#would make such a good practise for storyboarding as well

[emrys-rusts]

Thinking about how it wouldn't hurt to try making a (albeit shitty) the Hobbit—thorin/bilbo-ish storyboard to this song

[tainbocuailnge]

I think there is a difference between the comic as a sequence of images with text and the comic as a comic. it's a subtle difference that an untrained eye might not see but the more one as artist draws comics the clearer this difference becomes, because one who first aspires to draw comics will soon find they are merely drawing sequences of images with text.

when people say an artist is clearly inspired by anime they often use "anime" to refer to japanese pop culture in general, but if you look more closely you can often tell it really is specifically anime rather than manga that inspired them, because the paneling and camera angles in their comics will read like a series of anime screenshots rather than a manga page. similarly, when I was a teenager really popular manga that had anime adaptions would sometimes get "animanga" reprints where they replaced the panels with the equivalent anime screenshots of the scene, and they often looked like dogshit because the very premise showed blatant disregard for why the original comic worked in the first place. these two examples are both about anime because i am a weeb but it applies outside that context too. a cartoon storyboard can be read as if it were a comic, but what it really is is a sequence of images with text that has yet to be refined into its actual intended format.

there are many artists who only employ the medium of comic because what they actually want to draw is a video, or a video game cutscene, but the only tool actually at their disposal is the ability to draw a series of images and add text to them so that is what they use. there is no shame or mistake in doing this, you have to make your art with the tools that you have available, and if the sequence of images with text is enough to convey the idea then it was the right tool for the job. but these are different mediums with different visual languages, languages which have a lot of overlap and can occasionally be used in each other's stead to achieve similar results (especially when drawing a fanart comic of a video game for example), but which are still ultimately different. the comic and the video and the cutscene are all different forms that a sequence of images with text can take but they are far from completely interchangeable.

there is a key difference in approach to the comic as a series of images roughly interchangeable with other forms of series of images like the video and the cutscene, and the comic as specifically the comic. this difference in approach is not always necessary to achieve results, an artist who wants to convey a scenario they came up with needs only the sequence of images with text to achieve this. but the difference between a comic with good writing and art, and a comic that is a good comic, is in whether it was treated as a comic rather than a sequence of images with text. I say this as an artist whose nearly every comic has been simply a sequence of images, because I just don't have the patience to refine it into a comic when I merely want to convey my idea rather than draw a comic. it takes a particular skill and insight that have to be developed and practised separately from the ability to draw well and the ability to write well in order to become good at making "the comic" as synthesis of the two.

it's hard to specifically point out the essence of this difference between the sequence of images and the comic because it's kind of a vibes thing honestly, and it depends on where and how the comic was meant to be published too. comics meant to have paper print editions have different constraints and requirements and frameworks to work with than webtoons meant to be read on slim mobile screens in a continuous scrolling format. a good traditional comic will consider not just how each individual panel looks but also the way each page as a whole looks, and how the pages look next to each other in a spread, and how it feels to turn the page towards the next spread. a good webtoon will consider the movement of scrolling down and how this affects the transition from one moment to another in its composition. time is time in videos and cutscenes but space is time in comics, and the space your have available determines how you can divide time across it. when you make a webcomic on your own website you have no constraints but the ones you set for yourself, and sometimes this leads to things like homestuck, which would not work in any other format than the one it created for itself.

the best comics are good because they tell their story and present their images specifically in the form of a comic, in a way that would not be possible if it were not specifically a comic. I think this is true for basically every medium, I'm just thinking about comics specifically lately, because even though I don't really consider myself a comic artist - because I usually draw sequences of images rather than comics - the thing my clients want to pay for is often still "a comic", and they don't know or care to tell the difference. it's a difference that, as established, is often fairly moot anyway, because as long as it successfully conveys your idea it's good enough. but it's precisely because the sequence of images is often good enough that the specific skill of the comic artist is often overlooked.

[2023-512rubymatthews]

AFTER EFFECTS VERSION 2

BUILDING ON FROM WEEK 8

Animation and After Effects

Working with compositions, layers and effects.

Key things I learnt/reflections:

We continued the kinetic type module this week and went over some of the fundamentals of animation as well as the many various types for us to research and choose from. Additionally, we practised and were introduced to a few Photoshop and Adobe After Effects techniques for moving images.

It will be necessary to develop an idea of the type of animation style you want to use for the Kinetic Type project because each student has a wide range of options for the animation technique they can use.

(outline different types and what I'm drawn to)

I wasn't happy with the transitioning of the frames with my storyboard prototype so I used drawn frames from the week/s Microsoft Teams files during the demo to make a quick animatic in Photoshop of the storyboard and an introduction to After Effects.

If I were to remake this I would make the rate per frame slower so it would appear better to the eye and viewer, where each frame illustration can be seen properly without the flow being too choppy.

Ideas/notes for animation ^^

This Week's Learning Outcomes

Understand the requirements of the brief and start to plan for preparing professional and creative practical skills.

Navigate the next steps in the brief provided to continue learning the Adobe Creative Cloud software.

Learning the storyboard process to generate considered design systems for moving type samples.

Develop a basic understanding of After Effects workspace, composition, keyframes, and saving + exporting

(Include ideas I'm thinking about for my animation and previous ideas, then add current ideas to my week 9/10 blog, with screenshots of draft animation).

This week we received written feedback for our formative submissions (type specimen booklet, rationale, presentation)

•Develop your type specimen ASAP after receiving feedback while it is fresh, even briefly (especially proofreading, errors)

•Prioritise work on Assignment 2, but remember both Assignment 1 + 2 are resubmitted together at the end of the semester (summative assessment)

•Both these assignments are considered together, so look to develop conceptual and aesthetic links between them as you work on Assignment 2

Rationales should link connect chosen font and place and should be driven by a clear concept

•Less time spent discussing the process and not enough concept, context and research

•Directly address the brief and balance the potentially challenging task of a hybrid document (type specimen and typographic response to your pepeha/place in one document)

Some key things I need to work on for my summative submission:

Booklet: The page four layout was good, the 2-column paragraph layout was difficult to read as the lines were too short. solution: convert to 1 column or shrink the size of the text.

Export file in spread layout (easy fix in InDesign export settings)a lot of spreads have too many details, so focus on negative space/minimalistic approach more, which will work nicely with B/W.

Blog: make sure I have a blog update for each week as I haven't covered as much as I need to at this point. This will contribute to my final grade and so extra work and time will need to be put into documenting all in-class activities, SDL, assignments and research!

Presentation: needed more examples which are something a populated blog will support and help me with the development of my ideas for the summative.

Blogs and presentations demonstrate the process, research, time investment, development, and reflection. - investment in development -

(What is needed to submit for summative and what do I need to do to work on those things)

Digital and the physical printed version of the type booklet

(Referring to constructive feedback continue editing and enhancing its presentation and text format to an improved standard)

Kinetic moving-type animation

(Using after effects, continue animation while building my understanding of the software and its tools)

Next post - research what animation I'll be doing, what it will look like (visual/visual language), method of animation, key frames, elements and phrases and what I'm intending/planning to convey aesthetically and symbolically. Discuss and display all my draft ideas and how I'm developing my final idea.

Animation types:

[gumnut-logic]

Callisto

Okay, you may have heard me rambling on about this project...alot. Poor @tsarinatorment @janetm74 @scribbles97 and @onereyofstarlight have suffered extensively so far because it has been them I have been harrassing the most.

The reason why it is such a big deal to me at the moment, is because I’m trying something new. You may have noticed I have a bit of a scatterbrained muse that likes to jump from one shiny to another at a breakneck pace - I am soooo sorry for the trail of unfinished fics over the last few months ::groans at the mess on my archives:: I had sworn to not upload unfinished stuff, but there are some fun moments in those wips, aaargh.

But anyway, finishing the Kermadec fic was a big thing for me. VERY BIG. The previous year I had managed to, with so much support from you guys, finish Gentle Rain, which, while not everyone’s cup of tea because it is a ship fic, had a major impact on my writing and proved to me that I could finish a longer project.

When I started the Kermadec fic, I realised it was going to be quite a long one, but not as long as it actually was. The muse did what it liked with those whales and, well, sorry Virg. That fic had some planned structure. I had a solid skeleton of initially four days (which became five). I knew they were going to camp on Macauley, I knew they were going to encounter the whales, and Mel was planned from the start. Sam popped up halfway and all the Raoul scenes did whatever the hell they wanted, but I knew I had to get the boys home for Christmas (I just didn’t specify which Christmas, oops). But the key was I had a structure to hang the boys on and contain the muse just a little so it didn’t suddenly slap a space rescue in there or something stupid like it is prone to do.

Leading up to, and while I was writing/procrastinating the Kermadec fic, (like a good chunk of last year), I started a new writing regime (stolen from Terry Pratchett, apparently) where I only require myself to write 400 words a day. This number is achievable and I started writing every day, something fairly consistent. Considering how erratic I can be, this was a great achievement. I ended up creating the Anna Kent series, Dirt, Flannel, Reactions, When the World Goes Boom (I will finish this!), The Dentist, The Joker and the Hero (I’ll finish this one too!) and Who do you save, John?. All of these are decent sized fics, but all of them were started on a whim and slapped together in odd moments. The muse did whatever the hell it wanted and I often ended up in places unexpected. While they were a lot of fun and I am really happy in some cases, I feel that the plots sometimes suffered for lack of planning. There were definite instances of me writing myself into a corner and then having to bend the fabric of space and time to get myself out of it. There was some planning...I have scribbled notes, but most of it was on the fly and a thread tying exercise at the end.

So, I want to improve that plotting and planning. However, as with everything to do with my stupid brain, there is a problem. If I plan too much, the writing gets boring and I lose interest - this has happened in the past. So I need to find a balance.

But I’m learning. Year one was Gentle Rain, year two was We’ll Be Home For Christmas. This year it is Callisto.

Callisto is a planned novel length fic. Screw it, I’m calling it a novel :P Look I have a storyboard to prove it.

And, yes, I made sure it was blurry enough to not offer spoilers.

I literally spent all day Wednesday nutting out the science behind this story and world building and in the evening spent another few hours ironing out the plot. Many thanks to those who helped so much, you know who you are and I appreciate it ever so much ::hugs you lots::

So I have a plot skeleton on which to hang our boys (poor buggers, they’re all in this one).  The word count it already over 16,500 words and I have no idea how high it is going to get.

One of the things I really enjoyed with the Kermadec fic was exploring the Kermadecs, a place I have never been and will likely never go. It was fascinating and the process was like actually being there.

This time around I want to take the boys out of their familiar surroundings, I want challenges, I want mystery, I want to learn and I want to see if I can do this.

So, long story short, this is a big thing for me and while sometimes it may seem I’m not writing much, it’s because unlike previous exercises, I’m not posting immediately. I’m leaving a gap between writing and posting, leaving room for alterations. The first half of Kermadec was written this way and it was pure luxury to be able to go back and add foreshadowing when I needed to. This is better practise for me and will hopefully result in a better fic.

All in all, I’m hoping to control my crazy brain in order to make a quality end product. But it will be challenging. There will be whining and down moments. Screaming matches with myself and times where I will need a prod or a poke. This is me facing me, always a scary thing. I am my own nemesis.

So, I would like to thank all of you who have been so supportive so far and put up with my whining and oddities. There will be other fics along the way, no doubt. The challenge is to stop them from getting out of control and taking my attention from Callisto. It will be a juggle. I know myself too well to think I won’t wander off on another fic (the whole reason both The Hero and When the World Goes Boom aren’t finished is literally because of the Kermadec fic - I slammed them shut and made myself focus on the big fic - unfortunately, picking them up again is hard and in turn screwed with just about every other fic I attempted towards the end of last year, which is why I cracked earlier this year and desperately needed to dump the load of WIPs in order to get writing again - I sometimes get lost in my own brain).

So, this essay, wow, oops.

Next Tuesday, I will be posting the new Prologue (the original prologue was only 700-odd words long and proved to be not enough so I went back and expanded it to the full length I had originally planned - it is now nearly 5000 words long and pretty much a story by itself). Once that is posted, I can start uploading the fic to the archives so peeps there can see I am actually writing.

I’m currently hip deep in Chapter Three, where that storyboard starts.

Wish me luck :D

::hugs::

Nutty

(nuts)

[benmcm18]

Other Projects

Friend of Foe Short Film

Pre-Production

I’m making a movie! 

I kind of just want to shoot someone with an arrow (In a movie) so I just went off to see what I could make. I have been working on this film for about a week now I’ve completed the script, storyboard, mood boards and character sheets I’m fairly happy to move forward into filming. 

I did a location scout to figure out how I was going to frame my scenes. Taking advice from Andrew last Trimester I use the lens that I thought would be appropriate and took photos of the shots I wanted to use. It was really helpful in allowing me to visualize the project. 

Looking at the writing whilst I’m quite happy with some parts there is definitely a lot I need to improve on. I constantly show my friends scripts so I can get another opinion on the film. I never seem to get the reaction I’m hoping for but by constantly working on the scripts I make I hope to one day create a project they are all really excited about. Don’t get me wrong! They aren’t reacting negatively, they just don’t seem as jazzed as I would hope and I don’t expect them to be I just would really love it if I created something they were pumped about making.

Production

So I’ve filmed all the scenes within the script. David and George were fantastic actors. This is the first time they had to bounce off each other and they were superb. We had three locations to film in. The first two when smooth as butter. However, the last scene had several problems. We were filming in the woods and a family who were out on a picnic had taken the location. We had to think on our feet. It then began raining. This dampened the mood quite a bit. George kept me focused though. He suggested we go somewhere else and the location we found nearby I would argue was better. So thanks to George for that.

I’m trying to improve on my directing as I’m beginning to understand that Directing is not simply telling actors to “be angry” I’m trying to get into the approach of working alongside the actors to figure out for themselves what the character is feeling. Because of this, I want to work harder on character sheets and encourage my actors to do research into the characters to get a greater understanding. Overall, I don’t feel I achieved my directing outcomes this time but practise does make perfect. 

In regards to filming scenes. I mentioned in a previous post that I want to try longer takes as it allows actors to get more into the character and appear more natural. This of course comes with problems. The actors have to be on the ball when it comes to understanding the scene and the script. This can only really be done through rehearsals and read throughs. I attempted longer takes this time and George and David handled it well. They knew their lines and that makes me so happy. It shows they really care about my project and it makes me want to do my best possible work for them in return. Thank you again to George and David. 

Post production

I’ve actually edited all the scenes now. Taking the learning from class and implementing them into the edit and overall film. I will talk about the things I like first before talking about the cons.

Firstly, I love the performances. I challenged David this time by giving him a very dominant role in which he manipulates his friend. George on the other hand was a wildcard, I’d only heard him scream on film before but he made it clear he was passionate and I had faith in him. Two really solid performances that I think they will be happy with when they see the finished product.

Secondly, the story I think is pretty good. The characters change throughout the film and whilst it isn’t subtle at all I’m happy to say I attempted it. The person George is at the start of the film compared to the end is very different.

Furthermore, The editing and colour correction I’m proud of. As I said previously, I plan on working with more coverage in the future as continuity issues begin to pop up like in this film. But I believe this film shows progression in my post production work.

Additionally, the cinematography. There are definitely some shots in this film that disgust me. I should have used a wider frame or re-filmed the scene but its a learning process and I believe there is some excellent use of power dynamics within the frames.

Finally, The special effects. Whilst, they are not perfect were a lot of fun to work on. I’m fairly new to after effects but this project definitely taught me a lot about what I have the ability to do. Are the arrow shots perfect? No. But I did have fun filming them. And my brothers scream is dope.

Here is a link to the video that taught me how to do the arrow VFX if anyone wants to try and create something similar.

Now onto the negatives:

I am not happy with the level quality I’m making. It seems rushed and that is because it is. I don’t see the point trying to fix it when I can just improve next time but then again there is something terribly wrong with that mindset. I want to take care with my work and create something the people working on it can be proud of.

Additionally, as I said some of the shots I hate and its because I rushed it. I need to take my time and look for solutions to my problems.

My directing style is not up to the standards I want. I need to talk to the actors more and instead of commanding them, assist them in finding what I want them to do. 

My whole editing process needs some work. I get so intrigued watching the finished film that I rush to finish it.

If you are beginning to see a pattern, it appears I rush things too much and have to be more patient. 

Finally, my writing needs some work. I never sought out to create a life changing movie I just wanted to experiment but I’d like to understand the fundamentals of storytelling and narrative a lot more.

Final notes:

I need to film some additional shots to fill in gaps between scenes however overall I’m very happy with this project. Thanks again to everyone who helped on it and here is a little sneak preview of one of the scenes!

David recommends watching this scene at 50% speed. Enjoy... 

[anniefprp]

Rationale

For my PRP, I have made and directed a contemporary horror film that combines the use of found footage with traditional filming practise. I was inspired to create this because I wanted to create something that feels unpredictable and keeps the audience on edge. I was inspired by directors such as Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project), Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground), Denis Rovira van Boekholt (La Influencia, El Grifo) and Troy Wagner (Marble Hornets).

Creating the piece

I really like the found footage genre, because it creates a level of realism that you don’t find when using traditional filming methods, as there is an element of plausibility. It was pioneered by films such as The Blair Witch Project, which sparked debate at its release as to whether or not it was real, and Marble Hornets, a web series posted on YouTube, that sparked similar debates. However, these projects were so successful because they were doing something new. Now, several decades on, the found footage genre is much more saturated. Thus, I wanted to take this genre which I have always enjoyed and draw from its spirit of being unpredictable and unsettling, but to do something new. Thus I came up with the idea of switching from found footage to traditional filming mid-film, in a way which I hope will have a similar effect that found footage films had when they first debuted.

First, I had to find inspiration from the piece. I knew that I wanted to create a piece that started off as found footage and then switched unexpectedly to conventional filming; thereby setting up an expectation for the audience and consequently subverting it.

My first point of reference was existing found-footage style films. My biggest inspiration for the piece was The Blair Witch Project. It popularised the idea of using found footage to make a feature length film. It also gave me the idea of setting the piece in the woods. I liked the atmosphere created in the film in that there is a great sense that the fact that they are out alone in the wilderness means that they are isolated. Isolation is scary because it rules out the possibility of help dealing with the threat. I wanted to emulate that atmosphere in my own piece.

Another piece of found footage filming that greatly inspired me is the ‘Marble Hornets’ series. It did something rarely achieved since The Blair Witch Project in 1999, which is that it created the illusion that the story could actually be real, and it did this by taking the found footage style of filming to a new platform; the internet. It was certainly not the only series of that style to rise in the early days of YouTube, but it was arguably the most popular in that niche. It quickly established, in the same way that The Blair Witch Project did, a reason rooted in reality for the filming to be occurring, and therefore justifying the possibility that it might be real. In The Blair Witch Project, they are filming their own investigation; in Marble Hornets they are creating a short film. This was the second stimulus for the story of my piece- finding a justification for the existence of the “found footage”. I was trying to keep the narrative simple because there were time constraints. Knowing that my actors were going to be my fellow students, and thus a similar age to me, got me thinking about situations I or my peers might be filming ourselves. My idea was a kind of holiday vlog. So, combining this with my first piece of inspiration (filming the piece in the woods) I came up with the idea of a hiking trip! This fulfilled both my criteria (wilderness and justified filming) and was practically very achievable- I wouldn’t need too much in the way of props and costume.

Now that I had a situation, I came to the trickier part of the story; the threat. I had lots of inspiration for this, so it was a question of finding something that was achievable, interesting, and fit with the themes of my piece.

Both The Blair Witch Project and the Marble Hornets series had a supernatural threat. I really loved this idea- a supernatural threat ties in perfectly with the isolation of my scenario because it adds to the audience’s feeling of helplessness and dread- how do you fight something that has no basis in reality? Furthermore, both of the aforementioned supernatural threats are vague and undefined in order to add to the feeling of helplessness. However, there were practical considerations to take into account. Both of these pieces use an abundance of effects and props to create their supernatural menace, and I had to consider how much of this I would realistically be able to achieve. The problem I faced was not only that I would need these elements, but that they would have to be very good, because it’s very easy for something like this to appear quite amateur in an already low budget medium. Overall, I felt that trying to make my threat supernatural would be making life unnecessarily difficult for myself, so I decided to opt for something rooted in reality.

That didn’t mean that any of the above was a pointless rumination, however. There was inspiration I could take from the supernatural menaces mentioned and incorporate that into my own threat. The main thing I had learned was the fear of the unknown. How could I take something possible and incorporate this unknown, dangerous element? This was my inspiration for the character that I created to be the villain of the piece; ‘Red’.

Even his name is an unknown factor. It’s not so ridiculous that it’s clearly not a name, but it’s not a normal choice. Is it an alias? Does he have something to hide? Every decision I made for the character was supposed to make the audience ask themselves questions; how did he get injured? Why is he out here on his own? The element of mystery, as I had learned from The Blair Witch Project and from Marble Hornets, creates a sense of uncertainty in the audience. And this sense of uncertainty creates a sense of unease. I took inspiration from human characters that are unsettling. A film that really inspired me was ‘Us’, directed by Jordan Peele. Some of the characters in that film are doppelgangers, and you can tell which the doppelgangers are because they are unsettling in odd, subtle ways.

Once I had created this character, the story flowed quite naturally from there. Again, I was trying to keep the narrative simple, and I had a serial killer and three innocents alone in the woods together so the obvious choice was to build up to him attempting to murder them. And with that, I had devised my story.

 The creation of the script

 Another thing that adds to the level of realism in a found footage film, in tandem with the element of plausibility, is that often the dialogue feels very natural and un-staged. This is because with many found footage films, such as The Blair Witch Project, the dialogue is largely improvised. I definitely wanted to incorporate this into my piece, because it creates a greater sense of naturalism that found footage creates so well, so when I was writing the script, I used a combination of actual script writing with directed improvisation. For instance: see appendix a.

The parts of the script in italics are improvised action, whereas lines that are important to drive the plot are scripted traditionally.

Alongside creating a script from improvisation I also tailored the characters I created to suit the actors I had cast. My thinking behind this was that it would make the improvisation seem more natural is the cast felt comfortable within the characters that they were playing, and this would encourage natural dialogue and a feeling of realism for the audience. For horror media to be scary, there needs to be an element of truth in it, because if it is entirely removed from reality then there will be no perceived threat for the audience.

Chemistry is also very important on screen, and I was lucky enough to be able to use actors who have known each other for some time, so that the relationships would seem real.

It would have been interesting to do this project with people I didn’t know so well. In that instance, I would have created the characters with them, rather than for them. It would have taken a much longer rehearsal process.

Once I had the script, it was time to storyboard the piece. Storyboarding the found footage section of the piece was easy enough, because it would all be one shot; it could be as messy as it came out, and it just followed the narrative of the scenes I had drafted when writing the script. However, the second section of the piece, which is filmed conventionally, would be more complex. I wanted it to contrast as much as possible with the found footage portion in order to subvert what the audience is expecting (which is a continuation of what is already established). My main inspiration was the film ‘The Hole in the Ground’, directed by Lee Cronin. This film has a really good sequence in where the main character is searching in the woods. It feels very threatening, as if she is in real danger, but you don’t know what the danger is. Careful observation led me to the conclusion that short shot that are quite different from each other are key, because they keep the audience on edge and give them no real time to acclimatise to a shot. Although in contrast, a few longer shots are needed to break it up so it doesn’t seem manic. Another style of shot I had observed in horror films is the shot where you can see something the character on screen can’t, or vice versa. If you can see something the character can’t, it leads to a feeling of helplessness. You want to shout; “watch out!” but you know you are powerless to stop it happening. Here is an example of a shot where I used this: see Appendix b. On the other hand, the shot where the character sees something that the audience can’t creates an unknown for the audience- what is the danger? Where is the danger? An example of this would be this shot from La Influencia (Appendix c) where the main character has seen something before the audience has.

A few other shots that particularly inspired me were from ‘The Hole in the Ground’, which has the sequence of the main character running through the woods that utilises lots of shots where she crosses the screen to show great distance being travelled; see appendices d and e for a direct comparison with a shot that I took, and also the Criminal Minds episode “Mr & Mrs Anderson”, which has a sequence where a character is strangled that inspired my own sequence. I particularly liked the point of view shot of the victim being strangled, because it brought the viewer into the perspective of the victim.

So with all this inspiration I created my storyboard. I knew that there were going to be time constraints- I only had a day to film because my actors were busy. I created my storyboard very specifically so I would know exactly what I wanted. This also meant that on the day I would find a contrast in filming styles- the sound footage would be semi improvised and the conventional footage would be filmed in a very rigorous way. I hoped this would translate to a dramatic shift of feeling in the actual film.

 Filming the piece

On the day of filming, I allowed the actors some time to improvise extra scenes in the section before the threat (Red) appears. This had several purposes- one, to flesh out the more scripted scenes with a few extra snippets to communicate a sense of time- more short scenes gives the impression of time passing. Secondly, I had found during the rehearsal process that the actors were very receptive to the characters and the story, truly embodying them, and I wanted to give the actors a chance to bring their own short sections as a chance for them to demonstrate the choices they had made for their characters. For instance, there were moments that Sam’s character struggled working the camera. This allowed the other characters to make fun of her age, which establishes their playful relationship and that Sam is their elder, and it adds a moment of comedy that will help to lull the audience into a false sense of security. I have come to find that my own personal style of directing benefits from a good ratio of instruction and collaboration. And finally, it gave the actors a chance to warm into the characters before the drama of the second half.

Another challenge on the day of filming, as mentioned briefly above, was the timings. I had only one day to film the piece, as my actors (being fellow third years with their own PRPs to create) are very busy. The story takes place over several days, so I filmed the scenes out of order (for instance, all of the night-time scenes, regardless of their chronology, had to be filmed last). This provided a challenge for my actors, because they had to jump around their emotional states. I tried to help them with this in rehearsals. I kept the story pretty simple, and I made sure that they were all very familiar with it in our first rehearsal, nearly a month before the filming date.

Another simple way of communicating the passage of time was by using different locations, so I found a couple of different wildernesses to film in that were close to each other.

 Editing the piece

Now that I had filmed the piece, I came to the second important part of the process of creating the piece- editing it. Creating the base footage was pretty easy, because I had lots of material to choose from when I had let the actors improvise the found footage, and the second section (contemporary filming) had been planned out to thoroughly that it was mostly just a process of trimming and editing the shots together. But then we came to the more complex parts; visual and sound editing.

The visual editing of the piece was mostly colour grading it. I looked at lots of horror films for inspiration for this. Often horror is set at the night-time, but mine was in the day, so I decided to take out a lot of the brighter tones to make the mood more sombre and less upbeat. I also darkened it slightly. A film that inspired me would be The Ritual, which is also set in the woods. Even though some of it is in day time, the muted colours and the darkness leave you feeling uneasy; see Appendix f for an example. The other thing that I did when editing the piece was to make the found footage section lower quality. This was to add to the homemade feel of it, and to contrast with the switch to conventional filming.

I also had lots of inspiration for the audio. I’m a big fan of horror games; I think an interactive experience, when well executed, can be a terrifying experience. For the soundtrack, I took inspiration from classics such as Slender, created by Mark J. Hadley, which excellently builds tension throughout the 20 or so minutes it spans in a very simple manner. The aim of the game is to collect 8 pages. After every page that is picked up, a new sound starts (e.g. heavy breathing, static sounds, and an unsettling base note). I incorporated this simple layering of sounds to create tension into my piece. The part of my film that is conventional footage is split into three sections (Jo looking for Lucy, Lucy running then being attacked by Red, and Jo finding Lucy’s body). So, inspired by Slender, I added new parts of the soundtrack in each new ‘scene’ (they are not quite distinct enough to be labelled separate scenes but they are definitely distinct. After the first ‘scene’, I incorporated some creepy base notes. In the third ‘scene’ I added more higher pitched, tenser sounds. This created an effect of layering the different sounds on top of each other, increasing the tension. I also saw a short film I liked called El Grifo by the same director that filmed La Influencia (Denis Rovira van Boekholt). In this film, the soundtrack is really thematic, as the film is centred around plumbing, so the soundtrack sneakily features sounds like water dripping to point towards the terror in the film. I thought I could incorporate this into my own work by really emphasising the panting sounds of the two female characters as they run away, because this hints towards how Red will kill Jo at the end; strangulation. It will make the audience think about being short of breath before the strangulation happens.

 The results

Firstly, let’s talk about how I achieved the criteria that I set out to fulfil, before looking at things that could have been improved upon.

The film subverts the traditions found in the found-footage genre by breaking the unspoken rules; the rule that this film is potentially real because it is justified by being “found footage”. It does this by establishing these rules in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere, and then the violent plot shift coincides with the breaking of these rules; the found footage is gone and we turn to conventional filming.

The dialogue feels natural and believable because the characters that actors played were easily accessible and comfortable for them; as I had written them to be. The actors really took to the situation and characters and I loved working with them.

A fearful atmosphere was created in the conventionally filmed portion of the film by the use of camera work that I did, that was inspired by directors such as Lee Cronin, Denis Rovira van Boekholt and Daniel Myrick, as detailed above.

The tension was also enhanced by the sound and visual editing that I did in post-production.

There are a few things that I would have improved upon retrospectively. Firstly, I would have done the vfx (cut on Red’s face) in advance, because it was difficult on location when it was windy.

I would have liked more time to film. Of course, this wasn’t possible, but if theoretically it were, I would like to have worked with the actors to find a more genuine sense of fear, to evoke the same in the audience. This could have been done with breathing exercises to build panic, or we could have workshopped ways to get the actors to a place of terror (in a safe and healthy environment, of course). In fact retrospectively this could have been done in rehearsals to abide with the time constraints of this project. I did this for the last scene though and the atmosphere is right. I did this by having everyone start their drinks and creating the friendly relaxed atmosphere that I wanted at the start of the scene (to lull the audience into a false sense of security before the reveal of Red).

I also think I could have built the tension more effectively. I was going for a real shock to the system when the footage becomes conventional, but I think that the easy atmosphere at the start might have made this change a little too jarring.

[collinson-p]

final evaluation.

Introduction

The project consisted of being placed in groups and appointed a certain image that we then, through many different mediums and tasks, such as having photoshoots to recreate the image, and practising our marketing skills through promotion tasks and pitches, had to eventually develop a film of our creation. We used props, costumes, actors, sfx makeup, editing and audio manipulation to resemble the original image in our own way. Throughout this project we also attended many helpful and insightful progression talks surrounding future pathways and courses we may want to be a part of, and notes were made on each of these.

 Research Presentation 

This project started with each individual class member being assigned a certain photo, allocating us into our groups, joining up with peers sharing the same image. The image I received was that of painter Vilhelm Hammershøi’s piece entitled ‘Interior’ Once in groups we had to discuss the image, how we interpreted it individually along with how it made us feel. Then the groups were assigned the task of researching as much as possible on the photo. We wrote all this down and displayed the information thought and discovered using mind maps, spider diagrams, notes, sketches and mood boards, which we then presented to the class. 

Group Research Work

After finding all this information we collectively decided to take the eerie, creepy horror film style for our project. We however noticed how impactful the minimalism of the original painting by Hammershoi was and how avoiding classic horror film cliches would be a smart idea and make our film unique and stand out to others. Following this we would also be able to capture the same essence of The Interior piece. We also discussed researching ways in which an uncomfortable, uneasy feeling could be felt by the viewer through other various techniques such as how audio can be manipulated to cause suspense through sudden, abrupt moments of silence followed by black, empty shots with loud, terrifying low, monotone sounds. I did a lot of research into how I could use audio to my advantage. I learnt how to muffle audio through YouTube tutorials, looked into downloading sample packs of simple sound effects from film such as glass shattering and an argument, however these feel very cheesy and do not fit the tone our film is capturing. We also went out of campus together to conduct location studies into whereabouts we could replicate certain shots and scenes we desired to include in our piece. Popular places were plain, empty, cold areas where Connor, our model, could stand and look very alone and isolated. 

Photography studio work

We wanted to come together and carry out a professional photoshoot using the type of equipment david wanted to test out such as an LED light, gels to accompany the light, costumes, props and correct location. Due to Connor’s absence I was the model for the shoot and am very pleased with the shots my group captured of me. One of the key things we are focusing on is the tone of the original images we were given therefore we ensured the lighting was very harsh and that all the shots are very moody, bold and atmospheric. The gels were used just as an experimentation to see if we would want to use them in the future and if they worked with our ideas. The mask was used to emphasise on my idea of the figure in the shots having their identity stripped away from them along with the jacket to add to that effect. The shoot lasted a while but was worth it for the shots captured. The rest of the day we spent sorting through the hundreds of raw shots and selecting our favourites as inspiration for the upcoming stages and editing practise. This has been utilised very well so most members of the group could come together and express our ideas. 

Storyboards

As a group and individually we began coming up with ideas on what a film based upon/ taking inspiration from our image would include. We decided as a group to do some brainstorming in a dm room downstairs together and just fire ideas onto mindmaps, and then later more developed finalised storyboards. By the end of the day there were many many individual sheets filled with ideas. It has really been about talking and jotting down any ideas or thoughts. Two are my own individual boards along with with the help of Emily for the shot ideas on the second rough storyboard, the others group ones. 

30 Second Elevator Pitch

We pitched our main film idea in a maximum of 30 seconds presented with storyboards and mindmaps, to the class. David gave his pitch and each group shared their ideas therefore helping each group get inspiration from one another, it was also useful as it gave people more experience in pitching ideas with a time limit. 

Film Work

After days of stand-still my group and I decided the best way to move forward and continue with this project would be to separate into two different groups to become way more efficient and actually make real progression with the many tasks at hand. We have had difficulty coming together and agreeing on creative opinions and ideas and as much as we tried it has become evident that in the creative industry getting on perfectly with every other creator and sharing ideas together can not always happen and for some working alone is what they know best and what they excel at. I am relieved this has been solved but am highly concerned with how far behind my group of three now is so these next few weeks are going to be extremely busy and stressful but I believe with my group we can do it to the best of our ability. I have taken the job of compiling all the ideas we had ourselves on our film storyline and re making a storyboard and planning over our group chat what props, equipment, locations, actors, set etc we need for the few days we have left for filming and capturing the shots we require. An idea came from our research task at the start of the project where Emily discussed the possible idea of ida looking small, trapped, isolated and afraid in the interior painting and how we could explore this idea to which I said an abusive relationship could be an interesting, very dark theme to explore and portray. We knew we wanted a very dark, eerie, simple tone to the film as this is how we all interpret the original image itself as seen on my moodboards. There wasn’t actually many inspiration/ video references we used all the shots came from our minds and I took control of the filming process to ensure we were on track and being the most efficient we could possibly be. A lot of the shots I thought of just fit the theme of being very eerie and disturbing but in a unique yet professional manner. one thing we all agreed to steer clear of was horror film clichés, so jumpscares, blood and serial killer plot lines were out of the picture and I actually really like a lot of the shots we captured. 

Conclusion

Sadly this project has been rather stressful with many issues involved but I believe it has been a very useful learning process. I have learnt new skills about working in groups, how in the real world not everyone will be able to agree on creative ideas yet persevering does not always solve all problems and being mature and focused on the project at hand is what must be put first. I am happy with my editing developments and how much I am improving and know now about the processes and programs themselves. I do not mind my final film but also envisioned it a lot differently but I like how unique it is and how my group got to a good result in the end.

[perilousforest]

A drawing of an Inanimate Insanity Christmas special I’m planning on starting at some point.

The main premise of the special I conceived was that Apple forms an alliance with a handful of her former teammates (Lightbulb, Fan and Test Tube) as they work together to stop Krampus from eradicating the Northern Hemispheres and Christmas from existence.

I’ve spoken to a few users about storyboarding (i’ve always wanted to practise doing it) but I haven’t had much luck. I was wondering if you’d be interested in the project. I don’t have any plans for it right now, but I am hoping to make a change in 2019. I would be more than honoured to have you as a storyboard artist.

No pressure, though. Again, I’m not really planning on starting production right now, but I am hoping to put something together in the distant future. Whatever decision you choose to make, I will respect it.

Let me know if you’re interested in it at all. Have a good day!

- - - - - - - - - -

I’m flattered by your offer but I’m afraid I can’t take the position, sorry! If you’re looking to learn about storyboarding yourself then I’d recommend this guide as a good starting place. It taught me the basics of staging & breaking down character actions so hopefully it can be of some use to you, too.

Wishing you the best of luck with this project and I hope you have a good day as well!

[thinkingaboutwoo]

Inadequate.

Lee Chan | Idol Verse | Angst, Fluff | 852 words ↳ In which you work at Pledis and your boyfriend just needs you to be there for him during his down days. Warning(s): None

It was already well past midnight, but the Pledis building was still bustling with activity. Seventeen’s comeback was approaching quickly, meaning that the members were practising non-stop while the staff worked to ensure the entire promotion period would run smoothly.

You were currently seated cross-legged on the sofa of the staff lounge, laptop resting on the coffee table before it, running through the administrative details you had been asked to look over. Your colleague was seated on the floor, analysing the music video storyboard and occasionally noting down things.

Despite appreciating the silence when it came to focusing on your work, it eventually got to you. The sound of you closing your laptop prompted your colleague to look up, raising an eyebrow in question.

“Just going to take a breather. And maybe check on the boys.” They nodded and waved you off, returning to their work. Leaving your belongings in their care, you exited the lounge and headed towards the practice rooms.

As you walked down the hallways, you heard the sound of loud chatter approaching. And true enough, as you turned the corner, you found yourself face to face with a grinning Seokmin, the rest of the boys behind him.

“Oh! Y/N!” The boys greeted you with friendly smiles and you returned the greetings with a genuine smile of your own. After exchanging pleasantries with them, you took notice of one person’s lack of presence.

“Where’s Chan?” You enquired.

“He wanted some time alone, so he told us to go ahead.” Jeonghan answered, shooting you a look that the others did not catch. Picking up on what he was trying to say, you merely nodded, wishing them goodnight before continuing down the hallways.

It was easy to find him. After all, he was occupying the only studio that still had lights on. A worried expression immediately surfaced on your countenance when you caught sight of his form, hunched over with his palms pressing against the mirror and his head bowed. Not wanting to be rude, you raised your hand to knock. However, you froze upon seeing his body shaking.

He was crying.

You swiftly entered the room, making a beeline for the male. Caught up in his thoughts, he did not hear you approach, only noticing your presence when you wrapped your arms around his waist. He stiffened for a second, only relaxing when he heard your voice.

“Babe?” He remained still for a moment before turning around to face you. A pang went through your chest at his appearance. His eyes were red and teary, nose slightly red as well. All in all, he looked exhausted. Instead of questioning him or offering verbal comfort, you just allowed him to bury his face into the crook of your neck, rubbing soothing circles into his back as he cried.

When he had finally calmed down, he slowly pulled away to look you in the eye, looking both weary and sheepish. You granted him a comforting smile, allowing him all the time he needed to put his thoughts together.

Finally, he spoke up, voice a little bit shaky.

“I feel like I’m not good enough.” You merely blink at him in surprise, choosing to remain silent until he finished. “The others are practising so hard for this comeback, and so am I, but I’m still having trouble with memorising the lyrics and choreography even though promotions will be starting soon. The others have been assuring me, but I know some of them are getting frustrated with me although they don’t show it. I feel inadequate these days. Like I lost the right to be a part of the group. How can I perform with them when I can’t even catch up with them now?”

You listened attentively as he poured his heart out to you, his voice occasionally breaking as tears threatened to spill once more. When he had finished, you reached out to pull him into your embrace.

“All those who wander are not lost,” you started, earning a confused hum from him. Ignoring him, you continued on, “Just because you hit a block now doesn’t mean you’re stuck forever. You struggling a bit with the lyrics and choreography for this comeback doesn’t take away all the good you have done for the team from the start until now, so don’t tear yourself down like that. You’re good at what you do, Lee Chan. The best maknae for Seventeen.”

He had fallen silent at your words, and you take that as a cue to go on.

“In fact, I think you’re pushing yourself too hard right now. Tell you what, how about you take the rest of the night off and get some sleep? Start fresh tomorrow morning and see how it goes from there. You might be able to do better with a little rest.”

You earn yourself a hesitant nod, making you smile.

“You can do it, babe. I believe in you.” His chuckle echoes in your ear as his arms come up to wrap around your waist, causing your heart to skip a beat.

“Thank you.”

⧼ Masterlist ⧽

[hcafilm]

Unit 1 - Part A

SILVER ARTS AWARD

Silver Arts Award Unit 1 Part A: Identify and plan an arts challenge ARTS SKILLS

What art forms are you interested in/do you like?

I am in interested in both literature and the dramatic arts. My favourite playwright is Pirandello whose plays I would to act in in future. I am very much interested in filmmaking also and I have always wanted to discover how films are made.

What arts/creative skills do you already have or feel confident in?

I studied English literature at A-level and used to take acting classes at YATI. Thus, I feel most confident in acting and writing, rather than painting or sculpting. I have looked into pursuing an English Literature degree at a Russell Group university and the future and so something involved with writing or acting out a script might interest me best.

What arts/creative skills would you like to develop or try out?

I would like to work on cinematography. While at YATI, I attended a film-making course, which I very much enjoyed. However, the course was only temporary and I was disappointed when it ended. I feel it would be beneficial for me to boost my cinematography and filmmaking skills using different cameras, so perhaps another film-making course which involved me taking more of an active role now that I am older would be good.

Do you have any ideas for possible challenges you could set yourself? You could discuss this with your adviser and record notes here.

I am very enthusiastic but I am not used to cinematography. I think it would be good for me have a go at giving whichever group I am working in some good cinematography ideas. It would also be useful for me to learn how to better deal with criticism. I feel I respond appropriately to criticism, but there is always room for improvement.

Your challenge

I will be trying a new skill: cinematography. I will be developing my skills using different cameras, both behind the scenes and on-set, as well as exploring shot types, lighting and composition. It will be over a three month period over the summer.

Describe your arts challenge here:

I will be developing my cinematography skills on a film-making project with the Holborn Community Association (HCA) and it involves a group of young people making a film about transportation in London. The project is done in association with the London Transport Museum and will get the opportunity to visit their depot in Acton, which is normally open to the public only three times a year. Once complete, we will have the opportunity to screen our film at a local festival. I am focusing specifically on the cinematography aspect and will be engaging in camerawork.

Why have you chosen this as your arts challenge?

I am already familiar with the HCA, as my mother works there and I know one of the people who is running this course (Chloe). As well as developing my film-making further, I also want to make new friends, who may have similar interests to me, as they will likely also have ‘creative’ personalities. I chose cinematography specifically because it is something I know little about and thus will be a challenge in terms of my creative skills.

What will the outcome of your challenge be? (E.g. an end product, a performance, a demonstration?)

The outcome of my challenge will be a finished product which has been edited and made ready to present to an audience. I will be director of photography for two scenes of our film. Our on-screen performances will be shown to an audience. A previous film this group did in 2019 was a protest piece in support of Black Lives Matter. Perhaps our piece will incorporate similar themes but explore them in relation to public transport. The outcome of my cinematography aspect will be to create a movie using a wide array of shots which have been perfectly planned and which add to the message of our film. That will be the end product.

Arts challenge plan

What steps will you have to take to achieve your challenge?

I am planning to document my progress using an online blog.

I will make sure to learn about relevant movie techniques, such as dutch tilt, which I can use to develop my skills as a filmmaker and to document these. I will practise using different cameras, as well using iPads and professional film cameras and I will explore shot types, camera angles, camera movements and how to piece together all the shots.

Who or what will you need to help you? (E.g. other people, materials, resources)

I will need a film camera, editing software, a large sheet of A4 on which to plan with my group and a Google Docs document with which we can keep a diary of all our ideas and chart our progress for our Arts Award. I will need the help of the transport museum organiser who is helping us, as well as Jack (a filmmaker) and Chloe (HCA) who are involved in our project. In terms of resources, I will need to look up relevant online information. I will also need to take part in the filmmaking workshops that HCA are running.

I will need a professional movie camera and I will need a pen and paper to draw the shot types I have in my head. I will need help and discussion from group members.

How will you arrange this?

I will write an action plan which has mini-goals for my own personal research for the project, as well as goals relevant to the overall group project and also an overall target. I will also include a schedule for each day, although that will be subject to change based on the wishes of the group. I will write a schedule for myself in my own time to make sure I meet all the requirements of my Arts Award and keep track of my development as it progresses.

I will make sure to ask Rio, an intern who is supervising us, and to look at movies of a similar genre to our film to look at how they created a specific mood/atmosphere and conveyed their themes and characters concisely using the cinematic medium.

What targets will you set to achieve throughout your challenge and how will you show you are working towards them?

Firstly, I will aim to have a movie idea which is ready to put into action and which our whole group likes and agrees upon. I will write a brief summary of this idea in this Silver Arts Award Booklet. Then I will aim with my group to put this idea into practise immediately. I will document the early stages of our filmmaking process to show this and I will write a list of the various film techniques (whether related to camerawork, plot, structuring, style, script or acting) and provide links or footnotes to the websites or books in which we found them. I will continue to chart the filmmaking process in my booklet and how our ideas changed along the way. I also aim to have a finished film, which I will show in my booklet and I aim to show this cohesive, well-structured film to an audience and will document this by writing a brief summary/memo/’manifesto’ of what the film will entail and why (and if there is a political message behind or not, and if not, the reasons why). Essentially I will detail the reasons for everything in the book and I will collect audience feedback to put on the blog I have created. The blog will be updated weekly, as well as at the end. I will make important signposts in the blog (at the beginning, halfway through and end of the project) so that a clear structure can be seen and my progress can be noted. I will use relevant images, as well as reels/clips from the film which show my developing film knowledge and teamwork.

I will set a target firstly of learning about films, which I will achieve through the assistance of Rio and by watching iconic films such as The 400 Blows and The Godfather to learn the value of cinematography in conveying a mood. I will then put ideas forward to the group and we can come up with a storyboard together and I will record my progress on our online blog. I will then begin shooting the movie using the shot list I made and upload evidence of shots I took to our blog. I will then make sure our movie is coherent and complete and show clips from it on our blog to prove this (with the consent of those appearing in those clips).

How will you collect feedback about your arts challenge?

I will collect feedback by asking the mentors and those associated with TFL what they think of our project and if it relates directly to the theme of transport. This is necessary to ensure I do not go on a tangent, as before starting this project, I was unfamiliar with the ins-and-outs of the London transport service. I will also talk to people who work for TFL to see what they think of the direction I am going in and see if they think I am being faithful to the work they do and their daily lives. Also, I am going to collect audience feedback after the screening of the film. I hope to have the opportunity to screen the early drafts of the film prior to the private screening we do for our parents, as I want to see what people and think and how I can improve. I will take notes and then write a new plan using these notes of what to do to improve my film in all aspects (e.g. camerawork, acting, dialogue, editing, scenery, colours). I will ask for specific subject-related/arts-related feedback (e.g. symbolism).

[scarlett-stories]

I had the last day of my Storyboarding Course last night

It's funny really, I expected to feel a lot sadder.

As part of it we had to prepare pitches of anything we wanted, which can include short films, animations etc. I decided to opt in for an animation. I won't talk about it too much here as I want to use the story eventually for a web comic, so you're going to have to watch this space :P.

My pitch didn't go as well as I would have liked, but it was a joy to do. I realised during the process that I was already alot faster with my working tactics, for example I managed to put together around 50 thumbnails in about half an hour, which for me is pretty great! With more practise I'll hopefully be able to make this even faster, maybe I should set myself that challenge, draw 50 thumbnails in less than half an hour. That could be fun, and the challenge I always need. I also realised that if I ever got stumped on a thumbnail I can always just come back to it later, work on something else that happens later in the Storyboard that I know how to do, then usually by that point I have more of a clear idea of how I'm going to lay out the thumbnail I was having trouble with. This is a really good working method for me, it means I get more done and I don't give up after getting stumped an a camera angle just once.

Once we'd finished our pitches we all had drinks and graduated, and it was all really nice! I think the reason why it didn't feel too sad is because it didn't really feel like the end. Our tutor will still be giving us work to do online so the course isn't truly over, but the real fact is that it's just the beginning of what will be a long creative journey, and I couldn't be more excited.

I've been speaking alot more to my classmates the last couple of weeks, and annoyingly it was only then that I realised how nice they were. Don't get me wrong, of course they were nice from the beginning, I just find it difficult sometimes talking to people, I need a bit of time, so the 8 weeks we've all learnt together didn't really feel like enough time to go to know everyone properly. This is the thing that I'm sad about, I regret not talking to people more, but I guess this is the good thing about social media these days, you don't have to lose touch with the people you grow fond of, even if it was just for a fleeting moment. May even go for Ramen with one of them soon. :)

So yes, it really was all quite a wonderful experience and I'm so glad I did it. Tell you what as well, here's a panel from the project I was pitching, this is all you're getting for now though, don't want to give too much away right now. :P  

[saskiaelly]

The Origin of The Stars Evaluation

What informed and motivated my design decisions?

I chose The Origin of the Stars as It was a clear story to work with for me, I could see ideas for imagery already and enjoy that whole area of ‘the cosmos’ in general. To begin with I analysed the text, identifying main the themes such as the sun should be scorching, the wind blowing harsh and the moon as the main focus, appearing cool and delicate. Started with two storyboards with two very different ideas, visually inspired by the Mozart sequence and through visual research online looking at different ways of representing the moon, initially with the idea of cut-outs.

However, I was hugely inspired by the animation ‘Charlottes Daydream’ by Marlies van der Wel that I came across through my research, it immediately held my interest and I thought it was quite beautiful to watch. It also ran parallel with my ideas and the subject of my own work, with the same sci-fi, surreal slightly magical theme. My initial moon drawings were a step outside what I’m used to drawing, both the technique of drawing digitally and the style. However, after watching this animation it edged me on to attempt more in that same style and see where I could take it, with no real idea what my work would end up as.

The colour pallet was so similar to mine and the style of illustration is something I have been in awe of for a long time but never dared try myself in fear of not hitting the mark. It just seemed like the perfect mirror of what I was trying to achieve in my animation that I had to use it to develop my work forward. This was the biggest turning point in my development as my animation took off from here.

Throughout the drawing process, I was constantly assessing each drawing; whether it fit right with the others as a consistent set and if I could put them together as a smooth animation. Through my own trials with animating sperate images and some together, it was apparent what worked best and so I moved on to only focusing on the moon as not only did it stand out in the original storyline as the main subject, my drawings for it also provided the most affective visuals.

I looked at Moon Panda That Girl- drawn animation as I wanted to gather more of a range of drawn animation styles to learn from. This animation has a lot of finer details and more overall movement then Marlies van der Wel’s work and I see where I could focus on animating smaller details in my work, like the stars and heat waves in the sun scenes.

I struggled to think of ways to transition my work when drawing. Different scenes from my earlier storyboards as each illustration had a set layout and I needed to link them together to make the animation run smoothly. In my research jump cuts came up often and seemed the best way that wouldn’t disturb the detail of the drawings. I got the idea of using the moon as the subject of all the movement from Charlottes Daydream other parts of my research where an object leads into another scene.  This also helped establish that moving forward my animation would only include the moon.

Analysing Jessica Smith’s illustration helped with perspective and affirm the colour pallet in my work, as well as her similar style to ‘Charlottes Daydream’, I drew inspiration here specifically for my final scenes where I felt more out of my comfort zone drawing more landscape scenes.

What changes and developments has my project gone through?

My project went through the biggest change initially at the beginning of the project was where my ideas where cut-outs and a more abstract design with line drawings. Once I trialled digitally illustrating my ideas, my entire concept changed and my work developed into a new style. After this I was going to include illustrations for the sun, wind and moon from my storyboards, however whilst drawing them, it became apparent that the moon scenes ultimately worked the best and so I scrapped the other scenes and focused entirely on the moon. Adding in the music was another big development as it orchestrated the entire animating that I made to match it. The lights coming on in time to the beat and the telescope moving all fit in time with the music when before there was nothing pulling it all together. The last development to top off my animation was the addition of text, I only played around with a few fonts as the look I was going for in my head was quite particular, a sort of storybook vibe that wasn’t too over the top. From this I had all the bits I needed to put together my final animation.

Did I manage my time well throughout the unit?

For this project I was constantly drawing and analysing my work, more than I would normally, throughout the drawing process. This meant I was aiming to get a lot done on my blog as I knew it would take me a long time to illustrate. I finished my animation in plenty of time as I became more and more confident with After Effects and quicker at using it.

How did I respond to my feedback?

As normal a lot of the issues brought up about my illustrations or animating in the discussion and feedback where by me as I knew when something just wasn’t working very well. I took onboard everything said and my project could only move forward because of this. When it came to the typography and whether or not to just focus on the moon, that’s where feedback was greatly appreciated as they were problems I was struggling to solve. My animation is far cleaner and neater now from that.

Are there any areas of my design process that need more practise?

When it comes to animating, I think I can be a bit braver and try out more difficult ways of transitioning and animating more details. I also need to make sure I’m documenting all the little changes I make without really realising. I tend to have jumps in my work where I haven’t shown my development as I just work through a problem without showing the process.

What have I learnt from this unit of study?

When it comes to animation, I’m fairly confident with using After Effects and I know I can teach bits to myself or pick it up fairly quickly, however I often worry about trying something new in case it’s not as successful as I wanted it to be. With this project I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone. Recently I’ve opted for safer options when it comes to design as I don’t really have any idea what I’m doing, but with this project, by trying to push myself to see what I could create on my tiny tablet screen with my knock off stylus, I’m quite pleased with what I managed to achieve. I’ve definitely become more confident in trying to push myself to become a better illustrator, something I never really described myself as, still don’t really. Through this project I really want to get better, happy as I am with my final project, I now just want to gain more skills and develop my own style as I’m still not sure what that is. I’ve uncovered more I the world of animation and am surprised by how much I enjoyed this project as I was very unconvinced I would be able to make anything good to begin with, setting my standards low at first before I pushed myself to illustrate.

On reflection are there any improvements that I would make to my final outcome?

I would like to include more detail, experiment with maybe the movement of the person on the hill and include more difficult ways of animating. Make the experience feels like there is far more movement but still smooth, like a professional animation essentially. I would also make the clouds in the first scene move more but I couldn’t get that to work in After Effects as the scene moves down from the top, it’s not static like the others. On the whole I am fairly happy with it, if anything I would like it to be longer just because it feels like it flies by however that wasn’t the brief.

[mi4012ellawatson1]

Photography of Heterotopia models

Here is some of the photography of the Heterotopia models. I think that it could have gone a lot better than it did but we still got some good photos. In particular I like the first four images. The first has some really interesting lighting and colours - we used coloured lights in a very dark room to add space like/galactic colours so it would look like it was drifting through the milky way or nebulas . I think it would be good to show where the space station is in my story board and to be able to show space around it from the outside as well as the inside. The second I think would show the small size of the space station in comparison to space outside it well. I also like the harsh light shining on some parts of it and not others. Again the third photo has some interesting lighting and also looks quite good where the light is reflecting on the windows, it slighly looks like reflections of a planet or moon which is really cool too. The floor we were using looks a bit like a moon surface and I like that the light is coming from the inside of the station and that outside it is pitch black. Lastly the fourth photo shows a good view of the inside of the station which is also really important to show as this will give a first person view of what it is actually like to be a person inside. I really like how the light coming through the windows looks a bit like a moon and has created some funny light effects/flares inside. I think including this light in my storyboard would make it really interesting and give it more depth. I am definitely going to use these images as references for my story board as its really brought the model to life.

To improve on this exercise I should really have more practise in photography as I have never done it before. We found it quite difficult to get the settings right and to get it to focus since we were in such a dark room and were trying to focus on such a small and detailed object. If we had had more time and resources I would have liked to try out different background and lights. Overall I am still happy but have now found out that I need to learn a lot more about cameras first.  

[k1816045-media]

Blog 8: A Decision Was Made

This week as a group, we finally came to a decision on the narrative of our group project. Aimed at people of all ages we have decided to create a personal profile through everyday shoes. Each shoe will have their own personality and background in relation to ourselves. We thought this would be a great idea to express ourselves and we all have our different backgrounds and experiences to share.

After watching the Justin Bieber- What Do You Mean? music video (inserted below) we were inspired to incorporate the use of doodling animations and well as audio to create this effect. The software we planned to use was Premiere Pro CC (2018) and After Effects which I’m still yet to use but will watch a few tutorials on line to gain more knowledge and practise. The shoes we’ll be using a plain white, so through using doodle animation we can show the difference of each of a personalities through the doodles and colours we’ll individually be using to express ourselves.

We are currently in the middle of creating our timeline for the project. At the moment it seems like we have quite a bit of time ahead of us but want to save as much time as possible so we can work greatly on the editing and making an effective piece of work.

A storyboard hasn’t been set at the moment, but I’ve gone ahead to do research on creating an effective storyboard using tutorials on YouTube. This was a really good one:

YouTube video 1 available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK_0jXPuIr0

YouTube video 2 available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji2nwkH2JRo

[enchantingnightmaredoughnut-blog]

EVALUATION

For this final project, we had the choice to create either a game, animation or an interactive graphic novel. I chose an interactive graphic novel and to work by myself since it would give me enough work and I wouldn’t have to worry or rely on someone else which could backfire if issues such as communication occurred. The theme of this project was “Thrive or Survive”, we had the choice between the two which gave us a lot of creative choices for this project which was good since I could get creative but with so much choice it was intimidating at first. In the end I choose survive, with the idea of good vs evil being the main focus of the story. I finally came up with the story of two witches having a rivalry between them but having to work together in the end to survive an evil monster.

Research: I collected primary and secondary research all throughout my project, to help with the progress of my graphic novel, from the art to the story. I started by collecting primary research to help develop my idea first, I created surveys and used it to help shape my graphic novel such as what the story should be like, if they wanted a long continues story or short stories and if my little idea of animated panels would work. This helped me decided what needed to be added and how it should be presented in my graphic novel. This helped to finalise my idea and give me a set structure to work around. I collected more primary research all through the project such as play tests where I collected useful feedback which told me all the issues people found with my graphic novel, while also telling me what I could add and what was already good, this helped me come up with ideas and develop a working interactive graphic novel.

I then started collecting secondary research by looking at books, animations, graphic novels with similar themes to my graphic novel, this helped me develop the characters in my graphic novel; their looks, their personality and their purpose in the story while making sure it fit my story and art style. I got a lot of creative choices from research such as having all the background being silhouettes to save time and create a creepy atmosphere to fit my story while allowing the reader to imagine what everything would look like.

Research greatly helped me come up with the idea, improve my project and greatly impact the progress by giving me things to add or change or make my graphic novel better and better for my target audience. I could have done more primary research such as focus groups so I could have collected more research directly from my target audience helping me come up with more ideas I could have added to my project.

If I was to do it differently, I would have collected more primary and secondary research and apply more ideas to my graphic novel so there is a lot of things they are interested in and want in the novel.

Target audience: I determined my audience by research and figuring out what I wanted to do and add, as I came up with the idea of the witches I wanted it to be light hearted and funny, not dark and serious so I thought about aiming it for a young audience around 7+ and as I designed the characters I made them look cute and simple to appeal to the younger audiences. However, as I started coming up with the survival element I figured out it would be much easier to age up the audience just a little higher so they are young but can understand some of the mature themes like death (due to the grim reapers and the fight), so I decided on my target audience being 13-16 year old, both genders since I want it to appeal to a large audience but aim slightly more towards females due to the main characters being female and the style being cute.

I made my project appeal to them by making sure that the tone of the graphic novel was light hearted and fun while also having its intense, action moments, it isn’t too graphic or intense where it would be inappropriate or boring to the younger audience. All the interactive elements I added were to appeal to my target audiences and were so they would enjoy and stay interested in the story; I made it so the speech bubbles got larger when you clicked them so it is easier to read and made sure all the text and story was simple and not over complicated so my young target audience can understand the story. I added animated panels, sound effects and music to help them stay immersed and interested since they could become bored with reading, and adding all these interactive elements adds more for them to play around with while still paying attention to the story.

Pre-Production: I started by creating a proposal to help write down my idea and the skills I’ve learned and will need to use for my project, then I created a one sheet explaining all my idea such as the characters, stories, where I finalised my ideas such as how I wanted there to be two main characters and with the help of surveys I decided to do 4 stories instead of 1 long story. I created character profiles to finalise my character designs and their personalities so I know my character inside and out so it is easy to write and draw them. I also created 4 scripts which helped a lot especially when storyboarding since I already knew what the scenes were. I had some issues at first with my pre-production which mostly involved the scripts since it took a while to write them out and when I started storyboarding and drawing my product I discovered that some of my ideas would take too long to design and I discovered I added too much dialogue which would have cluttered and bored the reader so I had to leave out and change most of the dialogue to keep it short and simple to fit my young target audience. There was a lot of stuff that worked out too, such as the character designs since I knew from research what exactly I wanted the characters to look like and how they should behave, and the storyboard’s helped me plan out how the panels should look and what the scene should look like.

I could have improved my pre-production by better planning my scripts, making sure my ideas were realistic in the time limit I had and make sure I don’t add too much dialogue. I could have improved by having only 1 main character so I can have more development and personality to the story since this time with some many characters there was very limited development due to the stories being short, so characters like Coffee and Marshmallow got very little development. Next time I would improve my work by planning out my scripts better so it doesn’t take too long to do and when I start production I don’t have issues that takes more time to fix or work around. I would also plan out the length of my story better so all characters get development or have less characters so everyone gets development.

Production: For my product I created an interactive elements, I wanted there to be a variety in interactivity to help the reader stay interested and appeal to my young target audience who are very likely to get bored with just reading. So I added a variety of interactivity from clicking the speech bubbles to make them easier to read for the young readers, added sound effects to add immersion to the stories while there not being too many it becomes annoying and there is also free music I added to each story to help add more atmosphere and create the intended tone to the story. The biggest interactivity feature I added throughout the novel was animated panels, panels that change slightly (and create sounds) when clicked, giving the reader the choose to interact with the story if they wanted to.

I faced challenged while creating this project, such as flash crashing a lot so I lost work, flash pixelating my work so some of the images and mostly the speech bubbles became harder to read so I had to work around that (making the larger text more readable) and due to the time limit I wasn’t able to add as much detail to the art so they art is very simple and very little variety since there wasn’t enough time to test out and sketch out different poses and looks which would have just taken too much time and would have resulted in only half of the stories being completed. There was some issues I found with the sound effects and music such as there being no time to create my own sound effects so I had to use free sound effects which was very limiting and sometimes the sounds weren’t as fitting or were too short or long than I wanted which I did try to fix but I couldn’t fix some of them without it sound worse. The music was also long and the stories were short so I added an on and off music button by the music can play over each other and can only be stopped with the off sound music which turns off all sounds including sound effects which can be confusing and annoying.

There was a lot that went well, like the speech bubbles working, the animated panels change how I wanted them to change and have working sound effects. I was also able to add all the pages I wanted to do even the author sections where I explain more of the world. It also ended up being suitable for my target audience with the colourful characters, the story, the variety in panel layout and the interactivity helps keep my target audience interested (discovered though play tests) and resulted in most of them wanting to read it again and again. The final product was very close to my initial ideas, the story worked out how I planned it with some scene changing, the characters were the same and the layout of the whole graphic novel worked out how I wanted it to work, I even added more than I originally planned such having more sound effects and music and I even created a trailer which I created since I discovered how most graphic novel were marketed and I wanted to practise creating a trailer as if I was actually realising an official graphic novel.

I could have improved my graphic novel by changing it to be just one story instead of 4 so I could focus more on the art and story, allowing me to create more variety in the art due to there being more time to focus on it. I originally planned to have fully animated panels but due to there being very little time and there being loads of animated panels so I could only slightly animated them, so if I could do it again I would have improved the animated panels and make them fully animated and more detailed. I would also could have improved by learning how to use flash more since I found so many issues with it, such as discover and fix the issues I had with colour or worked around it such as not use the colour red since that was the colour that had the most issues, I would have also tried to fix the issues I found with the buttons so the music and sound effects don’t overlap each other and cant be spammed since this can ruin the immersion I wanted to create which makes it annoying or confusing for my audience.

So next time I will give myself less work, so I can put full effort on the little work I have, by developing all the characters, giving time to carefully create each panel so they are detail, individual and a variety in images to keep the reader interest and have it clearly explain the story and the work/ characters even without dialogue. Next time I will also create my own sound effects and either buy or ask someone to create the music for me so all the sound effects are fitting and made exactly for my graphic novel, so it is perfect together fixing all the issues I found this time with the music and sound effects. I would also like there to be more of the theme in the graphic novel since there was only little moments of survival in the graphic novel, next time I would plan more around the theme better.

Conclusion: I’ve learned so much from this project such as how to create animated buttons on flash, add music and sound effects and how to overall create an interactive graphic novel on flash. I also learned more drawing skills on Photoshop and how to create/design a graphic novel; from the panel layout, the speak bubbles and the how to plan such as storyboards and scripts for a graphic novel.

My favourite part of this project was designing the individual character, I liked the whole Halloween theme so designing characters under the Halloween theme was fun, from the colours, to the outfits to all the different monster species were fun to think up and design.

The most challenging part of the project was using flash since so many issues came up and I had so many limitation due to limited time and lack of knowledge on how to use to flash, so it was hard to figure out how to create buttons and other features and also having issues with the colour and with the software shutting down. So next time I would save more often so I don’t lose as much work and try to work around the issues and learn more about the software so I know what I can and can’t do.

I will use all the knowledge and skills I have developed in this project for the future, like my new knowledge of how to use flash like how to create buttons, add music and sound effects and how to use the layers correctly. I can use my new research method and what I collected like CELTX for writing out scripts, and I know how to create and design a graphic novel from the layout to the complete final graphic novel. I also know a little of how to create a trailer and promote a graphic novel so I can try to do this again for the next project of use the knowledge I have and develop it more to learn how to promote our projects/products.

Overall I am proud of my graphic novel and I am proud of how I managed to complete it, and I am happy to know what I could improve for next time and what my weaknesses and strengths were.

[tumblunni]

Oh man I NEVER EVEN KNEW about ‘overshooting’! you dont even notice it in the game but wow that explains why the skullgirls attack animations seem to hit a lot harder than most fighting games. Like seriously, just a split second of one fist going cartoonishly big at the end and then snapping back to normal. Its amazing that its the snapback that does it, not even the exaggeration! It can be such a small size increase, or even just a darkened outline or a move continuing forward further than the actual moment of impact. Like a lil slide after they come back down, but before they jump back into the default position. SO FASCINATING!!! And there was a really cool example from street fighter of a character’s sleeve poofing up when they punch, and then flowing back down, to give the same impression!

And how going off model is necessary for good animation! Silly looking smears are completely fine as long as it leads to a fluid animation. She literally calls it ‘breaking the body’, and encourages you to abandon anatomy for the biggest impact keyframe. “You don’t have to make every frame look perfect, you’re creating one piece of movement, not individual pieces of art.”

Its really interesting to hear how they like.. do animation as the last stage. Well, they do the animation but they dont.. complete drawing it? They make a playable build using their storyboard sketches, and then later their lineart animation, and etc. And they playtest it each time and send notes back on anything that looks wrong while in motion, so they can catch it early and save a lot of wasted work. Thats such a simple yet effective ay to do it! I can’t believe i never thought of it!

Also i really admire that miss cartwright says she’s very nervous giving the presentation, and generally has a very personable honest friendly attitude. I mean, you can tell she’s just a normal person and she may be good at animation but that doesnt mean she could do this presentation effortlessly. It seems like she put a LOT of work into practising for this, and it really paid off! None of this stuff would be so fascinating if it wasnt delivered so well in a really accessable sort of teaching style!

Holding frames at different intervals can make a huge difference, wow! She does say how its super important to work within your hardware and to your boss’s specifications though, some games arent lucky enough to actually be able to have variable framerates. But WOW, Skullgirls looks so much better with it! She showed an example of one of cerebella’s moves, and how it doesn’t read very well at all when every frame goes by at equal speed. It just looks like.. well, if you wave a ruler back and forth? It looks like one wiggly squiggly arch rather than emphasizing what actual movement is happening. When stuff is that fast, you need to remember that the human eye isnt gonna take in the detail of every single frame, so you need to slow down or otherwise emphasize the bits that’re important to the move. Plus also, having an equal framerate means that smear frames can be too SLOW, and be more easily visible, thus breaking immersion! So in the final version the smears run faster than the rest, and the frames at the start and end are slowed down. (when she’s raring up for the attack, and once her fist actually clenches and grabs the foe)

Again, I had NO CLUE that ‘hitstop’ was even a thing! The technical term for the sort of ‘slow motion after the impact’ thing. Its not usually as extreme as it is in the end of boss battles in Kingdom Hearts, for example, usually its more like just two miliseconds of the enemy staying in their downed pose before falling to the ground and bouncing back up. Again, its about speedup and slowdown to emphasize impact! If you just leave the game’s programming as-is and don’t bother to account for this, you have characters recovering from the hit too fast and it doesnt even look like it hurt. I think this is probably related to the concept of ‘mercy invincibility’, too? Thats kinda a way to give the PLAYER a moment to react to the attack!

Another really interesting tip- the reason why games snap back to the idle animation! She says its actually very bad to animate in-betweens of a character returning to their idle pose, snapping back is way better. It doesnt interrupt the idle, and you don’t have to think about animating a return pose that fits equally well with every different attack. plus it slows down combat cos the player cant immediately attack as soon as they’re back on their feet. overly long recovery animations can lead to a character thats disproportionally weak to getting stunlocked! Plus it just gives a sense of speed and badassery to a fighter who can flow so seamlessly back into the action.

I also like that she talked about the things she wasn’t happy with in her work, and used them as teaching examples. That takes a lot of self confidence to be able to talk about! I’ve gotta agree with her, that less frames is snappier sometimes. Its not always about looking the most artistic, in a videogame stuff has to be speedy enough to match with the limits of the action. And I loved the bit where she showed how completely 100% even frame amounts can make stuff have less impact, how removing just one frame from the fist buildup made a punch attack so much better looking!

A funny anecdote: apparantly they went a bit overboard with the first attempt at jiggle physics. They had the problem of too many frames in an idle animation, ENTIRELY because of the boobs! So lol, its nice to know they put the effort into making everything look more realistic and actiony, even the silly fanservice bits.

Oh and at the end she reccommends some sites that archive fighting game animation sheets! Even professionals still love playing and researching other games for reference! zweifuss.ca and fightersgeneration.com