Roughcut Crit

I showed my roughcut at the crit and once again came away feeling pretty down about it all. People found it unclear that she was having a mugshot taken at the end - I thought this was a bit unfair as I haven't actually put the texture on the board yet so obviously you can't tell what it is. However, other comments were made about the fact that it's not clear why she's been arrested which I think is a totally valid point. I need to come up with a way of making the shot of her at the club and the final mugshot connected in some way. Vicky came up with a great idea about having a headline on the front of the magazine she's reading saying "Isabel Arrested!" which I like. Also, having her actually thumping a photographer could work.

Roughcut

After much hair pulling, blood, sweat and tears I've decided to change the ending of my film. She will now be having her photo taken rather than a portrait painted and after she falls out of the club we will see that she's actually having a mugshot taken because she's been arrested. This is my roughcut....






Roughcut Movie from Eleanor Read on Vimeo

The Dreaded Scene 8

I've got to the scene where she stumbles drunkenly out of the nightclub, trips and falls and gets snapped by a photographer. It's been a nightmare! I just can't get it right. I've struggled to get her to look drunk, I really had problems making her stumble and I'm totally unhappy with the way she trips at the end. Obviously I haven't done the facial expressions yet.






Scene 8 from Eleanor Read on Vimeo

I'll keep working on it though....

Lipsync

Untitled from Eleanor Read on Vimeo

This is my first attempt at the scene with the lipsync in. My character doesn't have an "oooo" mouth shape which is really annoying as it's used in a lot of the words she says. I've tried to do the best I can by combining other mouth shapes and playing around with her jaw control. I need to work on the movement in her body as it's a bit clicky and robotic, but it's getting there.

And thank you very much to Kirst who did the voiceover for me - what talent!

Having a rethink.....

So we had a crit to show our animatics and I came out of it feeling pretty rubbish about everything. I really needed to come up with an ending for my story. Among the comments there were also calls for me to set the animation in the 18th century and have her dressed in full period costume. Unfortunately I don't have the modeling and rigging skills to do this and I think it would be a real pain to animate. Plus, I don't really agree, I think she should be a modern day version of the woman in the painting. I like the fact that it links the painting to the modern day world.

Anyway, I've been doing bits of research into celebrity lifestyles, but I find it quite mind numbing to have to read the magazines and look on the websites for too long! It's extremely fortunate that Paris Hilton has gone and got herself arrested and is in the papers constantly at the moment. Thank you Paris.

Animatic

Final Project Animatic from Eleanor Read on Vimeo

So here's the animatic for my final project. I went with the idea of a young it girl type having her portrait painted but really wanting to be out doing extremely "important things" because she's such a "busy person". For her these "important things" are shopping, partying, being pampered and generally living the high life. I don't think this is a very strong story, there's no real structure. It needs a twist or a gag at the end. It gives a rough idea of the shape the final film's going to take though.

Day one! The blog begins.....

So this is the start. Studying a postgraduate diploma in character animation at Central Saint Martins in London, I have reached my final project. I need to make a one minute animation based on/inspired by a painting in the National Gallery's permanent collection.

I've chosen Goya's portrait of Dona Isabel do Porcel. I was really drawn to her facial expression. She has a real "good time girl" look, like she'd be great fun to have a few pints with on a Friday night. I thought it was weird that she was totally dressed in black lace - I assumed this meant she was a widow. However, I found out that this was the height of fashion for young, extremely wealthy women in Madrid at the time. So, she was a very rich, young woman who didn't need to work, was really into fashion and looks like she enjoyed a party or two...........Paris Hilton anyone?

So I've decided to base my animation on this "It Girl" idea. My initial ideas are to maybe have her narrating a day in her life (in the style of a diary entry) and animating all the things she gets up to, eg. shopping, partying, sunbathing, falling out of nightclubs. My concern is that there isn't much of a story to this. The animation can't be more than one minute, so I will need to try and fit some sort of a narrative structure into this short amount of time.

If I'm going to have my character talking I also need to come up with a script. Unfortunately my usual hilarious wit (hmmm) seems to have abandoned me. I've been researching Paris Hilton and found some great interviews with some classically stupid/egotistical comments from the self titled "American Princess" herself, so I'll take some inspiration from those. I may need to go and buy copies of Heat, Closer, Now etc - purely for research you understand.