DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY & IMAGING - FINAL PROJECT 'SURREALISTIC PARALLAX'

 Digital Photography & Imaging 

- Final Project: 'Surrealistic Parallax' -

Week 9 (19/20/2020)

As we are now done with our self-titled project, we have two projects running simultaneously - Project 2A Humanoid/Cyborg Manipulation & our Final Project Surrealistic Parallax. 

In today's tutorial, Mr Fauzi introduced us to our final project - Surrealistic Parallax. It involves all that we learned throughout the semester and some new elements which he will teach us along the way. After this week, we will be going full-speed ahead. Despite the pilling of assignments from all of my modules, I'm quite excited to complete these projects. Mr Fauzi showed us some of our seniors' work to give us some idea and inspiration on how to tackle ours. 

Surrealistic Parallax ultimately means a wonderful dream, or an incongruous imagery (unnatural, irrational combinations). 

Figure 1 - Seniors' Work on Mr Fauzi's website

To produce this, we need to acquire After Effect and Premier Pro skills. After Effect enables us to animate the elements within our composition, making them even more interesting as it reinforces the sense of surrealism. Premiere Pro is when we wish to add some sort of audio. I have never tried After Effects before, so this is going to be a challenge for me. 

Week 10 (26/10/2020)

With Mr Fauzi, he showed us the basics of After Effects for our Final Project - where our tools are, how to animate, how to add audio using Premiere Pro. 

Figure 2 to Figure 2.3 - Mr Fauzi's After Effects/Premiere Pro class

Frankly, I was having a hard time grasping throughout the class. Mainly because everything was so foreign and new to me, and After Effects looked so intimidating with its properties. After Effects did look similar to Adobe Animator which I am some what familiar with as I took Innovative Media last semester, so learning this should not take too long. 

Mr Fauzi made it look so simple and easy while he edited his composition. Hopefully, when I attempt mine, it will be as easy and fun. Once the demo was done, he reassured us that this recording will be uploaded for us to rewatch whenever we need. He then tasked us with our Final Project - Surrealistic Parallax composition to be at least 50%-70% completed by this Friday before midnight, as well as, our Project 3 - E-blog at 4pm. 

Right after, I went over to Pinterest to get some ideas on how I want my composition to look or resemble. I do not want anything too much, just simple yet strange movements following the theme of surrealism. 

Week 11 (2/11/2020)

We were tasked to submit 80%-100% work done to be reviewed by Mr Fauzi. It took me such a long time to come up with a composition I was happy with. In the end, I handed in about 60% work done of the composition and still felt unhappy about it but I needed Mr Fauzi's opinion to help me think clearer. 

Figure 1 - Surrealistic Parallax Ideation

I did not manage to get my feedback during class as time ran out but Mr Fauzi reassured us that he will review each of them and reply us using private comments. So I added my ideation/progress direction to give better clarity on what I submitted to Mr Fauzi. 

Figure 1.2 to Figure 1.3 - Google Classroom private comments

It is a relief to hear that I am somewhat going in the right direction with my main composition. I have decided to stick with my first and original idea of having a tilting head. I started to have fun with my background, looking on Pinterest for some circus collage ideas. 

Figure 1.4 to Figure 1.5 - Pinterest Inspiration 

I will not necessarily follow these compositions but I like the vibes it gives out - creepy but fun. It does look too complicated and messy for an After Effects composition, so for mine, I will simplify it and make it neater. 

Figure 1.6 - Surrealistic Parallax Ideation 2

I like the black and white chequered board background but it was too plain so I warped it. Still looks a little too messy though and it takes the attention away from the main composition of my faces. I do like the round faced clown. I was thinking of letting it rotate and moving it diagonally upwards towards the most right corner. 

With all these thoughts, I was thinking of animating the background on Procreate of black ink doodling. So it is like an animated wallpaper of a series of acts circus people would perform, maybe with a little highlights using only primary colours. It will make more sense once I draw it out. 

Week 12 (9/11/2020)

During tutorial, we were given consultation again with Mr Fauzi regarding our Final Project. Honestly, I felt like I was the slowest one there with the least progress so far. Looking at all my course mates' work got me worried because mine was no where near their level of creativity. However, I still showed my work for consultation because I really needed help. I was one of the last few ones to go.

Figure 1 - Final Project Composition

Mr Fauzi agreed with me where we both felt as if the background is taking the focus away from the main composition. I re-explained my idea as commented on Google Classroom back to him, and he told me to proceed with what I have first; to try it out. 

I did try out the the doodling concept, it turned out so messy and just unworthy of a final project: 

Figure 1.2 - Final Project Composition Doodling Concept

As usual, I had a creative block. I decided to take a break and come back to it later, but I do like how the main composition turned out. It just needs a little bit of touch ups here and there. My ideas started to flow better once I took a break. However, I did not have After Effects on my laptop as my laptop would not be able to take the software so I had to borrow my friend's laptop this coming Wednesday. 

On Wednesday, I got started. With Mr Fauzi's recorded lecture and my friend's guidance, I was able to understand what was going on in AE. I took down notes as well: 

Figure 1.3 - AE Notes

Figure 1.4 - Figure 1.6 - AE progress using friend's laptop

In no time, my final project was coming along quite well. I had some headaches along the way as my composition depended a lot of the timing process which was a huge PAIN. My eyes and brain were hurting but after taking a few short breaks, I was able to kick start again (also because my friend needed his laptop back soon). On some parts which were really difficult, my friend stepped in and explained it to me as I took down notes so I would not forget. 

One of it which was the code for infinite loop: Loopout("cycle") and the number of keyframes I want it to loop. So for example, Loopout("cycle")5 into the desired property so it could be in Transition or Position. 

Week 13 (16/11/2020)

The only part that I could not grasp was the fish movement. I made them move after Mr Fauzi suggested them to from side to side but really slowly in consultation on Week 13. With some guidance from my friend, I managed to do it. Here is the final outcome which I have uploaded onto YouTube: Surrealistic Parallax - Final Project DPI

Once AE was done, I moved onto Premiere Pro where I added the music. As my concept is somewhat quirky, peculiar and borderline creepy, I chose a creepy circus music as my background. 

Figure 1.7 - Premiere Pro Progress

Figure 1.8 - Visual Analysis Final Outcome

Overall, this project was interesting. I did hit some challenges along the way which has helped me to learn and design better, and I managed to grasp the basics of AE even though it is on a friend's laptop. This will definitely benefit me in the future as I do not need to depend on others for my design work. Mr Fauzi and Mr Martin has taught me so much throughout this course. Mr Martin focused more on the technical/practical side of Photoshop which came in handy with Mr Fauzi's tutorials as he taught us more on the other complimentary areas of Photoshop. Thank you guys! :)