Ac couple of weeks ago we were taught how to reference our files into a scene. This is so if the models change, they automatically get updated in the other scene. This is a very handy method to use, especially for us as we have three characters and an environment. The characters are changing all the time so they are constantly being updated. If we had any animation, this would be lost with the updated models, but with referencing this does not happen.
We have had a few problems with out referencing and they are mainly rendering issues. I have found that when I reference a model into a scene, they no longer render in Vray (We are using Vray to give us the black outlines for our cartoony characters). The strange thing is that in their own files they will render in Vray just fine but as soon as you reference the file into another scene, it will no longer be visible when you render.
This is a problem, that is ongoing but it is something we will have to figure out how to fix. Referencing is very important for us because the models so often need changes. It can be something small, like a weight painted wrong, or something huge like having to add more set driven keys or changing the texture so having to repaint all the weights. Referencing is definitely something we need to use, it is just a case of solving this small issue before we can render any character animated shots.
Thursday, 23 February 2012
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Business cards and marketing
As part of my plan to market myself, I have designed mini business cards. These have all my contact details on. I am also designing a group contact card for the degree show and for our film.
For my business cards, I will be using the company Moo and using their mini business cards. I will being using different designs and ordering 300 cards. These are my designs:
For my business cards, I will be using the company Moo and using their mini business cards. I will being using different designs and ordering 300 cards. These are my designs:
The card at the bottom will shows the back of each business card and the other pictures are the front designs. Most of the pictures are photographs I have taken and some others are of my own 3D work. It has all my personal details on so they can get hold of me by telephone or email and has my web address on there too.
I have made a mock up of what the group contact cards will look like and this is it:
The first image os go the front and is the poster that Sarah has created. The back shows all of our profile pictures with the roles we had in the group. There is space for us to add other details such as a website address, twitter or linked in account details.
My own personal website is currently under construction. It is www.olywalters.com and even though it has a basic structure, I still need to add pages and my work. This will be updated and added to throughout my career. t is vital that this is done before the degree show but all the base is there - I just need to add information to it.
My showreel also needs updating. I am not very happy with it but I have some small parts which I like. I am going to add to it and rework some parts before the degree show so I have a more up to date showreel. When this is done, I will put it on my different accounts and also on my website as an overview of what I can do.
Saturday, 18 February 2012
Updating
So I have lots of different accounts on places like linkedin.com, creative pool.com and AnimationBase. I also have a youtube account with all my tests that I have done posted on it. None of these accounts have been updated - most did not even have a picture of me.
This is what I have been doing all of this week. I have updated my CV so it shows that I now have a foundation degree. I have also taken a profile pic - the one I have sent to James previously, and added that to my several accounts. On some of them I had to explain my skills and write a summary about myself.
I still need to update my website so that I can put it on my business cards for the degree show. I have a basic website but it is not focused towards my profession. I need to add my contact details and add some of my work and artwork. I also need to redo my showreel, I looked at it recently and it is already out of date, It has some things on there that I am not particularly proud of and that I could have done better. This will eventually go onto my website as well and onto my accounts so that people who are looking at my profiles will be able to see the best of my work.
I have tried to network a bit more on linked in and twitter so more people will look at me and know who I am. I never really used twitter but I think it would be a good idea to get more people interested in what I have to say. Linked in has been a great tool because I have been able to join groups and make more connections. I have been able to find older students and see what they have done since they left to give me aspirations and ideas of what I can do. I have managed to make a connection with a recruiter at the Moving Picture Company and look into lots of groups to start to make contacts.
I am hoping that if I market myself and my work well, I can make more connections within the industry which will help me secure a good job when I leave.
This is what I have been doing all of this week. I have updated my CV so it shows that I now have a foundation degree. I have also taken a profile pic - the one I have sent to James previously, and added that to my several accounts. On some of them I had to explain my skills and write a summary about myself.
I still need to update my website so that I can put it on my business cards for the degree show. I have a basic website but it is not focused towards my profession. I need to add my contact details and add some of my work and artwork. I also need to redo my showreel, I looked at it recently and it is already out of date, It has some things on there that I am not particularly proud of and that I could have done better. This will eventually go onto my website as well and onto my accounts so that people who are looking at my profiles will be able to see the best of my work.
I have tried to network a bit more on linked in and twitter so more people will look at me and know who I am. I never really used twitter but I think it would be a good idea to get more people interested in what I have to say. Linked in has been a great tool because I have been able to join groups and make more connections. I have been able to find older students and see what they have done since they left to give me aspirations and ideas of what I can do. I have managed to make a connection with a recruiter at the Moving Picture Company and look into lots of groups to start to make contacts.
I am hoping that if I market myself and my work well, I can make more connections within the industry which will help me secure a good job when I leave.
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Website Contribution
For our website for the Cat and Rat film, we each have a section explaining what we have done and links to our other personal websites etc. At the moment, I have not had the time to make my own personal website for my own work but I do have the URL for it - it is a case of updating it with my personal work.
For the group website I have sent james a profile picture of myself, I have explained the win points of what I have done for the project and also my links to my account such as youtube.com, vimeo, linked in and twitter.
This is how my section looks.
These have been added to the artwork section. Once more shots get completed, I will keep taking still images and sending them to James so that he can add them to the section so it looks better for our group.
For the group website I have sent james a profile picture of myself, I have explained the win points of what I have done for the project and also my links to my account such as youtube.com, vimeo, linked in and twitter.
This is how my section looks.
James Waters has done a good job, and all the links under the "contact" part work so you can see my other profile on the other websites.
This has lead me into thinking about my profiles on other websites such as linked in and some job websites like AnimationBase and creative pool. This is something I will have to update especially if people will start looking at my profiles when I apply for jobs.
The other thing James wanted was some artwork for the website. I have been working on the environment mostly to get it right for the film. I took some stylised composited shots of the scene to add to the website. I also added some pictures of my models once they had been textured so that James could put them on the website. I including some rough sketches and drawings to show some of my concept work. These were the images I posted.
Saturday, 11 February 2012
How do other animators market their products?
I have been doing some research into marketing. We have to market our final films with is fine if we were just marketing to Ravensbourne, but we are marketing to industry.
To market a film is quite hard on its own. Currently we have posts being designed and our website but the problem is getting people to see these. We have merchandise for our film which we can send to industry which would be one way of doing it. I was thinking about making up a group flyer which had our contact details on. On one side would be the film and what it is about etc, and the other side would be all of our contact details and roles that we did in the film. If we sent this with an invite to Ravensbourne 2012 and a badge or bottle opener key ring, it may be more memorable and they would be less likely to throw it say and take notice instead. This is something I will be doing when the Ravensbourne 2012 invites have been made.
I found a good article about independent film marketing. You can read it here:
http://www.independent-magazine.org/magazine/07/2009/marketingyourfilm
It was really interesting to read the different case studies and how they each marketed their films differently. Now it s highly unlikely that I will rent a van and travel around the UK trying to show our 2 minute film but some things did stand out.
Festivals. Animation festivals and film festivals would be a really good way to start. It shows people who are interested in new animators and film makers what we have produced and even lead to more work. Ravensboune 2012 will be like our own film screening which industry will hopefully come down and see so we can network and gain some publicity that way.
in April there is the sundance film festival being shown at the o2. It is too late to enter into it but it is also for feature films rather than shorts but London International Animation Festival is currently looking for animations to be entered. I went to LIAF last year and saw some really good animations against some really poor ones but there were plenty of people in the audience it is definitely a good way to help market your film.
Some more modern ways to market films are to add them to youtube and vimeo and post your videos on different channels. Vimeo has staff choice videos that has featured animation quite regularly. These are on the home page so have really good potential for people to see them.
Facebook groups are another way. You can post the videos on different groups to do with animation and film and people will share them. If it is really good, it could be shared by hundreds of people, giving more publicity to the film and becoming a good way to market it.
These are all different ways to market films. With our own film, I think I will post it on Facebook for people to share with friends and write to different companies to gain interest. I think it won't be ready before the entries to LIAF are due in so that would not be a possibility this year but it will something to think about if I produce better work in the future or could even enter it for next year.
I will certainly be putting some parts of the film on my showreel which is posted in many different sites for people to see. I have a linked in account plus vimeo, youtube, twitter and Facebook account which I can post links to our website and get people to share any video that I have posted on youtube or vimeo. I can market myself by making and updating my website with my work and having business card with contact information on. I will be giving these out at the degree show as well as the group contact flyers that I will post to industry with our merchandise.
To market a film is quite hard on its own. Currently we have posts being designed and our website but the problem is getting people to see these. We have merchandise for our film which we can send to industry which would be one way of doing it. I was thinking about making up a group flyer which had our contact details on. On one side would be the film and what it is about etc, and the other side would be all of our contact details and roles that we did in the film. If we sent this with an invite to Ravensbourne 2012 and a badge or bottle opener key ring, it may be more memorable and they would be less likely to throw it say and take notice instead. This is something I will be doing when the Ravensbourne 2012 invites have been made.
I found a good article about independent film marketing. You can read it here:
http://www.independent-magazine.org/magazine/07/2009/marketingyourfilm
It was really interesting to read the different case studies and how they each marketed their films differently. Now it s highly unlikely that I will rent a van and travel around the UK trying to show our 2 minute film but some things did stand out.
Festivals. Animation festivals and film festivals would be a really good way to start. It shows people who are interested in new animators and film makers what we have produced and even lead to more work. Ravensboune 2012 will be like our own film screening which industry will hopefully come down and see so we can network and gain some publicity that way.
in April there is the sundance film festival being shown at the o2. It is too late to enter into it but it is also for feature films rather than shorts but London International Animation Festival is currently looking for animations to be entered. I went to LIAF last year and saw some really good animations against some really poor ones but there were plenty of people in the audience it is definitely a good way to help market your film.
Some more modern ways to market films are to add them to youtube and vimeo and post your videos on different channels. Vimeo has staff choice videos that has featured animation quite regularly. These are on the home page so have really good potential for people to see them.
Facebook groups are another way. You can post the videos on different groups to do with animation and film and people will share them. If it is really good, it could be shared by hundreds of people, giving more publicity to the film and becoming a good way to market it.
These are all different ways to market films. With our own film, I think I will post it on Facebook for people to share with friends and write to different companies to gain interest. I think it won't be ready before the entries to LIAF are due in so that would not be a possibility this year but it will something to think about if I produce better work in the future or could even enter it for next year.
I will certainly be putting some parts of the film on my showreel which is posted in many different sites for people to see. I have a linked in account plus vimeo, youtube, twitter and Facebook account which I can post links to our website and get people to share any video that I have posted on youtube or vimeo. I can market myself by making and updating my website with my work and having business card with contact information on. I will be giving these out at the degree show as well as the group contact flyers that I will post to industry with our merchandise.
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Planning
For professional skills, we have to market our films and try and get contacts from the industry.
I have already set us up a group email account and from this we have managed to create a Dropbox account to share our files with each other. I will be looking after the email account and setting up documents each week that track our meetings. I have also got people to link their individual contracts to the document part of our email account so we can see what each other has agreed to do. This is a sort of back up so if someone is not pulling their weight we can show them what they have agreed to do. Similarly, if someone doesn't know what to do for that week, they can refer back to the contracts and the minutes of each meeting. This is how it looks so far:
I have already set us up a group email account and from this we have managed to create a Dropbox account to share our files with each other. I will be looking after the email account and setting up documents each week that track our meetings. I have also got people to link their individual contracts to the document part of our email account so we can see what each other has agreed to do. This is a sort of back up so if someone is not pulling their weight we can show them what they have agreed to do. Similarly, if someone doesn't know what to do for that week, they can refer back to the contracts and the minutes of each meeting. This is how it looks so far:
In terms of roles for this project, James Waters has experience with building websites so he has agreed to make us a website with the information that we will provide. Sarah Strickland has agreed to make the posters for us and our film. She has asked each of us for an idea and she has draw up basic ideas. She will then pick a few of the best designs and make them into posters for us. I have been looking after the merchandise. The badges and key rings that we made last term for our E and E project - I have been collecting them together as they got distributed to try and get more sales after the project finished. So I have been gathering them together and organising them to see what we have left. With the badges and key rings relevant for our project, I will package them and create a sort of pack to send to industry with a badge and key ring for our film as well a flyer explaining about the degree show and our film. Hopefully this will create an interest for them to come and see what we have been doing.
This is what our merchandise looks like:
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