DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND IMAGING - [Final Project]

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1.6.2022 - 29.6.2022 (Week 10 - Week 14)
Loh Qiao Yin / 0348923 
Digital Photography and Imaging / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media / Taylor's University
[Final Project: Cinemagraph - Self Titled]

LECTURES

Week 10:
Intro to Adobe After Effects

After Effects- A 2.5D animation software used for animation, visual effects, and motion picture compositing. It works with different layers so pre-compositing and organising the layers are important to ensure a good workflow

Fig 1.1 Working space in After Effects, 1 June 2022

INSTRUCTIONS

FINAL PROJECT: Cinemagraph - Self Titled
1) Establish a theme or conceptual meaning of your own identity to express yourself.
2) Use your own photographs to be animated.

WEEK 10: Practical - After Effects Exercise

i. Progress
It did not take long for me to get a hang of the basic functions that are covered in today's practical class. I gave a twist of my own creativity after watching the demo video by Mr Fauzi.


Fig 2.1 Progress of animating, 1 June 2022

It took 10 minutes to upload a 15-seconds video. I am guessing that I can tone down the video quality a little bit next time as 10 minutes seem a bit too long for a 15-seconds video to be uploaded on Youtube.


Fig 2.2 Uploading video on Youtube, 1 June 2022

ii. Final outcome
Fig 2.3 Final outcome of exercise, 1 June 2022

FINAL PROJECT: Cinemagraph - Self Titled

i. IDEA DEVELOPMENT

1. Write a biography about yourself

Fig 3.1 Biography, 15 June 2022

2. Write a statement about your work
Fig 3.2 Work statement, 15 June 2022

ii. VISUAL RESEARCH
I wanted to go for a doodle, carefree style for my final project. I am attracted by mostly lines and some scribbles.

Fig 3.3 Artwork by Jack Carden, 8 June 2022


Fig 3.4 Artwork by Maxime Manga, 8 June 2022

Fig 3.5 Artwork by Yvan Fabing, 8 June 2022
Fig 3.6 Magazine by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, 8 June 2022

iii. DESIGN DIRECTION

1. Create a sketch for your work.

Sketch #1 - Angle of me drawing on the ‘viewer’s screen’, with doodles that appear to be inside my imagination.

Fig 4.0 Sketch #1, 16 June 2022

Sketch #2 - Angle of me drawing on the ‘wall’ behind me.
Fig 4.1 Sketch #2, 16 June 2022

2. Create a digital poster for your work.

[Behind the Scenes] Photoshoot and photo editing

The process is slightly less daunting compared to the last time as I am starting to get used to taking photos of just myself. Though, I am still working on the part where my face freezes up and mimics a wooden log whenever only I am in the shot.
Fig 4.6, Different shots taken, 16 June 2022

I chose this particular photo and started the colour corrections process and initially went for a cooler tone. I also removed the patterns on my socks using Photoshop and the words on my inner shirt as I wanted everything to be plain but I could not find that one particular plain shirt that day.
pls: I do look dumb for now as I am pretending to draw on the air around me but just wait for a little while.

Fig 4.7, Editing process, 16 June 2022

Used a base colour background then started doodling out the rough idea to see if it looks cohesive with my photo or not. I almost forgot to add the shadow but got it done with the 'multiply' layer mode.
Fig 4.8 Progress, 16 June 2022

Since my original photo was more of a bluish cool tone, I had to tweak the colour to become warmer to suit the yellow background. To make myself look like I took a photo with a yellow background behind me, I applied a 'screen' layer on top of my photo with a low opacity to just mimic the ambience colour that will reflect on my skin and clothes.

Fig 4.9 Colour corrections and layer mode, 22 June 2022

[Draft stage]
Made a few poster variations on the colours to see which suited best. One is a neon glow-in-the-dark style whereas the others are more of a bubbly style. 
Fig 4.2 Draft #1, 16 June 2022

Fig 4.3 Draft #2, 16 June 2022
Fig 4.4 Draft # 3, 16 June 2022

Fig 4.5, Draft #4, 16 June 2022

2. Execution and Post Production

[Final Poster]
After feedback from my lecturer and my peers, everyone decided that the green one has the best potential. I then refined the 'doodles' and the drawings on it.

Artist statement:
Don’t let mundane grown-up responsibilities kill your playfulness. The doodles here range from a very childish/simple style to a slightly more complex dragon. The tiny-sized characters were always doodled by me when I was in primary school. Everything kind of stopped when I got inundated with schoolwork and high expectations in academics. The carefree spirit and a sense of playfulness disappeared during my secondary school life, it was an awful period to live. Fast- forward to graduating high school and being able to chase my ideal life, I told myself to utilise the innovative aspect of playfulness in my assignments and most importantly, in my everyday life.

Fig 4.6 Final submission of 'Self-Titled' , 24 June 2022

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Fig 4.7 Final submission of 'Self-Titled' in PDF, 24 June 2022

3. Animation and Finishing

[Work in progress]
Used the basic animating functions taught in the last After Effect exercise for most of the doodles, but the puppet tool was used for the dragon. There were still flaws such as the sides of the dragon being cropped off and the stick guy's animation being not that fluid. All of them will be fixed in the final animation.

Fig 5.1 Animated poster first attempt, 28 June 2022

This is kind of a failed attempt, I was too focused on animating the dragon separately and forgot that if it gets too low, it will cut through my neck. However, I managed to fix the problem of the cut-off edge.

Fig 5.2 Process of animating the dragon, 29 June 2022

Fig 5.3 Animated poster second attempt, 29 June 2022

I spent lots of time animating the dragon as I am still new to the puppet tool and tried to avoid distorting the dragon way too much but just enough to show movement. Adjusting the timing for the stick guy hopping was also time-consuming.

Fig 5.4 Two main pin types I used for puppet tool, 29 June 2022

Fig 5.5 Adjusting the timing for the stick guy, 29 June 2022

[Final Animated Poster]
Youtube link: Self-Titled

Fig 5.6 Final submission of 'Self-Titled' animated poster, 1 July 2022
FEEDBACK

Week 14
The spinning motion of the stick guy could be faster so it looks more fluid.

Week 13
Wow! That's a nice work. I like the green poster. The colour suits with your outfit. You may enhance the contrast of your photo to make it more contrast. The rest is good as it is.

Week 12
That's a good progress, keep it up!
REFLECTION

Surprisingly, it was quite fun to use After Effects for animation. It definitely still has a lot of technicalities I have not explored yet but the basic functions are easy to follow and use. There is still room for improvement in nailing the angles and timing but I think that the practical exercise was a good introduction for students to get to know After Effects as it is manageable.

After that, the 'Self-Titled' project provided an opportunity for me to incorporate my own sketches with photography and animate them to life. I finally dabbled with the puppet tool as I was way too scared to learn it years ago when I first saw this tool on Youtube. There were tons of trials and errors involved in this project but in return, I get more experience in animating with After Effects despite the occasional times when I lost my temper. The outcome made it worth it though.

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