Veterans of Color

Veterans of Color

Project Brief:

RCAD Concept Development I MD 210 F11 Section 02 

Project 3 – “Veterans of Color” Film Opening Title Sequence   

Creative Brief 

The Client: 

Mark Parry 

Project Overview: 

To design the opening title sequence for the documentary, “Veterans of Color”. 

Project Description: 

Veterans of Color is a documentary film that follows the fascinating history and personal stories of African American military veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. During this period veterans fought two battles, one as a soldier, and one against racism in the military. The film explores how this struggle continued in civilian life after the service and how each of the veterans persevered and accomplished tremendous success.  Includes interviews with a Tuskegee Airman who flew combat missions in WWII, Korea and Vietnam; a retired Army Lt. Colonel who spent an additional 20 years with the CIA and retired with the equivalent of a two or three star General; a Vietnam veteran who became the highest ranking African American in the New York City police force and was the Chief of Personnel on 9/11; a Korean veteran who became the first African American vice president of one of the largest universities in America and who was appointed to three commissions by Presidents of the United States; a WWII & Korea veteran who landed at Normandy on D-­‐Day plus one; and a veteran of the Army who became one of the first executives of a major corporation in the United States. 

Process & Deliverables: 

•      The client will present the project to you and you will have time for Q&A to gather information to 

help you gain insight on his documentary, his goals, likes and dislikes, creative direction, etc. 

•      Research the time period this film spans, the wars, the culture, civil rights, etc., to get background 

information on the context for this film.   

•     Use your own personal process to develop an idea direction for your title sequence.  Pull from what we’ve studied that works for you, i.e., a variety of idea generation methods, developing mood boards, sketch’s, rough story boards, etc. Remember to consider the tone/personality/context of Mark’s film. What mood do you want to set?  What is the “story” you can tell in the opening sequence?  (Don’t forget there will be a string of soundbytes preceding your open). 

•     Research and collect necessary assets, including exact names/titles, photographs, footage.  Search the Library of Congress and National Archives and shorpy.com for copyright-­‐free images. Use Mark’s assets on Webshare, as reference or as actual images in your design. Configure order of title sequence per Mark’s handout. Give attention to fonts, hierarchy, layout, movement, readability, color palette, etc.  

•      Prepare to share your idea direction in whatever form you have (sketch, rough boards, mood boards, 

etc.) 1:1 with instructor on 11/28 

•      Develop storyboard 1 

•      Bring storyboard 1 to class on Thursday for group input or 1:1 input from instructor 

•     Refine and finalize storyboard 2 in Photoshop.  Include concept statement, frame images and descriptions (don’t forget to include camera direction and transitions), music if you have it and anything you believe strengthens, supports or clarifies your concept and pitch. 

•      Pitch storyboard 2 to Client on 12/5 

•     From Client feedback, revise storyboards and deliver final storyboard to instructor on 12/8. Include a style guide. Be sure to put your name, concept statement, title of project and frame descriptions on your storyboard.

•     Maintain your blog to document your process along this assignment.  Upload research, idea generations techniques, mood boards, rough storyboards, and final storyboards.  Write clearly about what you expected, what you learned, why a specific concept was selected as the one to develop, any technical or logistical challenges you encountered, your experience with critique, why and how you may have altered your direction from the rough storyboard> final deliverable.  Include a wrap-­‐up summary.

INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR:

From the interviews he did, he got the idea of compiling bits and pieces of the interviews and put them into a larger piece.

He then went on to  create a 10 min promotional trailer in order to get the money to produce the film

Based on stories of triumph.

The Conflict: people willing to serve their country, yet they were being discriminated.

Feeling they want to evoke: admiration, victory, hope, personal and intimate, 

Opening credits: set-up the movie. Get the audience prepared. Tone, content, 

End credits: strait forward duty. 

Length: around 7 secs per tittle card, around 1 minute long no longer

Purpose of the film: Give viewers a little sense of what happened during that time period 

Audience: over 55 set 

Perception of the military: a life changing opportunity with good and bad. Keep it as neutral as possible. 

frame rate: 23.97 

MY DIRECTION

I wanted to play along with the idea of these soldiers being manipulated and mistreated as if they were toys thrown around from place to place.


STORYBOARD

The style I would like to use would be that of a 3d parallax where the images appear to be realistic and 3d but are actually flat. Which goes along with the notion of having realistic toy images that has the viewer wondering whether or not they are actually people, seeing as they clearly were not treated as such.

Ralph Spence

As a former journalist, Ralph Spence began his career in movies as a film editor in 1921.

 By the mid-’20s, he was well known as one of Hollywood’s top title writers, by 

providing clever, witty dialogue for silent films 

Also known as a "film doctor,” recreating scenes and over writing subtitles in order to transform poor films into great films. 

An example of one of the film he worked in is "The flying Deuces"

Many of his works include: 

• Higher and Higher (film) (1943)
• The Flying Deuces (1939)
• The Gorilla (1939)
• King Solomon's Mines (1937)
• Cracked Nuts (1931)
• The Patsy (1928)
• Bringing Up Father (1928)
• The Gorilla (1927)

Bringing Up Father titles

Film Tittles

I love film tittles. People around me have never understood why I obsess about them soo much, but the truth of it is that I was first introduced to them only two years ago. Yes, I know how is this possible? I´m  not sure. It wasn´t until a presentation we had in school about film tittles, that I became a complete tittles geek.

Anyways, finding three favorite tittles sequences was difficult. I can´t say these are the best three, I can say however they are within my top favorite, and this is why:

1) Dean Spanley tittle sequence:

I discovered this sequence a couple of weeks ago, and was completely dumfounded by the animation. Coincidentally, it was during the time we were exploring the method of using cameras and 2d layers to give a 3d effect in class, so I spent a long time researching it and looking at the different techniques used.

I think what I admire the most about this animation in particular is the camera use and the silohouette effect.

The delicate use of the lines and illustrative effect is something that puts the viewer into the mood of the story; also the patterns used to fill in the shapes rather than a fill color.

2) The Pink Panther 2

Another one of my all time favorites, and one of the first tittle sequences I was introduced to. One of the reasons for why I love it the most, is for the clever way in which the tittles are revealed. Not only does it play along with the feel of the film, but it creates a connection with the viewer giving them the role to play as a detective, uncovering the clues that are in fact the tittles. 

3) Bunraku

An incredible sequence that caught my eye from the moment it began until the last second. I tend to look for things and styles that are non traditional. I love to watch a sequence over and over again to determine how they did it, and this is one of them. I find the paper style in combination with the use of cameras and live action incredible, and definitely an admirable and inspirational piece.

Film Festival- Post Evaluation

I have to admit, the experience of presenting to the client was very different from what I expected it to be.

Due to problems that were out of our control, we were unable to present personally to the client, and had to reschedule to present to him via skype.

At first I was very skeptical about this, mainly because I felt that presenting live to a client gives you the opportunity to personally interact with them throughout and hence creating an immediate connection; something that skype would not allow. However, it's true that these type of situations do happen in real life and all that was left to do was prepare for this type of presentation and find an approach that would allow me to achieve the same goals as if it were a live presentation.

I decided to do a powerpoint presentation, because I would then be able to guide him through step by step without the need to single out particular aspects of it.

I practiced a couple of times, but as in any presentation you can never prepare enough. Halfway throughout my presentation, I realized I was not going to have enough time to finish up in 7 minutes, and had to improvise and cut off some aspects that I considered weren't as important as others; and fortunately was able to finish in time for him to ask a couple of questions.

If I were to think about something I did to make myself memorable, it would have to be the way in which I presented. No matter how nervous you are, you cannot let that show through your presentation. Rather stand up and present your project as if it's the award winning piece and believe it throughout. I found that by doing this and showing that confidence (even if you may not necessarily feel that confident with it) you're able to grab the clients attention and get him equally excited about your project!

His feedback was very positive, and his enthusiasm towards all of our presentations I think helped us calm down quite a bit! 

It was definitely a learning experience throughout the project. I would like to keep on working on client presentations and maybe even consider doing mock presentations for other clients in order to get the hang of it and gain that confidence that we all need when pitching our ideas! 

Sarasota Film Festival- Client Presentation

SARASOTA FILM FESTIVAL

When I first heard about the assignment, I was excited mainly because  sound animation is one the aspects of motion that most appeal to me, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try out and explore using visual analogies in storytelling.  

MY APPROACH

With this in mind,  when it came to interviewing people, rather than concentrating on the noises or sounds, I was looking for words and phrases that stood out.  I was lucky with  the people I came across during my interviews. However when it came to interviewing this particular student it clicked in my head that this was exactly what I was looking for.

I wanted to give the animation a twist, and represent what he was saying word by word, through metaphors and visual analogies. 

CONCEPT

“A true film experience comes not from what you see, but from what you make of the images in relation to what you hear.

Discover the world that lays behind your screen through visual analogies in our journey of metaphorical storytelling.”

STYLE

Thinking about what style to use that combined both concepts of film festival and Sarasota, I decided to do a sand animation.  Using sand as a representation of a big element composed of small particles changing in time. Which in a way goes along with the entire concept of a film festival.  Representing both the philosophy of the SFF along with the essence of Sarasota.

INSPIRATION

PROCESS

I will create the animation in After Effects, then recreate it with real sand in pur stop motion lab, using traditional animation as a representation of both traditional film and hands on storytelling.

FINAL STORYBOARD

STYLE GUIDE

Film Festival

After a series of interviews and research and interviews for the film festival project, I finally narrowed it down to what I considered was the most interesting interview I had.

I have to say, I was quite lucky with all the great people that allowed me to interview them. Not only for the replies I received, but the simple idea of walking down the streets and going up to people you've never seen before and asking them for an interview, was an incredible experience.

When I finally had a big group of interviews from which to choose, I decided for the concepts sake, I wanted to keep it as raw as possible; with no cuts and choose an entire 18 seconds of footage rather than a collage of different ones. 

Without more delay, here is a first version of the footage I will be using and for which I will be animating.

Having heard the footage a series of times, two design directions came into my mind as to how I wanted to portray this short "commercial". I knew from the beginning I wanted the animation to be a visual, non literal representation of what is being said. 

       

 My first direction will be based on the idea of creating an animation through the use of shadows and light to represent the images. In a way representing the primitive aspect of film and how they began with black and white before they evolved to color. A transition from black and white to color as a metaphor for the film festival representing not only the roots of film but the evolution of it as well.

My second direction would be a very graphic style that combines both an ancient greek style along with a whimsical feel.

The next direction, is guided also towards the idea of going to the roots of the film industry, though this time instead of a graphic effect, it would be composed of illustrations. Giving it that real and somewhat spontaneous feel, as opposed to very rigid and closely carefully calculated sensation we would get from the previous concept.

CONCEPT AND STORYBOARDS

After choosing a style and with an idea already of what direction I wanted to take, using silhouettes, I started exploring different ways to represent the voice-over. Brainstorming and playing around with visual metaphors or literal representations  that allowed me express the overall message of the audio.

Metaphorical Representation:

Literal Representation

Ryan Woodward Presentation

Ryan Woodward is an illustrator/ designer as well as a storyboard artist, who's worked with Disney Studios, Marvel Entertainment, Warner Brother Studios, amongst other well known creative studios in the US.

I was first introduced to Ryan's work with the video of his conte animation for the song "I thought of you". An animation that had me hypnotized for the entire three minutes of it. Wether it was because of my passion for dancing and how it was depicted, or how the song just fit perfectly with the animation, I'm not certain, or maybe it was the combination of it all. From this moment on I become an affectionate of Ryans work. I find his work to be extraordinarily inspiring and humble. I'm not sure what that may mean but when I watch his work, it somehow transmits a feeling of simplicity and humbleness which finally made sense when I found out the type of person he truly is.

Ryan Woodward came to Ringling for three days to give us a one day presentation, and storyboard demo at the beach! Unfortunately for me it was impossible to attend either events because of job responsibilities, but I was fortunate enough to talk to a friend who did attend, and left absolutely no detail behind when giving me a summary of both events.

The first thing he said to me about Ryan Woodward, was how amazed he was of his simple and easy going personality. Of course when I first hear this, it all just comes into place as to why his work evokes that feeling; and I think this is one of the most incredible things about a real artist, is being able to transmit that through your own work.
He mentioned that the demo at the beach was incredible. The simple fact of being able to have a lecture by one of our favorite artists at the beach and get critiques and feedback instantly, was priceless. One thing that I cannot erase from my mind, was how calm and simple he is. I would think, that with the intense type of life he lives, it would be very difficult to find a balance between you, your work and your family. Nonetheless he is able to do it, which gives you hope to some extent to think that it is actually possible to be good at what you do, and have a balanced life.

"Never say no, just grab opportunities, even if you dont know how to do it, get in there and try it out and find a way to do it" This was a phrase by Ryan when talking about the different opportunities life may bring to us, and how no matter how afraid we may be to face a challenge that seems impossible; we have to give it a try. No matter how difficult it may seem, never say no. Give it a try, the worst that can happen is you fail, which will only make you stronger, but you learn on the way. These are key words that have stuck in my mind ever since; Because it's true. No one has ever reached success without failing first, or without taking risks. If we want the chance to succeed at what we do, we must give ourselves the opportunity to get that chance, and grab it as it passes by. I feel this is Ryan's moto and philosophy, and it's incredibly inspiring to see how someone has reached such success by following this simple idea of life.

Unfortunately although I would have loved to be able to meet Ryan personally and listen to his talk both at the beach and later that night; I'm grateful the school was able to give us an opportunity like this one, to be able to learn from one of our most admired artists, and even have the chance to sit through one of his lectures and learn from his personal experiences.

Logo Build "Thing Collaboratory"

Project Brief:

The Client:

Thinq Collaboratory Contact: Lisa Moody

Project Overview:

To design a logo build for the film company, Thinq Collaboratory.

Objective:

Using Thinq Collaboratory’s existing logo, design a 7-10 second logo animation that captures the tone and attitude of Thinq Collaboratory. (Logo may be downloaded on Google Sites under Handouts and Templates).

Word list Brainstorming:

Lab

Science

liquid

numbers

formulas

chemistry

cells

biology

think bubble

brainstorming

secret

creepy

revolution

fight

challenging

manipulation

clever

Think:

mazze

analysis

light bulb

electricity

tornillos

perspective

eye

Collaboratory:

microscope

cells

Research about the company:

Thinq Collaboratoy: a modern, revolutionary independent international film company.

 A large collaboration of people/talent/ideas.

Goal: Change perspective of people, challenge their way of thinking. Polemic and controversial. "Pushing the limits".

Message: Things aren't as they appear, transformation.

General Feeling: Evolution

Logo concept:

Thinking bubble, created out of a never ending line. Mazze represents analysis, intellect, and direction.

Location: Toronto

actors: international well known

calmness and coolness even though the lack of direction

Demographics:  the statistical characteristics of a  particular population.

age range: 18-50

gender: 55% male, 45% female

personality: clever, cerebral, analytical

social status: in college educated

employment status: Student

Why they are different:

Polemic, daring,

Person profile:

Student,

glasses

confident

studies political science

not preppy, but has class

Psycographics: 

THE QUEST OF LIFE

Like any game, we give our viewers the tools to think, and the problems to analyze and they choose what way they wish to take in order to solve it. The issues and problems are there, now they must find a solution for it. Wether its to ignore it and continue their lives as if nothing was happening. Or to take action and do something about it. What will be the outcome of this quest? Only they can know. 

The animation will consist of a game trapped within a maze, uncertain of where they will en up. It is the decisions they make that will allow them to reach or not their final destination. Ending with the resolution of the maze which then turns into a thought (or speech) bubble representing the way their mind and way of thinking. The main instrument they must use in order to make a difference. 

THE BIG BROTHER SOCIETY

A suppressed society, taught to think and act in a particular way.  Where there is only one right and one wrong dictated by the leaders of society, Big Brother watching over you. A feeling of intimidation, secrecy and fear overrules. No one is able to speak up, they are all blinded by their pre fabricated minds, brainwashed and controlled, society has become an entity composed of puppets. Tired of being controlled, a group of individuals rebel against this power. The consecuence: freedom.

PLATO'S CAVE:

After presenting the three differente concepts to the class, to my surprise, the concept that the class liked the most, and the one chosen, was the first one. The one I least liked, and spent least time on.  Its interesting and I'm sure it won't be the last time this will happen. It just makes you think and understand that in the end its the client the one who chooses the concept, so you should make sure that the three concepts you present, you like and enjoy because afterwards if your least favorite one is chosen, then you won't enjoy executing it and probably won't do such a good job on.

It's going to be a challenge, I'm aware of that, but I'm going to try and put all my efforts for it to come out equally good as if I had done any of the other two. 

FINAL STORYBOARD FOR "THINQ COLLABORATORY"

The process of this project from beginning to end was very interesting. I feel I've learned a lot, from the research aspect of it, learning about the different techniques and methods. For example creating our imaginary character to base our concepts on, according to what he would be expected to enjoy in these films.

After this, comes the pitching of our three concepts, and the fact that my least favorite concept was chosen  actually helped me a lot, in realizing how things really work in the real world of design, and how sometimes we will have to put our heads down and accept that the project is not for us, hence it's not our opinion being represented but rather the client's. 

From this, then came the presentation of our storyboards, and execution of our concepts. I would say this was by far the best part of the process mainly because its the point at which your ideas come to life, and you finally get to be truly create and invent. 

Last but not least, refining our storyboards and seeing your product come to life. I believe that a good storyboard is based on the idea that not only the client understands what you want, but that in the case that this was given to an animator to recreate. They would be able to execute your idea, just by looking and reading the storyboard descriptions. I believe that after a lot of work, my storyboard has in fact reached this point, and clearly is able to express what the animation is going to be like.