Starless Sea Sequence
Programs Used:
Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Illustrator
Project Origin:
Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design Project
Purpose:
Create a title sequence with animation.
The goal of this project was to create an opening credit sequence for a film or television show containing animation and audio. I chose to research the fiction book The Starless Sea and create an opening sequence if it were to become a future film.
Process Work
Research
To begin, I dove into the meaning of the book, The Starless Sea.
Here is a short book summary to better understand my project:
Zachary Ezra Rawlins, a grad student in Vermont, discovers a mysterious book containing a story from his own childhood. Following clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—he ends up at a masquerade party in New York, a secret club, and an ancient hidden library. In this magical world of lost cities and time-crossing lovers, he meets Mirabel, a pink-haired protector, and his partner Dorian, a man with shifting loyalties. Together, they navigate the realm, uncovering Zachary's purpose and the book's significance.
Storyboard
I created a storyboard for the content in each scene to gain a better understanding of the narrative. Using photographs, I crafted a collage-style storyboard to depict the action. I also utilized duplicated parts of the images to convey motion and compiled a list of attributes to develop the narrative theme.
Sketches
I decided to illustrate my idea instead of using photographs and created sketches to portray the action that was occurring in each scene.
Typography
I chose fonts that had a whimsical and magical feel to match the storyline of the book. I also used the original book cover font as inspiration.
Color Palette
I chose the color blue to represent the sea, the color yellow to relate to the concept of honey and bees, and black to depict the dark unknowns of the mysteries within the storyline.
Digital Assets
I created each piece of my animation separately in Adobe Illustrator. As I was creating the assets, I used elements that represented the characters from the book.
Digital Iterations
I began to put the pieces together in Adobe After Effects. The entire piece was 30 seconds long. I aimed to have six main frames, with 5 seconds on each frame to allow enough time for a short animation to occur. I started with an introduction frame, introducing the production company, the producer, filmmaker, lead cast members, supporting cast members, and then ended the sequence with the director and title of the film.
Final Sequence
After studying the initial sequence, I better aligned the sound to the animations, improved the sound volume levels, and added additional sound effects to pieces of the animation. I also improved the transition visuals in the ending, so the bee appears to fly in the keyhole of the door.
Environmental Contact
