Mildred's Exotic Meat Emporium - Draft Copy

if i look back, i am lost
$LAYYYTER
Sweet Seals For You, Always
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One Nice Bug Per Day
YOU ARE THE REASON

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izzy's playlists!
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PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
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d e v o n
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he wasn't even looking at me and he found me

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@unghiundressed
Mildred's Exotic Meat Emporium - Draft Copy
These are my four final postcard concepts and also my universal back as I feel like with so much going on on the front a nice clear and visually straightforward back is all that’s needed.
So focusing on one of my old postcards, I had this concept that I really wanted to follow through with. I wanted to be a puppet/armature of my own since I’m very much into stop motion and specialising in it recently. So, after test running the concept I did some more research and looked at many puppets connected to strings and rigs etc, but I found this particular picture in the top right of a puppet running attached to a rig and I really wanted to bring this concept to life in my own way and to personalise it a bit too bringing forth my own quirky personality.
So I went down to the photography studio and I have also included the original image of me jumping in the studio against a white colorama. I was then able to take this into photoshop and cut myself out of that scene using the wand tools and I also used a photo of a rig and with the same process cut that out and composited them together!
This was so much fun and a great way to utilise the remnants of my creative energy XD.
The final product is the front of my postcard which I've added a gradient background to for some dramatic effect and I’m in love with the finished result. I look like a fabulous graceful gazelle-esque puppet gliding through the animated world!
These are some of my updated business cards (finalised ones) focusing on feedback from the crit! I decided to bring in one of my lovely puppets Annie to show her off and organise my information better on the back. I also considered the suggestion of a vertical card and so with my second one I I have tried this and I actually like it much more :D
Mildred’s Exotic Meat Emporium - Most Updated Hand In for FMP
This is my most updated edit of my FMP stop motion film for Mildred’s Exotic Meat Emporium. It has my up-to-date edit and some new sounds I had time to include! I’m still working on the remainder and a few bits are on their way from my grad assist helpers, but definitely in time for the degree show we should have something epic up here :D
Portfolio and Showreel Reflection
The portfolio and showreel project has been really eye opening for me. I never really considered before this that post this course I’ll actually be in the real world looking for actual jobs or pursuing further education and I realised I need to be able to put my best foot forward for that to happen - that foot is my portfolio and showreel! Since I’m mainly doing stop motion as my current specialism, I struggled a bit especially with the postcards/business cards as I wasn’t sure what to showcase. Most others in my class and from the references I’d seen had amazing pieces of artwork and since I didn’t have that I wasn’t sure if photographs of what I’d been working on was enough to sell myself to people. But after asking many many questions I realised this is my work and if I’m promoting myself to people that’s exactly what I should be showcasing.
So I chose some of my favourite shots from my filming and decided to utilise these for postcards and business cards. However, I also wanted to bring some of my vibrant, bubbly personality into the cards and so I tried to execute an idea of me being a puppet myself haha and made that into a draft postcard. I wasn’t as satisfied with the result myself as I think it would benefit from a more professional photograph, but the concept itself was very exciting and I think I want to get more of that across in my self promotional pieces.
With the showreel I found it difficult as much of the time I felt like looking back at my work I was seeing things that had been small footsteps in the development of my work to this day and so to me everything looked a little grim and unappealing to show for what I’m doing now. But nonetheless, this development is still an exciting visual journey. So I put my favourite pieces in and kept things short and snappy and after feedback from my tutor and peers tried to ensure everything was always moving and that I didn’t linger on particular shots too long.
Overall, I did enjoy this project and even though it did bring up some self-doubt and ability related concerns it helped me to realise that I should never stop working because my work is a direct representation of my ability and I do want to put my best foot forward.
FMP Production Reflection
Wow my final major project and final film at Middlesex University! How crazy to be here at a point where I feel as though I’ve learnt so much in terms of technique and understanding of practice, but simultaneously, I’m existing in my own blissful ignorance surrounding the animated world. This project has really been something. I don’t know why I expected this to be a breeze XD but I’d say it was more like a GAIL FORCE WIND with possible hurricane warnings. Last year I suppose I was in a better situation making my 2nd year film I was excited because I didn’t know what stop motion was really about and I was intrigued. This year I knew what to do, but I felt a lot of the time I was withdrawing from doing it with fears of it not being that outstanding final piece of work I’m supposed to create or even not as experimental as I could be with the resources I have around me. To some extent it felt very safe designing my sets and characters because I knew exactly what I was doing. Maybe that took some of the fun out of it? I think the hardest part of the production phase of my FMP was staying motivated to complete the project. Many cold, hard days in that dark messy room and the funny thing about making an animated film alone is that you have no one else to tell you to work or to keep going. All that time and effort in the dark and emptiness alone is all your willpower and self-motivation to make something because you want to… or because you need to. Why? Because of all the people around you that helped you make this vision in your head reality. See when I no longer wanted to get out of bed and go to this dark room and spend my whole day from 9am to midnight focusing on this project I’d think to myself ‘But what about everyone who’s helped me get to this point?’ That includes my tutors who gave me guidance and support, the talented voice actors like David Holt who’s voice I am gratefully using or even my mum who makes sure at midnight, when I do eventually get home, I’m warm and fed. So, I haven’t given up yet! I’m making the animation and honestly, I’m proud af of where I am right now. Because I’m also tired af. My favourite part of the process has been the set building and puppet-making. Seeing them in my mind and then physically constructing them and putting every little detail onto them has made this experience so rewarding. Setting up my equipment was difficult because there was so much stuff in the space and spatially my organisation was appalling (something I will absolutely mitigate in the future) but I got it done and my experience of the different equipment from working at the kithub made this so much easier. Filming the actual animation was the hardest part because I was constantly distracted by the amazing people around me and events going on and social media, but I really got on with it and tried to manage this by having my schedule and shot list up on the wall which helped me to stay focused and track my progress as I went along. I think if I were able to redo this experience of production, I would re-arrange my schedule as honestly animation always takes so much longer than we think and by being so rigid with my timings I often felt guilty when I hadn’t met deadlines or goals at a certain point, but this is actually normal and it okay to not be on track all the time. The most important thing is that I’m producing quality pieces of work that I’m proud of and that I’m enjoying what I do. After all, what’s the point of any of this if I don’t enjoy myself. I would also prioritise my mental health and taking breaks more. I think at some points sitting alone working in my room exacerbated the already emotionally crushing events I had experienced earlier in the year and potentially I would’ve been able to get out of my own head more and work more efficiently if I’d taken the correct steps to manage all of the stuff zooming around my mind first lol. But even with these considerations I did have a really good time honestly and I would absolutely do it all over again. Bringing ideas to life is the most satisfying creative pursuit.
This is my current portfolio. I’ve aded pieces of work I’m most enthusiastic about and decided to keep it to stop motion as this is what I’m interested in pursuing more. I think it may need a little bit more, but this is what i’ve come up with currently.
This is a new business card concept that I think I’d like to use for my final design. It’s a still of Annie my main character from my FMP.
This is my festival pack for Mildred’s Exotic Meat Emporium
Mildred’s Exotic Meat Emporium - HAND IN
My film for the hand in. This still needs some work as I have some more scenes to edit and update it with incluiding a bit of animation from my grad assist helpers, but this is where it’s at so far.... progress! :D
New postcard front concepts
Some progress
Final Animation Inter-War Period - Group B
This is the final animation for the inter-war period for my second group; group B.
I had so much fun working on this animation and particularly the use of mixed media and utilising cut-outs was so enjoyable. Something i’ve never done, but now understanding how it all works, I wish I had more time available so I could do it again! I think of my two groups I’m more proud of this piece and especially how we all worked as a team, stayed organised and supported eachother to get everything done. It was an immense amount of work, but at least I’m now really handy with a printer and scissors and of course it’s done :D
These are some research mood boards created within my first group (c) to use as reference and inspiration for our work they include things like the art style of art deco that we were hoping to achieve as well as old posters/propaganda from the inter-war period and then some scrapbook textures for the book we hoped to create to house our animated postcards.
I was working on the multiplane finally and it looked great and was so much fun. Who knew moving paper cutouts would be such a blast! There were some complications such as a slight lighting change...meaning I had to restart the entire shot :( but overall it was great to do some physical animation.
Also, my second group - group B - had a lovely shot plan where we could all access and colour code area of the plan to show what was in progress (yellow/orange), completed (green), not started (red) or cancelled (dark red). This was gredat as it ensured everyone was on-track and aware or eachothers progress. Organisation was key with this project so this was great.
Though, no one said this would be easy, toward the end of the project it started to snow! Which would’ve been great when I was a kid, but at 21 with a massive client project due, trains being cancelled because of snow on the tracks, and a sudden, painful, bout of illness, it was anything but my dream weather.
Nonetheless, I pushed through and made the trek to uni to complete my work. In this time I finished my multiplane work and cutouts for group B and I did my backgrounds and general cleanup for the after effects animation with group C. I’ve attched an image of a shot with jesse owens from the olympics segment with his new background which makes everything look much more put together and complete.
I’m in two groups! :O
I decided to join a second group as clearly I didn’t think one load of work on a high pressure project was enough! No, it was mainly due to a member of group B dropping off the course and as this group was utilising stop motion on the multiplane, I was naturally extremely interested in their work and couldn’t help, but to get involved! I hadn’t used the multiplane before, but I LOVE stop motion so this was right up my alley :D
Excitement in the cold winter air