Andrea's ACM 320 Production Blog

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1. This semester has been quite stressful, what with me having other larger projects from other courses as well. Although stressful, I’m grateful to have this opportunity to experience the process of creating a short Animation;; even if it doesn’t look good (if my friends ask, I said it looks decent;; but it’s really not ;x;).

I’ve really learned to figure out my priorities due to all these projects, and how to work efficiently with a set goal. Timing was also very important throughout this semester, it really helps to know when to push yourself to work and when to take breaks.

2.  Some adjustments I would make towards the filmmaking process would be to actually follow the schedule I had set up for myself, that way I would be on time with everything rather than having to rush. Rushing  led to my animation not meeting my own standards :(( which is kind of annoying but it’s nothing I can’t go back to. 

Refining the designs of my characters and backgrounds before working on the actual animation should have been another important factor to me, if I had a set reference to begin with everything would be consistent. Similarly to the colors, I should have also put the time in to find some colors that would fit well with the animation and use brushes that kept the consistency going. 

I definitely overworked myself whenever I did focus on my animation though, staying up to around 7 in the morning to complete scenes that are -- decent -- I suppose.  

3. Make sure you have everything planned out before you start working on the final product, or at least satisfactory in your own terms. Without that set reference, you’ll just be constantly changing how things look or how the story is going to go. Just have that worked out before anything else, especially the story you want to tell. It’s going to seem like you’ll have a lot of time to complete the whole thing within a semester, but time goes by quickly so don’t procrastinate and set up goals for yourself. Work in increments if you have to, just to keep on track. Also, SAVE. I’ve lost a bunch of work throughout the semester and have had to stay up doing them over (not healthy, don’t pull all-nighters in a row).

And for those who just work and work and work;; although keeping up with your schedule is important, it’s also important to slow down and just -- breath. I’ve gone through this whole semester overworking myself, feeling anxious about practically everything. Additionally, I would forget to eat the whole day and just lock myself in my room. In the end, it was not a good feeling at all, and I know it’s affected the final product of my animation. 

If you need time to yourself to just sit down and chill, then you should do it. Your mental health should be above everything else. 

FINAL FILM: https://vimeo.com/543520549

This week I had been so busy with other classes but put some time into my short animation by working on the Documents required and additional finishing touches. The ACM Logo was added into the beginning as well as the film title, and I had to look up some videos on creating an end roll credit. 

While working on the documents some more, it’s time to study for other final exams ;~;

ᴡᴇᴇᴋ 15: Finished (for now :’D )

ᴛʜᴀᴛ’ꜱ ᴀ ᴡʀᴀᴘ! I have finally added color to all my scenes in a way that fits my story. Chloe, feeling as if she had been fading away from existence (as shown throughout the short as she is not colored in fully) can now rest peacefully with Katie, in color and together. Unfortunately, it’s still not to my liking but I know one day I’m going to try and re do this animation into a way that’s satisfactory and pleasant to the eye. For now though, we gave it our all and shouldn’t force perfection when there’s still much more to learn and grow from :’)

"ꜱᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴀʟʟ ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴜᴅ. ɴᴏ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ ʜᴏᴡ ᴡᴇᴀᴋ ᴏʀ ᴜɴᴡᴏʀᴛʜʏ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰᴇᴇʟ, ꜱᴇᴛ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴀʙʟᴀᴢᴇ, ɢʀɪᴛ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛᴇᴇᴛʜ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴏᴠᴇ ꜰᴏʀᴡᴀʀᴅ. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴄᴜʀʟ ᴜᴘ ɪɴ ᴀ ʙᴀʟʟ ᴀɴᴅ ʜɪᴅᴇ, ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴘᴀꜱꜱ ʏᴏᴜ ʙʏ. ɪᴛ ᴡᴏɴ'ᴛ ꜱᴛᴏᴘ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀʟʟᴏᴡ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ɢʀɪᴇꜰ." - ᴋ.ʀ.

Week 14: ʜᴀʟꜰ ᴡᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ

This week was a work week for all my classes. I’ve opted to manually drawing out all the colors in my animation rather than using the paint bucket tool, in order to capture a certain look. 

The idea is this; throughout the animation Chloe isn’t colored in fully and is actually losing it, whereas Katie would be in all white to present her as someone ethereal and pure, their world black and white. Towards the end, the black colors try to engulf Chloe, to represent her falling into this depression/darkness, but she breaks that by going into the mirror. To join Katie in a more bright and colorful world.

Additionally, this method would prove to be easiest on time, considering we don’t have a lot left. 

WEEK 13 : Final-ly 

This week we begin working on the final look of the animation, and I’ve decided to go simple with black, white and grays; to have the viewer focus on what’s on the screen, also to say that right now she is at a dark place in her life. I plan on adding some color towards the end, to represent her finding a sort of peace. Can’t wait to do that :D

Other than that, I also took the time to practice more on my animating capabilities while working on the short. 

Week 12: It’s been Rough

Finally, I was able to complete the rough animations. I’m surprised I even finished earlier than expected, I think I really tried to push out the need to make everything look perfect and remind myself that it was just a rough. 

Here are the last few scenes I was able to finish up before compiling them into a video using Premiere Pro and the last 2 braincells left in me. 

Wow... it’s so early;; 10:43 PM ;O;

Week 11:  “ 私が来た”

This week I really pushed myself to try and complete the roughs for my short animation; this is what I got out of it. I am almost to the end before I start polishing everything for the finale; about 5 more scenes left to go. How exciting! 

I’d like to call what I did on the side procrastination, but it was actually homework for the video game class. Hopefully I get more things done before my friend’s birthday, I would like to relax and hopefully enjoy that day. 

Overall, I am here to push on with all my might  (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)

⛧ ᴡᴇᴇᴋ 10: ʀᴏᴜɢʜ  ⛧

And so, I continue to work on my rough animations this week. Here are some of the scenes somewhat completed over the course of the week. Unfortunately, the perfectionist side in me is disappointed in the scenes produced; doesn’t mean we won’t keep trying though and at least it’s progress;; It’s just a rough, Andrea... chill. 

Week 9: Rough Animation 

Working in Toon Boom Harmony, I continue to work on the rough animation, polishing some scenes in my animatic (taking the notes from the critique into account), and overall giving myself some time to rest; jk I’m cryinggggg;; I thought this was spring break, not break my mental state during spring :(  

Week 8: Animatic 2.0  :(

This week was kind of rough. I had lost the file for the first Animatic so I hurriedly attempted to create another one, horrid I know. Although time consuming, this gave me a chance to put in more details and make the animatic look somewhat prettier. 

Week 7: Rough Animation, Back to Toon Boom 

This week I have continued working on my animatic, adding a song I thought would fit the theme and timing it with the ending. With that, I get back into Toon Boom Harmony and start the rough animation of my first scene. It’s been so long since I’ve touched Toon Boom, so I’m a lil’ rusty but that’s what YouTube and the lessons are for. I’m still working out my Sequence-Shot Breakdown list, taking out some parts that I thought weren’t needed. 

Week 6: Practice makes Perfect 

This week, I started working on the backgrounds I plan on integrating into my short animation. Taking the reference from blender and using screenshots of the angles to draw over. I had attempted the sequence shot breakdown, but am still deciding on what frames to keep and what to get rid of. 

Additionally, I took the time to try and practice animating movement by watching videos over and over. Using this, I try to work in Toon Boom Harmony to begin the rough of my animation. 

Week 5: Animatic + Sounds + Pre-Production Package

This week I had worked on polishing the animatic for my short animation, Mirror. With that being said, I attempted to fix the timing and had added sound into the animatic for the first time ever since learning Storyboard Pro. It’s not perfect, but it’s something :P 

On the side, I continue to work on my Pre-Production Package, plotting and finalizing my Seq/Shot breakdown list. 

This week I try to finalize the character designs. Finally coming up with a design for Katie when I had been drawing out the rough animatic. These aren’t the final designs just yet but I know that I want to make Chloe look like a mess (her life is falling apart and I’m with you there sis), whereas Katie is seemingly ethereal and girly. 

A rough animatic for my short, Mirror. I’m not as pleased with how this turned out but it’s just a rough sketch, so I shouldn’t be putting myself down. If anything, it’s a start to somewhere. 

With no prior experience with blender, I had decided to get into it, to try and create an image of what I think the bedroom (main character’s) would look. After a bunch of videos and the visitation of my good ol’ friend, Stress; this is what I currently have.