Musical Interpretation Project – Final

Musical Interpretation Final from Lian Dziura on Vimeo.

The resolution on this is awful… it didnt look this bad at all on my computer. Unfortunately i don’t have After Effects on my own computer. So i will fix it whenever i get to school.

Musical Interpretation Project – Progress

musical interpretation progress from Lian Dziura on Vimeo.

1. Why this particular song/piece?

I chose the theme of movie soundtrack and i started listening to the soundtracks that i had and came across the Amelie soundtrack. i have always loved the music so i thought this would be the perfect time to do something with it. It sounds very French and it makes me think of black and white films of children. I decided to do something with black and white photographs that my great-great-grandfather took. He was French so i thought it would be even more relevant.

2. how does this song effect your color scheme – why?

It makes me think of memories and black and white films so i tried to use a cool muted color scheme in my panels.

3. why your using this specific set of images and how does it effect the content of the movie.

I used the black and white photographs along with layers of textures and patterns. I wanted the patterns to look like old wallpaper or tapestries. I used  the textures just to give a feel of clouded thoughts and aging of memories. I also used images of leaf textures just to add to the composition.

4. what do you hope the viewer’s experience is?

I hope that the viewer feels like they are looking through the flickering of memories,  like snapshots of these children’s lives.

Musical Interpretation Project – 5 Panels

My theme for this project is movie soundtrack. I did some research on soundtracks and discovered that there are really three different types of soundtracks: film scores, musical scores, and albums of songs used in non-musicals. Using instrumental scores for movies started in the early 1900’s. Silent movies would have accompanying organists, pianists, or whole orchestras that would play along with the film. One of  the first in movie soundtracks was Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer. His first movie soundtrack was in 1908. From that point on music became a prominent part of film. Soundtrack albums started in the 1950’s as promotions for movies. The fifties also gave way to a modernized film score that incorporated jazz. It wasnt until the 1970’s that full film scores came into popularity.  In France there have been many important contributers to soundtrack composing. One being Yann Tiersen, who has become very popular here in the United States for his composing of the soundtrack for Amelie. This was the first film that he worked on. The score for the movie won the World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Soundtrack in 2001.

music for this project:

Musical Interpretation Project-Research

For this project I chose the category movie soundtrack, so i was thinking that i would explore the soundtrack from Amelie. I really like how the composer Yann Tiersen creates layers with the music itself. All of the songs have a very distinct sense of movement to them, i would like to use vignettes for my five images and play with elements moving in and out of the composition. i would like to use layers of pattern and texture that give it sort of a vintage feel, because whenever i listen to this music it makes me think of past memories. I cant decide whether i want to use any recognizable subject matter in my pieces or not, like people or floral designs.

This is one of the songs from the Amelie soundtrack:

Here are some images that i found for inspiration:

i know some of these look super tacky, but i like the winding elements

an example of vintage wallpaper pattern

the composition is non-existent in this poster, but i really like the simple white and color shaping of the eiffel tower

this is by pequena suricata. i really like the patterning in the background.

i love the movement in this piece

this isnt the color palette that i’m going for but i like the layers, patterns, and textures used.

SKETCHES:

Character Design Extension Project

Extension #1: black and white

Extension #2: expressive line

Extension #3: Metallic

Extension #4: Transparency

Extension #5: Florescence

character design extension paragraph:

Throughout her life, Agatha the teacup was owned by a unique and diverse spread of people. While she was still in the ownership of her original great family, she was owned by a certain man who fit the description of “unique and diverse” a little more than the others. While he had wealth and privilege that the rest of his family had, he used it in a slightly unusual way. Hw was a bit eccentric and had become the black sheep of the family. When he was twenty he decided to start a band with some of his friends. The band was and indie-folk band influenced by Andrew Bird, Sufjan Stevens, and the Decemberists. His parents of course disapproved of this choice. He in turn completely despised the lifestyle in which he grew up, and so to get away from it all he decided to leave home and moved to the big city. There, he and his fellow band-mates would live in a refurbished old factory or some old cheap studio space and enjoyed life and music. Agatha, as we know was the proud and vain type in this period of her life. She did not except the son anymore than his parents did. To her dismay it just so happened that she was somehow mixed in with his belongings when he moved. I the excitement she was thrown into a box and was left in the dark for what seemed like weeks. The day she was taken out of the box was the day that the band members were discussing the name for their band. He was unpacking some of the boxes that he’d forgotten and he found her lying at the bottom of one. Instantly they saw her simple beauty and history and they knew that this had been what they were searching for. They would be called The Teacups. Unfortunately after a quick google search they discovered that there was already a band called The Teacups from Scotland and another called Teacups, from Australia. There was also Teacups!, Teacups Teacups, and Dirty Teacups among many others. So now they were stuck. The man thought long and hard and finally discovered a memory that he had not thought about for many years. He remembered seeing this very teacup in the house that he had lived in as a child. He remembered one time when he and his sister had a tea party with their mother’s collector’s china. They couldn’t figure out how to make tea so instead they had used lemonade. So he decided that they would be called Teacups and Lemonade. And this little teacup would be their “mascot”. One of the band members was an artist as well, and he started to come up with designs for band poster for concerts and cd covers. From that point on Agatha became an icon.

character design

panel 1- animate

panel 2- symmetrical

panel 3- repetitive

panel 4- dynamic

panel 5- inanimate

panel 6- asymmetrical

panel 7- geometric

panel 8- natural

character design story and sketches

This is a story of a teacup. Her name is Agatha, better known as Aggie to her closer friends. Not much is known about her origin and because she is so old now, her memory is not exactly what it used to be. What we do know is, she was made in England, crafted with care by some tradesman or another, and was elegantly hand painted thereafter. She was then purchased by a wealthy gentleman as a wedding present for his daughter. This began the tradition of the little teacup being passed down from generation to generation. She was held in very high esteem as a family heirloom. She was always kept on display in very large ornate wooden cabinets or in carved wooden boxes with velvet lining. She was only used for the best occasions and held only the best brands of tea.
Years turned into decades and decades turned into centuries. Agatha most recently had been living with a dear old woman named Anna Louise. Anna Louise was not as wealthy as her ancestors were, but she lived in a large cottage full of antiques and knick-knacks that she had collected over the years. The most meaningful of those were the doilies and teacups that her mother had given her when Anna Louise had married. When the poor woman passed away her children had no respect for her belongings. The economy was bad, and they needed money. They took almost all her belongings to a high-class antique store in a big city, and made quite a profit. Now Agatha, though she missed the dear woman, was used to the passing by of people and took this turn of events very well. She was now in a very good position. This is where our story begins.
Agatha was in the spotlight. She was top of the top in this antique. Everyone who passed by gave her praises. She was pleased with the price on her tag as well, as it was high enough that not just anyone could have her. Only those of the highest class and rank could buy her. She could not possibly live in any other circumstance. She was very relieved when a respectable antique collector bought her. The woman was properly dressed and spoke of the teacup collection she had in her home.  Upon the arrival at her new home, Agatha was delighted to see that again she would be considered one of the elite. She was given her own spot in the collection of teacups and she glistened and shined with pride. But then one day the unthinkable happened. After years of living in comfort and ease her life was shattered.
The fall took her by complete surprise. One second she was perfect in her place and the next she was on the floor. She braced herself for the extent of the damage. She looked around and finally found it. A little piece of her rim was chipped off. A rush of feelings over took Agatha. She felt embarrassed, ashamed, devastated, shocked, and terrified. “Who would want me,” she thought, “now that I’m ugly and broken. I’m useless.” She was completely hopeless. After all these years, she couldn’t imagine anything else. Her worst fears were confirmed when the woman took Agatha to the nearest flea market and sold her for five dollars. Agatha sat there for months. No one spoke praises. No one commented on her hand painted designs. No one picked her up and held her gingerly in their hands. No one even took the time to look at her. She felt nothing.
Then one day a man stopped. He looked at her. He picked her up and traced the designs with his finger. His hands were rough and he looked tired. He kind of smelled and didn’t really look like he ever sat and drank tea, but Agatha decided that she didn’t really mind. The man bought her and carried her out of store. He sat her on the bench next to him as he waited for the bus and then took her home with him. “Home” for this man was not like anything Agatha had ever seen. He lived in a small tent in an old abandoned warehouse. It was cold, dark, and damp outside, but inside the tent it was almost cozy. She didn’t feel scared at all. He opened up a suitcase, which held his only possessions. He carefully placed her inside and wrapped a shirt and a pair of socks around her to protect her. He sighed and smiled before shutting it.  The next day when the man opened up the suitcase he took her out and placed her on a table. She didn’t recognize the place. It was busy and kind of crowded. A woman there knew him by name and started talking to him. She looked at Agatha and told the man that he made a wonderful find. She gave him small pot of hot tea and a teabag. She smiled and walked away. The man looked at the teacup and slowly prepared his tea. Each step he took in the process was perfect. He first put in the perfect amount of milk and sugar. He then poured in the perfect amount of water. He then left the teabag in the water for the perfect amount of time. The man smiled as he remembered visiting his grandmother in the country as a child. She was the one who taught him how to make his tea. She would tell him that a man was never a man until he knew how to make a proper cup of tea. The man chuckled to himself and then wiped a tear from his eye as he thought of time passed. It was at that point that Agatha realized what her true purpose was. She was not brought into existence to show off her beauty or for wealthy people to store her away in some worthless cabinet for years on end. She had been broken and deserted, but only after that had she found her purpose. She was meant to help the lowly and to bring happiness to the hopeless. Now she had found true contentment.

Design for Media: Project 2 – FINAL panels

Panel 5

Panels 1-4

100 textures

For my first project for Design for Media, I had to take photographs of one hundred textures. I absolutely love how colorful this is!