Ambition
“A strong desire to do or achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.”
Cinema 4D, After Effects, Illustrator
OVERVIEW
The Goal
The motion design thesis at Ringling has a three-part structure, those of which being Explore, Evoke, and Educate. For my thesis, I set out on a mission to try a style that I had never done before. I wanted to create something out of my comfort zone, and see if I could implement that style into a message that might connect with its viewers. Evoking emotion can be a powerful thing and this project’s goal is just that. What kind of connection can we create with those that watch? Is there a way that we can evoke an emotional response with the use of a single idea?
OVERVIEW
Beginning Tests/Exploration
Production
The Idea
When initially brainstorming different emotions and ideas, I struggled to find one that I was happy with. I eventually pulled from my personal thoughts and experiences and landed on a message that I felt was relatable to many people. As kids people are always asking us what we want to be when we are older. I wanted to take this further, and create a message of inspiration that challenged viewers to be themselves no matter what they choose to do. There is so much out there that it doesn’t matter what job you hold as long as you stay true to yourself and do what you love.
As a style, I wanted to explore what I could create in a 3D space, with only the use of flat shapes and panels. At first I chose this as a creative limitation to put on myself so I would be forced to come up with some things I had never thought of before. It then evolved into a stronger connection that held some meaning within the story. Towards the beginning of the project, the flat panels symbolized the barriers we have to break through to get the career we want, but later down the road it was shifted more into a journey that we take to decide what the path is for us. So starting off I chose one career and created a mini spot. The purpose of this spot was to test out different techniques so I could find out what to carry over into my main piece.
EVOKE
My initial storyboards laid out what I was originally thinking. Some elements made it all the way through to the end, while others didn’t fit the overall piece. The story evolved over time to just use simple representative imagery.
Storyboards
Storyboards
Moving into the main project, I selected the most common responses to a survey I handed out, as well as a few select others. I then created frames that I felt represented each career.
Lighting
PROCESS
In order to create this style, I first thought of the specific items that I wanted to represent each career. Once I had one in mind, I brought some reference images into Adobe Illustrator and converted them into splines that separated the objects into multiple shapes. I then brought these splines into Cinema 4D, extruded them, and implemented layering and booleans to get the effect I wanted. From there, i worked to line everything up in space to create interesting transitions and stylized frames that were all interconnected.
The lighting for this particular piece is very simple. At first I worked to create a three point lighting system, but found that the lighting became too complicated for the flat objects that I was using. We found that just using a single light was plenty of light information for each scene. A plane was added with a white diffuse texture, in order to create bounce light.
Stitching Everything Together
Having a complex structure that is all connected required me to create special transitions throughout the animation. In order to achieve this, I rendered certain sections a second time without certain elements, and cross-faded them together so that I could decide when the next section came in. These two images represent the same frame, one with more elements than the other
All that was left, was lining everything up in After Effects, and doing final global color corrections and type additions. This allowed me to create masks for certain effects, as well as adding in my end credits at the end of the piece.
I think the biggest struggle I had with this project was the design itself. It progressed tremendously over time, but the limitation of using flat objects in a 3D space was challenging for me at first. I realized that the frames didn’t have to be so complex in order to work, and that led to the simplification of my objects which got better after every revision. As an overview of the project, I think creating these limitations for myself and trying a style I wasn’t comfortable with, helped me tremendously. I struggled of course, but in the end I think I learned so much from it. I encourage everyone to try putting their own limitations on their projects, and see what they can create! You never know what might come out of it!