Style Frames

Setting | Canada + Pat the Adventurer

I decided a while back that my animation would be set in the lovely Canada. I wanted to pick a place where Native Americans actually inhabited (which was mostly everywhere) but also somewhere which I'd enjoy to research more into. I've never really payed much attention to Canada really, but once I'd started looking up certain areas around America, it didn't take long for me to realize that it was a beautiful place to set the animation.

I got a few images off flicker to help me at first, until I was explaining to my grandma (Patricia Burns, but we call her Pat) what I was doing for my final major project...next time I saw her she'd got out her photo album form when she went there her self, plus a book she'd bought whilst there with loads of photographs of the Canadian Rockies.

These pictures have informing me on the look of the piece, making it look hopefully like the Canadian woodlands and great lakes. Specifically looking at the trees, the rocks and the mountains. Also, when looking at the just book, the night time scenes.

First the book...

I liked the mirror image created in this photo, could be good when looking at transition between the real world and the after life


Now Pat's pictures

Thanks go out to Pat for all the help...here she is running out out a helicopter...

Portfolio Visit | Mainframe

My first portfolio visit was with Manchester based company Mainframe, I went there with Jack and John. Jack setup the visit after we'd been to a meetup at the common bar a few weeks earlier, which the guys at Mainframe had organized. The crit was with Ian Waters and Chris Hardcastle

I showed four pieces of work as we had 15 minutes each. Firstly I showed the eden ident which both Ian and Chris thought was really nice, the only bits of constructive criticism was that the end shot needs a better 'ease' on the texture as it slows down at a different rate to the maya mountain. Also, the addition of motion blur could really help the piece. Lastly i need to make the sound better, it will really help the piece.

This is the first studio I've been able to show my train animation, Nowhere Fast, to. It went down pretty well. Chris really liked it and didn't really have a lot to say about it. I asked the question "is it too long/ repetitive", he said that he never thought of wanting to stop the piece half way thought and never got bored. This was nice to know.
he said if you were to cut it down, take out some of the weaker shots. He pointed out the weakest shot to me...

Lastly I showed my latest animation, the feel good drinks piece. This too seemed to go down well. Chris thought the style and colour suits the company really well. All he said was to make sure the final sound isn't too overpowering keep it simple.

Chris concluded by giving some advice on Final Major Project. In a nut shell he was explaining that we (speaking on behalf of Mainframe) like to see 'polished' pieces of work and to over helm your self by doing an epic can lead to something which is half finished...or finished, but hasn't got the polish needed to wow the studios.

Character Design | Bear