At the beginning of this project, I have to admit I was a little bit worried, because I hadn't seen the film before, and when we watched it in our first class, I didn't really like it, and so wasn't as enthusiastic about creating a title sequence for it, as I thought I could produce something much better for a film that I like. Also, the fact that we had just four weeks to come up with an idea, research it and produce it seemed extremely daunting, as we've had 12 weeks for every other project we've done. I was worried I wouldn't be able to produce an idea in 4 weeks, let alone produce the final product.
However, after watching the film and considering it for a few hours, I picked up on the frequent use of a journal used by the main character Joel in the film, and thought this would be a good starting point. I quickly decided that I wanted the title sequence to look like it was being written and drawn into a journal or notebook, suggesting maybe Joel himself was producing the titles.
Once I had decided on this initial idea I began researching other title sequences to see what the similarities and difference were. I noticed that all sequences featured images of the main characters, either as stills of as live footage from the film, or shot specifically for the title sequence. As we obviously didn't have access to Jim Carrey or Kate Winslet, shooting new footage wasn't an option, and I thought that using footage from the film could make it seem more like a film trailer than the opening of the film. I was therefore left with still images from the film, and decided to incorporate that into the journal idea and develop it into a scrapbook idea. I thought I could make it look like Joel had collected these images and put them into a scrapbook, which he then doodled and wrote in.
When I had my idea I made a test video using images of the film from Google and creating a physical scrapbook. I then made a video by moving my camera around the page, trying to see if the effect I had in my head would work. Although the video was rough and rather unprofessional looking, I could see a glimpse of my idea coming to life and was confident that it would work.
I borrowed the DVD from a family member and went through it, taking screen shots of images I thought would work in the piece. I wanted to find my own images rather than ripping them from the internet for two reasons; because the quality from the internet would obviously be terrible, and because I wanted the collection of images to evoke a certain emotion and give the piece an overall personal feel as I was trying to portray Joel's personal journal.
Once I had all of my images I edited them, cropping out unnecessary parts and cutting away at the edges in Photoshop to give the impression that the photographs had been roughly cut or torn rather than being perfectly rectangular and neat. I then arranged them on my scrapbook 'page' in After Effects and used some filters and effects to add shadows and rough edges to avoid the images looking flat. At this point I was pleased with how the project was going and was confident I had chosen the right images.
Next came the text, the cast and crew information. I used the stroke tool in After Effects to create the effect that the text was being written onto the page as the camera was watching. This is a technique that is simple to do but is extremely effective, especially in this context. I was confident in using this technique and was able to finish this step relatively quickly. Once I had all of my text created in this way, I added them to my scrapbook project and placed them around the composition in the order that I wanted them to be revealed in the final video, starting with the key actors, the supporting actors and then the crew.
When all of the images and text were in place, I decided I wanted to make the 'scrapbook' idea more realistic by adding doodles to the page which would appear behind and in front of the stills. These were created in Photoshop and also used the stroke technique to make them seem drawn at the time.
Once I had all of the pieces of my project finished, I put them together and worked on the timeline, so that the text and doodles would be revealed at the right point in the video.
At this point, with all of the elements in place, I was really pleased with how my project was going. It looked like I had pictured it in my head and was I keeping good time, so I knew I would be able to finish in time and hoped that I would create something I was proud of.
However I suffered a massive set back as my hard drive broke, and took all of my work with it. I was devastated that my project had been going so well and then it just disappeared. I was angry at myself for having not backed my work up, but with such big working files, I didn't really have anywhere I could back it up to.
This meant I had to restart my project from the beginning and get back to the place I was, before I could continue and finish the piece. I spent the next (and last week) redoing my project and finishing it off. I did this by animating the position of the composition within a smaller composition so the camera would reveal different areas of the scrapbook page. I then added the title of the film at the end and exported it.
This project has shown me a number of things;
1. That I don't necessarily have to like the subject to be able to create something interesting.
2. 4 weeks is plenty of time to complete a project if you work hard and manage your time effectively.
3. Always back up your work because you can't rely on technology.
In conclusion I am really pleased with my final outcome and am pleased with how I have managed myself during this project. The key framing of the movement of the piece is not exactly how I would have liked and I plan to revisit this at the end of the module if I have time before the deadline. If I was to do this project again, the only thing I would do differently is make sure I have a copy of my work, and I have defiantly learned my lesson in that respect.
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Final Update: 19/02/12
Today I revisited my project and played around with the key framing in an attempt to make the movements more smooth. I managed to improve this a great deal, although I think, given more time I could still make a few adjustments. If I have time at the end of this module I may revisit it again to make these adjustments before the official hand in. However for now I am very happy with the result, especially since I had to start the project again at the beginning of the week.
The final piece will be uploaded and feature in the post above.
The final piece will be uploaded and feature in the post above.
Friday, 17 February 2012
Update: 17/02/12
Earlier this week I finished of the text element of my project and added that into my composition. Today I put all the elements back into the correct order so that they would appear one after the other in the correct sequence. After I had successfully done this I created a new, smaller composition, added the project I'd been working on into it and began key framing the position of the original composition, so that it moved around the screen, revealing the different areas of the piece. This proved difficult as certain points didn't move smoothly, so I had to keep going back and altering the position of the keyframe on the timeline and adding/deleting key frames. I am still not 100% happy with the movement of the piece and am going to revisit it over the weekend.
When I'd key framed my work, I added the last section. This includes changing the opacity of the composition so that the images and text seem to fade away, revealing the blank paper I had laid behind it. I then added the title of the film 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' in the centre of the composition written in the same technique as the rest of the text. I then added the music for my title sequence, 'Memories Turn to Dust' by Esmee Denters.
Like I said I will return to the project over the weekend and have another attempt at smoothing out the movement of the piece. I will then render it out so that it is ready to present in class on Monday 20/02.
When I'd key framed my work, I added the last section. This includes changing the opacity of the composition so that the images and text seem to fade away, revealing the blank paper I had laid behind it. I then added the title of the film 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' in the centre of the composition written in the same technique as the rest of the text. I then added the music for my title sequence, 'Memories Turn to Dust' by Esmee Denters.
Like I said I will return to the project over the weekend and have another attempt at smoothing out the movement of the piece. I will then render it out so that it is ready to present in class on Monday 20/02.
Monday, 13 February 2012
Project Progress: 13/02/12
Today I continued work on my title project. At the beginning of the day I had all of my images and animated text in my composition, and had worked out the timings on the piece. After speaking to my tutor, who suggested a few changes and a few techniques I could use, I altered the effects on the edges of the images and animated my 'doodles' so they were drawn in like the text. After this I set up a new, smaller composition and animated my images to move around, revealing the pages. Once I had done this I added the final title reveal.
At the end of this work session I was really pleased with what I had done and was keen to continue and finish the project.
However when I came to open the project again a few hours later, I found my hard drive wasn't working, and after many attempts to find the problem, came to the conclusion that it had broken, and had taken all of my work with it.
I realise that I should have made a backup copy of all my work, but with such big working files, I didn't really have anywhere to back them up to.
I have now had to start my project again and am working really hard to get it back to the place it was earlier in the day and then finish it by next week. Currently I have composited all of the images and doodles and there effects and have begun rewriting and animating the text, which I am halfway through. After the text is done I will need to reorganise everything in the composition so the timings are correct again and then will have to animate the camera to reveal the finished piece.
I hope that I will be able to get back up to speed quickly and that this technical fault will not hinder me too much....
....And I have now decided to buy 2 hard drives so I have a backup of everything!
At the end of this work session I was really pleased with what I had done and was keen to continue and finish the project.
However when I came to open the project again a few hours later, I found my hard drive wasn't working, and after many attempts to find the problem, came to the conclusion that it had broken, and had taken all of my work with it.
I realise that I should have made a backup copy of all my work, but with such big working files, I didn't really have anywhere to back them up to.
I have now had to start my project again and am working really hard to get it back to the place it was earlier in the day and then finish it by next week. Currently I have composited all of the images and doodles and there effects and have begun rewriting and animating the text, which I am halfway through. After the text is done I will need to reorganise everything in the composition so the timings are correct again and then will have to animate the camera to reveal the finished piece.
I hope that I will be able to get back up to speed quickly and that this technical fault will not hinder me too much....
....And I have now decided to buy 2 hard drives so I have a backup of everything!
Monday, 6 February 2012
Project progress: Text and Images
In todays class, we looked at a couple of text effects we could use in our project which were affective and looked good.
After class I began going through the film and selecting frames to save as stills for my 'scrapbook' idea. I saved a great number of images including the main characters, interaction between Joel and Clementine (the main characters), emotions and environments.
Once I had these images i put them into Photoshop and cut away some of the edges to make them look more rough and less perfectly straight, as I think this will had to the homemade scrapbook feel (see below)
When my images were finished I moved on to my text. I haven't completely decided how to present my text, so i started working on one of the ideas. I know i want the text to look hand written, so the technique i decided to use was masking text and then revealing it using the stroke tool in After Effects to give the effect that it is being written on to the screen. I really like this effect and when done well, can create something really nice. I produced all the cast and crew names in this style, as well as the title of the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
I am pretty sure this is the technique I will use in my final piece, although I had considered using live footage of someone physically writing the names, so that it feels more realistic with the presence of a hand. However I feel this will be more difficult as not only will I have to mask and rotoscope the hand and paper, but I will have to make sure that the footage slips in with the rest of the work seamlessly.
I plan on speaking to my tutor this week to ask his opinion and to get advice on which technique I should use.
By the end of this week I am aiming to have the scrapbook background finished and all images and text in place, meaning all that will be left to do in the final week is add some digital doodles and animate the camera to get my finished title sequence.
References
All images from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind DVD
After class I began going through the film and selecting frames to save as stills for my 'scrapbook' idea. I saved a great number of images including the main characters, interaction between Joel and Clementine (the main characters), emotions and environments.
Once I had these images i put them into Photoshop and cut away some of the edges to make them look more rough and less perfectly straight, as I think this will had to the homemade scrapbook feel (see below)
When my images were finished I moved on to my text. I haven't completely decided how to present my text, so i started working on one of the ideas. I know i want the text to look hand written, so the technique i decided to use was masking text and then revealing it using the stroke tool in After Effects to give the effect that it is being written on to the screen. I really like this effect and when done well, can create something really nice. I produced all the cast and crew names in this style, as well as the title of the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
I am pretty sure this is the technique I will use in my final piece, although I had considered using live footage of someone physically writing the names, so that it feels more realistic with the presence of a hand. However I feel this will be more difficult as not only will I have to mask and rotoscope the hand and paper, but I will have to make sure that the footage slips in with the rest of the work seamlessly.
I plan on speaking to my tutor this week to ask his opinion and to get advice on which technique I should use.
By the end of this week I am aiming to have the scrapbook background finished and all images and text in place, meaning all that will be left to do in the final week is add some digital doodles and animate the camera to get my finished title sequence.
References
All images from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind DVD
Monday, 30 January 2012
My Test Video
I wanted to do a test video to see if my idea would work and what it would look like. When I produce the final piece the 'scrapbook' will be created digitally, most probably using After Effects, and the images will be stills I have chosen from the film, as a posed to the ones I have in my test video which were pulled from Google Images.
The music I have used is called 'Memories Turn to Dust' by Esmee Denters. I looked through a number of different songs, looking for something with appropriate lyrics that had the tempo and rhythm that would fit with the idea in my head.
Similar Opening Title Sequences
Juno
Art of the Title - Juno
The title sequence for Juno is similar to what I want to produce in the sense that it is in the style of sketches, as if is has been drawn into a notepad and Juno has jumped in and brought it to life.
Sherlock Holmes
Art of the Title- Sherlock Holmes
In the same way as Juno, the Sherlock Holmes title sequence is similar to my ideas because of the 'sketching' element. Although in Sherlock Holmes, live action footage is used first, and then is turned into sketches which are then shaded with ink. Instead of using the sketching element on the film footage, I am planning to use stills from the film and use sketching, doodling and hand writing around the stills.
Although it isn't an opening title sequence, the closing credits of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban uses a similar technique again, a technique almost identical to what I am planning. The Harry Potter closing sequence features handwritten credits using ink to write the names of the cast and crew and surrounding images onto parchment, which is very fitting with the iconography in the film.
Art of the Title - Juno
The title sequence for Juno is similar to what I want to produce in the sense that it is in the style of sketches, as if is has been drawn into a notepad and Juno has jumped in and brought it to life.
Sherlock Holmes
Art of the Title- Sherlock Holmes
In the same way as Juno, the Sherlock Holmes title sequence is similar to my ideas because of the 'sketching' element. Although in Sherlock Holmes, live action footage is used first, and then is turned into sketches which are then shaded with ink. Instead of using the sketching element on the film footage, I am planning to use stills from the film and use sketching, doodling and hand writing around the stills.
Although it isn't an opening title sequence, the closing credits of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban uses a similar technique again, a technique almost identical to what I am planning. The Harry Potter closing sequence features handwritten credits using ink to write the names of the cast and crew and surrounding images onto parchment, which is very fitting with the iconography in the film.
Figure 1: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban closing title
Figure 2: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban credits
References:
1. http://plum.cream.org/HP/poa.htm
2. http://www.whale.to/c/harry_potter_subliminals.html
Eternal Sunshine Images
Figure 1: Clementine & Joel on frozen lake
Figure 2: An intimate moment
Figure 3: Clementine on train
Figure 4: Joel rings Clementine
Figure 5: Clementine in Joel's memory
Figure 6: Clementine quote
Figure 7: A distraught and confused Joel
Figure 8: Joel's memory
References
7. http://lovetrekker.com/2011/10/erasing-an-ex-from-your-memory-eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind/
Useful Quotes
'Clementine was not happy and she wanted to move on.' - Dr Mierzwiak
'blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.' - Mary
'how happy is the blameless vestal's lot. The world forgetting, by the world forgot. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.' - Mary
'I'm just a fucked up girl who's looking for my own piece of mind.' - Clementine
'blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.' - Mary
'how happy is the blameless vestal's lot. The world forgetting, by the world forgot. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.' - Mary
'I'm just a fucked up girl who's looking for my own piece of mind.' - Clementine
Cast & Crew Info
Cast:
Jim Carrey- Joel Barish
Kate Winslet- Clementine Kruczynski
Ellijah Wood- Patrick
Tom Wilkinson- Dr Mierzwiak
Kirsten Dunst- Mary
David Cross- Rob
Crew:
Director- Michel Gondry
Producers- Anthony Bregman & Steve Golin
Editor- Valdis Oskarsdottir
Visual Effects Producer- Michele Ferrone
Music by- Jon Brion
Jim Carrey- Joel Barish
Kate Winslet- Clementine Kruczynski
Ellijah Wood- Patrick
Tom Wilkinson- Dr Mierzwiak
Kirsten Dunst- Mary
David Cross- Rob
Crew:
Director- Michel Gondry
Producers- Anthony Bregman & Steve Golin
Editor- Valdis Oskarsdottir
Visual Effects Producer- Michele Ferrone
Music by- Jon Brion
Initial Ideas
When watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with the intention on looking for inspiration and ideas for the opening title sequence, I noticed that the main character Joel (Carey) used a journal, and this featured heavily at the beginning of the film and was key throughout. This got me thinking about maybe using some kind of writing technique in the opening title. The film is based on the idea of someones personal memories, thoughts and feelings, and a journal or diary is a place where a lot of personal thoughts and feelings are kept, especially in Joel's case. I therefore decided using a journal with doodling and notes in would be a nice idea for the titles, as is is linked directly to the themes of the film without giving any of the plot away.
Then after researching some other opening title sequences and realising that the main characters are almost always used to introduce the film, my journal idea turned into a scrapbook idea. I thought that I could feature the main characters and themes in the film using stills and put them altogether in a book, with a hand, writing important quotes from the film and the cast and crew information, so that it looks as if we are looking into Joel's journal and he is writing down the film info.
I am going to do a test of this using printed images from the film and putting them into a note book which i will then film with my camera. For the real piece I will be creating the scrapbook digitally, but for a test, a real book will be fine.
Then after researching some other opening title sequences and realising that the main characters are almost always used to introduce the film, my journal idea turned into a scrapbook idea. I thought that I could feature the main characters and themes in the film using stills and put them altogether in a book, with a hand, writing important quotes from the film and the cast and crew information, so that it looks as if we are looking into Joel's journal and he is writing down the film info.
I am going to do a test of this using printed images from the film and putting them into a note book which i will then film with my camera. For the real piece I will be creating the scrapbook digitally, but for a test, a real book will be fine.
First Post: Initial Research
I decided to begin this project by looking into three things:
- Different film title sequences on www.artofthetitle.com
- Watching the trailer for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (posted below)
- Collecting basic information about the film e.g. the cast and crew I am going to feature in the title sequence.
I used the movie title website mentioned above to look at a variety of opening title sequences for films from many different genres. I wanted to familiarise myself with the similarities these titles had and the difference, and which differences I preferred.
The similarities between the opening titles were the names of cast and crew (obviously) and the presence of the main character, although not always easy to identify. For example in the title sequence for 300 and Quantum of Solace, the main characters are mainly silhouettes. This gives the audience the comfortable feeling that they are in the right cinema, without giving anything away about the film. Another similarity I noticed was that the camera is always moving in an opening title sequence. I think this technique is used to hold the audiences interest and prepare them to enjoy the film.
As mentioned before there were some differences between the titles. Some title sequences used live footage from the film in the opening title, whereas some just used iconography or visual effects that were relevant to the film. I personally don't like the idea of using live footage in an opening sequence, as it is very difficult to chose shots that are relevant without giving too much away about the film. I feel that live footage is more appropriate for a film trailer, and that once the audience is in the cinema and about the watch the film, they don't need to be shown footage that they may have already seen in a trailer and that they are about the see in the feature.
I have therefore decided that I will not be using live footage in my film title sequence and will be creating something using effects and compositing.
Official film trailer: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
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