NEWS FOOTAGE FOR FINAL

SET DESIGN

This is the background set design for the final piece.

NEW MOLOGUE

This is a broadcast of the Social Evolution Bureau. We are the catalysts of change and the time has come. The time for you to stand up and join us. We have been lied to and played for fools. We have been the puppets of the ruling elite dutifully doing as they commanded unkowing of the strings they have held. But still we are alive, and we are not so blind as to keep our bonds. We are free to choose our own fates and we must fight for this right. Do not let the tides of misfortune and fate dictate you to yourself. Now is the time to live.

NETWORK

This movie, although made in the late seventies still holds a very important part in dealing with important issues today. Namely the issue of the sociological effects of television of children and young adults who actually spend more time interacting with a screen than they do with other people. It delves into the cultural and generational rift of those raised on tvs and those who grew up prior. It also delves into the ever present and ever neglected role of corporations in what actually gets played, and told, and how it is spun politcally before it is even presented to an audience, who is then free to twist it whichever way they so choose. It is important to note that there is one scene in which an ex tv exec is talking to his affairess, and explains that she is the manifestation of television in physical form. Everything that she touches dies, but not him, for as long as he can feel, and smile, and cry then she has no hold over him. "He chooses life." One of the other great things that the director/storywriter(s) did well was to allow the audience of the film to decide for themselves the extent to which Howard Beale (the main character) is insane or not. Overall I thought the film had a very important message and among those is the danger of believing and taking for granted what you see on tv to be the truth.

FINAL: STORYBOARD

"Greetings, and welcome to today. Today is the day the revolution begins. This is not a revolution of violence or politics, but rather, it is a revolution of the mind. No excuses. No one to blame. Only yourself. You all have something to say but no will to say it.Where do the words stop, and the actions begin? Know this: It is not the loudness of your voice but the resonance of your actions. No more excuses, for today the revolution begins." - Andrew Lebowitz.

REVISED FINAL CONCEPT

After investigating what it was about revolution that so interested me I realized that it was the notion of social change or rather social evolution that really caught my attention. This notion that societies evolve just like people do is something that I would like to run with. So, in this spirit I would like to create an Orwellian style propaganda Public Service Announcement from the Social Evolution Bureau inciting people to revolution. The concept is that the world has become stagnant and is no longer progressing or moving in the right direction, so in steps the S.E.B. to ensure that social change happens when it should. I am trying to play at this absurdity of propaganda, and why we listen to certain propaganda without listening while other we disregard as obvious propaganda.

FINAL CONCEPTS

- Commercial for a revolution
- An exploration of the processes of old
- A brief history of design

The commercial for a revolution will be what seems to be a standard ad but the item being sold will be revolution itself asking all citizens to become involved.

The process exploration will be an exploration specifically into how the first motion graphics designers did their jobs.

A brief history of design will be just that.

EXPERIMENT 2

Exercise 2 from Andrew Lebowitz on Vimeo.

EXPERIMENT 1

Motion Tracking practice from Andrew Lebowitz on Vimeo.

A MOMENT IN PROCESS

So, the past two days have been a trip to say the least. An experiment in the process of process. I set about to learn a new skill in after effects based on motion graphics in such movies as "Stranger than Fiction," "Fight Club," and "Zombieland." It is an experiment in type, motion graphics, and film and integrating all the elements into a seamless final piece. What have I learned? MASKING IS A BITCH! Going through the movie frame by frame masking out the type is, an experience, to say the least. I have learned, that 20 seconds of graphics = 8 hours of work. Which begs the question, How long does 3 hours of graphics equal? All in all though it was a very gratifying process, through the gruel and grit, and borderline insanity, being able to create these types of effects is an amazing experience.

Ok, enough of the emotional shit. Let me explain how I did what I did. First I started by doing some visual research, looking at movies and title sequences that emulated what I wanted to do. I also studied some kinetic typography videos just to get a feel for the use of type in a very dynamic way. After the research phase came an experimental phase where I made two "practice" videos exploring motion tracking capabilities in after effects. After realizing, however, that without a high contrast image finding a source to actually track the image was more difficult than originally thought. Most of my time was spent manually going frame by frame making sure the motion tracker was tracking exactly what I wanted it to. Next I began experimenting with 3-D type, allowing the type to mimic the actions of what it was tracking. From there I began tracking other shapes and then began the masking process.

Actually, I first filmed a short little snippet of film following my girl-friend as she got ready for class. After editing the film together, which was filmed on a little flip video camera I brought it into after effects where the magic began. Above you can see the initial experimentation.

MIDTERM CONCEPT

I would like to focus on building a technical exercise that explores the relationship of motion/information graphics within the context of film or motion pictures. The footage that I will be using will be non-copyrighted snowboard footage cut and put together in after effects along with added motion graphics. The graphics themselves will be explaining what is currently happening as the snowboarder does what he/she does. The ultimate goal of the exercise is to implement the graphics in such a way as they appear to physically interacting with the footage as well as to enhance clarify and at times add suspense and awe to what is playing.