this is so camp it isn’t true, just brilliant family entertainment, great sound effects, doesn’t take itself seriously at all, so cool in a kitsch way I guess now. The bright colours, the shaky sets, the “pow” noises, something of its own kind, not like anything else, I loved it, you could act this out as a kid. And you alwys knew the good guys would win of course, that was the whole point. Then as time goes on everything gets a bit darker, love the new films too, but not sure that they would be suitable for me at the age I started watching batman films way back. They are actually scary, my little brother (11) couldn’t watch the dark knight, it really freaked him out, the old 60s film just wouldn’t have done that at all. So anyway I love these films and I think they get better as time goes on and the films develop. the latest batman film, the dark knight rises, being penned as the last batman film, is really looked forward to! So I have only seen the trailer of course using the star spangled banner hauntingly sung by a young boy in a football stadium in the USA, cutting to the cockney michael caine butler, with seemingly amazing special effects and real suspense, amazing, a whole new kettle of fish, and I can’t wait to see it. this for me has amazingly managed to add a touch of reality to a ludicrously fantasy story, so you think, what if…while you are watching it…what an achievement really, I’d love to be bale to do that, let your imagination run riot but yet with a veneer of “ this might really be possible “ alongside. Cool.

Test scene

Unity Web Player | test scene

« created with Unity »

3 point light tutorial

Truck motion path

This was the final outcome i got when i went through the tutorial on motion paths.

Bouncing ball tutorial

This is a bouncing ball i made on maya using a tutorial i found online as i had been ill and the ball file off the VLE wouldn't open up on my computer so i improvised.

Final scene with color for animation

These are still pictures from my Maya animation set. I tried to use as little colors as possible as i think less is more. I recon i could of still used less colors but this is something i can think about for future projects.

Maya concept art using Photoshop

These are a few of my drawings i done before i made my animation you could call it concept art i also tried to base my characters on.

New storyboards for final animation

This was the plan i had for my new animation as after we had discussed as a group about are animations it made me change my mind and to add a bit of narrative to the animation.

Pendulum 2

Pendulum 1

Truck tutorial

These are pictures of my truck that i made following the tutorial we were given.

Almost finished Maya final project for animation

First storyboard of my animation

This is my first storyboard design for my animation its of a bouncing ball jumping along. It jumps along for a bit then lands on a spike and splits up into many.

When i started to think about my animation i decided to keep it simple

This is the story boards with sound for the an alternate ending for the car scene at the end of the first toy story. It is good to see how in practice story boards are useful for working out how a thing might flow and for trying soundtracks too. I can also see that you can save yourself a lot of wasted time doing intricate animations by working out as much as possible beforehand using your storyboard and working through things in that way first.

This clip shows the editor talking about which scenes he remembered eleting and what he thinks about htat now and at the time, I love how the decision is so hard because fo how much work has gone into each moment of a finished animation and how the animators have poured their hearts into them. It reminds me that you do have to keep stepping back to see if what you are doing is what you are after in the end

I also watched this animated tank crushing a car, I like the way the car crumbles, this was also done using maya, and it is interesting to see the good points, I like the crushing and the shadows etc though the camera seems to move around too much. It is good to watch other peoples attempts at using maya and reading their comments about problems they faced, hopefully I can take these on board when doing my own one.

This is an animation of a car chase, I think this is amazing, it was done a few years ago, but the sounds are great, the music adds to the adrenalin of the chase and the animation is stunning and so realistic, though I’m sure the driving skills are not..when I do my animation I want to remember how a soundtrack can add to the animation and what you want the audience to feel.

I also like the things like the skid marks and the smoke coming from the wheels when the car turns etc, these touches add a lot to the realism of the animation. Obviously for a first maya animation I will not be bale to achieve anything like this but I hoe I can remember some of these points that add to the realism of the short.

This is a clip of early character development animations for woody and buzz, it is so interesting to see how different these are from the final film and how, even at Pixar, the first idea you come up with is generally developed into a final character/scene, and it is also good to hear how the thought process went, well as much as they will tell you of course, and I guess one of the key things is to look at your first animation and then to see how that can be developed and which parts say what you want or give the feeling you want, things like the proportions of the limbs in these toys for example, and the facial expressions, choice of voice, there is so much that goes into a successful animation, and so much of it is planning and trial and error as you develop the characters and the details of the plot.

I have to look at one of my favourite kids films, toy story, this was the first full length computer animated film, so is kind of relevant to what we are doing. Plus as I am thinking of using a car for my maya animation I wanted to look at the remote control car in the film, RC, to see if I can get some inspiration from it.

I looked at the Blair Witch Project, similarly the camera work gives the feeling of such movement and terror, again through trees, seems very real…
Everyone can imagine how scary it would be to be chased through trees, the trees also provide dramatic shadows and vertical lines on the screen, very interesting. I am wondering how I can recreate the feeling of running fast through say trees, or maybe an urban landscape?

Color correction

This is the way i color corrected my second video. As i wanted my film to look gloomy and scary at some points i used this tool (color correction 3 way).
This tool was very helpful as it meant i could change the color of the shot to suit the mood i was going for.

Classical music was also used to great effect in The Tree of Life, again as in The Piano the score was specially written, I think using classical music gives lots of atmosphere, perhaps because it has no lyrics to distract you?

The setting of course is also important as this can be so evocative see the trailer from The Piano
amazingly atmospheric, the scenery and the music are almost the most important parts of this amazing film, the narrative taking almost a secondary role, the music and the setting say it all…
I love how the scenery is so epic in this film and the beauty of nature is awesome. I am wondering if I will be able to recreate this type of thing, obviously I can't go to New Zealand to shoot my film, but I really like the idea of a natural setting.


I am a real fan of this film, I love the trilogy, the film is also filmed in New Zealand like The Piano and the setting really adds to the atmosphere, it is so amazing that it seems unreal, and this is what I would like to try and portray in my film, something real but that seems fantastical.
while being picturesque there are lots of scary moments and scenes, when Frodo is getting chased by the big spider Shelob I like the camera work and how the film becomes really dark and gloomy, the music also helps with the atmosphere in this film and in the darker scenes especially.