Context of Practise 3: Mimo's Line Tests

Context of Practise 3
Mimo's Line Tests

• This week:
• I worked on the final animations for Bertie, Sal and Mimo.
• What went well:
• Whilst keeping in mind the improvements I needed to make for Bertie and Sal's animations, I decided to animate Mimos' final test as a full body, as this would be also more fitting for his character. Similarly to the process of the previous animations, I roughed out some initial keys to try and get an idea of the motion and acting of the character. As Mimo is very excitable and bubbly, I made sure to have their body language show this, such as using his wings to motion signals and keeping his timing quick and jumpy.

• Based on the previous work and what I had learnt, I found it much easier to animate Mimo's body language, especially since he's also expressive in the way he acts. I had the idea that the way he would react to a glass breaking would be to find a way to help out, so I had the intial reaction, him thinking, getting an idea, indicating that he would only be a moment and then flies back in to present a broom/brush to sweep up.
• I think that the expressions really work with this one and I kept in mind the pacing issues I'd noticed with Sal's animation, so to add variety there are pauses longer than others and faster movements between slower ones.

• One thing I had found from this module is that I had learnt a lot about using Toon Boom Harmony, using short-cuts, the colour layer, applying the linework to colour layer and effects layers. Because of this, I created a reflection of Mimo on the tiled flooring, to make him feel more a part of the scene. Similarly to the Bertie and Sal animations, the colouring and shading added a level of professionalism to the animation.

• What could be improved:
• There are some shakiness and fluidity issues with the linework, which comes with the lower frame-rate and not betweening as much, to focus on the acting. I had noted this before for Sal and Berties' animations, but I will make sure this is thought about for my Extended Practise work, as I need to think about the acting now, with fluid motions.
• I think Mimo could have been framed on the screen a bit more effectively, as the camera feels too close with how he is shot in the final animation.
• Next time:
• I will be producing a short analysis video of what I have learnt and how this project will help in my Extended Practise work.

Context of Practise 3: Sals Line Tests

 Context of Practise 3
Sal's Line Tests

• This week:
• I worked on the final test animations for Bertie, Sal and Mimo.
• What went well:
• My initial roughs for Sal didn't work exactly how I wanted them to, as it didn't portray her personality as well I wanted it to, therefore, I reworked them. I wanted to get her anxious personality across more, so I added small quirks, such as nibbling her paw and pushing her jumper up over her face, to hide herself and I think this worked much better.

Previous Test:

Improved Test:

• I found this easier to line her head movement then, as I had roughed out her ear movement and paw movement in the roughs, which were solidified for the final tests. This also worked really well as it was something I had explored as an idea in her body language tests and also feeds into my research of character quirks and acting, so her body language felt more believable, as a response to a glass shattering.
• I did find this more difficult than Berties', as it was harder to portray and anxious personality through her acting, however I think I was able to achieve this.

• Again, to add a level of professionalism, I coloured, shaded and added the background to Sal's animation. The sound effects were also added in post.

• What could be improved:
• I think that the pacing of the animation could've been timed a little bit better, as each movement feels like they're happening at the same amount of time, rather than having some variation. This would've been fixed if I had more time to plan and storyboard this, but this is information I can use for my Extended Practise, that the pacing of the movements affects the acting and believability of the character.
• I think that she would have benefitted from a full body movement, like I had previously noted with Berties. This is something I will now focus on for Mimo's animation.
• Similarly to Berties animation, I think this could have been in-betweened more, to make the movement smoother.
• Next time:
• I will be finishing the animation for Mimo!

Extended Practise: Giffgaff Brief - Visual Exploration

 Extended Practise
Giffgaff Brief - Visual Exploration

• This week:
• After creating the storyboard and character designs, I wanted to create a visual board to explore the colours and branding of the animation.
• What went well:
• I explored the colour palette, the line width and the use of the "digital noise" provided by giffgaff.
• I believe that the yellow background works really well and compliments the blue and white of the character. This allows the character to stand out more from the background, as the cool toned blue makes them pop. I additionally like the idea of using the green tone provided by giffgaff for the chair and table. I thought it worked well amongst the other colours, but I also believed it could play as a visual representation of the "green" ideology that giffgaff has in recycling your phones, or the idea that there is a lot of worth sitting around the desk, with the phones and gadgets. 
• Here are some of the explorations I made:

• I also considered using a "doodled" version of the website, as seen below and in the image at the top. As giffgaff has a strict policy on editing their logo, this could be a way to navigate around this. I will remove the "giffgaff" text from this logo, additionally, as the website layout is referenced from their website.

• What could be improved:
• As stated before, I will be removing the "giffgaff" text from the illustrated website, as it may infringe on their copy rules. I will have to double check their brief guidelines for this.
• I believe that the green used for the desk and monitor could be broken down a little bit, with an additional pink or white used for the chair. You are allowed up to three colours in a scene, not including the skin colour, or black and white, so this will be doable. I will discuss this with Joseph.
• Next week:
• I will begin the keyframing for the animation.

Context of Practise 3: Mimo References and Tests

  Context of Practise 3
Using References and Testing for Mimo

• This week:
• I worked on the rough animations for each of the characters, using reference footage.
• What went well:
• Mimo was the last character I produced rough tests for and after the practise of the other two characters, I found the workflow a little bit easier. Additionally, I wasn’t able to film any of my own footage of birds, so I used video footage on YouTube instead. I found a video which has two hours of footage of Lovebirds, so I used that for reference- however I focused more on the acting of the character this time, with reference footage there to help if needed.
• My first, very quick test with just keyframes, explored a wing-stretch of Mimo, however this felt more like a warm-up animation for body language, such as exploring how the wings could stretch, how their body might squash or move. This became just a starting point, before I moved onto another test.
• Here is the first test:

• The next test I animated mainly used my own knowledge of acting, of the character’s personality and movement and very limited amount of reference footage. From the references I had learnt the way the birds could walk and move, such as how they’d move side to side or forwards. They also have a “jumpier” feeling to the way they move, so I tried to incorporate this in the movement of Mimo. 
• Using a mirror for expressions, I wanted to illustrate the curiosity and excitement that Mimo feels after interacting with the ball. I animated him jumping from foot to foot in excitement, which is actually something that dogs do, but it felt quite fitting for his personality.
• I, also, coloured and shaded this test, to add a level of professionalism and refinement, as a final test animation I had created for all of these characters so far.

• What could be improved:
• There are some things with the timing which could be improved, as there could be more pauses, or he could take his time a little bit more after approaching the ball.
• Another way this could be improved is using his wings a little bit more to open his arms up and express himself - this is a quirk I had noted before, so it would be fitting to include that next time. 
• For the final animated test I need to consider his body movement more in terms of the Principles of animation, as he could be a little bit bouncier and squashed more, implying that I could try make him more malleable.
• Next time:
• I will be starting the final test animations for each of the characters and analysing them from the context of my essay.

Extended Practise: giffgaff brief Storyboard and Animatic

 Extended Practise
giffgaff Brief Storyboard, Animatic and Character Sheet

• This week:

• I produced a rough storyboard, animatic and explored character designs!
• What went well:
• I was finally able to decide on a story I wanted to follow, which was the idea of the character falling and the phone being packaged up. I had an idea to use the giffgaff Noise Texture in the background of this, to imply the connection between the customer and giffgaff, via online. Through these visuals, it can also imply the simplicity of recycling your old phones, which is something giffgaff wanted as part of their brief.
• I found that drawing the storyboards up roughly on paper was much quicker and easier, as I could cross out shots I might not like and see the story play-out on paper. I think this improved the visual storytelling much more than going straight onto a storyboard sheet.
• Here are the initial storyboards I explored:

Digital Storyboard:

• This translated well into an animatic! Although storyboarding and animatics aren't my specialist focus, I think I was able to produce a well illustrated story, which clearly indicates the character movement and timing. I found it particularly useful to look at LinkedIn Learning Courses, to understand the process a little bit better. On there, , which I followed before making the animatic. It also works perfectly with the 20 second time-limit for the advert, thus fitting within the brief restrictions.

• Along-side the storyboard and animatic, I explored a variety of ideas for potential characters. To make the pacing and timing feel better for a 20 second advert, I wanted to stick to just one character, who tells the story through their actions. The character design was the most difficult part as I wanted the character to feel relevant and relatable, but I needed to consider simplicity for animating and giffgaffs' colour scheme. 
• I greatly improved on my initial designs, as the final character sheet is much more fluid. I think the idea of her wearing Pyjamas works for the brief, again to emphasize the simplicity of recycling your phone from the comfort of your home.
• Here are the final developments and design:

• I took these and further simplified them:

• What could be improved:
• I still don't feel 100 per cent happy with the final character design, as I felt I could have made them more unique, if I could explore more concepts. Unfortunately, because of time, I wanted to focus more on the animation side, so I would have spent more time developing if I was less focused on the animation.
• There could have been better ways to indicate the environmental and eco-friendly part of the campaign, however giffgaff noted that they didn't want force this idea of being environmentally friendly onto their audience. They just wanted to show how easy it is to do and the benefits of doing so (earning money), but with the added bonus of environmentally friendly. I tried to show this with the less cluttered desk and cleanliness of their home environment at the end. There might have been easier or more helpful ways of doing this if further explored and analysed.
• Next week:
• Ill be concepting colour schemes and ideas and starting animation!

Context of Practise 3 - Sal Reference and Tests

Context of Practise 3
Using References and Testing for Sal

• This week:
• I worked on animating rough tests for each of the characters, using reference.
• What went well:
• Similarly to the references and tests I made for Bertie, I recorded some footage of my cat, Oscar, who is particularly an anxious, timid cat. I thought this would fit the personality of Sal well, so I was more hopeful for this test.
• The first test I did was similar to Berties’ where I followed the reference footage exactly, without thinking of the personality or acting of the character. One thing I noted from this, however, was the lip-lick that Oscar did- and usually does when he is nervous or in thought about something. I considered this as something Sal could do, as it was also something I had noted from my analysis of Dr Delbert Doppler- and something Sergio Pablos had pointed out.
• Here is the recorded footage (the footage is slightly sped up, for referencing, as it moved quite slow):

• From this footage, I followed the reference exactly and animated the lip-lick and a slight head tilt. Again, what I found from this was a lack of personality/acting because I had followed the footage exactly.
• Here is the first test:

• The next test I animated was Sal crouching down, as I had footage of Oscar crouching down and wrapping his tail around himself protectively. This fits Sal’s personality well, so the acting was much more effective here at portraying her personality. Again, similarly to Bertie’s tests, I was able to stray away from the footage a bit more, to consider the acting, so I only key-framed this using the reference footage and then I added breakdowns and betweens with my own knowledge of the movement and Principles of Animation. This made the movement feel much more fluid and life-like, which was what I was trying to achieve!
• Here is test two:

• After test two, I did a third and final test, which explored the idea of the character reacting to a ball, like with Bertie. To change this slightly, I had the ball on a string and Sal noticing it, prodding at it, like I had noted she would do, but when the string snaps and comes back, she gets frightened by it. I used the footage of Oscar being suddenly surprised by a noise happening downstairs, so this worked well with the character’s acting.
• I also coloured and fully inbetweened this test on 12fps. 
• Here is the third and final test:

• What could be improved:
• The acting still needs some improvement for my final rough line-test, however this works well as a starting point for Sal’s character animation. I still need to explore more character quirks and acting, without using as much reference footage, as the tests which use less and have a balance of both, work much better.
• Some thing I have noted is that I need to try stay more on-model with my animating, however this is something that will come with more practise.
• Next time:
• I will animate several tests for Mimo, using the same concept and idea.

Context of Practise 3 - Bertie Reference and Tests

 Context of Practise 3
Using References and Testing for Bertie

• This week:

• I started drawing rough tests for Berties' character animation
• What went well:
• After talking to Ben about my ideas and showing him my progress so far, he suggested I try filming animal references, to understand animal body language and how this could help my body language analysis. Furthermore, he noted about animators using actors as reference for animation, so I wanted to try doing this also, such as using a mirror whilst I animate to understand facial expressions and video reference.
• I had recorded some footage of my boyfriend’s Papillon, Luna, who served as a good reference point for a smaller dog, like Bertie. I started my tests by following the footage side-by-side with my animating, which I found helped with body movement and proportions quite well.
• Here is the recorded footage:

• I was able to take this footage to make an initial quick test, using Luna’s body movement as a guide. I used a lower framerate of 12fps to try focus more on the movement and posing, rather than the fluidity of the motion. This helped me think more about the acting.
• Here is the first test:

• I found that this first test felt quite stiff and didn’t really show much personality, as I was relying too much on the reference of Luna, who actually isn’t acting. It doesn’t make sense to completely use the footage frame-by-frame, so for the next test, I took the idea of Bertie reacting to a ball. I was able to use some of the footage of Luna to help with posing, but I found the acting to be more effective when I didn’t focus too much on the references.

• What could be improved:
• Despite these being just initial tests, I think that for my final rough I need to consider the acting more than focusing on the references. Whilst the references did help in understanding animal body language, these are specific characters with traits and personalities that might not be reflected in the references I take. This is something I will keep in mind in future tests and the final rough animations.
• Next time, I would try flesh out the posing more, and try making the movements a bit smoother, rather than just key-frames and breakdowns. This will help the acting and feel of the character a little bit more, however I will stick to using a low frame-rate as this forced me to think about the characters’ acting more than fluidity.
• Next time:
• I will follow this method of recording references and animate some tests for Sal and Mimo.