8 Days to Go

8 Days to go:

Today, I brought in my backed-up DVDs of old footage (especially, the first few animatics) and coded the buttons for the DVD. It's quite a packed little DVD, with an outrageous amount of special features. It's taking a while right now to transcode it (optmization prior to burning) but I'm confident I can get most of the DVDs burned today.

As well as all 7 animatics, the DVD also includes: 12 pencil tests, 3 scene deconstructions (showing step by step how they changed), deleted scenes and a short film about trolleys.

This is all part of the Production Folder which will be finished next week, and my showreel will also be burned today if possible.

~breadmaker

9 Days to Go

9 Days to Go...

See above, the last shot to be animated for Bread - Toast rack guy 2!
He took a little while, as I was going to boast how many keyframes required to animate him - but then it turned out he had waaaaay too many, so I cut them down and now he looks much better! Much more subtle.

I went through the credits, including the shiny University logo template, and added it to the end of the film with some extra editing.
Last night, I wrote and recorded the 'End Theme' to Bread - plus some addition music for the DVD. This was also added to the film.

I spent another 30 mins editing sound for the sandwich being picked up: as the editor, Derek said it was required. Thing was though, my minidisc was on charge, so it excreted this horrible buzzing noise over my SFX, so i spent a long time trying to get rid of it. I shortened it and shortened it, before nearly giving up. Then, I did the exact opposite - and illongated the track, so I could fade in/fade out while the voices are playing, so it's actually there for longer, but less noticeable!

Only in Animation! :o)

Still, all of this work, plus some more de-interlacing means that...
THE FILM IS FINISHED!!!!!
100% DONE!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

So, to celebrate, I worked on the DVD layouts and clips, editing some stuff together and will hopefully complete that AND my new showreel by tomorrow, so that on Friday I can buy Final fantasy III DS and play that all day...!

YEAH TOAST!
~breadmaker

THE FILM IS FINISHED!

Trolleys

Here's the trolley picture I promised earlier too! :o)

The Video still won't upload onto YouTube, so you'll just have to wait until the film!
~breadmaker

10 Days to Go

10 days to Go...

Today, (Tuesday) I animated all 177 frames of the Toast rack guy on paper. Then, I traced it digitally and got it into After FX. This took a little longer than expected, as I'd forgotten most of my processes and the little things that kept everything running smoothly during the animation previously. Oh well.

Still, I got the first scene done, but it looks like he is lunging towards the end, because of a slight shift in his weight. I'm not sure whether I like it or not - but against the static Toaster that sandwiches the shot, it will always look like too much movement - and especially because he has had my temp voice and no movement which I have become accustomed to.

Tomorrow - the goal is to complete the film...

~breadmaker

11 Days to Go

Ok - The Countdown has begun!

The deadline is nearing, and my goal is to have the film completed by Friday!
Last Friday night, I recorded my friend and bandmate, Steve Jones, for the part of Toast Rack Guy. We recorded it in the computer suite in our Church's conference centre, upstairs in the dark (purely because we couldn't find any lightswitches).

I have taken this today and re-mixed the soundtrack, choosing the best takes, slotting it into the timeline and re-timed the shots. I then doped both shots featuring him, and this makes a total of just over 10 seconds to animate. I prepped the paper, (guillotened and punched) and have set everything up so I can animate everything tomorrow. By Wednesday, I hope to have it all digital traced and animated in After FX.

Meanwhile, I will continue to build up my production folder. So, the wait might finally be over and a finished film could be ready within days! I am very excited - and always pleased to be actually animating again. It feels like when you make a film, very little of it is the actual animation...

Over and out.
~breadmaker

Editing

Aloha!

Well, today's been cool - let me tell you about it:

I got in today to find out the editor guy, Derek would be here. I wasn't going to see him as I thought my film was quite tight, but when I asked James for his opinion on the new trolley sequence, he referred me to Derek.

He's a really nice guy, enjoyed and laughed at the film (in the intended way, not durogatory) and gave me some tips.

> 1st scene, pull out Andrew's audio a little
> Bread Title - maybe put over a supermarket bkg. Not important, but may be nice.
> Fred - centralise and zoom in tighter [COMPLETED].
> Sandwhiches - Add SFX for picking up the bag
> Trolleys - Fine, nice space.
> Toaster - add a beat after first scene [COMPLETED].

As you can see, I've already completed a couple, two were just comments and the other two are just sound-remixing issues. Easily done.

So, the trolley scene is completed, rendered and implemented; it wasn't hard picking the right length and shot, I batch produced the frames through Photoshop, and even made a short 2-min Easter Egg for the DVD, documenting the trolleys. :o) YOUTUBE doesn't want to uplaod it today, but if I can get it to work I will post it here.

Hopefully going to get the Toast rack guy's new voice this weekend. Let's put an end to this delay!

~breadmaker.

Checklist April

Aloha!

Hope you ahd a great easter - Africa was truly amazing - God did some fantastic miracles and we saw hundreds of lives changed, with hope and faith for their futures!

But, it's back to Bread. Yesterday I filmed trolleys around Tesco's on Cardiff Road and will try to get them implemented as a beat near the end - in the style of 'The Office'. Mike Bithell showed me a couple of episodes so i was able to realise what was required.

Here's my list of things to do in the next 3 weeks:

TITLES:
New Voices
End

RE-EDIT TOASTER:
New Bkg
Edit
Time

RE-RECORD TOAST RACK GUY:
Record
Edit
Dope
Animate
Digital Trace
Implement

TROLLEYS
Transfer
Timeline
Export Frames
Render
Replace
Sound Mix

EYES?

FINISH PRODUCTION FOLDER:
Complete Schedule Weekly
Evaluation
Production Stills
Festival Entry Form
BackUp All files onto DVDs

...so it's not really that much. Most jobs are small and easily done.
Stay Tuned.

~breadmaker