The Final Hurdle

I am now coming up to the final hurdle for my graduation animation. The work is just about completed. Just a few loose ends to tie down. I would have liked to have done more but unfortunately I have been unable to do so due to illness.
However, I have to say that I am happy with what I have got. If you were to look at my animation from before I started the FdA for Film and T.V. Production right through to the here and now you would be able to see how I have progressed. The movement contained within the animations themselves is a lot smoother, and I now have the experience to add those little touches to the animations that turn them from being amateur into that something a little bit more special. Although this may not be easily noticed by most, it is these simple little touches that just add a little bit more to the animation that make them so much more impressive. Such as the understanding for where to use sound effects and music and what dialogue is right to use.
This progress can be see most clearly in my final animation piece for the Fda and the update of the same piece I did within the last couple of months. As seen below:

As seen above with the original and below with the update.

So clearly the same animation, but in the second you can see improvements such as: the characters never being still, achieved by the use of 2/3 images of the same character/object on a cycle. The effect of this is to create continuous movement whihc adds more life to the picture when in effect the character isn't moving. It is the same technique that they use in the simpsons or other shows where characters are stood still for a time, but they have a couple blinking every now and again just so that you can see that it is still being animated and that there is still movement so that it doesn't look like the screen has frozen.
Most of what I have learnt has come from being able to focus excluisvely on animation on the BA Hons Animation course. As it has meant that I have been able to improve my animation skills and the understanding of the craft that I have. I have had fantastic help both from the tutors on the course as well as the other students who have given me both technical and creative feedback, which has allowed my development from amateur to more professional.
The biggest change I should mention for myself is my work ethic. Whereas before, even on the FdA I was quite content to just get the work done, I am now in a position from the BA where I spend the time on making a quality animation. This means spending time not only producing the animation, but spending the time neccessary to go through the animation and to make any improvements to the animation that may be needed. This is evidenced most clearly for my graduation piece where I have had the luxury to be able to spend the whole of the educational year working on only one project. This has allowed me to be able to carefully craft an idea into something that I am proud of. Having spent that time adding and making that changes to the piece that change it from being just anothe animation among the many to something that is that little bit more special.

I will release it after it has been handed in.

Animated Zombies

So I have been working hard on my graduation animation. Before I only had six shorts of around 30 seconds long now they are all interconnected meaning that they can still shine as an animation on their own or they can shine as six together one after the other. Which creates I believe a more enjoyable experience. A 30 second clip is alright as an advert or ident but for something to show off more creativity and experience then a longer piece is required and this is what I have achieved with the connectivity.

 I am waiting for feedback on what I have currently done with regards to the actual animation and whether there is still anything that may need to be changed with regards to this. However at the moment I am working on the editing of the piece and getting the sound and the music for it just right. It is getting there but there is still a lot of work left to do with it. So we will see.

What I'be been up to

I have completed a first rough cut of my graduation animation and have had some good feedback from people on how I can make it better. It is mostly about timing and movement, so I have been making a list of things that I need to do with it. Now I just need to organise the list.

In other news I have done some life drawing. The object was to draw the person in the same pose but from different angles. Using the proportions to draw lines across that allow you to keep the other drawings within the correct proportions.
Also I have made another animation about giraffes, which was rotoscoped. And I have been watching the usual collection of of DVD's.

Ani Zombies + other

I have started the production for my graduation film. The good news is that I am working well ahead of schedule. The even better news is that this means that once the principal animation is completed I will have the time to go through it to make sure that the timings are perfect as well as being able to add some special effects. This will allow me to create an animation that I would be happy with and then to add extra work to it which will mean I will be creating something that I can really be proud of.

The other work that I have been up to since my last post is continuing to write poetry, continuing swimming as well as having started going back to the gym and not just to weigh myself. I am still continuing to watch my DVD's. I will get to the point of writing some reviews of what I am watching.

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.