T A S K
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Created in my first motion techniques class, the focus for this project was to create a short piece using a combination of skills we had previously learned in class, with the addition of sound.
The overall concept was simply based off of one word:
serendipity (ser-en-DIP-i-tee) — 1. the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident. 2. the fact or occurrence of such discoveries. 3. an instance of making such a discovery
O B J E C T I V E
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In order to achieve this task, my primary objective was to try something I had never done before, and challenge myself to learn basic functions in After Effects, such as keyframes and camera movement. After seeing the definition of the word, I decided to go with the very first idea that popped into my head - flowers blooming in slow motion. I then decided I wanted to film the flower blooms myself, therefore I would try stop motion for the first time. This class was my very first time using After Effects as well, so I definitely had my work cut out for me.
S O L U T I O N
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In order to film the flowers, I visited a local flower shop and spent some time talking to the florist about which flowers would bloom the quickest. With help from my roommate, we set up the flowers, camera and greenscreen in my bathroom. I spent about 2 days filming the flowers, waiting for them to bloom. Finally, I put two heaters in the bathroom to speed up the process and actually cause the flowers to die and wilt instead. Once I brought the footage into After Effects I spent some time keying out the background, bumping up the contrast and colorizing the final look. I then cropped certain flowers and keyframed their movement in relationship to the rest. The final project features the flowers blooming (and wilting) to the sounds of piano keys.
{ process work available upon request }
