Silent movie; workshop five.

In this workshop we had to choose one of the ideas we had for a sequence and plot it on the five second timeline from start to finish so that someone would be able to tell what the gradual movements are within the sequence. We were told that we didn't nescessarily have to colour each keyframe in and could colour the significant keyframes in to show colour as this would save a lot of time but would still make the storyboard understandable. Due to the fact my 'S' ended up in pretty much the same place at the end of every second I also didn't include the rotation on the last three lines because it was clear what was going to happen each time. I only included keyframes of how the water level would change because this is a key difference all the way through. 

Throughout all of the workshops we have gradually learnt how to storyboard correctly so that it can be understood clearly in terms of the direction ideas are going in. 

Silent movie; workshop four.

This was the workshop where we began to think more realistically about the amount of keyframes each sequence would need to show the movement properly from start to finish. We were also introduced to framing in this workshop because when you start working in after effects there is a frame set out so you know where you content will fit within the screen. This process of drawing out the frames was quite time consuming but benefitted us a lot because it began to bring the sequence to life a little bit more and gave us greater understanding. Using the framing system meant that we could indicate when something would be off the screen and what section of the type this would be. I also began thinking on a more personal level about how my sequence would start and also end as seen on the photo of the second sheet. 

As a test for wether these storybaords were clear about how the sequences worked we took these sheets into a mini crit and paired up. We had to let our partner look at our sheets and explain to us what was happening without interrupting. Most of my storyboards were clear and my partner got them correct but I made a few notes of things I needed to alter that didn't really work. Some of these things were elements such as the fact the sequence on the second screen starting black and ending black didn't really make sense when black was not to be seen anywhere else in the sequence. 

After effects workshop three.

Keyframe interpolation using illustrator paths.

- Interpolate; to insert between fixed points.

To change from a smooth point to a corner point the convert vertex tool is used.

To work with interpolation you have to select a keyframe and click animation > keyframe interpolation.

If you click linear and OK it turns the curved line into a straight path with a point. 

If you click the diamond you can add another keyframe wherever needed. 

Select all keyframes and go back to keyframe interpolation > Hold (no change). The line goes straight and there is no dots.

The diamonds take on a different shape depending on what properties they are given.

Each layer remains at its position until the next keyframe. 

Create a shape in illustrator, copy this, go back into after effects, enable position keyframing and click paste. The shape used will create a perfect path. 

Choosing the above options means that the shape orients along the path. 

Create a solid which is to the size of the workspace then choose a shape and drag it into the work area, this creates a mask and vector shape which gives different options to change. 

You can manipulate the mask by moving anchor points. This change can also occur with keyframes so it is animated. 

To make something reveal, create a mask over the artwork then create a start and end keyframe, go back to the start and drag one side of the mask across the artwork. 

Toggle switches that there is no room for are found here. 

Choose alpha matte which specifices where the dots are seen. This is applied if there is a background and text layer seperately. Another possibility for transparency. 

To make the word blink have a second keyframe where the opacity goes right down and a third where it comes back up and then hold the keyframe interpolation. So the speed of the changes are the same, you can space the keyframes equally apart. Select all keyframes between the first and last, rove across time in keyframe interpolation and the keyframes space themselves out equally. They also change from a diamond to a circle. 

Silent movie; summary of last workshop.

What is a keyframe?

A key frame is a point on the timeline within which change happens wether it be a slight change or a dramatic one. Keyframes are used in certain ways to communicate the motion the designer is looking for. 

What did I learn from the previous workshop? 

- Some form of mathematics comes into play with storyboarding. 

- A change may not have to happen quite so regularly to communicate an idea. 

- Storyboards are better to understand when cut up and stuck as one huge line because you can gain greater understanding of whats happening. 

- Storyboarding is quite important before taking ideas into software because you gain greater understanding of how and when the word will move. 

What problems did I encounter when working with timelines?

- I didn't write the times down for when changed ocurred in the second sequence and I needed these to place the frames correctly. 

- Due to the fact my sequence was 59 seconds and not a rounded time, it took a while to divide this up and place it on to my timeline. 

- I had to come up with a system to make it easier to understand where frames began because sometimes there was a few around the same area.

- It made sense to me but did it have to make sense to anyone else? 

How do my own sequences work in regards to what I have done today? 

- Faster sequences will need a lot more keyframes to communicate the rapid change the word will have. 

- Slower sequences may need less as they are more gradual movement.

- I need to collect all relevent information for my sequences before creating them so I will know exactly how they should work. 

- My sequences will have less keyframes than the one I explored because my time for the full sequence is shorter. 

Silent movie; workshop three.

The image on the right shows mainly what we had to do within this workshop. We had to decide wether we were going to use one of our given words or both of them. I decided to use both because I felt that I could maybe come up with five good ideas rather than using the one word and getting stuck towards the fifth idea. We then had to produce five ideas for each of the sequences and I decided to use different fonts so that my sequences would be varied. I wanted to keep all of my ideas quite simple yet effective so an audience would know exactly what they were doing. These ideas were working well so far because they all looked different. We were also told to annotate these ideas because storyboard sometimes arent so self explanitory and draw arrows to help show the direction things would be travelling in. 

We then had to go away and come up with five more ideas for each of the five sequences using only black, white and one other colour as stated on the brief. Initially I thought this would be quite difficult because you tend to get a bit stuck towards the fourth of fifth idea but the use of colour could make each of the sequences look different and you could also try and represent speed to differ the sequences. Coming up with these ideas in stages has really helped me because you don't realise how many ideas you are actually coming up with until you look back on it and realise you actually have quite a few storyboards you could begin to develop even further. I found it harder to work with a single letter because when you have more than one you could seperate these to represent the word. 

Once we'd completed the five ideas of each of the five sequences we had to choose our favourite five that we could then go on to develop. Once we'd chosen them we had to plot them on a five second timeline using the frames we'd previously drawn to show where these movements would occur on the timeline, because they wouldn't nescessarily be spread out equally or be at the beginning or end. Doing this showed that some of the sequences need more frames than what I had been working with as all of the sequences were incomplete so next I needed to move on and work out exactly how many frames each sequence may need. 

Silent movie; workshop two.

After the previous workshop we were told to choose a kinetic type sequence on youtube and take 25 screen shots equally apart from any point in the sequence that we choose and also 25 screen shots of where we think significant changes happen in the sequence. We had to print these screen shots out postage stamp size but were given no indication of what we would be doing next with these. 

When it came to the workshop we were told to draw 5, 60cm lines and split these up equally into 10 second sections. 

In the first task we had to plot the 25 screen shots we'd taken equally apart on the timeline, they didn't nescessarily have to be on he first line, they could be spread across all five if thats how we felt it worked best. At this point I realised I hadn't gathered all the relevent information because I hadn't taken down the time that I took each of the screenshots at and I needed this to plot them on the timeline. I'd also made it more difficult for myself because i'd chosen a video that didn't have a rounded time such as 60 seconds so I had to sit and work out equal timing for my particular time. This taught me more so that time is very important when it comes to looking at sequences and should always be a relevent piece of information that you take note of. 

With the second sequence I also hadn't noted down the point in which i'd take the screenshots so I had to go back on youtube and look at this so that I knew where to plot the images on the timeline. We had to do the same thing in which we drew 5 lines 60cms long but this time we were told we might need scissors. It soon dawned on everyone that we could cut the timeline out and stick it together so that it was one long line. Once we had stuck all the images onto the timeline and put this up on the wall, we saw it was a lot clearer in this format to see what was going on in the squence, it could also probably help us understand the timescale better. 

One of the questions that came up once we'd stuck all this work on the wall was do the timelines make sense and I commented saying that 'it does to me'. One of the most important things I then took away from this workshop was that as long as the storyboards make sense to me it doesn't matter to anyone else because i'm the one person that has to work with this. 

Silent movie; workshop one.

We were each given two words which we had to go away and research in time for this workshop.
My words were float and spin. I had to find for each of these words;
20 relating words.
20 definitions. 
20 objects. 
20 situations that relate. 
20 appropriate typefaces - small, medium and large versions of each typeface. 

During the lunch break before this workshop began we were asked to use the fonts we had collected, choosing one letter, to represent each of the words. This task was set to get us thinking about how you could use a font to visually represent a word and got is in the right frame of mind for what was to follow. I actually found this task quite difficult because i'd start drawing an idea and then realise it was quite similar to one i'd previously done. We really had think outside the box and try and be a little less obvious with this task, the fact we had different scales of each font made it easier because you could come up with more interesting ideas. 

With the storyboards on the left, we had to place the letter we were using in different frames each time instead of just the beginning, this was to get us thinking about the motion path something would take to get to the point where we had placed this letter. This actually worked quite successfully because although the ideas are quite similar and simple, due to the positioning of the letterform being different each time, each sequence has a uniqueness to it. 

With the storyboards on the right and also these ones above we were given certain characteristics to focus on such as the letterform being bold, scale and particular anchor points. We were also asked to think about how the sequence begins each time, does it always have to begin with the letterform or can it begin with a blank screen? Although this task seemed difficult at times because you didn't want to repete a sequence you'd already created, it was quite good because being told to follow certain characteristics on each sequence helped the ideas vary so we were begining to get a collection of different ideas we could develop and work with. The fact we were timed on each section of this workshop everytime we were set a task really helped myself a lot because i'd spend too much time trying to make the ideas really creative when at this stage they just needed to be quick and simple so they could later be developed. 

After effects workshop two.

Temperal; the timeline allows you to place things in time. 

Set up for artwork that is to be taken into after effects from photoshop. 

There is an actual film/video preset option that automatically selects the correct options. 

Guides are automatically added and specify safe zones for you to work within. 

There is always the option to get the guides in after effects. 

Always have artwork with a transparent background and save as a PSD.

To import to after effects import the work as footage.

Once imported it will appear in the project section of after effects. 

To add artwork to the composition drag it across to this window.

When artwork has layers it needs to be imported as a composition. 

The layers appear in the project section seperately. 

To add the same position change you can select all of the layers, then move the red line and change the position of each seperate layer. 

To scale all the layers at the same time select them all. 

If you import but retain layer sizes it means you can scale each letter seperately because they have their own anchor points. 

There is also the option for film/video in illustrator to create artwork with a frame. 

When you intially change the size of the text it blurs. The button with three circles in after effects can apply motion blur to the artwork for emphasis on the movement. So the artwork is no longer blurry you can click the sunshine button so the artwork becomes continuously rasterized and it brings it back into focus. 

This option gathers all the files together that the piece of video needs to work. It creates a new folder with all of these files in.