Liam De Bolla
3D Character Animator
Research
Strengths and Weaknesses
I feel my strengths are:
3D animation.
Time management.
Camera Positioning/shot composition.
Rendering.
I feel my weaknesses are:
Story.
Sound.
Polishing animations.
From these, I can create my targets on industry, education and personal to help me throughout my FMP project.
Targets
Targets completed by 26th May.
Industry:
Have my work critiqued by industry.
Interact with my Facebook group for feedback on my work.
Keep updated on animations posted on my Facebook group for inspiration.
Education:
Produce two animations that are between 15-30 seconds long that show my skill in character performance.
Work with a sound designer for good dialogue and sound in my FMP animation.
Research and experiment with new workflows that can better my animation.
Watch tutorials on animating to improve my polishing.
Personal:
Have a sleep routine of 12:00-9:00.
Have a gym routine where I go 3-4 times a week.
Write less in my blog and show more though images and videos.
Trends and Needs in My roles
My role is a 3D character performance animator. I have been researching trends and needs for animators in the animation feature sector. DNEG and Locksmith Animation are collaborating to work on feature animation. This was one reason why I was interested in DNEG. With this being introduced, feature animators will be required so I will cater my work towards the feature animation industry.
Regarding feature animation, I looked at the trailers of some feature animations that have been released in 2019 to see any trends.
Trends:
I watched the trailers of three animated features that came out in 2019 which were, ‘Frozen 2’, ‘How to train your dragon: The hidden world’, and ‘Spies in Disguise’. From there, I investigated what was similar between them. I found that the rhythm in these animations was always changing. The motion was not run at the same pace all the time. A Character could move slowly, to then move suddenly quickly and then to a halt. Pauses were used to emphasise an emotion which is something I am interested in working on.
Realistic motion is another area I saw was a trend in these feature animations. When a character has dialogue, the motion of the character is realistic. However, there are areas where they are cartoony which changes their rhythm and the way the audience expect them to move.
Away from animating, the colour used is bright and are used to evoke an emotion.
Regarding trends in employment, I looked at some people that currently work at studios I am interested in. Both Hanna Chuieva and Iestyn Roberts both works at DNEG and both Kevin O’Sullivan and Daniel Bielawski work for Framestore.
Looking at Iestyn Roberts career path, he worked at Blue Zoo which is a company I am also interested in. He worked at several companies before working at DNEG.
Hanna Chuieva followed a similar path by working at Blue Zoo before going on to work for DNEG.
Kevin O’Sullivan worked at several companies and worked at DNEG before going to Framestore.
Daniel Bielawski worked at Jellyfish Pictures before Framestore which is another studio I am interested in.
What this research showed me is that animators work at several different studios before going to some of the studios I aspire to work for. The pipeline I see of the progress animators make is that they work for smaller studios, then build to companies such as Blue Zoo and Jellyfish Pictures, then they could move onto DNEG and finally, possibly even Framestore.
Needs:
When speaking to my tutor in my first tutorial, I was informed that studios are still looking for good animators. What this means is that I need to stop worrying about areas outside of animating and focus on becoming a better animator. What this means is areas in pre-production and post-production will be reduced in terms of time I put towards them, and more time in watching tutorials for animating, developing my workflow, and working on my polishing.
Looking closer at the needs at the two companies I am most interested in, Framestore and DNEG both currently have roles open for animators. From both these companies I aspire to work for, DNEG are looking for animators for feature animation and Framestore are looking for animators for Film. From this, I know that my work for FMP will be tailored for feature animation with characters with realistic motion.
https://www.dneg.com/careers/open-positions/
I also emailed Dan Bielawski, an animator at Framestore, for his opinion on the needs of studios when looking at peoples work for employment. From this, I found that knowledge in different software as well as knowledge in rigging is a useful skill that companies look for. For my specialism as a 3D character performance animator, Dan made it clear that companies will want to see that I have a good eye for detail when it comes to animating.
Klaus Research
From developing my two characters, I found that they are very similar to the two characters in Klaus, ‘Jesper Johansson’ and ‘Klaus’. I see Jesper as the interviewee in my story and Klaus as the boss. In the film, they are physically different from one another in terms of size. Jesper is small which shows he his nervous around Klaus. I want to express the same emotions from the interviewee to the boss. Klaus is a large character and is scary at times for Jesper. I would like the boss character to have the same effect on the interviewee that Klaus has on Jesper. From these images, the camera is very similar to the points raised in the book ‘Framed Ink’. Having the camera look up at Klaus shows that Klaus is dominant in the scene whereas Jesper has a camera looking down at him showing he does not have the same power as Klaus.
The film also had a colour pallet I am interested in. The use of blue showing the darker, sadder environments contrasting with the yellow colours is what I would like to implement into my animation.
Mr Bean Research
From changing my story to be about the interviewee dropping his pen, being shocked, and trying not to let the Boss know he’s nervous, I saw this video of Mr Bean where his reactions show the nervous surprise I would like to apply to my character when he drops the pen. The close to the face by the camera also highlights how important what he did is to the character and also shows how he is mentally stuck in that position after his action.
Linkedin Animation Research
One connection I made on Linkedin was with Hanna Chuieve. She produced one animation I enjoyed, and I feel it has qualities that I would like to apply to my project. One animation I saw from her showreel showed a characters change of emotion from nervous to shocked. These poses and facial expressions will help me know how to convey nervousness and shock to the audience.
Suits Interview Room Research
I needed to research some assets and the environment of an interview room and I found this video from the show ‘Suits’. The assets I spotted that I feel I should include would be items such as a laptop, chairs, large desk, books, paperwork, office equipment, inside lights, and maybe chairs and a table at the back of the room. I do not want to go into too much detail on the environment as I want to focus on the animation.
Take Note Camera Angle Research
From redesigning my idea of two people in an interview, I needed to research some examples of camera angles for the shots as well as scenes done of interviews before. The apprentice was one interview that was a film that came to mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g14HC6NagRs
The stages for each shot:
Establishing shot – Side on allowing the audience to gain an understanding of the environment and distance between both the interviewee and the boss.
Dialogue shot – Introducing dialogue between both characters, one on the right, one on the left of the screen.
Close up of interviewee – Taking in the information. Facial expressions used to express majority of the emotion.
Close up of boss – Boss showing his attention is towards paperwork. Can be used to show distractedness.
Close up of interviewee – A moment of shock for the interviewee. Can be for when he drops the pen in my story.
Ending shot – Same as the establishing shot but the character is now leaving rather than entering the shot.
These camera angles and close-ups are used to allow the audience to see the emotions from the character, as well as receive all the important information from the scene. I would like to implement some of these camera angles into my story.
Nervous Posing
In order to create a reference on nervous poses, I looked at a character that shows signs that they are nervous. From this, I can see that some signs would be shoulders being raised to show the character is not open to the scenario they are in. The eyes are wide showing they are assessing everything around them, and their eyebrows and dipped to show that uncomfortable position they are in. I would like to apply these areas into my posing for my nervous character.
Secondary Research for Reference
When looking for facial expressions for my animation, the motion and posture is something I also needed to investigate as my primary reference is just my interpretation of someone panicking. From this, I watched this video of an interview. The bosses were organised, and the posture was straight lines whereas the interviewee had bad posture and his poses had no symmetry.
I also watched a clip from Mr Bean that showed a good example of someone panicking while trying to not make a scene. I liked the quick turns of the head as well as the arms shaking and moving with uncertainty.
Camera Angles Research
From my tutorial, it was highlighted that my first camera angle needed some fixing regarding the angle of the camera. I needed to do some more research on the camera angles I could sue so I looked at ‘Shot by shot’ by Steven Katz which was recommended to me by my tutor. From this, the book analyses how to position a camera between a two-person dialogue shot where they are facing each other. I found that there were several positions I could use so I experimented with some of the positions.
I practised these camera angles in my scene to see which one fitted best for the scene.
The camera angle I liked the most was the one that was angled at the boss, very similar to the angle at the interviewee. Rather than have the camera facing directly in front of the boss, I liked bringing the camera over to the left and angling it at the boss to show the boss is looking at the interviewee, and not the audience.
I then watched the coffee scene in Heat. From this, I can see that the over the shoulder shots worked well as it showed the audience how close they are to one another. The tension in the scene was also clear as the camera was very tight to both characters, leaving very little negative space at times.
I also looked at a scene that was less serious and suited the mood on my animation more. The interview scene in ‘Big’ was a more comical interview and the camera angles were very similar to one another. They both were angled to show the character looking in a different direction, which also tells the audience the location of the other character in the scene. This angle for the camera is a position I think will work well with my animation.
From this research, I was able to fix the camera angle issue I had in my scene.
FMP Second Idea
For the ‘Take Note’ animation, I knew I wanted to create another animation. At the Framestore visit, I was informed that having a showreel that showed a variety of work was good, so I intend to have a piece that no focuses on body mechanics than dialogue. I had the idea of a character that is a secret agent, assigned the task of taking down a beast. He is talking to another special agent in his ear where that character says that the beast has wires and the agent will have to cut the red wire to deactivate the beast. This story will have a lot of movement which will be my focus on this piece. I decided to adjust the story to it now being a special agent in a training room where he must take down a beast.
I had the idea that the beast would sweep his hand down and grab the special agent in a quick motion. From this I researched some examples of characters swiping their hands to grab something.
From this video, Sir Wade Neistadt spoke about a shot where an animal grabs the leg of a character without them knowing. There were areas I liked that he highlighted such as he wanted the shot to have the animal grab the character leg, pause for the character to realise, then drag the character. I feel this would be a great way for the audience to see that the character understands the danger he is in. Having a pause on the grab is what I intend to implement into my shot of the beast grabbing the special agent.
I intend the main character to be overconfident and this video of Woody shows the body mechanics I plan the main character to be like. The slow-paced arrogance about the character, thinking he’s better than anyone is something I want to express from my main character.
Regarding composition, I planned for the character to be very contrast in each other’s size. The beast being big and the agent being small. I decided to look at some composition for characters that contrast in extreme sizes.
Close up for visible reaction to the beast.
Side on for the size reference for the audience.
I plan for my character to enter the scene by landing from a jump. From a Facebook group I am involved in called ‘AnimChallenge Group’, Maruchou Kougen uploaded an animation where I liked the landing of a jump. I would like to have my character land in a similar way to this landing. I also like the Dutch angle applied in this animation. It adds to the composition and tenseness in the piece. The Dutch angle is something I would like to add to my animation as well.
Training Room Research
I know that for this special agent animation I want to create, I intend to include dialogue. I researched some scenes where a character is in a special training room. The narrator's voice was crucial for this animation to provide the audience with an understanding of the story.
This first example showing a friendly approach to welcoming the main character and the audience into the scene.
This second example is in a less friendly manner as well as showing the language that could be used before activating a simulation for the main character.
I like the friendly approach from the narrator as the audience would believe the training drills are easy. From this, I could make the training drill rather hard for the main character.
Special Agent Research
I looked at some rigs and found the two rigs I want to use for this animation. One is a human to play as the special agent, and the other being a creature, playing the role of the beast.
https://gumroad.com/truongcgartist?sort=page_layout&tags=maya%20rig%20%20#sAzd
Cover Letter Research
To write my cover letter, I needed to know what it should involve and what I should refrain from saying.
Training Room Environment
For this animation, I wanted to focus solely on the animation so I will not use props or an environment. The environment will be one colour to focus the attention on the animation like this image of the animation below.
Jada’s Robot Animation Research
I am helping Jada on her project by animating a robot for roughly 30 seconds. I was told that the character cannot move as she will give the character a path to follow. From this, I researched robots that I feel will be like the character I am looking to animate and spot any certain movements these robots do to give off personality and appeal with their restricted movement.
R2D2 from Star Wars is one character that first came to my mind. He rotates is head and as little dials which rotates when he talks. I feel that when dialogue is being spoken, I can then rotate all the pieces on the character for the performance.
Wheatley from Portal 2 is another character with little motion but has dialogue and appeal. This is due to the rotations and the huge eye he has. Two metal panels are used as eyelids which make the robot seem more human. Rotating the eyeball and other areas on the robot during the dialogue is key for the performance as well.
![2].PNG](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5cbdd5_2941ecc3dcb7449b8553f19805e372a2~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_600,h_323,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/2%5D_PNG.png)
Auto from Wall-e is a character that also has an eye but relies on the body to rotate for the appeal. From these three characters, I feel that as the robot speaks, I will need to rotate areas on the robot to show the dialogue is coming from the robot.
Report Design Research
I had an idea that I wanted my report to have a pipe running throughout the report to represent the pipeline I had from the start to the finish of the FMP. Having this idea, I knew a video that was about pipelines in animation. This design of the pipe running throughout the video and stopping at major parts in the pipeline is something I would like to incorporate into the design of my report.
I realised that instead of working on 2D concepts for the report background, I should use my animation stills as at the backgrounds. I previously use my rendered stills as background for presentations in previous projects so I thought this would work well. I researched the size guides for magazines and started rendering out stills from the animations I made in this project in the dimensions I wanted to use for the magazine. I converted mm to pixels and had my dimensions for an A4 magazine.
https://www.printsafari.com/us_en/common-magazine-sizes
https://www.unitconverters.net/typography/millimeter-to-pixel-x.htm
There were a few designs I liked for a magazine. These images of reports have typography, design, and layout that I feel are effective in grabbing attention.
https://www.pagecreative.co.uk/services/reports/
http://www.nickpurserdesign.com/work/freemuse-the-state-of-artistic-freedom/
For typography, I researched certain fonts and found a few I likes and that I thought would look good on my report.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/13756975/ADAMCG-PRO-Free-Typeface