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My "final" animatic for May's submission. I've put a lot of work into this and I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome- for a work in progress, anyway. I definitely want to keep working on it, but the end conversation scene was what I was struggling with and I feel that I've taken it head on and won.

The opening is still a bit up in the air and might be subject to further change, but nothing bigger than what I've already done. I'm also trying to work in a title card somewhere and experimenting with that a bit. Throughout the next module I'd like to to continue redrawing the stick figures into actual characters and start placing some basic lip sync, similar to the clip of Exa introducing herself to Agatha. I'll be exporting this video as an mp3 file and putting that into TV Paint for more accurate timing. Working on this animatic has also helped me get better at drawing the characters faster while retaining accuracy. This approach is probably only one a student could really take but instead of doing a sketch sheet to get used to drawing the character, I've found that drawing storyboards supplements that for me, and also makes progress on the actual animatic. I can always go back and tidy up slightly off model frames, but it's a lot less work than it is to redraw them from stick figures. A two birds one stone situation. Either way, I've found a method that works for me and I'd like to continue honing that skill.

As for the conversation scene....

This is an actual visual comparison. Just comparing the two I feel pretty proud of my development, though there's always room for improvement. I'm still deciding which part of the animatic I want to try and finish animating, and I'm torn between this scene (more difficult, but showcases each character and their personality), and the opening (less difficult but only shows Lila briefly and Aluben not at all). Either way, it's this level of development in the animatic that I will be using as a guide for the rest of it- and then some.

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Further development of the character bible/reference sheets. I think for now I'll leave it as this because I think this is a good start. The trio shows the more visual references, while the Caretaker and Manager are more about the actual personality, the character of the, well, character.

I'm a bit torn with how to color the Caretaker's dress. I like the simple look but she is meant to be something of a goddess of creation, so I'm not sure whether or not I should add elements of life (grass, water, stars, etc...) to her.

I'm well aware that the composition of the trio's visual references needs work, this is meant to be more of a foundation for later development. In the next module I'll do some good research into character bibles and reference sheets used within the industry.

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Sketches and some info as I start drafting up some character bible sheets. It's been awhile since I drew either of these characters but I like this direction. The Caretaker's design continues to elude me, this time I'm going with a cloud motif rather than a fern/plant theme. I like this one more, but if I can somehow incorporate ferns into the design later that would be excellent.

A start with Lila's as well:

I have some experience with creating character bibles/references, so I'm using these old ones of mine as a template until I get a better feel for how the Blot characters' should be

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Some boards from today that I feel are particularly nice, framing wise. This is also to show that I'm working on the end conversation scene and updating it to be more sophisticated and polished.

Aluben's expression is almost comical here so I might make it a bit less pouty and more serious

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I think I've figured out the bow movement... This is it in key frame motion. Overall I'm pleased, and it feels natural with the swing movement she does with her legs before and after changing position.

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In one scene, Agatha bows...while upside down. This has been a headache to figure out, and it's not an easy thing to find (or make) a reference for, so I've resorted to drawing a bunch of poses until something feels right. This is a fantasy world so Agatha can do things with her body that the average person wouldn't be able to, but I would like to retain a sense of balance in poses. For this reason, while I like the leg placement in the very last photo, the pose needs to be redrawn because her arm is too far to the right. Even with amazing abs she would just fall over.

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May 4 - tutorial with Matt

remove aluben in the sky view angle

make camera pan/some sort of movement as the characters are walking away from lila and aluben

essay: review his comments, apply them. include research I've done

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As much as I love recording these with my partner, I decided to make a version where I voice everyone myself so the timing can be exactly as I imagine it. I'm in the middle of redrawing it to be a more polished animatic but I don't want to have to retime everything in post, so I'm hoping for this to be the final timing, even if the voices get rerecorded. Sort of like a voice actor having to match the speed of another dub. Otherwise I'll have to keep rearranging my scenes in TV Paint and it's a bit of a headache when I don't know what the timing needs to be.

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Composition study: Analyzing 2 minutes of footage from Gravity Falls

Rather than copy and paste the images here (Tumblr has a limit of 10 images per post), I made a google doc. Within this document I analyze the camera shots that happen, and why they might have been chosen, within 2 minutes of this episode.

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While adding in more frames to the end conversation scene, I made a small mistake but I do feel it worth mentioning.

In the sequence, Agatha is looking at Aluben while Lila and Exa talk...

Then- oh! She remembers something...

And then turns around to interrupt Exa to ask Lila about the lake juice.

There's a nice silhouette for Agatha, but while I was drawing it I didn't keep their placement in mind. The characters are placed in a triangular manner (as hopefully evident by the grid), so Agatha would have to turn around somewhat to directly face Lila. From a top view, this is what the first drawing would indicate:

As the diagram shows, Agatha is facing the side rather than at Lila. It almost looks like she's having a conversation with someone off screen and Lila is eavesdropping. This, however...

is the proper placement. Agatha is facing Lila, and Lila is returning her attention. In order to face Lila, Agatha's twisted her bod around around (doing weird contortions casually is in her character and is more visually interesting I think, so this works out)

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I'm reworking the conversation scene at the end and I'm looking at the staging of this shot in particular...

I was a bit conflicted on how close I wanted the group on the left to be to Aluben in the foreground, so I tried placing them with a tiny bit of overlap and one with a good amount of space between their silhouettes.

Above is the spaced out one, below is the slight overlap version.

I did a quick test with actual blacked out silhouettes and quickly found my answer. Not only does the second one feel a bit too cramped but it leaves too much empty space on the left. Also, symbolically, it's fitting to have Aluben distanced from the group as her personality and behavior, and character in general, feels very different from the other right-side/erenes natives. She's also a rather lonely character, and has trouble getting along with other people. The staging but also the act of her walking away from the group (self-inflicted isolation) is fitting and hopefully sends subtle messages to the audience.

When I put a rule of thirds overlay on it...

The spacing works but feels slightly off. I tried a version where the rule of thirds overlay is more on point to their locations...

And it does feel a bit more cinematic. I cropped the original frame without the black out...

It works but I'm not sure if it's better or not. I might move the group on the left a bit further back so they're smaller, but this feels like it's starting to get into more nitty gritty/nitpicking territory, so I think I want to hold off on looking more onto this until I've added more frames (movement) to the overall thing. Thankfully, cropping is very easy to do with the camera tool I'm using for my animatic.

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Tutorial notes with Matthew

produce rough draft of the report for matthew

document my research and what I'm finding, it'll help my mark

right now just need to do some practical work to get to a place where I can do more reflection and analysis

I've been watching gravity falls, king of the kill, to study composition, write up these studies so I get credit for that sort of additional research/studies

ROUGH DRAFT!!!!!

the essay can focus more on my research and the feedback I've gotten rather than employability. specifically composition and framing and what progress I've made on my storyboard. research should benefit practical work

CV stuff is more of a bonus/additional thing to do

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Re: project proposal...

After getting feedback from Sabrina and getting a better understanding of what I should do and what I want, I've reworked my final goal for this year. I explained it to Gerald after a group tutorial, and it seems my verbal project proposal sounds fine, now I just need to write it all down and send it to Gerald

notes from discussion:

look at director's work, comment on that

i have been doing that but comment about it on my blog, show how I've been developing

more sophisticated, he doesnt use that word often

working on realizing and understanding what i thought i was trying to go for, then understanding what i actually want, and changing direction

put my analysis I'm doing for my scene studies and looking at shots for reference and industry level quality

director = analytical + creative/inventive

show patience with myself

also, choose my battles- want to challenge myself with camera angles and shot composition, not backgrounds, so backgrounds won't be the focus (explanation for why they wont be as sophisticated or not done by me etc)

––––

This is what I've come up with and sent to Gerald for approval:

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A work in progress for the confrontation scene. I've redrawn parts of it using Sabrina's feedback. I'm trying to vary the shots while cleaning other areas. There's no audio here yet, but the framing and composition is what I'm focusing on right now so that's alright. At the end I changed the script so that when Exa claims Agatha said there was someone who could help her, Agatha "whispers" that Aluben is who she meant, and Exa responds in disbelief.

This frame in particular I'm pretty proud of:

(left is original rough drawing, right is the redrawn/potentially final frame)

I'm using it as a sort of "style frame" for how I want the whole animatic to look

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Since the whole "going to studios and trying to get experience" part of the professional practice module isn't hugely possible this year, I posted on social media about character sketch commissions and actually received a few. It was helpful to draw characters outside of my usual style, and also to bulk out my portfolio/"things I've drawn lately" collection. While I don't have much professional experience, I can at least say that I do have some experience with freelancing.

Doing these and having the freedom to make up my own schedule for the most part, I realized that I might be more comfortable with freelancing than I previously thought. I don't think I'd want to do it my entire life, but I feel less intimidated about doing it early in my career before I can secure a long term studio position.

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I've started redrawing the confrontation scene in the middle of the animatic so I can get an idea of how the characters actually look in the shot, rather than stick figures. I like this composition, the only thing is it might be a bit difficult for the viewer to know who they're supposed to be looking at, because there's overlapping movement between the two characters. Once I redraw more of this scene I'll get a better idea of how I want to pace it.

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CV

As part of "getting my ducks in a row" as my disability advisor puts it (basically just preparing my employability for when I graduate), I reworked my CV, using my partner's as a reference. I wanted to do this for my professional practice module as well.

I try to emphasize my non-employment experience because while I haven't had many paid positions, it's not that I've been sitting twiddling my thumbs for the last five years either. My disability advisor thought it all looked good, and recommended I find some CVs of people in the field I want to enter to compare.

Next I'd like to try a cover letter.