Project Review – Hannah Williamson

Originally I had three initial ideas experimenting with different materials to create different visions, however after careful thought and analogy I realized that one of the main

issues I have had in previous projects was the editing process, I always found it challenging and I had to invoke a lot of thought into each process or editing which lead me

to believe that this would be perfect opportunity to face my fear and focus on two main programs that scare me; Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects .

My main form of research was first hand experimentation on certain images that I had and also YouTube tutorials on what I wanted to create and others that know I could not create

in the time I had allotted myself, but would still stand as a good example

I looked into work that has used the same effects I used in my film and I found out that they were quite advanced techniques. ‘the whole program to me a scary prospect but I

was willing to learn (semifye.wordpress.com/R.E.DProject – 2014:)’ it was a scary prospect as I had no idea what I was doing and to focus on something like this was very

time consuming and also eye straining (am in need of glasses after this project.) with the continuous updates that Adobe are experiencing I feel like I shouldn’t get used to this

certain program because it will just change ‘It’s also worth reiterating that Adobe have been rolling out updates to the CC versions of its products throughout the lifecycle,’ -

(http://www.creativebloq.com/after-effects/review-after-effects-cc-6133284) After I had a basic understanding of each program I then went back to my story board and had a think

about what the context would be.I originally had a script that I wanted to recreate using actors and my experiment would

be using separate audio and visual pieces of equipment and developing a sequence where I would have to put them together manually which is a new process for me. However due to unforeseen circumstances, that film was postponed for a different time, (it is still being

made) this gave me a brand new white sheet to create an idea.

I decided after a lot of reading and consideration, I wanted to make a short abstract piece mainly thinking about the irony of life ‘A book is a loaded gun 

in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon.' " (R.Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, pg65).

The irony was to recreate a music video based on some abstract artists – (Aphex Twin – Square pusher – Bjork.) I focused more on the directors of the music videos and the process

of making some of there master pieces, Chris Cunningham being one who has worked with many different incredible abstract artists an made a visual interpretation of a musical

score, successfully.

This has been my main source or influence and relevance, I took out the dvd’s of Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry music videos and continuously watched the ones that had

visual effects in them to see how they were situated and sometimes how subtle they can be?

After repeating the videos I felt like I was ready to take on the challenge of this project. I started off by making a soundtrack that would accompany the visuals. This was something

that I have tried in previous projects, and failed at but I was not going to let it beat me this time; I wanted to create a haunting tune that made you feel uneasy. The result was

successful in my opinion, this was a great start and I was ahead of schedule, thinking it was going to be a day worth of working when it was approximately 6 hours of continuous work

before it was completed.

The beginning was under way however I knew there would be a big risk in taking on 2 editing programs that I knew not the basics of. The footage that I used was of a

promotional video of a hypnotherapist - Tim Pilling, he kindly agreed to let me use his footage to recreate a new meaning. If you do not know Hypnotherapy is a form of

therapeutic exercise to help you with many different problems that you may have in your life, this is all opinionated and it has been disputed in the past that it is all a placebo with

no effect. Personally I felt that it worked with me when I had personal issues I went to Tim and he gave me 12 one hour sessions over the course of 14 weeks, at first I felt sceptical because I had heard many rumours about this practice, however still not knowing much

about it I risked it because I felt there would be no mental or physical harm to occur to me throughout the session. I felt enlightened personally and I would recommend it to anyone

who wants to see things in a clearer perspective.

The footage was only 2 minutes long, so I used some of the outtakes I had of the footage to warp and manipulate what he was saying on screen to mean the opposite of its true

meaning. This was a fun but long winded process which I feel worked out in the end.

It was my choice to work individually on this project as it was something I wanted to learn on my own and it felt like It would become too complicated if I brought in collaborations, I

only claimed assistance when the You Tube tutorials were overly complicated and I had peers to help assist me.

The end product was a fantastically obscure and abstract film using all of the words I focused on in an ironic sense, It made the whole hypnotherapy subject become

questionable even more, however for an example of my new skills on Adobe Premiere and After Effects, I felt it was achieved. I would like to have more time to focus on these

technical difficulties that I have received in the past so I can make my life easier in the future.

‘As soon as you stop wanting something, you get it’ – Andy Warhol