Title: Online / Offline The concept behind our NFT video is that two friends each have two separate lives; one offline and online. Our video shows how anything can happen on an online medium, but real connection and friendship occurs in real life. As technology develops relationships of all kinds are growing apart. An example of this occurred in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. People only experienced contact with family members in the same household and the only way to speak to people outside was via an online medium. This effected the mental health of everyone and looking back on the first lockdown we can see how much we relied on technology to keep connected with family and friends.
Creators: Oliver Shiplee, Matthew Brown, Michael Kenealy and Reuben Jeanne
Before we planned teh shoot we established initial ‘job roles’ for the project:
Matthew
Camera man
Animator
Reuben
Actor
Secondary editor
Ollie
Director
Manager
Myself
Main Character
Chief Editor
We will shoot our video using a DSLR paired with a drone. Referring back to the story board, the DSLR will shoot close up shots and eyelevel perspective shots, while the drone will take the birds-eye-view shots.
We will shoot during the day time, during overcast weather to remove any harsh lighting and add drama to our footage. We found an open field area with a cliff which is were we will film as we plan for the main character to appear as he is isolated when shooting birds-eye-view shots. The cliff also adds to the drama and the cliff will add more sublime romanticism to our footage. We want our narrative to be obvious and we are using characters who will act out this narrative effectively. In terms of props we will be using a VR headset which we have crafted ourselves using accessible materials.
Behind the scenes:
Matthew controlling the drone while I ran towards it Me showing off the central handmade prop
Am I satisfied that I have enough images/ material? – Yes I am satisfied we have shot an abundance of imagery. What are you going to do differently on next shoot? – Do not rush the takes as much and refer to the storyboard more directly. How are you going to develop your ideas? – Add animation and editing to piece the narrative together and further add visual effect to the piece to relay a more emotive campaign.
Film Inspirations:
Editing:
Video
I began by laying delegating the task of finding a backing track for the video. We found a royalty-free electronic song with a fast paced beat which would complement the narrative and visuals well. I then laid the soundtrack in a new sequence in Adobe Premiere pro. Thereafter, I began introducing clips into the sequence and cutting them to the beat. Once satisfied with how the clips where positioned and the overall sequence, I moved onto the next element of post-production, colour grading and Effects. I added a grade on all of the clips using adjustment layers. I went for a high saturation and high contrast grade to dramatize the action in the video. I then added video-game style overlays such as the one below.
For the split screen concept I first had to motion track my face to stabilise the clip more so that my facial features lined up with the animation characters features. The animation was designed by Matthew. You can see his editing process for this HERE
This involved an intricate frame-by-frame masking process.
I added speed ramps to add a sense of hyperreality and the idea that time is controllable in the metaverse more. Finally I added sound FX to add a more immersive feeling.
Image
Matthew made the the digital image in photoshop. He used a screen grab from one of the videos of me wearing the VR, and the 5 animated scenes all at the same timeframe so the character lines up.
He then added some glitched text effect by using 2 layers behind each text. To make it better he added some blending mode features, such as, emboss and bevel, etc.
He used shapes and clipping layers to add all the images into to ensure all the shapes are even.
This is the final image which represents the whole NFT film. It shows the most important scene, which is the split scene that includes the animation as the NFT exhibition is called 2lives (online and offline), it shows the real world and the virtual meta verse.
As a unit we began to learn about the vast world of animation. This was done by receiving a presentation from an animator from Jersey, Liam Nunn.
Liam Nunn has spent over a decade smashing the creative industry with precision, energy and finesse. Working with many brilliant people on oodles of ravishing campaigns – including multiple locally and nationally award-winning ones. A multi-disciplined media monster, Liam was once described by a colleague as “quite good but sometimes a bit bizarre.” Wait…
Fact #1 Liam once illustrated an award-winning dog poo.
Fact #2 Liam is a three-time professional wrestling tag team champion of the world and he probably owns more spandex than you do. Gosh!
Fact #3 Liam produced a whopping 52 weekly self-portraits over the course of a year just for larks. You can see them here.
He began by giving an in-depth power-point regarding the basics of what animation is. From this I learnt about the intrecacies of animation in as a carreer in the industry and the different types of animators, for example;
2D animator.
3D animator.
Background artist.
Character animator.
Clean-up artist.
Digital ink and paint artist.
Image editor.
Key frame animator.
I gained a unique point of knowledge regarding the nature of how something can be made to look natural when being animated
Liam then proceeded to further my knowledge on Adobe After Effects, an important piece of software for any kind of animation.
He created a template for us to start experimenting with called a rig. I then learnt how to keyframe an animation together using the stopwatch tool
And the rig controls Liam set up for us
The following is my experiment with this animation template:
A storyboard is a collection of images that tell a story. Basically it is a sketch of the ideas a person is trying to portray. It is another way of showing a game plan to an individual with interest on what is going on. The visual elements along with the captions allow for the story to be seen by the person reading it. Disney is to be credited with the creation of storyboards since 1920. Ever since then, it has been a great way to share information.
The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres long and 50 centimetres tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.
It was commissioned to celebrate the ‘William the Conqueror’s’ conquest of England. It begins with the events that led up to it – the death of Edward the confessor the King of England, and the succession of a new king; Harold. It runs through each scene of the Normans invasion and ends in the killing of King Harold.
Death of King Harold showing an arrow in his eye, Bayeux Tapestry, Bayeux, Normandy, France, Europe
The Bayeux tapestry is one of the supreme achievements of the Norman Romanesque. Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 12th century.
The Channel Islands became part of the Anglo-Norman realm when William the Conqueror defeated King Harold and won the English crown at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Jerseymen, or at least close relatives, serving under their Normandy lords, were said to be present at this historical battle. Just who was and was not at Hastings has been the subject of argument for centuries, but Onfroi, Mauger and Roger de Carteret, the sons of Godefroi de Carteret, are believed to have fought in the battle. It is likely that Onfroi’s son Renaud was the first de Carteret to become established in Jersey, and was thus the founder of the dynasty which ruled Jersey for such long periods over the centuries.
The tapestry is actually not a “true” tapestry in which the design is woven into the cloth in tapestry weave; it is technically an embroidery. It was embroidered on tabby-woven linen in crewel. It uses two main types of stiches: backstitching for the lettering and outlines and coaching for filling in the figures. Nine linen panels were sewn together to make the full 70m piece.
At least two panels of the tapestry are missing, perhaps even another 6.4 m . This missing area may have included William’s coronation.
Lisa Reihana is a New Zealand artist of Maori descent.
is a moving image interpretation of the French scenic wallpaper Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique.
In Neoclassical France, entrepreneur Joseph Dufour used the latest printing innovations to produce Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique (1804), a sophisticated twenty panel scenic wallpaper. Mirroring a widespread fascination with the Pacific voyages undertaken by Captain Cook, de Bougainville and de la Perouse, the wallpaper’s exotic themes referenced popular illustrations of that time. Two hundred years later, Maori artist Lisa Reihana employs twenty-first century digital technologies to animate Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique. Enlivened with the sights and sounds of dance and cultural ceremonies, a vast video panorama is populated by a myriad of people drawn from across New Zealand and the Pacific.
Separated by two centuries, both the wallpaper and video are set against an utopian Tahitian landscape. While Dufour’s work models Enlightenment beliefs and ideas of harmony amongst mankind, Reihana’s reading of the past is darker and more nuanced. The artist foregrounds the complexities of cultural identity and colonisation by including scenes of encounter between Europeans and Polynesians.
in Pursuit of Venus is a major video project that has been in development for several years. It reflects the wallpapers utopian ideals, is eight minutes long and presented on two-screens. in Pursuit of Venus has been exhibited in historic homes, art galleries and museums – repurposing each presentation offers new insights and unique presentation opportunities.
This epic piece of living, moving, animated wallpaper eventually led to her representing New Zealand at last year’s Venice Biennale, where it was described as the best exhibit by critics including those from the Spectator and the Sunday Times.
Read article HERE in the Guardian and watch Lisa discuss the making of her film.
Embroidery
I learnt a lot from my experience with embroidery. Initially some inspiration based stimulus, to gain inspiration into a more tangible world of art, was given to us. I studied the work of El Anatsui who is a Ghanaian sculptor who’s work focuses on reusing materials in an in orthodox way to give it new meaning. Such as this piece below where he uses bottle caps to create a piece that looks flexible and embodies themes of consumption, transformation and the environment.
We then learnt about the different types of stiches we could attempt to use in our work.
I made use of the back and the satin stich the most. The back stitch is a good method to create a continuous line. It involves, as the name suggests, stitching cloth in a line and then stitching back onto that line to make it more continuous. Satin stitching is an effective way of filling/colouring in a section of your work and it involves a consistent long portion of string being stitched parallel to fill in a space. Below is an example of where I used these methods in the same piece of tapestry.
My embroidery experience involved a lot of experimenting and compiling of many different elements.
Because there was free reign of creativity I almost allowed my hand to guide the string where I wanted it to go to create visual elements that popped into my head. I decided to create a piece with a central focus with other elements and materials sewed to it.
My focal image was that of influential figure in the occupation and art scene of Jersey, Claude Cahun. I additionally decided to use various stitching methods to create an intriguing design around her face to mask her eyes representing the oppression she faced during the occupation.
To further showcase my workflow around my embroidery I created a GIF by taking continuous photos of my piece every few minutes. I created it in photoshop by following these steps:
1. Create layer for each image 2. Window > timeline 3. Select > Create Frame Animation 4. Drop Menu > Make frames from Layers 5. Timeline > select Forever 6. File > Export > Save for Web Legacy > reduce image size to 720 x 720 pixels
I believe making this gif inspired thoughts of how tangible art can be infused with digital art. I believe using inspiration from the work of Lisa Reihana this GIF can be developed into a more in depth digital movie with the addition of a narrative. The GIF could be improved by taking images more frequently to create a smoother animation and keeping the embroidery in the same location of the table – not move it around as much.
As planned in my Storyboard Blog Post, on October 14th my group went to shoot on location at Carmen’s grandmother’s house. We aimed to create images inspired by Lissa Rivera and Cindy Sherman, keeping our Clare Rae inspired shots for our video footage. Each member of our group took images on their own cameras for this shoot, however the final edits are comprised of my shots which we all worked hard on creating unique compositions and lighting for. I focused on photographing in areas of warm lighting, with side lamps, ring lights and natural sunlight as our source; I wanted to create an atmosphere of confidence and playfulness in these images. Each member of our group walked around the house to find rooms and areas where interesting images could be taken, we tried to focus on finding patterned wallpaper, similar to Rivera’s work, as well as rooms with mirrors, fireplaces and symmetrical backgrounds that could create dynamic changes. During our photoshoot we experimented with how using flash would disrupt or help the lighting of an image, for some it helped massively by providing natural highlights on our models face as well as illuminating the background – however, in rooms with an abundance of natural lighting the flash created highly over exposed images that did not reflect the warm tones as we had hoped. I really enjoyed experimenting with the White Balance, Shutter Speed and ISO of my camera to see how changing the setting slightly could effect an image so greatly.
Flagged Unedited Images;
In Adobe Lightroom I imported all 324 of our photoshoot images and used to ‘flagging’ tool to select which ones were the most successful. When choosing these I looked for photographs with interesting compositions, sometimes I found asymmetrical images a lot more intriguing as they showed freedom and fun, qualities of our fully empowered modern woman that, in some images, we wanted to portray. After flagging our favourite images (screenshots seen above), I went through them again giving them a 1 to 5 star rating. Any images with 5 stars I then went on to edit and refine, touching up exposure and brightness mostly, to link more to Rivera’s work and convey a sense of empowerment. When editing, I wanted to keep the warm undertones that I captured in the raw shoot as I believe they helped represent the comforting atmosphere of a woman in her own home, feeling confident and safe within herself.
Best Images – Edited;
Our images show understanding of stereotyping, taking inspiration from Cindy Sherman’s work by photographing our model in a stereotypically feminine outfit, stood/sat in exaggerated poses to create an ironic display of the female gender. We wanted to use these ideologies surrounding women to form a basis for our shoot, using irony to suggest our model feels proud of her femininity as she uses it for her own empowerment, not for the pleasure of others. Locations for these images around the house include bedrooms, offices and lounges – each holding a different stereotype being squashed by our models confidence and satirical representation of how women were (and still are) seen in society.
Image Analysis
I have chosen to analyse this image from my feminism photoshoot as it shows a clear link to all three artists I have studied with use of the formal elements and thematic composition. The first element of this image that I really enjoy is the warm lighting that creates an orange hue throughout, conveying a sense of comfort and security. The dominant colour of orange, as well as creating warmth, also helps the observer understand the subject better as the bright colour connotes ideas of confidence and happiness, things our ’empowered new-age woman’ feels in a free, equal society. The dark lighting that covered this location helped us form an image with depth and meaning from the colours that the natural sunlight, coming through a window out of frame on the right, created. This lighting also illuminated the space around our main subject, as if she were emerging from a place of purity and serenity, symbolic of a heavenly light that surrounds her while she admires herself. The range of tones in this image is quite unbalanced, with the focal point at the brightest point in the centre being surrounded by a much larger border of dark shadow. This creates an atmosphere of mystery and secrecy, linking to Clare Rae’s secretive images were she hides parts of her body so they cannot be exploited for the male gaze. The use of repetition in this piece is seen from the mirrors reflections around the edges, creating distorted versions of our models features eg. arms, hands etc, further linking to our studied artists ironic portrayal of the female gender. The reflections create some rhythm in the image, relating to the idea of flowing water around her; connoting ideas of freedom and fluidity. The overall composition of the piece adds an interesting take on the theme also, we cannot actually see the model’s physical body in the image, only a reflection of her standing out of frame. This raises the question, is she really there? Or is this maybe a ghost from the past looking in on a changed world, possibly an echo from future generations looking back on what women have accomplished – the ambiguity is for the observer to imagine.
Overall, I believe that our film and still image that we produced as a group has been successful, due to the fact that we have achieved our goal by producing a visual representation of the turmoil and discrimination that people who are members of the LGBTQ+ and religious communities suffer, and with the film offered a light-hearted resolution. Some aspects of the film that I believe worked well and allowed for this to happen, were the religious setting scenes, due to the fact that we were able to shoot on location, in a real church. Furthermore, by using clothing to signify the comfort of the characters in different setting, for example wearing conservative white clothing in the church and leisurely and comfortable clothing in the dream sequence, I think it helped to enhance our vision. Another thing that helped the filming process, was using a camera frame to make scenes in which the camera is moving look smoother. Although this doesn’t mean that the camera was perfectly steady, it most definitely helped us produce a more professional outcome. On reflection, something I think we could improve on is the riot scenes, as we used stock video to make it feel more authentic. However, I think that if it were possible, we could have used footage that related more closely to the subject of our film, such as religious protests about the progressive laws towards the LGBTQ+ community. With our digital image, I think that by using the medium of embroidery to stitch over the collage, it created a sense of trauma that these people suffer. This is as it helped to represent how these verses and comments on their sexuality cause harm to the target whilst piercing them and break them down emotionally. If I were to comment on something that could be improved within this image, it would be to make the colours of the separate photographs bolder, by having them printed on a fabric or canvas material, instead of the thick paper we used. When viewing the film it can be said that we used NFT artist Fewocious as a source of inspiration, due to our story of a hidden and repressed LGBTQ+ identity, that can also be seen through his digital art. In addition, the NFT artist Hackatao can be said to be an inspiration for the composition of our final image, due to the fact that our photographs incorporated protest signs that have a similar essence to the written text within their work. In conclusion, I believe that these two pieces of work were successful responses to the theme of community, due to their message of unity and acceptance between the religious and LGBTQ+ communities.
Whilst shooting our film we tend to took the chance to require stills of varied scenes, giving additional images that tell our story of the crossover between the spiritual and LGTQ communities, also as our studio pictures. These images embrace scenes like the couple within the church active Christianity while additionally feeling as if they need to repress a part of their identity. Aa well as this, there are still pictures of the dream sequence in our film that showcase the couple running through the sphere during a idealistic world for them, during which they’re free from restraints. Here Olivia actually has tried to edit in Lightroom and sorted through that images she assumed were best within the sense that they best sent our message and were clear and focussed. when this I went on to rate every of those best choice of pictures, rating them out of 5 stars. Once that was done, I proceeded to edit the still images for which I had rated four or five stars.
Editing and Developing
This still image shows one of the women working on her faith, reading the Bible, presenting another essential part of her identity. This establishes a personal relationship with the Christian religion for the character. To edit this image, I started by reducing the exposure a bit and increasing the discriminant, creating a lot of dramatic background that could later show the light match of the dream sequence. . I then adjusted the shadows, highlights, whites and blacks inside the image, increasing the highlights and whites, while reducing the shadows and blacks, further creating a larger difference. Finally, I improved the brightness and vibrancy of the image, increasing the earthy tones of this image.
This still image shows a scene where people of the same sex are separated for interest, but still looking at each other. However, in some cases, it brings happiness to the 2 communities who need to hide part of their identity to be accepted. Here, Olivia has even modified the image in the same way thanks to the previous scene, to preserve tonal consistency across the interval scenes in the church.
We tend to contradict this view that such communities should only exist in isolation, they can help each other while keeping the faith. Whether they should be together (as friends or more) is up to God for in Matthew 6:25-33 it says:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.“
This quote successfully shows that you shouldn’t be worrying if you’re to be with this person or not but seek God first and let him handle everything.
This image could be a still image of 1 of our installation scenes for the dream sequence. it’s a large shot that stages a surreal and surreal scene, because of the castle and therefore the shiny inexperienced grass within the background. Here, this colour grading helps the film by transportation the vibration to life as hostile the marginally darker dark tones of the church. For the dream sequence, Olivia emended the still image reducing the exposure thanks to the big quantity of daylight already within the image. additionally, I conjointly exaggerated the distinction and adjusted the highlights, shadows, whites, blacks and saturation of the image.
This threshold image is taken from a dream scene that shows the 2 figures holding hands, demonstrating the liberty to remain faithful themselves during this idyllic world, that they worry during a spiritual setting.
I emended this image a similar because the previous dream sequence, to keep up consistency in tone and heat throughout the dream world setting, to make a stark distinction to the church scene.
Here, this still image additionally from the dream sequence shows another scene within which the couple have the liberty to think of how it would bee to be in a same sex relationship, as they’re once more seen holding hands on the brink of the Radio Castle ruins. . By having a scene during this castle structure with the sunset on the left within the background, it reinforces the concept that this is often a fantasy and sadly not their reality. I additionally emended this image with constant method for alternative stills within the dream sequence, this point solely slightly reducing the exposure and increasing the achromatic colour of the image. this is often as a result of a tiny low quantity of sunshine enters the frame once taken at sunset.
The final scene during this dream sequence shows the couple holding hands once more, feeling asleep with each side of their colours, walking through the colourful inexperienced landscape because the sun sets. This another time reinforces the thought of the thought idyllic world that the characters imagine. To edit this image Olivia followed constant method because the alternative dream sequence photos, though this point I reduced the brightness and vividness thanks to the big quantity of sunshine within the frame, ensuring that it’s not washed out.
Edited Still Images
These are the final emended versions of still pictures taken throughout the shooting of our film, every showing a special stage of the plot, most of that correspond to the storyboard of the first film, with the exception of the protest scenes and d riot, that we are going to take from actual recorded events to feature genuineness to our film. These pictures conjointly build it potential to reconstruct the filming, costumes and props of the stage. For scenes within the church setting, for instance, we tend to created certain that the figures were wearing white to symbolize purity through the eyes of Christianity. Additionally, for the unreal sequence, the characters are given additional relaxed and flamboyant costumes, to any increase their freedom of expression.
Title: Online / Offline The concept behind our NFT video is that two friends each have two separate lives; one offline and online. Our video shows how anything can happen on an online medium, but real connection and friendship occurs in real life. As technology develops relationships of all kinds are growing apart. An example of this occurred in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. People only experienced contact with family members in the same household and the only way to speak to people outside was via an online medium. This effected the mental health of everyone and looking back on the first lockdown we can see how much we relied on technology to keep connected with family and friends.
Creators: Oliver Shiplee, Matthew Brown, Michael Kenealy and Reuben Jeanne
Evaluation
Overall, I think that the film looks good and covers our original intentions, which was to show how you could know someone in real life, but they can be completely different online. In addition, how the online world brings people together in unusual times, such as Covid-19.
The quality of the video is decent, this is because the clips go together and work well with the animated videos. However, the camera shot videos were a bit shaky, which meant they were harder to edit, for example the half-real life, and half-animated side.
Furthermore, Michael and Reuben did a good job editing the film together, especially to the beat of the music. The special effects really help convey the meaning and direction the video was going towards, which is the online/offline comparison. For example, the loading… effect helps show that Michael is travelling into the Meta verse.
The two things I think worked really well, and made the video ten times more interesting, were the drone shots and the animation. The drone shots really provided a unique cinematic angle, which made the film, feel more professional. The animation is a unique feature, which I think separated our film for others.
Personally, I think that the film could have been a little bit longer, at least 30 seconds. This could have been achieved by making the editing a bit slower, which would have helped the viewer take in the film and what the message was. Instead, we made the editing over the top to make it seem futuristic.
In conclusion, I think that the overall outcome is good and both the film and digital image relate to the original message. The animation art style is mostly in the style of the artist/digital artist that I studied, however there are some differences, as we decided to use a low-poly art style, as it emphasises the digital world more than making it look realistic.
