Look Up- Final Copy

27hrs later...

After really rethinking my animation for this semester, I have managed to create 1 minute piece that I am extremely proud of and really hope it expresses the message that I intended to create. I have used many techniques whilst making my animation, with YouTube tutorials helping me almost entirely when using After Effects to a professional standard (eg. when creating the fire, explosions, and the cityscape silhouette in Photoshop)

I have worked very hard throughout this project and I really hope that this shows through the quality of my work. I also hope that my sketchbook shows my creative side and a development of ideas as the sketchbook continues.

My original idea was to create a post apocalyptic sequence that shows the effect that recent developments in technology has on our lives, forcing us to lose focus on the things that matter in life such as physical human interaction. I created post apocalyptic scenes within my animation through the help of Photoshop and After Effects itself. I followed certain tutorials off YouTube that taught me how to create the special effects I needed to enhance my video and make it look realistic.

I included symbolic images from social media networks such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in order to try and express the idea that we are becoming brainwashed (hence the exploding head//minds) and that we are becoming technology dependent, losing sight (hence the eye images) of what is real.

However, towards the end of the video, I try to include a more Utopian view of the world if we just take a step back from our technology dependent lives and enjoy the world as it it, for its natural beauty, hence the sunny cityscape. I included the message: 'Refuse to let technology control you...just switch off', to try an enforce the idea that we do not need to remove technology completely from our lives, just don't become dependent on it.

Overall I am extremely proud of what I have created and I believe that I have improved my overall technical skills and therefore expanded my knowledge on how to use After Effects. I think I have met the brief  'Looking Outside' in a creative, unique way exploring a very real problem in the 21st century.

Rethink

After discussing my ideas with the lecturers, I have decided to alter the narrative structure of my animation as this will make my idea seem more original and heighten the technical difficulty, therefore perhaps heightening my grade slightly.

Instead of sticking to a linear narrative, I have decided to erase the entire of an narrative altogether. I was shown an animation called 'Revolver' (posted below) that uses the idea of a continuous loop of the same sequences and focuses heavily on sound to create effect. This relates to my idea of 'Nostalgia' as life is one continuous loop and for many people we repeat the same things day after day. The animation shown to me also used the loop idea to help draw attention to all areas of the screen as you watch the sequence more than once thus making it a much more interesting animation to watch.

I also was advised not to use Cinema 4D for my animation because this just over complicates things and it could be produced using Photoshop. I am happy about this as I am far more confident on Photoshop than Cinema 4D anyway!

Cinema 4D Experiments

These are examples of where I have taken a landscape image off Google (in this case a Snow Tundra texture) and applied it to the bare landscape shape on Cinema 4D. This then makes the scene look much more realistic.

In order to create my animation, I will be using Cinema 4D to create the outside landscapes and the objects that will sit within the frames. Here are a few examples of work i have produced using Cinema 4D. Obviously these are just experiments but i am quite proud considering I missed the first lecture on how to use the software.

Realistic Fog

For my apocalyptic scene, I wanted to add a layer of fog and this video explains simply how to create one! I hope to work alongside this tutorial in order to create this fog then use it in an appropriate manner in my animation.

Photoshop Fire

I intend to create flames within Photoshop, like the examples here, so I can later import them onto my background layer of a cityscape. I will use the technique of blending and layer masking so that the image looks professional and realistic. I will later upload my attempt of this flame creation when finished,

Cat

This is a first attempt of using layer masks to create multiple layers in an image, without deleting anything. This will come in handy when creating layers for a backdrop of a city. Also, this way of manipulating an image is far more advanced than just selecting an area and deleting it.

CGI

In order to make my animation look believable, I have decided to include the use of CGI and Special Effects. To create the desired 'Post Apocalyptic' effect, I will research how to create explosions//landscapes//fire effects on youtube which I can then follow and change to my own preferences.

I have included an example of what I hope to achieve in terms of landscape and CGI Effects.

'Looking Outside'- Idea 2

In order to expand on my knowledge within the 3D Animation industry, I have also thought up another idea related more specifically to 'Looking Outside' and modern day society.

I wanted to create a scene within After Effects and Photoshop in which a young child is standing looking out of a window to the view outside. The camera slowly zooms in to reveal in full the scene the boy is looking at. However, instead of being a peaceful, utopian setting, the scene is interrupted by dystopian imagery reflecting on modern day fears such as terrorism, capitalism, corruption etc.

I wanted the effect of this scene to be that our world is changing and due to the development of technology in particular, children especially are becoming brainwashed, almost obsessed with modern day technology etc. I wanted to show how corrupt the world is becoming and how this affects future generation so instead of someone looking outside to our world and feeling proud of it, we look outside and feel shear fear for the future and what will happen when technology development etc become out of control.

In order to show this dystopian universe,  alongside the images I wanted to have discordant music playing to create an eerie uncomfortable atmosphere in which to watch the animation. Creating a world uncomfortable to live in...

After these scenes have been completed, the camera will zoom out and rejoin the young child within the room. However the child has now grown up (shows passing of time//how times change) and is now an old. The camera continues to zoom out to black as the old man is left to reflect on the world he has now become a part of.

I think this idea is much more solid than my previous idea and also gives me the chance to create an entire animation through the use of 3D After Effects, therefore enhancing and developing my skills as an animator.

4 Walls, 3 Windows

First attempt of creating a 3D Room with added windows and a scene for outside.

Beautiful Freaks

What do you think when you see someone with a tattoo, a non traditional piercing or another type of body modification? Does your perception of them change?

Do you think tramp?
Do you think criminal?

Many people do.

Yet like everyone else, modified people are more than stereotypes. In recent years tattooing has begun to gain a measure of acceptance in U.S and UK society but large, obvious tattoos, stretched piercings; and even more extreme modifications like branding, scarification and sub dermal implants are often represented by the media as indicators of sexual or criminal defiance.

These associations, perpetuated by newspapers and magazines helped cement tattooed people into the public consciousness as freakish, savage and deformed when in reality, these people are no different on the inside.  The society we live in has shaped people's perception of 'the ideal' and left us blinded by superficiality and materialism.

'Looking Outside' - Idea 1

In order to create an original piece of work, I decided to enhance upon the subject 'Looking Outside' and focus it on superficiality and stereotyping, after all, we judge what we look at on the outside, not on the person inside.

People are first and foremost, whether they like to admit it or not, incredibly superficial and materialistic, judging people solely on what they look like on the outside. In this project I wanted to collect a variety of people suiting these cliched stereotypes and make a montage sequence portraying them holding boards either saying how they feel about being judged for the way they look.

I think this then portrays the idea of 'looking outside' in a unique and experimental way and allows a message to be expressed that just because someone may look a little different to another person or dress slightly different, that we are all part of an equal society so no body should be treated any differently to anybody else, especially for superficial purposes.

The stereotypes I hope to include within this project will be mainly people with body modifications and tattoos as they are the most controversial subject when it comes down to wanting a professional career, Body mods and tattoos should not hinder anybody's chances of getting a job, especially when they do not affect your level of intelligence, therefore the chance for you to do that job. It is a subject that I feel very strongly about and I wanted to give the viewer of my animation the chance to 'Look Inside' and see the person for who they truly are and not judge based on superficial appearances.

Digital Animation

3D Digital Animation: An Introduction

What would you like to learn about AfterEffects?

> 3D Digital Animation

> Drawing within AfterEffects

> Animating people//specific objects

> How to create Landscapes//rolling scenery