On the whole I am pleased with the work that I have produced. I have learnt new techniques and utilised these to create a believable character, which fulfilled the brief given. I particularly enjoyed working with morpher and using FFD boxes to manipulate the shape of the eyes and facial expressions. These techniques were new to me and I feel proud of how I have managed to use them in my piece.
I very much enjoyed the amount of research within this project with regard to behavioural study and trying to recreate actual expression on my model. I have tried throughout the animating procedure to link the expressions and body language as closely as possible to real behaviours and gestures, studied through people watching and also film clips taken.
I feel that experimenting with morpher, boning and view constraints during the animation production has helped me to produce a relatively realistic impression of a new character. I have realised that I have found a new love for 3D modeling through character animation that I had lacked in previous modules dealing with 3D modeling. I believe this is due to the basis of animating that I came across in this module largely based upon human behaviours and expression which I have always been very interested in. I also particularly enjoyed the scope of being able to create any type of character we wished and to analyse our creations through trying to build a convincing character and with it, his own unique personality.
This module has been one of my favourites throughout my time at University and I hope to continue to produce work based upon my experiences within this project.
Sunday 13 May 2012
Improvements
There are quite a few instances that I would alter or change if I had more time. As I have mentioned previously, I would have liked to include a background and other characters and props to create a more convincing environment for Terry. I feel that I have applied certain techniques to try to communicate the persona I have created for Terry reasonably well although with more time I think I could have made him much more villain-esque by introducing other characters that he could annoy and irritate, as well as becoming frustrated himself.
I would also liked to have spent more time on body language, trying again to include movement of Terry's body and limbs more. More camera angles and scenes could also be used to create a longer and more dynamic piece.
With regard to Terry himself I do like the fact that he doesn't have any dialogue in this instance but in future projects I would very much like to use lip syncing techniques and give Terry a voice. I would also like to use real actors within the piece as, although I am very grateful to my willing participant being the voice of Terry, I feel that by using a trained actor I could achieve an even more realistic reaction for my character.
I would also liked to have spent more time on body language, trying again to include movement of Terry's body and limbs more. More camera angles and scenes could also be used to create a longer and more dynamic piece.
With regard to Terry himself I do like the fact that he doesn't have any dialogue in this instance but in future projects I would very much like to use lip syncing techniques and give Terry a voice. I would also like to use real actors within the piece as, although I am very grateful to my willing participant being the voice of Terry, I feel that by using a trained actor I could achieve an even more realistic reaction for my character.
Compiling the Pieces
After I had generated the audio and the visual I compiled them again within Premiere Pro and exported them as one media, creating the final animation.
Here is the final project. The video above is of a lesser quality to be able to upload it on this site.
I hope you enjoy!
Here is the final project. The video above is of a lesser quality to be able to upload it on this site.
I hope you enjoy!
Audio
For the audio of my piece I used Ableton to create a soundtrack to increase the believability of my whole project.
Above you can see the screen grab of my Ableton file.
To start constructing the audio I sourced two alarm rings from freesound.org. I then asked a willing participant to record some verbal aspects to the piece such as the yawn that starts the scene and also the frustrated tut, annoyed groan, angry ringing and the wobble at the end of the piece. The alarm sound effect was quite harsh in tone, so I added reverb so create a more natural sound, that I felt worked better.
I used one alarm for the initial ringing scene and combined two for the frustrated ringing section to demonstrate a louder and more angry sound that coincides with the angrier expression of Terry. I also added a ticking audio section for when Terry looks up and watches his hand move to the 'O'clock' position. After the verbal sections were recorded they were synched to the video. I then sourced a glass smash file from freesounds.org to use for when Terry falls at the end as I couldn't find an actual alarm clock smashing sound effect. This smash didn't work quite how I wanted so I used a low pass filter so it sounded more like a bell, and the sound of an alarm clock fall instead of a glass.
Finally I added the melodic piano version of 'Hickory Dickory Dock' as an intro and outro. I faded out the tune at the beginning as I faded in the ticking. I decided on using this tune as a theme tune due to it being instantly recognised by children and adults alike, instantly creating the idea of a clock based animation. I used the tune at the end to complete the sequence, to balance the piece.
Above you can see the screen grab of my Ableton file.
To start constructing the audio I sourced two alarm rings from freesound.org. I then asked a willing participant to record some verbal aspects to the piece such as the yawn that starts the scene and also the frustrated tut, annoyed groan, angry ringing and the wobble at the end of the piece. The alarm sound effect was quite harsh in tone, so I added reverb so create a more natural sound, that I felt worked better.
I used one alarm for the initial ringing scene and combined two for the frustrated ringing section to demonstrate a louder and more angry sound that coincides with the angrier expression of Terry. I also added a ticking audio section for when Terry looks up and watches his hand move to the 'O'clock' position. After the verbal sections were recorded they were synched to the video. I then sourced a glass smash file from freesounds.org to use for when Terry falls at the end as I couldn't find an actual alarm clock smashing sound effect. This smash didn't work quite how I wanted so I used a low pass filter so it sounded more like a bell, and the sound of an alarm clock fall instead of a glass.
Finally I added the melodic piano version of 'Hickory Dickory Dock' as an intro and outro. I faded out the tune at the beginning as I faded in the ticking. I decided on using this tune as a theme tune due to it being instantly recognised by children and adults alike, instantly creating the idea of a clock based animation. I used the tune at the end to complete the sequence, to balance the piece.
Premiere Pro
As touched upon in my previous post, once I had rendered the majority of scenes I required for my piece, I imported them into premiere pro to edit and to collate the animation as a whole.
Above a screen shot of the premiere pro file is viewable, showing the separate scenes. For some of the ringing scenes I manipulated the effects of the transitions between scenes (particularly at the beginning and end of the piece), added a title scene and I also tried different speeds, speeding up some of the ringing sections to add to the frantic feel of Terry. I realised at this point that my opening scene of Terry yawning didn't really work and so I re-rendered a version of that scene with the use of a camera zoom to 'set the scene'.
Once I was happy with how the audio looked it was time to construct the audio accompaniment.
Above a screen shot of the premiere pro file is viewable, showing the separate scenes. For some of the ringing scenes I manipulated the effects of the transitions between scenes (particularly at the beginning and end of the piece), added a title scene and I also tried different speeds, speeding up some of the ringing sections to add to the frantic feel of Terry. I realised at this point that my opening scene of Terry yawning didn't really work and so I re-rendered a version of that scene with the use of a camera zoom to 'set the scene'.
Once I was happy with how the audio looked it was time to construct the audio accompaniment.
Moustache Hands
Some of the scenes were rendered quite a few times due to mistakes, such as the outer body of Terry being visible through his open mouth. Once I had rendered the majority of the scenes I required I imported the rendered scenes into Premiere Pro. I then edited and moved them around to create an initial piece (without sound) to show to a few people to gage their reactions, ask their opinions and also to see whether Terry and his facial animations were believable enough for a final render. Most of the feedback I received was positive, although one audience member did question the time change in some of the scenes.
I explained that the hands on the clock face were used for the majority of the piece to emphasise the emotion and gestures of Terry (e.g. yawning the hands are pointing down as if stretching with his facial muscles) and during the second scene there are used for Terry to tell the exact time and to know when to start his alarm call. In the scenes where Terry is not using his hands to emphasise his facial expression, they act as his moustache, at a generic twenty to four position.
I explained that the hands on the clock face were used for the majority of the piece to emphasise the emotion and gestures of Terry (e.g. yawning the hands are pointing down as if stretching with his facial muscles) and during the second scene there are used for Terry to tell the exact time and to know when to start his alarm call. In the scenes where Terry is not using his hands to emphasise his facial expression, they act as his moustache, at a generic twenty to four position.
Final Scene
For the final scene I wanted Terry to go from being an angry little clock to get his 'comeuppance'. Throughout my research into existing villainous characters, for the audience to connect with the hero of the piece, the villain never ends up victorious. In my original storyboard I had Terry ringing too close to the edge of the bedside table and falling from it. Since I had no environment and consequently no bedside cabinet for Terry to fall from I chose to show him wobbling where he was and losing control of his ringing which made him fall backwards.
I animated Terry wobbling and I had to try a few different techniques to get him to wobble effectively. Linking and connecting the different objects didn't work as each piece of Terry decided to fly off wherever they fancied. In the end I had to group the objects and make the wobble effect by moving his legs and using rotation. Unfortunately after grouping Terry's pieces I was unable to affect the pivot point, which I wanted to place down on one of his legs. I had to therefore leave it central to Terry which I don't feel worked as well as I had originally intended. In the end I was reasonably happy with how Terry wobbled and how his pupils moved due to the link constraint I had used for him to look at.
As Terry falls backwards there is no real connection point where he hits the floor as there is no real floor for him to hit. I would like to have added real world physics to this part and assigned mass and gravity to the scene but I ran out of time.
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