Week 5: Practical

In today's session, I attempted to use ToonBoom for character animation. It didn't take too long to draw out my character Manon. I like the ability to select different shades of colour and to save them into the library. 

I also tried to animate by tilting Manon's head to the right. It isn't as simple to do as on Adobe After Effects, but maybe it'll just take some getting used to. 

Paul pointed out that ToonBoom has a slightly pixelated effect, the edges are not as smooth as they are in Illustrator. Hopefully I will be able to resolve this issue next time.

Week 5: Workshop

Nadija Mustpić

• Academy of Applied Arts - Croatia
• Intermedia
• Time based installation
• Relationship between text and image

Toni Meštrović

• Teacher and artist
• Introduction to moving image
• Multimedia
• Sometimes collaborated with Nadija

Nadija - erasmus
mobility programmes

Portray post-apocalypse

• Cracks in walls/bullet holes etc
• Contrast in sound
• Crumbling buildings
• Post 9/11 NY

Parents? - visual cues

Something happen to landmark

• Refugees?
• Escape to Syria?

Why I changed narrative

• No more glitch effect
• What triggers flashback

Week 5: Lecture

Nadija Mustapić

Mustapić comes from Rijeka, Croatia. The country used to be part of the Yugoslav Republic, until its independence in 1991. Mustpić addresses this within her art work.

She primarily creates video installations, and also documentary films. Her work questions how we inhabit space. She also tackles themes such as neoliberal reality, the disappearance of public relation, and gentrification. She believes that video installations should be a territory that displays lived experience.
From her perspective it is not always necessary to use linear narrative. Through her visual work she explores the relationship with semantics and visual meaning.

"I Don't Know About The Rest of the World But Here..." (2015)

• 2015 3-channel video installation
• California missile video

Rikard Benčić, for example (2008)

• 2008 doc film
• industrial complexes decline
• increases of nationalism in politics
• Multiethnic community
• in the process of recreating its identity
• Tourist cultural city
• deals with representation of space 
• intertwined with ex-workers of building

Afternoon Without Gravity (2010)

• 2-channel installation
• ambiguous sense of time
• circular narrative

The Additional Act (2010)

Character costume design

I sketched some new designs for my characters. This was so that I would know what they were wearing in different scenes

Manon in scene 1

Manon in scene 4

Alecia in scene 4

Alecia in scene 3

Week 4

Challenges this week:

• Last week I had to prepare an assessed presentation for my other module. This meant that I spent all my time working on that and not much time on this module. I felt like this put me far behind on my schedule

Successes this week:

• The presentation for my other module was about an animator, Joanna Quinn (see blog post), which has actually informed some of my ideas for my project. I would like to use Quinn's influence when doing character animation and making sure to exaggerate expressions.
• I've also changed my schedule according to where I'm at now. This will help with my time management and assure that I'm not getting too stressed out about doing too much or too little work.

Progress toward final completion

• I do feel like I am on track now that I've begun drawing images for the final project

Hand-drawing 1

 I have begun hand-drawing my images. I've been using sketch paper and tracing paper so that I can separate the different layers I will use.

Some of the pictures I've done so far are not very detailed and I will need to work on these. Although this is quite a long process, I think in the long run it will make my artwork look a lot nicer and refined.

Changing schedule

I've changed my production schedule,  

Above is the schedule I created as the end of last term for the assessment.

Here is the new schedule I've made, beginning this week. I've planned to finish drawing the background imagery by the end of the month, rather than having is completed two weeks ago. This gives me more time to carefully draw each picture and to not rush it. This way I won't need as much time to trace the images on illustrator.

Joanna Quinn

Joanna Quinn is a British film director and animator. She was born in Birmingham and grew up in London. She studied a foundation course in Art at Goldsmiths before completing her degree in Graphic Design at Middlesex University. Whilst studying here, her skills in art and design developed into her love for animation. After graduating, she moved to Wales and started a production company with her partner, Les Mills, who is a producer and writer.

Her most notable work includes the short film Girls Night Out (1986). She also animated the Charmin commercials which aired during the late nineties and early noughties.

Two of her films have been nominated for an Oscar, which are Famous Fred (1996) and The Wife of Bath (1998)

A post shared by @joannaquinn on Aug 18, 2016 at 4:18pm PDT

Quinn uses hand-drawn animation, using the flip motion technique.

I found this video on her Instagram; she only uses three images, but the way she draws make the movement look so fluid and dramatic. I would like to use this as a guideline when doing my own character animation.

• Reflecting on her own work, she states that she likes to go back and exaggerate certain movements, making adjustments depending on the camera angle.

• On some of her animations she works as both the key framer and inbetweener. 

• She often uses a mirror to replicate her own actions when sketching. She also uses a mirror in an attempt to see her own work from a fresh perspective. 

I found it quite inspiring to see her working methods. I’d like to use some of these tips to improve my own work.

I watched her short film dreams and desires, which included the recurring character throughout her films, Beryl.

• Challenges notions of femininity

• Beryl – overweight, working-class

• Relatable to female audiences

• Comparable to modern day actresses, Amy Schumer and Mindy Kaling

• Re-creation of hand-held camera

• 'unnatractive angles' - close up; low angle

• Subverts Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze

• Beryl is an object of humour

Quinn shows that it’s okay to be “unattractive”. She’s spoken out against how some animators are afraid to exaggerate women’s expressions because they need to be pretty. Yet her way of presenting Beryl shows that women do not need to be beautiful to be worthy.

When reflecting on myself as a practitioner, I believe that it’s important to draw away from the representations that have been consistently presented by men. I think in a lot of ways these men dominated representations have conditioned my way of thinking towards women. In my practical pieces I created last year, my animation featured a male protagonist, and the only woman was his love interest, acting as a mere prop to her male counterpart. In documentary, I only interviewed male subjects, and although this kind of annoyed me at the time, in hindsight I could have made more of an effort to find a female to talk to.

So this year, I made a conscious decision to include a strong female protagonist. I thought about making my protagonist curvy since I know this is rare within animation.  I followed a tutorial I found online, but while I was drawing her, I wasn’t liking the result. In the end I ended up drawing her much thinner. I think that subconsciously I didn’t find her pretty as a larger woman. Taking Quinn’s advice, I shouldn’t worry too much about the character appearing to be pretty. I think I should challenge my own perceptions of beauty.

Week 3: Practical

I spoke with Paul in this session as I was having doubts about my storyline. He helped me identify the key points and what was missing. I know that the genre I'd chosen was fantasy/drama which alludes to real life events, but I don't want to dwell too much on the latter. Paul suggested that I take a more political stance, and more explicitly explore conflicting identities, for example if one sister was religious and the other more secular. I don't feel as though I could go down this route appropriately without conducting a lot of research. At this point in the term I don't feel like I have enough time to change my direction this much. Instead I would like to keep my characters the same but perhaps think about how I can really demonstrate their personalities to the audience. I also need to create an ending that has an impact on the audience.

Week 3: Workshop

SMART Goals

Specific

• Have precise goals
• Better to write on paper
• Agree on meaning of goal - what you plan to achieve

Measurable

• Numerically achievable i.e:
   - 4 hours
  - sketch 7 characters
• Calculate percentage achieved

Attainable

• Something your skills can do
• Easily accessible

Relevant

• How it relates to weekly/monthly plans
• See if anything can be changed

Time-based

• Set deadlines
• Unlikely to be done without time structure

Again we filled out the weekly goals audit. 

Things that I can improve:

• Storyline
• Time management

Things that I am doing well:

• N/A

My goals for this week:

• Fill in gaps in storyboard
• Draw full images 1-10
• Draw full images 11-20
• Draw full images 21-30
• Experiment with Toon Boom for 1 hour
• Research lighting techniques
• Research sound design in films
• Research animation techniques
• Update process book 

My goals for this month

• Complete full drawings on paper
• Begin digital version

I found it quite difficult to come up with things that I am doing well, as I've felt quite stuck and haven't began working on my project yet.

As for the weekly goals, Mary suggested that we come up with 10 goals for the week, which I found quite daunting. Realistically I will not be able to complete them all, especially since I have work to complete for my other module. I would like to at least begin working on drawing images on paper. It is more likely that these will be completed by the end of the month.

We completed the sheet above to think about our own creative process.

Viewing Logs

Persepolis (2007)

• Doesn't dwell too much on the aspects of war

Waltz with Bashir (2008)

• Yellow skies, grey foreground
• Causing disruption in the streets
• comic art style
• heavy shadows
• documentary
• soldiers walking through field
• filmmaker - flashbacks from Lebanon
• music - dramatic, strings
• sky fades from yellow to grey/blue
• melancholic
• "i watched my friends go up in flames" sees boat attacked by bombs
• soldiers running and shooting guns
• follows perspective of soldiers
• 34:49 time lapse of guy playing guitar while tanks attacking in background
• rock upbeat music juxtaposed with visuals - desensitised to war
• 1:21:10 people walking through streets, moaning/crying
• ends with live documentary footage + no sound

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

• Bombs dropped outside their home
• Aerial shot following plane across ruined city
• Shows civilians dealing with war
• - dead bodies carried away
• city being destroyed
• ending sad music and memories of setsuo
• seta imagines that they're still together
• final - long shot as seta looks out into the distance
• on wiki, author says using children makes the story more relatable, i hope to achieve the same

Overall thoughts:
I think that my story will follow a similar method to that of Persepolis, in which the war is taking place in the background of the film, yet the film largely follows the character's perspective and everyday life.

Tips for writing a good ending

How to Write Satisfying Story Endings

• Short stories don't need to tie everything neatly - can be subtle
• "The author gives the reader a hint of how things are likely to go"
• Conflict resolved. can't resolve because need to work on that
• "Satisfying story endings use elements from the story's beginning and middle"
• "Even a twist ending shouldn't come out of the blue"
  Need to give hinds beforehand
  Don't confuse the audience
• "Great endings make the reader feel something"

source: http://www.creative-writing-now.com/story-endings.html

New Idea for Storyline

As identified previously, I had some issues with the ending on my story.

I started by outlining the different parts of my story. I used a blue pen to identify the problems I had with it, then used a green pen to offer possible solutions.

In the beginning on the narrative (1-2), Manon is denoted in the post-apocalyptic Paris, standing on Pont de l'Archevêché. In my storyboard, it written for this to trigger a flashback of Manon being given a bracelet from her sister, Alecia. I think this may be confusing for the audience. Instead I think it would make more sense to show the two sisters in the same location. Instead of sharing bracelets, they will place a padlock on the fence of 'Love lock bridge'. This is to show their bond as sisters, whilst giving the audience an insight to the location. After sharing a happy moment, I could introduce the antagonists, the military forces, rather than waiting until later on in the story.

The second act of the story (3-5) originally showed Manon travelling through Paris, which eventually triggers another flashback. This flashback was of Manon and Alecia on a train, when militants come to attack, leading to them being separated. I would still like to use this scene, but towards the conclusion of the film. Instead the second act will show Manon and Alecia's bond and they protect one another during the war.

Finally in the third act (6), I'd written that Manon and Alecia would somehow be reunited. However this was quite unrealistic. Instead, I will show the scene on the train, then flash forward again to show how Manon is upset and alone. I still think that I can develop this ending to have more of an impact.

Week 2: Workshop and Practical

Things that I can improve:

• Time management
• Framing
• Aesthetic design

Things that I am doing well:

• Process book/research
• Not being too stressed

My goal for this week:

• Begin drawing images on paper (complete at least half)

My goals for this month:

• Develop aesthetic design
• Experiment with ToonBoom
• Fix Media For drive

Tips:

• Visit www.skillshare.com

Peer feedback:

I showed my classmates Kat and Jessie my storyboard, and they said that the ending was a bit unrealistic. I had realised that I struggled with writing the ending, and therefore rushed to put something together. Kat suggested that instead of having a happy ending, I could make it more realistic by not having the sisters reunite. I could still keep the majority of the storyboard the same, but make some comparisons between happy and sad memories. Alternatively, Kat suggested that if I wanted the sisters to reunite, I need to give more details about how this happens.
Suggested viewing:

• La La Land (2017)
• Your Name (2016)
• Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

Week 2: Lecture - Adrian Goycoolea

Adrian Goycoolea is an experimental filmmaker. He lived and worked in New York for 10 years. His work includes creating installations and narrative filmmaking.

Anthology Film Archives

• Museum and theatre
• Founded by filmmaker, Joans Mekas 
• American avant-garde cinema
• wrote about experimental films
• Goycoolea volunteered at Anthology Film Archives whilst studying at School of Visual Arts

Goycoolea's influences:

• Alex Mendizabel
• Mau
• Stom Sogo
• Lee Elikson
• Bruce McClure
• Filmmakers super 8 work

Funk Taxi Visuals:

• Film collective
• Installations at parties/raves
• Art galleries and festivals

Image-crash-lifesize

• 1998, New York City
• TV monitors in taxi-cab
• Clips of other work
• Smashing car sound fx

Researching thesis film:

• Watched avant garde films at Anthology Film Archive
• Read books about vision, blindness and memory
• Theory connecting it to art
• Paintings
• Months of experimentation on one technique
• Sourced home movie footage to rephotograph
• Influences: Gerhard Richter; Robert Rouschenberg; Sigmar Polke, Andy Warhol; Michael snow; Stan Brakehe, Ken Jacobs, Bruce Bailie

Memories of a Blind Father

• Someone who'd lost their sight
• Forgotten imagery
• Visual memories being lost

¡Viva Chile Mierda!

• Family experiences of torture in Chile
• Radio recordings
• Animated illustrations
• Detailed explanations of their memories
• Personal stories with wider social context
• Used illustrations as archival footage to seem more personal
• Personal style - Chilean people desensitised to the war
• Could be useful for my own work as it explores the family's experiences during the war

Reading: Ideas for the Animated Short - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Storyboarding

I decided to do some further reading into storyboarding. I didn't do this last term as I thought it was better to get my ideas down on paper rather than focus too much on making it perfect. Now that I've had time to review my work, I think using theory is a good way to draw on what I've already produced and see how I can make it better.

• Don't leave too big of a gap - explain how a character moves from one location to the next

"You may need to show the character’s point of view revealing what he sees and does not see as he looks"

"Keep reminding yourself that the audience does not know what’s going on in your story or in the character’s mind until you show them"

I think at times I may have jumped from one location to the next in my storyboard, therefore I need to use more shots to fully reveal this.

• Need to include reaction shots:

"If a storyboard were to show a character looking into an empty room, the following shot could be the character’s POV (point of view) of the empty room. Then the next shot showing a close-up of the character’s face looking confused and thinking, “Why is there no one here?” This is the reaction shot."

I think I used some reaction shots at times, but they may not have been clear. I think with animation it's best to use exaggerated emotions to make this clear to the audience.

"Animation tends to use exaggerated body gestures and facial expressions. Make a video of yourself or another actor delivering the lines or get a mirror and try to find the primary facial expressions you need and then caricature them"

• Could add: low angle cut, side angle view, match on action
• Need more shots for action scene, for fast paced cuts

Recommended Readings
1. Don Bluth, Don Bluth’s Art of Storyboard
2. John Canemaker, Paper Dreams
3. Wayne Gilbert, Simplifi ed Drawing for Planning Animation
4. Will Eisner, Comics and Sequential Art
5. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, The Illusion of Life

Changes to Storyboard

Following the feedback from last term's assessment, one way I could improve my work was to add more variety to the shots I've used. I think that I used too many mid shots, therefore should consider using some different shots such as extreme close ups. In my production schedule, I'd already planned to use this week to revise my storyboard, as it is good to look at it with fresh eyes. I used a coloured pen to annotate each shot and how I could improve.

Most of the notes I made were to do with framing, to make sure I was using enough variety. I also made notes to myself about what extra details I need to include when drawing the more refined versions, such as what the background setting will look like.

Animation cinematography research:

• Pay attention to lighting to make it seem more realistic
• Adjust depth of field
• Try changing camera angles, rather than just using eye line view

References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/roger-deakins_b_3268900.html?section=india

http://nofilmschool.com/2014/12/5-techniques-create-depth-make-cinematography-more-dynamic

https://www.utdallas.edu/atec/midori/Handouts/camera.htm