Reflections Block 2

Week 17:

Notes

Professional practice brief launch (20 credits):

Able to work with 3rd yr students – RCA MA students – create connections – open day – Easter holidays?

speakers on Fridays – how to get work – thesis proposal sessions nearer Easter

Whats in the assignment: work based portfolio – research workplaces your interested in – CVs – covering letter – best way to communicate – project assistant work – critical appraisal – IP3 thesis/critical report plan – preparing for yr 3 – assistant roles – padlet board – have a conversation with 3rd years

Notes

Block 2 Toolkit online session:

Stop motion: tool kit 5 – mono prints abstraction – tool kit 6 – rigging puppets – layering green screen – toolkit 7 – multi-plane – model making – creating organic structures – lighting

AE skills toolkit – toolkit 5 analog footage – composite – pacing tone – masking – sand analogue textures – mono printing and materials – textures into motion – toolkit 7 – building environments – 3d space – multi plane digitally – cameras – lighting – particle effects – cinematographic effects – atmospheric effects – letter to a pig

Intro to blender – toolkit 5 -integrating of 2D – grease pencil – working with planes – lighting – composition -mixed media production workflows

Reflection

Assessment feedback for Frankenstein project- introduction to animation:

Realization:

I realized that I need to revisit how I reflect on my work, similar to how I did last year. Instead of simply writing about what tasks I completed and how I did them, I need to explain why. During the Frankenstein project, my group and I needed more guidance to fully understand what the project entailed. I now realize that we should have focused on improving the story and asking for more feedback from our peers. In Chris's critical appraisal, he mentioned that the story line was unclear, which was a valid point that I wish I had included in my own appraisal. Going forward, I will improve my continuity by looking back at my previous reflections and addressing any problems that arose and their impact on my creative decisions and the project's development. In my previous reflection, I left out important details about the project itself and instead focused on the events that occurred and how I completed each task. Moving forward, I will make sure to discuss where I am in the project and how it will progress.


Chris suggested that I should focus on returning to sketchbook work, as it was one of my strongest skills that I lost by the end of the project. To rekindle my skills, I will refer back to my past reflections (using week numbers as reference points) and discuss what I would change, why or why not. This will help me to improve my next personal project by questioning my decisions and going back to the roots of the project. I am very excited about this personal project and believe that by returning to my strengths and improving upon them, I can create something truly great.

Notes

Toolkit 5: AFX with Mariana

Reflection

Tool kit five, week one, has helped me explore using materials in my animations to give them a tactile effect. I found Mariana’s videos quite interesting, especially Freeze Frame – a short animated film that incorporates the element of ice to depict animals and humans. The title ‘freeze frame’ perfectly captures the essence and overall nature of the animation because I noticed the animation had a film strip motif, with blocks of ice acting as a window of that film strip, almost like a frozen memory in time. I am now inspired to explore how nature can be used as a metaphor for experiences or processes in human life. I plan to link this idea to my upcoming project, which is set to launch next week.

Notes

Friday Talk:

Week 18:

Exploratory Practice Personal Project Launch:

Notes

Project Reflection Week 18

My personal project: I plan to explore as many concepts as possible during this stage of the project. I’m particularly interested in studying the relationship between humanity and nature. It would be interesting to create a character with a plant-based design, plant people? incorporating elements of nature into their overall appearance.

I would like the story to focus on the main character’s path towards self-discovery and healing, using a natural element to underscore their growth. To do this I will combine nature to the characters design. It is important to prioritize scenes that contribute to the character’s development, highlighting their emotional journey and transformative experiences that lead them to rediscover their passions. Returning back to your roots?

Reflection: (I have divided up my reflection up into a template to help allow me to create a more thorough documentation of my progress)

• 1. Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project theme

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work?
Inquiring about the connection between human beings and nature would relate to the influence of nature on my life, especially during the lockdown. Nature, as a whole, has altered my perception of myself. Being in nature has provided me with solace from my depression during this time.

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further? I see this project as a chance for me to improve my storytelling skills, which I felt were lacking in my previous work on the ‘Frankenstein Lives Project’. My main challenge in that project was ensuring that the story was easy to follow. With this new project, I am determined to make my storytelling clear and coherent for all viewers.

In my past assessments, I succeeded by experimenting deeply in my sketchbooks. I plan to fill these sketchbooks with inventive designs, concepts, tests and plans to enhance my work and maintain my creativity. By being experimental, I can open myself up to new ways of working and give myself a broader scope of possibilities.

After learning how to create 3D models, I have discovered a newfound joy in designing environments for my stories. This has added a new level of depth to my work and has greatly improved the quality of my recent projects. As a result, I have decided to incorporate this skill into my current project.

Are there patterns or trends in my behavior or thinking that I want to understand better? I have realized that I have a tendency to jump straight into research without considering how it will benefit my projects. By recognizing this pattern, I can now identify when to connect my sources back to my work. This will help me to add more depth and meaning to what I am doing.

• 2. Gathering Information:

Collecting relevant information and data related to the topic of reflection:

Personal observations: I will start my project with observations I make in the real world by recording, doodling and taking pictures to contribute towards my story and visual development. records or documents of events – identify relevant resources

Feedback from others: I will seek feedback from others by asking them to go over my research, development etc – look to tutors for guidance – this will further improve my work as I choose to gather suggestions and ideas from others.

• 3. Analysis and Interpretation:

Review the information and data you have gathered: I will do this more in depth when I am collecting resources further into the project – but as of now I think the knowledge I have of what my theme could possibly be is a good start as it is personal and something others can relate to. It would also be really fun designing fun characters what could possibly be designs towards plant people? each person resembles a certain plant?

Identify patterns, themes, and insights that emerge from your analysis: I think there is a big theme on plants in this analysis and the possibility of integrating character designs that involve plants?

Consider how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors contribute to the experience you’re reflecting on: they contribute by helping me realize the importance of the outdoors, inspiring me to exploring the importance of taking time for yourself.

Explore different perspectives and interpretations: Making the protagonist resemble nature ties directly into the overarching themes of your story, emphasizing the interconnectedness between humans and the natural world. The cracks in their skin can symbolize vulnerability and the wounds they carry, while the blooming hair represents growth, renewal, and resilience?

• 4. Synthesis:

Integrate your observations, insights, and interpretations into a coherent understanding of the project: so far I want to create a resonant exploration of the interconnectedness between humanity and the natural world, reminding us of the healing power that lies within the embrace of nature and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity. Through the protagonist’s experiences, the story explores themes of resilience, self-discovery, and the healing power of nature. I will integrate observations of nature first hand, gain insights into other peoples opinions about my work and explore a broader range of interpretations before diving in further with my project.,

Consider how your reflections connect to broader themes, values, or goals in your life: By reflecting in this way I will be able to look back and build upon past and present ideas, documenting a glimpse into my brain and thought process – picking up on themes and patterns in my work. I’ve realized that this theme of connecting to nature relates really well to past experiences and thought in my life especially with my struggle with identity when growing up, nature has helped me connect with life but also to other like minded people. It also links to my projects last year, especially the module “visual narrative”, where I experimented with stop motion with things in my local forest. I wish to return there for this project.

Identify any lessons learned or areas for growth and development: From my most recent assessment feedback I am challenging myself to reflect each week in more depth and meaning – I plan to develop my story telling and build upon my already gained skills.

• 5. Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward: I will firstly collect observations, create imaginative doodles to explore visuals and ideas. Collect inspiration from a range of resources such as pictures I take, films, literature, past work etc. Branch out into other possible story lines to vary my story telling skills. I plan to create a visual library, finding inspiration in character/environmental design, techniques and style to establish a clear idea of the visuals.

Set specific, achievable goals that are aligned with your insights and priorities: By the end of next week I aim to collect pages of sketches, inspirations and resources to aid my project and prepare me for the development stage.

Consider potential obstacles or challenges and identify ways to address them: when faced with challenges I will come back to my reflections and define what may be caused a set back I will then reflect on how I will go about it. Right now I think a big challenge will be scheduling my work as I am planning to work solo. Also despite working solo collaboration is still advised as its one of the learning outcomes for this project – so I need to find potential people to help with minor roles. Challenges also include scheduling, so I will prepare a timetable so I have everything ready for the first interim.

Establish a timeline for implementing your action plan and monitor your progress over time: my action plan is for next week. My progress is going smoothly and have a few potential character designs that look very interesting. I also want to include my trip to Kew Gardens as I went to a orchid festival and believe it will aid my development. I found it interesting that they had displays of sculptures made entirely out of plants, I think this is a good starting point to experiment with materials of plants.

• 6. Evaluation and Adjustment:

Regularly review and evaluate the effectiveness of your action plan: As of now, I am pretty confident with my action plan. I am excited to just go wild with experimentation and not worrying too much about a thought out story-line.

Assess whether you’re making progress toward your goals and objectives: Still starting to kick start this project but I will be open to making adjustments or revisions to my plans based on new insights or changing circumstances.

• 7.Conclusion:

Key insights: Keep building upon these reflections to help build an active diary which I can look upon later.

Lessons learned: Documentation of experiences is important to my growth as an artist and also exhibits my thought process – this gives me framework to pick out my key themes and follow back on my aims for this project.

Actions taken: Reflecting, analyzing, starting to think of possible narratives/experimenting with ideas.

Consider how your reflections have contributed to your personal or professional growth and development: By creating a reflection in stages, it has helped engage in a structured and systematic process of reflection that enhances my self-awareness, learning, and growth.

Notes

Enterprise and Employability Online class: with Zoe

What are hard skills? technical skills – softwares – frameworks – easily quantifiable What are soft skills? career attributes, mindsets, personality traits, communication skills, collaboration – soft skills are the new hard skills. Mindset – what is your mindset? growth mindset? entrepreneurial mindset? – https://mycreativetype.com/ result: The Dreamer – Ideal blue sky role > Ie what do you value professionally? create my own work? collaborate also – remote working – mixed working? a more chill workspace – place to work alone but also collaborate – creative side of projects

Timetable till Easter break:

AIMS for Week 18:

1) Experiment in new sketchbook 2) Explore concepts 3) Choose concept 4) Concept research 5) Visual research 6) Character research/designs 7) Storyline development 8) Develop a logline-synopsis 9) Start statement of intent 10)

Informed practice 2 feedback:

Reflection

I am not very pleased with my grade this time in informed practice. I believe this is because I didn’t read fully into the brief.

According to Nicola:

The discussion about what breaking the fourth wall can add to eg narration beyond other narration techniques needed development. You describe how BTFW works well with examples, and this needs further interpretation. For example what responses can be elicited in an audience through showing characters motivations and thought processes? Why is this of importance/relevance more widely? There is mention of comedy and there could be reflection of how and why comedy is used beyond generating laughter, for example what social message can comedy communicate, reinforce, challenge?

Pay attention to presentation detail, include page numbers, left align text, correct and sufficient in text citation. You make good use of images to communicate your points, adding a photo essay element to your methodology. However, images need to be used correctly to support your arguments. Revise conventions for using images. Label images (Figure 1, Figure 2 etc.) and use this label to refer to them in your text (e.g. Figure 1 is one of a series of…). Include a list of figures before your bibliography, with full source information and page number where the image appears in your writing.

Breakdown:

1. I needed to develop why different ways of BTFW can be effective. eg “narration techniques” needed development – further interpretation eg I mention comedy – could have been reflection of how + why is this important more widely beyond generating laughter
2. Presentation – page numbers – left align text – correct + sufficient in text citation – label images (figure 1, figure 2 etc)- include a list of figures before my bibliography – full source info = page number – where image appears in writing
3. I didn’t read the unit guide and it presented an array of things I should have included such as: interrelation of context (story, characters, dialogue) and form (genre, style, structure ) – the text should have stance on meaning or ideological/emotive/affective potency of the medium – should investigate text alongside at least 5 critical essays, articles or books that you have found in your research or that have been discussed this term – should have related it to a particular theme discussed in contextual and theoretical studies unit
4. this is what I should have included (below):

5. the unit guide showed where I could find help for essay structure + has short examples of previous students writing

Conclusion

I should:

1. have read the unit guide in detail – highlight the points I must include
2. structure my essay properly – text to the left of page – stated images properly – eg figure 1 etc

extra things to do:

1. change proposal – as it is similar to my personal project. Maybe it’s a helpful thing?
2. start my statement of intent – figure out storyline

Week 19:

Reflection

Su Lynn workshop

This lesson was very intense and I found it hard to concentrate, as there was a lot of new techniques in Harmony to apply. I found the eyelid part particularly difficult, as there were a lot of steps to it. But I eventually learnt how to mask and cut the eyelid so it works properly. Even though I prepared a character before the lesson I still struggled to keep up so I did the most I could in the lesson and I plan to redo my character and watch the videos Su Lynn has put up. I also found the nodes very confusing and interrogating. I plan to organize my nodes into boxes next time to keep up with everything and not get overwhelmed. I don’t plan to rig my characters in my current project however I think it’s valuable knowledge to learn so that I had show I can do it to employers when looking for jobs. I understand the importance of learning to rig as I am having future lessons on this so it would be easier to learn sooner rather than later. 

Update: Was able to redo it at home without much trouble. I find that when I do stuff in my own time, it is much easier to pick up on things rather than being in a class. Su Lynns youtube videos really helped highlight the steps tor rigging the eye invert cutting and drawing substitutions.

First attempt

Second attempt

Notes

Lecture with Zoe

Make a living doing what you love – To help you reach success in your career or practise – different income streams – the pros and cons – rates and prices – side hustles – adding value – portfolio career (variety of roles rather than one job at a single organisation) – slasher (people who take on multiple career instead of sticking to one single position) – multi-hyphenate (taking on more than one job at a time) – multiple income streams – funding – courses – ebooks – memberships – equipment – licensing and royalties – products – teaching – workshops – consultancy – creative services – design – shameful side hustle – design banners – separate side hustle – commercial side hustle to fund all the shiny stuff – secret side hustle – doing lots of other different things – hourly rate – your eyes only – day rate – communicate with clients – project rate – full service start to end – fixed rate – provided by client – petals (teaching for unconventional – workshops) – the dot – alumini tool linkedin

Notes

Creative Writing

Reflection

Toolkit : AFX with Mariana

This week I found it rather boring as I was on speed graphs, however it made me think about pacing in my own pacing and how I animate. It made me realize my own animation patterns and also my own pacing style, I tend to like smooth transitions (using slower ease in and out transitions) and like to make action shots snappy (faster ease out shots). Helped me consider the pacing of my current personal project, concluded that i will have smoother transitions as I want to guide the viewers eye without them feeling overwhelmed. To do this I was have slow ease in and outs throughout my transitions.

Project Reflection Week 19

• 1. Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work?This week I’ve been experimenting more with characters and developing them further, thinking of creative ways to use my experiments and transfer them into motion using after effects. This has impacted the way I view the relationships between experiments and animation, merging the two, broadening my perspective on the limitless possibilities of animating in this personal project. Building images with different parts of nature has inspired me to go beyond the digital and use things around me.

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further? I attempted to rig an insect experiment this week using after effects, the pacing wasn’t perfect and I also had a toolkit with Mariana about speed graphs and the importance of timing in animation, I have taken this knowledge and plan to improve this animation test by analyzing the movement of beetles and improving the pacing so it looking like its carrying its weight.

Are there patterns or trends in my behavior or thinking that I want to understand better?

I think a main pattern in my thinking is growth and getting better at developing my skills – I want to understand how far I can go in this time when making his film – what can I experiment with and implement into my animation whether that is with real plants or a new software.

This week I’ve been more aware of my focus in classes, I find that by the time the second hour has passed I start to loose focus and my brain doesn’t work as fast, this is pro because of information overload. To combat this I will try to do as much as I can in class and if it happens to go back on my notes and finish up whatever needs to be done when I get home.

I also find that i work best working with multiple sketchbooks. One for my main work, one for experiments, and one for just messing around. Because I have more of a variety of ways to work I don’t feel as pressured to make one sketchbook look perfect and run the risk of ruining it with messy experiments.

• 2. Gathering Information:

Collecting relevant information and data related to the topic of reflection:

Personal observations: This week my personal observations were to collect as many visual inspirations as possible to help with my concept, one observation I liked was how plants can wrap around or grow into random objects that your don’t often see. I also found it fascinating to see images of plants mending broken pottery pieces, they’re roots holding the pieces together. This reminded me of the Japanese practise “Kinsugi” a motif of healing and transformation. This has developed my ideas a lot and i hope to use it in my storyline.

Feedback from others: from what I’ve shown to friends they have suggested to me many different plants I could explore, such as the plants I discovered at the orchid festival and plants they own in they’re rooms. One of my friends says she can see the pattern in my style in my newer character designs such as the faces features all hold a similar while still being unique essence, which is a good thing because it makes the designs coherent.

• 3. Synthesis:

Identify any lessons learned or areas for growth and development: I want to develop my rigging skills especially for my moving experiment, want to see if I can make the animation more insect like and explore more with other creatures? look further into my story telling skills – by storyboarding to get a greater sense of the story.

• 5. Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward: I plan to develop a animatic with the help of my storyboard. Explore composition, colour, lighting (style frames). Improve my rigging skills in toon boom by further enhancing my character that could potentially be in my animation and also broaden my skills in experimenting with movement overall – look into rigging more creatures – combining plants to animals like birds, deer, rabbits? – looking at facial expressions + creatures movement etc. keep updating my schedule to get things done on schedule and before deadlines.

Set specific, achievable goals that are aligned with your insights and priorities: by the end of next week I want to have a confident storyboard – possibly a animatic – a more established character design and my log line/synopsis complete (final draft) – by Thursday – statement of intent.

Consider potential obstacles or challenges and identify ways to address them: when burnt out with classes, take time to recoup and catch up later?

Establish a timeline for implementing your action plan and monitor your progress over time: My action plan is set till the end of next week, to monitor my progress I was update my schedule.

• 6. Evaluation and Adjustment:

Regularly review and evaluate the effectiveness of your action plan: My action plan is realistic and I am confident I will carry it out. With the help of my schedule I will complete everything by next week, this will give me time to ask for guidance and opinions from my tutors.

Assess whether you’re making progress toward your goals and objectives: I am aligned with my goals and objectives as I have already done what i wanted to do this week, by following my schedule and managing my time. i am making much progress with research, experiments and story side of this project.

• 7.Conclusion:

Key insights: pottery being mended by roots/plants, using things around me to animate with (import into digital/stop motion?)

Lessons learned: To not be as precious with my art, not be afraid to experiment more

Actions taken: character development, storyline development, improving my skills in rigging

Week 20

Notes

Storyboarding

Reflection

The storyboard workshop has helped me consider things I haven’t thought of in a while and has refreshed my memory in how to create effective storyboards, even learning a few terms I didn’t know existed which are fundamental to storyboarding and animation. Such as, condensed time is showing how things change over time e.g a montage, and extended time, shows extended time e.g slow motion. Looking forward I plan to take techniques I’ve been recapped on such as perspective, value and composition into my own storyboards for my personal project, improving on my storytelling skills. I also plan to use sticky notes as Izzy suggested it and I think it would be rather helpful to use them as you can replace drawings and switch up the panels with ease.

Notes

Enterprise and Employability Online class: with Zoe

Portfolios – Defining your practise – presenting it to the world – what is a professional portfolio – blowing it wide open – thinking about who we are and what impact that has on us professionally – 3 things you value – collaboration – passion – commitment – 3 things the industry/role needs – talent – creativity – confidence – 3 skills or attributes you want to communicate – strong 2D animation skills – versatility – creativity – Common portfolio mistakes: too much/too little work – messy tatty presentation – too much repetition – lots of focus on final /favourite project only – missing development – WordPress- blog sites – looks more professional- find portfolio you like – pros and cons

Notes

Creative Writing

Statement of Intent

Project Reflection Week 20

• Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project theme

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work?This week, I have been delving deeper into my character design style by creating interesting personalities based on the plants they are given. By exploring different plants, I have opened myself up to a variety of styles while also keeping them all consistent, which has helped me establish my style in my work. Looking at inspiring artists has also helped me determine this style as I have taken the things I like about their work and implemented them in my own.

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further? My challenge –  is to develop my main character’s appearance by incorporating more plant-like elements into her clothing. I would also like to design clothing for other characters, which could potentially be used for background characters. During my exploration of different character shapes, I found it useful in mapping out the basic structure of potential characters. I want to further develop my character shapes and focus more on costuming. Moreover, I need to work on my prob design skills as I want to create cars and phones that are more in line with the plant aesthetic of this world.

Success – Everyone who has seen my presentation so far has commented on the character design. I believe that incorporating elements of organic shapes, earthy colors, and fluid line work has really made a difference. Additionally, I really enjoyed working in my sketchbook again. I think it helps bring out interesting watercolor textures in my work. As a result, I plan to do more sketches and paintings in my sketchbook as it gives a more organic feel.

• Gathering Information:

Personal observations:I am interested in incorporating natural elements into my digital artwork, particularly by experimenting with my characters. I am considering using pressed flowers and exploring Alice Wolf’s technique of stitching leaves together to create new and unique forms. Perhaps this approach could help me in developing more distinctive characters by combining different forms together.

Feedback from others:When I showed my animatic to people for my interim, they said it was easy to follow with good pacing, which gives me confidence.

• Synthesis:

Integrate your observations, insights, and interpretations into a coherent understanding of the project: From my enjoyment of painting in my sketchbook, having an organic style and incorporating nature into my work, moving forward I think I’m going to continue to develop a more hands-on approach, for example incorporating my watercolor paintings in my backgrounds like Arthus Pilorget’s backgrounds in “Mum is pouring rain”.

• Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward: In the future, I intend to enhance my character design by conducting further experiments with real plants and drawing inspiration from my local forest. Moreover, I aim to refine my prop design so that it complements the plant world better. I will also concentrate on my environment design, especially my protagonist’s flat or pottery studio, to convey her lack of motivation that serves as the catalyst for her journey of self-discovery. I plan to finish this by the end of next week.

•  Evaluation and Adjustment:

Assess whether you’re making progress toward your goals and objectives:So far in this project, I believe I am ahead of my schedule and have accomplished all the tasks I set for myself each week. This indicates that my schedule is effective and my goals are realistic. As a result, I plan to continue following this approach for the remaining weeks of this project. I’ve finished my first animatic and it already feels cohesive.

• Conclusion:

Key insights: Keep experimenting and building my visual language, find a way to make this cohesive with the environment and the creatures living in it. I will also take what I learnt i creative writing workshops to create a character bible, to help me flesh out my character and also understand her in certain situations, this could help make my characters more relatable. 

Lessons learned: To be more experimental in my sketchbook and lean more into work by artists that inspire me/help drive my project forward, such as Alice Wolf and Arthus Pilorget.

Actions taken: Preparation for interim that deeply shows my development so far. Plans for more experimental work and ideas for more character design development. I want to also explore background design and prop design next week.

Week 21

Feedback

Interim 1

1. A lot of positive feedback on it overall
2. people liked the character development slides and animation experiment
3. Make main character more plant-like – more leaves – have the outfit more planty?
4. The middle of my story where the main character walks into the wood – could show more imperfections in nature to help communicate y idea of imperfections in nature e.g having cracks in trees that house animals within them

Notes

Thesis Prep Launch

Notes

Thesis Prep Planning

Project Reflection Week 21 – recap

• Concept and Theme:
  • How effectively do you convey the themes of nature, growth, and resilience throughout the story?
• I effectively convey nature themes in my writing by immersing my characters in nature during their most vulnerable moments. This allows them to reflect on the imperfections of the natural world and ultimately grow from their experiences. One example of this is through the physical transformation of my main character. During moments of conflict, she develops a crack which symbolizes her struggles. However, this crack eventually leads to the birth of blooming flowers in the climax, representing her growth and newfound perspective at the end of the narrative. My character’s appearance is inspired by the agave and pear cactus, two plants that symbolize strength and resilience in harsh environments, which links to my theme of resilience.

• Character Development:
  • How well-developed are the characters in my animation?
• My character undergoes a clear arc in her story-line, resolving a conflict and resulting in self-development. The character development is also evidenced in her appearance from start to end.
  • Do the main character’s journey of growth and discovery resonate with audiences?
• Many of my friends and classmates have said that the story I shared with them is relatable. I think it’s because the story portrays a lot of vulnerability, and the people who have found it relatable are mostly between the ages of 18 and 23. These are individuals who are still trying to figure out their place in the world.
  • Are the character designs and personalities consistent with the themes of the story?
• I believe that the character designs of my work and the personality of the main character both align with the theme of connection to nature. The designs are directly inspired by nature, and the growth of the main character reflects the resilience and imperfections that are found in nature.

• Visual Design:
  • How does the visual style and aesthetic of the animation contribute to its overall impact?
• If I merge my organic and tactile approach with digital techniques, it will produce a more unified and engaging experience, resulting in a more powerful impact. By amalgamating my creatures, which were crafted from real plants, with the textured animation I learned in my AFX toolkit and experimenting with hand-painted backgrounds, I believe I can attain the desired final outcome.

• Narrative and Pacing:
  • Did the pacing of the animation feel appropriate for the one-minute runtime?
• I think that in my animatic, the pacing feels just right, not too rushed and it allows the viewer to fully comprehend it. However, some people suggested that I should give more attention to defining the cracks in nature to make it more clear. I believe that taking more time to refine it will help me achieve the desired clarity and improve the overall quality of my work.
  • Were the transitions between scenes smooth and cohesive?
• I need to think about transitions for my project. Fortunately, I learned a lot about transitions in my AFX toolkit with Mariana. I’ll try to apply this knowledge in my project. Currently, I’m using match-cut techniques, but I want to explore other interesting ways of blending scenes.

• Audience Reception:
  • What feedback did you receive from viewers or test audiences?
• During a discussion with my classmates during the interim, they suggested that I make my main character’s clothes more plant-like to keep the character consistent with the plant world theme. Additionally, I need to shorten my synopsis by cutting out the last part since what I’ve already mentioned provides a good idea of the overall narrative.

• Challenges and Lessons Learned:
  • What are the main challenges you encountered?
• While trying to create a cohesive style across different city environments, I am also trying to imbue my character with personality to make her look like she belongs in her flat by trying to understand her personality type, her likes and dislikes etc.
  • How did you address these challenges, and what did you learn from overcoming them?
• Picking out techniques I like and combining them all into my style to implement them throughout my environment designs. Use the same techniques such as line weight, texture and mediums. But also make it different so that it shows a mood change such as lighting, color and shape.

• Impact and Future Directions:
  • What impact do you hope your animation will have on audiences?
• Comfort, hope, motivation and a feeling of renewal
  • How does this project fit into your broader goals and aspirations as a creator?
• It fits with my future goals as I don’t want to be just a digital animator. I want to branch out to other techniques of animation and test its boundaries. I want to experiment with themes of connection to nature in future projects.

Conclusion:

Assess whether you’re making progress toward your goals and objectives: This week I wanted to experiment more with real plants/flowers however I’ve been mainly focusing on my background design and prop design, which is fine as I plan to experiment more over the Easter break.

Key insights: My first interim was successful, I think there is a lot to do but right now I think I’m in a good place to keep experimenting more traditionally.

Actions taken: Overall actions taken this week were a little slow and plan to carry on my plans over to next week as I ran out of time. I plan explore more refined character designs and explore prop design. In the coming weeks during Easter I will look at Alice Wolf’s artwork concept, also flower pressing and using bleach and ink (sun printing) to explore textures?

Easter Break Timetable

Easter Break Reflection Week 1

• 1. Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project 

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work? This week, I have been focusing on improving my character designs and taking into consideration the feedback I received from my peers during the interim. I have been working on character and costume designs, which has impacted the way I approach character design. I now understand that it’s not just about the character’s face, but also the clothing they wear that can reveal a lot about their personality. It made me think about whether there’s a hidden message behind a character’s clothing. For my main character, I designed dungarees with flowers that represent the flowers that will grow from her cracks at the end of the story. She wears flowers because they represent what she lacks, even though they are something she could have grown herself. I also experimented with real plants, hammering flowers into fabric and arranging them in different ways. I tried sun printing, which involves using a special dye that changes colour in the sun. I placed leaves and flowers over the dye and removed them over time, which revealed the shapes of the flowers and leaves. Both experiments have impacted me by opening doors to valuable techniques that can be incorporated into my final design.

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further? Want to consider how I will incorporate the technique I learned this week – flower pounding – into my background for my outcome. Flower pounding opened my perspective on when you can really do with the things around you, I realized by simply hammering down flowers and leaves onto fabric, it can make beautiful shapes, maybe even grotesque in color reflecting the imperfections in nature and our lives. I guess I will collage them all in the final thing when compositing. I think my full body character designs were successful and I want to explore them further, since all my other designs besides my main character are background characters, perhaps exploring couples? Such as queer couples and what types of plants would resemble LGBT? I could have a couple kissing in the street scene when my main character is walking away from her problems.

• 2. Gathering Information:

Personal observations: from personal observations I need to continue to experiment and research other techniques I could look into, as I said before I want to study Alice Wolf and I haven’t had time to research her, so that is the aim I want to establish for next week. I also want to research cracks, and experiment with cracks in nature perhaps? Maybe making eco art in my local forest? This is bringing up old things I did last year, especially when I did the Hiding places pathway with Chris. Where I experimented in nature. Explore and incorporate things I touched on in that project? Such as alcohol ink and tyvek. I also want to explore sun printing as it’s something I’ve heard about but have never done as well as leaf stitching – linking to Alice Fox’s work.

Feedback from others: Explore cracks further, perhaps exploring how I could animate cracking with the things around me? Have more crack visuals in the narrative, such as cracks in trees etc.

• 3. Synthesis:

Identify any lessons learned or areas for growth and development: I have noticed an improvement in my ability to introspect and reflect on my thoughts. I believe that using this model has helped me to stay focused and on track with my project. Additionally, I have been more open to trying new techniques, and I am confident that the skills I have gained will be useful beyond just this project.

• 4. Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward: I want to experiment and look into other artists that help move my project forward. I want to explore more animation techniques using my experiments and consider how to animate cracks.

Consider potential obstacles or challenges and identify ways to address them: Potential challenges include how I will incorporate different animation techniques into one film, how will I condense it into a coordinated animation. I will explore digital and potentially stop motion animation so I need to think how they can effectively co-exist.

• 5.Conclusion:

Key insights: My understanding is to explore deeper with my experiments, comprising new and recent experiments into my own work.

Lessons learned: To keep exploring, to have underlying and hidden meanings in my story – backgrounds – easter eggs

Actions taken: I’ve done everything I wanted to do this week. I plan to carry on this exploration with new techniques and combine techniques together to create new things, as well as looking into artists for inspiration

Easter Break Week 2 Reflection

1. Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project 

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work? This past week, I have been exploring various techniques to enhance my project, specifically related to backgrounds. After conducting several experiments, I have learned that incorporating textures is an effective way to make backgrounds visually engaging. This experience has greatly impacted how I will approach creating backgrounds in the future.

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further?I had some difficulty with sun printing (Cyanotype) at first because I didn’t add enough Potassium Ferricyanide, causing the plants not to show through the solution when drying. However, I learned from my mistake and was successful the second time around. I’m interested in exploring this technique further by experimenting with different types of plants to achieve various effects.

2. Gathering Information:

Personal observations: I believe that recording my progress has been beneficial in keeping a diary of the events that have taken place and documenting how I arrived there. It also permits me to use it for social media purposes and presenting my process for university.

Feedback from others: I asked a few more friends to overview my work and they said they love to see the traditional side to the project, as it is somehow rare to see with other animation students. My friend Musa suggested that I look into color and style frames/color script to help visualize the story better. He also suggested that I could make it more obvious in the beginning the importance of family, maybe before revealing the main protagonist – to paint more of a picture before the plot rises.

3. Synthesis:

Identify any lessons learned or areas for growth and development: As of now, I want to implement my textures and experiments and combine them to the backgrounds I plan to create next week. Areas of growth include my experimenting skills and balancing that with my concept designs.

4. Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward: I want to develop my backgrounds and make them more refined. Moreover I plan to do some animation tests – test shots and implement everything I’ve done so far.

Consider potential obstacles or challenges and identify ways to address them: I think my biggest challenge is making the textures feel part of the environment – to do this I will use blending techniques such as overlay and multiply.

5.Conclusion:

Key insights: My awareness of this project is very clear as I have a vision on what it will look like. Key insights include making sure my concept of cracks is easy to follow to the audience and that it is present throughout the story to make the story cohesive. I will also seek advice from more tutors after the break and friends outside of animation to make this animated film the best it can be.

Lessons learned: learnt a lot from the artist Alice Fox who works with natural fibers and gathered materials, employing natural dyes, stitch, weave and soft basketry techniques. These elements come together in different combinations to create grouped surfaces and structures. Found items form the focus of her response to a landscape, forming tangible links to the places they were gathered from. I take an experimental approach to these found objects: by engaging with the materials that I find, manipulating them and experimenting, I learn about their properties, boundaries and possibilities. This links to my work because combins thing which are “disgardable” or broken into something new. I also learnt that I can use my skills I’ve learnt from first year to inform my work, not just new techniques, such as bringing back my love for alcohol inks. 

Actions taken: Played with sun printing, leaf stitching, alcohol inks – for next week my action plan is to focus on backgrounds an bringing my experiments into my backgrounds + animation tests + possibly my main character turn around?

Easter Break Week 3 Reflection

1. Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project 

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work? This week I haven’t done as much towards my projects due to focusing on my project proposal so I’ve collected the work I’ve made so far and compiled it into a new PDF for the next interim which is soon. I have done an animation experiment for one of the scenes in my final animation and it turned out good. I overlaid my sun printing textures over the top and I really liked the effect. Maybe I could try different effects over the top to achieve different effects. This has made a significant impact on my work because it gives me more opportunities to experiment with various overlays and use the experiments I’ve already created – intertwining what I’ve learned into my final result.

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further? I think getting back into the loop of animating has been a challenge because I haven’t animated properly in a while. I think I’m going to start animating more and go through the processes of animating again to warm up to creating my film. I used a 3D model to help with my turnaround which was super helpful in keeping proportions consistent and will really help me when animation different angles etc – using a 3D model has helped with the challenge of understanding consistent proportions and positions of the body when it turns.

2. Gathering Information:

Personal observations: I think using 3D models to help me will make my process of animating more quicker as my animation might be over a minute long – I’ve found that looking back on experiments and drawings I’ve made has helped me reconnect to the root of my project – tying what I’ve learnt to the end result will help inform my work and create something unique – such as the overlaying of my experiments – I need to find a way to tie these experiments in and also make it look cohesive and not distracting to the overall story.

Feedback from others: I’ve sent my friends my animatic and they have said like before that I need to establish the main characters bond with the family member in the beginning – I will change this in m edited animatic and I will also see what Su Lynn says as I have a tutorial with her on Monday next week.

3. Synthesis:

Identify any lessons learned or areas for growth and development: I need to develop my animation skills by making my animations for dynamic – need to learn to transfer acting skills into my work – to do this I will video myself acting which will help with the foundations of my animating and therefore help with more realistic movements.

4. Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward: I am going to start production in a week or two so I am going to edit my animatics based on feedback from my upcoming tutorials and the next interim. I will then create thumbnails/color plans + backgrounds to animate on top – working towards my film.

Consider potential obstacles or challenges and identify ways to address them: I struggle to make my scenes in my animatic more seamless, I think I will try to find ways to tie each frame so that transitions more smoothly – I will see what Su Lynn thinks.

5.Conclusion:

Key insights: Start preparing for production – edit animatic – improve transitions – start making backgrounds – color plans

Lessons learned: 3D is a useful tool for turnarounds and layouts – I can use early experiments to enhance my more recent work to make it unique and tie together what I’ve learnt

Actions taken: backgrounds to help when animating/think in 3D space and understand how the character/object moves in this space – turnaround – animation test

Week 22

Notes

Peer mentoring session

Project Reflection Week 22

1. Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project 

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work? This week I had my tutorial with Su Lynn and she gave me useful advice for my animatic. My experience talking to her has impacted the way I view how I create my animatics and making sure it flows. Through our conversation I will look to improve my transitions in my final film – using match cuts – linking well to a previous toolkit with Mariana where we looked at different types of cuts – will look back on notes

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further? This week I haven’t done much like last week as I am focusing on my project proposal for my thesis, but for next week after my interim I want to start exploring ways of animation – maybe for the turmoil part where everything cracks  – I will experiment with stop motion – cracking clay? And overlay different effects over the top.

2. Gathering Information:

Personal observations: I have observed that my film will be very experimental as the pattern in my working is very textural and expressive – I am more mindful about how I set up my scenes and will be thinking about it in the future

Feedback from others: Su Lynn says I need to change my establishing shot to create a sense of foreshadowing as right now it’s a little boring. She says like people have before, to start with photos with family then pan cross to see the urban city – have a pot on the windowsill dying to show contrast between the city world and the forest. Su Lynn adds that I should change the turmoil shot to make close up so it’s similar to the face shot where she’s crying and her face cracks – zoom into the cracks to peer into her turmoil. The body and face contorts – to improve acting of the scene. Cut out a shot of her looking at the photo after and just have a shot of the photograph. Have a growth montage after her face grows flowers after we see her put plants into the pot – have the montage grow up with her – then lead to her holding the pot on the bench – have the end shot pan up into the tree to continue that feeling of growing upwards.

3. Synthesis:

Identify any lessons learned or areas for growth and development: To be more conscious of my ways of transitioning across scenes – placement of frames and also think about how I will show emotion – abstraction – metaphors 

4. Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward: Moving forward I am going to continue to develop backgrounds – perhaps showing foreshadowing – like cracks in walls with plants filling them – make 3D models to help with layouts of backgrounds/scenes – continue to add to my animatic to help it be as close to the final outcome as possible – helps with visualization 

Consider potential obstacles or challenges and identify ways to address them: I think at the moment my biggest challenge is balancing my work as I need to work on the thesis proposal – I think at the moment I have kept on top of my work during the break so I’m not that worried about being behind I am just more producing as much as I planned. I think my reflection in this way has helped me navigate issues with my work in general – 

5.Conclusion:

Key insights: Continue developing my worldbuilding skills by creating backgrounds for potentially the real thing – create 3D models that will help me with layout – video me acting scenes to help with action and emotion of characters – film live footage of my environment – maybe around london to help with street shots – add to my animatic as new ideas pop up – however Su Lynn at this stage says everything is there

Lessons learned: To keep looking for feedback – ask more tutors for input – that I can pace myself since I’m pretty ahead and have the storyline sorted – improve animation skills through my acting and recording reference

Actions taken: Applied feedback to my animatic

Week 23

Project Reflection Week 23

1. Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project 

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work? 

My week consisted of an interim presentation (greenlight), which impacted my animation as I got feedback on how the scenes play out. They suggested that I how the broken shard > blurs in and then blurs out to the frame of the main protagonist and family member to help viewers make the connection. The week also had a performance workshop that helped me think about the acting of the characters in my film, how can I make this more expressive and visually appealing – eg moving in diagonal line to create more interest – perhaps a interesting why the character walks to show personality as the way people act shows a lot about a character.

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further? 

Challenge: Rigging a character head workshop was challenging this week and despite not planning the rig for my film – I want to explore rigging further (possibly) with creatures made from plants – like what I did in the AFX toolkit with Mariana (If I have time – I may only have time for a few rigs)

Success: From my interim feedback I got a lot of positive things about backgrounds – I looked into animation styles this week to get a clearer vision on what aspects of each I would like to develop into my own work – My background inspiration links to the animated film ‘bluebird in the wind” by Elliscky – I think the way I’ve been creating my backgrounds works because the texture is consistent and the grittiness helps with a more lived in “alive” feel 

2. Gathering Information:

Personal observations: 

From personal observation I think I am ready to start my production next week as I feel comfortable with my concept and also with the feedback people gave me – it isn’t enough to change the story drastically so I am free to start

Feedback from others:

Think about acting – how can I push emotions a little bit further – look at films that are of a similar time frame – to help see how they use pacing in their films 

3. Synthesis:

Identify any lessons learned or areas for growth and development:

Lessons learnt: think about the audience – view it as if you’ve never watched it before – I want this film to be sentimental so learning to amplify this with my characters emotions by having longer moments for the audience to connect would be better 

4. Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward:

In my schedule I will be starting production next week – I plan to do my scenes into sections 1-4 I’ll have 2 weeks of animation/backgrounds, 2 weeks of lighting/shading/sound and compositing – moving forward I will video myself for my acting references > use as keyframes to make movements more realistic and also have room for exaggerated movement.

Consider potential obstacles or challenges and identify ways to address them:

If I get setbacks in my schedule I have left 1 extra week – so that if anything happens – I have a few extra days to make adjustments – I will make sure to record my progress using lists and check my schedule to keep on track

5.Conclusion:

Key insights: Good feedback which I will implement such as emotional acting – know my direction on how I want my animation to look 

Lessons learned: Thinking about the film in the audiences shoes – how would I react to my own film if I knew nothing about it

Actions taken: Created a production schedule – outlined parts of short films I like to help with inspiring my own work

Week 24

Project Reflection Week 24

1. Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project 

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work? 

My first week of production, I started scene 1 of my story. Thinking about structuring my storyline, I split my story into four parts – This week I focused my attention on scene 1 which consists of my opening and my character’s introduction. Planning in this way has made me think more strategically in my approach to animation and has impacted the way I can manage my time better. I recorded my animation process from rough animation with keyframes, in-betweening and clean-up – to coloring and adding the background. I found that after making my rough animations I could concentrate on each body part individually – starting with the head to feet – has impacted the way my character moves – I can tell that my timing and expressions of face and body have improved – taking into consideration what I learnt in the performance workshop last week.

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further? 

Challenge: I did a sound workshop this week which made me think about the sound I want in my film. I am not particularly good at music/sound so I sent out a post in search of a sound student willing to help me and met someone at UAL doing sound design to help with my sound. By having someone to help me, I can learn from them and they can also teach me new techniques.

2. Gathering Information:

Personal observations: 

I’ve built a system of working that works for me – I thrive when things are done in order – make sure I stay on route so I have more time in the last weeks  

Feedback from others:

Katie Lam: My animations look fluid and that the principles of animation are clearly shown

Mariana: Show more emotional in the inner turmoil scene/ be shown longer (feedback I got from my last interim)

3. Synthesis:

Identify any lessons learned or areas for growth and development:

Similar to last week I am learning to think from the audience’s perspective – not just think about the appearance but the feelings that are felt in the story. The editing workshop also helped me think about the way I will edit my animations/composite my animation in the final processes – lets me think further ahead > what do I want the final shots to look like? What techniques should be done to achieve this – also making sure my backgrounds are done on separate layers just in case I want to do parallax effects etc

4. Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward:

Moving forward, I plan to develop my sound skills, by learning from a sound design student I’m going to collaborate with. I will also stick to my schedule. If I see a step back or anything in my schedule prohibiting my performance, I will change and adapt it to my way of working.

Consider potential obstacles or challenges and identify ways to address them:

Making a film on my own is a challenge, but I will seek help where I can – I have asked Alicia Abbot to help with rough animation in one scene.

5.Conclusion:

Key insights: work in sections, improve upon my acting skills, ask for help when needed, seek feedback when animating (it wont look like the animatic)

Lessons learned: strategic planning in sections is an effective framework for me, I can gain insight into other courses I’m unfamiliar with and learn from them

Actions taken: started production – beginning scene 1 – made backgrounds for scene 1 – recorded my process

Week 25

Notes

Thesis Tutorial: David’s feedback + Polina

• Too broad – prioritize either: The authors, the study of specific sites or video games etc
• make a clearer sense of how a these themes will be related back to my own creativity
• related to the course one way of another i.e animation – films – TV series – games
• Maybe think about the useage or influence of such environments in films – where do we see them – documentaries – but also very often in post apocalyptic plots – what do they symbolize – revenge? redemption, protection – the end of human civilization- or a chance for a new and better beginning
• Maybe look at the perspective of some characters who are connected to the wild – in a way no one is – why are they special – is that a gift are they positive characters – maybe people with better relationships with their natural roots and awareness about it have better personalities
• examples where natural environments are shown big in film: where Crawdads sing – Shackle – Maleficent – the last if us – the boy and the heron
• Look at academic writing as a way to encourage and better relationship between people and nature – look at it more as how to encourage the artist or even before that yourself how to build this relationship through your practice
• Want to create eco art – but who are the artists linking to that???

Reflection

Toolkit 7: AFX with Mariana

The beginning of toolkit 7 was hard to wrap my head around however it was worth noting the knowledge of 2.5D space and how to create this effect in AFX – It can be proven useful when animating cameras travelling through layered backgrounds – it will also add depth and dynamism to my animations – like when my character is walking through the woods.

Project Reflection Week 25

1. Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project 

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work? 

This week we had Tutorials, it has impacted the way I see my animatic as I think it might be far over 1 minute. I will need to rethink the more important parts of the story and shorten the parts that are only there for show – I need to keep in mind that the slow pace of the forest part needs to be similar to contrast to the  bustling city.

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further? 

This week’s toolkit with Mariana was challenging as we were working on AFX and it was a side of AFX I wasn’t familiar with. We learnt about 2.5D in environments which would be very helpful with my forest scenes and also giving dimension to the introduction shot of my characters working environment – I will explore further the effect of 2.5D in after effects using Null objects, different layers and the camera tool.

2. Gathering Information:

Personal observations: 

Think about what I can use from different toolkits, workshops and experiments – incorporating that into the final thing – think about what software I will use – how will that enhance my work 

Toon Boom: for animation – good work line closing tool + pencil tool – easier to close lines

Procreate/clip studio paint: for backgrounds – flexible brushes 

After Effects: Compositing – lighting – shading – easy workspace 

I have volunteered to help 3rd years with their animation InkBound – this will give me the opportunity to learn new skills and learn from people who are about to graduate – they are super good!

Feedback from others:

Darron: prioritize the most important scene to you – the animation may be more longer that in the animatic 

3. Synthesis:

Identify any lessons learned or areas for growth and development:

Lessons learnt: volunteer to help others because you can learn from something – learnt you can import a procreate file into illustrator and it can update it in real time 

4. Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward:

Make sure when I take up work that I still have time to focus on my own work – don’t promise work I can’t give out in time

Consider potential obstacles or challenges and identify ways to address them:

 Challenges: figure out how I can implement what I’ve learnt and experimented with – especially experiential scenes like the inner turmoil scene and growth scene – what materials will I need and will I need to use UAL facilities + maybe I could try out more things like try out pottery classes 

5.Conclusion:

Key insights: think about priority of the scenes, get better/try 2.5D with my own backgrounds, figure out what assets I want for each scene and how I want to approach them

Inner turmoil scene: background could be stop motion – cracks of pottery shattering – the character animation could be digital or painted on glass 

Growth scene: digital and painted on glass 

Lessons learned: Give out help for the experience/to learn from others + develop new skills 

Actions taken: continuing with scene one – meeting with the 3rd years

Week 26

Project Reflection Week 26

1. Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project 

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work? 

This week we are approaching the deadline and the pressure is on to finish everything before the due date. I have accomplished a few shots that I am proud of this week, particularly the inner turmoil scene. I used a variety of camera movements in After Effects and experimented with painting on glass animation, which is more challenging than it appears. I also tried using materials such as glycerin, which I learned helps to remove paint from the glass or blend the paint to create textured effects. Experimenting with different materials has had a significant impact on my work, opening up a world of possibilities for creating new animations in the future. It has also allowed me to be more adaptable when approaching animation, making me a more desirable candidate for animation job roles.

Creating my shots – inner turmoil – I am trying to get better at acting and conveying emotion through acting and metaphors, I am trying to do this to also enhance my storytelling skills and connect to the audience. I feel like this is a story that is universal and relatable, not in similarity but in our own unique experiences.

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further? 

Challenge: I am a bit concerned about the progress of our project and whether I can complete the animation by May 30th. If I can’t finish everything by the deadline, I’ll continue working on it afterwards. To ensure timely completion, I will adhere to my schedule on Google Sheets.

Success: Despite not feeling completely sure about my paint-on-glass animation, I think I will try it again because it has a nice feel to it and seems very natural. I want to continue using this technique, perhaps during the scene in my film where there is a growing montage.

2. Gathering Information:

Personal observations: 

I am nearing the deadline, I believe I can get most of it done however I’m unsure whether I can get everything done in the time frame 

What I should have done: asked for extra time as I had to take time out of uni for my grandma who was sick. Should have asked more people to help with my animation.

Feedback from others:

Shown Mariana my work, she says to keep the establishing shot longer to take in the scene. There is a green outline around my character in my character introduction which I did by accident – I had a green background that I got rid of using color key in after effects but when rendering it had a small green line around – Mariana said I could change it but it’s not that distracting – she is green after all

3. Synthesis:

Identify any lessons learned or areas for growth and development:

That despite always handing in with full results and on time. I think I went a bit overboard with the scale of animation especially because I’ve had to design 4 locations on top of that – should of asked more people to help with animation but I wanted to challenge myself – lesson learned: to think more realistically when thinking about my limits – growth and development: my animation skills have improved over this project but I plan to be even better and grow as an animator – to do this I will develop my skills in Toon Boom and TV paint over summer.

4. Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward:

Moving forward I plan to do as much as I can within the timeframe – but also carry on finishing the story after the hand-in – my scenes for next week are the rest of scene 2 and 3. Hopefully getting the rest done. I’m trying my best to incorporate experiments I have done over the project – see how I can use it in my final piece such as using sun prints for the forest scenes 

Consider potential obstacles or challenges and identify ways to address them:

I have a lot of various shots with multiple locations – which I worry will be a reason I don’t get done in time. I also have volunteered to help third years with their backgrounds and coloring – which will be time consuming – to address this I will plan my days to make sure I meet every goal. I will also only offer what I can to help the third years keeping in mind my own deadlines. 

5.Conclusion:

Key insights: 

Get as much done as I can. I’ve created a checklist to keep on top of my progress as well as updating my time table 

Lessons learned: 

I have a lot to show in terms of animation. If I don’t get it done in time it doesn’t matter, as long as I show experimentation and my progress as well as signifying I will continue my progress with the film I can still achieve high grade. 

Rim light in after effects for lighting is very effective in creating a cinematic effect – creates a lot of depth – will use it again future projects 

Actions taken: 

2 shots done – breaking the vase – inner turmoil – sun printing

Week 27

Project Reflection Week 27

1. Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project 

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work? 

I have been focusing on my film shots and using what I have built upon and learnt in AFX toolkit. Focusing on the shots including one shot of the city and multiple forest location shots. Animating these shots has impacted my work as I have become more conscious when creating my environments, the compositions and colors to make the visuals more engaging by examining work by davoodmoghaddami (instagram), who uses excellent shape language and layers his composition to create a dreamy atmosphere you get lost in. 

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further? 

Challenge: Though I made it clear that I wanted to add multiple creatures that were rigged and created purely out of plants I won’t have time to create them for the submission – however I plan to include them when working on it over time.

Success: I included test pieces and elements I have experimented with in my backgrounds creating a tactile feel. I will use sun printing, flower pounding and other techniques from this project to build upon future work to help develop my signature style.

2. Gathering Information:

Personal observations: 

Despite knowing that I’m behind and won’t be able to finish before the deadline, even though I thought I was being realistic, I believe I have produced some high-quality content. My VFX, while flawed, is pretty good, and I love the way I’ve kept the animation simple without any over-the-top shots.

Feedback from others:

Mariana said to keep camera still before frame breaks to create more impact

3. Synthesis:

Identify any lessons learned or areas for growth and development:

I Learned that even though I’ve experimented a lot, I will not be able to make this film perfect, there is always something to make it better.

4. Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward:

Overlooking my reflection will continue to work on my film to the best of my ability – steps include maintaining a fluent, consistent – but imperfect animation style – to insinuate the imperfection of nature and life – the boiling effect kind of gives off that vibe.  

Consider potential obstacles or challenges and identify ways to address them:

I won’t be able to include rigged creatures/creatures made entirely out of plants. I will continue my film after the deadline – to make sure everything I need is complete I will focus on the important parts of the story and I’ll do the extras after.

5.Conclusion:

Key insights: 

Carry on working on my film, if I can’t finish a scene – at least have some rough animation or key frames – incorporate my experiments – make sure it fits the feeling of my story 

Lessons learned: 

I’ve learnt how to animate street scenes for the first time and enjoy creating a lively atmosphere, a place that feels alive. I also found a more effective way to move shrubbery in my plant animations instead of rigging each layer you can use the sway tool in after effects – even though its less animated it looks more subtle and is quicker to use.

Also learnt a lot about camera movement in Mariana’s toolkit which helped me with my camera movement in this weeks shots, The fact the camera can move past layers creates a 3D effect that makes you feel like you can step into the space.

Actions taken: 

Street scene, Forest scene, sun printing experiments of backgrounds

Week 28

Project Reflection Week 28

1. Identification of reflective topic: Personal Project 

What recent events or experiences have had a significant impact on me and my work? 

Week 28 has been productive in terms of working on my shots – back in later weeks on my timetable the shots were predicted to be completed 2 days as a time, which I was wrong about as I have shots missing in between shots, this has impacted my way of viewing how I consider how long I should take on each shot. In the future I will take into consideration the complexity of the shot by evaluating the background difficulty, amount of acting or camera movements etc.

Class with Mariana has helped me think deeper about VFX and when to use them especially VFX that involve weather motifs – I went back to my animation shot of the character walking in the streets to add rain effects and it feels like a completely different mood helped insinuate the sadness of my characters emotions. This has impacted me to think more deeply about what my VFX entails and how I can apply them to enhance how the character or story feels, and can also hinder foreshadowing or tension to move the story forward.

Is there a particular challenge or success that I want to explore further? 

Challenge – after my submission for this project I plan to continue working on my skills in after effects as I am still struggling with the mechanics of the software – I will also branch out to develop better skills in TV paint as I mainly use toon boom – I think companies will appreciate it more if I have developed skills in other softwares than sticking to one.

Success – Like last week I really loved animating the plants moving making it more alive and flowy just like my concept 

2. Gathering Information:

Personal observations: 

 I feel like my slow pace in the middle of the story creates a right of passage – a journey my character goes through – that’s why I love forests so much because they resemble transformation. There is no coincidence that most fantasy stories involve forests, heroes going on quests or finding a purpose – I wanted to reflect that in my story

Feedback from others:

I wasn’t able to attend the third interim as I was unwell, to seek out feedback I contacted my tutors for opinions on what I have done so far and talked to my friends and classmates to help make my film better – feedback included timing such as holding frames and camera movements such as the camera shaking when the picture frame cracks as well as the flash transition to the city. In the future I plan to be more punctual and if unwell seek feedback from peers to better my work.

3. Synthesis:

Identify any lessons learned or areas for growth and development:

Continue thinking about my transitions from different types of shots and how keep the story flowing 

4. Action Planning:

Based on your reflections, develop concrete action steps or strategies for moving forward:

Action steps include developing my skills over summer – concluding my project by reflecting as a whole – going into details about what went well and not so well, and showcasing my work in my pdf submission.

Consider potential obstacles or challenges and identify ways to address them:

Compiling my pdf, I will try to make it concise and show my journey throughout my project, key development, lessons and main ideas. I will address this by annotating images, showing moodboards, visual development, story development. 

Developing skills in new software is not easy, to tackle this I will follow tutorials and practice my skills, providing a portfolio of work over summer to help with showreel for potential employers.

Reflecting on my overall project will also be tough as I have done a lot I am proud of, I will identify ways to address them by picking out my key points, my successes and challenges from pre production to finish – what went well and what went bad and cuting it down into digestible paragraphs.

5.Conclusion:

Key insights: 

Focus on my film, shots, don’t focus on getting it done but how much I can do – incorporate the growth motif as Easter eggs perhaps – cracks in walls etc – little details ( might have to add after submission)

Lessons learned: 

To never stop seeking feedback – every person teaches you something new

Actions taken: 

Rest of forest scenes and final scenes – VFX incorporated into my animation

Week 29 (Exploratory Practice submission week)

CONCLUSION:

My project aimed to communicate the importance of the connection with nature and also to express that nothing is truly broken. I wanted to spread this message to the audience that nothing is permanent. I believe in seeing the positive side of things that are damaged and making something new from what seems broken. I felt all the stages of what my character was going through by experiencing them first-hand while making this film. Growing as an artist alongside my character was a very unique experience. “Roots” is a very personal story. During the making of this film, my Grandma was in the hospital, and we weren’t sure whether she was going to get better. Thankfully, she is now at home recovering. I like to think that the spirits of this film helped her heal. Looking back on my journey, a key step I took was inspired by broken pots in my grandad’s garden that were intertwined with roots and tangled up plants. This inspired the themes of growth and renewal that are consistent throughout my film. The processes I used included paperless animation and paint-on-glass animation, combining both digital and traditional methods of working. This combination imitates the merge of nature and technology, representing the physical and intangible elements reminiscent of mother nature. I incorporated experiments I learned along the way to create organic textures, using real plants that were ethically sourced in order to minimize harm to the environment. This involved using plants that were already dug up or were going to be thrown out.

My narrative structure was carefully crafted to illustrate the character’s growth. The story arc reflects the themes of brokenness and renewal as I depict how the character overcomes burnout and guilt. The crack on her face symbolizes something she had lost, signifying a new direction and path in life. At her lowest point, she is open to significant change and embraces nature, symbolized by growing flowers through the cracks. The change in appearance ultimately represents her change in perspective. Observing the imperfections of nature and the fleeting nature of life, she learns to accept that it’s what you make out of your pain that is worth it in the end. Integrating the central theme into my narrative, with the character morphing and changing through her creative work, also reflects my growth in the project. I delved into storytelling, particularly researching story circles, which I found to be an effective technique that enabled me to consider my main character and plot from their emotional state. The title “Roots” has a multilayered meaning. I view my family as an integral part of my life, so “roots” hold the significance of reconnecting with one’s cultural heritage. My character values family and aims to carry on their legacy by becoming a pottery maker. Additionally, “roots” symbolize growth and nourishment. While my protagonist loves her craft, she feels burnt out by following in her family’s footsteps. By immersing herself in her interests, such as being in nature, she can cultivate her creative roots, creating something that reflects her while honoring her family’s lineage. These subtle techniques effectively convey symbolism, which I aim to continue using in my future films.

During this creative journey, I faced numerous technical challenges as I was new to After Effects and didn’t even know how to keyframe properly. However, throughout the project, I taught myself the basics and learned much more than I expected, improving my lighting and camera skills. To enhance my skills, I sought guidance from Mariana’s AFX toolkit, where I acquired valuable knowledge that I integrated into my final film. Receiving feedback from tutors and peers was crucial as it helped me improve my learning and the overall outcome. The feedback covered various aspects, from pacing to character acting animations, and was consistently constructive. I also received constructive criticism regarding music and sound, prompting me to reach out to skilled individuals in those areas and learn from their techniques. The storyline received positive feedback, with everyone interpreting it differently but understanding the underlying message. Some even had emotional reactions, which was important as it showed how the story resonated with people.

The main challenge I faced was completing the animation on time. Even though I love the animation I’ve done so far, I haven’t finished it by the deadline. However, I’m determined to complete it for the screening and for myself. The intricate details in the story and the need to design multiple locations, as well as the complex background design, made it difficult to finish on time. While I had a timetable and stuck to it there were exceptional circumstances that took me longer to structure everything around it in production. I plan to take my time with this story because it’s narrative means a lot to me. To improve next time, I will seek more assistance, especially with background drawing and set more realistic goals, perhaps simflifying my designs. I also experimented a lot that took up a load of my time as well as my painting on glass animation shot. I will update my progress on MyBlog once I believe it is finished, but, just like any piece of art, nothing is ever truly finished. Despite having good organisation skills and using checklists and reflectig on my prgress, I underestimated the amount of time needed for each shot and some needed longer to execute. I was able to complete my work at key stages in a timely manner in pre-production, next time I will give myself more realistic goals when in production by weighing the complexity of my shots.

Other areas for improvement include adding dialogue to my scenes and ensuring consistency in the line work in both my clean-up and background, as some lines appeared a little scratchy in certain areas. If I could revisit the project, I would have started animating much earlier and spent more time cleaning up my frames. Roots has influenced my future goals and projects by encouraging me to try out new things. Learning new software from scratch, motivated me to explore other software, such as TVpaint and Clip Studio, that I can learn over the summer. I will also touch on style frames more as seen from the third years it helps you visualize the shots more vividly. The themes I’ve explored in this project, particularly the emotional aspects, have sparked my interest in further exploration in the future.

My final thoughts are that I am satisfied with my project overall and am excited to work on it more after writing this!!! The project has made a significant impact on my artistic journey, with improvements in storytelling, character design, and environmental design. This project is the seed of many new beginnings.