O.k, so far so good. According to my schedule i managed to handle all the goals i wanted to finish by now (and even more):
All Pre-production artwork and administrative issues were finished before the time i set for myself. I also improved the design and the model sheets as well as the concept art.
With my Animation Production timetable, I'm actually taking a different approach then i planned (From Jack), in the beginning.
(If you look in my production plan page, you'll see that i planned to work my animation in a specific way: shot by shot so that each week I'm taking each shot from thumbnails stage to final pencil test).
The new method: At first i create all the rough Key Frames (detailed) for the entire Animation. Then i add the breakdowns and Inbetweens. I test the movements all the time as i go. Once it's all working in terms of motion i continue adding the details and fill in important gaps.
My aim is to try and finish the Animation During the break (towards middle-end of July), so then the only thing i would have to worry about would be backgrounds, some inbetweens and refinements (details). The next stage would be Post-Production.
Even though I'm not following the timetable i posted on my blog - i still managed to cover all the shots i described there.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Update - week 10-11
So far i have been working on my Key frames for the entire animation and also some important in-betweens.
I started to work on these when we had the 2 weeks break, but i keep improving the poses and replacing them again and again.
I'm never happy with stuff i do - and too objective sometimes with my own work (which is good because it's pushing myself more and more, but sometimes it's too much and too extreme and i actually need to take it easy...but i know i can't :(
Anyway, I'm trying to do something almost every day so when the time comes after the semester break, the only thing i would have to do is to refine details and add in-betweens to some shots. I'm aiming to get as much animation done as i can (finish if i will be able to handle my job and the time for the animation at the same time) - at least keys and some in-betweens.
the shot we have to submit to Jack in Week 12 kept me busy too. I draw thumbnails to work out the keys and the timing, then tested again and again and then in the 3rd attempt it worked and i just completed all the details and the inbetweens. Now it's only several frames i have to add before testing the shot for the last time.
I'm kind of happy with the result - not completely and i don't know why....again(Too hard on myself).
Anyway - i will start posting some fun stuff that i did and didn't have the chance to show - character design and concept art. also some pencil tests...
That's it for now..
I started to work on these when we had the 2 weeks break, but i keep improving the poses and replacing them again and again.
I'm never happy with stuff i do - and too objective sometimes with my own work (which is good because it's pushing myself more and more, but sometimes it's too much and too extreme and i actually need to take it easy...but i know i can't :(
Anyway, I'm trying to do something almost every day so when the time comes after the semester break, the only thing i would have to do is to refine details and add in-betweens to some shots. I'm aiming to get as much animation done as i can (finish if i will be able to handle my job and the time for the animation at the same time) - at least keys and some in-betweens.
the shot we have to submit to Jack in Week 12 kept me busy too. I draw thumbnails to work out the keys and the timing, then tested again and again and then in the 3rd attempt it worked and i just completed all the details and the inbetweens. Now it's only several frames i have to add before testing the shot for the last time.
I'm kind of happy with the result - not completely and i don't know why....again(Too hard on myself).
Anyway - i will start posting some fun stuff that i did and didn't have the chance to show - character design and concept art. also some pencil tests...
That's it for now..
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
500 Words Review
Pre Production Process:
For me Pre Production started earlier than expected - During the 2nd semester of the 2nd year i started to develop the script which was based on my dog.
I started with a completely different idea, and continued developing it, because some elements were good and the potential was there.
After my dog died, it pushed me to think harder about what i really wanted to say and so the idea for the progressed script started to evolve and became what it is today.
It was hard for me to bring something so personal to the screen (especially a 4 legged character which isn't easy to animate - but because it's hard, that's something i'll be happy to do in animation).
I'm happy with the message and because it's personal, it's really important for me to do my best and push forward.
The Final draft is much more directed towards my moral, but I'm still not 100% sure it's the best i could come up with. I might play with the final edit in the end.
I enjoy every second of the process - especially the character designs and the artwork.
My dog was a female western highland terrier, so i looked at a lot of photos of her and tried to think about a good structure.
Because terriers got lots of hair, it's hard to see their shape, so when i designed Minnie, i thought that for me, it would be easier if i simplify her shape (remove most of the hair, but still leave a little bit: like the top of her head).
I really wanted to make an appealing design because she was so cute.
her facial details were something i worked on since the break, so i can get used to her features (small muzzle, long ears..).
With the guy, i looked at old singers because i love the old fashion look (Sinatra).
The guy wasn't easy but wasn't hard for me to think of in terms of design. I started to think about his design last year and came up with several characters and i looked at some cartoons and caricatures for references. Eventually i came up with what i have (upload soon) now, and it took me a few months.
The poses and the expressions are the best part. Makes me think again and again about structure and facial aspects. I keep improving these sheets all the time until the last minute. Even now when i'm doing key poses, i keep changing details sometimes and get to know the shapes better.
What i didn't enjoy so much was the Administrative issues.
I understand the importance of all the aspects involved in a production and i did everything i had to do to plan it carefully, but most of the time this term was spent on that instead of the art of making our film - which is crucial because it's all about the skills we need to bring this vision to life on the screen.
There were no particular classes that assessed us on colour, character designs, life drawing, poses and performance - by that i mean that we aren't dealing with art in school, but just with technical stuff (pushing buttons, software and Digital tools).
For me this is the most important thing in animation because our ideas would eventually have to be visual - and through these visuals we communicate (people have to understand what they see).
I think much could have been spent on the actual artistic development and skills (what makes good character design??, drawing and sketching, colour and mood techniques - experiment with different mediums, sculpture, principles of animation, structure, posing etc...)
Half of what we submit is artwork (Mood Board, Model Sheets, Concept Art...) and we're just supposed to hand it in, but there's not even attention to teach these in class, so i don't really understand how an Animation degree works without any teaching of art foundations ???
The assumption that we already know is wrong. There are ways to study these things: how to plan perspective, how to paint, to structure a character, life drawing for understanding of posing for animation (Thank you Jack for doing that stuff this year).
I don't know about others, but at least for 2d animation which is what I'm focusing on, that's what we should be dealing with when we study and that's critical for the success of the film.
Overall Pre Production was enjoyable and important for the next step. The storyboards were detailed and i found that it was good for the planning of the shots and the final compositions. Scriptwriting process is great and the story and character development as well.
For me Pre Production started earlier than expected - During the 2nd semester of the 2nd year i started to develop the script which was based on my dog.
I started with a completely different idea, and continued developing it, because some elements were good and the potential was there.
After my dog died, it pushed me to think harder about what i really wanted to say and so the idea for the progressed script started to evolve and became what it is today.
It was hard for me to bring something so personal to the screen (especially a 4 legged character which isn't easy to animate - but because it's hard, that's something i'll be happy to do in animation).
I'm happy with the message and because it's personal, it's really important for me to do my best and push forward.
The Final draft is much more directed towards my moral, but I'm still not 100% sure it's the best i could come up with. I might play with the final edit in the end.
I enjoy every second of the process - especially the character designs and the artwork.
My dog was a female western highland terrier, so i looked at a lot of photos of her and tried to think about a good structure.
Because terriers got lots of hair, it's hard to see their shape, so when i designed Minnie, i thought that for me, it would be easier if i simplify her shape (remove most of the hair, but still leave a little bit: like the top of her head).
I really wanted to make an appealing design because she was so cute.
her facial details were something i worked on since the break, so i can get used to her features (small muzzle, long ears..).
With the guy, i looked at old singers because i love the old fashion look (Sinatra).
The guy wasn't easy but wasn't hard for me to think of in terms of design. I started to think about his design last year and came up with several characters and i looked at some cartoons and caricatures for references. Eventually i came up with what i have (upload soon) now, and it took me a few months.
The poses and the expressions are the best part. Makes me think again and again about structure and facial aspects. I keep improving these sheets all the time until the last minute. Even now when i'm doing key poses, i keep changing details sometimes and get to know the shapes better.
What i didn't enjoy so much was the Administrative issues.
I understand the importance of all the aspects involved in a production and i did everything i had to do to plan it carefully, but most of the time this term was spent on that instead of the art of making our film - which is crucial because it's all about the skills we need to bring this vision to life on the screen.
There were no particular classes that assessed us on colour, character designs, life drawing, poses and performance - by that i mean that we aren't dealing with art in school, but just with technical stuff (pushing buttons, software and Digital tools).
For me this is the most important thing in animation because our ideas would eventually have to be visual - and through these visuals we communicate (people have to understand what they see).
I think much could have been spent on the actual artistic development and skills (what makes good character design??, drawing and sketching, colour and mood techniques - experiment with different mediums, sculpture, principles of animation, structure, posing etc...)
Half of what we submit is artwork (Mood Board, Model Sheets, Concept Art...) and we're just supposed to hand it in, but there's not even attention to teach these in class, so i don't really understand how an Animation degree works without any teaching of art foundations ???
The assumption that we already know is wrong. There are ways to study these things: how to plan perspective, how to paint, to structure a character, life drawing for understanding of posing for animation (Thank you Jack for doing that stuff this year).
I don't know about others, but at least for 2d animation which is what I'm focusing on, that's what we should be dealing with when we study and that's critical for the success of the film.
Overall Pre Production was enjoyable and important for the next step. The storyboards were detailed and i found that it was good for the planning of the shots and the final compositions. Scriptwriting process is great and the story and character development as well.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Man's Best Friend Animatic
Not the most amazing quality, but good enough.
A few things:
Timing is not perfect - the overall piece is 4:20 but can easily be 2:20 or less. I just need to cut the time of the camera moves and when Minnie is in the house alone before she sees the ticket.
So it's going to be shorter.
Towards the end When we see the guy's face - there's a moment of realization that he decides to stay for the dog and leave the ball and the ticket behind after he understands that Minnie came all the way with the ticket- it's just an extra shot after he sees Minnie.
That's really important.
Talking to Jack about the story, he mentioned something really really really important i didn't 100% realise before i did my Animatic. In the story, the dog suddenly sees the ticket and thinking how to bring it to his master, so it looks towards the door and thinks how to get out of the house. That's where the big change comes in - insted of making a really smart classic hero dog, the entire idea is to create a situation where Minnie sees the ball and happy to see (not even noticing that the ticket stuck to it behind) it as she would like to play again, From being sad, she all of a sudden happy and picks up the ball (not looking at the door lock) and goes to the yard to try and jump...from here it's the same story line until she gets to the airport and when she has the ball - her master don't notice that the ticket is stuck behind. He ignores as she's the last thing on his mind because he's about to miss his flight....but then he sees the ball and realize it's because of her that he can make it to his flight on time, but decides eventually that she's his best friend, so he stays.
I'm thinking which direction i want to take it. It's another suggestion for development. One thing i didn't think of when i looked again at my story was when Minnie looks at the door but it's locked - this shot is going to be cut off because the door can't be locked from the inside if the master left.
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