My Kinetic Typography is done!

The back story to the song can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Car

So basically, the song is a reflection of the original singer, Tracy Chapman's struggles with poverty. She describes how she was leaving her hometown with her boyfriend in a 'fast car' and how she thinks she can 'make it' and 'be someone'.

Hence, the typeface which I chose to accompany this song starts out clean - to reflect a hope. Thereafter, the typeface slowly degrades to a more distorted font (e.g. I used the font "Rock It" for the chorus), to reflect desperation.

This is my first attempt in kinetic typography and it was as enjoyable as much as it was a killer (I know, it's a paradox which I myself don't understand). I actually spent close to 3 days to figure out the mechanisms in After Effects, planning out the animation, executing them....... and then found out that I made a mistake in not "continuously rasterizing" them so everything became extremely pixelated.

But I generally am quite happy with the results. =D=D
I will overcome NM3208! Roar!

Tutorial for After Effects

Here is an online tutorial to help anyone who's lost to get started on their assignment. It also serves as a starting point for me haha:

http://www.crookedgremlins.com/09/01/2008/kinetic-typography-tutorial/

My Ken Burns Videos :)

I think Assignment 2 is my most chaotic assignment so far, because I simply just couldn't think of an interesting enough idea without being too cliche (you can see from my first video). And my ideas were just all over the place.



I was kind of disappointed with myself that even though I had spent a lot of time on this video, it wasn't something that I was proud of.

I HAD TO REDO IT! (to make my final semester in NUS worthwhile haha)

But after encouragement from Julian to just be sincere and honest about my time in NUS, and after getting inspiration from some the great photostories on Youtube, I decided to make my own photostory.

Ok, I didn't have the time to do a script for this. I just dived right in with the concepts already in my head.


My NUS Photostory




In this photostory, I talk about my grieves in programming. It was tough business here in School of Computing, with quite a steep learning curve. I could barely catch up in the beginning and my grades suffered as a result. I thought of giving up many times and even tried once to apply out of SoC and into FASS..maybe it's God's doing that my application was denied. In any case, I have learnt to appreciate NUS and SoC for giving me great opportunities to grow and learn, plus making friends along the way.

A3 Presentation

This is one of my favourite tunes recently.



Lyrics:

You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere

Anyplace is better
Starting from zero got nothing to lose
Maybe we'll make something
But me myself I got nothing to prove

You got a fast car
And I got a plan to get us out of here
I been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
We won't have to drive too far
Just 'cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And finally see what it means to be living

You see my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
I say his body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so we can fly away
We gotta make a decision
We leave tonight or live and die this way

I remember we were driving driving in your car
The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
And we go cruising to entertain ourselves
You still ain't got a job
And I work in a market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better
You'll find work and I'll get promoted
We'll move out of the shelter
Buy a big house and live in the suburbs
You got a fast car
And I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of your kids
I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me would find it
I got no plans I ain't going nowhere
So take your fast car and keep on driving

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so you can fly away
You gotta make a decision
You leave tonight or live and die this way


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I thought it'll be a rather cool song to use for this kinetic typography because I think I can use quite a lot of visuals to complement the lyrics. Besides, it's a pretty fast song (not in terms of the overall tempo, but the lyrics are sung in quarter/semiquarter notes).


I did a rough sketch for the first few verses of the song. For this assignment, I'll have to cut down the song to just the first two verses and the chorus.


Here's the rough sketch:

PAL vs NTSC

This was mentioned during this week's lesson and I was kept wondering what is the difference between PAL and NTSC, because so often I'm stuck as to which format to use.

So anyway, I googled and found some results, which I thought I should share here.

Apparently, the basic difference is that the frame rates and scan lines are different, because in different regions, the engineering system is different. So.

Ok, so here are the links that might aid in better understanding:

http://www.ehow.com/about_5561488_pal-vs-ntsc.html

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-ntsc-and-pal.htm

http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/articles/palvsntsc/palvsntsc.asp -- a lot more detailed!

Recording at RadioPulze lab!

This was my first time EVER at the RadioPulze lab! It's situated at the 'ulu-ness' of CDTL.. which was pretty cool actually - a part of NUS I've never been to.

The technician who helped was really really helpful and friendly (I forgot his name though). Very encouraging as well..which didn't make me nervous as I was recording.

Anyway it's pretty cool that the recording lab itself is like a mini hut within a larger studio. Lol! Cool cool!

And yes, without much need to explain, the quality of my recording was supppppeeeeeeerrrrr! No more recording at home! Anyway, I kinda had no choice since my GarageBand crashed on me..

Yeap! Are u looking forward to my Ken Burns assignment? Wakaka...

My A1 Website Is Up

Woohoo! My A1 website portfolio is finally up at my domain. All along I thought I had did something wrong in my forwarding (the things about forwarding domain/subdomains etc were really confusing).. but it turns out that I just typed my url wrong by missing out the "/A1/". So dumb right?
It's like calling the repairman to come down when our speakers aren't producing sounds but it's only because earphones are plugged in.. (it happened to my mom once!)

So, it's up here: carol-elizabeth.com

And here are some help regarding what it means to forward (for ultimate noobs like me):
- Forwarding
- What is a subdomain?