Applied Animation: Style/ Aesthetic Mood Boards

In preparation for Monday's session, Katy and I went ahead and created a few mood boards that express what kind of style we are interested in exploring. Although we know we want to use watercolours we hadn't actually discussed how we wanted to use the watercolours or what we wanted to create with them. Taking a step back from what we already, we thought about different styles and techniques of watercolours and put together a varied selection of what we would like to explore during material testing.

Styles for backgrounds

Styles for characters

I focused upon creating a mood board for both characters and environments, as I feel that it may help to use a slightly different style for the characters to help them stand out more, however, I also wanted to explore different ways in which texture could be created for the characters using the medium. This isn't necessarily something we want to create for the backgrounds, as we don't want to draw attention away from the characters. 

For the environments I focused on looking for methods that created simple, slightly textured effects but that were still appealing and interesting to look at. I also wanted to find examples of depth created with this medium and found that a lot of paintings tended to blur the trees that were in the background or make the colours lighter and less obvious. This is definitely something that we should look at, as it help to give depth and perspective to our environments and help to make them appear less flat. 

For the characters I wanted to primarily focus on how to create interesting textures. Personally I want the audience to be aware that watercolours are being used so I searched for images that used the medium in a messy, unstructured way. I really like the idea of using a range of colours and letting them blend together to create a texture that somewhat resembles fur. 

Whilst I was looking at colours and textures Katy was looking at a more basic use of the materials and explored how the materials work and what they look visually and suggested what they could be used for. 

Katy's Mood Board

I really like what Katy has been looking at and I feel that we have a really good ground to start our material tests with.

Applied Animation: Further Environment Mood Boards

As an after thought I began to wonder about whether it would be worth exploring the idea of interviewing the wolf at twilight, as they are nocturnal creatures and I put together a small mood board.

Twilight setting

However, after researching what a twilight setting would look like, I feel that it may be too dark for our purposes and may lead to our character not being fully visible. Despite this, I feel that we should still experiment with settings like this to make sure that this is or is not something we would like to work with.

Applied Animation: Environment Perspectives and Colour Pallet Moodboards

As we decided to work on environments together, I wanted to put together a few mood boards that would help us to stay on the same page in terms of aesthetic, perspective and style. I also wanted to source out some extra influence to go with our primary research, as I'm not so confident in designing and I wanted to make sure that I could produce something that Katy could at least work with.

General Environment

I showed Katy this mood board and she agreed with what I had been looking at and said that perspective was also a really important factor to consider alongside colour. Taking this into account, I went away and created a few more mood boards on the specific environments for our two characters. I looked back at our research and found references of the forests that our characters actually live in, as this would help give our work some authenticity and help to tell our story better. I wanted to focus on colours and shot framing and think about perspective too.

Boar Environment

Wolf Environment

Although the locations are in separate parts of the world (The Forest of Dean, England and Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany) I found that the colour pallets were very similar. However, there are quite a few slight differences that will help us to distinguish between the two separate environments. For instance, the Bavarian Forest has a lot more rocky terrain than The Forest of Dean. the Bavarian Forest also appears to have a lot of fog in certain areas, which I thought could be used to help strengthen our wolf character, as it links in with the whole idea that wolves are secretive creatures. However, this is just a thought and is something that we are going to experiment with when we come to do our material tests. 

Applied Animation: Progress Meeting 29/01

Yesterday Katy and I shared what we had done in terms of characters and script and discussed what else still needed to be done in order to complete pre-production. Other than completing her character designs, Katy had also decided to conduct some digital colour experiments to try and gain a better understanding of what kind of colours we were looking for.

Katy's Colour Tests

Whilst I appreciated this, I also felt that it wasn't necessarily needed, as it didn't give us any inspiration for textures so I suggested to Katy that she looked at the mood boards I had created for the colour pallets and suggested that she made some of her own too to help her find inspiration for more appropriate colour tests. I also suggested that we both create mood boards for the style of watercolours we want to use, which she happily agreed to.

In terms of project development, Katy did mention that she is a little behind our project plan, however she feels that she can catch up without putting too much pressure on herself. I have also encouraged her to try and get on with the small tasks such as mood boards as soon as possible to get them out of the way and to keep the project moving forward.
Environment design is what we are looking at next and we have agreed to start by looking at colour pallets and perspective mood boards on top of our primary research to give us a solid starting ground. We agreed early on that these were going to be done in watercolours, as we both wanted to explore using both digital and traditional media, but we have yet to do any material tests. 

Although I managed to get the dialogue scripted and record Matt and Max in the sound booth, I am struggling a little with finalising the script and writing it up to start storyboarding. I mentioned this to Katy and we agreed to work on the script and storyboards together in next weeks sessions. On top of this, Katy and I are going to conduct material tests and start to work on environment designs. 

Overall, I'm pleased with the progress we have made despite feeling like it is moving a little slower than I would like. I believe we are heading in the right direction and that we will be able to pick up the pace and keep on track with our production plan. 

Applied Animation: Character Positions and Colour Pallet Mood Boards

Colour is going to play a very important role in our animation as it will help to make our animation feel more natural and realistic against our talking animals, so it is important that we use the right shades and tones of colour. Katy and I feel that by incorporating natural colour schemes it will link in with our message and help to drive that home to the viewer. We also wanted to gather some research into the positions of the animals to help us when we are animating. So Katy and I decided to create some mood boards to make it a little easier. I started with the colour pallets of the characters and found that each character has a very similar tone in terms of fur/ feather colour. Although there are slight differences, I have a feeling that they may be slightly harder to see against the environments if we stick to the neutral brown tones of these animals and this is something that Katy and I will have to discuss. However, I went ahead and tried to find animals that had slightly different colours (e.g lighter or darker fur), as I think it will make the characters more appealing if they have unique and unusual colours.

Boar Colour Pallet

Wolf Colour Pallet

Robin Colour Pallet and Positions

Despite the fact that I'm not a huge fan of character design, I actually enjoyed researching colour pallets for our characters, as I have a huge interest in colour within animation and I am fully invested in choosing the right colour themes within our animation. After researching all of the animals, it's become clear that we will need to experiment and explore a very neutral colour scheme with only small splashes of colour. Having said this however, I do feel that there is plenty of room to incorporate blends of colour in the fur of the boar and the wolf. Particularly in the wolf, I have found that they have a very distinctive pattern around the eyes, similar to the distinctive red breast on the robin, which would help to make our character very appealing. I definitely want Katy and I to explore using these patterns and colours to find the right style for us to use in our animation. 

Boar Positioning 

Wolf Positioning One

Wolf Positioning 

I then looked at the perspective and position of our characters, as this is something that will also be really important. If the characters don't fit into the environment properly, I don't think that the animation would work as well because it would be distracting to look at. Not only this, but I also want to improve upon my perspective, and I feel that this is a great time to do so. When looking at the references I wanted to collect images that would not only help with perspective but also get the ball rolling on shot framing and depth of field. I was looking for images that made the characters the focus of the frame through positioning and how much environment was focused on around the animal. As you can see I found this task a lot easier with the wolf than I did the boar, as the position we've chosen for the wolf is very common among wolf photographs. Despite this though, I feel that I managed to gather enough information that will help to inform both characters and how we should approach shot framing in our animation. I also managed to find a few images that may help us deal with the problem of texturing the boar. It may be worth considering putting in a slight pattern for the boars texture to try and suggest the coarseness of its fur. 

I also decided not to do a separate board for the robin, as it will be standing throughout the whole animation, so I incorporated the positioning into the colour pallet board. 

Overall, I believe that we have a enough visual information to start conducting material and colour tests and I'm actually feeling pretty excited about getting started. 

Applied Animation: Refining Characters

Whilst I was drafting an initial script, Katy set about designing the characters we had chosen for our animation. Although Katy was the leader of this process, we wanted to make sure that we were on the same page and decided to each create a mood board for the characters so we could compare our ideas and then decided what kind of line style and aesthetic we wanted to work with.

My Mood Board

Katy's Mood Board

We had very similar ideas when it came to the character design and I was pleased that we were on the same wavelength and I was happy to let Katy go ahead and start designing. Once Katy had completed her initial sketches of the characters, she sent them to me so I could have a look and give her feed back on what she had done. I think she has done a nice job of designing the characters and I am pleased with her progress. 

Wolf Feedback Sheet

For the wolf character,  I suggested that Katy needed to look at the shape and proportion of the her character more and attempt to keep the character within the confines of a rectangle. This is something that I noticed happened a lot with the characters in The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea, which are both influences to both Katy and I. This would make it a lot easier for us to animate the character, and it would also help Katy to make the character symmetrical and focus on her line work and keeping it simple. I also suggested that she work on the eyes a little more, as I feel that they are going to be very important to portraying emotion. I also encouraged her to look at creating more finalised version with clean smooth lines.

Boar Feedback Sheet

For the boar character I suggested that we used the bottom character design, as I found it more appealing. I also suggested that she attempt to draw it sat down, as this is how the character will be positioned in the animation. I feel that Katy did really well with this design despite the fact that she was struggling a little with the main characters. 

Robin Feedback Sheet

Katy did a great job with this character and I feel that she was very invested in the design of this character, I'm pleased with her designs and I feel that these are her strongest out of the three. I much preferred the blue and red designs however, I suggested that we went for the red designs simply because I like the contrast that it will create against the boar and the wolf.

Katy's Final Wolf Character 

Katy's Final Boar Character

Katy's Final Robin Character

I'm pleased with Katy's final character designs and I feel that  we can work with them in our animation. I also feel that she has done a great job at refining her designs and I'm glad that she took on my advice and adapted it to what she thought was appropriate. All the characters work well together and the lines are nice and simple and clean, as we discussed in our progress meetings. 

Applied Animation: Gathering Environment Research - Bolton Abbey

To help gather inspiration points for our environment design, we decided to go to Bolton Abbey, as we thought that it would be an appropriate location to gather influence. However, although the area had a few woodland patches, I personally didn't feel like it had what I had pictured in my head when we came up with the idea. However, it has given us some nice visuals for perspective and placement of the characters and I feel that they will do as a starting point.

Primary research mood board

In order to gain a better starting ground and understanding of how we want the perspective of our animation to look, I think it would be beneficial to create a few more mood boards that depict different perspectives and colour schemes.

Applied Animation: Learning to Lip Synch

As part of the animation, Katy and I will have to animate the animals talking. This is something I've never actually done before, nor do I know how to do it. So I started by looking at Richard Williams' Animator's Survival Kit. In it I found some really useful tips on animating dialogue and learnt that there are actually only a few main mouth shapes we make when we're speaking and that the rest of the words we kind of just mumble and slur. The book also suggested that you don't necessarily have to create every single mouth shape, but focus more on the important vowels and consonants that change the shape of your mouth whilst you talk and this will also create the illusion of speech quite well.

Because we are focusing on animals I searched for phonetic charts that showed the mouth shapes of animals to make it a little easier to create the shapes. Although the book and the chart will help me to get started with this section of the animation, I feel that I would benefit more from practicing with some simple sentences. To do this I will sit in front of a mirror at home and attempt to animate a few words to see how it will work. I've also decided to record our voice artists while they talk in order to see how their mouth moves when they are talking in character to help with the mouth shapes and the personality of the characters.

Animal Phonetic chart

Applied Animation: Drafting the Script - Focusing on the Dialogue

For our animation, Katy and I have decided to present the information in a Creature Comforts sort of way by interviewing the 'animals' in such a way that their responses reveal the information we found through researching our topic in a more interesting way. For this we decided to involve Matt and Max, as we thought that they'd be the most open when acting out the parts of a Wolf and Boar and that they'd bring a touch of comedy to the animation as well.

Not ever having written a script before, I decided to create a mock interview with Matt and Max to see how they would respond naturally to the set questions Katy and I had decided to ask (these are: What do you do in your spare time?, How do you help the environment? and What do you think of the humans?). From here I was able to listen to their responses to help me put together a more refined script for them to then read from at a later date. It also helped me gain a better grasp on the amount of time we had to play with and what we could actually achieve within our time constraints. 

However, the 'free-for-all' recording session didn't help as much as I thought simply because they each spoke for too long. This left me with so much content to play with and I struggled to pin point what I wanted to use and what I could discard as irrelevant. I also felt that they didn't necessarily touch upon the points I had given them in a clear enough way. Despite this, I did manage to get a draft script written up and from here I will be able to conduct another mock interview to see how the script works and find which bits aren't needed, as I feel that the scripts are still too long for the 2 minutes that we have.

Boar script

Wolf script

Overall, I feel that I have learnt a lot in terms of story from this small, yet important, part of pre-production. It is important to make the point of the story clear from the very start and to not stray from that point throughout the animation to help keep it clear for the audience. I found that it is also important to make sure that you leave long enough pauses for a gag or joke to be taken in and understood by the audience for it have the most effect. Although I have never done this before, I think that I have managed to do a good job at making our story clear and relevant. 

Applied Animation: Finalising our Ideas and Production Plan

After speaking to Katy in today's morning session, we came to a decision on what our final idea should be for our animation. Based on the research I had done, we decided that we'd like to explore the benefits that keystone species have on our environment and promote the reintroduction of such animals. To do this, we'd deliver factual information through characters (the keystone species we're focusing on) about the benefit that these keystone species have on the environment and this would be done through interviewing the creatures in a Creature Comforts kind of style.

Now that we have our idea down, we were able to set up a production plan to help us effectively plan out our time and to give us an idea of how long each process would take and how long we should be roughly spending on each stage of the animation.

First half of production plan

Second half of production plan

From here we started to split roles and responsibilities between ourselves. As Katy is most interested in pre-production, she took responsibility for character design, pose sheets and expression sheets and storyboards whilst I took the script, as we felt that I was better suited to write the story, audio and post-production and we have agreed to both work on environment design, animatics and animation to help split the work load.

During this session Sara also came to speak to us about our idea and she thought that we had developed a good base to start writing a script from. The only suggestion she made was possibly having a small creature as the person in between rather than a large one like the sheep we originally thought of. This will help to create a better contrast and make it more visually interesting. She also advised us to possibly think about reaching out to the charity to propose what we intend to do in our animation to see if they are interested in using it for their website. Overall, I'm really pleased with the feedback received from Sara and I'm looking forward to moving forward with the project. 

Applied Animation: Further Research - Countryfile on Wild Boar

I recently watched an episode of Countryfile whilst at my grans that was focused on some issues surrounding the the peaks, however it was the section on the boar in Devon that interested me the most. I can't say that the section was particularly positive about wild boar in the area, however it did offer an insight into how people of the surrounding areas felt about the presence of the animal.

The episode focused on the fact that, whilst many of the locals are intrigued by these animals, some have had some negative experiences with the boar and fear that they are a danger to the community. the episode also focused on how the boar have become somewhat of a nuisance to local farmers due to them destroying land. However, the episode also pointed out that the boar are actually in fact quite shy and are nocturnal, so don't regularly interact with people. Again, although it isn't much different from what I already have, it is nice to have a rounded selection of information to begin building my script from. 

Applied Animation: Further Research - Sustainable Man: How Wolves Change River Flow

Continuing on with my research into the benefits of the reintroduction of wolves into Britain, I came across a video created by Sustainable Human (a transition consultancy company that helps to promote changing the world for the better to become a more sustainable world) that went through some of the advantages of the re-introduction of wolves in The Yellowstone National Park in the US.

I found this video extremely useful and it was great to be given so many advantages to choose from when I consider what content to place in my script. It was also nice to learn that the re-introduction of the wolves also encouraged the another keystone species, the beaver, to begin to re-populate the area too, improving on the ecosystem even more. 

Not only this, but the video also explains how the reintroduction of wolves also helped to change the behaviour of the rivers. By changing the behaviour of the deer, vegetation and plant life is able to grow and replenish, which in turn stabilizes and reinforces the banks of the rivers, thus leading to less erosion and the banks cave in less. This in turn causes the rivers to become more fixed in there courses, stabilizing the flow of water and creating more suitable habitats for creatures.

Applied Animation: Research - Rewilding Britain

In an attempt to gain a better working ground for our idea, I decided to begin researching the reintroduction of wild boar in the UK. After looking through a few unofficial sites I came across a site called Rewilding Britain and this is where I have decided to do my research to start with, as the site is very informative and explores the same issue that Katy and I are dealing with in our animation; the issue of reintroducing species once native to Britain to improve the environment.

Rewilding Britain is a charity set up to help begin to reverse the ecological damage we have done to the environment. They intend to do this through providing people with the correct information about the benefits of reintroducing 'keystone' species. These are species that are crucial to a properly functioning ecosystem, and they include animals such as wild boar, beaver, grey whale, lynx and even wolves. Research has shown that these keystone species are crucial to the environment, as they drive ecological processes and have a much larger impact on the environment than people realise. Trophic cascades refer to ecological processes that occur from the top of the food chain down to the bottom, and it is this discovery that has led to the realisation that living systems can't function properly when they are missing keystone species, thus, these species are to play an important role in Rewilding Britain. 

Reading through the rest of the site, I found that they had created small little fact files about each of the species and what effect they would have on the environment and so on. I found these to be extremely useful and have decided to create my own little fact files based on the information found on this site of the animals that Katy and I are focusing on. Having said this however, the site doesn't mention seals in any way, so I spoke with Katy and we have decided to focus on wolves instead, as this seems more relevant to the research we are doing. Although we originally decided to look at boars, I want to do research into the other animals on the site too to give ourselves more options when we come to finalise our idea. 

Example Fact File (of wolf)

Based on what the site has said about these keystone species I have been able to put together a list of facts about the advantages and disadvantages of these animals being re-introduced into the British environment that I will be able to refer to when I come to write the script.

Wolf

Suitability: There is no ecological reason why wolves can't live in Britain. Due to the high levels of habitat and prey available wolves would be a good reintroduction. 

Human Risk: Human risk is very low due to these animals being shy and avoiding humans where possible. Wolves have been re-established across many European countries with little trouble. 

Advantage: Wolves keep grazing animals such as deer on the move, preventing them from overgrazing on fragile tree seedlings. This in turn will create more habitats for hundreds of woodland species. Wolves are also likely to reduce the loss of arable crops, increasing yield for farmers. They are also a huge tourist attraction. 

Disadvantage: Livestock would have to managed differently where wolves were present, however this is already being achieved in Europe. There would also need to be a compensation scheme for the livestock losses that would occur. 

Wild Boar

Suitability: Wild boar are already living in some areas of England and Scotland unofficially and are an excellent choice for reintroduction. 

Human Risk: There appears to be none, regarding that humans respect the animals and don't threaten them. 

Advantage: Wild boar can increase biodiversity through rooting and wallowing. They create space for trees and other plants to grow. Also Robins appear to follow boar. Wild boar are also a tourist attraction. 

Disadvantage: Wild Boar can cause damage to crops and gardens and there have been a few incidents in which boar have been a traffic hazard. They can also be a threat to domestic pets such as dogs, but this rarely the case. 

Lynx

Suitability: Lynx are a very shy animal that prefer the shelter of woodland, making them an excellent species to be reintroduced into parts of Scotland and Northern England. They currently live across Europe and have been successfully released into Switzerland.

Human Risk: Due to the Lynx being shy and living in large woodland areas, there would low risk to humans. However, this is inconclusive, as the site didn't actually state this. 

Advantage: Lynx help woodlands regenerate by controlling the numbers of roe deer and invasive species such as sika deer. They also prey on foxes, which would help to reduce the numbers.

Disadvantage: Lynx are a top predator and people may be afraid of such animals and attempt to kill them if ever face to face. 

Beavers

Suitability: Beavers have already been successfully re-introduced to Knapdale in Scotland and are spreading to other areas of Scotland and have even been reported in Devon. This re-establishment has also received widespread public support. 

Human Risk: None.

Advantage: Beavers can create habitats for hundreds more species and allow for the return of species. They also slow the flow of rivers, reducing the danger of flooding. Beavers also have a positive effect on the welfare of salmon. 

Disadvantage: Can't think of any right now. 

Grey Whale

Suitability: More research needs to be done in order to know if the grey whale could be transported from the Pacific for breeding purposes. However, two grey whales recently found there way into the Atlantic and was once common in Britain's estuaries and shallow bays. 

Human Risk: The grey whale appears to have a remarkable affinity for people, sometimes appearing to encourage people to touch it. 

Advantage: The site doesn't actually state one nor does it state a disadvantage. Personally, I think the grey whale may be something we avoid, as there isn't enough research on it to create an accurate study. 

Taking a quick glance at the information I have, I feel that Katy and I should probably stick to only two of the animals due to the time restriction of the project. Keeping this in mind, I think I'd definitely like to focus on the wolf, as I feel that there is a large amount of information on this animal, making it easy for me to create a script containing facts. For the other animal I'd either like to focus on the Lynx, as then it would make our animation focus on the reintroduction of top predators or on the wild boar. I feel that both animals will help to drive our message home and it is simply a case of choosing which we'd prefer to focus on. However, I will need to talk to Katy on this matter and see which animal she wants to focus on other than the wolf. 

Finally, I decided to look further into the site and found a section on the challenges the charity faces about reintroducing species to Britain and I thought it would be really helpful to know some of the opposing facts about Rewilding Britain. Rewilding is a long-term ambition and it isn't easy to achieve. For one, many of us have got used to seeing bare hills and the lack of native forests and species, so getting people to get excited about something like this, which would incur radical change isn't easy, especially when most people aren't a huge fan of change. Legal constraints are also one of the biggest barriers the charity faces and these include rules which govern the management of designated conservation sites. These often demand a fierce regime of cutting, burning and grazing to maintain arbitrary assemblage of creatures, yet this results in the maintenance of degraded ecosystems, where significant top predators are absent. The Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 also insists that certain dangerous animals only be released into enclosures, which makes it difficult to re-establish certain species into Britain. The Infrastructure Act 2015 also defines species that have recently become extinct in the UK as non-native and potentially subject to control and destruction. Some other other oppositions include; the danger to livestock; worry of over-crowding; the cost; having dangerous animals roam free is crazy; sport shooting; public perception; farm subsidy system. These are all valid challenges that Rewilding Britain is up against and they are also things Katy and I should consider when relaying information to our audience. 

Responsive : Final Peer Critique

In this weeks responsive session we held a peer crit with the illustration students. I was actually really nervous about this, as I didn't know what to expect and I was unsure of what I actually had to. At first I thought I would have to stand at the front and give a presentation to a group of strangers that was a lot larger that what I am used to and I must admit that I wasn't looking forward to it at all. However, this wasn't the case and I was extremely relieved to find that it involved printing out presentation boards and wondering around the room looking at everyone's work. I also really enjoyed this task, as it gave me the opportunity to see what others were doing and it also gave me an insight into the amount of work the others were doing, to help me focus on how much time I should be spending on each brief.

Although I didn't really have too much to show, I did receive some very positive feedback regarding my character design and clarity of story. However, I also felt that the feedback I received wasn't very constructive at all, it all seemed to be praising my choice of character design and storyline, which is a very nice confidence boost, but I didn't receive any feedback that I'll actually be able to apply to other briefs in the future other than keep doing what I'm doing. Despite this though, I'm glad we had the opportunity to have a crit with the illustrators and I now know what is expected of me for the next crit. Overall, I'm pleased with the experience and feel that I will be more prepared for the next crit. I need to focus on spending a little more time on responsive and plan out my animations a little better and work on finishing briefs and reducing my work load.

Applied Animation: The Environment - Initial Ideas

After the briefing Katy and I sat down and began to write down the first ideas that came to mind when we thought of the environment and we focused our ideas around animals, as this was something that I expressed an interest in doing during the group session. One idea that stood out to me straight away was the idea of expressing the issue of humans playing god in terms of re-introducing animals into the environment that are either rare, endangered or completely gone from the UK. I also liked the idea of having a contrast and touching upon the issue of humans playing god in terms of removing animals that they found to be a nuisance. With these two main issues being at the forefront of our attention we began to wonder how we could use these to create a documentary, this required us to think about what we wanted our message to be and what exactly did we want to research and convey through our work.

I'd recently watched a country file episode in which they were reporting on the re-introduction of wild boar to the English countryside and I thought that it linked directly to our line of thinking so we explored this to start with and developed ideas from there. Katy and I began to think of other similar instances and conflicting instances and came up with a few other ideas including seal slaughtering in Ireland; re-introduction of mink to solve the weasel problem; red kites being poisoned for killing farmers animals, etc.

Initial Brainstorms

We also began to think about which animals would be affected by such environmental changes and decided to create a small list of animals to focus on for our project. This focus on animals got us thinking instantly about creature comforts and we decided that we wanted to take a similar approach with our work in the sense that we wanted our documentary to be an interview with the different animals with the script being made of the facts and information gathered from our research.

 Naturally we then started to think about what form of technique we wanted to use. Within the session we spoke about using mixed media in our animation, as this is a method that is used quite frequently in animated documentary and it is something that I really want to try, as I really liked the effect it had in some of the examples we went through. Keeping this in mind, Katy and I decided that we wanted to stick to 2D, as this is the technique that we both want to focus on rather than 3D, we also wanted to experiment more with traditional media, for me it was more because I felt that I have neglected the use of traditional media over the last few months and I'd really like to return to it, as I love hand drawn things and actually having to use materials such as paint and pencil to create work, as I feel that you can achieve so much in terms of texture, line work, etc that you can't necessarily create through digital means. However, we also wanted to keep the work load manageable, so we have decided that we will keep the animation basic and use digital outlines that are simple and easy to duplicate and focus on create intricate backgrounds with traditional media. We are also thinking of experimenting with texturing and rendering the animated characters with water-colours through the use of masks and compositing, which is something we will also have to research.

Media considerations

From here we spoke to Sara about our story and she pointed out that whilst we have a good base idea, we need to figure out what we are actually trying to say through our work, as at the moment it is a little hazy and all the over place. We were glad for the input and will sit down and finalise our ideas after we have dome some research into our issue. Overall, I'm really pleased to be working with Katy and I'm excited to see what work we will produce together and how this project will develop.

Applied Animation: Round 2

At the start of this week we were given a briefing for applied animation, which I'm really looking forward to. For this module we are looking at animated documentary and even though this isn't something I am particularly interested in, as I am more for the narrative side of animation, I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to experiment with something that I want to explore as my specialism.

As part of the task we were given four themes to choose from; the environment, family, sports, mental health and I decided to go with the environment, as I felt that this would give me a lot of freedom in terms of subject matters and idea generation. I also wanted to go with this theme because I feel quite strongly about the environment and I was glad that I had the option to explore something that I have an interest in. As part of this project we are required to work in groups and after thinking about it carefully I decided that I'd really like to work with Katy Mulvey because I personally felt that we possessed skills that would benefit the other. Katy leans more towards pre-production and production, whereas I lean more towards production and post-production. Not only this, but we have a very similar workflow and mind set towards work and I feel that we will make a good team. I am also looking forward to working collaboratively again, as I'd really like to improve my team working skills.

Overall, I'm really excited to get this project started and I'm looking forward to working with Katy and improving upon my existing skills and learning new ones.

Responsive: Do It In Ten - Chilly

For my first brief I decided to do Show me the Animation's Do It In Ten challenge. The brief consisted of creating a 10 second animation that followed the theme of the word they had chosen for that month (December's being chilly). This animation could be created however you wanted it to be and could be of anything regarding that it stayed within the theme and didn't contain any inappropriate themes, as this site it available to children.

I liked the sound of this brief, as I felt that it would give me the opportunity to create something a little silly and to just create something for the sake of animating. I really wanted a relaxed brief to help me get back into the swing of animating and I also didn't want anything too serious, as I don't really like focusing on serious topics. I saw this as an opportunity to practice my digital animation and to work on creating more simplistic styled characters, as I have found that my drawing style has been too realistic in the past and I haven't liked my work as much due to the fact that my style has been quite difficult to animate. 

Thinking about the theme chilly I instantly thought of polar bears and decided to create my idea based around a polar bear. My thought process was quite simple and I decided to do a polar trying to catch fish simply because I was eating fish at the time I was thinking of an idea and due to me not having very long to complete the brief (7 days) I went with the first idea I came up with. 

Storyboard

I completed this brief over the Christmas break and I must admit that I planned my time very poorly, which led to me rushing this animation and ultimately to me being a little unhappy with the outcome and a few technical hitches. Despite this however, I feel that I have managed to successfully complete the brief and fulfill all of the criteria they were looking for. Due to my poor time management, I didn't actually do any character design, but more just went with what I drew because I was short on time and didn't feel that I would have been able to complete the task before the deadline if I had spent time on designing a character. Despite this however, I am extremely happy with my character and I feel it fits in very well with the overall animation. In terms of actually animating however, I do feel that more care could have been taken with attempting to keep the volume steady throughout, as there are a lot of frames in which the characters increase and decrease in size. Although it doesn't look too bad, I am still very unhappy with it, as I feel that if I had given myself more time, I would have been able to take more care with making sure this didn't occur so often or as much. 

Another issue I had with this brief was the site was temporarily down when I tried to submit my work. This made me very frustrated at the time and flustered, as I thought I was going to miss the deadline, however, it was a fault on their end, which they resolved and my entry finally got accepted. But I did end up accidentally sending the wrong animation so my entry unfortunately has no sound, although I feel that this isn't a major set back and it is something that I can deal with. 

Overall, I am quite pleased with how I managed to deal with this project despite the fact that I was terribly unorganized and didn't focus on this brief as much as I should have. This brief has also made me think of how I tackle other briefs for this module and in general and it has given me a huge insight into how much time each brief will take roughly. It has also made me see that I will have to plan my time out efficiently and I intend to do so in order to avoid the same problems I encountered with this brief. 

Responsive: Made You Look

'Made you look' is a documentary that follows the views and opinions of of those that work in the creative field; particularly those who work in graphic design, illustration and animation. The film looks at both traditional and digital media and gives an insight into what it's like working in the creative industry. I found the film quite interesting and I feel that I gained a lot of insight into how the industry works for individuals involved in similar areas of work that I am studying and it also encouraged me to continue working with traditional media, as it isn't something that is particularly dying out within the industry and being an animator, it is definitely something I can incorporate into my digital work.

I found it really interesting to hear the opinions the artists had of traditional and digital media, as I found them to be quite biased towards their own method (traditional artists didn't like digital and vice versa) and I personally found it quite difficult to get my head around in terms of the artists not mixing the two together, as personally that is something I like to do and wish to explore more. However, the viewpoint within the film seemed to be that although some people were against this 'digital takeover' others thought that the digital methods adopted the traditional method more than we thought, as the graphics tablets that are used require an interactive pen to work, and you create work on them in as much the same way as you do with traditional methods.

The film has encouraged me to explore traditional media more and not be afraid of trying new things out. Overall, I found it really useful and I enjoyed being able to hear the views of successful practitioners within practices similar to my own.                                            

Responsive: Breaking Down a Brief

Before Christmas we had our first responsive session in which we were gathered together with the illustration students. This instantly put me out of my comfort zone, but I was glad for the opportunity to meet some of the illustration students, as I will have to collaborate with some of them in the second half of the responsive brief.

Within the session we were given a few briefs to look at to help us learn to analyse and read a brief correctly to help us with our own briefs we'll be looking at over the next few months. Alongside this we went through a few 'top tips' to consider when looking at a brief. These included things such as setting clear aims and realistic objectives, being smart when choosing a brief and not choosing a brief to fulfill the module, but choosing a brief because you agree with the briefs goals or because you will enjoy the brief.

We were also encouraged to think about what audience the briefs were trying to address, as this would lead the tone, mood and style of the outcome. Overall, I found this session really useful, although I'm not 100% sure that I will enjoy this brief simply because I lack confidence in my own work. Having said this, it will give me the chance to build on my confidence.

Character and Narrative: Reflection

I have found this module to be extremely challenging yet satisfying. Not only has it challenged me as an animator, but it has also given me the opportunity to challenge myself as an individual and work on my skills as a team member. Not only this, but this module has also pushed me very far out of my comfort zone, which is something I struggle to do, and it has given me an insight into how well I can deal with learning and creating things with software and skills I am not very confident with. I also feel that I have gained a number of skills that I will be able to carry over into future modules and beyond university.

Reflecting upon the tasks that I had to complete for this module, I feel that I have made great progress with Maya. I have learnt how to effectively use Maya to create a working 3D model, as well as how to animate that model to a good standard. I have also developed a new range of skills in 3D animation that I can potentially use within 2D animation as well. For instance, I have learnt a lot more about key framing and the importance of it as a way to plan out an action. I’ve found that I have a much better understanding of how certain movements should be planned out, such as walking, and I feel that I will be able to adapt this to 2D animation. Not only that, but I have improved as an animator in general, my animation is cleaner and smoother than previous work.

In terms of team work I feel that this is an area I am going to have work on quite a bit, however, I feel that I did ok for my first attempt. Whilst I made a lot of effort to stay in constant communication with my partner, when they were unresponsive and uncooperative, I let it discourage me from trying to talk about work, which meant that I was unaware of what they were doing and the progress they were making. I also made little effort to speak to my partner after long periods of my partner not talking to me, as I felt that they weren’t interested in what I was doing and the progress I made. Another thing I need to work on is my communication of progress and ideas, as my partner and I struggled with certain areas of the project due to things being unclear. To do this, I am going to look at how I can improve the clarity of my ideas and thinking by writing it out first and then talking about it. Although this part of the module has pointed out that I’m not great at team work, I am really glad that I have had this opportunity to work collaboratively and it is definitely something that I am going to continue to do at every opportunity I get.

Although I feel that this module has gone really well in terms of self improvement and learning new skills, I have also encountered a number of technical difficulties that I haven’t necessarily learnt from. Whilst working with Maya, I encountered a number of problems that I wasn’t aware of nor did I have any understanding of how to fix the problems, as each time I encountered a problem, the fix was slightly different. I found the software extremely confusing and I lacked a lot of confidence when I came to use it because I found it very overwhelming. Despite this, I have managed to create an animation that I am proud of and I have come away with an understanding of how to model, rig and animate a character in Maya.
However, I feel that I did well with problem solving overall throughout the module, as I managed to produce solutions for problems that contributed to the quality of my animation.

Reflecting upon my time management, I feel that this has been my most managed project out of all the projects I have done. Not only did I have my sections of the animation done on time, but I also had a week left to make minor adjustments. I also feel that I managed to keep on track with my partner fairly well and I was never too far behind or ahead of them. This is something that I am really pleased with, as time management has always been an area in which I am either really good or really bad, but I feel that I have managed to keep it nicely balanced this project and I will work on keeping this steady balance throughout my future projects, as it has helped to keep my stress levels down.

However, motivation has been a big issue for me throughout this module. I feel that I was getting frustrated a lot throughout this module because I was working with a complex program that I didn’t fully understand. I also found that my interest in 3D animation quickly dissolved once I actually started to work with it, which made me lose interest in actually doing the work. In order to get over this, I balanced my work between this project and small self-directed projects to help boost my motivation and get the work done.

Overall, I have enjoyed completing this module and the opportunities it has provided for me. I have also enjoyed overcoming the problems I have encountered, as I feel that it has helped me to develop as an animator and an individual. Not only have I improved as an animator, but working with a program I am not at all confident with and producing a piece of work I am happy with has boosted my confidence in my own work and in myself. Having said this however, I don’t feel that 3D animation is the right form of animation for me and I don’t think it will be something I explore in this level of detail again.