Break down of my narrative

This is the Album cover from which the song I have chosen is from and allot of my ideas have been inspired by the name of the album and the album art itself. The idea of using a character with some robotic characteristics came from the title The Sad 'Machinery' of spring and the word spring inspired me to place the machine like character in a natural environment so man made vs. natural. The narrative shows the characters struggle to escape this nightmare of being within nature - nightmare coming from the song title 'The Land of Perpetual Sleep' perpetual sleep connoting enclosure, trapped in a situation where in which you can't escape. Through his journey he comes across another robot like character that is broken - he doesn't understand this and tries to give the character a red flower (inspired by the album art). The other character does not react which could portray that the broken robot has gone through the same experience but failed to get out. As a result of this the main character drops the flower and sits down next to the character in despair and the end I want to be open to interpretation - it could mean he’s given up/given himself to nature/he has finally be released from this nightmare/he will be trapped for ever in this state. So in essence it could be interpreted as a positive or negative ending.
Something that i am unsure of is whether i should make my ending restart at the beginning to leave the audience with an enigma, this idea came right at the start of the project and it has crossed my mind as it may make a stronger ending for my animation than my character giving up. This idea came from a film suggested to me called Triangle (2009) where in which a women is caught in a vicious circle of repeting the same events over and over again but from a different perspective. So to try and create this looping effect I intend to end the animation with the character ending up in the same position as the 'dead character' with the flowers positioned in the same place ect...
Triangle Trailor

Style Frames

So after a tutorial with Rick we decided that I should create some quick style frames as to what I want the colour pallet to be like and how I want the scenery and character to appear before I start the rotoscoping. The majority of inspiration for these style frames came from the album cover in which the song has been taken. The first style frame I added text into the backgroud as that is the style the album cover has used. But I think this may disrtract the viewers eye away from the animation and I feel that I would need type that relates to the song/album I have chosen. Following on from this stlye frame i decided to remove the type and invert the imagery as this was one of my initial plans (also taken from album cover). I do like this effect, I wasn't too keen on it at first but after looking at it again I think it adds to the overall gloomy mise-en-scene. The only thing I have to be critical off is the flower colour when inverted so if there was a way i could keep them red i think this would look great - so after the final product is completed I will also create an inverted option and see which my peers prefer. Or maybe even keep the two one connoting a negative vibe and the other a more positive outlook. The last and final frame is simple black on white with a hint of colour from the flowers, I do like this because of its simplicity but I think I am more aesthetically drawn to the inverted style.

Group Discussion 17/04/2012

Today we had a group discussion about our progress since the 2 weeks off for Easter. To be honest I hadn't used my time that well over Easter to really crack on I spent too much time lingering over the aesthetics of a tree that the rest of the project fell away from me! So we discussed the narrative today and I know what I want to be shown but I need to find a way to explain this to the audience, examiner and Rick in a simple way so this still needs to be nailed. I also explained to the group that I have been rotoscoping individual sections of the animation then putting them all together in post production for example rotoscoping trees then adding the character in after. Reflecting on this approach I don't feel it is working for me as the different elements look out of place, they don't work together. So I have taken Ricks advice of putting together the videos/images then spitting them out as an image sequence and rotoscoping the whole thing together. This is how I approached my feel good animation and it worked really well and fitted together smoothly and successfully. After we talked about the narrative Rick mentioned how the music would fit with it and how the visuals will help express the music, so we discussed ways in which I could portray the music changes. Sarah mentioned an idea of the character running towards colour, as if he was chasing it but it was fading way, this could be shown by adding elements of colour to the trees and background and as the character approaches them it would have faded away. Or I could add colour to the background when the music changes pace adding a visual emphasis on it which I think could work quite well.

So here is the plan (to be done by Thursday 19th for tutorial):

• Get the shots needed filmed and edited together
• Add the trees and scenery to the shots to make sure everything is rotoscope as one
• Do a small test of the back ground with colour in as the music changed (10 second test at 12 fps)
• Do the test without colour

Trees

I need to choose and stick with an aesthetic in regards to my scenery for example the trees and forest. So i thought i would have a look at illustrations and drawings of trees and also videos of how they would blow in the wind.I want a tree that really looks strange and creepy to add to the overwhelmed feel to the animation. Also the first five images i found when i was looking for a symmetrical style scene to reflect the findings of Stanley Kubrick's use of symmetry within The Shining.

I found this on youtube with this information underneath it -

Minimalist film by artist/ filmmaker Jon Par (Jonathan Parisen) of a bare tree in Staten Island, New York being blown around in the wind. This is 858 of 1000 avant-garde films that Jon Par will make in 2009.

Resistance 3 - Intro and Trailer

I found this trailer for the game Resistance 3 and the reason i though it might be useful is the way in which the trees move framing the man walking down the train track is particuarly lovely. They move in a very strange way almost like human hands trying to grab the character not so much like branches moving in the wind, something like this could add to the overwhelming and lost feeling within my animation. The animation below called the passanger has a completely different aesthetic but the tree branches give a similar effect of framing the character like grabbing hands.

And most obviously the forest scene in Snow White.

I noticed that on the game Resistance 3 the intro for it wasn't in the typical game style it was almost like a dark comic book. The use of the dark outlines and dull colour pallet really help to connote the horror/action genre of the game and some of these elements could be included to help the audience get the right mise-en-scene for my short animation. The limited animation also adds to the mood of the animtion as in real life there always seems to be an element of movent within the backgroud. Also the use of limited animtion is all that seems to be nesessary to tell the story as that is the reason for the animation to give the gamers the story so far and the information needed.

I also like the use of the green tinge similar to that seen in horror movies another example of this is when the Harry Potter films become more intence and serious i noticed the change in colour.

Portfolio Visit 3 - McCann Manchester

My third portfolio visit was with Chris Beckles (digital creative director) at McCann Manchester situated in Addlington. Chris had mentioned that he had looked at some of my work on Vimeo (which is practically everything I have) but I showed him my showreel again so I could gain some advice in person. However we didn't really discuss how it could be improved he was more interested in talking to me about my future as I don't have long left on my course. We discussed how I could make my way into the industry by continuing portfolio visits and getting work experience to see where in the industry I fit best for example within advertising ect... We also discussed how to keep my portfolio going when i won't have work by continuing to add to it he mentioned finding bands on Myspace and asking to work with them to create music videos which i thought may be interesting. Following on from the Chris then thought it would be good for me to meet the animators that work for McCann Manchester to see if there would be any opportunity of getting a placement even if it was only for a couple of days to work along side the small animation team. The animation team consists of only 3 animations so a placement here would involve working very close to gain incite into how they use their time management and create a successful piece for a client. This i am really looking forward to! Chris also asked for an invite to the final major show and insisted that i create something exciting to draw my audience in, something relevant to my final piece. (The point being drag my audience in visually to make them want to know more and continue watching my work.) Again this has been another exciting and positive portfolio visit giving my confidence an extra boost towards my final major project. I feel like i have more knowledge and hold some great advise about taking my first steps into the industry and becoming noticed.

An afternoon at Kilogramme

I was invited by Claire Grey to spend the afternoon with her at Kilogramme to learn the basics of timing within animation. I mentioned in my portfolio visit that i loved 2D traditional animation but i wasn't great at the timing to create a realistic effect so Claire said she would help me. We started by placing the song that i am using for my FMP into Flash and using shapes i was trying to visually show the music much similar to that of Sarah's animation. This i found pretty easy as you can easily move frames to fit the sound waves of the music within the Flash layout much easier than after effects. The song for my FMP is very slow so Claire thought it would be good to do the same exercise but to a more upbeat song, this was a lot easier as it had more beats and melodies to play with than my FMP song. The final exercise Claire had for me was animating a ball bouncing, this was extremely difficult for me as i couldn't get the timings exactly right but the more i tried the better i got. I also got to have a quick look at an animatic they were working on for their easter card and i have realised that to get a better animatic that really nails the timing Flash would be the perfect programme as using after effects i never get the timing i want and it is extremely time consuming. I have learnt a lot from an afternoon with Claire and i feel it will effect the way in which i plan and begin the production of my final piece.

Portfolio Visit 2 - Kilogramme

My second portfolio visit of the year was at Kilogramme with Jon Turner and Claire Grey. Before i went for my portfolio visit they had been looking at my vimeo page and really liked the style of my rotoscoping especially my flower tests. As my showreel wasn't on my vimeo at the time i started my portfolio visit my showing Jon for some advise again on what to change and how to improve it. Similarly to The Neighbourhood Jon said to take out my 3D work as it wasn't too great and i mentioned that Stuart had said my timing wasn't quite right and Jon agreed and over hearing our conversation Claire Grey invited me in to Kilogramme for an afternoon to help me get better at my animation timing. After this we then discussed the ideas for my final major project, i played Jon the song i had chosen and he liked it but he felt that i didn't need to animate the whole 3 minutes just choose an interesting section where in which i could spend more time creating something visually interesting. I hadn't thought of cutting down the music as i thought it would ruin the animation however i feel the song is very slow paced people may get bored of watching it and move on. Jon then said to me if i can get an animatic that works with the music i shouldn't have a problem in creating the final piece with nice timing changed ect... Overall this portfolio visit has been extremely helpful Jon and Claire have given me so great advise to take on board and i can't wait to spend an afternoon with them learning how to use flash to create my animatic.

Portfolio Visit 1 - The Neighbourhood

My first portfolio visit of the year was with Chris and Stuart at the Neighborhood. I started by showing them my showreel and asking how it could be improved, they suggested adding more of the 'making of' elements to show in detail how much work goes into each piece especially the 'feel good' brief. They suggested showing the making of by playing the actual film clip followed by adding the acetate on top then removing the film from underneath to leave the finished product. There was one question in particular that I wanted to ask Chris and Stuart and it was what is the most prominent form of animation within the industry and the moment, what are clients asking for. They did mention that 3D is a very popular form on animation as its more modern looking but if my ink rotoscoping is my style then to keep at it but try and get some 3D software experience behind me so that it my skills aren’t limited when looking for a job within the industry. To help with this Stuart showed me a website called the 11 second club where every month an 11 second sound clip is available for you to create a character and a short narrative to go with it. He suggested taking the sound clip and creating different visual outcomes for it so using the same character but animating/modeling/drawing it in multiple ways to gain more variety within my showreel. One bit of critism given to me was that my 3D animation timing was a bit out and if i wasn't confident with the piece i should take it out of my showreel as it would give the wrong impression to a client that i can use 3D animation software.