ARTIST ORIGIN STORY: LIPSYNC VIDEOS

When I first began to play with Snapchat in 2016, I realized the potential to make videos on my phone without uploading the videos to my computer and applying effects or filters after the fact. I started experimenting with some of the more interesting filters.

In 2018, I stumbled upon an unintended feature in Snapchat. While recording a video using an iPhone, the app also recorded whatever audio was also playing through the iPhone. To play around with this feature I began, as one does, with what is already known. At the time, people were using an app to lipsync to short audio segments.  However, the app limited the audio segments to just a few seconds and the library was pre-selected. 

I began experimenting with making lipsync videos and uploading them to my Instagram wall. At first I came across the Instagram algorithmic policing that removed content with copyrighted audio. I got around this initially by using Snapchat filters that altered the audio. As I continued, I learned how to use Audacity to edit audio to escape Instagram algorithmic detection.

Then I started posting videos as Instagram stories, which allowed me to access filters and effects. This made my videos more dynamic. Making lipsync videos gave me the experience to learn new skills using Snapchat, Instagram, Audacity, iMovie, and the photo app on my iPhone such as:

• Video recording
• Video editing
• Color theory
• Video/audio correction
• Filter/effects application
• Stacking Filters
• Syncing Music to Video

Many of these projects can be found on my Instagram Wall and Highlights.

 

 

LIPSYNC VIDEO COMPILATION

STUMBLING UPON AN ART PRACTICE

What began as color correction of static drawings accidentally became a step in creating animations.

I began drawing in 2021 after spending a night at my friend Alfie's apartment in Bushwick, using acrylic paints and oil pastels to draw on a roll of paper he'd salvaged from the curb of a construction site. I didn't consider myself artistic or creative. My perfectionistic tendencies overwhelmed me and I hesitated to commit color and shape to paper. But with Alfie's encouragement and Björk's Gling Gló album playing, my fear receded and I began to have fun. Soon thereafter, I compiled a few art supplies and started drawing from a more childlike, intuitive place.

Editing photographs of my drawings was originally done out of necessity to expand the color palette beyond the colors and materials I had available to me. Art supplies are expensive and, in the beginning, I started drawing with a handful of Le Pen markers, a box of 64 colored pencils and a pack of 25 Cray Pas Junior Artist pastels. To achieve images with colors I wanted to express in my drawings but didn't have, I would edit images using a variety of techniques on my iPhone.

What I discovered, to my wonder, delight, and consternation, was that I couldn't decide on a single edited static image. I loved how moving the warmth or tint slider from left to right gave the illusion of movement in the image. My first animations, such as the Star animation below, were screen recordings taken while moving the sliders back and forth.

Blue Star animation

DRAWING AND EDITING ANIMATION CELS

After discovering I could turn a static image into an animation video using a single technique, I wanted to expand on the possibilities of what I could achieve by layering techniques. The process of animation I use begins with a physical drawing or painting. I have found that overlapping colors of different hue, saturation, and lightness, creates the opportunity to pull out different shapes and textures when editing later.

I photograph the physical art with my iPhone and view the image in the Apple photo app. By holidng my finger down on the image I'm able to lift the subject out of the image and I can copy that image into an Instagram story file, where I can play with the image, changing the size and direction. I can then tile the subject to create a composite image. I am often surprised by the result as complex shapes begin to take place. I save the Instagram story file to edit furtur.

I use the Apple photo app, Instagram filters, and iMovie filters to edit multiple animation cels. By overlapping colors multiple copies of the same image using the Apple photo app, Instagram filters, and iMovie filters. By changing the contrast, warmth, tint, saturation, and vibrance, the resulting images become more distinct from one another.

In the case of this Black and White animation, I reduced the saturation to zero to create a black and white animation cel  (Black) and then reversed the image to create a negative animation cel (White). I also changed the dimensions slightly in the White animation cel so that, when overlapping with the Black animation cel, the animation would not just oscillate between two extremes, but would also grow and shrink, giving the illusion of 3D movement.

Black and White source images

 

RETAINING SOURCE FILES

When initially creating a video in iMovie, I like stack the animation cels arbitrarily. I don't direct the motion intentionally. I like to see what appears. Many times, I'm surprised by the resulting movement in the videos. Through a process of experimentation I am able to adjust the frames to impact the resulting animation. I learn new tricks every time I composite animation cels and edit them.

Overlapping animation cels in slightly different ways produces distinct visual effects when the video repeats. On the left, the animation cels have been stacked and repeated in a way that makes the animation appear to pop. Meanwhile, on the right, the animation cels have been stacked and repeated in a different way that makes the animation motion expand and contract more smoothly.

The distinction is subtle, but the contrast in movement shows why it is important to retain source files for animation videos over time. As my skills improve, or as my aesthetic changes, I might want to revisit the animation cels and use them in new ways.

Black and White animation variations

EMOTION: MOVEMENT AND MUSIC

With limited skill and experience, I've become resourceful in editing animations. My primary goal when creating an animation is to elicit emotion through movement and music. My work is intuitive and emotionally expressive in the spirit of my favorite artists Marc Chagall, František Kupka, Wassily Kandinsky, and Hilma af Klint. I am also greatly inspired by tiles, tessalations, and sacred geometry.

The video below on the left shows how I stack animation cels to create an animation in iMovie.

Below, on the right, the animation repeats at a constant rate. It has an inherent rhythm that begs for the addition of music. In the video editing process, I can speed up and slow down that rhythm. Finding music that corresponds to a particular animation is really fun. Sometimes it happens naturally when a song I am listening to matches up to the video like magic. I've amassed many playlists on Apple Music full of songs that have interesting features that would lend themselves to animations.

Other times I have to figure out the animation's inherent rhythm by tapping the rhythm into a BPM calculator, and then search for songs with the same beats per minute (BPM) as the animation.

There are many repositories online that list songs by BPM. I'm a fan of this one hosted by the Cheriton School of Computer Science.

Finding music that fits an animation is an explorative process that I have to iterate until I find a song that meets the following criteria:

     1. It must enhance the animation's movement.

     2. It must fit the emotion of the animation.

     3. It should be available on Instagram.

The animation below has an inherent rhythm of 122 BPM. I've paired the song on Instagram with Os Mutantes' "Bat Macumba".

Os Mutantes animation process

Relying on Instagram to have a song available in its library is a double-edged sword. A video is more likely to to be seen by more people if it's linked to a song in the library and the artist benefits from the exposure. But then you are reliant on the library to maintain that song . As we've seen with music label leviathan UMG's standoff with TikTok, a music label is free to pull its artists' catalogs at will, rendering an uploaded video without sound.

There are ways of getting around the Instagram library limitations by embedding sound in the uploaded video file. Instagram's copyright infringement algorithm is only able to detect songs in its library. Even if that library were to expand, the algorithm is unable to detect deviations from the literal expression of the song. By altering the pitch, tempo, echo, or other aspects of the song file, the video with embedded audio evades Instagram algorithm detection and Instagram taking the video down.

Does this violate copyright? I don't think so. I think it falls under the "fair use" exception under U.S. law. I am not making a profit off of posting the videos to Instagram. I am using the music for educational purposes. I'm using relatively small portions of the song. And I am not harming the original artist or copyright holder from profiting off their copyrighted works.

ULTIMATE GOALS

My ultimate goal with learning to make animation videos is to acquire new skills so I can make better animations and better videos. I'd love to intergrate my art as projections at live music shows as a VJ artist.

I'd also like to learn advanced techniques to make more dynamic animations using AI and 3D rendering tools to create augmented and virutual reality features in museums and public spaces.

To see some of my recent inspirations, please visit my Animation Inspiration page.

To see more of my work, check out my Instagram wall. I also have a lot of art catalogued in the highlights at the top.

If you like what you see here or on Instagram, please feel free to reach out via email, Instagram or LinkedIn. I'd love to connect.

ANIMATION PAGE

Click on the animation below to see the full collection of animation videos.

Bullseye animation