Captain’s Log #14: Animation Update!

Week 14 is over really quickly and as per usual, i feel that i did work but also no work at all.

This week i focused on colouring the cleanups from the previous animations i have done, animating a new shot and sending it to the cleanup artist, and also editing the new animation into the animatic! Here is the updated version of the animatic / animation!

The colouring process for the title card was a little troublesome, because during the colouring, my ToonBoom Harmony kept crashing and refused to work, and i still had the shading to complete. So i uploaded the file as a zip to the studio’s shared folder, so Dana can complete the shading in my place, while i figure out how to fix the Harmony issue.

Thankfully, i just had to download a newer version of the software and was good to go for the next cleanup. But Dana wanted to send me back the original file for that title card shot, because the frames for the boy’s skin were not in frame, apparently. I believe she accidentally shifted the frames and that caused everything to shift. I would have just worked on the original file that i uploaded, but she already completed shading for most parts of it, except for the skin, and she deleted the frames for majority of the skin. Which means i have to re-do the base colouring again *cries*

Nonetheless, i still managed to complete it in a day, thankfully, and i edited the completed title card into the animatic! So far, we are doing good but i wonder if we are able to finish the animation in time. A bit worried, not going to lie.

Anyways, this is your Captain signing out for this week. See ya!

Captain’s Log #8: Rush Hour

Week 7 is already over! Oh my gahhhhhh

As if the week can’t get any worse, I have to redo most of my work from Week 2 till now. It’s honestly a shame. And the worst part is that the new animatic and storyboard are due this week (Week 8). AHHHHHHHH Not to mention I have two common tests this week and I have to study for both of them. Well, as of the time of writing this, I have one test left but still the pile of work to do is immense.

I am actually finished with the storyboards, which you can view below:

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The previous storyboard was actually quite different from the original, which I don’t even know how or why. HOW DID WE DERAIL FROM THE SCRIPT XDDDDDD

But I tried to follow as closely to the script as possible and implement cool shots for the animation. 6 pages seems a lot but most of the shots are quite fast, but if it can’t fit in 1 minute, I will probably have to remove some, or change it on the fly. We don’t have much time so.

I’ll continue working on the animatic and pray for the best. A lot to do today so pray for me TT This is your captain signing out, bye bye.

Captain’s Log 3: Storyboarding and Layout

Week 3 of Pre-Production, people. This is where stuff starts to happen. We have to actually do work.

As a person who does not enjoy intense work, I was starting to get worried. A lot of deliverables are required and mainly due in the following week, since we have to present our work and pitch it again to our lecturers (as if the first time wasn’t enough *screech* ). But it’s fine. I’ll be the bigger person here and forgive them for making us do work in a shorter time.

In a three-man group, we don’t have any choice but to wear multiple hats for the project. For now, I was tasked to work on storyboard. For around a week, I spent time thumb nailing the shots and then creating an actual storyboard for it. The thumbnails were relatively easy and I did them pretty quick. I already had a pretty clear vision of how the short film is going to look like on screen. Below are the storyboards I created for the project:

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I wasn’t sure how the final look for the character was going to look like, since the character design has not be completed yet. Thus I just had to make do and draw a boy who looks like…a boy. Yes, it’s a boy. The hands at the first panel was definitely hard to draw since I am not very skilled at drawing hands. But the rest are not much of an issue so thankfully I managed to finish the storyboard in around 3 hours or so.

After completing the storyboard, I was a little lost on what to do, so I consulted my teammate on what I should do. I did ask to assist on other deliverables, so I am tasked with colouring the layout of the room that the short film will be taking place.

Despite being an artist, I am not proficient or knowledgeable in colour theory. To be honest my colour theory sucks. If anything, why am I still qualified to be an artist? I am seriously questioning myself right now. But this is a graded project so, you got to do what you got to do.

I based the colour of the room according to our visual inspirations for the film ; mainly Omori (a video game) and the 5 minute animated short film, Afternoon Class. The bright colours and visuals are very significant in those two so I tried my best to emulate that feel.

I showed it to the team, but they felt that the room looks a bit too bright for the animation. So after much discussion and consideration, we have decided to go with the colours shown below.

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And not going to lie, I am pretty proud of this! For once, the layout is not that bad! I definitely wish I can work a bit more on my colour theory, but so far, it doesn’t look too weird or ridiculous looking!

So this is what I have done for the past week. Still have much to do for the next few days before the next meeting but can’t wait this project to be over already. I know. It’s only the third week.

This has been your Captain. Logging off!

CAPTAIN’S LOG #2: PRE-PITCHER’S MEETING

Captain’s log number 2. A few days before the scheduled ‘elevator pitch meeting’.

My team so far have just been finishing up the last of our ideas and writing for the deliverables. We got the slides down already and we are currently polishing up on the words and making everything look more neat and professional. Dana also completed the logo of our team and it looks really really cool.

courtesy of 1080 studios

Simple and minimalistic and much professional.

I’m not sure when the animation of the logo is required but once the slides are done, I should probably start working on it.

I was tasked with working on the deliverables on one of our story ideas. In my opinion, the story sounds very confusing and a bit plot-holey (not an actual word), but at this point I’m just doing it for the sake of doing it. I much prefer the story of the boy finishing up his late assignment as it is the most cohesive and interesting one out of all them. But you gotta do what you gotta do, and I’m going to finish it.

I have finished the rough designs for the characters and the set as seen below:

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Just really rough sketches to give an idea of what the characters and locations will look like.

I’m just hoping we can get through with the pitch and start working on the actual project. Wait, no, actually no. I forgot we have other modules too. sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Life is hard.