Research On Self Employed Work

Recently I visited an old friend of the family who wanted to show me her grand daughter's illustrated children's books. I really liked her style, as her work was designed as a collage. I thought it would be a good idea to email her and ask if she would like if I turned one of her stories in to an animation. She emailed me back and sounded interested, and asked what my idea was.

Here is one of her illustrations

www.sparkypinklet.com

If everything goes well I plan to do this over the summer and find out from futures if I can come in and use the facilities, as I would like to do my animation on the multi-plane.

Research Hot Animation

Another place I'm planning to apply for is Hot Animation. This company does 'Bob the Builder' and 'Pingu'. Their website is http://www.hotanimation.com/, which has contact details. This is another children's t.v company.

Business Cards Research

Ready for the show and applying for jobs we need to make a business card. So I've look online at some sites to get some inspiration, like http://stocklogos.com/topic/ultimate-creative-business-cards-collection. I wanted to some different, creative and interactive. These are some of the business cards that I thought stood out to me.

I want something colourful with a picture or pattern covering one side. I also would like to do a set that is in 2 or 3 different colours. My business card needs to relate to animation, so thought I could make a business card that when you spun it, it would create an optical illusion (video below). I thought I could do this with my logo name.

Animation Blue Screen Sand Troll

Before moving on to the beach animation I used this opportunity to do some blue screens and animate the scene where the Sand Troll is coming out of the sand and part of the sand. I will animate the scene and then in after effects edit out the blue screen. Shot 17 will be tricky because I will have to get the timing right, so Sophie is looking and reacting at the right time.

This shot is where the Sand Troll first emerges out of the sand and Sophie sees him for the first time, terrified.

This is at the end where the Sand Troll's head and arm are just on view, waving goodbye.

Animation Cave Shots

I decided to animate all the big stuff before animating the beach scene. So I've animated the cave scene even though it's one of the last shots. I had fun filling the cave with bits and bobs that the Sand Troll has collected from the beach. I use things like rope, toy tire, small shells and orange netting for a fishing net. I also made a welly boot, a water buoy and an ore.

This is also when the Sand Troll gives Sophie a compass. So I did a bit of research and made a tiny compass painted bronze with copper wire. In post production I'm going to add a needle to the close up shot of the compass.

Research Mackinnon and Saunders

Another company I would love to work for is Mackinnon and Saunders. This is a company that specialises in making puppet for different companies, ranging from television shows to, feature films and commercials. This is their website http://www.mackinnonandsaunders.com/what-we-do/. They've done things like 'Corpse Bride', 'Bob the Builder', and 'Fantastic Mr Fox'. I will hopefully be able to look around the place when I finish University.

They are also based in Manchester, which is somewhere I would be happy to live.

Research on the company Chapman

Another company I'm going to apply for is Chapman. They do stuff like 'Roary the Racing Car' and 'Fifi and the Flowertots'. They are based in London, but they maybe will be coming up to Manchester soon. Here is the website http://www.chapmanentertainment.co.uk/#/home/, with contact details.