Freelance Job

A little freelance job I did...

just to post something different.

DANTE'S INFERNO

has nothing to do with the poems but well the image turned out really well

FINISHING OFF

Compositing is finished and the little bits and pieces have finally come together.

Final Song arrived today so we are wrapping up everything with the music and sound.

This is the last post before the actual screening of the movie.

it's been a long and rewarding road.

Ufff....!!!

PIN :D

this video is a Sound and music test, nothing final.

The Blackberry Monster Final #1

Here goes the final clip for the blackberry monster, still have to tweak and add some effects and some other things, but they are minor now. Music and Sound next week.

Some things i'll be leaving as they are but others i am considering to change (background, look, etc.) but anyway its not a major concern at this point.

l

Final Stage

Finally i am at the end of post production. Only a few more shots to composite, then some tweaking to do and presto!
What next?
Next week the Music and Foley will join in with the final piece. Also the credits and final song.

The video i am uploading is a sequence that i have been pushing towards the end...and have finally sat down to finish it, had to do it a few times for it work how i wanted to.

Closing In.

One of two of the shots done so far, all composited using Photoshop and After Effects.

The results will be pleasing...

I certainly am very pleased.

The Technical Side of it all

There is no coming in and animating before you have gone through all the technical side first and work out how will you achieve the right format for your movie.

Last week I struggled with the aspect ratio, the fps on different programs, codecs, Hd and bla bla bla... probably my biggest mistake was not asking the right questions at the right time.

I have learnt new skills in various programs that would have relieved me from weeks of work and stress through out the process of this movie.

Green Screening the Sequences

The Next step in the production is to get the Green screen done for each sequence of animation, this way i can Chroma key it in after effects and begin the composing stage. Each of the backgrounds have been done in photoshop so it will be easy to play around with the layers and generate a nice look to the animation.

My contribution to the Tim Burton Exhibition =P

Ambience Sounds

This the animatic with ambience sounds. Many of it will be updated and reaseached. Like the sound during the day suits more a summer day than that of a winter one, and extra soundsto enhance the narrative.

Sound design Raul Cueto : http://www.myspace.com/remulbizarret

Blackberry Monster: Work Up till Now

After I made the first animatic i relalized that the amount of animation that need to be done would be a huge amount, so i locked myself up and began animating...at the time my thought was that i "rather pull off a good animation than do a little of everthing and not finish anything at all". But the concecuences of this is that you get caught up on one thing and by the end of it the quality begins to decay. I began painting the backgrounds which i still havent finished because of extra animation i have been developing.
Slowly the animation jumped from 2.30 min to 3 min not including titles.
The idea of the animation is to tell the story in minimal movement, and the movement animated trying to be as smooth as possible. Making the backgrounds interesting and busy to tell the story.
Music wise, we have gone different ways with it, constatly discovering alternative ways to help tell the stry with sound. We are currently working on the final track which has a completly different approach to the one set in the last animatic psted on the blog.
At the moment I have finished all the important animation and only some backgrounds and still images are missing. I am exporting the animation with a green background and keying it out so i can compostie i all in Adobe Affter Effects, all the backgrounds are made in Adobe Photoshop so that i can play with the layers and mix it with the animation.
What has been frustrating me is not having the right tools to be able to work fluently on the project.
I have come to realize is that if i would've known most of what i know now from the very start of the project i would have aproached most of the animation differently.

Edward Rocha

More Screenshots

Screenshots

So other that colouring and painting backgrounds , I've done a couple of tests to see how it would look once i have composed the background with the characters.

Some additional animation has been made, and hopefully will all be done in a couple of weeks.

Animatic With Sound

So I accidentally uploaded the animatic without sound...

New Animatic

Here's the new and almost final Animatic of The Blackberry Monster, some new animation has been added and other subtracted after the feedback. The soundtrack is only a mock up so nothing official.

NEW SCENES

Some new scenes after the feedback.

She can here someone singing to himself coming from the other side of the house

Girl looks at the flute that has just hit her boot.

Flute Rolls from the dark to her feet. I think this will give it a more magical appearance rather than just sitting there. I am seriously considering 3D at this stage for this scene.

Girl Inspects the House as she walked in in the previous frame.

After watching several times the animatic i've decided to add two more scenes, only to enhance the very start of the animation.

So here's another animatic, now with 90% of the animation done. The music and the Foley are only try outs nothing official, im only timing the animation out. The mood is slowly building up and there is a great sense of the story now.

I'm currently painting each frame and further animation needs to be done and tweak some of the current ones.

Music Composer: Raul Cueto http://www.myspace.com/remulbizarret

The next two approaches are different, but very close to what we intend to have on the short.

The first one is the opening, the emotions are there and believe that there is a bit more tweaking to do. The Drums that come in by the middle of the song gives the sense of moving forward. And the bird sounds with the wind blowing in the back ground just nails it. I'm loving it so far.

The second one is for the scene when the Monster walks into his cave and has some time to himself, the style is there, but instead of the sadness feeling we are getting a more of a mystery one. But close enough.

Can't wait for the next round of songs.

The music has to tell a story by it's own, and that is what I would like to make unique in the animation. Still there are some sounds to add, and also decide on moments of silence within the short. since silence IS music by it self if you know where to put it.

These are the first versions for the music of the animation. The idea behind the music is to enhance the emotions that are in the story. Mixing environment with music.

Music Composer: Raul Cueto http://www.myspace.com/remulbizarret

This first One is an idea for the opening. The problem with this one was the monotony in the rhythm but style wise it isn't far from what we are looking for.

What we are looking for is the concept of innocence, space, travel, discovery.

We decided that the flute would come in later in the animation and not at the very start, considering that it is a very important element in the short.

For the next version Raul intends to mix environment sounds with the music to gain space and wilderness.

This song is for the middle of the animation and the initial encounter with the Blackberry monster. It nails the style but not the emotion at this stage. There still needs more melody into it.

Concept: Sadness, fantasy, hidden.

Other alternatives to the music, I like the flute. But obviously there is a lot of work to be done on the music and sound to get it right.

I believe that there is nothing worse than to get the music wrong on the animation, it could lead to a total failure. So we are giving our best shot at this.

I am very pleased to where we are headed with the music, the style is right on track and mixes well with the animation.

First Pencil Tests and Final Result

I proceeded to animate the characters and here are a couple of pencil tests...

For inspiration I watched Hayao Miyasaki's Spirited Away, great reference for a little girl aswell as movements and colours.

And this next one has the background incorporated to it...and gives the feel on how it will look together, which i am quite happy with.

Animatic Version 2

Once I completed some of the backgrounds I proceeded to add them to the animatic....

The original idea for the look of the animation is as if its being told from an old book, hence the look to the scenes and the feeling of worn out pages.

.

...so came the first animatic, with a sound tryout....

Preproduction - Backgrounds

I was very happy with the end result for the backgrounds, these two are only part of a series of backgrounds already done. They are painted in Photoshop and divided into layers, that way i am able to edit it when ever i need and also play with layers when composing.

Preproduction - Blackberry Monster Animation

Concept Art for the Animation and initial sketches of the characters. A lot of the initial color tests and lighting tests came from actual references, mainly photographs and paintings which i thought helped on the mood i would like the animation to have.

First Sketch of the blackberry monster, done back in 2006.

The moment I decided to animate this character I imediatly thought on narrowing down lines and turning him into basic shapes for him to be animatable.

This final image is the finished look of the animation, gives the mood i've been looking for.

This video was made for a festival back in 2007. It's not flash, all done in swishmax. Quite a simple program great for beginners.

Three images from Acarus21, a story I'm still working on. On hold now that I've got my hands full with Uni and other projects. Did these a while ago.
I love the first pic, the mood is well achieved and so is the concept.

Girl Sketches

So some Girl sketches i've been drawing. Thanks to my beautiful girlfriend i could do some samples. Been watching quite a few disney movies. Not happy with all of them but it's a good exercise.

Gradients are everything in these two pieces, I've been using new lighting techniques which have been giving good results. Will be continuing with the Acarus 21 Concept art and writing a script called Sin.

Pretty much began as a doodle in class, got home to finish it off. Happy with the lighting and the mood of it, even though i will not be using him at any stage, the sketch and shadowing are good.

Boba Fet could've been an inspirtaion.