The Ladz: Days of Heinz Past

The final animation is finally complete!

AfterLives : Week 8 till Submission

This week we put everything together.
I learnt that the rules are more lenient for short films compared to feature films, but we still tried to stick to the rules as much as possible, to experience the whole film festival experience. We plan to submit the documentary to festivals, but we have yet to discus specifics. but I'm particularly keen on submitting to Cardiff Animation Festival (submissions open in September 2019 so we have plenty of time to polish things).

Here is the final documentary animation:

I also added subtitles but these may be reformatted for festival depending on their requirements:

AfterLives : Week 7

The Grand Finale

As the final critique neared, we realized we weren't going to be able to present a finished piece of animation, partly because we started the production phase quite late. However, I began compositing nonetheless, and instead of putting finished scenes, I put the incomplete scenes as placeholders so when the scene is commplete, I can simply swap them.

I also added a simple cel shading multiply layer, by making a silhouette and using offset tracking mattes. This however revealed that my alphas weren't completely clean. This was an easy fix, but in the future I'll make sure to clean up and inconsistencies.

This is what we presented in the final critique:

The feedback received was helpful; we needed to clean up the sound, I plan to do so using Adobe Audition instead of Audactiy like I've been doing. For the press pack, we plan to include English subtitles, which can be reformatted from the transcript we made earlier. 

What went well:

• We had a substancial amount of animation ready to present to convey the gist of the documentary,
• Planning ahead from before proved helpful now, both in the compositing and compiling the press pack. 

What could be improved:

• Time-management and speed could be improved so we don't have to 'animate till our hands bleed' for the last few days,
• Sound quality could've been improved at the source, by using a pop filter, or a boom mic.