Professional Practise 3: Study Task 4 - Exit Strategy

 Professional Practise 3
Study Task 4 - Exit Strategy

• For my exit strategy I have decided to create multiple to-do lists, where I have multiple options depending on the route I decide to take once I graduate. 
• However, before I graduate I need to:
• Finalise my portfolio.
• Pay for a domain for my portfolio.
• Explore all possible entry position roles I can apply for, through contacting professionals on LinkedIn and looking at studio careers pages.
• Develop a 2021 show-reel of up to one minute of my best 2D animation
• Continue to develop my drawing skills and illustration skills, by taking part in competitions and taking up commissions
• Continue to regularly post to my Instagram and social-media
• Explore with Joseph what we need to do to set-up our own freelance studio
• Look into applying for self-employment on the Government website, if I choose to do this when I graduate.
• Consider a price sheet for freelancing

• After Graduation:
• Freelance Career:
• Finalise price sheet for freelancing work (commission-related)
• Continue to develop own work in free-time
• Work with Joseph on Fresh Egg Studio, taking on commissions and freelance work
• Attain a part-time job straight after graduation.
• Consider a local volunteering job post-graduation to help expand and develop my CV.
• Explore Visa options and requirements for working over-seas.
• Studio/Full-Time:
• Apply for multiple entry-position roles at Studios
• Inquire about internships
• Apply for a part-time role if unable to attain an entry-position job in studio
• Continue to develop portfolio
• Volunteering to develop CV and portfolio
• Continue commission work whilst applying for roles

• In order to expand on my Exit Strategy Plan, I put together a quick chart to make it easier to read:

Extended Practise: Kingdom of Masks Inbetweening Process

 Extended Practise

Kingdom of Masks Inbetweening Process

• This week:
• I worked on Scenes 22 inbetweening for Khoa and Amy's project.
• What went well:
• I found Scene 22 one of the trickiest scenes to inbetween on this project, so far. Therefore, this scene challenged me a lot. I found it difficult to animate the Mask Maker walking up over the hill, towards the camera, whilst also thinking about the movement of the sword and the cape and his hair. I also needed to understand his walk cycle and how his feet and legs will be in relation to the rest of his body placement.
• Here are Emily's keyframes for this scene:

• Emily had keyed this mainly on 5s and 6s, therefore I broke the betweening down to 2s. I struggled a bit to understand how certain parts of his body would be eased and timed, especially with how much was happening in this one scene, however I think I managed well to make it feel fluid. 
• I used The Animators Survival Kit to help me understand the smear frames, as he sword had greater movements between only one or two frames, so I wanted to make it feel like a fast swing. In the Survival Kit, Richard Williams refers to it as the "Elongated Inbetween" which is from the blur effect of motion from live-action footage. It also creates an effect of a movement or motion being fast.
• Here is what I tired and my final inbetweens:

Scene 22 Inbetweens

• What could be improved:
• The perspective and fore-shortening of the sword is a little off, in relation to the placement of the camera, as the perspective would be as though the camera is right under the tip of the sword, which isn't the case. Although, this may be intentional for exaggerated purposes.
• As the sword was quite difficult to inbetween, as it changes angle and perspective a lot, there are some frames where the Mask Maker's hand moves or the sword changes in size slightly. I would consider this in the future by keying more of the swords frames, after I've inbetweened the body and arms.
• Next week:
• I will be working on Scene 20 inbetweens.

Extended Practise: Final Film Inbetweens Progress 2

 Extended Practise

Final Film Inbetweening Progress 2

• This week:
• I worked on the inbetweens for Shots 6 and 9 for my final film.
• What went well:
• I was able to take what I had learnt from inbetweening a lot on Khoa and Amy's project into inbetweening on my own film. For example, I had learnt a lot about timing and spacing on their project, so I found it easier to apply when inbetweening Shot 6 and 9. 
• With Shot 6, the mouse's movement is very fast and sporadic, as they are panicking. I had to use a lot of smear frames for their movements as they were so quick, but I have a better understanding of those now. I had also learnt about adding a couple of frames between each smear, such as when the mouse waves his arms, to ease the movement, which reads a lot better. 
• The way in which Rachel had key-framed the mouse, he is kept in one position, so I had to focus on a lot of his upper body and head movements. This is the same for The Air Hostess listening to him. I had to edit her key-frames, however, because she had gone off-model with the Air Hostesses beak, which was intended to be a simple triangle shape.
• I had to make some minor changes to the shot, as the timing needed to be adjusted, so here are the final inbetweens:

Shot 6 Inbetweens

• For Shot 9, I was inbetweening the Hedgehog character, who looks at Mr. Goose curiously. I had a bit of trouble with inbetweening this, as Rachel had over-complicated his quills a little bit, but I still found it fun to between. Originally I had thought to make the final lift of both of his arms ease, but I thought that the little bounce fits better with the character. I believe that it makes the character feel like he is first thinking about the idea that Geoffrey has wings, before he lifts both of his arms to look at Geoffrey, in question. 
• I think that this shot applies a lot of knowledge I had gained from my Context of Practise module.
• Here are the final betweens:
  

• What could be improved:
• I think that the mouse movement works well for the character in Shot 6, however the Air Hostess could use improvement, especially when the mouse jumps at her. It was keyed a lot different to what I had in mind, which was the Hostess flailing her legs more and wriggling her body, however Rachel had interpreted this differently. I think that's something from either how I had storyboarded it not being clear enough, or because of the COVID situation, people in the group aren't communicating as much. I had asked the tutors to set-up online studios, so people would be more inclined to discuss work as they do work, but it isn't used as much as I hoped. 
• I have found the lack of communication on all projects quite frustrating. I have decided to make it so that any progress/work that anyone on the project does must send it to the group chat to receive feedback, even if they are not wanting feedback. Joseph has been very consistent in sending backgrounds to me, so I have been able to give feedback on those, however the animation needs more consistent feedback. I have told Caitlin and Rachel to post gifs into the chat as they work. This should hopefully solve any issues with inconsistencies and lack of communication.
• Next week:
• I'll be working on Shots 10 and 14.

Extended Practise: Kingdom of Masks Inbetweening Process

 Extended Practise
Kingdom of Masks Inbetweening Process

• This week:
• I worked on Scene 8 inbetweening for Khoa and Amy's project.
• What went well:
• I found the inbetweening process for the monster very refreshing, after having inbetweened the Mask Maker for the past couple of weeks. One thing I found I needed to be aware of was the monster's design and proportions, so I made sure to keep the character reference sheet open whilst I was animating.
• Here is the reference sheet I followed, produced by Khoa:

• As we didn't need to focus on the shading of the character anymore, I found the inbetweening much more fluid of a process. The design of the Ice Wolf is also much simpler in shape than the Mask Maker, which made the process more enjoyable.
• When I was inbetweening Emily's keyframes, I found that the fur on the legs could swing more or have an overlapping movement of their own, so I asked Emily if I would be okay to adapt the movement of this. When she responded saying this was a good idea, I re-animated the fur, which made the swaying movement of the monster more believable.
• Here are the keyframes, followed by my inbetweening:

My inbetweens

• Khoa wanted a subtle camera movement as the monster walks forward. Thankfully Toom Boom Harmony has an easy to use camera feature (by placing down a camera layer and adding a peg). By adding keys to the peg layer, you can adjust the easing with the small icon showing a graph, which made easing the camera movement consistent.
• Here is the inbetweens with the placed background and camera movement:

• Due to the inconsistencies between Scene 8 and 19 (which was animated and betweened by Amy and Rachel), we mutually decided to use the movement Emily and I had animated again for Scene 19. This meant I had to adjust the camera movement and background for these scenes and colour them. 
• Khoa specified that the monster would be in shadow in Scene 8, then his normal colour palette for Scene 19, so I coloured all of Scene 19 with his normal palette, then duplicated it for Scene 8. Thankfully, when adjusting colours in Toon Boom, it applies it to all frames and anything that was coloured with the chosen colour, so I could quickly go and change the colours for Scene 8.
• Here are Scenes 8 and 19 coloured:

Scene 8 Coloured

Scene 19 Coloured

• What could be improved:
• I think that despite following the reference sheet and Emily's keyframes, some of the inbetweens are a little bit wobbly or they move in a way that doesn't work with the overall movement. This is especially visible towards the end of the shot, with the slight wobble of the back legs. If I had more time, or if the director was unhappy with this, I would go back to fix it.
• Whilst I feel that the weight of the monster can be felt, it could be exaggerated a bit more, such as his head slumping a little as he transfers the weight onto his hands. This would add more weight to the upper half of the body, which would amplify the weight in his movements.
• By reusing Scene 8 for Scene 19 we have saved a lot of time, however it would look more visually interesting if he had a full animated forward walk cycle and we used this for Scene 19, so it wouldn't be exactly the same. As there wasn't a planned full walk-cycle, we weren't able to do this and different animators were working on each shot. This is something to keep in mind for next time, or could be discussed prior to production stage.
• Next week:
• I will be inbetweening Scene 22 and Scene 20.

Extended Practise: Kingdom of Masks Inbetweening Progress

Extended Practise
Kingdom of Masks Inbetweening Progress

• This week:
• I worked on the inbetweens for Scene 9 of Khoa and Amy's project
• What went well:
• I had started inbetweening this shot, until I realised that the camera movement had not been added yet. Khoa wanted me to experiment with the easing of the camera movement, so it starts slow and increases in speed as it becomes closer to the character. Here is my first attempt:

Camera Zoom Test 1

• I, then, made some adjustments to speed this up further:

Camera Zoom Test 2

• To make the positioning of the character match the storyboard, I made the camera come out further, to then place the Mask Maker on the edge of the water. Importing the background allowed me to position him correctly, before I continued inbetweening. I found that the camera stutters slightly here, but I decided to inbetween him before making further adjustments.

Camera Zoom with Background

• I tried a different method of inbetweening for this scene, which was to between each body part at a time, in specific sections. Therefore, I started with his head and arms, then his body, then left his cape until last. This allowed me to focus on individual actions, without getting confused as to how each part is moving.
• I asked Emily how she intended his arms to move and she told me that he raises his hands first, before moving them up to his head (rather than her keyframe being apart of one motion to his head, it's two separate actions). I kept this in mind when inbetweening.
• I additionally made use of easing and smear frames, which is something I think I have improved a lot on through animating on this project. I didn't have the best understanding of them before, whereas now I think about them more and how I could apply them.
• Here are the final inbetweens:

• What could be improved:
• I think that the motion where his right hand comes up to his head is a little bit awkward and could be timed a little better. I was attempting to make the hands move in separate motions, to make the movement more interesting (rather than in sync) and I could have timed that a little better.
• When I showed a few peers for feedback, some noted that the character could exaggerate the movement more, such as lowering his head further as he holds his head, to demonstrate the intense fear and pain he feels. As I was following the keyframes, I couldn't add exaggerated movement like this, but it's something I will consider if I can in future scenes.
• Next week:
• I will be inbetweening Scenes 8 and 22!

Extended Practise: Kingdom of Masks Inbetweening

 Extended Practise
Kingdom of Masks Scene 7 Inbetweens and Clean-Up

• This week:
• I worked on inbetweening Scene 7 for Khoa and Amy's project.
• What went well:
• I decided to try using the Pencil tool to inbetween Khoa's frames this week. Unlike using the brush tool, you can not use textures with the pencil tool, however I found the line smoothing and snapping incredibly useful for making cleaner betweens. 
• Another thing I had also learnt through inbetweening Scene 7 was understanding timing and spacing better, whilst only animating on 3s. This also meant my understanding of character movement and easing was improved through this, because I could space frames closer to each other or further depending on how much I wanted the motion to ease. Khoa also made use of smear frames in his keys, so I also followed this with my inbetweens, if there was a particularly large motion in a small amount of time.

Adding smear frames

• I also learnt a lot about cleaning up the "Line strokes" with this Scene. As I have been assigned the role of cleaning up the line strokes for the colourist, this was the first scene I found challenging. Once I applied the lines to the colour-art layer, some of the strokes didn't join properly. I needed to manually go through and make sure each line was joined or cleaned up, which is a role found in industry. This gives me a lot of experience in more intricate and tedious tasks.

Working on Line Clean-up

• Here are the final inbetweens for Scene 7:

• What could be improved:
• I think that the run animation could be spaced a little bit better, or betweened further to make it smoother. At some points the feet feel a bit choppy and this would be further improved with added betweens.
• There are a few points throughout this Scene where his cape doesn't move quite right or jitters slightly. This could be both from the minimal betweening and I need to watch the spacing more for those frames, which is something I will keep in mind when I animate the cape in Scene 9. A reference video might be possible to help with this, or firstly inbetweening the figure, before the cape.
• Next time:
• I'll be inbetweening Scene 9.

Extended Practise: Kingdom of Masks - Scene 3 and 4 Clean Up and Colour

Extended Practise
Kingdom of Masks - Clean Up and Colour

• This week:
• I worked on the clean-up and colour for Scenes 3 and 4 for Khoa and Amys' project.
• What went well:
• Using apply line-work to colour art layer, I had learnt the process for colouring in Toon Boom Harmony and I was able to apply what I had learnt before for colouring this scene. I had to first clean up the lines applied to the colour-art layer by using the pencil tool, to make sure that lines were connected. I found out that the yellow squares indicated lines which were not connected/closed and the blue squares indicated closed lines. This is something I used to speed up the clean-up process, before I began colouring.

• Using the RGB values provided by Khoa and Amy, I found the colouring process then very quick and easy. The way colouring in Toon Boom works allows for each colour to be specified in the colour palette, so if I needed to change a colour, it would change for the entirety of the animation, without me needing to recolour.
• Here is the final coloured gif:

• What could be improved:
• In the future, I will need to be more careful for missing smaller sections of colour, as I had to go back into the file and find parts I had missed when I was colouring initially.
• Ben also noted that the camera movement and background movement needs to be adjusted for this shot, so that the character feels less like he is floating.
• Next week:
• I will be working on the inbetweens for Scene 7 and Scene 9.

Extended Practise: Final Film Inbetweens Progress 1

 Extended Practise
Final Film Inbetweening Start

• This week:
• I started inbetweening the shots I needed to do for my final film, Aviation Aggravaton.
• What went well:
• Rachel had keyframed Shots 1 and 3, which I needed to between. These two shots are more like held frames or "moving" stills, therefore I decided to between these two shots to add more life. In the first shot I made use of Toon Boom Harmonys' motion keys to help add movement to the characters. I, then, drew over some of the lines of the characters closest to the camera and added an ear flick on one of the characters, to make the scene feel less still. I think this worked really well. 
• I needed to discuss the background with Joseph. After positioning the characters, I notified Joseph of some minor background adjustments, to make the shot perspective work better. He made minor changes to the background because of this.

• I also worked on Shot 3. This shot shows Geoffrey's' ticking watch, so I added a slight jump of the clock hand as it ticks. I also drew over some frames of his wing, to make the shot feel less still.
• Here are the final betweens:

• What could be improved:
• The characters in the first shot feel like they could be floating a bit, without the background or any colour in place. I will be revisiting this shot, once it has been coloured.
• The wing could move slightly on Shot 3, as he wouldn't naturally hold it so still like that. This is something I will also revisit.
• Next week:
• I will be working on Shot 6 and Shot 9 inbetweening.

Professional Practise 3 - Study Task 3: Networking

Professional Practise 3
Study Task 3: Networking

• Part 1 - Updating LinkedIn:

• Here is a link to my LinkedIn Account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisha-little-3a89bb199/
• I had fully completed my profile last year, however I have now updated it with a link to my portfolio and changed my profile, based upon what Kate Lander said about having a professional image/photo of yourself, rather than an illustration.
• Identifying and Making Connections:
• I already have a lot of connections on LinkedIn, however I made further connections with 2D Animator and Visual Development artists. I also considered connections with Talent and Recruitment roles, to possibly discuss how they look for Talent and what they look for with graduates. 
• Here are the people made connections with:
• Fernanda Valverde - 2D Lead Animator at Blue-Zoo Animation Studio
• Chloe Peters - 2D Animator at Blue-Zoo Animation Studio
• Nicolas Leger - Animation Director at Magic Design Studios
• Enrico Buffa - Visual Development Artist
• Sophie Gallo - 2D Animator at BlinkInk
• Nicola Finizio - 2D VFX Animator
• Jez Hall - Director at Blue-Zoo Animation Studio
• Edd Benson - Junior Animator at Blue-Zoo Animation Studio
• Nicola Finizio - 2D FX Animator at Sony Pictures Imageworks
• Tim Dillnutt - Freelance 2D Character Animator
• Isadora Morales Chaves - Storyboard Supervisor/Story Artist
• Isobel Stenhouse - Concept Artist at Supermassive Games
• Amanda Jesperson Holm - Animator at The Line Animation Studio

• I, then, attempted to contact some of these professionals, asking them how they developed their skills and acquired roles within the industry.
• Tim Dillnutt:

• I asked Tim about how he chose to become a freelance animator and how he is finding work at Golden Wolf and The Line!
• Tim gave me a lot of information on the Pros and Cons of freelancing vs. working in a studio! He also explained about why he went into freelancing and prefers freelance now, over a full-time studio job.

• Ed Benson
• I attempted to message Ed, asking about how he had gotten his role as a Junior Animator.
• Nicola Finizio
• I attempted to message Nicola to ask about their VFX Portfolio and how they've developed their 2D VFX.

• Isobel Stenhouse
• I contacted Isobel, after the talk she had as part of visiting professionals. I asked her for more information about online courses to improve animation skills and what she has found best to expand portfolios.
• She replied to me 
• Nicolas Leger
• I attempted to contact Nicolas to ask about 2D Animation within video games and how opportunities come up for VFX Animation in video games.

• Part 2 - Identifying Networking Opportunities

• Yorkshire Games Festival
• Usually at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, however will be online this year. I have already purchased tickets to attend this.

• Bring Your Own Animation 2020 - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bring-your-own-animation-2021-zoom-edition-tickets-54882284390?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch
• An online networking event for any level of skill, to bring animations and network with other animators.

• Cardiff Animation Festival - https://www.cardiffanimation.com/
• Unsure when the 2021 festival will be, but it would be worth submitting my final film into this festival, when it is complete!

• Motion North - https://www.meetup.com/motionnorth/
• Manchester based group for animators, filmmakers and motion designers. Meetups have moved online, due to COVID, which means I could attend the next event on July 15th 2021. 

• Online Animation Dingle - 24th March (£34 for Students) https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/virtual-animation-dingle-tickets-138920526033?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch&keep_tld=1
• Online Animation festival, with portfolio reviews and networking opportunities. Tickets go on sale 15th February!

• ANNY (Animation Nights New York) Festival - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/animation-nights-new-york-anny-virtual-events-tickets-138891501219?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch&keep_tld=1
• Has a screening and mixer event all online!

• Animated Women UK - http://www.animatedwomenuk.com/events/
• Usually has events on, however none are scheduled for 2021.

• Vertex Conference - https://www.vertexconf.com/2021/782692
• For both 2D and 3D artists, online tickets cost £25. It offers portfolio reviews and artist lounges, for networking.

• Traditional Animation Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/traditionalanimation
• You can post to this page for feedback and social media growth, chat with other animators and artists of all skillsets.

• Manchester Animation Festival - https://www.manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk/
• The 2021 festival will be running online again, similarly to 2020. This allows for networking opportunities online, with the addition of submitting films to the festival.

• Leeds Young Professionals Network
• A networking event for all professions for young people.

• GAMAYO - https://gamayo.co.uk/
• Whilst they don't have events planned at the moment, I will have to keep updated!

Extended Practise: giffgaff Brief - Presentation and Entry

 Extended Practise
giffgaff D&AD Brief - Presentation and Final Entry

• This week:
• I put together the final submission for the giffgaff brief on D&AD!
• What went well:
• We managed to put together more than the brief had asked for, a storyboard, character sheets, backgrounds and a final animation. We wanted to submit this back in January, however the entries did not open until February 11th.
• Here is the final presentation:

• Here is evidence of our entry:

• What could be improved:
• I think that next time I would spend more time on the animation, so that the character stays more on model. 
• We also ran into some problems with giffgaff's colour scheme and trying to keep the colours as bright as possible. This is something I need to look at in the future and how to keep the animation colours from compressing when editing the video and the ad banners.
• Whilst I tried to keep the narrative simple, I think it could've been more ambitious and creative. As I was trying to keep to something simple, as I was the only person animating this, I think a more ambitious animation would stand out much more among other entries.

Extended Practise - Kingdom of Masks Scene 2 Inbetweens

 Extended Practise
Kingdom of Masks - Scene 2 Inbetweens

• This week:
• I worked on the inbetweens for Scene 2 of Khoa and Amys' project.
• What went well:
• I think that I followed Emily's keyframes a lot better this time and I was able to add easing and arcs to the characters' motion. I also found that I was becoming more used to the character's design, meaning I was keeping on-model better with this animation, than my first tests. Here is the model sheet I will be following throughout the project:

• Some things I kept in mind when animating this was the follow-through and overlapping animation of his cape and hair. This was tricky to do in some parts of the shot, as I needed to keep to the keyframes' poses.
• It was also incredibly tricky to inbetween because of how small he is on-screen and how many lines there are (in his cape/shirt/trousers).

• After showing this to the group, Khoa and Amy thought it moves too quickly and there should be some pauses from where he's sitting, to standing and looking around. This was something I then adjusted, without needing to add more frames.

• I asked Khoa whether he wanted me to between it further (on 1s, rather than 2s) and he said that it felt smooth enough with just 2s, so I kept it to this!
• What could be improved:
• I think the ending where he turns is a little bit awkward. I would've added more frames/betweens without the limit of the shot time, however I did try to time it despite this. 
• The lines wobble just a little bit, so I will need to keep this in mind when I inbetween the next shot and whether I am using the correct brush size/keeping close to the lines as possible. I think that maybe adding more betweens could've helped with this, also.
• Next week:
• I will be colouring Scenes 3 and 4.

Extended Practise: Final Film Keyframes Progress 4

 Extended Practise
Final Film Keyframes Progress 4

• This week:
• As I was slightly ahead of schedule, I started keyframing and inbetweening some later shots.
• What went well:
• I started the keyframes for Shot 18, which is part of the animation I work on entirely alone. This is because of a section being rigged with the deformer tool in Toon Boom Harmony. It also allowed me to practise some VFX Animation, which is the raindrops on the window of the plane. I wasn't sure how to animate this, so I looked up footage on YouTube of rain droplets on glass, to help me animate.
• Here is my first progress:

• I decided to animate the rain on the window entirely straight-ahead, rather than pose-to-pose. I think that this allowed for the randomness of the rain on the window and made it feel more natural. The animation of the Air Hostess, however is pose-to-pose, as I feel this keeps the design consistent.
• After showing my group the progress, they felt that there shouldn't be a cut between the Air Hostess leaning towards the window and her backing up into the aisle, so I made use of the Camera tool in Toon Boom Harmony, to create a fluid motion of her moving back into the aisle, which works a lot better than the motion in the animatic.
• I found it difficult to use deformers again, for the Oxygen masks, however this is something that I had learnt in previous projects. I made a quick test for the swinging motion, which I believe feels natural and fluid.

Added Camera movement

Oxygen Masks, using Deformers

• What could be improved:
• When I come to inbetween this, I need to duplicate the Oxygen mask, as multiple fall down. This will also mean adjusting the timings of the fall and swing, so that they all fall at separate speeds and times, which will feel more believable.
• I think that the Air Hostess moves a little bit too quickly and she should pause for a little longer, which is something I will adjust, when I export the keyframes ready for the musician!
• Next week:
• I will be starting inbetweening on this project!