Chapter Vignettes: Lost for Words

I worked on a project for a friend recently that got my back in the studio building stuff again, which felt great.  I spent about a week and a half from start to finish, designing, building, and animating these titles.  At first I wanted to do them as 2d graphics in After Effects, but I’m really glad Sean pushed for the photographic / sculptural vignette solution instead.  It was much more fun to do them this way!

The film is called Lost for Words, and it’s a short for Bravo!FACT.  As is my Little Theatres project, only Sean’s is live action, and took much less time to complete!  So now it’s done, and he’s got a site and trailer happening.  Way to go, Sean!

Below, you’ll see the final sequences, complete with final audio.  Sean took the files to a colour correction studio, Alter Ego, for final colour, and this changed the images quite dramatically.  The film itself was mostly shot in a forest, and that footage had been treated with cool colours.  I was surprised to see the final treatment of the chapter titles… I had imagined them as being very warm images.  But it’s a good surprise… this treatment works perfectly with the film.  As you can see, they also brought up the contrast in the wooden type, to make the text more legible.

Here are the shots side by side:  the original, un-colour-treated image on the top, and the final treated image on the bottom.  What a difference in mood!

Chapter two (above, right) was lit using a small softbox, built by moi, using the technique described in this post.  I was very happy with the results!  The softbox is only lighting the small inset frame holding the plants.  The softbox opening was designed to fit right into the top of that box, so it’s quite small…  Otherwise these were lit by Brendan Steacy and Sean Wainsteim.

And here’s the animation.  Simple animation, but just enough to add some life, and provide a reason for some fun sound FX 🙂

(I really am back on the film.  I’ve shot one scene, and am planning the next.  Updates on these soon!  Hurray!)

9 thoughts on “Chapter Vignettes: Lost for Words

  1. Shelley Noble

    My gosh, what superb work, Stephanie! There was NO comparison between the file you host vs. YouTube. I couldn’t see most of the animation work on YT but on the Fork Studio link it all was so sumptuously detailed and artful.

    I didn’t realize that Little Cabbages was made for broadcast TV?! That’s fabulous to have an external purpose for it as well as your inner one. I think I’ll pretend mine has such a purpose too and see what happens.

    Reply
  2. stephanie dudley

    Thanks, guys.

    Not sure what to do about youtube. I’m thinking I might switch everything over to vimeo. They seem to have better quality compression on their site. I could just host all the videos myself, but there are advantages to using either of those sites — the security features, plus the social aspects are both pretty cool.

    Yes, the cabbage film is for Bravo!FACT 🙂 It is GREAT to have an outside force — people waiting for the film to finish. I think I need that kind of ‘deadline’ (though it’s been a floating deadline, so far… but at least I know somebody’s waiting for it.) And the funding is great, too. Bravo is actually really good about supporting more ‘commercial’ artists… I feel like a commercial artist trying to break into the art world, and Bravo is totally OK with that. Most granting organizations in Canada are very hesitant to support people who don’t have prior independent productions.

    But I don’t think of the final TV presentation too much. I’m more excited about the festival adventures… which you must be applying for too, no? So there’s an external purpose there, though not definite as to the wheres, whens and whats yet…

    Reply
  3. Shelley Noble

    HI, no festivals for me. I’m personally not fond of going to a place in real life, (going online is so much more convenient!), not interested in awards from anyone, etc. I know a lot of talented people who love to gather awards like fleas on a dog, (hi, Justin!) but it’s not a path for myself. Online screenings are just fine with me!

    Reply
  4. stephanie dudley

    Thanks Erin! I’m working on the Little Theatres titles right now, and am going through the same old debate of whether or not to design them on the computer vs. actually making them photographic… you just might have pushed me in the photographic direction… 🙂

    Reply

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