A few weeks ago, we had a visit from Jan Meinema, a Senior Lecturer at Bath Spa University. He spoke to us about sound design and some of the animations he had worked on, and I found it all to be very informative. I can see a lot of what he taught me coming in useful for future animation projects, especially as some of the tips he gave were simple yet effective.
I've always known that sound design can greatly improve an animation piece, but I never realised just how much of an impact it can have if carried out correctly. Jan taught us about different recording equipment and how they were used, and that you should try to get as close to the filter as you could when recording and maintain this distance so that you don't hear the reflection of the space you are recording in. especially if the characters the sound will be applied to aren't in a similar environment.
Another thing that I took away from this lecture, was how sound design can be used to create perspective. Sound doesn't necessarily have to 'follow' the entire scene, but you can 'zoom' into a character or a specific area of a set by using sound. For instance, having an extreme wide shot of a scene yet still being able to hear a conversation between two people in the very distance, zooms in on the characters and can draw your focus onto them, whilst still establishing setting.
An example that Jan showed us that helps demonstrates how perspective can be established was actually a short film I had researched in my first year for a candle reference. Now that I have been shown it in a different light, it has made me appreciate it a whole lot more.
Once Upon a Candle - The Animation Workshop
The way the sound was recorded/edited for when the candle is inside the drawer, differs from when he is sat on the desk top to help create a sense of space. There is a particularly good example when you hear the candle from outside of the drawer at 3:22, as the sound is more muffled to portray that he is sat inside.
When I haven't wanted to use a music track to accompany an animation in the past, I have always turned to using ambient sounds to enhance the viewing experience, but what I never really thought about was that you don't always have to use sound effects for things you can see in the scene. Instead, if you use sound effects that are stereotypical for that particular setting you can help imply that that is where the animation is taking place. For example, hearing farmyard animals can help indicate you are on a farm, even if there aren't any in the shot.
Yesterday we had a short lecture with Martin about making titles and compositing in After Effects. He showed us a quick example of a title sequence he had made using Photoshop layers and images and how we could import these compositions into After Effects and animate them. I already was aware of this as well as a lot of what Martin was showing us, but I did learn a few things which would definitely had benefitted me had I been made aware of this earlier.
The first thing I wasn't aware of is that you could pre-comp some components so that when you use masks and animate, say, the position of the components, the mask won't move with the position change, but will instead stay stationary. This would have been a huge help when I was making my info graphic for CoP for instance, as I was animating the mask path in order for text to emerge from behind it, but at least I know now for future reference.
I was aware of the animator function on text on after effects, but I had never had a need to use it before so it was nice to see the different ways in which it could be used. I also wasn't aware that you could use two animators on the same component and use this method to have thing exceed the 100% offset, which could be helpful for creating secondary action or implementing other principles of animation.
As Joe finished the website and showreel, he was able to slot his work into the presentation that I had shared with everyone to work on, and the slides have since been altered and as a result look much cleaner and better laid out.
Final Presentation Slides
Prior to presenting, we discussed who would talk about what and we thought that it made sense to talk about the work you had worked on and the area we were going to specialise in within the company. So I was in charge of talking about social media and the pages I had set up, were as Emma was going to introduce the company, Joe would talk about the website and finances and Ciara the business cards and how we were going to approach clients.
I feel the presentation went well and I think it definitely helped that we discussed roles before hand, as it meant we didn't trip up or interrupt each other. I also feel it was a success due to the lengths of research we had gone into in terms of competition and finances, and we really considered all aspects of our brand and how we were going to present ourselves and get our work out there.
The only concern that was mentioned was with our title logo, and how some of the stray pixels could be misinterpreted as accented letters, which may be a slight issue with international clients if we ever worked with any. It is something we would definitely reconsider if we are going to pursue our company further.
As we had all completed the tasks we had been assigned, we were now in a position where we could drag and drop our work into a presentation. The only thing that we had to consider in more detail were the finances. Joe, Emma and myself (Ciara was unable to attend our meeting, but still contributed over messages) sat down and researched further into the costs we would need to get started. We were already aware of how much the rent for the studio was going to cost as well as things like software licences as we had made note of these previously, but things like business insurance and optional equipment we quickly looked up. We even went on GoCompare to try and get a more accurate business insurance quote, but at the end of the form it said they would be in contact with us at a later time regarding a quote which wasn't particularly helpful at the time. In the end we just took an average number as an estimate from our Google searches.
GoCompare Enquiry
I put all of our costs into a spreadsheet so we could clearly see the amounts we would need to be earning/what it is was we would be spending, and used Mike's 'Cost of Living' spreadsheet as a guide for working out tax, as I personally had no idea how to do this or what we would get taxed on, and because of this I included two total expenses figures, one with tax and one without.
Expenses Spreadsheet
As Joe was working on the website and showreel, I took charge of making the initial slides for our presentation. I made sure to keep the style consistent throughout the slides and with our logo and brand so it would look more professional.
As a group we had to decide where we want to be based, whether this be in the UK or abroad. We were all happy to stick to the UK - though we briefly discussed Ireland as there's a tax break there at the moment - but we thought it would be best to research studio spaces that were available to us and for what price before we decided on a location.
We discussed different cities we'd be happy working/living in, such as London and Manchester, and looked on websites such as Gumtree and various property websites for potential studios in these areas. We found that a lot of the studios were very expensive and the cheaper, more affordable places weren't suitable for us. We were hoping to find a studio that was reasonably sized that would have space for desks and all of our equipment, but a lot of what we found were open plan office/desk space rather than studios, or they were just too small for four of us to work in.
Few Examples of Websites Looked at / Search Results
In the end we decided on Duke Studios in Leeds. We found that the prices were reasonable for everything they were offering with their 12 month contract, studio space. We emailed them asking for an estimated price for a 4 people studio and they replied with (-), which would definitely be ideal, especially as we like the look of the space.
Studio Spaces Available at Duke - Email from Duke Studios
We also thought that the location was ideal, as Animation in Leeds is beginning to grow. Not only this but it is easy to travel to and from, so we could easily attend festivals in nearby cities such as Manchester so we can network.
Ever since that it has been suggested to me that I should change my font on my channel art, I really don't like the 'O' in my username, so I have taken the advice and changed the font that I use.
Considering Fonts
I scrolled through all of the fonts that were available to me on Photoshop, and I didn't really like any of them, so I searched through a website called Dafont.com, to see if anything stood out to me. I didn't want anything too quirky, though I wanted it to be rather simple. Here I have tried out different fonts alongside my logo. I was looking at the thickness of the text and the letter spacing and in the end I opted for 'Giraffe' because I thought it wasn't too ordinary, yet was clean and worked better than my old font.
Then came the task of remaking my art, and getting the positioning of the components correct so that they sat nicely on my sites. Making the Tumblr background was particularly annoying as the preview of the theme isn't the same as what is shown on your page. Though it took way longer that initially expected, I think the re-work was definitely worth it.
New Channel Art
I have since removed the standing character of myself from the channel art. Despite being fond of the piece, I felt that the drawing that I produced for Onform was a better choice, as it was cleaner and much less pixelated when blown up to a different size as I had drawn it using vectors. I still have my original portrait though however, and shall continue to show the piece on my blogs.
Regarding the "LaurensAnimations" in my YouTube URL/Username, there isn't anything I can do about that at this moment. In order for me to make a custom URL I now need to have 100 subscribers, and I had set up my old URL when this wasn't the case and when I used the account for my Art Foundation work. The "LaurensAnimations" doesn't seem to show up usually when you search for my name, instead the link is a bunch of random letters, but it will still work as it is still associated with my account. As I can't add "Laurenimations" to my URL, I'm going to make sure to tag all of my videos with this, so that you should still be able to find my work if you search for it.
Now we had decided upon a logo, I was able to make a start on setting up our social media pages. The first thing I did was set up an email that I could use to set up or pages, and that we could all use as a company. From here I was able to set up an Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube and Facebook Page.
Initial Pages
I made sure to keep the channel art and colour schemes consistent throughout, as well as things like company descriptions, though these changed slightly depending on the website and character limit. I plan to upload a showreel when we have one put together, and potentially a few pieces of work so we have something to show on our pages.
In our last meeting we assigned each other roles, this included what we would do for the company and the work we need to complete for setting up our company and presentation. My title is Marketing Manager, and I shall be taking charge of social media and making sure our work gets out there, so my first task is to make our sites. In order to for me to do this, we had to decide on a logo and the colours/style we were going to brand ourselves with. Emma was left in charge of creating the logo, but asked for a few quick sketches of what we all had in mind, so she could take the best elements from our designs and make a refined, final logo.
My Initial Designs
I started by looking at different pockets and tried to keep the designs simple, so the final coloured product would look clean and professional. I also looked briefly at having a character sitting in the pocket as I thought this would help get across that we were a fun company.
Emma's Refined Designs
Emma produced a series of designs based on our ideas and input, but in the end we decided we wanted to go for a simple pocket design, and try to incorporate the pixels into the design. Joe created some tests with example fonts and colour which we all really liked, and in the end went for the design that Joe had come up with.
Joe's Designs
I personally thought it was a good decision to go with Joe's designs, as I like the simplicity of them and they look much more professional than what we had previously come up with. I also like the decision to stick with the one colour gradient - we had opted for the green/blue - as it doesn't over complicate the design, and it makes it easier to brand ourselves this way.
For our new PPP brief, we are required to develop a creative presence, and as part of this presence we are encouraged to have set up several social media pages with channel art that will identify ourselves. Now, I've already got multiple accounts for different sites, and have actually updated my look somewhat recently, but I thought I'd take this as an opportunity to review my style and see what people think.
My Social Media Pages
It was pointed out to me that my first consideration should be the text that I use. The text I am currently using is very 50s Art deco, which is fine, but I should consider what this could say about myself and whether this is what I want my image to be. I'd never really thought about this before, and chose the font simply because I liked the look of it, though looking back over it, it might be a good idea to change. Whilst I am doing this, I shall also have to visit my YouTube page, as the links to my other blogs and pages have since been removed so now my art isn't actually pointing to anything.
Other than that nothing was really mentioned, other than it might be nice to design some more characters like the ones I produced for onform to have on my channel art, which maybe something I explore, not only for my portfolio but for my online identity too, though I don't think this is a necessity because I like the channel art I have currently. If it is not something I follow through with now, it is definitely something I will consider for the future.
Today I attended a surprise presentation by Zane Whittingham from Fettle Animation, a company that I had coincidentally researched prior to the talk for my Pitch Perfect project. He showed us a selection of his work - some of which I had already seen whilst I was researching, but it was nice to see the pieces I had missed - and talked to us about breaking into the animation industry. I thought it was interesting to hear about the freelance artists and animators that they had worked with in the past. Not all of them had been what Fettle had been personally looking for, and so they didn't end up working there very long, but it was nice to hear that they had achieved success in other companies, and that there are considerate people such as Zane in the industry that still found the positives in individuals to refer to other creatives and clients. It made me think more positively about the animation industry as it seems to be a closely knit network, and though you may not excel with one company, you may be comfortable with another, and that's okay; definitely reassuring.
After the talk, I took the opportunity to chat with Zane and show him some of my work. I thought my Responsive work related heavily to what Fettle were doing with their own, so I showed him and he seemed to like it, and even asked to see other work I had been working on, which was nice. When I asked if he had any pointers he told me to remember the principles of animation and try to incorporate them the best that I can, and that Anticipation might be a particularly good one to focus on with my current responsive project, especially when the character is working with the pitch fork.
I really appreciated the time Zane took to talk to me, and the tips he was able to provide. He had given me a business card, so I took the opportunity to email him to thank him again for his time, and show him some more of my work if he was interested.
In our second green screen tutorial we were shown how to key the green screen and remove it from our footage that we collected in the first session. The process was surprisingly easy, but then again we were only shown a very basic level of keying, it can obviously get much more complex than what we were working with. Still, I can definitely see how this process could be of use/beneficial to me in the future, if the opportunity arises.
Screenshots of Steps
As I said, the process was relatively easy. To start you drag the keylight effect onto the JPEG sequence then use the screen colour to select the green screen. You can tell that the screen has been removed as the red of my composition background is showing through, but there are still areas that remain due to the green screen being poorly lit to begin with. To correct this I played around with the screen softness and the shrink/grow until I was happy with how it looked.
To remove the rest of the unwanted background, I created a mask. I played around with the mask expansion so I could get a close to my subject as possible without erasing any of it. From here I was able to add in a background and compose the piece.
Final Product
Overall I found the session to be very interesting and informative, and I think I was able to do a good job with the source material we had. It was a shame that the windmill shakes due to the original photographs but it will do for a test. If I were to do this myself in the future I now know the importance of keeping the camera steady and keeping the green screen well lit!
Today we had a very quick session on how to use green screens, which I found to be really interesting. We ran over the basics of how green screens work and how they were used. I also discovered that green screens are green (or blue) because this colour isn't a common colour found in skin tones. Who knew?
We were shown how to set up the light stands and LED lights, and I found that you would have a number of different lights to do different things. You even have to have a separate light - or lights - to light up the green screen, which I did not know. I also learnt the standard way for lighting up your subject.
My Beautiful Diagrams
The diagrams that I have created outline a standard set up for using a green screen. The Edge light imitates the sun and will shine on the object, in this case, from behind. The Key light is set up opposite the Edge light to act as light that will be bouncing from other objects onto the main object, IE reflections from the sun/indirect lighting. This is usually not as bright as the Edge light, and you can actually replace this light with a reflector, but sometimes it's better to be able to have the control over the intensity of the light if you have the option to. Lastly, the Fill light is simply there to get rid of any unwanted shadows that are created by the first two lights. This light will definitely not be that bright and it is usually just a subtle addition to make the aesthetic of the shot nicer. Having said this, it all depends on what kind of mood or look you're trying to create. If you're wanting to have a shot that is reproducing the effect of the moonlight on a scary setting, you might only want to use the Edge light. For instance, Sin City is a film that used Edge lighting for almost 100% of their shots, as that was the look they were striving for, so it all depends on preference. What is important to remember however is to light your object first, no matter what set up of lights you are wanting to use, as well as trying to not let the light for the green screen interfere with the lighting for your subject. Above this you also have to consider the space you have to work with, and the size of the object/subject that you're photographing.
Using a green screen is not something that I had even thought about using before now, but I would definitely like to give it ago, whether it be for a future project or just something I experiment with.
There are around 9-11 main mouth expressions that are used in dialogue, and these can be broken up into both vowel and consonants. When creating a lip sync it's important to remember to animate the phonetics rather than each individual letter as the word would be wrote down. Instead, you need to study the phonetics of a word, or even how a group of words would be spoken together.
Examples of Lip Sync Charts
Some Golden Rules of lip syncing include:
- Animate vowel sounds
- Only add punctuation shapes where necessary. Too many will make the mouth movement seem un-natural and out of sync.
- You can be a couple of frames early your animation, but it will never work if the visuals are late.
- The shape of the mouth forms the sound.
- Exposure sheets are useful!
I wanted to quickly test my new lip sync knowledge as it is something I have not yet experimented with, as the opportunity has not arisen. I selected a sound clip from the audio for my responsive project (as it's the only audio I had with me at the time), and used Martin's prepared mouth shapes to try and create a lip sync.
Lip Sync Test
As a first try I don't think I did too bad. It was my first time using Hold Keyframes in After Effects too, and I'm so happy that I now know this exists as I can see this feature being very useful for future projects. Though I did have some issues that no one seemed to have the answer for; the mouth shapes were changing in between two keyframes that were exactly the same. With this being said I think the mouth movements look relatively accurate, and I would like to practice this further to see if I can improve this skill, as I definitely think I'm going to need it.
In order to gain inspiration for our own company and to find out who our competition was, I have researched a handful of 2D animation companies, both large and independent. I started my search by thinking of advertisements that were especially creative/narrative driven to accommodate for the interests of both Emma & Joe, and Ciara. Adam&EveDDB
The first I thought of was the Christmas John Lewis advert "The Bear and The Hare", so I started my research there. The company that produced the animation is Adam&EveDDB and I soon found that they are not at all a small company, but in fact have around 200 employees.
They have worked for a large range of clients, the majority seemingly being for products but have done the odd piece for different charities. Though, it is not just animations they have produced for their clients. They have made illustrative ads for different clients and campaigns, and a lot of their work is also live action, so seemingly have a wide range of skills and capabilities.
Client List and Company Overview
Overall: The company doesn't seem to be focused in terms of media and their approach to briefs, but instead seem more inclined to produce advertisements.
Martin Agency
I found out about Martin Agency from a featured ad I saw on one of my social medias about Oreos, and really liked the art style so wanted to find out more about who made it. I discovered that Martin Agency have produced many advertisements and illustration ads for Oreo before, but I just didn't realise who they were produced by.
Client List and Company Overview
Wonderfilled Oreo Advertisement
The company is again a very large one that employs over 500 people from around 27 different countries, and much like Adam&EveDDB they produce a variety of work that seems to lean more towards advertising, though they state that they have capabilities in strategic planning, digital work and data analytics.
Distant Future
An Animation company that specialises in 2D and 3D animation, producing work to ensure "audiences remember their experience". A large company that has produced work for the BBC, National Railway Museum, Twenty Twenty Films and other clients, ranging from logo animation to motion graphics and visual effects.
Farnell Element 14 - Distant Future
Fettle
A small animation company based in Pennine Yorkshire, made up of three creatives that have a "passion for character animation, strong design and telling great stories". They have won a number of awards and produced work for clients such as Cbeebies and Citv.
Founded in 2005, Kilogramme is an award winning animation design company based in Manchester. They focus on 2D and 3D animation and will "take you from initial concepts and ideas, right the way through to the finished product".
Blue Zoo
Blue Zoo is an multi BAFTA winning animation production company that are based in London. They specialise in character animation, and produce work across all digital platforms.
Studio AKA
This independent studio is based in London as is known internationally for their "idiosyneratic and innovative work, expressed across an eclectic range of projects".
A company that specialises in animation, CGI, motion graphics and VFX, with a team of more than 100 artists in their offices in Noho and Brixton. They provide a range of services from advertising to TV and film industries.
Comic Relief
Golden Wolf
Golden Wolf is a "solution-focussed production company bases in London's Shoreditch".
Here is just a small selection of companies and work that I like. I found when I was researching that generally the studios either specialise in a certain media or method, and apply this style to a range of different types of animation/briefs (for example, charity work, advertising, tv and film), or they have a particular client or output in mind but create the work in a variety of different ways. The latter was more common with larger studios, so I think we will be able to be successful by being open minded about the briefs and clients we take on as a company, yet being somewhat restricted by method.
I also like these studios not just for the work that they produce, but because of how they presented themselves online. The way they introduced themselves was very professional yet friendly and inviting, especially Martin Agency. In their about me they say "We are creatives, UX planners and number crunchers. We are mustaches, fixed gear bikes and cardigans. But we are also Jeeps, top 40 lists and the occasional selfie. Our goals are not just about dollar signs or rewards for our shelf (though we like those, too). Our real goal is to help clients find and tap into new energy for their brands", and I like that they have been able to get across their values and goals as a company while keeping the character and 'funness' of the company and employees. I would very much like to encorparate this into our own company, especially as we are striving to be fun and narrative driven.
Myself, Joe, Emma and Ciara have decided that we are going to work together on our new PPP brief that requires us to set-up and pitch an animation company. I thought this was a good group to be in as we all seem to have similar work ethics and the work we produce doesn't seem to be drastically different in terms of media and program preferences. We also didn't particularly have preference for what area of animation we want to specialize in either, which I thought was initially going to be a good thing as I thought this would allow us to be quite broad with what work we could produce as a company. We soon realised that because we didn't have a preference our options we TOO broad, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to think of what we could do as a company.
We sat down and made a list of all the things we were interested in and what skills we thought we possessed, and we realised that 2D was a common element in all of our lists, and that we all liked using Photoshop and After Effects, so thought it was a good idea for our company to specialize in those areas. We also decided that we will tackle all areas of animating, as we are all capable at post and pre-production as well as the animating itself.
Now we had decided how we were going to make work, we then had to decide on what it was we were going to produce and who for. We discussed what it was we were passionate about and what it was we wanted to make, and I soon realised I have absolutely no idea. I have so many interests in so many different areas (Eg. games design, stories and film & TV, advertising, info graphics) that I was willing to go with group majority vote on this one; I basically just want to create. Ciara mentioned that she was interested in advertising, but was more interested in the adverts that are creative and get their information across by using a story, whereas Joe and Emma were both interested in storytelling. In the end we have chosen to be open-minded with what kind of genre the work is, but it must be narrative driven. We are going to be STORYTELLERS, that are "serious about having fun".
For responsive I saw that a lot of students were submitting drawings to Onform as one of their individual practice briefs. I really liked this idea but I had already completed all of my individual briefs, so instead I thought I would submit a couple of entries for my own entertainment, with hopes of developing my Photoshop skills and broadening my portfolio and the range of work that I featured on my social media. I actually managed to gain a couple of followers across my different accounts when I posted my work too, which is always a bonus!
I definitely thought that these were beneficial to me, as it really made me use my imagination and got me thinking how the shape could be incorporated into a character or design. I found that I was also not jumping on the first idea I came up with too, and I would come up with many different ideas for each shape as I wanted my drawing to be unique compared to other entries (there were multiple entries that had more-or-less the same idea for the same shape, just executed in different ways).
Onform also limits you in terms of colour, and sketches that include anything other than grey-scale and the colour of the shape won't be considered, and I have never been constrained by colour before so it was a new experience for me.
I also took this as a good opportunity to work with the pen tool in Photoshop (for some of my designs). It has been suggested to me before because you can create smooth lines but is something that I've always avoided as I haven't had success with it with other programs. I soon found that it was a lot easier to use than say the pen tool on Illustrator, and I definitely think using it improved the look of some of my pieces. I found it especially useful when I was trying to trace the shape I was given, as the pen tool allowed me to do this accurately without creating a wobbly line.
You are also time constricted, and each shape is only up for a week. Though this is more than enough time to complete the task, it did further teach me the importance of submitting in good time, as my first design didn't actually end up getting showcased on their website, as it was submitted just too late.
The second game I am currently involved in producing art for is Jim the Annoyed. James came to me with the idea of a platformer where the character is being forced to move around and complete levels, and he wanted me to create the characters and backgrounds for him. Once again I accepted, and it is proving to be much more of a challenge than the previous game I helped with. This time I'm actually putting my animation knowledge to use in a way that I have not done before. Again, I'm working at an extremely small scale to what I would typically work at, and I really have to think about the movement of the character and pixels.
Though I have a lot of creative freedom with the art, this time around I have been given certain guidelines and characteristics to work with, unlike when I worked on Berry Picker. When he asked me to design the sprite sheet for the main character, he asked me to bear in mind that the character is disinterested and is being forced by the player to move around.
Example of Walk Sequence
Bearing this in mind, when I drew the character walking, rather than having him stood up-right, I had him curled over with his arms drooping in front of him to try and make it look like he couldn't be bothered and was putting in no effort. You can't really tell because of how small it is, but I also gave the character bags under his eyes to try and emphasize the aesthetic we were aiming for.
Sprite Sheet
Because I only had to draw out 8 frames, this process didn't take too long, though I did initially struggle with the shape of the character and how it should have been drawn. Once it was completed, I was also confused at how the sprite sheet should be laid out. When I initially drew the animation I worked around the planted-on-the-ground foot, but the frames will not be able to work in this way as he will take too much of a step forward when the player makes the character move. In the end, I thought it made sense to make each image line up by making sure that his neck was central horizontally throughout. I am still awaiting to see how this looks in game-play.
My boyfriend is studying computer science at University, and once again he has asked me whether I'd like to create the art for the games he is making. Though the scale he was asking me to work at was much smaller than what I was used to, I accepted the challenge as I'm always up for gaining experience and trying new styles.
The first game I had to produce art for was very straight-forward as there weren't too many things to design as it was an incremental game; I only had to create a background, title and a few visuals. Usually this would have been a very quick job, especially as he required the art to be quite basic, but it took a bit longer than expected as I was working at such a small scale, the background being around 800x800 pixels, and components being a maximum of 100 pixels wide/tall.
Screenshot of Berry Picker
GIFs Showing How The Components Change In-Game
(Poor Quality Due to Being Scaled Up)
Even though my experience with Pixel art is limited, I was able to produce components that both he and myself were happy with, so much so that he has asked me to produce art for his next project, which I happily agreed to work on. I really enjoyed the challenge of creating pixel art. and it was a nice to create work for a game for a change rather than animating. Game design is something I have definitely been interested in for a while, and as I'm still not sure what I want to pursue, I'm willing to continue to explore to try and narrow my choices down, building up my skills along the way.
I really enjoyed my time at Manchester and I definitely think it was worth the money that I spent on the trip. Not only were the events and screenings very interesting and entertaining, but I really pushed myself to try and talk to new people in-between the events, rather than just sitting and waiting (though sometimes I did do some sketching, so at least I was productive at times).
MAF Sketches
On one of the days I sat with a group of students during lunch, who turned out to be studying at Manchester. I got to know them all a bit, and we talked about what our courses were like because I was genuinely interested in the work that they were producing and what was happening in the world of animation outside Leeds. We later exchanged social media's so we could stay in touch and keep up to date with the work we were producing.
I also got talking with two other students, one of which was studying at Bournemouth the other at Canterbury. Again I exchanged social media so I could see the things they were up to, and I actually ended up going to a couple of events with these two students, which was pleasant.
All in all my experience at Manchester Animation Festival was a pleasant one, and I'm really pleased with myself that I was able to go out and talk to new people, especially as it's something I usually struggle with.
Since my presentation I have started to look at trying to gain connections with people that work at DreamWorks. I have attempted to connect with some artists on Linkedin - I shall post my progress with them if I see any - but I don't want to stop there. I'm going to set myself a target to get into the routine of spending just a few hours a week doing some SERIOUS social media networking, whether this be on Twitter, Linkedin, Instragram, the lot. I don't want to just limit myself to this one company, instead I shall reach out to different people that work for different animation studios that I am interested in. I hope to build my network, but also try to get some advice and information about work along the way.
Update:
A while back I was able to get in contact with a girl called Elie on Twitter, who is a skin concept artist working at Riot Games, a company I am very much interested. I knew of her because my Boyfriend had met her at an event the company held in October time of 2015, and I used this as a grounds to introduce myself on. She was very happy to answer the questions I had about her work and what it was she did, and she also gave me advice and tips with my own practice.
I found it interesting to know that she believes it better to master a skill first and then branch out, especially as I have had mixed responses when it comes to that area. I think it would be nice to have a specialty, but as it stands I'm still not 100% certain on what it is I want to do, so I shall continue to explore until I find the thing that is right for me.
As part of our study task we were required to choose an animation production studio to make a presentation on. As well as talking about the studio's history and key works, we had to demonstrate that we had made an attempt to contact the studio or some of it's employees, in an attempt to expand our network.
The twist with this task is that we were not allowed to duplicate studios, and were required to post on our animation forum/board which studio that each of us were going to look at. I attended the party too late and the studios I had in mind had already been assigned (for example, Disney, Aardman, Pixar, your general larger studios). It was a hard task for me to think of another studio that I was interested in, and there weren't a lot of small studios that I was aware of, so I literally looked through my library of animated feature films in my DVD collection until I found one made my a company that hadn't already been selected.
That company just happened to be DreamWorks, and the fact that it hadn't already been selected shocked me a little as it's a very large company that has produced some very successful movies. I was happy to proceed with this company as it had produced some films that I am very much fond of. Whether they are a company I would like to work for is a different matter, especially because I'm not sure what it is I want to do yet but CGI is definitely one of my interests at the moment so that's a start.
My Presentation Slides
I made a start on trying to contact the studio before I made the presentation, and on the DreamWorks Animation website I found an email that I could contact. In the email I outlined briefly who I was before I went on to ask if there was any information they could provide me with regarding things like internships and what they personally look for in new employees. When I put the slides together I included a screenshot of my email and at that point I had not received a response, though when I came to give my presentation today I had, though sadly it was just a generic stock reply:
I feel the presentation went well and this opinion is solidified by Martin's feedback, who outlined that I had undergone good research and had a good focus on twitter and social networking. He suggested to me that I should look at Linkedin profiles and have another go at emailing different "folk" which is just what I plan to do. I would like to have a genuine response to some of my questions, and it can never hurt to build connections, even if I can't really picture myself working for DreamWorks.
I think this presentation was by far my favourite event of the whole festival, and I think it's mostly down to Tim's character. From the get go (or rather not, considering he experienced technical difficulties before he had even started) you could see that he was a down to earth guy which made his presentation very interesting and entertaining to watch, and not only this but I found it to be very beneficial.
Like most of the other speakers, Tim started off by telling us about his background and it was interesting to learn that he was initially studying Photography at Farnham. He got into animation by going to Annecy "for the laugh" which "changed everything" as he discovered he "needed to entertain". From here he worked on a number of different projects with a number of different companies (including Triffic Films, Baby Cow Animation,Viz) before he began working at Tiger Aspect Productions (previously known as Tiger Television) and working on Mr Bean.
To make it an "official Masterclass", every so often Tim would throw in some top tips, these are a select few:
- Don't be a dick.
- Keep your shower short.
On a more serious note:
- Create a business plan. Be aware of finances and keep cash coming in.
- "How many times have you heard 'I can't draw'". It all requires PRACTICE. Don't rush straight to the computer, instead draw first as "the illusion of it being all natural" takes practice.
- Be an enthusiast. "If you're going to do it, DO IT".
- Have a plan.
-Take a few chances.
- COLLABORATE, and again, don't be a dick.
In all seriousness though, his points were very valid and this talk - as well as the majority of the others I attended this year - have really stressed the importance of getting your work out there and showing your enthusiasm in the animation world. To put this to the test, I approached Tim after the talk hoping to chat with him and I was lucky to do so. He was a very friendly man and was happy to answer all of my questions. He told me that it's not so much as important to specialize but to do whatever it is you're doing well, and advised me to keep my animations short and precise and to not try stretch my resources too far. It's better to have a short, well made animation than to try to make it seem more impressive by making it longer and dimming the quality.
I have since added Tim Searle on Twitter and he is now following me too. He also requested to see my project once it is finished, and I can't wait to show it to him!
