Ronnie Leah, BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester.

  So far I have been able to complete a large amount of scenes for the first skit. I am getting used to animating in Maya and feel my use of the keyframes has dramatically improved from the beginning. The last scene with the books falling over is by far the best one. I feel I captured the weight of the books effectively and really like how the domino effect looks when fully finished.  This version of the animation by far looks more visually interesting than the pre-viz. Although the book shot took a lot of time to animate, I feel I am on track to complete the animation within the timeframe.  I put all of the clips together to see how well they work with each other. I like the animation moves at the moment, its not too fast so you don't know what going on, but their is also not wasted shots.  If you are unable to access the video please use the link below. If that still does not work all video's have been submitted to the group Basecamp in the folder "Animation Process"

 Now that I had completed two of the characters in their normal outfits, I now need to show them as the heroes. I researched iconic superheroes in order to identify what made them stand out so much. I really like the colour scheme the outfits use, as it becomes an influential thing identified with the character. For this reason I want my outfires colour scheme to be perfect.  When designing the iconic outfit AB-Normal wears, I focused on using the colours Red, White and Blue as the hero is British. I also opted for a pattern rather than a symbol, with the circle highlighting his ab’s, which refers to his name. It is worth noting Elliot does not wear a mask as he wants all of the glory himself.  I went through multiple iteration of the costume before deciding on the one I liked. I had to come to a decision on the shade of blue the cape would be. I found that if it was too light it washed out the colours on the actual suit, but if it was too dark it looked out of place.  Now that I had d

  How do video games control us through the illusion of choice? How is the theme of control explored in the narrative of Bioshock?   Bioshock is a first-person, action-adventure/horror game designed to simulate an alternate reality dystopian civilisation, set in the 1950/60s. Within this world, advanced technology has led to the discovery of ADAM, a substance that enhances the human form, and eventually causes the destruction of the city known as Rapture. The purpose of this essay is to explore how the game uses a simulacra world to immerse the player; this is a theory laid out by Jean Baudrillard to describe the creation of a hyperreal world. He states that the development of technology and other forms of media have led to a passive human existence, whereby people are willing to give up reality for an idea (). When linking to Bioshock , it can be argued that Rapture acts a commentary for the wider world, as it is a creation designed to escape the real world, much like the conce

  Today I began animating the first scene, where Moom is hitting the machine. I found that it took me a long time to complete, what seemed to be, a simple scene. The biggest problem I ran into was getting the timing right for each of Moom's actions. When I would complete a part of the animation and play it back, it would either look to slow or too fast. I also found that it did not look natural.  I decided to play around with the keyframes, seeing how the animation was effected if I changed the amount of frames to do an action.  This helped me going forward to time other actions in the scene. I also struggled at first to parent the hammer to Mooms hand, as it would result in the hammer teleporting to the grid. I thought this was due to not freezing the transformations of the hammer before parenting, however this did not change anything. I eventually realized that I should be parenting the hammer to the finger control, rather than the hand control. I was then able to complete the re

 After completing the pre-viz, it is now time I begin animating the real thing. I have left myself roughly 3 weeks to do so, in order to make sure all the work is completed to the best of my ability. This leaves time for actually animating, as well as any technical difficulties which may arise during the process. Its important that I complete my job within the designated timeframe so that I do not let my team down.  As a group we have established a workflow: Marta completes concept art/orthographs, Emily takes the drawings and make them in 3D and I (Ronnie) work on the animation of the character Moom and am in charge of bringing all of the 3D together. It is important that everyone completes their job so that we can work efficiently.  I started by watching back the previz in order to see how well the written narrative translates to 3D. For the most part I found that it makes sense, however the animation was too basic to feel any emotion towards the character or plot. For this reason I

  1 minute drawing exercise to focus on the silhouette.  30 second drawing exercise. 

 Today I was briefed on Non-Linear Narrative story telling. This is when a film plays with the expectation of the audience, by reshuffling events within a story, in order to engage them with the narrative. This is the opposite of traditional storytelling, which is usually told in a linear format, meaning all events present to the audience is in the correct order (the is no time displacement). Non linear makes use of peoples expectations of the traditional style, using out of order events in order to structure its narrative.  The displacement of time can be introduced in a variety of different way including: Flash back/forward - An interjected scene that takes the narrative backwards or forwards in time, in order to add coherency to the narrative. This flashback can be internal or external. If internal then event seen will be within narrative, with external being outside of the narrative, e.g Childhood. Deux Ex Machina - God out of the machine. The story is resolved by an unexpected occ

 Today I imported all of the 3D models made by Emily into the street concept I had created in order to see how everything would look for the pre-viz. I felt that the environment I created served its purpose well as the backdrop supporting the events which take place within each skit. It appeared that Moom fitted into the world well, which is good for consistency when portraying the narrative of our skits. We will be able to use this environment in the final animation with the appropriate changes.  After identifying the world of the animation, I then began watching through the animatic to remember the events which transpired. I felt that our animatic did not fully represent the events in a clear enough way and so noted down points of improvements so that we could solidify the skits within the pre-viz.  Once I was happy with what I needed to create, I then spent the day making the pre-viz. I kept the Pre-viz as close to the events as each skit as possible in order to create a clear block

 Today we learnt about how to complete an effective storyboard.  I have written my notes below: Storyboard - can be rough but need to be readable. Think about where the camera moves. can show full image to show where camera goes. Zoom in/ out - camera is stationary Pull in / out - camera moving (represented by thick arrows) Zoom tilt Tracking characters / object in scene (big arrow on sides Can use transitions - fade in/out Opposite of this is a wash out After learning about storyboards and the importance of camera movement, I then had to experiment with the camera using one of the provided themes. I chose boxing. After I leant about how to do the animation layout Animation layout show a scene, characters doing gestures, camera movement and environment. Characters may repeat as it is  a mixture of different shots Use depth to frame image, foreground, midground, distance. Use colour, richer colours are closer, washed out are further Lead the eye with perspective Below is my attempt at d

 Below I have completed the turn-around for the character Joe Average. 

 Today I finished the character turn-around for the character Elliot Goh. I used the image I drew of the top half of the character as reference.  Elliot's build is meant to be slanted in order to show his villainous tendencies, as for the majority of the plot he is a bad person. It is only when he goes through the experiences with Joe, that the learns what is important in life and how you should treat others. He wears an expensive diamond incrusted suit and holds himself very highly.  As Elliot travels back in time to the 60's and is stranded, He has to blend in with his surroundings. For this reason I drew a 60's version of the character. 

  What to do next  1960's London Investigate 1960's London in order to establish a location for the final battle. Consider the powers of both the hero and villain in order to help pick the location.  Look into popular 60's culture in order to influence the characters looks and personality.  The Mod Subculture Popular Figures in the 60's Elvis Presley (American, With Worldwide influence) The Beatles (British Band, Used A Lot Of Psychedelic Imagery In Work) The Rolling Stones (Popular Band) The Who (Popular Band) Begin designing characters using research to influence the design.   "metamorphosis from a gloomy, grimy  post-war  capital into a bright, shining epicentre of style". Below I have researched London  I like the idea of setting the final scene at either the Piccadilly Circus or The Natural History Museum. I chose both these locations as they are grand, but as as they display a sense of time based on their surroundings. I could use the billboards as a tim

Today I was introduced to different narrative structures in storytelling. Below are my notes taken in the lecture. I first looked at Aristotle's classic 3 act structure. This consists of the following; Act 1 - Introduction Act 2 - Where most of the action takes place Act 3 - Everything comes together, a resolve Act 1 is the setup - who, what, where and the introduction to the conflict. Act 2 spends the time developing the conflict. Act 3 resolves the conflict, tying up any other loose ends in the narrative. If you plan to make a sequel to the film, you are able to leave certain plot points unresolved.  The traditional way to structure a story is by making the beginning 25%, the middle 50% and the end 25%. In modern-day interpretations of the Aristotle structure, the percentages are moved around in order to create a slightly different narrative. This makes the film seem more interesting as it strays away from the traditional, making certain points in the plot unexpected. The Syd Fie

 When designing the layout of the house, I took great inspiration from the images below. I wanted the characters house to stand out as being unique to them, whilst also being practical for them to live in and for our team to animate in. I tried to think of what the character needs to be able to do in his house, in order to play out the events of the story.  Below shows the layout of the house's bottom floor, with the bed covering the kitchen and fully furnished. I will now send this design to Emily so that she can begin making it in 3D.                                                                      

 Now that I had created designed one of the main characters, I now had to design the other one, Joe Average.  I started by making a mood board surrounding ideas of the 60s and comic books.  In order to make the time difference stand out, I want Joe to look as if he is from the 60's. One way I can do this is by giving him a 60's hair cut and clothes. I also want to visually show that he is from the 60's by drawing him in a 60's comic book art style.  Originally, as seen in the first sketch, I made Joe a skinny teenager. This was to follow along with the sidekick archetype's such as Robin (Batman). However After drawing the character, I thought he looked a bit generic and boring. I thought about the dynamic between both Joe and Elliot and what their relationship is like at the beginning of the story. As Elliot is obsessed with achieving the perfect human form (as he is vain), I thought why not make Joe the opposite in order to create a contrast between the two charact

 After completing the storyboard, Marta sent me the files so that I could turn it into an animatic. As I was the editor for the team it was my responsibility to make the animatic.  After looking through each frame, I felt as if the story wasn't presented in a very clear way. This was important as we want the audience to be able to understand what is going on. For this reason I added in some extra frames just so it made a bit more sense. I feel as if the animatic would have benefitted for a few extra frames, just to allow time for Moom's actions to be laid out more clearly. However we no longer had enough time to make this improvement as we needed to present our work to Simon. I then imported the images into Premiere Pro. I adjusted each frames time, making sure there were pauses between the skits to ensure the audience can process what's going on and to help divide them up. Below is the animatic with no audio Animatic With No Audio I tried my best to make the story seem as

Now that I had created a story outline for our animation, I then wanted to focus on the world in which the events would take place. I decided to make a street view of what could appear in the background for the final animation.  Below is a mood board of images which inspired my towns design. At the moment my scene feels a bit empty compared to the images which inspired it, which look lived in. There are many elements in the images below which I still want to add to my version as they make the scene feel more stylized and real.  I focused on the more low poly, cartoony art style, as I wanted to create a world which suited the character of Moom. Its important that the style matches his character in order for the animation to seem believable so that he does not look out of place.  I  then completed a 3D concept of what the street view could look like outside of the characters house. The scene is still in its blocking out stage in order for me to explore different ideas. I will then presen

  Main Characters Man from future  Names for character: Elliot Goh (E.GO)      Man is vain and has a lot of money. For this reason, I feel like he would spend a large amount of his money on himself. This could be by purchasing expensive accessories and clothing as well as spending it on his physical appearance (tattoos, Botox and hair transplant). His deepest desire is to be looked upon as a god, which is how he views the superhero who is protecting his city. He is very envious of the hero as he knows no matter how much money he has he will never be able to compete with the supernatural. His jealousy has corrupted his thoughts and he begins obsessing over the origin of the hero. He throws all of his money into researching superheroes and time travel and dedicates his life researching about every single sighting of the hero.  I want him to look as physically muscular as humanly possible, in order to get across the idea that this is a man who has everything and will try everything in ord

 After research different characters and identifying what sort of character I want to make, I decided to help visualize my ideas. I created a list of common scientist archetypes.  Scientist/Inventor common archetypes Messy white hair/ Moustache Large lab coat Goggles Gloves Boots Bowtie/tie Beakers and potion bottles Explosions and smoke This then inspired the ideas for my character designs. I tried to incorporate a range of ideas, while still keeping the overall design somewhat simple and recognisable. Although it was not my job to design the character, I thought that it was important as the groups researcher to present the ideas I have learnt from my research. The best way I thought of doing this was by creating different designs which I could present to the group in order to inspire the real design of Moom.  I will now present these ideas to my team so that we can come up with the final design for our character.