FINAL WIKI-VIDEOS

Styleframes for project II

There will be a short "teaser" animation in the Wikipedia homepage, and a more informative movie that will look as a banner on the main search page:

Timeline for Project 2

Rough Storyboards

Something like a scenario.

Researching on the exact operation of donating to Wikipedia and quotes of Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, the following are scattered words and phrases were selected; they that are persuasive in a more personal level. The text that can be used in the 15" movie could be:

Together we are documenting our history, our society, our science and technology, our culture, our environment. 14 million articles, 270 languages. It stopped being just a website long ago. For many of us, most of us, Wikipedia has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. The world is becoming a village and Wikipedia its library. Wikipedia is there when you need it - now it needs you. Make a donation now - url - Wikipedia Forever."

The final 15" ad, will be made mainly in AfterEffects. Following the "wiki" style of Wikipedia (getting from one place to the other) the mail "character will be a cursor, that will click on words and phrases of the scenario. Each click will lead to the following phrase (which will have selected "clickable" words. The cursor will further click on these words and the new phrases will show, and so on, until the final message ("Make a Donation"), shows up.

The aesthetics will remind an on-growing tree branch, so resembling illustrations might appear. The background textures, type and color pallet will remind that of the Wikipedia web page.

Visual elements of the Wikipedia PSA

Aesthetic elements of the wikipedia brand will be used to achieve continuance and conceptually bind the movie with the actual Wikipedia website:

- LOGOS

the interesting Wikipedia logo, and familiarize the public with the (not well known) Wikimedia logo.

Fonts:

The fonts used in the site:

Colors and Textures:

PSA project

To create a 15" movie that would try to persuade the public to make a donation to Wikipedia. The movie can be a viral that will be distributed via email, or can even appear on the wikipedia website, instead or accompanied by the existing link.

It will be discreet without imposing; it will also have a :hide" button, in case someone doesn't want it to be visible. By clicking the movie, one would be "wikipedia style" directed to the existing donation page.

Donate to Wikipedia

Wikipedia is an online, free, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia. Created by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger and launches in 2001, the project is today supported by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. The name derives from the Hawaian word "wiki" (which means fast) and "encyclopedia. Anyone can access the Wikipedia site, gain information about thousands of subjects (from Soviet animation, to rugby, to Macedonian dance festivals) and it is available in 270 languages, "from Abkhaz to Zulu!

It is written by volunteers, that is anyone can contribute to the online information, through editing articles or creating new resources. This is accomplished by a open source software. More than 300 million people use wikipedia every month, and it is listed as one of the ten most visited websites. Among those ten, Wikipedia is only non-profit brand.

The fact that Wikipedia is can be written by anyone, makes it not only limitless, but also the target for a lot of criticism: Many have characterized Wikipedia as a totally invalid resource and an information base lacking academic credibility. That may be true, but no one can deny the Wikipedia is one of the main information resource sites that we use, not necessarily for major academic researches and projects, but to gain everyday knowlegde, information about almost anything. (Not to mention that scientific journal Nature, has stated that the material of Wikipedia is approximately of the same lever as the Encyclopaedia Britannica.) Wikipedia also serves as the "entrance" towards a more detailed research, because the information it supplies is detailed enough, easy to access and always sites further reading materials and resources.

Its financing depends on donations. Wikipedia is a part of our lives, although it is seen as the "black sheep" of the formal information and academic world. Lately, it has launched an appeal to gather more donations from the visitors of the site, because at the end of the day, we, the users of Wikipedia, are using this practical tool at every occasion when we want to easily and accurately want to access any kind of free information.

(...return to Project 1) Print ideas for Pratt Branding

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Outdoor ad

Project 2 - Motion Design II

Possible solutions:
1) A PSA (public service announcement), dealing with mental health awareness, or how can good psychological state can prevent or even cure diseases. The objective is to pursue a more positive and hopeful approach. Information and social acceptance would be ideal outcomes. There is also a possibility to use type or to create a graphics animation, in order to differentiate from most PSA's and even give a more clear, direct and optimistic effect.

2) Kinetic Typography piece, an alternative video clip for a tune! When I listen to music, I always imagine motion and movement. What would be the ideal video clip for that song? If it was used for a ceremony, what projected visuals would accompany it? Some video clips are very literal (i.e. fotage of the singer, performing on an attractive background), while some others totally abstract.

The following video clip of Prince's "Sign O The Times", is a kinetic typographic music piece from 1987. (Notice the slightly rough typesetting of the Times typeface.) The content, symptomatically reminds a public service announcement, addressing various socio-political problems including AIDS, gang violence, natural disasters, poverty, drug abuse).



The Van Halen "Right Here" video is another example.

Typographic stills that could animate...

An animation can be created using stills like that, or even random letters that could create the same feeling.

Kinetic typography - The important relationship between sound, image and motion.

Rick Vallicenti is a designer and head of design studio Thirst, based in Chicago. Among his graphic, interactive and corporate design pieces, he has been involved in a more personal project. The production of alternative video clips for five love songs, demonstrates the unlimited possibilities of kinetic typography. The graphic treatment, color, contrast, rhythm and narrative of the pieces, correspond to the attributes of each song, providing a striking results.

Motion design studio Trollback, created one of my favorite kinetic typography pieces, an alternative video clip for this David Byrne and Brian Eno song. It seems like the song was written for the visuals, (and not the visuals for the song). It doesn't rely on pure typography (although type is carefully used and has a huge contribution on the final result), but mostly on the combination of textures, speed, shapes. And of course the "bursting" light and approaching shapes match the sound effects and voices perfectly. The effect is mysterious and creatively dramatic.

On the contrary, the simple type animation that "dresses up" a monologue from a popular TV series, shows a different possibility of type usage in motion. Type in fast and playful motion, adds smartness and humor.

Public service announcments

Public service announcements and commercials dealing with social issues have, among others, the following very interesting characteristics:

- Most of them use video, not animation. The animated part in most of the movies is the first and the final scene, that usually involves important information, Internet address etc. In these cases, the type is used in a "quiet" and controlled manner.

- Video is treated in a very detailed and professional way; the shooting is well directed and of a high aesthetic quality. Most of the parts, could be easily used as high quality still photos.

- The rhythm is slow (not in all ads) and in some cases leads to a more powerful conclusion.

- There is an underground feeling of sadness, especially in the ones dealing with health and safety issues.

- The human factor is, of course, dominant. Close up shots of faces and expressions are an attempt to bring the viewer closer to the situation advertised.

- Color saturation is in most cases low.

- Sound plays an important role here as well (as in all motion design pieces). It reinforces the drama and strengthens persuasion.

FINAL PRATT VIDEOS

visit: http://motionalex.blogspot.com/

Change canvas size in FinalCut.

Pratt logo like a stamp.

Cameras in AfterEffects.

Cut part of footage and paste it, an AfterEffects.

Bars on top of timeline in AfterEffects.

Change scenes, with no transitions, more natural.

CONCEPT 1 - "hand" - first steps/production

(more footage is available, but files were to heavy to upload on YouTube...)

CONCEPT 2 - "Blank page" - Creating Materials

Timeline

CONCEPT 2 - "blank page" - first steps

White spaces / boards / flyers around the city.

5 shots (3 in Manhattan / 2 in Brooklyn)

- Big billboard in Manhattan (high view)

- Plain poster on "busy" wall filled with posters

- Close up of a man handing out white sheets of paper, like flyers

- White boards standing next to trees in Brooklyn

- Flying sheets of paper on the Brooklyn campus

TAGLINE: Leave space for creativity / Space to creativity

CONCEPT 1 - "hand" - first steps

Total duration: 30sec.

Duration of final card with logo 2-3 seconds.

So in 27 seconds all four disciplines (fine art, design, writing, and books) must be "created" by the hand on the white sheets. Each "creation" will last approximately 7 seconds. Fast motion will be used.

MATERIAL:

-dark wooden surface (table)

-4 sheets of plain white paper or cardboard (not too thin)

-pencils

-watercolors

-keyboard and mouse

-books