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.