Motion Graphics — 1 Word, 1,000 Pictures
Jenna Benoit
For this project, we were each given a word and were called to represent that word in whatever way we saw fit in a video format. I received the word together, and began by looking up synonyms for the word to expand my interpretations. Things like in conjunction, side by side, simultaneous, and in collaboration were things that jumped out to me. We were also called to use the project to showcase something about ourselves. After looking up the synonyms I instantly got my idea: collage. Collaging is something I do all the time, and an easy definition of collage is many different pictures put together.
I also thought it would be interesting, though it was used more as a metaphoric title, to actually take 1,000 pictures and have those act as the 1,000 frames we were required to include. So, I would take 1,000 pictures of me creating a collage. This was my first initial attempt:
The problem with this first attempt was that I didn’t have a tripod/stable place to put my phone, and I didn’t have a remote to constantly be taking pictures as I worked, so the video was incredibly shaky and unstable. So, I decided to order a tripod with a remote to solve these problems.
Also, I discussed with my professor having moments where the camera zooms in on certain parts of the collage to create interest, instead of one stagnant shot in the same place.
I took the pictures over two nights, taking about 650 pictures the first and the rest on the second. Also, a slight wrench in the plan the second night was the remote to take the pictures stopped working, and so I had to physically take them. Luckily, having the tripod meant that the placement didn’t change, however the process was a bit slower, and slightly more difficult considering I could no longer use both hands to create the collage. However, at that point most of it was already done, so while it made the process more difficult, the outcome was still what I intended it to be.
Once the pictures were taken I put them into Premiere Pro and made the photos black and white, as well as adjusting the contrast and brightness. I also adjusted the timing so each picture showed for 1 millisecond, making for a 33 second video with 1,000 frames.
