Digital Photography and Imaging - Project 4
2.12.2024 - 30.12.2024
Chan Zhi-Ren Zenndan / 0369069
Digital Photography and Imaging / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Week 10 - Week 14: Project 4 "Self-Titled"
1. Assignment Brief
Self-titled is an exploration project for the students to express their own individuality and reflect their personality into digital art self-expression.
The main idea is to build up self-confidence and discover their interest.
Students are to log details weekly, slowly progressing through the project.
2. Idea Development (Week 10)
This stage required students to write a biography about themselves, a statement of their upcoming work, and a mood board of the design.
Fig 2.1 Biography about myself (4/12/2024).
Fig 2.2 A statement of the upcoming work (4/12/2024).
Fig 2.3 The mood board (4/12/2024).
3. Design Direction (Week 11)
The next part required students to provide sketches and make a few digital drafts of the overall design.
For reference, this is the photo I will be using. It is a photo of me back in high school, wearing a cowboy hat and a blazer, holding up a medal. To me, this photo allows me to be free and have fun with my coming composition while also remaining consistent with the elements I will be using for this project.
Fig 3.1 The photo I will be using (12/12/2024).
With a picture decided, I made two very rough sketches of what I had in mind.
Fig 3.1 Sketches (12/12/2024).
Following what I had sketched, the composition lacked elements. So, I went back and looked through the first few weeks of collage practices and realised that adding simple shapes into the composition created greater visual appeal. On top of that, playing with colours was as crucial as the entire composition; I had to complement my selected background, which consisted of a deep purple.
Playing with adjustment layers, specifically the 'Multiply' option, allowed me to dim the brightness of the character and harmonize with the colours of the shapes.
Fig 3.2 Draft #1 (14/12/2024).
While the shapes do make a good impression, I felt as though I was using the shapes way too much. To compensate, I replaced the pink circle with a picture of a blood moon, which is one of the astronomical events I appreciate.
Something else I noticed was that my character seemed too plain. I created another layer to add double exposure to create some form of weight here. I added the adjustment layer 'Colour Burn' for this layer to give it a deep, dark red, which I was looking for when putting together the mood board.
Fig 3.3 'Color Burn' adjustment layer (15/12/2024).
Right after, I made a few adjustments to some elements, adjusted the canvas, and finished my second draft.
Fig 3.3 Draft #2 (15/12/2024).
As I created both Draft #1 and Draft #2, I was always mindful of the elements I would use and how they could be animated in Adobe After Effects. For example, the background features a picture of star trails, and I planned for it to rotate counterclockwise to create movement. The shooting stars are meant to move diagonally from the top right to the middle left. These are just a few examples of the movements I had planned from the start.
4. Execution and Post-Production
Once I finished working in Photoshop, I inserted the file into After Effects and started working on animating it.
Fig 4.1 Using After Effects to animate (15/12/2024).
The first I did was to animate the star trail background. I did this by setting a key value of -20° at the start and another key at the end with a value of -115°. Making the values negative rotate counterclockwise.
Fig 4.2 Rotating the star trails (15/12/2024).
For the moon, I wanted it to pop in and out, so I used the scale tool along with the rotation tool.To use the scale tool, I put a value of 75% on both the start and end. Then, I put a key at the 7-second mark have a value of 100% so that the scaling comes into effect. I also put a rotation value of -160°.
Fig 4.3 Scaling and rotating the moon (15/12/2024).
For the vinyl record, I wanted it to spin twice. To do this, I inserted a value of 2 in the 'Revolutions' tab.
As for the shooting stars, I used the position tool by putting a starting key and dragging it to the place I wanted it to end, then putting my ending key.
Fig 4.5 Position tool, dragging objects to desired place (15/12/2024).
To add music, I stayed true to my artwork and used one of Daft Punk's songs, "Voyager," from the album Discovery.
I placed the MP3 file into my audio folder in After Effects and selected the part I wanted.
Fig 4.6 Cropped the part I want to use (15/12/2024).
Once that was done, I rendered the file and exported my project.
For the blog, here is what it looks like in GIF format (no sound).
Fig 4.7 GIF format of the final work (15/12/2024).
Fig 4.8 Rationale (15/12/2024).
Fig 4.9 Final statement (15/12/2024).
Per Mr. Fauzi's instructions, I uploaded the project onto YouTube as my final submission.
The link to the video can be found here.
5. Reflection
Looking back at my final project, I was able to apply the skills and techniques I learned throughout the weeks. I revisited my physical and digital collage work to improve the composition of my poster, focusing on element balance, color integration, and visual order. It was exciting to incorporate personal elements from my high school years into the project. Additionally, the animations I learned in week 10 worked perfectly with my vision, which I’m really happy about. This project was by far the most enjoyable and fulfilling work I’ve done.
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