The first thing I noticed when starting the final was the prompt. The project sounded very enticing because of the vast amount of ideas that could be created from it. I have to say it was equally fun as it was frustrating to produce. In the beginning, compiling my assets became very time consuming because of the length of the clips I needed, as well as the downloads consistently getting messed up. I am a novice editor, so I ran into my fair share of problems while working on the editing as well. I had a smooth time for the majority of my project, the problems arose when I went back to replace lower quality clips. Finding the clips again, replacing transitions, relocating media, and so on all contributed to the immense backtracking I did just to make sense of the mess I created. But I have to say, seeing your work finally come together is an extremely fulfilling and satisfying experience, especially when it’s something you are genuinely proud of. I hope the effort I put in can be seen, and the enjoyment I had can be felt; I also hope I can bring back some nostalgic memories for those that grew up with the games I showcased.
Making this was definitely an experience. Sometimes I have a hard time figuring out what I want to do when a project has very wide open parameters but I figured out what I wanted to do with this pretty quickly. My other idea for this was to animate a person being attacked by a giant sea monster (think of Subnautica) so I had the same base idea of someone being attacked. It was just the decision between zombie vs sea monster and as you can see I went with a zombie.
This was intended to be an animation but it turned out to mostly be still images with a few bits of animation. It still looks fine, it just wasn’t my intention. The hardest part of this project for me was the time constraints. If I had more time I could make this closer into an actual animation, improve the art style, and add color, but that would take way too long for a school project.
Three quarters of the way through drawing the frames I was genuinely considering giving up and doing something else because I hated drawing them and it didn’t look good. In the end I guess I’m glad I didn’t give up because I think the sound really carries this whole video.
For my final project I decided to stick to a theme of my home country, which the people who are also in the MUL103 class will see..
This video is about some strange expressions. Moving to a different country can mean encountering some language barriers in certain situations and I realized that I sometimes throw expressions out there that I basically translated directly from my native language. These expressions make sense to me but can sound super weird to English speakers.
I had some issues with the editing programs not wanting to cooperate so I basically had to remake the whole thing last minute which is why there are some obvious flaws but I wanted to do something a bit more creative when explaining these expressions so I decided to include video from phone calls to my family and have them say the phrases instead of just putting them in text directly. To do this I had told them before that I would call and say something and asked them to respond with any Swedish expression that they thought would fit.
I had a lot of fun (at least before the programs started crashing..) creating this video and I learned a lot while doing it!
(Also my roommate didn’t actually steal my lunch.. I should give her my lunch for lying about that)
I wanted to give you the lowdown on my class video project journey. Initially, I had this cool project that I wanted to do but as I started filming I wasn’t liking the direction it was taking. So, I changed my plans – not just once but a couple of times.
The brainstorming process was a bit of a maze, exploring different ideas and directions. It felt like a creative puzzle, trying to find the right fit in the short time that I had and in the midst of my 4 other classes. It made me appreciate the fluidity of the creative process and how being adaptable is a crucial part of the game.
After some thinking, I settled on a concept that I’m genuinely excited about, documenting my venture into the world of sewing as a total beginner. It seemed like a cool way to bring you all along for the ride, sharing the ups and downs of learning something new.
From threading the needle to trying not to get tangled up in the bobbin, I’m capturing it all. The video is not a tutorial at all. Matter of fact I am very intrigued with the final product but I had fun filming and trying new activities.
This video was in editing purgatory for a long time after the shots were taken because I couldn’t decide if I wanted to change the function of the video from creepy to more relaxed and happy. I feel like the choice was a good one and I am more comfortable with the final product. I felt like I needed to make the viewers see what I feel whenever I come home from these classes in terms of how its really not much else besides stress I have whenever I am out of the house. School is definitly not the reason of the stress and more the social interaction, but it doesnt mean I hate being with people. Instead its me more worried about myself and my lack of grip on my own emotions. Though it is very short, at the end I show my cat being with me and I know soon I probably will remember this video just for that scene since next year she probably wont make it through. I come home to see her waiting for me and that has always gotten me through most days even if they are too stressful.
This is a piece about my time in highschool and after graduating. It’s a collection of videos that are important to me, layered with other videos and images. The emotion I was trying to go for was inspiration, but I’m not sure if it will be taken that way since the videos are personal to me.
For my final project ” Details of Fall ” I decided to try to inspire, and bring a sense of peace to the audience. The world can be very loud, and at this point in time, pretty much everyone is under some sort of stress. I can feel it, you can feel it, we all can. So, I wanted to use my project to bring together a few minutes of calming music, sounds and scenery. In hopes to give everyone a moment to get out of their heads.
Like most, I’ve dealt with stress this school term, and I will be the first to admit, it’s shown in some assignments. For this particular project, my original idea did not go as planned and I had to work to create and execute a new plan. I used my own camera equipment for all of the shots, and it’s funny, because in all my years of being a photographer, I’ve never utilized the video settings on my camera. It was quite the learning experience to learn video stabilization, cropping, and editing in camera, and was a whole new experience editing that product with Adobe. I tried to focus on clips that represented the season of Fall: rain, leaves, wildlife, ponds, streams, moss, trees, etc. I used medium / long shots, and a range of closeup videos to create my sequence. Then I did color corrections, transitions and more image stabilization. After that I worked on audio, and tried to level it as best I could. Used a couple of free audio sources, and recorded some myself. Did a couple small edits with the title and credits.
This was a great learning opportunity, I think I could improve on making sure I have my pre production set in stone, and take more time to know what my final plan is. Audio editing isn’t my strong suit, I think I could take more time to problem solve there. I enjoyed filming and working with the video clips even though they’re not perfect. Overall I think this assignment taught me alot.
About: Warm meal is a short film about parents not apologizing directly and instead choosing to do so through acts of kindness. In this specific case its through food.
Process:
Story boarding: When creating a story board I first started with a topic that I had knowledge on and wanted to showcase its complexity. Once I had the beats placed down I moved onto the technical aspects such as light, composition, shot progression, contrast, readability.
Planning: once the storyboard was finalized I moved onto either creating or finding parts to complete the idea. Bellow are all the steps as well as software used for this short film.
Sculpting:
I created a floor plan for the room set up using Pinterest and my own room. Then moved onto modeling a low poly model of the room in Maya. Once pleased with the layout I moved onto creating the high poly model room.
3D Rigging:
This is the step that took the most time since I had minimum knowledge about it and what I had in mind was advanced beyond my ability. I committed several mistakes along the way but to keep it short I spent 6 hours working on a 12 second clip.
I used Lou and Kenna, both can be found in Gumroad for free as well as on Agora.
With the limited time I moved onto finding other shortcuts for rigging characters. I figured that I could try motion capture. I used Rokoko which is a free software that uses both motion capture gear and video capture. I then learned to rig using Mixamo and apply the skeleton from Rokoko to my Maya model.
Now that I had an idea of what I could and could not do I revised my original storyboard and cut down some scenes to make sure I could complete my project within the given time.
3D Modeling:
I went through a total of 4 models and rigged all of them using mixamo. Some gave me complications and others worked perfectly fine but did not fit the stories aesthetic or description of the characters.
I used Sketchfab.com to find a 3d model of a female teenager to young adult and an elderly man. The elderly was the rarest to find and gave me complications as the format for download was not supported by Maya. To get around that issue I used Blender to convert the GLb file to an OBJ file.
Acting:
With the acting I used Maximo to download the clips and on my own adjusted the rig so that it read well. I created animation clips and applied them to the character and trimmed and blended the two animations into one animation.
Tip- you can make corrections to your animation without touching the original frames by creating animation layers this gives you more freedom to make changes without worrying of loosing the original. Changes can be turned on and off too.
With all the prep ready now came the part to put everything together.
1-camera. position the camera to show the angle in which you wanna show. I tried to keep in mind the 180 rule.
2-lights, consider where the light source is and if it pops the character out to the front.
3-Render the frames.
Repeat step for all clips. I kept my camera stationary as I wanted the focus to be on the acting.
Next use After effects to put it all together.
To avoid reshooting and doing touchups I converted some clips into photoshop files, the wonderful thing about doing so is that the changes done in photoshop apply directly to the files in after effects.
This is a storyboard type of animation. It is about a girl that wakes up in a fantasy world. She meets a fairy, and the fairy wants to her, and they fall in love. The they eat some mushrooms.
I did all of this on my phone. It took me maybe three to four hours to do. I’ve been wanting to make this animation for a long time now, and I’m happy that I got a excuse to make it. Some day I want to make a actual animation that is smooth. But sadly I don’t the right equipment in order to make it. I also don’t have the time for it.
I wish I added more animation to it. Seeing other people’s project, then mine, makes mine look not done. But I still like how it turned out, also I didn’t have time to change it because of my other final projects. Some things I would change is the part with the eyeball. I personally didn’t like how it turned out. I wish i didn’t make the eye shake
I had so much fun making the project. I think it’s because it’s a dream animation I always wanted to make. I was really worried making this as my final project because I’m scared of what other people would think, or them judging my art style. Then I said screw it, It’s my project. I can do whatever with it, so I made it.
The main goal of my creative endeavor is to elicit a multifaceted response from the audience that transcends mere observation. Through the seamless integration of audio and visual elements, I aspire to evoke a range of emotions, prompting viewers to delve into a reflective state.
I seek to immerse the audience in a surreal and emotionally charged experience. The astronaut’s solitary journey across a giant chessboard, adorned with reflective gold and black tiles, is designed to evoke a sense of wonder and contemplation. The interplay of the crystal sphere, pulsating in a waveform spectrum synchronized with the background music, further amplifies the emotional depth, creating a mesmerizing visual and auditory tapestry.
Beyond emotional resonance, the project encourages intellectual engagement by inviting viewers to decipher symbolic elements embedded in the narrative. The reflective chessboard and the crystal sphere symbolize life’s complexities, reflecting the multifaceted nature of individual experiences. The inclusion of lyrics, such as “that life is not what you wanted,” prompts contemplation on the existential themes explored within the work.
The thematic underpinnings extend to an exploration of life’s unpredictability and the profound realization that it may not align with one’s initial aspirations. The astronaut’s symbolic journey on the reflective chessboard becomes a metaphor for navigating the twists and turns of life. The intricate details, such as the giant blue and pink chess pieces, serve as visual metaphors, enriching the narrative with layers of meaning and inviting viewers to delve into the intricacies of the human experience.
Inspired by the immersive experience, I aim to prompt a call to action, encouraging the audience to introspect on their own life’s journey. The visual spectacle, coupled with the pulsating crystal sphere and poignant lyrics, serves as a catalyst for personal reflection. Whether it be a renewed commitment to personal growth or a heightened awareness of life’s uncertainties, the aspiration is to motivate viewers toward positive, introspective action.
In essence, my creative endeavor seeks to transcend the boundaries of traditional storytelling, offering the audience an emotionally resonant, intellectually stimulating, and visually captivating exploration of the human experience within the vast cosmic tapestry.
