Colour Ink

Coloured Pencil

Facelets

Pastel

Realistic

Shaded

Tech

Final Film and Evaluation

Link to Evaluation
Animation Production Evaluation

Final Film

The Gramophone from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.

Report and CV Update

Here is the link to the Professional Development Report:
Professional Development Report Link

CV Update
I have now made the entire CV suitable for A4. I have even printed the CV out in black and white to check. It looks not much different in black and white since my CV is mostly those colours anyway.

Presentation

Report
My report is about my interest in becoming an animator. I have discussed the various types of animators in the industry (E.g. Freelance, Animation Director etc.), how they are different, what their job role is and if I feel that the job would be suitable for me. I have included the skills that animators are required to have such as presentation, communication, programs etc.

 I have chosen OWF (Once Were Farmers) for my case study. There are examples of their creative works varying from VFX, 3D and 2D and why I find their work interesting. Frank Quietly is also mentioned with his story Nothing To Declare, which OWF assisted with creating it into a film. There is a 5 year plan at the end of the report, explaining (With specific months and year) the plan of action I intend on taking in order to rise up as an animator.

Website
https://jackvanes.wixsite.com/animations

Showreel

Jack Vanes Animation Showreel from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.


CV

Business Card

Show Space Plan

Progress

After 70+ hours of rendering, I managed to get half of the film complete. If I keep at it, then the film should be completely rendered for presentation in May.
I have sped up some of the note sequences because I thought some of them moved slowly such as the background notes in the scene after they exit the gramophone. The ending has also changed. The camera zooms in on the University of Wolverhampton Easter egg on the gramophone. This is because I'm planning to have the credits at the end rather than the beginning.
Third Playblast from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.

Update on CV and Business Card

Update on CV
I've taken out the stars in the software skills as they can just be told about during an interview. All the pebble headings are the same size and I've even added another dog down in the lower right corner by the "references" panel.

Business Card
Although a very minor change but still a change nonetheless. Having the word "Animator" on both sides of the business card was unnecessary thus I removed it.

Second Playblast

I managed to get some rendering done but only with the first scene as I've only been focusing mainly editing the animation and getting more sounds for the project. Although there are still plenty of sounds that I feel that are missing. I also didn't want to render too much of it without any realization that it would be fine first.

I created the angry stomping sound effect in the soundbooth room.

Second Playblast from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.

Back to the soundbooth

The sound of a bikehorn would act as an old car horn from the 1940s. I made the sound from a distance from the microphone, resulting in a far way sound effect.

The musical notes would need to make a thud sound effect for when they interact with the scenery. I took a tennis ball and used it for this. I hit the tennis ball against the table, chair and even the floor to get the sound effect that covers all surfaces of the scene.

Progress

This is a full playblast of the entire film with most of the essential sounds that I will place. Though there are some sounds missing. The pencil scene is a bit slow in relation to its sound, so I'll need to speed it up. I've changed a lot of things here with the timing, background notes and walk. Though I do believe the walk is a bit awkward so that will possibly need fixing as well.

I've also had a go at doing camera angles, even having them move around in some scenes.

Project Playblast from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.

Creative CV

I decided to create a creative CV for online applications. I have used the design style as my website and business card. This would show consistency in my style.

Lighting test

Double lights
There are two light sources in this. There is the lamp and another light source on the right side to assist the lamp in the lighting. The lighting on the right side will assist in casting a shadow for the female office worker during the first sequence.

Full beam - Three light sources
This lighting is similar. However the lighting from the right side is now situated at the top of the set where it will act as an overhead room light. This is my personal favourite form of lighting as it makes my set bright and colourful and the shadows seem, for the most part, consistent.

Lamp lighting
This form of lighting only comes from the sunlight and the lamp. The lamp right now is at a very low intensity thus the room is given a dark appearance.

 Natural Lighting
The only form of light source here is the window lighting, with only the window beam as a source of light. This is the darkest form of lighting but it seems not much different to the lamp lighting.

 Lamp Lighting - Higher intensity
This light source is only in form of the lamp (And daylight). However the lighting intensity is now higher, at 700000 candela (CD).

New Business Card

I have made a new business card that I feel would match my website. The patterned background would be a symbol of my vector style, although I did need to lower the opacity on them as they were too exposed for the foreground dog and writing, making them unreadable.

First person walk

I wanted to give the walk scene at the end of my film authenticity. So I recorded myself walking which seems like a first person perspective. I observed the pacing and sways that I did. I noticed that when walking, the camera tends to tilt from side to side.

Password: wolvo


I have redone the ending walk sequence, using the walk reference. I tilted the camera slightly to one side after each step just like mine in the video.
First Person Walking Reference from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.
Walk sequence from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.

Another attempt at Timing

For this experiment, I have recorded the bounce of the ball. I tried to see if I could get the timing right. I created three different animations with different timings for the musical notes to see which one I would consider to work. Since the ball I am using is a tennis ball because stress balls are scarce, the ball in the reference will obviously not squash and stretch. However I can use this measure to test the timing and add an exaggerated squash and stretch to the notes regardless.

Password: wolvo
Bouncing Ball reference from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.

Musical Note Walk and Time Test from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.

Provisional Website

The website I originally intended on creating has more problems than I thought, as a lot has changed since I last created one. So for now, I created a website using Wix for this module, until I am able to make the original one for the future.

Fortunately this is not a major setback as I have managed to obtain a ton of assets intended for the original website such as the background and pictures.

Website:
https://jackvanes.wixsite.com/animations

Website Update

After all the animating, coding and editing, the website is now complete and ready to go. All I need to do now is get a domain to store the HTML file on.

Here are the codes for the website:
Website codes

This is the display page for the website. It shows the user my kind of style that I am good at. This includes 2D also including the dog character behind the board.

This is the contact and information page where I tell a little bit about myself and have my email address and phone number below.

 This is portfolio page. There are four symbols each with a thumbnail of one of my animations. When clicked, it will give a little information on the symbols. In the centre will be a link to my animation showreel.

An attempt at timing

I drew this guide for a reference as I animate the movement of the musical notes. Obviously, as some notes such as the quavers that have two sets on them will need to be animated differently but the procedure is pretty much the same.

After a long procedure of editing or redoing the animation keyframes, I think I have something more to go on. The timing is now better than it was before but I believe there are still more to do. I had only focused on getting the timing adjusted for the two main musical notes (Quint and Quimby) for this. 
Attempt at Timing from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.

Pre-film

It took a very long time but this is how the entire film will appear. Timing is very off still but I plan to fix it as my next step. There was also multiple problems with rendering and processing most of the scenes but eventually I managed to get it to work. I've added some more sounds but some sounds may also need to be changed as well.

Pre-Film from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.

New Website Design

Based on the feedback I received, I decided to make the website more matching to my business card. I have now made the website in black and white. The black background with the white foreground is symbolic to the style of my choice. This will show consistency in my work. I have also added the dog character to make the website more lively and interesting.

Progress

I have basically just continued on from the animation where I left off. The animation playblast seems a lot different to how it was played back in the software. The timing is very off and the movements seem rather stiff in some cases, so the animation still needs more work.

Animation scenes from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.

Rough Report Plan

Introduction
Explain what the report will be about, what it will include and what to expect.

Section 1
Describing and analysing the Animation Industry and the roles of an Animator, the area of my interest.

Section 2
Analysis on Once Were Farmers, the animation company that I am interested in.

Section 3
My plan of action.

Conclusion
Summarizing entire report and making final thoughts.

Web Design and Logos Concept

This idea came to me for my own personal professional customized website. I designed the Website using 3DS Max but I can create the buttons using DreamWeaver. I will obviously need to get my own domain if I plan to do it this way.

The first link will show a collection thumbnails that link to vimeo videos of my top projects that I have made in University. 

This page will just basically tell me about myself and also include my contact information.

Personal Branding Logos

Plant shading

I attempted to shade the plant. The paint is now darker than it once was, one darker by 25% and the other darker by %50. The two images below show different types of shading that I attempted.

Sound

I booked out the sound booth room to record some sounds to be featured in my project. This would be a great opportunity to get some real sounds that I could not find anywhere online. In addition, the sounds will be at my own rhythm and at my own pace, so it will give a better atmosphere of the project.

Pencil
Using a real pencil, I scratched it against the paper for a few seconds before dropping it. The only problem came is that the pencil didn't drop the same way as the one in my movie did. The Pencil would always bounce a few times when dropped before coming to a halt. I think this is something that I could change in the animation to suit it.

 

Shoes

For the walking sound effect for the lady, I borrowed my mother's shoes for this. Fortunately for me, there is a carpet in the sound booth room, which would make a good sound for the woman walking across the room, which consists of hard carpet.

 

 Cup

The sounds from the cup are from a real cup that I have. Obviously I could not break the cup to get a sound effect for health and safety reasons but I did manage to obtain cup rolls and knocking the cup over sound effects.

Paper
For the scene which the little music note emerges from the waste paper bin, I flopped crunched up pieces of paper a few times. I also smacked the paper against the desk to make the sound effect that will be used when the paper is kicked and when the paper hits the gramophone.

 

 Here is the sounds from the sound booth that I recorded. I took multiple takes. This way, I can decide which one I feel as though could be right for the animation.

 

I signed up for freesounds.org, which provides me with .WAV files for appreciate sound effects. This video contains the rough version of the sounds that I intend to use in the project. I didn't include the soundtrack from the gramophone because that is the type of sound that I need to correlate separately to these sounds.
Sounds from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.
Project Sounds from Jack Vanes on Vimeo.

More Business Cards and Branding Statement

Here are two more business cards I have created based on the existing business cards that I looked at.

Personal Branding Statement
I am a recent graduate with extensive skills in animation interested in entering into this field. I am proficient in both 2D and 3D animation. I am creative, have initiative, am consistently hard working, can rise to new challenges and eager to learn more. I would like to be part of your team and help your company to grow.

My Business Card

I decided to go with a film strip like business card. I think it looks old fashioned but unique in a way.