Film for Sumbission

Final editing

Today we spent time going over the final steps before submission. As there was still a couple of gaps we discussed what the next scenes would be. I got on and animated 10 more seconds that fit between two existing clips we had, so I had to make sure the putted was in the same pose, so that when it cuts to the next scene or the previous on, it looks the same. I did take them from different angles so you can't notice that the character is not exact. 

It is still not entirely finished be we hope to have it complete by exhibition.

below is an edited version I'll be submitting also, as I wanted to show the standard that the final film will be without any gaps.I took time to edit it down, taking out bits of audio that would make sense without them.

Final editing

Because I thought the narration didn't match up properly with the narration, I cut down some pauses, to get the tense music playing over a tense line. 

The section highlighted in the second image, is a section of narration I'm considering cutting out. so the film finishes on the line "turned to science. which would hugely fit the last scene we have planned with the monster hovering over the character. And this will leave this film at a point of 'what does the monster do to the character' which might be a nice cliff hanger to leave the audience wondering. 

In order to get a finished film for submission, I think it would be best to cut it down. we can always finish it with the full narration although, the music doesn't last as long as the narration, which doesn't sound great in silence at the end. we'd probably have to re use a section. 



Callum said we could use a section from the music to add to the length of the music, however I really don't want to extend it anymore, due to the fact I don't want to submit a film which has storyboard sections in it, so would rather cut it down. 

plus the end clips are not at a finished standard, I've tried to edit them to make them look realistic, but really we needed to film that scene in stop motion, zooming with the camera so you get the distance right, as here with a still image it just looks all wrong.

Time Planning - Project Review

This was my time plan for the project, I filled it in when we had major progress to document. With the animation still not finished due to there being slightly more that I thought when I did the plan, with 2 days left till submission, we're focusing on finalising the clips we have to get them to a decent standard. At the minute, Callum is working on the scene with the monster. Because I couldn't make the puppet, due to time and complications with material, Callum is adding it in digital. There's very little motion on it I'm told and the film finished with the scene panning across the two characters. 

We do plan to finish the film between setting up the exhibition, so hopefully we can get it into festivals as a finished piece.

I don't think we did too bad with time planning, it was quite a bit project and have managed to get it almost finished, which is great. I felt like I've done a lot in my role, making everything with the help of Wing and practically animating by myself, as well as doing all the editing for the trailer and film and adding in some effects. I've really widened my skills on the project, so I'm thankful for that, because I know how to use after effects and dragon frame alot better, than I did last year.

Bios and Synopsis

Again for my website I asked the people who worked on designing/making the film if I could use their bios for my website, where I've created a page of the making of the film. I only selected a section of each bio to introduce who they are and what their role is as a practitioner. 

Callum also wrote up the synopsis, and I added the technique and year, and soon to add time length as if it were to for in a festival booklet. 

Website update - Eldritch Egg

I updated my website to show the process of the project. I love to look at the behind the scenes of others works, so think it's nice to be able to show people interensted the process of my films.

I took inspiration of content to put on from Mackinnon and Saunder's website of the making of the Sainsbury Christmas advert. I took more process videos of my work than good photo, such as time lapses, so I made a little video to show some more of the process too. I do wish I'd have documented the whole process a little more professionally, but it would have been time consuming and when I get set on making something, I don't want to stop to take process pictures.

http://hayleydalrymple.wixsite.com/hayleydalrymple/the-eldritch-egg

Film poster

After researching into film posters, I got on with designing the poster for our film. I took frames from the film so far and tested each on in photoshop to see what would work. 

I had to as a vingete kind of effect to the first poster because i wanted it to all fade nicely, I took inspiration from Mary and Max for this as I liked the focus on the centre image. I think I prefer the second of the two 1st outcome, the logos work better at the bottom and don't feel as intruding on the poster. I do feel like it had empty space at the top, but this could be where the strapline goes when we come up with one.

the second idea, I make the image cover the whole of the page, but because the title logo looks much nicer on a black or dark background I added a gradient to fad into the image and make the titel stand out. I like the first outcome of this idea, because the tile has the skull, it's already quite bust so didn't want anything else with it, so think the logos work best at the top.

I went for something differnt with the thrid idea, I wasn't keen about what i'd done with using a still from the film, so thought i'd use the image from a flashback scene, it did't look right just as a full image, so I added a worm map style to it which would suggest it's to do with adventure, but this could also be missleading because the film is set in one room. I've sent these to Callum so I just need some feedback and hopefully we can work together on finalising a poster.



Callum's idea is to use the set to break a little the fourth wall. Showing the edge of the scene from one side whilst the main dude is looking up worried. So we actually use the character.

This idea is good, and I like that the monster over the character, but I disagreed with the idea of breaking the fourth wall, because the film is set in it own world, and the monster is not in any way described to be a high being controlling the puppet, so personally didn't think it made sense.

I send Callum the 1st poster design I had done, after he had tested out his idea and didn't think it worked. we discussed adding in the monster to my poster. 

He added in the monster, and I gave feedback that it would be nice to have the whole monster, and that the logo also needed to be added. it still looks too different, the monster is clearly digital and doesn't fit with the photo of the puppet. I took this idea into photoshop to see if I could make it any less 2D


I split the character into sections and added effects such as drop shadow and bevels, to try and create a 3d look, I also brought in an image of black silk material to create a clipping mask to add some texture.













I'm still not sure my editing has made it any better, the monster is less imposing and more like a shadow which is what I had imagined. but is probably too dark and still not fitting with the rest of the poster.

I'll continue to edit and see if I can improve it.

Trailer

Originally I wanted a smaller trailer of 30 secs as a teaser, and then longer trailer for a later date, to give a little more footage. I was working, I selected clips from the audio to build up some tension, but when it came to adding clips, I found this a challenge. I didn't keep some scenes in order. But I think I've made this work really well. I stuck to what Callum asked, building the tension as it does in the film. It flows really well, it builds the tension, it hopefully doesn't give away too much, and I think I added the title in an appropriate place, I introduced the character first so that the audience isn't hit with text, as this could be boring.  

One thing I needed is to captivate the audience, when I went to VMC it was said that people's attention spans are going down, currently at an average of 5 seconds, so I needed to make sure they stick around for the rest of it. making sure panning clips weren't too long, and spreading the lighting sound so that it created dramatic effects.

It's also less than a min, because I didn't want to give too much away, and also didn't want the audience to get board.

Trailer research

This is the trailer example Callum gave when talking about creating our trailer. it's very fast paced, showing lots of action clips, but I don't think this style will work with our film, due to the lack of action-y clips, but it does build suspence, which we can try to acheive along with the commissioned music. 




I focused on Victorian themed media, to see how it is kept of that era. The music plays a huge part on setting the scene, it's not too empowering at the start, drawing you in, which I'd like for ours. In this, it keeps going back, focusing, to a shadowy clip of the two characters struggling with eachother. This is a horror game, but we could, like this focus on the monster shadow, or would that give it all away, because I'm really not a fan or revealing at lot in trailer, however due to the length, it could be difficult not to give things away.




I like that this had quite a long section of the scene at the beginng, it introduces the tone of the film. it's got the classic text snippets, making it feel very dramatic and exciting.




This starts off very fast paced, and has the voiceover to make it feel dramatic, the music is fast, which again probably won't work for ours, we'd want more of a build up to the tension of 'what is this monster creature'



This trailer also has a voiceover, which works for this film, giving an explanation of the plot, For ours I'd like to used the narration we have, and cut it so that it explains little key points, but does not give the story away.

Roles

After today and listening to Annabeth talk about roles, I did a little research to see if what I'm currently classed as in the film role (co director) actually fitted what I did.

I found that one or my roles was more producer than director, because I did a lot of scheduling, time planning, communication with the director in order to know what the set making team should be doing, and when animating myself. 

I like to be organised with my projects, so it's important to keep on track, which I felt I was doing throughout the project, setting mini deadlines for things to be done by.

I probably wouldn't want a producers job as it involves so much more than I've done on this project, as I'm more of a hands on maker.

post production - fire lighting edits

To achieve the light in from the fireplace without having to ad it in digital, I used my phone again to create the glow. I did it in shot because from adding in the candle flames, I know you don't get the realistic glow that you would to do it in camera. this does mean editing out the phone and coloured film. but I think the end result is great. 

this shot was taken for a panning scene, which Callum is panning digitally. the only negative thing here, is the shot is very still, and the character especially looks a bit unnatural. we could if we get change, pan with the camera which allows us to animate the character,and get realistic panning angles. 

Final Crit - feedback

In todays' crit there were  a few points that were pointed out for us to change. The sound was still a little too quiet, the voice over needs to be more louder than the music, so you can clearly hear the story.

it would be better for there to be no narration over the credits, but after speaking to Callum, he said he didn't want the line "I hope for the best" to be in the film anyway, so this can be cut and the credits can stay in place without the narration. 

there are a few scenes that just stop, for example the drip scene which I think needs either a zoomed close up following the drip as it falls, then this will continue the motion. 

for the flashback it was said that the character should be animated a little too. 

And I think that the titles I did need to be slightly smaller as they are quite overpowering on the big screen.

Finally foli sounds need to be added: walking, writing, monster sounds, lighting, chair. this would add more depth to the animation. 

Post production - Titles and credits

I thought about having some main credits in the opening shots of the animation, I did this, because I had comments about there being too much panning shots, so adding title may now give them more of an introductory purpose, as well as introducing the set.

I spoke to Callum about getting the logo he created, and asked what font he used, so that i can keep all the text consistant, although I used Baskerville a serif font that is very similar to the Times New Roman. Graphic designers would be able to tell, so it needs to be changed.

I also adjusted the logo because I loved the skull image Callum did for the art book, and thought it would even out the text, as to me 'The' wasn't placed right. I figured it needed to be slightly smaller and the image in my opinion makes it more attractive the look at.

post production - clips

When looking thought the clips, we decided that the camera should hold on the shadow to make it clear when it is, and for a more dramatic emphasis on this character. We had a few second where a panning shot would have gone, but as it was said we have a lot of panning already, we can now use this space a wiggle room to show more animated scenes



There are a few gaps in our animatic time line, but we're now going to focus on making the scenes we have, look to a finished standard, to show ever though the film isn't completely finished yet. This is the standard the whole thing will be.

With all the effects we're adding now, I'm starting to feel really proud of how it looks, and I think using a range of different media has only helped it become better.

post production - candle light and animation process

After I had done the candle lighting. I simply rendered it out and replaced the footage in the animatic, so that it's been constantly updated. There's still some post effects to add like the monster, so as soon as I have done my bit here, I upload it to google drive so that Callum has access to all the new files.

This is the process so far, it is slowly being populated with footage. I still need to go through into photoshop to edit out the rigging from the walk to the fireplace that I did today which will fill in 10 seconds of the animatic.




I did get slowed down a bit today, because I started adding flames to a file that had some rigging showing, so I had to find the correct file and start again. I saved the flame effect, so all I needed to do was select a different section of the flame for each time I rendered out 1 candle, I could not copy the flame effect, so just rendered out each time and brought it back in to do the next. 

Day 9 - light tests

without light

phone torch 

When I changed camera angles I needed to illuminate the characters face somehow, as if there was a glow from the fire. I tried with the smaller dedo lights but this only illuminated the how frame. I then laid my phone with the torch on, this did light up his face but was the wrong colour.

orange film over torch 

orange and red film over torch

I used the coloured film from the book to give a warm glow as if from the fire, the orange I used was too yellow and bright, so I overlaid the red film and this brought the light to a much natural glow which we liked.

Time planning - April review

We've got less than two weeks left to finish the project, and we have majority of the scenes done, I don't think we'll get it completely finished, because some scenes are hard to do and take longer to animate. 

My thoughts now are to continue to animate as much as we can next week to get it finished, but as I've already started doing, I'm doing post production stuff just so we still have completed sections of the animation for the trailer, if we don't get the whole thing finished. then we have some good quality finished scenes that will show the standard that the finished film will be. 

By next Friday, there will be no more time for animating, as I want to focus on getting what we have completed in post production and getting the press pack together ready for submission.  

Post production - Candle effects

The opening scene in Zero has a close up of a candle, which makes m think adding digital flames to the candles on the set would look okay. I looked at how the candle in this sequence moved and tried to copy the motion, and adjust to my animation.



I drew a rough flame shape and assed a gaussian blur to it, to get it the nearest to a flame I could.

there were a lot of option for me to play with, opacity, scale, rotation and skew, which all contribute to the movement of a flickering flame.


I remembered from the after effects induction that the closer the key points, the quicker the motion, so when the character gets up, a flame would naturally move with the breeze created by the action, so i kept adjusting the key points till I was happy with the movement.

I'm very pleased with the outcome, it doesn't draw attention to itself, it's just a nice subtle motion, which I think looks natural in the scene and it realistic to that world.

I now need to add a flame to any other scene with a candle stick in. 

Day 8 - animation process

This was yesterday's set up, we're at the scene where the character gets up from the desk and walks over to the fireplace. I also took the opportunity in the morning to re-do the walk scene where he goes to sit as the desk that I did the day before, so I learnt from what I remembered about not moving his too much, to slow his actions down, and move his right arm as if swinging. This won't be included in the animation, as there is nothing similar to it, but will be good for my showreel, and possibly trailer because it could introduce the character? 

He does move a bit faster that I would have wanted him to because he is elderly, but I do like the pulling back of the chair and going to sit down, I think it reflects the motion of an older man doing the same action.

For this shot I moved the bookcase on the back wall to next to the doors, I did this because there is a lot of empty space behind the character, and the room is meant to look busy and cluttered.

I had Ciara helping me yesterday which was really good, because it was an extra pair of hands to press the capture button, and she also gave me feedback while I was working, which helped make the scene a lot better then it probably would have been compared to  animating by myself. 

I also had to use the rig to support the character in the two shots I did, which meant going though the photos and removing it. I did this by taking a black shot without the character first or when the camera angle changed, and simply put that image as a bottom layer so I could erase the rig in the top layer.

I also had the problem of his eyes falling out, so I digitally edited this in photoshop too. 

Poster research

As part of submission, we need to create a poster for our final film. I've looked at existing stop motion poster to see how the layout is done, and what kind of imagery they used. for some they have used key still from the film, other they've come up with something that represents the film on a whole.

four ours a still could look nice, there are a few scenes which have stills to give the audience an idea of what the film is about. a still with the monster's shadow would be a good poster I think. 

for a strap line, I quite like that some have reviews on them as a main description, like with Anomalisa, 'the most human film of the year' and it doesn't star a single human. describes the film so well, that that would have probably have been their strap line anyway. 

This poster, clearly aimed at a younger audience, vibrant, busy, lots to look at. and they've included a pun to signify this is a humorous film.
















Colour plays a huge part in the tone of the film, for Mary and Max, the significant colour red is represented, and black and white tells us it's a sad story, the character looks lonely at his desk and the rest of the world is blacked out.














This poster is a bit more warmer, but it still has something dark about it, it tells us it's set in a older time, and the type style suggests it's a got something creative about it.

These three posters have lots of similar qualities, with the title at the bottom, with strong image drawing you to the middle of the page, quite minimalistic with imagery, so it gives you an idea of the tone of the film without giving away too much.


for our poster we need to consider colour, type and tone. I think the colours similar to The Maker would set the scenes of a victorian era, and like Mary and Max, most of the character's time is sat at his desk, so this could be a key image for us too. We can take a few shots that we feel expresses the character most and pic and test how the layout comes together.