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Showreel Project

I enjoyed making this, and I’m happy with the final product. I decided not to put any of my CG work in, as I noticed in my research people tended to focus on CG or 2D animation. Also CG animation isn’t my strong point, and I felt like it wouldn’t fit well with the rest of the animation I included.

#showreel

As I already knew an editor in the industry, I was drawn to researching more into what exactly that job entailed.

What does an editor do:

- works closely with the director

- specifically in animation, also edits the animatics in pre-production

- cuts footage, crafts daily rushes into a coherent whole

Route into the Industry:

- being a runner and working up

#industry research

(source: CGI 3D/VFX Studio Showreel: Studio Reel 2016 - by AltVFX, TheCGBros, YouTube)

I looked at a more CGI orientated showreel as well, just to get a feel for what that would be like. I liked the way they layered the levels of production with a lot of their work, however I do think this, like the other showreel, was a little long. I felt like it was also a little repetitive, as much of the content was showing the same skills again and again, and could’ve been cut down.

#showreel

Showreel Research

I collected several showreels that I really liked the look and feel of in order to get some idea of how to lay out my own reel later.

(source: SHOWREEL 2017, Sykosan, YouTube)

I really liked this showreel in particular, mostly because of the fluidity of the animation but also the way the music really enhanced the atmosphere of the reel. I think it was a bit long, as I’m aiming for my showreel to be about a minute in length, but the animation in this was dynamic and interesting enough for me to keep focus the whole way through.

#showreel

This is the first export of the completed mystery box project. I’m not completely happy with the quality of this, but I’m not really sure what could be causing the quality to drop so much. It could have been the fact that I had to make the animation itself in After Effects due to problems with Dragonframe during the filming. It could also be the fact that my laptop couldn’t export it properly due to a lack of processing power.

I planned to open the projects on the university computers, but I had problems exporting on every version of After Effects and Premiere, so it looks like this is as good quality as I can get at this point. At least I’ve learned not to save the Dragonframe animations onto the servers while I’m filming!

#mystery box #stop motion

Backgrounds for Mystery Box Animation

I went outside to shoot some backgrounds for my animation. I had considered drawing something for it, but I thought my character would fit in more seamlessly with the actual outside world. I liked the idea of mixing reality with her strange, unrealistic design.

#mystery box

Mystery Box Project Green Screen

Shooting this sequence was a lot more challenging than I expected, mainly because there was an issue with the server, so I only had access to the stills from when I animated. In the end, I had to run the stills as a sequence in Premiere Pro in order to export it as a movie. I think I will have to use the university computers to export it again, however, as I had a lot of problems with the quality decreasing a lot when I export it on my laptop.

#mystery box

This is the finished puppet for Kodie for the mystery box project

During the making of the head I also changed her design to include braids; this was so i could hide two strands of thin wire in them so I could have her braids move with her movements in the actual animation.

#mystery box

Progress shots from the puppet making process

I made the decision to give her chicken feet during the process of making them, as I thought they would give her a more unique design and I just really liked the look of them

#mystery box

Lip Sync Final

I had a few issues with this project, as the file corrupted several times. I was able to save it and only lost the last few seconds of animation in the end, which was easy to redo.

#lip sync

This is the mouth shape chart for the lip sync animation

#lip sync

I found this phoneme mouth chart as a reference for making my own mouth chart for the lip sync project.

source: https://theendisnearus.deviantart.com/art/Phoneme-Chart-505829828

#lip sync

Here's my model sheet for the mystery box character, Kodie. Since drawing up this sheet she has gone through a lot of changes in the puppet-making process, but this was a good start to base the character on.

#mystery box

This is my email correspondence with Ralph Foster, an editor in the industry. I’ve been talking to Ralph for a little while now, and hope to keep in contact with him, as he’s worked on some great films that I love.

#industry research

Mystery Box Project Animatic

This is the first iteration of my animatic for my mystery box project. I changed the action from touching the box in the storyboard to kneeling and looking in it, as technically the character cannot interact with the box physically. I might change it slightly later to edit some of the timings.

#mystery box