Sunday, July 29, 2012

Epic Pans are Epic

Trying to finish as much as possible before leaving for LA this Thursday. My plan is to outline the backgrounds and then go back into them to complete the render process. This will allow me to sort out the size and camera movements plus the illusion of depth and details before I start to colour. I will be working in photoshop and am determined to keep my layers tidy and organised so that I can adhere to the lessons regarding layout and design that I have been researching.

Here are some of the latest ones from a pan shot. Each background has to be done twice as this will reveal what the community was like in the 20s and 30s and what it is like today.

Ashfield in the past

Ashfield in the present

Both layers together showing the similarities and differences between the two eras


Close Up of shop fronts- Modern Day



Close up of shop fronts- 1920s and 30s era
The final background renders will not have the heavy outline but will instead have a very thin hand drawn, not ruled, outline that will enable recognition of the background details.




Monday, July 23, 2012

Backgrounds Slow and Steady

For the past couple of weeks I have been struggling with motivation, found a little bit more now that I'm back at uni this week. I put my lack of motivation down to isolation; being away from uni and people who push me at uni has slowed me down I think.

However, progress has been made. In addition to working out screen ratios for backgrounds I have started to outline on perspective grids the actual backgrounds for each scene. As I create each outline I have also been separating the layers that will add depth and realism to the finished project. Here are the background outlines done thus far:



Act1 Scene 1



Break down depth analysis of Act1 Scene 1a


Act 1: Scene9 - The last hook is reserved for the hat which will be animated

Act 1: Scene9- Depth Analysis 

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Progress

Since I last blogged progress has been slow and I had a week where my interest in the project was waning. But after much soul searching, watching of films and reading of animation literature; the enthusiasm is coming back.

Last week I looked at screen ratio sizes and worked on developing a base layer size for the background underlay. The overlay has not yet been sized given that I think that it will be a fluid part of the background development that will emerge once the underlay has been locked. Given that I am now looking to make this a  background only project that displays the backgrounds in context and then also in isolation for analysis I've decided that I will work in widescreen format as I think that this will best suit the sweeping pans and detail I want to include; especially in the external shots.

Methodology, I'm old fashioned, so I walked my way through the animatic and worked out the size of background safe areas for each shot.


In addition to working out background sizes and screen ratio, I've also been continuing to research to add more depth to the exegesis. Found a great book about layout by Fraser Maclean 'Setting the Scene: The Art and Evolution of Animation Layout.' Rare to find a book about layout and it worked well in terms of my study into the storytelling properties of backgrounds. Worth a look- some fantastic background and layout art as well. 

Recently had a birthday and got The Art of Brave book which has some fantastic concept art, colour scripts and storyboards. But for me the inclusion of on sight/ location referencing and the importance of the weather and texture in backgrounds as a means of adding meaning to narrative. I love it when my research requires me to analyse the 'Art of' books- so inspiring. 

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Home Truths



Having spent the past few weeks working on the animation and the animatic side of my Honours film, I am beginning to see that I may have to modify my project to ensure completion. I've spoken to past Honours graduates and they have spoken about the fact that a completed project is more important than a half finished one and that makes perfect sense. I don't want to compromise on the quality of my project and in a sense undo all the progress I have made on the theoretical side of my study for the sake of over extending myself to create something that is incomplete or substandard. 


Another lonely thought rolling around my head is that perhaps the creation of an individual film on top of a full year of Honours standard study and research was perhaps a little too ambitious. I have a couple of options, I can continue the project in a modified format and graduate at the end of this year, or I can study part time and finish the following year on my film, or I could take a leave of absence and then come back to study. But to be honest, I really want to finish Honours this year. I don't have the luxury of being 18 or 21, if I'm going to make any sort of inroads into this new career then I have to start sooner rather than later. 




 Another thing that I have realised after 6 months of Honours study, and perhaps this may change once I am more experienced or after some time in the industry; but at the moment I don't want to be an independent film maker, I don't want to have to do all aspects of the film making- from storyboarding to animatics to character animation to backgrounds. I'm happy to do all of those things, just not all on the one project, I want a chance to be a part of a studio production line. I think my decision is based largely on the fact that my study is concerned with a single aspect of film making, layout/background and that it is only now that I am getting the chance to really get into the process of designing and rendering backgrounds. I've also been thinking that the creation of an entire film with the inclusion of incidental characters also detracts from the main thrust of my study which is the creation of backgrounds as a narrative device. 





Backgrounds are important :)

Phew, after all of that, here's what I'm thinking as a modified project. To compliment my research and study into layout and background development that acts as a narrative device I will create the backgrounds only for the short film. This will give the backgrounds an opportunity to be the primary focus of the film and will also allow me to continue production of the film after I have completed Honours, whether that be as a part of further study or independently. The background deliverables would be presented in context (as part of a film complete with camera movement and possible sound effects and music) and in isolation with identification of multi plane layers and use of background/layout techniques and devices. I think putting more of my focus into the backgrounds and 'forcing' the viewer to only consider the background, will further challenge me to move away from character directed narrative and instead use objects of significance and the environment to tell a story. Who knows, this may change again? But as one former Honours student said to me, 'it's better to think about modification now at this stage rather than a couple of weeks before it's due.' I agree. 

Animatic: A Work in Progress

I know I haven't blogged in awhile, but I have continued to work on my holiday schedule to complete as much as possible.

Not sure if I'm Sleepy or the ass pulling the cart >.>



After the animation tests I have spent time revising the animatic and further reducing the role of the character in the film. This process started by printing out the storyboards and putting them on a massive pin board, a real one not a virtual one lol- old school. Once they were all in order I went through them and looked for double up or unnecessary shots. I then let it sit for a day or two before going through the same editing process with a fellow artist. I ended up knocking out at least a third of the boards I had already drawn; I suppose animators with more experience wouldn't make that mistake, but I think the film flows better without the extra content. 




Once I had the basic storyboards I worked in ToonBoom Animate Pro to create an animatic that would allow me to see the position of backgrounds in relation to potential camera movement and character positioning. The animatic is block animation and the transitions in the backgrounds have only been indicated by crude instant wipes- these are not indicative of the final piece. I included a scratch sound test as well, choosing a few key sounds that are an idea of what I want to include in the final.


Here's the animatic as it stands at the moment: