GRADED UNIT 2

Graded Unit 2 By David Young

Graded Unit 2 – Personal Brief

‘Words Cut Deep’

Graded Unit 2 – Brief

‘Anti-Bullying Campaign'

The purpose of the report is to outline a brief for myself to follow as I create and bring together ideas to be used in my final Graded Unit animation at Dundee and Angus College in the Computer Arts and Design HND Year 2.

I have been given guidelines that I must adhere to in creating my own brief and I will contextualise them and elaborate on how I will proceed to meet these goals.

My completed animation must be a maximum of sixty seconds in length, including the credits for the purpose of showcasing what I have learned during my time in the HND course.

Idea options:

I have to choose from one of the following three options as a basis for my final animation.

Channel ident for a fictional or existing product

I had to do a very similar project in my first year in which I created an ident for a fictional television channel called 666 so I have previous experience here which is a good start. If I choose this option, I will need to be aware of and create specific guidelines for me to follow such as airing time, target audience and content. The animation must capture the audience’s attention and sell the product.

Narrative short for a festival submission

This option would give me the most scope to create something truly original. Essentially I could create any narrative driven animation short I could think of, however it may be useful to provide myself with some criteria that the animation festival desires. What is the purpose of the animation, does the festival have a specific topic in mind that I am submitting for such as anti-racism or anti-bullying campaigns?

Trailer to promote a fictional or existing products

Again, similarly to the ident option, a trailer based animation would have to be created for the purpose of selling or raising awareness about a product. This advertisement would most likely need to be upbeat and eager to please the audience, to grab their attention and convince them to go for the product.

My working methodology

My project will be a 3D computer generated animation which will showcase my accrued knowledge from over the HND course so far.

I will be creating my animation in 3D using Autodesk 3DS Max because that has primarily been the method that I have been taught in my time here, however I will possibly use other forms of animation such as 2D (Adobe Flash, After Effects) if I have time constraints or if the narrative has no need for an intricate 3D objects or characters if a 2D alternative would suffice?

I am mindful of time management on this project as I had ran into time constraints in previous projects, mostly down to poor time management, so I will use my time as effectively as possible to achieve my goals and grades by creating a time plan (see last page of brief) and meeting the deadlines I set for myself. This will create a structure in the way I work.

In my planning stage, I will explore three separate lines of enquiry on the subject matter and collate research, drawings and notes together for each idea. From these ideas, I will then choose the strongest of the three after receiving feedback in my scheduled mentor meetings with my lecturer. I have included the mentor meeting dates in my project plan so I can be prepared.

Following my planning stage, when I have received the green light to proceed with my project from my lecturer, I will proceed into my development stage. Here I will gather further primary and secondary research which will then be refined using mind maps, mood boards, sketch book work and other development methods. I will create a master document treatment which documents everything I will include in the film, along with a synopsis which will give a short overview of the story. I will carefully plan my story using sets of thumbnails, story boards and an animatic to fully plot out the timings and rising action in the film. At this stage I will also create a sound plan to document the required sound files I will need to source to complete the film.

From there I will follow my own schedule to create and develop my character/s and environment/s in accordance with my research, drawings and notes, all conforming to my deadlines I have set along the way. The next stage will be to fully rig, texture and animated my designs, then render out my production in preparation for post-production.

In post, I will tidy up my renders and edit the film accordingly with special attention to sound and music levels and colour correction.

After my animation has been completed and submitted I will write up an evaluation of my work where I will analyse how well I think I have performed and how I stuck to my plan of action.

Chosen subject matter:

In the interest of giving myself the maximum scope and potential for idea generation, I have chosen to focus on creating a narrative short for festival submission which is option B. from my available options.

In this project, I aim to create an animation that is not only entertaining but also has a deeper meaning to it. To elaborate further, I will create a short story that is based on highlighting a social problem in our society and making the audience think about it. I hope that this animation could not only net me a good mark in my evaluation but also change or highlight people’s perceptions on a specific topic.

By creating a mind map on this matter, I have chosen to focus my animation on creating a film for the purpose of promoting anti-bullying. I hope to put across the point that even though you cannot see the damage that bulling causes on the outside, the damage is there on the inside and can have very detrimental effects on people’s lives.

I believe that creating an animation for a potential festival submission has the best chance of achieving this goal. Through research of various animation festivals online, I have discovered that most festivals have a criteria or subject matter that they want animations for.

An example of this can be found here at Filmclub.org
http://www.filmclub.org/whats-new/details/1641/anti-bullying-filmmaking-competition. (Accessed 07/02/2014)

They are running a completion for a bullying prevention film animation or video which has a closing date of the 28^th February 2014.

As such, my intended target audience is for children and teenagers as that is predominately where most bullying occurs, however it is useful to note that this is not always the case. Bullies can be found anywhere from schools, the workplace and even within family homes as domestic and emotional abuse. So everyone should be able to pick up on the message of the film, to think.

Project Timeline Document

Deadlines	Task	Completed	Completion Date
11/02/2014	Initial Research Portfolio Gather research notes. (Bullying websites and articles)	Yes	05/02/2014
11/02/2014	Create a Project Plan Sheet List of tasks	Yes	04/02/2014
11/02/2014	Create a Project Tick Sheet Time management (This Document)	Yes	06/02/2014
11/02/2014	Create a space for my project on my blog	Yes	04/02/2014
11/02/2014	Create my project Plan Draft 001 (Minimum 1000 words)	Yes	04/02/2014
11/02/2014	Mentor Meeting 001	Yes	11/02/2014
11/02/2014	Mind Map 001 Graded Unit Initial Thoughts	Yes	04/02/2014
11/02/2014	Mind Map 002 Narrative Short Ideas	Yes	04/02/2014
11/02/2014	Mind Map 003 Bulling	Yes	05/02/2014
18/02/2014	Research Hidden abuses (Feedback from mentor meeting 001)	Yes	12/02/2014
18/02/2014	Research local authorities and charities (Feedback from mentor meeting 001)	Yes	11/02/2014
18/02/2014	Research bullying in other age groups (Feedback from mentor meeting 001)	Yes	13/02/2014
18/02/2014	Research the work of Dan Sumich (Feedback from mentor meeting 001)	Yes	13/02/2014
18/02/2014	Research the work of Chris Landreth (Feedback from mentor meeting 001)	Yes	13/02/2014
18/02/2014	Try to arrange inteviews with contacts (Feedback from mentor meeting 001)	Yes	18/02/2014
18/02/2014	Mentor Meeting 002	Yes	18/02/2014
25/02/2014	Research Journals for correct terminology	Yes	25/02/2014
25/02/2014	Look further into age group and target audience (Feedback from mentor meeting 002)	Yes	25/02/2014
25/02/2014	Write Project Brief &Treatment - Draft 001	Yes	28/02/2014
25/02/2014	Write Project Synopsis 300-500 words	Yes	04/03/2014
25/02/2014	Audio Plan Sound Effects & Foley Music Bed Voice Overs	Yes	04/03/2014
25/02/2014	Mood Board 001 Character Design	Yes	04/03/2014
25/02/2014	Mood Board 002 Environment Design	Yes	28/02/2014
25/02/2014	Mood Board 003 Environment 2 - The Street	Yes	11/03/2014
25/02/2014	Mood Board 004 Floating Words	Yes	11/03/2014
25/02/2014	Mood Board 005 Theme (Bullying)	Yes	04/03/2014
25/02/2014	Mood Board 006 School Uniform	Yes	13/03/2014
04/03/2014	Character Design Idea Generation Sketches (x3)	Yes	13/03/2014
04/03/2014	Character Design Development Sketches (x3)	Yes	14/03/2014
04/03/2014	Character Design Final Design	Yes	14/03/2014
04/03/2014	Environment Design Idea Generation Sketches	Yes	14/03/2014
04/03/2014	Environment Design Development Sketches (x3)	Yes	03/04/2014
04/03/2014	Environment Design Final Design	Yes	03/04/2014
04/03/2014	Lighting and Colour Design Concepts	Yes	14/03/2014
11/03/2014	Story Thumbnails (Min 15 images)	Yes	16/03/2014
11/03/2014	Typography Design	Yes	18/03/2014
11/03/2014	Annotated Story Boards (Min 15 boards (x3))	Yes	17/03/2014
11/03/2014	Mentor Meeting 003	Yes	11/03/2014
12/03/2014	Character Design History Report Minimum 1000 words	Yes	13/03/2014
18/03/2014	Sound Recording	Yes	27/03/2014
18/03/2014	Music Bed Sourcing	Yes	17/03/2014
18/03/2014	Animatic	Yes	18/03/2014
25/03/2014	Character Modelling	Yes	20/03/2014
25/03/2014	Character Texturing Standard Texture	Yes	27/03/2014
25/03/2014	Character Texturing Bloody Texture	Yes	27/03/2014
31/03/2014	Character Rigging Create a skeleton	Yes	27/03/2014
31/03/2014	Character Rigging Full Body Controllers	Yes	31/03/2014
31/03/2014	Character Weight Mapping	Yes	03/04/2014
31/03/2014	Environment Modelling Punch Bag	Yes	13/03/2014
31/03/2014	Environment Modelling	Yes	31/03/2014
31/03/2014	Environment Texturing Punch Bag	Yes	13/03/2014
31/03/2014	Environment Texturing	Yes	31/03/2014
07/04/2014	Set up lighting	Yes	31/03/2014
07/04/2014	Set up scene cameras	Yes	07/04/2014
07/04/2014	Scene animation	Yes	15/04/2014
14/04/2014	Rendering	Yes	18/04/2014
14/04/2014	Import files to Adobe Premiere	Yes	18/04/2014
14/04/2014	Create Typography and titles	Yes	14/04/2014
14/04/2014	Editing & Compositing	Yes	18/04/2014
14/04/2014	Sync Sound and check levels	Yes	18/03/2014
15/04/2014	Mentor Meeting 004	Yes	15/04/2014
21/04/2014	Final Output	Yes	18/04/2014
29/04/2014	Mentor Meeting 005	Yes	29/04/2014
06/05/2014	Submission of all files on DVD	Yes	06/05/2014
06/05/2014	Evaluation Report	Yes	06/05/2014

Portfolio of Research and Resources

As I look through various online resources, I will display the links here that have been helpful in my research of the subject.

Childline Website - Bullying
Accessed 05/02/2014
http://www.childline.org.uk/Explore/Bullying/Pages/Bullying.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign_name=ABW2013&utm_campaign=Anti-Bullying_Bullying_Brand&utm_term=bullying_childline&gclid=CKut4ZCStbwCFQPmwgod3hwAmQ

Anxiety, Depression & Suicide: The Lasting Effects of Bullying
Written by Brian Krans Published on February 20, 2013
Accessed 05/02/2014
http://www.healthline.com/health-news/bullying-affects-victims-and-bullies-into-adulthood-022013

“To this day”: Poet talks about his viral animated anti-bullying video

Written by Lisa Suhay, February 21, 2013

Accessed 05/02/2014

http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/Modern-Parenthood/2013/0221/To-this-day-Poet-talks-about-his-viral-animated-anti-bullying-video-video

From Bullying to Drawing: A Story with a Happy Ending
Written by Fouad Sassi October 30th, 2013
Accessed 05/02/2014
http://blog.nfb.ca/blog/2013/10/30/bullying-stop-motion-video-odile-desaulniers/

Bully Dance
Directed by Janet Perlman
Produced by The National Film Board of Canada
About: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/bully.html
Film available on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K02OxmV3-0
Uploaded by Youtube User : Cristina Serna - 18th October 2009

Interview with Morgan Powell, MSW - Associate Clinical Social Worker
Written by I, Knoop (2011)
http://www.icubed.us/career-interviews-list/node/2315
Accessed 13/02/2014

Example of local Scottish film festival-
Edinburgh Short Film Festival
http://www.edinburghshortfilmfestival.com/#!form/c7d5

Mind Maps

Graded Unit Mind Map

Female Character Mind Map

Bullying Mind Map

Idea Generation

For this project I will create a female lead character, as I have only ever created animation's with a male lead. It will be interesting to see things from a female perspective. This may be useful as (although not always the case) males tend to hide their feelings more.

Below I have listed my first three initial ideas on how the story will be told.

Idea 001: - Damage on the Inside

· Female lead character.

· Bullying prevention short story.

· Young girl being bullied retreats inside herself to see the damage on the inside.

Moral of the story, you cannot always see the damage bullying causes on the outside.

This idea should make the audience think before they act.

Idea 002: - From the Bullies Point of View

· Female lead character.

· Bullying prevention short story.

· From the bullies perspective. Sometimes they are victims too and bully others as a way to vent frustration.

This is an often overlooked aspect of bullying.

Idea 003: Bullying - The Aftermath

· Female lead character.

· Bullying prevention short story.

· The aftermath, looking at the results of extensive bullying and the physical and emotional effects that victims experience.

This idea will delve into topics such as depression and other mental disorders and how it can be difficult to adjust to life even years after the bullying has stopped.

Mentor Meeting 001 Notes - 11/02/2014

Today I had a mentor meeting with my Graded Unit Lecturer Aaron McCloskey. We discussed the planning phase of my project so far and he seemed quite happy with my progress at this stage.

Aaron looked over my project brief and schedule and gave me some tips for improvement and where to take my project from here.

1. Hidden Abuses: As my project will explore these often hidden signs of abuse, I will need to look into this further and gather as much information as possible.

2. Dan Sumich - Action for Children: Aaron suggested I look into the work of Dan Sumich's Action for Children and Chris Landreth's Ryan, as they may be relevant to my project.

3. Dundee Council Charities: I should look up some local charities that help with bullying and as for any advice or input. Do they have leaflets I can look through? What is the most common form of bullying?

4. Themes for other age groups: We discussed how bullying is not only found within a school ground environment. I will research other forms of bullying in other age groups. The workplace? At home?

5. Interviews: Is it possible to arrange some interviews with people who work at the heart of the matter such as case workers and charity workers. Can they provide me with some further information or true stories that may be invaluable for my research?

In conclusion, I found my first mentor meeting very helpful and informative. I have come to realise the wealth of potential research sources at my disposal.

Local Authorities and Charities

The Corner Dundee

Local Drop In Centre for young people. They help with health, information and other services for young people up to 25 years.
http://www.thecorner.co.uk/index.php

Kidscape - UK's first Anti-Bullying Charity

The UK's first official charity to prevent bullying and child sex abuse.

http://www.kidscape.org.uk/
Accessed 13/02/2014

Kidscape Anti-Bullying Helpline for Parents

TEL. 08451 205 204

Dundee City Coucil Anti-Bullying Policy 2009

This is Dundee City Councils anti-bullying policy written in 2009 which I found on the Council website. This policy is to be upheld throughout all educational establishments within the city.

http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/dundeecity/uploaded_publications/publication_1473.pdf

Accessed 11/02/2014

Dundee Violence Against Women Partnership

This website has been set up to try to stop violence predominantly from men towards women. The site does say it acknowledges that there is violence against men and in same sex relationships but focuses on helping women.

They state "The use of a gender-based analysis acknowledges the historical context of violence against women within a society that affords greater status, power and control to men than it does to women."

http://www.dvawp.co.uk/pages/what-violence-against-women

Accessed 11/02/2014

Domestic violence against men

On the Dundee council website there are links that provide advice and support for men who are experiencing domestic abuse from a partner or ex partner.
http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/socialwork/infoformen
Accessed 11/02/2014

Young Scot - Protecting us

This website is dedicated to helping children and young people out. There is lots of information here for young people who may need advice or help regarding topics such as bullying and abuse.

http://www.youngscot.org/local/dundee/542-protecting-us-why-might-someone-be-worried-about-you

Accessed 11/02/2014

Dundee Childcare and Protection Commitee

There is some useful information here for adults, and advice on how to spot the signs of bullying and abuse in children.

http://www.everybodysjob.co.uk/cominv_3_3.htm

Accessed 11/02/2014

Dundee Protects Adults - What is harm?

Useful information about what defines harm. Includes both physical and psychological harm.

http://www.dundeeprotectsadults.co.uk/harm.htm
Accessed 11/02/2014

Further research into bullying and abuse

Here I will detail the different types of bullying and abuse that I have learned about in my research as per mentor meeting notes.

Physical Abuse - The act of physically hurting someone.

“Physical abuse can include the following:

slapping, kicking, shoving, choking, pinching, forced feeding, or denial of food, pulling hair, punching, throwing things, burning (e.g. with a cigarette), beating, strangling, use of weapons (gun, knives, or any object) physical restraint – pinning against wall, floor, bed, etc. reckless driving, etc.” - Hidden Hurt (2013)

Psychological Abuse - The emotional effects of bullying and abuse.

This form of bullying wears a victim down, usually over a period of time. Victims lose their sense of self-worth, feel depressed and often blame themselves for being bullied.

“Kids who were bullied and acted as bullies themselves were at higher risk for depression, anxiety and panic disorder years down the line” - Pittman (2013)

Cyber Bullying – Bullying online, often via social media or email

“Cyber bullying — using modern communications such as e-mails, texts or web-postings — is as common in the workplace as ‘conventional’ bullying. Yet, the way cyber bullying influences both the victim and witnesses is more hidden in the workplace.” – Exchange Online (2014)

Disability Bullying – Picking on people with disabilities or other medical conditions.

Bullies could target disabled people simply because they are different.

“Disability bullying is bullying specifically targeting people with disability. Disability bullying normally targets physically disabled individuals but can also extend individuals with other special conditions such as autism, cleft lips and even dyspraxia.” - Typesofbullying.org (2014)

Verbal Bullying – Bullying through use of threats and name calling etc.

“In this type of bullying, the aggressor also known as the bully tries to verbally upset the victim through taunting and teasing. The verbal assault might focus on an individual’s appearance, lifestyle choices, intellect, skin color and even ethnicity. Most verbal bullies have a low self-esteem and tend to bully others so as to increase their social standings and feel better about themselves.” - Typesofbullying.org (2014)

Sexting – Sending explicit images of people to others to manipulate and/or humiliate them.

“Sexting is a term used for sending sexually suggestive messages by using email, text messages, instant messaging, photos or videos mostly to illicit sexual behaviour or for harassment.” – Bullies Out (2014)

References:
Bullies Out (2014) Sexting [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bulliesout.com/sexting Accessed 12/02/2014
Exchange Online (2014) Hidden impact of cyber bullying [ONLINE] Available at: http://exchange.nottingham.ac.uk/hidden-impact-of-cyber-bullying/ Accessed 12/02/2014
Hiddenhurt, (2013) Types of abuse [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.hiddenhurt.co.uk/physical_abuse.html Accessed 12/02/2014
Pittman, G., (2013) Psychological effects of bullying can last years [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/21/us-psychological-bullying-idUSBRE91K12K20130221 Accessed 12/02/2014
Typesofbullying.org (2014) The different types of bullying [ONLINE] Available at: http://typesofbullying.org/ Accessed 12/02/2014

Effects of Bullying

Here I will look into some of the effects that victims of bullying face during or after they are picked on.

Effects of bullying-: Trust Issues, loss of self-worth, self-loathing, violence against others, psychological harm in the form of mental disorders, loss of appetite, anxiety, panic attacks, extreme sadness, feeling suicidal, and depression.

Victims can suffer all of these problems and more as a result of bullying which can last for years and be seriously detrimental to them for the rest of their lives.

“To avoid going to school, they may complain of various symptoms, such as, tummy ache, headache, feeling sick. If they do attend school, the fear and anxiety may make it difficult for them to concentrate and engage in the classroom. They may also stop using the school bus, drop out of any after school clubs or groups and make excuses to avoid going out with their friends.” – Bullies out – (2014)

References:
Bullies Out, (2014), The effects of bullying [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bulliesout.com/the-effects-of-bullying Accessed 12/04/2014

Further Research from Mentor Meeting 001

Dan Sumich's Emily for Action For Children

This animation was directed by Dan Sumich at Passion Pictures London as part of a campaign for Action For Children

http://www.passion-london.com/directors/dan-sumich/action-for-children-emily/4f84b6ce567215a4c7a1b469b4e15693

Accessed 11/02/2014

The Making of Emily

http://creativity-online.com/work/action-for-children-emily--the-making-of/19237Accessed 11/02/2014

This is useful to me as research into other animations that have been created to highlight bullying as a social problem in our society.

Chris Landreth’s ‘Ryan’

In Chris Landreth’s short film ‘Ryan’, Landreth displays emotional scars on his characters in a physical visual way on screen. The narrator (Chris) goes on to point out such scars and how he got them at the start of the film.

Image: Landreth’s Scars

I find this concept very interesting in line with my project. Not all of the damage from bullying can be seen in a physical way as many people are scarred psychologically and emotionally. It would be interesting to display these burdens for the audience to see in a physical sense.

Here is a section of an interview with between Greg Singer and Chris Landreth.

“GS: Your film goes into the psyche of its characters, where you are outwardly portraying their inner life. Your work has been described as psycho-realism. Can you speak about this?

CL: Psycho-realism was a term that I came up with about three years ago when I was trying to think of a title for a talk I was about to give. It deals very much with a belief I have in using advanced tools and CG. Unlike the way they’re generally used, to doggedly recreate photorealism or to tell superficially imaginative stories, what I think they can also be used for is to show, in a very detailed and realistic way, something that is not necessarily, literally realistic which, in this case, is the psychological makeup of people and characters; often ordinary characters who nonetheless have very complex psychologies and personalities and behavioral dysfunctions. Wouldn’t it be cool if you can portray those things in a visual manner? What kind of storytelling might that open up that wouldn’t have been there otherwise? That’s what I tried to do with the imagery in a piece like Ryan.” - Awn.com (2004)

References:

Singer, G., (2004) Landreth on ‘Ryan’ [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.awn.com/vfxworld/landreth-ryan Accessed 13/02/2014

Image: Landreth’s Scars [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2004/Volume-27-Issue-7-July-2004-/Psychorealism.aspx Accessed 13/02/2014

Bullying and harassment in the workplace

The following link leads to a .PDF file created by ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) This is a guide to what to do if you are being bullied or harassed in the workplace.

http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=306&p=0

Acas helplineTelephone: 08457 47 47 47

The advice given says in the first instance; try to resolve the matter with the person informally. If the harassment persists, speak to a manager or the PR department. If this does not resolve the bullying, employees can make a formal complaint to the employer or seek legal action through an employer tribunal.

As an employer, the company has a responsibility to try to prevent bullying and harassment at work. Although bullying is not illegal, harassment is and must be dealt with accordingly.

References:
Gov.uk (2014) Workplace bullying and harrassment [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/workplace-bullying-and-harassment Accessed 13/02/2014

Email Interview with “The Corner Dundee”

As per my mentor meeting 001 notes, I decided it would be a good idea and source of research to get into contact with a local organisation that helps young people with bullying. I came across an organisation called The Corner, based at 13 Shore Terrace Dundee.

The corner is a drop in centre for children and young adults that provide help and advice with everything from bullying to health and wellbeing.

I sent an email asking a few questions about bullying today as I understand that bullying may have changed in recent years with the advent of social media technologies.

Mr Graeme Cockburn, a Health Outreach Worker with The Corner replied to me.

He said “Don't play your own experiences so much, bullying hasn't changed all that much. When it comes to internet bullying, this just adds another 'venue' for the bullying, a venue which is largely unsupervised by adults.”

Email interview questions detailed below.

D. Young - What are the main causes of bullying today?

G. Cockburn - Bullying is usually always because of some kind of perceived vulnerability and difference!

D. Young - What can parents or other adults do to prevent bullying taking place?

G. Cockburn - Parents could get involved at the school, become more familiar with their child's lives. Parents should become as familiar with 'venues' including social media/networking sites, as they are with the park their child plays in.

D. Young - What are common signs that someone is being bullied? What should we look out for?

G. Cockburn - A change in behaviour. Recluse-> extrovert and vice versa.

Finally Mr Cockburn gave some advice for victims after advising I check out Respectme.org.uk for further research.

“One of the methods of dealing with bullying 'respect me', promote and i struggled with, is to walk away, avoid the situations or places avoid the people. I used to feel that this put a lot of responsibility on the victim which you could see as unfair... then i thought about it and while it’s not the victims fault- they can’t change someone else's behaviour but they can change their own. I now use this a lot.”

My Project

After collecting all of my research notes, it is now time to reign in my project story. Below I will give details of a couple of the ideas I have been working on (See above section - Idea generation).

I will then choose one of these ideas and take it forward to become the basis of my project.

Story Idea 001: - Damage on the Inside
· Female lead character.
· Bullying prevention short story.
· Young girl being bullied retreats inside herself to see the damage on the inside.
Moral of the story, you cannot always see the damage bullying causes on the outside. This story will show the internal struggle of a young girl who is physically battling her demons. She will be battle-scarred and shown fighting against bullying inside her mind.

This idea should make the audience think before they act. I believe this idea has a good message and may stick in the mind of viewers and hopefully make them consider how someone is feeling internally.

Story Idea 002: Bullying - The Aftermath
· Female lead character.
· Bullying prevention short story.
· The aftermath, looking at the results of extensive bullying and the physical and emotion effects those victims go through.
This idea will delve into topics such as depression and other mental disorders and how it can be difficult to adjust to life even years after the bullying has stopped.
This idea is good for highlighting the pain and suffering bullying victims can go through.

Mentor Meeting 002 Notes - 18/02/2014

Today I took part in my second mentor meeting discussion with Lecturer aaron McCloskey. We discussed the progress of my research and where I should progress moving forward.

1. I should look up some journals in the health sector that deal specifically with bullying. I should use this research to gain further insight into the correct terminology used which could give me some common ground when discussing the subject with people who work with the victims.

2. I will look further into bullying in the younger generation and what sets it apart from bullying in other age groups. I will discuss why I have chosen to create a film for that audience.

3. Finally, I will further research the making of other projects such as Landreth's Ryan and Sumich's Emily. This will be useful research when I come to developing my project.

Research into scientific journals related to bullying : Feedback from mentor meeting 002

Journal 001- Observing bullying at school

This journal written by The American Psychological Association (2009) indicates that there can sometimes be mental repercussions of actually viewing a case of bullying.

The study shows evidence that a bystander could suffer more psychological damage than a victim or perpetrator. This information was collected using a survey of 2002 pupils age 12 to 16 in 14 schools in the UK.

Available at: www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/spq-24-4-211.pdf

Accessed 18/02/2014

Journal 002 - Bullying and Suicide: A Public Health Approach

Written by Marci Feldman Hertz, this journal has invaluable information regarding the statistics between bullying and suicide.

Hertz states “Between 20% and 56% of young people are involved in bullying annually. Thus, in a classroom of 30 students, between 6 and 17 students are involved in bullying as a victim, perpetrator, or both (bully-victim).”

Hertz also goes on to say “Youth who are bullied are more likely to be depressed or anxious, have lower academic achievement, report feeling like they do not belong at school, have poorer social and emotional adjustment, greater difficulty making friends, poorer relationships with classmates, and greater loneliness.”

Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X1300270X

Accessed 18/02/2014

Journal 003 – NSPCC - School Bullying

This journal was written by Alana James, a PHD researcher on behalf of the NSPCC. This journal details some key research into what bullying actually is. James says that bullying is a type of aggression that inflicts harm, physical, emotional or both.

Here are a few key points in the research cited directly from the article:

1. “Verbal abuse is the most commonly reported type of bullying, but ‘cyberbullying’, which typically happens outside of school, is becoming an increasingly significant issue.”

2. “Victimisation decreases with age, although there is an initial peak during the transition from primary to secondary school.”

3. “Boys are more likely to be involved in physical bullying, and girls in verbal and relational bullying. It is unclear whether there are any consistent age or gender trends within cyberbullying.”
Available at: http://www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/research/briefings/school_bullying_wda73503.htm
Accessed 18/02/2014‎‎

Teenage Bullying

Bullying as a teenager is particularly prevalent in schools and high schools, although it can also be found invading a victim’s home through cyber abuse outwith school hours. This can lead to emotional problems such as depression and even lead up to suicide in many cases.

Images such as the image below that I was sent via Facebook show that the internet is full of cases of bullying.

Image shared through social media Facebook.

Brighton & Hove Pride - Official Page (2014)

12/03/2014 - Anti bullying song from youtube.

I came across this video of a young girl who wrote a song about someone being bullied.

Here is a UK short film from Moon Eye Films that shows a young boy being bullied.

The following information has been sourced directly from bullyingstatistics.org and was not written by myself.

What are some of the effects of teenage bullying?

Many people retain horrible memories of high school, in large part due to the bullying they experienced. Teenage bullying is a very real problem in schools. And it isn't always physical. There are many different types of bullying, including verbal and emotional bullying. These types of bullying, though more subtle than physical bullying, can still have a large impact on a student. There are a number of effects that come with teenage bullying. First of all, there are the obvious physical problems and injuries that can result from physical bullying. However, emotional, verbal and cyber bullying can deeply affect teens as well. These activities can lead to depression (and even suicide), drug use and stunted social development. These are problems that can affect a person well into adulthood. – bullyingstatistics.org (2013)

References:

Bullying Statistics, Available at: http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/teenage-bullying.html Accessed 25/02/2014

Facebook Bullying Image, by: Brighton & Hove Pride - Official Page, Available at: https://www.facebook.com/#!/brightonpride, Accessed 25/02/2014

Chosen Story to develop

I have decided to pursue 'Story Idea 001: Damage on the Inside' because I believe it is the stronger of the two choices.

From a film-maker's stand point, I believe that the idea of seeing a person's emotional scars in a physical way from inside that person's mind would make a more interesting and captivating piece, that would hold an audience’s attention longer than a story about how broken people can become in the aftermath of bullying. My goal is to produce a piece of work that sticks in an audience’s mind, though I do not want to depress them, which could potentially throw them off.

Planning stage Complete - 27th February 2014

Today I received confirmation from my lecturer that I have passed my planning stage of my graded unit. I will now progress with development work.

Project Brief and Treatment

“Fractus Intra” – Latin for Broken Inside

Words Cut Deep

Words Cut Deep is a 60 second 3D animated short film that highlights the damaging effects that bullying causes on an emotional and psychological level, specifically with the young in a school environment. Words Cut Deep will be designed to connect with the audience by eliciting feelings of sadness for the lead character. The audience will empathise with the character who is suffering at the hands of bullies.

Words Cut Deep is a narrative short to be submitted to The Edinburgh Short Film Festival within the animated short category.

The ESFF has criteria in the short film category in that all stories must be around a minute long, including credits and must also touch on a social problem in contemporary society.

The purpose of the short is to show that not all of the damage that bullying causes is physical, but also quite often has psychological effects and though a victim of bullying may seem alright at first glance, if we look deeper, the victim could be really suffering inside.

The animation is aimed at teenagers between the ages of 12 to 18. Through my research I have found that this is the age range in which bullying is most prevalent. I am targeting this demographic because I believe this age group will benefit the most from watching such a film. It is my aim that Words Cut Deep will make the perpetrators of bullying think before they act. The film will also appeal to authority figures such as teachers, parents and guardians who could put themselves in the victim’s position to gain a greater understanding of how they are feeling, post bullying.

I have undertaken a lot of research into the subject of bullying by looking up local charities, local organisations, websites and research journals as well as arranging interviews with a local NHS health worker who has experience with bullying. This research will continue throughout the length of my project to ensure I am meeting my goals in creating an effective anti-bullying short animation.

Influences for my project include Dan Sumich, who created Emily, a short for Action for Children with Passion Pictures London and Chris Landreth, who created Ryan with the National Film board of Canada. Sumich has already created a successful mixed live action/animated short on the topic of bullying.

Landreth created Ryan, a documentary short in which the characters emotional states were shown as overlaid 3d graphics which reflected the characters emotional scars.

Character:

Sam is a 15 year old girl. She has long dark hair that is kept up in a ponytail. Sam is of slim build with plain facial features. Sam has glacial grey eyes that seem cold and full of despair. Sam has an ordinary school uniform, black trousers and shoes, white shirt and yellow & black striped tie.

When we are presented with the true Sam, in her mind, she is wearing gym attire. Sam has a white tank top that is heavily blood stained. Her navy blue shorts barely conceal the cuts and bruises on her legs. Her hair is messily contained in her ponytail. Sam’s face and arms are heavily bruised and bleeding.

The Narrative:

Sam walks slowly down an unremarkable street towards us with her mind elsewhere. The street has muted, dull colours and is oddly blurry. It is unimportant to Sam. She is clutching some books to her chest and has a schoolbag over her left shoulder. Sam stares blankly at the ground in front of her as she timidly walks home from school. It has been another horrible day at school. Sam is a victim of bullying. We hear laughing and taunting voices mocking Sam. The voices are not present and seem ghostlike. They are a memory of previous events.

As Sam is lost in thought, she is bumped into by a bully and knocked to the ground, hard. The bully laughs and walk away.

At this moment we fly forwards and into Sam’s eye as she props herself up, into the darkness of her mind.

A light appears overhead in the darkness, a spotlight that highlights Sam. She is alone in the spotlight of her mind. On closer inspection, in the darkness around the light, we can make out various pieces of gym equipment. There are weight benches, dumbbell racks and squat racks. As we creep towards her, we can see her body is covered in cuts and bruises, some are bleeding. In the shadows several stabbing bright words fade in and disappear sporadically, sometimes floating in the shadows or painted on the walls. The words are curses and insults such as FREAK, LOSER, and IDIOT. These words in the back of Sam’s mind continue to appear and float around for the duration of our time there.

We hear ghostly whispering voices in the darkness. They say horrible things, such as “She’s such a freak”, “Whore” and “Bitch”.

We see a heavy punching bag, much like that seen in a weight lifter or boxer’s gym hanging up in the spotlight before Sam. She is ducking around the bag, occasionally jabbing at it with her fists. Sam is quick on her feet and seems to float around the bag, punching continuously, all the while the cuts on her body bleed profusely.

The ghostly whispers build up into many chaotic voices. They continue to verbally abuse and insult Sam.

Sam shout’s “Leave me alone!” into the darkness as she strikes the punching bag hard.

As we move around Sam and her foe, we see the punching bag is composed of insulting words and feelings too. Sam tries to punch away the hurtful words. Sadly, as soon as Sam scores a direct hit and removes a word, more appear to replace it. It’s a losing battle.

Sam continues to attack the hurtful words head on as the voices build to an unbearable noise. Sam draws her arm back and screams before slamming her fist into the bag. The bag swings back then knocks Sam to the floor. The voices cease. There is complete silence except for Sam’s ragged breathing and the squeak of the punching bag rocking back and forth.

We move back towards Sam’s eye again, this time getting a close up of her bloody wounds before moving away again to reveal we are back in the real world. Her injuries are no longer there, signifying they are internal psychological wounds. Sam is propped up on the pavement. She slowly gets to her feet, picking up her book. Sam walks away sadly, in silence.

Title - Words Cut Deep

End Credits

Synopsis

Words Cut Deep tells the story of Sam, a young 15 year old school girl. Sam is a victim of bullying at school and is tormented every day.

Sam has been constantly ridiculed by bullies, for no reason as far as she can tell. Sam does well in her classes at school but often attracts dirty looks and mutterings if she answers a question correctly. She doesn’t know if they are picking on her for a specific reason or if they are simply jealous of her.

Recently things have gone from bad to worse and the bullies have started pushing her around outside school.

Sam is walking home one day, minding her own business when they strike again. She is walking along a quiet street, thinking about a book she has been studying in class, when she is suddenly knocked to the ground by the group. Sam is left quite upset as she struggles to pick up her books as the bullies walk away, laughing.

Sam tries to put a brave face on the situation, choosing to ignore what just happened. Internally however, Sam is broken. Inside her mind Sam is continually fighting off the abuse she is receiving from her fellow students. Her mind is a dark place filled with the insults and whispers of the bullies.

She attempts to fight back in her mind. She turns the insults and threats into something tangible that she can physically battle away. A boxer’s punching bag appears before her in the void of her mind, lit only by a single spotlight shining above her. Her inner self is broken, scarred and bleeding as she attempts to fight off the abuse. She punches the bag continuously, the whispers in her head building into screams. She lashes out violently; smashing the insult covered punching back with her bloody fists. Suddenly, Sam is knocked to the ground, defeated and all is quiet.

Back in reality Sam picks up her books, brushes herself off then continues to head home. She may seem alright on the outside, but she is shattered on the inside.

Words Cut Deep…

Audio Plan

Below I have listed the various sound effects, voice overs and music that are needed to complete my animation.

Sound effects needed:

1. Punching bag hit noise.
2. Knocked over to the floor sound
3. Scratching as the words tear at Sam’s skin.

Voice overs needed

1. Laughing as Sam is knocked into.
2. Sam's reaction as she is knocked to the ground.
3. Whispering that builds to a chorus of voices.
4. Sam grunting as she punches the punch bag.
5. Sam's screams.

Music needed:

1. The music will be an eerie piece that is not overpowering. A piece that builds up slowly with the whispering voices and is suddenly cut to quiet at the end.
2. Music for end credits. Again, a slow, quiet, non-overpowering tune to solidify the fact that words cut deep.

Moodboards

Bullying

References:

Character

References:

Character School Uniform

Environment 1 - The of Inside Sams Mind (Gym)

References:
lahainehubertgym - Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBmCa5wA3Mav0hGKAdQtgoc2X5k1oZDdYM42HsfMWtdXujbVqnFbylpjcEqes6j27SU8XkPNwsWNbyLUXiYm5nJCtMw1jzZWS7K57jCA0h7Eg5jwoSc6gQDoQV3MTcr_Ni6IQ8U5hpzA/s1600/lahainehubertgym.png Accessed 01/03/2014
IMG_2064-2 - Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBUEio6sRNGl9nQ016QtWtUowU5DYoaC8-Rpu77UHjDPf34krkpbAL0mwIWMtdqJZSl5UuN51MspywmIMtOl8geKnzBXfMruKWMDCppgZTu4Drnc3aU5uq9wn0aHMhbV_jD-SLSj_ABFE/s1600/IMG_2064-2.jpg Accessed 01/03/2014
Toronto Condo Gym 02 - Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfgxn-nj1W15kX8_MEtqXdd6zp3nrFyZordZPpmUpUZnU-w5W9YuGAiVCEVVCu1WQ636itV03Ax4Drb-AiVNlk7PjS2rFnBMQHPouPgLmZn71wVaK0u3LH0iNydOdR2Bm0CE6wTmCetvbH/s1600/Toronto+Condo+Gym+02.jpg Accessed 01/03/2014
Sylvester-Mittee-in-a-gym-001 Available at: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2009/6/10/1244626669880/Sylvester-Mittee-in-a-gym-
001.jpg Accessed 01/03/2014
Gym-Dark-1024x678 Available at: http://www.hopsap.com/hops-content/uploads/2013/04/Gym-Dark-1024x678.png Accessed 01/03/2014
broken_gym_by_quetwo-d4mg7ke Available at: http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/015/6/6/broken_gym_by_quetwo-d4mg7ke.jpg Accessed 01/03/2014
Heavy-Bag Available at: http://www.themodernguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Heavy-Bag.jpg Accessed 01/03/2014
boxing_bag Available at: http://www.zenstudionj.com/boxing_bag.jpg Accessed 01/03/2014
A-woman-punching-a-punch--007 Available at: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Money/Pix/pictures/2012/1/27/1327665788359/A-woman-punching-a-punch--007.jpg Accessed 01/03/2014
Boxing-bag by ring - Available at: http://www.fitsational.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Boxing-bag.png Accessed 01/03/2014
boxing-wallpaper-hd4 Available at: http://etcwallpaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/boxing-wallpaper-hd4.jpg Accessed 01/03/2014

Environment 2 - The Street

Floating Words (Inside Sam's Mind)

References:
floating-letters-i-steven-gray Available at: http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/floating-letters-i-steven-gray.jpg Accessed 11/03/2014
floating-letters-ii-steven-gray Available at: http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/floating-letters-ii-steven-gray.jpg Acessed 11/03/2014
1340567-splinter_cell_conviction_xbox_360_019 Available at: http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/0/4240/1340567-splinter_cell_conviction_xbox_360_019.jpg Accessed 11/03/2014
flying_words___by_Oojie Available at: flying_words___by_Oojie Accessed 11/03/2014
3d-flying-words-hd-high-resolution-wallpaper-for-computers Available at: http://www.ghulmil.com/wp-content/uploads/3d-flying-words-hd-high-resolution-wallpaper-for-computers.jpg Accessed 11/03/2014
hqdefault Available at: http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/QzNLriahEE0/hqdefault.jpg Accessed 11/03/2014
depositphotos_6925269-Ajar-book-with-letters-of-flying-up Available at: http://static7.depositphotos.com/1180142/692/i/950/depositphotos_6925269-Ajar-book-with-letters-of-flying-up.jpg Accessed 11/03/2014
3202331302_d62c8bc5a7 Available at:http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3530/3202331302_d62c8bc5a7.jpg?v=0 Accessed 11/03/2014

Mentor Meeting 003 - 11/03/2014

During my third mentor meeting today, Aaron and I discussed my progress and how I can further my research into my project.
He suggested I create a basic textured 3D model of a punching bag with bad words on it to test my idea.
I should also explore deeper into why Sam is being bullied. This will further the back story of the character.

Primary Research

I decided to visit my local gym to take a couple of environment research images.

Raw Power Fitness Dundee by David Young 2014

Raw Power Fitness Dundee by David Young 2014

Character Idea Generation

Character Idea Development
Here I explore different looks and styles of the main character.

Hair Development Ideas
I experiment with different hair styles. I eventually opt for a character with a hood up. My reasons are that the character is a lonely withdrawn person with a low sense of self worth, so she raises her hood to block out the world and also because hair is notoriously difficult to create.

School Uniform Ideas

Character Clothing and colour tests
I experiment with colours here and opt for a red and grey colour scheme. I believe the red and grey colours will stand out more in a darkened background.

Character Poses

Thumbnails

Thumbnail Animatic

I created a very basic animatic using my thumbnail drawings to give myself a sense of what the final film could look like.

Story Boards

I next move onto storyboarding my story. I make sure to take down a note of the timings of when each individual board corresponds to what is happening on screen.

Story Board Animatic

I go one step further and add my story boards into the animatic I have created.

Final Animatic with full voice over by Clare Young
Character Production

Now it is time to move onto full on production of my project. I will start by creating the most important asset in the film, the character herself, Sam.

Modelling

I use my hand drawn character sheets as guides in my viewports within 3DS Max.

I create a basic cylinder and move the vertices to form the basic body shape.

I add more edge loops using the swift loop tool to add further detail to the model.

I use another cylinder to make an arm shape. I attach this to the character's body using the bridge tool.

I use the same process to create the basic leg shape. At this stage I move the vertices to make sure the model is the correct shape.

On the body of the character, I create the are shown here which forms the character's groin area. This means I have an are to attach the leg to now.

I attach the models leg to the body and mirror the character to make sure it looks right. I smooth out the vertices and edges to make sure I have a good polygon flow throughout the model.

I add a box shape that will serve as the foot. I smooth out the polygon flow again and then I attach this to the lower legs.

This results in the model now having two feet when mirrored.

I add a box shape that will serve as the hand. I attach this box to the lower arm.

I create five cylinders that will become the fingers. I make sure there are sufficient edge loops at the knuckles and other deforming points so that they will deform correctly when bent.

The completed hand in Nurms Mode.

The next body part that requires attention is the head. Again, I start with a box and align it to the head's proportions.

I move the vertices and add in more edge loops until the box is the same rough shape as the head in the guides.

I add some further polygons to give definition to where the eyes will be.

This is duplicated on both sides when mirrored.

I extrude the bottom of the box and shape out the neck area of the model.

I cut in some more edges that will help to define the cheeks and where the mouth will be.

Next I shape the nose by moving the vertices around and adding more edge loops. I also extrude in the eye sockets.

I add some edge loops around the eye socket to make it smoother.

I add some spheres that will be guides for the eye sockets and adjust the eye accordingly

I add some edge loops around the nose area and prepare the vertices to be shaped into a more three dimentional nose shape.

I extrude the nostrils polygons into the nose.

I clean up my polygon flow to make the nose smoother.

Next I add some vertices in the area of the mouth

I then move the vertices into the mouth shape using my character sheets as a guide.

I add some further definition to the lips to make them rounder.

I extrude the polygons between the lips inwards to create a cavity. This area of space will become the inside of the mouth.

I extrude most of the head out a little. This is the beginnings of Sam's hood.

I add edges and vertices at the rim of the hood that I shape into her hair.

I smooth out the polygon flow of the hair and then set the model into nurms mode to smooth out the character.

I use this time to clean up the polygon flow in the rest of the face, minimising the amount of triangular polygons which could cause deformation issues when animating.

I prepare the head to be secured to the body, making sure the neck has an equal amount of vertices in the head and body so it will join correctly.

I attach the head to the body.

Character modelling complete.

Texturing and head morphers

Next I begin the process of UVW unwrapping the character. I do this so that when I apply a texture to her, it will no be stretched out of shape and align correctly with the model.

I work with the unwrap in pieces. Seen here, I single out of of the polygons in the hood and make sure they are all in the correct place as I flatten out the map.

This is the fully flattened UVW unwrap of my character. I render the template out and open it in photoshop where I can overlay textures.

As I apply textures, I make sure to keep an eye on the model, just to make sure the textures are being applied correctly.

Sam's body and head have now had some basic textures applied.

Next I move on to morphers for her head. I copy her head several times and apply a morpher modifier to the original. When I modify the vertices in one of the copies, I can apply this to a morpher slider on the original head. When I move the slider, the character's face will morph to the expression I have created.

This is how I can animate Sam's face in the animation.

I create a texture for Sam's eyeballs. Seen above is the the texture with a bloodshot effect, but I also created an original texture without the bloodshot. I also add some shading to areas of the face, makeup and a more porous skin like texture to the skin using photoshop.

Sam's eyes when they are not bloodshot.

I changed the hair and jumper texture for further realism

I then created a separate texture that includes bruises and cuts. This will be used when we are inside Sams mind to represent how broken she is on the inside.

Texture map for Sam.

Bloody Texture map for Sam.

Bloodshot eye.

Standard Eye texture.

Rigging

Next I move on to creating a rig for my character. This is essentially a skeleton that is later weight mapped to the model. I do this so that when I move her leg for example, it bends in all the correct places.
I start by creating Sam's leg bones.

I then give her a spine, neck bone and a bone that will control her head.

And a set of arm bones.

Then some handy finger bones.

Finally, I mirror the leg bones and the arm bones across to the other side to complete the skeleton.

I then connect the leg bones to the spine root bone, thus creating some hips. I also do the same for the arms, connecting then to the spine, creating clavicle bones in the process.

I then add an IK (Inverse Kinematic) handle that runs between the thigh bone and the foot bone.

If I move the IK handle, the whole leg should move accordingly. I do the same process for the other foot.

I now move on to rigging one of her feet. First I create a point helper and position it at the heel.

I clone this point helper three times and position and align the others at the ankle, foot and toe areas. I then link the points together using the link tool. I mirror the helpers across to the other leg and align them into the correct positions over there too.

Next, I position constrain each IK handle to it's ankle point controller. This means wherever the ankle point controller goes, the IK handle and leg bones it controls goes with it. Now when I move the point controller, the whole foot, including the bones come with it.

I orientation constrain each foot bone to it's corresponding foot point controller. Now when I rotate the controller, the foot and leg bones move with it.

Last of all, I orientation constrain the toe bone to the toe bone controller so when the foot controller is rotated, the toe bone stays where it is. This is useful if I need Sam to bend her toes at the ball of the foot whilst walking etc.

I add some rectangular shaped splines that will be used as controllers for the foot and link them to the heel's point controller. This is useful whilst animating as they are easy to select and move. For example, if I rotate the new left foot controller, the rest of the left foot will follow.

I create a couple of spheres that will become the knee controllers. For each leg's IK handle's, I select the controller as a target in the solver properties in the motion panel. This tells the leg that the knee controller is to be used to swivel the knee joint.

I create a controller for the hips next and align it to the hip bones.

I create a controller for each of the spine bones. This will be useful for when Sam needs to bend over or twist around. I align the pivot points of the controllers to the spine bones.

I add point controllers, aligned to the bones. I position constrain the spine bones to the points, then link the points to the spine hoop controllers for easy access. As seen, when I rotate the hoop controllers, the spine moves accordingly.

I add a centre of gravity controller and link the spine root bone, the hips controller and the bottom spine hoop controller to it. Now when I move the C.O.G controller, the whole skeleton moves with it.

I link the arms to the clavicle bones, then link those to the top spine bone. Now when the C.O.G controller or a spine controller is rotated, the arms will follow.

I add an IK handle for each of the arms the same way I added them for the legs. This means I have control over where the arms and hands move by moving the IK handles.

I next add a pair of shoulder controllers.

I create a couple of point helpers then I align and orientation constrain them to the clavicle bones on each side. I then link the helpers to the controllers which now gives me control over shoulder movement.

Time to move on to the arms and hands. First I create a rectangular controller and position it around the hand for easy access. I make sure the pivot point of the controller is quick aligned to the arm's IK handle as this is where it will rotate from.

I add in a point helper and align them to each hand bone. I the position constrain each IK handle to it's corresponding point helper. The helper is then linked to the hand controller. Now when the controller moves, so does the hand and arm!

It was here that I hit my first big road block in my production stage.

For some unknown reason, when I moved the character's arm controller, then tried to undo the movement, the rig broke. The controller reset, but the bones stayed in the same position. After a lot of searching online, I found a fix that allowed me to move forward. There is a little selection box called auto snap in the IK handle's motion tab properties. When it is ticked, it can sometimes cause problems if the IK handle has been constrained to objects. I unticked the box on each of my IK's and this fixed the problem.

Moving on, I create a sphere for each arm. These are the elbow controllers. In exactly the same way I created the knee controllers earlier, I assign them as targets in the solver properties in the motion panel of each IK handle. This now gives me control over elbow movement and direction.

Time for the fingers. I add a circular controller at each hand and position and orientation constrain them to the hand bones.

I add an attribute holder modifier to the controller in the modifier panel. This will allow me to add custom attributes to the controller which I can use to set up finger movement controls.

I make sure I have the finger controller selected and press ALT + 1 to open the parameter editor window.

I create a custom label by selecting the string parameter type, naming it R_Pinky_Control then pressing add to add it to my modifier list on the right.

Next I create the actual parameters of R_Pinky_Control. To do this I select the float drop down, name it R_Pinky_Curl and enter the width and range of the attributes.

I repeat this process for each of the fingers in the hand.

Now I have attributes for each finger set up, I need to make it work using the wire parameters function.

I open up the parameter wiring window input the command to wire the pinky to curl on the Y axis. I then press connect.

I repeat this process for each of the remaining pinky bones, instructing them to curl on the Y axis when the slider is moved. When I am done, I test it works using the slider.

This is then repeated for each bone of the hand.
Then, I repeat the whole process for the other hand.

Next I create a neck controller and point helper in exactly the same way I created the spine controllers. This allows me to move and rotate Sam's neck.

I repeat this for Sam's Head, creating and linking up a head controller to give control of head motion.

The last thing that needs rigged are the eyes. First I create a circle shaped controller for each eye.

Then I look at constrain each eye to the controller. Now when I move the controllers, the eyes rotate to follow them. I also add a main eye controller that controls both eyes at once.

The final part of the rig needed is a global controller. I create a shape and place it at the bottom of the model. I then link the rest of the controllers to this global controller. Now when I move this new controller, the whole rig moves with it.

And there it is, one fully completed rig that will allow me to control most aspects of character movement. I now move on to weight mapping the character model to the rig.

Skinning

I add a skin modifier to the model from the modifiers list. I then add every bone into the skin modifier. This tells the skin about all the bones in the model and where each one is in relation to the body.

I create a really short test animation for the head and neck. I rotate the controllers for the head and neck and set key-points in the timeline bar. Now I can see which areas of the skin need tidied up. In the image above, most of the head and neck already follow the head bone. Notice the neck area, there is a sudden cut off where the neck is not weighted to the head at all. I will need to adjust the vertices weights so they gradually fall off from the neck, like a gradient.

As seen above, I need to taper the weights off between the bone envelopes in order for the model to deform properly. Red is a heavily weighted area and as the colour tapers to yellow and blue, it is less so. So essentially, the red areas will not bend however the weakly weighted areas are affected by other bones, so will deform.

I continue this for each bone including all of the finger bones, assigning the weights as I go. Then when i am done with one side of the body, I mirror the weights across. All I need to do is a final tidy up and the weight map is complete.
Environment Idea Generation

Punching Bag Idea Development

The Gym Idea Development.

The Words.

Environment Concept Art

Created by David Young

The street environment floor plan.

Environment Production

Punching Bag

First I created a large cylinder.

I used a turbosmooth modifier to make the punching bag rounder by adding more polygons. I used the soft selection tool to pull out the ends to form the round top and bottom of the bag.

I then extruded some polygons at the top that would serve as the straps of the punching bag.

I moved the 'straps' into the center position then mirrored the model.

I then added a transparent texture map with insulting words and used it to texture the now transparent punching bag.

The Gym Inside Sam's Head

I create a simple box around the punching bag. I have flipped the normals so the box can be rendered from the inside. This will be the dark room we travel to when Sam retreats inside herself.

Using the swiftloop tool, I create some edges that meet in the corner, then extrude the newly created polygon outwards. This will become the door.

I next create another box in the corner and extrude the corners. I will use this to create a boxing/wrestling ring that is present in the scene.

I bevel the tops of the turnbuckles.

Then apply a chamfer to smooth out the sharp edges.

I create some edge loops in the corner and then extrude out the polygons that will become the ring ropes.

Here is a render of the completed ring model, untextured.

I create a basic rack for some simple cylindrical weights.

I then texture the gym environment using photographs I have taken and edited of walls, stone floors and concrete.

I add the floating words around the scene by creating planes and texturing them with opacity.

The Street

To create the street I first create a plane that will become the road and then I make some simple boxes around for buildings.

I add textures to my buildings after refining them a little by adding edges for doorways and windows.

I merge my environments and character scene files together so I can start to animate.

I extrude the doorways and windows into the buildings. Now I have my environments set up and ready for animating in.

Animating and rendering.

When I had all my scene assets together, I started the animation process. I used the controllers I had set up for my character to move her in accordance with my storyboards and animatic.

I decided the best method of getting project finished by my deadlines would be to block out my animations, then tidy them up afterwords.

A quick export of progress so far.

Progress has been made in the void of Sams mind.

Here I have blocked out all of the animation. I need to go over the project now to tidy up areas and re-render them for the final animation. As soon as this is done, I can then render out my frames and import them into the compositing software Adobe Premiere Pro. From there it is a case of finalising my film and exporting.

Mentor Meeting 004 - 15/04/2014

Today Aaron and I spoke about my project progress so far. I showed him my animatic and animation to date.

The areas I should work on are:

1. It might be interesting to somehow introduce the punchbag at the start in some way.

2. I should think about the shapes the punchbag makes when it is hit. I could possible create a small rig and weight map so the bag deforms when it is struck.

3. Next time I create storyboards, I should include a bigger tonal range by including shades of grey as well as black and white.

Final Export

I've made it, Words Cut Deep has been completed. Click on the link below to watch the final export of my project.

Words Cut Deep

Critique of my project within the group.

22/04/2014

Today, I screened my project to the class with lecturer Henry Broadhurst present. Sadly, Aaron was not able to make it as he was unwell.

I have taken some notes of the feedback I received both from Henry and my fellow students. This will be useful when I come to write my evaluation report.

Feedback:

"It was heavy and powerful."

"The point of the film was easy to recognise"

"The writing at the end coupled with the build up of the music really worked well to get the point across."

"The hitting of the punchbag with the words on them whilst the insults played in the background worked.

"It would be good for parents to watch too."

It is quite hard to see her hood at the start because it is a similar colour to the buildings behind."

"When the character stands up at the end, it is very fluid and well done."

"People will remember that"

"You should screen it in the college Atrium for everyone to watch!"

Mentor Meeting 005 - 29/04/2014

I had my final mentor meeting today with Aaron McCloskey. We viewew my animation again and spoke about my progress on my project to date.

My project could benefit from more character design drawings, as many as possible to give a larger variety to choose from. This will be more useful to me in later projects to give me a broader choice and expand my character creation skills.

Final Rendered Image of Character and Environment

Project Evaluation

Words Cut Deep by David Young 2014

In this report I will evaluate my graded unit project and my performance within this project to determine my overall performance and adherence to my brief.

What my assignment entailed:

For my project, I had chosen to create a 3D animated short film to be submitted to an animation film festival.

In my previous project, I created a film that at the time I thought would be difficult to top. I was very pleased with the results and feedback of my last animation and as such from the start I wanted to make a new short that would stick in the audiences mind and be remembered. I chose a problem that is prevalent in society, bullying as a topic for my assignment and planned to create a bullying awareness film that could potentially be screen to an audience to make them think about that topic. For my animation to succeed, it needed to grab the audience’s attention and hold it, long after the film had finished, getting the message across that bullying is wrong.

I began my assignment with a vigorous amount of research on bullying itself, before I even began to think about what would happen in my character driven story. In order for me to present a film about bullying, I needed to understand it. I did not want to be preaching about a topic that I did not fully understand.

In order to accomplish this, I spent the first two weeks of my project time researching bullying, creating mind maps and contacting bullying websites and charities before I progressed to writing up my initial brief. This period of initial research was very beneficial for not only my project but also me as I gathered resources from sources I had never attempted before, such as an email interview with a charity and health worker in Dundee’s The Corner, a local youth organisation. I believe this research not only shaped the direction of my project by providing experience and facts but also expanded my researching skills as a whole, which will benefit my future projects.

I moved on to pre-production, gathering my research notes together and forming a story from them. I planned to create a short animation that would stick in the mind of a viewer, with the hope of making them think about the topic of bullying. This could positively influence a person’s actions when confronted by bullying in the future. This was my primary aim for the film, to affect people.

I created mood boards using images to shape out the overall aesthetic of the film and what could happen in the story. Following this, I created my projects environments and character. On all of my previous projects, my characters were all male, so for this reason, a female lead seemed like a good choice for expanding my skills as a 3d character modeller.

Next I created my story aids such as thumbnails, storyboards and animatics to help me cement down the timings of my animation. I have come to learn this is essential part of the production process when creating a film, enabling each part of the film to come together correctly and as planned.

I then moved on to the production stage of my project, collating all of my research and pre-production assets into useable assets for my film. I first started with the character of Sam, the most important part of the whole project.

Review and update action plan

I created an action plan right at the beginning of the project. My action plan was a Microsoft Office Excel document within which I listed all of the tasks I needed to complete. For each task, I gave myself a specific deadline for when it needed to be completed. My thoughts were that if I stick to my project plan, I will always be on track to finish my project for the final deadline.

Each time I completed a task on my list, I kept my action plan up to date and noted when I completed it. This way I could see the breakdown of what had been done, what still needed to be completed and if I was ahead or behind schedule at any given time.

For this reason, there have been several iterations and changes to my action plan over the course of the project. If I discovered there was further work to do on a specific subject, I would add it into my tasks list. Since the beginning of my project I have expanded on several sections of my tasks list by adding in and breaking down certain jobs into specific parts to keep me on track and up to date in accordance with my timescales that I’d set for myself.

I have come to find that keeping an action plan and updating it as I go puts me in a strong organised position to manage the rest of my project.

Summarise unforeseen events and how I overcame them.

For some unknown reason, when I moved the character's arm controller, then tried to undo the movement, the rig broke. The controller reset, but the bones stayed in the same position. After a lot of searching online, I found a fix that allowed me to move forward. There is a little selection box called auto snap in the IK handle's motion tab properties. When it is ticked, it can sometimes cause problems if the IK handle has been constrained to objects. I un-ticked the box on each of my IK's and this fixed the problem.

Another problem I overcame was with my characters fingers. When I was animating Sam’s fingers in the scene, I noticed the fingers on the opposite hand were moving too. I found it really hard to understand how this was possible because I had created brand new custom attributes for each finger, so this should not have been possible. It was only through thorough investigation that I discovered that before I created each finger‘s custom attributes, I had copied the finger controller from the left side to the right to save time. I didn’t notice at the time I had copied an instance of the controller, which essentially meant that the same controller was being used for each hand’s fingers. When I realised this, I quickly scrapped one hand’s rig and built it up from scratch.

The worst unforeseen event that affected my project however occurred at the beginning of my project. I had been stricken with an unfortunate turn of bad luck when it came to my health. I was ill for a long time with a sinus infection that prevented me from attending college and as such, affected my work output at the time. I minimised the impact of this by continuing to work away at my project whenever I could from home so that when I managed to return to college, I thankfully found I had not fallen behind my peers. If I did not continue working from home, my project could have failed entirely due to time constraints.

Identify any Knowledge and Skills that have been gained and/or developed

On my last 3D animated project, my biggest flaw was that from the beginning I had set my sights too high and designed a project that was very difficult to reproduce in 3D in the time allotted before my deadlines. I managed to do it, but it was very tight and more time could have been spent making the film better if it was designed to fit into the 60 seconds. On Words Cut Deep however, I had this in mind from the start and was determined that I did not dig myself into a hole. Through effective use of planning my project better with a project time plan, I eliminated this problem and completed my project well within the deadlines.

This time, my timing aids such as my story boards and animatics were much more useful to me than on previous projects. Previously I had not stuck to my plans as much as I should have and foolishly tried to improvise at times to get a good result. This time on Words Cut Deep, I stayed with my animatic down to the very same frame, planning exactly what would happen and when before I even made any 3D assets. I found that working this way made things much easier because I simply had to create my 3D assets and render each sequence as I went. I slotted each rendered sequence into the Premiere compositing file, replacing that section of animatic and it all fell into place with the correct timings. All that was needed then were a few tweaks here and there to tidy up and I was done.

I think my project could have benefited from more character design drawings, as many as possible to give a larger variety to choose from. This will be more useful to me in later projects to give me a broader choice and expand my character creation skills.

Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the output of the practical assignment and determine to what extent your project met the original brief

Looking at my project from an unbiased standpoint is always going to be difficult, so to determine if my animation met the criteria I set for myself in my brief, I looked at the feedback I have received from others. In a classroom critique of our projects, I screened Words Cut Deep to my fellow students and took note of the reactions and feedback they gave me. I am very pleased to say that that the film created exactly the kind of reaction I had planned for since I started to design it. I was told several times that the film was very powerful and that they couldn’t stop thinking about it afterwards. It was even mentioned that the film should be screened in the college Atrium for the rest of the college to see. I was quite worried before the screening that my story would be difficult to understand and I was considering saying a few words about Words Cut Deep beforehand, just to make sure people understood what was going on. I decided against this action because I wanted accurate feedback. My worries were unwarranted however because I was told that the point of the story is easy to recognise and makes perfect sense.

In hindsight, my project was to be aimed at a young audience as they are predominately the demographic most involved in bullying in general. At the start I was worried that my target audience, young children to early teenagers would be scared of my film, as it is quite frightening at times. I have since worked towards deliberately making this true. The whole point of the film is to get a message that bullying is wrong to stick in the mind of my target audience. Through research I came to learn that there are several children’s programs and movies such as Goosebumps that thrive on entertaining children by playing on their fears and through personal experience of watching these programmes as a child myself, those are the ones I remember most clearly to this day.

I believe the greatest strength of Words Cut Deep is the message that comes across. I have successfully met my goal in creating a 3D animated short that highlights that bullying is wrong in our society and that the damage that bullying causes to a person is not always visible on the outside, but internally, they could be a broken person. I set out to send a message and I believe I have achieved that.

I think the weakness of my final project comes down to the visual and technical representation of the film. I understand that it is impossible to get everything perfect and there comes a time in the creation process that I should stop tinkering. I am not 100% happy with the final look of the character’s facial expressions and animation. They could be more exaggerated for a better response or tweaked so that the timings a slightly better, but to carry on perfecting the project would be folly. I could continue on that track for a very long time and never be satisfied, leaving my deadlines long behind. For this reason, although my project is not completely perfect, I had to let go for the sake of completing the film on time or end up in an endless cycle of trying to perfect my film.

Recommendations for future development

For my future development, I will continue to build on my researching skills endeavouring to consistently create informed artefacts that are relevant to the field they are being made for. My project planning will always be essential in not only completing my files in a timely manner but also helps to breakdown my work load in a way that is easier to manage on a day to day basis.

When designing my characters and environments in the future, I will produce a greater quantity of drawings which will help me to hone down the final designs in a smoother more beneficial way, taking on the best of every possible design and incorporating them.

In conclusion, I believe I have successfully produced a 3D animated film in accordance with my brief that achieved what I set out to do. Tell a story that sticks with the audience and getting my message across that Words Cut Deep.

Dave Young Animation - HND Computer Arts - Year 2

Pages

GRADED UNIT 2

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