# data[].attributes.headline
22.03.18 Week 1 Induction to the brief at the Tate Modern London  

# data[].attributes.subject
22.03.18 Week 1 Induction to the brief at the Tate Modern London  

# data[].attributes.body
We have been to Tate Modern. This helped me to begin the planning of my idea and to give me inspiration because we were told the theme was "originality". I interpret this to mean that it has to be an original idea - our own idea that is not copied from or has not been done before by someone else. This means for us that we can do almost anything as long as it is our own idea.
Being a Tate Modern was inspirational because we could see many original pieces by many different artists. Some of the pieces I found most helpful were ones with lots of different kinds of texture to them. one was white but looked like lots of chopped logs jumbled together. I loved how raw it was and it captures the eye immediately. Also, there were pieces that were almost completely black but the large strokes or bubbles emanating from the canvas really stood out and spoke of the darker side of the sole you only barely glimpse. I would like to use this texture to the darkness in the FMP to make the dark stand out and be more mysterious and intrigue my audience.
Later in the week, I have begun planning for the FMP and coming up with new ideas. I began with 3 - GoPro with a dog, Nature video or a dark Fairy Tale. After carefully researching all the ideas (GoPro and dog are too expensive) and doing some experimenting for the nature idea (it felt too amateur and I don't think it will be professional enough), I decided on creating a dark fairy tale called "Hiding in the Dark". Now that I have changed my idea I think it is better and I am more excited about making it. I have been researching different animation techniques and examples of something similar to what I want to make. This has helped me in deciding what kind of animation I want and how it is going to look. It will be made on the computer and the characters will be hand drawn and then edited on Photoshop. I have loved watching the process of animating through the years and I have learnt how similar it is to modern-day techniques, whilst it was much slower drawing is still the most important part. I know that if I get the visually right it will make the film much more stimulating and enjoyable for my audience. Because of this, I have begun to research and experiment with drawing techniques so that I can improve on them and draw everything myself and not have to rely on someone else. This has progressed well so far, I have learnt that hair is the most difficult thing to draw - even the professionals' struggle - but I will continue to practice and improve on these skills during the half term. I want to look at simple designs out there for faces and how I can take this on and improve my own work - whilst it still being visually enjoyable to the audience. I will also be doing more research into current professional examples and how they could affect my idea. When I come back I want to experiment with my animation skills and try new techniques for this film - first will be leaves falling and turning in the air individually.

# data[].attributes.headline
26.03.18  Week 2: Introduction to resarch 

# data[].attributes.subject
26.03.18  Week 2: Introduction to resarch 

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have continued my research but it is more in depth, I have also been experimenting and beginning to create some of the backgrounds and characters. I have learnt that it takes a lot of trial and error to get a character correct and sometimes you have to change it completely from what you had originally intended. I did this when my character had been planned to have a detailed face but I have now decided to have the eyes covered by long hair and the mouth by her scarf. This decision was made due to facial features being very difficult to get right, even on a small face, an I did not want the audience to be distracted by the charter looking strange. This also was helped by my research into some other animations that have been made where the characters are very simple and at times have little or no features as well, they still came across as professional and you don't notice anything strange about them. I feel this has benefited my project and made it better as the characters are more simplistic, easier and quicker to draw and can help the focus be on the action rather than what they look like. I experimented with different lighting and taking photos of real-life images that I will later edit to look as though they were drawn for my backgrounds. I did this by going out and taking photos of the location I wanted to use for the backgrounds. When I went it was around 7 - 8 pm and during that time the lighting went from bright and looking like daytime on the photos, to very dark, so that the screen of the camera was difficult to see. I learnt that lighting can change the atmosphere of a scene very dramatically and I now Because of the photos I have taken I know how dark I want my own film to look like - a dark blue to overlay the scene rather than just black. This will help as it has a dramatic feel and makes people wonder what is around them in real life as well as when on screen. Next week I will be focusing on the report into my research and the proposal for the project as there is a deadline approaching and then I can start with some experiments into the animation itself.

# data[].attributes.headline
17.04.18 Week 3: Discussion and confirmation of project with tutor  

# data[].attributes.subject
17.04.18 Week 3: Discussion and confirmation of project with tutor  

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have been completing the research for task one, the planning for the project proposal and the write up report for the research. I did this by completing some movie research, by seeing multiple movies at the cinema that I felt were linked to my idea for my FMP. I learnt that people love to be able to lose themselves in a movie or short film, and as CGI becomes more realistic and its abilities grow then it is easier to pretend that you are a part of the film. An important part of a good film is having a simple yet powerful story behind what is happening on screen that the audience can believe and be interested by. This has helped me to plan the theme of my story, and now I want to have one or more shot of it appearing to be as though the audience is looking through the eyes of the character. I think I may do this by having the screen turn quickly from left to right as though the character and the audience are looking around. This should help them to feel like they are in the film and emotionally connect with the character. I think this will be much better for the film because the audience will be more engaged and less likely to get distracted as they are going to want to know what happens next. When I completed my planning for the project proposal I realised that I had lots of small details to think about and complete before I could begin production or that I would have to continue to think about and plan whilst in production. This would be the promotional materials; like a Facebook page and posters. This is important so that I know how i want to promote the film and what needs to be included to give the audience the right impression of what the film is going to be like to watch (is it a comedy or a horror style?). I learnt about the showcase that is going to be at the end of the year and I decided that I want to use some inspiration from the Tate Modern trip to project my film onto a sheet or a screen in a booth like space - like they did with nature shots of deer onto a concrete wall. I have also wrote my research report and I felt it was good to do this as it helped me remember all of the various piece of research and how it was going to effect my project. This has helped me because the book research was helpful in seeing the techniques and the mindsets of professional animators and what made them successful and then I used this to help myself in making decision and following their example. The main thing this was to have a clear idea of what I want to create and to have to confidence to stick with the idea and be brave to got through with it and make something new that tests my skills.

# data[].attributes.headline
24.04.18 Week 4: Discussion and confirmation of project with tutor 

# data[].attributes.subject
24.04.18 Week 4: Discussion and confirmation of project with tutor 

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have completed my Project Proposal, and begun some experiments using the basic stencils that I have made during the previous week. This was to see some of the scenes I had planned to make and see how they might look. Then I plan to get some audience feedback from these and I can plan if they suggest any changes that I can make. This will help me to improve my film and make it better for the audience to enjoy more.
I had quite a few problems with making the short clip. At first I tried various ways to get my character to walk. This was difficult to get right because of the connecting pins and how they would make the rest of the character move. I wanted to make it as realistic as possible so with a bit of trial and error I found that instead of lifting the legs up and down (this was difficult as once one was done getting the second to be in time with it was almost impossible) I could have them curl upwards slightly - whilst using one less pin in the movement - and then the flow and action of the walking was much more realistic and looked visually better.
Another thing that I learnt to do was how to make an item appear seemingly out of no where - this can be used to make it disappear as well - by creating an area using the pen tool and then selecting the stencil I wish to move and making the area "alpha". This means that it will only be visible in that section. This was better than what I had originally planned to do as the area was to hide the stencil and I found that it stood out too much and looked very fake, now with this new method I feel it is much more professional looking.
Next week I am going to be doing more research and this will include different techniques to use in After Effects and some more experimenting.

# data[].attributes.headline
01.05.18 Week 5: Research /Pre-production  

# data[].attributes.subject
01.05.18 Week 5: Research /Pre-production  

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have been researching into professional animators. I learnt that to become a professional animator you need to have experience in creating pieces of animation and in using the equipment and programmes that are used in the industry. Another important part is to network and meet people at festivals and events promoting animating or film making. Then you can learn things from them or even get you're name out there and show them your work. This can even lead to a job. This helps me because I could show people things like this finished FMP as an example of my work, the higher the quality the more likely it will catch attention. I would also like to enter it to a film festival and try to get my work out there in the industry.
I have also been experimenting with creating my two characters. This has helped to me see what I want them to end up looking like and how long this process will take to make them. This will later help when making the production schedule and making sure I have enough time to complete all of the tasks. After getting feedback from some of my peers I found a look for my main character, they especially influenced what the character hair would be and the colour of their clothing. My project has benefited from this feedback because the main character will be more appealing to the audience and also won't draw their attention away from the main goal of the film and the action on screen. Next week I want to continue to experiment with the other character for the film - as they will be an animal they will look very different - and I need to work on the fur and how this is going to look. I have little experience form my eBook but I want to make it more realistic and professional looking. I plan to dot his by having realistic looking textures for the character and having those layers overlap each other and clearly show limbs and joints in things like the legs. I will also need to work on how long it takes me to create the character as doing the front view of my main character took over a day to do and this is far too long and could negatively impact the production and timeline if the other stencils take a similar amount of time. To prevent this I am going to practise making them or I will be doing the paperwork part of the pre-production at home so I can focus on making them stencils during class time.

# data[].attributes.body
This week has been completing the first versions of my characters then getting feedback. I was very happy with how they looked but with feedback it has shown that there is no obvious age range for Tara and she could be middle aged according to some. To fix this I will be changing her next week by giving her a new outfit and making her hair longer. The outfit changes will mostly be the jacket - I now want a bomber jacket look instead of leather - and the shoes - possibly high top converse styles shoes. And people are not sure f they fully connect with Tara emotionally because she has not eyes or mouth. I will not be re drawing her but I think I can still make these features using Photoshop. I do want to stick with my plans for Tara's face by keeping what features there are very simple. To do the hair I will have to get the texture image already used and mark out the shape of individual locks of hair, then put them together on the head - around the height of the ear or a little lower - to get the look of realistic long hair.

# data[].attributes.headline
15.08.18 Week 7: Production & Harry Potter 

# data[].attributes.subject
15.08.18 Week 7: Production & Harry Potter 

# data[].attributes.body
This week have been working on remaking my main character Tara, due to the feedback I received I needed to change her outfit and then make some changes to her hair and facial features. This was so that the audience could connect with her better - so she was obviously the same age as the and more distinct features (eyes and mouth) would hep them to empathise with her. I started by changing the Jacket to a black and a different shade of blue to her jeans. Then for the shoes to be a better fit to her character I made red high top converses (no trademark) as this is something that my target audience would either wear or immediately recognise - as well as stand out as they are bright red. I did this by adding multiple layers on Photoshop and using the red texture, painting over it with white pencil tool to get the look of the stitches on the sides. Whilst when making the previous boots i made them individually to fit each foot, this time I liked the original one so much and that I copied each layer of the shoes and then moved them over to the second shoe. From doing this I realised how much of a size difference there was between the two sketches of the feet, so I placed the layers of shoe to where it should be and then erased the surround sketch layer. Then I made the hair longer - by making locks of hair from the original texture images and then positioning them together onto Tara - this was the first time that i had done this so it too a few attempts to get it to look as realistic as I wanted it. I now know that the more layers are out on the better and some need to be at diagonal angles to look natural. And now she also has simple eyes and mouth, whilst also lowering the scarf.
I had some problems with her leg size in 3Tara (facing away) as I had to make them slimmer than the original but I went too far and due to technical problems could not go backwards far enough to go back to the original size. To fix this I used the leg size from 1Tara (facing forwards) and then made them fit better and used this to shape the final texture for the jeans to fit this new size. this worked much better and now all the sides of Tara match each other and will not stand out as different.

I also went on a college trip to Harry Potter, this was my second trip there as I went with the college 2 years ago. The thing that stuck with me the most in this trip was how much detail was in every little thing that was made, weather this was the sets or the models and fake monsters and faces. All of them had incredible detail and would almost look real, there must have been a lot of effort and dedication on the part of the people who made them. These are also the things that helped to make the films so successful because the audience could believe that they were real and then place themselves in the film.
I want to use this in my own film when making my backgrounds and animating the stencils. I want the background to look as realistic as I can by using the correct colours and also having the movement the character make lifelike, so that the audience can imagine themselves in the film. I want to do this by using the photos that I have already taken of the location and whilst adding the textures and some colouring to make it darker I want to keep the looks of the trees all around and have some of the leaves in different shots stand out maybe using an unusual or brighter colour than the rest of the background).

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have been making the backgrounds for the film, this was done by using the original picture of the scenes and using the ones I knew could be used, then putting them on Photoshop and using two layers - one for the sky and one for the land. The land layer would have a dark filter put on it, but still be light enough to see the path, this was sometimes "smudge edges" (for the beginning scenes as their photos were darker) or "Dark strokes" astray were lighter photos that needed darkening. Then the sky layer was given the filter of "cut out".
I really like the combination of the layers and I think they make really good backgrounds.
I then was able to begin animating the first shot of the film. (Tara approaching the bridge) I had some problems with making the legs walking realistic but through practise and the knowledge I had from experimenting earlier I was able to make something that I was happy with. It does look a little too up and down but as the shot is not very long the audience shouldn't notice too much, unfortunate what I am able to do is limited by a mix of the software I am using, my own skills and abilities and the tight time-frame.
Later I and my tutor found there was an issue with the composition setting on this shot - the frame of the shot was too square. The issue is that it would make black edges on the screen when played, and to fix it it would have to zoom in massively and the whole scene would may need to be re animated. To prevent this we decided to have little upwards pan at the beginning and I really like how it looks because it prevents the shot going on too long or looking boring.

# data[].attributes.body
This week has been focused on the animating stage of my production. One of the biggest issues I have had to learn to overcome was making Tara move realistically. The biggest scene for this was scene 2 - bridge. I managed to get the feet moving individually well but when I tried to get them to cross over - as people walk normally - the upper body did not follow the legs but trailed behind or flipped upside down. I experimented with this and tried to get the body to work with the legs by trying things like new pins and in different positions. When this did not work I decided to change the shot by only showing the feet and ankles moving over each other. I did this by importing the original 2Tara. and erasing the upper body and copying the legs into individual stencils. Then when I had to move them individually it was much easier. Later when doing similar scenes I made sure to add a little or at times a lot of rotation to help show her either walking or running realistically.
I learnt when moving Tara's feet that when I did it individually it would save time and end up being more realistic. This was done by moving one foot for one whole step and then moving the other foot one step. When I was happy with their movements I could then copy and paste the key frame to repeat the movements. This is a vast improvement to how I was previously making my characters move. Originally I had made one leg do multiple steps and then the other one do the same but try to get the second one to fit in with the first movements. This resulted with rushed, unrealistic and strange looking walking that had to be reputedly redone to get a good end product. Now the walking is much smoother and realistic and I can making it walk for much longer much easier.
Next week I'm am going to finish the animating and be working on all of the walking scenes carefully to make sure I keep them as realistic as possible so it honest distract my audience. I plan to come in an extra day as i am worried about getting all of the production doe and he work for re-submission.

# data[].attributes.body
This week I have finished the animating and also finished the editing. Because of the practise from last week with the leg movements I had a much easier time making the characters walk and I could save time on the second bridge scene at the end as I knew to use a close up shot of the legs instead of a full profile of the character. Then I added the sound to the animation in Premier Pro. I had some trouble initially matching the footsteps to the characters as they took a long time to do this but in the end I worked it out by having the sounds come as the feet were coming back down to the ground. The hardest sound to find that fitted was the sniffing sound as most of them were too short or did not have the kind of harshness that I wanted. I had to use a human sniff instead of an animal as dogs sniffing was more of snuffing repeatedly with did not match what I wanted at all. I had to making the scene a little smaller by having the sniff come closer together than they were originally to match the best sound effect that I could find. After exporting it and uploading the finished piece onto YouTube I showed it to someone and I found that the sound seemed quite low on my smartphone. when I played the original on the Macs the sound was perfect. I realised that theYouTube version was a bit quite than the original. Because of this when I play my film for showtime I will use only the original straight onto the Macs so that the sound is as loud as I want it to be.
Next week I am going to be collecting feedback and getting responses so that I can make improvements to the film, but so far I personally am very happy with how it has turned out.

# data[].attributes.body
This week has been spent getting feedback form my tutors and editing the film to achieve a higher standard and reach a distinction. There are now 3 versions of the film. I have edited the shots involving the Beast by zooming in on parts of his body (e.g. head or feet)so not reveal him to the audience and keep a layer of mystery. I slowed the zoom down on the first bridge scene to give it a smoother transition. Then I added puppet pins to the Beast in scene 11 to make his shoulders and back move slightly in time to the leg movements so that he was not a rigid and did not look like he was floating. This was tricky to get right and with some experimenting I found that small movements worked best and I needed to just the timing of the feet movements to be more relict. this was one by having the first and third legs moving almost simultaneously and the second and fourth together afterwards. Thankfully because I had recorded the leg movements individually I could move them tho were they needed to be much smoother and without having the rerecord the movements, by selecting one group of pins (one leg movement) and aligning them with the correct set on pins movements for the other leg. Then following some other feedback I shortened the chase scenes a bit. I had never been completing happy with the fist shot of Tara running and the Beast chasing after her so I cut this in half a deleted her part running, then I replaced this with the close up of feet running from later on and put this with the Beast's half (whilst zooming in on him). I sped up a few of the running shots and cut some on half were they were no longer necessary. I also encountered a new problem with Premier Pro, once I saved and exported the final version, it added new clips and audio that showed nothing, brought back ones that were deleted and moved the ending to be in the middle of this cluster for reasons I don't know. It also doubled a scene and put in in place of important scenes that were no where to be found. When this was happening I saw that it said "Conforming Hiding in the dark". I do not know why this happened but the exported film had none of the edits issues. Then I asked some of my class mates and they reported they had similar problems during the FMP and that it would appear you cannot return to the same edit too many times without it doing strange things.
Later on I had a response that suggested the use of blood on the face of the Beast at the end - after he had injured Tara - I did this by putting 5beast on Photoshop and adding a bright red to around his muzzle, then a slightly darker red around his nose. I then had an idea to make the blood drip. I made a red droplet on Photoshop, imported it to after effects and made it fall one after the other once it had zoomed onto his face.
Aside form technical programming issues, I am very pleased with how this week and the project as a whole has gone and I feel that the final film is my best work yet. The film has turned out to very similar to how I originally envisioned it to look and I feel very proud. I look forward to entering it into a film festival and hopefully going into the animation industry.

# data[].attributes.body
•Know: What activity helped your knowledge and developed your skills further? What do you know that you didn't’t know before?

•Do: What new skills did you apply, how did you complete the task, were there any barriers and evidence your successful outcomes? What did you do that you are proud of?

•Show: How did you present your work outcomes? You must Include photos, print screen or video for evidence.

•Improve: What improvements do you need to work on? What skills have you used/learnt that you plan to apply into your work next session?