A.N. in Motion

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Galbraksacee’s lair

Near Candlekeep, underneath the Cloud Peaks of Amn, in the Underdark area known as Xothaerin.

Map locations and visual:

Faerun map: 

Candlekeep and Cloud Peaks:

Faerun’s Underdark:

Beholder lair research:

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Galbraksacee, The Lonely Beholder

From as early as Galbraksacee could remember, they have been terrified by anyone else, paranoid of other’s simple presence in their vicinity and drove themselves into solitude in a rather obscure cavern in the Underdark. 

Any adventurers following the rumours about Galbraksacee’s existence would be killed by the beholder in a frightened frenzy. The only one who has managed to escape Galbraksacee’s deadly gaze was a wizard who managed to sneak around the lair, unnoticed for days and, although they got attacked, the beholder let them live as they have earned some respect for managing to stay hidden so well for so long and not attack or hurt the lonely creature. 

Overtime more adventurer’s were slain as Galbraksacee grew older and more powerful yet the wizard still evades them somehow as they show up sometimes, have a fight and then they leave. 

Galbraksacee grew accustomed to the occasional visit from the wizard and although they do not talk a lot to one another, they have learned each other’s names: Azohr Jodeve, abilities, tactics and started a tradition that seems it will last forever and is one of the few form of entertainment and excitement that the beholder has, besides loneliness, paranoia and fear. 

Beholder reference:

Galbraksacee, The Lonely Beholder:

2nd attempt:

Initial attempt: 

Beholder Stats:

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Azohr Jodeve’s Character Sheet

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Azohr Jodeve’s Backstory

A High Elf Wizard with a thirst for knowledge who spends most of his time in Candlekeep, the towered library fortress of Faerûn, standing on a crag, overlooking the Sea of Swords and filled with books and scrolls of knowledge. 

As a young wizard he has ventured out to look for something unusual to add to his study collection. One of the top choices to start his search was the Underdark, the vast network of underground caverns and tunnels, known to host evil beings. There he has come across a rather simple looking cavern that hosted a single beholder, an aberration that looked like a giant floating eyeball with numerous eyestalks. After a few days of studying the creature from a distance, Azohr gets spotted by it and barely manages to escape alive. 

After time passes Azohr has returned to the creature more powerful than last time and attempted to study it again but was caught in no time and run out of its lair.

Over time Azohr would return to the lair and fight the creature directly, learning it’s attacks and name: Galbraksacee, Azohr giving him th title of “The Lonely Beholder”. 

Now, as Azhor grew more powerful and Galbraksacee grew more used to Azohr’s appearance into his lair they have a respectable rivalry in which they will still fight with all they have but spare each other at the last moment. 

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Y3 FMP Progress Upate

After the last presentation there has been a series of personal and financial issues coming up, a constant battle with Student Finance for approval and lack of access to University’s resources which led to a dreadful feeling of hopelessness and lack of motivation. The situation becoming more and more difficult it became easier to give up and consider dropping out which led to me not gaining any progress on my already proposed FMP or any ideas that may have come up in the last few months.

I have recently regained my desire to animate and complete the course the best I can, albeit late and behind the class. I plan on doing the best with whatever resources I have at hand and after all this time I find it difficult to pick up the FMP from where I left it without still feeling like a dreadful chore. 

In a final attempt to wok an FMP I have come up with a concept that combines two things I have somewhat recently discovered how much I enjoy: Stop Motion and Dungeons & Dragons.

Title: 

BEHOLD!

Teaser: 

One of the many battles between a knowledge hungry wizard and a lonely but magically powerful floating eyeball(s).

Synopsis: 

A D&D inspired film portraying one of the many battles between Azohr Jodeve, a High Elf Wizard with a thirst for knowledge and Galbraksacee, The Lonely Beholder, whose fates are at the will of the dice. 

D&D brief description and mechanics:

Dungeons & Dragons is a structured, yet fundamentally open-ended role-playing game. It is normally played indoors with the participants seated around a table top. Typically, one player takes on the role of Dungeon Master (DM) while the others each control a single character, representing an individual in a fictional setting. When working together as a group, the player characters (PCs) are often described as a "party" of adventurers, with each member often having their own area of specialty which contributes to the success of the whole. During the course of play, each player directs the actions of their character and their interactions with other characters in the game. This activity is performed through the verbal impersonation of the characters by the players, while employing a variety of social and other useful cognitive skills, such as logic, basic mathematics and imagination. A game often continues over a series of meetings to complete a single adventure, and longer into a series of related gaming adventures, called a "campaign".

During the game, players describe their PCs' intended actions, such as punching an opponent or picking a lock, and converse with the DM, who then describes the result or response. Trivial actions, such as picking up a letter or opening an unlocked door, are usually automatically successful. The outcomes of more complex or risky actions are determined by rolling dice. Different polyhedral dice are used for different actions, such as a twenty-sided die to see whether a hit was made in combat, but an eight-sided die to determine how much damage was dealt. Factors contributing to the outcome include the character's ability scores, skills and the difficulty of the task. In circumstances where a character does not have control of an event, such as when a trap or magical effect is triggered or a spell is cast, a saving throw can be used to determine whether the resulting damage is reduced or avoided. In this case the odds of success are influenced by the character's class, levels and ability scores.

High Elves are humanoid creatures with pointy ears, a keen mind and a mastery of at least the basics of magic.

Beholders are large, orb shaped aberrations, with one large cyclops like eye and 10 eyestalks, each containing powerful magic. They tend to be xenophobic and vicious , but also curious creatures. 

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After Effects Glow Animation Test 2

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After Effects Glow Animation Test 1

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Y3 FMP Pitch - The Animation Dance Off Video Resume

A digital book presentation of the final pitch. The Animation Dance Off presents three different character designs created using three different animation techniques performing three different dance styles, showing off a variety of skills. Link bellow in the brackets: ( https://issuu.com/aninmotion/docs/y3_20fmp_20pitch_20presentation )

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Self Reflection

Although the core idea is still the same, the initial idea has gone through a variety of transformations. From the initial feedback I have received during the tutorials, I wanted to use a previously made character since I thought it would make the workload simpler. Unfortunately, it lacked a clear structure and objective.

While wanting to create a short video to professionally present the variety of skills I have there were some mishaps. Wanting to use the mime character as a device for this goal I was quite uncertain where to take it all and how to do it. I wanted to focus on post-production elements but trying to stick to the brief made it difficult to decide since it was worded more for a final film production than particular parts of filmmaking.

In my attempt to answer the brief while still doing what I set out to do I tried coming up with some type of narrative to tie it all together but was met with somewhat negative feedback as the idea did not make too much of an impact.

I tried focusing more on the skills and techniques I wish to explore this year but due to short-time changes, I could only create a few tests in After Effects following YouTube tutorials. During the pitch, my presentation turned out quite boring since I only had a few software animation tests to present that did not express what I am trying to get to in the end.

Over the week, since the pitch presentation, I worked out exactly what I want to do and how to do it, in a way that it still achieves what I need from it and it still answers the brief in the way it was written. I am using three different animation styles: 2D digitally drawn rotoscope, Vector and Puppet animation using Photoshop, After Effects and a camera. each character was designed in a different style to perform a different dance while accompanied by background visuals related to their animation style.

James Lenane has helped a lot especially with structuring the idea. We spent hours just talking about it and brainstorming until we came up with something that feels it will work well, it matches what I wanted to do and is overall fun. He also helped with the Bollywood Dancer’s character design by watching me live stream as I was making it and he would every now and then comment on adjustments I should make. 

I believe that the final pitch presents my idea in a way that can be understood and followed easily and hopefully is not boring anymore.

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Initial Pitch Presentation shown at the Crit

Online Book Version - Link in the Brackets

( https://issuu.com/aninmotion/docs/initial_20y3_20fmp_20pitch_20presentation )

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Hologram After Effects Test

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Write On Text After Effects Test

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Melting Text After Effects Test

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Animation & Video Internship Task Submission - Clothes Stop Motion

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The base idea for my final major project is a short video that would present the versatility of my animation and video editing skills that looks professional and can be used instead of a show reel when applying for jobs. 

The initial idea was to use a character I have created last year since I like him so much and wanted to do more with it. 

Since the initial setting was in Central London I thought about having the same character using his powers: making imaginary things act as real, to create a door that acts as a portal to different worlds and we follow him exploring the various environments as the animation style changes: from 2D digitally drawn to 2.5D motion graphics to stop motion and vector animation. 

I went to Central London and got a few shots creating the scene I could use as a base for inspiration or rotoscope to create the backgrounds.

Being inspired by Eric Dyer’s meeting I also wanted to do a part which is in zeotrope format as well. 

During this time I have applied for the Animation & Video Editing Internship at MDXSU who gave me a task to complete before the interview: a short animation encouraging students to nominated themselves to become president or vice presidents of the Student Union. I created it using Osbert Parker’s Clothes film as inspiration. 

After completing the task I found out that I enjoyed it quite a bit and I wanted to include it in my final film idea as well. Going between clothes, paper cut outs, pixilation and puppets made it difficult to chose one style of stop motion. 

Attempting to understand the brief, which was worded more for a film final product than one area of the filmmaking I attempted to come up with a narrative. During the last tutorial, before the pitch, I was told that I shouldn’t focus so much on a storyline and that the mime doesn’t seem to make that much of an impact.