Week Two: Outside of Class

After class on Monday, I began collecting textures for my dream project. I started by highlighting some words from my description that have a texture that I could take photos of.

There were five of us or maybe four. With our backpacks on our backs and running shoes on our feet, we rushed across Paris France looking for clues. I clenched onto the clue we just received, a black envelope with large gold lettering that was unreadable because of my tight grip that clenched the envelope. We were running down the cobblestone streets racing to find the Notre Dame Cathedral for our next clue. We were a part of the Amazing Race, a reality tv show where your race around different cities across the world doing challenges that to try to advance onto the next location with the goal of getting first to the finish line. Different than the tv show we were a small group rather than a duo team. Our clue was to get to the Norte Dame Cathedral and find an object hidden in one of the halls. So, we dashed down the streets as a group, dodging tourists taking photos and selfies and passing small French cafes with people outside drinking their espressos and eating baguettes. I was in the back of the group as my best friend lead in the front looking up and down at the paper map as we ran. I questioned why she was the navigator since she tends to get lost easily but I had the clue which I felt was just as of an important position.  

As we turned the corner leaving one narrow street to another, I could see the Notre Dame ahead of us. It was soaring over us with its towers appearing as if they were puncturing the blue cloudless sky above. There was a halo of light surrounding the whole building making it glow yellow. We were blinded by the glow and the shiny white stones that built the cathedral. I have always wanted to go to Paris and especially see the Notre Dame a definite staple of France. 

As we approached the building the entrance continued to grow larger and larger with each step we began to be swallowed by the darkness. Our eyes were open but all we could see was darkness. The halls were dark and damp with rough walls and the sound of dripping water from the ceiling. This wasn’t what I expected the inside of the glorified church to be. Our pace changed from a sprint to now a slow crawl as we gripped onto the back of each other's backpacks as our only way to know we were all still there. Ahead of us, we could see the slight flicker of candlelight. This must have been our next clue.  As we got closer the halls began to be visible from the light of the candle as the flames grew bigger and bigger. With only step away my eyes opened to the sound of my alarm.   

With those highlighted items I went around campus looking for textures I could use. Below are the thumbnails of 15 photos I took around campus:

Backpack Strap

Brick

Brick

Camera Lens

Chair - Road Pavement

Hand

Pavement

Top of Shoe

Sidewalk

Stone - Cathedral Bricks

Sub Bread Crust

Stone Wall

Backpack

Shoe Bottom

Ash Container - Cobblestone

Some of the textures are the exact items from my dream where others can be used to imitate the original item I was looking for. 

I then went on the internet to find some of the more specific textures that I was unable to find on campus. Below are the thumbnails of 15 photos I found:

Cobblestone Street

Cobblestone Street

Espresso

Black Paper

Metal

Ground Coffee

Gold Leaf

Stone

Stone

Melted Wax

Fire

Bread

Glass

Metal

Baguette

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Wednesday evening I collected some more textures of shoes to use for the beginning of my sequence. 

Shoe 1

Shoe 1

Shoe 2

Shoe 2

Shoe 3

Shoe 3

Shoe 4

Shoe 4

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Thursday evening I began working on the sequence. I started with the "Ran/Sprint/Race" portion switching between the bottom of the shoe and my pavement texture. 

After making the duration 1/2 second long I felt that the speed wasn't fast enough to represent "sprint" so I played with increasing the duration of the textures.

I then repeated the "sprint" section later on in the sequence to continue the repetition of running. 

For the ending, I originally wanted to show melting fax for "flicker" and then fire for "flame", but I wanted to try and quicken the duration of the fire texture with a black screen to look as if the flames are flashing in and out.

Here is the final dream sequence using both my photos and textures from the internet with 6 words to help aid in explanation. 17 seconds - uploaded on Youtube

Week Two: B

After showing our textures we collected for homework, we were given the next assignment that we will be using these collected textures for. The Dream Sequencing project is to be a 15-second clip created in After-Effects using only 5-7 words and unrecognizable textures to covey our dream. 

I began this assignment by creating a timeline of how I will be laying out the textures and words. I read through my written dream and tried to condense key points into 7 words. The words I chose are: 

1. Raced
2. Clue
3. Passing
4. Searching
5. Enter
6. Flicker
7. Flame

After deciding my words I tried to get a rough idea of what textures would be utilized during each word. During this process, I decided I would need to collect more shoe textures (both top and bottom) so I can prolong the "raced" portion of the sequence. I chose the typeface American Typewriter for my text since I want the style to convey a story and also more of a classic aesthetic since it is to be in Paris France. I may have to change my choice to a typeface with thicker strokes if it becomes too challenging to read on different backgrounds.

I set up a rough format of the sequence by typing out the words in different text layers in AfterEffects. 

Here is the brainstorming I did during class for the layout of the sequence. 

Week Two: A

Today in class we presented our line emotion projects for a critique. My emotion was "joy" and I received some helpful feedback on how to make mine stronger and convey my emotion better. My group's immediate response was that the line appears mellow, happy, or calm because of its slow movements and balanced up-and-downs. When I shared that the emotion was the joy they understood the happiness with the loops and dips, but the movement was too slow. Also because the line starts high then low it has more of a negative start where it should have started low and worked it's way up. 

If I was to work back into my animation I would defiantly increase the size and try to focus more on the positioning of the movements and it's placing. Of those who volunteered, the ones that worked best were those who utilized the space well by either becoming large enough to fill the screen (anger) or so small that the white space creates a pressure to suppress the line (guilt). I would also focus on the transitions, making them more smooth and consistent.

We then went around the class to different classmates sharing our dreams we've had. I know I've had many dreams but I can't seem to remember them. I spoke to Yanghaonan, Ally, Lena, and James about their dreams. The one I've held onto the most is one where my friends and I were in Paris, France traveling around in an Amazing Race style and we were running around the Notre Dame Cathedral trying to find items. It would have been helpful to remember my dreams (especially for this project now). I think I am going to begin writing my dreams down when I wake up so I can remember them more.  

My Dream Description  

The dream that seems to resonate with me the most is one where I was on an Amazing Race style adventure with my friends. 

There were five of us or maybe four. With our backpacks on our backs and running shoes on our feet, we rushed across Paris France looking for clues. I clenched onto the clue we just received, a black envelope with large gold lettering that was unreadable because of my tight grip that clenched the envelope. We were running down the cobblestone streets racing to find the Notre Dame Cathedral for our next clue. We were a part of the Amazing Race, a reality tv show where your race around different cities across the world doing challenges that to try to advance onto the next location with the goal of getting first to the finish line. Different than the tv show we were a small group rather than a duo team. Our clue was to get to the Norte Dame Cathedral and find an object hidden in one of the halls. So, we dashed down the streets as a group, dodging tourists taking photos and selfies and passing small French cafes with people outside drinking their espressos and eating baguettes. I was in the back of the group as my best friend lead in the front looking up and down at the paper map as we ran. I questioned why she was the navigator since she tends to get lost easily but I had the clue which I felt was just as of an important position.  

As we turned the corner leaving one narrow street to another, I could see the Notre Dame ahead of us. It was soaring over us with its towers appearing as if they were puncturing the blue cloudless sky above. There was a halo of light surrounding the whole building making it glow yellow. We were blinded by the glow and the shiny white stones that built the cathedral. I have always wanted to go to Paris and especially see the Notre Dame a definite staple of France. 

As we approached the building the entrance continued to grow larger and larger with each step we began to be swallowed by the darkness. Our eyes were open but all we could see was darkness. The halls were dark and damp with rough walls and the sound of dripping water from the ceiling. This wasn’t what I expected the inside of the glorified church to be. Our pace changed from a sprint to now a slow crawl as we griped onto the back of each other's backpacks as our only way to know we were all still there. Ahead of us we could see the slight flicker of a candlelight. This must have been our next clue. As we got closer the halls began to be visible from the light of the candle as the flames grew bigger and bigger. With only step away my eyes opened to the sound of my alarm.   

Word Count: 475