Liam De Bolla
3D Character Animator
Personal Development
FMP Idea Generation
From portfolio, I presented my idea for my FMP which was an interview where the boss’ computer needs fixing. The interviewee tries to fix it in order to gain the job he desires but end up making the situation worse. The critique was that the animation may be too long, so I decided to shorten it by removing the secretary character and have the animation start with both characters facing each other in the interview. From one of my tutorials, I found that the story needed to be reduced more so the piece would be 15-30 seconds long. From this, I changed the story to be about the same two characters but the interviewee is nervous and has dropped his pen when the boss wants him to take down notes. I also plan to produce another 15-30 second animation after this project.
Script Writing Techniques
I am not confident in story development as I am used to 10-second animations but I feel research into story and what makes a good story is crucial for my FMP idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMqIQcTMlA0
From this video on scriptwriting, I found that there is a workflow to writing short films. When writing a script, I need an idea, characters, structure, and style.
For the idea, I need a sentence that describes the entire film. In Portfolio I made a premise for my FMP:
“Clumsy interviewee breaks office equipment in the attempt to fix the situation”.
From this video, I found that the characters need to have reasoning for their actions which can be either philosophical, moral or ethical.
Firstly, I need to find out what my characters want. The interviewee wants to get the job and the boss wants his computer to be fixed. The obstacle the interviewee has is that the boss is more fixated on his computer than the interviewee. He needs to gain the attention from the boss by fixing the boss’ computer and gaining the job he wants.
For the second character, I found that from this video, both characters must have beliefs that conflict one another for the story to not be boring. From this, I decided that the interviewee will have a personality clash with the boss. The interviewee will be a nervous individual whereas the boss is a loud and confident person. This then causes the interviewee to be out of his comfort zone and be confident in his actions to pick up the computer and try to fix the issue for a reward of a job.
Dan Harmon’s structure to story is another story tool that can help me structure my story. I already followed a story structure for my original FMP idea but as it will be shortened, I wanted to try using this story structure as in the video, it says that this structure is not a formula to story writing, but are rules and guidelines I can apply to find out my story.
The story for my FMP idea is now:
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Character in a zone of comfort – Sitting in the interview room talking about the potential job.
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They want something – Interviewee wants the job. The boss is not paying full attention to the interviewee as he is having computer issues.
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They enter an unfamiliar situation – Boss leaves the room for help. Interviewee left on his own in the office. Does he fix the laptop, or stay in his comfort zone?
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Adapt to it – Interviewee breaks out of his nervous comfort zone and takes the laptop to try and fix it.
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Get what they wanted – Interviewee almost fixes the laptop until it crashes.
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Pay a heavy price for it – Boss starts to open the office door, interviewee jumps and drops the laptop, breaking it.
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Return to their familiar situation – Interviewee rushes back to his seat returning to his nervous state.
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Now changed – The laptop lid falls off and the boss notices it. The interviewee is not more nervous then he was before the interview and is told to leave by the boss.
From this research, I was able to plan a minute long piece. Now I will plan to animate a section of this story. I enjoyed the start of the story so I will edit the start to make a 15-3o second piece. From deciding on doing a smaller piece, I will not follow the structure I have worked on above but will write a new script that incorporates some of the ideas I have generated from this research.
Script Formatting
When it comes to writing my script, I feel it would be helpful to know how a script should be presented. I watched this video below where I learnt how I should structure my script.
There are some areas I found interesting regarding formatting a script such as capitalising a character’s name when they are introduced in the script but not capitalising when I continue to write their name.
Storyboard Drawing Techniques
As one of my weaknesses is storyboarding/ drawing, I feel I needed to look into some drawing styles and possible composition that can be useful for my storyboard. Drawing is a useful skill as an animator and I feel that I need to be able to thumbnail quick sketches to put my idea across to people. Regarding poses in 3D silhouettes of the character are areas I need to look out for when doing key poses.
The book ‘Sketchbook’ showed some good examples of composition in storyboards which taught me that there can be quite a lack of detail in storyboards regarding the detail in characters and environments. As long as the story is clear in one frame, that is good enough to share with people working on my project to get a better understanding of the story.
The book ‘Framed Ink’ showed me more detailed storyboards as well as ways of compositing a shot depending on the mood of the shot. Shots can be looking down or up at a character to show a difference in power and importance. These ways of implementing the camera to portray more emotion than just facial expressions of the character are what I would like to implement into my animation.
Take Note FMP Project Idea
From working on a script, I have completed the story for my first FMP project which is titled, ‘Take Note’. The story will consist of two characters, one being an interviewee and a boss. The Boss is looking at the interviewee’s CV and recommends the interviewee takes nota that his CV font is too small to read. The interviewee takes out his pen but drops it. Now nervous that he has dropped his pen, he panics and tries to think of a solution. The Boss has not realised he has dropped the pen as is still trying to read the CV. The interviewee decides to pretend he is writing but is just moving his hand around on the paper, using his other hand to hide his hand which si pretending to write.
This idea has come from the research and development I put towards my original idea to then be turned into this smaller piece. The premise is now “A clumsy interviewee becomes nervous once dropping his pen on the floor”.
When creating the story, I produced some thumbnails for how I can imagine the camera would be positioned
My Bracketing role
Alongside 3D character performance animation, I would like creature animation to be my bracketing role. I previously have worked on creature animation and I feel it is a skill I cans have that will complement being a character animator. One showreel I liked that involved both character and creature animation was by Allison Rutland. She had a showreel that was 1:20 minutes long and it showed all her abilities in character and creature animation. I aspire my showreel to demonstrate my skill in the same way. Regarding the creature animation, the animation was realistic and briefly showed her ability to animate a creature. For my showreel, I feel I should include some creature work I have done alongside my character animations. From my research in Portfolio, I know that studios like Jellyfish Pictures are interested in seeing creature animation in showreels.
AnimDojo Polishing Tutorial
Before animating, I needed to watch a tutorial on polishing on AnimDojo as I feel it’s a weakness in my animations. This tutorial taught me some elements of animating such as slight motion on the nose, cheeks and chin when the mouth is moving to dialogue. This subtle movement will make the performance look more realistic. I also saw that he animated in stepped up until the polishing stage. I often turn the tangents into splined after the breakdowns are done. To change my workflow, I will now work in stepped until the animation is at a stage when it can start to be polished. I will do a 24-hour test that will implement working in stepped until the animation can be polished.
AnimDojo Animation Workflow Tutorial
On AnimDojo, I watch a tutorial from Kiran Babla, at the time was working for Sony and previously Blue Zoo, about his animation workflow. From this, I found new techniques that I can test out for a new possible workflow. Using a square to plan timing was one area I found interesting in the tutorial. In a body mechanic piece, I can use squares to work on the timing of the character. A piece that is more subtle with dialogue as well can be blocked out with straight-ahead techniques. I will now produce a test, trying out this new workflow.
Animdojo Creature Animation Workflow Tutorial
I watched four tutorials that were continuous videos on how to animate a creature close to the reference. From this, I learnt a new workflow that I would like to experiment with. From this, the limbs of a creature were made into an animation layer and then turned invisible. This allowed the animator to strictly work on the main body and the head of the character. Once the first pass on the body and head was done, the back legs were worked on, then the front legs. I liked this workflow as I previously animated the character all together before. As well as this I animated in stepped. In this tutorial, he did not animate in stepped in order to see the timing of the motion as he was animating which I found interesting. I will do a test with this workflow and see how I find it.
There are more videos to follow this tutorial that I cannot access yet but hope to once they are available on AnimDojo.
AnimDojo Subtext Workflow Tutorial
From this tutorial, I knew that my ‘Take Note’ animation will require a lot of subtext performance where my character would not speak but will express emotions. From this, I watched a tutorial on subtext and found another workflow for animating that includes subtext. The animator animated in spline as he was able to work on the overlaps and the arcs of the motion quickly. He worked in straight ahead rather than my preferred pose to pose. I prefer working with keys, but he spent a lot of time in the graph editor. From this I found that working in spline and straight ahead, the graph editor will be used a lot. The workflow from this was interesting to see as it’s another technique for animating a scene that I would like to experiment with.
Rebecca Meilak Lecture
From this talk, I learnt a lot about the workflow and the timing, animators have when working on TV animations at Jellyfish pictures. The workflow was interesting to see and there were some tips that I can implement into my workflow such as using alt and the arrow keys to go though each key rather than scrubbing through. I also got to have a critique from her on my most recent character work and from this, I learn a lot about what I am doing wrong in my animations. Things such as parts of the body moving at the same time showing no sign of a driving body part to the animation. This is one area I must bring into my FMP animations.
Bouncing Ball for Reference
From a tutorial with my tutor, I was shown a possible pre-production workflow before animating that could help me with my projects. The use of bouncing balls to help with the timing, arcs and rhythm of the reference I record. From this, I understood that every part of a human character works like a bouncing ball and that I could apply this technique in my reference before I start animating. I will work on each part of my character for my ‘Take Note’ animation by applying the bouncing ball technique.
Blue Zoo Studio Visit
From this studio visit at Blue Zoo, I was able to get a good understanding of the environment and workflows used in this studio. When animating, they do a lot of blocking passes before even splining the animation which is what I am currently doing on my animations. Blue Zoo is a studio I am interested in working for and this visit helped me gain a better understanding of the work there.
Facebook Group Feedback
I posted one of my animations in the ‘Rusty Animator Group’ that I am apart of on Facebook. From this, the feedback was clear that I needed to work on my overlap and the driver of my animation. Parts of the body were moving at the same time as other areas of the character. This feedback allowed me to understand that areas such as overlap, and arcs are parts of my animation I need to keep in mind and focus on in my ‘Take Note’ animation as this topic was also brought up by Rebecca Meilak when she was critiquing my work.
Framestore Studio Visit
From this visit, I was able to gain an insight into Framestore and what they look for from animation applicants. Framestore is one of the studios I am most interested in working for so I found the visit very helpful and informing for my practice.
Anim Layers Workflow
I watched a tutorial on a workflow for anim layers by Sir Wade Neistadt. From this, I will produce an animation experimenting with this workflow and familiarise myself with using anim layers.
Quick Lighting Workflow
I watched another tutorial from Sir Wade Neistadt where he explained lighting in a scene and a quick way to get rid of the black fading that happens in a scene. This is a good way of having my playblasts show all the information it needs to rather than have environments or characters fade into the shadows.
Mentor Feedback
One of my mentor's throughout the FMP has been Dan Bielawski, a Framestore animator who has critiqued a lot of my animations in detail to help me see what I am missing. I sent him my, ‘Take Note’ animation and he liked it, but mentioned areas that can be improved which I will keep in mind for the next animation such as hands looking like they are stuck in IK, and the poses of characters to really show the eyes to the camera.
I also have another mentor which has been Rebecca Meilak, an animator at Jellyfish Pictures. She highlighted areas that could be improved such as the movement of the elbows. I also sent her a SyncSketch link to help me see what exactly are the areas that could be improved.
I also sent my work to my tutor, Dan to receive feedback on SyncSketch and he introduced me to Ollie, a games animator, who was happy to provide feedback on my work as well. From this, I received Dan’s feedback to which I noted all the areas that needed improvement from the feedback he provided me. As I am waiting for Ollie’s and my other mentor’s feedback, I am working on a couple of creature tests, one being a bird test, and the other being a wolf test. My scheduling has allowed me to structure my time efficiently so I can work in certain areas while waiting on other areas.
AnimChallenge Polish Winner Feedback
I watched a feedback session on the winner of an AnimChallenge and it dealt with the polish that could be applied to the animation I am currently working on which is the ‘Training Room’ animation. There were good points such as starting with the root and work on the spacing which I will look to implement when polishing the ‘Training Room’ animation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uUoPnbrfFM&feature=youtu.be
JP Sans Subtext Workflow
I watched a video where JP Sans explains his workflow and his acting for reference. From this, I could see that this was someone I look up to as he shares similar importance n capturing reference for animations. The subtext workflow was also interesting as he demonstrated how to adjust the dialogue for a better reference performance.