And in the end.....

Well, it's done-for now. There are elements of this project that I'm really happy with, and things that I feel need altering. This film is definitely something I want to elaborate upon over the summer.
I ended up editing the last line "He still lives in that city. I wonder if he's still sad...." because, when it really boiled down to it, I was unsure of, well, just unsure of something about it.
I definitely changed some of these scenes, and eliminated the idea of using stop motion photography for the time being.
Basically, I ended up referring to my project as "fun with Photoshop." When I go back into it, I would like to add the stop motion photography, as well as incorporate frame-by-frame animation. Syncing sound in After Effects is an awkward process, and Premiere seems a bit rudimentary. Needless to say, my sound clip isn't perfectly aligned at the moment, but I'll fix that as soon as I can.
When beginning this piece, I realized that I was going to have to make some edits, as my original ideas were too ambitious. I thought about how much fun I'd had cutting up photographs for the walk cycle, and decided that manipulating photos was the way to go. I even wanted to make jaw flapping dialogue, and I'll tell you now that that part is going when I rework this.
My friend Jose recorded me reciting something I wrote, and I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the Kid Koala track that I did.

In the beginning, there were, well, shapes.

This is a clip of the introduction without text. It has sound! For this, I've utilized a portion of a Kid Koala song. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he is a Montreal, QC - based DJ. I became familiar with this song, believing that it was called "Drunk Trumpet," as this was the title given to it on my internet playlist; however, I've since learned that it is not that particular song. I've searched around to find its exact title, but cannot. Oh well.

More Video!!!

Being that this is a primarily experimental, stream of consciousness piece, every time I upload a clip, I give you the whole thing all over again. It just doesn't seem right to do it any other way.

Design

Many of the design elements of this project came about throughout the creation process. Prior to beginning this, I'd felt that I needed to develop a greater sense of comfort with manipulating valuable programs such as Photoshop. Much of what you see in my film has involved me memorizing, via practice, certain tools (ie, magnetic lasso), procedures (ie, layer masking) and augmentation techniques (ie, adjustments, levels, hue/saturation). So, knowing all of this, I hope that you can get a better glimpse at the stills in this post. Please not that, upon looking at the scene involving the blurred out signs and the text, I felt that I could have accentuated the contrast more. I will more than likely fix it over the summer.

It Continues...!

Here is an updated clip of the combined Radio, Contact and Map sequences. This one is mute as well. I figure, I'll spare everyone until everything is combined. Once again, I'm not thrilled with the way the animation translates when uploaded to this site.

Contact Information

A still shot of the contact sequence.

Clock Radio

Here is a clip of the clock radio segment. Again, this one does not contain sound.

Introduction

Here is a clip of the introduction without sound. Again, the .mov file didn't really translate well when uploaded to this site.

Numerical Introduction

The film's introduction involves the images you see in this post. Basically, instead of an establishing shot, it begins with an extreme close-up, then leads the audience into the full scope of the first scene. Posted are those introductory images.

Belated

I neglected to post these earlier, so am doing so now. They are the videos from our "jump" tutorial. The first is the specific material assigned to the whole class; the second is my own creation. It involves a yellow and green piece of toast getting shot out of a toaster. For some odd reason, I have been fascinated by toast all quarter, and have used it for projects in both this, and my Sequential Art class. I've posted that piece here as well. Who would've thought that crusty pieces of heated up bread could fuel multiple assignments? Regardless, when I uploaded it to this site, it appears like the motion is "sticking;" however, it does not appear that way in the actual .mov file. I checked all of my export settings, and they don't seem to be causing this.

Radio Killed...ummm.....Vaudeville?

Here's a screen shot from the clock radio segment. I'm posting this so that everyone can get an idea of the general design theme of the film. I adjusted the contrast issues from the other day.

Non-Representational

Here is one of the backdrops for my film. The top one, which is the proper orientation, is a version which was tinted in Photoshop, and the bottom is the original painting. It's an ink/ink wash/salt splatter reminiscent of Ralph Steadman and Jackson Pollock. The rest of the backdrops are also relatively non-representational, but not of the same exact style.
Also, this past weekend, Jose Landron was nice enough to record the narration for me. Due to time and resource constraints, I ended up reciting the piece myself, so I guess I'll have to deal with listening to my own recorded voice over and over again while I'm working.

Name Change

I've decided to change the name of my film to Transmission. I feel that the general theme of the whole thing involves movement/mobility, and well, communication is transmitted, transmissions make cars go vroooom, and even this is transmitted. So, yes, transmission it shall be.