A day of filming

So today I left to St.Julians with my friend who will be helping me with the filming. We filmed several shots based on one of the stories. We came back and I tried to superimpose the shots onto my latest animation. Some pretty interesting effects were evident and the animation is much more dynamic with footage implemented within it. In this particular story I wanted the figure to be anonymous, and to never show his face. I'm thinking this would be quite appropriate for all the stories since the figures in the story might have a recording of another story which is not theirs; a story where they don't belong (further brainstorming needed).

Here are some screenshots from today's footage:

back lit

sun covering face

walking behind at night

Adding moving Bokeh to animation

I have also downloaded a video of two people kissing for another story (that I recorded yesterday). I exported the video as an image sequence (1 pic for every 3 frames) and I will be trying out some traditional frame by frame drawings as soon as I find my home-made light table!

frames

I've added another tag to my blog 'Documentation' this is different from 'Experimentation' because I have now actually started collecting material which might actually be used in my project. Experimentation will be left for tutorials, sketches and other short experiments with software / Processing etc...

Reflective Writing on Chat Session

Slightly late chat reflection but none the less, the discussion was about making art from found media; music, videos and art from the internet. This immediately got me thinking about sampling. I found this website called 'Thru You' where various musicians on youtube are sampled together to make up one song. Click on any of the images to be directed.

New experiments

It's been a very heavy weekend. I've been sleeping too much or not at all. Anyway above is my latest experiment based on one of the stories. I photographed the watercolour figures piece by piece (upper left arm, lower right arm etc...) in order to be able to animate them in After Effects. I also scanned the ink pram. The sky picture is a heavily saturated found image. I created the bird in After Effects and used particles to make the flock. The girl's walking sequence is a bit strange but I don't mind the final video. I will keep playing with it and try a story over it as well.

I'm finding the process of taking someone's story and creating something from it extremely interesting. It's quite interesting to be able to portray someone else's story in my own way, without knowing what actually happened.

Here's some more pictures from my sketchbook (you'll find most are notes rather than sketches this time, I was focused on getting the project together rather than just drawing and painting).

These were from before my project changed, a visual and more exciting way of brainstorming

going slightly off topic, but sometimes my mind needs a rest

Still was trying to make my previous idea work

The new project 

sketches before I did the short animation with the guy standing in the theatrical sea waves

The 'Madonna Cat' story

More from Madonna cat, and an unfinished sketch for an animation

short storyboard for the animation I just finished

Listing down the stories I currently have, and a sketch of the pram used in the above video

Updates

So far I have 29 stories from 9 different people.
Two questions going through my head at the moment:

1. Should stories be complete or should they mix together as well i.e. creating a new story?
2. Should I include people in the videos? If yes, how exactly? Is there going to be a uniform way or representing the people in the stories or should it vary according to the story?

The Kuleshov Effect

The Kuleshov effect is a product of mid-twentieth century Soviet Union filmmaker Lez Kuleshov.

“According to Ronald Levaco, Kuleshov shot a single long closeup of an actor named Mozhukhin, sitting still without expression. He then intercut it with various shots, the exact content of which he forgot in his later years, but which, according to his associate Vsevolod Pudovkin, comprised a bowl of soup, a woman in a coffin, and a child with a toy bear. The audience "marveled at the sensitivity of the actor's range.”” (The Kubrick Corner - The Kuleshov Effect)

“The essence of the Kuleshov effect is filling in the blanks, or connecting the dots. Mozhukhin isn't actually looking at anything; he probably doesn't even know what they'll make him look at, so he can't possibly be reacting to it. He expresses no emotion, so an audience cannot possibly see emotion on his face, but the audience does. The viewer is presented with a situation or environment along with the academic fact that someone is experiencing it. He cannot simply accept the actor's evident emotion, as none is given, so he decides what the appropriate response would be and assigns it to the actor.

Now here's the real magic of it. The viewer dosn't realize the reaction is in his own mind. He assumes the actor shows it, but he can't see just how, so it seems like an almost magical projection of feeling by a brilliant actor. The viewer admires the actor's subtlety, and at the same time is more strongly affected by the scene. The character seems stoic, which at once impresses the viewer and lends weight to the emotion he does seem to display. In addition, the viewer wonders if others in the audience have caught the undercurrent, patting himself on the back for being so insightful. Backward as it may seem, the emotion of the scene is heightened in several different ways precisely because it is not being expressed at all.” (The Kubrick Corner - The Kuleshov Effect)

The Kuleshov Effect from Michael Sullivan on Vimeo.
I think the Kuleshov Effect is an extremely important piece of research for me since I will be playing around with randomising recordings and film, which in turn will produce a whole different significance to each and every story.

It is very important that the audience doesn't know that the visuals and recordings have been randomised, otherwise it will be difficult for them to try and link the two together. I want to try and run some tests with my students before the summer holidays start, and see how many of them actually make the link.

This is going to be a busy month

This month I will be working on the college's exhibition so it's going to be slightly difficult to do some work on my Masters, however I have timetabled everything - am going to try and do something everyday. I'm also going to try and see if I can get some students to tell me some stories.

Some good news is that a friend who has more than 10 years experience in filming and editing will be helping me out during the summer, especially with filming (and perhaps even editing). This is a relief for me because I am not a professional film maker, and I don't want technicalities which I might be unaware of, to distract from the project.

Some more good news is that I am currently teaching 'Animation Techniques' evening classes, therefore I am refreshing my memory in Flash and Cinema4D (which perhaps could be of assistance in the project).

Story Tour Day 5

I have started following the points on my MPR and I realised that before I have all (or most) of the recordings, it's going to be difficult to start storyboarding or filming anything. I can only work with stories I already have, so I need to get as many recordings as possible before and during the summer.

I'm also thinking of putting up a 'call for stories' notice in my college so perhaps I can collect some stories from my students.

My latest recording comes from a close friend, who was nice enough to tell me some personal stories.