Week 2 (29th September - 3rd October)

Monday 29th September

Working on my industry side-project in the morning. I'm lead concept artist on an indie animation project online called Welcome to Avalon (volunteer, but if the show gets funded it could lead to paid opportunities). I'd really wanted to get concept more or less done by now but barely anyone else in the concept team is working, I wanted us ready to start production before I get too swamped in my main masters project.

Took out some scriptwriting for animation books from the DJCAD library since I already know I intend to create a short film, and I need to figure out how on earth to write one

All presented our PSAs and powerpoints (and in our case a Blooper Reel too). Then attended a class social at Braes, it was a really nice way to get to know everyone. We took Toasty the puppet with us of course. And we set up a class group chat so we can all chat to each other outside of class hours now


Tuesday 30th September

Sean introduced the brief a little, and it had me starting to think about potential research angles. Because I think I'm supposed to have a research goal, and not just "make a stop motion short film" (unless "learn stop motion skills" would be the research goal?). But while I've been brainstorming creative solutions for limitations I've been thinking of a lot of 2D substitutes; 2D matte painting on a greenscreen to save massive sets, 2D FX if I can't figure out practical, 2D impact frames, etc. 2.5D is all the rage currently, and 3D has been well integrated into stop motion workflows for years. 

Is there a way to integrate 2D into a stop motion workflow?

It's a style I never see. The only example I can think of off the top of my head is the ghosts from Nightmare Before Christmas. Any other examples would probably be pre-2000s (before CG was an option for workflow), but it seems hard to find. Given me an excuse to finally borrow that copy of The Stop Motion Filmography from the DJCAD library I've had my eye on for years - essentially a catalogue of every single puppet animation feature up until 1999

Aside from that we just presented our work to the class as an introduction to what we do. Sean and the class seem interested in my stop motion ambitions. Sean reckons I could maybe end up being a case study for future students wanting to do it, as DJCAD used to have stop motion facilities way back in the way. He's also mentioned the possibility of getting me a mentor which is a very exciting prospect. I'm looking forward to my individual tutorials, we will have a LOT to discuss!


Wednesday 1st October

Attended the first half of the morning lecture, I wanted to get notes on the research brief. Was too sick to stick around for the guest talk in the second half. Seems to be a Contextual Review (analysing someone else's work) and a project proposal (forgot the specific wording). Chris mentioned some animation examples of Contextual Reviews where it doesn't necessarily have to be one artist, it could be a niche problem instead; eg gloopy fluid simulations in Ratatouille, or Merida's hair animation in Brave. A few artists researching how to solve a specific problem. 

I'm not sure how to do a contextual review in the format of looking at one artist when looking at stop motion as a whole. Can I just do a case study of studios like Aardman or Laika? Limitations/problem solving solutions within stop motion (eg spaces for animators to hide in large NBC sets, or using large scale puppest in Kubo and Pinocchio to match the character scale)? 

Perhaps looking at 3D usage in stop motion would help me to identify certain areas where it is used, and then I could use that to see where 2D could be implemented instead? Facial plates printed, crowd scenes, big set backgrounds, and some films where it is entirely 3D made to look stop motion (lego movie)

Or alternatively, do I look at the impact of Generative AI on society/animation? I will need to study it anyway for my film. So it depends whether I want to research the SUBJECT of the film (AI), or the MEDIUM of the film (stop motion).


Thursday 2nd October

Unfortunately missing the first 3D workshops because I'm sick :(( Phil sent me the recording afterwards and has informed me I need to bring in an object to model next week. I believe this week was just an introduction to Maya interface so hopefully I will be able to catch up


Friday 3rd October

I want to try a little stop motion test. Inspired by blacklilybee (Annie Robertson) on Instagram. The idea is to have the coffin open up to reveal an old haunted mansion with 2D ghosts flying about.

I'd be hoping to get it complete by the end of the month (before Halloween) depending on time. A small project to practice my small-scale modelling skills, 2D animation/compositing, and potentially camera movements

I'd like to do lots of little stop motion tests throughout the year to practice and see if I can implement what I've learned into a final film

I have the base coffin (from The Works) and blocked out where the mansion floors will go. The idea is the top half is the mansion, with half of the wall crumbled away to reveal the interior (left side), and have some steps leading down to the bottom half which will be gardens/grounds. These are some VERY rough sketches of layouts; I don't have the time to do full concept pieces (though I could go back and do extra for my portfolio), my plan was to more or less improvise anyway


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 4 (13th-17th October)

Image
Tuesday 14th October Didn't manage to get anything done the past few days, was at my two jobs. Mental health day, was struggling and needed a break. I might have to call it on the MAKE Fund application, realistically I won't be able to get all of my pre-production complete in only a few weeks. Ah well, maybe another opportunity will come along Wednesday 15th October I've decided to focus on the anti-AI theme as my research proposal rather than the idea of integrating a 2D workflow. The hybrid 2D workflow is a very interesting research direction that I will plan to explore in future, but I feel it's too ambitious and too far removed from what I originally wanted to do with my film which was to express my frustrations with the rise of AI.  I have also decided to focus my R&D in Practice module research on AI instead of stop motion, as I am REALLY struggling to find any academic articles on stop motion and it ties directly into the themes of the film. If I were to disp...
Read more

Week 15 (9th-13th February)

Image
Monday 9th More concepts. Mostly exploring the H3LPR 2.0 concept, where H3LPR is just in different iterations representing the different iterations of AI Started exploring a bit of environment design as well with the underground workshop and the furnace power source. I want dramatic and dangerous red lighting with this furnace Interesting ideas from feedback to explore. Susan suggested making The Inventor claymation because he's the only organic thing there, whereas everything else is crafted/scultped. I do really like implementing the animation medium AS a storytelling method, that's why I'm doing stop motion in the first place, so I'm VERY tempted to explore this! I know from previous experience that I struggled to not smush elements like clothes, so I might see about having only his head and hands be clay and the rest of his clothes still be textiles? I need to do a test comparing sculpted facial animation vs claymation facial animation. Perhaps it would be good to d...
Read more

Feedback and Next Steps

Feedback from Semester 1: Detailed thematic direction for the project and strong visual imagination with engaging sketches. Clearer articulation of design choices would strengthen the conceptual foundation Deeper research of AI and clearer integration into the narrative world. Exploring strengths and limitations of current AI systems could offer meaningful narrative opportunities The final designs do not fully reflect the concepts you described (btw the designs are not finished or final). Reducing human likeness and instead emphasising unnerving, function driven or uncanny qualities may create a stronger contrast between the two robots and better support the narrative Further investigation of industry standard production pipelines would be beneficial. Understand what is technically feasible to help refine workflow and strengthen the practical realisation  Potential narrative elements to explore: Strengths and limitations of current and older AI systems - outputs that initially appe...
Read more