P2: Soundscape

(Click on image for a detailed view)

Although the book is satirical and could be humorous/entertaining on the surface, the issues C.S. Lewis touches are actually quite serious and profound. It covers deep Christian theological message on ideas of good vs. evil, heaven vs. hell, and God vs. Satan. Lewis even admits that it was not easy writing the book, and similarly, actors who have portrayed Screwtape found it a bit disturbing to get into this character.

Because the book is reversely oriented (i.e. God is referred to as “The Enemy” and Satan is “Our Father Below”), I figured it is appropriate to mimic this in the soundscape. With the same music playing simultaneously but with one reversed, one could perhaps imagine a world moving as it is, and another one moving down below with inverted views/perspectives.

I included 3 characters in the soundscape: the “patient” (human breathing), Screwtape (senior tempter), and Wormwood (junior tempter), although I did not want this to be too obvious nor literal. The subtlety leaves room for the listeners to have their own interpretation of the visuals. Nevertheless, one interpretation could be that the two devils are conversing with each other (as in their correspondence), while the patient/human exists independently.

(Credits after the jump)

Book trailer commandments

Stolen from the book trailer blog.

Length: Keep it to 1:30 or shorter. Even the most impatient of us will watch for a minute and a half.

Voice Talent: Hire a professional or just use type and music. Authors are not voice actors.

Visuals: Keep some kind of visual continuity.

Typography: Avoid overused fonts such as Helvetica, Trajan, Courier, and Onyx. Integrate the type into the overall design.

Tone: Don’t be overly dramatic.

Soundtrack/Voice Over: Again, don’t be overly dramatic.

Video: Avoid montages of cheesy stock video footage. Shoot your own or use stock wisely.

Text: Keep it short. Billboard short.

Fictional Characters: Preferably keep them anonymous—let viewers use their imagination.

Canned Effects: Avoid them.

Book trailers

Sharp Teeth excerpt (book trailer example). Animation directed by Limbert Fabian. Produced by Matt Thunell.

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The Book of Spam. Innovative interpretation/animation of the book using toast! Here they show how it’s made:

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Sweetheart (book trailer example). It’s made of still photos, but the way they animated it, made it seem as if it’s multidimensional.

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This one I just find the content funny. =)

SHIFT.chroma

Here is a detailed flow of how this guy made this. Pretty sweet considering he had limited budget as well. The premise was to record himself in front of a green screen and apply some sort of visual effect.

trapcode

Question: Do any of you guys have Trapcode?

Rainy Day Recess – Impactist

Rainy Day Recess by Impactist.

Handmade miniatures numbering over fifty were captured via digital still cameras. Post processing includes conversion of digital typography to analog and back via 24p video and still photography. Finally portions of the total piece were output to paper, hand manipulated, then recaptured using high resolution digital scanning. All content and audio created by Kelly Meador and Daniel Elwing.

Look at that process………crazy!

Parallelostory

By Impactist.

Idea of serendipity? Parallel universe? I’m starting to wonder about ways how I could present mine: Screwtape Letters = twisted inverted universe. Hmm

Taking Chance – Shine

Title sequence for Taking Chance by Shine Studio (LA)

Also, last time when Marcott and I went to ADCC’s Ideation Awards Ceremony, I found the opening sequence impressive. Watch it (0:20 to 1:01).

Initial Research

Background

(Book in a nutshell). The Screwtape Letters is written in the form of correspondences between two devils: Screwtape—the senior tempter, to his nephew, Wormwood—the apprentice. It takes you on a psychological tour of life from a devil’s viewpoint. 31 letters/chapters contain advice from the experienced devil on how to promote sin or how to win souls over God, whom they refer to as “The Enemy;” (the book is morally reversed, one can say).

Wikipedia

Themes

Good vs. Evil, Temptation, Conscience, Truth/Perspective, Morality, God, Beliefs, Human nature, Sin, Pride, War

Prelim Moodboard

(More after the jump)

Project 2 Creative Brief

Creative Brief

Title: The Screwtape Letters, book trailer

Project Background: This project is for David Gelb’s Timebased Communication 2 class of 2009. It’s an open project wherein we are given the option of making an Infomotion piece, DVD Menu for Project 1, Book trailer, Film Festival trailer, etc. I will be creating a Book trailer title sequence for C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. The goal for this project is to promote (not retell) the book.

Overview: I envision this project to take shape as an open credit/ title sequence as if this book was to be produced as a movie (so technically it isn’t really a book trailer).

Audience: It would be fun to see a book intended for adults be promoted to little kids! Hah! (or vice versa) (2nd Hah!) But I’m not gonna do that for this project. Intended audience is 24 to 35-year-olds. A bit more mature than I normally target compared to my previous projects. But I figured it’s time to stretch my limits and see what else I can do.

Key Message: There won’t necessarily be a key message, just because I don’t want to give too much away. The goal is to promote the piece and not to retell parts/the whole story, so I plan to just give enough to keep the viewers salivating.

Content Planning: I will be combining footage + moving typography this time.

Bibliography: N/A for now. Unless I should cite the actual book. So, Lewis, C.S. The Screwtape Letters (1942).

Visual/Conceptual References: To be posted as time progresses.

Technologies: After Effects (must deal with rotoscoping, must explore Trapcode plug-in!), Final Cut

Schedule:
The following dates marks the start of each phase.

April 10 – Pre-production – research, re-reading the book, brainstorming, storyboarding, equipment planning, exploring/learning After Effects

May 2 – Production – Shooting, creating and capturing content

May 13 – Post-production – Editing, compositing, titling

May 20 – Packaging and Presentation