Journal week #7
Course focus doc-
Journal week #1
I didn’t do much this week since it is the first one of many but I did finish my character design and some part of my story concept. The original style on the left is what I thought my character was going to look like but I eventually went with a more “rag-doll” look (since I think I will incorporate some stop motion, paper animation is and more into it.
The drawing to the right is the start of my character sheet !! I don’t have a name for her yet though …
Plan for next week-
To finish my character sheet and storyboard, possibly find audio and maybe start animating !
Check in– This week I was tired at school cause I had to change 
my sleep schedule lol, but I enjoy my classes so far ! I have 3d art and animation so I think this semester will be pretty enjoyable !
Journal week #2
This week I got the majority of my storyboard done as well as my whole character sheet and turn around. I got some supplies for the 3d aspect (stop-motion) of this animation, and made a gamelan of what I will be doing throughout the semester.
I inserted my character sheet into the assignment as well as a gif of my character turnaround.
Story: my story is going to be based around a young girl who “follows” an alien who we presume to be an imaginary friend throughout the whole short. It goes through many different art styles until finally the end reveals the alien was her old friend that she can’t let go of because she doesn’t understand the process of grief (seeing how young she is).
Plan for next week-
Do one shots finish the walk cycle, and complete my storyboards.
Check in- I had a pretty busy week but I got my prom dress so that was exciting ! I’m trying to lock into my animation this week and hopefully get it’s done. i also want to make the yearbook cover drafts tomorrow or Tuesday so I’m excited !
Journal week #3 (week 1 production)
This week I worked on my storyboard and attempted to start my walk cycle. I did not have enough time this week to start that cycle because I basically had a 3-day week with senior sail and the Friday off, but I think that this week was pretty productive. I found a potential voice actor for my story, and in relation to the walk cycle, I will be doing a swim cycle. The swim cycle will be used in shots 13-14. The storyboard seems very confusing at first glance, but that is because I need to write a script that will tie everything together. I also added all of the principles of animation into my shots, and I am proud of that!!
I do think that I am ontrack of my schedule and I have time to complete my film by the end of the semester:)
Struggle- I actually did find making the storyboard a challenge. This is because the story doesn’t follow an exact plot. I was confused on how I should add the principles of animations since not all of my film is 2d animation, but I think that I did a pretty good job.
Plan for next week- Hopefully I will finish my swim-cycle and finish my script since I have more days in the week. I am excited to start animating and filming!
Check-in- This week I was working on some of the yearbook, and I thought that was cool that I get this opportunity. I am also excited for senior sail!
Journal week #4 (week 2 production)
This week I was feeling sick so I did not finish as much as I thought I would, but I did complete the walk cycle (or swim cycle), that I talked about last week. I kept it simple seeing as the scene that this will be added to will be pretty complex. I want to write more of what I did this week but I did not do much due to my fever; I started on my script and that is going well so far so I am excited to be finishing that up !!
I think that next week I can get more on track because I am starting to feel better 🙂
Struggle- being sick and trying to animate while looking at a screen; and figuring out my program more indepth.
Plan for next week- Finish making my sock puppets and script for my short film, draw one of my backgrounds (or maybe two).
Check in- This week I was sick, as mentioned, so there isn’t much to add other than I need to finish work from my classes…
Journal week #5
This week I completed the puppets for my short film and I also just about finished my script for my film ! I was finishing up my yearbook things so I couldn’t not start with my backgrounds, but I do know what the backgrounds will look like. I know a voice kid who can voice act for my film so hopefully they sound good for the script I am making ! I made the puppets look more kid-like so hopefully it looks like that.
I am feeling more on track this week since I am feeling better, I think I will be able to get 2 shots in next week:)
Struggle- I struggled still making the script because I was not very satisfied with it, so I think some tweaking will be definitely needed.
Plan for next week- Make 2 shots next week and complete the script.
Check in- This week was pretty chill and not very stressful, other than some assignment here and there, I do need to get back on top onto my animation though because I was working on the yearbook.
Journal week #6
This week I finished two background shots but unfortunately they got corrupted in procreate 🙁 Thankfully I didn’t only do that, but I also finished my script and now have a good copy. I also found a voice actor and I will be starting the recording next week or this week ! She is my friends little 5 year old sister from America ! Hopefully I can get my backgrounds back, otherwise I am going to find a new drawing app and redraw them..
Struggle- I did not really struggle this week until Friday when my drawings got deleted 🙁 Everything else went smoothly.
Plan for next week- I want to complete 2 or 3 shots, or record the entire script and make an animatic draft. Maybe even find some audios because I want to get back on track. (not to mention the backgrounds that got deleted).
Check in- I am doing good, and I am excited to make my clay pumpkin in art next week! I also got my N license so I am happy about that:) Everything was good besides the procreate tragedy 😢
Journal week #7 (week 3 production)
This week I was pretty productive and back on track to completing my animation ! I finished one shot as well as a background, and I made an animatic for the little voice actor to read off of (as well as for myself so that I know how long I wanted the scenes to be). I honestly think that last weeks tragedy was a blessing for my backgrounds, because I found a new way to make them… watercolour on paper ! I just took a picture from a real drawing and imported it into my animation app (ToonSquid). Hopefully I will get the recordings by next week or the week after:-)
Animatic – https://youtu.be/57au3nrhwcM?si=hNPL0zR-NR-9CEnb
Struggle- Putting all of the storyboards together into an animatic and figuring out the timing was pretty time consuming and difficult. I found it frustrating at times when I was puzzled at how I would need to change the script to make the whole thing flow better. I even ended up adding a new scene…
Plan for next week- Finish 3 shots (to catch up), as well as possibly getting the voice over done.
Check in- This week was pretty fun ! I thought I was pretty productive and I finally got my other assignments done so I am pretty calm about the weekend. Also this week was the first week of sting so I was pretty paranoid about getting stung
shots of the week …
shot 2 !
Journal week #8 (week 4 production)
This week I found that I was very productive. I did many things from different categories of my work so I will be splitting up my reflection into some parts.
1. I got a clip of my friends little sisters voice and am finalizing the script acting 🙂 her voice is very cute ! (I blurred her face in the video out of respect 🌝)
click to hear little voice actors voice !
2. I planned out how my first stop motion shot was going to work. I planned out in my drawing app on what some things were made out of as well as some ideas on how the shot would work.
3. I made (mostly) my whole next shot. The only thing that I did not finish was the body line art and blank drawing of the girl. I am also counting my background being drawn as progress as well.
Struggle- Figuring out how to animate the body of the girl. I am still working on it throughout the week to make it as smooth of an animation as possible.
Plan for next week- Finish my walk cycle and current shot. Maybe receive the voice acting lines.
Check in- This week was fun ! I thought that when I go stung was funny because I was so caught off guard and it was hair-wash day (I got clipped). BUT I did sting my target so I am happy that I got to do that ! Also I am finding myself to be way more motivated than last week for animation !!
shots of the week …
shot 3 (wip) !
Journal week #9 (week 5 production)
This week wasn’t particularly my most productive week yet, but I did start on my
puppet for my stop-motion. I watched many short films to inspire my puppet as well as some tutorials online. I made the bone of my puppet (armature), and messed with some of the materials at my house before actually using the armature wire.
I also finished most of my next shot, but I am finding difficulty in making it as smooth as possible. But I am proud of the hand movement I did.
Below are some images of the puppet process.
The image beside is the start of my puppet.
Struggle- I was struggling on my shot considering how smooth I want to make it additionally with the body movements.
Plan for next week- Finish my puppet and some backgrounds for the stop-motion shots as well as finish my current shot.
Check in- This week was fun and I have been trying to get all my work in before mid-terms. I am excited for halloween and I am proud of my costume !!!
shots of the week …
shot 3 (wip still) !
Journal week #10 (week 6 production)
This week I was very productive in my process to finishing my film
. I created the armeratuere for my puppet and I’m waiting for needle felting things from amazon to complete her. (I was planning on doing it this week although it hasn’t come yet). I also finished two shots as well as an overlay for shot 1. Personally I feel like shot 1 can count as 2 shots but it just made more sense in my mind to keep it as 1. I also painted a background for shot 1, practicing how I will setup my things for future shots.
I would like to say that I am making good progress:)
Struggle- Shot one was honestly a struggle, especially trying to get my overlay look nice and not choppy. I am not quite sure if i do love the end product but I have all semester to fix it so I don’t mind:) !
Plan for next week- Do a stop-motion shot and complete the puppet finally.
Check in- I enjoyed this week ! A highlight was getting invited to hangout with my friends to try the new starbucks drinks for christmas 🙂 I am also rewatching stranger things to get caught up for the next season !
shots of the week …
shot 1 !
(shot 1 overlay)
shot 3 ! (exaggeration)
Journal week #11 (week 7 production)
This week went pretty smoothly and I think that I was pretty productive. Other 
than not being able to do work in class I finished a lot of things at home throughout the week, I’ve been working on my stop motion, puppet and painting a background for the shots that I
ne
eded it for. I found myself learning how to needle felt as well as create a stop motion puppet in general. I did not end up completing an actual shot for this week because I was testing a new program for my stop motion, which is what I will be showing soon in this blog post. I made a little bit of a test video, but it’s not an actual shot that’s going to be integrated into my short film.
1. Puppet
While creating my puppet, I had to learn how to use a new material needle felt . I have never used this material before and knew that I would have to because the material that you use for a certain project really speaks character to how a film or an art peice would be looked at. I am very proud of my puppet and I think that my envision of what I wanted it to look like really popped.
insta post with puppet photos-
https://www.instagram.com/p/DRAobtBkig7/?igsh=YmQwODY0OGVsNnpo
2. Background
For my background this week, it took me a while because I had 
to cut cardboard and make it the same size so that it could all stick together properly. I also painted the background black to have a base for when I add my other elements to the scene.
3. Test shot (stop-motion studios)
As mentioned before I used the new program and I wanted to explore how it worked. I knew that if I jumped straight into doing a shot with the program, I would most likely have issues and not be able to fix it because I would be so far into a shot.
I think that I am still on track to completing my film !
Struggle-
The struggled my heart was definitely exporting from the new program for stop motion because currently it’s only exporting as a .mov and not mp4. I need to fix that.
Plan for next week-
My plan is just to stick with all the I’ve been doing and hope that I finish a shot with the stop motion program and troubleshooting the issues.
Check in-
This week was pretty slow, but I am glad that is over because I have a haircut next week and I’m excited!
shots of the week …
(test shot)
Journal week #12 (week 8 production)
This week was pretty productive as like the other weeks ! I completed 3 shots in total and
are halfway done some other shots. I also tried to use a different animation software (called Life lapse stop motion) for my stopmotion although I did not enjoy it as much as the first one. I figured out how to fix the frame rate although I am still figuring out the export format. I also was scrolling on tiktok to see how other people do stop motion and I think that it helped me a lot. I also finished a 
background watercolour piece since shot 4 needed it.
I am still on track with completing:)
Struggle- Still the stop motion was a struggle but I think I am improving with the software as well as the technique.
Plan for next week-
My plan is the same as usual and is to complete as much as I possibly can !
Check in- I did have a headache all week but other than that the week was well ! I also got a haircut after school on friday so that was exciting 🙂
some videos –
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSfhBYy1T/ https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSfhkEgjH/ https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSfhBRrN7/
process…
shots of the week …
shot 4 (anticipation)
shot 6 (slow in slow out)
shot 9 (text will be added in final edit)
Journal week #13 (week 9 production)
This week I thought I was pretty productive on production, and got things done so that my final film would finally be finished. I got some shots done that I thought would take a long time and got them out of the way. I decided that my goal will be about 4 shots a week because I want to speed up my production, so after this week the goal is 4 shots! I am still worried about the watermark in the bottom of my stop motion clips, but I will find a way to remove it (and still give credit to the application).
Struggle –
A struggle I had this week was definitely completing shot 7. It was difficult to animate the character floating, but I like the end result!
Plan for next week- I am going to have the same plan as last week!
Check-in- I enjoyed this week, I thought that I was productive. Also, I got sushi with a friend I haven’t hung out with in a while, so I enjoyed that:)
shots of the week …
(fix) shot 1
shot 4 (anticipation)
shot 5 (pose to pose) – kind of continuous to shot 4
shot 7 (arc)
^process :
Journal week #14 (week 10 production)
This week I fixed my shots so that they can finally upload, I wish I was a little more productive but I also made a checklist of what to do during the winter break because I plan on finishing all of my shots then. I edited a little bit of my most complicated stop motion shot and I like how it turned out.
Struggle –
Making the anticipation shot look smooth. I found it a little bit difficult to have the arm look good in proportion when animating.
Plan for next week- I am going to have the same plan as last week!
Check-in- I did a lot of homework this week and worked on the yearbook drawings a lot. I had work also so in general it was pretty busy compared to the last few (hence why I couldn’t complete much outside of school).
shots of the week …
shot 4 (anticipation) – wip
shot 7 (arc)