Website

29th-30th March

 https://kaye3209.wixsite.com/j-arrow

As part of personal practice, I decided to make a website to house all of my contacts and work. I thought this would be a good way to combine my multiple accounts as well as my multiple interests from traditional art to modelling. I did this all under the name of j_arrow, as they are the start of both of my potential usernames and a combination of what people call me online. I also thought it would look slightly more professional than comics3209.

I have put an email contact on my commission page that caps out at five emails, which I think is very helpful for me. But I also think that this cap could be less useful if people start requesting through Instagram dms. I did it so I wouldn't have to update the website with every commission request, but it may actually be easier for me and my viewers to keep track if I change my 'open slots'. 

I like the layout of my website and my hidden tabs for my animation, modelling and concept art portfolios that you can find by clicking on the link. It's not very clear you can click on the photos to get a new page on the phone - so I added a note. The hidden tabs make the panel bar look smaller than it should be and less complex for people who look through it. 

Wix had a widget which shows your current Instagram feed, and I think that's useful to have on the website to show what I've been doing without constantly updating. 

More Character Designs

Made his face less slanted and is eye a little more clear - more leaf shape like the eyes of the mask. I added the darker back limb colour for reference from my experiments in toon boom and ae. 

I made his gaze straight on and changed the eyebrow in to an upper eyelid to show more age. I think I liked the thick black eyebrow and will add that in as well as in the real production. 

My favourite is the bottom left, because I think it was the most interesting and the most likely to be found on an actual Grecian urn. My plan was to have the lines come on one at a time - but I think now that I am writing this after recording a voice over for my voice over artist - I've realised there isn't a lot of time on the logos and title. 

This will be for main keywords - I will use a simple font for big important text that is easy to read and can be lower case. (less intimidating)

I wanted to keep the colours minimal like the characters but also making sure the effect of this being gold or bronze comes through. I think this was done quite well and will look more subtle against the background which is coloured similar. 

His action in the script is a quick notion to him - he doesn't have a role or a job - just to be on the screen. So I think giving him the big coat won't get in the way of any actions, especially if he is up close to the camera. I also think the coat adds a little more memorabilia to him and shows his personality - so he's not just another random archaeologist and people will remember his face and quirks. 

I asked people for opinions on the colour choices. Between friends (the target audience age range) and family - they preferred the old timey look. This will also show their age/what era they are from based on what colours their photographs printed. I also think his very pale white skin tones will look very bright against everything else. 

Similar to Schliemann, Korfmann's hat and glasses are an iconic image of his character, and they clearly mean a lot to people if they were used in his memorial statue in his university of study. I think his whole appearance is very unique and appealing, just like he was - so people will like him as much as his work. 

His photographs are in full colour but I think muting him slightly lets him match with Schliemann and also acknowledges his age and his death instead of making him seem alive and in the now. I like the collar being up front to add some depth, but Korfmann has the most movement in the whole animation so this may be tricky and possibly a better trick to use on Schliemann. 

Turning Achilles slightly greyscale and whiter to create a light stone. I could add some texture to this - but in Harmony there won't be a way to give him a texture overlay and make the transition smooth - so I think maybe drawing cracks in to him is a better option. 

Golden Wolf Talk

Golden Wolf

• Purrington twins run the company: Thomas is the studio lead and 3D lead. Henry is the animation lead. Very nice and positive.
• Quirky and a broad range of content - they specialise in advertising. 
• Usually stick to anything in the 0-30 second range (tv spots, print, websites, billboards, ads, logos.)
• Nice range of companies from videogames, shows, big brands and products.  
• They came from illustration backgrounds - apparently all illustration jobs tend to involve some sort of animation nowadays eg moving billboards. 
• Humans have an attention span of 8 seconds, with ad blockers often making people skip their line of work - so they want to catch your attention quick. 
• They like to use many different styles because they think it will open more doors for opportunities in the industry - people will only ask you to do something if you can show them you can first.
• They make lots of style boards which is what they send to the customer to show their thought process. Textures, things they've drawn, visual photography, camera positions. Style boards make it easier to show what stage you're in without sending a long winded script and all development every time.
• Their rules: 
1. Don't have an ego, be humble, they're all about team work. 
2. No room for 'ok'. Always deliver your best and don't just tolerate what you've done. 
3. Have fun! Animation is a long hour job and you're wasting your time if you don't enjoy it.

Advice

• Big brands are easy to make look cool, it's harder to make smaller brands like insurance look interesting - so most of the times, they hire the best animators and visual teams to make their stuff look interesting. Lots of opportunity in things you wouldn't usually look at.
• You need to gain traction - you can send an important message or moral from your bedroom. 
• Stay visible: keep posting regularly.
• Stay focused: Keep having new ideas, know when to post to get the best reaction from your followers, not at 1am. 
• Stay consistent: Keep a good style that is recognisable as you. 
• They had all of their friends like their post so that they gained enough traction and eventually started trending on new sites and got recognised. 

Character Design Challenge 2

21/3/21

The March Character Design Challenge for 2021 had the theme of a 'Mushroom Fighter'. I wanted to do this contest again to see how people would react on the Facebook posting compared to the Instagram one. I felt like the Facebook posts gain the most attraction, as most of the time, they make up all of the winners. 

I based my character on the Inky cap mushroom because its design is very supernatural. After mixing the last 'Thai dancer' theme with the idea of a warrior, I wanted this mushroom 'fighter' to be a more interesting and different fighting class. I thought choosing a mystical looking mushroom would match the idea of something magic, like a mage. And the book they carry, linking to a very storybook looking item, a mushroom. 

WWW

• I think one thing that went wrong last time was the line weight, so I'm glad I got to experiment with thinner line weights and even some lineless
• Lineless let the background look very simple whilst telling a story
• I think I was able to capture the essence of the mushroom type I chose.  
• I was able to use my choice in anatomy and comic book style body height. 

EBI

• I think it needed more designing. I like the pose and the story but I think I should have used my usual block method of colouring instead of blending gradients. 
• Maybe have a better lighting plan.

I did post this on Facebook, and though I did get a little recognition, it was a lot less than on my Instagram. I don't have any followers on Facebook, even less that were on the actual group to like the post. The people who follow my Instagram like my style, where as I haven't had any art on Facebook. Though I am glad I tried it, I think posting this on Facebook gave it more comparison against better works, as they are all in a feed. This made me realise that challenges like these require a lot more thought and style. But it also made me realise that people follow my Instagram for MY style, and I shouldn't post somewhere 'more popular' - because I won't instantly get more likes.   

Notes 24/3/21

We had the last lesson before April break with Mike and I want to start looking in to my branding more through print advertising and possibly making a website to have commissions and a portfolio where everyone can find it - whether you follow my art account or my animation account. I also think it would be a good place for people to get to know me, as I don't have a personal account for myself for people to see who I am and what I like. 

We also need a show reel, presentation about our self and I need to do a little more research in to industry opportunities that I can actually sign up for in time before the deadline.  

Documentary: Software Tests

 

After Effects

https://youtu.be/OVGuyvxztBM

I think my actual walk on after effects was a lot smoother, and the way everything was paired and ordered was straight forward all in the same tab. The rig on the cape was very effective but was quite hard to use, as they take a lot of space and make it hard to see the cape itself. 

Harmony

https://youtu.be/_qpsaqrFBv8

The cape was a lot easier to rig and move because the circles are a lot smaller and makes the cape easier to see. However, the animation on the cape itself was worse, as the lines split after a stretch too far. The rig of the character itself was a lot easier, as you just moved the anchor point to the limbs to rotate them instead of adding bones that add layers to every body part in after effects. Actually ordering the body was difficult to figure out, but I managed in the end and I think it was useful for characters like Achilles where the cape might look better in front on him but behind on someone else. You pair the body parts all to the torso in the actual timeline, but you order everything in the node view. 

Another pro to Harmony is that I can replace the eyes and hands a lot easier than I would do in After Effects, as after effects would be a whole new layer with a new image and require a new rig/pairing mechanism in the same position as the last. 

 I think therefore, I will be using Harmony in my work, especially to help with the panning transitions, I think it will be easier for me with my current level of practice in it this year. 

Documentary Tests 1

 

I like the font style as taken from the urn in the top left, but the letters are very spread out. I think writing "Hisarlik, Turkey" might be too long for the screen. 

I do want to incorporate some sort of overlay. I like the subtle concrete block shine which would make the background look like an urn surface without a drastic light source if I went down that route. 

I would want to look in to having an overlay of chipped clay on the screen and other flaking patterns. 

The muted colours and the bleeding looks good but I'm worried about there not being enough colours to make the settings clear. 

(Not spelt right: Hisarlik) I decided to test the black ink characters and I can see now that it doesn't work. I want the characters' faces to show to give them purpose, as their actions will be quite simple. If you can't see who they are, they shouldn't be on screen at all. 

I like the sophistication of the top style, and I think the dull watercolour effect would be good when I talk about the fire. I also really like the idea of using textured lines and hopefully some slightly messy ones like leaking ink (if I can bring myself to make it unclean, I'm very pixel particular about keeping lines neat and joined.) 

1&2) I am not overly happy about the first two panels, but I may be removing this paragraph/ I'm considering it. But I would like to show a definition of myth/mythos and then history, and merge them together to form mythistory. 

4) I funny swimming through gold like Scrooge McDuck. I'm not sure whether to keep it in. Maybe he can just throw the goblet away and more time can be spent on the transition. I think the paragraph would be too short for 3 and 4 together. But 3 is the important one with the treasure.

5) The countries are slightly closer together to fit the cities on the screen. I think if I zoomed out any more, the water would actually be less with the way both countries extrude after this. 

9) (Walls popping up one by one to show 15 layers of fortifications.)

3) God statue falls apart. Probably based off of a famous Greek statue such as Venus De Milo (Aphrodite) If I do that statue, jokingly make both of the arms fall off and pause there, then make the rest crumble quickly. 

4) Use Hector design as King Priam's other son Paris who kidnaps Helen of Troy. Paris runs across the screen with Helen over his shoulder. Avoids showing Helen's legs and too much weight animation on the dress. 

5&6) If the last sentence can fit, have a flame logo turn in to the final LAU logo. 

Press Pack 1

 Usually a collection of files sent to festivals to give them the information of the film and advertise it so they'll show the film. 

It makes sure your pitch is consistent between different companies, and no important information is left out or skimmed over in passing conversations. 

Contents:

• Tagline
• Logline
• Synopsis
• Genre
• Three stills, HD quality, some place them as the background if the Press Pack is a website. 
• Director's Information:
• Photograph (Not an avatar) 300 DPI print ready
• Biography
• Filmography (Movie list with dates and jobs you did on those movies) 
• Director's quote
• Technical Information: 
• h264, 1080p, 16x9, mp4, 24fps.
• Run time
• A website link?
• Written by, Directed by
• Year it was made
• Country
• Credit list, including copyright of photos and video clips
• Dialogue list, all dialogue in the film, including timings. Sometimes has a version for visually impaired that explains what's going on in the shot. Used for subtitles and translations.
• Trailer
• Poster, a2/3 aspect ratio
• Awards and screenings list - awards first

Naming files: sometimes the people you send the press pack to will specify how to format your files. Usually TITLE_LANGUAGE_H264.mp4

e.g. THEWARSTHATBURNTACITY_ENG_H264_24fps.mp4

Documentary Script

 When making the script, I went through a lot of cut downs. Every time, I recorded my voice to try and judge the timings. 

Initially, the script was very fact based, with lots of dates and numbers that would take time to read. Another thing is the names like Agamemnon with a lot of vowels or things that were difficult to pronounce for me. After thinking about adding in a timeline, I was able to take a lot of these out. 

I also had an opening paragraph explaining what the study of mythistory is, as that was the initial conversation that started this topic for me. But I ended up making this a visual over the top of the speech - and ultimately closer to the end, removed it entirely and opted for it to be used in the poster tagline and press pack FAQ. 

One of my main issues with my final script was that I struggled to make it with room for error. I did make sure that when choosing a voice actor, I made sure they understood that the timing was the most crucial element and they made sure they could do it first. 

My voice actor was wonderful and very professional, as well as just a very nice person to meet. I'm quite proud of myself for reaching out to people and communicating as much as I did with her, We constantly checked to see if the other was still doing okay. There were a few technical hitches on her end which set us back by about two weeks, but thanks to our organisation around how tight the timings should be, I was able to start animating simple shots like the title cards and being able to make it fit within the time. 

How the script was narrowed down.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zsGtVQ1Km9VK3qY3DWwH9CTIJluGNgw_/view?usp=sharing

Research in to Industry 2

 I had another response from one of the earlier six professionals. Their work was primarily 3D inside a 3D based company - and I asked whether a 3D company would rather see a greater understanding of a software and knowledge of complex 3D features OR a good understanding of 12 Principles. And how balanced is the 2D to 3D ratio. They responded that it mostly depends on the company more than the job and that if you apply to a mostly 3D company, then give a fully 3D show reel - they aren't afraid to teach you things in 3D you need to know though - so if you show better understanding of say character animation in 2D, show it. Show your best and not just the right medium because they asked for it. 3D Demo reels don't need 2D to add weight to it - character animation, it's best to use posing and timings to sell yourself. Try practicing with 'pantomime' body mechanics until 3D space is comfortable. 

'Pantomime acting' is when you over exaggerate actions and facial expressions to show a characters mood and poise. 

Rain Rig © Blender Foundation | cloud.blender.org

I used one of Blender's rigs that they have made for both professional and starter animators. I did try to use a few of the professional tabs to make small tweaks to the face. I think I messed up importing the textures that were assigned to the model and I managed to get a few colours in there, but I had trouble getting the iris colours back on to the eyes. 

I think this is the best action performance I've animated, I do find actions easier in 3D, especially with the squash and stretch already built in to the model. 

I want to try some more animated purposefully squashed actions like jumps and stretches. 

I'm also really pleased with myself for learning how to adding markers to the timeline (M) and then assigning a camera (ctrl+B) so that the cameras are active and not active at different points. 

https://youtu.be/L5lIiaXxTE4

Documentary Pitch 12/3/21

  I think that my pitch went well, but I could have been more organised, as my notes were heavily split between the notes section and the words on the slides. Switching gazes between two screens was quite frantic and also a little embarrassing when I realised I was on camera too. 

WWW: Good research, lots of concept done. 

EBI: Start working on scripting so that we can get audio out of the way, test style in harmony to see how it moves, and also test how the colours work with a background.

Next: Work on a script and read it out loud to see if it fits the 90 seconds, because I have a lot of research that needs narrowing. 

Mat liked the side profiles that look like a Grecian Urn - but he also would have liked it if we could get the urn colours to work with the characters. On Grecian urns, black ink is used to colour in the males, and white the females. When I was researching styles, I found it hard to tell the difference between Hector and Achilles on their urns, so I chose against it. But thinking more about my idea in the presentation of having a simple background using watercolour (possibly a sky gradient). I was thinking instead I could make this a clay background with an overlay of cracks/chips - and have a Grecian patterned border like the one in my slides. This will look like the top and bottom of the urns. 

Finally, I really like the working title, 'The Wars That Burnt a City', as it shows my argument of myth vs history in warS instead of wars, and also doesn't solely talk about Troy, because I do want to open the documentary with the argument.  

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1leIQal5GmTOOcmIvsLNc9RgFM809r91lvQwr-D-FALM/edit?usp=sharing

My Schedule: Documentary Project

I haven't worked using a Gantt chart before, as I like keeping track of every little thing I've done to try to keep myself on track - like a planner. So as I'm on my own, I've expanded from the usual Gantt chart to have every small role I'll need in the future of this project. I think so far I'm on track for the next eight weeks. 

 

Initial Designs

5/3/21

This land is mine, top left, uses borders on the top and bottom, and keeps the heads side profile, a lot like a Grecian urn. The patterns used in the clothing are all swirls or cubic, like urn patterns. I think carrying these forward will be a good idea. The gradient sky background would make a nice simple watercolour background as a part of the experimental media I spoke to Michaela about. 

https://youtu.be/OrFfkeEZHFE Giangrande top right keeps the body and head 3/4s but doesn't ever change the body or limbs - just eye replacement. I think this will help my productivity, especially if it's not done digitally. 

The bottom left uses hints of colour, I think this is smart to draw the eye around. Maybe using important objects on white paper instead of in coloured card? 

I started looking at both Grecian references (urns) and renaissance paintings and tried to merge them in my own style. I liked the dresses and hairstyles in the renaissance depictions but I think the sun/star earrings are a big part carried through both in Helen's depictions.  

The renaissance usually show the characters are pale with fair hair, but researching more in to Greek skin colours - the natural skin would be heavily tanned with darker hair. With lighter clothing colours to keep them cool in the sun. I like the blue hair from the urn though, as it makes Helen look like a descendant of the gods. (Zeus' daughter) I think the right one is the best and looks the most royal. 

6/3/21

This is when I researched that on urns, women are presented in white ink and men in black. This explains how fare Helen was in all of her depictions. This actually made researching the males harder as it was hard to tell them all apart. I think using colours would be the best way to go with the characters. 

They all had a similar chest piece. I liked the face on the right, but it seemed too generic and old. I think Achilles should be a young hero; the curly hair helped with that. The one on the right would make a good copy and paste repeat soldier for either side. WWW- All look like they have different personalities. EBI- I think the young face in the top middle is the best but the body should be shorter instead of just replacing. 

WWW - I think the face of the Agamemnon I have designed looks a lot like the mask, so the comparison won't be confusing to the audience. The red and gold links back to the colours in Achilles so red could be a good defining colour for the Greek Spartans. 

8/3/21

I really like way the patterns have appeared. I think the cape could be a problem on Achilles - but I think this project may be best done digitally - so making the cape more flowing could be a good idea. Make it look like fabric and everything else using a textured ink brush? 

King Priam is described as a kind old man with fifty sons and multiple daughters. I wanted him to look frail, especially with his family dying in front of him in the trojan war story. I think keeping a crown on all of the Trojans will show their rich status whilst making them look like the defenders and not the fighters. Hector is usually shown with no shirt because of his famous death to Achilles, so I think the tucked in cape shows that he WAS a fighter but not THE fighter. 

9/3/12

I think if I did water colour backgrounds, the beige might blend in with lots of sunset colour backgrounds. I'm happy with how related they both look, and the uses of the blue to show they're the opposite side of the war to the red Spartans. (blue vs red primary colours) EBI- Maybe squash King Priam's head a little horizontally , it looks a bit long.

WWW- Clearly the trojan horse, easy to animate (wheels rotate), nice texture clearly wood without huge levels of detail. 

EBI - Possibly has more detail than the characters, could be a bit too detailed, especially in the bg. Tail will need to animate like the capes. 

WWW-

• The sections are clear and there aren't too many switches that need to happen
• The neck is round enough that the head and body can move and it won't look unnatural. 

EBI- 

• The spear ended up being too fat and short, so I have made that longer and easier for the hand size to hold.
• The leg parts are reversed in order compared to other characters' legs. I think this could look unnatural in a test but it looks good now. solution would be to make the leg guard a separate item. 
• Facial expression might be too subtle, maybe make the eyes go over the hair etc for shock. 

Documentary: Research for large pitch

6-7/3/21

 https://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_homer_iliad.html

The story of the Iliad:

• The Iliad only tells the story of the climax coming towards the end of the Trojan war. It doesn't tell the ending. The ending is also written by Homer in his book called the Odyssey
• King Priam (namely the owner of the Priam's treasure) is the King of Troy and leader of the Trojan army. 
• Achilles is on the fence about battling and which side to battle for - eventually withdrawing from the war which brings the favour to the Trojans. 
• Hector son of Priam is often helped by Apollo's power and breaches the Greek camp, and wound Odysseus, Greek leader. 
• Achilles asks his friend Patroclus to disguise as him and scout out the Trojans. Patroclus doesn't take caution as Achilles warned and Hector finds him. Hector with the help of Apollo kills Patroclus thinking it's Achilles. 
• Achilles joins the fight and the battle approaches ten years - the climax and gods join the fighting instead of granting power and arguing about who to help and why not to sway the fight.
• Achilles kills Hector 
• There's a twelve day truce and the Iliad ends with Patroclus being buried, Priam taking back Hector's body and Hector's funeral. 

Odyssey:

• Greek warriors hid inside the trojan horse as led by Odysseus – the horse was brought beyond the wall of troy and the Greek defeated the trojans from within. 

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/trojan-war

• As well as Priam's treasure, Schliemann discovered 46 layers of construction, separated in to 9 sections. This shows truth to the habitation of Troy being between 3000AD and 1350AD in now Hisarlik, Turkey on the northwest coast
• On the 7th section, skeletons and charred debris (bronze arrow heads) were found, which supports the fact that Troy was burnt to the ground. (I think this was Korfmann in 1988 https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-troy-fall-of-a-city-but-were-afraid-to-ask/)

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-02-22-1993053194-story.html

(Link opened and then next time I tried it said not available outside of EU- but I have screenshots of the page that a friend got) 

• Manfred Korfmann reopened the dig in 1992 and found stone ruins and more buildings and a ‘lower city’ This is what showed the cite was habituated from 3000BC to 1400AD and concluded the city of troy was wealthy and possibly used as a religious shrine. 
• Evidence from his dig leads to believe that Troy was the greatest city of its time from 1700 BC - 1250AD
• The new size of Troy supports the Iliad and the idea that Troy could have survived a 10 year war, this wasn’t believed from Schliemann’s findings alone.
• Korfmann revealed that Troy had 15 layers of fortifications 
• It may not have been A Trojan War, but multiple
•  possibly their influence of power and their wealth was more the reason that the Trojan War could have began. Over Helen of Troy  being kidnapped by Trojan Prince Paris.
• Troy was a tourist spot, shrines were about Roman culture and religion
• Nothing has been revealed to help prove much after the Iliad besides the charred debris to suggest it burnt down like in the Odyssey 

8/3/21

https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/greekpast/4917.html

• Agamemnon, leader of the Greek Spartans in the Trojan War
• His brother was married to Helen when Paris Prince of Troy kidnapped her from Sparta - so he took revenge by staring the war
• Schliemann found 5 gold leaf masks at Mycenae in Greece, this one was better kept than the rest and was thought to be a king’s, and Schliemann named Agamemnon’s. It was found on his corpse. 
• In recent research, the mask dated to 1550-1500BC which is three hundred years before Agamemnon existed - which can question how well everything else found links to the Trojan War.

Meeting D&AD

 We had our individual 1to 1s and we all realised we needed to start thinking about presenting our work. The brief says either a 2 minute video and 4 JPEGs or a 1 minute video and 8 JPEGs. 

We had a discussion and, as Giffgaff doesn’t really explain what they want the video to show, we’ve opted to give a run down on why we did what we did and why.

We weren’t sure if we were supposed to present all of the items (animation, banner and Instagram stories) in the video. So we will be talking over our work. 

We want to make this personal, like a pitch to Giffgaff. So we plan on all recording the full voice over and then editing our three voice together as if we are taking it in turns pitching. 

I’m not very confident speaking, but I think recording on my own helped me come out of my shell a little, and I think it was a good collaborative idea. To improve I think I could have spoken quicker to fit my voice recording under 2 minutes (there were embarrassing pauses I would rather not post - insert final edits when made)

I noticed one of my Giffgaff loops jolted a bit with the loop and spun off centre, so I also fixed that so it wouldn’t happen in the final one. 

Professionals

 I spent today contacting my professionals for this project. Both seemed happy to talk with me, but we had troubles with my main historian Dr Scully because he wanted to call and I couldn't call to the US. 

Dr Armand D'Angour was available to talk and we had a good conversation about his views on my topic myth vs history. 

His implications were that myth is a fictional narrative strongly based in lessons of psychology and history is based on 'evidence and sources.'

He believes that the proof of burning (charred debris/ bronze arrowheads) was proof of what was written in the Iliad, but not the same thing. He also said there was no proof of the rest of the tale such as the trojan horse which he wrote about. He also agrees that the proof leads to proof of there being multiple wars and not one.

He confirmed that Mythology was a way of explaining tough questions that weren't answered for everyone in Greece when there wasn't one true religion.

I asked if I could quote some things he said and I can use/ not use his name if he wanted to. Even though he said no problem, I think I should still make a contract so he knows where the film would be going if he wanted his name in that too.

Next half of the pros

 4/3/21

@erinmwinn/ Erin Winn Instagram and Twitter - She's an art director for RWBY/Rooster Teeth. My last attempt at contacting a professional from RWBY didn't work out so I'm excited to try and contact Erin. In my talk with Mike, I mentioned that I have stumbled in to the role of Art Director a lot in our group projects, and I've liked trying to think of an overall styles and what will work for others and how to keep things consistent. I want to ask Erin about whether this process is similar in the industry or whether being an Art Director is so much more than that. I would also like to know how much of the art itself she gets to produce with such a bigger scale team. I'll probably contact her on twitter as it seems people respond more on there. 

@paulabadillaart/Paul Abadilla Instagram or email - Illustrator and Art Director at Pixar

Is saw his Soul talk and it was very inspiring. He mentioned that in the soul world, everything circles the portal so that a glow distributes from it and lights up everything in the scene. I want to ask how much communication he has to do as an art director, because I suppose organising something like this would involve talking to a lot of the compositing and lighting team. How much do you need to understand? As art director, would you need to know 3D for a 3D movie like soul to help the parts of the production team, because all of your work was 2D?

@andyparkart/ Andy Park Instagram - Director of Visual Development at MARVEL

I used to be inspired by this guy a lot as a kid, and I mostly came to art school to try and understand concept art on this level. After talking with Disney jobs, it seems harder to get in to the bigger names in the industry. Disney always seemed quite hard but now that they own marvel and star wars etc, it seems like there are lots of people you need to get through to arrive at marvel. What qualities do Disney and marvel look for when hiring people for the art department? Disney look for a very specific design and it seems hard to show Marvel's more realistic side to please both. Do you need to know lots of life drawing and fine art for marvel design - or can you be more abstract like his own 70s cartoon designs for WandaVision's tv commercial intros. What qualities does Marvel want and what software knowledge?

Daniel J Klug Twitter - Senior Animator at Blizzard, Ex Disney Animator/Supervisor (Big hero 6, Frozen etc type) 

He seems open to talk, he clarifies in his bio that his opinions are his own and aren't through word of the companies. Since he's come from a background of blockbuster length films, I wanted to know if he prefers the smaller groups at blizzard. I also wanted to know if he gets to choose whether he works on animating the in game characters or the cinematics. Or they assign him to one. Even though he did a lot of Disney action scenes, he also did a lot of memorable smaller actions, and I think he could work well in both character emotes and cinematics. I do like the thought of working for a film and video game company. I think blizzard who pride themselves on animated shorts and adverts would be a nice middle ground. 

5/3/21

I sent the messages and realised all four people have their direct messages blocked on Twitter. I did want to contact this next half on twitter as it makes the message look smaller than on a compact Instagram phone. People also use it more for business so are more likely to respond. I did manage to find the same four people all on Instagram, Klug's was more of a personal account than a professional one. 

Winn responded which was amazing to see, especially since she is from RWBY which I really aspire to try and learn their animation techniques as it's on Maya. She was very nice and was very helpful. (Word doc) 

Documentary: Research 2 / Theme presentation

 27/02/20

• The Priam's treasure was discovered in 1873 when Heinrich Schliemann first discovered Troy. His dig started in 1871. The Priam's treasure contained golds, silver, weapons and jugs. 
• Robert Godfrey gave a talk about History vs Myth in relation to Christianity and how religion see this. Though it may not help too much in terms of my narrative and facts - it is a new point of view which I am yet to find without contacting people. This is quite a negative outlook on Myth as Christianity claim it false, with quotes from the bible saying that myth is misleading and the bible is true. Jerusalem and where the cross was stood are real places but Mount Olympus can be seen in real life and has no realm above the clouds at its peak. I understand where this is coming from, but it is selective and he chose stories that can be proven from the bible and ones that can't from Greek Myths. I see Greek Myth similar to the bible, as it answers questions people didn't know the answer to, in a time where there wasn't one religion. But Godfrey/Christianity see it as stories that lie and mislead. As someone who has a mild understanding of both the bible and the Quran, I know there are similarities in that the gods and prophets are similar or the same under different names, and the stories are similar - but the teachings are different. I can see how made up gods with no backbone against religion can seem offending, but they teach strength and perseverance and respect all the same. 

1 Timothy 1:4 'Nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.'

https://youtu.be/04q4yh_Cyr8 

• Professionals - I found a contact called Stephen Scully who had his contact details up on a website for historical professionals to contact. So I think he is a best bet for a response. He is a professional about Homer's poetry, which is who first wrote about the Trojan War. He is also a professor at Boston University so I think he would be willing to help out a student. 

My second pro is Dr Armand D'Angour who wrote an essay for Oxford University about whether the Trojan Horse actually existed. Though he is a classic literature professor with a love for music, I think his knowledge about historical texts could help me understand the story of the Trojan War better - even if he may not know about the validity of it. https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/arts-blog/did-trojan-horse-exist-classicist-tests-greek-myths

• Yasmin who is currently a first year in Manchester Met doing animation was my inspiration for thinking of cut out animation. She was doing her own uni project at the time and I gave her a bit of advice about it layout whilst she was animating. She had a cool cut out section which inspired the idea for an experimental medium like Michaela suggested that is easy to do from home like Yas. https://youtu.be/CrSqyo_p_0c

3/3/21

• Anna's contacted me after the presentation with this link because my pitch sounded similar. I think this style is exactly what I was thinking character wise. Maybe more focused on items than settings and location. But I think that this can definitely help me to try and figure out a narrative arc and tricks I could do in a paper cut out style. I also wasn't sure whether to do lots of drawings or draw a body with limbs and pin it together - so this helps me see how the pin method would work in contrast to Yasmin's redrawing frames.   https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4pKMV6e5kEo
• People seemed to like my idea, which makes me feel like this is going to work well with a young adult target audience. People I know like history, we grew up on lots of history and science based tv shows such as horrible histories. But people also like discussing religion at our age, figuring it out, deviating from your family or finding your own level of devotion. And if they're not religious, people tend to draw more towards things like myth. So this topic is a good middle ground for all, I think. 
• Scanning in cut outs on paper - if I can't do cut out animation with a camera. Mat can give advice on adobe after effects. 
• Try contacting writers of the books I've been searching if all goes wrong.
• Iliad should be free somewhere because copyright is over

My Presentation Link

Giffgaff: Instagram posts

 27/02/21

Design

From experience using Instagram, I thought about how much I skip at first glance. Our plan from the start was to copy and paste our recycling logo to mobile phone animation for the Instagram advert- but when we realised that was too complex for an ad and this length canvas, I thought else where. The more panels in an Instagram advert, the more chances you have to catch someone's eye. I want to use a lot of the patterns we didn't use in the large animation, like the dotted pattern and the small doodles and the Wordart style. There's going to be a lot of space at the top to leave space for the Instagram handle and photo. We also planned on using the blue and pink backgrounds that are in a lot of Giffgaff commercials, but we didn't use in our animation - pin dropping the blue and pink from our gradients. 

We also discussed the banner as a group and Alex had a good idea of having the phone with a note fanning out from behind it, to include both the phone and the money - with a recycling logo on screen. This shows the slogan the brand wanted visually without audio or text. 

28/02/21

Recycling, learnt masking

https://youtu.be/NyQ0XPtw088

Even though we were reusing the recycling logo loop, I found this one the hardest as I taught myself how to use a few features in the node editor to create the mask for the gradient effect. I think this worked really well and I was able to pin drop the colour of the gradient from my mood board, to keep things consistent. 

1/3/20

Pocket & Emoji

https://youtu.be/KSHB5IShuB0

I really liked the idea of this advert as the circular Wordart helps frame the falling money, guiding your eyes down to the rest of the slogan, whilst getting the message of 'money in your pocket' across. I think that the badge doesn't come across as much as I hoped, without lighting or a shine to show a glossy texture - but that isn't in Giffgaff's style. 

I had a bit of trouble thinking of a Giffgaff style doodle for this one, but I think the doodles weren't too distracting from the money falling, and keep your eyes in the centre. I think they could be neater. I wanted them to loop but I couldn't quite figure out enough with symmetry tools to get it to work. 

https://youtu.be/a91-UU2AM2o

In the plan, I wanted the pound signs to grow quite large. But after the first two I subconsciously decided to make the adverts loop so that they could be extended in time. I originally had them as 5 seconds each but they felt too short, especially if people can skip them anyway. 10 seconds gives people time to SWIPE UP and follow the link. After realising this needed to loop, I kept the growth quite short so that it could scale back down in good time. The doodle for this was hard too, because I didn't want it taking up too much space, or drawing your eye to empty gaps. I also couldn't think of many Giffgaff patterns that we hadn't used yet. So I used the same pattern as the first but made it rotate. I think this worked well and wasn't very distracting. I wanted the font to wave like the Word font. But I used the Wordfont function to create the text for each poster and this is how the wave came up. I think because the word is so short, it couldn't wave very well. I also think if I had tried this manually, I would also find too little characters to make a wave, just a zig zag.

I think the slightly tilted and diagonal line still adds character whilst using the CURRENT Wordart functions. Maybe not those that are nostalgic but the ones people will known now. 

https://youtu.be/z34o1DZNlWI

Because of the lack of brighter greens, blues and purples in this advert, there aren't any colours to balance out the orange tint of the traditional Giffgaff yellow. As emojis aren't usually orange, I did try the yellow from the recycling gradient, but the pound sign colour made it look like a lime. So I pin dropped a colour between both Giffgaff yellows to make this more appealing emoji colour for the purpose of the ad. 

WWW:

• Consistent design
• Text is all the same size and same placement
• All loop and can be cut down or extended. 
• We were able to reuse the hardest one to animate

EBI:

• Recycling logo could show the phone too. 
• I messed up with the dots and accidentally made it asymmetrical, so I had to resize all of them and place them in the exact same place because you can't copy and paste photo layers. I think I fixed it 😖
• Didn't use Giffgaff yellow in the emoji, could have planned it better with more accurate colours in the planning stage. 
• Coin speeds, maybe think more about weight of each sized coin - but it was more exaggerated and fun than accurate
• Neater squiggles on the 2nd one