EXHIBITION//

                   

The Scenic Route from Thomas Lord on Vimeo.

BLURB BOOK//

My Blurb Book arrived in the post today, just in time for my exhibition tomorrow evening. I am really pleased with the overall quality of the prints. The combination of layouts works really well and provides a more interesting read. I am glad I opted for the premium matte paper and hard cover as I think this creates a more professional looking product.

This book will be placed on a shelf infront of my exhibition prints, this will provide people with a bit more context and enable them to understand my thinking throughout the project. It will also allow them to see the variety of media I used that didn't get printed for the exhibition.

VIDEO EDITING//

I decided to edit my video in iMovie as it would be a quicker process, and I didn't need any intricate editing tools. I was only stiching my clips together and cropping them down to create the short edits which corresponded with the music. I already had the first 30 seconds from my first draft, but I decided I wanted to change the song. This required me to make some small tweaks so the edits tied in with the beat of the song. The music is key to creating the right atmosphere and vibe of the video. I wanted the video to come across as relaxed and enjoyable. So I chose two relativley low tempo songs. These were "Clams Casino - Realist Alive" and " Tycho - A walk". I chose to use both instrumentals, as I knew I wanted the songs to divide the piece in to two sections, I didnt want the words to disrupt this change over. Both songs had a mellow feel but with a clear bassline, this was important to me as this would emphasize my edits between clips. The Song choice was definitely influenced by the style of music which was played throughout "Aimless" I wanted a mellow instrumental which represents the freedom and release you get when you ride/skate.

When editing my footage, for the most part I reduced the background noise on the clips, apart from when the bike came close to the camera as I think the noise of the hub and the sound of the birds work really well along side the music. I used a variety of fades to acheive this and think it worked well, as the background noise never distracts you from the music.

I then begin to gather a rough plan of the order of footage, before I worked my way through cropping clips accordingly. I grouped certain clips together, for example the repeated grind on the ledge, as I think this emphasised the trick more, and would avoid the chance of it looking like I had filmed the same trick twice by accident. I was fairly confident with my intitial order of clips, but I had to make a few ammendments on the way. After the intitial worry of not having enough footage, I managed to add an extra 1:40 minutes on. Although the final film isn't aslong as I first planned, I am happy with it baring in mind the amount of problems I've had with arranging shoots, the weather and bike problems. I also think that at only 2:12 long, it is a perfect length to be played at my exhibition. As it's not too short that people won't notice it, but not so long that they get bored or walk away, so I think it worked out better than planned.

After I was happy with the order and editing. I decide to alter the colours of all the shots, for the most part they were fairly consistent so I could alter them all together to create the desired effect, but on the occasional clip, for example the shot of Joe opening his garage, I reduced the blue to make it match in with the other clips. I wanted my video to tie in with the rest of my final designs, so I decided to up the contrast slighlty and lower the saturation. This gave me the more neutral look which I have decided on in my other designs.

Once I was happy with the footage, I exported the clip at full 1080p from iMovie. I then imported it into premiere pro to allow me to put my opening graphics at the beginning and end. This was a simple task as I overlayed a JPEG at the start and end and then exported the final version. This was neccersary as I wanted to include this graphics so it would create a clear relationship between my designs and short film, but this feature was not availible in iMovie. I'm really happy with the way the graphics worked out, and think as well as creating a clear connection to my graphic work, it starts and finishes the video, to create a more complete feel to it.

Overall I enjoyed creating this video, I think this is partly down to my passion for BMX and enjoying just being out with friends and filming, and partly because of how flexible I was with the shoots and the editing process. I didn't tie myself down or make any deadlines with myself as there were to many variables which would have stopped me meeting them. If I had done it this way, I wouldnt have had the time to continue with my design work, and I dont think I wouldve been as pleased overall with the final outcome.

I did have some problems though with the final export. This was due to a variety of frame rates and other small export problems. This was due to me using two different editing softwares. My camera shoots at 20FPS, but iMovie converted this to 29FPS as a default. But then when moved into premiere, it recognised it at 20FPS, so when we exported at 29FPS, it started skipping and jumping. In the end I exported at 24fps and it seem to work fine.

I am still glad I did swap between the two, as this allowed me to work on the video at home, and made the overall editing process quicker due to iMovie being simpler and faster than premiere. In the end I managed to export my movie in 720p with no skips or pauses due to frame rate problems. I've decided to export the final film for the exhibition at a slightly lower quality. This is so that the computer wouldnt struggle to perform and becuase it is being projected on a standard definition projector, so we wouldn't see the full benefit of the 1080p.

If I had time to go back, there would be a few changes I would make, I would film some more moving shots, as I originally planned to include footage of Joe cycling to the skatepark, but this footage was too shaky as I was cycling along side him as I filmed. If  went back I would use a car and a tripod to get a smooth rolling shot of Joe as he cruised down the street. I would also do another shoot at the skate park to gather more footage, but due to weather and other limitations, this wasn't possible in the time I had.

FINAL PRINTS//

I had a few problems with my final print today. Once I saw the printed version, I noticed a few things weren't right. So I had to ammened these on photoshop before sending it back to be re printed. These problems were due to me overlooking them, and I should've gone back with fresh eyes to look at them before sending them to print, but instead I got caught up with other work. These problems were, the symbols at the bottom of the poster wasn't central, the hexagon in the centre wasn't centeral and the Triangle didn't meet with every corner, as each shape is meant to fit inside the other.

Now I have ammended these problems, all my work will be printed, mounted and ready for the Exhibition preview evening on Friday.

FINAL VIDEO SHOOT//

Up to this point, I haven't been happy with the way my moving image piece has been going. So yesterday was my last chance to get the remainign footage I needed. The weather held up, so we managed to head out to an out door skate park. I really wanted to shoot outdoors, as the natural light would help with the overall continuity of the piece. We arrived in Macclesfield, and there were a few people riding. This was perfect, as I wanted a few people there to give the skatepark some atmosphere, but not too many that they would ruin shots and disrupt our filming. 

Yesterdays shoot was different to the others as I wasn't using moving or hand held shots. This allowed me to use my tripod to get some nice smooth pans and other interesting angles. By using a tripod all my shots were completly shake free, and this made them look more professinal. I was able to create some context by doing some smooth pans around the skatepark, so the audience can undertsnad what the surrounding area is like, and to introduce them to a skatepark if they haven't seen one before. 

I was worried I didn't have enough footage at first as his bike broke after a short while, so we had to call it a day fairly early. When I got home and I imported my clips to the Mac, I was really happy with the lighting, framing and composition of all my shots, and was confident I had enough for the quick edit style I am going for. I was particularly happy with the panning shots, I think the smooth steady shots, contrast nicely to the moving shots around his house. The next stage was to start editing the footage together.

BLURB BOOK//

Today I ordered my Blurb Book. This book contains my favourite deisngs from throughout this project. I enjoyed creating this book as you get to download the softeware to your computer which gives you complete customisation of the layout. This enables you to make the exact style of book you want too. I decided to mix up the layout on each page. I varied from double page spreads to 4 images on a single page. I wanted to do this as it allowed me to group related images together, and those that need more space could have there own page.

I had to create a cover for my book. I wanted something relavent, but different to my other designs so it wouldn't be repeated inside the book. I went back to my photography and decided to use one of the images I liked, but that had been neglected. I then arranged a simple bit of type on the fron cover. Here are a few mock ups I made.

My chosen design is the bottom right. I decide to opt for the Type inside the circle to keep a sense of continuity throughout my project. I also decided to flip the image to give the sense of direction as if he is about to enter the book. I also decided to use a gaussian blur, similar to my other typography work, as I believe it is still clear what the image is, but makes the type easier to read. I decided to use the quote "The Scenic Route" as the title of my project, as I believe it is a perfect representation of the BMX lifestyle, as it gets you to the same point, but takes you on a more enjoyable route. I used this title throughout a number of my designs. I wanted to do this to create a relationship and continuity throughout all my designs.

 FINAL PIECE//

 For my exhibition, I had two large A1 prints that I could put in my space. So I had to decide what out of all my work was most suitable for the exhibition. After deciding to put up my three portraights and one peice of design work, I couldn't decide which piece of design I wanted to use. There were several elements from different pieces which i liked the most, so I decided to create a final piece purposfully for my exhibition.

 

These are the three pieces I wanted to combine to create a final image. I wanted to take different elements from each design. For example, Colour and shapes from the top, the composition of the middle and type layout from the bottom. I then started experiment with different compositions. I wanted to create a clean, simple peice of design to put alongside my tri-tone imagery, as I believe they would compliment each other well.

To begin with, I re created the three shapes I wanted to incorporate. I like the combination of three different shapes, so I wanted each one to represent a different aspect from the three above pieces. Here we have the my new shapes with the type, pattern and logos in. I decided to keep them in greyscale, but with the typography a nice aqua colour. I did this so that the typography would be lifted from the neutral background. I was very happy with these shapes and decided to combine them into a couple of layouts.

Here are my first two layouts. Although I like them both, I prefer the one on the right due to the way the layout reflects my original posters better. I like how the light grey square centralises the graphics and creates a border around the focal point. I also like the opportunity to place logos in the bottom open space. I don't like the colour scheme though, and have decided I want to make the background colour more subtle so it doesn't distract the audience from the typography. The colour scheme will be more similar to the design on the left. I think this colour scheme will compliment my tri-tone photography better than a contrasting olive green.

Another thing I like about the design on the right is the overlayed shapes and how they fit inside one another, although for my next draft I may remove the pattern behind do to it detracting form the other shapes, and that the pattern is already being used with the triangle. By removing this it will also add a sense of symmetry which I think will make my work more tasteful.

Here are my next drafts.

After making some final developments, here is the design I decided to go with. I decided to create a slightly off white background to create a thin white border around the design. I also made the logos at the bottom which represent the different styles of riding, relate to the type by using the same colour for both. I like the textural feel to the shapes and I like how it contrasts to the block colour of the background. It also gives the piece a more organic feel and makes it more interesting than a complete digital piece. Overall I am really happy with this design, and thing the simplicity of this design will compliment the set of images which will be presented along side it.