Author: Gloria Corra

FMP

FINAL MAJOR PROJECT

WEEK 1 WEEK 2

When I started to work on my final animation project, I ran into an obstacle that I had not expected: I was no longer motivated. Although I had prepared everything, from the story outline to the characters and images, I couldn’t find the enthusiasm I needed to start the animation. It was a bit frustrating, because I had done my best to get ready, but something was holding me back.

OLD STORYBOARD:

While I was on summer break, I eventually took a job with a fashion brand, working on 3D cloth simulations. Funnily enough, the new experience of working with a different software excited me and led me to reflect on my past animation work during my academic studies.

To my surprise, I realised that I had moved away from the animation concepts I had always liked. This self-realisation really affected me and made me rethink my current project. It became clear that sticking to the original plan would only prolong my creative block. Due to this insight, I made the decision: starting from scratch with a completely new concept for my animation. This choice was not an easy one, but it was necessary for the success of the project and for my personal satisfaction. Essentially, this unexpected journey into the field of 3D cloth simulations became the trigger for a significant creative shift. It redirected my animation project towards a more authentic and personally meaningful direction.

WEEK 3

In week 3, I found myself looking at the possibility of creating a new narrative. To initiate this animation creative process, I decided to immerse myself in the world of fashion, with a focus on 3D fashion animation. My attention naturally focused on the approaches employed by major brands, wanting to understand how they had integrated the latest technologies into their advertising campaigns.

This search for inspiration led me to explore Gucci’s animated creations, which made a strong impression on me. The 3D animation created by Gucci proved to be a source of inspiration for me. Its abstract and surreal qualities immediately inspired and pushed me into the design phase of my narrative. The fascination of Gucci’s work prompted me to imagine a story that could encapsulate the same dreamlike and unconventional essence.

HARRODS:

MONCLER:

GUCCI CAMPAIN :

I thought of having a less traditional and more unique story. My animation would be a blend of what I had to do for work and my major project, so I decided to create an abstract fashion animation.

Even though the story is abstract, to achieve a harmonious result, I still needed some kind of general theme to follow. I decided that the message of my animation would be about an abstract journey in search of one’s expression, using clothes as a means of narration.

PLOT ANIMATION

STITCHED THROUGH

INT. CABIN BY THE LAKE – NIGHT

The character stands alone at the edge of a tranquil lake. The moonlight casts a silver glow over the water. The forest surrounding the character is shrouded in darkness.

INT. LAKE – UNDERWATER

The character slowly descends into the water, their face disappearing beneath the surface. All is quiet and still.

ABSTRACT SCENE:

The character is suspended in the dark waters, frozen in a pose. Flashing lightning transforms them into a dynamic sequence of poses. The scene alternates between stillness and frenetic movement.

INT. MYSTERIOUS ROOM – NIGHT

The character wakes up in a dimly lit room. To their surprise, they can move freely. They open their arms wide and rush toward a mysterious door at the back.

EXT. STRANGE LANDSCAPE – NIGHT

The character leaps through the door and begins walking through the air, their movements effortless. They land gracefully in a surreal landscape.

EXT. CLEARING IN STRANGE LANDSCAPE – DAY

The character continues to explore the surreal environment. They stumble upon a large, ornate mirror in a clearing.

INT. CLEARING – FRONT OF THE MIRROR

The character can’t resist posing in front of the mirror. To their astonishment, the mirror perfectly mimics their every move.

INT. MIRROR – SURREAL SPACE

The character, with a sense of wonder, steps inside the mirror. The world shifts around them as they travel through dimensions.

EXT. TRANQUIL MEADOW – DAY

The character finds themselves in a peaceful meadow bathed in warm sunlight. They lie on the soft grass, wearing a contented smile.

WEEK 4

During this week, I started to work on the mood boards, especially on which outfits I wanted to use and their corresponding environments. The primary aim that I wanted to achieve with my animation was to show a diverse spectrum of self-expressive possibilities, by keep changing the outfits throughout all animation. My intention was to convey the notion that there is not just one way of expression.

To underline the accessibility of the visual narrative, I wanted to have a variety of fashion styles. The reason behind this choice was to produce a representation that transcends singular fashion paradigms, thereby raising a sense of inclusivity and relatability.

I also wanted to incorporate characters with different skin tones and body shapes. However, this pursuit encountered a block when confronted with the limitations imposed by the standard size of the outfits. I then decide to adopt a more surreal approach by using a character embodying a fantastical archetype, such as an elf. The choice of a surreal character not only avoided the constraints imposed by conventional sizing but also provided a deeper sense of inclusivity.

WEEK 5

The week was exciting for me as I started working on the design of my character.

DAZ studio

My process started with choosing the proper medium for character creation. After some research, I decided to go with DAZstudio. Due to its great features, I was able to modify every aspect of my character in detail, giving me the much-needed flexibility.

One of the main features of DAZstudio is its ability to produce realistic renderings. Creating a character that not only fits the narrative but is also believable is crucial to any animation project. With DAZstudio I was able to achieve the level of detail I had envisioned for my main character.

Initially I thought I could trust DAZ’s built-in rig, but I soon realised that it was not quite as good, especially when it came to facial expressions. The rig is a critical aspect of animation and a faulty rig can make the character’s performance very difficult. Aware of this, I decided to look for external help.

Fiverr

By looking to freelance platforms like Fiverr, I found an experienced rigger who understood what I was looking for and delivered a rig that exceeded my expectations. The face was expressive and ready for animation!! This decision was extremely helpful.

Ready, set, animation!

With a well-made character rig, I was finally ready to start the animation phase of my project. My challenges along the way have only bolstered my determination to create something truly special. LET S GOOO!!

WEEK 6

On the sixth week I started work on my project’s animation phase.

Animation MAYA

Before starting the animation process, I knew it was essential to mark out a schedule. I set up a detailed schedule, taking into account the rendering time. The schedule became my guide, leading me through the process and helping me distribute time efficiently. The schedule turned out also to be useful for deciding which clothes I would use in each scene, adding a level of visual cohesion to the narrative.

At this stage I was so happy to realise that despite the initial setback, changing the whole story gave new life to the project. I proceeded with the animation, starting with the first three scenes. In which the protagonist wakes up and walks towards the shore, admiring the moonlight swimming on the sea. At that point, the challenge was not simply to animate a character, but to capture the flow of the movement in the water.

To ensure the authenticity of the underwater scenes, I did some research, studying how bodies move in water. This phase proved indispensable, as it allowed me to understand the nuances of the movements that make the difference on the animation.

Fabric simulation CLO and Marvelous Designer

Once the character was animated, the next step was to simulate the clothes. To recreate the fabric’s gentle movement in the water, I experimented with gravity settings for a long time. The goal was to achieve a visually convincing effect of fabric floating and reacting to the underwater environment.

WEEK 7

The main focus of this week was the creation of the flashing light scene. To capture the essence of the moment, I researched fashion photography shots to inspire me to generate dynamic poses. I wanted each shot to be not just a frozen frame, but a potential movement in the dance.

Difficult poses and outfit transitions

The challenge was to imagine how the character would seamlessly transition from one pose to another in the midst of the flickering lights. Timing was crucial, determining the perfect moments for the outfit changes to be synchronised with the rhythms of the scene

Fashion photo shoots did not only serve as reference material. They became blueprints for animation, helping me to precisely trace the movements and poses of the characters. It was a fusion of film and fashion, a combination of aesthetics to convey the character’s story.

Once I had taken care of the poses and planned the transitions, I worked on the simulation of each dress. The aim was not only to animate the clothes, but to bring each fabric to life, making it dance harmoniously with the character’s movements.

Premiere Pro

To see the final result, I imported the animated scenes into Premiere Pro. This allowed me to examine how each element – the character, the poses, the flashing lights and the changing clothes – worked together in the symphony of movement and light.

WEEK 8

During week eight in my animation project, I fully immersed myself in the creative process, focusing in particular on improving the fall scene. This particular sequence was very thought out . I got inspired by the catchy slow motion sequence from the film Dread when I was considering the best camera shot to use in each scene.

The smooth transition from a fast rhythm to the trance-like effect of slow motion hit me, which elevated the overall dramatic atmosphere of the scene. I decided to incorporate this dynamic change into my work, mirroring the eye-catching appeal that that specific had.

With a whole bunch of references at my disposal, I started my animation process. The initial phase involved blocking the entire scene, a crucial step to ensure that the basic movements were perfectly in line with my vision. The transition to the spline phase, however, was an initial challenge, as the result appeared somewhat lacking in quality: it initially looked like crap :).

I then worked on polishing the animation by focusing on the timing to capture the very essence of the fall . My goal was to achieve a gently slow rhythm at the beginning, building tension gradually before culminating in a rapid fall out the screen. In spite of the challenges encountered, i was happy with the outcome. The integration of camera switches, inspired by my film references, added an extra layer of complexity and visual intrigue to the scene. As the week progressed, the animation gradually evolved, with each adjustment and feedback from SuperGeorge I achieved nice sequence of shots.

WEEK 9

During this week, my main focus was on refining the simulation and texture elements of the clothes into my existing scene. As I moved further into the simulation for the fall sequence, I encountered some challenges, mainly in achieving a realistic wind effect and dealing with the problems of clipping the fabric with the avatar’s nails. Understanding how the wind simulation works proved to be a tough task, which led me to re-evaluate my approach. However, as a smart move to improve efficiency, I decided to switch from using Clo3d to using Marvelous Designer’s capabilities. This move not only accelerated my workflow, but also underlined the realisation that while Clo3D excels in designing cloth, Marvelous Designer stands out as the best choice for animation, boasting a huge range of settings and an easy-to-use interface.

Marvelous Designer

Thanks to Marvelous Designer’s capabilities, I was able to experiment with wind and gravity settings to achieve a convincing slow-motion fabric simulation. The software’s controls and features allowed me to refine the simulation, ultimately achieving a level of realism perfectly in line with my creative vision of the scene.

At the same time, I faced the persistent problem of the fabric clipping with the avatar’s fingernail, having recognised that the solution required a more innovative approach. To overcome this problem, I opted for a strategic decision: I chose to cut off the hand from the character. This move facilitated free movement of the garment, removed any potential clipping issues and allowed for a more authentic and visually pleasing fabric simulation.

Essentially, this week’s efforts not only contributed to the evolution of animation, but also emphasised the importance of adaptability in the creative process. The integration of Marvelous Designer and character adjustment helped my workflow and fixing problems played a key role in achieving a visually appealing result.

WEEK 10

During this week, my focus shifted to the development of the environment in the animation project. Working with my partner, who not only agreed but also expressed enthusiasm in contributing with me, proved to be an invaluable resource in this creative process. Together, we started gathering references and inspiration to bring the envisioned outcome.

Using Blender, we translated our ideas into the components of the scene. While my partner focused on texturing, I focused on other elements, such as simulating the water, the wind through the grass and trees. Our collective goal was to infuse a sense of realism into every aspect of the environment, creating a harmonious backdrop for the unfolding of the narrative. In addition to these collaborative efforts, I also faced the challenge of dealing with one of the most intricate transitions of the animation. After the fall scene, the camera needed a seamless pull-back, passing through a mirror and seamlessly transporting the viewer into an entirely new scene and environment. The complexity of this task lay in its uninterrupted motion: a long shot without interruptions.

To overcome this challenge, I worked on finding multiple strategies to ensure a smooth transition. My initial idea was to incorporate both environments into one scene and move the camera accordingly. Unfortunately, this approach proved to be impractical as the complexity of the scene caused the software to crash, making it unworkable. :))))))

I turned to a post-production strategic solution, introducing a green screen effect and subsequently combining the two scenes rendered independently. This solution not only solved the technical constraints, but also taught me how to work with masks and green screens.

WEEK 11

Week 11 was used to simulate breaking glass and slow-motion drama as I faced the challenge of animating this scene in which the character breaks through a mirror.

Glass simulation: Blender

This week the spotlight was on a key scene in my animation: the scene where the character breaks the mirror. To bring this moment to life, I switched to Blender, armed with a brilliant tutorials and a handy plugin that promised to bring realism to the glass simulation. I had a clear vision, but the process to realise it was full of twists and turns. Finding the right settings for a slow motion glass breaking simulation proved to be a very looong process.

Despite the challenges, my perseverance became my ally. The iterative process of adjusting settings, testing and refining gradually brought the glass simulation to life. This proved to be a test of the strength of determination and of a desire to explore different approaches until the desired effect was achieved.

Once the glass fragments were moving in slow motion, it came to a moment of inspiration. Why not use one of the floating pieces as a transitional element? This decision led to a creative breakthrough. I reanimated the floating glass fragment, orchestrating its movement against the camera to seamlessly transition to the next scene.

Smooth scene transitions

The decision to use the floating glass fragment as a transition added an unexpected level of artistry to the project. Watching it move gracefully across the screen, I realised that sometime the most fascinating moments are created from chaos.

Conclusion

Week eight concludes with the scene of a mirror breaking and embodying the delicate balance between chaos and choreography. The journey through Blender, exploring tutorials and creative revelations has been challenging and yet immensely rewarding.

WEEK 12

As my animation project was coming to an end, Week 12 was a dedicated to the last visual details, focusing on the title and credits of the animation.

Designing the title of the animation

Once most of the animation was completed, my attention turned to the title. Considering the water theme of the opening scene, I wanted the title to reflect the fluidity of water. At the same time, I was looking for some subtle connection to the fashion element. The solution? A piece of fabric, delicately simulated by the wind, adorned with stitches forming the title.

Simulating the movement of water: Fabric and stitches

The process of creating the animated title required painstaking simulation work. I chose to create a piece of fabric and added wind to make it inflated to evoke the movement of water – and the simulation turned out to be a visual symphony. The stitches, recalling the actual animation title, added a layer of detail. To enhance the feeling of water, I played with the material of the fabric, giving the title a subtle wet look.

Credits: Simplicity with a touch of nature

For the end credits scene, I focused on a simple design to emphasise the importance of the credits themselves. I split the screen in two halves, with one side featuring the credits and on the other side a tree and windswept leaves, in harmony with the final animation scene. The decision to incorporate a tree and windblown leaves in the finalcredits was intentional. It not only added a touch of nature to the g credits, but also created a seamless transition from the last scene to the credits. The subtle dance of the leaves in the wind acted as a visual bridge, connecting the animated world with the natural elements.

At the end of Week 12, I find myself reflecting on the journey from the initial idea to the finishing touches. The title and credits of the animation, designed with thorough care, helped to make the animation feel more complete

WEEK 13

Week 13 was the highlight of my animation project and I moved into the tricky field of sound design.

Premiere Pro

As the final touches were made, the focus shifted to the sound dimension. Using UP BEAT for copyright-free sounds and music, I began to think about ways to enhance the viewer’s experience through sound. At the same time, my partner dedicated himself to compositing the scenes in After Effects, ensuring a seamless fusion of the visual elements.

The process

I watched the film several times before immersing myself in the sound design. Multiple viewing allowed me to familiarise myself with the nuances, giving me a more aware and effective sound design process. Gestures, speed, direction and emotional triggers: every detail was meticulously noted down. These notes became the roadmap for adding the sound effects, ensuring a harmonious blend of image and sound.

The emotional element:
Acknowledging Walter Murch’s sound design practice, which states that emotions make up 51 per cent of the entire story, I focused my efforts on conveying emotions through sound. Each sound element had to emotionally enrich and communicate in the animation.

Getting creative before the DAW
Before opening the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), I did some creative thinking. I had to figure out if sounds would be limited to footsteps and arm movements or could we bring to life more subtle gestures, such as breathing or the deglutition of the character? This reflection laid the foundation for the sound symphony.

Magic generated by the mouth
Performing sounds with my mouth proved invaluable. Recording these performances in the DAW, combined with the magic of tools like Reformer Pro, gave rise to innovative sound ideas that might have escaped conventional approaches.

Selecting sounds with a purpose
I finally chose the sounds with care, navigating the delicate balance between drama and realism. The subjectivity of sound choices allowed for a creative exploration that complemented the animation aesthetic.

In our film, I mixed together abstract and realistic sound resources seamlessly, staying true to the aesthetics of the animation:

Neutral, soft colours
Textured, fabric/sink style
Neutral and not exaggerated movement
Slow rhythm
abstract narration with a touch of drama.

At the end of Week 13, the animation’s audio panorama was finely tuned, creating a symphony of sound that dances in harmony with the visual elements.

WEEK 14

Final touches and corrections

Week 14 was dedicated to the process of bringing all the animation parts together . This was the refinement phase, where every frame, every detail, was reviewed to ensure a cohesive and visually striking appearance. There have been corrections, problems with rendering have been addressed, and the soundtrack has been finely tuned to achieve the desired aural experience.

Seeing animation come together

This week marked the first time I saw animation as a complete thing. The culmination of weeks of commitment and creativity unfolded for me. It was a mix of emotions: the thrill of seeing the character move, the satisfaction of having brought a vision to life, and the anticipation of how it would be perceived.

As the animation was played out in full, I was hit by a wave of emotions. There was pride, the kind that comes from overcoming challenges, meeting deadlines and creating something unique. There was also reflection as I identified the remaining areas I wished I had more time to perfect. But I guess that imperfections are part of the creative journey ??? lol so lets embrace them!!!

I looked at the journey from the beginning of the project to its completion. The animation was a proof of tenacity, creativity and the joy of bringing an idea to life. At the conclusion of Week 14, I stand at the crossroads between completion and looking ahead. Animation is a closed chapter, but the skills acquired, lessons learnt are the seeds for many creative projects to come.

SOME FINAL RENDERS :

WEEK 15

Week 15 finally marks the conclusion of this animation project’s, the final brushstroke on the canvas. The ride has been a full of emotion, from the initial spark of inspiration to the processing of each shot, culminating in the unveiling of a unique and vibrant creation. When I look back on these 15 weeks, I don’t just see animation taking shape.

The journey has been a learning process, with new skills acquired and precious lessons learnt. Every challenge, setback and triumph has contributed to my creative growth. I am excited to end this animation project chapter, and open the door to new beginnings. The skills honed, experiences gained and passion ignited will fuel the next creative effort.

In conclusion, this animation project has been more than a academic project: it has been a journey of self-discovery and growth. I am full of gratitude for the experience and for my tutors who have followed me through this journey (sorry George for not including your name in the credits lol ) and I am excited for what comes next.

TADAAAANNN

Project 2

PROJECT 2

WEEK 1

We started the term with Advanced Body Mechanics, George gave us an introduction to the subject and showed us a few examples. Over the next five weeks, we will have to produce a short animation of a body mechanics action sequence that can be included in a showreell.

MY IDEA

My animation idea is about weight lifting as I have seen this to be a very frequent animation in showreels. I decided that my character would be lifting a large, heavy apple and then by trying to stand up he gets crushed by the weight of the apple.

STORYBOARD:

VIDEO REFENCE ( thank u Caroline xx )

As for the work on Project 2, I decided to continue with the production of the animation I made for the previous term, as I did not have much time to start a new project from scratch and wanted to concentrate more on George’s lessons.

I first worked out which was my plan of action and then started to work on a couple of moodboards to understand how I wanted the look of the characters and the nature.

WEEK 2

During the second week we started working on the blocking of the animation after it was approved by George.

In order to really understand how to give the impression that the object was enormously thought out, I watched a lot of weightlifting videos, to see where the weight was being loaded and what movements the body was doing.

BLOCKING

SOME FEEDBACK

The initial feedback I received related to the addition of a few key frames essential for animation and also George helped me to understand how best to pose the body.

PROJECT 2

First, I started to fix some of the animations to make the scenes more sinuous and pleasing to a view. I also tried to find better rigs and adjusted the assets in the scene.

After that my partner and I started working on the textures and lighting so that we could start rendering the scenes in time for the delivery of the project. And on the side I started to think about possible titles for the animation.

Among the possible titles, the one I liked the most was THE HOOKUP, as it created a nice word game that in my opinion went very well with the animation concept.

WEEK 3

During this week we started working on the blocking plus. For this procedure, the feedback that my tutor gave me for the rotation of the torso and especially the weight lifting moment was very useful.
The main difficulty I encountered working in this animation was to understand how the body behaved while lifting the weight, and once I understood that, the rotation would be more natural.

BLOCKING PLUS:

PROJECT 2

During this week I worked on the inamation of the title, I really like it when 2d and 3d are mixed together in animations so I thought of using the same style.

During this week I worked on correcting the animation of the first three scenes and texturing and rendering some still images to see if the scene worked or not.

For the first part of the animation I wanted to have cold colours dominating the scene, to make the atmosphere cold and sad. I would then change the colours and make them warmer at the moment of the kiss to give more importance to that moment.

WEEK 4

During this week we received feedback and then started to work in spline. When i saw how maya translated my blocking plus animation into spline it was very painful, as i hated how my animation took shape. Thanks to geroge’s feedback i understood what to correct and how to make the timing better.

At this stage I still had difficulty in understanding how to animate the part where the person was lowering and lifting the weight. I understood that I should move the waist under the apple and not separate the chest from the apple at any time.

SPLINE ANIMATION :

PROJECT 2:

My working process for project 2 has been very similar for weeks, i.e. working on polishing the animation, then transferring the FBX file to Blender, working on textures and light, and rendering the scene, which I left over night as the rendering took a long time.

WEEK 5

This week we worked on the polishing of the animation, where I tried to polish the animation as sinuous and smooth as possible. I adjusted some steps where the timing was not correct, such as when the character moved to get closer to the apple.

Finally, George showed me how to correct the movement of the hips in order to create nice curves to make the animation more pleasing to watch.

SPLINE BEFORE THE FEEDBACK:

FEEDBACK:

FINAL OUTCOME:

PROJECT 2 :

During this week I focused on polishing the animation with the fish, I tried to imitate as much as possible the fast and sinuous movements of the fish’s tail. To do this I watched a lot of video references on YouTube to get as realistic as possible.

After that I worked on the texturing of the fish, I tried to make its texture more shiny in order to give the impression of something wet and slippery.

As for the colours I decided to use a warm and somewhat surreal colour palette in order to suggest to the audience that it was a dream.

FISH ANIMATION:

POLISHED ANIMATION:

RENDER:

WEEK 6

Then this week we began by planning and recording some reference videos for our lip sync animation. First I downloaded an audio, got the script written, recorded some reference videos and finally came up with some sketches.

George here helped me understand what sounds I should imitate to animate my lipsynch.

This helped a lot and definitely made it a lot easier to understand how to pose the mouth.

REFENCE VIDEO:

SKETCHES:

PROJECT 2:

I dedicated the whole week to rendering the first half of the animation because otherwise I would not have had enough time to edit and add the music and sound effects before the handing over.

these are some of the shots me and my partner rendered:

WEEK 7

During this week I picked my character and I modelled the background for my animation.

I also started animating by blocking the main keys. Once that was done I sent it to George and waited for his feedback before proceeding to the next step.

As a rig I chose Malcolm from Animschool, as I had seen a lot of showreels with this character I thought it would be a good rig to work with, as he was equipped with a picker.

ENVIRIOMENT AND CHARACTER:

BLOCKING:

PROJECT 2 :

This week I have been working on finding the sounds I was going to use for the animation, in order to get copyright free sounds I used an app called UPbeat.

Looking for the right sounds was quite a long process, for the fisherman’s voice I had to cut and edit a lot of sounds in post editing so that I could get the right old man’s voice.

WEEK 8

Once I received feedback from my blocking, I started working on my Blocking plus.

The feedback I received about my blocking plus was mainly about the positioning of the arms in such a way as to create nice curves and movements. In addition, George told me to correct the eyes and the corners of the mouth.

FEEDBACKS:

BLOCKING PLUS:

PROJECT 2:

During this week, I set myself the goal of finishing the rendering of the last remaining part of the animation, so that I would have the last 10 days before the deadline to work on the final design and the postediting.

I decided to leave myself the last week to get the rest of the material ready to be sent, such as the presentation for my final project and my showreel.

SOME OF THE RENDERED SHOTS:

WEEK 9

During this week I have been working on the polishing of my lipsynch, following the feedback I was given.

I created some overlap sequences for the hands and neck in order to make the animation more interesting, and finally george showed me how to rotate the head in such a way as to create some nice curves.

FEEDBACK:

FINAL OUTCOME:

PROJECT 2

During this week I focused on the production of my artefact, I used After Effect for compositilng the renders and finally Premier Pro for editing the scenes, sounds and music.

FINAL OUTCOME:

WEEK 10

CONCLUSION

I have really enjoyed working on this unit, I would like to exaggerate and say that it has been one of my favourites so far. The animations we have worked on have become very good material to be the basis for a future showreel, which I think is essential to have as it is the only thing that will allow me to get work.

George was indispensable and a great help. He followed us step by step and showed us where we were going wrong and how to correct it. He showed us a very good approach to animation and other tips that will be belonging to my work process from now on.

Working on the artefact was also very interesting, and seeing the effect the animation took once the render was done was certainly very exciting.
I wish we had a lot more time to polish some scenes and find better sounds, but overall I am satisfied.

Thesis

Dissertation Proposal

ANIMATION XX

An Adult gaze into animation

RESEARCH QUESTION: What has led to the rebirth of Adult Animation?

TOPIC

I want to expose the evolution of adult animation, how it was born, perished and eventually re-embodied into the images belonging to our current times.
Cartoons have long been associated with children’s fairy tales and our brains tend to regard animation as a form of entertainment more suitable for those who have not yet reached puberty. The dissertation aims to show that there is nothing scandalous or scabrous behind animations that are exclusive for an adult audience but are merely a reflection of the social context. It always depends on the eyes and minds that
assimilate an object, not on the object itself. Through this study, I want to show how the innocence and fantasy of cartoons has been used over the years to represent something pleasantly unexpected.

Rationale

Nowadays, animated content is still often classified as children’s material; this thinking is partly understandable, as this is the largest segment of its target audience. However, by following this idea, many people miss out on watching animated films and works of art designed for an adult audience. Animation, from its earliest experiments, has always referred to an adult audience, but over the years this intention has become increasingly difficult to grasp, as our unconscious associates this type of entertainment with the purity of childhood (Chow, 2021).

With this thesis, I intend to explore adult animation, understanding where it has been hiding over the years, and to demonstrate how it represents the historical and cultural context in which it exists.

Contents – General structure

Introduction. 2

Main Body. 3

Chapter 1: Explaining Adult Animation. 3

Chapter 2: Hays Code – the before and after 4

Chapter 3: The Rebirth of Adult Animation. 5

Conclusion. 6

Bibliography. 6

RESEARCH

The early days of adult animation

The misconceptions about adult animation

Since the early days, animation aimed at adults has always had controversies and misconceptions about its target audience. Let’s take a look at them here.

Animated films in their early days back in the 1920s to 1930s were actually invented and produced mainly for adult audiences. The concept of an animated film made for children didn’t even exist at the time. The reason is that at that time movies were only shown in cinemas in the evening after 9 o’clock, which was bedtime for children, so going to the movies was an activity only for adults.

A good example is Betty Boop, who became a cartoon sex icon upon her debut in Talkartoons in the early 1930s. However, like many other adult animated characters throughout the 1930s, her role was curtailed when the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 came into effect and began to control what was shown in movies. Therefore, she didn’t make an appearance on television until around 1955.

Fritz the Cat was the first animated film to earn an “X rating,” which is basically just a pornographic film. Fritz the Cat is more than simply porn. The film has only a small amount of nudity. It is, nevertheless, a striking satire of the 1960s excesses, including sex, drug usage, race relations, and politics.

All other cartoons were popular mainly for adults until Disney made Snow White with the exclusive intention of aiming it at children.

In general, animation for children at that time was a very new concept except for Disney movies and a few others. Only when television was made popular in the 50s that animation for children became more widely accepted as the norm. However, these films still contained adult elements because there was no clear age classification yet.

The adult animation channel

The first cartoon channel was Cartoon Network, which showed mainly Hanna Barbera’s old adult animated series from the 1950s-1960s like The Flinstones, The Jetsons, and so on. The channel then became the most popular source for children’s entertainment on TV.

However, all that has changed since The Simpsons came out. It was the first hugely popular adult animated series.

The introduction of Adult Swim was one of the most significant breakthroughs in the American adult animation scene. Adult Swim, which debuted in 2001, was a program that specialized in showing Cartoon Network’s oriented shows after 9 pm to separate them from daytime children’s content. However, in 2005, it became a separate channel.

The future of adult animation

Today, other platforms have begun to produce their ORIGINAL animated adult comedies, such as FX’s Archer and Netflix’s BoJack Horseman, both of which have gained critical praise and treaded the line between drama and comedy. With newer shows like Bob’s Burgers, Fox has maintained its position as a leading network for adult animated comedy.

Background

As an introduction to my dissertation, I intend to investigate how the historical context of the 1990s was the most suitable period to host the return of adult fiction, which for years has been forced to hide from the periphery because of the Hays Code. The X generation was the first generation to have spent their childhood in front of a television set.

Consider that in the 1990s, an American child watched an average of 40 hours of television per week, while a well-off family spent around 7 hours a day in front of the television. The result was the development of teenagers who were virtually indifferent to the marketing strategies of generalist TV.

It is not by chance that the TV heroes of these years shared with this generation a certain disinterest and detachment to the real world

General outline

After establishing the historical context, I intend to open the main body of the thesis with an opening chapter that will explain the meaning of adult animation, the themes it covers and the benefits it brings to society.

For the second chapter I intend to prove the point that animation has always been intended to entertain an adult audience and to do this I plan to talk about the way animation was used and seen in the years before the Production Code and how it caused its disappearance.

Finally, in the last chapter, I want to talk about the renaissance of this style of adult animation and how it is constantly expanding and evolving.

Project 1

PROJECT 1

WEEK 1

Rule of third, camera lenses , sets/props, character designs, lighting, camera types; handheld/crane/static. Types of shots; Establishing, mid, close up etc.

During this week we were given a presentation on film framing and an insight into the rule of thirds and the golden ratio. We also received a camera crane that we used to set up different shots in Maya.

Assignment brief; Creating 3 previz ideas using the techniques above which will be reviewed over the term and eventually narrowed down to one to finalize in the next term. Animation analysis. Demos show casing contraints, effects, cycles and studio library.

We practised on how to use the camera, trying to copy some movie shots:

WEEK 2

Establishing your world

Assignment brief; Breaking down your ideas to the bare bones of the world that they are in. Sets and props. How will this influence the shot/scene/character. Animation analysis.

This week we had to come up with three possible animation ideas. Once we had found three possible concepts, we were asked to develop three different storyboards for each idea and moodboards.

PLOT 1

The animation begins with a man fishing in a small lake. The scene looks dark, and it is early in the morning. You can tell from the man’s posture that he is lonely and unhappy with his life. The man sets up his fishing rod and begins to fish. All around him the nature contrasts with the loneliness of the man, everyone has something else. A duck appears grazing some food just as the man does. After fishing the duck moves away and joins the rest of the family. The camera shifts to the man who remains impassive, emotionless. After a few seconds the man finally catches a fish. The man looks into the eyes of the fish and feels a connection, what is it? Love perhaps? After a few seconds of glances, the man feels the urge to kiss the fish. Animation ends with the two making out. There is plenty of fish in the lake.

PLOT 2

Same plot, but fish fishing fisher man. They kiss, and there is a switch of universe. Fish is in the water; it looks at the man and swims away. And the man starts fishing.

PLOT 3

a troll and an orc are playing a game in a box. during the troll’s turn the troll rolls the dice and comes up with 12. thus the troll wins the game. After looking carefully at the dice the orc realises that the dice used by the troll are faked, and therefore that he had cheated to win. The orc gets upset and hits the troll with his mace. After a couple of minutes of unconsciousness the troll comes to his senses and the two start laughing.

Mechanical Arm

Polygonal modelling exercises.

For this brief we had to model and animate an entire mechanical arm.
I found this brief very exciting as I consider myself a beginner in modelling but have always been interested in improving my skills.

In this lesson we started modelling our mechanical arm, we started by modelling the fingers from the phalanges.

After modelling the five fingers, we tried to animate them. To make the animation more fun, I decided to model a yo-yo to give the impression that the hand was grasping something.

WEEK 3

Telling stories through the camera

Assignment brief; Creating early stages of storyboards animating different types of cameras and shot angles. Being able to read and identify what is going to be used in your scene/shot before any character animation is needed. Rule of thirds.

In this lesson we saw how the movement of the camera as well as the environment already does half the work in the way we communicate in an animation.
Once we had the three ideas written down, we had to work on the story board and mood board of each idea

PLOT 1

The animation would take place in a lake under the light of the morning sunrise, I want to play a lot with the contrast of cold and warm colours. The environment would be dominated by the colour blue and I want the main source of heat to come from the light in the pier which illuminates the character in order to give an atmosphere of intimacy.

Storyboard

Mood boards

PLOT 2

The mood board of the second animation would have been very similar to the previous one. I was trying to figure out what effect the character would give when the animation was finished. While searching for reference images, I realised that this idea would not be the ultimate one as the fish’s mobility would be very limited.

Storyboard

Mood board

PLOT 3

I thought of using a top view camera to open the animation in order to present the scene, showing the game board. Afterwards, during the first part of the animation it is possible to see the face of only one of the characters. Throughout the game we only see the shoulders of the second character. Only when the orc realises that he has been tricked we are able to see his angry face. To close the animation I want to use the same top view camera.

Storyboard

Mechanical Arm

During this week we began naming our layers correctly in order to start working on the rig of the palm and fingers.

We also worked on modelling other parts of the hand such as the tendons that would help the movement of the fingers during animation. Finally, we also modelled and added the palm and dorsum to make the design more realistic.

WEEK 4

Establishing Characters

Who is your protagonist/antagonist. What drives them/ motivates them to do what they do and how will that affect your animation/story.

I first worked on the creation of a story board in Maya. This helped me to understand how the animation looked in 3D, and also helped me to place and choose the right camera. In order to do this I worked with simple shapes to focus more on the design of the scenes.

3D STORYBOARD

MAIN CHARACTER

Afterwards I started looking for my character. I wanted an old man with an grumpy look.

The main thing I had to take into consideration when choosing the character was his rig. I would need a rig that works well and allows me to use IK handles and a non-limiting facial rig.

Mechanical Arm

In this week we worked on modelling the other parts of the arm. First, we modelled the wrist and some bolts to make the design more complex. Then we started to apply some basic textures and lights to bring out the complexity of the arm and to make it more appealing.

Later on we started working on the modelling of the forearm. In this process we had the possibility to follow the design of Nick, our tutor, or to work on our own design. I decided to work on my own design since I wanted to have something in “cyber punk style”.

WEEK 5

I then worked on modelling and rigging and texturing the other main elements of the animation such as the fishing rod, the duck rig and the textures of the fish.

I then started to work on the creation of a simple environment that I would use for my preview shots. In order to have a vague idea of where to place the bushes and the main elements such as the dock and the seat, I first created an environment with simple shapes. Then using Bridge I started to work on a second environment trying to get as close as possible to the final one but still keeping simple shapes.

Mechanical Arm

This week we learnt how to model pistons to make the arm even more complex, and we also learnt how to utilise hierarchies for finger movement.

After understanding how the pistons functioned, I decided to model more articulated pistons that better matched the style of my design. This was very useful and it certainly improved the appearance of my arm, showing a more articulated geometry and making the 3D design more realistic.

WEEK 6

WORKING ON OUR PREVIS SHOTS

This week we started animating our previs and received initial feedback from Geroge during class.

FIRST PREVIS

I worked on my first previs with very small and limited animations. It was just to give a general idea of the movements. As I had already created the environment and had already found my definitive rig, I was suggested to try to push the animation more in the next previs and to improve the rig of some elements such as the geese, which was very limiting.

INTRODUCTION

ESTABLISHIN SHOT

MAIN CHARACTER

ACTION

TWIST

INITIAL FEEDBACKS

The initial feedback I received related mainly to the positioning of the elements in the scene in order to have more sinuous and fascinating visuals.

NEW RIGS

Mechanical Arm

During this week we worked on the final phase of the construction of the arm, i.e. the modelling of the upper part and the shoulder. This part was very tricky as I tried not to follow what my tutor did so that I could concentrate fully on my design.

I divided the workflow into 3 steps:

modelling the main geometry at the base of the arm
add volume and details to give it a more realistic shape
add pistons and extra elements to make the design more interesting

1

2

3

after this I worked on the rigging and texturing to create a couple of renders.

WEEK 7

This week I worked on the second belonging of my previs. Firstly I researched how to construct an effective close up since the second half of my animation was characterised by this type of camera movement.

The close-up is a shot often taken at a relatively close distance with a longer lens. I chose this type of camera because it offers a detailed and intimate look at what we might normally miss.

Refences:

“Stranger Things” Courtesy Netflix

A close-up that is also a 2-shot

The Dark Knight Joker

PREVIS ( SECOND HALF ) :

Once I understood how I wanted to film my close up scenes, I started to work on the previes. I started by finding a rig for the fish so that I could have complete freedom of movement. I decided to focus mainly on the fisherman’s facial expressions for the close ups, with the aim of narrating the story of the animation through the character’s facial expressions.

FEEDBACKS:

Once I showed my shots to George I received other useful feedback regarding camera movement. He made me realise how to have more effective close up shots and how to use the camera to better narrate the story and guide the audience into a better view of the scene.

Mechanical Arm

During this week I focused on animating the hand and on working on a basic rig that would allow me an easier and faster way to animate it.

Finally I worked on the render to see how the textures worked together, as I planned to concentrate more on the animation of the hand I could not experiment too much with the textures even though I wanted to make the textures more used and realistic.

First rendered animation:

WEEK 8

After finishing working on the previes I started to add music and sounds.

To do that at first I tried to find free copyrighted sounds but I couldn’t find many and the few I did find were not good.

I then decided to pay for up-beat subscription so that I would have a much larger sound library.

Once I had edited all the scenes together I sent it to George to receive extra feedback. The final feedback was about some changes to make the narrative smoother and more pleasing to the audience.

Mechanical Arm

This week we used motion capture to record the clip that was going to be the background for the animation of our mechanical arm.
Nick let us use his suit for filming but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time for everyone to have their own recording.

Although I didn’t do my own recording, this lesson was very useful if only to see how to work with a mocap suit.

He showed us how to use Da Vinci Resolve to remove the green arm from the video footage. He exported the video file into frames, which we then imported into Maya .
Using his HDR camera, Nick captured the ambient light, which he also imported into his Maya file.

Since I didn’t have my video recorded, I decided to work on rendering the animation of my arm.

I decided to try to render a video that would be more impactful in a showreel, so I tried to give more importance to the modelling.

WEEK 9

This week I got to work on the post editing of the previes, adding as many sound effects as possible and editing the scenes together.

The finished work made me realise what I would have to alter and correct in the final animation which will be used in project 2 as an artefact.

Indeed, in this final phase I also worked with my partner on the textures and rendering of some scenes to get an idea of what the finished work would look like.

Seeing the effect that the final renders have made me feel even more excited about completing this animation and seeing it as a piece of work.

Over the next few weeks I would concentrate on correcting the animation and the final renders.

Mechanical Arm

This past week I’ve been focusing on creating effective renders in case I want to use this project for my portfolio. I didn’t want to focus too much on animation because I decided to concentrate my time on making my previes since character animation is my priority at the moment.

However, I thought that having some cool pictures would still be a nice way to end this project.

WEEK 10

To conclude I focused entirely on the realisation of my previews as I decided to submit this project.

I am very satisfied with the way I worked during these weeks, both projects were difficult and helped me to improve my skills in animation and modelling. I understood for example the importance of planning and organisation, which I am sure will be useful in the future in a professional environment.

Furthermore, working on this term made me realise that I am much more interested in animation than in special effects, which I want to focus on in the next term.

This experience made me grow as an animator and made me even more enthusiastic to start working on project 2.

FINAL OUTCOME:

week 5-8

Collaborative unit (weeks 5-10)

Post author By Gloria Corra
Post date 25th February 2023
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WEEK 5

With my group we established a time-line in order to have all the work under control and afterwards I started working on the animation of the two main ghosts of the story, the ghosts of the mother and the son.

Before starting the animation in Maya, I sketched the main poses of the movement in order to understand the most important keys of the animation.

After that I began animating the running of the two characters individually. The animation would have to be in place and in cycle in such a way that it could be used in Unity. I then animated by marking the key poses of the run and then corrected and cleaned up all the movements in between. Finally, once I had achieved a convincing run, I tried to see how the two characters moved together. Once I had achieved a convincing result, I exported the files in FBX format so that the VR people could enter the animation into Unity.

IN CLASS:

During this week we did a presentation in class where we demonstrated the progress made in the project, in order to
make the presentation my group and | decided to use Google slides so that we could all have access to the
presentation and be able to add our own contribution to the project.

The presentation in class was given by myself and Martyna who represented the VFX people and Alexa for VR. We
decided to divide the slides according to our roles in the project.

This activity was very useful to understand how to proceed with the project and to see the progress of the other
groups. Seeing the projects of others was certainly inspiring and made us realise that we would have to work hard to
achieve a good end result.

TATE GALLERY

After that we went to visit the Tate Gallery, where we had to find pieces of art to scan and then the following week recreate a 3D model of them.
I decided to look for objects and sculptures that I could relate to my project, so things that reminded me of a dystopian and industrial look.

WEEK 6

Once the characters’ run was animated I worked in the animation of the second run of the mother. She should have turned around during the run and should have looked behind her to check if the man was still running after them.

The process for making this animation was pretty much the same as the one listed above. I sketched out the main movements, then selected the main poses in Maya and kept correcting it until I got a clean and homogenous result.

I finally exported the animation to Fbx and passed to the VR team.

IN CLASS :

In class, we saw how the environment is important in determining the story of an animation. Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world, sometimes associated with a whole fictional universe. The resulting world may be called a constructed world.Worldbuilding gives the writer a clear understanding of what their world looks and feels like. It’s completely up to the writer what they want their world to be. The imaginary world serves to establish where the story takes place.

To finish the lesson, we saw how to transform the scans we made at the Tate Gallery into 3D objects that can be used in any 3D software. This exercise was very useful, a technique that I will certainly use in my future projects. Having the possibility and the tools to transfer real objects into a 3D designer is certainly a great way to work on a realistic scene.

WEEK 7

I also worked on the animation of the deer that was in the last room of the VR experience. I had to make two separate animations, one showing the deer on the place, eating, then noticing the spectator and then turning to look at the spectator. The second animation was to be the running animation of the animal on the place. This last animation was to be applied in unity after the first in such a way that it would have an action like: deer eating, looking at the spectator, and then running away.

Final animations:

FRAMELESS VISIT :

” Frameless is redefining the experiential immersive art world. Situated in Marble Arch, we are the largest permanent multi-sensory experience in the UK. Frameless features four galleries and showcases some of the world’s greatest works of art presented in ways never seen before. Where art breaks free.”

Having the chance to see this exhibition was really very inspiring. I realised how a collaborative project can be used to create something as great as an exhibition, and I saw the beauty of combining different art styles to achieve a new and contemporary artwork in the end.

WEEK 8

The last animation I had to work on was the animation of the group of ghosts that would populate the waiting room. To do this I found low quality characters as they would not be very visible in the scene due to the plasma effect textures that would be applied to them.
I wanted to have a wide range of characters in terms of their appearance in order to have a diverse group of people.
The animations I worked on consisted of simple movements that people make while waiting, such as talking to the person next to them, talking on the phone, making a phone call, observing the booths and the people around them, checking the time… and so on.

Final Animations:

Once the animations were finished, I showed them to the rest of my group and received some very useful feedback. They were all pleased with the variety of characters and movements, but suggested that I show more of the characters’ anxiety and fear, as they were in that waiting room waiting for the lineation that would end their lives.
I found these feedback very useful and I will certainly correct these animations by the end of the project.

WEEK 9

During the ninth week we tried to see how unity responded to the animations and what the VR environment would look like. As we are working on a demo version of the project to send to the client, many aspects are not just defined. Many of the animations will be modified and changed in order to have a dynamic and realistic environment.Having the chance to see how the project was taking shape in VR was certainly very exciting and it was very pleasing to see how all our work came together to give shape to this demo version.

We are planning to work on the project for another month before sending it to the client, and during this month we plan to refine the demo version in terms of textures and animations, which will be what will create the desired atmosphere of the experience. As far as VR is concerned, the team will have to correct some minor errors in the codes in order to have a programme that moves smoothly.

WEEK 10

After that I started working on what I was going to submit at the end of this unit, which was my work in progress video and my portfolio. In order to make the work in progress video I decided to use Premiere Pro and edit a video with all the recordings of the working process of the animations I made for the project.

Uncategorised WEEK 8

WEEK 8

Planning out ideas for body mechanics.

In this lesson I realised that it is very important to be able to determine what changes are happening in the presence of a movement.

When making a body mechanics shot, the animator should focus on the body and how it moves, without spending too much time on acting. Viewers must believe that the character has decided to jump, so a small amount of acting is required, such as a quick glance in the direction of the jump, to show that the character is aware of the condition.

sketches:

video refence

key frames:

WEEK 7

Facial expressions and mouth movement

In this lesson we saw how to animate different parts of the face in order to create facial expressions that can be used in the course of an animation. Using the Shape Editor tool, it is possible to save each pose separately and then combine them together to create more realistic expressions.

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In the second part of the lesson, we saw how to move the mouth to imitate the sound of words. This will be applied to animate a lip sync.

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WEEK 6

Rigging and painting weights of a face :

In this lecture we set up the rig of a face exported from DAZStudio. To improve the movement of the rig we created joints so that we could move the jaw and the neck.

In the second half of the lesson, we saw how to paint the weights, to make the movements of the muscles of the face more realistic and fluid.

Painting weights is an important part of the rigging workflow in Maya. In this lecture I understood that although it can be a slow process, it is a step that cannot be automated and requires careful attention to detail.

Finally in the final part of the session we saw how to model the face using the ‘Shape Editor’ in a very fundamental way, in order to elaborate on this in the following class.

Uncategorised WEEK 5

WEEK 5

Basic rigging

For this lesson, we built a simple human figure and then delved into how to build a rig. The rigger is a vital part of 3D, I realised with this class that without rigs there would be no way to animate characters. A good rig must have flexible and intuitive controls, capable of realising any animation.

Outcome:

Weight shift and walking cycle

What is a walk cycle?

A walk cycle is an animation technique using illustrated frames stitched together to create a sense of movement. The series of frames contains consecutive drawings of a walking figure. When combined together, the animation appears to walk.

In this lecture we saw how walking cycles are a good way to visualise the basics of human movement. They are also an effective way to animate the act of walking. Once the cycle has been made, one can simply repeat it, instead of animating each new walking scene again. However, making the movement of walking look natural can be difficult without the right method and a lot of practice. This is where walk cycles come into play.

The way a character walks conveys much more than the movement. From body language, gait and pace one can tell a lot about a character. It is therefore important to ensure that these elements are reflected in your work.