Last Dance

Yesh... day of submission. Whew... had been a pretty tiring project to work on. Probably due to the props making and all, I was quite burnt out by the time we started shooting. Couldn't agree with her on some things there.... Her logic of learning is through making mistakes. Undebatable to me: everyone has their own way of learning, but somehow, that logic quite got in the way of our project. Time is ticking, not much left, and we had quite a long way to go in our animation. It's not a time to make mistakes then, I was seeking confirmation over experimentation. (My style of working had always been 'one shot one kill', everything prepared precisely for that moment... unless unsure...)

We had some disagreement there, she wanting ot change things but me hoping to stick to what we originally planned. The worst came when an impromptu idea of shooting with two cameras was suggested. Everything was visible at that angle, 360 degrees. No cover-ups can help, the puppets have to stand by themselves instead of the usual masking tape and blue tack support. Something tells me it won't work, but I have no words and logic to back that intuition. My bad probably for not voicing out about it, but guess my actions showed instead. After two takes, I decided to call it a day, my reason being very burnt out. Somehow, that was probably a bad end for the first day.

We returned on the next for the animation, barely finished with the first part of the three. It was quite a sombre start, an uneasy atmosphere. She didn't sleep well, neither did I. Maybe she also had things on her mind that she wanted to voice out, but for the work, she didn't. I didn't too, until towards the end of the day, that last-minute-idea came again and I didn't hold back that irritation. It wasn't a drama flare up or anything... just a small, serious chat. I told her that these last minute changes had been, to a certain extent, annoying. Yea, it was flexibility, some changes had been good, but some had made things worse. It's not bad to change, but given the limited time we have, these changes had to be precise. Somehow, I could hear some defensiveness in her tone when we get down to that point, and guess I was right, she did had something on her mind too, probably an uncertainty of my view towards work and relations. I assured her that it's the work I was concerned of getting done. Any back-stabbing would have been done earlier if I really wanted to, when everyone was finding me a victim, and probably she wouldn't have the mind to talk to me about it. After settling our differences and hearing out each other's views, things started getting better then on.

We managed to finish up the last bit of animation yesterday, four shots in a go, and even managed to finish them earlier than expected. I realised we started off these shots by going through the actions and estimating the takes we need. She has a great eye for detail, but in exchange for that detail is the loss of the general picture. Thankfully, that's what I was better at, so I would do the major positioning of the puppets' movements and leave the minute details for her to handle. Any wrong takes would be left to the editor instead (that's me...). Editting... took me quite a while. I had trouble finding a suitable music for it, had to resort to using copyrighted stuff. Eek. Cleaned up a few pictures in photoshop and slowed down some stuff. Man.... 5 days and not even 50 seconds of animation. -_-



Well, the usual bunch of stopmo animators I saw the past few weeks were at the open lab trying to burn their cds. I set up my laptop together with Jing Qin and Edison, forming some 'burner' factory there, helping the rest to burn their cds. A lot of the guys fell sick, the girls were kind of half-zombiefied. There were smiles though, relief that it's over.



This was the aftermath for the group just opposite us (Azman, Gabriel and Kenneth). Nice sets there, but pretty sad eh? Somehow, adm people seemed to have some sadistic side to their work. So far, all the videos I've seen had some death going on... wonder why... cooped up in that room for too long maybe.



Aye, Azman taking the last shots of their work. The three men had been violating my territory throughout the entire project, building their sets in my area since it was so bare. But yea, it was fun to have them around. Some comraderie, technical and moral support, lunch runners too. Groupwork has been pretty hectic in a way, but it's wierdly comforting to see so many around you in the same shoes. That was what I missed out in NYP perhaps. Well, have to clear up the place soon. More photos coming then, I hope.

What I've been doing...

* Warning wor: Image intensive post.

Aye, now that the exams are all over, I'm now concentrating on my stop motion animation. Things didn't seem to have much progress after that, my partner has been doing some wierd stuff that she discarded at the end of the day. Somehow, really wonder what goes through her mind, but at least we had shifted the setting around so that it would ease the tough task of shooting the animation.



Before the setting was shifted, it was quite a squeezy corner for us, or maybe our set was too big. I did the big window, and it looked pretty with the lighting at it. Shadows....!! Built the stairs too, had to saw my way through for that one after cutting and assembling the pieces together. THe foam was pretty tough. I couldn't finish assembling the main parts together, but Shengyi managed to put them together with the railings. She also did up the other two panels and the floor, kind of like making the overall picture.

The Puppets!

Actually, I intended my first puppet ever made to be used in this production, but as it turns out, was not good enough for it. Made a new one. I volunteered to make the male one while she does the female puppet. Not very sure where to start... and built up his muscles by wrapping foam around. Sewed the pants on.



The gloves was a tough one, couldn't do a real glove so used the UHU glue to solve the problem. Looked pretty rough, but heck... did the job.



Before I even started on my puppet, she had already done the female's clothes. Nicely done, loved the skirt drapery. Her sewing techniques are there (not a drip of UHU glue used at all...), very clean and clear cut, but her mind for the simplest way quite cost some parts of the foam to reveal.



Shirt for my man! Lol, UHU glued the folds, and sew the pieces back and front together. Was hell...



And the coat!! I liked the result, though it's pretty rough there... Trying to pose them in a dancing position. Hey, they stood without any extra fix needed!





Bald......



And wallah!! With a head!



Testing the railings there. But it was fun getting him to stand on the stairs. Took a few more shots.





Sculpted the head of the girl too, since that's what I'm better at. Somehow, the skull wasn't done very well and affected the sculpted head.... T_T



Testing the lighting here. This was with two lights, one a key light from the top and another for the fill. Haha, have been reading up on how to light a stage there. After painting that 'Dive to World' painting, I was pretty much keen on sharpening my lighting skills, to see how it can be improved. Somehow, chanced upon some books in the library about stage lighting. Picked up one to read and boy, pretty much says a lot.



This one is without the fill light. Can see a more dramatic lighting there, a very high contrast. Still like the previous lighting.... but this one has it's own sombre mood.



Rushed out this picture this afternoon for the backgroud. Kind of like it.



And the two small portraits. Hopefully in tomorrow's shooting, everything will go smooth. Had a feeling I'll be shouldering the animation work heavily. Looking forward to the end of it, I guess some debriefing and reflection is needed. Probably it's late for this project, but definitely not for fyp. Many eyes have watched, I doubt it's gonna put her in a very good position. Maybe for me too, haha.

Have yet to reach the tip of Mt Meru...

...Pretty much says it all. Heh, guess I really draw more when facing exams and stress.... haven no idea where to start reading from, kind of really like a fish thrown into the sea for this module. Actually... for all art history modules... seems as though there aren't hardcore facts other than the size of the canvas/ sculpture/ architecture (even that is debatable due to erosion...)

2.30pm is the exam, having failed the first quiz and not knowing how I'd fare for the second, this is one major exam to pass. But till now... me still drifting... LOL. Well... an artwork to mark the ending of another module.

Wiki References:(although I detest it, but it's the best for last minute stuff... I guess.)
Didn't know churning the ocean of milk has such a philosophy behind... Hinduism isn't just about gods and goddesses, hehe.

Borobudur wikipedia article. The external link was interesting.

Angkor wat, someday.. hopefully go see this magnificent structure.

oh yea.. the final work for compositing assignment. Don't think it's good and too dark, still have time to change it, but I dun think I'll wanna touch it for now...



-------[9.40pm]-------

Been there, dunnit. Not sure if can secure a passing mark... the questions were pretty much thinking questions, asking for one's thoughts about the issues proposed... and I chose one question that was more like a book review >_< It was one of the most unexpected questions... never thought he would ask about the comparisons of the two perspectives proposed by the authors. I happened to read both books and the chunk of philosophy the prof had highlighted in the first few lecture notes a few times (he likes to use many adjectives that kind of gets me lost). It was really thinking, and I churned up things I never really had given thought of before. Although Rawson's perspective was as though 'overthrown' by Kerlogue's, it's was important to keep in mind that SEA was influenced by the external while knowing the own people had their perspective. To sieve through that multilayered ideas and symbolism by identifying the external and gazing directly at the internal, probably one can discover what SEA truly is speaking behind their artworks, which were pretty developed before the influx of the major Indian ideas. But yea, passage of time... it will be hard work since a lot is lost. Haha, judging from the questions he gave, guess he really detested the examinations.

Transience

Aye!! Done!!!! T_T T_T T_T.... Slaved over it for sometime. Getting stuck most of the time starting from 2 minutes onwards.. But glad that it's done!!!! And I used the entire song!!!!!!! T_T T_T T_T....

Whew.... Okie, we were told to choose a song and do out an mtv on it. I liked this song and having thought about doing an animation on it before, it was my first choice. However... it was five minutes long. Very long for a tight schedule... but I just wanna do it, for the song. Although I was happy about the entire story, the timing is just haywire... Not gonna look into that now, since nailing the storyboard was my main motivation. Time to start on my next assignment.

Plan for compositing assignment: Nailed.



Time to plan for presentation...

Puppet-ed

Finally done with my stop motion puppet. I was rushing it out cos I need it for my compositing assignment, which is gonna be due on April 8th.... along with the animation essay (that I had yet to start working on...) >_< Kind of satisfied with the final result, although it was not the initial design I planned for.



Aye, wires with foam, covered in stocking.

The stocking idea was something I observed from a doll a friend gave me. It was a handmade doll, and the body of the doll was cotton covered with some thin, white stretchy fabric that resembled stocking. Since I wanted a thin and slender body, and the foam was making the puppet look fat, I got a pair of stockings from the friendly neighbourhood shop and experimented with it.



Prof Eileen then showed the class some sculptor who uses stockings to create real-life looking sculptures.It was totally real-like... and you don't see the ends of the fabric. Wonder how she did that...



Anyways, added the hair and gave her some hairstyle... I'm a bad hairstylist, haha. I forgot to take the pictures for the process in between this and the result, cos was chionging late into the night. Sewed some cloth for her pants, glued whatever that need not be sewed.... how convenient, hahahaha~ UHU glue rules....



Front. Added some beads for jewellry.



Back. Added some beads for her hair, an idea from Jack Sparrow design (since I'm doing a mystic-gypsy.... but she ends up looking like some dancer-gypsy...)



The eyelids- eyeshadow idea was suggested by Eileen. She commented that the puppet had some sensual look to her, and the beady eyes were kind of not fitting well to the entire image. She suggested some eyeshadow there, similar to those chinese maiden's eyes you see on TV... Had some time figuring how to do that, and thankfully, there were some slits around the eye socket that allows me to stuff some paper into. Aye, UHU glue to the rescue.



Dancing dancing....



Somehow, I had this love-hate relationship for the hair. Used a new bunch of DMC thread for that and it just gets tangled up easily. It has this messed up look occasionally, but it is able to hold still in certain positions.



Had a lot of fun playing with it, but I fear the armature breaking. The foam is already starting to crack.... >_<





One down.... Many to go!!!!!! Focus focus!!!

Behind the Mask

The stop motion video done with the collaborated effort of Yin Huey and Eunice. It was a messy period of time, the class clashing with the Chinese New Year holidays and stuff. Anyways, yea! Managed to get it done in one day, but we do learned a lesson... never try doing stop motion films in one day... the time rush is reflected in the work...

In the State of Suffering...

The second stop motion project I did with Rui Fan... Currently facing a similar situation with homework, just that i dun have exams coming. Oh boy...

Too much acting, but we had fun animating the mannikin then. Posting the clown stopmo soon.

EPIC

Yes, Epic.
It's been a week.
All masks had been removed, all 'face' had been thrown.

... okie, that sounds serious... but it's epic, what tone should i give it anyway...? Since it's been shown to the class (and soon to the next), yea, I had slowly gotten off that embrassment phase... I think. I'm the epic head banger... (the in-class assignment had me banging the head too..) Ah well... Dun laugh.



That was our first stop motion animation assignment, took around 7 or 8 hrs of filming time. The 'army of chairs marching out' part was tiring to do, but was the most satisfying scene to see. Enjoyed the process of filming, though i didn't get to play much with the animating... other than the yellow, 'lame' chair, hahaha. The guys handled the editting and music, which I found their choice of music adds a lot to the hilarity than the 'epic-type' that we had initially planned for. Overall... a bit more drama than stopmo look, but still a fun project.

In the second assignment, our group was broken up into two, since the grouping is restricted to a maximum of three. Nevertheless, we end up helping each other since they need side actors and we (being a two-woman-show) need helpers as well. Rui Fan and I had a pretty hard time filming, since she's the actress for the film and I'm left alone to move the stuff around and take the shots. We had some trouble with the pre-production, the framing and flow and all, but when we get down to do the real thing, somehow, we managed to solve them out. Haha, that kind of went on till late in the night, and we were lucky to get a cab back. Thankfully, she just live a couple of blocks away from my home! 130am! Guess that's the first time I return home from any school so 'early'...



One of the props used in the film. Haha, threw it away after the filming, see no point keeping. Proportions off, face... probably a bit of resemblence...(yea, in denial..) One and half hours with charcoal. Maybe I should try doing more portraits at home... Arggh... the lazy bug.

Last two items to go...

Yeaps... this is the last two days... Most things are done and now left with the last two animations... Asian art history heng heng tested items that I had studied, accounting.... at least I understand what te question is asking for, but dunno if my figures are right... all can pass I happy liao.... as for now....
3D is scary... still texturing my stuff, haven't start animating. Well... there's only a spider walk to animate anyway, and a few camera movements, that's all for animating. But the rendering is expected to take a long time... and to think that Huiying's stuff is still hanging... Both are due on 27th Nov.... Hahahhahahahaa.... and I'm still blogging, yes..... cos I see some light for my 3D.

Gonna cheat my way through with the lighting now..... haha.... hope it works.

Managed to get some more ds games for those two kids to play. Kind of let loose a bit on my nds this week. Glad they enjoy pokemon. At least something to keep them from hogging the TV and PC during the holidays.

2 Down!

1. 2D animation final work due 20 something nov - min. 3 scenes animation
2. 3D animation final work due 24th Nov - still at modelling phase....
(DONE!)Figurative Painting - 1 Large self portraiture (next Tuesday...)
(DONE!!!) Craft of Writing essay due this Friday
5. Asian Art History exam on Nov 23rd...
6. Accounting examination on Nov 25th....
7. Huiying's animation seminar stuff...... due on 20th Nov.

Yay.

T_T



Blocking out...



In Progress...



So called done....

Decided to start on my painting instead of the animation, since it takes some time for it to dry. Initially thought I could just go back to it on the weekends, but guess this is what I am gonna hand in for the final. 4 hours... Didn't like it... the colors are bad in my opinion, could have been more relaxed with the choice, but I didn't want to risk it. Ah well...

Aside! The past is sunk!! On to the rest!!!

Rush hour...

Work.

Argh.

Arghh...

Haiz....

A lot of things to be done in two weeks time and I'm still snailing away...

1. 2D animation final work due 20 something nov - min. 3 scenes animation
2. 3D animation final work due 24th Nov - still at modelling phase....
3. Figurative Painting - 1 Large self portraiture (next Tuesday...)
4. Craft of Writing essay due this Friday
5. Asian Art History exam coming soon (dun even know the exact date... haiz)
6. Accounting examination on Nov 25th....
7. Huiying's animation seminar stuff.... due on 20th Nov.

Why liddat.... n I still need 8 hours of sleep.... die liao...



Not that I'm craving to sleep in there, but it just happened to be outside the animation studio one night when I was chionging my 2D animation homework. Took me by surprise as I didn't see it there when I entered in the afternoon. A while later, I figured out that it might have been for the film students, who have been filming there the past two nights. Never imagined students to go to that extreme... but that's cool. Never see such things in nyp, haha.



Decided to snap some pictures of it for future reference. Well... how often can you get so close to a coffin?



Last live portrait session with Figurative painting lessons. The next lesson, we'll be exhibiting all our works done so far, together with the final self-portrait painting, which I have not started on yet.... Haiz......

Accounts arrrr...............................................

Rush rush

It's been a long while.... lol.

Anyways, this is the time of the year when things gets all busy for me (gonna be so for another two more years). This time is a bit more busy, cos my aunt went overseas and grandma is left alone in the house. Mum felt it'll be better to have another person around there, so there I go. 2 weeks of camping... and it's not a great timing. Homework is piling up and I have yet to clear any. Accounts exam is just right after the 3D animation submission date, which spells danger... still in modelling phase for 3D... Huiying's project is at drafting stage, haven't done my 2D work, portrait oil painting, writing assignment... Art history exam around the corner too. The past week at grandma's place is a study camp, which actually kinda helped. Guess there are too many temptations at home.... lol.

Didn't draw anything other than Huiying's animation backgrounds... Concentrating on portraiture in the oil painting class... cos we gotta do a big self-portrait for our final project. :/


2nd portrait of the module. The model is pretty 'fidget-y', needs to constantly chat with the students to keep herself awake. Haha, her ghost stories were pretty entertaining though no one really responded to her as everyone was busy painting.



3rd portrait of the module: got a feeling this model is a yr 1 student from the school. She has a really cool lightning tattoo there which I didn't really capture well.



4th Portrait: this lady is a pro. She hardly moved at all during the posing, super professional. Her face is pretty interesting. I was standing in a position where I can only see her front features, but during the break, I realised her side view is totally different from what I see from the front. Her chin slopes inwards, making the face look a bit petite with her nose and lips very prominent. Her hairdo is really cool too, front long back short type. Wouldn't mind painting her again.

And some randomness....



Ting brought those paper bags back during Halloween, somekind of freebies she got somewhere down orchard road maybe. I thought the advertising was really cool. Those three kids kind of go crazy over it a while and I went snapping pictures of them. All came out pretty blur though... haiz...

1st Oil Painted Portraiture

Wee.... portraiture for today's painting class. It was my fist time painting while standing up, probably a much more liberal position to paint, though the problem of organising my materials and brushes was a little problematic. Since it's a one off thing, we had to finish the painting within the 2 hours. I thought I'll overshoot the timing, but hey, I placed my last brushstroke about half an hour earlier. Won't say it's a brilliant work, but at least I found my way of working around the painting. Didn't feel as lost as I did last week.

This few weeks would be a bit more slack... but I sense a big wave coming soon... Gonna try clear as much as possible these days.

Rainy day...

The morning started all rainy, with some lightning and thunder. Pretty big rain, so decided to stay at home to study accounting instead of heading for school. Ah well... failed the mcq quiz by 1 mark. Kind of sad there, but must admit that I didn't study well for it. The questions were very indirect, which asks one to be really familiar with their concepts instead of dead math. Haiz... to think that my maths was really bad there too, so guess it was doubly hard....

Pretty depressed, wondering if I should go do painting there. I'm aware that my mood can affect those colors pretty badly, bringing about muddy and heavy colors, and not to forget that I get lost in oil painting easily... Somehow, a part of me wondered what would become of the artwork if I did go paint it at that time. Besides, I have to finish it by this week... They are gonna start on the nude model next week, no time for this still life by then.



Guess I really got lost in the painting process. Had a hard time with the cloth and kept meddling it, until I decided that it'll drag on till late if I don't stop correcting it. Went to the marbles, which was a headache, and I end up slapping all sorts of colors there. Wonder is it because of the overall dull tones surrounding the marbles that made them stand out. It was unintentional, but I guess that's what you get from a bright pink, yellow and deep prussian blue palette, and some burnt sienna too, lol. Feels like a dead serious vs playful painting. Regret putting that marble in the corner, maybe I'll erase it next time.

Drift and drift

Toraoh from Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru!! Haiz... I'm getting very restless these days. Feels like I have a lot to do yet dun feel like doing them. Was trying to draw the artworks for huiying's project, but just couldn't settle down and do it well. Many blocks there, keep getting stuck. Accounts quiz tomorrow!! Die liao.... I wonder how much I can remember, totally not confident there, since I hardly touched the textbook eversince I felt it's just too much info. Argh...
End up digging the old anime out to watch. A bit. Lol... (argh, I just realised that the date is written wrongly.... I'm still living in september I guess..... T_T)



On to the fourth still life oil painting. This time, we borrowed the previous set-up of another fellow module-mate, and painted it. Kind of fun, but I find myself in the distress mode everytime I start a new painting. It's the kind of 'I dunno where to start from' feeling, and everything is a doodle. On top of that, I started with a new palette, one which I'm not very sure if it can work out, cos the red is bright pinkish, the blue is an extremely dark prussian and the yellow is all bright like lemon. Kinda freaky handling a new palette...



Guess I need to tell myself to just anyhow paint there next time and care about the shades after that. See how it turns out tomorrow ba!