Sunday 12 August 2012

Final piece


See Life from Link Li on Vimeo.

This is a graduation work of my postgraduate study at the University of Dundee
The aim of this work is to explore the technique of combining motion graphics with live action and explore how to express emotion and narrate story by using the technique, and what kind of visual experiences it can bring to audiences.
I shoot all the video sequences in Victoria Park of Dundee to memorize this wonderful place.

Music: Hanabi by Neko-logic http://soundcloud.com/neko-logic/

Msc Animation & Visualization
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design

Saturday 9 June 2012

Daily Motion 0609


Another wonderful creature I don't know its name.

Daily Motion 0608


This is a jellyfish I created for my project. The tentacle's movement looks good, it's not perfect for simulate the real jellyfish but I'm fairly satisfied with it.

Thursday 7 June 2012

Screenshot


Here is a screenshot of my work. I did some very special creatures these few days. It's not just for fun at all, maybe you will see them in my final footage. But so far they just played a testing role of the compositing.

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Color correction






There are some previews about the color correction and post production works I did in After effects.
Firstly I reduced those unexpected noise which are appeared in my video by using the plugin called denoier. Then I tweak the color to what I want it to be, more cinematic style. At last I add a few noise on the video to make it looks more dramatic. Of course the dark corner is always needed.

Now you will see the contrast between original picture and the processed one. I like the effect.

Thursday 3 May 2012

Daily motion reel



This is a short reel for my daily motion project from January to April 2012.
From January I started to push myself to practice my skills on cinema 4d and accumulate ideas through complete the daily motion project.
Because I'm now working on my master project, so I don't have much time to do this for everyday. But I'll keep on doing it. I really learned a lot of stuff and skills from it and I'm very appreciate to those who helped me.
Special thanks to Nick Campbell, Robert Leger, Mostyle(Kay) and Simon Holmedal for all of your cool tutorials!
And thanks to Takuya Hosogane for big inspiration!
Enjoy it!

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Decomposition of the soundtrack

These days I'm working on how to decompose the piece of music which will be used as my soundtrack.

The animation I'm going to do is describe the music through motion graphics. It seems like paint something while listen to the music, and the things I draw is what I imagined, and I have to show a variety of timbres and rhythm by the movement of graphs. Because my project isn't a traditional animation work so there isn't a clear storyline in my animation. My storyboard cannot be made by using traditional ways. Actually all of my animation in this project is basing on the soundtrack.

So where I should start? How can I draw a storyboard without a clear storyline? In the beginning I tried to separate the music into few pieces. And then I listened each piece and repeated it again and again. At meanwhile I tried to draw something on the paper to record all the image which were fleeted in my mind. However I found this is too hard. And then I got an idea, I decompose the music in an application called Audio. I detach every single timbre I could hear from the soundtrack and organize all the same timbres into one single group. And then I got many groups with different timbre.

Here is the screenshot. The green track on the top row is the original music and there are seven tracks with different color under the green one. They are the pieces I detached from the music. Each of them contained certain timbre in it and each kind of same timbre will be set into a single group ( track ). Therefore you can understand here is seven different timbres in the entire track.

From now I can have a visual cognition on this music. I can see how these different sound composed the whole track. For example in the first part the focal point is the guitar's sound and from the 40 seconds the sound of keyboard appeared regularity. I can have a intuitive sense about it.

I think this is a good entry point for my project. I can see the structure and I can see what kind of the sound is the leading role in certain part. So next I have to figure out how to express these sounds by using different stuff and what kind of movement will be appropriate for certain sounds to make people feel good when they connect the visual part and the auditory part.

Abstract_V2



Exploring the issues around combining motion graphics with live action

Motion graphics, as a new form of graphic design was born in the 1950s. Since the 1960s, due to the advancements in digital technology, a huge change emerged in the industry of animation and film with the development of computer animation. The boom had also affected the field of motion graphics. It became possible for a Graphic Designer to change his or her role into a Motion Designer with the newly evolved tools of moving image.

A large number of excellent motion graphic works have emerged and the applications of motion graphics have become more widely used. In the era of which special effects and compositing technology become more and more advanced, the technique of combining animation and live action is already maturing, and has already been applied to a large number of film and advertising productions. In such a context, motion graphics, as a branch of animation, is also beginning to combine with live action.

This article focuses on discussion around the technique of combining motion graphics with live action. I will explore how to express emotion and narrate story by using the technique, and what kind of visual experiences it can bring to audiences. I will also analyze the difference between motion graphics and traditional animation by documenting the approaches and process of my own practice, which will be a music video, made using this technique. Moreover, I will ask questions for some unresolved issues at the end.

Sunday 26 February 2012

Abstract

Application of combining motion graphics with live action in commercials

Motion graphics, as a new form of graphic design was born in 1950s, during the development of animated film title. In that time, motion graphics was mainly used in experimental film and film title sequence. Since the 1960s, due to the advancements in digital technology, a huge change was emerged in the industry of animation and film. With the development of the technology, computer animation gradually on the rise. The boom had also affected the field of motion graphics. It is possible that a graphics designer could change their role into a motion designer with the tools of evolution. A large number of excellent motion graphic works have emerged and the applications of motion graphics have become more widely. Have a look around, TV idents, film titles and credits, tablet computers, smartphones, advertising displays on TV screens, motion design is already omnipresent. In the era of which special effects and compositing technology get perfect, the technique of combining animation and live action is already maturing, and has already been applied to a large number of film and advertising productions. In such a context, motion graphics, as a branch of animation, has gradually been tried to combine with live action. This article focused on discussion around the technique of combining motion graphics with live action. I will explore how to express emotion and narrate story by using the technique in commercials, and what kind of visual experience it convey to audiences. I will also analyze what is the difference between motion graphics and traditional animation by document the approaches and process of my own practice, which will be a music video, made by this technique. Moreover, I will ask questions for some unresolved issues at the end.

Saturday 18 February 2012

Genetic landscape's model

 These few days I'm working on a genetic landscape's model project. My classmate Mhari  working on her placement module and she need a model to express the movement of genetic. So she asked me if I can rebuild the movement in 3d application and make a motion graphic piece like the picture A in the below. I'm very happy to complete this work for her. After solved some technique issue, I got the finally result which Mhari and  me are both satisfied. 
  
pic A