Final Film

Here is the revised version of my film. Unfortunately I didn't make it into film day but i'm happy with what I have accomplished in the last two weeks and feel the film is better because of this last effort.

Totem Trouble from Lauren Scott on Vimeo.

Vanity Stills

Here are the vanity stills I had to produce for the data DVD hand in. I have also included the poster I designed after being confirmed as a shortlisted film for film day. I was very happy to be chosen as one of the best 20 or so films over 6 courses and 2 years and although I had had enough of making this film ages ago but the extra two weeks would give me a chance to correct the things that were really bothering me.

Gold hand in

Here is the film I handed in on the 13th May.



I had an incredibly hard time getting this done, resulting in the first all nighter since the pre-production stage. Although working down to the wire again, I feel this being the first and last all nighter of the 3D production process reflects well on my time management and organisational skills. Due to numerous rendering problems with shot 29 (the final shot fo the film) it looks very poor visually but this is purely down to the rendering issues and I am disappointed with this as well as in the flickers and un animated DoF in the first shot of the film. However my first and main aim when starting this film was to have a fully rendered film for the gold hand in, which I managed. And, because of that, i'm very proud of myself.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! (Turn and face the strain)

Below is a list of changes to be made, I hope to have most of them done by the originial deadline of the 13th so the extra 13 days can be used for rendering and compositing. (Lucky I'm not superstitious). Although it appears to be a lot, most are just minor, managable changes.

Shot01
* Try and have some movement in the leaves at the start of the shot.
*Include the 2Dparrot if possible.
*As a absolute last thing (if I have the time) add in a 2D chicken running around - purely for Kevin.

Shot03
* Have Oulou reaching out for his staf, then turn his back as he's turning towards the totem pole.

Shot05
* Hold the last frame for an extra second/second and a half.

Shot07
* Make hand and staff move together or make whole movement simpler.

Shot09
* Add a slightly confused look to Oulou's face.

Shot11
* Make the smile reaction faster.

Shot13
* Don't keep reaching, give extra time to anticipation of bite.
* Maybe have the totem man glancing across and reanimate the bit to be faster, more exaggerated and 'more violent'.

Shot14
* More expression with the pain, more intense.

Shot15
* When Totem Man runs off screen have Oulou turn fully with a more complete, exaggerated pose.

Shot16
* Camera shouldn't move up before Totem Man jumps up again, he should jump and the camera should follow.

Shot17
* Oulou should be in a more complete and dramatic pose before he starts to walk.

Shot18
* Oulou should finish walking in this shot so he doesn't start standing still.
* Action should be a bit more central. Move camera slightly.
*Totem Man should really throw the jug down and not just drop it.

Shot20
*Should start with TM in the air and then landing, as if he's jumped off the top shelf during Shot19.
*Perhaps reverse camera move. Start close and zoom out as he runs off.

Shot21
*Cut the first few frames so it goes straight into the jump and doesn't slow down the action.

Shot22
* Camera moves up after jump to show TM's face and eyes before it moves across the room.
* Hold the last frame, add shaking and anger to exentuate emotion.

Shot23
* Roof rattles a bit.
* Maybe have the parrot flying away again from the trees behind.

Shot24
*Bring the staff right down.
*Hold the last frame.

Shot28
* House sways, ladder falls forward, possibly the mask falls down too.
*Roof rattles and house shakes.
*Maybe have leaves blowing.

Shot29
*Camera pans over debris and maybe turns to find Oulou.
*Make sure Oulou is in full shot when we first see him.
*Make sure he looks wooden.

Film Day Extension

On Sunday I received an e-mail offering me the chance to possibly get shortlisted for the course's Film Day, I was very happy to have this opportunity and now have an extended deadline of the 26th May (Although I still have to hand in on the 13th). My first thought was that I didn't want to work on this film for an extra two weeks and had already started counting down the days until it was all finished. However, after scheduling and having one to one talks with both Kevin and Martin yesterday I have renewed enthusiasm to continue working on my film and making it the best it can be (even if I collapse!) I don't have much hope for getting much further than this extension but i'm still going to put in the effort.

I have pages of notes from yesterdays meetings - mostly from Kevin, I am going to update this blog with a list of changes that need to be made and keep it updated as I work through them. I hope to have enough time to do all, if not most of them, before I need to start re-rendering everything (sad face D:)

Thank God for the Render Farm!

Sunday 3rd May - Animation Finished!

All animation has been completed. Rendering is up to shot 10 of 29.

An updated Beta for my sound guy showing the last few shots now animated;

Beta Deadline

I was quite happy with the stage I was at for the Beta deadlineon Wednesday (29th) Below is the video I presented. However I had many more shots rendered by this point but I didn't have all the passes to put togeher in Fusion so it would've been a bit all over the place visually so I put together a few shots with the most passes completed to give some idea of how the film will look when finished. I even comped the finished magic particles from Fusion over the top of shot 7 to give a further preview of what it'll look like when it's finished (when, not if!)