Short Film: Update #6 continuing momentum

Hello hello! Continuing the momentum from last week, this has been another great week in terms of both animating and filming. I was able to film a load more stuff as planned at the weekend (as well as a few extra shots for good measure)- including some pretty key scenes, some of which I’m super excited about. It was a big weight off my mind to have been able to have got so much filming completed as like I suggested in my previous post, filming is my least favourite part of the process (especially when I am not only behind the camera, but also in front). It feels like I can just get on with the animation now and not have to worry about filming for another few weeks (depending how fast I get through all this stuff). So combining everything I shot at the weekend plus the sections I shot the week prior, that’s a good chunk of the reference material chalked off, putting me in a comfortable position in terms of time scale.

Having got so much of the shoot completed, I’ve had a fresh injection of motivation and enthusiasm around my film. I’m really excited about it and can see it all coming together. I’m pleased about a lot of what I have both filmed and animated and can’t wait to see how it pans out.

The animating is continuing to go at a good pace and I finished a few big scenes this week. Though I still wish I had completed at least one more- the animation felt a bit stop start as some of the editing took a little longer than I’d have hoped and I had a few cheeky skate sessions when I probably should have been animating (but got to take advantage of the decent weather before it all turns to grey)! Despite me loving the edit side of production, I do find some decisions painfully hard. I have a real difficulty in choosing between two takes, getting bogged down in the minute details of the action. I mean, if I can’t decide between two takes which have extremely subtle differences, then I suppose it doesn’t really matter which one I actually choose and should just pick one and move on! If I don’t notice much difference, then the audience surely won’t… Anyway, I put the aforementioned into practise this morning when selecting the next couple of shots to animate and it felt quite liberating I tell you!

Hopefully next week the animation will go slightly more fluently and can have a similarly positive blog post this time next week… We shall see. Though if you look towards the bottom of the tracker (above) I have a bit of a monster to tackle in terms of the 234 frame shot, so yeah, wish me luck with that one please!

Below are a few images from the reference shoot: making this film is very much a cathartic process! See you in the next one xo

Short Film: Update #5 Getting Back on Track

It’s almost been a month since my last update, but I am very much still working on my film! In the time elapsed, I’ve been on holiday (to Great Yarmouth) for two weeks and had an obligatory existential crisis the week after. This week, is where I’ve really got going again.

holiday snap

Last week (crisis week) was the week I originally had identified as my filming week, but to be honest I really wasn’t feeling good about my body/ how I looked, as well as not sleeping that well and being on my period (and yes, these things should be spoken about). Making things even worse, was that I also had my Covid booster jab with a few not-so-nice side effects and I was still healing from a pretty nasty skate injury I picked up whilst on holiday. So, it’s safe to say last week wasn’t really ‘right’ for filming, hence the crisis! I think it sounds pretty understandable doesn’t it?

It wasn’t all bad though regarding progress on my film. I was able to crack on with a shot which I used Blender (3D software) for:

Obviously the above is not quite the final piece(!), but my idea is for some backgrounds/ shots which I can’t get the exact reference for, is to create/ model it in Blender and then use as a reference to create my 2D animation from. So in simpler terms, anything I make in Blender, I’ll redraw 2D in TVPaint. It’s currently left in this 3D stage though, as I haven’t yet decided how I’m going to draw the backgrounds, therefore don’t want to rush into anything without having thoroughly thought out how I’m going to go about it (in terms of style, medium and pipeline).

To be honest, I was kind of dreading using Blender again, as it’s not a software I’ve used that much and it’s been several years since doing so. And especially not on a week where I wasn’t feeling my best. But actually, once I got going it was really enjoyable and it was fun modelling the ceiling fan in the design I wanted. I used this tutorial as a general guide, but went off piste and created my own thing. It took a few attempts to get to a design I was happy with- below is my first iteration (soooo bad) and almost not worth sharing, but I like displaying both the ups and downs of animation in this blog as it shows progression/ development, persistence and realism, so here goes:

So, that was last week- phew, I’m pleased that’s over! This week has been almost a complete contrast: I got a load of filming done, including anything I needed to reshoot from previous sessions, animated a couple of shots and even secured a location to film a few more scenes in over the weekend. I’m back to feeling great about my film again and really motivated to carry on, especially when I can see the Premiere timeline filling out, as well as my project tracking spreadsheet:

I now have the big task of editing what I’ve shot and then getting on with the animation side of things again, something I can’t wait to get going with. Filming is always the part I find most stressful/ hardest out of the rotoscope process, especially when I’m not only filming, but also acting. The editing and the animating parts are easily my favourite- but I guess these are kind of like my reward for having completed the filming. Or, at least that’s how I look at it!

Below is an image from one of the shots, with a behind the scenes of the set up. I used a light box as the fill light, which you can actually see in the footage- not that it matters as it’ll all be drawn out in the rotoscope process. But I like sharing the interesting little bits of indie filmmaking and showing that you can create something with what you already have around you. That’s it for this one- see you in the next one! I’m off to watch ‘The Wild Robot’ and I can not wait!

More Embroidery!

Continuing the current abstract theme of my embroidered creations, here's one I (mainly) made on holiday, finished off this morning. Just a load of nice colours together, kind of inspired by the sunset/ sea! Note to self: must stop using cheap bamboo embroidery hoops esp. if the inner hoop is warped. This impacts how it holds the fabric- evident towards the top of the hoop where you can see the thread doesn't quite reach the sides of the fabric due to differentiation in tension.

Update on my short film coming towards the end of the week- for those wondering!

More 35mm Photography

A few I liked from my most recent roll of film: