04/04/22
Been an interesting 2nd semester so far in terms of Interdisciplinary, pretty much very up and down in terms of my emotions towards it. The project I had chosen was probably too much of a new area to jump into as it was literally new to me (I have never done claymation before) and my general morale is shot. This has effected my general output in energy and effort towards the main project also (sadly) but what can you do? It will be a learning curve for when the real meat of the degree starts next year in late 2022. There is also a sad question of whether I’m really the right fit for this module but the next wave of grades will conclude whether this is the case or not as last semester’s grades were extremely rewarding for me.
09/04/22
My Journey of Rainfall film (Semester 1 project) has been chosen to be shown at the Tonnau film festival at Aberystwyth Art Centre on the 6th of May and at the Star Of the Sea in Borth on the 7th of May. So happy about the result! Big thank you to Miranda for the recommendation of the festival!
Making the bricks for the house building / timelapse.
12/04/22
This project has been extremely difficult in places, mainly due to lighting and the obvious difficulties that come to composing scenes within claymation, it’s honestly been one of the most challenging things I’ve tried. Personally I don’t think its good enough for the takeover and I believe that will be the final verdict when it comes to submitting it anyway. Coming in at 555 photos and 1 minutes and 20 seconds so far, I believe it will be finished in time for the takeover but It’s very very rough in places sadly.
Below are more progress shots:
Next year I am going to focus on artistic properties and small installations instead of film, as film is starting to drain me as it’s basically all I’ve been doing so far, it’s highly enjoyable but a change will be needed. As an artist/filmmaker and what I believe most filmmakers/artists may come across is that it’s always heartbreaking when a project doesn’t come out the way you want it too. But this is what first year is about, a huge learning curve for sure.
An idea that has been stuck in my mind from the beginning of this project is not to write a conventional soundtrack for the film but more of a ‘music conveys the words and sounds’ approach (The Snowman, UP, Other Pixar films). So in the post production I’m going to write in music and and instrumental sounds and movements that convey the scenes and emotions presented in the shot.
A useful tool within Logic is the ability to play alongside or write whilst the movie is playing, this is extremely useful for scoring a soundtrack beat for beat. As shown below:
13/04/22
Today marks hours of work for 10 seconds worth of footage, I decided on a Timelapse scene with the house being built, not only did I have to make the bricks but also put the house together shot by shot. I was impressed with the outcome considering there was no glue, just clay bricks.
Much like a real home, it took a sense of fragility and care as the walls were easily slipping away from the others.
A house divided can never stand.
Going forward I haven’t mentioned in previous posts that I have differed from the storyboard I started at the beginning, the story and narrative is still there, just different framing and scenes. Coming up to the 2 minute mark now. Also a potential poster is now made:
17/04/22
More progress on the film, baby is born, couple are happy. All is well for now, the twist will happen in the next few scenes, then the climax and ending result. Editing will follow suit along with the musical scripting. I have also decided to move from the miscarriage based on my mums experience to the baby sadly dying after the birth as the baby bump wasn’t looking good in shot.
As were coming towards end of easter break, I feel that I have to already reflect on the process and whether it was a good idea or not. The project and theme/idea is definitely strong, depending on the reaction I feel that the execution isn’t perfect, based on this I have gone over what should of gone differently:
Negatives:
More Clay – To build bigger scenes and make the people bigger, but due to budget it wasn’t on the table. This would also negate the reliance on the green screen itself.
Bigger figurines (not palm sized) – This would make the movements easier and more fluent
Lighting – If the budget was bigger and I was employed still, I would of invested in a Lightbox or sufficient lighting to help recuse artifacting.
Frame-rate – Understand how many shots are needed based on the FPS, helps more fluency in scenes
Positives:
There is a charm to the roughness of the scenes, I feel that a message is coming across effectively if not the most obvious.
The clay house looks great and has a personal touch to it as I have moulded the bricks with my hands and not used any glue or cement.
Based on the budget I feel it has gone really well, as well being shot purely on a phone
19/04/22
More progress on the shots, it’s just as well as the clay models are starting to wear due to the handling over time. But this could add to an ageing sort of process within the film.
Today also marks the near end of the main editing of the film and the final shots of the clay itself. Editing has been smooth, subtitles are nearly complete.
The main meat of the film will now be in the music which will be in production over the next few days in time for release/takeover.
21/04/22
FILM IS FINISHED!
Proposal form and claymation are complete. All that is left now is to score the music alongside the film within Logic. The film has ended up at 4 minutes, give or take. This is fine for me as I have never attempted animation properly or claymation before, I feel that the result is fine, good enough. We will see!
Score has started, it’s not as intuitive as I could mean it to be but its definitely unique and fitting to the feel of the film. Its a incredible talent for someone to have (Howard Blake) to create a soundtrack in time with what’s happening in the scenes in front of him!
Scoring is now finished, more on the simpler side but I believe it is effective. I am very pleased with how the score has come out overall, the songs sound like they can be linked and are all original tracks by myself.
That comes the end of the project, tomorrow I will be giving the film to the cinema within the usb stick.
22/04/22
Usb has been handed into box office, ready for the take-over. I tried uploading to YouTube but it’s not processing the sound file so I’ve had to take it down.
Below is the soundtrack score for the film as it’s played throughout the film:
Below is also the finished film, but no audio due to problems with YouTube. The original compsotition and soundtrack it above.