Crew Project, Post 1

Now I have properly met and spoken with both of the groups that I am doing sound for. They both have very interesting concepts, and at this time, seem to have enthusiastic, active, friendly groups. Inbetween: A fable has given me a few basic sounds that I am to start getting for them, which is certainly something good to get to as a starting point.

The Story of Jeffrey Chide seems to be a highly unusual, but amusing concept, which I am already interested in. I have been provided with a full, detailed sound list, sorted by scene, and I am delighted that it is all so well organised so early on! I hope to start recording sounds very soon! ^_^

Still no word from the stop-motion project, I assume they must still be in early planning and therefore not ready for the prop-building.

New Term, New Post.

Well, okay, so it's not a new term any more, we have been at it for several weeks now, but this is the first time I have had something tangible enough to post about. For this term, I shall be organising my posts as one per week per project, with the exception of this week, where there will just be this. So it should be, give or take, three posts a week. Hopefully this will work as a suitable format ^_^

Okay, so, this week we found out some more details of the projects that we are to expect this term, and all of them hold interest for me. The Crew assignment project offers a great chance to work with the third years on their final projects, and I have been put into three groups. Two for sound, which I already love to do, and one for prop building for a stop-motion animation project. All of these are interesting and offer some great chances to try my hand at things I already know, and things that are a bit newer to me, and not only that, but to do so in an active animating team. I have read up all I can about the projects that I am to be put on, and they all seem very interesting to me, and I look forward to getting started on them very much. I have spoken with two out of the three groups, and hope to hear from the third soon!

My mind is already made up on the Post/Pre production projects, and was right from the start, I want to do post production because I already love the software that it offers a chance to learn with. I already know a basic level of compositing, and have been an editor for a number of years, this allows me to combine the two and expand my knowledge a great deal!

As for Cinematography, that promises to be a new and interesting challenge as well, having already done Film at degree level for two years, I know how to use the equipment already and hope to expand my existing knowledge working on something that my group and I have been able to come up with for ourselves. The freedom to choose is always so welcome in these situations. But a two minutes silent film as it apparently is rumored to be certainly offers us the chance to do that.

11 Second - Completed

Ah the pleasant moment of completion ^_^

I'm pleased with the overall, there are some things I would do better, and some things I would do differently. My method of choice certainly requires some more work, either that or I need to improve on a different method enough to use that instead.

The characters came out quite well, especially the Masked Aubergine in his close up shot, I really feel he moves and looks as good as he could have done in those frames. I feel my time management needs to improve a little, because even though I thought I was spreading the work evenly, it did end up being something of a rush to finish, not a panic rush, but a little more intense than would have been ideal.

I met no serious problems in production other than Flash's insistence on having the sound clip set to start instead of stream, which made it very hard to use until it finally let me change it. However, given all the past problems Flash has been known for presenting me with, I have to say that I was almost pleased to find that my only snag.

One of the things I was quite pleased with was the angry mob that rises from the hill behind Brickface, complete with torches and pitchforks. I realise this seems a little silly since there is a clearly lit city in the background of the animation, but somehow I felt that with the type of villains I chose, the overall silliness, and the general, unrealistic theme of the entire thing, that the traditional mob was the most appropriate to use.

Perhaps I went a little overboard on the glow coming from the mob, but I do rather like the overall effect it has, framing Brickface's almost insane reaction to the whole matter, it juxtaposes nicely with the shot of Masked Aubergine against the moon as well.

Overall, it was a fascinating project to work with, though this term has been very dissappointing for me in the sense that there has been no oppertunity to put our own sound to anything, and since sound is my primary interest, I hope that we get offered that chance soon.

The outcome of the 11 second project is, in the end, something I am reasonably happy with, but could improve on given practice and time ^_^

Experimental Animation - Final.

The experimental animation project was an interesting one to approach, because it was largely open for us to interpret however we liked as individuals. There was a lot of discussion at first about possibly attempting a stop-motion film with proper models and backgrounds, because the technique interested everyone in the group. But after making the testing animation with Alphonse, it was quickly decided that it would take a very long time, and would be very difficult to make non-narrative and yet effective. It would also be quite hard to match it to the music effectively.

Therefore we also discussed and toyed with the possibility of a stop-motion of another kind, flat images formed by photographing a substance moving around on a surface, frame by frame, photographed and put together to the music later in the editing stages.

When we played with the rice, it made me realise that it would be the easier, and probably better outcomed choice to make. Which left us with a few decisions to make, what to draw with, and what music to put it to.

The Drones and Refrains of Death was the piece of music that I personally felt had more effect on my creativity than any of the others, and shortly after hearing the piece, an idea started to form in my mind.

Being an ex-film student, and a very long term lover of the horror genre, I just happenned to have rather a large supply of fake blood lying around... and the unsettling nature of the music seemed to demand an unsettling medium in which to draw to it. The two things just seemed more coincidence than it was appropriate to ignore, and the suggestion was quickly adopted by the goup.

'Filming' commenced shortly afterwards, with large glass chopping board, a LOT of newspaper to protect the floor, a Camera and Tripod, and quite a lot of strange objects which we planned to use to poke the blood around.

This stage largely went well, with the group working quickly, taking it in turns from animator, to camera operator, to suggestion maker. It took several days, and one problem we met in that time was that a batch of the fake blood kept drying out overnight despite numerous attempts to prevent it from doing so. Which left us with an entertaining period in the mornings, sitting 'warming up' the blood with sprayed water and paintrushes, trying to get it animateable again.

Another problem we found, was that the lines we made in the blood didn't appear that clearly on the images. I found a solution to that problem, unforutnately drawing in it with one's hands held the risk that it was very messy, and the fingertips tended to get dyed reddy orange quite quickly.

Finally though, with over 420 images, we decided it was enough to enter the editing process.

This task, assigned to myself, was a slow process of sorting the various folders of the different patters and images, and then putting them together in appropriate software. The hardest part of the process was persuading the images to match the music speed, but in the end that just took some persistence.

I'll put more detail about the editing into the full production report on the hard hand-in.

In the meantime, here is the low quality Mpeg of the movie, because Blogger will only upload the quicktimes if it is allowed to keep my computer hostage all night for upload. Which I won't allow it to do XP

11 Second - More Progress

Just thought I'd post up a rough render of the finished half of the 11 second! ^_^

Full thing should be done before too long!

Experimental Editing ^_^

Just a few snippits of what I'm editing in the Experimental Project! ^_^

^ Got my hands dyed orange for a week doing this bit D:

Thought I should put a little bit up as a sneak peek! ^_^

11 Second - Progress

^_^ Just thought I'd pop on and post a few WIP images from the slowly but surely progressing 11 Second Project.

The Masked Aubergine has gone through some changes since you last saw him... but I'm pleased with this final design.

The background from the opening scene of the animation, moon loading error and all ^_^

Oh look... an angry mob... I wonder what they might possbily want.

More soon ^_^