As I progressed through this module I realised how little I really knew. It wasn't just a new process I would have to learn, but also a new mindset and new skills. While it was an enormous learning curve on my part, these moments of enlightenment usually came after I finished a part of something, looked at it and then went 'Oh!'. Of course, with the small amount of time I ended up having for Reading Light, this did not leave me with any time to go back over it and correct said mistakes.
Due to this, the majority of work on this blog is not at the standard I usually set for myself. It is also significantly less than I had wanted to produce.
While I knew about a typical workflow in an animated production to some extent, I never really understood what each step was precisely for until applying it to my own work. So I come out of this module with a lot more knowledge than I expected to gain at the beginning, but also with bitter disappointment due to being able to pinpoint exactly where the gaps and mistakes lie in my work.
My approach to this was still very much influenced by what I knew from making short films in live-action. I tend to work very spontaneously (even for a live-action film maker), so even with the mindset to make decisions and stick to it, I still felt myself falling into the trap of spontaneity. As mentioned many times before, there is a bit of leeway on that because I work alone on this project.
One of the biggest learning curves was probably the animatic. While making it, I had to refer to other people's workflows multiple times. Usually they did little in practical help, but rather pushed me in the right direction of understanding how to change my methods so they would led themselves more to animation, but still let me adapt what little knowledge I had to the task at hand. Furthermore it helped me get a head start on thinking about my approach to production, which I am thankful for. But its relevance to the whole process I only actually understood after looking at it in the end. It was a major mistake that somehow didn't even start to register beforehand.
This is a very good reflection on how my whole process went. On a brighter note, I do believe that most of the information on this blog helps paint a better picture of what the finished film looks like and that is in part what I set out to do.
Overall I struggled a lot with this module. Both with the first project I wanted to work on and later with a more classic workflow on a more classic project.
However, I am glad that I decided to take the risk and try to produce all of this work. It definitely showed me a gap in knowledge and skill that I will hopefully be able to bridge soon and over the span of the next semester, which will be focused on production. I am hoping that by the end of it, I feel some confidence in working on a similar project post university and not make all of these mistakes again.
In fact, I do believe I have discovered a new addiction of reading books on animation and am looking forward to having a bit of time on my hands to get to grips with the practical advice they offer. Hopefully working through a few of them will help prepare me for production as well.
Audrey Amankwa, 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment