exhibition

I am beginning to sort through all my notes and sketchbooks to decide what I want to exhibit. John has specified that he wants me to show development stages in some way and sketch books seem the best source of evidence.

Reinhard in the end encouraged me to take images of the books to put in the frames. I am happy with the results even though it was extra work when I had little time. I was not clear how this would all look as only two frames were allocated each, but I managed to show a good cross section of work. So far there has been a good response to this. There are stills from the dance which show lighting and sketches of dance.

In the afternoon I work on linking all the sequences together.Anya Mya Zoe and Leila.
In the evening I ask Sandy Annan to rewrite the typed letter I am using ...to fit with the feel of the film.
At night I work on credits and photograph the signature from my letter from Norman.

Focus

Today I wake up exhausted and wondering how I am going to get to the end of the week! I also have a lunch to prepare for 40 people for Sunday! and visitors arriving tomorrow and the next day to stay for a week. It is hard to get out in the morning without being rude and I am later in than I would want to be. It is a beautiful day and I decide to step back from it all and stop for lunch across from college. I have not been eating very much but sitting at a computer all day I guess I do not need it.


I sit in the sun for about 20 minutes to eat then in to edit.
I work on Zoe's section again tidying up and fixing it till I am happy with it. This section is devoted to feathers swans and transformation. I end up really focussed and complete the whole section and render it...it feels good. So stopping can be a good tactic! This time I also listen to music which I brought in. As usual the janitor comes to check on me and I leave at 8 15. I have got to know all the janitors and they have been great ...only one grump!! I realise to that I should always aim to finish early and leave the render overnight.

Some things have not made it into the film which is a shame..the face...the still of sherrifmuir just got forgotten. and I am still trying to solve the swan!! I ask Nuria about it and she kindly makes some great suggestions. We all have our favourite work modes but she now is realising  the style of my film. and also that I am not here to make a perfect animated film...that would take another degree!!

stop.... rewind

I have made another animatic which I plan to show Sharon at tutorial tomorrow. I have rendered it and looked at it and before I even show it I can see things to improve on.The music is slightly out and the first letter needs to appear later. I need a picture of an addressed envelope and to add clips from letters. After Sharon sees it we also agree that the swan animation needs to be clearer so I have to find a solution for this...I would like to have re drawn the whole swan sequence...and I will now revisit the story board for timing. I also need a second piece of sound to add at the beginning so will go source this! I have a really lovely piece of animation to add too but still looking at how best to show this. I have a list to work on...mainly looking at all the dance footage again and making sure I have made the right choices about animation additions.

title

I have been thinking about the title of my film and wondering if it still works.

This is another possible option....

Snowing!!

The other day when all the equipment was failing...at least that's how it felt... I had to take a long hard look at what I was doing.
I did honestly feel that the snow was taking up too much time and was incredibly humbled by my total lack of ability to sort it!! It made me realise that I could not manage at this stage without the help of technicians...what will I do when I have to leave them all behind!

In the midst of my despair Nuria...a level 3 student... took pity on me and asked me what exactly I was trying to do. I explained that I am trying to perfect a snowfall to add it to my film at a particular point in the choreography in order to highlight a feeling...the dance already embodies this emotion... but I want the animation I add to amplify the sense the dancer gives.

Nuria started to describe making snow in after effects...it will be able to show you quickly ..then you can see how it will look at least!! With mixed feelings...and frustration driving me to accept help and solutions... I followed her upstairs to try find the lab. Moving buildings has been really hard for all of us. Finding new routes to our new studio...getting around the blocked routes...finding all the now shifted equipment...lugging cameras and tripods up a hill and back through the entire building...and for me this time finding the technical crew in their new office, then the lab. So we at last found the lab and set down to look at my clip of dance. Nuria showed me how to set up the after effects for snow and how to alter timing, density, direction etc.

I stayed up in the lab quite a while and looked at other dance clips to see what I could do with these too.
I realised that not all the dance pieces would work for this. Early on in the filming sessions I did some work with a free held camera. Although the film is good, the image moves and this will present problems for me if I wanted to add after effects of this kind. Also in one of the clips the floor is really obvious and of course if snow as really falling it would be piling up on the floor. How would Iget round this? I am not trying to be realistic in any sense and if you have not been involved in creating dance it might be hard to understand this...I suppose some animators may look at my film and me very critical of issues like this. I just have to be very clear about what I am doing and to know why I make the choices I do. For sure they have to be informed choices!

Still so much work to do...

Peer review and photography

Last week when I gave my presentation for peer review I showed this photo of work experimenting with wax. A group of worked together on this and I photographed the results, which we all agreed looked like a snow and ice landscape. I showed it at peer review partly to illustrate that I still continue to experiment and partly because only by photographing the work could we have stood back to look and thus reached this conclusion. Felix had a great idea for using this in my film. I had suggested it could be an alternative backdrop...he suggested it could be an animation backdrop and to try melting the wax slowly and filming the process. Then play the film in reverse. I think this is a really amazing idea...but I know I have run out of time to include it!!

I certainly feel I will use this idea as a still image behind a dance piece, but maybe a film would be good too!

snow and scanners

Back in the studio today rather than edit and a peer review with the group. I felt my own last week went well and I was quite surprised, when I prepared my talk, how much work I have actually done since December (i.e. during semester 3).
I disciplined myself to present mostly work which I had done recently but had to go over the whole plan since not everyone knew the story etc.

Three others presented and I think they are all looking really brilliant. I am looking forward to seeing the show!!!

And after the review I am back working on snow. I have coloured all the images and tested again. Fixing a few glitches on the way. There was a flake missing at one point...but even after I had it all in the correct sequence, somehow one frame got into the wrong place and found its way into blank frames for about 20 frames!! Of course it could not do it by itself...I must have done it...When I exclaimed 'Oh There you are!!' someone with animation experience just laughed! I guessed this was a common problem which I was experiencing. It is sorted now and onto the scan. This whole process seems unnecessarily slow. The studio scanner has to be re programmed after every scan to import through photoshop...so it is taking forever!! I cannot help wondering why it is so slow and if there is not a faster way which I do not know yet.






In fact I just went back to save my last 25 or so scans and the pc attached to the scanner has broken down completely AAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH another wasted hour or two and lost it all....

so I have scanned in the second machine (which is not geared up for animation)just to see the inversion instead!! I like the look and contiued down to the edit room with the intention of placing this slide into film to see how it would look. Unbelievably the computer in Edit 3 suddenly started to go too...it is not my day for technical genius I decided so I closed it quickly in case I lost anything, and beat a hasty retreat to the technicians for help. the scanner in the studio now has a functioning pc, and somone is going to look at Edit 3. Andrew is off sick...maybe the equipment is missing him!!

visualising the combination

I have spent hours in the edit rooms...its cold but for the first time I felt I really got to grips with quite a few things. I had a book on final cut with me which I selected from the library sale and which I can scribble over!
I managed to make a start on combining the live action and images of the ideas for animation. I managed also to start selecting material for a show reel as I go along thus saving me time in the later stages...when I will be panicking with everyone else!

here are two solutions for the dancer/ bird/ feather combination

The first Is Links work just to sample what the motion graphic might look like.

The second is a paste up of ideas from my feather and swan images. I wish I had got this far for the peer review but will get a few opinions on these before I carry on.   

debate and description- my journey

Today I had an opportunity to debate with a group of Masters and PhD students from St Andrews university about our various projects. This was a great preparation for the presentation at the end of term. I found myself explaining my journey and expected outcome in a few different ways depending on who I was talking to. In a short space of time I changed my approach three times! I also had the chance to listen to a variety of other projects as well as talking through proposals for future projects.

It is not easy to condense a year of study into a short conversation and with my topic I find it hard sometimes  to expalin in a way that people understand. I know that in the past I have been held back by fear of this so this was a great experience. It made me examine my direction and motives too. Initially the mission was to make a dance work about McLaren, then to add animation, but all along I have asked myself the question " what kind of dancer would Norman have been?
I decided that as part of my journey I am exploring what engaging in kinaesthetic activity means to different individuals. Norman's description of skating is poetic in a way, and his writing displays an emotional, spiritual quality as do his many drawings in the book of drawing. He seemed an awkward character, and descriptions of him by others confirm this, although he liked to keep fit and to swim.

Both contemporary dance and figure skating engage body, brain and also, I believe, emotions. They do this in a very particular way especially when done to music. There is some research into this and in particular into musical activity and which parts of the brain are engaged.

I am sure the work I have done during the masters project will lead to my wanting to research into this area, as well as into Norman McLaren in more detail. The journey began with an image of McLaren's brain after all!
But part of my journey which has been very spacially enlightening and special is my drawing, and one day I would love to do more about the senses engaged while drawing dance!

horizons

All through the last few months, while I have intensified work on elements of my film, I have continued to look at horizons especially on my journey to and from Dundee. It is my firm belief that horizons have an effect on humans. We look into the distance and dream...the many ways we use the word...distant horizons also refers to dreams, new experiences and things to come. I feel that views of the horizon are therefore emotive in their nature and relevant when making a film about emotion.

This photo is the view from my road home across the Tay towards Perthshire (where I grew up).
I feel it captures the contrast between the present...clear and solid in the foreground...and the future only dreamt of...misty and soft in the distance illuminated by the sun breaking through the cloud.

Here I am in the present, but I can see possible future paths lit by by learning and experience during the masters course!

drawing continues

I continue to draw dance on a regular basis and will make this a regular part of life from now on. I am really fortunate to have such good contact with Scottish Dance Theatre and that they are happy for me to be there. Leila, who left the company recently, but who gave me time to film her before she left, and who appears in this drawing, said that it was very special to her that I was there drawing! She said that I had a good energy which she felt was an addition to the class rather than a distraction...what a lovely comment!                     

I have also begun to make notes on what the ideas are behind any session I am drawing...this really helps me to remember the emotion of that moment should I decide to use a drawing in future.                                 

letters!!

I went back to look through Norman's drawings again to check on one or two pieces and found this! I had not really had it mind at all when the idea came to do the stop motion of his letters but this, amazingly, looks like Norman's own version of letters piling up!! For the future it will be a great reference point to link these ideas together..and to attempt to animate his own drawing!!The real letters dissolving into the animation...

I have so many ideas now that I know I will not be able to explore even a fraction of them for my masters show but it is really exciting to be so inspired by Norman and to be so engrossed in the process. One day, if I can gather a team of people to work with me, I would love to make an extended version of this film!!
Right now I have so much to achieve by August that much of my work will be presented in draft form or as part of an acompanying show reel. If I had a team of animators I would be able to delegate...but now that I have experienced just how long traditional 2D takes I am realistic about what I can achieve alone.

This has not however discouraged me in any way as I still love the look of hand drawn work and the organic nature of drawing versus computer generated work.Give me five years or so...