6 Sides VFX Motion Graphics Project - Lookng for composers!

Posted Tue, Mar 27, 2012

Inspired by my own 1000 Dice project, 6 Sides is a short VFX/Motion Graphics short I am developing. In short, I am creating a 1-2 min video using a combination of stop motion animated dice and Computer generated dice animations. This will be pared with a complementing border that will react in to the animation of the dice, and also react accordingly to the soundtrack (when I have found one, read on if you are a budding Musician / Composer).See below for a test video and some screenshots.

Computer Generated Dice Array:

I have written a script in After effects that allows me to translate any footage/animation into a black and white image that will then use the grey scale data of that image to manipulate a grid of 40x40 dice. This means that if I animate a person walking across the screen then the dice will display the animation in the dice array grid as a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 depending on what grey scale colour passes over each dice.

To visualise this imagine a pixilated grid of 40x40 which can only use 6 varing shades of from white to black. now instead of each varying shade being displayed, imagine the pixels being replaced by a side of a dice that correlates to the colour of that pixel. So White = 1, light grey = 2, mid grey = 3, Dark grey = 4, Very dark grey = 5 and Black = 6.

Music / Soundtrack:

This project is going to rely heavily on the Music as it would like it to be driven by the music. As of today (Mar 27, 2012) I am still trying to source a suitable piece of Music. I have sourced a few music tracks (linkage below) which are similar to what I am searching for. My best explanation would be a Punchy, Glitchy, Electronic beat. Im not opposed to Dubstep, but if I were to use it I would want to keep all that Wub-Wub stuff to an absolute minimum. Subtle use of 8-bit sounds would be awesome too, as it would fit in with the pixilated effect, and maybe give me a chance to introduce some 8-bit animation into the dice array (Space invaders would be awesome!). Something with plenty of variations which would be fun to animate to would be great.

If you are a composer and think you have a piece of music that may fit, or want to compose something specifically for this project then reply in the comments with any Q's or sample tracks. Or you can find me at any of the social networks under the "ABOUT ME" section to the top right of my website, or email charis@skaremedia.com

Music Tracks that almost made the cut:

I really like this track and think its almost what im after. The only problems I have are the vocals that are mixed into it. I would prefer the music to be purely instrumental.

This track is by the same artist as above. I heard this track on another video and quite liked the ambient feel that it has. It also has a lot of varying elements and glitch elements which would make it fun to animate to. The only reason I have not settled on it is because as I mentioned it was used in another short clip that I saw.

I really like the build up in this track leading up to the 32sec mark, but when it comes back in the track seems to lose its punch! Apart from that, the beat is a little more continuous than I am looking for. Earlier when I talked about all that dub step wub-wub, well this is prob my limit.

I'm a big fan of most of MR Meeble's tracks. After the initial buildup there are a few section of this track that I think could almost work. Only I am finding the tempo a bit to sluggish to animate this in the way I have envisaged. Also again the vocals are putting me off towards the end of the track.

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