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

 Before starting the animatic storyboard, I watched loads of fight scenes now focusing on choreorgrapby and composition. I did this because of what I previously learnt in the fight scene tutorial;  Montald says that they watch a lot of action sequences and just take notes for what they want to happen in their own work. Then decide which shots you want to take from that. Start with the part which inspires you the most as it will motivate you to continue if that part looks good. I focused on anime fight scenes as I want there to be elements of this in my animation.  Swordplay 剣術 Sakuga MAD Saitama vs Genos Fight | One Punch Man (60FPS) Shimazaki Fight - Mob Psycho Top 10 Best Anime Sword Fight Scenes (EPIC) Mob vs Koyama Full Fight (60fps) One Piece - Zoro vs Mihawk (remastered) As the animation did not just contain fighting but also a running sequence, I also looked into running animations. I found two really useful videos which showed how different animation studios depic...

 After learning about the importance of composition, I wanted to go back through my storyboard and recreate the shots in a way which followed the rules of composition.  I watched loads of animated fight scenes in order to see how composition is used between the characters. Below are some of my favourites which I referenced for my own compositions.  This is the first shot I created after researching composition and depicts the two characters meeting for the first time. Just like how we have been doing in class, I decided to pick a keyframe for my first composition. This is a very important moment within the animation as it is before the action between the two characters begins.  The idea of this shot is that it is a face off between two characters who have been brought up to be enemies by their environment. Both sides are highly trained and believe their method is the only one which can work. The shot is framed around the main character as he looks off to the other si...

 The events of the animation will take place high up in the mountains, on the trail which leads to the Japanese castle. In order to begin understanding how to visually represent the surrounding mountains, I began doing research on 3D models of mountains. That is when I found the images below from the game Overwatch. I really like the stylized look of the mountains which surround the player on the map named Nepal. I wanted to look further into how this was achieved so that I could recreate the placement of the mountains in my environment. It is done in a way where they completely surround you in the environment, while also not looking overly complicated to model and texture. This is important as my main focus is character and animation, not environment, however I still want my environment to look good.  Below are the screenshots I took from in-game, using the floating camera in spectate mode. This allowed me to get a better look of how the mountains are arranged. I could see th...

 Main Hotkeys Alt + Middle Mouse Click = Pan Camera  Alt + Right Mouse Click = Zoom Camera Alt + Left Mouse = Rotate Camera Alt + Shift + Left Mouse = Rotate In Increments Tab = Swap Interface (Closer Up View Of Object) F1 = Split View (2D + 3D View) F2 = 3D View F3 = 2D View F4 = Swap 3D + 2D Side Shift + Right Mouse Click = Change The Direction Of Light B = Bake (Allows You To See Baked Information) M = Material C = Cycle Through The Channels X = Changes The Colour Spectrum To The Opposite (Black To White). Useful When Using Masks - BLACK REVEALS, WHITE COVERES  S + Right Mouse Click = Zoom Stencil S + Middle Mouse = Pan Stencil S + Left Mouse Click = Rotate Stencil Anchor point always has to be below the layer that will use it. They are used in order to show added information. Example was a skull and crossbones heightmap. It did not have the red edge. In order for this to show up, created an anchor on the heightmap layer. Then went back to man layer and selected micro ...

 

  In order to establish the world the animation was set in, I decided there would be a timelapse at the beginning of the animation showing the city being built. This is to visually get across the point that the world is slowly being consumed by technology, until the only bit of nature left is the mountain in the middle. 

 Tutorial Outline Deconstruct cinema image in order to identify what makes the shot so good. Deconstruct then analyse lighting form the shots The video series goes through the process of creating own black and white keyframe shots.    Francesco Guarini - Works within the animation industry both freelance and inhouse for companies such as Blue Zoo Animation, Able And Baker, Red Star 3D and Method n Madness.    I took notes of the videos in order to refer back to when creating my own compositions.  Video 1: Theory and tools for cinematic composition Breakdown shots from film and animation in order to identify how to create a strong composition shot. What is composition? Composition is focus – directing the viewers eye to the main focus in a clean and appealing way – while continuing to translate mood, emotion and story.   Step 1 – Select your focus point (and supporting focus points) – Supporting focus points can be used within a large ...