wow

yesterdae was interim 1d and sad to say my running scene looks as though the person is flying or something. thats when mr ronald told mi to play with the timing and framing and he taught mi the law of physis. ah!! i am so late le.. gonna rush things to speed up.

oo

wah jia lat le la... think i gonna use the drama as motivation.. hmm oh i really not sure whether to do in betweens for my runnin scene or not though. cus it seems lik she is running too fast. ah!!

ooo

Whee!! Watched the making of Coraline and it was way Too AWESOME. Wow... the stop motion is very smooth and even the fog and fire were hand made.. yesterday had some plans to change my ending. so will see about it... thought of either having pictures onto the wall or sunflower grows the whole area glows or fireflies come out to form the shape of an angel.

oo

Woot.. ah.. going to start new scene tml. vivien u mus nt be lazy k

help in need

Ahh!! I in serious need of help.. in the sense of pushing.. i really need osmeone to push me man.. gosh.. oh i shared with mr. Alan my problem and he helped me sort it out by exporting it all the frames.. mr alan also mention that i should make full use of the function in flash. which is very true.. due to the fact i thought by drawing frames means i need not do the colouring so many.. which i was wrong. ah.. anyway been taking too long for a scene.. hope to do a next scene tml.

Interim 1B

Todae was interim 1b. hmm would i say it went out okie well bax. wad i still have to edit would be more of my sound wise. and one thing odd is that when i imported my mov of scene one to after effects and exported it out, it looks terrible. not really sure why too lei. find it weird though. may have to find a solution for that too. hmm

jmm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLR6ok7C5kY&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/user/BlueRaptoR77#p/u
good reference for me

oo

wah i dunno y but it seems im gettin more indecisive. now currently working on another scene... hopefully it runs smoothly..

00

todae i let mr ronald see my hand animation and hanis as well.. thanks to them it looks better now. initially it looks rather jerky so i added more in betweens. ooo i also seek help from yi chuin jie with the colouring of the door knob. she mentioned that my colouring was rather simplified but the door knob was too detailed which may not fit to my moodboard. so demonstrated to me to simplify and thats when i get my butt into business.

not to mention. i also coloured the bg for scene one. and hanis gave me comments that i should add shadow at the bottom of the bed. i did several versions of it and asked mr ronald which was better.

So yup.. everything is settled.
Filmed myself and hanis kneeling down.

Will be working on that scene.

OO

oo todae had consultation with mr ronald discussin and finalisin on my storyboard or rather the scenes..
hmm think at home will be doing the girl reaching out to the door first.. hehe

oo

oo todae i let adeline see my animation and indeed what she commented was true at least to me. she was saying that the ending was abrupt in the sense not just the pacing of it but rather there wasn't enough thing to build up the tension. that was when i began researching i also searched for horror aniamtion to make my front part more intensed..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw7Wh1rRHZA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMpvTuBPWt4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vxqEM3oZwI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSMfMdxD05w&feature=related

so i was thinking at the back where she would not just open the curtain but she could see her house door and thats when she runs to it.. and is lik all the previous obstacles are chasing her..

hmm

todae consulted mr ronald, i had troubles with my scene one especially the blanket part. it looks way too funny. so thanks to both tri and hanis help it finally look so much better. hahaha.. i also was confused whether to colour my scene one but first off i will start at scene 2. whopie.

oo

http://www.peach.com.sg/en/

doin scene one n it takes so freakin long

hopefully

wow!! Guess wad i really rested totally on friday slept like a huge pig.. somehow this illness carried through on sat n abit on sun as well.. oh well.

Now as i knw i have to change the back part to fear of studies.. i actually did some research on it..


children have phobia of animals, kidnapping, being alone in the dark and injections
separation, bugs and insects, bedtime, monsters, ghosts, water, heights, animals (especially dogs) , losing a parent, not being loved, flying, Fear of falling, nightmares, strangers or people they don't know, causing mommy and daddy's divorce, as you see the list goes on and on. These are just a few of the most common fears.

Interim 1

Wow.. i thought that my animatic would be bad seeing that last time as i let my friends see it i didnt really get the reaction that i wanted.. but today they were laughing.. hahaha.. not suppose to laugh though.. hmmm.. comments given my lecturer that the paparrazi may not be applicable as i am targettin young range of children. Ahh oh gosh while waiting for my turn i was really cold and in fact caught a fever.

It goes to show i need to rest le... hahahah

oo also, they commented about my pacing that my ending was rather abrupt that my words at the back should not put the word smile at the back.. hmm oh not forgetting for the gantt chart we also have to include the time where we had to do report. think almost everyone forgotten bout it.. yupie..

oh hanis, laurie, kala and honey suggested that my ending should be related to studies instead. lik a huge book wanting to eat her with those chim words coming out.. hanis also suggested that mayb gt alot of books stacked up revealing a teacher at the end.

Also, alan mentioned that the part where the girl was supposingly crowded have to appear more crowded as in really people pushin her around as it seems she can just look up and search for hope.


Something i would bear in mind,

Thanks so much for the effective feedbacks.

Not to mention Mr. Ronald also said that every fridae will be have presentation woot.. attendance will be taken.. hohoh

wow

wow its been a long time since i wrote on the blog lik 3 days.. hahaha

During the past few days i was just rushing on my animatics. Had many 'sleepless' night, slept for like 3-4 hours a day. Rushed on moodboard and practically everything.

http://images.google.com.sg/imgres?imgurl=http://www.easyonlygames.com/blog/aaa08/aaa08momentpic2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://ahbonknet.easyonlygames.com/%3Fm%3D200901&usg=__fslqkL3tetB7Iax7lQ2bLuFc-HQ=&h=282&w=500&sz=13&hl=en&start=281&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=TXYWE8Ksp0Q_jM:&tbnh=73&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcute%2Bgirl%2Bdrawing%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D273%26um%3D1

oo

wah.. todae i tried my might to complete my scenes.. during weekends i touched several of my scenes. however as i compile some of it, its either the timing or pacin that seems wrong. hmm still workin on some scenes still

ii

wah hmm todae mr ronald is not here so another feedback is gone.. oh todae i managed to compile three of my scenes i guess both scene 5, 6 and seven... got help from hanis with opinions and such.. wah.. tonight may be sleepin late.. die die complete animatics by mon

sad

Wah now its already thursdae and my moodboard have yet to complete and i still left alot of scenes to do.. still todae i corrected y scene 2. completed scene 5 now working on scene 6..

hahaa

Today I really felt that I am not productive enough. Ahhh!!! Is like now I am redoing my scene two as it was way too short. And it also took me some time doing my mood board,till now its incomplete. Mr ronald told me to move on to other scenes.. so yup..

~Suggestion for Moodboard

todae seek opinion from mr ronald about the floor of my moodboard. he suggested that I add a carpet instead. which i think was good too.. the pebbles i did were to boyish which he mentioned.. hahaha also when i tried compiling frame 1 and 2. there was really a huge jump so Mr. Ronald suggest that i do a fade in. so yupie started doing frame four. hahaha

Finalised Character Designs

Whoopie~~ After long hours/days of hard work, my effort is finally paid off.

These are my finalised character designs. I finally manage to complete it!!!
Self- satisfaction







So yup, going to touch on my moodboard now. Will be seeking Mr. Ronald's opinion.

Signing off,
Vivien

~Indecisive-ness~

I have done different version of the monsters in order to see which is better.
So these are the images:






What I did today was to correct one of my monsters colour as adviced from my good friends in class.

Working on my rabbit monster now.
Woot~

Signing off,
Vivien

Stress Stress

Wah!! Days have passed and now I am doing my second scene whereas Andreas has already completed several scenes.

Would I say I am being envious or maybe feeling more discouraged??

Laurie was right that in an animatic, it need not be too detail. I was drawing more of key frames which was really taking much of my time hence the slow production.

What I plan to complete today will be my character design.

Just so stress thinking about it.

__________________________________________________

I let Hanis see my character design and she helped me with the side view.
Thanks Hanis.

Cheers,
Vivien

*Too Good to be True

Wow Weeeeee~!!

I just received some good news that our deadline have been extended to one more week.
But that doesn't mean I can take this for granted, slow down my production speed, instead I want to use the extra time to do a better job.

Another piece of good news is that my storyboards are finally completed and approved. However, as I started doing the first frame of my animatic, it gave me several problems.

Sadden..
What I did was I did an animation of my text disappearing but as I rendered it out; it appears to be empty. I was thinking "Oh no! How am I going to put the words together with my girl" Another problem was the pace of the animation. Everything was just in a mess.

Luckily lucky man came to my side, Alan. I told him my problem and he told me that I am doing a more troublesome method. Instead, I should just animate the text from After Effects and better still more special effects can be added.

He demonstrated to me how to animate the text. What he did was to actually make the text into 3D allowing it to be rotated and blown away. He also helped me with the text animating according to the girl's scene. Many effects were applied too; like adding shadows and such.

Once again, thanks Mr. Alan for showing me all these wonderful tricks.

Oo.. After I was satisfied with the result, I showed it to Hanis. She mentioned that the bed is in the middle and that I should shift the wall maybe more to the right or the left as she seemed to still look at the blank screen even before lookin at the gal..

So this is yet another problem which I have yet to settle.

Hopefully everything will turn out smoothly

Signing out,
Vivien

~Helpies~

Continued doing my storyboard today.

Along the way, I showed Mr. Ronald my storyboard and he suggested that I can change some of the angles especially for the stage scene. He mentioned that many of my reporters are revealed which will required more 'manpower'; he suggested that I tightened up the shot so that it can emphasize more on the character and in fact lesser reporters are shown thus lesser 'work'.

Also, He helped me alter the scene where there is a whole row of reporters with a "what am I waiting for" look. Now, the angles are so much better.

I also want to thank Tri and Hanis for helping me with the angles for the bed scene. It was really tough as the girl was facing down. So we had to play around with the 3d model which i made.

Still have lots to do.

Signing off,
Vivien

*Struggles

Holy Smoke~~~ Really feeling stress as I have yet to complete my storyboard and even my character designs.. Ahh~!! Jia lat..

Luckily, I begin starting on my storyboard. Everything was still alright till a scene where the girl is surrounded by adults. I wanted the girl to portray the feeling of being squash and feeling uptight but I just couldn't find the right pose to do it.

Thanks Kezia and also Hanis for coming to my rescue. Kezia helped to improve my pose and Hanis helped me for the adults proportions.

Woot~!! Problem is solved. Still struggling to complete the whole storyboards.

Signing off,
Vivien

~Froggie~

Woot~! This whole day was more like really doing my frog character design.

I did some loose sketches of some frogs to get the hang of it at first. It was then did I progress on to designing the frog. One thing for sure, I wanted my frog to look creepy but not TooOO creepy as my target audience are the children. Thanks to my friends, I managed to finalise the frog design. Comments given for the final frog is that it looks scary yet cute at the same time -Amusing comment I must say.

These were the loose sketches:




Now here comes the digitalizing IT part.

I didn't faced any problem while drawing the frog in front and quarter view but as I drew the side view, it looks so horrible. I seek Adeline and Yi Chuin opinion and they said the frog looked rather squash. I tried my best but yet it looks so weird.
Thanks to Mr. Ronald for saving my day, i got a side view of the frog at last.
Whoopie~~



Not forgetting, when I mentioned my story to Shermin. She adviced me to forgo the part where the girl would fall to the grass patch and see the monsters and run and fall into the well. This I have to agree after analysing myself. Indeed, first of it would seem rather ridiculous and may pull my audience off, secondly with this scene cut off it also can help cut down my work load and in fact make my message straight to the point.

Which was like killing two birds with one stone. Hanis too agreed with her suggestion; saying that it would be like a comedy seeing a girl falling on a grass patch.

So there we have it- A finalised storyline. I shared this to Mr. Ronald and he mentioned that along the way the storyline will change and be finalised.

So when I got back home, I coloured the frog. It was really a tough decision to have flat colours for the frog. If i really use flat colours the frog may look boring. I used two colours but it looked so wrong; so I used abit of toning.

Guess I may use flat colours if I really want to animate lots of them.



Comments are welcome and suggestions for the colours of the frogs.
Oh..The frog character design is incomplete.

So yup.. I have to quickly finish all my character design before I can start on doing my 3d background for reference purposes.

[Shermin introduced this site to me which is very true...
indeed humans are not perfect.. if we are, we would be God..]

http://trappedinthemindofinvsiblegirl.vox.com/library/post/45-life-lessons-by-regina-brett-celebrate-growing-older.html

45 Life Lessons by Regina Brett (Celebrate Growing Older)
Signing off,
Vivien

Am I Singaporean? YES

Woot~~ Today I went over to Shermin's house in hope to do the clay model.

When I was heading to her house, I was rather embarrassed as I had to take three buses just to reach her place when I could actually just take one bus straight. I alighted four stops earlier and then once I boarded the bus, I alighted one more stop earlier,.

You guessed it~!! My bus fare increased by a dozen. Oh well, haha!!

Ooo.. It was kind of simple doing the basic shape of the face. But it was incredibly tough doing the shape of the hair. I tried doing the hair but it just keep on fall apart. I did it till I gave up. Ahhh~!! Maybe if I have the time or when I am more confident I would finish the model up.

Currently searching reference pictures of frogs and monsters now.

Signing off,
Vivien

~Twirling Mind~

Whoopie~ I finally got Mr. Ronald to sign my Learning Contract. Happy indeed.
[After much help from both Mr. Ronald and Mr. Alan]

Now my another problem has arrived; choosing the colours for the girl. I was uncertain which colours would make my character stand out as one thing for sure, she will be in a dark environment, full of darkness. So with the variety of skin tone choices It made me even more confuse. What I decided to do was to pick the skin colour from some images which I collected.

Now here comes another problem is that as I have many colours to choose from I am not sure which suits best. I let Hanis see the colours and she said that the pink shirt suit with the brownish hair. I edited in accordance.

After much thought, something strike my mind. I told Hanis whether the colour of the hair should be orange and the dress to be blue. She said it would be nicer so I coloured it to see. Indeed, it was more outstanding as compared to the brown hair which will be hard to see in my dark environment.

I also showed and explain it to Mr. Ronald and he said I do make a point. So whoopie~ my colour for the girl is finalised.

This is the order of the editing of colours:






Not forgetting, I found out that I have to draw a frog character design and of three more monsters in order to show variety. Wow~! When I found this out I was rather stressed up as I have yet to touch on my storyboard.

To add the finishing touch, I just recieved the mail and they allowed me to adapt "The Red Tree" story. I felt happy but yet confuse as I already created a story.

I am uncertain as to how to reply them.
It was a stressful day for me.

Stressing Out,
Vivien

The Day of Finalizing

Thanks everyone for their feedbacks.
With that, I was able to finalize my character design.
So this was it:



In fact, while doing the character sheet I felt that I have improved. In the past, I would seek Ting Yu's help in terms of the perspective; see whether is it right or wrong but this time round I was able to draw all the angles all by own without the help of any references.

* Pat on my back (Self motivation)

Woot~! My learning contract was also finalised too after much alteration.
Now what I have to do would be to decide the location of the bed, furniture and also to draw character sheet for a frog and maybe a monster.

I shall see how things go.

Signing off,
Vivien

~Decision Making~

Finally drew more drawings of the girl.

Personally, i liked two of the girls- 1) One which is looking up and 2) the one with beanie eyes..
So I actually had a tough time deciding which girl to choose from. What I did was; i got feedback from my friends (Raj, Dion, Wendy, Hanis, Shermin and etc...) and most of them said they liked the girl looking up as she looked rather innocent.

So there we have it. My problem was solved.
Thanks so much everyone~!!

[Oh.. Dion mentioned that the girl without the eyebrow is very difficult to animate; as without the eyebrow it is hard to portray her emotion.

I agree with his statement.]

This is the drawings PART 2:




Yupie.. I let Mr. Ronald see my sketches and he said all the girls can become my character, is a matter of who I want to use in the end. He also commented that he liked the girl with the big foot. Woot~ Not forgetting, I also showed him my learning contract and it was approved by abit.

Still have to let Mr. Alan see the geographical part.
So much to do still..

Signing off,
Vivien

~Doing Time~

So yup, as promised I started drawing or rather 'picturing' how my character should look like.
Here was the outcome:




However, I still wasn't satisfied as it wasn't stylized enough I guess.
Will be drawing more in order to have more choices.

At the mean time, doing my learning contract too.

Signing Off,
Vivien

Thumbnail Storyboard

Before showing Mr. Ronald my storyboards, I was kind of worried whether would it be approved as first of my sketches were way too sketchy. Luckily, accompanied with my explanation Mr. Ronald approved my storyboard and in fact, corrected one shot for me.

I am glad that he was able to understand them.
So here is my very extremely rough yet thumbnail storyboards:





Will be working on character sheet tomorrow hopefully~
Signing off,
Vivien

Finally It's TIME

Whoopie~ Finally my idea is approved.

But sad to say Shaun Tan didn't reply my email though. Luckily, I edited the situation previously which saved much of my time.

So this is what I had changed:

A young girl awakes to find monsters approaching her from all directions, slowly engulfing her with darkness. She moved and slipped from her bed, falling onto a grass patch. While sensing the same dark forces gathering on her, she forces herself to sprint across the field. Suddenly her surroundings turned into a swirl and found herself inside a well. Frogs began to fall from above adding on to her burden when she tried to climb out. The obstacle of frogs disappeared one by one along with the well. She’s caught in a place with adults crowding around her, making her feel small and tiny with pressuring eyes on her. An adult grabs her hand and pulled her to a wooden platform. The whole place turned bright immediately with paparazzi spamming photographs of her. Knowing that she’s on a stage, her mind turned blank and pushes her way out as she turns back. Just as all hope seems lost, the girl returns to her bedroom and broke down into tears. Her tears sparkled with brightness that filled the whole room. Warmness starts embracing her.

But before this, the ending was different. As she cried, her tears formed into a sunflower. I told this to Alan and he suggested to change the ending as it was some what similar to the original story of Shaun Tan where a red tree is grown.

Thus, the ending was changed.

Also, Alan was preparing me for the worst when he said "You do know that it is very tough having to animate many frogs."
Wow.. When I heard that statement, I was "Oh Holy Crap... What have I done into.." "Sigh"

Oh. He also suggested that I should not animate all in flash but rather animate it to symbols and transfer to After Effects and start animating from there.

[Hopefully you get what I am trying to say]

Yupie.. he demonstrated to me a small session of how to import the swf file to AE.
Thanks a million. I will heed his advice but first I have to make myself very familiar to After Effects.

Thanks Mr. Alan and Mr. Ronald for your help.
Now I just have to do my character design, thumbnail storyboards, animatics, schedule, background and finish up my learning contact.

Tata,
Vivien

A Day to Ponder

After much thought, it is finally decided that I will be adopting the story "The Red Tree".
Here how it goes:

At the beginning she awakes to find blackened leaves falling from her bedroom ceiling, threatening to quietly overwhelm her. She wanders down a street, overshadowed by a huge fish that floats above her. She imagines herself trapped in a bottle washed up on a forgotten shore, or lost in a strange landscape. She's caught in a tiny boat between towering ships about to collide, then suddenly she's on stage before a mysterious audience, not knowing what to do. Just as all hope seems lost, the girl returns to her bedroom and finds a tiny red seedling growing in the middle of the floor. It quickly grows into a vivid red tree that fills her room with warm light. Each image remains open to various interpretations in the absence of any accompanying description. What minimal 'story' there is seeks to remind us that just as bad feelings are inevitable, they are always tempered by hope.

This was exactly what I was experiencing during a few months back. I just felt that everything was taken away from me; things from all aspect- love life, school life, work life. In fact, during that time I did have suicidal thoughts but I always believe that when there is a will, there is a way.

So, with hope and determination I am still alive and kicking. WOOT~!

[Note] Just sent an email to Shawn Tan seeking permission to adopt his story.
Hopefully he will reply; I got a backup plan too- to change the scenarios.

Alan mentioned that as long the situation is different I am able to use the story even without his permission.

Hope all things work out good

Cheers
Vivien

Stress MODE

Today was in particular a rather stress day for me.

I was searching high and low for a story; a story that was of meaning and relates to me in my daily life.
Hours have passed, but the stories I found just could not 'link' to me.

Thanks to Hanis for taking some precious time in searching for a story for me; she introduced :
http://www.rogerknapp.com/inspire/take_the_son.htm

That was when I was reminded of the anime "Paprika". This anime is AWESTRUCK if there is such a word. It is simply awesome with its extraordinary visuals and out of the box storyline.

After watching Paprika, I flipped through a book "" which I had borrowed. It was there and then did a story "The red Tree" caught my attention and in fact, relates to me in my life such as now.

I did research on it and also on the person who came up with the fantastic story idea:

Shaun Tan was born in 1974 and grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. In school he became known as the 'good drawer' which partly compensated for always being the shortest kid in every class. He graduated from the University of WA in 1995 with joint honours in Fine Arts and English Literature, and currently works full time as a freelance artist and author in Melbourne.

Now, I just have to tell Mr. Ronald about "The Red Tree".

Signing out,
Vivien

~ 2nd Consultation ~

I was delighted as the new morning began.

With high hopes, I shared to some of my friends about my new story:

A strawberry girl skipping happily in the land of fruits, where she suddenly saw a dying seed and felt sad. She cried on it and her tears brought it to life- An orange friend was born.

But it all became a disappointment when they prefered my original story- the moon story. My heart literally sank deep down to the bottom of the ocean.

This time round I consulted both Mr. Elfie and Mr. Ronald and a little from Mr. Alan. I shared with them my problem. Mr. Elfie mentioned that my mind was too fixed on the moon. He suggested that I should scrape out the moon idea and maybe find more folklores or even doing an animation from the heart. He also mentioned that I could list out what expressions I want my character to have and take note of interesting scenes.

Alan mentioned that my idea was interesting, just that with this one idea alone it may not sustain the audience to wanting to watch the full animation. He also suggested that I may adapt a story.

Upon hearing this, I was indeed saddened/stressed out but at the same time panicking.
I searched on interesting animation and this caught my attention:

http://www.aniboom.com/animation-video/289751/Fore/

Guess I will be adapting a story if my head is truly idea-less

Signing off,
Vivien

~Mini Consultation~

Somehow when the day started, I was still feeling anxious deep inside. I have been thinking of developing my story overnight but it was just too tough; I believe I was brain block.

So even before my mini consultation began, I shared my story to Tri. She showed me a short clip which was rather similar to my 'fat' story. It shows a fat man who is madly in love with a thin lady, but as he is afraid that she will not love him because he is fat; he went to exercise till he became thin. But as he saw her, she actually like a fat man. The message seen in here was very similar to what I wanted to portray that is to be contented for who you are and that size doesn't matters. It is the heart that counts.

With this, Tri mentioned that why not as the boy was looking out of the window; the moon is alone and all the stars are away from him. This was where it actually made me sparked an idea. I was thinking that as the boy sees the moon alone, with his child conscious he pushed the moon towards the stars. The moon was shocked as to why it is moving. As it moves towards the stars, they all scream and said go away. I was thinking towards this line.

But still having difficulties having to develop it further.
AHHHH!! I really need God's help.

Thanks Tri for your suggestion ya. :)

When I went back home, I found some good references:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/508301
http://www.aniboom.com/animation-video/22827/Beyond-the-Window/

When will I have an idea?

Signing Off,
Vivien

~First Consultation~

My time has finally arrived to consult Mr. Ronald for my FYP idea.

Even before the consultation, I had feedbacks from friends that my story should have a morale behind it.

So this was the original story which I shared with him:

3) Tell me why (not yet confirm)
At night, as the boy was about to sleep. He pointed to the window and asked his mum ' How come the moon shape can change into a crescent?' the mum replied 'Don't think about it. Go and sleep' as soon the light is turned off, zooms quickly to the moon showing him exercising to be fit. When he was admiring his crescent figure at the river below, the Milky Way appeared behind him where he was tempted and ate the whole chocolate; making him a full moon (fat) again. The other stars around him see how fat he was, they laughed at him. Being hurt, he went back to exercise again so that the stars would not laugh at his fats.

The story with the morale added:
At night, as the boy was about to sleep. He pointed to the window and asks his mum ' how come the moon shape can change into a crescent?' the mum says 'don't think about it. Go and sleep' as soon the light is turned off, zooms quickly to the moon showing him exercising to be fit. When he was admiring his crescent figure at the river below, he noticed a lost girl crying. She was lost in the woods. Being a kind soul, the moon tried shining his light for the girl to see her way but as he was thinner there wasn't enough light. So the moon actually had a choice to choose. To sacrifice his size in order to help her find her way. So he ate so much that he became round (fat) and with all his might shone the brightest light, and the girl manages to find her way back home.

When I shared with Mr. Ronald both my ideas, he said that the second story was rather confusing and maybe make abit no sense. This I have to agree. Due to the fact that it doesn't depend on the shape of the moon to giving off the amount of light.

As for the first story, he said the idea was interesting but I have to further develop it. He also suggested that he finds my P3 story to have the potential and should develop it. But one thing which I was afraid of would be the originiality.

"Oh man.." was the first thing that came to my mind when Mr. Ronald told me to develop my story further. Though I was happy that the fact that he mentioned the idea was interesting but now I am having a headache just developing it to make it as a whole package.

I also showed him some sketches of my moon:





Now, squeezing my brain juice to develop my story further.

Cheers,
Vivien

~Start of the 1st lesson~

The first official lesson has begun.

As I waited for my turn(consultation) to arrive; it never did happen as I will be sharing with Mr. Ronald my ideas tomorrow instead.

So just to share three of my four very extremely vague stories I suppose.

1)Life of a Teddy bear (to be verified)
A young girl holding her beloved teddy bear alongside with her mum walking in the park where her teddy bear accidentally drops into the pond. The journey begins when the bear faces obstacles e.g. being grabbed by a bird , but manages to be safe. Viewers can see the sadness on the bear's face but as it lands back to the owner with one of its button eyes popped out, it gave a huge smile; showing that what goes around comes around and also showing the ups and downs in life, that every obstacles comes together for good.

[But the only problem faced in this story would be deciding the obstacles and bearing in mind that the obstacles too has to be interesting so that it will capture the audiences attention.Not forgetting, animating the bear in water would be freaking tedious.]

2) The Surprise (not yet confirm)
A strawberry girl saw missing signs of her fellow fruit friends which eventually led her to a special door. She opened the door and entered the world of the humans. One of the humans put her into a basket full of nuts. Panicked is she, she stacked all the nuts and managed to come out of the basket to find out that her fruit friends has actually gang up with the humans just to celebrate her birthday.

[I think the problem to this story would be, it is really vague.]

4) Life is shit
A man in his spaceship has been in search for living form for the past ten days but couldn't find any. As he looked at his container, he suddenly felt the urge to shit so he went to the toilet. As the shit comes out, it is being wrapped by a Styrofoam and being shot into space.
Hours have passed. He passed by mars and saw some living creatures. So he landed on mars. As he tried taking the living thing, it went to its home (a hole) and the man puts his hands in only to take the Styrofoam that was wrapped around his shit. The life form was indeed his shit.

[Maybe the shit joke is too shitty?]

Feel Free to give suggestions ya.

Will be sharing the final idea to Mr. Ronald tomorrow.
Hopefully the consultation will turn out well.

Signing off,
Vivien

~Briefing Day~

Yesterday was the day where we finally headed back to school...

I really missed my fellow classmates after not seeing and being with them for the past 3 months. As we set foot into Here After, Mr. Alan briefed us about our FYP requirements and such;

1)Schedule
2)Assessment
3)Approach
4)Failure

Indeed, pointing out the four pointers is essential for our knowledge and especially the 'failure' part which scares me the most but yet is encouraging at the same time.

Why is it encouraging? Because I had experience my trial run FYP and was reminded not to repeat its HISTORY.

Something I will bear in my heart.

And yes... Both Mr. Alan and Mr. Ronald have finalised who belongs to which class.

So, hopefully tomorrow I will get the time to share my 'insecure' idea to Mr. Ronald.

Cheers,
Vivien






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Final Presentation~

[Pardon me for not blogging for a long time, was doing p3]

After some restless nights, it was finally time to compile what we have done and present it to the rest.

Compiling was easy but not the production I would say. During my producton period, I did complain to Yi Chuin about how I regret using flash. For one, my priest's legs, body, arms, hands, eyes, eyebrow are all of diferent layers. As all are moving I believe it was best to do different layers but it was rather time consuming having to trace out my priest from head to toe.

But luckily some are not as tough.

When we presented we were told to say our name, admin number and even our aims which is just the same as our FYP.
I think this was useful. In fact, P3 itself is an essential module for us as we get to really explore our possibilities, abilities and difficulties and from there know what is to be rectify.

From the whole P3 itself, i learnt how important production is to us animators. Even good time management. I was rather disappointed in myself as i didn't have enough time to complete it.

My aims are simple, being able to have a consistent character and to make my animation smooth. I hope my aims are carried out the way i want.

Feedbacks given would be changing the priest voice and to make the priest looking at the map more longer and also make him pray and talk more like a priest.

Hopefully all this can be altered and carried through during the holidays.

Thanks Everyone for providing a positive aura and tension in class.

God bless
Vivien

hmm

hmm todae i let ty see my scene i was workin on.. i decided to change his expressions.

hmm

hmm todae i gt to show amanda one of my scenes where she gave me feedback that the camera should move with the character instead. oh i also showed her my map.. yeh..

worst dae ever

wow seriously now iknw if ur brain really cant take it mus stop doing things. ah.. i was redoin n doin my 3d model for lik 5 times so decideed to do p3.. i open my photoshop file and saw an empty layer and forgot it was my sketch which i did yesterdae. i went to delete it and drew other stuffs. and here i am having to redraw it again. shucks!! brain not functioning le.

oo

wah damn stress can... have to juggle both p3 and character design which is of 3d.. i actually thought it was using clay to model. that would be damn fun. oh.. todae i consult amanda to which timing is better and the colour for the seat. was planning to do my maya thing at home but when i install maya it has error. ah!!

oo

Oh.. todae was presentation day. first of all i would like to thank my mum for being supportive of me. though she is sick now she still spends time with me and accompanying mi till i sleep. And for both Alan and Amanda for commenting and suggesting ideas. Hmm.. for todae, the comments given were that i have to include dialogues like god bless you or even hallejuhah to bring out that the priest is a priest. i may have to cancel some sound including the resign to fate and make him move instead. and mayb get different sound effect instead of saying ah..

oh

i thought i had to present todae but it turned out to be tommorrow instead. oh todae i managed to draw reference scenes for my scene 9. i had abit of hard time having to make it smooth drawing many frames. oh todae during the presentation, amanda commented on how we can be creative in playing with varieties of lines. Think to thick. thicker lines if nearer and darker tonal value if neaerer too. oh.. black lines make he image rather harsh by using a lighter colour it can also add appeal to the design. and add design element

wow

its been a long time since i updated my blog.. ah.. kind of stress when i heard amanda saying jarrold is slow cus i did onli five scenes one scene more than him onli. sad!! wanted to faint. plus i got another module which i am really weak at. trying my best in doing both. sob!!

o

i let amanda see my starting title, she commented that i can use a clouds instead of black bg.. i may have to do a gigantic piece to pan the clouds up. oh and she said that if realistically the belt should contain a bag too if not the things will drop off

rr

oh man.. i dunno whether should i be happy for my dad being in venture or not.. now im involve in it. everymorning have to upload maid biodata and the thing is also have to edit maid hair if untidy... OO.. i seek alan help todaes for the balloon.. i also started doin my next scene.. having to vector it all out.

ww

woot.. todae we finally manage to record our voices.. oh i did the balloon fonts wah but did a terrible mistake.. tot of redoing it but in the end just make it longer.. ty commented that the fonts should pause awhile in the middle..

l

ah shucks once again cant record voice. this time it was worst.. oh todae i jus seek some advice from my frens and amnda on my humans.. i asked whther can i colour the humans in ps.. now trying to do the starting scene

woot

oh during the weekend i actually found time to edit my background for my priest flying up scene and did the helicopter flying past.. i just chanced upon an effect and it turned out nice. So i wanted to seek Amanda advice to which is better. she commented that my helicopter move rather slowly and told mi to add the moving lines. which was way better now. she also said the bg for tat looked as though it is underground. so she helped mi make a layer and filled some colour in. oh yi chuin jie also commented that it would be better if there is gradient.. i also took rather long to do my bg for the scene.

tried recording voice but cant..

wah

oh.. todae i just tried something for my scene which ive done.. i used an effect in ps and it looked nice i suppose. have to seek opnion. og i also coloured my helicopter n did all the clouds. wads left is the waves. so i searched for waves but still not confident in doing it. but i found a very nice link.

http://www.aniboom.com/animation-video/62995/Red-Ocean---Audio-Mainline/

Day 23

woot i believe my one of my scene is done le..

Day 22

Seriously, after writing 22 blogs; I have ran out of ideas how to start my blog.

But YEE PEE~!! My storyboards are approved by Amanda.
Phew~ At least now I really can concentrate on my production. I need not ponder nor worry which angles to choose or be anxious about it.

Maybe just have to draw it out with my character.

My plan for today was still alright I guess. Both Andrea lek and I went to the audio room. It was really kind of her to help me be the narrator.

However, to my dismay when I tried recording her voice, it couldn't be detected. I seek both Greg and D-Yawn's help but to no avail. It just could not work.
So in the end, I recorded her voice through her MAC using Audacity. It came out perfect. Recorded three times.

Woot~

[Pardon me, but each entry gets lesser and lesser]

Take Care Humans
Vivien

Day 21

Woot~! Finally it was my turn for consultation.

This time round as I showed Amanda both my fixed storyboards and animatic; she commented that it was weird having to show the priest using the cell phone to contact the operator as I will be promoting a GPS phone. Thinking deeper, she does make a point. I didn't really thought of it till Amanda pointed it out.

Instead, I should just focus on how the priest manage to find ways and means to escape without even dialling and calling for help.
This will allow the audience to see clearer of the Priest's personality and also being able to bring his character to life and more emphasis to his actions and expressions.

To me, apart from the features and character design. Expressions and even the way the character behaves; like the usage of his hands or the way they speak also builds up to the character itself. It actually allows us to know how the personality of the character is like. If he loves to stone, it shows how low sense of humor he has and many more.

Thus, I really want to bring my character to life in the best way possible.

Amanda also suggested something innovative. The priest will be equipped with twisties and ribena instead of a compass and his GPS phone. This will definitely help in showing how simple minded he is and abit gullible, never really prepare.

She also gave me comments on how to improve on my storyboards continuity..
Yup.. I will be editing my storyboard and let her see tomorrow.

Hope all ends well.
Vivien

Day 20

Time sure is ticking fast as I waited for my consultation.

I wasn't sure how to animate waves in flash even so in Photoshop. I searched for some tutorials; however they wasn't of much help after all.

In the end, i just have to do some trial and error, hopefully it will look alright.

Not to mention, I helped Jarrold with one of his scene. As he wasn't sure how to make as though the television is on; I taught him a new method to make his television glow. He was really satisfied with the outcome I hope.

So, what is needed to be done, is just to convert the selected area you want it to glow into a symbol and just go to filter where you may add some effects like glow, blur, drop shadows and etc...

After lesson, I still had doubt about my abilities. I contacted Mr. Ronald and he commented that I may not even have to animate the waves as it is rather far distance but I can add sparkles instead.

I will heeding his advice. Will be trying it tomorrow.

Tata
Vivien

Day 19

I was abit puzzled as I posted this on Monday but it came up to be Sunday instead..
-Technical error
*Sorry for the delay, I will be updating my previous blogs as soon I have the time*

I had plans to consult Amanda on how my animatics or even storyboard should be improved. As mentioned earlier, Alan commented that my narration can be cut down. The thing which still puzzles me would be should the narration only be held at the end or would it be throughout. I wasn't certain with the decision.

Furthermore, Alan also mentioned that I should show the Priest being happy in the sky, where it slowly builds up the tension of him being blown away. I wanted to show Amanda my storyboard as to which can be altered or modified.

So once I got the green light (approval) on my storyboards and animatics, I will start on my production.

For now, I was just looking at my storyboards, seeing which scene is the easiest to animate first. I had difficulty choosing between the scene where the priest puts his gadgets and the one where the ocean flows below him. In the end, I chose to do the ocean scene.

However, I wasn't sure how to animate realistic ocean like flow.
I researched on how to animate river flowing and I found this three links which can be of a great help to me.
-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPq_C6Z6MHA&NR=1
-http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/189081
-http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/408967

Found another realistic ocean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMFznXz-Uh4

Wah!! But it looked so tough to animate it! Gosh~! May need some help there.

Oh I also learnt something new about formats.
For a normal format 3:4
Widescreen 1: 1.85
Cinemascope 1: 2
Panavision 1: 2.35

Will do more research along the way.
God Bless
Vivien

Day 18- Interim 2

[Pardon me for not managing to update my blog every now and then. I was really busy struggling to do my animation 2 and my animatics at the same time.]

Woot! Finally manage to 'complete' my animatics after a sleepless night in Hanis's house.

This is my animatics:
Hmm..The file size too big i guess

It took me ages just doing the 'animation' frames in Photoshop.

Even before I presented, I was really thinking whether my message could be brought across; will the audience sleep watching my advertisement? I was really paying attention to the every details in how it can make my advertisement a better piece.

So there is was, as I presented; I was rather disheartened of the reaction of my audience. I really wanted the audience to feel hype up and maybe feel eager to purchase the GPS phone, but maybe as my animatics is incomplete, it wasn't able to show it clearly.

Alan commented that i could think of a better catch phrase at the ending. He said my catch phrase at the end was way too lengthy which explains why my ending seems abit flat. He suggested "Know where you are with GPS" / "Never be lost again with GPS". He also suggested that I change my title to balloon priest instead of adding the 'Halo' in front.

Other comments also include me of finalising my voice actors as soon as possible, my voice for the narration didn't suit at all. Also, the ending was just too abrupt and flat. The scenes showing the priest panic was way too fast and should include scene where the Priest is seen being happy flying over the mountains and skies.

After hearing this comments, I was really frantic as to how to improve on it. I also got to ask feed backs from the 'floor'- Ting Yu, Adeline, Yi Chuin, Shermin and Alan once more.

Ting Yu's Comment
-Andrea Lek's voice would be suitable for the narration
-The scene when the river could be scene was way too fast; the audience couldn't absorb the information
-Hold back longer the scene where the Priest is praying and slowly getting further from the screen.

Yi Chuin's Comment
-Ending was too abrupt ( There is some confusion when it comes to the sea part)

Adeline's Comment
-The helicopter is causing the end to be abrupt

Shermin's Comment
-After the end, the screen goes nearing showing full view of the GPS phone (Hope you get what I mean)

Alan's Comment X2
-The beginning, should make the title floats instead; not the words these days GPS phones come in handy
-Or just start from the banner which pans downs
-Design of banner should change, words on it should be Guinness World Records Attempt
-Sam should say;" Take care father" instead of "Take care priest"
-Priest can say :" Here I go"
-Priest gets a call when he is flying;" WOw! I'm flying quickly,"
-Shows that the priest didn't know that the wind is changing
-In fact, most dialogues are redundant, can cut the dialogues at the front part where Sam just hugs the priest
-Should build up the happiness the priest has when he is flying
-Balloon floats up with the GPS phone attached at the bottom

Bearing this feed backs in mind, I will correct my storyboards once more.

Oh.. Not forgetting, Alan mentioned that as our roles as animators, we have to show what the characters are thinking to make the audience believe they are a real life character. I would want to feel the character. Being the character himself and see how he reacts and that is how I will be animating the priest, he will be me.

So personally, after doing the animatics I really learnt that it is the vital part of producing a good animation. It really helps us to see whether the pacing is correct, whether our story is clear. Now I am just wondering should I do the animation in flash or in photoshop. Most probably flash for characters and photoshop for the backgrounds. Oh, I will be making my balloons in maya so that I can take it as reference. Hope it works.

-Brain still malfunction-
Can't think properly for now.

Restless Vivien

Day17- Frantic period of my life

Just as we ended our Animation 2 presentation, I quickly get into business. I was afraid I might not be able to complete my animatics on time.

So what I did was to actually draw each frame with my tablet pen. What's nice about it is it operates like a real pen. Exerting much pressure would come out bold, harsh lines whereas a lighter pressure would produce smooth, soft lines.

Though some frames were rather easy to draw, some were tough. I had to confirm my angles even before I can draw it. Once I am settled with my angles I would take reference photos for the actions and to see the perspective.
Just some examples for my reference:





What I like about the photo reference is that I am able to really feel the emotions the characters are having and I know for sure the perspective is correct and not haywired.

But what was really bothering me was the angles when the priest are flying way up to the sky. I was thinking how on earth am I going to take them from the angle that I want. Should I ask them to sit on something transparent while I take their photo from the bottom.

I did mention this to Amanda before that I am only able to draw 'nice' drawings with reference. But once there isn't any reference, my proportions may get wrong, my perspectives wrong and I am unable to draw it within my imagination.

My dad once said that one plane instructor taught the pilot to be the plane and not the person driving the plane. I do hope I can get into that level. Being able to be the drawing itself and feel animated.

Once I am done with the frames I just make it move. It took me rather long to do this as 1) I am actually quite new to Photoshop 2) I was too exhausted. It was really placing the images onto after effects was it time consuming. I had to adjust every layer according to the timing that I wanted.

One problem I was facing was the SFX. I got some SFX which were suitable for my animatics but it just couldn't be imported to the after effects. So Hanis's father actually taught us to use this new programme to convert the SFX to wav. file. Not to mention, i had to do the voice acting for the narration and Sam for the time being.

I know it was way to horrible. Not to worry, I will find a suitable candidate.

So yup, didn't manage to get a single wink.
We really rush to school thinking it will start at 11am. But as we opened the door, we saw a handful of people. Phew~ A great relief.

I would have to do much research on the priest flying. How will it be animated? How will he feel when he is above the sky? Even animating of the clouds and the movement of the balloons as well.

Yawns!
Faints *Hits ground real hard

Vivien -Falling asleep

Day16

Oh..
It was groups 3,4 and 5 presentations today. Mine was already over.

Everyone did a great job in presenting. However, I felt that Laurie's, Honey's, Hanis's, Kala's and Candice's storyboard could be improve or rather add more twist to the story to make it more entertained or worth watching.

I really pray hard that everyone can complete the animation for P3.
Currently, doing some final editing for Animation 2.

My whole group were stressing out. We faced some problems here and there.
So yup, have to rush to work.

Sorry if this posting is too short.
Regards,
Vivien

Day 15- Model?

No lesson for today. Instead, I showed Alan a very small clay model which I did.
This is the clay model:





Alan said it was a job well done as it is now much easier for me to see the reference in different angle based on my real character.

But one thing for sure, it was tough making him.
It was tough alone to make a round shape of him. Also, adding his nose, eyes and even his helmet was a killer. Both Shermin and I had to spray water on it several times. If too much water is sprayed on the clay, we have to use a new clay. Luckily, I managed to make him but it doesn't look fully like my character.

Alan commented that the eyes should be more deeper in and the chin and cheek should have more depth.

I have plans to finish the body up once i have the time but have some trouble to visualise my character sitting down.

Thus, I mentioned to Alan whether I should do a 3D model of my character instead but he said it would be too time consuming and just told me to take some photo references.

So with the clay, it was much easier drawing my characters in the storyboards.
Heeding the advice from Amanda and Alan, I have edited my storyboard and this was the outcome:






Hopefully it was much better than the previous one.
May have to seek for every one's opinions.
Woot~

Vivien

Day 14- Tekkon Kinkreet Screening

As I approached HereAfter I was greeted with the film Tekkon Kinkreet.
What really caught my attention was the camera movements, angles and even how the characters are being brought to life as though they have a soul in them like us.

In this case, the story was clear to me. It showed me that a world like Treasure town is like a mask. having two sides of a face- a peaceful town and another is a brutal one.

todae we watched a show n it teaches us not to giv up but to move on...

hmm

nothing much was done.. i showed alan my new character and mention to him to use map instead. so it means i have to redo some of my storyboard again. in fact whole thing cus character is completely different. he also says that the photoshop timing is different.

Day 12

I really feel blessed to have wonderful Lecturers like Alan, Amanda, Ronald and many more.

I was abit worried for my beginning scene where the words would fly like balloons and fade out. Worried because I wasn't good in technical stuffs and I wasn't confident. So at first, I approached Raj but he too said he wasn't sure. There he was, a kind soul Alan. He taught me in After Effects how to make the words fly like balloons and helped me to get some balloon fonts. Oh he used an effect wiggle something to make the balloon words wiggle natural.

It was so much easier after i saw him doing it. I was more confident now. Just have to do it now.

Thanks ALOT Alan!!

I also seek help from Amanda whether my characters were alright and if my storyboards could tell the story.
She gave me her honest feedback that my character didn't have much appeal. So I was determined to make it look more appealing. I tried drawing it with some reference; mix and match some faces and finally got a character which my classmates said were cute.

-Thanks for the feedback.
So here is the sketches:




I also had to edit Sam to give him the style that he was in the same animation as the priest.

Now here goes my storyboard. I showed Amanda my storyboard and she suggested that it would be better if the priest took a map instead of using a complicated GPS. Since I am promoting the GPS, it would be more clear if the priest was traditional, using a map and he should go for the latest invention instead. Indeed, after hearing this I too really like the idea which I will have to discuss this with Alan tomorrow whether he will approve of it. Oh.. since the priest is not using the GPS anymore, my dialogue may have to change.

The priest would look very confident with the map in his hands. It is when the wind changes; he starts to panic and calls the operator. He opens his map and was desperate to finding his own location.

Altered Dialogue:

When Priest is taking off
Priest:" Take care people. Don't worry I have the map."
Shakes map vigorously.

Priest calls operator
Priest: Anybody there? Please rescue me. The wind direction has changed. I'm going to be blown away.
Operator: Calm down tell me where you are.
Priest: Oh my lucky map.

Priest opens map in mid air
Priest:" Wah!! Holy smoke!! Where am I ? I cant find it. The map is too big.
Operator:"Open your eyes wider"
Priest:" Ahhh.."
Operator:" Hello... helloo.. toot tooot tooot"
Phone lost reception.

With this, I hope my storytelling would be better. Now I just have to add and subtract and experiment some angles.
Gosh~!!

Hope my message will come across.

I will still have to include the helicopters. But this time round I need not cut into the close up of the helicopter. I will still work on it though.

Cheers to myself
Vivien

Day 11

Day Eleven today

I wasn't too sure if my storyboard could tell a story with just one look so I seek help from the cute Alan.
Showing him my edited but not finalised storyboards, he mentioned to me that I should add a frame of the operator, the priest is talking to. He added on that I have to show the radial thing.

Wow.. When I heard that my heart was really beating fast; due to the fact that more animation work has to be done. Alan taught me a smart way to work things out. I can just show the backview of the operator. He also mention that I may have another scene showing two humans behind the operator to show how serious or urgent the matter is.

My mind was like 'OH GOSH' Can I really animate all this within a month," I really felt like 1000 knives piercing through my heart. Some scenes have to change as well. Alan mentioned that some of my angles though it may seems nice but it lacks the continuity. He told me to either make the priest looking down where we then can see his point of view and changed back to the priest with another angle.

I agree with him. I shouldn't just cut the scene as and when I like. It won't add to the flow of the story and may even make the audience more confuse. I will definitely bear this in mind.

Not forgetting, Alan also mentioned to add one helicopter flying through oceans in search of the priest.
My last two frames will be not in use. I will change it to zooming in the helicopter and the man promoting the GPS instead.

Wah! Just hearing this, I can already feel how much work is to be done.. WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..

Releasing my stress!!

*Silent Prayer*
Dear Heavenly father,
I just pray you give me the wisdom and time for me to complete my project and to be able to produce good animation. Give me the peace in my heart always.
Amen.

I am really afraid whether I can complete it in time. Furthermore, the environment is really quite tough for me to visualise. I wanted to make the environment using Maya; 3d model; but am afraid it will be time consuming as I have to make many houses and trees. I am still considering this option.

Hope all things work well.
Tata
Vivien

Day 10

Just as we stepped into class, *KABOOM~!* *WHAM*
We were assigned to do a gantt chart and animatics as well. But first of, we have to really finalise all the storyboards and make it as close to the final product. Then are we able to start doing the animatics. Reason being if the storyboards was not finalise, the animatics would be nothing in the sense of; it wouldn't bring out the same mood. -Doing this will really kill me. [Arghh~! Someone saves me]

As we sat in our group, we discussed what is needed to be included in the gantt chart and how is the chart of significance to us animators and also the purpose behind it all.

I wasn't sure what's the meaning of gantt chart so I went to researched on it. A Gantt chart is a graphical representation of the duration of tasks against the progression of time. It is a useful tool for planning and scheduling projects and helpful when monitoring a project's progress. Personally, i felt that even if a good Gantt Chart is to be produced but the person didn't refer to it, it would defeat its purpose and may not necessary be of much help to the person. A person too must be determined to check their own progress and see whether they are in track of time.

For me, I believe the purpose of a Gantt Chart is to really help us keep track of our progress and time as well; to let us stay focus and be on the right path instead of going one big round.

So yup, during our discussion we listed what is needed to be included in the Gantt Chart
- Finalise storyboard
- Audio
- Colouring
- Animating
- Editing
- Compositing
- Finalise character design
- Presentation dates
- Key framing
- In-betweens
- Outlines

We can also include milestones to make us satisfied with our performance. It acts as a motivation as we would want to achieve and accomplish our milestone earlier in order to either obtain a prize or resting time. So with this set up, we will feel more happy instead of sad and demoralise.

Alan also suggested that even the interim presentation could be a mile stone.
He wanted us to know how important storyboards and animatics are. With these, it is a more efficient way in producing our animation.

Not forgetting, Alan also told us to make a statement/ stand. Like what is to be finished? And what is yet to be done?
He gave a valuable tip too in starting the animation. He told us to start animating the scenes that we feel most confident with so as it would save the time too and being warmed up to the character as well. Next would be animating the complicated scenes.

Questions to ponder: What scenes and what do you want to achieve to make the animation nice?
In which area do you want to make your skills shine?

Yupie.. I already edited my storyboard but I will consult it with Alan tomorrow.
Now I have to think real hard for my Gantt Chart.
-Saddened-

V;_;n

Day 09

The day started with a BANG when we were allowed to watch an animated [stop-motion] film entitled "The Wrong Trousers" and others too. In fact, while watching the film, I could really sense how much effort was put into executing it out and how the directors treasure every composition and angles to tell a story. Basically, stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own.

Alan did mention to us that this is called visual storytelling where everything is set out to be perfected when telling a story. [Hope its correct]

He wanted us to study the film as to how they added a pinch of mystery in the beginning of the film which slowly builds up the tension. Adding on that this is more of a parody.

He wanted us to think about
-Where is the camera directed;
-How we able to know one is thinking;
-The effect and benefits of the close up shots they use;
-A particular pace that brings the mood out
-how they make the plot effective in bringing out their story

But honestly, I believe everyone was too mesmerise by the show that we didn't really discuss about it.
For me, after watching the show, I really liked the twist behind the bad dog where I was taken aback that it was actually a robot instead.I too like the part when both the ... and ... fell in love. They really made me forget the fact that they were just made of plasticine. They manage to successfully make them into emotional characters, bringing their characters out of them. So in the future, when we were to really animate characters, we have to think of the characters all the time to be the 'character' and the character to be ourselves. Also, to see which pacing best suits to portray the emotions as well. It is indeed important for a framing to tell a story continuously.

After this were done, Alan told us to do animatics and obviously a better storyboard.
So yup.. I will be editing my storyboard with some extra scenes.

Not forgetting, I also gave advice to Shermin to be confident of the topic she chooses. She was unsure whether to do kangeroo or the penguin thus she wasn't able to convince the 'client' as to which to do. I told her to be confident so that she too will be confident to convince the client but she states otherwise.

I really hope I was of some help, in some ways or another.

Hope it works
Regards,
Vivien

Day 08

It was presentation day for others.
Apparently nothing much was done today, as the time was taken up by the presentation.
But I really enjoyed seeing each and everyone presenting their work. Alan also mentioned to some of them that some scenes are unnecessary. It was only after he mentioned, that I gave much thought to visualise it as a piece. Which made me agrees with him.

Oh.. I found this inspiring website. It is about stop motion. I believe it is helpful for Shuxian's group.
www.eatpes.com

Yupie..
Signing off
Vivien

Day 07

It was Interim 1 presentation today. I really enjoyed it as I could see how everyone was entertained and their smiles on their faces.

But first, I would like to share how i even come about to my final character.
To begin with, i had already pictured the character to be someone whom is dumb, gullible and yet has a fatherly look. So what I did was to research and find images of dumb and fatherly humans. Tada~ These were the outcomes:




Seriously I find the one whom is plump with his spectacles on to really give an impression looking gullible and fatherly; however when I searched on the real priest whom died instead. The character didn't look like him at all. This is where all the problems start.

My mind was so fixed onto his real face that my imagination too was restricted. I wasn't sure how to stylise him. In the end, I thought of making him short with his legs. This was the outcome:



However, when I let the others see it, they said it doesn't look too stylise and in fact would be tedious to animate. Thus, I continued to stress and ponder on how to stylise him. Shermin helped me by finding me images as well. It was of great help. In the end, when I remembered Amanda's lesson about exaggerating the features. That's where I make his ears big and eyes really small. Adeline commented that he looked like an alien the first time she saw it. But, here is the final thing. Tada:




Oh.. I decided to add an additional character which is Sam. He is a young, cute boy whom will be seen cuddling and hugging the priest.
The sketch and finalise drawings are shown below:





Now back to my presentation.
It went out well, but some comments were made:

- i may cancel the front part, and jump straight to when he is already attempting to do the world record
-Maybe need to add the priest having conversation to an operator
-invent a totally new phone
-edit the narration

I will heed these advice. Wow.. It is my first time inventing a gadget. I hope things work out well for me. As for adding the conversation, I am afraid whether it will lose the audience' interest. I will be doing a trial and error test.

Here are my storyboards:






That's all folks~
Comments are much appreciated.