a busy week!

This week has been a bit crazy...the first of many such weeks to come is my guess! On the 16th July I had to search for clips I could not find of Zoe...found in capture scratch...under alicia!!! Then I continued editing and the drawing for the short dance sequence I am adding as an animation. I made them into a short movie to test them.I am spending so long in edit I am frozen by the time I get home at 9.00 pm. On the 17th I drew in the studio I am using...on the wall...and at home. On the 18th I had a job interview...huge!!!...but did not get the job On the 19th I started adding the animation to the live action to test. On the 20th I did one more film sequence in the studio...the last...which went really well.That was after a tutorial in the morning...which also went well. On the basis of the work done this week it is obvious that the film is now a response to a few of McLaren's letters but in particular the ones which signify his leaving Britain for America aboard a ship I now know througjh research was commissioned to take passengers on that journey during the war.(SS Caledonia). I am really excited about having made this journey in creative process and about this new focus. This trip was huge in terms of McLaren's future as it led to his going to join NFB of Canada eventually.The letter he wrote aboard the ship ...many pages...were beautiful in the way they express his feelings. It was a parting but an arrival I believe, to himself. And after all that I had to assist my husband in the running of Big Tent!! cooking for 30 and car park duty!!

feathers

Mark Haldane has agreed to help me trial a fall of feathers. I used the drawings I had made and we discussed how it would look. I want a full phrase of music and space to fade in and out so to be safe we agreed on 30 seconds.I also want the feathers to begin one at a time and to increase over 10 seconds to a full fall. I have tested this with the music of course. The original feathers look like this and above is the short sequence Mark has worked on.

animation

The first small piece of animation for the dance sequence I am working on. I am going to include about 3 times this much and know where it is going. I have already done some work on adding it with the live action but have had some trouble getting this to be recognised on my pc. some glitch between edit and exporting to quick time. My pc has also suddenly decided it does not want to recognise all elements of quick time...Is it trying to persuade me to upgrade or have I done it wrong...Let's see!! Thankfully I managed to try it out in an animatic...

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.

feathers

Progressing slowly with all the elements of this film!! Thinking now of a new title...The Letter...as the film is rapidly becoming about more than skating and ice! I am also trying to wrap up the feather section. I have to date drawn feathers and watched them fall and of course watched swans. It seems that everywhere I go there is a feather on the ground...I am looking at falling feathers in a variety of ways. Filming them...animating them ( one at a time for my animatic)and looking at others films of them. Mark Haldane just suggested looking at a link. It is lovely. Is it what I want? It seems really close to what I imagined for my feathers falling...and maybe I now have to delegate this task. I would love to spend time working with a team on a project.

edit edit edit

The main task this week has been to refine the animation methods and make sure they will work in edit!
Some successes and some failures!!
The process of taking the still images through photoshop to final cut is laborious like all other processes I have been working on lately! So, for example, the snow film...it does not look quite right in the edit yet ...but I will have another go at that next week...I still have to try inverting the whole movie... There are a few different ways to do it. I will be working on the swan animation in the same way.
Today I have tried to perfect the re sizing process for each still frame in order to get it to fit in my film. Having done that I feel I am in a better position to continue. I am adding some still images too so I needed to get to grips with this. I have also been practicing today with layering those still images and altering their quality both on photoshop and in Final Cut.
I took some extra film last week and was not sure it would work but have now tested the place I wanted to use it...It will work as long as I get my animation to fit too so I am happy with that.

The first shows the obvious join... combining the two...still image and film  I quite like it as it looks a little like I imagined the performance might look with the film shown on a gauze in front of it. One day I will try this.

Something about this still also reminds me of 'The Still Point of The Turning World' which combined dance and sand animation. 

The second is not so obvious ...but the face should definately be to the side rather than superimposed on Zoe's face!This will be a good shot to use in the book tho!

It is a long journey indeed and I feel I am getting near...but the deadline seems soo close!!

I was also quite surprised that the film with Zoe does work. This still looks so like a bird!! feathers engulfing her...hope there is a place for this bit too...but conscious now of how much will not make the final cut...and will stay as supporting material!!

animation continues

I have been continuing to draw stills to attempt to capture a whole sequence of dance. In some ways it seems a very late stage to be adding anything ...I had a short sequence already...but in other ways it is the most obvious step to take. I need to understand fully how it works and why and when it looks right...or doesn't.... It is a skill I want to take with me when I leave... so very soon. I have also always known about myself  that the more mistakes I make the more I learn. John McGhee's words ring in my ears...Do not be afraid to make mistakes!!! I have tried so many different methods of animating movement and dance in particular and I look forward to the luxury of time next year to take these ideas forward but right now there are some things this film shouts out for. I begin by adding really too much detail and realise quite fast that It risks looking messy.  I also begin to understand the work process as I pare back on detail. So it looks like a bit like this ( this was a slightly rougher first sketch)........for about 50 frames.....

And after I have done 50 or so I begin to really focus on minimal lines to convey the movement. I also feel I want to have something that looks cleaner and can work as an invertion. I would love to have the time to paint them all I decide...colour in my next film!!!

So I cut back to the minimum ...and highlight the lines I want to emphasise...and feel it is loooking better.

Again I find capturing the sense of movement comes naturally...Though I still like the sketchy feel I have in my earliest drawings and plan to do a future animation in this style. Right now I resolve to finish the film in the best way possible in the time scale and not be distracted by drawing styles...