This is the second week I am home from University. As Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be incredibly busy, I need to make sure I do as much work on the remaining study tasks as I can in my free time.
On Monday, I worked on the lip sync task. I also messaged my group asking for progress reports.
Then in the middle of the week, I celebrated Christmas with my family. I also had to make time for my job.
At the end of the week, I refined the articles for Study Task 3, so they were ready to publish. I also continued working on the lip sync task.
Sunday, 29 December 2019
Saturday, 21 December 2019
Study Task 1 (Week Commencing: 16/12/19)
At the beginning of the week, the musician messaged me about the length of the updated soundtrack. He explained that the total run time is one minute and forty-three seconds. I had a word with the director about whether to A) run over the allocated time, B) negotiate the times with the lectures, or C) tell the musician to trim it. My main concern was that last year, a lesson we were regularly given was to follow the instructions in a commission perfectly, as television stations can't allow for animators to run over or under a given time due to the set timetable. So, I encouraged the director to have a word with one of our lectures to look at our options. She messaged me back saying it was fine to run over.
Later on in the week, he sent me the updated soundtrack.
Nearing the end of the week, I worked on Study Task 3. I found this task really difficult and it took a lot longer than I had anticipated.
Later on in the week, he sent me the updated soundtrack.
Nearing the end of the week, I worked on Study Task 3. I found this task really difficult and it took a lot longer than I had anticipated.
Monday, 16 December 2019
Study Task 1 (Week Commencing: 09/12/19)
This is the last week I have at University before I go home for Christmas which means I have to make it count.
On Monday I re-exported the close up shots of the hand and face as .png sequences to remove the edge halos when I added the background footage.
From here, the lighting and dirt layers need to be added; then they will be completed shots.
On Tuesday, I added the colour to the bird shot.
I also messaged another classmate who wants to gather experience for their voice acting portfolio, to arrange a time they could help provide a voice over. Stacey booked the sound booth on Wednesday, so I let him know the time and place, and he was available. Stacey will book the booth once more over Christmas to record the foliage sounds.
Once I was done adding the colour, Joseph updated the bird shot by adding the background and lighting. However, there was a problem with outline, which I pointed out, as when the bird's wings crossed over it's body, or when it flew in front of the branches, the outline was okay but the parts that weren't overlapping disappeared, so he will refine this over Christmas.
Meanwhile, I continued to outline the shot of the man's back morphing into the beast. This took up most of the week.
To break this practice up, I added the colour layer to the shot of the foot transforming as looking at the same shot all day, every day, became a bit tedious.
Once done with this, I finished the outline of the back and then went on to add colour to this shot.
On Friday, I finished refining the colour and added the background Kate animated. She then presented the weekly. Comparing what I saw from the class weeklies overall to what we have so far, it looks as though we are on track. Although over Christmas, I will continue to check up on my team as while I won't be at University, I am still the producer, so need to keep on top of my teammates.
Based on the animatic from the weekly that Kate put together, and the updated scenes Joseph and I completed in class, I edited together an updated version and sent this to the musician to work on the final soundtrack. He said most of the visual cues from the first version match up with the latest version so it shouldn't take too long to refine.
I also updated the production sheet and uploaded it to Drive so the team will be able to access it over the holiday.
On Monday I re-exported the close up shots of the hand and face as .png sequences to remove the edge halos when I added the background footage.
From here, the lighting and dirt layers need to be added; then they will be completed shots.
On Tuesday, I added the colour to the bird shot.
I also messaged another classmate who wants to gather experience for their voice acting portfolio, to arrange a time they could help provide a voice over. Stacey booked the sound booth on Wednesday, so I let him know the time and place, and he was available. Stacey will book the booth once more over Christmas to record the foliage sounds.
Once I was done adding the colour, Joseph updated the bird shot by adding the background and lighting. However, there was a problem with outline, which I pointed out, as when the bird's wings crossed over it's body, or when it flew in front of the branches, the outline was okay but the parts that weren't overlapping disappeared, so he will refine this over Christmas.
Meanwhile, I continued to outline the shot of the man's back morphing into the beast. This took up most of the week.
To break this practice up, I added the colour layer to the shot of the foot transforming as looking at the same shot all day, every day, became a bit tedious.
Once done with this, I finished the outline of the back and then went on to add colour to this shot.
On Friday, I finished refining the colour and added the background Kate animated. She then presented the weekly. Comparing what I saw from the class weeklies overall to what we have so far, it looks as though we are on track. Although over Christmas, I will continue to check up on my team as while I won't be at University, I am still the producer, so need to keep on top of my teammates.
Based on the animatic from the weekly that Kate put together, and the updated scenes Joseph and I completed in class, I edited together an updated version and sent this to the musician to work on the final soundtrack. He said most of the visual cues from the first version match up with the latest version so it shouldn't take too long to refine.
I also updated the production sheet and uploaded it to Drive so the team will be able to access it over the holiday.
Monday, 9 December 2019
Final COP2 Weekly Update (Deadline: 10/12/19)
On Monday I spent the morning checking over my essay and visual journal to make sure they didn't need any more refinements. I also checked that every study task was uploaded to my blog and memory stick ready for the deadline.
Then in the afternoon, I converted my blog into a PDF as tomorrow is the 10th December and I don't want to do this at the last minute in case something goes wrong.
This is the final post for COP2.
If I had the chance to do this module again, I would have started working in my visual journal from the first session so that it was more developed. This would have also given me more time to experiment. If I could redo the survey, I would ask the participant their date of birth to see if this played a factor in their preferences. I would also give all the character designs the same pose so the silhouette results were fairer. Another suggestion of what else I could have done from one of my classmates was to choose a list of female animated characters, and read their character descriptions only. Then, based on how they were described, design my own versions to see if people could tell who they were or not, and what decade they were originally from.
Then in the afternoon, I converted my blog into a PDF as tomorrow is the 10th December and I don't want to do this at the last minute in case something goes wrong.
This is the final post for COP2.
If I had the chance to do this module again, I would have started working in my visual journal from the first session so that it was more developed. This would have also given me more time to experiment. If I could redo the survey, I would ask the participant their date of birth to see if this played a factor in their preferences. I would also give all the character designs the same pose so the silhouette results were fairer. Another suggestion of what else I could have done from one of my classmates was to choose a list of female animated characters, and read their character descriptions only. Then, based on how they were described, design my own versions to see if people could tell who they were or not, and what decade they were originally from.
Sunday, 8 December 2019
Study Task 1 (Week Commencing: 02/12/19)
At the start of the week, I worked on the lip sync task as despite saying I was going to focus on this over Christmas, I wasn't happy with how it looked at all and I wanted to fix it as soon as possible so that my mind was at rest.
Then, based on my lecturer's feedback, I updated the character turn around sheets by making him dirtier, ready for the 'Art Of' book we also have to produce.
I started by searching online for tea stain textures to add an extra layer to the piece. I then fell down a hole where I looked at brushes as well as textures, including: painted wall textures, dirt textures, paper textures and different dirt brushes. I downloaded a few, tested them out and sent my favourites to the group chat to get a vote on which brush to use.
The group vote was unanimous, and we ended up going with brush no. 10.
Once decided on a brush, I updated the dynamic pose sheet too and while I was at it, I removed the pants from the wolf so that this is also ready for the 'Art Of' book.
Then, I continued with the animation. Kate brought me some shots of the background that she had animated, to make sure they worked with the 2D elements. As I'm not very confident using unfamiliar software, I stuck to what I know, and imported both her footage, and my sequence of images into Photoshop. I couldn't make the background transparent for some reason, so I had to manually do it which was time consuming. In the future, I will try using After Effects or Premiere Pro to see if these are easier to get the hang of.
I did the same method with the next shot and once we were both happy with the perspective, I exported the footage.
I moved onto the foot shot. As the Christmas break is coming up, and I won't be able to access TVPaint from home, my team and I decided it would be best if I focused on the outlines only and then someone else in the team would add colour so the work was shared a little more evenly.
Kate then brought me some of the perspective shots from inside the cage, so once I had the outline ready, we tested the shots again to make sure they worked together.
I am happy with the follow through I added to the hair on leg as it grows, but I struggled with the movement in the foot here as I wasn't sure how to make the foot grow without the proportions looking wrong. I also struggled with making the actions look painful and agonising because the beast is stood up, so I had to consider the weight, which limited the movement.
Based on the work we had so far, I updated the production plan sheet so it was ready for the weekly presentation however when Friday did come around, we skipped this week's anyway.
On Thursday morning I attended a sound booth induction. After that, I continued to work on the shot of the bird landing on the branch. I worked on this shot for several hours, and found it incredibly difficult. I saved regularly throughout this process however, when I came to move the file from the desktop to my folder, something went wrong with the updated file and I could no longer access it. This meant I lost all the work I had done that day on that particular shot.
In this time, I had key framed the second half of the wing animation, and also key framed the feet. I added in-betweens to the body, wings and feet too, and as I struggled so much doing this, I began to panic as I wasn't sure I would have time to redo this whole shot as well as the other jobs I have.
I was completely devastated and went home. So on Friday, I came into class ready to start again; determined to get it finished.
I found this attempt went a little faster than the first, and this time I saved the file to my Google Drive first before I saved to the folder, as I didn't want a repeat of the day before. I also now export whatever footage I have every time I save so that if I lose a file again, I at least have some form of the progress saved.
I then moved onto the shot where the bird looks down at the beast. I wasn't sure how far the crow was supposed to look so I consulted with the director so we were on the same page. I then messaged Joseph, asking for the shots of the sky he painted, so I could add them to the animated shot of the bird to see what they look like together.
I used the same background for the previous shot I finished. This time, I exported the footage as a .png rather than a .jpeg so I didn't have to manually remove the background from each frame.
This weekend I am visiting home which means I won't get any work done over this time. Next week, I need to rough out the shot of the wolf's back, and then key frame it and add in-betweens. If I get this finished before next weekend, I can start adding colour to the remaining shots as next weekend I go home for Christmas which means I won't be able to access the software I use in University.
Then, based on my lecturer's feedback, I updated the character turn around sheets by making him dirtier, ready for the 'Art Of' book we also have to produce.
I started by searching online for tea stain textures to add an extra layer to the piece. I then fell down a hole where I looked at brushes as well as textures, including: painted wall textures, dirt textures, paper textures and different dirt brushes. I downloaded a few, tested them out and sent my favourites to the group chat to get a vote on which brush to use.
The group vote was unanimous, and we ended up going with brush no. 10.
Once decided on a brush, I updated the dynamic pose sheet too and while I was at it, I removed the pants from the wolf so that this is also ready for the 'Art Of' book.
Then, I continued with the animation. Kate brought me some shots of the background that she had animated, to make sure they worked with the 2D elements. As I'm not very confident using unfamiliar software, I stuck to what I know, and imported both her footage, and my sequence of images into Photoshop. I couldn't make the background transparent for some reason, so I had to manually do it which was time consuming. In the future, I will try using After Effects or Premiere Pro to see if these are easier to get the hang of.
I did the same method with the next shot and once we were both happy with the perspective, I exported the footage.
I moved onto the foot shot. As the Christmas break is coming up, and I won't be able to access TVPaint from home, my team and I decided it would be best if I focused on the outlines only and then someone else in the team would add colour so the work was shared a little more evenly.
Kate then brought me some of the perspective shots from inside the cage, so once I had the outline ready, we tested the shots again to make sure they worked together.
I am happy with the follow through I added to the hair on leg as it grows, but I struggled with the movement in the foot here as I wasn't sure how to make the foot grow without the proportions looking wrong. I also struggled with making the actions look painful and agonising because the beast is stood up, so I had to consider the weight, which limited the movement.
Based on the work we had so far, I updated the production plan sheet so it was ready for the weekly presentation however when Friday did come around, we skipped this week's anyway.
On Thursday morning I attended a sound booth induction. After that, I continued to work on the shot of the bird landing on the branch. I worked on this shot for several hours, and found it incredibly difficult. I saved regularly throughout this process however, when I came to move the file from the desktop to my folder, something went wrong with the updated file and I could no longer access it. This meant I lost all the work I had done that day on that particular shot.
In this time, I had key framed the second half of the wing animation, and also key framed the feet. I added in-betweens to the body, wings and feet too, and as I struggled so much doing this, I began to panic as I wasn't sure I would have time to redo this whole shot as well as the other jobs I have.
I was completely devastated and went home. So on Friday, I came into class ready to start again; determined to get it finished.
I found this attempt went a little faster than the first, and this time I saved the file to my Google Drive first before I saved to the folder, as I didn't want a repeat of the day before. I also now export whatever footage I have every time I save so that if I lose a file again, I at least have some form of the progress saved.
I then moved onto the shot where the bird looks down at the beast. I wasn't sure how far the crow was supposed to look so I consulted with the director so we were on the same page. I then messaged Joseph, asking for the shots of the sky he painted, so I could add them to the animated shot of the bird to see what they look like together.
I used the same background for the previous shot I finished. This time, I exported the footage as a .png rather than a .jpeg so I didn't have to manually remove the background from each frame.
This weekend I am visiting home which means I won't get any work done over this time. Next week, I need to rough out the shot of the wolf's back, and then key frame it and add in-betweens. If I get this finished before next weekend, I can start adding colour to the remaining shots as next weekend I go home for Christmas which means I won't be able to access the software I use in University.
Thursday, 5 December 2019
COP2 Weekly Update (Week Commencing: 02/12/19)
This is the last full week I have to work on COP before the deadline which means I need to make the most of it. At the beginning of this week, we had a lesson where we were set another task that involved writing an evaluation.
Halfway through the week, I continued to look through the suggestions my peers gave me in feedback sessions on what to paint in my visual journal. One suggestion, which links to my essay, was to look at a specific show/film which featured somewhat sexist or unfair designs between the male and women characters, and redesign them.
I looked at the characters from 'Inside Out' as not only had I researched this for my essay, however one of my classmates had suggested I specifically look at shapes, so I thought 'Inside Out' would be a good example. Another suggestion was 'Up' however I hadn't mentioned this in my essay, and was worried about time so if I had more time, I would also redesign the characters from that.
I continued to refine my practical sketchbook so that it was completely ready for when I record it and submit it. I also found a way to make my sketchbook even more symbiotic by incorporating the silhouettes I painted into my essay response.
At the end of the week, I proof read my essay again to triple check that everything was correct, and submitted it to estudio.
Then at the weekend, I visited home for the first time since I came back. As I knew I wouldn't get much done during this time, it was imperative that I made sure I achieved all the deadlines I set myself over the week so that I wouldn't have to do anything last minute next Monday, considering the deadline is Tuesday.
Halfway through the week, I continued to look through the suggestions my peers gave me in feedback sessions on what to paint in my visual journal. One suggestion, which links to my essay, was to look at a specific show/film which featured somewhat sexist or unfair designs between the male and women characters, and redesign them.
I looked at the characters from 'Inside Out' as not only had I researched this for my essay, however one of my classmates had suggested I specifically look at shapes, so I thought 'Inside Out' would be a good example. Another suggestion was 'Up' however I hadn't mentioned this in my essay, and was worried about time so if I had more time, I would also redesign the characters from that.
I continued to refine my practical sketchbook so that it was completely ready for when I record it and submit it. I also found a way to make my sketchbook even more symbiotic by incorporating the silhouettes I painted into my essay response.
At the end of the week, I proof read my essay again to triple check that everything was correct, and submitted it to estudio.
Then at the weekend, I visited home for the first time since I came back. As I knew I wouldn't get much done during this time, it was imperative that I made sure I achieved all the deadlines I set myself over the week so that I wouldn't have to do anything last minute next Monday, considering the deadline is Tuesday.
Study Task 9 - Reflective Writing
In this lesson, we began by sketching a chain diagram filled with different symbols that were supposed to represent the different processes we took during this project.
I then refined these symbols and painted them so they fit with the general theme of my sketchbook.
From here, inspired by the symbols we drew, we were asked to create a piece that summarised our time working on this project. I sketched a self portrait, of what I looked like for the majority of this module.
From here, we then had to write up an evaluation.
At the beginning of this project, I went to the library and found as many books as I could that covered topics I wanted to talk about. I started here as when it comes to essay writing, I am more of a reading/writing learner than a visual or auditory learner. At this point in time, I was struggling to come up with a practical response that linked to my essay question, and it was only during our first peers feedback session that I considered a visual route I could potentially go down.
This was to look at the silhouettes of certain characters. Seeing as I wanted to study the evolution of character design, I decided to break the characters up by their decades to see if I could spot any similarities or differences. I felt this exercise was really helpful as it provided me with figures to use in my essay. It also made the evolution more apparent as I could notice certain reoccurring features better, such as head to waist ratios, or how small the hands/feet were. I broke the characters up by their decades as one of the books I found ('Women, Feminism and Media' by Sue Thornham) believed the feminism movement in media first appeared during the nineties, so I wanted to see if I noticed any differences in design around the same time.
From here, I decided to paint some characters inspired from shows that came out during the 1980s-2010s as while I could still compare the decades and find similarities between designs, this also gave me the opportunity to explore character design for myself, as while the shows styles were already established, the designs were still original concepts.
I continued to listen to what my classmates had to say during feedback sessions as I wanted to explore as many paths as I could in the time I had before I focused solely on my final outcome. I also did these extra experiments as I thought looking at the question from a fresh perspective would help me consider alternative opinions when answering the essay question.
The first idea I had for my final outcome was to take the best aspects from all decades and make a character turn around sheet of a completely original character. However, I didn't think this was very symbiotic as there wasn't a way I could seamlessly add this outcome to my essay response. So, I ended up making four character concepts instead, each based on a different decade. From here, I made a survey where I asked the audience to rank the characters from most appealing to least as this would provide more primary research for my essay. I also attended the Manchester Animation Festival to gather up as much primary research as I could. I feel because of this, my essay response was well informed. I also looked at articles and interviews to get secondary research too as this was cheaper and faster than gathering the data for myself and again, provided contrasting insights into the essay.
I then refined these symbols and painted them so they fit with the general theme of my sketchbook.
From here, inspired by the symbols we drew, we were asked to create a piece that summarised our time working on this project. I sketched a self portrait, of what I looked like for the majority of this module.
From here, we then had to write up an evaluation.
At the beginning of this project, I went to the library and found as many books as I could that covered topics I wanted to talk about. I started here as when it comes to essay writing, I am more of a reading/writing learner than a visual or auditory learner. At this point in time, I was struggling to come up with a practical response that linked to my essay question, and it was only during our first peers feedback session that I considered a visual route I could potentially go down.
This was to look at the silhouettes of certain characters. Seeing as I wanted to study the evolution of character design, I decided to break the characters up by their decades to see if I could spot any similarities or differences. I felt this exercise was really helpful as it provided me with figures to use in my essay. It also made the evolution more apparent as I could notice certain reoccurring features better, such as head to waist ratios, or how small the hands/feet were. I broke the characters up by their decades as one of the books I found ('Women, Feminism and Media' by Sue Thornham) believed the feminism movement in media first appeared during the nineties, so I wanted to see if I noticed any differences in design around the same time.
From here, I decided to paint some characters inspired from shows that came out during the 1980s-2010s as while I could still compare the decades and find similarities between designs, this also gave me the opportunity to explore character design for myself, as while the shows styles were already established, the designs were still original concepts.
I continued to listen to what my classmates had to say during feedback sessions as I wanted to explore as many paths as I could in the time I had before I focused solely on my final outcome. I also did these extra experiments as I thought looking at the question from a fresh perspective would help me consider alternative opinions when answering the essay question.
The first idea I had for my final outcome was to take the best aspects from all decades and make a character turn around sheet of a completely original character. However, I didn't think this was very symbiotic as there wasn't a way I could seamlessly add this outcome to my essay response. So, I ended up making four character concepts instead, each based on a different decade. From here, I made a survey where I asked the audience to rank the characters from most appealing to least as this would provide more primary research for my essay. I also attended the Manchester Animation Festival to gather up as much primary research as I could. I feel because of this, my essay response was well informed. I also looked at articles and interviews to get secondary research too as this was cheaper and faster than gathering the data for myself and again, provided contrasting insights into the essay.
Study Task 8 - Essay Structure
While uploading this task to the blog isn't mandatory, I decided to write up my progress and thoughts anyway as I find it easier to manage my workload through regular blog updates.
Below is my first attempt:
Link to First Draft of Essay
Then, making the most of the one to one sessions I have scheduled with my lecturer, I continued to refine the essay until I was happier with it. I also took notes in the lectures building up to the deadline on how to structure a formal essay as that was the direction I went in.
The main struggle I had with the first draft was the introduction and the conclusion. This was picked up on in my 1:1s. I was advised to focus on the conclusion and refine it before the deadline. The other points were much smaller tasks, such as: I was asked to remove the square brackets from my shortened quotes, lose the reference list and add the page numbers to the quotes from any books.
Link to Final Essay Draft
I initially found this task difficult as I wasn't sure how to combine the practical element to make the outcome more symbiotic. I feel when I start a new module or task I lack the confidence to believe the work I'm doing is correct. Once I overcome this hurdle, I then get into a better workflow. After Christmas when I start my next modules, I will try to remember the problems I faced here and how I overcame them.
Below is my first attempt:
Link to First Draft of Essay
Then, making the most of the one to one sessions I have scheduled with my lecturer, I continued to refine the essay until I was happier with it. I also took notes in the lectures building up to the deadline on how to structure a formal essay as that was the direction I went in.
The main struggle I had with the first draft was the introduction and the conclusion. This was picked up on in my 1:1s. I was advised to focus on the conclusion and refine it before the deadline. The other points were much smaller tasks, such as: I was asked to remove the square brackets from my shortened quotes, lose the reference list and add the page numbers to the quotes from any books.
Link to Final Essay Draft
I initially found this task difficult as I wasn't sure how to combine the practical element to make the outcome more symbiotic. I feel when I start a new module or task I lack the confidence to believe the work I'm doing is correct. Once I overcome this hurdle, I then get into a better workflow. After Christmas when I start my next modules, I will try to remember the problems I faced here and how I overcame them.
Sunday, 1 December 2019
Study Task 1 (Week Commencing: 25/11/19)
Looking back at my last weekly blog post, I hated the way the bird's whole body moved as I didn't think it looked natural. Instead, I feel he should just turn his neck so when I am back in university, I will change this.
At the beginning of the week, I worked on the lip sync study task. I need to add more frames to what I have so far but I will most likely do this over the Christmas break. I also continued to communicate with the rest of my team to make sure that whoever nominated themselves was prepared to deliver the weekly presentation, as well as staying on top of their work.
Then on Tuesday, I continued to work on the animation.
At first, I roughed out the general movement of the hand. Then, I refined the outline and key framed this. Finally, I added the in-betweens to give the hand a trembling effect, as I wanted to convey a sense of shock and fear.
After hitting a mental block with the hand shot, I decided to move onto the shot of the bird looking over it's shoulder. I did the same technique as above to make sure the timing was right before I refined it and added in-betweens.
Once happy, I added colour to the shot and sent this to my teammates. Next week I should hopefully add a background to this.
Once I finished this, I decided to go back and attack the shot of the hand again. By this point I received the updated animatic and the shot of the hand is from a different perspective however, as I had already animated the main movements and my director didn't raise any issues at this point and said they liked the trembling effect, I decided to continue with this original perspective and went on to add the hair and nails.
Then, I added colour to the shot. I feel this looks better than the first werewolf transformation I attempted as the closer up the camera is to the body, the more detail I can add to the fur. I based this transformation on the dynamic pose sheet where I had already considered how the hand would look. To make the shot more dramatic, I suggested we zoom in slightly as not only will this make the shot more intense, but it will also make the hand look larger.
At the end of the week, I started animating the shot where the bird flies down and lands on the branch, as this is another shot that looks challenging and I am nervous about.
I started by roughing out the general movement. The body remains somewhat constant, while the wings and feet move quite a bit. I looked at some slowed down footage of birds landing on branches to help me.
To make sure the shot looked right as I was using a placeholder branch for my rough animation, we took a photo of the set to test that he landed correctly. For a first attempt, it was closer than I thought, so when I refine the outline, I will make sure the feet land properly on the branch.
We did this in front of a bluescreen so we can add the Joseph's sky in post. We also filmed some practice shots last week, and once we can rent out a more professional camera, we will start experimenting with them more.
Throughout this process, I have been messaging the musician and letting him know all the changes that are being made.
At the beginning of the week, I worked on the lip sync study task. I need to add more frames to what I have so far but I will most likely do this over the Christmas break. I also continued to communicate with the rest of my team to make sure that whoever nominated themselves was prepared to deliver the weekly presentation, as well as staying on top of their work.
Then on Tuesday, I continued to work on the animation.
At first, I roughed out the general movement of the hand. Then, I refined the outline and key framed this. Finally, I added the in-betweens to give the hand a trembling effect, as I wanted to convey a sense of shock and fear.
After hitting a mental block with the hand shot, I decided to move onto the shot of the bird looking over it's shoulder. I did the same technique as above to make sure the timing was right before I refined it and added in-betweens.
Once happy, I added colour to the shot and sent this to my teammates. Next week I should hopefully add a background to this.
Once I finished this, I decided to go back and attack the shot of the hand again. By this point I received the updated animatic and the shot of the hand is from a different perspective however, as I had already animated the main movements and my director didn't raise any issues at this point and said they liked the trembling effect, I decided to continue with this original perspective and went on to add the hair and nails.
Then, I added colour to the shot. I feel this looks better than the first werewolf transformation I attempted as the closer up the camera is to the body, the more detail I can add to the fur. I based this transformation on the dynamic pose sheet where I had already considered how the hand would look. To make the shot more dramatic, I suggested we zoom in slightly as not only will this make the shot more intense, but it will also make the hand look larger.
At the end of the week, I started animating the shot where the bird flies down and lands on the branch, as this is another shot that looks challenging and I am nervous about.
I started by roughing out the general movement. The body remains somewhat constant, while the wings and feet move quite a bit. I looked at some slowed down footage of birds landing on branches to help me.
To make sure the shot looked right as I was using a placeholder branch for my rough animation, we took a photo of the set to test that he landed correctly. For a first attempt, it was closer than I thought, so when I refine the outline, I will make sure the feet land properly on the branch.
We did this in front of a bluescreen so we can add the Joseph's sky in post. We also filmed some practice shots last week, and once we can rent out a more professional camera, we will start experimenting with them more.
Throughout this process, I have been messaging the musician and letting him know all the changes that are being made.
COP2 Weekly Update (Week Commecing: 25/11/19)
At the beginning of the week I had my second one to one with my lecturer. Based on the feedback I received, I continued to refine my essay response.
When I felt I hit a wall with my essay, I went back to my book to produce some more practical responses and then once my mind was refreshed, I returned to my essay.
Throughout the week I continued to work in my visual journal; experimenting with the different ideas I received from the group sessions where my peers gave me feedback. One of these was the challenge where you draw yourself in different cartoon styles. I thought this would be an interesting way to explore the evolution over different shows from different years.
Nearing the end of the week, I worked into my conclusion, and I hope next week's lesson will help me even more.
So, moving into the next decade, does this mean more animators and directors will challenge how expressive and diverse female character deigns are, or rather will there be a resurgence of more nostalgic and aesthetically pleasing character design? Based on the findings from the survey, it appears that audiences aren't after stereotypically pretty or perfect designs; they prefer designs that challenge the norm, and are more expressive, unique and fun. It would make sense for studios to listen to their audiences as if they continue to portray outdated ideals, competitors that do listen to their fans, take criticism on board, and who go on to develop and grow, could become more appealing.
As time progressed, higher numbers of people, especially those from minority groups, were given opportunities that wouldn't have been available to them in previous generations. This meant more inclusive and representative character designs were, and will continue to be, explored and challenged - particularly female designs. As society's standards continue to develop and change, so will the content being produced as women are tired of outdated stereotypes; it forces society to be better. As the industry is becoming more influenced by women, this progression is natural as audiences are no longer hearing stories that are only being told from men's perspectives. Women help provide an insight into what it's like and therefore, the animators have fresh perspectives to create art from.
When I felt I hit a wall with my essay, I went back to my book to produce some more practical responses and then once my mind was refreshed, I returned to my essay.
Throughout the week I continued to work in my visual journal; experimenting with the different ideas I received from the group sessions where my peers gave me feedback. One of these was the challenge where you draw yourself in different cartoon styles. I thought this would be an interesting way to explore the evolution over different shows from different years.
Nearing the end of the week, I worked into my conclusion, and I hope next week's lesson will help me even more.
So, moving into the next decade, does this mean more animators and directors will challenge how expressive and diverse female character deigns are, or rather will there be a resurgence of more nostalgic and aesthetically pleasing character design? Based on the findings from the survey, it appears that audiences aren't after stereotypically pretty or perfect designs; they prefer designs that challenge the norm, and are more expressive, unique and fun. It would make sense for studios to listen to their audiences as if they continue to portray outdated ideals, competitors that do listen to their fans, take criticism on board, and who go on to develop and grow, could become more appealing.
As time progressed, higher numbers of people, especially those from minority groups, were given opportunities that wouldn't have been available to them in previous generations. This meant more inclusive and representative character designs were, and will continue to be, explored and challenged - particularly female designs. As society's standards continue to develop and change, so will the content being produced as women are tired of outdated stereotypes; it forces society to be better. As the industry is becoming more influenced by women, this progression is natural as audiences are no longer hearing stories that are only being told from men's perspectives. Women help provide an insight into what it's like and therefore, the animators have fresh perspectives to create art from.
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