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