On Location

In need of a change of scenery we moved stage to Hanley Park

Despite your 1st impression in the day time, at night the park makes for an interesting backdrop for some scenes. Chris has already planned a good deal of time in and around the park so getting a feel for the place, its layout, buildings, features and lighting seemed a good plan in what may be our last pre-production night. We set up to shoot two brief scenes, one apiece, using the Pavilion and the steps before it as our backdrop.

The greatest shame is the pavilion is boarded up with security fencing preventing access. Hence what would have made for a varied urban interior is 'Out of Bounds' to us if we want to stay on the right side of the law.

Vimeo - My 1st credit as Assistant Animator 

Vimeo -(Still Image -Pavilion) 

Final Tests - Colour Theory

So as we gear up to start filming for real Chris & I thought we'd get some final experiments done tonight where we can nail down some fundamentals. Specifically we wanted to set the camera settings and the light colours we would work with when it comes to starting the actual film.

Camera Settings = 5.6 Aperture / 10 secs Shutter Speed (F'stop) / 400 ISO

Light/Colour Theory 

In this still image from the night we set the purple against the red and got the following look

The Night Crawlers do Colour Theory 

Colour Theory

Alive at Night 2nd Test

Evening All,

So it is, a second night of tests in the cold. And GOD is it COLD out there.
It's dark, it's a few degrees below freezing and were setting up for a few hours worth of tests.
As our focus on the 1st night was getting to grips with the camera, the lights and forming the character that will be the focus of the film, so tonight was all about trying to get some fluidity into the character.
Chris wanted to see some animation and realism in the light painting. So we set about it with that aim.

I seemed fixed on painting in legs to the character whether it was moving or now so mental note 'during the movement' its not necessary to draw the legs, instead I can allow for some misshaping, so long as I close the body up at the bottom.

PROPS: We got the wheelie bin in on the action this time round. Hence our scene's began with the wall moving towards the bin and then the gate before crossing the alley and the abandoned sofa which we dragged up last week.

Chris & I took turns as this helps us both get a sense of where we can improve and keeps one of us moving despite the cold setting in. So here's the results ...

Alive at Night - 1st Test

Evening All, For our 1st test we agreed to meet just before night fall to see just how dark things needed to be to get the desired lighting effect on camera. I got a low down on the equipment we would be using and the principles of 'light painting' While there are examples out there the look and the feel would be down to how we approached the filming, the locations and mood set by the work done over the coming months. Please find below the results of the initial test. ENJOY

Set-Up & Equipment

OK, so I thought it maybe a smart move to take a few snaps of the project for that 'behind the scenes' type of feel.

THE EQUIPMENT LIST:
x1 Canon DSLR (with Liveview technology)
x1 Android Phone
x2 Tripod
x6 key light LED's

001 - The Equipment

Inside - Camera/Phone/Tripods

Outside-With Cable (live-view software) 

I will keep adding to this entry building up a series of personal pics (work in progress)

Alive at Night - ANIMATIC -

First things first I needed to get a briefing from Chris as to the storyline. This comes courtesy of this animatic created by Chris.
Incomplete Animatic from Chris Wass on Vimeo.
We spoke about the general plot, the locations that Chris has scouted out from the local area and the logistics of making a film like this, given it's experimental feel.

Inspiration

Having now got a feel for what we were trying to achieve I thought I would look at other examples where Light painting was the focus of the film/animation or at least played a part in the final work.

Hence I reached out online to see what appealed...
Here are a selection to  whet the appetite and act as a reference or inspiration down the line when the long hours in the cold & dark are taking their toll on our creativity and enthusiasm.
Pahnl on Vimeo
Nowhere Near Here from Pahnl on Vimeo.
Darren Pearson on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/thedariustwin?feature=watch Just a sample of the variety of work out there. Just finally there is a collective of artists under the name the light painters who court commercial work with light painting being the focus http://thelightpainters.com

WELCOME TO ALIVE AT NIGHT

THIS BLOG EXISTS TO ACT AS A DIARY, TRACKING MY CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS MY ASSISTANT ANIMATOR ROLE. 

Alive at Night - At Home 

It provides evidence of my involvement towards the final year piece for Chris Wass, a Level 6 student studying Animation at Staffs University.

My involvement will be logged in diary entries which will include text, photographs and illustrations showing my contributions from taking on the project until final submission in May 2013.

The project has a number of other on-line portals all created by Chris where you can view the progress made first hand...


Alive at Night (Facebook Page) *closed group

Chris Wass (Website)

Chris Wass (YouTube channel)

Chris Wass (Vimeo.com)

The following entries will be my personal 2nd hand account of progress.

ASSISTANT ANIMATOR CONTRIBUTION & REPORT 

PART OF FILM SHORTS & STINGS

AM50036-5 

'ALIVE AT NIGHT'

-BLOG-

PRODUCED BY MARTIN EVANS (ek999203)

LEVEL 5 - ANIMATION 

YEAR 2 / TERM 2 WINTER 2012 - SPRING 2013

http://aliveatnight2.blogspot.co.uk