Animations (6)

Typewriter1

‘Injuries of Time’ trailer

 

Typewriter 1 was designed as an introduction to the animated visuals I had been working on but has yet to be added to any. The feedback I had received on the test animations was positive but it also made me aware that I had only been using imagery in my animations, when my printed narrative was also half text. The short typewriter video was an attempt to add something directly from the story, so logically, if I was treating the main animation as a trailer or teaser for the book, then the text used should be from the start of the book. There is no typewriter used or mentioned in the story but the use of one in this manner is a popular technique in films and television that represents storytelling and authors, journalism and is also a visual link to the past by the use of an outmoded piece of equipment. The piece was created quickly in InDesign, by simply typing out one letter (plus the spaces) at a time, and taking an uneven screenshot each time. Finally, I added the sound effect of an old typewriter to complete the illusion. 

 

Though it was not my intention at the start of this module to work on so many animation tests, the results are proof of how enjoyable it was to do so and it seemed only right that I should exceed the brief by making a what I thought of as a trailer for the work and hopefully for whatever is produced in the next module. To this end, I decided to use only images from the narrative, but allowed myself to use the numerous overlay effects in Photoshop that I had tested in the last module. The process used to create the final video involved the gradual layering of more and more images and textures in Photoshop, again taking screenshots, but this time being even less careful about the size and placement of the crop. This meant that the images in the video would be even more warped and would jump about. I knew that this video would be longer than the others and took it as an opportunity to experiment more and push what I was doing. Having between ten and twenty images (plus overlay effects) to mix together and repeat gave me a pretty broad canvas, though I tried to create mini loops within the main body where just one or two images were the hero. They might not be immediately obvious to the casual observer, but I was designing the piece to be a continual loop, with figures popping up throughout, changing shape, becoming inverted, distorted or blending in with each other.  Thanks to the effects t my disposal many of the images became abstract, but moved by so fast (at 8.5 frames per second) that the distortions were as much a part of the narrative as the images of the people (hopefully fitting for a narrative about versions of the world).

The key to not making it too fast paced or nauseating was to take screenshots that had continuity to the frame after and the frame before. I broke this rule more than once when I thought I was repeating myself too much, but generally there is a flow throughout that stops the piece from being too murky but still a good visual representation of memories and the past.

An early version of the trailer also featured the 'I hadn't seen my friend in a long time' text, this time incorporated into the imagery. This time it was not as successful, due to the pace of the images it was mixed in with and the even more jumpy nature of the frames and it was hard to follow the text properly. I will still try to bring in a text element to future versions but here it would have disrupted the flow of the loop too much had I started to alter the pace for the sake of a few seconds of type.

The final component was the music. The choice of soundtrack can radically alter the accompanying visuals in any number of ways, but for this animation, I did not want to have too many competing elements, and wanted something sympathetic. The music I chose for this version was a loop of the opening bars of 'Piano Mouth' by S. Maharba. I could have chosen any one his tracks as he specialises in dusty crackly loops, warped samples and old vocals that are the aural equivalent of found photography (to add to the vintage feel, the only physical format he releases his music on is cassette). I chose the opening of this track as it has a warped, failing sound to it that perfectly mirrors the distorted visuals, and reinforces the idea that these are images from the past, which have been lost or left to deteriorate. I would have loved to make a video for the entire track but have no idea how long it would take to produce a five minute piece or if the idea could be sustained for that long. In the case of his trailer the sound and video have been designed to loop back round seamlessly so that the piece can be viewed as part of the CGP hand in and critique.  Depending on the outcomes of the final module, I would ideally like to make a piece of music of my own and cut the video to the music or vice versa.

Animations (5)

Decay1

Decay 2

Decay 3

Decay 4

 

The four ‘decay’ videos utilized images created as part of the tests for the Developing Graphic Practice. The images were originally a series of variations, with the same image altered by different layers and textures in Photoshop. As a quick method of capturing the results, these images were all screen captures and were not captured with any regularity to the size of the image. This turned out to be hugely beneficial to the animations that I then created in Hue – none of the images were cropped in exactly the same way and as a result, the resulting moving image jumps around slightly.

This influence is most effective in ‘decay 2’ and ‘decay 3’ which resembled old or damaged film footage and feature more distortions and warping than ‘decay 1’ and ‘decay 4’. At certain points the main image disappears into the texture altogether, a technique that I would later use to great effect in the final ‘trailer’ video.

‘Decay 4’ is perhaps the least effective of the four but created an interesting visual that I had not intended – the overexposed whiteness of many of the frames creates a flashing effect that is slightly off-putting but at the same time resembles flashes of lightning that go well with the image of the tree.

 

Animations (4)

4x1  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT3IE8Snf5k

09.02.16 3 - https://youtu.be/9jhTSi_ZYLk

09.02.16 - https://youtu.be/Pahpa7iB7xA

Tony c - https://youtu.be/ToDqt0DHf-M

 

Having discovered that I could import files into Hue (as well as using the camera to capture them), I went back to the files that I had used to create the ‘fade’ tests. With these animations the pace changed completely – in ‘4x1’, ‘tony c’ and ’09.02.16 3’, the people in the images rapidly fade in and out and the lines that form them seem much more alive.

’09.02.16’ is far more successful at this speed as the images fly by (especially when the video is placed on a repeating loop) at such a speed that the loop does not seem as short as it actually is. One of the ideas that came up as part of the workshop was the amount of information that the eye / brain can take in at any time, which I tried to explore here by increasing the number of frames per second. The video also has a kind of manic energy to it – while I liked playing the images in the ‘fade’ tests as slowly as I could, there was also something very appealing about this barrage of information, an energy that was different to some of the other tests.

Animations (3)

Mark002

Rip1

 

‘Mark 002’ was an animation created by hand during the animation workshop with Molly Okell. I had planned to create an animation using photographs of textures but as soon as I began ripping up images I just went with the flow of what I was doing. There is no obvious logic to the animation but the process that created it was quite instinctive and I found working this way very rewarding. As I have noted elsewhere, the Hue software we were introduced to was basic but we were able to get to grips with it immediately and produce results in the space of half a day. The workshop also introduced me to ideas of pacing and frame rate that would dictate the speed of the experiments that followed, as well as the use of rough framing that would become a vital part of my ‘trailer’ for my narrative (see later post).

‘Rip1’ was created at home with my own copy of the Hue software. It’s a bit of silly fun that suffers from poor lighting but is further proof that an idea can be produced quickly and that working with the physical objects will open up ideas that might not have been considered had the video been planned in any way.

Animations (2)

09.02.16x 4

Fadetest 2 Misc FX

Fadetest 6 pencil GS 2

Fadetest 6 pencil sketch

Fadetest 6 pencil sketch REV

 

 

 

‘09.02.16 x 4’ is one of a series of videos created while exploring the idea of animating photographs that had been transformed into illustrations. By applying the different effects in increasing or decreasing increments I was able to create an effect where the different figures emerge out of abstract shapes. They are still recognisable as people but I was interested in testing the speed at which the forms emerged, as it related to ideas of time and the age of the subject and photos.

‘Fade test 4 Art 1’ was a version of the first fade tests but with the illustrative effect added which is not shown here as the file would not export correctly to a movie. The version with the backgrounds is the more successful this time around as the effect renders the backgrounds more alike and creates different marks to those seen in the actual photos.

‘Fade test 2 Misc FX’ is a similar experiment but with a series of different effects applied to the same pair of images. The end result isn’t always subtle, but when certain effects are placed in the right order and one of the people in the photos ‘vanishes’, the animation achieves the effect I was aiming for.

The three ‘Fade test 6 pencil’ tests were a deliberate effort to create something as slow and subtle as possible. I was now thinking of how one of these animations might be shown in an exhibition setting and how to capture the attention of the viewer. If they viewer thought they were looking at a static image but then looked back and saw that something might have changed then they might be more likely to watch the barely perceptible changes. I also wanted to do something that was the complete opposite of almost every visual stimulus in the modern world, something that tested the attention and forced the viewer to watch something differently.  Again, these tests were inspired by ideas around aging, change, memory and perception.

The last two pencil test animations focused on transforming the images from actual photographs to illustrations (or vice versa) – from reality to fiction if you will. The ghost-like effects created as people’s features fade away would later appear in a version of the printed narrative.

 

Animations (1)

Please click on the links below to view the videos at Vimeo:

Fade test 2

Fade test 3 backgrounds

NOTE: At the time of writing, there appears to be an issue with the fade effect on these videos. New links will be posted when this has been fixed.

These ‘animations’ were initiated in PowerPoint, as at some point I had noticed that among the mostly cheesy ‘transition’ effects there was a ‘fade’ option. Following on from the failure of the polaroid tests, I still wanted to try and create a moving visual of some description that featured images fading in and out of the page and / or each other, to represent people fading from memory and the way that memories often blur together and are less than reliable. Using PowerPoint for this was probably not what it was intended for, but it allowed me the degree of control over the images and their movement that I needed and did not involve any steep learning curves that I normally experience with learning new software.

With ‘Fade test 2’ I chose to have two images side by side, so that one would fade out but start to appear in the frame opposite, potentially creating new or random associations and narratives. The video is designed to loop back around and continue on.

‘Fade test 3 backgrounds’ is the same set of images but with rough backgrounds added to attempt to distract / overload the viewer and further explore ideas memories and context. I don’t think this version is that successful, mainly due to the inconsistency of the background images. A better result might have been achieved if I had restricted the extra imagery to something simpler such as photo corners or variations of the same page.