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Research - Carry Me (Bombay Bicycle Club) 

In terms of animation, I am so attracted to the visuals in the music video for Carry Me by Bombay Bicycle Club and has really inspired our animation work for the film. I love the consistency of the white illustrations throughout the music video which look so handmade and authentic. They flow perfectly with the movement of the of the dancers which really intensifies the motions. This technique really influenced my decision to have the rope growing in sync with the motion of the garment which works successfully.

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Animation Clip 

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Animation

For the first time, I used a Wacom tablet to create animations which would flash through the film. I used Photoshop and went through frame by frame drawing out ropes which relate to the garments and which also feature previously in the film. This was completely new to me but I think I grasped it pretty quickly and managed to create something which feels visually appropriate for the concept and fits with what features in these particular shots. I had the background area of the shots to use as a canvas therefore I used the rope to wind around the space. In some shots I synced the movement and direction of the rope to the slow motion swaying of the coat to accentuate the movement. 

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Research - Animation Influences 

I looked around for other animation references in TV and music. The music video for Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits is animated very similarly to Take On Me as they both utilize tonal sketches to create a narrative. The drawings in Brothers In Arms are sketched much more loosely than in Take On Me and the tone is much softer. This is much more relevant to the theme of war in the video and the visuals really represent the time period. This makes the animation so atmospheric and really intensifies the emotion in the song.

The drawings in The Snowman are sketched in a similar way to those in Brothers In Arms in order to evoke emotion from the audience. The very chalky sketches when animated gives the film such a winter-like atmosphere but also conjures up a feeling of warmth when the song is played on top.

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Research - Take On Me (A-ha)

Parallels can be drawn between our animated drawings and the sketches in Take On Me. The drawings in the music video are very sketchy and loosely defined. I feel like the animation relies on the tonal values in the individual drawings in order to give a more intense impression of movement. I think the constant change in tone and how quickly it changes is what keeps the eye alerted and entertained. The tonal values is something I deliberately changed in my drawings, so that frame by frame there was an evident difference.

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Illustrations/animation

We agreed before the shoot that there would be parts of the film which would be animated. After selecting the areas which we would animate I traced over the screen shotted frames. There were 7 selected areas, each with 4 consecutive frames which I drew out which meant that when they were put together they would flash in and out of the film very quickly. 

Due to how similar the images were within the same shot, I varied the shading on the model and the garments so that when the drawings flashed by on the screen there would be an evident change.

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Model Selection

To match the concepts behind Jo’s collection, we agreed that we wanted our model to have red hair (potentially blonde) and pale skin. We noticed that the models who wore Jo’s garments on the catwalk and in the short video matched this description and complimented the garments very well. We thought the pale skin would represent the vulnerability of model who’s mind was slowly deteriorating. 

Chelsea and Sophie Thorpe (sisters) seemed like perfect matches due to the red hair and pale skin so we contemplated using one or both for the shoot. Unfortunately, neither were available which meant we had to continue searching. We had a number under consideration but we realised we had to compromise somewhere. Zana had the pale skin we were looking for but had brown, short hair which wasn't ideal due to the colour and also we had planned to braid the hair to match the ropes in the garments. She became our choice for the shoot but at the last minute we had to switch to Jodi.

Even though Jodi didn’t exactly match up to what we initially invisioned she still had the pale skin and had lots of experience, having worked with some members of our group before. She proved to be a very good choice in the end as she took direction very well and looked great in all the shots we took.

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CREDITS

A simple set of credits I made on after effects to show the array of talented people involved in the production of the film. A quick bit of research allowed me to make sure the credits were in the correct order. 

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ANAMNESIA DEFINITION

After searching for synonyms of the word recollection, Shivy stumbled upon the word ‘anamnesis’, we as a group collectively decided that the word perfectly summed up what we felt our film was about. To the viewer though, they may be completely unaware of what that means. So we decided to include a definition after the titles to explain what anamnesis meant, which would also inform the audience of the key themes of our film. I came up with this very clean simple layout and experimented with different colours, in the end I decided that the white typography on  black background made for a soother and more impactful transition, from the titles and in to the film. 

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TITLES DESIGN

I wanted the titles to have an old deteriorated rough edge to them and to reflect typographic trends of the past specifically the 40′s/50′s as this is the era that we would be referencing back to in the film. Using after effects I experimented with adding vignettes, dust and scratches so that the tiles had a very vintage feel to them. In adding the typographic elements the design appeared to be really flat and didn’t look realistic as the fonts were to bold on the subdued deteriorated textured background, I had the same issue with the logo, that it appeared to be far too bright and didn’t match the sullen tones I wanted to present. I found a way of overcoming this by changing the layer options to overlay, this added a faded texture tone to the typography and logo which is just what I wanted. 

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GREY JACKET ANIMATION

Similar to the animations that I made that are featured in the crux scene of the record player, which are very erratic and free flowing.  These animations were designed to be a contrast to the big void space that the blue back drop of the colourama made. I wanted the ropes to appear to be reflections of the characters current mind set, the mind is all over the place and desperately trying to break through the noise to remember it’s true self. They reflect the internalised battle that the character is having with her self. 

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POURING ANIMATION 

This animation was the first time i had used after effects for drawing animation directly on to frames using a Cintiq Wacom tablet. In drawing the individual frames I wanted the look to be consistent but clearly look like a drawing. I didn’t want to imitate the true actual colours and flow of water because I wanted the drawings to look almost surreal. So it was a quick flash for the viewer to take in what was happening but at the same time feel slightly confused as to what they just saw. Of course when pouring a teapot, one would expect tea to come out, but instead a burst of bright contrasting colour jumps out demanding the viewers attention. 

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This is the end product of the animation. I edited and cleaned up a lot of the lines on Photoshop, then dropped each image file in to Premiere initially lasting a frame so 1/25th second each. I wanted to see the flow of the drawings and how well it looked. After putting all 25 drawings together in sequence I realised that the animation was far too quick to cover the amount of time it needed to whilst still looking consistent. To combat this I extended each drawing to 4 frames as opposed to one so the animation would last 4 seconds not 1. This made it far easier for Shivy, Melody and Selina, to cut and intersperse the animation with the film clips. 

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We shot the film at 25 frames per second, so in Premiere pro, I looked through the whole video and picked exported 25 frames as images to be used as references for drawings via a rotoscoping technique. I decided to draw on top of the frames by hand as opposed to on the computer because I wanted the raw graphite sketch feel that I didn’t think I could emulate as well using a tablet. After doing the drawings I experimented with the opacity and the darkness, the above drawing was the tracing paper on top of the actual reference photo scanned in together. I think the lines were to harsh and even through turning the opacity down on Photoshop, the actual drawings were not clear enough to be seen. 

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This is the clip of the film that we thought would be best to use for the animation, the lighting is soft but impactful and the expression on Jodi’s face would be a very good reference to draw from. This part of the film suggests the beginning of the descention of the mind to a dark place.  

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Jessica Feedback

FF5ive Feedback

Jessica Levy

Role: Stylist

Course: BA (Hons) Fashion Design with Communication

Comments:

During the time of working along side the FF5ive team, there has been constant communication throughout especially with Ayesha. My role on the production of this film was a Stylist. I have had previous experience within this role because of my degree and work experiences but usually with a bigger team of around 15 people, so given this opportunity it allow me to work within a smaller team and to be more hands on. From the start, the FF5ive team seemed to be organised and efficient, even with many hurdles the team injured for example, the change of designer and the change of model.  I met with some of the team and the Make Up Artist a week before the shoot, when they showed examples of the test shots and discussed the plan of action for the day of shoot. On the day of the shoot, I would of suggested to set up slightly earlier or even the night before, if it was possible; as there appeared to be a delay of an hour or so before the cameras started rolling, overall stayed on schedule and even got in a couple of extras shots. Overall, I very such enjoyed working with the FF5ive team and very much looking forward to the final result.