I'm Made Up Of...
For my final major project (FMP) I wanted to include all the skills I have learnt at university. But, due to lockdown I was struggling to find much inspiration doing the same thing every day and not seeing anybody or anything to give me new ideas.
During lockdown I have use meditation as a tool to cope with my stress and anxiety and as a way to further discover myself. While meditating I realised that although I havn't felt like I have had many new experiences or influences I am already made up of so many memories.
At a time when I was on my own a lot of the time because of lockdown I realised the only person who is always with me is myself and I am the only person who can fully explore my mind. This led me to come up with the idea of doing a project based on my life and what has made me the person I am today, and I could research when I'm eating, working out or doing any other activity as I, and my mind is always with me.
I began with an idea that I had for a project I did at college, in which, due to anxiety and not knowing many people I decided to photograph myself as different characters. Due to lockdown I was in a similar situation so wanted to expand on this idea.
The image above is what I created at college by shooting on a tripod and changing positions and outfits for each shot, I then used photoshop to merge all the images together. I started by creating mood boards and writing down names of all the people who have inspired me and what they mean to me and the idea was to either show me as them and how they've inspired me or to replicate old images of these people. For example, for my Grandma I would wear make up to make me look old and have a bible behind me.
After testing out this idea and having discussions with tutors and classmates I realised this idea could be too humorous and take away from the meaning and I decided that I should the project should be based around how they have made me me rather than me dressing up.
My Film Idea
As this project was a book project I had planned to display my photos along side old family photos in what looks like a photo album. After making mood boards for my photos I realised I would struggle to portray my emotions in still images. This was also influenced by a uni talk I attended last year when we were talking about emotions in photos. In this lecture I photographed myself looking sad and wrote the word 'Sad' underneath the image, the tutor then explained that anyone who just saw the image and didn't know me would only know me as sad as stills only capture a split second of time.
Along with this I have also developed a passion for moving image while at uni and have learnt many skills when it comes to editing video and wanted to show this in my final piece as it is something I would like to continue after university. For these reasons I decided to do a video for my FMP.
I still wanted the idea of the photo album and still had to hand in some form of book so used this as a way to bind my film together and create a narrative throughout.
My Poem
I used the mood board that I had created to come up with a list of people that have influenced me and began to write a poem about them. I didn't want to sit down and dedicate time specifically to write the poem as this often causes me to over think and the words become unnatural as I am trying to hard to think of rhymes. Instead I would come up with random parts of the poem as I got on with my life, for example, I might be singing to myself walking down the street or thinking while having lunch and suddenly come up with a few lines that I would type in my notes on Facebook, I then pieced all these together and joined the dots to create my final poem.
Recording My Poem
For this I used Logic Pro software to create a backing track, using my Mac keyboard as a midi keyboard and playing it like a piano, I would then adjust notes on the software in order to create a piano piece for each section. I based the backing music for each section on the mood that section of the poem made me feel, for example, if it was about someone who had died the music would be slower and echoey but if it was about my brother for example it would be faster and more upbeat.
Each verse uses a different piano melody relating to the subject but with the same string pattern playing in the background throughout, which ties it together as one piece. I then linked all the piano parts together so that it flowed.
I recored the poem as a spoken word piece and added different levels of reverb based and effects based on the mood, then, to make the piece sound more full and to add some depth I recorded higher pitched echoey singing.
I decided to make the track myself and to show off a variety of talents in my project and to keep the personal feel to my work by exhibiting another of my passions, music.
My Planning
My Storyboard
In order to start filming my project I had to plan thoroughly as I wanted each scene/shot to join together seamlessly using smooth transitions and as little jump cuts as possible. This would help the audience understand the project is all part of my life and that it isn't a more poem about various people but more about how each person has made me who I am as an individual. It would also create a more interesting experience and would be smoother to watch. After finishing the poem I begin to work my way through it, creating a rough storyboard, splitting the poem up into different shots. This meant that when it came to filming I wouldn't be left trying to fill in gaps that I hadn't filmed for with shots that were just fillers.
As many of my transitions involved masking (a technique that allows you to apply effects to particular section of an image and place it over other clips) I had then showed my story board to Matthew Dunk, a visual effects (VFX) artist. We went through the storyboard and made adjustments based on the transitions he would be teaching me to do and helping me with to either make editing more simple or to add to the effects to create a smoother transition. Masking will allow me to place video into the scenes with the book so that they turn with the page and also to have one shot appear behind a section of another.
My Shot List
After going through the story board together me and Matthew wrote up a shot list to help us to better understand how each shot would be filmed, what props are involved, the location and which lyrics match that shot. This meant when it came to filming we could plan which shots to do when based on where they were shot and with what props/outfits and I could just say for example 'shot 5' and we could read the shot list and know exactly what we were doing. This was then compared with the storyboard to know what angle/ camera movement would be used.
Editing
Each shot was highlighted in a different colour to show the location to make planning the order of shooting easier. I then highlighted a shot in blue once it was done so that I could see how far through I was.
As I began to shoot I started with the more technical shots so that I could edit as I went along. My original idea changed slightly as I felt the smooth transitions didn't always work as they made the video to fast paced and took away from the meaning of the shot so I decided to elongate some scenes. Once editing I got a better idea of what I needed to shoot and which shots I didn't need because once i started seeing it come together I realised I had added to many shots to the shot list, making the video to choppy and loosing the meaning, this isn't a bad thing though as it is better to over plan that under plan.
Planning was very important in this order as without the poem I couldn't record the music, without the music I couldn't film and without the filming I couldn't edit.
Practice Shots
In order to practice masking and tracking techniques me and my house mates planned some short scenes to figure out how it would work and identify any issues.
The video above was a practice shot of a hand held pan. This would be similar to the one used in the Mac Miller scene in my video. It is done by filming the first person and then panning the camera around to where person 2 would be standing. We then do the same pan but without person 1 there but person 2 is stood where the pan ends. We would then mask around person 1 and overlay them with the second shot and track them with the background so they appear to be in the same shot.
The static object pass shot in this video is done similar to the shot below.
For this shot we used a similar technique but this time added a glass. We kept the camera in the same position for both shots, recorded person 1 placing the glass on the table and then stopped recording. We then, making sure the glass or camera hadn't moved, recorded person 2 entering and taking the glass. In post we masked around half of the shot and joined them together so that both shots play at once.
We wanted to try things that would be more difficult than the shots in my film so that we knew we, if we could do these difficult shots, we could manage the easier ones. In this one we got a plain shot of the background with no body in it. Then we had somebody pull some from kneeling to standing by the hair. We then, without moving the camera, got a shot of the person kneeling falling to the ground.
Next we masked around the head and removed the body so the blank background showed and then we masked the head on the falling shot and instead of removing everything outside the mask we removed what was inside the mask by inverting the mask. For extra affect we added fake blood and a severed neck by drawing individual red strings in After Affects and manipulating them to morph and move with the head and body.
These practices gave us a much better understanding of how the film could be shot and gave us confidence that we could do the effects I wanted.
Scenes and Research
Edu Fernández from Bilbao, Spain is an artist, musician and performer that I came across on YouTube. He holds a masters degree in Contemporary Arts and focuses on identity and self expression in his work that show cases his skills in mixed medias.
The video I found was titled 'The passion of Edu Fernández' and s a remake of the 1928´s film The Passion of Joan of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer. It focuses on Fernández as he is in the video and shows his personality, which is something I wanted to portray in my video.
'The passion of Edu Fernández' inspired my video with the use of overlays, masking and green-screens as well as other editing techniques that can make a still shot of a performer look much more interesting and intriguing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZnZaV6Cn7I&t=291s
In this shot from his video you can see the use of a green-screen which is used to change the background into a news studio. This can used to add emotion, in this case humour, and to tell the viewer more about the story in that scene.
This effect is done by shooting in front of a green screen (can be any flat, bright colour as long as clothing/props are a different colour so they don't get lost). When shooting with a green-screen I will insure the background is well lit from both sides so there is no shadow, making it easier to remove in post. I will then use the Ultra Key tool to select the green and remove it, then adjusting the transparency, shadow and highlights to remove the green and keep the subject. This allows me to replace the background with a different scene so I can shoot from home and appear as if I'm in a different location.
This shot from 'The passion of Edu Fernández' also uses an overlay, in this case emojis as he is talking about online. Overlays can be useful in the same way as a green-screen, to add more dynamics to a shot and tell more of a story, they can also be used to transitions from one scene to the next, for example a smoke cloud filling the screen and fading to reveal the next shot.
Above is an example of how I used a green-screen to make me appear in front of a collage of family photos. This was used to transition from a family photo album and to make appear lost in my memories as I look around with a confused and bewildered expiration.
I will take inspiration from 'The passion of Edu Fernández' as he is very expressive in his face and body language. This is especially important when you can't hear the character so that the mood and emotions can be portrayed to the audience.
This collage style is something Fernández uses, which allows several things to be said in one shot and adds interest to the video as things glide across the screen and fade in an out.
Above is an example of how I overlaid hearts as I was talking about my girlfriend which added an extra dimension to an otherwise simple shot.
Verses
Mum and Dad
"I’ll start with my mum and dad,
Who gave me everything I had,
Forgiving and loving, give me cuddles when im feeling sad,
Out of any couple god could have chosen, mad,
He chose the best couple out their and for that every day I’m glad,"
For my opening shot I started with an above shot of the family photo album. This was shot on a tripod looking down. I used a leather book to give the affect of an old album and used gold stickers to write the name of my piece on the front. I felt this was more emersive than using an overlaid title.
I made the pages turn by whole punching the edges of each page and tying clear fishing wire through the holes and pulling it open from above. I then lit the shot from a the side to avoid light reflecting off the wire and it showing in the shot.
I took inspiration from the beginning of Shrek for this shot, where the fairy tale books pages turn without anybody touching them. This was done using animation so I came up with this physical way of doing it myself.
I printed old family photos in of the people the verse is talking about and then added green rectangles so that I could add the videos in post. I was originally going to use them like a green-screen and remove the green, having the images behind the shot of the book. But, when editing I found I couldn't get and even key as the light changes as the page turns causing the green to become black. Also, some of the photos also contained green so these would disappear and show what ever was laid behind them.
Instead I overlaid the family videos onto the book and used the mask tool to draw around the green rectangles in the book so the video edges matched up. Then, as the page turned I added key frames to the opacity, scale and position. Going through the video frame by frame I moved the videos to line up with the green rectangles as the pages turned so they appear to be in the book.
I also used key framed the zoom so that shots could be in the book and zoom up to full screen making for a smooth transition.
Father
"Father, always pushing me to go places and go further,
Getting home in your suit inspired me to work harder,
You used to hold me in your arms,
I was the storm that broke your calm,
The boy who always held your hand,
We'd feed the ducks in chippenham,
On your shoulders I would sit,
And off the bridge we'd play poo sticks,
Watching the river madden flow,
All those years ago,
John coles park and lots of laughs on the swings by charter school,
With my face painted like spider man,
I thought I looked so cool, Making snowmen in the snow,
And trips to auntie reenies home, All those years ago,
Tickly stories before I slept,
The one where incy spider crept,
And the hefolump was on my head,
Setting traps from a to z,
Before you tucked me into bed,
Youve taught me everything I know, It's started years ago,
Dens of wood at bilton grange,
And you taught me latin, that was strange,
Do I call you dad or sir, All those years ago,
Trips to rome, and trips to Spain,
Taking shelter from the rain,
In a tent that took all day to build,
Out in a muddy field,
You've watched me change and watched me grow,
From all those years ago,
I'd remember we'd say 'hello nan',
And go on walks across the land,
You'd get us lost you always said you knew the way,
But the skies were grey and the moon had called the end of day,
We used to play, And laugh and run, We still have so much fun,
And look at birds out in the sun, And on your shoulders I would sit,
All those years ago, We'd watch bears den together,
And games of pool that I win never,
And film puppet shows that would last forever,
Not so long ago,"
(the section in red was removed in the final piece as I felt it wasn't needed and made this verse much longer than the others without adding much.)
For this shot I used a green screen so I could remove the background and replace it with a collage of photos of my parents. I created the collage in illustrator and then copy and pasted it so it was five long. I then brought it into Premier Pro, zoomed it in so it filled the screen from top to bottom but stuck out the sides. I added key frames to the position so that it drifted behind me.
I then overlaid family photos and key framed the scale so they started very small and flew out from the background, matching them to where my eyes were looking as if I was in the collage watching them float past.
In this scene I looked around confused as if I was in a dream state, thinking about my memories with my parents.
When lighting a green-screen shot I would place a light either side of the screen, one facing slightly down to light the right and the top and one slightly lower facing up to light the left and the bottom. I would make sure both these lights were placed slightly further back from the model so that they don't cast shadow on the screen. This would create an even green with less shadow, making it easier for me to key it out in post.
I would then also use a light in front of the model to light them, in this shot I lit it from one side to create shadow on one side of the face as it was more of a moody shot. For a happier shot I would move the light more evenly in the middle to create a flatter, more even light.
Next is a shot of my Mum and Dad playing pool that I took on my phone over lockdown. I realised that as the pool table was bright blue and quite evenly lit by the room lights I could key it out and have the ball, cue and hand appear over the previous shot with the rest of the video appearing as the ball is hit. In this shot I also left the sound in to get a sense of the fun as we played pool together.
I then finish the verse with a transition back to the photo album where I over laid green-screen clouds to fill the screen and reveal the next shot.
Mother
"And hey mother,
I havnt forgotten about you,
Got to give my love for you a shout too,
You were always their for me,
All the love and care for me,
We would bake together, you’d say ‘pour the flower carefully,
But I never would, I’d always spill it,
But you’d still tell me I cooked good,
So strong will is,
Something that you’ve given me,
You’ve inspired me,
And always forgiven me,
I hope ive inspired you,
Sorry for the times that ive lied for you,
But hey, that’s what sons do,
And when I have sons too,
I know you’ll be someone strong to look up too,
The fun times and silliness,
Now that’s something that you’ve passed down,
We would smile, we would laugh, you made me the class clown,
And lets face it,
You know I was smoking spliffs in the basement,
But you’d turn a blind eye cos you knew the troubles I was facing,
You’ve helped me through the bad times,
And told me when ive crossed lines,
Taught me to love myself, without being too complacent,
Trips with grandma to the zoo,
All the things weve done, and all the things we do,
Couldn’t ask for a better moose,
I’ll always admire you,"
To start this verse I showed a home video of my Mum playing pool, as she hits the ball as cloud of flower fills the screen transitioning to the next shot of me in the kitchen. This was done using a green-screen dust cloud overlay. I then did a transition where the camera moves behind my back and as it comes round the other side the next shot appears. I did this by masking out any of the shot that came after the camera had moved behind me and placing the next shot behind it. Masking removes anything out of the box that I draw revealing what ever is behind it.
This verse consisted mainly of a shot of me outside reading the family photo album which is a running theme through out and ties the video together. I then put the book down and light a spliff blowing the smoke towards the camera. I then added a green-screen smoke overlay that filled the screen with the next shot appearing behind it.
The final shot of this verse is of me admiring a view. This was shot on a gimbal that I invested in for this project. The gimbal allowed me to shoot on my own easier and acts as almost an extra person as well as making shots a lot smoother. For this shot I used the focus puller on the gimbal to change the focus from the skyline to my face as I used the remote control to pan the camera around.
Grandma
"Now grandma,
Your so wise at your old age,
But the willingness of a youth is something you’ll take till your last days,
Staying positive while visiting grandads and friends graves,
The way you still have faith,
Is something that I find great,
Even on my worst days,
I remember the church days,
And you visiting the corseway,
On my birthdays,
The cross round my necks not a statement of wealth,
Its testament to selfworth,
Cos even at your health, your fighting with a bible on your shelf,
That’s a testament of christs work,
I know god is watching you knit,
I know god is keeping you fit,
I know the candle for grandads one that you’ll keep lit,
Even when I need faith,
You’re the one to preach it,
Cups of tea with scratching of a vinyl,
You’re the reason I keep god as my idol,
And when you hit 100 I’ll be sitting their besides you,
and when you leave the earth, I know you’ll leave in style,
shooting off in your scooter at a speed that’s suicidal,
I love you,"
This shot started with a green-screen shot of me in a church reading the photo album. I then turn the book around as it becomes a Bible on the back. I used masking and zoom key frames to make me appear on my cross and zoom in to become the next shot. I used the same technique to make the balloon spin on the vinyl and move onto the next shot.
I filmed the balloon popping in slow motion and popped it in front of green-screen so that when it had popped the next shot could appear behind it. Although I couldn't film slow enough on my camera and the ballon just disappeared straight away so I added a popping overlay.
For the shot of my Grandma on her scooter I added the animated flames and tracked them using key frames to match the movement of the shot.
This bit of humour lightened the mood ready for the next verse and I took inspiration from 'The passion of Edu Fernández' for this.
Jonas (AKA Bro Jo, Baby Jo) - My Brother
"Oi brother,
I know we annoy eachother,
But I wanted you to know that I love ya,
I remember when I saw you as hospital,
All tiny in your wee cot,
That’s when I first felt the connection that weve got,
Baby jo, what I called you when we’re growing up,
Now you’re a dick, have to hold you when you’re throwing up,
From downing all that voddy, the party doesn’t start until your showing up,
And we’re blazing on a zoot and our minds are blowing up,
We laugh and we laugh and we laugh,
We’d roll down the hill in the snow until it melts and its just grass,
Building dens to blazing benz,
Its crazy how weve grown,
I wish that we were young again,
Where woodlands we would roam,
Nerf gun wars and cooking smores,
Over fires we had made,
One day when we’re really old we’ll talk about the good old days,
But we’ll still smile and spurt out jokes,
That no one else can hear,
But you’ll put them in your best man speech,
With a mix of boos and cheers,"
This shot starts with a home video of my brother rapping, I then masked my face onto his as I appear in the same position on a sofa.
For the Nerf gun shot I filmed my hand firing a Nerf gun in front of a green-screen and over laid onto a shot of me in my hallway firing a Nerf gun back at the camera. I then sped up section when the camera moved towards me to give the impression of POV of a bullet.
Auntie Reenie
"Boos and cheers,
That’s good and bad,
My happiness is tainted by memories that make me sad,
The people I have lost that now live on through me,
Like grandad, nan and jo and pat,
And dear old auntie Reenie,
You gave me love for animals big and animals teeny,
I'm made up of walks in the parks and facts that you'd teach me,
About the flowers and plants and birds that are tweeting, Thank you for speaking,
You were so wise,
And now that you're gone I see through your eyes,
Although vision is blurred by the weeping,"
Auntie Reenie was my Nan's sister and we would regularly go for long walks and she would teach me about the nature around us, giving me the passion for animals plants that I still have now. She passed away after a long battle with Dementia and Cancer.
Again, the candle shot is done using a green-screen with a shot of candles replacing the background. I added an animation of a tear tracked to my eye to show my emotion and used blurred eye liner and also splashed my face with water.
The smoothness that a gimbal can give shots is apparent in the shots when I dig up the flower. I decided to use jump cuts here instead of smooth transitions as originally I was going to use one long shot but this slowed the pace of the video too much and lost the effect that multiple shots gave.
This scene represented me gardening with Reenie and then burying her after she passed away.To bury the camera I placed it facing up in the whole and covered the lens with a clear fish tank lid to stop the mud from scratching it.
Jógvan Á Høvdanum (AKA Jo)
"Say hello to jo for me,
Gone to soon, not even forty,
Cant thank you enough for what you taught me,
You had dreams of works like rick and morty,
Some people you see everyday,
It may just be a smile and 'hey,'
But you never get the chance to say,
Until they've gone away, you stop pray,
People reach there final day,
But memories won't fade away,
They will forever stay,
In our head and in our heart,
I remember, right at the start,
You'd walk round with your suit case,
Filled with pens for art,
Brown leather printed with Mikey's face,
The shirt and glasses made you look smart,
In my life you became a part,
A part of life that now lies still,
You were singing queen on my window sill,
Drinking vodka that's distilled,
And if they don't smile now,
you know they will,
From one joke to the next,
When you said you won't drink water cos that's where fish have sex,
Your bowler hat and turtle necks, Dranbuli and ciggarettes,
You lived life with no regrets,
These are things I won't forget,
I won't forget the time you started singing on the underground,
You could see the glares being thrown around,
Then there came another sound,
People singing in the crowd, Joining in and getting loud,
That night you made the whole tube laugh,
You cheered up London and that's a task,
There were bottles on my mantel peace,
Now there's a plaque that reads rest in peace,
You were singing on my window sill,
Now the flowers on my window sill,
Now all is still,"
Jógvan Á Høvdanum was comic book drawer and musician from the Faroe Islands that was famous in his country as well as Japan and Denmark for his political and controversial work. He was full of amazing stories such as almost becoming mare of his town and proposing to his wife on stage at one of his concerts. He added to these stories by being the first person from the Faroes' to move abroad to university.
At the age of 39 he took the brave decision to move to London and pursue his dream of making cartoons by studying animation. He quickly became my best friend at university and we would spending countless night drawing and drinking together in my room and listening Queen and Frank Sinatra. Unlike my other uni friends he took a big interest in my work and was a big inspiration to me as he worked so hard.
On a night out Jo started complaining of chest pains and while me and him were getting a drink at the bar he collapsed onto the dance floor. I immediately called over the nightclub staff and held his hand and spoke to him as we waited for an ambulance but by the time they arrived to late. This is represented with the last shots of this verse.
That night and my short but amazing time with Jo has changed my life forever and he completely changed my outlook on life and I want to make him proud! Thats why I have dedicated this project to him. He finished his bio on his portfolio with "Everything starts with a dream and dreaming is for free!"
This poem was written by me for his memorial service where I read it out.
To make the animation for this scene me and James Wentworth-Weedon, a film student, used Animate and a drawing pad to draw them frame by framing, matching the animation to the lyrics. This represented Jo's passion for animation as he studied this at Ravensbourne.
The shot at the table was lit with a light suspended above the table and a light below the table to stop the above light reflecting off the glass. Both these lights were connected to the same socket so when it got to a certain word we switched off that switch and I flipped my phone around with the torch on on my lap to light me from below. This is in reference to Jo's favourite song, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. If you listen carefully you will hear I am playing a variation of this song on the piano during this shot.
Queen album cover (left) My video (right)
I used green-screen shots over laid to get the ending of this shot.
Leeds
"My lowest times have made me who I am,
Made me strong and turned me to a greater man,
A greater man from stockport, greater man,
Its all part of the greater plan,
If I didn’t fight I would of ran,
Leeds, it saw the worst of me,
I’d return one day,
but its full of negativity,
and awful memories,
sat on a bridge, staring at the racing cars below,
I was full of dread and wished me dead,
This girl, shit, I can't say your name,
I swore not to mention you again,
you drilled, dissolved and broke my brain,
I took the A's to keep me sane,
That's where it got its name, I felt extatic,
it numbed the pain,"
I shot this verse by myself using the controls on my gimbal.
Kalila (My girlfriend of four and a half years)
"Until the day god answered me,
Surprised this human deity,
From years ago remembered me,
Gained confidence and clarity,
We linked in solidarity,
Thank you,
Thank you, thanks again,
I smile when I say your name,
you’d pick me up and dust me down,
became my drug and and gave me air, I thought I’d drown,
but no,
and til this day your by my side,
I know in you I can confide,
This angel bright, the light it shines,
sweapted me off my feet and changed the tide,
Fixed this broken heart of mine,"
This shot was inspired by the rapper KOTA the friend. Many of his music videos are just one long shot that slowly zooms in and out of him sat in one place. For this shot in particularly I looked at the video for 'CAMP' as he is in sat in a garden. I filled the background with similar plants and used similar camera movements and colour grade.
Mac Miller and Juice World (Two of my favourite musicians)
"Thanks to mac and thanks to juice,
I felt your hearts in all your tunes,
I know I didn’t know you personally,
But that’s how it felt when I listened to you,
I know you hurt, just like me,
But still spoke of positivity,
Your every word inspired me,
To both you angels, rest in peace,"
I start this verse with the last photo taken of Mac Miller. This photo was taken by Christaan Felber, a New York city based photographer and director.
In a documentary about this image called 'The Story Of Mac Miller's Final Photo' Felber explains how he was worrying about poor lighting and a broken lens and had no idea how important and famous this photograph would become. This, along with loosing Jo has taught me to treat everyone with respect as you never know when the last time you'll see them will be.
Mr Trahar and Manchester
"And simon,
Mr trahar,
You’d be proud Ive come so far,
I send my love, where ever you are,
And for my uni reference, thanks mate,
Tar,
I'm made of being locked inside,
It took my freedom but gave me time,
And when it's over will give us pride,
I'm made of gallagher's, smiths and the roses,
I was born in bath but Manchesters where home is,
I felt a part of something, noticed,
Im made of the guy who bombed our town,
No terrorist can take us down,
In manny we all share the crown,
So r kid, love my brudda, sound,"
Mr Simon Trahar was my photography teacher at college who really started my love for photography as well as looking after me and helping except myself for who I am.
I did the shot where I film myself with the help my visual effects artist Matthew Dunk. We shot the shot of me replicating the Mac Miller photo and panned out at the end. We then reshot it using the same timing and camera movement but instead of standing against the wall I faced a green-screen and pretended to film myself. As the camera comes behind my back it cuts to the shot of me walking to the door that started on my back.
In post we replaced the green-screen with the Mac Miller shot and keyed out the screen stands. I then used a mask of the mac shot and tracked it to the camera screen.
After editing the project together I graded each scene to match the mood of the poem. For happier scenes I used brighter colours and for moodier scenes I used darker colours and added contrast.
BTS
I filmed a behind the scenes video to show how some of the shots was done although it was hard to film everything as it was often just me and one camera operator on shoot.
My Book
As this project is based around the family photo album I wanted to make a version for people to look at. I could have made a physical version but as I wanted to cut up my video into verses and put them onto the page for that person. I decided to make a digital book so that as the pages turn the video for that will play among the old family photos.
I designed the pages on Illustrator and used an old fashion page affect to make it similar to the actual book I used for the film. I also designed the cover similar to the real book.
I then added vintage illustrations and feathered the edges so they blended into the page and added family photos in an almost scattered way to look like a photo album that has been added to overtime and homemade. I also added the names of the people and some facts about me as a baby in a handwritten font to make it feel more genuine. The ink splatters also add to the hand done affect.
After designing the pages I exported them and brought them into indesign, added the videos in the spaces I had left. When exporting I had a lot of problems and it kept crashing. Then, when I got the book to export all the videos played at once and weren't at the same size I had made them. I also couldn't get the pages to turn in the way I had hoped for. If I was to do this part again I would pay for a digital book software instead of using Indesign.
After trying lots of different things and various computers to export it just wasn't having it so I had to do something I really wanted to avoid and bring the design into PowerPoint and export from there as the book took a while and I wanted to hand something in.
Below is the book pages without the videos added.
Summary
I am very proud of this project and am planning to enter it into competitions in the future. It is very personal and shows my inspirations and emotions in a way that I feel many can relate to.
I have learnt a lot of new editing skills and how to use a gimbal and these are things I can bring forward into the future. Although it isn't the same as my first idea it works better how I did it for the final piece and the it shows development.
If I was to shoot again I would have shot earlier as some of the outside shots I wanted I didn't get although this is because I underestimated how long planning takes and the importance of it. I have also seen the downsides of relying on other people and in the future I wouldn't ask my house mates for help for a project like this as our relationship is too relaxed and they sometimes failed to take it seriously.
Overall this project is a strong reflection of what I have learnt in my three years of university and looking back at my work when I began first year I have improved massively, not just in my work but as a person as well.
