Filed under: Film, Inspiring Artists, Typography | Tags: Conceptual Art, Film, Kinetic Typograghy, Lawrence Weiner, Motion Graphics
Our latest brief set us the task of creating a short animated film containing Kinetic Typography (Typography which appears in time to speech). First we researched to find a short speech by a creative practitioner whose words we found inspiring. For me this was Lawrence Weiner, and what he talks about during an interview with Debbie Millman. Not only am I a massive fan of his work, but felt it fell perfectly to my vision of words appearing in footage.
His Work:
So I took his style of typography, and gave it life. I spent a weekend shooting footage, and a day and a half editing the film and sound, before finally creating the animation. I’ve been without a laptop for a week and a half which is why it was slightly rushed but I’m quite pleased with the outcome.
Filed under: 3D, Film, Photography | Tags: Animation, Books, Tree of Knowledge
Finished Animation
Filed under: 3D, Film, Photography | Tags: Book of Knowledge, Just a Tree, Knowledge, Tree, Tree of Knowledge
On wednesday we were given our two hours to actually animate our idea, which was of course the Tree we spent a few days last week building. We shot the animation backwards, gradually taking the tree apart to simulate growth when played backwards. It was hard to keep the movements consistent in rotations, and also to get everything done within the amount of time we had. I set up my SLR next to the video camera, so I could shoot my own version of the animation. There was a few mishaps along the way, but for what is essentially the first time I’ve tried something like this, I’m pretty happy with the results.
Filed under: 3D, Film, Photography | Tags: Book of Knowledge, Just a Tree, Knowledge, Tree, Tree of Knowledge
Next Wednesday we will be given two hours to create an animation lasting between 10 and 20 seconds. The theme for everyones animation is books, but you really have a lot of freedom with regard to how you use books, and the part they play in the idea.
Our idea is based around the Tree of Knowledge. Below is tree we’ve built, made from thousands of pieces of paper, all taken from different books, and threaded onto wire. The wire branches were then tied together along with the help of a glue gun to create the structure of a tree. Finally I added white plasticine to make it stand up, but also create the trunk and enhance the overall look of the tree. On some of the branches are little books. In the animation the tree will actually grow from the “Book of Knowledge”. Each of the books is another world, and as the show you what grows within the book of knowledge, we will then show you the world that grows in a book within a book….
This will take a while to load. Its a test animation of the tree spinning.
While writing down, trying to compile a list of the best films I have seen made in the last ten years, it becomes very easy to forget films which, at the time, stood out. One person who never slips my mind though, is Charlie Kaufman.
So effected have I been by his films, that his writing has changed my view not simply on films, but on creativity and even life itself. Here is someone widely acknowledged as constantly pushing the boundaries. Whether its Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry behind the camera, each of these films is essentially a Charlie Kaufman film.
The first time I became aware of his work, was about 4 or 5 years ago. I remember hearing from friends on its release, that “The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” was not a “Jim Carrey” film, and advised that this was not something worth watching. A year later a friend had it on dvd, and convinced me I should watch it. I remember sitting there, mesmerised by its complexity, the fascinating concepts, the sheer beauty of it all. It was unlike anything I had ever come across, but at the same time felt so connected. The film swept me away, taking me on a journey unlike anything I had experienced. As it finished I could feel the emotional impact it had had on me, something you rarely have the opportunity to experience this deeply.
Now this was long before Kaufman had exploded to where he is now, within my own group of friends anyhow. From here I bought Being John Malkovich, and Adaptation. Malkovich again simply blew me away, the strange lives of the characters, the surreal story, the quiet genius of it all. Adaptation struck me in a different way. I didn’t feel like I had with Malkovich or Eternal Sunshine, but instead this film left me pondering exactly what it was Kaufman had created. His work untill this point had at least been comprehendible, but when you start dissecting Adaptation you realise just how much further Kaufman can go.
Last year I finally had the pleasure to see Synecdoche New York, Charlie Kaufman’s directoral debut and a film I had waited forever to see. I would safely say, that this is in fact his best film yet. A masterful film which is both surreal and relatable. It was an experience I never wanted to end. Not because it was enjoyable or entertaining, (though it is both these things to different degrees) but because this film deals with so many things on so many levels, there is so much here to get your mind into, that at times it can seem overwhelming. Not only is this Kaufman’s best film, but a likely candidate for film of the decade.
Filed under: Film, Photography, University Work | Tags: Assessment, First Term, Portfolio
This is an overall view of everything I have done this term. Theres a few bits missing. Keep in mind these were made to be printed A3, And some of them are overly busy.
Filed under: Film, University Work | Tags: Animation, Development, Shrine, Stuff
Myself and Alison Coggan finished our shrine last week, although the film we made to go with it, still needs editing down, and sound creating to finish it off. Here is the finished shrine as will be projected though. We are not able to use the film due to the finished product having to be a still image.
Here is the original still image, in the proper colours
FILM CREATES STUFF
Working together with Alison Coggan We spent two very long days creating a stop motion animation, finishing off with the shrine which would also double as a still image.
Monday we spent hours working on the animation. We wanted the camera to be moving with the animation which made the whole process far harder. We decided that in order to get a smooth motion, we would use masking tape to mark out lines on the floor, meaning there would be an equal gap between each photograph. The end result was no where near what we were looking for in terms of how smooth the camera moved. I had a think and came upon the idea of using a skateboard together with a tripod to get the movements we wanted. We scrapped all the work done monday, and tuesday morning went to the 3d workshop to drill a triangular piece of wood which would could fit the tripod onto it. This was then used with the skateboard to create shots moving forwards or backwards.
We worked two solid days creating almost 20 scenes for the animation, resulting in many thousand of images. We also rigged the scene with studio lighting for the final shots to give a more authentic and grand atmosphere to the finished image of the shrine, which showed hundreds of things like train tickets, badges, football stickers, and postcards all hung separately in small plastic bags.
The next stage will be to choose the best photograph to use for the shrine, and then to edit the animation and create sounds for each thing that happens. The animation will be online once we finish it.
