11 Mar
Week 8 Assignment:
Below are the two versions of my preloader for my white rabbit site intro. Let me know what you think. I’d like to say I coded them myself but I had help from my teacher cause what I wanted to do was a little more complicated than what he demonstrated in class.
25 Feb
Week 6 Assignment 1 Homework:
Took me a little while to come up with the second banner ad. I still think it could use some improvement but I tried doing one with more cel animation. I made sure to reference the logo at the beginning and display it longer at the end.
Week 6 Assignment 2 Homework:
I’m going to make the necessary corrections to my first banner ad and re-post it but for now here is the previous banner ad with an active invisible button that links back to my blog.
18 Feb
Week 5 Assignment 2 Homework:
I got to try my hand with cel animation in Flash it is a lot of fun, but time consuming. If I had given myself more time I would have done more but I think that what I got done turned out real cute. Hope you like it.
17 Feb
Week 5 Assignment 1 Homework:
I think that for my first animated banner ad it turned out well. I had some problems trying to sink up the onion skinning animation with the movie clip. I tried adding frames and spacing out the animation on the timeline it comes pretty close but still it could be better.
11 Feb
Week 4 Assignment 2 Homework:
Catch Me If You Can: Okay so this week I got to choose one out of the two title designs I had to review and it was whatever I wanted so I selected Catch Me If You Can. I love this movie and all though it has been awhile since I’ve seen the movie it has one of the better title designs that I have ever seen. I love how the type is incorporated into the “scenery” of the storyline. It moves and grows with the action taking place on screen. Its a brief preview of whats to come….and its pulled off wonderfully I don’t see anything that needs to be changed. The music selection works well with the storyline of the movie it starts out slow and works its way into a faster pace. The rhythm of the title elements is perfectly in-sink with the music. I really like how the type grows and moves with the action providing scenery and props for the characters running about. The shapes are relatively simple and work well with the type selection. The size relation of the type and the 2D characters varies throughout the title sequence and creates a strong sense of depth to an otherwise flat illustration. An example of the type working with the characters….well two examples actually:
1) Is the part where the protagonist is running from the detective in a business suit and in the foreground are two typist. The credits move up out of the typewriters as they type in time with the music.
2)The series of over head lights towards the end: the type forms parts of the lights and pulleys that the protagonist jumps around on to avoid capture.
The title sequence is provided below:
Vertigo: The next title sequence selection is Vertigo. I like Alfred Hitchcock movies but I’ve never seen this one. I thought it was a bit funny that James Stewart’s name was placed just below the woman’s nose which made it look like a mustache. The title emerging from the eye was rather creepy. Interesting use of tinting by starting out with black and white and moving to a red just before the title emerges. The opening sequence definitely held true to the theme of the movie, although the spinning objects reminded me of spin art or those geometric graph patterns that a friend created for me one time. I can’t say whether the title sequence lent itself to the movie’s theme (cause I haven’t seen it) or not other than the obvious spinning cliche for the word vertigo. The use of the spin art/geometry graphic forms was over used. I understand for that time the effects available were a bit limited but another than effectively creating the uneasy, off-centered feeling for someone that has experienced vertigo it wasn’t all that creative for an opening sequence. It didn’t really tell me that much about what the movie will be about so I found that very disappointing. But it may have been what he wanted to accomplish with it. I’m not really sure.
The movie intro is provided below:
11 Feb
Week 4 Assignment 1 Homework:
Okay so I tried to get at least a quarter to half way complete with my banner ad. I used the chocolate bar from my pure bliss logo but updated the color so it would be a bit warmer. I also reflected this in the White Rabbit logo. I created a subtle gradient background to place behind the chocolate bar to provide a little more depth than just a flat color behind it. I wanted to have a ripple of chocolate pooled underneath the bar. I’m still trying to get the timing right and will definitely have a few questions for class regarding the movie clip I created of the ripple. It took me a while to get it to look right and I still want to work on it some more but will get input from class to see what you guys think. I basically chose four different tints of the warm brown color and then created flattened circles that were converted to one symbol. I double-clicked on the ripple symbol and animated the movie from there using the Shape Tween feature. So it is on it’s own timeline…which I thought would work best but now I’m not sure how to get it to sink up to the other animation properly. I tried to do a bit of onion skinning with the chocolate that drips from the candy bar. It turned out all right but it still needs a bit of tweeking. Here is the result of what I have so far.
28 Jan
Week 2 Assignment 2 Homework:
Sin City: I thought that the introduction of the title was very creative. It overlooks a black and white city scape that tilts and rotates to reveal the words Sin City. The words are then begin to show cracks of red light bursting through and then the entire title is coated in flat red. It is that first few seconds of the title sequence that gives a brief preview of the movie’s theme. The credits proceed shortly after painted in the same red as the title. Since the movie is a spin off of the graphic novel by Frank Miller the characters are displayed in the style of the comic. The stark contrast of the black and white images and the red type ensures the audiences’ focus on the actors names that move in opposing direction with the graphic images. I like that there is constant movement. The character images are either moving left to right or forward and backward as they fade in and then fade out. The type also is slightly transparent to allow parts of the image behind it to show through. The images come in fast fade up and move across, then the type fades in and quickly pops out just before the next image appears. Its as if the text never quite leaves the screen.
Even with all the movement and the fast paced timing of the stills and type. It still moves mainly on a horizontal axis. The images and type always tend to appear within the same area. Nothing comes from above or below, or even cuts in from the side. The greatest use of cropping and camera angle was when the title was first introduced. It maybe that the opening credits are trying to stay true to the graphic novel because they are very flat and not three dimensional like the opening title. I provided an example of the opening title I reviewed below.
Lord of War:
The perspective of following the bullet throughout its production does lend to an interesting visual. The opening title of the movie doesn’t emerge until just after the casing of the bullet is created. The credits fade in and out in relation to the bullet on the production line. The credits continue to follow the bullet as it is packaged and shipped to various locations. The type displays in the darkness of the shipping crate and disappears as its being opened, only to reappear once the crate is closed again. The type for the credits is placed in a way to keep the audiences’ focus on the bullet. I like how it shows the production of the bullets and puts the audience in its place as if they were part of the production line. The ending of the sequence is very abrupt but it clearly illustrates the life of a bullet.
The perspective and use of CG to create the title sequence was inventive and placing the credits around the bullet did keep your focus on it showed strong forethought. The typeface selected also looked somewhat mechanical which helped it to fit in with the theme of the movie.
I have included the intro I reviewed below.
28 Jan
Week 2 Assignment 1 Homework: Flash has similar capabilities to Illustrator so the creation of my logos wasn’t too difficult. I don’t like that when you use the pen tool that the points don’t automatically close like they do in Illustrator. I had a few problems adding fill color to the shapes I created because the points didn’t always close. I used the oval and rectangle tool to create parts of my logos and manipulated them with the black pointer, but for the most part I used the pen tool. I don’t really have a logo that is my least favorite they all have interesting qualities that would lend well to animation in Flash. The logo for Pure Bliss I think would be the most fun to animate and it is the one I spent the most time on creating. The White Rabbit logo is cute and I think the color scheme turned out well, but I still feel it could be worked on a bit more. The Trinity Truffles logo changed quite a bit as I was working on it. I think it is the most refined out of the three logos. Maybe its because I worked on them so long but I guess if I have to choose a least favorite it would be the White Rabbit logo. The most favorite would be the Pure Bliss.
24 Jan
It has been quite some time since my last post at least two quarters have passed between now and then. The new posts will be exploring the asthetics of motion design, the different ways in which it is used and my opinions on them. I will also provide some examples of the Flash work I will be creating in class. I hope that you enjoy my posts and will appreciate any and all feedback that you can provide.
24 Jan
Happy New Year! A bit delayed but better late than never. I hope that everyone had a good holiday season. Although, the first month of the new year is almost over its still strange to me that a new year has already begun. Best wishes to all and I hope that this year is much better than the last.
