Here are the pick of the best:
Saturday, 9 December 2017
Recent Digital Photography
Because a popular chain pound shop seems to have stopped selling camera film and I've been too stingy to source it from elsewhere, I've been using my DSLR quite a bit. I still prefer shooting on film, but as I've used this one more and more, I've warmed to it a little.
Here are the pick of the best:
Here are the pick of the best:
Friday, 8 December 2017
DP1: Motion Graphic Test.3
I've not posted on this blog for a while and my original project idea has changed (again)! I've been doing most of my work in my sketchbooks, as it's a more logical way to work for me and I haven't felt the need to write about my project in this blog recently. If I did, I would basically be repeating what I've written in those for the sake of digitalising my thoughts.
Despite this, I will do another post with a rough outline of my project idea, rationale and preliminary sketches/ experiments, so I can let the WWW know what I'm working on and not just hermit-ting under the guise of independent bowling alleys and 35mm photography.
Anyway, back to the blog post in hand:
As the title suggests, I have done more motion graphic experimentation. This was when I was still under the impression that I might do something heavily involving animation (and I still might- I have new ideas for that now- all too be revealed. How very exciting!), but this was when I was experimenting with clean line, 'corporate' style mograph:
There's various styles in this video- most of them from tutorials I was following, so not very creative on my part, but there are some sections where I kind of went AWOL from the tutorials and began putting 'me' into it. I think I wrote about this in a previous blog where I wanted to start doing these on my own, though I don't think I've learned enough techniques to be able to do so.
My favourite technique in this one is the neon section. I think I managed to emulate the effect well, having chosen fitting typefaces and getting a realistic flicker effect. I've never attempted this style before, but would happily develop it and use it again.
Another section of the video I feel worked well was the first 'fall' transition near the start. I felt the shapes folded well and the motion was smooth. It could have done with a sound effect. In fact, the whole thing could have done.
One section I felt didn't work as well as I had hoped was where the sun-burst comes out (after that transition), followed by the circle expansion. I felt they lacked imagination and didn't especially flow. I find the best motion graphics (or animations on the whole) are the ones that feel fluid, with well thought out transitions and narrative. I felt these were shoe-horned in and appeared 'clunky' in contrast to the rest of the video. They would have worked well perhaps in another segment, but not where I positioned them within the clip. This experimentation is for this purpose: so I know what works, what doesn't and what I can build/ develop on for future animations/ graphics.
I also tried some 3D effects at the end. Again, something I've not ventured into before, so I thought it would be good to try. I think they worked better than what I thought they might, especially the text one, but on the whole they were fairly weak. Like a lot of this clip, they lacked imagination. I think now that I've learned the techniques, I could probably experiment with the variables in them, so they can be more creative. I also think that without having a 'use' it makes experimentation hard as it's not for anything specific. Without an aim or target audience, then of course it is more difficult to test styles, because what is the test for? There's so many elements to motion graphics, such as colour, size, shape etc, so without a target they could all be as relevant or not relevant as each other.
I think that this is one of the main things I've learned recently, that without meaning, expression is hard and becomes pastiche, pointless and emotionless. With a piece of design doing these things, little or no interest/ emotion from the audience will be evoked, therefore making the piece less effective. In graphic design it's especially important, because you are communicating a message. If the audience isn't interested, the message will be lost, therefore the piece having a useless effect. This is no good for advertising!
Despite this, I will do another post with a rough outline of my project idea, rationale and preliminary sketches/ experiments, so I can let the WWW know what I'm working on and not just hermit-ting under the guise of independent bowling alleys and 35mm photography.
Anyway, back to the blog post in hand:
As the title suggests, I have done more motion graphic experimentation. This was when I was still under the impression that I might do something heavily involving animation (and I still might- I have new ideas for that now- all too be revealed. How very exciting!), but this was when I was experimenting with clean line, 'corporate' style mograph:
There's various styles in this video- most of them from tutorials I was following, so not very creative on my part, but there are some sections where I kind of went AWOL from the tutorials and began putting 'me' into it. I think I wrote about this in a previous blog where I wanted to start doing these on my own, though I don't think I've learned enough techniques to be able to do so.
My favourite technique in this one is the neon section. I think I managed to emulate the effect well, having chosen fitting typefaces and getting a realistic flicker effect. I've never attempted this style before, but would happily develop it and use it again.
Another section of the video I feel worked well was the first 'fall' transition near the start. I felt the shapes folded well and the motion was smooth. It could have done with a sound effect. In fact, the whole thing could have done.
One section I felt didn't work as well as I had hoped was where the sun-burst comes out (after that transition), followed by the circle expansion. I felt they lacked imagination and didn't especially flow. I find the best motion graphics (or animations on the whole) are the ones that feel fluid, with well thought out transitions and narrative. I felt these were shoe-horned in and appeared 'clunky' in contrast to the rest of the video. They would have worked well perhaps in another segment, but not where I positioned them within the clip. This experimentation is for this purpose: so I know what works, what doesn't and what I can build/ develop on for future animations/ graphics.
I also tried some 3D effects at the end. Again, something I've not ventured into before, so I thought it would be good to try. I think they worked better than what I thought they might, especially the text one, but on the whole they were fairly weak. Like a lot of this clip, they lacked imagination. I think now that I've learned the techniques, I could probably experiment with the variables in them, so they can be more creative. I also think that without having a 'use' it makes experimentation hard as it's not for anything specific. Without an aim or target audience, then of course it is more difficult to test styles, because what is the test for? There's so many elements to motion graphics, such as colour, size, shape etc, so without a target they could all be as relevant or not relevant as each other.
I think that this is one of the main things I've learned recently, that without meaning, expression is hard and becomes pastiche, pointless and emotionless. With a piece of design doing these things, little or no interest/ emotion from the audience will be evoked, therefore making the piece less effective. In graphic design it's especially important, because you are communicating a message. If the audience isn't interested, the message will be lost, therefore the piece having a useless effect. This is no good for advertising!
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