Progress Review

So it was the first day of Dan Dalli's Reign over the 3rd years and it went very well. Mike was very useful to have around for the pre-production phase however we lacked the lessons we needed so badly due to snow, train cancellations and the busy lifestyle that comes with the job of 'Head of Animation'. Having Dan Dalli there on a Monday to talk to about our animations has put a number of peoples minds at ease, including my own.
All in all I'm not too worried about the team as we stand currently. I know we have a pressing deadline approaching but I still think that it is perfectly manageable with the team working as they currently are. I understand that it looks as if we still have a lot to do however I'm not so sure we do. We need to pick up the pace with the texturing currently but I think that Sam and Josh are very good 2D artists and I think they could use these skills and apply them to the 3D models very effectively. Stu is raring to animate and I'm starting to catch that infectious feeling too. Originally I thought I would be more of a 'technical folder' (the 3rd year main folder I would be filling) but now I'm thinking I may well be edging towards animation. The group don't necessarily know this just yet but I in my own head am not sure about it just yet. As I'm still quite an all rounder I don't like to classify myself into a niche of a folder but I'm starting to consider my options considering the job opportunities lying ahead.

Dan Dalli managed to convince us that we may as well get a few second years involved considering some of them may be better than us (he didn't say this but he may have been thinking it :p) There might be an amazing texture artist in there which would share the load that Spencer has got at the moment.
Dan made us list all of our problems we had currently in our films - Sarah wrote one big name on her sheet haha! Sam and I in our film didn't have too much to write. Our main concerns were only texturing and lighting (although I'm happy to light... just as I have been picking bits up from various places throughout the years). He also asked us to list any team members that are not pulling their weight. Sam and I agreed that there was no one currently pulling their weight. I hate to say it but Stewart was quite slow to start off with however he definitely picked up the pace and we are totally back on track now. Over the past week I believe the communication across the blog is occurring a lot better now which is a bonus - I understand why we keep these things now - not only for marking purposes clearly.

In other news Jared is yet to reply about the STL files which we have created but apparently it might be a while before we hear back about them at all. The STL files are referring to getting REAL models made up for prototypes testing out some machine I believe in the College somewhere (unsure). It would be really nice to get these done however I'm not entirely sure if it is going to be cheap.

I have set the team to animate a number of different tests prior to the production to make sure we get some good quality animation. So far, myself, Stu, Ferhan and Sam have had a crack at it. Some better than others however I'd like the other guys to have a go as well. Spencer I'm not entirely sure how good he is at animating at all and nor am I sure Josh. Josh appears to becoming increasingly pessimistic however he CAN do amazing things with pencils he is struggling applying his 2D world to a 3D set. He's already created some kick-ass characters which we had to tweak EVER SO SLIGHTLY but I think he needs to open up his world to the rest of the animation pipeline and get stuck in like I have had to do for UVing and texturing. Having NEVER laid out a UV properly (I have now with the chair) I understand what it is to venture into the new. It is daunting ... but at least he is trying... and I'm thankful for that.

All in all - the team is working pretty well... still.... just hope we can meet the deadline (next Monday) Sam and I have set ourselves. Initially it was my deadline as I am getting slightly concerned that we won't have time to animate (THIS SO DOESN'T CONTRADICT WHAT I SAID EARLIER). We'll get it finished. But to what standard. Time will only tell.