Journal 2/21/2006

I was surprised at how useful the treatment exercise actually was. It really helped me zero in on the actual shots I wanted, and the actual images I wanted to show. The background, audience, and uniqueness of my project were relatively easy to establish, but the meat of the treatment, the visual elements and the techniques used, took a lot more careful thought. I still haven't decided whether or not I will attempt to do green screen shots. It will look nice in the project, but right now it just feels like another tool to use rather than something that will substantially add to the visualization.

I'm feeling quite good about the project right now. I have other ideas that I didn't include in the treatment because they are quite specific, and I'm interested in other people's ideas on how to present the subject matter. I'm also open to changing the ending, although I liked the idea of giving a nod to the horror genre by imitating the twist ending.

Right now I think the most difficult part of the project will be developing the abstract imagery to be used for my project. I'm just starting to learn Adobe Illustrator, and I have limited experience with Photoshop. After Effects will be useful in this case because a lot of the animations I can use are built into the program. At the same time, this project will give me much needed experience with Photoshop and especially Illustrator.