Friday, 6 January 2012

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Jolly Doomsday!

Nah I'm just being pointlessly dramatic. Apart from my passport woes (trying to get this thing sorted out for our Berlin trip in April is an arse... I just hope it'll be ready soon) and trying to get back into the swing of things after an admittedly lazy Xbox-and-chocolate-fuelled Christmas holiday. Also, Woodlands Hall is doing its King Arthur Pantomime and I'm working a spotlight, so that's been eating up my time. And burning my fingers. Those spotlights get hot. D:

So much that needs doing... first things first. Our group project (the three MTV idents) is coming along fairly well. My little character's tail is still not the way I wanted it, but at this point it's probably better to cut my losses and just rig it normally so I can at least move it. Since he's not going to be onscreen for a long time it should be alright, but I'd still like to learn how to get the dynamic... tail... wiggle thing to work. I also asked if I could animate the MTV logo that is listening to music in one of the last idents, so that needs to be done by Monday.

For my personal project, I've been chopping down the story mercilessly. My last review made it quite clear that I was getting too ambitious again. Aaaand considering that, since I started, I've not finished a single animation for its deadline... bad habits are bad. So an overview of the changes I've made:

-There is no introduction to the villain, Varquer'eel, entering the forest or establishing his control over the cats
-Because of this lack of explanation, I've also cut out Varquer'eel's assassins (who would originally be shown chasing him into the forest)
-Okri does not meet Taln during the course of the animation
-Instead, she, Taln and Ralla'ool are shown to be traveling together
-I may include subtitles 'translating' the character's meows/squawks as was originally intended in earlier drafts

And as a rough outline, those are the changes. Okri, Taln and Ralla'ool would set up camp close to the forest where Varquer'eel is controlling his cats - they set their eyes on Ralla'ool while she sleeps, and though Okri chases them off and tries to lead the group on their way, a hungry Taln and Ralla'ool ignore her warnings and end up chasing a mouse into the forest and having to find their way back out again. On the way, Ralla'ool is finally captured, and the rest of the story remains fairly close to my earlier draft.

Today: Finish MTV Logo animation and UCAS stuff
Tomorrow: Watch the pantomime multiple times, burn myself on the spotlight, finish my character rig
Sunday: Finish up any outstanding areas of the MTV project/character, finalize a final final reviewed script for my main project.
Monday: Start compositing the MTV idents together

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