Recently I have been working on a short self project in my free time, it gives me a break from my usual commercial projects. It’s going to be an animation about natural beauty, with a relaxed French theme. Here are some screen grabs from After Effects.
I been taking the train to Osaka quite often this last month and thought I would share the view with you. I recreated a Super8 video feel and added the Easy Listening sounds of The Cascading Strings to top it off.
For the super8 feel I used the excellent AE plugin called Misfire and added a few of my own custom effects. The original footage was shot on a Canon G9, a compact still camera.
“The Black Spot is a fictional literary device invented by Robert Louis Stevenson for his novel Treasure Island. In the book, a pirate is presented with a “black spot” to officially pronounce a verdict of guilt or judgment. It consists of a piece of paper or card, with a circular black spot in the middle and placed in the hand of the accused.” Wikipedia
I have just received 300 new matte laminated business cards made up of black, gray and white, with a spot UV finish. The thought process for this began with a reverse black spot, which would be placed in the users hand. When giving to a receiver you press down on the spot and it makes a temporary sensory imprint in their hand. I also made contact details scondary to the graphical elements. This means that the user has to hunt for details and place the card within 5cm from the face. I thought this concept was interesting in that I could perhaps makes a visual stamp on someones brain. The act of doing something different like this sparks a memory imprint. The bloated cross on the front side represents the bloated human consciousness, hungry to expand. Similarly the cross is intercepted with lines representing neurons. The metaphorical neurons can be lined up together to create a network of interconnected cards and crosses.
I am currently working on an animation using After Effects and my original illustrations. The character you see here has been rigged in AE, has multiple outfits, facial expression and a flexible body. The hard work of animation begins now.
I have been working on a facebook app for the last few weeks and it’s been quite a process working out how to colour the shirts (208 teams). I found a perfect way though using after effects and filming using white shirts /black gloves (white tints the best). I then cut out the characters and overlayed the .ai patterns.
I then got the old displacment effect out and keyed the shirts to move when the arms are raised. Worked out alright as you can see from the army of crazed waivers in the clip.
N.B. The scarfs, hats and faces can be replaced in the app.
