MMC401.4 - Motion Graphics

Motion Graphics Research

Below are some video that i thought are great for motion graphics. Not because of the way they look but the combination of images/graphics and sounds used to make them what they are.

These animated icons give a feeling of a motion graphic but they are simple and don’t have much information they are animated very smoothly and the color choice is bright, its very eye catching.

 Very simple flat colors and use of 3D imaginary and making it seem like its stop motion, it could be at some points but other points you can tell 3D was used too. The combination of the two is very impressive and matches together nicely.

Some more videos that couldn't be embedded

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/iron-man-3/

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-last-of-us/

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/device-6/

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/novaya-zemlya/

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs ending credits. how it was made - i found this link to the website where they explain how they created the ending credits to a movie called "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" it very interesting to see how they made it using different layers and planes for the characters and backgrounds, they just use d a combination of Photoshop and after effects essentially, and i think this is the best route i will be able to do in a similar fashion and in know how they did it.

Left Brain vs Right Brain

i have chosen to talk about left vs right brain project and will make it into a motion graphic in after effects. There is some theory behind them matter of the subject.

Have you ever heard people say that they tend to be more of a right-brain or left-brain thinker? From books to television programs, you've probably heard the phrase mentioned numerous times or perhaps you've even taken an online test to determine which type best describes you. Given the popularity of the idea of "right brained" and "left brained" thinkers, it might surprise you learn learn that this idea is just one of many myths about the brain. 

What Is Left Brain - Right Brain Theory?

According to the theory of left-brain or right-brain dominance, each side of the brain controls different types of thinking. Additionally, people are said to prefer one type of thinking over the other. For example, a person who is "left-brained" is often said to be more logical, analytical, and objective, while a person who is "right-brained" is said to be more intuitive, thoughtful, and subjective.

In psychology, the theory is based on what is known as the lateralization of brain function. So does one side of the brain really control specific functions? Are people either left-brained or right-brained? Like many popular psychology myths, this one grew out of observations about the human brain that were then dramatically distorted and exaggerated.

The right brain-left brain theory originated in the work of Roger W. Sperry, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1981. While studying the effects of epilepsy, Sperry discovered that cutting the corpus collosum (the structure that connects the two hemispheres of the brain) could reduce or eliminate seizures.

However, these patients also experienced other symptoms after the communication pathway between the two sides of the brain was cut. For example, many split-brain patients found themselves unable to name objects that were processed by the right side of the brain, but were able to name objects that were processed by the left-side of the brain. Based on this information, Sperry suggested that language was controlled by the left-side of the brain.

Later research has shown that the brain is not nearly as dichotomous as once thought. For example, recent research has shown that abilities in subjects such as math are actually strongest when both halves of the brain work together. Today, neuroscientists know that the two sides of the brain work together to perform a wide variety of tasks and that the two hemispheres communicate through the corpus collosum.

"No matter how lateralized the brain can get, though, the two sides still work together," science writer Carl Zimmer explained in an article for Discover magazine. "The pop psychology notion of a left brain and a right brain doesn’t capture their intimate working relationship. The left hemisphere specializes in picking out the sounds that form words and working out the syntax of the words, for example, but it does not have a monopoly on language processing. The right hemisphere is actually more sensitive to the emotional features of language, tuning in to the slow rhythms of speech that carry intonation and stress."

In one study by researchers at the University of Utah, more 1,000 participants had their brains analyzed in order to determine if they preferred using one side over the other. The study revealed that while activity was sometimes higher in certain important regions, both sides of the brain were essentially equal in their activity on average.

“It’s absolutely true that some brain functions occur in one or the other side of the brain. Language tends to be on the left, attention more on the right. But people don’t tend to have a stronger left- or right-sided brain network. It seems to be determined more connection by connection," explained the study's lead author Dr. Jeff Anderson.

While the idea of right brain / left brain thinkers has been debunked, its popularity persists. So what exactly did this theory suggest?

The Right Brain

According to the left-brain, right-brain dominance theory, the right side of the brain is best at expressive and creative tasks. Some of the abilities that are popularly associated with the right side of the brain include:

• Recognizing faces
• Expressing emotions
• Music
• Reading emotions
• Color
• Images
• Intuition
• Creativity

The Left Brain

The left-side of the brain is considered to be adept at tasks that involve logic, language and analytical thinking. The left-brain is often described as being better at:

• Language
• Logic
• Critical thinking
• Numbers
• Reasoning

So Why Do People Still Talk About Right-Brain, Left-Brain Theory?

Researchers have demonstrated that right-brain/left-brain theory is a myth, yet its popularity persists. Why? Unfortunately many people are likely unaware that the theory is outdated. Today, students might continue to learn about the theory as a point of historical interest - to understand how our ideas about how the brain works have evolved and changed over time as researchers have learned more about how the brain operates. 

While over-generalized and overstated by popular psychology and self-help texts, understanding your strengths and weaknesses in certain areas can help you develop better ways to learn and study. For example, students who have a difficult time following verbal instructions (often cited as a right-brain characteristic) might benefit from writing down directions and developing better organizational skills. The important thing to remember if you take one of the many left brain/right brain quizzes that you will likely encounter online is that they are entirely for fun and you shouldn't place much stock in your results. Source

Decision making

Decisions. Decisions. Each day you make thousands of them. Many — what to eat for breakfast or what to wear to a friend’s party — have few, if any, long-lasting consequences. Others — whether to stay in school or look for work — can have a huge impact on the direction of your life. 

Neuroscientists have long questioned how the human brain makes decisions, from where to gaze to complex moral judgments. Research suggests that the brain considers various sources of information before making a decision. But how does it do this? And why does the process sometimes go awry, causing us to make impulsive, indecisive, and confused decisions — the kinds that can lead to risky and potentially dangerous behaviors? 

Thanks to advances in technology, researchers are beginning to unravel the mysterious processes by which humans make decisions. New research is helping scientists develop:

• A deeper understanding of how the human brain reasons, plans, and solves problems.
• Greater insight into how sleep deprivation, drug abuse, neurological disorders, and other factors affect the decision-making process, suggesting new behavioral and therapeutic approaches to improve health.

Our brains appear wired in ways that enable us, often unconsciously, to make the best decisions possible with the information we’re given. In simplest terms, the process is organized like a court trial. Sights, sounds, and other sensory evidence are entered and registered in sensory circuits in the brain. Other brain cells act as the brain’s “jury,” compiling and weighing each piece of evidence. When the accumulated evidence reaches a critical threshold, a judgment — a decision — is made. 

Where these judgments are made in the brain differs depending on the type of decision. For example, by studying stroke patients, researchers found that different parts of the frontal lobe, an area involved in planning and reasoning, are important in abstract and concrete decisions. People with stroke damage in the front of this brain region had trouble with abstract decisions, such as deciding to wash dishes, whereas people with damage in the back had trouble with concrete decisions, like the selection of physical movements during dishwashing. Other researchers studying monkeys found that decisions based on visual information rely on the parietal lobe, which integrates evidence supplied by the senses. 

In these different brain regions, research shows that decisions result from rapid and complex probability calculations in brain cells called neurons. In one study, monkeys played a video game that required them to determine which of two possible directions a moving display of random dots was headed. If a monkey guessed the direction correctly — by gazing at one of the two targets — it received a reward. As the monkey made its decisions, researchers recorded the electrical activity of neurons in the parietal lobe, and found that it closely correlated with the monkey’s decisions. In fact, the researchers could predict the monkey’s choices based solely on brain cell activity. 

Neuronal activity in the parietal lobe not only accurately predicted the monkey’s choice, but also the certainty with which the decision was made. In addition to trying to select the correct target for a big reward, the monkeys were able to choose a fixed target, which guaranteed a smaller, less desirable reward. When the monkey lacked confidence in its target selection, it chose the sure bet, and the brain cell activity in its parietal lobe changed, suggesting these cells also indicate the monkey’s confidence level.

What happens when we change our minds? Scientists have found that when a decision goes wrong and things turn out differently than expected, the orbitofrontal cortex, located at the front of the brain behind the eyes, responds to the mistake and helps us alter our behavior. Interestingly, researchers have found that cocaine addicts, who are often unable to weigh the rewards of drug use against its costs, show impairments of the orbitofrontal cortex. 

In addition to drug abuse, other factors can cause the decision-making mechanisms in the brain to go awry, leading to risky or even dangerous behaviors. One study found, for example, that losing a full night’s sleep caused people to adopt much riskier-than-normal gambling strategies. Source 

All these findings indicate how much researchers have learned and how much is yet to be learned about how and why we make decisions, one of our most complex and essential human behaviors.

The decision making process of the human brain is a series of connections strung together to come to a final result. The movement happens in a front to back direction, with important components at each level. According to the DANA Foundation, if one part of the decision making process is damaged, the process shuts down stopping the brain’s decision making abilities.

Human behavior also effects the final decision making process, with small influences such as mood, circumstances, and conditions playing a part. The brain sometimes challenges itself, causing arguments amongst its regions when coming to a final decision. Through a series of clever experiments conducted by Princeton University psychologists, participants were challenged with various frustrations when asked to make decisions, such as questionable information, hard to decipher directions, and other influences. Their findings showed that often participants used their emotional, gut-reaction, other than relying on their controlled, rational decision making skills.

No matter how your brain comes to your final decision, take the time to feel good about how you got there. Your brain is a wonderful thing and when you feel positive that you come to making a final conclusion, it benefits making future decisions.

Storyboards
Storyboards are using to help show the motion of the video that has or will be created, they are like sketches or interpretations of the video in a simple form only to be used as a guideline as how the video will look, what scenes and characters will take place and how it all comes together essentially.

Storyboards can come in many shapes and forms, they can be stick man drawings and simple sketches or they can be images that are placed together to show the video form.

We have been asked to create  20 frame storyboard for our motion graphic, i have chosen to have 10 on one image with another final 10 on another, this saves me time and space to show them and i can represent them in a presentable format.

i will be using simple shapes and boxes to show the graphics and what motion they will be going through, i have chosen to do the left vs right brain summer project as a motion graphic and will be adding the graphics to the boxes to show them.

I have added some sketches to the sketch book provided, these i cannot show as i do not have a good camera or scanner to import them into the blog.

here are the first 10 frames of the motion graphic

As you can see i used simple shapes and one colour to represent my ideas, i will be only using shapes as its for the basis of the motion graphic and i do not need actual graphics. its more simpler to work with and as long as i get the storyboard, its fine.

and here it is continuing from the previous 10 frames

as you can see i used arrows to show the direction of my graphics and text the way they come in and fly in.

Since i have done more research i have come across multiple quiz's to find out which mind sided you are, left or right and that gave me an idea to make the video a quiz by the end of it you will fond out which mind sided you are.

http://braintest.sommer-sommer.com/en/

This quiz is nicely presented, i may use the idea behind the quiz to make my own and find more on-line to base mine off.

i have updated my storyboard this is the 3rd version its the quiz version

MMc401.3 - Colour Idioms and Typography

What Are Idioms?

Idioms are phrases, sentences or words that show a meaning that should not be taken literally and are grammatically unusual, such as "It's raining cats and dogs" it does not mean that actual cats and dogs are falling from the sky, the actual meaning behind the sentence is that its raining very heavily.

What Are Colour Idioms?

They are still the same however they involve a colour into the meaning, an example of this is "Tom told a white lie" or "Caught red handed", both involve a colour and are an idiom.

My Chosen idioms

The Idioms I have chosen are what I thought I can make in a graphical way and in a fun way with typography, the ones i have chosen are :

Seeing Pink Elephants 

Meaning: To see things that are only part of ones imagination

Example: The man was seeing pink elephants according to the people listing to his story

Origin: The first recorded use by Jack London in 1913, who describes one kind of alcoholic man in their autobiography, "the man whom we all know, stupid, unimaginative, whose brain is bitten numbly by numb maggots; who walks generously with wide-spread, tentative legs, falls frequently in the gutter, and who sees, in the extremity of his ecstasy, blue mice and pink elephants".

A reference to pink elephants happens in the Disney animated film "Dumbo", it happens in the scene where Dumbo takes a drink of water fro ma bucket that's been spiked with champagne and he begins hallucinating signing and dancing along pink elephants. the segment is known as "Pink Elephants Parade". Pink elephants actually do exist in nature and its possible for the albino elephants to be pink as well as white.

Blue Blood

Meaning: The blood that which flows in the veins of old and aristocratic families.

Example: Joe was of blue blood and he knew didn't know it

Origin: A literal translation of the Spanish 'sangre azul', attributed to some of the oldest and proudest families of Castile, who claimed never to have intermarried with Moors, Jews, or other races. The expression probably originated in the blueness of the veins of people of fair complexion as compared with those of dark skin.

That was certainly the understanding in the 19th century, and there seems little reason to doubt it. In 1834 Maria Edgeworth published 'Helen', which reiterates that opinion:

"[Someone] from Spain, of high rank and birth, of the sangre azul, the blue blood."

Black Sheep of the Family

Meaning: A disreputable or disgraced member of a family

Example: The man was a black sheep of his family, and failed all his classes

Origin: The first record of 'black sheep' can be found in print from an English Puritan who emigrated to America in 1635, the appropriately named Thomas Shepard, in the evangelical text The Sincere Convert, 1640:

Cast out all the Prophane people among us, as drunkards, swearers, whores, lyers, which the Scripture brands for blacke sheepe, and condemnes them in a 100. places.

Once in a Blue Moon

Meaning: Very rarely

Example: I would eat a pizza once in a blue moon

Origin: Very occasionally, the moon actually does appear to be blue. This sometimes occurs after a volcanic eruption, like that of Krakatao in 1883. Dust particles in the atmosphere are normally of a size to diffract blue light, making the moon appear reddish at sunset. Larger volcanic dust particles diffract red light, making the moon appear bluish.

The 'blue moon' expression with the 'impossibility' meaning is old and dates back to mediaeval England; for example, a work by William Barlow, the Bishop of Chichester, the Treatyse of the Buryall of the Masse, 1528, included a sarcastic reference to a blue moon:
Yf they saye the mone is belewe, 
We must beleve that it is true.

Typography

Typography is how you set out the text or words on a design, this can be anything from changing the kerning on them for the spacing to the direction they face, what also can have an impact is how they look to fit the theme. If you are talking about fire for example you don't want to use bubble text to show the information that's not the right type, you want it bold and hot and fitting to the theme as close as possible.

Basic concepts

Here are some of the most important typographic considerations the professional designers needs to take into account:

Size

All typefaces are not created equally. Some are fat and wide; some are thin and narrow. So words set in different typefaces can take up a very different amount of space on the page.

The height of each character is known as its 'x-height' (quite simply because it's based on the letter 'x'). When pairing typefaces - such as when using a different face to denote an area of attention - it's generally wise to use those that share a similar x-height. The width of each character is known as the 'set width' - which spans the body of the letter plus a space that acts as a buffer with other letter.

 Leading

Leading describes the vertical space between each line of type. It's called this because strips of lead were originally used to separate lines of type in the days of metal typesetting.

For legible body text that's comfortable to read, a general rule is that your leading value should be greater than the font size; anywhere from 1.25 to 1.5 times.

Tracking and kerning

Kerning describes the act of adjusting the space between characters to create a harmonious pairing. For example, where an uppercase 'A' meets an uppercase 'V', their diagonal strokes are usually kerned so that the top left of the 'V' sits above the bottom right of the 'A'.

Kerning similar to, but not the same as, 'tracking'; this relates to the spacing of all characters and is applied evenly.

Examples of Typography 

Google

Google

Google

Google

Golden Ratio

There’s a mathematical ratio commonly found in nature—the ratio of 1 to 1.618—that has many names. Most often we call it the Golden Section, Golden Ratio, or Golden Mean, but it’s also occasionally referred to as the Golden Number, Divine Proportion, Golden Proportion, Fibonacci Number, and Phi.


You’ll usually find the golden ratio depicted as a single large rectangle formed by a square and another rectangle. What’s unique about this is that you can repeat the sequence infinitely and perfectly within each section.

If you take away the big square on the left, what remains is yet another golden rectangle. . . and so on.

The Golden Ratio in Art and Architecture

The appearance of this ratio in music, in patterns of human behaviour, even in the proportion of the human body, all point to its universality as a principle of good structure and design.

Used in art, the golden ratio is the most mysterious of all compositional strategies. We know that by creating images based on this rectangle our art will be more likely to appeal to the human eye, but we don’t know why.

Grid Systems

In its most basic terms, a grid system is a structure comprising a series of horizontal and vertical lines which intersect and are then used to arrange content. In other words a grid system is a way of providing a system that designers can work with to structure and present content and imagery in a much more readable, manageable way.

Using a grid system in your designs is one way to achieve a level of consistency that would be otherwise extremely difficult to master and to portray in your designs. Again, uniformity and consistency are key to creating a website that your users will find easy to navigate, read and understand. 

A good user experience is created by engaging with your user and building a sense of familiarity with them - and a grid system helps you to do that by providing a solid base that you can grow your design from.

Created by Me :)

By using a grid system that we were told about in class today, I was able to accomplish this design, without I'm sure I would not have gotten the same or close to as good of a design. I achieved this by creating a grid system by drawing a a thin rectangle vertically and placing it across my canvas I did this again with a lower transparency and went horizontally.

MM101.2 Create a Brand Identity

Introduction

In this assignment we are told to create brand identity for ourselves, to help promote ourselves in the career of our choice. Our identity would help show people what you are about and who you are as a person and what interests you.


I love to make things, anything that is creative and fun is exciting for me to see, when I see other peoples work I don't just see the design/illustration I see it for the time it took them to make it, the dedication they had to put into it and the hardship it may have taken to complete that. I love to be creative and I love creative things, and to put this into a symbol or a logo or even a brand will be tricky but that's what makes it fun.

Research

To do research I will need to look into multiple logos and brands for their identity and try to see how it worked for them, and why and then try to use the same method for myself and try out some ideas for myself, make variations of ideas and see which one is best.

As for the first inspiration I will be talking about some simple logos and what I like and don't like about them, this is to give me a better understanding of what I want from my own logo and the style I want to do.

Created by http://logopond.com/members/profile/showcase/130172

I like the idea and the concept it works well, I like the fact it has the hands of the clock in the tea itself and its also implemented into the lettering of the word "Tea" there is nothing I don't like about it either, as the colours are great and it’s a simple yet effect design. What I can take from this for my own idea is to have a simple but effective design or at least try to have one.

Created by http://logopond.com/members/profile/showcase/109631

The idea for this logo once again is simple and effective by having the logo of seem like simple text that is bold but have the P hole in the shape of a wrench is a great idea. The text is bold and is matching to the theme and is right in masculinity, shape and overall design. I think I will also try to get my brand in the same style to be the logo and the text one in the same.

Created by Unknown

This idea is good, the concept is right and all but the delivery is not too good, it’s a big bulky to be a logo and long in height, if it had to be used on a website header for example it would not fit or would be constrained because of it. So the only critique I have for it is that the shape is off and is unbalanced. I would want my own to be able to fit anywhere, and be a box or rectangle shape to fit anywhere on any medium.

Created by Unknown

This logo idea is fine, it is complex though is when a logo is complex it’s not as easy to recognise and when a company or a business wants a logo they want it to be memorable, recognisable and simple. This is not.

Research Conclusion

In Conclusion for the research, I will want my logo to be simple to remember and is implemented if possible in a way with the text that I will use. I will want it to be a consistent shape and not too long or wide to make it unable to be used on some mediums or spaces, I would if possible want it to be able to work with the text accompanying it. 

Symbols

When you see a symbol, any symbol for that matter a power icon, exit sign or the save icon for the program you are using. They show you the meaning of clicking or using the symbol, without using any text usually and you know what it does. I want that kind of symbolic feel to my brand and make it easily recognisable to that standard.  What I want to show when you see my brand identity is creativity and creation. I need to use a symbol or icon that shows it and is simple in characteristics.

Created by Unknown

What I like about these icons is not just their simplicity but the colours used are not too over whelming or bright, they are consistent and are neutral, I want a simple and maximum of 3 colour for my brand to make it easier to recognise and remember.

Created by Unknown

These symbols just by looking at them you can easily tell what they are for and what reason, most of them can be universal and used anywhere and still show meaning. Things like No Dogs, No entry and so on.

Created by Unknown

These aren't icons or symbols but are pretty cool. I like them because they have round corners and are consistent in shape and symmetry, they are balanced in both design and colour and are simple.

Brand Research

First of all what is a brand? A brand is the identity and the image of the company or business it represents, it is what is emotional about the company and what speaks for as a whole. To have a good brand is to allow your customers know what the company is all about. So why is a brand different from a logo? A logo is not the same as a brand, because a logo is identifying the company or business in its simplest form.

This image should give you a good idea of what a brand, logo and identity is

Created by Unknown

My Brand ideas

For my Identity I will want to use any symbols or shapes to create the identity that I want to represent myself as, I want to show myself as being Creative, Organised and sharp focused. It was hard to implement this all in to a logo for myself. So I used shapes for myself that later I can justify for myself if asked how they represent me.

I have created the logo in illustrator, I have various versions such as the grey and the flat colour designs. This is show I can use it on any designs without making it take too much attention away from the main illustration.

Symmetry in design and illustration

Symmetry in design and illustration 
When working on a design or illustration the key when making certain designs with consistency is the symmetry that it has the designs that work with symmetry in a way for them to work is to have them be consistent in space that the objects/parts of the graphic are apart. a example for this I can give for the following. 


Golden Owl - created by https://www.behance.net/ComfertZoneTrauma

As you can see this owl is symmetrical  and the space for the individual parts of the owl are evenly spaces and apart. it is keeping a consistent design and space for the parts of the own such as the features and wings.

The work we did today was to make our own symmetrical design or illustration in illustrator by creating one half and then grouping the objects and then reflecting them on the opposite side. I didn't know what I was making till I started to see a figure emerging from the random shapes I was placing.

So this is what I ended up making a robot, he has no name but is symmetrical and is consistent in design. I had used a mixture of the basic shapes and the path finder tool to cut shapes and intersect them from one another to create this robot.

MM101.1- Photo narrative sequences

MM101.1 Photography and Narrative

Introduction

The assignment asks for us to do a narrative sequence with photography, there should be at least 24 images for the assignment. A narrative sequence is photography of images, or each image that shows/tells a story.  I will also be talking about a few photographers that have used narrative sequence in their work and try to explain the styles they do it in and how if possible.

What is Narrative Photography?

Narrative Photography is to be able to tell a story with the photos you are taking, a famous quote by Allen Feldman is "the Event is not what happens. the event is that which can be narrated" and in this case its photography.