Studio Workshop 3 - Type Safe Area Sequences

Studio workshop on 7/12/2011.

Tweening
The animators that do all the bits in between the animation

Key Animator
Doing all the important bits of an animation

Rules and Guidelines
On TV, the screen is cropped down. Using the guides given on PS and IL when setting up a document using the Film preset will help to keep this safe.


Typesafe Framing
Doing rough storyboards that are framed type safe using just letters, thinking how the frames will look at key moments in time.

Doing 5 ideas from the worksheets we produced in preparation for yesterdays workshop (here), I've to produce 5 ideas over at least 5 frames using just 1 word.

As easy as it was to portray my ideas across more frames, (I ended up doing 8 for each as you can see) I don't fully understand the point of todays workshop. I do understand that any type that I will use that I want to be readable needs to stay within the type safe area, but doing these sequences using the key frames of them just felt like I was doing the same as what I have already done but using more frames. Maybe I missed the point a bit? If I get the time I may revisit this task and do some of the more detailed ideas that I have come up with to see if it is more beneficial for these.


Task for tomorrow
Think about Aftereffects and how it works and come up with questions to ask about how stuff worked and what not ready for tomorrow. Bring in a written set of Q's - at least one.

Studio Workshop 2 - Timelines

Studio workshop on 06/12/2011.

Timelines
Timelines are the way to think away from the screen. They work in multiples of 60, and between storyboarding and time lining helps to get your head around what ever it is you're doing.

When working off screen we work in seconds, when working on screen we work in frames per second.

The timescale is something we can control, and sequence is when things happen.


Timeline 1
Splitting 1 line up on the worksheet and dividing the total time of the sequence I used to take the screen shots of (49 seconds) by 10, and marked these points across the line. This proved to be more difficult than it sounds as everyone had a different understanding of what we were meant to be doing so it took a while to get it. Once these marks were placed along the line, using the screen shots that I got I'd to place them in the right places along the line, using lines to connect them to the right part of the lines as all of the screen shots wouldn't fit into one line in the distance we have.

Once I knew what I was doing with this it seemed rather simple. It was east to position the screen shots in the right places once I worked out the measurements as they were at regular intervals.


Timeline 2
Using all 5 of the lines drawn on to the worksheet, for this one I'd to split each of the lines into 10 sections, and divide the total time of my chosen sequence to spread across them all. This took a bit of working out to do but was explained better so understood it quicker. Then using the screen shots of the sequence I chose of the frames that I believe to be key frames, I'd to position them in the right places along the timeline. I didn't write down the times for these so had to get the video back up to help me do this. Once this was done then we'd to cut up the worksheet so that it is one long timeline rather than over 5 lines.


timeline 2


Seeing this stuck on the wall it was easy to understand the fact that key points throughout a sequence isn't necessarily equally spaced and are usually scattered across the time line. This will be something I keep in mind whilst I produce my sequences.


Tasks to do for Tuesday 13/12/2011
Review this session and what we have got. Answer these questions

• What is a keyframe outside of aftereffects?
• What are the potential problems you will encounter when sequencing/time lining?
• How are you going to avoid these problems?
• What do you need to know to avoid it?
• How do my sequences relate to an idea of a timeline - how will they go on one?

Choose the best sequence from each of the 5 ideas I produced on the task that I did in preparation for this workshop and map on to a timeline using the 5 frames.

Re do what we have done today (at least once) to help get head around it better.

5 Ideas, 5 Sequences, 5 Frames

Using the visual aids I produced in the previous studio workshop, I've to choose 5 of these to work with and produce 5 sequences of each consisting of 5 frames using black and white and 1 other colour.

Here are the worksheets that I produced for this task.

Towards the end of doing these I found that I started to just do ideas for the sake of it, rather than because I thought they would work well or represent my word well so I'm not completely happy with all of the ones that I have done. Even so, I do think that some do work really well so I guess this balances it out. If I get the time I may sit down to produce some more of these when I don't feel like I have to rush to get them finished in time for the next workshop. We'll see.

Also, I will do what I did with the worksheets from the previous studio workshop and revisit them at some point to annotate them as I found this to be useful for the last time and gave me ideas on how to improve the sequences or come up with more ideas.

Kinetic Type Screenshots - Reservoir Dogs

After spending about an hour or so looking at a variety of different examples of kinetic typography, and adding them to my design context blog (here), from the ones I collected I decided to do the screenshots on the Reservoir Dogs example I found. I like that this is simple, but the use of colour makes it look better, and I like the typeface and the movement between all the frames so I think this one is a good example. If I get time I may try doing this on a couple more examples to see which is the best one I end up with.

Link to the video on my design context blog can be found by clicking here.

25 screenshots taken at regular initials

25 screenshots that demonstrate significant key changes

Studio Workshop Worksheets Annotation

The first task I decided to do straight away is the annotation of the sheets whilst it's still fresh in my mind what I did. Doing this has helped me to go back and re think what I was thinking, and already have new ideas on how I could do it better. It is definitely something I will hope to continue doing throughout the module - revisiting things after I have done them to see if I can think of ways to develop something more.

Studio Workshop 1 - Sequential Thinking

Studio workshop on 1/12/11.

Storyboarding
A process of visual thinking, not a flick book just works to key frames.

Task to do for 1pm
Using the research that we prepared in preparation for today, I'd to take one letter from each of my two words, I chose S and O. With these I'd produced (a minimum of) 5 visualisations on a sheet for each word to communicate my words. Producing quick sketches, one sheet for each word.

Tasks from 1pm
Using the visualisations that I produced ready for this afternoon, I'd to produce 5 x 5 frame sequences for each on a sheet of paper using specific requirements.

Sheet 1
Change of form
Dimension
Scale
Appearance
Visual quality or character

Sheet 2
Lateral  |  Vertical
Change of position
Change of orientation
Change of axis
Fixed form/fixed scale

Sheet 3
Change of form
Change of scale
Lateral or vertical +
Spatial/dimensional

Tasks to do for Tuesday 5/12/11.

• move on with silent movie brief
• annotate, review and rework what we have done today explaining what I was thinking whilst I was doing them. Put on notes, arrows, etc.
• use visual aids already produced this morning, choose 5 to work with. Can either use both words of get rid of one and focus on the other. For each individual idea come up with 5 sequences for each one consisting of 5 frames. Can now use the whole word, not just a letterform. Be of quality. Include a colour. Trace as much as possible to keep as true to the original typeface as possible.
• bring along a set of 25 mini screen grabs on kinetic type. 25 frames at equal intervals. 25 frames that demonstrate significant key changes that happen. Do on one video.
• research into kinetic type stuff and start putting it on the context blog for research.

Silent Movie - Disperse

The other word that I picked from the randomiser for the silent movie brief is disperse.

In preparation for Thursdays workshop, I've to find a minimum of...

20 alternative words that relate to my word
Using the thesaurus on Word, I typed in disperse to get related words, then found related words of the ones I found that I think still best suit.

• Disperse
• Scatter
• Dissolve
• Deparate
• Diffuse
• Go away
• Break up
• Melt away
• Throw
• Strew
• Fling
• Toss
• Sprinkle
• Distribute
• Disseminate
• Dot
• Lob
• Heave
• Pitch
• Chuck
• Soften
• Thaw
• Run
• Sprint
• Enclosure
• Flow
• Proceed
• Move

20 meanings/interpretations of my word

• Denoting a phase dispersed in another phase, as in a colloid - emulsions should be examined after storage for droplet size of the disperse phase
• Distribute or spread over a wide area - storms can disperse seeds via high altitudes - camping sites could be dispersed among trees so as to be out of sight
• Go or cause to go in different directions or to different destinations - the crowd dispersed - the police used tear gas to disperse the protesters
• Cause (gas, smoke, mist, or cloud) to thin out and eventually disappear - winds dispersed the bomb's radioactive cloud high in the atmosphere
• Thin out and disappear - the earlier mist had dispersed
• Divide (light) into constituents of different wavelengths
• Distribute (small particles) uniformly in a medium
• scatter: distribute loosely; "He scattered gun powder under the wagon"
• to cause to separate and go in different directions; "She waved her hand and scattered the crowds"
• break up: cause to separate; "break up kidney stones"; "disperse particles"
• move away from each other; "The crowds dispersed"; "The children scattered in all directions when the teacher approached"separate (light) into spectral rays; "the prosm disperses light"
• circulate: cause to become widely known; "spread information"; "circulate a rumor"; "broadcast the news"
• Biological dispersal refers to a species movement away from an existing population or away from the parent organism.
• A dispersion is a system in which particles are dispersed in a continuous phase of a different composition (or state). See also emulsion.
• In materials science, dispersion is the fraction of atoms of a material exposed to the surface. In general: where D is the dispersion, NS is the number of surface atoms and NT is the total number of atoms of the material.
• To scatter in different directions; To break up and disappear; to dissipate; To disseminate; To separate rays of light etc. according to wavelength; to refract; To distribute throughout
• Finely divided or colloidal in nature, such as pigment particles completely separated in a binder as compared with several pigments particles stuck to one another.
• Separation of a quantity.
• The movement of a young bird from the site where it hatched to the site where it will breed. Natal dispersal is the permanent movement of young birds from their birth sites to their own breeding locations. 
• The act of organisms moving from one habitat to another
• When an animal leaves an area and does not return.
• Transport of spores to other sites.

20 objects (images) that relate to my word

20 situations relating to the word

• blowing a dandelion
• ink soaking into paper
• tie dying
• emigrating
• transporting stock from a warehouse to a store
• dismissing a class/lecture
• rumours
• smoke disappearing
• storms
• volcanoes
• sieving
• sorting money into individual piles
• the sun
• turning on a light
• spilling a glass of water
• bacteria multiplying
• rioting getting out of hand
• splashing
• wind blowing something away
• soaking
• a tea bag being stewed
• pulling an espresso from a coffee machine
• playing marbles
• sneezing

20 typefaces that relate/are appropriate to my word

I'm required to bring a small, medium, and large sized print out of each typeface for the word. So I have decided to do the small size as 12pt, medium as 36pt and big as 72pt.