Evaluation...

I am really happy with what I have produced for Latest- I really enjoyed making the world and experimenting with retro inspired styling. I also rediscovered my love of Photoshop- I really loved using it in conjunction with illustrator. I think vector artwork can be very flat and harsh, Photoshop really allows you to soften and texturise and I really really enjoyed seeing how my artwork changed once I placed it within Photoshop. Using Photoshop also enabled me to explore the lights within it which helped to clarify what I was going to do within After Effects. My first world (the one that only contained the Duke of Yorks building) was my first real light experiment and though it made my image humungous to allow me to place lights within it I found it really effective. Placing a very soft grain onto the artwork helped to create the impression that this world had been cut out of paper which I further developed within after effects but introducing drop shadows to the various elements. These shadows helped to separate my scene into two different spaces background and foreground. Since the character movement was very simple I also think it helped to really cement the styling of the world.

After Effects wise again I dont feel like Ive done anything complicated at all- after a quick intro into the After Effects light effects - I decided that the best way of making my world light out was by using simple fill circles with a glow on them. Staggering the shapes gave the impression that the lights were turning on in a running movement. It was very simple but time consuming - I had to go back into illustrator to turn off all of my lights- and though turning them on again was easy. There were a lot of lights- all parented to the moving world and positioned accordingly, In the end I think I ended up with about 150 light layers. Although my After Effects usage was simple I dont think that anything complicated would have worked within the animation. I kept my idea purposefully simple (based off the London Film Festival stop motion trailer) in order to allow me to fully develop my Illustrations. Regardless of its simplicity I think that the animation is very effective, playful and it definitely embodies Brighton.

Working with a client was a bit stressful - although I dont think that my correspondence with them was too bad or demanding. Latest Tv were vague and disorganised. I was really irritated that they hadnt provided me with finished music at the start of the project- its my main gripe really. I think that if you have the opportunity to get free work then you should utilise that and they didn't seem to be bothered. At times I felt like they werent ready in the production process to consult with a designer. I also had issues with the presenters- they kept changing their minds as to who the presenters were going to be- and when I asked for details - I got frustratingly vague responses which wasnt helpful. Having said this Val has kept in regular contact and the new producer Richard provided me with his tweaks as a nice understandable list - which were completed for them- Bill was the only one who really irritated me - he seemed to want something completely different to what Val and I had discussed and I was even told by Val to ignore Bills ideas. I appreciate that in the real world there will be disorganised clients out there and I did manage to remain polite and civil. I think the key to client correspondence is to remain polite and to provide them with strict deadlines because otherwise these tweaks could continue indefinitely.  I've also completed what they wanted and have made it clear that I wont have the time to work on it after the deadline. So I can only hope that they will be happy.

Submitting for Latest...

Since Latest havent gotten back to me about the coloured mopeds - I am providing them with several opening sequence versions. One with red mopeds and no words, one with coloured mopeds and no words as well as both red and colourful with the words. This way they can choose what they like and I have certainly provided them with a variation. I have informed them that after the wednesday deadline I will no longer be available to work on the titles so I want them as finished as possible (I informed them of this about a week or so before the deadline so I gave them time) I also gave them monday as a time limit for any tweaks to the animation (which they upheld) they seemed really happy pre changes and the changes I was asked to make werent big changes so I confident that they will be able to use them.

Lower Thirds

I asked Val what I should do about Lower Thirds since I had never done them before and didnt really know what I should provide. Lastest would have to add their own text in so I didnt see the point in animating anything. I also didnt know how long they would need certain bits up for or where they were going to come up. So after a quick discussion with Val it was decided that I should create a long line of lights framed with my lampposts- leaving the middle transparent. I would provide this as a high quality png and the Latest Team would animate that accordingly. Since I think that the words are going to be harder to read since theres no background I plan on providing one lower third with a solid red section within the middle as well.

The Stings...

Stings were another requirement from the brief- since I had very little time to play with I decided to keep the stings themselves very simple. I didnt really want to redesign them and felt that I had enough elements to play with to create them so I simply opted to use bits of those. I liked the shadow element and thought it had a nice softness that matched my overall light theme so I opted to use that in the beginning of the sting. I used a similar mask to make the words appear onto the world as I had within the main body of my project to cement the programme, and its branding at the end. I can't say that I really love this sting but I think it works for the project and its only a couple of seconds long so I dont plan on changing anything.




The second sting is by far my favourite- I have tried to use the running lights to follow through (its supposed to convey the concept of journeys which is a big aspect within the opening titles) I am really happy with it - it feels very dynamic and playful and it shows off my artwork. I didnt bother putting sound effects to either because I am pretty sure that Val/Latest will put a clip of their music to them.

Final Submission For my Project....

This is what I plan on submitting- I have added in some additional lights at the start of the Welcome to Brighton scene in order to provide some movement. I did try introducing a glow to the words but I didnt like them so I opted to add some familiar running lights movement instead. The glow on the added lights in the beginning looks a bit thicker than it is in my final submission mov but I am very happy with them regardless. I think Ive managed to turn a confusing and complicated brief into something fun and colourful. I've corrected the North Laine/Laines spelling, fully extended the clock tower scene, tried to have the people come in from the middle of frame - which I did for two of the moped scenes- the first mopeds scenes had to allow the characters to come into frame from the side otherwise it would have looked weird. The next two scenes I adjusted so they were travelling from the middle of frame and then the last scene I felt like I had to really utilise the arrow positioning so it looked better to give that scene a longer entrance and exit moped movement. I have also added in extra drop shadows- it was an aspect I completely forgot so in order to ensure the overall continuity I put extra drop shadows in - particularly around the various locations which helped to separate them from the background and match the cutout styling.

Crit...

So this is what I created for crit- I still have yet to correct the Laine /Laines but overall I am really happy, I think that the different coloured mopeds really help to individualise the characters. And the close ups break up the repetitive movements of the mopeds. I have put it to My Generation by The Who since its era appropriate and very much about the mods and rockers. I liked how the just because we get around lyric matched the moped presenters as they journeyed around the world. The song is fun upbeat and I think it works really well with my styling. I have learnt from past projects to go with my first choice on music and I had this song in my head when designing so I was always pretty adamant that it would work with it. I will provide Latest with a version that doesn't contain the music since they cant use it but I am hoping that the music will be upbeat enough to match the styling. Obviously it would have been ideal to be provided with the music at the beginning of the project so I could have designed and cut to that but alas the music was/is not ready.

Not sure if Latest wants the colourful mopeds since they havent replied to address that issue, but I really like it. Jim suggested that I make it look like some of the mopeds are coming in from the middle since they enter from the side of the screen all the time- which will be a simple case of moving some of the compositions so they start from the middle and not from the beginning. Andrew suggested adding something into the Welcome to Brighton sign as well and suggested making the words glow which I might try since it definitely needs something- as it is the scene feels very still.

The first Opening Sequence...

This first video is what I submitted for Val as a finished animation. The emails in the last post regard this version of the opening sequence. Val really liked it - she seemed very enthusiastic. I am also very proud of it although I have some changes of my own that I plan on making. Thankfully in this project I really utilised the composition tool element which I didnt do in the last animation project which will make it easier to change aspects. The spinning world with the various lights that light up as the world revolves is one composition I have used throughout to keep the movement continuous. It was Jims idea to make one world (which saved me Illustrator time on making each individual scene) to which I am grateful because I love how it has turned out.

Val and Latests Changes...

Val would like me to integrate two close ups of the extra presenters Bill mentioned in his email. I was happy to do this one because I think it helps to break up the scenes a bit and provide additional focal elements. The only concern I had with this aspect was that I was worried that the presenters wouldnt look like the actual people. Since I had a square ish retro style I knew that the faces didnt have to look exactly right but they still had to be approximations.


Taking out the words- according to Bill the words look too twee- whilst I disagree with this completely (I feel like the words help to fill the screen and look very Brighton) I plan on just providing Latest with a no words version since it wont take me long to turn of the appropriate layers.

It was pointed out to me that it was the North Laine not Laines- obviously this is my mistake- so I plan on changing that to both my project and Latests- Im hoping I can just replace the footage since I have exported everything out as same size pngs (I had to put a grain on a lot of my images- didnt like the grain within after effects so it made sense to export as pngs so I could manipulate in Photoshop).

My changes...

I want to experiment with colourful mopeds- I really think changing the colour will help to make them look more individual..

Possibly add some lights into the opening Welcome to Brighton sign.

Latest Tv Correspondance....

So Val really liked what I produced - this is the email after I sent her the initial first opening sequence...

















Bill the Channel owner- said this- which Val and I discussed- I think his ideas are a bit outlandish considering theres 5 days till submission. Although I did integrate some close ups of the older woman and the guy presenter to break up the shots and keep him appeased. The film element I plan on completely disregarding because thats not in my original brief and I have been commissioned to make an animation. Music wise I have also been told by Val that it wont be ready in time so I'm giving Latest a silent copy and they will have to put the music in themselves.

 The Producer of the show sent this: I agree with extending the clock tower it needs to be half a second extra. I plan on giving Latest a version without the words and the additional changes that I dont agree with so they can get what they want and then submitting my own version without the extra alterations for my project.

Another email from Bill who still doesnt seem to understand that the music isnt available to me, and that I have included close ups of the presenters.

Music

I emailed my music guy to see how the music was coming along but had no response, so in order to cover my back I emailed Val, who told me to rip the music off the old programme. Im trying to figure out the polite way of saying no because the music is really really awful and wouldn't match at all. Its beyond bad. So bad that I really dont want my work anywhere near it. I also see no point in putting music in that wont be used so I plan on just creating a silent version and maybe another with sound effects or a music of my choice. She also wanted me to rip it so she hasn't actually given me a soundtrack to even work from so Im not going to bother since the version of the music I can find is an awful quality.

Sections...

I plan to cut bits of my rotating world with the moped people with close ups of each location. Heres what I have come up with so far.




Overall Im really happy- i managed to turn the lights on by using a mask which was a lot faster than the overall world (I couldnt really get away with using a mask on the big one because I really wanted the run on light effect) but the mask on the words was really handy since the speed of the word appearance makes it seem like all the lights are turning on.

Lights on...

A big part of my opening title sequence would be lights turning on. After much consideration I couldnt think of an easy way to do it, so I turned off the lights in my main world an then began by introducing white circles with a glow placed on it one by one to mimc lights turning on. The lights are turning on a slowly rotating world which I will cut to in order to break up each section. I created the effect by literally using the same white circle over and over again altering the position and parenting to the world or another light in order to keep them in place.




It will rotate slightly slower but I am really pleased with the result.

First Experiment...

me>Before really starting my big after effects stuff I played about with my world- I was initially intimidated by getting stuck in - this little play helped me to relax - I plan on using the spinning element in a sting at some point although of course more needs to happen within it- this initial basic experiment is going to be the basis.

Vals correspondance...

I have had a fair few emails from Val, although its hard to translate what she actually wants -

I have so far presented Val with screenshots of my world - which she loved- it was clear she thought it was good and she was happy with it.

A storyboard - which she seemed to understand but didnt have a great deal to say about it even after i sent her a detailed explanation.

A video from which my movement will be based- she liked it and could see where I wanted to take the movement for the title sequence.

Mock up people on mopeds- she stated that I was on the right track

In regard to the people there have been some issue- the people are supposed to be the presenters of the show riding through Brighton on mopeds- initially I asked for details on hair colour and skin tone since it was decided early on to keep them fairly generic and have them wear goggles I only really needed those details. Val send back a few vague sentences with a few names to look up on the site (entirely unhelpful as I dont know what they look like an who they are on the show). She then called me to inform me that another presenter had been added an 80 year old woman. It was then deiced that I put full on helmets and goggles on my people to keep them really generic- the only thing noticible would be the hair colour- since I didnt want to spend too much time or really have the time to design the presenters by themselves I have also kept them in the same biker uniforms with slight changes to build and helmet colour. Val said that this was a good idea since it had already been settled that some of the presenters were going to have to be cut out since it would be too many in frame. After which i recieved a confusing email describing presenter characteristics (vague but better and would have been handy when I asked for them) i emailed back questioning the relevance of the email since we had a phone conversation about keeping the characters generic and Vals response was to do whatever I thought best.

So from what I can extrapilate I am doing well but Val is frustratingly vague at times even when pushed its becoming clear that she doesnt really know what she wants which is great because I plan on running with my own designs and then tweaking to meet her approval. I have made sure to tell her that nothing in the drawings can be changed from this point forward and other than some minor changes to the presenters everything seems to be fine. I have had no response from music guy.

The World

 So this is my final world I really really like it and am really proud of it. I think its very colourful and really embodies Brightons colour and vibrancy. I added a grain in photoshop and altered the curves a little to darken certain areas that seemed to like in correspondence to the background.Im also happy with the background which blended well considering the range of tones used to create a sunset night.

 Experiments with type- I had always planned to generate a type that looked like lights but Im really happy that it seems to fit well with the world.

I was playing around with the moped people (they are in the style previously presented) just to see if they would fit - I think perhaps the red of the moped needs to be brighter and the people smaller but other than that I can definitely see them working.

Illustration Brighton Pier and Welcome Sign...

I was most worried about the pier design because its the most complicated of my elements. I also worried about the colouring since the actual pier consists mostly of greys. In order to ensure a pier that matched the rest of my elements I decide to use various shades of blue with hints of grey which actually gave my design an igloo look. I had issues with the pieces at the end because the end of Brighton pier actually has a mini theme park with  a big hammer ride since I didnt want to put anything with too much height at the end (it wouldnt work with my world design) I opted instead to use smaller elements- the carousel, the tube slide and a turret filled up the space nicely.

The welcome to Brighton sign is an element that I thought was necessary since it grounds the entire world instantly. I plan on placing extra emphasis on the welcome sign at the beginning and then using the same sign and replacing it with welcome to Latest TV or Brighton Lights.

.Illustration, The North Laines and The Royal Pavillion,

I felt that I had a good enough idea as to how the world would work as a whole so I decided that I could now comfortably design and make the additional elements without placing them within their own worlds. The North Laines was by far the easiest element to draw. I based the lampposts of the more old fashioned ones since I have made some more modern ones to be placed around the world accordingly and I didn't want the Laines to blend in with those. Simple three lines of shading around the edges helped to create a 3 dimensionality whilst the smaller lights wrapped around the lampposts provided the right amount of detail to match my previously made buildings. 

The Pavilion was the hardest building to draw because it was detailed (there were also a lot of curves and curves are harder to shade because each curve has to be adjusted when placed on top of one another.) It wasnt actually on the list of locations suggested but I thought that It was more well  known than the church (the shape more iconic and Val had no issues with it).

 When the pavilion is lit up at night it generally has a purple sheen so Im thinking in the closeups of the pavilion during the opening credits the fairy lights are gonna change to purple.

Illustration Clock Tower...

I made the clock tower in the same styling as the Duke of York's. Theres a lot of detail incorporated  which Ive done my best to match to the actual building.

Again I played around with lights in Photoshop as a tester although I had issue with the positioning and the intensity, although I edited most of the controls, I couldnt seem to soften the lights like I had befoe so they came across as too vibrant.

I explored darkening the background which I liked (in the big world though I will have to blend between each tone). I placed a film grain atop my image to give it a soft paper texture and a drop shadow which helps to separate the world from the background and really iterate the cut out design.

Illustration Artwork (Duke of York's)...

I began drawing all the different locations specified in Illustrator, other than the artworks previously researched I wasnt really designing with a specific style in mind. I was of course aiming for a retro look with lots of solid fills and bold colours. The style is entirely my own- I wanted to keep it bold and fun although I tended to exaggerate the colours that I used. I really wanted to highlight the paper cut out style that I investigated in my moped people so it was important to include a sense of depth an shading within the locations.  

 I placed the main duke of yorks building within its own world (mostly as a tester since I intend to make a big world with all the different locations on it) I created some generic Brighton esc houses to frame the outside edges of the world. I really like my background which was the first stage of a sunset that I would darken gradually until it was night.

 Actually really like the boldness of the silhouette and plan on using something like this as a possible sting.

I played about with lights in photoshop (since I know that you can also use lights in after effects) to see what it could look like and was pleased with the soft dappled lighting.