1st week back home

This week Luca and I worked on animation and artwork respectively. Scott sent over a couple of bits of animation (before leaving for Annecy) for the apple in shot 3a and 4, which Luca modified to make them work in the film. Luca than continued with the animation of the apple.

We're really busy and it's been a lot of late nights, but it's all coming together dare I say. I have been working on the wondrous plant in shot 6. (See above picture) It's made up of photos of roses and compasses (for the centres) all modified, cut up and reassembled in Photoshop. For the leaves I've used eyes from religious icon paintings, and for the trunk I drew a shape freehand on the computer and then overlayed a texture of peeling paint on wood that I like. I'm quite pleased with it. I also completed the umbrella tree design and the advertising sign, and Luca hopped off apple animation duties for a bit to design and create the rainbow in Illustrator.

We were thinking about the title this week, and decided that it should be on the branch that the apple sits on. So I scoured the Dafont website and selected some free fonts that we really liked. I then tried them out on the branch in various different colours. So we now have our title, and it's all very exciting.

Everything is set for the sound recording session on Tuesday. Barney is travelling down to London on Monday after work, and we are booked in at 'We Write Music' first thing in the morning. After that I'll go to see Chris to do a session on the SFX, so then we should be almost there with the sound. Cool.

Our last day working in Caerleon

I worked on the vegetable patch, the clouds, the skull and the salmon cigarette cards; and Luca continued animation.

Scott came in for a bit to do some animation. He is going to try to do some for us over the weekend.

We are going to see the student show tonight, and then we're driving back to London tomorrow.

Thursday - Producing

We decided that we need a more powerful computer to render on back in London so I called Slinky about borrowing one. They agreed to help us out, so that's great. We'll probably pick it up at the end of next week.

I spoke to Christopher about the sound and I will probably go round to his after the recording session, on the 10th, to fine tune the sound effects.

The students are really busy with setting up their show, so we are just ploughing on.

I continued with the umbrella plant and the vegetable patch, and Luca carried on with animation of the apple.

Music update

Today I called Barney, and Oli at We Write Music to try and organize a recording date in London. We need to record the two guitars and mix them together. Then the sound effects (created by Christopher Wilson) will be mixed in with this. We have pencilled in first thing on Tuesday the 10th of June for the recording session.

I designed the Zebra today, and Luca continued animating the apple on the sea.

Vicky continued animating the fighting crabs. Scott came in to give us the animation of the apple in shot 2 - the neon signs.

Guess what. . . we worked in the evening after dinner.

The mountains

Today I designed the mountains. I found some old maps online and altered one of them, then I drew the mountain outlines in ink, scanned them in and composited everything together in Photoshop. I am quite pleased with the result. I also drew the orchard graphic in ink; and prepared these pieces of artwork to go into After Effects comp. Vicky started animating the fighting crabs.

In the evening, we carried on working. . . . I feel that this is going to be a nightly fixture in our schedule this week! I painted more of the sign, and Luca continued animation and compositing.

Back to Wales

We arrived back in Caerleon at 2pm-ish, got our stuff up to the room and headed over to E6 to start work.

I continued sourcing material for the 'wonders' section designs. And Luca carried on with animation. There aren't many students around today because they are starting to set up their graduation show. But we just need to push on with things.

After dinner, we sat and worked in the room for a few hours. I worked on the advertising sign - painting it up. Luca animated the first seagull.

More of the same, from the shed

Today we continued where we left off yesterday. I made the ocean liner look a bit more sophisticated, as the first design I did looked a little bit too children's book-ish, and we want to avoid this if possible. I elongated it, making it less rotund and put some 'windows' along the side. For the seagull, I made two different drawings, one for shot 4 at the port, and one for shot 6 'the wonders'. The bird in shot 4 will be animated using the puppet tool in After Effects and so is just a flat illustration; whereas the bird in shot 6 is a bit more sophisticated, having separate wings to give it a slightly wider range of movement. Of course everything animated in After Effects is 'cut-out' but the puppet tool is a new feature which can add a bit of a new dimension to things-it's worth taking a look at.

Luca continued with animation on the apple.

Tomorrow we're off to a wedding in Italy for a few days. And then back to Newport to find out if there is any gossip form the May Ball.

A weekend in London

This weekend Luca and I worked on the film from our garden shed. I did the artwork for the seagull, and the ocean liner. Luca continued animating the apple and checked through shots 1,2 and 3 doing any changes that were needed.

Animated Apple

Breakfast: me - pastry, cup of tea/ Luca - pastries, white coffee

Today we were a bit thin on the ground due to the May Ball. But thanks to those who came in.

Scott continued animating the apple, and it looks great! We dropped a rendered sequence into Shot 1 today and were very happy with the results. Sarah and Donya finished animating and artworking the fish respectively. And Donya scanned most of the animation, including Angy's splash. James continued comping and cutting out the sea that Fran made yesterday, he also finished the scanning, which needed to be ready for us to take away today.

Luca continued working on the main comp, and I designed the boat and the fighting crabs.

We are on the road back to London tonight, so we hope that everyone has fun at the ball.

In Production

Breakfast: me - yoghurt and blueberries, cup of tea/ Luca - pastries, white coffee

Scott started animating the apple, and he's looking really cool. We can't wait to see him rendered. Vicky and Simon have been animating the leaves on the tree, and Vicky has moved on to animating the van, whilst Simon is working on the barber's chair in Photoshop. Fran has animated the barber's pole and James has been comping things in. Sarah and Angy have been working on the 2-d animation and Donya has been researching and artworking. Luca has been working on the neon signs and I have been designing layouts. So the team are hard at work!

Sound

Breakfast : me - yoghurt and blueberries, cup of tea/ Luca - pastries, white coffee

Today, I wrote back to Chris with notes and comments on the initial SFX. Some sounds seem to be working really well, and others not so much. So I listed all these points good and bad, hoping that he could make some changes and send us some revised sounds.

It is a difficult one, because we are making it with a promo feel, and we love the track (an original track written and performed by Barney Wade - Enid Blitz) so we are not sure that it actually needs SFX. However, it seems that some of the sounds are really working and helping to push the story forwards, for example the sea. So maybe we need to go really subtle with it, and use sound more as punctuation or gentle emphasis. it must not get in the way of the track in any way. I explained all these thoughts to Chris in the e-mail.

Chris called me this afternoon, and said that he had made some changes and was e-mailing some new sounds over. (That man's fast!) Luca and I listened to them (on their own and with music not mixed properly of course), and they're much better already and definitely going in the right direction, so we are excited.

The Team

Breakfast: me - hash browns and beans, cup of tea/ Luca - pastries, white coffee

We all met up today, and Luca and I allocated jobs. We have a small team of about six students, which is great.

They will be working in Maya, After Effects, Flash and good old-fashioned 2-d. We are working our way through the film in chronological order. The artwork for Shot 1 is ready, so we are all systems go.

Crewing Up

Breakfast : me - toast and jam, Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, orange juice/ Luca - 2 x pastries and a white coffee.

Morning - Today we took a workshop for any students interested in helping out with the film. First of all I talked about working on a pitch for a commercial, through pre-production, production and post, using projects that I have directed for Slinky as examples. I briefly explained what crew may be needed on a job and why, and described the different units that may be required on shoot.

Luca and I then moved on to talking through the project that we are doing for AIR Newport 'The Life of an Apple'(working title) from preliminary storyboard and conceptual artwork, through to the final animatic. We discussed our design inspirations, and the idea behind the over all aesthetic of the piece. We also talked about and the importance of sound and music, and involving a sound designer or composer from a very early stage.

Luca took the students through the processes of designing the apple character and building it in Maya, and I talked about creating the ink artwork for Shots 1 and 3.

After lunch we sat down with each student to look at some of their work, and discuss what they would like to do on the project. Luca and I then went through the animatic and found sections to allocate to each student. We are meeting in E4 studio tomorrow morning at 10.00 am to allocate jobs.

Stumpy Stalk Legs

Breakfast - me: plain yoghurt with banana, blueberries and strawberries, white coffee/ Luca : Greek yoghurt with honey with banana, blueberries and strawberries, white coffee.

Today Luca worked on the rigging of the apple, and designing and making the mouth shapes. We took photos of Luca's mouth, and he treated them in Photoshop to make them look like prints. We also tried to add feet to the model of the apple. But looking at the character with them, decided that he worked better as he was previously with his little stumpy stalk legs. I worked on the Barbers shop frames - the text and the ink drawings and layout for the 'hair-cutting' scene. I drew the designs on Bristol board with inks, before scanning them in and treating them in Photoshop.

We discussed the schedule for tomorrows workshop.

The Face in the Moon

Breakfast - me: hash browns, fried egg, beans, half a veggie sausage, cup of tea/ Luca : fried egg, toast, beans, half a veggie sausage, hash browns, white coffee.

Luca worked on the van design and the background textures, and together we worked on comping the photo of my face into the moon. We're really pleased with the result.

I worked on the cityscape for shots 1 and 2, and started on the lettering for the Barbers Shop sign.

That Friday feeling

Breakfast - me: hash browns and beans, Sugar Puffs and milk, cup of tea/ Luca: pastries and white coffee

Continued shot 1 artwork, and neon signs.

Evening: We did a face painting test for the face in the moon. I painted my face, and Luca took pictures, which we are going to use to test the concept over the weekend.

Our first trip to Newport

Breakfast - me: pastries and a cup of tea/ Luca: pastries and white coffee

Morning: A drive to the lovely town of Newport, our first trip, where we visited Hobbycraft and Tescos for supplies. (By the way hurry down to Homebase, because they're selling palm trees for £7.50!)

Afternoon: continued shot 1 artwork.

We called a friend - Ollie Davis at 'We Write Music', and he agreed to let us record the guitar tracks at his studio in London which is great. We also spoke to an old friend of Rebecca's, from college, Chris Wilson who has agreed to create some sound design for the project. He is almost ready to send us the first version - very exciting.

Luca showed a 3rd year student how to build some neon signs in Maya, and he started building them for the project.

The importance of a good breakfast

The saying goes 'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day'. English Breakfast Versus Continental - me: Hash browns, beans and a cup of tea/ Luca: biscuits and white coffee

Took and introductory lecture in the morning where we introduced ourselves to the students, and showed some of our work. It was an informal presentation and we answered questions and chatted about working in the industry. We decided that the students would start on the film on Monday (after their deadlines).

In the afternoon Luca and I separated the elements of the film into 2-d and 3-d and started creating artwork.

It was a very hot day so we did some of our planning outside sitting on the front lawn, which was very pleasant.

We arrived

We arrived on campus really late in the evening and retired to our rooms in the tower.