Adam – Progress Update #1

Our biggest initial progress thus far has been centered around planning our interviews, which are scheduled for November 30.

We have decided to use a very simplistic interview set, so as to give most attention to our animation. In previous research, I found that many interview videos have their subjects sitting at tables. As a group, we have decided against this, as to avoid constriction. The idea is that an open room will lead to ‘open imagination’. Lights will be set up as shown below, in order to eliminate shadows.

While filming, the motion graphics team will be using three camera angles. One medium / wide shot from head on that will be the focus of the interview. One medium close-up shot which can be keyframed in post to create an effect that pans upward to our animation, and one side angle to capture hand movements. From these, we hope to get a variety of shots that capture a wide range of motion to pair with our animations.

Michael will be collecting sound, ensuring that our interviewees are heard very clearly and that their dialogue can be used for narration later on. After, Michael and I will work closely together to determine a mood for each interview that can be captured through music.

Finally, our animators have been busy planning and preparing for once the stories are actually told. Most of their efforts have been on capturing the flying bird motion – and one potential way this can be animated is through rotoscoping based on videos like the one below.

From this, we have our first animation draft!

Our interviews are scheduled for November 30, at which point we can begin to implement or stylistic research.