In my spare time, I made a Production Book and wrote my evaluation for this module.
As Stacey was struggling to add the backgrounds to shots, I decided to go back in and composite these myself. First, I fixed shot 3, as there was a moment where part of the desk outline vanishes and reappears. I made sure to keep the line art consistent.
Shot 6 was also composited wrong, as the desk was on the wrong layer and as a result, cut off all of the animation from the shoulders down.
Admittedly, this process was frustrating as from day one, I made it clear which roles I was after, and not one specialised in post-production. So, having to composite these scenes, especially this late in the day, because someone didn't get their job completed in time, is reasonably irritating.
The character interacts with the desk which meant I needed to go in and erase certain areas frame by frame, as the arm and comb were on the same layer and therefore couldn't be separated. I'm not familiar enough with Toon Boom yet, so I needed to find a few tutorials and experiment with trial and error until I found a method that worked.
Shot 10 was completed too however, with an outdated background. So, I added the updated desk and let the team know. Given the time left, I won't alter any more shots for this project as other than project managing, my work here as an animator is done.
There were some issues at the start of the week regarding 'Kingdom of Masks' as the director had added several effects; most of which were too much. I began by requesting to view the updated animatic and then sent some notes over Discord. The main problems I found, were that a lot of the shots were incredibly saturated and/or bright which resulted in a loss of detail, mainly effecting the backgrounds and hand-drawn VFX. The director, and others in the team, agreed so Khoa went back through and removed a lot of these added effects.
On Thursday, we both met up at University so we could talk through the animatic in person, and agree which edits worked and which didn't. After meeting in person, it was easier to tell if we were on the same page or not, as communicating only through text isn't as viable an option as some assume.
While at University, I added a background to scene 25 to help ease in/out the impact frames. While this version isn't being used in the final animation, it was still a fun exercise and good practice to see if I could make it work or not.
Living with the director on 'The Last Riders' has meant communication has ran much smoother throughout the course of the film. This week, he finalised the last two scenes and on the Friday, we sat as a household and walked through the scenes shot by shot to make sure everything looked good.
The musician then got in touch, asking for more time to work on the score. While the director is happy to wait, the majority of the team were looking to hand-in early; myself included.
The internet connection at my house is incredibly unreliable, often cutting out at random, particularly in my room as it's furthest from the router. The lecturers have advised submitting early to avoid any technological issues, as these aren't considered extenuating circumstances, even under the current conditions. So, I was aiming to submit on the Monday; a goal that was both realistic and achievable - until the musician spoke up.
Nevertheless, for my own sanity and peace of mind, I'm planning to submit at the same time anyway for several reasons. One, the director was happy with the original score. Second of all, my Gantt chart marked the 12th as the deadline for the musician. Meaning, if he wasn't going to be finished in time, he should have let me know before now. Thirdly, the lecturers have repeatedly stated that we can continue to work on these films after hand-in for the sake of festivals, so it shouldn't be an issue if the score is outdated. Lastly, while sound is an incredibly important factor to a film, the score shouldn't determine the fate of our animation. Bonus point: as previously mentioned, my internet gives me anxiety.
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