The End

Week 14 has come and gone and yes my animation was completed and handed in.
When I say completed, I mean it was ready for submission but it may be months or even years before I think it's ready. I now understand the reason why George Lucas keeps changing Star Wars other then the money.

In all the excitement of finally handing in this animation and being able to sleep properly again I overlooked the fact that there was one last production report to write and here it is.

Production Report 3:

Apparently in the past it is around this time that students look back and lament that they did not stick to their pipelines, I will not do that because my pipeline was incorrect from the start and I have not bothered to look at it since I wrote it nearly 6 months ago. I had no idea how to write a production pipeline because I had never attempted a production of this size so I could not possibly begin to understand the process. I could only guess how long things would take and didn't take into consideration other assignments and elements of the production that would assessed earlier on such as the sound design. So I did not stick to my production pipeline which ids probably a good thing now I am more prepared to write up a more successful pipeline next and hopefully I'll stick to it.

This whole project has been a great exercise in what not to do, which I think is the point and I have learnt many lessons:

1. Technology has been my greatest enemy and one the first things I do before I return next year is buy a new computer with plenty of RAM, I'm sick of slow computers killing off the most precious resource I have; time. 
2. Time has been been a precious resource as far as this course is concerned 14 weeks is not a lot of time to make an animation it's even less time when you have to  factor in the fact that this isn't the only project you have to work on. I had two other classes designed to distract me, one of which I think was just put there to was my time. My ability to make the best use of my time is still one thing I've yet master but in the final weeks of this semester I spent my time before and after class using the school computers, if I hadn't I might never had finished in time.
3. One thing I underestimated was that colouring takes a long time.
4.  Two days is not enough time to work on the sound effects, I know this is obvious but I wish I had worked on putting together sound throughout the semester and not save it for the last week or two. next year I plan on hunting for sound or recording my own during the preproduction phase that way I can animate to the sound rathe then to try and modify the sound to sync up with the animation.
5. I need to keep an eye on the timing of the animation of my shots, the timing kept changing between animatic, pecil tests and final animation. This made it difficult for timing with the music when certrain musical cues had to sync up with the animation, but I had made shots shorter and were now out of sync.

Overall I acheived the look I had wanted for my animation but there are things I would go back and change; there were a few shots that I couldn't get done in time which was frustrating becasue they were only short and yet I still couldn't get them finished in time, I don't think the lack of them affects the story but their inclusion would have made it better. Other changes I would make would be the sound effects; they were rushed together in two days and the slow computers meant that I couldn't get the audio to sync up like I would have wanted. One other thing I would have liked to do would have to add texture to the characters to give them a more oraganic look, less digital.

I think in the end I have been a little too hard on myself, I have acheived something quite impressive and ambitious for my first production, I got the look I was going for and with only a few minor tweaks it could look rather professional.

Finally I would like to thank my friend Matt Serpell for doing the music for my animation, I knlow he found this project just as stressful as I did and I'm extremely greatful for his work and extremelty happy with how it turned out. I hope he hasn't been put off from this because I hope to work with him again in the future.

updated running comp 06/11/12

The best laid schemes of mice and men......

As the title suggests, my animation schedule has not gone to plan. But this is not time for panic, I still have over a week to go and over half the animation complete my main hurdle has been technology; as I sat down to work on Saturday morning I opened up Photoshop only to be informed that my licence has expired or not working or something stupid, so I used this as an excuse to upgrade to CS6. Except CS6 is having some issue or another with my computer so onto CS4! With all this stupid running around to have working software I have lost two precious days of work.

All this pain aside the running comp has been updated with several new shots. Most of these shots still need a few minor tweaks.


I really wish computers could feel fear and pain, then I wouldn't have so many problems.

Week 10 is over, time for another Progress Report

Wow week 10 is over, now only 4 weeks to go. I told myself I would gauge how worried I should by the amount of work I have accomplished by week 10, so lets see:

The following shots have been finished save for the colouring and the odd frame or two added or taken where necessary. I also have the backgrounds completed for all of those shots, these are being added to the running comp as we speak.

• The messenger riding towards camera through the valley on horse
• The messenger entering the geisha house and being greeted by the host
• The ninja trying convince the messenger that he's a geisha
• The POV shot the ninja running into and trying to escape from the big guy
• The ninja being dragged off by the big guy

I am currently working on the shot of the messenger walking away with the geisha's. So far I'm happy with the walk cycle of the messenger but not so much with the geisha's but I've got the movement worked out so I know what I'm doing.

The other shots for the geisha house include some new stuff where the ninja will make one last attempt to kill the messenger with a blow pipe, this will be the next shot I work on as it will be the longest shot left in the geisha house.

As for my sound design; the current sound on the running comp will be tweaked but will remain as a placeholder for the sound design assessment. It's not perfect and not what it will sound like in the end but it is too early for completed sound design so my current sound will be used as reference for timing.

I've sat down with Matt and we've worked out what instruments are to be used and at what point and what the mood of each shot is. I'm feeling pretty confident that the music for this will rock.

So should I be worried? I don't think I should panic just yet, but there is no time to relax anything could happen. With the flood of unnecessary distractions that plagued this production a few weeks ago now gone it should be easier to focus on the animation that and this stage is far more enjoyable.

So the plan now is get the third scene finished by the end of next week and start work on the second scene.

No time for a break

I am now well into a period of the semester comically referred to as a break, but in actuality it's two weeks to do school work without the distraction of school. Unfortunately I'm off to a slow start.

I figured that I needed to have a clear plan otherwise I will waste more precious time, so I need to work out what needs the most attention now because it's unlikely that I would have all the animation complete at the end of next week. So onto my to do list:

• The geisha house scene.
  The geisha house has the most complex animations, there are walk cycles, odd camera angles and lots of acting from a character that has no mouth or pupils. I have already started on this by reworking a shot I wasn't happy with and I think it works better now.

• Sound design.
  With more 'free time' on my hands this gives me an opportunity to have a meeting with Matt to go over my sound design and let him know what I'm after and see what he thinks.
   
• Everything else.
  I figured I would tackle scene two next as most of the animation is there and the background is complete so this should be a relatively quick process. Scene one should be the simplest, the shots are simple and I'm pretty happy with the pencil tests so far, the only tricky bit could be the messenger's armour.

I've also added a rough soundtrack to the running comp with sound effects and music. I combined the music Nathan did with some additional music I found. This is far from the finished product and it's not even what I want it to sound like but it gives me a better idea of how it will sound with music and sound effects. Check it out.

Week 8 ends, week 9 begins

Week eight has ended, time to look back at my recent progress and take a look to the future.

First what has been achieved by week 8:

• The geisha house interior backgrounds are nearing completion.

• The scene two background has been updated, so now it's at the full 1080 pixels and I have included the exterior of the geisha house allowing a more seamless transition into scene three.

Now we look to the future:

• ANIMATION!!! I know your as excited as I am, this is when we finally see whether this production can be achieved or not.
• With the majority of the animation under my belt I'll be able to get my sound designer to work, so I better get this happening pretty quick.

Geisha House Interior Backgrounds so far

The interiors are starting to look pretty good not much left to do on them except there will be a large mural on the wall. The first shot is where the messenger and two geishas head head off to the other room.

The second shot is of the other side of the room where the ninja gets dragged off to. I wanted this to be little darker and dirtier to contrast the cleaner, warmer tones of the other side. This background still needs a little work to make it seem like the bad side.

First Draft Soundtrack

Nathan has done his first draft of the soundtrack for my animation, it still needs work but it gives me something to think about.

Collaboration Updates

Nathan has begun work on the soundtrack for my animation but with the animation in it's early stages and without me being there to run him through the animation he has had some difficulty in doing this though I'm sure he'll come up with something pretty sweet.

I have also been in contact with Matt Serpel about doing some sound design, though I'm not sure whether to combine his work with the work from Nathan or to have him as my sole sound designer or as a backup. Matt has also offered to help with sound effects which makes using him as my sole sound designer a good idea. I'll wait to see what Nathan has comes up with before I make any final decisions. I will have to sit down with Matt and look over the animation with him and work out the sound design, something I should have done with Nathan because that would be of great benefit to both of us.

It seems I will have to have the animation sorted out pretty soon, sound design is supposed to be finished in week 10 and my sound designers need to have a near completed animation to work with.

I've yet to start on Nathan's backgrounds but I have been playing colour ideas and we had a meeting about what each shot looks like, any small details of the room and anything else that was not made clear in the running comp.

Finally I have some test animation for reference of shadow rabbits and the monster for Nathan's project. I kind of like the wallpaper, I might use it for the Nathan's backgrounds.

Here it is the latest edition of the Running Comp, I meant to add it in week 5 but I was working on a whole bunch of new stuff at the time and decided to hold off on updating it till I'd finished what I was working on.

Geisha Posters

Here are posters I designed to help decorate the geisha house.

This has served as inspiration for my animation, so I thought I might as well post it here.

Progress Report 1

I figure now might be a good time to write up a progress report as it also coincides with an assessment due today.

So far so good, I believe I am well on my way to achieving my week 7 milestones though I admit that I have forgotten what they all were (I should have gotten a copy). So this is a breakdown of what has been done so far.

1. The first scene animation has been been blocked out and I'm testing out the first 2 shots in After Effect in full colour final artwork (unless I tweak it some more).
2. I have finished the artwork panning background for the second scene and animated it in After Effects.
3. I have begun pencil tests for the second scene and now have the horse galloping across the scene, now I will be able to have the ninja interacting with the messenger and his horse.
4. I have nearly finished blocking out the animation for the third scene in the geisha house, there are only 2 or 3 more shots to do.

As far as sound design goes my main concern has been about the music, with absolutely no musical talent of my own I need outside support. I have turned to Nathan for his help, he and his friend will be working on the music but I may seek others to add to it. I want something similar to Looney Tunes but seeing as how I can't get an orchestra nor a composer I  may have to lower my standards a bit. I am less concerned with sound effects at the moment.
So far this arrangement with Nathan has been mostly without complications, the only issue has been with the communication via email but we have agreed to send each other a text when we send an email and when we have received an email to send an email back in reply to confirm we received it

With Nathan going out of his way to work on my music I will be creating the backgrounds for his animation as well as doing some pencil tests for reference.
I have also discussed with Lahiru about doing some concepts and possibly final designs for his backgrounds.

Potential Issues
Besides my concerns over music my biggest issues have been technology and location, the computers are starting have difficulty keeping up with me. I have found that the Macs are more capable but seeing as how I don't own one and few of my classes are in a Mac lab I may have to start fighting for a spot in the edit suite.
One of my biggest challenges has been location and transport, I live in Belgrave a considerable distance from the campus and rely on public transport, I waste 3 hours each day in travel. The big problem being after a full day on a Monday and Tuesday between getting home and getting enough sleep to get through the next day I get little to no work done in the evenings. This will no doubt lead to me working form home more frequently. Another problem though completely out of my power is all the other assignments not related this project. In order to make this production of the highest standard I can make, many of my other assignments may not be of the highest standard or maybe just half-arsed but I figure any potential employer will be more interested in my abilities as an animator than the HD on got on an essay.

Cave Interior

Thought I'd show off the cave interior background. A lot of the image won't even appear in the animation but I wanted to see everything. I'm working on some pretty neat panning shots for this background in After Effects, hopefully I'll get them finished today and up on this blog but unless I'm on a Mac it's going to be a slow process. None of the PCs I've been working on can handle the strain, it's going to become a problem later on down the track.

Anyway here's the cave. Knowing me I'll probably add more to this, I think it needs some skulls.

Week 4 running comp

I know it's week 5 but as I mentioned earlier I'm a little behind on this blog stuff. I should be putting the week 5 running comp up but uploading videos take forever on this computer and I needed sleep, so enjoy the week 4 running comp and stay tuned for the week 5 running comp.

The Characters

From left to right: Fat Geisha House Patron, Messenger, Ninja, Ninja disguised as a geisha and various designs for geishas.
I think some of these characters will get re-designed, I don't like the big guy anymore. Also missing is the old lady who runs the geisha house.

The First Post for 2012

This is week 5 of the second semester so we're a little behind in posting stuff in this blog, the main reasons for this:

1. I'm lazy when it comes to doing stuff on the internet.
2. I don't like doing stuff on the internet, I guess that comes from working as a web designer and developer.

My hand has been forced and it is a requirement of this course that I keep a blog detailing my progress. This semester I am doing a short animation about a ninja trying to steal a sacred magical scroll from a messenger. Here is a breif synopsis:

       'A ninja who lives alone in cave has become obsessed with finding a sacred scroll. One day a messenger rides through the valley holding the scroll the ninja is after. The ninja leaps into action and attempts to steal the scroll; he attempts to retrieve the scroll by using ninja stars, blow darts and his skills with a sword. In a last ditch effort the ninja dresses a geisha and attempts to seduce the messenger.'

Below is a sample some early concept art.