Words about animation, photography, art, creativity, football + occasional ramblings from other life stuff • See my work here: floramartyr.com • Hyperlinks in RED
I'm delighted to announce the details for the first public screening of my short film, ‘Bear’- woop woop!!
It’s part of the ‘Showroom Shorts’ monthly short film event at the Showroom Cinema in Sheffield. It’s one of fifteen films playing that night- and I’m overjoyed to be part of it as the programme looks absolutely amazing! Click here to see for yourself.
It’s on Tuesday 15th November and the films start at 9pm- though it’s recommended to get there earlier as most of the filmmakers (myself included) will be present, so a chance to chat/ network (whatever you like to call it)! Oh yes, it’s also FREE- how cool is that?!
Below is a screen grab from the event page itself, which has a bit more info (click to enlarge):
…And just in case you missed it before, here’s the trailer for ‘Bear’:
Be great to see some of you down there- I’m usually wearing a yellow hat, so come say hey!
I know in my last post I suggested these test clips might slow down a little, but I actually made another one already. I said I’d only do them if I had a specific idea for something I wanted to try, rather than doing them for (what feels) like the sake of it. Soon after writing that post, I genuinely did have something I wanted to try, so here we are!
Ever since hearing about ‘Mixamo’- the free Adobe resource (what’s the catch lol) of 3D characters and animations you can use in your own projects, I wanted to utilise it in some way or other. I’ve had a few ideas before, but not really got that far in executing them …until now. I think my other ideas were over complicated hence never carrying them out, though this idea was definitely something I felt I could complete.
So what is it?!
I wanted to try rotoscoping over one of the 3D characters. Why? A couple of reasons. Firstly, to see how it might look and if it would work altogether. I’d been curious about this, just to see how much drawing over a 3D character would differ than drawing over filmed footage of a human. Whether it would pick up on certain nuances, or even look anything like what I was trying to replicate. I think I was curious about trying these things, because I thought it could potentially be a great way of making my next film, rather than using real actors. More on that later.
In terms of the process, that barely differed- it was a quite simple case of importing the footage and redrawing it in a style I felt suited. In fact, because the reference footage was computer generated, it was quite a lot easier to rotoscope as more things with it stayed fixed. Such as hair. Rotoscoping hair on filmed footage is not fun (IMO), especially long hair! The footage was also cleaner and therefore easier to see some of the outlines.
A negative I found though, was the fact that because it was computer generated it was somewhat glitchy. There were occasional artefacts sticking out of the character at various points and sometimes the body/ clothing was not acting especially naturalistic. These things were fairly easily fixed though as I could just re-draw them in a way which appeared more ‘normal’/ natural.
Overall though, the concept seemed to work- or at least for this piece of footage it did. I went for a shot which contained a lot of action/ movement to it. I’m considering maybe if I tried it with a more still shot- how well that would work. Something I’d like to try anyway. It also didn’t look a complete mess (phew) and it didn’t appear too ‘uncanny valley’ either- or at least not in my eyes. Perhaps because I went for a highly stylised black and white finish, the end result came out really nicely. I skipped a lot of the facial features/ detail, which perhaps cut down on any uncanny feeling there might have been, if I went full detail with the face. Who knows…
The second reason I wanted to try it was, as if it did work/ look ‘good’, then I might consider using it in my next short film. As you probably have guessed from reading this blog, I’m a person who likes to experiment with technique and technology, so this felt like the perfect testing ground! So, as stated above, I felt like this technique did work (though needs more experimenting on different clips, I’d say), but if it was something I’d want to use in future productions, I’d have to learn how to animate 3D characters, or at least to a certain extent. I mean this would be if I wanted them to do specific things and act in a certain way. So would there be much point taking a lot of time to learn 3D animation enough so I can use it in a short film, over hiring actors and filming them, to get a look which is similar? At this point, I’d probably say no, but it’s not like there aren’t advantages of using 3D characters instead of real life people. One main one would be that it would cut down the stress/ hassle of being on set, alongside sourcing a decent location to film in at a reasonable price. It would cut down on filming budget, but raise the amount of hours spent, therefore increasing the time budget.
Like I said, I’d want to make a few more of these test clips in the same way, to see whether it works with different shots and characters, rather than just the one I tried. I think this might help me decide if it’s something I want to pursue on a bigger project. I have even thought that it might work in a more abstract project, rather than a narrative film, because I can just use the pre-loaded animations, rather than making my own (so I wouldn’t need to spend hours and hours learning character animation in Blender). Again, I feel more test clips would help me decide here.
So in conclusion, I feel it was successful, but needs more testing. I sound like a scientist in how I approach my animations!
Sooo, the title of this post is called ‘New Job’, because urm guess what, I got a new job!!!
Even though ‘Bear’ went on for slightly longer than planned, the idea after finishing that was always to get another job. I kind of like the idea of doing one job for a company, then taking a break to work on one of my own films, then a job again and so on. This, I find is a great way to satisfy a healthy work-life balance and also both sides of things I want to achieve in my career/ life. These are making a name for myself as a director (of animated films), but also being able to have the opportunity to work on other fantastic projects happening in the industry, such as feature films or TV series.
This current job is the role of an Assistant Editor working at Illuminated Films on a super fun/ creative children’s TV series (which I’m not going to state as it hasn’t been publicly announced thus far- sorry). When it is, I’ll let you know! I decided to go for an edit role this time, because it’s something I massively enjoy doing and have always wanted to try in an industry/ studio setting (which I haven’t done prior- despite my amount of experience, it’s mainly been in a corporate/ commercial setting or on my own short films). I’m also under no illusion that I’m going to get a rotoscope role each time I need a job, because the actual fact is, it’s a niche medium so there isn’t always a project I can readily jump on, unlike other forms of 2D animation which are more widely used. Hence going for a role which is both something I’m confident/ experienced in and enjoy doing.
I’m really pleased that I was selected for this role and I hope I stand out in the work that I produce for it. I’m already mid-way through the first week (it was a super quick turn around from applying to starting!!) and I’m finding it really enjoyable so far, with a really friendly, small team. And I’m not just saying that! I think it’s really cool that the work I’m doing now is contributing towards a TV series which will be broadcast at some stage in the near future. I appreciate how lucky and privileged I am to be able to work in this industry, but I also have to acknowledge the hard work I’ve put in to get me to this point- for me it definitely didn’t come easily or smoothly and there were so many times I could have given in. But I kept on going and working away, and I feel it might finally be paying off.
Rotoscope clips from now on might slow down, but I have a few things in the works. I’m actually going to stop doing ‘test clips’ for now (I think), due to the fact that I prefer to have a project with an aim, rather than something which feels like I’m doing it for the sake of it. If there is a style I specifically want to try out, I will, but I’m not just going to aimlessly create clips, just for something to post on the socials (that’s not the reason I do them btw, but sometimes it feels like it). I’m actually going to start a new short film project- something which I can do in the mornings before I begin work. This project won’t be as long in duration or as ambitious as ‘Bear’, but I definitely want to make something! I feel a shorter project might allow me to experiment with style a little more. Anyway, more on that as and when I have stuff to talk about for it.
Think that’s all for now, so see you in the next one!
Another quick little experiment. I really like how the background turned out in this one! The background was created using felt tip on paper and scanned in (12 frames repeated), the character was filled with 16mm film which I applied ink to and the character was drawn in Callipeg. Hope ya like it!
Now that I've finished 'Bear', I'm back creating fun little rotoscope experiments, while I wait for my next big project (I'm manifesting).
It took me a few days to get back into doing this- like I stated in my last post, I always feel pretty empty once finishing a big project and often takes me a bit of time to reset, before starting something new. I usually need a break, but one side of me just doesn't like me doing that (feels like I always need to be working on something), so often have a state where I'm semi working, but also not and the stuff I produce usually isn't the best and doesn't get published anywhere.
This piece wasn't forced and I came to it quite naturally which felt nice. I found a clip of a skater doing a Kickflip on free stock footage site Pexels. I then just started animating it in a fairly sketchy manner on my iPad using Callipeg, not especially knowing where it might end up. I've had some pieces of paper which I coloured and patterned using felt tips etc hanging around from February, which I started when I had Covid. Then I began animating 'Bear', so had them sat on my desk crying out for use ever since.
Above is one of the frames.
I scanned in one of the boldest and brightest sequences (I made a load of different ones using all sorts of colours, shapes and patterns) and used it as the background. I think I might try and come up with a few animations which I could utilise these patterns as backgrounds. Think it will be a fun little exercise and get me back into the swing of making work again. Yeah, I'm going to do that!
I then felt the skater should contrast with what we have here, so decided to put him in black and white, with very little detail. I think this clip is really eye catching and fun, which is quite a contrast to 'Bear', which is on the whole quite dark and fairly constrained.
Well this is fun! I've made a trailer for 'Bear' and I'm super excited for you to be able to see a little more of my film.
Up until this point, I've been fairly guarded about what I share, due to not wanting to spoil anything/ give too much away. It's an eleven minute film, so even sharing ten seconds feels like I'm showing too much, but I've purposely kept what we see here quite ambiguous.
I'm also ready to share the synopsis: A high achieving factory worker wears the head of a bear whilst outside the comfort of his home. With the bear head hampering his daily life, coupled with a growing desire to conform, he finds himself torn between his perceived safety and embracing the new.
As the title would suggest: ‘Bear’ is now complete!
I can’t quite believe it- almost 11 months of work, from my initial scripting stage back in October last year, right through to completion. At some points I didn’t think this would ever happen- when I’m working on such a big thing, I often find it hard to see the end, because the task feels so big. But little by little, I kept working at it and I eventually got here.
I must admit I don’t feel especially happy just yet- maybe it needs some time to sink in. Probably. I currently feel quite empty. Which is often the case when I finish working on fairly long form projects. Perhaps in a few days when I’ve really had time to process what I’ve done, I’ll feel more celebratory about things- or at least I hope so! Or maybe I’m just dissatisfied with my achievements! But, I do feel it is the former as deep down I am extremely proud of what I’ve created.
Despite what I have said above, to create something from start to finish, with no funding and no external factors to make me make it and on this scale (just over 11 minutes runtime), alongside struggling with several (both metal and physical) health problems throughout the duration, is an extremely BIG achievement. And I must remember that. To think what I’ve created here almost on my own is quite something. I have my partner Ben and my friend Alan to thank at this point- they have both given me feedback, motivation and support throughout and I honestly can’t express my gratitude enough. Without them, the film probably wouldn’t be what it is today.
I think that’s all I’ve to say about it at the moment- I’m cutting a trailer together, so watch this space for that soon xo
It's about time I put this one up online for public consumption, especially as 'Bear' is nearly complete!
My experimental short film '04111311' is a representation through colour reflecting weather and mood, depicted over the course of 365 days.
The score was composed and performed by the fantastic Jason Williams (whom I've worked with on a number of my projects, including 'Bear').
I've been slacking 'releasing' this one, because I started writing a super loooonnnngggg and detailed blog post about it. But it was going into way too much detail, I just never got around to finishing it and I didn't want to publish the film without the blog as I thought the process might be interesting to document. So I just didn't end up posting it! But then I thought I want people to watch it, so I'm just going to publish it regardless.
In short, it's a 365 style project, where I tracked the weather for each day over the course of urm, well, 365 days and marked it with a colour depending on what the weather was like/ how I was feeling (it's all interlinked for me). I then inked the colours on 16mm film using alcohol ink and went through the lengthly process of scanning the strips in at super high res and then cleaning each image in Photoshop to remove any dust (there was a LOT) which gathered when the film was drying. Once pleased with the visuals, I handed it to my composer Jason who did an AMAZING job at scoring it.
Sorry this wasn't the super detailed post it was going to be, but at least you get to see the film now, so swings and roundabouts! Maybe I'll do one at some stage, but I'm not making any promises!!
Apparently my last post was my 200th- wow! I had no idea until I happened to look at my stats this morning, but I guess that’s kind of something to celebrate. I suppose it is a fair landmark to have achieved. And so many words written!! Though I must state that I’m not trying to achieve landmarks with this blog or anything in terms of reading figures or number of posts- if I let those dictate me, I probably would have given up long ago or ended up writing things just to get clicks and/ or just for the sake of it. I think that’s why I don’t often promote my blog too much. It’s not that I don’t want people reading it (I do, and I like it when someone says that they read it), but I feel if I put an announcement with each post, then I feel I wouldn’t use the blog in the same way in which I do now. I use it as a way of tracking my progress, with a bit more detail (and somewhat a little more personal) than my Instagram posts.
I also like not restricting what I write about on here- and how it’s not specifically animation focussed- whereas my Instagram is. I mean it is largely animation focused, as that’s what I do mainly, but you know there’s football/ photography stuff, sewing, other creative ventures and just anything else I deem worthy of a blog post! It also makes me think about my work more in critical manner, which is something I feel essential if I want to keep progressing and learning (which I do). I sometimes look back over my archive and look at what I was doing several years ago and it’s interesting to see the ways I’ve improved, progressed and changed over the years. Also interesting to see what the constants are, too.
Reminiscing and analysis over, how is ‘Bear’ going? Oh yeah, first, I should give an update on my skateboarding injury for all those interested: it’s feeling a LOT better now (thankfully) and I feel almost ready to be able to go again. Though not before I’ve bought a helmet and some pads- injury is not something I’m willing to risk in future, especially as an animator.
OK, now I’m finally ready to speak about ‘Bear’! Like 4 paragraphs in on a post entitled ‘Bear Update’. But anyway, now here’s another landmark (and maybe one even more worthy of celebration): THE ACTUAL ANIMATION IS DONE!!! Done-diddly-un. I can’t believe it, I’ve almost made a film. What a journey. I still have sound design to finish and a few tweaks here and there in terms of tightening the edit etc, but everything that needs animating, has been animated! Wow.
The biggest hurdle this week was most definitely the crowd shot- one I had been dreading to be honest, due to amount of characters and the fact that I still had no reference footage for it. I had a few previous failed attempts at getting it, but this week my partner Ben and I went into the town centre on Wednesday morning and sat with my tripod for about half an hour and got everything I needed. And it came out really, really well. I couldn’t find a good piece of stock footage to use for it, so I knew filming it myself would get exactly the thing I had in mind. As the city where I live isn’t the busiest and there was never going to be a point where loads of people are walking in a big mass (or at least not at 9am which is the time we went), I had to animate each person separately and superimpose them in the TVPaint file. That was a fairly straightforward process, plus it meant I had more control and therefore could get more of a diverse range of characters- so mixing ages, genders and ethnicities. You can watch the clip below:
Other than that, I don’t think I have anymore ‘Bear’ related news. But watch this space as I’m going to make a mini teaser/ trailer type thing very soon. So stay tuned for that. And also the post where I finally announce it’s completion!!
This week has been urm, slightly ‘interesting’ shall we say. The week didn’t get off to the best start due to having had a slight skateboarding accident at the weekend which unfortunately resulted in me damaging my animating hand. Luckily it wasn’t broken- I did go and have it X-Rayed as it was quite painful and swollen. So that itself hampered my productivity especially towards the first half of the week. It’s feeling much better now though, thankfully. On top of the injury I also had a really bad bout of insomnia, lasting pretty much a whole week. I think the sound design is making me feel stressed!
How it started
How it's going!
So overall, I can’t say this was the most fun week I’ve ever had, but I can say that picture lock is now pretty much complete- I just have 1 or 2 backgrounds left (depending which route I go down) and the crowd shot to animate- which might take around a day. I think I’ll then go over the film a couple of times to tighten up the edit and make sure it’s all working how it should be.
Despite this week not being the smoothest, I was able to get over a difficult hurdle of a section which wasn’t working. The new way I’ve decided to go about doing it worked out much better, so that feels fantastic to have put that to bed.
I was also given the completed score by my composer Jason Williams, whom I feel has done an absolutely brilliant job. I’ve worked with him for several years now on a number of my films and he always does what I have in mind and then some! The score really enhances the film and it wouldn’t be what it is without it.
Alongside this, I also finally decided what to put behind the car windows when he is driving. I didn’t want to make panoramic backgrounds in a realistic style and then keyframe them, because in my mind I had always wanted them to be sort of abstract. When you’re in a car or train, the scenery sort of whizzes by and it can look fairly abstract anyway, so I wanted to replicate this. It didn’t need to be detailed as it wouldn’t have added to the story. But I didn’t know in exactly what way or how as a few of the abstract ways I tried previously didn’t work. It then came to me- I often work with 16mm film, so I thought ‘well isn’t this quite abstract and also something I like to bring in to my rotoscope work anyway’. There have been numerous test pieces where I’ve used 16mm (or similar) as a background. So it only made sense to incorporate it into ‘Bear’ as well. See below for what I mean:
It wasn’t even like I was shoe-horning it in- it just made sense. Around 2013/14 I made several 16mm painted on/ scratched films, which didn’t actually end up ever being made into anything- they’ve just been sat on my computer ever since and I’ve used snippets of them over the years to enhance other rotoscope projects of mine. So I imported one of them into the project which was something I made on a blue reel of film and printed on my fingerprints with black acrylic paint. It made a really interesting pattern:
I put it behind the car shots and added a gaussian blur, so it doesn’t take the focus away from the character, but definitely adds something visually. As it flickers by, the patches of dark and light change, making it somewhat mirror what you see when travelling in a vehicle. Below is a grab of it in the film:
Right, well I’m going to gorge myself on football over the bank holiday weekend- I’ve got around 9 matches to watch over the 3 days and I am so ready for it! And I’m going to be photographing a few of them too- can’t wait to get back into that again. Hoping for good weather! Have a good 'un xo
