FINAL OUTCOME!!!

Metamorphosis from Emma Sears on Vimeo.

What went well? I think the focus on 3D illustration went particularly well. I really loved the making side of this project and the way that traditional illustration could be easily combined with digital technology. Also I feel that I really adapted to stop motion animation. Once I could into it, I found it very straightforward when thinking forward about photography composition and frame rates. I will definitely use stop motion animation, if not in my studies, I will definitely use it as a means to document my illustration practice in a documentary format. What could have been done, If you'd had more time> I would have definitely extended the transformation section of the animation. Developing the paper models even further and using a bigger variation of tactile materials in these transformations. In particular, I would have liked to have at least made the back transformation animation. I was disappointed in myself not to have given myself enough time to create this part of sequence. On top of this, if i could go back I would have used my previous learned skills on the Laser cutter, cutting the leaves out in bulk. This way I could have also made a cut scene, where the whole of Callisto's body gets covered in leaves. Did you push your practice in the digital technology realm? I think in terms of my stop motion animating skills, I tried my hardest to learn as I went. I attended the After Effects, Stop motion and Sound editing workshop offered to us during the term to learn the maximum skills to aid my work. I also watched youtube tutorials on how to use specific tools on both After Effects and Audition to maximise the variation in effects and smooth transitions. At the beginning of this project, I was daunted by the prospect of using these programs. Now I leave second year feeling much more confident and capable and willing to continue using these programs. That in itself is a massive achievement, seeing I tend only use photoshop and illustrator to refine scanned in illustrations. The only thing I wish I'd attempted more was trying digital animation in after effects more. However, it didn't really seem relevant to my learning agreement. I hope to try out these techniques I didn't get to use either during the summer or the near future. How organised have you been during this project? I'd like to think I've been much more organised than I have been in previous units. In last couple of weeks, I have bided my time, constantly making lists for myself to keep me on track. At no point have I felt rushed for time. Although, If i could re-do this project, I would possibly have started making and experimenting with model making/mask-making earlier in the project. This way I could explored making masks with materials such as papier mache and mod rock much more. I am really happy with the paper masks, but I can't help wondering how different and effective moulded masks would have been. Overall I am really happy with my final outcome for this project. I think I have really pushed my practice in this unit and across the year in general. I have really enjoyed making work that contributes towards the Theatre, film and performing arts. However, I think I have only touched the surface of this area of expertise. I will be interested to get more involved with theatre and making contacts in the industry to pursue my interest in maybe connecting my practice to this industry as I start to think of career paths.

Editing Sound in Adobe Audition Part 2

Footsteps:

Its apparent in the final animation that there is a lot of walking involved. However, I didn't want to overuse the footstep sound effects, as it would only take over and make them less effective. I decided only to add the sound of footsteps when either the characters were close to the camera (i.e. within close listening radius) or if there was a need to build tension.

I essentially used the same footstep sounds as seen previously on my blog...see that post for reference.

Here are some examples of video with footstep sound effects....

1. Introduction to the Antagonist (close up shot of feet). The sound is here to emphasise the movement of this character. Compared to my first version of this clip seen in a previous post, I reduced the sound to make it more realistic as 'creeping'.

2. This again is a close up, therefore needs a clear indication of the the character walking in the woods. 

Also here is an screenshot of the finished soundtrack in Adobe Audition....

Editing sound on Adobe Audition

This is the first time that I had ever used this program, and generally sound editing programs were rather daunting. However, as i started to use the program, I started to lots of similarities with After effects and it all went from there.

Initially sorting out the soundtrack was important. The song I had chosen for the animation was 8 mins long, whereas my animation was only 2.07 mins. It was important to use the music as a tool to introduce each section of the narrative, therefore there was a necessity to make sure the tempo and eeriness grew as the animation went along. I found that simply placing the track below the animation didn't work as there isn't three changes in the sound within 2 mins anywhere on the track. Instead i went through the song, identifying what parts of the song would suit each section. In the end, I ended cutting and moving round the music to suit my animation. The last section actually has the beginning of the song as it was the most dramatic.

As well as a soundtrack, I went about recording my own sounds. Both earlier in the filming period, collecting sounds from the forest, and then creating my own later on my room, using my voice and furniture in my room. I also used a couple of tracks from freesound.org such as the birds and the bear roar. This being because the birds in my own recordings were drowned out by cars from a nearby road and the bear roar I wouldn't have been able to collect as I had no access to roaring bears.

Here are few examples of my own sounds that I added and what techniques I used within the program to add to the overall atmosphere of the piece.

Humming

The concept of the humming was originally meant to highlight that the protagonist, Callisto, is unaware of Juno following her. Also it could be another connection to her vanity- She's too pre-occupied with herself to be aware of the danger around her. 

The two songs I recorded myself humming were the lullabies Hush little baby and Rockabye Baby. I chose lullabies to firstly link with the story of Callisto in The Metamorphoses of Ovid (Callisto is attacked because she has a child out of wedlock) and secondly to add eeriness to the first section. Lullabies have been used a lot in the horror genre as the use of child voices and songs can chill the audience.

Hush Little Baby- (Smart phone voice recording)

Rockabye Baby- (Final) - (Smart Phone voice recording)

Initially, when placed into Audition, the humming soundtracks were too blatant and fought with the music in the background. The sound workshop with Paper Cinema, has showed us some effects you could add to the tracks. I chose echo to give depth to the sound and give the suggestion that her humming was bouncing of the trees.

These images show how changing delay time and feedback on the echo is easily and quickly done. Also what is helpful about this program is that you can change all the sound clips under one track session at the same time. This definitely cuts down on time and energy. As well as adding an echo, I changed the volume in which the humming plays at to blend in with the music. Therefore if I needed the soundtrack to be quieter than the sound effect and vice versa this can be easily achieved by placing the clips in different track sections and edit the sound volume.

Here is a clip of the finished humming edit.

(This image shows my work in progress in Adobe Audition).

Antagonist Attack:

As the soundtrack clip I used for the first section didn't quite have a climax or dramatic point, i decided to merge it with a louder and more emotive clip from the song. This in itself is to depict the shock and panic of the Juno's victim, i.e. Callisto. I also combined the music with a knocking sound effect. I wanted a sound that was harsh and gave a sense of sudden movement towards the victim. Below are a few different sounds I experimented with to try and capture this action.

Antagonist attack test 1

This shows my initial intent of the sound start off as a scratch which turns into a louder thudding. However I concluded that it was too confusing for the listener and just to stick with the same sound just getting louder.

Antagonist attack test 2

This sound was created by thudding the wall in my room. Its effective, but the effect is quite flat and not as a dramatic.

Antagonist attack test 3 -final

This sound had a similar tempo to the last clip but seemed so much more effective as a knock, giving it definite and loud thudding noises.

Now here is a video clip combining the visuals and the sound.

The scream:

 Here I have used my own voice again. The idea of the scream is to leave the audience in shock, ending    the first section with an obvious disequilibrium. Then the empty chair and disappearing leaves appear on screen, giving the audience a pause for thought before the transformation section starts. The scream was in the same track section in Audition, therefore it has the same echo technique, making it fade out atmospherically. 

Rustling of the 'fur':

This sound was creating by shaking and brushing the actual piece of costume that I was adding sound to. It gives them impression of movement in the paper 'fur' and also the suggestion of wind in the setting.

Rustling of fur 1-final

I preferred the sound in this clip so much more as its been well made to fit with the legs moving one after the other. Also it sounds more like it moving in the wind.

Rustling of fur 2

This sound didn't work as well as it sounds too 'crunchy' and generally the timing didn't really fit with the visuals.

Here is the final version with video reference.

Getting up:

This was recorded by setting up a fake forest floor using brown paper, tissue paper and some of the paper leaves I had made. I then reenacted the action seen on screen. I managed to record not only the movement but also my breathing, making it more recognisable as human movement.

(Fake forest floor)

I ended up having to make two copies of this clip for the final soundtrack as it was too short and I wanted to have sound covering both getting up and some of the movement in the following shadow shot. In result the sound effects blend into the music in the shadow shot, increasing the tempo making it a more intriguing shot.

Getting-up-1

This sound didn't work as it was far too obscure and not clear as someone getting up.

Getting-up-2-final

The effect in this sound is much more successful. I made sure to stomp my feet to create a louder 'footstep' sound.

Now for the finished version....

Scratch sound effect:

Seeing as this is a close-up of a walk, I wanted to emphasise the detailed noises such as you would draw details in an illustration. I recorded this noise when in the forest, it was created by dragging a stick across the bark of tree, similarly to the claw sounds in the last scene as the bear claws up to the mirror.

Heavy Breathing Sound effect:

I have added breathing sound effects to two scenes in the animation. Both to build attention towards the climax of their section. I have used different sounds for each section though as each expresses different emotions.

- The first of the breathing sounds is meant for the character of Juno. Here the breathing reflects on her anger building as she prepares to approach Callisto. Generally its fairly consistent in tempo and volume.

The following tests are meant for this scene:

breathing 1- This was the least successful as it was way too overwhelming for the scene and it peer feedback stated it was "too huffy" for this scene rather than angry (with the means to attack).

breathing-2- I preferred this much more as it was more subtle and convincing as someone preparing themselves for an attack or something they feel passionately about.

and with the video reference....

- The second has been placed near the end of the animation, in the build up to the full bear reveal. The sound is meant to reflect the panic and fear of seeing how she looks in the mirror. The sound clip starts with with long intakes of breath and gradually get louder and more hysterical. This has been created with short intakes of breath as if the character is struggling to breathe. This took me a few tests to get the right effect i needed. Here are a couple of examples...

Heavy breathing 1

This was the initial breathing sound recording I made. I don't actually mind it but i think there needs to be a dramatic change in the shortness and volume of her breathing.

Heaving-breathing-into-growl

When I put the first test into the sequence it became apparent that the bear growl I downloaded from freesound.org stood a lot. Obviously it won't appear completely legitimate but I want to make the transition between human and bear voice smooth. Therefore I started turning my breathing into a growl. Then from there I changed the fade in/out on both the voice and bear clip so that they would blend into one another better than before.

Here is the finished result...

Bird song

This was the other downloaded sounds. As i said before, I did intend to use my own forest noises but nearby cars made it difficult to separate the bird sing from the traffic noise. Instead I found a sound clip that sounded similar to the sounds I heard in the forest myself...

http://www.freesound.org/people/naturesoundspa/sounds/163597/

I decided to use bird song in my animation as it was a constant sound that i heard whilst filming there. I felt that by adding bird sounds it would create a familiar ambience that one feels when they are in a wooded area. 

I used the bird sounds to both introduce and end the first section. The first appearance of the sound helps introduce the setting along with the pan shot of the forest. Then the second comes on after Callisto screams and goes hand in hand with the leaves disappearing animation. This fades as the animation goes on and this absence of bird song in the rest of the animation depicts that something is not right. 

Here are the two usages of the bird song in the final animation.

(End of first section)

(Beginning of first section)

Remastered final animation without sound

Since my last post I have remastered the animation by making changes to the brightness and contrast of individual shots to make it flow better as one. Here are some screenshots of my working progress as i changed the brightness/contrast of different shots. I found that the best way to create better lighting and consistency in brightness and contrast, was through trial and error. Experimenting with these tools and comparing it to the next shot. I had a difficult time with the shot in the third image. This is because the lighting in the original sequence was very bright in comparison to the previous and next shot. I found modifying the surrounding this shot helped compromise a happy medium.

Some of the shots had inconsistency its in lighting, therefore I split the layer (cmd+shift+D) allowing me to edit the different layer's brightness/contrast so the lighting in the full sequence matched. (Examples shown below).

In the photograph above, you can see how i experimented with colour range. Seeing if modifying colour volume would help create a consistency in the shot visuals. However, I found that it was very time consuming and didn't seem to help much in achieving the overall look of the animation.

Overall, I am really pleased with the newest finished sequence. I feel the narrative has been clearly illustrated and visual aids connect one section to the next. I am happy the colouring in the animation. I feel its very rich and reflective on the dark meanings behind the transformation. The next challenge will be adding the sound effects and soundtrack appropriately. I hope it does not spoil what the audience experiences visually.

So here it is the possible final sequence (without sound).

Possible finished template for final sequence

Since having the feedback from the animation students, I went back and improved the transitions and cut out some confusing shots. Overall I much happier with the pacing of this animation and its ability to clearly illustrate the narrative.

 I was initially concerned that taking out long transitions would shorten the animation. However after making some changes, there was very little effect on the length of the film, at the most 5 seconds difference. Looking back, the repetition of the fade in/out transitions dragged out the pacing. For example, when the previous sequence was showed to the animation students, they kept on mistaking long fade outs to being the end of the animation. This of course then lost the suspense needed to keep the viewer 'intrigued' about the unfolding of events. On another note, I found that the long transitions were damaging the structure of the narrative (i.e beginning, middle and end). This was because each fade in/out transition gave the impression of a change in scene, when sometimes the shots with this transition needed to give the impression that they happening in the same period of time.

 In addition to the change in the transitions, I have added the chair scene to the end of the animation to end on a reflective note. I definitely feel that ending with the bear reveal was a little sudden. So, in effect, the chair scene gives the audience time to process the climax of the narrative, before the end credits roll up. Also the empty chair suggests to the audience that the character's beauty is being stolen from her. This emphasises the suggestion of her vanity in the shots of her putting on make up and brushing her hair. By ending the animation with this shot, I am essentially stating that the character has realised her beauty has been stolen and is left feeling lost in the world, vulnerable to life's tribulations.

Also, I made some slight changes to the sequence. This includes reversing the original animation of the character's initial reaction to her legs. I found that the transition wasn't quite right as the legs were in a different position in one shot to the next. However, when watching the original animation, I discovered that if i reversed it, the legs would be in correct position to transition into the different viewpoint. Here is the original video and the remastered version.

(Original)

(Reversed version).

4th Draft of Final Animation

This was made earlier today before the changes to the antagonist attack seen in the previous post. It was good to again review whats needed visually before I start adding more sound and the soundtrack in the next couple of the days.

There were a series of corrections needed to made to the visuals on this version of the animation, including:

- The refinement of the title credits: I think it still looks far too scruffy round the edges. This will most likely need experimentation with the keying tool.
- The 1st shot is still far too bright, differs far too much from the opening shot.
-There is a fault in the transition between the Antagonist Behind the Tree shot and the pregnant tummy shot. (can easily be fixed).
- Brightness/contrast on the transformation animations need to be refined. At the moment they stand out and I fear they may be obviously photographed at a different occasion.
- Fault in the shadow shot from cutting frames...can easily be fixed.
- The bear exploration shot (torso shot)'s lighting is still not quite right- tweaking needed.

Also living with two third year Animation students, I was able to get some feedback from them and a couple of their friends.  This was great as I was able to not only get technical advice but had the chance to show my work to an audience that has interest in performance and film. An audience I am aiming my final outcome at. They suggested the following for improvement:

- Take out the pregnancy scene: It just confuses the audience as there was no previous reference to the pregnancy and the depiction of Callisto's vanity is enough to suggest she may have done something wrong.

- Don't have as many fade in/outs: Fade outs should only be used to introduce a new scene or portray a change in time or something that cannot be depicted in the footage I currently have.

- Change the end shot: One of my peers pointed out that the chair scene was really effective to suggest an 'emptiness' that occurs in the protagonist's life. It would also be a good ending point for the audience to reflect on before it cuts to the end credits.

- Make the last shot of the Bear's face longer: They stated that the CU shot of the bears face was far too short in frames. It suggested even to slow down the frame rate of the last animation to give a more disillusioned view of the bear as well as giving the audience time to process that the animation is coming to an end.

These points have definitely given me leverage to sharpen up the final animation to make it enjoyable to watch as well as intriguing.

Creating a blur on the antagonist attack...

As I said on the last post, I wanted to focus the audience's attention on the antagonist's approach to the protagonist as well as focusing on the mask. I also thought it would add more variation of viewpoints. To aid my techniques I watched a tutorial online that specified in blurring edges and creating a 'vignette'  layer on top of my shot. After Effects Tutorial- Creating a Vignette and Blurring the images without a MBL.

I tried out both techniques suggested in the tutorial, this definitely broadened my understanding of how to use layers in After Effects to create effects. The technique was fairly simple and could create very focused viewpoints, some working much better than others....

Vignette Experiment:

I really didn't like the effect of the vignette on this shot. It made the transition between this and other shots very messy, as well as not looking realistic as a viewpoint. The black edging of the vignette was definitely too harsh against the woodland imagery.

Next, I tried out the adjustment layer technique to create a blurred vision interpretation.

With this effect, I initially stuck with the standard eclipse shape that appears when applied to the layer as seen in the video below...

Even though, this looked much better, the blurred layer still needed to blend much more into the rest of the shot. Taking this into account, I increased the mask feathering (found in the effects found under mask in the timeline). This blended the two layers much better. I also decided to change the shape of the eclipse, making it much more rounded and central. This focused right in on the antagonist's mask and costume in its full view. The video shows the changes and how it looks in its place in the sequence.

I would be interested to get some peer feedback on the result of this technique to see how they react to this viewpoint. Personally, I think it looks much better this way.  Its definitely more 'intriguing', an element picked up by my tutors and peers in my tutorials and critique.