Video walk through - Mark

Firstly, I opened a new document, and set the size to 20cm by 12 cm. I then imported an old scroll texture, lightening it slightly.

Creating a new layer, I used the lasso tool to draw out the ground, and then filled it with the gradient tool to give the illusion of depth to the image.

For the background mountain, (purgatory) I used the same technique then added a lighter gradient.

Finally, for the far away hills, I drew them with the lasso tool, and then added a light peach gradient to give the impression of depth.

For the sun, I used the circular marquee tool and used a gradient that faded to nothing for the suns colours.

Finally, I turned all the layers onto multiply, so that the texture of the paper could be seen through.

For the forest, I used the lasso tool to draw the leaves, then added the branches in the same manner, starting with a darker colour scheme then using a lighter one the further forward I got.

then , using the animation bar, I created a motion tween tool to make the trees slide out of view one by one to leave the desert bare and visible.

For the blinking eyes on Virgil’s wings, I created 20 separate frames and set them to the time scale 0.1 seconds per frame. I then drew each individual eye on each frame, adding a layer above for the half opened eyelid, and another above that for the fully opened eye. Then I made each eye open separately and close again so that the whole thing could be played on a loop without any flaws or jumps in the movie, and so that the eyes looked natural.

For the precipice and the whirlwind in limbo, I created a new document the same size as the previous and filled in the background a dull blue colour. Then, on a new layer, using a 12pnt brush, I painted on the precipice and shaded it. Using the gussian blur filter, I blurred the image so that it appeared to be far away. For the smoke whirling up, I drew on the smoke on a separate layer using a hard brush, and used the gussian blur tool again to make the image look more smoke like.

For hells gates, I used the rectangle marquee to create the initial shape, then on a separate layer I filled the door in with the paint bucket tool with a cool grey colour, and repeated this action to create the detail within the doors. I then used two textures, the bone texture to create the main doors, and the marble texture for the surrounding stonework. Then using a custom font, I wrote the Latin equivalent to “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” In a deep red to symbolize blood.

I then added a motion tween to make the door slide up onto the movie as the words “and upon a gate leading to the pit and the lake the words-“ where spoken on my audio.

Finally, for the end scene, I made a new layer and filled it black, then added a motion tween so that the words “This way there never passes a good soul” faded onto the screen.

For my audio, I recorded two associates voices for Virgil and Dante. While Dante’s voice was left untouched, I added an echo to Virgil’s, making it sound demonic and otherworldly. I also added a Gregorian chant in the background, to give a religious yet creepy feel.

Mark evaluation - Dantes inferno digital story

What were you asked to do?

For my project brief, I was asked to create a 2 minute long digital story with audio and visual. I was asked to contain small amounts of animation to tell my story.

What did you make/present?

I presented a 2 minute long animation based around the poem, Dante’s inferno, mainly focusing around the introductive canto and the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th canto depicting Dante’s journey through hell to find inner peace. I also produced an audio file that I had recorded myself and edited in final cut pro.

What did you want to communicate?

I wanted to communicate the horrific feel of the poem, and how it could put the fear of god into anyone, and also how twisted and surreal the poem was, for instance, how it communicated even through old English the gory details of the demons and the torture souls had to endure.

Who was your intended audience?

My intended audience where people who where not originally interested in old literature such as Dante’s inferno, so that I could convey to them that it is actually a very interesting subject and holds many different morals and sub stories.

What materials and processes did you experiment with?

I experimented with the use of different textures that I would usually try to avoid for instance, photographs of bones instead of flat textures. I also experimented with the settings on the scanner as I scanned my images, making them appear different before I even edited them in Photoshop.

What materials and processes did you reject?

I rejected the use of pencil sketches and marker pens, as I dint like the restriction in colour and effect, I also didn’t like how easy it was for the materials to bleed into each other and cause problems when drawing with them.

What materials and processes did you use in your final designs?

In my final designs I used large amounts of computer designed images without the use of traditional art, though I did use initial designs that I scanned in and drew over to create my character concepts and backgrounds.

How do the materials you chose to use help you to communicate your message to your audience?

They helped me connote the feeling of destruction in the audience, as well as the feeling of horror and uncertainty due to the ripped and crumpled pages the drawings appear to be written on. They also made it easier to animate and create a natural appearance.

What did you do to ensure you worked with tools and materials safely?

To make sure I took regular breaks from working on the computer to rest my eyes, I also made sure to keep all liquids away from the equipment I was using, in case of a spill that could lead to a malfunction or and electrical surge.

How well did you manage your time?

I used my planner to help me organize my time, though I found it hard to maintain both my work and my college work, as my job took up a lot of spare time. It was also difficult to work through as I struggled with other classes’ work as well as this project.

What were your strengths in completing this project?

My strengths in completing this project would be in my research as I go into large amounts of connotations and denotations as to understand how other images worked well and how others do not. I also work well with my research as I gained a lot of different images to study and learn things from, meaning I could improve my own project.

What would you like to have done differently?

I would have liked to start off in a different way, as I struggled with using blogger and my first little book, and I preferred to layout my work in an a3 pad, as I am more familiar with this. I also would have liked to work longer on putting more detail into my final, as well as a larger variation of images and characters.

What will you do to ensure you improve for the next project?

I will insure to improve my time management, especially when it comes down to my job and college education. I will also add further detail into my work, as well as go into deeper depth with my research. This will make the whole project a little bit easier to work with on my time scale. I will also spend longer working with the program in my spare time so I can understand how it works better, and thus improve my finals in the future.

the inferno, a diagram

dante inferno trailer

mark inferno 3

mark inferno 2

mark - inferno

Dante's inferno, the poem. -mark

Inferno: Canto I

Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a dark forest,
For the true path had been lost.

Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
Which in the very thought renews the fear.

So bitter is it, death is little more;
But of the good to treat, which there I found,
Speak will I of the other things I saw there.

I cannot well repeat how there I entered,
So full was I of slumber at the moment
In which I had abandoned the true way.

But after I had reached a mountain's foot,
At that point where the valley terminated,
Which had with consternation pierced my heart,

Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders,
Vested already with that planet's rays
Which leadeth others right by every road.

Then was the fear a little quieted
That in my heart's lake had endured throughout
The night, which I had passed so piteously.

And even as he, who, with distressful breath,
Forth issued from the sea upon the shore,
Turns to the water perilous and gazes;

So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward,
Turn itself back to re-behold the pass
Which never yet a living person left.

After my weary body I had rested,
The way resumed I on the desert slope,
So that the firm foot ever was the lower.

And lo! almost where the ascent began,
A panther light and swift exceedingly,
Which with a spotted skin was covered o'er!

And never moved she from before my face,
Nay, rather did impede so much my way,
That many times I to return had turned.

The time was the beginning of the morning,
And up the sun was mounting with those stars
That with him were, what time the Love Divine

At first in motion set those beauteous things;
So were to me occasion of good hope,
The variegated skin of that wild beast,

The hour of time, and the delicious season;
But not so much, that did not give me fear
A lion's aspect which appeared to me.

He seemed as if against me he were coming
With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger,
So that it seemed the air was afraid of him;

And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings
Seemed to be laden in her meagreness,
And many folk has caused to live forlorn!

She brought upon me so much heaviness,
With the affright that from her aspect came,
That I the hope relinquished of the height.

And as he is who willingly acquires,
And the time comes that causes him to lose,
Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent,

E'en such made me that beast withouten peace,
Which, coming on against me by degrees
Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent.

While I was rushing downward to the lowland,
Before mine eyes did one present himself,
Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse.

When I beheld him in the desert vast,
"Have pity on me," unto him I cried,
"Whiche'er thou art, or shade or real man!"

He answered me: "Not man; man once I was,
And both my parents were of Lombardy,
And Mantuans by country both of them.

'Sub Julio' was I born, though it was late,
And lived at Rome under the good Augustus,
During the time of false and lying gods.

A poet was I, and I sang that just
Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy,
After that Ilion the superb was burned.

But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance?
Why climb'st thou not the Mount Delectable,
Which is the source and cause of every joy?"

"Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain
Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?"
I made response to him with bashful forehead.

"O, of the other poets honour and light,
Avail me the long study and great love
That have impelled me to explore thy volume!

Thou art my master, and my author thou,
Thou art alone the one from whom I took
The beautiful style that has done honour to me.

Behold the beast, for which I have turned back;
Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage,
For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble."

"Thee it behoves to take another road,"
Responded he, when he beheld me weeping,
"If from this savage place thou wouldst escape;

Because this beast, at which thou criest out,
Suffers not any one to pass her way,
But so doth harass him, that she destroys him;

And has a nature so malign and ruthless,
That never doth she glut her greedy will,
And after food is hungrier than before.

Many the animals with whom she weds,
And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound
Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain.

He shall not feed on either earth or pelf,
But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue;
'Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be;

Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour,
On whose account the maid Camilla died,
Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds;

Through every city shall he hunt her down,
Until he shall have driven her back to Hell,
There from whence envy first did let her loose.

Therefore I think and judge it for thy best
Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide,
And lead thee hence through the eternal place,

Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations,
Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate,
Who cry out each one for the second death;

And thou shalt see those who contented are
Within the fire, because they hope to come,
Whene'er it may be, to the blessed people;

To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend,
A soul shall be for that than I more worthy;
With her at my departure I will leave thee;

Because that Emperor, who reigns above,
In that I was rebellious to his law,
Wills that through me none come into his city.

He governs everywhere, and there he reigns;
There is his city and his lofty throne;
O happy he whom thereto he elects!"

And I to him: "Poet, I thee entreat,
By that same God whom thou didst never know,
So that I may escape this woe and worse,

Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said,
That I may see the portal of Saint Peter,
And those thou makest so disconsolate."

Then he moved on, and I behind him followed.

This section of the poem tells of dante's journey to the gates of hell, as he stumbles through a dark wood. "Midway upon the journey of our life," this section tells the audience that dante is 35 years of age, as the divine comedy is based on the bible, and the bible states that 70 years is the years of man. "I found myself within a dark forest, For the true path had been lost." this could represent dante's own sins, and how they have confused his life, leading him down the wrong path, and him not being able to return to the path of god.

this section also introduces the three creatures that refuse him pennance for his sins, keeping him away from the mountain of purgatory, again, representing his sins for greed (the leopard) for wrath (the Lion,) and for freud (the she-wolf) and how he himself is actually not allowing his sins to be forgotten and forgiven.

it also, near the end, introduces the character vergil to the audience. here he states, that he is neither a man nor a shade, meaning that throughout the comedy, his true form is unknown, as well as him earning the name the magician. this also ties in with the tarot card deck major arcana, which holds the card the magician, which connotes the representation of tongues, a story teller and a salesmen, again, this ties in with how vergil introduces himself, putting himself first and foremost a poet. this also could lead dante as becoming part of the tarot deck as the fool, a card that represents the begging of a journey and, as in the story of the tarot, the magician is the first he meets upon the path.

mark audio and video

Mark's video. was unable to copy to CD.

music (c) rascal flatts

other audio (c) me

mark process 1 -6 images final

Then finally using the ever popular comic sans, i added the rest of my text.
i then angled it and changed the font colour to red .

For the text for the sound effect i used the font cracked. i then applied an arch to the text to make it clear it was coming from the alarm clock.
then using the border tool, i created a black border for my text boxes.

i then added on a layer above the line art for the speech bubbles. by holding down the shift key while using the brush i was able to create straight lines, and fill them in white.
Then, i created a brush for the window, and on a separate layer added it to make the light marks on the bed.
i then added the text to the clock
i then added colour using the brush tool. for the patterns on the wallpaper i used a pre set brush.
i then began to add different textures that i had scanned to the image.

I then began to add colour on a separate layer beneath the line art layer. for the alarm clock, because its a light source in itself, i filled in the colour with a 29pnt brush, then added an outer glow effect so that the red could be seen on the surrounding objects when coloured.
Then using my tablet, and a 18pnt brush i added on a separate layer the line art, making the drawing a lot clearer and easier to edit.
On my comic pages, firstly i would draw them out by hand, then scan them in.
i also scanned in an image of the vote no on prop 8 sign, and added some effects to it, such as cut out and brush strokes to make it look part of the sign.

I then proceeded to lower or lighten the hue or saturation to make the selected area brighter or darker, making the image stand out better from the background and not look as flat.

Mark process 1 -6 images

Realizing that the copic drawing wasn't distinguished enough from the background, I decided to add some further highlights and dark tones to the image. to do this, I selected the chosen area, then feathered the selection.
i then scanned an image of a tattered american flag, and lowered its opacity and placed it below the image of the copic drawing and the text, but kept it above the cardboard so that again, it looked like it was drawn on the cardboard.
Then i scanned some cardboard and selected a area that i liked and dragged it onto the document i was working on. i then put it below the copic drawing layer and the text layer to make the image appear as if it had been drawn on the cardboard.
Then using the text tool, i created the text for the background, using a lucida hands script as i wanted the text to look clean, yet hand written. i also lowered the opacity so that it appears as if it is written over the image of the characters.
Firstly, i scanned in the copic drawing i did of Elliot and Jared, and using the magic wand tool, i deleted the background of the paper to make the image cleaner.

rotoscope -brianj

Rotoscoping was first created by the animator Max Fleischer, for his short comedy animation series, out of the inkwell. the series was created in 1915, and was created with his brother david Fleischer dressed as a clown as the direct reference for koko the clown. rotoscoping is achieved through tracing over an already created film frame by frame. pre recorded where originally projected onto frosted glass for the animator to draw over the image. the only problem with this method is the boiling it causes, making the image look jittery and unnatural. this method was soon copied by walt disney studios, and max Fleischer intended to sue, but in the discovery of a previous device, similar to the rotoscope, fleischer dropped his charges.

tony evaluation

Lucy Clay

Lightwave Evaluation

What were you asked to do?

For my project brief, I was asked to create a 3D world in lightwave based on what I think the world would look like in 80 years. I was also to show the world using lightwave to make a short video to show a 360 degree view of the world I had created.

What did you make/present?

I presented a futuristic adaptation of the planet earth in 80 years time. Within my world, I showed how two separate dimensions had split and combined together in the future to create my world. In the opposing dimension, the world is made up of huge, ant hill like structures that the creatures from the other dimension live in. where as our world is still made up of normal looking housing and buildings. So when I combined the two, I tried to make it appear as if the alien dimension had grown around ours.

What did you want to communicate?

I wanted to communicate how I thought the world would adapt to such changes, instead of trembling in fear, how we would rise above our differences and work together. I did this through showing whole buildings built into and around the ant hills, instead of destroyed and ruined.

Who was your intended audience?

My intended audience for my light wave project was the mid teens to late twenties, as this is the niece audience who shows the largest amount of interest in the sci-fi genre, something that my work connotes well through the futuristic aspect of the whole model.

What materials and processes did you experiment with?

I experimented with the use of different weight maps to create my landscape for my buildings, as well as a number of textures to try and get the closest realistic effect I could manage. I also experimented with the Boolean tool, something that I am not comfortable with, yet I am proud of the effects that I created through its use.

What materials and processes did you reject?

I rejected the use self created weight maps, as I found that the ones created in Photoshop seemed to perfect, and did not contain enough random points of height and low ground to be considered realistic. I also rejected the use of self ready shapes such as cogs and stars, as they appeared to be too difficult to use when creating the certain specific shapes I needed for my buildings.

What materials and processes did you use in your final designs?

In my final designs I used large amounts of naturally occurring textures for my textures on my objects as well as using large amounts of basic shapes, then using point tool, then the drag tool to warp the shapes into the shapes I needed for my finals.

How do the materials you chose to use help you to communicate your message to your audience?

They helped me connote the feeling of destruction in the audience, as well as the knowledge that humans could survive no matter what was thrown at them , and still adapt to continue the human race. I wanted to connote the feeling of hope, even though almost everything is lost within the audience. I was able to connote this through the strange and odd shaped buildings in my work, as well as the more recognizable homes seen in the image.

What did you do to ensure you worked with tools and materials safely?

To make sure I took regular breaks from working on the computer to rest my eyes, I also made sure to keep all liquids away from the equipment I was using, in case of a spill that could lead to a malfunction or and electrical surge.

How well did you manage your time?

I used my planner to help me organize my time, though I found it hard to maintain both my work and my college work, as my job took up a lot of spare time. It was also difficult to work through as I struggled with other classes’ work as well as this project.

What were your strengths in completing this project?

My strengths in completing this project would be in my research as I go into large amounts of connotations and denotations as to understand how other lightwave images worked well and how others do not. I also work well with my research as I gained a lot of different images to study and learn things from, meaning I could improve my own project.

What would you like to have done differently?

I would have liked to start off in a different way, as I struggled with using blogger and my first little book, and I preferred to layout my work in an a3 pad, as I am more familiar with this. I also would have liked to work longer on putting more housing into my final, as well as a larger variation of ant hills, with more detailed shapes.

What will you do to ensure you improve for the next project?

I will insure to improve my time management, especially when it comes down to my job and college education. I will also add further detail into my work, as well as go into deeper depth with my research. This will make the whole project a little bit easier to work with on my time scale. I will also spend longer working with the program in my spare time so I can understand how it works better, and thus improve my finals in the future.