Initially I wanted to use animation as I have not done anything with animations yet in this course. But then I decided that I wanted to do something with video instead because it seemed like I could do more experimentation with video clips. So I got a few volunteers and this is what happened.

I decided to use the concept of moving dolls since all my previous had something to do with some form of toys. The almost matching clothes and matching haircut makes the audience think that it’s the same person for a bit in the beginning and then as the loop progresses, they realize that it is in face three different people. The video is experimental as it does not really have any meaning and is for pure entertainment. I also wanted it to be very absurd so I used a song that incorporated a lot of different mixes of noises, which makes it seem like it’s also on a loop. And the fact that it was in Chinese made it more confusing for more people. There are multiple small loops within the video, but if you were to cut out the credits and ending scene, then the whole video works nicely as a big loop.
One of the most difficult and annoying thing for this project was saving and exporting in After Effects. It took me two hours to save the almost two minute clip and I made a few mistakes, so it took another 2 hours to save. As well the ram preview was not working for me at all.

Story board.

Initially I wanted to have four people in the composition, but decided to have three people instead because the composition looked a lot better.

the loops in this one are really cute as well.

will add more as the commercials for each colour comes out.

here’s another one where there are a variety of loops within the video

Here is the final Academy leader that I created. Initially, I had the ratio of the screen 4:3. But then decided to make things more exciting and unique by making it really wide instead. This not only worked well visually, but allowed the numbers more freedom as to how they appeared on the screen. The biggest challenge this time was working with After Effects, as there were many technical problems that kept popping up. This piece is meant to be experimental, therefore a combination of techniques are used such as stop motion for some numbers and moving other numbers directly in After Effects. The beeping sounds were mainly sounds that would found in cartoons. As this would enhance the whole experience of revisiting ones’ childhood which was what I was trying to stress through using Lego blocks.

1. Title – possible name, working title
LEGO TIME

2. Overview – description of concept
In general, I wanted to create a piece that was colourful and engaging to the audience despite the fact that the medium used was something as common as the Lego pieces. I wanted to take an old school and well-known toy that has been demolishing in popularity in comparison to the more enhanced toys and give it the same appeal it had to me when I was growing up.

3. Audience – who is the intended audience and how this will be considered in project?
The target audience is the older youth group of 16-25 years old because the medium used (Lego) was one of the most prominent toys in the childhood of these people. I wanted such a simple toy to become attractive again to this age group.

4. Key Message – what do you want your audience to learn from your work?
I want the audience to understand that toys from our childhood should be seen as useful mediums in all aspects of our lives. Instead of being seen as a waste of time, playing with toys can be helpful in the inspiration of daily life. Such as using Lego in creating an academy leader, and a stop motion video using toys as the main characters (as seen in my first video). Most importantly, I want people to realize that that no one is too old to play with toys or simply have fun.

5. Content Planning – what content you will include and how will it be structured?
Basically, I am going to build number using Lego pieces. Some numbers will be seen being built by stop motion; others will be introduced into the frame already built. The numbers may leave the frame in a similar fashion the way it appeared, or it may leave in a different way. The “beep” is also different each time. This is so that it will be more exciting and dynamic

6. Bibliography – relevant sources used in work
None

7. Visual/Conceptual References – images and ideas that inspire your concept
Here are a few links that I found interesting.

Noun: future
Verbs: destroy, escape

When I first picked the noun “future”, I immediately thought of the end of the world. So naturally, the verbs destroy and escape followed. The whole plot of my sound essay is basically a disturbance and then someone trying to find what happened.

When I walk outside by myself I normally listen to my ipod not realizing the different noises that are around all of us. Once I sat outside for the listening exercises I quickly realized how much noise is produced by the cars, the buses, the doors, the shoes, the people walking in the street, etc. There is a lot of noise going on but one simply cannot concentrate on one because the noises all try and over power each other.

PART A:
Outside | Steps of SCAET building | 3:10pm

sounds I noticed:
• UPS engine running – unhealthy engine
• Bus driving away
• Cars passing by on the street
• Rattling of doors of SCAET building
• Shoes – flip flops, heels, dragging shoes as they walked, jeans rubbing against each other as someone walked
• Conversation of approx. 3 groups of people, yelling
• Coughing
• Someone putting their bag down, going through their bag
• Coin dropping
• Someone tripping, walking up the steps
• Alex writing on a piece of paper beside me, crumpling zip lock bag

interesting or notable patterns/previously missed sounds/more prominent sounds:
• whenever the buses came, the engines overpowered everything, the sound of cars = VERY LOUD
• the rattling of the SCAET building doors became really noticeable since we sat in the same spot for 10 mins
and at least 20 people passed through the doors
• how loud the doors actually were when you simply opened and closed it
• I definitely noticed a lot more on the different sounds different shoes made against the cement

Inside | chairs of SCAET building | 3:20pm

sounds I noticed:
• Lecture room doors closing
• Ruffling of plastic bags
• Ceramic cups clanging
• Rolling of strolley
• Clanging of keychains on metal chairs
• Jeans rubbing against each other
• Laughter
• Trays being throw onto the ground (sounded like putting a lid on something hollow)
• Door slamming
• Dress shoes clicking (thought it was heels)
• Flip flops, heels
• Bells from second floor
• Wrapper crumpling
• Velcro on sneakers
• Wet sneakers rubbing against floor creating high squeaky noises
• Card beeping noise to get into classrooms (labs)

interesting or notable patterns/previously missed sounds/more prominent sounds:
• We deliberately chose a place with a very prominent sound or was already loud; even with this, the other noises were almost as evident and loud as the caterers setting up the dishes inside the SCAET building

PART B:
When I was eating at the Sheridan Cafeteria, I recorded about 5 mins of ambient sound not really paying attention to the conversations. Then I recorded once again of myself walking through the hallways. When I finally listened to my recordings the ones taken in the cafeteria were definitely a lot louder than the ones in the hallway. It was definitely a lot harder to differentiate the conversations because everyone was talking at about the same volume. One conversation of a group of people beside me was definitely more prominent because they were closest. The recording of me walking and recording, I couldn’t really catch onto any particular conversations because I walked in and out of them really fast. The one consistency with the second recording was my sandal scrapping against the floor.

PART C:
2 sounds that evoke an image: a gunshot and alarm ringing evokes an image of a robbery at a bank
2 images that evoke a sound: heavy footsteps and an attic ceiling evoke the sound of creaking floorboards
2 sounds that provoke a feeling: kids at playground and ice cream truck music provoke happiness
2 sounds that compete with an image: baby crying and dish shattering compete with an image of a woman pulling her hair screaming
2 sounds that work counter to an image: saxophone music and people chattering counter the image of a jazz bar

Most of them were pretty easy to describe, but I definitely had a big problem with the second last one (2 sounds that compete with an image). I think the reason is the fact that most people work better with visuals than audio. If someone were to see a picture of the subway, they would be able to imagine the sounds; whereas if they were played the sound of the subway, it would take them longer to visualize the subway.

Our focus was then put on square shaped items. One challenge to this new idea was that we had to make sure the angle of the camera was perpendicular to what we were taking a picture of because then there would be a dimension to the item. Our plan was to get only 2D images of the items instead of the actual 3D objects they were. The biggest challenge for me though, was simply using Final Cut. The transitions were not working properly for me and a message kept popping up telling me that frames were dropping. Eventually, when I got that to work properly, the timing between the transitions became a little weird and gave the whole sequence a different pulse. I think the mistake turned out quite nice though.