Pretty Little Liars Show Trailer

For my latest Digital Media project, I had to create a 5 second trailer, as I mentioned 2 blog posts ago, for a show, movie or book. Obviously I did use the show Pretty Little Liars as the inspiration. This was all put together in After Effects.

It’s not as simple as one may think to come up and then create a 5 second clip, since you have to get the message across in a small amount of time. With mine, I wanted to capture the mysterious theme surrounding the series. I first thought of stop motion, but then felt it wouldn’t display the mood I was going for, so I chose to film (on my lousy digital camera). For this quick scene I have a girl, (who is played by my sister, Sonia) which is suppose to represent one of the four friends in the show, painting her nails. This action is like an exaggeration of the “pretty” factor in the title Pretty Little Liars, also inspired from the opening credits of the show (see other blog post). I started with the first frame zoomed in to her hands with the iPhone in sight, by marking a keyframe, then advanced a few frames forward and added another keyframe that was full zoomed out. This gave the zoom out effect. When she receives the text to her cell phone, I wanted to make the tension rise, as it would in the TV show whenever the girls received a text message. Since in the show most times they get messages from an unknown source labeled “A” and they are mostly threats or warnings not to do certain actions. The music I chose was actually labeled as a children’s theme song, but I thought it sounded a bit too happy that it could turn creepy in this setting. All that’s missing is a creepy clown to pop up, haha.

After the phone vibrates, as visible on Sonia’s face, there is tension. Then all goes cold and silent as the candle blows out, leaving only the iPhone visible. Now this is where the real animation takes place, when the title slowly fades like smoke across the screen. I came across text tutorials for ideas, but it’s essentially a text blur. I first found the proper font for the title, which is Edwardian. Then on the text layer, selected the animate operator and added the opacity and blur tool. Then for the start of the keyframe (positioned right before the text appears) scaled the text up 300%, opacity 0% and blur 100%. Changed the anchor point grouping to “line” so the letters would be spaced out straight. Next was to change the offset, started with the first keyframe at 100% then moved up ahead and had set another keyframe to -100%. This lets the letters to animate out then back in, but then changed the shape of this to ramp down, in the advance area. Creating that nice flow in as you see in the clip. And of course, music always impacts the mood, so when the letter flew in I queued some frantic piano keys. Also, in the background, though it’s hard to tell, there is a piano on the left of her. Perhaps there is someone else in the room that played it….A?

*Note: when uploaded the 1280×720 HD version to YouTube the music was shifted slightly off, therefore I used a smaller version for the purpose of displaying it on the blog. The original and one submitted does not have this problem.*

Pretty Little After Effects

Recently being introduced to the Adobe program After Effects I think it is the coolest thing ever. Except that I’m still in the process of learning how it works. Trying to make motion graphics look cool isn’t the hardest thing to do especially if you have this program. Trust me I use to work with Flash and what would take days to do using Flash takes 2 minutes with After Effects. I love it!

For our next project in my Digital Media class we need to create a 5 second motion graphic for a movie or TV show. I have a few ideas, just not entirely sure how to create them yet. I’m thinking of possibly creating it for the television series Pretty Little Liars. It’s a show about a group of girls that are long time friends who just lost their friend. However they have a few secrets. The girls Hanna, Spencer, Aria and Emily keep getting mysterious messages from an unknown source labeled just “A” and most times they are threats. The whole mood of the show is basically tense and mysterious. Below is the opening theme, which will help me think of ideas for my own project clip.

What’s Your Type?

Typography can be your most important tool when designing. It can in fact enhance a design if chosen correctly. When it comes to creating a visual, typography should not be taken lightly. It can convey a certain mood that deals with the theme in some cases and leave a major impact on the viewer.

Here’s an example of typography used in a lyrical music video…

Jumpstart – These Kids Wear Crowns

Everything about this video is so fun, colourful and energetic! The type is very playful and bounces along with the beat of the song. There are two types of font used, the one in the very beginning would be the actual logo font for the band. The other font is a type of rounded bold, not sure exactly what it is called, but it’s fun looking and matches the theme. It’s definitely appropriate for the youthful audience it mostly targets. My favourite part is watching the words bounce around and even sometimes drag across the screen to stress a certain part of the song.

Spiderman 3 opening credits

Opening credits like this are my favourite, where the words are placed in a cool way that it matches the theme of the story. In this case, the words seem to match the silvery web and then scatter away like a broken glass. The font would be original, so I guess you could call it the “spiderman” font. This typography is effective because it creates the feeling of scattering through a web, while we are being shown a bunch of scattered events that occurred throughout the previous Spiderman movies.

Harry Potter is one of the most iconic series of this generation, and when you think of it, you probably would imagine this sort of typography and a lightening bolt perhaps? This poster specifically, shows that very bent and jagged font. Harry Potter was known for his famous lightning bolt scar, therefore the designers most definitely incorporated that into the design of the font, by adding a lightning bolt on the end of the “P”. This proves very effective by being consistent with the imagery of the Harry Potter theme.  Also alignment of the words were most certainly considered since the words are on an angle to complement the angle in which Harry Potter is leaning.

Poster Project

My Digital Media class assigned a photoshop project where we had to create a poster or CD design. I decided to create a poster for an upcoming concert event.  A friend of mine is the lead singer in a band called Another Intention and they will be opening for the Montreal band The New Cities.*  This is a really exciting event for her so when she told me about it, I thought of this assignment.

To begin I started looking through my old concert photos of The New Cities at a show last year. I found a decent shot of them, and then found a picture of a city scene. With these two pictures I wanted to merge them somehow. My first layer is a bluish gradient background, then I changed the opacity on both pictures to make the background colour fade through. I noticed where the pictures met in the middle of the poster it a bit of an awkward transition, just an evident line of where the pictures met. I didn’t like it, so I used the lasso tool and roughly made an outline across, then filled it in with the paintbucket tool to give it a rough paper-like tear. The words probably took me the longest to figure out. I tried out many different fonts and colours. Thinking of the CRAP principles (read previous CRAP blog post below) I created repetition with the blue gradient colour in the words “The New Cities” and the date. I created contrast with the yellow font and blue font, and the big to small fonts. Blending Options were used to create the effects on the fonts.

*This event has been postponed due to The New Cities now opening for Avril Lavigne on her tour. I’ll change the date once it is confirmed and post it.

Some C.R.A.P. in Designs!

The acronym CRAP stands for the principles of design: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. It is useful when thinking of designs for a poster, website, book, etc.  Using these principles could create a cool effect on the final layout.

Contrast is when there are two aspects visibly different, like mixing complementary colours or big font with small font. Repetition is when some aspect is repeated throughout the design, for instance a typeface or shape continuously used. This creates a kind of cohesion look, making it visually appealing. Alignment is all about where and how you place things, such as words. If done properly, this creates a great visual connection. Proximity is the grouping of related features, how you organize ideas in the picture or website.

Below are some designs that include these principles…

Album Cover

There are a few examples of contrast shown on this album artwork. First, notice the contrast of the yellow over the dark purple background. On the colour wheel these are complementary colours. Then there’s the vertical large font for “LIGHTS” and the horizontal small font for “the Listening”, also creating contrast. The alignment of the words here are drawing attention to the bottom left, by placing the words “LIGHTS” vertically and “the Listening” horizontally.

Repetition - Painting

I found this painting in a Toronto restaurant, the Rivoli. Just like its name, this painting displays Repetition. There is a Police poster painted on three times, in different colours. Contrast is created with the colours chosen, the black, orange and white on a blue backdrop.

Elle Magazine Cover

All the girls are wearing dresses and red bottom heels, creating repetition. The alignment on this cover is clear, with the girls lined up diagonally along with the flowers, and this leads the attention towards the word “ELLE”. Also proximity is created with the girls grouped together against the group of flowers on the runway.

Red Riding Hood Poster

This movie poster displays contrast with the fonts and sizing of the words. At the top it starts with small font, and then the main title has a larger, different font. Repetition is kept with the same font used for the tagline and the release date.  The colour red used for the title and the girl’s red cloak also displays repetition. The alignment is mainly center for the words, and the girl in the middle follows suit. This creates a clear focus to the girl and the title.

The principles of CRAP could prove to be beneficial when used properly in designing. These principles will create an organized and cohesive look to the project. Using these principles will bring the attention needed to the design.

Bigfoot?! What’s your Digital Footprint?

Like most of us these days, I use search engines all the time. I’ve Googled my name only a few times out of curiosity. After the digital footprint discussion in my Digital Media class, I went to check it out again.  Some people might hold their breaths, but I was pretty confident there was nothing up that I wouldn’t already know about. At least you would hope right? Well I haven’t come across anything odd yet.

So I pressed search and found that only the first 6 websites were actually relevant, the rest had nothing to do with me, except same name. The first was an old high school newsletter that had my name in it because I won an award at my high school graduation. Then was a Facebook group for a soccer team I was part of one summer, and apparently I left a comment. The next site listed was also from Facebook, except it was from the Toronto band The Little Black Dress page, and they posted my interview of them that was done during Indie Week last year.

The Little Black Dress Interview post

I thought that was sort of cool that it showed up, as I almost forgot about it!

Right below this site was another Facebook post. This time from the Milton Scion Facebook page. This pass summer I won their Milton Rocks video contest, so they wrote that on the page and also featured the picture they took of me holding my winnings as their Facebook page profile picture.

Links like these I don’t really mind having appear when my name is searched, because they were purposely posted online to share with the public, and I was aware of that. I remember being told ever since I started using the computer that I should always be careful with anything I write or display online, because it will always be there. Wherever we post, digital traces are left.

After searching my name, I think I’ve done alright with my online identity. Although I will continue to be cautious when participating online. We should always be aware of what traces we are leaving. Some people like to share their everyday life stories with the online world, but personally I like to keep most details private. You never know who could be lurking or what some people could stumble upon, and if it’s something you’d rather not want to get out, just don’t post!

My Las Vegas Postcard

Created using Photoshop.

Digital Media

Flashback to my younger years, and you would see me trying to beat the high scores on the Centipede game or Frogger on the ancient MS-DOS computers. Digital media to me back then has changed quite a bit to now. Take a glance at my iPhone today, and you would see a collection of apps, from Facebook to Instagram to Twitter, and of course some games.

If you have asked me to explain Digital media before grade 7, I would respond with a confused look.  Taking some computer courses in high school helped me understand and actually produce my own forms of digital media. Therefore walking into this Digital Media class on the first day I was excited to begin and enhance my knowledge of what I have learned in previous classes. I have learned the basics of Photoshop and other things like programming, but I would enjoy learning more through this Digital Media class to help me improve.

A student of RTA would greatly benefit in taking this Digital Media course. This class will teach us about the fast changing technology and programming, and how they work. With hands on projects, we should all be prepared to enter the industry and handle what is given to us.

McLuhan stated that “The medium is the message” and I agree. People gather information through a variety of sources and types of media. How certain information is presented through a medium influences the perception of the viewer/reader/listener. A video shown on the television news could be perceived differently than something found on Youtube.