BSA303, Spoon 30 June, 2017

I called Darryl today and he said come on over Monday!  They use After Effects and Cinema4D for their 3D so he doesn't think he can offer me anything BUT is happy for me to sit in and watch his editor work.  And he's going to think about what sort of stuff he might be able to use me for.  I did tell him that this is an opportunity for me to try new things and see what I really might like to do.  We'll chat more on Monday.

BSA303, Pop-Up Workshop visit, 29 June, 2017

I spent an hour and a half talking to Jeremy Dillon, creator of The Moe Show, and a tour of the studio.  I got to hear about how he came up with show, worked with their commissioner, and have continued to evolve the show over the 5 years it's been on the air.  And he looked at my pitch bible and gave me some feedback!  It was really awesome.  I got to see the set where they film everything (it's built high above the ground to accommodate performers with puppets raised over their heads), edit and hold meetings.  They took over an old fabric warehouse so they'd have filming and office space.  It's a nice space.  They avoid post -production fixes by doing everything on camera: what I thought was a green screen and animated scenery is a giant scenery painting, suspended cotton wool clouds, and tree branches that wave in the "wind" thanks to a strategically placed fan.  The clouds are pushed along during the show so it looks like things are changing naturally outside.  It's a little touch that he reckons makes hte world more real for the viewer.  The puppets are made by Pasha in Texas.  They have had to replace them over the years but try to avoid it as it's very hard to get exact duplicates.  They mostly have a pull tab that operates eyelids or wings and Gilbert is the most mechanical of them all.  When their mechanisms break, they get sent back to Texas for a fix up and the schedule gets switched around to cover their absence.  Pasha is coming out to NZ in October for ten days to be on set while they're filming the Christmas special so they can keep to schedule.  

These are some of my take aways from Jeremy's comments:

On what he learned from doing his shows:
let your characters have insecurities.  Perfect characters are boring!
Really think about what life was like for you when you were a kid.  Think about what's a problem for the kid, in their life, and not what their parents think they should be learning.  ex. Can you do a show about eating your vegetables?  Kids see right through that.

He started with Moe then brought in the other 3 characters, and they've  now developed to the point where they host their own segments of the show.
Base your characters on someone you know and let them grow from there.  Gilbert Gecko is based on Jeremy's cousin with short man disease. lol
Animation is more expensive than filming puppets.
Find a character who kids can relate to as their own best friend who nobody else has:  he thought about Elliot from the original Pete's Dragon, ET, and a labrador puppy when he was designing Moe's look and personality.
Be open to things changing from the original idea.  changes can comes from the outside, commissioner, or the inside, puppeteers getting a better feeling for their characters.
Fern the Fairy has developed from a girl who whines when Moe doesn't do what she wants to do to someone who says "your loss!" and goes on her way.  He said they struggled for a long time to take her from being manipulative to independent, which he feels is the right message for girls to take away from the show.  She and Moe are best friends who also disagree.
Frank is a fantail but people mistake him for an owl, which has become a running joke on the show.
The funding process is changing and they're developing a new show, too.  After 250 episodes, Moe has pretty much seen as much of New Zealand as he can.
Gilbert's character was going to be a stoat but the commissioner pointed out that NZ kids are taught to hate stoats because they kill kiwi birds.  So he became a gecko, a lizard that lives on the Coromandel Peninsul, the setting of the show.

On what he saw in my pitch bible:
 Get your main character (Jellybean) sorted and figure out how the others react- what do they bring out in each other?
How can your show's premise be expanded so it's possible to make a 5 year series?  Networks want a hit and you may be out of material after 7 shows if you cover one emotion per episode.  If it's the choice between sinking money into a one-year or a five-year show, the 5-year show wins.  Jeremy's idea:  make it a problem solving show where they can deal with emotions or math, or learning, or anything in the world.  Jellybean takes the girl to the Imagination Warehouse where the crew helps her figure things out.

Keep thinking about things from a kid's perspective and find a core story from your childhood to help ground you.  Jeremy referred several times to a memory he had of being afraid of the hydroslide and not being able to admit it or to try it when he got more comfortable with the idea.  His dad pretended to be nervous and asked Jeremy to go down the slide with him.  Jeremy got to "help Dad out" without the risk of looking bad and didn't miss out on doing something that he had changed his mind about.

Moe with Jeremy in the art department

Auckland textures, 29 June, 2017

Christmas windows project, 19 April, 2017

SIT arcade-windows can be unfrosted because they're just stickers
Raw gallery windows could also be used

write up proposal and take it to Kathryn and creative Invercargill and ask for funding
proposal- look at formatting of video game proposal
encourage people to walk around town and see what's going on- maps
talk to artists and students about creating their own window displays
for first year, could be based on central theme (Christmas in Southland) or one story (12 days of Christmas or Nativity) that is well known and each artist interprets it in their own way.
Can use empty shop windows near established attractions like Bill Richardson's Transport World or Motorcycle Mecca
Because people want parking options, consider making the route central to the downtown district with a start and end near parking lots
if people get their maps stamped by a certain number of retailers, their parking gets validated? discounted?

28 June- Kari from Invercargill City Council sent me an email!  I told her I was in Auckland for three more weeks but would love to chat via phone or skype.

BSA303, internship stuff, 21 June, 2017

2nd round of internship requests
Blockhead

Awwww!  They made the Piggy Sue ad!

http://www.toybox.co.nz/
https://careers.airnewzealand.co.nz/belong-here/career-options/digital/

westpac
https://www.westpac.co.nz/rednews/business/5-underrated-work-skills/  advice

Be curious and open-minded

Be positive

Write warm emails

Listen and understand

Be tech savvy

http://www.spoontv.co.nz/
Ad campaigns for TV for NZ brands, ads are mini movies/tv shows, learn lots very quickly in a short amount of time.   They shoot, edit, and animate in-house and make web content, as well.

brandspank

Jamie

https://www.yukfoo.net/
character design portfolio

Their character design page is VERY interesting.  I need to take tips from how they've displayed their sketches and the variety that they've displayed.  This would be a good way of showing off my costume design rendering skills.

Sticky TV branding and interstitials


Pickled Possum Productions

makers of Little Monstar and Tiki Tour

Phone

(09) 3767780

Email

office@pickledpossum.co.nz

upcoming presentation assignment:
Week before presentation, poster promoting my presentation.  Should be in colour A3 format for print (300dpi) and web (72dpi A4).
Public presentations of 30 minutes will be scheduled to talk to the public/SIT community about our internships. Start by introducing myself and current practice, then introduce company/companies you have worked for and a succinct summary of the work done by them and give some historical context.

Invite local companies but definitely let anyone who can't come know what's going to be in the presentation.

Knowledge of what was gained during internship should be shared.

Describe role/duties/responsibilities of my internship, what was gained from experience and how this feedback goes into own practice and/or future practice.  Include as much imagery as possible but remember to respect copyright of company and ask for permission.

Make sure this presentation leads into a productive question/answer session to increase the personal and audience learning experience.

Presentation should be given as soon after internship as possible and not later than 27th October, 2017.

Assessment will be based on:

• Ability to engage with an audience
• Engaging and actively sharing your knowledge and informing/educating others through your experience.
• An understanding of the company you have internshipped with.
• A realistic awareness of your contribution within the internship.
• Ability to critically reflect upon experience during your internship, including whether/how it matched your expectations.
• An awareness of lessons learned, any strengths or weaknesses highlighted during the course of your internship.
• An ability to relate your internship back to practice and future practice.
• Aspects of presentation, including standard of dress, fluency of delivery and visual aids will be taken into account.

Presentations can be delivered on site (local) if that enhances the presentation.

BSA303, Auckland Day 6, 29 June, 2017

I'm going to visit Jeremy Dillon at The Moe Show studios today!  I got an email from him yesterday inviting me over for a visit at one today.  Hooray!  More on that later.

I've been working on my application materials for the Christchurch Hagley Park College animation tutor job.  That will go in today.

My mate Nikola has been working her contacts.  Somebody from someplace has a contact of their own at Weta.  "Traci has a masters in costume design and that's her dream job!  That put some pressure on him."  Hahaahha!  I love Nikola.  She's got some other people she's networking with and will reach out to.99 today.  And it turns out that I also know someone at .99- in true Kiwi fashion, a friend of a friend's boyfriend who I met at a bbq is a graphic designer there.  Ha!

Jillian's contacts are all old crushes and now she's paranoid that they've blocked her which is why they're not responding to her networking attempts on my behalf.  HA!!!!  I'd be more concerned if they texted back "new phone, who dis?"  That's when you know they've cut you off.

Today I WILL call/email Darryl from Spoon and Jamie from Mediaworks/Jono and Ben.  No point being shy with people I already know.

I go the central library branch to do my internship stuff as it's only marginally less distracting than my mate's place.  Homeless men NEVER get into fistfights while I'm trying to eat sushi on a bench at her house but the library doesn't have episodes of make-up reality contest show Face Off to distract me.  It's a real 6 of one/half dozen of another situation in terms of concentration.

BSA303, Auckland Day 3, 26 June, 2017

Right before I left Invercargill Saturday, my mate Jillian called to ask if I'd like for her to reach out to her industry contacts on my behalf.  A mutual friend of hers told her I was coming up for internship hours, something I had completely failed to do myself.  So Lesson 1, which I have to relearn all the time, is that people know people and I know people and I need to tell everyone I know what I'm up to and what I'm looking for because something might come up out of the blue.  I've sent Jillian my CV and website details and she'll pass them on. She knows a freelance production guy who makes stuff for industry events and a guy who works at Maori TV.  Watch this space for more details.

On Sunday, I visited my favourite fabric store, Centrepoint, on their last trading day in their old premises on Morrow St., Newmarket.   I was looking for ochre velvet/ terry cloth/plush something for Jellybean's head and stomach but ended up leaving with four more meters of two kinds of purple fur.  They are much more textural than the kind I currently have and I can mix them around, patchwork style, to give Jellybean more visual interest.  I also bought 2 meters of red vinyl for his sneakers.  It's too much, and I know that, but I'd rather have too much than not enough.  And at $10 a meter, it was too good to pass up.  If I decide not to use the fur on Jellybean, I will make myself a coat.  Ha ha!  Awesome.

Today, Monday, I emailed Jeremy from The Moe Show and Alex from Mukpuddy today to follow up on offers or to request visits to their studios.  I will also follow up with Nikola re her industry contacts in ad agencies.  AND I will apply for the teaching job in Christchurch.  If I spend a very active first week networking, I should start getting hours by the middle of next week.

In the meantime, I will also do some project work.  My mate Helen and I have been going through my prototype pitch bible this afternoon.  She is an excellent editor and asks tough questions.  It's good to put my thoughts through the wringer now and again as they just get clearer and clearer the more I talk about it.

BSA324, arnold renderer and look development, 23 June, 2017

Look at this!  It's looking VERY bumpy and bricky now.  I had a very nice session with Rachel today learning about the Arnold renderer, making bump, normal and specular maps to increase the depth of my textures, and lighting.  Each renderer changes the look of the scene and Arnold looks very nice indeed.  It also renders what the camera sees so I won't need to remove everything off-screen before sending the scene for rendering.  That will save heaps of time and effort.

Photoshop makes normal and bumps maps super fast from the original file.  Create a new layer and then under the filter menu, open 3D and then choose generate bump or normal map.  Voila.

When the normal map was loaded into the brick node system in Maya, it went very pale which we discovered was due to the red and green channels needing to be inverted.  Since a little bit of reflection was needed on the high points of the brick and not the grout, a new brick layer was created and desaturated then darkened up until only little specks of grey would be seen.  This was named brick_spec.tga and loaded in under specular settings.  The brick was changed from a blinn to an aiStandard1 which gives more choices.

Lighting is always it's own large and separate undertaking.  There will be floating light sources on some of the aisles and in general, the mood should be of a darkish warehouse with lights high above the aisles and most things in shadow.   This will create good separation between the background and the characters, who are quite colourful.  It's going to be great!

 Split screen view to see objects without and with texture and lighting.
My preferences were set to the grid plane being on centimeters.   Once that went up to meters per square, the whole set was grouped and then scaled up to fit.  That meant the cameras can move around easier and I can look around from the perspective of a small girl.

BSA324, set dressing Prickles' sock museum, 21-22 June, 2017

I've been making fabric rolls, jars, and boxes to dress the shelves.  I'll wait on texturing until I get back.  I need the shelves to look full but not busy and distracting.

BSA306, BSA324, animation review: New Google doodle, 21 June, 2017

On what seems to be a 10 second loop, a little mouse ice skates, rolls through it's snug little root cellar and then hits the ice again in today's google doodle celebrating the 1st day of winter in the southern hemisphere.  It is a simple story told with economic images and is utterly charming.  I would like to practice this style of animation and storytelling because it's very effective.  

BSA325, wrap up meeting, 21 June, 2017

Re-shoots of the day 2 shooting will be done during the two-week break depending on actor and set availability.  A skeleton crew will be used and crew availability is being determined.  I will be in Auckland for the next four weeks.  The film will not be complete by the premiere date and that booking at Centrestage has been cancelled for another date TBA.  Instead of a community event, we'll have a cast and crew event with the final polished product rolling out at Southsure/Flix.

BSA303, Appendix format experiment 1, 20 June, 2017

in powerpoint.  Good photo and annotation but needs all exhibitions should be on one page to prevent dissertation from going becoming massive.  

BSA324, BSA303, reflections on Exhibition 2, 20 June, 2017

These exhibitions have been very helpful.  In addition to placing milestones within my project for me to reach on a regular basis, they're a good way for me to measure progress and to appreciate what I've made.  So many times when I've been making costumes and crafts for a show, everything just sits around in inauspicious piles until the very last minute when POOF! like magic, it all comes together and becomes a costume.  While I've had faith in my ability to meet deadlines and get the job done, I know that the optics are bad and always pray that nobody sees what's going on before it is ready.  Thanks to the exhibitions I have finished pieces to show off amongst the in-progress work and props to illustrate my plans for the show.  I'll take the pitch bible prototype with me to Auckland for feedback from friends and professionals and will continue refining it for the 3rd exhibition.  I'm on the fence about taking my 3D print of Jellybean but sometimes people respond more to objects they can touch than images.  

BSA324, test render IW, 19 June, 2017

Good gravy- I think that that mirror panel really IS reflecting something- I had no idea. I'll have to keep playing with it until it reads as a mirror all the time.

The pale versions are RAW files- too many computers being slaved to the render farm means that some of them, for some reason, come back needing colour correction.  Rachel says the fix for that is to set fewer machines, all in 242, to the task overnight.  The purple blob is a stand-in Jellybean for scale.  He needs to be able to fit between the shelf end caps- though I suppose if he's made from a beanbag he could squeeze himself in anywhere- he isn't SOLID.  Once I get Girl modeled, that will help me decide how big he really is.

The texture on the shelves is still quite grainy.  I will either try UV unwrapping them again or I'll use that texture as layer 1 and paint over it in programs like Mari or Maya.  I do like that they're not uniformly dark or light because it adds to the visuals.  

BSA324, using Deadline slave system, 19 June, 2017

Deadline slave should automatically come up when you log on.  Don't exit, minimize the window.  All of the slaves in the building should be activated- we can only use 30 slave nodes at a time but they're roving and not attached to any particular computer.
When it comes on, DS talks to the repository.
Open deadline Monitor 8 should be opened if you want to render anything.

Can look at it by job and report view.
Rendering happens in the background as a user is working.  Otherwise, it'll use full computer capacity to render.
Super User mode can be used from any computer to restart the computers without having to go to the computer.

You can reboot computers, disable them if they're sending back bad renders,
Newer computers, like those in 242, are returning better renders.
DON'T use configure tool options.

This windows shows which computers are doing what in the repository.
There's a plugin in Maya to send files directly to deadline slave.

Things in maya to look out for when cleaning up files for DS.
set project windows as usual.
file must be set up correctly:
1. must have scene directory  (full file and all connections) on render farm
textures: check addresses in hypershade to make sure computer is looking at correct address: eg source images folder on Y drive in render farm folder.
2. maya options
project directory- points to where the project file is
Maya file is to actual scene to be rendered
output folder is to where the images go after rendering.  all 3 fields must be filled.
specify frames in scene to frame list.  frames per task:  how many frames will go to which computers "packet". 4 frames means small packets and if they fail to render, you have smaller bits to re-render
choose version of maya, rendering and 64 bits.
hit submit

can get out of somebody else's rendering by choosing deadline slave option- c?  something and choose close out when current task is finished.  restart computer to get back into DS system.
use mental ray rendering system

huge file names can be a problem for rendering
get rid of any unused nodes
scene optimisation before rendering.
bake textures in
turn off fire filtering

BSA303, Documentation powerpoint, 19 June, 2017

Use exhibition materials in appendix to show milestones of work.
Put key pictures into the dissertation and then break down of process into appendix.
keep folders per fortnight so it's easier to keep track of the phases of the project.
look at Yellow workbook and read documentation task section- easiest 30 points of project, so pay attention to it.
Don't leave this until the last moment- work on this during the break in Auckland.
Blog doesn't automatically translate into the appendix- it's a repository to draw from but needs to be structured to be in the appendix.
Second semester is about developing writing and appendix.

Final hand-in date week after Southsure Flix event so final results can be included in the dissertation.
Exact date TBA.

BSA324, 3D modelling the IW, 14-18 June, 2017

jar ideas from Archer

in progress modelling and texturing of Imagination warehouse.  This is the layout that I established with my overhead view concept art.  I've always been concerned that its too simple and doesn't look like a complicated warren of shelves and objects.

16 June- adding stuff to the warehouse and expanding it so it looks more complex.  I've increased the height and length of the shelves and enlarged the shell of the warehouse to accommodate them.  I've moved the textures and a great number of the objects that I created for my video game to the Madbad folder system for recycling.  It will help me to fill out the warehouse.  Ideally, every shelf would be full and every aisle would be it's own separate play space but that's unnecessary at this stage of the project when I'm only going to be using 3 aisles and the center for the animated segment I'm producing.  

 17 June-more decorating and layout.

This will become Prickles sock museum.

This will be Flash's polar sled park.

This will be Dr. Picklesniffer's surgery.

Nothing planned here, it will just be a nice background when looking down the aisles.

 This will be a nice set piece someday.

 Portraits and frames from my video game Nightmare Nursery.

 Filled with dress ups someday.  Once the main locations are dressed, I can look down the camera for blank spots and fill them with backdrops that make the aisles look full.

A look through the shelves around Flash's sled park.  Introducing some tricky entrances and exits to the aisles could be interesting visually and for staging each scene.