Short Film: Update #9 with clip- finally!

Hello there, the angel from my nightmare, the shadow in the… and so on. I’m back from the excellent Manchester Animation Festival and I had an absolutely wonderful time- mostly watching films(!), but also catching up with a load of people and chatting about projects and animation and all that good stuff! So, same time next time then. Ps. Go watch Adam Elliot’s ‘Memoir of a Snail’. You will be better for it. That is all.

My oh my the weather this week has been pretty bleak, hasn’t it?! Though miraculously the skatepark I frequent the most stayed dry, so I was able to get several decent sessions in. In true northern fashion, I layered up and got on with it. Have to put the hours in to keep improving…

Ok, small talk over. How is the animation going?? I’d say another productive week, considering I had a few other commitments going on. I managed to get 3 full shots complete and finished the big one I referenced last week (it ended up taking a whopping 18.5 hours). I also prepped the next shot ready to animate. I’ve actually nearly finished all the stuff I shot about a month ago, so there isn’t a whole lot left to animate without shooting more footage. I’ll check back here next week with a clearer idea of steps going forward as I might well have completed it by that point. Hopefully.

I think at that stage, I’ll export the film again and see how it’s looking with a significant amount of it animated. I’ll be able to see clearer where the holes are in the story and get an idea of how it’s all flowing. I already know at this point there’s a few shots which need changing the location of, so I’ll need to re-board those I expect, or at least in a loose way. I have also identified some gaps where a scene or two needs adding- some of it feels a little disjointed and I feel I need more of a thread to tie it together. So, the coming week I’m to focus on animating what’s left of the footage and I imagine the following week will be more of a troubleshooting/ ironing out stuff kind of week.

You know what, I’m in a good mood, so here’s a little clip:

Obviously it doesn’t have a background or colour or anything as I haven’t got to that stage yet, but it’s nice to be able to share something from it as it’s been absolutely ages! Enjoy!

I think that’s about all for this week- though this post feels really short like I’ve forgotten to write about something, but meh, maybe not. See you next time xo

New Old Stuff

Whilst preparing for an upcoming 'artists talk' presentation I'm doing at a university, I've been looking back over old projects to decide what to include in the talk. This has lead me to unearth previously unpublished works of mine- probably because I didn't see them as especially impressive at the time or maybe just left them be for reasons unknown... Anyway, thought I'd stick 'em up on here, because why not (and I actually quite like them)!

As a side note, it's been great to look back over my body of work thus far and appreciate the achievements and quality of the stuff I've created over the years, which at the time of creating, I don't always acknowledge. I've spoke on here before about disliking or not thinking much of my work immediately after finishing projects, but with time and distance, I can often appreciate what I've created in a better light. My older work has also given me fresh ideas and inspiration for more things I want to try- and that I also want to get back into making more music videos and experimental works- so watch this space!! So, if you are ever asked to do an artists talk, I would highly recommend taking up the opportunity- it will do something good for you and therefore this should (hopefully) translate to the students you are presenting to...

The clips are below- both created around 2019/ 2020 and I'll be back soon with another update on my current project xo

Short Film: Update #8

Hello! Another productive week as far as the animation is concerned: I completed two shots which were hanging over from last week, finished another in full and almost finished the shot which has taken the longest thus far (16.5 hours at the time of writing). This one kind of took me by surprise to be honest- there’s not a whole lot of action going on and it’s not even full body (just torso and head), so I didn’t think it would take this long. But I suppose it’s a long shot in terms of duration (144 frames) and there’s a lot of hand and face detail- all the stuff which takes forever! Until she’s sat mainly still towards the end of the shot, there’s not a lot of lines I can repeat either, so most frames need to be drawn in full.

OK, update over, I thought I’d give a quick tip in how I’m drawing the faces/ more detailed aspects of some of the wider shots. I’ll use shot 35 as an example here as that’s one I worked on this week, so it’s fresh in my memory.

As the aspect ratio I’m using is 4:3 for this project, the canvas size I’m working on in TVPaint is 1440x1080 pixels. If it’s a zoom or anything, then I work on a bigger canvas size accordingly- but this shot has no camera movement, so it’s the exact amount of pixels required.

I do the majority of the lines in this project (as illustrated in the screen grab above) using various amounts of zooming in on the display, depending what section I’m drawing. More basic lines, I can be at 56.76%, but when it gets to more detail, I tend to zoom to 75% or 100% (anything past that becomes pixelated- see image below, which is zoomed in to 150%).

So, even when viewing this shot at 100%, the face is still quite small on screen:

Which means when it’s a fairly still shot like this, if I’m not drawing the lines fairly accurately, then it’s going to look odd with lines moving all over the place. I like my lines to ‘boil’, but when it happens too much, it stands out (and not in a good way)!

So, this is where my pro tip comes in: create a new project, but exactly double your pixel ratio, so in this case the canvas will be 2880x2160. Import the ref footage and make sure ‘stretch to project size’ is checked. Export the lines you’ve already completed from the original project file as a clear PNG seq and import those in to your new project (so you have them as a reference). They will be a bit pixelated, but that doesn’t matter as they’re only there as a guide and won’t be exported later. Create a new layer and draw the detailed sections you need to draw- so the face in this case. And also, make sure the brush size you’re using is exactly double what you are using in the original file. Then draw away!

In the image above, this is zoomed into 100%, which gives me a much clearer reference than the 100% zoom in the original file, being as I have doubled the size. Once you’re done drawing, then export only the layers you need (again as a clear PNG seq) and import into the original project file, again with ‘stretch to project size’ checked. And voila, you have a smooth looking finished shot (image beneath) ...Providing any of the above made the slightest bit of sense (I’m probably missing a vital step here)! Any questions, drop them below.

Right, that’s me out of here- time to watch some non league football in Coventry, living the high life, I know! There will not be one of these updates next week by the way, because I will of course be at the excellent Manchester Animation Festival all week. Do come and say hi if you see me- I’ll most likely be stood alone anyway!!

Short Film: Update #7 keeping on keeping on

Remember that 234 frame shot I was telling of last week? Well, completed it m8. And it only took 10.75 hours! I’m not even being sarcastic saying ‘only’- I honestly thought it would take a lot, lot longer. It was one of those shots which felt way more daunting before actually tackling it, so I guess the moral of the story here is things aren’t always as bad as you think they seem or imagine them to be. Note to self: apply this mindset to all aspects of life (especially skateboarding)!

Aside from that, I also in completed another shot (well four sub-shots to be precise) and made excellent headway on two others in the same sequence. Those should be finished early next week- I ‘just’ need to finish the faces on them. I always leave the faces until the end of each shot- my process is basically start with the lines I find easiest, such as the long/ straighter ones, then once those have all been drawn, I move to the next hardest/ detailed which are usually the hands (and feet in the case of these shots as she has bare feet- toes are not easy to draw)! Lastly I do the face, as by then I’m warmed up enough on said shot and the harder lines don’t feel as hard anymore.

I am also quite disciplined in not starting too many new shots at once, because a) I have to draw them all no matter what and there’s no getting out of it and b) it’s a nice relief to go back to easier feeling lines after completing the harder section of the previous shot. I also don’t want things to get out of hand. I will sometimes break this rule if I’m working on a really quite detailed or long shot (like I had been doing this week), where I’ll do say an hour first thing in the morning (when I work best) and then move onto the second shot for the remainder of the day. Tackling a shot in bitesize stages like this makes it feel easier and means I can work on it each day, without it feeling so overwhelming. Though a shot needs to start to feel super difficult before this process begins and no, I am not fun at parties!

Anyway, that’s basically an insight into my animation process. Sometimes when there’s no exterior forces or deadlines hanging over you, you need to come up with your own ways of pushing through when the going gets tough. On the whole my self motivation is strong (I always have the end goal of the finished film in mind), though I would be lying if I said every day was plain sailing. I struggle with insomnia so on the days I haven’t slept well, the work feels harder because I’m tired. Those days do feel a bit of a slog, but I just listen to a load of podcasts and music to power me through and work on easier sections of the animation. I also find playing back what you’re working on helps- when you can see the animation progressing and looking good, then it really gives you a boost. I’m sure I’ve covered this before on this blog, but it’s always good to mention every now and again incase it helps if you’re too working on a short film…

I should probably post another clip at some point soon, as the only one I’ve shared so far was at the very start. But at the same time, I don’t want to give too much of the film away and also, I don’t want to be faffing around wasting time exporting clips for the socials when I could be using that time to animate. Plus going on Instagram just drags me down mentally, so I can’t really be bothered with it right now- hardly been on it this week and life feels a lot calmer! There’s too much happening at once on it and feels impossible to ‘keep up’ (probably because it is). So yeah, find me on here and/ or in real life!

Image of tracker below, see you next time!

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:

Latest Embroidery

This one has taken a while, hence the lack of embroidery posts of late, but wanted to carry on the thread (pun very much intended) of doing more abstract pieces. Especially now that I'm back working on another short film, it's nice to have a project which isn't quite as 'ordered' and something that I can really just relax into. I like to have an embroidery piece on the go like this at all times- I tend to do some each morning for twenty minutes or so whilst my porridge cools (stay away, Goldilocks) and then occasionally throughout the day if I find a spare few minutes or want a break from animation.

I absolutely LOVE the result of this one. And I used all my favourite colours! More soon... Oh and for anyone wondering, it's a 5 inch hoop and used DMC thread.

Short Film: Update #4 Setbacks etc!

I’m not going to beat around the bush here: this week, very little progress has been made.

Very frustrating, even more so as other events means work on this project will cease until early October. So, what’s gone on this week or more accurately: what hasn’t gone on?

This was meant to be my week of filming, or at least a lot of it. If you’ve been following these updates, you will know that I have animated everything I have shot so far and can’t really progress with that side of things until I have shot more reference footage. I started shooting on Tuesday, edited what I had shot and even started animating some of it, all as planned. But whilst editing/ animating I still felt that the outfit was not ‘right’. The silhouette wasn’t very appealing and the whole outfit doesn’t have much style to it. I know this isn’t meant to be a fashion show(!), but no one would really wear what I had the character wearing- yes it’s something I would wear, but in the context of the film it didn’t look appropriate.

***Side note: the work I have completed up until now is other sections of the film in which the character isn’t wearing this outfit- some is bed clothes, some bikini and some close ups where you don’t see any outfit. So none of those sections are wasted- those are all staying in the film.

It’s extremely hard taking myself out of the character and looking objectively at it. This is why costume designers are used, aren’t they?! After this extra week of deliberation, I feel I have finally cracked it (I hope/ think). I did extensive research into what ‘normal’ (I.e. people other than me) might wear, by scrolling Pinterest, Google images and clothing retailers websites. I think what I have come up with now is much more fitting to the story and the character.

For some reason I thought it would be a lot easier and I wouldn’t need to think this hard about what the character might wear. You know, just throw on an outfit I feel comfortable in and that be it. But that is not the case. Costume/ character design is incredibly important in filmmaking and needs just as much thought as all the other elements which make up the picture. This is definitely something I’ll learn from and take into my projects going forward.

It has felt a bit of a waste of a week as far as this project is concerned (and in general actually), but it’s better to spend the time getting it how it needs to be, than rushing into it. Yes, the animation would be finished quicker, but forfeiting the correct look for the project. And I’d rather spend the time to get it to look how I want, because I don’t want to put all this time and effort into something, for the end result to look just a bit ‘off’. So although it feels frustrating and slow paced right now, I know once I get going with it properly, I can feel confident that it’s on the correct path, rather than feeling in the back of my mind it’s not quite ‘right’. I’m also thankful that I came to this realisation so early on and I hadn’t shot/ animated loads already. I spent 3 hours in total this week on one of the (now) discarded shots, which in the grand scheme of things isn’t all that bad.

Here’s a screen grab (with super rough temp background) from one of the rejected shots. It’s good to share both the lows and the highs of filmmaking on here, as that is the reality! See you in the next one xo