It’s ridiculous- you can’t even tell if something is ‘good’ when it’s not finished. And of course it won’t look good, because *news flash* it’s NOT FINISHED! Mainly telling that to myself, but it’s also there for anyone who needs to hear it.
Right, so now that’s out the way, back to the point: what have I achieved this week? OK so I cheekily started animating the film even though I haven’t quite finished editing it (when that’s ‘locked’ I’ll write a post about that). This was because I didn’t want to push the animation back any further, especially after the delayed shoot. I feel this was a good idea as it also gave me some well needed breathing space away from the edit, allowing me to view it with fresh eyes when I went back to it. I was able to start animating some shots, because some were not negotiable: i.e. they’re in every version of the edit, so I’m able to start on those whichever version I go with in the end.
I’m very pleased with my progress: I completed 4 shots (one being a 13 second long one) and started 2 more. I have been averaging 6 hour animation days, which I want to ramp up next week and average 7. Some went very smoothly and I love the outcomes, though some gave me an existential crisis (see above). I feel a lot of this first week was doing quite a lot of figuring out, too in terms of getting a feel for the outline style I want to use and how to go about animating some of it, plus what to do about props/ backgrounds. As the project goes on, this will all iron out and the animation process will become faster and smoother- or at least I hope so.
One of the main takeaways from this week is that animating something like this solo is hard- more so mentally, rather than creatively, I feel. Without being surrounded by a team or in a studio with dailies bringing you from your head back to reality, it’s easy to get lost in your head about what you’re making and critical thoughts rise to the surface. Knowing this in week 1 is a good thing, because it means I can develop healthy mechanisms to combat this issue and create a support network of people I can turn to when I need a bit of a pep talk.
Saying that, it’s also been a lot of fun. I’ve finally had the to catch up on my usual podcasts and a lot of music I’ve been wanting to listen to, but not had the opportunity recently due to editing and pre prod- I usually find listening to music whilst doing those tasks too distracting. It’s also super cool how I’m working on my biggest self initiated project for some time. I love having a project to be working on and if I’m quite honest, I can’t believe that I’m now at the animating stage. Last October it seemed a bit of a pipe dream when conceiving the concept/ early story development, though now I’m actually bringing it to life and that feels like a massive achievement in itself- getting it to this stage- having done numerous script drafts, a storyboard, filmed it etc- is no small feat. Can I give myself a pat on the back? Yeah I’m going to do that! And if anyone reading this is working on a project under your own steam then pat yourselves on that back too- you’re doing AMAZING!!
Yeah so I’ve definitely rambled a bit in this one, hopefully there has been some useful information for anyone reading this and it didn’t totally feel like you’ve been reading about me while I go through a breakdown or crisis or anything!
I’ll leave with one of the completed (outlined) shots. I might get one of these out each week, but that does depend as I don’t want to give too much away… We’ll see!
xo
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