Evaluation

To conclude this project, I think it was good to be working with a real client to get a sense of the real world but I really didn't like my brief at all which is a shame. What I got asked to do wasn't exciting at all, I didn't have a lot of choice what I could do so I had to ask my client to change the brief a bit so I could actually do something a bit more exciting and dynamic. The logo I got given was horrendous, but I guess it was good that my brief could have the chance to use a camera and 3D space, which I wanted to do for the first time.

If I had to rate my clients communication rating out of 10 I would give him a solid 7. At the start of the project I got no communication for about a week which I was very annoying, but it wasn't his fault as he was filming in Amsterdam. After the week after hounding him and another member from latest TV I finally got communication, frequent communication.  He would reply to me within 5 minutes a lot of the time giving me live feedback so that was really good. He gave me very, very nice feedback about what I had done for him as the final product which is relieving and very satisfying.

I enjoyed creating my graphics, for the first time I used a graphics tablet to digital paint my illustrations. It was really fun doing this and it is something I want to do more of. Creating the animation was alright, it is just a shame how a bit limited it was.

If I could do things again differently I would probably redesign the egg logo just so I could have a final product that has much better designed work in so it doesn't look like that is my work. I use to create loads of logos before this degree so it is something I would very much enjoy to do anyway.

Evidence of communication | Final feedback!

So this is the last of the communication with Andrew for this project. As the e-mail shows, Andrew is really pleased with it and has invited me to a launch screening which is really good, and even is asking me how I would like to be credited at the end of the programme!

Feedback | Crit

So from showing my work to the class, I got one bit of feedback what could potentially improve my work. That was adding a shadow of the graphics orbiting around the egg. Im not sure if I want to do this because the graphics are travelling over the egg to reveal elements of the logo. If there is a shadow swell just below it, the revealing will look distracted, not as focused. And besides my client really loves what I have done how it is so I think I am going to leave it as it is.

Project logging | Motion Graphic Development

Refining the Egg + 3D

I masked the egg to get a much smoother egg, the egg I got given had a horrible shadow underneath it, I wanted a shadow on the floor so it gives the 'earth egg' a more realistic look as if it was floating in space. I put a camera on it and put everything 3D which enables me to orbit my graphics around it.

To get the graphics orbiting round the egg I had to parent them to a null object and change the values on the axis in 3D space so it goes round in a circle, I used easy ease in and easy ease out so the graphics go a bit slower when going behind, to make it a bit more realistic. 

To reveal the lines I used the linear wipe effect, and i key framed it so it obviously matched when the graphics were travelling over.

To get the word 'exchange' to follow the plane like a banner I simple copied the null object of the plane and parented the text to it then i created a clipping mask so it could only come in from the area in the clipping mask.

For the smoke coming out the train, it was made from the particular effect, in which i manipulated to look like realistic stem coming out the chimney bit. 

All graphics have a fast blur on them when going round the corners to look more realistic again. The text that says Chef, is blurred whilst having smoke on top of it which then reveals to clean text.

Project logging | Graphic development

 Train

I made the graphics by drawing over a image and tweaking it a little bit of a real toy, using the pen tool in illustrator.

I used a black stoke to make it stand out more, as the graphics are small its important to make them as clear as possible. I shaded in each section of the train manually, changing the opacity of a blurred round brush and gently shading around to make it look more visually nice.

I used the same process for all three graphics.

Evidence of communication | Putting the continents on the egg

I received the egg with continents on which Andrew done himself. To be honest its not the best bit of photoshop work but as well as the red text on top, its content they want so even though i don't like it I have to deal with it. I really think the red colour, font choice and positioning of the text is awful. The continent work isn't brilliantly done either.

I have finished the last proposals Andrew wanted and have given him the file on dropbox. Here is evidence of our dropbox folder.

I am just waiting for Andrew to view so he can e-mail thoughts.

Evidence of communication | Changing the background feedback

I changed the background of white to the gradient blue and it seemed perfect to his proposal. I asked whether he wanted anything else, I explained that 40 seconds is way too much time for what he wanted.

Personally I really don't like it, I feel the white background is much better. It brings the egg out more, and creates more focus to the egg. But obviously you have to design to the clients liking.

This obviously shows Andrew was happy with the background change. And is happy to have space at the end so he can put some stuff in it himself.

There was problems with him receiving the egg files. So I gave them to him on dropbox.

Evidence of communication | Animation feedback

I emailed my first completed draft of my animation and I showed Andrew this via dropbox. Here is the log of e-mails which gives me feedback too.

So once again very positive feedback. Surprisingly, he said he is sad he cannot see the continents that were on the original egg. When there wasn't any continents on there in the first place. I used the exact logo he sent me. Other than that, he wanted me to change the white background to a blue gradated blue.

I confronted Andrew about not receiving any egg with continents on, he replies asking me to send him the egg plain cause he wants to put the missing content on it. He seemed very happy with the work though which is pleasing. 'And i really do love it, i think you have done a brilliant job'.

Evidence of communication | Graphics feedback

After knowing Andrew wanted 'vintage' look, I drew up some vintage styled car, train and plane and showed them to Andrew to get his feedback.

So good positive feedback again, he states he wanted the train to say ICEx instead of GWR, so I made the change and e-mailed him the graphic with the change...

So knowing all my graphics are okay I can now go into after effects and start creating a animation knowing all my content is okay, which is a good feeling.

Evidence of communication with client | Animatic feedback

First of all before i started creating a load of graphics and animation. I drew out a story board and created an animatic, which I sent to Andrew to see what he thought. 

I had to compress the quality and size of the animatic so I could fit the 25MB limit of file size into an e-mail. 

...So the quality isn't exactly the best in the world, but it was enough for andrew to understand what was going on.

Here are some more screen shots of mine and andrews communication

This clearly shows positive feedback of the proposal. I am now comfortable to stat making the graphics.

Chef logo to design around

Andrew sent me the attachments of the egg logo and music.

So this is the egg which I have to create objects to orbit around. 

At this point which was the 24/02/2014 I had a brief and some files to start creating some stuff.

Proposal | Themes

I have created a storyboard in my sketchbook of what I want to propose. Ive received the logo and music piece from Andrew so my design work has to fit in with the already are style of the logo and the pace and animation has to fit with the piece of music I have been given.


The logo is a real image of an egg with basic red text on top of it, so there is a sense of realism there. So my graphics will have to look realistic of the real thing. So my main theme will be realistic in terms of art style. The music sounds really calm and holiday like. The pace is varied of slow and fast, so my orbiting pace of the elements won't be too slow and won't be too fast. The music is quite cheerful. (Personally I hate the music).

I want the movement of the elements at the right pace, fluently orbiting with the music.

Keywords for my themes would be:

• Realistic
• Fluent
• Cheerful
• Smooth
• Global

Art style | Research

James White

As everyone knows how good James Whites work is, I wanted to do digital painting with a tablet for my graphics and as you can see in his work its digital painted with all sorts of different textures. I hope to emulate some of the textures he uses into my own graphics I have to make. Learning how to use a graphic tablet will be fun and very useful too, so I am pleased I am going to do this.

Motion graphic research | Opening title sequence

Even though researching existing things isn't as helpful when you get such a direct and limited brief I thought its still a good idea to look at some to look at any techniques I would like to use in the future.

Madmen

I really, really like this opening scene. The change of tempo from beginning to end is perfect, with the guy falling fast down a slow camera is a nice technique. I like the art style of having a blocky suited man within a detailed world. The use of camera and 3D space is something Ive never done before, so i look forward to using it, in this it looks so cool. The subtleness of the guy falling works so well with the violin music in the background, it has a nice mood. Not something you would expect of a guy falling down a skyscraper.

Hustle

A bit old and out dated but I remember watching Hustle years ago and thinking how cool the opening sequence was and I still really like it even though its old. I like the use of objects as a transition for the next scene for instance the guys sunglasses acts as a window to the next scene. The smoke from the guys cigar turns into a pound sign. I think this is so good, the effect for that is particular and is something I will be using in my project with steam coming from a train, hopefully I can make something nice with the smoke, to act as some sort of revealer or turn it into something like in this sequence.The way 'Hustle' is presented is cool, with the falling money on top of the text then the camera goes to the front so you can see it.

300

I really like the opening scene to the film 300. The art style of pure block colours and the main of red and black portrays the blood, anger, fierceness and power the film is. The slow motion pauses throughout in 3D space is cool with the blood in full dimension, playing around with the camera looks fun, it makes everything so fluent which is key for a sequence.

As I know what I'm doing, conducting a lot of research isn't necessary in my opinion. I know I have to use camera and 3D space so these three give a lot of different angles and ways you can transition scenes within the sequence.

New brief | Finally got sent my brief

So for this new project I will be making a title sequence/animation intro to a programme called food exchange which is a live brief. For the first time I will be making content to a real brief from a real client. It is scary but exciting for the first time working in the real world. I need to e-mail my client to receive details of my brief.

I have sent a few emails and phone calls to people but I have not been getting response.

About a week later Andrew replies.

After a few naggy but polite emails, my client (Andrew) final has responded with some guidelines of what he wants me to make. He originally asked me to make an animation of objects orbiting a graphic of the logo which is an Egg what has text on it saying 'International chef exchange'. The objects he wanted were a plane, egg and a car. He then wanted me for them to finish up coming out of orbit together and shooting at the screen towards the viewer.

I wasn't really convinced by the the objects flying out towards the viewer so I suggested a different idea. I had a careful examination of the Egg graphic Andrew sent me and I thought I could play with the two lines in the graphic. I suggested an idea of revealing the two lines as tracks from the car and train on their path of orbit around the egg. Then have the plane go round after with smoke coming out of it which then reveals the text of international food exchange. I proposed this idea instead to Andrew and seemed happy about it saying the idea was good.

I asked a few more questions to get a bit more details of what I was doing, asking about the graphics of the plane, train and car and Andrew wants them to look vintage. So I am thinking of drawing up in illustrator some old pictures off vintage tin toys of these objects. Andrew sent a sound track and I asked if he wanted me to edit to the whole piece and he said yes but he may drop in some food shots. So I now have a good idea of what I am doing. I will now draw up some mock ups of the storyboard of what it could look like. Then create some photoshop mock ups and send them to Andrew to see if he likes the idea before I go into after effects and start creating the animation.