After Effects induction 3

This was our third After Effects induction, this time looking at motion paths and more advanced key framing methods, which were all aspects of AE I had not previously worked on.

Concept artwork

As my idea is still pretty fresh and in it's early stages, I decided to do some silly sketches and doodles to help my visual ideas flow out with ease with less pressure for it to be 'perfect'. I had one page for sailor/fishermen concepts and a double page for bears. Although rough and raw I think these two images really show which direction my film is going in.

Equipment induction

Today we spent the morning learning how to set up different pieces of high-end equipment ready for our VFX production. Although I have worked with all of these pieces of equipment on set before, I have never learnt how to use them myself as usually I am working within the Art Department. 

It was great to get a good understanding of how to set it all up, but also how to use the equipment and overcome problems you may find along the way. After everything was set up we all had different roles in the production, with myself being one of the actors. As I was in front of the camera I didn't have any first hand experience with the equipment, but could look at what everyone else was doing whilst we weren't on film. 

Overall it was a really useful session, and I have definitely learnt a lot and feel more comfortable with how to work everything.

Initial discussion with Alex

After writing the long list of questions I need to ask myself and Alex to properly start the project off, I sent the list to him to have a read over. At first he answered the questions he was able to, which then led to a conversation afterwards.
 

Percy Pirate is aimed at children between the ages 2-5 (preschoolers), and isn’t directly aimed at boys but will naturally interest them more. We discussed this aspect and whether or not a female character needs to be developed to target girls separately in a different range of books. We both agreed that it doesn’t need to be gender specific, and we will ensure his unnamed crew will be a mixture of genders.
 

For this book the crew is made up of Percy, an unnamed pet parrot, the pirate captain and an unnamed crew of 6-7 others. When it snaps back to reality I asked Alex if the crew members are other children or if the characters are what Percy has made out of household objects or even imaginary friends, which Alex replied that they are other children who have come round to play out.
 

When talking about how we could make this more transmedia, we discussed creating a range of items which could be sold with the character branding. This also led to us discussing the possibility of more book in the series and different adventures they could take.

 

When we have a completed book, we have discussed looking to publishers at first to gage an interest, however if this does not seem possible we can then look into self-publishing. It is Alex’s vision that this would be a standard children’s book on any bookstores shelf and not a specialist collectors book. We discussed how we could make the book itself more interactive, by adding pop out and pull tab sections in the adventure aspects of the book, such as the actions “swinging” and “jumping.” He also would like the animation to go alongside the book in DVD format, which he would rather develop into a short series, which makes it more worthwhile to purchase. He gave the examples Peppa Pig and Pingu for animation DVD’s he would like us to go down the route of. This would be necessary as a DVD of the one animation alone would be a bit too small and unworthwhile for parents to buy, as it is hoped that each adventure lasts 2-5 minutes. If this didn’t work as we hoped, only then, would we post it on sights like Vimeo or Youtube.

 

We then discussed entering animation festivals to gain a global audience, and attending the Childrens Media Conference to gain a wider audience there too.
 

In relation to the format, Alex is most interested in having a book created, then an animation and if time then developed into an app. We agreed that the same style should be used across all three formats, which would make it easily identifiable and not too confusing for the children. Creatively Alex has given me full artistic license once we have confirmed the basic imagery. He has stated that he wants bright eye-catching colours, veering towards a hand drawn look rendered in pencil crayons and possibly a water wash, in full colour, with plenty of detail, not in a sketchy drawing style.

 

VFX Moodboard

Like my other modules, I have decided to make a design reference mood board looking into sailors, fishermen, bears, water, character design, tattoos, fish and other visual influences. The reason I use Pinterest for these mood boards is because it is so easy to see all of the images visually in one flowing display. Throughout this module I will keep adding to this board and refer back to it for inspiration.

http://www.pinterest.com/iambambiwillow/vfx-module/

Tattoos

For my fisherman/sailor character Ozzy has confirmed that he is happy to act for me. Which led me to thinking about how I want this character to look and act. I decided to go down the 'stereotypical' route but decided to push it to the maximum.

 

The first thing I wanted to look at was sailor tattoos, and spent an hour designing a range of my own. First I looked at different images of excising images and recreated them in my own style. I am really interested in blue ink and personally I feel this looks more aesthetically pleasing and links to the ocean more. I am really happy with my designs, and by creating my own rather than using other people's images, I think it adds more interesting detail and depth to my design and again adds to the hand-crafted look I am aiming for. I am also able to add humorous tattoos in too, such as the 'chips' crest.

 

I found this website about how I would make my own temporary tattoos from scratch. Although it sounds interesting, it seems a very time consuming method due to the amount I am wanting to create, plus it uses not so readily available resources which I would need to source from somewhere.
http://victoriacullen.typepad.com/queenwithoutacountry/2012/08/tattoo-you.html

As I am wanting lots of tattoos created, I was willing to get them all printed on transfer sheets you are able to purchase rather than getting them professionally printed as I simply don't have the budget to do that. I found this pack on Amazon, however it has really mixed reviews and I am sceptical whether this method would work at all, plus where I would actually be able to print them using this paper as I don't have my own printer and college is strict about using your own printing materials.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tattoo-Transfer-Paper-A4-Temporary/dp/B006ELY672

I also looked into other ways temporary 'tattoos' are made, which led me to thinking about henna tattoos, this is a much more drastic yet more permanent solution. I would not want my actor to have his skin stained for after the shoot and this would be a very last resort if any other method didn't work.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TheRedHotShop-Beauty-Essentials-Mehndi-Henna/dp/B0050BIOC0/ref=sr_1_cc_3?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1382447300&sr=1-3-catcorr&keywords=henna+pen

This final method I found is definitely my first choice. It is basically a pen, almost like an eye liner, which you draw straight onto the skin and let it dry for a few minutes. I have read a few reviews where it doesn't stay on the skin longer than a day and washes off really easily, which is bad in their cases, but really useful for me.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stargazer-Semi-Permanent-Tattoo-Pen/dp/B003AWKM3K/ref=pd_sim_office_1

Here is a quick Google search into what some people have managed to produce using these pens, there aren't many results, and I have looked on other photo sharing platforms and found it difficult to find any different pictures. I am going to buy the pen myself and do some experimentation and see if it is smudge proof, which will be important if my actor is being thrown around as if on a boat.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=stargazer+tattoo+pen&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=4EFkUvyjCuOQ1AXsvoHgDA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ

Animation Documentaries

When I was looking for animation pre-production references I came across a great Pinterest account called Character Design References just as it first started out. Since then animators and illustrators all over the world religiously follow the accounts posts/pins and is considered one of the best collections of varying reference material. One of the boards is called Animation/Documentaries, which I hadn't previously looked at before, but the other day I noticed it again and decided to watch through a few of the videos they had on there. I ended up spending hours watching various different posts, and felt really inspired afterwards to animate and get better at animating. This is a really great link for any artist, and I am sure there is a video on there that everyone would relate to or be interested in, maybe that's just me being bias towards it though!

http://www.pinterest.com/characterdesigh/animation-documentaries/

COP2 Lecture 1- Introductory Briefing Overview of Lecture Programme

Here are my notes from the first session of Context of Practice 2, where we were briefed and given an introduction of what to expect with the lecture program this year, taken by James and Richard.

Transmedia Consultant

Whilst looking at the Childrens Media Conference, I came across a speaker who attended last year who's job title is a 'Transmedia Consultant', which really interested me and a role I had never considered to exist. If I am lucky enough to attend the conference in July I will definitely attempt to talk to people with this role and discuss transmedia and the best ways to do this when designing for children.

http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/profile/john-lomas-bullivant-transmedia-consultantcreator-kickback-media-ltd/?event=cmc2013

Childrens Media Conferance

For the Responsive brief, I have chosen to create a trans-media story aimed at young children. I had heard about the Childrens Media Conference before but never was able to attend, however now I am creating work which is suitable for the festival it would make sense for me to look into attending. It would also be a fantastic opportunity for networking not only for myself but for Alex the writer of the story I am creating. I have discussed attending with Alex, and the potential businesses and companies which have attended in the past, and we are drawing up a business plan of how to advertise our work and potentially get funding/backing/taken on by a company there. It is a large ambition and understandably won't come easy, however we are wanting the work to be at a standard which we would be their competitors.

Last years festival had a wide range of talks, varying from fun song and film making activities, to more serious discussions about child welfare and child sexual orientation. Although my work for this project is aimed at pre-schoolers, I feel all of these talks would have influenced how I work.

This years schedule isn't out yet, but they have confirmed it is taking place early July.

http://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/events/cmc-2014/

BBC transmedia

When looking for examples of transmedia brands, I came across a really useful article on the BBC, which are the notes taken from one of their workshops. They go into what 'transmedia' really is and the questions you need to ask about your work to ensure that it can be made more interactive and adaptable to different mediums.

A few quotes I really liked from this article were:

'It changes things into a conversation'

'A small percentage get involved, a large amount of people watch' 

'The amount of content produced ABOUT your content should far outweigh the original content itself'

'Don't make assumptions about the audience. Don't underestimate how much they'll involve themselves'

View the full article here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/production/article/art20130702112135506

After Effects induction two

This was the second induction into After Effects, where we went further into the basics of the software.  It was good to look into the function of each of the tools in the layers palette, and helped me clear up some of the questions I had about the software. We also learnt some really useful and easy to do animation techniques, some of them I had previously used before, but some I didn't even know were possible on After Effects.

Premiere Pro induction

This was the first time I had used the software Premiere Pro, as I have done all my editing in Final Cut Pro previously. Although personally I prefer the interface for Final Cut, I am really interested in how easy it is to go between the other Adobe packages, which will definitely be beneficial for this module and my practise as a whole.

Royal Tenenbaums

As mentioned in my film influences, Royal Tenenbaums directed by Wes Anderson, has been one of my creative influences in this module. I decided to watch the film whilst having my sketchbook in front of me, allowing me to pinpoint recurring or interesting sea/water based imagery and draw them in my own style. By doing a small task as simple as this it allowed me to really focus on the details which you take for granted when watching it. This exercise has definitely given me inspiration for the set and prop design, and a technique I will be using again for future projects.

After Effects induction

Here are my notes for the first After Effects induction of the year. I have used this software before so most of the information I already understood and new, however it was really useful to recap on the interface and keyboard shortcuts. I initially taught myself the software with a bit of help from Matt Burton, and I wish I had an induction like this before! 

Water water everywhere

Water is a huge part of my VFX module, so using the best medium to represent it is really important to the look of my film.

I hadn't really considered using a 3D software for the water, but when discussing it with Mat he was able to show me in less than a minute how to create a moving and controllable ocean on Maya. Having seen this sort of thing being created in Unity in the past, I was looking into using that software to potentially create moving water, however it is (to my surprise) just as easy to create in Maya. Mat was even able to change the amount of foam the water creates, the colour to pink and the amount of ripples and the direction of the wind.

I was initially looking at hand drawn water splashes and ripples with a slowly moving back-plate underneath. This however would be extremely time consuming, especially as I am having other elements of 2D animation in my film.

I then looked into actually filming some water, which to me seems to make the most sense. It will look more believable, I will be able to film from the angle I want with no issue and can capture more footage easily if needed. It was then a case of whether I'd need to go to the coast myself to capture the footage I needed or if I could stage some water ripping in the studio and it retain the depth and scale I needed.

After weighing up which option I thought worked best aesthetically and practically for my work, I decided that filming the ocean myself would be the best option. Although I am heavily relying on the weather, I can easily go to Scarborough (which is only an hour either way on the train) and retake footage as I need it.

Initial research

To start off the research for this module, I wrote a list of films and animations which are related to fishing and the sea, which quite specifically relate to my chosen narrative. The list that I put together was The Life Aquatic, Lost and Found, Fisherman's Friend lozengers adverts, Mighty Boosh (Old Gregg episode), A series of Unfortunate Events (Count Olaf as the fisherman).

Below is a short clip of an episode of Mighty Boosh where the main characters become lost and end up in a strange fishing town. I love the over the top character and set design, which makes the whole situation even more surreal, humorous and just plain odd!

As well as looking at films and characters that look at fishermen and the sea, I also wanted to concentrate on how bears have been developed and anthropomorphised too. The main influences for this are the characters in Panda Go Panda, Brother Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Brave (mother and triplets), Jungle Book (Baloo) and Bear in the Big Blue House.

All of these films/animations/adverts have influenced the art direction so far, and have been a good grounding for the sort of film I want this to become.

Narrative idea

When thinking of an idea for this module, the first thing that came into my head was having a 2D animation of a panda child splashing in puddles, composited on top of film footage of water splashing. However this didn't fit into any of the four given themes, so I started to think of how I could develop this idea further.

The theme that stood out to me the most was 'man/woman VS nature', especially as my idea already had elements of nature. This led to me to thinking about how humans could be involved in this idea, which in turn led to thinking about humans involvement with water. I started initially thinking about swimming and surfing as well as other water sports, but it didn't seem to make sense to me. From the water sports idea it developed into boating, and then developed again into fishing. The idea of a fishing boat seemed to work as often these are made into children's toys and links to the bear playing in the water.

From this basic idea I extended it to make the fisherman and fishing boat have a more substantial part in the film, and the boat having issues staying afloat due to a storm and choppy waves, created by the bear.

I am unsure of which order to have the key events, as the narrative works both ways:
1. Fisherman in boat floating calmly whilst fishing - suddenly there is a change in weather as he goes further into the ocean, sees the fisherman battling for survival - cuts to large feet splashing in the water and boat still swaying - cuts to large bear splashing like a child in puddles

2. Large bear splashing in puddles with what seems to be a toy boat - closer shot of feet splashing and the boat - cuts to inside the boat with a fisherman struggling against the tide - the weather calms down/ the bear has stopped splashing and the fisherman is able to continue with his work

I feel either way has an element of surprise and potential humour, however I would like to contain a deeper meaning behind the work, and how over fishing is effecting nature and other animals fight for survival. By making the bear childlike it makes the audience want to help protect it, as well as adding extra 'cute factor'. I don't want to cast the fisherman as a villain in this however, but more someone who simply doesn't understand that he is doing wrong by using large nets and specifically fishing for certain species. I feel this part of the narrative needs to be developed further, but as my development and research progresses I am sure this will click into place.

After I had a solid idea it was time to start tweaking the small details. I found that my narrative was lacking in a greater meaning, and the Panda didn't quite fit into the context. After hours of deliberation, I decided that a grizzly bear would be better suited, not just aesthetically, but that it actually eats fish and has a closer link to the sea and fishing.

I then had the problem whether to keep it as a bear splashing in puddles, or if the bear was sat playing with the water in the bath which would make sense for there to be a boat more. I decided that the puddle seemed more fun and made the child bear more playful rather than destructive.

Going into finer details again, now I had decided that the bear would be splashing in the puddle still, I needed to choose if the bear was going to be clothed. In my initial sketch it would be wearing wellington boots and coat, which links to small human children when they play in puddles. I was worried that the coat needs a strong vivid colour, but using a red coat could possibly look too much like Paddington Bear. This started me questioning if the bear actually needed to wear a coat at all, but I found it strange if the bear was just wearing wellington boots. A yellow rain coat was the next choice in colour, but again I was worried that this would match the fisherman too much. I however think that using a yellow coat represents that the bear is also a fisherman too, but on a different scale, and that it would actually bring a smoother flow to the narrative as it is more linked visually.

Uses for green screen

For this module I am going to learn how to green screen and use the techniques learnt to do it myself in my film. I wanted to look into what green screens are used for and how this will help my module and what I could possibly use it for.

The most common use for green screens is to replace a background, this is usually seen in modern films with lots of visual effects, where the actors and perhaps a small section of a built set is in front of a green wall/screen and in post the whole area can be picked out and replaced with a digital environment or different film footage of a different area. Everyday examples of green screening is the weather reports on the news, where the forecaster is stood in front of a green background, and the film footage of the presenter is layered on top of the weather map. 

Another example is Photo Booth, the app for Apple based products, where you are able to take pictures from the Mac/Ipad's camera and there are options to change the background. Although this isn't green screening it uses the same principles, where a still back plate is taken first and then when people come back onto the screen it detects a change of surface and only shows the video footage of them. With green screening it is similar to when elements such as stands, armatures and wires need to be taken out, where a clean back plate is taken of just the background. When the film is being taken these elements are coloured green, so in post they are able to pick the green areas out, leaving the live footage and the background. The areas that were once green will now be clear which allows them to put the back plate behind revealing what would have been seen before these elements obstructed the view.

What is VFX and Compositing

The definition of a composite, is combining two or more images together to create one image. The definition of Visual Effects (VFX) is the process where imagery is created or manipulated outside of the  live action footage, for example a 3D modelled monster created separately to the film footage of people running away. With compositing, it is possible to put VFX overlaid on top of the film footage making on piece of moving image. With new technologies we can now do this digitally as well as using colour correcting software and other rendering packages to make the VFX look seamless within the film.

Proportion, Personality and Pirates!!

To start the project off I decided to compile a mood board together looking at different things that will help with my visual development. The key things were environment, drawing style, digital vs hand drawn, posture, drawings of children, children in costumes, drawing tutorials and tips, pirates, character expressions and personality, colour, sea life and other visual ideas. The mood board can be found here:
http://www.pinterest.com/iambambiwillow/alex-pirate-book/

I showed Alex this image from the mood board specially for the line work, proportion and character. We both really like the head to body ratio, but according to Alex the hair is too much like Dennis the Menace! I will definitely be using this for reference when looking at posture, expression and proportion.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/344455071470927245/

We both agreed that a hand drawn look would be best for the story in all forms, and perhaps colour it in this way (using a colour wash underneath pencil crayons). Personally I love the choice in colour for this, however we would need to have a wider range on the colour spectrum to add vibrancy.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/344455071470927307/

Responsive- Alex's book

I have found a live brief working alongside my friend Alex who has written a children's book. Before embarking on this project I have written a long list of questions and considerations we both need to make before we are able to start. The narrative has already been locked down, but we are still deciding which medium we would like to tell the story in, and at the moment it is between a book, a storytelling app or an animation. What I love about this project is how transmedia it already is, and how we are able to take it into different routes easily. Below are a list of questions broken down into ones that apply for whichever medium we choose to take it down, as well as medium specific.

-Which artistic style, medium, colour, and size would it be created in?
-How many characters are in the story, is it just the one and his parrot?
-How will we market this once it has been completed? Will we start before completion?
-What is my target audience, age group and gender?
-How long will each way take to do?
-When is my deadline for the completion for this?
-How long will I need to take on pre-production, will this depend on each option?
-Can this be trans-media and be able to be all three options? Is there room for a range of other items, toys, bedding, children's wear?
-Would this story be able to be developed into a series? Would more characters need to be developed from this? Could they have different scenarios?
-What is the advantage of taking on this project?
-What am I going to learn from undertaking this?
-Could the finished piece be entered into different competitions/festivals?

Book
-Do I have the skills to create a professional book?
-Would we need to collaborate with a graphic designer?
-How many copies would we look to produce?
-Would we be a self published title or look for publishers?
-Would it be a limited printed and hand bound book, and more of a collectors item?
-Could we make it more interactive and have pop out or pull tab sections?

Animation
-Would this go along side the book in a DVD form?
-How long would we make the animation? Is it a short animation or a longer feature?
-Which medium would be best to tell the story in? Is a specific medium standing out as one which will enhance the story more?
-Would this simply be posted up online on sights like Vimeo or Youtube?

Storytelling App
-I will need to learn coding, or look into ways of making apps without coding
-We will need to look into pricing of releasing an app and if it would be free or how much we would charge
-What would making it an App add to the story?
-Could we make it more interactive and include short games?
-Would we need to purchase any additional software to make this happen?

Sacha SWOT

During our second PPP2 session we looked into how we could use SCAMPER and SWOT analysis methods when critiquing our own work, and how mind-mapping can be beneficial to idea generation. Below are some possible things to think about relating to digital media work when using both analysis methods.

Substitute- equipment, materials, character, location, plot
Combine- characters, time management, skills of other people
Adapt- change discipline
Modify- contexts, emphasis
Put to another use- audience, research
Eliminate- streamline ideas, reduce content, economical
Reverse- swap roles, look at the story back to front, sequence

Strengths- (internally controlled) selling points, resources, skills, ideas, location

Weaknesses- (internally controlled) things that need improving, timescale, commitments, reputation, planning, ability, knowledge

Opportunities- (externally controlled) networking, audience, skills, research, markets, development, influencer

Threats- (externally controlled) time management, competition, technology, distractions, audience, expectation, legistration, environment effects, limitations from funders

We were then encouraged to use the SWOT analysis theory to apply on our own practice as freelancers. I really found this task useful and insightful, especially in setting achievable goals for myself to turn negative issues into strengths.

Strengths
-Multidisciplinary
-I have the Adobe Creative package and Microsoft Office packages on my own Macbook Pro, as well as a Wacom tablet, meaning I am able to work in a number of places.
-I have experience in different areas of creative work and have a good foundation of work behind me
-I am imaginative and enjoy exploring different ideas
-Being based in Leeds I am able to work across Yorkshire, as well as having family links in the West Midlands and London allowing me to spread my work opportunities across these areas
-I have a good reputation in Leeds for my Art Department work, and have made many contacts through different projects
-Versatile working

Weaknesses
-Not a specialised practitioner (sometimes)
-Reluctant to use 3D animating software and needs experience in this area of work
-Busy timetable due to University commitments and working on Saturday mornings
-I need to strengthen my abilities and learn new transferable skills
-I have a specific target audience and style and struggle occasionally to adapt to fit other people's needs if very different.
-I have no editing software on my laptop, and need to look into getting Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Dragon Stop Motion so more reliant on University resources

Opportunities
-Already got a good network around me
-Growing need/want for well animated and beautiful animations/storybook apps for children
-Chance to widen my network on every new project I work on - more work may come from this
-Adapting briefs to my own wants and needs within my personal work development

Threats
-I may run out of time and energy to take on many more projects, risk of getting burnt out
-The amount of animation and film courses are rising within the UK as well as world wide, which means more competition when graduating and applying for graduate schemes and apprenticeships.
-Technology is always developing which means I need to constantly be learning and updating my skill set or risk falling behind in the industry
-Having to compete with graduate animations from Gobelins and CALArts there is a high expectation to produce work to a 'Disney' hand drawn quality and skill, and whilst learning other skills this may not be possible in the timeframe

Penguin book cover

This is an editorial illustration competition, which is extremely popular and with an ever-growing number of applicants. The Penguin Book Cover Competition takes place every year, where a specific book is chosen to have it's book jacket redesigned. This year the book is 'What a Carve Up!' by Jonathan Coe, which I personally have never heard of or read, which means it would be extremely difficult to create a meaningful and well thought out cover, unless I read the book. This may be a project to consider doing for my PPP module instead as I also feel the brief is too small and easily could be completed in a few days if not a day. The prize however would be really good for my work, as you get £1000 cash, which I could use to buy animation equipment, as well as an internship at Penguin's offices which would help with my pursue to create work for children.

http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/penguin_brief.php

All Art Competition- Pop Culture

I stumbled across All Art when looking at possible briefs to undertake, and was interested to find the amount of competitions they had on offer. You have to pay a small fee to enter the competition, but the prize is to exhibit in a gallery. My only issue with this is the digital entries won't be shown in the gallery and will just be on their website, which I think is a real shame and to me I could spend that money better by entering different more worthwhile competitions for my practice. I did find two of their briefs interesting though.

One of their competitions that caught my eye was the 'Pop Culture Animation Competition', which looks at culture icons and popular mass media items. I would really enjoy looking into this and how different countries has their own set of culture icons, and what future trends might be. I could also look down more of an animation route, in which animations have made it into the 'Pop Culture' branding.

http://allartcompetitions.com/art-competition/pop-culture-call-for-entries/#.UlQU5xZ41ho


Their 'Constant Connection Animation Competition' really interested me as often I question if technology is starting to take over our lives and the constant phone upgrades and laptop malfunctions which are due to the products being built to only last a few years. Surly there is more to life than having the latest Iphone and showing off about it by constantly texting or checking Facebook in public constantly. This is definitely and issue that annoys me and I could easily create work for this competition.

http://allartcompetitions.com/art-competition/constant-connection-call-for-entries/#.UlQVKRZ41ho

Short of the Week

I have looked at the 'Short of the Week' website a lot during my studies for inspiration, and hadn't really considered entering any of my work as the standard is stupidly high! However for this module I am wanting to push myself, so whatever animation I create (if I end up going down that route over illustration or pre-production) then I am hoping to enter it into this. It is free to get judged but the popularity of the website has grown incredibly so, so it might be worth paying a small fee to definitely get it viewed and critiqued by a working professional. If nothing comes from it that is completely fine, especially if I get some helpful feedback, however if my work was chosen to go on the website it would catapult my practice.

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/submit/

Bang Animation competiton

When looking specifically at animation briefs I came across Bang Animation Awards. The competition itself is split into two themes, the first is an open brief and will take submissions from any genre of animation, and the other is under the theme 'crossworlds' which focuses more specifically on cultural awareness. This sounds a really interesting brief, especially as it has the option to be more specific and really stick to the brief they set, but isn't too limiting and has space for creative freedom.

http://www.bang-awards.com/en/info/temas

Frankie Magazine contributor

I decided to look into editorial briefs so I don't limit my work to just moving image. I initially struggled to find any which interested me, but when looking at magazines I regularly buy and read (namely Oh Comely and Frankie), I found that they have submissions to be a contributor to the magazine, whether that is writing articles, taking pictures or illustrating for them. The Frankie magazine contributor brief really interests me, however it again isn't a limited brief. I am definitely going to apply for this in the future though, as it is an open brief and you can contact them at any point. What is great about Frankie magazine is it's an Australian publication but sold to independent retailers worldwide, which would give me a completely different audience. The magazine itself is seen as an indie publication, focusing on handcrafted items, beautiful homely articles and pretty illustrations which draws an audience of artists and crafters as well as people with an eye for kitsch aesthetics, which is the market I feel my work fits under other than for children.

http://www.frankie.com.au/submission-details/submissions

My Practise

I call myself an illustrator, animator, crafty alligator as my working title, however I think this just translates as a multi-disciplinary artist working mainly in digital media. I enjoy creating work for young children, kitsch or crafty pieces.

Most projects I work on outside of University is within the art department, set dressing, prop sourcing and making, costume dressing and working closely with the art director, mainly for film (music videos, short films and adverts)

I am looking to strengthen and develop my illustration and pre-production skills in character design, narrative development, storyboarding, illustration and background design.

I also have a strong interest in 2D or Stop Motion animation, and this is what I fundamentally want to do after leaving this course, however I have a wide interest in the other areas mentioned above.

Commarts illustration competition

For this module I want to push myself to develop my drawing style, whether that be through illustration, animation or pre-production work. I also wanted a more defined outcome, so a brief which wasn't too open ended or too self-directed would be best for me. The competitions and live briefs I have been looking at reflect these personal development needs.

The first brief I came across was the illustration competition held by Commarts where you can enter in animations, this caught my eye as your work is published and distributed world wide, meaning my work would gain a wider audience. The only downside of this competition is there is no brief, and you can enter any work, which doesn't push me to work for a client. This is a good competition to keep in mind however, as I may be able to enter in whatever work I produce in this module as well.

http://www.commarts.com/competitions/illustration

Maya recap and render task

To start the module off we had a quick recap of Maya and an update to any small changes the 2014 version has made. Once our Maya brains were back in gear it was time to learn how to render a 3D animated object into a still photo back plate, and use different tools to make it look seamless. Underneath are the different steps I took whilst following Mat's instructions and following his tutorial guide.

Change the UV map

Colour Pass

Shadow Pass

Reflection Pass

Occlusion Pass

Edit on After Effects and colour grading

Here we have the finished thing! I learnt so much doing this task, and hopefully it will be useful when putting my finished video together.

Untitled from sacha frampton on Vimeo.

Star Wars- Within a Minute

After our briefing we watched the documentary 'Within a Minute', based on the work which went into creating a VFX heavy shot in one of the later Star Wars films.

Having never watched any of the Star Wars films I wasn't that enthusiastic about watching this, however after seeing it I was sincerely impressed with the problem solving they went through to create such an impressive finished product. Having worked in the Art Department a few times myself on various projects, this was the most interesting section for me, and I loved how they had one of the largest volume of employees.

I also found it interesting that they edited whilst shooting, saving on production time and allowing the director to see if they needed any retakes in the same day rather than having call backs.

One of the most impressive sections of the documentary was how they made the volcanoes look so realistic. I really enjoyed their set building, but also that they based their visual effects on real life and actually shot a real volcano erupting and composited it in.

What didn't shock me was that 12,069 shots had animated elements in, however I didn't expect that they even animated their matt painted environments, which I had never given any thought into.

Below is a great image I found which breaks down some of the departments involved in the production.

(Maybe it's time I actually watch Star Wars..)

Responsive Brief

• 20 Credit module
• Deadline is the 27th April 2014
• Look into making your work transmedia
• Enter a competition or take part in a live brief, whilst considering the audience your work is aimed at and the skills you will need to use
• Develop your practise
• Write a 1000 word evaluation
• Collaborate with other people in different areas if you need to
• Show people your work and get feedback
• Write a proposal for study, researching into different briefs and learning new skills. This should be handed in on the 26th November at 1pm

PPP2 Brief

• 20 Module brief
• Deadline is the 23rd May 2014
• More critical and more professional than last year, focusing on business skills and marketing yourself and your work
• Hand in:

1. Blog (portfolio of study and ten tasks)
2. Competition/Live brief
3. Pop-up exhibition (4th February)
4. Showreel, art portfolio, business card, CV
5. Learning journey presentation (10 minutes long)

• Attend events/festivals/trade shows
• Resources you've found or used
• Meet up/Eventbrite
• How much would you charge when working
• 20 blog posts minimum

Summer Presentation

Here is my presentation I created about my summer.
http://issuu.com/sachaframpton/docs/summerpresentation

VFX and Animation for Film Production Briefing

• 30 Credit module
• Deadline is the 24th January 2014 at 4.30pm
• Individual work, but can collaborate during production
• Test and experiment before starting the work
• Create a Visual Effects breakdown
• It is the FUNDAMENTALS, don't expect too much of yourself
• 50% Development and Evaluation
• 50% Project work
• Self Identified brief under the themes-

1. Good Vs Evil
2. Triumph over Adversity
3. Death as a part of life
4. Man/woman Vs Nature

• Pre production - Production - Post Production
• 1 minute long including a title sequence (1500 frames)
• Needs to be exported as 1080p Pro-Res and Quicktime H264 at 25fps
• Send the finished film to competitions
• Can make and use 2D and/or 3D assets
• Hand pre production work in at the interim crit