In terms of the 7 stages of Ambrose and Harris’ Design Process model , here is how my project is progressing. 

DEFINE

The define stage is crucial in design. It establishes the “who, what, when, where, why and how” of a project (Ambrose & Harris, 2009, pp. 16). I was a little bit slow in defining my project, but eventually decided on creating a title sequence for a fake show starring my friends and I. I knew the design style I wanted to implement into my project, so this was explored further in the research stage of the design process.

RESEARCH

The research stage of the design process aids in the creative process involved in ideation. Research consisted of watching title sequences and pulling out ideas from each one that I wanted to recreate or inspire certain aspects of my project. The most influential for me were the end credits for Wild Child (2008) and the title sequence for Between The World and Me (2020)

https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/between-the-world-and-me/

This studying of title sequences, which we had also conducted during the earlier weeks of the session, really opened my eyes to the amount of production and work that goes into these pieces. This was something I hadn’t really given too much thought to prior to taking VCD302. Upon further research, I read about how title sequences are seen as a space for experimenting with different film techniques, and will usually take on a different form and aesthetic to the film/television show that follows (Allison, 2015). This is definitely something I will be noticing now when I watch films and TV shows.

Research also consisted of watching YouTube tutorials and taking instructions from tutorials and lectures to see if I would be able to execute my ideas. Some of the most important takeaways from this research was finding different ways to replicate handmade aesthetics digitally such as using Photoshop brushes to create paper rips and transitions between After Effects compositions, and to use roto brushing techniques using the Pen tool on After Effects to draw on compositions (thanks Wes). 

IDEATE

Next up in the 7 stages is ideating. Ideating includes things such as brainstorming, sketching, which is what I did. I began by creating sketches and drafts in Illustrator of different aspects of my project. This included choosing pictures and cutting them out, hand drawing text and creating vector shapes, and creating colour palettes. 

PROTOTYPE

This stage is where I started experimenting and testing what I could do with my ideas. In particular, I was keen to test my ideas for transitions based on what I’d seen in the ‘Between the World and Me’ title sequence. They had used different forms of paper ripping and folding to move between scenes. I found a tutorial on Youtube in my research and followed it to create two different transitions.

SELECT

The select stage is where decisions need to be made in terms of what will make the final project. For me, I had to decide if I would continue with certain elements I had planned to include in my original ideations. This meant leaving out things such as the more illustrative aspects of my project, which I would not have time for, and would not match with the style I had established in other parts of the project.

IMPLEMENT

Once I’d completed each of these steps in the process, I began to implement my process into my final project.

LEARN

Overall, I’ve learnt a lot from working on my project. Some of the things I’ve learnt include:

• Moving elements from Illustrator and Photoshop over to After Effects
• Making transitions on Photoshop and After Effects
• Rotobrushing and using the Paint tool 

References

Allison, D, 2015. ‘Film Title Sequences and Widescreen Aesthetics’, Film International, vol. 13 (4), pp. 6-19

Ambrose, G & Harris, P, 2009. ‘Design Thinking’, AVA Publishing