Reflective Report for Year 1.

During my reflection over my first Year of FdAnimation, I have can conclude that I have taken away an astounding amount of skills and knowledge from the projects I have taken part in over the Year.

During my first project of the Year, I was set the task of researching and testing out multiple ways of creating an animation. Being totally new to the subject, it’s fair to say I was rather nervous about the tasks, for example the amount of work I needed to produce, the style and layout of my work and research, and the amount of time I had to produce all of my work and hand it in were on my mind for 90% of the time. However I believed I managed well during this project, as I was able to quickly get used to the speed of working and became confident in working independently. Some of the skills I learned from that project include time keeping and my ability to work at a much faster pace than I would have done a year ago. Another skill I gained was working with new computer software, although I took my time getting used to it, I found that I was able to work with a new computer software named Dragon Stop-Motion, which enabled me to create multiple stop motion animations at a high quality and faster pace. I also learned in detail about the animation production technique of cell drawing, common in Disney’s first animated films, and created my own small animation using this process and Dragon Stop-Motion. I think all of these skills will come in handy next year as they are the basis for one of the ways to make hand drawn animations, in multiple styles and outcomes which I think is very important in the animation industry, depending on the audience.

The second project of my first Year, I was given the task of creating a storyboard and animatic. First I was given one word, which would be the source of the story of my storyboard, and animatic, I developed that word in a brainstorm like activity where I thought up a suitable story, with and A –B storyline, that was simple and friendly to all ages. Again, getting used to the timing and how much work I did in correlation to how long I sent on it was always in the back of my mind, so at some points I was rather stressed out when I came to art blocks or dead ends. I found that I gained a large amount of skills from this project, as I gained knowledge on things such as image sizes and types, being able to produce a sequence of images, and showing a gradual change in things such as emotions and positions. I also gained skills in the colouring side of the subject, where we were given a short but very effective crash course in colouring with Photoshop and being able to apply those techniques into our own colouring programs if we had any. I also gained the skill of working with  video editing software, Final Cut Pro, I found this program very user friendly and could create a number of different styles and layouts for my animatic. I learned a lot to do with timing at this end of the project as well, mainly because we were given a limit as to how long the animatic could be and so we would have to cut down any outstanding areas. I will take mostly the timing and colouring elements into my second year, as timing is almost as important to animations as the production of them, and I want to improve my digital colouring skills over the summer, so what I have learned in this project will help me when it comes to finding and creating new ways to colour and create art digitally.

For my third project I was made to produce an animation based on what I had created through my second project. This animation would be made in the pseudo 3D animation style on a software named Cinema 4D. I made my animation consist of a “Toy Story” kind of storyline, where a toy encounters a problem and enlists the help of other toys in order to set things right. In this case, a clown was playing on a little girls’ bed and his nose falls off under the bed, he goes under the bed to try and find his nose but comes into contact with old toys that he thinks are monsters, and in the end, these toys help him find his nose just in time for the girl to come and an find him. This, so far for me, had been one of the most challenging projects that I encountered, mainly due to the amount of work we were given to do, as well as the pressure of using completely new software. I used my storyboards and animatic to make a basis of what my animation was going to be of, and I was able to use images from my storyboard, in colour, to create the different scenes throughout my animation. Some of the skills I would take away from this project would be working with cinema 4D, and using rather in depth techniques and a large amount of lessons were given to show us all of the workings in cinema 4D. Another skill I would use at a later date would be using Photoshop to create animated scenes, as I used it for two of my twelve-scene animation. I feel as though this project was definitely the most challenging of all the projects I had been given so far, as the sheer amount of little pieces that were included in the animation and it’s production sometimes got the best of me and left me a little lost. However I did manage to retain my sanity and was able to get the animation done to, what I believe is, the best of my ability.

My fourth project of the year was given to me with the instructions to create a full 3D model, along with a character sheet showing multiple drawings of that model. In the beginning I found this project to be one of my favourites, as it was hands on drawing and not using computers as much, to be begin with anyway.  I created a character of a jester who lived in a black and white world, who eventually brought colour to it and in the process, saving the day. I searched through a variety of images related to jesters and clowns, and took particular interest in Harley Quinn from the Batman series. I did numerous drawings of designs and poses of my character, which, I think is one of my strongest moments of the project, and then uploaded them to a computer and was able to make them into digital drawings using software such as Adobe Illustrator and Paint Tool Sai. At the same time I was also using these images not only for a character board, but also as the basis for my 3D model which I would be creating using Cinema 4D. I found that this process was stressful and did take a long time, but I was aware of how Cinema 4D ran because of my previous project, so I was able to use Cinema 4D on my own until I became so stuck I would have no choice but to ask for help. I feel as though I gained a great amount of skills form this project, some of which I would take to next year without a doubt. One of these skills would be using digital colour, and being able to choose a sophisticated colour pallet and produce professional looking pieces of artwork using some of the paint sampling features on Photoshop. Another would be using Cinema 4D to crate 3D objects as well as in my last project where I used them to create a 2D environment. I feel as though this project took most of my time (and patience) away and although I deeply enjoyed it and was very pleased with my final outcome, it was one of the more difficult and stressful projects of the year.

The fifth project of the year was that of live drawing and showing my general drawing skills. This project focused mainly around life drawing classes, and our ability to draw more lifelike features and not focus only on cartoon styled drawings. The lessons, in my opinion, went very well and I believed that I was learning much more about drawing techniques by looking at work that other people were doing in the same class as me, as well as sing other mediums to create me pieces. I used a wide variety of materials to exaggerate and tone down parts of the body. One of the parts of life drawing that I struggled with was the pressure of creating a piece with a lot of people being able to see my work, which made me rather nervous and I feel my work didn’t come out as strong as I wanted it to be, that and I didn’t want to offend the life model by drawing something out of place. I soon gained more confidence and I think this shows in my work as time went on, which ended with me creating a final piece out of what I had researched throughout my project, and what I had learned through the life drawing classes. One of the skills I learned that I would take through to next year would definitely be confidence in my work, and that I wouldn’t need to worry on what other people were thinking of my drawing because they would definitely be more interested in what they are doing with their own work. Another skill I gained in this project would be using different materials to create artwork rather than just pencil and paper, and I feel that over the summer I will definitely be interested in using other materials and possibly even wall space to create pieces of art. I feel as though I started out a bit rocky on this project, but after a while I was able to concentrate on what only I was doing and in the end I am very pleased with the piece that I created.

My final project of the year was to create an E4 “Esting” for the E4 competition, in which I was to make a short (10 second) animation. At first I was at a complete loss for what to do, as I was given the choice of using almost any medium to create this short film. I eventually chose to concentrate more on live action, mainly because it was one of the styles of animation I hadn’t had an in-depth go at yet. I chose to do my film in the style of a Charlie Chaplin silent film, where I dressed myself up as a mime and painted the E4 logo sped up, but also making it look like I had done it in real time. I spent only half an hour shooting footage, as I had space an scene set up prior to the shooting, and about two days full on animating and editing it. I struggled with one thing in particular, which was using Adobe After Effects to edit some of my film. I had the film split into about 3 pieces, which made it a lot easier to animate individual pieces. I learned quite a few new skills in this project, one of which as working with a green screen. At the start of my animation, I have actually used a green screen behind me when I pop up and smile, I think this turned out extremely well as even the little hairs and small pieces of fluff on my clothing turned out well and weren’t cut off or blurred out. I also learned process of editing a film to make it look like a silent film, where there would be jumpy parts in the film as well as editing the sound of an old camera into the film under the music, just to give it that vintage effect. This was one of my favorite projects to do this year, as it was mostly hands on and I got to paint my face, making actual fun out of the project. It was the project that I was completely excited about from start to finish and I am overjoyed with how my final, 10 second animation turned out!

My E4 Esting.

                     



My final project of the year was to create an E4 “Esting” for the E4 competition, in which I was to make a short (10 second) animation. At first I was at a complete loss for what to do, as I was given the choice of using almost any medium to create this short film. I eventually chose to concentrate more on live action, mainly because it was one of the styles of animation I hadn't had an in-depth go at yet. I chose to do my film in the style of a Charlie Chaplin silent film, where I dressed myself up as a mime and painted the E4 logo sped up, but also making it look like I had done it in real time. I spent only half an hour shooting footage, as I had space an scene set up prior to the shooting, and about two days full on animating and editing it. I struggled with one thing in particular, which was using Adobe After Effects to edit some of my film. I had the film split into about 3 pieces, which made it a lot easier to animate individual pieces. I learned quite a few new skills in this project, one of which as working with a green screen. At the start of my animation, I have actually used a green screen behind me when I pop up and smile, I think this turned out extremely well as even the little hairs and small pieces of fluff on my clothing turned out well and weren't cut off or blurred out. I also learned process of editing a film to make it look like a silent film, where there would be jumpy parts in the film as well as editing the sound of an old camera into the film under the music, just to give it that vintage effect. This was one of my favourite projects to do this year, as it was mostly hands on and I got to paint my face, making actual fun out of the project. It was the project that I was completely excited about from start to finish and I am overjoyed with how my final, 10 second animation turned out!

Week 3: Post-Production.

Once I had completed filming all of my animation, I then began to start editing it all 

together. I started this process by adding both of my video files to Adobe After-Effects,

 and once I added them to the program, they both appeared on the time line, 

ready to edit.

Once I started to edit my film, there were a few problems I had encounters with, one of

 them being my body sticking out of the designated “White zone,” created on the set of 

my film. To combat this issue, I created a mask layer, and went through the animation, 

frame by frame, and moved the mask layer’s points according to where I went over the

 white zone, adding a key frame to every change.

Once I had completed the white zone problem, I played through the film to ensure that all

 of the mask were in the correct places. I found that the “feather,” effect on the mask, 

worked well because of the smoother edges, making the mask edges much less obvious.

 I also lowered the masks opacity slightly so that the edges of the mask would meet the 

edge of the film smoothly and would not show any mistakes.

After I had edited that part of film, I moved onto the introductory part of my film, which

 involved me being filmed in front of a green screen. I opened this video in After-Effects

 and began to edit out the “green,” by changing its colour from the "green screen" panel, to orange, and then managed to change the orange to white, blending it in with the background.

Once I had the film in the correct order and put together, I then went onto editing my film.

 To do this I opened up the film in Final Cut Pro and began to cut it up into individual 

segments. This then made it easier for me to see which parts I could edit first, and the 

first piece I began to edit was the longest part which happened to be me painting the

 large E4 logo.

Once I had used the tools in Final Cut Pro to speed up the selected piece of film, by

 about 200%, I then moved the three pieces apart from each other and began to edit the

 final piece of the film which was focusing on the E4 logo beginning to drip. I had to edit a

 few pieces of film out of it, because there was about three seconds worth of unwanted film

 where I was unsure how to stop the constant photo taking. This made the film run much

 more smoothly, and gave me the opportunity to edit in frames that I will in order to make

 this animation look more like a silent film.

To do this I opened up a document in Photoshop with the requirements of “web and devices,”

and began to draw out the frame that I will apply to my whole film. I changed the frame size 

at the top and bottom so that the frame was even, and coloured the entire frame black to 

match the ones that would be seen in most generic silent films.

I then opened up Adobe Illustrator and began to draw out the designs for the frame which I 

put into my film. I looked through a number of silent films and found that the frames of the

 films usually consisted of swirled and floral patterns, the kinds usually found on old fashioned

 mirrors. The design I went for was a swirl and tear drop look, and I tried numerous ways to 

draw out this image, including making my own style of paintbrush, and using the pen tool. 

I ended up using the paint tool, and edited the lines to make them much smoother and more

flowing, which in the end, worked out very well in my opinion. I then changed the size of the

 “tear drops” in order to make them the correct size for the Photoshop document.

I then chose the swirl pattern to go on both the top and bottom of the frame, which I got as 

central as I could, and added them as smart objects before putting them in their places for 

definite.

I put the images on a new layer and filled in the colour of the shapes to make them stand 

out fully against the black background. I did experiment with colour, where I used a mix of

 greys and even some pastel colours, before realising that pastel colours would not make

 much of a difference since the film is in black and white.

Once I have the swirls placed correctly onto the border, I started to place the tear drop 

shapes onto the new layer on my Photoshop file. I wasn’t quite sure where about I would 

put them to begin with, as I originally wanted them on the left and right sides, stretched 

apart like the swirls were, but I eventually decided on placing them at the corners of the 

border, and I feel this makes the frame look more ornate and like an antique rather than 

something more modern. Once I had completed the look of my frame for the animation, I 

saved it as a file to use for web and video purposes, and uploaded it into Final Cut Pro and 

stretched it across the time line, so that it would last throughout the entire film.

I then went on to make a take frame, where dialogue is displayed to show what the characters

 are saying in silent films. I began by making a canvas the size of what would be the space in 

the middle of the ornate frame I made, and then chose and old, but legible style text to use

 as the written dialogue. I feel as though this worked out very well as I asked numerous

 people as well as tutors and they thought it looked rather authentic, I also added two 

tear drop shapes around the words to exaggerate and pronounce the words more.

After I had all of the elements of my film put together in the time line, I went on to edit 

the visual part of my film by using a variety of the settings available on the Final Cut Pro

 program. I chose to edit the blur settings so that the picture was blurred slightly, making

 it look slightly older and less HD than it is.

Here it shows the final adjustments that I made, visually, I added some visual effects, such

 as the Gaussian Blur which is what made the film so blurred and old fashioned. I also added

 the “Bad Film,” filter, which helped me make most of my changes to my film. I increased 

the saturate amount, scratches, hairs, and dust ever so slightly, which gave the great old 

fashioned Victorian film effect, which turned my film into the exact thing I had envisioned. 

I also ended up increasing the jitter Amount as well, which gave the film its jumpy and edgy 

feel.

Once I had taken the appropriate measures to ensure my film looked as authentic as I could, I went on to “colour correct” the E4 logo in my film so that the colour would remain in the logo whilst everything else was in black and white. To do this I went to the “3 Way Colour Correct” option on the menu in Final Cut Pro, and made sure that the saturation and Lumo were not selected, and opened up the range of colours that I still wanted to be visible throughout the video, I chose anywhere between lilac and violet, as the E4 logo is somewhere between those two colours and this made the E4 logo retain it’s colour throughout the film.

I then went on to add some sounds onto my film, I obtained these sounds through the means

 of the sound program named “Logic Pro,” found on the computers in the Music and Theatre

 building, so there would not be any legal issues.

The sounds I added included that of an old school film projector, which links in with the editing

 I did of my film. This sound is very authentic, and even has the click sound at the start of it to 

signify the projector being turned on, this works very well with my film because there is a 

slight jitter at the beginning of the film. I was also searching for some form of Photoplay music,

 usually found in silent films which comes with a full orchestra, however I could not find a 

sample of music without copyright issues, so I went in search of simple piano music. And to

 my luck I found quite a few samples of piano music from all ends of the spectrum, from 

western style bar music, to chilling and spooky samples. I ended up choosing a simple and 

echoing piece. I feel as though this music sample is most effective because it isn’t so busy 

that it takes away attention from what’s going on in the film, and does the opposite by 

exaggerating the movements and happenings in the film.

    This was one of my favourite projects to do this year, as it was mostly hands on and I got 

to paint my face, making actual fun out of the project. It was the project that I was completely excited about from start to finish and I am overjoyed with how my final, 10 second animation

 turned out!

Week 2: Production.

At the beginning of week 2 I went straight into work and began filming myself, all mimed up, painting the E4 logo onto the board. To do this, I set a camera on a tripod at an appropriate distance and set it up with the computer program named Dragon Stop Motion. This camera was set up on a “Time-Lapse,” mode and was instructed to take a high resolution photograph every second. And as fast and efficient as this program is, it did require me to do the process rather slow so that the camera could catch almost every move I did.

I found that whilst painting the logo onto the board, time was going past rather quickly. I found that I would need about 250 frames to make this animation last about 10 seconds so I slowed down massively on my painting speed. I also added water to some splashes of paint in order to help make the paint run, but still maintain a thickness that would make it easier for the paint to drip and be caught by the camera.

When it came near the end of my recording time, I had made a number of drips using the paint, which had been caught by the camera and then will be viewed in real time, which I think is very effective! The state of the paint, I feel, looked good, as it stood out against the white paper well and almost looked 3D. And I feel that when I edit this piece and turn it into black and white, it will look very effective. I chose paint that was the perfect shade of purple to advertise the E4 logo, and I also found that after I have filmed this piece, I can use the colour correct tool in after effects to bring back this exact shade of purple once I have turned the film black and white.

After I had finished painting the giant E4 logo, I began to let the paint drip and waited until the paint had fully ran, not so much that it would ruin the painting, but create an awesome effect when sped up.  Once this had been completed I went on to creating my entrance to the film; I decided to give manual stop motion a try and shoot the images, one by one, by myself. However, I found that the footage was far too jumpy and incoherent because of the mix of me having to concentrate on taking the photographs and keeping my facial expression the same. Because of this I chose to shoot the film through the “Time-Lapse,” tool on Dragon Stop Motion.

I started making my Time-Lapsed video with me on the floor, and as I did with the time-lapsed painting video, I restricted myself from moving too fast in order to keep the video at a slower speed, otherwise the audience would not be able to see what is actually happening in the video.

As the video went on I maintained a constant slow speed and I think this worked so well because it made me look rather sinister, as I wasn’t smiling or showing any emotion. It even showed me blinking, and this being captured on stop motion makes me look rather doll-like and synthetic.

When it came to me making eye contact with the camera, I slowed down much more and waited until the third shot before I made any movement. This had a great effect on the film as it makes my emotions and movements much more clear and easy to read. The only downside I found was that it does make me look rather sinister, hopefully not sinister enough to actually scare anyone though.

I also found through shooting this part of my film, that having done my makeup at least 5-6 times prior to shooting my film, I had perfected the look and thought it looked rather successful throughout the film! When I looked over the film I did see that it was slightly jumpy, with me moving from side to side every so often, however I think this would work well in my film because the style of the film is set to be jumpy and sharp because of the supposed “age” of the film.

Week 1: Pre-Production

Week 1: Pre-Production.

After giving my pitch on my ideas regarding the Estings advertisement, I began to collect materials I would need in order to make my film successful. As I plan on dressing up for my animation, I concentrated straight away on finding face-paints, as I thought they would be the hardest to come across.

I bought one brand of pure black face paint for £3.99 and have used this brand before so I knew it wouldn’t cause havoc to my sensitive skin. The other two were donated to me via friends, the dish of white face paint is a base coat, which will turn flaky and come off easily, the white face-paint in the bottle is similar to make up primer, and will keep my face from peeling.

I then went onto collect a varied amount of brushes, from thick wallpaper brushes to fine silky ones, I tested these out to see which would help create the finest edge. I found that a medium sized bush and a very large brush both had very good line and texture, but as the film was going to be shot from a slight distance, and I black and white, it wouldn’t make too much of a difference. I did, however, choose both of the brushes to use, the large one for doing the majority of the painting and the medium sized one to fill in where the large brush could not.

I went to numerous hardware and home-ware stores both in Berwick and Newcastle in order to find a painting suit that I could wear during the filming of my animation. I wanted to use this piece of clothing because it gives the impression that the character has been given an actual job and not just wandering around painting walls. I finally found a “One Size Fits All,” deal and although it could be mistaken for a forensic suit, I feel it does the job well. I also took to the charity shops in search of a black and white striped top similar to the apparel of a Bohemian mime, but at the same time, not wanting to look like an escaped convict. In the end I chose not to wear the suit as it looks too modern, and a black and white top plus black trousers and braces is the typical get up of a mime that I finally decided on.

Once I had completed my task of finding materials, I went on to test out the face paints I had purchased in order to see which one looked most successful. I first tried out the style of the White Face Clown, using a soaked and squeezed sponge, I put the white face paint all over my face to which I then added the primer in order to keep the ace paint as smooth as it can be. I then used my black face paint and a thin paintbrush to draw large marks under my eyes, as well as large eyebrows giving off the look of mischievousness and curiosity. Although I find this style very effective, I think it would be too scary for younger viewers to watch, as the face is rather menacing and wouldn’t appeal to children, or even adults!

I then went on to Paint my face in the style of the Bohemian Mime. I found this task a little bit more enjoyable, as the Bohemian era was partly known for its wide variety of vibrant colours and sparkling jewelry. I applied the white face paint and primer as I had done for the White Face Clown, to make my face white but not shiny. I then went on to use the black face paint to go over my whitened eyebrows, eyelids and to add a stripe going over my right eye. I added two small dots on either side of my eyes to make them appear more doll-like and less scary. I feel as though this style works a lot better than the White Face Clown as it is much more toned down and not as terrifying, however I do feel that there isn’t a vast amount going on, on my face. I then decided to try and kind of morph between the two. This resulted in a much more defined and obvious look.

This is the image of the two kinds of faces put together, I felt that this style was a lot more successful, mainly because of the fact that it isn’t considered as scary as the White Face. I also think that the black lined lips work very well instead of a constant smile, because emotion can still be shown and the black will exaggerate that particular emotion. Having stripes over both eyes, I feel, is more effective as well because of the delicate lines going over my eyes, creating more of a pattern and abstract-ness than the White Face Clown. One thing I would change about this would be the eyebrows, as I think they are too ordinary and not animatedly bug, like most mimes’. I would also add mascara to this style, because as you can see in the photo, my eyelashes have turned white from the face paint. To this I would also add more liner around my eyes to make them more defined.

Once I had the design and style of my costume and face-up planned. I moved onto the actual pre-production of my set, which began with me obtaining a very, very large frame! This frame is about 6ft by 3ft and is large enough to fit the image of the E4 logo onto it. I felt as though this frame would be simple enough to film, and would need a white background to make it look like part of the room. 

I'll Be Your Clown.

My Last Project of my First Year is making an ident (10 seconds long,) for the Channel E4, so naturally I'm going to be making myself into a Clown/Mime. These images have stemmed from my research that I did on entertainists that are related to silent films around the 1800's, these characters being The Pierrot Clown, The Bohemian Mime and the White Face Clown.