Fantastic Voyage - Submission Post

This project has definitely been a 'fantastic voyage'; all elements I have learnt this year coming together to execute an original animation. I feel extremely accomplished as I reflect on the work produced during the project, conquering the unusual circumstances resulting in a home environment workflow. Time management has never been more crucial as I have restricted support and no peers to help review my work. This has been an opportunity to develop a professional frame of mind by staying efficient in an environment outside of campus and sticking to tight deadlines. 

The research element of this project was overwhelming at first; I struggled to find inspiration in a subject that's the disputable opposite to the arts. I overcame this challenge by seeking out personal interests and making theme & style a priority. I emerged with a culmination of graffiti, graphic novels and exotic mushroom species set in a mysterious forest environment. 

Planning the narrative was crucial to meeting the requirements of the project "develop, design and execute a micro-biological environment/scenario". Through storyboarding and the creation of concept art, I tried to infuse accurate terminology with aesthetics and strong art direction. Reflecting back at this stage of the project, many ideas strongly transitioned into the final outcome. I relied heavily on reference and source material to generate cinematography ideas and dynamic camera movement. Thorough research paid off, as my storyboard has solid ties to my blog posts on comics I had analysed, including camera angles and compositions. I created two storyboards, which became the core of continuing work, as I was keen to use all of its strengths in my final animation. 

I found that having a mattress of strong supporting work made the creating process far easier, as I was never without ideas or creative direction. Creating my previz felt effortless, because I had accumulated lots of work that directly build upon my storyboards. This meant that all elements of my animation had been considered, and I had all the help I needed. supporting work such as orthographs, concept art and matte paintings helped remind me of my end goal, allowing me to be efficient with my workflow.

My script was another helping had as I progressed through this project. I kept with the codes and conventions of writing this document, which I had learnt about during 'script to screen' and this solidified these teachings. Having an outline of my animation in a text format (rather than visual) helped me understand my animation from a new perspective; the flow of a narrative can translate differently when read rather than viewed. My confidence grew once I had a finalised script, as I was contempt with both text-based and visual variations of my animation, meaning there was strength in my ideas. 

This project became such a positive experience because of the final animation process; enjoyable because of the hard work I had put into its developing stages. The only downside to the animation process was dealing with technical challenges such as Maya crashing and managing Premier Pro's frustrating interface. However, I believe that my supporting work and passion for what I was creating made the process as easy as possible. I decided to recycle many aspects of my previz for my final animation due to time restrictions. This wasn't a concern since my previz held many strengths I wanted to transfer into the final outcome. Therefore, the process simply involved polishing-up animation and camera movement, and adding proper textures. I was fortunate to complete my animation on-time due to my decision to re-use my previz. I hope to revisit the outcome in the summer and render it properly through Arnold, rather than playblasting. 

Overall, I am confident with my efforts for this project. I still feel I have plenty to learn regarding professional time management and workflow; I find it hard to recognize essential work and less essential, which can often increase my workload avoidably. I think that my blogging could also be more descriptive and text heavy, but I am contempt with my upload schedule. I look forward to developing my skills further in year two and I'm growing a strong relationship with Maya and other software I have been introduced to in this first year of CAA.