OUGD603 - Lifting Tower Projection - Final animations & Evaluation

These were my two finished pieces to go into the animation sequence (compiled into gifs, they are a lot smoother in video format). Considering that this was my first time using after effects properly I am really proud of the outcome. However, I did get a lot of help from my animation peers in my group. My favourite animation is the jumper pattern one, even though this was not my original idea I think that the simplicity of it and the bold graphics made it work really well when projected. The couple animation lost its detail when projected and felt a bit lacking without a narrative, which is a shame. I would have liked to refine the couple one a lot more, but again, the limited timescale held me back. The limited colour palette has also worked really well to give the animations a definite Christmas theme. I think that it definitely fits the brief and target audience.

Additionally being able to see the animations be projected onto the building was really inspiring. I’ve never done a project like this before so I am really pleased that everything turned out well in the end. Perhaps this will push me to try and create more motion graphics in further briefs. I think that as a group we did really well, although we did have issues with clashing deadlines and trying to write our dissertations at the same time I feel like the outcome was good considering this.

Also Ollie, one of the animators I was working with managed to get some pictures of my animations on the tower.

Strengths & What I liked

I enjoyed the initial process of submitting the animation treatment, working with y illustration skills to create storyboards and illustrate characters. I think that the assets that I created for my initial animation proposal were of really high quality.


Weaknesses & What I didn’t like

Though when it got to the animation process I realised how clueless I was about where to start. I thought that the process would be similar to when I worked with the animators last year - I provide the assets and they animate. Unfortunately they only had time to animate their own ideas so I had to teach my self how to animate and ask for help from my peers.


Team Work

I think that as a group we did really well, although we did have issues with clashing deadlines and trying to write our dissertations at the same time I feel like the outcome was good considering this. If I hadn’t have been working with the animators I would have got no where with this brief. They basically taught me how to animate using After effects so I am very grateful to them for this.


Final Outcome

The final animations came out better than I expected. With the help of the animators I was able to make them move successfully and I am really proud with the outcome. The limited colour palette has also worked really well to give the animations a definite Christmas theme. I think that it definitely fits the brief and target audience. My favourite animation is the jumper pattern one, even though this was not my original idea I think that the simplicity of it and the bold graphics made it work really well when projected. The couple animation lost its detail when projected and felt a bit lacking without a narrative, which is a shame. Additionally being able to see the animations be projected onto the building was really inspiring. I’ve never done a project like this before so I am really pleased that everything turned out well in the end.

OUGD603 - Extended Practice Crit

Penguin

- Really liked the unmade bed idea, would look better with items on it related to the book.
- The cut out design looks too much like Harry Potter with the messy hair and glasses.
- The diary might be too stereotypical
- Talked about spot cream idea, they liked this and suggested I could try it with a tube of toothpaste or even papercut it.

Lifting Tower Projection

- Amber's personal opinion was that it the people looked like aliens being green

- Told to blog about the struggles with the brief changes. 

- Liked the simplicity, not much feedback to give other than the limited colour scheme. 

OUGD603 - Lifting Tower Project - Change in Brief

After the proposal was submitted the brief changed. Rather than doing a one minute animation we were asked to make a sequence of 5-10 second animations instead. This meant that any narrative that we had tried to make went out the window. Also having a meeting with the people from Lumen, the projection company we were collaborating with we found our designs had to be simplified a lot. This news was a bit disappointing as it meant completely reworking all of our work. 

So I reworked my couples into shorter scenarios and made them silhouettes to avoid losing too much detail through the projection process. I also worked on a short sequence of an animated Christmas jumper pattern. To make our group’s animations have a theme we decided to all use the same limited colour palette of red, green and white. Any black would be shown as the bricks on the tower. These colours also feel Christmas-y without being too cheesy. 

I changed my couples illustrations to silhouettes because the detail would have been lost in the full colour state. Also this would remove any issues of diversity. I am quite annoyed about this change because it means that we can have no narrative whatsoever now, my couple animations will be disjointed and not really mean anything.

OUGD603 - Lifting Tower Projection - Stills for Sequence

We got re-briefed after being shortlisted for the final groups. We found that the brief had changed slightly due to the client's requests. Instead of having a series of 1-minute animations we were told that we were to make a sequence of different animations each 5-10 seconds long. So this means that any narrative that we could have included are pretty much gone. This was slightly annoying as we had spent time storyboarding and developing stories to tell, only to be told that no one will be watching for that long.

However, the feedback that we got from the initial proposal was that they liked the shopping couple idea and our light sprites idea, so these are the main ideas that we will work with going forward. 

After the briefing, we got back into our group and chatted through what we could do by simplifying our current ideas. We were also told that we had to have an illustrator in our group, so Katie joined us who was previously working on her own. With all our different styles and colour palettes put together, we thought we should do something to mesh together our sequence more so one of the first things that we decided on was to have a consistent colour scheme throughout all of the animations. This means that the whole sequence will be more cohesive. Looking at Katie's initial sketches we really liked her simple yet bold colour palette of red, green and white. We thought that they are suitably festive and would add a definitive style to everything. 

I split up my couples animation into a variation of different scenes that would work at 5-10 seconds long. I still wanted to keep the shopping theme somewhere so decided that one of the short animations should be them shopping. 

I also came up with some more festive and kind of cutesy ideas to create a little narrative of this couple together. I thought that something that would be visually interesting was a stargazing scene. 

Also, the ultimate cheesy festive tradition, the mistletoe felt like it belonged within my short narratives.

I also came up with some simple ideas to animate that could be used as fillers. I really liked the idea of using the pattern of a Christmas jumper but animated. 

Additionally, I worked on a more typographic idea for the light sprites as I thought it would add another easy element to animate. Plus because the light sprites were one of the clients favourites I thought we should include more of them. 

OUGD603 - Lifting Tower Projection - Development and Proposal

Based on my initial sketches and research I created a stylised illustration of a couple, heavily inspired by Veronica Grech. Though they don't have very detailed faces I feel like they are still quite expressive within themselves. I wanted to keep the colour palette quite cold with dashes of warmth to bring the couples to life using hints of red. 

I also created some simplified illustrations of some of the interesting architecture from shops around Leeds. I wanted to make it look like it could be any old high street while also recognisable as being in Leeds. In this particular illustration, I used the Pret and Lloyds bank buildings as pictured below.

I also mocked up a little illustration of the couple in situ, looking as natural as possible. This was heavily inspired by my first initial sketch of the couple. I loved the idea of using their breath in the cold air for added depth and atmosphere. 

My proposal was for the Romantic scene of a couple Christmas shopping. As I was creating the storyboards, however, the story evolved a bit more into them meeting within the Christmas Markets and getting to know each other along the way. I am really pleased with my concept and think that it will have a good chance of being shortlisted further. 

OUGD603 - Lifting Tower Projection - Initial Sketches

I got in contact with the animators that I worked with last year for responsive and asked if I could collaborate with them again for the Lifting Tower Christmas Projection and they were happy to. So we had an initial meeting to discuss what sort of things we could come up with for it.

We decided on coming up with some short narratives to tell in the 1-minute time frame. We also went through the brief to get an idea of what they might want just from how the brief was written. We picked up on the fact that the brief seems to mention Leeds independent music scene both directly and referring to Brudenell Social club. So we decided to take a play on this. Also, we realised pretty early on that the window would be a black object in the middle of the building that wouldn't show any design so we should work around it. Below are the notes from our first meeting.

After this, I had a couple of small ideas that we could work with so I created some quick sketches. Initially, I took the idea of someone ice skating around the building and then disappearing or skating into the window. I had a certain style in mind - because the building is so textured - I thought that flat vectors would work really well. In addition, the limited colour scheme meant that it couldn't be too realistic so this style would be suitable. I also sketched out an idea for the design of a couple who could go Christmas shopping. I thought what better to show Christmas without being too festive than to show people coming together.

OUGD603 - Lifting Tower Projection - Brief

Studio Brief
Propose 3 visual concepts for a set series or sequence of 1 minute animated projections based on the theme of Independent Creativity at Xmas.

Your visual concepts will need to communicate a contemporary, creative and ‘cool’ representation of a Xmas or winter theme. Think - Harvey Nichols meets the independent music scene in Leeds or John Lewis meets the Brudnell Social Club. Your response will need to appeal to a wide audience of 18 to 50 year olds who look beyond the traditional but still want to feel festive.

The client is not looking for traditional representations of Santa in a sleigh or cheesy looking elves dancing around. They are not asking for a critical or moral discourse on the validity of xmas. They want cool, festive and creative.

The moving image based projections will be mapped onto the Lifting Tower building on Wellington Street and should aim to interact with the features of the surface. The scale of the projection will be approximately 10m x 10m and so you will need to work to a square format. You will also need to consider the use of simple high contrast imagery on a dark background in order to maximize the
effectiveness of the projection media and surface.

Background/Considerations
Leeds Bid is a private sector driven initiative to enhance the perception of Leeds as a vibrant, culturally significant and economically viable centre in the north. During the build up to the Xmas period, a number of projects, events and initiatives are being planned to enhance the retail experience of visitors to Leeds city centre and the surrounding work-based/residential developments. The projects will be funded by some of the leading retail organisations in Leeds and will aim to showcase the breadth of creative talent that Leeds has to offer.

Mandatory Requirements

• You will need to work in a square format that will match the final projection.
• Your colour pallet is limited to black white, red green ad blue (think festive winter colour pallet.

Deliverables

A set of 3 x A3 presentation boards containing visual concepts and storyboards for 3 x one minute animated sequences or pieces of moving image

From the brief, I can tell that they don’t want the typical Christmas animations of baubles on trees or wrapped presents. The target audience is much older than one would expect for a Christmas animation so maybe it would be best to play on what they do at Christmas time. Based on the fact that they have mentioned various independent venues in Leeds as inspiration also I think that they want something a bit different, maybe even a bit experimental. I will get in contact with my friends on animation and see if they would be up for joining as a group.