New Project-Pre Production chosen

After much thought I have decided to work with the pre-production course assignment. Although I feel I may have learned more experiencing the post production assignment but I decided to choose the pre-production avenue as I am slightly more confident around this area of working

The four cards I received for this project were as follows:

CHARACTER: PIE
SHOW: SOAP
STYLE: WOODCUT
SETTING: HAIRDRESSER'S

When I stepped out of the class everyone was asking each other what cards we all got, and whether or not we were happy with them. Well I could honestly say that I felt content with the cards I received. I didn't know what I was going to do with them, but I was glad I received something rather challenging and different.

Before I could give my brain a chance to panic, I decided to make a separate mind map for each individual card. I have found this way of working useful as it gives me 4 mind maps and thus 4 times the amount of ideas.

Mind Map 1 : Character

Mind Map 2 : Show

Mind Map 3 : Style

Mind Map 4 : Setting

As you can see I was able to gather ideas for some cards more than others and just like any mind map, some ideas were more useful than others. After I had created these mind maps, I had a better idea of how to interpret the cards. The character mind map for example had forced me to personify characteristics of a pie and begin to think about how it could be incorporated into a character.

Once I had thought about all the mind maps and selected areas I thought were useful I created another mind map which incorporated an idea or theme I thought was strong enough to research into.

This mind map explores the theme of an Afro-Caribbien salon as a drama comedy soap opera. At this point the era is unclear. However I feel that an Afro-Caribbien salon is a warm place to set a "Soap" show for a character called "Pie" who is the heroine of the show which people visit regularly to gain advice and a quick hair cut. The show would also focus on the characters out side the shop, in their homes with their families.

One of the main goals of this project was to attempt a new style and research into something new. Researching into Afro-Caribbean art and culture would be a completely new experience for me and incorporating what I find into a "wood cut" type art style is something I'm rather excited about.

I would like to mention that this is just the beginning stage and my mind may change dramatically, but for now this idea is the main focus of the research stage ahead.

Reports, Evaluations and Congratulations!!

Here are my Report & Evaluations for the 11 Second Club and Experimental Projects. I would just like to say that I am really impressed with our classes experimental and 11 second club animations. We totally kicked bootie this year. Congratulations everyone! You Rock!

Experimental Report and Evaluation:

Alberto MOntana Experimental Report Evaluation

11 Second Club Report and Evaluation:

11 Second

Experimental Project

Yesterday I went into the studio to film the 35mm film on the projector and I would like to say a big thank you to Andy Wyatt who helped me in a big way during the filming process. The quality of the film could have been a bit better, but me and Andy tried our best to make it come out as good as possible under the circumstances. This included holding up a black sheet over the screen to shield reflections off of the projector.

Despite that I went home anxious and nervous to see the out come and I have to Say I'm very proud of my baby. This is because I haven't done anything in post production side that I would normally do, such as colour correct it or make sure that the music would fit the animation. It seems the dope sheets I had created seemed to work like a charm. There are a few bits in the animation where the song doesn't go, like towards the end, however the whole point of this project to me was to get me away from the computer and fixing things digitally and to try something out the old fashioned way. I will defiantly try this technique again as I only had 1 day to animate to get it in for the deadline.

Here is the video, remember the quality is not the best, and it is compressed but hopefully it that won't ruin the piece.

If your wondering what I used on the film, I tryed, acrylic, oil pastal, felt pens and etching for the black and white bits.

Experimental Project from Anima Films on Vimeo.