Working

Untitled from Taylor Wamble on Vimeo.

So I have been working over the weekend to change up what was discussed in class last thursday and then have gotten started on the animation of my project. So far things have gone fairly smoothly. I feel like after tackling the last midterm project I have really established a solid knowledge of the program and how to work efficiently. I did encounter some issues last night with the server and after effects so I just went ahead and rendered what I had done and called it a night. I still have a large chunk to go but I'm confident that I will have a complete rough draft by next Tuesday. I will be in town over the weekend and should have plenty of time to come up here.

Still need to work on timing and little glitches. I am going to go through and make the foliage move and create a really dynamic scene.

Critique Notes

Redesign of bed_need more delicate posts, consider color (not enough contrast on black), also perspective is skewed. A lot of attention needs to be put on this because it is essentially a character. Snowy scene...bed covered in snow?

Winter_hill too stark, don't like line that make the shape. Change to paper texture in very slight grey tones. Consider including some dead foliage, stumps, etc.

Canopy_generally successful

Doesn't look like shes in bed in the waking up scene...looks like shes standing in front of a gate. Pan out more from that scene to see her in bed.

Character design_think about making changes in hair, etc. Bow also, should it be outlined?

To Do:

Make all above changes.

Begin to animate. Would really really like to have a good chunk done for review.

working

So over the past two days I have spent time staging all of my different scenes.

1. Canopy

2. Waking up

3. Summer

-getting out of bed

4. Fall

5. Winter

-going to bed

I have gone in and restaged all of my assets from last project to consolidate my information. For instance before each tree, hill, flower were all separate. They are now broken down into different layers that may have a flower, tree and hill all included in one. This took a bit of time but in the long run should be beneficial.

Assets in Scenes

So here are my assets. I was able reuse many of my previous assets but still had a significant amount to make, adjust, etc. I had really hard time trying to make the girl look the way I want her too. I think most of the scenes that show her will be rather quick and just close ups of her face and following her from behind. I would like to adjust her some for sure.

Final Project Plans

After critique the other day I feel pretty good about were I'm going with this. I know that i need to change up how I'm handling the camera, and keeping though transitions more smoothly. I also know that I need to include more shots of the girl, the class seemed interested in that.

Asset List:

bed

front

side

trees

Various flowers

Girl

front

back

jackelope

doors

key

leaves

snowy landscape

all previous landscape assets lightened, snow covered

leafy landscape

leaves all over the ground

Various emotions for Girls face

Calendar:

week 1:

Tuesday, 17th_Have assets built over the weekend, begun to arrange assets

Thursday, 19th_Have set up all of my assets, arrange them in z-space

week 2:

Tuesday, 24th_ Have a rough, rough run through for a critique

Thursday, 26th_ TURKEYYYY, traveling so most likely wont have a super amount done over break, will do my best

week 3:

Tuesday, 1st_ More revisions, new comp due

Thursday, 3rd_ More revisions due, Should be done with most animation...solid understanding of scenes, plot, feeling.

Have a court date thurs, trying to get it changed, so will have my work turned in to server and will come to office hours for personal critique, maybe class can help and post comments to blog

week 4:

Tuesday, 8th_Done...critique

Thursday, 10th_ Complete

Revised Concept

A young girl is awoken from her sleep to find herself deep inside a wooded area. The landscape is lush with greenery and flowers (summertime). She gets out of bed and her attention is struck by the only living thing in sight, a jackelope. When their eyes meet, the jackelope takes off running through the woods, she curiously begins to follow it. As she is following the jackalope she begins to see doors placed randomly throughout the landscape. The jackelope runs through the first door, she follows with the intention of going through as well. The door shuts right before she can pass through. As she stands at the closed door, it disappears before her eyes. When the landscape is revealed again the season has changed from summer time to Fall. Leaves have fallen and continue to fall. She then spots a deer in the forest, like the jackelope she follows it until it goes through the door. Once again it shuts before she can enter. She stands at the door for a few moments until the door opens itself to reveal a snowy landscape, and her bed.

Untitled from Taylor Wamble on Vimeo.

More Ideas

Creating an animatic was so much harder than I had imagined and did not allow for very much time. Thus, its really crappy. I also had a hard time conveying movement in my piece because I needed top move through z-space yet didn't want to actually set up my layers in space. Im pretty embarassed by the outcome, but I did try.

Bill Plympton Master Class

I must say, I had absolutely no idea who he was upon going to class on Tuesday. I was pleasantly surprised to see that MCA brought in a big time guy. Wow, oscar nominated, thats hardcore. I felt very privileged to have been able to see him speak. I loved his films. I especially liked the "dog" shorts. I'm a sucker for anything dog related but these were really special. I thought the comedy aspect of it was spot on. I think that his knack for incorporating a sick sort of dark humor is really amazing. I also think that his style of drawing is really nice. Since going through school to be a designer, its amazing how much my attitude has shifted from thinking vector/computer based imagery is whats best, to really hating it. I am so much more attracted to simple, hand drawn animation and design as well. I think its really inspirational to hear him speak about ow he stays true to his values as far as his work goes. Turned down Disney? brilliant! I am really interested in seeing more of his film and am really glad that I was exposed to his work.

Rough Ideas for Final

Genre:

Drama (surrealistic)

Logline:

An awoken girl wanders sleepily through a surreal landscape.

Synopsis:

Wandering through a foreign landscape, the protagonist (camera) is met with unusual wildlife. It begins with her chasing a rabbit. As soon as she loses the rabbit she, her attention is struck by some creepy, unusual happenings. Trees become anthropomorphic and grab at her and leaves swirl around her. She is met by other animals: birds and deer. Like the rabbit, they are frightened by her and run at the sight of her. She continues to wander aimlessly, searching for anything that she can connect with. She eventually makes it to the end of the forest and sees a clearing. Within that open area she sees her bed, and climbs in to finally find comfort.

Overall, this video is about loneliness and the inability to connect.

For this project I am expanding upon my previous project with the rabbit. I really have the urge to make that story longer and more developed. I would like for the camera to eventually make it outside of the forest. The girl will be met by strange encounters that don't necessarily make sense in the waking world, but are more than possible within a dream. I want the scene to appear much more surreal and developed. The scene is a dream, so I intend for things to appear out of nowhere, etc. to push the idea of surreality.

I want the mood to be similar as it was previously. To me it felt very somber and muted as it was, conveyed strongly by the limited color palette. The beginning (existing rabbit video) the tone is really dark, literally and figuratively. It is mostly black. I would like for the scene where she find the bad to be a pristine snowy scene. I want this to provide stark contrast to the darkness of the earlier scenes as well as conveying a strong sense of peacefulness.

I also want to stay with the first person narrative, the camera being the protagonist. I am considering adding a prelude to what I have already established, as well as extending the end. I may just end up continuing the story...depending on the input from the class.

I am really struggling with whether or not I want to introduce the audience to the girl. I can not decide if it would help or hurt my idea. On one hand the audience can connect with her and see her emotions. It would also open up my options for camera angle, which would be really nice. Perhaps, you can switch between the camera being her and seeing her? If that is a possibility I may go with that.