Viral Advert

This is my viral ad for the soft drink coca cola the purpose of the advert was to show off the product in an aesthetically pleasing manner. My advert consists of an animated sequence which is then led by shots of the product. I used Adobe After Effects for the majority of my advert with some extra footage. I stuck to the main colours of the product (red and white) to give brand recognition so that my audience will be familiar with it . The idea was very simplistic but I think it is effective. The shots of the glass make the product as a whole a lot more enticing with the close ups and the way the ice reacts with the coke to make the product look refreshing.

Pre Production- Viral Advert

Below are some sketches  and story boards for my viral advert. When it came to what I would use for the final advert it was difficult because of the wide variety of services and products that could be advertised. Originally I was going to focus more on electronic  devices such as handheld consoles like the 3DS and peripheral such as headsets. I finally decided to do an advert on the popular soft drink coca cola, with the recognisable colours and branding I thought it would be a good idea to do this.

Idea Generation/ pre production Ident

Below are some of the sketches that I created for my ident. It shows a progression of different ideas that I had before choosing the final one. I wanted my ident to be dark in tone and setting because I wanted to let audiences know what kind of content I was doing. I felt my final idea suited it well because of the3 choice of using blood and an alleyway they give off the vibe of being dark and edgey.

For my first idea i came up with my studio name appearing on a cloud floating in, I liked the the idea however it was too light in tone for me.

For my other idea I was going to have a car speed by while the name of my studio is etched onto the side of the car, I liked the idea as it was fairly exciting in visual and aesthetic style but again it wasn't what I was looking for after thinking about it.

Storyboard for final ident

Different ideas for ident and final one chosen at the bottom. 

Mindmap for ident

Case Study

Videos utilise many different formats to achieve different goals whether it to be used for high definition videos, desktop or getting played on mobile devices. below I am going to go through many of the different formats and use examples of how they would be used and where they would be used.

Compression

Lossy: Lossy is a type of file compression which results in less quality and data from it's original version.  Normally lossy compression is used in image files such as JPGS but it also used in audio files such as MP3S.

Lossless: Lossless is a type of file compression which ends up with no loss of quality, lossless compression rewrites the data of a file but in a more efficient way however as no quality is lost the file is typically bigger.

Video

MPG:  These files are compressed movie files which contain both audio and video even though they are compressed they retain most of it's quality, this is why many videos on the internet such as movie trailers and music videos use the MPG format.

MP4: Is a type of file that allows a combination of video, audio subtitles and still images. It can be utilised in many different ways, short films both professional and amateur. Streaming is also viable with the use of the mp4 format because of it's lower quality. 

MOV: Is a multimedia format developed by Apple that is both compatible with both Macintosh and Windows machines. 

AVI: Is a format for microsoft that holds both audio and video, the quality for AVI is close to RAW but takes up less disc space

WMV: WMV is a video compression format that wad developed by Microsoft to be used with a number of different codecs. It was originally designed for internet streaming applications as a competitor to RealVideo.WMV9 has gained adoption for physical delivery formats such as HD DVD and Blu Ray.

FLV: Is a file type for Flash container which is a container file format which is used to deliver videos of the internet using Adobe Flash player. flash video is viewable on most operating systems however Apples IOS  devices do not support flash player and require other delivery methods. 

SWF: Is a type of flash file format that is predominantly used in animation and browser based games. 

3GP: Is a file format that is used with 3G mobile phones, however it is also a format on some 2G and 4G phones.

ASF:  is a file format designed for storing and playing video streams and transmitting the over the internet. this format supports scalable media such as video and audio.

Games: Games both triple A and independent can now be bought from many different online distributors such as Steam and origin. http://store.steampowered.com/app/221100/ the link shows a trailer for the the game DayZ which is available to watch online and in mobile format.  

DVD: DVD's are a popular way to buy and watch films at home. the vast majority of DVD's use the VOB format and are viewed at 720p-480p 




Aspect Ratio:

4:3 - was the common ratio used for TV, computer monitors and is still used by Apples iPad. aspect ratio is the term used for the hight and width of a screen in this case the screen would be 4 in hight and 3 in width making the screen a square shape. 

16:9 - is now used more commonly throughout household TVs as this ratio provides a more widescreen view. 

Resolution - is judged by pixels in an image, depending on how many pixels there are in an image you can have a blurry image or a crisp image by increasing or decreasing the amount of pixels in the image.

Data Rate - is the rate at which information is being transferred. it is expressed in the amount of information per unit of time e.g. a common form of data rate describing the speed of a hard drive is Megabytes/second. once you calculate the data rate at which your hard drive is transferring information you can the begin to work out how much space you will need for that file.

Frame Rate - the number of pictures taken per second by the camera determines the frame rate of the motion picture. Frame Rate describes both the speed of recording and the seed of playback eg. The more frames recorded per second, the more accurately motion is documented onto the recording medium.

Keyframe Rate - Keyframes are the markers in video production for animation which defines the start and finish point of the animation. in-between the start and finish of this you have all of the other keyframes which are virtual frames and are not recorded like a camera would do, so the computer makes them up from copying the frame rate at which your working at.

DIVX: Is a company that helps consumers convert any type of file. 

Camera Projection

In this lesson we used After Effects to create a landscape made entirely of 2D layers however using 3D space we give the effect that this is all in the third dimension with the use of Camera Projection. We started off by opening up After effects and then importing the following layers into the software, we used PNG files which are different from other image files as they don't have any alpha channels. First we sized the image files so they would appear in scale from the foreground to the background. The next   part was to make use of 3d space by making all the layers a 3d and by adjusting the Z axis we were able to push the layers back to give it some perspective and then re scale the layers to compensate for the adjustment.

The next part of the composition is to add in the 3D camera to make use and show off the 3D space you have created. By selecting the 3D camera you can change a lot of different settings on the camera. For this  we chose a 35mm camera which will help when it comes to creating a depth of field. We then placed the point of interest to the back of the image this creates a parallax.

In the final portion of the lesson we had to key frame in the camera moves to give it  a more professional look and feel. The camera moves up from behind the wall and arcs over and we can see the sand and the pyramids. This finished project makes it look like an actual camera was used when making the composition.

Warp Stabilizer and Wiggle Lesson

For this lesson we were given the task of using two different types of motion tracking techniques to first make a video appear to have a handheld feel and in the second part of the lesson we had to smooth out a piece of footage with the use of the warp stabilizer.

The first piece of footage was one of a guy hitting a baseball and the effect that we want to achieve is to make it look like the guy is hitting the ball so hard the camera is shaking. After placing the footage into a new composition we have to establish the points in which the footage needs to shake and we did this using key frames. The next part is to add the shaking motion to the footage using the wiggle tool and by modifying the magnitude and frequency we get the shaking effect but there is a problem, the background is clearly visible and that needs to change but there is a fairly simple way to do this with the use of the motion tiles effect we are able to duplicate the original movie file and by using the mirror tile tool we have the final footage.

in the second part of the lesson we had to smooth out a piece of footage which was was slightly wobbly , With the use of warp stabiliser  tool. The warp stabiliser tool is very useful for giving a shot a tripod look however this can only be used when there is minor shaking there warp stabiliser will not be effective when there is a lot of shaking even hand tracking will not help when the shaking is  extreme.

After Effects Motion Tracking

For this lesson we had to create a composition which involved a lot of which we had learned in previous lessons but at a more advanced level. We had to motion track 3 castles onto a mov file to make it appear as if it were in the background we made use of both Adobe After Effects and Photoshop to achieve this. First we had to import the appropriate files into After Effects. First we turned the mov file into our composition this would be the plate for graphic effect. Then it was time for the motion tracking we had to split this two different motion tracks as the effect is quite long and because of the actor in the video is only in a certain portion of the screen. The next part involved Photoshop, the original image was a castle in a field. The first thing that had to be changed was the removal of the background followed by adding in grass by the use of the clone stamp tool, the grass was then feathered to make it blend in with the mov file.

Now the final part of this composition is to colour correct it after parenting the castles to the tracking points. This was to make the castles fit into the scene more clearly and this was done by pulling out the green and adding more of blue and red. For extra we had to take a mov file of moving clouds and the replace the existing sky with the mov and this is to give the finished product an overall look of professionalism.

Target Audiences

A target audience is the a select group of people that you are trying to market your product, service etc. Whether this be age, sex, lifestyle choices when making or selling your product this is going to be one of the first things to consider. For this term we had to create an ident for our own production company which will be important that you have a clear target audience in mind as the way you make your ident and the design of it should make it clear on who your target audience is. For my ident I've always have had a clear idea on what I wanted my ident to look like and my target audience. my target audience has always been an older audience if you wanted an age range I would say from 17-30 years of age. A lot of my work is focused on mature themes involving crime and this shows in my ident. My ident is depicting an alleyway as a camera slowly pans as my production gets written onto the wall as blood splatters begin to appear on the wall before fading it out. The use of the alleyway and blood combined tells the audience what they are to expect. I understand the problem in the fact that my target audience isn't very broad almost niche however this is my style and the stories like to tell.

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Travel Channel ident

For this lesson we were given the task of making a small ident for a travel show, the main focus of this lesson was to get to grips with the many different animation pre sets and other tools of After Effects.

After Effects lesson 5

For this lesson we were introduced to a number of different effects. we had a composition of a dj with a number of different shapes spinning around in the background. This is our first lesson where we learnt to use a gradient.

Animation- Puppet pin tool

In this lesson we were given the task of animating a scene where a man walks across the screen before slipping on a banana peel using a Jpeg of the man. This animation was entirely possible through the main tool of this lesson the puppet pin tool. The puppet pin tool essentially lets you pick different parts of the body on the Jpeg so you can manipulate them. You also use the puppet starch tool to represent what should be in the foreground and background so you don't want the guys arm disappearing behind his torso so you would use it on the torso. The next thing to do was to create a walk cycle using our puppet pin tool we were then going to key frame animate the mans body to walk in place. Once that was done going into the transform options and key frame his position to move along the image before finally getting to the banana and slipping on it. The puppet pin tool is a handy animation tool that could be very useful in idents because of what you could do with it.

Lesson 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDvufxqo8bk

For this lesson we had to make an introduction for an opening for a documentary which has quite a lot going on albeit quite simple. The main part of the animation of the opening is this car car driving along a path while words follow behind it. This was the first time parent and child layers were used so instead of making two layers and manually adjusting them you can automatically have them share properties with the click of a button. To animate the car we used the pipes pre set for the car which then we were able to manipulate the path of the car to go around the text.

Motion Tracking

This lesson motion tracking was the main task which was a lot different to what we had done in previous lessons. This was a little less in depth because we were doing it automatically. We had a piece of footage from the opening of the T.V show The Walking Dead and we were to add in text that went with the footage. The first thing to be done was to change the workspace from standard to motion tracking for obvious reasons. Then on the right hand side there was a track camera button to press which then After Effects would analyse all the available points which would then be marked by multi colored x's. This will create a 3d tracked camera in the comp then the text layer can become 3d by ticking the 3d button and will disappear because it is 3d. Finally when you ram preview it you will see the 3d text comes in with the footage in a similar way to that of the show.

Rotoscoping

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj8BrkFZjVY

For this lesson we were given the task of creating a fairly complex composition which involved many different elements of previous lessons. The piece involved a piece of video footage moving along a background which involved the use of key frames to animate the car and other background objects. But mainly we learnt about the use of rotoscoping which was used by making a mask of the illustrators head which would be used for the animation.

Ident/Evaluation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WqBhT8tWGM&feature=youtu.be

This is my ident for my own production company and I thought I would just go over a few things as this was one of my first big projects when using after effects. To start off lets talk about design I wanted to make something dark in tone as crime/dark comedy's are some of my favourite genres. I am pleased with how the Ident turned out, I went for the "dark alley where several crimes have been committed" look which really worked out well with the use of 3D Space, camera and lighting tools. I included blood splats to follow the end of each word to further put across the fact that what I aim to make is going to be for more mature audiences.

Making of the Ident
The first thing I did was open after effects and create a new composition. I then wanted to focus on the text first so I chose the font I found most suitable (segoe script) and used the word "DT Productions" I then used the pen tool to mask the writing. The writing was then key framed to make it appear that it was written on.

Next was making the alleyway I got two textures one of a wall and the other of a floor,
once I had  the textures it was time to make them three dimensional simply by using the 3D Layer button to change the properties in 3 dimensions to make the wall and floor text to make my life easier for when it came to the camera move I made the wall and floor textures appear to go on for an infinite length I achieved this by using the motion tile effect in After Effects once the motion tiles is applied I adjust the output width and hight I then finish it by adding the mirror edges

Once I had made the alleyway it was time to set the mood. I used the camera tool to position the camera at an angle to give the feel of 3d. Next was the lighting which I used to spotlight one area the area being the masked text on the wall. I then key framed the camera move before adding in blood splatters to finalise the ident.

I really liked the use of 3d for my ident I feel that it is going to be different to many of the others and I feel that it has a clear target audience. However there are some things that could be improved including the textures.

After Effects Lesson, 1 2 and 4PT tracking

In this lesson we were taught on how to motion track for many different situations. This was similar to last weeks lesson however instead of last lesson the tracking was done by hand. The first tracking task that we had to perform was a 1 point track where we taught the basic functions in motion tacking and the end result made a humming bird flu across the screen.

The second part of the lesson was a 2 point track which involved a woman tilting her head, we were given the task to track black bars over the womans face to obscure her identity. This part has shown us why 2 point tracking is very useful as it covers the position as well as the rotation of the track. This was particularly difficult because of the way her head tilted back and it took a lot of by hand tracking to correctly track her eyes.

The next part of the lesson was a 4 point track which has been different from the last two portions of the lesson. We had to track an image onto a television where the camera was very shaky. This part of the lesson involved use of the perspective corner pin which gave us 4 cross hairs this time. The tricky part of this lesson was the placement of the crosshairs  as it needed to be placed in a very specific spot otherwise After Effects wouldn't be able to track the screen correctly. We were then given a short task to track a composition of our own to show our knowledge of the lesson. This is a useful tool that can be incorporated into our own indents.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52xkSC-z9Mw&feature=youtu.be

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Existing Idents

This is the Ident for the Channel E4's breakfast programme. The design of the ident is clever in the fact that it uses the shows logo as cereal going into the bow relates it to the theme of the show. The purpose of it is to create a brand recognition for the show by making the ident memorable.

This is the ident for the music channel Kerrang. The ident is designed in a way to be similar to the popular children's programme Power Rangers. This has been used as the target audience for Kerrang will more than likely remember the T.V show and make the connection.

This is the ident for Channel 5. This ident is slightly different as it is all live action footage, the ident focuses on a car chase with a police car and it involves crashes and many other conventions of an action movie. The purpose of the ident is to make a visually interesting piece that will engage the audience to make sure they remember the channel. One interesting thing to point out is that during the chase scene the police car the is pictured left has a 5 on it. This is to establish the link between Channel 5, also Channel 5 is known for having a lot of content involving American crime dramas such as  CSI and NCIS.

This is the Ident for BBC 3, the ident focuses on a family of orange slugs who repeatedly say the word "Three" obviously this is to create the link between the ident and the channel. There is a contrast between the cold ice blue colours in the background and the warm orange colours of the slugs in the foreground, brand recognition can be easily made as the harmonic tone of slugs singing "Three".

This is the ident for the channel ITV. This Ident is different than the more conventional ITV Ident's which would normally focus on solely on the ITV logo with the use of gold and black. This ident however has got more of an obscure concept.

After Effects first lesson

This was the first lesson that we did in Ollie's After Effect's session, This involved a basic tutorial of the After Effects user interface, the task was to create a logo for this company which involved duplicating layers. The lesson was also used to make us aware of the different pre set animations in used for making our logo which would end up helping us when it would come to making our own ident.

Ident Perry Mccarthy

Here is the ident thay was made for Mr. Mccarthy. Evaluation to follow.