MAX TAYLOR
VISUAL EFFECTS & MEDIA
COLLEGE 2016 - 2018
This is my college portfolio. Most of the projects I worked on are logged here.
As you would expect, the quality of my college work isn't as refined as it is today. Considering that I was very new to the media production scene during college.
So by all means, lower your expectations.
Good. Now lower them further.
Final Major Project
Breach
In March of 2018 my final project was launched.
During this time, students could create whatever they wanted in the space of thirteen weeks.
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For my final major project, I decided to create a 3D animated short-film based on the fictional universe of the SCP Foundation.
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This was by far my biggest project of all. Not only because it was thirteen weeks long, but because the final major project is the most important project across the entire course.
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You can click on the image to the left to see all of the work created during the project.
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Corporate Promo
Radio Newark
In January of 2018, I created a promotional advertisement for Radio Newark with my friend James Lathlane.
The whole project took about six weeks. From planning to the final render.
You can click the image on the left to see the website.
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The first thing we did was setup a little company.
Our company was called "High Contrast Media" and we contacted Radio Newark via email regarding our enquiries.
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Once we gained contact with the client, we were able to schedule a meeting and talk about the project.
We organize and plan what we're shooting and when we shoot.
Then we edit the whole video and distribute it in about two to three weeks. Making sure that the client is satisfied by our work.
Starting the second year of my course at Newark College Media, I began work on my music video.
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I wanted to create a visually memorable music video that sank well with the songs lyrics.
The song itself is called "Two Clocks" by Australian Band "RÜFÜS DU SOL".
Most of the footage was filmed by James Lathlane.
I edited the whole thing together, including the Newark College Media logo at the start of the video.
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Once the video was finished, I went on to create a visual effects breakdown of the most complicated sequences in the music video.
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This was primarily done to increase my grade, as the ability to decompile and explain the creation behind key set-pieces of the music video give extra points.
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All in all, music video was definitely my favourite unit of Newark College Media.
Film Noir
The Triple Threat
The film noir project spanned across twelve weeks in total.
For the first six weeks of this project the course and I were tasked with creating a short film in the style of a classic 1950s noir style film.
We started by watching film noir films for inspiration - Double Indemnity, Gangster Squad, and Detour to name a few.
I had multiple job roles when creating the film noir.
My first job was to write the film noir script, which I did within a few days. I'm not the best screen-writer in the world, but it gave me a lot of experience with screen-writing a short film and how to format a script.
My second job was to act on camera, I played the character of The Judge.
My third job was to edit the entirety of the film noir, which was quite a tedious task, but it helped me make sure that the film noir was as I envisioned it.
Editing the film noir meant creating the intro sequence, the credits sequence, and directing the sound-design of the film.
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The final film runs for 22 minutes total, and I'm very happy with how it turned out.
As well as the final version of the film noir, I also created three other videos as part of the film noir project:​
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1) The "Raw" version -
The raw version of the film noir is designed to demonstrate the visual effects and techniques used in the final film.
It's just a watered-down version of the film noir with no visual effects or added sound design elements.
It's also pretty funny watching people act without any visual effects, leaving an awkward feeling.
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2) The "Censored" version -
Pretty self-explanatory, the censored version of the film noir gets rid of the harsh language in the film. It also gets rid of some visual effects that may seem too violent.
This version was made for the cinema viewing of the film mid 2017.
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3) The Bloopers -
Just like Newark College News, we decided to create a bloopers reel full of all the funny outtakes and laughs that we had on-set.
advertising
The Triple Threat
website
After the film noir was finished, we still had another six weeks of the first year left to go.
During this time, we created an advertising campaign for the film.
As the film noir was a group task, the advertisement unit was designed to be a solo-project.
So I created a trailer for the film, some posters for the film, a video-game tech-demo based on the heist scene from the film, a trailer for the game, and a website to host all of the advertising material.
I really pushed myself to the limit with the advertisement unit.
At first, I knew I wanted to create some sort of 3D advertising material, like a game.
And I was only planning on creating a proof-of-concept video for a game at best.
But I never ever imagined creating a genuine fully-playable demo that people can download and play in real life for free. At the time, I couldn't believe what I was doing, and never knew I could achieve what I did.
My friends were also incredibly impressed by my efforts, and it makes me want to create something more than just a game demo.
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Overall I enjoyed the advertisement project more than the film noir itself.If you want to visit the film noirs advertising website, click on the image to the left.