Berto89. 2008. Discografia completisima de AC/ DC. 1974 High Voltage (Versión australiana). http://new.taringa.net/posts/downloads/1249659/Discografia-completisima-de--AC_-DC.html cited 22nd October, 2008.
Dagon. 2006. Projeto Democratização da Leitura. Apenas pros rockeiros do PDL. http://www.portaldetonando.com.br/forum/apenas-pros-rockeiros-do-pdl--t5876.html cited 22nd October, 2008.
Kent, D and Khalfon, S (Program Creators). December, 2000. Nul Part Ailleurs [Television broadcast]. Paris: Canal+.
LeBrune. 2008. Stormfront. New AC/DC video "Rock N Roll Train". http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?p=5887414 cited 22nd October, 2008.
Nightvizionz. 2008. Photobucket. Fire Devil Horns. http://media.photobucket.com/image/devil%20horns%20fire/nightvizionz/devil-horns-fire.gif?o=2 cited 22nd October, 2008.
Noel. 2007. Picasa Web Albums. Typical Aussie Pub In Port Adelaide. http://picasaweb.google.com/calnanoliver/Xmas07#5151147114766584930 cited 24th October, 2008.
Unknown Author. 2002. Muddy Murphy’s. Function Info & Booking. http://www.muddymurphys.com/mmc_function.htm cited 24th October, 2008.
Unknown Author. 2005. Free Computer Wallpapers. AC/DC. http://www.free-computer-wallpapers.com/pictures/Rock-wallpaper/acdc_pictures_1024 cited 22nd October, 2008.
Unknown Author. 2007. HD Rock. Powerage. http://hd_rock.bloger.hr/post/powerage/171353.aspx cited 22nd October, 2008.
Unknown Author. 2008. Metal Music Video. AC DC – Highway To Hell. http://pagodametal.com/ac-dc-highway-to-hell/ cited 22nd October, 2008.
Unknown Author. 2008. Trinity Hall. Failte And Welcome!. http://www.trinityhall.tv/ cited 24th October, 2008.
Unknown Author. Unknown Date. IMP Awards. I Am a Groupie (1970). http://www.impawards.com/1970/i_am_a_groupie.html cited 28th October, 2008.
Virus45. 2006. VIP Blog. Highway To Paradise. http://virus.vip-blog.com/vip/rubrique/983_45.html cited 22nd October, 2008.
Zazafromjohor. 2008. Smuggled Sounds. AC/DC – Alternating Current. http://live-bootleg.blogspot.com/2008/01/acdc-alternating-current.html cited 22nd October, 2008.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Assignment 3, After Effects Techniques
While creating the music video for ACDC’s ‘T.N.T’, I used various techniques in Adobe After Effects. These techniques included use of layers, audio placement, camera and image movements, opacity (for fading), image scaling, film grain effects, colour correction, gamma adjustments, lightning effects and the CC Light Burst 2.5 effect.
When using layers, placing audio into the composition and creating camera and image movements, I came across the same sorts of problems. I had to make sure all layers were in the correct order to ensure that nothing in the video was appearing over the top of other images and video when it shouldn’t be, etc. Camera and image movements were much of the same with ensuring they all came at the correct time and were positioned correctly. They were also very important as, for example, getting the lightning bolts that shoot out of the guitarists’ hands as they play needed to be positioned and animated correctly for it to give its desired effect. A large job was ensuring that the audio and video of the composition lined up correctly. This was difficult as the audio was off a studio recorded track and the video was of a live version of that recorded track. This caused different timing between the two as no band can perfectly recreate a recorded song live. I lined these up as best I could, but, in some areas, there are still problems with this as some places were pushed back out of synchronisation when the final composition was compressed.
When going between the live performance and the cartoon scenes of the music video, opacity controls were used the fade these scenes in and out of each other. This created a much smoother transition between the different scenes of the video.
Film grain, colour correction and gamma adjustment techniques were used throughout different areas of the music video to give the video its mood and style. Without using these effects, areas of the video would be lacking some of the ACDC old school rock ‘n’ roll feeling.
Lightning and CC light burst 2.5 effects were used in many areas of the video to give it its style and impact. In scenes with heavier guitar riffs, lightning effects were used on the band members to emphasise the power of the band’s performance. These effects were also used in some cartoon scenes of the music video with the band appearing on screen and in one area when there is a sudden change of mood. This was also simply for impact value and keep the viewer entertained as well as display the mood of that area of the video.
When using layers, placing audio into the composition and creating camera and image movements, I came across the same sorts of problems. I had to make sure all layers were in the correct order to ensure that nothing in the video was appearing over the top of other images and video when it shouldn’t be, etc. Camera and image movements were much of the same with ensuring they all came at the correct time and were positioned correctly. They were also very important as, for example, getting the lightning bolts that shoot out of the guitarists’ hands as they play needed to be positioned and animated correctly for it to give its desired effect. A large job was ensuring that the audio and video of the composition lined up correctly. This was difficult as the audio was off a studio recorded track and the video was of a live version of that recorded track. This caused different timing between the two as no band can perfectly recreate a recorded song live. I lined these up as best I could, but, in some areas, there are still problems with this as some places were pushed back out of synchronisation when the final composition was compressed.
When going between the live performance and the cartoon scenes of the music video, opacity controls were used the fade these scenes in and out of each other. This created a much smoother transition between the different scenes of the video.
Film grain, colour correction and gamma adjustment techniques were used throughout different areas of the music video to give the video its mood and style. Without using these effects, areas of the video would be lacking some of the ACDC old school rock ‘n’ roll feeling.
Lightning and CC light burst 2.5 effects were used in many areas of the video to give it its style and impact. In scenes with heavier guitar riffs, lightning effects were used on the band members to emphasise the power of the band’s performance. These effects were also used in some cartoon scenes of the music video with the band appearing on screen and in one area when there is a sudden change of mood. This was also simply for impact value and keep the viewer entertained as well as display the mood of that area of the video.
Assignment 3, Reflection
I chose ‘T.N.T’ by ACDC for two reasons. The first reason is that ‘T.N.T’ is a song which I have always enjoyed listening to. Dubbed the forefathers of hard rock and heavy metal, they are an influence to many of the musicians I frequently listen to and so I have a deep respect for them. Also, more thoughts for a possible music video came to mind when listening to this song than what did when I listened to the other songs available for this assignment. As a style of music I am quite familiar with, it was obvious to me what sort of music video a band such as ACDC would want as a client. Because of these two factors, I was very driven towards creating a music video for ‘T.N.T’ .
The identity I chose for this music video revolves very much around the “rock ‘n’ roll” lifestyle. This lifestyle is one involving constantly playing gigs and partying, or “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll” as many musicians have put it. The audience of bands such as ACDC are also very much, at least, interested in this lifestyle. With this in mind, my final decision was to use this identity for the music video. This then resulted in the music video transitioning between ACDC playing a live show and screwing around at a pub.
Portraying an identity such as this one, I set a primary target audience for males in their mid teens to mid twenties. This is because it is this age group that often looks up to rock stars such as ACDC and fantasise or dream about a life such as theirs. With the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle being supportive of mischief, mayhem, women and partying, and these audiences being at the age in which they seek some sort of rebellion, the two go hand in hand. Also, a secondary audience of males in their forties and fifties is aimed at. This is because it is people in this age group that grew up with ACDC (and the song ‘T.N.T’) topping the charts. As many males of this age are likely to still listen to ACDC as they may have when they were younger, it is vital to keep them interested in the band. The music video consists of much of ACDC’s classic style and identity and so hopefully it will keep an appeal with this secondary audience.
Many of ACDC’s music videos consist mostly of themselves performing the song, occasionally with some sort of other narrative between. Also, many of their music videos involve very dark (sometime greyscale) colours, even music videos from the post-black and white television era. Also, ‘T.N.T’ is itself, quite an old song, coming out from the 1970s. Because of these factors, I believed it would be a good idea to keep ACDC’s darkened colours within the live performance areas of the music video, even with some film grain and greyscale colouring to give a vintage type of feeling to the video. Colourful lightning bolts from some of ACDC’s band logos also appear within these scenes, in tune with the instruments in focus on the screen. This was done to give the live footage sequences a more unique feel to other ACDC music videos and also to emphasise the beat and rhythm of the song.
Also, due to it being more modern time and needing to capture the attention of the current musical market, while still keeping ACDC’s own style alive, scenes involving the band partying it up in a pub were done with a very cartoonish style. These cartoonish depictions of the band members having a good time are very effective as, with cartoons being a popular medium at this present time, and mixed with live footage of the band, they catch viewers’ attention. To keep in synch with this cartoony style, the actions of the band members within these scenes is quite comical, while, at the same time, depicting a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.
I used a few different symbols within the music video to assist in giving the message of the video across to it viewers. The symbols first visible in the composition are the various lightning bolts that come out of the instruments used by the band members in the live performance areas of the video. These lightning bolts are there to give emphasis on the beats and rhythm of the song, and to give a feeling of the power in ACDC performances with their loud, fierce guitar riffs, drumming and vocals.
Other symbols of the music video are all included within the cartoony, static areas of the video. These symbols include the bar environment, beer bottles, women and drunken or passed out members of the band. All of these symbols are there to represent the “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll” lifestyle mentioned earlier, that is, a life of non-stop fun and mischief.
As well as these symbols in the cartoons sequences of the music video, there is one other symbol involving the, at first seemingly surly, mad, muscle bound psychopath who ends up just wanting an autograph from Brian Johnson (the lead singer). This is a symbol of ACDCs devotion to and love for their fans, all finally depicted with the huge, muscle bound man partying it up with all of the members of ACDC.
I only really have one particular problem with my final composition. This is that some areas of the live performance footage of ACDC seem a bit bland. This is because in some of these areas, I wasn’t sure what techniques I could use to make them as interesting as the other edited parts of the live performance. The lightning effects and such I had used on other live performance parts of the music video, in my opinion, worked quite well, but didn’t suit some of these other areas which mainly consisted of a camera focus on Brian Johnson (the lead singer). As he didn’t make too many big body movements of anything of that kind, I wasn’t sure how to enhance these areas with any sorts of effects. If I had more time to work on this problem I believe I would have been able to resolve it with something.
The identity I chose for this music video revolves very much around the “rock ‘n’ roll” lifestyle. This lifestyle is one involving constantly playing gigs and partying, or “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll” as many musicians have put it. The audience of bands such as ACDC are also very much, at least, interested in this lifestyle. With this in mind, my final decision was to use this identity for the music video. This then resulted in the music video transitioning between ACDC playing a live show and screwing around at a pub.
Portraying an identity such as this one, I set a primary target audience for males in their mid teens to mid twenties. This is because it is this age group that often looks up to rock stars such as ACDC and fantasise or dream about a life such as theirs. With the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle being supportive of mischief, mayhem, women and partying, and these audiences being at the age in which they seek some sort of rebellion, the two go hand in hand. Also, a secondary audience of males in their forties and fifties is aimed at. This is because it is people in this age group that grew up with ACDC (and the song ‘T.N.T’) topping the charts. As many males of this age are likely to still listen to ACDC as they may have when they were younger, it is vital to keep them interested in the band. The music video consists of much of ACDC’s classic style and identity and so hopefully it will keep an appeal with this secondary audience.
Many of ACDC’s music videos consist mostly of themselves performing the song, occasionally with some sort of other narrative between. Also, many of their music videos involve very dark (sometime greyscale) colours, even music videos from the post-black and white television era. Also, ‘T.N.T’ is itself, quite an old song, coming out from the 1970s. Because of these factors, I believed it would be a good idea to keep ACDC’s darkened colours within the live performance areas of the music video, even with some film grain and greyscale colouring to give a vintage type of feeling to the video. Colourful lightning bolts from some of ACDC’s band logos also appear within these scenes, in tune with the instruments in focus on the screen. This was done to give the live footage sequences a more unique feel to other ACDC music videos and also to emphasise the beat and rhythm of the song.
Also, due to it being more modern time and needing to capture the attention of the current musical market, while still keeping ACDC’s own style alive, scenes involving the band partying it up in a pub were done with a very cartoonish style. These cartoonish depictions of the band members having a good time are very effective as, with cartoons being a popular medium at this present time, and mixed with live footage of the band, they catch viewers’ attention. To keep in synch with this cartoony style, the actions of the band members within these scenes is quite comical, while, at the same time, depicting a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.
I used a few different symbols within the music video to assist in giving the message of the video across to it viewers. The symbols first visible in the composition are the various lightning bolts that come out of the instruments used by the band members in the live performance areas of the video. These lightning bolts are there to give emphasis on the beats and rhythm of the song, and to give a feeling of the power in ACDC performances with their loud, fierce guitar riffs, drumming and vocals.
Other symbols of the music video are all included within the cartoony, static areas of the video. These symbols include the bar environment, beer bottles, women and drunken or passed out members of the band. All of these symbols are there to represent the “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll” lifestyle mentioned earlier, that is, a life of non-stop fun and mischief.
As well as these symbols in the cartoons sequences of the music video, there is one other symbol involving the, at first seemingly surly, mad, muscle bound psychopath who ends up just wanting an autograph from Brian Johnson (the lead singer). This is a symbol of ACDCs devotion to and love for their fans, all finally depicted with the huge, muscle bound man partying it up with all of the members of ACDC.
I only really have one particular problem with my final composition. This is that some areas of the live performance footage of ACDC seem a bit bland. This is because in some of these areas, I wasn’t sure what techniques I could use to make them as interesting as the other edited parts of the live performance. The lightning effects and such I had used on other live performance parts of the music video, in my opinion, worked quite well, but didn’t suit some of these other areas which mainly consisted of a camera focus on Brian Johnson (the lead singer). As he didn’t make too many big body movements of anything of that kind, I wasn’t sure how to enhance these areas with any sorts of effects. If I had more time to work on this problem I believe I would have been able to resolve it with something.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Workshop Activity: Week 9
During this week’s tutorial, a two part activity was undertaken under the topic of physical graffiti. The first part of the activity consisted of stylising and adjusting an image in the hopes of giving it a much darker and more sinister tone. My original image was of a bald man growling with a quite menacing face. Within Adobe Photoshop, I used colour saturation and curve effects to alter the image into a more ‘Sin City’-like appearance (majorly made up of black and white tones). To set some sort of scene within the image I also added a pistol (held up against the man’s face) and a speech bubble proclaiming “KILL ME!”. I believe I made a decent effort to give the image a dark and sinister tone, but there is one problem, which seems to take some of the wanted effect from the image. It was suggested that the amount of grey within the image be decreased as much as possible as to give the image a complete ‘Sin City’ feel. My image still consists of some grey areas which do slightly throw it off balance. When I attempted to completely rid the image of these grey areas, there didn’t seem to be enough communication between different areas of the image, particularly on the man’s face. By this I mean that many areas of his face blended straight into the blacks and whites of the background and surrounding areas of the face. This made it hard to make out what was in the picture and so I was forced to keep some of the greys in the image to allow the image to be more distinguishable. With more exploration of this area of image editing, I hope that I will be able to find ways of fixing these types of problems in the future.
The second part of the activity involved creating a temporal composition showing three pieces of graffiti being revealed by animating masks. My composition involved just this with a concrete wall in the background in which the three pieces of graffiti appear. The three pieces of graffiti I used consisted of a cartoonish character, a detailed tag and a stencil depicting Donald Duck as Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’. I chose these images of graffiti because I believe them to be some pretty distinguishable styles of graffiti, all known to be found around the place on buildings, etc. These images, one following the other, all appear through masks and with opacity and, the third image, dissolve effects. My plan was to use these effects to create the illusion of the images being sprayed onto the wall (but much more quickly than in reality). This plan didn’t exactly succeed as I didn’t really achieve this illusion too well. As I hadn’t used masks in Adobe After Effects before, I wasn’t exactly sure how to used them, but got the basic idea of it after a little while. With the help of some tutorial videos and some more practice and experimentation, I should be able to improve my skills in making these effects.
References:
All of these sources were gathered from www.creativecommons.org under Google settings.
Ophir Kra-Oz. 2008. Wordpress. Where In The World Are The Great User Interface Developers? - Part I. http://ophir.wordpress.com/2008/01/ cited 25thSeptember, 2008.
David Wooding. 2008. The Sun. Knife And Gun Crime Worsening. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1316975.ece cited 25th September, 2008.
kirstypargeter. 2008. iStockphoto. Stock Vector: Blood Splatter Background. http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/health_and_beauty/medical_concepts/blood/1316538_blood_splatter_background.php?id=1316538 cited 25th September, 2008.
sascha Herfort. Unknown Date. Harefort. Worn Concrete Wall. www.harefort.com/portfolio.htm cited 25th September, 2008.
Fun Fever. 2008. Fun Fever. Modern Graffiti Art. http://funfever.blogspot.com/2008/02/modern-graffiti-art.html cited 25th September, 2008.
Anarchosyn. 2008. Flickr. Dusty Duster LosAngeles Graffiti Art. flickr.com/photos/24293932@N00/2311477224/ cited 25th September, 2008.
Cristian Kit Paul. 2007. Kit - Blog. Romania / Cultural Statements. kitblog.com/2007/07/cultural_statements.html cited 25th September, 2008.
The second part of the activity involved creating a temporal composition showing three pieces of graffiti being revealed by animating masks. My composition involved just this with a concrete wall in the background in which the three pieces of graffiti appear. The three pieces of graffiti I used consisted of a cartoonish character, a detailed tag and a stencil depicting Donald Duck as Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’. I chose these images of graffiti because I believe them to be some pretty distinguishable styles of graffiti, all known to be found around the place on buildings, etc. These images, one following the other, all appear through masks and with opacity and, the third image, dissolve effects. My plan was to use these effects to create the illusion of the images being sprayed onto the wall (but much more quickly than in reality). This plan didn’t exactly succeed as I didn’t really achieve this illusion too well. As I hadn’t used masks in Adobe After Effects before, I wasn’t exactly sure how to used them, but got the basic idea of it after a little while. With the help of some tutorial videos and some more practice and experimentation, I should be able to improve my skills in making these effects.
References:
All of these sources were gathered from www.creativecommons.org under Google settings.
Ophir Kra-Oz. 2008. Wordpress. Where In The World Are The Great User Interface Developers? - Part I. http://ophir.wordpress.com/2008/01/ cited 25thSeptember, 2008.
David Wooding. 2008. The Sun. Knife And Gun Crime Worsening. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1316975.ece cited 25th September, 2008.
kirstypargeter. 2008. iStockphoto. Stock Vector: Blood Splatter Background. http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/health_and_beauty/medical_concepts/blood/1316538_blood_splatter_background.php?id=1316538 cited 25th September, 2008.
sascha Herfort. Unknown Date. Harefort. Worn Concrete Wall. www.harefort.com/portfolio.htm cited 25th September, 2008.
Fun Fever. 2008. Fun Fever. Modern Graffiti Art. http://funfever.blogspot.com/2008/02/modern-graffiti-art.html cited 25th September, 2008.
Anarchosyn. 2008. Flickr. Dusty Duster LosAngeles Graffiti Art. flickr.com/photos/24293932@N00/2311477224/ cited 25th September, 2008.
Cristian Kit Paul. 2007. Kit - Blog. Romania / Cultural Statements. kitblog.com/2007/07/cultural_statements.html cited 25th September, 2008.
Workshop Activity: Week 6
This week’s activity involved creating a temporal and special composition involving a 20 second advertisement for a major retailer’s television campaign. It was emphasised in the activity’s outline that this advertisement was to be crazy and so I used a few different techniques to create this experience. When thinking of the word ‘crazy’, for some odd reason, the first thing, or person I should say, that came to mind was Charles Manson (a convicted serial killer and cult leader). So, to give the composition a ‘crazy’ feel, I used a well-known image of Charles Manson as a sort of mascot for it. When the name of the major retailer’s company is to appear on the screen at the beginning of the composition, it enters flying and spinning vigorously around the screen, before setting into the top corner of the screen for Charles Manson to appear. Charles Manson then appears on screen and belches out the retailer’s slogan, “It’s price MADDNESS!” The products the retailer has to offer than fly onto the screen, colliding with each other on the way, with their respective prices slamming onto the screen, effectively displaying to viewers the prices and how madly low they are. The composition then ends with Chares Manson reappearing and demanding that the viewer purchase the products.
I, once again, used this activity to experiment with some of the techniques Adobe After Effects has to offer. I focused on use of the Rotation effect and sifted through many of the effects available under the effects tab of the program. Though, in the end, I only used Ripple and Compound Blur effects in a couple of areas of the composition, I went through many of their neighbouring effects to see what can be done with different types of effects and which of them I found effective and easy to utilise. I do, however, feel that some of this advertisement is lacking in ‘craziness’. I believe this was due to my lack of knowledge on some of the effects available. The Shatter effect was which seemed as though it was a suiting effect to the activity, but I was unable to comprehend how exactly to utilise it and I believe my advertisement may have suffered somewhat due to this (and some other effects). Also, it had a lack of colour, and use of various bright colours is always a good accomplice to craziness, which I think I should have utilised. One other problem was some of the timing in the video. Some of the products are on screen longer than others. This makes the video seem a bit unbalanced, but is an easy problem to fix. Hopefully, in the future, I will be able to gain knowledge of the areas of After Effects unknown to me and aesthetic elements to create a better piece.
References:
All of these sources were gathered from www.creativecommons.org under Google settings.
Unknown Author. Unknown Date. Whale. Charles Manson. www.whale.to/b/manson.html cited 28th August, 2008.
Unknown Author. 2008. DIYTrade. Hair Dryer. http://www.diytrade.com/china/4/products/2652784/HAIR_DRYER.html cited 28th August, 2008.
Marelons. 2008. Toribash Forums. U Want Toaster Like This?. forum.toribash.com/showthread.php?t=44605 cited 28th August, 2008.
Unknown Author. Unknown Date. As Seen On TV. Ultimate Chopper Blender. http://www.seenontvproducts.net/ultimatechopperblender/index.html cited 28th August, 2008.
I, once again, used this activity to experiment with some of the techniques Adobe After Effects has to offer. I focused on use of the Rotation effect and sifted through many of the effects available under the effects tab of the program. Though, in the end, I only used Ripple and Compound Blur effects in a couple of areas of the composition, I went through many of their neighbouring effects to see what can be done with different types of effects and which of them I found effective and easy to utilise. I do, however, feel that some of this advertisement is lacking in ‘craziness’. I believe this was due to my lack of knowledge on some of the effects available. The Shatter effect was which seemed as though it was a suiting effect to the activity, but I was unable to comprehend how exactly to utilise it and I believe my advertisement may have suffered somewhat due to this (and some other effects). Also, it had a lack of colour, and use of various bright colours is always a good accomplice to craziness, which I think I should have utilised. One other problem was some of the timing in the video. Some of the products are on screen longer than others. This makes the video seem a bit unbalanced, but is an easy problem to fix. Hopefully, in the future, I will be able to gain knowledge of the areas of After Effects unknown to me and aesthetic elements to create a better piece.
References:
All of these sources were gathered from www.creativecommons.org under Google settings.
Unknown Author. Unknown Date. Whale. Charles Manson. www.whale.to/b/manson.html cited 28th August, 2008.
Unknown Author. 2008. DIYTrade. Hair Dryer. http://www.diytrade.com/china/4/products/2652784/HAIR_DRYER.html cited 28th August, 2008.
Marelons. 2008. Toribash Forums. U Want Toaster Like This?. forum.toribash.com/showthread.php?t=44605 cited 28th August, 2008.
Unknown Author. Unknown Date. As Seen On TV. Ultimate Chopper Blender. http://www.seenontvproducts.net/ultimatechopperblender/index.html cited 28th August, 2008.
Workshop Activity: Week 3
A thirty second composition was developed over these two weeks, exploring the temporal and spatial relationships between 2D text and digital audio. My composition included lyrics of the provided dialogue animating onto the screen, each word appearing on screen in time with the dialogue. As the dialogue included extremely fast talking and some long and difficult words, it was very confusing for the listener to comprehend what the voice was going on about. My composition reflected this with the voice’s words flying onto the screen and piling up on top of one another, with each new word having a different colour to the word’s preceding it. With this mass of words and colour on the screen, it is hard for the viewer to understand what is going on, putting emphasis on the dialogue’s effect on people. In some areas of the composition, where the voice really emphasises a word or phrase, I placed in an effect onto the mass of text on the screen, such as it fading away or dissolving. This was to display, to the viewer, the emphasis the dialogue is putting on that particular word or phrase. I also did this is an experiment, to see what kinds of effects I can place into animations on Adobe After Effects. The only problems I had involved my lack of experience on how to use the various effects available to their fullest extent. Because of this, some areas of the video seem to be lacking in impact. As I am still coming to grips with the uses of After Effects, this was a great way for me to explore the different ways to manipulate objects on the screen. Hopefully, after some further experimentation with the program, I will be able to develop more refined skills to improve videos like these in which I create.
Workshop Activity: Week 2
This week I created a spatial montage using Adobe Photoshop. This spatial montage was created by editing five different pictures together within the same space. My spatial montage consisted of some various building ceilings, a clear elevator in the background, all of which look as though they are, in a way, weaved together. Any open, white spaces within this pattern were filled in with a black and red striped sequence from another one of the provided images. In the foreground I placed a cartoonish, red-faced man and put a suit from another one of the images over him. I positioned him to the side so that the background’s pattern is not obscured, giving the image some sort of balance. Part of the activity was to experiment with layers, which was an integral part of making this finished product work. For the objects in the background to make the pattern in which they have, I had to be careful which parts were in what layer and that each of these layers was ordered correctly. It was the same for the man in the foreground; without the use of layers this would have been very difficult. The final image does not really have a message to be conveyed as I really only threw it together quickly to experiment with the basics of Adobe Photoshop, but I’m sure there’d be someone out there who could derive some sort of message from it. Also, this image could be further developed as there are some obvious mistakes which I made and didn’t correct. If I were to correct these mistakes, the picture will have better quality and may be able to have better impact on those who view it.
References:
Kastanis, L. 2008. QUT Blackboard. Week 2 Tutorial Files. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_35506_1 cited 31st July, 2008.
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