Developing Other Ideas

    After a while of pondering, I realized I simply am not able to develop a story based on a (toxic) relationship. Though these situations and concepts are typically very interesting to others, I am not able to connect or really resonate fully with anything involving drama, romance, or something similar to these genres (though last year's project for my film opening was romance-based. I did struggle then with the writing). 

    I found myself more interested in the mystery and psychological genres while exploring short film examples and I came across some mystery films that made me realize I wanted to do exactly that. Mysteries are also good at engaging the audience, keeping the audience thinking and on their toes. I originally wanted to incorporate a morally gray main character to engage the audience, but mystery can do the same. I'm not too sure how to incorporate a morally gray character this way. I think I could incorporate the ambiguous nature of the main character, but it just cannot be the focus of the film as I was planning for my first idea.

    A good mystery typically involves a shocking crime with a crime solver and a suspenseful plot. These are known to be quite realistic (referring to the way characters would act as well as the crime itself, though it may vary depending on the narrative world).

    Some short film examples I thought may give me inspiration to write are as follows: 

 (A Short Detective Thriller)

- This piece is quite complex for me to pick apart upon my first watch, but after a couple more viewings I was able to understand. I like how the lighting was very dark and almost uncomfortable throughout the production, with a lack of sun to represent the lack of positive emotions, keeping the production's mood very dull and depressing to match the case that the detective cracks.

 (The Vision)

- This suspense kept me on the edge of my seat. There were so many questions that came up throughout the production, not that it was particularly confusing or difficult to understand the (well it was, but it was as if we were put in the character's shoes, especially being in a limited 3rd person point of view and not being able to see what truly is going on until the ending came up), but it was mostly the suspense keeping me engaged until the resolution was revealed.

 (Whittling Away)

- I really enjoyed how suspenseful the plot was, leading the audience to believe that something bad had happened to the daughter, just as her father was panicking. It was really interesting to me how they were able to completely make me think a certain way and make assumptions which were entirely wrong just by incorporating clips that conceal a bit more context. 

 (MISSING)

- I liked the mood set for this production with the color. It is dark and provokes peoples fears of the unknown, and it especially becomes prominent over the course of the production as it seems like the setting changed from afternoon or evening to dusk and night. The overall production is very eerie, especially with the incorporation of the crackling radio and the mysterious figures flying around and finally the sudden disappearance of our protagonist in front of our very eyes.

I'm also thinking of using these productions for my social media research, which will be discussed in the next post. 

Building a Story (iii)

Here are some characters I am planning to use (or maybe not, it's just to choose from)

Sabotage is essentially preventing one from success.

MC: Controlling, manipulative; genuinely for LI's own good because of the way LI is

Love Interest: Gullible but kind, falls for tricks and such (catches on late, or doesn't at all)

Sabotage 1: Lie about the character

Sabotage 2: Expose the character

Sabotage 3: Destroy something of importance of character

Sabotage 4: Manipulating the character to do something bad (illegal, immoral)

Sabotage is to get the LI to stray away from those characters, being that they are harmful to them but they are still unaware of the damage, which MC notices.

This is all for story idea 1, I am planning to make an outline of this but if it doesn't turn out well I must create a few more ideas or outlines. 

Additionally, for this particular idea of sabotage, I'm thinking of using a game, Yandere Simulator, for some of their sabotage ideas for inspiration. Though not entirely of course, especially since their main character is more evil than I am creating.

Building a Story (ii)

So here is a general story idea (which I'm not sure if I will introduce another idea to choose between, but I labeled it as #1 just in case):

I still have more to elaborate on this of course, as you can see. This is a general idea or outline of the story. The words I used to describe the main character and their intentions have a more negative connotation than what I was striving for, so I would need to improve on that to ensure I don't go off track with a different view or bias as I am striving to make the character more ambiguous.

I initially was planning to have the main character kill, but it may be too excessive and lean more towards the evil side rather than anything, so I stuck with sabotage. Sabotage can range from something that just makes things more annoying to deal with to nearly life-threatening, so I think the flexibility of that can help.

I also want to make the love interesting pretty morally ambiguous as well. But since the short film will not be centered around them, it needs to be more obvious so that they don't turn out to just be plain annoying.

⁀➷ Building a Story (i)

After a bit of thinking, I came up with a genre I wanted to incorporate to the story: Psychological. I think I might end up going for a Psychological Drama (subgenre of Drama) based on a vague story idea I have (will be discussed in the next post).

But first, I want to gather and evaluate the research I have done so far:

Psychological Dramas focus on the emotional, mental, and psychological development of their main character/subject. I want to portray a dysfunctional relationship between, with the main character being the initiator.

My goal here is to build a story in which the audience would have trouble deciding whether the main character's actions are valid. I want to make the main character morally gray, where they have motivations of their own, carrying out actions that are morally complex (Source). I feel like morally gray characters are a bit more relatable generally because not a lot of people are morally black or white, evil or good. Collectively, as humanity, we are known to possess complex minds, thoughts, and feelings. Though certain fictional figures of morally white or good characters are generally looked up to, our complex nature refrains us from achieving such goodness, typically out of selfishness or yearning for something such as love.

Batman, or Bruce Wane, is an example of a morally gray character. Batman does things on his own volition, working as a vigilante. He does not care for social norms or whether his acts are of legality, but he does have the motive to combat to organized crimes. Though he carries out nearly criminal acts, he still abides to his moral code of not killing anyone, even malicious criminals such as the Joker. (Source)

Another morally gray character would be Tartaglia from the game Genshin Impact. Tartaglia is one of the executive heads of a powerful military force in which are widely feared and despised by the people of his world. His goals are to serve the Tsaritsa, the ruler of his nation, to make a living for his family. He treasures his family and would sabotage or kill anyone who gets in the way of his family's happiness.

Shown below is my brainstorming/planning paper. I found that writing things down makes me think a bit more than typing.

Generally, this is just questions that I felt I should answer as I developed the story and characters especially going the route of a morally gray character/psychodrama genre.

So far, the pattern for morally gray characters to do "bad" for a "good" cause seems to be prevalent. I think that it would also go the other way around, where characters may do "good" for an extremely selfish or "bad" cause.

I want to be able to incorporate this in my story allow for the audience to be more immersed in the story, trying to decide whether or not they would root for the main character or not based on their actions and cause(s).

彡 Project Timeline

I composed a timeline a while ago and just today did I decide to make a few changes to allow myself to work in a more efficient manner.

WEEK 1:

- Explore the different options for the project (music video, short film, documentary, trailers) and choose one

- research the genre, explore different media for ideas/inspiration

- begin to think about plot/world building

- blog

WEEK 2:

- continue research and develop a more cohesive plot

- blog

WEEK 3:

- research other components of the project

- develop outline, storyboard

- finalize filming dates with actors

- start social media posts

- blog

WEEK 4:

- continue research for other components

- start filming (remember to document this for SMS and blog purposes)

- SM

- blog

WEEK 5:

- continue research for other components/start developing ideas for print component

- continue filming, get extra shots in case

- SM

- blog

WEEK 6:

- start editing

- continue to develop idea for  print component

- SM

- blog

WEEK 7:

- continue editing if needed

- finalize print idea 

- SM

- blog

WEEK 8:

- finalize video component

- work on print component

- Start working on Critical Reflection

- SM

- blog

WEEK 9:

- continue CR

- SM

- blog

- make sure everything is working how it is supposed to

WEEK 10:

- reflection

- post all components

- post CR

◇ Film Distribution

Not long ago, I worked in a group with two other people, Beatrice and Ale, on a project called "Sincerely", which was our Film Distribution assignment where we worked with a work of a student in the Creative Writing Class. 

Link to Sincerely

My role mostly was to play support, helping provide materials, ideas, and helping film, as well was editing the teaser. I really enjoyed doing this project, but my favorite was likely the editing portion. We had a wide range of footage to utilize, so it worked well with what I had in mind for the teaser. I also helped put together the flashing slogan of the film "Nothing lasts forever" in the full length trailer because we took so much footage with that and I was able to smoothly edit it together. I think it looks really cool.

 I enjoyed working with my group to brainstorm how to distribute this, especially since we were all immersed in the plot.

☆: A New Project

    The upcoming portfolio project has me stuck between choosing to create trailer(s) or short film. We started off having four different choices: music video, trailers, documentary excerpt, and short film. I wanted to rule out music video since it's not really my kind of "thing". Maybe if I was in a group to do this project, I could do it. But I think the part that my work will be promoting someone else's work is scary for me, in the way that I'm afraid my skill set is not good enough yet. I want to improve with my own work before I work with others. For documentary, I really don't have any ideas for a topic. I wanted to do this choice initially, but there really aren't any topics I'm interested in delving deeper in, non-fictionally. So it's between trailers and the short film.

[Trailer]

    Pros: Pretty easy to come up with an outline since the way I think of a plot is built like a trailer in my head. 

    Cons: I need two different ideas for trailers

[Short Film]

    Pros: Sounds cool

    Cons: Requires a whole plot, but only for 5 minutes

I'm not particularly good at making an actual, whole plot or story, but I think I want to challenge myself this year.

I don't believe my pros and cons list is very effective, but at least now I think I know what I want to do.

♧彡 Documentary Critical Reflection (v)

05

Critical Reflection: "Part-Time, Full-Time Student"

  “Part-Time, Full-Time Student” is a documentary I made with a group that captures the hardships of being a full-time high school student whilst having a part-time job. This essentially speaks out for those who lack time to do much for themselves as they struggle between the imbalance of both school and work. 

    The documentary aims for a target audience that wishes it could relate to, educate, and even rival ideas that may circle in the mouths of many. This includes other students who may struggle with being a full-time student while having to balance (several) extracurriculars or outside activities unrelated to school yet equally as crucial to them, people– including students, teachers, and parents– who may not have had the same struggles, who may not have understood how the lack of time due to school and work affect a student’s lifestyle before. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 55% of young people aged 16 through 24 are employed. Though these statistics include ages that surpass the years of high school, those particular people likely go to college. Both high school and college students have to balance between school life and work life, which may broaden the interest of the target audience that we look to relate to beyond high school students. 

    

    Because of our constantly changing society, many different expectations of students are changing alongside this moving society. Requirements for certain programs that several high school students rely on to pay for their future education– which in recent years, has been increasing quite dramatically– like the Bright Futures program, which recently also released higher minimum test scores for eligibility (from an SAT score of 1290 in 2017 to 1340 as of now), which has put a major toll on many students, especially those with minimal time to study. Part-time jobs that students acquire may be for many different purposes, such as helping pay for bills in their household or saving money for their future education– which of course, could not be enough to pay for the average tuition of $10,662 per year in a public college according to Emma Kerr and Sarah Wood’s article, “See the Average College Tuition in 2023-2024”. Students may have part-time jobs to earn money merely for their own spending as well, which is no less work than those saving money.

    Throughout the documentary, there were two particular documentaries that I used as a reference while editing. The first one: John Butler: A Short Documentary. This documentary was used as a reference to structure the interview audio. I would have refilmed our interview clips and audios if we had the chance to. I wished to capture an almost solemn tone as our subject is not particularly upbeat and happy. I tried to incorporate a sort of a pause in between and within questions– which I believe is more prominent in the first subject’s, Mia’s, section of the documentary, for example, timestamps 0:40-0:55 of the documentary.

Documentary Link

    I incorporated a bit of b-roll footage with its original, raw audio as a pause to make sure not too much information is delivered at once. I would refilm the interviews itself yet again though, as I wish to capture more variety of shots of the subject as they speak. Another documentary that was referenced was this: He Spent 40 Years Alone in the Woods, and Now Scientists Love Him | Short Film Showcase. I used this documentary to reference how to structure the b-roll. I only hoped that we would have compiled more b-roll to be able to portray our theme in a more eye-catching and interesting way. I would ensure in a future project that there would be an abundance of b-roll rather than just enough b-roll, which is especially evident throughout the entirety of the second subject’s, Sarah’s, portion. I also noticed that in both documentaries that I referenced, it included the shaky, handheld footage which allowed for a more organic look– which was not included in our documentary. This organic look tends to exist in many documentaries to allow the audience to feel more incorporated, though in our case, we did not include it.  

    

    Our documentary centers around two subjects who are high-school students with part-time jobs who struggle in this way, though it should have captured more of the ‘why’ aspect of the purpose of their part-time job to allow for the understanding of the changing expectations for students leading to part-time jobs which are just barely manageable alongside having to be a full-time student. Through these two subjects, we aimed to capture the essence of the struggles. With my part in the editing process, I made sure to allow the tone to work alongside the subjects words and feelings, using the proper low-beat music to creat a deeper, heavier feeling for the audience to exemplify the feeling of struggle. Supposedly, however, it is not preferred that it starts off that way. The best way that this could have been approached was to let the subjects lead on the tone, so the bias does not seem so forced upon the subject and audience.

    Throughout this project, I have learned quite a lot from having to make my own documentary. The real "doing" of compiling the project is much more intricate than just observing them. I hope that I can incorporate this newly learned knowledge in future documentaries. I want to be able to engage my audience more with my product(s), which even after this, will still require much more research.

✄彡Documentary Production (iv)

04

Post-Production

    Editing the documentary was not very difficult (lie, it was a bit tricky considering how I had to consider the timing of the B-roll footage with the audio) at first until I realized when I played back what I edited, there was a major lack of B-roll footage. When I first reviewed the footage, I originally thought it was just enough, but 'just enough' is not enough. 

    

    There should always be extra footage that can be used. I had to restructure some of the audio and B-roll, but it still had almost too much space between the B-roll and interview footage. This is especially evident in Sarah's portion of the documentary.

    The red box in this image represents the B-roll footage as the one under is interview footage. By the 5-minute mark, Sarah's portion starts. Compared to Mia's portion, it severely lacked footage, even though Mia's portion was already lacking quite a bit.

    Another issue was during rendering, the all footage would randomly have the exposure set too high. This is as follows:

Footage during editing preview

Footage during rendering and export

    I never figured out how to fix this, but in the final version, Mia (group member) lowered the exposure-- perhaps a bit too much. It ended up being a bit inconsistent with some other footage that was added. I should have used Adobe After Effects instead of Adobe Premiere if I knew this technical issue would arise... Especially since I know my way through After Effects more than Premiere Pro, which I have not used since grade 8.

☾彡 Documentary Production (iii)

03

Production

    My role during the production of the documentary was not prominent for sure, as I took on the role of the editor. I did briefly ask my teammates to let me know if they needed me to help them film, but they seemed as if they had a plan for the filming themselves, so I pried no further (it was the very end of class after we finished planning, anyway). 

    Much of my time during production was really just watching a bit more documentaries and reviewing the basics of the editing program, Adobe Premiere Pro, that I chose. I still wonder why I chose this over my usual editor of Adobe After Effects. Perhaps I just wanted to revisit the program after I ditched it for After Effects a few years ago when I was just learning Premiere Pro in my 7th-grade film class.

    After Effects seems to have been a better choice but I went with Premiere Pro anyway. For the sake of good old times, maybe?

     I also did review some of the footage. The original three subjects turned to only two subjects due to the lack of usable content of the third subject, though.

☼彡 Documentary Research, Planning (ii)

02

Research

    The research that I did for this project focused on the editing of the film since it was my role as the editor to understand the conventions of what we are working with (documentary). Since two of the major components are the interview(s) and the B-roll footage, I wanted to find at least two references for these particular components. 

    

    After watching a few documentaries on YouTube, I chose two documentaries that I thought could work the best as references for this particular project, considering the tone we have for our project. I considered tone, especially for the interview reference, but for the B-roll, I chose the one that I found compiled the most interesting B-roll while not being too over the top or flashy.

 

    "John Butler" is the first documentary I referenced as I mainly studied this for its structure of the interview shots and audio. I noticed that there are quite a few pauses in and between the questions, giving the audience a bit of time to both process the information given and observe the surroundings of the subject. I particularly like the tone that was presented by this documentary.

    The second documentary is "He Spent 40 Years Alone in the Woods, and Now Scientists Love Him". I used this documentary as a reference to how I would structure the B-roll footage since I really liked how the B-roll footage was ordered.

Planning

    I think that planning our time for this project was quite tricky. With both of my two other group members having little time to record, the time to gather the footage was a bit constrained. Especially as one of the group members is one of the subjects of the documentary, being a student with a part-time job. It's almost a bit funny to me since the entire idea of the documentary is centered around full-time students with part-time jobs who do not have flexible schedules to do anything aside from work and be at school. 

    

    Even in this case, it seemed to be difficult to find the time to film her day, especially with the constraints of her job. Nevertheless, our planning sheet still included shots we wanted to shoot, much of which I don't think we can incorporate, like the tracking shots. Maybe we can film the shots at home (getting ready) can be filmed by another person so at least we can put in some other shots so it's more dynamic.

    I think the structure we planned is not too bad, I am just unsure whether or not we can carry out what we have planned.

    We also have three subjects planned as of now: Mia, Sarah, and Evan (or his cousin?).

    

♬彡 Documentary Research (i)

01

Research (i)

    Recently, I was assigned to create a short documentary to learn its conventions and process. The very first step to this project was research, of course. What kind of new material or project would I start without any research? It started off in-class as a few documentary viewings, the most prominent ones being American Promise and Exit Through the Gift Shop. 

    The viewing for American Promise allowed me to pay closer attention to the structure of documentaries, especially because of the length of the film. The way that the B-roll footage and interviews were incorporated, how the timeline was set up over some time, and the transition and usage between the types of interviews to create a smooth documentary to accommodate for the lengthiness of the film. I enjoyed that even with only two main subjects, it still drew the audience in with the kind of information that was presented and how it was presented. The inclusion of organic scenes following the subjects following their everyday routine allows them to feel familiar with the audience.

    There was a certain style of editing that Exit Through the Gift Shop was able to execute that I liked. Perhaps it was just that it was stylized to pair with the punky music to match the theme of street art. The difference in editing and filming styles also flowed extremely well with the changes in the main subject. You can so clearly see the style shift mid-way through.

    Viewing Op-Docs was an assignment given after the viewing of those documentaries that we watched as a class. I chose "Now I'm in the Kitchen" and "Backflip" to view. 

    "Now I'm in the Kitchen" was about the narrator reminiscing about spending time with her mother; her memories, and her regrets. She reflects on what it means to be independent as her mother once mentioned as she makes a dish that her mother made when she still lived with her. I really resonate with the artsy, creative visuals and the very 'interesting' audio that was paired with it. Those two elements really drew me in as the narrator's voice-over was soft and alluring in a way that let me watch the entire video. 

    "Backflip" was about a man who attempted a backflip unsuccessfully, so he proceeded to make a digitalized version of himself to learn to backflip instead. I think that the concept and strange visuals of the digitalization process were really what drew me in for this Op-Doc. I liked that above all other elements of the documentary. But the structure and the provided information were crucial as well, of course.

    Overall, I want to say that I understand the flow and structure of the information that is given out to the audience some more. I think I want to be able to understand and focus on more and other conventions of documentaries, such as where incidental music would change to ensure the tone flows with the story.

★彡 Initiating my return to blogging

It's been a while, no?

Well, whether you like it or not, I am back. Yet again will I post about my silly projects, and whether you will or will not enjoy your journey watching my journey, I will persevere through anguish and pain to keep you entertained.

Forth shall we commence!

CCR

CCR (1) :https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xBDqOor0ByHTHuFPJ6l--3zjMR3NQgts/view?usp=sharing

CCR (2): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Siz85TIh4CoyEtNPoFyDfdJEW3i7GBGH/view?usp=sharing

Film Opening

 Finally, after many weeks of working:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_tkFaycIJv8Q1jnf8B4NI65XnsSjcdw4/view?usp=sharing

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 8 [POST 2/2]

 WEEK 8 

[POST 2/2]

CCR

It's time to create the CCR-- with two media, four questions will be answered: about representation and convention, production improvement, audience engagement, and production resources.

The first will be a podcast with some music in the background: On The Rocks from the YouTube Audio Library 

The second will be a video...

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 8 [POST 1/2]

WEEK 8 

[POST 1/2]

More Exporting Technical Issues

Yet again I encounter another technical issue with After Effects:

Thanks to the exporting my computer has crashed-- twice-- with this screen. The project was saved before exporting, so at least I still have my progress. My patience is running a little thin with the lag and the amount of time that is needed to complete any editing as it continues to buffer after every click. But the film opening is done... the only issue is the exporting. Well, I may have to change or remove some effects...

Film Opening Group Discussions [2]

We met for group meetings today—again. I found it quite enjoyable watching everyone’s progress on their projects no matter which point of the project they are at. 

One person had a bit of trouble with the editing process. I happily offered help to them as the program he had questions about was Adobe Premiere Pro, which I did have previous experience using. Some of it was basic concepts, but he caught on quick. I also introduced him to tutorials on YouTube and even on Adobe itself. I hope the best for his editing!

One other group member-- who I remembered to be pretty much finished with their project-- had really nice lighting in their project. They did explain that they rented out a professional camera for this project. I was very impressed, to say the least. I believe their decision to rent out a professional camera was not only valid despite this being just a school project, but how professional the results came out for them.

After we briefly reviewed everyone's projects, we all discussed the CCR portion of the project and watched many CCRs of previous years. I found many great references that I could use in my project as well...

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 7 [POST 3/3]

WEEK 7 

[POST 3/3]

Technical Issue #1: SOLVED!

The issue where I could not properly export my files has been resolved! It was my export settings that were the issue. During the render queue in After Effects, I simply had to change the settings under "Lossless" in Output Module:

I formatted this as QuickTime since I did not have the option to export as H.264(MP4).

Under Format Options, I changed "Animation" to "Apple ProRes 422 HQ".

This took a while to figure out since rather than searching up this issue (my Google Chrome is extremely slow) I just played around with the settings a bit. So here is a portion of the opening: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hx1IVIzhHO77wgmcDNUMjdJr5AVjtNCI/view?usp=sharing

Sketch Progress

I have sketched some more scenes as well:

> Toya on a chair

> Hand for string

> Park

> Alyx

> Blink

I did start the line art for some of these and it is definitely taking longer than expected. Even as a digital artist, I do not typically include linework for my pieces and skip straight to coloring and then rendering as drawing lines is not my forte... Sketchy lines are one thing but keeping everything neat is a bit difficult. 

My process for drawing these shots consists of sketch > line arts (plural, since I must draw it multiple times for the movement effect-- I'm not sure what it is called but it will be clear once I finish)  > filling in the character > clean up > Chromatic Abberation

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 7 [POST 2/3]

WEEK 7 

[POST 2/3]

Background Images

Earlier today, I walked with my younger sister to take some pictures at the library park nearby for reference pictures and backgrounds. Here are some, excluding a couple and some more with my sister in it-- she wasn't comfortable showing her face but I did include one reference image without her face in it.

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 7 [POST 1/3]

 WEEK 7 

[POST 1/3]

A New Week

I did not mention this in my previous post (dated 18 March), but it was my brother's 9th birthday on that day. Because of that, my mother decided to take us out for a few days after the 18th, venturing around central Florida. Thanks to this, I have not been able to make any particular progress on the project. During the trip, however, I was constantly thinking of the project. With so much time on my hands, I was able to make a mental map of it, using the timing for the introduction as a reference. I realized I am most likely very much under time. Nearly 30 seconds, actually...

I thought of adding some stray shots around the park and bedroom scenes to introduce its settings. For "cinematic" purposes as well. I'm not sure if that could even fill up the amount of time is empty...

I also compiled some After Effects tutorials! For wiggles, shakes, and puppet movement (for easier animation). 

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 6 [POST 3/3]

 WEEK 6 

[POST 3/3]

More Updates...

So far, even working a couple hours a day grants me very little progress. I wonder if I am too concerned with the minor details? I started off the animation with an introduction to the myth a few days ago, but even a few hours a day only took me to the third shot. I suppose this shot would be the end of the introduction, so I can start working on the park scene. I am leaving the bedroom scene for last since I have to refilm (not really, it's really just taking pictures-- but I have to rearrange the mise-en-scene).

I also found copyright-free music that could potentially be used as the soundtrack of the introduction: https://youtu.be/2V_tUQ8t39U

I chose an instrumental of a traditional Chinese instrument, the Guqing, to fit in with the ancient Chinese-themed introduction.

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 6 [POST 2/3]

 WEEK 6 

[POST 2/3]

A Minor Update...

Currently, my process of how I work is just drawing one shot and editing it, drawing the next shot, adding transition, and so on. I prefer this process instead of drawing everything and putting all of it together since I do not plan very precisely. With timing in mind, I have to see which shots I need to add onto, and as I edit as I draw, I can make improvises without having to redraw anything if it does not make sense.

I am only using a drawing program and Adobe After Effects, so literally hand animating it is quite difficult especially since I am using the "draw a single shot and edit it before drawing the next shot and editing that" method. This is also a very very slow process since the computer I am using for this project is quite slow-- even pulling up Google Chrome takes 15 minutes and a few force quits and reopens.

After Effects is quite slow as well... I suppose all it is is a game of patience and consistency.

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 6 [POST 1/3]

WEEK 6 

[POST 1/3]

Setup and Progress

I finally started the drawing process of the opening. I'm starting with the hardest portion of the opening: the myth introduction. There is a lot more camera movement in this portion of the opening and as I have never animated this way, I felt this was the best to start with.

My setup consisted of my desktop computer and my drawing monitor. I split screens on my desktop for the references and the storyboard while my drawing monitor was my drawing program. I believed this was the best setup I could do as of now, with the references and my own storyboard. 

The reference used in this image is the video I have mentioned before as one of my references for the animation style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFOeQuShLME&ab_channel=GenshinImpact

I also had to compose a background to use for this cutscene since I planned that the characters would be plainly colored white so the background needed to have color to make the characters stand out (and the string).

Like the previous setup, I had references on one screen, and my drawing program on the other.

Since the myth is Chinese and the characters are already represented with Chinese cultural clothing (I used references from animated Chinese series like 墨香铜臭 for a simplified version of the clothing), I decided to proceed to draw the background based on China for consistency.

I chose this mountainous image for depth.

After finishing the drawings, I went ahead and edited them. It's a trial for now and I had some issues exporting the file so I may need to redo the animation. I learned how to input the camera movement through a few tutorials on YouTube so now, at least I am able to do this camera movement more easily. this version also lacks the red string.

 

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 5 [POST 3/3]

Audio

While observing past portfolios, I rediscovered the YouTube Audio Library which I realized I could probably use for the film opening. It included copyright-free music and sound effects. After a bit of listening, however, I realized the audio library for music was likely, not much use to me since it lacked the feeling I aimed for. Especially since this was romance/fantasy genre, I wanted something that sounded delicate.

I remembered that I used to listen to music box collections to do work a few years ago, and I realized there may be copyright-free music box audio that I could use.

Ultimately, I did find very fitting audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxPrWhirvf4&ab_channel=DarGolan 

I also realized that I could probably use some background rain as diegetic sound to layer in with the non-diegetic music in the beginning shots when it started raining some nights ago. I got up from my desk to my window and started recording with my phone. It's about a minute long.

As for the dialogue, there will be none until the title appears, which is when the two main characters meet. Instead of literally having audio for the verbal conversation, it'll just be subtitled. I will briefly voiceover for the myth introduction.

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 5 [POST 2/3]

WEEK 5 

[POST 2/3]

Concept Arts

I was digitally sketching out my idea of drawing in a simpler style but I quickly realized it would simply look better in my normal style. Though it may have a bit more lines and rely more on anatomy-- which I am not too familiar with-- I believe it is more visually appealing. Here, are some examples:

The bottom shows the original idea, but the top is what I plan to do now. It's a very rough idea and not as clean as I would want it in the final product, but it'll look something like this.

I did not include much of a pose or expression but I can already tell it will look stiff... especially since I am not used to such a simple style. It is also faster to draw my normal style, so I will stick to this new idea.

Here is an example of what Alyx will look like in this style as well.

I believe this aspect of the project is crucial as it entirely changes the visuals and perhaps even the tone and feel of the opening for the audience. Facial expressions are easier to portray in my normal style than the simplified as well, which will also end up affecting the portrayal of the characters.

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 5 [POST 1/3]

 WEEK 5 

[POST 1/3]

Character Designs, Visualized

For Toya, the constant presence of his headphones (his headphone-wearing) represents his issue of avoiding social interactions-- probably due to trauma. Similarly, for Alyx, the ribbons represent an issue they have as well--their genderfluidity. 

Short hair like theirs is often associated with boys and the ribbon hair accessories are usually associated with girls. I think two ribbons may be too many ribbons though, I may just convert it back to one.

Even if the project only resides in the opening, I feel details of their own issues are important to convey to the characters themselves... to build character. At first glance, Toya's slightly sharper eyes and headphones would make him look introverted, closed-off, or intimidating, even, which is exactly how I want to portray him. Alyx is rounder and so "cuter" and the short hair and gender-neutral costume would let the audience question their possible gender... Many people will simply be confused about their gender, which is what I am aiming for because nobody really knows Alyx's gender, not even themself.

Notes:

Their sizes are not to scale or reference, both are around the same height. The art style is likely to be simplified more during the animation process.

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 4 [POST 3/3]

WEEK 4

[POST 3/3]

Artstyle

I have a couple ideas for the art style. Obviously, with the time crunch and my minimal experience, I must resort to a simpler style. My first idea is what I intended to go with: simple line art and very minimal shading. Most of this will just be solid colors.

My other idea follows a far simpler art style compared to my initial idea. It is inspired by the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F64yFFnZfkI 

This animation demonstrates the lack of color in the character. I believe that using a style like this with a red string could place emphasis and focus on the red string since the characters lack color. To make up for the lack of color, I would have to be very focused and detailed on the facial expressions, posture, movement, and shape of the character to portray their personalities. This example also uses images from the real world while editing the image with animation to imitate the movement of a handheld camera. This is what I had planned to do-- use images from real life and draw/animate over them. I believe this is quite a useful reference for my project.

I also like the touch of chromatic aberration to the lines to make them pop more, to make it look a little more interesting. I want to include this aspect as well as it strikes me as interesting, which I believe the audience will too. Though too much of it might be overwhelming so I may just only apply the chromatic aberration for movement.

Character Design

There are two main characters in the film. The first character will be the main protagonist, who will be in majority of the opening, as they are the focus. The other character is introduced later on, in the second half of the opening. I changed the main character to Toya-- initially was supposed to be Alyx-- but I realized that Toya reaching out to Alyx would be breaking his comfort zone of keeping to himself.

The main protagonist is named Toya.

This character is a very closed-off and introverted person but is not the type to be particularly shy. Toya mostly just prefers to mind his own business and dislikes meddling with other people's business. He constantly wears noise-canceling headphones to avoid unnecessary conversations with people. He's a very direct person. Toya relies on thinking logically over feelings. If I were to use a shape to describe him, it would be a pentagon. Sharp.

The second protagonist is named Alyx.

Alyx is what I would like to consider a shy extrovert, one who enjoys the presence of people but cannot express himself well with unfamiliar people. Alyx dislikes avoiding conversation but it does make them quite nervous... and they have never been able to handle the anxious feeling. Of course, as Toya's polar opposite, Alyx will be portrayed to prioritize feelings over logic. This will most likely not be included in the opening, but Alyx carries around what I would like to call an "emotional support" plushie, about the size of my hand-- so quite small. Alyx would be considered a semi-circle. Soft, but just enough...

Additionally, I want to consider Alyx as genderfluid. Not only do I want to include representation for this project, but I want to just demonstrate a constant struggle for self-identity among some teenagers. I honestly believe this trait is quite underrepresented in current media, as the majority of the LGBTQ+ representation is just being attracted to the same gender or being transgender (which are already quite underrepresented, especially in Western media), but not much has been shown for the people who struggle with a particular self-identity. I have not yet decided how I would portray this aspect of them, but there may be an additional scene near the end of the opening to represent it.

I shall post my designs next post. Until then...

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 4 [POST 2/3]

WEEK 4 

[POST 2/3]

Revised Storyboard

STORYBOARD PDF

I did this digitally so it is in a pdf rather than inserted pictures.

I basically just added what I had mentioned last post-- an extra scene with fewer people.  It starts with the main character, asleep, and the audience will see that the character has been researching the red string of fate. I may change it to the main character would be asleep on the desk at the computer for a smoother transition between the settings (room and then classroom).

I still want to keep the park scene for now.

'Till we meet again.

Portfolio Project: Film Opening Task WEEK 4 [POST 1/3]

WEEK 4 

[POST 1/3]

Encountering Some Issues...

After making my storyboard I realized some issues I will encounter. The main issue is the lack of actors I have for my film opening. I need people in the background and a few main actors. People who I don't actually have. Of course, I can use myself as one of the actors but I definitely need more. I can't just film random people for it is not only immoral but illegal... My friends and family are mostly unavailable during the weeks of my filming so they cannot be included.

I did not have many options after that. I could either:

Animate the entire opening

Redo my storyboard so that I only need to film one character (me)

I thought for a while and decided to merge the two. I would minimize the number of shots with other characters while animating a majority of it. With shots of the real world's setting, but the character(s) could be animated. I want to have the freedom to draw and create my own costumes rather than being limited to what I have or what I have access to.

The storyboard will change quite a bit and being able to animate, I can lengthen the beginning to ensure that it meets the expectation of about 2 minutes of visuals. By doing this, I just solved a majority of my issues (timing, actors, and costume). I will work on my new storyboard. Until then, goodbye.