At the End

Well, the year is ending and so is my time in Adelaide. Unless they get busy and ask me back in January. Shannon says he'll go slow so that there's lots of work and they need me. Cheers mate!

Seriously though, this has been great, my first job in the industry and a great trip all round. I met awesome new people, learnt new things and refreshed my motivation for Viola. I'm itching to really work on it again. I brought stuff back with me, but it was mostly clean up and to be honest I wasn't very disciplined with it. But when I return, by thunder! Work shall be done. I'm really keen to wrap it up so that I can send it into festivals and so that I can go out and get more work in the industry. I have until the end of May now to finish up my honours stuff, but I'd like to get it done well before then.

There are many things I'd like to get done actually; I need a website, perhaps a general art blog, new cards (you know, ones that look decent) and an updated demo reel. Gotta get it sorted! I feel as though all my recent posts I spend babbling about what I want to do...I guess because I can't really work on anything solidly just yet. So once I can this blog will stop being all talk and you can actually see things that are done, or on their way to being done.

But having worked a nine to five job for the first time in my life (my previous jobs have been casual jobs with ever changing hours) I feel pretty confident that I can sit myself down and work on my own stuff from nine 'til five. I feel so full of motivation and energy so it bloody well will be done!

I've also enjoyed getting to know everyone at the studio and some people not at the studio. It's been really fantastic and I can't wait to see each and every person again further down the track. The atmosphere that the studio has is really great and the fuller it is the greater the atmosphere. It's been so much fun working with such rad and talented people.

So anyway, this could well be the last post for 2009. Talk to you all again (hah, I love how I write as though this blog has a huge following of legions of fans) in 2010.

Expect great things.

Or, well, you know, completed things.

Lex.

Staying longer, hurray!

I'm staying in Adelaide a while longer. Going back to Brisbane for a few days, seeing as I had a flight booked already anyway and then it's back to Adelaide. This time I'll be back as an employee rather than an intern. I'll be here from the 7th of December until the 23rd, then it's home to Brisbane. If the PRA get more work I can go back after Christmas. So I hope they get more, I really like it there. Although, you know, it'll be good to finish my uni stuf, haha. I'm bringing my lightbox back to Adelaide with me so that I can get a bit done during the rest of December. And when I get home I'll be going at it hardcore!

I really should get a little plastic lightbox though, something really portable. And the next time I upgrade my computer I'm switching to a laptop so that I can be ultra mobile.

Radelaide

Another post from Radelaide!

I've had some people giving me advice on my animation careerpath. One idea is to get funding to make a short animation, I think it's a cool idea. I've been formulating an idea for an animation I'd like to do after Viola. So if I developed that, got a script and designs together and ready, talked to some people here who've got funding, etc, I might have a go at getting funding myself. Although, I think that I would prefer to work in a studio, I love the studio atmosphere and I feel like I get more done in this sort of environment.

The bit I'm cleaning up is coming along but it takes so long. I'm trying so hard to get it done quickly, I think I might need to stay late on Monday. Hopefully I can get it all done then.

I'll be sad to leave Adelaide, I've had such a great time here and made new friends and all that. But I will also be happy going home, 'cos I am so pumped to work on Viola again. I should really get a website up as well and maybe a general blog, just for artwork and stuff. So that's on my to-do list when I return to Brisbane. I'm also getting excited about graduating (again, lol) and getting a job (hopefully). After this taste of working in an animation studio I am excited about the future. I look forward to whatever it holds and embrace any challenge to come my way!

Internship Update

I keep forgetting to update this thing while I'm here. Mostly it's because I don't know what to write. I can't talk about the specifics of the project and I'm doing clean-up everyday, so there isn't much new to write about. My clean-up is getting much faster, huzzah.

I am having an excellent time though, I'll be really sad to go home. And I feel so inspired about my own film again, which is awesome, 'cos I'd really hit a wall with it. If I can continue this 9-5 routine when I get home I'll get so much done. I've been spending less time on the internet since I got here and I feel better for it, so that's something else that's good.

So yeah, on one hand I'd love to stay here longer but on the other hand I can't wait to race home and work on Viola again. I couldn't bring anything with me 'cos my lightbox is too big, so I am itching to get back into it. Although, I saw an artists' lightbox in Spotlight the other day, a small, plastic thing big enough to fit A4 paper on. If you got a pegbar off the internet and stuck it on, it would make such a good portable lightbox.

I'm also learning things here, just by listening to conversations, talking to people and observing everything and how it's all run and put together. Preparing myself for the day when I start up my own studio. *Insert evil laugh.* Well, that'd be a while into the future, but it is something that I'd like to do one day. Especially because my ultimate goal in animation is to improve the representation of female characters. Which, lets face it, would be so much easier if I had my own studio and could have so much control over the animations being made in it.

So that's my update for now, I'll try and remember to update a bit more often while I'm still here.

Internship

At last I am updating about my internship. I'm at the People's Republic of Animation in Adelaide and loving it so far.

What I want to learn here is;

• How animation studios run
• How projects are organised in a studio
• How well my work stands up in a proffesional setting
• Views held by people in the industry about animation

I'm working on a 2D project and so far I'm doing clean-up and colouring along with another intern. We're cleaning up and colouring in Photoshop, which is something that I haven't done before. I like it, it's helping me to think of more possibilities when it comes to my own work.

Apparently it was hard for them to find 2D animators for this project. I've been told that there are a lot of 3D animators out there at the moment, but not as many 2D animators. As a 2D animator I found this pretty interesting.

Not too much to say so far other than I'm enjoying the work and learning a lot. I can also stay for another week, which is great. It must mean that I'm not totally awful. Huzzah!

New Birds

Updated Birds animatic, just the third part of the song to do now!

I am doing stuff!

Just a post to say that I am doing stuff. I just don't have anything that I want to upload at the current moment. I've been doing lots of clean-up and scanned a stack of it into ToonBoom yesterday.

To Do:

• Finish cleaning up the things I have animated
• Work on the first snippet of dance so that they don't fry like they're doing at the moment
• Colour and add backgrounds to the things that I've put into ToonBoom
• Next to animate: Opening shot of Viola playing music on her back, the kick into Lucien's face

I've also been thinking of taking out Viola's triumphy dance at the end. I think it might be nice just to end with her looking over the edge and then maybe go to a close-up of her face and then she smiles.

On the topic of the Birds storyboard I've been working on, I have almost finished the second part of the song, the very quiet part where they're wandering through caves. Once it's done I shall upload. Should be ready in about two days. Then I just need to do the last part of the song, which is about two and a half minutes long. Ideally I'd like to get this done before the end of the month because I leave for Adelaide on the first of November. Yay!

I'm really looking forward to my internship, I can't wait to get there! :D

Birds

First part of an animatic that I'm doing in exchange for sound. Huzzah! :)

Animatic Time Again

Just another animatic update. Timing's still not perfect yet. I'm getting Andrew to help me out and animate a few shots. Yay! They aren't in there yet, at the moment it's all me baby.

You Guessed It, It's Another Animatic!

Another animatic? But of course! This time with chunks of real animation. Mmmm-mmmm.

Lemme see, got some advice today from a guy called Sorin who came in to look at our work. He said that the tension between Viola and Lucien in the dance needs to build up more, her just kicking him in the face to get rid of him is too easy and that there should be a shot in the dance where he is making the music with her by running the bow across her back. All good advice I think.

So! The changes will be in the next animatic, along with more animation. The close up on her back, where he lifts her and then they're on the roof (I'm a cheater, lol) I am going to instead have that as a close up on her back and him playing music with it. Then another shot to show, well gee! they're on the roof!

When she decides that she's had enough, she pulls her hands away, but doesn't break free and he pulls her hands back down again. Then she uses her leg instead, to kick him in the face. I don't want it to be to hard for her either because in a lot of ways, she is stronger. Especially her legs, both her legs and feet are physically bigger than his.

I was before thinking that maybe he could pull her closer and use her back to make music again, but this time the bow would leave red marks. The imagery would look really cool, but the idea seems too sexual to me somehow, I think that it would just look like he is sexually dominating her and that's not what my film is about. It isn't about dominance with concerns to sex, it's about control and freedom concerning creativity and just life in general.

I also need to put in some more close ups and stuff while they're dancing, but I think that it will really come across more when I actually animate it as well.

A Few Background Things

Here's the inside of her appartment. The veranda and buildings outside need fiddling with and I think that maybe the whole thing should be darker. But other than that I like it.

While she's in her appartment I want it all to be quite dark and brown, when she's outside there will be more colour. Here's the sky for outside.

Yet Another Animatic

Newest animatic! And I'm working on backgrounds and I started lipsynching the beginning in flash.

A few fade ins and outs with music that are a bit wonky, just ignore those. :P

Hhm, I think that I should have a new song start for her triumphant dance, after he gets kicked off the room. Whaaat else...the bit where she says, "I'll never get this right," needs to be a bit slower. Other than that I'm pleased with the animatic so far.

Animatic Fixed

Yes! Fixed the animatic. Now the sound all matches up with the pictures.

Updated Animatic

EDIT: The voice in the beginning is out of syyyync. Dear god, that is so annoying. I haven't the heart to check the rest of it. BAH. Well, I'm out all weekend, so I'll fix it on Monday. For now, just use your imagination. :)

Updated animatic! Haha, Lucien has one line now instead of two, purely because of the way that it fits into the music. But I like it much better this way. Hum, hum, what else? I slowed down the beginning, which is nice, you hear more of Viola's song. I cut into her triumphant jumping, still need to work on that, throw in some close ups and stuff. And I definately still need to work on the Viola/Lucien dance, it needs to be shorter, with close ups in there to show the gradual change from charmy to controlling jerk. That way it will make more sense when she kicks him in the face.

Originally, I boarded this so that after her triumphant jumps, you see her sit down and start her music again. I like it better now, the boring movement is cut out, leaving with a nice empowered close up of her face and then having the lovely image of her playing her music on the rooftops. Woo!

So, to do:

• Still backgrounds. I am so lame.
• Shot list and the order that I plan to animate in.
• Dance fiddling.
• Picking out some basic sounds to use.

And I'm pretty sure that's all I need to do before I get into production. Awesome!

Inspiration and Voices

I recorded my actors yesterday, very exciting. So expect a refreshed animatic some time before next Wednesday.

And here are some inspiring pictures from a book, 'Paris, in the Age of Impressionism; Masterworks from the Musee D'Orsay.'

Yeah, just a quick post today, nothing terribly exciting. (Well, recording was exciting, but I'm not posting the voices here yet.)

Backgrounds

Okay, this isn't a final background, just me working on the inside of Viola's appartment. I was going for art noveau, maaaybe over did it. I think that the balcony railing is a bit too much, makes it look like an Elvish treehouse from Lord of the Rings. Otherwise, I quite like it. Andi said a while ago to have different colours for the characters when they're inside the appartment, I agree, so Viola's got some different colours here.

So here's the background by itself, followed by the background with Viola in there as well and the last one also has wallpaper.





Also, here are a few pictures that I've been using for reference, I found them on good old Google. Yay.

A Wordy Update With No Pictures

James Calvert from The People's Republic of Animation http://www.thepra.com.au/ came in today to give us a lecture and have consultations with people about their films. I liked the lecture, very interesting and we got to watch animations. Yaaay. Including The Cat Piano http://www.catpianofilm.com/, which I've been wanting to see for a while now. SO GOOD.

So he liked my stuff, which was good, and gave me good advice, like to cut down the dancing bits. I was going to play with it anyway, I just kinda plonked it in so that I could do the animatic, but yeah, it needs to be shorter and he also said that I should cut in close ups and stuff and I think that's a good idea.

I also think that the first bit, where she's playing her music, should be longer. Hhhm, I should time that out again. Okay, I shall! Expect a refreshed animatic (only in the sense that I will slow down that part, I am too busy to do much else at the moment), some time next week.

Recording actors on Tuesday, yay, so I can add voices to my animatic as well. Yay. I particularly like the girl I chose for Viola, she's really nice and it was a close call between her and another girl, but I think that the one I chose reads with more expression and reads with the expression where I want it, if that makes sense. Anyway, I like her. And Alex Waller very kindly agreed to help me out with sound, so cakes all round! No, I'm serious, I'm going to give them all cupcakes instead of money. :D

Animatic

Animatic! Hell yeah! Dear god these things take so much longer than you think. And it looks so damn basic. O_O So yes, here's the animatic, please watch it and tell me what you think, what is good, what is confusing, etc. Oh yes, and the voices aren't recorded yet, so enjoy the subtitles. :)

Sorry about the low quality, I was trying to make it small enough to upload.

That live action bit comes from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzPR7DYyGtY I just threw it in for timing and it's what I'm drawing my inspiration from, but I want to play with it and stuff. Nice dancing though, I like how she looks like she's trying to get away, but he's all, 'No, I don't think so.'

Also, music-wise, not sure if myabe I should have a differenet song playing while Viola is doing her triumphant leapy bit?

Also, here are some background ideas and sketches. Wooooooo~

Many things, MUSIC!

Big post today, exciting post, many things to report.

First and foremost, MUSIC. I have music now, which is such a relief and incredibly exciting because I can use music from the band that I really, really wanted. And that band is the amazing Fourplay, a string quartet from Sydney with an amazing sound. Go go go to their site and check them out, they're amazing: http://www.fourplay.com.au/ So yes, I can use some of their music in return for art, which is in itself also very awesome.



Next to report, actors. I posted a casting call on eCaster and the next time I got on the computer I had about eight replies. and they're still coming. Excellent. So now I am holding auditions this Friday and next Tuesday, which should be fun.

The animatic is coming along, once I have picked some music I can actually start choreographing the dancey bits. At the moment that place is filled with the words, 'They Dance!'

Backgrounds. Something that I am not so good at, so I will be getting Andrew to help me out. So, I went through the animatic and figured out what backgrounds I need for Act One.

So here is BG 1

BG2

BG 3 is just wallpaper for head shots.

BG 4

BG 5
BG 6

BG7

BG8 - Close up of BG 6, where the floor meets the wall.

So, I should get started on those...blah.

Oh yes and here is my design for the wallpaper. The top one is just the ink, the bottom one I used LiveTrace in Illustrator (my favourite tool) to smooth it out.

So yes, lots of news for today, hope you all (all five of you) enjoyed it!

Lucien Expressions

Just a few panels from the storyboard...which blogger decided to put in reverse order. Oh well. They're just here to show that I'm doing stuff, enjoy. :P

Lucien! I had fun doing Viola, so I thought that I would do Lucien as well. He needs it more I think, his character is not as defined as Viola. Also, I tried to express the fact that Viola is very expressive while Lucien is a little more reserved...not sure if I got that across, but maybe.

Again just quick pictures, I used a brush tip pen instead of ink and brush, which is why the lines are so thick and clunky.

Original challenge here: http://napalmnacey.deviantart.com/art/25-Essential-Expressions-55523083

Expressions

This is a challenge that's going around on DeviantArt, so I thought I'd give it a go. It was very useful to help figure out how Viola's face works.

These are just quick drawings with a brush tip pen rather than ink and brush, which is why the linework looks so clunky. They still look alright though.

I must do one for Lucien!

Oh yeah, got the challenge from: http://napalmnacey.deviantart.com/art/25-Essential-Expressions-55523083?offset=100#comments

Lucien Character Sheet

Changed the colours on Viola's sheet and I drew one for Lucien. I need to do more art, I should really get started on the backgrounds and work on my animatic. The break really threw me off, but at least I've finished watching all of Buffy now (SO GOOD) so at least I'm free of her thrall.

To do:

• Animatic
• Sketch out the backgrounds
• Break up, clean up and colour the backgrounds
• Record dialogue
• Find musicians or music
• Choreograph the dance bits to go with the music

I want to start production once the mid-year holidays start, if not earlier. I think I have a good chance of this. Also, my back-up plan for the music is to get copyright free stuff, something so old that it can be used for whatever, you know, Mozart or what have you. Hopefully I can find some musicians at the con, I'll put up more posters on Friday.

More colours

Costume change for Lucien and some colour possibilities. I'm really into this at the moment.

Busts

Uploading twice in one day...I is a nerd.

Anyway, I made some busts from plastecine because I thought it would be useful and fun. It was fun! I'm not really a sculptor, or a photographer. Baaad photos. But still, at least you get the vague idea. I particularly like how Viola turned out.

Okay, so click on the picture above so you can get closer and tell me which one you like best, colour-wise.

Viola!

Character turn around! She's so pretty. :)

Arts.

Woo, more art! I haven't done as much recently, I've been concentrating more on the research, but this is nice, I've had a break through with their designs.

I modelled a bust of each of them too, but I'm too lazy to take photos and upload them just now. :P