Major Project

28 Aug 2023 - 15 Dec 2023 (Week 1 - Week 16)
Zetie Binti Bahaman / 0351297 / BDCM
Major Project

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INSTRUCTIONS

 

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MAJOR PROJECT

Week 1

Module Briefing

We were briefed about the module expectations and advised to consider it as a project and not an assignment. It's also important that we take note of the industry requirements and explore how we can showcase our value through our project. 

The task following this briefing is to narrow down our ideas into a proposal in the next class. We are to share it with Mr. Asrizal before he assigns us to the right supervisor.

Week 2

Consultation

The main ideas I listed for my first proposal are as below:

Fig 1.0 Major Project Ideation 

Feedback - Wk 02

Mr. Asrizal suggests I explore more on either Idea #1 - Title Sequence or Idea #3 - Malaysia's Folklore. He requested I send him videos of my previous projection mapping work and he would inform me of my assigned supervisor the following week. 

Week 3

Consultation

I decided to go with idea #3 and revised my proposal based on the folklore theme.

Fig 1.1 Major Project Proposal V1

Feedback - Wk 03

My current idea is still weak and needs to be solidified further. At the moment, it's all over the place with no focal point or in the words of Mr Kannan, the "bang" factor. I have to ask myself what I'm trying to solve or how significant is the story to give an impactful output?

Below are the key areas I am to explore further:

1.Art Style

- He gave me some references such as Batik Girl and the opening scene of Kung Fu Panda 2.

- It is important that I create a style guide so I have a strong art direction. Breakdown my existing moodboard and expand further. 

Some questions to ask:

-What kind of shapes and what do they represent/mean?

-What color palette - grim/magical? 

2.Projection-Mapping

- It's important to consider the experience and spatial design of what I want viewers to see. It doesn't have to be just a map. He suggested I do an ancient scroll inspired by Lord of The Rings or Games of Thrones. He also shared about MotioFixo which does projection mapping with a Malaysian touch.

- Even if I want to steer away from my weaknesses, such as frame-by-frame animation and character animation, I should still utilize 3D animation such as composition, planes, and angles and think of ways to use it to my strengths. 

3.Story

- Focus on one tale and break it down or combine all stories, but pick elements from each one with a direction of how I want to narrate it to my audience. 

4.Animation Style:

- Search for more mograph areas that I can dive into. Look into Behance/Dribble. Try to refrain from being in my comfort zone and don't narrow down to just vector-based.

- The first reference is good for an intro. Explore how I can add more, nice transitions, play around with cameras and create the 2.5D effect.

Week 4 - Week 10

I struggled with confirming my idea as I wanted to stick to my original idea but also wanted to dive deeper and try to utilise 3D animation. In the end, I just went with my idea and tried to come up with the style frames and character designs in my stories.

Some Work In Progress:-

Fig 1.2 Style Frames

Fig 1.3 Map

Fig 1.4, 1.5 Characters from each story

Week 11
Proposal & Progress Presentation

Fig 1.6 Major Project Proposal V2

Feedback - Wk 11 

Try to use the time I have left wisely and work smart. Change to a pilot episode of Once Upon A Tale and focus on Mahsuri and Tasik Chini. To save time, I could play with silhouettes instead of characters. Ms Anis also suggested several points from my scenes on how to work with the animation.

Examples:

-Side view of mahsuri at the tree, with a man with tanjak stabbing the figure,  white blood transitions into lake

-Nek Yan Paddling on a lake

-Glimmering hue of the gold from under the water with a figure of the dragon underneath

-Tease the audience with Nek Yan ending it with ‘Perhaps this tale can wait for another day’ and 'to be continued'

Week 11 - Week 12

Revised Proposal

Made new changes based on the feedback and revised my proposal.

 Fig 1.7 Major Project Proposal V3

Revised Storyboard - V2

Revised my storyboard scenes accordingly.

Fig 1.8 Storyboards V2

Revised Animatics

I also made the animatic with sfx.

Fig 1.9 Animatics

Script Planning

Planned out the script for my characters and narrator.

Fig 2.0 Major Project Script Progress 

Audio Planning
Planned out the type of audio that I want to use.

Fig 2.1 Major Project Audio Planning Progress

*The script and audio planning have been amended to suit the final video output.

Feedback - Wk 12

Unfortunately, after consulting Mr Kannan, he did not approve of this storyline. It was confusing to add Tasik Chini into the picture and instructed me to focus on Mahsuri only. He also pointed out that the scenes should link up to one another and include a backstory to how it led to her betrayal. It was important that I attempt to tell the story emotionally and he feels it is possible within 1.5 mins. He suggested I look up Disney's Moana for inspiration.

As for the current work I've done, I could still reuse some of the scenes. For instance, introduce Nek Yan and start straight away with the map.

Revised Storyboard - V3
I made the storyline focus entirely on Mahsuri based on the feedback.

Fig 2.2 Storyboard V3

Week 13 - Week 15

Completion of Animation//Exhibition Prep

At this point, I basically had to redo everything again from scratch and create a new storyline to ensure the flow of the story links from one another like Mr Kannan instructed. However, due to time constraints, I did not do animatics and straight away created the assets followed by animation. Since I created several characters prior, I reused some of the shapes and elements in the new characters.

Characters of my story:

Fig 2.3 Character Line

I decided to attempt a trailer version of the animated video after cutting out some of the scenes to ensure I completed them in time for the exhibition.

As for my animation process, it goes like this:

• Adobe Illustrator (Create assets, prep files for animation)
• After Effects (Animate the layers)
• Premiere Pro (Compilation of all the scenes)
• Audition (Edit sfx and audio according to video)

I didn't have the chance to take a lot of progress shots as I was in a race against time, but here are some of the workflow processes.

Fig 2.4, 2.5 Painfully creating the assets and arranging the layers on Illustrator

It is crucial to organise your working files from Illustrator to make the animation process in AE much smoother. This also avoids issues like AE crashing or glitchy. Another tip if it does happen, try to make a copy of your AI file and rename it.

Fig 2.6 Playing with the camera and null object on After Effects

My attempt to create the parallax effects. Other tools I used are the transform tools, puppet tool and parent each layer that is connected like the limbs, the head etc. The anchor point should also be decided before animating.

Fig 2.7 Editing SFX on Adobe Audition

I am blessed with family to help me as my voice actors, hence I had to pitch shift it using Audition to make it sound more female/male that suits my character best. I also find editing the sfx after the video output makes it so much easier.

Thankfully, I did the audio planning earlier despite for a different storyline, so I reused the same sfx and audio where necessary. However, due to time constraints, I could not alter the content so much and pick more suitable audio following my new storyline, but I still wanted my video to have sfx in time for the exhibition. Hence, the prototype version isn't as smooth compared to the final output.

Collateral Designs
As for the collaterals, these are the designs for stickers and postcards. I used key elements of the story and characters in the design so the audience could identify with it as they watched my animation output.

 

Fig 2.8 Collateral designs - A5 Sticker Sheet

I did three variations of postcard designs, both front and back.

Fig 2.9 Collateral designs - A6 Postcards, front and back

Week 15

Video Animation - Prototype

This is the animated trailer that I showcased for the exhibition. However, since I spent all my time creating the assets and animating, I had to sacrifice my sfx. I reused the same audio from my animatic and tweaked it where necessary.

Fig 3.0 Protoype - Animation Video

Exhibition

Day 01

This is my booth setup, following the theme of my concept. I used kain batik and wooden props, as well as, mini foamboard standees of the characters.

Fig 3.1 Snippets from Day 1 - In Between Exhibition

Day 02

For the second day, I brought headphones to improve the audience experience. I'm glad to see people using the headphones while watching my video. 

Fig 3.2 Snippets from Day 2 - In Between Exhibition

Fig 3.3 Snippets of collaterals/booth in detail

Picture credits to the committee photographer and Hussain Waheedh.

Week 16 - Submission
Final Major Project Proposal

Fig 3.4 Final Major Project Proposal - PDF

Final Animation

Trailer - The Legend of Mahsuri

Fig 3.5 Once Upon A Tale: The Legend of Mahsuri - MP4

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REFLECTION

My final semester really tested me on another level. It's been a rollercoaster ride of burnout, horrible time management and wasted efforts. I don't think it will justify my actions, but burnout is real. I can vouch for myself that I have been a pretty good student all this while but this time, I was too late to recognize it. It would be a good day if I could even open up the Adobe software.

I wish I reached out for help sooner but for someone who feeds on academic validation, this will be a steep learning curve for me. I've learned that motivation and inspiration will come as you go about your project, you just have to start doing it!! Don't get overwhelmed and start small, start something at least! Even if it's just an eye shape or the curve of the lips. Anything, as long as you start doing. Stop striving for perfection every time you want to consult your lecturer because that's what they're here for, to help you LEARN! 

Nevertheless, I am proud of the work that I can put out despite the small timeframe. It's always a good feeling to see the work from your storyboards come alive, which is the reason I chose this specialisation. Someone came up to me during the exhibition and mentioned that my video reminded them of those TED-ED narrative storytelling videos, which was my goal!! This full-circle moment made all my sleepless nights worth it. Imagine, this was only the prototype version and I've already gotten this comment. Having the prototype showcase gave me the necessary critique to improve it for final submission. Of course, there are many more improvements I could think of if time was my friend. There are still assets and backgrounds that I have created but didn't make it in the final output, which can potentially be continued as my personal portfolio.

I am grateful to my supervisors, Mr Kannan, Mr Kamal, and Ms Anis for giving me comments in the final race for this major project. Not to forget other creative media lecturers who have helped shape who I am as a designer today. I also want to thank my friends who have helped me keep going and pushed me to power through and complete my project. To those who dropped by my exhibition booth, thank you for all the feedback and comments and your time to watch my work and listen to me explain the idea behind it. 

In the future, I hope to find a way to help myself work through multitasking as I still struggle with that and to allow myself to make mistakes so I can just create freely without thinking "What if it turns out ugly or not the way I want it?", and it usually ends up with not starting anything at all. Self-doubt is a killer, and I hope this feeling will subside in my journey as a creative. Or if it ever visits me again, I feel I am much more prepared to deal with it this time.