Major Project

 

Yeoh Wen Jun ( 0334234 )

Major Project

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INSTRUCTION

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Week 1

For the first class of Major Project, we were given a short brief by Mr. Asrizal in the class. It was the first time we can all sit in class together after so long since the pandemic. We went through the MIB and we were told that we can conduct the project in 3 ways. The first is to continue with our dissertation topic, the second is to get a client and the last is to make something with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. 

After the instruction, Mr.Asrizal showed us some seniors' work to give us some ideas. Someone designed a font for Pasar Raya, someone illustrated her own Tarot card, and someone designed a series of collateral. We will need to propose our ideas to Mr. Asrizal in the next class and we started to brainstorm our idea until the class ended.

Week 2

This week, the class was separated according to the 4 specializations. The animation group started for the first and we propose our ideas to Mr. Asrizal one by one. I have come out with a few ideas and below is the first proposal that I have prepared:

First Idea 

I really hope to take this chance and promote my IP character/branding, so I wanted to try to apply them in my project. My first idea is to make a motion graphic with a storyline, and Junny the Husky will be the main character in the story. The topic chosen is goal 13 -Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. (Climate Change) https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13 Why Junny is the main character is because climate change has a significant impact on the Arctic and Husky are originated in the Arctic. In this case, I can make an interaction with a new Polar bear character to make the story more interesting.

Second Idea 

My second idea is to make Designer Toys with a series of collateral. Designer toys are created by artists or designers that are either self-produced or manufactured by small, independent toy companies in extremely limited editions. For this idea, it can go in 2 directions. The first direction is to choose a topic from the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the second direction is to continue with my dissertation topic.  The chosen topic from the 17 Sustainable Development Goals is goal 14 - Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development. (Oceans and Sea) https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal14 

The topic of my dissertation that I researched before is The Preliminary Findings on Quality of Local Malaysian Animation. During the dissertation, I was trying to find out the potential of applying multicultural elements in local animation. And the result proved that local animation is applying more and more multicultural elements in local animation nowadays and it makes local animation more unique. So, my idea for this project is to see the potential of applying multicultural elements in the Malaysian art/design field and promote local culture at the same time. 

My Dissertation:

https://wenjun29.blogspot.com/search/label/Design%20Research%20Dissertation

Collateral Product List:

• Designer Toys
• Packaging
• Poster
• Stickers
• Flyers
• Tshirt

Third Idea

My third idea is client work and the client will be My Toy Hoard. My Toy Hoard is a Malaysia-based group hoping to help bring art/designer toys enthusiasts together. They hope to provide a platform for all to enjoy the hobby and meet new friends. https://www.facebook.com/groups/MYToyHoard As they asked me before if I wanted to make a designer toy custom show, I was thinking to make this as my project. Designer Toys custom show is an exhibition to showcase or even sell the designer toys that an artist collab with others. For this project, I can make some collateral, a video teaser for the exhibition, or anything requested by the client.

Feedback

Mr.Asrizal says that I might not have enough time for the third idea. Then, for my first idea, I need to be more specific. There are many categories under climate change, I need to do more research on it and show what am I going to do with it. So that he can know what I'm going to do and give me more useful feedback.

Week 3

This week I created a new slide based on the idea that I have decided to go with. After last week's consultation, I decided to go with idea 1 and with a more specific topic (Target 13.3 Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.) which is to create a Motion Graphic to bring awareness and early warning of climate change to people. 

For me personally, I think motion graphics with stories and those kinds of infographics are quite boring nowadays, especially with the topic of climate change. There is already ton of example online, and I wanted to avoid them. So, I decided to do a more abstract/experimental type of motion graphic. Below is the slide that I prepared: 

I spend a lot of time doing research about climate change, and I found out that greenhouse effect is the main driver of climate change. Hence, I listed a few causes and effects of greenshouse effect for further development. Just in case people don't know what is the abstract/experimental motion graphic, I inserted few examples that impress and inspired me. I also put in some of my sketches to let Mr.Asrizal have a clearer mind on what I'm gonna do. 

Feedback:

Mr.Asrizal asked me if I wanted to continue with this topic because there is someone who doing the same topic as me. But I have put a lot of time into researching this topic, and it is already week 3. So, I decided to go on with this. He also says that he needs to see a complete storyboard, only he can understand what am I going to do. For now, only me myself can understand.

Week 4

This week, all of us were assigned to different supervisors based on what we gonna do. I'm the only one who was assigned to Mr.Martin. After that, we were asked to contact our supervisor and set up a section for consultation. When I just wanted to text Mr.Martin, he already texted me for discussion. We decided to have a consultation on Wednesday at 7pm. I was supposed to complete a storyboard this week, but I still couldn't get a BGM that I am really satisfied with even though I have found a few potential ones.

Fg.1.0 First Consultation with Mr.Martin

During the consultation, Mr.Martin says that my idea is interesting. Not the topic but the abstract motion graphic. He agrees with my opinion that I mentioned in week 3. "For me personally, I think motion graphics with stories and those kinds of infographics are quite boring nowadays, especially with the topic of climate change. There is already ton of example online, and I wanted to avoid them." 

Then, he asked me if there is a storyline or not and is it going to be emotional or just graphic. My answer is, there will be no storyline and I wanted the audience to feel it. Feel the tension, the seriousness, or feel the sadness. After that, he asked me, how am I gonna deliver the message since it is going to be abstract and not everyone can feel and understand it. I explained to him about my plan, which is to create a brochure to explain some of the important scenes. 

Lastly, he questioned me about the art style that I'm gonna apply, because, from the example that I have shown, there are lines and shape versions. So he was asking me if I'm going to use brushes to draw the elements or using Adobe Illustrator to create vectors. I told him that I haven't decided because I feel like wanna try out both.

Before the section end, I also asked Mr.Martin about the BGM licensing. He told me that if I am going to use it for submission, there will be no licensing issue. If I'm going to post it on YouTube or any social media, then I will need to consider using other music or just buy it because sometimes it is hard to find the right one.

Feedback:

Mr.Martin wanted me to confirm the BGM and then complete the storyboard before the next consultation. Also, I will need to try out the art style in both way, after that only try out the color scheme.

Week 5

After so long, this week I finally meet Mr.Martin in person for a consultation. The consultation was on Wednesday morning 11am in the photography studio. I show Mr.Martin the art style example that I tested last week and we both agree to go with the vector style (the left one in Fg.1.1).

Fg.1.1 Art style example testing

After confirming the art style, we discussed the BGM. Below are the BGM that I found online and they are free to use (with credit).

DUBSTEP - Bensound

https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/dubstep

EVOLUTION - Bensound

https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/evolution-epic-nature

Anxious Mood Free Music by Argsound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YufQY6HqCW0&ab_channel=ArgsoundBackgroundMusic

Mr.Martin told me that which one to choose depends on what kind of feeling I wanted to bring to the audience. Do I want to give them an epic moment or feel threatened? I will go with threatened since my objective is to bring awareness to the people. Hence, I choose the second one which is EVOLUTION by Bensound.

Lastly, I show Mr.Martin the storyboard that I did halfway. The reason for doing it halfway is because I wanted to confirm the music first as rhythm will decide the scene. I actually drew it based on the rhythm of EVOLUTION and I did explain how it works to Mr.Martin. Fg.1.2 shows the first page of my storyboard.

Fg.1.2 Storyboard Pg1

Feedback:

Mr.Martin says that if I wanted to make the audience feel threatened, I might need to do something with the visual elements. For example, sudden close up to bring the audience to the scene or sharp elements can be the illustration or the camera movement. I need to make the audience feel like what happens in the video is affecting them but not just watching.

About the duration, Mr.Martin suggested me try to not longer than 1minute 30seconds because the audience will start to get bored. He also asked me to try make a Gantt chart so that I can know what I need to complete every week.

Week 6

Public Holiday

Week 7

This week I meet Mr.Martin on Wednesday at 1pm, C9 (The lecturer's office). I showed him the completed storyboard and also a simple animatic. 

Fg.1.3 Meeting at C9

My storyboard:

Fg.2.0 Storyboard page 1

Fg.2.1 Storyboard page 2

Fg.2.2 Storyboard page 3

Animatic:

Me and Mr.Martin went through the animatic together and he give me feedback scene by scene. It took around 1 hour to complete the discussion. After the discussion, I listed out the main problem that I will need to solve or take note:

1. Make sure the audience can understand the scene.
2. Scene 1, make sure all shot has a strong impact when appearing on the screen (to match the music)
3. Make sure there is enough movement too (the building) to make the scene more interesting.
4. Make sure the audience can see the animal (scene2.1, scene3.1, scene4.1) (color)
5. Before the reverse (after scene5.1.6) how do I link the scene and make the audience understand the purpose of reversing?

Before the presentation in the following week, I did some changes to the storyboard according to the feedback given. Also, I came out with a title called "We Decide".

Fg.2.2.1 Story Board (Edited)

Fg.2.2.2 Storyboard (Edited)

Fg.2.2.3 Storyboard (Edited)

Fg.2.2.4 Storyboard (Edited)

Week 8

This week  Friday, we had our first presentation and the objective of the presentation is to gauge our progress and validate our idea. So we need to focus on that and we should be done within the 10 minutes stipulated time. We were given a time slot and mine was 9.40-9.50am. 

I reach the class before 9 because I wanted to see how the others present their slides. All the lecturers/supervisors were there and it make me feel nervous. However, below are the slides that I was presenting today:

I received a lot of feedback and suggestions today and I really appreciate it because I also think that my current work is not good and not mature enough. The first thing is, Mr.Kannan and Mr.Razif say that my animatic is not clear enough, it was only for me to understand. It won't work if this is passed to the other person to continue the work. For myself, I was thinking like this is a personal work and that's why I make it very simple because in the end is just me going to complete the whole video.

Then, Mr.Vinod also says that abstract is very dangerous, sometimes people just can't understand and my objective is to bring awareness. I answer him that I will design a brochure to explain the selected scene that is important. But Ms.Anis suggested me to make an infographic instead of a brochure. 

In the end, Mr.Kannan asked me to look for him after the presentation as he wanted to supervise me. So, after the day I texted him and arranged a consultation on next week Monday.

Week 9

This week I had a consultation with Mr.Kannan. During the consultation, Mr.Kannan shows me a lot of examples and references. The references that he found for me are those that he thinks I would like or fit my style. In Fg.2.3, that was one of my favorite references.

Fg.2.3 References found by Mr.Kannan

Fg.2.4 After Effects Tutorial by Mr.Kannan

He even gave me a tutorial on After Effects. In these 2 hours, I learned so much from him. I learned many different skills that didn't learn during the motion graphic class. For example, open up 3D space and play with lights and camera. He also shows me how to collect all files in one click after I did certain parts so that the IMG or video won't be gone if I relocated them in my PC. 

He also suggested me to look at some movies or series like Captain America, and Kung Fu Panda ends credit and take them as references.

Fg.2.5 Suggestions

Before the consultation ended, Mr.Kannan told me that he choose to supervise me because he see my potential and believe that I can do better. I hope that I won't let him disappoint and I really want to improve my work. Hence I decided to replan the whole thing. After looking at the references and thinking about the suggestions, I decided to take Loki end credit as a reference. I wanted to make it more mature and professional.

Week 10

Again I had a consultation with Mr.Kannan and this week I showed him my new progress. Below is the outcome:

Mr.Kannan says that the video I did is more to video editing, not really showing the animating skill. He suggested me to do simple stuff. Create simple 3D objects and simply animate them or even capture my keyboard as a video. He showed me a lot of examples and taught me some skills about Maya.

Fg.3.0 Tutorial of Maya

I started to be stressed because I feel like I'm doing the wrong thing and I need to restart. It's going to run out of time and I have to be fast. After consulting with Mr.Kannan, I consulted with Mr.Martin. I showed him the video and told him about what was going on. Then, he asked me to do what I want. He says that he can see the things I'm doing is not what I want to do compared to my proposal. 

Mr.Martin encourage me to continue the things that I want to do. He mentioned that maybe Mr.Kannan don't like the idea of my proposal because he cannot understand it as my animatic was very brief. The most important point that Mr.Martin mentioned was the sketches from my proposal are not abstract enough. He also says that he know me since foundation and he knows I have the sense, he believes I can do better.

At this point, I started to think that I should not give up my initial idea and straight started a new one just because one of the lecturers don't like it. I should think about how can I improve my idea and develop it. Hence, I decided to go back to my initial idea and make it more abstract and try to combine it with the video that I have done. 

Week 11

I WhatsApp Mr.Martin to show him my new sketch. He says that it looks better than the previous one and I may proceed with it. He also asked me to show Mr.Kannan and look for his feedback. Below is the sketch:

Fg.4.0 New Sketch

After that, I started to sacrifice my sleep to digitize and animate my new idea. I was so focused and I put in a lot of effort while doing this. 

Fg.4.1 Progression of digitizing new idea

Fg.4.2 Progression of animating

Week 12 

Before this week's consultation, I met Mr.Kannan in class by chance. I was creating more vector elements for the project and asking for feedback from my friends. Mr. Kannan passed by and asked me to show him my progress hence, I showed him the video on After Effects. The main thing that he says was that "camera composition is very important". After that, I continue to animate the illustration and export it as I'm having a consultation with Mr.Martin tonight. 

Mr.Martin says that the last "WE" is not abstract enough, maybe can try glowing. But this is after completing everything. I have very limited time, so I have to complete the whole thing and then only improve it part by part.

Week 13

I had an online consultation with Mr.Kannan this week and after he review my work, he suggest me to change the background (don't use the video). The reason is because the whole video looks like rojak. In his opinion, it does not work. I think he thinks it is not working because there is too much color but I was thinking to try the full vector version. Other than that, he also says that the background music is not that match because my art style is "funky" and the BGM sounds like I'm going to show the credit (it's like something strong is coming). 

Below is the full vector version:

Fg.5.0 Full Vector Version

After trying the full vector version, I think it works. So I Whatsapp Mr.Martin and Mr.Kannan and tell them about the changes I made. Mr.Kannan says that it is better while Mr.Martin just reminds me to do what I really want. 

Then, I had one more consultation with Mr.Martin. He reminds me to add in SFX of the main point of each scene so that the meaning becomes more obvious. While explaining the scene to Mr.Martin, I got inspired to create another scene. Hence, I quickly sketch out and digitize it. Below is the scene that I added in:

Fg.5.1 Sketch of extra scene

Week 14

I didn't make an appointment with the supervisors this week as I was really rushed to complete the whole video. I managed to complete animate the elements and finally started to play with the camera movement. 

Fg.6.0 Progression

Fg.6.1 Progression

Also, I was informed to create the display board for the Final Year Exhibition. The team sounds really rushed and we need to pass 6 display boards for them this week. Because they need at least 1 week to print them out. Hence, I put my major project aside and started to create the display board. Below is my main one was my major project which is this project.

Fg.6.2 Final Year Exhibition Main Display board

Week 15

After the animation and camera movement are done, I export it to check the complete video. The biggest problem that I was facing is the VFX looks good in After Effects. But once I exported it, sometimes the timing is not accurate and sometimes the glitch is too much or too fast. Hence, I repeat the export progress and adjust the effects accordingly. As I was just checking the effects and timing, I render it in 720p. After confirming the result, I was trying to render it in 4k quality but it took really long, so I changed my plan and only exported it in 1080p (which is high enough).

Finally, I have come to the last step which is adding the sound effects. At the same time, I realize that I can do an end credit in the end of the video. So I did it in a very short time.

Fg.7.1 Adding SFX

Again I faced the same issues, the timing and volume of the SFX are not the same in Premiere Pro. So, I have to export it again and again until I'm satisfied with the result. And finally, I'm done! 

My Final Result:

The objective of this project is to raise awareness of Climate change. Our future is in our hands, the future of Earth too. This project illustrated the speed and excess of technology and construction development in an abstract way. Also, sneer at the brainless behavior of humans for ignoring natural health for their own convenience.

Module Lecturer

Asrizal Razali

Project Supervisor

Martin Chong & Kannan Vijayan

Illustrated and Animated 

by Wen Jun

Soundtrack:

Sci Fi by Benjamin Tissot

https://www.bensound.com

Special thanks to both of my supervisor Mr.Martin and Mr.Kannan. Mr.Kannan spend a lot of time on giving me tutorial about Maya and After Effects. He also shown me a lot of useful references even though sometimes they made me confused. Other than that, he also have me a lot of industrial feedback which stress me a lot, but I know he want me to do better. Biggest thank you for Mr.Martin who keep reminding me to do what I want to do. His feedback is always improving my idea but not changing my idea. He is the one who pull me back to track when I was really lost. I would says that Mr.Kannan give me a lot of techinical support while Mr.Martin give me spiritual support more.