In this project, we cooperated with students from different majors. Finally, our finished product is a microfilm played by real people, including 2D background and 2D character animation.
At the beginning of this project, the number of people was very large. We got to know each other, communicated and interacted, and we made a keyword board for this project together. During the interaction, we talked a lot about the design of the script, the characters and the background. In the early stage of the project, almost every student actively participated in each part, and the rapid output of the story version made our progress very stable. At the same time, I am working on character design.
When designing characters, we take the initiative to choose which people are responsible for which role according to everyone’s preferences. At the beginning, everyone gave many ideas and drafts. It was difficult for us to make a choice, so we voted in class. But not long after we chose the role, some students who had not participated in the design some time ago gave many different ideas and designs, so we voted about three times to choose the final character. As a result, our progress is behind, and it also puts pressure on other students.
The new character design means that there should be new people to colour, clean up and turn the characters. Although this part of the work is usually carried out by whoever chooses the role, some students have already got other work to do during this period. We need to promote each part synchronously, so our division of labour becomes more complicated. Some people have done a lot of work, but the rest don’t know what to do. This polarisation has led to students who don’t know what to do have nothing to do, while other students who have jobs are very busy and have no time to help others or communicate.
What surprised me most was that after we voted about three times, many roles were still changed. And some of these changed characters have no one dealt with, which means that we have one or two roles that are very behind schedule. At this time, it is time to start making character animations, which is very bad news for us. I carry out the animation and character design part at the same time. My character animation is a character that has not been completed. After communicating with the tutor, I am fully responsible for the design, improvement and animation part of the character. This character is the shadow cat.
At that time, the characters voted for were designed by two students, and the character styles and designs designed by these two students were very different. It’s hard for me to find something in common between them. I can only try to combine their designs according to my ideas. I think it is also because this role has elected two different representatives, so no one has taken the initiative to do the follow-up work for this role.
Just after I finished the design and improvement of the shadow cat character, the progress of the character animation was already very tight. Judging from the video given by the actor, the shadow cat part I am responsible for is about 30 seconds. This is undoubtedly a great challenge for me, so I began to take notes and analyse how to arrange the 30-second content. Whether it’s the actions of the characters or the overall rhythm, I want them to see it more completely. But my 30-second animation drawing and colouring by myself is really slow.
Although I use Chinese, taking notes in my native language is really good for me to analyse and plan the next steps. I try to keep in touch with everyone and go to school to do animation every day. However, from the beginning of the animation progress, it is obvious that some students are sick and unable to attend the course. When the animation part was about to end, I was also very unfortunate because I worked at home for about 10 days because of seasonal gastroenteritis. Despite the slow progress, I submitted the part I was responsible for before the deadline of the project. I do the rest of the animation production and colouring at home, and I complete all the 30-second content by myself.
I think the most stressful part is in the later part of the animation production. Some students left their drafts and disappeared. I remember that there were less than 10 people in the character animation section for about two weeks. Character animation is a very consuming part of the experience and workload. Even if there is one less person’s participation, it will double the pressure on other students. We finally finished it, but the process was very difficult. I also learned a lot from this animation production, such as using the right way to plan your clips. Or using the correct draft assistance can help me produce animation more accurately and efficiently. The most valuable thing is that I have learned a professional animation software.
Finally, after the project was completed, we began to write and organise our personal portfolio. I took some notes while listening to the tutor’s analysis and examples, which helped me complete the writing part clearly. This also allows me to look back at the project process in these two months from a more complete perspective. I found that I also have a lot of shortcomings. I feel that I still don’t have enough communication with other professional students, and I don’t upload the progress every day when making animation, which makes everyone worried. In the following work, I will make sure that the progress of all my projects is progressing steadily. If it is a group cooperation, I will set up a clear timeline for myself and actively maintain communication with the team members, so that the project can proceed smoothly, instead of having great pressure on everyone at the end.
