Now the fun part. How will I synthesise everything I have touched on in my visual research and experimentation to deliver this music video for the song BOI. I want to explore the story of Bath Boi. The themes in the song are about love, loss and finding strength. It is about memory and longing. It is for her Red & Blue EP. She chose to collaborate with you because she likes your aesthetic – remember this. Blood red and sea blue are colours I always seem to go back to in my work so it seems fitting that I use this colour palette.
I spent a few days collecting visual research. I collected photographs and magazine cuttings of anything related to water and being by the sea – to build up a mood board I could refer to whilst I was sketching ideas. So I could have a moodboard to refer to.
Looking back over my sketches I really want to explore this idea for the music video. Carrying the sea around your neck. My mum used to wear a heart shaped silver pendant that was given to her in the 60s by her boyfriend. She carried a photograph of him wherever she went. This idea of carrying something that is precious to you around your neck. Water is also symbolic of tears and bodily fluids – link to sex, falling out of love with someone.
Inspired by the work I had seen during Future Selves (Winkowski) I thought it would be nice to experiment with his method. Mixing still images with collaged footage. My obsession with the sea, carrying the sea around your neck, the sound of the ocean. I started by using a simple block shape of a woman’s torso to experiment with. The aim is to see what effects I can layer in Adobe After Effects so I can create moving collages. I like the idea of having textures in my drawings being able to move. Like a painting in motion.
Went down to Brighton pier to record some footage of the sea. I love the glossy texture – the way it glints. I think collecting footage of the world around you is key. My ongoing fascination with the sea. I can use this for animated sequences.
Experimenting with the masking tool in premier. Masking allows you to target specific effects onto a certain area of footage. This will allow for a lot more experimentation as I will have much more control on where and how I place the footage. Using footage as collage – will be able to edit directly into premier with this tool. It helps having spent hours getting better at using the pen tool in photoshop as I’m able to use it like scissors to get a really precise cut.
Sea footage with Tint and Alpha layered over the top. I loved this texture.
Bodies made of the sea.
Blend Mode > Saturation. I love this blending option. I masked around the silhouette and used the saturation blending mode. This is image is a very simple block shape. Will look very exciting with more complex drawings where I will be able to mask out different areas in order to build up a very textured image.
Blend Mode: Color/Vivid Light
I wanted to explore the idea further so I did a mini shoot at home – I wanted to have bodies made completely of water.
Then I experimented with blocking out the shapes in photoshop.
Experimenting with the grain brush as a way of shading.
Patterns with the body. I just love vintage erotica and this is like a pop version of that.
That sweet matte key in Premier. Really great results – imagine if this was in 3D. This would great if the bodies were dancing – as part of the chorus maybe?
Combining work I did at the start of the project with the new water bodies. This led me making this drawing. Using all the elements that I loved the most out of my experimentation and visual research.
Have the footage of the sea playing underneath.
I just love the shading for this piece – the grain brush makes it look like the body is made of spelled glass. It reminds me of Orangina bottles from the early 00s – I always used to get them as a child when we went to the beach. Memories by the sea.
Now I need to think of the overall flow of the story – bring all the elements that I loved the most during my experimentation. Simplifying and synthesising to come up with a new visual language. I love the way this is going.
Initial ideas for storyboard
Studying the cuts and edits of my favourite music videos was really helpful as I was able to map out what edits looked and felt good. How the visuals carry the music. A journey.
The landscape – opening something to reveal something else? A box?
I really wanted to use alpha keys that I had experimented with during my research stage. What cuts I can do to incorporate this.
Opening Sequence Development
The sea inclosed in the heart. Have it moving. Blending video and animation!
Development for opening sequence – tried to block all the animated parts within 0:24 seconds of the intro. Thinking about the quality of sound and how different transitions and effects will change the way we perceive sound. To build tension before she starts singing.
Thinking about having the Leaves part as the hand reaches down to pick up the jewellery. Experiment with doing a background loop so it gives the illusion of the hand moving down. This look better than moving the hand down and looping it as it will look clunky.
Leaves part and hand reaches down. Slow zoom out. Try and stop it from looking clunky. Realised where I had been going wrong. When you zoom too quickly or place the key frames too close together it makes the movement look clunky and unprofessional. By pulling out the key frames it allows for smooth, graceful movement. Subtle movement gives the illusion that you are stepping into the space. Cinematic film is very slow which makes it powerful.
So to achieve subtle zoom I use the scale key frames and for the cinematic slide I just toggle with the position. Smooth and graceful is key.
Hand reaches down to pick up the heart – slow fade out. Snap to next sequence – hand is now holding the beating heart pendant.
Staring into the heart – what is about to be revealed? Builds tension before the chorus kicks in.
0:24 – On the beat when she says PASSION switches to red colour palette. A slow fade in of the sea footage.
Promotional ideas for Boi. Hands clasped together. Would be cool to have a 3D font with Bath Boi floating inside the letters so its looks like a swimming pool.
Just thinking a mobile phone would be interesting with this concept. A Nokia 3310 from early 00s made up of moving footage of the sea. I can really push this way of working – I’ve not seen it done before. At the start of this project I knew I wanted to combine different ways of working together and I feel like I am achieving that. It has really helped breaking down all the sections of the song and mapping out what imagery and effects would work well with the sound.
Initial sketch idea for the phone – would be great to have the gingham hands meet in the middle of the screen.
Will need to import this into premier – obviously this is a very rough sketch and I will need to think carefully about collaging the different sections of footage onto the phone so I have different directions of the grain to add to this 3D effect. I might not have time to animate this for this project but I have the idea mapped out so will great to experiment over the summer with this technique.
Got the Ocean on speed dial!
Inspired by Inji Seo and her use of animated effects. I made my own with a blend brush. I want to make the jewellery shine. Use a mask so it’s placed within the heart. Omg imagine if I masked the nails so they had water running through them in slow motion. The waves at your fingertips.
Thinking also there should be a fade in and fade out of the plants before the beginning of the bath boi sequence.
Staring into the pendant – we see the sea! The song BOI is about a memory of a relationship. It is about love and loosing someone and coming to terms with loss you regain strength and your own sense of self.
Getting to grips with using the masking tool in after effects. When I tried using this 6 months ago I couldn’t make it work and gave up. Fast forward after many hours of cutting out shapes with the pen tool in photoshop – the pen just glides around the footage without me even thinking about it. This why I love adobe so much – when you learn one skill in one programme you can transfer it to another one seamlessly. This is truly marrying technical skill with vision. Being able to make what is in my head come alive. Careful planning, technique and vision. These would work so well as short sequence animations as part of my instagram portfolio. I love the way it makes me feel when I look at these – the lines between film and drawing are blurred. Moving paintings that feel alive.
Next time I do this – import individual layer of the pearl outline so I can mask underneath that layer for a better fit.
The combination of live footage of Tilda singing the chorus and the animated beating heart works great as a visual. It’s funny because the heart was a complete accident. I was playing around with the keyframes as I wanted to pendant to move from side to side and then when I looped it it was beating in unison with the song. And then I remembered something my rapper friend told me “beats in music is just a heartbeat” – Blink Marlo.
I sent the animations to my friends to gage their reaction. They loved them. They felt the emotion in the song coupled with the visuals. The themes in the song are about strength love and loss.
Development for Bath Boi sequence
Development ideas for the Bath Boi sequence. I like the idea of having bath boi floating in the jewellery. Birds eye view floating across the sea inclosed within the heart pendant. Have different shots of Bath boi from different angles – to build up the feel of the movement.
Taking note of what Greg told me at the Big Active review – reveal your image slowly, don’t give it all away at once. Taking this into account – Snappy shots of about 0.5/1 second. The women are watching bath Boi as he crosses the sea – approaching their island.
Then chorus begins.. I want to make the link of the girls standing watching the sea as me and Tilda – I am dancing around her as she sings the chorus. I have been trying to find a way to blend green screen footage with animated drawings.
Ideas for the Chorus
That sweet alpha channel. Home made greensceen = great results. Bought a couple of meters of green fabric and taped it up in the kitchen. I tried to keep the lighting as even as possible but the key still had some issues with shadow. When it came to adding the sea footage As we couldn’t meet I directed the shoot over FaceTime – telling Tilda how I wanted her to pose and she shot herself on her phone. Making the most of our limitations as we were not able to film with crew.
Using alpha channel to superimpose the profile of bath boi onto the chorus – I love this effect – the shapes look like a face. Faces within a face. Also alludes to the idea that she is in his head. He can’t get her out of his head. The sirens song. But she won’t take him back because he treated her so badly.