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
When it comes to networking, having a portfolio can help achieve in getting noticed by different professions in roles I would be looking to pitch. This would include branding, Creative CV that reflects my skills and presenting the content professionally, marketable experience such as work experience and previous networking in festivals and exhibitions; logo and business cards and my major qualities that describe my skills and what I can do for the role that I would pitch for.
When it comes to interviews, having a good portfolio is a good way to get the job but it doesn't reflect how I would personally showcase myself towards the role.
To get a good pitch this would haver to include describing:
Degree (projects, specialist areas)
Placement (tasks, what you learnt)
Part time work (skills developed)
Reasons for applying:
Interested in the company (projects, goals, audience and style of working)
love of the subject (methods, theme and techniques)
What made me interested in the role (past experience, challenges faced)
Below shows a presentation by guest speaker lisa law on how to successfully network and how to
approach in pitching job roles in 10 minute presentation which will be shown in a future post and
interviews with the leaders of industries or studios that I would apply towards.
Storyboard Artist
As another pitch I would look into is storyboard artist I started to look at famous artists who have explored this crucial method in their career path. The link for my main research in storyboard artists is: http://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-famous-storyboard-artists/reference
Butch Hartman
This animator is very famous for creating Nickelodeon network shows Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom. As he created, directed and written these tv shows, storyboarding was I think his most important process as these crucial points of creating the elements of the plot help keep the audience interested through each episode and understand each scene from crisp and clean pacing that helps the dynamics, action and humour of each show's themes.
Joseph Barbara
He is an Italian-American artist that has created, produced, written, animated and storyboarded a wide range of animated shows like Scooby Doo and The Flintstones. As part of the founding of Hanna Barbara studios with the involvement of William Hanna. The way he worked and created these shows had made worldwide fame of over 300 million audiences in 1960 that continued to grow as the same as the new introduced shows over the course of his career. What I find most interesting about his work is how he created the blend of humour to characters that can be recognoised in any theme he introduces throughout each show he took part in creating.
As part of creating a portfolio, we had another guest speaker to showcase how they have build their creative path through the animation industry and workshops. The second guest was Elizabeth Hobbs.
From her work she showed, she specialises in ink animation and printmaking animation.
How she produces her films is using ink paints, applying them upon layers and changing each frame with new movements over older frames in previous shots that would display the same character yet feel more alive when made.
This to me, showcases a recognizable style to her work through the way how she carries her stories through simple yet rich motions and character/ setting portrayals.
She mention in her talk when freelancing, we would need to make sure that we know what sort of workshop and team we are willing to work with as they could make suggestions, meetings and ideas towards where they want to take the production even of it doesn't fit with what the original artist/ Aniamtor previously envisioned that the beginning of the process. Yet being open minded and getting another view on the subject matter can envisioned a new direction that the original creator wouldn't have thought up before.
In some of her work like her printmaking, she uses film strips as the backdrop for putting on screen when she carves small images of her story into wood. These small reels would then be enhanced and blown up bigger for screening.
Her latest instalment she mention she was taking part in was a independent project called 'OK' where she shows a test of how she filters with sketches and photographs to craft a story about one person in her work. From all her films she introduces historical elements and plays upon the notion of how we perceive the original telling as she finds the halfs truths and tells them in her animation productions.
Here below shows examples of her work that she showed in her talk
After showing the progress in my final film, the feedback I gained was mostly positive to how far I come into producing the film the previous two week. But they did mention that some of the improvements I would need to make for a clear display of what is happening is changing the colour scheme to lighter tones so its clear to portray on screen and other screenings if shown in festivals and competitions. Another improvement they would like to see is change some of the speed to make it more fluid and improve the pacing. What they did like about the film is how the action is coming together and how the characters have better characteristics in personality like the mother in improving her attitude in being comforting and sincere.
Below shows the continued improvements I made towards with over 3000 out of 4212 frames completed within animating the lineart but I will side-line the music and sound effects till after the drawn characters are done. The next step I will take is keeping to schedule to get the main animation done before adding the colour schemes, cleaning up dynamic scenes from feedback over the course of each meeting and editing to make the film's scenarios better in terms of camera angles, adding a better soundtrack and sound effects; extra visual effects if necessary and title sequence/credits.
prey 11th april update from matthew danks on Vimeo.
I wanted to show the animation main aspects of character movement and interaction to get a better angle of showcasing my improvements but also I skipped out any colour background improvements I made because I wanted them to be shown on a future exported clip.
Also below showcases an improved schedule of moving forward in the project both online and wall schedule timetables. Wall Schedule
Online schedule I also started to make some changes and notes on the storyboards to show what I have made progress on with colour indications of where each stage is going. These are shown through colour stickers. These include.
rough sketch (BLUE)
Lineart (GREEN)
clean up (YELLOW)
edited (RED
For the most part I have done the rough sketch outs when doing the animatic and the lineart will be done on schedule before conducting the last stages of this animation
One last thing I did before the week's end is produce a better synopsis for the film to send to fellow student cherai Douglas who is helping to organize the degree show which is the same for everybody else's films in progress. She has also asked everyone to do a promotional poster to our films which has been put on schedule for deadline in week 11. My plan for this is to start one sometime in the 9th week maybe on a Friday if I plan to have most of the animation finished aswell as keeping on track with the portfolio before hand.
The next stage is to begin my press kit since it would be easy to gain screenshots from finished footage to showcase the story without giving too much of the plot away.
Below shows the description of 'The Prey' synopsis.
The Prey.
In this short film, a boy on his 13th birthday
living in a distant and secluded apartment block feels he wants to do something
better on this celebration and escape his mother’s extravagant yet
uninteresting ways of celebrating. Yet in her efforts and warnings of danger
outside, he continues venturing forth into the night. But he soon realises he
should have listened to his mother’s warning as dark beings start crawling out
of the shadows and make the boy their next prey.
Within the two week easter break, my goal was to have half or more of the animation which includes the movements to fully bringing the characters to life relatively done so I can move the project forward and bring it towards easy completion with other elements in place upon the final deadline. This would help with gaining feedback to at a good time to make the necessary improvements to get a better outcome before the deadline.
Below showcases uploaded animation clips on Vimeo that involves the first one being about the animated characters with drawn backgrounds and the second all the former with coloured background aswell as other elements that will make the setting more interactive with the characters such as street light flickering to indicate low power to give the film a dark tone overall. The backgrounds also help give the film the outlook I want overall before producing colour schemes for the characters.
Below shows background effects in progress of how they take place to make the setting interact better with the story and overall theme of the film. More effects will be added once the main animation is complete and the next stage of progress of clean up, colour schemes and editing begins. In the following week my hopes is to continue the animation at the same rate and make sure to start continuing with portfolio work including showreel and CV.
