The Final Portfolio for Digital Compositing. Enjoy!

1. The Story of Me
By Pierce Brenner

2. Table of Contents
The Story in a Nutshell… (3)
Pieces of Mythology (4-6)
References Images for the Look (7-12)
Inspirations from other media (13-14)
Acknowledgements (15)

3. The Story in a Nutshell...
A young filmmaker travels to Russia to
uncover his Jewish ancestors’ past.

4. A Dreamer or a Doer?
I have boundless ambition and constantly make
extensive plans, but I have trouble putting my plans
into action.
Must
Have
Balance

5. Passion for Filmmaking
Filmmaking has long been an important part of my
life. I love the idea of telling any story through
through images and not just words, as well as being
able to experience a world that might otherwise
seem distant.

6. Jewish Heritage
I don’t consider myself Jewish (it’s only paternal),
but I acknowledge and respect the rich history and
traditions that such heritage brings.

7. Characters
Inspirations for fictional version of me:

8. Environment
Contrast between urban and rural…

9. Lighting
Low-key, harsh lighting to show internal and external struggles.
High-key lighting to contrast pleasure and pain.

10. Animation/Visuals
2D-3D hybrid; vaguely realistic but stylized character designs; cel
shaded; comic-book look

11. Color
Moody, cool colors for scenes where Pierce is solitary.
Warm colors when he is connecting with people.

12. Fonts/Typography

13. Inspirations (Films)
An American Tail (Russian-Jewish content)
Hugo (filmmaking/discovery themes)
In America (immigration)

14. Inspirations (Music)
Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits (ex. “On Every Street” “Silvertown Blues”)
Van Morrison (ex. “The Healing Game” “Golden Autumn Day”
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis (scores for The Proposition, The Road, The
Lawless)

15. Pre-Production - Ident Storyboard
Shot 1-1B: A sun sets over a mountain range
(changed to desert). A red moon then rises.
Shot 2-2B: The red moon increases in size,
everything else dissolves.
The text “Blood Moon Films” comes into view.

16. Pre-Production: Indent Screenshots

17. Acknowledgements
I own none of these images. All rights reserved to their respective
creators/copyright holders.

18. Brenner_P_Week 2_Bouncing Ball
My very first composition. Using AfterEffects for the first time could
have been daunting, but this project was a great introduction. I think
it’s very important to do something simple when first learning
something, while still keeping it hands-on.

19. Brenner_P_Week 3_Animating Text on a Path
I had a ton of fun with this exercise. Just like the bouncing ball, it was
simple but taught you a very important skill in AfterEffects.
Animating text helps make titles and credits much more vibrant, and
is a very important design skill that is often neglected.

20. Brenner_P_Week 5_Personal Ident: Storyboard and Video
I enjoyed this project because for the first time we were allowed to
really do our own thing. Learning the basics with supervision has a
lot of value, but it is also good to take what you have learned and
adapt it into something new.
It was also nice to see that
what I was learning had
really paid off enough for
me to make my own bumper.

21. Brenner_P_Week 6_Production Plan
Creating a production plan more thorough than anything I’d ever done
was a bit challenging. I’m not as knowledgeable about technical
specifications as I should be, and it was hard for me to figure what
would look best. However, I know my way around a story, and when
focusing on the teaser’s story I felt a lot more comfortable. However,
the final product has very little in
common with what I wrote down,
making it a “best case scenario”
document.

22. Brenner_P_Week 7_Shot Tracking
I treated this as basically a more in-depth version of the production
plan’s summary. Getting all of the shot ideas in place helped me have
an idea for what would be onscreen and when. Once again, it is very
different from the finished product.

23. Brenner_P_Week 7_Teaser Storyboard
Once again, a very helpful preparation document.
I am not very good at drawing and leave story-
boarding to someone else or use photography,
but at least I got the point of each shot across.
If only I could’ve added a bit more depth. Oh well.

24. Brenner_P_Week 8_Animatic
This was the first animatic I ever created, and the experience was a
very helpful one. Storyboarding helps with planning, but seeing your
shots in motion before they are actually completed is kind of awe-
inspiring. Not to sound too
cocky, of course, but I could see my
vision coming to life before it ever
did so. I was very proud of myself.

25. Brenner_P_Week 9_Color Script
Another project that let us envision what our final
teaser would look like. I especially liked figuring out
what color schemes would work best for each shot,
which ones would fit the tone. For example, opening
the gray doors of the church to find a very bright
interior caught my eye and made the shot more
interesting in my opinion.

26. Brenner_P_Week 10_First Shot/Week
12_Two More Shots
Finishing the animatic may have been a milestone, but
actually completing a shot is on another level. Using all
that I had learned to make faces and bodies move,cameras
zoom in and out, snow fall, etc. was very instructive.
Making Tim’s arms move was especially fun. I made the
arms two separate layers, but made them move at the
same time in opposite directions.

27. Brenner_P_Week 11_Veterans Day Tutorial
I thought this would be a breather assignment; dead wrong. In fact,
this might have been the hardest of the whole class. Still, it was
worth it. Making a grid was so much fun, even if it is a little
repetitive.

28. Brenner_P_Week 15_Final Teaser
Well, here it is. The final teaser. I worked down to the wire on this
one, trying to make sure it was good enough. I even worked on the
weekend, something I usually avoid with homework. But this did not
feel like homework; it was fun. I was able to create something using
all of my news skills, something that I am proud of.