OT - Aftermath Brief for Production

After the interim presentation, Ronald briefed us about some of the things that we need to know or prepare for our animation, and also other things for production.

- Group presentation/critic session every Friday (excluding public/school holidays)
- Character Designs: Work on something to your own capabilities or that you can easily draw and animate.
- 1st priority: Principles of Animation
- 2nd Priority: Work to your capabilities

- Look for references for animation (learn from Vivien's example)
- Written report to be submitted, which includes the regular consultation with Ronald.
- Attendance will be taken every Friday (the critic session)
- You might get warning letter from Ronald to let you know if you are way back from the group. (its a reminder that you've been warn. )
- Dont work on the weekends; take a break

- Get an estimations of the no. of drawings you need in an hour.
- 12 frames/sec in flash.
- Pacing rough sketch on flash before you work on it.

Interim 1 - The Animatic

Woots! Interim 1 is finally over!! =)

Well.. Is not as bad as i thought it would be, compared to what i've heard from the previous groups. I guess video had alot to say compared to the animation group. Nevermind. Keep working hard you guys, moi-ans cheers! ^,...,^

So back to the subject on my interim.The firs interim, we presented our animatics before our story briefs, aims, target audience, character designs, moodboards and many other things.

Feedbacks:
- Since you put audio as one of the aims, you should have it in the animatics.
- Should have used the substitute SFX for audio test.
- Add the opening title in the animatics
- The style of the animation should show that he is unconcious.
- The character design on the mother and son; there wasn't much difference in age.
- Main character design doesn't portray the characteristics of what's written in the story brief, as in how it should be.
- The mother is young and too sexy to be his mum.


So in conclusion, i would have to refurnish my character designs and have the audio ready for the next Interim or Mid-critic session. Hello for production. =)

OT - FYP Schedule

Overall FYP Schedule:

Daily FYP Schedule:

OT - Moodboard

Character moodboards:























Background Moodboards:

OT - Character Designs

OT - Preparations for Interim 1

It's almost a week since I've been blogging. I guessed i got too busy or occupied with the preparations that i haven't got much time to update the blog. I was preparing for the interim and the whole lots of other things.

Listed down the things that i have to prepare.
- Animatics
- Powerpoint Slide
- Story Brief
- Primary and Secondary Aims
- Animation Treatment
- Target Audience
- Research Plan
- References
- FYP Schedule/Gant Chart
- Character Design
- Moodboard

Am gona post some of those up soon. So be prepared.. wakakakka.. (its not like theres many that reading this anyway <,...,< )

OT - Animatic, Storyboards & Moodboards

It's Wednesday and I'm left with a total of 7 days til interim1. I'm starting on my animatic and numbering my storyboards into scenes, so i could roughly know how many scenes i have to get done by a day.

And not forgetting that i have to change 2 frame angles in the storyboard and fixing the moodboard. I'll do it while working on my animatic, means putting the moodboard into the animatic, so that viewers would have a rough idea of how the animation would look like.

So I'm gona go and carry on with my work and I'll be back to update if there's any 'happenings' to share.

Jana.

Week5 Contact6 - Moodboard & Animation Style

It's week5 and got my storyboard done and all, but yet to change the 2 frames and update this blog's storyboard. I did some rough moodboards on the different locations/areas in the animation and showed it to Ronald to see if its alright.

At the same time, i asked about the character line style and used frame 35 to test for moodboard and animation style. Cos if you take a look at my storyboard, the style i had was pretty sketchy.

I made the character in frame 35 in different version of lines. One was clean and the other was the one from the storyboards. Before asking Ronald, i actually asked Vivien about it and she said that the sketchy one give out more emotion compared to the line one. So when i showed to Ronald and ask for his opinion, he chose the sketch one too. So i guess i'll be working with that. =)

Continue with her leftovers.

OT - Story Opinions & Mood board

It's Friday and am working on my leftover storyboards and moodboards. I'm left with 1.5 week to interim on Thursday. Wish me luck.

Oh.. I mentioned about sending over my storyboard to Amanda and she replied. For a summary, instead of having his character being bad and showing regret over what he did while walking through the dream, and waking up in the hospital, i should have the character looking for hope and searching in his dream for some life and in the end, he felt like he is in a lost of hope when the children he sees at the playground was only an illusion, (knowing after he tried to approach them, they dissapeared) which made an impression of pity and that the character deserve to be save. And thats when he gain concious from his dreams. hm..

I paste Amanda's message below. For ref. Hm..

---------------------
Hi Hanis,

I'm glad my suggestions were helpful. ;) I've just taken a peek at your boards. I like the drawings - very nice job! :) Some questions and thoughts...

As for your story, I find the ending a little confusing. Was he dreaming all the time he was walking and recalling his past? If he had been trapped under the rubble for some time, he'd probably be really tired, hungry and weak - his 1st instinct would be to look for signs of survival, food and living civilisation. Shouldn't he be really happy to see the boy? My thoughts bout the boy are - if this was really a "dead" town, the boy could be out to play/scavenging for useful items to bring home and is wary of people. Your guy would be really happy to see him and would want to approach him for help. Instead the boy gets fearful and flees, leaving your guy in the lurch.

Because your character seems strong enough to hold up for so long, it almost feels likes he's dead/ or zombie like. For now, the only softness to him is through his memories.

Honestly, I think your story is really quite long as well and I'm afraid you might not get to finish it. It does get a little draggy too - coz the beginning is rather short and we see a whole length of his memories/walk - there's no climax and when it does end, it doesn't feel very exciting. Think of what the key moments are. I'm going to suggest a cut short to your story here - I'd like to suggest that we see perhaps one of his memories whilst he was in the rubble - he's about to give up hope, but he remembers something (a loved one perhaps) and that keeps him from wanting to give up. He struggles and finds a way out, he finally makes his way to sunlight, but loses hope as he realises it's empty and deserted. He goes a little way (not too long pls) sees the boy and we think it's another glimmer of hope. But the boy deserts him as well due to fear and once again he feels lost. In despair, he slumps down in weakness and starts daydreaming/hallucinating. He dreams of going home - he's stronger in his dream, so it makes sense that he's so mobile. The home could be empty and he comes across belongings and sees the photoframe, cries and to dramatise it, you could have his memories fading - he's losing consciousness and he sees blurred images of some ppl and the boy (who's come back with ppl to check him out). Your ending could come into play. He's survived the ordeal and is grateful. What I'm trying to suggest is, you need to have climaxes - he needs hope, but everytime there's hope, it disappears (making the audience symphatise with him and finally at the end, when he's really losing hope, something good happens to save him and we as an audience will feel that he deserves to be saved.

I know that's a lot for you to think about. But please remember, if it's already taking you so long to board, it would take you longer to animate a clear story. Keep it concise and to the point because you need to factor in the animation, coloring and miscellaneous production processes. You might like to check out Lecturer Mathias Heng's (from VSC) photos. He documented the Padang earthquake recently. http://www.mathiasheng.com/padangearthquake.htm

Hope all this helps! All the best to your interim 1! Let me know how it goes. :) Btw, I read that you visited the hospital, is everything alright? Please take care.

Best regards,
Amanda

Week4 Contact5 - The Storyboard

Well, its all thumbs up, just that i'm missing some dynamic shots and Ronald ask to change or add some (about 2) 3/4 view/shots cos' most of the shots i got were front and side, and little of 3/4. Yupsie..

Hm... I think I'll change frame 15 and 29. I'll make a bird eye view for 15. maybe that might give more impact and feeling about him alone in a dead city, studying his surrounding. and for 29, i guess i'll place the camera at the corner of the room, so it will make a better introduction of the room while he opens the door. make sense? hm.. or should i choose other frames? hm...

Aites! So back to doing the leftovers. woots! =)

OT - The Hospital and The Leftovers

It's Thursday, just got back from a medical checkup at the hospital, before coming to school. Lucky that the interim got pushed back by a week, cos i got another appointment next week, same day. I wonder i wonder..

And here i am in school, updating 2 more page of stob and checking with Ronald if there's any need of changes in a few minutes. And more leftovers to be done. Gotta update my character sheets and moodboard sooner or later. Then im gona do a scratch audio and record some guitars and keyboards. Boy oh boy.. m-hm..

And im thinking about showing my stob to Amanda, one of the former lecturers here. hmhm...

To be continued after the meet. m-hm..

EDIT: Oh.. After the consultation with Ronald and all that, i went to continue with what was left. Then i decided to do some colour test run on the character. Vivien suggested his hair to be in blue, and his eyes somewhat green/blue.. M-hm.. Tried, and used hue to see it in diff colours. I guess its a good pick. i'll upload some pics tmr.

OT - Full Storyboard

I think i'm gona have to put a complete storyboard in one post so that it be easier to read and keep for reference or something. It's Wednesday and I'm not sure why I find myself incredibly slow today. 2 days ago, i could clear 3 pages of storyboard in a day, but these few days, i found myself only be able to finish about a page per day. why????!!!!! =,....,= sigh*

curses... @,...,@ how i wish i could get most things done by the end of the week. and oh.. Interim was pushed a week back, so we got another week to prepare for interim. that's a good news, but that doesnt mean we should take things easy. The things to do/finish, storyboard, animatic, moodboard, character sheets, audios.. x,....,X

So here's the list of all the storyboard. im left with 1-2 pages and be updating this post when im all done.

OT - Storyboarding

It's the 2nd day of the week, and im half done with the storyboard. Hoping that i could get it done asap..

Here's more.. and more to come..

OT - Storyboarding

It's the fourth week and im working on my official storyboard before i could start with my animatic. I'm pretty much behind time and i only got myself to blame x,....,X

Oh well... Got some of my storyboards done and hoping to get it all done by tomorrow so i could show some things to Ronald for consultation, and also my characters and moodboard. All the best for everyone. =)

Oh.. here's some of it..

Week3 Contact4 - Learning Contract

It's Friday!! The end of the weekday. I showed Ronald my learning contract and was told to change my primary aims. I wrote it too specific, therefore if the judges would judge base on it and if it never got achieve, i would be getting a fail mark for it. That's not good.

So i had to rewrite my primary aim, and think about what i want to be judge on. Hm.. The flow, mood of the animation? So basically i rewrote it and finally got a green light, and thats for the Learning Contract submission. I'll write one below just to keep for records.


Working Title: Specs of Life

Short description: An ungrateful person, who was never humble to those around him, suddenly was involved in a natural disaster. When he regained "consciousness", he finds himself in a dead city. Realising and regretting his past mistakes, he wakes up to find himself in the hospital and turned to become a better person.

Primary aim: To be able to show the situation by the mood of the backgrounds, environment designs and animation.

I will know I have achieved my primary aim if... When people are able to tell the situation of the scene, i.e. a disaster or an imagination/illusion, etc.

Secondary aims: To be able to portray the mood and story through audio and visuals.

I will know I have achieved my secondary aim if... When people are able to understand the story and feel the mood after watching or while watching the animation.

Personal Motivation: I was inspired by a true story from a survivor of the Padang earthquakes, where he share his experience and what he sees while the building he was in collapse. While he was under the rubble, all he saw was darkness and all he could think of is his family and the people he cared, and also asking for forgiveness from God for the sins he did. And after he was actually ready to die, he got rescued about 3hours later.


Story short synopsis: An ungrateful person who was never humble to those around him, suddenly was involved in a natural disaster where the building he was in, collapsed. When he regained "consciousness", he walked through the city, to find everyone dead. As he walked through the city, he find some places which reminded him about what he did wrong in the past and realising his mistakes, he regretted what he did. He then walks home to find the place looking unlifely. He walks up to his mother's room and found an old frame portrait of him and his mom. He recalled doing bad things to his mum and remembered some of the wonderful things he and his mum shared when he was a little boy. Regretting what he has done, he then wakes up from the dream, and find himself in the hospital and his mom beside him. From then on, he changed to become a better person and a better son.

Format: 2D Animation

Duration: 3-5mins

Genre: Chaos, Fantasy

Concept: Simplified realistic cartoon style, with realistic textured background. Spontaneous an paper cut animation style.

Anticipated Difficulties: Dealing with a number of characters' animation and getting reference. Time management and to be able to make good visuals that will be able to tell the mood and the flow of the story. In getting resources for the type of SFX that i wanted, and to get/compose the music that will match the visuals well.

Research requirements:
- Research; Find pictures of cities that was attacked by earthquake for reference
- Pictures of locations; home, city, hospital, streets, playground, etc.
- Reference on walk cycle and other movements by finding books or web resources that covers on it, or take a video or pictures for it.
- Software techniques
- Digital Paint
- Lighting techniques
- Concept colours/textures

Additional resources:
- Photo/Video Reference for character and perspective
- Take digital photos or film HD video of the scenes that requires animating or in need of reference. Places/locations that could be use as reference for the animation such as the house, rooms, streets and angle shots

Week3 Contact3 - Storyline & Thumbnails/Storyboard

Finally got to show Ronald my thumbnails and the storyline. He said its all okay except for a scene which i portray a small picture frame of him when he was a little boy, and his mum. Ronald said that i had to be sure that when people see it, they know its him and his mother and not mistaken them as his wife and son. So it looks like that i have to make him not too young or something like that. M-hm..

And Friday would be the Learning Contract submission and i have yet to show Ronald the concept and animation style that im going for. Well... That's all for now. =)