OUAN406 Evaluation

During the course of this module, I developed many techniques including 3D modelling and Aftereffect, and on the other hand, also realized several problems where I could have improved or can improve it in the future.

For the first part of the module which is the Maya induction, I think I did not practice enough, or to apply the technique in the animation. Therefore I think I should practice more by applying in animations, or to do more action practice, such as walk cycle or other similar movements as well. I also struggled with remembering the short cuts and procedures especially of how to animate the movements of the model, the way to solve it would be to practice with using Maya more in the future.

As for the second part, I chose brief 2, which is Title, to make a title sequence for a book that I have read. I came up with the book And Then There Were None, as it is one of my favourite novel, which is very suitable for adapting into a film as well. I used mind map to map up the ideas that I have got initially, and did the story board roughly, which leaded to a re-doing of the story board on the template afterwards, therefore I would do it on template in the first place to avoid any delay of time afterwards. During the production of the animation, I meet a few problems that I struggled, and one of them was the movements that I made in Aftereffect is not smooth enough, and can look weird. I tried to use the poppet tool, but it did not came out with a satisfying results. Speaking of the final outcome of the animation, I went back to it several times in order to find out any disadvantages or anywhere that I could improve. The time arrangements of the animation could be better, to make it more smooth and flows well with the background music. In additional, I am not totally satisfied with the audio, but it is the best I could find to sync with the animation. To solve it I would look at more resources and constantly save any relative websites for later needs. Also, as I used traditional method of animating, which is using the animation paper, I struggled to sync the style of this part of the animation to the other parts that were made digitally in Aftereffect. Finally I covered the part made with animation paper with the same colour I used for other parts and change the opacity to 50 percent, though it made the animation blurred a bit. If it could be improved, I think darker pen could be used over the pencil drawing on animation paper.

Overall I enjoyed this module, as it pushed me to a lot of techniques which are all new to me. Although I am unsatisfied on some aspects due to the unfamiliar with the techniques, but it suggests that I need more practice.

Title: Audio

As for the audio consideration, I have researched on several websites to find resources. And I found a few audio resources from free games that was took from free audio websites. I considered the style of the music I should use, and decided to use a relatively lighter tone of music than a heavier one. On the other hand, I planed to sync the music with the title shown at the end of the animation, so the audio should have some obvious beats, at the end which is approximitely 30 seconds.

Title: After Effect

Being inspired by a few title sequences, I decided to use the Adobe After Effect to complete some of the part of the animation. I used pen mainly to create the shape that I have drawn on the story board. The main tone of the animation will stay black and dark red.

Title: Making Film

In two of the scenes in the storyboard I've planned, I decided to make them by traditional method on animation paper and dragon frames. One scene is the openning scene where the man is lighting up his cigarette. Afterwards the scene will zomm out and finally discovered him actually inside the train. The second sene is where the woman raise her face from the water and turns to a side view.

Title: Research

The Walking Dead Season 5 title sequence, is one of my favourite opening scene. It use metaphor to suggest the plot of the season, implies what would happen in the story. Speaking of the title sequence, it is a sum of several unrelated scenes that are in the same colour tone. The audio sync with the title of the series that has been shown at the end of the sequence. This inspired me and I would consider to sync the background music with the title in my animation.

Title: Idea Development

Firstly my initial idea was to show the main characters' faces, while they all have different expressions on them, due to the personality that the author has create them as. However I've changed my mind that rather than shows the whole face of the characters, just show the eyes of them, because it demonstrate the expressions better. On the design sheet I have tried a few way of drawing the eyes, to indicate the different characters.

Title: Development

To process to the making of the animation, I started with planning the storyboard. As it is a title sequence, it should consider what the novel is roughly about and the key elements of the story, also have to match the main tone of the story as well.

I decided not to make a specific character sheet, because the sequence would not have a main character but relatively abstract. I changed my mind on the animation from the original idea of showing the characters' faces one by one as it can be dull to watch.

When I looked at the resources, I got interested in the opening of the title sequence of the TV series Archer. It reprensent a range of similar title sequences that used the same technique. After Effect inductions helped me to understand the method of how this kind of animation were done, and I decided to include it in my animation.

Title: Cover Study

And then there were none, the novel has been adapted to film before, in the form of a movie and a TV series as well. I found some of the covers of the films and a few editions of the book.

the poster of the film And Then There Were None. The scene of the main characters travels from the main land to the island where the story take place. It is a visualized photograph that demonstrate one of the main scene, which shows a tone of mysterious atmosphere, that captures audience's interests.

An old edition of the book, with a ancient look image of a island. Again with dark colour such as grey and black.

Title: Initial Ideas

And then there were none, with the other name Ten little Indians, is a fiction novel written by Agatha Christie, who is one of my favourite writers. It is inspired by a nursery rhythm named the 10 little Indians. In terms of producing an animated title sequence for the novel, I came up with the idea of showing the main characters’ face one by one and the title unravelled at last from a dark background. During this time the background music should be considered the beats with the graphic to fit the change of the character. So the length of each scene should be considered carefully.

As this novel has already been adapted as a TV series, so it has already got a title sequence. After referenced the original one, I developed my own version of the title sequence. It was originally a pretty dark opening due to the background of this book. It is about a dark story of a well-planned series of murder, so the opening scene should fit the context of the novel which is mysterious and a flavour of horror.