#wdfd

We had a private little exclusive "premiere" of Why Do Flowers Die? in one of my old professor’s class, presented along with all my past student films. It always humbles me to present both old and new work, because you see how much you've changed as an artist. I had one student ask me, "What advice would you give for someone starting out?" All I can say is, just keep at it. You'll get there if you dedicate yourself to your work. I've got a long way to go before I can call myself a master of my craft. Animation isn't easy, but if you like it, it's extremely rewarding.

Colours!

So here’s the general colour palette I’ve been using for my characters. I kept it quite simple, using more vibrant colours for Rose and subdued greens for Rose’s mother. (She is still--and probably will always be--nameless.) To remind you of what the general colour scheme is going to be, here’s the colour script once again: 

For the characters, I picked the colours to contrast the backgrounds they would be put against; so in the daytime shots, Rose would be outside in her garden, therefore surrounded by greens. To make sure she pops out, I used a bright pink shirt and orange shoes. For the night-time shots, I actually wanted to mimic the colours the backgrounds would have (blues, purples, etc.). It would help emphasize the mood, and I wanted to give her a pyjama-look. For the mother, I actually decided to use the same greens I used to colour the flowers’ stems for her clothes. It’s symbolic as well as useful for making her stand out from the warm hues I used in the bedroom scenes.

Here are some beautiful backgrounds done by Teresa Kuo! (You can follow her work at @tweedacaramel )

I’ve begun compositing the animation and backgrounds together, and boy is it thrilling to see everything slowly come together. I think compositing will be one of my favourite parts for this film! (Like it always is.)

Animatic to Rough Animation

Here I have edited together different versions of the same scene from my previous post. Even after the story is decided, there are so many ways to tell that story. This is why animatics are crucial for a smooth production, so that these changes can be made earlier rather than later. 

The first change was the composition of the first few shots. As mentioned before, the pan in the first version is unnecessary, and actually creates more confusion than it does clarify Rose’s emotions. There are a variety of different techniques to help focus your audience’s eye on specific elements, a pan being one, but a close-up and a cut to a wider shot serves this scene better. This way, we see the whole scene and not bit by bit, which allowed me to show Rose’s reaction more directly. 

In the same way, adding in close ups of the Rose’s face as she grabs the petal shows her emotion, rather than relying on the sigh to communicate all of it. Adding a variety to sequences of shots from close ups to farther shots creates more dynamism and keeps it interesting. For this particular film, I rarely use far away shots because of the intimacy of the story. We are always emotionally close to the characters. As well, a child’s world is rather like a tight-knit community, especially for a character like Rose who is still very naive and young. As they learn, their world expands along with their knowledge. 

Animatic - Storyboard to Final Edit

The animatic is key for preplanning shots and pacing. Its purpose is not only to see the storyboards in action, but it also (hopefully) eliminates the need to change things after production begins. Animation is different from live-action in that, while live-action films finish with editing, our filmmaking process begins with it. This is when the filmmaker will make decisions on which shots to keep, which ones to take out, and which ones need change. This way, they won’t be left doing unnecessary animation, or worse, having to re-animate a shot. Of course, things may still change during production, but crunching in last-minute animation when production is already tight on time is something all animators want to avoid. The main reason why animatics are so important is because it’s the first time the film materializes as a film, and that gives a very different feeling from simply looking at storyboards.

The first video you see here is an excerpt from the first animatic I made. It is basically the storyboards that I’ve drawn in video format with only the most important parts of the audio included. I showed this scene to a colleague of mine, and he pointed out that the reframing of the camera was unnecessary. Instead, I should fix the composition so that the eye goes to where I want the audience to look. My intention was to focus on the vase of flowers first, see the petal fall, and then focus on Rose as she enters the screen. The problem with panning up to Rose was that it cut off the most important part: seeing Rose’s reaction to the fallen petal. This will be what foreshadows the second time Rose sees the petal fall off from, this time, her new flowers. In the final version of the animatic, which I will post next, you will see how I decided to change the composition and cutting. Another feedback I got was that the passage of time was a little abrupt between Rose taking out the flowers (during the day) and Rose and her mother talking in bed (at night). A simple solution was to add a cross dissolve. 

Why Do Flowers Die? wins award at Toronto Youth Shorts! 

Hello hello everyone! It’s been a long time since I’ve posted, and I’m blown away by the number of new followers. Welcome, everybody! I appreciate your love and support. 

I’m happy to announce Why Do Flowers Die? won the Festival Director’s Award of Recognition at the 2018 edition of Toronto Youth Shorts! They’re a great festival for young filmmakers based in the GTA (in Canada). I would highly recommend it for any emerging filmmakers out there who are from the area. 

The film is officially complete!

It’s been a long journey creating this film, but I sincerely enjoyed every part of the process. It was a refreshing feeling to be able to work on a film for an entire year instead of the usual semester. It allowed me to go in depth with each step, all the way from pre-production to post-production, so the experience I gained from this is extremely valuable. 

One thing that I am most proud of is my collaboration with my peers. It is quite a difficult thing to let go of your personal project and allow other people to add their touch. In the more general sense of collaboration, the in-class critiques were always useful and humbling, and it was a source of bonding for our class. Of course, a more direct form of collaboration was with my background artist, Teresa, and my composer, Nick. In both cases, I am happy that our collaboration worked out very smoothly and we have all finished the year, content with the final product. It was an invaluable experience where I learned the importance of good directing. It can never be a dictatorship, because it is truly a partnership. This film could not have finished in such a short span of time and as high in quality if it weren’t for all those who helped me create it. Whether it was verbal feedback in a classroom setting, or getting a homemade pizza personally delivered from Antonio when I was sick (seriously though--thank you), every single gesture and input has helped me. I am just as sad as I am happy that the journey is complete. I will miss working on Rose, and I will certainly miss my classmates. 

A huge, huge thank you to everyone. 

Short version: 

Why Do Flowers Die is an animated short film about a young girl who must come to accept that the flowers she grew for her mother will not last forever. Just as flowers die and grow again, precious moments in life are fleeting. The most important thing to remember is that there will always be more.

Full version: