Digital Photography and Imaging- Final Project

on

5/6/2022- 30/6/2022 / Week 10 - Week 14
Chuah Kwai Pin / 0348376
Digital Photography and Imaging / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Final Project Cinemagraphs: Self-titled (still & animation) 

Week 10: Final Project

Self-Titled
Self-titled is an exploration project for the students to express their own individuality and reflect their personality into digital art self-expression. 

The main idea is to build up self-confidence and discover their interest.

Part 1: Idea Development
1. Write a biography about yourself

INTRO: Tell us about yourself

My name is Kwai Pin and I was born and raised in Malaysia. To begin with, I am an introvert around people I am not familiar with, and I seek comfort with being indoors at home on busy days. Despite that, I do like to spend quality time my good friends and learn new things as I go. 


PARAGRAPH 1: What is your passion?

My passion is to travel the world without a single worry in my mind. I want to be able to travel everywhere with people I love and care for. In my free time, I also like to watch movies, listen to music, play the piano and spending quality time with my friends and family.


PARAGRAPH 2: What’s motivate you to achieve your dream?

I would say my family and friends who have always been by my side through thick and thin. Thinking about all they have done for me drives me to do better and strive towards my dreams. Amidst all of that, I also want to live my life to the fullest without any regrets.


SUMMARY: How do you want to visualize your dream into an artwork?

I want to include a few famous landmarks or activities of some of my “go-to” countries. Then maybe have my own personal speedjet to bring me and my family around these places.



2. Write a statement about your work


INTRO: Tell us about your work
I would like to do a poster that shows my thoughts and imagination. It is like revealing the top of my head and letting my imagination run wild and paint the canvas with my wishes and desires.

PARAGRAPH 1: What is the concept behind it?

It just shows how much I want to be free from work and responsibilities and just live the way I like. I want to seize the chance to see as much of this beautiful world before it is too late.There are just so many other things out there in this world that we might not be able to experience in our lifetime, so I want to imagine being able to go anywhere I like and do anything I want.

PARAGRAPHY 2: What is the message you want people to understand it?

If there is a chance, go out and see the rest of the world. Leave no regrets and do whatever you have been meaning to do all this while. Step away, take a deep breath, get inspired, and work again when you are ready.


SUMMARY: What is your motto/ quote?

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.



Mood Board

After deciding my poster's concept, I went on Pinterest to search for some inspirations. I found 3 posters about travel and I thought I could incorporate it into my own poster. I like that the posters compile all the famous landmarks together and the overall blue theme fits very well with travelling.


Fig. 1.1 Inspiration poster 1


Fig. 1.2 Inspiration poster 2

Fig. 1.3 Inspiration poster 3
Part 2: Design Direction

1) Sketches
After my visual research, I proceeded with some sketches and deciding which places I want to feature and how I want to arrange the elements. I came up with 2 compositions just to see which one will work better, but I personally think Sketch 1 will work better.

Fig. Sketch 1

Fig 1.2 Sketch 2

2) Digital Poster
Based on my sketches, I then searched for all the famous landmarks and imported them into Adobe Photoshop to select and mask. I also took 2 photos of myself, one self-portrait and one full body shot of me sitting on an airplane. 

Fig. 2.1 Digital Poster Idea

Fig. 2.2 Digital Poster Idea


Part 3: Execution and Post Direction
After the feedback given on Week 12, I made some changes to the background and added in some words, "explore" and "wonder" to make the poster more interesting. I also embossed the head so that it doesn't look too flat like a piece of paper.

Fig. 3.1 Embossing the head


Fig. 3.2 Layering and arranging landmarks

Fig. 2.3 Final Poster- "Explore The World, Wonder Of Dreams"

ARTIST STATEMENT: Have you ever imagined yourself travelling all around the world on your own private airplane? You could be enjoying an opera in the Sydney Opera House, taking pictures below the Statue of Liberty or even enjoying a good time with our loved ones under the romantic Eiffel Tower, all within a day! Since young, I have always loved exploring new places and learning new things as I go. At the same time, I also make sure to take pictures and short videos to keep those precious memories alive. There are still many more places I would like to visit, but due to many factors such as school responsibilities and insufficient money savings, I can only imagine myself travelling to these places in my head.



Part 4: Animation & Finishing


Link to YouTube video: https://youtu.be/UtfrQHY8Y0k

For my animated poster, I planned to open up the top of my head to reveal a rotating Earth that will show the places I want to visit. Upon revealing the inside of my head, there will also be a mini me sitting on top of my private airplane that will fly me to anywhere I wish to go. I have also chosen some of the iconic tourist attractions and arranged them by stacking layers so that there is hierarchy. On top of that, the words “Explore” and “Wonder” were included because those 2 words were the first thing that came to my mind when talking about travelling. Hence, the title of my animated poster is “Explore The World, Wonder Of Dreams” which means to go on and adventure around the world and fulfill my dreams of seeing those beautiful and breathtaking sights.


FEEDBACK

Week 12: The background for Sketch 1 (Fig. 2.1) has quite a lot going on with the elements. Can try to go for a cleaner background like the one in Inspiration poster 1 (Fig. 1.1). The background also looks a bit empty, maybe can try to add some words like Inspiration poster 2 (Fig. 1.2) so that it can occupy some space.     Week 13: The words need to be smaller and also remember to add audio.

Week 14: The overall animation does not really work. Instead of scaling the elements, it is better to just make it pop out from the head. The moai stones should be animated individually so that it pops out one by one. The plane can enter from the right side of the composition and the hot air balloon should enter from the top. Try to emboss the main head as well, not only the opening section.

REFLECTION

Throughout these few weeks of working on Project 3, I find myself applying almost all of the knowledge that I have learned through the class exercises on Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects. I still remember how much I struggled during the first few weeks of the module because I was completely new to the Adobe software. I was even so worried that I might not be able to produce good results because of my lacking skills. However, with all the practicals and exercises that I have done while following my lecturer's guidance, I was able to keep improving and polishing my skills. While working on Project 3, I was able to do the poster much faster than before as I have already gotten used to select and mask, the adjustment layers and the gradient tools. At first, I did encounter a challenge in using After Effects. I was contemplating on whether to animate it on Adobe Photoshop after that, but it did not turn out that great. Hence, I still proceeded with After Effects even though it was quite foreign to me. After a few tries, I got the hang of it and eventually got it done. Overall, I was quite satisfied with the final outcome as it really reflected my passions and desires of travelling. Looking at it really does make me fantasise of travelling around the world and thinking about it ignites a spark of excitement in me.


Comments

Post a Comment