Assignment Write-up For E. Fiasco + Final Plans

For my tutorial, I decided to find and execute a nice underwater effect. Why? I'll explain in a sec. First, here are the videos I used for the tutorial.





I found these videos on youtube, and there from another site called shortformvideos.com. The narrator was clear and to the point, and the video was extremely easy to follow. All in all, an EXCELLENT tutorial. Here's the video I came up with:

I didn't fiddle too much with what the video taught- the effects were were really nice, and I honestly didn't feel the need to fix what wasn't broke.

I added the submarine for one pretty major reason: my final. I chose the water and the submarine because, for my final, I want to make a piece that focuses on a submarine moving through various environments in the ocean. Always moving left to right, and for the majority of the video in the middle of the screen, the submarine will move through it's surroundings, unfazed by the many things happening around it. The story will be broken up into various scenes, all of which being different from the last. I love the idea of "the journey," and this piece speaks fully unto that love. The sub will be our anchor in this vast strange world, also speaking for a few other topics I'm interested in- technology vs. nature and the idea of vast loneliness.

Here are ideas I have for the scenes:

1) We open on the sub. It's already moving along, establishing that it's been doing this for a long time.
2) the sub moves through a coral forest, disturbing sleeping fish.
3) the sub moves through a pitch black cave, the only light coming from a mounted headlamp.
4) Blue whales swim past the submarine, huge in scale and majestic.
5) The submarine moves through a pirate ship, lost on the bottom of the sea.
6) Dolphins play around the sub, nudging at it.
7) Sharks surround shark cages, with the people inside waving to the sub.
8) A giant squid swims past, and then reaches for the sub, only to be thwarted as the sub moves into a jellyfish forest.
9) The sub passes some divers observing some ocean life, who wave.
10) The sub moves up a steady incline, then surfaces on a beach. Having reached the end of it's journey, the subs hatch opens, and the pilot pokes his head out and stretches.

All in all, I think I could easily do this piece, thanks to the nature of the animation. A lot of the scenes require very little animation- just the set up of the environment, the subs steady jostling, the moving objects. It's gonna be a pretty fun little piece to work on. Plus, the split scene format will make for good transitions and easy compiling. AND the "splitness" will allow me some wiggle room, giving me space to experiment without compromising the entire piece.

When I think about how I want to speak to my audience- I really want them to walk away from a whimsical piece, thinking about the vastness of the world, and how small we are in comparison. I also want them to think about the journey the sub makes, and why it makes the journey. By not explicably making the reason obvious to the viewer, they'll think on it and project their own thoughts to it, and that will make the piece a little more personal to the individual.