Tunnel Vision - Task 3

This task has been a culmination of experimentation, frustration, learning mountains and learning milestones. It has been by far the most enjoyable course I have taken in the QCA Masters Program. It did require a lot of commitment to the materials but they were well organised and accessible at every point. NOTE: You need massive storage for this course. Task 3 was so open and experimental and I enjoyed seeing everyone else's approach. 

It wasn't until the last few weeks that I came up with a loose outcome for task 3 myself and realised that my methodology was being led by my practice-based learnings. I had no idea and all the ideas at the same time. As mentioned in the earlier pages I was struggling with an ear infection that escalated to become an urgent and critical condition. I think my final movie does reflect the moods and emotions of the last semester, the fears and frustrations and the eclectic mix of life. It is chaos inside my head and I have managed to make a rough and patched together visual of just how I am feeling. Tunnel vision is something I don't experience often (see below for title justification) but the circumstance was driving me to the outcome. I was using programs out of my comfort zone... trying to take on new and learn new applications every week and develop a critical thinking approach to my unknown. ​​​​​​​

Process - Where and what do I start with. So many different media and software I was unsure of what to start with as a base. I did revert to a storyboard a few weeks in but this then was abandoned as it became clear I couldn't create footage to enact it. I wanted to make the graphics my focus and the primary storytelling component, however, in week 10 it was suggested I do this at the very end so these then unintentionally became secondary and only supportive of the narrative. They were collateral of an iterative and experimental process.

Learning AfterEffects - I am still trying to navigate this software. I feel it will be extremely useful. It works like excel in a horizontal and vertical interface simultaneously which is something I can't understand easily. I would have liked to run this through after effects properly from the start as a linked file. 

Foley - I wanted to create all my own foley/sound effect. This proved problematic - just like bad lighting can destroy an image - background noise can destroy a sound sample. I have issues in the 'Deer' gif where the overlay sound effects are slightly too loud but this was the outcome of removing background noise. 

Learning Curves - I had to undertake so many new software programs. It was extremely overwhelming at first. The filing alone and understanding how they all link is huge. I have a general understanding of Adobe programs - those who don't might have struggled more. New to me - Lightroom, Adobe Audition, Adobe Premiere, Media Encoder, Adobe AfterEffects, WAV sound editing software. Pebblepad

PebblePad - How to suck hours out of your day. This was a time-consuming and frustrating platform. It was the LAST thing I wanted to engage with each week. It is not a designers platform.

Please see pebblepad for my technical issues. Most I overcame with tutorials or using photoshop workarounds

Learning Curves - I had to learn the software and so pleased I did. I know Premier much much better and will continue to use it. I feel now I might actually be able to navigate AfterEffects a little more

Experimental Opportunity - never in Industry could I play and make so many mistakes. This was fun. A project was undertaken to learn and experience

Course Content - So many inspirational sources that I will continue to use and take forward. I have not touched on storytelling in my blog although it was certainly in my mind  - but certainly, this course will enable be to be able to create more visual stories for my clients. 

Peers - I love to meet the other creatives - the chance to see how my classmates approached and created work was fantastic. 

I decided to call it Tunnel Vision - The tunnel into the ear and the constant reference to eyes made this a suitable and abstract title. The intention is that people can interpret it as they need too. I'm not sure this is what happens because when I sent it out to friends and family to test they responded that it was weird and wanted to know what it meant. The real title of this is Inner Ear Infection but I can't put that on youtube. If I titled it Anxiety or Insanity... or even childhood memory I think people would be more content.

The premise of the narrative is simple. A glimpse inside the mind - we open with anonymous girl/ shielding her face - what is she hiding? ashamed of? - we enter her mind through a spiral to hear her breathing - is she calming herself? is she worried or spiralling out of control? why? we hear laughter and abstract sounds and images. There are references to water, submerged, drowning, overwhelmed, waves of emotion, diving deep. There are eyes throughout representing the soul, imagination and reminding us that this is emotive and sureal. Colour changes and sudden cuts are meant to make the viewer curious and unsettled. There is a 'role shot' moving upwards designed to transition the viewer suddenly into a space of memory and reflection. There are shadows that have much power in portraying fear, judgement and others. The experience is supposed to be confusing and represent a distorted reality....there are many subtle metaphors and layers that have no real significance on their own but when seen as a thought process or as the internal workings of a mind - they can in context gain greater meaning of insanity, mental health, dream state or imagination. The story takes us in and then back out. I have used repetition of both breath and spiral and opening shot. This takes us on the journey and back to the beginning. The viewer is left wondering what they just witnessed and what it all means.  

My Final project was exported at 1:53 am on Sat the 16th of October - The day before it was due. I just kept adding and changing and adjusting. It was never going to be perfect and to the detriment of my blog, I had so many iterations I just couldn't capture them all.  

I am happy with the technical skills I developed - there are many mistakes and issues in my final movie that I would address with more time. I am happy with the gritty and unpolished nature and I was extremely happy with the sound even though I would have liked to have more control in areas over the levels and background noise. It is open to interpretation and evidence that iteration and experimentation can lead a project outcome. 

Huge Thanks to Peter and my peers for the inspiration and clarifications - especially Chris who kept me company with a coffee before class each week.