#aardman animat

[chaotic-chicken-lady]

WITH THE CURSED POWER OF AI I have put together this monstrosity.

I made this ages ago but completely forgot to post it here OOPSIE DAISIE

This is Melisha's song. Forever and always.

🪓🐔

[shiaawtheharmless]

so while i was animating, i fell into the conclusion that the animation was too stiff and lacked life (in my standards) so i literally scrapped the whole animation and i started to do it again from zero and making it way better (which indeed its starting to look better) so rn ig ill share you the scrapped version that only lasts like 10 seconds and took me 2 weeks to do (or less idk)

watch the full animatic here

sam and max married

[udo0stories]

The Glasgow Film Festival's Industry Focus has revealed its complete program. This five-day event gathers professionals from the Film and TV sectors, both locally and globally, for a comprehensive schedule of panel talks, workshops, screenings, and networking opportunities. The program emphasizes the involvement of female-identifying talent in all areas of the industry.   GFF Industry Focus highlights a range of topics geared towards all levels and sectors of the industry – from individuals seeking pathways into the industry to established professionals – with a program that provides a platform for professional development and a meeting place to help connect creatives with business delegates. The industry program will conclude on 7 March when the festival team and Industry Advisory Board will launch their 10-Year Vision for Glasgow Film Festival’s Industry Focus. They will lay out their ambitious plans for talent development and the future of the industry program. Young adults aged 15-25 interested in film careers can explore the BFI Film Academy: Behind the Scenes. This program, co-curated by GFF Young Ambassadors, offers industry events tailored for youth. Key highlights of the Industry Focus include: The Animatic Live Pitch: Participants present their projects to animation executives like Netflix's Lauren Castro and Julio Bonet and Aardman's Helen Argo for a chance to win £5000 in development funding. Filmmaking with Kevin Macdonald: Glasgow's own Kevin Macdonald discusses his career and latest works. NextGen: A discussion with emerging British filmmakers Lucy Cohen, Adura Onashile, and Charlotte Regan, along with industry professionals like Mia Bays and Eva Yates. Book to Screen live pitching event: Scottish publishing houses pitch their books to producers and production houses in collaboration with Publishing Scotland. Script Spotlight: Actors perform script extracts from BAFTA Connect members, with feedback for both actors and writers. Working in Hostile Environments: A panel discusses capturing images in high-risk areas with filmmaker Robbie Fraser, journalist David Pratt, and Mac McGearey from North Star Safety Group. Comedy Showcase with BBC Scotland: Executives discuss pathways for comedy talent in Scotland, followed by performances and clips. 121 sessions: Industry delegates can seek advice from established members including Ben Sharrock, Paul Sng, Paul Laverty, San San F Young, Julia Short, Carolynne Sinclair Kidd, and representatives from MUBI, British Film Council, Scottish Documentary Institute, and UK Global Screen Fund. Fireside Chat series: Discussions on the changing role of the Sales Agent, international sales and distribution, funding pathways for producers, and building a sustainable production career. Working Differently Panel & Networking: Panel on inclusivity and neurodivergence in the film industry followed by a networking event. Current Climate: The Distribution & Exhibition Landscape: Speakers share insights on the exhibition and distribution landscape in the UK. Coffee Morning networking events: Hosted by BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Fund, BETCU Vision, and Czech Film Fund. Allison Gardner, CEO of Glasgow Film and Director of GFF, mentioned: “The Industry Focus at Glasgow Film Festival is crucial for Scotland's screen sector, offering valuable opportunities for film professionals from Scotland, the UK, and beyond to connect, network, and exchange ideas. The expanded program will serve as a central hub for industry-related activities during the festival. This year, we're excited to unveil our ambitious Industry Focus 10-Year Vision, developed in collaboration with our Industry Advisory Board, to the screen industry.” Isabel Davis, Executive Director of Screen Scotland, added: “Glasgow Film Festival’s industry program is a pivotal moment for Scotland's screen sector to gather, share ideas, establish new connections, and stay updated on industry trends. The program's growth introduces a range of fresh and innovative events for Scotland's thriving talent pool.

We look forward to witnessing the emergence of new creative partnerships and projects as a result.”

[josephfebin]

Forefront 8: Robin Robin (2021) How magic can be done frame by frame !

I notice this film from the Oscar nomination list. And I found this was from the house of makers of ‘Shaun the sheep’ and ‘chicken run’ movies, the ardman studios. They're famous for the wonderful stop motion animations. After going through the interviews of directors and some behind the scenes videos I found while making of this video they tried to introduce or implement new technology to redefine or expand the boundaries of this special craft. The relation with the technology fuelled up stop motion into a new realm. Previously that was not obtained for anyone else, by this film they achieved a great extent. It is directed by two young directors Michael Please and Dan Ojari. Feasting with the authentic quality in handcrafted animation guaranteed visual treat is this film by Ardman studio. ‘Robin Robin’ achieved freshness of new textures and visual effects by this handcrafting techniques. The way they achieve this qualities it's mainly by capturing most of the effects or all of the effects by stop motion other than depending on CGI.

the production duration was two years, and they made the quality for the film up to the best level by this comparatively hi higher production duration. By the words of both directors, I got inspired how much effort we need to give for the pre-production stage because for an animation especially for a stop motion animation the retakes takes much effort ask it's too complicated to reshoot all the action. Considering all these facts they spend more time on pre-production stage. In my practise, working behind story, animatics, storyboard and finalising everything and then moving on to next stage was in inspired by this. A year of rigorous preparation and pre-production pave the way for the generation of wonderfully planned and executed film. While working on the initial stages play keep producing off animatics storyboard they planned creation of colour script for the entire film that resembles the mood and situations in the field film they created thumbnails of colour themes before going into production list tells or this explains me how colouring off each scene affects the mood of the character or what exactly conveying through frames.

Bibliography

www.netflix.com. (2021). Watch Robin Robin | Netflix Official Site. [online] Available at: https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81058433?s=i&trkid=258593161&vlang=en&clip=81340190 [Accessed 25 Aug. 2023].

www.youtube.com. (2022a). How Stop-Motion Movies Are Animated at Aardman | WIRED. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZvQzkFcKEM.

www.youtube.com. (2022b). Robin Robin | Official Trailer. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfHvKG4PmFQ [Accessed 25 Aug. 2023].

www.youtube.com. (2022c). Transforming Gillian Anderson Into The Purrfect Villain | Robin Robin | Netflix. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGiMiiiIe-Y&t=105s [Accessed 25 Aug. 2023].

[maanimationemma]

Sarah Mullock

Our class recently was visited by Sarah Mullock. An animation Producer who has done work for Aardman and BBC. She had a look at the animatic for my film and wanted to offer some advice on how to make a stronger set up for the beginning. We both offered some thoughts and ideas and ultimately decided it would be a good idea if the Gannet started off with an entangled wing, tires to catch up with his flock and ends up in the care of the little auk which leads to the both of them embarking on their journey. I much prefer this idea more and so I will go over my storyboard again the better portray this idea. 

[feathersandfarmers]

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Belongs to Aardman animations

Side-By-Side Animatic and Final Product. There’s SOUND!

[gifhaze]

#gif #love http://ebay.to/2EsOz0f , funny, dance, music, celebration, robot, celebrate, caveman, aardman, warthog, aardman animations, earlyman, earlymanmovie, hognob

[clairelennon]

My sketch of Ringo and the final fully animatable puppet!

We had a week in Aardman to make him and looking back I was very ambitious for that time scale... His mouth and lips are embroidered interchangeable expression pieces. I’ll go back and make his wolf shawl at some point and probably embellish his cape a little more.

[trapstrblog]

[soniana252]

Announcement: Finally started working on the Shaun the sheep 'Lent' animatic!! Plot is about Bitzer and his struggles as a sheepdog. Due to college starting soon it's gonna be a bit shorter and less elaborated than planned, but still I'm happy do be doing an animatic after so long.

Shoutout to my followers on insta that helped me pick the thumbail ❤️ remember I make polls in my stories once in a while so you can find me as @soniana_draws if you wish to participate ;)

[ozetamag]

2D Animation Reel from Terri Matthews on Vimeo.

*Updated April 2019*

. Contact details ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Terri Matthews 2D Animator linkedin.com/in/terri-matthews terrimatthews@outlook.com

. The Wrong End of the Stick (2016) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ 00:00

vimeo.com/178512561

MA Directing Animation graduation film from the National Film & Television School.

A darkly comic film made using a mixed technique of live action backgrounds with practical effects, visual effects, digital 2D hand-drawn character animation and rotoscope in TVPaint. Making the film involved directing a live action crew and managing a modest team of Animators and Assistants.

Awards: ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ HPFF 2019 • Special Mention for Animation: Best Artistic Contribution

Nachtschatten Film Festival 2018 • Best Short Film

Sapporo Short Fest 2017 • Best Student Director

Animator Festival 2017 • Best Student Film

London Comedy Film Festival 2017 • Discovery Short Film Award

Animation Dingle 2017 • Best International Student Short Film • Runner Up: Best Combined Animation

Atlanta Film Festival 2017 • Honourable Mention for Animated Short

Underwire Festival 2016 • Best Animator Award

Indie Memphis 2016 • Audience Award: Best Departures Short Film

Spark Animation 2016 • Jury Special Mention: Bravery Award

Anilogue 2016 • Jury's Special Award .

Nominations: ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ 44th Annie Awards 2017 • Best Student Film

British Independent Film Awards 2016 • Best British Short

. The Four Tendencies (2019) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ 00:46

youtu.be/QmpWW-KibOo&t=10s

Animated short for the RSA directed by Jac Clinch.

• Traditional and symbol animation using Flash/Animate CC

. Accord: We Make it Better (2019) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ 01:20

Internal explainer for Accord Healthcare, working under Creative Director Chris Randall at Second Home Studios.

• Designed using Photoshop CC • Animatic built and animated using Adobe Animate CC • Supervised three remote Animators

. Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks (2016) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ 01:39

Flash Animator for six lost episodes of Doctor Who for BBC Worldwide. Episodes were recreated in animation guided by restored audio tracks.

• Animated cut-out style characters using Flash CS4 • Puppet construction and asset creation

. Shell: Ludicrous Analogies (2018) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ 02:01

youtu.be/tNNrxbjbS2Q youtu.be/ZsaIkmDwqaQ youtu.be/B1AMtQSHKQw

Three short films exploring alternative fuels for Shell directed by Matthew Walker at Aardman.

• Traditional and symbol animation using Flash/Animate CC • Created animated assets for the Animators and Compositors

. Edmond (2015) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ 02:21

vimeo.com/172911816

Lead 2D Animator for multi-award winning animated graduation film, including Sundance, Annecy and BAFTA, directed by Nina Gantz.

• Animated characters' expressions and lip sync in TVPaint to be composited onto stop motion animated puppets • Supervised small team of Animation Assistants

.

[32blocks]

Read our review and view the pics of @ACMI latest exhibit Wallace & Gromit and friends - we give it a 11/10 melbdreamfactory.com/aardman-animat… #film

[cameron-ashurst22]

Media Roles In Industries Weekly Summaries

Media Roles in Industry Weekly Summaries

Week 21

Day 2- Media industries: Roles and practices lecture

Project overview

6 weeks project researching media roles and practices giving a 10 minute group presentation on your work. Working in groups , you will research areas within the animation industry and the potential jobs available to you.

Research blog needed in the area I want to look into . Also including contacting a practitioner in the industry about research area. My early thoughts are to contact Ben Su a Pixar animator who I had made contact with earlier on in the year.

Project deliverables:

10 minute group presentation using video clips and supporting text.

Everyone in group must contribute and speak during the presentation

Research portfolio 

Blog has to contain what the degree can go into. Further study , independent filmmaker or working for a company.

500 word statement that summarises research findings.

Must include bibliography for the presentation.

Project aims

-Employability 

-By researching into the industry it familiarises yourself with the job roles and studios that I can apply to after my degree.

-using areas of interest as a starting point. Begin to locate creative practice with a wider range of knowledge

Group 1

Rachel Selby 

August Abrahamsson

Tan Sriwongwaew

Zayrick Villar

Sam Abbot

Myself

Weekly Breakdowns

Week 22

Working in your groups, discuss and chose an area of interest on which to focus your presentation research.

Group task for the following week

-Prepare a 5-minute, 3 slide presentation profiling your chosen area Job role you are profiling 

Week 23

Career presentation from Daisy Morgan 

Week  24

Career presentation Helen Schroeder 

Week 25 

Internship presentation by Oyku Baskin

Career presentation by Indigo Illusions

Animation industries 2d, Cg, Motion graphics , stopmotion

Content producers 

Studios( Laika ,Pixar ,Aardman)

-Hire creative talent 

-create the content

Production companies(aspect film/not scale)

-Manage logistics and finances

-Distribute the film 

Examples

Animated features (stop motion)

Kubo 

Fantastic mr fox 

Shaun the sheep

Animated feature (2d)

Ethel and Ernest 

The illusionist

Animated features 

Toy story

Paddington 

Pre school/ children 

Twirlywoos

Peppa pig 

Gumball

Tv series: Adults/ teens

Adventure time

Rick and Morty

Tv specials 

Shaun the sheep 

Watership down 

Motion graphics 

Advertising

Title sequences

Idents

Artistic 

Education

Good books example for motion graphics

Blink productions and blink studios- Stopmotion

Week 22

Day 2 - Media roles in industry lecture 

Career presentation from Daisy Morgan 

Take aways from the lecture :

Influence - Her influences are many anime cartoons , nature with national geographic and children’s programmes. She is also influenced by the games played when she was younger. Instagram also plays a part in inspiring her pages like pun animation and Manta Gr, Gaston Pacheco.

University - She chose NUA due to the sound design and narrative aspect of the course. The course was based on the fundamentals and offers the understanding with other creators. Convinced on doing 2D hand drawn initially. 

Through experimentation it is the best way of bettering yourself instead of trying to be perfect at each aspect. Take as many risks as possible through experimentation.  This allows you to find your own style and way of creating.

Internship scheme- Go to as many networking events as possible as this will allow career opportunities and internships.

Presentations

-   Title slide

-   present information in concise paragraphs and bullet points

use visuals and present information clearly

Use key quotes source directly from research

Include short films clips

Conclusion what have you learned 

Include a bibliography 

Make a contact- A checklist 

Thoroughly research the organisation and the individual before writing.

Remember to maintain a certain level of formality

Address correspondence to a named person

Be enthusiastic 

Three questions max and that they are easy to understand 

Can contact other people as well

Group one presentation review-

I feel like the first presentation went well as we each shared how we were going to research and structure the projects with the group. As I am slightly uncomfortable with public speaking I was anxious when first speaking. However I quickly grew to enjoy it and explain the processes of some of the artists and the work they had created. I feel like the presentation will progress as each person adds their own personal style and slides on their chosen artist. This explains the pipeline and the way characters are developed. As the presentation was only three slides long it was a small sample into what the main presentation will be about. I felt like more input could be made by my peers as it was me and Rachel mainly speaking to the audience. This is something we can work on in the future giving everyone an allotted time to speak.

Week 23

l

Day 2 - Media in industries 

Helen Schroeder Lecture/Talk on careers- Pre-production work 

Introduction 

Has tried multiple disciplines. Helen explained how competitive character animation is and that if that is what you want to do you have to be completely driven and focused on that goal. This is instead of jumping between roles and jobs. She also explained that jumping and changing job roles can also help establish a career as it helps find what you want to specialise in. 

Developing career

At the start of her studies she focused heavily on stop motion animation. So in her work at university she focused heavily in the stop motion genre. She then through her final third year film got an internship in model making. She then became an animation intern on Dragon in 2007.This helped her become recommissioned  as a freelance animator and model maker. As she was working for the same company she decided to focus heavily on the animation aspect instead of becoming a model maker splitting and letting go of the opportunities that this created to pursue stop motion animation.

Aardman storyboarding course 

This was a professional course and a foot in the door to a major studio. This allowed her to work on the storyboards for Arthur Christmas. This helped her get the job in animating Arthur in cg but she took a stocktake and because of her family did not pursue a future in La where she could work on the larger films.

Teaching and freelance 

Helen then decided to teach at NUA and worked freelance doing storyboarding for Tv and freelance.Helen worked for Hurst animation and was paid per scene.She also storyboarded for a Flora campaign. She then got back to  storyboarding for Aardman on early man but was cut from the project because of travelling and working remotely. She then worked on Watership Down and worked remotely and continues to do that to this day.

Key skills and take ways from talk:

Be adaptable 

Be profesional

Don’t be arrogant limits further opportunities

Keep to deadlines and promises

Be reliable

Have a collaborative attitude

Be positive

If able select jobs carefully and value yourself 

Helen also mentioned Annecy animation festival in France which allows opportunities forms he major studios for work.

Week 24 

Day 2- Media Roles in industry lecture

2nd year lecture - Oyku Baskin

Gobelins animation - A week intensive course on animation in Paris.  Consists of conferences, a big assignment , new friends and people. They bring industry professionals that are currently working on projects which help guide new perspectives and ideas. 

The 2 week assignment. A small exercise where you can choose the mediums of traditional 2D, Digital 2D or 3D. Receiving feedback from peers and tutors. The content changes every year.

What do you gain from this ?- Gain connections from all over the world.

Main tips for this course is to kill you ego. Removing your ego allows adaptation and a better realisation of what work you can produce.

Indigo Illusions lecture

1 Year after graduation 

Tips for the university course

Go to everything the uni puts on 

Separate your work and home space : come to uni to do work

Ask for help constantly

Get as experienced with software as possible. Use Lynda as much as possible

Draw everyday

Keep up to date with weekly summaries and blogs.

Collaboration tasks tips

-   Meet up every week, know what everyone is doing. Set goals for each other 

-   Work together 

Constantly ask for feedback

Indigo illusions -Set up in the ideas factory 

Their vision- contribute to the creative community of norwich swell as become a personal company. Getting new films and commissions on a regular basis

Easter Break week 27

Day 6 - Media roles in industry 

Today I finalised the slides for the presentation that I will send to the group. These slides contain bullet points for the research I have completed for the project. Furthermore, I have printed a longer more detailed variation of this to be used as a script for the presentation itself. In addition I was able to complete the 500 word report on the project and took the angle of what the research had shown me about the industry. This included the different job roles I had found how companies develop characters and what are their fundamental values in crating characters. I focused heavily around the process of Pixar in this project as I was drawn directly to their way of storytelling and character design process. I am going to add how the presentation went to the later section of the evaluation as the presentation is on Tuesday next week.

Week 28 

Day 2 - Media roles in industries presentation

Today I had the group presentation for our chosen subject of character design. I found it quite easy to talk infant of the group and deliver my part of the presentation well. This is due to previous practice through my college years. I tried to speak slowly and confidently in order to ensure that my point was iterated about Animatics, Alonso Martinez and the characters like spot and Arlo. I found that as a whole the presentation flowed and we we able to fully explore the subject matter due to the extensive research we had completed. On feedback from Helen, Peter and John this feeling was reciprocated. 

On reflection I found that the presentation could have included slides on interactions with the animators and character designers we had contacted. However, this was chosen against due to the layout of the presentation being cluttered and we opted to say who we spoke to instead. I was able to contact Ben Su and not Alonso Martinez , however they have similar job roles within Pixar and I expected the same sort of response. I felt this observation of to keep drawing and be open to influence and inspiration would have helped hit home the message of the presentation. This is due to the presentation being about the extensive research and development that is used in the character design pipeline to ensure that the characters are culturally and morally appropriate.

[zak-animation]

Storyboarding Masterclass: Introduction to Storyboarding (1/3) This week, we were introduced to the idea of storyboarding and its various uses through a guest lecture by animator and storyboard artist Helen Schroeder. This was in the form of a ‘storyboarding masterclass’, which introduced us to the concept of storyboarding, various industry practices and how we can use storyboarding to challenge the ‘one-shot’ nature of the brief. This was an intensive lecture, introducing us to a range of concepts that I want to discuss in detail here.

Initially, Helen specialised in stop motion animation - but decided to develop a second leg and skill within the industry, which came in the form of storyboarding. With a natural flair for drawing, this was a natural progression and allows to work at a desk ‘from home’, utilising digital communication. This idea of working from home does have an appeal to me, and although I’m not planning on becoming a storyboard artist, this practice is very relevant to freelancers - a path I am very much considering.

A ‘feature storyboarder’, Helen has worked on both long-form animated works and television episodes and has a breadth of knowledge in both storyboarding and animation, working on the recent Watership Down computer-generated animated feature and Arthur Christmas from Aardman Animations.

What is storyboarding? In an article on his blog, Pixar story artist said storyboarding is ‘doing everyone else’s job before they do it.’ A planning tool developed by Disney during the early 1930s, storyboarding is the process of editing a film before it is made, in which artists draw the first vision of a scene from the script. In this, storyboard artists need to consider the characters’ performances: what are they saying, and how are they saying it? At this early stage, the storyboard allows the director to see a visual representation of the film through sketches which tell the story in a simple, clear manner.

Storyboarding considers art direction, and even elements such as cinematography - as these initial story sketches give the first say on where the camera is shooting from, where the characters are in the scene, and even elements such as pacing, lighting and editing. Helen established to us that storyboards effectively represent a first draft of the film itself: outlining the key narrative beats, describing the scene and ultimately, playing a larger role in the production of a piece than I initially thought. From this, it seems like storyboarding grants artists a great amount of creative control over the property.

We briefly established why we ‘should learn about storyboarding’, which came down to making us ‘better animators’, understandably offer more job opportunities and it is a requirement for this course. Storyboarding, after all, is an essential tool in animation production and learning the craft develops our abilities in drawing, staging and visual storytelling; these can all be key to a successful animation.

Storyboards are a production tool used to work out the core idea and structure of a project; to visualise the action described in a script and work out the character performance needed for the shot. Storyboards portray visual and physical gags that simply cannot be written in a traditional script and outline the timing of action in an animatic. Storyboards are an industry-wide practice that allows artists to visualise and explore ideas before taking it to the production phase, allowing us to determine the costs and production time of a project, but also aid in communication. Storyboards are often used to sell the idea to other people, in the same way a pitch would, and ensures cohesion across departments and production phases, guide animators and asset creators.

Storyboarding in Mystery Box For our Mystery Box task, we need to create a storyboard and animatic of our final sequence, creating a  pre-visualisation of our ideas before jumping into the animation process. Unlike traditional storyboards, however, we are given a one-shot, locked camera scenario. Whilst this is obviously a restrictive challenge, we can still play around with a few variables: the camera height, character movement and negative space in order to stage the shot for maximum effect. One idea that I want to explore is the use of depth of space, to show it is a three-dimensional plane rather than a simple flat image.

Here, I’ve been able to present an initial introduction to the idea of a storyboard, and in my next post I will be diving further into some of the industry practices outlined in Helen’s masterclass. 

References

Early Storyboards and Beatboards for Hotel Transylvania by Luc Desmarcelier. http://livlily.blogspot.com/2012/12/hotel-transylvania-2012-storyboards.html

[titmasjack]

Mystery Box Briefing

For the second half of BA1b, and as our brief overlap just before our first submission due on the 26th of February, today I was introduced to the ‘Mystery Box Project’. Our largest element of animation that will be produced in the first year, this project gives us the opportunity to focus on and explore the medium of our choice as an introduction to not only choosing a specialism but interpreting, designing and creating an outcome in a much more industry-led process.  

With the opportunity to explore either CG or Stop-Motion our brief introduction to either medium over the previous three weeks gave us our first initial insight to the programs, processes and techniques I am expected to incorporate throughout either path I decide to pursue. Whilst I don’t have to initially decide today, my first instinct was to pursue CG not only for my keen interest in the medium itself but its inherent dominance in today's animation market. And with the capability of spending additional time in one area of animation, I believe it would best suit me to pursue and explore the medium that I could most incorporate within an animation career down the line. 

Although I have particularly enjoyed stop-motion more over the past few weeks, I believe I would be able to create a more refined and better-animated outcome through the use of CG. Using a pre-determined rig provided by the ‘11 Second Animation’ Club, I think that my approach to animation would best suit CG’s process of iteration and editorial capabilities in comparison to Stop-Motion’s very much straight ahead approach to animation. 

Having to consider how I can best incorporate the principles of animation into my work, I believe that through CG’s inherent ability to reiterate and add additional animation through the use of passes I would be able to create a much more ‘refined’ and ‘animated’ character that uses and exaggerates more prominent principles such as exaggeration and secondary action in comparison to the same rigged character using stop-motion. 

Brief Expectations

With four weeks to create a short animated sequence using a pre-defined 3D rig or stop-motion armature, we’ll be exploring an industry influenced process in which I establish the journey between the beginning to the final outcome of my main animated piece for the second half of BA1b. To create an 10-15 second animated sequence, I will have to establish a character entering on screen, interacting and looking into a ‘Mystery Box’ followed through by reacting to its content. 

Whilst the action must take place within a fixed shot, I have the flexibility to explore the use of angles and dynamics of the character as well. Considering who the character is through their use of action can I determine a character through their use of posture and gesture alone. Even though we’ll all be working with a pre-defined character and rig, how can I ensure that my character is unique through the way they act? What's in the box, even though I’m not allowed to show the contents of the box to the audience, will I allow what's in the box to determine how my character reacts, how will this establish the characters fear or intrigue to the box in the first place? 

These are all things I can consider and will have to build upon throughout the first weeks of my project. Not only expected to create an animated outcome, but I will also have to deliver an established variety of storyboards that showcase my original ideas. A detailed animatic that shows a moving image sequence detailing the intended actions of my characters, and my up to date blog that highlights not only my progression, reflection and thoughts on the weeks that go by but the array of research I have gathered to support the development of my project. 

We’ll be breaking down these tasks into the upcoming weeks, establishing how one acts upon another, if all goes to plan, I should be able to a clear progression in how my work has developed in the hopes of a final animated outcome. Introduced to a new task each week I understand that it’s my responsibility to keep up to date and on top of any work we are given by working additionally outside of NUA hours to get my work to the standard I hope to achieve. 

Week 9: Setting a Foundation

Introducing the brief, this week establishes how we can pursue the briefs outcomes through either specialist pathway. Through introducing us to the importance and continuation of reference footage we have our second lesson with Sarah Perry in a performance workshop that will establish how we can use ourselves and peers as an influence to build a character. This lesson will re-establish the values and lessons we learnt in BA1a as a refresher to the importance of acting in animation. 

Alongside this we will be introduced to Helen Schroeder, a storyboard artist for films such as Aardman’s ‘Arthur Christmas’ we’ll reflect and criticise our initial storyboards to develop, suggest and evolve our ideas to how we can establish a better and sense of clarity to our final objectives of the brief. 

This will give us the chance to reflect on our initial ideas and take what we’ve learnt before establishing a more refined rendition of our first thoughts and processes surrounding the mystery box project as we begin to develop our ideas.

Week 10: Developing my Ideas

Branching off the ideas we established in week 9, Helen Schroeder will showcase how we can translate our storyboards to a much more organic and industry-led, animatic. To showcase a more in-depth rendition of our ideas, this will help re-iterate the key poses, gestures and actions we want to establish throughout our scene.

Our first chance of animation in this project, this will establish how I can use the process of blocking in a much more loose and organic style to represent the motions of the character. Although I have chosen to pursue CG, this will hopefully give me the opportunity to once again introduce TVPaint in my work, as I have found so far that this is easily been the most prominent program I have relied on and gone back to, to establish and develop my ideas to a standard that I can understand. 

Week 11: Transitioning to Animation

With an established idea for my project, Week 11 would initiate the starting point for our animated outcomes. Using a new program such as Maya, I want to ensure that I have enough time to not only get to grips with the software once again but consider any overlap for the previous week's work that I may have to catch up on. 

Although having a plan of the work I intend to produce is great, this week of overlap will allow me to catch up on any work that on the off chance I don’t get around to completing. Although I’m fairly enthusiastic to kick start this project, this is something I must always consider as I will have to produce a blog alongside my work, finding time to reflect on each week work as well as handing in previous projects that have already been established and will be handed in during this week. 

Week 12: Refining my Outcome

Solely focusing on producing my animation, I will spend the majority of this week in the Media Lab, animating, refining and creating loads of iterations and passes on my animation in the hopes of showcasing how my ideas have not only developed but incorporated the animation principles throughout my work, justifying my reason for originally picking CG animation.

Although not set in stone, I will discuss my reasoning for picking CG and my first initial animator influences based on research of existing artists and processes that are used in the industry today. I'm excited to get a head start on this project and to establish a strong foundation as I make my way through the four weeks of this project. Unlike previous projects, I aim to once again start to get my blog back on track in completing each blog post the day or within 24 hours in which we learnt about the subject. I believe that once I’m able to get this upcoming deadline out of the way I’ll have the time and resources to solely focus on this ‘Mystery Box’ Project to produce the best outcome possible.

To summarise;

I established what I’ll be completing over the course of the next four weeks and how they will be used to produce my intended outcome.

Consider how I can begin to create and establish a range of ideas using external influences and storyboards.

Begin to research existing animators and influencers that may widen my knowledge on the industry-led process or how a character has been used outside of the animation industry.

Discuss which specialism I hope to pursue and why I have made this decision.

Sources;

‘Mystery Box Animation Reel’ Youtube Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsYlrbdcLpc

‘emmakniemis’ Instagram Link https://www.instagram.com/emmakniemis/

[somecynicalanimator]

Module - Showreel & Engagement

I recently wrote up a 5 year plan, to help me decide what I want to do after graduation and what I need to do to help achieve my goals.

1 Year

Immediately following graduation, I intend to spend the summer working on my portfolio, finishing my team project and possibly presenting our work at animation festivals and such as they begin to open again. I will also be trying to work on refining the work I have produced so far this year, in the hopes of strengthening my portfolio. Given the resources that university provides me, and how my access to them will be restricted once I officially graduate, I intend to use the time in-between I hand in my work and when I officially graduate to use university resources to develop my skills in certain software. Of particular interest to me is the certificates available to people who complete online tutorials for ToonBoom Harmony and Storyboard Pro on their website. Undergraduates can participate in these tutorials for a greatly reduced price, as opposed to non-students and post-graduate students who must pay the substantially higher, standard price. Being able to cite these certificates on my C.V. will be a great help towards me finding a job and help demonstrate the skills I possess. I also intend to show my showreel to companies I intend to apply to, to help build contacts and make them aware of my work. It would be of interest to me to present my showreel to other peers of mine, as well as to companies I don’t intend to work for, as this will help me gain feedback on my work and showreel, as well as helping me to build contacts within industry. Developing my other skills, including storyboarding, video editing and 3-D animation, would also be within my best interests. I would like to try my hand at 2-D rigging, as well as 3-D modelling and rigging before graduating too. I want to graduate with a robust showreel that demonstrates what I’ve learned and what I am capable of in animation.

2 Years

Following graduation, I intend to apply for the master's degree course for animation. I want to take this course at the University of Salford, given I am already familiar with the area and staff, however I will likely apply to other universities too, as I think it makes good sense to make sure I have multiple options. If I apply as soon as I can, I will likely be finishing my course about halfway through the next year, however I have considered the possibility of taking a gap year to focus on building my skills, as well as potentially doing some smaller jobs in industry to help contribute towards my experience, my showreel and my C.V. If I decide to do so, then I would likely begin the course next September, giving me time to focus on refining the skills I already have before taking the next big step in my education. If I am unable to study on the post-graduate course, then I would be interested in looking into applying for an apprenticeship, or internship, within the industry, learning the basics of working for a studio and potentially working towards a position within a studio. I also have numerous friends who are post-graduate students who I talk to about local animation jobs in and around the area I live, as well as Salford and Manchester. I can discuss with them the jobs available around us and what they are looking for in applicants. I could also begin producing freelance work with my peers once I feel confident enough in my abilities, after having gotten some more practice. If I want to begin freelancing, I will need to take my online presence, portfolio and begin expanding and developing upon what I’ve done for my university projects, developing a professional persona that allows me to put my work out where people can see it. I could also consider applying to work with post-graduate friends of mine who have already begun setting up their own freelance studios.

3 Years

Three years beyond graduation I hope to have found my footing in industry, with a strong body of work to back me up and support me. By this point I will have either finished my post-graduate degree or completed any apprenticeships or internships I took part in previously. From here I would like to start looking into different studios I would enjoy working for, from more local studios to studios elsewhere in the country. Some of the studios I would be more interested in working for include Bearded Fellows Creative Agency, Kilogramme Animation Studio, Flipbook Studio, Studio AKA, and numerous other studios in the Greater Manchester area. Studios in other parts of England I would be interested in working for are Seed Animation Studio, Aardman Animations, Blue-Zoo Animation Studio, as well as other types of companies who use animation, such as Rare Ltd. At this point in my career however, I would prefer to keep my options relatively close to home, so not outside the U.K. as I would prefer to be financially stable and settled before trying to move out the country.

4 Years

Four years after graduation, I hope to be fully independent, both in terms of finances and with my career. At this point in time, I would hope to have a firm place within industry, with a body of work that not only demonstrates my abilities but has helped to greatly improve them. As previously mentioned, I would be focusing on the 2-D aspects of animation such as storyboards, animatic production and 2-D animation. I would like to continue to maintain and refine my skills in other areas of animation, such as 3-D animation, I would hope to have maintained these skills years after graduating.

5 Years

Half a decade after graduating, I would hope to have the financial security to be able to move to a different country to work, or at the very least to have the option to do so. I think it would be interesting to at least be able to collaborate with people and studios abroad, even if I don’t permanently move away from the U.K. By this point in my career, I would hope to have gained a refined skillset in 2-D animation, along with improving or at least maintaining my skills in other disciplines. I think an inter-disciplinary approach to animation will be beneficial to me in the long run. I would also enjoy working for any studios set up by my friends and peers, if such an opportunity were to arise in the future.