You Are Anonymous

Completed: 2011

My Involvement: Concept, Direction, Storyboard, 3D Environment Modeling, 3D Animation, Lighting, Texturing, Editing, Audio Mixing (not responsible for character modeling or rigging).

Character Modeling and Rigging by Marc Russo and Kirby Culbertson

Materials/Software: Maya, After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere, Soundbooth

Description:
You Are Anonymous is the second short film I’ve created in Maya. The film was included in a group exhibition titled ID:Entity Self: Perception + Reality held at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, NC in the fall 2011. The show featured work by designers in the Raleigh, NC area and several faculty members and students from NC State University. The artists in the exhibition explored the “complex relationship between the “self” and the world” and offered a variety of interpretations of the theme. Much of the work in the show was influenced by our growing consumption of digital technology and its effect on the ways in which we communicate and our understanding about ourselves and our environment.

You are Anonymous is a reflection on the way controlled environments and extreme situations can shape and alter a person’s identity or sense of self. The piece is inspired by an infamous social experiment conducted in 1971 at Stanford University. In the “Stanford Prison Experiment” (as it is known), psychologist Phillip Zimbardo set up a mock prison and recruited student volunteers to play specific “roles”. Some students were assigned the role of prisoner and others the role of prison guard. After only a few days, the experiment took a startling turn and spiraled out of control.

According to Zimbardo:
“Our planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress.”

The purpose of the experiment was to study human behavior and, as Zimbardo puts it,“ find out what happens when you put good people in an evil place.” A number of people, including Zimbardo, have compared this experiment to the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Abu Ghraib.

You are Anonymous examines the relationship between the role of the controller verses the controlled. All of the decisions I made concerning texture, color, lighting, sound, and composition/camera angles were intended to enhance the theme of control verses submission. In the film, the “roles” assumed by the prisoner and prison guard become their identities. Since the prison guards in the film are portrayed in a negative light, it is important to note that I am interested in the concept of the abuse of power.

To learn more about the Stanford Prison Experiment, please click here: http://www.prisonexp.org/

Stills from the Film

Process Images

ID:Entity Self:Perception + Reality Opening Night

Absurd Hero

Completed: 2012

My Involvement: All aspects

Materials/Software: Maya, After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere, GarageBand, Soundbooth

Description:

Absurd Hero is based on Albert Camus’s interpretation of the myth of Sisyphus. In the myth, Sisyphus is punished for being deceitful and thus doomed to push a massive boulder up a mountain for eternity. I decided to adapt this story because it gave me the opportunity to focus on character animation through the actions of my main character’s physical struggle up the mountain. The visual style of the film is based on simplicity and the use of simple geometric shapes to convey a story.

To begin, I researched the Sisyphus story and thought out rough ideas for my own interpretation. Once I had a rough idea for the progression of my story, I made numerous character sketches to identify the types of expressive movements my Sisyphus character should make. After developing a storyboard, I creating an animatic to plan out the action. During the animatic phase, I also recorded my own customized soundtrack in GarageBand and Soundbooth which emphasizes the actions and emotions expressed by the main character. Because the film is devoid of any dialogue, the character’s gestures, lighting shifts, and soundtrack had to convey a sense of both struggle and elation. As I animated in Maya, I applied deformer rigs to the character to add flexibility of movement. After the animated scenes were rendered out in multiple passes in Maya, I edited the film in After Effects and Premiere.

Stills from the Film

Process Images

Dark Night of the Soul

Completed: 2012

My Involvement: All aspects (not responsible for the soundtrack)

Production Assistance by Richard Walls

Materials/Software: 16mm Film Stock, Arriflex SR3 Camera, Omni and Pro Lights, Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Premiere

Description:
Dark Night of the Soul is the second project I’ve shot on 16mm film with an Arriflex SR3 camera. Inspired by a song of the same name, the structure of the film is nonlinear and influenced by Surrealism and irrational dream logic. I’m a long time lover of horror movies, and I’m particularly drawn to short films and artwork with darker themes. Some of my photographic and film influences in this project included work by Man Ray, Guillermo del Toro, David Lynch, the Quay brothers, Jan Svankmajer, and Hans Neleman.

To create a more dramatic and mysterious mood, I experimented with lighting techniques including low key or “noir” style lighting. I worked with a carefully planned storyboard to ensure that I would get the shots I needed without running out of film. During the editing process, I added additional textures by overlaying video layers of reflected light patterns. These light pattern layers were created by filming light reflecting through a glass of water held in front of watercolor paper. I made a number of the props in the film including a sculpted clay figure with an adjustable wire and epoxy armature. After the digital transfer of the developed film, I made my final edits with Final Cut 7.

Stills from the Film

Process Images

Dissonance


Completed: 2012

My Involvement: All aspects (except soundtrack)

Materials/Software: 16mm Film Stock, Arriflex SR3 Camera, Final Cut 7

Description:
Dissonance is the first project I’ve ever shot on 16mm film. While the narrative is open to interpretation and never fully explained, I wanted the film to have an ominous undertone through a disharmony between the images and soundtrack. During the production of Dissonance, I focused on alternating pace, dynamic compositions, and mixing still shots with more active/aggressive shots. Since this was my first experience with a 16mm film camera, I became more aware of the differences between digital and analog filmmaking during the process.

When shooting footage digitally, you have the advantage of being able to view your shots and play them back as soon as you make them.You also don’t have to much time to develop the film and have it digitally transferred. Because I was using 16mm film rolls, I had to carefully plan out every shot before I filmed anything. Failure to plan the shots meant that I might run out of film before I captured all of the shots I needed. After the digital transfer of the developed film, I edited it using Final Cut 7.

Stills from the Film

Process Images

Where Do Pigs Really Go When They Die?


Completed: 2010

My Involvement: All aspects (not responsible for the music)

Materials/Software: 7D Digital Camera, Omni Lights, Final Cut 7, Photoshop, After Effects

Description:

“Where Do Pigs Really Go When They Die?” is inspired by the book Pig 05049 by designer Christien Meindertsma. To research the book, Meindertsma spent three years tracking all of the products produced from the body of a single slaughtered pig named 05049. To her surprise, traces of this pig ended up in 185 consumer products. Some of the unexpected products included cigarettes, toothpaste, cosmetics, and even ammunition. The book is essentially a visual catalog documenting all 185 products.

In the film, I adapted and represented the content of the book using a first-person point of view. While I could not include every product, I developed a story progression that introduces a potion of these “pig influenced” products through a string of live action sequences.

Stills from the Film