Take on me is a song by Norwegian pop band a-ha released in 1985. Throughout the 80′s synthesizers were used to create an electronic feel to music, this effect is also being revamped throughout contemporary music today. This video used rotoscoping in combination with live video footage to create a multidimensional space. The female character played by Bunty Bailey is lured into an animated fantasy world by her seducer, played by lead singer Morten Harket. The video tells a story of romance suggested through the extreme close ups of eye contact and body language. The placement of certain objects such and the detailed wrench, bring a more realistic sense to the animation. In some cases it seems that the smaller components help to create strong visual impact on a viewer.

——

The Girl from Moush (Garine Torossian)

This video tells a poetic story about the artists subconscious journey in Armenia through a collage of personal images. The layering of images add a beautiful dimensionality to the piece displayed through a loop. The essence of the film is captured through a scrapbook arrangement of memories. The blurred lighting and saturated hues throughout pixilated images add to the timelessness of the piece. The background music brought a sense of realism into the piece and allowed me to feel as if I was experiencing what the artist had experienced at one point in her life.

——

“Light and Lighting Techniques”

Light allows us to create different moods, and gives us the ability to control and manipulate light when establishing a shot. During the first project Light/Form Mike, Emma and I had to decide what type of mood we wanted to evoke and how we would go about create that through strategic placement of lighting. In the end we decided to have the key light situated high on the right side of the subject (orange) in order to achieve hard lighting and a single shadow cascading off the left side of the orange this allowed us to give the orange some depth, and eliminate double shadows. In choosing to use only one light source and center the orange on a white background we eliminated the light being absorbed by a dark background. The light is intense and brilliantly illuminates the bright orange colour and textural detail on the outer casing and inner skin of the orange segments. I believe proper lighting is what makes or breaks a shot, lighting helps to bring dimension into an establishing shot and is essential in creating successful compositions.

——

Inspirational Videos

“Crime Fighters” Animated 2125 + frames rotoscoped

This rotoscoped animation is the lastest music video from the album gentlemen prefer bombz. I find this animation awe inspiring, the sketchy drawings of the figures add to the musicality of the video. The swift movement of the figures is captured through many different angular shots within the video, which are then enhanced by the dark outlines. I find that the dark outlines appear when the animator wants to develop the intensity of the image. I applaud the artist for the amount of work put into this video and the amount of time this would have took, my hats off to the artist!

“Down Here With Me” Beautiful paper animation

This stop motion animation uses pencil, paper and glue to create a peculiar perspective on an alternate underworld. I believe this animation depicts a woman trying to escape the chaotic nature of our world. She escapes by digging a hole to submit to a secluded life resistant to the modern lifestyle. The concept of depression is enhanced by the fast passed sound and soft melody played throughout. The lighting is dim with a yellow tone creating soft shadows of the high rise buildings. It seems as though the world up above the dismal rat hole is lively and much brighter, below the light is cautiously placed on the figure to suggest that her new world is isolated and dark. What captivates me is that although the female figure has disappeared into darkness she still has an all seeing eye to view the world above her. Time permitting I would like to experiment with 3D paper animation, once I develop a concrete concept.

During my third year of Design at York University and Sheridan College, myself along with classmates Mike and Emma formed a group in our Time Based Communication class. Together we worked on a stop motion that illustrated the elements light and form. We choose two opposing objects an orange and various eyes to create the narrative for our sound scape. The deconstruction of an orange simulated the feeling of an eye being tortured and pulled apart layer by layer. The outer casing of the orange mimicked the blood vessels in the eyes creating an unsettling feeling. Overall, I feel the composition was a success the fluidity of the sound is in perfect sync with the constant motion of the orange and eyes. The biggest challenge we had was coming up with an adequate amount of visuals to stretch over the one minute time constraint.

During my third year in Design at York University and Sheridan College, myself and classmates Kitty and Meghan experimented with light, frame and duration as fundamental compositional elements. Our objective was to find a compelling composition and shoot one picture every minute for an hour. We decided up a stair way in the TEL building at York University as the constant traveling of people presented us with a perfect photo opportunity. We also found that the lighting progressing from day to night added interest to the overall composition.