Course Summary

And now comes the part where we all suck up our lecturer and write about how we’ll cherish this experience forever… Well, it was brilliant. So there. Seriously, Narratives in Animation was undoubtedly the most enjoyable subject I’ve done at uni. Each of the assignments was challenging but never felt impossible. The progress submission and the media package in particular helped me chip away the work I would have to do for my final film without even realizing it. When it came time to start chipping away at the final film, I had all the tools to complete the task as well as experiment in order to create something unique. I am exceedingly proud of my final film and, despite being referred to as ‘Tommy Ass End’, am now convinced in perusing a career in digital media. Thanks Josh and Lisa.

See you in Digital Media Studio.

Thomas.

Presentations

Ari and I presented our final animation today. Weird wouldn’t begin to describe it. It was great to finally be able to present all my hard work, but everyone else had chosen to make crowd pleasers; many of which were genuinely hilarious. Mine was the only serious, and rather creepy, animation, which was very strange. After the film had finished and the credits were rolling it seemed like everyone was staring at me like a dog that’s just been shown a card trick. Then again that could have just been nerves. It was also good to hear my respective markers could see the pain on my face while I was presenting which I’ve been told can only work in my favour. The relative speed with which the others groups presented meant I cut much of my speech and the audio on the animation was unfortunately low.

If given more time, more attention would be given to conveying Nihl’s personality within several shots before he sees the light that turns out to be seraphi. Also, due to a simple lack of time, close-up shots of Nihl framing his P.O.V shots had to be cut and therefore when the camera does switch it can be slightly unclear to the viewer.

Week 11 Part 2

The song used throughout the animation is Closer (Precursor) by Nine Inch Nails. Due to its eerie sound effects and ominous droning noise, the song was always intended to inform the timing of the film, with every shot lasting 2 bars of the song. With every shot the same length, an ominous inevitability of tragedy is present throughout the animation. This formed a strong foundation for the soundscape and slowly increased in volume over the course of the animation.

Additional sounds were recorded on guitar to accentuate specific events, most importantly, the finale where Seraphi really lights up. This was done by playing an 'e' octave and slowly bending the higher string to achieve a harsh, dissonant, sound. In the final seconds white noise is layered over the guitar to imitate increased static.

A specific ‘Nihl sound’ was created by scratching the guitar strings with an echo and whirring effect applied in ‘audacity’. Sound is used during Nihl’s point of view shots to illustrate an animal such as Nihl would have much poorer hearing than we do. Also the final shot of all black that is completely silent is intended as a P.O.V. shot; however, as the character is dead, obviously no sound can be heard.

Week 11 Part 1

The final inside layout of the DVD package. The inside was intended to contrast the darkness of the front and back covers (which remained the same from the media package). The concept for the design was to focus on the angelic aspects of Seraphi's design and the fact the more sinister elements are blurred out due to the burst of light. The arrangement of the Post Omega Productions Logo is intended to evoke religious imagery and surround the image with as much reverence as possible.

Week 10 Part 3

In this before and after example, After effects were crucial in conveying the conclusion of the narrative. Seraphi 'exploding' could only be achieved through after effects by firstly applying a lens flare and animating it to follow seraphi's 'head'. Second a CC light burst effect was applied to streak the image outwards. FInally, a bulge was added in the centre of the shot that increased as the shot progressed, this had the eerie effect of seraphi distorting the space around it. As a finishing touch, many other lens flares were added to the sky representing many more creatures like seraphi.

Week 10 Part 2

Received our marks back for the promotional package. I am very pleased with the result. The 3ds max renders could have been of higher quality and given that the production still were largely generated in photoshop, it will be difficult to recreate the look in flash while animating. However, I think this has helped to set a high standard for my character animation by having such a direct comparison. Of particular note is the comment on my feedback sheet that concept artwork could be a possible career for me. I figure that's pretty much the best feedback someone could get in this course. Cheers for that.

Week 10 Part 1

As a way of figuring out what was possible and what had to be completed in which programs, adobe after effects was tested early on. Below is a comparison of two photoshop backgrounds. The first places too much on the foreground instead of where Nihl's shadow will briefly appear in the background. Also, as this shot is relatively early in the animation, light had to be taken out in order to increase the build up to blinding light towards the end. Film grain was applied throughout the animation (apart from the POV shots) to increase the gritty and abrasive feel. This effect also made elements generated in photoshop and flash better integrate within the 3ds max environment.

Individual 'glitches' were also animated using noise and displacement maps to distort or scrape some of image away. This all follows on from the idea that the events are being recorded on degraded 'security cameras' placed randomly throughout the wasteland.

Week 9 Part 1

The requirement of production stills proved invaluable in finalising the style of the animation. The methods of animation and realisation of the characters had already been finalised but the backgrounds still needed some experimentation. Below is an unaltered screen shot taken from the 3dsmax model.

There was a decent amount of 'moody' lighting present in the 3ds max model but the emphasis was not placed on the right areas of the shot. Also the main plot device (a light appearing at the end of walkway) was not present to the extent required by the narrative. In order to achieve this, a strong 'S' curve was applied tot he image, as well as heavy use of the dodge and burn tools. Finally, a very light 'poster edges' filter was overlaid on top of the image so the flash generated characters looked more at home within the shot. This was the result:

Week 8 Part 2

The final poster i the series is to be an extreme close up of Nihl's eye in which instead being in the background, the environment will be reflected in Nihl's eye. Below is a Prelim using a concept of Nihl that had been painted for the progress submission.

In order to complete the poster, I highly detailed version had to be painted with the graphics tablet which required much layering and light correction to get the creases and wrinkles required to convey nervousness. Finally, an image of elephant skin was warped and multiplied over the painted layers to give a final touch of organicism.

Week 8 Part 1

With the posters for the media package, a very subdued style will be used in contrast to the animation, which is all about the big ‘reveals’ of its two characters. Initially, seraphi was be placed very dominantly over each poster, albeit very opaque, however, it was suggested the character be left off the posters entirely. In order to create a cohesive series of posters, Nihl will be featured in various scales throughout. A very opaque environment shot will also be used in order to provide context to the posters.

Below is a bonus poster that was not submitted because its simplicity was inconsistent with others

Week 7 Part 2

Some possible final touches for the animation could include the rough distortion of the frames as if the 'camera' is not working properly. Distorted images such as the ones shown below could be overlaid the final animation, briefly flickering to heighten the sense of unease that heightened throughout the animation. This and other techniques are intended to make the animation slightly more abrasive and rough around the edges.

Week 7 Part 1

These are some more precedents for my animation. They are taken from 'The Animatrix' series of short films and illustrate the highly stylised, moody feel I am trying to achieve with my animation. This is typified by painted backgrounds with slightly more 'cartoonish' characters in the foreground as well as very deep and contrasting shadows.

Week 6 Part 2

Other areas of criticism centred around the composition of shots in the story board and animatic. Possibly the biggest change required in the submission will be the application of the various cinematic techniques shown to us in the lectures (such as use of the golden ratio and framing the focal point of the shots with deep shadows). This will require an alteration of the 3ds Max model from which the backgrounds will be taken. Also, more reaction shots of Nihl are required to better communicate when the viewer is seeing Nihl's POV or a simple shot of the environment.

Week 6 Part 1

Progress submission on Tuesday. Undoubtedly the most difficult section of the submission were the test animations. Seraphi's required use of bones to manage the animation of so many different pieces as shown below. All the pieces were individually painted in photoshop. Managing the layers and armatures proved difficult at first but once they were established the smooth 'float cycle' achieved the desire effect for Seraphi.

Nihl had to be completely hand drawn for every frame. The final product; however, lacked emotion, failing to convey they fear mixed with curiosity that Nihl will exhibit throughout the animation. More experimentation needs to be done in animating a realistic scuttle. After the presentation, the design of Nihl was criticised as not evoking the sympathy intended for the characters. Although the criticism is valid, I believe the correct feel of the character can be achieved through the correct animation and does not require a re-design of the character.

Week 5 Part 1

This week focussed on more advanced animation techniques in flash. Most notably, the use of bone structures to create realistic movement in objects, usually by placing constraints on how they move. This technique of essentially hinging objects together will prove invaluable when animating 'Seraphi', one of the two characters in my animation. Serpahi is an anatomically complicated creature but not particularly emotive, therefore using bones to create gentle loops of her hovering above the ground will be the most efficient way of animating her.

Week 4 Part 1

This week was mainly focussed on understanding the requirements of the final animation rather than learning new skills in flash. This was largely achieved with assignment 2, in which one of the most difficult tasks was dividing up the potential workload evenly between me and my team-mate: Ari. Because we were working off my concept, we decided I would direct and handle the more creative side of the project. This is largely done to maintain a consistent visual style throughout the animation. On the other hand, Ari will act as producer on the project, handling the slightly more procedural aspects, such as creation of the flash folio as well as the rendering and compositing of the animation.

A misunderstanding of what was meant by 'methodology' resulted in me detailing the different methods of animation for the two characters. While not intended as part of the assignment, this did prove useful in establishing how the character's personalities will dictate what techniques are used to animate them.

Week 3 Part 1

Well I'm starting a bit late on the blog, but I might fill in the previous weeks i missed later on. The only problem is when I use facebook and blogs etc I tend to lose...the will...to live. Anyway, my concept was picked this week as one of the 11 to be animated. Booyah! During my 1 minute pitch, I chose to focus more on the personality and design of the characters rather than the story as I felt they were much more compelling. The setting, however, was my big selling point as I have it more or less completely fleshed out in 3D. Even though my pitch was chosen, not many people seemed keen on animating a floating locust/squid/angel with six legs and wings. Luckily, Ari was interested so we formed a group. As there is only two of us, deciding who will do which job could prove slightly difficult, but since I'd planned to do everything by myself, any help is a plus.

The following are concept sketches I presented