Richard Montanari, Play Dead (Prime Time Crime)

Tess Gerritsen's Keeping the Dead Ad

This is the book trailer for Tess Gerritsen's Keeping the Dead which I looked at when creating my title sequence. Some of the camera angles I tried to replicate such as the close to the glass jars shot. The mood in this piece is great and sets up the scene in an ideal way. By the end of it you want to know whats happening as the suspense builds up the whole piece. From this I thought dark lighting would be key and good use of shadows was ideal for my sequence.

Body Farm, Channel 5 documentary

WARNING: This clip contains graphic scenes of human decomposition.

This is a clip from a documentry that was on channel 5 a while ago. When researching into my title sequence and looking into the writer Simon Beckett I found this clip on the Body Farm and forensics. I found it interesting when looking into script writing and it helped me come up with the story I created for the piece. I thought that the connection between photography was very strong and wanted to push that forward but I also wanted a unexpected twist.

VH1 Ident

This is the ident I have just handed in as my final piece for the 3D Ident brief. I started by looking at the Kerrang music channel but I then decided to move onto VH1 Classic as is is how the Kerrang channel used to be. I really wanted the ident to reflect the channel. I wantd it to be dark and dingy and run down. I also wanted to focus on the instruments as the music from nowedays tends to be more about the money, popularity and the videos rather a guy and his guitar.

I decided to use a series cut-to cameras to keep the animation fast paced and in time with the music. The idea is that a guitarist is setting up to play the main riff to the music in the background but he is not seen as the focus is on the instruments and not on any band or musician.

The final piece has come out slighly darker than I would have wanted so I will change the lighting and rerender for my final portfolio.

The Usual Suspects - Noticeboard Scene

This scene was my main influence for my title sequence piece. It is from a film called The Usual Suspects which I saw a long time ago. This scene has stuck with me for a long time and is one of my favourite scenes of any film. It is the scene where all the pieces of the film come together and the puzzle is complete. I don't want to spoil the film for anyone so suggest you watch the whole film rather than just the clip I have posted. This scene is of a noticeboard that has a load of information on it. I love the way the camera darts about over it all revealing curtain bits of information. This is exactly what I want to achieve in my title sequence. The audience will feel like they are discovering something and it will make them feel intelligent before entering the program and new drama that awaits.

Waking The Dead Titles

When making my title sequence I looked at this title sequence as well as other crime dramas to try and create a similar mood. Obviously I didn't want to create something exactly the same but audiences react to this kind of title sequence and know what to expect. This is why I need to be able to attract the same audience so there need to be some conections between the pieces. This sequence does a good job at showing the names of the people involved but not really of setting up the program. I really wanted to focus on the setting up of the program and he story telling aspect.

Threat of Exposure

This is the title sequence I produced for our title sequence brief earlier in the year. We either had to make a new one for an existing program or for a new one that we could create. I decided to create my own which was similar to some out there.

I wrote a treatment for the piece before I went into production. My program was a detective/crime drama. It drew similarities to programs such as "Waking The Dead" and "Wire In the Blood".

It was all about a photography student that had dropped out of college/uni but carried on as a hobby. He had some mental health issues that weren't so clear when on the course but now they are more noticeable. This was shown by twitching and struggling with his speech as well as his writing. He wanted to be in forensics but without the education was not able to follow his dreams. He ends up help the local police and forensic team trying to find a serial killer in London. They let him help as he is lonely they think he is harmless enough and he needs to be doing something with his time. Later in the series you find that he is in fact the serial killer and the audience have been fooled as well as his new friends in the police force and himself. To start he has no idea he is doing it (split personality) with no recollection of what has happened. He is setting up the murder scene so he can figure them out, impressing the forensic teams and hopefully becoming one of them himself. When he discovers that he is doing it he can't stop and ends trying to cover his trails rather than solving it. Will his friends catchup with his antics...?

In this piece I wanted to show the subjects study where he is trying to track down the serial killer. Around there are clues to that it is the subject that viewers would not realise until later in the series where it all falls into place. Every week his wall of clues would get more and more full showing what had happened in the past episodes. The names of actors and directors are also located around his desk emphasising the discovery aspect of the show.

I think I have been successful with my piece but synchronizing with the soundtrack was rushed for deadline so I will be redoing that as well as using smoother cameras for my final portfolio.

Motorstorm E3 2005 Trailer

This is the first piece of animation I thought of when I was thinking of first person/helmet cam. I first saw this in 2005 when my uncle had just got the game for his PS3. I remembered there being more on board footage but I can remember how good I thought i was at the time. The HD quality really made it seem more like it was real in car footage. I don't believe 3D is for this brief but it's just another example of the type of shot i would like.

First Person Karting

This is the kind of footage I'm looking at. I was thinking of starting the clip with someone on the sofa or stuck in a traffic jam then a cut to him karting or racing of some kind. I was thinking the DO Lecture's logo could be mounted on the steering wheel here. I know this isn't really nature friendly but it could be applied to a load of different sports. Whether it's biking to skiing or anything like that.

I don't know about you but footage like this just makes me want to spend all my student loan on a kart and fuel and get out there and DO IT. Obviously this is the fro the physical/sporty D0's preforming.

GoPro HD HERO®: Sample Headcam Footage

GoPro HD HERO®: Sample Footage

For this new DO Lectures brief I thought first person footage would be great to use to create montage. The montage would include sports of all kinds combined together as an inspirational sting to get up and get active. I also thought the DO Lectures logo could be dotted around the footage on clothing and equipment.

For other idents i was thinking of using a similar approach but for writing, illustrating and poetry as well as acting and preforming.

For some reason at the moment i can't get the individual pieces of footage so using the link above I think the downhill biking and the motorsport one works best.

Production Of Interactive Feature Spread - iPad Demo

This shows the methods gone through to create the interactive feature in my last post. It shows how the greenscreen was used to transform a still photoshoot into a moving one. I look forward to seeing what they can produce in the future and see if this is the road design companies start to go down. As shown in the piece, publications such as the times have already started to develop this. I think its only a matter of time. The bandwagon will be overflowing once the big guns get involved. From newspapers to TV guides its all going to change in the next few years.

I love the concept that VIV have come up with. A purely interactive magazine that is ideal for onscreen, smartphones and interactive pads. I do believe that this is the way graphics is moving and in a short space of time a lot of it will become interactive based. I'm not saying that type and layout is of any less importance as it is now I just think as the times continue to change so will the Graphic Design industry.

VIV Mag Interactive Feature Spread - iPad Demo

"Together with co-directors Cory Strassburger and Ming Hsiung, we produced a motion magazine cover and feature spread for Viv Mag - an all digital magazine, which would allow us to create content that will be able to live on the iPad and other tablet devices where digital magazines can live." Alex Henry

This looks like the future of magazine design. Or at least I hope this is. this is fantastic. I love it. The cross between 3D design and the After Effects editing. I know this particular piece is surrounding the idea of "sex fears" but the way the piece is put together is brilliant. The noir style of the whole piece is very close to older graphic novels such as Will Eisner and Frank Miller. This is done in a very similar style to Frank Miller's Sin City when it was made into a feature film or The Spirit which was made shortly after.

As for the ipad, I was struggling to see the point in a blown up version of an ipod touch but looking at this it could be a whole new generation of interactive material and an ideal presentation tool.

Exit Through The Gift Shop

I went to see this film The week it came out at the Cornerhouse in Manchester. I'll start by saying I thought it was brilliant and one of the best films I've seen in a while!

This was a very cleverly made film and I feel that Banksy has done himself the world of good by releasing this. The film isn't a documentary about Banksy which you might expect. It's a documentary about the guy who tried to make a documentary about Banksy. This is about a would-be filmmaker Thierry Guetta, who ran a vintage clothing store in Los Angeles cousin was the Paris graffiti artist known as "Space Invader." Later in the film you see this film maker who starts thinking "I can do that" and attempts to become Mr. Brainwash.

Thierry Guetta (Mr Brainwash) being interviewed.

You start by liking the French film maker until it is revealed that he is a total sell out who doesn't care about the art but just about making the money. He ends up hiring a team of people to produce Mr Brainwash's pieces and puts no thought and effort into what he produces. He starts selling these so called pieces of art for ridiculous prices as he is the hot new artist out at the time that everyone must have. As you can tell, if we met I don't think we would get on.

Banksy being interviewed.

Anyway your probably thinking why did I like it so much, well look at the reaction the film got from me. I think it is really intelligent of Bansky to release this as everyone keeps saying as he has had exhibitions and shows that he is a sellout but this film shows otherwise. There is still a meaning behind each of his pieces and he thinks about location just as much as the art. I think with this film he is saying, "I'm not a sellout... this guy is a sellout" and he comes across very well.

If Mr Brainwash is going to make money out of Banksy then why shouldn't he do it in return. Anyway this is a fantastic film and definitely see it if you have the opportunity.

Double Negative Visit

In march 2010 I went to London as part of a group to see some professionals in our field and we had a choice of studio's we could select from. I chose Double Negative Visual Effects company.

I've always had a strong interest in films and how CGI is used when compositing footage together. This was therefore an ideal trip. I first found out about the company when a past student from my degree course did "running" for the company last year. Since speaking to him about the work he has done and the kind of opportunities he has had made me look into them. Before we turned up I looked into to past pieces of work they had produced and past films they have worked on.

On their website it says they started with 30 staff and have grown to over 700 but this did not prepare me for the size of the company. We entered the building and spoke to Vic who is head of HR and she told us that it spread over 5 floors of that particular building. Being a past English teacher she was very good with people and really showed her enthusiasm for what she did. She showed us around the first floor of DN. This included everything from a reception area to 2D and 3D design rooms. Just seeing the workspace with everyone working together on projects I found fascinating. There was such a good atmosphere to the company even though it was it's huge scale. She explained the separate areas of their company before taking us into one of their screening rooms.

In the screening room we saw a showreel of pieces they have worked on and before we went back and watched it back trying to guess which bits had been done by DN. It was great to see what they had done and how some of it was so well hidden it was hard to figure out how they had done it.

After this she spoke to us about what we were up to on our course while we signed a form saying that we would not speak a word about the footage we were about to see. So I'm afraid thats about all I can tell you about the trip... They finished by showing us some examples of their compositing and how many layers and stages a shot goes through. It was fasinating to see and i think the trip convinced me the area in which i want to get into when i finish the course.

But saying that there are many companies out there and many more visits which i want to go on so this is not set in stone. I just really want to see what the inductry has to offer.