WEEK 16 SUMMARY

WEEK STARTING - 29th of April, 2019
WEEK ENDING - 5th of May, 2019

MONDAY - Fantastical Creatures Modelling workshop

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/04/fantastical-creatures-skollcrabb_29.html

TUESDAY - Media Roles Presentation

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/04/media-roles-final-presentation-and.html

THURSDAY - Lip-Sync

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/05/lip-sync-finalised-animation.html

"So now my animation is all done! I really enjoyed this unit all in all, mostly due to my own bias towards 2D animation. Getting back into it after units which were more experimental & foreign to me was like a nice homecoming, and was definitely a more comfortable way for me to work. I don't really have any major gripes with the sessions, they let us get on, and Katherine was very enthusiastic and helpful! The only thing I'd really change is keeping an eye on consistency. I feel like my lip-sync animation was very successful, and it's probably my favourite piece of animation I've done this year!"

SUMMARY
This week is the final week before hand in, and it's all about getting things fully finished.

The lip-sync feedback has been fully implemented, and now it's finished! I'm really happy with how it came out, it hits the sweet spot of feeling like something I'd make on my own, but with the skills I've learnt since coming to university, mostly how to properly apply the principles and animating on twos. Overall, my thoughts on this project are entirely positive! I got to animate in a way I adore, and work in a medium I'm more comfortable in.

My Fantastical Creature is so close to being finished at this point! The model is all there and textured in Substance Painter, I just need to figure out how to get it back into Maya with the textures all intact and applied correctly. I've got a feeling it's either going to be ridiculously easy or ridiculously difficult. But I want to make it look as good in Maya as it does in Substance Painter, and hopefully the correct application will make that possible. Then it's just a turntable and compositing to do and it'll be a wrap for Fantastical Creatures!

WEEK 15 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING - 1st of April, 2019

WEEK ENDING - 7th of April, 2019

MONDAY - Fantastical Creatures Modelling workshop

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/04/fantastical-creatures-skollcrabb.html

WEDNESDAY - Showreel Premiere Pro Induction

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/04/showreel-premiere-pro-induction.html

"Since this was just a practice with the program, I had some fun with the titles and put in whatever just made me laugh! This little session taught me a couple of new basic techniques that're going to make the actual showreel's production a lot easier. All in all, this was a nice little session that was calm and I enjoyed it!"

THURSDAY - Lip-Sync

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/04/lip-sync-colours-and-feedback.html

"So now I have this feedback, I'm gonna work on making the head look better and more consistent! Honestly, I'm glad I got more to work on, because I feel like I worked a bit too quickly on this task. That's not to say it's rushed, just that made it in a very short amount of time. But now I have something to do with the extra sessions we have on lip-sync!"

SUMMARY
The work on the Fantastical Creatures project has essentially just been working on the model of Skollcrabb. I'm trying to make it look like an amalgamation of my original design and my maquette, taking my favourite elements from each one. Most notably, I took the legs and eyes from my maquette, and the bottom jaw and claws from my original design. I think from here, I just need to keep working on it and making sure it's finished. I've also got to texture it, but I'm still a ways out from there yet.

For the showreel, I've got most of my clips all together in one folder, so that I can move it all around in one place, instead of constantly having to relocate files that are scattered all over the place. I've also found a nice font to use for my titles, called Back Issues. It's meant to replicate comic book speech bubble text, which fits with the kinds of things I make. These showreels are meant to be personal and reflect our style of work, and given how much influence I have from comic books and cartoons, it seems appropriate.

With the lip-sync task, I'm glad to be getting more to do on it! The feedback I got from Helen has been really great to recieve, since it means I can keep working on making 2D animations like I want to. Plus, I felt like I was going really fast and was worried that I had eventually done something wrong... and I kind of wanted something to be (unintentionally) wrong so I could keep working. But now I have more to work on once I get back after Easter!

WEEK 14 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING - 25th of March, 2019
WEEK ENDING - 31st of March, 2019

MONDAY - Fantastical Creatures CG Modelling

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/03/fantastical-creatures-modelling.html

"This session was a nice introduction to the entire modelling aspect of this unit! And it's a good thing I think that, because we're going to be doing a LOT of it. I'm not looking forward to more of Mudbox though, I wasn't a fan of that. However, my Skollcrabb design doesn't seem like it would involve much sculpting, since it's shell is meant to be smooth without any kind of real divots or cracks. But I'm excited to get started on making Skollcrabb a digital model!"

TUESDAY - Showreel Briefing

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/03/showreel-briefing.html

"After this session, I feel I've learnt a lot of valuable tips about showreel making than before. It's made me look back on my showreel I made for university interviews before knowing how to properly make one, and seeing how much room there was to improve. From here, my main course of action is getting my elements together. That includes music, clips, etc. We're going to be editing in Premiere Pro, which I'm already well versed in, so there won't be too big a learning curve."

THURSDAY - Lip-Sync Introduction

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/03/lip-sync-introduction.html

"The next step from here is easy: add a mouth. I've got my own pre-defined mouth shapes all ready, I just need to implement them. This session was a nice return to 2D animation for me, and an interesting return to TVPaint! Time away from the program has definitely helped me in coming back to it without any major "grudges"; essentially, forgetting the tricky experiences prior and trying again! Katherine was a huge help, and she seems really professional with TVPaint."

SUMMARY
This week was a nice mix of new things and old things with new techniques!

First off, the Lip-Sync. I'm really loving the lip-sync unit! I realise it's only been one session but I feel more comfortable in this than I have for any other project so far! The return to 2D was, personally, very comforting and it really made me feel like I was in my element again. I definitely feel like I sped right through up to this point, but not in the sense I'm rushing & sacrificing quality, but in that I've been wanting to get back into 2D animation for so long that I really went full on with it.

The Fantastical Creatures work this week was mostly just an introduction to modelling in Maya, so that we can start to consider how we make our creatures. But for me, the biggest development for me in this unit was finishing the Skollcrabb's maquette. It's taught me a LOT in terms of how to work on something that consistently doesn't work; don't force it to work, just start again. It's surprising I hadn't learnt that sooner, but now I know that starting again and failing isn't a bad thing. Eventually, it'll all turn out alright!

Finally there's the showreel. This was more so a briefing on it than anything, so there's not too much to say in terms of a weekly summary of it. I know we're going to be making it in Adobe Premiere Pro; I'm REALLY glad about this. I've been using Premiere Pro since 2016, for personal use as well as my Art Multimedia & Media Studies A-Levels. I feel fairly well versed in both the program and editing in general, so I'm looking forward to working on this showreel.

WEEK 13 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING - 18th of March, 2019
WEEK ENDING - 24th of March, 2019

MONDAY - Fantastical Creatures Brief

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/03/fantastical-creatures-briefing.html

TUESDAY - Media Roles Mini-Presentation

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/03/media-roles-more-information.html

THURSDAY - Maquette Workshop

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/03/fantastical-creatures-maquette-workshop.html

"I'm overall not very happy with how this session went. Not due to the actual session's content, but more so with my own work. I produced something that wasn't up to my own personal standard, and that's something I don't want to put up with. So I'm going to be taking time out of lessons to work on the maquette, maybe even starting from scratch again. I don't want to have a "that'll do" attitude about this, I want to make something I'm happy with and is an accurate representation of what I want my Skollcrabb to look like."

SUMMARY
This week was our introduction to our newest unit, named "Fantastical Creatures". It seems like a really nice change from our last few projects, which have limited creativity a little bit in that we can't really make things our own outside of the movements. But everything about these characters are going to come from us, and that's really exciting to me! I'm a big fan of my creature, the Skollcrabb. It feels like it fits my style really well, but is also outlandish enough to be different from other things I make! It's definitely something I want to keep using both inside and outside of university! Overall, excited for more with the Fantastical Creatures!

WEEK 12 SUMMARY

WEEK STARTING - 11th of March, 2019
WEEK ENDING - 17th of March, 2019

MONDAY - Mystery Box workshop

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/03/mystery-box-maya-session-4.html

TUESDAY - Media Roles introduction

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/03/media-roles-introduction.html

"Overall, I'm a little bit more enthusiastic about this research task than the other two, mostly because I hated doing the essays. This allows for a bit more creativity, even if it is just in a powerpoint form. But I'm not so sure about the group angle. I've known for a while I need to improve on working in a group, and I feel like I've achieved that for the most part in other animation tasks. But this group in particular has me a bit concerned. There doesn't seem to be anyone desperate to jump straight into the project, and it feels like we still need time to get to know each other. But only time will tell."

[NOTE: Weekly summaries aren't needed for this project.]

THURSDAY - Mystery Box workshop

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/03/mystery-box-maya-session-5.html

"By the end of this session, I got my main blocking all done! Max now has all his basic movements down, and with a couple more tweaks, he should be ready for splining! Those tweaks, along with things I fixed today, were done with the animation timeline editor. It's a really useful tool, and I'm glad we managed to learn how to use it to our advantage!"

SUMMARY
The Mystery Box project this week didn't have anything major happen; I started again from scratch, but that's about it. I think that Jon's tip to do this was the best course of action; if the way I was doing it would only end up causing me more issues than anything else. I managed to translate the same blocking from my previous version over to the new file, but making the necessary changes I needed to make sure I didn't end up recreating the mistakes that got me here. But this week has proved one thing to me, and it's 3D animation is more tricky than my first experiences lead me to believe it is.

WEEK 11 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING - 4th of March, 2019

WEEK ENDING - 10th of March, 2019

MONDAY - Mystery Box Workshop

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/03/mystery-box-maya-session-2.html

THURSDAY - Mystery Box Workshop

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/03/mystery-box-maya-session-3.html

"After getting some feedback from Jon, I was advised to redo my walk cycle, just because it was looking a little bit weird with things clipping and, when splining comes in, sliding. So I did just that! At the end of this session, I managed to get all my major blocking done. So my next step is... steps, essentially. Make Max actually walk over to the box, and fix up the walk cycle that I've got going on at the moment. Feeling like good progress made this session!"

SUMMARY
This week has been all about the Mystery Box again. Mostly, the trial and error of it. I've been working on it and getting as much feedback as I can on what I'm doing, then applying it as best I can! I've learnt that there's a lot of retrying and restarting on elements in 3D animation, especially from seeing friends restarting entire sequences because of it. I feel like I'm going to have to do that at some point, but right now I'm just chipping away at this one file. Learning how to animate in stepped was really helpful, it's coming in handy with blocking out the animation and seeing how it'll look without having to really perfect it yet! But overall, I'm looking forward to doing more of the Mystery Box animation, I'm hoping it'll end up looking really cool when it's finished!

WEEK 10 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING - 25th of February, 2019

WEEK ENDING - 3rd of March, 2019

THURSDAY - Mystery Box Workshop

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/02/mystery-box-maya-session-1.html

"Overall, I enjoyed this first session of Mystery Box animation! It was a lot easier and much more interesting to figure out how character rigs work than I initially thought! I don't know exactly what I was expecting, since the only time I've seen CG character animation behind the scenes was from old Toy Story featurettes, but given they're from 1995 and it's been nearly 25 years since then, the techniques are probably easier than back then. Looking forward to more!"

SUMMARY
This week was the week of our hand-in, so there wasn't much scheduled in. However, what we did for the Mystery Box was really interesting! It was my first time using an animated rig, and it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be! Like I said in my original post, moving the character around is a lot easier and user-friendly than I expected, and I'm sure it's going to make animating the rig much more pleasant than I initially expected it to be! I just have to make sure I use what I learnt in last week's performance workshop to really push the rig further than normal, so I can get a more appealing and exaggerated performance.

WEEK 9 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING - February 11th, 2019

WEEK ENDING - February 17th, 2019

MONDAY - Mystery Box Briefing

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/02/mystery-box-briefing.html

"I'm really interested to see how this project will go, considering it's the first real CGI animation I'm going to be doing! I have to storyboard some idea for what I could do for this animation, and at the minute I'm not entirely sure what that could involve. I'm sure I'll have something by the time the next session rolls around! There's a performance workshop on Wednesday, where I can start working on more realised ideas!"

WEDNESDAY - Performance Workshop

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/02/mystery-box-performance-workshop.html

"Did I enjoy this session though? Kinda. I think it was the repetition that got me; I realise it's important and understand this is entirely a me-thing, but doing the same short performance over and over with changes so minor each time just didn't seem too interesting to me. I much prefer going with more wild ideas and trying something entirely new each time."

THURSDAY - Performance Analysis

Original post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/02/mystery-box-performance-analysis.html

SUMMARY

This week was all about introducing the Mystery Box unit, and stuff surrounding it. And while my excitement for it dwindled a little bit from session to session this week, I'm still overall enthusiastic! The choice for what medium we do this task in is exciting, since it's our first real experience with choosing what we could expertise in! I've not really been a fan of producing stop motion, so I think CG is the way for me to go. Like I said, my enthusiasm dwindled a little bit, but that was mostly due to not actually animating this week. I understand that the performance element is important, and it's entirely a "me" thing that I let not animating get to me.

WEEK 8 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING - February 4th, 2019

WEEK ENDING - February 10th, 2019

MONDAY - Stop Motion Change of Expression

<to be added>

WEDNESDAY - Maya UV Application

Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/02/cgi-applying-textures.html

- "And that wraps up the final dedicated Maya session! I really enjoyed working on all of this, and unexpectedly so! I was worried that CGI and CG Modelling would be really intricate, and that unless you had years of experience, you would NOT get it. But it was relatively easy to get the hang of, and I really enjoyed it at times! I think CGI is definitely a path to consider going forward, especially with the Mystery Box project looming."

SUMMARY

This week didn't really have too much on, and of it, nothing was really spectacular or made me really excited. So in general, this week was pretty good. 

Maya was definitely the best part of this week. These sessions are always the most fun to be in, and I think it's a really good sign that you're loving what you're doing when people are laughing really hard at the assigned work. Not in the sense that we're making fun of it, but in that it's such a good time already working on the project with little difficulty, that spirits and laughs are high! The cereal box and bird tasks were fun, and I definitely think CGI is my route to go with the Mystery Box project we have coming up!

Stop Motion was a more interesting experience this time more than any. I was working in a group of 3 this time, and we all had a somewhat similar idea of what we wanted to make. We communicated well, and came out with an animation we were all really happy with! The most interesting thing to me was after the session, when I showed people the animation; they genuinely believed the emotion being performed. I showed people only with the context "there's an emotional change midway through"... and people felt the need to say "aww" when the sadness started. I think that's a good indication that we got the emotion down! Is stop motion for me going forward though? Maybe? It's certainly something to consider, but out of the three main animation forms (2D, CGI and Stop Motion), it's definitely falling in 3rd place.

Narratology essay is at the point where I have my points all ready to go; now I need to find more reliable sources than just my own memory. I'm going to try using a question I build around the template, going much more down the route of "Is animation intrinsic to WFRR" or "If animation was removed, could you get the same experience from WFRR". Something like that could be better in finding a point better to focus on. But if I struggle with that, then I can swap in the template question and use that to refer back to instead.

Sketchbook was back up and running this week, a lot more like previous weeks in terms of what I'm making with it. Motivation has risen again, and I'm glad that it is! I've had some ideas I've thought were really cool, including a comic that can only be viewed using a UV light; getting some more unique materials in there! Generally, getting back into the swing of it!

WEEK 7 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING - January 28th, 2019

WEEK ENDING - February 3rd, 2019

MONDAY - Maya Modelling, Stop Motion Box

Original blog posts: <to be added>

TUESDAY - Narratology Check-In

Different sort of session today; it was just me and one other person going to meet up with Lynsey and discuss our essay plans. I said that I wanted to look at how animation was intrinsic to Who Framed Roger Rabbit's plot, and that the two are practically inseparable. I suggested some points involving the character Betty Boop, the Toontown location and how certain events relied on the animation medium. In response, Lynsey offered up some of her own ideas, including some helpful advice on how to write about Jessica Rabbit. I also found from this session that the conclusion should be bigger than last time, and a lot more rich in what I'm trying to say. A helpful session! Definitely going to be applied to my essay plan.

SUMMARY

This week was pretty great! I enjoyed everything I had on, which I'm pleased with! I've already gone over how Narratology's going, so here's my final summaries on everything else this week.

The Maya modelling was, just like last week's introduction, a lot easier than expected. I really enjoyed making the assigned objects, so much so that during our break in the middle I just kept making more things to go alongside them! One thing I did find a little bit weird to get a grasp of was the colouring paired with selection tools. There'd be an instance where I thought I had the right areas selected to apply a texture, and then when I did, it would texture everything else. I already need to go back and redo the radio task, the one I had this issue with, so hopefully I can figure out what's up with it there.

Stop Motion was a lot more fun this week than last, mostly due to the workflow feeling a lot better. I was working with someone who really understood what I was trying to get at with suggestions, and I feel like it was mutual between the two of us. Armatures are a lot easier to work with than Plasticine balls on wires, surprisingly enough. They don't fall apart as easily, and you can get better looking consistent movements from them. The wire and sockets can't physically change shape like the Plasticine can, so it made animations look weird and inconsistent. Luckily, armatures don't have that, and everything went well! Main thing to remember for next time is don't knock the camera. And if you do, then don't panic for too long.

Sketchbook is still at the same point as last week, where motivation seems down for it and not very much is getting done. I don't want to force myself to fill pages, because then I'm not really putting my all into what I'm doing. But at the same time, actually getting up and doing it is what could get me back into the flow of it. I'm gonna have to try exclusively doing my comics and then hopefully adding in little things if sparks of ideas crop up.

WEEK 6 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING - January 21st, 2019

WEEK ENDING - January 27th, 2019

MONDAY - Maya introduction

Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/01/cgi-introduction.html

- "Overall, I'm really happy with both the animation and the introduction to Maya in general! Being completely honest, I was not expecting myself to find Maya as (for lack of a better term) easy and user friendly as it was; I actually understood it, unlike After Effects. Everything is laid out how I would've expected it, and things do what you want! It shares traits to other programs I've dabbled with, but in a way that makes the translation from 2D to CGI usage easy to understand! While I'm happy with the animation that came out of this session, I think I want to go back and add in more details; model in a barn, a background, and more cows to make a more interesting animation!"

TUESDAY - Narratology: Animation is a Uniquely Visual Medium

Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/01/narrative-animation-is-uniquely-visual.html

- "And that was the final lecture on Narratology! At this point, we should have a film in mind, or at least have whittled it down to 2 choices. I'm sticking with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? for my film; it fits into my chosen question format too well. From here, I need to settle on a plan of action for the essay, and do deeper research."

THURSDAY - Stop Motion introduction

<to be added>

SUMMARY

This first week for a couple of things, and I loved one a LOT more than the other.

The CGI / Maya introduction was the one I really liked! CGI was my introduction to animation, and watching films like Toy Story and Shrek really inspired me to go into animation. I learnt later on that CGI was allegedly very difficult, even the simplest things. But now I've done the simplest things and discovered that they weren't too difficult, it puts my mind at ease a LOT. Despite only having one session on CGI, I feel like I've absolutely fallen for it; definitely a medium I'm looking forward to doing more of!

Stop Motion... isn't as enjoyable as I imagined, or as I remember from past experience. The process is a lot more fiddly and complex than I recall, and you really need a good sense of patience when you do it; and I'm willing to admit one of my faults is lack of patience. Maybe this session with the bouncing ball was a one-off? Things kept falling apart, and injuries were almost sustained (luckily, no-one was actually hurt). When we move onto armatures, hopefully it'll be less... personally frustrating.

We've ended our traditional lectures with Lynsey now, and this last one was somewhat helpful. It covered a few points that I could apply to my Who Framed Roger Rabbit themed essay, but nothing overly helpful like last week. The presentation was more so on how animation tells a story visually, but not handy in my essay exploring how animation is used in conjunction with the plot itself. If anything, this session was most helpful in solidifying that, now everything's concluded with lectures, I should really sit down and put my points down in concrete.

Sketchbook project this week has been a bit down, a combination of being busy with the work this week and, being completely honest, a lack of motivation. I feel like I burnt myself out on it the past two weeks getting things done, that I've subconsciously gotten tired of the sketchbook. I still pick it up every so often for a little scribble on the page, but not much else. I'm sure the motivation will come back.

WEEK 5 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING - January 14th, 2019

WEEK ENDING - January 20th, 2019

MONDAY - After Effects continuation

Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/01/animation-principles-iteration-3.html

- "At this point, I'm really happy with how this is coming along! It's looking as smooth as I wanted it to, with the only thing I need to fix at this point already being mentioned. This post was mostly about the build up to turning back into the Gauntlet, but the actual transformation is what's next."

TUESDAY - Narratology: The Hero's Journey

Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/01/narrative-heros-journey_15.html

- "There wasn't too much that spoke to me in terms of the films or questions I have in mind, apart from one aspect of the non-conventional narratives; specifically, the evolution of materiality. I want to explore how animation can be integrated into the narrative, and seeing an unconventional structure with that very idea could be useful to look into!"

WEDNESDAY - After Effects continuation

Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/01/animation-principles-final-iteration.html

- "So that's it for the morphing animation! I'm really happy with how it came out! The colours, animation and visuals all match what I want, and it even made me get along with After Effects a little bit more! I feel like if there wasn't a restriction on the colour palette (maximum 4 colours), then I could've presented a more accurate Infinity Gauntlet, just in terms of bringing in more Infinity Stones. That was the only real part of the brief that limited me, everything else I was fine with!"

THURSDAY - TINE KLUTH STOP MOTION INTRODUCTION

<to be added>

SUMMARY

This was a good week! I got a satisfactory amount of work done, and it was a great way to segue from the first part of BA1b into the second, with each half of the week being somewhat dedicated to each.

I finished my morphing animation! I spent a lot of time just working on it this week, I had a lot of motivation all of a sudden! I'm really happy with my end result; a phrase I should stop using so often, but that's the only way I can really put it! The visuals and motions are all clean and look really nice in my opinion! I got some positive feedback from some peers, and any advice they gave was very helpful and immediately got implemented into the animation (if I saw eye to eye with them on it).

Narratology this week was unexpectedly helpful in it's subject matter. I don't plan on doing my essay about the Hero's Journey, but there were some parts towards the end of the lecture that are going to be very helpful when talking about Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Specifically, there was a term we learned about at the end regarding riffing, an animation narrative type where gags and jokes take over story. In my chosen film, riffs are used as full on story beats, so definitely one to keep in mind going forward!

My sketchbook was more doodles than anything this week. I've been trying to treat this less as a uni task, and more so as just another one of my own personal sketchbooks; and that attitude has been helpful with filling up sketchbooks! I've also looked back on sketchbooks of mine from 2013-2016, seeing what kinds of things I drew there and if I could recapture the same kind of things I was doing then.

WEEK 4 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING: January 7th, 2019

WEEK ENDING: January 13th, 2019

MONDAY - After Effects continuation, Norwich Castle sketchbook trip

Original blog posts: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/01/animation-principles-iteration-2.html 

- Continuing to work on morphing animation between two props from a live action film

- "So with that, the first half of the animation is done! From here, the main thing to do is to go back into the Infinity Gauntlet. And now I know how to make the morph look, and in an effort to keep consistency, the next half should go by much better!"

https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/01/sketchbook-project-norwich-castle-visit.html 

- Visiting Norwich Castle to do observational drawings

- "And that was about it for the visit! No real set task, just "go and draw". I found it alright, but not overly exciting? Observational drawing isn't what I particularly enjoy. I'm happy enough drawing just about anything in a cartoon format, and I'm becoming more fond of drawing just people thanks to life drawing... but observational drawings of regular things aren't my favourite thing."

TUESDAY - Up viewing and plot summary

Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2019/01/narrative-up-plot-summary-and-character.html

- Watched Up by Pixar Animation Studios, and give a plot summary afterwards, as well as identify Vogler's character archetypes.

SUMMARY

This week was a good return to form for me! I wasn't able to get as much work done over the Christmas break as I wanted, but I still got a decent amount done to act as a good jumping on point for this week.

This week was strange for the Narratology side of things. Lindsey wasn't there today, so we were just told to watch Up and write up a plot summary / character archetype breakdown afterwards. I think it was mostly an exercise to see if we could identify these on our own, not just by being taught what each one was with examples like in the PowerPoints we'd used before. I also feel entirely comfortable with my choice in question and film; Question #4 about how animation influences the narrative, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit respectively.

In After Effects, I continued on with my work on my morphing movie props animation. This week was a HUGE leap in terms of what I managed to get done. I struggled in Week 3, for reasons out of my control. But after some time away from the program (I wasn't able to work on the animation during Christmas, since my laptop can't run After Effects), it cleared my head and I was able to take a step back. I got back into the animation, and now it's running much smoother than it was last time! Now it's just a matter of keeping it up.

The Sketchbook project this week was mostly observational drawings from the Norwich Castle visit. I found the more interesting things to draw there were the taxidermy animals, instead of the scenery and castle structure. Creatures and beings are a lot more interesting for me to draw than locations and details in them. I did give the location a go, but it ultimately didn't speak to me very much.

WEEK 3 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING: 10th of December, 2018

WEEK ENDING: 16th of December, 2018

[DISCLAIMER: I missed some of this week for personal reasons. Sessions I missed will not be covered in depth.]

MONDAY - (absent) Sketchbook Project introduction, After Effects Workshop

Blog posts: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2018/12/sketchbook-project-introduction.html

- I've found through the brief and other people who attended what this project entails. The blog post I have for this project is just brief notes on what I need to do; I won't be writing about what happened in the session.

- The After Effects workshop was continuing our "Guess the Movie" morphing animations.

TUESDAY - (absent) Narratology: Proppian Fairytales

<to be added>

THURSDAY - After Effects continuation

Blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2018/12/animation-principles-iteration-1.html 

- I started my movie prop morphing animation after missing the session where everyone else had started.

SUMMARY
This wasn't a great week for me, but it had nothing to do with university. I've fallen behind a bit with work from both last week and this week, and my head space isn't too good at this point. I feel like, given my circumstances, that's understandable. 

I was able to get a little bit of work done this week for my morphing animation, but I got frustrated at it very quickly. Nothing worked how I wanted it to, and the fact I was working in a program I already wasn't getting along with didn't help either. I'm going to have to give myself a little bit of time to be in the right head space to work on this animation further, because I feel like continuing at this point would just make me give up a lot faster.

The Narratology presentation isn't really speaking to me this time around. Looking at fairytales and a lot of the rules that go into making one aren't really what I'm interested in. Again, I'm not in the best headspace at the moment, so I'm probably going to give myself some time and make sure I'm 100% ready to look back and focus on the presentation I missed. 

WEEK 2 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING: 3rd of December, 2018

WEEK ENDING: 9th of December, 2018

[DISCLAIMER: I missed some of this week for personal reasons. Sessions I missed will not be covered in depth.]

MONDAY - Introduction to "Guess the Movie" task

Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2018/12/animation-principles-introduction.html

- This was just our introduction to our "Guess the Movie" project, that's running for 4 weeks and involves taking two props from a live action movie and making them morph into each other.

- "So this project seems REALLY exciting! I love working with media I love; it's the kind of stuff I was doing before starting this course. When both your subject matter and your medium involves something you're passionate about, then you become a lot more invested in it, which is exactly what I'm going for! From here, I think asset creation is what I'm going to aim for next. The drawing tools in After Effects, the program we're making this animation in, aren't really my cup of tea. However, I'm a lot more comfortable in another vector based program, Illustrator. I could make the assets there and import them over somehow? Will have to look into that."

TUESDAY - Narratology: "Only Trouble is Interesting?"

Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2018/12/narrative-only-trouble-is-interesting.html 

- We discussed if stories had to have some kind of conflict, and looked at the ideals of Western storytelling standards vs Eastern ones.

- "This session was generally very interesting! Before this, I thought I had a pretty good understanding of plot structure, but I learnt a lot more that I wouldn't have known had I not attended! The most interesting thing was definitely Kishotenketsu; it's a fairly unconventional plot structure for western societies, and one I didn't know about beforehand. I really want to keep the structure in the back of my mind, so that when the time comes to make my own story, I can consider this less seen method!"

THURSDAY - (absent) After Effects session

From what I've gathered, this session was just getting a start with the "Guess the Movie" task.

SUMMARY
Getting the brief on our After Effects project was a lot more exciting than I thought it would be! I love working on projects that involve the things we love, and being a huge fan of superhero movies, I was up for working on anything that meant I could incorporate my favourite movie in it! Although it does come with the angle of it having to be done in After Effects... my experience thus far with the program has NOT been good. But I guess it's something I'm just going to have to get used to, especially if I want to be able to do the things I want to with this task.

Narratology this session was really interesting; a lot more so than I usually expect from these types of lectures. I knew beforehand there were certain formulas and tropes that stories fall into, but I never knew there were certain ones that are almost always present dependent on your location. Kishotenketsu was really interesting to look into as well! We also got the 5 question templates for our essays; I think I'm going to look at the one regarding how animation is intrinsic to the narrative. It seems really interesting, and right up my alley! It also means my ideal film of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? fits a lot more.

WEEK 1 SUMMARY

WEEK BEGINNING: 26th of November, 2018

WEEK ENDING: 2nd of December, 2018

MONDAY: Introduction to Unit BA1b, Introduction to After Effects

Original blog posts:

Intro to BA1b - https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2018/11/unit-ba1b-introduction.html

- A general introduction to what we'd be doing over the next few months, involving a practice task involving morphing.

- "Overall, I was happy with this session! But what I'm most looking forward to is the rest of the unit. Especially learning how to do 3D animation in Maya; I've never done CGI animation before, so it'll be interesting learning if it'll be easy, difficult, or maybe even something I'd want to keep doing throughout all 3 years! The Mystery Box project seems interesting as well; I'd seen previous examples of it, and it looks like a lot of fun to come up with the ideas and execute them!"

After Effects - https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2018/11/animation-principles-after-effects.html

- An introduction to our Motion Graphics and After Effects Morphing projects. Taught us the basics of After Effects.

- "Overall thoughts? Honestly, I didn't really like this session. Motion graphics usually don't interest me, but I thought I'd give it a fair shot with this introductory session like I had done for things I previously didn't like in the last unit. But ultimately... I don't think it's for me. The combination of the subject matter itself and After Effects wasn't my cup of tea, and I can't see myself utilising motion graphics outside my university work."

TUESDAY: Introduction to Narratology

Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2018/11/narrative-introduction.html

- An introduction to our new essay project, looking at Narratology.

- "[...]But I did enjoy this lecture! Granted, the subject matter for this essay isn't as personally interesting as the last one was (the subject was characters). But I just need to make sure I choose something I'll be happy writing about and then it should all be alright from there! I'm struggling to come up with a comprehensive pool of films I could choose from for this, the one I'm gravitating towards most is Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. I'm going to have to double check if I'd be able to use that film though, since it's only partially animated. But overall, enthusiastic about this project!"

THURSDAY: After Effects Development

Original blog post: https://ncarolannua1b.blogspot.com/2018/11/animation-principles-after-effects_29.html

- Further development on After Effects skills

- "Overall, this session was a lot like the last After Effects one; I didn't really enjoy it too much, nothing really appealed to me personally. After Effects still doesn't feel like "my thing", especially after giving it a fair go both at uni and when finishing work at home. While the animation came out alright, it just about meets my own personal standard. The thing I feel holding me back from making it better is just my incompatibility with After Effects. I should try and find ways to make things easier to work with next week."

SUMMARY
Overall, this was a solid week in terms of introductions to the new projects. 

The entirety of BA1b looks interesting, in terms of the range of things we do and the time we get to do it. It seems as if it'll be more fast paced than BA1a was, where it was 1 project for about 2 months; now it's a few weeks per project. CGI and the Mystery Box are what interest me the most; aspiring to do CGI at an early age was what got me into animation, but I've not done it before up to this point. And seeing previous year's Mystery Box animations look really cool, creating a character of your own and bringing them to life! That's right up my alley!

After Effects on the other hand... is not. I've said it in my previous blog posts about the program, but I don't really get along with it. I gave it a fair chance to sway me, but I think it's gone under the listing of "programs I don't like". I'll use it if necessary, like for this project and such, but I can't see myself using it outside of university usage any time soon.

Finally, the Narratology project. Like I said, the topic we're looking at doesn't appeal to me as much as the Character project did, I can still spin it to become a lot more engaging to me personally! One of my main goals with this research project is to use a film I don't know inside and out; that means no LEGO Movie (even though I did that one last unit) and none of the Toy Story trilogy. This still leaves me with a lot of films I really enjoy that I could write about; as stated before, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? has been on my mind a lot; that could be a good choice.