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Reflective Journal and Evaluation of Personal Showcase

Week One – 26th September 2016 Briefing of Project. Planning out of initial ideas, using combined mediums in my final film, bringing conceptual meaning to the use of both mediums.  Creation of initial character concepts and interactions in preparation for Personal Showcase Presentations on Monday 3rd October.

Week Two - 3rd October 2016 Personal Showcase Presentation – prompted re-design of characters and figuring out the concept behind using two mediums in one film.  More simple designs to be more attainable in stop motion and 2D. Meeting with Lynsey to talk through narrative and animatic, began to think about the staging of the shots and the interaction between the characters.

Week Three -  10th October 2016 Animatic Workshop with Helen Schroeder, 4 Panel storyboard, I found this very beneficial to establishing the resolve of my film in the time allocated, as well as picking out the key moments throughout. Discussion with Helen about the context of the hand drawn element in a stop motion setting, questioning why, was it because it was a dream or a memory? This prompted a rework of my animatic to visualise the idea of the dog being a memory, working the panels to text music to establish the mood of the narrative.

Week Four – 17th October 2016 Email discussion with the 3D workshop to discuss creating my stop motion character, also beginning research into the process of using foam latex and moulds. Drawing animated concept designs for the dog character, establishing how he would appear and disappear in the shot.

Week Five – 24th October 2016 Beginning of the armature construction process, setting the plasticine mould in plaster in order to pour the foam in. Rework of my animatic to fix jump cuts and develop the narrative. Animation experiments review, brought the dog concepts along and discussed the puppet construction process.

Week Six – 31st October 2016 Continuation of the armature construction, pouring of polyurethane foam into the mould and painting on of liquid latex coloured with acrylic to create a skin colour, as well as sewing of clothes in preparation for the filming days in the next few weeks. Beginning of collaboration with music producer on the original composition for the film. Sending them the text music and WIP animatic to create it to.

Week Seven – 7th November 2016 Individual tutorial to discuss the progression of my animatic and armature construction in preparation for the film process. Completed animatic with original music created by the music producer. Timed the animatic shots to the beat of the music allowing it to fit properly.

Week Eight – 14th November 2016 Filming of stop motion puppet and initial blocking of the shots to be timed with the animatic. Slow motion shot added to the film, sent the music back to the music producer to make this apparent and emphasised in the music.

Week Nine – 21st November 2016, INDEPENDENT STUDY WEEK Editing begins on the filmed shots of the animation, editing the imperfections on the armature and adding the drawn elements to the shots. SETBACK – I had exported the shots in a compressed format, which caused pixilation in the frames, rather than redo the shots I had already edited, I masked the character and layered her on top of the uncompressed footage to eliminate the pixilation in the background as well as maintain the work I had already completed. Began drawing the slow motion section in order to fit it to the music and rest of the film, this would later be developed but used this time to establish the action.

 Week Ten – 28th November 2016

Practice of hand drawing the jump sequence of the dog to exercise the movement, anticipation and increment spacing as well as the impact as he hits the ground in preparation for the animation of the dog. Editing continues of the stop motion character, completed the first six shots by midweek.

Week Eleven – 5th December 2016 Completion of edited stop motion character, moving onto the hand drawn character, establishing him in each of the shots in order to begin the outline of him.  First hand videos of my dog moving the way the dog does in the film in order to examine the transitions and actions and portray them properly in the film. Constantly importing the shots into an after effects project to maintain the timing of the animation to the music.

Week Twelve – 12th December 2016 Continuation of drawing the dog character, adding colour and shadow to cement him in the shots. Development of the slow motion sequence, attempting to exaggerate the silhouette more and improve the movement. End of the week sees the completion of the dog character.  Beginning to add the translucent lines to the character to give him a dream like sense.

CHRISTMAS BREAK Continuation of the slow motion development, trying to perfect the movement and posing in order to discuss what can be changed and improved once back at university.

WEEK THIRTEEN – 9th January 2017 Completion of the translucent lines on the dog. Discussion with Helen about the slow motion sequence, understanding that the posing can still be exaggerated and would have to be slowed down more in order to get a real sense of the slow motion. Completion of the final take by Tuesday, translucent lines added to combine the idea of these two characters as she jumps through the air.  Film completed Tuesday afternoon. Progression reel of all development work throughout the process completed by Wednesday.

 Evaluation

With my personal showcase, I feel as though I have developed a various collection of skills and progressed heavily in my practice.  The first new element I came across was the construction of the puppet; I used a method I have never experienced before by pouring polyurethane flexible foam into a mould so the armature would have a smooth and professional finish to it.  By doing this in the 3D workshop, I had the right guidance and learnt many new processes, so the next time I want to construct an armature I will have the basic knowledge to develop and create impressive characters.

This project also saw me animate a four legged animal for the first time, which at first I found quite daunting, however once I had collected my first hand reference videos and practiced various elements of the character’s movements, I was much more comfortable with the animating and very happy with the final outcome.

The combination of stop motion and hand drawn animation was something that I always wanted to practice in this unit, and in the beginning was rather concerned as to how it would turn out. However I feel as though they complement each other greatly in the final film, the drawn elements on the stop motion character I feel unite the two so it is not just two characters in separate mediums.  The element I would want to correct would be that I sometimes have a problem with drawing consistently, especially in the slow motion sequence, however, for my first attempt at a shot like this, I was very pleased with the outcome, and this is something I would like to improve on in the future.  

In conclusion, I am incredibly happy with the outcome of the film and feel as though it demonstrates the ability to animate in various mediums and create a meaningful narrative. Not only this, but the project saw me explore a lot of new processes and challenges, improving on things I have learnt at university over the past years, such as masking in After Effects and drawing in TV Paint.  Personally, I felt as though I gained more knowledge and understanding of all aspects of a production, and worked to the best of my ability to create a meaningful narrative with unique visuals that could excite and interest the audience.

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This is my completed personal showcase film. I am so happy with the way it turned out, I am really happy with the way the two mediums work in the shot together, I feel as though the colours complement each other well , and there is a true sense of various emotions as the narrative progresses, I worked hard to make sure the dog felt as though he had been in the shot from the very beginning, and hope that this is conveyed to the audience, all in all I feel very positive about my final outcome, I know I worked to the best of my ability throughout the process and also consistently at the same pace as well as keeping on top of my time management to make sure it was all completed in time.

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Final storyboard for my personal showcase. 

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One of my style frames for my final character designs to show the scale and colours of the characters.

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Photos taken from the filming day of the stop motion puppet, the second one shows the blocking process of the animation where i timed it to the animatic, I set the character on a paper background as I thought that this tied the idea of hybrid animation and hand drawn work together, the setting style and method of this production would all be connected. 

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Photos taken from the modelling process of my puppet, I used a flexible pouring polyurethane foam and poured it into a plaster cast with a wire armature  inside, the first image shows the first attempt of the pouring foam process, whilst the second image shows the first practice with the foam, that expands up to 5-6 times its size, I was able to build another armature and fit it into the mould and pour it again so this time the wire was completely covered with the foam, I was really happy with the finish of the foam, it was very easy to paint with coloured liquid latex afterwards as there were no pores evident. This is definitely a process I would want to use again, and this time I would have a much clearer knowledge of the process. 

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Progression and Collaboration for Animation Music. 

When it came to finding the right music for my animation, i struggled a lot to find something that fit my film properly.  I first came across the first version of music on bensound.co.uk and thought the tempo and light heartedness of the music fit really well, however I wanted something original. I was able to collaborate with a music producer, with whom I sent my animatic and the piece of music i found and asked for something similar, however fitted the journey of the film, which goes from sad to uplifted and then back down to sad again, I was really happy with what he sent back, and with this i was able to retime my animatic to the rhythm of the music, with this I then decided to create the slow motion part of my film, and sent it back to him asking to make this apparent in the music so it would fit the visual, he then sent me the final music heard on the film with a mellowed sound whilst the character is in the air, and I made sure the film hit the timing of the music properly, there was great communication with this process, as he understood what i wanted from the music and I was then able to time my animatic to the final music, we both developed our work by collaborating and making sure the final piece fits well and emphasises the visual. 

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This is the final shot of the slow motion sequence with the lines added to the character, I feel as though this works really well and ties the two character together through this component. 

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This is my final attempt at the slow motion section of my animation, and fortunately the one i am most happy with, I feel as though the timing fits better, as well as the pose being more exaggerated to really show the silhouette of the character, the problem i have however is maintaining consistency with my hand drawn work, as sometimes it can appear distorted, and this is something I want to practice more on however I feel as though this has developed from my first attempt at this shot, and that the drawings are the most consistent out of all four of my attempts, the next step to this will be drawing the whispy lines on her that the dog has, in order to represent the fact he has jumped through her and brought her into the air through his energy. 

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I was able to speak to Helen about the slow motion part of my film, which we both agreed needed to be slowed down even more to get the real sense of the movement, but also she advised that the posing could be slightly even more exaggerated, I thought this too, as the arms seemed a little stiff and there’s was no sense of line through the arms, so I went back tot he reference video of the dancer, and looked into what her arms were doing, from this I went back and reworked the posing, adapting from a dance into the leap and was able to get down my key poses fairly quickly, I am much happier with the highest pose of the leap, as it truly shows the silhouette of the character and will now allow a more fluid movement through the action. 

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I used this youtube video to observe the action of jumping through the air, in order to push the silhouette and movement of my character, even though my character is not a dancer, I was able to observe what this girl was doing and then adapt it to fit the action of my character in the film.

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Another first hand video of my dog giving me his paw, so I am able to determine the action for the dog character in my film, again in slow motion in order to track every moment.

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The final character sheet for Franklin the dog, displaying colours, design, and form from various angles. 

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The final character design sheet for the female character in my personal showcase, this also displays the two designs in stop motion and hand drawn animation, to outline the differences. 

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I used my own dog as first hand research for the movement of him standing up from a sit position as he is a similar build to my character. This allows me to look at the basic movements of the transition, having this in slow motion is incredibly useful as I am able to see all the elements that are happening at once. 

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This was a movement with the dog that I found quite hard to grasp, as when I first drew him, it looked as though he was sliding into position, and it did not look like an organic movement, so from first hand studies, I discovered that dogs get up with their front legs moving and their back ones anchoring them up, as when I first drew it, i did it the other way around, from researching this movement, it helped me create it in a much more realistic movement. 

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These shots are the ones I have completed with the whispy dream like lines on the dog, and I feel as though they work quite well, they bring another element to the character, emphasising this idea that he isn’t real and exists now only in her memories.