Production Blog- Art Book

Production Blog- Animation Breakdown

• The bulk of my time spent on production of my animation was in the realisation of the animatic.

• Animatic is arguably the most important stage of realisation as it is the key framing and body language of the characters which is the most important aspect of the animation, as it is this which conveys the story to the audience. The animation is entirely non verbal. 

• I initially contemplated using TV Paint but settled on Photoshop as I am most familiar with it and this would optimise my workflow. 

Preliminary Animatic/ Storyboards

Animatic

Final Animation

• My preliminary animatic served as the framework upon which I built my more refined animatic and subsequently my finished animation.

• My keyframes would served essentially as the first pass of my animation, determining the timing of character action and pace of a scene. 

• After constructing an animatic of the scenes as they play out in Key poses, my second pass was dedicated to adding in-betweens, overlapping and secondary action as well as filling in the characters and some of the foreground and background elements (depending on the scene).

• The final pass was dedicated to recolouring the linework on characters, (characters have differing colour motifs for their linework) additional colouring, line cleanup as well as adding finer details such as the shadow cast on the table in the example above.

• A bulk of the time was spent ensuring linework of initial keys were of a high quality to minimise cleanup and subsequently optimise workflow. 

Animatic: Scene keyed out, background/foreground elements added, lighting keyed.

Final Animation: Colours filled in, linework refined, details (more blood) added, elements which didn't work (bones too small) removed based on peer feedback

Production Blog- LoopDeLoop: 'Lucky' - Evaluation

Evaluation

Overall, I like the look of the animation but do feel it could have been more polished, incorporating more movement on the character and more detail in foreground elements in order to give the set a bit more life, as the setting seems almost sterile, though maybe that works for the subject matter. It was something I hastily threw together not long before the deadline in order to fulfill the brief and so I do wish I could have spent more time on it as the idea, I feel, does have some legs. Perhaps the core concept is something I can develop and build upon in the future, incorporating secondary characters perhaps who react to the situation etc... As it stands I feel I could find a way of incorporating parts of the work into my showreel as aesthetically I feel it stands on its own due to it's pleasant primary colour scheme.

Strengths

• The aesthetic fits the mood and tone of the scene quite nicely.
• Simple primary colour scheme is aesthetically pleasing.
• Theme is communicated fairly clearly.
• Sound mixing is decent.

Weaknesses

• Little pre-production/preparation leaves the piece feeling a bit thrown together at the last min.
• Animation only Loops 3 times. Would have benefitted from some sort of workaround/seamless integration.
• Minimal animation in the scene leaves it feeling a little lifeless. (Though that is the point.)

Production Blog- LoopDeLoop: 'Lucky' (Study Task 2)

As for the final live/competition brief I am required to produce as a part of Extended Practice I opted to create a Loop De Loop again, this time based around the word ‘Lucky’. It depicts a man in a hospital bed just as his bpm monitor is about to flatline, who is struck by lighting through the window, restarting his heart. It's a fairly simple concept which I threw together in a fairly short space of time. My main source of inspiration for the design was the illustrator Casey Burns who has worked on numerous indie gig posters and whose work I have drawn upon in the past with my final major project at Foundation level at Newcastle College.

What I took away from Burns and applied here was primarily the linework, which gives the impression of a rough inking. Much of Burn’s posters also incorporate a frame within a frame in order to lend to this handmade aesthetic. The colour scheme was also kept to a minimum, incorporating mainly washed-out primary colours. The character design however was a lot simpler as I wanted to try out a style of character drawing which deviates from my usual house style.

Sound design was a key aspect of the animation as it plays a large part in setting the scene, which is key to communicating the point of the animation. I used a collection of royalty free sounds which I mixed together in Premiere to build a stormy ambience to provide the backdrop for the scene. The video I submitted to Vimeo (and to competition) loops three whole times, with sound effects overlapping with the beginning and end of certain loops.

Production Blog- 30/4/2018 Crit: Peer Feedback on development of animation

Amends made since last crit

• Foreground elements added in second shot. (Bushes, flowers, plants etc...) Frame seems much denser now/visually appealing. 
• Monsieur Sausage now passes a menu in braille to the woman when he sits her down to communicate to the audience her blindness.
• More detail (linework) added to insert of the dead dog. 
• More blood added to chopping scene. (Moves with his arm)
• Placeholder spaghetti replaced with painted spaghetti.

Crit feedback

• Menu Monsieur Sausage passes is too small.
• Second time we cut back to the boy while MS is chopping up the dog too similar to the first.
• Continuity: Which side of the table is the dog on when it dies? (Make this more clear)
• More frames needed for when MS is grinding up the dog.
• Meat grinder too close to the camera in the shot. (Can't see sausages coming out of it.)

Production Blog- 16/4/2018 Crit: Peer Feedback on Animatic

• A lot of empty space to the sides of the frame in second shot of the animation. Perhaps add foreground elements (bushes, fencing, flowers etc...)

• Unclear as to whether woman is blind. Incorporate walking stick, darker sunglasses maybe?

• Close-up of dead dog not gross enough. Needs more detail; e.g flies on the body, stink lines, denser linework, more discoloured features etc...

• Monsieur Sausage should hold his arm further back to emphasise anticipation when he is about to cut up the dog.

• Dog's bones are too small/not needed. (Remove or enlarge)

Production Blog- Backgrounds

Background Sketch

Background Rough Linework

• Before starting work on my animatic I took the time to flesh out and develop the backgrounds I would be using in my final animation. I would be needing four in total, though in order to increase shot variety I would be zooming in and out of them in the frame, meaning they would need to be drawn at a larger dimensions than 1920 x 1080.

• I opted to draw the main background, the set with the table and lakeside backdrop at 4K resolution to enable this. Every element in the scene had its own separate layer in order to enable characters in the animation to interact with objects in the scene, such as the chairs. Much of the linework used for the backgrounds used a pastel brush in keeping with the aesthetic inspired by Sara Ogilvie.

Foreground Roughs

• The opening establishing shot was derived and repurposed from a piece of concept art I had been working on, with multiple layers of buildings moving as the camera pans down to our characters in order to simulate a parallax effect. I added more buildings and linework to the mountains in the backdrop as I wanted the opening shot to seem dense and lively. 

• I was very much inspired by Sara Ogivie’s work but also classic Disney layout art, such as the work highlighted in Fraser McClean’s setting the scene. While I do wish I had planned around shifting perspective and pushed myself more in the technical drawing aspect I do feel this background fits the animation well, serving as an interesting opening shot. 

• The background for the interior shot is the only one which I didn't have to draw in larger dimensions as it is used sparingly across only three shots with minimal camera panning outside of the frame. 

• Lighting was an important aspect of this background as I wanted the lighting in the scene to change when Monsieur Sausage enters the scene. 

• Compared to the other backgrounds this one is very much created with a particular shot in mind with a very deliberate perspective and line of sight, with clear distinctions between foreground, background and the path the character will tread in the scene. 

Initial Background Concept

• For the final background for the final scene of the animation I opted to make the outlines white rather than the darker blues and browns of previous scenes in order to emphasise lighting and the romantic nature of the scene.

• Like others this background exists on a purely 2D plain, is drawn in a 4K resolution and separates each object in the scene onto its own separate layer to enable interaction with the characters. While for the cut of the animation i would end up submittingby the deadline would not include this background I hope to develop it further in the future, perhaps with further changes. 

Production Blog- YCN Dogs Trust Brief- Evaluation (Study Task 2)

Evaluation

Overall I am satisfied with how this project turned out in that I feel we churned out a quality response to the brief, I do feel poor time management may have had a hand in why we seemed to run out of time towards the end. We worked on this brief in the midst of our CoP3 hand in and thus time which normally could have been dedicated to developing a more fleshed out realisation of our idea was instead spent on other projects. I am happy with how I stepped out of my 2D comfort zone to try some 3D modelling, which is something I would like to incorporate more into my practice in future endeavours. I also look back positively on the collaborative process feeling every member of the group contributed something creatively in a constructive way which furthered their own practice.

Strengths

• Strong overall multidisciplinary aesthetic.
• Neatly put together final package that fits the brief.
• Chance to hone my modelling skills in Maya.
• Sleek, lo-fi 3D background.
• Strong Concept which effectively communicates desired message.

Weaknesses

• Poor coordination in regards to art direction in the beginning. (Something remedied in the realisation process)
• Pixel art could be more consistent. (Varying degrees of detail depending on who drew what)
• Would have liked to have had time to develop a video mockup to see the work in motion.
• Doesn't really provide any relevant material for my showreel.
• Poor time management/ rush for deadline.

Production Blog- YCN Dogs Trust Brief (Study Task 2)

Initial Moodboard

Brief

'To create a campaign that makes rescue dogs the most desirable breed of dog in Britain.'

For this YCN Student Awards competition brief I decided to collaborate with two of my fellow animators in an attempt to bring together our talents at our respective disciplines as well as an opportunity to try my hand again at some 3D modelling in Maya, something i have been hoping to revisit since second year. The result is a fair departure from work I am used to doing but something that I am overall happy with considering the amount of time we had to produce it.

The Idea

Me and Tess brainstormed the idea of creating a smartphone game to convince players to adopt a rescue dog through the mechanics of the game while Dan sought to use this as an opportunity to test his modelling skills in Maya.

Ideas for how we could achieve this ranged from...

• Dog dating sim (Too weird/ambitious)
• Japanese Anime Dog Dating Sim (Definitely too Weird)
• Tinder for dogs (Again...)
• Farmville but with dogs (Doesn't really fit with the brief specifications to convey a 'positive message...)

For the idea we ended up going with we were inspired by the idea implemented by flash games such as the infamous 'Can Your Pet', which lures the player into a false sense of security, making them think they're playing a standard pet game, before the developers throw an unexpected curveball in the form of having the pet shredded into mince and canned. It catches the player off guard and it's mechanics carry the intended message rather than the content, which is something we sought to replicate.

The message we were set to propagate in the brief was to encourage audiences to adopt rescue dogs over pedigrees, as pedigree dog overbreeding has become a notable problem and can lead to the dogs suffering physical disabilities. Our plan for the app was a dog breeding game with a twist; while the game incentivises breeding with other dogs of the same breed and pedigree, resulting offspring will suffer more and more physical ailments, shown by changes in the design and the animal's stats which we deliberately kept inconspicuous in the corner of the screen as to not draw too much attention.

The game reaches an end state when your dogs life expectancy is exceptionally depleted. Initially the plan was to kill the dog at the end in a similarly shocking way to how 'Can Your Pet' concludes, though the specifications outlined in the brief did state that content needed to convey a positive message and be on-brand. Instead when the player's life expectancy stats reach a determined state we cut to an information screen informing them of the dogs physical ailments, how overbreeding is the cause and how by adopting a rescue dog from Dogs Trust, you are in a way helping alleviate the problem somewhat, the idea being to then redirect to information as to where you can adopt a rescue dog from your nearest Dogs Trust Shelter.

Realisation

Initial Background Concept Art

Created in Photoshop with Maya in mind. I knew I would be modelling the 3D background for the game environment myself, so due to my limited Maya skill I opted to keep it simple with simple primitive shapes and geometric land-formations. 

Render of 3D Modelled Background for App-

I achieved the lo-fi, low-poly look by turning off gradient shaders in Maya and rendering the still image at 1920x 1080. The simple lo-fi look was inspired primarily by the works of David O'Reilly, specifically his game 'Everything'. My realisation of this style would prove a little more geometrical as my modelling skills are limited, but by taking inspiration from painter Ryan Browning I found a style that worked for me and fit the brief we had set ourselves quite nicely. 

UI Layout of App- 

We used a lo-fi pixel aesthetic for the UI elements of the app, inspired by trends in real smartphone games with similar audiences.  The pixel aesthetic is also effectively minimalist in design without feeling tacked-on or retro. 

Further details of the process are illustrated in the pitch boards I put together below...

Production Blog- Storyboarding & Preliminary Animatic

Storyboard Thumbnails

• As I was not producing a script and working purely from a story treatment and my statement of intent, the storyboards are one of the most important stages in the development of my animation. While I do feel it would have been nice for my artbook to fully develop and take the time to polish my pre-vis work, as I was working by myself time was of the essence and my storyboards could have been better. Though not that important as I was working by myself and could understand what they were depicting, I do wish I had spent more time on them as what I have here is not exactly presentable in a professional context. Initially I had intended to work on colour scripts similar to those depicted in Pixar’s ‘The Art of Pixar’ art book, however the aesthetic I had settled on as well as the time I had to finish pre-production didn’t properly lend itself to this approach. 

• What was important to me was that the storyboards communicated shot-composition, staging of characters in the scene and the number of sets I would need to construct for the final animation, with details such as character animation and body language being more fleshed out at the animatic stage. I consciously tried to keep the number of sets to a minimum as I wanted the layout to be of a high quality, so I opted to keep the majority of the action in the scene on a two-dimensional plain, with events revolving mostly around the table in which the romantic dinner is taking place. 

• After finishing my storyboards I scanned the sketchbook pages in and constructed a very barebones animatic in which I could figure out timings and variety of shots in the scene, cutting the thumbnails to some temp music in order to get a feel for the pacing and flow of scenes. 

Production Blog- Projection Mapping Brief: Evaluation/Reflection (Study Task 3)

Evaluation

Overall in regards to the animation itself I feel to an extent this was a missed opportunity.This project

was supposed to be an opportunity for collaboration similar to Responsive last year, however

scheduling and poor time management revolving around CoP3 mean't what i produced felt rushed.

It did however provide a valuable insight into how to respond to client briefs however.

From my experiences talking to others who worked on this project I have built up a more solid network

of practitioners in which to collaborate in the future, particularly from illustration. Also, guiding those unfamiliar

with the pieces of software through the animation process over instant messenger has got me thinking

more about efficiency and workflow and made me reflect on my own approach to it.

Strengths

• Efficiently worked around technical specifications and limitations in order to fit the brief.
• Responded and made effective changes to design and execution of my realisation based on client feedback.
• Felt very Xmassy.
• Offered advice and help to illustrators. (Networking connections.)

Weaknesses

• Didn't really push me creatively or in terms of my ability all that much.
• Final product could have had more time put into it, didn't feel finished.
• Limited animation.
• Missed opportunity at collaborative work.

Production Blog- Projection Mapping Brief: Storyboards and Realisation

Storyboards

Storyboards for Lifting Tower Project

Concept Art for characters

Realisation

My animation depicted an anthropomorphic Christmas pudding being eaten by a large disembodied
Santa head. As this was an opportunity to play with projection mapping I wanted to see if I could use
the dimensions of the tower as much as possible. The Lifting Tower has a small window in the middle
of the side in which we would be projecting, so I incorporated this into my animation, having icicles
dangling from the ledge and snow building up around the base of the building to add to the tangibility.
The Pudding, with its Ivy acting as wings, flies out from the window before looking around and being
eaten by a ball of light which evolves into a disembodied Santa head.

One important thing I learned about projection mapping was that it is important to take into account
the technical specifications as outlined by the client. The projector we were using was Standard Definition,
therefore drastically reducing the resolution from what would usually be 1080p to 480p. The exact
dimensions of the frame we had to work with was outlined and provided a template in the brief we were sent
by the client.

Other specifications such as Frame rate also had to be taken into account.

Another thing we had to take into account was the colour of the area being projected onto. The tower
was a dark brown colour, therefore we had to design around it, using bright colours such as white
and light green which would stand out against the backdrop. Snow had to also be appropriately thick in order to
stand out against background on an SD projector.

This was a fairly simple idea I executed in Photoshop using Frame by Frame animation. I did add a few wintery environmental
effects in order to better lend to the christmas motif, such as snowfall, but largely I feel the animation
came across as low effort and I really wish I had dedicated more time to developing the idea, polishing
the animation and taking the opportunity to collaborate across courses.

Production Blog- Projection Mapping Brief: Crit feedback (Study Task 3)

Feedback

Feedback was mixed. While the client liked the general idea, they raised a few issues with me to address before moving forward...

• The building being projected onto is made of dark brown brick, so I should focus on using bright colours which will stand out against the dark background.

• Lose the gross close up of the inside of Santa's mouth. (Not appropriate for the brief)

• Simplify designs to be big in the frame with strong, easily recognisable shape. Focus less on details. (Projector is SD, not HD so it'll be easier to focus on simplifying designs.

Design for Xmas pudding which would ultimately have to be simplified for final animation. Initially I was planning to incorporate more texture into the designs of the assets, though this in the end probably wouldn't have showed up on the projection. Ultimately I ended up anthropomorphising the design of the pudding, giving it large cartoon eyes in order for it to show up better on the SD projector, this also gives the animation a bit more of a classic 'Cat & Mouse' character dynamic. 

Production Blog- Story Outline/ Statement of Intent

• For this project I very much wanted the story to be informed by the visuals as I feel visual storytelling and art direction is my strong suit and I will be undertaking this project largely by myself; hence why I let concept art and character designs inform the plot. 

• The basic outline of the plot is fairly simple; a French Sausage Vendor attempts to serenade a blind woman with a romantic meal, the meal goes south and Monsieur Sausages ends up having to dispose of the woman’s poisoned guide dog in a sausage, which he then serves to the blind woman.

• The structure of the plot, starting off fairly straight-faced and romantic before escalating to pure ultra violence and vulgarity, with this sudden shift in town being the punchline of the piece, was inspired largely by shocking early-2000s internet web animation, notably ‘Chucks New Tux’ by Harry Partridge, which follows largely the same plot structure. 

• I opted for my animation to be board-driven rather than script driven, as much of the action unfolds in a largely non-verbal way. For me personally this is also an easier way of working as I am a very visually oriented creative. I did however create a plot outline and break down the action to bullet points in order to inform the visuals of my storyboards. 

• My statement of intent served as a way to formalise my pre-production up until this point; setting in stone most of the fundamental design choices and creative decisions. 

Statement of Intent in Full- Read Below

Extended Practice- Working Title: Monsieur Sausage

Est Run Time: 2 mins approx

Medium: 2D Digital Animation

Genre: Dark Comedy

Setting: 1950s-60s in a small town in the French Alps.

Aesthetic: Classic Disney/Sylvain Chomet style.

An animated take on Truffaut/Godard, employing much of the same techniques used in the era in
regards to shot composition, while leaving out some of the more fly-on-the-wall editing trademarks
in order to maintain a strong sense of composition and layout, as well as to allow the character
animation room to breathe. (Pans from Establishing shots, frames-within-frames, 4th-wall breaks,
movement where there would normally be an edit and vice versa; yes. Multiple edits within the same
shot and shaky cam; no.)

Character animation is nuanced and detailed, with focus on physical performance and body language;
harkening back to classic Disney. Lots of overlapping action and weight being thrown around,
complimented by characters constructed with primitive shapes with a strong sense of silhouette
and solid contouring.

Synopsis:

A humble, middle aged Sausage vendor falls in love with a young blind woman after she stops by his
Sausage stall one day. Enlisting the help of a young beggar boy whom he has taken under his wing
out of pity, in an attempt to serenade the young ingenue, Monsieur Sausage prepares a romantic
meal in order to woo his would-be sweetheart.

The meal does not go as planned however, leaving Monsieur Sausage and his young protege
to dispose of a dog’s corpse before his dearly beloved notices something is amok.
After feeding the young lady’s deceased guide dog to her in the form of a massive sausage,
Monsieur Sausage bids farewell to his muse and his young protege who has now been tasked
with remaining the stand-in for the blind woman’s now deceased and at least partially digested pet.

Characters:

• Monsieur Sausage: On the surface, a bumbling, altruistic, fatherly, middle-aged Sausage vendor who is generally well liked by the townsfolk, ultimately guided by an intense and burning desire to plant his ‘sausage’ in ‘a lady’s bun.’
• Ingenue/Love Interest: Naive young ingenue in her mid 20s. Free spirited and just going about her life in spite of her blindness when she first crosses paths with Monsieur Sausage. Has a close relation with her guide dog whom she has had since she was a teenager.
• Guide/Sausage Dog:
• Young Beggar Boy: A street beggar whom Monsieur Sausage takes pity on and is training to be his protege. Generally, shy and hesitant; does what Monsieur Sausage tells him as he owes him so much.

Statement of Intent

In deciding what I wanted to do for my extended practice I reflected on my previous two years of
projects, weighing my strengths against my weaknesses to come up with an idea for a project which
would push me technically while reflecting my strengths creatively. Having been to Manchester
Animation Festival for the past two years in a row, as well as Annecy Festival earlier this summer,
I’ve been envisioning my Extended Practice project in the context of the Student Film Showcases
they put on, showcasing a playlist of graduation films from all over the world, which I find to be
some of the most enjoyable and memorable of the festival, for their experimentation and often
pronounced artistic voice. For my Extended I intend to emulate that feeling; to create a grad film
to submit to MAF or Annecy which hypothetically could be showcased in that context.

I feel that working on a narrative-based short film, around 2-3 minutes long, is the best course of action
for showcasing what I believe to be my technical strengths; character design, art direction and layout.
While admittedly not the most technical animator on the course, I do like to think I have an eye
for aesthetic, which is why I want to produce a short animation with a strong visual aesthetic
and sense of narrative which showcases these strengths. In regards to the narrative itself,
I want to try and showcase as much diversity in my character animation as possible while
focusing on delivering a high quality product; quality over quantity, so narratively I am going
to try restrict the number of locations (sets) in my animation to around 2 or 3, allowing me to
explore in greater depth aspects of the mise-en-scene such as lighting and composition.

Throughout my time on the course so far, I have enjoyed working in a narrative context the
most and feel my work is completed to a higher standard when I have a collaborative partner
to fall back on and bounce ideas off. While I do like having control over the pre-production aspects,
I do find I complete work to a higher standard with another set of hands helping me out,
particularly in regard to character animation. While not a formal collaboration,
I have agreed to help out a friend who ‘specialises’ in technically-minded character animation
for his project in exchange for assistance on mine. I feel that this sort of partnership complements
both our strengths as practitioners while also giving us both the breathing room required to
flourish creatively.

Production Blog- Projection Mapping Brief: Initial Ideas (Study Task 3)

The Brief/ Initial Ideas

Another one of the required Live Briefs was the Lifting Tower Project in which we were commissioned

to produce a 10-20 second Christmas themed animation which was to be projected on the side

of the Lifting Tower in an office park in Leeds over the festive period. We were being commissioned for this

by an external agency so it was important we make the most of it for CV purposes and that preproduction work

be presented ahead of time to the client. This was intended

as an opportunity for collaboration across the Illustration & Animation courses though I ended up producing

my animation largely on my own, stepping in occasionally to help some illustrators who weren’t

well acquainted with the animation software when needed.

Initial Design ideas

Some of my initial ideas for realising this brief were very different from what I ended up producing.

From the beginning I wanted to use this projection mapping opportunity to use the space creatively.

One way of doing this I toyed around with the idea of was simulating a searchlight on the side of the building

exposing an elf abseiling own the side of the building on a piece of tinsel, simulating a prison escape scene.

Another idea I tossed around was projecting a series of multi-faith festive scenes as viewed through windows,

for example; depicting a Menorah in the windowsill for a Hanukkah scene.

The idea I felt had the most legs and served my sensibilities the best as an animator, which would provide me with the best material for my portfolio, was having a Xmas pudding flying around a snowy scene before a large disembodied Santa head flies in from the corner of the frame to eat it before turning to the camera and enveloping the frame, with the camera zooming in on the interior of his mouth where the words 'Happy Holidays' would be displayed in the saliva at the back of the mouth. This was the idea I ended up presenting to the client during a crit.