Research Photos

Here we have firstly mini versions of Vince where I tried out drawing different styles so save from wasting ink printing the bigger ones and then mucking it up.
Then we have the actual bits of paper I used in the animation.

Check back soon for when I've finally shaved and got my final styled beard!

Take care,
Joe.

Happy Christmas! and Research Animation

Before I begin explaining about how making the research animation went, I thought I should explain how forgot to say I had a breakthrough with Jeff about the Vince animation before we left for Christmas!
As Vince is going to be the introducer to Decembeard, he needs to be speaking a lot but it's going to be very difficult and time consuming to lip sync and animate Vince's mouth to the audio, so instead Jeff said why not just film the actual mouth speaking and map it to the drawn face in After Effects?
This simple idea is absolute genius and hopefully going to save me a lot of time in the long run! I also asked Jeff to be the voice of Vince since he helped make him now and he agreed.
This has led to a running joke which will be that Vince and Jeff are not linked in any way, despite the obvious fact that Jeff is the voice of Vince which viewers will find out from his obvious denial as Vince and then hopefully again when they hear Jeff speak in his interview later on.

But moving on from Vince, who is on hold at the moment until I return to Uni and can film Jeff's mouth speaking the script (which I also need to write) I have completed the research animation which shows which beard styles I am going for.

Originally I was going to show each beard style quickly but there are just too many so I have narrowed it down for the viewer but for you reading this blog here is a link to two of the websites I researched from:

The first one is Beards.org which specialises in beard culture and has a heavy influence from Decembeard and growing beards in general:

http://www.beards.org/

Next is a man named John Dyer's Blog which is a documentation of his quest to have every single style of beard that exists! So far he has managed 33 out of the 42 he knows of so far:

http://www.dyers.org/blog/beards/beard-types/

These two websites really helps me to narrow down my search and I have decided on a combination of 3 beard styles, the Sparrow (first photo, made famous by Captain Jack Sparrow of the Pirates of the Caribbean films), The Anchor (second photo) and the Hollywoodian (third photo).
However in the documentary I will not say that I have decided yet as I want the viewer to wonder for a bit longer (if they're even interested that is! It doesn't sound very exciting haha) so that the end result seems more impressive.

Originally the plan with this animation was to have a comic book of famous people all with different styles of beards and then pan over them with the camera until ending on a still image of me which is actually a frame from the final scene. The still would then become the film and the documentary would continue.
To overcome copyright I was going to re-draw each celebrity photo e.g. Mr.T, Chuck Norris etc. and put them into a comic strip.
But as I've just explained I am now going to narrow down the research so that the viewer isn't bored by the sheer amount of beard styles that are out there.

To overcome this boredom problem I have done a small animation with scrumpled up paper which scrumples out and in again to show each drawing. Each drawing is also a picture of Vince's face without a beard and in my next post I'll put some of the animation images up so you can get an idea of how it worked.

Take care,
Joe.

P.s Happy Christmas!

Carousel workshop strand A: The Image: Still/Moving

To help us develop our initial ideas, we had to choose two Carousel Workshop strands in which to work.
These workshops were on certain styles and mediums of media and art, and really helped me to focus and hone my original idea into what I'm working on right now.

I chose Carousel Strands "A" and "C", Starting with Carousel workshop strand A: "The Image: Still/Moving".
Here for the first weeks of this module along with the monday lectures we looked deeper into how we could use animation and certain software and practices (such as Adobe After Effects and editing skills like the ones used in "Tango" by Zbigniew Rybczyński) for our experiments.

I really enjoyed the hands-on approach with this module and having already had a large passion for animation and been familiar with some of the influences (such as Eadweard Muybridge and Zbigniew Rybczyński) from previous work, I found that this was definitely the area in which I wanted and needed to work.
These workshops also really helped me form ideas for my MEDI 262 work into Experimental Animation as the topics overlapped a lot which was very helpful and productive indeed. :)

Here are some links to my Vimeo page where I've uploaded the work we created during these workshops:

Sofa Stop Motion: http://vimeo.com/15843278

Rotoscoping Riot: http://vimeo.com/15843609

Moon Madness!: http://vimeo.com/16056784

Craig's Crazy Crustacean Carry on!: http://vimeo.com/16056791

Each of these videos were great fun to work on and really helped me to understand the power of moving image to convey emotion and entertainment and also how important team work is. As I progressed through these workshops the quality of my work became that much better when I worked in a team, which was a big eye opener for this project because for me to be able to complete my own experiments, there was no way I could do this on my own.

However, I didn't see this as a curse, but instead saw it as a blessing as now I could fashion a partnership with some of my fellow students and friends and together we could help each other make our projects the very best that they could be.

That's it for this week, tune in next week for my Strand "C" work and my initial notes and ideas I made at the beginning on how I'm going to make my "Mechanical Instrument" or "Marble Run Music" as it's now being fondly called! They're working titles so bear with me on that one! Haha!

Take care and Merry Christmas,
Joe.

Intial Ideas, Link to Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment

Forgot to add the link to the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment so here it is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKoB0MHVBvM

Enjoy and take care :)
Joe.

Initial Ideas

With the focus of this project being on finding ourselves as Experimental Practitioners, the area in which we're able to explore and express ourselves is quite a big one!

After our initial lectures and introduction to this module, I already had a few ideas evolving from these sessions (along with a few others I still had knocking around from the summer holidays which I thought of elaborating on) but overall there was one idea which kept on shining through from way beyond the summer and these lectures.
I remembered it first after viewing this Youtube video of experiments with Diet Coke and Mentos: and also after one lecture we had on "Time and Space" how we could experiment with it.

This video and the connection it had to the "Time and Space" lecture later on really got the ball rolling for me and helped me to realise that finally I could work on an idea I've had for years, which is to create a chain reaction of 'A' affecting 'B' to create music.

What I mean by this is that with the help of Marble Runs, Cogs, Motors and whatever else I can think of to help, I will create a machine I guess which will create music by certain objects affecting others, but with the use of the motors, this machine will be continuous in making music, instead of it just being a lucky one off run through.

I know this is going to be a massive project with a lot of room for error and problems, but I've wanted to do this idea for years now, (ever since I first looked at Wallace and Gromit's inventions in "The Wrong Trousers" when I was 10 and thought, that is so clever I want to try that too if I'm honest haha) and now I can finally do it with the help and support I need to make it a reality. :)

That's all for now but check back soon for the next part on the Carousel Workshops which helped us to figure out ways in which we can realise our ideas :)
Take care,
Joe.

Preparing for the Christmas Holidays and Vince the Stereotypical Pirate

Since the Christmas holidays are coming up, I've been busy this week preparing all the bits and bobs I'm going to need for making my animations, starting with Vince the Stereotypical Pirate.
As Decembeard is obviously in December I had the idea of an advent calendar being the way I would change from scene to scene. This would be done by a calendar having a door pop open as an animation and then in post-production the video for the next scene being there behind the door.
The tricky part though was deciding what would be on the front of the advent calendar, which is where Vince the Stereotypical Pirate stepped in.

Vince began life as the character who would explain the rules of Decembeard to the viewer in the opening scenes of my documentary, but from there evolved into the comedy relief and exhibitor of all the different things I'll need to show throughout my film, such as the different styles of beard in the Research animation, the Decembeard introducer and now the face for the calendar transitions.

In this blog you can see the actual calendar I've made and animated ready for when I'm home in Exeter for christmas. Since this documentary is being made in "real time" (i.e. as I go through December the footage has to show the correct amount of beard growth etc.) I needed to design, animate and edit these calendar transitions before I left for Christmas as I wouldn't have a chance to until afterwards.
Ironically it turned out when I did make them, I was only in the first one and so it wasn't as time based as I thought but still at least they're done and out of the way now.

You'll see in the animations at the end and the photos here that Vince's eyes move and he winks. I would upload the videos here but I'm going to only upload photos and narrations so that the final product is a surprise and you can see it for the first time properly.

Next up is the work I've done on Vince for the introduction animation.
To draw Vince after starting with only drawing his head was quite troublesome but eventually I ended on a style I liked and after chucking him into Photoshop he came to colourful life.
This final photo will be put back into photoshop as it's a PSD file at the moment and then I will be cutting out each body part and exporting it as a single file.
Then once his body is all exported I am going to drop him into After Effects where I will make the animation.
I've only used After Effects a few times but this is a good chance for me to get to know it so I'm quite excited to see what powers it holds for my future animation!

That's it for now so I will post again soon during the Christmas Holidays after I've finished with Vince so check back then.

Take care,
Joe.

MEDI 259 Experiment: Ideas and Practices (2010 - 2011)

Hello and welcome to my blog/online sketchbook for MEDI 259 Experiment: Ideas and Practices.
I admit it has taken a while for me to start this blog, but things have been pretty hectic getting the project on it's feet, so finally now in the Christmas Holidays I have gotten some down time where I can start putting all my notes and work into order for you to see in this blog.
So for now, watch this space as the work will be uploaded soon :)
Take care, Joe.

Interviews and First Scenes

Beginning with my interview with Jeff, the interview was very nice and relaxed and a great way to start off the first filming bits of my documentary.
However, before filming Jeff for his interview, he helped me to film the first scenes of my documentary where I shave off my beard.

This went well and since me and Jeff are friends I find working together really enjoyable and so my delivery of the lines, although a little bit rushed, is surprisingly natural for me as this is one of the first things I've ever done on camera myself mainstage instead of alongside others.

The interview with Jeff carried on in the same fashion as we played Xbox and filmed during as I'm going to put a narration over some silent shots of Jeff.

Next up I went to my girlfriends and Interviewed everyone there.

Starting with her family I found that they were really helpful and willing to engage fully with my questions. Often people can get a bit nervous and just say short answers but there were no nerves here and so the interview has a lovely family dynamic and warmth to it. The natural humour about Phil's chin etc. really accents this style and I'm really pleased with this as it linked into Phil's interview well too.

With Phil's interview we kept the warmth but looking back after filming you can hear Eden downstairs shout shut up at the dogs for barking whilst we're filming. Although trying to help she did end up being louder than the dogs so we re-shot the interview.

However, after playing the interview back to others they barely noticed the dogs and Eden and said if anything it strengthens the family feel of the documentary. It was a pain that we re-filmed when the original was fine but still it's a good practice to get into just in case and actually this fact came into play as I edited the interviews.

With this work I am going to be doing each scene/subject of my documentary as a mini piece of work so that each subject gets a full dose of focus and detail.
I call this style of working "The Lego Effect" as the practice is the same in that I have these separate scenes as building blocks which I'll put all together once I've got all the pieces I need to to make the final model. :)

I've started this work ethic with these interviews and already edited and put them into an order so that they smoothly progress.
Sadly I wanted to film the interviews with two cameras but could only get one JVC out so instead I have filmed the same questions from different angles and then was just going to put them next to each other but instead have gone one step further and used the pauses and "Umm's and Aaah's" in the speech to link one scene into the next seamlessly.

That's it for now but with these first scenes and interviews edited and ready to be put into the mix I can now focus on the animations which are going to take up most of my time.

Check back soon for the next part of work I've undertaken.

Take care,
Joe.

Second Proposal and Decembeard has Begun!

Following on from my first proposal, here is my second proposal which shows how far I am since then and how I'm going to continue:

MEDI 236: DECEMBEARD ORDER

Here is my list of scenes in the order in which they will appear in the documentary. Also at the bottom is an attached video of the first and third scenes, which I’ve already filmed. Also these films won’t play in Word for Windows.

1. Open onto me shaving (shaving foam on and just about to put razor to cheek) and camera aimed at sink and mirror etc. and I turn to camera, surprised “Oh! Hello there I’m Joe Skinner and with my friends Philip Peskett (photo of Phil pops up) and Jeff White (Photo of Jeff pops up) we are taking part in the social challenge that is DECEMBEARD and the following event of Manuary.
Now I’m pretty sure you’re all thinking “Decembeard?” “Manuary?” what on Earth are they? Well here is my good friend “VINCE” to explain. Over to you “VINCE”.

2. Transition to animation with “VINCE” (think 70’s handlebar Ricky Gervias David Brent moustached guy?) explaining the scientific explanation of why people grows beards, and the origins and rules of Movember, Decembeard, Manuary and others (the February) Etc. “Back to you Joe”

3. Transitions back to me wiping foam with a towel from my face all clean-shaven “Wow thanks “VINCE”, though you do sound strangely familiar…. then get Jeff to voice him? (Or say something funny) maybe VINCE shouts shut up and just get on with it?”.
So there you have it, it’s whatever time (10pm) on November 30th; I’m clean shaven, as are Jeff and Phil so time to get an early night so we’re all ready to begin Decembeard afresh tomorrow.

4. WHAT WOMEN WANT: “Intro = While I was taking part in Decembeard I thought it’s only fair to ask my girlfriend what she liked in terms of facial hair as she’s the one who has to put up with it!
Interviews with girlfriends, what they want, how they feel, how it makes them look, favourites etc. Starts with the calendar door NOTE: MAKE A JOKE OUT OF THE CALENDAR FROM FIRST SCENE AS I HAVEN’T FILLED IT IN SINCE WAS AWAY AT EDEN’S OVER THE WEEKEND! SO MAKE UP JOKE E.G. OH WOOPS THIS HASN’T BEEN UPDATED IN A WHILE! THEN FILM OF ME TAKING DOWN CALENDAR AND PUTTING UP ADVENT CALENDAR READY FOR TRANSITIONS! Opening and the date then goes into video (intro as narration over calendar) interview.
I introduce everyone “Hello today (looking at camera then turning it round, handheld) were going to find out what women like when it comes to facial hair by talking to my girlfriend and Phil’s partner Greta. Then go into interview and asks questions. Maybe interview housemates too?
From this we find out why they like beards (and also which types they like for later on - Point 8)
So from there I can lead onto what beards have represented over the years = history e.g. what they represent and symbolism. Why Etc. etc. “So it seems that beards for most of the girls I’ve spoken to symbolise strength and manliness, but has it always been this way? What else have beards been a symbol of in the past? Well through the magic of cinema let’s have a look through “The History of Beards” WITH THE HELP OF POP-UP POWER! (Film me talking to the camera so can explain how far along my beard is as well) (3rd week of December!)

5. The history of beards and facial hair. Pop Up Animation transition from the interviews with a voice over to a big book on a table (I put on table then open and zoom in on whilst narrating?).
From here the scene is then of the open pages whirring across then the stop-motion cut out people appear (side on animation on my desk) and the animation begins until a transition back out of the book (zooming out) and the book closes. Then the voice over carries on to say that now we’ve seen the past, let’s go forward in time using the magic of technology and transitions via this calendar to look at how Jeff got on with his first week. Then the camera zooms out from the book and out of a door on the calendar (the 3rd? Or put on another title e.g. 10,000 BC) and zooms in on a week ahead where that door opens and we see Jeff’s video inside and zoom onto it.

6. Interview starts with video of Jeff shaving or about to, or playing Xbox or something) and then voiceover explains that Phil’s away working in Guernsey for the first 2 weeks so we’ll see how his beard is coming along later on, but for now let’s hand over to Mr. Jeffery White. Begin interview of him a week later on how it’s come along and what styles he’s thinking of going for, influences of this style, Whether it’s itching etc. (30 seconds max) include pictures and narration too? Photos like on Mac whirling.

7. Phil’s back after 2 weeks (ish) so interview him then talk about styles and same things. Make it interesting and different to Jeff’s!

8. Then with narration over montage video of the two and Gret and Eden talking (amongst everyone else too if have interviewed the house as well) explain how from from all these interviews it seems that style is much more important than just growing a beard. Have examples of the most popular beards popping up as stills/drawings and then go on to to say: “So as I started taking into account everyone’s different style of beard in consideration for my own, I wondered just how many styles are out there? And which are the most famous/popular?”

9. From here I began to research style (clips of me on laptop and beard websites etc. have a clip of redtube maybe as a joke like oh! Woops! ) And found that like the history of beards, there is a lot more than you’d expect to find! So In short, it began with” then explain which style was most popular first (e.g. Mr. T’s) whilst it cuts to the comic strip in a comic strip panel style (i.e. the video becomes rotorscoped and cartoonified, then zooms out to actually be a panel on the comic strip and camera pans over to first style and on from there etc. Then end panel is a cartoonisation of the next scene, an interview with me explaining the end of Decembeard.

10. “So here we are at the end of Decembeard or in Manuary?” Then from here come back to an interview with me at the end of Decembeard or beginning of Manuary? (New Years Eve?) And explain what style I’m going to go for and why (For Eden). Then montage of the journey (extra footage which can include a Christmas theme e.g. me wearing a beard as a joke whilst interviewing family and friends etc.) and explain in a voice over how it’s been a great and surprisingly educational trip into a subject which I never thought could be so interesting and vast, and cite some random beard facts.

11. Then explain which style I’ve decided to go for during the montage with examples popping up (e.g. if went for Mr. T he could pop up) and then end on the animation of my beard growing and then becoming styled with narration, then fade out to an actual video of me in the same place talking about how I like my beard and how Eden likes it could end with a wink then closing my bedroom door but that could be too rude?

12. End credits is music over firstly an animation of Jeff’s beard or Phil’s beard growing and then a little disclaimer over the music explaining how far they got (for Jeff not far etc.) and what they went for in the end, then video of the beards and them talking about the overall experience. Think Jackass 3-D ending.

13. Actual credits with slide show of everyone with those blue beards. E.g. Starring: Jeff White with actual beard, and Philip Peskett with actual beard (same for me) then the others e.g. cameramen, Eden, Gret have the blue beards over the top. OR: All have blue beards but start with everyone else but me Jeff and Phil then show everyone with the beards as a starring and special thank you to and then have me, Jeff and Phil with blue beards then move them away to show animations? Prefer the first way.

14. Funny disclaimer at the end Merry Decembeard and a Happy manuary to everyone! Note: No beards, chins, Moustaches or any other facial hair/area was hurt during the making of this documentary. There was however a lot of itching for poor Jeff.

15. Date Created.


To really show the progress I have made, I've literally given in my final list/order for Decembeard (the title I'm giving this piece) and shown which bits I have filmed already as they are lined out. So far I've only filmed the first scenes where I've shaved off my beard and started Decembeard. All I can say is my chin is so cold! :( Didn't think it would be this bad but it really is freezing when it hits my bare skin like that haha.
So Decembeard has begun for myself, Phil and Jeff and so has taking pictures everyday till January. I decided against the video diary every few days as there is plenty going on in this documentary without them.
Also I could start uploading the photos of each day, but I'm going to leave them till each set is an animation of our beards growing and then upload them instead. :)

Other than that, nothing else has happened really. Next weekend I'm going to interview Jeff after a week of Decembeard to see how he's getting and then I'm going to my girlfriend Eden's next weekend to interview Phil who is her dad on how he's been getting on.
I was going to interview him around the same time as Jeff but he's been away working in Guernsey so I'll do it next weekend as I'm also going to be interviewing his partner Greta (Eden's mum) and Eden herself as to what they like in facial hair, since it's them who are going to have to put up with the beards overall!
So far my girlfriend has made it pretty clear that she regrets saying Decembeard as an idea because I apparently have a "fat chin". Hence I am now dying to have my beard back more than ever to cover this cold fat chin of mine!

That's all for now so check back soon when I'll talk about the interviews :)

Take care,
Joe.