Author: saravipond

Split screen Project

https://youtube.com/KgpMX7ZIrdA

Stop motion Project

Tech Ex 08 motion graphics

Motion graphics Mini project

The two of the main motion graphics were an interesting side projecting to complete as after effects is a program that’s completely new to me. However the almost 2 hour video was a slog to get through and the video does not have fine scrubbing so when I missed something I would have to watch 10-20 seconds to get to the part I missed. The 3rd hello effect would not work no matter how many times I tried.

Part One: Forest of Weightlessness

The scene begins with a shot of a forest pond that is a mixture of real sticks and grass and modeling clay. Serene yet discordant music sets the ominous but beautiful scene as a familiar uncanny clay humanoid figure drifts ever slowly towards the pond. Suddenly clay hands begin to form from pond and reach outwards towards the humanoid figure as the scene comes to a sudden close as the music segways into the next segment.

Part Two: Baptism by Blood

This new scene opens to a similar but drastically different setting; we are greeted to a forest now demented and completely unrecognizable. The trees have been replaced by uncanny and alien looking trees shaped like lungs, the pond is now an ocean of blood and among the lung trees we can spot a returning character barely visible as a lung tree sprouts from its chest. An ominous figure with tentacle like protrusions sprouting from its face comes into the scene, it appears to be some sort of otherworldly priest. The priest is followed by the clay humanoid from part one as it is hauled into the ocean of blood like a baptism. The scene concludes as the figure fades into the ocean of blood.

Independent project Rough edit

https://youtu.be/IDxOrbDvbq0

Note wordpress would not let me embed this video for some reason

Final Edit

Independent Reflection

For me this course was a large learning curve to overcome having to understand the basic elements of premiere pro and how to properly navigate it as well as learning to have patience with the program as it would soft crash every now and then. Despite my issues I was able to grind through and fully understand each effect and the intricacies of them. The most troubling effect to understand was the ultra key as the blue screen made keying the forest foreground difficult as it would key the wrong shades as it did not shade well. Once my ultra key issue was solved, I encounter another bug this time clicking export would do nothing and I would have to click the export tab. The last bug that I encountered a lot was Premiere pro completely breaking and disconnecting my displays as well as any audio that was playing, the issue would persist for 10 seconds before returning to normal. The second and most annoying part of the glitch is that the video preview window would break and be unusable. Project wise I found using Stop motion studio to be interesting but quite limited: I would have like if it could change the speed independent from frames as I want to use 30 fps but not have it sped up. Another area which impacted my process slightly is the previous frame overlay where you could have the last frame transparent over the current video was quite finicky in how it was just another window instead of being a clickable option from the main menu, if I wanted to delete a frame, I would have to click the screen twice sometimes moving the camera itself. The Clay itself was quite easy to form but I found it difficult to make smaller objects as the clay would not hold itself up which was vital for making my proposed lung tree as making accurate bronchioles would take a larger scale which I don’t have the space for. My final grievance/learning hurdle was making each clay model be able to stand at all which is why I chose to green screen most of everything saving me the time to make each clay model structural. Overall, I will continue to do more Claymation and work on my editing skills and as well as ways I can perfect the art of clay and how I choose to express my ideas through it.

Tech Ex 01

This was a weird but interesting first tech exercise. Nothing too intricate nor too complicated for an intro tech ex.

Tech Ex 02 Green Screen edit

I made the mistake of choosing to do my green screen project first which would have benefited me greatly int terms of fixing the issues with my green screen

Tech ex 03 sound edit

This was the most simple tech exercise, not too much too say other than it felt familiar

This was my favorite tech exercise in terms of uniqueness of the teqnique’s shown. I also did my split screen project before doing this tech ex.

Tech Ex 05

While doing my green screen project i tried to use a mask to get rid of my body leaving only my head and neck. I did not realize that i had to press the play button to have it rendered.

Mini Project 1 Green Screen

I wish i had done the masking and green screen tech ex’s so that i would have better understood the fundamental’s. Still this project taught me the basics of green screen and how to fine tune it.

Image Sequence

Image Sequence Analysis

Colour Palette:

The Colour palette for this sequence includes hues of light blue, dark blue, light and dark green as well as soft brown and black. This colour sequence beckons the vibrance and serenity of nature; the eloquent changes in colour and intensity in the hues almost reflect how nature can go from calm and serene to viscous and violent in the blink of an eye.

Negative Space:

The concept of negative space is highly insinuated by the 5th picture: The emptiness of the white null background to the dark shadows of the left pillar and the white and black void of the reflection in the water.

Depth:

The sense of scale and depth is highlighted greatly by image 3 in the sequence. The viewers eye follows logging roads that zig zag across the shadowed area that then climbs the mountainous hill that showcases the awe-inspiring summit of Victoria Peak.

Focal Point:

The focal point in image 2 is important for the rest of the sequence as it serves as a focal point for the other six images. The way the wave rises and falls almost mimics the motion of image 3, the ripples and wakes in the wave add texture to the focal point at the center which fades and falls into the next picture in the sequence

This Exercise was interesting in the way we had to create certain types on compositions that could be thematic in the way we were to group each image then describe the the elements that each image showcases.

Video Project:

Video Project Proposal

Proposal 1 Decay

The shot opens with a slow-motion high angle shot of leaves falling gently then abruptly the scene is reversed and the leaves float up above the camera’s viewpoint. The next scene is in a narrow bathroom, the faucet is seen running left unattended; multiple angles of the running faucet are quickly cut to repeatedly as the light to the bathroom keeps flicking on and off to the rhythmic ticks of the clock on the wall. After a few seconds of this repetition the colour of the water pouring from the faucet changes to a blood red substance, the scene ends with more blood red substance dripping and pouring down into the faucet.

Proposal 2 Abandoned

A sequence of point of view shots showing normal everyday object being neglected and thrown into storage I.E., a fridge, outdoor freezer, a drawer, a toolbox or a laundry basket as well as being thrown away I.E., a recycling bin or a trash bin. The overall theme is to be a sympathetic take on the objects we use then discard, the idea of giving a point of view to simple objects the moment they are discarded and neglected never to be used again.

Video Project Plus reflection and Intent:

For this project I started by recording the sounds of the bathroom clock, I put my phone right onto the clock and recorded it for 17 minutes for the right sound level to use in the song. I then used the clock as a metronome to get the right rhythm that I could play an acoustic riff that I had been working on off and on again for the last few weeks of November. I more or less scrambled together ideas during the first snowstorm of this year which inspired the somber melancholic tone that the song conveys heavily. Once the main structure of the song was completed I then instead of using my synthesizer for background ambience I turned to an old friend of a program called Audacity. I used an odd effect called paulstretch which basically stretches out the audio from 2 minutes to 17 minutes, I then searched the 17 minutes for ambience that I would normally use a synthesizer for. Once I found an agreeable section to put over the song, and almost magically It matched the song and even highlighted some of the notes I was playing.

My reason to use such a somber acoustic style song was to describe the tragic passing of my Father who left this earth on April 28th 2021, he left by his own accord. It was about 11 am and I had just woken up to use the shower; upon exiting the bathroom I found my mother waiting for me, she had something important to tell me. Her words echoed through my mind and heart, “You’re Father committed suicide” Those words hit me like a ton of bricks. My knees gave away immediately as I fell to the floor, for 5 or so minutes I was in denial of everything until the weight of the situation finally hit me an I cried like I had never have before. For the first time in my 25 years the house seemed Empty and cold but more than ever before it was quiet.

For the Video I tried to express the emotions I felt that day, the falling of the leaves represents me as I fell to the floor. The constant ticking of the clock as it echoed out of the bathroom into my ears as I lay there. The repeated cuts to different angles of the same shot as it changes from red to blue; Anger to Sorrow, life to death. To end the video I used a picture of our houses camera’s, one of the had a loose connection which in the middle of night seemed ominous and foreboding. I then used an effect to morph the Video loss into just loss. This project was very cathartic as well therapeutic, I got to express an event in my life that change my path forever. I had fun using Premiere pro as I feel its more user friendly than Vegas Pro 14, for the majority my time using it I found that guides on youtube to be more insightful than Linked In( I did not enjoy the whole layout of LinkedIn). Overall I wish the time constraint on this project was more lenient (2-5 minutes)

Unit 2 Tech Exercises

TECH EX 01 Sound Edit Basics

Tech Ex Radio Call:

Soundscape : Ravens Rest

Soundscape 2: the odyssey

Unit 2: Memory in Motion

Intention:

I always yearned to get a really nice glass like long exposure shot of water, it took a few shots to get the hang of using long exposure times. My biggest struggle was getting the lighting down in some spots and the focus is really out of wack with the blackberry leaves, i do need to start cropping to eliviate the issue. My muse for this project was a quote from my favourite book: A River Runs Through It, the quote from the end of the book always spoke to me on a personal level “All things merge into one, and a river runs through it” then the quote from the final line are really powerfull; ” I am burdened by waters”. I find that memory is the one thing that is permient in the everlasting cascade of the water of time, that of which erodes all things, it is our memories and ruminations that makes us special. I often find myself reminiscing upon my 2024 trip to Japan, I brought a film camera along with me for the duration of the trip and found that taking photos helped engrain those moments further into my brain. I felt like i wanted to catpure that essance of remiscince through digital photography, there was an idea of using the postcards as a medium for memory within a photo

Week 5

This week i wanted to lock in my concept for unit two which i want to express the concept of memory which i express through the use of familiar objects to capture a sense of nostalgia through photographs, i had these post cards from a small seaside village that i wanted use a vessel to express the sense of nostalgia through photos of photos which was a rather meta concept.

Idea BrainStorm

Idea 1

Playing off the concept of a black hole from my video project from last unit, i plan on creating an animated black hole via blender. Ive tried to make a black hole before in blender, however the lighting and animation became broken due to me not following the tutorial correctly. Since i will have some time to work out the kinks i should be able to make it work after spending so much time within blender i have truy become acustomed to the ins and outs of the program.

Idea 2

This is the second easiest idea to pull off as i have done many renders of moving water withing blender. The main pull of this idea is the reflection of the water as is flows back and forth, the lighting engine within blender is the most difficult aspect of the program to learn as there is alot of nodes that need to be tweaked to get ones desired result. Making the water move is the easy part as you can take a flat plane and add a wave like animation to it to varrying degrees.

Idea 3

This is by far the easiest to do as i have played around with the terrain generator within blender to create a vast cannyon before. I plan on making a more jagged mountain range, making it more daunting and menancing compared to what i have had made before. This can be done within 1-2 days as the terrain generator is quite lenient with the paramaters you can play around with.

Project devolpment Phases:

Lab 04:

Infinity: Mobius Strip, the universe, metis flag

Error: computers making errors, keep correcting to get perfection, record skipping

imcompletness: wabi sabi: apreciating the imperfection and imcompleness, finished art piece but is not complete, cliffhangers, fairy tale troupe of happily ever after,

Subversive: subverting expectiations, attempt to weaken or destroy, sociatal structures

Example: Katniss was the face of the revolution trying to overthrow president snow and president coin was going to take over. Katniss wanted full peace and president coin wanted to create a symbolic hunger games by putting the capitals children in the area. Katniss in the last second chose to shoot president coin to stop this from happing. 

Stupidness: ignorance, lack of knowlage, lack of awareness

completness: contentness, being whole

not original: following cultural norms i.e : fashion and modernity, plagerism, copying copies, music sampling

Sampling bits of music from other songs has been around in the music buiness since 1996 with the song “The amen break” which sampled a 7 second drum sample from the song “amen brother” by the winstons

A famous example of plagerism is when the band cold play used a chord progression from the guitarist Joe Satriani song “if i could fly.

Guest Artist Reflection: Carey Newman:

Carey is an indigenous artist, carver, writer and filmmaker who works with jewellery, metal work, carvings, paintings and photography, his traditional name is Hayalthkin’geme. He started carving at the age of 5 and his first carving was that of a wooden car, he then fishished his first print by the age of 12. Jewelery helped to enchance his design style which got him into the world of sculpture, his earlier works helped to shape his current work as it made him wan’t to achieve a more contemporary style. After maturing as an artist he found that once he stopped caring about making money he found that he put more care into his works as well as improving the quality and ironically made him more money. He often uses Coast Salish concepts as a base for a theme for his works. There are 3 aspects he follows; respect the past, honor the present and responibility for the future. Awi’Nakola means to live in a respectful relationship with the land, air, water and spirit worlds and everything in them. Maya’Xala is respect for the for land, self an others, which ties in to the honor the present. A’axsila which means to care for one and another, this ties into a little bit of all three concepts. The works that stand out to me is as follows: The earth drums really impressed me as i really apreciate interactive works of art. I also found Mind, Body and Spirit to be visually jaw dropping as it almost blends into the acoustics perfectly like it was mean’t to be there. Finally i find convergance to be quite unerving on the first glance but grew to want to know more about how it works which gave this aura of mystacism to the work.

Artist research: Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1967, he then grew up in Iceland and now lives and works in Copenhagen and Berlin. Eliasson studied at the Royal Danish Academy of art in Copenhagen. Eliasson works primarily with installation art which all focus on the aspect of color. The piece “Tunnel for unfolding time” is a masterpiece of size as it is so large you can walk through the tunnel, the tunnel is lined with colored glass which gives a kaleidoscope style effect. These aspects make me want to go see this work in person, it makes me want to gaze at the colors and watch as they change as you move through the tunnel. The piece seems to be made out of steel as well as colored glass, black paint and magnets. This piece gives strong emotions of curiosity, mystery as well as a sense of anxiety. The piece makes me question about how the piece can be disassembled and reassembled through the use of magnets. I am so interested in how Eliasson plans out his incredible works especially the larger installation works like the Tunnel for unfolding time, it feels like it takes roughly two hours to assemble and disassemble which is crazy to think about. If I were to carry over one thing from Eliassons work it would be his profound use of color that makes his works so vividly awe inspiring.

https://olafureliasson.net/

https://art21.org/artist/olafur-eliasson/

Artist Statement: Dale Newman

Entropy Part 2:

For my piece i wanted to capture the feeling of inherit feeling of lonliness we get whenever we see a photo of space, the awe inspiring beuty of a galaxy or planet cast upon the vantablack canvus of space dotted with stars. Previously in another class i got to do a blender animation for my final project, this was great because i could learn a new program as well as scratch my incessant itch to create a serene vista among space. I also made a short 5 second loop of animated water with stars in the reflection, this serves as a starting point for the work as i always intended to do more with than just be water. The second step was to add terrain to it through the terrain generator to turn the scene into a vast planetscape within the blackness of space, however that wasn’t enough for me as i needed somthing to make the work sing as truly wanted to add a gargantuan black hole to the scene as if the planet was orbiting a black hole. This was the most difficult part as i had tried to animate a black hole before but the result was disapointing as i had missed some crucial part while watching a tutorial. Once i did the correct steps to get the black hole effect i was blown away by the power it held in the scene almost sucking you in through the ominous lure of its splender. I however was not yet satisfied as I felt that it needed one more detail and was very easy to achieve , to give the scene as sense of scale I generated a few planets through the planet genorator add on. I used my knowlege of animating an object along a path to simulate a planets orbit. With all the moving parts i stepped back in awe at how the black hole and planets were shown in the reflection of the water, it added an icredible sense of realism and detail to the scene.

I had to remove all the animations due to my computer not being powerful enough to render the movements of the planets,water and black hole in the hd rendering engine known as cycles. I believe that the black hole itself used so many shaders that it overpowered everything else, if i were to render the entire scene itself it would have taken 10 hours, which i didn’t have the time to do so. I settled with just having the black hole itself be the center of the piece and animated the camera to orbit around the black hole anchoring it to an invisible bezier circle. The newly scaled back scene rendered in roughly 1 and a half hours which was way more managable, i also looked up how to optimise the rendering process through tweaking settings and getting blender to use my graphics card to render instead of the cpu. If had the time to figure out how to proporly make the scene loop correctly i would have, but that would reqiure another hour and a half to fully render.