Wednesday 18 November 2009

Comedy Central - Bug Light Sting

My 1st attempt at animating our comedy central critters, this sting features Barry.

I plan to make the logo flicker fittingly through out, when the fly comes into contact with the logo there will be a flash indicating it has been electrocuted, and finally i will add a smoke effect, i also think that the transition from the zapped character to the burnt character might improve if i add more movement.





Coen Brothers Generic Transitions

The following animations are test examples of my DVD menu transitions, My Idea is to make a different transition for every film, which is focused around the film content (eg Fargo - Snow, Lady Killers - Money, Blood Simple - Blood) It was brought up in a previous tutorial that i may not have the ability or time to produce these ideas, so in an attempt to simplify my menu i have developed these ideas for a generic transition which could be applied to all of my menus, and would be another aspect which ties all the menus together as part of a set.

Spin 1

Spin2

Coen Brothers Title

Coen Brothers Title - Colour

Fall Apart

Sunday 15 November 2009

Comedy Central Logo

Comedy Central Logo - Vectorized

I have vectorized the comedy central logo, so that when i use it in after effects i have the option to enlarge it as much as i want, without it pixelating.

Comedy Central Neon Insect Light

I made this in an attempt to change the comedy central logo into a "Bug Zapper" it will be used in one of our stings.

Wednesday 11 November 2009

E4 Photo Mock Up

After reviewing my previous test shots of Oli and James i have decided that the most effective shot process would be to start with a short pan across the chest of each person and then a very quick zoom out to reveal them in their guilty pleasure costume. The short pan of the chest holds continuity as every costume would have a feature that could be viewed at the chest but until the final zoom out the costume/film is still ominous.

My main issues now are mise en scene, both what to include and collecting.
I plan on asking in my crit tomorrow weather the inclusion of the film posters is necessary? i feel that as the clips are short they would re-iterate the film reference but a point has previously been made that the films are seen as "Guilty Pleasures" so would the subjects have them up if they were embarrassed about watching them?
I also wondered if changing the person and not the environment would be a better idea, a generic background setting would help tie the stings together into a set, and may also look quite interesting.
Finally would the use of arm chairs be more effective than sofas? As the subjects are to be undoubtedly alone i though the use of single seated furniture may help to support my concept?

Character Mood Boards

Danny the Dino

Barry the Beaver

Tuesday 10 November 2009

E4 Test Shots

As my paper work explains my idea for my E4 Ident has changed, i have decided from the feedback i got at my last tutorial to simplify my idea. Instead of documenting the journey to the couch in a parodied style for each film i am now quickly going to show the same shot of 6 different people, each watching a different film, sat on their own in the dark.
I am carrying on the theme of "Guilty Pleasures" which the brief suggests, my subjects therefor will be sat watching their guilty pleasure films in fancy dress.
I plan on using the same 5 second shots for each subject.

This is the footage from my 1st test shots, i shot these in order to view angles and composition. The clip below is at 200% speed and has no sound.



Oli - Buffy Fan, will be holding a stake & wearing an E4 purple dress.

This 1st shot works well, fits within 5 seconds and could be applied to all other subjects, my issue with it is that starting from the eyes means nothing, and the zoom out takes up the shot, with more speed there could be more impact with the zoom, leaving more time pre zoom-out to build a false impression/mystery.


This Edit was an attempt to build a false impression that it was just a man sat watching TV, then the zoom out would reveal him to be in a dress. I don't think it works very well and i think it would be hard to keep continuity between subjects.


Slow revolve around subject, initially shows normal man, then reveals skirt and then the TV were he would be watching Buffy the vampire slayer/dirty dancing (undecided) or an E4 Ident. in order to do this shot properly i would need to use track or some kind of move-able tripod, which brings an issue of space. composition wise i don't think this is as effective as straight on.


sweeping pan of subject would easily fit all other subjects but is a quick and easy method, the composition doesn't add anything to the concept.


James - Greese Fan, would be wearing a white t-shirt (possibly E4 purple) and/or combs his hair with a purple comb

Slow zoom out works well, but same issues as before, eyes give nothing to the content other than surprise at the gender/film mix which is evident anyway. [consider new starting point: chest, arm, hand?]


Pan includes TV and subject which is good but shot of subject doesn't have the impact i want it to.


Slow pan up the body is a nice movement and composition, its effective in showing the subject but no reference to the TV.


Short cuts build a good view of subject, and includes TV, works well on its own but appears jumpy because of contrasting camera movements, stationary camera for next would probably be better. If put next to 6 examples of the same shots it may appear jumpy and chaotic.

Meet The Gang


The Comedy Central Critters are the characters which my collaborative brief with Dean Gray will be based around. We have produced these characters to act out some silly sketches for a comedy central ident.
I love Dean's illustrations and together we had a great time creating these guys to do with what we will.

As Dean is the Illustrator between us the development of these characters can be found on his design practice blog. click here to visit deano

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Coen Brothers - DVD Menus

Raising Arizona
Main Menu
Test 1

Problems with Button Type

Test 2

Raising Arizona A Blacked Off

Test 3

Problem: DIVX Logo

Final


Chapter Select

Nicolas Cage's movement would be continuous, i have yet to learn how to display chapter selection scenes, I need to know weather the whole page changes or if you can just change the scene spaces