The Bond of Four - After the Deadline

   I have already set myself a deadline for after today's deadline, which will be the Exhibition itself starting on the 13th of June (But chances are that we will have to hand in our works and set up everything much earlier than that). 

   And here' s a to-do list:

1. Finish the animation itself:
   - Sketch out the last few scenes
   - Clean up animation sketches (All timing should then be properly established for Luke to work with)
   - Colour (Which can be done while Luke starts working on the soundtrack again)
2. Finish painting last few backgrounds (Only about 1 to 2 left)
3. Do up a couple more polished looking character sheets and concept art
4. Update art book before getting it printed
5. Have Luke update the soundtrack

   Those are the mandatory steps that I should take after this deadline while also moving onto PPP3 and its deadline.

The Bond of Four - Working with Luke

   Luke Tingle, from the very first time I decided to work with him, has always been an incredibly composed and dependable individual, and so it was only right when I decided to go back to him for my music and sound needs for this project. After presenting my animatic to the class during that one critique session more than a month back, I thought Luke would have been to commence putting together a proper soundtrack from what I had given him. Before then, I had shared with him a few examples on what sort of music I wanted, while also giving him the time to gather together the sound effects that I would like to include in the animation.

   It was about a month later and 2 to 3 weeks before this deadline that I started worrying if a little. When speaking to one another through Facebook on one another's progress, Luke said that he could only truly start composing a proper soundtrack for the animation only after it was fully completed. While confounded and beginning to panic a little by that point (Seeing as Cara was able to get a soundtrack composed for her by simply providing an animatic to her own composer), I started discussing the matter further with Luke on what could be done, seeing as there was no way that I was going to completely finish this animation for this module's submission. Luke was thankfully as patient and assuring as always, and eventually, we agreed that a percussive of sorts would work better for this submission, a full proper soundtrack would be developed after the deadline when I continue finishing up this animation for June.

   And so for the time being, throwing whatever new scenes (Be they completely or just somewhat better looking than those posted doodles) I have into the animatic, I then handed it over to Luke through the shared Dropbox folder for him to put together the percussive. I am sure that I will at least still have an original soundtrack for this submission and will be able to replace the placeholder music that I have been using this entire time. But if not, I at least still have a backup (That being the placeholder music).

The Boy and the Beast

   The Boy and the Beast is Mamoru Hosoda's latest film (I have previously written about Wolf Children in a past module) that was released on July 11th 2015. The subbed and dubbed versions were however released around early March, which finally gave me the opportunity to watch it after our previous submission for research and development. Having purchased the art book and storyboard book sometime last year, it has since been one of my main influences and inspirations for this project when it comes to its characters designs, animation quality, background designs, and even storyboards.

   An action adventure fantasy (Like his past films), the story follows Ren who has recently lost his mother. Not knowing the whereabouts of his father and not wanting to live with his legal guardians, the nine year old flees into the streets of Shibuya, resenting life and everything else that came with it. Moving onto the more interesting bit, the Lord of the magical Beast Kingdom has decided that he will return in order to reincarnate as a deity and names two potential successors, with one of them being one of the main protagonists of this film, Kumatetsu, the powerful but unfortunately lone and lazy bear-like beast. Ren and Kumatetsu eventually cross paths one another, and while they are off to an incredibly rocky start, begin a very close master and disciple relationship as the story progresses...

   It is interesting to note that the characters of Mamoru Hosoda's films are always flatly colours WITHOUT a single layer of shading (With a few very rare exceptions) regardless of how dark or brightly lit their surroundings happen to be (Which should result in some very drastic shading or lighting depending on what sort of setting it is). Again, this most probably results in numerous colour palettes created for a bulk of the film's cast, especially for Ren and Kumatetsu. 

   This still keeps the task of colouring simpler when one thinks about it, because even if shading was to be added to these characters, surely their entire colour palette needs to still be changed, when they are placed in a setting with dramatically different lighting. But in all, I do indeed find this style of plain colour to be appealing, I just find it amazing how it can be effectively done especially one needs to carefully consider what colour palettes should be used, no matter how subtle the differences are.

   To further add to this, the film's beautifully painted backgrounds are somehow able to go so well with the flatly coloured characters, neither stands out too much with one another and somehow blends so naturally with one another (But then again many animated works from both the west and east have proven that more detailed backgrounds can indeed go well with characters that are designed and coloured in a far simpler style, it could also be said that the animation style might have a part to play in this as well).

   It has always been a challenge effectively blending CGI and traditional 2D animation (And quite frankly, there aren't too many examples-- or have I yet to find that many that are able to do so). While it definitely is much easier to use CGI, especially for crowd scenes. This film really does try its absolute best to make it work, by blurring the backgrounds and its characters, you unfortunately can still make out the unnaturally fluid movements of the CGI characters in the back. Still, it isn't necessarily as awful as some other examples and doesn't deter too much from the overall beauty of this film (The pros most definitely outweigh the cons). So long as they aren't just lazily throwing CGI in there without even attempting to blend it in properly (It kinda worked for the Animatrix, but not here, no). 

   There is a lot and I mean A LOT of fighting that actually takes place in this animation, but what I found absolutely interesting about that is the fact that it feels and looks really different to the usual dynamic, over-the-top fighting you see in other japanese animations. And no, this isn't even about the quality and intricacy of the animation (Obviously since japanese anime films will of course have a higher animation budget than most television series) itself... I still can't quite put my finger on it but I suppose it is the slightly more realistic look it is given in comparison, even during the crazier fight scenes. This might be a bit of a criticism however, that I feel like the fight scenes still lack the impacts seen in so many other animations? It is clean, detailed and pretty realistic (Much like Satoshi Kon's own works), but there is something lacking, even during what should be the most brutal of fights... eh, who knows, I should probably rewatch it again someday to see if I actually missed out on something.

The Bond of Four - Working with Rosy 2

   To wrap up things up on the title sequence itself, I am thankful that there is at least one part of the animation that is technically completed and ready to be viewed for submission, and all that is thanks to Rosy and her boyfriend Ben. There really weren't too many problems (Save for a few tiny misunderstandings between us due to our increasingly exhausted we were getting) and the design of the title sequence was done in just a few weeks. So, I realise I have only actually made one other blog post about this, and that was more than a month back when I simply mentioned what it was that I actually wanted Rosy to do... Sooooo, with our Facebook conversation as my reference, let me try to summarise what has taken place during this long period.

   Since answering the first set of questions I received from her (Which was mentioned in the first post), I eventually decided that I would preferably like to only have an ending sequence designed for my animation as it better suited the overall presentation of it. This decision came about when Cara and I were one day throwing ideas at one another when sharing with one another progress on both our projects. I received a couple more some time after once she commenced working on mine:

1. What is your plan for your audio

   (i) Would you like me to provide audio to fit on the end like Lurk or would you have that           covered?

    I would like for Luke to work on that too, but I fear that due to time constraints, we wouldn't be able to do so. ;u; Just like that time when we tried with Lurk, haha.  

   (ii) If yes, what is your plan for the sudden cut into the fight sequence audio?

   I'm pretty sure that part would be covered by Luke though? It is just this abrupt change from a seemingly peaceful and sombre atmosphere.

2. What characters would you mainly like featured in the credits? (I have had a look through your Tumblr but not sure what ones you want as the final designs) 

   Most definitely should include the 4 main characters: Aoyi (The one with the orange scarf), Hojo (The one in very loose blue robes and has heterchromia), Jubei, (The one with the sleepy expression on his face) and Date (The masked assassin), others can be added to at your choice.

3. A list of Cast and Artists? 

   There is no cast or artists, save for you, Luke and possibly your bf if he does help out with the music for the ending sequence?

   NOTE: I would hope to discuss a small change with Rosy about this as I wish to include Yiynova's involvement in this. Seeing as this was my first ever tablet monitor I have ever animated with. None of this would have been possible without their product, to be quite honest, and so giving them a small mention would be absolutely lovely.

4. Would you like me to design a typeface again like Lurk or work around a pre-made type. (Both would work in my opinion unless you want it to be like a signature)

   Both would work just fine for me too!

5. Since you would like me to only focus on an ending credit scene, what kind of duration were you thinking? (40 seconds?)

   Yeah, around 40 sec is fine.

   From then on, I simply started throwing all my concept art and sketches into the dropbox that were shared between me, her and Luke, and let her grab whatever she wanted out of there as she started working on the ending sequence. Knowing that she was also working on several other sequences for a few others, I gave her all the space she needed and didn't really badger her with too many questions until it started getting closer to the deadline. But, during that period, Rosy had also set up an Instagram account to show her progress on all these title sequences that she was working on, including my own. 

   About a week or so back during one of our tutorial sessions, I started giving more thorough feedback on how it was that I actually visualised the ending sequence, particularly when it came to the style of music. The placeholder music that she used initially was much too energetic, and so I started sending her a few sombre music pieces (Including the ending music for the Legend of Korra) as examples as to what I actually had in mind for the title sequence. And, as for the look itself, it was getting there, but again, I wanted to go for a more quiet feel than the fast paced animation she had used for the first version (Hopefully she posts that version on her own blog so you will know what I mean). My last super important request was to make sure that the title itself actually sort of popped up right after the animation itself ended on a plain black background, very much like how the title of the Lion King appeared after it's opening sequence with the birth of Simba.

   And after that, all I really needed was a png of the title she designed so that I could use it for my concept artbook... and that's the gist of it.

Extended Practice - Voice Acting 3

   Actually spent an hour or so a couple of weeks back rerecording a few lines for David's animation, as there weren't that many lines to record for, there was a lesser chance of me losing my voice by the end of that session. This time round, I decided to let David have the headphones (Again, I still find myself wondering why is it that BOTH studios only had ONE set of headphones in each of them?), making sure he listened to every single recorded line before we moved onto the next one, especially since there were volume mishaps when we were listening to them in one of the previous critique sessions. I also have this annoying tendency to read most lines far too quickly and so require way too many retakes for even the simplest of lines. I was not going to leave that studio until each line was recorded clearly enough and satisfied David and his vision for his character.

   I know I am far from being a professional voice actor (Heck, while I did try my best in those sessions and thought I sounded pretty okay then, I still felt like falling into a black hole when I heard my voice last week during our final presentation), but again, I really did enjoy myself and hope to improve myself further from here. I get so shy even when I record my own stuff for fun, but, again, I just need to keep practicing, really, especially if I really do hold an interest in this area. There are so many amazing animators (Alex Hirsch), singers (Estelle) and writers (Anthony Burch... yes, he counts!) that do such amazing voice work themselves and I really hope to be anything like them.

The Bond of Four - Some Animation Progress

   Just some animation progress for several different scenes.

The Bond of Four - Scene 1-2 - Progress

   A part of me really wishes that I actually owned one of those Hannya masks so that I could actually get the perspective right on this thing. For the majority of yesterday, I spent most of my time trying to get the perspective of that mask right, his right arm to look right and figuring out what style of colouring, shading and lighting to use (I based it on references from the Legend of Korra, Berserk and Claymore). But either, way, I say give this one more day before I am finally done with this scene, it was meant to be one of the simpler scenes (Aside from the amount of detail) and I really do need to hurry up and move onto the next scene. I just need to do a few more touch ups on his figure and work on the background (Which I will probably be separating into two separate layers (Cloud and night sky) to give a tiny but more depth for a seemingly still looking scene.

The Bond of Four - Critique Session

   My animatic was pretty well received by my peers and lecturers during today's critique session, particularly the intricate movements from the animation tests shown and the fact that it was a solid enough animatic to pinpoint exactly how long the duration would be. In terms of the fighting animation, I was advised on including some frames where the weapons would appear blurred, just to further enhance its movements and speed. At the moment, I am still trying to figure out how to animate strikes that have stronger looking impacts, but I believe that it will simply have to be trial and error as I further polish out these animation sketches over the next few weeks.

   All the main concept art is at least done and so any other concept art would just be further addition to the concept art book itself (Which I will most probably do in between all the upcoming animating). I now at least have all the important references I need while animating. I will still however have to quickly do a few more color experimentations with Lord Hideyori, which should not take too long. I should also begin listing down the number of background designs that I need to start painting out, whilst also figuring out which ones I can actually reuse or modify slightly to save time.

   I have also sent the animatic to Luke last night, and thankfully he will also be able to get some sound designing done as well. While he was initially worried seeing that the examples I sent him used traditional instruments, I told him that I would be happy so long as it had a similar mood and still fitted the animation. The animatic has also been sent to Rosy too, once we actually recover somewhat over the weekend, I believe a proper discussion is long overdue between us (I am beginning to wonder especially if all I need is an ending title sequence instead of two to sandwich the animation, since I feel that the title could be shown at the very end instead considering how this animation is presented).

   While we might have submitted our Research and Development for this period, I am still very much keen on getting a little bit more research blogging done over Easter break, just a couple more as there are some works that I believe will inspire that have only been released recently in theatres, and a few other practitioners that I hope to look into after my write up about Yutaka Nakamura.

   Other than that... I think I need a few days right now to recuperate before getting on with more work.

Sengoku Basara (Production I.G.)

   While Sengoku Basara was originally a video game series by Capcom (Known for being a "crowd-fighting" action game in the vein of Koei's similarly themed Samurai Warriors series), it is here where we will talk about the anime TV series adaptation to brought it to its current level of popularity. It is also in this post that we will be focusing on the series that was produced by Production I.G. (Season 3 would instead be animated by Telecom Animation Film and in my opinion is very underrated when compared to Production I.G's own version... and so I might consider writing about them as well in the future).

Pirate Lord that surfs on his giant anchor weapon
whilst leaving a blazing trail behind him,

   Sengoku Basara's story is very loosely based on real events of the titular Sengoku era in the history of feudal Japan... and I mean: Very. Loosely. And quite frankly, I am not that all surprised, seeing as Capcom was also behind the Onimusha series, another Sengoku era themed game done in a similar style to the Resident Evil series that featured interdimensional demons bent on controlling the famous Sengoku Lords of Japan and taking over the world).

   This series has admittedly been a guilty pleasure of mine since last year, and while it is obviously not a piece of Shakespearean masterpiece, that certainly does not mean that no love was put into it (Far from it). I could go on really, but I don't want to get any more personal than I am already being about this series.

That's right, you flip that horse good, Yukimura.

   The easiest way to summarize this series is how incredibly over the top it was, and the sheer insanity and ridiculousness it was as an anime adaptation (Though, it really isn't to say that the game series is a lot tamer). Sure, another obvious reason as to why it became an even bigger media franchise than the game series it was based on was the fact that it featured a cast of nothing but eye candy and fan service (Which to me is reason why so many were unfortunately turned off by the third season, considering the slightly less appealing art style that was used, despite the fact that the studio were far more faithful to the characters' original designs from the game).

   With works like Seirei no Moribito and Ghost in the Shell, it is no surprise that Production I.G. is one of the better-known studios (If not one of top five) for its quality animation, and Sengoku Basara was thankfully not the exception. As mentioned before, in all of its over-the-top if not incredibly silly moments, the series also had some of the most well-animated fight scenes in any anime series. Whilst taking advantage of the fact that these samurai could defy gravity in this universe (Quite a far cry from Seirei no Moribito's far more realistic fighting animation), animators went all out in choreographing the craziest fight sequences (Refer to previous gif) while still somehow making it believable and of course enjoyable enough for its viewers. Aside from really nicely done weapon animation, there are lots of fun if not dynamic camera shots used in a lot of these sequences (There really is never a fight scene that is done in a flat shot). I do believe that there was one scene in one of the earlier episodes when it a completely different art and animation style was used simply to enhance the frenzy and blood thirst that was experienced between the two characters as they dueled with one another.

   And I can most certainly ALWAYS appreciate the animation of characters that are dressed in considerably detailed if not complicated clothing and/or armor. Yes, the character designs may have been simplified from its original source (The only way they could animate a character with detailed chainmail while keeping their sanity intact is to use a texture and static screen it, to be honest... and that would certainly not go with the rest of the art direction for this adaptation). I will always appreciate how shading and lighting is done in animations (Because I know how much time that takes along with coloring each frame), and this series does it absolutely beautifully without making it stand out far too much, especially when it comes to their armor pieces.

   To end it off, while this adaptation of Sengoku Basara might be questionable in terms of its story and character development (Again, this is why Season 3 has its own merits, to be honest), do watch it for its sleek character designs, amazing animation and over-the-top scenes between some of the most ridiculous samurai characters you will ever see... Also, do try to watch it in Japanese, the seiyuus did the most amazing job. This version of Date Masamune wouldn't have become so memorable if it hadn't been for all the Engrish that is thrown in there by Kazuya Nakai.

Oh. God. How could I forget about the dancing samurai...?

The Bond of Four - The First Storyboard and Other Stuff

   This storyboard is a travesty, and with so many changes having been made when I started on the animatic, I almost thought that there wasn't any point in even including it here... but then I remembered that we needed to show our progress and so... here you go, here are all the posted notes I painstakingly rearranged so that it would make some sense if you squint closely enough. Again, a lot of scenes were either changed or cut out completely. The final scene however was never storyboarded and was instead directly animated into the animatic itself. A lot of scenes were simplified too as it would eventually go over 2 minutes (I was really trying to stick to a minute, but that would really be pushing it with all these necessary scenes that I really needed to keep in).

I figured I might as well include some of the sketches I did way back
to get the creative juices flowing. I hope to do more actually so that I can
include them in the concept art book.

   Here you will see some sketches I did of Lee Jin as I played around with her relationship with Prince Jubei, Prince Jubei's appearance has also been updated here when compared to the color concept I did of him, his eyes are no open and his hat is a little different. There are also some studies of how Ayame handles her weapons, which I did around the same time I was storyboarding concepts of the fight sequences.

The Bond of Four - Animatic

   While this is probably the messiest animatic that I have ever done so far, I am glad that I was able to throw a lot of animation tests in there as my proof of concept. I did skip a bit of the beginning where there is a quiet view of the moon as the camera slowly pans back. The music here is simply used as a placeholder and will hopefully give Luke an idea of what I am going for, and I actually think that both tracks I have used nicely matches the pace of each scene... Now if you will excuse me, I am just going to sit back in relief that I actually managed to finish this thing for our presentation that will take place in a few hours time...

The Bond of Four - Animation Tests

   To make up for the fact that I still need to get a lot more concept artwork done after tomorrow's deadline for Research and Development, I tried including as many animation tests as I possibly could into the animatic itself, there should be more resting periods/pauses added in there as well as some speeding up on certain parts, but other than that, it should still be below 2 minutes, excluding the title sequences later on. 

   Over the past few days, whilst looking through numerous references, I ended up directly doing several animation tests (After storyboarding a couple as well based on some instructional videos I watched, and oh, there were way more that I watched, I'm just not going to link them all here) for the fight sequences to see what might look decent enough to be inserted into the animatic itself, there were a lot of times I wondered whether I should just let them use one weapon each instead of a dual set (Just to make things easier for myself), particularly Ayame, who is seen handling two fans in most of my concepts of her. 

   

   The same goes for Date however, whose fighting style is based on Taki from Soul Calibur, but while she herself handles dual kodachis, it is not often that she would use both of them and has a preference in using the one placed on the higher part of her back (Which at times makes the second kodachi more cosmetic in my opinion)... Either way, Date is going to get his butt kicked in this animation.

Only background I did by this point.

The colliding bit can most certainly be sped up a bit, I also feel that I should improve
on the strength of the impact itself.

Legend of Korra

   The Legend of Korra is an American animated television series that aired on the Nickelodeon television network from 2012 to 2014 (Oh, how time flies) and was created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino as a sequel to the critically acclaimed Avatar: The Last Airbender (Which aired from 2005 to 2008). Again, much like its predecessor, the show is animated in a style that is strongly influenced by anime, which is not to say it is. The series follows the new Avatar Korra, the reincarnation of Aang from the previous series, as she faces political and spiritual unrest in a modernizing world.

   And much like its predecessor, the show has been a critical success. Drawing favorable comparisons with the HBO series Game of Thrones (Huh) and the work of Hayao Miyazaki. It has been praised by reviewers for addressing sociopolitical issues such as social unrest and terrorism, as well as for going beyond the established boundaries of youth entertainment with respect to issues of race, gender, and sexual identity. While Samurai Champloo was an anime series that stepped out of the traditional if not stereotypical tropes and expectations of anime at the time, both Avatar series were not afraid to show that they were heavily influenced by anime, while still managing to remain their own unique and memorable series.

   Much like Avatar: The Last Airbender, it is evident that a lot of love was put into this considerably darker sequel by its creators... Sure, the show might have had a somewhat rocky start (A little opinionated, I suppose, but I was most definitely one of those that felt a little annoyed if not turned off by the characters when they were first introduced and how they were written over the rest of the season, particularly Korra), but it eventually began picking up by the end of the second season, and most certainly ended with a bang by the forth and final season (Am I allowed to spoil this...? No? Oh well, I'm sure you will all figure out what I mean on your own). 

   One thing that certainly stood out to me about this series, was the character development over all four seasons. Again, I really wasn't a fan of these characters during the first two seasons, but once I actually went back and considered all four seasons as one whole entity... I couldn't help but feel astounded by it all. No one would have expected so much to take place, to change... and it feels like the gentlest reminder on how much can actually change within a short period of time. A person and their beliefs, relationships between various people, situations, absolutely everything... And it is all developed in the most believable way possible (Very much like its predecessor, really, so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised about how well they had pulled this off).

   Again, much like the previous series, The Legend of Korra was most cetainly known for its quality production values. The series was produced mainly as traditional animation, with most frames drawn on paper in South Korea by the animators at Studio Mir and scanned for digital processing. Each episode comprised about 15000 drawings. The series however did make occasional use of computer-generated imagery for complex scenes or objects, most noticeably in the animations of the pro-bending arena or the mecha suits of the later seasons.

   The Legend of Korra most certainly stood out to me in terms of its striking visuals (Which you can certainly see in the gif set below). While The Legend of Aang was also known for its unbelievably gorgeous visuals, I do feel that this series had certainly taken it a step further when it came to its production values. The animation quality is beyond breathtaking as well as the art direction itself. Even one could admire the simpler if not quieter scenes in the shows, and appreciate it for its crisp coloring and lineart. 

   But obviously... that is not what we are here for. Much like the previous Avatar series, The Legend of Korra also stood out for its incredibly detailed fight sequences, with the bending styles featured derived from different styles of Chinese martial arts. Yes, there is the fantasy element there as always (With the controlling of various elements and what not), but there is also the beauty in how realistically these characters move whilst doing so (In which many of the Principles of Animation can be successfully applied to, such as Anticipation, Timing and Solid Drawing). The impact, the struggle, and strain, so much could be felt from each movement they make, be it light or heavy. Korra's way of fighting is also a metaphor in itself as continues to grow as a person whilst being made to deal with all the matters that are so cruelly thrown to her by the city. And while she maybe the all powerful Avatar, the truth is, she is but still a teenager who had so much to learn at the very beginning of the series... and that is also shown from the way she fights throughout the show.

   Both Avatar series have also been an incredibly huge influence to my work not for its anime influences but also due to the fact that it is set in a fantasy world that borrows extensively from East Asian art and mythology. And while it started out as a mere interest like anything else, Mike and Bryan certainly went all out in creating the gorgeous fantasy world that we have all come to adore to this very day, of course, with help from the right people that is, if your heart is really in something, everyone else can most certainly tell once they see it for themselves.