Saul Bass title sequence

This is another title sequence by Saul Bass

Title sequence by Saul Bass

This is a famous title sequence by the famous motion designer Saul Bass.
Using different part of the body, he created a spectacular title credit.

Typography and narrative.

They created a story with typography and motion only. The meaning is, oh, extremely funny. But the point is they use typography to represent human speaking with different size, weight, 2 font, 2 colors and motion, very well-done and impressive. The font and color seems to fit the purpose very well. Very good experience.

And... can you figure out what they mean? There are some clues in the words :D

Very cool motion typography clip

In this clip, the author use typography along with other motion visual effect to create a very cool clip about typography. This is a good experience for Assignment 3

Another graffiti font

Wow, it's free style is just impress me alot!

Graffiti Fonts

I found this font amazing. It is one of the graffiti font.

Medieval font

Clearly, this font looks so like font in the middle age in Europe. I'm in love with typography and trying find out some new font to fit different situation and I found this font. It's Old English font. I think color help to demonstrate what the font want to say, too. I love the M and W, they look like brothers. :D

Romantic font

When searching for font to use in A3, I found P22 Dearest font is very romantically designed. I like it much. And I try to layout two sentence to demonstrate the romance using this font. I use red and purple, which is two color of romance, too. I think it is show some romance :D.

My self portrait

This is my self portrait. I have a lot of difficulty finding ideas for this image. I had the idea of haft this haft that from the machine assignment. But it was changed to this self-portrait -__-. So, I bring the idea into this image.

This image show the contradictory of two half of a myself. Sometimes, I can be very good but sometimes, i am very very bad, especially when I am angry. I used an angel wing to represent good and evil wind to represent the evil side. A mask of evil also add to the evil side. Even if there were not the winds and mask, the original image have already show my concept. The image also show the evil side is bigger and bigger with the help of the flames behind.

I like this image in term of meaning and using representative images but my PS skill is still not good enough to make it look real -____-

Balance

I found this picture when I practised for the assigment 1. Those 2 pictures are photographed and clearly can't be drawn by hand. Obviously, there is symmetic horizontal balance. Moreover, rhythm can be found by the repitition of the trees and the clouds. I can also see a gestalt concept: continuance. Absolutely, any viewers' eyes will have to look at the line of the trees point to. The first photo has high constrast while the second one has a little bit less constrast then the first one.
They are very good images to practise.

A flash using masking

I made this flash piece for the header in my web assignment. I have just discover how to make images and text appear like being scanned progressively. I used a shape to mask the text and the man. Than I make the mask bigger using shape tween and I have the result like this. I like this effect.

My latest web layout

This is my latest web layout. This is for an assignment in Web Programming course. This website is for a job hosting site.
Click this to get to the site.
Feel free to comment.
I appreciate any comment about the design of the website because this website is under construction, so that every comment is valuable.

This post is a network mistake.

This post will be re-post later. This is a network error.

Shelly Allgegro Script font

This is a script font that was created beautifully. I can feel like it is written by a very artistic typographer. Detail about this font can be found here and download free here.
These are some example of this font.

My new web layout

This is a web layout I made based on a web tutorial. I'm still working on it to make it my own. This can be my personal website or the template for my blogger. There still a lot of things to do before this website to be actually up and running. This layout used a analogous color scheme. (I think I need to check if the scheme is right!). I leave some white space at the middle layer (above the "Article" layer) for the design to breath and some at the footer. At the beginning, I intended to let the layout fill the screen with no space on the left or right, but when I finish the layout, I think it kinda hard to breath and too tight, so I leave some space there. Actually, on medium resolution screen, there would be no space, but on high resolution screen like 1280 x 800 or above, there should be left and right margin, therefore make it easier to read and viewers feel better.

Photoshop Blending Practice

This is 2 of my experiment using blending mode in Photoshop. The first one was created as similar as possible to the tutorial on AIRC website by Diane Miller but not using the technique she used. They were just overlay the text layer to create historical feeling. The second image was made to feel like the Chinese text was engraved by hand.

The art of advertising 2: Heineken Tv Advertising with very cool SFX

This is another advertising from Heineken. I have to admit they has many very cool, meaningful and interesting advertising. This clip shows the long-lasting history of Heineken: "Unchanged since 1873"! Viewers can figure out something more that they want to say: quality, good way of business, attraction, etc. The effects of this clip is also very spectacular, too (the way the clothes and the scene changes). This clip is fun to view and also good for those who interested in advertising, like me. Personally, I like the sentence at the end: "Unchanged since 1873". Cool!

The art of advertising: Heineken Tv Advertising with Brad Pitt

Story telling with flash

While preparing for my DIM2 final flash, I came across many linear story-telling flash on internet and I must admit that I most admire Katy Towell. She create stories herself, most of them is horror. Her graphic style is very different and unique. Most of them has dark theme with dark color: dark red and black. Her characters nearly always have ill fate. When I first look at her pieces, I somehow feel scary because the the color, the character, the fate of her character and the music, always has sad and sorrow mood. Though all of her pieces are horror, it's really great. There is only her flash that I could watch just like I watch a movie: focus and breath-taking.
Have a look at her flash on deviantart.com
And have a look at the most her popular flash : The little girl

Interactivity interface

This is a User Interface (UI) i found on Coolermaster.com. This website was made using flash and actionscript. I think it is very cool especially the streaming water flow at the top of the page. It's can't be clicked. The rest of the page can be clicked. All the button on the menu bar has the rolling effect. They look like they are roll from above when user move mouse over and roll back when the cursor move away. The background is a dark blue background. They make the background a separate layer and apart from the rest. The color they use here also is make the website look cool. This website is very well done made on both design and technical aspect
CSX- The evolutionary art of gaming

"300" trailer

This is the trailer of “300”. So splendid that took my breath away for the very first scene. Watch it and you will know. I think it is one of the best trailers that has been created for many years. For a trailer, its main purpose is to introduce the film. However, if the trailer were ill-created, the movies would lose a magnificent attraction. The trailer of “300” did its job very well-done, it make views feel the flames of the 300's spirit.

This is the most impressive sentence in the trailer: “A new age has begun- An age of freedom – And all will know – That three hundred Spartan – give their last breath – To defend it. SPARTANS! TONIGHT, WE DIE IN HELL!. It shows the heroic decision of King Leonidas to stand against Persian invasion with a number of soldiers far least than Persian army number. Their last stand though was crushed but still was a success. For a trailer, a sentence like that is very necessary to make view curiosity and strong reaction. Again, this trailer is probably the one of the best trailers for many years.

"300" was a movie about the famous last stand of Spartan against Persian at Thermopylae. Although, the movie is not 100% reconstructed as mere history, it shows what happened at Thermopylae briefly.

In this entry I will present a few techniques that was used in the movie. I know all of this after Lam Dang Son told me and then I read wikipedia.org. "300" was one of my favorite movie, so that I want to write something about it.

Firstly is the chroma-key technique. Every scene in "300" was filmed at a studio Montreal, Canada. There were no cliff, no battlefield and no Thermopylae at all. Everything was computer graphic.

Second is about the camera control technique. It was amazing skill. In the fighting scene between Leonidas, the Spartan King and the Persian soldier, camera movements were magnificent. Let's watch it.

You see? It was amazing. They must have used high-speed camera. In a high speed movement of the actor, the camera managed to zoom in and zoom out amazingly and perfectly timing, focus on his actions. Fascinating.

My third film

This is the trailer for the final of the University Star
This movie used material created by me and my friend's. The tool I used was HD Cut Pro and Premiere Pro 2.0
Thanks to Ngo Nguyen Phong, Dinh Pham Khang and Le Thanh Nhan for helping me and Student Club for giving me a chance to make this movie.

My second film I've ever made

This is the second trailer (it's only about 2 minutes) for the university star semi-final. Actually, they are my second I have ever made ^^. It's not bad, eh?
They were completed by combining the ideas of Le Thanh Nhan - Logistics Manager of Student Club, Ngo Nguyen Phong - B.Design student, and me, I am the main editor.
This movie used material created by me and Phong using RMIT's camera, the Sony Handycam.
The tool I used was HD Final Cut Pro
Thanks to others' effort that helped us to make this trailer.
This movie is recommended to view with high-speed internet

Silent moon

Shining moon

Silent moon shine in the dark
Blue, cold and quiet
The silence is hard to bare
Blue, cold and quiet
The glow overthrow me
Blue, cold and quiet
Moon light is overshining...

This feeling is eternally warm.



Northern Lights Moon by SSilence (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/1402934/?q=northern+lights+moon&qh=boost%3Apopular+age_sigma%3A24h+age_scale%3A5)
Moon reflection by nico-blue (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/14131985/?qo=1&q=moon+reflection&qh=boost%3Apopular+age_sigma%3A24h+age_scale%3A5)
This picture, I think was digitally re-produced, cuz the author want to create aesthetic in it. I misunderstood once, I thought it is a normal picture :D

Winter moon by Shikaz (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/39476208/?q=Winter+moon&qh=boost%3Apopular+age_sigma%3A24h+age_scale%3A5)
Personally, I love the moon for its beauty. Each time I look at the sky at night, I find myself gaze at her soft light. I think the reason is, the moon is somehow similar to my style, thoughtful. Sometime I think to much....
Talking about design aesthetic, those images create the mood of sad, thoughtful and quiet. The authors was successful in creating that mood. The color used in most of the images is cold color, blue, as the the moon and the night are cold and dark.

Magic moon by DistressedDove (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/31854510/?qo=17&q=magic+moon&qh=boost%3Apopular+age_sigma%3A24h+age_scale%3A5)

In some images, there are scary feeling. It make me think of were-wolf :D.

Salem moon by Anahita (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/4445496/?q=salem+moon&qh=boost%3Apopular+age_sigma%3A24h+age_scale%3A5)

There are seven pictures in this entry, cuz I like this number ^^, personally.

Balanced

As cold as silence ( http://www.deviantart.com/print/6212/)

Personally, I like this picture a lot (May be cuz I am the person of fairness and balance).
As everyone can see, there is balance in this picture. The horizon line seperate sky and the lake's surface into 2 equal zones.
The color in this picture is also dark and mysterious (my style ^^). It is also high contrast, too.

A beautiful picture

(http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/51489966/?qo=4&qh=special%3Anewest )
I found this image this afternoon, when I was finding my inspiration for my next blog post. I found this image very beautiful and it kinda create some feeling internally.
I think this image is not real, at all. I do not know how they created this picture, but it still look really beautiful to me. The sky, the cloud is so beautiful. The color, too, is very attractive. The way the author use the green and orange is really well done. They support eath others well. Looking at this picture, i think there is balance in it. The horizon divides the sky and the land into two seperate pieces and personally, i think, they are equal in this picture. The colors also create balance in the image
The author, may want to send some meaning to us. Because, the land is green, means it is fertile. But the tree, i do not know why but it has no leaf. It like a dead tree. Together with the baloon on the sky and the planet (personally, i think it is Mars, right?), I figure out the meaning of this picture may be: "the old land may be fertile but it has nothing for me to stay, i need a new horizon, a new place where my dream can be archive and that is where i am flying to". The author must have a very good dream.
This picture really has a beautiful design with the planet, the color is nicely used, the meaning is wide. This image is good.
Does any one can tell me the meaning of the sign in the right conner?

Recognize something?

This is some crazy stuff I created by Photoshop Cs2 using the previous water drop post technique ^^. I do think it has some design principles in it^^. Cohesion? Unity? Rhythm? And I think it is a little bit busy. In my opinion, I think this image can be a jungleor water ?!

or nothing at all?. So, what do you think it may be?

I created this using those tools: gradient tool, blending tool, liquify command, etc. I modified the Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Color Overlay, Gradient Overlay... and finally, my madness

Easy way to create water drop with Photoshop CS2

Photoshop, as everyone knows, is a powerful tool to create expressive images. Personally, I like to play with Photoshop. I will introduce a easy way to create drops in this entry. This is my personal experiments ^^.

Firstly,open Photoshop CS2, open any picture.Because drops are usually found on leaf or flowers, I will use a picture of a rose, taken by my friend, Thao.

Secondly, create a new image for the original water drop. You can create the drop inside the picture as a layer but with a seperate image for the drop, you can save it for later use.

In the drop's image, create a round or esclipe marquee (M). Then select gradient tool and draw a line from top to bottom. After that, deselect it.

Then choose blending option, select "overlay".
In the Drop Shadow and Inner Shadow option, you should choose the number to fix with your images. In this case I choose "Angle" is 164 and -38 (do not stick "Use global light").
Now you should have a original drop.

After that, go to the your image, have the selection tool in command, then drag the drop onto the the image you want to have the water drop. In this case you will want to have a different layers for each of the drop. This action is my recommendation, because you will need to resize it, change its shape (use "Liquify" command in "Filter" tool).
The rest is your talent. The position, the size and the shape of the drop are all your talent. Remember to have the blending option of each drop's layer is "Overlay".

This is my final work. I think it look quite like real drops ^^I know about this when I was studying in high school.Photoshop is one of my favourite tools ^^.

Moreover, I think this website has a similar way to create water drop, too.<http://www.lunacore.com/photoshop/tutorials/tut006.htm>. If my instruction is not clear to you, you may want to look at this tutorial.

My Icon

This is my first icon ever
This icon consists of 2 elements, the round shape in the back and the “VP” word in the front.
The word, as you can see, is a “V” and a “P”. That is my name, Vinh Phuong. (I leave the “I” in the middle of the V and P on purpose, as everyone can read it as V.I.P, lol)
The round shape, in Eastern thinking and my opinion, stands for fullness and completeness and continuity of everything in this world. Till this time, I live with a belief: “Everything I do, both bad and good, will be paid back”. Therefore, I have always lived usefully and did nothing bad (or limit my bad action as much as possible, lol)
In general, my icon shows my point of view: “I am a small part of a world of continuity, my objective and everyone’s is to continue what our fathers and brothers could not do. In another word, to connect the past, present and future”.
About the color, my hobby is movie, especially mysterious ones. So that I used dark and gradient color. I like gradient because, in my opinion, it expresses the continuity.

Black and White Images

When I was studying in high school, I was very fond of playing with images. One time I found the grayscale picture mode, I was very interested. I found out that black and white images are very useful in many purposes in art and photography.

Looking at a full colored picture and a black and white picture, viewers can find many new things in any way of thinking. Some black and white pictures are like an open-ended story. A story contains not only just what the picture shows but also the things outside of the picture. For example, here is a picture of my friend, Khang, in the trip to Da Lat, January 2007. I took this picture when he was standing next to Xuan Huong lake, looked like he was full of thinking and emotion (actually he was just looking at the lake). However, the original picture, the colored one, cannot show the emotion well. Therefore I changed it to a grayscale picture with Photoshop CS2 (Image->Mode->Grayscale). Now, in my opinion, the picture has some emotion within (a man standing in the shadow of the tree, looking at the vast space of the lake, viewer cannot see the face of the man and his body is covered in dark light. This, I think has added some more emotion to the image, better than the original one).

Another purpose to use black and white images that I found out is they can trick the eyes and make viewers think the picture was taken long ago. For example, the below pictures were also taken in the trip to Da Lat in January 2007 by my friend, Thao. If there were not the original one, who say the picture was taken recently ? (at least they can guess the time is after 1975, because there is an antenna in the picture :D). Black and white color did change the picture magically. We can feel the value of time and the breath of history in it.

Moreover, after try some experiments, I found out black and white add values to the picture or in another word, make the picture more valuable. Below is a picture of a Vietnamese girl in Vietnamese traditional dress (*) (Ao dai). The colored picture (I took it from extremecharity.typepad.com website), in my opinion, shows nothing but just a beautiful image of a young woman wearing Ao dai. However, after change it to black and white, the picture changed significantly. It now has the classical and elegant view, showing value of the past, of tradition and the beautifulness of Vietnamese women and clothes.

If anyone want to create a thoughtful, high valuable, elegant, classical and impressive picture, black and white picture is a powerful tool. When images is change to black and white, they are not photography anymore, it is now art.

Those are just my first feeling and touching with black and white images. I will do more research on this aspect as it is now my inspiration.

*Image source: 321 Cyclo: September 2005, http://extremecharity.typepad.com/321cyclo/2005/09/, viewed March 5, 2007