Thomas Sherwood B A (Hons) Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester: Minor

Minor - Reflective Statement

Looking back at Minor I feel like it has been a promising but never-ending stream of consciousness since I began at the start of the year. It had embodied the reason I first decided to go into Animation. To be a creative, a world builder, a dreamer and storyteller. Someone who wants to sculpt amazing things which can only be born out of the imagination, This project has been the first time I've had the skill and knowledge to be able to do all of that even though it is true that there is still a curve of learning which needed to be climbed.

I began this project really, from the end of the second year, the beginning was built on the foundations of the end of my premise feedback, It occurred to me during the break in the summer that my premise ideas were flawed in certain regards, therefore, required work, it turned out the work that needed doing was fundamental and the entire thing needed to be re-written and started from the beginning. The two main problems were that there was too much fluff in the middle, meaning it was just filling time without a lot added to the story, this was adjusted by removing much from the middle which then allowed me to add more to the beginning meaning I could capture more personality from my characters for the audience to add to the tone of the animation, and also some extra time to the ending to draw out suspense. The other thing was that the set needed to be altered because originally the final bedroom location was down some stairs in a basement, this came across as odd rather than what I intended which was uncanny and weird, therefore I altered the set so there was a1st floor instead, which at it turned out worked much better. I also altered something which turned out for the best and also made things easier for me in the long run which was changed a sequence where the boy watches tv at the beginning and instead is now playing with toys and listening to a radio drama.

The script was shortened and I worked on stripping out everything which didn't mean anything. I was left with about three pages, the bare bones of the animation which was all I needed to make it as clean and meaningful as possible. From the script I was able to determine exactly what I needed out of the animation in terms of broad structure for the set.

This allowed me to go about writing a prop list and writing a script for the radio drama, on a side note, the radio drama was written from my second-year character design project, I managed to write something which fitted the bill perfectly for what I wanted, a story of impending doom of a monster lurking in the distance, inescapable to mirror the boy and his uncanny granny.

This was all more of a process really and just took some forward-thinking, however, when it was done I ended up with a prop list of around 100 objects which all would need to be modeled, uv'd and textured, not a small feat even for a professional. So I set about making them and Uving as I went, the process taught me a lot about topology and how to design things, I used a lot of photographic references specifically from scenes of horror, haunted dwellings, antique furnishings, and victorian products, for more modern things I took to the shops and used real-life or things from my home as references to create many modern items. By the end of this process, I found that I was going back over older models in order to improve them where I found errors which would be problematic in the future for me in an effort to keep everything as clean as possible. By the end of it was found that I had a great love for just simply modeling and found it to be rather therapeutic. It was a good experience, one that I think will hold me in good stead for my future career.

Once all my assets were complete and UV'd I went about using Victorian imagery to stylize each room of the grandmothers' house, I did this to make sure the space reflected the grandmothers' character, I want the boy to feel as if the fear he begins to feel for his grandmother is inescapable and haunting him wherever he goes, I wanted to heighten the drama and suspense as the animation goes on.

I intentionally built the set consistently throughout to allow myself the freedom to film the previz in a way similar to a real set where I can to experiment in a digital space, it is reflected by my script as I've intentionally been relatively vague about the majority of the shots, I've learned that I tend to work better after much consideration on a subject rather than making decisions i.e. writing the entire script with rigid commands for filming. I have found it really helped me to have a bit of viscosity in terms of flow for filming. It worked in my favour as it was an extremely quick turn around for filming and putting together the previz. On this subject, I think it's important to note here that I decided to work with a sound designer as I've learned through my degree that I possess very little talent with sound and it was important to me to get it completely spot-on as the sound is so important with horror. So in light of this I got in contact with an old friend of mine who now works in the sound industry, I outlined the project and what I expected from a sound designer and gave as much detail about the sound as possible, I also wanted them to interpret it as their own because as I previously outlined I am no good with sound, this went to my advantage as when the previz was returned to me the sound added much to the suspense and drama and really complimented the visuals. I think this will hold me in good stead for the future and the final render because it has allowed my sound designer to make a loose first draft of the final thing.

Closer to the submission for Minor I began the rigging for my main character, this has always been something I've struggled with since I first encountered rigging; That being said I feel I've grown massively in my knowledge of rigging up until the point I had arrived at before the submission, which was up until pose space interpolators, this was due to having massive problems which I encountered over the Christmas and New Year period. I feel this was part of the learning curve and with assistance I have now learned what the problems were and will be able to overcome them in the future.

On the whole, the Minor project has been really uplifting and freeing for me, its been a great opportunity to learn in a way which benefits me, I find it helps me to learn through repetition, as in, scripting everything, designing everything, modelling everything, then moving on to Uv'ing everything. It also gave me the freedom to experiment and learn through trial and error. I have a tendency to be quite narrow-minded and need to experience problems for myself before I can adapt and improve, I feel with the feedback I received I think I was able to hone my project in a positive direction and now I think I'm in a good position to be able to finish my characters and get straight to animating.

Minor - Submission

Link to Premise (Year 2) - Including Year 2 Previz and Year 2 Script

Finally to wrap up premise, I have come to the conclusion that I simply have no talent for sound design and have noticed that no matter how much I try I have consistently developed sound for my animations which is off and unprofessional. Therefore, knowing my own limitations I have decided to work with someone who does sound for a living to create and produce all the audio for my final animation. All credit for the production, sound editing, and design will go to him. Link Below:

Marc Allen - Spotify - The 'Sleep Tight' Sound Designer

The final Script was completely re-written due to these implemented changes, therefore the previz needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. Now the only thing which is left is to implement minor tweeks to tune the final animation.

Revised/Altered Script: