Getting there.....

Just over a week until I have to give in my final piece. So on one hand Im panicking and wondering why I spent so long deciding the exact questions I wanted and how I wanted the piece to generally look. Then on the other hand Im wondering why Im feeling so anxious because actually.... I seem to somehow know what Im doing and I do have enough time to completly edit it all.
My feeeling has compeltly changed about this project. Due to my persistancey in trying to make the audio carry the whole piece and making it strickly proffesional, the rest just all seemed to fit into it.

Problems with recording voices on the mac made me for the first time venture to parts of the college I had never quite gone before. The digital dungeon allowed me to record audio using a very effective microphone. The new audio and sound quality did take a long time to figure out and try and work in correlation with my lap top, but ended up being completly worth while.

The general relaxed attitude I had whilst interviewing the characters worked a lot better too as the interviewee's were more at ease and less aware that it was an interview this time round. A calm chatty vibe let the characters ramble on for quite a long time in some cases, just making the general audio fairly hysterical to listen to.

So now with fresh new excitement for the task and a calmer and more determined work attitude towards this, I am able to finally settle down and enjoy playing with my stop motion.

Many problems occurring

So i literally only have a week to make this stop motion due to a bit too much research of what looks effective and a change of direction in terms of meaning and content. Now Ive hit a bit of a brick wall where it comes to the whole piece being put together and the final piece making sense and understandable. I will once again have to backtrack and find a simple and effective way of creating the question answer style audio and visuals that i was originally going to use. Perhaps a quick simple visual created in photoshop or illustrator could be an effective way of bringing it in. This would directly answer the brief in a more obvious way as the questions are put right in front of the audience and simply and effectively shown in a visual way.

After starting to figure out how to create a successful animation using a combination of the imagery and audio I had collected, I then began organizing the quotes and dividing them into the appropriate sections.
To make the video clear and understandable to the audience I wanted to literally spell out the questions. I then began to work a little more with the text. Trials and errors with different colors and text formats made me think of the piece as a whole a bit more. I eventually kept the type simple and just made everything plain and simple.

Heres a little montage of the questions and type before being edited into the final piece:

course I put some awesome music with it!





The tone of the piece is directed in a humorous and quirky way visually interesting for the first year graphics. Light hearted and intersting type is important for this task so after this first test run I decided i needed to try harder in making some funky interesting type.

Start of the interviews

First attempt at my audio.

I found it was too distorted and now clear enough. Need to find a quieter place to do it with the interviewee closer to the microphone too.

Ive not tryed useing any imagery for the visuals. The audio was the main focus for this.

Which ones work the best?

Testing out the objects of which ones work the best, I put all the tests of what I had already got into one video to see how effective each one is. I definitely found through doing this that the pencil case worked very well as a "mouth" type image. This will be used.

New love

Finding the prodigy's "Warrior's Dance" is probably the highlight of my week. It says on the site I found it on (its nice that), that its made from stop motion however I think digital animation would definitely have been used too.

Kates one to watch:

Plan of action

Complete breakdown of the brief:

TASK= To identify and answer key questions bout what is actually needed stationary-wise on the first couple of weeks at college through a humorous and upbeat way.

HOW= Stop motion. Objects interviewed in an answer and question type fashion with the object having a direct relation to the context of the question asked.. Film sorted into two sections:

. opening music based sequence introducing audience to the studio
. then camera focusing into the objects for interveiw.

AUDIENCE= Freshers for the graphics year one ba course.



What now?


Effectively less then two weeks left for the final product to be finished. I want all the filming/audio done by this friday so there's room for certain aspects to be changed such as the questions which are being asked as their relevance and purpose is the most vital aspect of my piece and effectively needs to be confirmed from other opinions as being completly relevant.

Small plan for week:

Today. prepare for shooting tomorow. Get the poster wih welcomes the camera in at the begining. Get audio done. Interveiw Charlotte, Mitch and anyone else intersted.

Tomorow. Film the sequences. Get into college early to film the object in the surrounding without the rest of the class there to ruin the context of the shots.
In evening- film the opening sequence to get the studio isolated.

Wednesday. Start editing.

Thursday. Editing

Friday = crit


Heres some of the question and answers in which im intending to involve in the piece. The audio will hopefully be unplanned but I have a simple script put together to ensure i will get the relevant information out of the characters.

Script

Character 1

. So what did you bring on the first day/ week?
To be completely honest with you, I came on the first day with nothing apart from my wallet and my phone. I found out later in the week when we were actually doing activities and work, that I needed at least a pencil case or something. Then I wouldn’t have to keep borrowing my mates.

.How often do you use the library?
Well not very often because ive already got my local. I hear its fun there though and really busy on a Monday night.
NO NO
Not the pub, I mean the college library!
Oh . That library. Ye that’s open most of the time. And its defiantly worth using it on the first couple of weeks just to get a feel of it. Its good to get familiar with were it is on the first couple of weeks so you can use it to you’re advantage for as many projects necessary.

Character 2

.What stationary do you need on the first week?
Well I brought:
.a ruler
.a pen
.5 different colored biros
.a rubber
. a sharpener
. a notepad
.my Mac
.erasers
.pencils
.colored pencils
But what did you actually need?
Oh. A notepad and pen.

Character 3

Is a Mac really a necessity?
No definitely not. The college is already full of Mac’s and even a couple in the studio. However if you are looking to purchase a computer soon, Macs are the most common and best equipped for anyone in the design and creative field. So get that if your looking anyways.

Speaking from experience

So the new project was beginning to develop. A change of plan for what I was intending to answer in the brief was now apparent. The direction I was originally heading toward with helping with location and stress in the first week, has now changed to helping with vital necessities for the first week. Equipment was specified so I've decided to similarly use the same kind of theme with the imagery, and show a direct link between the two.
The plan now is to create an Creature Comforts type animation, with simple question and answer type audio. The audio is so I can unlike the other work I have done, keep the imagery simple but effective.

I began to start investigating how the objects in question (literally), would work by movement. I found good lighting and thin string was good when trying to move part of an object. I made a test run and put a song on the background just to see how well it would work. Turns out, not very well.



Creature comforts is made in a similar stop motion way, by that Aardmin Animation company I love so much. However my work will not look as character based as their because I will be using simple objects oppose to clay.

In need of a partner

Especially since investigating me as a graphic designer, I have now seen and found that I would really like to find a partner. I need someone to bounce ideas off with an opinion and critical point of view to help me develop my ideas in the stop motion and video field. I feel at this point in graphics when Im finding obsessions its importnat to try and push that.

Heres a really original and impressive stop motion a friend found, that to be honest is really making me want someone to work with to a greater extent.

IF YOURE OUT THERE COME FIND ME!


please

kate as a Designer....

I USED TO BE:

Lazy- my resurch had no resurch and facts. Just explored ideas that I found visually exiting and fun. I was also a lot more pretentious. I believe this was due to me wanting to find out for myself what Im good at creating in visual terms and not just that I was clueless in terms of my content and meaning. On the foundation course I felt this was actually considered secondary in terms of what is important. Now I am on a degree, I feel that my effort to investigate and therefore create a point of view or opinion with understanding, is a lot more vital and appreciated, and actually, is something Im getting quite good at.

I AM NOW:

Obsessed with parts of graphics. Reluctant to handcraft projects, which is good in terms of forcing me to use programs such as illustrator and photoshop, but bad in terms of exploring what I am good at and imporoving my presentation skills. Presentation is definetly something which I need to work on. From drawing to screen printing, I find it very hard to complete a succesful work of art. Screen printing is the hardest one at this point so I will try and include this in an upcoming project. Hit the nail on the head!

WHEN IM OLDER i WILL BE:

. Always in the no of what's going on around me, in terms of music, film and art. Important to the work produced.

. Upbeat work. I dont want to spend my life creating warning campaigns and ugly imagery just for effect. Although these kinds of campaigns are important, i dont want to let my work depress me or to get too involved in the meaning. It can sometimes just make me very emosional!

. Work that doesn't contradict any of my beliefs. I would never want to necessarily make a new campaign or logo for a MacDonnals advert, as it is against my religions and belief, despite me occasionally eating there! Something that would offend my family and friends and make me feel bad for producing, I want to stay well clear of.

Animation

I Met the Walrus

Found a new animation thats given my an idea for my project. So maybe I could record the advise given from my class. With their quotes and audio information based on John Lenon, I began to think about how this time, in this animation I could use perhaps the advise or description of the class. Basing my imagery on simplistic objects I could effectively use some sort of completly opposite and contrapuntal ideas.

5 artists I would like to potentially relate to my project

Spin
Posted by Alex27 April 2009




Blank Canvas
Posted by Will27 April 2009



James Jarvis and Richard Kenworthy



Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie

speaking from experience

What is the problem?
The problem I have specified was :

PANICKING ON THE FIRST WEEK.
From my experience, the week goes by very slowly as you are always on edge and anxious about the new course and trying to fit into the new intense atmosphere. The best advise for this in my experience is just to calm down. Break everything down even if its just in your head and prioritize.

What are you going to do about it? (identify, inform, promote)

I would like to inform/ identify from my previous experiences of being in the first week of the course myself. My idea is to give advise of how to break the week down.


How are you going to do it?

Using humor and simple use of imagery Id like to direct my ideas through an animation sort as I am having exploring this new concept and love to the Max. I think finding humor in animation is something i have not quite found yet, as a audience understandable to me and my friends may be different to that off the whole of next years first year class. First years are the target audience effectively so covering a laughable and quirky animation is something i would anisially like to produce.

I like all your artwork

A band called the noisettes which I have been a pretty big fan of for quite a while now have a new album out. The type was so unbelievably rad In the next few days I may try and take it on myself.

My own little attempt. No were near as good though, the thought was there though:

Day out with the Origional Madame Fenton

So its the Friday before Im going back and despite already gradually making my way through various London art galleries and exhibitions, Im still insanely bored and looking for places to go with only my oyster card to hand. So mother Fenton steps in.
She took me to the Science museum in London were a Wallace and Grommit exhibition had just started. The obbsesive nerd that I am made me jump at the chance. Here is some of the set that was showcased:











I had actually seen most of the sets for this specific part of the movie before, when I visited the Aardman studio's a couple of years ago. But there was definitely something very refreshing and inspiring to see it again.

After the exhibition, we went to the Imax to watch an underwater 3D animated documentary. It was really fun, plus, it definitely made me more eager to go snorkeling and cadge diving when I eventually go cadge diving. The underwater is Awsome!!!

Origional Madame Fenton.... and what a legend she is! ....

Making videos to keep me SANE

So Id never thought Id say it but this easter break has actually been fairly boring. Being recently graced with a whole load of new music, I felt compelled to try more music animation as I was having many ideas and small themes despite not haveing a context or brief.

My logic first came from working directly with music and imagery more and finding an appropriate balance to the kind of music and the image or shapes being used.




After this anisial use of simple photgraphy and a few light changes on photoshop, I than began working more with the music in hand and breaking it down into the instuments used and the time and movement.
That led me to my next video.

Visual Language Module evaluation

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

My skills have developed a huge amount through this module. I really took into consideration at the beginning of the module when the brief was given, how at this stage I thought I was a graphic designer. From last years Final major project on foundation I found that my imagery side of creating any piece of either video or photography was strong so I wanted to make enfaces on that , and stop motion I felt was appropriate as i had such a long period of time to investigate it. this was defiantly the best decision i have made it in the year so far as I am very confident in this technique now and eager to learn more about it and develop my skills. Because this module didn't have a specific final piece to create, the resolution was my main focus, which effectively was to try and show all the skills I had learn over the weeks and put it in a sequence that made sense. Creating an effective piece of imagery that had a meaning I found hard in this task and later realized that actually the question of whats a line could more simply be answered through visual language and sequence of objects that was anisially asked in the brief. Overcomplicating this aspect may have potentially lost me time in the brief, but It was still all trial and era at that stage and can definitely be seen as investigation towards the final resolution.

What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

My method started specifically with the stop motion and photography so this was a consistent form of research/development into the final sequence in itself. At the start, we were given the perspective classes alongside the whats a line work that we were doing, so i combined them as earlier sequence and photography work fitted in well with it. Story boards were also a major factor to all my development research and towards the end I began to find more effective ways of doing these without needing to necessarily draw the idea out, which i am not confident in doing.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

This module has defiantly allowed me to develop and find my style, as far as imagery and message is involved. Creating concepts and meaning was were my attention was focused and now i have got into a routine of having to plan my idea, then test run until it effectively works. I also found that especially with this kind of stop frame animation that was being created, it was good to take a step back sometimes and either analyze or get other people to analyze the work I was beginning to create. Thats why crits were so important to me this module. Photography skills have been improved because of this module, which is definitely evident after looking back at the first stop frames I had created. Being very influenced in music I kept trying to bring this element by figuring which kind of sounds and imagery worked the best together. I felt some actually worked very well.

What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

I definitely dint use this module to my advantage in practicing my drawing and simple imagery work. This has always been my poorest element of design, and I really regret not using the opportunity to try and create work in which the class could give me feedback on. This kind of process would have perhaps given me focus in this area, encouraging me to use a more drawn based approach to my work from this point on. Saying this I do not regret the obsessive nature and excitement I now have when it comes to video animation as this has given me a good focus and even a fun hobby to have now throughout my graphic career.

Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1.Definitely use the oppertunity to be abkle to draw more and even screen print, with such a long project, I should have used the opportunity to focus on elements I vitally needed to progress on

2.I would use more of a brainstorming stage at the begining to experiment and see what visually works best with what Im trying to say. Explore anisial ideas more

3.I would document my work as I go along more. Story boards via the computer are easy to achieve, I should have realized and focus on detailed accounts of work like this at an earlier stage.

4.asked opinions more about what works the best. The work is better assessed by a completly new person who hadn't seen it before, so i should have created surveys to try and receive effective feedback.

5. Not panicked as the process went along. I compared my work to other peoples a lot in this module. Effectively it made me work harder because peoples physical drawing and painting work made me think I had done no were near enough work, were in fact I was on target and it was going fine.


This is how I'd grade myself in the following areas:

1. attendance -5
2. Punctuality -5
3. Motivation- 4
4. Commitment-3
5. Quantity of work produced-4
6. Quality of work produced- 3
7. Contribution to the group-3

New week... new partner

So new partner to be paired up with and I have a real gooden! Liam hine... otherwise known as Hiney. Had to find out about him via a series of questions I had written about him and a quick search through the blog. One thing I was informed about this exercise was about some artists and eras which is really quite exiting. Liam is very interested in Russian constructivism and the Avant Garde. Specific influences inlcude Alexander Rodchenko and H.NWerkman. Not knowing anything about them, im looking forward to finding out about these specific artists. WOOOP WOOOP

Fenton the Feminist?

So after my critical studies essay were I based my work on equality and sexism shown through media and advertisements, I then found a new artist in which is now a bit of a hero of mine. Jacky Flemings who created the book “Be a bloody Train Driver”, made the question of how women are stereotypically seen, and made it a number one best seller. The original and comical short stories are humorous to any audience with its simplicity and irony.

final resolutions for communication is a virus

This was the final outcome of that weeks investigation. The outcome developed from work throughout the week which questioned how people can communicate more. Our final concept came from the idea that communication could simply be made in an airport through the means of creating some sort of language between passengers in which firstly makes them laugh or smile, and secondly makes them communicate.