Production Journal Brief

PRODUCTION JOURNAL

Initially I changed the script about five hundred times (slight exaggeration), I simply had to many ideas running around in my head and I guess was having difficulty collaborating everything into a solid story. Eventually I settled on an idea but the script evolved constantly and I ended up with about fifteen drafts once the final script was complete. After the scripting process then it was onto thumb nailing. Thumb nailing is a lot of fun, it’s a good opportunity to work out the shots quickly and roughly see if things will work or not.
I did a shot list once the thumbnails were finished, the shot list was a good way to see how long the animation was going to be and also to described the different types of shots and camera moves needed for the story boarding.
Character design is also thrown into this process, it took me quite a while to get Lewis looking right, im still not convinced about the final design, I do like him but it bothers me that he looks similar to last year’s character.
The next process was working on the storyboards; this was helpful to see the layout of the shots and also to help work out the length of each shot. The thumb nailing process and storyboarding were a nice break from all the theory that was needed, however I do enjoy writing scripts also. Ed helped me quite a bit with trying to get my head around perspective drawing for the storyboard.
Once the storyboarding process was completed it was onto the animatics. This is yet another tool used to help with timing. Once I had done my animatic I realised that a few shots needed to be longer and possibly cut out some stuff that isn’t quite necessary (as Neale had suggested when he went through my script).
There is a shot where Lewis is staring at a photograph of his homeland and, is over it all, and basically just wants to give up. I really didn’t let this play out long enough and people are getting quite confused when they watch the animatic.
I have found a sound engineer who is very keen to work on an animation, and has also expressed interest in doing the foley. This is great news, as sound is not something I am that familiar with. I will be catching up with him over the holidays so we can sit and work out sounds for the production, and I can give him a clear view on what is needed or wanted etc.
The video block was made for extra reference material; this helps to work out the posing and drawing of the character. Finally the entire production bible was finished off and handed in. The bible basically contains all of our pre production material, ranging from concept art, character design, mood boards, layout, storyboarding, thumb nailing, file naming conventions, budgets and scheduling.
I havnt had to many problems this year overall, I think once again it all comes down to managing my time and energy efficiently to help me survive this year.
Working out which software I was going to use and how I was going to animate was probably the most problematic issue I had. But once that was established I had more clarity and was able to move towards creating my character.
Next semester will be huge and I am well aware of not having a life until the year is over. I will begin animating over the holidays to allow more time tweaking and perfecting the production in post.