Le Opening Shot Progress...

This pretty much counts as my last full day in UK, before leaving for HK that is. I've blocked out the opening shot, and im trying to get it done by tonight,plus finish an animated shot for Iredia. I'll be having meetings with my leaders today to discuss what I need to get done whilst in HK.

Iredia has giveen me the option of animating in my time in HK, but I personally dont see that possible since I wont have much reference, or would I be in the right environment for me to purely concentrate on thinking up fresh keyframes for animating. Frame Painting seems like the best choice. The same goes for SMITTEN's backgrounds. Everything but this shot has been finished. I made sure this was done so that Matt has the backgrounds ready to animate over =D

I shall Upload my timetable for the next 10 days later on today.

This Opening shot alone needs more shadings and detail like bushes and flowers. The tree branch in the foreground will be on a seperate layer for matt to play with overlapping movements in that layer. So yeah. shall update on the progress soon...

Weekly Update:

Its seems like ages since I've been stuck into "painting" and working, but here goes!!
After the group session with Dan, Its now clear what we are expected out of by the end of this term. Although its been a long struggle, It seems to have gone very well! And at the same time, ignoring how our personal lives have distracted us from project work, on the side units such as IPP and dissertation, everything for both my films have been planned out so detailed, there doesn't seem to be a worry anymore.

I have in fact come across a few technical issues such as the aspect ratio of shots, like the opening shot in smitten. Since its a 2D film, we've had to make the tower much bigger then what its expected to look like on screen. Manipulating a complicated camera movement with various layers moving differently. This shot is a collaboration between me and Michelle.
I will be dealing with the exterior shots again. And Michelle will be/ HAVE drawn the tower and the inside of the princesses room.

I originally thought my exterior backgrounds would have to be the same, or not BIGGER then the towers measurements which was something ridiculously stupid like 5000 x 11XXX =S This was the impression I got from our last meeting. My digital painting software's could not go above 10,ooo. I guess I misunderstood the technical complications of this shot.

I messaged our leader - Matt. and have now confirmed, I am drawing the layout of the shot 1024x 576 but extending it to the right a bit for the camera to do its thing. From going going the animatic with Matt, I figured i would have to extend it by around 300? So that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

SooooOOOO...

An update on my status as a member of SMITTEN.
All my backgrounds have been given the green light!!^^
wooooOOO!!^^
However, there are still a few tweaks to fix. Like adding the missing chains in the drawbridge shot. colour tweaking, and making the path a bit smaller in one 2 other shots. All jobs can be done under an hour all together, so I guess thats still a weight lifted from my shoulders.

Main job to do:
-2 layers for the Opening Shot at 1024 x856
-Bridge Chains
-Path tweaks

MayFly:
For the Mayfly, I've been working on another swim shot.
I JUST came across a major problem last night in fact. Whilst frame painting I found 2 empty frames withing the "Body layer". (While frame painting I switch the Antennas and leg layers off to avoid confusion.) Since there were two empty layers, I gave Iredia a call to check what was going on. And was told it was fine to just delete them. So I did.
After going over the body frames. I switched the other two layers on. (so the Antennas and Legs)
But then in the middle of frame painting I found the missing drawn body frames on the LEG layers. APPARENTLY - Iredia drew these two inbetweens on the wrong layer. Which was why, after I went over the frames the legs seemed to be left behind in the middle xD

Its taken me 30mins to realise and fix this issue. I also just had a meeting with Iredia over our other shots. So i hope this problem doesn't happen again. But I dont blame him, we're all just so tired!!

On a side note.
I will be going HongKong this coming Thursday for personal reasons.
I'll be gone for 10 days. 10 days of which I wont be needed in TEAM SMITTEN.
However, to keep to schedule I will be taking my gear (laptop, wacom, HD's) with me. I dont want this trip to interfere with my films. Nor do i want to let down my teams, reason why I got the backgrounds for smitten over and done with, ready for Matt to animate over. Preparing for this trip makes me feel a bit more professional .. especially dealing with my responsibilities as working for TEAMS. I've discussed this multiple times with my team leaders in order for this trip to not get in the way of our films. And I have generally worked alot harder and tighter to schedules as planned.

Iredia's got and is still working on shots for me to get done while I'm over broad so its ok. I'll have meetings with him over skype when needed since theres Internet at the Hotel.
My plan is to do the official things I have to get done. Then go back to the hotel to do work. I'm obviously going to do a bit of shopping too, but it shouldn't get in the way of work time. We've calculated, I should be able to get 4 shots done by the time I come back. When I do, I will have the Mayfly fly shots to go over. So schedule wise I'm sorted. I will create an updated Gant chart just for them 10 days.

If Im needed urgently, I've told my tgeam members to contact me through email or facebook. Facebook being the best since I get updates straight to my iPhone. This trip to HK does not count as a Holiday, nor for play. I have official business to deal with. And even though I dont want to go in the middle of term. Its something I cant avoid and still feel REALLY REALLY bad about >< So.. I've taken these 10 days a business trip.. PURE WORK .. and..eat.. =P

But yeah.

On a plus side, I can do more research and find cheaper products to develop my E&E project which is going PRETTY WELL right now =D estimated to make £700? out of.. £50 of investment? Not bad at all! If things go well, it may also be a side company I carry on with after graduating. I've even found licensing and manufacturers in HongKong and China^^ But I will try focus more on Frame painting for the Mayfly film as much as I can! T_T

Finished the last PAN^___^

Theyre waiting to get the green light but heres what the shots look like in order of appearance anyways =D The shot with the bridge is missing chains... but thats a minor thing to add =D

I just wanted to upload the shots in order, so that we can get a look of how the atmosphere would be like. From looking at these images, then going back to Michelle's entrance backgrounds, its a really nice contrast! As a team we've discussed the possibilities of making an artwork for our degree show, as in leaving it on our desk as an open MAKING OF type book =DD Ive worked out its around £18 for 22 pages for a HARDBACK book =DD Nice investment indeed, after 10 years.. we coluld look back n prob go, hey, I was kind of rubbish then! =P But it seemed like the best back then xD Its da same type of feeling we have for all our past work now so.. =P nostalgic yet.. hmMMM

Forest Pan finished?

Heres the finalised shot of the forest pan for the start of the film! Im proud of this piece the most, only because its shown my improvements as a digital artist, IT IS BECAUSE of this background, and matt forcing me to push boundaries, I have learnt more in terms of colour and perspectives. The composition is so powerful in comparison to my past work, i've improved creatively. As shown, the layers in the foreground has been kept, for the detail and beauty to shine through the shot. Where as the grass has been cutout, as well as the bushes. Anything with leafy detail basically.

I decided not to cutout the castle, since the filter would look overused. The castle itself has its own brushed our style, which I've I've planned to keep. It also corresponds to Michelle's tower painting which was originally based on my basic castles colour and painted technique. So I left the tower as it was.

I've also extended the trees down the background for a more 3 dimensional feel. or the forest would cut very hasrshly as seen in the past images. After having a meeting with Matt, we decided. the cloud sitting on the hills at a distant seems a bit odd since the space was so empty. So I came up with the idea of extending the forest ROUND the "hill" then bring the perspectives in - closer and BIGGER to the castle, pretty much touching from the view of the camera. Its brought the overall scene together so that fix up went better then expected =D

Shot 4 the reject

Shot 4 the reject has finally been fixed! and the simplified bricks too! colour contrast isn't blinding so im happy overall!

The Drawbridge

Im not very sure where the chains for the drw bridge shound bend. So i'll be waiting for instructions for that, but here it is without the chans =D

Development of shot 3

This shot has really been a pain, but Its now almost done! Waiting to get the brick work OK'd. At the same time, I'll be finishing the forest in this shot. I think I've finally got the bricks as Matt requested. Its looking very bold as a shot. So im proud of the hours put into this shot.

As mentioned in the past posts. I've extended and changed this shot multiple times. Even though it got annoying, the scenes composition is much stronger then the initial plan from the storyboard.^^ Looking forward to the end!! So I'll try my best to get these backgrounds as "smexy" as I can! =D