Final outcome evaluation
Using the skills and techniques that I
have learned and developed in cinema 4D and adobe aftereffects and
using skills I already know I created three final Idents that adhere
to the prerequisites of the DCM project brief. To complete this
project we had to create three abstract Idents that correlated and
expressed emotions and feelings that we worked upon. For my idents I
chose happiness, excitement and enlightenment. However due to the
nature of the emotions actually felt during the recording of some of
the footage I changed the emotional focus because of how the footage
actually affected me. Due to this happiness in my recordings actually
became fear because I felt a strong sense of fear when recording the
footage because it was the first time I had ever been on a plane.
- Fear
The footage for this shot was taken
inside of a plane out of the window seat. At first I thought the
footage would represent happiness because of how bright and sunny it
was and how the clouds created a happy storybook type of scene.
However all I felt was a great sense of dread in the recording. This
couldn’t be ignored and I felt that I was wrongly using the footage
if I tried to represent happiness because it wouldn’t be true to
itself for me. I felt much better about working on what it actually
was instead of something else.
When creating this Ident I wanted to
create a looming feeling in the background forage because of how
bright and sunny it was and I felt that this gave the wrong
interpretation that I was tying to send out. To do this I created a
gradient that started in the edges and became clear as it got to the
center. I then set this layer to overlay. This created a gradual cast
of color that grew weaker as it got to the center. I think that this
helped in my creation of a darker, gloomier scene that helped set the
tone and atmosphere of this ident.
After sorting out how my background
would work and setting the theme of the scene I then proceeded to
create my abstract for the ident. After researching how to create
sharp 3d abstract shapes I began to alter the size of these shapes
and the polygon count. Once I was happy with the shape and the look
of these 3D objects I then created various materials that I thought
could work. Here I learned what a lot of the variation options done
to materials. I learned how reflection in materials affected objects
and what patterns and effects they created.
I also gained experience using the
blending modes. These modes are similar to photoshop but instead of
separate layers they work on separate materials, also there is far
fewer options with only a selection of normal, subtraction, add and
multiply.
In this 3D object I created a very
sharp and spiky objects to represent the growing feeling of dread. At
the beginning of the ident we can only see some of it, this is to
represent the creepy and growing sensation. The object is small
fractals in the beginning, however they soon begin to build and grow
out of controls and fall around the screen. Then in what seems to be
growing distress in the object, it begins to change color, which is a
sign on confusion and loss of control. Reflection effects are also
then added to the materials to create a greater variation of shapes
and colors. This also makes it seem as if the shape is then made out
of glass and fragile and is breaking apart.
Importing this shape into after effects
I then used a masking tool to cut out the 3D animation and place it
in accordance the DCM logo guidelines. This means that my work will
fit the criteria set by the brief. I think that the movement of the
3D object against the clouds is a good representation of the feelings
I’m trying to convey. When someone feels dread they don’t
necessarily show it but keep a calm exterior and the feelings build
up internally. The calm clouds surrounding can see this panicking
shape and shrouding what it really feels like.
Issues that arose in the creation of
this ident was the background. Originally the lighting in the
background was far to bright and did not convey the feeling of dread
that I was trying to create. To combat this I set an overcast of
purple onto my background, this cast imposed the color onto all of
the objects in the scene and helped dim down the bright sun shine
that was originally there. By picking the color purple it
counteracted with the yellow shine of the sun, by doing this I was
left with a rather cold looking visual that maybe suggested a storm
looming over the scene. I think that this helped alter the mood
completely and steer the message of the ident in the direction I was
aiming for.
If I could change anything about these
visuals I would have maybe liked to add more effects onto the
background. I would have liked to emphasize on the different colors
and shades in the background and outline these more, next time that I
have a chance to go back on this I will look into sharpen effects for
footage. I’m knowledgeable that in still images sharpen effects can
cause a distortion effect where two colors meet, I will find out if
this can also be applied to footage and how it interacts with my
work.
As for the 3D abstract in my footage I
think that the direction of the movement of the object is very well
situated and flows nicely with the movement of the clouds in the
background footage. However one criticism of my 3D object that I have
realized is that the green tone added to the destruction of the
object doesn’t work that well. I think that instead of being a
complimentary contrast of the red it just sticks out to much. I don’t
know weather I like how this works. In one respect it shows confusion
really well by jumping from one color to another however I think it
winds up too messy with all the different colors. If I go back on
this 3D abstract I will work with different color compositions to see
if I can find a more suitable reflection of the feeling of fear.
2. Excitement
For my second ident I decided to focus
on the feeling of excitement. I chose this one because excitement can
be both a positive and negative thing. We can get excited about happy
things such as presents and events, but we can also get excited about
negative thins such as fights. So for this ident I wanted to create a
display that showed mixed feelings, mainly through the use of color
and shapes. To emulate these feelings I used a sharp contrast between
the visuals in the background footage and the visuals in the
foreground logo. To do this I chose the color base first. For the
background I chose light, saturated bright colors. This is because
when using the overlay effects I knew that the sky in the backgrounds
would turn out very light. By choosing a light pastel color I knew
that the sky would be left in a bright cast that would allow for me
to create a sharp contrast with my logo mask. To develop a high
contrast visual that would stand out against my background I
immediately chose a black background for the 3D visual. To create a
sharp contrast in colors to make my logo stand out I selected a harsh
bright color to place onto my 3D object. Creating flat gradual
gradient in photoshop I imported in the image as a material in cinema
4D and overlayed it on top of the objects and it took on the color of
the gradient. This makes for an interesting visual when the object
moves because the gradient stays stationary so the more the object
moves the more variation you get in area space covered by the
gradient and how sections move into colors.
To create a variation in my idents I
not only added a 3D abstract visual to the foreground but I also
added one to the background. To emphasize the mixed feelings and
representation of excitement I create these objects so as that to two
were opposites of each other. One of the objects is very sharp and
spiky, resembling smashing glass in ways with a reflective surface
texture making it seem even more glass like and sharp. To combat this
is contrasting visuals the foreground object has a hyperNurbs tag on
it. This smoothens down and joins all the polygons in such a way that
it looks rounded off. Also as the sharp 3D visuals explode outwards
in a dangerous manner, flat, hemoglobin shaped like objects fall
downwards from the sky creating a mix of atmosphere and emotion as
they both clash together.
I believe that this ident is very
successful in what I want it to achieve and conveys my own personal
feelings on the emotion topic of excitement. I feel that it achieves
this because by using different gradients on my foreground and
background I create two emotions. I feel that the pastels colors
surrounding the abstract represent a happy exited feeling that
surrounds you and envelops you in its happiness. However in contract
feeling to this we have this imploding feeling of excitement shown in
the slime green color which I feel maybe represents the emotion of
hate or envy, so maybe this displays the feeling of when you
encounter someone and you get this intense excitement because they
have upset you in one way or another. I feel that this ident creates
a very intense contrast in messages and some will understand it in
one way and then others will get the other side of the message.
Aspects that I would change about this
ident would immediately be the gradient overlayed onto the background
of the scene. I feel that to enhance the feeling of happy excitement
that it represents that I need to lighten the gradient as there is to
many dark tones in it that meld too much into the central logo.
Otherwise I still feel that it completes its job in conveying that
feeling, however it could be improved upon to better represent that.
3. Enlightenment
For my final ident
I chose the theme of the emotion enlightenment. For me enlightenment
is a stat of calm feelings underlined with a feeling of progression
and happiness. Also that it is a slow building feeling that happens
over time. To best represent this I recorded footage of a turning
feeris wheel. I chose this footage because mainly we associate ferris
wheels with fairgrounds and happiness, but also a calm trip. A ferris
wheel slowly turns around and around and you start at the bottom,
which can represent the starting stage of enlightenment, then when
you get to the top you are happy because you can see and understand
more which can be compared to the last stage of enlightenment. To
accompany and build towards the conveying of these visuals I created
complimentary visuals that supported the background. In cinema 4D I
used a variation of what I believe to be soothing but bright and
inspiring colors on my 3D object, which I modified to have shorter
rage of movement. This makes it appear as if instead of moving around
wildly, that instead the shape is pulsing and growing.
I think that this
overall visual is a good interpretation of the feeling of
enlightenment. I feel this way just because of watching it back over
myself. I think that the 3D visual abstract is place well and moves
in time to the rotation of the ferris wheel. This seems to develop a
calming like feeling and atmosphere. I would describe these as
soothing aesthetics that you don’t expect to do anything really
your just happy to watch them.
Looking back on
this ident has made me see that there is a lot of black empty space I
did not work with. I’m not to sure about all of the effects I can
use in aftereffects but if I had time to go back onto it I would have
researched into lighting effects that can be placed in footage. In
the background I would have liked to maybe create a light rain effect
to make it look magical, like out of a film. Or also I would have
like to impose stars onto the scene since there is quite a lot of
black space and I think that it was not used to its full potential
and leaves the ident very empty. For further revision of this ident I
would like to combat this visual issue and make use of the space with
simple composite stars or some sort of glitter effect.
After placing all
of my idents together I think I have an interesting variation of
visuals and themes, however I have also been able to keep a
consecutive theme going which helps them all support each other
visually as a edited piece together making transitions from one ident
to another visually flow. I believe that my idents visually represent
their chosen emotions successfully and work together well as a
composition. They all adhere to the guidelines and show development
ad progress in my understanding of 3D visuals. I am a lot more
confident experimenting and using cinema 4D to create abstract
visuals, which I would actively avoid doing before hand, I feel that
this project has help progress and move forwards my confidence in
using such programs in future work. Having this new insight in on
these programs I feel that my next progression in 3D work will be
aided by the abilities I have learned in this project.
No comments:
Post a Comment