COP - Creative Responses

I decided to do 2 different types of practicals. The first was to edit out transitions of existing VR films and replacing them with straight cuts to see how jarring they are. This was quite fun as it was good to experiment with professionally created VR footage and see their decision making behind some shots. Once I found out that editing it was just like editing normal footage, it was actually quite simple. However, I had a little bit of trouble in 2 areas:

• The films I chose all had background sound/music, and therefore cutting would also cut the sound and make it sound jarring, which would detract from the visuals. I had to try and workaround this which made it a bit more complicated, and overall they came out more rough than I would have liked
• Exporting the equirectangular video as a normal .mp4 and then uploading it to youtube wouldn't result in a VR video, but I managed to fix this by ticking an option in Premiere, "Video is VR", and that would insert the metadata for me.

I think this practical turned out really well and was a great demonstration for cuts being jarring - especially when watching them through a HMD.

The second practical was to animate a camera pan versus a cut, and this was more fun but also a lot more challenging. The warping of VR made drawing and animating the rotation a lot harder, and I had to compromise the design a lot, such as making the background just black, and pushing the animation back in virtual space to reduce the warping. I was very happy with the results though, and they again demonstrated the benefit of different transitions to cuts.

Although I was happy with the result, I still feel that this last transition didn't achieve the camera pan effect, instead looking like the balloon rotated instead. I think to fix this I would need another reference point in the background in addition to the spotlight rotating. Maybe a door or something simple.

COP - Research Journal 2

Writing the second section up (Why can't vr do that/why cant cuts be used in vr) has taken up a lot more than I thought it would due to the practicals, therefore I need to cut the word count for them down, and I also need to change my plan yet again:

• Why is editing necessary/ what does it do? - done
• Why can’t vr do that/why cant cuts be used in vr - done
• Why it can be possible/compromises
• Practical of animating different transitions
• Why is it possible? - experiential editing
• Conclusion

COP - Revised Plan

I've realised that my plan has too many sections as I won't be able to fit it all into the word count while going sufficiently in depth to each point. Because of this, I've revised my original plan to focus more on that first section, while fleshing it out a bit:

• (Intro)
• Why is editing necessary/ what does it do?
• Why can't vr do that/why cant cuts be used in vr
• Why it can be possible/compromises - case studies
• Why is it possible? - experiential editing
• How timing is affected and how that affects the durations of shots before cutting
• Look at how to achieve disorientation as quick cuts dont work
• Different transitions and animations for it (morphs, pans, fades, perspective changes) what effects do they give? Maybe export them into vr - but simply.
• Conclusion

COP - Research Journal

• I found starting writing my research journal very hard despite having a structure, and found that it was taking me ages to link the points of each section. I decided to create another document to lay out all the points from my research within each section according to my plan for writing. This helped immensely with both the writing and structuring of my research journal. 
• I also found that I don't have enough pages for the number of words I already have. I need to somehow increase the number of pages without detracting from the project, but I'm hoping it will increase when I do the practicals and document them. I could also include more photos in my writing, to also break up the block of text as well.

COP - Plan

To help organise my writing, I created a plan for my research journal:

• Introduction - Editing in vr, why I chose it. First i’m going to look at some of the challenges of editing in vr (why traditional techniques dont work for vr, looking mainly at cuts). Then im going to look at what role editing does have (controlling what the viewer sees)

• How vr’s lack of a frame results in editing cuts not working and look at why they dont work/can work/can sometimes work. Use examples and case studies. Do practical by getting an existing animation and cutting out the transitions and seeing its effects. Draw conclusions about the value of cuts in 360 - should they be used?. 

• Then look at different techniques you could do instead of cutting, different transitions (when looking at a pan/change of environment, maybe design/ sketch a bg for the transition(practical)). Storyboard a 180 short for 360, replacing cuts with transitions (practical). Discuss challenges of storyboarding for vr. Draw conclusions about this.

• Look at how you can achieve disorientation with different techniques rather than quick cuts. (Quick cuts create disorientation in traditional cinema, how can you achieve the same feeling in VR). practicals could be quickly cutting and seeing if it creates disorientation effectively. And/or creating the new method (close ups) in vr OR looking at case studies of films that have used this.

• Other challenges vr editors need to think about; eye contact; subtitles and graphic overlays.

• Lead it with jessica brillhart’s probabilistic editing and “induced editing” into how to control what the viewer sees when you can’t control the frame. Why do you need to do this? (as the frame has been removed, cuts are no longer an effective way of focusing the viewer on something, there is a need for the director to manipulate what the viewer sees through different methods). How can you do this. Case studies.

• Conclusion - what I found out, talk and reference how vr is a quickly developing technology and new techniques/methods are going to be revealed as it progresses.

I think the second section has the most content, and is definitely the main section of the journal. This means that the last three sections (ignoring the conclusion) can be not included depending on the word count, as they aren't as important to my topic.

COP - Practical Ideas

My original idea for the creative response was to design and create a fully rendered 2D background for a 360 animation, however because my idea hasn't changed to focus on editing, this doesn't really fit my project anymore. Some possible ideas for the practical could include:

• Taking an existing 360 degree film or animation and replacing any non-cut transitions with cuts
• this would be very good for demonstrating the jarring effects of cuts, and it would help illustrate why the transitions are necessary. Could also be good for finding out how to edit VR footage
• Storyboarding a traditional animation for a 360 degree version, replacing any straight cuts with transitions to make it suitable
• I like this idea as it would show what animators have to consider in designing a 360 short, and how that differs to traditional storyboarding. It would be quite a big practical however, so I could just focus on the transitions and storyboard them instead
• Taking a traditional live action film and editing it to replace the cuts with different suitable transitions
• this expands on the previous idea, but focuses more on the transition side of things. If I were to use a live action film, it would allow me to show the effects better as I would be able to use actual transitions rather than storyboard them. The only problem with this idea is that some transitions may be quite hard to do for VR 
• Animating a transition for VR and doing another cut version
• I like this idea as it's like a combination of the previous two, and if I were to animate it in 360 degrees then it would allow me to explore different workflows for the process. Similarly to the last idea, it could be quite hard, and I would probably need to make the transition very simple
• Designing a background that can be used for a VR pan
• This would allow me to keep my original idea of designing a 360 degree background, but applies it more to my topic. This one would be a lot of work as I'd have to make a more complicated background version, and I'm not entirely sure how to do it. I'd have to look at the equirectangular files of existing animations to see how they're laid out.

I think I will definitely do the first idea as this helps demonstrate my point as well as gives me a better understanding, while still being possible in the timeframe of this project. I'd need to do more research into how to animate in 360 degrees for the others, however I'd like to do the last two the most.

COP - Case Studies

These are some case studies I can use:

• HELP Google Spotlight - slow camera pan throughout the whole short
• Back to the moon Google Spotlight - good use of 360 and has a transition to underwater 
• Ratchet and Clank and Edge of Nowhere - Video Games - Can compare the two as the director used cuts depending on their story
• Paranormal Activity
• We who remain
• Kiya
• After Solitary - they had a lot of trouble with cuts looking too jarring
• VRtually there - series that features a lot of quick cuts
• Reeps: One does not exist - music video that features a lot of quick cuts for edgy editing
• Climbing giants - a good example of induced editing
• Ted-ed cave painting - storyboard example and director talks about how he limited the environment to help focus on the animation
• World Tour - Probabilistic experiential editing
• Pearl - amazing animation

COP - Research

I researched this topic by breaking it down into these sub-topics:

• How to tell a story when you can't control the camera
• Why can't you use cuts
• How do you get the viewer to see what you want them to see? (what techniques can you use)

There was a lot of information in just the two books, with the Crafting Stories for VR book being a goldmine for interviews and case studies. The main element of editing in VR is the use of cuts, and in a lot of the case studies the directors had trouble with using them as they are quite jarring in VR. Storytelling for VR was very good for the theoretical side of things, and it had a lot of good interviews for the broader side of VR.

In the Blink of a Mind is going to be my main resource for why editing (cutting) is possible and how to do it, and I can use Brillhart's 'World Tour' as a case study for this. I think my method of splitting the research into sub topics really helped me deal with it, and my next steps are to continue finding more information about both sides of editing (the struggles and why/how it can be done), as well as looking at the case studies. I also need to make a plan for my research journal.

COP - Initial Research

I started the research process by reading and making notes from the two books:
 - Storytelling for VR
 - Crafting stories for VR

I sifted through them, looking for any information that falls under these three categories:

• Effective immersion in immersive narratives
• Multiple story lines and fear of missing out
• Film language of 360

I found this stage really hard as I was overwhelmed by all the different points and possible topics, however I ended up changing the topic slightly and focusing on just editing in VR. This was because I found a really interesting interview with Jessica Brillhart about her process of "probabilistic experiential editing", which led me on to how people have claimed that editing is not possible in VR.

This is a much more specific topic that I'm a lot more interested in. The next steps are to find more information from the two books on just editing in VR, as well as looking into Jessica Brillhart's process more, as she has a blog about it called "In the Blink of a Mind".

COP - Academic Writing - Referencing and Formatting - 07/11/19

Some key points from the workshop today:

• Label images with Figure # and refer to them in text
• Be selective with sources, make sure you know them in depth and choose quality over quantity
• When referencing Youtube videos, use the vlog format
• Bibliography should be on a separate page and in alphabetical order
• To help with phrasing, use Academic Phrasebank
• Don't use words you don't understand, use The Free Dictionary for unknown words.
• For any website, always use 'available at:' and then when it was accessed on

This workshop was very useful, and it showed me that referencing is fine as long as you follow the guide, especially paying attention to the punctuation.

Secondary Action, Overlap and Follow Through - 04/11/19

Secondary Action
This is an action that follows a main action OR a secondary supportive action. The first helps to make the action more realistic and believable, it sells the primary action. The second uses tools to reflect their character's thoughts. Both exist to assist communication of narrative.

Overlap
This helps make an action more fluid and lifelike. It involves a lead action and then a following action that "lags" behind. It offsets the action to make it flow better. Overlapping actions can be represented through the body (e.g. head moves forward and body follows) or through apparel (e.g. flowing dress).

Follow Through
This also helps to make an action more lifelike, but where overlap was about motion, follow through is about what happens when the action halts. Loosely connected parts continue to move after the main body has stopped.

To put these into practice, we had to record a video and augment it by animating a loose article over it. I chose to do a beard, and use overlap and follow through for when the head turns to the side quickly. I found this quite hard as working on top of a video meant that any discrepancies in the drawings were more obvious, as well as the fact that there was slight camera movement. I also found it quite challenging to make the drag of the beard realistic and did multiple takes. It's definitely an area I need to practice more. I feel that the beard looks a bit floaty because of how slow it is but how much it moves on each peak. Furthermore I think that the first peak should be higher and longer than the second as the turn that way is faster. I also tried to incorporate a tiny bit of secondary action with the cheek ripples as the hand slapped it, which helped make the slap seem to connect more.

Exaggeration - 29/10/19

The principle that is linked with anticipation is exaggeration - where the dimensions are altered beyond normal properties to emphasise the action. Sound is an integral part to this principle.

For this principle, we had to create a short animation based around a goat scream audio file that incorporates both anticipation and exaggeration. I wanted to utilise anticipation to misdirect the audience into thinking something is going to happen with the mouth, but instead the tongue screams. To sell this and to add comedic effect I really wanted to exaggerate the tongue's scream, both for the tongue's mouth as well as its overrall movement (lifting up and wobbling with the scream). 

I feel the exaggeration of the tongue is effective however I could make the larger mouth react to the scream as it feels out of place because of its stillness. To tie the opening of the mouth with the tongue's scream a bit better, I could use a sound effect such as a yawn or a "here comes the aeroplane" clip to give more context to this clip. 

I really need to work on making different actions flow better together in my animations too. One way to do this is to work on separate layers so that I don't have to think about all the movements at one time and can focus on them individually.

I changed the animation after feedback from Ben saying that the mouth should be wobbling rather than the tongue, as that's the part making the noise. Doing this also gets rid of the strangeness of the still mouth inside the mouth, making this version much better.

COP - Academic Writing - Sources, Analysis and Triangulation - 31/10/19

• It is important to use a variety of sources as well as both primary and secondary research.
• Analysis is about taking a source apart objectively.
• "Triangulation involves seeking accounts from three or more perspectives"
• Your POV only matters either in context of other sources or with evidence backing it
• Analyse --> Close reading (handout on estudio) --> Triangulate (connect, compare and contrast) --> Form your analysis and conclusions

After the theory of this workshop, we then went into the library to find written sources. This was very useful as it prompted us to get away from using just the internet, as well as showing us how books can be used as a source for multiple sources due to the references they include. I found that there were a lot of books on VR, which are useful as they share the same concepts of immersive narrative and immersion in general. Researching in libraries is a new skill to me so I found sifting through the information quite challenging and very overwhelming, however it was very useful.

In the afternoon, we then started to look at our sources and analyse them whilst looking for patterns and links to start triangulating. This stage was very overwhelming as there are so many topics within 360 degree animations. I managed to narrow my topic interest down to either:

• Effective immersion in "Immersive Narratives" (non interactive 360 degree stories)
• Multiverse narratives/multiple storylines and the FOMO (fear of missing out)
• I can look at immersive theatre as this is a concept in that artform as well
• Film language of Immersive Narratives and how its different from 180 degree stories

My next steps are to sift through the books, focusing on just these topics to both decide on what I want to specify on as well as to analyse them. I will then expand my research by looking on the internet and finding more sources to triangulate.

Anticipation - 28/10/19

Anticipation is the preparation before an action, and can be bold or subtle. Bold generally being more comedic and more of an exaggerated action, whilst subtle anticipation generally has less frames.

I first tried a more subtle anticipation scene, using the movement of the arm as the anticipation before closing the laptop lid. I don't think this was a successful example as the anticipation isn't entirely clear, it just feels like two separate movements. I feel that it could be improved by having a pause when the hand is just about to grab the lid, showing the character's indecisiveness. 

I then tried a more bold example, using a firework or rocket taking off. This was definitely better as the exaggeration of the anticipation worked really well in conveying the action and it was a much more engaging scene for it. To improve I feel that I could either have the rocket shake a lot more and proggressively more aggressive, or I could have it start shaking before the fuse reaches the rocket to tie the two actions together, as at the moment it seems a bit stilted.

After feedback from Ben, I revisited the rocket animation, taking out one of the frames at the start of the takeoff to improve the spacing.

COP - 1 to 1 - 24/10/19

During my 1 to 1 session I decided to go for the 360 degree animation question, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of this emerging technology. I chose this one because I have a lot of oppurtunities for character design during this course, but the 360 degree one is much more unique. I was definitely interested in both topics however I'm very excited about this one as I can learn more about this new technology.

• One major aspect I can look at is the control over storytelling, and whether this becomes an advantage or a disadvantage.
• Animations to research:
• Ted talk cave animation
• All of the gogle spotlight stories
• Blind Veysha (and how it is a perfect style for 360 animation)
• Library books on 360 animation

COP - Initial Questions Research - 23/10/19

I researched a little bit into each of the topics that I found interesting from the 4 lectures, and settled on either looking at:

1. Inclusive storyelling within character design, and whether visual stereotypes are necessary to convey a character's personality.
2. 360 degrees animation and whether it can become mainstream.

1. Things to consider:

• how stereotypes can be used to play with the audience's assumptions. For example Lotso from Toy Story 3. His character design was soft and rounded, with large eyes which is normally associated with protagonists and "good guys". More subtle than that is the inclusion of negative visual stereotypes with the postive ones, so in this example the use of purple as his colour scheme, as this is a typical villain colour.
• the misrepresentation/lack of representation of female characters
• group character designs such as "teen girl squad"
• "What is beautiful is good" or "the halo effect" stereotype

2. Things to consider:

• how it is supported on different platforms/software for both the audience and the artist
• the advantages/disadvantages of it (e.g. the trade off for how it is interactive is that only one person can view it at once - its a solo experience)
• the difference in experience it offers for both the artist and the audience
• how the film language for narrative changes, such as the struggles of not being able to control the camera

Squash and Stretch - 22/10/19

Squash and stretch is a technique used alongside exaggeration to enhance a character's action/reaction. The most important thing to consider is that when squashing/stretching, the dimensions/volume should stay the same (unless exaggerating).

The first exercise we did to practice this was a vertical bouncing ball, using this corn starch cylinder as from the top view it's circular, and the side view its elongated thus giving the appearance of stretch/squash. We had no instruction with this and therefore we had to experiment and fail ourselves. The end result wasn't perfect but I feel was a good first attempt. The main thing we had to change about this one is removing one of the stretch frames as it started stretching too early - it should only stretch just before it's about to land. The height of the second bounce should also be slightly higher too. One thing that we learnt was that although it was shot on 2's, the squash frames as it landed on the ground should be on 1's as that movement is very quick.

We then were taught about bouncing balls moving in an arc. The main points to this were that the ball needed to be spaced so that it was cushioned at the peak of the arc, almost like a reverse easy ease. Also the path of the ball should be an arc and not a zigzag, as well as that the ball should stretch-squash-stretch upon landing. Whether it stretches any longer before landing is up to the animator based on how elastic they want the ball, but that should also dictate how high the peak of the next arc is. I think this one is a lot better than the first as all the frames were spaced well and in the correct order, however to improve it it would need to be sped up, either by making the framerate 30fps, or by shooting it on 1's. Currently it looks a bit floaty.

The last exercise was to create a flipbook animation of an action that utilises squash and stretch. I think the actual stretch and squash drawings although exaggerated were good and well proportioned, however the timing of the animation was a bit off. I think the start of the stretch should have been slower to show more effort going in to stretching the character, and it should have held for a few more drawings at full stretch to then emphasise the speed of the release. The first squash frame should be a bit more squashed and then when it comes back up from the squash it should stretch a little bit rather than going straight into the final position as at the moment that final movement looks a bit jumpy.

Arcs - 21/10/19

In this session, we learnt about how arcs are used in animatoin to create fluid and believable movements. They are:

• non-mechanical
• more expressive
• the most efficient path of movement from A to B

The first task was to create a pendulum as this is the most basic exercise to demonstrate and practice arcs. I found out that spacing was key to creating convincing movement, specifically using an easy ease to show how physics affects the ball. I think my pendulum turned out good and was well spaced.

The next exercise was to create a stop motion action that demonstrated arcs. This exercse was really effective at showing me how arcs are necessary, as because it was a physical object, I was unable to change the dimensions of the puppet and therefore had to move it in arcs. It also made me pay much more attention to them and the best movements for the different parts, such as the main arc of the finger but also the secondary arc of the palm of the hand. I feel like I struggled with keeping all the secondary movements constant and keeping the spacing accurate, which gives the end animation a slightly floaty effect. I think I could have chosen a more extreme action to help with my understanding, such as a snake or rope etc.

I revisited the pendulum after feedback from Ben saying that a common mistake of easy-ease's is putting a frame in the centre of the arc, which looks off on playback. My pendulum had a frame close to the middle, therefore I took it out to improve the spacing.

COP - Questions 3 and 4 - 17/10/19

Question 3 - Trendy, unforgiving, essential...How is inclusive storytelling shaping the norms of representation amongst well-written characters in animation?

Question 4 - Offensive, futile, courageous...What does it mean for animation practitioners to be subversive in a world of propaganda and political correctness?

I also enjoyed these presentations but not as much as last weeks as these were a lot heavier and less in my line of interest. Question 4 is definitely interesting however didn't have any topics that made me want to research further. Question 3 was very interesting as the presentation and the views presented were a lot more subjective and open to discussion. I found myself thinking through the subjects and arguments a lot, and would possibly like to explore these two subjects further:

• Female characters and their physical representation in animation
• How much does inclusive storytelling affect character design? Are stereotypes necessary to convey personality in characters?

COP - Questions 1 and 2 - 10/10/19

Question 1 - CG, VR, AR, MR, AM...How has new technology been influencing our expectations of style in 21st century animation?

Question 2 - Manipulation, aesthetic choice, lack of identity...How is the concept of nostalgia utilised by creators of animated content?

While I found both lectures interesting, question 1 was definitely my favourite and had me thinking about the multitude of topics I could explore as I'm really interested in the technology behind animation. Question 2 was definitely more discussable, however there wasn't anything about it that intrigued me further than the general understanding behind why nostalgia is used so much as a manipulation device in animation.

Within question 1, the following topics interested me the most:

• The use of CG in television. Can handdrawn/ traditional animation compete with 2D CG in western television? I also found out that while western TV is predominantly CG, japanese/french is hand drawn. Why is this the case, what makes CG so popular in the west OR why is handdrawn still the most popular in Japan/France? Has the use of handdrawn animation in Japan contributed to its popularity in the west?
• Can stop-motion compete against 3D CG animation? With the advancements in technology meaning that 3D animation can recreate the stop motion style without the costs involved (lego movies, south park etc.), will stop-motion animation phase out?
• The big boom in 3D animation created the desire to go back to 2D styles (Paperman), so will this translate into TV, with 2D CG shows becoming predominantly hand drawn again?
• Can AR animations be utilised on a commercial scale (watching films in the real world, advertisements, google glass etc.)?
• 360 degrees animation. Can it become mainstream? What are the benefits of it? I was really interested in this particular topic due to how it changes the experience on both the audiences' and director's side of things. Also how the technology open doors for multiple plotlines in a narrative as well as interactive animations.

Timing and Spacing - 15/10/19

The principle we learned in this session was timing and spacing, the most important principle of animation. Timing refers to how long an action lasts to achieve its optimum effect. Spacing is about how far each frame is from eachother, and consists of 4 types: linear, ease-in, ease-out and easy ease. Two quotes from the seminar that sums up this principle really well are:

• The real trick to great animation is not to make great images that move, but to make great movements that work as images.
• What happens between each image, is more important than what exists in each image.

We first practised the different types of spacing with a plasticine ball. This was the easy ease, and I feel like it worked well, however to make the effect more obvious I should have added more steps to really highlight the ease in and outs. Actually trying out the different types of spacing with the same exercise showed how each one creates a different feel to the ball's movement, without actually changing anything about the ball or the direction.

Next we practised timing by animating a blink using only two frames - eyes open and eyes shut. The personality of the character should dictate how long the blink lasts, and as my character is a bit jittery I wanted the blink to be quick. I found this quite hard as I couldn't decide between 3 or 2 frames for the blink, but I ended up deciding 2 was too quick. This exercise showed me how important timing was to convey the right emotion and personality of a character.

I couldn't decide on an action to use, so I created two quick rough animations to visualise my different ideas. I think idea 1 showed the personality of my character more, however a slower dance would suit Creak much more than a quick one, and that combined with the slow head turn would result in too many frames for this exercise. Idea 1 also lacked a reaction to the offscreen prompt. Moreover, idea 2 allowed me to have a contrast between the slow head turn and the quick flinch back that allows me to practise two different types of timings, thus I went with that one.

Finally, we had to animate a 6 frame movement for our characters to perform. Overrall I found this very hard but it taught me a lot about timing. I feel like the contrast between the slow head turn and the fast reaction was efficient at creating a scared reaction, however it took me a long while to decide on the correct timing. One thing I need to work on is focusing solely on the timing and ignoring the lack of inbetweens. This is because I was focusing too much on how the animation wasn't fluid. I feel like the timing of this scene isn't completely perfect, however I'm not sure what bits need to change. The shot definitely needs a lot of inbetweens though.

Pose to Pose and Straight Ahead - 14/10/19

During this seminar, we learnt about the two different methods of animating a sequence; straight ahead and pose to pose. The first was the original method, suited for stop motion as well as natural, fluid movements. The second was developed to maximise efficiency in the industry as multiple people can work on one shot. It is more structured.

An alternative method is to combine the two together, utilising the structure of the keyframes and breakdowns of the pose to pose method with the looser, more fluid movement of straight ahead animation for in betweens.

We first experimented with straight ahead animation, using plasticine to create a short animation. I definitely noticed that it was easier to create more fluid animations with this method as there wasn't a set end frame to reach, therefore it didn't matter if the successive frame was in a certain place - nothing was "wrong". I also noticed that it was harder to keep an even spacing as there was no planning. This was noticeable when the the flower started slowing its spinning as it jolted a bit and sped up slightly before slowing down again. I did really like the freedom of this style however.

We then experimented with the pose to pose method by creating an animation where a simple figure jumps across a gap. I used a reference of me jumping to draw in the keyframes and then the breakdowns of the movement. It was quite difficult making sure that the figure was the right size throughout these keys, but once they were drawn the in betweens were simple to add. I really liked the structure of this method as it allowed me to break down the movement into easy-to-understand stages. Furthermore it allowed me to control my spacing easier, however I still think the frame before the figure hits the wall is too far to the left. 

Staging - Nursery Rhyme - 08/10/19

In this session, we learned about using different methods to present an animation and its meaning. The main points from the seminar:

• There should be no doubt in the audience's mind about what event is causing the narrative
• The shot needs to convey emotion
• You must direct the audience's attention, using tools such as colour and lighting to create a tone/mood

I found it very hard to decide on what 6 images would best describe the events of my nursery rhyme, and feel that my final 6 is not enough for a proper storyboard as the pacing between the shots is a bit jarring. I did however like most of my shot's compositions. 

I feel the first shot is too plain and is a bit boring. I could have used a more interesting perspective for the establishing shot. I like the warped angle of the second shot. The closeup of the third shot works well but I should have centered the wheel a lot better to frame it. I really like the perspectives and framing of the final 3 shots. 

I definitelly need to impove my perspectve skills to make my compositions look much more interesting. One tip I learned is to use diagonal lines rather than horizontal ones, which is a technique imployed by Brad Bird a lot in his films.

I'm quite happy with the staging in the splash page, the dead kid being centered in the foreground with contrasting and bright colours brings immediate attention to it, and the perspective of the road and the brightness of the blood leads the eyes to the bus and thus the cause of the death. I struggled a lot with the background however, as I find it really hard to colour convincing backgrounds and its something I need to work on. Also the style is something that I find quite challenging, as initally I tried a Ghibli inspired background however it was messy and uncoordinated. This exercise showed that I need to work on my backgrounds. It also made me think much more about how I should frame each shot to bring out its meaning.

Appeal - Character Design - 07/10/19

This seminar taught us about the appeal of a character, which is the animated equivalent of an actor’s charisma. Essentially, an appealing character conveys its personality through both its visual design and its movements. A key point is that simple is appealing.

To create an appealing character, we first came up with its backstory and personality. I found this quite challenging as it was hard to think of an original idea, however once I focused on individual features in the mindmap rather than trying to think of a whole story for the character, it became much easier and allowed more possibilities. I definitely feel I could have simplified Creak much more however, and was too focused on the story.

I used the character sheet as a template to then sketch ideas of how Creak may look. I had quite a good idea of his appearance from the description, however I found that some things that worked on paper didn’t work visually, so the designs never met all the points of the character sheet. I enjoyed this part however I felt I could have done a lot more designs, especially with the body.

I then started to create the turnaround, which I found quite challenging to make bigger and correctly proportioned. In the end I changed the design of the body to make it more angular, because the first design was too complicated and didn’t show enough character. I like how the front and back poses turned out, but I found the side view very challenging, and I felt the shoulders of the 3/4 pose are too skewed.

Finally I created the expression sheet which I found quite hard to convey the right emotion without reference. The solid drawing exercise really helped with the poses of this character, and I really liked how they turned out, however I feel the character’s expressions could have been pushed more, especially the angle of the head.

Solid drawing - Walnut Man - 01/10/19

This tuesday we had a solid drawing session using a walnut as inspiration for a character design. 

These are my chosen 3 drawings from the walnut exercise, drawn with only 3 strokes, with only 1 stroke and drawn with my eyes closed (top left, top right, bottom). I chose these three because i really liked the gestural marks with the varying textures, and I loved the linework from the blind drawing.

I decided to use the drawing made with 3 strokes as it was a good mix of gesture and form, where I used the topmost stroke as the curve of the nose. I really like the silhoutte and nose of the character but I also should have done more than 2 designs to explore more ideas.

I decided on making this character a priest, but I wasn't happy with the colour palette I chose because it was too dull and I found that the it didn't match the character's expression, so I went back and altered my character, making him wear more earthy walnut colours. I much prefer this version.

We had to create a full bodied character and so far I had only designed the head and shoulders. I liked the loose fitting clothes and the scarf, as well as his slightly hunched over neutral pose to further suggest his age. I definitely need to improve his legs and feet and also could have improved his collar area to make it flow better. 

I found the life gestural drawing really beneficial but also very hard, it's something that I want to practice in my spare time as I feel I need to push the gesture more and increase the drawings' clarity. I was proud of my final 2 drawings however, as the poses were dynamic and showed off the character's personality. They both were distinctive despite the lack of a visible face. To improve, I should exaggerate the gesture of the poses a lot more, especially with the pushing pillar pose as the back leg could really be stretched to show the exertion. The hands and feet are also weak points. 

Library Research - 30/09/19

We had a short introductory research session in the library today, with the goal to find out information about an area of animation we're interested in. I found a Bill Plympton book that caught my eye, with his "Your Face" short being one of my favourites.

The book was titled "Make Toons that Sell Without Selling Out", and is a goldmine for aspiring animators, with Plympton giving out his wisdom on various aspects of animation as well as focusing on the business side of it. I only had time to read his chapter on character design, but I picked up many very valuable tips. 

Plymtpon's writing was accompanied by some of his sketches, and his loose and very expressive style was great at making me want to draw. It also gave me some areas for me to specifically practice on, such as shape design and character silhouettes.

Welcome To My Blog!

Hello! My name is Louis, and I'm an animation student at Leeds Arts University. I love 2D animation, especially creepy shorts. 

("Bao" isn't 2D but I still love it...)