guyhobbsart

[guyhobbsart]

Week 26 : Fmp

Im writing this looking at my folder all ready to go. a rather emotional week as it was filled with a lot of lasts, last scene and frame render, last sound effects, last render and page of the progress book. but now even more so the last blog ill write for this project.

the week progressed the same as last. colouring and fixing scenes, inputting them into the scenes and rinse and repeat. i am happy to report i completed everything i needed to and am even happier with what i managed to create. with the ideas i have i always managed to make it much more complicated for myself and have to compromise somewhere and come out with something im not entirely happy with. it feels fitting that the last thing i make, bringing together everything ive learned, is the thing to break that cycle.

the 5th act had the biggest changes, with 3 scenes either tweaked or mostly changed but i echo the statement from before when i said i think it is absolutely one of, if not the, strongest scene visually.

for the final time, heres what i completed for the week!

[guyhobbsart]

Week 25 : Fmp

after the crit it was time to lock in and get the film and everything around it done. i romped on with the colouring and rendering the scenes, getting all the way up to the end of act 4. i also make strides with the production book, looking like its going to be around 36 pages which is a whole lot... i also did some small touch ups along the way to scenes i wasnt very happy with but overall am happy with the progress im making, am very stressed and hope ill get it done but im sure i will.

The colour and filter layers in TV Paint have absolutely been the mvp this project, itcollectively have saved me weeks and weeks of work and allowed my ambitious plan to come to fruition. final stretch as i go into the last week.

[guyhobbsart]

Week 24 : Fmp

The most amazing process has been discovered this week!!!!!!!

due to my backgrounds being 3d, i would have to do some form of compositing in after effects to make the colours match the lighting of the scene, alongside somehow hand drawing the shadows in to give them weight in the area. Well, what if i told you i figured a way out to put my animations IN the scene itself? this means they are also affected by the same lighting as the backgrounds and project shadows onto the plane!! all i have to do is export my individual frames as .tiff files and import them on an image plane as an image sequance. a small bit of hypershade fiddling later and its done!! this will save me so much time in the long run.

as for the less interesting stuff, a few scenes fell through the cracks over the weeks so i cleaned them up with lineart and moved onto making the last scene, which i got lined and trimmed, alongside using the previously mentioned process to render out the scenes i have coloured. I also took this oppourtunity to change the lighting of the backgrounds into something a bit more impactful which i really like. the last scene wasnt very long at all so allowed me to get it done relatively quickly which is amazing and let me prep for the last crit.

as for the crit, some of my amazing friends helped me out and provided voices for me to use which i am very grateful for and think they did amazing. the film went from 5:20 to 3:15 WITH CREDITS which is an insane change and one im very happy with. it was played and i got some very positive responses which made me feel so much better about the rest of the 2 weeks left to get this done.

[guyhobbsart]

Week 23 : Fmp

only 1 more week before we reach the last week and last crit. im determined to have all the cleanups in by them as well as some coloured segments in the background. I moved onto act 5 and tackled the most complicated shot in the film, the tricycle. making my own model for it last year helped so much with scaling, and after cleaning up the rough i had something i was very proud of (and couldnt imagine making in first year). I am not entirely happy with the clip of the youngest throwing the lightbulb so will probably go back and remake this at a later date. the act feels so much more actiony now that the scenes are shorter and i feel a lot more positive about this act and is quickly becoming one of the strongest.

[guyhobbsart]

Week 22 : Fmp

Week 10 begins and i approach the dreaded act, the one i know will take me the longest. sadly i was not able to colour this one at all yet but I did manage to line it all, although it was a very tight squeeze and lots of work.

I found it difficult due to many scenes featuring more than one character, especially the first, but i figured out a hack! i animated the characters on screen on 6s but staggered the frame positions so someone moves every 2 frames. this made it look like there was more movement happening then there was which saved time immensely. Like a broken record, i trimmed nearly every scene down to improve the flow and snappiness of the short, this definitely give it a stronger direction and lets the jokes land better in my opinion.

[guyhobbsart]

Week 21 : Fmp

Onto week 9 and it was time to tackle a larger act. This one took me right through the week to the sunday night to get done but happily i was able to line it out which was amazing and much more than i wouldve thought i could do as the time went on. I had a lot of fun making this, especially the scene of the character flying away, i enjoy making silly stuff like that.

as was the last 2 acts, this has been trimmed down quite a bit and flows much better now, for some reason most of my scenes dragged for an extra second or so both sides which is crazy, i really do wonder how long it will be when putting it together for the next crit.

No major problems this week but the workload was certainly something.

[guyhobbsart]

Week 20 : Fmp

Week 8 of term and I moved onto cleanup for act 2. As i already had the run coloured and exported, this scene, much like last week, didnt need that much work. I was able to get it both cleaned is a big bonus. I cant imagine im going to have this luck every week but i can do my best.

just like last week, this scene has been trimmed massively. I played around with cutting it entirely as i didnt think it was very necessary but upon reflection and after editing i do believe it is good to keep it in overall. I feel as though it flows much better now and 2/6 acts being coloured and lined with 6 weeks left is defo good progress.

[guyhobbsart]

Week 19 : Fmp

The first week where no roughs were needed! sadly this meant i have to move onto the cleanup phase. I have 8 weeks now (including easter) to clean up, colour and composite which is not a lot of time at all, but i am driven to get this done.

Naturally, i start from scene 1 and go from there. This was relatively quick as it was quite short so i had the time to colour this scene too! changes were made to the start and all scenes in this act were either cut entirely or trimmed to make them quicker and more snappier. I like this so much better than before and think it works much better now. I also have gained access to TV Paint Pro (where has this been all my life) and now colouring is no longer this daunting task that i was worried i wont get done thanks to the colour and texture layers!

[guyhobbsart]

Week 18 : Fmp

It was crit day but before that i managed to get the 6th and last act roughed in which was an amazing feeling. this sets me with half the term + easter to get the film and everything else finished which i believe is doable. This scene was quite small in comparison to the last 2 so i felt like i flew through this one, although i do think this one will benefit from the cleanups the most as i wasn't quite happy with the ending as i'd like to be.

As i flew though this one, i managed to have time to animate the map sections, which while difficult, i managed to get the grasp of quite quickly! i am very happy with these segments as i like how fun and bright they are and they add to the vibe i have going on, a huge improvement to the last map.

As for the crti, i made the mistake of staying up late enough to not have time to watch through the animatic i had managed to cobble together to review and fix timing problems. so when it came to showing it off it totaled over 5 minutes... this is a massive problem not only for the fact of getting it done but the film felt massively drawn out, which is the opposite of what im going for. But aside from that they liked the designs, story and animation which was very nice and reassuring to hear, just defo needs to be trimmed...

[guyhobbsart]

Week 17 : Fmp

Wouldn't you know it, week 5 of this term has me roughing out act 5 of my short. Honestly im surprised that I am able to keep up with this ambitious schedule. I usually find myself setting overly ambitious and unreachable goals so its nice to feel like im making big strides with this work.

While short i found this act quite difficult due to the positioning of certain objects and characters, namely the policeman of the tricycle. It was hard to find a balance between exaggerated movements and readable actions but i did enjoy the challenge and feel as though it looks quite funny. I also enjoyed the 3 main characters taking a bit of a backseat scene wise as it was getting a bit monotonous drawing them so much so it was a nice change of pace.

I also completely forgot about the intermission map sections in the short. I started the week by mocking up some icons to make a 2d pirate-like map but after discussing with lecturers we realized it doesn't fit at all (with hindsight what was i thinking). so over the weekend i managed to fit in enough time to mock up this model to use and hopefully animate.

[guyhobbsart]

Week 16 : Fmp

following the trend of previous weeks the 4th week of this term was spent roughing out the 4th act of my scene. I thought the last scene was long.. this act blows that out of the water. there was a lot more focus on this act and a lot more expressions at different angles and ambitious compositing that if executed well could turn out to look fun, but was a nightmare to rough out. I sadly wasn't able to use the technical test from last term due to small timing and design changes, which would've saved me a lot of time. But overall this act may turn out to be one of my faves, I love the joke of the puppet being dead when they leave it and the inspector was and still is my fave to draw. While testing, this week has made me appreciate all the work i put in over the winter break as the backgrounds game me a solid foundation to aid compositing and speed up my workflow.

[guyhobbsart]

Week 15 : Fmp

As it is week 3 its only right i move onto act 3. while im grateful I can reuse the run from the last act, this act is absolutely going to be more difficult as it has a lot more moving parts and cuts, although each cut is relatively small in comparison. There were some difficult poses and actions in these roughs that i will have to revisit when its time to do clean ups, namely the face palm, but i am happy with this weeks progress. One change I did have to make is swapping out the digger for a wreckingball. I could not get the action to look right with the claw as its motion would clip through the floor, so decided using the swing of a wrecking ball could be a good alternative. with the more scenes being added i am dreading colouring...

[guyhobbsart]

Week 14 : Fmp

I continued on with the roughing this week. My plan is to have all 6 acts roughed out by our week six mini crit so i have a clear story to show. Its ambitious but i do believe i can do it.

I felt as though roughing the scenes out act by act would be an easier approach than ordering them by difficulty. this way I would be able to make sure no scenes fall behind the cracks or avoid any scenes that i get stuck on.

This act is one of the shortest, composing of only 4 cuts, so i was able to get this done relatively quickly. This meant i had enough time to get one of the reusable segments (the characters running) coloured to show a more detailed showing in the crit.

Overall I am happy with the progress i have been making, however I do feel as though the colours are a bit unbalanced. I will have to think of a way to balance these out and make them look more integrated with the background.

[guyhobbsart]

Week 13.5 : Fmp

First week back in class and production has started on the film. I made a proper schedule to be used throughout the term to really stay on top of what i have to do. A second version was made with even more detail and with that it was time to start animating.

For now the next thing i had to do was translate my storyboards into keyframe animation on renders of the backgrounds. This allows me to tinker with the scale, placement and composition before i commit to anything. I found this quite difficult due to finding a balance between the background and finding a way to make the layering work but i believe as the weeks go on ill pick up more and more steam as i go.

[guyhobbsart]

Week 13 : Fmp

ive been very busy in the time between terms. my aim was to have all my backgrounds made so i can crack on with animating. i knew i would want a more plasticy look to compliment the cartoony look the characters have due to my investigation last term with the field environment.

The list of backgrounds i needed was:

bedroom, field, train ext, train int, train station, path, school and office.

with needing these all done in a short amount of time i was unable to go through designing each with layouts and whatnot so i fell upon my storyboards for their looks and function which was very helpful. the toy-like appearance of the backgrounds also made it easier to make and allowed me to get it done in the time frame.

i personally believe the train gave me the most trouble as it needed to be scaled properly on the inside and outside, alongside keeping the inside realistic while also being interesting. i do believe i did this well and am happy with the scene i was able to make.

the one i like the most, however, is the office. i enjoyed making and decorating the desk and making it look plastic and round. i believe its very effective at looking dark, messy and intimidating but also being fun and soft.

due to the time restraint i was unable to make the environments as detail heavy and elaborate as i wanted so if i could change anything id love to be able to go back and have more time to improve the texturing and detail.

overall i am happy with the backgrounds and believe they can really fit in with the characters and make a cohesive look all together when shadows are added in. later on i will go back and adjust the lighting as i believe the sky boxes are a bit limiting shadows wise, but thats a problem for another time.

[guyhobbsart]

Week 11: Fri - Fmp

this week i had to start and finish my storyboard, this was very time consuming but the pre production with the script writing and scene outlines allowed me a lot less time thinking and allowed me to just get straight into it. i very much struggled to overcome the rough nature of the boards as i wanted to flesh everything out but in the end found it enjoyable. sadly, i underestimated the level of detail i needed for the storyboard and will have to go back and add a WHOLE lot more. this includes reactions and cuts and some establishing shots. although this will allow me to make them look better and be more detailed so thats a silver lining.

[guyhobbsart]

Week 12: Fri - Fmp

today was the last lecture of term and also the alpha crit day. i was very nervous but managed to get everything done in time to present it! in this i presented my animatic, character designs, concept art and a technical test to the lecturers. they really enjoyed the animatic and said the lighthearted approach was refreshing, although it needs to be trimmed massively, going well over the suggested time. they complimented the writing and gave me some useful points of improvement. these included making the end much simpler and keeping the animation to one plane to not confuse myself which i whole heartedly agree with. i am also now much happier with the storyboard/animatic. i added more detail both in the characters and the backgrounds, allowing for a clearer and more defined movements. it was a good idea to start again as this version was liked a lot more. i unfortunately fell ill towards the end so the quality drops slightly but overall i am happy with what i have made and cantt wait to start on it next term.