Advanced Animation - Project 1

03/09/2021 - 15/10/2021 / Week 2 - Week 8
Avery Ong Xuan Ting / 0344462
Advanced Animation / Bachelors of Design (Hons) in Creative Multimedia
Project 1 / Pre-Production

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INSTRUCTION

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WEEK 2

We are required to produce and manage an animation project individually by using relevant programs and software that enable content, concept, audio and video design to execute tasks.

First of all, we need to find a 10-20 seconds audio clip from any videos or movie scene which we are interest in for this project. After watching many different videos from YouTube, I chose to go with a scene from 'The Hours (2002)' . I chose this movie clip is because I like the line and the expression from the actor. However, I wasn't sure this it is suitable for this project a not. ( 1:53 - 2:11 )

fig. 1.0 ; chosen movie scene

WEEK 4

Mr. Kanan want us to prepare the audio, character design and storyboard this week. Therefore, I converted the part I want for this project from the video to mp3. The duration is about 18 seconds.

fig. 1.1 ; audio

Moreover, I found some references of 3d character design in Pinterest and Google for inspiration. I downloaded the picture as a reference before I starting to draw the character. 

fig. 1.2 ; character design reference

I started to draw out the character design I want in Photoshop. After I was satisfied with the front design, I continue to draw the 3-quarter, side and back version of the character.

fig. 1.3 ; character design

References

Before starting to plan the storyboard, I continue to search more references of how to animate face expression or motion in Maya and some other students' work from worldwide. Below are a few references I found that I think was useful for this project.

fig. 1.4 ; reference 1

fig. 1.5 ; reference 2

And so I started to draw the storyboard in Photoshop. I found that I only have a few movement and shot while drawing the storyboard.  However, I will show Mr. Kanan first then revise it according to his feedback.

fig. 1.6 ; Storyboard

Lecturer's Feedback :

The audio can work but I should refine the storyboard. The storyboard is very important. There is some references of storyboard below :

WEEK 5

Based on the feedback given, I followed the references sent by Mr. Kanan in Teams to refine my storyboard. I sketched out more detail and also added a rough background. I tried my best to draw clearly because as I always mentioned, I'm not very good at drawing.

fig. 1.7 ; Refined Storyboard

WEEK 6

I missed the class for this week because I wasn't feeling well. The task we need to do for this week are refine our storyboard and start to do the animatics for this project.

Moreover, I added some description of each scene for the storyboard.

fig. 1.8 ; refined storyboard

After I was happy with my storyboard, I proceed to the simple animatic. First of all, I draw the animatic in Photoshop. Then, I save them as Jpeg and combine them in Premium Pro. 

fig. 1.9 ; Animatics

Lecturer's Feedback :

The story was too short. Maybe I could add one more character, example like a bird. The main character was talking to a bird. Add a little more story and start to model the character.

WEEK 7

According to the feedback, I add a few more scenes in the storyboard. I refined my storyboard again in Photoshop and also the animatics. Finally, below is my final storyboard and animatics :

fig. 1.10 ; final storyboard

fig. 1.11 ; final animatics

Lecturer's Feedback :

This will work, I can start to blocking with 3d rigging and acting.

WEEK 8

This week is Independent Learning Week. After the consultation with Mr. Kanan last week, I started to took myself using my phone for the acting video. I decided to took the video at my house's garden. I took each scene separately then combined them in Adobe Premium Pro. It's very awkward.

fig. 1.12 ; acting

Lecturer's Feedback :

Acting was good. Need to add more in between when animating the character in Maya. Good enough to submit.

Finally, I submitted the whole project on time in TEAMS.

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REFLECTION

This project was very interesting. While searching for the audio, I was imagining my final animation is a negative animation. This is the reason why I choose the audio. The acting part was very awkward but fun! It is the only way to see our classmates looks. I'm very looking forward for the animating part. Hope I can do well for the animation part.