Critique of our Black Swan Title sequence

Critique

1. Black floor winds up covered in white marks due to the ballerina
2. Spotlight Doesnt follow the ballerina fluidly
3. "Vincent cassel" text doesnt move
4. "Directed by darren araonofsky" gets reveiled too fast
5. "Directed by darren araonofsky"disappears when the feathers pass behind it ((Should have done a luma mask so that it went black))
6. "Directed by darren araonofsky" doesnt dissapear effectively enough
7. "Directed by" should have been smaller
8. Spin at start could go faster and more to the music
9. Maybe include more titles like the name of the mother
10. Although the music suits the actual animation  in terms of the movie "Black swan" its a bit to Lively
11. When the shadow is being cast the Doll is motionless we could have had the doll moving
12. When the shadow turns around its hard to know that the shadow has turned

 Things to do differently

1. Sand and spray paint the doll. (as just painting it made resulted in the paint cracking off as we interacted with it)
2. When editting the videos apply the filters before adding the text keep notes on the values of the videos
3.  Music must be a priority and picked early on. So that the piece can be dictated by the music and not the music dictated by the piece
4. Plan to have the animation done in advance so one can critique it and rework parts if necessary
5. Build Sturdier sets
6. film  all scenes that will require digital altering of the mirroring kind with a tripod
7. Make the handle of the puppet into a cross
8. Make the rig for movement of the puppet into an actual sliding rig instead of one that has to be lifted and moved
9. Don't forget to move the spotlight while filming
10. Take the photographys in the desired aspect ratio.
11. Check in advance can the figurine move to the required and desired task you have assigned
12. Take Chorreography from actual ballet videos
13. Music + Experiment -> Storyboard -> Build set -> Story board again
14. have a cilindaric handle so that one can adjust the height of the puppet more.
15. Edite out all errors before filters and font is added Example "white tack leaving marks"
16. Remember to have all text moving slightly
17. Make a tripod holder
18. create check list of everything that has to be considered before taking a photo. EG: lighting, model, camera,

Things to do again

1. Experimenting
2. Puppet on strings (3 strings torso shoulders) Maybe have the strings attached to different rigs allowing for each height to be adjusted individually to allow for each height to be different
3. Charachters intereacting with text ("Mila Kunis")
4. Fade out music
5. Take Choreography from real life
6. Make puppet rig but more maneuvereable.
7. Mark out position of tripod and the lines of which it will travel
8. The reavealing of the final title
9. Use elastic bands to separate out the wire gut on the handle for the puppet

7th of May 2013

We had a problem bringing the font "Designosaur" into after effects.
 I edited in the titles.
This is the finale product

Black Swan Title Sequence By Ian Elaine and Michael

 

watch in high quality here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkextFN-CSM

 

 

Explanation of the imagery in the Black Swan title sequence

The strings

The strings where left in to show how controlled she was. The hand we where going to include at the end was supposed to represnt "Vincent Cassels" charachters hand so as her instructor it was supposed to show how she was controlled by him this was going to be further emphasised by the "Smoke" scene that was left out so maybe the strings now that they are not complimented by the other scene can go but they still have a reason to be there. I feel the strings represent the outside forces that have dictated her life.

 

Natalie Portman

0:07

 

Natalie Portmans name reveiled 7 seconds in by the white dancer is symbolising and associating her with the white swan.

 

Dolls shadow

0:16 to 0:22

 

The dolls shadow reveals "Mila Kunis" The shadow representing the black swan. Viewers of the movie are lead to believe that Mila Kunis is the Black Swan and in a way she is . So we have helped adding to that idea. The shadow grows and the wings flap snuffing out "Mila Kunis" to symbolise how we first think she is the Black swan but as the movie goes on we begin to no longer associate her with the black swan and we end up associating Natalie Portman with the Black Swan.

 

Transitions the feathers and Blood

From 0:22 to 0:33.

When we zoom in on the shadow. We are zooming in on the  back of Natalie portmans charachter it is at this moment that we choose to reveak "vincent cassel"s name. In the movie Vincent Cassel has a line where he tells Nina (Natalies portamans charachter) to go home and touch herself. Geting rid of "Vincent Cassel" is Mila Kunis's hand in the black swan makeup coming across the screen and pulling back the feathers. This represents the sexual awakening of "Natalie Portmans charachter" and the recurring theme of her scratching herself on her back.

 

 

  

3rd of May 2013

Here a video of me messing around with layering for the final video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iC_SfLnovg

 

This is the Black swan video to the music before the text and the effects are added

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5rDAr1f1lM&feature=player_embedded

2nd of May 2013

We were looking at a lot of different audio

Grisly Reminder - Midnight syndicate

 

Creepy music Box

 

 

Alice Madness Returns Main Theme (Extended) 

 

 

Alice Madness Returns Dollhouse (Extended) 

 

 

Alice Madness Returns Surreal

 

 

In the end i suggested we look at Vivaldi Four seasons (Winter)

 

 

I tried using adobe after effects for the first time.

I found out how to digitally zoom

We Experimented with layers and masks. Dave showed us how to luma matt a mask.

We through on different filters to look at what effect they would have

I cut the stopmotion part to 16:9 ratio

 

 

The font we decided upon was called Disignosaur. http://www.dafont.com/designosaur.font

 

I edited the stopmotion to the music in Premiere Pro.

 

 

1st of May 2013

Finnishing the stop motion

Experimenting with using plasticine for the shadow of the mannequin

 

Elaine came up with the idea to use a bin bag. She cut it out to the right shape and stuck it on her maniquin.

 

Elaine moving the doll and adjusting the wings.

 

How the shot looked on camera

 

 

We finnished fiming the stop motion.

 

 

This is how our set looked.

Filming the live Action Shots

We had to move all our equipment outside in order to avoid a fire hazard as we where going to be burning an origami swan.

 We set up in a corner in order to avoid the wind and because the corner provided us with much need support for the back ground.

Micheal setting up the Basin with a bin bag over it.

MIcheal placed a stick of timber underneath the basin to level it out.

 

Michael adding in red ink to change the water to a blood red colour.

 

Adding the mirror and black back ground Elaine is placing a towel behind the mirror to stop it from getting damaged.

Elaine adding black nail varish to the water to create a skin effect.

 

Michael throwing in the feathers

In order to keep the board in place Michael hammered in a nail into the other board and we rested it onto it.

 

We also wedged a stick behind the background to help hold it up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



30th of Apirl 2013

 

 

 

 

The thread was tied around a small piece of timber so we could rotate the timber and change the height the doll would be positioned at.

In Order to ensure full movement around the stage i came up with a grid system of supporting the puppet. Inspired by how Claw machine move along a x and y axis.

Micheal went and got us Fish Gut as the thread we were using wasn't strong enough and kept snapping. In order to stop the fish gut from crossing and tangling i cut small groves and attached elastic band grooves to the wooden holder. IT was then cellotaped down.

Hoisting up the Doll by rotating the small wooden string holder.

Micheal reattaching the Dolls legs.

A photo of the not so safe weight on top of the rig we had made.

Elaine running through the movements we had to preform. To make sure we could do it.

We were setup and ready to film

Choreography

We got Nessa to model for us as she did ballet she also told us that the choreography list we had was mainly filled with what looked more like ice skating moves. So we remade our choreography

 

 

We then based the choreography off of this video and the jump off of this video

Filming

So we finally started filming

Because we had a zooming in shot i marked out the path that the tripod was going to be travelling forward on.

After recording the zooming in shot from a straight on angle the shadow and the puppet where in the shot this wasn't the desired shot so we setup to shoot it at a side angel. This in voled drawing a new path to the side of our old path. We setup the tripod in the desired location and drew lines alone the path that the tripod was going to have to travel.

We used blu tack to give us some extra support to our model.

Things to do differently

If i was filming it again i would make a tripod holder.

The handle of the puppet would be cylindrical in nature or maybe a cross shape.

Remember to move the spotlight with the model.

Film the stop motion in the right aspect ratio instead of cropping it