Arsalan Awais

Being very blunt in this blog, but I feel due time constraints (both in terms of video duration and progress time) I had to cut down some really cool scenes, but nonetheless I pulled of something very ambitious in a very short time and this type of visual storytelling has opened up the potential and possibilities of animation as a medium. I am very satisfied how the video has turned out and surely the next time I pick a project like this, I would be better skilled and maybe tone down being too ambitious. One thing if you notice is that I have used black bars in the begining and full frame in the last shot. I have done this delibrately as black bars gave the whole fantasy world a cinematic feel and kept the reality part in full frame.

Now that all is set and done, I have shifted my focus on towards creating the perfect orchestral music for this. This is a very new dimension for me, as I always wanted a go at composing music for films. Composing the music was the most fun part where, I collaborated my old colleage and learned various new insturmental combinations. I tried for a more orchestral music as I felt it as a certain gravitas value to it and could fit more in line with my concept. The music at its center has trumpets for intense action moments and incorporates an electric guitar to give a sense of cinematic film music.

Moving on the the very last frame of the fantasy world, the crashing sequence. This was one of the easier scenes to make as by the time I started to work on this, I had created an array of effects, filters, adjustment layers and it was only just a matter of copy and pasting them. The onyl experimentation that I had to do was in creating the sparks.

References

http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). 2D Cartoon style Spark / Lightning (no plugin) : After effects tutirial. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0-VU3PHD4w [Accessed 24 Jan. 2023].

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I am now moving towards finshing the film, as I am now working on the interior shots of the film. After this is all set and done, I will start assembling the film on the timeline.

This week and onwards, I created the innterior shots of the jet.

The gear shift scene had a bit of forshortening to it and I found this tutorial online that helped me better understand on how to draw the sequence.

References

Sycra (2013). How to Draw: Foreshortening with the Coil Technique. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJWLaDSNBAI [Accessed 1 Aug. 2020].

How to Draw The Figure in Perspective – Foreshortening. (2016). YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtRwwIuzqSw.

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Since the week is dedicated to making the launching sequence. I have been working day and night on the frames. Each frame took me almost a day to make in illustrator, then add texture and lighting in photoshop and then animatiing the specific scene in after effects.

As you can see, each deatiled drawing took at least a day to make, colour, render, texture etc. The biggest advantage that I got from this film, is that is improved my digital drawing and colouring skills even further.

After setting everything on the timeline for the very first time, I went back and forth on to set the pacing of the film and things seem to be shaping up nicely. I did experiment with the playback speeds but I felt the there were certain scenes that need proper time to establish the tone and setting. Below is the very first render (without music) of the first 20 seconds. If my estimation is right, then the video is going to exceed the 30s mark and I expect ito touch the 45second mark easily. Since it take almost 2 hours to render this much scene, I just took a screen recording of the scene.

This week is dedicated to work on the launching sequence. Regarding the launching scene, I was trying to figure out the blasters from the backburners of the jet. At first I thought of animating it frame-by-frame, but upon research I came across tutorials that shows the effect can be achieved in after effects with an effect known as CC Mercury.

After following the tutorial, I applied them on the created scenes and needs a bit more an adjustment but it blends pretty well with the artworks and and after some expermintation I am sastisfied with the result.

References

Freak Motion (2021). 2D Fire Effects Animation in After Effects – After Effects Tutorial – No Third Party Plugins. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em7ZoLfDK0I [Accessed 23 Dec. 2022].

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The Biggest issue that I am facing during this project is the timing. Although the duration of the video is short but the animation itself is very ambitious and grander in scale, as alot of environments need to be drawn, a mixture of effects need to be made. Some will be frame-by-frame will some will be created with plugins. I am running short on time, but putting alot of effort into this story as it is a very personal story. It is not only a reflection of my memories but in a sense a reflection of every child and a reflection of our innocence. One thing I am sure is this project will help have a better grip on After effects for animation and improve my digital art skills alot.

The Docking sequence took a lot of time in planning anf drawing and figuring out how to move the ramp in after effects and every inch of the docking station needed to be rigged and timings match so the each piece, locks into place.

I first started by drawing the docking station on adobe illustrator and then took it to photoshop to add texture and lighting

Below is a timelapse of all the effects that were applied on to the scene to make it come to life. As you can see matching each limb was a hassle as some parts were rotating, some were sliding or skidding. I added some smoke in between the parts to give it a more realistic feel and things are shaping up quite nicely.