OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Taylor's of Harrogate Audience Analysis

OUAN503 - Audience Analysis:

Putting together a board of ideas on what the target audience would be like was a genuinely helpful idea as it allowed me to become a member (which, in one respect I am!) of the audience, think like the audience, and have an understanding of their lives and what would make my product successful and appealing to them.

Indeed, I am a 16-25 year old who doesn't enjoy coffee and wish there were ways of me being able to. Of course, the only way I can enjoy coffee is by taking away that bitter taste, thus using coffee syrup. If I can get this message across to others in my age range, Taylor's may indeed get it's products across to a new audience, not it's usual 35+ audience.

16-25 year olds are most likely going to be students. They're going to want to socialise and enjoy being with friends. They will like creativity, fun, and novelty. Novelty in the sense that a Christmas exclusive range would be of interest. Students enjoy design, the aesthetics of a product. If a product looks good, they're more likely to pick it up. However, Taylor's is a well known and reputable brand which also works in its favour, so quality will also be a key factor (of which Taylor's takes pride in). It is accessible. The average student cannot afford nor be that bothered to travel to independant coffee specialist retailers such as Whittard's of Chelsea every month to pick up their coffee products. Especially so if they do not have interest in trying coffee in the first place.

The average student shops at supermarkets - affordable, easy, everything is in one place. A student like myself is more likely to try something new such as coffee products if I spot them on my weekly shop. If I have no interest in coffee in the first place, I will not travel to a specialist retailer, so supermarkets are a good way to advertise to an audience that may not have thought about buying a particular product.

The student type will have a busy lifestyle, though most would like to unwind after a long day studying with a hot drink. Although the party and nightclub scene is still prominent among this age, students will still need downtime to relax. Having friends over for tea and coffee is a perfect way of promoting the product. I have often had friends ask me where I got my syrup from as they spot the luxury, prized bottle in a prominent place in the kitchen.

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Taylor's of Harrogate Product Idea Inspiration

OUAN503 - Product Inspiration:

For my presentation tomorrow, to clearly let everyone know what I set out to accomplish for this brief, I decided to put together a sort of mood board containing images of which I have inspired by. As I mentioned earlier in my blog, I set out to make a new innovative product for Taylor's that encouraged a younger audience to start enjoying coffee.

I also aimed to make this product accessible to the younger demographic. Taylor's of Harrogate's produce is already incredibly accessible as most of it's products are sold in most supermarkets nationwide. I planned to come up with a range of flavoured coffee syrups of which aren't that accessible in most stores that 16-25 year olds would visit for their weekly shop. I visited many supermarkets throughout Leeds as part of my research and trekked the stores in pursuit of coffee syrups - I found none.

Taylor's would be the perfect company to start marketing this on a larger scale as in my personal opinion, coffee syrups are almost like a gateway "drug" into the coffee world and by starting with something sweet, a younger audience may then be tempted to try coffee without the need to add syrups.

Just by looking at this mood board, I already feel like it's Christmas. It gives the illusion of warmth, smoothness, and sumptuous, luxury coffee. Although coffee syrups have already been done before by plenty of companies, I feel like there's a market for a Christmas selection. The brief will also allow me to create a short animated advertisement of which I already have a few ideas for.

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Taylor's of Harrogate Question Sheet

OUAN503 - Question Sheet:

In order to have a thorough understanding of the brief and the audience, I filled in this sheet containing important questions about my chosen brief. I will present these on Thursday to the class in order to demonstrate my knowledge of the problems I must solve and so forth.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Study Task 4: What A Dope

OUAN504 - What A Dope:

In order to correctly map out mouth movements and facial expressions, we had to fill out "dope sheets" that enabled us to plan out the animation, staying in time with the sound we had chosen for our animations. Dope sheets are a completely new concept for me, even though I have actually done similar processes in the past as part of pre production. I think they are very effective and will work nicely for me as I have a bad habit of "just going with it" and hoping for the best when it comes to lip syncing.

I will use Maya to import one of the sounds we were given so that I can see the frame on which certain phonemes will need to be expressed by Moom. We will be working at twelve frames per second to make the process easier and to allow us to get used to this method of pre production. I believe that dope sheets will keep me more organised and I would like to use them more often in as many modules as possible as it will certainly save time in the long run.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Study Task 3: Strike A Pose (Posing Moom)

OUAN504 - Strike A Pose:

As part of Strike A Pose (Study Task 3), we were asked to pose Moom in the same positions as the ones we had taken photos of ourselves doing. The aim was to be able to practice with Moom and understand how he worked, as well as learning about how our own bodies work and how we must pay attention to detail as certain things such as pressure on joints must be taken into account when posing characters.

I spent a good few hours playing around with Moom, trying to get him into some form of acceptable pose that looked vaguely like the ones I had previously done to represent the five chosen emotions. I went for ones that could be exaggerated in an over-the-top fashion, and ones that could be exaggerated with subtlety so that it would be more of challenge for me. Here are my finished Mooms. I do plan to get some more practice in before my Acting Up sequence as some of my poses could easily be improved.

Anxiety

 Confusion

 Exhaustion

 Fear

 Shame

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative: Interim Crit Feedback

OUAN504 - Interim Crit:

Despite feeling that my presentation was lacking a little something and having that doubt in the pit of my stomach that everyone else had done so much more work than I, I believe I performed as well as I could - even if I talked a bit too much, which usually happens during my presentations! I got some valuable feedback and was able to leave my crit feeling like I knew exactly what to do next which is always a bonus,

Some of my class members agreed that the scenes where Moom is receiving a prop (axe, guitar), he should catch it from the left and throw it out on the right to add in some more movement and to save the scene from looking to boring and without enough action. Beforehand, Moom would catch and throw always to the left. I'm glad I got this advice as it will save my animation from looking too repetitive and give me the opportunity to twist Moom's body a little body and bring out his hyperactive, cheerful character!

Aside from that, everyone seemed in agreeance that I was on the right track, which is good news as I had no clue and felt a little lost to be honest! I'll keep going with my research, try and book a soundbooth at some point to record some voices and make a decision on what I'll use, and finally get study task three done. I am enjoying this module more than I thought I would and wish to get the best grade possible, despite my efforts sometimes hindering me and getting me in a pickle (indecisiveness!).

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Taylor's of Harrogate

OUAN503 - The Brief:

Taylors Coffee

Engage younger customers with a new product innovation for Taylors Coffee

Background

Britain is fast becoming a nation of coffee drinkers. The rise of the big coffee chains followed by the independent coffee shop explosion continues to attract new consumers while methods of preparing great coffee at home have become more accessible.


The UK retail coffee market is a complex one with many different sub categories:


• Roast and ground typically using a cafetière or filter is in market decline

• Pod/Capsule market is the area of the market in strongest growth currently

• Micro grind or whole bean instant coffee continues to grow its share of the category

• Standard instant continues to be a part of many drinkers daily repertoire

• Beans (for consumers grinding their own coffee) is relatively flat


About the Audience


From an age perspective, the current Taylors audience is 35+. This brief is about the future of coffee drinking and as a result we’d like the focus to be entirely on the 16-25 year old demographic.


About the Brand


Taylors of Harrogate has been producing outstanding tea and coffee since 1886. As the number one filter cafetière brand, our promise is to deliver mind-blowingly good coffee. We follow our six guiding principles in everything we do:


• Prosperity – remain an independent family business


• People – value all stakeholders and reward them fairly


• Product – provide exceptional quality, customer service and value


• Processes – ensure precision and attention to detail


• Planet – our environmental approach goes beyond just good practice


•Passion – deep love and belief in what we do is at the heart of our business


The Creative Challenge


Create a new coffee product innovation for Taylors of Harrogate.


We’re looking for revolutionary ideas that can really shake up the coffee category. This should be a drink, preferably hot, and should avoid instant coffee and anything requiring the purchase of an electric machine to make it – i.e Pods/Capsules. Think about trends for this younger audience, where you could see the market going and how it will appeal whilst still fitting in with our brand values. What could be fashionable or desirable for 16-25 year olds in this space that isn’t currently out there?


It’s worth looking into the progression of coffee, often described as ‘waves’ or ‘generations’ to see how we’ve moved from very basic instant to embracing origin and new taste profiles. For the purposes of this brief, what could the fourth or fifth wave look like for this audience?


Essential things to bear in mind


We’re looking for a creative product idea. You should explore packaging, format, occasion and usage. This is not a communication or campaign brief. The output here should be Product Innovation.


This isn’t about licensing or partnering with brands in other categories. This should be a coffee product that delivers extremely good coffee that Taylors are known for.


As well as bringing your idea to life visually in as much detail as possible, please also provide a written summary of it in less than 300 words.


Deliverables and Additional Information


For guidance on how to submit your work, please adhere to the main Deliverables information which can be found at the YCN website.


Any additional information referenced in the brief can be found in the supporting Project Pack at the YCN website.

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Rethinking A Brief (Taylor's of Harrogate)

OUAN503 - A New Brief:

After scavenging YCN's freshly served briefs, I finally found two of which I was very fond of in terms of possible outcomes and opportunities. The Taylor's of Harrogate, and the Yorkshire Tea briefs were both of interest to me. However, the one that I went for was Taylor's Coffee as it is more specific in what it wants from you, the brief was clearer, and I found it overall more appealing.

I don't drink coffee personally, so you could argue that the Yorkshire Tea brief would have been more suitable as it is more relatable. I disagree with this as the reason why I, a member of the target audience they want to address this at, don't drink coffee is that it is too bitter and boring. There are many different tastes and varieties of tea (there are with coffees, too), whereas coffee will almost always taste bitter. This could be the reason why a lot of 16-25 year olds don't drink it, it's not as enjoyable and seen as a more "on the go" kind of drink, in comparison to tea; a more social, relaxing drink.

In order to tackle this, I came up with various ideas in order to entice young adults into drinking coffee. The idea of tea being relaxing and social should be a feature that coffee needs to compete with. I thought about this and how young people like variety, creativity, and choice with drinks. This led me to this conclusion: Taylor's of Harrogate have become so successful and popular nationwide and even globally, that their stock has reached supermarkets far and wide. With this in mind, they have the ability to put my product out there and reach a new audience on a massive scale.

Being from Harrogate myself, I walk past Taylor's warehouse on a regular basis (I grew up with Taylor's on my doorstep) and my stepdad, who works for them as a coffee and tea blender, gets to see first hand what new products are being developed. This could be valuable to me, as using him as a first hand insight into what the company might like as he sees packaging and products literally everyday, I could pass my designs and ideas through him and get his feedback as if he were talking on behalf of them. He knows what sells the best and why, so maybe it's worth using this to my advantage.

Whittard's of Chelsea, a company that also specials in tea and coffee, but is not so heard of, created products a while back that enabled the customer to flavour their teas and coffees with syrups. These came in a few flavours and although not hugely spoken about, they are fantastic! I currently have a bottle of coffee syrup in my kitchen and I can assure you, friends of around my age love it. This persuades them to give coffee a go, and is almost a gateway into the coffee-lovers world!

This in mind, Taylor's have the ability to get this product out there to be seen in supermarkets and make it more accessible. This is something that no other company has done so overtly as these products are usually sold in specialist shops, like Whittard's. I was thinking that maybe a Christmas range of flavours could be created, each with their own designs, but still following the theme of Taylor's products - classy, sophisticated and aesthetically pleasing.

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Rethinking A Brief

OUAN503 - Rethinking Another Brief...

Due to my own clumsiness (it often gets me in these situations!), I may have accidentally chosen a brief from 2013/2014 from YCN instead of a 2014/2015 one. Now, although this isn't entirely a bad thing despite being looked at in shame by the rest of the class, I reckon it has given me a valuable head start as now I can analyse another brief - from the list of valid ones this time!

So, despite that little hiccup I will now choose another brief. There's nothing to say I couldn't participate in the Cath Kidston brief, I will just be unable to submit it. It may be some worthwhile practice at responding to a brief though. I could even set myself a deadline within challenging reason in order to get some practice in!

Never mind, let this be a learning curve...

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Ohh Deer Progress

OUAN503 - Progress:

In terms of the Ohh Deer competition, there are ten days left until the deadline. I have uploaded three out of four possible designs, though I wish I could practice a little bit more to get the perfect final cushion. Ten days is a lot of time to get the last design done though, so I'm quite proud that I've managed my time well. My last design features some watercolour painted budgerigars. I have yet to finish this and get it uploaded.

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Study Task 1: What's The Problem?

OUAN503 - What's The Problem?

Cath Kidston

1) What problems can you spot?

Well, Cath Kidston certainly seems to be a popular brand, so should be able to fork out for a swanky graphic designer or illustrator to do the job instead of asking the nation's students. Maybe they're not as well off as they seem...

2) What is the brief asking me to do?

The brief is asking for one new creative print in three different colourways. It is asking for a tiled version and a stepped out version, using no more than a maximum of twelve different colours. This doesn't seem a huge task, a fairly simple brief in fact.

3) What can I achieve? 

I can achieve a new understanding of the company and why it is so popular. I will also achieve knowledge of print-making, something which I feel is vital as I may need this skill in the future for other briefs/work. Achieving an understanding of how to cater for the target audience is also mandatory.

4) What message is the brief trying to convey?

Well, for one the brief is trying to persuade you to actually take part. They must be desperate if they're holding a student-directed competition. It is trying to convey simplicity by being fairly "to the point" by stating clearly what they're after. They start the brief by talking about nostalgia, what happened in the past and what they aim for in the future. This optimistic approach draws you in and makes you feel welcomed, Cath Kidston needs you!

They're also quite relaxed and colloquial in the way they talk. "Think a man in his underwear", "bits and bobs". This makes you feel more relaxed - they're professional, but not too uptight.

5) What is the target audience?

The target audience seems to be the metropolitan woman who wants modern-vintage designs to brighten up her day. She has the stress of looking after the kids, the house, the husband, and needs some cheerful patterns in her life to express the fun-loving woman she really is. She could also be the happy-go-lucky student who has a love for all things colourful and vintage-styled.

She loves making things, festivals, car boots, and vintage shopping. She watches reality TV, loves going out, and has the idea of moving to the countryside one day. She is the British woman.

(Aged roughly 18-30?)

6) How is the message delivered?

The message is delivered very much like I spoke about above: very down to Earth and cheerful. It isn't frightening or intimidating to read, and doesn't ask too much of you. It's fun and flighty, pretty representative of their designs really!

7) Who will benefit from this? Myself or the company? Both?

I'm betting that Cath Kidston will get more from this than myself as if you win, you are presumably awarded with a little bit of fame on the websites (YCN and Cath Kidston), a meal out at an event to celebrate your win, and that's it. However, they as a company get your designs, are allowed to brand them in their name and make money off them. Doesn't seem too fair now, does it?

8) Can I foresee any problems?

Yes. My lack of print-making is one problem, but this can be overcome with some research and practice as can any skill-based issue. I can see the problem of a possible mass of other competitors as so many students will see this brief and because of the popularity, it might be the obvious brief to go for. However, not many animators would go for this I presume, so I'm in with a chance of being the not-so-obvious choice, thought they are after a print and nothing else, so no animation for me I'm afraid...

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Study Task 1: What's The Problem?

OUAN503 - What's the Problem?

Taylor's of Harrogate

1) What problems can you spot?

I can spot the problem that the target audience might not be interested in customising their coffee if they do not like coffee in the first place. They may think that a product to enhance their coffee experience is useless to them as they have not been persuaded by coffee products before. There is also a market for coffee syrups already so this range would really have to stand out to be unique and successful.

2) What is the brief asking me to do?

Create a product that would encourage a younger audience to try Taylor's coffee. This could be a design for a product or an actual physical product.

3) What can I achieve? 

Given my skillset and current knowledge, a psychical product might be too difficult so a design would be suitable on its own. Within the time limit I will be able to test out a range of designs and them maybe narrow it down to three of four final outcomes.

4) What message is the brief trying to convey?

Sophistication, luxury, consumerism. Basically Taylor's want the target audience to buy a new product so that it hooks them into the coffee-drinking world and pumps them of their cash. They want to do this in a way that makes the audience feel worthy and exclusive and that the product ha been specifically made for them, enticing them to buy it.

5) What is the target audience?

18-25 year old demographic. Probably the student-type who enjoy a relatively positive social life but who wish to wind down after a long day of studying with friends and customise their coffee.

6) How is the message delivered?

The message is delivered in  way that seduces the audience into believing they're the sole reason for this product's creation, not the fact that money might be a huge part of it. The consumer of great importance, they must try this new innovative product.

7) Who will benefit from this? Myself or the company? Both?

Myself in terms of knowledge, experience, and learning new skills. The company will benefit hugely if they ever did miraculously use my work in some form or another as they would profit to a great extent and I would not gain a single penny to my name.

8) Can I foresee any problems?

I can see the problem of myself becoming bored with the project as I do happen to drift from one brief to another as longer briefs can be quite tedious. I can also see that my product design skills are not that great and a lot of research into labels, sizing and so forth will need to be thorough.

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Study Task 1: What's The Problem?

OUAN503 - What's the Problem?

J20

1) What problems can you spot?

I can imagine that plenty of adults who wish not to drink alcohol, and even ones that do and still enjoy J20 might not really care about what the packaging looks like as it is the content that is important. The audience might find it a little bit patronising that the bottle has to be completely redesigned simply to make them feel better.

2) What is the brief asking me to do?

Recreate the product label to suit an adult audience.

3) What can I achieve? 

I can create the labels digitally and print them physically with some research and experience. With the time set available, a good ten or so designs can be created with the final design chosen and redrawn with elements from all the successful labels.

4) What message is the brief trying to convey?

The brief is trying to convey maturity and professionalism in a way that will suit the target audience. It wishes to persuade adults to drink J20 by leaving that 'kiddie' feel behind and taking on a new approach and personality.

5) What is the target audience?

Adults, 25-35 year old men and women "who love getting together with their friends and family, both in and out of home. They are grown up, confident, have an established social network, and feel relaxed with those around them. They don’t need alcohol to boost their confidence or lower their inhibitions and are happy to interchange between alcohol and soft drinks."

6) How is the message delivered?

The message is delivered easily and to the point. The brief makes it obvious what it wants from me and is easy to work with. It has set me a task that is accomplishable and achievable within the time limit.

7) Who will benefit from this? Myself or the company? Both?

Myself in terms of skills learned and where I can go with those skills in the future. The company will benefit more in financial ways if they ever decided to use any of my designs.

8) Can I foresee any problems?

Lots of other students may wish to choose this brief as they know the product and are probably familiar with what they're aiming for. Graphic designers and illustrators may go for this more than animators so their is the chance of an animated outcome but it is not asked for. Lots of entries means lots of competition so hat could be an issue.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Acting Up: Storyboards

OUAN504 - Storyboards:

Here a few rather shoddy scans of my storyboard. I initially had a series of thumbnails and decided that it would be best to get them into a logical order with staging and shot choice involved. I might want to work on clarity in the future as I usually only make my storyboards of any sense to me, when in future, other people might need to read them!

Moom points to Onion as if in the midst of teaching him a lesson. Wide shot of Moom and Onion so that the scene is set and an idea of space is given. When the corresponding line is heard, an axe is thrown to Moom from the left. Onion looks startled.

Axe will be thrown off to left again and as appropriate line comes, Moom will make an "L" shape on his forehead to indicate "loser" sign. Quick zoom in to close up of Moom pulling dopey grin with "L" shape on head. (Thoughts about cutting this out to save time.)

In short silent moment when no sound is heard ready to anticipate the beginning of the chorus, in a split second, Moom kicks Onion off the screen very abruptly. Snap to scene of Moom close up as he is ready to catch the basketball for corresponding line.

Moom pushes the ball towards the viewer as scene quickly snaps to mid shot of Moom getting ready to catch a guitar from the left when correct line is heard from the audio.

Moom plays the guitar for a couple of seconds .

After the Interim Crit, feedback was given that it would look better and give more variation if Moom then threw the guitar off to the right instead of the left as the Onion is no longer there to get in the way. It would also aid in making the animation less repetitive. "All that glitters is gold" is a cue for a quick swap to the next scene in which a series of stars fall slowly and Moom makes a T-pose as if trying to catch the stars whilst spinning around happily.

"Only shooting stars break the mould" then becomes the last shot of a cheeky wink and finger snap with a slight zoom in slowly. The End.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Acting Up: Thumbnailing & Initial Poses

OUAN504 - Initial Poses:


To start off with getting some ideas down for Character and Narrative, I began by sketching out some initial poses. These thumbnails make it easier to get a storyboard together, thus allowing me to have some form of reference instead of just going in for the kill, creating a storyboard from thin air, without any proof of concept. Thumbnails are a great way of jotting ideas down in a way that makes sense to you.

After my thumbnails, I thought about how many props I would need for Moom to interact with. There are five in total, listed below. There will be roughly one for each major pose/scene. I will watch some tutorials in order to help me model these as I'm certain they will be a challenge. I aim to create at least two a week, though that might be a bit difficult with other modules going on. 

Not many people have put much thought into backgrounds as far as I know, so I thought maybe it was time to start thinking about potential backgrounds. A fairytale scenario would be ideal as the song is featured on Shrek and I wish to give Moom some ogre ears to accompany the song lyrics.

I could always reuse my bokeh/sparkle background from my E4 Kawaii Girl ident created last year as pink and green would go nicely together.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Acting Up: Drama Class

OUAN504 - Drama Class:

In order to boost our confidence levels and help us become the role of our characters, we took part in a form of drama class. Partaking in a range of warm up exercises, becoming comfortable with our bodies, and engaging in activities that allowed us to learn the different personalities we could become were all part of the process. I really enjoyed the class, despite being incredibly nervous. It's ironic that I happen to love acting... so long as there's nobody there to watch me!

Having to face that fear of being watched was a hard leap of faith for me to get to grips with. Having to deal with your brain constantly telling you that you're being watched is one thing, but actually knowing that you are is another thing. It puts you off being yourself, being confident and expressing how you want your character to act. I feel that if these classes were an ongoing thing, they might help relieve some of the anxiety that comes with having an audience.

Performance isn't all about confidence and the psychological aspect of it, though. Physical stamina, health, and lung capacity all play a large part in helping you become a top performer. Being physically fit can determine the difference between a rather sloppy attempt to exaggerate a pose, and a brilliant, sharp, striking movement. I understand this well as I'm not exactly top notch in terms of general health, and although my past may have consisted of being in an operatic choir (lots of lung capacity needed!), it doesn't mean I'm going to become the likes of Charlie Chaplin overnight...

In my opinion, recording yourself becoming a character and expressing yourself in that mentally is the best way of evaluating what you can improve on. I noticed that no matter how many times I recorded my performances, I could have stretched my arms out just a little more each time, pulled my stomach in more, and given myself overall a better posture to suit the character I was trying to become. I will keep at it, and try my best to be fit enough to allow myself to produce good enough reference imagery for future projects so that I can make sure my characters are as accurate as possible!

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Acting Up - Hey Now, All Star: Reference Acting

OUAN504 - Reference Acting:

In order to get down some basic poses for Moom for my chosen lyrics, I decided to act out some positions for each mini scene of the performance. The first scene features Moom talking to an onion, of which is one of the props. He explains that "somebody once told me the world was gonna roll me" and so forth. Moom grabs an axe and looks shocked as if he didn't expect it, he only wanted a sharp object to imitate "ain't the sharpest tool in the shed"! He throws the axe off in a terrified state as Moom moves onto the next scene. He acts out the finger and thumb on "her forehead" until he finally kicks the onion off the screen and grabs a basketball ready for the chorus.

After throwing the basketball off the screen also, he then grabs a guitar to strum on for a few seconds before chucking it off again and spinning around amongst "shooting stars". Close ups of his face allow you to see the happiness in his eyes and smile before the scene fades out.

I wasn't a huge fan of some of my acting in the first two parts. However, I tried to improve on my lack of emotion and performance skills by exaggerating a little harder and slowing down a bit as I find that when I panic, I speed up! I needed to relax a little, so I took a breather and tried again. I was slightly more fond of the last attempt as I improved on the last scene, making sure I kicked the onion off the scene and directed the last bit of speech at the camera, the audience.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Acting Up: Hey Now, All Star!

OUAN504 - Hey Now, All Star!

After much debate over my song choice, I decided as per usual to go with the silliest, more logical choice of lyrics. Smash Mouth's "All Star" (featured on Shrek), seemed like a great idea as not only did I have plenty of ideas for all my other choices just as a back up, I kept going back to this one as Moom's overall appearance seemed to fit a more silly genre of song in comparison to the more serious and psychological options.

I have plans for my storyboards and will post these shortly when I get them finished. I have been jotting down many thoughts on what I would like Moom to do and how I would like him to act throughout each line of the song.


"Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me
I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed
She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb
In the shape of an "L" on her forehead...

Hey, now, you're an All Star get your game on, go play
Hey, now, you're a Rock Star get the show on get paid
And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mould."

I have attempted thumb nails of certain poses and scenes and will upload these soon. I will also have a go at some reference acting, photographs and also reference photos of other people via the internet of clearer poses if I get stuck. I also need to watch tutorials of making the props I plan to use. This will take some time.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Study Task 3: Strike A Pose

OUAN504 - Strike A Pose:

- Fear

Although this pose was rather difficult to obtain, I finally managed to get some form of fear into my pose. I remember this pose from a particular online game I used to play as a child where your character's pose ended up similar to this when showing fear. The hands are bunched up, tucked in, with the leg pulled up to the body as if in retreat. The larger image is the one I finally decided on.

- Anxiety

I wouldn't really know how to express anxiety in an overly exaggerated manner anyway, but I guess it would be similar to this as it's incredibly stressful to suffer from anxiety, let alone have to try and express it in a pose! It's a sort of consuming feeling, where all you want to do is tear your hair out and hide away. So, grabbing your head as if to make it go away is the only way I could portray it...

 

- Confusion

The larger of the three images is the chosen one as I feel that the angle and proximity is a little better than the others. Even though the second, smaller one is closer and easier to spot the pose, my eyes were closed and I feel that confusion isn't really anxiety or fear, it's simply confusion.

- Shame

If you're shameful, you usually put your head in your hands, or slap your forehead in stupidity. The one on the left is better as you can see my face more without all the hair.

 








- Exhaustion

The left pose is by far better as it's really exaggerated in comparison to the lying down pose. Lying down is a bit lazy really and although you might really do that when exhausted, panting, hands on hips after a mile-long sprint is full of character and funny! You'd really imagine a character doing this!

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Study Task 2 - Animation Skills: Bouncy Balls

OUAN504 - Bouncy Balls:

I experimented with two different possible materials for these balls as I wanted to show a contrast between a soft, squishy ball and a hard, dense one. I imagined what both a bouncy ball and a tennis ball would act like if dropped on a hard surface such as a concrete floor. This is the outcome. I used my knowledge from last year on squashing and stretching.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Study Task 2 - Animation Skills: Overlapping Action

OUAN504 - Overlapping Action:

Here is a short demonstration of overlapping action on Maya. Using the graph editor I managed to use the infinity tool to get a pre and post infinity cycle, meaning I would essentially get a loop of my animation with the smooth overlapping action I was after. I am really happy with this and love the techniques used.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Study Task 2 - Animation Skills: Anticipation

OUAN504 - Anticipation:

Now, although this was a terrible attempt at using the graph editor, I still had a go and plan to redo my anticipation again with Moom doing a jumping action. I really struggle with anticipation as a whole so I may watch some tutorials or some reference animation to get me used to it and maybe give me some ideas as to how I can improve.

Please excuse how awful this is. I really need to work on a few of the principles of animation some more as they'll be fundamental to my work. Second year is the time to nail these and get as much practice in as I can. As you can see, the ball is attempting to get a run up before dashing off to the right. I used the graph editor to smooth out some of the lumpier looking parts, but I still need some time to get used to it.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Study Task 2 - Animation Skills: Pendulum

OUAN504 - Pendulum:

I had a go at animating a pendulum, which of course is very simple, but allowed me to get to grips with the software and the idea of easing in and out, keyframing and so forth. I rendered this out as an image sequence instead of a playblast as I wanted to try out both methods to broaden my knowledge of what I can do with Maya.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Study Task 2 - Animation Skills: Turntable

OUAN504 - Turntable:

Although I tried out a fairly simple turntable, I had to do it again as the one above was incredibly fast and didn't spin around at even pace. Although this is an easy procedure, I still need practice as it will come in handy when creating characters and creating turnarounds.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative: Sound Induction

OUAN504 - Sound Induction:

In order to get to grips with creating our own sound for our animations, which is a fundamental skill required as an animator - we had a sound induction with Matt Burton in the AV Suite. The goals of this induction for me was to learn a little about how to mix, change, record, and export sound suitable for animation. I wanted to learn about levels and what file types and settings would be appropriate. I also wanted to see the technologies available in the college to use to my advantage and the wide range of kit on hand.

We played with the handheld recording devices with microphones attached so that we could get a better idea of how background noise could possibly interfere with our recordings. We discovered that for optimum sound recording, it is best to turn the sensitivity down when in crowded areas full of traffic or people. We got a good few hours of sound onto the handhelds and had a go on Adobe Audition, Audacity, Premiere, and After Effects.

I personally preferred Audition as you get a full range of effects and options, giving you full customisation over your work. It is also easier to view multitrack options and have multiple recordings on the same file. This piece of software is specialised for editing sound, so it seemed logical to make the most of it.

After a mere twenty minutes of playing around with the sound both groups had acquired and some copyright free sound found on the NASA website, I came up with some oddly catchy (yet very annoying!) dance music. Here is the finished masterpiece...

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Ohh Deer Annual Cushion Competition

OUAN503 - Ohh Deer:

Ohh Deer

The Brief:

"It's that time of year again, our annual pillow fight is upon us! We're looking of course for cushion designs to add to our collection.

Our cushions are stocked by lots of leading brands in the UK and we sell a lot direct to lovely customers through our website, they're one of the products people think of when they think Ohh Deer.


We test how popular your products are by putting them in the public domain. You can increase your ranking by getting your posts liked, tweeted and pinned (+ some other activity which you will see within your account) your entries will go on sale as soon as they're approved - you will get 20% of the profit (not the sale price) from each cushion, sales are heavily weighted and will dramatically boost your ranking.


The top ranking posts for the day will be visible at the top of the competition page, on the homepage and could be featured in our newsletters. You can submit a maximum of 4 designs (we're keen to see what your range might look like, so use the spaces wisely!)

How we pick our winners: designs will need to fit within the brand well, it'll need to be contemporary and have been shared by purchased by our audience."

Specifications:

All artwork submitted must be in JPEGformat.

The dimensions of your file must be 5315px x 5315px

Uploads close on the 15 November 2014.

My Thoughts:

I plan to submit four designs for potential cushions. I plan to have two of them with a target audience of middle age and elderly women as although younger people would use this site, the cushions would make good Christmas gifts for mums or grandmas. The other two designs plan to be for the audience of the website, young, arty people of around 16-30 years old. 

I am incredibly excited for this!

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: What do I Want from Responsive?

OUAN503 - What do I Want?

As part of Responsive, we were asked to identify key skills and other possible gains we could acquire and would like to have by the end of the year or in the future. I wrote down a list of "What I Want from Responsive" and it is all follows:

- A chance of a career
- New interests and broader horizons
- A possible business
- New skills and techniques
- New inspirations
- Possible contacts
- A little bit of fame
- To be taken seriously as an artist
- Professionalism
- Key social skills (negotiating, tact)

In order to get the most out of this module, I will need to learn:

- Time management
- Learn how to cope with social situations and not panic
- How to develop new skills quickly and effectively so as not to waste potential working time
- To collaborate with new people easily
- To choose briefs effectively and wisely and as much to my advantage as possible

However, despite learning all this, problems may still arise such as:

- Client wants a physical product creating
- Deadlines
- Difficult clients
- Money issues
- Unfair treatment/sneaky terms and conditions
- Client pulls out of deal

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Study Task 1 - Modelling Skills: Do It Yourself

OUAN504 - Animated Strawberry:

After creating my simple strawberry from the last session, I decided that it was time to test some animation using nonlinear deformers such as twists, bends, and squashes. I wanted to mess about and learn what exactly I could achieve with these amazing tools. I find them incredibly fun to use and give really nice effects to my animation.

I added several of these nonlinear deformers to the strawberry and set myself the task of making the wackiest shapes possible with the challenge of having to finish each of these silly overly exaggerated movements with the strawberry returning to its original form and shape. I thought it looked quite interesting and I wish to pursue my love of "mental" and nonsensical animation through using Maya. This could have some potential as it could be used for synchronising animation to audio.

Regardless of my experimenting and how strange my test animations seem, I have learned a lot and I believe that part of the learning process is to push boundaries of normality and make unusual things to stand out from the norm. You have more potential if you're willing to experiment, possibly be made fun of, and maybe even experience a few failures. All this will lead to some great animation in the end, hopefully...

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Reflecting on Chosen Briefs

OUAN503 - Reflecting on Chosen Briefs:

Regarding last week's Responsive session, I learned a fair amount about choosing briefs and whether on not they're fair and ethical for us as students. Despite thoroughly disliking the session, I got some good points out of it to take away and this allowed me to go back and take a harder look at the briefs I chose last beforehand.

I chose three briefs - two from YCN (BEAR and Cath Kidston), and the monthly brief from LoopDeLoop (of which apparently was not allowed, so therefore that one in particular would have to be changed regardless!) During the session, we talked about why certain companies aimed their briefs primarily at students and what the outcomes would be if one of us were to win. What exactly would be in it for us? A place at the company? Internships? Rise to fame? Sadly not. Most of them, after reading through the terms and conditions, offered a mere slap up meal and your name on the website for a while. Not much fame, no fortune...

Not all companies are out to get you though, you can't be too cynical otherwise you'll live your whole life avoiding possible chances at getting your work out there and then forever wondering "what if". Even the most reputable and through company could eventually screw you over in some shape or form, so in my opinion, you have to see if it's right for you. Don't sell yourself short, but don't expect too much. Nobody likes an arrogant artist!

As an animation student, I discovered that I could look at certain competition briefs and pick out which ones were most likely to get me noticed. A brief aimed at mainly graphic design students would be a good chance for me as you'd expect a good 90% of the entries will indeed be from those students/specialists in that field. Therefore if I took this from an animation angle and created say, a 30 second short or ident for example, that would more likely be seen as "thinking outside the box".

So, all in all, after thinking hard about all the potential briefs out there, I decided on Cath Kidston (still, because I'm not fond of it and don't want to be boring by sticking to what I know and love), and I've yet to decide on two more. However, I am currently entering two competitions outside of of the ones asked of us, so I'll focus on those for the next week to get a headstart!

OUAN503 - Responsive - Individual Practice: Choosing The Briefs Part 2

OUAN503 - Choosing The Briefs Part 2:

After having a glance over the numerous briefs from YCN, D&AD, and various other sites, I have come to the conclusion that the following three briefs seem very appealing to myself and seem applicable and suitable to my style of work and the topics I am interested in. Following the briefs are some short explanations of what I could do with the tasks at hand, why I have chosen them above the others, and what requirements would be expected of me and whether or not I could achieve them in the allotted time.



BEAR: - http://www.ycn.org/awards/ycn-student-awards/2013-2014/briefs/bear

"We want you to bring the alphabet to life on the back of our Alphabites boxes. We hope this will appeal to graphic designers and illustrators, but how you approach this is up to you. You might continue the idea of celebrating and editorialising 'one letter per box' or you might have ideas that bring in one or more letters at a time. What will the back of your box/boxes look like? How will the content inspire and engage kids? How will you build excitement among kids, and anticipation for future boxes? Will boxes look the same stylistically or will you propose variation from one box to the next?

You might want to focus on helping us do what we're already doing better, or taking a step back and looking at the Alphabet creatively from a different viewpoint." - Extract from brief.

My Thoughts:

This brief caught my attention as although it states it would be more suitable for someone from an illustration background or maybe even graphic design, I could easily see myself enjoying this and coming up with some great ideas for the company. I very much enjoy that modern, clean, crisp graphic design style that I feel would work nicely on the back of the cereal boxes as a potential design idea. It isn't too complicated, in fact it's probably more minimalist and basic! It would be suitable for the target audience - children - if the style wasn't too illustrative in the way that some styles can be quite sketchy and baffling. Quentin Blake's work (for example) is quite scratchy and although successful, I as a child could never understand it as it was too complex and "hairy" for me. As these boxes need to be printed, the cleaner the designs are, the better and I guess more cost-effective it will be for the company.

Anything design-wise appeals to me. Leaflets, campaign ads, cereal boxes! I'm definitely up for this and have many ideas already surging through my head!


Cath Kidston: - http://www.ycn.org/awards/ycn-student-awards/2013-2014/briefs/cath-kidston

"Design one new conversational print taking into account our brand values and print style. Examples of conversational prints within our range would include Cowboy, Garden Birds, Guards of London – these are prints with a recognisable picture within them. Classic Cath Kidston floral, spots or stripes would not be described as a conversational print.

The print should be designed to be used across three of our product categories; Women’s Fashion, Women’s Accessories and Home. We are looking for an original theme and a fresh new take on our unique visual style. Your print can take any visual direction you wish, as long as you believe it to be in tune with our brand." - Extract from brief.

My Thoughts:

This is quite an interesting brief and is chosen to see if I can finally understand the hype and popularity around Cath Kidston. Personally, I very much dislike all things Kidston and have done ever since every girl in high school possessed a over-priced bag with the most simple and repetitive of prints on it. However, Cath Kidston simply MUST be doing something that appeals to all these women - I have even seen men (although not many) escorting their female friends and partners about town with a Kidston-clad messenger bag which means they're obviously not ashamed! So, I thought I'd take on this design brief to see if maybe working with all this "pretty pretty" changes my opinion on the current trends...

I have plenty of viable ideas, such as English garden birds (oh yes, very English!) and scones, teacups and all that jazz. A maximum of twelve colours are to be used, and at least three colourways must be shown in stepped out and tiled versions of each print.


LoopDeLoop - Go: - http://www.loopdeloop.org/october-november-2014-theme-go/

"Go is all about movement which makes it perfect for animation, and we’re interested to see how you’ll interpret it. Going to pieces, going out, going in, getting something to go, going too far, letting go, going on journey, go for it! Everyone has to go through it in their own way.

Get ready, get set… GO!!

The submission rules are simple;

it must be made by you,

it must suit the month’s theme,

it must be engaging,

it must be submitted in one of our specified formats,

it must not contain pornographic material, incite hatred or include defamatory or discriminatory content,

it has to loop!"

My Thoughts:

This brief seems fantastic and I'm incredibly excited to get my hands on this! The theme is "GO!" which could be interpreted a number of ways. My initial thought was "going to pieces" or "going to the dogs", you know, the term you use when all hell lets loose and you just break down from all the stress. Well, a fairly monotonous looking character could be trying to stick on that brave face, literally sticking an image of a happy face over his/her face until suddenly, phwoosh! They melt and collapse to the floor in a big messy puddle. They could then spring back up again and act like nothing ever happened, only to have it happen again and again and again... One big loop cycle. I'm getting carried away with this already! Considering it is specifically an animation brief, it seems suitable for me and will give me that well needed practice.

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Study Task 1 - Modelling Skills: Do It Yourself

OUAN504 - A Simple Strawberry:

Judging by my last feeble attempt at making a simple truck model in Maya, I decided to try my newfound love of animation making some other simple objects using the skills I had practiced on my previous endeavour. After watching plenty of tutorials on the internet, I decided to try my hand at a strawberry. I downloaded the leaf textures from the creator - many thanks to "3dEx" - and began the frustrating yet fun journey to complete my strawberry!

I started out with a very basic polygon sphere, the body of the strawberry. Using the face, vertex, and edge selection tools, I was then able to shape and manipulate my model into a strawberry. In comparison to the tutorials I watched, I did not want to simply copy what other people had done, I wanted to learn not just to copy, but to be able to create something slightly different with a touch more realism to it. So, instead of modelling the perfectly round "cartoony" strawberry in the videos I followed, I thought more about how most strawberries aren't wonderfully round and succulent; you get those huge deformed bobbly ones too! I aimed for the chunkier, more shapely variety as this seemed more realistic. Imperfection is perfection... To some extent!

So, after many hours perfecting the shape, I created the segments on the outside where the seeds sit. they are almost like little dimples, so using the extrude tool, I was able to make those dimples in the strawberry. I did make one mistake though and I plan to learn from it: DON'T FORGET TO ADD THE SEEDS BY MAKING A SET ESPECIALLY FOR THEM! (This will then prevent any further complications in the future!)

Here are some screenshots of my strawberry. I will try and remember to take "work in progress" ones in the future as seeing the finished product isn't really a great indication of how I made it in the first place...

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Acting Up: Understanding Character & Narrative: (Chet Zar - Tool)

OUAN504 - Chet Zar:

One aspect of animation I'm really interested in is animated music videos. I like the way they have to narrate a story in correlation with the lyrics being sung as it gives you a base to work off and allows you to develop your ideas quickly and effectively as you can work with timing and so forth. Chez Zar creates the animation and visual effects for Tool, a band that I'm interested in at the moment. Tool's genre could be specified as rock, often using strange rhythms such as six over eight and seven over eight which often leads to confusion from an unfamiliar audience. The animated backgrounds usually pulsate along with the rhythm which is nice, with often psychedelic colours and patterns, creepy characters and strange effects.

To illustrate the work I have been inspired by, here is a clip of some Zar's work in musical action!

Tool - Schism (the above clip) features mainly visual effects as it is made to look like reality is distorted. I prefer more of his other animations for Tool. Zar has also worked on films such as Hellboy (I and II), The Ring, and Planet of The Apes. His love for horror-based art and the supernatural began at an early age. His parents were very supportive and allowed his work to flourish which led him to become very successful. His love of exploring emotionally distressing subjects, odd-looking beings and otherworldly scenarios allowed him to stand out as an artist. His website is incredibly interesting: www.chetzar.com

Vicarious, another by Tool and Zar, is personally my favourite music video that he has worked on for Tool. It's fascinating to watch as it is so bizarre and strange. He seems to have a fixation with parasites, illness and eyes which I find all too weird, yet all too amazing. His work is something you simply can't take your own eyes off as the content is just to abnormal.

Zar uses both stop-motion animation and CGI to create the animation Tool's music videos.

(Above) "The Corpselicker" - Chet Zar 2012. Just another example of Zar's fascination with the dead, dying, and sick. It's interesting how he can create such amazing works of art and delve into the minds of the unstable, despite being perfectly sane and healthy himself. He has a fantastic imagination!

He approaches character design through his own art style and uses this to create interesting and often abstract and psychedelic narrative to accompany Tool's music. He often begins by making a scenario completely unrecognisable to the audience in a rather baffling manner by revealing usually all the characters in the opening scene. Considering the shock-factor of the characters (grotesque features, disproportionate limbs, odd colour choice, and a genuine feeling that they are meant to toy with your mind), you feel as though everything has been revealed you all at once yet with still no knowledge of the narrative as the characters start by behaving in a strange manner which is oddly appealing as you are encouraged to watch and discover their intentions. Slowly but surely, Zar reveals the motives of the characters which usually have hidden meanings and messages entwined. You feel slightly enlightened by watching his animations, almost as if he's shared a secret about the world with you through his beloved, unconventional characters.

Zar's way of storytelling interests me as it his often weird animations and artwork feature plenty of subliminal meanings that can't usually be immediately seen by the naked eye. His narratives involve some form of unpicking and due to his covert way of planting ideas in your head, he can get away with expressing himself more and sharing his insight of the world without it being obvious to such organisations (the government) the band is singing about.

"Chet's art is beautiful & scary. His style has a modern twist crashing into a classical approach. I think Chet is a master painter on his way to making a great mark in our little world. Wanna do something smart with your money? Invest in a Chet Zar painting." - Adam Jones (TOOL)

OUAN504 - Character & Narrative - Study Task 1 - Modelling Skills: Keep On Truckin'

OUAN504 - Keep Truckin':

As a first actual attempt at making a model in Maya as part of a module, we were asked to make a model of Mat's toy truck. I am thoroughly enjoying Maya so far and find it not as confusing as my previous failed attempts. Here are some in progress screenshots of my truck. I got a little bored of its appearance so added an exhaust pipe and a license plate... It'll probably look much more realistic soon (I'm hoping)!

Behold, Trevor the truck in all his untextured, poly glory! Polygons are relatively simple to use and work with and you can create some fantastic shapes from using fairly straightforward commands. I am looking forward to improving my skills greatly in the future.

I used the truck toy for reference as reference is always an important place to start otherwise you find yourself running into so many different problems! From then I slightly changed the truck's rear and added some form of plate on the front for the back to hang onto. It's looking a little better, but I think with some colour and texture it would look immensely better.

I find that using a four view screen is incredibly helpful as it allows me to align any odd shapes easily without worrying about them being slightly off centre or in the wrong place. I find that if you constantly use a single view when modelling, you may not see certain angles of your model and the height might be an issue or bits might stick out where they shouldn't. I'm really thankful for different perspective views as they prevent making silly mistakes.

Beep beep!