johanimationcastillo

[johanimationcastillo]

Reflection Creative decision making

Promotional video

This video is a small perspective of the progress made for the animated short film or final graduation project. The same one that aims to make my work and the film known. The process of creating this promotional video was a fairly complex job in terms of time and techniques, since not having a recording studio to isolate the sound or to record an interview, I was forced to improvise making animated sequences that described what I was doing and  I wanted to manifest to the audience.

In addition, it is also quite complex to have all the responsibility of producing all the animated material, audio, planning, etc by yourself, since in reality the roles of similar productions are distributed in a team in which each person is a specialist in a certain area.

As far as the development of the animated film is concerned, the entire development despite the drawbacks was a journey full of learning. I can say that despite this being the second time I have animated frame-by-frame, this animation helped me significantly improve my frame-by-frame drawing ability, while my after effects editing skills have been polished and I gained knowledge in general.

As the biggest learning I have is that without a doubt I must upgrade my computer and buy one with a better video card to speed up the rendering process. In addition, I would consider it important to update the adobe suit since I have been working with an old version for more than four years. Once I do in the future I will consider taking a course from Domestika or any other on youtube.

Theory Application

This film is a study of auto study and own feedback, a film completely focused on experimenting with unconventional colors, textures, styles and narratives but at the same time very striking. Of course, there is also the application of painting, color and composition theories. However, this needs to be analyzed further. Applying the digital painting and coloring techniques used by other artists requires constant experimentation and meticulousness. For example, in my study of the theory of rustic painting used by the Amanita design studio.

According to  Crookes( 2021) , the video game studio creates carefully designed mixes of the natural, the industrial, and the surreal. The mostly adventure and clicker games are meticulously styled, both in color and sound. 

Although I tried to imitate it, there is a difference or because it does not compare to the effects used by the studio. Nevertheless I feel quite satisfied with the results. But to be more objective, I consider that I did not achieve the desired effect because perhaps I lacked time to take care of the details.

Finally, there were certain scenes that I decided not to include since it would require more editing time and given the inconveniences that I was having with my computer, it was more convenient to optimize the time by finding an alternative solution.

Reference:

Crookes, D. (2021) Paint and click: inside the unique adventures of Amanita Design. Available at: https://wireframe.raspberrypi.org/articles/paint-and-click-inside-the-unique-adventures-of-amanita-design (Accessed: 10 August 2021).

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Source of Inspiration for Promotional video

This promotional video for the animated film Love by Reka Bucsi seemed very inspirational to me to have as a reference to make my promotional video, although in my case I decided not to record myself talking about Martian rain, I also used a good part of the scenes that I have been working at this time. And I made small additional animations of my characters and a self-portrait to intrude the information of my animated film.

I think without a doubt there would be many things that could have been added and improved but given the length of the video and the availability of time and resources they had to be omitted as is the case of the recording of a self interview talking about Martian Rain.

In general, the work of this great animator has been of significant influence during my studies since her surreal ideas and her imaginative freedom fascinate and inspire me to continue creating new ideas and to find my own style. 

Reflection:

Vimeo (2019) Animating Love with Reka Bucsi. New York City: Vimeo.

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Post production of a Scene

To develop the design of the holographic image, I based on the design of the space in which Zordon from the Power rangers interacted. 

Today I have dedicated myself to making a couple of effects and finishes to improve the look of the scene that I present in the above picture, for which I have seen an after-effect tutorial which has been very useful to be able to give it the appearance of an hologram to my screen of the scene presented.

As I have been producing each of the scenes and I have seen the need to make small adjustments that allow me to improve the look of my scene so that they adapt to the conseptual art that I want for the complete short film. One of these needs was the case of this scene that from the beginning was thought to be a clear and modern image, however I decided that it was a screen rather digital pixelated style since it seems to me that it enhances the rustic look of the space in which it is developed the action of the scene.

Reference:

Erdmann, K. (2020) Power Rangers: The Secret Origins of Zordon Revealed. Available at: https://screenrant.com/power-rangers-zordon-secret-origins-bronze/ (Accessed: 2 August 2021).

Shutterstock, P. by (2019) Create 8 Bit Pixel Art in After Effects. Canada. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=raNGXDAfIZw&feature=emb_logo.

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Troubled scene

While doing the animation and composition of the scene that I show in the previous image capture, I ran into a problem in the structure of the scene, this composition was turning out to be too unbalanced for which I had to re-analyze it and really rethink the camera movements that would give in the end. Another point that I have considered for this scene in particular is the possibility of adding additional elements and polishing the finishes in terms of light and contrasts that at this point are not completely attractive to me.

A possible solution to preserve the already done work would be to enlarge the work area to be able to carry out the camera movements more freely, and at least correct composition problems.

[johanimationcastillo]

‘Robot Chicken’ Season 11 Gets Clucking Sept. 6 on Adult Swim

When reviewing this article I found that there is an animated series made in stoop motion, very peculiar and eye-catching that is aimed at the adult public.

The name of the series is Robot Chicken from Adult Swim, it's also getting funnier new parodies and wacky characters like Joe Exotic to Peppa Pig. What I find really attractive about this animated series is the variety of puppets that they use for the sequences, in some way, some characters that are dolls become very rustic in their movements, I think this helps to express the comic character of the plot.

The graphic identifier of the series is also something out of the ordinary, an android chicken accompanied by a logo that alludes to the name of the famous space hatred movie. For my way of seeing this name accompanied by the graphics it is quite provocative and suggestive in view of the target audience, for me this is an excellent example of how you can approach the public when it comes to animation. Robot Chicken will also have a special Halloween-themed edition. And not to disappoint full of Robot Chicken's particular sarcasm this season.

The show includes current day hits and classics, including fan-favorite characters from movies, TV shows, video games, celebrities, and even nursery rhymes - Robot Chicken leaves out nothing or anyone and has the biggest comedy ever with fifteen minutes.

I really liked learning about the content of this series since it seems to me that this type of animations with a fresh and innovative style help to open doors to more animators and new talents, and not only that but they are also a relevant source of inspiration to consider.

Reference:

Milligan, M. (2021) ‘Robot Chicken’ Season 11 Gets Clucking Sept. 6 on Adult Swim. Available at: https://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/robot-chicken-season-11-gets-clucking-sept-6-on-adult-swim/ (Accessed: 11 August 2021).

Adult Swim (2020) Robot Chicken Does... Childhood Toys | Adult Swim UK. United Kingdom. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeVF6SrruRQ.

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Colour and Retouch Process

While I have been developing the frame-by-frame animation of each of the scenes, I have been a bit overwhelmed by the fact that I feel that to achieve the perfect finish it would require more hours of dedication to polish the details, so I hope I have the time needed to achieve it successfully.

Throughout this week I have been working on the look of the different scenes, and I have been polishing details that at the beginning I had thought that they would look better than they were looking at first. Nevertheless throughout the digital painting process I found it necessary to give more details and textures to some of them.

Also I made the decision to use textures with blending modes in Photoshop so that the colors would become more attractive and rustic.

As explained in the video tutorial, one of my priorities was to first color the base colors first, and then add contrasts and shadows. This process optimal time and streamlined the coloring.

In order to improve the quality of the coloring of the scenes, I resorted to a tutorial by Finchwing (2016) in which the coloring process in Photoshop is indicated when it comes to animation.

Reference:

Finchwing (2016) Animation in Photoshop Step-by-Step: #2 Actions, Colouring and Shading. United Kingdom. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CIbyiOPsNM.

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Edition

Today I made the post production and coloring of these two scenes, in general terms the scene with the greatest complexity as composition was the scene that contains several characters, since the challenge was to coordinate the movements of each one of them without any of them standing out. on top of the other making others lose prominence or confusing the public about the action. 

Undoubtedly in this project one of my main objectives is to add value to my history telling through the use of color and textures, for which I have reviewed reference films which will be analyzed in the video that I quote later. 

To make several of the scenes of my animated film, I had to present several of the tips that are given in the video that I share previously. Well, here the value that the stages and sets have in Tim Burton's films is manifested, one of the tips that are given is to describe the scripts in detail to later continue with the design of scenarios and inhabitants. Much of Tim Burton's settings are described as theatrical rather than naturalistic, fantasy settings that mix and exaggerate nature, and society whether in Horror movies, science fiction or even normal worlds.

In the video, special emphasis is placed on the value of hyper-realistic settings and environments in Tim Burton's compositions, as they add a lot to storytelling. 

According to StudioBinder (2020) video much of the Success of the Hyper-Surreal World has to do with:

Plainness

Simplicity

Obedience

Reference:

StudioBinder (2020) Tim Burton’s Eccentric Set Design and Art Direction Explained. United States. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcOh6iWq8DA.

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Animation Block Party Festivals and Events North America Animation Block Party Re-Animates for Halloween Edition at BAM

Reading this article by  Milligan (2021) I have learned that there is a blog and festival called Halloween Special that is open for presentations from now until September 20, 2021. Some of the festival’s categories include Audience Award, Student Film, Minute Movie and the Gifoween award for best animated loop.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) will present animations with Halloween motifs. The Brooklyn Academy of Music reopened live theater events, and will host Doug Crane and Don Duga, festival contributors to animation industry legends. At this year's Halloween opening there will be horror shorts and cartoon loops. A poster illustrated by Michael Ruocco was featured for the Animation Block. Also at this event all award winners will receive a DigiCel FlipBook license; there will be a student movie they will receive the Dragonframe software. Each of the winners in the four award categories will also receive a special $ 420 cash prize for extra-animated Halloween excellence.

I found it very interesting to read this article because as animators and designers it is important to be updated with the opportunities and exhibition windows that exist in order to publicize our work so that we can earn recognition and money. I also think that it is very interesting how animation festivals create initiatives with concepts that are related to festivities or traditions because in this way they encourage the creativity of animators and producers of animated films. 

Reference:

Milligan, M. (2021) No TitleAnimation Block Party Festivals and Events North America Animation Block Party Re-Animates for Halloween Edition at BAM. Available at: https://www.animationmagazine.net/events/animation-block-party-re-animates-for-halloween-edition-at-bam/ (Accessed: 1 August 2021).

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Graphic references for concept art and composition 

Today I started to edit the more detailed scenes of my animated film. The process I have done one hundred percent with digital painting, the process took a lot of manual retouching and painting in Photoshop.

While I was coloring these scenes I had to add different contrasts and different brush strokes in order to achieve the desired texture, so deciding the end point of the animation was somewhat difficult. The same thing happened to me in each and every one of the scenes that I was editing. So I had the need to frequently resort to graphic references to animated films with a similar style. 

Some of the scenes that I prepresented in the photographs that I have shown previously were based on images of the famous movie Isle of Dogs by  Anderson (2018). In which you can clearly see his influence not only on camera movements but also chromatically and  in textures.

Wes' animated films have currently been a very important reference for current animation cinema, therefore I have not hesitated to take it into account when making my animated film, which also includes a dog as a character. in the plot. 

Reference:

Anderson, W. (2018) Isle of Dogs. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqQ_njn0_tQ.

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Aliens

While doing the storyboard for my animated film Martian Rain I saw the need to add sequential characters that can support the main characters and at the same time be part of the composition since in some scenes the landscapes had exclusively two ranges of colors which made the composition too boring.

So I created a series of aliens that have different shapes and colors, in order to have a role within the plot that helps to break the monotony of the ocher compositions of the Martian landscapes. 

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Forefront 6

Minions: The Rise of Gru Streaming North America Universal, Netflix Ink Exclusive Animated Movies Pact for US

Reading this article by  Milligan( 2021) I found out about the agreements that Peacock has with Amazon's Prime Video and IMDb TV, and additionally with Netflix they will give rights to the franchise in the United States.

This extension of the association of the two companies ensures that Netflix will have access to UFEG from its Illumination and DreamWorks studios, with long-awaited films such as Minions: The Rise of Gru, The Bad Guys, and Puss in Boots: After the Window Pay 1 in four months on Peacock, NBCUniversal's internal platform. The new deal adds DreamWorks' animated offerings to the streamer's pre-existing lighting deal with UFEG, which has paid off for Netflix. According to a recent Forbes report, The Secret Life of Pets 2 is the most popular Illumination on Netflix of 2021 with the most Top 10 appearances, followed by Despicable Me and The Grinch from the studio.

Dream Works titles The Croods. Finally, according to the article, the agreement will include Netflix's license rights for UFEG's animation and live action list for four years after the premiere.

In general, what I find particularly interesting about this article is the alliances that production companies have to carry out to produce their film projects and at the same time for the distribution of their films in different media. As an animator I think it is very important to know the distribution channels that the most successful animated films have used to reach their audience.

Reference:

Milligan, M. (2021) Universal, Netflix Ink Exclusive Animated Movies Pact for US. Available at: https://www.animationmagazine.net/streaming/universal-netflix-ink-exclusive-animated-movies-pact-for-us/ (Accessed: 16 July 2021).

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Rising Sun Pictures Completes COVID-Safe Expansion as Production Rebounds in Australia

Reading this article by (Milligan, 2021), I find out that important animation studios such as Risin Sun Pictures (RSP), due to the COVID pandemic, have decided to optimize their workspace located in Adelaide. Fueled by a boom in film and series production, Rising Sun Pictures (RSP) has made several major feature films on a large scale, including more than 500 visual effects shots for New Line Cinema's upcoming Mortal Kombat movie. at HBO Max RSP, which took over the building alongside its main studio located on Pulteney Street in Adelaide, took just a few months to renovate the new section. Some of the changes made imply the remodeling of its infrastructure, its way of working and the work team. The walls were removed to allow staff to move freely within the studio.

The new studio can accommodate additional staff, has a cinema-style projection room, soundproofed installations and a workspace for up to 80 artists. RSP has taken advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, allowing itself to produce film and television in almost normal conditions, surpassing other countries. International production and post-production work has been drawn to the country by generous government incentives, which were expanded last year. On the other hand, the Australian government has provided a discount to the production of publication, digital and visual effects (POS), which has a favorable result and makes Australia an attractive destination.

According to the article, the quality of life in Australia has been attractive to filmmakers, which has increased filming, and the demand for visual effects. The studio currently has large projects for next year, for which it is adding capacity and talent in order to meet its goals. RSP has designed their studio to allow artists to work productively in a friendly and distraction-free environment, in addition to adding air conditioning. Lighting has also been designed to reduce excess light that can cause eye strain on artists.

Besides, RSP has overcome the pandemic working together as was usual for the company in productions based in the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, so that working remotely in countries with different time zones has not represented a challenge for them.

So they are optimistic about the future and ready to take advantage of new opportunities. What is really important to me about this article is the way in which animation studios have taken advantage of the severity that COVID represented until a few months ago. In this case, the RSP company renewed its studio to improve the quality of work of the artists and also began to work on new projects with new talents. Additionally for me it is very important to know that Australia is a promising nation as far as animation is concerned since nowadays with the globalization of digital media it is possible to collaborate with companies from different countries remotely just as mentioned in the article.

Reference:

Milligan, M. (2021) ‘Rising Sun Pictures Completes COVID-Safe Expansion as Production Rebounds in Australia’. Available at: https://www.animationmagazine.net/vfx/rising-sun-pictures-completes-covid-safe-expansion-as-production-rebounds-in-australia/.

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Editing of Emotional Scenes

To understand how emotion is expressed in an animated film, I reviewed the above posted tutorial by  Film School Hooligans (2017) where several scenes are shown and analyzed, it emphasis how animators and animation studios manage to transmit emotion through the use of color, settings, sound, images and facial expressions. On the other hand, it is also mentioned how Pixar uses very well detailed fantasy worlds to create an emotional connection with the public. 

Reference:

Film School Hooligans (2017) Emotions in Animation. United States: youtube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHaJ5B2lRUU (Accessed: 12 August 2021).

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Stop-Motion Short ‘Astra’ Wraps Shooting in Wrocław

Thanks to reading this article by Milligan (2021) I have come to understand how limited production teams are able to deal with technical and technological limitations to produce good quality animation. In this case, a team of 15 people has produced a stop motion film called Astra, a story about brotherly love, adventure and the adversities of life.

According to the article, the film set, instead of being made up of constructions or virtual scenery, was improvised on a miniature scale. The CeTA Audiovisual Technology in Wrocław that produced the film was very pleased to produce Astra as they also want to produce animated films. Reading the article I also understood that character designs have a long and detailed process, because before the puppets were ready for the set, many weeks of preparation were needed. “First, figure drawings were developed, then 3D models, later heads and some body fragments printed in 3D technology were produced. I was also able to understand that the 3D puppet printing process requires precise, elaborate and highly experienced manual work.

Among the Łódź production team, which according to the article is recognized around the world for its specialists in animation puppets, were six renowned artists with extensive experience in the production of Isle of Dogs by Wes Anderson and Peter and the Wolf and Daniel Kusak decorator. Many locations were developed for the film, such as Astra's little room, the hallways of the science center, and even a ship in outer space. The scale used was large, which represented a challenge for the decoration and props team and the puppet makers. Particularly one of the drawbacks was Astra's hands, which are one centimeter long, turned out to be a difficulty on a scale of 1: 6 when it came to animating his fingers, built on thin cables, so he chose to do seven pairs of interchangeable hands for the character.

In conjunction, the film conducted many experiments, one of the most attractive and original was the use of ink in water to reproduce the cosmos and achieve a slow motion effect, the movement of which was recorded at a higher rate of frames per second. One of the animators commented for the article that he could not have done it all alone at home and that the advantage of using the CeTA facilities guaranteed the world standard of production and working conditions. Finally, a very important piece of information that I am very interested in is knowing how the project was financed, according to the article Astra was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute and the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sports among other organizations that joined to contribute with the project.

I found this article particularly attractive because it talks in detail about the process of creating an animated film from creative details to data on how the production could be carried out, which undoubtedly offers me a real panorama of what it is to develop an animated film.

Reference:

Milligan, M. (2021) Europe Stop-Motion Short ‘Astra’ Wraps Shooting in Wrocław. Available at: https://www.animationmagazine.net/shorts/stop-motion-short-astra-wraps-shooting-in-wroclaw/ (Accessed: 11 August 2021).

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Cannes: Pink Parrot Scores Pick-Ups for ‘Trash’

Reading this article by (Milligan, 2021), I was informed that a company from Montereal / Madrid Pink Parrot Media (PPM) has made a 3D animated feature film that has received many awards worldwide with a film that has an ecological message. The objective of the production company is to attract children from all over the world and arrive with an ecological message with its film Trash, an entertaining film, with a very valuable message suitable for all audiences.

The film stresses the importance of recycling and reusing garbage. The creator developed a world where garbage lives at night, the film tells the adventures of garbage that look for a mythical recycling container seeks. Personally, the background of this film caught my attention since it addresses a message that is relevant for today's society, and I found it particularly interesting to review it since the ecological message is something that draws a lot of attention to me.

Trash has been premiered at various Film festivals worldwide such as (SIFF), Festival del Cinema di Roma 2020, The movie was a Youth Section finalist in the BANFF Rockie Awards 2021 and is part of the Official Selection at Locarno Film Festival in the Kids Screening section Cinekid and so on.

Another factor that is interesting to me is how the audience's approach played a determining role when it came to showing the feature film at festivals, which I consider was a plus point when it came to gaining recognition.

Reference:

Milligan, M. (2021) Cannes: Pink Parrot Scores Pick-Ups for ‘Trash’. Available at: https://www.animationmagazine.net/features/cannes-pink-parrot-scores-pick-ups-for-trash/ (Accessed: 10 July 2021).

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Scenes Editing

In the process of animating this scene I had to try to handle different timings since the sequence was not working at all and I had to synchronize the ship with the capsule so, I looked for help in the tutorial.

One of the greatest difficulties in animating the special fish-shaped space craft has been to faithfully represent in each frame the variety of colors and textures that it has so that it does not lose its original shape and continues to flow with the movement of the action. 

To make the animation of these scenes I have reviewed a very useful tutorial that teaches how to optimize the workflow to perform the animation by TipTut (, 2020). It also indicates some principles related to timing and spacing using the timeline of animator tool bar which have been of fundamental help to improve the movement of my characters.

Reference:

TipTut (2020) How to Animate in Photoshop | #1. United Kingdom. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqg9D2QW5H0&t=4s.

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Tips for animating with photoshop

By reviewing this tutorial I was able to learn how to better handle and manage the layers of my project using the animator tool bar in Photoshop. Previously, I used to animate without using the backgrounds on the back, which turned out to be quite convenient in this case, since that way the characters would be more naturally displaced in the desired environment and position.

Here in the tutorial the girl uses a technique called rotoscopy. According to Wikipedia (2021), rotoscopy is essentially replacing the frames of a real film with “traced” drawings to animate in 2D using previously animated movements. It seems to me that it is a very efficient way to animate and avoid making mistakes when digging the poses, which is even more effective than visual references when animating traditionally. 

Reference:

School of Motion (2019) Photoshop Animation Compositing. United States: youtube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AWpJqNHlUk&t=1200s.

Wikipedia (2021) Rotoscoping. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotoscoping (Accessed: 6 August 2021).