Evaluation/Final Thoughts

For this brief I was given a lot of freedom on what I could produce, I wanted to explore emotion weight through design as well as showcase an art direction that could work both with moving image format (video etc) and print design. 

I feel this film had a good back and forth with ideas and themes relating back to the creative outcome side. I feel the visual art direction works well with the subject matter of processing difficulties and building and foundation for there future. I was surprised how varied the visuals got considering a lot of them used the same techniques in Ai & Ae. I think the audio narration compliments and flows well with the visuals and really helps drive the message and flow of the film from start to finish. 

I'm incredibly grateful for all the kind words I received during the development of the film. I went through a lot of self doubt during the creation process as I wanted to make sure I was challenged and more importantly that every aspect of the film flowed well. I ended up with a bit of a negative mindset how ever having more people check out the film during the creation process really helped reassure me that what i was making was to of good quality.

If I could of approached this brief differently I wish I handled my time plan better when making the visuals as a lot of the ones that made it into the final film were made within the couple of weeks before the hand in. I wanted to make sure that I took every opportunity to improve the film right up until the deadline. Overall I am happy with the final outcomes, I think I managed to achieve what i set out to do in regards to design something with personal emotional weight in mind as well as having an art direction that works across both moving image and print. I look forward to seeing how people respond to the film once I release the final piece.

Special thanks to Jade Spencer for helping write the narration script, Owen Morris for the audio work. Jordan hollowday for being my second pair of eyes on the visuals and for showing me some of the tools in Ae that allowed for some of these final visuals to animate/react they way they did.

- Jordan

Print designs creation process

For the prints it was just a simple process of exporting stills from Pr and then mock them up in PS. The point of my brief was to have an art direction that work on both video and print so it was just a matter of finishing the film and going through the best moments. I chose not export stills from every visual as I wanted to keep the rest of the footage as a surprise for those that check out the film. here's an overview of how the prints were put together.

The final edit

these were final visuals I went with for the film. Therese were the ones that i left flowed the best with the narration and music, that added the visual impact in the story telling. These were also the most varied collection of visuals to keep the progression flowing well. These are screen shots of some of the final visuals being made as well as an over view on the film being edited together in Premiere Pro.

Most of the visuals were done using a combination of Ai designs (which I've shared earlier in this blog) and the radio wave preset in Ae. It was an effective way to bring life to all the 2d images and I was surprised how varied I was able to take this project.

Audio Recording

I got my friend Owen Morris involved with the film, he's a 2nd yr TVP student here at uni of glos and specialises in audio. We went to his media campus and booked out the audio book in order to record the narration. Once that was done I handed over the files to Owen in order to clean them all up. He used Adobe Audition to get ride of any background noise and improve the sound of the narration. We did many takes and Owen did a great job at directing my voice, I sent him the soundtrack by unforseen so he had a good idea of how the narration should feel tone wise along side it. Here are some behind the scenes shots of both the audio booth recording and screen grabs of the cleaning up in Audition. 

Music Research: Audeka - Lost Souls - 14 - Purify

Another example of a track that fits the tone of the visuals, however still too overpowering for the narration. The track has a great progression and is an interesting mixture of done and heavily detail production styles. And when comparing the music to it's cover artwork it really fits this somber yet dark tone perfectly. If it wasn't for the fact I have an audio narration I might of gone with this because of all the interesting editing ques I could do with the flow of this track.

Music Research: Kania - Ha21 (Feat. Nigel Mphisa)

Great progression however I don't think it's the best fit for the narration script. It's too over powering and the track has been online on SC & YT for a f ew years now and still not release on iTunes or anywhere else. It would be wrong of me to use this for the film as I would have to finding a worse version of it either through a YT converter etc, this film deserves a HQ soundtrack and I want to more directly support who ever I chose for the final track for the film.

Music Research: Hiatus - Some Hope

A great somber tone the title fits not only the tone but also the subject matters in my film. The only downside with this track is the length. After some test audio my narration came near to 3:30 so if I was going to use this track I would need to use more than one track and find a way to flow them together without it ruining the flow. Tone wise it is exactly what I'm looking for.

Music Research: unforsceen - why are we here

This was the track I ended up going with, it's a the perfect balance of what I've been looking into, detailed production, progressive flow (with room for editing ques for the film) no speaking or words so it can compliment and add more focus to the narration audio. It also helps that the track is called Why are we here, which feels fitting considering the film focuses on self doubt.

Music Research: Citylights - Last Train Home

Citylights is know on soundcloud for his more peaceful and emotional sounding remixies/edits of tracks there were not in those areas of music genres to begin with. I like the fast progression and hopeful tone in this track, however I would say near the end of the track is what I'm aiming for emotionally. The track itself is good however it's too overpowering. There needs to be that balance between visuals and music as well as the narration.

Music Research: jon hopkins - campfire //vár sofandi cover

An incredible cover an of already incredible soundtrack. Jon Hopkins understands detail and progression. He knows how to drive a track forwards through just textured production. This track adds more of a drone like texture and plays around with a different flow compared to the original. I did try this track with the narration and visuals, as good as the flow is between this track and the rest of the film, I personally want to explore some original tracks before finalising on anything. However this track is a contender.

Music Research: Owsey - Give Me Truth

I've always liked the dreamy emotional tone in Owsey music, He has an interesting use of samples and giving off an emotional effect when listening. I feel tone wise this suits the visuals how ever my only concern is the samples where people are talking, considering I have an audio narration I feel with an instrumental track would be a lot less hassle. I don't want loads of talking overlapping each other, it would just be destracting and reck the flow.

Music Research: Rhodon & Roger Wilco - Dreamwalker

As much as I like the detail going on with the drops and progression here, it too much like house music to fit the emotional tone of the film. I think there are great editing ques I could do with this track, how ever i would end up with a conflicting tone when take in the narration, the visuals and this track. The flow isn't there.

Music Research: Karma Fields | Build The Cities [Classical]

A very emotional piece of piano music here. I like the sad yet hopeful tone and seeing how well this music sounds and how it flows with the music artwork (which has a similar styled of visuals I've been playing testing with) I feel this could be a possible soundtrack for the final edit. It's both classical but also very film score inspired how ever it doesn't come across over powering.

Music Research: Audeka - Lost Souls - 15 - Beautiful Souls

I like the drone detail going on here, it's a very textured track and I feel it could flow well with the detail in the visuals (sort of like adding sound design/texture to all the footage in a way) How it's a very slow progression. I use music as a way to help structure a film not sure a way to add a good tone to what I'm making. I feel there isn't enough progression in this track so I feel I'm limited with how I could edit it.

Dev Work 7

This play test was a wonderful surprise. I was playing with the directions of the radio wave preset and I ended up with this half and half coloured visual. I tried earlier to add a white background visuals but it didn't flow as well as I expected. However I feel from the use of the detailed build up and the framing it's adds a nice separation between the other visuals. I think this represent a changing landscape/world really well and it flows well with the script as well as the current music choices I'm currently sorting through.

Dev Work 6

I downloaded a noise and dust overlay texture pack to see what it looked like overlaying some of the visuals. I think adds an interesting stop motion feel to the visuals how ever I feel because of how detailed they are already it just feels like overkill. I want the visuals to bounce off the screen so having texture overlays feels like a blocking of that visual impact. I also wanted see how the visuals flow along side this campire remix as I need to look into music for the final video. Also the mirrored mountain visual at the start I'm scrapping, I like how it gets more and more detail through the run time, how ever I'm not sure how well it suits the other final visuals I have sorted. Will need to explore this with a new edit.

Dev Work 5

This started out as a flat 2d texture, I was play testing a use of clipping masks with moving shapes with a textured background done in Ai. There's a preset called cc Sphere and it allows a design or piece of footage to be mapped to a 3d planet like design. I love all the moving parts going on here and the use of blue and white and putting the visual in the middle makes the visual feel along yet feels sort of hopeful in a way. This is currently my favourite visuals I've produced for the film and it compliments the narration script fine.