This week we had to organise the workflow for the group project.
Since the project we decided to work on is long-going, we agreed on figuring our our priorities for this term first.
We created a Miro board with all the necessary information:
My responsibilities included mainly animating existing models and if needed do a basic rigging or modelling. I also had to help to choose models that would be more suitable for the purpose of the animation.
The animations has to include different movements of ghosts that will be later added into unity.
The main issue was waiting for the models that we can use. Since our project includes external collaborators, we had to wait for them to confirm the models we can later animate.
Have you chosen a topic which will hold your interest for a sustained period?
Do you know what the current issues relating to this topic are?
Have you found out who the leading experts / key writers are in this field and what reviews of the topic already exist?
Do you have the support of your supervisor for your topic?
Where are you going to find the appropriate background reading and other sources of information you need for this topic?
Have you checked their availability?
Are you going to do primary research? What access do you have to your area of interest? When are you going to do it? Have you discussed the practicality of it with your supervisor?
Have you a clearly articulated position which you aim to test? (if appropriate)
Are you sure that your topic is sufficiently focused?
Does it respond to a question and/or present an argument?
Have you a clear, manageable research question?
Researching the Topic
Choosing your topic will involve a considerable amount of initial research. Research involves locating key sources. There are two kinds of sources:
a) Primary or original sources. These could be a mediaeval manuscript, a poem, a photograph, the records of an institution, a dress, an interview…
b) Secondary or interpretative sources i.e. papers/articles/books written about a subject.
Each source/text is written/produced from a perspective and has a specific function. Interpretation, therefore, depends not only on the content, but also the context. In other words, don’t take everything at face value. Notice and make note of the position that is being taken by theauthor/producer. An essential part of a good Thesis is commenting on the different position’s authors take.
This term relates to the abstraction and juxtaposition of narrative structures or storytelling tools, traditional cannons, and communicative vehicles.
These approaches question and build film language, challenge perception and exploit semiotics metaphor and symbolism.
Jan Svankmajer, 1982, Dimensions of Dialogue
Max Hattler+ Hellmut Hattler, 2005 Nachtmaschine
Interpreting Abstraction:
There is an integral link between conceptual application and technological advancement in the innovation of film and in particular, animation, raising complex and challenging questions on;
•Categorisation; Genre & Sub-genre what is the works background / setting, mood / tone, theme or topic?
•Form and Function; interpreting meaning and relating it to the format, or presentational mode:
•Process; The techniques, materials and technologies applied within the work and the relationships between message and medium, (Does process, technique or tool become the message?)
•Formal Elements; Use of space/composition, Light & colour, movement, rhythm, timing, pacing, transition and audio relationships.
Max Hattler, 2019, Serial Parallels
Formative Abstraction:
Primarily defined as, focusing upon the manipulation of the visual fundamentals; colour, form, space, light and texture, alongside the the dynamics of movement, time, rhythm and sound as a central theme of the work.
The artist’s involvement is essentially investigative and may not have a predetermined outcome but must be grounded in the intellectual pursuit of applying a theory or initial objective.
There is an integral link between conceptual application and technological advancement in the innovation of film and in particular, animation, raising complex and challenging questions.
This week we learned what is the world building and how important is to establish one in the animation.
Worldbuilding is the process of constructing a world, originally an imaginary one, sometimes associated with a fictional universe. Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology.
A few question that will help to build the world:
What time period is your story set in?
How does said time period effect yourstor y?
What event lead up to your story?
Global catastrophes? Or Periods ofpeace?
What type of animals live in these rural/ advancedplaces?
How has nature been effected or has effected the restof your world.
Is it post-apocalyptic with an abundance of natureoverflowing abandoned places or is it a barren wasteland with no sign of wildlife in sight?
Where is your story taking place?
How advanced or primitive is this nation?
What events lead up to or effect the nationgeologically/architecturally?
Has a history/religion made an impact onsaid architecture?
The other important aspect of the world is choosing sets and props as it can push the readability of the world and shots.
Important websites:
• https://www.turbosquid.com/
• https://www.highend3d.com/
• https://www.cgtrader.com/
We also had to come up with three ideas for our final animation. These ideas had to include the world establishing, characters and most important an actual idea behind the animation.
My first idea was about a swimmer who jumps into the pool but the pool is actually a cup that that swimmer drinks. It is a quite experimental idea as there is no clear narrative. For the shots I tried to use the use of thirds to create a better composition.
My second idea would also be an experimental one as I wanted to implement 2D written text into the 3D animation. The animation describes loneliness and feeling of being in love with the wrong person.
My third animation is considered as abstract because it doesn’t have a clear narrative and leaves a lot of space for a viewer to think and add their own meanings.
After the event where we had to find an existing or make our own group, I have found a group consisted of 7 people.
Three people from the MA Visual Effects:
Martyna Kowalska – m.kowalska0620221@arts.ac.uk – MA Visual Effects – VFX/3D Modeller Nira Gonzalez – n.gonzalezsanchez0320221@arts.ac.uk Jess Howard – j.howard0320221@arts.ac.uk
Three from the MA VR:
Alexa Donahue – a.donahue0620221@arts.ac.uk – MA VR – Unity developer & VR artist An Zhou – a.zhou0820211@arts.ac.uk Yazhe Li – r.li0920182@arts.ac.uk
And one of my classmates:
Gloria Corra – g.corra0220191@arts.ac.uk
We discussed what everyones’ strengths are, what softwares we are using and how we can benefit the project.
The project itself seemed very interesting to me. BEFORE THE FALL (the name of the project) is an immersive VR experience engaging users with the realities of global warming on their immediate environment. The concept is simple: time-tours in a post-apocalyptic world, allow viewers to return to the home planet we were forced to leave in the late 21st century.
A very important detail about the project is that is it a big project that we will continue working on after the submission and it is also a collaboration with the external partners such as Luke Losey (Unit9) and Tim Harrison (Aumeta).
The concept of the project is about time-tours in a post-apocalyptic world, allow viewers to return to the home planet we were forced to leave in the late 21st century.
A familiar location such as Battersea Power Station, is rendered in the future present – it’s structure crumbling, partially submerged by a Thames, swollen beyond recognition, in a landscape stripped of flora and fauna. But everywhere there are signs of a past civilisation and ghostly voices and memories linger – clues to a planetary trauma.
Removing the VR headset will leave users in an abundant present where catastrophe has yet to destroy everything we cherish. In this sense the experiences can be at once educational, moving, haunting and galvanising with the experiences leaving time tourists with a sense of what may be preserved, rather than one of inevitable devastation.
Part 2:
In the class, we learnt about a game The exquisite corpse and how it can help to understand decentralisation and reveal our creative subconsciousness.
The princip of the game was to fold a piece of paper into three parts that will be later revealed as a head, torso and legs. Each part will be drawn by different people and carefully hided so the next person doesn’t see what was drawn before.
The first topic seemed fairly easy – an animal. Although there are no restrictions on the topic, since it can be understood in any way possible. I decided to go with the fist thought that appeared in my head and my interpretation ended up being pretty straightforward:
The second topic was way more abstract – we had to create a piece on the word “speculate”. My first thought was about a very speculative sentence “not all men” and in my opinion it seemed perfect for the given topic:
The other activity we did was about coming up with the rules for a game for our classmates.
Gloria, Caroline and me came up with very simples rules that our other classmates had to follow:
At the same time we had to follow the rules of our other classmates which we successfully did and had a lot of fun while doing it!
All these fun and more importantly creative activities have shown us how important collaboration is. It showed the importance of a decentralised labor that can help us to come up with incredible ideas and create unique arts and experiences that we would never do on our own.
The first lesson in the second semester was all about Mise-en-scène and everything we need to know about camera animation. We learned about the rule of third, camera lenses , sets/props, character designs, lighting, camera types; handheld/crane/static. Types of shots; Establishing, mid, close up etc.
MISE-EN-SCÈNE is the stage design and arrangement of actors in scenes for a theatre or film production, both in visual arts through storyboarding, visual theme, and cinematography, and in narrative storytelling through direction.
Each aspect of mise-en-scene has hidden meanings within a film and sends signals to the audience about how we are supposed to feel at a certain point;
Settings & PropsCostume,
Hair & Make Up
Facial Expressions & Body Language
Colour/Lighting
Positioning of characters/objects within the frame
Examples of Mise-en-scène:
Another very important rule in cinematography is a RULE OF THIRDS AND THE GOLDEN RATIO. The best description will be with the help of the examples:
We also learned different types of camera shots that cane be used to diverse the film and engage a viewer:
The second part of the lesson was to learn what previs is as we will need it for our further employments.
Previsualization is the visualizing of complex scenes before filming. Directors and cinematographers rely on the previs to plan their shots and angles. Postvis, or post-visualizations, happens during postproduction when viewing rough cuts, without the expense, and time, of completing final visual effects shots.
We created a shot using basic shapes to try out previs for ourselves:
We also used a crane rig in order to manipulate the camera:
Robot arm:
We started creating a robot arm from the fingers.
At first we started by creating phalanges.
It was important to understand the movement of each part and add detailed parts to make it look more “real”.
By the end of the lesson we have made all five fingers and a short basic animation.
In the first lesson we learned how important is collaborative work and how to make it more efficient.
Collaboration helps us to share skills of multiple people and make the most useful workflow by delegating and assigning roles. One of the most important things that will help to maintain good workflow is clear communicating, constant checking on the work that has been done and getting feedback from other participants.
This unit will help us to try out the collaborative work, find out what we can bring into the group and how we can achieve the best results while working altogether.
One of our assignments was to choose a topic and add information about ourselves on the padlet board. This will help to find like-minded people and create the most suitable group.
After the class we also went to an event in the canteen to meet suitable members for our group. We met a lot of great people from different fields such as VR, VFX and Game design. Eventually I found a group that I would be very interested working with.
Besides the Critical Report, for the final submission we had to prepare an audio-visual presentation which is an illustrative representation of our research objectives, findings and results.
Relevant contents for the presentation are:
Presenting the audience with a brief outline of the intention of the research
Briefly outline the information sources
Selecting the key areas of investigation that informed the findings
The conclusion
Potentials for applying this learning and furthering knowledge in practice and/or theory
Unite Review
This unit has helped us to develop our critical thinking by constantly analysing animations and films from different perspectives. We learnt the ways to identify the experimental and documentary animations, break down the arch of the narrative and the archetypes.
The other important part of the unit was developing a research topic. We had a constant discussion with our professor and the students about our ideas that led us to realisation if they are relevant and how we can improve them.
All the learning outcomes as well as detailed structures have helped me to work on my Critical Report assignment and develop not only an interesting research topic that could be beneficial for the reader but also to write the report in the most constructive and accurate way.
This course have already gave me more knowledge about the 3D computer animation world than I could wish for. Before coming to the course I had almost no experience with any sort of 3D animation. But by the end of the first semester I have learnt so much that I already feel quite confident using the software.
Besides learning how to navigate the interface of Maya, what tools to use to create a model from a scratch and what editors can help to animate it, I have also learnt the basic principles of animation. In general, 3D computer animation fundamental classes were very helpful. Even though it was my first introduction to the 3D world and Maya in particular, the learning process was easy to follow. Yet, it was very challenging.
Knowing the interface of the software and basic principles is indeed important. However the ability to get a detailed feedback from the professors has definitely enhanced my skills. The professors draw my attention to the details of my projects that could seem irrelevant, yet every time it gave my work a huge improvement.
Even though I am still in the beginning of my learning process, I am very proud of myself for what I have done. I see imperfections in my past assignments which means that I am constantly growing in this field and with every next step the work will get better.
I am very grateful to be a part of this course and looking forward to see what will it bring next.
