#studio project 3

[jumuskr]

The Viewing and its Feedback n Reflection

Victory! Our video got viewed and everyone felt like it was some embodiment of sadness eventually overcoming something, it set a relief that Sujays vision and all of our collaborative work and added interpretations did make the crowd feel a little gloomy inside then a hint of warmth. The crowd was still and even the applause was a little solemn I’m going to take it as a good thing.

One point of feedback that I’m going to take with me is that the framing was effective and its serving with the characters relation to space, I’m someone who loves to gush about the use of framing and the way it can illustrate vibes and emotions with whatever the camera choses to show and what it consists of. Its soo good to have an example of your own work where it has been used now, granted we do owe a lot of it to the location that gave it the cubed shape giving it a solitary vibe but I will continue to explore interesting ways of framing in the future. Visual language ill figure you out now matter what it takes.

Some of the feedback directed at Sujay with his experimental editing has given me something to consider in the future as well, when I’m just learning a new piece of software or skill I tend to get excited about what I could do and use as much of it as I can. I think that I should be more self-aware next time I learn something new and understand what each thing that I am doing in order to let the work move with a lot more purpose.

The intent with the final scene was that the protagonist so to speak, was taking just the first step to self-acceptance, but it seemed everyone got a full feel of some kind of character arc and that he has broken free of something completely. It’s made me make notes not one what the project itself could have done but ones on that if you intend to actually make an ark in whatever piece you’re making, think about down playing it, it could be enough. Change the perspective, maybe the arc is just in the first step the character takes towards its end climax and that’s all that it needs to get the resonant feeling.

The overall viewing was Incredible, I admire the work everyone has done and all their zany perspectives, we got to see a slew of different tones and unorthodox expressions, I try not to hyperbole but I swear but it was one of my favorite art viewings I've ever been to.

[jumuskr]

Picking Up The Pieces

Today was a day of trying to figure out where to take our project next after the feedback. It felt like our film wasn’t going to achieve any kind of outcome we desired and left me in a “Get shit the together” mode.

I wrote a new script that would focus only on self-acceptance and have a single character go through this theme, we would use the masks to showcase the characters façade and the animations we have could be used as representations of what characters thoughts are, all in a hope to fix the initial confusion of what role the animations were meant to play and make the story simpler.

I had set it up in chronological events, the beginning I was going to use one of miyazakis favourite techniques of having the protagonist do familiar physical human actions in order to give the audience something to project themselves on, I was going to show a character getting out of bed, slapping his alarm, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, then grabs keys and mask as makes his way to the door. As he exits out the house he puts on his mask, so the viewer can recognise that is just a part of his daily routine.

It would then show his day consisting of everyday human situations with short social scenes and working scenes, every other character wears a mask too and I was hoping this would give the vibe that everyone’s wearing a façade of some kind, for instance one social scene people start to belittle him and he gos along with it and takes a submissive position, the masks makes it look as if he was fine with it but the sad face animation would play faded behind his head,  just instances like that to show how he actually feels about the things happening to him. I tried having a few self-aware moments in the film also to ease some of the seriousness as well as using shots that mimic head turning so the viewer felt like they were part of the scene

It would end with him coming to the realisation of how absurd it was that everyone’s wearing the same mask, then deciding to take it off when he’s in another social scene and have him smile. I had a few ideas in mind that could have done visually to show him contemplating and calculating what to do in order to build up to the point where he makes the decision. The faded animation could then use the transition into him idea we had showing that he’s actually let his true feelings take hold.

But alas for better or for worse it was not meant to be.

As a group we decide to not to go with this new script due to the time left and it being too narrative focused. We decided to go with our original idea, take some new shots for a new scene that could improve on what we hope for the output of our film. Due to some of the members having creative differences with addressing the feedback very strongly; we will be more looking to improve aspects of what we have instead of making drastic changes to what’s going to be displayed, while fixing a few other problems such as the over the topness.

We have all our clips now and it’s time for post-production, we will review what Sujay will do with the editing tomorrow and then work with the footage we have then. I’m interested to see what this part of the process can do for our project, if not uncertain but optimistic about what the result will be.

[jumuskr]

Ideas Done, Filming half way there

As part of the idea stages I had a been given a task to create a character, but I didn't do it in time and I missed out on a lot of the idea development stages as I didn't make the time for it, this was very lousy of me and it has me frustrated as awful timing is one of my big problems that affects everything that I try to work on and it seems I’m just going to keep hitting this wall to get it I break it. Doesn't sound like constructive thinking but the more I think about it and the more I type about it instead of actually doing the practical work then the worse it will become. Ok ill stop now…

I don’t agree with a lot of the creative decisions that ended up being made but decided not create a clash of ideas and I’m glad I did, throughout the process of filming we have got footage that I reckon has potential of creating some good moody vibes.

For instance we took a shot of Sujay looking upset walking down a slope, I was a little disappointed with this shot when it was on paper because it was just a transition of the character getting from point A to point B not communicating much emotionally visually, but the result is a nicely framed shot the character with in relation to his space seems very isolated, the large wall and big trees around him make it look like the characters lumbering, along with the potential of making it more effective in post-production. If I began fretting to the others then we might have not had this shot.

Even though the theme relates to my life and I feel I have interpersonal things to offer with im not going to impose them and just remove any personal ties with this project and do what I can to help it get realised, I feel the process has been productive in that we have been testing out different things with the shots and each member has contributed to adding little things or trying out ideas of how we want to frame the scene all with open discussion.

Still looking ahead to how this project is going. Have to make a point making sure I make myself time to not get left out the loop throughout the crucial stages of production.

We’re also cutting a character because our film got a bit too complex, having it cut doesn’t seem to have affected what we have been trying to do with our project as a whole anyway. It could be a good case in point for future projects, to go through a process of removing bits of the project and seeing if those sums added enough to the whole itself, and get rid of the ones that don’t just to trim out anything unnecessary.

[thisissounreel]

My test animation reel for Studio Project 3: Framing Space.

I was originally going to film everything with an actor but there is not enough space in my chosen location to capture my chosen camera shots so I will take photographs of my camera angles, draw my animated character into the photos then use FinalCut to make the camera move across the scene. This test also gives an indication of the scratchy style and movement that I want to be shown through my character as he retreats further into the woodlands.

[jh-im-creativetech]

Motion Study Fail

So I'm to upload the animation of my automata to dropbox by tomorrow 9am. But at this point I highly doubt that it will happen for me. I might be able to mate one thing. But my gears have cross relationships with each other and I don't know how to make this connection. In programming, this would be a If/else situation. Maybe I would be able to complete it later on, but by tomorrow? It does not look good at all.