D&AD DCM Ident

D&AD Deadline

The deadline for projects to be handed into the D&AD was the 19th of March.
Unfortunately I was not able to complete my ident for this deadline, above is my first edition ident, which is the progress of the ident as of 19/03.

I was unable to finish my ident for the deadline mainly due to severely underestimating the time it would take to fully model, texture and animate everything in the ident. I have also had several issues with losing progress of animations and hiding elements from certain sequences, an example of this can be seen in the thumbnail for the first edition, in which the grey jagged spike in the background is actually an object from the ocean scene. Unfortunately this has resulted in the majority of my time being spent fixing visual errors.

I am currently working to complete my ident for the project deadline.

Current Ident Evaluation:
Currently, the ident is not full length, but the content that exists is a strong indicator of what the whole video will feel like. The style and animations are designed to be quirky, making the viewers smile, which I believe to be a strong element of cinema. While I have also focused heavily on effects such as hard shadows, reflections and screen effects to make the scenes pleasing to look at.

This version is also lacking the SFX I previously mentioned I would be adding. I have the majority of the SFX I wish to use, however I believe it will be best to add these in through After Effects as opposed to straight into Cinema4D.

Assessed Presentation

On the 4th of March, I had an assessed presentation on my project. This involved me presenting/pitching my practical work towards my class and tutors. I did this through both a pdf and video file (A storyboard created in PhotoShop and After Effects) I had created specifically for the presentation.

The pdf can be found here:

DCM Ident Presentation

Feedback:

The majority of feedback on my presentation was good. I feel I managed to successfully explain the project and what my idea and goals were. Though there are 2 points that were brought up that should be addressed.

Firstly, was the suggestion of including some form of character into the ident. As it was suggested that viewers would project their experience onto this characters to immerse themselves. This thought had previously crossed my mind during the design process but I had ultimately decided against it for the following reasons:
- Rigging a skeleton and animating a 3D character to an above satisfactory level is a lengthy process
- I had attempted skeletal rigging in Cinema4D and ran into issues with it
- My own personal take on this project was the power of the worlds that films create, including a character may have drawn attention away from this message
Based on the above reasons, a character is a low priority feature of my ident. However, I may still experiment with the idea if I have enough time to at later stages of the development.

Secondly, was the issue of my soundtrack exclusively using the "Fresh & Fun" song. As part of the cinema experience is also in the rich and deep sound that the audio systems provide.
I have already had a lot of issues with finalizing a soundtrack for my ident. So I feel once again changing the soundtrack will again result in a lengthy search for a new track. That being said, I do still feel the current track captures the quirkiness and joyful nature that I have been going for in my ident, and I still believe it compliments the ident well.

However I also agree that the track doesn't necessarily take advantage of the full power of the audio in cinemas. Such as the swooshes, and strong ambient noise featured in other idents.
As a result of this, I will be using this through SFX as opposed to the soundtrack. Initially I had wanted to keep my ident to music only, but I feel I have underestimated the importance of sound in cinema.
Including SFX of the scenes in my ident, I feel, would make the ident much more emotional.
For instance, having gusts of breeze blowing during the forest sequence, or the sounds of city life in the city sequence, all these sounds are very familiar to us and will make the ident much more immersive.

Progress Report

Although I have not posted to this blog in quite some time, it is mainly due to the process of practicing and creating the project in Cinema 4D. So I will be using this post to show some of the resources I have been using to practice in Cinema 4D in that time.

I have since followed the majority of GreyScaleGorilla's Introduction series until I felt comfortable enough with the program.
I also followed various tutorials on other things such as Tracers, Particles, etc. to see if I could work these into my own project.

One of the design choices I chose which I believed would be suitable for my project and benefiting the fact I am a novice at Cinema 4D is a Low-Poly style. I have followed multiple tutorials and resources in creating Low-Poly models in 4D:
- GreyScaleGorilla's Low-Poly Look
- MotionSquared's Low-Poly World
- Mt. Mograph's Summit Low-Poly Series

I was originally inspired by this style from Beeple's "Subprime" as I felt the style really created a quirkiness to the animation. Then after having followed some tutorials and experimenting with the style, it was the style I decided to use in my own project.

I also continued to look for an audio track, however finding one that met the criteria for using the same beat with different styles and feelings was impossible without having to compose the music myself, which is an area I am not comfortable in whatsoever. So to compliment the Low-Poly style I had decided on, I chose to use a fun and friendly quirky track.
"Fun & Fresh" by MidiCable
The track worked nicely with the style of animation I had in my head, again, similar to Beeple's "Subprime"

I have also storyboarded my animation, the main aspect of this was deciding exactly which worlds would going where. This resulted into which worlds would transition well from one another.
Ultimately I decided on the following order:
- Grasslands/Forest
- Ocean/Underwater
- Modern Cityscape
- Desert
- Arctic Tundra
- Space

I felt the first and end worlds were important, starting off with simplicity of a natural field with grass and trees, into space, which is considered very futuristic and complex. Most worlds in between were decided through how well transitions would work. Due to the nature of the message I am trying to communicate, that cinema is about these rich, beautiful worlds. Any kind of story is currently a low priority, I want to provide worlds where the viewer can immerse themselves into.

Greyscalegorilla's Introduction to Cinema 4D

Greyscalegorilla.com

Notes:

An introductory video series for beginners at Cinema 4D, I will be using this series once I have dowloaded the software to determine whether my concept will be achievable within my timeframe and ability to adapt to this new software.

"Burning Land" Ident Music Edit

Notes:

One of the tracks that stood out to me whilst searching for a background track for my ident was "Burning Land". The track was calm and whimsical, whilst almost sounding like it was from a dream, this kind of mellow tune struck me as something that would fit very well with my ident. It would allow me to time transitions to the beat, whilst overall, not overpowering the visuals in anyway.

I have edited a rough cut of my first thoughts to what it would sound like in a 25 second format.

Music Info:
Track: Burning Land
Artist: Meekah
License: CC by 3.0
https://soundcloud.com/meekah/burning-land-1

Beeple's "Subprime"

Notes:
Another video animated using Cinema 4D. Subprime is a good example of the changing/evolving object concept I have been considering, though my concept was the reverse, in which the scenery changes around one single object.

Subprime also has a very nicely stylized look, and is also a good example of why I have been drawn more to use 3D techniques in my project. 3D worlds are more easy to immerse yourself in, as the 3D perspective gives us a good understanding of what we are looking at.

Tim Hijlkema's "Video Game Locations"

Notes:
Another Video Game inspired animation by Tim Hijlkema. This time instead of focusing around one globe object, using more traditional techniques by cutting between worlds. Although this looses some of the charm of the worlds evolving through one simple object, when we see these worlds take up the whole of the screen, it enhances the immersion effect of the scene.

After Effects 3D Camera Movement

Notes:
I have little experience using most 3D based animation tools in After Effects, but one technique I have been particularly interested in for awhile is using After Effects cameras in 3D space to create animation. I feel this method will allow me to add more depth to any scenes I may produce.

I will also be looking into other 3D based tools and software to integrate with my existing AE knowledge.

Psychological Properties Of Colours

Colour Affects

The Colour Affects site gives us a detailed analysis of colours and their associated physiological properties. I will be able to use this assist me in creating and visualizing emotion in my own ident. The benefit of this site in partciular is it does not associate one colour with one emotion, instead it lists multiple emotions, both positive and negative, with each colour.

For example, red is not solely a colour that represents anger, it can also suggest warmth and excitement.

Panic Room Title Sequence

Notes:
The Title Sequence to Panic Room shows a simple method of a concept I wish to achieve in my own ident. Making use of motion tracking and CG reflections, it appears as though the text is actually in the scene as opposed to an overlayed effect.

Bunraku Opening Sequence

Notes:
The opening sequence for this movie contains a vast amount of techniques, but the key thing I am looking at is it's way of transitioning both periods of time and landscapes.Specifically at 0:33 until 0:46, we can see an interesting way of displaying multiple different worlds from different periods of time as they layer on top of one another.

Tim Hijlkema's "Video Game Planets"

Notes:
Based on my current idea of communicating through different worlds in my ident. This was one of the first videos that jumped into my mind. This vector styled animation shows various video game worlds using a single 3D globe, with the features changing every time it transforms into a different setting.

This is a great source of inspiration for me on two levels, the first being its successful representation of multiple varying worlds, the second being how it revolves multiple themes around one single object. These are 2 concepts that I am currently very interested in using myself.

Picturehouse Cinemas Ident

Notes:
This ident is aimed more at the experience of the cinema itself as opposed to the movies. Communicating that the cinema is an experience for everyone, facial expressions show joy and amazement in crowds full of all ages. Showing cinema rooms, lobbies and screens to create a happy atmosphere. This ident is a completely alternate style to my initial plans for my own ident (as I wish to use animation), but is worth noting that these idents can also be successful with little to no animation.

VTV6 2012 Ident

Notes:
This ident focuses heavily on the logo of the company, but is a great example of an animated logo as opposed to a static one. DCM has stated that their logo should always be active, having it grow and evolve like the VTV6 logo is a viable option.

SyFy "Lego" Ident

Notes:

SyFy's Lego ident is another example of the brand logo being part of the video, the logo being literally built by the lego bricks. It's also another great example of simplicity, with the white backdrop and coloured bricks, it creates a visually pleasing colour display as the blocks move around the screen.

ManvsMachine 4seven Ident

Notes:

4seven's idents use a bizarre but incredible twisted perspective of making a flat surface into what appears to be a 90 degree corner. The idea benefits from its originality and looks stunning, Although not much of these idents could be transferred over to my own, it's worth noting original and bold ideas can often create some of the best results.

Similar to the MTV ident, the logo is as much of a part of the video as the scenes that have been shot in live action. This is a concept I will be looking into using myself.

Rob Norman's MTV Ident

Notes:

Norman's ident focuses around the MTV logo, similar to how DCM's current ident focuses on their logo. Norman's ident pulls of this far more successfully by incorporating the logo into the video better. While DCM's logo is used as a kind of view-port for a different video, Norman's MTV logo comes to life as all the motion is drawn to the logo as if it were a magnet, all the objects also making a circle around the logo and becoming and extension to the logo as opposed to a background.

Much like music itself, the logo assumes different forms, from digital based polygon meshes to a thick fur ball. We are kept entertained by these different forms.

I feel this ident is very interesting to watch and captures a lot of what music is, in a very effective and simple manner. I would like to create something similarly simple to this. DCM's colour selection perfectly compliments simplicity.

Social Media

In my research, I have stated I stumbled across DCM's All You Need To Know About DCM PDF document. However, one page of this PDF stuck out to me. Titled "Digital Cinema is Social", it showed just 2 statistics, but these 2 statistics in my opinion could be extremely helpful.

73% of 15-24 year olds use social media to talk about their cinema visit
3 is the average group size for 15-24 year olds

Social media is an incredibly large part of many people lives now and being able to include this in some form in my ident could be extremely beneficial for DCM, seeing as there current social media following is quite small.


Digital Cinema Media
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube

Cineworld "Take Me to Another World" Ident

Notes:

An interesting ident comprised of 2D and 3D animation. It successfully captures a different range of emotions from different genres of film. As my initial thoughts for my own ident were for animation, this is a good example for me to look at. However, I feel this ident has afew flaws that could potentially alienate various audiences.

The frequent use of shades of pink, with hearts, flowers and butterflies seems almost too feminine, as if an almost blatant attempt to appeal to younger female audience. The art style also seems aimed to appeal to younger audiences.

Overall I feel the ident does successfully capture the essence of cinema, but does not equally advertise itself to all age groups, nor does it take any risks, as a result of this, it is an okay ident as opposed to being something amazing.

One part of this ident I particularly like is how the Cineworld logo starts of as a part of the animation, but is transitioned smoothly into its logo form for the final few seconds.

Market Research

The target audience defined by DCM's D&AD brief is:
"Ultimately, the end target audience is cinemagoers of all ages, everywhere. Change attitudes."

As this is such a large and broad target, I will be undertaking some research into who exactly cinemagoers are. This will possibly allow me to make design decisions based on the largest demographic majority. But ultimately, my goal is to create a piece of media that is suitable for and will engage all audiences.

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In my previous post All You Need To Know About DCM, I linked to an infographic PDF found on DCM's official site, this PDF contains some useful information related to cinemagoers.

4 Million Male Youths (14-25) go to the cinema in summer (July-August)

1.7 Million Average tickets sold for ‘Family Focus’ films monthly

8.6 Million Seniors Tickets sold in 2012

Source: CAA Admissions Forecast / DCM Admissions 2012. *Senior tickets sold in 2012 based on DCM Admissions.

These figures are quite hard to work with though, since there are a few variables between each statistic. The figures do show us that all age groups have a significant presence at cinemas.

The PDF also mentions some social media statistics that I will go into in a different blog post.

The British Film Institute issue a yearbook with in-depth statistics about this year in the UK film industry.

In 2012, cinema admissions were at 172.5 million, 25% of this coming from London.

Age distribution of cinema-goers aged 15+, 1997-2012

The graph shows that teenage audiences are going to the cinema less, while older audiences are going more. Unfortunately the graph only covers people aged 15 or over and misses out on the important younger audience.

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With these figures and research we can see the older generation are currently the largest audience within our target, however with each age group equal to atleast roughly 20% of the total, it is essential not to alienate anyone.

Although this research hasn't helped me narrow down the target audience, the important fact is similarly to DCM's previous idents, it is necessary to stay neutral and make an ident that can be enjoyed by all.

DCM Hero Images

Notes:
These are DCM's "Hero Images" which are defined by DMC as follows,
"These hero images have been devised as a visual expression of the key themes of our identity: light, dynamism and emotion."
Again, light has been described as a key theme to DCM's identity, which should mean it will likely play an important role in my own ident.
The images are also very vibrant in colour, similar to DCM's newer idents, which may also be important to carry over into my ident.
The other key themes are dynamism and emotion, which are vital to my own ident as the brief explicitly states that I need to "visualize emotion" as well as creating something that will "set the scene and have an impact"

DCM 2008 Ident

Notes:

This ident, in my opinion, is poor in comparison to DCM's newer idents. It lacks any stunning visuals or originality in favour of recognizable personalities from film. As such, I won't be taking much inspiration from this ident into my own. However, what is worth noting is DCM's continued use of light effects, even this early ident makes use of a sparkling blue light manifesting their logo near the end.

DCM 2011 Ident

Notes:

DCM's 2011 Ident features a vast amount of coloured lights (using DCM's signature colours). Though these lights do create an interesting visual experience, I feel they do not capture the essence of film significantly. However, the inclusion of DCM's colours and light are worth noting. 

Light being significantly important as the company uses light a lot in their graphics, with many of their "hero images" included in their inspiration guide including light sources such as glowsticks, sparklers, waveforms and use of Bokeh.

DCM Idents "Amazement, Laughter and Suspense"

Notes:

These are DCM's most recent idents. All 3 make use of the same visual effect in which the DCM logo is used to frame a video while a video also plays in the background. This effect creates a lot of activity on the screen, including the frequent cutting to other pieces of footage. 

What I feel is most important about these idents is the range of footage used is very diverse, the clips are often of explosive events, extreme close-ups or beautiful sights, all of which have a very strong visual impact.

20/01
Update:
In conjunction with my recent decision to focus on movie worlds, I would like to also discuss the use of worlds in these idents. In particular, "Amazement" makes frequent use of shots of worlds, showing nature, space and the ocean, which could all be taken as a movie world, with the power of cinema able to transport and immerse us in all these locations.

All You Need To Know About DCM

DCM Infographic PDF

Notes:

This PDF gives some insight into what DCM feels is important about their company, most notably containing some information on cinemagoer demographics.

Also important is the graphical styling of the PDF itself, with strong uses of Black/White with contrasting and vivid colours. These colours are also noted in the projects included Inspirational Guide PDF.