In my first development blog post, I talked about how I will test out some rotoscope animation. This post will discuss that process, as I have managed to create a rotoscope test based on my influence of Len Lye. The whole rotoscope creation is just difficult to explain without sounding to convoluted. I made the test in Adobe After Effects by creating a mask on the live action layer. What I would do is draw over the actor with a mask, set a keyframe, and every single frame, make minor adjustments. This resulted in the abovementioned test. As you can probably see, the clip underneath the rotoscope animation is the shape test that I showcased in last weeks blog. This is something I intend on keeping up. Although this easily could have been achieved with Adobe’s built in Roto Brush Tool, I had to leave that out as it would not work on my piece of footage. I believe this is due to camera motion along with intricate walking and perspective changes. However, I will have more static shots in my film, so the Roto Brush Tool will for sure come in handy.
My next blog post will discuss the soundtrack, something which I am eagerly awaiting to complete to hear the results.
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One thing that always stumps me when making a film is the title of it, and this one was no different. Well, I found it. The title of my experimental film is going to be ‘alea iacta est’, which is Latin for 'the die is cast'.
The phrasing of this is a peculiar one, and so it is quite strange tying it to my experimental film. However, I didn’t stumble upon this phrasing. I am part of an online animation website, where we have a private discord server to talk nonsense and trivial things. During one of these sessions we were discussing Roman Empire Military strategies and tactics, and I searched for a website for us to read up on certain details. Anyway, while reading through it the phrase ‘alea iacta est’ was used in correspondence with some detail about the military, and it got m attention. I looked up the definition and made note of it. I got back to creating more shape animations last week, when the thought of the phrase came into my mind. The phrase refers to die, and although my experimental film is not littered with any obvious Roman symbols, I took note of the number of cubes I created for my project, and made the connection. And that is how I found the phrase 'alea iacta est’ and made it my own. So, in last week’s blog post I talked about how I was going to test out some shape animation. Well. I did it. I mentioned in the Hans Richter blog post about how I was going to create shape animation but give it a more modern feel. Well, again, I did it. I created some shape animation. This was honestly not as hard as one would imagine, and the actual test footage looks good. I feel like this would work well underneath the rotoscoped layering, so I’m going to adjust the frame rate and lighting issues I’m experiencing with the clip. This whole test was done in Adobe After Effects, and now I feel like I’ve got the hang of it somewhat. How it was done is quite incredulous to explain, so I’ll do my best in doing so. Below are four screenshots of a clip opened in After Effects. Each screenshot showcases a shape, be it a coloured cube, lines, dots or the other coloured cube. In each composition, I made movements to each one, so for instance, the lines, they move up (or down), and with the cubes, they rotate. Once I got each shape final composite and movement down to a t, I then compiled them into one composition, made some sizing and scaling adjustments, did a pre-render then exported the clip. And the example linked above is that exported clip.
here to edit. I intend on doing many, many more of these shapes. I will not be writing about the other ones, as they all will follow a similar pattern of construction. My next blog post will about rotoscoping, so stay tuned for that! This is the first section of the development stage for my film. My entire project idea follows around a guy who is transported to the world of shapes and replaced. Here is a selection of storyboard shots that I have drawn out: Very basic? Of course. Normally I don’t go into full swing when it comes to writing out storyboards, but that’s how I make my stuff. If I can keep the planning simple and easy to follow, it will allow the production to, hopefully, go seamlessly. Now, I don’t want the film to be a spontaneous mishmash of ideas, so the on-the-cuff stuff should be kept to a minimum. I intend on filming within a week, so my next blog post will be about the shape animation, as the rotoscoping will be a precarious stage to partake in.
My previous blog posts on Len Lye, David Lynch, Hans Richter and Duran Duran detailed aspects of their work that I would like to implement into my own. I plan on referencing one of my older films called Trip’d which came out nearly two years ago. Trip’d focuses upon a guy who takes a drug and is transported to a world of cartoons, and this is something I’d like to explore again. I don’t have a title yet, however, I do have my idea for it. Here is the synopsis in its barest state:
“A young man, bored, is transported to a place of colourful shapes, but he soon discovers that he is replaced by a shape figure in the real world” Very similar. I know. While there are big glaring similarities between my new idea and Trip’d, the planned techniques will make the final film. My goal is to use have the main guy watch TV and change channels. When he changes channels, it’s of shapes rotating in such a visceral and peculiar way, and we notice the young guy is in this world. Then, in the real world, the guy is replaced with the shape-man. For this, I plan on rotoscoping over the actor and have the shape animation play underneath them. The musical score is going to take direct inspiration from David Lynch, and I plan on trying to create something in audacity that fits the emotion and setting of my experimental film. Duran Duran were one of the biggest bands in the world in the early-to-mid 1980’s, with their first three albums garnering critical and commercial success. This band has played a huge influence on my life, the bassist John Taylor, who made some of, in my opinion, the coolest basslines ever.
I mentioned in the David Lynch blog post about how I intend on making my own score with a slight experimental feel, and how I will most likely concoct it on my bass guitar. John Taylor, is the reason I picked up bass, so my intention is too creating a bassline that is surrealist, like the basslines to Tiger Tiger and Is There Something I Should Know? (Monster Mix). While the basslines to Girls on Film and Rio and essentially iconic in the modern era of bass playing, those basslines are much more commercial when it comes to what I am making and taking inspiration of. |
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January 2020
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