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Project Research & Reflection - ‘Turn the Page’ Split-Screen Project

Tuesday 3rd December 2019 - 

Research:

Since my last blog post, my idea has developed and changed from my original plan over the last month. Quite early on into production, I realised that I wouldn’t simply be able to have the project entirely based around animating these covers because it wouldn’t remain interesting or complex enough for the viewers to interact with the piece. So, during the time I spent capturing clips images, I decided to find different examples on the use of split screens in both documentaries and film, so see how this format was successfully used and put across so that it had a purpose. These examples include Kill Bill Vol. 1 and The Green Hornet, however, both of these movies used split-screen to add to the dramatic flair for the specific scenes. Whereas my development has no drama whatsoever, so I dived into researching documentary-Esque split screens that are more used to show facts and other similar topics. Unfortunately, researching this came up short as all the examples I could find were related to drama movies or experimental pieces, all of which involved people and not objects. Therefore, creating a split-screen piece using solely books and the pages within them is something I will have to create using simply the styles of split screens used and not the contents of the clips researched.

Another area that I researched was the reference to books in different poems. Once more, I knew I wanted to include some kind of quote or poem that perfectly summarised reading and books in a short amount of time. I managed to find three that I loved but decided to go with “Open A Book” By ‘Jane Baskwill’ because of its simplicity and relativity to how I see and perceive reading.

The next factor I researched was authors discussing how reading how impacted them and their work. I wanted to include these discussions because I felt that having a successful author speaking passionately about this topic may make the piece more appealing to a wider audience, and not just avid readers. However, after researching interviews with Stephen King, J. K. Rowling, Sarah J Maas, and George R Martin, I was unable to find any interview or monologue that could fit over what I wanted to put across. This led to the use of creating my own narrative, after watching different Book/Reading YouTube videos for inspiration.

Critical Evaluation:

Successes – When discussing the successes that occurred looking back at the creation of my split-screen piece ‘Turn the Page’, there are certain areas that I believe went well. To begin, my building of ideas seemed to increase and form a coherent piece of work the further into production I was. At the start of the module, for example, I knew that I definitely wanted to base it around novels, but the issue was actually getting that from planning in my notebook to actually building something visual and creative. Once I started watching examples that are explained above and actually getting out my camera and taking images and shots of my chosen books, that is when the ideas began to flow completely. Even more so, once I started building the final edit, so really, I didn’t have a solid plan or guideline to follow, I gradually worked on it piece and piece and evaluated how well one clip or animation slid together and could be shown on the same screen and still relate to what the other screens are showing.

Linking into this, another success would be the use of After Effects and Premiere Pro during this assignment. Premiere Pro is one that I have used frequently during my time on the course, however, After Effects is something I’ve only really dived into once before, a few years ago. So, before I could thoroughly sit and edit my images and clips to be what they are in the final piece, I had to build my amateur skills by following instructions and tutorials for the various effects and animations I wished to build. Doing this has helped me for one, create the piece I will be submitting, and also give me much more of an understanding for the software and its capabilities, building my confidence in the editing stage of production. The effects created in ‘Turn the Page’ are some that I am thoroughly proud of and turned out much better than originally anticipated, because of my previous lack of knowledge with the software, making this a definite success.

Shortcomings – Referring to the shortcomings of the video piece, the main factor I believe to be apparent is the variety of clips captured and used in the piece. Yes, there were many different shots of books and pages from within them, however watching it back now, it appears that something is missing. As well as books and pages, capturing more people reading, whether that be family and friends, would’ve both created that extra edge to the screens and aided to vary the clips.

Another shortcoming would be the fact that I had to record my own narrative about books, as I couldn’t find one on different platforms that expressed what I wanted it too. The opportunity of using a family member or friend in the performing arts to record the narrative for me was possible, however with the time frame available, I believed that using the time to write up a script and then ask someone to read it aloud, would’ve been a considerable waste and therefore, I decided to express these feelings myself, with no script.

The final shortcoming would probably be the chosen topic surrounding the video piece. Having it based around novels, isn’t something that most people will want to watch or be interested in watching so the idea of changing that to suit the modern-day interests and wants may have made the video more appealing to a larger audience, for example; reality TV, Festivals, Horror Movies etc.

Thoughts for further development – Looking back at the completed piece and considering the factors that both were successes and weaknesses, overall, I am happy with the finished product and what I managed to produce. If more time was given, I would go back and add more clips, or exchange certain clips for other ones and even change the dialogue. However, creating this has helped me build my skills and broaden my possibilities for future projects, using similar resources and editing software.

To further develop the idea and process that was undertaken, another thing that I would probably change is the order in which footage and narratives/music were found. If I were to make this project again, I would be sure to complete the audio aspect of the piece first, as this was my ruler and overall frame of how I decided which clips went where etc, and so if I would do this at the beginning of production, instead of at the end, it would help to make the entirety of the editing process a lot smoother.

In regards to the actual book covers that were animated in the piece, I feel they could’ve been animated more professionally and smoothly if extra time was spent on them, as some look quite simple and delicate, whereas my original idea was to literally bring them to life but once it edit, it seemed a bit ambitious. So, if I were to do this again, I would like to take more time working on these covers and perfecting them.

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Project Development

12th November 2019 - 

I’m writing another post about my project development, as, since last week, a few changes have had to be made to my overall idea, as the ghost theme i explained previously, will no longer fit into my final production project, as the ghost documentary wasn’t greenlit by the tutors for production. So, I have decided to solidify my idea based around containing my books in some sort of split-screen piece.  

Originally, as can be seen by the image below, i was planning on having 2 books at a time split down the middle so that there were two different covers that formed one book and have it so that just some quotes from the books appear outside/above the pages with some sort of audio effects or music in the background. However, after today with doing some research on what can be done to alter the covers of books and talking to some of my fellow students for advice, I have decided that I will still be using the two split-screen, but the books won’t be halved, the viewers will be able to see the entire covers, side by side, and the main object or person that is centred on the cover, will be animated using the after effects puppet tool and manual layering so that they move. Whether that be walking, their hair moving, eyes blinking, etc, I’d like this piece to be more interesting to watch and eye-catching. And I feel this can be done by bringing these books to life and showing just how much these stories mean to me and other people around the world. These books will also hopefully change three times, with three different pairs of books in the split-screen, as i feel that just animating two, although challenging, it would be both longer and more fun to see different objects animated, including a variety of things for the viewers to see. 

My previous idea of having it so the quotes fall off of the page like a waterfall and into a sentence somewhere on the screen is still something I’d like to try in After Effects however, the animation is going to be my focus and if I have time after the animating, then I will definitely look into how this can be done. 

In terms of what I will be including in the background for the audio, I believe that music, a poem, or even reading out the quotes instead and not having them appear on the screen, is a possibility. However, I am leaning towards the idea of including a poem that I have found online. I have already highlighted half of dozen possibilities but again, the final decision will be made once the animating is complete, as I still feel that the audio needs to flow well with what I’m showing visually and a poem may not work as well as music for this idea. But, If I do end up including a poem, it is obvious that I will be putting some music in the background anyway so it isn’t just someone's voice that is heard over the visuals and possibly even some variety of sound effects if I can find ones that suit the theme of the project. 

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Project Idea

5th November 2019 - 

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Mini Brief No. 5

29th October 2019 - 

This week we have been asked to work on and create projection mapping. We were shown multiple different versions of these using things such as; lights and water. I’ve found that projection mapping is mostly used in places such as museums, to help make the objects and antiques come to life. However, it has also been used in areas such as advertising, which is one I have experienced for myself in Liverpool. A company we’re advertising a 360 camera and asked people to go into a boarded off the area where there were lights everywhere, we were completely surrounded, and people in the experience couldn’t tell that it was the same place they were in before. It really was very break-taking. So, this was done by projecting the lights all over the surface area. Because of this, it is definitely an area that I’d like to look further into and see how this can be done in augmented reality.

John Underkoffler, I’ve learnt, is someone who used and manipulated light to create a piece of projection mapping. During the video, he showed the viewers exactly how to create something like this and watching this was incredibly fascinating, as I’ve found it is much more complicated and high tech than I originally realised when projectors weren’t as portable or as popular than they are today. During this session, I also realised that projection mapping is what’s used at Disney World when they have the castle events with all the lights and fireworks projected onto it. Once more, aiding my fascination and praise for those who actually work on these projects.

Another event I experienced, that used projection mapping, was at Creamfields music festival, during which one of the acts ‘DeadMau5’ projected images and lighting onto a large cube which surrounded his DJ deck and also projected onto his mouse ears headpiece. This honestly made the act more immersive and eye-catching, as well as heightening the experience that the music created.

We were then shown how smoke is used to aid a projecting mapping and watching the example, honestly took my breath away by how inter-actors can literally walk in between the projection and see it close up and the thought of doing something like this for my project is something I would love to try and do but with the equipment needed and time to make, it, unfortunately, wouldn’t be possible.

We have been asked to get into groups of around 5 and use an area of the Redmonds building to create a 30-60 second looping projection. To produce this, we will need to use the skills that we have acquired since being here, especially in after effects. It also doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. Using software called MadMapper we have decided to create a lighting experience against some of the glass windows on the fourth floor of the Redmonds building to have a visually immersive piece of work. We started off we’ve having a play around with the software, and seeing what’s doable and what isn’t. We then started working with a large balloon, to begin trying to create a projector map against the object. So, we decide to try something Halloween-esque, with the use of smoke and other relative objects/effects. We managed to create a grid on the sphere object which helped us to begin exploring different possibilities with the projection and looked at how smoke effects can be altered and change, alongside what we could possibly add to make it look more effective. After trying to say focused around this genre, we ended up branching out and using visuals on the sphere to make it eyecatching, for example, we used smoke effects, tiles, and also some other motioned effects that give off a lava lamp effect. 

Check out the below images for reference...

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Mini Brief No. 4

22nd October 2019 - 

This week we looked into social media stories and how these are used on both social networks and entire websites. This focus reminded me of a social media story that a followed/read on Twitter called ‘Dear David’ written by ‘Adam Ellis’, which involved a young man who believed his apartment to be haunted by a child-like spirit, and as he told the story, he included both video and photographical proof of this ghost actually existing. Of course, the likelihood of it all being staged is a possibility, however how he spoke about it, with the extreme detail and very believable images, it made the viewers, in a way, want it to be real and when reading it, I was honestly freaked out. Giving the suggestion that, because a story is told on a platform where we speak about our real-life events and feelings, that we, as the readers/consumers, believe it’s a reality more. We then looked into how social media stories now are told strictly visually. Audio is no longer a necessity for platforms like Facebook, YouTube or even Netflix, with the use of subtitles, we can be told a story in a silent movie style, which I find interesting because instead of moving forward, in a way, we are going in circles by how watching news pieces and videos without audio is becoming increasingly more useful for us when we are busy doing something else, we can still read a story and understand it fully.

For this weeks brief, we have been asked to create a social media story, using either Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or YouTube. We need to actually put it online and see how much press it can receive. Our group have decided to work on a mashup which will be put on our twitter accounts, the focus of said mashup is going to be very controversial with regards to using an episode of Spongebob Squarepants called ‘Gary Come Home’ and replacing the animated snail character with Madeline McCann’s face. This theme is incredibly dark and extremely controversial which fits into the brief of wanting to grasp people’s attention. However, because of the bad reputation, this will gain, we decide to change our idea to use the scene from The Shining with the little boy riding the tricycle and replacing his face with possibly a member of parliament. As Donald Trump has been overused, we would like to use someone who isn’t as exhausted so we decided to look into British politicians Jeremy Corbin, Theresa May and David Cameron with the latter two being the Brady twins in the movie.

To begin, we all collected separate clips of the politicians and the scenes from the movie we’d like to use. That took some time to complete as we had to find the right clips which showed both the angle and facial expression needed for the mashup. We then uploaded all of these clips to after effects and started with the ‘here’s Johnny’ clip and began masking Boris Johnson’s face to fit over Jack Nicholson’s. This, once more, was a challenge, as the specific clip of Boris we wanted to use, he moved quite a bit when speaking and so we had to try and work around that by both stabilising the clip and masking it correctly so this wasn’t as dire an issue. Because of the amount of time it took us to mask one individual section of the scene, we decided to focus around one meme instead of two and chose the ‘here’s Johnny’ clip instead, masking Boris’s face over the top of Nicholson’s.

It took hours to mask 30 seconds of that clip and the entire scene is 2 minutes, so we decided to shorten it to around the 30-second mark and add a UK flag over the top of Shelly Duval’s face, to reference the Brexit situation. Doing this would then hopefully cause more people to want to engage with the mashup and show it to their friends/family. I find it interesting how fast similar meme seems to spread across the internet, it’s simply iconic scenes from films and tv shows but with added real-life context, suggesting that people interact with these videos because it’s so real and also comedic that as the consumers, we enjoy it. We enjoy seeing some of our favourite fiction mixed with the sadness of our reality, making almost easier to deal with and speak about. The mashup, I believe, act as a cushion for the hardships that our society is going through. It also adds humour to the politicians who these are usually based around, making them almost nothing but jokes in these pieces of work.

The link for the mashup is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19wxCUAybYTC0gcdTVAtO7pLciWt8aEMu/view?fbclid=IwAR1CHbXRdv4IVBuU9HtRfmIQPfhPQ7Gn4pM9A-mmcJjbl6BR8jan-gfAYJA 

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Mini Brief No.3

This week we focused around 360 virtual reality. The mini brief asked us to create a 2-minute film using the 360 cameras. To start our research, I used a VR headset and watched multiple different horror/ghost related VR videos via YouTube, which included: IT, the conjuring, the nun, and The Room. They were all really impressed by how, even after seeing the actual films they were based on, being there and basically having no escape from this world made the video more intense and scary for myself as the viewer/interact-er.

The VR that stood out the most was the room video, as my group's idea is based around a small hidden room in one of our old John foster rooms called ‘the church room’. As it is abandoned and clearly not been touched in a while, it is the perfect place to set up a horror-based experience. Of course, with us not having a lot of time to plan, film, and edit the video, we are aiming to be using mostly the other senses of the viewer ‘against them’ for this, as visually we haven’t the time to get actors or create extreme special effects so, it will be mostly audio and psychological aspects that make it intense for them.

I have also found when focusing on and experiencing the horror virtual realities, they are mostly incredibly dark and include a lot of intense lighting, which is expected with the genre, however once more, with time limitations, it may be that we do a daytime horror sequence and attempt to work around said limitations to make it as realistic are possible.

The main thing I found most interesting about VR, is as I’ve explained briefly above. The idea of escapism and not being able to shield your eyes or the want to close them but not being able to in case we miss anything. That’s what I’d like our group to perceive during this mini brief.  

When it came to filming, the original room that we wanted to use for our experience wasn’t available to access. So, my group had to look around the building for something similar that would work just as well. We found that the floor we wanted was blocked by security and had restricted access. However, we managed to find a set of stairs that led up to another creepy abandoned room. Two of us made our way up as it was quite dangerous without any bannisters to hold on to an old framework etc. The whole atmosphere of the area worked perfectly with our idea.

Once we finished filmed in the location, we started working on the edit and adding some audio and visual aids that assisted with the experience we wanted to pursue. However, the usual editing software, we found, wasn’t set up to be able to ‘stitch’ the clips from the different lenses together and so we had to wait for the tutor to set up another computer suite to be able to edit.

In regards to the specifics of editing, we decided to focus on the audio side of the piece whereas we play around with different sounds and effects to make it an almost solely audio experience but with an added location for visuals. We chose this because, especially with a 360 piece of film, it would almost increase a play on the viewer's minds. They’ll hear all of these different things but they won’t see anything extra in the film. At least they don’t think they will, it’s quite psychological whereas they’ll expect to see something but won’t, added tension and anxiety to their experience.

Once we uploaded the piece to Vimeo and watched it through using the computer, our phones and a VR headset I found that it actually turned out better than I originally thought. With being able to see the video in full 360 really gives it that extra boost and after doing this brief, I have found some interest In possibly exploring the idea of VR/360 further for our individual projects, later in the semester. Using an abandoned floor in one of our university building for inspiration, the idea of having a 360 experience that isn’t just stationary like this one, but one that moves around and explores other creepy areas is definitely something I’d like to look into and start planning.

Link for our 360/VR experience is as follows: https://vimeo.com/366468666 

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Mini Brief No.2:

For our mini brief this week we have been asked to create a type of augmented reality using the software Blippar. My group had the idea of turning the signs for different rooms and offices into ‘trick’ or ‘treat’ doors whereas the trick door showed only the word and the treat doors included a pumpkin or ghost animation. With over ten different signs captured from around the building, we are already finding issues with uploading the 3D images off the website ‘TurboSquid’. The downloads won’t load onto Blippar and we are therefore having to try and find a solution around this issue. After converting the files into multiple different formats and sizes they still aren’t loading onto the site. After some more tampering, we finally managed to import the 3D files correctly and we could continue moving forward with the project.

The idea for our mini project came from playing with the Snapchat filters on a Starbucks cup and we thought that as it’s Halloween, it fits in to the time of year and will also make wondering the university building for your correct room or just to pass some time, will make it both fun and immersive for those to choose to play along. It also piggybacks off of the game ‘Pokemon Go’ by how players have to wonder the building to collect all of the pumpkins/ghosts.

We then wanted to go onto After Effects to make some short video titles for the AR but found issues with simply logging into our adobe accounts, which then caused us to waste time attempting to log into the software. Once we resolved this, we then found another issue with wanting to change the background image of the different scenes in Blippar. We couldn’t find any way of being able to do it without altering the trick ghost AR we already created.

After all the issues we faced with the software, we managed to create 3 different AR experiences with the signs around the building; one with a ghost, one a pumpkin, and the other with a spinning ‘treat’ made on after-effects. There were more issues found after the 3D models were attached to the base image/location that the AR was to occur. Once we published one of the pieces, it didn’t work correctly with the sign allocated and so we had to revisit the site to try and see why it wasn’t responding correctly and if it could be fixed or if another sign/location would work more successfully.

I found this brief interesting, as we haven’t done anything like it before and it was really useful to learn how to use the site and factors that surround it to create some augmented reality pieces of work. After going through the brief, I don’t think I’ll be including it in my final piece for the module, however there are elements that can be incorporated with my idea. For example; as I’m focusing it around my favourite quotes, I could use Blippar to play an audio piece containing my favourite quote from the book, when the phone is hovered of its cover. This quote will also be the one that I feel will draw people in the most and could easily be used by booksellers and booklovers whilst shopping, to help them select a book that’s right for them.

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Mini Group Brief No. 1:

today we are working on a spatial montage in groups of 3. My group have decided to go down the route of watching 3 different people going about their day; one in uni, one walking down the street, and the other in a more populated area (eg: shop). We are recording both their POV angles and their feet walking, this will be sliced into pizza shaped split screens and will be mixed. This will be filmed using our smartphones and will be brought together. It was a challenge because we weren’t sure what the whole point of our project was so we edited it first and then found sound effects/music afterwards which helped build something to what we like to see as the casual dinner trip to a supermarket but at the same time there were certain aspects which unintentionally came across as a stalker-Esque split screen. The task definitely helped me to see how effective split-screen can be but also the variety of possibilities that can be done using this format of visuals. For example, my exhibit will be based around books and by using split-screen I can show the audience multiple books at the same time with different quotes, or even create my own quote by using the different sections of the books.

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Looking back at the piece of work, it was incredibly experimental. With split-screen being something that we haven’t dove into during our studies, it was mainly a task of trying something and seeing if it worked and if it didn’t work , how could we possibly better it for our future projects together and then finally our individual piece towards the end of the module. Exhibiting all the groups work in the room also helped this, as it gave me notes has to all the different ways we can take split-screen and how it doesn’t just have to involve your own footage, many students used Youtube and news pieces to create something different. With regards to what this project taught me for my final piece, with it being based solely on books and not people, making it interesting is going to be somewhat difficult. Especially with having to try and find some soundtrack and effects that work well which each book that is included in the piece. With this project, that involved people, it was difficult to find a purpose for the piece and not just the audio factor of it, so this project has also made me think in more detail about why I am choosing to base my work on books, this links in to the overall difference between simply creating a sequence and doing so using split-screen. Split-screen needs a purpose, there’s always a reason why the director or producer chose to show the sequence in that way and that what this project as shown, the complexity of using this form of editing. Do I use music, or voiceovers, or have any audio at all in the background of my project, this is the next thing I need to think about during this module and for the next mini brief we’re given. 

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6vV_OsLxB0&feature=youtu.be