Project Evaluation

I was a bit upset when i found out i had been referred for my final chunk of year 2 as i then began to panic about whether i would progress into the 3rd year! But as i had a second chance to get a pass i really put my all into it, like i should of done in the first place. I really struggled with the 'competition brief' as i couldn't find an idea to stick with and i almost discarded the project until i eventually ran out of time and therefore handed in an undeveloped idea. I have used work as an excuse for my terrible time management and i feel it has really got in the way, throughout July i said to my manager i could only work the maximum of 2 days a week and i feel that my time management has improved a lot. As a result of this i am only going to be working 2 days a week so i can focus my energy on my degree as it will be my future (hopefully).
This project has been the most unsuccessful to date but i feel it has been a real help to my working method and being referred has helped me to realise what work i have been missing and how to continuously develop my ideas into a finish piece. I know i should of already grasped this way before now but this project i feel has finally lead me down the right path just in time for the most important year!
The things i have done differently this time are: using mind maps to show all my thoughts as last time i didn't note everything down i kept most of it to myself; putting my ideas down into storyboards to make it easier for me to visually see how i need to film/animate; developing my storyboards instead of just filming i have made creative decisions on what i want to change, add or discard of; using animatics as a starting point to my final piece i have found it easier to add into my animatic the final clips of animation so that the correct speed and clips are how i planned them.
Another thing i found very helpful was after i had a rough idea of what i wanted to achieve i went straight out to test and gain some primary research and this is how my final idea developed, instead of being sat in front of a computer i just got on with it and it was easy especially as it was nice weather! I found my tests to be very successful so it was a fantastic starting point as to what i wanted the final piece to look like. After i had some tests i added them together to make short sequences to get a feel of the speed and overall feel/flow of the animation. So when i found what i liked i then started to draw up some storyboards and play with them and as they developed i used photos of the scenes instead of just drawings and drew on where Sonic would go past the camera. This technique was so useful as i could see where i had placed shots next to each other that may look a bit repetitive so i will be using this technique in future to help my project development.
When the storyboards were almost complete i then began to create hand drawn animatics to start to get the speed of the separate clips right and make sure they fit together nicely, since this was developing i then started to use the same photo technique as in the storyboards to give me a clearer idea of what the shot will actually look like. As i got nearer to finishing the animatic i added in clips of my final piece to make sure the timing matched until the whole animatic was the final animation. I felt this method worked well as i was sticking to exactly what i had planned and not just winging it like in some of my previous projects so this is defiantly the way i work the best (and the way it should be done).
The final animation i think has worked well and it is exactly what i pictured, however if i was to do it again i may have picked more locations but i wanted to see how many i could find in one place which i think i managed to do well. I think i have used my time well as i have focus all my energy into it and haven't been distracted, i have to say that the working method i have used within this referred project has been successful and i have stuck to my set time limit. Which i decided on when i gave myself boundaries for the brief. I think this time around the use of my own set boundaries was a great idea because i need some strict guidelines to stop me from losing focus, i planned to start the piece at the beginning of July and have it completed and handed in the first week of August which i have done successfully so in the future i need to set myself guidelines within an open brief as i believe this i how i work the best.

Further Development - Animatics

As i am coming up with more and more ideas for my video i have just kept updating he animatic and it is working really well for me! I have obviously used animatics before but this time i feel i have used them properly to find the right speed and constantly update. Here is another one with the tagline and logo at the end to get a feel of how it works alongside the video.

This is my final animatic and i really think the photo version works well as i can clearly see what is going to happen within the shot. The speed is right and the clips follow in the right order so all i need to do now is replace the photos with the actual clips and i am on my way.

Vernon Mill

I used to visit Vernon Mill regularly to have a mooch at local artists work as i originally studied Art and Design fine art. Me, my mum and Step dad would go nearly every Saturday morning and it has only just occurred to me to go back and see whats going on at the moment. Oh how i have missed this place! It is so calm, quiet and relaxing to ponder around the studios of different artists and designers. One artist in particular that stood out to me was a man named Malcolm Croft (a bit of info about him below i found on the Vernon Mill Artist website)
"Malcolm grew up in the north of England and went to college to study photography in Kent. On leaving he worked as a press photographer in Fleet Street and in Manchester, winning the 1997 Press Photographer of the Year Award for his coverage of the IRA bomb attack on the city.
Unfortunately he was hit by a car while cycling in Derbyshire and, his injuries so severe, forced to retire. After spending a number of years raising his two sons he began painting in 2005 and is self-taught. What started out as a hobby has now morphed to the point where Malcolm finds himself poised on the brink of success, his work hanging in galleries next to paintings worth thousands."I really enjoyed looking at his work because there was such a variety of different images to see but all done in this particular style of bold black outlines and block colour to fill the spaces. They all look fab together as well as they are all placed in white frames with a gold rim, a simple frame to showcase the colourful work within it.
I love to look at other work such as paintings and illustrations as i think they are what i feel inspire me the most, i do obviously love watching animation and film but i think because of my art and design national diploma background fine art and illustration still fascinate me! I love to take drawing styles into consideration to as it is something i can push with my animation and filming style whether it will be hand drawn or computer generated. After heading back to Vernon Mill i defiantly want to keep my eye on what is happening there so that i can keep going back to try and grasp some inspiration or even talk to the artists themselves if they are around for some tips and advise.

Ending the Animation

I have a start to the animation and the middle but i can't seem to find the right ending but would the game always end the same with a different player? .... each individual would surely end it differently and as this is my chosen theme (everyone is different so each game would be) i think maybe speed up the clips as it gets closer to the end until it is that fast it fades to black and the tagline would appear then Sonic 20th Birthday and finally the Sega logo. (Add to animatic). More filming commences tomorrow as i have the whole day to do it so by the end of tomorrow i will have the majority of the animation placed into my animatic and i will have a plan as to what i need to film in Wales when i leave on Monday. I am really looking forward to getting stuck into the final filming tomorrow as i can't wait to see what it looks like put together.

Inspiration

The last time i was in Wales i visited 'Hells Mouth' beach and a lot of rubbish from people using boats seems to wash up on the shore here! It is such an interesting beach and every time you visit it, its always different. Here are some pictures that i took while i was there of things i found interesting and i plan to go back when i am in wales on the 25th July.

After the statement i have just made above about 'Hells Mouth' being different every time you visit has made me think that each game of Sonic you would play and the different people playing it would be a very different experience. I think this would be a great concept for my sonic piece as i could create a message along the lines of 'Every play is different to every person but we all love it anyway' (this needs some work but i think i am onto something). SO is there away of incorporating this small idea in with the idea i have been developing? I am going to play around with this before i head off to wales and keep it in mind when continuing with my original idea.

Animatics

So after the tests i have put together i have come up with an animatic of how i want the sequence to look like so far, i still need to figure out a start and ending but this is exactly the right speed of how i want sonic to roll across the screen.

This is the second animatic and i have added the beginning and end to it, the beginning is to be an establishing shot of Sonic turning around and the end being the dog running up and taking sonic. I am still very unsure of the ending as i don't think it has any relevance really other than for the comic factor but i am interested to see how it looks. The speed of the ending in this animatic is way too fast so i need to plan how quickly i want the dog to come in and run off and obviously i want it to be clear on what the dog is doing so i am going to capture this before i plan the timing. (See what the dog does natural first).

After this i thought to myself i really need to pin point an ending before i continue, i always seem to think that these things will just fall into place but i have been working on my time management and my planning and my time management has really improved but i need to be more assertive when it comes to my planning. So i did a brain storm of possible endings and i came up with: the dog running off with sonic; someone standing on sonic; sonic rolling towards camera.

This is another animatic i did (still with the same ending) but i added a few parts i had already shot to see how the speed of things would actually work. I thought the speed of this was ok but looking at it again i think it is way too fast, you don't get a clear picture of whats going on SO i am now going to slow it down to the speed i would like! In the final sequence i recon i need to add more frames to make the movement more smooth (less jumpy and blurred) and hopefully it will slow things down a lot more.

Ok i have finally got the speed right! However it is still only 9 seconds long and i planned a 30 second long animation so i need to add different scenes to it. I am going to wales Monday the 25th July and there are a few places i know i want to film there so i am going to develop my story board again now to add these in ... i have a mental picture of the places of which i want to film so from that i will add to the animatic. AND i have scrapped the dog ending and in fact all the ending possibilities i came up with SO as i have come up with a new concept i need to find a more suitable ending.

More Tests

I rebuilt my sonic model and took him back out into the garden to re shoot the successful compositions i had the first time around and try and find more or more ways to make the existing ones interesting. I but them together in a sequence to see if i could get a sense of what they would look like together so i can develop the animation as i go along before i plan out my animatic.

I don't think this sequence works very well .. i think the first part of the sequence where he goes from walking to rolling works and i need that flow but i need an exciting start because it kind of just starts it has no story line. Also i think the last test looks better as sonic is consistent and rolls at the same speed but on different levels of the shot which is exciting and chaotic just like sonic.

Hand drawn animation

I had a go at some hand drawn animation and these were my first attempts --->

This short walk cycle is very basic and not quite accurate as my drawings don't flow together properly but i found it easier this way to pick up the movements of where the feet and arms should be with a basic walk.

The Dog

I really want my dog to end the animation i want him to run towards him pick him up and run away ... so i have been trying to teach him how to do it here is a quick video of my first attempt (not very successful).

I got distracted after this trying to chase a frog around the garden with the camera when i went back to get the model it had gone eventually i found this

So i know he will actually do it but just when i am not watching CANDIT CAM!!!!

The walk

As i mentioned i think it might be slightly boring if Sonic is constantly rolling because in the game he runs first and as he builds up speed and jumps thats when he rolls. So i tested how i think my model sonic should walk/run, i simple just moved his feet up and down and i think it worked fairly successfully.

It is a very simple way of doing it but i think overall i want to show the warmth of the game as in everyone can play it so i don't want to show to much complexity as it would become uninviting. I think my audience will warm more to a piece like that of Sculpey the slug homely and clever.

Test Sequence

These are the tests i did but put into a sequence. I love the chaotic feel as i think this is how the game feels, its fast and almost uncontrollable! I this is small sequence is successful however i think maybe i should start off slow so that the audience are aware of who the character is OR slow it down towards the end so i could start with an enigma and all will be revealed at the end.

I also like the changing of background settings it looks so more interesting and more like an adventure than a plain white background with cut out paper trees. The natural colours of the garden don't clash with the plasticine model, he is still the dominant part of the animation you can see him at all times! I also think that the fact i have positioned sonic in different places within the camera shot to add level and more movement rather than if he just ran straight past the camera at the same level.

I have slowed the start down in the test and i think although its not a huge difference i would like to establish who the character is in the opening shot it saves using text so it is still a small mystery as to what i am trying to show the audience. This gives me more freedom for an ending since i don't have to reveal a million secrets. As the piece goes on i want to reveal where he is so i need some more mid shots so you can still see Sonic but also there are huge hints as to where he is.