WEEK 1 DAYS 1,2 &3: You Are Here

For this last week I have just been working on the different backgrounds for each scene. I have had a couple of struggles for example using different programs to create an image and then exporting it into another to be able to use it there has been quite an adventure. I've found that in particular this project demanded a lot of different kinds of work because some of the backgrounds are hand drawn and then had to be scanned to be added in and some of them are digitally made. Mixing all of these together was time consuming however I am happy with the result as I usually do not produce animations like this and so it is very different to what I usually do. However in the future I think I would do it the other way round and animate the character instead of the background because I love decomposing movement and it would of been interesting to make this particular character have different stances depending on the situation he was in during his walk through the city.

Fig 1: You Are Here (2014) Authors Own

WEEK 2 DAYS 1, 2 & 3: You Are Here Project Production

I started this week by making a whole new storyboard. I decided that the point A of the character would be the city where everything would be distorted and the point B, where the character gets to would be a green, peaceful area, a more opened space. Once I had planned the storyline out I decided that I wanted to take a risk and use something I had never used before: A green screen.  I would film my main character and edit it in after effects and then animate the background to show the changing scenes and the life of the city. This would add more personality to the city and as if it had a life of its own which is uncontrolable.

I didn't have any problems filming on the greenscreen, it was a fun experience and something I would definitively do again. I imported all of the film to After Effects and watched tutorials on Youtube about Keying out a greenscreen as of which I successfully managed to do.

I then started to do some background research about collage animation and tear out different patterns from magazines which I might use in the final piece.

Fig 1 : Keying in After Effects (2014) Authors Own

WEEK 1 DAY 3: You Are Here Project Personal Tutorials

After the individual field trips we had to decide on what we wanted to base our projects on. While I was there what made me the most curious was the idea of disturbance. I was the one and only thing that was disturbing the locals and the people who walked past as I was the only person sitting down; an outsider still compared to everyone else whom was always walking past. While I was sitting there I had quite a few encounters with different people, including a cat.

After this original experience we had to create storyboards and develop our ideas and then show them one to one to our animation tutor. This was my first storyboard draft :

Fig 1: Storyboard Page 1 (2014) Authors Own

Fig 2: Storyboard Page 2 (2014) Authors Own

Fig 3: Storyboard Page 3 (2014) Authors Own

My tutor really liked my storyboards, however he suggested that I should concentrate on getting my character from a point A to a point B throughout the city and that the struggle should be the journey from A to B. Elements in the city should disturb him getting there. I would reveal to the audience what it's really like to live in the city, the tension you have while walking around and the freedom you feel in open spaces.

WEEK 1 DAY 2: You Are Here Project- Individual Day Trip

Depending on where you placed your pin the day before, you had to go to that exact place and sit there and get the feel of that space, exactly like what we had done on the previous day trip to the ‘Cutty Sark’.

I ended up near London Bridge on a street called Bartholomew Street. This street was a local street so I felt like an outsider sitting down and watching everyone. This street was the kind of road where people always walk through but never sit down or spend any time there. For this outing we were given a list of things to observe or listen to as a starting point. This list really helped me throughout the hours that I was there.

Fig 1: Colour Palette (2014) Authors Own

Fig 2 : Character I saw Walk Past (2014) Authors Own

WEEK 1 DAY 1 : You Are Here Project

We started off the day by watching four short animation films. We then had to guess our project theme as this project was especially for animators. Each of these films represented the city and city life. It was revealed to us that we needed to expose something about the city or possibly a certain change in it.

To help prepare, in the afternoon we went on a field trip to the ‘Cutty Sark’ in Greenwich. While on our way there we had to record as much as we could of the spaces around us, whatever we saw, heard, felt or smelt we had to draw, photograph, and record by any means. With this information, we would try to transcribe it and make sense of the world around us. We had to attempt to understand the atmosphere of the space and observe the people around us.

Fig 1: Birds (2014) Authors Own

Fig 2 : Quick Observation sketch (2014) Authors Own

When we got back to Ravensbourne, we were blinded and placed in front of a map of London where we would randomly place a pin. The placement of the pin would be an individual starting point for the project.