Well this has always been long overdue for being uploaded onto this WordPress site, so here you are! This is my 2012 Winter Presentation Reel. At the end of the Christmas teaching period, we were asked to create presentations which we could show to each of the first, second, and third year animators as well as both of our tutors: Domanic Li (http://domanicli.wordpress.com/) and Gareth Sleightholme (http://apopheniainc.wordpress.com/). This was so that we could get assessed on our presentation skills, as well as giving and receiving feedback amongst our peers regarding our work, improvements which could be made, and pieces of our reels which people particularly enjoyed. We weren’t required to make a video, but it was a suggestion made by the tutors.
I organized each segment of my show reel in chronological order of when each project was individually started. Within each segment, I included all concept sketch and artwork, animation tests, phonetic frames, notes and all other pieces of contributory work. I presented alongside each part, offering commentary on each stage of development I went through until getting to the finished article. I answered any questions people had, pausing and playing the video whenever appropriate.
I also included extra segments such as competition work, commission work, and event attendance. This was to display the range of activities I had gotten up to over the first half of the course of the academic year. I wanted to show the tutors and other attendees of the presentation that I had gone out of my way, of simply just sticking to coursework and not doing anything else, and found competitions and events which I could attend and gain inspiration and learn from.
I added music to each segment which I felt captured the mood / complimented each topic. I added basic bog-standard edit effects on any pictures or photos included, so that those parts of the presentation were not rendered stale and boring. Some of the music choices and edits were well met by my peers, as well as certain topics of work and particular pieces of coursework, so all in all, it was a good 20 minute presentation I should think!
So in order of appearance, here are all the topics and assignments covered in the show reel:
Documentary / Non-Fiction Assignment
Design Against Fur
Movember
4 Word Challenge
Fat Norman
Events Humber Street Sesh The R.T.S Yorkshire Student Awards Thought Bubble Festival
Client-Based Practice / Client-Related Practice
Competition
Commission Work Spring Awakening Alestorm Caprigor The Raving King
The other day, as part of our Client Related Practices assessments, we had to present our CULT CINEMA SUNDAY progress to our tutor Dom. This was done for multiple reasons, the main and pivotal one being to help us observe and reflect upon how we act and present ourselves when doing a presentation, and how we could improve upon it. One thing in particular which I noticed about myself during my presentation, is that I fidget with my hands a lot. Also, i committed quite a bad error, in not introducing myself to the “client’ (which was played in this video by the camera). Otherwise I got some quite positive feedback from both my tutor and my peers from my class. Having used to have a lot of confidence issues, this makes me feel quite good!
At the end of the video, you see a clip of my “Blues Brothers Car Chase” animation test which I completed the other week, with the help of my classmate Alex and my tutor Dom. It looked quite good on the big screen, though not very well represented by the lighting in the video below or the camcorder quality. Regardless, it was quite interesting to see my animation on screen at that size. Usually when I see my pieces in that format, it spurs me on to create more, thinking things such as “Aww man, that would look awesome on a large scale.”.
No doubt there will be more practice presentations such as these in the future. I look forward to seeing how my presentation skills develop in the next academic year, and no doubt i will be keeping updates about them on here for you all to read and watch!
Here is my wonderful classmate Alex (http://mrteaandcreamcrumpets.wordpress.com/) during a session at University during the week. He was commissioned to create a Movember based MLP parody, and so far it is looking sublime! He is a great guy to work with, and has a real flare for putting humor into his pieces. He’s promised to give me a few pointers in using Flash, and has agreed to help me with background design on any future animations which I create. What a guy!
For part of our second year at University, we will go through the process of researching, planning, and creating a Documentary / Non-Fiction animation piece. In order to achieve this goal, I will be researching various subjects and topics which could be useful towards choosing a final concept. This will require an adequate amount of time and dedication in order to make this piece a successful one. Whilst we aren’t required to fully complete an entire video, it is strongly advised that we get at least an adequate amount done. I am sincerely looking forward to starting this project properly, when the next semester rolls around.
At present, I am intending to do something animal based, or perhaps an interview piece. These ideas were inspired by animation television shows such as “Creature Comforts” (Aardman) and “The Ricky Gervais Show”.
The format in which creature comforts is made is utterly fantastic. I will do a follow up post which shows in depth research into the process by which the series is made, its creators, and its humble beginnings. I just love how the artists create the designs for the characters, purely through listening to the pre-recorded clips of the interviewees. I might make an attempt at something similar, purely for practice purposes with lip syncing.
Likewise, I will make a blog post with information and research about “The Ricky Gervais Show”, which came from humble internet beginnings, and has turned into a massively popular venture. This style of non-scripted opinion-based talk show is not only amusing to listen to, but also gives us an clever take on how people perceive different aspects of life and interact with each other. I am a big fan of the show – but personally don’t much care for the actor / comedian Ricky Gervais. As is the case with many people, I watch it for the commentary by Karl Pilkington.
I have been looking a little bit into propaganda animations from Communism, and Democracy, to the Disney films of World War II, which emphasised their point in a very biased manner. As well as the infamous “Der Fuehrer’s Face” (1942) cartoon, in which we see Donald Duck as a German Soldier, there are the much darker, heavier pieces which also portrayed Nazism. “Education for Death” (1943) was a Walt Disney produced film, which was based on a non-fiction book of the same name. Because it was under government contract, it was made to show a very biased, albeit offensive, depiction of the Germans. The film is rarely shown on public broadcast because of this, but is available for viewing on the “Walt Disney Treasures: On the Front Lines” DVD released in 2004.
I will do several animation tests which correspond with any ideas I come up with for a subject – most of which will most likely consist of pencil tests and animatics. Of course, there will be plenty of sketchbook notes and doodles which will come along with the research of the subjects and for the initial animations.
I’m looking forward to learning some new information whilst taking part in this assignment. At the suggestion of our tutors, we should look into a subject which we don’t know much about. Not only will we be expanding our knowledge, but we will also benefit from looking at new alternatives of research. We will most likely stay much more interested in a new subject, rather than regurgitating the same information over and over again. Getting bored is a definite inhibitor to the creative process, and we don’t want that now, do we?
A fascinating variation on informative non-fiction animation, is the style of the videos by “RSA Animate”. The format for these videos are a literal translation of the phrase “illustrating thr point”. They take recorded lectures by different figures in politics and education, and through the power of hand-drawn animation and “After Effects”, create videos which display the speakers point. Best of all, whilst keeping the interest of the viewer through stylised imagery, intelligible subjects are discussed, and something is therefore learned. My favorite video from this series, is probably “RSA Animate – Changing Education Paradigms”, because it has a mild humor to it, and touches upon important outlooks on children and how they thrive and fail within certain learning environments.
Recently, the French art school Gobelins has released a small series of videos on Youtube which touch upon subjects such as faith, corruption, slavery, illiteracy, life and death. They are all featured in the “Dessins Pour La Paix / Cartooning For Peace” series, which is available to watch on the official Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/gobelins. One from the series which particularly captured my interest, was “Our Father” (2012) because of the sinister undertone in contrast to its light-hearted visual style.
“Matches” (2012) is a cinematic portrayal of the feuding between Irish citizens in Belfast during the 1970s. One thing in particular about the animations produced by this School of Art, is that for the most part, proper dialogue is not used. This makes the animations universally understandable, and so can be enjoyed by people from a multitude of different countries.
“The Line” (2012) shows an abstract representation of the ongoing conflict between Unionists and Republicans. Depicting the two warring sides as bizarre creature-like beings is obviously a nod towards the almost animalistic nature of the violence which occured at the time in which it was most rampant.
One animation which I have come across recently, which really stood out and got me thinking, was “Is It Love?” (2011). This is an awareness film created by Royal College of Art graduate Em Cooper. It is created using a technique of using oil paint on glass. The film was commissioned by ADVA and Devon County Council (See the webpage here: http://www.devon.gov.uk/domestic_violence).
The testimonies heard in the film were real life accounts of violence suffered by local women. The strongly expressive paint strokes and stylised characters within the animation really bring home the awfulness of the subject that the film is about. Visual style is something I will have to take into account when I decide on a topic.
I will have a look at some more documentary animations which are available, and post any outstanding finds I come across on here in due course. Now, I am going to try and narrow down my options of what I will base my project on, and keep you all informed as I intend to go along.
I was asked today by my tutors, to pull all of the videos together from this semester, so that I can show them all later in a presentation at University. It’s strange to think that I’ve done so much more in this semester, as opposed to the last. In all honesty, I thought the first semester was incredibly difficult (but fun, nonetheless). This semester has been much more work intensive, but all in all so much more fun to take part in. You can see throughout all of these videos how I’ve developed – and I’m already thinking about summer projects to start working on during the break!
AbbieSTABBY 