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The Full Story of my
Capstone
Below you will find individual descriptions of each of my four capstone project title sequences. I had fun making these, and thought others might be interested in the creative process for each video.
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Winner Bakes All Title Sequence
I wanted this sequence to appear light, and homely, in line with the tone of the show itself. I filmed the footage using a Nikon Z6 camera, and used both a tripod for static shots, as well as a Moza Air 2 gimbal for smooth moving slow-motion shots. I then edited the footage together in a montage style using Adobe Premiere Pro. I chose a piece of music that was fun and upbeat, that seemed to have a competition style vibe. For the title graphic itself I used Adobe After Effects. The final shot of the sequence features the baker placing a finished cupcake on a tray. As the hand reaches into the shot, placing the cupcake a blurring effect was added to the shot as well as a semi-transparent white layer. As the hand pulls away and the action stills, both effects reach their peak, and the title appears over top in a dark blue colour. I typed out the words and used a typography that appeared fancy, but still easy to read. It was important for the words to be the focus at the end, and after playing with many colour options I went with the same shade of blue as the cupcake liners, tying it into the footage from the montage. I also added a sparkle type sound effect as the words appear to draw focus to them.
Crime Scene Countdown
Title Sequence
For this title sequence I wanted to try a few new techniques to test my skills while editing the footage together. I started by shooting all my footage using a Nikon Z6 camera. Most of my footage was shot utilizing a green screen, so that I would have flexibility with the backgrounds. I knew that I wanted to be able to overlay various shots, so using a green screen enabled me to do that. Next, I chose a piece of music that I felt suited the tone of the show I was going for. I wanted something that seemed intense, catchy, and had a competitive edge to it. While editing, I knew I wanted to transition between certain shots, so I began piecing it together in Adobe Premiere Pro. I used the time remapping function to add ramp transitions between certain shots to get them to blend well. I created silhouettes of myself using multiple effects in Premiere Pro, and I think they turned out great! I used those in two places during the sequence. For the title graphic, I edited that together in Adobe After Effects. I first used a shot of the magnifying glass and created what looked like a clock face by making a simple circle shape with a dashed line for the border. I then added the timer by using a distinct font style, and a time expression. For the title I knew I wanted different fonts for each word. “Crime” was created using some footage I took and turning it into a track matte. “Scene” uses another specific font. I traced the letters with the pen tool to form a mask, and then animated them to appear as if they are being written on the screen. “Countdown” uses the same font as the timer, and a typewriter effect was added. Lastly, I played around by adding some lights with a slight blue tinge to create the final look. The entire scene was also colour corrected to give it a blue tinge, fitting with the crime genre.
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Go Sports! Title Sequence
This title sequence had many challenges and was quite difficult to put together. I had the initial concept in my mind from the start, but executing that turned out to be trickier than I thought it would be. First, I had to find my actor for the sequence. A friend of mine kindly volunteered to take on the role of the model, and it was fun being able to direct someone for this shoot. On the day of the shoot, I set up a green screen that I had borrowed from my local library – I have found them a great resource throughout this process! Shooting with the green screen was very challenging, as I had to not only set it up so there were little to no wrinkles on the fabric, but also try to work in a bright enough area so the editing process would be as easy as possible. As we were shooting the footage, it was clear that my shots would be more limited than I was hoping, due to the size of the green screen. I tried my best to work around that problem but knew I would have work to do when it came time to edit. When the editing began the first thing I did was edit the footage into a rough timeline in Premiere Pro. Once I had that I took each shot into After Effects and began to key out the green screen. This is when things became tricky because it is a lot harder than you expect! I found that many of my shots were not as clean as I would have liked, but I made them look as best as possible. Green screening is a learning curve, but I do feel better prepared for what to do the next time. After keying out each shot, I did have to zoom in for quite a few to get the actor into the exact position for the background I chose. Once all my shots looked as close as possible to the way I wanted them to be, I went back to Premiere Pro and began to work on the audio. This was another challenge for this title sequence. I had to find a way to get the premise of the show across somehow. I decided to use a combination of graphics and voice over. I edited the first shot of the sequence to look like the model was walking a runway, and I added text behind her as she walked across the screen. I then added text to the next shot, all with matching VO. As the sequence continues I added more explanatory VO that was quick and to the point to try and explain the premise easily. I had a hard time finding music to match the tone of the sequence, but after searching for a while I found the piece that I chose, and think it complements it well. I also added various sound effects throughout to add more to the sequence. Lastly, there came the title of the show. I knew I wanted to have the sequence end with a broken glass effect, so I found a tutorial on how to make that happen in After Effects. I think it turned out well. I then added the title in a varsity style font and animated it to appear on the screen.
Slime Time Title Sequence
​For my final title sequence I really wanted to push myself, so I decided to create one that was completely animated using a 3D design software called Blender. I had done a little bit of 3D design previously, but nothing to this scale, and I had never used Blender before. I began by watching some very basic tutorials on YouTube to learn the basic functions of Blender. Once I had the basics down, I started my sequence by creating the white room. Using basic shapes I was easily able to create the walls and floor of the room. The first big challenge was to make a door that could open and close, so I followed another great tutorial online that taught me how to do it all. Once I had the entire room made, I began to follow various tutorials to create each of my objects. I started with the bowl, then the spoon, box, and finally the Erlenmeyer flask. I was surprised at how easily I was able to pick up the functions of Blender and create these items, it was a lot of fun! Once the items were made, I added different colours to them. I tried to choose brighter colours which would appeal to children. I did attempt to make the Erlenmeyer flask appear glass-like, but it was quite difficult, and I decided that was a more advanced project. After I had all the objects, I began to animate. I had no idea what to expect here, but after doing some research I discovered that it is all keyframe based, which I was already used to. I did try to find a way to have liquid pour out of the box and the flask, but once again that proved to be too difficult for this project. When the animating was done, it was time to render. There are two render engines that come with Blender, and I chose to stick with the one that was less time consuming called Eevee. I know that Cycles would have given me a more realistic render, but it is a very lengthy process and I liked the overall cartoonish look that Eevee gave me, so I decided to stick with that. After it was rendered out, came the finishing touches. I created the actual title animation in Adobe After Effects, by freeze-framing the last shot of the slime and creating an animated mask, which gave it the dripping effect. I used the same effect (liquify) that I had used on a previous project to get the words to appear like they were dripping on the screen. I added a bevel effect to both the words and the slime mask to make them appear more realistic. When that was done, I brought both items into Adobe Premiere Pro, added some fun, whimsical music, and a splat sound effect. I also reached out to my fellow classmates to see if any of them would record their child saying “Slime Time”. One was able to have her niece do so, and I think it added the final touch that was needed to give it a childlike quality.
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