The Royal Food Chain - after thinking about Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules,” I started to think about the quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet:
“A Man May Fish With The Worm That Hath Eat Of A King And Eat Of The Fish That Hath Fed Of That Worm.”
My story board reflects my simple interpretation of this quote. Using what we learned in class such as tracking, layer styles, nesting, and testing new techniques from the book like the puppet tool, I created my own addition to the “Food Rules.”
I like Kuntzel Deygas for their current graphics and animations. I especially like the silhouettes and the Parisian 50s/60s look and feel. They would fall under animation. However I prefer to find new ways to tell stories, to follow my fave authors into their narrative enviornments… so my “someone to know” from our class list is actually David Hillman Curtis because he’s someone relatable as a film maker. After large recognition as a website designer and after getting burned out, he consciously decided to change directions. Inspired by the poet CK Williams to “fall in love with the Masters,” Curtis decided to study his fave photographer which led him back to film. He’s done a series of film docs on how some “Masters” in the design world began and how they were inspired. This one click in particular is of the re-known graphic designer Stefan Sagmesiter. So while I would aspire to create visual characters like Kuntzel Deygas in my work, the stories David Hillman Curtis tells in his work are relateable and inspirational.
Based on the 7 criteria to assess motion graphics from our class discussion:
1. Structure and Composition - the screen space is being used as a photographic canvas.
2. Image and Image Type - what is implied is the emotion, the humanity of the “Masters.”
3. Symbols and Symbol types - perhaps one sybol is in the form of another Master, in this case Milton Glaser, another Master telling a short story for Curtis to tell the story of another Master from a younger generation.
4. Time and 5. Sound - the transitional voice overs and the moments of silence provides almost a slowdown in time to tell this story in the hiustle and bustle of city life.
6. Intent - The collective intent of it all is tell the humanity of the “Masters;” to take re-known artists off the pedestal and put them on the same level with the average ordinary person, including the student just starting out.
7. Meaning - My interpretation of this clip is that the ”Masters” all started the same way everyone does, from the bottom, struggling. It makes them more relatable to the aspiring, struggling artist and even gives them hope. Perhaps this is what inspired Hillman Curtis and shares this inspiration with the rest of the world.
Grouping Layers would have saved me so much trouble on my midterm for motion graphics. In place of making tweaks to the different layers and readjusting the time and music, I would have precomposed specific layers, nested and parented, especially for my TH.mov. Although I’m still learning the order of grouping and the order in which After Effects makes changes (masks, effects, transform… etc.), grouping layers is a lesson I intend to use on the final - no question about it!
Based on the 7 points of critique and assesment from our class notes, I thought about the following when viewing The Seed:
1. Structure and Composition- the space being used was streamlined, clean and enough white space to spotlight the growth of the seed without any distraction.
2. Image and Image Type - the nature of the image is digital, almost computerized and thrown back to an 80’s vibe which I thought was a little ironic considering it is the cycle of a seed from nature.
3. Symbols and symbol types - the seed is the symbol and perhaps the image type of digitalized to show the contrast of technology with nature.
4. Time - the use of time isn’t as evident here. The transitions cut to the next stage as in the form of steps in cycle of nature.
5. Sound - the music has a constant beat which reminds me the of the clicking in time. The ups and downs in the melody syn with the changes/stages going on with the seed. The sounds nature sounds get louder as the seed grows and continures on it’s path. The digital music is a contrast with the sound effects of nature like the birds chirping, water splashing and so on.
6. Intent - the collective intent I would say is to demonstrate the cycle of nature through process of a seed, growing into an apple tree, harvested, devoured, digested, escaping back into the sewers and rescued to feed a duck to fall back to the ground and regrow as a tree again.
7. Meaning - One interpretation of The Seed perhaps is to mean that nature and energy gets recycled but it remains the same throughout time. It sort of echos the laws of Physics that energy is neither created nor destroyed but rather changes in form. But then I could be reading into it way too much haha. From another point of view (from the digital music heard and the digital imagery), it can also be interpreted as the seed or idea in technology planted, grown, and recycled. Hmm..
(Source: vimeo.com)
Although for the seasoned designer this may not be a novelty, but for us students, here is a lesson I found useful, particularly, for css design: typographic hierarchy. I’ve often wondered what size of font to use first and I’ve found myself at cross roads here when it comes to web design. I can have many great ideas, but if not executed appropriately, then those ideas are awash. According to an article recently read, Mark Boulton suggests the following type size hierarchy for main headings in pixel sizes:
(I also read the hanging section but my edits continued to revert to the paragraph defaults here. Oops.)
Then for scaling purposes in CSS, pixels are translated to percentages. It’s probably not new to many but this brings clarity for me as I develop my craft.
Separately, I saw this typography and had to take notice and share. I especially enjoy the mix of type it showcases into one. http://www.typographyserved.com/gallery/AW-Conqueror/669787
(Source: markboulton.co.uk)
The first story board concept: Death and Birth. I couldn’t stop imagining this assignment as a mini-MINI episode of Sesame Street. I imagined Count Dracula counting or a word/letter telling the story. But how do you teach a child the lesson of death and birth? So I started to think about the letters TH (it is in both words so it just made it easy for me to use). What if the letters TH die and are born with the seasons like a flower? The idea sounds nice but it may change a bit in the execution of the story. I’m looking forward to the learning experience.
What are your favorite movie titles?
Hi - Some good movie titles are North by Northwest, Indiana Jones, Westside Story, La Dolce Vita, E.T., Back to the Future, Harry Potter, Tron, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Amelie.
The video for Linkin Park’s “New Divide” is a good example of motion graphics. The graphics bounce in syncopation with the music and the translucency/morphing of the band in fire/waves/space, compliment the plot of the Transfomers movie (which is about aliens). And if you turn down the music, the graphics are powerful and loud that you almost don’t need the music to get the feeling of tension and division, or get the sense of the new divide.
