Planning - Animation Test

 

Here is a small animation test I conducted to see if I could create the effect I was originally aiming for.

How I made, and intend to make the animation in my music video is as follows:

1. Shoot the video I wish to create an animation over.
2. Run it through Adobe Premiere Pro with the Warp Stabilizer effect if necessary - I need the shots to be as still as possible for overlaying animation onto.
3. Import the video into FlipaClip, my main tool of animation, on my iPad. If there are more complex shots I intend to use Adobe Animate, which gives me lots of rotoscoping capabilities and other visual effects.
4. My animation is at 4/5 frames per second, so FlipaClip automatically cuts down the video to show five frames per second instead of 30. By importing the video into the programme I am able to draw on top of the video on the layer above to see exactly where my animation will be placed in relation to the video.
5. If my animation has elements that will be cropped, I do not erase them in the animation on FlipaClip. I use the entirety of the canvas and draw the whole character (for the most part) to keep things consistent and allow me to move the animation around slightly if need-be (trust me, it just saves time in the long run). In this case, I animated the bee even when it was behind the window so it looked smoother when it emerged.
6. Once the animation has been made I set the background to a bright green, or a bright colour that is not shared in any of the colouring (making a green screen)
7. Import it into Adobe Premiere and resize it so that it fits the screen. Apply the "Colour Key" effect from the effects panel and colour-drop the bright green so that the green-screen is applied. I often have to play around with the tolerance and feather tools to make it look clean and remove any green spots.
1. In this example, the bee goes behind the window, so I had to utilise masks to achieve this.
2. In the effects controls panel (where you are able to change the size, rotation etc. of the video selected) I created an opacity mask and adjusted the edges of the mask so that it fit the four edges of the window. Opacity masks allow only the calibrated shape of video to appear, so I made two masks for the two panes of the window that the bee is visible in.
3. I added a light drop shadow to make it look more authentic.
4. I then exported the video as a H.264.

An easy to understand tutorial on masking can be found here.

Planning - Concept Sketches for Posters

Here are the initial concepts I had for my designs for the webpage, posters, etc. This was relatively straight-forward as this was one of the first concepts I had for my star identity. I will try my best to achieve the correct angle as seen in the first image but this may be difficult to achieve due to the height of the window in question.

Planning - Rough Plans for Website

 Some rough plans on the layout of my website, with annotations from discussion time in class. I wanted to create a fun, action-packed and visually appealing website with lots of digital convergence with animation from the music video.

Planning - Concept Sketches for the Logo

 

Here are my concept sketches for the CDBoy logo. I decided upon the name CDBoy in reference to TVGirl, a popular band that is popular within my 16-25 year old audience. 

This is one of the logos I have decided on - made out of a CD I scanned on my printer.

Audience Research - Audience Profile

• Name: Maddie Hall
• Gender: Female
• Age: 19
• Occupation: Catering / Waitress
• Annual Income: £19,000
• Location: South-East England
• Psychographic: Aspirer
• Values, Attitudes and Lifestyles: Likes to wear clothing that is considered alternative, but still tries to maintain an online identity on social media. Places importance on individualism and is an advocate for social change. Thinks of herself as stylish and current in terms of "alternative" style and cares about celebrity culture. 

Pitch Presentation

Audience Research - Focus Group

 Primary Audience

Name: Max McCabe

• Age: 17
• Gender: Male
• Occupation: Student, Retail Worker
• Psychometric Group: Aspirer / Explorer
• Interests: Listening to / collecting music, drawing / animating, gaming
• Favourite Music Genre: Indie Pop
• Application to Brief: An interest in art and animation means that Max will particularly enjoy the visual elements of my music video. I intend to make the animation lively and colourful. Max enjoys when music videos follow a narrative and maintains a consistent aesthetic, and I intend to have reoccurring themes in my music video. This will particularly appeal to him.

Name: Liza Evers

• Age: 17
• Gender: Female
• Occupation: Student, Retail Worker
• Psychometric Group: Aspirer / Explorer
• Interests: Listening to music, politics, TV, musical theatre, film, social media
• Favourite Music Genre: Classic rock, indie pop
• Application to Brief: Liza has a keen interest in consuming pop culture and will therefore enjoy the intertextual references I intend to include in my video. It will also appeal to her in the inclusion of social media links and "perks." Liza enjoys music videos that involve an interesting "theme" or motif- and the reoccurring visual effects will particularly interest her.

Name: Eric Dulieu

• Age: 17
• Gender: Male
• Occupation: Student, Retail Worker
• Psychometric Group: Aspirer / Reformer
• Interests: Gaming,  drawing / animating, collecting gaming memorabilia, animals
• Favourite Music Genre: Video Game OSTS and Indie Pop
• Application to Brief: Eric is also interested in art and animation and will enjoy the interesting and unique visual style my music video incorporates. Eric also appreciates when there are realistic incorporations of unrepresented social groups in media- so the inclusion of a transgender main character will appeal to him particularly.

Name: Kenzie Adedeji

• Age: 17
• Gender: Female
• Occupation: Student
• Psychometric Group: Aspirer / Explorer
• Interests: Drawing / animating, biology, anime/manga, listening to / playing / creating music, photography
• Favourite Music Genre: Indie Rock
• Application to Brief: The art style and mise-en-scene I intend to create with my music video is in-tune with the art Kenzie both enjoys and creates. The inclusion of two characters with two different social groups will appeal to Kenzie as she has an interest in media that represents underrepresented social groups. Kenzie also enjoys photography and will enjoy the variety of shot-types I intend to include in my video.

Secondary Audience 

Name: Dave Reeson

• Age: 54
• Gender: Male
• Occupation: Communications Director
• Psychometric Group: Mainstreamer / Reformer
• Interests: Playing music, collecting guitars, bicycles / cycling, TV drama, the outdoors
• Favourite Music Genre: Alternative
• Application to Brief: The genre of music my music video will include is one that Dave particularly enjoys. The bright colours, blue skies and colourful mise-en-scene resonates with Dave for his love of the outdoors. However, some of the references I intend to make may not resonate with Dave due to his older age.
  
  
  

Name: Sarah Reeson

• Age: 55
• Gender: Female
• Occupation: Writer / Poet
• Psychometric Group: Reformer 
• Interests: Freeform art, poetry and writing, gaming, music, TV drama
• Favourite Music Genre: Electronica
• Application to Brief: Sarah values representation in media as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, so will particularly value the representation of gender and sexuality in my music video. She also has a great interest in art and will see the value in the form of animation my video will take - frame by frame alongside live-action.