Rhia Crouch's Blog

Image 1 - Outline I've been pretty happy with the design of my character for the last couple of weeks but I felt that it might need some tweaks to change some parts of it that could make them look boring. These would only be small changes to the design as the over design fits in with what I have been trying to get across with the feel of the character, these included editing the lab coat, the style of the hair and the look of the shoes. Image 2 - Colour I've also been thinking about the colours for my characters as I have been giving it that much though. I did a quick mock up of some ideas that I could use or later on tweak if need be. On a side note, the design of the pages are also a test for the background for my character bible. I was thinking of basing it on a pin broad as if it was in the lab.

The Hero's Journey http://rcanimations.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/film-review-lion-king-heros-journey.html Archetypes http://rcanimations.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/film-review-matrix-archetypes.html Act Structure http://rcanimations.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/film-review-kung-fu-panda-act-structure.html Exploitation Film http://rcanimations.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/film-review-mad-max-fury-road.html Character and Stroytelling http://rcanimations.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/film-review-spirit-stallion-of-cimarron.html

To be able to build a believable character you have to think about a number things that will help to make them less 1 dimensional and generic but also help to build the world around them. Sometimes you can't plan out certain parts of the character from the start and only find the answers as you are going along the story or when it has finished. For this I will be looking at two opposing characters from DreamWorks' 2002 western-drama film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - The lead character Spirit and The Colonel. Spirit Personal History Spirit is a wild horse born in the American west. He is the leader of his herd, a title he inherited from his father. Personal World View We get an understanding of Spirit's views about the world when the film starts as he is heard saying about his home "... to my kind the land was ageless. It had no beginning and no end, no boundary between earth and sky. Like the wind and the buffalo grass, we belonged here. ...

The film Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) directed by George Miller is the 4th in this set of films that are an example of an exploitation film. Exploitation films where a type of B-movie that started about the 1930s and 1940s. One of the main trends of this type of film was to play around with the audience's fears at the time or to focus on subjects that would end up being banned by the censors. The only way that they got round the censors was claim that the films where in someway meant to be educational. Also the plots for theses types of film are very staightforward and in someway don't really play a key role in the film as the audience would only be watching for the act and not paying any really attension to the story, so any big indeeph backstory or reasons are not mentioned. It basically goes from A to B. The plot of Mad Max is an example of this as the main point of the film is that Max comes across Furiosa as she tries to out run her gang's leader, Immortan Joe, and...

Our collaboration project was designed to give us an understanding of what it is like to work with other people on an animation similar to working at a studio. We had to work together and relay on eachother to complete the tasks that we were each given so that we had a finished animation at the end of the project. I feel that the project has helped me see how much you have to work with other people in the animation business as well as how much pressure you are under to deliver on time. This project was a lot of fun to do but was also a challenge that has made me think about my strengths and weaknesses and how they might impact my future projects, along with making me think how far I've come and what else I need to do to show that I can create high quality work. I think that my main strength was that I was able to finished my jobs pretty quickly and was able to help out the others in my group when they needed someone to take off some of the load of their work, such as with the a...

When Not To Swim: Waste from Rhia Crouch on Vimeo . This is the skit that I worked on for my group's animation "When Not To Swim". The skit that I worked on was "When Not To Swim - Waste" in which our character swims out of the water but comes out covered in the goop that was in the water. I know that the animation is a little fast near the end and that I could have moved the camera to a different spot but I had a number of technical issues that ate in to my time, like Maya crashing to the water moving off screen for no reason.

 In this lesson we were looking at Animation layouts. These are used to lay out the final screens of animation so that it is made clear what the characters are doing, what way the camera is going to be moving, what the characters look like and what the background will be like. To get an idea of this I had a go at doing the layouts for the film Hercules when he meets Pegasus for the first time. I still think that I need to have some more practice at this before I have a go at trying it with my own characters. Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 I've also been thinking up screens for my character's story and how it might play out.

Walk Cycle test from Rhia Crouch on Vimeo . Been trying to work on Moom's walk for a skit but I'm not sure what else to do before I put him in to the screen so I can work out him swimming and coming out of the water. He is meant to walk as if he is weigh down by the goo and also wobbels a little bit. I know the eyes are off and there seems to be a phantom animation going on with his right hand that I can't work out.

Image 1 I have been thinking about the kind of side kick that my scientist and the first idea that came to mind was for them to have a smail robot with them. (Image 1) I thought of using a robot that would fly around with them but after some thourght I decided to drop the flying idea. I think a mouse like robot might fit best with my scientist. For our lesson we looked at using storybroads to tell the screen that our characters are going to be in. This involves looking at different camera angles, the way that we frame the shot along with what really needs to be in included in the shot as that viewer is left in some kind of suspense. I still need to work on the way that I do my storybroads as I have a habit of going overbroad with my panels along with the way that I show them as people can become confused when they look at them. (Images 2 and 3) Image 2 Image 3 After this I tryed this I had a go at doing a storybroad with my characters in the scene I have been give...

The Canon - The set of rules that are put in place that determine how something should be. This can also be what something is judged against to see if it fits in with what it is trying to be or if it is what is excepted at the time. DWEMs - Meaning 'Dead White European Males' are seen as the ones who set the canon that other pieces of work are judged against. The reason why it is called Dead White European Males is because that the rules of the canon are set by who ever is the most dominant group in society, this is most commonly the white european male. The reason why they are considered dead is because that their way of thinking is now out dated with modern thinking. Phallocentrism - The idea that men are the stronger gender and should be the ones that set the rules for others to follow, including men in the lower classes and women. Eurocentrism - The team is used when describing the way that the European or Western worlds have disregard the history and cultures of othe...

Weight Lift Animation from Rhia Crouch on Vimeo .

Wave Deformer Test from Rhia Crouch on Vimeo .  This is a set of tests I have done to try out the wave deformer in Maya. This was so that my group could figure out a way to show the water in our animation. I did a number of different ideas that we had had so that we could get an understanding of how they would look as well as showing the inner works of the deformer.

Image 1 Image 2 In our 7th lesson on character design we looked at the ways that sign kicks and props can relate back to the main character and how they are used to move the story along. To understand this we were each given a character and had to design props for them to use. I got Tigger and as I watched the Winnie the Pooh cartoons when I was little I quickly understood the way that the props would be put together and what they would be made for. (Image 1) This lead to me designing things like a Heffalump trap and something that Tigger could jump on to help blow bees away when Pooh is trying to get honey. I also throught about what Tigger would use if he was going on an adventure (Image 2), this was also easy for me as I throught about the items that little kids would use when acting out their own adventures. The pillow shield idea came from an image that I remember seeing of Pooh having a pillow tied to his back for safety. Image 3 Image 4  We w...

Water test from Rhia Crouch on Vimeo . This is a test for the water that will be used in my group's animation. The wave effect was created by moving the vertices up and down at different points. The water will sit at the front of the screen and act like an image plane, we got the idea from the water that is used in stage shows. The plan I had to make to work out how the vertices would move

Waste Storybroad Tsunami Storybroad  Waste - For the waste skit our vicorian gentleman is swimming along to shore but when he gets out he is covered in goop. He tries to walk off screen but it is clear that the goop is weighing him down abit. Tsunami - In the tsunami one the vicorian gentleman is getting ready to jump in to the water but suddenly a large wave comes in to shot and knock him backwares off screen. After the screen has been filled with water for a few seconds the vicorian gentlman comes back in to shot swimming along as normal.

This is the script for my group's animation. The main point of the script is to out line what is happening in each screen, such as what the characters are doing, along with saying what types of shots and transitions are going to be used. When Not to Swim 2 by Rhia Crouch on Scribd

Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 Image 4  I started out by trying to think about the poses that my character would make and drawing out the basic flow of the action to see how it would work. This might need abit more work to it as I need to think about the screen that my character will be in. In to day lesson we looked at facial expressions and how it would affect the shape of the face. We had to draw each other pulling different facial expressions to try and understand the different lines that appear on the face along with how the eyes and mouth can grow and shrink. Image 5 Image 6 Image 7 We later were given a character and had to try and draw them making different expressions, I got Obelix from the Asterix series (Image 6). After this I found that I had to look in to how to break the head in to two different parts so that I could place the neck correctly (Image 7).

Pose one Meg from Hercules Pose 2 Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean