Investigation

 Making An Animated Short

This video talks a lot about sticking with an idea that you can do and you feel good about. These are two of my biggest struggles. After I start not liking what I am doing I start hating it even more then I get to the point I no longer want to work on it. Also, I tend to be way over ambitious with my writing and concept that once I get to the point of working on it I work on it for hours and realize I am never going to be able to get this done. What I need to do is stick with something I know I can do but I can also enjoy the outcome. I know if I work I can get what I need done.

Storyboarding is what I am working on right now. In the video she talks about how your character should change from beginning to end and realizing that I think really has helped me conceptualize a good animated short film. I am still unsure if I want to go 3D or 2D. I actually have multiple stories with multiple ideas that I think work better for each. I am excited to start working on this in depth and hopefully I can work on more than one of my ideas. But, I should do what she says and focus on my one idea I know I can accomplish and try my best to be a little original, which is another struggle of mine. I hate when I make an idea and map it out, then realize or feel this has been done before. It really kills my motivation to finish.

Work Log

Monday- Storyboarding

Tuesday- Storyboarding

Wednesday- Questioning my story

Thursday- Video watching on how to make a good story

Friday- Blogpost

Investigation

 10/25

3D Animated Film

 This is a simple overview video of making a 3D animated film in blender. I know I have already covered this and worked with blender a lot to make some sorts of short films. Now I know what blender version to use to be comfortable with and work on my project I'm ready to start making a short film. I have a couple different ideas in mind. I think I am going to the simplest one first then work up. Starting a short film can be a very tedious process. Preproduction for me is the easiest where I storyboard and write out my ideas. I already have the whole film in my head. I just need to put it on paper. After that I will start modeling the landscape if needed. For this project I want to start on I already have two models pre-made, but the landscape I will need to make all myself, but it should be pretty simplistic for the style I am going for.

    My animation will start out with a sort of very robotic world with no color where everyone does the same thing in synchronization a red bug gets one person out of this sync because it is bothering them. Another person is also effected by this, they then follow the bug and are eventually led out to a world of color. Afterwards they hold hands and then there are more people out there. It is very simple and so is the message. I almost feel like the idea is too unoriginal to work with, but I really do want to get something done quickly.

    Next week I plan on doing more preproduction, such as storyboarding and getting my 3D area set up. I am tired of just sitting around and not doing the work I know I want to do so I will work hard and get this done after this first marking period finishes up.

Work Log

Monday- Blender understanding

Tuesday- Getting Inspiration/Ideas

Wednesday- Gathering thoughts

Thursday- Choosing my fist film idea

Friday- Blogpost

Halloween Special

     First off, I want to say I'm so sorry for what I have created. It took me 8 hours still but it looks horrible. I had many ideas before this one that I tried acting upon but things never seemed to work out. I had to move to animation because I had no friends to make a film with. I thought this way I could get people to voice act and it would be fun but then that didn't work out and I had to scrap that idea too. I really wanted to make something I was proud of but I didn't because I hesitated too much and kept scrapping ideas after thinking I was unable to do them.

  

  These are some shots from my original animation idea that fell through. I originally intended a film but after I found I can't I tried this. 

Investigation

 10/18

2D Walk Cycles

Animating a walk cycle requires producing two extreme key positions, and twining them in a logical way. As all the components of your character (such as head, arms, body, legs) seem to move independently. Doing all of this in a way that seems natural. In a walk cycle there are two contacts positions that are basically the same. However, there is a slight difference between them: although the character is in an identical screen position in both of them, in the first contact position the left foot is trailing, and in the next position is forward. So they are basically opposites of each other.

It is important to remember that when stepping you bend your legs and that causes your body to dip and rise at certain points, like shown in the second picture. the arms you also don't want to be too routine and match the legs completely because it may look too robotic. Also overall the more frames the better your walk cycle will look. If there are other objects on the character like hair or a coat you will also want to move those with the way your character is moving. If you take that all into account your 2D animation walk cycle should be great. This also work pretty much the same in 3D.

Work Log

Monday- 2D drawing

Tuesday- 2D drawing

Wednesday- 2D animating

Thursday- 2D walk cycle

Friday- 2D walk cycle

Investigation 10/4

 Blender 2.9 Investigation

 I was starting to animate then realized how much blender 2.9 has changed since the previous version I was using. The whole movement of objects and getting into pose mode has changed and it's very distracting. I looked up a ton of tutorials and none really tell us how things have changed so I just watched some beginner tutorials to get some sort of idea. Previously I felt pretty comfortable with blender and using it but now I feel like I am back to square one and it is very frustrating.

    I think until I get a better idea on how to use blender 2.9 I am going to use the older version I was comfortable with. I know it is best to learn the newer better version but it can be very annoying. This way I can get started on a project sooner rather than later.

As you can see in the pictures blender has changed a lot in the new updates and I don't feel comfortable using blender 2.9 yet.

Weekly Rundown

Monday- Opening blender 2.9

Tuesday- Confused by blender 2.9

Wednesday- Researching blender 2.9

Thursday- Working in blender 2.9

Friday- Downloading blender 2.7

My Year Concept

Politics & The Social Order

A big part of society is who makes the rules and what we are told to follow. I think taking this into consideration you can play with this idea a lot. Conformity and non-conformity, is it good or bad? Should we always do what we are told and not question it? These questions are never fully answered because from different perspectives people could believe in two different ideas of how the world and society should operate. There are many great movies about corrupt governments and how they rebel against them such as, The Hunger Games, V For Vendetta, City Of Ember and even Shrek. The corruption of government and the fight for freedom or change is a big part of this theme and I feel it can be a really powerful message to go against everything you know, or authority.

I also feel this could be done very nicely through animation. I could get my point across with simplicity or complexity depending on what I am going for. I already have a couple ideas dealing with this theme and I hope I am able to work through and do all of them. This year I really want to plan well and have multiple finished products to show at the end of the year and for college. I want to start as soon as possible.

The whole dystopia idea is very interesting to me. This animated short film is sort of like something I would want to try to create. The whole conformity idea is easy to work with and still feel like you created something meaningful and I really want to work on animations or films that I feel are meaningful and interesting to watch. In this short film you see how they are constricted to do what they are told without question and if they do something opposing the view of I guess the government and other citizens in this case, you are ostracized and killed.

Dystopian movies are always ones that stood out to me, because they feel so out of the ordinary, but are they really. They deal with the concepts and ideas and fears we have about society in our normal day life, sure we aren't going to destroy the world because of our ignorance and have mutant animals attack the humans left... right? It seems crazy for something like that to happen but, it is true that our governments have great control over us. Everything dealing with politics is skewed to one side or the other making you think a certain way. Are we truly thinking for ourselves or are we fed the information we believe is our own? These questions many people have but I don't know if we can truly find the answer to, but put these issues on a greater scale and you have a dystopia.

My First Project

My first idea is still in the conceptual faze. I want it to be simple so I can get through it quickly. The idea is that there are robotic-like people in a world with no color. They do the same thing day-in and day-out until one day someone strays from the path. Right now I'm thinking from a red bug that distracts them so, they follow it. Along the way this bug bothers someone else too and they both chase after it, until somehow this bug leads them to the world of color. There together they then both change from white to other colors. Then, but I don't know if I want to go this far, they get everyone else to come and they are all out on this hill all different types of colors looking outward.

This idea I feel if I work hard I can get it done quickly. I already can see it mapped out in my head, especially the color schemes. I just need to find the right models and make a really basic landscape in blender to achieve this. I would love to work with facial expressions, but I don't believe I can with this fist short film looking at my options. Also, if I am feeling a bit crazy I can put in some 2D animation with the 3D, which is something I've been wanting to try very badly.

Steps to Making An Animated Short Film

Concept:

First it is good to have an idea and write it down. No matter what it is, it is good to try to get a solid idea and put it on paper. That way, when you get to the script/storyboarding it is already a full idea you can work with.

Script/Storyboarding:

Once, you have a thorough idea you can clean it into something you could actually turn into a film, by storyboarding and script writing. These steps are the most important because without a solid base you, can't have a good story. I personally, for animated films, don't really want to do a script because I will then have to get voice actors, but I love storyboarding.

Animatic:

Animatics are a solid way to get something close to the final project early on. I personally, don't think I need to do one with what I want to do, but it could definitely be helpful.

Model:

Finding or creating the best model for your image is important for your final vision. This part I find the hardest because I am not really interested in modeling but I need to find the right model for the story I want to do.

Animate:

This will take the most time and will be the most tedious, making sure you get movements right with the subjects you are animating. I really enjoy getting into the flow and animating for hours on end. I hope to really make a good looking animation this time around.

Render:

Depending on how much you animated the render could take a while, but all you've got to do at this time is wait. Maybe you can start on finding some music for you're film or look back at your concept and storyboard/script.

Editing:

Finally, you almost have a finished product, but it's not quite there yet. You need to color correct of you want to and do film grading and do sound design. This is my favorite part of the whole process because you are so close to finishing. Don't forget credits.

Upload/finish:

Add any finishing touches and watch through the film. Then, upload your finished product.

Work Log:

Monday- Reviewing camera rules

Tuesday- Not in class

Wednesday- Design principals

Thursday- Steps to an animated short film

Friday- Blogpost