salem-project2

For project two, I would like to make an opening credit sequence for the book, Microserfs by Canadian author Douglas Coupland. It is one of my favourite novels and I thought it would be interesting to make type out of objects for this project as opposed to using After Effects. I’m going to pretend that Microserfs is becoming a TV show and for the credits I’ll have a list of fake actors and producers in the title sequence.



Microserfs is about a group of Microsoft employees in the 1990’s. The novel encompasses the commonalities of 90’s geek culture, Silicon Valley and the rise of the Internet. It is also about office life and finding your own identity in a massive corporation where you’re just a number. Every character has an interesting quirk, and a lego person is portrayed on the front cover of the book, hinting at one of the characters secret projects within the Microsoft Corporation. It was written in 1995 and a sequel of sorts, jPod, was written over ten years later.

I am really inspired by Coupland’s own stop-motion work for his novel The Gum Thief (as I have linked on the sandbox section of the wiki already) as the materials are quite simple. One is video is made out of post-it notes and marker, while two others are made entirely out of staples. I'm also very inspired by this title sequence:

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I have a few ideas as to how I am going to reveal type for this title sequence. I plan to experiment with floppy discs in a domino-like fashion. I am going to shoot them falling from an aerial view, and the type will be either hand written on the sticker itself. I am also considering using a person at an office desk, opening up drawers to reveal folders and other office supplies. The office will be bleak and grey and people will be wearing the standard white shirts, beige pants and black ties. A close-up shot of a person holding a stack of floppies one by one is also an option. I have tons of them to work with. Lego is also a big concept in the novel.

I’m planning on make a trip to a second-hand shop to see what I can find. Thrift stores are a gold mine for old technologies. I can rip apart and use various things– possibly old keyboard keys, computer chips, wires, etc.

I think my strong point is editing video in final cut, so I'm going to try to stick to that.

I'm considering using this song:

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If I get some old battery-operated toys, I can possibly create and record a lot of strange noise by circuit bending (applying wetness to a chip while operating it).

Now I'm considering Wolfmother or The New Pornographers instead.

FOUND TYPE AROUND AN OFFICE

I think this office will be the best place to film. I can use post-it notes, write names on the above labels, use the photocopier somehow, and replace the mac keyboard with something 90's looking. I also wrote a list of fictional actors and producers.

//Harry Lloyd Brad Chadwick Almie Rose Jerrid Jones Stacy Wallace and Mike Azhar

Based on the Novel by Douglas Coupland Directed by Adam Cerci Executive Producers Douglas Coupland & Noah Wilson//

SKETCHES

- box with fragile on it AND custom type - yellow post-it notes - beige office folders plus a boring document with custom type - books on CSS, windows 95, HTML, etc - custom made business card - old keyboard - floppy discs ** This allowed me to see what was readable on screen or not. media type="youtube" key="xI1XHmuKtB4" height="344" width="425"
 * THINGS I NEED
 * New! TEST VIDEOS**

New song (I want to cut the singing out so that its purely instrumental, but I don't know how clean cut I can get it)

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So after my critique I realized how static my shots were. I needed to have more movement and Andrew suggested I have some sort of story or narrative. So my story is in the perspective of an employee. It also documents the regular goings on in an office. Andrew also suggested I add voiceovers, but I didn't really like how they turned out, so I didn't include them. I'm just a terrible voice actor.

Here is my favourite shot:

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Since I do not have the rights to the music, please find the final video on my process disc.

Thanks to Don Wilkinson, Andrew Fletcher and Nick Maronese for the help! Song: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! The skin of my yellow country teeth