The Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial statue featured in this design is located at the City Docks (Ego Alley) in Annapolis, MD
- Music Video Created by Katherine Barnett (beatnikblends)
- Song in video: reCreation by Airtone
The journey continues with Haley… After the crazy walk to find the Thurgood statue, I was tired, hungry, and definitely needed a rest. I knew I wanted to visit Ego Alley so it was my last stop on this wonderful journey in Annapolis. Read on…. No tea required unless you love it of course! 😀
I noticed the Alex Haley statue while walking towards the docks in Ego Alley. There were a lot of people near the statue and I didn’t get a good look at first. I was intrigued because I never saw a statue of kids in that stance. The children looked like they were listening to a story from Alex Haley. I mean…. it was just incredible. I never seen anything like it. I wanted to take a photo but there were so many people, I didn’t think it would be a good shot at the time. Thankfully, after walking back from the docks I was able to get a decent photo of the statue. Not as good as I hoped but the area was a bit crowded. At first, I thought I definitely wanted to make something but I didn’t think the photos were good enough. But… I thought why not? It’s challenging to start off with a puzzle.
I thought Crab cake was hard… I totally jinxed myself. I knew it was going to be hard but I think this design was one of the hardest for to finish. Lots of layers… Layers that were fighting with each other. This design was just a mess at one point. I was stuck so I took a break. I knew something was very wrong with the design and decided to start over from scratch. I really hate doing that and try to avoid starting over at all costs. I feel like I’m wasting time and now the consequence is not making my deadline. It’s still possible but… it would be a miracle. I haven’t edited my video footage or created the design script. I have so much to do. I’m not at the halfway point yet but I am positive I’ll finish everything by July.
I do love this design despite taking several weeks to finish. After starting over again, I wanted to find that missing piece. My objective is brown and I was finding lots of different shades but it’s very easy to lose everything. Blending a lot of elements can cause chaos. I can lose the blends and then everything is a blur. I think at the end of this design, you can see everything. You can see an outline of the dog in the background. You can also see the statues. I played around with mirror and distortion effects. Once I mirrored the image, everything clicked. If I only did that in the beginning, it wouldn’t have taken me so much time to finish.
I think I finished the music video in record time, only a few hours over the course of two days. I knew exactly what I wanted to do and I think I executed the vision well. Also, I didn’t want to use too many effects because I wanted to show the process in making the design. It’s beautiful not run into any serious problems especially since I had a hard time making the design. The only thing I really struggled with is the intro. I’m going to commit some time into making a static intro like I did in the past. I’m trying to create the perfect intro that can showcase the design and credits in a flashy yet professional and stylish way. I made a great intro using Adobe After Effects. I don’t have that program anymore but I think I can do almost anything in Sony Vegas. I’ll figure something out.
It really hurts not to make my initial deadline but I hope to be done every design by June 15th. I have two more to make. I think of my design challenge when I face adversity with time. I’m changing my due date for the album for July 9th. I would like to release every album in the future on a day that’s on the 9th or a number that’s a multiple of 9. If you’re reading this when this post was originally published I apologize for the long gap. It’s been over a month. Life happens… lots of crap but the journey continues! I’m close to the end. I can’t wait until the last design is done and I can start working on the video album.