Digital Animation

Pitch Project: Editing and Music

I have spent a lot of time working on the audio that we recorded of Ben's voice. Having cut all the individual lines from the script, I began to put them back together, using different lines from different takes and trying to select the best one each time. The only problem with creating something that is supposed to be funny is that after you've listened to it 40 or 50 times the joke wears a little thin. I cut together the audio we had for the Egyptions, the Greeks and the Romans, but we decided after speaking with Andy to just use one of these for the pitch, and the Egyptions seemed to be the funniest.

Anyway, it seemed to be coming together, it just needed a few more lines recording; an introduction ("Hello, Professor Piddle here") and a signing off ("that's all for now, goodbye!"). Once I had those, I added in some music. Ben and I went through the sound effect cd's until we had some music which sounded like stereotypical Egyption background music. I brought in a recording of Handel's The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, which I used for the opening and closing music, it gave an air of authority and authenticity to the whole soundtrack. After some time playing with the sound levels, I asked Will and Ben to listen as they had not yet heard it with the music added; they both started laughing almost immediately, which I took to be a good sign.

I was suprised how long it took to edit the sound together and how important it was to take breaks away from it as it becomes very difficult to judge whether it's working when you have been sitting with headphones on for the last couple of hours. The effect that the music had was immediate and gave it a much more completed sound; suddenly it had become something which I could genuinely imagine working well as an animation. The combination of the music and Ben's voice as Professor Piddle creates an image in the head and I have become quite keen to see how it would actually work with our drawings. However, I think in the presentation will have the audio playing out over a static image because it will focus the audience much more on the sound, which I am pleased about as I have tried to get a good result.

Animated Exeter - Special Effects

Within After Effects there are lots of effects and presets, which with a little bit of manipulation can be used to great effect. I think, as with most things, it comes down to the individual user and individual taste. On the whole I think less is more but it always depends on the project. Until I actually have a scene to put together, there is little I can do with these effects, but the end scene features a smoke trail as the phoenix emerges from the clock tower. So here is a "magical" smoke trail, that can be adapted to follow a motion path or just make random movements by using an expression (which you add to the object - or smoke trail - properties and it will tell it to move in a specific "random" pattern).



This smoke can also be put into 3D space and so can be used to wrap around the tower within the film. The great thing about this effect - which is actually a plug-in called Particular - is that it has about 20 or so presets, so it is very easy to get a variety of results without a huge amount of extra work. It really is down to the individual user to adapt the presets to fit the project. Again, as I also said above, it is difficult to create too specific a look at the moment without either a final shot of the set, or more input from the producers, who are a bit busy at the moment. I guess it would help if there was one person overseeing the post production, inc sfx. But no one seems to be in that role.

Here are some other examples of the same plug in...

fire and smoke:


fireworks:


even snow:

Animated Exeter - 3D compositing

So, I've taken a picture from the Ivan Biliban book which Ben brought in as concept art for the project. In photoshop I have cut all the elements into individual layers and then put the whole composition into After Effects.

I then converted the layers into 3D and created a camera. Each of the layers can be moved away from the camera at different distances which means I can move forward or sideways and create an illusion of depth.

It's not perfect, but it's been very useful as practice for using a camera and 3D space. I spoke to Kathy yesterday and she seemed to like what I'd done, but I suspect that might be because the art work is Bilabin's.

I was using this as part of my "research and development" for the compositing role for this project. At the moment, there doesn't seem to be much else I can do. I have spoken to Adam, our producer, and he has told me to continue with R&D. There have been some delays to the stop motion section which means everything else has been delayed.

Animated Exeter: Sunshine

I have been working on recreating a sun from one of the Ivan Bilabin images we have been using as concept art. This started out as an exercise so that I could practice using After Effects, but there is a possibility that it might be used in the final film. Either way, I'm quite pleased with how it works so far.



I drew it out in photoshop and added a filter to get a slightly grainy look. I then cut up each circle to be on a separate layer. Then, in After Effects, I imported my pohotshop file as a composition (which means you get all the layers as seperate, er, layers). I could then rotate each one individually. I have also added a glow effect, although I think this needs a little more work as it lacks for subtlety in my opinion.

Pitch Project: Editing, recording and more editing

I booked the radio studio and we have recorded the new version of the script. It was a little annoying as Dennis blundered in with all the delicacy of a wildebeest to find out of we have the studio booked (er.. yes, that’s why we’re in here recording). This threw Ben for a few moments, but he soon got back into character and we continued with the recording. It is very odd listening to the session because occasionally Ben slips out of character and the voice changes from Professor Piddle back to Ben Dennett.

I went through the script and broke it down into individual lines. I then went through the recording and did the same. For each line of script (there are 35 in total) I have got between 1 and 5 versions. My current task is to cut them back together, making sure they flow and that the sound levels are all the same. I am finding that there are some lines that just don’t work and so I am starting to cut a few of them out. I have to get this finished so that Will can finish the storyboard for the final cut of the script. I then need to put the animatic together. I have offered to take this on as I don’t really feel I’ve done enough for this project so far, but as far as the rest of the bible goes, I think we are a long way behind and I sense that Will may be starting to panic. I feel a lot like I’m letting him down by leaving him with so much work and the fact that everything seems quite last minute. I’ve always struggled with managing my workload and just at the moment I’m not sure I’m doing a great job.