Cinematic Production: Reflective Statement

Overall, I would say that Butteam functioned well as a group for the majority of the production pipeline. There were a few issues towards the end of the production of the film, but it was smooth sailing for most of the time.

Everyone contributed towards the concept design area of the production schedule.

http://jcoronadoac.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/cinematic-production-character-concepts.html

http://jcoronadoac.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/cinematic-production-concept-design.html

http://jcoronadoac.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/cinematic-production-turn-arounds.html

In terms of Butter's design, I think we developed it quite well. I wanted something that was simple yet effective that everyone would be able to animate. I did find it odd when others stated that the arms were difficult to work with when they were essentially really bony versions of a stickman's 'noodle arms', but the most important part of this is that having this design allowed for us to work with the animation effectively in correlation to our schedule and to finish on time. Not only that, but it also made the facial transformations more effective as they contrasted well with this simple design.

In terms of my individual contribution, I would say that this is the best that I have done in any given group project. While I was meant to only have the role of Head of 2D, I took up a leadership role without having realized it, as well as taking on any tasks that anyone else in the group was not sure about. As the head of 2D, I managed to efficiently finish all of my shots on time. I also assisted with all of the shots that required 2D animation with Zack, Michelle Z. and Michelle C regarding timing, stylistic approach, expressions, mouth flaps and more of the sort. In terms of sound direction, I mixed the entire track with its sound FX, as well as all of the voice-acting lines done by Nick Stevick and Michelle Z. being directed by myself.

http://jcoronadoac.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/cinematic-production-animatic-remake-vo.html

Although Michelle C. was meant to be the director, I ended up doing all of the major creative decision making as I had a firm idea of what would be most effective for this film and that my immediate decision would help the film move forward on a good pace. During filming, I also directed most of the shots alongside our friend Robby Peters.

http://jcoronadoac.blogspot.co.nz/2016/04/cinematic-production-filming-day.html

Lastly, because of a lot of the absences that were happening around the latter half of the production pipeline, I also handled the editing for the most part to put the entire film together. All in all, I would say I took up a lot of the work on my shoulders and am satisfied with my contribution and its results. Perhaps it would have been better if I did not have so much work to myself, but our circumstances demanded for it (illnesses, hesitant decision-making, etc.) and I would say that I improvised well.

What I learnt along with the others from my group is that finishing clean-up before the placeholder 3D model is a mistake because changes to the placeholder affect the placements of all its 2D features. We had to spend extra time to fix up all of these shots because of this and in the end we barely managed to finish the film.

Cinematic Production: Compositing and completion of film 24/06/16

List of everything finished this week:
- I updated Shot 3 with the production quality render of Butter as well as the model having the appropriate lighting.  I inserted Mikayla's matte painting for the other food products in the fridge behind butter.
- I updated Shot 4 with Mikayla's matte painting, slowly adjusting its size to this shot.
- I have composited and timed out all the shots to fit our film.

For this week I have also:
- Assisted Michelle C. in finalizing the clean-up for Shot 5. The animation is almost all fitting of the style we were going for, but the arm motion swaying back and forth is still a bit odd. We'll update this later on.
- I finished the ending credits for Zach, choosing the appropriate fonts and frame composition to credit everyone accordingly. The Animation College logo was added as well as a blooper right at the very end.

With all that, we have reached the deadline and have completed the film.

Cinematic Production: Clean-Up [Shot 4] 17/06/16

Shot 4 was finished for this week with the corrected, clean-up frames. The model is of production quality and only missing the matte painting for its background.

For this week I have also:
- Assisted Michelle Z. with observing all of the inaccuracies with Butter's mouth flaps for Shot 6, as well as any faults in the animation of the arms regarding Butter's collar.
- Assisted and finalized Shot 2 with Zack where we decided to go for the finger-sliding motion into the slap.

Cinematic Production: Clean-Up [Shot 3] 10/06/16

I finished the Clean-Up for Shot 3 this week with the updated poses for Butter. I will update this again once I have the production quality render with the correct lighting.

For this week I have also:
- Inserted Dane's suggested song for our ending credits 'Quirky Dog'. It is very comedic-sounding and fits really well with how we want the credits to follow up on the punch-line of the short film.
- Helped Zack with updating Shot 2's actions with the 'Butt slap' corresponding with the jiggle of the 3D model.

Cinematic Production: Rough Animation [Shot 4] 03/06/16

This week: I finished the roughs for Shot 4. Again, I am only using a placeholder model for this shot.

Notes:
- Dane pointed out how the small pupils made Butter look sinister rather than my original intent of having him look macho. He suggested that I just make them bigger so that it does not seem this way.
- A lecturer observed that the arm he is leaning on looks like it's coming out of nowhere, and that's most likely because of the collar looking like it is phasing into the plate (which can be adjusted with the blend shapes later on for the model).

For this week I have also:
- Assisted Zack on Shot 2 in terms of the timing with key/in-between frames.
- Assisted Michelle C. on Shot 5 in terms of Butter's actions and how she could make the animation 'snappy' like mine.
- I updated the composited film for this week with everyone's updated shots and fixed all of the timing issues.

Cinematic Production: Rough Animation [Shot 3] 27/05/16

For this week I finished the roughs for Shot 3. The model used is still just a placeholder as the lighting still needs to be adjusted, as well as the production quality model to be rendered out.

Notes:
- Dane liked how the animation was snappy and how it fit Butter's character well.
- Profile shot doesn't work well for the face, it would be better to adjust it to face the front more.
- A lecturer suggested that his arms stay down instead of having it point towards himself. It would give clarity to the face and also give him a more suggestive pose.
- The 3D model needs to look like it sits on the plate more believably than he does now. It looks more so like he is 'floating'.

For this week I have also:
- Done the compositing for the entirety of the film. We now have a rough idea of what the film will play out like.