FLIP winner badge

Just received an email confirming the award I won for Caged at FLIP festival 2011.
The official name of the award is:

Best of Festival - Audience Choice

I have also been sent the official winner badge which I have now added to the dedicated page for Caged.

Flip winner version of the Caged poster

Caged wins an award at FLIP 2011

So FLIP festival 2011 was held this weekend where i attended the event on Friday and Saturday. Considering the festival was in danger of not being held this year, the FLIP team pulled off an awesome festival that in my opinion was better than previous years that I've been to.

It was an honour meeting industry figures Bill Plympton, Barry Purves, Cosgrove Hall (they made Danger mouse!!!) and Aardman. Bill Plympton's masterclass was amazing and very informative. He also showed a pencil test from his upcoming film " Cheatin' " which I cannot wait to see. I recognised him more for his Hot Dog film so will definitely catch up on his past films such as "Idiots and Angels".

From left to right: Me, Bill Plympton and Josh


BrothersMcleod also premiered their latest film, Isle of Spagg, which was awesome. I love the style and the humour was great. I enjoyed the scenarios the little boy was put in and couldn't stop laughing.

Caged was shown on Saturday during Open shorts 5 and I am proud to announce that it won the award for best film from open shorts 5 (Each open shorts session had its own winner based on public vote).

The ringmaster sting that I made with Sector5 Studios was also shown on Friday to open the first event of the day, Open shorts 1. Unfortunately I missed it by 10-20 seconds as I was in the queue to go in to the cinema room. The winners of the sting competition will be announced online later on, so fingers crosswed we win.

Caged at Shorts on Walls

A quick update to announce that Caged will be screened at Shorts on Walls today at the Lighthouse (Wolverhampton) which starts at 7:30pm. Looking forward to going there tonight so hope to see everyone there.

process of the ringmaster 1: eyes

As promised, here's the first of a series of behind the scene posts for the FLIP sting entry we made at Sector5 Studios. I will also use these to compare my skills with the skills i had when making Caged so expect a lot of comparisons.

For this post, I'll focus on the eye as there's a huge leap from Caged. For Caged, the eyes were shaded through basic material colours. For the Ringmaster, I decided to UV map and texture the eyes following the philosophy that the eyes are the first thing the viewer will look at in a character; so it was important for me to kick the bar higher that I set for myself with Caged by putting in effort in to the eyes.


Render comparisons of how they would look in their final state

The results were noticeable straight away but there is still a massive room for improvement as I was treating the Ringmaster as a test subject for texturing the eyes. For example, the iris can be improved a lot in its texture.


the ringmasters eye was originally going to be plain colours which I've labelled Caged style


The next big change is in the blend shapes. In Caged I created blend shapes for the pupil to increase and decrease in size but it still didn't look right. The reason for this was that the iris never changed in size. For the Ring Master I made sure to do this which meant extra blend shapes were needed for the iris, eyeball, and the cornea.



The difference is subtle but pays off in close shots as well as adding to the characters personality. In this case it exaggerates the ringmasters crazy personality with the blood shot eyes.

 Whilst there's a big improvement in the eyes in comparison to the eyes i made for the characters in Caged, there's still a huge room for improvement. Perhaps in the near future, I will have another comparison between a new project and the ringmaster.

You can catch both the FLIP Sting and Caged at this years FLIP festival later this month. For more details visit: http://www.flipfestival.co.uk/

Caged to be screened at FLIP festival

A short update to announce that Caged will be shown at the FLIP festival on Saturday 29th October.

------

The 3D project I introduced in my previous blog entry is complete and ready to view online. Over on the sector5studios blog, we announced that it was our entry in the FLIP 2011 stings competition. If you haven't seen it yet check it out below:



I will go into depth on the process behind this project in future blog updates.

Caged development page added

I have now added a development/ behind the scenes page for Caged which you can access from the menu above or by clicking this link:

http://ravimaheru.blogspot.com/p/caged.html

I may update it at a later date with more videos and more detail on the development process.

This week is also my graduation ceremony which I'll also be preparing for. I will definately write a blog update dedicated to that event.

Impressions of Bridgnorth Animation Festival

Taking place at the Majestic Cinema today, the Bridgnorth Animation Festival was held as a part of the Bridgnorth Music and Arts Festival.

Caged was screened during the local animations segment which were also the animations up for nomination for the public vote award. Every animation shown was amazing so it wasn't clear who would win the most votes. it was also great to see some familiar faces too. This was the first time that Caged was shown on the big screen so it was just as special for me. In the end, I did not win the award which I lost out by 1 vote. Still, I'm very proud of coming in second place and it serves as a big motivation for me to do even better next time. (The animator who took 1st place was from Wolverhampton University which was awesome, a big win for our university).

I thought it was great that they gave animators the chance to speak to the audience before their film was shown. I have experienced this before last year at Shorts on Walls (where Sentry was screened) so I was expecting to talk to everyone with no hesitation, strenghtened by my enjoyment of doing presentations. To my surprise, I was still nervous! Perhaps the bigger audience was a factor in this but it felt like this was my first ever screening so it was both a brilliant experience and a little scary too. To be honest, I dont want that feeling to ever go away either when it comes to screening films at festivals.

This was also my first time in Bridgnorth which was quite a surprise with just how different the setting was even though it was next door to the city I live in. it felt a world a part but a great inspiration for ideas too.
Overall, I enjoyed the festival and look forward to going back next year. Hopefully I'll have something new to submit there.

Bridgnorth Animation Festival begins tomorrow!

Caged will be shown tomorrow at the Bridgnorth Animation Festival as detailed in my previous post. Looking forward to going there as this is the second festival that Caged will be screened at. There will also be public voting event for all animations screened, I'm going up against a ton of awesome animations so looking forward to the outcome of that.

I have also sent Caged to Flip Animation Festival and Canterbury Anifest 2011. Really hoping it gets selected for these festivals too.

My university has also advertised the animation course using three screenshots of Caged and allowed me to take one with me as a souvenir:



Scan of the Course leaflet featuring 3 stills from Caged



Caged selected for Bridgenorth Festival

Caged will be shown at Bridgenorth Festival's (which begins August 26th) Animation Mini-festival (on August 27th). This will be the second festival that Caged is screened at. 

The venue is the Majestic Cinema. I've provided the program and location details below. I would also like to thank the organisers of the Animation mini-festival for giving me the opportunity to screen Caged.

Sector5 Studios will also be present at the animation screenings too so we're looking forward to meeting everyone there.

----- Details on the festival----

Animation Mini-Festival

Date: Saturday 27 August 2011

Time: 14:30 - 17:30

Location:Majestic Cinema; Whitburn Street; Bridgnorth;  WV16 4QP

The Majestic Cinema has toilet facilities and a car park to the side. 

Link to google maps:http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=majestic+cinema,+bridgnorth&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=majestic+cinema,&hnear=0x4870620b148ed607:0x642e0ce0d512b195,Bridgnorth&ei=7KAqTpjGJoOq8APewKT0Cw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&ved=0CAQQtgM&cid=0,0,4941450602442334377 

Parking Information: This website details Bridgnorth Car parks:

http://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/bridgnorth/

Event Running Order (subject to change)

14:30 - welcome

14:35 - 15:00 - James Clarke - Animating the World

15:00 - 15:30 - Screening of local animated shorts compered by James Pearson

15:30 - 15:50 - Q&A discussion

15:50 - 16:05 - Audience vote & break

16:10 - 16:35 - screening of animations from Autour de Minuit

16:40 - 16:50 - Forward For screening

16:50 - 17:00 - Present audience vote award

17:00 - 17:20 - The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan

17:20- 17:30 - Additional screenings - TBC

The Cut 2011 Impressions

Decided to go against my original plan of going on the last 2 days as I didn't want to miss the debut showing of Caged.

The cut 2011, being a part of Mosely festival, took place in a pub similar to past screenings I've been to like Shorts on Walls. After a minor hiccup with the projector the screenings opened with the Brothers McLeod animation, THe Moon Bird. Even though I have seen this multiple times already at other festivals it's still a treat to watch.

My film was the 8th film shown during the 12:30 screenings and I was glad that the screening room was dark and the projector worked great as some events have shown films in lit rooms or next to a window with street lights having an effect on the visibility. I was however, slightly disappointed in the turnout with only a few people turning up. I hope the amount of people coming to the screenings improves for the next 4 festival days.

I will try to come in for next week's screenings but will definately be back for next year.

The Cut 2011 Festival begins tommorrow!

Caged will have its festival debut during The Cut 2011, showing on all four days.

The venue is The Prince of Wales Pub in Mosely. Screenings will take place on the ground floor.

My film will be shown during the following screening times:
Saturday July 9th -
12:30 Screening

Sunday July 10th -
12:30 Screening

Saturday July 16th -
2:30 screening

Sunday July 17th-
screening suitable for kids (must be accompanied by an adult)
12:30

Caged Selected for The Cut 2011 Festival

Pleased to announce that Caged has been selected for its first festival screening at The Cut 2011.
The festival begins on July 9th and continues running on the 10th, 16th and 17th.

The festival program can be found here:
http://thecut2011.blogspot.com/

Caged will get shown four times (in other words once per festival day):
Saturday July 9th 12:30 Screening
Sunday July 10th 12:30 Screening

Saturday July 16th 2:30 screening

Sunday July 17th 12:30 screening suitable for kids (must be accompanied by an adult)

I will post more details on the festival itself in a future post (such as the location of the festival).

Business Card design

Seeing as I posted a photo of my degree show booth, I might as well post my business card on here too. I was quite happy with the design although it was printed on to high quality paper instead of card. I am glad that i did this as I have a couple of new things to add to the card such as my twitter profile link, plus I also want to have a design of the back of the card too(most likely screenshots from my animations / films).




Me standing with Caged characters



End of Uni and the student show + My Degree

Delayed post as I was trying to get a photo of my booth from the student show. I will hopefully have a photo of it in my next blog post instead.

Last Saturday the student show came to an end as well as my time at University. I enjoyed the student degree show and had alot of interest from others which was great.

So what now?

Apart from looking for a job I will also be pushing my film, Caged, in to festivals. So far I have sent my film to three events and hoping to be selected:

The cut 2011
Smalls Film Festival
Encounters

I'm hoping that the FLIP animation festival is continued this year too so that I have a chance of having my film sent by the Univserity.

I also got my degree and it was as I had predicted:

"You have been awarded a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Animation First Class on 7 June 2011."
Really happy I got what I had hoped for and I will make sure to keep improving.

Final Grades and my Student Degree Show experience

Still two days left for the student degree show and then my time at university comes to an end (which is both exciting and upsetting as I'll miss the 1st and 2nd years as well as the lecturers, its been an awesome time).

Last Friday marked the start of my student degree show with a private viewing for the evening. It was a very busy night and I got a lot of attention. I was extremely pleased with the evening, especially with the new contacts that I made.

The student show then opened for the public this week and closes tommorrow (Friday 9th June). The past three days have been great and whilst it's no where near as busy  I've still had a lot of interest in my film and gained more contacts.

I also got my final grades for this year which I'm definately proud of and my degree is definately a 1st by looking at my grades (13 grades out of the 14 that make up my second and third year have been A's). I was also told that the examiner found my film to be the best student film he has seen which is very motivating for me to keep animating.

I already have some ideas for new films although these will be shorter than Caged.

In my next blog post I will include a photo of my booth at the student degree show.

Student Degree Show 2011

So it's finally time for the student degree show, something I've been looking forward to since last year's degree show. It's been fun preparing for the show especially since I've been one of the main organisers of the event for my class.

It's been an interesting experience pitching for a budget, organising posters and life size cut outs as well as helping with the designs for the promotion of the animation show.

The degree show begins on Friday 3rd June with a private viewing from 5:30pm to 8:30pm. This is an invite only day so to attend and to have the chance to see Caged, you must print this e-invite off:

http://www.wlv.ac.uk/files/images/newsletters/sad/4/degree-show-invite.pdf
(allows 4 people to attend)

or you can

RSVP to:
E: art-design@wlv.ac.uk
T: 01902 322058
The degree show will then be open to everyone on Monday 6th June to Friday 10th June (no invite needed).

The sound of Caged

The sound effects of Caged consisted mostly of foley sounds that I recorded myself mixed with royalty free sound effects for scenes I found difficult to make sounds for, such as explosions. The sound effects were then compiled with the film in premiere.

However, the quality of the sounds weren't consistent as well as not simulating the environments that the film takes place in. This was solved by adding reverb to certain sound effects and composing them into the music, which was something composer, Joe Cruickshank, wanted to improve the audio of the film. Certain sound effects and notes in the music would sometimes clash. After an entire night was spent working with Joe, we finally reached the final soundtrack with the enhanced sound effects.

The enhanced sound was a definite improvement as sounds had the echo, although i reverted the bird's cough and Overlords scream to the original as the echo (which was realistic) took away from the effect that I wanted to achieve with them. So the end result was a mixture of realistic and non realistic effects to make the world believable but to also make sure the film's narrative was not harmed in the process.

Huge thanks to Joe for creating the original soundtrack and taking the sound effects to a whole new level.

First Screening of Caged

Today was my final presentation at Wolverhampton University and also the first time Caged was shown in a completed state. Really enjoyed the presentations for my year and seeing everyones hard work paying off.

The presentation for me went well although I had planned on showing extra content in case we were required to show more. In the end, it wasn't required so the extra content prepared was not shown. Good news is that I will update the blog instead with these.

With only an essay to complete for my course, I will now begin to focus on the student show as well as planning what film festivals I will be submitting Caged to.

Caged completed

It feels really weird but Caged is finally complete totalling at 4 minutes 50 seconds (including credits).

Really excited about showing it this Tuesday for the last presentation in my course (*sniff* If only the course was another year or two longer).

With the completion of the film ,my focus will now be aimed at it's promotion for the student show. With a poster concept ready to be printed, I can start designing the space I will get for the student show (hopefully with a life size cut out too)

Here's another screenshot of the film:



Enzo isn't happy despite his surroundings...



Caged Trailer now online!

With my film almost complete, I have uploaded the first trailer for Caged:



I will be re-editing and spending more time on the trailer once my film is finished, for now I quickly put this together to promote my presentation on May 10th. Can't wait!