Third year green light Productions

I have had quite the hard time with getting onto a third year green light production. At first (and still i suppose) I was in Lauren's third year production as an editor, I was given the role by Jordan who was her producer for the green light project. While i was very interested in the production it seemed i was given no work and hadn't managed to get hold of anything with which to make an animatic of and was most definitely not in the loop. Unfortunately Jordan was also having trouble getting hold of her and it seemed she was very unwilling to let anyone in.

I have also helped a tad with some storyboarding on Lucinda's project, at first i did some looking over the storyboard, talking through it with her and giving her some notes that i thought could help improve her project. Later I also did some drawings for her revised storyboard.

Me and Jordan wished to practice some 3D animation and Lucinda said we could play around with some of her rigged models she made for practice. I was exited about the idea of a bit of 3D practice as i had never done any before. When the time came that she had finished the models though, she seemed under the impression that me and Jordan had volunteered to do animation for her production. This idea scared me greatly because i had never done any 3D animation before and really didn't want to spoil her project with substandard animation. She then later on did limit what i had to do, so now i only have to do a single shot with a head movement, which i feel is much more my speed really given my beginner status.

Due to the fact that the communication with the project leader with Lauren's project and the fact that i was not getting anything to do from it, Toyin savied in and tossed me a bone asking if i wanted to be the editor for Donna's project, of which he was producer. I was extremely happy with this because i had not managed to get much work in a third year project other than that, apart from a few panels of storyboard drawing.

I feel Donna's project is much easier to work on because she is a much more reachable and approachable project leader. When i need information when doing the live edit i can simply go up and ask her my query, which is very helpful.

The Party

Today me, Sophia, Glen and Billy had a meeting to do with our studio practice role of human resources. We discussed what we could do in our human resources role, multiple ideas came forth, organising bowling for the group, movie showings down in the studio thatre and a retro party with old gameing consoles and old cartoons for not just the animation but for the whole first floor (or at least our little hallway of rooms). We decided to try and see who would like to do what out of our ideas befroe we make any final by going around the room and checking to see who wants to do what on thursday which is the day when all years will be in and we should be able to get a whole studio wide opinion on the activities.
After we have discovered which activities are most popular then we will begin to think of arrangeing them and assigning roels within our human resources group.

Lightstream the Experiance

My experience in Animated Exeter was good, I did a few work shops, went to a talk and it was overall a rewarding experience. But that is not what i made this post to discuss, I am here to discuss the Lightstream.

I didn't know how our production would be received, I had no idea what any of the other uni's had done for it, and unfortunately due to the fact that i was one of the projectionists for ours, I still don't actually know what any of them did. But what I do know is that our one seemed to go very well, there was lots of people looking at our projection as far as i could tell, contorting myself around the large projector to get a peek out down to the street.

Me an Toyin (the producer for the project) were stationed in a small upstairs room across from Tuckers Hall, the building which we would be projecting on. Some of our other colleges were stationed down on the street below, walking around talking to passers by about our Lightstream projections, and Animated Exeter in general. We were also joined by, to my surprise, two students from the Plymouth Uni. We were both sharing the wall space for our projections, I was quite pleasently suprised by this I must say. I had thought we would not get a chance to see any other projections but thanks to them I would at the very least be able to see one.

We ended up waiting for quite a while simply chatting with the other students for the techs to come and set up the projector and such. It was quite interesting talking to them about their course. Unfortunately as the time of projection speeded ever and ever closer seven o clock we had not seen heads nor tails of any techs. Toyin texted one of our ground team to see if they could find out what was going on and they texted back relaying that the techs had said they were working their way through the different projections. We took this as a sign to not worry too much about it assured they would get to us before the time was up

When the time was very near we realised we had not yet had any techs visit and were a tad worried. Toyin texted Kari (the person in charge) and then she very promptly sent a tech up to help. Despite a minute or two figuring out how to switch between our and the other students projection it went very well, and as far as i could tell us and Plymouth Uni managed to pull a reasonable crowd.

Specialist reasercher, and more on Studio Practice

In looking for information about the specialist researcher role I'm thinking maybe it dosent quite apply to the studio practice module, i dont think it is quite an in house role that is a constant and specialist reaserchers are only really for big budget productions.

I'm going to be honest here I am so lost with the Studio Practice module, I mean not in every part of it. But in this looking for a role that is a spesific in house production company role that isn't a creative one and is with the manogorial side I am coming up with nothing.

I could come up with lots of stuff if i was simply to research these roles and be done with it, but then we have to act in those roles in I think a third year greenlit production, let me check that. The PCA website is not letting me in so i will just assume i am at least close in my guess but yeah, I am finding it really hard to find an in house role that is to do with the running of the studio that i feel i could then do in a production.

Lightstream Continued

The lightstream project has gone reasonably well. I have most definitely been much less involved with this than i was with the Animated Exeter Ident, though i was by no means not involved and i don't think people where quite as invested in this particular project as they where also focusing on doing stuff such as contextual and the soundscape project.

As i have said (I think) in previous posts my main job was anamatic and storyboarding. I also helped a bit with conceptual stuff as did most people. I did a spot of compositing as well to show how i thought the vines and flowers should interact, you see previously the vines grew completetly then the flowers grew and wilted and so did the leaves on the vines, then when the vines began to receed again no plants or anything of the sort where present. I over the weekedn then did a version of my own that had the plants and leaves grow in tandum to the vines and then stay until the vines began to receed, then all the plants and such wilted along with the vines. I personelly preffered that approach to the previous one. I helped with the naming of Billy's stand alone lightstream project as well, suggesting the name Realms which i believe is now the official name.

Overall it has gone well, and i will be exited to go up to Exeter this friday and help set up and get our lightstream projects up and projected.

Specialist Researcher: unsung hero... and a little elusive

I found this on the site  http://www.craftandtech.org/specialist-researcher/ and it says that the specialist researcher while important is a bit of unsung hero and is only really required on big budget films. Unfortunatly that makes it rather hard to track down any specific ones seeing as they are a bit under the radar of the public eye despite their importance.

If you like exploring new territory, Specialist Researcher may be just the job for you. A good Researcher is an integral part of any production team – but when was the last time you watched an outstanding film and said to yourself ‘I really enjoyed that, I wonder who researched it?’.The Producer and Director play significant roles in shaping a film, which is why they tend to receive the awards and accolades. On the other hand, a good Specialist Researcher may just be the unsung hero of a well-crafted and thought-provoking feature film.

What skills does a Specialist Researcher need?

• Curiosity and a resourceful approach to finding things out.
• Highly organised, methodical approach to work with the ability to sort through information and determine which details are relevant and which are not.
• The ability to be flexible and to adapt work quickly when requested.
• Good communication skills and the ability to work as an individual as well as within a team.

Specialist Researchers work closely with the Production Designer, the Supervising Art Director, Art Director and Set Decorator as well as providing backup in the form of detailed research to the entire Art Department. This may involve anything from finding a visual reference to inspire a specific set, or sourcing details that enable the Draughtsmen to produce accurate technical drawings through to researching a specific craft or skill that might be needed to make a prop. Supported by the Specialist Researcher, it is the Production Designer’s job to ensure that every detail on set – which can range from the interior of an alien spaceship to the contents of a Victorian drawing room – is as authentic and believable as possible. On fantasy films, although the sets are often part of an imagined world, the references used to inspire the Production Designer’s ideas are researched and sourced from the real world. On historical epics or costume dramas, painstaking research into the smallest detail is crucial and, as well as on-line research, it can often take long periods of time spent in libraries, museums and other sources of information.
The Specialist Researchers’ work is highly focused and is only required on big budget films, usually historical epics or science fiction and fantasy productions. This role should not be confused with that of live-footage Researchers who work with any film or television clips and stock footage for use in films. Specialist Researchers spend much of their time meeting with and talking to curators, academics and other experts to gain as much insight into a particular subject as possible. They usually begin work in the very early stages of pre-production, providing the Production Designer with original source material which can inspire the entire approach to creating the look of a film.
Specialist Researchers work alongside the Draughtsmen in the drawing studio and are also responsible for keeping up-to-date, well organised files of all research materials. They are expert in finding unusual references and information from difficult-to-access sources. They are employed on the film from pre-production and filming, continuing to provide back-up support until the last day of principal photography.
Although there is no typical career route to becoming a Specialist Researcher, the job requires a certain resourcefulness as well as an extensive knowledge of how the Art Department works. This can be gained by already having working as an Assistant Art Director or Art Department Assistant.
A wide range of talents is crucial to survival. As a Specialist Researcher you will have a major impact on the story a film tells and will be assisting in communicating knowledge to a much wider audience.
Though a film researcher may not be recognised as much as other members of a production team, the best Producers understand the critical role a Researcher plays in the success of a film.
 

 

Specialist Reasercher Role

I finally found it, the official job description and role of the sort of researcher i want to do for Studio Practice and here it is.

Specialist Researcher

Specialist Researchers work closely with the Production Designer, the Supervising Art Director, Art Director(s) and Set Decorator, but also provide backup in the form of detailed research to the entire Art Department. This may involve anything from finding a visual reference to inspire a specific set, or sourcing details that enable the Draughtsmen* to produce accurate technical drawings, to researching a specific craft or skill that might be needed to make a prop. Supported by the Specialist Researcher, it is the Production Designer's job to ensure that every detail on sets, which can range from the interior of an alien spaceship to the contents of a Victorian drawing room, is as authentic and believable as possible.

On fantasy films, the sets are often part of an imagined world, but the references used to inspire the Production Designer's ideas are researched and sourced from the real world. On historical epics or costume dramas, painstaking research into the smallest details is crucial, and can often take long periods of time. Specialist Researchers carry out this detailed role. They usually work on a freelance basis.

What is the job?
The Specialist Researchers' work is highly specialised, and is only required on a few big budget films, usually historical epics or sci-fi/fantasy. This role should not be confused with that of live-footage Researchers who research any Film/TV clips and stock footage for use in films. Specialist Researchers spend much of their time meeting with and talking to curators, academics and other experts to gain as much insight into a particular subject as possible. They usually begin work in the very early stages of pre-production, providing Production Designers with the original source material that inspires their entire approach to creating the look of a film.

Specialist Researchers work alongside the Draughtsmen in the drawing studio, and are also responsible for keeping up-to-date, well organised files of all research materials. Specialist Researchers are expert in finding unusual references and information from difficult to access sources. They are employed on films for the entire duration of pre-production and filming, continuing to provide back-up support until the last day of principal photography.

Typical career routes
Although there is no typical career route to becoming a Specialist Researcher, the role requires extensive knowledge of how Art Departments work which can be gained by working as an Assistant Art Director or Art Department Assistant.

Essential knowledge and skills
Specialist Researchers must have good general knowledge, combined with working experience within Art Departments. They should also be computer literate, and have a good understanding of research resources.
Key Skills include:

• resourceful approach to finding things out;
• highly organised, methodical approach to work;
• good communication skills;
• ability to interpret other people's ideas;
• ability to work as part of a team;
• knowledge of the requirements of the relevant Health and Safety legislation and procedures.

Training and qualifications
Specialist Researchers are likely to be graduates of Art, Architecture, Theatre, Interior or 3D Design courses. Some individuals may also undertake higher level courses in Film and/or Theatre Production Design. After training, it is equally important to acquire on the job experience of how Art Departments work. Individual course accreditation in certain subject areas is currently being piloted.  
Individual course accreditation in certain subject areas is currently being piloted. As part of Creative Skillset's and the UK Film Council's Film Skills Strategy, A Bigger Future, a network of Screen Academies and a Film Business Academy have been approved as centres of excellence in education and training for film.

Got from  http://www.creativeskillset.org/film/jobs/productiondesign/article_4682_1.asp

Lightstream getting on with it

Bec recived an email from someone involved with the animated exeter lightstream, in short it said what we had been told on the day, but unfortunatly it said it in a more blunt way and didnt include any of the praise we had gotten. I don't know whether this was a matter of tact, as in they thought all this very blunty but just didnt want to say it to our faces and tried to soften the blow a bit via some praising on the day, or whether somone had explained to them what had happened with us and then they just typed down a more abridged version of what they heard obviously under the circumstances sounding more blunt with the information and not bothering to include the things that we didnt need to work on.

Either way Bec after reading the email was understandably worried due to the conflicting reports of how the test went. When we got back we said everythign was fine and we just had some stuff to work on, but from the email it seemed like a much more serious affair. This is no one's fault really just a natural hiccup that comes from multiple individuals perciving news and passing it on, chinese whisper style really.

The crew are working on the lightstream now, while also working on the other modules we have going, I am in the role of the editor, the most recent thing i have done to assist the production is to make the storyboard and animatic. Stop, i know what your thinking, why is the editor doing the storyboard? It was because the one i received was simply not suited to being put into an animatic so after informing the producer he tasked me with doing the re-do over the weekend (He didn't tell the storyboard artist to do it because she was not there that day) So i did that made the animatic and then on the monday i just did some quick retweeks of the storyboard i had done (as directed by... well b the director)

I have also been tasked with a bit of animation, specifically leaf growing animation. I looked up the concept art we had of the leaves so i knew the style and made sure to have a look at some reference videos of leaves growing. When i watched the videos i was surprised by the fact that leaves (well the ones i saw) just sort of got bigger and bigger until they reached there full mass, there wasn't as much unfolding as i had expected. (Maybe i was looking at the wrong sort of leaf though i suppose, its unreasonably hard to find leaf growing time lapses on YouTube i must say)

Lightstream on Location test

When we went up to Exeter for the test i was reasonably exited to see where we would be projecting onto and also meet the people in charge, which while everyone else already had done that I had not because i was not actually on the animation course when the meeting with them was first held. So it was nice to meet the people we would be working for.

The response to our pitch was quite good it seems, some points to be addressed naturally but not loads. The projection of our tester stuff itself didn't go super amazingly, mainly because of a lens on a projector that didnt fit it or something along those lines (I'm not sure if you can tell but im not a super techy kind of guy) which led to the projections being rather blurry and not able to be focused fully.

Also i quite liked the interior architecture of tuckers hall (the building were projecting on) it was very old worldly and had lovely wood carvings on the walls. It also had a grand wood carved chair with a gavel placed on the table in front, really was a beautiful building.

Role Change... again

I have decided that PR Officer is not for me, well maybe not "not for me" but just not what i will focus on for the studio practice module. I am going to change my role focus too Researcher, I feel this role suits me and i do enjoy research most of the time, i am always a fan of learning new things, not so much on compiling them in an easy to understand and consistent manner granted but i can work on that. Oh and the multiple roles I have been looking at show my researching abilities, killing two birds with one stone aye.

I now have to make doubly sure that this is a role that I can do for this module, I know Pixar have an in house R&D department and i know that every animation company must need research done on places and people's and other things of that nature but I'm not entirely sure if that is a concrete role of its own. I suppose I will have to do some research to find out.

Job Role PR

I found a bullet pointed description of the activities that you will do as a PR officer.

The role is very varied and will depend on the organisation and sector. Tasks often involve:

• planning, developing and implementing PR strategies;
• liaising with colleagues and key spokespeople;
• liaising with and answering enquiries from media, individuals and other organisations, often via telephone and email;
• researching, writing and distributing press releases to targeted media;
• collating and analysing media coverage;
• writing and editing in-house magazines, case studies, speeches, articles and annual reports;
• preparing and supervising the production of publicity brochures, handouts, direct mail leaflets, promotional videos, photographs, films and multimedia programmes;
• devising and coordinating photo opportunities;
• organising events including press conferences, exhibitions, open days and press tours;
• maintaining and updating information on the organisation's website;
• sourcing and managing speaking and sponsorship opportunities;
• commissioning market research;
• fostering community relations through events such as open days and through involvement in community initiatives;
• managing the PR aspect of a potential crisis situation.

Axis Animation Studio

I'm currently looking at the studio Axis Animation. There description on their site says

"Axis was founded in 2000 by four leading artists and animators to create world-class animation.
Currently Axis has over 40 people working in the studio: a multi-faceted, international team whose individual career backgrounds include art, games, television, design, commercials and feature film.
We like to be open and approachable with people – both our staff and our clients - and believe that fostering close relationships is the key to our success."

Axis is a multi-media company that makes animation for games, commercials, feature films and broadcast. They work in both 2D and 3D animation though there focus does seem to be 3D and have made absolutely stunning visuals for cutscenes in Halo 4 and have also done many impressive 3D cg trailers for games.

Here is an example of some of their 2D work for the film Sucker Punch.
http://vimeo.com/21379331 Unfortunately i can only past a link because its Vimeo and while blogger can pull videos from YouTube onto the blog posts it cant do it with Vimeo, don't know why.

Public Relations people

I have been looking up famous public relations people or at least ones that have done particularly interesting things and one of the bits that really caught my interest was the rather strange belife of one Eric Devenhall who believes "He is known for his belief that traditional crisis relations -- in which companies admit wrongdoing and try to "get ahead" of the problem -- is wrong.
Rather, he believes, companies should fight fire with fire." This wile sounding extremely... well for lack of a better phrase sounds like the behavior of a complete and total smeg head i imagine could work in certain situations... though i also imagine in other situations it could just land the company with even worse rep than if they just admitted the problem and tried to fix it instead of this advice, which would lead the company to looking like that idiot who stands their holding a blood covered knife with a body underneath them claiming they have no idea why they have a knife and that there isn't even a body underneath them and if there was those red holes don't even slightly resemble knife marks, there obviously an extremely bad reaction to a bee stings. So yeah not a standpoint that i personally agree with and not the sort of advice I'd be giving anyone as a PR person.

While i find the previous PR person's statement rather ridiculous this next person i found showed just how effective a good PR officer can be. Her name is Pam Edstrom and she has been the PR officer for Microsoft since they were just a one floor office with no fax machine. and article in PR weekly stated "Another American technology journalist claims Edstrom was instrumental in establishing the software giant as a media-savvy operation. ‘Microsoft has a more intelligent approach to PR than almost every large corporation of our era,' says David Kirkpatrick, senior editor at US
business magazine ­Fortune, who has known Edstrom for almost two decades" and that shows that a good PR person can be crucial to success.

Studio Practice Change

Recently found out that i in fact cannot do editing for my studio practice role, which is a shame because editing was a good role and i had done research and was really getting into the idea but oh well it is not to do with the running of the studio so i must choose another.

I think i will go for Public relations officer as my new studio practice role (I am allowed to use editing for my research but i though hay i cant do it for my studio practice so might as well start looking into the role i have to do now)

I have researched towards Public relations officer and found one site that said this about what the role entails "
You could work in a company's in-house public relations (PR) department, or you might be an account executive at a consultancy that looks after PR for a number of clients. Your job could include:

• planning PR campaigns and strategies
• monitoring the public and media's opinion of your client or employer
• writing and editing leaflets, brochures, press releases, speeches, newsletters, websites and social media
• arranging and representing the company at events like press launches news conferences, exhibitions, open days and sponsorship
• developing good working relationships with the media
• arranging for advertising or promotional films to be produced
• public speaking at presentations, conferences or radio and TV interviews.

You could also get involved with your local community to make sure that the company you work for is represented in a good light. This may include sponsoring corporate events or getting involved in fundraising for local charities."

The site goes on to say that the sorts of qualifications that will help you get a job as a PR officer are journalism or advertising, marketing and communications, business or management, English, politics. I happen to have a B grade GCSE in English... so yeah I'm almost overqualified right.

Ident Personel Reflection

In the ident i felt that i did a reasonably good job but that isn't the important part. The important part is how much i learned, i previously had very little knowledge on how a studio would run but the project gave me what seemed like an extremely good insight and now i know what I'm getting into, despite... actually despite doesn't seem like the right word, its almost because of all the stress and hard work and looming deadlines but constant progression towards the final goal i really enjoyed myself and found it an extremely rewarding experience.

 Some of the people involved got a little awkward to work with, but that was towards the end and i think everyone was tired and a little grouchy. Though there was one or two people who were consistently unmotivated, didn't show up much and when they did didn't get much done, luckily that was a minority, but a minority in a group of nine can be a reasonable stress.

overall it went well despite the trials and tribulations and i was reasonably happy with what we produced. as one of the first things i actually did on the animation course it was a very good introductory eye opener and completely smashed my preconceived notions that animation was a solitary profession, like the paintings of old that involved sometimes hundreds of understudies only the one painter was acknowledged to maintain the romanticized image of the lone painter.

Light Stream Animated Exeter

We had a meeting about the animated exeter light stream project which involves us projecting an animation onto the side of a building. We are going to be projecting an animation of vines growing and spelling out the words light stream. There will also be multiple flowers blooming on the vines.

In the meeting we discussed the design of the vines and the ins and outs of the visibility of the words amongst the other vines. We looked over a few flower blooming animations that had been done as a test and also over the test designs that one of the artists had done for the vines.

A verdict was reached on the style of vine and also which of the five test flower bloomings was chosen as the bases for the final animations.

Studio Practice Role

I am going to focus on the studio practice role of editing. I feel this role will work because it is the one i have had most experience with out of the studio practice roles and so makes it much less of a stretch to help out a first year with it (as you can imagine teaching someone something that you have no knowledge of is rather hard)

From a bit of research i found this site which had this to say about editors "The editor works very closely with the director and story supervisor once the script and storyboards are at a point where the director feels they are ready for reels. That means the editor steps up and begins timing out the sequences, putting scratch SFX and music into the reels to create the closest thing to the final film as possible. This will fluctuate throughout the 3 to 6+ years of the production. Once a sequence is approved for animation, the editor will start cutting in the actual animation, production dialogue, etc., that will eventually become the final film."

This is what education-portal.com says about the animation editor
"An animated movie editor is an artist, mechanic, collaborator and businessperson rolled into one. Animated movie editing requires hours of careful review through animated footage to turn an idea into a compelling story. Some of the main responsibilities of an animated movie editor are discussing scripts and storyboards with the director to better understand his or her vision, collaborating with musical directors and sound editors to help score a film or add sound effects, arranging footage to tell the best story and meet specific length requirements, preparing a rough cut for the director and making requested revisions for the final cut. Animated movie editors may have the help of one or more assistant editors, especially for large productions.
Animated movie editors may work long hours, weekends and holidays to meet production deadlines. However, like many workers in the motion picture industry, they typically go through periods of unemployment between projects. According to 2010 statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), roughly 35% of editors, including animated movie editors, were self employed."

Studio Practice reaserch

I have been looking into a few animation studios such as Axis animation, Toei animation and Aniplex.

Axis seem to primarily focus on video game trailers and cutscenes, they also specialize in photo realistic looking 3d animation as can be seen in the cutscenes of Halo 4 (which Axis made) they also make more stylized productions as well.

This is the first of the spartan Ops cutscenes they created.