LSAD GRADUATE SHOW TITLE SEQUENCE

special effect
noun
noun: special effects

an illusion created for films and television by props, camerawork, computer graphics, etc.

For this project we were tasked with creating a large set of practical special effects that could be used in projects for next semester and the future. These effects then had to be put together and experimented with digitally or used in some way to create a finished piece of Animation or Motion Graphics.

For me, the effects resulted in a mini brand film/title sequence for LSAD's upcoming Graduate Degree Show.

I collected an abundance of digital effects and applied them in different ways in 3D to create an abstract formation of the LSAD logo that highlights the unique-ness of the College's eight courses.

Before starting to make the effects I formulated themes based upon what I want to do next semester in college. I started this project by deducing as set of broad headings such as flow, sequence, movement and dynamism and began to create various effects based upon those.

I used a variety of materials, substances and objects to create an array of effects that captured the ideas mentioned above.

Here is a montage I made of the best effects I captured over the past 5 weeks:

CASE STUDIES

Here are details of how I created some of the more interesting effects within this project.

These effects were created by putting water in to differently shaped glasses. By blowing bubbles in to the glass and using an LED to highlight and shadow parts of the image I created interesting refraction effects. I also applied this technique on top of a moving image and it became distorted and warped. These effects could make interesting displacement maps and work well on their own.

This effect was created by backlighting dust particles floating on the surface of water. As a result of shining the LED the image became similar to a space scene. I rippled the water to displace and move the particles around. These particles make for interesting background and overlaying effects.

For this clip I built my own Kaleidoscope out of cardboard and tin foil and placed a light within it. From rotating the kaleidoscope around the light bounces off of the tin foil and creates interesting reflective patterns.

This effect came about almost accidently as I dropped magnetic fluid in to water. The magnet was at one side of the bowl of water and the fluid began to drift towards it and create dynamic patterns and effects. The LED helps to create more of a contrast between water and magnetic fluid. This effect can be used as dynamic luma mattes.

As a result of wanting to visualise the idea of flow and movement I decided that I wanted to create something that allowed me to control the movement and flow of water. I built a water pump out of a motor, bottle caps, straws and an empty can, attached it to a peice of tube and recorded the flow of water. This is one of a series that I captured.

Again this effect was created throught the use of ink in water. By placing my pre-built water loop in to a bowl that contained water the ink began to move around in interesting ways. I also placed an LED tube in to the water pipe for another aspect to this effect.

For this effect I burnt incense and put the camera relatively close to it in order to get a lot of detail within the smoke trails. I lit the smoke from the back so that it stood out more from the dark background.

I did a series of effects at the beginning of this project that involved shooting static noise in different ways. I filmed it at various lengths, filmed it being reflected off of different surfaces and filmed through various substances and objects. This particular shot was captured by placing a glass of water between the camera and the television. This static noise can be used as glitchy displacement maps.

After looking at videos and images of data visualisations I wanted to try and see if I could try and create my own analog version of these videos. I placed pins on a board and threaded string around them in a sequence to show it building up. I sped these up in post and keyed out the background and as a result lines begin to form in a very staccato-like manner. I also shot this in stop frame too.

For this effect I built a strucutre that was able to hold quite a substantial amount of water. I then shone a light in to this water which made the light bounce off of the surface and on to the opposite wall. By splashing and blowing bubbles in to the water the reflection began creating dynamic almost wave form-like imagery on the wall. This reminded me in ways of the fluctuation of data and information.

I wanted to try and create bokeh and lens flare effects as I knew I would be able to use them in many different projects in the future. Just by placing a light close to the camera which had a little bit of a smudged lense I was able to create powerful lens flairs. I move the camera around so I could potentially track them in scenes in the future.

Towards the latter stages of the project I began to look at the movement of light and tracing it. I thought by doing this I would be visualizing this information and data that had been left behind. I performed several basic 'dances' as I felt that light trails that had been created as a result of performing a 'sequence' would look visually pleasing.

Following on from this I wanted to find other ways of tracking the movement of light. Using my record player I moved LEDS around at different speeds. I then echoed the shot in AE and was able to create interesting circular rings of light that could potentially be overlayed on top of footage.

Again, continuing with the idea of tracing the movement of light I built a structure that made 3 lights move in a spherical pattern which also swung back and forth aswell. The mixture of the three lights and their movement creates an interesting video when the lights are echoed and you can see their trails.

Here are the trails after post production work

During the course of the project I made small edits of some of the effects I had captured. The aim of these were to try and see how these effects could manifest as an end piece for this project. It was also a way of me seeing what I could with these clips in after effects to make them more visually appealing.