As part of my Experimental 3D module, I had to undertake a group project around the subject of glitch. This involved completing a video, using 3D and 2D elements that were styled and edited in a specific way to represent our overall interoperation of what we considered to be “glitch”.
As this was a group project, I was relieved to be paired with the two classmates I personally get along and work with best. It allowed for easy division of labour regarding the making process, as we all know each-others strengths and what parts of the video we would each excel at creating. Unlike if I was working with other members of the class, I was confident that whatever content both Will and Toni created for the project would be up to my personal standards, and mirror the same eye for perfection and aesthetically pleasing visuals we all share.
The group setup was especially helpful as it meant we could take and discuss the project outside of class hours, allowing for a lot more progress to be made in the time thats usually lost between the limited or staggered communication other groups in the class would perhaps face. For ease of use we set up a google docs account, to which the three of us all knew the password and could each regularly upload the content we produced. This meant that we could all access any elements of the project whenever and wherever we were, again allowing for constant progression and refinement of the projection.
Regarding the narrative of the video, we all swiftly agreed upon receiving the assignment of a general idea revolving around an old TV that glitches out and produces crazy visuals timed to a sinister soundtrack. As glitch visuals are usually fast moving and only briefly on screen, we had to match it with music of an appropriate speed and intensity, finally settling on Drum and Bass for the melodic bass notes and scatty drum patterns that could be linked to each of the several visual components we created.
The visuals themselves were mainly built within Cinema 4D, using several different deformers on a variety of shapes and randomising the settings until they appeared to break or ‘glitch’ in a pleasing way. We then had to use a technique we previously learnt in class to create the further collection of 2D static look glitches by editing the code of several pictures in text edit and saving them back out in a format we could use.
With After Effects we could then import and time up both these elements to overlay them onto one another creating the feeling of glitchy chaos.
To make it easier for ourselves, we rendered out all the 3D and 2D raws with either an all white or all black background, so we could save time by just having to either overlay, screen or multiply the layers on top of each other in After Effects.
Once the video was made and completed to a partially finished stage, we began testing out the particular section we wanted to project on several different surfaces around the college building. We found that throughout this trial projection stage, we kept having to go back to the animation and adding more layers and glitches to pad it out. We too realised that the surface of paint vibrating on a speaker we originally planned to project the video on, was not going to be feasible and thus needed to re-think what else could produce the same effect. The result was a black bed sheet being held up and manually hand moved in time to the music as the animation was then projected onto this rippling surface.
Overall I would say the project was a success and as a group we worked fantastically well together. Any problem that arose, we quickly brainstormed and solved with each member contributing equal efforts to all aspects of the making and designing process. I am pleased with the final outcome of the video as I think we’ve made the narrative very clear and supported it with great visuals that I personally feel is a solid representation of what I and i’m sure anyone that watched would consider to be glitch.
If however, I was able to do the project again or with more time I would very much like to use the idea of paint vibrating on a speaker. As a surface to project my animation on, I think it would add such an interesting variation of depth and nice mix between the 2D and 3D facets.
I would also be keen to focus more on just one particular shape in Cinema 4D that we could have deformed and changed into several different broken shapes, with the music matching up to these erratic transitions of state.