Kinetic Verb 2
After creating the word leap and touching on the idea of stretch in parts of my jump, i decided to look more deeply into it and create an animation for stretch. I will most likely be using the elasticity of rubber bands as my subject matter and research for the motion of stretch as they are the most exaggerated and clear examples of how things stretch. My original idea before this was to create the word dive and make it move however after some storyboarding i decided against this as i felt it was far too similar in movement as leap motion reversed and i wanted to try something completely new.
Bill Viola uses this idea of reversed movement however to create and illusion.
Bill Viola uses this idea of reversed movement however to create and illusion.
He takes his videos under water and reverses them so that it appears as though the subject is leaping out of the water, in slow motion the water appears in the shape of wings almost creating a surreal and angelic appearance and giving quite a serene feel to it. This idea of reversing a dive to look like a jump is fairly similar to how i felt i would be working when creating the word dive after have created the word leap.
Stretch:
Verb:
- 1.(of something soft or elastic) be made or be capable of being made longer or wider without tearing or breaking."my jumper stretched in the wash"
synonyms: be elastic, be stretchy, be stretchable, be tensile
"the material stretches" - 2.straighten or extend one's body or a part of one's body to its full length, typically so as to tighten one's muscles or in order to reach something."the cat yawned and stretched"
synonyms: extend, straighten, straighten out, unbend Elasticity is the property of solid materials to return to their original shape and size after the forces deforming them have been removed. Recall Hooke's law first stated in 'The True Theory Of Elasticity Or Springiness' (1676) by Robert Hooke.
This is a diagram of Hooke's Law. Showing the effect of forces on how an object will stretch.
This image abouve shows how the shape of elastic is morphed when stretched. The central points of the object become ever so slightly thinner and bend inwards making the outer sides appear longer. The way the shape morphed is in an arched shape. This shows how the change in shape is a natural movement and how the object has potential momentum. The further an object is stretched and the more it is morphed the more kinetic energy the object will have and the more force behind the movement when let go, there will be. The object will move towards the centre of itself as it tried to obtain its normal shape again (which was changed from the middle) so it moves back towards the middle (opposite movement to how it moved to be stretched).
This video shows in slow motion what happens to a rubber band in slow motion as it snaps back to its original shape. The band folds into itself as each fold hits the next. Obviously this video show the elastic band recoiling back to one point as it has been stretched from one point rather than two, and only let go at one point. The movement would be different it the band hand been let go from either end at the same time, however the video does show how there would be ripples in the band. I will try and include this idea in my own animation when i come to it, however it is harder to involve when not in slow motion.
I chose the thick, rounded and compact font of PT Sans to represent and symbolise rubber material.
I videoed myself pulling a piece of blue tack apart to show the stretch involved in this motion and the way this material stretches. The way this material morphed, shows how the ends where i am holding the blue tack are wide and the centre of the blue tack get very slender and stretches quite far considering its size. The nature of the blue tack after it is stretched out like this means that it does not snap back like the elastic material does, it stays in this outstretched shape and simply droops and becomes more floppy due to its elongated shape.
This is another recording of the movement of blutac. Again the results are the same the centre gets thinner and the strain of the material can be seen by the colour becoming paler this emphasises the fact that a strain is happening and a thinning of the material when it is pulled apart.
I also did my own research on how an elastic band stretches and what would happen to my word if i were to re create its movements. I wrote down the word stretch physically onto the elastic band and then pulled it apart to see the effects. Over all the elastic band did not get thinner in the middle, the whole strip became slightly thinner but maintained a similar size across the band. The words however got shorter and wider as they stretched and i will use this in my work when i come to stretching the letters.
This is the animation i created for my word based on my primary research on how blutac stretches and is manipulated in shape when pulled apart. I decided to have the ending of the animation make the word react to the removal of the rectangle and have the follow through action of snapping back to its original form like the elastic, combining my two research observations of the blutac stretch and the elastic stretch in order to give a more appealing visual effect whilst still having that exaggerated stretched morphing shape like the blutac where the middle becomes thinner with the stretch. Both these elements of the different materials stretching characteristics that i have used (the blutacs thinning characteristic and the elastics quick reaction at regaining its original shape) where the two most "stretchy" appearing aspects of each material with blutacs ending not looking as stretchy as elastic and elastics stretch morph not looking as stretchy as blutac. As i spoke about in my previous kinetic verb project, animation often uses exaggeration to create better visual effects however good animation is usually based on real motions that have been observed and studied. I have still based my animation on real principles of movement however exaggerated it in order to be more visual pleasing (as elastic would not morph in such a way). I Decided to start the word off as being unreadable and then pulled and morphed into readable text as this creates a slightly more interesting alternative approach to the obvious 'have a word and make it move' it also creates a thought process and then realisation from the audience and therefore allows the audience to connect and interact. The shape i used is a simple rectangular shape that is representing a pulling force on the word and in this case giving it a kinetic energy.
I made my word 'quiver' slightly just before the rectangle releases it and it snap back to suggest strain and tension on the word due to the action and to suggest it could be stretched no more (which is why the rectangle then lets go) and also to build anticipation and add more depth to the narrative of the clip.
In this video i have added colour to make the video more aesthetically pleasing and i used neutral colours to create a fair subtle appearance so that the colours did not over take or distract the animation.
In this video i made the word move as though made out of the blutac material. When the rectangle lets go of the word instead of snapping back like my previous animation it flops down and swings a little before the H sticks and falls on the floor and the rest of the word slumps down with it and then slowly morphs down like chewing gum towards the floor to show its soft. I decided to make this version of my animation as my previous animation was a fairly obvious conclusion to the movement of stretch and of first thoughts of stretchy characteristics and nature (to snap back) however this is not the case with all 'stretchy' materials and it was interesting to create a second animation that studies and displays this and to see the difference and to see if it actually looked even realistic for a stretchy material, which i think in the end it did. This animation emphasises how the word has been stretched beyond its limits and is now limp and weak. it shows a less strong looking material and exaggerates the effects of the stretch.
I made the finishing touches to my animation which i think really add to the visual qualities and help suggest the material of my word in depth. I added a slump at the end and then a slow squash down to suggest an almost gooey texture to the material and one that acts similar to balletic and chewing gum, slowly melting into its final resting point. This shows how the material is soft and moulds into a shape and is easily manipulated and not going to return to its original form, all of which are characteristics of the blutac i studied. I cropped the frame of this video down to create a more pleasing and easy to view composition with the word being the main focus and dominating the screen rather than being over dominated by blank space.
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