Week 20/21 - Burning out and Finishing Up

Between the 10/12 hour work days, family problems, technical issues, bad mental health and coronavirus I feel so mentally and physically done. I accepted a while ago that I wasn't going to get the film finished before the deadline. So I decided to focus on doing a vertical slice. But with less than 6 days until submission, I don't think I'll be able to even finish that. Plus, to be honest my heart's not in it anymore. As Dotty has said, I'm not an animator I'm a visual development artists taken this project for me to really realise that. I still have the art book left to finish and I still have to composite and edit together everyone's roughs. I also have to edit the music and catch up/finish my blogs. So I have decided to focus on making those as good as they can be. 

So I know a teeny tiny bit about music theory. (Mostly from YouTube tutorials and film music breakdowns) Not enough to say do that, this way but enough to give directions to Mitch to guide him on what I want. So I asked Mitch for a piano melody. We did experiment with a more orchestral sound but I decided a piano would be a better fit as I imagine that's what would be available in Ellie's school. I initially wanted notes that didn't fully resolve themselves so it would have a more floaty feel. Mitch sent me over a couple of piano sketches. We where quite behind schedule at this point so decided on a combination of our favourite ones. (As opposed to coming up with another iteration) However after playing around with different edits I for that I was only able to really use the last minute or so of the original. It still fits well with the animation. Although I still had to adjust the volume and pitch in certain areas as they where a bit low.

Editing the roughs
I initially thought this would be simple but as I got going things started to go wrong. Fist I realised a whole chunk of animation was missing. The small leaps that Tisa did the effects for. I wrongly assumed that it would look fine with just the effects since they sort of hug her body, she keeps her form really well. But then I matched them up with the sauce video and fist of all they sort of do, but it's so floaty and rough that you can't really tell what's happening and secondly she didn't do any effects for the 2nd small leap so there was just nothing there. I had to go in and draw some more roughs so that it would make sense. Tisa did it in 24 fps. I'm not sure weather I'll keep it like that but that's how I did it. I exported it in both 24 and 12fps.  

Here's the additional animation i have had to do 

Here is the fist cut of the animation with the music. I wont have time to finish it properly before the deadline. But I will continue to work on it afterwards. I am very stubborn and I WILL get this finished. 

Week 19 - Art book

Art book
I was unable to download indesign due to technical difficulties. So I had to make my art book in another program. Which really sucks because I know it's look so much better in InDesign and it's an industry standard program. But at this point I don't have the time or energy trolling through the internet to look for fixes or work around. So anyway, I have made some designs specifically for the art book but also for the visual developer in me that wants to finally be free. I created a theatre for Ellie to perform in. It is partially basses on the comic I made. I was going for an art deco style. It's the first time I've ever done a background where I've had to consider different angles. I really wanted to push myself. Although I definitely won't have time to colour it before the deadline, I probably will afterwards.

 I also made some custom typography. It's based in rage italic but I joined all the letters up and made it a bit more swirly. I also made a watercolour style background

I also re did some of the comic pages here's what they looked like before 

And after

Week 18 - Vertical slice, Compositing everyone's roughs

This week I have started my vertical slice. Carla did the roughs so I'm just doing the clean up, line work and colouring. However, her roughs are really rough so there is still a lot of guess work. I'm aiming to get everything cleaned up my the end of this week. Then the line work and colouring will start next week.

I've had some technical difficulties with my computer. Photoshop kept crashing saying there wasn't enough ram. I found a work around by dedicating 100% of my 8GB to run Photoshop. Then disabled all unnecessary functions from running when Photoshop was. I cleared the scratch disk and completely formatted my desktop just to be safe. But this took the entire afternoon because of trail and error which was a pain. Photoshop is still running slow. Having over 300 layers probably isn't helping. But at least it's not crashing. I could of just brought more ram but i'm trying not to spend money at the moment. I know this wasn't an entirely relevant paragraph to add in but it gives context and sustenance to the blog.

I struggled to keep things consistent. Like her hair bob and face shape.

I struggled with the curtains. I had to re do them a couple of times because I was making stupid, silly mistakes. Like not considering the way that they'd fall properly. It looked really warped the first time, the second looked to mechanical. Even now it's glitches. I'm still not happy with the result. But I've ran out of time to fix it.

I asked the tutors for feedback. Ben has said that the left hand looks too small. Something which I noticed as well but it is just how she is pushing the curtain away. He also said that there should be more follow through on the hair side burns. I agree but I don't know if I'll have time to fix this.

Overall this week has been a bit of a pain to get through

What went well?
The animation is smooth (duh its rotoscoped)
I was able to identify and correct my own mistakes. 

What could be going better?
I really need to get faster at just everything in general. Like i know most if my slowness is down to my processing disorder but i should really push myself harder to be faster. 

Updated - Extended Practice Proposal

Aside from a deep desire from within to tell stories, I want to become a better and more competent storyteller. I want to create my own short film because I want a portfolio of work that demonstrates that I can communicate a visual story idea efficiently and effectively as I want to do a master’s degree in visual communication. I would also like to peruse visual development and background painting as this is something, I also have a strong interest in.

For my extended practice film, I want to create an experimental/art-film-style, animated music video which will explore the relationship between dancers and their mental and physical health. It will be rotoscoped in 12fps .It will be inspired by the art styles of Will Kim, Shishi Yamazaki, Michaël Dudok de Wit and Isao Takahata I have done some tests and I also have a rough idea of what I want the dance to look like. In order to get realistic movement and accurate character performance I want to rotoscope the dancer. I would also like see how far I can push rotoscoping as a medium, using it to aid the animation. But not relying on it for the animation. As rotoscoping takes longer than traditional animation the duration of the music video will be no longer than 1 minute. I will aim to have 14 seconds of animation done a week based on the assumption that I will be able to animate 2 seconds a day. The music video will have a loose narrative which will be a continuation of the narrative that I started in cop. The narrative/ synopsis; It is Elie's first year at dance school. As she progresses through school she deals with feeling of paranoia and anxiety. She also develops an unhealth body image. The end of year performance is coming up and her teacher is assigning roles. She wants to make an impact but is cast as a background dancer. Her friends gather around her to offer support. Moved by this her teacher offers her a solo part. Which she accepts. Her performance is a summary of her first year. The music video will be the performance. I will be collaborating with students from Leeds College of Music and students from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Ava is the storyboard artist on my project. I will be doing the bulk of the animation. In addition to this I will also have 2 more animators working on the project. Tisa will be also doing all the transitional/special effects animation. So, things like adding wings or bursting into feathers. I will also be helping on Kats project, working with her on the script and the backgrounds in order for her to produce the set for her stop motion film. .

Weeks 14/15/16/17 - Just animating, nothing exiting

So I don't feel as though I have anything interesting or exiting to say about my work, I literally just been animation these past 4 weeks, so I've merged them into one blog post to save me repeating myself. I managed to get 7  seconds done in week 14 and 5 done in week 15. The animation needs to be more consistent. there are a couple of things wrong with the animation I was working on. I got 6 done in week 16 and the same in week 17, which means i am almost some with my portion of the roughs  Mostly  the hands and the face change too much. Her top knot/bun? moves around too much.I could spend more time getting it to look right but that feels as though it's a luxury I don't have at the moment. The deadline is less than a month away and I've not even finished the roughs yet let alone the clean up, colouring and editing. 

I should ask for more help but everyone is busy with there own projects. I've considered asking external people, like those on the animation groups on Facebook but I find it really difficult sometimes to ask for help. Kat has had to drop out of animating here scenes because of personal reasons. So I have asked Carla to do her roughs, which she has agreed to do. 


My internet is horrible. So I'm struggling to attend online sessions. For the most part I have been emailing the tutors but it isn't the same as face to face but i have managed to finish all 4 of my live briefs, this has taken up the majority of my time but i am glad they are out of the way now so that i can commemorate on my main project.  

What went well?
I have had a relatively productive couple of weeks in comparison to last 

What could be going better?
Life
I continue to struggle with setbacks, although i am pushing myself really hard to overcome these. No pain. No gain. 

weeks 12/13 Coronavirus Impact, Cancelled Projects and Some Animation

Me and kat where in the middle of shooting something for the sustainability award. It would've gone towards our live briefs. But the virus forced the uni to close suddenly. So all of our work is just sat in the stop motion studios so we can't work on it anymore. I was also collaborating with her on another of her projects. I would have been doing some animation on after effects. I would've had to use the university computers as my computer hates after effects, it's constantly crashing. But it's all shut now so I can't. Heres what i managed to salvage before the uni shut 

I have been continuing to animate. The anxiety of my family getting corona virus has been effecting my concentration. (My dad's considered at risk because of his age and asthma)  I've only been able to do 4 seconds of roughs this week. Corona virus has really kicked my butt. I've been working on roughs mostly the beginning of the 3rd sequence where she collapses and gets back up again. I've not much so far. 

On a more positive note. Tisa made some tests to see how the wings should be for the end bit. Overall I am really pleased with them. I gave her some constructive feedback. I thought they should be less pointy and more swan like.

What went well this week?

• I survived

What could be improved?

• Need to pick up the speed and do more animation

Set Dressing For Kats Project

Set dressing on kats project
So I helped kat dress her set briefly. I don't know if this is really big enough to make its own post about. But anyway. She made the books and the toys. I helped her a little with the furniture, but not much. I was mostly there to give input on where I thought things should go so that they fitted the character and narrative.

She originally wanted everything in the child's bedroom to be neat. But it's a child's bedroom. It's going to be messy. I put the toys on the floor and made the books crooked as though a child had been reading them but hadn't put them away properly. Same with the toys.  This is relevant to my practise of i want to go into background design i need to know how backgrounds can inform the narrative. 

What Went Well?

• I used the stuff i had learnt from professionals, during pp to inform my decisions
• i liked how the set turned out overall

What Could Be Improved?

• The tree could have really been closer up against the wall especially the branches. They don't look strong enough to hold the weight of those books
• We had problems getting the walls to line up properly and stay in place. In the end we ended up using half a roll of masking tape to hold everything together. 

29/04/2020 - Stuff Still Left To Do

• around 20 seconds of roughs 
• all clean up
• all colouring

RIP

Live Briefs - CDC Doctors and Nurses and The YCN Brief *

The NHS CDC
With this CDC I tried to create a vapour wave aesthetic with this theme. this was a challenge for me because I had never done anything like this before. It's also rare that I actually draw people with realistic proportions. The hands look really awkward, but at least I was brave enough to actually attempt to do them this time.

He's supposed to be an optometrist. But I gave him gloves. I'm not sure if they wear gloves. He's also wearing a hair net  I just didn't want to draw his hair  but again, I'm not sure if they actually wear hair nets. I also attempted to add the folds in his trousers. This is something I usually struggle with, so I avoid it.

So I should've done more research. But I did really push myself out of my comfort zone with this project.  

(read the eye test)






What went well?

• I pushed myself really far our of my comfort zone
• I tried drawing hands for once
• I like the colour scheme, it has an appealing athletic 

What could be improved?

• I'm not happy with the lighting, it could be more refined. 
• I'm not happy with the composition, it's not very dynamic

YCN UK Greetings
I designed a set of greetings cards and gift packaging. I themed both sets around origami/geometric characters. The shapes are simple, so that children can relate to them, but they are also aesthetic. So teenagers and adults can enjoy them too. I kept the designs consistent by creating a master sheet of all the origami characters. I chose to aim the designs primarily at children so that the illustrations six be considered family friendly. Family friend is  bit of a buzz phase at the moment. So I think it'll resonate with the card designers and YCN judges.

YCN and UK greetings have run this brief through YCN before. I was able to find and look at past entrants work. Most had 3D mock ups of there work. So I decided that I'd do the same. I'm not very good at Maya or blender or really and 3D softeners. But I'd heard of a program called Adobe Dimensions which allows you to put your designs onto 3D models if you don't have much 3D experience. I spent about 3 days learning it. Then applied my designs to the 3D models. I submitted design bored with all of the designs on them including the 3D mock ups, I also labelled each one.

What went well?

• I learned a new 3D software
• I created a set of designed that I can now use in my portfolio regardless whether I win or not
• Time management wise, this project went well and I was able to submit my work to YCN on time.

What didn't go so well and what needs to be improved?

• I really struggled with the colouring/shading. On one hand I wanted it to look really illustrative on the other I had to think about time and that I was doing all the work myself. I think I found an okay balance between them but I wasn't able to keep it consistent. So some of the designs look more finished than others.
• The illustrative style took to long and it didn't have the desired effect.

* Can't put up finished project up yet because the competition is yet to announce the winners.

Week 11 - Finally Animating! Yay

Finally animation I'm planning on doing (roughly) 14 seconds of roughs per week. Ben has suggested looking at this style https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa1dROZBgfo

I re-recorded some scenes because I was not satisfied with the outcome.  The ballet dancer’s moves were too basic, so I had to go back to her and explain in more detail what I wanted to achieve. Unfortunately, the ballet dancer was not available for a week, which put the project behind.  Finally, together we managed to work out a sequence which was closer to what I initially wanted.

My tutor gave me constructive feedback, which I found useful and acted on. On editing the video of the dancer, I looked at how each move could transition from one move to the next move.  I made an instruction video for everyone, which explained the different transitions that were needed. I also made a separate instruction sheet with the brush sizes and the brush settings, which were well received.

When I began animating I asked everyone what they could do and they then asked what they were expected to do. From this, I made a plan which we all managed to adhere to and which worked out well. For this week, I feel I had a lot of time to reflect on what I actually needed from the dancer and that worked out well - I was able to get the footage that I needed. I felt I managed the set-backs well. If this had happened in week 4, when I was feeling down, I don’t think I would have handled it in the same way.

What went well?

• Had a relatively productive week 
• I feel as through im getting back on track, just a little 
• I was also able to react positively to constructive criticism. 
• Communicating with the dancer went well we developed a good working relationship, which resulted in a successful outcome.

What could be improved?

• I could have done more work on my live briefs this week. I did do a little but not as much as I had hoped

Week 9/10 - Finding a new dancer, finally recording, live brief update

This week we finally managed to get a dancer to perform for us. We (me and Kat) spent tireless nights in the computer room trying to come up with dance moves that made sense that would look good in front of the camera. On one hand this was good because we could then go in on Thursday  and be more confident about what we wanted however at the same time it kind of stifled us because we’re not dancers so the moves that we were doing or trying to do where clumsy and wrong, what felt right for us and what we fought would look good wouldn’t necessarily be what looked good on the day

I feel as though we might need an extra day of filming just to really nail down the composition of the film and the narrative and to really see what we can pull out from the script because originally I was going to show the dancer reference videos and ask if they could do something similar, then allow her to improvise and run with it but because we only had her for an hour and because we only had the studio booked for an hour, it became very difficult to do that within that time period. I edited the footage together When my tutor gave me the Feedback she actually said to cut it down from 1.5 minutes to just 1 minute because I was 2 weeks behind with trying to get the dance sorted out. I had already experienced delays, as my first dancer had to cancel, as she had exams. 

I have been working on the live brief with kat, for the sustainability award. We've been making props for a photography shoot that'll be for a takeaway style  leaflet. The purpose is to raise awareness about the disregarded plastic, rubbish and glass that is left lying around Hyde park and other parts of leeds. Our aim is to create a series of postcards and stickers to accompany the leaflet. The stickers would be used to inform people what rubbish can be recycled and which bin they can put it in. The postcards are so people can send others the information they have learnt from the leaflets and stickers.  

 







Rings Squirrel feeder - Rubbish that can kill wildlife.
Bird Feeder - Rubbish that the birds injest
Shoes - what sticks to your shoes
Toys - broken glass that children play in
Dog toys - broken Glass that dogs walk through 
Fish and Chips - micro plastics that you consume
Fish netting - plastic nets used to package fruit that goes to landfills

Week 7/8 Watercolour tests, Character Model Sheet, Turn Around and getting back on track.

 Style Tests

I have discovered Kyles watercolour brushes. They are amazing. Although they aren’t as good as the ones on Adobe Fresco. I have tested most of the bushes. The ones I liked or thought where especially interesting I labelled for further use/experimentation. Based on my initial tests that I completed during Week 0, I further developed my tests by using the watercolour brushes to colour in the model and experiment with different styles and techniques.

Concept Art

This week I have been focusing more on concept art. I have completed both a character model sheet and character turnaround in record time, a total of 2/3 days for both. This was in part due to the work completed during COP. Which allowed me to complete the work faster by re-purposing the original character model sheet and utilising some additional poses for Ellie. I used the knowledge gained during my watercolour brush tests to develop a style that was different to the one used in cop. Whilst it is still watercolour, it is much more minimalist.

What went well?

·        I have been very productive this week.

·        I have been working faster than usual. 

·        The character design and turnaround came out well and I am please with them.

What could have been improved?

If I’m being super picky, Ellie's top knot/bob changes position on the character model sheet. Maybe she just ties it differently each time.
#

Getting back on track

After my blip in week 4, when I felt down, and when the dancer dropped out in week 6, I have reconsidered the project and have decided on a backup plan. This was to change the animation to one minute and have me and Kat from my group, doing the key poses, and have the rest of the group and myself do in-betweens. I was going to ask the animation group on Facebook to help out and it would still be in 12 frames per second. 

So,I  have been reaching out to contact as many people as possible. I have also been sweetening the pot by offering a commission and money? In return. Also, I can’t afford much at the moment I have budgeted for something like this as I did in second year with the music.

Quest for a new dancer

So I have emailed Leeds Becket. They got back to me pretty much strait away asking me to send over all  the work so far for this project and they’d put it on their equivalent if studio. I sent over them the next day and then I haven't heard anything back. I have also tried to contact leeds student union because I know they have a ballet society.e to send over all  the work so far for this project and they’d put it on their equivalent if
studio. I sent over them the next day and then I haven't heard anything back. I have also tried to
contact leeds student union because I know they have a ballet society.

Week 6 Talks with Mike, Dancer dropped out and Live briefs

I talked with mike about my depression and difficulty regarding the project.
we discussed alternatives. We talked about my depression and feeling like I'm really under pressure and behind. This feeling that I am struggling has affected my motivation, but Mike said there are too many people counting on me and that I've put in too much effort to turn back at this point.

I talked to Cara who is also doing a project that involves rotoscoping, she has ballet friends and her daughter Millie goes to a dance school which she said she would contact for me to enquire whether any of the dancers would like to be involved in the project. I have also emailed Leeds Beckett University BA (Hons) in Dance, and the Ballet Society at the University of Leeds.

In the meantime I have been working on a YCN brief, making greetings cards. This will help develop my portfolio. I don't have much to show yet. But I am thinking of doing based around origami animals.I have sketched a few out thus far.

what went well?

• my mental health seems to have plateaued a little. This is good as i'm able to get a little more work done as i build my strength back up. 
• considering this, i have had a productive week
• the sketches turned out reasonably well. You can tell what they're supposed to be 

what could have gone better?

• if i really pushed myself i could have lined them this week
• I need to communicate more 

Working On Kats Project

This was a wood burning test which went well. It was to establish the wooden floor design for a class-mates project. I was pleased with the various effects achieved in such a short time, which amounted to 2 days.

The first image shows a styling process test on balsa wood. I used a wood burning tool to create the effect and then varnished it. The main part of the process was noted underneath the sections of wood. Once I  found something that worked on the mini test, I then replicated this on separate pieces of balsa wood, pictured below.

The second image shows the re-test on an unvarnished piece of wood.

The third image shows where I tried to achieve as much detail as possible onto the piece of wood.  I also practised spacing the panels at an equal distance. I was dissatisfied with the outcome, as I felt it looked too much like a chocolate bar.

The fourth image shows the sets in progress and the floor unfinished.

Live Briefs: CDC Spirited Away and Bakerproudlove Window design

The character design challenge (CDC) had a special fan art month where you had to design a spirited-away character. So I wanted something simple, but also something that you wouldn't necessarily think of when you're thinking of re-designing a character.  So I re-designed one of the soot sprites in the style of a Beano character, because I thought the design of a soot sprite in human proportions would look good with gnasher's fur.  I also wanted to emphasise that these poor soot sprites had been working day in, day out.  they are tired because they never get a break.  This was influenced by a scene in the movie where the character (Chihiro) picks up a piece of coal to help the soot sprites. The soot sprites think - okay if you're going to do that, we'll up and go. This shows that they are tired.

Submission Proof

What went well?

• I developed my idea through to completion.
• Time management was alright
• Character turned out okay

What could have been done better?

• Time management could always be better
• Character should have been more finished, so that it's not just okay, but its good.

Overall I feel a bit meh about this submission. Like I don't think it'll make it into my portfolio.

For the Baker proud love window design brief I was going to use guerrilla marketing strategies in a similar fashion to how I used them last year for the YCN KFC brief, I was going to take a classical piece of art and make it funny somehow. My initial idea was to have Greek ladies in a salon getting their hair, makeup and nails done this would work by assuming that people are going to be expecting a serious piece of ancient Greek art but instead their getting a modern, contemporary take so it subverts people’s expectations. However, I hadn’t really developed the idea beyond that and I hadn’t and come up with any kind of concept sketches it was all ideas that were in my head, although I did brainstorm them out.

So, my second idea was more slogan/catchphrase based. I developed the slogan 'conquer the concrete jungle with Baker proud love', with the idea being that the city is a concrete jungle, jungles aren’t usually empty so by filling these shop spaces you are essentially conquering the high street. I was able to develop this idea  further by creating a character that had acute motif which I think helped and it represented what I was trying to say and how I was trying to come across.

Submission Proof

I revived an email back from the company saying that they where really impressed with my work however they didn't feel it really fitted in the designated space. But they asked for my contact details so i could be considered  for future work/commissions.

What went well?
I used previously gained knowledge to inform my design choices
The slogan was good
The idea was good

What could be improved?
I need to get better at drawing in general. But I think my current skills let this project down the most.
The art bored could have looked more professional
I felt really rushed.

Overall this project was okay. Again, I just don't think it'll make it into my portfolio because in not happy with the end result. I think it could have been drawn better.

Week 5 More animation tests, developing a style. Learning from Will Kim

My way of dealing with depression is just to immerse myself in work and try to keep myself busy

More Animation Tests 
This week I have been carrying out animation tests and developing the style. .  My original decision was to use water-colour paper, but when I was doing the calculations I realised that this would be too expensive.  I did a 2 second animation that was 6 frames a second and that cost me £5 in water colour paper.  therefore, at 12 frames per second, this would be twice the price. £5 for 1 second and £10 for 2 seconds. My animation was going to be 90 seconds long, so it would have been 90 x £5, equalling £450. I therefore had to revise this to make my production affordable, so I switched to a digital production, which would be much less expensive.

Developing a style
For the actual animation test, I used the rotaocopes that I prepared earlier.  I traced these onto water-colour paper and then I coloured each frame in with water-colours.  I used Dragon Frame software and a Rostrum camera to capture each painting. However,  I have not used this software or set up since first year, and this lack of recent experience meant that the test came out yellow because of lighting and camera set up and generally being unfamiliar with the software. I corrected this, using Adobe Premier Pro.  In this process, I stumbled upon a new and interesting colour scheme which I like very much and am considering using as a colour pallet to enhance the narrative.

Learning from Will Kim
I emailed Will Kim. Who suggested I take his skillshare class. So i did.

He uses quite simple shapes. Focusing on the more illustration side of thing. He gathers sketches and brainstorms from observational drawings and then, using limited animation puts them together by first animating the character layer separately to the background layer. By utilising loops, he saves time in his animating process. Once the initial traditional animation is done, he goes in and uses watercolour to colour each frame. That’s how he achieves the flickering effect.

He then scans everything in. He channels out the layers in photoshop. To do this he goes to the actions tav in photoshop and clicks new action (next to the bin icon) This then records your actions so that they can be easily repeated. Once your done, click the stop button. Save these off as PNG’s

Create a couple of folders in the project panel

Import the files

The go to preferences > Import to change the default duration of each frame. He changed it to 0:00:00:04

He kept the frame rate as 29.7

He then dragged all the black and white files into the timeline. To make the background loop he duplicated the frames multiple times and then sequences them.

Rinse and repeat as needed for each composition as needed.

Do the same process for the watercolour textures

Change layer mode to stencil alpha

Scan in watercolour paper, use as background texture.

What I took away from his class?

Some of his methods are applicable to my final film. I like how he used the alpha channel tool to speed up the process of creating all those masks. It is a tool I’ve never used before, but always wondered about. This will come in handy when editing things in the future. It was also interesting to find out about the stencil alpha tool in aftereffects.

Week 4 Stuck in the mud but still working on live briefs

Stuck in The Mud
During this week I have not been as productive as I planned to be.  This is because I have been really depressed. I think I am burnt out after COP. I had a really strange dissociation episode. I feel as though I don't know where I'm going with my project. Like I've not really been communicating properly and I just want to stay in be and like sleep. I feel so done with everything, stuck and helpless. I will make an appointment with a doctor with a view to getting back on track with my work.

Live briefs 
Despite my depression I have still been working on my live briefs. My main current one at the moment is the baker proud love window design brief. I'm also working on the university's T-Shirt competition brief.  Kat has also asked if I would like to work on a live brief with her which I've said yes to. Hears some WIP sketches

Week 3 Storyboards, Music and Dance *

Storyboards
Ava had been working on my storyboards. Although the story is not quite finished, I need the storyboards to create an animatic so that the music can be timed to fit the dance.

Music
I am looking for a piano-like sound which would fit the narrative. In music theory, films are scored by repeating a theme played in the beginning with new contexts at the end.  In the beginning of the animation Cocoa, the grandmother's theme is played, but there's no context to it, so this does not invite an emotional response. By the end of the film, when Miguel plays the same theme on the guitar, this triggers sadness from the audience.

Dance*
Last week I emailed students from various different dance schools and colleges and received lots of positive response from students who wanted to be involved in the project.  I have narrowed the list of people down to 3 and have asked them to send me videos of them performing, so I can get a good idea of their style and ability.

What Went Well
Another productive week
Communicated reasonably well with others

What could be improved
Time management

Week 2 Shot Script Draft 2. Music and Dance.

Shot Script 2
Building on last weeks attempt at a shot script. I showed what i had to my peer and they gave me some feedback. I have used this feedback to make some adjustments and changes. Ideally I still want/ need Dotty to take a look at it and tell me where I am going wrong.

Music.
This week we also had the nice people from the college of music come in. I was apprehensive at first because i'm not very confident talking to people face to face but they where all lovely i now have a few people to contact. I have also changed my perspective a little. Instead of a pure piano sound i was thinking of using a more orchestral soundtrack

Dance 
I have emailed multiple dance contemporary and schools asking if any dancers would like to participate in my project.  The Northern School of Contemporary Dance said they would advertise it to their students.





What Went Well
I improved upon the shot script
I overcame my social phobia and expended my network

What Could Be Improved?
I should show more people my script to get enough feedback to write a 3rd draft.

Week 1 - Initial Schedule, Shot Script, Dance and Music *

Initial schedule 

Emailing Dance Students
I sent multiple emails around to dance studios asking for help. The NSCD is the only one that got back to me. I emailed like 14 or 15 :(

*I also created a first draft of the shot script. (upload needed)

I also contacted Leeds College of Music to enquire whether there were any students who were interested in collaborating with me on this project. I'm thinking of soft piano music, designed to assist the dancer. I've put together these samples to let the music students know the kind of music I'm interested in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqKn11gywME

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvF9bdt76Zs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaXKf0JEzEA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=rOZ4vSCaMkk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7M29FKCK9o