The “Visual Effects” rotation is the second rotation which I’ll be doing. Our main aim in this rotation is to create cinemagraphs.
After our tutor has given the brief introduction for the “Visual Effects” rotation, we have been asked to create mind maps, researches about our storyboards and brainstorming about our topic which we’ll be working in detail to create cinemagraphs.
I am really excited to work in this rotation because I will learn to use softwares like Nuke, Adobe Premier Pro and Adobe Media Encoder which will be essential in order for me to create cinemagraphs.
About Cinemagraph
Cinemagraph’s are often described as “lively photos”. They are a combination of magical hybrid photography and video. They contain subtle motion that plays in a short, never-ending loop, while the rest of the image remains still. The motion highlights a few seconds from the video, blending it seamlessly into the still photo.
Cinemagraph’s are similar to gif’s, while Cinemagraph’s being a still image with a moving part. Gif’s are fully moving compared to Cinemagraph’s.
Reference: Flixel – Cassandra King, What Is a Cinemagraph and How Do They Work?, Available at: https://blog.flixel.com/what-is-a-cinemagraph-how-do-they-work/ (Accessed: 16th Nov 2020)
Mind Map
As our first task, we were asked to create a “Mind Map” to explore our possible outcomes. While listening to the brief, I have thought about doing my morning routine as my cinemagraph topic. So, I have decided to explore every possible way of creating it.
Mornings are usually my favourite time of the day as I love to take a hot shower and eat a delicious breakfast. I usually eat avocado spread and eggs toast, and a Philly cheese spread on top of raspberry & strawberry jam. My other option of breakfast is simple eggs such as scrambled or omelettes. My third option is a more simple one which is greek yoghurt with granola on top. I usually eat this if I’m going to school in the morning or If I do have an online class.
History of Breakfast
Before getting directly into my work, I had thought about breakfast as my research topic. Since our childhood, our parents usual get angry if we do not eat breakfast or not eat it properly. I never thought the reason of why did they used to say it like that to us when we were small kids so I had the urge to research it in this rotation class.
Breakfast is around us for a long time, just like other meals it is the first one to happen after our day starts. It is actually to be said that breakfast has officially started around the world in “Late Stone Age(Neolithic)”. Around these times, Neolithic people used large stones to grind grains to make some sort of porridge. Porridge was also known as the staple of “Roman Soldiers” diets, they called it “Pulmentus“.
The breakfast that we are all familiar with started around the 19th century, when some middle- classed men started to work regular hours in offices. Prior to that, people would often work around a few hours and then eat their meals at around 10 am.
Wives and kitchen staff would usually serve these 19th commuters a two-course meal that would often begin with porridge and then completing it with what we call “The English Breakfast”. It would contain toast and eggs with bacon or fish. But towards the end of the first World War, lighter breakfast choices have appeared as it was not referred as “English Breakfast”.
Eating breakfast in general had become a more elegant move in the 19th century, at least in well-off households. Around 1861, Book of Household Management, Isabella Beeton suggested a daily breakfast buffet which included a cold joint of meat, game pies, broiled mackarel, sausages, bacon and eggs, muffins, toast, marmalade, butter, jam, coffee and tea.
Towards the end of 1800’s, a backlash against Beeton’s diets have appeared. Groups like “7th Day Adventists” protested that meat-based breakfasts were leading to ill health. Over the next few decades, pioneers like John Kelogg, W.K Kelogg, Henry Perky and C.W Post developed “ready to eat” breakfasts that would become a quick and efficient choice for people all around the world.
Around 20th century, cereals and muesli type food were being invented in Europe. Also, with the invention of cereals, women who has entered the workforce no longer had to cook a full meal in the mornings. Children had the option to prepare meal for themselves.
As the years went on by, varied food options for breakfast emerged all around the world. Now, despite the options available, people do not have enough time to take a breakfast.
I really founded this article about the history of breakfast really entertaining and interesting because I never thought porridge was actually the inventor of breakfast.
Reference: Breakfast Cereal Information Service, History of Breakfast, Available at: https://www.breakfastcereal.org/assets/uploads/files/00579-history-of-breakfast.pdf (Accessed: 17th Nov 2020)
Test Shots
After I have researched about the “History of Breakfast”, I have moved on to the next step, which is taking my test shots of my storyline. I have downloaded the application called “Pro Cam 8” to take my shots. This application covers professional aspects of framing and shooting pictures / videos compared to other applications so I have decided to download this one.
As for my first shots, I have decided to go on with taking the sky from my dorm room. After I get out of the bed, the first thing which I do is to control what the weather is like. I am imagining of moving the clouds to create my cinemagraph. I have explored and experimented different exposures and light tricks while taking my shots, happy with how they turned out.
Moving on, I have taken shots of my shower. Usually I take a hot shower every single morning after I wake up. I really love to take shower in the morning because If I’m sleepy it wakes me up and boosts my energy for the rest of the day. Again, I have explored different exposures for these shots as well.
For the next step, I have taken shots of my breakfast time. I usually eat avocado spread & eggs on top and Philly cheese & jam on top combination.
Before I was going to prepare my toasties, I have decided to create a stopmotion animation to cover up all of the steps. I am really proud of what I have created as I wanted my reflect what I possibly want to create as for my cinegraph shots.
Just like the other shots, I have taken it on the “Pro Cam 8” application through my phone. I have tried to cover all of the possible light exposures.
As an iteration of my “toast” shots, I have asked myself “What would it look like If I have drawn it digitally?” So, I have given it a try. I have tried to observe and draw my toasties with my drawing tablet on my computer. I am really proud of how it turned.
Other than toast, I really like to eat greek yoghurt with granola on top. I usually eat this type of food when I have a class because it is really quick to prepare and quick to eat. To create something different rather than my other shots, I have decided to play with the saturation of each shot. I absolutely loved how it turned out.
After I have completed my shots, I have tried to observe and draw my yoghurt bowl as well. I personally think this one is good in terms of drawing but I prefer the toast drawing compared to this one.
Storyboarding
As my next step, I have started to plan my storyboard. First, I have sketched everything on my sketchbook. I have drawn 7 frames in total. While planning, I have tried to reflect every single stage according to my “Morning Routine”.
First, my storyboard starts with me getting out of the bed so I have drawn my bed with the blanket slightly messy in order to reflect my action of “waking up”.
Then, I have sketched out the sky, which is because I always check out what the weather is like after waking up.
Then, I have sketched 2 frames in the bathroom. The first one is the sink frame, which I wash my face and brush my teeth.
The second frame covers up the shower part, which I almost take a shower every day.
Moving on, the rest of the frames are all related with the action of taking a breakfast. First frame covers up me frying the eggs.
The second part covers up the toast frame, where I have a full image of my toasties ready to eat.
The final frame is about the yoghurt with granola, I have sketched it in this way to reflect that I always change what I eat.
Storyboard Collage
After I have managed to finish my sketches about my storyboard, I have moved on to the next step which is exporting my sketches onto real images. So, I have taken 7 photos with my phone by using the app “Pro Cam 8” according to the sketches that I have made. After I have finished taking the photos, I have converted each photo onto a collage to resemble what my storyboard will actually look like.
Cinemagraph Making
After I have covered up every process in the making, the time has come for me to create cinemagraphs. I have watched every single tutorial which our tutor has shared with us and started to create my own cinemagraph from scratch. As my first cinemagraph I have moved on with the “eggs frying in the pan”.
I have tried to cover up everything from the tutorials so I had spent a lot of time trying to understand about the program “Nuke”. At first, it was really hard to keep up and manage to do even a simple thing because there are a lot of different hotkeys and specialities in the program. After a while, I have created my nodes in Nuke and started to put keyframes on to my image. By this way, I have created a simple yet fascinating cinemagraph. Since it was my first try, I didn’t expected to be really good but in my opinion I still managed to get a pretty decent cinemagraph.
Since we are learning remotely, I had some errors and mistakes like saving the file in the wrong place etc. but covered them up as the time went on by. As for my first try, I believe I did a good job.
After I have completed my first cinemagraph, I have moved on to the next one which is the “washing hands” image. Unlike the first one, I didn’t encounter problems with the nodes this time but I was still confused with how the keyframes and the whole animation process works. So, I have watched our tutor’s tutorial for about 10 times and other tutorials as well to check if I’m doing something wrong. At last, I have managed to get the animation working.
I have put a lot of keyframes to this image because I couldn’t animate it as I wanted in the beginning.
Then, I have moved on to the next cinemagraph which is “waking up”. I have decided to animate the quilt part. I am really proud of how it did turn.
As for my fourth cinemagraph, I have used the image “taking a shower”. I have tried to animate the water part from the head of the shower and also the body washer sponge.
Moving on, as for my fifth cinemagraph I have chosen the “yoghurt with granola” image. I have decided to animate the yoghurt part for this cinemagraph. I really liked the ending result.
Before the final cinemagraph, I have completed the “sky with clouds” image. While showing my work to my tutor he has informed and gave me feedback about moving the clouds. After he has told me that it can be hard to move clouds in Nuke I got a bit confused about whether I should animate it or not. But after trying, I have managed to move mine. It has a small animation and the person who is viewing it needs to pay attention to the clouds in order to see it.
As for my final cinemagraph, I have done the “egg & avocado and philly on jam toasties”. I have decided that I’ll be moving the jam part for this cinemagraph. I have tried to make it look like it’s dripping down the toastie. I am happy with how it turned in the ending.
Since I have finished all of my cinemagraphs, now it’s time for the rendering process in “Adobe Premier Pro”.
Rendering in Adobe Premier Pro
As for my final process in this rotation, I have moved on to the rendering process in “Adobe Premier Pro”. This program is really useful to render movies together as it is really simple to use. After exporting my cinemagraph videos from Nuke, I have exported them onto Premier Pro. After I have exported everything which I have made onto the program, I have arranged them onto a sequence.
The moment when I was sure I got the right sequence, I have exported it as a video. Now, I got all of my cinemagraphs in one video.
My “Morning Routine” cinemagraph video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJuf1ib7bRQ&feature=youtu.be
I am really happy to take part in this rotation as I have learned how to use new programs such as Nuke, Adobe Media Encoder and Adobe Premier Pro. But most importantly, I have learned how to create a cinemagraph!