Bestiary Final Evaluation

I have really enjoyed this project. I have found it to be the most in depth project I have done, and I have really developed my skills as an animator. I can see my improvements compared to the start of year, for example my understanding of masking and editing on after effects has improved immensely. This is not something I used to massively enjoy, but I have found that the better I get the more satisfaction I get from it. In particular editing and post production has become something I would like to explore more in future projects. I began the project with a few ideas but I found it hard to gain momentum, but through doing lots of sketches and iterations I settled on a design that I was very happy with.

My main influences came from children’s books such as ‘Jungle Book’ and ‘Where the Wild things are’. Because of this my character gained a child like quality, both in personality and the audience I think he might  be aimed at. I really liked keeping this in mind as the character developed, it is something I would like to develop further.

I am glad I went with stop motion for this project, it is a medium I have always liked and  doing a stop motion animation and a 2D animation at the same time has really confirmed this. I have really liked using after effects and the combination that I used in this project is a way of working that really works for me. I think my practical animation skills when using the puppet have also improved from previous projects, especially considering it is covered in fur which did create a few problems. I tried to use this to my advantage though, and have the fur move with the puppet. The boiling effect that I thought might be a problem wasn’t as dramatic as I expected, and I actually kind of liked the fluid nature to it, like in ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’.

If I could go back and do this project again, I would more carefully consider my character design and spend a bit more time on it. I found that when I made my puppet I changed quite a lot of elements as I went, so the character design doesn’t quite match up with the puppet. When it came to animating I should have taken more time with it, with more consideration for weight and timing. I think this is something that will come with time though, as I can already see improvements even between my practice animations and my submissions. I also need to be more careful not to knock cameras or move backgrounds when filming, and just consider the space I am in a bit more. I mostly put this down to being a clumsy person, but again I think this will come with continuing to animate. The masking out of the rigs could also be improved, as they are a big rough and obvious in places. I feel I rushed this slightly as it is not my favourite thing to do, but I think I did an okay job considering.

Next time I do a project similar to this I would like to use the same technique of 2D on top of stop motion as I have really enjoyed working this way. I have really engaged with this project, and I feel like I am finding a system to animating that works for me. I am exciting to develop the skills I have learnt in future projects and have a bit of fun exploring this method of working.

Bestiary Weekly Reflection 12

12th- 15th February 2018

Development

In this last week I have edited and added sound to all of my animations. I used a fun, childlike voice for my character and an upbeat song in the background, to give him a children’s TV show style. I am quite happy with how these turned out, I feel that there are elements that can definitely be improved, and I think I could have been more creative with my choices. I also created some drawings and text for the narrative arc page of the character bible, and collated my work into an experimentation reel.

Areas for Development

I have learnt that I need to spend more time planning my animations rather than going straight into it. I tend to focus on the parts of a project that enjoy, such as the puppet construction and editing, rather than other aspects such as character design and story boarding. I am glad I have learnt what I most enjoy, but I need to spend more time on these other aspects in order to create a more well rounded animation.

 

Bestiary Experimentation Reel

My experimentation reel for this project, I think this has been one of my most in depth projects, and I am happy with the results. Unfortunately the show reel itself plays a bit strangely, I have tried rendering with different settings but it still has the same problem of playing with some blur when things are moving.

Narrative Arc

Species name: Monstrum Parvum (Latin for ‘Little Monster’)

Age: 111

Name: Marmalade

Origin: They are small, furry mammals who were first discovered in the Western Desert of Egypt. They lived deep below the sand in tunnels that they built using their extremely sharp teeth. This is the reason for their thick fur, it protects from the pressure and extreme cold of being so far below the ground. They do not have good eyesight as they often live in perpetual darkness, but they make up for it with amazing hearing. They live in small colonies as they are sociable creatures. They also posses some super natural abilities, such as living much longer than the average mammal of their size.

Diet: They live off the roots of plants and shrubs that grow beneath the ground, but as this is such a limited resource in the desert they can survive months, if not years without food. They have large fat reserves in their stomaches, which lets them live off it when no food is available. The extra weight unfortunately makes them slow and clumsy, which can be interpreted as stupidity, but it is far from the truth. They are highly intuitive and empathetic creatures.

Predator: The danger to these creatures is mostly humans. They are rarely seen so when one is caught, it sells for thousands of pounds. A demon like creature called the ‘green demon’ is their enemy, it lives to torment these little creatures. Previously it struggled to do this, as it can only move if it is possessing an object. The invention of technology made this much easier for the green demon.

Marmalades story: Marmalade is one of the last of his kind. He was found by Sir. Henry Right in 1925 being sold on a market in Peru. Henry was a struggling writer trying to find his inspiration, and took pity on the little creature, and returned with him to England. He  named him ‘Marmalade’ due to his orange fur, and soon realised his sharp teeth were perfect for sharpening pencils. He became a good luck charm and a companion to Henry, and he became a world renowned author.

From his very successful career (thanks to Marmalade) he became a very wealthy man. He bought a country mansion with his earnings and had a son names Eric. Unfortunately Eric wasn’t as kind as his father, and grew to hate the little monster. When Henry grew very old and passed away, Eric locked Marmalade in the Library, and abandoned the house with him in it.

Eric then had a son of his own, Arthur, but showed little interest or love toward him. He was sent to boarding school from the age of five and only returned home for christmas. One fateful year when Arthur just turned 11, Eric’s Law Firm went bankrupt, and he was on the verge of ruin. He had spent all of his fathers inheritance, until all that remained was his fathers beloved mansion. Eric decided it was time to auction the house and all its contents, as it was christmas he reluctantly took Arthur with him to survey the house.

This was when Arthur met Marmalade. He was wandering through the old mansion and came across the Library, intrigued by strange noises coming from inside. To his surprise he came across a small, furry creature scrambling around in the corner, surrounded by half eaten pencils and ripped up paper. Although nervous at first, Arthur approached the little animal and it jumped straight into his pocket, sensing this was his chance to escape. The two became inseparable, Arthur finding friendship in his lonely life, and Marmalade finding a companion again.

 

Final Animations

I have edited and masked three animations that I will submit for this unit. I am reasonably happy with how they turned out, and I think adding a background helped pull the pieces together. I added an orange colour over the top to make the background blend in with the orange colour of the puppet better. The first animation is one I did a while ago, but I am still happy with it, as I think it reveals a lot of character. I also added sound to it. I used a child’s ‘roar’ sound which I think makes the character seem really cute and sweet.

I again added some sound to this animation, the same roar as before as I really liked it. This was my most recent filming session and I found that by this point the puppet had become a but worn and the wire was loose in places, so I don’t think the quality of the animation is as good as it could have been. I also had a bit of trouble with the masking as the pencil moved half way through filming.

This final animation is my favourite, as I think it is the best animated out of all of them, and I like how it links to the wider narrative arc as a whole.

Re Shooting one animation

As I had some time remaining I decided to film another short sequence. I wanted this shoot to be the most successful of the three, but by this point my puppet was becoming a bit over used and I could feel the wires becoming delicate. I have learnt from this though to use more durable wire if I plan on animating a character this many times. I have found that each animation has improved in different ways, and I have found that this project has improved my skills with dragon frame and stop motion greatly.

Fully edited Hoover animation

I have added a face and a title to one of my animations, I will use this set up as a base for the other animations. I added an orange overlay which I think creates a really friendly, warm effect. I think the real set and the green screen background really meld well together, and look very convincing as one background.

Bestiary Weekly Reflection 11

5th-11th February 2018

Development

 

Most of this week has been experimenting with different effects and ways of adding the face onto the animation. I finished editing one of my animations fully, and did a short re shoot as I had some time left. This was reasonably successful, and I will be spending most of the remaining time editing all the animations and compiling all my information.

Areas for Development

My next step is to complete my animations and create an experimentation reel. Also to finish posting any work that I have done onto my blog.

 

Bestiary Weekly Summary 10

29th January- 4th February 2018

Development

This week I created some concept images of my beast with a photographic background, which I was pretty happy with. After adding features and editing the colour saturation I think I created the effect of the puppet being in the environment. The photo I used was green screen so I removed this using Key light in after effects and saved the image into photo shop where  I edited it. I also created some more secondary characters, as I wasn’t very happy with my first idea. Although they are still characters in the over all arc of the story, I thought that my character needed an antagonist. I really enjoyed creating this evil, demon character as he is the opposite if my main character.

 

Areas for Development

My next step will be to edit and add facial features to my animations, and possibly re shoot some elements if there is time. I also need to start compiling all my information together in the character bible.

Resources

I used some images of animals to inform my secondary character sketches.

Secondary characters