I got inspiration for my project by watching a project in the art of video gallery. It is the one about a fairy who turns a frog into a boy, but then the boy eats the fairy expectantly. I loved the beauty of the fairy and the environment that the characters were in, so I decided to do something involving a creature with wings. What I came up with was a butterfly. Ever since I was young, I was enchanted by a caterpillar's transformation into a butterfly. The point of the short animation is to demonstrate the process of change. The caterpillar represents myself as a freshman, entering a new environment, known to all as high school. The cocoon represents myself as a sophomore, just beginning to evolve. The cocoon just at the brink of revealing itself represents myself as a future junior. Finally, the butterfly represents myself as a future senior, fully transformed and ready to explore the new world.
Green Screen- How did you incorporate it into your project? What challenges did you have with it?
This was the first time that I used a green screen in my whole life. It was new and interesting because I realized that I could place myself anywhere in the world. I had to shoot a long shot of myself standing straight and raising my arms up and down. The next shot is a medium shot of me smiling at the camera. These two green screen shots creates the illusion that I am a new born butterfly flying around in the air. The green screen was challenging because it was difficult to eliminate all the green edges from my face and body. Also, somehow my shots weren't bright enough and I looked darker than usual.
Photoshop- How did you incorporate it into your project? What challenges did you have with it?
For this project I photo-shopped the caterpillar, the butterfly wings, and the background. The caterpillar was tricky because I had to animate it somehow. The solution was to copy and paste the individual body parts of the caterpillar and arrange them one by one. By doing so, I had a straight caterpillar and a curved caterpillar as well. By having a image of a straight caterpillar, followed by a curved caterpillar, and repeating the same pattern several times, I was able to make the caterpillar crawl across the leaf. For the butterfly wings I just had to distort the original open butterfly wings and cut out the body. Following the same pattern as the caterpillar, I placed and image of open butterfly wings in the timeline of final cut and then followed by the closed wings. Changing the duration of the two creatures made them seem more realistic because their movements were more smooth. The challenges with photoshop while doing this project was making a straight version of the caterpillar because the image I found online was a curved caterpillar. It took patience and time to make the caterpillar just right, so it was amazing to see the little guy move in final cut.
Title Animation- How did you incorporate it into your project? What challenges did you have with it?
I used Live Type for my opening, closing, and production titles. They are very advanced and professional, so I really enjoyed using them in my project. For my opening title, I have a leaf as the background, and within a few nanoseconds the word "Metamorphosis" literally grows out of nowhere. My production title corresponds with the whole nature theme--hence the "Nature Productions" title. In the background of the production title is a river and the title is complemented by river sounds. My closing title basically says that I am the creator of this project and it includes a colorful stream background with river sounds as well.
Overall- How well does your finished project match your initial vision? What do you like most about it? Describe any new skills you picked up over the course of this project.
Overall, my finished project does not exactly match my initial vision because I made many major changes. First of all, I couldn't have my cocoon hang from the leaf that the caterpillar was crawling on, so I had to use a picture of a cocoon hanging from a branch instead. Because the background of the branch didn't match the caterpillar's, I had to photoshop it. Also, I originally planned to change the sky of the background from day to night and vice versa, but I didn't have enough time. Looking back, I like my caterpillar the most because its movement on the leaf seems so realistic and it tops the cuteness scale. I also like my butterfly wings because they flutter beautifully and it is what I am most proud of. A new skill that I picked up over the course of this project is learning how to use green screen shots in my projects and how to animate 2D objects. These skills will come in handy for future projects, broadcasts, and assignments. I look forward to the challenges and the accomplished feeling afterward.
