mi6021-frankieharrison

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

My PDF for submission

Final Thoughts

I feel like i have set myself up really well to go forward with the project, i know exactly what i need to do and how i am going to do it and looking at the concepts i know i am going to love the outcome. I feel like i have come out of my shell abit too when it comes to contacting people to get interviews and to get into the midst of the celebration. Everyone has been so lovely and helpful aswell and i know that when im able to share the final project to the village theyll love it. At the beginning of the module i wasnt sure which idea i wanted to go with and i couldnt find the joy in this specific idea really easily because i hadnt researched into how unique and special this celebration is to my village. I am really happy i chose this direction now and i cant wait to see how it goes.

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Procreate Concept Sketches

Here i have taken some still images from my live footage and sketched over the top of them in procreate just to get abit of a feel of the process and the colours, i think because the colours throughout the night are pretty much the same (apart from the swicth from cold colours to warm colours) just extracting the colour palette from the actual shot will work out quite nicely. I really like how these turned out and to be honest the process is quite easy and the style is effective. Theres alot more brush choice in procreate than there is in toon boom however i noticed that the toon boom brushes behaved less like actual paint medium but the brushes in procreate acted much more like actual paint. When i started thinking about how i would get to the style i wanted to i thought of using the painterly type brushes to my advantage however now i have tried out both i must say the brush in procreate was easier and more effective to use, if you compare the fire in the sketch with the fire in the toon boom animation test i like the test much more, i feel like it feels more like how the fire looks.

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Production Plan - What do I have to do now?

I wanted to make a list of the things that i will need to do after submission, starting the production process. Because my chosen animation style is frame by frame drawn animation i know what i will need as much time as possible to get as much animation done as i can within the time frame. Deciding not to animate backgrounds unless i really need to is a big time saver. If i was to animate everything in the scene it would take far too long and it might even look too busy

Audio Finalisation When it comes to the editing of the entire animation i know that i will need to go in and add some effects to the audio interviews just to make sure they all sound similar and get rid of any echos and inconsistencies.

Transitions between each clip Using Em cooper as inspiration, I want each clip to flow nicely into the other, as if the fire is moving from scene to scene.

Starting the actual animation With toon boom i need to save locally and i will constantly need to back up all my stuff because toon boom likes to crash all the time, from experience in my internship it took me about 4 months to do 2 mins of solid coloured character animation. so i know what i want to do is very possible i just need to manage my time effectively. and the animation style i am going for seems like it will be alot more flexible and faster to do.

Final Editing and putting it all together once ive animated everything i will put it all together and then go through and make sure the audio is all good and exactly how i want it

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Toon Boom Animation Test

Here is a rotoscoping test done in toon boom using some of the footage i got on new years eve. I left the audio in for effect just to show what it would possibly be like. This 4 seconds took about 3 hours in total to do, but that is after not using toon boom for a number of months and then taking colours for the colour palettes from the original video and then going in. i also spent some time looking for any brushes i could find and download for toon boom but i found out that because they are textured vector brushes theyre are different to moth other drawing platforms and the easiest way i would get around this would be making my own brushes in procreate, which i cannot be bothered to do.

For the submission i need to make a an animatic type video with the audio i have compiled together so i am working on that aswell. I just wanted to hop into toon boom just to make sure my entire plan wouldnt be wasted.

I feel like this style will be very effective and using a black background works well because then i only paint on the parts where the light touches in the video, This is inspired by the painted on film technique that i included insome of the inspiration videos included in previous posts. I didint leave the live footage in the background of this because it takes away from the emerging of the man into the frame. I think i want to take some inspiration from Em Cooper in the way my videos get blended together the the possible use of using some of the live footage in it aswell. I plan to do another animation test where i intend to keep the live footage in it in the style of Cooper but also to see what straight up 'painted on film' type effect.

The only problem i have with toon boom was the bush i was using was irritating me because when i wanted a smooth like it sort of looked like i had dragged a marker down the page and it went | | | || || if you know what i mean. i had already done a few frames by then so i didint want to go back and re do it all so i went with it and its not massively noticeable at the end.

timings wise, i know it took me 3 hours to do 4 seconds but i se tthe stage as 24fps and am animating on 3s, pretty much the same as how i did it during my internship, this means each frame i draw is exposed for 3 frames before moving onto the rest, This means i dont have to draw at 24fps and i can switch to every 2 frames during the faster movements, such as when the torch somes nearer the camera, i used the reference footage to help me decide when the next drawn frame would be so there wasnt too big of a gap inbetween them and the movement stayed looking fluid. in regards to the fire... I love it! i actually really like how it turned out and rotoscoping fire is definitely the way to go when it comes to makeing it look real. When it comes ot the actual animation i plan to use a few more colours on the costumes of any people i animate but as it goes i will have to just take colours from the scenes, and i dont mind how the camera movement looked in this test either but if the camera is more unsteady i may have to stablise it in after effects before going in and rotoscoping, overall i am very happy with this animation test and the outcome.

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Reference Video

Instead of an animatic i decided to make a reference video as my plan relied alot on what kind of footage i could get. This is also the very basic audio from my interviews!! all i have done to the audio so far is cut it up and put it in the place i would like it. All three of the audio files sound very different, i think this is because of the places i recorded them. I recorded one of them in the meeting room at the fire station and it was super echoey, i have watched a few tutorials on how to fix this but since this isnt my 100% solid audio yet becauase as i animate there might be slight changes with timing and what is being said when and i didint want to go through the effort of adding all the effects to blend them together and make them all sound the same until im sure of the timings and words.

There's a few parts in the video where it goes black or it seems like a shot goes on for too long, theres some parts that might change, such as when Jonny talks about getting butterflies in his stomach i feel like animating little fire butterflies might add to the portrayal of the feeling, same when it comes to them lighting up the barrels to begin with. The colour scheme in the beginning will be more focused on the costumes and much colder than it will be when the barrels and fire are lit. I think the contrast between the warm oranges and the cold blues and whites will look quite good . I want to kind of add that anticipation at the beginning, like in the audio, the excitement and nervousness. I am really excited to get started on this project, thinking about my animation test and how the conept sketches look i think this will be beautiful and i cannot wait!!!

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Trying to fit my audios into 2 minutes

Ive done alot of cutting up in the multitrack and moving bits around and stuff to try and fit things into 2 mins. When i was doing the interviews i was aware that alot of it wouldnt be able to be included, i want to include context, so the viewers know what the tar bar'ls are but then i kind of want to show how it feels to carry a bar'l, and the meaning behind it. i feel like picking out the best bits and then going back through that to narrow it down further will work better for me, and i dont want the audio to be all the way through the background of my animation either because it might distract from the visuals too much. i might have to just give it a go and get as much in there as possible because then when i put it together with the footage and animation tests it will be alot easier to know what to include. the main thing i wanna do throughout my animation is show how exciting and amazing it is to be part of such a celebration and the meaning it has to the guisers who take part. Im not too too bothered about the history of it as it has been done many times before. i want to show through my visuals how it feels to be part of the allendale Tar Bar'ls especially after being so up close and personal while getting my footage i feel the urge to protray this more. I said in an eariler blog post that i was finding the joy while interviewing about the bar'ls but watching it and seeing what i could portray is just making it feel even better and i am so excited to start on this!!!!

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Editing the Audio Interviews

using adobe audition to edit the audios of my interviews, im cutting out any parts where im asking questions or any parts that wouldnt be included such as random noises and pauses in the audio, and then im wanting to go through and clean up the audio abit, because of where it was recorded theres a slight echo on one of them and in another it caught some clothes rubbing together. Once i had these edited down to the bare bones of what i need i can start putting them into the 2ish mins i need for my animatic. my animatic will probably consist of the live videos and maybe the animation tests too.

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

More Style Inspiration

This is a showreel from Em Cooper. I came across Cooper while looking into different styles of paint on film animation. Her style is so captivating and it flows in a beautiful way, i definitely want to use her work as a point of inspiration in my animation for this project. She combines oil paint and live footage in her work, very close to what i am wanting to do with my animation.

The way the uses alot of black backgrounds gives me many ideas that i could use for my animation now that i have taken the videos. I feel like the use of colour is beautiful too, i really want to include colour in my piece as theres some traditional costumes i managed to get footage of.

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Recording The Tar Bar'ls

Heres a comp of some of the footage I got during the festival, i didnt want to include all of it because in total i think it was about 20 mins of footage

i feel like i have a good start and a wealth of video i can use for rotoscoping or painting over film type of style. My next step would be some animation tests using the footage, in toon boom i would do a few experiments seeing how it looks rotoscoping and trying out the painted on film look. i Also feel like i need to make an animatic with the edited audio to get the right timings and stuff, i feel like the audio i got from these videos will prove useful. I used a fujifilm camera with a rode mic attached on top to get some good audio.

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Reaching out to locals in the village

I decided to put a facebook post on the village facebook page to get some more engagement and see who else would be really good to talk to, i got alot of suggestions and everyone was very helpful...

There were a few mentions of some people who are no longer with us and how it would be lovely to include them if possible. I thought this was a good idea too but i wasn't too sure how i would do this, until i emailed John Collie, he is heavily involved in the running of th tar bar'ls at present and mentioned that he may have some old vido footage of the people the locals suggested i included, since i am looking at alot of styles of paint over film i am really excited to have the oppotunity to include of this footage, even if its not for a long portion of it it would be nice to attempt to include it.

More people suggested others that would be interested to interview with me. I have two more interviews coming up and maybe even one from my friend in canada who carried his last year for his dad. His dad was a massive personality in the village and was invloved in alot of the events that went on around the area, including the pantomime i have been involved with for the past 10 years.. I would love to hear some of his dads stories and the feelings behind his first time carrying, especially because me and my friends were all there watching him take his first walk.

i have a feeling i will have to change my questions slightly, add some or maybe take some away just to get the type of content i want from my friend, and any other people that i interview. Will's interview was great and i loved the way he asnwered the questions but i have a feeling i need a little more about specific things such as the only woman who carried a tar bar'l and the people that the locals would like for me to include.

I feel like i am very much in producer mode and have taken abit of a break from the planning part of this just to get the content i need to start planning. Theres still a plan to gather video footage from new years eve, i might even try to pull some strings and see if i can get in with the marshalls, we will have to see though as that is quite unlikely. I am really enjoying where this project is going tho.

I have 2 more interviews booked in now thanks to reaching out for this project, everyone has been so helpful and ive gathered a good amount of resources i can use

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

First Interview Done!

I did my first interview with a Will Stonehouse, who took on his barrel from his Dad.

My friend Calum helped me out with this one as i hadn't used a ZoomH5 recorder before, We set it up in a way where it would record through the directional mic and it would also record from the recorder itself and then also a backup of that one at a slightly lower volume. I have reviewed all of these recordings and i am quite happy with them, we chose a quiet place so there isnt much interference, and it was pretty easy to do and didnt take too too long either.

i plan to edit the audio in Adobe Audition just to take out any breaks and the places where i ask the questions and then i will have a clean audio for editing further once i have the other interviews to piece together.

I asked Will to sign an audio release form, just to make sure he was aware of how his audio will be used and that i have permission to use them, i have all of his contact details separate as i knew him before asking him to interview.

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Animated Documentary Example

Heres a little documentary that i found while looking for some examples to use in my work. I love how it focused on hands, and how they looked and felt, the way it made her feel "warm"

i feel like focusing on a specific feeling or maybe bringing to life the feeling that some of the guisers felt while parading around the village will give my animation more interest rather than just focusing on the history of the village.

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

My Experience - Plunge

During summer i did an internship with Ellie Land, working on her upcoming animated documentary 'Plunge"

This was very beneficial to me as it taught be a new programme (ToonBoom) and i learned alot about the production process. I definitely think that i will be applying alot of the things to my final project that i learned throughout my internship. It was so amazing to work on a project based on a topic i am very passionate about which is always a bonus!!

During the internship i was able to develop my skills not only in toon boom but also in organisation, naming conventions and all around communication, uploading dailies and responding to feedback all while chiming in on any other work when asked to. Ellie was so great to work for and the whole team made me so comfortable and welcome, i cannot wait for the documentary to be complete.

i worked in toon boom cleaning up the initial animation and colouring once cleanup had been finished, i really enjoyed the whole process, i also learned how to export through toon boom and use nodes and node based compositing, similar to what i learned in nuke last year.

the personal aspect of this documentary was what has inspired me to do something similar in my final project, I loved being able to visually show how wild swimming felt and the emotion behind the personal story being told. I want to bring some of these aspects into my final project, to be able to show the experiences of the people of my village and how they felt and how the celebration makes the village feel as a whole.

I am so grateful i was given the opportunity to work on something as amazing as plunge and to work beside some amazing artists and animators.

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Little Drawn Fire tests

Testing out different ways of animating a flame. These were just little drawn tests i did just following some tutorials on youtube, alot of tutorials said that rotoscoping fire is usually the best way to go about these things however i dont want to just rotoscope the fire, i would like to form shapes and tella story with it. practicing these definitely helps though as alot of the vdeos go into detail about how fire moves and the shapes within them

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Style Inspiration

Alot of my blog posts lately are just words, i wanted to take a quick break from oragnising, writing and planning and just look into some styles of how i would like my animation to look.

Chloe sent me a few animations for inspiration and that are examples of ways i could using compositing in this project. I love the painterly styles of paint over film and i feel like this would go really well with some of the footage im planning to gather. I also really like the style of fire in the intro to Pillars of the Earth, i really feel inspired to add texture and visual interest in my work, alot of it will be based on the interviews and what kinds of visuals will go with. I plan to have abour 2 mins of interview material stitched together with appropriate breathers and accompanying audio.

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Interviews

Talking to Chloe in my tutorial today has helped me lay out a few things i will need to do.

I need to start organising the interviews, i already have a few people in mind and there was talk about sending out a little survey for people of my village to fill out so i can ask a wider audience about what they think the origins of the tar barrels are, and then maybe have an option to email me if they have more they'd like to talk about or if they'd like to be interviewed.

I am aware that only men (and i have heard, only one woman) have been guisers before so i might include that into my questions, i plan to gather and contact a few people and organise the interviews of anyone else who has been or still is a guiser.

I am looking forward to starting interviews but i need to get the audio equipment sorted out first, I will get into contact with the trc for that or i will ask my friend who does audio recording for the panto group if his set up would work for what i am trying to get.

I feel like once i have my interviews i will be able to start thinking about what is going to happen in my animation, but in between interviews and audio editing i will do some experiments with rotoscoping and trapcode to get a good feel of what i want the fire to look like, Some compositing tests will be very useful too.

[mi6021-frankieharrison]

Questions For My Interviews

I have been looking around at different short animated documentaries ot get an idea about how i would include the audio.

Im not sure if i want to focus on one persons story or if i want to include multiple because im not sure how the animations will go along side that.

I need to have a closing question that would fit nicely at the end of the animation.

I need to communicate with the person i am interviewing to try and get them to say my question within the answer they will give me.

Some questions i might ask:

What does the allendale tar barrels consist of? What is it?

How long have your family lived around Allendale?

Did you visit the tar barrels as a child?

Why do you carry your Tar barrel?

Do you know how many generations your family has been involved in the tar barrels?

What was your first time being a guiser like? Can you remember the weather? The Smell of the air? Anything that had happened during the year?

What is the story behind your costume? Has your costume been passed down through generations?

What do the celebrations mean to you? or to your family?

What is your take on the origins of this celebration?

What is the most difficult part of being a guiser?

Do you think this tradition will remain into the far future?

Thinking about how the person would answer these questions sort of helps with coming up with the questions. i have to guide them to say what i would like in my animation, what i would like the show, i want to be able to give the viewer the sense of the culture of my area but also the beauty and excitement that comes along with it, which is what i have grown up with my entire life.