Imagine Q&A for Being Bradford Dillman
Check out this Imagine Animation interview for a unique insight into the concept development of Being Bradford Dillman. Delve into the dark childhood memories of director Emma Burch and illustrator Pete Williamson to understand how masterminds come up with their ideas!
Reality really can be stranger than fiction...
http://www.imagineanimation.net/features/being-bradford-dillman-qa/12073
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Being Bradford Dillman is unleashed
From January to June, I had the pleasure of working with the team at Loose Moose Productions on their latest production: a 10 minute stop-motion animation called Being Bradford Dillman.
We held a private screening on the 14th of July and it was a massive hit - please check out this charming and hilarious film! It has been accepted to some prestigious film festivals, with hopefully many more to come.
Any of the links below will lead you to more information about the film and the production team. My role was compositing and animation in After Effects.
http://www.facebook.com/beingbradforddillman
http://vimeo.com/beingbradforddillman
http://beingbradforddillman.com/
http://www.myspace.com/beingbradforddillman
http://helloyoucreatives.com/post/7846128712/beingbradforddillman
We held a private screening on the 14th of July and it was a massive hit - please check out this charming and hilarious film! It has been accepted to some prestigious film festivals, with hopefully many more to come.
Any of the links below will lead you to more information about the film and the production team. My role was compositing and animation in After Effects.
http://www.facebook.com/beingbradforddillman
http://vimeo.com/beingbradforddillman
http://beingbradforddillman.com/
http://www.myspace.com/beingbradforddillman
http://helloyoucreatives.com/post/7846128712/beingbradforddillman
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Link to the brand new MA course - be the first!
As of next year, the long-established London Animation School, more recently known as Pg Dip Character Animation at Central Saint Martins, is offering an MA option! Interested?
http://www.csm.arts.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/character-animation.htm
http://www.csm.arts.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/character-animation.htm
Sunday, 14 November 2010
National Gallery presence
The National Gallery have recently uploaded the animations from last year's course to their website.
Unfortunately, the soundtrack has somehow been shifted, coming in two or three seconds too early. I would recommend viewing the animation at vimeo.com/lewisanimates, where the audio is on track.
Here is the link to my animation on their website:
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/learning/inspired-by-the-collection/2d-animation/*/chooseMedia/14/
You can also view my classmates' animations by scrolling down the page.
In other news, I have been animating with Shroom Studio in London Fields since September. Their website is shroomstudio.com - I recommend that you check out their past work. I have had the privilege of working on all stages of production for clients like the BBC, governmental bodies and charities.
As for animated films, I haven't embarked on any new projects of my own since Lilith's Second Chance - I have yet to develop a concept that just can't wait to be realised. However, there are a small number of exciting opportunities coming up...stay tuned!
Unfortunately, the soundtrack has somehow been shifted, coming in two or three seconds too early. I would recommend viewing the animation at vimeo.com/lewisanimates, where the audio is on track.
Here is the link to my animation on their website:
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/learning/inspired-by-the-collection/2d-animation/*/chooseMedia/14/
You can also view my classmates' animations by scrolling down the page.
In other news, I have been animating with Shroom Studio in London Fields since September. Their website is shroomstudio.com - I recommend that you check out their past work. I have had the privilege of working on all stages of production for clients like the BBC, governmental bodies and charities.
As for animated films, I haven't embarked on any new projects of my own since Lilith's Second Chance - I have yet to develop a concept that just can't wait to be realised. However, there are a small number of exciting opportunities coming up...stay tuned!
Saturday, 10 July 2010
Friday, 2 July 2010
Plans for refining Lilith's Second Chance
Hi everyone, I now have a vimeo account at this address:
vimeo.com/lewisanimates
You can see my videos in HD, particularly the version of Lilith's Second Chance showcased at the degree show. I have to admit that I made a lot of changes to it in the week between assessment and the show, so this one isn't the version submitted for assessment.
There are also may other changes or additions I wish to make to this film. I had to miss out some beautiful shots that would have been great fun to animate but also add a little spice to an animation which has been called slow and boring by one critic. This film should, therefore, be considered a work in progress.
Among the shots I would like to add are:
1) Before the shot cuts from the exploding Houses of Parliament to Lilith on the bridge, I would like to add a quick pan across to show the change in perspective - otherwise the point of view is unclear.
2) To do a proper 3D camera move in after effects with the bridge, so that I can add a cracked pavement texture to the road underneath Lilith, which is currently plain black. I had attempted a camera move before, but the bridge didn't move exactly in sync with the character animation. This will be very tricky.
3) When Lilith comes into view on the river, I would like to show her slowly emerging from under the water. This would be difficult because she is constantly moving, but beautiful and worth the trouble! It would also make it clearer that she is the same woman, as she looks so very different in her spiritual state.
4) My least favourite shot is when she turns to look at the wolves - it seems so wooden and artificial. I wanted to make her head turn slow to represent her stunned disbelief but instead it looks like bad acting, particularly since her body doesn't move. I would very much like to have her twist her torso and prop herself up on her elbows or something.
5) To add more movement and variation in the wolves.
6) After morphing to the bears, I want to cut to a side shot of the bears swimming, similarly to the shot with the fish. This will allow me to cut back to the aerial shot of the bears swimming out of sync with each other. It's difficult to explain, but morphing from the wolves to the bears meant that I had to have them swimming in sync with one another, which looks mechanical.
7) To drop the camera behind the last bear in the pack, to submerge the camera underwater and swim between the legs of the bears, before shooting back up through the water to meet the next scene, where the camera is looking upstream and then rises up to fly over the hills at great speed. This was a favourite point in my animatic but not essential to the comprehension of the narrative, so had to be sacrificed for more vital scenes.
8) To add more in-betweens over the hills, more form and more texture. At the moment, it looks like a rough draft, as there is no colour. I would like to make the river blue as in the other scenes, add some Celtic pattern textures to the forested hills, and add some sky with clouds.
9) To create a cathedral grove when she approaches the source of the river. This will then be taken out of context, changing to a symbolic space depicting the tree of life (e.g. Yggdrasil of Norse mythology) hanging over the earth before an image of outer space, smothered in a network of rivers and pumping like a heart. This will pull out to reveal the rivers forming a body of veins - a body matching Lilith's shape and movement on the river. Then I will probably cut to her being launched upwards by the last drop on water in the stream.
This final idea is a new one, actually, which came to me as I read a passage of Simon Schama's 'Landscape and Memory,' which never ceases to fill my head with ideas. I was just waiting for a friend in the library so I opened the book at a random page, read one passage and was instantly inspired! It was a discussion about the quest to scientifically explain the formation of rivers and briefly mentioned the ancient classical view of the earth as an organism with systems similar to those of the human body.
vimeo.com/lewisanimates
You can see my videos in HD, particularly the version of Lilith's Second Chance showcased at the degree show. I have to admit that I made a lot of changes to it in the week between assessment and the show, so this one isn't the version submitted for assessment.
There are also may other changes or additions I wish to make to this film. I had to miss out some beautiful shots that would have been great fun to animate but also add a little spice to an animation which has been called slow and boring by one critic. This film should, therefore, be considered a work in progress.
Among the shots I would like to add are:
1) Before the shot cuts from the exploding Houses of Parliament to Lilith on the bridge, I would like to add a quick pan across to show the change in perspective - otherwise the point of view is unclear.
2) To do a proper 3D camera move in after effects with the bridge, so that I can add a cracked pavement texture to the road underneath Lilith, which is currently plain black. I had attempted a camera move before, but the bridge didn't move exactly in sync with the character animation. This will be very tricky.
3) When Lilith comes into view on the river, I would like to show her slowly emerging from under the water. This would be difficult because she is constantly moving, but beautiful and worth the trouble! It would also make it clearer that she is the same woman, as she looks so very different in her spiritual state.
4) My least favourite shot is when she turns to look at the wolves - it seems so wooden and artificial. I wanted to make her head turn slow to represent her stunned disbelief but instead it looks like bad acting, particularly since her body doesn't move. I would very much like to have her twist her torso and prop herself up on her elbows or something.
5) To add more movement and variation in the wolves.
6) After morphing to the bears, I want to cut to a side shot of the bears swimming, similarly to the shot with the fish. This will allow me to cut back to the aerial shot of the bears swimming out of sync with each other. It's difficult to explain, but morphing from the wolves to the bears meant that I had to have them swimming in sync with one another, which looks mechanical.
7) To drop the camera behind the last bear in the pack, to submerge the camera underwater and swim between the legs of the bears, before shooting back up through the water to meet the next scene, where the camera is looking upstream and then rises up to fly over the hills at great speed. This was a favourite point in my animatic but not essential to the comprehension of the narrative, so had to be sacrificed for more vital scenes.
8) To add more in-betweens over the hills, more form and more texture. At the moment, it looks like a rough draft, as there is no colour. I would like to make the river blue as in the other scenes, add some Celtic pattern textures to the forested hills, and add some sky with clouds.
9) To create a cathedral grove when she approaches the source of the river. This will then be taken out of context, changing to a symbolic space depicting the tree of life (e.g. Yggdrasil of Norse mythology) hanging over the earth before an image of outer space, smothered in a network of rivers and pumping like a heart. This will pull out to reveal the rivers forming a body of veins - a body matching Lilith's shape and movement on the river. Then I will probably cut to her being launched upwards by the last drop on water in the stream.
This final idea is a new one, actually, which came to me as I read a passage of Simon Schama's 'Landscape and Memory,' which never ceases to fill my head with ideas. I was just waiting for a friend in the library so I opened the book at a random page, read one passage and was instantly inspired! It was a discussion about the quest to scientifically explain the formation of rivers and briefly mentioned the ancient classical view of the earth as an organism with systems similar to those of the human body.
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Almost there!
There's now just one week left until the assessment of our National Gallery projects. Everyone has been working so hard and going a little crazy - some of us have been eating all of our meals in the studio and have completely cut out any kind of social life.
Luckily for me, everything has been going fairly smoothly from the beginning. However, this doesn't mean I'm on track at all -after having initially planned out all of the scenes for my project, I soon realised how much I would have to cut out if I had any hope of getting a coherent animation completed on time. There are so many symbolic elements that I had wanted to include but have had to sacrifice, which is a little sad because the conceptual research is what got me really fired up and passionate about my idea in the first place. I will definitely polish things up over the summer to include some of the cut scenes, which will help to make the narrative more comprehensive. However, it's a shame that I won't be entirely happy with what I have to show for assessment on the 18th and at the private viewing on the 25th.
Some of the clips in progress have been posted on my Youtube channel. Please check them out if you have the time, unless you don't wish to spoil the surprise that the final animation will bring!
http://www.youtube.com/user/JennytheNomad
It's hard to recognise how much you are learning whilst the process is ongoing, but I can feel how much more confident I am in the Ps, Fl and Ae programmes than I was six months ago. Even though everything hasn't gone to plan, it's a great feeling to know that I am learning so much along the way. Most of all, I have learned that I MUST be more organised with the planning of my animation projects from the very start, particularly with time management!
Luckily for me, everything has been going fairly smoothly from the beginning. However, this doesn't mean I'm on track at all -after having initially planned out all of the scenes for my project, I soon realised how much I would have to cut out if I had any hope of getting a coherent animation completed on time. There are so many symbolic elements that I had wanted to include but have had to sacrifice, which is a little sad because the conceptual research is what got me really fired up and passionate about my idea in the first place. I will definitely polish things up over the summer to include some of the cut scenes, which will help to make the narrative more comprehensive. However, it's a shame that I won't be entirely happy with what I have to show for assessment on the 18th and at the private viewing on the 25th.
Some of the clips in progress have been posted on my Youtube channel. Please check them out if you have the time, unless you don't wish to spoil the surprise that the final animation will bring!
http://www.youtube.com/user/JennytheNomad
It's hard to recognise how much you are learning whilst the process is ongoing, but I can feel how much more confident I am in the Ps, Fl and Ae programmes than I was six months ago. Even though everything hasn't gone to plan, it's a great feeling to know that I am learning so much along the way. Most of all, I have learned that I MUST be more organised with the planning of my animation projects from the very start, particularly with time management!
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