislike the hard edges and asymmetrical quality of this outcome; it does not feel professional or cohesive.
Test 5
I then tried layering the first two designs over each other, and I think it works quite well, however is perhaps too busy for the zine and again the pale colours don't quite match the vibe that I am aiming for.
Test 6
I tried a much simpler design for this test; while the colours aren't quite right, I think the simpler design choice would work better for the zine.
I really like this version of this test. I think the single colour tone works well with the contextual colour palette present in Camden, and is simple enough to draw attention to the photography, rather than away from it. While this is still not exactly what I think will end up being the final zine, it is an improvement from the previous tests and has helped me work out what minute graphic design choices will work or not work in terms of business and too much distraction.

INTERVIEWS

Participant Project Information and Consent Form

I wrote up a Participant Project Information and Consent Form based on the example one on aula. Below is the blank copy I created.

Conducting the Interviews

Ella
Ella's filled out Participant Project Information and Consent Form.

I used a website called Veed.io to convert the recordings into subtitles almost entirely automatically and turn the file from mp3 to mp4. I then wrote out the subtitles to have the interview in text format ready for the zine.

The interview transcript.
Aleks
Aleks' filled out Participant Project Information and Consent Form.
Transcript for Aleks' interview.
Connor
Connor's filled out Participant Project Information and Consent Form.
The transcript for Connor's interview.

MAKING THE ZINE

FRONT COVER

Layout

I made the front cover on Adobe Express. I started with the typeface choice and text layout.

Here I explored different fonts for the TYPO title. I wanted something modern and contemporary, that was simple and very clearly legible.
Typeface
Here I explored more font choices for the front cover, as well as adjusting the layout.
The final font choices and layout for the front cover of the zine. I decided to go with this font as it links to Typo's products of stationary, giving it a personal and casual feeling. The lack of "perfect" strokes and handwritten quality links to the brief of 'everyday London'.

Photography

Photography Set Up

For my photography setup I arranged vines of fake leaves to create a visual link to London's greenery. I used a lamp to hang the vines over in order to continue the plants travelling up the wall to balance the composition and create a more interesting background. I used a reading light clipped onto a jar in order to create a warm wash of orange lighting.

Arranging the leaves on the table. In my original plan I had the bag behind everything creating more depth. However, I could not hang the bag in a way that would be conspicuous or would be physically possible by myself. I ended up propping it on a pillow, which also allowed for the donut pillow to be stood up in front of it.
Top Potential Photos

Below are the photos which could potentially be used as the front cover. I am pleased that I managed to create a cohesive composition that is relatively similar to my plan and conveys my intentions. While taking my photos I experimented with different lighting. I wanted the fairy lights to be visible but not distracting, so I played around with different levels of environmental light. I mostly took photos without flash, as the ones with flash were very bright with high contrast, which I think would be too distracting and not flat enough to work under the already designed text. I had a reading light which had both white and orange light, and after experimenting I used the orange light to give the composition a warm overtone wash.

Final Front Cover

Combining Photography and Typeface

These are screenshots of my process editing the front cover. I experimented with two slightly different photos, and adjusted them to make them work better behind the typeface. I decided that the more muted photo worked better as it had less contrast to take away from the bright white font. I felt the warm wash solidified the colourful products into one image, in order to showcase all of the products while still keeping the focus on the typeface.

Final Front Cover
The final front cover.

BACK COVER

References
This is the back cover writing that appears on the Typo notebooks. I aimed to replicate this similarly on the back of my zine.
Typeface Process

I found the font that Typo had originally used on Google Fonts called "Special Elite" and used that to replicate the logo on the back cover. I used a plain and uniform font for the "X". I then worked on adding my own logo to match. I wanted my logo to be handwritten by myself for a personal touch and providing individual character to my logo. I made my writing neat and legible, while not enforcing perfection to keep the handwritten quality.

I wrote out my name and signature multiple times in order to add it to the back cover.
I selected one to use before rotating and cropping it.
I applied a black and white sharp filter after turning the black point and the shadows all the way up.
I then inverted the colours before adding it to the back cover.
Composition

I positioned the text at the bottom centre of the page as the official Typo products have. I then played around with the spacing and size of the words, before settling on the final version on the left. I also trialed using my signature instead of my name, but it was not as visually clear and did not present itself as much as a logo as I had thought it would, so I kept it as just my first name.

ZINE PAGES

Failed Designs

I went through many iterations of trying to create a uniform, modern, and fun zine spread. I found it a lot harder than I thought it would be, and I think this is due to my indecision of the significance of the text. I could not work out how to balance paragraphs of text alongside large titles for the questions, all while keeping the focus on the images. I was also having trouble with the software, as I could not figure out how to use Adobe InDesign, so these scrapped designs below were made on Google Slides (double page spreads). All of the spreads below are not what I wanted: they either used too much colour - which distracted from the photos, did not feel professional or fit the vibe of the brand, or did not appear visually striking.

Change of Method and Clarification of Intensions for Outcome

After all of these failed designs, I have decided to keep it modern and simple, as I have now decided that I want the outcome to feel like a creative celebration of Typo's products; more like a photobook than an advertising magazine. I still plan to use the interviews, but now more as quotes to accent the photography, rather than presenting them as full-on interviews through paragraphs of writing.

Creation of Pages

DETAILED PROCESS EXAMPLE: Page 1 & 2 - Double Spread Introduction
These are two versions of the first and second page (double page spread). The only difference between the two is the writing of "Hey There..." or "Hi...", and the pink highlight is two different ways round. I am a lot happier with this outcome compared to all the other attempts, as this one feels a lot more professional and suits the brand's fun vibe more, especially with the colloquial language and bold photography. After comparing the two versions, I prefer the one with "Hi..." as it feels friendlier and frames better compositionally.
I decided to change the highlight colour of "TYPO" as the pink faded into the pink and red of the sprinkles behind it (I had used almost the exact same shades of pink to create the highlights). I chose yellow as it matches the other sprinkles - it could be too bright as after I colour picked I made the colours brighter, but it makes it stand out. The only other change is moving the "TYPO" text up to fit between the two yellow sprinkles in the middle, which can be seen below.
This is the next version of pages 1&2. I moved "We're" closer to "TYPO" to balance the composition more, and I made the yellow highlights more muted to match better with the muted yellows of the donut sprinkles.

I also created this alternative layout, where the writing is split per each page, so the whole thing would be read left to right. I feel this appears more easily legible than the previous design. I do feel that there is perhaps too much empty space at the top right, and the colours are no longer as balanced by having the yellow font on the right match the sprinkles on the left. To attempt to fix this, I flipped the text around, which can be seen below, however this does not read as well and feels jaunted.

The flipped version.
The final version of pages 1 and 2
Creating the Rest of the Pages

These are process photos. As seen above I made many changes throughout creating the pages in order to improve the composition. I ended up keeping the pages simple and visually comparative to a photo book, rather than incorporating my previous graphic design plans. I feel this change creates visually striking pages which focus and highlight the photos, with the interview questions as accents relating back to the brief's intentions. I often split the double page spreads between a full page photo and an interview, in order to draw complete focus onto each page. I fit all of the photos I wanted in apart from the banana pen, so I made it into a double page spread at the end, however I feel it may take away from the impact of the ending on the previous page, where the interview answer ties the whole thing nicely together and the photography mirrors the opening pages but with the eyes closed.

Making it Into A Digital Flipbook

I converted the pages into a PDF and put it into Flipsnack.com - a free digital flipbook maker - however, due to each page containing a double page spread, the resulting zine had two pages on each page. While this layout was interesting, it was not what I had intended and the covers did not work with this version. Below is a recording of this first version.

Fixing the Problem - Splitting the PDF in Half

I used Adobe Acrobat to split the double pages into two single pages. I did this by cropping the zine in half and saving the left side pages one their own, then the right hand side pages by themselves. After doing this, I combined the two PDFs and reordered the pages (all with Adobe Acrobat). After looking through the pages again, I decided to remove the double spread of the banana pen at the very end. I had considered this before and have taken it out for the same reasons due to it feeling out of place after the closing pages before. I then put the new PDF with single pages into FlipSnack.com, however I found that there was a 30 page limit, and my zine has 36 pages. Below is a video of this version.

To overcome this problem I switched to a website called Heyzine.com, which allowed all of my pages to be added.

final outcome

Digital Flipbook
Evaluation and Reflection

I am really pleased with my final outcome. I struggled to complete this project at the beginning and consequently had to finish it outside of the planned two week schedule. Despite that, I am glad I took the extra time to complete this project as I envisioned it, I do not think I would have been satisfied leaving this project unfinished. One of the main things I struggled with was making the zine look like it belonged to the brand. I firstly attempted to achieve this using illustrative graphic design, however I did not feel like any of my attempts matched what I wanted to produce. Because of this, I made the decision to alter my direction from a commercial zine to a photobook, and I feel I achieved this after lots of trial and error. I am really proud of this project as it ended up working well and was improved due to the obstacles I ran into and the challenges I persevered through. The only thing I would do differently next time is learning how to use Adobe InDesign so I would have the tools to create my outcome as a professional would have. Nonetheless, I am proud of my resourcefulness and the quality of my final outcome.

Bibliography

Cole, E. (2022). Emmanuel Cole on Instagram: "Had such a great time shooting carnival this year ! Shout out to everyone for the love on the first bunch of images ". [online] Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch9zjRIoIj7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link [Accessed 29 Nov. 2022].

Cowan, K. (2016). Nicholas Goodden on street photography, moving images and the importance of social media. [online] Creative Boom. Available at: https://www.creativeboom.com/features/nicholas-goodden-on-street-photography-moving-images-and-the-importance-of-social-media/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2022].

inspiringcity (2020). The Best Places to see Street Art in London. [online] Inspiring City. Available at: http://shorturl.at/epR09 [Accessed 29 Nov. 2022].

Street Photographer London (n.d.). Street Photographer London. [online] Oh Brother Creative. Available at: https://www.oh-brother.co.uk/street-photographer-london/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2022].

Trainor, M. (2018). LET YOU BE RIGHT. [online] open.spotify.com. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/album/2yaquWkps9rx9tPo3EtobL [Accessed 29 Nov. 2022].

Trainor, M. (2022). Takin’ It Back. [online] open.spotify.com. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/album/4LVa9bljQRvLYpWr8qyaXs [Accessed 29 Nov. 2022].

Typo and Cotton (n.d.). TYPO - Cotton on Group. [online] Typo - Cotton on Group. Available at: https://cottonongroup.com.au/our-brands/typo/ [Accessed 1 Dec. 2022].

Typo (2018). The Ultimate Planner. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/92JmhxVNlcc [Accessed 1 Dec. 2022].

Typo (2022). Typo | Everyday essentials that are anything but ordinary. [online] Cottonon.com. Available at: https://cottonon.com/UK/typo-home/ [Accessed 1 Dec. 2022].

Typo (n.d.). typouk. [online] instagram.com. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/typouk/ [Accessed 30 Nov. 2022].

Vexx (2021). Making Street Art On Most Famous Wall in London. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/UK-762trXIM [Accessed 29 Nov. 2022].

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Project 4: Analogue

BRIEF: A test into material textures and new ways of making within Media Production

ANALOGUE PRACTICES

Class Notes
Notes on different analogue techniques.
Analogue Artists

CAMERA-LESS ANIMATION

Mark Making and Animating Over Film Reel

1st Reel

I drew over the reel with sharpies and felt tips, aiming to make small abstract lines that move around the frame. I started with a black border on the left of the frame that slid up and down, before moving onto coloured sharpie overlays. I used an orange felt tip to animate a dot travelling around the frame, and added more in red and magenta. I experimented with scratching the film with a split pin, and also coloured over the person's face for a few frames at a time randomly.

Shots of my different additions.
Left: close ups of my alterations. Right: the reel on a light box.
2nd Reel

For the second reel, I coloured over the top of the whole reel in colours fading from purple to blue to green etc in sharpie and felt tip. I then used pencil to make marks over the top.

Photos of the second reel, using light to explore the shadows created from the transparent imagery.
3rd Reel

For the third reel I experimented with cutting pieces out of the reel.

The whole 3rd reel.
Close ups of the third reel.

Experimenting With Scanning

Outcomes of using the scanner, some with the lid off (the darker ones), some done normally, and the last one had the lid open for half the scan and closed for the other half.

Evaluation

It was really interesting to work practically with film, exploring the potentials of the media in different contexts. When we ran the films through, it was difficult to see the results however the potential was there to create lots of different outcomes. I found it fun to draw and scribble and scratch away at film to try and create a more intriguing visual effect.

SHADOW PUPPETRY

Class Notes

Class notes on links to shadow puppetry.

Making My Own Shadow Puppet

Experimentation

I made a test torso to work out how to convert a drawing into a movable puppet. Through this I realised that I needed flaps to connect each part together, and the parts all needed to be drawn completely separately, rather than changing a drawing into separate parts.

Experimental shadow puppet - the neck could not attach to the torso because there was no where to attach it to, I learnt from this and fixed this in my final design.
Character Design
Sketches for my character design. I wanted to use purely triangles to create a human-like figure to create a geometrical visual effect. I also found that the structure of the triangles created the pose to naturally mimic a strong and bulky frame, which works perfectly with the characterisation of triangles, which are the strongest shape.
Making Process
Process photos of making my shadow puppet. There are no eyes in some of the final photos as I added them afterwards.
Final Outcome
My character in different poses. I really love how expressive it is, with the sharpness of the triangle edges creating a dynamic silhouette.
My puppet's shadow.

Evaluation

I am really pleased with my shadow puppet, although it is weak at some of the slimmer joints. This was a really interesting exercise as the only feature I could manipulate was the silhouette of my puppet. Working purely with shape pushed me to truly consider the effects of shape to show the personality and movement of a character.

PAPER ANIMATION

Contextual Notes

Class notes on the history of traditional paper-based animation.

Making the Animation

I used my laptop as a replacement lightbox. I used an online white screen tool, available at (White Screen, 2022) to achieve this.
Key Framing

I initially drew the first four frames without key framing, before realising what to do and how to do it. I then skipped 3 pages and drew the character at the next step, then repeated this until the end.

Process photos from making my animation. You can see the key frames in the last two photos, whereas before I was animating frame-by-frame.
Inking over the pencil animation.
Scanned Frames
All of my scanned frames.
Final Animation

Below is the final outcome. I found this workshop really interesting as I always animated frame-by-frame, never using keyframes, so this made me try a different technique. The final outcome isn't as smooth as it could be, but key-framing helped me with timing the steps evenly.

Evaluation

I found this method of animating peculiar and oddly more difficult for myself to grasp. I personally work almost entirely with frame-by-frame techniques as I find that I understand the flow of movement better this way. With animating through keyframes, I felt my animation was more stiff and less lifelike than if I had animated frame-by-frame. Still, this was an important exercise for me as keyframing would benefit my animation, particularly to allow myself to plan better and keep more consistent and accurate proportions.

BIBliography

White Screen (2022). White screen | Online Tool. [online] www.whitescreen.online. Available at: https://www.whitescreen.online/ [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

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Project 5: Industry

BRIEF: A film or animation (2 minutes maximum) with sound which should be performance related and will be used for an installation.

INTRODUCTION AND PLANNING

Notes
Presentation notes on example pieces and the brief.

The example mentioned in the class notes. Video from (Autograph and De’Souza-Hartley, 2021).

Example mentioned in class notes - performance work turned into fine art piece. Image from (De’Souza-Hartley, 2020).

RESEARCH

Related Artists

Notes on artists to research. I particularly enjoyed "Dancing about Architecture" by Andres Arochi, "Across The Sun" by Sekou Neblett and Bill Viola' "Ascension". When watching Bill Viola's ascension the first time, the sound was cutting out and fading, which I thought was intentional and wrote about it in my initial notes above.

Detailed Research

Andres-Arochi "Dancing About Architecture"
  • exploring the stability of architecture in contrast to the organic and fragile nature of human life
  • use of repeated shot angles making it look almost like a series of photos without the people <-- highlighting the stability and longevity of architecture and man made structures
  • movement of the people - performance dancing as a metaphor for human life -

Video from (Cineburo, 2018).

Bill Viola "Ascension"
  • dark visuals in contrast to the negative space effect of the bubbles creating the sense of pressure and emptiness
  • using voyeurism to separate the viewer from the scene, while using intense sound design to communicate the feeling of drowning and/or being underwater
  • using video as performance to create an immersion of the feeling of being underwater, and the calm that comes with being surrounded and supported by water
  • exploration of something that happens so fast (sinking and rising in water) in slow motion, focusing on visual detail and intense sound design to appreciate and communicate the moment with an intensive immersive quality <-- I want to use this technique in my work to explore what is often not observed or ignored, showing a new perspective of the world around us.

Video from (Wadsworth Atheneum, 2011).

Sekou Neblett "Across The Sun"
  • voyeuristic and close up shots to gain personal connection to the character
  • use of narration to create a narrative direction
  • panning shots
  • dynamic shots of photography creating interesting perspective of the environment
  • timed shots to music - creating impactful and harmonious outcome
  • videos with high movement shown more throughout the later parts of the video, especially timed with the focus on music rather than the poetry
  • I really like this video due to its harmonious combination of photographic shots, perfectly timed sound design, and abstract emotional feel - the video feels like it follows the narrative of the relationship, while still focusing on communicating the emotion and individuality of the main character as its primary focus.

Video from (NOWNESS, 2020).

Joe Hodway "The Germanic Doctor" (1994)
  • text-based installation work with the effect of manipulating the viewer's physical actions
  • by placing the text up at the ceiling, the viewer has to look up to see it
  • lack of clear spaces between the words means the viewer has to quint and work hard to read the piece
Screenshot from (Hodway, 2022)

PLANNING AND IDEAS

Mind Map

My mind map/plan of initial ideas. I wanted to explore performance art in an abstract way, rather than a literal human performance, exploring video as installation art which causes the viewer to become immersed in my piece and be intrigued by its message.

Decided Direction Of Project

My previous photography from my IB course, using a clip-on phone microscope tool, exploring links between the intricacies of fabric and the organic tissue of skin.

I have decided to revisit an incomplete piece idea I had during IB, where I wanted to explore the microscopic details of fabric and different materials around us. At IB I specifically wanted to inspect how fabric is organic and intricately detailed, and compare it to the details of skin, exploring the importance of clothing as self expressed identity. For this project, I plan to use the same idea of exploring the intricacies of materials to communicate a new perspective and appreciation of the wonder of the world around us.

Further Contextual Research

Below are photos from Nasa's instagram accounts of photos of space, which are very visually similar to my developmental photography. The similarity of the outer universe and the minute details of material is what I plan to emulate within my final film. Below the photos are links to videos from Nasa's instagram accounts, where they have created sonifications of of photos of galaxies. This links to my ideas for sound design and relates to my theme of the exploration of hidden details and texture.

Photo from (Nasahubble, 2023)
Photo from (Nasa, 2022)
Video from (Nasahubble, 2022a)
Video from (Nasahubble, 2022b)

DEVELOPMENT

Initial Photographic Experimentation

After noting down my initial ideas, I experimented with how much detail I could capture using my camera. After practising for a while I worked out how to capture the most detail while keeping the camera in focus (the camera would not take the photo if it didn't think it was focused). I took photos of anything that I could see texture on, due to the intention of the film I was looking at anything and everything you wouldn't normally pay too much attention to.

Here I was practising with getting my camera to focus to capture the smallest details in the material. The bottom right image is a close up of the previous one, demonstrasting the immense detail I could capture after working out the correct technique.
Clarification of Message
Close up detail from my photo of my camera bag, showing the amount of detail I am aiming for and can achieve when I zoom into my photos. After taking this photo, I wanted to link the project more to presenting the minuscule details as a whole new world, as the velcro is reminiscent of stars in a galaxy. The comparison of this imagery with the photography close-ups strengthens my message of the unappreciated details that are overlooked in everyday life; there is so much in our universe and that exists alongside us that we don't see. I want my work to showcase the wonder of the unknown and things we don't necessarily see as "important".
More photos with miniscule detail as examples of how I have cropped my images below.
Further Photography On Material Detail
Cropped photography of everyday objects and textiles.

Developmental Photography and Film

I took more photos of items around my house. I was paying attention to different types of texture, and trying to capture both minuscule detail in focus and out of focus. For the final outcome, I wanted to film moving through the details of the materials, so I took a video using my camera to see what the videos would look like.

Video Tests

For my first test, the detail did not show as clearly as the photography.

For my second test you could see the details more clearly, however they weren't as crisp as the photos and I had to constantly refocus the camera while it was moving.

Photography Development

These are cropped photographs I took once I was sure about my direction and photographing technique. I have noticed that I can split them into groups - some that resemble space, some that show the intricate structures of fabric, and some that appear like microscopic patterns. I particularly like the ones that resemble space, and I think it would be very interesting to use them in my final outcome, as it will link my photography with familiar imagery of the world around us.

MAKING MY FINAL OUTCOME

Significance and Meaning

By comparing the miniscule photos to satellite imagery of stars, my piece encourages the viewer's sense of intrigue to explore the wonder of what we overlook - there is so much detail hidden on surfaces and in materials that we don't pay attention to in our everyday lives. It is incredible to imagine the amount of universe and matter that we don't see, that we cannot comprehend. With my final outcome I wish to showcase the potential of looking a little harder at the universe we take for granted; there is so much wonder that we can find if we are only a little curious. Clarifying the message to the viewer, my final outcome is called "There Is So Much More Than What They See".

Creation of My Final Piece

Planning the Story Board
I started storyboarding the narrative/visual flow of the film, before doing the same thing in Premier Pro as seen below.
Problem Solving

What I struggled with most was working out how to track the "camera" across the photographs. After failing to work out Adobe After Effects, I tried filming with my camera again. Unsatisfied with this method due to the time it took and lack of detail, I decided to screen record my phone as I zoomed in and around the photos. On the screen recording app I used you could see the button in the recording, so I had to crop this out on every video. Below are the video tests I did on my camera, as well as the first screen recording I did before it was cropped (as an example).

Final Video - Before Sound Design

This is the final outcome once I had recorded all of the photo movements and replaced the still images with the moving ones on Premier Pro. I was considering making the whole film black and white, or edited to match the colours exactly, but I decided not too due to the amount of time that would take and how it wouldn't necessarily add anything to the piece.

Evaluation of Final Visual Outcome (No Sound)

Sound Design

Making My Sound

With my sound, I had the idea to record someone humming and slow it down to create an ambient backing sound. I wanted to use the sound of the camera shutter for transitions, as well as to link to the media of minute photography. On my camera I recorded a video so I could keep refocusing the camera, due to the shutter being so close to the camera's microphone, it picked up all of the shutter sounds as intended. Below is the video I used for all of my sound design. I ended up using the idea of altering the speed to create layers of shutter sound over my video.

Changing the Speed of the Audio

Below are the three soundtracks I created. For the final outcome I used all of these layers combined. I wanted to layer the sounds over each other to attempt to resemble echoing sounds of space. For these audio clips, I did not play around too much with the positioning of the sounds. I found that some coincidentally lined up with the transitions, and others created background ambience. When layering the sounds over each other, I moved the clips slightly so that they wouldn't all line up and play all of the audio at the same time.

Outcome Version With Sound

Evaluation and Improvement

This is my evaluation for the final film in the version seen above. As highlighted in yellow, I had one change that I realised I wanted to make before solidifying the film as my final outcome.

This is my evaluation for my final outcome. The only difference between this version and the final one is the one clip that I flipped upside-down to match the flow of the camera better. The absolute final version can be found below.

final outcome

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bibliography

Autograph and De’Souza-Hartley, O. (2021). Othello De’Souza-Hartley: Blind, but I can See (2020). [online] Vimeo. Available at: https://vimeo.com/516208455 [Accessed 12 Dec. 2022].

Cineburo (2018). ECOS | Oda al Silencio. [online] Vimeo. Available at: https://vimeo.com/273571769 [Accessed 14 Dec. 2022].

De’Souza-Hartley, O. (2020). Othello De’Souza-Hartley on Instagram: ‘Catalogue of Emotions Artist talk with the curator. @eduardos_aesthic Tuesday 20th 6-7pm. @the_koppel_project. 193 Picadilly (Opposite The Royal Academy) Link in bio’. [online] Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGcFzMrF1dP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link [Accessed 12 Dec. 2022].

Hodway, J. (2022). The Germanic Doctor, 1994 – JOE HODWAY. [online] joehodway.com. Available at: https://joehodway.com/artwork/the-germanic-doctor/ [Accessed 15 Dec. 2022].

Nasa (2022). NASA on Instagram: "Our intergalactic neighbor’s light display. 🕯 This image from our @nasahubble Space Telescope captures a small portion of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), one of the Milky Way’s nearest neighbors, lying only about 200,000 light-years from Earth. It makes a pair with the Large Magellanic Cloud, and both objects are best seen from the Southern Hemisphere, but are visible from some northern latitudes as well. The Small Magellanic Cloud contains hundreds of millions of stars, but this image focuses on just a small fraction of them. These stars comprise the open cluster NGC 376, which has a total mass only about 3,400 times that of the Sun. Open clusters, as the name suggests, are loosely bound and sparsely populated. This distinguishes open clusters from globular clusters, which generally appear as a continuous blur of …. [online] Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/CmotyETM_Ua/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link [Accessed 6 Jan. 2023].

Nasahubble (2022a). Hubble Space Telescope on Instagram: "#HappyHolidays from Hubble! Here’s a festive sonification of RS Puppis, a glittering star 200 times larger than our Sun and wreathed with dust reflecting starlight. Located about 6,500 light-years away, this star rhythmically brightens and dims over a six-week cycle. In this sonification, scientists represent data in the image as sound for a new way of experiencing RS Puppis. Pitch is assigned based on direction from the center; as the circle travels inward, points at the top of the circle are mapped to higher notes and points near the bottom are mapped to lower notes. Light toward the left is heard more in the left speaker and light toward the right is heard more in the right speaker. Additionally, brightness in the image is mapped to louder volume. Sonification credit: @SYSTEMSounds (M. Russo, A. S…. [online] Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmebzGUhpSW/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link [Accessed 6 Jan. 2023].

Nasahubble (2022b). Hubble Space Telescope on Instagram: "#StarrySights & starry sounds! This is a data sonification of the star cluster Caldwell 73. Scientists assigned sounds to different aspects of the image for a new way of experiencing the information in it! As the radar scans around in this sonification, the radius of the stars is mapped to pitch, so stars farther from the center are higher pitched. The entire image is converted to the sound of a choir, while the orange and red stars are represented by a marimba, and the blue stars are represented by a glockenspiel. Caldwell 73 is a globular cluster located 40,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Columba. A globular cluster is a spherical group of stars that are gravitationally bound to each other, with most of the stars concentrated at the cluster’s center. Sonification credit: SYSTEM Soun…. [online] Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CltgXj2LZVq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link [Accessed 6 Jan. 2023].

Nasahubble (2023). Hubble Space Telescope on Instagram: "Within galaxy clusters, some stars lurk among the galaxies on their own, giving off a ghostly haze of light. In these Hubble images, the blue color is added to represent Hubble data that captured a phenomenon called intracluster light, which is an extremely faint glow that traces a distribution of light from these wandering stars. Billions of years ago these stars were shed from their parent galaxies and now drift through intergalactic space. Find out more at the link in our bio! Image description: These two images show several galaxies against a black backdrop of space, each appearing in hues of orange, white, or yellow. Near the center, a gathering of blue light represents Hubble data that captured a phenomenon called intracluster light, which is an extremely faint glow that traces a distribution o…. [online] Instagram. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm_-v9WtDc7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link [Accessed 6 Jan. 2023].

NOWNESS (2020). Across The Sun. [online] Vimeo. Available at: https://vimeo.com/466104261 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2022].

Wadsworth Atheneum (2011). Bill Viola, ‘Ascension’ (two-minute clip). Vimeo. Available at: https://vimeo.com/29978729 [Accessed 14 Dec. 2022].

Appreciate

Credits:

Created with an image by srckomkrit - "green wall"