Veterans of Color

PROJECT BRIEF

After meeting Mark Perry and being introduced to the overall feel of how the documentary will be, we were invited to gather as much information of what he was looking for in his title sequence.

"Opening credits have a larger job to do. They have to set up the movie. They have to get the audience prepared for what they're going to be seeing. Tone, content, all of those things need to be set up in the opening credits. How do the credits serve the film? How does it prepare the audience for the film?"

The time period: basically when the Civil Rights movement established itself, and the duration of that period.

Conflicts: African American men and women willing to serve and defend our country but struggling with racism.

Mood: Tension, anticipation, mystery.

Duration: 7 seconds per credit, approx. 1 minute long in length.

Colors: Preferably neutral

Personally likes the Casino Royal opening credits.






PROCESS


My process of coming up with a concept was a bit rushed because we were handed this project right before I left for a vacation to visit my family. I first took a look at several documentaries, books, and internet resources on African American soldiers in the wars that happened during the Civil Rights movement.

Seeing as Mark Perry said he enjoyed the Casino Royal opening, I got the inspiration of using moving planes in my animation. I wanted to keep a neutral pallet with parchment texture and use some symbolism.

Type choice: Trade Gothic was designed between 1948-1960 for Linotype. Its a classic for newspapers.
Aachen was designed between 1963-1969 for advertising.



CONCEPT STATEMENT

The flag of the United States has become a powerful symbol of Americanism, proudly displayed to show our nationalism, it unifies us as a country. The African American culture of our society struggled between wanting to be a part of our nationalism, fighting for our country, but facing adversity and racism every step of the way. When you take the colors out of the flag, the stripes become segregated bars of white and dark gray, you get a sense of segregation and imprisonment. As you follow the flag through each scene of a young man who wants to fight for his country, as so many uncredited african american soldiers have done in the past during the civil rights movement, the credits of the documentary are displayed. 

STORY BOARDS

CRITIQUE

Move credits further into the animation instead of having them at the start. Add an extra element to have far in the background. Show transitions between frames a bit clearer.

FINAL

Susan Bradley Title Artist Presentation

Click here to see PDF

Film Titles

The Number 23

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2009/03/09/the-number-23/

I love how simple this is: just a feel of a typewriter, typography and blood splatters. But it also conveys so much tension that gives the audience such an uneasy feeling. The other nice aspect of this is it tells you a bit of the history and story with the added element of infinite varations the integer of 23. The fast cuts, the music, everything just sets you on edge for the movie.

Catch Me If You Can

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2011/08/22/catch-me-if-you-can/

The unique thing about this title sequence that I like is how it was a handmade design that reflects the time period the movie is set in (1960s). The music also drives home this dated feeling of action and suspense which is nice. The creators of this title sequence really wanted to embody not only the feel of the 60s, but even had the mindset of how they would design this type of animation for a film if they lived in that era. I simply enjoy the simple graphic silhouetted figures and the story they tell.

Fight Club

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/03/28/fight-club/

I love this movie, I love this book. But I also enjoy the title sequence and the idea behind it. We're looking into the fear of Edward Norton's brain, inside the electrical impulses. And every moment we are changing scale, seeing as this fear envelopes every single part of his brain, to even the sweat dripping out of his pores. Then we travel up the reason why he is afraid. And are revealed the whole picture: a gun is in his mouth and he feels as if he is facing death.

Dexter

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2010/09/27/dexter/

I really enjoy the setup of his morning 'routine' because it seems to fit perfectly at the beginning of every single episode. I also love the touch of suggested actions of a serial killer added to every single thing he does in his routine: the way its shot and edited helps a lot to suggest these things. All the added emphases on blood also puts you in the mood of how much Dexter Morgan really loves blood. Also, I should note that the music also draws me to this title sequence; it is such an upbeat tone but at the same time so eerie and calculated. It ties together so nicely that its a title sequence you don't really want to skip, it sets the mood of the entire show. 

Sarasota Film Festival: Presentations & final thoughts

Presenting to Tom via Skype was an over all interesting experience. To be honest, I was a bit nervous to pitch my idea. I wasn't nervous because of Tom, though, but the fact the whole class was there and two professors were watching. I felt as if I was being horribly judged, as opposed to maybe having a one-on-one with the client with no one else there. However, even if I ran into a few technological hiccups, I feel as if the presentation went very smooth. The use of my animatic (or "boardomatic" as Kevin would say) really seemed to quickly drive home the points I needed to make. It also seemed to give the client a clear understanding of what I wanted. He didn't seem to have a whole lot of questions for me, but I was able to answer any he did have, as well as clear up anything my storyboards couldn't translate already.

I'm extremely honored that my animation idea was one of the 6 chosen to animate. I feel as if so many people had wonderful ideas, I can't begin to imagine how they were able to narrow down to a final 6.

I didn't particularly follow all the guidelines that were required in this project. I got a little bit behind at one point so I was playing catch up by the time we got to storyboarding. I think we had to create two different storyboards to our audio: one that represents what the person is saying in a literal way and one that is more abstract. I only did one storyboard and ended up working from there so I wouldn't be too far behind from everyone else. But also after discussing some ideas with other people, it felt like the one I ended up going with was the better idea anyway.

This project taught me a lot of things, almost too many to even list. I think the most important thing I have learned would be knowing how to talk to people. Going through the interviewing process as well as talking with the client were major key elements in helping me learn this. Communication with your client is extremely important from beginning to end of the project. You need to have a clear understanding of what the client wants, needs, and is looking for. You get this information by sitting down with your client and talking through the project until you feel as if you have a good idea in your head in what direction you want to go and how you will get there. By the time you pitch, you need to relate your ideas clearly and effectively to the client. It was really important in this case because Tom had to relate our ideas to his staff, so he needed to understand our ideas well enough to translate them to other people. The best way to relate your ideas is visually, not only verbally, so having very clear storyboards helped everyone. I found the animatic useful because he could see exactly what I wanted to do along with the audio.

Sarasota Film Festival: Final Storyboards

A wonderful thing about movies is that it helps you explore and discover the world, see new places and experience things without having to go anywhere. Watch the globe unfold into iconic landmarks as people talk about how they love seeing new places as they watch movies.

Sarasota Film Festival

After getting our brief on this project, we all set out to get some interviews from people out on the streets. The experience of interviewing people I've never met before was new and challenging, but a whole lot of fun. I never realized how many different nationalities and color we have here in our own back yard. Sarasota is a wonderful place to discover.

After looking through my audio pieces I found quite a few people described movies being a way to see the world. Which is a beautiful concept that I wanted to capture. I cut it down to a 20 second audio clip to use, without any background track. I kind of want to figure out the mood of my animation first before I decide on what I want to play underneath the interviews.

As for ideas on my animation I came up with a few, but here's the general breakdown.


IDEATION

Travel

Truth

Discovery

Other places

-------

Literal translations:

earth

countries

planes

trains

cars

boats

passports

stamps

cultures

people

traditions

famous movie scenes

maps

postcards

passports

beaches

Non literal translations:

Arrows

Lines & dashes

Circles

Color

Flag symbols

Papers

Outlines of continents?

Water

Ideas:

The world turning into the sarasota logo.

Maps of famous places collaged on top of each other.

3D stills of famous movie scenes placed in different parts of the world.

CONCEPT
A beautiful thing about movies is how they help you discover the world from where ever you are. Explore new places and experience things without leaving your seat.




MOOD BOARDS

Ryan Woodward

It was an amazing Wednesday to have the pleasure of meeting storyboard artist, special effects artist, and animator Ryan Woodward. Drawing with him on the beach in the morning, then hearing his presentation that night - I learned quite a bit about him, what he does, and how he does it. He started his presentation with a bit of information about himself, how he had broken into the business with no degree as a special effects artist for Warner Brothers. Then went onto explaining the story of how he went from an underdog doing inbetweens to doing storyboards and his own animation.

One piece of advice I really grabbed while listening to him talk was how to be an opportunist. He has a tendency to take on jobs just to learn how to do them. He said its a great way to learn more and it empowers you for future projects. For example, when he started to do animatics, he had no idea how to do After Effects. But when he got the call to do one, he took it, spent all weekend long learning, and put all his effort into doing his best even if it caused late nights. Being a Motion Designer, I think we are all opportunists  We all want to learn more, experience more, especially with the industry we're in today. It helps us solve problems for our clients or our employers or our projects. The more we know, the more opportunities we take, the better and more empowered we are in our own futures.

I also think a very important thing Ryan had to say that I will note is how not to become too attached to everything you do. Artists have a very deep bond with everything we create and it destroys us to see it get taken apart or turned down by other people. This industry is brutal and it will challenge us as artists. Not everything we create is worth what we think it is. Its a very good idea to detach ourselves from the projects we do, very good advice and warning.

The last thing that I really will remember Ryan talking about is how we really need to recognize when something interesting or big happens to us. We need to dig deep into those feelings or that moment and actually create something out of it. Its what we do as artists, visualize important moving emotions for others.

Thinq Collaboratory Story Boards

Hand drawn story boards

---

Edited in photoshop story boards

---

Project Summary

This project had a lot to do with how to execute process and how to work with a client. I enjoyed having an experience with interviewing a client, it was something I had never done before and I learned how important every question you ask has to be and how to have fun with it.

However, the mood boards where my weakest point in this process. I wasn't sure how to really go about putting those together without thinking of what kind of storyboards I wanted to do. And then when I didn't, I realized everyone else thought of their storyboards during the process of making them. I think next time I do a mood board, I will get a bit more creative with them. I held back a bit too much, which made the process of making a storyboard work out even harder than it should have been.

After seeing a few concepts and storyboard ideas, I feel like mine is very short. However, when I think of a 7 second animation, I don't think of fast paced moving images. I like viewers to savor and enjoy simple things. I regret not having client/peer critique on my first pass at the storyboards. I could have really used more insight and directional help for my final pass. But I think if I handed this over to someone else, they would be able to understand the direction of what I wanted this animation to go in.

Thinq Collaboratory Mood Boards

I didn't want to over think this process. Trying not to imagine a specific direction I focused on just trying to find different types of moods I could work with so the story boards could come later.

Keywords:
Change perspectives
Intellectuals
Simple and identifiable
Strong
Inspiring
Transforming
Calm and collected

---

Technological
Light
Dark
Tunnels
Speed
Masculine
Levels
3D

Horizon
Rock
Collision
Breaking
Speed
Ice
Frozen
Broken
Fragmented

Dreamy
Other-worldly
Complex
Soft
Floaty
Artistic
Colorful
Ripples
Eyes
Reflections

Thinq Collaboratory Concept Brief

Initial thoughts


Today we were handed our first project creative brief for a logo build for Thinq Collaboratory. Looking at the logo, I had some initial thoughts and ideas regarding the design. The spiral made me think of breaking out of the box, breaking the pattern. The colors and feel made me think of calm, eerie, technological, thought provoking. Things that I thought about off hand were aztec, stairs, snails, maze, anything to connect to the spiral.


Interview with Thinq Collaboratory


1) What is your objective as a company?
International and thought provoking. They want their viewers to see things in a different way. Their goal is to change perspectives.

2) Who is your target audience?
It is very open, ages ranging from 18-50 years old. 55% male and 45% female. Intellectuals, college educated.

3) What makes you stand out from the other film companies? What are your competitors?
Because they are a new independant film company only 15 years old, they have already won several awards and have been nominated 4 academy awards. They think they are very strong and inspiring. Ron Howard's company and Michael Moore are main competitors.

4) What kinds of well known logos and logo ids are you attracted to? What makes them good logos to you?
Target because its simple and identifiable. Smith & Nephew for the direction. And current Mercedes advertisements.

5) What does the spiral represent?
The "Q" in Thinq, a maze, a thought bubble, breaking a pattern. Open ended. Lack of direction. Calm and collected.

6) Keywords that describe your company or films?
Strong, Inspiring, Transforming

7) Where do you see your company in 5 or 10 years?
Always evolving, although wants to keep to the same logo.

8) Any symbolism you would like to see incorporated with your logo?
Open-ended.


9) If your logo lived in any part of the world at any time period, where would it be?
South pole

10) What would you like your audience to remember about your animated logo ID?
The film company.

John A. Lack Presentation

One of the things I remember about the late 80s and early 90s is the song "Video killed the Radio Star" and immediately connecting that single chorus line with MTV due to its amazing marketing and identity logo team. Meeting John A. Lack, the man behind MTV, ESPN2, and Nickelodeon, is like going back in time for me. My childhood was all about watching MTV and Nickelodeon and both were huge staples in any early 90 kid's childhood, when kids ditched running around outside for sitting infront of a tv set. It was a change in society, the beginning of a new generation. And the reason that happened was people like John A. Lack, thinking years into the future, catering to his audience and taking chances on new ideas.

The one huge thing John Lack wanted to get across in his presentation to us, his aspiring creative-driven class, was to listen and only listen to your audience for ideas. This is how all of his tv networks were so successful, even the fact he even got into tv in the first place and changed a whole generation, was that he actually listened to his audience. He saw what they were attracted to, heard what they wanted, and went after making things happen. He wasn't afraid to being a pioneer for tv and making it bigger. I don't even think tv would be what it is today without creative thinkers like John Lack. I think we as designers and creative thinkers need to get outside of our own boxes, listen and observe more about the people around us (our "audience"). The idea of asking open ended questions to potential clients is a good way of opening up. But its also good to keep things fresh, new, and innovative; so its not a bad idea to be inspired by whats going on outside of our own heads and looking at the general audience of our products and designs as well.

The last thing I think is pretty important is to always try to take chances and try to always stay ahead of the game as much as you can. This is why Apple is usually so successful. While their marketing strategy helps them immensely with their success, its generally the fact that Steve Jobs thinks of a design 20 years ahead into the future and slowly works towards his final conceptual design. Lack's example of this was how he had offered Steve to create and sell a phone version of his products in the 90's and Steve turned down the offer saying one day in the future he might have his own phone, which he put on the market in the middle of 2007. Maybe we're not product designers and only go into logos, or advertisements, or whatever. We can still think on this conceptually as, 'well, I have this cool idea, but how can I make it better?' and always looking to improve and think bigger about whatever we create. 

EXPLORATION 4:

Logo Concepts & Thumbnails


  Sony Pictures Animation


Concept statement #1: Let the movement of these fun, gelatin like puffy letters excite you as they move about the screen, dropping in and wiggling and interacting with each other as they start to construct the logo of Sony Pictures Animation before exploding and bringing you into an exciting animated feature.


Concept statement #2: Enjoy bubbles floating calmly into the screen and begin the gather together to form the words "Sony Pictures Animation" in the center, giving you a very light, happy feeling. Then after floating and hovering for  a few seconds, they all start to pop away.


Concept statement #3: Keep the word "Animation" on a revolving floor, the letters disassembling as they are being tossed about off screen, leaving only the "i", that falls onto its side. Zooming in, "Sony Pictures" falls on top of the fallen "i" from off screen and "animation" appears inside.



  Bad Robot


Concept statement #1: You are introduced to the company name "BAD ROBOT" that is resting in a calm grassy meadow. A little red robot runs through the meadow towards the title. He inspects the title and being a very bad robot, starts to pull it apart. After he is finished, he runs up to the screen and giggles at you. This lets the scene cut out into the original logo.


Concept statement #2: A robot is very bad when he runs away from his factory. You will witness this mischievous little robot as he escapes from a giant silhouetted factory and runs into the meadow up to you. He giggles and blinks as it frames his head in the meadow to form the original company logo.


Concept statement #3: You first enter a calm empty meadow that has a dark figure running in the distance, giggling. You're then taken over to a nearby deserted ghost town. Posted all over every building are flyers, some even drifting on the deserted street. One of the posters fly up and hit the camera and you see a little red robot, the sign says reward and the name of the criminal is the company "BAD ROBOT".



  Lions Gate


Concept Statement #1: Peek through a gate and fly into the night sky, above the calm clouds as the sun goes down revealing the constellation of stars that build the Lions Gate logo.


Concept statement #2: You find yourself floating peacefully through clouds until you reach a giant gate that has the lion logo on it. It opens to reveal LIONSGATE and a starry sky that repeats the lion logo.


Concept statement #3: Soaring towards a giant gate, you enter into the keyhole. Inside this mysterious dark keyhole you notice a network of cogs that eventually form the "LIONSGATE" logo.

EXPLORATION 2:

Where does your inspiration come from?
The biggest inspiration in my life would have to be the people who are in it; friends, family, colleagues, peers. Each and every one of these people structure my life with experiences and outer knowledge that are not my own. They pull in bits and pieces I wouldn't be able to understand in my own little box. They help me see things in different ways. And they often make me become extremely creative just with them in mind.
I'm also inspired by former artists and designers, their histories and how they achieved what they did in their life. The lives they touch along the way. If I visit a museum or see their work displayed publicly, I feel instantly inspired to chase my dream because thats exactly what they did.
Another form of inspiration is just sitting around and looking at the things around me, which I believe could be called nature or environment.
Drawing and sketching.
Listening to music.
Relaxing.
Sitting in coffee shops drinking coffee.
Reading literature.
Travelling to new places, experiencing other cultures.
Long walks.
All of these help me become creative, to push me out of my blocks. Just to get my pencil moving on a paper and drawing until my fingers are sore will make my imagination kick start and go places.


Remember a time you felt stuck creatively. What did you do to turn it around and reconnect to your creativity?
I don't like to be stuck creatively, I will constantly try to figure out a way around my blocks with whatever I can. My favorite thing to do when I feel like I'm in a rut is to visit a relaxing coffee shop with my sketchbook. And while I drink a nice big hot cup of coffee, I people watch, drawing everything I see.



Divergent Thinking is an exercise in thinking openly. It is a thought process where you basically generate as many creative ideas to explore as many possible solutions you can come up with. It is extremely spontaneous, being as limitless with your ideas as you jump from one possibility to the next with no right answer.

Examples of Divergent Thinking
1.List the types of pizzas you can make with five different toppings.
2.How many different uses does a popsicle stick have?
3.How many things can you build out of these objects: a hamster tube, a fishtank, and a t-shirt?
4.What can you do to design a car to be more eco friendly?
5.How many divergant thinking questions can you come up with?










Convergent Thinking is directly the opposite, where you only seek to find a single correct answer or solution to a problem

Examples of Convergent Thinking
1.What kind of pizza is the most popular?
2.What is a popsicle stick made out of?
3.Which object is the most useful?
4.What are ego friendly cars called?
5.If this question has only one answer, what kind of question is it?

EXPLORATION 1:

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation 

is a Canadian-American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, but is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. As of 2007, it is the most commercially successful independent film and television distribution company in North America.
Lionsgate's most notable films include American Psycho, Affliction, Gods and Monsters, Dogma, and Saw. 

My thoughts:

There is a mood Lions Gate Entertainment achieves when you see a film open with their animated logo; almost like a mystery network being unlocked to reveal a finale. The music gives a very appealing introduction as if they are about to present to you one of the greatest films of all time. I absolutely love how we travel from the system of working cogs, through a keyhole, and wind up opening a gate to reveal the company name nestled within these beautiful clouds, as if we just entered heaven.

Bad Robot Productions

(formerly known as only Bad Robot) is a production company owned by J. J. Abrams. It is responsible for the television series such as Lost, Fringe and the feature length films Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), Super 8 (2011), Star Trek (2009) and Cloverfield(2008).

My thoughts:

I find this logo adorable. The beginning shot with the monochrome clouds and field is so strange and alien, but I think its mostly because of the way the clouds are animated. I love how imperfect the little robot is, as if he was made out of clay and stop motion. I've rarely seen this company's logo, but they've always kind of kept the original feel by ending the animation with the original drawing.  

Sony Pictures Animation 

is an American computer-animated film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, founded in May 2002. It is working closely with Sony Pictures Imageworks, which takes care of the digital production. Theatrical releases are distributed by Columbia Pictures, and direct-to-video releases are distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Films include Open Season, Surf's Up, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and recently The Smurfs.

My thoughts:

This is an extremely fun animation to watch. You can tell that Sony wanted to put emphases on the word "animation" by actually animating the letters to interact with each other in a very fun, bouncy way, giving them life and character. The music also plays into this feel by being so sparky and upbeat and just over-all playing into the fun. I also really enjoy how amusing the end sequence is, as it just all collapses comically before the fadeout.