This may be the toughest part of the year work wise. During this part I often had moments of self doubt and lack of confidence, which really hindered my ability to focus on animating. I had watched over and over some of the inspirations and references for my segment to get more comfortable with the visuals, as well as taking my time when I could to create my shots.
I also noticed that I was overthinking when trying to apply the fundamentals of animation, and when I spoke to Alec he mentioned that some of the fundamentals will flow freely and try not to stress over them too much. Apply where it’s needed, don’t try and force it in. Which I realised myself that might be a skill in itself to know where to apply these 12 fundamentals and when to stop before it loses it’s intended feeling for the situation. A lot of the shots I consistently tweaked, but after rendering if any other problems occured I would then go back and fix the best I could.
For the animation I’m using Krita and plan to use Premier Pro to edit.
Link to Group Onedrive: https://ulster-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/malard_fowler-c_ulster_ac_uk/EuJK9DxxmtFBmayoJx4uDa4BzXvOu4onNR9Z2gcgBptHMQ?e=KRSRBg
Link to OneDrive with final animation: https://ulster-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/malard_fowler-c_ulster_ac_uk/EvbGKUgP9L9Ik658Mu5m-V8Br0DAfu_CJyVaDaXO8xCX8Q?e=hb2yW6
Shot1: Monster in doorway, holding the dropping students. Monster commands them to rise.
Rough 1- movement too sudden, hold more frames for anticipation
Rough 2 – animated in 12fps, too slow trying 24fps instead
Rough 3 –
Shot 1 Lined and Coloured
Shot2: Mid shot of Headmistress and Fern turning in horror as the students transform.
Rough 1 – Shadows not smooth enough when transitioning, going to include more inbetweens.
Shot 2 Lined and Coloured
Shot3: Close up of Headmistress turning to monsters with green glow from staff ready to cast a spell.
Rough 1
Rough 2 – Clean up and timing fixes, added secondary animation with the hair and staff.
Shot 3 Lined and Coloured
Shot4: Wider shot, Headmistress casts a spell at monsters.
Rough 1- Slightly slow, going to speed up some actions
Rough 2 – Held more frames for anticipation
Shot 4 Lined and Coloured
Shot5: Spell hits the fungal creatures but has no effect, monsters shrug it off.
For the spell effect I felt that it was more suitable to use the striaght ahead type of animation so that it flows more naturally and fades naturally as well. I then duplicated the layer, added a colour dodge effect on that ;ayer and blurred to give a glow to the magic.
Rough 1
Shot 5 Lined and Coloured
Shot 6: Side shot of Monster controlling newly turned to go after Headmistress. The trickest shot for me, trying to capture the creepy sudden movement.
Rough 1
Rough 2
Rough 3
I added some students for this scene as the composition didn’t feel complete, and I felt that a visable reaction to the movement of the monsters was a good choice.
Shot 6 Lined and Coloured
Shot 7: Close up of Headmistress of fear and shock. Reused from shot 3.
Rough 1 – too slow, changed timing
Rough 2
Lined and Coloured 1 – Noticed a strange jitter at the start that didnt show before, going back to fix it.
Lined and Coloured 2 – Happy with animation, include simple background
Dark Background test – Headmistress still stands out. Adding background.
Final Shot 7
Full rough animation:
For the sound editing I used a website that Eimear suggested – https://freesound.org/ I layered some sounds, especially for the monster noises so it wouldn’t sound too flat and one dimensional, I tried as well to put in more subtle sounds like the students hitting the floor and a gasp in the last scene. I think adding sound makes a difference, especially when trying to convey a certain mood or atmosphere.
