Britvic Brief dissection

For the last brief I decided that I would dissect the brief for Britvic J2O. Since I'm not here to follow the rest of the module and time was running out, dissection only up to the point where you put together a proposal was sufficient.

Problem identification:
There is an immature image regarding the drink, "chavvy" as they put it themselves.
What do they want me to do:
Redesign the packaging while still containing the message that the drink consists of two blended fruits. Logo still placed clearly in sight.
What are they trying to achieve?
Probably aiming for a bigger market through a new, more fresh design.
Who will benefit?
The company most probably.
What is the message?
That the drink, even though it's a (blended) juice, it's not only suited for children. It's a sophisticated drink meant for every age group.
What is the audience:
25-35 year olds, confident, prefer regular drinks over alcohol when getting together.
How will the message be delivered?
Through the new designs that will be visible in shops and bars.

Next series of questions:
Who is the audience, established by Britvic:
25-35 year old men and women who love getting together. Confident, grown up and not shy to drink soft drinks over alcoholic drinks without being frowned upon.
Who should the audience be?
Since they strive to appeal to the grown up audience, to "get rid" of the "childish image", I suggest just the grown ups in general of different age groups. So everybody over age 25, with an established network or not.
Who could the audience be?
Young adults for they are mature enough to appreciate the values set by Britvic, since they want to get rid of the image, choosing an audience of younger children would be inappropriate.
Why are they your audience?
They are consumers as well. Everybody who wishes to drink a juice should rightfully do so, so I don't want to narrow it down to a group with an age difference of ten years.
What does this audience do?
The audience is expected to have a full time job (hence the established network)
Where do they go?
Keeping in mind that they have a full time job, I'd say they would go to pubs to meet up with friends or colleagues outside office hours or in the weekends.
What do they buy?
In pubs: I'd reckon alcoholic beverages on occasion? When not interested in alcoholic beverages I think they'd usually order something fizzy like cola, or perhaps juice. (Is OJ a drink regularly consumed outside of breakfast here in the UK?)
In stores: If not fizzy, probably the first best A-brand juice or perhaps budget. As long as they like the taste.
What do they want to be?
Confident grown ups, in possession of established social networks. Meaning: I think, even though this is the same as the set target audience, this fits it quite well. People want to be confident with a nice group of friends to hang out with.


5 important words:
- Satisfying
- Socialising
- Confident
- Adult
- Mix/Blend of two fruits.

5 important considerations:
- It's a blend of two fruits
- J2O maintaining its consumer recognition is important
- Synonymous use of their colour green
- Stand out
- Visit selling points for inspiration.

5 related products:
- Innocent
- 5Alive
- Tropicana
- POM
- Oceanspray

5 related places:
- Pub
- Supermarkets
- Canteen/cafetaria
- Juice bars (?)
- Cinema (or location of the same setting)

I intend to produce:
A few designs that fit the already existing style, while bringing something new and fresh to the shelves of the supermarkets and cafes.
The content will focus on:
The properties of the drink I'm intending to sell. --> a blend of two fruits
I will be aiming to communicate:
The freshness and appropriateness of the product.
To an audience of:
Sophisticated and confident people. Preferable grown ups to enlarge the already existing audience for the product.

Qwertee design #5

The last design I've been working on is a kiddie version of Mike Wazowski because I think he is just extremely adorable and easy to pull off (I hope) I combined a few elements from the film about mini Mike (the big teeth in front, tiny proportions, big eye and the cap) and went for a simplistic approach. To make it a bit easier I copied each of the legs and arms to the other side to create a bit of symmetry, this will be a bit easier on the eyes so the main focus is on the eye and hat. I went for the same approach like the last one, a design with no lines, because I felt that this approach would fit the cutesy style of the drawing the best.

Qwertee design #4

This time again I made a design based on a creature from the Avatar universe. The fire ferret (a mix between a ferret and a red panda I guess?) is a recurring character in the Legend of Korra series since it's a pet of one of the main characters. I wanted to try and create a simple design using only panels without lines, so I thought this might be a good opportunity. Most difficult part about making a design like this is that I had to extra focus on all the outlines. You can see immediately if it's just slightly wonky. I kept the design simple and hopefully cute enough to be interesting for voting.

Qwertee design #3

For all my designs I wanted to create something that I like, so my next choice is my all time favourite creature: Stitch from Lilo & Stitch. I decided to add a bit more to this design by adding a simplistic "background". This design is inspired by and based on the scene in Lilo's bedroom when Stitch's building San Francisco from memory when he was looking at the tv in the shopwindow earlier that day. He then demolishes the "city" based on what he was watching. I always thought the scene was extremely funny (I found a lot of thins funny when I was little) so I tried to make a design out of it.

This time I tried again to work a bit with the half tone technique. Because I was working on a canvas too big, and I couldn't "rasterise" the panels, I had to copy everything to a smaller canvas and try again. This time I kept it relatively simple with the halftone by adding it only to the "buildings", I'm not quite comfortable yet to make difficult and intriguing halftone designs. Because I used 6 colours, and according to QWERTEE's rules, you're only allowed to put the design on light T-shirts, so I went for white and grey to show what the options are.

Responsive session 15 january

For the last session of Responsive regarding the Propercorn brief, I took some of the feedback in account and tried to create updated versions of the storyboards with colour, decided to turn them into moving storyboards, and create one animatic to (hopefully) make more sense.

I tried to add a bit more life to my presentation boards by adding some simple colour schemes to the background. Intentionally, I didn't add any text to the boards, since I had in mind to never use text on presentation boards for some reason. I did forget though, that these boards should be understandable for anyone, so also for people who don't know what the hell you are doing, so I should've added an extra board explaining the brief and explaining more what I did.

For peer feedback I received the following:

Effectiveness of the proposed concept/response

Strengths:

- It answers the brief

- Looks ar four different flavours

- "Done Properly" ethos has been wel presented

Suggestions:

- Could have more of an explanation on boards: who is the audience, what the brief is, etc. 

- Needs more clarity.

To what extent the proposed response solves the identified problem

Strengths:

- It does solve the problem

- Has mock-up so is clear what the endproduct will look like.

- Amazing concept of animating the flavours

- Focuses on calorie content and natural ingredients

Suggestions:

- Where is the contextual research?

How appropriate is the response to the identified audience/context

Strengths:

- Quirky design, appropriate for the audience

- Numerous popcorn lovers, suitable for all ages

- Doesn't judge or stereotype, but fits the entire breadth of target audience.

Suggestions:

- Where other than websites will the advert go?

- Are there any stills of the work for posters?

Comments on visual quality in relation to response

Strengths:

- Keeps with the same design as pack, clearly thought about colour scheme.

- Strong consistent colour scheme with packaging.

Suggestions:

-Keep hand drawn 'rough' charming aesthetic, don't refine digitally too much. (note: wasn't my intention, but mostly lack of time to draw EVERY LINE for four storyboards, whelp.)

- Just to clarify, after the calorie content, add the logo (I knew I forgot something.)

- Specify the medium of the drawings, needs a still of final look as well as the roughs

- background of board distracts from content, better to leave it plain.

Comment on the presentation of the work with regards to the quantity, quality and appropriateness of text based and visual information

Strengths:

- Neatly composed, clear layout

- keeps with relevant, appropriate colour scheme

Suggestions:

- Use a clear background, do not lose focus of content

- More boards with analysed imagery

- Written explanation on boards

- Put brief on board.

Self evaluation based on peer feedback.

I think the things that have been said were quite useful. When I made the boards, I had a presentation in mind. I was always taught to use as less words as possible when creating something (PPT, prezi) you are going to present with. What slipped my mind however, is that his isn't necessarily a presentation, but a proposal, where you have to keep in mind that no one knows what the brief asks for and what you're doing. I'm happy that my ideas were perceived positively, it makes me think, in spite of the haziness the sessions were to me, that I am on the right track. Even though the dissecting of the brief turned out to be quite a tedious process, going over and over it again in the sessions, it sure is very useful. It learned me to be more critical when being offered a brief or assignment.

Qwertee design #2

For the second design I went for something inspired by Avatar, the Legend of Aang/Korra. In Avatar they have some sort of hybrid versions of animals: i.e. polar bear-dog, fire ferrets (mix between red panda and ferret), flying maki's and flying bisons. I always thought the flying bisons were really fun creatures and when we were more introduced with the baby ones in the Legend of Korra (In the legend of Aang they're only for a really short time on screen, so not really memorable) I thought they were extremely cute, so I tried to create a cute design that fits the creature.

For reference I used these images:

D'aww babies <3

Since I've never really drawn creatures from Avatar, I thought I should keep the design simple but recognisable, so I won't spend too much time on sketching it to make it "correct" or the way I wanted it too. I played around with some curves and came with the idea of a flying bison lying down, resting, sleeping or awaken from it's nap time? I then took a picture to load into Illustrator and tried a different approach this time, since last time was a disaster. (gotta learn from it!) So I tried to pay attention to the fact that I need to make the shapes closed if I want no unnecessary lines, and try to think in layers. The planes need to be in the correct order otherwise they will overlap incorrectly.

Since I wanted this "printed" on a light coloured t-shirt, the rules of QWERTEE allow me to use six colours in the design so I went ahead and used all six! I really needed them to, or I would've had to improvise a bit with the colours. If I wasn't allowed six colours I definitely should've worked with halftones again, and I really wanted to avoid it this time because I wanted to keep the design cute and simple. After colouring all the planes I went ahead and tweaked a lot of the lines to make them a bit smoother and afterwards I created the mockup kit for submission.

Qwertee design #1

 Since QWERTEE designs mostly consists of fandom based creations, I thought: THIS IS MY CHANCE. LET'S MAKE FANART (?) I felt some ideas coming up for sketches and this was the first one. I've been loving Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor in Doctor Who and I felt the recurring gag of  the sonic not being able to sonic wood deserved a new drawing. So I decided to create a design based on it. For Peter Capaldi's face, I used some pictures for reference for his nose and face shape, and filled the rest in to own interpretation.
Then I took the picture and traced all the lines in Illustrator. I figured out Illustrator and I don't really get along well. The first mistake I made was trying to draw the lines like you would in photoshop, what then happens when you want to colour is: is that it's not going to work. That's why I had to retrace everything again for the coloured pieces. Note to self: make every shape from one line.
I wanted to try to add some gradient, but since gradients are not allowed, I had to look up how to create a gradient that is allowed when making designs for printing tees: halftones. It was a bit hard figuring it out, since all the tutorials I found were very dragging, or very unclear. But in the end it worked! I had to retry it a lot since I didn't really have the knowledge in what values to choose, but in the end I got something that I somewhat liked.

Below are the final designs: one with only the colours and another with the background colour (t-shirt colour) underneath.

To put up the design for voting, you have to create a mock-up, so the voters will have an idea what it will look like on a t-shirt.

Responsive brief: 11secondclub part 2.

A quick recap on what exactly 11SecondClub actually was:

Briefly, the concept of 11SecondClub is to animate a lipsync with a technique of choice within a month to the selected audio file which is, of course 11 seconds long. Most of the entries are created with a 3D animation technique for the resources are quite easy and it's more doable to animate (with an already existing rig) within a month. If you don't have a working rig of your own, there are resources available online to use pre made rigs that are free to download. 

After the month is finished, members have the opportunity of five days to vote for all the entries. The voting system consists of a star system from 1 to 11. (With 1 star being really bad and 11 being outstanding.) After the five days of voting are over the winner gets selected and a small price will be received. This price is getting feedback/critique from a professional animator 

Since I couldn't finish the animation last time, I wanted to try  again this month. Honestly, I failed even more than before, but at least I could put my own made model to the test with this. This time I wanted to focus more on practicing the lipsync with my own rigged model. I found out I can't really make "realistic" looking exaggerated movements more professional rigs would be able to do, but at least I can make the lipsync look a tad alright looking?

I started with listening to the audio file multiple times and then writing down the sounds on a dope sheet, figuring out what sounds are on what frames. (will upload better scanned image soon.) After writing it all down, I could go ahead with animating the lipsync first. I then found out my blendshapes aren't the most ideal, but combining a few of them helped creating the mouth shapes somewhat how I desired them. 

Dope sheet and facial plane.

I've got to say. I had great ambitions when I started on this. But it seems my lack of decent planning and a load of more coursework made sure I couldn't finish this... again. I also wish I could've added at least a bit of movement to the head and shoulders (maybe even hands) to make it look better, but nah. Even if I could've animated this a bit further with the time I had left, it would not have been worthy to enter in the competition because it would lack a lot of things, like decent planning on acting, decent lipsyncable character and perhaps surroundings to make the scene look more complete.

I hope I could participate again this January, but since a week already has passed and a deadline for Character and Narrative is only two weeks away, I'm not sure how this will fit in the schedule, but I can at least try! We'll see.

Responsive brief 2. Attempt at 11Secondclub

This was my first time "participating" in the contest for 11SecondClub.

Briefly, the concept of 11SecondClub is to animate a lipsync with a technique of choice within a month to the selected audio file which is, of course 11 seconds long. Most of the entries are created with a 3D animation technique for the resources are quite easy and it's more doable to animate (with an already existing rig) within a month. If you don't have a working rig of your own, there are resources available online to use pre made rigs that are free to download. 

After the month is finished, members have the opportunity of five days to vote for all the entries. The voting system consists of a star system from 1 to 11. (With 1 star being really bad and 11 being outstanding.) After the five days of voting are over the winner gets selected and a small price will be received. This price is getting feedback/critique from a professional animator 

Since this is a competition that is pretty straight forward, there is no need to research any briefs that are associated with the competition. (I also started this way before we had discussed all that too.)

I started off with listening the audio file loads of times. I wanted to start with blocking all the movements first before I would start on the lipsync. While I was listening I tried acting out different movements to see which would fit the chosen character (downloaded from the internet) and the audio the best. Then I put the key poses together with the key words, a bit like a storyboard.

I started with the animation in a blocking manner, making all the keys in a "stepped" form. This way it's easier to see if the timing of the poses is right. Afterwards when splining the keys, there's room to change up the timing of some minor movements to make it a bit more realistic, but the main movements are then set to the certain timing I prefer. Down below are some screenshots of how the graph editor looks and the scene in Maya itself. As you can see, all lines of the keys are in a stepped manner, so when playing the animation, it'll play movement to movement. When I was content with the blocking of the animation I moved on to splines.

To spline the keys, I just have to select them all (when all the animation controls are selected) and select "spline". There will form a smooth line connecting all the dots. Sometimes the lines will go over a certain threshold (like feet going through the floor), so certain keys have to get edited to flatten them out. This will lock the feet for example in place. 

I thought, since I didn't have too much movement goin on in these 11 seconds, just the default spline with some flattening here and there, fit my wishes, so in fact I would be able to move on to the lip sync part of the animation.

HOWEVER. Because Bradford Animation Festival took up way more time than I had anticipated, I only got around finishing the blocking/splining part of the animation in time. Which means that I couldn't send in my entry for the competition. A way to tackle this for a next time is to set different moments before hand, to REALLY work on this short animation (since it doesn't have to take too much time to do, here and there an hour and you could get a lot of work done in between working on other assignments) to get around finishing it earlier so I would be able to send it in.

At least I was able to practice on animating a full body before I would start on my own animation for Character & Narrative, which is really nice as well.

Responsive session 11 december

This session we had to prepare our first take on the presentation boards. The ideas was that we had to present our proposals and ideas in front of your own group and ask for feedback on how to improve for next session after Christmas break.

Here below are my presentation boards.

What I mainly wanted to show on my boards are the things I aimed to create in the amount of time given, and in what context said creations can be displayed. I made some rough storyboards that illustrate my take on the designs of the packaging. I tried to give the different flavours a bit of a background story, how they could've been created. I wanted to use the same style they use for the packaging to make sure they're in unison. I thought the aesthetics of the packaging used in  a commercial for example, would make the ad lighthearted and would hopefully bring a bit of joy.

I tried to look for different options the ads can be displayed. The first thing we think about is on television, but since this is quite a young company, they might not have enough money for that, or wouldn't like to spend that amount of money. Other options are are ads to be played before videos on youtube, ads that play muted besides content on different kinds of websites, or simplified versions of the "full ad" to be altered to fit the horizontal or vertical bars on websites. Another option on the internet might be sponsored messages on social media feeds like facebook.

The discussions:

As usual, we had to make lists this session.

This time it was a list on what feedback do I want/need?

We put together this list:

• Contextual feedback
• Are you well informed?
• Is the structure clear?
• Is it a realistic/achievable goal I have set?
• Research?
• Context is key: does it work?
• Does it look good? Aesthetically pleasing

Together with the whole class we put this list together:

• Does my idea/proposal communicate the appropriate concept.
• Does the pitch meet the specs of the brief?
• Do the boards communicate the proposal effectively?
• Is the response suitable for the audience?
• Is the choice/use of media appropriate?
• Is the response achievable in the time available?
• Is the response appropriate to an identified context?
• Is the visual concept/direction appropriate to the tone?
• Do the deliverables meet the mandatory requirements?
• How can the response be improved?

After shortly pitching my boards I first already got this feedback:

What colours do I want to use? The original colours might be a bit bright and loud in your face, maybe use some alterations to make it still fit with the original, but also a bit more exiting. 

How is all the formal stuff placed in the ad? Voice over to make clear what the product is about?

How will the endscreen look like, where is it available, what more is important to add?

Maybe an idea to try and animate (a bit of) one? To see how the aesthetics will be.

Create moving storyboards based on this feedback. 

Proud to mention the girls found them clear and fun.

Below I will list the progress reviews I got.

Strengths

• The concept is great, charming narrative behind each story/animation
• I've though about how i can incorporate the pre existing visual aesthetic of Propercorn
• Simple but very effective ideas. Love the chive one: perfect for short but professional advert.
• Insight into the journey/life behind Propercorn
• Very neatly and well presented boards: clear!
• Animation ideas are playful and good: sparks interest, put in a different light
• Animation is all aesthetically well tied into their current image: so it's relevant

Ideas for improvement

• Is there a way I can include/communicate the "care" or "time and dedication" that goes into the production of Propercorn, as the slogan "Propercorn, done properly" implies?
• Propose a colour scheme, try colours that work well with the animations as well as the colours they have on their products (if they haven't specified ones)
• Experiment with textures
• Perhaps try to make e.g. the designs for the web banners even more
• Create 1 original/different, that way it will make the work more original to me

Questions

• How long is each commercial?
• Can Propercorn afford tv advertising? if not, in what alternative context could this exist? Their website?
• Can I produce on animation to submit?
• What sound will I include? Voice over, male/female, background sounds (e.g. the chopping of the knife)
• Who are my audience, when do they watch tv? what is the prime time to air the commercial?
• What exactly am I trying to communicate?
• Could I use for other examples for the contextual research?
• Will I have to include any logos and information etc?

Furthermore we put a list of expectations together with the class to finish the session:

• More resolved visual concepts
• More appropriate/considered visual aesthetic
• More professional/clearer presentation
• Clear timescales and deadlines
• Refined brief (including specific audience)
• Production tests
• More work
• Mock ups
• Contextualisations
• Existing Feedback & confirmed decisions to direct feedback.

Responsive session 3

Project proposals:
Upon accepting a live brief, always read it through and put together a project proposal. In this proposal you set clear aims and objectives that you see fit and possible in the time given, for it to make a fair trade between artist and client.
Things to consider:

1. Set clear aims and objectives
2. Be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time Conscious)
3. Use words from the brief
4. Justify the need for your proposal
5. Describe your audience
6. Describe your motivations
7. Consider the reader
8. Eliminate vagueness
9. Visualise the ending
10. Assume nothing

Brief title: Propercorn

Brief:

Create a piece of communication or campaign that engages the consumer with the product. Get them notified that this isn't just your regular popcorn. Bring the already living product more to life through their designs.

Product:

Popcorn, 5 flavours of it. They are quite distinctive flavours, not very common on the market.

Tone of voice:

Simple designs, colourful (the soft colours with the black and white illustrations), Illustrative, fun.

Audience:

Consumers who love popcorn and who are trend-conscious. Maybe people who love the product and want to invest in the brand as well.

Context:

Commercials for TV/internet (like ads for youtube), popup or sidebar ads for internet pages.

Additional information/considerations

Where to place the deliverables? (animation?) Screen on tv? Place on the internet (A lot of creatives are a lot on the internet.) 

Key area is that they are a lot in-store located, how to incorporate this?
Mandatory Requirements
Faithful to brand
Encouraging awareness
Commercially viable
Propercorn logo is free to incorporate

Deliverables

Illustrations that fit the design

Storyboards

Animation (if the time allows it)

Responsive session 2

• 5 most important words
• 5 most important considerations
• 5 related products
• 5 related places

Me vs somebody else

5 most important words
Properly  -  'done -properly'
Guilt-free  -  aspirational
Creative  -  20-35
Conscious  -  Culture
Engagement  -  Faithful

5 most important considerations
How to connect with the audience?
20-35 year olds
When is something done properly?
Guilt free, low calorie, high fiber
How to bring the brand to life?
Appeal to women but not driven by this
How to make people aware of the health-conscious product?
Propercorn logo
How to engage costumers with the product?
Stand out
(It seems both of us interpreted this point very differently. I looked more at the questions I can ask myself regarding of what they ask of me in the brief, while the other person listed what the brief literally says that should be taken in account.)

5 related products
Protein bars  -  Butterkiss
Other snacks like crisps  -  Graze boxes
Bowls (for presentation)  -  Healthy snacks (Holland&Barrett)
Candyfloss  -  Alpro soya
Corn!  -  Free range products

5 related places
Cinema  -  Whole food outlets
Grocery store  -  Super markets
Own home  -  Cinemas
Fair/carnaval/attraction park  -  WH Smith/book shops that sell snacks
Festival  -  Cafes (potentially)


Through this assignment I was able to see how different people can interpret a brief. I think there is no right or wrong way to doing this, for the goal is to keep asking questions to investigate it even further. This is what I hope to do through answering the next questions from the form/questionnaire.

The problems I aim to solve are:

The unawareness of the product. Since the product is fairly new, it's not known very well yet among the general consumers. 

If there are any other places and spaces that can contribute to a better distribution of the product.

If there's anything else that could be improved by the "done properly" ethos, how to bring a brand to life when it's first of its kind.

In order to solve these problems I will:

I will try to create some form of advertisement that will grasp the attention of the people.
I will look into branches of shops that support the "done properly" ethos, so stores that pay attention to whole foods and products for a better wellbeing (ie fairtrade).
I will try and look intro different products and if there's a way possible to make it fit the "done properly" ethos.

I will be aiming to communicate (identify three specific messages, ideas, moods etc):

That it's not just a standard packet of popcorn. It has some interesting flavour combinations that you wouldn't expect in popcorn. It's also supposed to be fun, hence the "guilt-free". You want to enjoy your popcorn (ha! Enjoy, see: is fun) without feeling any consequences. This is also a popcorn that's easy to go, it's is available in small packaging as well big sharing sized packs. 

To an audience of: (Name three characteristics)

Lovers of popcorn, trend-conscious, people who also want to invest in an upcoming brand

About LoopdeLoop

LoopdeLoop is a bimonthly animation challenge. Animators all over the world are invited to create an animation following the set theme for the two months. It started as a monthly challenge, but over time the themes were stretched out over two months. Probably to provide artists with more time to produce their animations.

It started with the Animation Club's Secret Handshake event. These screenings were a monthly animation night organised by Sarah Phillips and hosted by James Hazelden. It was for both professional and students an opportunity to experiment with skills and to show their skills in front of a live audience.

LoopdeLoop was the follow-up of Secret Handshake, providing opportunities to not only create short animations to a set theme, but to network internationally through their blog as well. LoopdeLoop hopes to connect independent animators this way.
Instead of creating a complete animation which can turn out into great projects, they opted to show short animated loops instead. The reason is to make creative work for these projects more fun and achievable. Because it's not a big project it's also less intimidating because there's no need for a full animated narrative.
Now I am not saying these loops are easy as cake to make. Of course it's still a challenge to create an animated loop, because you are forced to put your idea into a tiny shell and put a lot of effort into making the short sequence. When executed well, you are left with a loop that consists of an engaging sequence, flowing nicely and inviting to be watched over and over again.

The entries to the contest are uploaded continuously to the blog, so the site is full of new content every time to vote for. Upon reaching the deadline, the committee will choose a few finalists based on their quality and popularity on the blog. The audience attending the screening can choose a winner from these chosen loops. Winners and followups are featured on the website until the next deadline and receive a price.


At the end of September LoopdeLoop set up a funding event on indiegogo.com to keep it all free. Since LoopdeLoop is a growing concept, more people are getting involved to keep it all alive and kicking. Money is needed for the screenings, legal inquiries and other things like website hosting.


The theme mostly consist of one word or concept, leaving plenty of room for own interpretation. Since the theme is so general, All kinds of animations are possible, as long as it's connected to the theme in some way or sense.

Responsive Brief 1: LoopdeLoop

I participated in this competition before I really had any of the responsive sessions (except for the very first one which was an introduction) so taken this in account it explains I didn't answer any of the questions which were introduced the next sessions.

Let's start off with shortly explaining what LoopdeLoop is:

"Another thing that freaks me out is time. Time is like a book. You have a beginning, a middle and an end. It's just a cycle." 

Mike Tyson

Simply said: LoopdeLoop is an animation challenge. Bimonthly a theme is set and the goal is to create a short animation in the form of film or GIF to submit to the website. The last week of said two months the collection is screened at different locations to a live audience. At each screening location a winner is declared who will be shown on the website during the next competition.

The theme for October/November was Go!
I started off with small spider diagram to brainstorm along with, writing down the first things I thought about hearing the word "go"

Since the submissions are posted to the site while the competition is running, so I could already look at a few of them. At that moment there were some loops about running and competitions, therefore I didn't want to create something in the same genre for my loop probably won't stand out like that. Eventually I went with the "go fetch!" for I already had a few ideas on what I could create.

I started with some designs on the dog:

After the first page of sketches I thought: maybe not create another creature to fetch the ball? Might be funny and unexpected. I let the idea rest for a few days before deciding on the dog anyways.

After the designs I decided on what I wanted for the background. For I wanted to animate the dog the traditional way (pencil and paper) I wanted to paint the background. I searched on Google for images of parks that fit my idea what I had in mind a sketched a few of those before deciding which one to paint.

I then started sketching the keyframes on animation paper. Content with what I had in mind, I went ahead and drew all the inbetweens with pencil as well. Even though it wasn't a clever move: I started animating without any plan written down, any storyboard sketched beforehand, so I was basically animating into nothing. Even though there's nothing much happening, I wasn't pleased with how lost it felt, not knowing what exactly I wanted to animate. After finishing the sketches (turned out to be around 90 frames in total) I flipped through it before finelining all the frames. I thought the timing looked fine and went ahead to draw all the frames with a fineliner as final frames. I then also found out I missed a frame while sketching! Ohhhhh! Fixed that along the way.

After finishing all the frames it was time to scan them all to the computer, took me a while. Longer than I anticipated so that was a bit of downer. 

When I finished scanning all the images I had to manipulate all the images manually one by one in photoshop for I had to get rid of the white background, but keep the dog itself white. (Since I didn't give the dog a certain colour, I couldn't simply key the white out of the images in After Effects.) I loaded the images ten by ten into photoshop to prevent the application from crashing, then changed the levels of said images to make the black lines crisper and the white background whiter. Using masks I deleted the white background and then saved them as IFF-files.

I then loaded the IFF files as image sequences into after Effects, "shot by shot" so I could use some frames on repeat and to alter the speed of some frames if I needed to without messing up all the sequences. After the dog was successfully placed in front of the background I painted earlier, I exported the file to Premiere Pro to add the sounds. I went for a simple background track of park-y sounds of whispering birds and added the whistle and the panting and running of the dog on top of that. 

I enjoyed spending a little of my time working on this little project. The reason I created it using traditional methods is because I wanted to try animating on paper (for I've only done 2D animation on the computer before) so I wanted to experience of animating on paper, not being able to check every to seconds if it's correct to the point. So a bit of guessing, a bit of playing and a bit of knowledge I already have from before. I thought it went reasonably well. I didn't have to add in extra frames afterwards for I felt the timing was quite alright. I also thought the style would fit the free, loose, fun style of LoopdeLoop.