vvsnotes

[vvsnotes]

mp. trailer and poster

As I mentioned in my planning folder I want to submit this film to some festivals. In order to do I thought I would be convenient to prepare a trailer of the film, a poster and a website dedicated to it. 

I’m still working on the website because I need to do more research about what exactly to put there. But it is looking alright so far. I think I can just put a little more information about the film itself. Maybe some making process. 

https://withinme.myportfolio.com/

It’s a very simple website, it has the trailer in the home page, my contact details and the ‘about the project’ page. 

#mp #major project

[vvsnotes]

mp. promotional video

Today, I made some final touches to the promotional video. I uploaded the video to YouTube and created the thumbnail. 

I also added subtitles to the film in case someone needed it. 

I think these little details are very important. It helps the video to perform well and also gives this extra care. 

Other than that I’m working on the presentation, which is almost finished as well. 

#mp #major project

[vvsnotes]

MP. Promotional video.

I finished the promotional video on Monday and showed it to my tutor yesterday where he gave me just some minor changes.  

I’m quite happy with how it turned out and surprised how fast I was able to complete it. However, it took me few days to write a proper script.

For a long time, I’ve been stressing about this task because I am not good at proudly talking about my achievements. It doesn’t come easy to me so the first issue I had was ‘what do I even say about it’. My first instinct was ‘I just made a film it’s not a big deal’. But, of course, it’s not what is wanted from me. I think I thrive the most when I allow myself to be natural and talk about things that I care about. When I don’t filter my words too much and just let myself be real.  

I’ve received a lot of support from my friends recently as well, which I’m not used to. I don’t know what’s different, but it seems that people that I met here are way more open about talking and congratulating on other people’s achievements. It’s not a taboo moment, no one hides their successes, it’s not a jealousy moment. I haven’t realised that this wasn’t normal where I’ve been raised. People are way more reserved about this kind of stuff there.  

It will take some time to unlearn that and to just be unapologetically proud of myself. With how much I managed to achieve thus far, I’m happy.  

Anyway, so for my video I managed to squeeze in some of my past work, some of the process, some of the clean shots so I think it’s a good overview of the whole project as well as me as a practitioner. 

#mp #major project #mp reflections

[vvsnotes]

Learning Outcome reflection.

I want to take some time to reflect on my learning outcome this past year of my studying and how it affected some of my decisions in the last semester.  

When I first began the master’s degree, I was pretty sure I wanted to pursue the 2d and 3d mashup animation. In the first semester, there was definitely a lot of experimentation with it. The ‘Red vs Blue’ project was done using the camera projection in Cinema4D. I also tried Blender’s grease pencil in ‘Places of mind’ and continued to explore that in the ‘Optical Sounds’. Then after a lot of playing, I decided to go back to 2D with ‘Light and Shadow’ project. I slowly eased myself into learning Blender to jump in a fully 3d animated project called ‘Memory’.  

And after all that, in the second semester I used my 3D skills to create a base for rotoscoping for the poem animation.  

Surprisingly, I decided to not use 3D at all in my Major Project. Everything for ‘Withing me’ was 2D. The only time I used Blender was to visualize Amy’s room (and a bad attempt of sculpting Amy’s head for reference). I decided to have this project done in 2D because I felt like I couldn’t fully express myself using 3D. I still haven’t found a way to keep my preferred style and combine it with 3D. I also realized that 3D animation is extremely difficult to make by myself and as much as I’m happy that I got to learn so much during the ‘Memory’ project (such as modelling, rigging and animating), I was scared to take on a bigger project.  

The time I spent exploring different possibilities, made me realize that I miss painting and that my painting skills are my strength that I should keep on showcasing. So that’s why I changed my tactics to exploring design and style. I came to understanding that that’s where really lays my passion – in pre-production.  

I got to learn more about perspective drawing, and I’ve implemented new solutions to my drawing process as I mentioned before in my blog. I’ve also learnt how to make a more thoughtful animatic, that helped with the creation of the film. I realized that I lack knowledge on 2D animation basis and despite that I managed to push myself to complete the film. This semester consisted of constant drawing practices, which helped me be more consisted in animating.  

It’s very interesting to look at this project because it is so much in my comfort zone and so out of my comfort zone at the same time. I have never made an animation like this, so it has been a challenge for me to collect all my knowledge on drawing, painting and designing and use it in one project. I found comfort in combining layers in After Effects and felt lost most of the time I sat to animating Amy. Probably that’s why this project wasn’t as overwhelming as ‘Memory’ where every single task was a learning process full of challenges.  

Finally, I learnt to voice my ideas clearly and talk about my achievements to people (even though it still doesn’t come easy). Writing this blog made me realize that I do have a lot to say. Perhaps I am one of those people that have their thoughts all over the place. I use it as my strength because it is this part of me that helps me be more creative. I always thought that because I do a little bit of everything and don’t specialize in anything is bad. This year helped me realize how I can use it to my advantage.  

#mp #major project #mp reflections

[vvsnotes]

Creative decision making reflection post.

Looking back at my creative decision making and how the final project turned out I think I did a good job with reducing the aesthetic of the animation in order to be able to finish the project on time. By reducing the aesthetic I mean that I’ve decided to choose a style that is efficient and quick to produce, it is not overly rendered, but at the same time, it represents me as an artist.

At first, I was a little concerned that the animation will look sloppy, but all the elements seem to fit together quite well. 

I did notice that I struggle with animation basis a lot, so I decided to put fewer frames to ‘not expose’ myself too much in certain moments. This would probably not pass in many projects but in this one, it feels right. Because the whole style of the animation is loose and sketch-like, I feel like it plays well with the aesthetic and adds to the looseness of the animation. 

I had problems with background designs and I managed to improve them, however, I think it could still be better. The interior design is more natural for me, the outer designs takes definitely way more research and preparation. Perhaps it’s because my mum is an interior designer and I’ve spent my childhood looking at various home designs and it comes to me more natural than outer space. Something I definitely wasn’t aware of before that came apparent during this project. 

That being said, I still believe that despite the struggle I managed to overcome it and come up with somewhat pleasant city designs. I hope in the future I will have more time to develop these skills. 

I came up with a lot of ideas, some of them didn’t make it till the end. I also had numerous storyline ideas that developed into this one. I remember at the beginning I wanted to do something more light-hearted and funny. And I ended up with a project with much deeper meaning. I’m not mad about it, it feels right to be talking about the issues that I understand thanks to my own experiences. Perhaps this time I like the outcome of the animation because despite its little imperfections it talks about something that I deeply care about - which is self-learning and self-care. 

Of course, there have also been a few days of my character design crisis. Looking back on my decision of changing the character I think I did the right decision. The narrative of the story also changed into a more personal one, so it makes sense that Amy is somewhat similar to me. I like to detach myself from my characters and if there was a way to show a human without any gender or race I’d do it. But our society is deeply rooted in stereotypes, so it’s almost pointless to fight them, the only thing I can do is to design characters that feel right to me. I’d also do it because I like the ‘everyman’ idea. Perhaps it’s the extreme on the other side: getting rid of the identity so that everyone can relate to the character. And maybe also too idealistic. 

Taking this all into consideration, I do like Amy and at the same time I do really miss my first character design and I wish to bring her to life someday. In another, light-hearted story. 

And lastly, I want to address the sound design. I am very pleased with how it turned out and I’m happy that I took the helping hand. Since I was working on the sound myself at first, I had a clear idea of what emotions I want to evoke in what moments, so it was easy for me to direct the other person in a direction I wanted. I think it was the first time when I acted this confident with my project despite knowing anything about music production. Usually, I avoid voicing my opinions in fields I know little about, so I’m very pleased with the outcome.

#mp #major project #mp reflections

[vvsnotes]

Voicing it out [forefront 15]

On January 1st, 2020, Steve Cutts published a short animation ‘The Turning Point’. Few months later, in April, he followed up with another short animation called ‘MAN 2020’. I decided to write about this in my forefront post because I find these films very powerful. ‘The Turning Point’, as for today, has 5.5M views, and ‘MAN 2020’ 9.2M views.  

Both films comment on the relation between men and animal world. Both, as well, criticize the doings of society.

‘The turning point’ switches men’s position with animals and shows a scenario of the world where humankind is the one suffering from corporations, deforestation, consumerism and so on, while the animals watch it all through the TV screen.  

‘MAN 2020’ shows a happy dance of all the animals while people are closed in their house because of the pandemic. It comments on the fact that while the economy wasn’t thriving, the animal world was.  

Steve Cutts is an illustrator and animation based in London (Wikipedia Contributors, 2019). His channel contains more animation that comment on the political and social issues in a satirical manner.  

I’ve decided to write about it as a few days ago the IPCC report has been published and ‘The Turning Point’ video resurfaced on the internet. The report clearly states that human is fully responsible for the climate change and that the reaching the 1.5 degrees is no longer evitable, which puts us in a very critical situation (IPCC, 2021). Since the best case scenario no is that the earth warms to 1.4 degrees and the worse case scenario is that it warms to 4.4 degrees, this means that whether we cut the emissions rate, we will still experience extreme weather, sea level rise and so on.  

This has been in the public debate for decades now and not much is changing for the better. Most governments keep on ignoring the scientists, so it feels like the best way to fight them is through educating people.  

I believe that animation as a medium has a very strong visual language that in an easy and powerful way can explain some of these issues without the need of using complicated terms. I think it is important to acknowledge these things and speak up when something’s happening.  

I’ve mentioned at the beginning of this course that I wanted my major project to be about a political issue, but I didn’t fully want to commit to it. Especially when it’s under the university, which I feel like requires more subtle language. As my graduation is approaching, Steve Cutts’ animations inspire me to voice out my opinions more often and to place myself in the conversation with my work. Or to spark conversation with my work. Because it is important.  

references. 

Cutts, S. (2020a). MAN 2020. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaFRheiGED0.

Cutts, S. (2020b). The Turning Point. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7LDk4D3Q3U.

IPCC (2021). Global Warming of 1.5 oC. [online] Ipcc.ch. Available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/.

Wikipedia Contributors (2019). Steve Cutts. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Cutts.

#forefront

[vvsnotes]

MP. Summing up the management of the project. 039.

After all, looking back at my Gantt Chart and how little adjustments I had to do, I think I predicted quite well the amount of time each activity would take me. Perhaps it’s because it was my second film and I already learnt some of the best and most effective practices for myself during the previous project, when I was doing my bachelor’s. 

That being said I there was definitely more work regarding posting on the blog,  that includes forefront posts. I fell behind with the forefront posts, even though I was actively researching topic, I found it hard to focus on that task when I felt like I had to constantly chase the animation making deadlines. I did it because I knew that writing forefront posts isn’t much of a struggle for me and it comes easy when the topic is something I’m interested in. That means as well that I like to take some time to research it properly and sometimes also think a little longer about my opinions. For example, my forefront post about Lady Bunny took some took me some extra time just because I didn’t know where I was standing with my opinion on it. 

Another thing I’d like to mention is that, Gantt chart felt very heavy for me, it was hard to keep track of it and to read it. I’m talking about the look of it. Because our tutors wanted us to prepare a detailed chart, I did it like that. But I had to create a separate sheet for myself where it was easier for me to actually know where I stand and how far I am into the project. 

I wonder how I could improve the Gantt chart design. Or perhaps, one overview document and one detailed document is the way to go. 

This has definitely been a lot of help and it made me see how much of things are actually overlapping, which of the scenes are continuous, which require backgrounds, which don’t require animation and so on. I was also able to write very short notes to myself. 

When I was working I would write down the scenes, I had to include short description so that I had an idea of what I looking at immediately. Then I would look at the Gantt chart, see which scenes I should be doing and then make these scenes in yellow. Then I would go one by one and fill it in with green when it was completed. 

I remember in my bachelor’s project I didn’t do anything like that chart and by the end of the project I was completely lost with what is what and what I was doing. Even though it was a bit of a different project, as it was with 3D. 

Just to show how I was operating before:

and no, I have no idea why it was by letters. As you can see some numbers are missing, some are twice and the worst about it was that I had no idea what letter is what scene. So I am very proud of myself that I was able to come up with a better managing practice and that I managed to stay on top of it. 

Also it’s worth noting that I was able to finish the project within the time frame I wished to finish. On august 3rd I had my sound and the animation finished. I decided to go back and fix two backgrounds. 

#mp #major project #mp reflections

[vvsnotes]

mp. process. 038

Today, I rendered the final version of the animation (I hope anyway). Before that I fixed a few things. Two background and one animated shot, to be precise. 

I fixed the colours of this shot. So that it would match the rest of the backgrounds as well.

And after I did that, I realised that the next shot had a mistake: the ground. 

So I fixed that as well. 

Another thing pointed out to me by my tutor was that Amy goes from right to left throughout the whole animation, which was intentional, apart from one moment when she passes the pot with the flowers. So I just applied a horizontal flip on that scene and that fixed the problem. 

#mp #major project

[vvsnotes]

Stoner Cats and its funding audience [forefront 14]

In the last days of July, the first episode of animated series ‘Stoner Cats’ hit the release. What's interesting about this is that this is not the typical release that we are all used to seeing. It’s not on Netflix, nor Disney+, or not on any other streaming service. No. If you want to watch Stoner Cats, you need to turn towards the NFT’s website. To watch the episode, one needs to purchase a virtual merchandise that was prepared by the creators (Twitter Spaces, 2021). The virtual merchandise, that come in the form of art cards NFT, also comes with a virtual ticket to the episode.  

The ‘Stoner Cats’ also use a reverse financing model, where the fans, by purchasing the merchandise actively fund the future of the project. In just over 30 minutes the creators managed to sell out, gathering the funds of over $8 million (Milligan, 2021).  

Now, I already talked about NTFs before in one of my forefront posts back in January. And as per that time, NFTs were extremely bad for environment as they take up a lot of energy to mine. In the light of global warming becoming more extreme with every year, it is not particularly a system that I wish to support. Especially, since this market seemed to be not regulated at all against thief, for example.

Back few months ago, there was another possibility of mining NFTs without doing too much damage to the environment, and as stated in the Rolling Stone magazine, there has been some improvement with the energy usage, as some of the platforms changes the system from ‘proof-of-work' to ‘proof-of-stake', where the later is more sustainable (Hissong, 2021). And the list goes on, more ways of producing cryptocurrency is being introduces, while the companies try different ways to add the value back into the environment. So, it’s not looking too bad, at the moment.  

Going back to the ‘Stoner Cats’. It is a very interesting project that functions more like a Kickstarter or Patreon subscription, but all done using cryptocurrency. Although, by pricy. One Token (the virtual merchandise) costs ETH 0.35. As of today, 06.08.2021, that equals £701.23. So now, why would anyone buy a 6/7 minutes episode and a virtual card for this much money? I honestly don’t know. However, what I do like about this project is that the money is going directly to the creators of the series. They also created a Discord server where the audience can directly tell them their thoughts. They also give 1% of the raised money to the Alzheimer’s charities (Stoner Cats LLC., 2021). They also grand an exclusive access to the behind the scenes and voting for the token owners where they will be able to decide on the story elements.  

I believe one token grands access to all these things so that would include also the next episode. Whether or not £700 is a reasonable price for this, is not for me to decide. I believe they only allowed 3000 tokens now as it is easier to manage an audience like this. However, if more people were to join that could potentially lower the price.  

I think this is an amazing idea, where the creators really can get a right funding for their projects. It’s a big step away from the controlling producers and a step towards big, crowd funded, fun productions. I do think that with time, this could be improved. I’m all about the individual voices. Hollywood, to this day, continues to be a very closed off space so any projects that actively break out from this old system are very exciting to me. Of course, the $8 million doesn’t compare to, for example, ‘Tangled’ (2011), which production budget was $260 million (Nash Information Services, LLC., n.d.). But these 8 million has been founded by 3000 people and sold out withing half an hour, meaning more people were willing to buy. I think this has a potential. I mean, ‘Wolfwalkers’ (2020), an Oscar nominee had a budget of €10 million (Wikipedia, 2021) and it got amazing reviews. So as for someone interested in animation and innovation within that practice, it makes me hopeful for the future of filmmaking practices.  

reference. 

Hissong, S. (2021). The Crypto World Is Getting Greener. Is It Too Little Too Late? [online] Rolling Stone. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/nfts-crypto-environmental-global-warming-proof-of-stake-blockchain-1194402/ [Accessed 6 Aug. 2021].

Milligan, M. (2021). “Stoner Cats” NFT Toon from Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher Paws Over $8M. [online] Animation Magazine. Available at: https://www.animationmagazine.net/digital-media/stoner-cats-nft-toon-from-mila-kunis-ashton-kutcher-paws-over-8m/ [Accessed 6 Aug. 2021].

Nash Information Services, LLC. (n.d.). The Numbers - Movie Budgets, Most Expensive Movies, Most Profitable Movies, Biggest Money-Losing Movies. [online] The-numbers.com. Available at: https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/budgets.

Stoner Cats LLC (2021). Stoner Cats. [online] www.stonercats.com. Available at: https://www.stonercats.com/about [Accessed 6 Aug. 2021].

Twitter Spaces (2021). Stoner Cats Chat on Twitter. [online] www.clubmarket.io. Available at: https://www.clubmarket.io/events/stoner-cats.

Wikipedia. (2021). Wolfwalkers. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfwalkers#Production [Accessed 6 Aug. 2021].

#forefront

[vvsnotes]

Blizzard’s lawsuit and a fight for equality and justice [forefront 13]

In July 2021, the game company Activision Blizzard has been sued by the state of California over sexual discrimination, harassment, and retaliation (Wit, A.D. de, 2021). Over 2,000 current and former employees have signed a letter calling out the company’s poor response to the lawsuit (Schreier, 2021). As the Activision executive Frances Townsend responded that the lawsuit is ‘factually incorrect, old and out of context.’  

The letter consists of the claims that the leadership of the company is dismissing the employees' values and can harm the victims’ reliability today and, in the future. It also makes the notice of fully supporting everyone that had experienced any harassment.  

Following that situation, on 3rd of August, the president of Blizzard J. Allen Brack has stepped down from his position and left the company (Activision Blizzard, 2021). However, at the same time, Frances Townsend remains in her position even though the letter asked for her dismission.  

I decided to write about it as it is known that the discrimination and harassment of women in the game industry is bad. It is not only that industry but also the film industry, which is believed to get better as the ‘me too’ movement emerged (North, 2019). The initial handing of the situation on the Blizzard’s part was terrible, completely dismissing the allegations. Now with the president stepping away, there is a lot of voices that state that the company is still not taking the accountability as the reason Brack is leaving Blizzard is ‘to pursue other opportunities.’  

What really is a positive note, however, is the reaction of the current and ex-employees, along with many voices online that stand with the victims and against the unfair treatment. It is said that among the allegations are the unfair payment for the female workers and sexual harassment (Chapman, 2021). It is also good to see that the state of California issued the lawsuit, and it was not left for the individuals to deal with.  

When I was starting my journey with animation, I wanted to work in the game industry, but I became wary after hearing how bad the situations can go. Since I am the most interested in creation of the worlds, I do believe that I might at some point be part of that industry. So, this lawsuit comforts me a little, knowing that the legal action is being taken and that the abusers of their power will be held accountable.  

The ‘me too’ movement changed a lot for women in the entertainment industries and it is getting better. There are also hashtag events on twitter where the professionals talk openly about their salary to fight the unfair paying rates (Amidi, 2020). This helped a lot of minorities and female professionals to avoid being exploited. I am really for movements like this, I think that someone’s work should be respected of their gender, sexuality, or race. Since these industries were in majority and for a long time owned by white men there is still a lot to change. But at least people can voice their concerns freely on the internet and the community of the professionals online is strong and helpful to many. As a young person starting my journey in this world, I feel reassured that the times are changing for good and that if anything happens my voice can be heard.  

And from the other side, it is important as well to participate these conversations and support the people that were mistreated.  

references. 

Activision Blizzard (2021). Activision Blizzard | A Letter From President and Chief Operating Officer Daniel Alegre Regarding Blizzard Entertainment. [online] investor.activision.com. Available at: https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-details/letter-president-and-chief-operating-officer-daniel-alegre [Accessed 3 Aug. 2021].

Amidi, A. (2020). Animation Artists Reveal Salary Disparities With #AnimationPaidMe Hashtag. [online] Cartoon Brew. Available at: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/animation-artists-reveal-salary-disparities-with-animationpaidme-hashtag-193034.html [Accessed 3 Aug. 2021].

Chapman, M. (2021). Hit with MeToo revolt, president of Activision’s Blizzard Entertainment is out. [online] CTVNews. Available at: https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/hit-with-metoo-revolt-president-of-activision-s-blizzard-entertainment-is-out-1.5532629 [Accessed 3 Aug. 2021].

North, A. (2019). #MeToo movement: These 7 facts show its impact. [online] Vox. Available at: https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/10/4/20852639/me-too-movement-sexual-harassment-law-2019.

Schreier, J. (2021). Bloomberg - Are you a robot? [online] www.bloomberg.com. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-26/activision-blizzard-staff-sign-petition-supporting-labor-lawsuit.

Wit, A.D. de (2021). California Sues Activision Blizzard Over Alleged Sexual Harassment And Discrimination. [online] Cartoon Brew. Available at: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/california-sues-activision-blizzard-over-alleged-sexual-harassment-and-discrimination-207257.html [Accessed 3 Aug. 2021].

#forefront

[vvsnotes]

mp. process + reflection. 037

These past two days I’ve been working on music for my animation. 

I did made my own version of the sound however, I had a lot of difficulty trying to tie it all together to make a good quality sounds. 

I had been lucky to meet a professional musician that was so kind and helped me with the sound. At first, I thought, he would only let me use the music he’s already made, but upon talking and after I showed him the animation, he was happy to alter the music so that it would fit the animation better. 

At first, after watching the animation, we chose the theme of the sounds and music. We did that by going through the already made material to see what would fit the best. When we chose the main sounds, we opened that in the music software and started working in more detail on the music. We were able also to import the video into the software, so that we could work with very close precision. 

It was my first time working with someone on the sound in this way, as my last animation I made, I had another musician working on the sound remotely. This didn’t enable me to have much saying in the process of creation and it was hard to communicate. 

This time I was sitting with the studio with the musician and we worked together throughout the whole process. It was a really nice experience, although also very difficult. I don’t have much education in music so sometimes it was hard for me to form my thoughts in the correct way so that the other person could understand what I mean. I also lack the sound imagination, which makes me one of these people that forget the sound very quickly and can’t hear the sounds as we talk about them. Despite all of this we were able to overcome these issues and communicate well. 

Since this is some extra work that the musician agreed to help me with for free, I was aware that I am extremely lucky for an opportunity like this. I knew that I didn’t want to be too much of a bother that’s why I had to remind myself that it is okay to voice my opinions when I don’t like the direction that the sound is going to. I’m pretty happy with how I managed to stay on top of that and I feel that these hours working on that, really helped me build my confidence as a director. 

It made think, as well, that I love working in a group, with someone, because it’s very nice to exchange the ideas and have more that myself to ask if the project is doing alright or not. 

The sound is finished for now. I will wait for feedback from my tutor and also ask my friends that already saw the animation. I can still go back to the sound and fix something if it’s needed. 

Here is what I have so far.

#mp #mp reflections #major project

[vvsnotes]

Old style but new technology. How the future meets the past. [forefront 12]

On July 27th, 2021, Red Giant published a video tutorial on YouTube about the new After Effects plugin (Red Giant, 2021) that lets the user recreate the iconic ‘scribbly’ effect that was used for the A-ha’s ‘Take on me’ music video (a-ha, 2010).  

The music video was created by Michael Patterson and Cadance Reckinger, where the artist’s created over 2 thousand rotoscoped frames.  

Now there is a plugin that can pretty much recreate the effect quite well. It has a lot of different variations of the style and allows the creators to have a lot of freedom in their process.  

As cool as this plugin is it makes me wonder about the developing technology and how it is possible to get better and better results. So good that it can actually fool the viewer that it was hand made. As I mentioned as well in my other forefront post about Japanese studio using Artificial Intelligence to create anime-style backgrounds for their films (Preferred Networks, Inc, 2021). At the other hand, however, we have projects like ‘Loving Vincent’ from 2017 and the same creators’ upcoming film using the same technique ‘The Peasants’ (2022). The way both of these films were created was through hundreds of hours of painting, a lot of innovation and, as we know, the ‘Loving Vincent’ (2017) was met with incredibly positive feedback. People were drawn to this technique and amazed by the unbelievable labor that was put into it, look by the nominations (imdb, n.d.).  

The same goes for the A-ha's music video that to this day is some kind of well-known aesthetic.  

‘The Peasants’ that is set to be released in 2022, has yet to see, whether a project like this can be done with just any story.  

Nonetheless, it’s very interesting to see these two completely different approaches. On one hand, there is the extreme development of technology which allows the creators to automate the creation of paintings or designs. And then we have these ambitious projects that do everything by hand.  

What’s the most exciting for me, though, in all of this is the fact that we can now connect both of these words and create projects that weren’t possible before. The rotoscoping of the ‘Loving Vincent’ film was not automated, however, thanks to the technology the creators were able to create all of the footage that the artists later painted on. The plugins like ‘Sketchy’ can also allow the creators to speed up the beginning of the process and get more tests, trying out different possibilities. We can also see how the big studios like Sony Pictures or Pixar are starting to really embrace the old techniques and find a way to recreate them using new technologies. For example, the stop motion in 3D software.  

I think it’s amazing to see. The majority of people are drawn towards the authentic and real experiences. So, if the creators are using the tools to express themselves in a different way and expand the limitations of the technology, it is exciting for the audiences. I see it like making the premade cakes. Since the mix is premade, you get to spend more time on decorating and experimenting with the look. And since everyone can get a premade cake these days, it’s really the matter of how you expand that and show something different. So as a young practitioner it is all very exciting to see but also makes me realize that being able to innovate new approaches and staying on top of the technology is very important.

  reference.

a-ha (2010). a-ha - Take On Me (Official Music Video). YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914 [Accessed 1 Aug. 2021].

Loving Vincent. (2017). Altitude Film Distribution.

Preferred Networks, Inc. (2021). Toei Animation and PFN Jointly Test Use of Artificial Intelligence to Streamline Anime Production. [online] Preferred Networks, Inc. Available at: https://www.preferred.jp/en/news/pr20210312/.

Red Giant (2021). VFX Side Quest | “Take On Me” Music Video VFX Tutorial. [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncik0D5b7Pk [Accessed 1 Aug. 2021].

The Peasants. (2022).

www.imdb.com. (n.d.). Loving Vincent - IMDb. [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3262342/awards/?ref_=tt_awd [Accessed 1 Aug. 2021].

#forefront

[vvsnotes]

mp. process & reflection. 036.

As I mentioned I redid some of my backgrounds that I wasn’t initially happy with. I think I made them better this time however I still feel like there are some things I could improve on. But I guess that’s just part of the process of learning how to approach the outer background design. 

The first one I fixed was the scene 37 as this was the background I was the least happy with. 

Here is before and after. 

I also changed the colours and I’m quite happy how it turned out. It feels way more composed now and has a better structure. I also decided to put it in the After Effects and add a 3d movement in there which helped with creating depth to the scene. Here however, I had some issues with scale. It feels like the door is too small comparing to the stars and the bricks. I don’t think it’s that noticeable on its own, but when I put Amy in the front it seemed odd. That’s why I had to move her more to the back. 

Another background I repainted was the scene 36. 

I tried to make it more interesting and I think that played out well. The first background doesn’t have the 3 point perspective and has a high horizon line. It looks alright but it’s just not interesting enough. I didn’t really like the empty space on the ground. The second background is more engaging but I think it still have some moments that make it bit plain. However, I think its better. I decided to change the composition and layout because as much as I was happy with few things in the first one, I felt like it was overall too plain.  

Another background I changed was the recolouring of scene 35. 

Initially I didn’t plan on changing anything but after putting some colours I decided that it would be good to open up the space behind the buildings and put some trees in there with the sky. This background had also a very different colour palette, so I had to repaint it in order for it to fit the the rest of the backgrounds. 

And finally I also redid the scene 38. 

Here I fixed slightly the perspective and added more elements inside the alley. I think these slight changed helped make the background more engaging. 

All the backgrounds I did using the layers and I brought all of them to AE to do the 3d effect with camera moving from right to left. I think this way I can get some more interesting effect rather than just put them without the movement or with just a simple zoom in. Amy on all of these backgrounds is also going across the screen so it makes sense that the camera is following that movement. 

#mp #major project #mp reflections

[vvsnotes]

mp. reflection. 035

I have been repainting my backgrounds these past few days and I was doing more research about the specifics of it. Here is few things that I’ve noticed. 

Making lower horizon line. I found out that a horizon line in the top part of the drawing can make the composition dull and boring, unless its intentional. But for a more dramatic/exciting/interesting shot its a safer bet to put it in the lower half. 

Another thing is that when I was doing the two point perspective my two vanishing point were too close to each other because I was putting them in the canvas instead of away from it. 

I realised that if I put a smaller canvas frame in the project it is easier for me to use the perspective lines. I can also move around the frame if I need to adjust the composition. 

This way, when I’m finished with the sketch I can just scale it up and do the clean up. Thanks to this I am more comfortable coming up with ideas and the perspective grids don’t seem so overwhelming. I have a bigger view on the scene as well, so if some object is only partially in the frame I can paint the whole thing and avoid mistakes. 

Another thing I started doing is using the perspective tool to lean the vertical lines slightly to suggest the 3 point perspective. I find 3 point perspective very useful but at the same time it’s hard to get it right, when the perspective should be minimal, if the image doesn’t need to be so dramatic. it is also easier to paint all the vertical lines straight as it helps avoiding slight mistakes. 

These few points were really useful for me to get more comfortable with drawing backgrounds. I still struggle with the right sizes and scales I think. I should find a way to make this more reliable for me. Now I found myself in the moments where I would put the character in and she would feel too small for some parts of the drawing and too big for other parts. So this is definitely something I should pay attention to. 

#mp #major project #mp reflections

[vvsnotes]

mp. reflection. 034

This week I’ve been learning a lot of new things about sound and music design. I also was working more on post-production and I find this very nice. It did cross my mind before that the production itself isn’t really my favourite thing but I do enjoy the planning stage and the post-production stage a lot. 

For planning I think I always liked to explore different ideas and scenarios. I also love exploring different aesthetics and art styles, it’s hard for me to stick to one, that’s why I like to immerse myself in the pre-production because there is so many possibilities. 

The production is boring and very tedious for me. I find it hard to focus on one thing because I want to see the finished product right away. This causes me to rush things. 

Once I have my first draft and I can see the bigger picture, it is easier for me to judge what should be fixed. But my favourite part it destroying the first draft and rearranging things to fit the sound and to build the atmosphere of the film. 

While doing the storyboard and animatic, since everything is very plain I find it hard to imagine how things will look like when it’s all finished. I think I have a more of a live-action approach to making films, that’s why I tend to rearrange shots during the pre-production stage simply because seeing the finished look of the scene I can judge where it should go better. 

That being said, I don’t know how much of this film I will rearrange yet, but I already have some ideas how to make the split scene more engaging to watch. So hopefully I will be able to achieve that. 

#mp #major project #mp reflections

[vvsnotes]

mp. process. 033.

The past three days I’ve been working mainly on the sound. The first thing I did was to add all of the foley sounds and the location sounds. As I mentioned before I recorded a lot of the last week and now it was the matter of putting them in the right moments in the animation. 

As I expected, I didn’t collect all of the sounds so I had to record more. 

When I was putting this together I quickly realised that I will be needing some kind of soundtrack in the background to set the mood of the film. The easiest way to do it for me is by using the app GarageBand. I used the piano to compose the base melody and then I enhanced it with different instruments to make the sound feel more full. 

Having the base I can also create the ambient/background sound for other moments of the animation. The one I made so far is the music for intro, which I wanted to be a little bit gloomy and on the sad side. The other part of the animation when the world gains colour I will have to replace that music with something more positive and cheerful. 

Apart from that I want to have some of the quiet moments and of course the split scene when the sound should be quite disturbing. But I haven’t got to that point yet. 

Having the beginning and that foley sounds in the animation I sent it over to my friend and asked her about any feedback and she was able to give me some ideas for other parts of the animation. For example, she suggested that I could use some ringing phone/notification sounds when Amy is going through the split to finally trigger her to separate. And that I should focus on making a sound that will be slightly annoying. I think this is a good direction, especially since that part of the animation was a bit of a mystery to me, sound-wise. 

My friend also pointed out that some of the sounds aren’t loud enough to hear so I also need to fix the levels of the sounds. 

#mp #major project

[vvsnotes]

Lola the Bunny. [forefront 11]

16th of July 2021, second part of the ‘Space Jam’ hit the theaters. The live action film features the beloved by many, cartoon characters from Looney Tunes. One of the being Bunny Lola. The creators decided to change her design to ‘reflect the authenticity of strong, capable female character’ (Lane, 2021). And as the creators claim that they also worked on her personality, the main subject of the discussion is how much they ‘desexualized’ her.  

Since Lola was heavily sexualized in the first Space Jam, the redesign seemed like a right move for the creators (Haasch, 2021). They gave her longer shorts, a longer shirt and took away her boobs. Because she needs to be a strong female character, she cannot be sexy at the same time.  

The arguments against the new design are pointing out how it reinforces the presumption that a competent women cannot be sexy, and that a strong female character needs to have more masculine traits. This then goes against the whole idea redesigning.  

However, there is another side to this discussion. Lola is a bunny. If Bugs and Duffy’s designs are simplified why was Lola’s design so over the top with curves. Not to add it’s a cartoon that advertised for kids.  

At the same time, Lola’s boobs, or short, or a crop top shouldn’t be scandalizing to anyone. Because these are normal female traits. Plenty of girls are chose outfits like that. So, the problem isn’t the design, but how the creators introduce the character, how that character interacts with others. It is possible to show a sexy woman without objectifying her and it’s possible to show a conventionally not-sexy woman and still objectify her.  

Perhaps the problem was never Lola’s design but how Bugs didn’t seem to respect her or treat her like a normal teammate.  

That being said, I do believe that the design in the first ‘Space Jam’ was too much, and I don’t hate the new design. We have all see a good female bunny design before in Zootopia (2016) and I don’t think Lola comes close. However, the reason I decided to write about this, is because I think it’s interesting to see how the audiences react to these changes, what they consider a good representation of a strong female character and how this should stay in my mind for my future female designs.  

The male gaze has been present in the films for a very long time, so they audiences and creators have a lot of unlearning to do. While designing my character for ‘Within me’ I tried to stay true to myself with Amy’s look because it’s a more of a personal film. However, films that are produced for bigger audiences have a lot of eyes on them and it’s important to make notice of what hasn’t been working before. The conclusions for me are: every body type representation is important, objectifying isn’t happening only through a design but how the creator chooses to show the character, it’s important to show female characters in a more realistic light, where they have their voice and where that voice is heard and valued.  

 references.

Haasch, P. (2021). The latest culture war is over the sexy “Space Jam” rabbit Lola Bunny and her new toned-down design. [online] Insider. Available at: https://www.insider.com/lola-bunny-space-jam-2-redesign-old-new-before-after-2021-3. 

Carly, L. (2021). Why 'Space Jam 2’s Director Wanted to Rework Lola Bunny’s Image. [online] Collider. Available at: https://collider.com/space-jam-2-lola-bunny-design-explained/ [Accessed 23 Jul. 2021].  

Space Jam: A New Legacy. (2021) Warner Bros. Pictures 

Zootopia. (2016). Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. 

#forefront