Artefact One!

19:00 0 Comments


Artefact One Test from Alyssa Brookes on Vimeo.

The purpose of my first artefact was to show a baseline animated performance through a character’s inner feelings, constructing interior monologue.  I chose a clip from the film 'The Birdcage, 1996', as I enjoyed how the clip comes across quite dramatic and I feel it gave me an advantage to start off with more exaggerated movements through acting.  

The process involved starting out with knowing the background of the character and what he would be feeling throughout the scene, as this is an important part regarding interior monologue. I then went on to block out my key poses, making sure I gave the computer enough information for what I wanted my character to do. I am the animator, not the computer.      

The feedback was generally quite positive. However, from the context of the research there were still aspects which could be improved to create a better piece for a baseline performance. I feel I could have animated the performance using more subtext and subtleties. Also, a few of the audience didn't really understand the dialogue of the clip, which therefore I could have explored more into and improved the story telling within the performance. As performed by Nathan Lane in the film, I felt as though he didn't exaggerate his acting that much within the scene, I believed he used a lot more subtle movements, especially at the start of the dialogue. I believe my acting choices were a lot more exaggerated than in the film, although I didn't intend to copy the film certain areas of the movements were quite blocky and the timing of some of the reactions were a bit out. The audience also noticed the lip syncs were not as exaggerated as the body language. This would be something to definitely improve when taking another pass at it.       

As I feel more subtleties and subtext could be added to this performance, in my second Artefact I will go ahead to research further reading into subtext, to create a performance which shows what the character’s thought process is behind the dialogue. Subtext is key within performance. 

0 comments :

External Client Change

04:39 0 Comments

For the External Client project I have decided to change to the HSI brief on the D&AD Awards. I feel this brief will refresh my modelling, rigging and animating skills and it will work stronger for my portfolio at the end of graduating. Especially since I want to progress into character animation.

Brief below:

D&AD Student Awards Brief 2008

Overview

The Animation Division at HSI London represents directors with a variety of styles. We have no set house style and look for work that is diverse and fresh; particularly styles that will work within the commercial and music industry. We work with directors who are animators and artists themselves, so the talent is inherent to each director, not just the team behind them.
The animation industry is becoming an ever expanding and popular platform for communication and entertainment, and we are excited to be evolving and expanding with it. Creatively this is one industry where there genuinely are no limits.

Sponsor

 HSI London.

Considerations
The brief can be interpreted literally or non-literally. The character could be yourself or someone you identify with, or if you prefer, a completely fictional personality, or thing/creature.
Show your ability to animate a personality as opposed to just a character’s appearance. Observe carefully how personality is expressed and try to achieve the same effect with animation. Think about your character’s quirks, aspirations and dreams; its worst nightmare, political standpoint, dress-sense or lack of one, and so on; all the things that make us individual. Then make sure that every detail of your animation expresses that personality.
Don’t over think or over develop your character in terms of design; whilst aesthetic forms an important and engaging part of a character, the way in which personality is brought to life is just as important as making an audience ‘believe’ in that character as a living, breathing entity. It is therefore essential to have a well-prepared storyboard to ensure a good narrative structure for your animation (for example, to set the amount of scenes, shots
and also the composition).

Mandatory requirements

Your final outcome should consist of two main parts; the creation and subsequent animation of your character, submitted as follows:
• Creation: storyboards succinctly showing the process of how you created the character
• Animation: a finished piece (between 20 and 60 seconds)
Your character must be fully developed and the film should express his/her/its essential personality traits –behaviour, appearance and interacting with surroundings.
Explore new and innovative techniques as well as more traditional approaches. Ideally your outcome will demonstrate an aptitude for animation, the ability to bring personality to a static image, good design skills and the ability to answer this brief with an engaging and creative overall concept.

0 comments :

External Client Project

03:03 0 Comments

For the External Client Project I have been given a brief from a Motion Graphics company named Boxframe. I worked with these guys over summer 2012, where I developed my skills in compositing, modelling and I also did a bit a admin. One of their main clients that stood out to me was Disney. I helped work on some compositing for Epic Mickey Two, Disney Superbia and modelling for Frankenweenie. The studio was such a comforting environment to work in and I met some cool people.

The brief I have been commissioned to take on is to promote the new Disney 'Shake it up, Made in Japan' in Disney's Superbia. For this I will need to stick to their style, designs, and use the specific logos and assets. The ad will be 25 seconds long and targeted to children aged 6 to 14. There will be no text shown, as it will be all audio/voice overs.

For developing my own skills throughout this project, I will design to the characters in Disney's 'Shake it up' and model two characters for the voice over in 3ds max. This will enable me to work on my modelling, rigging and animating skills. I may also model some of the objects in 3D. Although I have to stick to their specific style, I have decided to make the ad have more movement with the characters and certain objects.

I have put together a mood board to show the type of style it will need to be...






0 comments :

Research Module

15:39 0 Comments

For Artefact one I have began blocking the key poses within the scene. Rough development shown below...


block01 from Alyssa Brookes on Vimeo.

I'm currently working on more poses within the scene including the facial expressions. Lately I have read a lot of forums on animation workflows in Maya and a couple of them mention their animations messing up when they switch to animating in splines, so I am trying to understand all of that as I am all new (ish) to this. Confusing, but I will blog anything that I find useful along the way.

A guy I follow on Twitter called Bryn Richards (graduate from iAnimate) blogged about his Animation Workflow. It's a bit lengthy but really inspiring and makes you think differently. Checkkkk it...
http://www.zombryn.co.uk/2013/01/the-workflow-toolbox.html

0 comments :

Update

14:32 0 Comments

Now the writing assignments are out of the way, it's time to bring on the fun stuff!

I am currently starting on the Artefacts for the Research Module, from looking into interior monologue, operative words etc etc, I have chosen to produce a performance based animation but with no dialogue for Artefact 1. This allows the audience to focus on the characters movements to tell the story and show strong emotions that the audience can relate to. At the moment I am working on the storyboards and blocking stages, which I will blog more about soon. I am using the Morpheus Rig to animate.

For the External Client Project I am awaiting a brief from Boxframe, a motion graphics company who I worked with over summer, so I will explain more of this soon.

In the mean time, check out this character animation show reel. A graduate from iAnimate...


Character Animator Reel 2012 from cesc pujol font on Vimeo.

0 comments :

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )