Digital Photography and Imaging - Project 4: Self-Titled

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01/06/2023 - 07/07/2023 / Week 9 - Week 14

Joey Lok Wai San / 0350857

Digital Imaging and Photography / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media  Project 4: Self-Titled



LECTURES

WEEK 10

During this week, we were introduced to After Effects. We learned how to link Adobe Photoshop layers into After Effects, and the compositing concept from still images to moving images. Below is my outcome from the After Effects exercise. Click here for Week 10 blog.



WEEK 11

Week 11 was a final project consultation week. Mr. Fauzi briefed us about Project 3: E-Portoflio and Project 4: Self-Titled. Click here for Week 11 blog.

WEEK 12

Week 12 was a consultation week for our final project. We updated Mr. Fauzi on our progress and got feedback in return. Click here for Week 12 blog.

WEEK 13

Week 13 was a public holiday. We continued with our progress on our final project and watched YouTube tutorials on how to use After Effects. Click here for Week 13 blog.

WEEK 14

This week is the last class and our final project critique. During the class, Mr. Fauzi provided us with feedback on how to improve our work, before we finalized everything and submitted our project. Click here for Week 14 blog.


INSTRUCTIONS

PROJECT 4: Self-Titled

Self-titled is an exploration project for the students to express their own individuality and reflect their personality in digital art self-expression. The main idea is to build up self-confidence and discover their interest. For more information about this project visit this link https://fauziyusoff.com/dpi/
1. Idea Development
Biography about myself

Introduction

My name is Joey, and I turned 18 this year. I am currently in my first-year of university, studying Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media.

Paragraph 1

I am a person who is interested in every subject under the sun, including science, the arts, and humanities, etc. I despise the idea of being constrained to just one field, which made choosing my degree incredibly difficult. I like variety and innovation, and most importantly I like learning and being challenged in every direction —especially by impossible deadlines that make my hair come out. I enjoy studying new things on my own because it takes away the pressure to do well. 


Paragraph 2

I chose to pursue design because allows me to be creative, and innovative. I enjoy art and design, but after years of studying it in high school, creating art can be quite draining. My true passion and hobbies lie in reading and traveling. Reading allows me to explore the world, both real and fictional – depending on the book. I prefer to lose myself in imagination and fictitious worlds from books and movies, a place with endless possibilities, rather than face reality or the real world.


Summary

I enjoy reading a lot since it transports me to a fantasy world, stimulates my imagination, and evokes a wide range of emotions within me. Depending on what I read, it allows me to explore both the real and imaginary worlds. 


  Statement about my work

Introduction

Self-titled requires us to use a photo of ourselves to express ourselves, build up self-confidence, and discover our interests. As mentioned in my biography, I really like fantasy, imagination, and escaping into a dream-world. I want to explore my thoughts and incorporate my passions into my design. 

Paragraph 1

My first draft includes my face with my passions exploding out of my head. The idea was based on digital collages I saw on Pinterest and the concept of surrealism. The top of the head is detached from the body, with elements (in this case, lots of elements that represent my hobbies), flying between them. This draft would have a bright color scheme, to make the design visually striking and noticeable.

Paragraph 2

For my second draft, it includes a book in the clouds with a magical-looking world within its pages. The idea is based on the concept ‘head in the clouds’, which can have a negative connotation but can also mean “to be out of touch with the everyday world, to be living in a fantasy (world).” This definition of the phrase perfectly describes what I feel when I read. I referred to fantasy fairy landscapes with lots of soft pastels and bright sparkles, following a mix of surrealism and realism styles. This concept appealed to me much more, and it greatly matches my personal style preference.

Summary

I ultimately went with the second design since it perfectly captures my favourite pastime and love, reading. The key concept is that when I read, I have my head in the clouds and am living in a dream world created by my mind and imagination.

Moodboard (Poster Visual Reference) I first did some research for inspiration on Pinterest. After looking at the examples on the website link above, I noticed the designs were very collage-like. These are inspirations for my first draft.




 
Fig. 1.1 Moodboard, Week 11
I then realized collages do not fit my style at all. The theme is "Self-titled", and while these are beautiful works of art, the art does not reflect my personality or style. Thus, began round two of the inspiration search. These posters were inspired by the second draft.
Fig. 1.2 Moodboard, Week 11
2. Design Direction Sketches of Mockup Poster These are the sketches of my first draft. As mentioned in the table above, it has my passions exploding out of my head, with a more collage and surrealistic style.


Fig. 1.3 Draft 1 - Sketches, Week 12
These are my sketches of the second draft. As mentioned in the table above, it includes a book in the clouds with a magical-looking world within its pages. I referred to fantasy fairy landscapes with lots of soft pastels and bright sparkles, following a mix of surrealism and realism styles. This concept appealed to me much more, and it greatly matches my personal style preference.

  
Fig. 1.4 Draft 2 - Sketches, Week 12
Digital Poster Progress After getting feedback from Mr. Fauzi, I proceeded with creating my digital poster. This is my first attempt to digitize my sketch, however, I did not like it at all as it looked too simple.


Fig. 1.5 First Attempt at Digitization - Composition Progress, Week 12
I then proceeded to redo my entire design. I took this first attempt at digitization as an experimentation stage and use it as practice. These are the pictures I will be using in my design. I first started with laying out the main elements and arranging the composition, before adding color and the other elements. I also used the technique of recoloring (our lecture on recoloring black and white images) to change the color of some of the elements.
Fig. 1.6 Pictures Used, Week 13
Fig. 1.7 Digital Poster Progress - Layout, Week 13

Fig. 1.8 Digital Poster Progress - Adding Elements, Week 13
I edited and played around with the hue and saturation, and the curve effect. I added an outer glow to some of the elements, which makes it seem like there is magic coming out of the book. I made some adjustments to the lighting and shadow to reflect the magical glow of the book.

Fig. 1.9 Digital Poster Progress - Editing, Week 13

Final Poster Design
Fig. 1.10 "Lost in a Book" - Final Poster, Week 13
3. Animation and Post Production I imported the Photoshop file into After Effects. Before doing so, I had to merge my layers together because my Photoshop file had many folders, each with multiple layers inside. Once everything was merged into different layers, it became much easier to animate the layers in After Effects
Fig. 2.1 Photoshop Layers, Week 14

Fig. 2.2 Layers in After Effects, Week 14
I animated the movement of the clouds by using the corner pin tool; I pinned one end of the cloud, reset the setting, then dragged the other pin. For the pages, I used the transform and rotate function, as well as enabled the blending mode. For the sun, I also used the transform button and increased the opacity as it emerges from behind the book. A new tool I used was the wiggle rotation, to move the birds in place. Last but not least, I followed the YouTube tutorial provided by Mr. Fauzi to remove the green screen and add in the flying birds.
Fig. 2.3 Cloud Animation in After Effects, Week 14
Fig. 2.4 Remove Green Screen in After Effects, Week 14 Fig. 2.5 Full After Effects Progress, Week 14
I took the song Quiet Resource by Everlyn Stein, and used converted it into an MP3 format to be able to insert it into After Effects. I cut the audio and increased the volume slowly as the video progresses. I decided to add a fade-in and fade-out effect to my entire video.

Fig. 2.6 Animated Poster - First Attempt, Week 14

Mr. Fauzi said my work looks good, but recommended I take out the fade-in and fade-out of the animation. He said to make my video one continuous loop, by looping the elements back and forth halfway through the animation.

Final Animated Poster YouTube Link: https://youtube.com/shorts/JBxZnzrl4uw?feature=share
Fig. 2.7 "Lost in a Book" - Final Animated Poster, Week 14
4. Submission
Title: Lost in a Book
Artist Statement: I envision myself walking into a book with a magical-looking world within its pages. The concept was inspired by the expression "head in the clouds." Reading is one of my favorite pastimes because it makes me feel detached from reality, as if I have my head in the clouds and am living in a dream world. Reading allows me to lose myself in imagination and fictitious worlds, a place with endless possibilities, rather than face reality and the real world. Sometimes it is better to lose ourselves in imagination and let them run wild in order to escape and respite from the demands of reality.
Fig. 3.1 "Lost in a Book" - Final Poster, Week 13

Fig. 3.2 "Lost in a Book" - Final Animated Poster, Week 14 YouTube Link: https://youtube.com/shorts/JBxZnzrl4uw?feature=share

FEEDBACK

Week 12 Mr. Fauzi said my sketches looked good. Go with what matches my style and personality best. He also suggested using green screen birds in my animation.

Week 14

Mr. Fauzi said my work looks good. I should take out the fade-in and fade-out of the animation to make my video look like one continuous loop.


REFLECTION

Experience

My experience with this project has been fairly decent. This task was a slightly better experience than the previous task because I had more knowledge and understanding of how to use Photoshop. The introduction of After Effects to animate our images was a whole new challenge. We were given the basics of After Effects, but it can still be rather challenging to use and I have faced quite a few difficulties along the way. Overall, I really enjoyed this module and project because it gave us a lot of creative freedom and allowed us to express ourselves.


Observations

I observed this project provided me with the opportunity to learn animation in After Effects. I gained lots of knowledge and technical skills, such as the puppet tool, inserting a green screen video, overlaying videos, etc. I observed that After Effects is challenging to use until you get a hang of the basics. With the help of the lectures, and some YouTube tutorials, I was able to expand my skill set and animate my poster.

Findings 

My findings is that animating requires an enormous amount of patience. It can get incredibly tedious to modify each movement every second. I find that photo editing and animation can be fun when I understand how to use it. Despite the challenges, I feel a strong sense of satisfaction, to be able to see the hard work of animating come to life.

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