What scares us?

Horror films take our deepest fears - those ideas and thoughts that are just so scary that we can't contemplate them becoming real - and ask the question "What if?" The fear of the unknown has to be the strongest human emotion and a good horror film can make us feel like we are experiencing our worst nightmare.

In my opinion, the human imagination will always be able to outdo any special effects and it is the suggestion of something terrifying that really scares. Seeing the monster in a film actually makes it a whole lot less scary that a shadow moving across that little gap beneath the door or a creak on the stairs. Deep down, we all know that monsters don't really exist – it takes a big suspension of belief to really feel scared by a horror film. When the film makers attempt to create something truly terrifying, they often get it a bit wrong – too unbelievable and the spell is broken.

A film that can unsettle us, which can invoke our deepest fears and revulsions, without relying on blood and gore tends to be far scarier than watching twelve disembowellings and a few decapitations. The lack of realism in such a film can also be a problem. When the monster gets blown up by a nuclear weapon and still doesn’t die? Yeah, by that point I am rolling my eyes and waiting for the credits. The fear of something terrifying happening to normal people in a normal setting is far scarier than something that attempts to shock the audience with litres of blood and guts.


Discussing this with peers I began to become aware that evoking this desired affect was something that I thought might be too big a challenge. 

An improved version of the channel 4 logo, beginning to consider movement of the logo

Channel 4 template trial improved from Chloe Wilkinson on Vimeo.

The simple change in the way the channel 4 logo comes into view is a good progression I think, its amazing how much strength a logo has. Obviously it is obvious that that strength is within the motion and graphics but associating the program idents and opening sequence is key as if they do not relate then the whole thing will appear inappropriate and just won't work.

Further development and analysis of channel 4 logo

I started looking at an advert for channel 4's Shameless 2012, concentrating mainly on the movement of the 4 logo. I started by playing the advert through.

 

This allowed my to see the timings, however I wanted to mainly organise the movements and key frames that occurred within the sequence. The screen shots show the movement quite well, however, I then wanted to try and interpret this within a storyboard. From trying before, the process of putting something on paper, I realised it helped me work out how to interpret it to my own piece of motion and also so I could transfer it to illustrator.

Trying to break down with storyboards

Type in after effects workshop

Red pan across top10 horror from Chloe Wilkinson on Vimeo.


During a workshop in aftereffects we were shown how to use offset with type and making it relevant to my piece was interesting, this was the first time I was started to use an effect that was more than just a simple movement. It started to make me realise the possibilities of after effects, and inspire me to go back to  my silent movies and add to them more. What I am beginning to really enjoy with regards to this project is the new software, although it is difficult to apply design to screen and then animate it, it is something that I am interested in (surprisingly) being able to expand on my interest and love of films. It makes me want to start considering this line of work.

Despite initially feeling that print was where my passion lies, this seems like the module than has really struck a chord.

Applying type to Channel 4 template

I started to realise during this development that storyboarding for me was most useful to simply work things out, especially with logo movements such as these that sequentially planning out the movements and noting down colours, and way things move. 

Quick trial for channel 4 fright night from Chloe Wilkinson on Vimeo.


I decided to start this idea with some storyboards, I wanted to work out composition and typefaces etc.  and felt that if I went straight to aftereffects I could spend too long trying to achieve this simplistic piece of motion, especially as it was to just see how the channel 4 logo can be used.

In my crit, this piece was seen and the point was raised about looking at how the logo comes into shot, a very valid point I thought, it is obviously very simplistic with the opacity suddenly shooting up from 0 - 100%.

Another thing that is clearly not working is the timing of the piece, it goes through everything far too quickly and ends up too fast to read.

Despite this piece not being fantastic, it feels great to have started thinking about an ident that has been designed for an audience and channel, it begins to give it some sort of justification and story behind it.

It is also really good to start to use the software and become aware of problems early on.

Aftereffects workshop

Initial attempts with 'drop' on after effects.

Drop (Fill dropping out of the bottom) 1 from Chloe Wilkinson on Vimeo.

Starting with these initial attempts was great to get me started with using after effects. When I started I felt like I would really struggle with this entire program/module, but a little perseverance and these basic animations got me going. It made me realise how useful storyboarding is, allowing you to really plan how to spend your time effectively.


Drop 3 from Chloe Wilkinson on Vimeo.

This animation one of the more conceptual ones within my storyboarding, something that I want to progress with and create the impression that each letter is hanging and when it falls leaves a mark from the true colour than the background was, similarly to a painting that has been hung for a while.

I also like the beginning of a more complex (but still very simple) animation, the movement is something I like as it adds a change in the pace.



Drop 2 from Chloe Wilkinson on Vimeo.




Hinge type from Chloe Wilkinson on Vimeo.


This was the first time I had used a different colour, the choice of it in this case was random, but something new to consider. It was also the first time I had used a tutorial from youtube, this was something that I was pleasantly surprised by. It was very simple to follow and got me used to some more of the effects etc within the program.

Overall, these initial attempts were great! Not in the outcome but to force me to get started.

Next I will begin to:

• start using more colours and investigate their impacts
• experiment with different composition background colours
• follow more tutorials, or at least watch them if not appropriate, as they will help me increase my knowledge of aftereffects. 

After effects session 3 - Keyframe interpolation//Using illustrator paths

Interpolation - to insert between fixed points

Another way to change the interpolation is to right click on the mouse and click

Some are relevant but for things such as opacity is a temporal interpolation rather than spacial 

A hold key frame - 

This has removed all interpolation.

This could be used for a second hand of a clock. 

Or something that flashes or blinks. 

If you double click on one layer it opens it up as separate. 

Also if you want to alter the time equally between each key frame, select and hold down ALT 

If you want to make the shape transform round a circle, copy and paste the shape desire from illustrator. 

Copy in illustrator, select layer, press p, press stopwatch, and paste. 

Once you have motion key frames, this is how you get it to rotate the other way, in this example, anti clockwise. 

If you have a layer that is the same size as the composition, with the layer selected, the select ellipsis shape tool, draw the shape and it creates a mask 

Path - shape of mask 

Feather - soft edge 

Opacity - like layer opacity but with layers can be useful 

Expand/Contract - 

mask path property is: M

Alternative to using a mask