Final Animation

The Final Animation has a darker overlay than i intended but otherwise i'm very pleased with the final outcome.

It tells a short story of loss and grief from a young girls perspective, inspired by bloody love and themes by Edgar Allen Poe. 

If i learned anything from this project it was that the irish accent shouldnt be used as a voice over. 

http://youtu.be/ydyPxEz7Ejc

Editing

Ive never liked editing, its definitely not my speciality but i believe the editing during this animation, especially the audio really enhanced the final outcome.
Unfortunately i did run into a few problems.
i originally wanted a small dark shadow along the edges, however when i created an airbrush boarder the photoshop file wouldn't convert to after effects and when i tried using imovies existing video effects the radial shadow was too over bearing and took away from the movie.

When i originally exported all the files the quicktime player compressed them to the wrong dimensions, this happened three times, so i had to switch computers an convert everything from scratch before editing them properly.
https://vimeo.com/102462551

i created the animation so there would be no need for transitions, thus there was little room for them without cutting into the actually animations, however i found through the editing stages, most of the transitions added to the emotive design of the animations theme so many of these fade to black transitions i hadn't accounted for were more effective than anticipated.
i originally wanted a small dark shadow along the edges, however when i created an airbrush boarder the photoshop file wouldn't convert to after effects and when i tried using imovies existing video effects the radial shadow was too over bearing and took away from the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKu3kfCAQD8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zHl_H6r7Ds

 There were many movies sad and deep songs about love and loss that i could've used but Avril Lavignes instrumental version of 'when your gone' seemed appropriate for the teenage girl angst and was intense enough without words or being over bearing compared to the narrations.
The narrations couldn't be drowned out by the instrumental audio, otherwise the story wouldn't make any sense and it would just be a blurry animation about a girl looking at photos and going to school with alot of judgmental students. The narrations were to bring the whole animation together, however myself not being a voice actor left the narrations not as effective as they should've been.

This was to be the final draft, however the audio was uploaded too loud compared to the narration so i have to go back to garageband and lower the volume of the instrumentals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdcoTRPhVhY&feature=youtu.be

The Narration

Narrating this myself was tiresome, as i have an obvious accent when recorded and it doesn't suit the character, and when i attempts sorrow i just sounded like i was annoyed id stubbed my toe. The narrations didn't turn out as i expected, and i believe it was a major downfall in the final animations outcome.

Final Dialogue...

Its the first day back since it happened. 
My parents think its too early, but.... if i don't do it now, ill never do it. 

Ugh the awkward stares and condolences,
Its too weird. 
Rooms go quiet when i enter,
People that would've happily seen the back of us 
are now avoiding eye contact and constantly saying sorry. 
I mean what are you even sorry for ?!

My world
It feels warped 

like im not sure if its all real anymore
or if this is just one long bad dream.

The sorries
The emptiness 
The world without him 
its lost its colours, its vibrance, its meaning. 

but.... it helps to know i'm not the only one who feels this. 

Even homes not the same, 
without him, can i even call it home?

Its dark, quiet, and lifeless.

I'm running out of his jumpers to wear. 
it feels like its my last piece of him. 

how do you go on after this?
My parents try
they try so hard
but.....is there any point.

without him, without his smile, 
how are any of us supposed to go?

its impossible. 

i've never felt so helpless and lonely. 

i cant even face his room, 
it would make this nightmare, 
real.

russ

i miss you.

Initial Story Ideas and Character Designs

The story was built up from extracts from the book, and character designs were based on several character descriptions, these are listed next to the characters in the final designs in the character bible pages. The book opens with the feelings of loss and the traumatic incident, at first i storyboarding a brief version of the fist few pages of the book, however the traumatic scenes were too intense and didn't suit the emotional theme of this animation.

Printed Extracts of Bloody Love

Paradigm and the Five Stages of Grief

Once i had the basic story in mind and most of the extracts decided on, i began storyboarding initial drafts. below is an example, but the expressions and slow moving camera movements needed developed further.

Scenes i took out entirely were too off the topic or would've required a longer story which i hadn't the time frame to create. back flashes to memories or the actual death would interfere with the basic storyline that i already set out for the animation.

 

As the story progressed so did the stories dialogue. Ive included themes of the five stages of grief and a few of the key words i thought really portrayed the despair and worries of someone processing loss.
The dialogue/narration sums up the scenes and acts as it progresses.

Below are guides of both the class room and the house, this is how i planned and kept track of all the camera movements, therefore not repeating or forgetting certain angles.

 

Character designs were inspired by the book, however only a small handful of the books characters are shown. The emotive design and roll over effects were taken into account when designing these characters, due to the nature of the animation and its purpose. 

main character

 

 

 

Research

LOSS- a feeling of grief after loosing someone or something important.

Grieving could be caused by something as small as moving house or changing jobs, or it could be from the death of a family member, partner or financial stability.
There are many kinds of grief, however since i'm basing this off the book i will stick to the themes of death and the loss of a significant family member.
In this case the sibling/twin brother.
A bond many cant understand but empathise with none the less.

I want to show different stages in grief or how more than one is coping with the same significant loss so i researched how many cope with grief, hoping this will allow me to understand the characters more, and found many believe they should ignore the grief and it will fade, or don't cry or show weakness, you should remain strong. And there is only so long it should last. however different people even in the same situation grieve differently and at different times.

Feel like life isn’t worth living

Wish you had died with your loved one

Blame yourself for the loss or for failing to prevent it

Feel numb and disconnected from others for more than a few weeks

Are having difficulty trusting others since your loss

Are unable to perform your normal daily activities

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/grief_loss.htm


Typical Stages of Grief ...
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression 
Acceptance

Hopefully i will be able to arrange the final story and dialogue to portray all these stages, hopefully in the stereotypical order even though most don't grieve in this order.

"there is not a typical response to loss, as there is no typical loss. Our grieving is as individual as our lives.” -Kübler-Ross

http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief/000617

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grief

I plan on the narration being a look into the helplessness and loneliness of the situation whilst the animation itself will protray someone who is coping reltively well and moving on with her life.

As the character is still quite young, i wanted to rearch further into the differences in grief and younger adults and children, and found it has even more indepth resources and explains that children often feel the same if not more than adults in traumatic situations.
Alot of the time this leads to them feeling unnoticed and helpless since their feelings and loss aren't being accounted for among the rest of the tragedy.
Often children are over looked due to the common assumption 'children don't know any better' or 'they're too young to understand' but i want to show indepth feelings from a young girl who has lost her brother, so understanding her and her thoughts on the whole situation is vital. It could also be interesting to show how her peers and elders react to her emotions or lack of.

“Anyone old enough to love is old enough to grieve.” - Alan Wolfiet

http://psychcentral.com/lib/children-and-grief/000374

Key words and phrases i found will be major inspirations to the story and emotional themes...
shock
disbelief
sadness
guilt
anger
fear
physical symptoms
taken from you
destroyed
negative
no right or wrong feelings
overwhelming
pain
talk it out
rely on family and friends
bitterness
emptiness
meaningless
search for the person in familiar places
avoiding triggers and memories of the deceased
isolation
permanent
irreversible
mourning

Project Two - LOSS

Project two for moving image will be based on Edgar Allen Poe, which i was very excited to work on, however it wasn't based on just the writer, it was simply inspired by him and his commonly used themes, such as obsession, the double self, love and loss, and the letter.
Originally i intended to create a dark animation with a different drawing style than i'm used to, based on one of Edgar Allen Poes famous works, however the further i thought about the topics, the more ideas i came up with.
Eventually i was settle on an emotional animation, that would stir emotions of obsession, or love and loss. I researched both topics and some available pieces that i could base the animation off. and decided loss was the most out of my comfort zone and would be a challenge to portray through not just the animation, but the final music and script.

I intend to create an animation on love lost, scripted by myself based on research and on an existing story or song.
Before scripting or storyboarding i will do substantial research to understand loss, its effects and how i could portray them appropriately without the animation seeming dull or forced.

The story will be inspired by an online short story by american author L.J.Smith.  Bloody Love. 

Final Dexy Animation

Final Dialogue narrated by Laura (6)

This is My Story 

And ill share it with you. 

From morning sunshine, to the night time stars, 

I bounce out of bed and rush downstairs.

Because i know today, today of all days, today ill have fun with, my best friend. 

Her name is Dexy, 

she's quite brillent really,

with her wild black hair and big cheeky grin.

Her eyes even change colour, especially when shes up to no good. 

Everyday without fail,

we bundle up warm,

and set off on an exciting adventure.

Who knows what beasts we might find. 

We could storm the green castle.

Soar through the air.

We could gather the bravest knights in all the realms

and head deep in to the dark forest of no return, 

and catch the wild wishing balls!

Who knows where our journeys could take us one day. 

Maybe even to the edge of the rainbow, 

That where Dexys from you know.

But until we get there, Dexy will stay with me,

Up in the tallest tower, 

We'll play with all our treasure. 

As long as we're together we'll never get bored (laughs)

You know we really are the best of friends, 

She'll eat my vegetables and ill eat her sausages.

Although not everyone thinks so.

Infact!

They even try and sit on her, as if shes not even there.

Its not fun being so small nobody sees you.

Its a big scary world. 

But i know, as long as i have Dexy, 

everythings gonna be just fine.

Although the final animation portrays most of the elements i wanted, the final outcome wasn't to the standard i intended. I focused too much on the psychology and the minor elements rather than the animation, which ended up being the biggest flaw, dragging down the overall look of the movie.

Im pleased with how the editing process improved the animations emotive design and helped portray the major elements in the childs story. 

The link below is the youtube link to the final animation, since Vimeo isn't allowing me to upload it at a high enough quality, so for now its uploaded on youtube until i work around vimeo and upload a high standard final animation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG_ePBfmr2M

Editing and Narrating

I noticed the movie looked like it needed something more at the start that i hadn't accounted for, but usual title sequences didn't seem appropriate, so i filmed the child drawing a title in colourful pastels, following the narration and storytelling theme.
This story is told by a child so its not overly coherent.  When i filmed the title she did rush, and i intended to speed it up in hopes it would at worst skip a little, unfortunately any time i tried skipping more than 5% it cut out too much of the end and made no sense, so although thew title is unintentionally dragged out, it couldn't be fixed.

I heightened the scenes with colour correction but couldn't go too high incase it went pixilated.
Early in the editing stages i experimented with many editing features, including the less used transitions. i didn't want it to look like a tacky scooby doo episode but i experimented with the transitions that would enhance the fact its a child telling a story, so it would be big dramatic and have drastic movements, especially between the scenes and acts.
https://vimeo.com/102415977

To give it a childish dream like appearance that somewhat matched the imaginary friend, i experimented with mask layers and cartoon filters.
https://vimeo.com/102453112

When the narrations were included finding a simple background noise was surprisingly difficult to decide on, since the story had so many ups and downs and wasn't consistently silent or narrated.
I didn't want it too happy, or it would take away from the lowest points and problems, however it couldn't be too sad as it was a child telling you about her happiness playing with her best friend. It was really difficult, i originally thought an instrumental version of Dexys midnight runners - Come on Eileen would suit but it was too repetitive and had no obvious low for act 3.
I experimented with musicals, particular instruments and full orchestra instrumentals, popular instrumentals in games and instrumental versions of popular songs, including...
Gravity
Imagination
fireflies
enchanted
colours of the wind
part of your world
i se the light
summer nights
hikaris music box
hearts in moving
power of the moon
equivalence of two worlds
requiem of a dream

And in the end chose to edit an instrumental version of jason derulos 'trumpets' it had a slow in, alot of ups and an available low that i edited about a few times to suit the transitions between acts and the night time ending.

Filming and Animating.

Ive never created anything like live action animation but it always interested me. Im disappointed how the final film turned out due to my inexperience and mistakes.
One of the biggest mistakes was not creating the animation at the exact same frame rate as the filming, which means the final animation is jumpy and off sync, leaving massive gaps between the character and the furniture. Some of the scenes Dexys perspective looks off leading to a hoovering appearance.

I had problems with the camera shaking, even on a tri pod, leaving an uneven finish.
Due to this project being filmed in spring time the weather was continually bleak and cloudy, not matching the themes and desired emotional roll over effect.
This i will try and fix with colour corrections, masks and filters but the final animation still wont be what was intended.
I noticed most kids tv and documentaries are all from the childs angles and views so i kept most of the shots at the childs height so that the world looked bigger and less boxed in, appealing more to children.

Storyboarding and Dialogue.

The story and dialogue were created and developed along side another, to create a synchronised relevant story in the end.
The dialogue had minor changes all the up until the narrations were recorded but the storyline was a solid idea early on, it just required a few tweaks to appear like a natural days events from start to finish.

The story line is basically a day in the life of Laura (the main character) and Dexy (her imaginary friend)beginning in the morning and ending at night time, with ups and downs in between.
primarily filmed inside the childs house and garden since the average childs world is only as big as its garden walls.

the stories basic paradigm and accompanying storyboard...

Initial storyboarding...

ACT 1

 

ACT 2

 

ACT 3

 

After developing the story board and deciding what was missing and what would've been too much information or boring and repetitive i began final storyboarding. This is what i would build my filming, location and resource list off.

As you can see from the paradigm and the storyboards i didn't want to plan every single detail, otherwise the child acting in this project might not be able to do everything. I had limitations and therefore wanted to leave room for error and accommodate the situation. 

The dialogue started simple but i found it a bit boring, constrictive and forced. So before and during narration recording i worked on the dialogue with (Laura) the child, this helped develop the dialogue to a more natural and realistic tone.

Problems that occurred during narration was fits of giggles and perfecting one aspect of a line so much the child forgot the aspects she was getting right. It was interesting and i think this project is proving to be very educational and allowing me to experiment and develop my skills in childrens television style.

Designing Dexy

Following the childs interpretation of Dexy i began to create my own versions, keeping in mind i will need to animate her ontop of the film, and she needs to resemble the main character. 

I tried for whimsical cute and sprite like at first but developed it in the shape of a mischievous but spritely child, wearing a blue dress inspired by the childs drawing and  the blue matching outfits worn by the band Dexys midnight runners who inspired the original story. 

I've recently done the test filming and chosen the child to star as the main character/narrator.

So i have a childs appearance to base Dexys general height and proportions off. 

The original story 'Dexy my imaginary friend' describes a character with wild black hair and eyes that change colour, especially when shes up to no good. The eyes were a big focus in my designs, i wanted to have them emotional, pixie like but still human, i experimented with the original childs drawing stye of eyes but they looked creepy. I think the final design is a good balance of a real child, an imaginary character and something a 3-5 year old could conjure and want to play with regularly. 

The chosen child actor will be 5 so Dexy will also be approximately this age only braver and bolder in personalty. The story will ultimately be based around a day in the life of the two main characters. 

The Mystical Origins of Brief One

The brief is simple, tell a story, according to the lecturer this translates as avoid the popular student mistake of being overly artistic and creative and oh so meaningful and in the end, actually forget to tell a story, leaving the final film alot of very pretty scenes that make no sense and have no purpose.
This means my primary objective for this project is create a story with purpose.

LET THE BRAINSTORMING COMMENCE!

Most of my ideas involved some form of animation however i wanted to try something different. i think my final idea is happy inbetween.
The first thing to brain storm was the type of movie, should it be political? have a deep meaning? be sad, up lifting, moving or upbeat? what was the effect i wanted the final product to have on its viewers.
Perhaps it could be like a documentary style, closer to BBC than blair witch project.

The conversation piece interested me, there were many opportunities to this, but that requires a substantial amount of actors, and i haven't got an abundance of time or willing actors that would suit.
But like love actually and other movies perhaps i could have several conversations that all lead up to the same topic or revolve around a seemingly unconnected group.
I was hoping to animate something similar to pixars the paper boy for a mixture of 120 seconds of a day and the conversation piece, but there would be very little spoken conversation between the two storylines.

perhaps reinact a scene from a book that would suit one or more of the given topics.

Recently i started a teaching placement where i work in grammer school twice a week,  this week the younger class was working on a creative writing project where they told the story of an imaginary friend. One of the most popular stories was from the 7e group, it was based off a song they heard in drama, come on Eileen by Dexy and the midnight runners. a popular one hit wonder.
The story was basically a childs interpretation of an imaginary friend, however i think i could do some research into imaginary friends and create a storyboard and dialogue that would tell an indepth story of the phycology behind a childs imagination and their need to re create reality for their own personal benefits. This story would allow for an upbeat feel but with a deeper and haunting theme behind it.

Placement year is coming up and i was hoping to have this semesters work show more diversity and risks in my work, rather than sticking to the brief religiously and creating something unimportant, i want to see how far i could push the boundaries and experiment in different styles or themes.
A style ive avoided up until now but was suggested to try was a childrens tv style piece, like the kind you would see on ceebeebies or playhouse disney. Ive avoided these up until now because my work hasn't been directed towards small children, but id like to challenge myself and see if i could work towards a far younger and more difficult demographic.

I plan to have a focus group of childrens ideas, to see what they think Dexy may look like, the story has a character but i think a  child would find it frightening more than friendly. Once i have the target audiences ideas on what they think Dexy would look like or why they would want or have an imaginary friend ill have enough primary research to design my own version of the imaginary friend.