Brief 2 - Emote - Evaluation

    During this module we had to work on two different briefs, which should be treated as a separated parts. For the second brief – ‘Emote’ - we had to work in groups of three to create a short film sequence concentrating on one of the six themes. Our final video should last up to two minutes long.

We approached our task by starting with mind mapping the ideas. For this we have used an online tool called Mind Meister. We have established interest in Stanley Kubricks’ style and George Orwells’ 1984 idea of oppressed society. After discussing various ideas for each of the themes we have decided to work on the ‘fight’ theme.

     We wanted to present a ‘victim’ character being oppressed by the ‘Big Brother’, controlling and supervising. Moreover our aim was to dehumanise the ‘Big Brother’ character by showing only his mouth shouting through the screen. Also we have desaturated footage to make it look more eerie and clinical. In a sense we wanted to do something along the lines of  ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” which is hopefully conveyed in our final short film.

     My main role during this group brief was to come up with storyboards and any additional drawings to present the story. I have also research range of sources for set inspiration.  I sketched few pages of ideas of shots and angles we could use, also created a detailed storyboard to help us with filming.

     We had some problems with founding and booking a space for shoot but managed to overcome this difficulty.

     During the shoot I have helped with lighting and shot directing.

     Moving onto the post production – I was involved in footage editing and sound design. I found it challenging but also really rewarding.

    Sound researching was probably the hardest part of this brief, as I don’t have experience in it and had to start from scratch. We couldn’t use any of sounds recorded on the set due to the nature of our film. Also, because we wanted to dehumanise ‘Big Brother’ character, we couldn’t use actors’ voice. In order to better convey our message to the viewer we used a range of dictator speeches overlapping and distorted. As I was heavily involved in sound research as I found many ambient noises, distorted sounds.

      Final task on this brief was to come up with title and design end credits. We decided on ‘do not obey’ title with the flicker effect added in Final Cut Pro by changing opacity of the text. For the final credits we used a mixture of small and capital letters, trying to avoid making it too cluster, bold or difficult to read.

     As a group task this brief was really challenging but I believe we managed to fulfill all the criteria. I have also learned a lot during this process, however I still prefer to work on my own. Our final short film was meant to shock and surprise and hopefully we achieved that effect.

Brief 1 - Instruct - Evaluation

     During this module we had to work on two different briefs, which should be treated as a separated parts. For the first brief we had to create a one minute long instructional video. Introductions to various pieces of equipment also happen during this brief, which was really helpful. I have learned a lot about Final Cut Pro, which helped me overcome my fear of film editing.

    For this brief we had to work with a set time constraint of one minute. After brainstorming few ideas I have decided to go with the idea of filming one of my guinea pigs. I have looked at different videos about them; also looked at different books from library. I have planned most of the shots before filming. The part I have really enjoyed was storyboarding and producing animatic.  

    As I have decided to film my guinea pig I didn’t have to worry about booking space to shoot. I have used my room and kitchen as a set.

     It was really challenging brief, as I don’t consider myself a filmmaker. However I found the process really enjoyable and I have learned a lot from doing it. I am aware that sound levels in this video are a bit off and I should use music instead of leaving background noises.  However I wanted to keep this video as simple as possible and I couldn’t think about any soundtrack that could match the theme. The only thing I would change is the subject matter – animals are really hard to film, as they don’t behave in the way you want them to.  

High Speed Cam Introduction/Demo

Few weeks ago we had our introduction to high speed cameras.  It was really interesting demo. Moreover my husband is really into rc cars and it's something I really want to film - it could be a challenging side project, something extra to my portfolio. I'm already starting to plan a short (up to 3 min long) video.

Motion Pro X3 - high speed cam with super fast shutter and flash memory.
Motion Pro X - software used to capture footage; frame rate: up to 1480 fps (depends on resolution).
XRay Cut - software used to convert files.

gorillaz - storyboards research

During our second brief (Emote) I was mostly involved at pre production - sketching ideas, drawing storyboards, sets.
I've looked at work of various artists and really liked storyboards for Gorillaz music videos.

Storyboards for Rhinestone Eyes music video.

I really like colours, motion and variety of shots in this video. It's such a shame that they didn't make a final animation for it.

Above - animatic for Clint Eastwood music video.
Below - Clint Eastwood music video

Jamie Hewlett storyboards for Dare

Variety of shots (wide shots, close ups) and camera angles helps viewer understand story better, also give a sense of motion.
 
I've also looked at some books in the library for useful tips and advices.

Brief 2 - Emote - do not OBEY video

                     
do not OBEY - final short film created together with Von Betelegeuse and Jamie Mcloughlin, starring James Pedley.
Also we've added this video to our behance accounts.

Brief 2 - Emote - Edit Notes/ Credits

During this brief I was also involved in editing process and by doing that my FinalCutPro confidence went up by 200% (+30 pts to edit magic). I've learned few tricks and basically understood this software better. Moreover I found this process quite enjoyable or at least not as painful as during the first try.

After we finished editing the only thing that was left was to come up with title and design end credits. I've looked at various movies credits, also search for some rules/guidelines to follow. Also I've tried to pay a lot of attention to how the credits looked like from designer point of view; our names are quite long so was hard to avoid making it all chunky, bold and unreadable. I'm glad that we already had our typograhy lecture. Searching for perfect font was a little bit challenging but I'm sure that Century Gothic do its magic. I think credits are the part I'm the most proud of - guilty pleasure, looking at your own name fading away, having great title next to it.

Brief 2 - Emote - General Notes/Research

For this brief our group decided to go with something inspired by Kubricks', George Orwells' and Big Brother concept. Clinical, stylised, pure white settings; society controlled by dictator; this kinda thing. Our final film is definatly for more mature audience which will be able to understand what we are trying to portray.

I really like Slipknot videos because of their style, mood, lighting. Desaturated colours, smoke, lighting makes those clips more powerful.

Below Atreyu - Lip Gloss and Black music video.

Theme we have decided to illustrate in our short video was FIGHT. In our film we're going to present victim character rebelling, fighting against the Big Brother character - the system, leadership. We are also thinking about presenting Big Brother through the screen by showing only his mouth talking/shouting. Moreover it will be good if only eyes of victim character would be shown until the very end of the video.Sound effects can be added later on, during postproduction/edit.

Hobbit post production video

I'm not much of fan of Hobbit or Lord of the Rings trilogy but I appreciate the amount of hard work that goes into making those movies. Recently I've came across really good series of behind the scene videos. I found it always useful to see from inside how the studios works. In the one below Peter Jackson is letting the viewer to have a closer look at post production process as well as at the beard motion capture unit.
Hobbit behind the scene
The only thing that bother me is the fact that they keep animators locked in one tiny bed room ;).

the walking dead - lightning

The Walking Dead is an American TV drama based on comic book by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. In October 2010 first episode was aired; now AMC shows third season of the series. There were also two internet seasons (short episodes, lasting from 2mins to 9mins) added to AMC website.
In this blog post I will concentrate on lighting and what certain types of lighting adds to the shots. Action of The Walking Dead usually takes place either during daytime (a lot of sunshine), night or in dark locations. For the outside shots they probably used screens to bounce light to the characters.

Daytime shots are really clear and sharp, colors are bright and vivid. There is probably additional light used on the actors to pull the out of background.
Night and indoor shots usually have three point lighting system used - help in creating certain mood, tension. Also there is usually rim light on the character.

This TV show is filled with constant action, dynamic shots and special effects. In my opinion the only weak point of this show is the storyline - when I was playing The Walking Dead game story was much more better, powerful. Now I just need to catch up with comic chapters :).

Brief 2 - Emote - Sound research

For our brief video we've decided to create our own sound effects. Storyline is very surreal and disturbing so I've looked at a lot of ambient noises, machinery, alarm and doors sounds.
Below I've included a list of noises and sounds that can be useful.

BBC 19 - electronically generated sounds
Useable sounds:

• repeating cat alarm (no1)
• mewing kitten alarm (higher pitch) (no 3)
• buzzing computer (with constant tone bg) (no 21) - maybe good for base to create a distorted noise.
• single crash (no 22)
• space craft lands (no 29)
• electronic pipes dropped (no 30)
• missile ricochets (no 32-34)
• sliding door (mechanical, slow or medium) (no 37 or 40) - victim enters room scene.
• pulsing harmonic bass hum (no 76)
• digital hum (no 78) - interesting, maybe can be used without much editing
• generator hum (no 81)
• high pitch machinery (no 89)
• machine hum with heartbeat (no 93) - interesting if heartbeat sound a bit louder

Useable sounds from findsounds.com:

• household>tape> rewind tape and fast foward tape sounds 
• household>door>jail doors open/close
• household>door>sliding door open
• miscellaneous>ambiance>spooky ambiance (two different version - very good)
• miscellaneous>ambiance>creepy bass ambience
• miscellaneous>ambiance>heavenly ambience
• people>breath>breath,oxygen mask
• people>breath>heavy breathing
• people>heartbeat>heartbeat
• people>heart>breath and heartbeat

Brief 2 - Emote - Storyboard

Storyboards I've created for this brief. It was challenging task but also very rewarding.

 I still need to improve my storyboarding skills and make them more 'clear' and easier to read.

Brief 2 - Emote - Set and Props Ideas

For this brief I've looked at vast range of interior designs and film sets. Lists below of things that were, in my opinion, the most inspirational/interesting.

Set's I really like:

• Kubrick movie style set - fish eye angle adds extra mood and mystery to this shot; I also like how simple and disorganized this set is, the only thing I would change is furniture to less contemporary, reminding more of standard office desk and chair. 
• Trichrome Blue - an amazing animation by Lois van Baarle. I like the scene where female character is passing pile of multiple screens.
• Open Office Space
• Les-Palettes  - office furniture made from palettes.

Props, clothes for actors, etc.. :

• white or navy blue overalls for victim to create strong contrast between him and Big Brother, connection to slavery
• Big Brother >  white shirt, tie, suit? or maybe just mouth talking on the screen.
• walkman/discman and cassette
• table, screen, maybe chair and cleaning equipment

Brief 2 - Emote - Mindmapping

Mindmap for second film brief. Brainstorming ideas and researching.

Instructional Video - Research/Videos

Two of my favorite videos about guinea pigs. I've looked at them before shooting to get idea of shots I want to get.

• guinea pigs eating cucumber

•  lovely music video starring guinea pig

Instructional Video - Edit Notes

I've managed to shot 15 different bits of footage to edit. Guinea pig didn't really behaved the way i wanted her to, she also refused to come out from the cage at the beginning, but in the end I've got few nice extreme close-up shots. I used my own Hitachi handy cam (1920 x 1080 HD) for this project.
The first problem I had with Final Cut Pro was that I had to render my footage in order to make software play it back. I found nice and helpful guide on YouTube rendering in final cut pro .
I've to cut/trim quite a lot of footage in order to make it works. I've also filmed title and step cards and added them to video to give it, in my own opinion, a more natural look. I've tried to avoid adding any fancy effects and keep this video as simple as possible. Also I've added credits at the end of video, this YouTube tutorial was very helpful.
Files I used in producing my Intructional Video are: title and step cards files ((IMAG0015,16,17), trimmed kitchen footage (IMAG0001 - used only part from the middle of footage), guinea pig videos (IMAG0009,10 and 11 from which I've got extreme close up of my guinea pig munching celery). It was my first time editing footage with keeping in mind time constraint and specific purpose.
I've enjoying the whole process but can't see myself doing film editing as a future job. I lack patience for this type of tasks.

BAF 2012 ParaNorman and LAIKA studios

ParaNorman is the latest stop-motion animated film created by LAIKA studios and distributed by Focus Features. Directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell, this 3D zombie horror for kids is brilliant to watch. Moreover I've attended an amazing talk by Mark Shapiro on making this wonderful handcrafted stop-motion feature. Watching footage from behind-the-scenes and comments on building sets and taking shots (frames) made me appreciate stop-motion animation even more. The amout of work and time spend that went into making ParaNorman is enourmous. It also made me curious about stop-motion animation and I really wish that we cold have 3D printers in college (mainly becuse I'm really bad sculptor).
The ParaNorman Stop Motion Zombie Lab
After talk Mark Shapiro was kind enough to show two of the ParaNorman puppets (Norman and zombie) and answer questions. Unfortunatly I wasn't able to get my hands of those puppets but at least I've managed to take a picture.

Instructional Video - Animatic

I've finished producing an animatic for my instructional video. I've to admit that it was my favorite part of this brief so far. Animatic is 44 seconds long and include all important notes from storyboard, also simulate camera movement and close up shots plus it helped me visualize how the final video will look like (and avoid wasting time on filming shots that i don't really need).
I'm going to start filming today and take advantage of natural light, begin editing footage on Tuesday. Putting animatic together in Final Cut Pro helped me become more comfortable with software, also I've done some basic editing before in program called PowerDirector so I feel confident in doing it.

Lecture 3 - Graphic Design: A medium for the Masses

Notes from Graphic Design: A medium for the Masses lecture.

Lecture 2 - Postmodernism

Notes from Postmodernism lecture.

Lecture 1 - Modernism

Notes from Modernity and Modernism lecture.

Instructional Video - Storyboard

Storyboard for one minute long instructional video. Very rough and simple but hopefully easy to understand. I marked extra notes in red, tried to think a bit more about composition and camera movement, what type of shots I'm going to use. I think the biggest challenge will be still shots and close ups of guinea pig -  Squeaky is camera shy.

One More Beer!

One More Beer! is a brilliant short animated movie created by Brazilian 3D artist Pedro Conti.

Watch: One More Beer!

Pedro Conti was going for polished, finished look of his characters inspired by Pixar/Disney visuals. Movie was done in following programs: 3ds max (mental ray), Zbrush and After Effects. The rigging was done by Alex Angelis. As Pedro mention on his website this project was a great challenge where he tried to focus on learning each step of the development process.
Interesting is the way he developed this short movie from initail sketches through different models into finished animation. early model of viking
This really simple story is presented to the viewer in such brilliant way, focusing on the main character thanks to clever lighting and composition.

other websites

List of other websites I often post my work on:

• DA portfolio
• ImagineFX sketchbook
• ImagineFX FXpose
• CGHub Portfolio
• Society6 Store
• Behance Portfolio
• Personal Blog
• Conceptart.org sketchbook

I try to upload my work on many different websites to increase a number of people that will probably see it. Also having an online portfolio makes it easier to contact potential clients. Moreover thanks to a sketchbook thread on forums (ImagineFX and conceptart.org) I get plenty of useful crits and advice.

Instructional Video 2 - Notes

Extra little notes:

• buy carrots or celery sticks
• think more about shots and framing before start
• prepare little instructional cards, like: 'you need guinea pig' , 'prepare vegetable' 
• when filming need to remember that Squeaky could run away anytime which will require multiple takes and maybe quite a lot of editing later on

Instructional Video 1

For Instruct brief we have to produce one minute long instructional video and present the whole production process on the blog.
For the past week I was brainstorming different ideas like: "How to survive zombie apocalypse" or "How to let coffee flow". I've considered filming range of themes, from little instructional guide on switching gaming console on to how to start nitro engine. However the idea I started to really like was based around my pets.
I've decided to do video on how to feed guinea pig and the title will be "How to make piggy happy". I will have to film at home (set: my room) and probably end up with multiple takes as I can't really teach my guinea pig to act in the way I want it.

Star of my little video is called Squeaky (Chrumka).

I'm going to do storyboards, animatic and plan shooting next. This week we have BAF so first day of shoot will be Sunday. Luckily Squeaky isn't nocturnal animal so I can shoot any time of day I want and take advantage of sun light.

Audience for this short video would be kids and young people - funny, relaxed way of presenting basic information - but can also be addressed to anybody that likes animals and got guinea pig.

camera checklist

What needs checking before taking camera away for a shoot:

• memory cards (there are always 2 cards) - need to format cards first by going to: Menu/Others/Format Media/A and B
• need to reset all off settings because they may affect our shoot - Menu/Others/All Reset
•  set video format to HQ1920/25P (Menu/Others/Video Format). 50i setting is good for motion, news; 50P is a new format and not many computers can play it back.
• check audio to INT MIC which is at the rear of camera  
• gain switch (left side of cam) setted to LOW 0dB or -3dB <for clear image
• ND filters off (side of cam)
• zoom (bottom of cam) on manual servo (use ring)
• white balance: Menu/Cam Set/AWB - PRST>Manual>back of cam>PP>Sel>White>Preset>White. Reset PP to standart.

When borrowing tripod need to check for special plate (top of tripod, head) - cant attach camera without it.

Headless Productions

Headless Productions is one of my favourite independent animation studios.They are base in Barcelona. Spain. Artists are: Adrian Garcia, Alfredo Torres, Victor Maldonado and Julien Bizat.
I adore their stylized  2012 demo reel and teaser for My Family and the Wolf. This people are really creative and their style fresh and playful. You can tell that they love what they do.


Headless Productions blog

Flipbook Animation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_SpT-dhp7E&feature=plcp

Above is a link to my flipbook animation that I have completed few weeks ago. I've really enjoyed working on this brief and I think it was my favourite one so far. My flipbook is not dynamic but was really challenging since I've dicided to animate a cape blown by the wing. I've learned a lot and want to continue my flipbook experiments in near future.

Module Evaluation

For this module I had to create a number of drawings and collages answering a specific briefs. Constantly working toward a set of deadlines helped me improve and step out of my comfort zone. I have improved my workflow, started to use short keys in Photoshop more often, experimented with layer options and blending modes. I have also learned new software like Illustrator or Adobe Bridge.

I have looked at the range of concept art websites, books and artists, created different mood boards to gather inspirations and ideas for my designs. Also done few thumbnails and quick sketches to try ideas out, looking for nice, clean, ease to read and recognise silhouettes.

I have really enjoyed working on those briefs, especially designing character and set.

In my opinion brief number 3 (animate) was the most rewarding. However I would love to improve and experiment more. I will probably draw more storyboards and make more flipbook animations in near future.

I need to improve my drawing skills. Designing a set for my character was the hardest task. I have looked at marine designs and Gaudi's building for inspiration as well as at some concept art.

Although it was a very fast paced module I really liked it and learned a lot. I still need to work on my time management and updating my blog on day to day basis.

Desert Dash Unmasked 2

Clean character sheet presenting Desert Dash without mask and hunting for monsters.

Will write more soon.

Road To El Dorado

Road To El Dorado is a Dreamworks animated film made in 2000. What I really like about it is unusual characters, beautiful backgrounds and great story line. Not many people decided to make a film about side kick characters that are a bit clumsy.
Animation is really fluid, fighting scenes very dynamic. In this YouTube video artists explain a process of creating this feature film which I find very helpful.

Desert Dash Unmasked

Desert Dash never leave his boat without mask- air is like poison for humans, extremely toxic. Also mask protects his face from sand and strong wind. However Dash never take his mask off when visiting somebody else - he got really embarassed and obsessed over his round head.
When sketching I started from square head, but then moved to round shape. I will post a colour version of him without mask soon.

Desert Dash T-Pose

Finished t-pose character sheet for Desert Dash. I've decided to keep colour pallet muted, subtle - used mostly yellows, oranges, light greens. The enviroment he is living in is full of sand and rocks so costume colours can't stand out - blending easily with surroundings, camoufladge.
Not sure if I should finish his arms in back pose - not really that much space left to do it. Now whats left is to finish other character sheet and set designs.

Room Ideas 2

Sketch I am going to ink and detail next. I will also add a bit more texture to the walls and some decorations.

Room Ideas 1

Rough sketches of my characters room, I like a little part of furniture from each one of them.

I also borrowed some books from library about marine designs and yachts interior. Also looked at Gaudis work and hopefully it can be seen in final design.

Desert Dash T-pose 1

I've finished drawing Desert Dash in T-pose and those are different colours I decided to try for costume.

air ship colour sketch

Finished quick colour sketch of a desert air craft. Decided to keep design quite simple and minimalistic.
Metal is main material used in constructing an air boat because its more durable than wood - especially during landing on sand, also adds extra weight making boat easier to control during heavy winds.

Below is a rough sketch presenting where Desert Dash lives during his long travels. Under deck room is just perfect and so practical - our tall Hero have enough room to put bed and few other things in, stretch, take off his exoskeleton suit and store it somewhere.
Two other small rooms at the rear of the boat are used as a storage for food and weapons.

rough boat sketches

Rough air craft sketches I did this morning. I really like the shape of the boat in bottom left corner.  Main rooms will be probably located under ship deck - practical reasons - close to navigation room, storage space with all ammunition and food supplies. Also Desert Dash is over 2m tall so it would be hard to build high structure on top of the deck - strong winds would probably damage it.

Set - mood board

Mood board I created to help myself with designing set for this brief. Mostly Ian Mcques' flying boats designs, Kekai Kotakis' Guild Wars 2 concepts, also houses drawings from Fable 3 and a desert landscape.

flying machines sketch

For this week brief we have to design a room/set/simple environment that is inhabited by our character.
Desert Dash is living in very unpleasant world, full of sandstorms, dangerous creatures and extremely hot weather. He spends most of his time inside his flying machine. It's safer than hiding in a cave, to high for all ground monsters, can store lots of food and supplies. He can also travel really fast between cities.

Thats few quick sketches of the flying machines he might be living in.

Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph is a brand new animation from Disney studio thats coming to UK cinemas in 2013.

''An arcade game character named Wreck-It Ralph is a villain who is tired of being the “bad guy” and tours various gaming worlds to determine where he would best fit.'' 
 (source: http://pixartimes.com/2012/08/10/awesome-wreck-it-ralph-concept-art-features-animated-john-lasseter/)



Great animation, brilliant story and awesome characters - you dont need more to create a great feature film.

storyboard

Rough stodyboard I made for animation brief. It was real fun to work on, enjoyed it so much.

Desert Dash sketch

Before I post final images of my character I wanted to share this little sketch from my sketchbook. Was drawn with fineliners, then scanned and used during Illustrator induction. I redrawn lines and started to fill up some basic colours.

thumbnails

Quick thumbnails

First I drawn few completly different shapes, just to have as much variety as I can. From that I've picked two that I really liked and transferred to other photoshop file.

I really liked 'bottle' shaped suit guy from left bottom corner in first board. It had this nice robotic feel to it, more towards sci-fi than fantasy. Hovewer, in my own opinion, it doesn't work with this brief and story I've written. Ant looking guy seems to be just perfect. It have quite strong silhouette and nice little detail like those 'breathing' pipes sticking out from his helmet. I also sketched a bit more 'muscular' version which I didn't really liked.
Now I have to refine detail and finish character sheet.

story behind my hero.

Notes that I've written down to help myself in designing a character for this week brief.

Timeline >> alternative world (dimension parallel to ours), near future - around year 2120

Story: Desert Dash (he decided to keep his real identity a secret) was born in rich family, one of the clans that ruled the City.  Unfortunately, just days before his fourteen birthdays, his family got assassinated. Only Desert Dash and his younger sister managed to survive. Driven by revenge he decides to find murderers of his family and also make sure that nobody else that he loves get hurt.

Lost his arms after his first fight in ‘outside the City’ world and had them replaced with artificial ones (made mostly of the finest steel). 

To protect his body our hero must wear a special suit and helmet. Cape is for decoration only ;)

Suit: exoskeleton to give extra strength and speed; build in weapons – swords and daggers, but also hidden mini gun on his back and few pepper bombs. Two special pipes are attached to his helmet to help with breathing.

Environment: planet he lives on resamble of our Mars – dry, windy, sandy and hot. Sandstorms are a common thing; also air outside their cities is poisonous because of high level of carbon and acids. Moreover planet is full of dangerous, wild creatures that somehow are able to survive in those insane conditions.

searching for character part1

Gathering inspiration for this weeks brief.

I've decided to search CGHub for inspiration since there is so many amazing artist posting they work. Also looked at some Tetsuya Nomuras designs for World Ends with You, Bobby Chiu and Carter Goodrichs character designs for Brave. I really like colouring and shading in Creature Box designs (top left corner).
At that point I was just looking and collecting different character related drawings. Also looked for the range if expressions and poses.

Next step was to decide on archetyp. I really liked the idea behind Mentor creature, however picked Hero in the end, because they are cool :)

And thats my 'hero board'. Really interesting is fact that most of those heros were capes and weird suit.

So there we have more from Carter Goodrich, with his fluid pencil sketches, Tetsuya Nomura and Creature Box. Bottom left guy is a design by Hethe Srodawa. 

Now I have to design my very own Hero :)

hi, hey, hello

New blog, just to post DFGA related things.

26yr old, love to draw & paint, have two cute guinea pigs. I'm really into animation , concept art (character design) and illustration, also love jRPGs (Chrono Cross anyone;)?) and fantasy / s-f books. 

..and probably thats all for now.