Well, I finished my final video! Here’s a link to it, since the filesize was too large for me to imbed it. I like how it turned out, I think. It might not be my favorite among all the things I’ve made this year, but it’s by far the one I learned the most from, which makes it the best as far as I’m concerned. I’ve kept good track of all the stuff I’ve made since I took up digital art as a pastime some five years ago, and the projects I learned the most from always stick out the most to me when I look back over old stuff. Anyway, about what I learned! Mainly stuff about FinalCut and Flash, although there are a few miscellaneous life lessons I’ll take from this too (if a rock has holes in it, there are almost definitely bugs living in said holes so don’t bring the rock inside unless you want them crawling all over your computer keyboard the next day. Don’t ask). As for the digital stuff, I learned how to use keyframes in FinalCut for doing things like moving images and changing background colors over time, and I’m more comfortable with the program in general. There are things that I would’ve needed two or three programs for before this project, but that I’d now be confident doing entirely in FinalCut, which should really speed up future projects. And I’m no expert in Adobe Flash yet, but I have a grasp of the basics, whereas before I’d never even touched the program. Did you know that animating is hard? Because it’s hard. I don’t think I’d at all enjoy a career in animation, but I’m glad I have a better grasp of how it works now because I’m sure there will be times in the future where I’ll need it again.
As for how I think my final video turned out, I’m…. not sure? It’s finished to a point I like, and I’m not planning on revisiting it, but it’s by no means perfect. I need to do more stuff with sound, and with shooting video, if I want future projects to have quality I’m satisfied with in those areas. This isn’t surprising, these are the two areas of this project I had the least experience with going in. I think I did a good job of unifying all the different aspects of the video, though. It may not feel polished, but it feels whole, so I’m satisfied.
Anyway, this was my final project for Digital Processes, so I won’t be posting for that class anymore! I’ll try to still update throughout the summer though, since I’m sure I’ll be doing digital stuff. Maybe I’ll actually make a webcomic…
See you guys whenever!
Daney: such an ambitious project–using video and drawing/animation and Flash as well as final cut (both new to you?). The final works really well! You worked on this beyond what I last saw, and the transitions and “bookending” of the two carefully placed IRL rock stacks, which are the same act, but different incidents, works beautifully to create balance across the composition of the video. The sound as a constant also unifies the piece, and it’s seemingly inorganic make-up strangely works across this hand-made drawing and hand depictions (all organic in a literal sense). I really like some small subtle places–the very first tension in the placement of the rock on top in the first rock stack–I just gravitate toward the negative space where the rocks come together. It’s quite a focal point, small, but so careful. I care about how you stack that rock! I also appreciate the change of color in the animation of the line from black backgorund to brown–as if introducing or foreshadowing the color of that carefully placed rock. This is a really interesting work!! I look forward to more work from you. The animation, hand drawings, on top of the blurred/textured backgrounds (the “ants”) is also a juicy juxtaposition. I think the fact that the ants aren’t cute, but are complex and somewhat unknown is another great fact–because the death spiral is sort of scary and definitely not cute. So the idea of the video I think mirrors your original intrigue with the idea…GREAT WORK!