Enviosity Production Blog

The Summer Progress Reel. Nighty Night for Now

2010-08-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

This is it, people. This is the last update I'll make on Enviosity until I graduate from CCS. It was fun while it lasted but this film is going to have to take a back seat for a while. I should say that it's going to have to wait in the trunk because there is no possible way I'll be able to touch it until my senior thesis film is all done. I would like to thank everyone whose been a part of this project and I hope to fulfill my promise of a finished film in the future.

A Big Bite of SadCake

2010-07-31T17:33:00.000-07:00

It is really sad for me to say this, but Enviosity is going to have to take the backseat for a while. Most likely until I graduate. The sad truth is that I only have a month left of summer vacation and that time would be best invested towards getting a good jump start on my senior thesis film. I've started piecing together a short reel of all the work I had accomplished on Enviosity over the summer and will have it ready with the next post. I was really hoping to actually finish my first film but it looks like my second film takes priority for the whole next year. I would like to thank everyone who have supported me throughout this project and I hope to bring a finished Enviosity to you soon.

Hired Help and the Tools of the Trade

2010-07-23T09:27:00.000-07:00

In exchange for lending a hand with feeding and training sheep, my brother has joined the Enviosity production team. Now I finally have something else to add to my ending credits. While I'm working on the drawings, my brother is scanning them. This is his work station. A 309 HP wireless network scanner, the 24 inch iMac with constantly streaming anime, a comfy leather office chair, a couch, and a kitty.

So far, the Enviosity crew includes:

Me- Story, Backgrounds, Animation, Music

Frank Paul- Sound Engineer

Hoang Dang- Car Drawings

David Greener- Scanning

And for everyone that questioned why I was animating on 8.5 x 11 inch paper, this is why. The only place where I have access to a large enough scanner for the 11 x 14 inch sheets is at school where there always seems to be a line up to use them. This way, I could use the scanner I had in my dorm room and now I can use the one here at home. And over all it's cost me a few dollars less in the long run. However I do plan on using the bigger paper for my next film.

And after the last tragedy involving my WD passport portable hard drive, I got a new hard drive and it seems to be working just fine. No more heart attacks from device failure!

Still Chugging Along

2010-07-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Enviosity is still in production although I had to change my end of the summer goal. I hope to have all my clean ups done before school starts and while I'm cleaning up, my brother will be scanning them in. But there is still a lot more animating to do.

Tied Down shot 17

Cleaned Up shots 3, 10, 14, and 15

I'd have more clean shots to show but my down shooter is a bit finicky sometimes.

Cleaning it Up

2010-06-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

Even though this step should be reserved towards the further end of the production pipeline, I wanted to clean up all the shots that are already tied down. I couldn't believe how hard it is to work on this film during the summer. I wish it was possible to traditionally animate outside but it just wasn't meant to be. It almost feels like a crime to be working at the computer and light box when the sun is shining and the day is calling. Oh well, I chose to finish this film and that's what I'm going to do. I'll have some cleaned up animations ready with the next post.

Back to Business

2010-05-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

I decided to take a two or three week vacation from Enviosity after classes ended for the semester and BOY did I NEED it!! I used this time to mentally and physically recuperate after a severely brain-toasting finals and year end review. In these last weeks I have reorganized myself after moving back home for the summer, caught back up on my sleep (sweet jeebus, sleep is amazing), got back into a more healthy lifestyle, and most joyously, did some artwork FOR FUN! Art for fun? Surely you jest! Nope, it's true! I did some leisurely sketching as well as some digital pieces. I also started a new website too. I plan on doing some more personal art over the summer but I still have a huge task to do: finish Enviosity. I've put an entire school year towards preproduction and animation so there is no way that this is just going to sit on my desk and never get finished. I've already gotten started and am ready to get back to work. Tally Ho!

Of Finals and Films (Final Work Reel)

2010-05-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

Well everyone, my Animation Projects class is completed. And I say this with great disappointment that Enviosity was not finished on schedule. But I can say with great pride that I accomplished a lot. This was a big task for a first-time film. Even though the class is over, I'm still going to keep working on Enviosity over the summer and I'll continue to update this blog until it's done.

I learned enough from this film to make my head spin. Allow me to share my acquired knowledge.

1. Plan for the Future. When I first thought up Enviosity, there were a lot of things that never even clicked in my brain until I ran into trouble. I didn't think that having my setting be a city would be so much work. I didn't think about cars, or people, or camera perspectives, or anything like that.

2. Don't Overcomplicate Character Designs. My characters weren't incredibly detailed but they had enough so that tie down became a huge pain. Did the older sister need a collared shirt with two buttons? No. Did the younger sister need two shirts of different sleeve lengths? No. There are ways to design around these type of details while still getting the desired overall effect. I also gave the characters anatomical stylings that made them difficult to animate. I couldn't break the rules of character animation because their forms were too realistic to actual humans.

3. Organize, Organize, Organize. Staying on top of all your assets from the very beginning makes for a more enjoyable and efficient (and sane) production process. I couldn't tell you how many times I thought I lost a shot or a layout drawing during the year I spent working on this thing. This applies to all your digital assets as well. Keep everything neat and in LABELED folders and DATE EVERYTHING IMPORTANT. Keeping a chart to mark off my progress really helped keep everything under control.

4. It's all about Passion. There were points where I downright hated everything about my film. I hated my story, my character designs, my environments, my animations. But after things picked back up, I could enjoy my project more. I love animation and filmmaking, but we all have rough days. I had to remain passionate about what I was doing or else I might not have gotten this far in production.

I Should Probably Update This Thing

2010-04-21T07:51:00.001-07:00

Things are getting crazier by the day as finals creeps closer. It's so near that you can smell the foul stench of stress, burnt coffee, and lack of bathing. I've really slacked and let this blog go and for that I apologize. I've been animating, tying-down, and restructuring my story with last minute changes as well as started collecting assets for a production reel.

Here's a tied down shot to keep you appetized for now. Shot on the at-home makeshift down shooter.

I know. I know. It's short.

Traditional Animation Kills Pencils

2010-03-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

It's true.

Re-Organizing Everything..... Again

2010-03-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

After so much work has been done, I have to reorganize all my film assets so I can get a better feel of what has been done and what needs to be done. Since I have been hopping all over the place instead of animating in chronological order, I'm grouping everything together by shot and updating my lists of stills, extras, and props. I've also been keeping a calender to keep track of how much sleep I am getting as of Spring break.

In order to balance this film with the rest of my homework and avoid the entire thing becoming a huge mess of papers on my floor, I have to reorganize frequently.

I keep a check list at the front of every shot pack so I can see where that shot is at in terms of progress and any notes for that shot.

Shot 46 Rough Animation

2010-03-20T04:49:00.000-07:00

Good luck seeing it on Blogger quality video. This is the longest shot in the film. 11 seconds. And it was actually a fun shot to work on. More tie-downs are coming along too.

Updating the Work Reel

2010-03-03T18:03:00.000-08:00

As time goes on and more animation gets done, we make rough cuts of our films so we can see how it will turn out as the videos near completion. We call these Work Reels and help for showing progress made on the films. My work reel is currently a minute long (that's about 30% percent of the entire length of the film) because the most progress has been made to the first minute so far. There is no audio and there is still a long ways to go before Enviosity is done.

Oh, I finally picked the colors. Thanks for everyone's input.

Character Color Pallets (I need help choosing!)

2010-02-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

I'm having a rather tough time making some color decisions. I like either color pallet for the older sister, but it's the younger sister that keeps getting to me. I'm leaning towards the one on the bottom but I can't make up my mind completely. I would really appreciate some input from my fellow animators here.

Color Pallet 1

Color Pallet 2

Stills and Extras

2010-02-18T16:38:00.001-08:00

I come to the realization that I won't be able to animate everything in the film. So I've decided that the shots with little to no strong movement will be replaced with still images. This will save me A LOT of production time.

Tied-down still of the sisters in shot 9

I've also began doing the extras' stills. These are the drawings with additional non-essential characters such as these classmates of our main duo. There are quite a few of these so I better keep moving forward.

Shot 36A Rough

2010-02-14T00:15:00.000-08:00

I think it's a bit funny how a run cycle in perspective only took me a fraction of the time that a walk cycle did. This is rough animation A in shot 36. Other animations are being tied down on the side.

Isn't Blogger's video quality just breath-taking.

The Devils Lives in a LightTable

2010-02-06T16:24:00.000-08:00

Okay, these two shots alone required a stupid-long amount of time to do. But at least I've gained a little experience with perspective walks.

Backgrounds are Done!

2010-01-31T12:33:00.001-08:00

Do you know this dance? It's the I-finish-all-my-backgrounds-and-now-I-can-focus-on-animation dance. Hoo-rah! Look at that squirrel dance!

I Will Not Be Silenced!

2010-01-30T15:43:00.000-08:00

My parents made me leave school for the weekend so now I can't animate until I get back on campus. Instead I will finish all my backgrounds before Monday. I better make another cup of tea. Here's a few of the ones today today. Only a couple left to go.

Backgrounds: Halfway There

2010-01-23T19:30:00.001-08:00

I am officially more than half way through coloring all the backgrounds. I will dance for joy later but I must get back to work. In all honesty, photoshopping these city storefronts have been more fun than the school or the grounds. So far I've been pretty good about sticking to the game plan in terms of getting things done on time, but it's still going to be a fight to the finish.

shot 3 and 4 rough animation

2010-01-23T11:55:00.000-08:00

Rough animation for shots 3 and 4. Gettin' stuff done!

More Backgrounds and a New Schedule

2010-01-22T00:18:00.000-08:00

Got a few more backgrounds done as well as the rough animation for shot 3 (which I can't get off the lunchbox until they put computers in the upstairs traditional lab) I whipped up a new schedule to help keep the production flowing smoothly. My biggest challenge is going to be balancing this film with the rest of my homework from other classes.

Director: Erin Greener

Title: Enviosity

January 11-- Winter Semester begins. Full production resumes.

January 13-- Current progress review

January 15-- Rough animation (shot 48)

January 16 to 17-- Color backgrounds 3 through 22

January 20-- New schedule due. Begin rough animation on shots 3 through 9.

January 21-- Color five backgrounds

January 22-- Finish rough animation for shots 3 through 9

January 22 to 24-- Color ten backgrounds

January 25-- Begin rough animation on shots 12 through 16

January 27-- Finish rough animation on shots 12 through 16

January 28-- Color five backgrounds

January 29 to 31—Color ten backgrounds (at home)

February 1—Begin rough animation for shots 19, 23, and 31

February 3—Finish rough animation for shots

February 5—Rough Animation for shot 17

February 7—Have all backgrounds colored and photoshopped.

Let’s just cut to the chase or else this schedule will go on forever. Have all the rough animation done before spring break.

March 7 to 12—Spring Break (unsure if work during break is possible, but I’ll try.)

March 15—Begin Tie downs. Have final audio done soon.

April 5—All Tie down animation is finished. Begin clean up, coloring, and compositing.

April 27-- Finish final composite in After Effects. Dub in Audio with Garage Band.

April 28—Final class. Film is finished. Nap time.

School Front Backgrounds Completed

2010-01-18T15:29:00.000-08:00

Another batch of colored backgrounds to add to the stack. The background coloring process is at 20%-25% percent now. If I put in about 2 hours of photoshopping every night, I should have almost all the backgrounds done before the end of the first week of February.

Classroom Backgrounds Colored

2010-01-17T12:26:00.000-08:00

I'm glad that I chose to avoid really complicated backgrounds. As much as I would love to make beautifully colored environments, I have to remember my time constraints, so simple it is. This technique is fast, simple, and it gets the job done while still retaining its roughness. The game plan is to work on animation during classes and backgrounds for homework. IF, and that's a big "if", there is ANY time left over after all the animation is done and everything is ready for compositing, I might spruce up a few of the background with more details. Like I said, big if.

I've been learning a lot during this process that I could apply to the production of my Senior Thesis film for next year. For instance, really REALLY thinking your film through before you decide to give it the green light. I've already had my share of regrets because I didn't design my story practically. I mean, come on, it takes place in a CITY! What was I thinking?! I didn't realize that it would be as much work as it is. Another thing I've learned is that organization is critical. It's not good enough to just "know" where everything is. Also, protect your work. On my way back to the dorms one afternoon, I accidentally dropped my ream of paper and almost lost 3 hours of work to a puddle of water on the ground. Safely recovered, I immediately went to the school bookstore and bought some waterproof closable paper packets to protect my drawings. I only have one semester to finish this thing and that mean that there's no room for accidents.

Quick and Dirty Clean-Ups (Backgrounds)

2010-01-16T20:49:00.000-08:00

I want my backgrounds to have a slightly hand-drawn look to them so I didn't want the end products to look too clean and polished. I found a really easy way to darken and crisp up the pencil lines from my layouts. This is done through iPhoto.

Step one. Import all the layouts into one event. iPhoto lets you make edits to an entire event by letting you scroll through your photos one at a time. Step two. Open the Adjust panel. On each layout, crank the contrast to 100 and the Highlight to 50. This should darken your lines while keeping your whites white. Step Three. Use the Touch Up tool to blot away any obvious speckles that may have surfaced. Lastly, if any dark edges show up, they can be easily and discreetly cropped out.

These are some other cleaned up layouts are are ready for photoshop coloring.

Shot 48 Rough Animation

2010-01-15T19:23:00.000-08:00

In case it's too hard to see, Little Sister is leaping over a construction blockade and rebounding off the wall. I feel that this shot still needs more re-timing.

Break's Over. BACK TO WORK!

2010-01-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

I got some much needed rest over the winter break and now I'm re-energized and ready to get back to work. Let the slaving resume!

Animatic Update

2009-12-18T07:14:00.000-08:00

Well now it's a little less ambiguous than the first one and it has sound! Though this is far from the finished product. The ending still needs tweaking and the sound is still very bare bones. I'm going to try and get some more work on the backgrounds done over the winter break so the following semester won't be as hassled. Another goal is to flush out the sound a little more. The music isn't as high-tension as I need it to be so I'll be hittin' the drums over the next couple weeks.

Last Minute Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes!

2009-12-13T18:42:00.000-08:00

I've decided to make a few executive modifications to my final story. I know that the last week might be a bad time but better now than never. The first thing being.....

This guy in the middle.

Who is he? Why did I even bother to put him in there if his only purpose in life is to start the race? He is just one more character to needlessly be animated. So I replaced him with this...

A traffic light!

Since turning green (with envy) is an underlying theme, I figured that the "green means go" could tie into the story.

I also scrapped a few shots because they were pointless or redundant and replaced them with new angles or an altered background. I spent this weekend tweaking old layouts, altering otherwise impossible perspectives, and making finals cuts or adds to the story.

and what a weekend it was.

Warning: Side affects of student films include but are not limited to headaches, stiffness of joints, dry mouth, jitteriness, muscle aches, insomnia, sleep paralysis, insanity, hallucinations, kidney failure, loss of vision, violent mood swings, dementia, thoughts of suicide, soreness, uncontrollable belching, death, redness or irritation of the eyes, feelings of impending doom, internal bleeding, loss of tooth enamel, runny nose, and severe caffeine dependancy.

Moar Keys!

2009-12-12T07:42:00.001-08:00

Man, oh man. I had a feeling that these finals were gonna be a killer. I had gotten a few keys and test animation shots done over the week. These shots are just quickies. In other news, progress is being made with the sound editing in Garage Band and my left foot has fallen asleep because of how I sit on my chair. I have adapted a new technique to photoshopping my backgrounds that should make things a little easier in the end. Since I have become a texture/mode fiend as of lately, I figured that I could get my papery texture using a homemade texture layer set to overlay mode. That always seems to work for me. My dad bought me some white chocolate raspberry coffee creamer yesterday so I'll be more motivated to drink lots of coffee and stay up late and work on this project. Hurray for caffeine!

Audio Progress

2009-12-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

I'm working on the audio for my film during my Sound Design class. Instead of just playing straight through on a set of bongos like originally planned, I've decided the widen the percussion spectrum a little. These two sample tracks are just pieces that will be used for the final edit. I have to thank my Sound Design teacher, Frank Pahl, for letting me use his studio and several instruments.

Do A Barrel Roll!

2009-12-01T15:12:00.000-08:00

Leap over the fruit cart shot rough animation

Working During Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T22:08:00.000-08:00

If only you can eat mashed potatoes while photoshopping while running on the treadmill while playing with cats and dogs.

Some Key Tests

2009-11-18T12:08:00.000-08:00

First two down, a bazillion to go.

Background Color Sample

2009-11-17T23:53:00.000-08:00

Hooray! Something colorful on this blog finally!

I have a lot of backgrounds just because my characters are covering a large complex area and I have a lot of shots to aid the work load. The finished backgrounds aren't going to get too much more complicated than this in order to have time for them all. Instead of dulling down the color pallet of the backgrounds to separate them from the characters, the texture of the image will do that instead. Onwards to victory!

First Run Test

2009-11-17T20:02:00.000-08:00

Man, I was SOOOOO out of practice for this film. In all honesty I hadn't done any traditional animation for class in a year. (Getting my 3D underway saw to that.) So this was a much needed warm up for what is soon to come. Here is my first run cycle test for the younger sister.

First Animatic (No audio)

2009-11-17T19:19:00.000-08:00

This is my first animatic for the film. It has no audio or animations, so I guess it is still a rough cut. I had to add my own sound the day I presented it to the class by drumming away on some coffee cans. Surprisingly, it worked out pretty well.

Older Sister Rough Orthos

2009-11-17T19:17:00.000-08:00

Some Background Drawings

2009-11-17T19:08:00.000-08:00

Because my film takes place in a whole city, there are many many many backgrounds. Some of them look similar too each other so it not going to torture everyone and myself and post them all.

Rough Character Sheet

2009-11-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

Action Concepts

2009-11-05T19:03:00.000-08:00

These sketches are just some action pose exercises for the two main characters when they are running around the city.

The Younger Sister

The Older Sister

I decided not to give names to the two girls because this is a no dialogue film anyways. They will be refered to as Older Sister and Younger Sister. The story will be told through body language, camera angles, actions, environments, and sound track. I've always appreciated film with little to no spoken words simply because it gives the animation a chance to do the talking and because actions are universally understood.

Reference Videos on Youtube

2009-11-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

I've never done free running (thanks a lot asthma) nor have I ever seen it done live. But luckily there is a plethora of YouTube videos for reference!!! My film isn't going to be about the crazy stunts as much as it is about getting from point A to point B as quick as possible and using the environment wisely.

This one is to see a full out sprint in slow motion

Welcome!

2009-11-05T18:37:00.000-08:00

Greetings! And welcome to the Enviosity production blog. It is here where I will post the going-ons and developments towards my traditionally animation short film.

Hmmm.... I should probably start with a short treatment.

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The conflict of sibling rivalries is nothing new. It happens everyday all around the world. Wherever there are multiple babies, there is friction.

Two young sisters with everything to lose are competing constantly at everything they do. Grades, sports, anything that could be considered a competition. Both have so much promise, and yet they are blinded. The younger sister has become darkened by her jealously of the older sister. After living so long in the shadow of her elder sibling, the younger sister is becoming consumed by the green-eyed monster that represents envy.

After school, the girls have a race to get home first. Parkour style (because it is just that awesome), they climb and scale across the city. As they continue neck-and-neck the whole way, the younger sister finally snaps under all the pent up rage and shoves her older sister off the roof. The older sister plummets into the wide-open dark mouth of the green-eyed monster. It isn’t until her sister’s peril does the younger realize what has happened to her. In reality, the older hits the ground with substantial injury. By the end of the film the older sister is wheelchair bound, possibly for the rest of her life. The jealous comes full circle when she becomes jealous of her younger sisters ability to walk.

The film teaches about the dangers that pent up envy and anger can have on young minds.

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Hopefully, this film will really test my ability to animate action and strong emotion. I can already tell that this is going to be a lot of work.