Sound

  When Cory and I were working through the thematic elements of our piece, we already knew we wanted something dynamic and fresh. So we turned to the realm of the electronic for inspiration. What we found is that, for one, we wanted Dub-Step, and also that unlicensed Dub-Step is terrible. So we searched onward through youtube, to creative commons , and even so far s to reach out to popular Dub-Step DJ Skrillex, but no luck. It just so happened day of final audios, killer tracks came out with a Dub-Step album, and it was good. We then mixed that to our time and to our interview tracks, and we had a working audio track.

   In the coming work sessions we refined a lot of the audio to fit cues that we needed to hit the dynamic feel of our boards. Conversely, we changed a few of our compositions to meet the audio. Whatever really made the piece its best.

More Material

In trying to create dynamic elements we hit a lot of bumps in the road when it came to getting a good environment to capture the ink drops. Issues like glares camera shakes and auto focusing reared their heads a couple of times. But we did find ways to side step these. Re-shoots and tricky music editing cleared up most of the problems and left of with some pretty great set pieces.

SFF Materials

  For the Sarasota Film Festival my partner, Cory Fanjoy, and I are working on a project that really combines the tactile and digital in very dynamic way. So in order to get started with those we took some footage of ink drops, blots, and runs to use as elements.

LIGHTS!!!!

20 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT AFTER EFFECTS LIGHTS …

1-Which type of light would be best to replicate a bare light bulb?

A Point Light

2- How do lights affect 2D and 3D objects differently?

2D layers are not effected by lights.

3- What is Ambient Light?

An ambient light evenly illuminates in all directions.

4- How is an Ambient Light different from a Source Light?

An ambient light evenly illuminates in all directions, while the source has a definite cone.

5- What is a Parallel Light, and why would one use it?

A point light lets you aim the light rays and is very helpful in getting even illumination while still having an effect based on the angle of the light and layer.

6- Describes what happens to the illumination of an object as it moves away from a light.

The light looses intensity.

7- What happens to a layer as it rotates away from the light source?

8- Describe a light's Cone Angle.

The angle at which light moves from it’s source.

9- How do I move the light without moving the POI?

Hold down Command

10- How do I move BOTH the light AND POI at the same time?

11- Which type of light is the ultimate 'FILL' light?

            Ambient Light.

12- What does the term 'Diffuse' mean?

The spread of light receiving layer

13- What does the term 'Specular' mean?

Reflective properties

14- Can a precomp layer cast shadows?

15- What are the 5 requirements that must be met for shadows to work?

1) A nonambient light must be aimed at two layers.

2) The light must have it’s “Cast Shadows” on

3) The layer casting the shadow must have it’s “Cast Shadows” on

4) The receiving layer must have it’s “accept shadows” on

5) Space between the layer casting the shadow and the layer receiving the shadow.

16- As objects get closer to the layer receiving it's shadow, does the shadow get sharper or more diffused?

Sharper

17- If a layer's  'Light Transmission' is set for 100%, how does that affect the layer?

18- A 'GOBO' is like a stencil placed in front of a light.  Does the layer have to have an alpha, or can the luminosity of the image work?

The layer does have to have an alpha channel

19- Adding lights really slows down the render of a scene, what are 3 things that you can do to speed up visual feedback?

            Pre-Comp, Resolution, or size of the comp.

20- Can I adjust the brightness intensity of a light below the value of 0?  What happens if I do?

             Yes, It takes light out, even from other sources.

Photo First Pass Critique

My critique was very constructive.

I need to fix the consistency of speed between the car and the ball, I need to move the boy back and thus the opening shot, as well as to check the curves of the shot. Having the ball and the car different speeds creates a very noticeable discrepancy in the movement that pulls you out of the scene. By moving the boy back, I can create a more interesting composition throughout as well as having more background to work with. I can see all of these working really well. 

A few notes that I expected, and have been working on, was the quality and edges of the layers. A full resolution and some more time with in Photoshop should smooth that out. Nothing too crazy, but  very helpful.

Art Network

    Final Comp of my ART Network logo. What I started with was eventually a refined comp in my final  pass. People seemed to like it.

Time Warp!

    These are my images I picked for the camera study. Shorpy is a great site. Look at all that resolution. 

 

   I chose this one simply because of the imagery and the story it could tell. Romantic comedy breakup scene? Probably. But I also liked the simple movement I could imply with little buggy and walking woman. 

 I picked this image only because of how layer rich it could be. Specifically the counters, and to a smaller extend, maybe the people themselves. A slow pull from down the walkway to a full shot could look really great if I can work out really clean layers and maintain a sharp image. I can imagine it used in an old worker's rights sort of documentary. 

  

•     This interest was of interest to me just for animation possibilities. The boy, the ball, the street, the cars, and the buildings can all be layered. I’d love to tell an all-American story of a boy and baseball. This could be a really great action shot with subtle movements with the boy and the ball.

 
    I chose this image because at first glance it reminds me of an adventurous rapscallion exploring the docks against his parent’s will. Upon further reflection, I see it more of a desperate struggle to survive, as this child seems very drowsy and tired, which a story I’d like to tell. My only withdraw about selecting this one is how out of focus the background is and the layering and animation problems that may evolve from that. But other than that, I would layer 4 or 5 times separating the boy and the dock with the man on the right with the boats in the back with the far background.