Creative Brief

Project 2: Book Trailer

FA/YSDN 3013
Professor David Gelb
Sarah Paul
April 9th, 2009

Title

“Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer

Overview

Book trailers are constantly becoming more and more popular as time progresses. It is increasingly becoming more effective for publishers to advertise the books in this format and readers have positively responded and are left wanting more and more.
It is an excellent way to deicde whether or not a reader is truly interested in a book or not, similar to choosing to see a movie or not.
This project will entail the conceptual development of ideas that best represent the epic tale of the author, Jon Krakauer’s journey to Mount Everest. Using an Interactive based form of media with short animations to depict the general feeling and the main attributes of the story without revealing every detail.

Audience

This book trailer will mainly attract avid readers, authors, publishers and adventure travelers.

Key Message

The key message is to portray the feelings associated with this book that will get the audience excited to read and feel the sense of exhilieration, anticipation, extreme fatigue, the strength, endurance, the unexpected and the realities of adventure travel.

Content Planning

The content will consist of an animation of the group of climbers climbing from the base of Mount Everest to the summit. This will all be done with simple hand drawn illustrations in black and white. Using the ideas of topographic maps, equipment checklists, time checks and excerpts from the text to build anticipation as the audience moves with the trailer from camp to camp on this journey. The idea of doing this in an Interactive format allows viewers to move at their own pace, which was also encouraged at various points of the book (for climbers to move at their own pace up and down the mountain). Between each interaction a short 30 second clip will play to move the viewer on further up the mountain, stopping at each main camp until at the peak.

Bibliography

Krakauer, Jon (1999), Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster, New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday, ISBN 9780385494786

Technologies

I will use a combination of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash and After Effects to create my Interactive piece.

Schedule

April 9th
Project 2 Proposal

April 17th
Research
Development of concept into storyboards.

April 24th
Developing and refining illustrations.

May 1st
Video Sketch
Further refinement of illustrations.

May 8th
Production and editing of interactive piece.

May 15th
Final editing and production.

May 21st
Final Submission of DVD.

Deliverables

Final submission to Professor David Gelb on DVD.

Final Project 1- Ten

This is my final video for Project 1- Ten.

I concentrated on the idea of using Abacus Beads and the mathematical and scientific approach to the number 10. Breaking down these ideas into simple forms and movements to the rhythm of ambient music allowed a systematic development from 10 beads to hundreds. The beads take on this molecular state fusing and diffusing from each other showing movement in a fluid manner. The intensity is brought about with the increase in the bass and the tempo of the music and the mirroring of the beads/molecules to represent symmetry and growth.One could say that my project is a representation of the organic and mechanical.

Summer Internship

This is just to let those who are interested know about a summer internship opportunity that is available. Milan, a graduate from YSDN has recently opened a design company in downtown Toronto. The focus of the company is interactive based and they are looking for summer interns who are interested in pursuing interactive design.

Students are expected to be able to work efficiently in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc. One should also have basic animation skills in After Effects and knowledgeable in Flash (not necessarily in scripting). One must be comfortable with preparing and developing concepts and communicating with clients.

This is a small studio so you will be constantly busy designing. It will be a great experience for those interested in Interactive Design.

Here is a link to their website

http://www.cordonmedia.com/

Project 1- Ten

Here is a look at what I have so far.

I’ve been playing with the effects in After Effects to see what sort of things I can do to amplify my ideas of the abacus beads and mathematics transitioning into symmetry and science. The video below was the initial direction that I was taking in the beginning where you can see that I am working on the movement of the form as well as the kaleidoscope effect and how that would work, but it has changed to include music as I felt that the simple shapes and forms needed to follow a beat. It will also include an improved attempt at the kaleidoscope as I recently attained a plug in for After Effects to do so.

Experimentation

Final Direction with Music

Project 1 “Ten” Video Sketches

Here are a few of my video sketches.

1) Abacus Beads, Symmetry, Kaleidoscope

Combining these three initial concepts I have created this video sketch using simple forms to illustrate the idea through movement.

The movement of the shapes at first is supposed to represent the movement of the beads as you count them.

The animation itself will show more fluidity between the shapes or while they morph and the patterns that they make so that the symmetry and kaleidoscope effect are very clear.

I am contemplating the introduction of colour but I feel that the shapes and form will be overpowered with colour and become to complex particularly where the kaleidoscope is playing.

2) Optometry

This sketch just shows the basic idea of the slides during an optometry test. The slide will change each time the circles open and close. This will allow me to adjust the focus of the “eye” itself and one can see the appropriate measurement of vision on the side of the letters. This idea can still be developed further in terms of what the will be behind the lens and the movement of the text/ images.

3) 10 People 1 Question.

I asked 10 people one question “If you could teleport in 10 seconds, where would you go to?” My video will be edited so that you do not hear my voice and you hear and see snippets of what the various people are saying. So you will not hear me ask the question but you will be able to understand what the question is from the piecing together of when everyone makes sure that they understand the question and from their answers.

Typically the answers were generally the same so I will be recording more video to get a greater variety of answers.

I used the green screen so that I could possibly “teleport” everyone to their destination. I was thinking of illustrating the major attractions associated with each country or place that they picked. So that behind and around each person you would see a part of the country they chose that is easily recognized. For instance for Paris you would see an illustration of the Eiffel Tower or the Champs Elysees, the Louvre and for Australia their would be the Sydney Harbour in the background with the Opera House in the Background.

The sounds would also reflect the place of interest where these people would like to go to clarinets, oboes, bassoons, saxophones, etc.

Ten- Concepts

Here are my concepts and ideas for Project 1: 10

1) The number 10

Concentrating on the mathematical unit of 10 and the measurements of the number, multiplication, addition, division, subtraction, the number 10 in an equilateral triangle, etc. How 10 is counted in the various forms.

Such as Abacus Beads:

Abacus Beads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using the simple forms of the beads and the bars could be interesting in animating a story about the number 10. Possibly going into the history of the Abacus beads.

 

2) The 10th of October

I was born on the 10th of October, which is 10/10. The date is significant for many different reasons- socially, politically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_10

Wikipedia has a list of some of the important days.

Note the Holidays and Observances at the bottom such as Republic of China- National Day or Double Ten Day

Calendar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using a calendar one can see the years and make reference of time. Possibly dealing with every decade since I was born and the significant events concerning October 10th. Altogether leading to the 10/10/10.

 

3) Asking 10 people one question.

10 Different people, 1 question, 10 different answers and reactions.

Possible questions:

1) What is your most fond memory in the past 10 years?

2) Where do you see yourself or wish for in 10 years?

3) What would you do if you had 10 days to live?

4) What are the 10 most important things to you?

5) What are you doing in 10 minutes?

6) If you could teleport in 10 seconds, where would you go to?

7) Can you say “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers” or “Sam’s shop stocks short spotted socks.”?

Do a 10 second dance to a song.

9) What would you do with $10million?

10) How would you describe the city of Toronto in 10 words? or 10 Adjectives to describe Toronto/ yourself.

http://fiftypeopleonequestion.com/

 

4) Top 10

Looking at the top 10 of one of the following topics and trying to illustrate this using images, text and sounds.

1) Phobias

Naming and explaining the phobia.

2) Top 10 in Toronto/ Canada

Events/ places in Toronto/ Canada

3) Top 10 New Years Resolutions

Quick countdown leading to the top New Years resolution.

4) Google searches

The top 10 google searches of the day or year?

5) Tallest buildings in the world.

Skyscrapers, architecture and history.

6) Top 10 names

Top 10 most common names in the world.

7) Top 10 historical events/ significance of a specific year or this decade.

Top 10 rare flora/ fauna

9) Strangest things sold on EBay

10 )Strange competitions

 

5)Symmetry

The thought of using symmetry as 10 is an even number, it is divisible by 2 and can be doubled. Using shapes, patterns and lines and a mirror a greater form can be made all based on the number 10. Movement like a kaleidoscope. The building of patterns not only in images and forms but also in sound with 10 beats.

kaleidoscopic-patterns

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6) A 10 step process

Finding a process that takes 10 steps, documenting the process and the outcome.

Eg:

Bottled Water

     
1. Pre-filtration to remove sediment and particles
2. Softening to remove hardness causing minerals
3. Carbon filtration to remove objectionable taste and odor as well as any organic chemicals that may be present
4. Reverse osmosis to remove 95 percent plus of dissolved solids
5. Demineralization to remove remaining minerals and bring the water to zero parts per million of total dissolved solids
6. Ultraviolet purification to make sure our water stays virtually free of microbes
7. Storage/recirculation to begin the production process.  Water is continuously freshened with ozone, a naturally occurring substance close to oxygen in molecular structure.  Ozone controls microbial growth without the undesirable byproducts always associated with chlorination
8. Ozone purification residual to ensure freshness whenever a new bottle of water is opened
9. Final bacteria filtration before bottling.  This is the time when food grade minerals can be added to enhance taste
10. Washing, sanitizing, and bottling

 

 

 

 

7) 100 Ways to say 10

Using 100 different languages  or signs to say 10. Seeing only the mouth of a person to see the pronounciation of the words.

 

10 Second Drawing

Getting 10 People to draw the same object in 10 seconds or 10 minutes. Showing the process of drawing using different mediums.

 

9) Sports

Races of various kinds with the number 10. The video/ animation will depict number 10 horse, dog, goat, etc. winning the race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10) Optometry

How we see things if our eyesight was 20/10 vision in comparison to 20/20 or 20/40

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_acuity

Journal Entry #13

Here is my final video for Project 3: Object Narratives.

The video takes a look into the life of my indian bag as it travels with me and the history of the bag itself. It personifies my personal life and the extensive traveling that I have done and continue to do, the connection between a variety of cultures and myself. I chose to animate sketches of the story as I thought it would also to make a greater connection when I am telling the story as I prefer to illustrate things rather than say them.

The major challenge for me was dealing with the story itself and going into greater depth of what the story could be and therefore this lead to difficulty with conveying my ideas into the animation and time constraints.

Journal Entry #12

Animatics

This is a rough idea of how my animation will be to get an idea of the timing of my video in relation to the animation and illustrations that I will be showing. There is still a lot of work to be done in the illustrations and the audio themselves. The blank space in the video is there just because I haven’t illustrated the idea for that part as yet but it will be the introduction of colour to the entire video.

The intent is to animate the illustrations themselves so that the lines are moving. There will also be illustrations of my other personal possessions and and snapshots of my adventures currently and those of the future. Possibly include the Moleskine which is my agenda to show where I will be going to next.

Journal Entry #11

Sketches and Script

Below are a few storyboards with my story that I sketched as an idea for my project. It follows the story of my Indian bag, how it came to be and it’s journey thus far.

Journal Entry #10

10 Objects

Here are 10 objects of mine that either reflect me or are also my favourite things.

My Indian Bag

This is my indian bag that I received as a gift from my high school art teacher many years ago. It has been with me since on many adventures and has traveled all over the world with me. I like to think that this bag has a story of it’s own and that it is a reflection of my personality in terms of colour and pattern and the interesting stories behind it.

Pinocchio Marrionette

This is a Pinocchio marionnette is a gift from Italy that I have grew fond of over time. He is a playful jester and a beautiful handicraft.

Scarf

This is my favourite blue scarf. I love it mainly for the colour of course as it reminds me of the Caribbean Sea.

Batik Pillow

This is my Batik pillow cover that I use as a wall decoration. It is a local handicraft in Trinidad and Tobago that uses the process of relief from wax and using dyes on fabric to create colourful illustrations of local flora and fauna.

City PosterThis is a poster that I collected when I was doing my Typography 2 project on Ephemera. It is one of my favourite posters from Toronto. I love the watercolour techniques and the colours used in the print am also a watercolour painter.

Postcard

This is a postcard from Tobago. I love receiving postcards and letters and I have a vast collection of postcards from around the world.

Milo

This is my favourite chocolate milk drink. I bring several packs back with me from Trinidad everytime I come back to school after vacation to last me through the year.

Christmas Cup

Christmas is my favourite time of year and I am known to always drink out of my very special Christmas cup given to me by my grandmother a few years ago.

Moleskine

This is my glorious Moleskine planner. I would be lost without it.

Mayaro Beach

My favourite place in the world, Mayaro Beach, Trinidad.