Reflection

My final film for the year. It's taken me at least 8 months to make. Surely an amazing feat. I will admit it has been quite a struggle and I've had to really kick myself into gear at some points. I struggled quite a bit this semester and the reasoning for that may be because it's the very last one. For a while there I was very much in doubt about the project, not having seen much of it put together until a week or so ago. I definitely took off maybe a bit more than I could chew but that doesn't mean I didn't pull through in the end.

There are a few things I wish could have been better. Firstly, the animation. I was quite happy with the vast majority of the sequences but some I think could have been better – namely when he's walking. All animators know that walks are one of the hardest things to animate, whether it be in 2D, 3D or Stop-motion. What makes it incredibly difficult with stop motion is gravity. I looked up references of how quadrupeds walk and worked to it frame-by-frame but things still came out a little wonky. I think definitely the weight of the puppet is what made this a more difficult task. Granted, though if I had made him any smaller he'd be lost by the spaces he was situated in. I think I really just needed more practice and perhaps I could have improved upon my technique. I am satisfied with what I achieved in the time I had but as a perfectionist there's some things I can't let go.

Secondly, the flickering. Now, I don't have a huge problem with the flickering myself, in fact I think it adds something in some of the sequences (like when Quolger is interacting with the tv) but I do realize that professional grade work has no flickers and when I did my previous stop motion it didn't have any. That's because there was no natural lighting. I attempted to make it less noticeable in photoshop but because only parts of it flickered rather than the whole image, it wasn't looking right. Part of me wanted to leave it in too, to keep it a bit more raw and true. I think in the sequence where Quolger first sees the window and walks towards it is strengthened by the flickering also – as the shadow of a cloud drifts over the curtains. I was aware of it happening while I was filming and I just went with it because I liked the effect. Those are things you can't really create. The film is quite in the moment and has some inconsistence sure but I experimented a lot and if I didn't it may have come out perfect sure but I wouldn't have learned anything. I suppose I'll admit it would be more professional without it, but it's more creative with it.

Thirdly, the ending. While I am satisfied with the ending I can't help but wander how the alternative ending would have looked. It would have been nice to have enough time to at least experiment with it. I did in short bursts but nothing amazing came out. Not to mention it would have been dangerous having a mac outside – especially in Hobart. Had I had a week or two more I probably would have attempted to test this ending out. My critiques did reveal that people were more fond of it ending with him simply jumping out the window, but still it would have been nice to be able to contrast the endings. The important thing is that the story and ending does still get the message across and it's more uplifting. I figured having him dying under a tree maybe would have been a bit harsh, like his journey had been somewhat in vain. So as much as it would have been good to test out those final shots, I think it still works well without them. Even leaves it a bit more open ended, before it was quite cold and a bit harsh.

So overall I am very happy with how it turned out and I really can't wait to see people's reactions at the grad show. Only a few days away and I can't wait!

Rig showcase and tests

So here's some tests I did originally for the film. I was sort just making sure I could get it looking right before committing. Turns out there were some issues. Mainly with camera movement. The problem was I had to press down on my camera to capture a frame – so I borrowed a mac and started doing it manually through dragon stop motion. The program can be a little difficult to work with sometimes but it really did improve my animation techniques. It was slower to use but definitely worth it.

And here's some final sequences that aren't edited. I thought I'd show all the shots where I used a rig or props to hold up Quolger to make him jump or walk. I basically edited it all out by hand in photoshop, which was a bit of an undertaking. Really there was only issues with the shot when he's walking by the heater. Look at the final film and you can see a bit of a ghost following quolger. I spent hours trying to iron it out but there wasn't much I could do.. Strangely the exposure had shifted slightly between each frame which is unusual because that shot had controlled lighting. Well, at least I didn't have that problem with any of the other shots.

Extra Sequence

Here's a sequence I didn't add to the final animation. It was intended to come afterh e looks up to the window. The reason I didn't include it is because I couldn't really capture it how I wanted to, and I thought it wasn't needed in the end. I really wanted to get a view of it like Quolger was looking upwards, but the shot wasn't working - It was only visible from this height. I tried to keep the entire film on his level so the audience has more of a connection with the character and this broke that connection a little bit. The whole time I situated the camera low to the ground so we were right beside him experiencing the moment with him, or close ups and one shot through his eyes is when the box is falling on him. It worked for that one because it was a lot more immersive. This just broke the consistency to an uncomfortable point.

Sound

Well a very kind man of the name of Ryan has offered to help me with the sound. He's told me he can do it in a few days which is great. I told him what I want and I have confidence he can pull it off. I may just use the music or I may also add sound effects, all depends on time really and if it makes a noticeable difference. I told him I'd return the favour if he ever needed some animations (you never know)!

/edit/

I heard the final version of Ryan's piece for the film today and I'm really impressed. He also made a piece for me yesterday but it wasn't quite upbeat enough. I was fairly happy with it but I made some suggestions, he said he didn't like it and would make me something better and he definitely has! I will use the first piece for the title perhaps but I'm so glad I have this great piece of sound to work to. It's pretty much exactly how I imagined it and it gives just the feeling I was after. That man deserves a HD!!! I can't thank him enough. I think the sound really adds something more to the ending, which seemed to lack punch but now it's really inspiring. I let a few people listen to it and they suggested I add some sound effects as well so that's what I'm doing now. It's good I already had some organized, the rest I'll try to find on freesound.com.

Storyboards V2

Just thought I'd post my quite hagged storyboard. It's been on a journey these past few months from being crumpled and sat on, falling between things and paint dripping on it. But it helped me stay on track and this was the major point on improving the story from the last storyboards.

Firstly, I added some sequences to try and set up the mood and also indicate this creature was created and has lived here for some time. Not much changed from the final version except I did decide not to add the book sequence, the books I had set up made the intent a little confused, I had mythology books set up and it just wasn't working.

These next scenes show Quolger interacting with the TV. I changed the angles a little for some of these shots, but I used all these actions – making the last sequence a little more desperate rather than excited.

These boards just timed out the action of Quolger jumping off the desk and to the floor. Nothing much has changed here either but I made the camera angels a little more interesting.

Again, just simple shot changes happened in these sequences.

Now this layout I decided instead to have him circling around, just to eagerly shoot ahead and ram into the box. I also changed the shot where Quolgers head is in position while the box is falling and instead just had the box falling onto the camera (through the eyes of Quolger).

Difference in these shots was the box was located on the other side. At the point of drawing these I didn't have my laundry and room set up yet so I had to improvise a lot of it in my mind. Still the actions are the same – however I did add two shots, a close up of Quolgers injured foot and him licking the wound. I thought this would emphasize the amount of damage that's done and evoke more sympathy.

These shots ended up like they are in the final film, I just experimented a little with transitions of the 2^nd last sequence.

Now here's the ending as it is now, the crossed out parts were the sort of alternative/extended ending where it showed Quolger escape into the wild, and falls asleep/dies under a tree. There was a number of reasons why I changed this and didn't include any of it. A big issue was time, I can imagine I could have animated it on time but I thought it best to spend more time on fewer scenes then rush through them all. Another reason was I think it's stronger for the story. Enough is said to assume he made it into the wild, without actually showing it. I thought it would be stronger to leave it open ended and keep the story snappy rather than drag out too long. Also, technical issues were something that made it difficult. There are really noticeable exposure changes when the camera films outside, it's harder to control light. While there is some flicker throughout the film I think it's not too distracting at any point – and it even adds to the more emotional scenes. But for those last scenes it wouldn't have looked too distracting. I also was not so keen on the idea of letting the audience see him die. It's more of a uplifting ending, and I'm happy with the decision to change it.

Mock up stills

Just some stills to give me an idea of lighting/camera angles.

Busy busy

Been quite busy doing commissions and my online course. I really haven't had any time to put into my stop motion. I would like to get supplies to make my set before uni goes back though. I do have a large board to put it on; as well as a few fake branches. I might also collect some plants etc, I have a little that's dried out over time. I am thinking if I can't afford many fake plants or I just cant find much of what I'm looking for I'll just paint real plants to make them look fake. That's probably more economic.

I've also had no luck finding the perfect place to film this. I still need to check out Ryans place, but if that's not suitable I'll have to do it in my house. I need to build my set whenever I'm shooting though; or it will just be too hard to move around.

Email back from J Foden Director of infrastructure & support at Calvary

Well unfortunately It's not good news for shooting in the house near Calvary..

Kyan, I am sorry but the unoccupied houses opposite the car park of Calvary Health Care Tasmania are not in a suitable state to have filming occur in them. Thanking you jane

This is a bit disappointing.. I sent an email asking why they're not in a suitable state, if it's the mess, and if so I would be happy to clean it. But I can understand if the structure of the house isn't stable. Wouldn't want to get hurt filming in such a location. Will update on their response here later.

Well anyway, I'm gonna have to keep looking. It's possible Ryan could give me access to the Gasworks Village he's been working in to do his sound pieces so I'll keep that location in mind. He had some pictures of it somewhere but I'm not sure where they've gotten to. I'll post them when I can find them!

Reflection

Here's my animatic as a part of my final submission. I used the storyboards I've done, cutting some of the boards and adding others. It also features sounds I've recorded and experimented with. I'm pretty happy with the animatic visually and I think it's clear in telling the story but there are a few shots that could be improven upon and also I'm not completely satisfied with the sound.

A lot of the sounds you hear is banging on metal and also noises I've made trying to emulate Quolger. The recordings themselves weren't perfect and I'm thinking I would rather tell the story through something more musical rather than just sound effects and house ambiance. I had trouble capturing the ambiance of a house without getting noise interference.

Also, I'm not entirely happy with the volume of the sound in the animatic. I think it rises a bit too much in some areas and falls too much in others. Though, I suppose these were just experiments. I kind of imagined the track to be a bit different than what you're hearing. It's pretty clear I'll have to experiment with sound more to create the feeling I want. I feel as though the sound is a little too eerie throughout and there's not enough of a transition between the moods of the visuals. Still, I am learning more about sound and this is an improvement to other sound works I've done in the past. Especially considering I used all of my own recordings. I used all open source software; PSS and Audacity to manipulate the and played around with it further in after effects.

If I can't get exactly what I want from experimenting next semester I may have to either commission something from Ryan or look around for a song that will go with the animation. I am thinking I want to put together the finished track after most of the shooting is done. I want to keep myself open to experimentation with the visuals and I won't be working with an X sheet or anything too complex.


I have done the math and I believe it will take me about 30-40 hours to do all the animation for this film. That's actually not too bad, but still I would like to start filming as quickly as possible. Over the holidays I will be searching for a location as well as building my set, and hopefully everything will be ready for me to start shooting within the first week of semester.

Also, I added in a compilation of the tests I've done this semester as well as a time lapse of my process. I just wanted to give some idea of how the character would actually move as well as practice. I think most of these shots are running too quickly - and this is probably mostly due to me not having a whole lot of time to work with. I'm excited that everything will be done by next semester and I will have a lot more time to animate with more detail and make much longer shots.

Also, note that last animation test of the full puppet is cut a little short, it originally ran 5 seconds but when I rendered it in after effects it got chopped off for some reason. I only just noticed it now but I included the full test in a previous journal so that's okay!

I'm very satisfied with my experiments as a whole and I think I've demonstrated pretty clearly how the finished film will present itself. Everyone I showed the animatic too seemed quite impressed and said they could understand it and it was clear so I think I'm done for now!

In the break I will be doing a cartooning masterclass online with Joe Murray, who created Rocko's Modern life and Camp Lazlo. Cost me quite a cent but I think it's definitely worth it. The course will help me to develop a series over a month and I imagine I will learn a lot from it, things I can also apply to my Emedia work. I definitely think after uni I will continue to animate but probably focus more on 2D projects. I love doing stop-motions but 2D stuff will always be number 1 for me. Anyways, I will possibly make a blog for the course and if so I'll post it here somewhere as well!

Been a very productive semester and I have a lot more to add to my showreel so I'm very happy. Can't wait for more!

Tests

First test I did, I used some free stop motion software and my webcam so the quality isn't prefect but it gives a clear indication of movement. My cat kept getting in the way of the shot but I went with it and I kind of like the effect. I may play around with time manipulation in the final film, like clouds going by or it getting darker.

The second test was me holding the puppet because I hadn't put together the rig yet. Though again I kind of like the interaction between me and the puppet. Somewhat remiscent of the project I did last semester Animated Child as well as the film The Mascot.

Here's the test I did with the rig, as you can see I needed to use a weight to fully hold up the puppet. The base of the rig is quite heavy but doesn't support the puppet when I adjust it to a certain height. Anyway, I think I'm the most content with these shots, I think he relaxes on the couch a bit too quickly but I'm happy with the movement of him jumping.

Here's the previous test but I've removed the rig roughly as well as some debris I noticed. You can still see the reminiscence of the rig but if I spent a little more time removing it it wouldn't be as noticeable. I kind of like the ghostly image of it though. I think it gives the viewer the indication of how it was put together.. I think I will also try and experiment with strings for the final animation, these will be A LOT easier to remove in post.

And here's the final test. Little bit spasmy at the end but I think their is a lot of emotion within the final puppet, with the way the ears move and the replacement eyelids.

Progress

Here's my progress as of late



Here's an early progress shot of the foamed puppet. Notice the one pink foot (this was a test)



Here's the very first test I did where I removed the rig. happy with the result of this test, you cant' really see any reminiscence of the rig.



Here's the puppet with a few more facial details. The teeth and nose were made from normal oven bake sculpey. The ears, tongue and eyelids were made from bendable sculpey. The ears were a little too thick to be able to bend the ears themselves, but I can still move them from the point where the wire connects to the head. Also, I thought they looked a little odd just fleshy like that and I decided to add some fur backing to them later on, which was a diversion from the original design.



Here's a pic showing all the eyelids, just as they came out of the oven. That setence sounds quite wrong. Haha. Anyway, I needed to use replacement eyelids because the bendable sclupey didnt really morph as much as I thought it would out of the oven. Still, this option is okay and it looked good on the puppet.



I decided to paint the eyelids and glue some fur onto them just so they looked more natural.



Here's the puppet's features painted and glazed.



Close up. If you notice the tongue is movable and can also bend. I put wire inside it!



Next it was time to fur the puppet. Which was quite a lengthy process. Here you can see an extremely strange shot of him covered in tape and markings for the pattern to cut. It's easier to do this way!




I cut off the tape and put it into invididual pieces. This must be done or to get the form right.



The patten drawn onto the back of the fabric. I had to make sure the fur was going the right way for all the features.



Here's the head and the tail furred. Both of the fur is the same material. The face looked VERY strange before I trimmed and shaved it. I should have gotten a photo; he looked like one of those shaggy dogs. Anyway, shaving the fur was what probably took me the longest. Still, worth the effort.

Also note that I entwined the puppet with string. This was mostly because the foam was a bit bulky and he was looking a bit round when I put the fur on to test in some areas. They also work a little bit like tendons for the arms and legs.. It was like making veins for the creature.



Here's the sewed patterns of the back and stomach. All hand sewn! :)



Progress of sewing on the first leg. The legs were shaved too.



After all the fur was applied I put tape on him in the form of stripes and spots. But you can see there is still some colour in the longer parts of the fur.



Here's me using a copic airbrush to get some more colour onto the character. The airbrush works by transferring the ink from a copic marker by using canned air.



Some progress of the airbrushing.



And finally.. HE'S FINISHED!!!!

There are a few things I'd still like to try and do if I can.. I'd like it if I could find some whiskers for him somewhere. Also, there's a few touchups I need to do inside the mouth.

I want to note that the mouth doesn't fully close with is an issue. I'll probably have to use pins to shut it when I'm filming it next semester.

New ending to storyboard

Finally thought of a further resolution to the ending!! :) I added the stairs to signify more of struggle to finding the outdoors, as it presents itself in the form of an obstacle.

So I decided the last shot would be of the first shot - Quolger sleeping. It seemed the most natural ending for the story and I feel the ending is much more resolved now. It also symbolises finding peace, so he goes to sleep and his life ceases. I want it to be ambiguous in the animation showing a mix between falling asleep and dying in peaceful way. The panel shows him smiling but I'd like this expression to relax and mouth to open.

Quite happy with the storyboard as a whole, there are a few shots that I could probably improve upon but I really just wanted to give a sense of the story. I'll be working out the details when I shoot - want to give myself quite a bit of freedom. I may add more shots of just things in the environment, like a light on the ceiling, corners of the room, etc.

For the sound I'm thinking something quite ambient. I've been playing around with some sound effects I've recorded, slowing down the waves to create a sound bed. Not sure if i can replicate exactly what's in my head but I will continue to develop the sound and then I can combine it with the storyboards to create the animatic!

Storyboards

Here's my stoaryboards and a commentary on them. Below is thumbnail sketches of the board - these were just to give me a basic idea.

I wanted to keep my storyboard fairly open. I don't expect to shoot these shot to shot but it does explain the narrative in the way I would like to.. Though the ending isn't fully resolved yet.



Fade in to quolger. We see him resting in a set with a painted backdrop a mixture of fake and dried foliage surrounds him. He awakes, a somewhat nervous glimpse in his eye.
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I choose to start the story from him waking from sleep to symbolize coming to life from death. I imagine having this first shot of him quite still and lifeless, then have a breath sort of pushed into him. Fairly happy with these first view panels. I like the pose in the first panel; though i think in the last his other arm shouldn't still be raised, looks a little awkward.



Quolger awakes to find he is in a strange environment. He circles around, confused and anxious.

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Pleased with these panels, I think the movement works in these.




Frantically looking and tossing his head, Quogler seems to slowly realize his environment is not a natural one as he smells one of the faux plants.
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Not too happy with these panels.. I don't think the cropped shots of the heads are working. I'll probably remove them in the animatic and play around with the transitions between the other panels. I am happy with the last two though. Note the paper ripped. Going to have to fix that for the animatic.



Coming to the realization, Quolger starts ripping the plant out of the ground.

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Happy with these. It's going to be a challenge to animate though, may need to make a plant with strong wire so it can hold quogler up, giving the illusion he's ripping it. it's funny that the page ripped where he's ripping the plant out of the ground.



He tosses the plant over his shoulder. Then looks towards the fake grass beneath his feet.



He starts digging furiously at the ground, while he is ocupied the camera zooms out and a room around the set is revealed. Quolger's world is about to expand.

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Sorry for the holes in this one.. Gonna have to crop those out later.



In instant quolger realizes their is more to his world. Nerviously, he steps onto the floorboards, now in the outer room. He has left his set behind and is now in the real world. Though he still longs for a place more natural.

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Quite happy with these panels. I think I could possibly add something else to signify his longing for something more natural between these panels and the next. Not sure what yet.. perhaps the later panels are enough to explain it.



He begins his journey outward, we follow him until he arrives at a window. The light beams down at his face and he is memorized by this.

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Want to note that the 2nd panel here is a transition - following him walking. I'll animate it in the animatic.




He jumps onto the table underneath the window and peers out. His face slowly shows disappointment as he realizes he can't move through the glass.

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Drew Quolger in the air a bit low in that first drawing but it articulates it still.




Suddenly, he hears a creeking noise, and turns his head, jumping off the table.




His instinct is to run towards this noise but he suddenly stops in his tracks when the noise repeats itself.



He sees a door in front of him and approaches it, looking out.

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As you can see these panels are drawn quite roughly. I haven't committed these shots yet I'm fairly unsure of the ending.



He finds himself outside. He has found what he has been looking for - nature.

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Really not happy with the ending here.. The story has a bit of an anti-climax I think I need more of a struggle for him to get outside. Going to try reboarding these last panels again. Struggling thinking of a conclusive ending but hopefully it will come to me.