Project 3: Research into Mixed Media Idents- MTV Poland

This ident was made to be broadcasted on MTV Poland. And it consists of a number of slow panning shots around a site in the country-side. It starts off with a CGI’d piece of plastic/fabric twisting and turning over the edge of a lake. It continues to transform until it turns into a set of speakers, obiously to relate back to the MTC company. As it is doing this, the water makes a small ripple, which escalates into a smal tidal wave.

There are a number of techniques thatused in this animation. One of those techniques is the effect of the water, and making it move and contort. The most popular way to do this would be to create a plane on cinema 4D or something similar, and editing that plane, being able to pull and twist the plane which can make a ripple/movement effect on the water. The way that the stereo would be created would be to make the stereo first, and the go to morph and change the look of it by adding effectors such as the twister tool, and then reversing the footage in order to make the morph turn back into the stereo.

This ident caught my attention imediately, for a different reason than a normal MTV advert would. The fact that this ident is rather tranquil and has a set colour scene rather than as many as one could possibly try and get, just makes the video stand out more against all the other idents, making it a very clever choice. There isnt too much to focus on in this ident, which can work very well in  its favour, as the animators can focus more attention on the remaining pieces of animation. Because of this, the animated counterparts are so crisp, clear and realistic and eye catching.  have been 

Project 4: Research into Mixed Media Idents - Sang Yup Kim

MTV – Sang Yup Kim

This ident, I thought was probably one of the more time consuming idents that I’d seen. I starts as what

 appears to be in the inside of a body, with organs and skin and cells all pulsing and moving around. The camera then zooms out of the inside of the body to show the audience what was on the outside. It shows this small, shiny and rather angry looking creature who resembles a heart. The heart promptly explodes after the camera has steadied for about half a second, to reveal the MVT logo inside of it.

I can tell straight away from this ident that it is in full 3D animation, and has had a lot of attention put purely on how this creature looks. The heart will have been sculpted probably from a simple sphere and can be torn apart easily from making the object editable. The background is also very simple, if it has been shot in live footage then I will just be a white screen backdrop used usually for photography. However, this kind of space can be created digitally too by making a plane and curving and shaping it until it resembled a ski slope like shape. Putting simple spot lights in front of the creature will also cast great shadows on the background and make it looks quite realistic.

I think this ident is great to attract attention from audiences of all ages. It’s got that half cute/half gross factor about it which is always appealing to users specifically on the internet. I love the detail and shine effect that the heart has and it also drops a big bomb on the audience when the little monster blows up. It’s also got a lot of humour placed in this ident as well as a little shock, as when the monster bursts, his teeth and eyes just fall onto the floor leaving the skin to blow away, which I think will engage the audience well. 

Project 3: Research into Mixed Media Idents - Digital Cinema Media

To begin my project I went to look at a number of previous versions, created by and for the company. There were a number of still images that were used in the 2013 ident which really caught my eye, a few of them being very abstract. The overall feeling that I got from this advert wasn’t necessarily a range of emotions, but one rather fierce emotion. Throughout the entire advert I got the feeling of awe, excitement, serenity and pride, which, as a marketing technique, appeared to be very effective! In all of the mini-scenes, the two elements of the scenes are very contrasting, both in colour and content. This adds such a dynamic feel to the ident, like literally send shivers up the spine and goose bumps up my arms. This shows that the content has been very carefully chosen;

Although the mini-scenes only last maybe 2 – 3 seconds each, the viewers get a good glimpse of what’s going on. In this scene, the background is a time lapsed view of a mountain range, complete with cloud coverage. The clouds have a flowing and blustery motion which sets the direction and speed of the scene. The scene within the logo has therefore got something to be timed to, the choice of footage was smart because it contrasts visually with the other footage, both in colour and content. The footage of the grass blowing in wind matches the background footage, and it is generally at the same speed that the clouds are moving as well. The overall tone of the scene is quite peaceful looking, but also has a rather majestic feel to it from the scene of the mountains, the blustery wind, and the paling shot of the grass.

Another scene in the ident which caught my eye was this one. My eyes were immediately drawn to the burst of lava, contrasting against the stark background of the globe which, in turn, morphed into what looked like a control centre on a spaceship. Environmentally, the two pieces are linked through the topic of science and exploration, but also give off the emotions of panic, excitement, power and awe, which relates well to the previous scene. The colours in this scene are really my favourite part of it. With the pale background from the earth, and the dark sky in space, which goes so well to push and emphasise the lava bursting out from the logo. There isn’t as much cohesion with the technicality of the camera, as the globe is turning one way, at a pretty consistent speed, and the lava erupts into the other direction, which throws off the attention of the audience. I think this technique works well though, as it fully puts the attention on the lava.

This frame is my all-time favourite of the whole ident. The scene is probably the least contrasting of all, but still has so much effect on the audience, and is definitely what puts the audience at peace, possibly relating to the “Happy Ending,” of a film. The scene shows the tranquil and serene footage in both the background and the logo, linking them perfectly to the emotion being emitted. The background shows the movement of jellyfish, which slowly bob and flow across the screen, which are so contrasting against the pure black backdrop given that it is very deep in the ocean. I think this works amazingly and the footage is so crystal clear it doesn’t even look real. Inside the logo is footage of the sky being shot out of what I can only assume to be an aeroplane? The sky, like the jellyfish, look so serene and easy going that it definitely brings a sense of calm to the ident. I think there is obviously a lot of technical dedication has gone into this, as underwater and 30,000 foot shots would not be hard to come by. 

LoopDeLoop Competition Entry/ Evaluation.

During the week we had a small surprise live brief;
We were asked to take part in a competition, based in Australia, named LoopDeLoop! Which consists of entries from all over the world which are all examples of looped animations. 
We were given the week-long task of designing, creating and animating a small animation Loop to go with a subject, and a sample of chosen music.
There were a set of rules we had to follow in order for our loops to be considered for the competition, and these rules were;

• The animation loop must be 24 frames per second.
• It must be designed and animated to the beats of one of four samples of music chosen by you.
• It must be made and rendered on a green screen-like background (#00FF00.)
• No shadows and the character must have a crisp and clean silhouette.
• All loops must be submitted under the appropriate formats.
• Can be as long as you like, as long at it loops!

The track I chose was very up-beat and quirky, and was my favourite out of all of the songs, and it made the think of a very cute and lovable atmosphere.
 The character that I created to go with this song was a little cat with rather large headphones on. I made the cat look rather techno-like, to match the song choice I made, as well as keeping the colours rather light and "cute" in order to keep up this cheerful appearance.
I made this animation using Adobe AfterEffects, where the character was drawn in a digital program (Paint Tool Sai) and I then put all of the separate drawn pieces into AfterEffects and animated the cat manually through grabbing and moving parts of her body.
Before I did any of this, I had put the track into After Effects first, and then worked out the beats and timings on After Effects' timeline and was able to map out specific parts that my animation would need to move.

Here is my finished, small animation loop;

Evaluation.
I was pleased to have a small break from the big project we were undergoing and doing something small and fresh was a big break for us. I found this project both fun and rather challenging at the same time, as it was my first time using After Effects. I chose something cute and small because I have a lot of experience with that kind of subject, and I chose a very simple design which for me is rather unusual, but I did feel it would help with making the movements of my character a lot smoother and work better all round. If I had to have done anything differently, I would have taken a bit more time ensure that puppet pins and pieces of her body were more intact and running smoothly than on what she looks like. But overall I'm quite pleased with how my animation turned out, I think had I known more about After Effects and also taking to account that the project was only a week long, I could have done slightly more to enhance my animation and make the character do a little bit more with regards to movement.