This week has been mainly focussed on finishing the animation fully, and getting it timed. I first finished the animation without the camera movement up to the sky:
With that out of the way, I wanted to focus on getting my camera movement to the sky sorted, as it was the part that was one of the things that was concerning me most:
After this, I was watching and rewatching the animation in order to pin point what other changes I wanted to make: I mentioned in my presentation today, Thursday the 9th, that I wanted to do more with my wide shot during my animation. I ended up making Hyacinth and Jinx interact in the end, as I wanted the audience to look from Hyacinth to Jinx during the scene. I decided to have Hyacinth ask Jinx a question about the spell she is reading, but he’s unsure:
I’m really happy with the addition of this, and I think it adds a lot – I think the viewer will be able to see the scene a little clearer, and by forcing their eyes across from Hyacinth to Jinx, they have time to register Jinx and take the setting in too!
The next steps I want to take over this coming week are mainly in cleaning up the smaller, less noticeable bits of bad (in my opinion!) animation:
- Fix the movement of the candles in the first scene – Alec had suggested that the candles should flicker and that their intensity should bloom at different times and this is definitely something I want to apply as I really do feel that it’ll make a huge difference.
- More in-between shots at the points where Hyacinth is reading, as they feel very choppy – I’ve already started working on a more fluid motion for her hands and eyes on the opening reading scene and it’s already looking a lot better. I need to apply this to when she is reading on the big book too!
- I need slower movement on the initial pull around the table and crystal ball — I need to slow it in and slow it out, which will mean holding more frames for a little while longer. At the moment the movement feels too fast, and I’m trying to keep ‘slow in, slow out’ in mind!
- I think I could use holding the star animation for a little longer, making it sparkle for a bit.
- I need to fix the hand in the final shot, as Alec thought it looked a little strange with the two middle fingers unseparated. This is a usual stylistic choice for me in my illustrations, but perhaps isn’t great for this project!
- When I’m happy with the animation itself, that’s when I want to colour it.
I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to get all of this done before deadline, and I’m really proud of my work for this semester on this animation. I’ve never animated before, and I feel so pleased with myself and can’t believe I’ve animated something this long and – in comparison to my previous experience which is none – this complicated! I wouldn’t say it’s perfect, but I have worked so hard to learn as much as I possibly can to make it the best animation I can. I just hope it shows – I’ve sincerely enjoyed this semester and this project. I’ll be so satisfied when it’s submitted and I can have a well earned break over Christmas!
