FINAL VIDEO!

I know I haven't posted a lot about my project lately, but I'm finally done with it! There were a few shots I had to redo due to color reasons. I took me a while to edit the sound with the video and I had to cut some of the sound, including parts of the shots, because the timing was not correct, so you can probably notice and hear a few cuts. Think of it like this-it's almost like a teaser trailer to a movie! You cannot even begin to imagine how long the whole process took, but hey, a lot of hard work goes a long way.

I hope you enjoy the video! The video is based on the song by the Crash Test Dummies and Ellen Reid called "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead". I filmed it like an actual music video and then I imported the clips into Photoshop to draw over.

My Project So Far (UPDATE: SHOT 4 COMPLETE)

Hey everyone! My project is going along swimmingly, although it's taking quite a bit of work to get there. I am still consistent with my goal of one shot per week, although I'm taking about getting he first verse done by November. As you can see by my previous posts about this project, I have given a description of my project and uploaded storyboards. The video is a bit different than the storyboards, and that's okay. It does not have to follow them exactly.

Here's how it goes down it Photoshop-I open up the video, make a layer copy, then I make individual layers for the outlines and colors. It's not easy work, and it is taking a while to get the shot how I want it to be. With camera movement, I have to keyframe each outline to stay in place.

In the third shot, I learned how to make a mask layer and copy and paste it to my main actor. (During shooting, the elastic kept ripping from the mask so I told my actor to hold the whole mask with one hand. I drew over his free hand and that's why I had to copy and paste it later.) I also learned that you don't have to worry about minimal movement. If something is not moving as much, just use one layer. Use video layers to actually rotoscope maximum movement. It's much easier and you don't have to go through all the pain of drawing every single detail. (Well, I like to pay attention to detail, anyway. Nothing wrong with that.)

I also learned to work as a team for this project. You can't get everything done in one day, but I filmed my actors' and extras' scenes during my Seminar time at school. (I also used up another time after school for different extras and my actor for only a few scenes.) I learned how to be a director and work with a cameraman.

I would not do anything the same since my shots are all different. What I could do differently, though, is try and not make it as hard on myself. I pay way too much attention to little details, and it always takes me a long time to fix them. I could also find a shortcut for drawing back and forth on each frame. (Hopefully there's a way!)

And this is just the start of it. For now, enjoy these 3 shots I have to share. After all my shots are rotoscoped, I will edit with music in After Effects. I have loved making this project and it challenges my animation skills really well. Let me know what you think of the shots! Watch these videos without sound. Music will be added soon.

The very first shot. In this one, I used one regular layer for the buildings and positioned/keyframed it. 

I used a video layer to rotoscope myself since the camera zooms in. MUTE THE SOUND.

In this shot, there is little movement at the beginning, but the camera pans at the very end. Since my body is not moving, I rotoscoped myself lip-syncing the words. My head moves too, so I had to focus on that movement. MUTE THE SOUND.

This shot was where I had to use a mask layer to get my actor's arm to be exactly like the actor. I had to ask for help from my teacher at this point, and he scaled the arm to the other side of the body. I have to admit that this shot took longer than my previous ones. MUTE THE SOUND.

Shot 4 is complete! This one took me a while. When my main actor's body turns, I had to make the pumpkin look 3-D. I had to make it look like it was actually moving around his head, which I was successful at. I think this one is my favorite so far. MUTE THE SOUND.

Starting to Rotoscope and My Plan

UPDATE: We are done filming! I will proceed to focus on rotoscoping various environments and how I can manipulate them in Photoshop. It's gonna look pretty cool.

My plan is to finish one shot per week. I have already finished the first shot which I started a week ago from September 14 to September 22nd. I am in the process of completing the second shot. Wish me luck!

Peter Pumpkinhead (Rough Cut)

Hey everybody! Here is my edited rough cut of my storyboarded version of Peter Pumpkinhead. I have already started filming a couple days ago, and I hope to finish filming sometime this week. This is just a rough translation of how I want the video to look like. It does not have to be the exact same as the storyboards. Let me know what you think!

How To Make a Kinetic Typography

Hey everybody! I don't have a video to show yet, but here is a typed tutorial on how to make a kinetic  typography. I believe it is a skill all animators need because it gives you a chance to express yourself through film or song. It is your interpretation of said film or song. But who would ever use it? That's easy-anybody who wants to learn After Effects, loves movies and/or music, and computers!

Here's what you'll need-

• After Effects
• A song or part of a movie to animate to
• Creativity
• Patience-Lots and lots of patience!

Step 1: Do you have After Effects on your computer? Great! Go into After Effects and click on-Composition-New Composition. (You should have a black screen.) Then hover on Layer-New-Solid. You may pick whichever color you choose, but I am personally going to choose red. (It's a pretty bright color!) Here is what it looks like.

Step 2: Now for the fun part! If you add a sound file to animate with, go to File-Import-File, and click on wherever your sound file is. (Desktop, Documents, etc.) You should see it come up in the Project area on the left side of the colored screen. Drag it down to the left side of your composition.

Step 3: Wanna know how to add lettering? Wonder no more! Scroll the mouse to your tool bar. There should be a T icon that is a text button. Click that and type anything on your colored screen. (Since I do not have a song for mine, I will just be adding random words.) I am going to type "Hello." On the right side of your screen, you should see the character screen for your type. You can make it bigger or smaller, spread out or close together. Here are my presets.

Step 4: Now for the greatest part-animating! Go down to wherever your type layer is and click on the arrow facing right. It will give you type and transform options. Click on the transform option. Click on position, which there should be a keyframe already set for you. If you want your type to come from the left side of the screen, hover over your starting keyframe. Move the Current Time Indicator to wherever you want your animation to end. In my case, I will end at 10 frames per second. Then move your type to the center of the screen. It should look like this. (There are also composition settings to where you can shorten your time. Click Composition-Composition Settings, and set your time. It goes from hours to minutes to seconds to frames.

There is also another way you could animate it. Stay on your type layer (mine is "Hello") and go to the icon that looks like a pen. That is your Mask tool, which you can move your type across if you wish. Here is how I have it. You can adjust it to your liking.

When you have it all set, click on the Text option in your type layer, choose Path Options-Path-Mask 1. Your type should be on the left side of the screen. (That is how I have it.) You can also choose Reverse Path to put the type on the other side of the screen. But if you would like to move your type, hover over First Margin, which will make the type go along with the mask. If you want to animate it, go to your 0 frame and click on the First Margin position key. (If you have your Position option still on, delete it.) Bring your type all the way to the right side of the screen on your mask. Then set a keyframe. Here is mine.

Or, as one more example, if you want to add swinging text, here's how to do it. Let's start over and delete our mask. Select Path-None. (You can delete the whole mask then.) Delete your keyframes and bring the Current Time Indicator to 0 frames. I'm going to go ahead and enlarge my type. Turn on your text's 3-D layer. Go to X Rotation, hover/click it, and it should drag down or up. Drag until you can't see it on the horizon line. 

X Rotation is seen here.

This is X Rotation activated. You should barely see it on the horizon line.

Now set a keyframe. Drag the X Rotation key to the left and bring your text 3/4ths of the way to the other side. Set a keyframe. Bring it back up just a little bit from the first keyframe and back down. Repeat this process until it comes all the way up. I rotated mine every 5 frames for consistency. Here is mine.

These are only a few examples on how to make your typography. If you don't want to do tons of work, there are presets already made for you. Just go to the Animation tab-Browse Presets, (which will take you to Adobe Bridge) and there should be tons of various animations to choose from. Remember to click on the text folder. You can choose to animate out or in, blur your type, and other fun options. Just remember to have fun with it! And here is a tip: Remember to animate to the exact time of your song. It can be off just by a fraction of a second. Yes, I know it can be hard the first time you complete it, but trust me- it's going to be fun. Happy Animating!

Thoughts of a New Project and Storyboards

Hey everyone, I'm back! Summer is already gone, but not projects I have in mind. This first quarter project will consist of videography and rotoscoping. I want to complete this project because it is something I am new to, and I love a challenge. As you can see, my project is very ambitious right now. The literature you see is a rough summary of how I want my project to look.

My plan is to make a video based on a song by the Crash Test Dummies' "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead". I hope to start filming on the week of September 8-11 and 14-18. It might not take long to film since I won't use the whole song yet. I will make a schedule based on these dates. I will have a cinematographer, extras, and a main actor to take the place of Peter Pumpkinhead.

After filming, I hope to edit my shots in Final Cut Pro or After Effects. It will be a rough cut. I will finalize everything once I am in Photoshop. When everything is done, I hope to complete the song later on in the year and enter my efforts in a Digital Media competition called E-Magine.

One idea I have for the video is that the main character wears a pumpkin mask. (Hence the song.) Because the original video already has the main character with a pumpkin for a head, I need to bring some originality to it.

This is a rough itinerary of how I want everything to go. I have already made a detailed list of shots for the first verse. I'll get everything rolling by the time September 8-11 or 14-18 comes around, which isn't long.

The storyboards are here if anyone would like to refer to them. Happy animating to me!

Final Blog Post (Green Screen)

SCOPE/GOAL: Our final project in my animation class was a green screen exercise. Since it was only about two weeks before school ended, I decided to make something simple. My project was me in a field and picking up a 2-D animated flower. My goal was to finish before the end of the year and have a better understanding of green screen skills.

PROCESS/LEARNING NEW TOOLS: My concept was simple-I had myself walk around in a field and run over and pick up a flower. I didn't want to make it too long since we were crunched for time. I looked at various movie clips on YouTube for inspiration, including Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Anchors Aweigh, starring Gene Kelly. (There was a specific scene I had in mind that I thought I could recreate. It was the scene where Kelly was dancing with Jerry the Mouse from Tom and Jerry.) I later thought that recreating some of the scenes in the film would take too long, so I stuck with my flower idea.

I storyboarded myself in a grassy field in a short amount of time. Then, when I was ready, I went downstairs to the Green Screen room to film myself, which did not take long at all. After that, I edited my shot in After Effects, complete with the hand drawn flower from Photoshop. Even though it turned out to be 12 seconds long, it took a lot of hard work to determine how I would complete this project. It looks easy, but it is definitely as hard as they say it is. I kept having trouble with making it look like I'm holding the flower. I had to mask the flower numerous times to make look like it is in my hands. (I had to ask for help from the teacher a few times. He was my guide and helped me with masking and keying.) From key framing to masking, I learned quite a bit about incorporating green screen with After Effects. We learned about Keylight, which helps you light your clip. We also learned out Color Key, which also lights and colorizes your clips. Another effect, Simple Choker, helps get rid of the Green Screen bits and pieces that should not be there.

WHAT I LEARNED: Professionally, I learned how to manage myself in a short amount of time. I used my time wisely to work on my project. I also learned how green screen can be used in other ways, like in movies. My teacher showed us various clips that use this criteria, including a how-to video, and I wanted to try and implement the same way that professionals would do.

If I had to do anything differently, I would take my time in thinking of a new idea. I could not help that I had to rush to think of something, but I need to go slow with this type of work. An idea is not going to come to you right then and there.

I would not have done anything the same. Animation always differentiates itself. Next time, I will think of new and creative ways to complete a project like this if I ever get the chance to do it again.

I have learned so much from using the green screen. It was a fun experience with something I have never done before, especially using the camera with it. Maybe I'll use it for a typography or a character animation!'

In conclusion, even though I felt a bit rushed through the project, I had a fun time using the green screen. I did not have a lot of time to do it, but that didn't stop me from finishing it. I always kept track of deadlines and I never got behind. It was interesting to see what the top-notch professionals do with green screen. I learned new things about After Effects that I never knew it had before, like Chroma Keying and masking an object.

And now, my project. Here is the storyboard and final video! The storyboard and video aren't very long, but that's okay! I didn't want to make it too long that I couldn't finish it before the end of the year.

                                         

SEMESTER SUMMARY

For the year and the semester, I would say things turned out pretty well with all my projects. I never lost track of any of my projects or my deadlines. I mostly worked with After Effects all year, and I would say it is a very reliable program. Everything worked well, from typographies to book animations. With my book animation, the book I chose was just right for animating! (Bob and Larry's Silly Slides) Even though there wasn't a lot of movement, I still had tons of fun working on it! Illustrator is a nifty way of drawing over vector-based objects and looked great in After Effects. My group stop motion did a wonderful job and my very first typography hit it out of the park! I also made a typography. stop motion, and I entered my book animation for E-Magine! As luck would have it, my VeggieTales typography got nominated, so I must have done something pretty well to impress the judges! For my fourth quarter project, I feel like the green screen assignment was a bit rushed... At least I have a bit of knowledge on how to do it! I thought my idea worked well. Yes, it was definitely a fun year animation-wise, and I can't wait to see what senior year will bring!