Showreel Evaluation

This was a very quick project,  and since I was away for the first week. The other students had two weeks to finish their show reel, and whilst I two weeks to finish mine to, I only needed the one. I had a clear cut idea of what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. Even before I had got given the brief I knew I wanted an animated version of me on the intro and the end screen of the show reel. I wanted to make the intro and end screen to be bright and colourful. I needed it to be striking and catch the viewer's eyes to actually pay attention to the show reel, I also think it’s important by have your best work in the first 10 - 20 seconds which is why I showed Wild Rex and my 2D work first. As I am critiquing just the show reel and not the clips I think I needed perhaps more 2D images such as my character turn around for Wild Rex, why I didn’t include it I’m not to sure but I wish I did. As the editing of the clips blend well with each other as well edited in tune with the music. I feel like the music track for this second version is much better than the first. The show reel fit the brief as well as the time slot. In conclusion I think if I were to do this again I would include more images, perhaps life drawings or concept drawings which I feel was needed.

Animation to Sound Evaluation

Critical evaluation

As someone who has never used After Effects, this was my first attempt at making animation sync up to sound, I will first cover the animation to sound and then the Lip Sync in a moment. So I wanted to try something a bit different, I listened to the music track and I wanted the shapes to dance when the beat kicks in, for instance every tap with the music instrument would have the bar either bounce up and down or fade in and fade out depending on the instrument. I wanted a disco type of feel hence the floor changing colour. I feel the idea is perhaps better then the final outcome. I tried to replicate this but I couldn’t get the beats just right which was frustrating in itself but that’s not to say I’m not happy with this original version. Out of watching everyone else’s animation mind seems to be more basic but that’s not the bad thing. I think the choice of colours works and contrasts against the background. I am interested in re-working this piece of animation to sound at some point

The Lip Sync animation I feel the second time I worked on the final piece was the better option. The first had the bad lip movements which is why I streamlined the lips and made them more simpler which was easy to do. I think I needed to make the mouth not as big, as the movement looks big and exaggerated which is something I wasn’t aiming to do. Both of these were quite difficult to work, it was trying to get the beats to sync up which was the trickiest bit. But I enjoyed this project and I feel I learnt a lot from these two animations.

Mystery Box Stop Motion Evaluation

Critical evaluation

If you haven’t already have gathered, I am very pleased with how this puppet has turned out. When I look at the very beginning of the course, even when all i had was a wire frame, the transformation has been astonishing, I am happy with the costume I gave him which I wasn’t sure to start off with. It was well articulated as well as waited just right. There are some regrets I have with the design however, I wish I designed a better system of replacing the eyes, eyebrows and the mouth instead of just sticking it with blue tac which looks quite off. There are some elements I don’t like however. When animating him in the final few versions, the foam became increasingly more difficult to stand and would occasionally fall to his side due to the foam not being stuck on the the feet properly. I’m happy with all the body proportions. My main fear was that the legs would be to tall or the body to tall but they all seem to be relatively inscale.

One thing I do also wish I had done properly is that I wish I made Wild Rex was slightly taller, he stands at 6 inches so far. I wish he could have been taller to give an intimidating feel to him. I also feel the elements that weren't off the original design as in the design of the trousers seems to work well. I hope that I can apply the skills I learnt in this project to future stop motion projects such as sizing and scaling.  

Media Job Roles - Presentation Slides - Animation

The slides above as you can see are the following slides we used for our presentation. I had involvement with the beginning slide, my slide, the animators and then obviously I included my sources,

Media Job Roles - Fantastic Mr Fox - Animator - Presentation - 500 Word Statement

On the Tuesday 9/05/17 me and my group presented our information on what we found out about our specific job roles and the production Fantastic Mr Fox. I chose to research the animators, the unsung heroes of the production. One thing that came abundantly clear is that the information on the animators themselves was hardly anything. I also felt like I was at a slight disadvantage as my animator whom I tried to contact never got back to me. However I’m not one to shy away from a challenge. I scoured through the web on any details I could. I looked up for some documentation in some of the books Library but I soon realised they didn’t have anything noteworthy on the animators. It was apparent most of my information was to come from the internet which made the job more difficult.

I found two behind the scenes videos which helped on Youtube. I was able to see what type of riggs the animators used. The amount of articulation that was used in the puppets helped the animators with all the different poses they can do. One bit of information that was quite interesting is that they had 4 scales of puppets for a variety of shots just like a mid close shot or a wide shot. I think since there is hardly any information on the animators themselves, I thought I would research the animators, to see if they gave an interview about their time on set but sadly this didn’t yield any results. I felt like I was stuck at a crossroads, after seeing other people’s informants getting back to them and them turning up with handfuls of information it felt like I was failing. It’s only know I realize my group had the same problems, especially since they didn’t have their informants not get back to them either.

One saving grace about the research was that I was able to find out about generic facts and figures about Animators just like their salaries and their working hours. Whilst this figure isn’t exact it can be assumed it is a ballpark figure as to what the animator learnt whilst making Fantastic Mr Fox.

Overall I think me and my group did a wonderful job at presenting the facts and figures. We tried to find out every bit of relevant information we could. Despite our lack of resources we needed to help each other and that’s exactly what we did. We were a team and presented it together all helping each other out. I think our presentation was informative and enlightening. I think perhaps if we knew how hard it would be to find out the relevant information then I think we would have chosen something different, as to what we could have chosen remains unclear. I am glad we did try something different to other groups and not just do the usual Aardman research. I’m glad we tried something a little different, even if the execution didn’t quite work.

Media Job Roles - Fantastic Mr Fox - Animator - Sources I used

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2009/11/how-the-puppets-from-fantastic-mr-fox-were-made-slideshow http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327597/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091215102339AAmwuX0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5pQvytHIEE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHYDnbALNyo

Media Job Roles - Fantastic Mr Fox - Animator

As you can see, the picture above is my slide for the presentation. Sadly its not as much information as I wanted to as finding information about the animators themselves is generally tricky to do. Even the animator I attempted to contact sadly never got back to me which is disappointing. All the information above is that gathered from online and whilst I attempted to look for research in the books, this provided nothing.

Media Job Roles Reflective Journal 1st May - 7th May Extension

Due to being away, I missed the lesson on the Tuesday. Speaking to my group it was a evaluation that I missed. We also discussed how I will add my information since I’m away. I will add all the details I need to the Monday before the presentation on the Tuesday. 

Media Job Roles Reflective Journal 24th Apr - 28th Apr

This week was quite important as I finished the script that I will read out whilst standing up in front of the class. Whilst not a major update I felt I needed to mention it. Unfortunately me and my group did plan on creating the presentation however I am away next week due to a funeral. Because of this I have a weeks extension and will be taking time to mourn that I need to do. One thing of importance is when I will eventually add my slide to the presentation. This is a problem for the week which I will discuss with my group

Media Job Roles - Fantastic Mr Fox - Script

Animators

In this particular slide, I’m going to be looking at the animators themselves. So what does the job role of the animator entail? Well according to Target jobs, they’re description reads “Animators are artists who use sequential images of drawings, puppets and models to produce films for commercials, computer games, pop music videos and websites. Over half of animators in the UK are self-employed.” In other words, different mediums involve different tactitcs. If you are an animator of a cartoon show, your job role would involve moving drawings on a computer screen, likewise for CGI animation. However for this particular example, we are looking at the case of Stop Motion which involves working very closely with the puppets and moving them frame by frame to make a moving image. Typically in a good working day as an animator can involve getting 30 seconds shot. That is why we don’t see many stop motion animated film, as the typical film running time is 1 hour and 30s, it’s a process that is massively time consuming.  But that’s not to say it’s impossible to find work as a stop motion animator.  Infact some films have utilised stop motion seamlessly into films to which the general viewing audience don’t pick up on. For instance the AT-AT walkers in stop motion were purely done with Stop Motion Techniques

According some recent figures, stop motion animators can make up to $34.860 a year being the lowest amount they can make, whereas the highest reported earning is $113,470 a year. To get into this industry is quite tricky as the job is never consistent as the production is always moving locations with each job. Typically how you get into this specific job role is by completing a BA Hons animation course and obtaining 2 years work experience in the industry at the very least. So if it’s so hard to get a job in the first place, why do people look in this field of work? Some people like the bounce from one job to another, equally once you are involved in a film project, you have a long shooting schedule ahead as most films have a 17 month filming period. Infact if we look at a example, the film Coraline for a film that was slated for a May 8 2009 had a year of pre-production which meant the shooting period lasted over 18 months.

Some films realise that the stop motion process is quite long and drawn out. According to some reports, the production of Fantastic Mr Fox (dir. Wes Anderson) Officially began production in 2007, Being shot in a studio in south London, with principal photography beginning production in June 2008 according to some reports for the film to eventually come out on October 2009. With a report of 56,000 shots being used for the film. Again according to an insider source, the film studio had 24 - 35 teams working on various scenes at one time which is the reason the film came out so quickly. I tried to reach out to some of the animators who worked on Fantastic Mr Fox but sadly they didn’t reply in time.

Typically the animators role is key with the other members of the production, especially the model makes. In fact for Fantastic Mr Fox, the model makers and animators were in constant communication whilst also in contact with the director. During the film, the puppet makers made it so that it gave the animators a loads of animations in the way they animate them, giving them various points of articulation such as pedals for the eyebrows, movement in the cheekbones and the chin being movable. In Fact the team who constructed the original  skellinton's for all the creatures on Fantastic Mr Fox, Mr MacKinnon and Mr Saunders and their team constructed steel armatures that had ball-and-socket for the animators to move the models freely and with “extreme precision” In fact The director had a unique vision for the film, whereas some animated movies, especially stop motion feel polished, Wes Anderson wanted the seems to be on show. It is reported. Anderson wanted to use real animal hair for the animal puppets The problem here is that when the animators are moving the model to be in positions, the hair will move freely and create a ripple effect and give this unnatural feel to the film which was intentional.

“the animators were very painstaking in the way they handled the character. They realised that, if the character was in a hold position, that just slowly by blowing on the fur or touching it ever so slightly, it just gave this slight ripple effect. It almost has a feeling that there's a soft breeze blowing on the character. It has quite beautiful qualities, and it lights quite beautifully as well.” Henry Selick

Likewise when making the models Wes Anderson wanted some fingerprints in the models themselves. All of these acts were intentional. Especially in animation, the role of the director keeping a constant communication with the animators is vital. One instance saw Wes Anderson and Henry Selick act out various movements via webcam  to the animators who were animating that day whilst Wes Anderson and Henry were in Paris

Overall a career as an animator isn’t a guaranteed job, you may have trouble to try and find a job, and when you eventually find it you will only be there for more or less a year. Apart from the money, why do people seek this career path

Media Job Roles Reflective Journal 17th Apr - 23rd Apr

Not much work was done this week. Purely because it’s somewhat discouraging when there’s not much information about the following movie and when I eventually do find some information it has no relevance to the animators. Even looking through the animators who worked on the film I couldn’t find any interviews. And with my still waiting to hear back from Timon which I have came to realise I perhaps wont be hearing back from him. I need to speak to my group as soon as I am back next week to see how they are getting on.

Media Job Roles Information

One thing I’ve found during my research is the common bit of information that Wes Anderson wanted the seems of the animation to be shown so that it’s reminiscent of the stop motion animated films Wes Anderson used to watch. He wanted the fingermarks in the actual models. This was intentional. It makes it feel more home made and a bit more realistic as it is not super clean like most stop motion animated films are recently. Another fact is that he used real hair when sticking the fur on for the fox characters. This was also done intentionally. As when they are animated the hair gives off this wavy type of feel and somewhat looks dream like as between shots the hair would naturally move

Media Job Roles Information

- Officially began production in 2007 - Production in June 2008 - Released in 23rd October 2009 - 56,000 shots being used for the film - Shot in a studio in South London - Reports of 24 - 35 teams working on various scenes at one time

Media Job Roles Reflective Journal 10th Apr - 16th Apr

So this weekend was spent just by continuing to look up interesting facts about the production regarding Fantastic Mr Fox. I am still waiting to hear back from Timon with my email. It’s looking like he may not reply to me and with the animators very scarce with putting out their emails, trying to contact someone is proving to be quite difficult.

I’ve managed to source some information about the animators but it’s quite difficult to source. Seeing as most of the information seems to be purely on the puppet makers and not the people animating them. I have found quite a lot of information with puppet making but not animators. Never the less I will keep searching.

Media Job Roles Fantastic Mr Fox

Here are some interesting facts I have found out via the IMDB facts about Fantastic Mr Fox.

- This movie is composed of almost 56,000 shots. - According to Henry Selick, Wes Anderson would act out scenes while in Paris and send them to the animators via his iPhone. - Mr Fox's suits were modeled on the same suits that Wes Anderson wears, with the animators obtaining fabric swatches from Anderson's tailor.

Media Job Roles Fantastic Mr Fox - Script

I started writing the script that I will eventually read out in front of other people, more of an intro into the animators role more then anything

In this particular slide, I’m going to be looking at the animators themselves. So what does the job role of the animator entail? Well according to Target jobs, they’re description reads “Animators are artists who use sequential images of drawings, puppets and models to produce films for commercials, computer games, pop music videos and websites. Over half of animators in the UK are self-employed.” In other words, different mediums involve different tactics. If you are an animator of a cartoon show, your job role would involve moving drawings on a computer screen, likewise for CGI animation. However for this particular example, we are looking at the case of Stop Motion which involves working very closely with the puppets and moving them frame by frame to make a moving image. Typically in a good working day as an animator can involve getting 30 seconds shot. That is why we don’t see many stop motion animated film, as the typical film running time is 1 hour and 30s, it’s a process that is massively time consuming.  But that’s not to say it’s impossible to find work as a stop motion animator.  In fact some films have utilised stop motion seamlessly into films to which the general viewing audience don’t pick up on. For instance the AT-AT walkers in stop motion were purely done with Stop Motion Techniques

Media Job Roles Fantastic Mr Fox

“stop motion animators can make up to $34.860 a year being the lowest amount they can make, whereas the highest reported earning is $113,470 a year.” 

http://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/stop-motion-animator-career-profile