Process Book: Static/ Dynamic

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the process a series in discovery, research, refinement & criticism

MOLLY MAGNELL

VOLUME II: STATIC/ DYNAMIC

CAPSTONE I: FORM & FUNCTION

FALL 2017

SAM FOX SCHOOL OF DESIGN & VISUAL ARTS AT WASHINGTON U. IN ST. LOUIS

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the research

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concept

I switched between a few different songs: First it was the swanky cabaret jazz song Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus and then I stuck with piano piece called Photograph by Arcade Fire from Her, the movie in which the protagonist finds love and comfort in the operating system of his phone—before settling on the bouncy, energized Obvs by Jamie XX.

Top: Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus (1959

Middle: Her Soundtrack by Arcade Fire ft. Karen O (2013)

Bottom: In Colour by Jamie XX (2015)

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Previous: Scenes from Her where Photograph is played.

I hadn’t watched the movie in a while, but I remember dreamy and happy, yet sad colors and imagery surrounding this score.

Top: Jazz club that inspired my vision for Mingus Ah Um

For the majority of the project, I focused on pieces of vintage photography I had been collecting over the years because to me, it embodied the fluttering, delicate, and hopeful nature of the song and the movie. I chose pieces that felt nostalgic, but felt isolated, or in some way off. Thinking about the theme of Her, I liked the idea of incorporating glitches, fractals, and digitized edits that made nostalgic, dream-like scenarios feel off.

I switched to Obvs halfway through the animation stage after I felt trapped trying to convey a feeling that didn’t communicate through my image choices for Photograph. Obvs felt more abstract and had three major section changes that allowed for big animation transitions. Photograph was more monotonous with a continuous arpeggio that only evolved over time through the occasional bass note.

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Middle: Miss Bean photography that embodied Photograph to me

Bottom: Hayley Eichenbaum photography that captured the energy I felt from Obvs

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the discovery

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I looked at tutorials on how to use a camera layer to draw the viewer into one scene from another, how to break apart photos into three-dimensional spaces that gave the illusion of depth, how to create glitchy VHS effects to echo the digital and nostalgic nature of Her, and how to use 3D settings to integrate text into scenes.

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outside learning

I drew upon some of the After Effects tutorials I had recently watched in my free time for inspiration.

Through my experience with After Effects over the summer, I made a few animations that were heavily vector-based. To expand my education with the program, my initial idea was to set a series of limitations on how I animated the images I produced. I chose the images I felt the most emotionally drawn to and explored YouTube tutorials on cinematic transitions between scenes.

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My rules were this: •

I would use full-bleed imagery and transitions to create cinematic transitions

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I would not use flat shapes or hard vectors that would conflict with the softness of the images

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I would use effects and manipulations to create the illusion of using dynamic footage

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Embrace the unique digital editing capabilities of the computer programs

Photograph by Josef Hoflehner titled Patience. To me, it embodied feelings of innocence and hope.

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word 1

delicate

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Drawing made from dried out rose petals

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word 2

HOPEFUL

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Collage from a photo by Hayley Eichenbaum and Matisse’s The Sheaf, 1953

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word 3

INNOCENT

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Digital manipulation made by lassoing out the figure and adding an outside shadow to the layer in Photoshop.

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HYBRIDS

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Digital collage using the wave distortion, layer masks, and Gaussian blur

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Made using the square function on the wave tool and adjusting the hue/ saturation and levels of the unicorn tape dispenser.

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the refinement

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A lot of my studies began with looking at photographs and making edits that evoked feelings. Instead of using photographs of objects that seemed to describe my words, I made my handmade drawings more literal and my digital pieces more abstract. I started animating early by creating gifs in Photoshop and After Effects of digital manipulations to found imagery to create pseudo-footage and

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Above: Original storyboard with descriptions of transitions, animations, and content timed to the key bass notes throughout the 40 second clip

Next: Stills from the first draft

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explore the capabilities of the programs.

I leaned towards my photographic studies because they were more effective at capturing the emotions I experienced when I listened to the song. For me, the song reminded me of some of my dreams where I’m surrounded by surreal flower landscapes. Growing up in a city, pastel houses, color fields of soft pink, and expansive floral fields embodied the hopefulness of the song.

Ultimately, other viewers struggled to see the connection between my images and animations to my ultimate vision. So, I completely scrapped my idea, changed songs, and picked only one element to drastically transform across frames.

Old title screen vs. new one

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Studies using dots and grids as a preliminary storyboard for the Obvs video.

I used circles as the consistent piece of imagery because, to me, they were an abstracted representation of flickering lights that could visually echo the fluttering notes of the song. I used images that were more abstract and textural instead of location-based.

My color palette switched from subdued pastels to bright, cheery colors that were a nod to the corresponding album art for In Colour.

When it came to timing, I looked at the song’s waveform and played everything back at 15 frames per second to accurately animate all the moving pieces. I used some of my initial time measurements to dictate the speed and length of other elements to create a piece that responded directly to the rhythm of the music.

There were two moments in my 40-second clip where new instruments and rhythms were layered into the song. I used these two key moments as defining moments where the animation got more complex. In my head, my shifts didn’t feel like too drastic because they recycled elements from the previous sections, but others thought my changes felt too inconsistent.

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the criticism

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Dot patterns that changed from abstract patterns to the song title

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Some images came across as too representative instead of abstract—similar to the problems with my first animation, which lead to an overall inconsistent feel to my piece.

I had some difficulty working with just 30 frames per second (my first animation had 68 fps because there were 68 beats per second based on the composition music), and I couldn’t make some of the micro adjustments I wanted in the third section to tie together the scenes panning over the giant “OBVS.” I wanted the dots to move up the screen in this conveyer-like motion with more zoomed out scenes showing smaller movements to communicate a scale change over a singular image.

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This book was written and designed by Molly Magnell during the Fall semester of her senior year in 2017 at Washington University in St. Louis. These five books exist as a catalog of the process and design thinking that went into the work she made during her design capstone titled Form and Function taught by Professor Chrissi Cowhey.

This book was typeset in: Diversa Soft Serif, 35 pt./ 42.5 pt. leading for the cover; 24 pt./ 28 pt. leading for the chapter headings; 118 pt. for the chapter numbers Quadraat Regular, 9.5 pt./ 12 pt. leading for the body copy; 8 pt./ 9.75 pt. leading for the captions with a 1pt. rule.