THE BRIEF
The brief was to create a VFX composition (by way of Photo Manipulation).
Initially I was going to make a book cover. The idea was to have a crack between a financially wealthy child, and a financially struggling child. I decided against this idea after doing research and instead made an awareness poster/social commentary on the same subject. Instead of having 2 children I decided to focus on one who would be a victim of her surroundings.
This is an environmental and societal inspired social commentary on what is happening in the world and how it is affecting the next generation (children)
I wanted to focus on pollution and the distinction between the 'haves' and 'have nots' demonstrated by a child in order to create more pathos.
I wanted to communicate to the viewer that this child is suffering due to what is being done to the environment around her. By her wearing a gas mask communicates the sense of toxicity in the scene as well as the spiky and poisonous plants surrounding her and plastic bottles on the ground.
Variations & Mockups
I experimented with the texture and contrast using the ‘camera raw' setting.
I made sure to add a lot of texture and sharpen the scene. As well as altering the temperature and curves to add in a yellow tint, to try and give the scene a ‘colder’ look.
I asked on Instagram if people thought it looked realistic and they agreed. I asked my classmate and he suggested adding some kind of print to show her journey across, inviting more pathos. As it would help even more to paint her as a ‘lone survivor’ of the calamity that is taking place behind her. Also to show she is trying to get away from it and the storm.
I experimented with using the brush tool or an adjustment layer for the overlay of the green.
For the overlay, I used green and then put the blending options onto ‘overlay’.
I like the effect that the overlay has on the scene as opposed to just the brush tool overlay (shown in the next slide) where I used it with the red and orange ground.
I experimented with using the brush tool or an adjustment layer for the overlay of the red.
For the overlay, I played with the blending options, I used ‘colour dodge’ to get the ‘burnt red’ type of look.
I then used the soft brush tool and painted onto another layer for the slight orange-ish colour further back. Then I added the smoke on top and changed the colour using hue and saturation and played with the brightness with curves
Feedback:
Production Dailies
Dailies are meetings where each morning, project members meet-up to share their work in its current state. The purpose is to make sure they’re moving in the right direction and to get feedback from the director, client, producer or supervisor.
FEEDBACK GIVEN BY ME TO A CLASSMATE
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM
I’m not sure if the ‘fantasy’ element is quite conveyed enough. The ‘glow’ of the mushroom doesn’t seem very clear. Maybe add more stars or glows to help with the ‘magical/fantasy’ feel. I think, also the background could be slightly more clearer or even have a slight glow to it, so that It would tie with the rest of the picture. Perhaps you could look into ‘framing’ as the edges seem to fade away a bit, especially on the left hand side. The mushroom and the person are a little sharp. Not sure if the person completely looks like a ‘lost girl’ if that was the intention. the background could benefit from a few things being lit up on the edges slightly so that it is not suddenly so dark
POSITIVE FEEDBACK
I like the realistic yet slight fantasy feel that this art has to it. It reminds me of a scene in a film or a poster about fairies and the like, which I think would appeal to your target audience. The composition is quite nice. The mushroom and person are nicely in focus. The highlights on the rock and flower works well to make it look like they are receiving light from the scene. In terms of thumbnail effectiveness, this works quite well for the mushroom, especially with the colouring.
THEIR PHOTO MANIPULATION
DESCRIPTION
This is a lost girl in a glowing mushroom forest, this was supposed to be a scene pitch for a company who make films. The target audience was people who enjoy fantasy films of the age 10-30
FEEDBACK GIVEN TO ME BY A CLASSMATE
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM
As for the negative parts the use of cracks on the House of parliament looks very unnatural looks like it's just been slapped on it doesn’t seem to have any impact on the building, as for the grass it's just seems copy and pasted, there should be variation of grass as they don’t all look the same. The smoke coming from the building looks unnatural and doesn't seem to blend with the environment same with the mask of the little child.
POSITIVE FEEDBACK
The compassion is amazing a well balanced image, every part of your image has enough detail in pretty much all areas, the colour is very well done for both images i love the use of hot colours on the 1st image and makes the environment seem fiery as for the 2nd image the green definitely matches the theme of your poster the lovely use of green give the poster a feel of a post apocalyptic world full of radiation. The use of smoke also gives the posters an atmosphere of eeriness, mystery and toxicity.
WHAT I DID IN RESPONSE
BEFORE
AFTER
I took his advice and changed the appearance of the plants, so that they wouldn’t look as copy and pasted. I also added an adjustment layer onto it (hue and saturation) to make the further away plant match the environment colours more.
Instead of having a big crack in the Big Ben which Daniel said (and I agree) looks unrealistic. I instead made many little cracks and erased some of the clock as well as the Houses of Parliament using the ‘stamp’ tool
Text:
Mockups
These are some different experiments I did, in relation to the social media feedback that I received, as well as my own experiments. I played around with the perspective of the word ‘toxicity’ however I didn’t really like the look it gave, as it took away from the rest of the scene. Out of all of these I most liked the last one as I felt that it matched with the environment while still standing out. So it would not only appeal to my audience, but also it would make sense with the whole scene.
I made these different experiments with the text ‘toxicity’. The first poster is the original with the drop shadow taken off. For the second I added colouring to the words and took off the stroke.
I like the look of this one. However I asked some people and they agreed but also said that the colours fade into the background too much. I have decided to keep the effect but add a light stroke to it, as from a distance (as a poster) It would need to be outlined or noticeable enough.
This is the result after I took on the feedback that I received. I think that this effect on the type blends in more with the environment whilst also standing out, which will appeal to my audience more.
Final
Posters
This is the final green poster for this VFX photo manipulation unit.
I am quite satisfied with how this has turned out. I would have liked to develop the ‘future generation’ text some more as well as the pathos created with the child.
This is the final red poster for this unit. I think that the small sparks work better with this, perhaps because of the light, than they do with the green poster.
I think that I could have worked more on the ‘toxicity’ text to make it more different to the first green poster’s text, in order to give more variety.
Why is VFX used in the advertising industry?
This advert seems to be advertising some glasses, however, the way that they are portraying them isn’t in the usual way that say, specsavers would, instead, here this advert is saying that their glasses can make even the most ‘confusing’ paintings or visuals, seem crystal clear, this has been portrayed by having the lens of the glasses over the face of Vincent Van Gogh, with the lens is showing, being considerably clearer than the rest of the painting, making the painting seem more like a photograph.
This is perhaps playing with the concept of having a photographic memory, except in this case, they are saying that their product ‘glasses’ give the wearer 2020 vision so that even a painting seems as ‘clear’ as a photograph
This immediately gives the company ‘Keloptic’ a superior viewing feel, as it seems that their products can give the viewer the ability to see more than someone who doesn’t need glasses.
By having the subject that the glasses are looking at, in the centre, immediately lets the viewer know that this is their focal point, the next focal point is the glasses which is the first thing the viewer would see, and then go on to look at what the glasses are ‘looking at’.
The biggest point in this advert is the clarity that the viewer can ‘expect’ when they wear the glasses, although it is quite exaggerated, by using the concept of the wearer seeing the painting as a photograph is more realistic, as the point isn’t the fact that they are actually seeing a painting morph into a photo, but they are saying that ‘wearing these glasses, you will see something as perhaps confusing and interpretational as a painting as clear as though it were a photograph on the wall’, using the photo as the result and the painting as the source of this simile
There are other things about this advert, subtle things for example in the original painting of Van Gogh (opposite) his beard his an orangey colour, whilst around him is a mass of mellow blue swirls, the designer seemed to use this to their advantage by making a number of things: the swirls can connote confusion and chaos, the antidote is the glasses lens which shows clearly the painting/photograph the viewer with see, so their sanctuary is the middle of the painting which shows the clear face, in graphic design as well, one of the rules is that there must be some white space, this not only creates a hierarchy but also can help to accentuate the main focus point, in this advert however, they have used that rule to their benefit to again point to the clarity on the face of the focus subject, also in terms of colours, the colours that are similar to red (orange) we tend to notice first due to survival reasons, (it can convey danger) and so the designer has taken this into consideration.
Using Composition Rules
1. My eye is first drawn to the face of the character on the left, within the face I immediately look at the eyes. Humans tend to look at the face of characters first, this is perhaps due to human instincts, we want to know if this is a friend or foe.
2. After looking at the face and eyes, I notice the sword which is ‘pointing’ to the face, I notice this perhaps because it is a weapon of some kind, so again perhaps due to human instincts.
3. Next, I notice the title of the poster I am looking at. Not only is it in capitals but is also in bold.
4. Straight after noticing the title I look to the left hand side of the poster and focus on the character at the bottom. The light on their face is also a factor that helps to draw my eyes towards it.
5. After noticing the characters on the left hand side, my eyes go towards the red at the top of the poster. Red as a hue is the first colour that a baby can see. Red is a survival colour (due to blood) so the human eye tends to notice this colour quite quickly. The fact that it is glowing helps to attract the eyes as well.
The main leading lines in this poster are the ones that are pointing to the main character.
The characters on the left hand side are also indirectly pointing to the main character as their eyes are going in her direction. As a viewer we are inclined to follow the eyes of other humans on the screen as we want to know what has their attention- what they are looking at.
Another subtle leading line is the one located at the bottom of the poster of the setting of the film (the house/s).
It is done in a clever way as the peaks of the roof are pointing upwards towards the main character. This is also a clever design as the positioning of the buildings at the bottom are done so that they can be pointing upwards, towards the main character.
The other leading line that I have noticed is the sword/weapon that the main character is carrying. It is directly pointing towards the character, however it has been done in a clever way because the positioning may not be a place that the viewer is thinking of looking at when they first glance at the poster.
In terms of the rule of thirds, the main attractants of this poster are located at the top and the bottom.
The first attractant is the main character that is quite big and located at the right hand of the poster between the first and third grid.
This positioning helps the viewer to notice this character quite quickly, as well as conveying that they are a person of importance.
The lower half of the poster is predominantly made up of the title and the setting of the film.
In terms of the proportions of this poster, the top half has been designed to make it more noticeable and consequently would have more importance due to the sizing and positioning.
With the lower half consisting of the setting of the film (or what the poster is advertising) shows that although the setting is important (hence it is in the poster in the first place) it isn’t as important for the viewer to know, as the character herself, then next comes the other key characters located on the left hand side of the poster.
