Thoughts on Group Work

I feel I am struggling with concept work and could defiantly do with some help. I will need someone to draw a higher quality version of my final storyboard as visulising different camera angles is not my strong point. The other way I could get round this would be to create a rough mock up in clay for each scene, but although this would greatly aid visualising, I unfortunately do not have the time.

I am confident with rigging, especially if I use Setup Machine, however I am not as confident modeling good riggable characters. I could therefore employ someone to check that my model's edge loops are in the right place to allow for movement.

As I plan to model all characters and scene in clay before modeling them in Maya I will import photographs on to the X and Y plains and use them as a template to model from. However, it would save a great deal of time if I had someone model objects from the photos for me. This will give me more time for animating later.

I will also need a voice actor for the sound of the boy screaming.

I hope to be employed by my class mates to animate, texture and model in clay.

Design Process

I find visualising difficult and therefore drawing without reference material is challenging. I prefer to create things with my hands so I will be doing much of the design work for this project using clay. This allows me to mold a lump into a design, rather than starting with a blank piece of paper where you can not see anything until you have already done it. Designing using a three dimensional medium makes a lot more sense to me. I found some great inspiration from the making of Ratatouille book.

Style 2

I am having difficulties incorporating the look and style into my film. I have features I am hoping to include and I know what I want to emphasise but I am having trouble working out how everything can fit together. I believe my problem is that I am trying to squeeze in too many different styles and I need to settle on one overall film style. I decided to look at tree textures on the Internet for some inspiration.

Animatic 2

I timed the latest version of my storyboard to see whether everything was working as I intended.

Storyboard 2b

This is an updated version of my second storyboard. I have improved the character acting, camera angles and simplified the story. I have considered the audience and tried to make my characters more appealing both in their actions and reactions. I hope this has brought more interest and empathy to my story. As I have not finished developing the storyboard I have called this number 2b as I intend to have finalised my camera angles by the third version.


Synopsis
The story is about a young boy and a goat. The boy’s just been let out of the house and he’s now outside, seeking adventure.

The Boy is carrying a stick and using it as a sword. He intends to playfully attack a nearby goat which he’s pestered many times before, but the boy falls over whilst trying. When he’s lying on the ground he sees that the goat is struggling to reach fruit off the tree it’s tethered to. So the boy picks some of the fruit and as he feeds it to the goat, he jumps on the goats back. In exchange for the fruit the goat gallops off with the boy, on a well worn path around the tree.

Style

I am interested in all animation types but particularly stop motion and cut out. I find these images appealing because of their strong use of textures, lighting and impressionistic backgrounds.

Animatic 1

I timed the latest version of my storyboard to give me a better idea of the pacing in my film. At the moment the duration is longer than I want, therefore I will have to cut it down a bit.

Sound - Boy screaming, and laughing when ridding goat

Outdoor ambient sounds - Don’t think I will need sounds for the majority of footsteps, but will need sound for heavy landing and Goat munching plum/grass

Background music - classical or something very English like a brass band

Storyboard 2

Made a few improvements to the story mainly in camera angles and continuity. I have also thought more about the opening and closing credits.

Character Profiles

Boy
Boy is a healthy, rosy cheeked 5 year old, who lives in the English countryside in a small cottage with his parents. He is allowed to play in the nearby fields providing he always stays in sight of his home, a rule he often ignores. He is an only child and has developed an extensive imaginative and has befriended the local animals. Boy is used to being around animals, so has no fear of them, but does not always treat them with respect. His intelligence is slightly below average for his age and he spends most of his time in a world of his own. He dreams of being a knight; slaying dragons and journeying on dangerous quests. He is both mischievous and adventurous, which seldom leaves him without mud upon his face. Boy is left-handed and can be quite clumsy and uncoordinated. He has a cheeky sense of humour.

Goat
Goat is an old male crossbreed between British Saanen and British Toggenburg. Goat’s behaviour is humanized, although closer to a goat than a human. He cannot speak, but can express emotion beyond that of a typical goat. Goat is kept as a pet by the Boy’s parents and is therefore often an unwilling participant of the Boy’s imaginary adventurous. Goat is tethered to a plum tree, one of his favourite delicacies, if only he could reach them. Other animals seldom venture near the plum tree and the solitude has left Goat nervous and thin despite the excesses of food around him. He has a rough, uneven coat, yet carries his body in a dignified manor. He has reasonably intelligent for a goat with no imagination and a very slight sense of humour.

Scene Moodboards

I want to give my film a very English feel. I have been looking at plum trees and rocky mounds but also lighting and weather. I want to set my film in mid September so that the leaves on the tree will have started changing colour and the plums will be ripe. Weather wise I would like it to be just after it has rained but I realise this would be too much work and cause complications such as the boy should be in wellies but these would restrict movement. I have therefore chosen to give my film a could-rain-at-any-moment feel but keep it sunny. This will allow me to have some nice lighting effects such as rays and dappled lighting under the tree. I would also like there to be a slight mist, which will add atmosphere and save time in that if a background even needs to be created then it will be very low detail.

Storyboard 1

Boy and Goat

2 Characters: 5 year old boy with home-made helmet and sword, Goat with cardboard dragon wings.

Scene: Rock, which the boy is stood on at the start and fruit tree, which the goat is tied to.

Story: Boy charges at goat as if to attack it with sword. Goat, oblivious, tries to reach fruit off tree but it’s too high. Boy falls over and noticing goat’s actions, goes to see if he can help. Boy passes down fruit to goat who then lets him ride on his back.

Pre-Production Schedule

Animation Tests

I created a series of walk cycles in Maya to get me back into the software and for animation practice. I used the Max for Maya rig from http://www.highend3d.com/. At the moment my biggest problem when animating in Maya is only seeing the data rather than the actual poses and I end up getting lost in the numbers, spending hours getting confused over how many units a foot should be raised by. This has helped to adjust my way of thinking but I am still struggling with it. I think the animations have worked OK but they all need tweaking. Here are the three that I think are the most successful.

Another problem I had when animating in Maya was not being able to view all of my keyframes at once. There is a ghosting option, but this only works for objects with keys and as I had keyed the nurb controllers rather than the characters geometry, that was all that could be ghosted. I got round this by applying a snapshot to the geometry, which I could place in a new layer and update after I had made any changes.

Project Aims

The area I want to focus on is character animation and acting, and I feel a vignette would best allow me to develop my skills in this area. I would like to animate two characters; a humanoid and a creature, and incorporate a range of basic actions like walks, runs and jumps. To escape from the generic CG look I would like to give the vignette a mixed media influence. I am very interested in stop motion so will emphasise elements such as texture, depth and lighting. I will animate in Maya and composite in After Effects.

Welcome

I am a third year animation student at Lincoln University (UK). This blog will be documenting the making of my short film. My initial idea for this project was to create three 40 second animations of different media that link together to tell a story. I was planning on one of the sections being stop motion, one cut out probably using After Effects and one 3d computer using Maya. However, we have been recommended to keep the length down to one minute and an emphasis has been placed on computer animation. I have therefore decided to concentrate purely on 3d computer animation as I wish to increase these skills the most and it has the greater job prospects.