30's Style Nandos

I've decided to do a title card at the start of the animation.  The first one makes it seem like Herbert is a classic character thats evolved his look since the 1930's.  When in fact he didn't exist until February this year.

I love the fact he's grayscale, and all rubber hose like.  He looks like a real 1930's character.

This is the title card, in the same vain as the old Looney Tunes cartoons.  The rocket will fly in.

I need to find some happy orchestra music to play over these two pictures.

I'm looking forward to getting this done!

Question for Jack:  Is it Perry or Parry or Pearry or Paerry or Frank?

Hello friends, collegues, FOX Executives, Universal Studios and Barry.

I've done loads of animation tests in the program 'Pencil', which is one of the best programs I've used in a long time.  It's simple to use, and it works well.  I'll have to put on the videos later on, they don't want to work here.  That's annoying.

BUT

I have a song to use!  The song is called "Mr Moon" by Kate Micucci.  Here's a link:

http://youtu.be/rccxm8OaNeI

Listen to that.  And then watch this:

http://youtu.be/rZXANhfSn9A

That's Kate singing the part of song that I'm going to use, on the TV show SCRUBS.  It's her song, so I don't have to talk to ABC or anyone like that to use it.  And she's been very generous and is letting me use it for free!

I'll get the animation tests on here soon, definitely before Friday, because I'm off to Sydney for a couple of days then, meaning I'll miss a day of production.

Dance your cares away, down at Fraggle Rock!

Question for Jack:  You're a bus driver.  You have 4 passengers.  At the first stop, 2 get off and 6 get on.  At the next stop, 3 get off and 2 get on.  At the third stop, 1 person gets off and 3 get on.  What is the bus drivers name?

You Spin Me Right Round Baby, Right Round, Like A Newspaper, Right Round Round Round...

This is just a quick shot of what my newspaper spin in will look like.  The pink will be taken out, and a shot of Herbert and President Janney will be there.  There's a lot of little references in the paper.  For example, there's jokes about fellow classmates Sean Mundy and Bounnong Sayamongsa being lovers, Rebecca Black's song "Friday, and my favourite gag of the entire animation (which you'll barely see) "Garfield 3: I Hate Mundys" - starring Sean Mundy.  FYI, the papers date is the day man landed on the moon.  The newspapers edition number is a reference to episode 4192 of Sesame Street, because that was the episode they were filming the day I visited the set.  The reporters name is J. Schreuder, named after my mate Josh, who came up with the name for "The Anim-Nation Sun", and the photographers name is E. Richardson, named after my best friend Emma.  I liked putting these little jokes and references in.  I'll try do more next year.  Oh, and also the President's name is "President Janney" named after actress Alyson Janney, which is a longrunning joke between my brother and I...  Phew, that's a lot of references...  Anyway...

QUESTION FOR JACK:  Can I borrow 20 bucks?  And by borrow, I mean have?  And by 20, I mean 50?

"I'm Alyson Janney, and I approve of this reference"

Title Shot, Before and After

This is the original title shot.  I was so pleased with myself when I'd finished this.

Then Jack helped me realize it could be better.  Now when I look at the original one, I want to spit up, like a small child, because it's awful, and flat, and blegh!

I still need to shade it, and put in "MOON CHEESE" etc but its basically done.

500(ish) Words On The Class:

WHAT PROBLEMS I’M HAVING:

At the moment, I’m having trouble getting the animation timing correct.  I’m worried its either going to look too fast or too slow.  I have to remember to sort it out before I actually start trying some animation.  I’m also having problems making the animation look smooth.  I’ve tried the head expansion twice and both times I’m not happy with how it looks.  Darren’s agreed to help me with it next week, so hopefully my confidence in that area will improve!  It’s not so much a problem, but I have to find some type of decent music to use at the end of the animation now that my request to use “Fly Me to the Moon” has been denied.  I’ll try to get that done in the next couple of weeks.


BACKING UP, BACKING UP, BACKING UP, BACKING UP, COZ' MY DADDY TAUGHT ME GOOD:
It's not uncommon for students to lose their work from their hard drives, so to combat this, I have 5 different places with saved versions of my animation work.  I have 2 external hard drives (Slagathor and Tom Sellek), saved on 2 home computers, and then, just in case, saved on a friends computer.

WHERE I WOULD LIKE TO BE:

I’d like to have done my backgrounds by now, but I’m yet to complete them.  They’re 80% done, and they’re all looking good, it’s just the moon ones that I need to finish up.  They’re all laid out, so it shouldn’t take me too long to have them all ready to go.  I’d also have liked to do more animation tests and actual animation completed, but I haven’t, due to timing issues etc.  I’ll get talking to Jack and Darren about them ASAP, and hopefully have them well on their way within the week.

WHAT’S SLOWING ME DOWN:

Animation is way harder than I was expecting!  I guess I wasn’t expecting the daunting task of getting all this done in such a short time!  There’s a lot to do, and it’s just a case of organizing it and getting it done.  Plus, my niece really cute and she wants cuddles, so I have to make time for her!

WHAT I’M UP TO NOW:

Basically I’m going to get my backgrounds finished ASAP, because then I can fully concentrate on getting the actual animation over with.  I’m also on the lookout for different music and sound effects.  Over the next few weeks I’ll get onto sound effect sites and see what I can drum up.  I need some type of ambient music to play over the actual animation.  I’m going to record the starting dialogue and other launch pad noises, e.g. “Houston”, countdown etc.  I’ll do that next term when we get back, in the lovely recording booth, I’ll act like a real voice actor.

PROBLEMS WITH CLASSMATES:

I don’t have many.  Any I do have will not be broadcast on here, and can be discussed in private.  For the most part though, I get along very well with them all, I’m keen on their opinions and ideas, and I appreciate the fact that everyone’s so willing to help each other!

Update - 23rd August

Hello.  Hows things?  You're looking well.  That's a lovely sweater.  Where did you buy it?  Oh, I sure hope they have some in my size!

In my last update I said I was doing backgrounds.  I've sinced finished the newspaper.  It looks pretty good, and if you freeze frame it theres a couple of little jokes and references throughout the articles.
I'm still re-doing the title shot, but thats pretty much well on its way.  I'm not tooooo fussed on getting them all finished asap, but I want them done fairly quickly.

I'm currently working on animation tests.  I'm a little worried the animation won't look smooth.  But Daz-Dawg is helping me out with that!  He's a nice lad.  Sagittarius, I think.

I got an e-mail back regarding using "Fly Me To The Moon" over my credits.  It was denied.  They've yet to tell me why, but I'll ask again if I havn't heard back in a few days.  I may use it anyway for educational purposes (thank you loop holes) and if I submit it, say in Jack's festival next year, I'll find some different stuff.

I'll get some concept art and such up here soon.

Have a wonderful day!

Question for Jack:  Wanna play 'Personal Space Invaders'?

Update!

Hello! How are you?? Anyway, I've got a fair amount of my backgrounds mapped out, and a few finished! I'm currently working on the newspaper, then I'm going to redo the title shot.

Attempting to get the rights to use "Fly Me To The Moon" to play over my credits. The company have responded, and asked a few questions about the film. We'll see what happens!

I'll post some pictures soon!

Question for Jack: If I was to jump off a cliff, would you jump too?