Honours Assessment

A funny little email landed in my inbox this afternoon . . my Honours Assesment came!

I don't know what to make of it though. It's not that I don't understand it . . it's just that . . I guess I had hoped for more? I don't know whether I deserved more (I guess not) . . but I had poured everything into it . . so was kinda disappointed.

I guess I'm kinda disappointed too for missing out on Graduate Prizes (they were GOOD prizes). . hmm.

But really, I think I'm just focusing on all the bad things - UNNECESSARILY. I have so much to be thankful for . .

1) I got 80% for my Honours Paper. Considering I was lost for most of the year over it - that's amazing.

2) I got 80% for my animation. I hoped that mark would've been higher . . but then, I am proud of what I was able to achieve in it and don't need a mark (or prize) to validate it.

3) I have completed Honours. That is a feat in itself . . why do I forget this?

Argh . . I'm pretty annoyed at myself for not being more thankful .. because I should be. I can be. Why do I have to ruin this moment for myself? :P

Anyhow, I guess I can just focus on the next thing now. Though what that "next thing" is isn't quite clear just yet. I had a pretty interesting conversation with Will and Alex this afternoon . . it helped me put a few things in perspective in regards to my future - careerwise. So I got to get out of my silly rut of "what could of been" and just move on . .

The COFA Annual 08 opened last night. That was pretty cool. A lot of people. I had a better look at it today and really enjoyed it. I am going to miss COFA so much.

Fly, Baby, Fly

Finally .. my animation. :)



It debuted at the Chauvel Cinema last night which was pretty cool. And surreal. It was rewarding to hear the audience respond to it . . I think they laughed when the spoon turned into a stork. I'm glad I bothered to animate that now and didn't just do a cross fade.

Unfortunately I didn't get to meet any industry people . . that was a bit disappointing. But my piece did get some exposure (even though the COFA show was competing with the 'Australia' premier on George Street . . of all the things to be up against .. ), so perhaps something will come of that. There is also the COFA Annual next week . . I am looking forward to that as I can see my classmates work. After hearing and watching all their projects develop over the year it'll be really rich to see their final pieces.

COFA Annual 08

This post is a bit late .. but these are the details of when the COFA Annual 08 will be running (and 'Fly, Baby, Fly' featuring . . ). .

THIS WEEK . .

Big Screen Blowout! Digital Media & Time Based Art Screening
Date:18th November, 08
Time: 6-9pm Digital Media (my piece is part of Digital Media) 9 onwards Time Based Arts
Where: Chauvel Cinema, Paddington Town Hall
Cost: Free

NEXT WEEK . .

COFA Annual 08 Exhibition
Opening: 26th November, 08
Time: 6-8pm
Running: 27th - 30th November, 08
Time: 10am - 4pm
Where: COFA and Kudos Gallery, 6 Napier Street Paddington (my stuff will be in F106)
Cost: Free

Pure Colours

A special mention has to be made for 'Pure Colours' the St Peter's printing company that printed off my Honours Paper.

They were polite, efficent, well priced and did an awesome job of printing my booklets. What I appreciated most was that they were friendly and never made me feel like an idiot even though I didn't know what stock I wanted my work printed on or what saddle stitching was.

All in all, Pure Colours were fantastic and I highly recommend them.

FREE

On Friday the 31st October at approximately 3:30pm a very wonderful thing happened - - 'Fly, Baby, Fly' my second 2D cell animation was exported into its final form - sound & graphics, a piece of its own.

Room C105 in the midst of an unusually humid October afternoon was probably not the most spectacular place for such a debut, but there it was .. my complete animation. 8 months of work .. complete . .

I couldn't stop smiling Friday . . I felt like such a goon and that any moment someone would smack me on the face for grinning so much . .

I don't know what else to say really .. because this feeling doesn't really have words (as cliche as that sounds). Finishing 'Fly, Baby, Fly' has felt good. Where finishing 'Orville' felt like I was dragging myself over some finish line tiredly with only enough energy to sigh "I've finished" pathetically. With 'Fly, Baby, Fly' I feel more like I've skipped over the finishing line with "Whee! It's done. And I gave it my all."

:D

For the next two weeks I'm pottering about helping my friend Nicolette with her Honours' animation and maybe also exhibition prep stuff if I have time . . . and I guess also just getting back to doing stuff I've wanted to.

Just simple things really . . towards the end of production I started buying the Penguin books (I bought 'Breakfast at Tiffany's') and reading those. On Friday I bought myself another two ('Life is Illuminated' and 'The Great Gatsby') and mean to work on those. I'm thinking of designing fonts just for the fun of it (whoever thought I'd fall in love with typography?) and also . . animating. That's another thing with finishing 'Fly, Baby,Fly' . . I actually still feel compelled to work on animation post it. With 'Orville' I was so drained I didn't animate till about 'Fly, Baby, Fly' . . but with FBF (wriitng it out is taking too much effort!) I want to keep honing my skills .. and I guess building up a show reel. I definately need to look at putting one of those together soon enough.

But for now . . just looking towards the Chauvel screening and COFA Annual opening. I'll post stuff up on them soon. :)

Paper Tiger

I finally, FINALLY finished putting my Honours Paper together this afternoon . . unfortunately not in time to get it to the printers ("Hi, what time do you close?" "In 18 minutes" "Oh") . . but it's done. I'll just have to send it in on Monday.

Above is a sample of some of the pages . . it came out alright . . I like the tactile look of it . . I just hope it prints near as nice and that the markers appreciate it too. I'm glad I got the chance to put together my paper like that . . it's out of the way now. All that stressing, borrowing of books, renewing of books, trawling of websites, collecting of receipts and ticket stubs (to scan), printing, highlighting, drafting, typing, consulting, scanning, planning, rewriting, retyping, editing . . it's (practically) over. I don't have to worry about it again! But perhaps I'm speaking too soon?

Anyway, now I can get back to my animation . . but not before a break. I have a headache.

One Week, One Day

Hmm . . wow . . this is coming to an end . . it's surreal . . like the heading of this post, it's only a week and a day till Honours is over (well, not counting setting up for the Annual, etc). In terms of submitting stuff tho, it's only a few days.

Since Tuesday I've been compositing. Yesterday I finished Scene 1 (above is a screen shot) . . according to the revised schedule (which Will made me detail . . "this week is for compositing" didn't cut it. :P) I am supposed to have Scene 1, 2 & 3 in the can and beginning Scene 4 atm. But my Honours Paper needs attending.

I saw Lynne last Thursday and she is genuinely happy with it . . only a few tiny ammendments needed to be made. I emailed my (assumedly) final draft to her and Will Tuesday but haven't heard anything so am assuming no news is good news?

Because my paper is about story v. production I decided to layout my paper in a really tactile kinda way . . make it look like a production diary/book thing. Get it printed at a proper printing place. In which case, I should give the printing place at least a week to get my book/s printed? Which means I need to have it finished TONIGHT. So I can go tomorrow to the printers. And I haven't touched InDesign yet, let alone scanned a single image . . so today will be an intense paper compositing one.

We have our last Honours class today. We are merely meeting up for the sake of meeting up. It has been a good class. At the beginning of the year I was skeptical into thinking I'd really get that attached to the class, but I have.

Anyhoo, this is the schedule of my last few days:

Today (23rd Oct) : Finalise Honours Paper for print.

Friday (24th Oct) : Send Honours Paper for print. Start compositing Scene 2/3

Saturday & Sunday (25th & 26th Oct): Composite Scene 2/3. I can't get much done because I work and work . . just drains sometimes. Mostly, I like my part time job. They generally treat me well. But the annual I applied for for October (though I had given them enough time to process it, and the store manager had told me it was approved) was denied. I could rant more, but what's the point? I've been juggling work with Honours still . . but it's been okay.

Monday (27th Oct) : Scene 4

Tuesday (28th Oct) : Scene 4

Wednesday (29th): Sound @ COFA

Thursday (30th Oct) : Sound @ COFA

Friday (31st Oct) : Export if I haven't already. IT'S DUE! Speaking of which, I better find out who I hand it into . . hmmm . .

So that, is my revised schedule . . I've given sound less time than I had planned (sorry Simon, if you are reading this. ) but two days is an improvement on last year's allocation to sound. At one point I had contemplated a silent film . . ehehe . . thankfully I was saved from my ignorance.

Okay, well, best be working on the paper now . . :)

This pile of paper makes me smile

Pictures speak better than words. I think the above picture says a lot more than I could hope. Last night I finally, FINALLY finished animating my shots. Not to say that I won't be redoing some of them in the coming days, but essentially - - it's done . . .

It feels good and fits in with my revised (my original one was/is long gone) schedule of devoting the next fortnight to photographing (my drawings), editing and compositing . . then the last week of October to sound.

I still have backgrounds to do . . hmm . . but most of them are not too detailed, so can probably be done in a few days.

I don't know what else to say really . . besides that I've kinda reached one milestone in this project.

And that I'm feeling very preachy on the topic of PLANNING. I haven't adhered to that completely during this project - particularly when it came to picking an aesthetic (isn't it much easier to live in denial hoping someone will bail you out? well, at least in the short term?) until Will woke me up with a "Why are you trying to sabotage yourself?" - but for the things I have planned . . I can see now how important planning is. . planning is so essential to managing all of this. It isn't always the answer to things, but it is the answer to a lot of things.

It's scary initially, as planning can be overwhelming - and in some instances I'm glad I approached this project somewhat naive. I would have thought twice if I had known that Scene 4 would result in about a ream of paper. But on the otherhand, it can be an encouragement to know how each bit of work fits into the overall picture, especially when you've laboured 3 days over a shot that the line test playback spits out in 1 second.

Planning has meant that I haven't lost weight (from stress) this year. Not that it was too hard to put it back on again after . . haha.

Planning has meant that I haven't stopped eating properly (well, unless you count snacking on chocolate, biscuits and seaweed - it's an asian thing - as falling off the healthy eating bandwagon - in which case I've somewhat failed . .)

Planning has meant that I've been able to sleep properly and NOT see a sunrise (yet). Sunrises are beautiful things but not when you saw the sunset before that also and haven't had time to rest in between. In those situations sunrises are depressing.

Anyway, that's about it for now . . I have to work on my Honours Paper now . . class has resumed again and I need to make changes to the draft Lynne marked. On the whole though, the paper is looking a lot better than two months ago . . I get it now. Like I really get it. Before it was like a tumor growing on my project (gross, but this analogy works . . i think) sucking away time and energy from it . . but now I see it more as . . a conjoined twin? . . a part of my project. It does involve time and energy but essentially so . . and not in a negative way. That is probably the worst analogy ever . . but yeah . . I hope you get the idea? :P

T Minus 10 Days (for Animation)

Again . . I've neglected this. I'm getting into a habit of neglecting this . . but more so because I'm working on it rather than writing about it?

I'm nearing the end of animation which is exciting seeing I've been working at it since the beginning of June! Though at that time I was taking things in a more laid back fashion and would pat my own back about completing 24 frames of simple animation in a day . .

I bought Betty Edwards' "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" a few weeks back and have been reading bits of that in between drawing. She comments that

". . . draw everyday . . . In a way, art is like athletics: If you don't practice, the visual sense quickly gets flabby and out of shape."

I've been finding that truer as I progress with my animation. My benchmark for "challenging" keeps rising . . which is good. I don't know where my efforts truely fit in the scheme of things, but I find myself becoming a stronger drawer . . if they're the right words.

Anyway, back to work. I've given myself the 10th of October as a deadline for animation. Frustratingly, as a solo artist on this project I have to take care of post production too . . grr. Not my strength at all!

Up, up and away?

Thank you to the few people who look at my blog from time to time (and who commented on the aesthetics for me!) . . sorry I've neglected it lately. The good news though is that I have progressed in a more overall way since I last posted.

AESTHETICS

This (above) is what I've decided will be the aesthetics of "Fly, Baby, Fly", which is noticeably, none of the options I had proposed earlier. I've gone for this scratchy yet clean look - which is a result of running my drawings through a filter called "Live Trace" in Adobe Illustrator. It is an inbetween of the clean Saturday morning cartoons and the raw look of my original drawings (which I love). I showed this to my Honours Paper class and they commented that the look kind of hints at my presence as an animator. I really like that idea. I noticed when watching a lot of old school animations that in the really early days (1900s) that the animator would 'star' alongside his drawings . . as an actor. I don't want to be sharing the screen with my animation - but I like the idea of still having some presence in it - even if in the form of "dirt".

I feel this look kind of accomplishes that. :)

SCENE 4

Hendy got back to me soon after that last post and commented that somehow, the ending with the kitten was not as satisfying as the ending that featured the Stork. Having the Stork around brought more closure . . Getting caught up in trying to remove Scene 4 far from its original state I'd forgotten how much I had liked the idea of the Stork coming back and helping the Baby "discover" walking. So I rewrote the beginning of Scene 4. The scene now opens in a park setting . . the Baby climbs a tree to reach a bird . . but just as he slips the Stork comes to his rescue as per original ending. That scene summary sounds kinda dry, I know, but it does seem to work.

ANIMATION

Hmm . . I've fallen off track with the drawing in a bad way. Not entirely out of tardiness . . but rather, I had been neglecting a lot of other things I had to consider for this project (like aesthetics, the paper etc) and tending to them have disrupted my alleged timetable. The good thing is that the timetable was probably more generous than I needed, so I just need to knuckle down again and it should be good. I just have to animate Scene 4 now . . and re-animate a few dodgy things in the other scenes . . and the Stork playing with the Baby in Scene 1 . . it seems the more I avoid it the worse it seems. Hmm . .

PAPER

I'm collecting the feedback for my draft Honours Paper tomorrow, so I'm yet to see how it genuinely is going. But at a class presentation the other week Lynne seemed happy with my progress . . and I felt a lot better and confident speaking about my research area. The paper angst it seems (and I sincerely hope) is over . .

I can't believe this will be over in about 2 months . . I don't know if that's good or bad, whether to be happy or sad. I'll be glad to have accomplished this . . and yet sad that these days of being able to focus on producing my own little animation are over. Oh well, no point thinking about that now . . . got to get back to working!

Pretty pictures

Hmm .. I've neglected this blog somewhat . . I'll update it soon, but for now I just wanted to share some images I've been playing around with.

I've been trying to figure out the 'look' of my animation and this is what I've come up with. Please (the few of you who do read this) let me know what you think works best and why. Thanks! :)

It was in my head!

My growing pile of animation - and my animation desk in the background.

(My Studio - aka the guest room I have taken over with my mess.)

Just a quick post here to update on the last few days . . .

REPLACEMENT SCENE 4: I made an animatic of Scene 4 last Friday and sent it to Will who got back to me about it on Monday. The animatic still felt too complicated to him . . so he suggested I play it to some friends and get their thoughts . . and as Tanya and Hendy were both on gchat at the time I targeted them both – but they were both kindly willing to help. Thanks guys! :)

I had to email Hendy stuff to contextualize it all as he is not a BDMer . . but with Tanya I had a good discussion and she came up with an edit that could work. I just have to try it now.

Hendy is yet to get back to me because he just pointed out that I had sent him an email without the attached files . . so I re – sent them again this morning. :P

ANIMATION: The last two days have been really good. REALLY GOOD. Last week I had things slide somewhat with my attention being drawn to the paper etc. And admittedly, not being as focused as I should’ve been.

Anyway, Monday . . . I really surprised myself. I had had to work that morning from 7-12pm but then after I got home and had some lunch and tackled my inbox (which I am strangely no longer addicted to … if anything, I’m starting to resent it) I sat down to draw and drew FORTY SIX frames . .. that’s like what I would hope to accomplish in a regular day. So I proved to myself I can juggle work and this project. I really can . . . I’m thinking a lot of my feelings of being overwhelmed are in my head.

In the last two days I’ve caught up on 4 days of work . . . now I just gotta keep on top of it.

Oh yeah, I finished Scene 2 yesterday . . . that’s a pretty good feeling too.

I don't doubt I'll crawl into another rut somewhere down the track but the thing is .. whether I do or not, it's not the end. Argh . .. me and my motivational speakerish ramblings . . I'm just happy about where I'm at at the moment. :)

"It's a small step for . . . a small girl"

I met up with Lynne today just before class to discuss my Honours Paper. I was tempted to say “dreaded” Honours Paper or something of the like . . . but really, it is not that bad. I think it may even be working out now – not that I’ve exactly typed a word of it yet (just masses of things that can be part of it). I’m very hesitant to declare an epiphany of any sort. I don’t think epiphanies are frequent . . . mostly we just take steps here and there in life. But there, I’m getting too philosophical now . . haha.

My paper right now is looking at “HOW the story of a piece is affected by the way in which it is produced” – only I have to think of a much better sounding title and rephrase my title into a statement which I then have to try prove or at least debate throughout my paper.

The three main sub headings that I’ll be exploring this under are money (which Lynne reckons should be rephrased somehow), time and the cast/crew/customs. I’ll be using case studies to explore this – I’m looking at Terry Gilliam (he did the little cut out animations in Monty Python and is a fine example of how money/time/crew constraints made his work – though memorable – without story), Adam Elliot’s Harvie Krumpet (the claymation about the odd, unlucky Harvie – an example of how a story that seems risky could be crafted into something successful) and Disney’s Meet the Robinsons (the movie was based on a book and then expanded by Disney story artists as well as their cast and crew during production. Interestingly, John Lassester’s influence – as chief creative officer – was apparently strong enough to cause the revision of 60% of the film 10 months out from release. Why did the MTR crew care so much what he thought – finance reasons?!)

I’m meeting up again with Lynne next week . . . by then I’m meant to have written something. She is also wanting me to include some history of animation (waaaaaaaaay back to cave paintings – to contextualize my paper) but that doesn’t seem too hard a thing to do.

Other Honours things . . . I bought 4 reams of Animation 12” Field Paper. It is so particular – a specific gsm and size – and as far as I know, only Artlink in Brookvale sells it. The price has gone up from last year . . . I was relieved that they gave students a 10% discount. Still burnt a small hole in my pocket though . . .

A page out of my revised Scene 4 storyboard. The stork's cameo has been replaced with a kitten . . .

The replacement Scene 4 - - I storyboarded it instead. I sent it to Will to have a look. He is suspicious that it may actually be an increase on my workload. I’m not too sure – so currently I am piecing an animatic in hope that the technical flaws in it will be exposed.

Winsor McCay and other things to say

ARgh … too much has happened over the last week (including the Honours Meeting) so this’ll be a summary.

PROCESS: The main thing that has been coming along in regards to my project is HOW I will be processing my drawings. When I saw Will the other week he was pretty sure that there was some sort of trace function on something like Flash or Illustrator. At the end of the Honours Meeting, Tanya (who’s also in the class) offered to help me find a solution. We discovered a live trace function in illustrator that gives reasonable results. Over the last few days Tanya (Will and Phil) and myself have been figuring out ways to batch this process . . . it’s a long story . . . I guess the main point is that we’ve seemed to have found a way of doing this in Adobe Bridge. I just need to get the software now so I can test it on my own machine.

A frame that has been 'live traced' in Illustrator then slightly touched up by hand.

STORY: This had not been something I expected to have revisit as Simon and I had worked to get my story working well. However, personal things have caused me to revisit my story. About a month ago my uncle took his own life by jumping from a building. I did not know my uncle personally so the event has not impacted me in a great way, but it has for my dad and aunt. For their sakes I am removing the scene in which the Baby falls from a building. I’ve rewritten the last scene – I mean to make it an animatic this week.

AESTHETIC: One comment that came out of the Honours Meeting when I was showing my line tests was that my animation had the quality of the old animation that influenced me (which was pretty cool!). It was commented that perhaps I shouldn’t try and emulate the coloured work of today. I am leaning now towards a line drawing style of Winsor McCay (an early animator famous for shorts like ‘Gertie the Dinosaur’). As I read more about McCay I found that he is best known for the quality of his animation and that his tools were very simple ones (he drew on rice paper).

Winsor McCay's 'Gertie the Dinosaur' (1914)

I’m somehow drawn to his work . . . ultimately, after story, I want my work to be about the quality of my animation (whatever that may be). As Will reiterated to me what I’ve told him – I want to be an animator, not a colour artist. So perhaps a Winsor McCay avenue is where I should head.

SOUNDTRACK: Though McCay is 1910s, the style of animation I’ve been inspired a lot by is that of the 1930s and the soundtracks of those pieces . . . the jazz, the swing . . . I really like them. I’ve been trawling a few places now and have a small handful of CDs of that eras music. I’m pretty sure I can find a soundtrack out of my collection.

That’s about all for now.

Revived

I think I made a few break throughs with the paper . . . but I’ll talk about that later. I’ve got about 15 minutes to kill before I have to get ready for work. :P

I talked to my head manager on Saturday about the possibility of leaving – how much notice I needed to give if I was going to quit. He said that they much rather keep me as an employee than lose me and were open to working out a roster that suited me, whether that be giving me annual once a week (so I only work 2 instead of 3 days a week) or combining annual leave with unpaid leave (I pretty much killed my annual leave when I went on holidays in the summer) so I can have a month off when things get really hectic. I am thinking I will probably opt for that . . . my manager said that as long as I’m open and honest with them about my needs they could help figure out something workable for me. I really appreciate this.

Another good thing was that I actually stuck to my resolution to make Sunday a rest day. Even though it was only but a handful of hours in around the things that happen on Sunday I felt refreshed to have that time. I noticed I had to consciously block thoughts of my animation and paper constantly . . . I didn’t realize it consumed me so much. I’m going to try and give myself these few hours every week . . . it gives me something to look forward to and hopefully makes me less restless during the rest of the week.

This afternoon I have to prepare for the Honours Meeting tomorrow. I mean to present an animatic (with line tests dropped in + some sort of dud soundtrack to imply what I hope to have in the finished version), background sketches, timeline progress/adjustments and comments on work practice plans and possible needs for story revisions.

Some resolutions

The last few days have been relatively productive, though I am still slightly behind schedule. This past week I’ve been making a point to wake up and sleep earlier so that I have more time and am well rested. Or reasonably so. It seems to be working.

Being held accountable is also helping . . . I am keeping a google document log, and though I haven’t been asked to, I’m starting to log how many frames I’ve drawn each day. I don’t know how frequently Will will look at it, but knowing that he could look at it keeps me on my toes.

I have almost finished animating Scene 1, with an exception of the Stork playing with the Baby. But I’m pretty sure that I’ll be coming back to it for a while yet. I showed one of the line tests to Will the other day and he commented “That doesn’t read at all”, which didn’t really offend me because I thought the same. It was one of those shots I pushed to meet quota. :P

For the time being I’ve decided not to quit work . . . I tackled Orville with a worse load. My attitude plays a big part in how I handle this, I believe. I’m not going to rule out leaving – but just not now.

My dear mum has kindly volunteered to be a background artist for me to help relieve my workload . . . I trust her as she does have a sense of artistic judgment . . . I don’t know how else to describe it. I taught her to use Photoshop – the basics of using layers, brushes, the smudge tool and the eraser. She’s picked it up – and relatively fast too – which is incredible for someone who freaks out at the sight of a computer update. I’m proud of her.

This is the first background mum worked on. I drew the foreground and mum did the rest. It’s not quite finished yet . . I copy/pasted the foreground from a different psd file so it looks grainy/pixelly . . but yeah, it’s not too bad.

Okay, I’m off to work on my paper now . . before I have to go to work. I’ve decided Sunday WILL be my rest day though . . . when I come home from work on Sunday night I will just relax and leave this all for the rest of the week.

One, two, three

I met up with Will today for a consult over all this . . . the paper and project and all.

We concluded three things needed to happen:

1. I need to read my paper again.

Simon finally got back to me about my preliminary outline, his last service to me. My paper is still not quite right . . . my topic can work, but I’m missing an element of analysis in my paper.

To recap, my current topic is to analyse how different work practices (e.g. studios compared to independents) impact the story of a piece. Will suggested I go find 3 examples of this and focus on them. In regards to the paper feeding the project and vise versa, Will believes that can only be applied so far in the case of cell animation where the production is tight. I need to contact Lynne over this.

2. I need figure out HOW I’m inking my frames.

This really, is my fault. Althea has been helpful in sending me links about how this could be done. And I’ve looked at some of it and experimented with it a little - - but I really need to sit down and set the process in metaphorical stone.

3. I need to quit my part time work.

This . . . is a tough one. On one hand I don’t want to let go of it (I can remember how dodgy it was not to have an income) but on the other hand I could do with the relief. Currently it demands about 15 hours (the minimum I have to work) a week of me. Time I could do with back, not only to work, but to also have a break. Or in Will’s words “take yourself on an art date”. At the moment my weekdays are tainted with pressure to work on my animation and my weekends to work for work.

I’m coping somewhat currently – but I know I need to step up the production somehow and it’s difficult as the hours I have to spend on my project are not changing (unless I quit work) and working as I currently am (slaving to the project and work) - I’m starting to burn out – or at least my enthusiasm is.

I want to make the cut, but I need to talk this through a bit more with the people it *may* impact.

Other things . . . I gave Will a file with all the line tests, backgrounds, schedules, animatic etc to date. We scrubbed through the animatic and talked a bit about shots that can possibly be changed, replaced, moved. There is one section in particular that has in the last few weeks has become more personal to me, or rather, people I care about. I cannot disclose details, it’s sensitive and not for me to disclose anyway. But I wanted to mention it, because as Will pointed out; this ‘event’ (if you could call it that) is impacting the way I deal with the story of my animation . . . material for my paper?

On a lighter note, I found this pigeon on Oxford Street . . . it was abnormally unafraid of anything. Cars, motorbikes and a strange Chinese girl taking a picture of it with her phone. I need that pigeon's fearlessness . . .

Again, again and again

Thursday and Friday were almost a repeat of Tuesday and Thursday. Unfortunately.

One day of work, the other, an abandon of schedule. Not that I regret it, per se. This project is important, but there is more to life than this.

On Thursday I was looking through my shot list and realized I forgot to factor in one of the shots. So reluctant to attempt the shot of the Stork playing with the Baby, I spent the day working on the shot I had missed – a shot of the Stork flying from the Baby’s point of view.

I took Althea's advice and got rid of the Stork's chest feathers . . an unnecessary headache!

As flying is a cycle, even though the shot is about 5 seconds (60 frames) I only had to animate 23 as they’d loop. Each drawing took about 20-30 minutes. I’m glad I have a schedule; it makes me push myself a bit harder. I reckon – no, I know I can push myself even harder though . . . I don’t feel like I’ve reached my limits yet.

The cold weather makes me so lazy sometimes (it was 6 degrees outside this morning . . . 6 degrees! That’s a big deal in Sydney! That’s a big deal for my weak, little Australian body! I am typing this with purple fingernails . . and I'm not wearing polish!). I need to have a more disciplined attitude to this all . . . there is a lot to do.

Thinking Big

I dropped into COFA yesterday to return some books . . . my ability to perpetually renew books has started coming to an end. I ditched the bus back to the station for a walk instead. I find walks interesting. Walking through Hyde Park I noticed this chalked on the side of some steps . . .

I don’t know who did it; I don’t know what they meant by it . . . but I’m choosing to take it as a reminder of some sort of the bigger picture of things. The bigger picture of this project. The bigger picture of life in general.

Over the weekend I listed my backgrounds (approx 27 in total, but only 5 of these are really detailed) and created psd files for most of them. I’ve decided to make them 15 by 20cm at 300 dpi – that is big enough for what I need them for.

On Monday I reached my scheduled quota. Ditto Tuesday. But yesterday I had other things I had to attend to . . . so now I’m kinda a day set back. Or not quite . . . I assigned yesterday, today and tomorrow to working on a shot of the Stork playing with the Baby in midair.

I’m considering postponing this shot until I can talk to Will (who is my supervisor now) about it as I have NO IDEA how to animate it without making the Stork look like it’s trying to harm the Baby. I’m also concerned that the Stork, though improved in design, still isn’t expressive enough. I animated a shot of the Stork looking shocked the other day and I’m not convinced it worked . . . sure it has a pulse, but does it have a soul? I don’t know.

Anyway, got to just keep working now . . . and think big . . . keep the big picture in mind.

Simon says . . .

Goodbye.

Thanks Simon for your supervision over the last semester. I don’t think I can say much more than I did in the email I sent . . . so just thanks again and I wish you the best.

Simon got back to me soon after I shot him an email regarding the details of his leave. His leave kicks in today . . . and apparently he’ll be replaced by Will.

Will helped me out a lot last year with Orville . . . I resent having to use a cliché, but I couldn’t have done it without him. I’m stoked at the idea of working with him again.

My animating is coming along gradually . . . I have a small pile of drawings now . . . which is nice.
But they probably account for only about 1/16^th of what I have to do in total??

My little pile of animation. I thought it'd be nice to stick a photo in so this entry isn't so boring.

I’ve been finding my work progress, though somewhat productive - - aimless. This morning I decided to deal with that by mapping out a schedule. I went through the list of shots I have to complete and scheduled it into specific dates. I tried to be realistic – like not assigning things to weekends (as they’re usually hectic with other stuff . . . like work. Also, keeping them free means they can be catch up periods if need be).

If all goes to plan, I’m due to complete the animation by the end of the first week of September, which is not too bad. That gives me a little under two months to wrap up/work on the other things like inking, compositing, sound (some which will hopefully be underway already during animation) . . . I know too well from last year they need their own share of attention!

It moves!

I finally located F Check on my computer and did some line tests today. In lieu of a real copy stand I blu tacked a web cam to my bookshelf and shot my drawings with that. The only thing is that the camera slowly slipped, so some of my line tests slide in the playback. But I don’t really care . . . I’m reasonably happy with the line tests.

I should probably try this next time though --> http://www.videomaker.com/article/6807/

I feel like I'm a mushroom

Hello.

This week we [BDM Honours Class] were supposed to have a meeting . . . but it’s been postponed to the 22^nd July. Hmm . . .

Painting digitally has been interesting . . . I’ve learned that the smudge tool does a good job of making digital painting appear more like real paint. For a while I was airbrushing and whilst it was quicker, it looked pretty fake. So I’m smudging away . . . I will probably need some help though . . . I’ve discovered (or accepted?) that whatever I choose to do will take time.

I’ve animated about 7-8 seconds now? This year I feel more confident with animating – in that I have an improved sense of timing. I just couldn’t make the connection between frames and time last year . . . I knew the logic i.e 12 frames = 1 second (I'm animating in 2s - so each frame is doubled . . 24 frames per sec). . . but I couldn’t put it into practice somehow.

This year it’s clicked. Not sure how or why, but now that I understand timing better I can plan my animation better. I just hope my animation doesn’t come out too robotic . . . I tend to be hitting key frames at 6, 12, 18, 24 etc . . . the line tests will reveal all . . . speaking of which, I haven’t done any yet . . . partially out of fear . . and partially out of confusion as I don’t know who to consult over them with.

Simon has taught me to understand the weight sound design carries on a piece and he’s also been a great help in the editing of my script from a long and fuzzy notion of a story to something shorter and more concise. But he doesn’t have a background in animation so can’t help me with it. Also, Simon mentioned to me when I last saw him that he plans to take annual leave during next semester. . . so soon he won’t even be my supervisor. That was about a month ago and I haven't had any news since. Wish I knew what was going on . .. I don't like being kept in the dark.

A White Flag and a Wacom

I spent the afternoon painting backgrounds today . . . and came to the conclusion that it was not a good idea for several reasons, but the main one being that it takes a long, long, long time.

It’s not that I’m impatient – but I can’t afford to spend the time these backgrounds require. Each background needs several layers of paint and each layer needs time to dry (otherwise painting over wet paint runs the risk of scraping back to the canvas). Then there are the issues of mixing enough paint, mixing the right colours . . . not to mention there is no undo function when things go a little astray.

Hijacking the family dining table in the name of art.

So I’m surrendering. I’m packing up my canvas and paints for sometime post Honours and reacquainting myself with my Wacom (which is pretty nice actually) tablet. I am a Digital Media student after all . . . and I do aspire to work with a Cintiq one day (http://thinkinganimationbook.blogspot.com/2006/08/new-and-improved-animation-desk.html) haha . . .

To avoid the garish colours I’ll use my Derwent Pencils as a colour palette reference. As for my painting skills . . . they’re just something I’ll have to work at.

Planes, Paper and Paint

I had a little aeroplane of an idea for my paper last week – why not write a comparison between the short animations of then (1930s) and now (2000s)? I flew her over to Simon so that he could have a look at her. He took her into a hanger and pulled her apart. But he said some of her parts could be useful.

I rewrote and submitted another Preliminary Outline of my Honours Paper on Friday (13^th) built on something Simon suggested when he critiqued my proposed paper ideas. I hope that this time I’m on the right track or at least a lot closer to it. I’m especially hopeful as when I was researching this new idea, I actually found a lot of material.

Now that my paper is temporarily out of the way, I’m refocusing on the project again. Since I’ve last posted I’ve animated a little more and started work on my backgrounds.

The plans for my backgrounds have changed several times since I’ve started. Initially I thought I’d just paint them digitally - - then it occurred to me that I don’t paint very well digitally. I tend to end up choosing the really garish colours.

Then I considered building making my backgrounds out of photographs.

And though I really liked the idea conceptually, aesthetically it (I had to reluctantly admit) kinda jarred with the look of my animation.

Finally . . . and what I’ve currently (and invested about $40 in canvas into) settled on is PAINTING my backgrounds – with paint. And a brush. Not photoshop, not my wacom. But good old acrylic and whatever poor animal they plucked to get brush bristles.

It’s messy, but something different to distract me from (and still remain contributive to) my project. I haven’t composited it with my animation (the characters) yet but I am fairly confident that they won’t clash aesthetically. Hands painted backgrounds were used in 2D Disney stuff and it worked for them. I reckon I can make it work.

Reality check

I had a look at this yesterday . . .

I came up with this in April . . . and now looking at it about 2 months on . . . it was a bit disheartening. But it’s just a guide . . . so I tell myself.

Regardless, it frustrated me enough to pull up my brand spanking new drafting chair (a beautiful bargain at $65 from my wonderful work . . .) to my beloved old animating desk (well, it’s not that old, but it sounds more poetic if I describe it that way) and animated about 15 frames. It’s been a while since I’ve animated, so I picked an easy shot for starters.

It feels good to animate. It feels good when I produce a good drawing. I don’t know how long these fuzzy feelings will last, but hopefully for a while yet.

I need to rewrite a Preliminary Outline for my paper . . . but everything’s been so paper oriented lately I just need to take a break from it and work on my project for a while.

Toto is a dog

I haven’t progressed a great deal since I last wrote. One thing I’ve done though is re sketched the Stork.

I played around a little with the design, distorting proportions a little (but not as much as the Wizard of Oz examples Althea suggested – but thanks Al, I enjoyed looking at it.) etc. What I settled for was this:

It’s a “cleaner” look. I think I was mistaken when I said anthropomorphic. I didn’t intend anthropomorphic as dressing up the Stork in clothes. What I meant was that I want the Stork to display a paternal nature – but this will be more apparent through the animation – the way the Stork behaves. Even then, I’m not even keen on having the Stork use its wings as arm/hands.

Anyway, I hope to progress more this week . . .

Circle of Strife

I met up with Simon (my supervisor) yesterday to discuss . . . *shudder* my Honours Paper (worth 25% of my final mark). Theoretically, the purpose and reasoning for the paper is pretty sound. It should discuss – quote “a set of ideas in relation to [my] work and its place in the world” unquote . . . a beautiful utopian circle cycle where the work inspires the paper which inspires the work. Yet . . . it’s something I’ve been struggling to write.

My first idea was that ‘action speaks louder than words’ – in that action based animation conveys messages more effectively than verbal communication. Only, when reviewing my work, I realized my message was not only reliant on action – but also the style of camera cuts – and intended sound design. My theory fell flat - so that had to be scrapped.

Then followed discussions with Lynne (our Honours Paper lecturer) and she suggested a lot of ideas . . . pushing more for a delve into the symbolic nature of my piece – the stork, the baby, the concept of flight etc. And finally, it felt like I got what my paper should revolve around . . . not so much the technical (e.g. movement) but rather the content (e.g. symbols) of my animation. And to a degree that was right. But with art there is rarely an absolute way of doing anything.

Shortly after talking with Lynne, I had a consult with Simon and discussed where I was steering my paper – towards ‘content’ – symbols and metaphors and stuff. But Simon knew that that direction wasn’t where my heart was – and encouraged me to pick a topic I could research with passion - like the genre of 1930s Animation - something like that.

Fast forward a trawl through a pile of books (I keep getting away with perpetual “renewing”), scrawl through a list of links Simon suggested, and a day poised over my keyboard – I wrote a 1500 word Preliminary Outline. I submitted it and waited for feedback. Yesterday sitting on the steps of Elywn Lynn I got the verdict I suspected . . . it was overly broad, overly opinionated (and unsupported) – a pretentious little piece of writing (though Simon was too kind to put it that bluntly).

My problems are that I need to get my head away from trying to argue one genre’s (e.g. 1930s cartoon shorts) superiority over another and instead find something to compare/analyse. So now . . . I just have to watch a lot of cartoons – and try work out what that something is. Or find a something. I have to watch cartoons. Did I ever tell you I love being a student at COFA?

I managed to find half a dozen DVDs of Fleischer and Harryhausen short films at this discount place in Town Hall for $2 each. I always thought those cheap DVDs were dodgy and only the stuff that stingy parents would buy for their kids instead of 'Finding Nemo' – but it’s Fleischer! And Harryhausen! It’s sad that that work is in the discount bin, but it works out for me.

I cut my third animatic this week and reviewed it with Simon. It needs a few minor edits, hence, a fourth animatic. I’m tired of making animatics. I just want to start animating . . . but I really need the animatic sharp as possible. I’m hoping that with a sharp animatic I can start laying down a soundtrack – rather than waiting for the animation to be completed before I work on the soundtrack.

Summary so far . . .

For those unacquainted with my animation and its progression so far, this entry is a summary. The general synopsis of my animation goes something like this:

"Fly, Baby, Fly is an animation about a baby who is so affected by the experience of flying with the stork who brought him home, that he doesn't want to develop the ability to walk.

The film opens with the stork flying the Baby to his home. During their journey the Baby develops a passion for flying, so when he is dropped down a chimney into his real home, it's disappointing, even devastating.

Over the next year, his parents encourage the Baby to walk, but he just dreams of flying.

Everything comes to a head when he tries to fly out a window, and is saved by the stork. When the stork puts him back on his feet, he discovers the ability to walk, and realizes that the reality he has been ignoring and denying is actually a wonderful thing to be appreciated."

This is the current design of the Baby. There haven’t been any objections to him so far, so he will probably remain as is. I’m pretty happy with how he’s turned out. His earlier incarnations were very precocious and Uncle Fester (Addams Family) looking which were a bit creepy.

This is the current design of the Stork. I’ve been saying it for a while, but I don’t like the design, or at least how they are in these sketches. There is something very . . . boring about the Stork here. It looks too . . . animal like. I plan to anthropomorphize the Stork, have him as a sort of alert, paternalistic character towards the Baby.

So yeah . . . this is where I’m at after 3 scripts, 1 storyboard and 2 and a half (because I’m in the process of creating a third) animatics!

Goodbye and Hello

Last year (my 3^rd year in my Digital Media degree) I produced my first short cell animation entitled ‘Orville’ about the misadventures of little alien. Producing ‘Orville’ was an experience I learned a lot from. I’ve returned again to complete a year of Honours for the same degree – to produce ‘Fly, Baby, Fly’- to build on all I learned from ‘Orville’.

As the subheading suggests, I’ve started this blog as a sort of progress diary on my Honours Project – a short 2D cell animation called ‘Fly, Baby, Fly’ (momentarily called ‘Fly, Bye, Baby’ – until my paper class pointed out it had connotations of a drive by shooting :S)

TO MYSELF & MY SUPERVISOR/S . . .

I’ve noticed of late that I’m losing track of where I’ve been progressing with this project. My mind is constantly considering things, so much so that by the time you have a chance to respond to ‘that document I emailed you last Thursday’ it’s old news and I have something else to propose.

Hopefully this blog will keep us on the same page. And save a lot of time explaining things too. :)

TO MY FAMILY & FRIENDS . . .

If last year is anything to go by, very soon the production of ‘Fly, Baby, Fly’ will kick into full swing and I’ll be a fairly absent entity (more so than now). No longer the ever lingering green dot on gmail chat. No longer the quick facebook respondee (well . . . maybe). Haha . . .

This blog will hopefully explain my absence . . . and clear a lot of mundane conversation (of me explaining where I am with this all) for when I do see you. I much rather hear about you anyway.