Narrative - Reflective Statement

Looking back on the last three months it seems apropos to acknowledge the difficulty presented in navigating the pitfalls of group work. Focusing on the positives is the theme here though, and I'm glad to say I feel as if my confidence in myself has been bolstered. I feel as if I have improved on my somewhat 'stop/start' approach to work. But on the whole the pacing, and my pace within the project never faltered. I feel that my own performance in the group marked an improvement on disciplines I had begun to cultivate in the first year, and afforded me a certain sense of progression in terms of my maya skills. I am particularly proud of my rigging and skinning work in this project, since it was the first time I really started to problem solve, with the various and at the time disparate skills learned from the tutorials and from speaking with Alan.

It's been a fruitful experience and further hit home the difficulty of transporting concept art into assets within Maya, developed my skills in writing and visual storytelling - as initially I strived to be almost too literal in the direction I was going - so I'm happy to have produced something with an air of subtlety about it. And essentially, 'making it work' and seeing it come together in the final few weeks has been gratifying, and made the effort expended entirely worth it.

I've always been the sort that has focused on what I can learn from any situation, good or bad, how I can broaden my own skillset from it etc. And I can definitively say that the challenges and successes of this term have given me a lot to reflect upon going forwards.

I'm disappointed that the film remains unfinished as of yet, but I'm confident that the process of getting it to its current state has been a valuable enough experience.

Onwards, right?

Miki Animation Test

Thought I'd play about with a portion of the rig I created over the weekend. Improvements still need to be made to the eyes in particular, I'll use the method outlined in the Poma series of tutorials to better ensure greater control over Miki's face as it seems a bit manic at the moment. But otherwise, it's nice to see him moving!

 

"Pikatti" - Screenplay

So I thought I'd post this here as well as over at the Sugar Cube. Studios blog just to cover all my bases. This script is a response to advice given by Alan in our group meeting last week, taking on board his suggestion to have the Snow Fox put the dog collar on himself.

I'm quite happy with the direction this project is going in, We've got some really nice artwork being created which can be seen on the studio blog, as well as some preliminary soundscapes. All in all, an exciting first few weeks of progress :)

Narrative Project - Story idea

Just thought I'd pop this on here for posterity.

The conflict is "Man vs. Time"

The end sentence is "Nevertheless, they soon came to understand each other".

And the genre is "Spy".


We can hear the lapping of waves, a few random bits of birdsong, A stray dog/cat/squirrel is walking along a riverbank, it notices a young boy walking alone, holding a few items including a sandwich or some sort of food. Being a stray animal it immediately becomes interested and stalks the boy along on his walk (Spy element) the boy gets ahead of the animal and disappears until we hear some sobbing.

The animal presses on further to investigate and it is the boy, sitting down next to the water, holding a tennis ball and a dog collar, the boy is clearly upset, but the animal is still just interested in the food laying next to the boy. The animal sneaks up to the food and tries to get it but the boy notices and shoos him away, before throwing himself further to the floor crying some more. The animal nudges the boy with its nose, the boy moves and we can see his face, upset, in the grips of the grief of losing his dog (Time is personified as grief, and Man is the boy fretting over it). The animal and the boy share a moment as our end sentence either comes up on screen or is narrated.

“Nevertheless, they soon came to understand each other”

The boy and the animal sit and watch over the water, sharing the moment, a moment of stillness, where both of them are content in each others company.

We can hear the lapping of waves, and a few random bits of birdsong.

Fin.