Sunday 25 February 2018

Background inspiration

One of my favourite production design styles was employed on the Disney feature 101 Dalmatians. I really admire the sketchy line work that they used and the blocks of colour overlapping the outlines of objects. For me it contributed hugely to the sense of energy in the film and I hope that my backgrounds can be as effective in communicating, in this instance, a sense of otherworldliness to high energy to calm.




Friday 23 February 2018

Backgrounds

My film will be employing a black and white aesthetic in keeping with the comic art from the original story. In producing the backgrounds I also wanted to hold to the rendering style of the comic books. To that end I drew the backgrounds in pencil and inked them using the same techniques and tools as I used on the comic book. I see this as the base layer which may or may not require further working up. This depends on how the background will play with the animation. I'm conscious that the style was used for static images and may very well require more when interacting with motion.

Opening Scene

 Floorboards exposed

Floorboards painted


Between Floors

Dark Stage

Gallery Room first view

 Gallery Room Front View

Gallery Room Pan

Gallery Room Overhead

Animation Production Diary - First Scene

I have decided to animate my film using the traditional frame by frame method. I am hand pencilling most of the scenes because I really want to portray as graceful a feel as possible to the animation and this is the best way that I know how to. I will then be inking the pencils digitally in Photoshop. With the more complex scenes like the dancing scenes I will really want to nail down the keys through to breakdowns and in-betweens as much as possible in pencils before scanning in to ink. But with some of the more straightforward basic storytelling scenes I've found that just roughing the keys and breakdowns then scanning them in for inking can work and will help to economise the process. I realise that the method I've chosen is a labour intensive approach so I am consistently looking for ways to speed up the process while not compromising on the quality I want to maintain.


This is the first piece of animation I've produced for the film. It's for scene twelve, the spotlight coming on.



Saturday 17 February 2018

Clawing Hands



In the middle conflict of my film, my protagonist is pulled down into darkness by grasping hands. The inspiration for this comes from many places. First I'd have to mention The Black Cauldron’s villain, The Horned King. The Black Cauldron was the first animated film I went to see in the cinema and myself and my family enjoyed it so much we stayed in our seats for the next showing! It was the villains clawed hands which really stuck out for me as sinister.



I also have to reference the boiler man character from Spirited Away, Kamaji, with his extremely long arms which stretch across the boiler room. I think the idea of outsized limbs really contribute to the creation of an other worldly feel. I also took inspiration from this device for the arms pulling up the carpet in scene three of the film.


Friday 16 February 2018

Meeting With Lena Byrne, Head of Scripting, Jam Media

As part of my research into the current animation industry in Ireland I arranged to have a meeting with Lena Byrne, Head of Scripting at Jam Media. As the script represents the stage before storyboarding in the animation pipeline I felt that this would be a valuable opportunity to understand the visual development process from that perspective.

Lena was enthusiastic to share her knowledge and support. I learned a lot about the scripting process; the structure of a writing team for a series; how story ideas are pitched; the importance of knowing the tone of a series; and the interaction, the give and take between scripting and visual departments.

During the meeting Lena also introduced me to Jam’s Animatic Editor Tiago Gil Batista, and their Animation Supervisor/Director Rafa Diaz Canales. I learned a great deal about what they expect from a storyboard artist; Tiago emphasised the need for a good grasp of film language; Rafa spoke about how a lot of thought has to go in to a storyboard before the visualisation can begin. They also kindly offered me the opportunity to take a test for storyboarding with Jam when I’ve completed the college course.

Industry Research: Damien O'Connor, Brown Bag Films

Day two of the Keyframe seminar included a talk by Damien O’Connor, a director at Brown Bag Films. He recently directed the short film Angela’s Christmas, which was broadcast on RTE over Christmas. I had emailed Damien prior to his talk and I got the chance to speak to him briefly before he gave his talk. Damien was very generous in sharing with me a little of his own path into the animation industry and recommended that I arrange a studio visit to Brown Bag. (I have subsequently arranged this and will be taking a tour of the studio on Friday the 6th of April.)


Damien also agreed to answer some questions that I had which I later emailed to him.


  • For you, what are the strengths of animation as a narrative medium?
  • You get a lot more control than live action, so you can (usually) achieve exactly what you want. The downside is the public perception that animation is for kids etc. Angela could have been live action so the medium is not all that important, other than animation allowed us to make it - this only applies to CG animation, see below re 2D


  • Are there any specific elements you hope to find when presented with a story idea?
  • Is it unique and does it hold my interest. Also always hoping there is an emotion to it - just out and out funny is fine, but poignancy is always better. Also can it be done in live action, if it is about say a bunch of teens talking, then animating it pointless.


  • What do you look for in the collaboration process with other writers and visual artists?
  • Collaborations are odd things because they are very hard to get out of if they don't work out. A good track record is always a plus and do I like their work or do they have a GREAT idea that needs a push or guidance, if I don't like their work then it won't work, plain and simple. But equally if I am a fan then do they need me? People quickly lose interest in things unless they are employed to do them, so if it is a workplace collaboration I always try to make it work,I have never had a spec collaboration work out as people move on, get other work etc etc  


  • What do you think are the challenges of adapting a pre-existing story as opposed to an original ideas?
  • Pre-existing is easier as foundations there to build on. Original is harder as you need to convince more people it is worth doing, pre-existing removes some of the insecurity as it is already proven to work (someone has published it already etc).  


  • What is the most rewarding aspect of the process for you?
  • Making something people respond to, I love early stages, animatic, script etc which is v creative. Watching animation come in can be a bit of a slog to be honest as groundwork done, so now you are hoping work coming in matches what you want and fixing it if it does not.


  • In your talk at Keyframe you spoke about limitations and the challenge of engaging with them creatively. Do you feel that the 'for children' label attached to animation in western media is a limitation that is engaged with creatively?
  • Nope, there is a huge misconception about animation out there, festivals as guilty as anyone - they have animation strands, animation films - a film is a film, be it for kids, adults - the medium is irrelevant. Angela's Christmas for all ages, but it's first public screening was initially pitched towards kids ... because animation means kids in so many peoples eyes. I am as guilty though, it takes a lot to make me watch an animated film,my preference is live action.

  • How do you feel the evolution of narrative forms within animation compares with technical evolution?
  • The technical evolution is the only reason I am now working in animation. I hated 2D animation as it has way too many limitations (bad ones) - and it is a pain to produce. When I first moved a camera in CG I was hooked. So CG now allows us tell stories we want, no more waiting three weeks to change a BG. Having said that a foundation in 2D is hugely helpful as you carefully choose every cam move instead of throwing the camera around. But ultimately none of it matters if the the story or ability of creators not up to scratch. But the reasons there are better animated films now is because creators freer to get results. tech helps them achieve it.

Friday 9 February 2018

Keyframe Seminar

This week Keyframe, a three day animation seminar was being held by the college in the local library. Some of the speakers who I felt were relevant to my research were;

Suzanne Blake, an animatic editor at Boulder Media. Suzanne's talk gave me a good insight into what's expected from a storyboard artist and the visual process of getting the work to a suitable standard for animatic editing.

Chris Dicker, head of development at Jam Media, spoke about the process of bringing a show from concept through to commissioning. His talk was rich in details relating to the story and visual development process including; when to hold strong to important creative choices; when to compromise for the better development of the show; maintaining a strong visual identity. He also shared experiences of industry showcases and pitching to commissioners. While not relevant to me personally at this point in my career, it is information to hold on to for the future.

Krystal Georgiou, a storyboard artist with Gingerbread Animation, spoke about her own process and the storyboard process as a whole in the animation industry. Having worked as a freelance storyboard artist and now being employed by a company, her talk was very informative as to the employment conditions related to storyboarding. Krystal also used examples of her own work and others work to communicate the importance of film language to communicate the emotional narrative within a film and the importance of the storyboarding phase in creating this.

Monday 5 February 2018

Professional Development - Brand Design


Letterhead


Business Card


Social Media 

Having worked as a freelance artist I have had to produce my own brand design with a focus on illustration. These are some example of imagery I've used in the past.

Industry Research: Making Contact

To support making contact with relevant people to my research I received emails from the course tutor Kevin Lynch. I sent enquiries to; Lena Byrne, Head of Scripting at Jam Media; Damien O’Connor, a director at Brown Bag Films and I sent a general enquiry through the Boulder Media contact page.

I received a very positive reply from Lena Byrne and I have arranged a meeting with her in the Jam Media offices.

I also received a generous reply from Damien O’Connor. He is engaged to give a talk at Keyframe, an animation seminar held by the college, and asked me to say hello there and send him any questions I may have.

Thursday 1 February 2018