First up was scene 3. As there are a handful of characters in this shot, this task took much longer than anticipated. Alongside that, I don't like inbetweening, and plus the fact I only had the background characters to animate, I was struggling to find the motivation to work on them.
I had a similar experience with the next scene.
Once again, I accidentally typed the hex code into the size bar which meant the software crashed and I needed to start over, which unfortunately wasted time I don't have to spare.
I then moved onto the 'Kingdom of Masks' project.
First up was scene 5. I struggled at first to figure out the software on my own so, I watched some tutorials and asked a couple of my classmates for advice. Alisha was kind enough to talk me through the process so, I took plenty of notes and got on with my scenes.
However, this scene in particular proved frustrating as the previous animators went off model several times throughout. The character's belt, shoe straps and sleeves details were missing so, I found it difficult to colour as I'm used to following the turn-around as closely as possible. I raised this issue with the director, and he will go back and fix it if he has time.
Scene 18 was next. I found I picked up colouring in Toon Boom quite quickly. The only issue was that my stylus didn't interact with the options or commands as it should (something I had previously experienced when I attempted to animate in this software) so this meant I had to use my mouse pad a lot which slowed down the rate at which I was able to work.
I have a couple more scenes to colour within this project however, they aren't scheduled until next week. So, I moved onto 'The Nightly Care I Give My Hair' by starting with an easy scene to colour, as I haven't learned how to add texture yet.
I'm still not a fan of this shot as the angle is very simple and the movement, boring.
I really struggled this week to keep on track as the shots I worked on for Rhys' project took far longer than anticipated. I also found I'm less motivated working in Leeds than I was at home, so this is an issue I need to resolve quickly.
Some Thoughts About The Weekly!
The weekly also raised several issues. This was my first lesson back in the studio since the first week of December, so it was nice to make an effort and leave the house. I was also eager to see everyone again. However, the presentations were far from smooth sailing.
As I was the only member present in person, and not an icon through a screen, a lot of the feedback felt aimed at me, even for the scenes I hadn't worked on. There were a few positives thrown in, such as one lecturer liking the latest scene I animated in 'The Last Riders', as well as preferring the action in a shot I animated for 'The Nightly Care I Give My Hair' however, these were overshadowed by the several complaints regarding other scenes (the majority of which I hadn't even worked on).
The atmosphere felt very negative, and my teammates became demotivated and irritable rather quickly, as much of the feedback felt nit-picky. As producer, I also felt disappointed in the feedback we received, as each team has been updating the presentation (and I, my blog) every single week, showing the scenes not only throughout every stage of development, however also in and out of the context of the animatic.
In other words, a lot of the changes would have been much easier to fix during the earlier production stages, such as at the key-frame, or inbetweening stage, especially considering that not every person in the team has access to the same software, and some files can't be transferred back without losing quality.
Not only that, but the groups were rearranged so that the weeklies would be more efficient and structured in a bid to make the sessions shorter, so us animators have more time to work on our films. This weekly however, lasted three hours.
After Sleeping On It!
I noted each scene that needed changing. In 'The Nightly Care I Give My Hair', the two shots that needed tweaking were shot 7 and shot 11.
- I explained the issues the lecturers had with shot 7 and asked the inbetweener to retime the action to make the movement more natural and less robotic. Caitlin was able to retime this rather quickly and as the director is happy, we can move on.
- I had originally key framed shot 11 in TVPaint however the following tasks were transferred into Toon Boom. Unfortunately, you can't reverse this process without losing quality so, we have decided to see how the shot looks once the background has been added, to see if this changes anything. If not, I will have to reanimate this scene from scratch however, considering the colouring tasks aren't taking me too long, this hopefully shouldn't be an issue.
The majority of the complaints came from 'Kingdom of Masks'. The scenes that were scrutinised were scene 5, 6, 20 and 21. Scene 22 also had a small suggestion however, was also respected enough to leave alone if we have no time.
- The character needs repositioning in scene 5 as his feet slide back and forth. We are aware of this however due to time, we shall focus on finishing the scenes that are yet to be completed before assigning someone to make amends here.
- In scene 6, the run cycle isn't convincing as there's no bounce. I raised this issue with the director, who has since edited the timing and positioning of the character in this scene. I'm due to colour this shot next week, so Khoa showed his changes to a lecturer. Apparently it could still be improved however, is good enough for now considering the focus within this particular scene is the background and monsters anyway.
- The hair in scene 20 looks too mechanical. So, I have asked the inbetweener to go back and retime the follow through of the hair so it looks more natural. Once again, this will be a task we save for the end of production, as there are still scenes to complete.
- The timing of scene 21 has led to a debate in the past two weeklies. The team believe this moment is one of suspense and tension, as the protagonist realises his role in the story and ultimately rises up to be the hero. Taking inspiration from He-Man, She-Ra and the Legend of Zelda games, we wanted this moment to be weighty and grand. The lecturers disagreed however, and felt this scene should be sped up a lot. We had tested several speeds for this shot, and while we could see our original was too slow, we also felt the lecturer's was too fast, so decided to land on a happy medium. This wasn't good enough apparently.
- Scene 22 has slightly awkward footwork so once I have coloured this shot, I may go back and delete a frame or two to see if this helps any.
In 'The Last Riders', the changes were simpler. The main one being to add a lip sync to Marow, which works as we haven't animated many scenes that feature him talking yet.
The same goes for 'Aviation Aggravation', as they were only upset with one scene, which Alisha soon fixed right after the session.
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