Audio Clip
It was difficult to me to choose an audio to work for this project, I seldom watch English TV shows or movies, so nothing comes into mind right away. After some research, I ended up with the two clips in mind, a poem and a scene from the show Friends. The two choices are very different, the poem is about suicide and depression, on the other hand, the scene from Friends, is much more light-hearted and playful. After the in class discussion, I decided to work with the poem audio clip for this project.
The Morning After I Killed Myself | A Poem By Meggie Royer
The morning after I killed myself, I woke up. I made myself breakfast in bed. I added salt and pepper to my eggs and used my toast for a cheese and bacon sandwich. I squeezed a grapefruit into a juice glass. I scraped the ashes from the frying pan and rinsed the butter off the counter. I washed the dishes and folded the towels. The morning after I killed myself, I fell in love. Not with the boy down the street or the middle school principal. Not with the everyday jogger or the grocer who always left the avocados out of the bag. I fell in love with my mother and the way she sat on the floor of my room holding each rock from my collection in her palms until they grew dark with sweat. I fell in love with my father down at the river as he placed my note into a bottle and sent it into the current. With my brother who once believed in unicorns but who now sat in his desk at school trying desperately to believe I still existed. The morning after I killed myself, I walked the dog. I watched the way her tail twitched when a bird flew by or how her pace quickened at the sight of a cat. I saw the empty space in her eyes when she reached a stick and turned around to greet me so we could play catch but saw nothing but sky in my place. I stood by as strangers stroked her muzzle and she wilted beneath their touch like she did once for mine. The morning after I killed myself, I went back to the neighbors’ yard where I left my footprints in concrete as a two year old and examined how they were already fading. I picked a few daylilies and pulled a few weeds and watched the elderly woman through her window as she read the paper with the news of my death. I saw her husband spit tobacco into the kitchen sink and bring her her daily medication. The morning after I killed myself, I watched the sun come up. Each orange tree opened like a hand and the kid down the street pointed out a single red cloud to his mother. The morning after I killed myself, I went back to that body in the morgue and tried to talk some sense into her. I told her about the avocados and the stepping stones, the river and her parents. I told her about the sunsets and the dog and the beach. The morning after I killed myself, I tried to unkill myself, but couldn’t finish what I started.
Phoebe’s Painting | Friends
M: You want to go see a movie?
P: I told you I had to spend all day clearing out stuff so Mike could move in.
M: Now that I'm here I might as well help you with the cleaning and organizing. I just happen to have my label maker.
P: It's so hard to get rid of stuff. Did you and Chandler have to make compromises when you first moved in together?
M: Chandler did. What does he want you to give up?
P: A bunch of stuff and the worst one, he wants me to get rid of Gladys.
M: Who's Gladys?
M: What a tragic loss!
P: Yeah I really hate to give her up. Oh! I know! Oh you should take her
M: Oh I don't know,
P: oh... You don't like her?
M: Well of course I do! What's not to like? I'll take her in a minute.
M: But, you know, I think that you're giving up too easy, honey. I think that you need to fight for her.
P: Really? You think?
M: Absolutely! Yes! You say to him, "I'm sorry, Mike, I can't live it without her! She means too much to me!
P: Okay, I'll fight for her, okay. Oh wait, oh I just realized if I do that, that means you don't get her.
M: Damn it! I did not think this through!
Getting to work
Workflow sheet
StorybOards
I have split the text into frames according the pauses and words that were emphasised in the audio clip.
NOTEs
Notes on choosing the audio clip and technical requirements
Notes on audio and feedback/ideas for rough cut
Suggestions from professor (Breck Campbell)
Style frames
For the style choices, I chose am leaning towards a serif type as it suggest the poetic style and classical feeling to the piece visually. I tried different compositions and placement to convey the meaning behind the words. I also had some fun with different typefaces, also trying to represent the words.
The Morning After I Killed Myself
Rough cut 1
On my first rough cut, I added in some colour gradients to suggest light shining and moving. I liked the effect personally. I also worked with the placement of the words and negative space to convey the atmosphere and meaning.
rough cut 2
After the critique, I took out the coloured background and worked with black and white to focus on the motion and type. I continued to explore the placement and motion, while adding in some different transitions, such as the dolly-in effect by zooming into the “O”. I had some trouble while working with the transition, probably accidentally adding frames in between the anchor and scale but have it smoothened out in the coloured version of the second test.
Full rough cut
Changes made from feedback and suggestions
position of text on the first frame “the morning” being on the left side to suggest “after I killed myself”
changing the “middle school principal” order and putting “middle” in the centre
tightening up the compositions, avoiding the edges
suggesting location by placing “down the street” on the lower half of the screen
creating the feeling of flowing water with tracking and motion
overlapping some transitions for pacing time with the audio and motion
refine choices of typefaces and reduce the quantity of fonts, but instead use the different weights and style of the same font
Final
Rationale
I have built in quite a lot of subtle concepts while creating the “type” for the audio. I try not to use graphics and represent the message by placement, the typefaces and weight chosen and the used the colour to set the tone. The music that comes with the audio also contributes to the atmosphere. Although this poem is about suicide, it is emotional but not that heavy hearted. It has the meaning of counting grateful moments and think again before you choose to end your own life, because it can not be reverse. While it hints regrets, this poem ask audiences to appreciate and think twice before making a decision. I think it is quite powerful and meaningful. I chose the soft gradients and soft transition to represent the soft and calmness of the narrator’s voice. Baskerville was used to give off the classic and poetic vibe, instead of introducing many typefaces, I used the styles and weights to identify the differences in relationships of the words. Didone was used in “love” in reference of the sculpture that was created by Robert Indiana, as I think it is a very significant artwork that represents love, and “love” appeared many times in this verse. The motion and placement all works with the meaning of the words used in the poem. For example, “the morning” and “middle school principal” plays with the placement of the words and the animation of “current” and “she sat down”, suggests the motion of the word.
Challenges
I had trouble with pacing out the type while working with the audio, as the narrator actually speaks really quickly, and when there is a pause it is quite long. I am also new to After Effects, and some of my setting probably went wrong, when I previewed the clip that I was working with, it was not fully rendered, causing my first export’s text moving faster than I thought it would, affecting the sense of motion. It was also quite a challenge to think of how to represent each phrase with only type, without obvious graphics. I had fun working with this piece and I am quite happy with the final.
Final refinements
Refinements made
Added repeated text elements “I fell in love” to play with cognitive mind and for foreshadowing (introduction part)
Easing of “killed myself” frame (ended abruptly)
Easing of dolly-in frame of “LOVE” (zoom was abrupt)
Timing of “who always” (was a bit too early)
Timing of “unicorn” (was too early)
Timing of “trying to believe” (was too early, abrupt)
Dissolve out “collection" loops
Reduced “mother” and “father” tracking
Refined “current” and “send it” fading times
Edited fading out and fading in
Edited end of audio, fading out
Edited background “light'“ elements