Monday, 16 May 2016

Major project 2


1 - Video Objective


I was approached to continue making the music video for the drag queen Intra Venus(IV), having been present at the filming of the song I was aware of the shot set ups, outfits and general theme of the song.  The first step was to go through the existing edit that had been made and then construct a plan of action for further editing. This led to Isaac Page taking over the re editing of the shots, which I assisted with, I then worked over what he had done adding further shots, and all of the effects at a much later date.


Whilst I have been helping with this video very slowly over the last two years as an on the side project, helping out were needed it was only recently that I started making informed choices in the creative process when I focussed on doing it as part of my major project, as I decided I would like to work on something fun whilst still at university, and key feedback or the work presented.
“My video objective was to create a contemporary drag queen music video that captured my artistry and identity “
Attractive to men, jealousy from women, appreciate different types of people, follow on social media, talk about music.” - IV
Whilst IV had a series of objectives for promotion of herself and ideals, for myself I was focussing on several other attributes. Such as getting better at premier pro, after effects and editing. To start to build a music video/ editing reel as this is one of the several areas I am interested in. I also wanted to use this as an opportunity to better understand colour, composition and the music video genre. Keeping in mind IV’s objective and core aspects of the video which were to represent the artist, send a message of appreciation for different types of people, and to make the video shareable on social media to get people talking about it.

2 - Target Audience

“My target audience is anyone who is willing to watch or listen but is specifically relatable to certain members of the LGBT + community, U.K. USA Australia 17-38”
From the audience already in place I could see that there was a strong female following from twitter, and a predominantly male one on Facebook. Most were active on social media, and almost all were under 30. Key points of interest seemed to be the makeup and outfits and also the wit/sass in the posts. Several members of the community were involved in contributing towards a patreon fund for the videos to be made which shows the active interest already in place. The LGBT community has also increased in awareness recently thanks to Ru Pauls drag race, that has opened drag up to the mainstream media and online communities. Whilst this craze has now slowed there is still a strong following in both the UK and US. Another area that is consistent throughout is the hints to the illuminati within several LGBT videos. With this in mind I felt the video needed to not only entertain but also leave the viewer with a sense of empowerment. Using the general branding image that I felt best fitted what the audience wanted to see. “Seductress, desirable, sexy, confident.”
“I plan to distribute it via social media and YouTube” - IV
Whilst the initial buzz of making the video died some time ago it will when appropriate be posted onto the above platforms. I think a little more hype will be created first with some teaser clips and stills to gain interest again. Aiming at a both PC and Mobile audience, to my knowledge it will not be distributed by an agent and so will mostly be done through word of mouth, being played at parties with people dancing to it and such.


As IV was more aware of her audience than myself we were in constant communications over a facebook group set up to discuss and give feedback on the video edits as I progressed through the shots, making sure that the main message was apparent throughout.


3 - Concept


A little about Intra Venus taken from her Facebook Page:
  • “Intra Venus is conservative in both speech and appearance. Small town girl with big town ... dreams. Large bitch with a large mouth. Occasionally BritneyS
  • Intra Venus or auntie Venus to the kids, was born in a small town gutter in the early hours of cold winter morning many moons ago. She now travels the country with the dream of becoming an internationally recognized, plus size supermodel bitch, with enough cash to feed her insatiable appetites!”

“My concept is a drag queen at the club with her girls showing off who she is and representing how to be fierce, with lots of triangles “ - IV
I had little to no control over the actual shots when filming save some directions on lighting and if a take came out okay or not as all of the initial props and outfits were chosen. When it came to editing there was also a simple narrative in place of entering the club (blonde), dance (purple) and then have a drink (blue). I later asked for further close up footage focusing on eyes and the mouth as I found this to be consistent in the music videos I was looking at in imply a seductress image.


I also focused on the props that were provided namely the light, ring, lip gloss and drink to add diversity to the shots but also to show. This was for more of a vanity image and also confidence. I also planned to add very faint text, reinforcing the lyrics and other words associated with drag culture e.g “no tea, no shade.” but felt they did not fit the final edit.
Colour wise a main reference was the film blue velvet. I wanted to show high contrasting colours not only to simulate club lighting but also an unreal feeling to the images, I wanted to show exaggerated, over exposed but vivid lighting to reflect that of the footage and also by having high contrasting colours at times (gold and blue) to keep viewer attention.


Throughout the piece I maintained that IV was central, and almost used the other girls and background dancing props to highlight her more. I focussed on her with a lot of triangular masks and cut outs to help push the illuminati symbolism and keep her as the focal point.


4  - Video timeline


  1. Intial guys video Matthew Boswood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0h-L8oeRg0 you can see the annotations we made together (The edited footage to “the edge” sign was done by him and stayed like this)  
  2. IV and I went through all of the footage and named it appropriately marking a lot of the worse shots as “filler” and rating which of the takes worked best. We later found out that the camera man was blind in one eye when filming which could explain the numerous poor shots.   
  3. Isaac then took this footage and worked on adding the annotations
  4. https://drive.google.com/a/myport.ac.uk/file/d/0BwYyuYvyzuxATEJsRjA1eEY4MU0/view My inital edits of the first scene after re making the intial footage using Isaacs as a base,  I found the quality loss from premier to after effects quite high and ended up copying it all out from scartch again.
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbf1nfoCdds&feature=youtu.be Further effects studies, I also found that I had been working from an earlier edit that Isaac had done and so had missed several really good edits which I later put back in and worked on top of
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ4HbM3ObGs&feature=youtu.be Another effects test,0:39-0:40 blonde wig quick edits, 1:30 - 1:39 the blue dance quick edits without effects were done by isaac, and at 2:06 the divide overlay was also created by him, these are the shots that I added in later, the last shot was also added by Isaac which I kept as I felt it was a very strong and humours last shot.
  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMbzi53mScU&feature=youtu.be The final editted sequence without the text and glitch effects
  8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nx0XCsnw7M The final video. In the end I did not add text as I felt it did not work mainly because the words detracted from the focal points of the scene and gave it an even more amateurish look.
5 - Effects
  • Varied the length of shots getting faster and faster and more distorted towards the end to suggest intensity and excitement.
  • Initial shots for each outfit change would last a little longer to give viewers time to take in the new scene, though were often hinted about prior to being shown.
  • Because of limited footage I reused a lot of shots, to hide this I tried to vary the colour, length of time on screen and also opacity of the clips.
  • I used a lot of straight cuts to induce a feeling of movement and intimacy with jump cuts to draw attention.
  • Often using jump cuts between similar shots with different effects to try and keep the continuity but focuses the attention on the new effect each time.
  • I also left sections effectless to give the viewer a slight visual break and pause, also adding contrast to the effect heavy shots that often followed.
  • Whilst I did have a rough plan of which shot I wanted to use and the general colours for the scenes I found a lot of the effects came from early experimentation and then further repetition of the templates I had made used in different ways.
  • I tried to hid the discrepancy from phone footage and other sections with lighting overlays and distracting effects but sadly feel this didn’t work out that well. Ideally I would like to reshoot several shots, from several different angles and edit that back in, but for now this is the footage I have available.
  • Another thing that will be re done in the future is the audio, IV has done and american accent that she is now unhappy with and also (although intended for clubs/dancing) several sections of audio are a little too abrasive. As found after listening to the track more than once….
  • At the start of the video I was trying to do the basics of editing and then as I progressed through the shots I also progressed in my techniques, I feel this inconsistency is rather obvious, and whilst I did go back and try to edit this, and also feel the beginning should be slower this is something I want to go back and re do. Especially as the first several seconds are the most important and right now I feel they do not grab attention easily enough.


6 - Effects Videos
Free effects I found online:

Below are the individual building block elements I used throught the scenes:  
7 - Video Research
I looked at a series of pop videos that I felt were aimed at a similar target audience and also some other drag videos currently out there. I have mostly made notes on the effects as that was one of my primary focuses in this project and used these as references.  

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Thursday, 21 April 2016

Employment prep

Business cards 




Cover letter 

Animation : 
Roseanna Warr
138 Upper College Ride,
Camberley, Surrey, GU15 4HA
+44 (0) 788 929 3959
Roseanna.Warr@myport.ac.uk
21st April 2016

Dear Ms. Parker,
I’ve seen your advertisement for the animation artist and I would love to work and learn at your company. I have hands on experience in a range of programs and skills that include Flash , Photoshop, After Effects and Blender.
Currently I’m in my final year of a BA animation course, having spent the last three years focusing on my animation, drawing, composition, lighting, colour theory and narrative works.
I am passionate about creating and sharing stories - with a particular interest in Disney and Anime styled animation. I particularly love creating flowing animations and coming up with stories that are often a little dark. I especially enjoy working with a team of people and turning ideas into reality and taking on new challenges.
Please reach me on 0788 929 3959 I welcome the chance to discuss more about the position and how I would be a benefit to your team.
If you would like see some of my work please visit www.hiive.co.uk/RoseannaWarr

Sincerely,
Roseanna Warr
Animator. Illustrator. Koala lover. Tea drinker. 

VFX: 
Roseanna Warr
138 Upper College Ride,
Camberley, Surrey, GU15 4HA
+44 (0) 788 929 3959
Roseanna.Warr@myport.ac.uk
21st April 2016

Dear Ms. Parker,
I’ve seen your advertisement for the animation artist and I would love to work and learn at your company. I have hands on experience in a range of programs and skills that include Flash , Photoshop, After Effects and Blender.
Currently I’m in my final year of a BA animation course, having spent the last three years focussing on my animation, drawing, composition, lighting, colour theory and narrative works.
Over several projects I have done quite a bit of work in composition, weaving special effects into video both through university and my own study. Self-motivated and enthusiastic I enjoy working in a team and taking on new projects to create both realistic and cartoon FX.
Please reach me on 0788 929 3959 I welcome the chance to discuss more about the position and how I would be a benefit to your team.
If you would like see some of my work please visit www.hiive.co.uk/RoseannaWarr

Sincerely,
Roseanna Warr
Animator. Illustrator. Koala lover. Tea drinker. 

 CV 

Animation print: 
 Animation web:



Portfolio 

Research Document

Showreel

Animation reel



Roseanna Warr Animation Showreel 2016 from Roseanna Warr on Vimeo.

FX reel


Roseanna Warr Effects Showreel 2016 from Roseanna Warr on Vimeo.

Website

www.hiive.co.uk/RoseannaWarr 


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Sunday, 17 January 2016

Final year first term campaign - You are what you eat.

Campaign  
Childhood Obesity

I’m going to quote a friend of mine on the subject here, as I feel he has expressed a view that I to share in a much more eloquent way than I can.

“ I believe that obesity has wrongfully been made into a taboo subject because it is linked to the notion of psychical imperfection from a beauty or cosmetic standpoint so it's sensitive and understandably so ... I think having more realistic and general standards of beauty aimed around promoting health in general would be beneficial and conjunctive with a positive atmosphere to tackle the issue.
I believe that a possibly purposeful lack of early education and a lack of control on the development of the capitalist food and drink industry model was our first greatest problem.
Biologically speaking the human brain has neural-receptors that respond to food and taste particularly those that come from carbohydrates like sugar and fats like saturated ... And we have at least two distinctive and effective neuro-receptors related to thirst ... From an evolutionary standpoint it makes sense to eat high calorie fat and sugary food.
But the markets and industries have made it so widely available and matched with the advent of technology that has largely reduced mobility it's no surprise children are hooked on bad addictive foods we are innately programmed to respond to then lack the capacity to change or alter their behaviour for environmental and cognitive reasons.
I think childhood obesity is rightfully sensitive but is a crisis that needs to be tackled not only on an individual level but by government  and cooperation level.” - Elliott Page
Following the TV show named “You are what you eat” the term became a relative one in Britain around 2004-2007, with Gillian McKeith hosting and going through Brits cupboards to try and bring around a health awareness. Now over 10 years later whilst no longer entirely relevant to younger audiences, the term is still an easily recognized one, especially with middle aged humans who may have heard of the show if not watched it. The immediate target audience for my original idea of the campaign were young children, sat and watching TV. By broadcasting 5 different 20second adverts, each with there own cute character that eats so much it ultimately comes to an untimely end, off screen, on children's tv. The characters were meant to embody certain job stereotypes so that their accessories could make them easily relatable for a small child to understand. With bright colours and for the characters to be designed in a very “cute” (Large eyes and forehead, small hands and chubby body)  stop motion style. Though through the children my primary audience for the message were the adults that may be watching with their child. As they are the ones who could actually make a change. As such I wanted to make sure to include things in the animation that they could hopefully enjoy, such as the darker undertones and also the stop motion style that ideally would be reminiscent of Aardman.


The idea of the campaign is raise awareness about the food you are putting into your body, it’s not a new idea to most people so these short videos are more about and obesity has been becoming a larger problem world wide.  I want to promote the idea that it is something that can be dealt with on an individual level, by partially stepping away from the capitalist food model and also keep track of what you eat.

To have the darker undertones I tried to take inspiration from horror movies, with the flashing black lights and the beginning the mouse being there and then he’s gone. The knife glinting as the mouse is taken away at the end, and then a sudden scream off camera as the person finds out they have a mouse on the cheese board.

I also wanted to use plasticine as my main medium as then the model could literally become what it ate as it was molded into it’s body.I also wanted to try stop motion before leaving university, to have a basic knowledge of how it works.

As the project developed many of my original ideas didn’t work and so the overall theme changed more towards an old style public health announcement. The plasticine didn’t easily combine with the foods, for example the grapes when inside would just leak and then the juices stopped the plasticine from sticking. The jump scare idea didn’t work as an opening it just made it look silly. Removing the green screen from the mouse also removed sections from the darker areas on the mouse, which could be fixed with masking but also led to transparency issues.

So after swapping to the public health announcement my target audience also changed to young adults online and more of a stand alone series of animations opposed to advertisements.  Making everything black and white, with a “damaged” effect to the shots and also a classic british accent and musical sound effects to really push that old fashioned style. Designed with a satirical voice over commenting on how the mouse has been trained to look for the tastiest meal.
This style makes the stop motion work a lot better with the background and overall has a more complete feel to it now that it has a more distinctive style. I took large reference from the Fallout 4 S.P.E.C.I.A.L videos that detail how to survive in the waste land in the public service announcement style.

I also decided to give the mouse a slight black out line and have a higher contrast when he was more mouse like and then as he “became cheese” I removed the black out line and the contrast faded so he became more like a background object.



Companies

I do not know what company I would like to work for. I do not know what area of animation I want to go into. My current skills are with in Flash and Premiere/After effects, however I work a lot in these programs and wanted to try something new whilst I still have the freedom to do so. So I chose stop motion, with some small flash animations, and also working with the a green screen in AE. I also wanted to improve my fundamental drawing skills as this is a transferable skill which will be useful for many things in the future.

I would ideally like to work at a games company, preferably one dealing with VR as this is what I am very excited about, and all of the new ways to tell stories in it. Or a special effects company, as everything I’ve seen is also really exciting.Though I’ve pretty much been on the wrong course if I want to get into that after using university. Both of these require a higher level of knowledge with packages that I can’t currently use proficiently. So, I am working on them in my free time. Focussing on making my Flash, AE skills and fundamental drawing skills better so that Realistically at my current skill level I won’t be getting a job at any large animation houses, and it is unlikely that I would be getting one at a smaller independent studio.

Games companies in the UK  
Hello games - No mans sky ( A sci fi exploration game that is randomly generated as you explore)  http://www.hellogames.org/
  • They are a small company so only want to hire the best people
  • If you can do lots of different things then they will see it as an asset
  • They want to see all of the best creative pieces and you don’t necessarily have to have worked in games before

Supermassive Games - Until dawn ( A horror game where choices have a butterfly like effect on the rest of the story) http://www.supermassivegames.com/
  • There aren’t any job roles open at the moment that I would be interested in but from what I can see they always look for someone with at least 5 years industry experience in the given area
  • In depth knowledge of PC and Console pipelines
  • Likes working in a team
  • Experience working on high end PC/PS4/Xbobx1
  • Determined/Creative/Innovative
  • Most of their job opportunities are posted on Linkedin not the website

Games companies around the world.
AreaNet - GW2 (An online MMORPG that has a core game that is now free to play, but with expansions that are paid for) https://www.arena.net/
  • 3+ years in games industry
  • Eligible to work in the US
  • Team work/self motivated/passionate  
  • Human and creature anatomy
  • High working knowledge of Photoshop, Maya/Max, Zbrush
  • Strong concept of the AreaNet visual style

Thatgamecompany - Journey (Open exploration and puzzle game) http://thatgamecompany.com/
  • No directly relevant openings but from there website I gather they are looking for people with a different mind set towards games, aiming to create artistic environments and experiences.
  • As a side note they are also near Naught dog and Riot games, two other well known games companies.
Bioware - BG2 (An old RPG) ((They have also made mass effect and dragon age but unfortunately I’ve not had a chance to play these))  http://www.bioware.com/en/games/
  • 5+ Years experience
  • Worked on a shipped video game
  • Strong 2D illustrative and 3D visualization skills
  • To work to different styles
  • Strong fundamentals: Line, shadow, colour

Defiant Development - hand of fate (Random cards are placed on the table and without knowing what is under them you get to choose your path, creating different encounters and stories as you travel through the game) http://defiantdev.com/
  • 2+ years experience
  • Console experience
  • Team player/ Strong communication skills
  • Encourage females and minorities to apply for jobs when they have them


I’ve also looked at companies such as Double negative, Framestore, Disney and many other games companies that I follow on socail media. They key things that appear in almost all of them are:
  • 3+ years in industry
  • Motivated/ Team player/ Innovative/ Strong communication/ Organized
  • Good fundamentals (Principles of animation, colour,line, lighting)
  • Working knowledge of Maya/Max, Mudbox and Photoshop.
  • Human/Animal anatomy knowledge

SO! Job wise I will be looking for either graduate positions or freelance at least until I have the experience needed to apply to a company.
I am generally motivated by new and exciting ways to tell a story, money is also a motivator for me and creating works that will create interesting experiences for the user to change their mind set on the world.
I like working in a team, when everyone does the work, though I don’t think I’m good at dealing with when people fail my expectations, - as I can be a bit of a perfectionist so it’s something to work on.  
I think I am constantly thinking of new ideas and perspectives and making connections and jotting everything down so innovative wise, yes I am a creative thinker though sometimes on a project it can take me a while before I come up with a concrete plan or way to make the ideas actually work.  
Communication is something I need to work, I’ve spent a lot of time online and this has dulled my interpersonal skills.
Through my time at university so far I have found organisation and project management are strengths of mine but of course I haven’t experienced these in a professional environment as to how transferable these are shall be seen at a later date.
To work on:
  • Working knowledge of Maya, Mudbox and Photoshop.
  • Human/Animal anatomy knowledge
  • Good fundamentals (Principles of animation, colour,line, lighting)


Campaign Portfolio

Other obesity campaigns
Starts with a fat man about to go into surgery, the video rewinds through his life until it comes to the very start when he was a baby.
“Your child's future doesn’t have to end like this, There's still time to reverse the unhealthy habits we take into adulthood we’ll show you how”   
  • Very direct and strong message
  • Clever reiteration, having him say things and then his mother say them
  • At the end with just the sound of the heart monitor and only words on screen really pushes and makes for a powerful image
  • Telling a story of his life and making him seem like a nice guy, with relatable goals of the average human “Graduate, have kids, listen to music” etc.
  • Distorted first person view, colours more vivid when food is on screen, also pushing relatability, and immersion.
  • Emphasised breathing and eating noises.

Mother sitting next to her son whilst he draws, she is preparing drugs, she ties of his upper arm, reaches back to get the needle, the camera cuts and she is putting a napkin on him, he is then eating a burger.

“You wouldn’t inject your children with junk. So why are you feeding it to them? Childhood obesity, break the habbit”  
  • Shock tactics - Shares well online using the anger
  • Cute child and attractive female makes the shock more so
  • Sitting at the table, in a “Safe environment”
  • Getting the kid to draw and really show his innocence
Action has an anti obesity campaign for children in the uk, they are currently researching what it is that children are eating.

Promoting education, research and awareness.

Provides answers for many common problems such as the cost of healthy eating and looking after both you and your childs health.

Artists

“Nature noms”
Basic textured background, enough floor space to place the creature, massive eyes, everything is super happy.
Kurby video game
Animate character on a lower framerate, move camera on higher frame rate

Creature comforts
Blinking style, background characters, 25-30 sec shots, “set in real world” filming,  
Rollin’ Wild
Interesting dynamics, and character movement, 25-30 sec shots, music intro each time,

PESfilm
Clever play on words, constant changes, unexpectedness
Using Rollin wild, and Kurby as key parts of inspiration I created a character concept for the mouse. Turning her into a “hipster” mouse and humanising her for small children to identify to.


12021991_10154213215739278_1224755579_n.jpg
Early design sketch, mouse acting as cheese, bird doing the worm, and a ginger rabbit with carrots for ears.


The mouses main story was
Mouse - Kitchen work surface panning shot,you hear a falling sound, and you see a tub of mustard that has been opened and fallen over spilling out onto the counter, followed by some footprints, leading to a mouse on a cheese tray, someone's hand comes in and takes it along with the cheese knife   (Party is happening in the background) [Then slogan plays] and you later hear a woman scream and plate smash.


I then planned all of the assets that I wanted to include:
Sink
Fruit bowl
Sugar + tea + bread bin
Some empty glasses
Empty wine bottle
Salt and pepper
Plates with crumbs on
Bread boards
Toaster
Jam jars with flour and random stuff on
Knife block
Jar of kitchen utensils
Cheese board

And started making them after making a very rough sketch up of how the kitchen would be laid out. Adding a higher blue/purple colour scheme so that the yellow mouse would stand out more.
sink.pngfiller.pngJug.pngs+p.png
kitchen single tile.pngIMG_6877.JPGTo make them I would take photos/use free to use stock images, then do a block out of the general shape tracing over the top so the proportions were correct, move the image to the side, do the shadows, then the highlights then blur and add the details on another layer. With the kitchen layer I have also included the wood,tile and work surface textures in an overlay as I felt these needed to look the most realistic because it would be on the screen all the time. In hindsight the scroll is pretty slow and the rest of the assets are also on screen for a long time so I should have taken more time on them as well.

As I changed the style to the service announcement I felt I also needed to include a more defined title card instead of just text. Using Adventure time's title cards, Fallout 4’s Special title card and an old Mickey mouse cartoon image for inspiration.


Videos descriptions
[Storyboard 1: Storyboard for mouse you are what you eat]
Mouse knocks over mustard, is coloured yellow, eats the cheese, person doesn't notice and eats him.
Notes:
Still designing the kitchen so have left most of the background out.
Longer pause after happy mouse, make him slink down into cheese shape.
Scale appropriately.Too long at the start? Take time from there and add it to the mouse.
Knife already on the board, Lavender/ purple to pop yellows
Mustard contrived. maybe change to cheese sauce/remove/ red wine?
Eats grapes, crackers , cheese, his stomach deforming and growing around the food that has been eaten slow squealing noise like a ballooning opening, red bulges.
[Stop motion mouse test]
Notes:
Just going for it animation, will be using the flash frames for the actual thing. Finding the green screen not as good as I'd hoped, will probably roto around it in flash (Used premiere's ultra key and black and white in the final thing) and then use that for the final thing.
Think the general reflection looks okay but will need to work it a bit more for the final thing, this is just a basic flip for the idea.
Will also need to break up the Photoshop bg layers more to fit everything I think.
[Storyboard 03 you are what you eat]
Notes:
Frame layout roto of a mouse, so I know what to animate in stop motion, both movement and timing wise.
[Mouse frames 1]
All of the stop motion mouse frames on there own, with the basic timing and green screening applied.
[Cheese 001]
Adding the mouse in with the vector images I did in Flash, to then use against the painted image of the cheese and make it disappear
[You are what you eat 004]
Adding an old style damage to the screen using AAVFX’s template and setting it to overlay. https://www.youtube.com/user/dvdangor2011
Using 1920’s royalty free music - Found and warped by Isaac Page
Created a title card
Rotoscoped video of me taking the cheese board.
[Final: You are what you eat]

Final product with the voice over by Isaac page, and sound effects added by me, I tried to keep most of them musical to be in keeping with the style as these appeared a lot in the S.P.E.C.I.A.L videos from fallout 4.

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