well. since i am heavily inspired on a day to day basis by the things around me, and i never stop learning about something or other, it is no wonder that my ideas for shorts morph over time. as i began compiling footage for my project, i realized that it was a little more than i am ready to tackle, in addition to being a little more than any one short needs. so, in the name of simplicity and subtlety, i more or less "re-wrote" my final project idea. although it is very stylistically similar to my original idea (sans the live green screened video and the VJ software, both too much trouble... ), it is more dream-oriented and more archetypal themed. it will be created using mainly after effects and photoshop, and include a lot of hand drawn/created material.
that said, here is the "story": (as typed exactly like my notes)
"is."
1) starts with blackness
- speck of light. gradually fade to outer-universe - big bang?
- expand and show the infinite nature of the universe.
- move to milky way, then solar system, then earth.
2) reverse stop-motion animation of ice cubes un-melting into continents.
3) chakra system
- lights begin at bottom, illuminating and resonating one by one. sounds of energy.
- once all 7 have been activated, they all light up and illuminate.
- the sky is growing darker, sounds of thunderstorms.
- an electric bolt of lightning strikes the system, and they all "wake up." the third eye opens and blinks a few times. consciousness has arrived.
4) human outline slowly appears - Vitruvian style.
- elemental trace thru of the major elements that we are made of as we fill up with blue water.
5) nature. when we are full, the water dissolves into matter particles, half white, half black (conscious and unconscious). they separate into sides like oil and water. the human figure is now half white, half black. the sun and moon separate from behind the head, the moon at 4 o'clock, and the sun at about 11, as the background changes into respective colors.
6) rotation. the sun and moon do a 540 degree rotation where-in you see the sun set, then rise, then set. the man figures arms begin rotating as clock hands. the body spins?
7) elemental design. - use of mattes. montage/collage-design.
- things humans are composed of: art, philosophy, literature, music, science, numbers, letters, shapes, colors, patterns, imagination, creativity, thought, etc...
- things of everything else: green and blue, spring summer fall winter, suntime and moontime
8) the end - the background fades. the foreground is composed of writing. it begins to fold inward on itself, arms and legs first, until it is a rectangle. then it begins to fold itself in half, and on the 8th fold, disappears into nothingness.
components that i need:
1) stock footage and pictures
2) blue and green food coloring; camera
3) chakra balls - hand created; lightning/clouds - stock or hand created; eye - hand created
4) vitruvian man - stock; elemental map - hand created on paper; blue water - filmed
5) matter particles - digitally created? or static/noise?; separation - digitally done; sun and moon - hand drawn/replicated
6) sunset/sunrise - stock footage/hand created?; clock hands - after effects
7) elemental design - hand drawn, stock footage, collage, etc...
8) writing - digitally created
so...
here are the components i need to find:
universe footage, clouds/lightning footage?, static, sunrise/sunset footage?, elemental design
here are the components i need to create:
chakra balls, eye opening, clouds/lightning?, elemental map, blue water footage, matter separation, sun and moon, elemental design, writing
and heres what i need to buy from the store:
blue and green food coloring
sparkles
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
final project: treatment, storyboards, and production schedule
treatment:
my final project is going to be a collage-style mash-up encompassing tons of different elements (both filmic and symbolic).
concerning production method, I plan on using as much mixed media as possible, including stop-motion animation, collage/paper cutouts, digital video, and VJ software, to achieve a highly textured feel. after effects, photoshop, final cut pro and modul8 will all be used, with an emphasis on after effects.
within the one minute time frame, there will be six different ten second segments that i work with before merging them all to flow smoothly together. these six segments will signify birth, the four elements/seasons, and death, respectively.
concerning visual style, there will be two major elements, the background and the foreground (at least for the four middle sections, the beginning and the end will deviate drastically). the use of luma and/or alpha mattes will be highly employed and create the main stylistic look of the film. the foreground will therefore function within (as a part of) and external to (independently from) the background, keeping mainly as a humanistic figure, but also encompassing the idea of oneness (as being other things, i.e. matter, particles, atoms, etc...) there is no narrative story, but rather a journey through time and space.
both elements, the foreground and the background, will go through different progressions, representative of the different aspects and factors of life and reality. the background will focus mainly on the external world, and address things such as the formation of the earth, the progression of the seasons (as the basic natural rhythm of life), the four major elements (sans ether), and then eventually death, in which there will be a convergence with the foreground element. the foreground "person" will be represented by imagery such as the emergence of the human form (evolution), the chakra system and the third eye (awakening of consciousness), universality (via DaVinci), dance, higher thought (logic and reasoning), tai chi and meditation, and finally a return to the buddah-state, in which only stillness and breath exist, as a return to the cosmic universe.
the soundtrack will also be a mash-up of music, sound effects, and possibly some dialogue, more or less all self-created.
it will [hopefully] be a journey throughout physical and meta-physical life, as explored through only one person's perspective and within a minute.
as always, this was torturous, since it is nearly impossible to use words to describe these images and ideas (hence being a filmmaker). because, keeping in suit, it will be as strange and disassociated as possible, and rather than being a listening, viewing and comprehending type of film, it will strive to be a thinking and feeling one.
storyboards:
(p.s. i suck at drawing)
production schedule:
week 1 march 23-30 finish brainstorming and creating design layout in which i know all elements of both foreground and background and their intended flow. begin to compile all elements (pictures and video to be used) and separate into categories.
week 2 march 30-april 6 experiment with after effects - what can i do, what can't i do? do timeline in after effects. determine which applications (modul8, ae, etc...) will be appropriate for which segments. begin very rough cut.
week 3 april 6-13 rough cut - tweak elements, add and subtract - whats working and whats not? shoot for solid rough cut by 13th at latest. begin compiling sound effects and creating soundtrack.
week 4 april 13-20 turn rough cut into final cut. add sound.
week 5 april 20-27 fine tune and tweaking, final effects.
april 27 - due on mini-dv and posted to blog
my final project is going to be a collage-style mash-up encompassing tons of different elements (both filmic and symbolic).
concerning production method, I plan on using as much mixed media as possible, including stop-motion animation, collage/paper cutouts, digital video, and VJ software, to achieve a highly textured feel. after effects, photoshop, final cut pro and modul8 will all be used, with an emphasis on after effects.
within the one minute time frame, there will be six different ten second segments that i work with before merging them all to flow smoothly together. these six segments will signify birth, the four elements/seasons, and death, respectively.
concerning visual style, there will be two major elements, the background and the foreground (at least for the four middle sections, the beginning and the end will deviate drastically). the use of luma and/or alpha mattes will be highly employed and create the main stylistic look of the film. the foreground will therefore function within (as a part of) and external to (independently from) the background, keeping mainly as a humanistic figure, but also encompassing the idea of oneness (as being other things, i.e. matter, particles, atoms, etc...) there is no narrative story, but rather a journey through time and space.
both elements, the foreground and the background, will go through different progressions, representative of the different aspects and factors of life and reality. the background will focus mainly on the external world, and address things such as the formation of the earth, the progression of the seasons (as the basic natural rhythm of life), the four major elements (sans ether), and then eventually death, in which there will be a convergence with the foreground element. the foreground "person" will be represented by imagery such as the emergence of the human form (evolution), the chakra system and the third eye (awakening of consciousness), universality (via DaVinci), dance, higher thought (logic and reasoning), tai chi and meditation, and finally a return to the buddah-state, in which only stillness and breath exist, as a return to the cosmic universe.
the soundtrack will also be a mash-up of music, sound effects, and possibly some dialogue, more or less all self-created.
it will [hopefully] be a journey throughout physical and meta-physical life, as explored through only one person's perspective and within a minute.
as always, this was torturous, since it is nearly impossible to use words to describe these images and ideas (hence being a filmmaker). because, keeping in suit, it will be as strange and disassociated as possible, and rather than being a listening, viewing and comprehending type of film, it will strive to be a thinking and feeling one.
storyboards:
(p.s. i suck at drawing)
production schedule:
week 1 march 23-30 finish brainstorming and creating design layout in which i know all elements of both foreground and background and their intended flow. begin to compile all elements (pictures and video to be used) and separate into categories.
week 2 march 30-april 6 experiment with after effects - what can i do, what can't i do? do timeline in after effects. determine which applications (modul8, ae, etc...) will be appropriate for which segments. begin very rough cut.
week 3 april 6-13 rough cut - tweak elements, add and subtract - whats working and whats not? shoot for solid rough cut by 13th at latest. begin compiling sound effects and creating soundtrack.
week 4 april 13-20 turn rough cut into final cut. add sound.
week 5 april 20-27 fine tune and tweaking, final effects.
april 27 - due on mini-dv and posted to blog
Thursday, March 5, 2009
rotoscope
finally. geez-us. i never knew that rotoscoping could take so freakin' long... i mean, i knew that i'd be at the computer for at least a good 10-15 hours for this project, but, damn... i underestimated...
my line was " 'i'll fuck you up! don't treat me like a child! bill proclaimed'." (in between aaron and kendall, i believe?)
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