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So ye i've been thinking about my project and thinking about where i want to take it, im still doing the dive animation idea but im changing the way i planned to present my animation.

I have been looking at music options for my animation and i have landed on the choice of French Accordion music, specifically Ambiance musettienne

Sample - Ambiance Musettinne

I think this is a lovely peace of music and takes me to Paris every time i listen to it, it just has the right sound and feel to it.

So as i said i have changed my idea slightly, the music choice has a lot to do about it. as i have picked a French peace of music i will be making the animation a french circus animation now, this will involve little in the way of changing things that i have already done but i will have to change to way i was planning on up and coming things.

I will also be using a film noir style on my animation now, taking from the silent movies and incorporating the black cards that where using in the silent movies



Before i can really go ahead with this i will have to talk it over with Chris and see if he thinks it will work at all and if i will be taking on more then i can handle but i feel that i should be able to do it as i wont have to worry about texturing since its b/w and i will be able to use that time on researching the silent film style.

also i will be trying to take some reference from Stan Laurel when it comes to the emotions put across from my character.

here is an example of what i mean.



Also a collection of Stan Laurel's Boo-Hoo fits.....hope you enjoy.
YouTube Link - Stan Laurel Boo-Hoo!

anyway till next time keep well.

Well today was my 5th meeting with Chris about the FYP, with Chris having a meeting for Animex sprung on him at the last minute he was about 45 mins late to our meeting but he made up for it when the meeting started.

This week was a group meeting, well that was the idea anyway...at the time the meeting was meant to start there was a total 4 people waiting (including myself)and there are i believe that there are 6 people in his group so it wouldn't have been a true group meeting anyway, sadly 2 of the people there at the start had to leave by the time Chris had gotten there so it ended up being just like a normal meeting (number of people wise).

Anyway as i said when the meeting started it was a great thing, Chris brought in a load of reports and animations, effects, drawing and other projects from previous years.

We had a look through the boxes and pulled out the ones that we felt would be a great asset to us and would help us in our own projects.

Looking at there work i found so many things that i didn't think of when doing my project and thinking about what path in my work i should take, one of my biggest worries has been the Viva at the end of the year where i present my work in front of a selection of mentors and im really dreading it but thanks to this look at other work i can see what i need to include and what i need to im prove on.

Next meeting i believe is a standard meeting where we talk about where we are in the projects and what we hope to have finished by the end of the month.

so until my next update, keep well.

Well it was bad news today, the planned group meeting was canceled due to other commitments that Chris had.

Since Chris couldn't do it today he did say that he would rearrange the meeting for next week where we can all meet each other and look at the work from last year and the reports that went with the work.

I feel this will help me out a load as well as the others in the group as it gives the chance to see what level the work needs to reach for us to get the marks we require or are aiming for.

Well, i have contacted Chris to let him know that any time is great for me (any time and day really).

anyway thats it for this update i hope to have more soon.

Today i had my 3rd weekly meeting with Chris and we discussed my Project Specification, he said that everything was ok with it but it would be better if i was to add a schedule on it so now i have added a rough one that i will do my best to keep to. I have added a little slack on it so that if i take longer or shorter then it should be it wont effect my other projects.

I have added the dates to the post i made yesterday and you can see the revisions to it HERE.

I do wish that i had had more time to talk to him about my project but since there was another student there there wasn't much time left after Chris has talked to him.

The next meeting is meant to be a group one and we are going to be meeting each other for the first time and also getting to see what the students from last year did and what is classed as a fail, a pass and an A*.

For the meeting today i did manage to get my Storyboards partly done to show him, sadly though i didn't really get to show him and talk about them as much as i would have liked to.

My next step is to nail down the design of my character and hopefully get the character looking right in the portrait as well as profile.

I have manged to get the proportions for the character sorted its just hard to get the face looking right.

Well i guess thats all for this post but i do hope you keep checking back soon for more updates.

Laterz

As Chris has yet to get back to me about my Project Spec (understandable with him being busy) i though i would post it up on the blog now and see what you all think about it.

I have a meeting with him tomorrow so i will talk to him about it then and then submit it to the Project Site that we all have to submit to.

Title: The Dive
Name: Ashley Stringer
Student Number:
e-Mail:
Project Type: A3D
Website: http://thedive-animation.blogspot.com

Idea
A a young man has just started a new job at a circus as a high diving act but he is very nervous about the prospect of a 60 foot dive and and this courses climbing the tall ladder to become a problem, to top all this off he soon discovers that he has a fear of highs but this can't stop him from doing his act as he needs the job and he can't afford to lose it over a silly little fear.

Setting The Scene
Starts on a image of a poster showing that there is a new act and what the act is, this will be a Victorian style using influences from the Presto Short (Pixar) for placement of images and text style. The camera will then zoom out to reveal the environment of a circus and the poster will be at the foot of the swimming pool, surrounding the area will be sideshows, popcorn stand, ice cream stand, test your strength machine, big top tent, showman caravan and other features of a circus environment. Once the environment has been established by the audience the camera will start to move up the ladder of the diving board until it gets to the performer trying to climb, we see that he is nervous and is having trouble trying to fight his fears and his body from stopping him doing it. as he continues to climb the fears and the nervousness gets stronger and harder to fight but he struggles on and manages to reach the top but he starts to wish that he hadn't.

Research Into The Idea
For reference footage i have looked at other animations such as Presto and Hot-Dog Circus and movies the likes of Freaks and Vertigo.
For visual style i have looked at things from Tim Burton and certain students of Animation Mentor and Gobelins Animation School.
Due to my lacking knowledge in modelling, texturing and rigging i have researched into how to tackle these sections in the production.

Specification
The animation will be 3D and made using Softimage XSI 6.5 and will be something between 1-2 minutes. It will be focused on the character animation rather than rendering and modeling but if time allows it focus will be switched to rendering and modeling as well as long as the animation is finished and to a standard that I feel is good enough to get me the grade I aspire to. After talking with my mentor we have agreed that the animation will be the deciding factor in my hand-in so we have agreed on a 4000 word report to hand-in.

Essentials
•An animation showing a man reacting to his fears and anxieties.
•A believable performance from the character.
•A model of the environment and the props used by character.
•A character model and rig that can be used for other characters in the scene (universal rig).

Action plan:
(Building the scene)
1.Design the characters and environment.
2.Model the environment and props.
3.Model the character head and body in a way that clothing can be textured on.
4.Texture characters, props and environment.
5.Rig characters using an advanced rigging setup.

(Animation)
1.Use recorded acting footage from green screen room as reference.
2.Block out main poses and movements.
3.Ensure timing of animation is correct using a quick capture.
4.Once the blocking is finalized start doing animation passes until it is finished
5.With the main performance done repeat the process with the secondary characters and props in the scene.

Schedule (date showing is the start date of these production section)
• Concept Design - October
• Modelling Of Environment & Characters - November
• Texturing & Rigging - December
• Blocking - January
• Second Pass - February
• Polish - March

Well back to the storyboards.

Well i manged to get hold of Chris at the end of my lesson today to go over the images and get some feedback, he suggested that i change the Big Top a little as at the moment it doesn't look very much like one so that is what i have done, the new image is in the Image section under the "Renders Of Scene Objects".

As well as talking about the images i mentioned the ending for the animation that u had came up with during class and although i didn't get the same reaction as i did from one of my class mates (Hemin Rasul) i feel he did see the element of humor to it, i will go over this when him more on Friday as that is when the next meeting will be held.

As i am still having some problems with my character design for this project i will be taking my drawings in with me in hope that he will be able to suggest what i can do with what i have and where i can take them design wise.

Also as my Project Specification is due in on Friday i have just finished that and sent it off to Chris in hope that it will be ok and i will be able to submit it as if i can't i dont know how i will be able to improve on it anymore then i already have on there at the moment, if it can be improved i hope that he put on the email what it is that i need to add to it to make it better and i will be lost otherwise.

Once i get the go ahead with the Specification and the ending is worked out i will post an update on here with all the information about it so stay tuned.

Well thats all for now, just a quick update about the project and where it is going, now to go do my storyboards (ruff ones) so i will talk to you all again soon.

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So as you can see i have more images uploaded to the image section of the site, i haven't yet got around to organizing the storyboards of script yet but i will be working on that tomorrow and hoping to come up with some cool ideas.

The main problem i am having with the script is how to finish it, i get as far as the character jumping off the diving board and then i get stuck. I will bring this up with Chris in the next meeting and hopefully we will be able to work something about together.

I will be uploading my moodboards as they are created as well so keep an eye out for them but if you want to get informed about my updates via email so not to have to come back and check all the time you can do so by click on the Email Subscription link at the top right of the page....or click here

Till next time peeps ^_^

Sadly due to unforeseen circumstances this weeks meeting had to be canceled but Chris will be available next week with a little luck and i will be able to talk to him about my project then.

Until then i will work on my models and moodboards and if i have the time a little more on the script.

I will upload the images as they are created, to view them please click on "Images" from the top navigation bar.