There are six main sections of my video. The first highlights the synchronization between the tachikoma and the music, which reflects how my movements are in reality. The coloured lighting is also brought in during the first section because I feel that it is one of the most important aspects of a night out. Also, the first section is one of the longest, so I feel the change of lighting is appropriate as it creates variety within the section.
The second section is about how lighting distorts the body, as I used different layer masks to invert his body in different places.
The third section is to do with how space is essential for me/tachi to completely let ourselves go, which is why I presented him in a completely white, empty space.
The fourth section is where he starts to go crazy like I do; his body breaks apart to the beat of the music and this symbolizes the feeling of wanting to break free from my body as I dance. The craziness continues in section five, where tachi has another self which dances together with him and this reflects how when I dance crazily, sometimes it feels like I’m dancing enough to make up for two people.
The last section shows the tachikoma powering down at the end of the night. I chose to zoom in and out and blur some parts because this reflects how at the end of vigorously dancing when I try to stand still, I can’t quite do it and the room blurs, then sometimes I feel a bit sick, which is suggested by the yellow lighting used in this section, as yellow is often associated with sickness.
Overall, I’m quite pleased with this, though as an animation, I feel that some parts of this are a bit bland as there is only one subject throughout the whole thing, so I will definitely try and include more characters/scenery in future animations.
I have been continuing with the making of my tachikoma video, and here are some compositions I tried out but decided not to use in the end:
I did sort of use this one in the end, though I changed the colour of the lighting to yellow, as I felt the white didn’t look very good. Also, I thought yellow was quite an appropriate colour to choose, as it’s often associated with sickness/ill health, which works well with this section as this part is supposed to represent the end of a night out where illness starts to creep in.
I used the first half of this one, but changed the second half a bit. I thought the effect created by the second half looked quite cool, but it didn’t really work well with the appearance of the tachikoma. I felt it made it look a bit too much like wallpaper.
I have begun making my final video and have produced a few experiments which have been useful in helping me make my video but will not be use in the final thing:
This one shows the 2D experiment where I made the tachikoma dance to the beat of the music. I used this quite a lot to help make some of my other compositions. The reason I didn’t want to use this on its own in my final thing is because I think the 2D appearance makes it look too flat and doesn’t really go with the rest of it, as the rest will be in 3D.
This was an experiment using 3D walls. I ended up choosing to use one that was similar to this but it just had white space as a background rather than the walls. This is because I felt the walls suggested a sense of confinement and imprisonment which wasn’t the kind of impression I wanted to create.
Here are some starting points for the shots I want to have in my video. I worked out – after listening to the music – that I need to have about six different visuals, as the music has about six different sections. So, I made seven different images in case one of them was not strong enough. Some of the music is repeated later in the track, so I will be repeating some of these visuals.
This first image represents how I would like my video to start. It will just be a basic long shot of the tachikoma as it dances to the beat of the music. His dancing will consist of moving his legs up and down as well as his head and arms, though his head may also move from side to side.
As the music changes I would like to bring him into 3D mode, so that his body parts can move back and forth as well as up and down. During these parts, I will have the camera zoom in and out and track each of its different body parts.
The music then changes again, but only slightly this which is why I will have his body parts moving left and right instead of back and forth, but keep the camera movement the same. The other change I will have is that the camera will blur and unblur the imagery as it moves around the tachikoma.
This image and the next few images haven’t been placed in an order yet, so I will have to listen to the music as I make my final video to figure out where they will go. The one above is an experiment of one way I could represent lighting. However I don’t really like how it looks to much, so I will probably develop it further by fiddling around with it.
This image reflects a strobe lighting effect that I will try and create in my video. The idea is basically to invert the background and different body parts quickly and constantly as he dances.
I accidentally stumbled upon this effect when I was trying out different things on After Effects. I really like the way that the pentagon acts as a sort of peephole through the red solid. Although ideally, I would rather not have the red there but have the peephole change the appearance of the tachikoma as it moved across the original image.
This last image shows the section where the tachikoma will dance whilst surrounded by walls, as this symbolises the need of space that I want to portray in my video. However, I don’t think the walls I created in this image look very good or 3D, so I think I will need to experiment more with creating the walls. Also, I think I will need to add lighting to this part of the video, as I believe that will make the walls appear much more three dimensional.
I feel like I should explain, in detail, the reasons behind what I have been doing so far, as well as behind my plans for the final video. (I may have mentioned some of these reasons before, but I felt it was best to clarify exactly why I’m doing things.)
The tachikoma is a surreal metaphor for how I appear during the most positive parts of a night out. I am focusing on the most positive moments because they are actually quite rare for me, as certain conditions have to be met in order for me to achieve this sense of freedom and I often find myself hoping that I will be able to have these experiences every time I go out, but usually the conditions aren’t met so it doesn’t happen. However, as the tachikoma’s robotic appearance represents a time when it does happen, it symbolises how I am breaking away from human restrictions such as embarrassment and thought. This is also represented by the fact that I have removed some of the tachikoma’s unnecessary features, such as the tank on it’s back, which, like the human consciousness in this situation, is weighing it down and stopping it from moving freely.
It’s somewhat animal-like appearance suggests how, during this time, I am only following my core animal instincts of doing whatever I want without having to think about the consequences or the reactions of people around me; similar to a rush of adrenaline. The appearance/style of the tachikoma represents how during a night out, shapes, objects and people are distorted by various lightings and as I wanted this distortion as a focal point of my piece, I decided to represent a night out by just having a single subject and showing different ways in which its body parts become distorted. I feel that lighting is very prominent during the most positive moments of a night out, as when I’m moving energetically with the music, the only thing that I really see is the lighting, combined with fragments of people that are lit up by different lightings.
Another reason that suggests I should use only one subject is that space is very important to me during a night out. The only times when I can fully let myself go is when I have enough space around me to move around, although sometimes this can be quite rare as I’m often dragged into huge crowds and get crushed. Thus, I think I will try bring the tachikoma into a 3D plane as that emphasizes the space around it a lot more.
Although I am focusing on the most positive elements of a night out, it is also related to the theme of escaping from reality and finding momentary freedom. Certain works of Chris Cunningham (such as the Come to Daddy music video for Aphex Twin) also presents this type of freedom, so I feel that distilling ideas from such works will be useful in allowing me to further improve my video.
This video is linked to my idea through it’s surreal imagery and portrayal of escapism. These two aspects also seem to be interlinked within the video, for the surreal appearance of the girls may symbolise how certain freedom can only be obtained when one is behind a mask. This is similar to how my sense of freedom can only be obtained when I subconsciously shut out the outside world and hide behind my own mask of ignorance.
The fact that they are wrecking havoc suggests that they are breaking free from societal restrictions, much like how my idea portrays breaking free from human restrictions. Also, is seems that Cunningham is breaking out of social and societal prejudices by portraying all of the vandals as young girls and I think this complements the unconventional and disturbing sounds of the music. My video will also have a strong connection with it’s music and Cunningham’s video has reminded me that the feeling of the imagery needs to vary depending on the music, as that is the best why to synchronize the imagery to the music. For example, he has used a girl dancing in slow motions to complement the most peaceful/slow part of the music.
Another way the theme of escapism is shown is through the use of the same face on all the children as well as on the ‘daddy’ that comes out of the television. The use of the same face could suggest that the children are actually a part of him (which is suggested strongly by the scene where they gather around him) and their running free and wrecking havoc allows him experience freedom whilst he is still trapped within the television.
When the ‘daddy’ finally escapes from the television, he doesn’t actually end up doing much. This may be reflecting how, often, we will long for something such as freedom for ages, but when we actually get it, we do not know what to do with it or don’t care so much for it any more. Much like how if we get used to a certain level of freedom, it will no longer have the same importance as it did when that level of freedom had not yet been obtained. This also helps to explain why these most positive moments that are represented in my video are very rare, because if they occurred on a regular basis, it may be that that sense of freedom will fade and they will no longer bring out the most positive feelings during a night out.
To transform my still image into an animated video, I started by photoshopping the tachikoma into my own style by using the pen tool. I drew around the parts of the tachikoma that I thought were necessary and left out parts such as the big chunky part on its back. This is because I felt those parts didn’t really having any purpose/meaning in the imagery.
This is the first image I created:
It’s a line drawing of the tachikoma, which I thought looked quite effective because it has a lot of detail across its body. However, this would be hard to animate, as when the body parts move, the lines will break and it will look like its falling apart. So, I tried another style:
This one would be easier to animate, as the lines aren’t so bold, so when the body parts are moving, it won’t look so much like they’re breaking. However, the lines are a bit too smooth and faint, which creates quite a peaceful effect, so I can’t really use this style because that’s the opposite of the effect I want to create. I want my subject to look energetic and bold. Thus, I created one more design:
This one works the best I think, because not only is it easier to animate compared to the other two (due to the block colour), but it also creates the right effect aesthetically. I presented the colour of the body in such a way because it represents how the lighting during a night out can distort the image of our bodies. I also feel it captures the viewers attention a lot more than if I were to have coloured it normally.
The next step I took was to break up this image into the different body parts that would move separately:
Arms
Body
Front Legs
Back Legs
I needed to do this in order to animate the different body parts separately.
So, I had a go at animating it:
I just moved it’s body parts randomly in this experiment because there was no music to synchronize it to. However, this made me realise that the gaps of time between the keyframes of movement were too big, for it looked like its leg were bouncying up and down as if it were walking on the moon, which isn’t the kinda of effect I wanted to create. I want its movements to look a lot more rigid/robotic and I think this can be achieved by lessening the times between the keyframes. Also I think I move the subject a bit further from the camera, as at the moment I think it appears too big, making it hard for the viewers to take in its movements.
I’m now going to see how it looks in 3D (whilst still using After Effects), as currently in 2D, it seems to look a bit flat and I’m not sure that keeping the imagery flat throughout the video will be enough to keep viewers entertained.
Here is the first 3D experiment:
This wasn’t so successful, as for some reason it just didn’t look that 3D. The front and back legs kept merging into one, which looked pretty strange. The only things that looked kind of 3D were the arms, so overall, this experiment just looks like the 2D version except at an angle, which isn’t what I wanted to achieve. So, I tried angling its body parts a bit differently, so that they were reaching forward or pointing backwards, as I thought this might help it look a bit more 3D:
This did make it look a bit more three dimensional, but it also made it look sort of like it was falling apart. So actually, the first one looked a bit better, which made me wonder what I could do to make it look more 3D. That’s when I had another look at my 3D After Effects fish animation that I made the other day and realised that the problem with this animation was the use of only two colours. So, I tried adding another colour to it:
I felt this one looked more 3D that the other two, which made me decide that I will use 3D mostly during the parts when colour comes in. The red circle separates the different layers a lot more clearly, so I will make shapes like these float between the different layers to make them look more 3D. So, I tried adding more shapes to it and I moved them through and between the layers to see if this would make it look even more 3D.
I think the increase in the number of shapes definitely adds to the sense of 3D-ness. However, I think the shape would look better just moving between the layers rather than through them because when the shapes move through them, it seems like they appear and disappear too suddenly, whereas when the shapes move between the layers, it just emphasizes the depth of the layers, which is effective for showing the 3D-ness.
I then thought of another way I could make the subject appear 3D:
The main idea behind this experiment is to see how it looks if I rotate it’s body through the 3D planes. I think it would look quite effective if I rotated many body parts on one of the axis’, but at the moment, I think the movement is too much, making it look too random, as it’s rotating on all three axis’.
A very useful thing we learnt today in After Effects was how animate in 3D. This gave me an idea of another effect I could add to my night out video. I felt it looked very effective when the camera moves to reveal the 3D-ness of the imagery. It creates an effect a bit like the Magic Eye pictures, which I love. Here is the video I created (unfortunately it was done using stock images because I didn’t have an idea, so I didn’t know what to photograph):
Another useful technique I learnt was to animate in After Effects without using key frames. This creates sort of bee/fly like effect, which may be useful in future, though I probably won’t use it in my night out video.
I find that hearing the music to my videos first helps me produce better imagery. So, I decided I will create music before starting the video. Before I found out we had to make our own soundtracks, I had planned to use Tchaparian by Hot Chip, because I felt it’s rhythm and sound would complement the tachikoma’s movements perfectly. Thus, as we have to produce our own stuff, I plan on making a track that sounds similar to this, using Fruityloops.
Tchaparian by Hot Chip (the video is a bit odd, but here’s the song):
Here is the first tune I created using Fruityloops:
The beginning is quite similar to the beginning of the Hot Chip song, as that was the part that I felt would’ve worked best with the tachikoma imagery. On Fruityloops, as you create the melody from scratch, I found it hard to make another melody that worked with this one, so I just ended up adding a beat and then an effect to the song. This was probably the main problem with this track because I wanted a lot of different melodies/changes in it, as this would allow more variety in the imagery. So, I went on to try out a simpler program that made it a lot easier to fit melodies together, as it told you the key of each part. This was Garageband:
Because Garageband was a lot easier to use, it allowed me to add many more different sections to the song, which means that I can add a lot more variety to the imagery if I use this track. So, out of the two songs I created, I think the second one will work a lot better with the imagery and therefore that will be the one I will use.
Okay I’m going to talk about the first three videos together because they’re all linked to the idea of using robots. Out of the three, I’d say my dancing was most similar to the second. The first one is too staged, whilst the third one is not quite in time with the music. However, the first one has shown me that giving a structure to their movements can make it a lot easier to synchronize them to the music. Whereas the second one, even though it’s more like how I’d dance if I had no arms and legs, is a robot that’s designed to react specifically to it’s surroundings, which means it’s very different from the one that will be in my video, as I will have to tell my one exactly what to do. So, I’ve decided that when I start creating the video, I will at least create a rough plan of how my robot will move, as that will prevent it from repeating itself too much/becoming tedious to watch. The third video mainly caught my eye because these robots had six legs (the same number as the tachikoma I will use), so it gave me an idea of how those legs could be used. I also felt the music was quite suitable for six-legged critters, so I may try and create something like this for my soundtrack.
Please do not watch this next video if you have epilepsy. Lighting will be an important aspect of my video, so I decided to find out how other people had used lighting and whether or not it was effective. Watching this video gave me a headache, so I decided I would definitely not change the lighting that fast in my video. I also felt the colours appeared quite garish and tacky when placed next to each other in succession, so I think I’ll spread out the bursts of colour if I intend to use them in mine.
I really like the use of/lack of colour in this next video. I feel that the way the black and white is used in this makes everything stand out a lot more, but at the same time, it hides part of what’s going on. This is quite similar to the effect of a strobe light (which I feel is one of the most prominent lighting effects during a night out), as during the bursts of light, it makes everyone appear vivid and memorable, whilst the moments of darkness hide certain goings on. I think I will definitely employ this use of colour in my piece.
I found this next video very fascinating. It shows how lighting can effect the appearance of things to an astonishing degree, for it appears to make the water move faster, slower and even backwards whilst the actual flow of the water is not even changing. After watching this, I felt that it will be necessary to show how lighting changes/distorts my subject as it moves across it, as lighting can also change how its movement appears.
Yesterday, while I was at the Biffy Clyro gig, I realised that, being short, I spend more of my time staring at the lighting at gigs than at the band. I then noticed the different lighting effects they used during different songs and also noted how different colours changed the mood. For example, the blue lighting created quite an ambient feel and was often used with songs that were more peaceful/slow/mellow. On the other hand, the red light created a more energetic and passionate mood that worked well with the more aggressive songs. The green lighting seemed to create a not so aggressive yet not so mellow mood and green coloured lighting often make’s people think, “Ooo, pretty”, which means it works well to attract attention.
Originally I planned to not use colour in my piece, because I felt the most prominent light at a night out was a strobe light, which worked best if black and white. However, after being reminded of the effectiveness of coloured lighting at a gig (for that is also a night out), I’ve decided that I will alternate between black and white and colour in such a way that highlights each of the colours I intend to use.
These last two images use lighting in a slightly different way. The first one creates a somewhat VJ-like effect, keeping the audience entertained. The two colours also seem to push against each other and move up and down to the rhythm of the music. This may be a technique I wish to employ, though its possible it may clash with the movements of the tachikoma if both the lighting and the tachikoma are sychronized to the music.
The last image shows how lighting can distort people/objects through their shadows. I found this quite interesting as it can often make them look quite abstract/strange, so I will consider using distorted shadows at some point during my video.
Here is the image I created that represents my interpretation of a night out. The yellow tachikomas on the left are grouped together in a way that suggests that they’re a single entity performing different movements. This represents the previously mentioned robotic way that I dance. The position of the fallen tachikoma shown in the top right symbolizes a passing of time – the end of a night of hectic dancing when it powers down to sleep. This is also suggested by the lines and triangles fading as they reach towards the fallen tachikoma, as they represent the music and the lighting respectively. The curved appearance of the lines reflects the amplitude and pace of the music. The fact that the rise and fall of the lines is quite shallow shows that the amplitude remains quite constant, whilst the pace seems slow compared to the speed of the robotic dancing. This reflects how the music can appear in reality during a night out and how chaotic my movements can become. The triangles represent lighting through their inverted appearance, which symbolizes how lighting is quite dominant in a night out situation and can distort things in such a way that they’re no longer recognisable, such as a strobe light would in reality. The scattered effect of the triangles represents how lighting can make objects appear broken up and also how the music can make me want to break free from my bodily restrictions to become enveloped by the music.
It took me quite a while to finally decide upon this exact composition, for I had tried a few others that did not work so well:
The first one was just an image created from putting some of my photos together. It looked far too simple and didn’t really suggest ‘night out’ at all. Also, the way that the tachikomas were positioned made it seem like there were three of them, rather that one doing different movements.
The second image was basically the same as the first except I tried to add a sense of night out lighting to it, by creating strips of inverted image. However, the way that the strips overlapped made them look a bit like part of a racing flag, which really wasn’t the kind of imagery I wanted to create.
In the third image, I changed the composition of the tachikomas so that they looked more like a single entity, which I felt helped a lot in conveying the right message within the piece. I then tried to represent the lighting much more simply, by only using two orderly strips. However I felt this was too simple and didn’t really give the right impression of chaos.
The fourth and last trial before my final was based around the idea was representing the lighting through scattered triangles. However, I felt this made the image appear a bit too chaotic, as if suggesting that during nights out I get so wasted that I start falling apart and as this is not the case, I felt it was best to spread out the triangles a lot more in my final.
This one works the best I think, because not only is it easier to animate compared to the other two (due to the block colour), but it also creates the right effect aesthetically. I presented the colour of the body in such a way because it represents how the lighting during a night out can distort the image of our bodies. I also feel it captures the viewers attention a lot more than if I were to have coloured it normally.
