The Future we Choose (RSA)
This is yet another animation which involves reinterpreting an existing piece of media which I had to make visuals of, but the brief did require visuals which were more abstract and presented more like visual metaphor like sequences, avoiding visuals which would be too representative of the audio or visuals which were too simplistic, this was a challenge for me, but my thoughts on how my visual metaphors were executed, I'll state later on. The audio I've chosen consisted of someone talking about climate change, a reminder that we need to act on it now and coming up with some ideas on how to overcome it. I presented my animation by creating a mini narrative consisting of red characters called red figures, who are endangered by the embodiment of climate change itself while also finding out on how to overcome it and living a life which is better for the environment, while also befriend earth itself, an actual character in this film too.
This was the first animation I've made which involved the mix of 3D and 2D, Maya helped form the 3D environments, 3D characters and other 3D assets, while Photoshop was used to apply more colour, add some line work, and add detail to both the characters and environments. While the Photoshop segments were done frame by frame, the Maya side of things included enhanced 3D modelling like the formation of the car assets, more complex 3D animation such as the hands and head being parented with the red figure's bodies and texturing which mixed reflective phong materials, colourful lamberts and minor elements of texturing to create an environment which was grounded while looking like a toy set. There were many innovations within this animation, which includes the fire character being made up of 2D graphics which interacts with the 3D environment around him, alongside enhancing the colours of some of the assets like the asset which spins before the bulldozer scene, and even making the background all the Maya scenes blue.
This animation I believe is quite successful, I even felt confident enough to submit this animation to the RSA competition, as I believe I have a good shot from how pleased I am with this animation. This animation made me want to create more content implementing 2D and 3D together but do it in an even bigger scale such as forming 3D environments and apply 2D all over it (just like how Disney's Tarzan was made). There are some improvements I would state such as some outlining issues with the red figures have been spotted and some of the camerawork can be a bit quick in some places, but it's still an animation which has some of my best animation camera work, a neat mix of 2D and 3D according to feedback and my other acquittances and yet another consistent colour pallet, as well as all my feedback liking the visual metaphors I came up with in the end. With this animation made, like my Rio animation, I hope that this animation of mine can spread the awareness of climate change (like I have used the Rio animation to spread awareness about plastic in the sea). There are many other aspects which I would like to take on more like adding 2D characters in 3D settings and forming characters made up of entirely parented features, as it’s shown to be successful here.
This animation took roughly a month to make, the Maya segments such as the animating and rendering was somewhat quick, only taking more than a week, while I had plenty of time to apply all the Photoshop aspects plus putting all the scenes together in After Effects. I was given six months to complete this project, not only did that allow me more time to showcase evidence of the animation's progress alongside the planning material, but I did spend a lot of time towards this project during the earlier weeks, so I had time for future briefs which has a similar scale to this animation. By the time other briefs came around, I was already at a comfortable position with this project, already having a final animation, and the rest of this brief's time is used towards the other projects while going back to this one every once in a while, such as checking my portfolio supporting this animation. While I do seem like a very quick worker, I do like spending as much time towards my projects as possible as I have breathing room for when other projects come along, I was glad to put the time I did back then, and it should be something that all animators should take note off if you are ever in a position where you are trying to complete one animation while other projects are looming.