30th June

Today I worked on sorting some shot out and started fixing up and colouring Shot 16

29th June

Today I added the walk in to Cade's Shot.

I think this shot may need to be redone as he walks into shot from the wrong direction which is abit weird from shot to shot.

I'm not sure if we have time for that.

I also went through Tirisssala's shot and added shades in the arm cuffs and hood.

I inbetweened them to flow outwards.

All thats left is for me to do the scythe colour and some minor fix ups.

Both of Cade's shots (Shots 13,14) need alot of work as they are far behind in progress.

Goals for next 2 weeks:

Andrew: Music choice/composed,Backgrounds Separated.

Cade: Needs to fix up his shot. Or someone else if he is incapable or won't get in done on time.

Ezzy: Needs to come in and finish shot 10.

Compositing is still an issue but we need the animation sorted.

Remaining Shots:

Shot 09 (Just Colouring/Compositing)
Shot 10 (Needs improvement to be more believeable)
Shot 13 (Needs a major overhaul,this shot should be a lot further than it is.)
Shot 14 (May need to be completely scrapped and reanimated.)
Shot 16 (Andrew seems to be quite afr into this shot,Hopefully he finishes it)

Lack of communication right now isn't helping.

I've posted on our group facebook but Andrew doesnt have facebook and people dont check it often

26th June

Transition Arrangement Interview Questions:
Animation College DDM Students

Design Principles (8-10 mins)

With reference to your own work (use examples of character, environment and storyboard designs, and life drawing, or links to these examples) talk about what you have learned about:

2 min	Composition / Film Grammar (storyboards / animation clips) [Explain your staging choices. How have you staged shots to add meaning to your film? Use cinematography terms such as ‘close-up’, ‘high angle’, ‘establishing shot’, etc. Also explain your choice of camera moves to tell your story using appropriate terminology, e.g. ‘pan’, ‘truck’, etc.]
	Notes: Civilized Dragon: The way I added meaning through the shot composition : -Establishing with slow zoom to introduce and focus on the setting of the city. -Trucks along the street,Camera stops at elder dragon centered,introducing him as a character of importance by being in the center. -Mid shot and Close ups showing what he is thinking and seeing and bringing close focus to smaller actions. -Over the shoulder shot to show the audience what the character is/was looking at to reveal it . -Low angle making characters intimidating or strong. -High angle making a character vulnerable.
2 min	Life drawing (life drawing portfolio) [With reference to your own drawings explain how life drawing has improved your understanding of anatomy, pose, light, volume, line, etc., and contributed to your development as an animator.]
	Notes: -Life drawing helps with drawing what is there,not what you think something looks like -Using proper reference from life,drawing what you normally wouldn't notice. -Turning shades into shapes to understanding them better -Proportion and scale ,A lot of gesture practice to get a sense of liveliness and flow in the drawing. -Pose and sense of standing ,Seeing the weight distribution. -Using the pencil in a different way to show form,not just using it as an out-liner. (cross hatching,different mediums)
2 min	Shape Language (character / environment design) [Show and discuss examples of shape language in your design work. How have you used shape language to express character personality and environment mood? Remember to identify and discuss the basic shapes you’ve used to construct your designs and communicate your ideas.]
	Notes: Civilized dragons: I wanted the dragons in my story to be refined and elegant instead of menacing and dangerous. -The shapes of dragons were sharp pointed shapes,like wings,claws teeth etc. This makes dragons seem dangerous and menacing as well as elegant in a mythical majestic beast kind of way. -I tested basic shapes for the dragons design to make them less dangerous. I tried making them smaller,rounder,or older to make them less threatening and more vulnerable. -The tapered shapes of the dragons were the part I thought made them seem elegant to i tried to keep that. Other shape language ideas: Square: Strong,Bulky,Sturdy Triangle: Mischievous,Evil,Dangerous,Energetic. Circle:Cute,Soft,Round,Safe.
2 min	Colour Theory (colour choices) [Explain your colour choices to convey mood and meaning in an aesthetic manner. Use your knowledge of the colour wheel and colour relationships, e.g. complimentary, analogue, monochrome, etc. to do this.]
	Notes: Civilized Dragon: -I used Analogous greenish and blue in the beginning to show a calm,peaceful setting -When the story got more climatic i used red and black in the environment to show danger,the unknown,etc. -Near the end I used colder,blue colours to show the time of day (night) as well the characters feelings of being cold and alone /sad. Sunset: -We had Complimentary use of orange and blueish colours to have a contrast between the sunset and the area indoors -The warm colours of the sunset were inviting,which sort of symbolized the old lady accepting death. -This contrasted the cold colours of the dark areas of the room which the light was spilling into. This was create a feeling of loneliness and yet the warmth symbolizes shes lived a full life. These colours emphasized the conflicting ideas of the film about death and acceptance.

Animation Principles and Processes (6-8 mins)

With reference to your own work (use examples from key animation projects and/or personal showreels) talkshow about what you have learned about:

2 min	Story / Narrative (storyboards / animation clips)[Ideas to discuss: What is the point of the story? What are you communicating to the audience? How did you plan and structure your story? Why did you choose to tell it this way? What are the characters’ motivations? How did you choose to represent them to the audience?]
	Notes: The story was all about seeing history and the mythical dragons in a different way by swapping their roles with humans. This role reverse made the humans savage feared beasts and the dragons were civilized and developed. That everything may not be what it seems,that things may not have happened as we think. The quote comes to mind : "history is written by the victors" This made it seem possible that the humans destroyed the dragon civilization and caused dragons to go into hiding in isolation which in turn ,turned them into the beasts we know from recorded history and myths,giving a cause for attacking humans instead of unprovoked fighting. First the setting is introduced as a calm and peaceful place,which is suddenly attacked,tension builds into the climax where the humans attack and the city is destroyed. The resolution is that some remaining dragons survived to live on as the beasts we know today which flips the role reversal back on its head again to what we first expected. I chose to tell it in this way to ease the audience into the setting,surprising them by reversing their expectations of the dragon vs humans stereotypes and then introducing humans as the antagonists. This allowed time to get used to the civilized dragon idea living in peace and then showing humans in a bad light as they are barbaric and uninformed. The story worked with the tried and true "Exposition,Rising action,Climax,Falling action,Resolution" structure which made it less confusing than jumping right into the story. The Elder dragons motivation is to be a town crier of sorts warning the others of the imminent danger. Through this he yells and cries out to the other dragons,inducing fear and panic whilst trying to give them time to escape. The Young dragon's motivation is the pure will to survive and escape "fight or flight".But he also has a sadness and almost a guilty conscience leaving others back in the city as it burns. The Elder was shown to be quite tall yet slumped over in age,quite slow in movement and reaction time but yet is observant as he is the first to notice the attack. The young dragon is cowardly,tail between his legs running for his life. Survival instinct and fear.
2 min	Animation Principles / Character Performance (animation clips)[Describe how you’ve used the 12 principles to bring your character to life. Focus on one character performance and identify the techniques you employed to give a convincing acting performance. What personality and attitude were you trying to convey? How did you achieve it?]
	Notes: Iris: An over confident attitude showing her pride in her ability to fight. I achieved this through a casual smirk as she makes the bubble sword appear with a laid back stance with a tilted head. The swing itself was over zealous and caused her to spin the whole way round in a ballet fashion further showing her confidence and not treating the fight seriously even though she is surrounded by foes. This animation focuses on a lot of arcs throughout the body as its a swing and spin of the body. The lifting of the leg helps with the balance of the character and with the spin. She is staged in center as she is the focus and helps with the idea of being surrounded. I used straight ahead of the bubble to stretch it into a sword/staff while maintaining the volume. The anticipation of lifting the sword back helped show the next action. The bubble has arcs to it as well as having arcs in her shoulders,torso and legs.
2 min	2D / 3D Specialist Pipelines and Techniques (animation projects)[Use your group project clip as a reference to discuss what you’ve learnt about working in a group to produce an animated film. Discuss problems faced and solutions generated during production and then focus on your personal specialist role in the project. What skills did you bring to the team? How did you contribute to the production? What would you like to learn more about to improve your special skills?]
	Notes: -I feel like my strengths is the solid drawing aspects and construction. -Story boarding to fix continuity issues and compose shots better through things -like the rule of thirds. -I use things like file structure well. -I know how how to stay on model. -I work well with other people and know how to organize myself and manage time well. I was producer and a storyboarder/lead animator in the group project. The problems we faced in the groups were things like absences ,the look and quality of the film was quite difficult for some to get used, and the way the animation was done was sometimes inefficient or impractical for the time we had to do it. Sharing the project evenly between the five of us was difficult as some members were more skilled or faster than others. Some shots needed changing which messed up continuity and caused problems for the group. Advice given often conflicted other advice or was not suitable for the project. The model sheet and or the preproduction process may have been a bit rushed which caused problems later on with each animator animating things like the hands or parts of the body differently with different shapes as the modelsheet was abit vague at times.The pipeline was sometimes inefficient as one member draws a modelsheet,then another member redraws it to fix it,and then another member comes in and changes it again. I think the style bible and details of the animation should have been a little stronger. The storyboard changed drastically and the film was shortened a lot to allow us to complete it on time. Compositing is something the whole team lacked and I tried to learn,I would have liked to know more about after effects and adding depth. There are a lot of effects I feel I need to know to polish off a film.

Animation History / Influences and Inspirations (2-3 mins)

Choose one influential animator from history (1900-2015); then select 2-3 shots or still frames that best exemplify their unique approach and use these to explain how this animator has influenced your work.

1 min	Shot / frame 1	Notes: I think that this studio (“Ankama”) has shown me how 2D can still have depth and dynamic panning shots without constantly cutting. Ankama traditionally hand draws their animation and then puts it into flash and adobe software to tween and add depth to the traditional animation to create a more lively animation. This is the shot of an introduction to a fight scene in “Wakfu”. This wide shot going around the character shows so much depth and adds a lot of tension.
1 min	Shot / frame 2	Notes: This shot is from a pitch for the “Dofus” kids show. It shows believable movement and character personality and has a lot of flowing movement. This showed me how much development goes into a show and they can change a lot from the original idea. Both characters are running in fear and yet both show this emotion and action completely different from each other. This shot uses a low angle very well to show the monsters attempt to pounce and charge at them and shows the urgency of their runs in a comedic and yet serious way. The use of colour to show movement and depth in the last shot is quite interesting.
1 min	Shot / frame 3	Notes: This scene shows how they go about the continuity of the shots. I think it flows quite well from shot to shot without confusion. The characters in the show are quite solid and yet have great lines of action and flowing movement to them.

25th June

Story / Narrative (storyboards / animation clips)

Civilized Dragons:

What is the point of the story? 

The story was all about seeing history and the mythical dragons in a different way by swapping their roles with humans.This role reverse made the humans savage feared beasts and the dragons were civilized and developed.

What are you communicating to the audience? 

That everything may not be what it seems,that things may not have happened as we think. 
The quote comes to mind : "history is written by the victors"
This made it seem possible that the humans destroyed the dragon civilization and caused dragons to go into hiding in isolation which in turn ,turned them into the beasts we know from recorded history and myths,giving a cause for attacking humans instead of unprovoked fighting.

How did you plan and structure your story?

First the setting is introduced as a calm and peaceful place,which is suddenly attacked,tension builds into the climax where the humans attack and the city is destroyed.The resolution is that some remaining dragons survived to live on as the beasts we know today which flips the role reversal back on its head again to what we first expected.

Why did you choose to tell it this way? 

I chose to tell it in this way to ease the audience into the setting,surprising them by reversing their expectations of the dragon vs humans stereotypes and then introducing humans as the antagonists.This allowed time to get used to the civilized dragon idea living in peace and then showing humans in a bad light as they are barbaric and uninformed.The story worked with the tried and true "Exposition,Rising action,Climax,Falling action,Resolution"  structure which made it less confusing than jumping right into the story.

What are the characters’ motivations?

The Elder dragons motivation is to be a town crier of sorts warning the others of the imminent danger.through this he yells and cries out to the other dragons,inducing fear and panic whilst trying to give them time to escape.

The Young dragon's motivation is the pure will to survive and escape "fight or flight".But he also has a sadness and almost a guilty conscience leaving others back in the city as it burns.

How did you choose to represent them to the audience?

The Elder was shown to be quite tall yet slumped over in age,quite slow in movement and reaction time but yet is observant as he is the first to notice the attack.

The young dragon is cowardly,tail between his legs running for his life.Survival instinct and fear.

Animation Principles / Character Performance (animation clips)
Describe how you’ve used the 12 principles to bring your character to life. Focus on one character performance and identify the techniques you employed to give a convincing acting performance. 

What personality and attitude were you trying to convey? 
Iris:

An over confident attitude showing her pride in her ability to fight.

How did you achieve it?

achieved this through a casual smirk as she makes the bubble sword appear with a laid back stance with a tilted head. The swing itself was over zealous and caused her to spin the whole way round in a ballet fashion further showing her confidence and not treating the fight seriously even though she is surrounded by foes. This animation focuses on a lot of arcs throughout the body as its a swing and spin of the body. The lifting of the leg helps with the balance of the character and with the spin. She is staged in center as she is the focus and helps with the idea of being surrounded. I used straight ahead of the bubble to stretch it into a sword/staff while maintaining the volume.

The anticipation of lifting the sword back helped show the next action. The bubble has arcs to it as well as having arcs in her shoulders,torso and legs..

2D / 3D Specialist Pipelines and Techniques (animation projects)
Use your group project clip as a reference to discuss what you’ve learnt about working in a group to produce an animated film. Discuss problems faced and solutions generated during production and then focus on your personal specialist role in the project. 

What skills did you bring to the team?

-I feel like my strengths is the solid drawing aspects and construction. 
-Story boarding to fix continuity issues and compose shots better through things -like the rule of thirds.
-I use things like file structure well.
-I know how how to stay on model.
-I work well with other people and know how to organize myself and manage time well.


 How did you contribute to the production? 

What would you like to learn more about to improve your special skills?

Compositing is something the whole team lacked and I tried to learn,I would have liked to know more about after effects.
There are alot of effects I feel I need to know to polish off a film.

Animation History / Influences and Inspirations (2-3 mins)

Choose one influential animator from history (1900-2015); then select 2-3 shots or still frames that best exemplify their unique approach and use these to explain how this animator has influenced your work.

Shot1:

Shot2:

Shot3:

24th June

Composition / Film Grammar (storyboards / animation clips)
Explain your staging choices. How have you staged shots to add meaning to your film? 

The way I added meaning through the shot composition :

-Establishing with slow zoom to introduce and focus on the setting of the city.
-Trucks along the street,Camera stops at elder dragon centered,introducing him as a character of importance by being in the center.
-Mid shot and Close ups showing what he is thinking and seeing and bringing close focus to smaller actions.
-Over the shoulder shot to show the audience what the character is/was looking at to reveal it .
-Low angle making characters intimidating or strong.
-High angle making a character vulnerable.

Life drawing (life drawing portfolio)
With reference to your own drawings explain how life drawing has improved your understanding of anatomy, pose, light, volume, line, etc., and contributed to your development as an animator.

-Life drawing helps with drawing what is there,not what you think something looks like
-Using proper reference from life,drawing what you normally wouldn't notice.
-Turning shades into shapes to understanding them better
-Proportion and scale ,A lot of gesture practice to get a sense of liveliness and flow in the drawing.
-Pose and sense of standing ,Seeing the weight distribution.
-Using the pencil in a different way to show form,not just using it as an out-liner. (cross hatching,different mediums)

Shape Language (character / environment design)
Show and discuss examples of shape language in your design work. How have you used shape language to express character personality and environment mood? 

Civilized dragons:
I wanted the dragons in my story to be refined and elegant instead of menacing and dangerous.
-The shapes of dragons were sharp pointed shapes,like wings,claws teeth etc. This makes dragons seem dangerous and menacing as well as elegant in a mythical majestic beast kind of way.
-I tested basic shapes for the dragons design to make them less dangerous. I tried making them smaller,rounder,or older to make them less threatening and more vulnerable.
-The tapered shapes of the dragons were the part I thought made them seem elegant to i tried to keep that.
Other shape language ideas:
Square: Strong,Bulky,Sturdy
Triangle: Mischievious,Evil,Dangerous,Energetic.
Circle:Cute,Soft,Round,Safe.

Colour Theory (colour choices)
Explain your colour choices to convey mood and meaning in an aesthetic manner. Use your knowledge of the colour wheel and colour relationships, e.g. complimentary, analogue, monochrome, etc. to do this.

Civilized Dragon:

-I used Analogous greenish and blue in the beginning to show a calm,peaceful setting

-When the story got more climatic i used red and black in the environment to show danger,the unknown,etc.

-Near the end I used colder,blue colours to show the time of day (night) as well the characters feelings of being cold and alone /sad.

Sunset:

-We had Complimentary use of orange and blueish colours to have a contrast between the sunset and the area indoors

-The warm colours of the sunset were inviting,which sort of symbolized the old lady accepting death.

-This contrasted the cold colours of the dark areas of the room which the light was spilling into. This was create a feeling of loneliness and yet the warmth symbolizes shes lived a full life.These colours emphasized the conflicting ideas of the film about death and acceptance. 

23rd June

Today I was looking up shots that I could use for my portfolio.

I was looking at:
Black rock shooter

Dofus,Wakfu,and other Ankama studio films

22nd June

Today I finished off animating the son's head turn.
The smoke still needs to be properly animated but that will come after tirissala has decided what to do with it in her shot.

I also worked on my portfolio for the bridging interview.
Having abit of trouble figuring out what i need exactly.

19th June

Today I jittered and inbetweened shot 9.5 abit more.

The head turn needs a few more inbetweens and it will be finished.

I've also redone the edit for monday. Ezzy's shot wasnt updated as he hadn't got the entire scene.

18th June

Today I started redoing Ezzy's shot 9.5

(its 9.5 because it had to be added in)

I should rename each shot to its correct name but until then this shot is 9.5


I changed the angle from a front on view of the character to a 3/4 of him facing the father then looking across the room to the lady and then looking down at his scythe.

Its just keys but they are more on model now.

I may have him tilt his head forward more for when he looks down but other than that its looks correct.

17th June

Today I went through compositing and masking out effects for shot 06 and 07.



The dust effect was abit off but I've masked out out to be in the light.
I also went over with a light source in after effects.

The left side seems a little dark in comparison the how it is in the next shot.

16th June

Added the lady to cades shot and recomposited

Also updated the edit.

Fixed the hand position again on shot 11

Experimented on some particle effects with Dane and thought about camera movements

11th June

Composited the lady into the new background.

Composited the Son and Grim into the new background as well,may need some more work

Fixed an error with the hand facing the wrong way in part of the shot.

10th June

Spent today changing the timing and adding effects into shot 17 (The file is too big for blogspot now)

The masking of the sun gave me a bit of trouble but ive roughed it out and feathered it abit,doesnt look too great but all the pieces are there now.

Still haven't gotten a clue how to make the backgrounds better in after effects,and im waiting on
Andrew to finish more for me to reframe in after effects.

8th June

Added more hesitation to Shot 11.

Composited shot 17,and looked online for other compositing guides but couldn't find anything to help with what was suggested in todays meeting.

5th June

Fun times with flash crashing.Its not unusual.

4th June

Today I coloured the keys and added some more inbetweens.

I split up the timing of the son and lady so their heads turn at different times,showing the lady following the son.

3rd June

I continued animating and re compositing shots today.

(Shot 08 needed to be more centered)

Started inbetweening and colouring shot 17.

2nd June

Today we had a review about the project so far.

Some things mentioned were:

The speed of the opening could be slower and more interesting with effects and a slow zoom for the exterior.

Light rays catching dust etc

Longer hesitation with the swing,giving the lady time to get up.

Death disappearing after pointing.


Also still working on keys for the first half of shot 17.