Blg4Animtn

It's Chloe

[yoonichi]

TV Series Ideas

Night Nymphs

Creatures that come out at night and cause mischief and fight monsters. Insomniac notices them and becomes aware of their existence but, no one believes him.

Imaginary Friends

People can only see their own imaginary friends. Imaginary friends can see the others. They’re appointed to the person at birth and sticks with them throughout life. Inspirations from Ted and Red Vs. Blue.

Aliens Immigrated to Earth

Aliens come to Earth but, it’s nothing like the stereotypical, scary movies. Earth turns out to be a great getaway for extra-terrestrial lifeforms. Some even make the decision to move and settle down. They have the worst taste in TV? Inspiration from Paul.

[yoonichi]

MP Ideas

Animation for games.

For this I think looking into fight scenes, RPG and FPS games would be good. I have a big interest in these genres so it could make for a fun project.

Graphic novel.

This is definitely a top contender for my final choice, I feel it’s something I can do well at and enjoy, I also have a few ideas and inspirations that I think can make for a good outcome.

My first genre I would enjoy doing is horror, I feel this could work well as a graphic novel. I’d be taking a lot of inspiration from Junji Ito a Mangaka and Webtoons, one that comes to mind is Horang’s Bong Chong Dong Ghost.

Another idea was something on the other side of the spectrum, something cute and fun to watch. At first I wasn’t too sure on what ideas I had for this but, I recently finished watching a couple animes which gave me a lot of inspiration to the idea. The shows that gave the inspiration were With a Dog and Cat, Everyday is Fun, this was a very cute and funny animation that was easy to watch. I thought this could be a really fun project to get into as I have pets of my own who each have their own personality. Also, the anime My roommate is a Cat has a very similar concept but, has more of a storyline where the other is just shorts. 

My final idea for the graphic novel is an old project I made in college, I called it Escape the System, my inspiration for this came from the webcomic Fisheye Placebo by Yuumei. I wanted to have a bunch of characters who are in a group and fight their own movements whether it’s anti guns, saving bees or just spreading the message to think outside the box and for yourself. This would definitely be a good thing to get back into as I have the characters and ideas, I just haven’t made the story. Also, the characters could be redrawn and updated to be honest.

Experimental

With this I just had the simple idea of revisiting The Dollmaker from year 2. This is definitely an option but, I think I have more interest in doing my other ideas. It was interesting and fun to look at though and try it out.

[yoonichi]

Short Film - Change of Plans?

Honestly, I’m feeling pretty stuck with this Dollmaker short film. Every time I go to draw up something to animate I end up feeling stuck. I’m thinking I may change my short film to the Alan Watts idea. Hopefully this can work how I want it to and I don’t feel as stumped on how to go about animating it.

So, for the Alan Watts short film I wanted to take a snippet from one of his lectures on death, specifically The Essence of Alan Watts vol. 4: Death (1975). I remember listening to this a while back and it really stood out to me, unfortunately I couldn’t find the lecture so, I ended up looking for something else. I ended up coming across an Alan Watts account on Spotify, which seems to have clips from his lectures with music, I found one called Dream. While listening to this I came up with visuals that I think can go alongside with what he was saying.

[Alan Watts:] If you awaken from this illusion and you understand that black implies white self implies other life implies death or shall I say death implies life you can feel yourself. Not as a stranger in the world. Not as something here on probation. Not as something that has arrived here by fluke. But you can begin to feel your own existence as absolutely fundamental.

I want to make something that suits the sound, is flowing and also something that makes sense with what’s being said but, nothing too literal. I feel like this is something I can definitely get done and I don’t feel as on edge about it looking a certain way as I’m just listening to it and drawing what comes to mind.

This was something quick to jot down my first thoughts listening but, they are still subject to change.

[yoonichi]

Group Projects - Overview

Co-op Project

For this project, I feel there could have been more communication, I feel like in a whole the group did well but, I feel that I could have communicated more with the people I traded with. I think taking part in this group project really highlighted things I need to work on, the fact that I have someone else’s design makes it feel like they’re counting on me a lot more.

Some things I need to work on are being more confident and upfront when speaking to people one on one and voicing my opinion when I don’t feel something is right, I feel like I’m quite confident when working in a group but, at times I do end up holding back some of my thoughts. I definitely need to work on my time management, I feel that when I get focused on one thing I forget about other jobs I need to do. I honestly think there was a lot more I could have done with the walk cycle but, I didn’t plan out my work properly. 

I’m pretty happy how this turned out but, I feel that it could have been so much better if we listened to the brief, with this I’m mostly referencing the cuts between the characters, if we followed the brief it would have been a lot smoother and more professional looking. It was a great project to be involved with and like I said before it really helped me notice the areas I need to improve upon. One thing I’m confused about is that my object never got used in the animation, I really don’t know what happened there and I wish I actually spoke up about it instead of feeling awkward about it.  It would have been a good thing to overcome and workout if there was a problem with it but, unfortunately I cannot change the past.

Dimensions Project

This was an interesting project to work through and I think it definitely helped some of the class get closer and have a good experience together. I think during this project I was more confident in speaking up and sharing my opinion, probably to do with knowing the people involved. Erin and Joe really stood out for me during this project, they definitely took on a lot of the responsibility, I feel they both worked well, stood up to be the leaders of the group and worked hard to make this project come together. Honestly, I think it would have been a bit of a train wreck without them.

For myself, I feel like I put in some effort to communicate with the class during this project but, I feel it definitely could have been a lot better. At the start I feel I was involved quite a bit but, as we got further into the project I feel I started fading out a bit. The communication between me and the people before and after me was alright but, could definitely could have been improved upon. The person before me gave me a picture of their door and sent me their clip so I could try and sync my animation with theirs, I asked a question about how they were running through the door and that was about it. With the person after, I sent them my door and explained how it was a hidden doorway and mentions that Chuck was running from an enemy and had the sack in his left hand, I then said if there was any more questions to let me know. I kind of feel like this was close to being the bare minimum of communication needed, there was some conversation but, I don’t know whether if it was enough, I feel if the animation works out and is a smooth transition between the animations then I may have just shot myself in the foot. Oh, well.

Overall, I feel like this project went alright, there were definitely a lot of people who didn’t really get involved as others but, I guess that was to be expected. This was a very interesting project and gave a good insight on working within a team.

[yoonichi]

The Dollmaker - Storyboard

For The Dollmaker I want it to be filled with atmosphere so, I’ve done a quick storyboard to get the concept on paper and I think I might add some frames that are very atmospheric like rain falling in puddles. I feel like this will keep the overall felling of the story very consistent and help meet the two minute mark.

[yoonichi]

Short Film - The Dollmaker

After going over my choices with Mario and Pete, we all agreed that The Dollmaker was the most interesting option. I’m pretty excited for this project and have a clear idea of the storyline.

I want my short film to be very atmospheric and creepy as I want to portray it as a short horror story. I think doing a mixture of 2D and stop motion would work well but, I feel that I might find it hard to blend it in together so that it seems like it’s a part of the same film.

A big inspiration for the feeling of this film is from a specific scene in the anime Another and also from the stop motion animation The Maker. Both of these have a very atmospheric and creepy feel to them but, I think I will be leaning more towards The Maker as I like that there’s no dialogue in the film, It’s an interesting way to tell a story without bluntly stating it.

I already have some ideas with what I want to do with some of the stop motion, I found some old plastic balls that I could use as eyeballs and I could see about getting some old doll parts so I can get different clips.

[yoonichi]

Short Film - Ideas

For the two minute film I came up with three different ideas, I feel like they are all very different from each other so, it will be interesting to see how this project turns out.

My first idea was to make an animation based off clips from Alan Watts talk on death. I was thinking of this being more abstract and having similar animations to Our Planet but, more suitable to my abilities.

The second idea was more comfortable involving 2D animation, for this I had an idea of a character but, didn’t really know of a storyline for the character. I’d definitely would have to look into this more and do research to get a better pitch for it.

The final idea I call The Dollmaker, with this I was thinking of a more dark and creepy storyline. I imagine it being very atmospheric with little to no dialogue. The animation would be of a silhouette creating dolls, the film will be of him making one of his dolls and will have a big reveal at the end. The twist will be how he actually makes the dolls, the dollmaker actually robs graves to get the perfect pieces for his dolls. This will be hinted at throughout the film.

 I feel that my two strongest ideas are the Alan Watts animation and The Dollmaker, I will definitely look into one of these being my choice as I feel I will have fun with them and be able to do something different and experimental.

[yoonichi]

Woodlands - Final Pictures

I decided to take the sculpt outside, honestly I seen others doing this and I thought it looked really nice. Originally, I was going to make a scene from card, I was going to do two pieces, one urban and the other nature, I then was going to cut them out so I could layer them by having one sheet in the background, one midground and of course the characters in the foreground. I ended up deciding against this due to the size of the sculpture, it just wouldn’t work and I feel it wouldn’t look as good as I imagined.

These were the first sketches of the two backgrounds.

After the first sketches I moved onto doing the ‘final’ drawings. However, it was half way through this when I realised it wouldn’t work.

These were some of the final pictures taken. 

Overall, I think the sculpt turned out rather well. I think a different pose might have made it more interesting but, considering it’s my first time working with clay I’m pretty happy with it. I think this was a great experience and I really enjoyed experimenting with clay.

I feel like I avoided the whole environment design and making of it, which is pretty disappointing but, I really like how the pictures came out, I feel that having the sculpture in a real, natural environment really makes it stand out which is why I wanted to take the pictures outside. However, I feel I would have definitely have benefitted from making my own environment as well. 

[yoonichi]

Woodlands - Sculpt Pt.4 Mush

Mush was very easy and and a quick sculpt. Just as I did with Rac I started by using tin foil to create the basic shape. I started of with the cap of the mushroom.

At first I started with a bowl shape and move onto the stem of the mushroom. However, when I put them together it didn’t look right so, I got a bunch of foil and stuffed it into the bowl shape to create a sort of half sphere.

This looked a lot better and already started to look like a mushroom.

Once I was happy with the shape of both pieces I then glued them together with the epoxy resin. Then like before I then covered the foil in clay and added textures.

This was the final sculpt for Mush. I ended up adding a wire stand to hold up the sculpt.

[yoonichi]

Woodlands - Sculpt Pt.3 Rac Cont’d

Once again, I did quite a big jump from the previous post about the sculpt. I started to mess around with texture.

Once I finished the toes I started using one of the wire tools to put texture in the clay, I think this worked rather well. I decided to leave some areas without texture because I didn’t want the whole thing blending together. I left out obvious places like the soles of the feet, nose, inside of the ears and also in the space above the cheeks and below the brows. 

I think one of the most notable things with the sculpt so far is the lack of arms. I’ve actually been putting them off for a reason as throughout I’ve been thinking of how to incorporate the sculpt of Mush. However, while making Rac I realised the size of Mush would be extremely small in comparison if I wanted to have Rac holding him. I decided against the original pose of the sculpt as I wanted Mush to be seen as another character than a prop so, I will end up having Mush along side Rac.

I decided to keep the arms in the same position and started planning them out by rolling up tin foil again. Once I had them to the size I wanted I then covered them in clay.

I then attached the arms to the body and added the same texture. For the hands I just got two clumps of clay and shaped them, I did this instead of using foil mostly for the convenience. Once this was finished I saw this sculpt complete and moved onto Mush.

[yoonichi]

Woodlands - Sculpt Pt.2 Rac

I started off with Rac so I can then do Mush based off the size of Rac.

While making the armature I thought I was taking pictures every step but, when I looked back on my camera roll there wasn’t any saved, unfortunately.

I started the armature by just getting tin foil and bunching it together to form a basic shape to work from, I did start with the body and then moved onto the head.

For the feet and tail I copied what I did for the head and body but, then used wire to attach them to the body. I also added some resin epoxy in the holes to secure the wires in place. Once everything was in place I started to apply a layer of clay, encasing the armature and continued to do the same with the head.

I also used the same technique on the nose and later the ears as I did on the feet and tail.

A massive jump from the previous picture. I know. What I ended up doing is just bulking up the clay in certain areas to start to create the details in the face, I did this by adding somewhat of a brow line and more clay on the cheeks to get more of a feeling of a raccoon. Originally, when I did the ears they were just pointy triangles, it didn’t look right. to get past this I ended up searching up pictures of raccoons so I could sculpt them from reference and it definitely made a huge improvement.

Once I felt the head was a good shape I added it to the body by blending the clay together and adding pieces in places that didn’t look right. I then started to add some spikes of clay to simulate chunks of fur. I then moved onto the feet and started adding toes.

[yoonichi]

Woodlands - Sculpt Pt.1 Planning

I have a basic idea of how I want the sculpt to go, I see Rac sat down holding Mush. I think it’d be a nice sculpt and can show the connection between both of the characters.

The image in my head is based off the sketch I did with the original storyline in mind. I thought I would keep the position of Rac but, have his tail coming around the side of him and have him holding Mush.

I sketched up a basic turnaround of how I envision the sculpt.

[yoonichi]

Woodlands - Story

For the story I was thinking of an adventure type show where a mushroom and raccoon exchanges knowledge with one another and explore new places and experiences together.

The first episode would be about them individually and how they came to meet. It will show the differences between the two characters and their insecurities. Rac loves the way Mush looks and wish he could be colourful and pretty but, Mush wishes he looked like Rac because the others around him would be friends with him then.

The other episodes will follow their friendship and watch them teach each other different things and watch them go on adventures together. This sketch shows Mush teaching Rac what he can eat and how some berries can make him ill and how others are tasty.

Before they start going off on adventures they have the problem of Mush not being able to walk freely like Rac. In this episode Mush explains how roots underground act as a sort of highway and messenger system for fungus. They then explore other ways Mush can move around and they find out he can sprout up anywhere with a connection to the earth.

Other episodes can show them interacting with other creatures from the city and from the nature reserve. They learn things from the other creatures and characters and find similarities with others which shows them that they’re not alone with how they live life.

[yoonichi]

Woodlands - Practice

When I got the material and tools for the sculpt I decided to have a practice run, just messing with the clay and see what came out of it.

This was outcome.

I honestly really like this small sculpt and was pretty proud of it, it’s a little cat with noodle like tail and limbs. It was fun to make but, I still had no idea how my final sculpt would work out considering it’s a raccoon and a mushroom so, there’s a bit more detail than a noodle cat.

Either way I’m glad I had a go at playing with the clay and feel like it’s quite cute.

[yoonichi]

Woodlands - Rac ‘n’ Mush

My final choice was actually to combine two of my ideas together, I really liked the idea of the mushrooms but, I honestly thought the raccoon would push me to do something more challenging for the sculpt.

The idea was going to be to combine the two ideas together but instead of having the Amanita mushroom as a character the raccoon eats it and feels the effect of it’s toxicity. The only thing with this is that I didn’t want the raccoon to be seen a a sort of enemy to the mushrooms and I also wasn’t too keen on the idea of a raccoon having a trip as the story.

I then started to think of the raccoon and mushroom being friends, two very different characters coming from two very different backgrounds.

[yoonichi]

AX2222 - Final Three

Going through my ideas for the sculpture project I came up with a final three that I felt had a strong story that could support the characters.

The first was a raccoon, I imagined him in a more urban background where he struggles to find places he likes a food to eat. He hates how filthy the city is and wants to find somewhere more colourful and clean.

The second would be about the first leaf to fall in autumn. The story follows him and how he falls and how he tries to make it back up the tree.

The final one is about a community of mushrooms who judge the Amanita who is known to be toxic but, his personality couldn’t be far from the stereotype. Each of the other mushrooms in the community have personalities that correspond with their stereotype whether it’s bitter or sweet.

[yoonichi]

Dimensions - Sound and Voice Acting

For the voice acting I ended up sending in my whole script so I could play around with the voices and conversation.

Chuck - https://www.castingcall.club/m/Lawrence%20Trotti

Catopus - https://www.castingcall.club/m/Metal_Elf

I ended up mixing up two different takes for the Catopus character because I really enjoyed these two specific ones and only kept tin the first line of Chuck. I only edited the clips a bit by adding in a bit of fading in and out, I ended up keeping a fade out on the second clip for the Catopus so that it fit with the animation when Chuck runs away and on the end of Chuck’s line.

For the sound effects I ended up downloading a few royalty free sounds, bug noises and walking on grass.