New video

Here is a video slideshow that I have done.

I quite enjoy doing these as although they aren't animations they allow me to work using images and working out the timing to get the effect of movement for fitting the images in with the music. A great exercise for anyone to do so that they can do the same.

What I have been up to

I have been carrying on with the pre-production work for my animated zombie series. I think I finally have everything done. Here is a taster of something I've been working on.

This isn't going to be used. It is just some fun artwork that I did so that I could see what my animation would look like in a comic strip format.

Other things that I have been doing include watching Stargate Atlantis the Harry Potter films. Little Britain and various other comedies. Mostly apart from the time I have spent on doing my pre-production work I have been carrying out research for my dissertation. The title of which still remains a little fuzzy but the subject matter will involve UK Children's TV broadcast animation and how funding may be affecting this.

Dead Like Me

Started to watch Dead Like Me again. A show all about a girl who only starts to live once she dies. She learns all of life's lessons after she dies, because this is the time when she actually starts to pay attention to what is happening around her.
I like the show because it is full of black humour, and although I may not laugh at this as much as other comedy I prefer this much more because it is taking a subject that you may not necessarily laugh at and adding humour into it.

What I have been doing

I have created a new blog just about the animation at www.animatedzombies.blogspot.co.uk I have also created a vimeo account to upload to at https://vimeo.com/anizombies as well as a twitter account @AniZombies as part of the marketing and distribution aspects for the animation.
I have also been working on the budget for the animation as well as doing research for my dissertation.

More Zombie Drawings

Just uploaded some more photos of my friends as Zombies if you look at the Zombie Drawings page. There is also one of 'Walking the Dog' as a comic strip. The big reveal is finally here.

An Idea

http://www.metro.co.uk/film/915667-james-bond-mad-fast-show-star-squeezes-007-book-plots-into-tweets

This shows a good way I think, that if you can't shorten your idea down.Then you may have a hard time. I think it shows a nice easy way to think about your ideas.

Zombie Drawings.

I have now uploaded the photos of my Zombie Drawings, now on a separate page for you to peruse through. In relation to my last post about 'Walking the Dog', I have to say that a dog will not be in the clip.

Zombie Animation Update.

So since the last post I have been drawing more zombies and I have started drawing 3 box comic strips acting as my storyboards. I will upload the drawings of the zombies later today.
In the meantime, think about this idea involving a dog.
"A Zombie 'Walking the Dog'".
It is not what you will be thinking.
More to come later today...

Zombie Animation

So my next animation is definately going to be about Zombies. My idea has changed somewhat from what it was originally. However I have spent the last week drawing zombies so I will upload some of these pictures soon. In the meantime I have been developing the ideas for what I am actually going to animate and I have decided that I am going to do a series of short clips that are going to be 10-15 seconds long. This is so that I can concentrate fully on the animation to make is as best as I can rather than trying to do one long one that I may end up making not so well.

Watch this space. More to come.....

Next Animation

I am developing my next animation. It is going to be something to do with zombies. So watch this space. More to come...

Since 6th August - 9th September.

So to update what I have been up to in the last month. I have been reading, watching various comedies and developing story ideas. Whether to use as inspiration for animations or as stories in their own right I'm not sure. I have also been writing more poetry and am in general just trying to be productive in some sort of way. As can be seen in my previous post I have also been doing some drawing. The inspiration for the Crazy Magpie collection coming from a friend with the same nickname. From developing this style I am going to go forward and use the style in relation to other animals and objects.

More to come...

Crazy Magpie

Been trying some different types of art and here is the result. Both pictures being of Magpies.

Since 20th June - 5th August.

Since I have come home from Leeds, I haven't been doing much. I have mostly been watching comedy and I have started to write sonnets again. One of which I wrote for my Grandparents Golden wedding anniversary. I have also been jotting down title ideas that I am hoping to develop whether into animations or just short stories I'm not sure but I would like to start doing more writing. Also I have not been drawing much but I am intending when I have the time to go out with my sketchpad and to just sit and watch the world whilst also drawing. I believe that this will help me to be creative and to develop not only my drawing skills but also my creative ideas which I can also struggle with. All in all not much, so I am making sure that I do more rather than just lazing around as much as I have been doing.
I should also add that since coming home I have also been reading a lot more often and am currently working my way through the Alex Rider series of books by Anthony Horowitz.

Dark Knight Rises - Evaluation

So been and watched the Dark Knight Rises (DKR) today, it was an OK film. I have to say though that I thought The Avengers Assemble was a much better film that I have watched this year.
I thought that the pace was good which is more than I could say about Wrath of the Titans which despite being good still felt as if it was lacking something. The DKR I thought was perfectly paced, which for a film that lasts 2 1/2 hours is quite an achievement. There was good action sequences in it and from the areas where you could tell that CGI was used it was seamless, another achievement as you see time and time again films that use CGI, but not in a good way as you can tell and this spoils the effect that was being tried for. All in all thought I do have to say that the best film in the trilogy franchise was The Dark Knight.
As one final note despite the director of DKR saying that he won't do any more Batman films they have obviously set it up for there to be some Robin films made. Whether this will come to fruition or not I don't know, as studio executives always like to leave themselves space where they can make as much money from one project as possible.

week commencing 11th june 2012

so this week I haven't done much. same old same old. been watching ncis, finished reading the last 2 harry potter books and been watching various comedies. still no ideas for any animations but i am still thinking about it and hopefully i will come up with something soon.

week commencing 4th June.

Well I haven't been doing much this week except for procrastinating. I have donated platelets, my philosophy being that I waste my time already so I might as well waste it helping other people. I have also been swimming and to the gym a couple of times. Mostly I have been watching NCIS - series 1 and Jonathan Creek - series 1 to midway series 3. I have also read Harry Potter 4 & 5 as well as playing various games on the internet. Have been thinking about animation ideas but as of yet I haven't yet come up with anything.

week commencing 28th may

watched all the harry potter films read the 1st 3 books read stormbreaker, started watching jonathan creek watched the apprentice watched some wwe royal rumble matches. Now thinking what to do next week.

ANIMATION WORK DONE FOR THIS YEAR

So that is all my work for the animation course done for the year now. I feel like I did well and achieved a lot more than I initially thought. I definitely feel as if my skills have improved and I can't wait for the next year to improve even more.

On a further note for the Olympics Animation that I did at the start of the year. It doesn't strictly conform to any of the briefs that we received from the Royal Armouries regarding the Olympics, however I do feel that it does encompass the spirit of the Olympics by showing that you have to work hard to get there, to be a hero.

Animation Work

Have just finished sorting out my work to hand in tomorrow. It has been a hard year but I have learnt a lot and gained some great new friends. Bring on next year.

Facebook Sale

Having read this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18105608 I personally cannot see that facebook is worth a $100 billion. So either Mark Zuckerberg is going to stay there as he truly believes in facebook or he is going to sell his 17% of shares and get out before it is too late. The problem being is the emphasis on the shift from traditional computer platforms to mobile devices, and unless Zuckerberg has some clever plan going forward I cannot see facebook succeeding once it is open to the interference of investors.

Reflecting on influences...

I would say that I am inspired by what I like there is no particular style of animation that I am drawn to over another. I will like anything as long as the animation goes with a good storyline. I do have to say though that I am not a particular fan on anime as I find that although it is a well detailed animation style I do find it limiting in movement. Saying this there are other styles that have a similar problem such as the 2D drawn technique used in the simpsons and family guy. However I do have to say that as I have grown up with these animations then I am less likely to notice this.
As I said before it is not any one particular thing that influences me, but I am reluctant to watch new things preferring to stick with what I know. Most of the information that I gather comes from reading the paper, watching the news and other programs. If I see anything in any of these mediums that is of particular interest to me then I may very well go in search of material in relation to these items. Such as if I see something on the news that interests me then I may look for the relevant video clip on youtube and then after having watched this I will look at the other suggestions and see if there is anything else connected/ related to the video that I may watch. I also do this as a result of having seen something on my news feed on Facebook, but once again it isn't something that I would go looking for.

Programs that I currently like/ inspire by are:
Futurama
Goodnight Sweetheart
The Brittas Empire
One Foot in the Grave
Dad's Army
Spaced
Gavin and Stacey
CSI: original and the new york one
NCIS
Russell Howard's Good News
Would I Lie to you
Agatha Christie's Poirot
The Detectives.

SKILLS AUDIT

Hi so here is an audit that I am doing on myself with notes for the corresponding marks. It will be marked from 1-5 with 1 being poor and 5 being good.

Leadership: 3 - I can take control when needed to but I feel that if there are other people who seem to be happy leading then I will be quite happy to let them take charge.

Time Management: 3 - This is because when I get down to doing something then I will get on with doing it and feel that I can do it well. However I do have problems at time with actually forcing myself to actually get on with doing some work rather than something else.

Computer Skills: 3 - This is because I would say I am pretty competent with various programs like Flash and Corel [editing software]. However there are other animation programs that I haven't used and there is definite room for improvement here.

Team Working: 3 - Like the leadership one I will work with other people but I am quite content to work on my own, as I feel there is less room for distraction.

Animation Skills: 3 - I would definitely say that I have improved over the last year especially with Flash and with the current cut out stop motion animation that I am currently working on but there are still skills such as computer ones that I feel I still need to work on.

Drawing: 4 - I would have to say I have improved a lot in the last year with the drawing classes and I am happy with the work that I have produced but I still feel that there is some room for improvement.

For now this it it but there may be more to come...

I guess looking at the above the things that I would most like to change are the computer skills tied in with the animation skills. So by the end of the next year I would at least like to be proficient in being able to use After Effects and Photoshop.

tax incentives for animation

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/22/1?INTCMP=SRCH

animated olypmics

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-18034991 just seen this

Drawing Work

So just handed my drawing work in. I think over the year my work has got better as the drawings now seem to have more substance to them rather than being just a flat image. I have to say that at times I can revert to basically placing a flat image on the page when I do quick sketches. I do have to say that I do now like my drawings as I do think that there is now a remarkable improvement as long as I take my time to do them, the time usually being 15 minutes to getting a drawing of somebody that I would actually like to do.
Some pictures to follow.

drawing slide show

Just been putting together a slide show of some of the best drawings that I have done in the last year.

movie budget breakdown

Just read this article on the possible breakdown for a big budget film. Quite interesting to see where the money goes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17812247

The Bourne Films

I have now watched all 3 of the Bourne Films this week and I have to say that I enjoyed them all. There just seemed to be the right amount of action and other things happening in them to make them great films.

Here is my animatic for my my animation with a voice over explaining the action.

Avengers Assemble

Just got back from seeing the Avengers and I have to say that it was a brilliant film the cast worked well together and it just seemed to have that little extra sparkle to make it special that Wrath of the Titans missed out. All in all a great film made better by the character of the Hulk with some brilliantly humorous parts.

This is what I have just done today.

animation - test

Been in uni today practising with the multi plane surface for the cut out animation that I am doing. After some problems with the dslr I managed to get on and the project is starting to look a lot better.

Stuff done in w/c 23rd April 2012

So finished all the presentations now in Theory. They all seemed to go ok. Have also done some more on my animation and now have the movements right just need to sort out the background and the timings now so that's what I will be doing next week.

I have also watched the complete collection of Gavin and Stacey this week something that I have never seen before. I enjoyed it as it was something different and seemed to have something real to it.
I have also watched both Iron Man Films this week as well as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, some Futurama episodes and James Bond Casino Royale. All good films and programs that I enjoy. Having now watched each of them several times.

I have also bought myself a DAB+ Radio this week so I will be listening to the radio a lot more from now on.

For the weekend I am not planning on doing much, probably sorting out props for my animation work for next week and will be going to the gym today and tomorrow, if I don't wuss out.

For now that's it.

Previous Posts

Hi well this is the new blog rather than the uni provided one so here is the previous posts.


First entry from Jan 17th 2012.

This is my first entry into the refelective space as I had no idea before the christmas holidays and am only now having the time to get round to it. So for the period between september to december the events and programmes that stand out to me are: having watched johnny english reborn twice, having watched ncis series 1-5 watching jackass 1,2 and 3, the tv programmes lifes too short and frozen planet. As for the course the parts that stand out are the life drawing class where I believe I was able to improve the standard of my drawing skills, the production design specialism where I learnt about different aspects that I consider to be useful to praacticing animation such as to scale drawing model making and script breakdowns.

For the project that I am still working on I learnt a lot more about how to use Adobe Flash and progresing this onto rotoscoping two things that I have trouble with previously.

Second Entry from Jan 17th 2012.

As this is my second entry I thought that I would say what I have been doing since the start of december up until now. Mostly what stands out is having animated the transitions for my project, watching series 6-7 of ncis series 2 of spaced and attending my mum's wedding. I will now try to update this blog each week.

Third Entry from Jan 22nd 2012.

This is a link to a news article that recently caught my attention http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16649957 and this is th comment that I left for it.

A couple of points in regards to silence when working on my uni work sometimes I like the background noise and will tolerate it or at others I will use my headphones and drown it out, depending on whether I really want to work or not. Secondly I have had two MRI scans in my lifetime, the first was just the MRI machine on its own making all the noise and the second with headphones. For some reason I found the first time without the headphones more relaxing and fell asleep.Lastly I have to say that I like to go swimming and swim underwater as it is so peaceful and quiet I can truly relax. But as I also like to play in the pool it allows my imagination true flow without interruption so that I can imagine that I am flying.

Fourth Entry from April 19th 2012.

Ok so since my last post I have finished my animation which can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHcqiQhzSGA. I have started on the next project based on a monkey wanting to get a banana and encountering problems along the way, this will be in a cut-out style. I have been watching more of my dvd collection and have seen Wrath of the Titans 3D at the cinema. Although the film does look good I am beginning to feel that 3D is over rated. I have also been continuing in drawing class where we have done a number of different exercises each week. These include picking an inanimate object and drawing life into it, as well as drawing 2 minute sketches of people out in the street. We have also done a practice on drawing the head using Preston Blair's book 

Animation 1 (HT26) (How to Draw) as our inspiration. In theory we have been researching a national animation school. So for instance I did Russian Animation and we have been presenting these to the rest of the class.

Most of my time has been taken up by carrying out research for my next project. Such as trying out cut-out animation.

Fifth Entry from April 2012. - Bradford Animation Festival.

Ok so I realise that I did not put this up at the time but here is my analysis of what I saw at the Bradford Animation Festival.

The first set that I will talk about is Professional 1.

The animation that I enjoyed the most was 'A Morning Stroll' this was because it was set at three different period in time with a simple storyline but adding humorous elements to it. This lightened up the screening for me as although I do like serious material comedy is where my heart lies. I think it also lies with the fact that as short animation goes I prefer them to be under 10 minutes in duration and this was. 'The Monster of Nix' and 'Plume' were both over ten minutes long and although they had good animation styles I didn't enjoy them because of this element, and i felt that they dragged on for far too long

Professional 2.

In this screening there were two animations that stood out 'Out of Erasers' and 'The Maker' as they both had very interesting elements to them. Such as in 'Out of Erasers' although the main theme was farcical in being about scribbled doodles taking over because the erasers had run out it was done in an entirely serious way without any speech and with the scribbled doodles done vey well as a rotoscoped piece, this for me enhanced it. The second animation 'The Maker' was a race against time for a strange creature to make the most important creation of his life. With the hidden twist that the sand timer is not counting down the time that is available to make the creation but rather the time that he has left before he ceases to exist. This is all done in stop motion and it really does take you along for the journey.

Student 1, Student 2.

Student animation always stand out for me as they show what can be done with very little money and it is within these screenings that I find my favourite animations the ones that stand out the most to me being, '366 Days' 'Damned' 'Swimming Pool' and 'El Macho' (from student 1) with none being from the second collection. Maybe this is just me but the animation from the first collection spoke more to me. I remember them as being funny and interesting and by having little surprises. Such as in 'El Macho' with the man of the household ending up loving the dog when at first he hated it, and in '366 Days' where the uncaring paramedic teaches the young one that there are times when you do have to let go and get on with life. These feel to me as if they are more personal than maybe some of the more professional animations that you see as well at the festival.

Music Videos

Out of the music videos that we saw the one that stood out most to me was 'Caffeine' as in the video it showed someone wanting a break from the routine that everyone else does and wanting to do something differently like I do want do at times. It has nice simple design to it that I think displays more the meaning of the music video than it ever could have done as a more detailed piece.

Commercials.

The 'Compare the Market' advert is the one I remember the most as it is the one that I have seen most often on the TV.