VFX Edit - Stage 4

This is when I totally refined my edit. I am happy with the way the lines turned out with the pen tool, and my use of text. Now I wanted to add some more visual effects to really bring the whole thing together.

When looking at the lines I thought they looked rather bland, like something was missing. So after trying out a load of different effects from the effects panel, I found one which was rather interesting. 
I found an effect called 'fog lights', which created a different texture to the lines. I added it to all the lines I had drawn and just edited the colours in which it would appear, to match the gold but with some white highlights. This really brought all the lines to life, and made them more interesting when they draw onto the screen.

I also made sure all my key frames were set accurately so everything would appear at different times and all compliment each other. Also, in order to add the desired fog lights effect to all the lines, I had to put them into a pre-composition so they were all grouped together, and I could easily apply the effect to them as one.

The video below shows the title opening now with the fog light effect added onto the drawing lines.

VFX Edit - Stage 3

Stage Three for my edit of The Great Gatsby was to add text to the edit. I downloaded a few fonts that I thought looked similar to the font already used, as I didn't want to give up too easily and use the exact font.

I tried out each of these fonts on my composition but after a lot of fiddling around I decided that I wasn't happy with any of them, as they just didn't create the desired effect I was looking for. 

I then decided to create a mask layer over the image I had used to help me draw the lines, so I could use the actual font but just add some of my own edits to it.

Then I knew I wanted the text to fade in, so I used the effects panel to find a text effect that would blur the text to give it a bit more mystery as it faded in.

I key framed this effect and the opacity to create the desired look I wanted.

VFX Edit - Stage 1 & 2

After a few VFX tutorial lessons where we learnt the basics of After Effects, I decided what I wanted to create for my piece.
We have to create an opening sequence or title sequence for a film or tv show of our choice. I decided I wanted to create an opening to The Great Gatsby, as I know the general aesthetic of The Great Gatsby is somewhat complex. 

This is what I wanted to animate and recreate in After Effects

I began this process by creating a new After Effects project and importing the image so that I could use the pen tool to draw around the lines, to create the general image. This was pretty intricate work so it took a few days to finish drawing around the entire thing, since a lot of the lines are small and intricate. I had to zoom in quite a lot to be able to draw the rather complex ones.

The screenshot below shows what I had created once I hid the photo layer. I used my skills with the pen tool to accurately draw all the shapes myself.

Once I had drawn it entirely I changed the colour of the lines to a yellow / gold to match the Gatsby aesthetic.

After this I added Trim Paths to all the lines I had drawn and key framed them all at different times, to give the look that they are drawing themselves. I wanted a variation in timings which is why I varied the keyframes so it would gradually appear at different times.

Twin Screen Final Edit

After the previous edits of my two screens individually I was really pleased with the outcome of both and was ready to edit them together. I transferred each edited side into Adobe Premiere Pro so I could edit the length of each clip as it was easier to do in that software.

I then downloaded the twin screen template from myUCA so I was able to put my footage into it and watch it side by side.

I had already made sure the backgrounds matched so when I put the two clips side by side they would blend well together and show a good relationship. 

I decided I was happy with the footage and rendered it all together as a twin screen. 

I am really pleased with the outcome of my twin screen. My concept was to show the way we are obsessed with digital technology, and how the use of phones specifically is taking over our lives. The left side is to show how we live through our phones, and how it can be messing with us as humans. The right side is to show pure memories but how we are now distorting future memories as we live behind technology rather than in the moment. 

Final Edit of Left Screen

Final Edit of Right Screen

Final Edit of Twin Screen

Twin Screen - Right Screen Development

For the right side of my twin screen I want to have an iPhone to follow with the theme of the left side. I want to play footage of my younger memories on the iPhone screen to suggest how we now live our lives through out phones, and even all our memories are trapped inside the digital world.

I used the draw tool again to mask out the screen of the iPhone so that I could make the clips play within the screen. I chose four clips and cropped them down so I could feature them all and they wouldn't go on for too long. The screenshot shows how I intended the screen to look.

When I looked back over this edit I decided that maybe I should glitch the clips so it has a relation to the left side. This would really bring the twin screen together and show a relationship between the two sides. 

Edit 2

The clip above shows the second edit I created for the right side of the twin screen. I added the same stock footage glitch and followed the same steps to create this glitch look that matches the left side. However, there were a few problems with this edit. Firstly I didn't line up all the clips correctly, so sometimes there are edges that don't align with one another, which makes it look really unfinished. I also didn't think the colours were dark enough.

I also realised that the glitch was only working right in the centre of the video, which meant not all of the footage was being affected. This was something I really needed to go back and change.

Edit 3

This edit seemed to be pretty close to a final cut. The colours were better throughout the footage and I managed to change the glitch to get it to affect the entire footage. However, on the last clip for some reason the footage didn't align properly, meaning some of the glitch appeared over the iPhone, which was irritating. 

Final Edit

In my final edit I decided to remove the moving glitch as I thought it distracted from the footage too much, and the colour glitch was enough to show the relationship. My thought process behind this was that on the left screen the idea is to demonstrate how technology is messing with us as humans, whereas the memories shown on the phone on the right screen are pure, of a time when we weren't so obsessed with the digital world.

Twin Screen - Left Screen Development

After looking over my first attempt at creating my left screen I reconsidered how I wanted to make it, thinking about what else I could put inside the iPhone screen.

I came up with the idea of putting my face inside the screen also, to match up with the background footage, but glitching it so it played differently.

The screenshot above shows the pre-composition I made after I was happy with the edit I had created. I placed the iPhone on top of the footage and use the draw tool to cut out the screen in order to be able to place footage 'inside' it. I then added the same footage, but zoomed it in to fit the screen and match up with the background, just showing my face inside  the phone. 

This screenshot shows how I created the glitch. I downloaded some copyright free footage of a glitching screen to use for the moving glitch. With the footage I created an adjustment layer and added the preset effect displacement map onto it, this then made the glitch appear through my footage. 

I then added the 'set channels' so I could play around with the colours emitted through each channel of the footage. This is how I created the coloured footage. I then just moved them around so they weren't displayed perfectly on top of each other which allowed each individual colour to be seen. This also worked well with the glitch. 

This is the free stock footage I used:

Here is what I created:

The idea behind it is that we live through our mobile phones, which is why I wanted to have my face seen on the phone screen, glitching as if it is being affected.

I am really pleased with how this screen edit came out and I want to use it in my final twin screen. I will need to edit it further for the final twin screen as I need to make it loop for the duration of my final piece and cut off the ending slightly.

Twin Screen - Left Screen Idea

For the left side of my twin screen, my idea is to have footage of my face, not moving just blinking and still, then I want to put an iPhone over my face to symbolise how we live through our phones, and that we are becoming obsessed with technology. 
On the iPhone I will have a slide to unlock background, as if you would be unlocking me and gaining access to my life.

I decided to try out this idea by filming myself, and the screen of my iPhone and then going onto Adobe After Effects to put the footage together. 

This was my first attempt at creating footage for the left side of the twin screen. Although it's not perfect I was pretty pleased with myself as I remembered the effects we had learnt in one of our workshops to create an alpha matte, which allowed me to cut out the section that I wanted and put the iPhone screen on my face. 

The clip is only 10 seconds long but I would have it looping on the left side for the duration, as it would be the simplistic link to what would be going on on the other side.

For the right side I want to just have an iPhone, and create moving footage on the screen, another thing I will have to do using an alpha matte so I can cut out the section I want and just place the moving footage inside that area. 

After Effects Workshop 3

In today's workshop we were given a list of tutorials we could watch on YouTube and choose to try out ourselves on After Effects, to improve our independent skills.

I wanted to try out something I hadn't worked with before, as a lot were based around shapes, and in our first After Effects workshop we did a lot with the shape tool and making them into logos and adding effects to them. 
Therefore I chose the tutorial on morphing text as I thought it looked interesting but was also something I would be able to do with my skill level. I hadn't really worked with the text element in After Effects before, so I thought it would also be something new to try out and get good at.

Here is the tutorial I watched:

This effect was mainly achieved by using a lot of different elements, such as paths, rotations and key frames. 

I managed to pretty much copy this tutorial perfectly. I feel like I've learnt a lot of different skills from this and would be confident doing it again.

This was my first creation:

This one shows a bit of a more 'computerised' transition, which I was happy with, but as the tutorial progressed it showed more creative ways of making the transition, opening up the possibilities of what I can make the transition look like.

I then made a second one, using more of a rotation idea:

This one is more creative, as you can see there is more of a rotation involved in it, which makes it almost look more complex but it was still fairly easy.
I had to learn how to change the anchor point again, as the letter was rotating off the screen at first, but by changing the anchor point I could keep it to rotating in the center. 

I'm slowly learning all the shortcuts for After Effects also, since the tutorial went through some of the shortcuts to use in order to look at different elements of the composition. Using the shortcuts makes working in this software so much quicker as you don't have to search for what you want all the time, you can simply press a letter key and find what you want.

I want to look at some of the other tutorials by this same user to see what other effects I can try in my free time. Although I don't really have a solid idea for my multi screen yet, I want to keep my options open to what effects I could use within in, so broadening my skills is a good idea.

After Effects Workshop 2

We are having weekly After Effects workshops to help us get to grips with the software. This is the software we will be using for our Multi Screen projects.

In todays workshop we learnt all about how to effectively use compositions to edit elements of our work efficiently, before combining some compositions together to create a piece. We also looked at applying different effects to our projects, and the element of green screen.

I didn't take any screenshots of the software, but I have added a video below of what I achieved in this weeks workshop.