JUMP: Feedback

I showed the last playblast I did and Rachel's blocking from the first scene at the feedback session today.

It went well, our tutors seemed happy with what we had so far. I took some notes from the feedback everyone was giving me and I typed it up for Rachel, here is what I wrote:

# They thought the clouds may have been too distracting and think a 2D background would be better, less intrusive. So I'll refer back to the tests I did and mock up some backgrounds.

# It was suggested by Siobhan that we edit what we've done with the animatic in future, so they can always see the full picture. If that makes sense?

# It was also suggested that we consider helmets or something to help with the falling illusion (flappy straps I'm guessing). Basically stuff to wobble about I think.. I'm unsure about what else we could do but I said we'd consider it.

# Just said to consider the camera (that was aimed more at mine, since I hadn't cut it or anything ~ I explained how we were planning to cut the shot which was why Siobhan suggested editing with the animatic just to make it clearer).

# Definitely consider dialogue ~ they really liked the reference, particularly the shouting over the fan.

# Timing (more aimed at mine but without the cutting it did seem slower than it should, also explained that and they understood - again edit with animatic)

# They were happy with yours and are looking forward to seeing both the characters move.

Hope that made sense, if something doesn't just ask 
Penny mentioned something about being away in August, sometime around the 6th - 24th... just a heads up really.

Useful thing the examiners said about last years dissertation reports is that they weren't reflective enough. So we need more 'why I did this' rather than 'what I did'. So basically more reflection and critical analysis. Word count is 10,000. I think it was mentioned you can go up to 14,000.
The two reports Penny sent us are the best to look at, both were A grades.

...I think that was about it.


I also spoke to Penny about the project specification we have to write. I've already written a rough go and she said I should outline how we're going to go about researching the topic i.e. look at what other animators have done and realism vs. cartoons. I shall get that done and sent to Penny for feedback by the end of the week.

We need to start thinking about the written part of our final project which is a 10,000 - 14,000 document. I'm putting off starting it until I go to see my parents next weekend as I won't be able to animate while there so I'll be doing that instead. Here is a list of things I need to look into again for research which needs to go into this document:

# Skrat from Ice Age - particularly when he falls.
# Wile E Coyote - 2D and 3D
# Possibly Rio, for the background character hand gliding - slightly different to skydiving but the air affecting the character still applies.
# Tex Avery
# Animations other people have done (skydiving)

# Point break - skydiving scenes.
# Power Rangers - skydiving scene.
# Youtube videos of people's skydiving experiences.

#Skydiving information - websites etc. For technical details.

Rachel's Blog

Sky Dive Test 2

Added some more animation, particularly to the head and torso as advised. I made some tweaks to the right hand as it wasn't 'flapping' as much as the left and was too slow. I also added another layer of clouds which will go faster than the background and some camera shakes to help with the illusion of free fall.

I think it looks okay actually. Waiting for feedback as I'm sure there is something I can do to improve it but so far it's gone better than expected. The intention of this was to see if I could create the illusion of falling so that me and Rachel would know how to do it in the final animation. It is absolutely vital we get this looking decent because otherwise, if we don't get it at least believable, the whole animation will suffer for it and look 'floaty' and wrong.



Rachel's Blog

New Storyboards

Right, as promised yesterday, here are the new storyboards. It's missing the dare before the scuffle on the plane because the change wasn't made until after I'd drawn that part. I've added notes on the storyboard and will be adding the dare in the animatic which I'm working on now!

Rachel's Blog

Animatic Work

Our tutors, Chris and Ellie, think we're at a point now where we can start getting some movement planning. Particularly with the camera shots as we could be quite creative with it in this animation. I've worked on the first scene today and am about to start having a play around for the middle section; the free fall.

Scott Ramsey kindly brought the opening of the first Power Rangers movie to our attention as it contains the characters skydiving, one is even sky boarding.


This is the first scene that I've worked on, the timing might need adjusting but the idea is down.


Rachel's Blog!

Feedback from Tuesday.

Our tutors wanted to us to consider camera angles that may be used for our animation. As I had work that night, Rachel volunteered to experiment with the rigs and camera for the next day because she's lovely.

Check out what she came up with! (The host of her blog - blog.com seems to be down at the moment, I will fix this as soon as it's up again.)

Storyboard for Alt idea.

We waited for the some feedback from the group but only one person gave us his, which was for the idea with the female character (now called Kat) kissing Malcolm on the cheek at the end. So we went with that.

I've drawn out a rough storyboard for this idea while Rachel has done some character profiles and sketches.

Rachel's Blog

11 Second Club: Camera Tests

Been messing around with the camera to try and get a nice camera movement from the first shot to the last.
After getting feedback from my class mates I ended up using a camera cut when Grandma starts walking.

Test 1: Original Test


Test 2: After adjusting the first shot to hide the belt more and cut to next shot. Also moved the cut to a bit later in the scene (when Grandma starts walking). Got the resolution wrong.


Test 3: No change other than I actually found how to change the resolution. Had it right the first time but didn't set it to the right camera (I am dumb...)

11 Second Club: Blocking!

Done the initial blocking on both characters now:



Going to have a play with the camera, see if I can get a camera movement that works.
After that I'm going to put the break downs in and block with a bit more detail.

11 Second Club: First character blocked.

Blocked the first character this evening.

Adapting some of Kyle Balda's blocking method, I blocked the first character using mostly the main controller around the hips. Also blocked the spine, head, wrists and feet when absolutely necessary.

I like this way of blocking and it's actually helping me be more conscious of what I'm doing, as these Norman rigs don't seem to have a key all option anywhere. I've had to block in the rest of the joints where they landed but I intend to block in stages, focusing on different things at a time, rather than everything at once.



This is nearly the shot I want to start at. I want the wrestling belt as much out of shot as possible to be revealed later.
As I don't yet know how to zoom the camera in and out (or anything actually, other than creating one) I playblasted another clip to show the rough shot I want to zoom out to for the reveal.



So far so good, hoping not to annoy Maya.
I want to block a few more things before blocking the next character, which hopefully I'll start tomorrow.

Mid Shot Test

Forgot to post this when I playblasted it.

Did a test of a mid shot for the consideration of the team. We're still thinking about adding camera cuts where necessary. For my mime, I was thinking something like this would be appropriate but cut at the appropriate time.

Walk Assignment: Camera Angles. Tests 5 & 6

Trying to decide which angle looks better as my fiance insists the first one looks like he's limping.

Test 5:


Test 6:

Malcolm character courtesy of AnimSchool.com