[PRODUCTION] Week 1 - Getting started

Since the 02/01/2017 I have been in production of When Dream Became Data, as stated before, I have estimated that I will need to do atleast 3 shots a week in order to make the deadline I have set for myself, the total shots I have done this week however are 7, so just over double the amount I had previously set. One of the things you may notice while watching this is that the character 'The Old Animator' is drawn very roughly, this is a conscious decision as I want to do all the colouring and in-between animation at the very end of the production, there is also a shot of Max the Cat which requires animation, however, due to location circumstances I haven't been able to use my light-box do do any scenes where he is animated. Animating Max the Cat will become a number one priority in due time, as previously stated, I feel his scenes will be the most difficult to actually animate.

I had a problem with one of the shots, that being shot 5, the second shot where we see the Animator drawing Max the Cat, this was because I had previously broke the groups of the hand after the first shot of the animator drawing Max, so I had to redraw and regroup the hand, making it slightly different the the first shot, however I don't think it is massively noticeable.

I am very happy with the progress I have made this week, I feel that if I can keep this up I will have the animation done in no time, I still need to factor in the 'Max the Cat' scenes and the 'Clay Animation' shot, because of this I need to do more than intended during each week, however I feel like this is going to be achievable.

[REFERENCE] Sitting Down Reference

As I am currently animating When Dreams Became Data, I feel that having visual references will help me greatly when animating the human characters. I took a few videos of me acting out the second shot, as I wanted to make sure I get it right; pushing a chair into the shot and sitting down, below is the video I took:

After studying the reference videos, I decided to jump in and begin animating, it took a couple of days, but I feel I successfully captured a realistic sit down motion. Below you can watch the clip where I animated the above shot:

I will continue to record a variety of shots if I feel they will be difficult to animate without a reference, this will aid my animation process as well as speed up the time it'd take to animate.

[PRODUCTION] Max the Cat; on screen shots

While creating my Scene and Shot list, I noticed that in some scenes, I would need to draw using the Light-box, so rather than have everything in one file, I wanted to create two separate files, one which has every scene and shot, and this one which has every shot where Max appears on screen using the light-box. I still use the Scene and Shot lists order, but now because of this list I know how many different scenes I need to draw using the light-box, this will be very helpful when I begin to create shots using the light-box, as I feel that these scenes will be the most time consuming and the most difficult to animate. Below is every shot where Max the Cat is animated using a Light-box:

Scene 01: Max moves from his standard position, checks his left arm, then his right arm, then raises them both and smiles at the camera.
Shot 10

Scene 01: Max is placed upon the wall, he looks confused so he checks his surroundings, looking left and right.
Shot 12

Scene 02: Max waves at the old animator exiting the room, he slowly lowers his hand and smiles to himself. He then happily enters his standard position. Once the shot has entered 02, he lowers his arm and looks left, then right, then he starts to look sad and lowers his head.
Shot 01 & 02

Scene 03: Max moves from his standard position, pressing his hands onto the animation paper, he looks slightly to the right, then his eyes fall down as if he is following something.
Shot 08

Scene 03: Max is trying to look at what the animator is drawing, he is trying to peek over, he looks in every direction he can to see what the animator is drawing.
Shot 12

Scene 04: Max still in his standard position, moves his eyes slightly following the animator until he leaves, he then rubs his head, confused and curious at the drawing
Shot 01

Scene 04: Max runs to the left of the animation paper off it
Shot 02

Scene 04: Max from the right hand side of the animation paper, when he reaches the centre of the paper he crouches down and jumps down into the second sheet of animation paper.
Shot 02

Scene 04: Max falls down onto the sheet of animation paper, he then lands squashing down and springs back up, he turns back looking right, as he can finally see May the Cat
Shot 02

Scene 04: Max continues to have his hands pressed against the animation paper with an open mouth, he then smiles happily, continuing to press his hands on the animation paper.
Shot 03

Scene 04: Max smiles and waves at May eagerly.
Shot 04

Scene 04: Max stops waving and runs to the right of the animation paper off the sheet.
Shot 06

Scene 04: Max runs to in from the left hand side of the animation paper and turns back to face May
Shot 06

Scene 04: Max smiles at May and grabs his head, he then pops it off and pulls his hand up and off the sheet of animation paper.
Shot 07

Scene 04: Max’s head emerges on the next animation paper next to a vase with a flower on it, he bites the flower and his arm springs back down, his head follows shortly after.
Shot 08

Scene 04: Max’s arm springs back to a regular size, and his head comes flying down, back onto his body, he then raises his arms in a ‘ta-da’ fashion.
Shot 09

Scene 04: Max smiles and slowly melts into the sheet of animation paper, leaving behind a puddle, a small heart emerges from the puddle. He then leaps back out of the puddle and smiles back at May the Cat.
Shot 11 & 13

Scene 04: Max smiles and slowly places his hand on the sheet of animation paper, he then realises he cannot reach her, grabs his hand while looking down, is expression is very sad.
Shot 15 & 16

Scene 05: Max is taken aback by the young animators entrance and bounces up.
Shot 02

Scene 05: Max bounces up from the bottom of the sheet of animation paper and right back into the standard position
Shot 03

Scene 06: Max slowly moves from his original position, and presses his hands onto the animation paper, he then quickly moves and begins to run to the left of the sheet of animation paper.
Shot 01 & 02

Scene 06: Max runs across the sheet of animation paper, right to left and leaps into the next sheet of animation paper.
Shot 02

Scene 06: Max lands onto the other sheet of animation paper and runs right to left off the sheet.
Shot 02

Scene 06: Max runs across the sheet of animation paper, right to left off the sheet.
Shot 02

Scene 06: Run cycle of Max the Cat
Shot 03

Scene 06: Max runs from the right of a sheet of animation paper, then leaps down to the bottom left of the sheet of animation paper
Shot 04

Scene 06: Max is leaping down from the top right of the sheet of animation paper, lands and continues to run, then leaps down to the bottom left of the sheet of animation paper.
Shot 04

Scene 06: Max is leaping down from the top right of the sheet of animation paper, lands and continues to run until he runs off the sheet of animation paper.
Shot 04

Scene 06: Max runs across the whiteboard he slows down slightly and looks around, before carrying on to reach the edge of the whiteboard.
Shot 04

Scene 06: Max runs across the sheet of animation paper, from right to left
Shot 04

Scene 06: Max drops down a little bit but carries on running from right to left
Shot 04

Scene 06: Run cycle of Max running from a front view
Shot 05

Scene 06: Max runs across the sheet of animation paper before coming to a quick stop, just short of the centre of the page. He is curious at the projection but slowly enters the other half of the animation paper, he raises his hands up in a ‘ta-ta’ pose, then carries on running left of the sheet of paper.
Shot 06 & 07

Scene 06: Max runs into the middle of the sheet of animation paper, he stops still. When May enters he looks at her, and a big grin comes to his face
Shot 08 & 09

Scene 06: His big grin turns into a small smile, he then reaches his hand out to her hand
Shot 11

Scene 06: Max’s hand reaches May’s hand, and they finally shake hands.
Shot 13 & 14

Scene 07: Max is in his standard position, however he is now holding hands with May the Cat.
Shot 03

[PRACTICE] Max the Cat Drawings

I have done many different traditional drawings of Max the Cat, as I will be animating Max using a traditional medium, however I want to try and draw him using digital techniques similar to what I would use to animate and draw the other characters in the animation, to see what he would look like. As I have previously scanned the sketchbook I now have all my drawings digitally, because of this it was very easy to decide which drawings I wanted to draw digitally, below are the few I drew using Adobe Flash:

As you can see, I used the same colours as the original digital drawing from a previous post. I used some of my favourite poses; the pose where Max has both arms in the air, and the pose where Max is sitting down. Now that I am starting the production of my animation, I want to keep drawing Max in a variety of poses, as I want him to be as un-solid as possible, I want him to be very animated in the animation, more so than all the other characters in the short.

[REFERENCE] Photographic Evidences - Animation Paper & Whiteboard

I want to get as many different photographic references as possible for my animation, as my animation has many different assets in it; from desks, to animation paper. I will be using these as references when I animate to get various angles and shots, both the animation paper and whiteboard will be used when I animate Max the Cat, so they will play huge roles in my animation, so I need to make sure they look correct for the animation, below are the images I have takes:

Animation Paper:

Whiteboard:

[PRODUCTION] Scene and Shot List

After the New Year, wanted to create a schedule for production, to do this I needed to figure out how many scenes there are in the animation, and how many shots there are in each scene. While I was finding this out, I decided to time each shot to see which would take the most time to animate. Overall there are seven different scenes in the animation, not including; the opening quote, the end credits and the logo at the very end. Below is the list of each and every scene and shot in my animation, all timed with a short explanation of whats happening on the screen:

Scene 01

Shot 01 – 10 seconds – Slow Zoom on Light-box
Shot 02 – 05 seconds – Old Animator Enters and Sits down
Shot 03 – 06 seconds – Animator Draws Max the Cat
Shot 07 – 04 seconds – Slow Zoom showing the Back of the Old Animator
Shot 08 – 05 seconds – Animator finishes the drawing, Reveals Max the Cat
Shot 09 – 02 seconds – Animator looks at his drawing happy
Shot 10 – 05 seconds – Max the Cat comes alive, checks his surroundings and Smiles
Shot 11 – 04 seconds – Old Animator smiles and places Max on the wall
Shot 12 – 03 seconds – Max the Cat is placed onto the wall
Shot 13 – 02 seconds – Old Animator looks at Max and turns towards the door
Shot 14 – 02 seconds – Old Animator opens the Door
TOTAL TIME: 48 seconds

Scene 02

Shot 01 – 22 seconds – We are thrown through time as the old animator lives his life while Max watches
Shot 02 – 10 seconds – The light turns off and the room is no longer touched, Max is left alone
TOTAL TIME: 32 seconds

Scene 03

Shot 01 – 05 seconds – Shows the side of the room where Max is on the wall
Shot 02 – 05 seconds – Shows the side of the room where the whiteboard is
Shot 03 – 07 seconds – Shows the side of the room where the door is, The Young Animator enters
Shot 04 – 03 seconds – The young animator looks around the room and notices something on the wall
Shot 05 – 02 seconds – Max is on the wall
Shot 06 – 05 seconds – The Young Animator walks over to Max and looks at him
Shot 07 – 02 seconds – The Young animator picks up the light-box
Shot 08 – 03 seconds – Max wonders what the Animator is doing, and tried to have a look
Shot 09 – 02 seconds – The young animator places down the drawing tablet
Shot 10 – 02 seconds – The young animator sits down at the desk
Shot 11 – 06 seconds – The young animator draws May the Cat
Shot 12 – 04 seconds – Slow Zoom showing the back of the young animator drawing
Shot 13 – 05 seconds – Animator finishes the drawing and gets up out of his chair
TOTAL TIME: 51 Seconds

Scene 04

Shot 01 – 04 seconds – Max the Cat watches the young animator leave the room
Shot 02 – 08 seconds – Max moves from paper to paper to reach May the Cat
Shot 03 – 02 seconds – Max smiles to himself while staring at the drawing
Shot 04 – 04 seconds – May looks at Max the Cat, waving at her
Shot 05 – 03 seconds – May turns away from Max the Cat
Shot 06 – 05 seconds – Max walks from one side of the drawing tablet to the other, to get back into her view
Shot 07 – 03 seconds – Max removes his head and extends his arm up off screen
Shot 08 – 05 seconds – Max reaches his head onto the paper directly above him, and grabs a flower
Shot 09 – 03 seconds – Max’s head lands back onto his body with a flower in his mouth
Shot 10 – 04 seconds – May the cat laughs at Max’s actions
Shot 11 – 03 seconds – Max melts into the floor
Shot 12 – 02 seconds – May stops laughing
Shot 13 – 02 seconds – Max leaps back from the puddle
Shot 14 – 02 seconds – May places her hand on the screen
Shot 15 – 02 seconds – Max places his hand on the paper
Shot 16 – 08 seconds – Max and May are holding their hands out, however they cannot reach one and other
TOTAL TIME: 60 seconds

Scene 05

Shot 01 – 02 seconds – The Young animator emerges back through the door with a projector in his hands
Shot 02 – 02 seconds – Max and May are surprised at the animator’s entrance
Shot 03 – 03 seconds – Max leaps back into his normal position
Shot 04 – 02 seconds – The young animator places a projector onto the table
Shot 05 – 02 seconds – The young animator shrinks the tab where May the Cat is
Shot 06 – 02 seconds – May the cat disappears from the screen
Shot 07 – 03 seconds – The young animator spins in his chair and turns the projector on to watch a film
Shot 08 – 10 seconds – CLAY ANIMATION
Shot 09 – 05 seconds – The young animator sits and eats popcorn while watching the film
Shot 10 – 03 seconds – The young animator is asleep as the room is now darkened
Shot 11 – 10 seconds – The film comes to a close and the tab is closed automatically, revealing May the Cat at the back of the application
TOTAL TIME: 44 seconds

Scene 06

Shot 01 – 03 seconds – Max notices that May is on the other side of the wall
Shot 02 – 05 seconds – Max runs from one sheet of paper to the next
Shot 03 – 03 seconds – Close up of Max running
Shot 04 – 07 seconds – Max runs from one sheet of animation paper to the next as well as a whiteboard
Shot 05 – 03 seconds – Close up of Max running
Shot 06 – 02 seconds – Max reaches where the animation paper and the projection meet
Shot 07 – 05 seconds – Max slowly enters the projection, and then runs quickly off screen
Shot 08 – 10 seconds – Max reaches a sheet of animation paper where May the Cat is, she looks at him and shrinks to his size
Shot 09 – 03 seconds – Max and May finally see each other again
Shot 10 – 04 seconds – May looks at Max, smiles and reaches her hand out
Shot 11 – 04 seconds – Max looks at May, smiles and reaches his hand out
Shot 12 – 02 seconds – May reaches her hand out
Shot 13 – 02 seconds – Max reaches his hand out
Shot 14 – 04 seconds – The hands finally touch each other
TOTAL TIME: 57 seconds

Scene 07

Shot 01 – 06 seconds – The young animator is asleep, he then jumps up and checks his watch
Shot 02 – 03 seconds – Shows his watch ticking
Shot 03 – 10 seconds – The young animator runs out of the door, the camera then pans to the right revealing Max and May holding hands
TOTAL TIME: 19 seconds


OVERALL TIME: 5 minutes and 18 seconds

[INSPIRATION] Clay Characters

Clay characters aren't the easiest thing to create in my personal opinion, so I have collected a range of different images to study and see how they have been created. I don't want to create anything too difficult, as I cannot focus too much energy into animating the Clay scene because of the time restrictions I have this year. 

I would have liked to have created something similar to the image to the left, a boy made out of clay, however I will be limited because of time and skill. I will more than likely end up with something simpler. However, with this in mind, I want to take inspiration from this clay character, I feel that his expression works well in Clay, small pea like eyes and a tiny mouth, perhaps a small friend to keep him company, perhaps if I were to combine this with a character similar to Morph on the right I could create something aesthetically pleasing, but easy to animate. I have recently acquired clay animation equipment which will allow me to create clay-mations easily, this equipment is known as Animate it! Morph Edition and will allow me to create characters such as morph. 

I will continue to research characters made out of clay and study them, so I can be prepared for when I create my own clay animation. Below are examples of clay characters I have found which have inspired me.