1 The Storyboard by BenGilpin

THE STORYBOARD

What is a animate? What is an animate used for? This book explores what an animate is and follows the journey as I attempt to design and film my own while applying it to a context. A student on the BA Graphic Design Programme, this book holds my ideas, thoughts and views on animates. While it shows my skills, design and abilities in attempting to create one of my own.

THE BRIEF This brief was driecting us to take it into our own hands to research into what a storyboard is and when they are used in the world of design. After this I was instucted to create a 30 second narrative sequence that portrays my feelings about the content of a newspaper article. Left Image 1 - A hand drawn storyboard showing a short section of a scene from the famous tv series, Six Feet Under.

With the storyboard I was being asked to think of a cutting edge approach to keeping my target audience interested in the storyboard, thus getting them intereted in the subject area. I was also encouraged that w ith this project to try to create a visual system for my stoaryboard, I will also try to keep this visual style coherant throughout the narrative sequence so that it all ties in togther. The articles that I recieved was; Isrealâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mordechai Vanunu is as much a hero as Edward Snowden - Duncan Cambell (The Guardian Newspaper). What is portrayed in the article is the story to how Mordecahi Vanunu was captured and sent to jail in Isreal, while it also states about how the western civilisation promised him security and they failed that task, along with know that the suspect in question has served his jail time he is not allowed to leave his homeland of Isreal.

RESEARCH My research takes you on a journey into the more indepth reading that I undertook around the articles subject matter along with discovering what visual styles there are and are used for narrative sequences. The first step I took was to research more articles surrounding the subject matter of Mordechai Vanunu and what he did. While doing my research I found articles from various sources such as the BBC who had a netural opinion on weather or not what he did was correct. However their was other sources that had a negative opinion on the action that Mordechai Vanunu did. Upon reading the selection of articles that I had come across I next formed my own opinion on weather or not I felt that Mordechai Vanunu should have been a free man and what actions should have been taken against him. Right Image 2 - A famous photograph of Mordechai Vanunu. With his famous peace signal, similar to a photograph of him as he was being taken away to prison in Isreal.

Above Image 3 - This is a photograph showing the articles that I read, while reaseraching into Mordechai Vanunu.

The image above shows a selection of the articles that I read from various sources. By reading from various sources it gave me the broadest range of opinions on weather or not Morechai Vanunu should be allowed to leave Isreal, now that he has served his jail time. On the note pad pages that are shown above you can see my thoughts and ideas that I had written down about my opinions behind the subject matter. I started by writing down the main points from both sides of the argument about if he should be allowed to leave or not.

Below Image 5 - A double page spread showing my thoughts on the way Mordechai Vanun was treated and the actions he undertook.

The notepad pages here show the opinion and side of the argument that I feel down on and had the strongest points. I believe that the points put across by the western argument is stronger than those of Isreals argument. The opinion that I formed is that he should be aloowed to vacate his homeland of Isreal and not kept there as a hostage. I believe this because he has served his prison time, along with any other criminal, so why should he not be allowed to leave. I also feel that with this case that the western goverments that promised him safety and security should have done more to keep him safe and not being taken back to Isreal.

The next logical step that I undertook was trying to find a context for me to apply my storyboard to that I felt would be an appropriate manner for the seriousness of the case. Because my opinion was that Mordechai Vanunu should be freed, I researched into a selection of companys and contexts that they use which help battle for freedom or bring to light issuses found in the world.

Below Image 6 - A list I created showing the potential contexts I could apply my idea to. Top Right Image 7 - What is shown is the Amnesty Interantional logo, the company I am going to apply my idea to. Bottom Right Image 8 - This is the diagram I produced when analysisng the visual system used by Amnesty Interantional designers.

I wrote down the choices of companies that I felt were appropriate in attracting the target audience that I would need to make my campaign succesful. This was because I felt the manner of the topic I was creating a storyboard for was serious and only wanted to attract a more mature audience who I believed would take action. This meant creating an advert for a youtube video wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be succesful in my campaign, because the demographic of youtube shows the audience who use it is much younger and a large porportion would just skip this video and take no action. Below you can see the list of possible companies that I could of produced my campaign for. Beside the list is the contexts that I would off applied my storyboard to.

The company that I chose to create a narrative sequence for is Amnesty International, this company was chosen as I felt that they would attract the most sppropriate audiece to campaign for my issue against the freedom of Mordechai Vanunu. I also believed that they produce a lot of videos for similar cases so I felt that a strong visual system is already in place and it would be appropriate to use it. What was next for me was to analyse and break down the current visual system used by amnesty international, thus allowing me to then apply it to my narrative sequence.

Above Image 9 guidelines for Amnesty International designers.

When reasearching the visual system used by Amnesty International, I came across the design guidelines for the company. This showed mt the primary and seconday colours used by the organisation along with the font used and what weights to use it in. I also had a look at an array of Amnesty International videos, this allowed me to discover what camera angles they use. What scenes they use in there campaigns and finally it showed me how they portrayed their subject matter in the compostion frame of the video.

INITIAL DESIGNS My initial drawings were the first piece of creative input into the project, this was is the section where I was able to put ideas from my head on to paper. In these drawings I started out with litte stick figures and then drew them in more detail as my idea progressed.

Right Image 10 - Here are the camera angle movements that I will try to show when creating my Animate.

The sheet of paper that is shown, was my experimentation with trying to create possible camera angels that would be used in an Amnesty International campaign video. I tried to follow that pattern that is shown in their videos, where the composition starts of showing the subject matter from a distance and then as the narrative sequence progresses the composition starts to show the subject matter closer to the camera.

While at this stage in the process I started to draw my narrative sequence with a rough sketch of where the subject matter would be placed in the compositional frame. I progressed by drawing stick figures in the location of where I would want Mordechai Vanunu to stand in the white room. What was good about doing rough sketches at the begining was it meant that I could see the if the compositional layout would be sufficent and suited the visual system for Amnesty International.

Left Image 11 - The storyboard I produced to show what the frames of the narrative sequece would show. Below Image 12 - This drawing shows how each few frames will link together, along wiht the camera movments that would be applied to those frames.

What I proceded to do after this was draw the compositional frames up in more detail, this included drawing Mordechai Vanunu in more detail. This would be so when the narative sequence is placed into an animate it will be more clear for the inital audience to see who the storyboard is campaiging for. Below you can see the frames that I produced with more detailed drawings of my subject matter as the main focus in the compostitional frames that were drawn.

The final process that I undertook was to draw my compositional frames in an order diagram, this was to show which frame would follow the previous frame in the narrative sequence. This was to allow me and my tutors to see how my narrative sequence would flow. Below you can see the diagram that I drew up, the process shows the narrative sequence starting in the bottom left hand corner and it flowing right as the storyboard un folds.

Right Image 13 - This drawing shows what frames link together and the flow of the narrative sequence I will produce.

DIGITALISATION As the brief indicated, it was expected of us to take the frames from the storyboard and create a animate that flowed and told the narrative sequence. I proceded to do this by taking the frames and scanning them in and creating the animate in Adobe After Effects. Right Image 14 - A screenshot of Adobe After Effects, it shows the animate being digitally produced and finialised.

I chose this piece of software as it allowed me to create effects on the frames and then overlay text, sound and further images where I would need them to complete my narrative sequence. What is being shown on this page is the frames being edited and having their indvidual x and y positions animated. This was to give the illusion that the camera is sweeping across the room, instead of one frame fading into the next frame and it being a static motion of frame after frame.

While creating my animate, the next step in the process was to overlay text. This was short sentances that would appear in the compositional frames to tell the audience what the campaign was about and the histroy behind the incident in question. In the compositional frame I was aiming for the text to fade in as the camera approached the main subject matter, Mordechai Vanunu. This would be so the target audience can see that the fact applies to the subject matter.

Above Image 15 - Here you can see the different layers that I have used in Adobe After Effects and their order. Right Image 16 - Here is a close up of one of the hand drawn frames being digitalised and edited in Adobe After Effects.

The final stage in producing the animate is overlaying appropriate music. While selecting a background sound for the narrative sequence I was aiming to select one that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have speech during it. I also aimed to have a beat in the song that would build up during the storyboard as it got more intense and more information came in. This would give the impression to the target audience that the matter is more serious as it progressed and ultimatly ending in a button telling them to join the campaign to save Mordechai Vanunu.

FINAL PIECE The final piece that you are being shown is the digitalised narrative sequence that I produced to tell the story about the containment of Mordechai Vanunu in Isreal.

Right Image 17 - The final animate that I produced, it shows the digital video I would produce to be used as a piece to help free Modrechai Vanunu.

The campaign is meant to bring to light the issuse surrounding Mordechai Vanunu, that even though he is a whistle blower. He has served his jail time and does not posses anymore secrets to give away to other nations. Yet the Isreal Goverment will not let him leave the country and have kept him under lock down in the country. Yet I believe its time for the people of the western civilization to take action and fight against this problem. As we promised to help him first time around, but we failed with this. So it is up to us to help free a hero.

EVALUATION This is the section on where you can read how I felt I did through out this project. You will be able to see where I felt my strengths lied and where I think I need to improve.

On the next few pages you find my personal evaluation and how I feel I did on the breif along with my refernecing .

This was the first brief of the unit of work and is one that I felt was more interesting, I felt I was producing some good work as I was experimenting with new topics and contexts I hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t used before. While doing research for the project, I was looking into companys that I had never researched before and looking at contexts that I had never thought about before. I felt the idea of basing your hole project around your opinion from a single article to be good because it meant you had to try and bring into the work emotions and opinions that you felt. I feel I pushed my knowledge of both animates and the topic idea by doing this brief as it allowed me to explore a new area I would not normally read into. While I also feel the brief was beneficial as it meant I was using drawing skills and not trying to base my hole project around digital based skills. I feel that I have expanded my knowledge of animate design and further my researching into article ability.

Areas that I felt lacked me down where as my chosen media style and subject was the video of an actual person I was unable to make the animate look professional with a video of the subject matter. So I feel where I have used hand drawings to show what would go on in the animate, it looks not visually pleasing and it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tie in with the visual system used on the rest of the animate. However as I Didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know Mordechai Vanunu, hand drawings were the best I could do.

REFERENCING Images - Image 1 - Art of the Title. Six Feet Under Storyboard. (2001). [online iamge]. Available from: http://cdn2.artofthetitle.com/assets/resized/ sm/upload/6o/9v/mx/qv/sfu_storyboard_rough3-0-1280-0-1024.jpg [Accessed on 12th December 2014] - Image 2 - Haaretz. Mordechai Vanunu. (2014). [online image]. Available from: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/. premium-1.596568 [Accessed on 11th December 2014] - Image 7 - Logo Design Love. Amnesty International. (2015). [online image]. Available from: http://www.logodesignlove.com/images/classic/ amnesty-logo.gif [Accessed on 12th December 2014] Websites - Amnesty. (2015). Design Guidelines. [online]. Available from: http:// www.amnesty.org.au/resources/activist/AIA_Branding_Guide_2013.pdf [Accessed on 12th December 2014]