My favorite teacher is Mr. Mistake.

So far in my years at school, teachers tell you to do things and they say why and you absorb it and tend to agree because it's logical and makes sense but maybe you don't actually completely understand. Because there is a huge difference between hearing and experiencing. This is what I find my Fourth and final year at ECU is all about.
For example.
 We have spent months perfecting our stories and really focusing on pre-production because it is the foundation for the rest of the work to come and it needs to be strong. Logical.  And yes I understood this, but I saw myself getting overly anxious about my workload and needed to begin animating and I see this urgency within my peers now. So I set my leica reel aside, chose a piece that I knew wouldn't be altered and began animating. Now I'm in this weird spot. I have gathered some momentum with my animating and it feels good and I'm really enjoying it, but I feel like I'm lost and can't continue because I didn't SOLIDIFY my story or fix my timing. Now my sound designers have a leica reel that isn't properly designed and I have to back track a few stages to rework somethings, and lose the momentum I have gained.
This isn't something I regret though. I can be particularly bullheaded at times, and I know that I needed this kind of mistake to teach me a solid lesson, and I really do want to gain a better perspective of my film before I continue on half blindly.
Is it better to listen to the people who know best and just stick to what they suggest, and maybe never run have into these types of problems, or is it best to fumble your way around it and learn for yourself even if it means making some critical mistakes?

D

OH MAN I STARTED

Hey you
Wanna see a previz of my film.
I have begun animating. I will have to reshoot the first section of this because the lighting is off and I didn't realise that she got darker as she moved into the scene. BUT I am excited because it's quite tricky to make her turn around because I have to replace her body and I think I did it well!

Now that i have started animating, all of my intense fears have gone away. All of my shaken self-confidence in my animation ability has flown away too. It feels great and I forgot how much fun I actually have animating.
So even though I'll have to do a re-shoot I feel excited about it, not down. That's awesome.

What I have here is a very quick color-key job so there are some things that need to be fixed, but I literally just pressed a button to make sure it was working ok.  If you look closely her cheeks key through a few times. The tech at our school suggested that I try using blue velvet as my "green screen". I think that sounds like a great idea.

Getting ready for the leap

Well, the step from pre-production to production is pretty nerve racking I must say. I spent a lot of time yesterday almost animating and then not and waiting for technical issues with lighting/greens screening etc....by the time I had worked up the nerve to dive right in one of my bulbs blew. So  just went home.

I do have a test runcycle. I always forget how slow it takes to aniamate even a fast motion! I had to slow my test down considerably so that is was readable. There's some quirks  because I had to adjust the timing in software but I think it's pretty good for the first try.


Untitled from Daryl-Lynn Ramsay on Vimeo.

I've also taken a picture of the multi-plane that I'm working on

eeeeee

Well today is the day.
I officially start production today. I'm probably just going to get through a test run cycle butthat's good enough for me. I've been having some problems with setting up the lighting for the "green"screen.... it's blue now.
One of the things I have noticed about puppets is just how much SPACE it takes to animate with them. You need your rig or stage and then the lights surrounding it, space for your extra parts and your computer then room for your body etc. The room I'm working in is tiny so there aren't a lot of options for moving the lights around.
It's exciting but I'm also very nervous. I'm quite clumsy and twitchy so I don't know how animating a whole film with puppets will look in the end, but let's hope it's great.


I will post some photos or tests up as soon as I can.


Cheers
D-L

Ouch

it turns out that cutting out probably about a hundred puppet pieces is quite painful for your fingers haha. I still have more to go too!
The good news is, that if I just power through I can start animating the film on Monday! I am very stoked about this. VERY!
But I must admit I'm having some qualms about my story. i feel like something needs to change, but I'm just not sure what, so yeah. That process is still in motion, so I'm going to animate what I do know is solid and keep on a truckin'

Puppet photos!

Here are some pictures of my puppets.
I wish I would have documented the entire process, but you never think of these things when you're really into something, do you?

The aftermath of my work station..well this is more middle math I guess

Two sizes! (no hands yet)

crude running pose, but you can see how her skirt is now working!

1st prototype vs the new one! What a difference.

Close up on her face

Close up of dress. I love the texture of the paper!