As the last part of promoting the film other than producing the poster is conducting a press kit that involves the fundamental aspects of promoting my film including:
Biography of myself and others involved.
Synopsis of the film; short, medium and long.
Credits.
Stills from film without spoiling the story aswell as a cover to the press kit to give it a professional look.
Questions and Answers that would be asked of me in an interview.
As the film was finished aswell as the promoting, the final stage of post production was to create a display of our work towards the degree show with other additional tasks that would push promoting ourselves forwards to professionals and other visitors.
Below shows other student displays of their films.
Towards the criteria of major project, the final stage was to produce an evaluation and reflection sheet from the experience and progress gained from the final film production aswell as other notes upon the experience gained throughout the entire three years at university.
From conducted research and planning I have created my personal portfolio and industry roles based from research into the adverts of jobs I would pitch towards, the artists I would aspire towards the roles that have worked particular professions throughout their career and how I would brand myself to studios and industries. Below shows the documents that are important to this pitch.
Module Evaluation:
Throughout this module, I have experienced the fundamental aspects of gaining a understanding into industry roles, how to apply to them and how to research towards what they require and what skills and background experience they need when apply for advertisements. Throughout this research I conducted a better understanding that the skills I acquire can be used for many roles that have different set goals. These goals wouldn't have to be through the boundaries of animation, instead they would focus their aim around marketing, advertising and publication such as comics or production, to illustrations and video games. In turn, this makes me feel that my advanced knowledge and skill sets can open a variety of opportunites away from film making and animation. Even though I would start out in animation or film production as part of the action plan set up, I would be open to new roles in future if they are ever arisen or they are offered to me. What this can do is develop my skills, working in different patterns of how studios and industries aim their goals aswell as gaining experience from working closely with different professionals that have more knowledge and practical approaches in their field.
What I would take from this module is the experience of marketing my own brand towards potential roles and opportunites that will arise as I go along my career path.
This film is password protected since this is not allowed to be shown to the public yet others with knowledge of what the password is can access it.
From the comment, they enjoyed how far I came towards the amount of length I produced the film in the end result. A couple of points they did make when carrying this on for the degree show included:
Continuing the edit as it's not fully clean yet, such as vocal edits and sound effects as it is not fully clear when linking it back to the theme of horror.
Change the credits aswell as adding Wolverhampton university logo at the end to indicate where this was made.
The next step forward is setting up the degree show as this would include having a display towards the theme of film; a cleaner final edit of the film; business cards that would help in networking with visitors and professional guests who will come in to see the film.
final wall schedule and last storyboard progression update
The feedback I would initially make towards the finishing the project includes improving the continuity of the characters especially at the start to get the fluid flow I would need for better pacing; Adding reaction and moon shots to get the full effect of the transformation and climax moments that would happen in the scene; start editing sound and music together to get the full effect of tension and interaction with the theme towards it's characters ;and starting to cut down some scenes to make the finishing touches easier to achieve aswell as improve the pacing Updated schedule for final week
As I would be spending much time at home with a cintiq to complete the film it was easy to update digital schedule and plan and know what I am initially doing for the final week. This would help update the wall schedule in the final week if anything needs changing and I would be in university the last week when conducting the editing anyway.
As part of finishing the clean up and tweaking in betweens, The next part of the storyboard checklist to put red and yellow stickers on panels to indicate what is and what needs finishing as I go into the final stage of the project.
Final Poster
Degree show and press kit promoting
When promoting the film it was important to not give too much away as I wanted to keep the twist underwraps especially when showcasing it first time to audiences and industry professionals
the prey (full inbetweens) from matthew danks on Vimeo.
This video shows the main drawings of characters and in-betweens within all the scene of this animation. from this point on the next step is to start clean up of scenes that don't work based on comments from peers and lecturers; begin adding effects and would help the genre along, adding colour schemes to character sequences which helps with making changes to other colours that don't make the rest stand out and also start editing camera flow, direction, lighting and making the effects feel alive and make the characters interactive better overall in the genre setting.
Poster
Aswell as starting clean up and improvements, I also conducted the promotion of this film through the most common advertisement of a poster. This was created in photoshop the same way I used for producing the colour scripts and concept art for this film. As part of the schedule I created this so it is on time for cherai's deadline as they would be used for the degree show.
In my view it feels like it needs an improvement as some of the colours aren't coming across right but I leave it at that and see what my peers and lecturers think in our next production meeting.
Throughout the week aswell as doing the poster and our creative portfolio, I started to conduct the clean up of the animation and from the shown footage below of the week's progress which was started on Tuesday, this doesn't take as long as filling the in-betweens so my target is to get the majority of the animation done before week 12.
Throughout this busy week, the first thing I did was to show the progress I made to the animation to my lecturers and peers from the published vimeo clip I uploaded on the previous major project/post production post.
These feedback notes included
making initial changes to colour scheme to have a clear outlook to the overall film and characters' portrayal
when applying the final effects and colour, I would to make sure that the most important part of the story are clear throughout such as the birthday banner to indicate a clear signs of what happening at the beginning to make the boy character feel the way he is of the situation aswell as the moon to showcase a clear sign on transformation. Especially when adding the effects of moonlight shining on the character to make sure its clear the moon is doing something to the boy aswell as making the transformation posture and movements clear.
lecturer Sam Moore mentioned to get the look and tone I want I would need to look at Noir films and see how use light to co-ordinate the sequences and make the character stand out with the setting.
what she also found interesting is the use of colour style to direct the moon's emergence aswell as the close up face of the boy whilst in the different emotion states of transforming including being scared, pain and evil smirks.
Sam mentioned to change the storytelling of the thought bubble to simple displays of monster teeth and scary eyes so it doesn't give the ghoul characters away.
Fellow student Rob Livingston mention following Sam's point is to change the facial expressions of the mother so its clear she's is scared and concerned for her son's safety whilst the thoughts bubble are telling the story.
another student Andy Swinbourne also noted that when the mother appears whilst the boy werewolf is fighting off his attacker is why she's not a werewolf aswell which is a good point and that will be explored when doing clean up and adding colour to indicate she is coming from the shadows. Andrew Taylor also mentioned on this notice and said that I could show she is not turning cause the moonlight isn't casting down upon her but as she put her hand on the wall where the moon light lits her hand transforms.
Through that point about noir films there's a good tutorial about how classical black and white films use lighting and shadow in their film. this clip maybe about live action films but the method and technique can be useful in animation and editing stages when applying the right lighting for film to help the character standout and make the film feel more alive especially with colour to give the overall horror tone I want.
I also looked at the best classics who use unique way of using lighting and shadow to get that noir feel.
Through Monday 11th April lecture, our lecturer also started to talk about the crucial points of getting our film into festival.
These points included:
Sending films to festivals can gain an audience so it potentially produce appeal, recognition to the work I produce and create potential work and projects for myself.
they would be able to get a distributor or get invited to more festivals and competitions
festivals are the best places to get into the professional world and network with individuals to learn from their advanced experience
Its can be the best opportunity to travel and see different places if they are taken place nationally in the UK or internationally around the world aswell as locally in areas like the west midlands etc.
The presentation also noted that not sending films to different festivals maybe due to:
lack of confidence
not being able to keep up the applications I would gain from the experiences
not being able to afford the experience depending how much the festivals charge in fees.
When looking and sending into film festivals
always research them before hand so it prepares myself meeting certain standards they require
the criteria and overall theme they are looking for so it avoids being turned down by festivals that think the film is good but isn't the type of film they are looking for what they have planned in the festival.
recognize the unique standing points (USP) that are needed to create what they want overall
be aware of the theme and genre the festivals want in the film production.
refine, choose and target the festival I want overall
be aware of how they want depending on their screening in terms of length, genre, format and ratio aspect and quality.
make a plan of attending festivals especially in a calendar that can be crucial for filling in the deadlines of each festival I would be taking part in
research fundamentally helps with sorting what sort budget I would need if certain festivals require the film to be made in certain programs and how they look if materials are needed.
have a copy of information that is needed to send to festivals such include descriptions of cast and crew; film still at high quality aswell as director photo; filming length/format/genre/ element/ production method overall (e.g. 3D or 2D)
register entries online portals which will save time and the process easy and also never rely on just one portal.
also be aware to double check that some important festivals still have direct entry before applying and sending films off.
Also when attending it makes it easy to gain better experience when meeting different people aswell as making an impact to confidence and morale; keep on networking after festivals for more opportunities and make business cards so it can be a form of personal branding.
Below shows links to tips in applying and also the most common places to apply for festival entry:
These are just few of many submission sites to send films to festivals.
Music and sound examples
As part of the schedule I also conducted a 4 hour slot on a Wednesday to go into sound booth room and create different sound effects using materials including cardboard, plastic bags, metal wire and bottle.
below shows some of the sound I made with the help of Andrew Taylor
This is only some created from a list of what sort of sounds I need to create the horror feel into my film. The list of these names are down below. Whilst editing I will also have to find some sound from the internet whilst conducting the main editing process as there are there is insufficient equipment I don't have to do this process. These copyrights will be recorded on a future post.
Paul ward Talk
As part of learning from someone with life long experience into animation, I attended the Paul ward lecture on Tuesday. It was quite interesting to see how he conducts the theory and practice behind animation and make them fundamental to showcasing political and social messages about being against austerity. One of the main points that across when he was talking about the theory is that people with advanced social skills and teaming building ethics have the creative minds and ability to face the many challenges when being confronted with project that would have be up to date with the issues and crisis of the world if they want to make a direct impact and also be able to collaborate and create a network of different people. This makes it more easy to gain the right experience for future opportunities.
Below shows his previous students work aswell as photos of the talk.
IMF whistleblower john perkins, confessions of an economic hitman.
All in this together- Are benefits ever a lifestyle choice? by Dole Animators
Advanced zoo drawing for helping animation and portfolio
Matthew began studying BTEC
Art and Design and IT at the sixth form level at the RSA Academy from 2011-2013
which he procured a distinction (art) and merit (IT) grade. He specialises in
illustration concept art and animation.
He then studied BA (Hons)
Animation at the University of Wolverhampton. Throughout the studies he has created a range
of animation projects that involve many learn curves of stop motion techniques,
digital drawing aspects including a collaboration film using creative
compositing methods called the cyclops and monkey in the 2nd year
working with fellow student Andrew Taylor; a 2D film documenting how spiders
pro create and start the cycle again and a professional animation project in
the 3rd year collaborating with Andrew Taylor to create a
promotional film based on a brief provided by Wolverhampton’s marketing team.
This film was considered
marketing’s favourite as it followed the requirements they wanted in terms of
simple yet effective advertising of the animation course aswell as linking it
back to Wolverhampton University through the colour co-ordination of their
website’s branding
