tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37961406353749449562024-03-20T07:01:38.136+00:00Final Year Film Blog - "Babbit"This blog will follow the progress on my third and final year animated short film, "Babbit."jessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-83338634603305476182014-10-03T17:59:00.000+01:002014-10-03T17:59:50.690+01:00'Babbit' film finally online!Hello everyone!<br />
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Wow. It really has been a long long time. 2 years infact since this film was completed! Where has the time gone?<br />
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But finally, I have decided to upload it and share it with you!<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSitaf3J5k4&list=UU6dtUEBM5dGmtkXurCknnPg" target="_blank">Click here to view the video on youtube!</a><br />
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I hope you all enjoy it!<br />
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Let me know what you think.<br />
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-Jessjessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-55345055258894040542012-05-13T21:19:00.002+01:002012-05-13T22:05:20.163+01:00Final Post before final deadline...The last few days have been spent compositing my film together using After Effects and Premiere Pro.<br />
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Although some elements of my film are unfinished, all of the main character animation is complete and at least 80% of the film has coloured frames too. I worked the shots to the timing of the score, though I may work further with my composer, as I felt some shots could be extended musically to enhance the action in the scene.<br />
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From seeing everything composited together, I felt much better about the film in general too. After only visualising the shots in my head, it was really great to see them all up next to one another, making the film a whole. I definitely feel proud of it.<br />
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After the deadline, I plan to tweak a lot of areas, cleaning everything up and making things neat and tidy ready for the grad show and industry night in June. <br />
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As part of our hand-in we must fill in and submit a film festival submission form with 5 production stills, so here they are:<br />
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I'm looking forward to tweaking and finishing the film ready for the grad show. After compositing the film together over the last few days, I can see how much I have done and how much I need to do. It'd be a great achievement to fully finish it.<br />
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Also, in two weeks time, I will be attending a week-long masterclass with Joanna Quinn at uni with a number of my friends on my course. I'm looking forward to it a lot! :)<br />
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---jkl<br />
<br />jessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-67486502759917500522012-05-07T20:35:00.001+01:002012-05-07T20:35:08.848+01:00The Final Stretch...One week to go!<br />
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Animation has been coming along steadily over the last few weeks. I have been going into the uni studios every day to work which have included weekends for some time now. <br />
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I have had some fantastic helpers on my film. I really could not have got as far as I am now into my film without their help. As this is the final week before hand-in, I aim to give the helpers a few more shots to colour to be able to get a good majority of the film coloured for the deadline.<br />
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I now have only a few more "elements" left to animate which I aim to finish by at least Wednesday, so I can then start compositing everything together on the computers in the studios.<br />
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Over the brief Easter holiday at the end of March, I was able to meet with my composer at his home. We worked over the score. We produced a digital piano track as well as an "orchestral" version which he sent me after the meeting.<br />
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On April 23rd, our group had a critique. We all put together a "rough cut" of our film to show to the tutors and our class.<br />
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<b>Feedback I received from tutors:</b><br />
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-Towards the beginning of the film, where we see Mollie amongst her classmates (etc) she needs to be clearer. Ie: Make Mollie stand out more (blurring or lighting effects)<br />
-Shot 034, where Mollie is looking at Babbit and starting to walk forward, Mollie needs to look back, then towards Babbit as she should be confused as to how Babbit got outside....<br />
-Some notes in the musical score sound a little too low and don't work with the visuals.<br />
<br />As well as this, the tutors said how impressed they were by the score itself, as the musical "themes" for the different characters were present throughout and helped with the visuals, which was really great to hear. They also said the film was very promising, so I am just hoping I get everything more or less done for the deadline. After the official hand-in on the 14th May, I aim to go over any areas of the film that need a little more attention, be it in the actual animation, or in the colouring, clean up or compositing aspects, in time for the grad show from the 1st June, in particular for the 13/14th June (Industry Night).<br />
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As well as this, we have to complete a 1500 word evaluation as well as 5 posters for the hand-in. Lack of sleep may be necessary, but I am hoping everything will be more or less OK for the deadline.<br />
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Wish me luck..<br />
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---jkl <br />
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<br />jessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-7742409961797738852012-03-27T10:53:00.001+01:002012-03-27T10:53:08.296+01:00Babbit Still!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A still from my upcoming film; '<i>Babbit</i>'!</div>
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Work is going full-force. I am animating almost every day and have helpers working on backgrounds and colouring frames.</div>
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This still gives an idea of what the film should hopefully look like once completed!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCDMxqj4B7nrCEdD19uaJmAeuV_p9BRfgqYMdq2kPGY29tRUGvBnhQSVU7_ZsFuAmKJ88G4QF-dzx8eFofz_ia9y4etfSVSDC-N7vrkTW9Fe99lN2mVkc5G1IBLiWHaICo3KFQPJbiCno/s1600/sh005-ColourFinal-test-02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCDMxqj4B7nrCEdD19uaJmAeuV_p9BRfgqYMdq2kPGY29tRUGvBnhQSVU7_ZsFuAmKJ88G4QF-dzx8eFofz_ia9y4etfSVSDC-N7vrkTW9Fe99lN2mVkc5G1IBLiWHaICo3KFQPJbiCno/s640/sh005-ColourFinal-test-02.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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On some screens, this looks more pink than purple, I will have to investigate a little into why that happens..</div>
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But other than that, I just hope everything will get done in time. 7 weeks to go until the deadline...</div>
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Wish me luck!</div>
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---jkl</div>jessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-75092568849028370212012-02-25T16:52:00.002+00:002012-02-25T16:52:30.925+00:00Dissertation Nearly Over - On With WorkThe past 2 weeks have been devoted to finishing my dissertation. The deadline is the 15th March, so I thought it best to finish it as soon as possible. I sent off the final draft to my tutor yesterday (Friday) so hope to receive a little feedback before I fully submit as well as print and bound the whole thing! It has been a struggle to say the least...<br />
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But now - I can finally get back onto my final film! Hooray! :)<br />
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So hopefully more work will be uploaded on here soon.<br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-85525627464714414252012-02-05T16:56:00.001+00:002012-02-05T16:56:13.197+00:00Backgrounds, 2nd/MA help, animating etc...The week before I was due to start animating (according to my own production schedule) I began to draw my backgrounds. These are a selection of the backgrounds I was able to draw in a week.<br />
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I then started to animate. I wanted to start relatively slowly, to get into drawing the characters and to get used to the style and speed I could draw, etc. So I began with a few of the easy shots in the film, the still shots. These require "boiling", so these shots need three frames in order for it to boil successfully without stuttering or looking static. <br />
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As well as this, we were given the opportunity to present our films to a class of second year and MA animation students to ask for help on our films.<br />
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I split the "help" into three roles. Either background digital colouring, frame clean-up and colouring, and animating background characters with key frames provided by me.<br />
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I was lucky enough to receive six willing students to offer their help which I was very pleased with. They stated which aspects they were most interested in, and we exchanged details. I will be preparing work for them to do as soon as possible, as I plan to focus solely on my dissertation after Monday 6th February for a week and a half. In this time, I will assign tasks for a few of the students to do. This will be the background colouring and the animation tasks mainly, as the frame clean-up and colouring is going to need a little more refinement until I am happy to assign them to the help.<br />
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All in all, a busy few weeks, but very successful and hopeful! Might be able to finish this film after all!<br />
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I'm really excited to be working with these students and to get going on everything properly!<br />
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After the week and a half assigned to dissertation writing, I will then solely focus on my film, as long as the dissertation is up to a decent standard and I can get it bound and then forget about it!<br />
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I'm confident in sticking to this and being able to get this done!<br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-18032729032669432612012-01-23T17:28:00.001+00:002012-01-23T17:28:14.360+00:00Final Animatic - Version 2!After the critique/initial feedback I received on the 16th January, I asked to speak to tutor, James, to go over my animatic, and there were a lot of areas that needed development in the story. We went through the points, and I understood all the points. I was not happy with the final animatic I handed in on the 16th and knew there were still a lot of story points I needed to change and develop, so the feedback was really useful.<br />
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<a href="http://littleacornfilm.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Gemma Roberts</a> helped me go through the new story, laying it out and thinking of composition and shots. Here are the scanned images which Gemma drew, which shows the new storyboard animatic layout. The images Gemma drew are the first two sections of box thumbnails, the thumbnails underneath are ones where I was working on frame layout and composition.<br />
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I also met with tutor, Matthew Gravelle, who went through my animatic too, and who also gave me some good points to think about and go through for the new story.<br />
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I worked all day Tuesday, so I was able to show Matthew the new animatic on Wednesday. Thankfully, this animatic then worked much more coherently and now there were only a few shots to change or take out. After this, I worked for the rest of the week to finish the new animatic, adding new sounds and finishing the animatic completely.<br />
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I am much happier with this story, it is much clearer and I feel much more strongly about the project as a whole.<br />
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So here is the Final Animatic - Version 2:<br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/35466229" target="_blank">Babbit - Final Animatic - Version 2</a><br />
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I now will send this new animatic to my composer, who I will ask to complete a rough track for it.<br />
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As well as this, I will hopefully be able to get a presentation together to show to some prospective first and second year animators who I can ask to help on my film.<br />
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-jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-61444445970402714132012-01-15T18:54:00.002+00:002012-01-15T18:54:25.821+00:00Part 2 Submission - Feasibility Test, etc...For the final part of our Pre-Production module hand-in we are required to submit 30 seconds of animations tests, from linetests to full post-production realisation.<br />
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I went to the studio every day last week to animated for this deadline, and was able to do three shots. I scanned them all and composed them into a video. Some are more "complete" than others, merely because of time constraints for this hand-in. (Monday 16th) <br />
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It was good to start actually animating after all this time on pre-production, and by diving straight into scenes from my final animatic, I was able to fully realise the time I needed on some shots more than others.<br />
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The main aspect that caused me difficulty was the hair on Mollie. I was animating her with the hair design I had previously used as the final design. But a few days into animating, I was growing increasingly frustrated with it, and I felt it was hindering each drawing, making it look too static and dead. I therefore changed the hair, made the line flow simply down, resting upon her head, but still in the same "bob" formation. It looked much more natural, and above all, felt much better to draw and animate with! The contriving feelings lifted instantaneously, and I went back and changed the longest scene I was working on to show this new hair design all the way through. This can be seen in the video (link below). As well as showing this hair scene <i>with</i> the new hair design, I have also showed the<i> original</i> hair design to show the comparison. Unfortunately, I did not get time to go back and change the other tests that still had the original hair design, but if these tests are received good enough for the final film, I will then go back and change the hair.<br />
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Hair Design Before:<br />
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Hair Design After:<br />
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Link to the Feasibility Animation Tests:<br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/35095697" target="_blank">Feasibility Animation Tests (Vimeo)</a><br />
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---jkl<br />
<br />jessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-21631263444503897902012-01-08T14:42:00.000+00:002012-01-08T14:42:28.415+00:00Final Animatic [Clean] Over the Christmas holidays, I was able to draw the shots from my animatic again in Photoshop, as 'Part 2' of our hand-in requires a "<i>clean and more detailed</i>" animatic. I decided to draw and colour the frames in a purple colour scheme in line with the final colour plan as described in earlier posts. <br />
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There were a few aspects I needed to change from presenting the rough animatic to my tutors on the 12th December.<br />
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These were:<br />
<i style="color: #45818e;">- In the teacher scene, the angle where the teacher's shadow appears on Babbit needs to be changed back to the first angle used in the first animatic.</i><br />
<div style="color: #45818e;"><i>- The background/overall colour visualisations need something more. The idea for having purple coloured characters on purple backgrounds might not work and you need to test this. Perhaps add more colours in the backgrounds?</i></div><i style="color: #45818e;">-The montage scene (time-lapse) in the middle needs to be shown more clearly in the next animatic.</i><br />
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Also, over the holidays I was able to visit my composer. I showed him the rough animatic (as I had not completed the clean animatic by then) and we discussed the sort of music I would like and what mood I wanted to get across. He said that he couldn't really come up with a track until the animation was all done and the film was timed out. So this has given me a deadline to work to in that I must finish and compile the animation by mid-late April to be able to give enough time for my composer to compose and record the final track. It won't matter at this point if it's not all coloured, he just wants the timing to be finalised so he can work with the emotional beats more effectively. So my time management is of the utmost importance to be able to achieve this. <br />
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Here is the final <u>Clean</u> Animatic:<br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/34674736" target="_blank">Babbit Animatic [Clean]</a><br />
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I didn't change much else in the final animatic, though there may be a few things that need altering throughout the process, but I will wait until the next feedback session before I decide on anything, as I now need to focus on the rest of the work needed for the 'Part 2' hand-in (due the 16th January), which in itself requires:<br />
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- 30 seconds of Animation/Feasibility tests.<br />
- 1000 word Working Life-Industry Report<br />
- 500 word Self-Reflexive Report<br />
- Professional Practise work - Business Card designs, full and up-to-date CV, website links to portfolio, etc<br />
- Final Clean Animatic<br />
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Here are the pages of drawings done for the clean animatic:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg1PNG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg1PNG.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg2PNG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg2PNG.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg3PNG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg3PNG.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg4PNG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg4PNG.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg5PNG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg5PNG.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg6PNG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg6PNG.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg7PNG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg7PNG.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg8PNG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg8PNG.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg9PNG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg9PNG.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg10PNG.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg10PNG.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animatic_pg11PNG.png" width="640" /></div>I tried to embellish some actions where I could. I wanted to show more actions in places, but it just wasn't possible in the time period we have been given to complete this. Therefore, some scenes are not as clear as they should or could be. Also, the last few frames were done on a separate document and were not saved in PNG form, these will be uploaded as soon as possible. <br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-36222540470833575322011-12-11T21:42:00.000+00:002011-12-11T21:42:41.647+00:00More Preparatory Work...<b>Another Background Visualisation</b><br />
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For my production bible, I decided to draw another background visualisation such as the one in a previous post showing Mollie in a classroom. In this one, I would purely focus on the background and instead of drawing everything in Photoshop, I would draw it in pencil first and then apply colour in Photoshop after scanning.<br />
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I set about drawing the background. I decided to work on watercolour paper as a precaution if I wasn't able to achieve the desired effect using Photoshop.<br />
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I scanned the piece in and made sure the image was lighter by adjusting the "Levels" control on Photoshop. Unfortunately, the left-hand side of the illustration did not scan well, and left a shadow impression. I tried to fix it using the clone brush tool as well as the eraser, though it did not help greatly. I know that for my final backgrounds I will have to adopt a better way of scanning, or to use a larger university scanner to make sure the image comes out at a higher quality.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/coatroombg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/coatroombg.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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However, I pursued with the test, and spent about 30 minutes colouring the frame in shades of purple. It did not quite achieve the level of "shadowing" I was hoping, (for this scene in the film will be mostly in shadow with only the light from the door on the floor really prevalent in the shot) but for now, I liked the dry brush setting and the impression of shadows particularly on the bags. I much prefer the pencil quality to that of the entirely Photoshopped visualisation shown in previous posts.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/coatroombg1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/coatroombg1.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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I will therefore be using this method to create all my backgrounds for my final film.<br />
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<b>Extra Characters</b><br />
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My film requires a number of background characters, being set in a primary school. Classmates will be shown in the background in a few of the first scenes to show Mollie's isolation. The idea to draw the characters as my own friends came to me a few weeks ago, as posted before. So here are a few more pictures of more background characters who are influenced off more friends in real life!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/dazfrecha1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/dazfrecha1.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/ness.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/ness.png" width="292" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/me-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/me-1.png" /></a></div> (The last one is me!)<br />
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As well as this, I quickly designed some ideas for the teacher and final child designs for the girl with the skipping rope who makes friends with Mollie, as well as the small girl who is seen in the end scene, alone and upset. For the latter, I will be going with the top right design, as the small bunches give her a younger and more innocent look which I hope will let the audience empathise with her. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/teacherdesign.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/teacherdesign.png" width="228" /></a></div><b></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/littlegirldesigns.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/littlegirldesigns.png" width="592" /></a></div><b><br />
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<b>Final Designs</b><br />
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Here are the final designs for Mollie and Babbit.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/molliecharacterviews.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="414" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/molliecharacterviews.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/babbit-view.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/babbit-view.png" width="640" /></a></div><b> </b>...and some quick new drawings of Babbit's new style...(mainly to get used to drawing his limbs in a simpler style):<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Babbitsketches.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="490" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Babbitsketches.png" width="640" /></a></div><b><br />
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...and some new sketches of Mollie too...<b></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie-sketches.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="484" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie-sketches.png" width="640" /></a></div><b><br />
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<b>Birds Eye View of Mollie's Classroom</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/classroombirdseye.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="568" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/classroombirdseye.png" width="640" /></a></div><b> </b>I thought it was necessary to draw Mollie's classroom in this view to make sure staging for some scenes set in and outside of the classroom are accurate and won't suffer any continuity errors.<br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-78423971351982051612011-12-11T01:55:00.001+00:002011-12-11T22:23:17.450+00:00Second Animatic w/ Feedback - and Third Animatic!<b>The Second Animatic</b><br />
After Matthew's feedback on my first animatic, I went back and changed a lot of my story to try and fit in the relationship build-up of Mollie and Babbit, which Matthew had said, "was not present" in the film. I understood completely where he was coming from, as in this first animatic, the amount of screen time with Mollie and Babbit together is very small, which, for a film about a friendship, seemed a massive flaw.<br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/33152432" target="_blank">Babbit - Second Animatic [Rough] Vimeo Link</a><br />
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So I decided to change certain aspects. To begin with, I cut out the first shot of Mollie and Babbit together, as Matthew said he liked the meeting scene with Mollie and Babbit in the coatroom, and thought that would work well as the first introduction to Babbit for the audience as well. So I began instead with the shots of Mollie looking sad and isolated in school amongst her classmates.<br />
The biggest change I made, however, was to have another character who appeared in the first animatic, have a bigger part. The little girl with the skipping rope who wants to play with Mollie in the first animatic is seen earlier on in this second animatic when Mollie is playing with Babbit.<br />
The reason behind having the girl introduced earlier is to show the audience that when Mollie is seen wanting to go play with someone else who is not Babbit, then Babbit grows smaller. It happens earlier, just before we are introduced to the girl too, when Mollie and Babbit are in a scene in the playground. Mollie is drawing on the ground (with chalk) with Babbit - and the other children are doing the same but across the playground from where they are. When Mollie looks up and sees the other children, we see her looking like she wants to go and play with them. With a few angle changes, we then see Babbit suddenly a bit smaller, as Babbit is beginning to realise that Mollie is starting to grow up and become more independent and doesn't <i>need</i> him. Babbit growing smaller every time when Mollie is seen wanting to grow up was an idea that Matthew really wanted to see in my film, and this was how I went about producing that.<br />
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After the first "encounter" with the girl, it is more obvious that Babbit is smaller, and this is when the teacher comes in and takes Babbit away, as this was a scene I wanted to keep in. Thereafter, the film is pretty similar to the first, with a few extra scenes adjusted; i.e.: the time lapse scene in the middle, and the ending in a silhouette form.<br />
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Here are some rough thumbnails I worked on whilst developing these new scenarios. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/RoughThumbnails.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="472" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/RoughThumbnails.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/RoughThumbnails2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/RoughThumbnails2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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<b>Feedback from James</b><br />
James did not like the second animatic as he felt that I had now made the film "too literal" in the sense that everything was explained too much and there was nothing left for the audience to uncover for themselves. He said that it lacked the subtlety of the first animatic, and that it would be best to go back and refine the first again, with a few ideas from this animatic, but mainly to keep the subtleties and explain the friendship between Mollie and Babbit in a few still illustration scenes with hardly any movement, instead of these drawn out and literal scenes shown in this second animatic.<br />
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I totally understood James' comments, as I didn't have a 'gut feeling' about this animatic, even as I was making it. I made it, trying to live up to Matthew's feedback, but obviously, I didn't want to completely lose the subtleties of the first, though unfortunately, I had. James' critique helped me re-look at my first animatic and spot points that could be improved on and altered. This critique session helped me really envision my film much more clearly, and I believe the changes I made to the animatic in the third version are definitely better executed and still retain the friendship of the characters and the heart of the story.<br />
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<b>The Third Animatic</b><br />
So the main problem Matthew had to start with was the lack of screen time of Mollie and Babbit together. In the discussion with James, we both came up with the idea that the relationship moments with Babbit could appear between the first shots of Mollie on her own in the classroom. I would show Mollie alone at a table, sad and upset, and then the next shot, Mollie could be sat in the library cuddled up to Babbit reading a book. And as I had three scenarios of Mollie alone, I could easily intersperse three more scenarios of Mollie and Babbit together to show their relationship clearly in a montage.<br />
So I quickly went back with this feedback and drew up some new frames to put into the first animatic again. Thankfully, this did not take too long.<br />
I also chose a different piece of music to the one I used in the second version. The new animatic did not fit well with this previous piece, so I went back to a piece I had chosen a few weeks back which I had noted down as a possibility. Erik Satie's "Gymnopedie #1". I love the first phrase of the piece, the simple repeating chords really worked well with the first scenes, and thankfully, pretty much the entire piece of music fitted well, with some minor alterations at the end. I love how soft and emotional the track is, and I feel that it really helps the audience watching connect more with Mollie as a character to empathise with. I will be showing this piece to my composer to discuss ideas inspired by this music choice.<br />
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Here are some pages of drawings, thumbnails for shot development and new final shots for the third animatic:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/roughsketches-scenes1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="438" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/roughsketches-scenes1.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/roughsketches-scenes2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/roughsketches-scenes2.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/roughsketches-scenes3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/roughsketches-scenes3.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/scenes1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="486" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/scenes1.png" width="640" /></a></div><b><br />
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<b>Third Storyboard</b><br />
Here is the storyboard for the third animatic:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/StoryboardLayout.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/StoryboardLayout.png" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/StoryboardLayout-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/StoryboardLayout-2.png" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/StoryboardLayout-3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/StoryboardLayout-3.png" /></a></div><br />
I definitely feel this animatic has more weight and works better story-wise than the first and second. I will be showing this to my peer group on the 12th December after the Hand-In and hope to get some feedback on it. After this feedback, my next task will be to re-draw the entire animatic, adding more effects (with the aid of After Effects) to make a clearer and more detailed FINAL animatic for the second part of our Hand-In on the 16th January. <br />
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Here is the third animatic that I will be submitting as my final Rough animatic for my Hand-In deadline on 12th December:<br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/33398475" target="_blank">Babbit - Third Animatic [Rough] Vimeo Link</a><br />
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Next Post: More Pre-Production Work.<br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-55987340371588094412011-12-05T02:14:00.003+00:002011-12-08T23:59:24.756+00:00Another Colour Scene Test - Production Schedule<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Colour Scene Test</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/ColourTest_Sc1_bg_2.png" width="640" /></div><br />
After the feedback discussed in the previous post, I decided I would simplify the colour scheme for the entire film. In the time we have, it just won't be achievable to fully colour all the backgrounds and character fully. I much prefer simple colour washes anyway, so shown above is another visualisation for a final shot for the film. I very much prefer this version to the coloured one (shown below). It has a more graphic impact, and gives the piece a nostalgic and child-like illustrative quality which I wanted to show.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/ColourTest_Sc1_bg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/ColourTest_Sc1_bg.png" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The multiple-coloured version in comparison, I think, kills the detail and seems disjointed with the pastel colours for the background and the bold colours for the uniforms. I did like the blending to white effect present on the left-hand side of the image to give the impression of light. I used this in the purple version.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The purple version also took a lot less time to colour. Obviously, it is still a rough visualisation, and more time will be spent on the final image. I will continue to test different brushes, drawing methods and textures that can be used until I am satisfied with the result. Overall, the purple version looks better and is less time-consuming. I will show this to my tutors later this week to discuss it further. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Second Animatic </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This week I have also produced my second official animatic. After some feedback with Matthew, I re-storyboarded the film to include more scenes with Mollie and Babbit together to show their friendship more clearly. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Again, with this storyboard, the drawings were roughly done, so the quality of some of the images in the animatic are very bad. As this deadline required a rough animatic with sound, I decided to keep it very rough for now, and will clean it up considerably for the detailed animatic deadline in January.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><a href="http://vimeo.com/33152432" target="_blank">Babbit - Second Animatic [Rough]</a></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I used a piece of music by Liszt. "<i>Consolations, S 172 - Lento Placido</i>". The track fitted the mood of my film relatively well. It is a tad "grand" for the final film, but for the animatic it works, with some emotional beats fitting well. I cut the last section of the song using Premiere Pro very roughly so the ending of the song ended with the animatic too. The animatic is pretty much 3 minutes long exactly, so full animation is about 2 minutes, 50 seconds. There still may be some pacing issues, as Matthew told me to cut some scenes down as they were too long. I tried to do this, but I will show this to him and other tutors this week to see what they think.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Feedback on the second animatic from James: </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I showed the new animatic to James earlier today, and unfortunately he found the new animatic way too literal. In the previous animatic, the moments between Mollie and Babbit and Mollie feeling shy and anxious were way more subtle than the new version. I wanted to take on Matthew's points, but I can absolutely see where I went wrong. I think I was panicing about the relationship with Mollie and Babbit coming across well, instead of trying to think of clever shots. I had changed a great deal, bringing the 'other classmate' into the story more, and making the story more literal. James reminded me that in film, things don't have to be completely literal, and that there could be much more subtle shots that indicate Mollie and Babbit's relationship that could speak a great deal more than literally explaining everything in unnecessary scenes. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So unfortunately, I will have to abandon a lot of the newer elements I included in the new animatic and go back to the first version to refine and make clearer. It was unfortunate, especially as I spent a long time on Premier Pro to help the animatic flow clearly, but overall, I want my story to be subtle and sweet. I lost sight doing the new animatic, as I overlooked lots of moments in an attempt to keep to the points Matthew gave me. I perhaps went a little too far in the wrong direction! I will now refine the first animatic, with some parts of the second(!) to make sure I have a clear idea ready for the Christmas holidays.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Production Schedule </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I also produced a Gantt Chart to pre-visualise the time I have in production for the film.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/BabbitProductionSchedule2012-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/BabbitProductionSchedule2012-1.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHdb0SrhFS0a8oA-KjSVP-ZFQT716Y-0l1yMLGNJn3xHZxvBCheIoVi2JfLu-UBD8E2wvtmIuhl4K8Y3I5K8O6bx9_GHfjbGufodSPM1MvvJKTwAhdJXpJFJowc6rbzH1NWGhdEpR792M/s1600/Babbit+Production+Schedule+2012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/BabbitProductionSchedule2012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The red squares represent the week of final deadline. I included my dissertation in the 'Task' column too, as this is something I definitely need to schedule in too!! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The final deadline for the film hand-in is the 14TH MAY. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I have made sure that compositing and editing of my film will happen at the same time as my animation. I could set a weekly task to scan and put together my work from the week and put it into my animatic for timing/layout and composition checks. By doing this straight away, it will ensure I won't have anything outsandingly wrong or difficult to fix at a later stage in production.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Overall I want to be spending the most time focusing on the quality of my animation. I have highlighted the time to finish animating around the last week of April. This would give me enough time to then finish colouring and compositing everything together. This is my aim, though it is likely to change as and when I start!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Planning for Production </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>I will hopefully ask some second and first year animators to help me with the colouring of some of the frames too. As the colour scheme will now be very simplified, it will hopefully mean the colouring process won't take as long. I will test some more colour ideas and possibly time it and then try to calculate more accurately how long colouring will take. From last year, when I worked on Eva Wagner's film, I was able to see her own production schedule for her fully hand-drawn animated film, "<i>Sun and Moon</i>". I noted how efficient she was in organising her time, with daily aims in number of frames. She had started animating before most of the class, and everyone remarked on her dedication. From seeing her working method work so well, I will be aiming to do the same. I will stick to the schedule as tightly as possible. I want to be proud of my final film, and above all, I want it to be finished. <b>Strict dedication to the schedule is the only way to fully realise this!!</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I will produce another schedule that fully realises <b>everyday</b> goals. Eva worked every day for several months producing 60 frames a day. I will work out the 'math!' and post this as soon as possible, though it will most likely be similar, if not exactly the same to Eva's! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">All pre-production work is due in on Monday 12th December, so exactly a week! I'm positive I'll be able to hand this all in in time. It'll be great to "finish" the pre-production and move on to the actual production stage. I will be updating at least one or two more posts with pre-production work. Some more colour tests, etc. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Aim for the week:</b> Finish all necessary preparatory work ready for Hand-In on the 12th December!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Rework the animatic! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">---jkl</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>jessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-41451599752345620182011-11-30T17:03:00.000+00:002011-11-30T17:03:57.973+00:00Scene Colour Test and more Animatic Feedback...<b>Scene Colour Test:</b><br />
I produced a frame from the beginning of the film in detail and attempted a colour test. This was prior to the comments from Jerry Hibbert (below), but it definitely supports his feedback. It took me a long time to choose the colours, and a long time to execute them to a standard I was (somewhat) happy with, but the time taken to do this needs to be taken into consideration for the time I would have on the final film and how many backgrounds of a similar look would be needed to be coloured this way.<br />
I added some background characters to show ideas of what the other children could look like in the same shot. I used a "dry media brush" in Photoshop for the background colours. I like the grainy/canvas look. I'll do some more tests with other brushes and other textures to find ones that work well for the final film.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/ColourTest_Sc1_bg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/ColourTest_Sc1_bg.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I also did some little fun sketches of other background character designs. It was a "eureka!" moment when I realised instead of getting bogged down with creating other characters, I could draw my own friends as children! It was too cute of an idea not to draw them straight away! So here are a few - all from my animation course!<br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animkids.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="530" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/animkids.png" width="640" /></a></div><b></b><br />
<br />
<b>Further Animatic Feedback:</b><br />
<b>1.</b> In the morning I saw Matthew Gravelle, for some feedback on my first animatic as shown in the previous post. He provided some interesting points:<br />
<br />
-<span style="color: #134f5c;">Cut the first scene where Mollie and Babbit are sitting on the wall.</span><br />
Matthew thought the scene where Mollie meets Babbit in the coatroom later on in the animatic would work better if the audience wasn't already familiar with Babbit. By cutting the first scene, thus starting the film with Mollie in the classroom on her own, would show her loneliness more clearly, and make the first meeting scene in the coatroom stronger.<br />
<br />
-<span style="color: #134f5c;">All scenes are a little too long by about 2 seconds or so. </span><br />
I will go back to the animatic and cut some shots down. I was trying to show long shots for a slower, more moodier atmosphere, but some shots do need to be trimmed down, as they really are too long.<br />
<br />
-<span style="color: #134f5c;">Extend the meeting (in the coatroom) scene with Mollie and Babbit. Get a more emotional impact. Then do a montage scene of Mollie and Babbit together. In the montage, have some very simple shots, illustration-like, not much movement, with her classmates doing the same activities as Mollie and Babbit. Show Mollie wanting to join in every time, with Babbit growing a little smaller every time she does so. In this animatic, you don't get the importance of Mollie's relationship with Babbit. This should be the most important thing to show.</span><br />
This is a very good point that had somehow been overseen in the animatic, but something that I was becoming aware of. Mollie and Babbit weren't really shown together on-screen for very long at all. I'm really glad Matthew pointed this out. It means I have to go back and change a big chunk of work, but I do really need to show Mollie and Babbit together more, for clarity, and for the story to have meaning! I will also try and make sure the montage doesn't have much movement to save myself the trouble of difficult pieces of animation performance. It will require precise and clear story-telling through strong layout and composition.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>2.</b> As well as Matthew, I also emailed Jerry Hibbert and a a few of the guys at Hibbert Ralph, my animatic. I went to the Hibbert Ralph Animation studio in Soho, London, over the summer for a work experience placement. I started developing story ideas for my final film whilst I was there, and was able to show my ideas to a few of the people there, so I had some great influences right at the beginning. Jerry Hibbert gave me some feedback on my first animatic:<br />
<br />
-<span style="color: #134f5c;">I couldn't really understand the narrative of your animatic. But there some sweet images in there of the girl and her rabbit - both the giant one and the regular one.</span><br />
I will have to work on the clarity of my animatic, for the narrative didn't seem to come through here. I will be drawing a neater version for the next animatic, so hopefully the narrative will become clearer then.<br />
<br />
-<span style="color: #134f5c;">Make sure that when you cut, the figures change size so it cuts properly and for a reason and doesn't look like a weird arbitrary jump cut. And cutting from full face to profile can be odd too. Three quarters views are usually prettier anyway - try to avoid full profiles. Work it up more and make sure the story comes across. </span><br />
I'll make sure the cuts are clearer and the proportions are more accurately drawn in the next animatic. I also like the point about keeping 3/4 shots of Mollie's face instead of the frontal ones. I will definitely incorporate this into the next animatic. It will hopefully help me sort out problems with composition and layout etc. <br />
<br />
- <span style="color: #134f5c;">Don't worry too much about colouring it all up. A film with a title and an end looks like you followed the project through. what you want people to think is "She can animate well - and has the staying power to finish." Not necessarily "She's good at colouring her animation." </span><br />
I really appreciated this comment in particular. The colour in my final film is still not completely thought out and finalised, purely for the reason that I did not know which way to go. In prior tests with feedback, the "lilac shades" looked nice but seemed like a "lazy" option to some, whereas the full range of more realistic colours (skin colour, blonde hair colour, red school jumper, etc) looked better, but took far longer to achieve. It's a case of weighing up these pros and cons and judging which will be best to go forward with. I do think a simple colour palette, with just simple shades of a certain colour would work, and it's a style I really love anyway. Full colour would look great, but in the time I have to complete this film, I think it may be more realistic to use a limited colour palette. My intentions right at the beginning were to keep the colours simple anyway. I want people to focus on the animation performance and the story the most. The colour and backgrounds were not as important to me, overall. I will produce some more visual tests to see what method could work, more working with the limited colour palette.<br />
<br />
So this week I will:<br />
-Develop a second version of the storyboard/animatic, and I need to find and edit some music for it. <br />
-Do further, more extensive colour tests of scenes that could be in the final film. Test colours, brushes etc.<br />
-Start the Negotiated Proposal and Production Bible ready for Hand-In for the 12th December.<br />
<br />
<br />
---jkl<br />
<br />
<br />
jessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-50856837822858597032011-11-24T15:59:00.000+00:002011-11-24T15:59:00.444+00:00A New Storyboard - Animatic w/ Feedback..This past week I gathered all my notes and feedback from the past few weeks of development and set about re-drawing my storyboard.<br />
<br />
I had started drawing small story situations as rough biro thumbnails. This method really helped me act out the scene ideas quickly without worrying about the shot construction too much. I just needed to get the information done as quickly as possible.<br />
<br />
These scans show my <b>preliminary story sketch thumbnails </b>done over a few weeks (since my first storyboard).<br />
<br />
<b>1.</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_notethumbs_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_notethumbs_001.jpg" width="436" /></a></div> In this page, the thumbnails start by showing beginning ideas for shots in the film. Mollie sitting by the window, with different shot ideas. The next line has ideas for how Mollie then walks out of the room and into the coatroom..<br />
<br />
<b>2.</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_notethumbs_002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_notethumbs_002.jpg" width="460" /></a></div>These thumbnails start by showing Mollie inside by the window again. I was trying to get different perspectives.. A teacher comes in, tells Mollie to leave and shuts the door. Mollie is then slightly begrudged, and sighs. A football slams into the window behind her in the shot and, startled, she jumps, then runs into the coatroom. She hides inside a coat. A shadow grows as it nears the room where Mollie is. There are lots of reaction close ups of Mollie's face to show her being scared. Then a pair of rabbit ears spring up, and a large rabbit nose appears through the door at a side angle for a cute, comical appearance.<br />
<br />
<b>3.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_notethumbs_003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_notethumbs_003.jpg" width="452" /></a></div>These thumbnails follow on from the page before... Babbit steps through the door and makes his way over to Mollie. This would be the first introduction of Babbit to the audience, which is why Mollie looks slightly perplexed and confused when she first sees him.<br />
<br />
As I was thumb nailing, I started to realise how long this scene would be, and how much time it would take up in the film. If I wanted to show Mollie's insecurities and Babbit helping her to overcome them with three "acts/moments", this first meeting/introduction scene to Babbit was definitely taking too long to show...<br />
<br />
I wrote down an idea - "<i>Babbit there right at the beginning?</i>" I went with it. If Babbit and Mollie were simply established right at the beginning as being together, then I had much more space to create and develop the story. <br />
<br />
So the bottom thumbnails show some shot ideas for the very beginning of the film - a fence as a foreground. Mollie's head would bob up and down, walking behind the fence with the top of her head visible. She would stop, look behind, and then there would be Babbit (large) bounding into shot behind her... I was thinking of wall height - as Babbit would be much taller than Mollie, the "camera" would follow the fence which would then show a wall which was taller than the fence. So then, the shot would show just babbit's ears bobbing up and down...<br />
<br />
<b>4.</b> <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_notethumbs_004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_notethumbs_004.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These set of thumbnails start by showing another establishing shot for the film. Mollie and Babbit are sitting with their backs to the camera, and Mollie is leaning on him stroking his face gently. The school bell would ring, and Mollie gets off the wall and walks away, Babbit watching her leave with a caring and warm look. Then it cuts to lots of ideas for Mollie in shot, isolated. Her head is in the same area of the screen as she stays relatively still, looking shy, unconfident and sad and her classmates would be looking happy and getting along with other things (etc). Examples of shot locations - the classroom, the Sports Hall, the lunch room table, the changing rooms...(etc) Then a shot of her classmates running outside, and Mollie turning back towards the camera and walking into the coatroom for the meeting with Babbit scene. This time, there are far less shots that the first few thumbnails as shown in Thumbnail pages 2 and 3, as Babbit has already been established right at the start. This gives <i>more</i> room to play with <i>fewer</i> shots that are <i>better constructed</i> to give the same/necessary information. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>5. </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_notethumbs_005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_notethumbs_005.jpg" width="394" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This page of thumbnails continues from the one before, with Babbit helping Mollie tie her shoelaces. The "tying shoelaces" theme is still one I want to keep. Though not as prominent as in these shots. I will change this by having more subtle shots of Mollie with her shoelaces undone at the beginning of the film, and then showing Mollie tying them herself later on to show she is growing up.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Initial Feedback:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I showed these to my tutor, James, on the 14th November. I was having a lot of trouble trying to sort out the middle section of my story still. These pages showed the build-up, and I still wanted the ending shown in the first storyboard, but I just wasn't connecting with the middle section. James helped me tremendously. I initially wanted to show Babbit growing smaller bit by bit as Mollie grew in confidence, but I knew this was definitely going to be challenging. I also hadn't completely worked out whether Babbit is visible to others.. James simply said that (in regards to the scene where Mollie is in the coatroom with Babbit) that the teacher could only see Babbit as a "real" and ordinary sized rabbit. Therefore, Babbit is actually a normal rabbit, but in Mollie's eyes, he is a huge, cuddly and comforting imaginary-friend size rabbit. I instantly loved the idea, especially the potential for the film where the audience will realise Babbit is real! After the reveal then, the teacher could send Mollie outside and now I could show Mollie having to face up to her situation of loneliness head on. Time could pass, showing Mollie alone still, but at the end of the moment, it could show Mollie accepting a friendship from a classmate and being content with it. Growing up; learning to not be afraid of an unfamiliar situation(s), but to give it a chance and see what happens!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Second Storyboard: </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">From this feedback session I finally had a clearer vision for my entire film with the middle starting to take shape. I decided to draw another set of thumbnails, this time, as an initial rough working out for the second official storyboard.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Babbit_Thumbs_Storyboard_v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="496" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Babbit_Thumbs_Storyboard_v2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">From this, I then started to draw the shots on wide post-it notes again as seen in the first storyboard. These are still very rough, but clearer than the thumbnails. I needed to show more detail, as this storyboard would be turned into an animatic. I didn't want to make it completely detailed, as I knew it would need lots of alterations in future feedback sessions. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I then put together an animatic from this second storyboard. I brought the photos (shown above) into Photoshop and cut them into separate images. Using Premiere Pro, I lengthened specific shots and shortened others, I added a title and put in some cross fades at particular moments I felt needed them. I began to look for a music track, but felt I really just needed to focus on the story first. I will add music in my<i> second</i> rough animatic. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>**Animatic will be here on 26.11.11 due to internet problems!**</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Feedback from the First Animatic (21.11.11): </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u><b>1. Gemma</b></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I showed my rough animatic to Gemma Roberts<b> </b>(<i>a friend on my course who's doing an <u>epic</u> film</i>: <b><a href="http://littleacornfilm.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://littleacornfilm.blogspot.com/</a> ). </b>She gave me a few points to think about after watching the animatic:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #073763;">After Mollie has been sent outside, instead of having the "time" montage of Mollie </span><i style="color: #073763;">inside</i><span style="color: #073763;">, the focus should be on Mollie </span><i style="color: #073763;">outside</i><span style="color: #073763;"> at break times alone. I.e.: The times when she would usually see Babbit. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #a64d79; text-align: left;"> This is a good point that I had not previously considered. I will definitely incorporate this point into my second animatic! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">-<span style="color: #073763;"> Instead of showing the classmates (and teacher) "ignoring" or not trying to get involved with Mollie in the beginning few shots when she is being left out, I could instead show the teacher and classmates <i>wanting</i> Mollie to get involved, but Mollie simply wants to be alone with Babbit. This could be shown with Mollie constantly doodling pictures of rabbits, rabbit-shaped sandwiches, rabbit keyrings etc.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #a64d79; text-align: left;"> Although this is a great point, I think that if I showed Mollie ignoring the attention of the classmates then the ending scene (where a girl in her class asks to play with her) a little confusing, and Mollie could come across badly. I understand the point, I have to make sure I don't make the scenes look like Mollie is being completely isolated by her peers. I just need to show that she is shy and unconfident and the other classmates don't really know much about it. It will have to be subtly done. Challenge accepted!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #a64d79; text-align: left;">As well as this, Gemma suggested ideas for how some shots could be re-adjusted for clarity. She also lent me the book "Dream Worlds" by Hans Bacher for background research. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #a64d79; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #a64d79; text-align: left;"><u><b>2. James</b></u><b> </b> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #a64d79; text-align: left;">I then spoke to my tutor, James Manning who offered me some feedback/advice.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;">-<span style="color: #073763;">The first shot perhaps needs to be set up a little better. Instead of having Mollie and Babbit in the shot straight away, It could instead have Mollie in a third of the frame, with the other 2/3s showing children playing or maybe even the sound of a playground to give the impression she is on her own, sitting on (a wall) and she is lonely, sad etc. A pan camera movement could then reveal the large rabbit, and then Mollie can embrace him. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #a64d79; text-align: left;"> I liked this idea, as it definitely sets up the film in a more fluid and visual way. The audience needs to recognise Mollie as alone and sad and young. When Babbit is revealed, the audience will be surprised to see the large rabbit, but will instantly recognise him as a symbol of comfort for this sad, lonely girl. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="color: black;">- <span style="color: #073763;">James suggested I cut out a few shots out from the final scene. He liked this image a lot...:</span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5iPY6iKEwGSaW6vWdIxDIM-w6QJWboTXzumKRugRhYx4jfWEgNlTFcaP9UeehPeqQYekxRnPWawEqhQSahm1IH_SW5EA5M7yKDQnc24zhjm3B-cWf3uL203wTc5ksq0OuVfX9DqQQ3No/s1600/062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5iPY6iKEwGSaW6vWdIxDIM-w6QJWboTXzumKRugRhYx4jfWEgNlTFcaP9UeehPeqQYekxRnPWawEqhQSahm1IH_SW5EA5M7yKDQnc24zhjm3B-cWf3uL203wTc5ksq0OuVfX9DqQQ3No/s320/062.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #073763; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #073763;"></span></span></span></span>...and felt that the shots in-between didn't need to be there up to the point where Babbit bounds off to be with the new child: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #073763; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYKmepJ3t3xmR0XV3-Mi216xLQDPGqr6xPL1w_tPcmFywv9h0PUCFpaOFGxfSMk1mHWcdN3ogF9clEoQKbErP6yJJ9lhkdqvxMuqooBTJQf8hUS8K4utkWkndc9BBAvOrCHufqPpFZXF8/s1600/072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYKmepJ3t3xmR0XV3-Mi216xLQDPGqr6xPL1w_tPcmFywv9h0PUCFpaOFGxfSMk1mHWcdN3ogF9clEoQKbErP6yJJ9lhkdqvxMuqooBTJQf8hUS8K4utkWkndc9BBAvOrCHufqPpFZXF8/s320/072.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #073763; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #073763; text-align: left;">The hug scene was too "shmultzy" and he felt it wasn't needed. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="color: black;"> <span style="color: #a64d79;">I wasn't too sure about this, as I really like the hug sequence! I saw his reasons for his argument, so will work on the shots he had an issue with to make them stronger visually, as I believe these shots are a lot weaker than others in my film and can definitely be improved. However, I don't think I'm strong enough to let go of the hug sequence entirely! </span></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #a64d79; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #a64d79; text-align: left;">- For the first sequence showing Mollie in different school situations, Mollie needs to be placed on the left-hand side of the frame to begin with so to comply with filmic lanuage and the rule of thirds in film. He also suggested Mollie progressively moving across the screen (starting from the left) and over to the right to further implement the illusion of time passing. James suggested to look up Bruce Block for further research on filmic language and ideas.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"> This could be used in either the first or second sequence where time passes. I think it would work best for the second sequence, however I will try both to see how/if it works. I very much like the idea of Mollie progressively moving across the screen, it will give a lovely fluidity which will hopefully look great if done well. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #073763; text-align: left;">-James further told me to keep vigilant about continuity in certain shots. For example, when Mollie and Babbit are discovered by the teacher, (when the door opens and the teacher's shadow is visible on Mollie and Babbit) it cuts to a side profile shot of Mollie. The shot before clearly shows Mollie and Babbit standing next to each other, so Mollie would actually be obscured by Babbit. I will have to decide how I want to work this out. Either Mollie steps forward to keep the shot of her from the side, or I have a back shot of Mollie's head so she can then fully turn round to face the camera as the teacher walks past her to get Babbit. James reminded me of the 180 degree rule in filmic language too, whereby to keep the fluidity of a scene, the camera shouldn't cut past a character's face profile over 180 degrees. This leads to a sense of disengagement, which could hinder the film's clarity and fluidity. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u><b>3. Leonie and the MAs.</b></u> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I had organised earlier in the day to see my tutor, Leonie, to show her my animatic too. She suggested I come to her MA lecture in the afternoon so I could get feedback from the MA animators too. So I showed the animatic and got some great feedback from the class and Leonie. When Leonie asked the MAs to interpret the story after the animatic had finished, one student completely understood the story and got everything spot on! I was very shocked but pleased I had got the message across clearly! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So here are the points they gave me:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">-<span style="color: #073763;">Keep an eye out for the proportions of Mollie. She sometimes looks much older than she should do. She needs to look young and chubby. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #073763;">Keep the hug shot! Leonie loved the final hug sequence between Mollie and Babbit and basically forbade me to cut it out! The MA's liked it too.</span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> I was very glad, as I was a bit disheartened when James had told me to cut it out. Leonie wholly disagreed, so I will definitely be keeping this scene in the film! As described above in James' feedback, I won't completely dismiss his feedback, as I value everyone's opinions greatly. I just need to make those shots stronger to support the "shmultz". </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">-<span style="color: #073763;"> The Babbit reveal at the beginning could be extended. Maybe Mollie is lying down on the wall looking upset, and her head appears to be lying on something fluffy. The camera would slowly pan to reveal the fluffy thing as Babbit to make this scene a little more interesting.</span> <span style="color: #073763;">Think of shot construction more effectively. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> Great little "reveal" idea! I will definitely play around with this for my second animatic!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">-<span style="color: #073763;"> There was confusion when Mollie sees rabbit outside after she's just began to play with a classmate. The MA's were wondering whether this was a different rabbit altogether.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> This is a tough question to see to. I will have to work on the build up to this particular scene to make sure the audience definitely realises this as the same Babbit throughout the film.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #073763; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #073763; text-align: left;">- Leonie was uncertain why Babbit was taken off Mollie in the scene with the teacher finding Babbit. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> I want to show that Babbit is actually the class pet. I think I will have to show this at an earlier point to make the connection a bit more obvious, as perhaps to have Babbit revealed as the class pet just after the teacher finds him is a bit unclear. There is a scene where Mollie is in the classroom right at the beginning (in the first progressive time-span scene) where I can put a rabbit hutch in the background to show continuity. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">- <span style="color: #073763;">Work on the pacing of the film. Some scenes go to quickly, to slowly.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #073763;">- Instead of being introduced to the new child right at the end of the film, the child could feature at an earlier point to further create a sense of fluidity. She could be featured in the background of any of the scenes with Mollie present. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">-<span style="color: #073763;"> Leonie suggested for me to look at James Thurber illustrations of rabbits to help me</span>. She had suggested this to me in the first meeting I had with her. His illustrations depict great subtlety and the lines are incredibly sparse, but the gestures are always clear and readable. I will research his works further for the next post. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">From this feedback I will now develop a second animatic encompassing all these points to help my story work more coherently. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">---jkl</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>jessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-46806976091822355952011-11-23T00:32:00.000+00:002011-11-23T00:32:49.994+00:00A Quick Forgotten Sketch/Story Development Idea!On Monday the 7th of November I had a brief meeting with our tutor, Matthew, to briefly go through my story ideas... This was the week I had started animating the Mollie and Babbit walk cycles.<br />
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At this point I was still stuck on the middle section of my film; specifically, how I was going to depict Mollie as shy and embarassed and why Babbit's love and comfort is so important for her...<br />
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Matthew suggested I draw some early school situations, drawn from my own memories or just my own ideas of how a shy child would feel uncomfortable, nervous and unconfident.<br />
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He suggested some P.E. situations, such as Mollie being chosen last in a class doing a school sport... Also, having Mollie being "picked on" for her lunch items, for her hair cut, etc...so I played with these idea and drew a few sketches... I most prefered the P.E. situations, as thses would come across strongly in the film and would provide an excellent oppurtunity for character performance!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_PE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_PE.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I especially liked the drawing of Mollie in her P.E. uniform holding a tennis racket, though I feel she looks quite a bit older than she should. As I want Mollie in the film to look around 5 years old, I think that schools would probably encourage slightly easier sports activities for their lessons... This exercise presented some very insightful little scene ideas which I will incorporate for my next storyboard.<br />
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Matthew also suggested I get in contact with a local Primary school to ask whether I can visit for a day or two to perhaps observe the Primary school environement so I could get some first-hand research for my film. I have not yet found a school to contact, but I will hope to do so very soon. If I do not get the chance to do so by the end of this term, I will try and visit a Primary school during my Christmas holidays (and before those schools break up too!)<br />
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<b>Next post</b>: A New Storyboard and Animatic with Feedback!<br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-40525267524458963692011-11-14T18:16:00.002+00:002011-11-22T23:47:20.048+00:00Animation Tests...This past week I have been producing a walk cycle for my main character, Mollie.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9R2lxAvk8ZNIL9QZvJJeiERLkSmKMPROBl5RXF4gOP31FwotgpF76Xdfgzxo8WUf-mbvQsUydEirFcFBQd14xDikdkKFVcM-_ZZJ8yV6LB8Qu3NYWIyb_YIzuFlZh_GgG_GfB2G4P2U/s1600/M-walk-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9R2lxAvk8ZNIL9QZvJJeiERLkSmKMPROBl5RXF4gOP31FwotgpF76Xdfgzxo8WUf-mbvQsUydEirFcFBQd14xDikdkKFVcM-_ZZJ8yV6LB8Qu3NYWIyb_YIzuFlZh_GgG_GfB2G4P2U/s640/M-walk-001.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I had a lot of trouble at the start, as I was finding it hard to stop the character from limping. I did a fair few linetests at the start! I had drawn out some key poses taken from the reference as shown in the previous post. These very rough thumbnails provided me with some initial keys to refer to. However, they did not help as much as I thought they would..<br />
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<b>Thumbnails of (the real) Mollie walking:</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_sadwalkthumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="518" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_sadwalkthumb.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<b>Thumbnails of Ellen walking:</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Ellen_sadwalkthumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="486" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Ellen_sadwalkthumb.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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From talking to a few friends, they identified the problems I had were in the <i>spacing</i> of the feet. After they showed me the method of charting the position of the back of the heel for each frame and making sure they were all equal in length, I was finally able to complete a walk cycle properly!<br />
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I then faced a lot of trouble with the back arm of the character; the movement was hard to achieve, even with the front arm's movement working well. I had to stop re-working it, however, as too much time was being spent on trying to perfect it. The general movement of the cycle was working, so I then scanned and brought the images into Photoshop. <br />
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Here is a link to a video of the final rough pencil test for Mollie. I have coloured the lines purple (to resemble the style-inspiration of Sara Ogilvie's illustrations from "<i>Rhinos Don't Eat Pancakes</i>"). I then coloured it in two styles. First, a lilac monotone colour, which was suggested in the feedback from fellow students in the calss from the week 6 pecha kucha presentations. The second, a selection of colours that reflect a more realistic vision of what a real school uniform would look like:<br />
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/32039043" target="_blank">Mollie Walk Cycle [rough]</a><br />
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I showed these to my tutor, James, today (Monday 14th Nov) at the seminar. He suggested I now try and composit a background in After Effects with the pencil test, which could then give me a clearer vision of what the final film could really look like. <br />
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Also, as I have been having increasing difficulties with my story, I was able to have some great feedback from James. He gave me some clear ideas on which way to take a certain story point, which I will discuss further in another post.<br />
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Also today, I finished a 'Babbit' walk/run cycle. Another friend on my course was able to get me some brilliant reference of their pet rabbit running around which helped extensively for this task.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/IMG_2780.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/IMG_2780.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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This video shows my pencil test for the character, 'Babbit'. It is a walk/run cycle. There are a few areas that need refining. I will either come back to them at a later stage, or fix them in the final production of my film. I coloured the lines of 'Babbit' purple to match the walk colour test with Mollie.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd7bWQ0tORUSaQwE1ljYjEFxYHlCLAi9BRBxCLAI5ppEKkg-EYIk42LAD7devYxtvsx4vWZtbCJDI7iabCTLcKCoGnLDUihLA_NH91WO2BgT8tfs9EGMzdPOUbU-yYJLIiynQNeMfxXuA/s1600/Babbithop_003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd7bWQ0tORUSaQwE1ljYjEFxYHlCLAi9BRBxCLAI5ppEKkg-EYIk42LAD7devYxtvsx4vWZtbCJDI7iabCTLcKCoGnLDUihLA_NH91WO2BgT8tfs9EGMzdPOUbU-yYJLIiynQNeMfxXuA/s640/Babbithop_003.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/32261988" target="_blank">Babbit Walk/Run Cycle [rough] - Vimeo Link</a><br />
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I will be re-storyboarding the entire film this week with the new and improved ideas from today's seminar. I will also need to attempt the background for the walk cycle's as part of a test to see how the final film may look. This will require me to research more into the design of the backgrounds I really want, so I will be posting some background designs and tests as soon as I can.<br />
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I will also be working on my "working life" report; an 1000 word report as part of our entire project hand-in. We are asked to write about a work experience placement if we had one; to talk about the industry we are aiming to go into; what business is like at the moment, what we learned from the experience, etc... As I was fortunate to have a brilliant 5 week placement in London over the summer, I will be writing about that.<br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-90007155866300881342011-11-10T13:28:00.000+00:002011-11-10T13:28:02.424+00:00Design Development and Reference Footage...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><u>Mollie Design Development </u></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Some development sketches for Mollie's design. I was trying to find the best way of drawing Mollie's side, back and front face profile. The front profile is the most challenging. Drawing the whole chin cuts off the face shape from the rest of her body (as seen in the second on the left, top row). Drawing the chin that cuts off slightly for the front profile works much better (third from the left, bottom row). The side profile's work well, giving her a round chin and small nose shows her age and adds a "cute" aesthetic which is what I want to show.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_heads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_heads.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_expressions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On deviantART there is a brilliant meme that many artists have used called the "Expressions Meme" where you draw your own character depicting different moods/expressions. It's a good exercise to do when trying to build your character, making (her) more real and meaningful. For instance, I really like the "pouty" expression for Mollie. I haven't played with the idea that Mollie is a little bit moody in the film, but it is a possible character trait development idea..</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_expressions.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="512" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_expressions.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_expressions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
<u><b>More Story Development Idea Sketches </b></u><br />
A few more sketches of Mollie's face and side profiles are featured at the top of the page. The bottom of the page shows more sketches of story/situation ideas; i.e. Mollie drawing on the ground with chalk; Mollie in a winter coat and scarf; Mollie hugging Babbit; Mollie sitting on Babbit's head, reading.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_storydev_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="472" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_storydev_01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Mollie being nudged forward by Babbit was an idea featured in a previous post. It was a powerful image, one that I want to incorporate into the second storyboard for my film. I think it is important to show Babbit pushing Mollie to go play with her classmates. Mollie is shy and unconfident and Babbit is there to change that. It's hard to step forward and take a chance in life, so this is showing that in the context of a younger child and a "imaginary friend" image. I was also thinking whether the film needed a fantasy sequence, or something dream-like. The image of Babbit and Mollie beside each other with Mollie upside-down and seemingly weightless has an "Alice In Wonderland" feel to it, which could be a dream Mollie has.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_storydev_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_storydev_02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Here are some more story/situation ideas with Mollie and Babbit. Mollie drawing; Mollie painting on Babbit; Mollie reading on a beanbag; Mollie looking quite worried standing next to Babbit; and Mollie riding Babbit looking happy. I am still not sure whether I want to incorporate Mollie riding on Babbit's back in the final film. It's quite a generic situation with a small child and a large "magical" friend. Babbit therefore needs to be "taken more seriously". Yes, he's a large rabbit and yes he's soft and cuddly, but he is also there to help Mollie grow in confidence.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_storydev_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="460" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_storydev_03.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<b><u>Uniform Designs </u></b><br />
Different uniform designs for Mollie. I need to select one that works best whilst animating and also looks good visually too. In the storyboard's, I automatically drew Mollie in a large jumper and skirt. These are some other possibilities I may want to experiment with once I have a finished walk cycle. I will need to get some colour examples done too. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_uniform.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_uniform.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
Here are some bag/lunch box designs I may want to use in the final film too.</div><br />
<a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/bags.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/bags.jpg" width="640" /></a> <br />
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<b><u>Reference Footage - Walk, Run, Skip </u></b><br />
I was able to get some brilliant reference of my cousins walking, running and skipping. These will help me greatly with the animation tests and as reference in general. I've taken stills from these videos of the back of their heads for privacy.<br />
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(The real!) Mollie, skipping:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie-skip-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie-skip-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie-skip-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie-skip-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
..and walking:<b><u></u></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie-walk-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie-walk-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><u><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie-walk-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie-walk-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><u><br />
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Ellen (older sister) and Mollie walking:<b><u></u></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/EM-walk-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/EM-walk-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><u><br />
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..and running:<b><u></u></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/EM-run-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/EM-run-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><u><br />
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Ellen and Joe (younger brother) walking:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/EJ-walk-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/EJ-walk-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
As I was with my cousins, I had the idea to ask them to draw "Mollie and Babbit" as they appear in my film. I drew a quick picture of the latest designs for Mollie and Babbit, and they set about drawing them!<br />
This is what they came up with:<br />
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Ellen - Age 11: (<i>Brilliant rabbit drawing!</i>)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Ellen_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="312" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Ellen_02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Mollie - Age 9: (<i>Mollie and Babbit are featured here in the library in front of a bookcase!</i>)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/molliedrawing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="402" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/molliedrawing.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Joe - Age 5: (<i>Mollie in red and white and a multi-coloured Babbit!</i>)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/joedrawing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/joedrawing.jpg" width="462" /></a></div><br />
On the Story Development side, I have been reading a few chapters from "<i>Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts</i>" by Nancy Beiman, lent to me by my friend. It's given me a good few tips and pointers on developing my story. It says in one part, that a good, solid beginning and end for your film is important. The middle section can be built upon - this was a great relief! <br />
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Next week I will be properly finishing an animation test, so I will leave then compile all my initial animation tests and present them in the next post. <br />
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Next week: Animate a walk cycle!! Re-storyboard for Monday and possibly start creating an animatic.<br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-77212668576112625222011-10-31T18:18:00.001+00:002011-11-01T10:14:44.833+00:00This week - Mid-way 'Pecha Kucha' PresentationThis week we were asked to produce a '<i>Pecha Kucha</i>' presentation to display all of our work so far in picture-form.<br />
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<a href="http://www.pecha-kucha.org/what">http://www.pecha-kucha.org/what</a><br />
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The Pecha Kucha presentation is a format used to simplify and condense a presentation. You must have 20 slides, and each slide must only show pictures or images. Each slide is 20 seconds in length (<i>which you can apply on the Powerpoint programme</i>) so in total, each person has 6 minutes 40 seconds to talk through everything.<br />
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The first half of my presentation showed all the work posted here on this blog, including inspiration.<br />
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This week I have been focusing on style + design, animation tests, story development and other points of inspiration.<br />
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<b><u>Style and Design:</u></b><br />
As stated in a previous post, I want to use the work of Sara Ogilvie's illustrations as inspiration for my final film both in colour and style. I made a few more drawings to try and decipher a style for the character, Mollie, as I have not found a definite way to draw her. I aim to try and get a final design done this week.<br />
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Here are some head designs. The main area of difficulty I am having is in the side profile. The forehead, nose and chin are proving difficult to balance out. I am also trying out different hair styles. The short 'bob' seems to be sticking, as I drew it naturally in the first draft storyboard. I have tried a slightly longer and limp style too. It makes her look more realistic and more sad, though I like the 'bob' as it reads; "innocence". The 'bob' also works well in shots with the back of Mollie's head. The hair stops above the jaw/cheek line, to give the silhouette of her full cheeks and slender neck. This relates to the Penny reference as noted in a previous post.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/mollie_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/mollie_6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><u><br />
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I also did a quick colour test in Photoshop. I drew the image (an idea for a new scenario for when Mollie first meets Babbit) in pencil, scanned it, then brought it into Photoshop. I followed a simple tutorial online on how to select the lines to colour. Then I simply coloured the lines in bright colours (following the purple outline theme seen in Ogilvie's '<i>Rhinos Don't Eat Pancakes!</i>' ) as well as other colours for the clothes and background items. These colours are by no means "finalised" but give a small indication as to what my final film could potentially look like once fully animated and coloured. For example, the job of colouring all the clothes in different colours on Mollie was a little fiddly, and may have to be toned down for the final film.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/colourtest_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="386" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/colourtest_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I presented this illustration in the Pecha Kucha presentation. I stated that it was quick and rough, but Caroline said she actually liked it like that which was reassuring. Leonie also noted I should definitely keep the style of the characters loose and not stylised like in Ogilvie's illustrations. I will apply the feedback to my work this week.<br />
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<b><u>Animation Tests:</u></b><br />
I began to animate a walk cycle for Mollie and Babbit a few weeks ago using Adobe Flash and my wacom tablet. This was simply an exercise to loosen up (animating walk cycles have always threw me). After this I then tried to animate on paper. The first attempt was terrible! I am still refining the second one, though I think I will start again and draw the characters from a different angle. The problems are mainly with Mollie, as I want to make her walk in a sad, lonely and child-like manner. Here is a thumbnail step-by-step walk through of what I want the walk cycle to look like:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/molliewalksad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/molliewalksad.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I want to have the skipping rope trailing behind her, with her arms swinging perhaps. Her head must be looking down at the ground and her steps have to be heavy and slow. I will make her hair bob up and down gently to show her age/innocence.<br />
Once I have properly line-tested these prelimanry tests, as well as new ones, I will put them together as a video and upload on here. <br />
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<u><b>Story Development:</b></u><br />
At the start of this week, after James' feedback session, I was also trying to sort out new ideas for the storyboard. There are several elements to my film that need changing and altering, and I began to plan some more ideas on how I could do this.<br />
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In the feedback session with James, one of his suggestions was to bring an actual "class pet rabbit" into the story right at the start. This could give the audience something to ponder over, as when the big babbit is revealed, the audience would have the question of whether the big babbit is actually the pet rabbit, or if Babbit is imaginary, etc. I liked the idea that there was a pet rabbit that Mollie coudl be pictured with at the start of the film.<br />
This lead to the feedback from James saying that my story needed 3 "moments" that show Mollie in a "dramatic" situation where she would get embarassed and upset. He said the first of these 3 moments needed to be the "most" dramatic, to show what it is Mollie is so upset about. So here are the sketches that show my development from this feedback:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/mollie_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/mollie_1.jpg" width="610" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/mollie_8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="422" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/mollie_8.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>The first 8 thumbnails shows a part of the first "moment". Mollie is having to stand up infront of her school/class and read aloud. She is uncomfortable and starts to feel upset and very anxious. This would cut to Mollie sitting beside a rabbit hutch in an empty classroom, head in her arms, sittng very still. It would then cut back to Mollie standing infront of people, trying to talk, and getting increasingly red and embarassed. Mollie could be walking to sit down after the speech and trip up over her shoelaces, causing even more embarassment... By cutting back and forth, it forms a "flashback" of the (morning's) events. It shows how upset Mollie is over how embarassed she was, and perhaps her frustration as well at being so shy. Mollie, in the scenes by the hutch, would move slowly, lethargically. When the audience sees her face , it will be obvious that Mollie had been crying, possibly her eyes would be still wet, a troubled and tired look on her face. She could have a carrot nearby, and attempts to push it towards the cage, in hope that the rabbit inside the hutch will nibble at it.<br />
Then, suddenly, a teacher will startle Mollie, and tell her to go outside (it's break-time). This next image shows the <i>following</i> scene idea which I will explain underneath...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/mollie_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/mollie_2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
After being told to go outside by the teacher, Mollie gets up and walks out the classroom door. She looks outside at the children running around, laughing, playing. Then, looking behind her to check if the teacher was out of sight, Mollie quickly jumps into the next room where everyone hangs up their coats and bags. She closes the door quietly and climbs onto the bench underneath her coat and hides herself in it. The door is then suddenly opened, Mollie freezes. A long, large shadow from the open door is silhouetted across the floor. Mollie stares wide-eyed. Then two long ears pop up from where the head of the shadow is. Mollie is perplexed, she leans out of her hiding place slightly to look at the door. A nose appears, twitching. It's a rabbit's nose. Then Babbit hops into the room. Mollie is completely startled. The rabbit will then hop over to Mollie to interact...<i> (This scene is shown in the colour test above)</i><br />
I want to keep the theme of Mollie tying her shoelaces as a metaphor for growing up, so at this point, Babbit could try and help her tie her shoelaces, and Mollie could feed him some of her lunch (carrots, an apple, etc...) to form their friendship.<br />
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I will be re-drafting my first storyboard this week, to be ready for next week's seminar again. Once I have really started the post-it note storyboarding process again, will I then post about new story development ideas...<br />
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<u><b>Inspiration:</b></u><br />
I have also found inspiration this week in the illustrations of Ernest H. Shepard. Most reknowned for his orignial illustrations for A. A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh" books, Shepard's illustrations are beautifully executed and have such a refined sensitivity, it is hard to not admire the amazing draughtsmanship and grace of his drawings. The clarity of his illustrations, the actions of the characters and the little though process' can be read by young and old alike. This is what makes his illustrations so enjoyable to look at and analyse, and is an element I want to keep in mind and refer to in my own film.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2bOTe6M6yOzoJTmjz8Ai9a_Mhz62Ca0GAE70fJhroL2a-7c4qOWJ0f08pKYnGZO6iyRSlfwaE3_ARNGSN51Wnf8eU1f1jyEKTqBvINCRihNORCJNu0ugqjwE1Au1FJg4ohtC29hPtGE/s1600/tumblr_lqevmxcyT51qk0eqi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2bOTe6M6yOzoJTmjz8Ai9a_Mhz62Ca0GAE70fJhroL2a-7c4qOWJ0f08pKYnGZO6iyRSlfwaE3_ARNGSN51Wnf8eU1f1jyEKTqBvINCRihNORCJNu0ugqjwE1Au1FJg4ohtC29hPtGE/s640/tumblr_lqevmxcyT51qk0eqi.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHTra4IMlobw2BhJfO6BSx_jXZZhghaDtT9W5fN9yyKH9tqxaYVHjSy2UJWjlwBV4AktxrXLwk1AwlOaYDgy9noqx10FW5pwPqLFaonOjqVhBhCIzv2UJTrwyvvo37uPNdazOZ7SVvIaY/s1600/E-H--Shepard-And-pulled-and-pulled-at-his-boot-206300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHTra4IMlobw2BhJfO6BSx_jXZZhghaDtT9W5fN9yyKH9tqxaYVHjSy2UJWjlwBV4AktxrXLwk1AwlOaYDgy9noqx10FW5pwPqLFaonOjqVhBhCIzv2UJTrwyvvo37uPNdazOZ7SVvIaY/s400/E-H--Shepard-And-pulled-and-pulled-at-his-boot-206300.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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The story of the real Christopher Robin is a fascinating one too, and has a real charm. By searching around, I foun a charming photograph of the real Christopher Robin with a Winnie-the-Pooh teddy bear. It was such a lovely image that I recreated it with my characters, Mollie and Babbit. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9cibgh4GTyd2gUhAbWeOXyL0CfPgTVc3ocAum8eEKT6-apvFvNN3bVoeoc_P-N1eXby209gWgCspPj66n6ph_3dqeadihTY-nffkSfVAONXTS3XlAXuzDuTfgmiAHm2fHnmzF71Ae-jo/s1600/molliebabbit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9cibgh4GTyd2gUhAbWeOXyL0CfPgTVc3ocAum8eEKT6-apvFvNN3bVoeoc_P-N1eXby209gWgCspPj66n6ph_3dqeadihTY-nffkSfVAONXTS3XlAXuzDuTfgmiAHm2fHnmzF71Ae-jo/s640/molliebabbit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
This week's plan is to finish an animation walk cycle test for Mollie/and Babbit. If possible, I will try colouring them. I want to get some final designs down for Mollie, and I will start to re-draft the storyboard.<br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-43378582951543657422011-10-25T01:01:00.000+01:002011-10-25T01:01:58.564+01:00First Storyboard Draft + Script + Feedback The first thing I did once I had received the feedback on my initial rough storyboard stills, was to finish a film script! At this stage, I realised that the script would still need a lot of alterations, and so would the storyboard, but I thought it was best to start, "<i>to get the ball rolling</i>", so to speak.<br />
<br />
I had changed my ideas from the previous script, so had new ones to write down and work at. Once I had the general moments I wanted, I started to draw the shots on wide post-it notes which I stuck on large pieces of paper. As I began to draw, the script fleshed out with every shot, and more story ideas came. After a day and a half of storyboarding, I had finished the first draft. Even as I finished it, already there were parts I was picking out that I didn't like; be it for story, composition, or any other reason. However, I wanted to keep it as I had written in the newest script so that when I had another feedback session I could really dive into parts I wanted to change as well as have my tutor and friends' opinions help shape new ideas and directions I could take.<br />
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So here is the first drafted storyboard:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/FirstDraft_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/FirstDraft_1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/FirstDraft_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/FirstDraft_4.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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And here is the script I wrote for this storyboard. Note that the script is much shorter compared to the first act of the script I wrote in the previous post. I wanted to get the main points down quickly and clearly, so felt I needed to focus on the actions more than the detailed descriptions at this point. Only once I've really got a solid direction for my story structure will I then re-write the script in a more detailed way.<br />
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<i style="color: #073763;">In the school library. Mollie is looking out the window watching the kids running around and playing. She looks upset, lonely. She could be wearing her coat (as it is break-time). <br />
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“Ehem”<br />
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Mollie turns around in surprise. The school librarian is there looking annoyed. She gestures for Mollie to go outside. Mollie walks past her and out the door. <br />
<br />
A box full of tied up skipping ropes is placed into the shot. Hands grab the ropes quickly until only one is left. Mollie walks up to the box and picks the last one up and looks at the children skipping. She then looks down at the skipping rope in her hand and starts to skip, slowly, feeling embarrassed. As she does, she begins to speed up, until she trips and falls onto her knees. Mollie, ashamed, stands up quickly and runs off with the rope away from the playground. <br />
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Once she’s safely away from everyone, she starts to skip again along a path. As she nears the bench by the pond, she trips again and holds onto the bench for support. Angered and upset she throws the rope down and sits down on the bench and begins to cry. When she finishes sobbing she looks up, and wipes her tears from her face. Blurrily, she looks up. There is something big in her vision, though unclear. Mollie frowns and blinks more. A large white rabbit is sitting at the edge of the pond, lapping water. Mollie is surprised and scared, but curious. As she watches, the rabbit looks up and glances at Mollie. It’s ears flick, he blinks and his nose is twitching. Mollie turns her head, left and right, but noone is around. When she looks back at the rabbit, he starts to hop over gently. Mollie reels slightly into the bench, but remains inquisitive. When the rabbit stops, he is at Mollie’s feet. He rests his large head on Mollie’s lap, and continues to twitch his nose, and blink. Mollie breathes in and out, and relaxes with the rabbit’s calm and peaceful nature. She leans forward and strokes his nose. The rabbit closes his eyes in content. Mollie then leans further into the rabbit’s face, and hugs him. She has a quiet, lonely and forlorn look on her face, but the hug is reassuring her a lot. She continues to stroke him and the camera pans up and dissolves to show a day transition. <br />
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A shot of the sky, morning. Birds fly past, flutter of wings and song. The sound of talking, children laughing and chattering starts, and we see Mollie at the end of a line, lining up for morning registration outside on the playground. She is on her own again, speaking to noone as they are all talking to the person next to them. Mollie’s head is down and she shifts awkwardly looking at her shoes. She glances to the (left) and looks across the playground. Her eyes widen, as she sees the large white rabbit again. Her face lightens, and she smiles shyly, giving a little wave, before she is ushered into the classroom. (Babbit gets a little smaller…not noticed much by the audience) Babbit watches and then continues to nibble at the grass. Birds flutter in a tree next to him, and go stand next to babbit, curious. <br />
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The bell rings, and Mollie runs outside and goes immediately to the pond and bench again. Babbit is there and Mollie smiles, patting him on the nose. The skipping rope is still there from the day before. Babbit reveals it and picks it up to give to Mollie. She looks anxiously at it and shakes her head looking down. Babbit urges Mollie to hold one end, so she does. Babbit stands back, with the other handle of the rope in his mouth and starts to swing it. Mollie joins in with the swinging and realises that Babbit wants Mollie to jump in. Mollie bites her lip, frowns and jumps in. She does it! And now she is skipping gleefully with babbit by her side. Babbit is happy. (babbit shrinks again….) Mollie notices Babbit’s height in the first “montage” scenario and looks confused. Babbit looks down at himself for a moment, but when he looks at Mollie happily, she doesn’t worry about it…Maybe as Babbit gets smaller, Mollie does worry, but Babbit continues to comfort her, being happy, so gradually, Mollie begins to accept that Babbit is changing and still being happy, and that means she can change and grow and be happy too. <br />
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Now there is a montage of lots of things showing Babbit helping Mollie. Hopscotch..Yo-yo-ing..Superhero.. Helping mollie tie her shoelaces could be a running theme..<br />
Scene ideas: Mollie and Babbit eating lunch together..Mollie getting more confident and tickling him.. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Then Mollie and Babbit are playing tag..As Mollie runs, she and Babbit both bound towards the playground. Mollie picks up speed and overtakes Babbit, running ahead. She smiles looking out onto the playground. She is bright and cheerful and knows she can be confident now. She looks around for Babbit, and doesn’t see him at first. She spots him sitting on the edge of the playground staring at something intently. Mollie turns to look in the direction of Babbit’s stare, and sees a younger boy sitting on a bench on his own, looking very sad. Mollie realises something and starts to walk towards Babbit. When she’s beside him, she kneels down and picks him up, lovingly. They look at each other, and Babbit looks once again at the boy. Mollie smiles and hugs Babbit and puts him back on the ground. She look one more time at Babbit, then turns and runs onto the playground again. The camera stays still as Mollie runs out of shot. Then slowly the camera will turn towards the bench. And there is Babbit, big again, beside the boy. The boy dries his eyes and puts his hand out to Babbit and strokes him softly. Babbit closes his eyes, and the boy rests his head on Babbit’s. </i><br />
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<i style="color: #073763;">The End. </i><br />
<br />
Lecture and Feedback Seminar - 24/10/11<br />
<br />
In the lecture today with Caroline we watched Michael Dudok de Wit's beautiful short animated film, "Father and Daughter". The lecture was aimed at trying to help all of us think a lot about interesting composition and pacing and shot construction for our films. We watched the film twice, so to analyze it thoroughly. It is a truly stunning piece, and I was really inspired to try and develop my own film with better shot construction, better pacing, more subtle and expressive animation as well as poignant and strong backgrounds and characters.<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQfOFVMth5Q&feature=bf_next&list=LL6dtUEBM5dGmtkXurCknnPg&lf=mh_lolz">'Father and Daughter' - Michael Dudok de Wit</a><br />
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Feedback: <br />
Today I received feedback from my friend, Bry, as well as my tutor, James.<br />
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Feedback from Bry:<br />
-<i>Babbit needs to be seen helping Mollie tie her shoelaces at their first meeting.</i> In the first draft, Mollie is seen to have untied shoes throughout the film, as I decided I wanted to keep this a theme and a metaphor of Mollie "growing up". Bry noted that there was no evidence of Babbit helping Mollie with this towards the start of the storyboard, and there needed to be if the audience were to understand that Mollie <i>needed</i> Babbit to help her at the beginning.<br />
-<i>Mollie needs to be seen interacting with the other children otherwise the audience won't understand why she is shy/unconfident/sad etc. </i>This is something I really want to develop. I think it could make soemthing quite subtle but poignant if done cleverly. It needs to read clearly, the audience need to understand that Mollie is unconfident and shy amongst her classmates and the consequence of that.<br />
- <i>The first part of the storyboard needs more shots of Mollie in a big/lonely environment. </i>The start of the film needs to show more depth and setting. I need to do some shots showing how big the world is compared to Mollie which would overwhelm her at first, but towards the middle/end, become something calming and pleasant.<br />
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Feedback from James:<br />
- <i>The story needs more structure and meaning. There needs to be 3 defined "moments" to the story.</i> The first moment being the "crisis", ie: Mollie in the worst situation possible to make her upset. Then Babbit helping her through the next two "moments" until she feels confident and content again. At the moment my story has little parts/moments that are better than others. I just need to work out a proper structure and meaning, looking even more into the emotive thoughts and subtle acting/shot construction/expression I can use to portray certain scenes. The last "moment" must be <i>dramatic</i> to give the conflict right at the end.<br />
- <i>The start of the film could show Mollie in the school classroom (at break-time when she's supposed to be outside) feeding the class rabbit, possibly with a name-tag which says "Babbit" on it. </i>I really liked this idea. This way, there is a "real" Babbit the audience can relate to immediately, and then there is the process of having the audience trying to work out whether the large rabbit who will appear is actually the class Babbit or just Mollies' Babbit. It could create a nice dynamic right at the start.<br />
- <i>Babbit could disappear/turn invisible when Mollie is not with him...?</i> A suggestion from James that I will have to ponder. I can see how this could work, but I need to really sit down and work out more story ideas to fully try and potentially incorporate this idea into the script.<br />
- As well as this, James then suggested I try and draw up a "Character Diamond" personality test for my character, Mollie. It is a device used by various people when defining a character's characteristics.<br />
At one end of the diamond you note the character's Strengths, and the opposite end, you note their true feelings, and what they would liked to achieve. The other two ends are opposites too. One end you note the character's 'supporting trait" and the other, their 'fatal flaw'. As shown in an example diagram below:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlUYPO4quJjH1gLWURrMpTX2FkodIub3VaEkVU_j4XgFW0r5cTHdGcOPjcMk84037SINHb7YVb9flRAdQryA2YqZ9tqIyGTyTk1eRw_xzwaUlDIiDoQA9I8uSClNaICyfnLW0WieRnOPE/s400/Jenna_diamond.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlUYPO4quJjH1gLWURrMpTX2FkodIub3VaEkVU_j4XgFW0r5cTHdGcOPjcMk84037SINHb7YVb9flRAdQryA2YqZ9tqIyGTyTk1eRw_xzwaUlDIiDoQA9I8uSClNaICyfnLW0WieRnOPE/s400/Jenna_diamond.gif" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I will draw up a character diamond in the next post... <br />
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Overall I was happy with the feedback session today. Even though I have to go back and change a lot, I feel that the story is going to move in a better direction because of it. I really want to explore the emotive and visually simple but expressive side of story-telling in animation. I want to really experiemnt a lot more with shots and simply telling thoughts and actions in a visually effective and engaging way. I want the audince to understand what is happening clearly, and I want them to empathize and care for Mollie and Babbit.<br />
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Back to the drawing board it is!!<br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-49266382374693365672011-10-24T17:38:00.000+01:002011-10-24T17:38:48.626+01:00Inspiration #2 - Penny from "The Rescuers" Disney's 1977 film "The Rescuers" features a little orphan girl named Penny, who is the source of my inspiration for my own character, Mollie.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2eOmQKBPZ1bfgNlt-EL9Qb8iuo_a_mDmhUiicRisLnv3LT_A1dJu93rSiCeYjQ1myKrfryWLDVbmnCwe-RqoWoXNANLRPj5dTVE4pJ4pvS7SAraDhsAGkoHZuv3-cLiNqmsGCZ1kDL5o/s1600/rescuers29.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2eOmQKBPZ1bfgNlt-EL9Qb8iuo_a_mDmhUiicRisLnv3LT_A1dJu93rSiCeYjQ1myKrfryWLDVbmnCwe-RqoWoXNANLRPj5dTVE4pJ4pvS7SAraDhsAGkoHZuv3-cLiNqmsGCZ1kDL5o/s400/rescuers29.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The first scene where we meet Penny for the first time is a very powerful and cleverly directed moment in the film. It is one that Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston talk about in detail in their book; "The Illusion of Life". When we first meet Penny, she is sitting alone in a large bedroom, with only the back of her head visible. Her head is facing downwards, which perfectly shows the mood of the character. She is sad and upset. Vance Gerry, who's list of Disney films he's worked on is by no means short, created many drawings to get to this moment. He worked with Frank and Ollie extensively to create the perfect angle to show Penny's thoughts instantly. The whole scene is beautifully done, and establishes Penny as a "real girl" who is sweet and innocent, but very unhappy.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrTgILDzeUkPTas7iVzCQqVyzU_LK7ofWSX7g9__9TaSKPRWV-Vb9tyjzKMB-49sJSjp4fhd9oV2MZxfT-Dj5_sAU5uht3sedG4e5YBNci3ca1_5-AvVCtK0_6k8bVSzWV9yrWRUQrATw/s1600/penny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrTgILDzeUkPTas7iVzCQqVyzU_LK7ofWSX7g9__9TaSKPRWV-Vb9tyjzKMB-49sJSjp4fhd9oV2MZxfT-Dj5_sAU5uht3sedG4e5YBNci3ca1_5-AvVCtK0_6k8bVSzWV9yrWRUQrATw/s320/penny.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
This scene will help me with the process of developing my own character, Mollie, for my final film. I want the audience to empathize with her, and like her. She has to come across as shy, unconfident and unhappy. The notes on this scene from "The Illusion of Life" have helped me with the thought process behind creating an atmosphere for Mollie's character to be portrayed, and ideas of composition and direction.<br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-23037410292965819142011-10-21T18:29:00.000+01:002011-10-21T18:29:57.586+01:00Initial Idea/Storyboard and ScriptWe were asked to prepare an initial storyboard for the 17th October. I started writing the script and drawing the storyboard simultaneously. In retrospect, this was the wrong way to start, though I felt I had to be able to show something at the session on the 17th. By this point, I had done the first 1/3 of the script and storyboard and had a clear vision of what the ending would entail too. The difficult part was the middle section of the film, for which I had very little ideas on how to approach.<br />
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In this version, I was focusing on Mollie being bullied. She is scared to go outside and play because the bullies always tease and taunt her.<br />
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Here is the script written for the first 1/3 of the film: <br />
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<br />
<div style="color: #073763; text-align: left;"><i>Sc1<br />
Opens with a shot of Mollie sitting on a beanbag in the school library, her back to a wall of windows. Children are playing outside, it‘s break time. She is sat, reading, looking quiet and content. Her lunch bag is next to her.<br />
She suddenly hears voices she’s all too familiar with. The voices are those of her bullies, who run by the window. Mollie ducks, covering her book over her head in an effort to hide from them. She holds the book there for a few seconds before lowering it and glancing out the window with a worrying expression. <br />
</i></div><div style="color: #073763; text-align: center;"><i>Off screen: “EHEM.”</i></div><div style="color: #073763; text-align: left;"><i><br />
Mollie turns towards the noise, surprised.<br />
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An old woman librarian holding several books and looking grumpy stares across the room where Mollie is. She raises her arm and points towards the window, gesturing for Mollie to go outside. The shot stays on the librarian, and Mollie walks towards the door just beside the woman, and walks out. The woman glares and watches Mollie leave. <br />
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Sc2<br />
Mollie steps out a door to the outside, holding her lunch bag to her chest. She looks from side to side and starts to walk but freezes as she sees her bullies run past her. She pushes herself against a wall and watches them, holding her breath. They do not see her and run on. She breathes out, relieved and begins to walk away quickly.<br />
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Sc3<br />
Ext. A secluded area, the quiet area for pupils, with a large willow-ish tree and a tiny rectangle pond and two benches facing towards it. The pond is slightly lower, as the benches are on a slight incline. The tree shades the area and gives it a calm and peaceful ambience. <br />
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Mollie sits down across from the pond. She opens her lunch bag and pulls out an apple and begins to eat it silently. Out of nowhere someone throws a rock which smacks into Mollie’s face. The shock makes her jump up. Her apple flies out of her hand and her lunch falls on the ground. The apple rolls down the hill and splashes into the pond. She turns around, one red cheek flaring and tears beginning to well up.<br />
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Offscreen: The sound of running footsetps and laughing. <br />
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She looks for the culprit(s), but noone’s there. Her face turns into a frown, and angrily she cries as she kneels down to pick up her lunch from the ground, putting it back into her bag. <br />
She stands up and starts to make her way towards the pond for her apple when she stops suddenly. There is a large white rabbit, 8 feet tall, sitting next to the pond, lapping at the water. As it continues to drink, the rabbit glances at Mollie, before bending it’s head and drinking some more. It starts to get up and as it does, the Rabbit picks up Mollie’s apple from the pond and bounces softly over to her, placing the apple at her feet. Mollie is still stunned. She bends to pick up the apple, and looks at the rabbit again. She turns her head to look for somebody, anybody who could be witnessing this too. But she is the only one. She turns towards the rabbit and wipes her tears from her eyes before offering the apple to the rabbit to eat. Its ears prick up excitedly and the rabbit eats the apple quickly off her hand. Mollie laughs and begins to stroke the rabbits nose, hesitantly at first, but softly and lovingly as the rabbit lets her. <br />
Off screen sound: A bell rings for the end of break-time.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>These are the first storyboard drafts. As you can see, they are not complete, and so don't show the last few moments as described in the script. These were done using a tablet on Photoshop.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/RoughDraft_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/RoughDraft_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/RoughDraft_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/RoughDraft_2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/RoughDraft_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/RoughDraft_3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/RoughDraft_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/RoughDraft_4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
At the seminar on the 17th we were asked to pair up with someone whose story development we hadn't seen much yet. I paired up with Pablo, who was able to give me some great feedback on my initial storyboards. We talked about the "bullies" situation in the story. He pointed out that it would be difficult to show Mollie and Babbit <i>overcoming</i> these bullies in a 'good' way without Mollie and Babbit 'getting their own back' or something of the sort. It was a tricky one to try and figure out, and we both agreed it was too complicated to be able to fit into a 3 minute film.<br />
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This I had already encountered at the initial storyboarding stage too. I had cut a scene down considerably from the point when Mollie first arrives at the pond. In the scene, Mollie has just sat down and begins to eat an apple. She then turns around and freezes when a bully is sitting right next to her on the bench, leaving Mollie terrified and frozen in fear. The bully then starts to tease Mollie until she jumps and the bully smacks the apple out of Mollie's hand which results in the apple rolling down towards the pond. This was instead cut down to having the apple fall out of Mollie's hand by having a bully throw a rock at her (as seen in the storyboards above) Here are the sketches from the cut scene:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Cutscenes1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Cutscenes1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
So instead of focusing on the 'bullies' situation, I suggested some ideas that I was still thinking about, in that Mollie would be unconfident because she couldnt skip very well and therefore couldn't play with her classmates for feeling shy and embarassed. She will have made herself a recluse, and by Babbit coming into her life and showing her how to be confident and how to grow, she would learn how be happy and play with her friends the way she'd always wanted to. Pablo also pointed out that he liked the simple one-tone colour scheme used in the storyboard. It is definitely an element I will have to test in future colour/background/character design experiments.<br />
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I then had a feedback session with our tutor, James, who looked through my storyboard quickly and told me to go back and finish the script and go about the process in a different way. As I was still having trouble with my story in the middle, he encouraged me to draw 10 images that defined my film to help me focus on the story points and the important moments in my film.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/10imagesforfilm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="472" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/10imagesforfilm.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
From left to right:<br />
1 - Mollie is lonely, sad and unconfident.<br />
2 - She wants to join in playing with her freinds and classmates but feels inadequate and very embarassed that she can't skip very well.<br />
3 - Mollie starts to cry when every attempt at skipping fails.<br />
4 - Babbit appears and offers Mollie a 'shoulder to cry on'. She is comforted and feels a little better.<br />
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5 - Babbit helps Mollie to skip.<br />
6 - Babbit is urging Mollie to step forward and face her fears. Mollie is unsure at first, but with Babbit there, she feels she can start to move on and gain more confidence.<br />
7 - Mollie looking out at the playground watching her classmates all playing together.<br />
8 - Babbit grows smaller, and Mollie is standing with the skipping rope in hand, looking a lot more confident than before, but slightly worried about Babbit's shrinking habits.<br />
9 - Babbit notices a little boy who is upset on a bench. Mollie and Babbit both know what to do. Mollie must say goodbye to Babbit and Babbit must move on and help this boy now.<br />
10 - Babbit has grown big again and the boy is stroking his fur and leaning in to him. Babbit has his eyes closed in content.<br />
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<br />
---jkl <br />
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<u><br />
</u>jessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-10826187609290766092011-10-21T17:37:00.000+01:002011-10-21T17:37:09.011+01:00Poster Task and another Story Direction.In the lecture on Monday 10th October, our class were asked to create a poster design for our film. The exercise helped us all focus on layout which was helpful. We will be doing this task several times throughout this year, so we can all develop the right image for our films.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/babbitposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="512" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/babbitposter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>As it was only a short task, it was done loosely in pencil. I wanted to show Mollie sitting beside Babbit, back to back. Mollie is looking at Babbit in an inncoent way, making her looks as cute as possible. Babbit is shown smiling, and Mollie looks somewhat surprised, so this poster gives the clue that this will be Mollie's story <i>of</i> Babbit. Or at least, I hope that's what it says. As stated, this poster design will change within the next few weeks/months. I want to create a slightly more dramatic poster next time, perhaps not showing Mollie or Babbit's face at all, and play a bit with silhouettes and good posing of the characters to show a clear action/thought/inclination.<br />
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In the last post, I had just seen Leonie and had begun to develop a new story idea where Mollie is feeling lonely, sad and upset when a new baby brother comes along and the parents are too busy to pay much attention to Mollie. I drew a few more images..<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/mollie_baby_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="474" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/mollie_baby_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I was finding it hard however to really develop this story without having to bring in a sub-plot of the parents reacting to Mollie's loneliness. (<i>Babbit was going to appear visible only to Mollie and the audience, but the twist at the end would reveal that Mollie's parents knew about Babbit the whole time and had asked him to look after Mollie/be there for Mollie...</i>) This would put more strain on the film, as I wanted to keep the number of characters to a bare minimum, and with the parents and new baby as well as Mollie and Babbit, I really couldn't think of how I would be able to portray all of the relationships and story well without going over the recommended time of 3 minutes.<br />
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On Tuesday 11th October, a few friends on the course and I asked to meet with our tutor, Matt Gravelle, to go over our story ideas with him. Matt pointed out the difficulties I would have developing the story with so many main characters saying it would require a far more complex story, which I agreed with. He liked the idea that Babbit grew smaller as Mollie grew in confidence. He told me I should definitely focus on their relationship. Mollie <i>needs</i> Babbit. Matt suggested some ideas such as, Mollie is being bullied, or Mollie needs to win a contest of some sort and needs to build in confidence with Babbit's help. He also liked the picture books I bought for inspiration and wanted me to definitely keep to that style. <br />
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I liked the ideas that Matt suggested, so I then started developing ideas focused on Mollie and Babbit's relationship in a new situation.<br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-33947713346806355522011-10-10T18:24:00.067+01:002011-10-21T16:20:16.269+01:00New Inspiration, a new style...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>After the feedback from the tutors on Monday (26th Sept) I had a few things to think about. I decided to gather more research in the form of children's books, as the tutors seemed to like the idea of the film in a "picture book" style. I ventured to Waterstone's and had a great time looking through lots of books in the kids' section. (<i>I've always felt that the children's section is by far the most exciting place in any book shop anyway...</i>)<br />
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It wasn't long before I found inspiration. Two books by author, Anna Kemp and illustrator, Sara Ogilvie, caught my eye instantly. Their first collaberated book; "<i>Dogs Don't Do Ballet</i>", and their second and most recent book; "<i>Rhinos Don't Eat Pancakes</i>" are fun, cleverly written and beautifully illustrated. The illustrations instantly had me hooked for their vibrancy and charming style. As I read the books there in the shop, I fell in love with them! I had to buy them!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/610IlD+b8RL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/610IlD+b8RL.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9rtD1B75V1fwR1NNUUA9s4ahfQd5vgilU4plq81_dXw9SWdwC8LfunW_o-dIbBmtOX5J1nF2Jk3CwOkH-gRQxmoG6MI_YXT0g_o2WeTfTtRG0_2DisPWI3OQovrFQfn602bBFNGFKsmUs/s1600/dogsballet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9rtD1B75V1fwR1NNUUA9s4ahfQd5vgilU4plq81_dXw9SWdwC8LfunW_o-dIbBmtOX5J1nF2Jk3CwOkH-gRQxmoG6MI_YXT0g_o2WeTfTtRG0_2DisPWI3OQovrFQfn602bBFNGFKsmUs/s320/dogsballet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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As well as the illustration style, the stories also inspired me to change/alter my ideas for my film too. The feedback from the session with the tutors, had asked me to try not to think of the film too realistically, and to be more adventurous with the story.<br />
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So now, taking inspiration mainly from "Rhinos Don't Eat Pancakes", I decided to turn the toy Babbit into a large rabbit which Mollie befriends. I had the idea that as Mollie grows older, the large Babbit will grow smaller, as a metaphor for growing up, taking on new responsibilities and embracing life, but not altogether losing your sense of imagination. My first story ideas for this were centered around Mollie gradually growing up with Babbit, and with every year she grows (represented by Mollie's new shoes; ie: from slip ons, to velcro, to buckles, to shoelaces...) Babbit gets smaller as she learns to adapt to getting older. Mollie would realise her Babbit growing smaller, and vice/versa with Babbit realising too, and both would become confused and upset. Then Babbit would one day disappear at bed-time (as Mollie would always sleep beside Babbit at night-time) and she would stay up and look for him, until, exhausted, she would have to sleep in her parents room. When she awakens and returns to her own room, she would find a toy rabbit, and Mollie would then know that Babbit would always be with her.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Rabbits-LifeDrawing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="466" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Rabbits-LifeDrawing.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I started by doing some quick life drawing sketches of rabbits from a google image search. I will need to do more research at a later stage.<br />
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So here are the first sketch development designs working in a style inspired by the books featured above:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_6.jpg" width="464" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="496" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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Mollie is featured in a few illustrations in her school uniform, as this is the "climax" of the film, when Babbit really starts to grow smaller rapidly as he notices Mollie growing up fast. This is also when Mollie would really realise Babbit growing smaller... The illustration showing a woman fitting Mollie's new school uniform is an idea for a scene which would show both Babbit and Mollie being curious and unaware of what this uniform means to them at that point. But as the story would develop (with Mollie leaving home every weekday to go to school) Babbit would then really start to notice the change in Mollie, and the change in himself.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_9.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_7.jpg" width="486" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_8.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="558" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_8.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_11.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="568" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_3.jpg" width="352" /></a></div> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_10.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I had a one-on-one session with Leonie on Tuesday (4th October). She really liked the picture books I am using as inspiration, and liked the idea that the Babbit is now "big" and the idea that he grows smaller whilst Mollie grows bigger. She brought to my attention that the story still had no structure. She suggested trying to tell the story from anothers' point of view, either Babbit's or the parents'. She suggested that, as Babbit is there for Mollie because she NEEDS him, I should think of all the ways the parents could be "ignoring" Mollie therefore NEEDING Babbit to "fill in the gap". So this could include swimming, riding a bike, holding hands while crossing the road etc... Leonie also suggested I should develop my own style inspired from the books I have bought. And for a last resort (ie: if my story just doesnt get sorted out); that I could contact the author and illustrator of the books and ask if I could possibly animate one of their books.<br />
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I still need to brainstorm more ideas... Overall the session with Leonie was great and really got me thinking a little more about the structure the film's story could take.<br />
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Almost instantly after having the session, I thought of another structural story idea that could possibly carry the whole film. A new baby brother arrives and Mollie is feeling left out and ignored by her parents. The big Babbit keeps her company, helping her do things as well as allowing her to cause mischief (to get attention from her parents). The ending is still not worked out, as this was just a quick story structure idea, but from a comment that Leonie made, there could possibly be a "twist" ending in that Babbit actually interacts and helps Mollie's parents as well, which Mollie may or may not discover.... It's still just little ideas. I will need to have another session with either James or Leonie to sort out more ideas soon.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/MollieBabbit_5.jpg" width="640" /> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_newbaby_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_newbaby_1.jpg" width="634" /></a></div> <br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-44668034733455019022011-10-02T16:42:00.002+01:002011-10-10T18:43:26.720+01:00Mollie and BabbitAfter going through many ideas as shown in the previous post, there was one concept that kept jumping to the front of my mind. I have three younger cousins (all siblings) that I am very close to. Watching them grow up has been so fantastic. Seeing what personalities they have, how they talk, how they act, etc. It's all fascinating, and I love them all to bits.<br />
<br />
The final film idea I have chosen is based around the middle child, Mollie, and her toy; "Babbit". Mollie has always been a little different to her two siblings. Not in a bad way, not at all! She's much more introvert and quiet (well, sort of) and she has always been in her own little world. You never quite know what she's thinking and you never know what she's going to make of a situation. And Babbit has always been one step beside her! Babbit started life when Mollie was born, and has stayed as Mollie's security blanket since then. Mollie holds Babbit in a certain way too, left hand holds Babbit's head with one floppy ear covering the hand as Mollie sucks her thumb. There are a few sketches of Mollie like this in the sketches provided.<br />
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I felt that Mollie as a character would be really interesting and fun to portray, as I've always loved watching her play and speak and live. And Babbit, of course, is the centre of Mollie's world, so using these two as the two characters, gave me a good strating point to develop a story around.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNODk18cQ-CNN6j-71To67RbMwZOCO4SPTwcQY2bVGolQ1g3D6I9hGI9Iwy0qnvOLtNhXxH5y1VhU5hrDDNXbdP297Q1WOYUztgOraplL8tk5fLbppo1VyNjM9JCRTCcGQZ95q9iOJBf4/s1600/mollie_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNODk18cQ-CNN6j-71To67RbMwZOCO4SPTwcQY2bVGolQ1g3D6I9hGI9Iwy0qnvOLtNhXxH5y1VhU5hrDDNXbdP297Q1WOYUztgOraplL8tk5fLbppo1VyNjM9JCRTCcGQZ95q9iOJBf4/s400/mollie_1.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCca6gGb_M92L7a0UrglAxED0mMcPto2zf1KzbrcxisVy4uakh32mByc1nWFdbAOuP43M7e1UWupdjvdKVqMa5uYjRnkHLV5x2rFHft1Zo25kP3tu6XP9k-d2zhjf4-_mDlJUxsJcN8M4/s1600/mollie-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCca6gGb_M92L7a0UrglAxED0mMcPto2zf1KzbrcxisVy4uakh32mByc1nWFdbAOuP43M7e1UWupdjvdKVqMa5uYjRnkHLV5x2rFHft1Zo25kP3tu6XP9k-d2zhjf4-_mDlJUxsJcN8M4/s400/mollie-2.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDEh48sflEv1oxYBLYFTPr4f-0a743PGwYS5hp_pq-w-c07TOdgf3Lfxps0jNpzWaHfN8M4H5phSj5JHCYSjG4bX3m9M2aGHkajK3ZOg-ngqkvIFEWisL36XdykU8Q6dvFdX_FSgMQz4k/s1600/mollie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDEh48sflEv1oxYBLYFTPr4f-0a743PGwYS5hp_pq-w-c07TOdgf3Lfxps0jNpzWaHfN8M4H5phSj5JHCYSjG4bX3m9M2aGHkajK3ZOg-ngqkvIFEWisL36XdykU8Q6dvFdX_FSgMQz4k/s400/mollie.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><br />
I then produced a brainstorm of "Mollie" to put together all the traits I could think of for Mollie in sketch and word form. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_ThoughtWeb.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd435/jekale3/Mollie_ThoughtWeb.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0oUb8a893of7ZEcJnVOpfOmlX6aB4XvxSVZ440RfQmd3FfMNQnQyLhAMT17pJlB-enQfi7xwYeuqB7Q1FSWtmVoMszWnFmVnQTmjrAPTNS6cqlT8xqkro_LbwGwdANObFzaNXyJAVx0/s1600/mollie_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div> The idea of Mollie losing Babbit and not being able to find him arose quickly. In reality, Mollie is always losing Babbit. Not intentionally, obviously, it's more a case of forgetting where she has put Babbit. Babbit has been found in all manner of places. The most distressing times have been when out of the house; ie: in a supermarket, or on holiday.<br />
So I wrote down lots of the scenarios (provided by Mollie's mother, my aunt) to try and piece a few together to try and make a story. One of the most interesting scenarios that my aunt put forward was about if Mollie couldn't find Babbit at all. Ie; not having Babbit at bed-time. My aunt said that Mollie literally would not sleep and she would stay up as long as possible trying to find Babbit; and that if she still couldn't find him, Mollie would then go to sleep in her mum and dad's bed as she would not sleep in her bed alone without Babbit. I loved this little sceario, and I really want to try and put this as a little scene in my film.<br />
So story-wise, I would establish Mollie and Babbit at the start of the film as the best of friends. Babbit growing up with her, being there for important events in her life (first pair of shoes, first dentist appointment, etc) and possibly showing how Mollie would forget where she puts Babbit for a moment, but then finding him again. Then the story would follow another normal day for Mollie and Babbit; but this time, Mollie would leave and the audience would see where Babbit has fallen from view. As it nears bed-time, Mollie would suddenly realise she needs Babbit and would start to panic as she searched the house looking for him. After getting the help of her family, bed-time would be implemented by her parents and Mollie would start to become very distressed and emotional, resisting sleep. She would be trying to keep awake, looking for Babbit, eventually dozing off on the living-room sofa, and be put to bed in her parents' bed.<br />
After this, I still hadn't quite sorted out the story's conclusion. I had ideas for a dream sequence, where Mollie would dream about Babbit in a fantasy scenario. Ultimately waking up at sunrise and wandering around the house again...<br />
I hadn't identified a moral, or a character arc (among other things), so I still need to think of these in order to pursue any further with this story. But these are the "bare bones" of my story so far.<br />
I want to focus on good character perfromance animation. Something that would make the audience laugh or chuckle, but also make them empathize and really feel for the character.The nostalgic associations of childhood in one losing a treasured toy can probably associate with most people. There's always one toy that is special. <br />
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On the 26th September, we had our first presentations of the term. I presented my film ideas and designs and got feedback from the tutors. These are some of the points they presented:<br />
- <i>The story is not developed enough, so the plot at the moment has a "So what?" feel to it. </i>I knew this point would come up, as the story is no where near developed at all. I need to think of story elements that will make the audience connect and care about the character.<br />
- <i>The character of Mollie is taken from real-life TOO much, it needs toning down a bit reality-wise. </i>I understood the feedback for this, I WAS becoming too obsessed with animating Mollie as Mollie. I need to have a bit of creative freedom in order to really have fun with this film and not get weighed down with making her character as true to life as I was first envisioning.<br />
- <i>You need to think of the film as a whole. Backgrounds included. The whole thing needs to make sense, story-wise and visually. </i>This was stated after I had said my plans on having a Shirley Hughes inspired background. I need to have them tie in with the animated images. I will need to try and put a "final frame" together (regardless of story at this point" for ideas on how I want to portray the backgrounds and the characters together.<br />
-<i> There is no story at the moment, the character needs a change, or a challenge that (she) must overcome, and there needs to be a moral</i>. I will research more short films/animations etc on their morals and how the story arcs work. I will develop more ideas and gather more inspiration to work from. <br />
<br />
<br />
Overall, I was expecting most of the feedback, as I knew my story was nowhere near complete/worked out. It's time to sit down and really think this over! Time for a cup of tea...<br />
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<br />
---jkl<br />
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<span id="goog_1278590768"></span><span id="goog_1278590769"></span>jessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3796140635374944956.post-80110743417771082882011-10-01T15:25:00.001+01:002011-10-02T12:33:27.305+01:00Summer Film Ideas<div style="color: black;">The idea for my final film came about after many many weeks of doodling and sketching. I had bought a new A5 sketchbook, and in it I would sketch any number of things that came to mind. So instead of diving straight into my chosen idea ("Babbit"), I want to also present my other ideas that didn't get built on, as I hope that they will still provide some helpful ideas for further story development in "Babbit".</div><div style="color: black;"><br />
</div><div style="color: black;">Note: Apologies for the quality of some of the images uploaded. I will go through and re-upload A.S.A.P. </div><br />
<div style="color: #741b47;"><u>Swimming...</u></div><div style="color: #741b47;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #741b47;"><span style="color: black;">I attended the Annecy Animation Film Festival in June of this year for the first time</span>.<span style="color: black;"> It was an incredible place, and I left feeling inspired and excited. During the visit, I visited the comic book shop in the main building almost every day. In the last few days I found a really beautiful graphic novel "Le Gout Du Chlore" (The Taste Of Chlorine) by Bastien Vives. It got me interested in showing this in animation. So lots of my very first ideas involve a swimming theme. </span><br />
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Historical Era...<br />
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<span style="color: black;">Some ideas involved characters in a Victorian/Edwardian time period. A maid servant stealing a child she believed she loved more than its real parents...... A brother/sister relationship as a young heiress to the throne deals with the pressures of growing up......... Another maid/ young princess relationship story....(etc)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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</div><span style="color: #741b47;">Dance/Movement</span>...<br />
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<span style="color: black;">Although I am no way near a dancer, I love the world of dance/ballet/etc - A film of dance would be a challenge. I would want to do something dynamic and powerful.</span><br />
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Musicals/Theatre...<br />
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<span style="color: black;">Taking from my own childhood, another ideas was to show a character discovering the world of the stage/theatre/musicals...Or..A girl who comes out of the theatre for the first time and then witnesses the world around her becoming a "show". (Inspired from the famous phrase; "All the world's a stage".)</span> <br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #741b47;">Other Ideas... </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">I had other ideas that were merely written down.. Here are some:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">- A cake-shop baking rivalry. Two shops opposite each other try to out-bake one another, leading to disastrous/hilarious consequences!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">- A young teenage school girl - shy, quiet - who bakes at school in break and lunch-times to get away from bullies...</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">- A series of different school-set homework projects (ie: Easter homework could be to decorate your own bonnet). The parents of the children become obsessed with making their children look good, so take over the projects, more competing against other children's parents than simply helping their child do their own homework. Costumes for fancy dress, cake sales etc... Hilarious consequences..!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">- Animating an Opera song...</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">- A large woman....(no story decided..)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">- "Bring Your Child To Work Day". Hilarious situations ensue...</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;"></span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">So from these sketches and ideas, I can identify a few common features.. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;">- Children feature heavily in my work. I love the world that children live in and I love theideas of emotional transitions and/or situations for children to deal with</span><br />
<span style="color: black;">- Something dynamic as well as funny, I want it to have strong animation which really plays with strong emotions, but I also want it to be light-hearted, charming and funny.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #741b47;">Next Post:</span> "Babbit" sketches and ideas.</span></div><br />
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---jkljessica kate leslauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701906618926812noreply@blogger.com0