The Lifting Tower Brief: Change of Plan...

Working on this brief has been incredibly confusing. At the beginning we were asked to produce a 1-2 minute narrative, and after investing a couple of weeks into our ideas, our groups were split up and we were then told that our clips were to be cut up into short animations. It was a little frustrating because of the wasted time we'd invested, but I was still on board as I liked the ideas we'd been able to come up with based on Tom's concept boards.

Showing our progress in a meeting, we were advised to make more fun, snappy animations, and not to worry about a narrative across them. Again, this was quite frustrating as we'd put time into forming a short narrative that still made sense once cut up into short clips. Though it did mean that I could produce a series of quick animations involving the Yeti and Penguin characters that Tom had provided us with. The understanding at this point was to simply make our group's work consistent by using the same characters.

Yeti Parade

Yeti Portal

Yetis Waving

March of the Penguins

Penguins Falling

Flying!

I'm really pleased with the work I've been able to produce for this brief - especially my 'Flying!' animation, as I think the character animation is the strongest in this short - and it has given me experience at using the Puppet Pin tool. However, I'm not so pleased with the overall experience of working on this brief. It has been very back and forth in terms of what was required of us and very confusing as to who we were supposed to go to with our progress. Also, by the end of the project it didn't feel much like a group effort, rather individual projects (minus the character design contribution from Tom). The only aspect that made it feel like I was part of a group was that I'd ask for feedback once I'd completed each animation. Other than that there wasn't a great deal of communicating, and in the end we had deviated from our original ideas and produced work that wasn't necessarily consistent in style. 

I also feel like I took on a lot more work in comparison to the other members of my team. Which is fine for me, because I'm happy with the experience of the work and what I now have to show for it, but I'm hoping that as a group we have enough to show and that it fits what the client is looking for. We shall have to wait and see.

Despite a few organisational issues and the confusion, I'm happy that I participated with this brief. It has widened my skill set and has given me a chance to look at projection mapping, which I wouldn't have considered looking into had it not been for this brief. I'm excited to see how it looks projected in Leeds, more on that as it develops. 

The Lifting Tower Brief: Making a Start With Animating

The first two ideas that I was assigned with was the Yeti bowling and dancing. I started with the dancing as I thought this would be easier, so I could ease myself into working; I'd never used the puppet pin tool on After Effects before so I thought it was going to be quite a challenge teaching myself.

Yeti Dancing

I opted for the Robot due to the angle of the yeti character, and I think it was quite successful. It's a fun animation that is an appropriate length to catch the attention of passers by. 

Yeti Bowling

I definitely prefer this animation to the first one I produced. I think the character is animated better and the overall look of the animation is more dynamic and visually pleasing. My group also seemed pleased with my work when I shared it with them, so I'm happy to leave them as they are. 

Manchester Animation Festival: Making of Ethel and Ernest

Ethel and Ernest Trailer

Director Roger Mainwood, Animation Director Peter Dodd and Producers Camilla Deakin and Ruth Fielding from Lupus Films, sat down and talked about the making of Ethel and Ernest, a film adaptation of Raymond Brigg's graphic novel. Prior to this talk I had never heard of the film, but now I can't wait to see it. 

Having researched extensively about character performance for my dissertation, I can see why this film is successful, or at least going to be. The production has an attention to detail that is truly fascinating. This teamed with how the characters look and move naturalistically, has resulted in very real, very lovable and relate-able characters. The behaviours aren't exaggerated in any way, instead they are very true to life. It is the subtle actions and details that draw you into this film, and allows you to empathise with the characters.

After the talk, I tried to ask the team more about their production, and whether they used a lot of referencing whilst animating. I could understand if this film was heavily referenced due to how realistic it looked, and how fluid the movements were, but apparently it was very rare for the animators to work with reference; there was definitely no rotoscoped animation that's for sure. Instead the animators would study from real life to ensure natural movements and behaviours. This has really stressed the importance of life and gesture drawing for me, and is something I am definitely going to push myself to do more of, as this is pretty much exactly the kind of work I want to produce myself/would like to work on in the future. If I am going to be able produce animation that plays back this smoothly, and this realistically, I am definitely going to have to practice drawing too. 

Manchester Animation Festival: HOUND

HOUND

This is an example of a short film, where the execution of the production has worked wonders for the story. The story itself is quite simple; it is basically a series of short narratives that accurately portray the personalities of different breeds of dogs. The film is very silly and playful, and the way that the dogs have been designed and animated gives them lots of character appeal. You can instantly relate to this film if you are a dog lover yourself, because the personalities of the animals have been carefully considered and have been portrayed with very recognizable traits.

Though the concept is quite simple, the animation is not. It displays good use of the animation principles to really enhance the performance of these dogs. A good example of overlapping action/drag occurs at 1:20 when the dog is elegantly waving its hair/ears around. 

Overall I think this was a great film, and it has proved that a story can be greatly improved if the animation is of good quality. Again, I shall need to bare in mind timing when producing my own work, and really try to nail the principles of animation, as this short has proved that it really does make a difference.

Manchester Animation Festival: Mr Madila

Mr Madila

Mr Madila is a student film that won The Audience Award at this year's festival, and it's not too hard to see why. I loved this animation. I think the reason why it was so popular among the audience was down to its comedic timing and the personalities of the characters, because visually it wasn't anything to write home about. Sure, there were snippets of the film that did look quite pretty - for instance the space scenes - but the character designs were simple and made up of black and white lines that were often quite sketchy. I wouldn't in anyway say this was a bad thing, in fact, I think it has worked well in this instance. It created a contrast between the real life characters (the ones animating the interview), the animated characters and the actual content of the interview, and the spiritual and out-of-this-world elements. The colour and experimental scenes also helped to highlight the wonders of Mr Madila's mind, which only made him more of a lovable, and exciting character.

Pretty Space Scene Example

Like I said, it is the comedic timing of this film that made it so successful, in my opinion. The animators have obviously been able to focus greatly on this, as well as the lip-syncing and facial expressions to make for a well produced animation. They have exaggerated the movements of Mr Madila's character just enough to emphasise his bizarre personality without going overboard. This greatly contrasts with the way they've animated the interviewer. His character instead behaves very naturally and makes subtle movements and facial expressions, which allows us to relate to him and the situation he is in, and how he must be feeling in the presence of such a theatrical and energetic character.

This is something I should bare in mind when making my own film. Though my own film isn't going to have any dialogue, I can still make the characters believable by really focusing on timing, and allowing the characters to interact and react to their surroundings and each other. 

Manchester Animation Festival: Fox and the Whale

Fox and the Whale - Trailer

Fox and the Whale is something that stood out to me at MAF, but I have very mixed feelings about it. The first thing I have to say about the film is that, visually, it was stunning. It is obvious that a lot of time and effort has been put into the design of this film, and all aspects of it have been carefully considered resulting in breath-taking visuals. The lighting is very realistic, and has been used to convey emotion in different ways. The scenery is also beautifully textured making this also seem very real. In fact, the only aspect of this film that doesn't look realistic are the characters, but even because of the way they have been designed and subtly textured, they fit seamlessly with the background. The fact that they cast shadows and have light hitting them in just the correct way makes them feel as though they belong in that environment. 

Visually I can't fault this animation. I also think the sound design has done wonders. But for me, the reason why this film wasn't as successful was down to the story. I thought the narrative of the story was lacking, and I found myself rather bored towards the end of the film. There just wasn't anything really engaging about the narrative. 

What I'm taking away from this is that the narrative of the film is just as important as its design. Without an engaging or interesting plot, you're going to lose the attention of your audience; there is only so much pretty visuals can do. I'm going to strive to achieve a nice balance of the two with my own film. 

Manchester Animation Festival: Meet the Experts

Whilst at MAF, I managed to get tickets to the 'Meet the Experts' event, where I got to go on a 'speed date' with producers and directors from different animation companies; Real Time UK, Studio Liddell, Factory, Brown Bag & Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick. It wasn't quite what I was expecting from the event as we got put into groups, so didn't get the chance to chat with people one-on-one, but it was still a great opportunity to talk to industry professionals.

It was really interesting to hear about their first hand experiences of how they made it in the industry, as well as seeing the difference in opinion on what companies want to see from CVs and applications. For instance, Tracy at Studio Liddell stressed the importance of having work experience. By this she didn't just mean in the animation field; she'd be interested in seeing that I've got up and done something with my time, and the skills I've taken from these experiences. For example, doing volunteer work or building social skills from a part-time job. However other companies such as Brown Bag aren't as interested in this, and just want to see the work you're capable of producing.

One thing that was consistent across all of the companies, was how much the importance of our showreels was stressed. They made it clear that they wanted our showreels to be easy to find in our applications, and how they should be precise and to the point, showing our strongest work. It was also mentioned that it might be a good idea to tailor your showreel to the company you are applying for, or to have different showreels for different job positions, but you MUST state what you are applying for in your application, as it may not be clear from the work you send in and so you might not be considered.

It was quite reassuring to see that some studios put a lot of emphasis on taking on junior animators too, and it was pointed out that we shouldn't be disheartened or put off by a company just because they might use a different software or method to what we are used to working with. Some companies will admire the passion and willingness to learn, and will train up junior animators anyway. In most cases they may just be looking for the talent and ability to animate and/or work as part of a team.

Branding Review

A year has passed since I set up my branding and my online media presence, so I thought it would be appropriate to review whether it's still relevant.  I think it is. I'm still happy with my name/tag handle as it's unique and easy to say and remember, and my logo still accurately represents how I want to come across; smiley and creative. Though I do think it would be a good idea to start making more illustrations that involve myself again, similar to the one featured below, to just update people on what I'm into and what I'm doing. It's also where a lot of my Instagram following came from, and it is work I'm interested in making, as it combines my personality and figure/gesture drawing, something I'm definitely interested in pursuing and getting better at.

I may want to revisit this again in a couple of months time, and maybe just vamp up the logo and channel art as my drawing skills develop or change. As it stands I'm happy with how I come across and my consistency across all my online platforms, even on my business cards (that I intend to dish out at Manchester Animation Festival). Though, I am going to put in the effort to set up a website, and try to post more on Twitter to maintain my online presence and get across that I'm interested in the world of animation. Other than that I think I'm quite on top of social media. I've began to update my Instagram almost daily, and now that I'm back at uni and making more animations, I'm posting to YouTube again.

The Lifting Tower Brief: Forming a New Group

Since the last briefing our group has been split up. We have been encouraged to mingle with illustration students, so myself and Emma have teamed up with Tom, and we picked up Greta along the way. Our previous ideas have followed Katy and James to their new group, and we have been left to work with the ideas that Tom received feedback for, which I think are really interesting.

We have sat down as a group and discussed what we would like to do for this brief, more precisely what we would like to have our Yeti and Penguin characters do. We made a long list of all the actions and small narratives that we thought would be suitable, and thumb-nailed ideas from there. Once we were happy, me and Emma but together some rough storyboards to present to Jim at Lumen, who is in charge of this brief.

Initial Storyboards

Jim was happy with our ideas, but advised us to try and make the most of the space on the building, and to be careful about the colours we choose for the characters and the textures we use, if any. As we had the 'go ahead', we decided to distribute roles and work load. Tom is going to be the designer, and shall make up assets that myself, Emma and Greta, are going to animate in After Effects. 

Tom's Yeti Design

Tom has since designed the Yeti character, and has made sure to make the limbs on separate layers, so now we can make a start on animating; we just need to assign each other different ideas/narratives to work with.