OUIL504 - Studio Brief 2 - Moving Pictures - Final Animations

After a couple of peer review sessions it came to my attention that I need to create 6 10 second animations in order for the animations to fit with my intended theme. I originally wanted to hand draw all the components of my animation and use Dragonframe to make a stop 0frame animation, but I ended up having to do it digitally because of time constraints, I also decided to do only 3 animations instead of the original 6 that I had planned, as I was finding it hard to complete the animations to a high standard.



animation1 from becky firth on Vimeo.





animation2 from becky firth on Vimeo.



animation3 from becky firth on Vimeo.

I think the last animation was least successful because it was the most jittery and I rushed it a little bit to meet the deadline.

What I would have done If I had time

If I had had time I would have added text to my animations which may have moved at the end, I also would have added a static noise in the background which would run throughout.

OUIL504 - Brief 2 and 3 Initial Peer Progress Review

Comment on the practical development of work for the Moving Pictures Brief. Is there sufficient evidence of practically investigating selected processes and techniques?

- Dragonframe workshop is very effective in showing the motifs - colour palette
- Concept of the clock isn-t super strong - is this just a test? - explain why you are/aren't using it.
- Great amount of visual research
- Camera head people are weird but communicate Orwell effectively, Have you abandoned this?
Perhaps state why on your blog - What's the idea for your final animation?

Comment on practical development of work for the Printed Pictures Brief. Is there sufficient evidence of practically investigating selected processes and techniques?

- Text heavy experimentation, you read the text and then the image, not syncing up fully yet.
- Perhaps text needs to be incorporated with image more.
- War is Peace doesn't initially read as Orwell
- Ignorance poster, text is getting lost within the image

Comment on the clarity with which the development of concepts, ideas and practical solutions has been documented on the studio practice blog.

- Quality of prints is very high
- High quality paper becomes part of the image, torn ragged edge reflects concept
-War is peace would work better cropped.

Comment on the extent to which the planning of time and resources has been effectively considered in order to enable the production of the proposed work in the time available.

- Amount of Screen print shows good time management
- Maybe work could have had more development before print, you've investigated a lot but not experimented at the same degree.
- You should be proud of where you are at this point.

Strengths

- Use of colour and bold line work, very powerful and reflect concept appropriately
- Animation tests are strong - in particular DragonFrame
- Good idea of screen print and development
- Practical work, use of text makes your work recognisable
- Camera for head people, intangible works so well for Orwell.

Improvements

- Think about text as image - look at graphic designers who use type as image.
- Begin to prioritise moving pictures
- Iron out concept for moving pictures
- Blog everything
- Blog about what decisions you've made - be critical.

OUIL504 - Studio Brief 2: Moving Pictures Concept Review

Comment on the selection of themes, content, concepts or messages (are they specific enough and are they appropriate to the selected author, texts or research?)

- Dystopia
- Surveillance
- Oppression

Comment on the visual concept of the proposal (are the decisions about aesthetic, media and colour appropriate to the intended tone of voice, mood and/or concept)

Look at Astrids work
Theme - Aesthetic really strong, think about layers, opacity and depth when building animation.

Mood - Oppression - Think about viewpoint/lens. How do you show oppression? How literal do you need to be? Intangible?

Comment on the clarity with which the audience and or context has informed decisions relating to format, duration, media and content.

Documentary about life and works, Authors life.
CHANGE to 6 10 Second long stings.
Think about 6 different animations.
6X Compositions/Scenes/Events from the book on theme of surveillance/oppression.

Comment on the extent to which the planning of time and resources has been effectively considered in order to enable the production of the proposed work in the time available.

You need to make a storyboard.

TO DO:
Make a timetable
Organise Printed Pictures
6X Animations
6X Storyboards
Find 6 key events/scenes/quotes from the book.

OUIL504 - Moving Pictures - How I made my animation

I have decided that although I am still hand drawing my animation, rather than doing it all on paper and using Dragon Frame to make my animation, I'm going to compile everything in After Affects and animate it that way.

I have made various backgroundA which were inspired by the textures I created in my visual journal and drew each part of my animation in photo, I drew each image multiple times in order to give the illusion that it moved when I looped it.

OUIL504 - Studio Brief 3 - Printed Pictures - Screen printing

I did two full day sessions of screen printing, which were hard work but have made me fall in love with the process. I like that you put in so much hard work and get a really nice looking piece at the end, that you can tell was time consuming.

I ended up doing tests for two of my prints and I intend to expose the rest of my screens at some point this week so that I can print after the Christmas holiday.

OUIL503 - Responsive - YCN J2O Brief

Follow Becky's board Drinks Packaging on Pinterest.

I decided I would work on the J2O YCN brief, particularly because I'm interested in developing my knowledge of package design and am excited about re-branding an existing company, which I've never done before.
J2O want to shift their main audience from that of the under 16s to a much older more sophisticated one, people who are confident within their social group and don't feel as though they need to drink alcohol when socialising.
My first thought of how to tackle the target audience problem was to make the J2O bottle design mimic beer bottles with their design.
I wanted to research more into beer bottle design, specifically independently designed bottles, because I feel like this would make J2O fit in much more at bars and clubs.
I began looking on Pinterest and created a board for inspiration

What stood out to me about these designs was the bold black shapes combined with the intricate type, which is a mix between hand drawn and digital type. The designs that I think work best are the ones where the type is the main focus like this:

The design is straight to the point and delivers what the consumer needs to know straight away, using a bright colour against a black background to make it stand out, which is useful especially if it is stood next to loads of other branded bottles on a shelf.

OUIL504 - Studio Brief 3 - Printed Pictures new brief

Brief (what are you going to produce, how and for what reason?)
-1 A2 Screen print, 5 A4 screen prints
- The screen prints will will work as a series because of the colour scheme, I want to create on large print as a main piece
- The screen prints will be text as image based illustration 6 quotes from George Orwells 1984, which encourage the oppressive messages the quotes communicate

Background/Considerations (Tone of voice/mood, audience/context, Form/Format, Colour/Media, etc..)
- Two colour screen print, using black and red and then whatever colour the paper is, the colour scheme is meant to convey a sense of dictatorship.
-Colour and composition must clearly communicate my themes
- The screen prints are targeted towards people who already know of the book and George Orwell.

Deliverables, What (exactly) do you intend to submit (quantity, format, scale etc)
- 1 A3 portrait printed poster
- 5 A4 portrait printed poster

Interim Deadlines
-Get all development work and finalised ideas done before christmas
-Prep screens before christmas, ready to be printed immediately after christmas

OUIL504 - Printed Pictures - Designs

I took some ideas from my sketchbook and put them into Photoshop in order to digitally manipulate them. There are still a couple of designs which I am unsure about because I don't think they work that well together. I intend to test Screen Print the ones that I am fully happy with.

OUIL504 - Printed Pictures Concept Review

Comment on the selection of themes, content, concepts or messages (are they specific enough and are they appropriate to the selected author, texts or research?)

I need to label the studio briefs more on my blog.

The camera lense screen print is a very nice image - don't be afraid of being less obvious from your theme so long as you can clearly link it back and justify it.

Comment on the visual concept of the proposal (are the decisions made about aesthetic, media, colour etc. appropriate to the intended tone of voice, mood and/or concept?)

Like the idea of using type and quotes
think about size, colour, and to get them to work as a series.
Hippy theme could unite them but also be a juxtaposition to the quotes and could work really well.
also like the concept/image of hand over face for ignorance is strength - if you use this do make it bolder by improving font and using monochrome/block colours.

I like your concept of the quotations in a hippy format - make them bold. Stand out - makes people think, and works well with the books idea of a sort of blind acceptance of these facts/truths.

Comment on the clarity with which the audience and or context has informed decisions relating to format, duration, media and content)

Remember to type up feedback and proposals on your blog as this will help you re-evaluate and consider your work and decisions.

Comment on the extent to which the planning of time and resources has been effectively considered i order to enable the production of the proposed work in the time available. (are the action plans and project managment sheets specific with regards to workload, deadlines and timescales?

How many prints are you doing? and to what size?

What do they need to do?

Type up Feedback

Do some test screen prints

Thumbnail more ideas

OUIL504 - Printed pictures development

After the progress tutorial I realised I needed to decide on the quotes I was going to illustrate.
I knew that I wanted to create 5 screen printed illustrated quotes.
Im quite happy with my initial ideas, looking at hand drawn type on Pinterest really helped and inspired me when developing my ideas.
I intend to make 1 A3 screen print and 3 A4 prints, also a zine of the other illustrated quotes.

Visit Becky's profile on Pinterest.

OUIL504 - Moving Pictures peer review

I found the peer review really useful as I hadn't had a lot of time with Thought Bubble to actually sit down and think in depth about what I want to include in my animation. Will looked through my work and gave me a lot of good advice and what to do and how to move my animation forward.

I was originally going to do the 60 second animation, but then I realised that I wasn't making an advertisement for a documentary, rather just a story which communicated the themes of 1984, so I had to change to doing the 10 6 second animations.

I came up with my final idea of having a girl walking down the street and each sting would be her from a different CCTV angle, communicating my theme of surveillance and that she is constantly being watched and oppressed by these cameras.

OUIL504 - Moving Pictures study task - Sound

MOXIE from small time inc. on Vimeo.

The sound in Moxie is quite grainy and quiet, the sound effects are very clear and are quite muffled compared to the voice over. This goes really well with the grainy quality of the animation itself. If I were to include sound in my animation I would want it to have similar qualities to add to the intangible themes that I want to be communicated in my work. I think the only noises I would want to include in my animation would be foot steps and making the sound of a camera clicking.

OUIL504 - Moving Pictures - Development

I've decided that for my animation I want to centre it around the motifs I chose at the beginning of the brief, mainly eyes, camera lenses and cctv cameras.

OUIL504 - Studio Brief 2 - moving pictures development

Visual context references



MOXIE from small time inc. on Vimeo.

I like the black and white colour palette used in Moxie, also the sketchy style it is animated in and how it appears to be really over exposed, I think this adds to the creepy/dark themes trying to be put accross, which is also how I want my animation to turn out.



HIDDEN PLACE from small time inc. on Vimeo.




HORSE GLUE from small time inc. on Vimeo.

All of these are animated in a similar way, I want to create mine with a combination of drawn animation and 2D stop motion animation. I would draw the backgrounds and use cut out shapes on top to create a narrative




Recipe for Gruel from Miss HatHorn aka Sharon Smith on Vimeo.

Recipe for Gruel is another animation that influences the way I want to create mine, although the style is much more refined and clean than the animations by small time inc, the dark and simple colour palette is similar to how I want mine to be.

http://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314477986454001918/

OUIL503 - Responsive - After Thought Bubble

I proper enjoyed doing Thought Bubble, although it was a lot of stress getting everything ready and it did interfere with my other modules sometimes, I think it was definitely worth all the time and effort I put in. This was the first time I had sold my work in public and it was really rewarding to know that people would pay real money for my work, it really motivated me to do well, so I can end up making a living out of doing things like this!

I gained a lot of valuable experience, not only learning what the general public want to buy, but also how I should organise my time and what I need to do to improve my practice.

I know of a few things I should improve upon for next year if I decide to get a table, mainly on how much work I should print and what exactly people want to buy. People seem to like buying things that are attached to a certain fanbase, hence why I think our X-Files theme was so popular, our costumes definitely helped to sell our work. Next year I think I'll minimize the amount of work I give myself, and only create a few REALLY GREAT designs rather than loads of alright designs, which is what I think I ended up doing this year. 

OUIL504 - Studio Brief 2 - Animation

I found this brief really hard, I don't really like animation as I find it boring and way too time consuming, and the way I like to work doesnt lend itself very well to animation, because I hate drawing the same low quality thing over and over again.
I think if I were to do a hand drawn animation again I would spend less time on each frame, as I think that was the reason why I got so bored of it so quickly, that I put too much effort into each frame.

However I do like the concept of my animation and the themes that I am working around, I enjoy trying to convey dark and moody intangible themes, which I think does kind of work well with the wobbly sketchy outcome of my animation.



Eye Animation from becky firth on Vimeo.

OUIL503 - Responsive - Thought Bubble

The main theme around my work for Thought Bubble Convention this year is The X-Files, I decided to do this so we could create a USP for our table, seeing as me and Adam were cosplaying as Mulder and Scully, not a lot of people who have tables as cosplay.

Last minute I decided I wanted to make some stickers that I would print out and sell for cheap, these ones are all Breaking Bad themed. Although these didn't take me very long they are actually one of my favourite pieces of work.

I included some work that didn't really have a theme, most of my work is pop culture related, to either films or tv shows, I added these just because I wanted to try and create a wide range of designs to interest as many people as possible.

Overall I'm pleased with the amount of work that I've made for the convention, however it all took me way more time than I expected and I spent quite a lot of money on supplies and printing, this has given me a lot of insight into how I can improve upon this year at the 2015 convention. 

For some reason two of the images wouldn't upload properly into ISSUU, so I had to take them out:

OUIL504 - Studio Brief 3 - Screen Printing

For the printed pictures brief I decided to I wanted to improve my screen printing skills, as I had tried it before but not ever properly printed anything.

I really enjoyed both screenprinting workshops and I found them really useful, I need to start thinking what I might do for the exhibition, as I haven't really had time with doing Thought Bubble work and the animation brief.

I think both my prints worked really well, and the colours that I chose compliment each other. I think next time I do a screenprint when I'm not so rushed for time, I want to try do something with more than 2 colours.

I was originally going to screenprint the above image but I thought it would be more relevant if I carried on focussing on the eye and the detail inside it.

OUIL503 - Responsive - YCN Briefs

1.http://www.ycn.org/awards/ycn-student-awards/2014-15-ycn-student-awards/briefs/j20

What is the brief problem?

J20 are wanting to re-design their brand in order to appeal to a different audience. They believe their current brand design is seen as childish as currently 40% of J20 consumption is done by people under the age of 16.

What is being asked to be done about the problem?

We are being asked to re-design the brand image to appeal to a new target audience of people between the age of 25 and 35. They want the brand to be seen as something to be proud of to be seen with and should communicate that the brands expressive, unpretentious and playful personality.

What is the brief trying to achieve?

The brief is wanting to change the existing pre-conceptions about the J20 brand and get rid of any negative connotations associated with it. J20 also wants to make it clear about the brands recipe, that it is a blend of two fruits.

What is the message?

That J20 is a hip brand and a drink that delivers strong, well-rounded flavours.

Who are the audience?

The target audience are 25-35 year old men and women who enjoy socialising but don't need to consume alcohol to have fun.

How will the message be delivered?

By retaining some of the recognisable brand image, but re-designing it to appeal to a different audience, also taking into account of how you would promote the taste of the drinks and the colour scheme.

Who will benefit?

J20 will benefit from the re-design as the brand won't have any bad connotations afterwards, also people who like J20 but feel embarrassed to be seen drinking it.

Can you forsee any problems?

I have never really designed anything for food/drink packaging.

2. http://www.ycn.org/awards/ycn-student-awards/2014-15-ycn-student-awards/briefs/yorkshire-tea

What is the brief problem?

Britain is a nation of tea drinkers, but recently the number of mainstream black tea drinkers has declined.

What is being asked to be done about the problem?

We are being asked to creative an innovative design for the company to help appeal to a younger audience.

What is the brief trying to achieve?

The brief is asking us to try and improve the overall image of Yorkshire tea and to add to the tea drinking experience for the customers.

What is the message?

The message is that Yorkshire Tea know how to make a proper tea, and create a better quality tea than any other brand.

Who are the audience?

The main audience for Yorkshire Tea drinkers is 35+ males and females, black tea is not as popular with a younger audience, which this brief wants us to change.

How will the message be delivered?

By creating a new/improved image of Yorkshire Tea that offers a new drinking experience and encourages tea drinkers to buy the brand.

Who will benefit?

A younger tea drinking audience will benefit from being encouraged to start drinking more black tea.

Can you forsee many problems?
The brief has not given too much away about exactly how they want to improve the brand in a design sense.

3.  http://www.ycn.org/awards/ycn-student-awards/2014-15-ycn-student-awards/briefs/propercorn

What is the brief problem?
How can the brands ethos and image by conveyed properly to the audience?

What is being asked to be done about the problem?

They want to find a way to engage with their customers and push the boundaries of brand design.

What is the brief trying to achieve?

We want to consider the daily touch points of our customer’s life where they will be most receptive to engagement. How can we creatively connect with them in these moments and give them a memorable burst of our brand and beliefs.

What is the message?

The message is that Propercorn are a hip brand.

Who are the audience?

Opinion formers, young professionals, 20-35 year olds. They are; time-poor, urban, health conscious, culturally savvy and have an appreciation of the arts. Our product and packaging naturally appeal to women but we aren’t driven by this.

How will the message be delivered?

It could be delivered in many ways depending on our practice, we could re-design the packaging, create a campaign or create new branding imagery for shops.

Who will benefit?

The company, consumers who are busy people and want to eat a quick and healthy snack.

Can you forsee any problems?

It may be hard to come up with a solution seeing as the brief is so open to interpretation.

OUIL504 - Studio Brief 3 - Printed Pictures proposal and review

I intend to produce...
A series of 5 screenprinted illustrations, illustrating quotes from George Orwell's book 1984.
I want to have kind of a vintage movie poster theme

The content will focus on...
1. Identity
2. Surveillance - Being watched, having no freedom
3. Dystopia - Society

I will be aiming to communicate
1. A dark atmospheric mood using a certain colour palette
2. George Orwell's political stance
3. Communicate my themes

To an audience of...
1. George orwell fans
2. People who knows George Orwell but want to get a better feel if his work
3. Book enthusiasts

Studio Brief 3 - Proposal Review

Comment on the content of the proposed project.

- A good idea to illustrate quotes, seeing as I only want to concentrate on one book

Comment on the proposed formats/products of the project proposal

-Possibly A2 screenprint - goes with the theme of 1984, big and imposing like Big Brother

Comment on 3 strengths that you have identified in the proposal

1. outlining his political stance through illustration

2. Knowing how I will communicate themes through colour

3. I have a good idea of what I want to do

Comment on 3 things that you feel need further clarification or consideration in the proposal

1. The exact content of my illustrations

2. How I will communicate my themes

3. Decide the content through sketching and experimenting

OUIL504 - Studio Brief 2 - Moving Pictures proposal

I intend to produce...
A 60 second animation around the themes I identified while investigating George Orwells work.

The content will focus on...
1. Identity
2. Surveillance - Camera motifs, looking at eyes and drawing them
3. Dystopia in society

I will be aiming to communicate...
1. A dark atmospheric mood
2. The theme of surveillance and George Orwell's political stance
3. The feeling of being watched

To an audience of...
1. Fans of animation
2. Existing fans of George Orwell's work
3. People who share the same idea's and are interesting in George Orwell's ideas about society

OUIL504 - Making digital collage - Studio Brief 1

After getting bored of just doing paper based collage I wanted to go back to practicing my digital skills, because my theme is surveillance I thought I would start looking at eyes, this is a close up of an eye and the retina which I thought had an interesting texture. 

OUIL504 - Illustration 1 - Dragonframe workshop

I quite enjoyed the Dragonframe workshop, although I didn't think I would, although it was time consuming I enjoyed watching the animation come together slowly over time.

I think dragonframe would be something that I'd like to use again, maybe not with cut out pieces of paper, I'd probably want to draw doing a hand drawn animation, seeing as cutting out all the pieces was what I found the hardest.

OUIL504 - Studio Brief 2 - test animation

In small groups we created a quick test animation using an animation app, it was really easy to use and even though the outcome isn't perfect I think it's good for a first attempt.

Next time I try doing a simple animation I will try something that is easy to replicate more than once because I found it very time consuming cutting out a new shape each time.

OUIL504 - Studio Brief 2 - Adobe After Effects workshop

Adobe After Effects CC

Starting page

Project Panel - Library of assets for you to use in your animation, you can only use images for an animation once they are imported into there.

The timeline - Always us to specify what happens at a particular moment in time.

Kind of like the layers panel in Photoshop.

Main panel gives you a preview of what your animation will look like after you've exported it.

Steps

1. Import your images and assests

2. Use your timeline to asses how it looks in the main panel

3. Use the main panel to make sure you are happy with the finished piece.

Preset animation requirements

Layer > New > Solid...

Adds first new layer when main panel is selected

By default the layer will last for the whole duration of the project

You can change how long the layer lasts by dragging the red bar.

Using the RAM preview works better than just pressing play. Using RAM play will give you a realtime playback speed.