Comedy connections intro - 2.5D

When I went on my portfolio visit to stylorouge and spoke to teh creative team. They said how my style frames reminded them of a 2.5d piece where text and lines and image animate towards and away from the camera. They suggested looking at the intro to comedy connections on the bbc.

As you can see the camera never stays fixed in one spot...its always 'floating' which ads to the lively tone of the program. I guess once they have planned out where everything will move at the storyboard/animatic stage they can easily put it all together in 3d space and animate the camera to move wherever they want. Hopefully I can do this in my piece...setting the stage and moving my camera.

Agfa Montage - Soundtrack

This is the song choice I will be using for my titles. I decided on this track because of its gradually build and change in beat half way through. this enables me to show the change that develops in the film but in a more subtle way in in my sequence.

The soundtrack is used during a lab scene in the film and it gives off a certain level of eeriness which is teh emotion the film is trying to portray.

Portfolio Visit - Stylorouge

I emailed stylorouge before we went down to London. Besides working in the creative industry I couldnt pinpoint what they actually specialized when I looked at their website...their answer? ABIT OF EVERYTHING. What they said was that when a client comes along asking for a certain

thing they work all ends meet to try and adapt their company to meeting the clients demands.

Their work includes Music promos, Print design, tv advertisements, rebranding which is quite impressive of a company with around 10-15 members of staff. So I sat down with 3 of their members. Managing director, A member of the creative team and the video editor/tech guy.

They seemed impressed with my my showreel which showed a wide range of work and they recommended I learnt 3d just so I have another skill under my belt. The guy who studied in salford before moving down to london gave me input on my current project from the style frames I showed him. He suggested instead of designing in flat 2d why not use the 2.5d feature in after effects to give it more to look at and more visual interesting. I though this was a great idea and I could almost see my style frames looking 3d with depth between layers added in after effects.

The manager director mentioned how when a big project comes in they struggle towards teh end with only having one person specializing in video editing, she said that in the summer if I was willing to do a few weeks work experience I could join the team and maybe a full time job would come out of it which would be great for me!

Call of duty intro - Miles christensen

Every time I turn my xbox on I see this short activision intro. I wondered who made it so I did abit of stalking/searching and found out through vimeo that a guy called Miles Christenen a motion graphics designer had created the piece.

I love the fast paced cuts and the combination of video and text in the composition. It reminds me of the Rubicon titles and the focal sound really add to the feeling of high energy. Again I have to remember the pace of my piece has to be slower. So I cant just punch someone in the face with fast moving graphics;It just wouldnt work.

Portfolio Visit - Trunk

While we were in London Andy mentioned that he had been in touch with a company called TRUNK and that we could go for a joint visit. So I did abit of research by look at their site.

I recognised this piece of the tv THE WORLD’S… AND ME 2 I remember seeing it on channel 4 and loving the way it looked hand illustrated and composited together in after effects. When I got to the studio I actually complimented the guy on how much the piece inspired me for my office and euro 2012 title sequences.

The office was very small/ literally a converted studio apartment which I thought was really surprising considering the amount of work they have produced.

I her my euro 2012 piece which they seemed to like. she suggested maybe introducing live footage into the piece to make it more interesting to look at. I completely agree and if i was working for the bbc i am guessing I would be given some footage to include when design the piece. I also showed my style frames for my FMP. She suggested animating the camera and the buttons/dials on the camera....this is something I was thinking of doing anyway but I definitely think this will make my title sequence more interesting.

I found her feedback to be positive and constructive and it gave me few ideas for my fmp as well as tweaks I can make to my euro 2012 sequence.

London Visit - Tandem Films

While in London the hole group went for a pleasant visit to Tandem Films, A design studio which specialize in different types of animation from flash to 3D.

We were given a tour around the impressive studio which had a layed back vibe to the place(mainly due to the use of plants and umbrellas scattered everywhere.) The studio basement held a large green screen studio/editing suite and sound room. I couldnt help but wish stockport had a g/s studio that size for open use as it would encourage students to experiment different techniques as early as the 3rd year. Ive yet to try out green screen but its something I definitely want to use in the future in the industry.

The piece of work that I was most impressed by from tandem was Rockin & Rollin: Richard Jack/Daniel Greaves http://www.tandemfilms.com/#films/shortfilms/11 .

Being a lover of Stop Motion this piece grabbed me straight away. Not only the execution but the idea as well.... I found it interesting how this piece eventually led on to the Ribena adverts which hold the same characteristics as the snooker balls.

Tandem was a great studio, producing great work. Its a studio I could see myself working in from the different types of media they use.

Style fames - Visual look

Ive designed a few mock up style frames to I can get a better idea of how my piece will look. Ive decided to stick with the white and blue look to keep the colour palette contained and not to vibrant.

I now need to get an animatic sorted out so I can see how the animation will all be put together, I also neeed to picture how the title 'One Hour Photo' will appear at the beginning or end.

New idea - Camera manual style

Gaining inspiration from Dead man on campus. I have decided to design my title sequence in the style of a camera manual. This will allow me to present my titles in an information/diagram style.

Im hoping to use 2.5d to move past diagrams and use fades as a transition. Im thinking about using stop motion to animate certain parts of the camera to make my sequence more interesting rather than still images.

Rubicon intro - Motion Graphics

This piece I came across on vimeo, Its a short sequence for an american series based on an intelligence analyst. Without even watching or knowing about the series - the sequence paints the image in my mind.

The style of the intro is what I would like to aim for, The 2.5 d look is the technique I really want my piece to look like. The way that things are enlarged by sharp cut ins is also the way I want to edit my piece....The only thing I have to bear in mind is that my sequence needs to be slower to stay with the tone of the film as well as the music score.

50 Greatest Title sequences of all time

http://www.ifc.com/news/2011/02/the-50-greatest-opening-title.php

Ok so channel 4 is usually full of these rather exhausting countdowns, But this countdown is different! 50 greatest title sequences? Great

I thought that clicking on this list I would know every single sequence but I was wrong. A few rather nice surprises had crept into the list. One of which was the intro from the film GO - 1999,

"Want to know what it feels like to take ecstasy? Watch the opening of Doug Liman's "Go." I've never taken E myself, but the folks I know who have swear by Liman's faithful recreation of rolling."

The unreal speed and edit of this sequence is what real got me loving the style.... although this has no real connection to the style of title sequence I am currently working on. It gives me an idea on how to make a fast paced title sequence in which I have not fully achieved in the past.

Hopefully looking at more of these sequences will help me into finding the correct tone of my OHP titles. Im going to keep an eye on more of these lists to see what contemporary work comes out in the near future.

Honda hybrid - Colour change

This is a post I have put up before, When thinking about Mark Romaneks colour palette used in OHP I remembered this advert. It got me thinking about using a similar technique in my title sequence.

Its not often I see a cool car advert, But when i saw this one it reminded me of Tal Rosners work. mainly from the landscapes along with the ambiant sounds.

Honda's new advert for the CR-Z hybrid sports coupe is designed to promote the car's three driving mode, using the RGB colour channels used in image and video production.

The car boasts Econ, Sport and Normal setting that change engine response and driving dynamics accordingly.

The colour of the CR-Z’s dashboard display changes with each mode, and these shifts from red to green to blue are reflected in each part of the film, together with the changing environments the car is travelling through. The ad reminds me of a 3d film layers of red and blue and is definitely the best car ad going at the moment.

The advert was created by Sam Heath and Chris Groom and directed by Frank Budgen.

OHP - Colour Palette

Watching an interview with director Mark Romanek it is evident that he has used three different colour styles to set the scenes.

In the supermarket where Robin Williams works the scene was lit to look heaven like - almost perfect. Because to him work is heaven where he gets to interact with people and he has friends.

However when Sy the photo guy goes home the scene is lit dull with a green tint to make the place look cold and boring. The director describes the look as ' Photo developing liquid' with the lights almost appearing green.

The last colour separation is at the family home where the scene is supposed to look friendly and warm... something that Sy wishes he had in his life. The director says that the look was achieved by sunlight shining through yellow curtains creating a warm look.