Month: January 2023

Well as the title said, we have reached the very end of this project.

Everything i did before has been allowed to keep developing to the next stage. It is not final output but it is close. Close enough for me to write this final report of what I am going to do in the next few days and some reflections.

So one of the feedbacks I received from the last interim was to have more animation. That I can do, as the video I gave was just animatics, there are a bunch of inbetweens and coloring to do so it is possible and in my schedual to add more clips into it.

And that is bascially what i will do. Sounds pretty basic but it takes time. I said that it would be better after some weeks during the interim, I spoke these words directly to my clients and now i am really regret and doubt about if I can really make these things right.

I really hope I can.

As the project progressed, some thoughts became clearer. I really don’t seem to be following the standard process. I skipped the character design step and still don’t have a single three-view character sheet. Even in the final touches, the animation is still being drastically changed. The finished draft is now completely different from the first attempt.

This is the freedom that comes from the fact that I am doing all the drawing myself.
The project can be changed directly from my own ideas.
However, that also means the quality of the project completely depends on the extent of my ideas. Is the message that I want to express too childish, too serious, too big or too small…
whether the choice of expression is not flamboyant, whether it is fancy, whether it puts the cart before the horse…
And if I meet a partner who needs to communicate, will I be able to express myself and follow or let them follow my ideas?
Of course as an art student or an animator, I got lots of skill problems on my hands. Body ratios, human anatomy .etc.
But as an art supervisor and a director, what I have learnt this semester is that I have a lack of spirit, experience and imagination.
How to control myself and stay within the limits of what is required
How to find the most effective ways to solve problems and suggestions for improvement,
Most importantly, how to evolve my imagination and thinking to the next level,
For now these questions would be enough for me to meditate before sleep.
Even if I don’t know what the future holds, the least I can do now is to look at my work and never be sure of myself until I’ve reached the dead line.

I am grateful , despite all those negative words above, to all those experinece and paths I have made so far. It has been quite a journey and I did accomplished something.

And hopefully I can walk further on the path of animation from now on.

I am back at the end of first week after the winter break.

So what did I do during this fasinating winter?

Not much, actually. I had to change most of my designs becasue I got some serious feedback during the previous interim. I wrote a quick note after the interim:

Well it`s no big deal afterall. All I need is just delete what I did for the last three month and start over.

And then the third interim is coming and I need to assemble a video that`s promising enough to let people know i didn`t just sleep over the whole winter.

And I GOT NOTHING.

Well not exactly nothing but some scraps and trash I did. Still, I need to have a script of what the hell I `m going to say during the meeting so, here it is:

It is quite clear that this time we have two part of the video, each part is talking about one topic, which is: Define intersectional Discrinimation and Share the importance of allyship.

Which eventually talks about one thing:

and that is the topic of the whole animation:

So if you still remeber what I gave you guys last time, you will notice some major changes.

I wrote a quick note after the second interim which records the feedbacks i received. To fulfill most of them I have to change basically everything. So you could say I made a whole new animation between the second and third interim.

The point of this animation is to make a difference between worlds with and without allyship.

I actually did a lot version of this background. But the whole point of this is to break down the wall, to show the vast sky and open ground, to make a feeling of you can breathe freely and there is no bond or restriction, you can really feel that you can do everything.

And to make more connection with guildhall, I actually took reference from your riverbank building and put it in the background.

It`s not really obvious but I hope you can get the point, Still pls don`t think these two as the actual sketch of your school, but a spirtual image of the school`s impression.

I understand you guys may expect to see a more complete-stage animation at the final interim, but as I said before I have to restart over to meet the topics. and for animation part I work alone so there`s not much time for me to show you guys what this would be like when it`s nearly down.

Most of you probably have noticed that the music itself is also work in prgress. I actually edited the music myself with the excellent tracks provided by my guildhall coworker. I asked him to make a new one but as you know we had a voice record last week and to fit with the sound and graphic, my coworker just doesn`t have time to give me the track before today.

And for this project I have made 6 major changes so far and each time I had to redraw a lot of frames. it takes time but I assure to you this will be better and I will make this to a better stage before the final deadline.

So pls give us time, and we can make it better. That is all I have for you today. Thanks.