I think the planning and research for our animation were the most successful factors we achieved in our project. We had perfected and delivered a reasonable amount of content for our Auteur director study so we knew exactly what materials were relevant for our pitch. The focus was to try and have literal narrative where the mise-en-scene would display objects relating to the songs lyrics, an explicit example would be the tangerine man. We made sure that we found some clear past footage of influences that would aid in constructing our props and decor together. On top of that, one of main priorities was to keep our blog up to date which I believe helped us reflect on any uncertain steps we may have neglected. Some of these included our shot list and timeline where we had a tough time trying to film each scene and make up for any gaps within our track. One of the major improvements we should have done was to annotate our storyboard more accurately so we could easily follow the next scenes to animate without hesitation.
Other downsides to our project were the time consuming measures. Even though we had prepared enough props to animate. We were unaware of the tedious length it would take to film each shot as well setting up the equipment before filming takes place. To counter this we thought we'd try tell our teacher in advance to get all the equipment sorted so we could start filming straight away. Despite the delays being dealt with. We encountered some troubles with lighting and the automatic blur on the istopmotion software. These small hindrances unfortunately required us to be patient as there was another group that were also suffering the same difficulties.
The biggest challenge for us was planning how long each scene would take by judging the length of the song with our time line. Even though we had made a few annotations indicating when we would finish at a specific interval. We didn't manage follow the guide as exact to how we wanted which was mainly due to our inexperience knowledge with istopmotion. One of these facts was the fade tool "Onion Skinning" which allowed us to see further back where our previous frames images were taken. It would've been better had we knew about this function earlier so that we could easily anticipate how much time we needed to spend on each scene.
When it came down to the editing, we wasted no time re-arranging the scenes. The important aspect was to match the following sequences in conjunction with the song's lyrics. We wanted to achieve a literal link between visuals and lyrics to show that there's a narrative involved. At the moment we're left with a 20 second gap due us running out of storyboard sequences. However we also realized we filmed each scene too short in contrast to our shot list plan. Our main priority will be to film the complimentary close up shots to help improve the flow of our animation.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Evaluation by Beth
I feel that our choice to do animation was a good one because we are pleased with the initial result, however I feel that we needed to plan out time better and may have needed more ideas to begin with. I do feel that we put an adequet amount of effort into the ideas that we did however and the shot list, props and equipment was well planned.
The filming went well with the exception of a couple of lighting problems, such as shadows and background lighting when we shot on different days. For example, at 1.10 in the rough cut. After the first lesson filming, we got the hang of the actual method of animating pretty quickly and were able to set up the camera and props in a shorter amount of time. This also meant that we were able to work at a quicker pace and get more work done.
On the rough cut deadline we discovered that we still didnt have enough footage which is why the rough cut has a 30 second gap. We decided that the music and lyrics of the song ended 5 seconds before the timings say it does so the footage will end with the music and the remaining 5 seconds will be black.
The footage still needs to be re-ordered to fit with the music but it is mostly already in the correct order,. The editing should be fairly quick as we only need to put the new shots that we will film in with the current shots and fix some lighting issues.
We still need to film some new ideas and some close up's so that we have a variety of shots.
After receiving feedback from various people on our rough cut I am feeling confident that our final product will be a success.
The filming went well with the exception of a couple of lighting problems, such as shadows and background lighting when we shot on different days. For example, at 1.10 in the rough cut. After the first lesson filming, we got the hang of the actual method of animating pretty quickly and were able to set up the camera and props in a shorter amount of time. This also meant that we were able to work at a quicker pace and get more work done.
On the rough cut deadline we discovered that we still didnt have enough footage which is why the rough cut has a 30 second gap. We decided that the music and lyrics of the song ended 5 seconds before the timings say it does so the footage will end with the music and the remaining 5 seconds will be black.
The footage still needs to be re-ordered to fit with the music but it is mostly already in the correct order,. The editing should be fairly quick as we only need to put the new shots that we will film in with the current shots and fix some lighting issues.
We still need to film some new ideas and some close up's so that we have a variety of shots.
After receiving feedback from various people on our rough cut I am feeling confident that our final product will be a success.
Review-Nicola
For homework each member of the group, has had to write their own blog on how they thought everything has gone so far.
With the filming we acquired a few problems in that as it took such a long time to complete some scenes we had to finish them off in other lessons, which meant when it came to start shooting again the lighting had changed, giving a noticeable change to the shots. We decided that we would just have to change this in final cut, in the editing stages. Another problem we had during filming was in shots such as, when the two main characters fly back through the window they have to fly over other props in the room, so the props kept moving. To overcome this problem we decided that we could use blue tack to keep the props down.
I think our group, underestimated just how long animation takes to film, in the fact you have to make such small movements to the prob, so a piece of footage that appears for about 5 seconds in the music video, would of taken about 10 minutes to film. Because of these timing problems, we had to shot some footage in any free time we had.
Editing- So far we haven't had much editing as this will be completed when we finish filming a few more shots, to fill a blank space we have. But when we do start editing, we need to sort out the lighting problems we acquired during some scenes.
In the music video task, I think we have worked well as a group, and found out early on what each person in our groups strengths were & how to use these to our advantage.
With the filming we acquired a few problems in that as it took such a long time to complete some scenes we had to finish them off in other lessons, which meant when it came to start shooting again the lighting had changed, giving a noticeable change to the shots. We decided that we would just have to change this in final cut, in the editing stages. Another problem we had during filming was in shots such as, when the two main characters fly back through the window they have to fly over other props in the room, so the props kept moving. To overcome this problem we decided that we could use blue tack to keep the props down.
I think our group, underestimated just how long animation takes to film, in the fact you have to make such small movements to the prob, so a piece of footage that appears for about 5 seconds in the music video, would of taken about 10 minutes to film. Because of these timing problems, we had to shot some footage in any free time we had.
Editing- So far we haven't had much editing as this will be completed when we finish filming a few more shots, to fill a blank space we have. But when we do start editing, we need to sort out the lighting problems we acquired during some scenes.
In the music video task, I think we have worked well as a group, and found out early on what each person in our groups strengths were & how to use these to our advantage.
Extra Alternatives
Because we've ran out of ideas to fill up the song. Our main priority will be to finish the ending sequence with the song title. We've also decided that we'll try to film as many close up shots to compensate the gap. A new idea we came up for the ending sequence was to pile up the rest of the props and then scatter them so it would take up the rest of the song's remaining time. This would also provide a nostalgic effect to viewers and present a surprising climax.
Our first alternative was to include a dream sequence of the women. However this would make our animation seem awkward when we combine the mans dream that is considerably longer in duration.
Our first alternative was to include a dream sequence of the women. However this would make our animation seem awkward when we combine the mans dream that is considerably longer in duration.
Monday, 19 October 2009
Set Target
Because we've only got a week before our extended rough cut deadline. We've decided to set a reasonable target by reaching to 2 minutes by the end of the after college session. So for today, we'll be finishing off the remaining scenes with first priority being the bedroom. As stated prior, Ollie had molded together new props to enhance the mise-en-scene of the bedroom since our background is fully black. The amount of new decor should also give us the opportunity to choose a set of camera shots to provide a diverse composition.
*UPDATE* 21/10/09
So far, our penultimate scene is the bedroom interior where both characters fly in through the window and slot into the bed. For preparation, we decided to utilize blue tack to keep the bedroom decor stationary. This would make things convenient while moving the characters across due to their comparative size. The final scene consists of the cut out letters spelling out the title song "Sweet Tangerine".The plan for this part is to have the letters flying in and positioning themselves on the page. Along the bottom of the shot the tangerine man will be walking on top of the tangerine which relates back to previous shots. We thought that this idea would help fill up the time gap we had left due to the fact we ran out of ideas. But as well as that we still need to focus on capturing close ups of certain scenes to improve and give a more diverse flow.
However, we did face some lighting difficulties. Our props appeared extremely white which was possibly due to the classroom lights blooming from above. We managed to fix this issue by turning a portion of the lights without disrupting the work of our colleagues.
*UPDATE* 21/10/09
So far, our penultimate scene is the bedroom interior where both characters fly in through the window and slot into the bed. For preparation, we decided to utilize blue tack to keep the bedroom decor stationary. This would make things convenient while moving the characters across due to their comparative size. The final scene consists of the cut out letters spelling out the title song "Sweet Tangerine".The plan for this part is to have the letters flying in and positioning themselves on the page. Along the bottom of the shot the tangerine man will be walking on top of the tangerine which relates back to previous shots. We thought that this idea would help fill up the time gap we had left due to the fact we ran out of ideas. But as well as that we still need to focus on capturing close ups of certain scenes to improve and give a more diverse flow.
However, we did face some lighting difficulties. Our props appeared extremely white which was possibly due to the classroom lights blooming from above. We managed to fix this issue by turning a portion of the lights without disrupting the work of our colleagues.
Friday, 16 October 2009
So Far
So far we have completed filming the following scenes:
-The house
-The flying cloud (with random objects)
-The piano
-The rocking moon
We have left to do:
-The bedroom
-The characters falling
-The characters stepping off the clouds
We will need to re-colour the piano shot and re-order the sequence as we did not shoot in the correct order, although it is mainly correct.
During a free period, Beth also decided to check whether the our song track synchronizes well with the animation sequence. Currently the interaction goes really smoothly with the lyrics as well as the overall flow of the beat. We'll continue to do this as instructed by our teacher as this will allow us to film additional shots that might have an impact on our audiences perception. Because at the moment, we're only filming a single birds eye shot.
-The house
-The flying cloud (with random objects)
-The piano
-The rocking moon
We have left to do:
-The bedroom
-The characters falling
-The characters stepping off the clouds
We will need to re-colour the piano shot and re-order the sequence as we did not shoot in the correct order, although it is mainly correct.
During a free period, Beth also decided to check whether the our song track synchronizes well with the animation sequence. Currently the interaction goes really smoothly with the lyrics as well as the overall flow of the beat. We'll continue to do this as instructed by our teacher as this will allow us to film additional shots that might have an impact on our audiences perception. Because at the moment, we're only filming a single birds eye shot.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Initial Moodboard
After the coming up with the initial concepts we came up with this moodboard to help aid our storyboarding and shot listing for our music video. It also allowed us to construct and collate the necessary design for the ancillary products such as the digipak. We took our best interests to what how mise-en-scene would appeal by thinking as many mundane props that will also compliment with the mascot (Tangerine Man).
Editing Precautions
Because of the limited time we've been given (despite the extension). The sequence with the piano key changing colors has proven to be a tedious task for us given by the remaining time we have left. So to compensate for this downfall, one of us will investigate on Final Cut what the correct filter will be to digitally grade the screen to different colors. This would save us valuable time instead of having to film another technical scene with more props that have yet to be produced. (We decided not to finish all the props and just start filming what we had and develop the rest of the prop at home)
Extended Deadline / Further Shooting
Our group has been giving a week extension due to our project being an animation. This will give us the opportunity to hopefully finish the whole thing all off and have something for the rough cut. A inconvenient problem we've suffered is the set up for our backgrounds. This is because of the limited time we have in lessons which requires us to rack up our equipment and reset the whole decor/props when we come to film again. As a helpful suggestion, we thought that we could stick the background with blue tack on the desk so all we would have to do is position the correct camera angle. However this would prove problematic for other classes as we would be taking up their space.
One of the recurring issues is the filming pace. We've realized that we've had to be patient and tolerable towards any minor mistakes. Some of these included the automatic blur from the camera which came in at random intervals. The latter being the small accidental exposure to our hands and unwanted trims of the classroom table behind our background.
One of the recurring issues is the filming pace. We've realized that we've had to be patient and tolerable towards any minor mistakes. Some of these included the automatic blur from the camera which came in at random intervals. The latter being the small accidental exposure to our hands and unwanted trims of the classroom table behind our background.
Monday, 12 October 2009
Filming and Technical Difficulties
We've begun our shooting process by setting up the first scene. Initially we wanted to set up a birds eye view shot of the scene. However this proved cumbersome when we attempted to achieve the right angle and height with the tripod. We also weren't familiar with how IStopMotion works since we never considered doing an animation before. One of the technical difficulties we encountered was the frame quality display. As we progressively took more frames, the quality would decrease and cause our viewfinder to look fuzzy. To fix this we tampered with the "view" options and found the onion skinning that made our display more clearer and indicated the prior shots situated which allowed to us accurately judge our prop's positioning on the iMac.
*UPDATE* 14/10/09
Today we were hoping to set up the equipment to avoid wasting time as we only accomplished 10 seconds from the last session. However our teacher wasn't here for the morning period so we had to inform our new supervisor to reclaim the equipment due to their security policy. Luckily our props were immediately available so our delay wasn't significant.
In the meantime, we also received feedback from last lesson suggesting that we remember to include a variety of camera shots. This would ensure a better editing pace and it would keep the audiences interest by not having a single shot of long duration. For now we'll be focusing on capturing the main shot list we story-boarded on the time line and then snap the extra frames (consisting close ups, tracking, panning etc) to compliment the editing stage.
*UPDATE* 14/10/09
Today we were hoping to set up the equipment to avoid wasting time as we only accomplished 10 seconds from the last session. However our teacher wasn't here for the morning period so we had to inform our new supervisor to reclaim the equipment due to their security policy. Luckily our props were immediately available so our delay wasn't significant.
In the meantime, we also received feedback from last lesson suggesting that we remember to include a variety of camera shots. This would ensure a better editing pace and it would keep the audiences interest by not having a single shot of long duration. For now we'll be focusing on capturing the main shot list we story-boarded on the time line and then snap the extra frames (consisting close ups, tracking, panning etc) to compliment the editing stage.
Thursday, 8 October 2009
Finale for Pre-production
We've approached the final hurdle of the pre-production stage with all the cut outs. In the meantime we decided to cut out some new cartoon like props since we had some spare time before end of lesson. As finishing touch we made sure we came with a back-up plan in case the animation footage we took wasn't long enough to fill the entire song. Our latter plan is to reverse the footage we took so we could include that nostalgic and fantasy feel. This would work well for the scene in the night sky with the couple flying amongst the clouds. This would also give us the opportunity experiment and develop our editing skills via Final Cut.
We were also fortunate to borrow some props from other groups in our class to enhance our backgrounds. Overall this would improve the mise-en-scene and create a neat contrast of colours for our environment.
We were also fortunate to borrow some props from other groups in our class to enhance our backgrounds. Overall this would improve the mise-en-scene and create a neat contrast of colours for our environment.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Further Preparation & Reconsiderations
There was a conference today regarding an ex student at Long Road who's now working within the Media Industry. Although we didn't have any questions for him to answer. We appreciated the advice he had provided and experienced the techniques/concepts involved with his music videos. Ed Lovelace gave us some detailed information on how the music video's went into production. He informed us that were certain budgets to making each MV as well as the limitations towards developing a pitch/treatment. We took this into consideration of how we managed our presentation. It turned out that despite the low budget equipment we'll be handling. Lovelace stated that you can still create something magnificent provided you do enough planning and creative thinking for your concept. One of the major things I noticed that it was easy for us as a group to compromise a decent idea. But it was the amount of work load and time keeping that we were unaware of. This will be one our major targets to improve whether we'll be working within media industry in the future.
We continued off with to cut out the props as well as the design the backgrounds. Later on we found that the cardboard which was implemented as backdrop support for the props was tedious to firmly cut to shape. So we've decided to scrap the utilization of the cardboard and focus on just using the props with their default format.
We continued off with to cut out the props as well as the design the backgrounds. Later on we found that the cardboard which was implemented as backdrop support for the props was tedious to firmly cut to shape. So we've decided to scrap the utilization of the cardboard and focus on just using the props with their default format.
*UPDATE* (8/10/09)
Recently we had to invest for the animation backgrounds by going to the college shop. We also came across a minor error when we shaded our character drawings in black. To overcome this we decided to redraw him in a less serious manner. This would save us time as well as make us learn from mistakes before we begin shooting the following week.
Recently we had to invest for the animation backgrounds by going to the college shop. We also came across a minor error when we shaded our character drawings in black. To overcome this we decided to redraw him in a less serious manner. This would save us time as well as make us learn from mistakes before we begin shooting the following week.
Monday, 5 October 2009
Preparation For Shooting
We asked our teacher to see the production materials which the students molded to create the milkman animation. After examining their props we decided to incorporate the idea of having the limbs of our characters move (i.e. the arms). This would make the animation more appealing due to our character cut outs interacting with the environment. It would also look more impressive rather than having a rigid cut out where there would be no limbs to move about.
At the moment, we're still working out on the cut outs for the character and props as well as the design for our backgrounds. The media department didn't have any black sugar paper so we decided to go to the college shop to stock up. One of the main priorities was shading in the exterior of the house in green as well as cutting and compiling all the decor props.
We also received feedback from our teacher who told us that this process is rather time consuming. We were advocated to finish off the rest of the props at home so we wouldn't have to rely on college time. This would lead us closer to shooting our animation as we have only 2 weeks from today until the filming deadline. But due to this minor difficulty, we've decided that our shot list needs to be re-done as we had some trouble trying to construct the time line with each specific shot.
At the moment, we're still working out on the cut outs for the character and props as well as the design for our backgrounds. The media department didn't have any black sugar paper so we decided to go to the college shop to stock up. One of the main priorities was shading in the exterior of the house in green as well as cutting and compiling all the decor props.
We also received feedback from our teacher who told us that this process is rather time consuming. We were advocated to finish off the rest of the props at home so we wouldn't have to rely on college time. This would lead us closer to shooting our animation as we have only 2 weeks from today until the filming deadline. But due to this minor difficulty, we've decided that our shot list needs to be re-done as we had some trouble trying to construct the time line with each specific shot.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Decor/Props
So far our group has come together to create an assortment of objects as described in our earlier blog posts. We chose these objects to look playful and appealing to the eye so that it'll be accessible to a versatile audience.
Progress/Feedback Response
At the moment we're beginning to sketch our detailed props for the animation which include the background decor such as the stars, moon and sun. Ollie will be drawing out the tangible characters. We also reconsidered not using the pins as it would limit the movement and freedom for our characters that would result in a rigid transition. For now we thought its best to stick to the basics and move the pieces manually as free hand would allow us to maneuver the props however we please.
At first we wanted to print the characters/props out. But because we were in college we decided that it wouldn't be worth to invest for printing. In case we fail to successfully draw the characters accurately, we can just go home and print it off then continue from then on making the limbs flexible for realistic movement.
As suggested from our feedback, we were advocated to find some examples of rough illustrations from the internet of our background. This would support us in envisioning our background sketches as well as show adequate evidence our intentions.
This is an example of the couple who transverse across the sky with patched clouds where they will land. This was briefly edited on Photo shop and the images are found from google/flickr.
This is our constructed time line where we've scrutinized each box by including the shot list number as well as annotating small details just to clarify our goal for the animation.
At first we wanted to print the characters/props out. But because we were in college we decided that it wouldn't be worth to invest for printing. In case we fail to successfully draw the characters accurately, we can just go home and print it off then continue from then on making the limbs flexible for realistic movement.
As suggested from our feedback, we were advocated to find some examples of rough illustrations from the internet of our background. This would support us in envisioning our background sketches as well as show adequate evidence our intentions.
This is an example of the couple who transverse across the sky with patched clouds where they will land. This was briefly edited on Photo shop and the images are found from google/flickr.
This is our constructed time line where we've scrutinized each box by including the shot list number as well as annotating small details just to clarify our goal for the animation.