Bugged Off Two Completed Shots

The links below take you to the videos of the two completed shots from Bugged Off.


Bugged Off Shot 150




Bugged Off Shot 160


Overall I am very happy with how the shots have turned out however this is just a first draft render so there is still some tweaking to do before they are completely finished.






Quality Control


We had a lecture for this unit where Mike Davidson went over the broadcast requirements that we have to meet in order for our film to be broadcast standard and to be able to be shown at the degree show. The main requirements that our film has to meet is:

• All HD programmes will be delivered on HDCamSR tapes
• 1920 x 1080 at 25 frames a second 90” Lineup bars and 1KHz tone at -18dBFS.
• Timecode of start of programme 10:00:00:00. 
• Circular countdown clock of at least 20” with Name of film, director and description of first shot.
• Fade to silence at end point, end slate held in vision for further 10” after end of programme
• Photosensitive Epilepsy: Flickering or intermittent lights and certain types of repetitive visual patterns can cause serious problems for viewers who are prone to photosensitive epilepsy.
• All programmes for tape delivery must be tested using the Harding Flash Pattern Analyser v2.54b on an SD down converted SDI feed. Any failure whatsoever will result in rejection of the programme, and any affected sections must be repaired and re-tested before acceptance.
• Broadcasters will, at their discretion, either test the programme during the Quality Control process, or will require a relevant Harding FPA pass certificate to be delivered with the tape.

Those are only some of the broadcast requirements that our film needs to meet, there are also many more so luckily Maik managed to get someone he knows from QC to help us out and make sure that our film meets all of the necessary requirements.  

Personal Reflective Response Of This Unit

Overall I think that this unit was very beneficial for organisation and marketing strategy. This unit made me aware of how important marketing your film is. If you don't have a clear marketing plan then the chances are your film will not be seen by more than your classmates.

Another important part of this unit was structure, this unit made me realise how important it is to be organised, the use of google calendar, regular meetings, the film's Facebook group and Dropbox have given our project structure and kept us all in line, it ensures that we complete our individual tasks and in the long run I think will prove to be one of the biggest dominant factors in the completion of our film. I found one of the most difficult parts of this unit was getting in touch with someone from the industry to invite to the degree show. I didn't find it difficult to find a company to invite it just seemed very difficult trying to get a response from them as it is very rare you can find an email address for a specific contact. However despite that I think that this unit taught me a lot. I think that it definitely contributed a lot to the progress of our films production, it also gave me a greater understanding of how to market our film and how to try and spark its potential success. This unit also prepared me for how to promote myself and the film at the degree show and in the future.  

Individual Contract

For the group film that I am working on I am required to sign a individual contract to ensure that I stick to my role within the film. I believe that so far I have not broke my individual contract and believe that I am well on track with the tasks that myself and the group assigned to me. If everyone in the group sticks to their individual contracts then I believe that our film will be completed right on time. Below is an image of my individual contract for the group film that I am currently working on.

Individual Marketing Plan For The Degree Show

For the degree show I plan to have my completed showreel with me so that potential employers can view it. I also plan to have printed some business cards with my contact details on. At the degree show I will be leaving some of my business cards at my film groups table incase someone has watched our film and wants to talk to me and I am not around to speak to them. That way if they wish they can pick up my business card and contact me later. I will be carry a few of my business cards in person in case I bump into anyone that I would like to give one too. The details that will be on my business cards are my name, specialist area, email address, contact number and blog or website address. The images that I will have on my business cards will be an image of me and perhaps an image of what I consider to be one of my best models so that the person holding my business card can automatically get a ruff idea of my ability. By the time it comes to the degree show I intend to have either a fully functional website or blog that I can use as a platform to showcase and advertise my specialist skills. They will also contain my contact details and other works in progress.      

Individual Scheduling - Weekly Meetings etc

Myself and the group that I am working in created a group schedule on Google calendar. This allowed us to structure our project by giving us deadlines for our individual tasks. We have to ensure that we meet these deadlines set and stick to the calendar in order for our project to get completed.

The tasks coloured yellow on the schedules below are my individual tasks, the tasks coloured green are tasks for everyone in the group and in the final part of the schedule where I have no tasks I will generally be helping where I can to make sure our film gets finished.

Below is an image of the schedule for January.

Below is an image of the schedule for February.

Below is an image of the schedule for March.

Below is an image of the schedule for April.

Below is an image of the schedule for May.

As well as creating a schedule to stick to my group also have regular meetings every week to make sure the work set is being carried out and the deadlines are met. In these weekly meetings we also address any issues regarding the film such as camera angles, the film's story, the models, textures, rigs etc. On top of this we have a group for our project on Facebook. This allows us to continue discussing anything about the film around the clock. The images below show some of the posts on the Facebook group for our film.

    

We have also set up a Dropbox account. Dropbox allows us to all access each others work and has proved to be very beneficial to the pipeline of our project. For example I modelled and UV mapped the bathroom, I then put that work on Dropbox, Nat could then access my file from her computer and texture the models. The images below give you an idea of our Dropbox setup. 

I find that Dropbox is also a great way of seeing that people are meeting their deadlines and completing their tasks when they are suppose to. It also allows you to view parts of the project that your are not working on so you can get a real overview of how the film is coming along. 

A technique that we can then use to get everyones work from Dropbox and put it into the scene that we are animating without slowing down our computers is referencing in Maya. If we have all of our models, textures, rigs, lights etc loaded in Maya I don't think my computer would allow me to work on that scene as there is just too much for it too handle. So we incorporated a technique that we were show in a professional skills lecture. Which is referencing, this allows us to load the models, rigs, textures, lights from Dropbox into our scene and then we can simply with a click select what we want in our scene. For example now that I am animating I only need to work with the character and the rig and the models from one of the rooms in my scene so I simply tick those in my reference editor and the other models that I do not need to work with will not be loaded in my scene. Below is an image of my reference editor for the scene that I am currently working on.

I have found having Dropbox and using referencing in Maya has been a great way of being able to work with each others work without having to have a copy of all the files on your computer and without having to import and work with every element in your Maya scene. 

Evidence Of How Other Animators/ Creatives Have Marketed Their Products

It seems that most of the successful short animated films have created really nice websites, which have accompanied very strong films, they also have posters and some have Facebook pages and twitter accounts. These films are also often posted onto Vimeo. Below are the websites for some short animated films that we found very inspirational for Bugged Off.

Mac n Cheese Website

Salesman Pete and Meet Buck Website

As you can see the design of their websites are fairly simple however they maintain the style of their films which make the websites look very attractive, and they fulfil the purpose of marketing the film and the artists that worked on the films.

Identify An Employer/ Company That I Can Invite To The Degree Show

Unfortunately I found this task very difficult as I have no connections in the industry. I have emailed companies before regarding work experience and work after my course and have failed to get a reply. Despite this there was still no harm trying, so I thought that I would aim to invite a company that I would like to work for after I have completed my course. I emailed the London visual effects company Double Negative. Below is an image of the email that I sent.

Unfortunately as I expected I have not had a reply yet. However as it has only been a few days I still remain positive that I will hear from them soon! I was hoping that Double Negative would give me the contact details of someone within the company that would be interested in attending the degree show so that I can email them. Once I have got a verdict as to whether they wish to attend or not I will then inform the degree show team so that they can send them an official invite. Which will look more professional than a email from me. I believe that the degree show team also want to know who we have asked so that they can keep track of who has been invited, this will prevent the same person being invited several times.