Short Film: Update #14 busy busy busy!!

Hello! Now the festive period has all settled down and I kind of know what day it is again, it’s definitely time to start up these weekly round posts for my film again. Since the last one I’ve been busy, very, very busy. I started looking at background/ colour ideas and carrying out some tests:

Above are a couple of the tests I carried out and potential examples of what it all might look like when finished. I definitely need to do more development, especially on the character and look at how it all might work while animated as well. But I feel on the whole, I’m going to go with a textured background (similar to above) and a smooth character style, so there’s a solid bit of contrast. Anyway, that’s what I’m thinking at this point, though it is still early days. I’m also thinking to keep it all in TVPaint (the software I’m drawing all the animation in), in order to keep my work flow as streamlined as possible. It also makes any background components that may need animating a lot easier to do there and then, rather than swap from program to program. But I’ll see, who knows, I might say all this and then go and draw all the backgrounds in Photoshop or Procreate! Anyway, more on this at a later point when I’m at the stage to fully focus on the backgrounds and colour.

I’m super pleased that I did manage to spend a few days looking at the above though and doing a few tests, because it’s the part of the process I’m least confident in (the rotoscope animation is where I feel most comfortable). But, it’s actually boosted my confidence, because yes, although it still needs more R+D, I’m really happy with the direction it’s going in and I absolutely love the look I’ve created so far. It was nice to have got some of this done before I’ve finished all the outlines, because it means I can be mulling it over as I finish animating the character footage. It has also put me in good stead for when I do get to the background/ col stage, because I won’t be starting from a blank canvas so to speak.

I was also able to get a chunk of filming done:

…which has made me feel a whole lot happier. The filming is definitely a part of a process I find least fun, especially when I am not only behind but also in front of the camera (though I must admit I am pretty pleased with my performance so far). I now only have about four sequences left to shoot with me on screen, plus one shot using some extras. Just cracking on with it early this week has been great for the momentum of the film and has been a big relief to have been able to get it done. Though when it’s about 2 degrees outside and everywhere is covered in snow, it’s definitely not a time to be waltzing around in a dress and bikini pretending it’s summer!

I have also been busy animating for the remainder of the week:

On the last one of these I posted about a month ago now, I was on shot 044. So yes, significant progress has been made! The film is looking a lot more fleshed out in the Premiere Pro timeline and I’m really pleased with the pace I’m getting through the outlines. I’m also super happy with the quality of the animation I’m producing at the moment.

I’m feeling really positive about the project right now and it feels like the end is (almost) in sight. Or at least for the filming/ outlines part: I’m not under any illusion about how long the backgrounds/ colour/ score/ sound is all going to take. But I just need to keep at it one shot at a time and not let the rest of the project overwhelm me. I was able to take a little time over the festive period to actually take a look at festival deadlines and prices, as it was becoming quite apparent that the end of Feb deadline I had previously set myself was going to be wayyy off. On doing this, I realised that the prices don’t jump up that much, providing I get it done by April 30th. Which sounds a lot more achievable. So that is now my deadline.

What are my plans for the coming week? To continue animating the footage and see how far I get with it- it’s unrealistic to say that I’ll get it all done as there’s quite a lot, but I feel I can make a significant dent into it. So yeah, I’ll mostly be stationed at my computer! See you in the next one!