Making my Showreel

After the difficulty i had with the logo i found the showreel much easier, though i still found a lot of pressure to make sure it looked good. I was in a bad mood when making the showreel so i found i was quite negative, and in turn just didn't want to put anything in, but i stuck with it and now i have a showreel i am proud to show.

i wanted my showreel to be bouncy and playful, because thats how i feel my animation is at the moment, so i chose a bouncy and playful song that i felt fit. I tried to edit as on the beat as i could but this proved too difficult to maintain all the way through as some scenes were very short, i was concerned about this initially but i feel like the animation still works well, some elements that werent intentional came out nice as well, such as my guitar shot playing during a small guitar break in the song. I am most happy about my ident, and ending, i wanted to show i was against the flow with my initial ident by making my logo swim away from the other fish. My ending was nice because i used my ppp animation from last year that had a really nice ending anyway, and using it for the ending worked nicely as well as it fades out and i take my creations and walk away with them, leaving my logo for anyone who wants more.

It makes sense, it looks good, and i'm proud of it.

LOGO!

Making a logo was way harder than i thought it was going to be, because i really wanted to make something i could be proud to brand myself under. I initially thought a brain in a jar would work with my initials forming the brain, but the colours i chose were quite gross but i didn't think trying other colours would be worth the effort as i through the shape looked too dumb, so i had to move on. I tried a few other designs as well but none of them really stuck with me. I decided to go simple, all i made this year has been somewhat related to robots or fish, so why not combine the two and make a robot fish. As i was doodling different styles of fish i drew one with a straight spine and an O for a head, when Matt came over after seeing my struggle, wrote my name out, then drew a line through it and made it look exactly like a fish. Matt had saved me. There was still the matter of the way i would present said logo, i tried a few shapes first and decided a slight curve worked well, but i didn't like the digital scribbly texture, so i drew it out again using a few different paints, chalks, pens and pencils and eventually decided on a final texture. I particularly liked logo 7 as it was quite clean with a little bit of texture, but it ended up looking a bit rough rather than textured when shrunk down.

I then designed my final card (after changing all of my social network profile pictures to my new logo) I kept it simple, i didn't use full black as i would print it on black paper, and would most likely look slightly greyer than pitch black.I also used the font Quicksand, which i am a fan of and want to use consistently through my the stuff i produce when social networking. I also kept it to my tumblr blog, and my email to keep it simple and minimalist and straight to the point.

Studio Trigger

Studio Trigger is another time where i've enjoyed something they've created without looking at them any more, then gone back to them again when i realise i've enjoyed some more of their work.

I've never really been able to replicate the anime style, and i havent really found it a problem until now, because i think i've found a studio i'd really enjoy working for. They produce animation that can be enjoyed by adults, thats dynamic and looks cool, and with enough variation that it would constantly be interesting. They nicely tie in the old school american exaggerated style that was popular in the 60s and nicely merges it with the modern Japanese anime aesthetic. The only issue is it isn't my style (though that can easily be worked on) and i don't speak any Japanese, which i feel would be a requirement to work in a Japanese studio.

I'm only 21, theres still a lot of my life left for me to learn Japanese and work there.

~ A E S T H E T I C ~

One this that oscar has heard a lot from me about, its the concept of A E S T H E T I C (That will be the last time i type it like that). It originate from Vaporwave, which a youtube video once told me was all about anti-consumerism and poking fun at consumerism in the 80s and 90s, which then turned into an ironic meme, but my enjoyment stems from the aesthetic of the concept of aesthetic. Let me explain, the concept of aesthetic i enjoy revolves around that 90s style, of bright cyans and magnetas, 90s and 80s imagery and music. Its hard to explain but i will show you some examples, it also ties into retrofuturism, which i enjoy, from steampunk, dieselpunk to now this.

i can't say what particularly draws me to this idea, perhaps its the bright colours, perhaps it personal nostalgia, or perhaps its my fascination with retrofuture concepts, but what i do know is i really love this style, and i definitly want to do something similar in the future.

The Beginners Guide

I got to play the beginners guide the other day, and boy was it a rollercoaster. I've been moving off of the idea of working on video games for a while, so you may wonder why i want to use this opportunity to blog about a game. Well its because it inspired me. It does tell a story, and its a well done story because it involves the narrator is quite a personal way, but in reality it just made me want to make more things. The game revolves around a man who made games, and he simple made them for fun and never showed anyone, the story goes on to show us about a man who then tried to use this for his own personal gratification but the fact that the original character who made said games but never revealed them to the world and only made them for himself was super cool, and i wish i made more stuff for myself as i am often unhappy with the work i produce for others, the happiest i've been was with my Dark animation, which was something i definitly made more for myself than anything else. It also has the minimalist but effective style that undertale had, giving really atmospheric environments which i also really enjoyed.

Super Giant Games

So for our presentation on a studio we wanted to work for i chose SuperGiant Games. I love the games they make, and the style they have, i love the fact they are a small team, and make fun games. I made sure i knew all of the creators names, and where they were based, but i never contacted them, despite that being a requirement for the presentation. I chose to not do this, because i still really have no idea what i want to do, and i don't particularly want to contact people that early on in the year. I can feel you, Mr Reader, shaking your head as you read, and i know it was silly of me not to, but talking to new people was very daunting to me at the time, and i would much prefer knowing exactly where i want to go and what i want to do before i begin contacting people. Besides they are based in California, so its not like i could get out there for an internship any time soon.

Paprika

Paprika.

Let me start over, i watched Tokyo Godfathers a little while ago, and i had heard of other works by Satoshi Kon, i wasn't aware they were all by him. I really enjoyed Tokyo Godfathers its nice story, and the japanese aesthetic makes the cheese of it being a christmas movie easier to deal with, i probably had some kind of problem with orientalism, but it helped me enjoy the film so sue me. Back to the point, i watched an episode of Every Frame a Painting, which is a great youtube channel, which talked about the way Satoshi Kon used transition. it was informative, and interesting, but it reminded me that Paprika was on my watchlist.

I got around to watching Paprika, and boy was it an experience, it was so colourful, and dense, the backgrounds were cool, there was an obese character which is a first in an anime for me, its not really quite as good as the other things i listed but it made a nice change for the genre. But what i really loved was the subject matter itself. I find that the saturation of animations about mental health, particularly on the course, is waaaaay too high, and thats a shame because i quite enjoy it as a subject matter, my final piece in foundation was about mental heath. So why did i like Paprika? It took the subject and looked at it in a new light, well, not really, but it was about the mind which is cool. The whole element of this device for a counsellor to go into your dreams to determine the method of care needed was cool, but it was just the idea of exploring the mind. There's a game that i recently played called Psychonauts (i still haven't finished it but heyho) and the term Psychonaut really speaks to me, an astronauts explores space, a psychonaut explores the mind. Of course theres a bunch of drugs that you can do that with or whatever, but quite frankly the idea of tripping on shrooms for 10 hours doesn't interest me, but the way Paprika explores this idea of psychonauts, in such a beautiful and entertaining way really got to me and i thoroughly enjoyed the film. I definitely want to incorporate more surrealist elements into my work, or at least work on a very surreal project, that is still enjoyable for those that arent pretentious and don't have some kind of degree in psychology.

Undertale

I feel like writing about undertale here is cheating a little bit as i did write a whole paragraph of my essay on it, but it really inspired me as a creative so its probably worth talking about here. Undertale renewed my love for video games. It had stagnated a little over the summer because nothing with a good story peaked my interest, and the games that had were waaaay over my budget, but undertale was not. After the first 3 days of it being released i had heard so many good things i had to give it a try myself and boy was in impressed. At first it just seemed like a cute game, there were lovable characters, puns, everything i could want, all in a small pixilated game. However despite its pixilated nature its detail was what i loved the most, the amount the characters talked and had new things to say to you depending on what you were doing at the time, the music was amazing, and the story was quite meta, which in turn pulled me in even more. Then it reveals that you can play the game again, and some characters in the game are aware of this, which i found quite cool, but it all adds to my own personal love for these characters, and before i knew it i was on the end of my second playthrough, less meta this time, but so much heavier storywise, and i found myself crying after saving my friends. I am not an emotional person, this game means a lot to me. From this point on i had to stop playing, because there is an entire other route the game allows you to play, which is killing everyone, i couldn't do it, not these character that had given me such a strong emotional reaction. But the really amazing part is the fact the game penalizes you so much for doing so, a lot of people genuinly felt terrible for killing these characters, and even at the very end of the game where i thought i had escaped having to face the game for doing horrible things, it even attacks people who went to a youtube video to watch themselves.

So the real question is, why do i love this game, that made me cry, and insulted me for not wanting to kill its characters, well, the way it deals with these characters who have so much personality, with a very minimalist style, and its focus on little things such as the music, and using limited colours to give such a comfy atmosphere, all made by one man, Its exactly the kind of thing i want to make, something so simple and minimalist, so it can be made by one man with perhaps a little bit of help, but still has the groundbreaking effect on the video games industry as a whole. Thats bad ass, and if i can apply anything even like this to my animation career i feel i would have succeeded at one of my life goals, and could just die on the spot happy.

Social Media

Today Martin gave us a talk on social media, it wasn't as helpful as i wanted it to be, the gist of it was "post regularly, and on everything, and maintain a consistent appearance". Though we all became a lot familiar with Martins facebook feed which was fun.

Though the subject was quite dry, and i did have an incling of what i should be doing with regards to social media already, this talk helped reinforce the working practice i know i need to have, and have since began putting more effort into posting regularly.

SWOT

I found the SWOT analysis very very difficult, i am very negative about my own work and about myself, and often rely on other people for gratification, a personal issue that i am working on. So i really had to push myself. This did however help me decide a little more on what i really enjoy doing and what i am good at, It was also nice to read some praise from my peers.

Studi-oo

For the studio brief i got to team up with Oscar. Initially i was quite confused, as i mentioned in my costs of living blog post i don't really understand paying bills, taxes and other dry money related stuff so i struggled a little with working out what we needed. It was quite stressful, and my notes in my notebooks were extensive when working out pricing. We determined that we would hire out a studio so that we wouldn't have to worry about paying bills for our own private property. This information, along with others such as how much an adobe business license costs, a domain name, and contents insurance, along with our own sallery helped us decide on price, that we would need to make 59620 pounds a year, with an initial spending of 12160 pounds for initial equipment including 2 cintiqs, 2 big beefy computer rigs, camera equipment and extra little bits like hard drive, memory cards and lens filters. This all worked out using my expert maths skills that i took out of the attic and blew dust off of, to needing to make 239 pounds a day with 5 weeks off per year, half day saturdays and day off sunday.

I feel like me explaining our actual plan seems a bit silly as when it comes to evaluation you (the examiner) will probably have the presentation anyway so i will cease to explain from this point. If you do want catching up its as simple as; We're based in yorkshire, about 5 other studios are our direct competition (as in they would produce very similar work to us) our demographic for producing animation would be 18-25 year olds but we would be used by companies that need to reach out to that demographic. We would maintain a large amount of creative control, and sell ourselves on idea generation so we have more control.

I had a lot of fun making this studio, Oscar is by far one of my favorite people to work with on the course, he keeps professional in order to most effectively work, while still keeping room for a bit of fun and a pub trip after a hard days work of maths. I also feel like we compliment each other creatively, and by the end of the project i was quite sad that we weren't actually going to working in a studio like Studi-OO together like this. Though i wouldn't want to be thrown into forming my own studio without some work experience under another studio beforehand, i feel like our working relationship would be a recipe for success.

Costs of Living

Today we filled out a Costs of Living calculator, which was quite scary to really see how much living costs, and i feel like a definitely underestimated the amount i spend on certain items. I also realized how little i know/understand about taxes, but quite frankly at this moment in time i find to very depressing to think about. I understand that it will be essential for the future, but for the moment i want to focus on making cool stuff.

I also discovered today that i need to listen to Martin less, as his outlook on the animation industry is very dry and negative, with very little creative focus, and it gets me down, because as a tutor and a professional in the field he is the closest representation of what the industry is like as he works in the middle of it along side tutor-ing at uni, and i find it incredibly depressing.

Barry Purves

A little while ago Barry Purves came in to explain his work and his creative method. I found it to be a very informative and inspirational talk. I had a chance to talk to Barry Purves at MAF before he presented the awards, though at the time i had no idea of who he was or the kind of work he produced, and we ended up talking about twitter and social networking, which was quite funny. When he came in to college to give us the talk it was much more formal. He first showed us Plume, a short film he had created. It was really inspiring the ammount of passion and drive he had for his projects, explaining every little detail, which i've been finding that i've slowly been losing. He also talked about his Tchaikovsky film which again was filled with so much passion and love for animation that it rubbed off on me and reminded me why i've gotten in to this line of work in the first place.

Overall i was very inspired, though i still don't want to become a stop motion animator, i feel i can apply some of the more important elements of his love for animation to my own work.

Animation At MAF

While i was quite busy with my photography and greeting duties at MAF i did also get the oppertunity to sit in some very interesting showings and speakers. Some of my favorites were Tom Moore, Tim Searl, and the showing of Bob Godfrey's Great.

Tom Moores talk really inspired me, i hadn't had any encounters with cartoon saloon before his talk, and after seeing the unique hand painted with digital drawing over the top i was feeling very inspired. I definitly want to impliment more watercolours and textures into my animation. I also loved the fact that the studio struggles with perspective so they pretty much don't use it, which really spoke to me because i struggle so much with perspective myself.

Tim Searl didn't inspire me so much, and to be honest i believe his talk it where my distaste for UK animation began, but it was very entertaining, and despite it not inspiring me it was nice to see how an animator begins and develops through his working like, understanding methods of moving on from failed projects.

Bob Godfrey's great was really interesting to watch because i have always enjoyed history, so seeing a british animation from 40 years ago and having some experts talking about how it was made, and why and stuff. it was cool.

Volunteering at Manchester Animation Festival (Go Yellowshirts)

In november i got the oppertunity to work as a volunteer at MAF. I was there as a digital volunteer, meaning as well as greeting people at the door and around the HOME building, i was also tasked with photographing people around the festival. There was a multitude of reasons for me choosing to do this, so i'm going to put them in a good old bullet point format for you all to easily understand my experience:
- Got to go to MAF for free
despite being quite busy and not seeing all i wanted to see, i still got the chance to experience and enjoy the festival and some of the shown animations. I shall make another seperate post about this.
- Made some good Contacts
Though i feel i wasn't as professional as i could have been i still made some good contacts through MAF. Most of these were other volunteers and are simple sat as facebook friends at the moment, but the fact that the inital contact has been made means that i have a good chance for collaberation in the future.
- Helped me with my professional confidence
Having only worked as a laborour I really had no idea how to handle a roll that needed me to talk to people, be a leader and really maintain my profesionality for a long period of time. MAF really helped me get an understanding of how to talk to people as if i were in a shop or bar or something.
- Gave me more experience at working with strangers
Animators are incredibly odd. Meaning that sometimes they can be difficult to be around and/or work with, however MAF helped give me practice and showed that i have to ability to work with festival goers regardless of if they are a bit difficult or not
- Gave me an oppertunity to use my creative abilities as part of a job
Apart from the informal "i have a friend who has a job for you for £50"i have never done any kind of professional artist work, so, despite it being photography, which is a skill i feel i dont really need to develop much as an animator, it was nice to finally have a professional job that revolves around my creative skills. I still need to work on my own confidence and positivity in my work, but otherwise i was proud to have some photographs up on a website, like a proper professional.
- Helped me understand the work that goes in to organising a festival
I've had a hand in organising shows for college and school in the past, but this gave me a real eye opener for the kinds of things that need to be organised for a festival, which has been an idea of mine in the past to get more people in to animation, not any time soon but potentially further down the road of my career.
- Made me realise how much foot blisters hurt
it goes without saying, walking from home to leeds station, then from the station to the festival, then back again after a full day of running around takes its toll.


I was incredibly nervous, which took its toll, i didn't eat the the first day, and i was too ill to come in the second day, and i have beat myself up a little for this, however i do feel like i would be more prepared for another job like this in the future. And looking back it was an extremely fun experience. I will definitly be applying to do it again next year!

 (The Team)

(a photo from Praveens facebook of us after the award ceremony and the posters signed by people such as Tom Moore and Joanna Quinn)