Track Dolly

So for one of my shots I wanted to create a tracking shot, I did some research into it and found out that they were reasonably simple to make. I found a few videos how to create them and got to work with the help of my grandad.



Here's a slightly tedious video in which this guy explains how to make your own dolly.

This is a short film made by Idiosyncratic Films there is subtle use of a tracking dolly in this film.

Worked For Me (5:24) from Idiosyncratic Pictures on Vimeo.



Here are some images of my final outcome.






Here are a few tester videos i did using the dolly.






Viral video research

I am going to do some research into successful viral campaigns to get a grip of what makes a successful viral.

I found an interview with Jimmy Maymann on Times Online. Maymann is the Director of GoViral who are an advertising company specialising in viral campaigns.

I stumbled across GoViral's top 10 viral page, here are their favourite viral campaigns on the web.

1 - Bud Light | "Clothing Drive" commercial


2 - Embrace Life - always wear your seat belt


3 - Old Spice - The Man Your Man Could Smell Like


4 - Google's Parisian Love


5 - Nolan's Cheddar


6 - The PUMA Hardchorus


7 - Snickers Commercial: Game


8 - Doritos Crash Super Bowl XLIV 2010 Commercial: Snack Attack Samurai


9 - Cerveza Andes | Teletransporter (FULL)


10 - Shaun White - Double McTwist 1260

Visual Research - Cinematography

WHITE DENIM - Shake Shake Shake from ACIDBIRD on Vimeo.



Music Video for White denim

Visual Music - Amon Tobin music video from 12FRAMES on Vimeo.



Grizzly Bear - While You Wait for the Others from Grandchildren on Vimeo.



MEW Introducing Palace Players from martin de thurah on Vimeo.





Cycle Study from FUMF on Vimeo.

Animatic for Idea 1



This is an animatic of my proposed idea. I have edited it to Gorillaz - O green world which I realise I will not be able to use in my final piece as it is not copyright cleared.

Idea 1 - Family generated energy



This idea is based around my family generating electricity for me. I will cut between 5 members of my family working really hard cycling on an exercise bike to me either boiling a kettle and generally wasting electricity. I am hoping to make the viewer feel sympathy for my family so that if this was happening would they use less energy. It will also signify how much work actually has to go into simple tasks.

BBC's Bang goes the theory



This video is an excerpt from Bang goes the theory special a BBC documentary. In this episode they are trying to generate electricity for a normal household using human power. The power generated from up to 80 cyclists. I watched the full documentary and found it extremely helpful for this project. The show aired in December 2009 and has inspired an idea of mine for this project.


This is an ident made for MTV



This is a piece by a Thai animator. I don't quite understand what he is saying but I can appreciate the design aspect of this animation.



This is a bit of a bleak short from Quercus. Showing all the animals that would give up if we give up.

Videos Linked with age of stupid

Age of Stupid: DVD: Copenhagen Kids from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.



Age Of Stupid: Clips: War for Resources from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

Earth Show


Mariele Neudecker
400 Thousand Generations
2009

This is Mariele Neudecker's Piece from the Earth Show at the Royal Academy. The piece is called 400 Thousand Generations. This is referring to the generations it took for photosensitive tissue to evolve in the human eye. Personally I think this was a highlight of the whole show as it was one of the most visually impacting pieces in my opinion. I think it purveys the essence of the show in it's concept and does this by also being aesthetically pleasing. This is important to me as it is what I work towards. I think there is depth to this piece which was lacking in many of the others. Layers of meaning that individuals can interpret differently. At first I did not see the resemblance to eyes. I think the fact that they resemble eyes could be saying that humanity needs to open it's eyes to global warming. The fact that it is called 400 Thousand Generations could be significant also. In my opinion this is saying it has taken all this time to develop sight in humans and we are not using this skill. We just need to look at the effects of global warming for proof.

In the description it says that the artist has used materials that ensures that it is "slowly but constantly changing" this makes the piece even more interesting to me. As seeing live art does it the world of justice but if it is changing all the time, the experience of the piece is different for each person. The description also says "preserved in stasis, as museum objects" this made me think that it could be from a museum in the future. When mountains are extinct this is the last impression of one. The fact that it is upside down could imply it was so far removed that future beings did not know which way up mountains were.

The Age of Stupid



On Thursday we watched The Age of Stupid. A film in which Pete Postlethwaite stars as a archivist living in the devastated future world in 2055. In the film Postlesthwaite looks back at real footage of today's age of stupid. The film highlights the simple problems that could have been changed and shows that humans were aware of extinction and still didn't change how they behaved. Looking at the current climate from the point of view of five sets of characters. An entrepreneurial Indian man who is going about creating goair another of the low cost airlines. Piers, an Englishman trying to do some good by setting up some wind farms. An American savior in hurricane Katrina who seems to be contradictory in his beliefs, as he works for shell oil. A young African girl who is trying to go to university and on the receiving end of the effects of shell oil. And an Iraqi brother and sister who have been taken out of Iraq after their father was killed due to a war over oil.

Overall I think it was beneficial to this project to see the film. I think that it was worth watching as it made me more aware of the current climate. I also think it made my feelings stronger about this subject as I was angry when the wind farm got turned down. This will help my drive to create a succinct and hopefully impacting final outcome.

Age of Stupid: Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

Global Warming

We have been set a new project in which we have to create a short film between 15-30 seconds long. This is a live client brief which is for Eastbourne Borough Council. We have recently been briefed by Nick Adlam to create something more positive than fear mongering. I'm looking forward to creating something for this project.

Final Animation

Asahi Ad from Roarke Pearce on Vimeo.

Visual Research



Olivier Beaudoin

Typolution



Initiation

Youtube Link


Website Link

Black Heart Gang


The Tale of How

The Tale of How: Making of


Website Link

Japanese Research









Asahi Beer





This ad for Asahi fits my brief perfectly. It has a Handmade look and feel and it also it roughly 30 seconds long. I think this was a bad way to go about researching because this may completely throw me off my idea but it also could help me form a final idea.
USA Website
Asahi Breweries Website

Jon Burgerman







Geoff Mcfetridge



Mcfetridge did the graphics for Beautiful Losers, above is the dvd cover by Mcfetridge.



"Geoff Mcfetridge graphic designer and visual artist based in Los Angeles.

The breadth of Geoff's work covers designs for magazines, posters, t-shirts, textiles, motion graphics and advertising as well as film production. In his most recent work for HP, Geoff created a motion graphics piece about nanotechnology that is embedded withamusing inside jokes that only

nano-scientists will understand. For the rest of us less nano-minded, we can delight in the visual pleasure of his graphics. One of our favorite designs is a pair of high-tops that Geoff designed for nike. The retro-80s high-top is meant to be ripped apart to reveal the messages and graphics beneath." Website Link

Beautiful Losers




This is a film Directed by Aaron Rose.

"BEAUTIFUL LOSERS celebrates the spirit behind one of the most influential cultural moments of a generation

In the early 1990's a loose-knit group of likeminded outsiders found common ground at a little NYC storefront gallery. Rooted in the DIY (do-it-yourself) subcultures of skateboarding, surf, punk, hip hop & graffiti, they made art that reflected the lifestyles they led. Developing their craft with almost no influence from the "establishment" art world, this group, and the subcultures they sprang from, have now become a movement that has been transforming pop culture."
Website Link

Whitney Lee

Whitney Lee is an artist featured in the Handmade Nation film. She creates latch hooked rugs of women, mostly models purveying the "ideal" plastic airbrushed bodies, in an ironic manor. As she was something of a feminist herself.

















This is an image of a rug that Whitney Lee created. I think this is an interesting combination of ideas as arts and crafts are often associated with the elderly, this has given a fresh look on the development of this culture. I think that the fact that Lee is using pornography is quite relevant to this project as it porn is often linked with the internet which is digital and Whitney Lee has created a handmade object from something digital. In this project we will be creating something handmade and converting it to a digital outcome so it is the opposite process.

"it has become my mission to create sex-positive images of self-confident women of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities."
Whitney Lee
Website Link

DIY

DIY culture (abbreviation of Do It Yourself) is a broad term that refers to a wide range of elements in non-mainstream society, such as grassroots political and social activism, independent music, art, and film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIY_culture

Handmade Nation



This is a film by Fayth Levine, who travelled over 19,000 miles across America to document the new wave of craft. She interviewed over 50 artists who are involved in the D.I.Y (do it yourself) movement.

Hand Made

We have received our new brief which is entitled Handmade. The brief is inspired by the recent trend of using handmade, hand drawn and rough elements to design and advertising. Stella Artois is an example in the brief, in which they use 1930's graphics and effects to strengthen the sense that the brand is long standing and has a tradition of quality to the brand. I will have to produce four elements to an advertising campaign for an alcoholic drinks company; A full 30 second advert for television, A version for smart phones or portable devices, A poster design and A billboard design.

There will be three steps in the process of completing this project.

-Working with traditional media
-Incorporating the traditional media into digital space
-Selling the brand information in visual terms

Final Video

Sinister UpDate

Logo work up



Re Shoot!





Trailer Research

Let the right one in


Antichrist



The Shining


Taken

Re Shoot?

I'm debating whether or not to re-shoot a different idea, I feel that this idea is a bit stale and my project would benefit much more from a different idea being explored. It could either bring a better outcome from the second shoot or make me feel more strongly about my original idea. I also feel if I don't shoot another idea I may look into making the film more sinister and giving it a twist like the opening sequence of Dexter, which I looked at for my research. I may also be wrong as I know that with design sometimes you get bored of your work if you have been looking at it for a prolonged period of time, especially with video editing and the short space of time having to be filled.

First Draft

Animatics

Gorillaz - Dare Animatics

Story Boarding

Story boarding is a key ingredient in the film making schedule, it is necessary to create story boards so that you have a filming plan.

.

Camera

Nikon D90 Review 1
Nikon D90 Review 2













I have been lucky enough to be able to borrow one of my uncle's friends camera. A Nikon D90 which is a very good digital SLR which also shoots HD video. I have checked out a few review sites for the D90 and I have discovered that it is perfect for shallow depth of field which I think is very effective and I want to use in my video. It is very effective camera for what I need to shoot but it is also not very effective at any sort of moving shots, such as panning etc. What I have read up says it is imperative that you use a tripod with this camera. So I will borrow a tripod to ensure my shots aren't wobbly and that I can get some crisp shots with nice depth of field.

Video Resolutions



I have done some research into video resolutions to ensure I select the resolution I feel is right for me. I think that 720P is a good bet as the camera I have been looking at to use for filming exports at this resolution. I feel that for good quality I would like to film in High Definition and this is a moderate size for HD.

15 Second Film Festival







I have discovered the 15 second film festival which is very helpful as there is a large collection of short films. I have selected the ones I feel are most effective.



This video is quite similar to the Amelie sequence I have looked at, I think it is very effective because it has a comical narrative to it. I used to love drawing on steamed up car windows when I was a kid, I think it's a nice twist that he draws a masterpiece and it isn't realised by his mum.



Lurpak Adverts




Lurpak Ad 1
Lurpak Ad 2
Lurpak Ad 3

Amelie Opening Sequence





Link to Amelie opening sequence

Here is a clip of the opening sequence to the film Amelie, the sound quality is quite poor but I feel it will show the shots nicely enough. In this video the director is introducing the main character in the film, Amelie Poulain. The sequence is set in the main characters childhood, the shots are a collection of things that kids do such as; drawing a face on your hand and speaking with it, peeling PVA off your fingers, playing with dominoes and spinning coins. The sequence isn't a great example of rapid cuts but is a good reference for content and stylistically I think it looks very effective.

Wickes Advert







Link to the Wickes Ad 1
Link to the Wickes Ad 2
Link to the Wickes Ad 3

Here is a selection of adverts for Wickes D.I.Y, I have seen these on T.V and felt it was the sort of thing I would like to film. I really like the use of depth of field through out the campaign as it gives a feeling of quality to the products. These ads are roughly 30 seconds long which is double the time I have for my project. Also within 15 seconds there are only about 15 shots which is quite a few less than I am aiming to shoot. I think although it is not exactly what I will be producing I feel the types of shots used are very effective.

Grey Goose Advert







Link to Grey Goose Advert

This is an ad for Grey Goose Vodka, supposedly the best tasting Vodka (also one of the most expensive). I feel this is an effective example as it is a completely different market and product from the Dexter sequence yet it still has a similar quality. The ad is trying to portray a luxurious feel about the Vodka, this is done by making the film black and white. This gives an elegance to it straight away, also the content of the video is a couple enjoying some time on a boat with oysters. This gives the impression of wealth, which is necessary when drinking this beverage.