Impulse » My creative work

Experimenting with type

Rob McKaughan — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:36:27 +0000

Here’s a little experiment: to create a typographic illustration using a pair of antonyms, choosing a typefaces and arrangements that complement the connotations of each word.

Typefaces: Mrs. Eaves italic and Superba RR Bold.

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My fictional alphabet

Rob McKaughan — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:17:40 +0000

As an assignment in my typography class, we were asked to create an alphabet essentially from scratch. Each of us created a list of words beginning with each of the phonemes of the 26 latin characters, then created pictograms of each. Then, emulating a few thousand years of calligraphic evolution in my sketchbook, I morphed these pictograms into an upper & lower case alphabet. Then, just to see how it looks on the page, we each wrote a page in our new script, complete with fancy drop cap.

Here’s my alphabet & page. It looks like greek to me! The variety of styles in the class was amazing–some looked like medieval blackletter, some arabic, some egyptian. Mine was one of the least regular of the bunch–probably more to do with my barely developed drawing and calligraphy skills than anything.

It was a very fun exercise that really taught me a lot about alphabet development. For instance, I had never really noticed that the Latin alphabet is strongly biased towards vertical characters: All capitals are generally the same height, as are lower case (and ascenders and descenders are all uniform in height). So, you can’t have a wide & thin character in the alphabet–it’ll look more like punctuation than a letter. If you make that character the same height as the others, it’ll look enormous because of it’s width.

See the full gallery on posterous

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Just do it

Rob McKaughan — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:37:53 +0000

I always wanted to make a typographic poster… So I did.

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RAAM: Finish line

Rob McKaughan — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:42:08 +0000

After almost two and half years, I’ve finally completed my Race Across America movie. No, really! It’s done, finished, fertig, finis. It’s ready to show.

Wow! It’s still sinking in that it’s done. I’ve been working on, thinking about, worrying about, and fussing over this thing for over 2 years. It’s defined my thinking for that entire time. The idea that there’s nothing left to do feels kind of alien.

And extremely freeing. I’ve got so many projects I want to start.

This time: No projects bigger than one week. I think I’ll be sticking to weekend projects for a little while.

There have been several times that I thought I’d never finish this thing. Heck, I didn’t think it was even possible, for a while there. Thanks to everyone who kept encouraging me. You’ve made my life better by helping me achieve one of my big goals in life.

And a word to any aspiring feature-length filmmakers out there: don’t try to do everything all by yourself. True, it makes the credits really easy, but everything else takes a lot longer.

What’s next for this project? I’m going to make copies for all those who helped out, enjoy the holidays, and have a big party in January. No plans for festivals right now; I’ve missed all the festival deadlines for this season, and there’s a bunch of legal legwork to do first. Meanwhile, I’ll just bask in the glow of having accomplished something I’ve wanted to do for years, and see what the future brings.

Seeing colors

Rob McKaughan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:19:09 +0000

I just spent 2.5 hours color balancing 6.25 minutes of my movie. At this rate, I only have 27 more hours to go — and then I get to do the audio. Wheee! Looks a whole lot better, though.

RAAM: still cranking

RAAM: Locked and Loaded!!!

Rob McKaughan — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:06:34 +0000

I hereby declare picture for my first documentary film, LOCKED! Sure, it took 2 years, 1 month, and 28 days to complete the story edit, but hey, who’s counting, right? It got done and that’s all that matters. Now on to the technical dotting of the i’s and crossing the t’s: mastering the audio tracks, completing the titles and bottom-thirds (“bottom thirds” are the text & graphics that pop up at the bottom of your screen, used ridiculously often in news programs), color balancing and visual polish, and music.

For the end credits, I’m planning on using some music written by my friend John Pilafidis, to which this film and the race in the film, are dedicated. The song’s intro is a little long, but I’ve got John’s master files. Always wanted to learn how to edit music…

I want to thank all of my friends who gave me feedback through the editing process. Your feedback made this a much, much better film. Thanks Amanda, Karen, Becky, Linda, Mike, Will, Susan, Helen, Bernie, Laurie, Tom, Marisa, Mark, and Harvey.

RAAM movie: the final sprint

Rob McKaughan — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:43:18 +0000

I’m bouncing off the walls with excitement! I’ve just showed my last cut of the RAAM movie to 5 people and they all loved it. Those who’d seen it before thought it was surprisingly better than previous cuts. (One said, “this is a completely different movie”) I’ve just a few minor tweaks based on feedback, and I’ll be set for Picture Lock by the end of the day tomorrow. That puts me solidly on a path to FINISHING THIS MOVIE by the end of the month. I’m very proud of how it’s turning out. It’s much better than I expected.

RAAM documentary nearly finished

Rob McKaughan — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:18:24 +0000

After working on this project for over two years, it’s time to call this thing done. At the end of this month, I will declare this movie — in whatever state it’s in — done. That means I’m shooting for picture lock this Sunday. (Picture lock is when I’ve stopped editing the sequence of edits, and moved on to things like sound mastering, titles, and color balance). I’ve made some major edits based on test screenings and watching the raw footage over again (incredibly valuable). Benjamin Zander’s description of musical phrasing, and the structure of Samuel Barber’s Adaggio for Strings have also provided great inspiration. Look for more news in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, try what I did this weekend: unplug the internet. I think I gained at least 3 hours per day doing that. Hmmm… Probably need to do it right now…

To finish or to abandon: that is the question

Rob McKaughan — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:24:25 +0000

‘
“A poem is never finished, only abandoned”
— Paul Valery

Many have generalized this quote to apply to all artistic endeavors. On a video for current.tv, Ira Glass pointed out that all artists have excellent taste. They have a clear taste or vision of what work in a particular medium could be, and they create because they are driven to demonstrate that taste. But, there’s often a gap between the artist’s taste and his skill level. That gap causes endless frustration, and in part gets to the phenomenon behind the above quote. Often, an artist’s taste exceeds his skill (or materials), thus can never finish a particular work; only abandon it and move on to the next project.

Tonight, I’m contemplating this choice for my movie. I’ve been working on it off and on for two years now, and have completed two full revisions of it. On one hand, I could continue pounding my head against it, trying to make it entertaining to general audiences. I’m contemplating a complete re-cut that would help do just that, and I’d learn a whole lot along the way. I have no idea how long it would take given that it’s taken me two years to get here.

On the other hand, I could just decide that the audience for this movie is only those who have participated in the Race Across America or are endurance cycling enthusiasts. If so, I don’t have to worry about all the exposition that motivates the major re-cut. I could just continue with the current cut and finish in a month or so. And move on to other projects. Of course, this path involves a lowering of expectations for myself — always a bit difficult for me.

Hmmmm.…. (where the heck did I put poor Yorick)

While I ponder this like Hamlet, do go watch the Ira Glass video. It’s incredibly handy for anyone in the storytelling trade. Heck, I might go so far as to say anyone doing any kind of creative work, but then, I’m a fan. Click the link, then click On Storytelling, then on Ira Glass.

RAAM: Finish line

RAAM: movie editing continues

Rob McKaughan — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:37:48 +0000

I made some good progress this week on my Race Across America documentary. It’s really coming together, and know what? It’s not half bad!

My breakthrough this week was realizing that I don’t have to stick to the chronology so dogmatically. Near the end of the race, for example, there were a couple of days near during which the team was obsessed by the Brazilian team. In the middle of this competitive push, the our crew chief had to leave the race because he couldn’t get the time off for the full race from his boss. I struggled with this in previous drafts — do I interrupt the whole Brazilian thing with Paul’s exit, or do I pull that out, breaking the chronology but telling the story better? Seems like an easy choice when I put it that way, but it took me a little while to realize the obvious.

All of this is allowing me to keep the movie interesting while sticking to my The War Room inspired verite style I chose when I started this whole thing. There’s not a single interview or talking head in the War Room. Being a documentary still photographer, I thought this would be a natural style for me to slide into. Having done it, I’ve got to say, “Damn, it’s hard!” Watching War Room again, I see the subtlety of their work — it feels like you’re a fly on the wall, watching events transpire in real time as Bill Clinton ran for office, but the filmmakers carefully rearranged events slightly. Events are grouped to follow storylines, so that those stories play out without much distraction.

So while I’m rearranging things, here’s a little something to keep you busy. It’s the first 15 minutes of the movie — pretty much everything leading up to the start of the race. I haven’t shown this section in its entirety to anyone yet, so I’d love any feedback you have.

First off, is it interesting? If not, where do you tune out?

Second, is anything confusing or disorienting? Do you feel you know what’s going on in this and what this movie is about?

Anything else stand out in your mind? (good or bad)

Don’t worry about the sound editing or color balance & such. I’ll do that once I’ve got the slicing & dicing done.

And for those, just joining us, here’s the whole saga of me making this movie.