Summary

Summary of the Year:

With Hand in complete, there really is no rest for the wicked. I still have to tweak the introduction and produce some images for the end credits of Heroes 1.0. There is also the matter of business cards and a showreel. So i'm still a very busy boy. Luckily there is no other submissions to interfere now, and I should be able to cruise onwards steadily.

The experience has been good and I have had the privilege or working with some lovely people in two very strong films. I really enjoyed my time working on the visual development side of the films, I find it interesting and equally fulfilling. Though I doubt I will ever find myself animating in 2D as unfortunately I feel it may be a little too stressful for me. It has yet again been a year of finding myself and learning my strengths and weaknesses. For me I realized that I strongly want to pursue a career in visual development, whether it's story-boarding, or concept/character design in games or film/tv I can hand on heart say I don't mind. I also realized that my biggest weakness has been time management this year, in main regard for not scheduling for problems/illness/snow etc or not having a decent contingency plan.

All the groups I worked with this year have been amazing, both in terms of feedback and organization. I admire Kofi for keeping his creative vision with Heroes 1.0. especially during the time when the tutors was unhappy with the designs which he had chosen. Staying consistent is really professional and what makes a project a joy to work on. In comparison the Raven Project perhaps could have learnt from this example, we were still making amendments to the script and process til half way through the final term. However Sophie's dedication to the project is truly inspiring and her ability to direct all different types of workers is incredible. Her approach to more independent workers such as Clym and I has been wonderful and her support has been permanently available. The Raven Project has been truly a labour of love and her passion for their story is contagious.

This year I feel I have grown as a person, I have learnt so much and I am thankful for all the opportunities handed to me. If I could go back and change anything, I think an ambitious part of me regrets not having the balls to pursue my initial film concept. It wasn't a huge job, and I probably could have saved myself from the daunting and some times stressful multi-tasking. That being said, I loved both of the films I worked on and have great admiration for everybody involved in both films. It really was a great insight into the production of Animation, and I honestly cannot wait to start my career in the field (and go prematurely bald from stress).

Folders Completed

Well it actually ended up taking all night... which in all honesty I really didn't expect. It's one of the processes when you literally find yourself grabbing one file and suddenly realizing that there is several files related to that file, which should be in the folders with it.

Beurgh!

Any whoo!

It's completed now and everything is handed in. The Files came to around 5 gb in the end, which I was shocked about, luckily I bought myself some 4.3gb discs the week before with the folder in mind. I was able to compress them and bung them all on one disc.

Shot 6 composited

The final shot Composited and uploaded. BAM!

I'm not sure if im entirely happy with this composite, though it will have to do for hand in, as I now have to continue putting my folders together. I think maybe it could do with some additional light as the background just seems flat to me. I am also unsure if i am happy with the positioning of the heads at the top of the scene. Something that I expect I will have to talk to Sophie about.

For Now however I have to composite all the separate shots into one movie, and get it ready for my folders.

Shot 5 Composited + Step by Step

So It's a day before hand-in and everything is a big crazy rush. I am nearly finished with the final shot composite, and then I have to sort out my folders and burn them to disk ready for hand in. Here we have Shot 5 completed, one of my best compositions I think. There is also camtasia video of the process to go along with it.

As you can see from the video below, I added a time stretch to the animation, so as to get added exposure to the frames in a more even fashion. I think it was effective. Compositing in 2d is quite similar to working 3d in the sense that you still work in layers.

Shot 004 Composited

The portrait shot, which you have already seen, I've tweaked the speed a little but I doubt this will be the final edit, as with shot one, we still want to play with the shot before final show. I added a focus blur to the corners as the frame comes closer. I did this by duplicating the frame animation, creating a blur effect in AE and then creating a feathered mask of the blurred animation. I think it proved quite effective, even if subtle.

Shot 3 Composited

Heres Shot 003 all done and dusted.

I really like how this shot came out, as you can see I fixed the dodgy animation on the first bump. I just feel that the shot although incredibly simple, is really nicely effective. I added the unfocused buildings in the foreground last minute, without them it seemed as thought the tower existed to far away and secluded, which obviously isn't true.

Shot 002 Composited.

Shot to all finished, the great thing about this shot is that it can be sped up easily if Sophie feels the intro is getting long. I really like this shot, it reminds me of some of the flying dinosaurs from the flint stones.