final project update...

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