2nd Year

So, so far we have a few interesting projects on the go.

Sound.

We are having work shops and what not to do with sound and had to create a sounscape the other day that told a story.. it could be anything so long as it was under 3minutes long. To begin with I though I would just chose soemthing simple like someone's process of getting up in the morning, but I then found that quite a few other people had also decided to do this. Witin my time limits I decided it would be possible to show something quite sinister and went with what sounds you would here a bulimic person make whilst they were having a binge. No pleasant but i think it worked well, and it gave me the opportunity to set a tone using music and sound effects to express what was happening.
This task helped me to practice my Audition skills which were a little rusty.

Animated Exeter.

Originally I missed the first briefing which I suppose put me at a disadvantage. And I was frustrated to find that once again, all the groups had been decided on, and ideas had already been passed about, so i had already misssed out on the creative ideas process. Also I was concerned that if I showed an interest in organising the Careers day for the festival that we would lose out on the grades, also that everyone else is adding to their creative portfolio and we would not be.

But I am glad I decided to get involved. I enjoy organising things, though I do feel that some aspects are a bit beyond me, like coming up with a good guest speaker, as my knowledge of theindustry is still fairly sparse in comparison to some of my class mates.

The Pitch

Is a little daunting. The idea that someone from the industry is actually going to sit and listen to us talk about our idea is quite a big thing. Even though its not for real. Even though I had my own ideaI didnt want to go into this project alone as I find with presentations I work much better in a pair or a team, so that we can support one another.
I chose to work with Charlotte and Holly as they had an idea to work from the stating point of 'Tear Drops Blossom' which I originally suggested they watched. It seemed like a sweet idea and something i could really get involved with.

Animate TV

'Seven contemporary artists use an innovative array of animation techniques including stop-motion, rotoscope, hand-drawn, cut-outs and computer animation. '

I found this on 4od and thought it might be worth a look, and it is. The first film is stop motion using unwanted ornaments, discarded in a shed, and it showed the social hiarchy within the characters and life. Whilst being entertaining and following a story, you are also remind that the characters are still porcelain.

I also really loved one called Tear drops blossom, it had a really nice look to it, being made of cut outs and the story was really sweet.

The Corpse Bride

I finally got round to watching Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, after wanting to watch it since Seeing the trailer years ago! I love the way he used colour to differentiate between the world of the living and of the dead, and I think it worked well that it was the reverse of how we would traditonally view those two worlds. The land of the dead was a vibrant place full of fun and laughter, as well as horribly dismembered bodies!
I like the style of the animating, it has a sparse quality, done well but not showing off.

I love the land before time!

Just sat down and watched one of the land before time films, and realised how much I appreciate the art work, the big rolling landscapes. I know 2D work isnt the most popular thing right now but i really enjoying watching it, and hope it doesnt become a lost artform!

I just watched...

This really interesting film about Pixar animation studios and their journey to becoming a successful studio. it was really interesting, as the directors for each of the feature length films discussed the problems that they faced on the indiviual productions, starting off with the first toy story. I remember wacthing that and being totally amazazed and it was good to hear about how it came to be and the processes that were gone through to achieve it.

der kleine Maulwurf- the small mole

My friend from back home sent me a link to the animation on youtube to cheer my up just before our deadline. Its all about this little mole awakening from its hibernation.
I like the simplistic style of the piece and I think that the Backgrounds are really beautiful, though not realistic.

Always disappointed in the end.

I dont understand where I am going wrong? How did I manage to get a 71. for the presentation when Holly and I put such little amount of work in? And how, When I have worked sooo damn hard this term on these groups projects, getting involved wherever I could, did I only get another meagre 61!? I feel as though all the work was for nothing, not really recognised. Should this be expected as this is how my future in animation will be?

Reading through the feedback from the group project, it was not even mention that I was involved in pre porduction for both the students project and the Library project. It feels as though that was totally ignored. I also did some sound work unlike many others.

I found the group crit on tuesday very frustrating and even upsetting at one point.
It wasn't necessary to ask me to discuss that particular quote in front of everyone, as it put strain on a currently rather fragile friendship, which had already been truly pushed to its limits during this last project.

I don't feel I can thoroughly review my work and talk through my frustrations with things through a blog as they are public and very readily available to my classmates who I would not wish to offend.

Fin.

It's such a relief to be able to say I am finished, and there is nothing left to do for this deadline. I've enjoyed this last term even though I have found the work quite testing and a little frustrating at times. I've learnt a lot about the importance of good communication within a team and how vital it is, in order to get work produced on time. I would say I have also experienced bad communication from others, when involved in their groups and hope that they know better for the next project we all undertake.

If I were a producer again, I would try to arrange a prompt briefing about the project as it really delayed the beginning of the prodcuction, not knowing what w were meant o be doing and I felt as though the post production team were simply left to sit about with nothing to occupy them. Though I did try to encourage them to get involved in pre production for over teams while we waited to hear from MARK.

This year has had a steep learning curve, but I think, and hope I done ok and am looking forward to working ten times harder next year!

Sound for Walk You Lazy $%&*!

Yesterday Charlotte asked me if I could put the sound to James' animation of an old man trying to catch the bus but the bus driver put up an offensive message and drives off.
I used the foley sound that we recorded on tuesday in the studio of me humming in a manly fashion as well as several different sounds which i downloaded from The Free Sound Project (Which incidently i think is one of the most useful websites i've used in a long while) I was really pleased with how the sounds lined up with action and it quite interesting to see how adding sound to a piece can change it so dramatically.

A Soundless Rhino

This is the quicktime of my rhino before putting it into Premiere and adding the voice clip and slamming door sounds. Although I am very pleased with the piece in genral and think the actual lip synch looks good, I m not happy with the characters walk and if I had more time I would definately do a lot more work on it, to get it looking likea fluid motion as at the moment it seems quite stilted.

the end is nigh

the project is coming to an end, and i'm really pleased that two out of the three animations have been completed. However I am concerned about Alex's animation as he seems set on making it more and more complicated and completing it is reliant on there being good weathe rin the next day and a half.
I have also just recieved an email from Anna at MARK, with feedback about Ceri's animation asking fro it to have the colours inverted, the end section removed and the rest of it to be made to last the full 15 seconds. How can I ask Ceri to basically start all over again, when he has already worked so hard?

With the Students project all my lip synching is complete and I am just waiting for Richard to arrive and supply a cleaner version of the voice track and then i can render the animation and it will be complete which is exciting!

Gathering all my work together has been quite an experience and taught me that an organised desktop might be a good idea for next year!

Switching Teams

I found myself frustrated yesterday evening to find that a member of my animating team had decided to switch to a different group, swapping with someone else without informing me.
How I am suppose to check people are doing their work, and working in line with the brief if i dont even know that they are part of my team, im not sure.