Week 17

Comparing the Armatures

Armature I have borrowed from my course:

What is good: 

• Great to learn how such armature works and is assembled including tightening the joints, K&S and tie-downs.
• To get the feel for well-working joints - can compare with wire armatures for a range of motion etc. 

Problems: 

• Some joints have been secured using Loctite glue, others have not. 
• This makes the armature no longer adjustable to the size of my puppet. 
• I still need to find K&S that will fit the existing neck and hand ends.
• How do you build a puppet on an armature without damaging it in any way and then be able to disassemble the puppet? 

Armature I have bought at MAF:

What is good:

• The number of parts in the Creature kit.
• Leaflet with the sizes of each part allowing to re-order exactly what is needed for a future project. 

Problems:

• The kit does not include the special Loctite glue = extra cost
• It is expensive, I paid £90 with a discount. I definitely cannot use such armature for all of my puppets in this film as I would get way beyond the budget. So I am going to save it for a production that will definitely benefit from a long-lasting puppet - such as the animation in Sign Language that I am planning to do after I finish this course. 
• Last year, the puppet I was animating with made by Zham broke in its arms before the film was finished. I have heard of wire armatures breaking and needing replacement parts. But I think this applies to a much longer film than my 3 minutes short. So I need to stop being afraid of using a wire armature. 
• The puppet size is influenced by the size of the available parts.

Speaking of sizes of the puppets, I have decided these by searching the average height of a person depending on gender and age and put it into scale 1:6.

I remembered a version of the Cinderella story that I have watched thinking this could be the perfect inspiration for the opening scene and rough bedroom layout. So shown it to Ava. Starting from 2nd minute.

Week 16

Finding Help - Research Into Script Writing

With fresh determination after being able to relax my mind of anxiety, overthinking every decision of my project and just realising that I had the worst mindset possible up until Christmas break. I have finally done a sensible thing, research into scriptwriting to give it the final push to write the story and the dialogue that I played once too many times in my head and told too many times to my friends and some of my peers. 

Format of the script is one thing I have been overthinking way too much instead just getting there draft after draft. So a little nudge from this video was helpful.

Finding suggestions to whether storyboards or script first is more effective. It answers my question but I would like to add that it also depends whether one person is doing both or not. In this case, I need the script to be complete first.

This video, in particular, is important, it helped me understand the relationship between the script and the storyboard and determine the detail that should go into my script.

This website is so helpful for formats of scripts from existing films and a great resource for practising storyboarding from scripts. I will keep a note of this for future research.
https://www.simplyscripts.com/

Bloop Animation - I am really glad I found this, everyone may have a different opinion on them. For me, it is a bit of fresh air. I have downloaded the free e-book Making An Animated Short; see if I could get any extra tips. It has been ok, a nice short guide, covering all the sections from pre-production to post-production.
https://www.bloopanimation.com/


Meanwhile, Ava has resolved the parts of storyboard that I have asked her and by the end of this week, I have done a big progress in writing down the story, parts of dialogue and actions. It helped that I met with Terry from LAW who shared a few tips on how she would write a script. Play the story in mind until getting to a problematic bit and then play it again until finding a solution, then move onto the next bit. While I was too fixed on the overall story changing my approach has helped me move forward. Terry also highlighted that what I have written so far is more of a treatment than a script. I have never heard of that word in this context before. But separating Script and Treatment made so much more sense and the fact that I was trying to complete both at once caused me some trouble.

Trying to visualise the flow of one of the hardest parts in the story.

The script is heading in the right direction now. 

Additionally, realising that I need more detailed mood board for a certain setting and puppets had led me to catch up with these brainstorms/moodboards:

Week 15

New Beginnings

I have made a library of watercolour backgrounds and scanned them in 800 and 2400 dpi, an easy monotonous task to start me off in the New Year. The plan is to use it for Zero Carbo Headingly Brief as well as wherever I want to use my own customised background with texture. Such as during presentations.


Additionally, with Georgia, we have now completed the first full draft of storyboard for Zero Carbon Headingley.  This was to meet the deadline for initial presentation of the project. I did the sketches and Georgia did the text after we have decided on all of the scenes.

Discussing the story with Ava prior to Christmas regarding storyboard was really helpful for further story development. It was crucial that we met in person to talk about this as the written version of the script was still between drafts and hanging in the air (aka. my head).

When I met with Ava this week, she has already done so much work which was impressive considering how very drafted my script was at the time. Seeing the initial storyboard helped me highlight any areas of the story which I still needed to untangle - figure out how to tell them.

We talked about areas in the story where I knew what changes I would like to see and left the rest until I can solidify the script. 

I have since started digging deeper into why I am struggling to connect with writing the dialogue and script so much despite having the story idea in my head and being able to tell the story to others. It was very random, but one evening I was on a walk and I got the idea to tell the story in my native language. Up until now, I was trying to avoid this as I wanted to reach a wider audience and doing voice-over could also pose a problem. As soon as I started telling the story to myself in Slovak, I got overwhelmed with emotions, this was it!

Because the story is for young children it would make sense to use appropriate language, however, I am used to be able to say the same word in so many different ways to change the tone.  So I am a little envious of people who grew up speaking English because I am not sure I will ever be able to connect to it as much.

An example is given. English - rain  Slovak - dážď, ďáždik, dáždiček
Or even the names can be said with so much emotion, for example, my name, Katarína. If someone is formal they would say Pani/Slečna (depending on age) Sučíková or Katarína, but if they are angry, then Kata, if I am a little child then Katuška, otherwise Katka, Kača, Katuš etc. While my name remains the same. 

As a result, I have contacted my brother who's knowledge of Slovak language is more extensive, whether he would be happy to give me a hand or address me to someone who could, with editing the dialogue once I have finished it. 

Week 13-14

Christmas Break - Spotting Art on Holiday

After spending a few days with my family I went on a double holiday. First, to snowboard with my friends in the Slovak mountains for the New Years and then to visit my boyfriend's Mum in Spain. Both trips meant taking a break while doing enjoyable activities - this gave me time and space for a new perspective to be able to reflect on my experience of the final year so far. 

• I have been so focused on feeling bad about my EP module as well as CoP module that I overlooked how badly I have been distributing my time and energy. 
• Realising that my script was not moving forward because I was not making assertive decisions. Which had a chain reaction on character design, concept and storyboarding as well as set design? Without which I cannot move onto animatic, puppet and set making - all pre-production. 
• If I won't start being assertive with myself and the project, it will fall behind beyond the point where I cannot catch up. 
• When I get back, I am determined to work on this situation. Aiming to complete all design by January and puppets with sets by February.  Leaving March and April for Production and Post-Production.

While on a day trip to Malaga and Mihas, we have spotted this projection and collection of Christmas trees made from recycled materials as well as some beautiful Christmas scenes. What a treat!