masks.

practicing long, intricate masks in photoshop. it will be important to have all the assets prepared in such a way before animating - aids realism/truth to artwork concepts/detail of finer areas such as beard and mustache.

scribbles.

some quick sketches on the train from a-few weeks back, there were 2 hippies with massive great beards sat opposite.

thoughts.

context, imagery, narrative -
older, wiser people being widowed and re-living such times.
play on the idea of 'lost love'.


- weather beaten red-neck from the deep south. widower
- elderly man from north-east england. ship worker from the war, widower
- an aggressive alcoholic recluse, housebound.
- 'old man and his dog', massive big great dane


mood boards;

lyrics

got to have your love.

and ive told you baby just how i feel
ive got things in my heart that i cant just feel

i wake up in the morning with you on my mind
i believe youre my soul youre my loving kind



---- --- ---- ------- - ------?
got to have you baby by my side

all of stars are shining up above
looking down to help me find your love



you cant run baby you cant hide
you cant run baby you cant hide
you cant run baby you cant hide
from my love


ive been scheming and planning to make you mine
and ive been watching your eyes for a weakness sign

i need to have you baby and thats no lie
and ill be after your love til the day i die


you cant run baby you cant hide
you cant run baby you cant hide
you cant run baby you cant hide
from my love

character research.

Bits from tim burton's MoMa book that accompanied his exhibition.

Puppetting.

This is a digital animation technique in After Effects that i looked at last year, pinning 'hinges' on still images in the way that strings are attached to a puppet. It was the technique used to make the character dance in the 'hot and red' video by departement.

I did a test of the same character (below) and it's difficult, but I want to try and mock-up another version over the weekend using my own characters.

PUPPET TOOL TEST:

ernest herb.

Got To Have Your Love by Ernest Herb

I spoke with conway about the music animation for my FMP. He put me onto his friend Sam Ely's tunes, got in touch with him, then 5 minutes later he'd sent over the above WAV with permission to make a video for it which was brilliant. This little cracker is due to be released in the near future and obviously will require promotion of some sort. It's a really good track and I think i'd be an idiot to pass up such an opportunity, it would be great to provide it with some support. I've already got some ideas for the visuals which will be on here shortly.

AE ideas & tutorials pre-easter .

Some ideas for building an interesting circular/particle composition.

1. Trapcode form. This effect was used well in the 'house of cards' video by radiohead, and the techniques/workflow is explained in a series of tutorials by red-giant.

2. 3D ball dispertion. This creates a ball transition effect with 'cc ball action' and uses multiple layers to cascade the effect sequentially.





3. Shatterize & optical flares. Create a progressive shatter effect with glows and subtle camera shake, or use 3D lens flares such as the Loyal videos by Marty Martin.

'particle composition.

I'd like to play on the idea of circular/particle composition. It would be great to animate - having the content constructed/formed/built, as opposed to being revealed, would provide much wider scope. I touched on this last year in the ITV2 brief for the YCN (start - 15 seconds in).

Ghislain Poirier

I've wanted to create a character for a while but never really gone through with any ideas. I think this animation may just have swung it- All produced on AECS3 in two weeks, with some hardcore javascript nesting and external plug-ins. If i could achieve something anywhere near this i'd be chuffed.