Production Update 4#

I have now completed the animation for the armouries brief.

I believe its successful. I think the animations are smooth and effective. Although without sound its not very 'alive' and any mistakes in the animation are more obvious.

As none of the sound students got back to me, I decided to do the sound myself. Using free sound effects online and going through the animation I filled it in. The only sound I couldn't get is the army recruiter yelling 'Enlist Now'. I tried recording myself and finding something online, but too much of the background noise is picked up in my recordings, and couldn't find anything suitable online, so replaced it with a louder train whistle (which I feel shouldve been louder looking back at it now) 

Here is the final piece

I'm happy with the work I've created. I feel like my skills animating and drawing in flash have improved greatly since the last flash piece I did, aswell as a better idea for timing and frames needed. I also believe I've done a decent job for the sound. I haven't really tried using sound effectively in any of my prior work, so quite surprised its turned out so well on this.

Production Update 3#

I have not done any updates for each sequence as I do them since my send session, as I feel there isnt much to discuss about the scenes individually. Most come out as I planned, any that do not I modify from the storyboard, or redo. So far I believe the production is moving along as an excellent pace.

Production Update 2#

Today I finished the opening trench sequence which I started yesterday. I think its good. But the first thing that pops into mind everytime I see it is that I should redo the fat soldier. For some reason the brush tool is thicker, and I didn't notice until exporting. It doesn't take away from the scene too much, if any. But personally it stands out to me like a soar thumb. If I have time, I will come back and redo the soldier to make him fit in with the rest of the soldiers. The arm movements of the main character and sergeant are a little rigid, but overall good. I am unsure yet if the whistle scene is effective as Ill need to draw and add the train conductor to know, timing wise.

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Production Update 1#

Today I finally set about working on the final armouries animation. I began by going through my final, animatic once more, to refresh my memory on the scenes and camera angles. I decided to work from a new flash file, instead of converting the animatic into the final piece, as I have changed my mind about a few scenes.

I started off easy, getting the rain animation done. I attempted to use a script to get this done, and tried to find a source online, that could either show how to create the script, or simply give me a pre existing script which I could paste into my file. After an hour of searching I still couldn't find anything that was what I was looking for, so I scrapped the idea of using a script, and drew 4 frame which Id double frame, and loop throughout the trench scenes. It only took a short amount of time, but I feel it is effective, and with the addition of sound will have the viewer convinced.

The success of the rain began my momentum, and I decided I'd do the first 15 second, trench sequence tonight. I followed the same process I used in the animatic. I drew all the backgrounds and symbols in the same scene, and had them tween to and from the work space in time with the animation. I drew the main background, the trench, and objects within it first. It came out well. Although it was trickier than I first thought itd be in the animatic, and needed to invest some time into making it look like a realistic trench from the first war, so barbed wire and planks where the main things I wanted to show. I considered maybe putting in some blood and dismembered limbs, but such things would distract the viewer from the main point of the scene, and only raise questions. It'd also be inaccurate. Blood wouldn't stand out against the darkened wet soil around it, and any limbs or 'bits' of soldiers close to the trench would be removed and disposed of as soon as possible.

I did modify from the animatic here. I had the character sitting and resting against the trench wall instead of standing in the middle, which seemed very weird when thinking about the fear I wanted to show the character to have. A scared soldier wouldn't be standing in the middle of the trench and seem almost eager to go over the wall and fight. He'd be tired, scared, and trying to hide and escape from the violence.

I also switched from the 3 clouds moving in the opening, and explosions, to still clouds and thunder. I did this as I felt it was stupid to have 3 small cloud moving under a giant rain cloud, and to save time. Lighting only needs one frame and then a complete white frame to be effective and realistic, while half a dozen explosions of different size and shapes would take ages.

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Its a strong start. I feel the rain in realistic, and matched the timing and duration of the tweens as I had originally envisioned in the animatic. The next step now is to add the characters, their movements, and the final whistle scene.

Sound Update 3#

Just a notification. As none of the sound students have gotten back to me by now. I've decided I'm going to do the sound myself and mover forward with production.

Self Initiated Study 2 - Anticipation

For the second self initiated study we focused on the second principle of animation - Anticipation. After going through the animation book, and seeing some examples online, studying the timing and duration of the keyframes, we went about creating it at home. I decided to make a character punching, and would use the character design I used for the storyboard in the drawing sessions. I believe it came out well. I had to switch the robot arm to the left side to make the punch facing the screen, but dont think that takes anything away from the animation. I feel the timing of the frames is well done, and looks realistic. It slows into the anticipation and preparation of throwing a punch, and then speed up to after the punch has landed.

Drawing Update 10#

Today I decided to give Coat Reddington another look, and create a perspective drawing of the city from a street. This is the first time I've drawn a perspective in a few months, but I don't think its too bad:

Obviously I haven't finished it, and have will need another sitting to finish all the buildings and fill it in more. I've filled in the background and airspace with things I remember seeing in the city, for example the giant rabbit, Greggs blimp and 3 suns in the air.

I feel like the city has become more alive for me after starting this piece. You feel like youve jumped into the world with everything going on around you. I may add colour to this once I've finished, or just parts to make them stand out. But I prefer pencil, as is obvious from all the work I've done. It may be useful for me to experiment with more material.