Vimeo would only allow a 500gb limit so in time the
1080 HD YouTube version is on its way.
The Film is here
Well it’s been a long road. During the last week I have been
at uni from 9am till 11pm from Tuesday till Friday. Saturday 9am till 8pm then
Sunday where I rendered from home then I drove to Steve’s house to compile the
films images to meet the dead line which we didn’t make, so then Monday from 9
till well pretty much now I’m still at uni doing mo cap and uploading the film to Vimeo uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. From
Tuesday till Saturday I was running off 4 or 5 hours sleep which I got after driving
home from paying for city parking.
I am so tired. Through the pre production and production I
have learnt a lot. I have learnt a couple of new nodes in Maya, picked up some
new techniques, dos and don’ts during film project’s a lot of stuff. I am
actually proud of the film and how it turned out. But I don’t think it’s there
yet for any big name film festivals but it has prepared me for greater things.
A 4:30 min long film is not an easy thing to achieve for 4 people and I also
believe I have gained stronger friendships along the way.
When showing the film and a number of people still need a
bit of explaining in order to understand the whole thing. I do like the way that
most people realize the pose in the beginning and the pose at the end have
story reference to one another.
My most favoured shot is the reveal of the monster jumping
out the corridor.
My acting choices from my original idea had to change
because of the anatomy of the monster having very small legs. This created a
challenge for the film as the monster had to be ferocious and fast to create a sense
of intimidation but when animating the character if I had done solid foot
planting it would ether make the monster slow or make the monster have sliding
feet across the ground. My choice I went with was the jumping from the side. I
believe it gave the audience the sense of fear it needed because of the speed.
Then I put a bit of icing on the cake by doing mood based lighting to the
character. If you look where the light is coming from in the scene it kind of
doesn’t match the environment for a reason. I went with a subtle but not to
noticeable lighting with the character where it’s like the horror films where they
hold a torch under their face.
Some people may not like the idea and I’m sure realists will
hate seeing lighting that doesn’t mach the environment but I don’t think that
they will really notice unless someone told them. Also the colour of the mouth was
unintentional but it makes me think he is really going to eat me due to the
white teeth and veins at the back. Big thanks to Eddy for such a great
displacement map.
Back to the analysis
of the production.
The film as a whole is great for what it is. A student film,
but the things I would have to do differently are making my points and opinions
more heard. I should have made myself more demanding when the scope (quantity
of work) got out of hand. I would only like to make decisions that are based on
facts then decisions based on feelings in the future.
Example
Person 1 “I think we should do option X because it would be
cool”
Me “option X would be cool however you need to take into
consideration how much time that will take away from all of the other things in
the film”
Person 1 “oh no but it would be cool we gotta do it.”
You see person 1 is making decisions based on feelings not
facts. In the future I plan to not let feeling based decisions rule the
majority of a project. That way a solid understanding of an achievable scope could
have been reached where its quality not quantity. It would make things
especially easier when working with perfectionists.
Now I have to say people who make decisions based on feelings
usually have the most passion in creative production so I’d have to do it where
they’re not getting put down and kill their creativity. That being said that is
the future.
Because the film had such a big scope I do see a level of
quality had been sacrificed. It was such a heavy work load that it even
effected my other assessments.
How this film will
affect me in the future
My goal in life is to be a lead animator who leads both professionally
and ethically. Will I show this film to future employers? Not the whole thing
just the best bits that I worked on. After working with some people who are
perfectionists who had trouble dealing with sacrificing quality to meet a dead
line, some people who need more communication and guidance and others who come
up with new idea constantly and want last minute changes. I have gained the
feeling that I think I am another step closer to working with the big
employers.
People like liquid animation that have very strict dead
lines or adapting to people or clients who need specific tasks done on the
spot, even providing information to my team so that we can have a similar work
flow so that we work as one big unit. I feel like I have really pushed myself almost
to the limit and feel like I could animate tomorrow morning. I value the time I
have spent with my team on a friendship level and professional level. Seeing
what I am capable in a group has been one major eye opener for me and a new
love of 3d lighting has been found.
Last but not least I am so glad I did I cert 4 in I.T and
computer networking because if we didn’t have a render farm we would still be
rendering.
