2009 in a few words…

Well, as much as it was fun to do the course, its still a relief to end it. All that is left to do is finish up a last few minute jobs, and prepare for the presentation in about 8 or so hours from now.

Before I say anything, gotta say thanks to all my classmates and teachers for being supportive throughout this year, and helping me refine and improve my efforts. Couldn’t imagine a better group of people I’d rather work with in the industry. Seriously. The amount of talent everyone displayed and gained throughout the year was impressive, meaning those who carry on to the second year will show outstanding work.

Big thanks to the following: Ambrose, Andrew, Brando, Dana, Felix,  Jacqui, Justine, Kyle, Lee, Mark, Mary, Michelle, Nick, Rahim, Sarah,Shaun, Sid, Teagen, Troy and Tushar (i think thats all of you)- for your insights, suggestions and assistance. For those of you going onto the second year, I’ll see youse there. For those of you who are not, I hope to work with youse again down the track.

This year was hard, not going to deny that. But it has better prepared me for what awaits next year, year after, and so on. Already I’m deep in development of my major assignment for next year, as well as having scripts and ideas written down and sketched out, awaiting completion for the right projects.

So, until next time…or next year…have fun.

 

 

Summing Up Semster One

Semester One has finished, and gotta say it’s been a wild ride. With numerous projects come and gone, and to throw in the extra challenge with a few family issues, one can only guess if Semester Two will be any easier.

Rahim and I successfully completed the doco on Novarelic. Originally meant to be a documentary on what other game developers thought of the concept, it turned into a one-side interview direct from the game developer himself, Matthew Kairys. Rahim’s efforts and approach to the documentary was excellent. The areas we could have improved on would be perhaps a more organized time table on when to do things, as we continually re-adjusted to suit other projects.

Originally supposed to be a serious self portrait, I thought of, filmed, and edited a entirely different one in almost exactly one hour, due to time limitations. My grandiose idea of clicking things that identify me into existence proved to take too long to do, and I needed to do something quick. What I ended up with was a semi-comical representation of myself, to which I would redo if given a chance. Still, would be interesting to see what the class thinks.

For film, what stood out the most for me was how the group that did the doco on the music industry really took it to a large scale. Andrew, Jacqui, Kyle, Rahim, Mary…not sure if there was more or not, but the whole team really did a great job, and I’d suggest that (if they worked well), they should consider sticking together to try and do something similar.

In 3D, I’ve felt like I’m on a death list concerning the people around me, due to what I simply model in 5-10mins, such as a table or a city. In my own time, I’ve begun modeling objects and vehicles for my major project next year. I completed the 3D Trench project, although running out of time to use After Effects, used Flash instead. For the corner-of-a-room assignment, I’ve chosen to model a cybernetic-like room to challenge myself a bit.

With 3D, what stood out for me was Tushar’s trench, which had really good quality glows and effects. Troy’s trench had a great looking targeting oracle made in after effects, with a out-of-focus ring towards the front which really made it stand out. Michelle’s dancing eye – miscellaneous or for a future project – was quite effective, especially the animation of a ‘feathery muscle’ on the top.

In Design, I fully designed a business card and a logo, which I’ll continue to modify down the track. I felt as this as been my weakest subject so far, so I’ll try to do better if we have it again in the following semester. My game development has shifted from being about a person escaping from a  zoo to a game about me – something different.

Animated Logo 002

This is my new animated logo for my Sharksword Production company. I used blues and greens as they are/were the original colours of the logo. I chose to make it look ‘under water’ to give the impression it’s mysterious. Let’s face it, the ocean is huge, and we’ve only explored less then 3% of it. Theres unknown territory, and thats where I want to take Sharksword Productions.

Aiming to redevelop this scene in Maya.

Bitz at Mudbash 2008 – “Unstoppable”

Boring clips turned into a fast-paced montage of the car ‘Bitz’ at the Rover’s Mudbash in 2008. Made to look like a fast-action paced adventure, all it is really is a black car revving past the camera. Does the epic music do the trick? You be the judge.

Despite what it says at the end, I was told that the turbo broke off the car as they were loading it on the trailer. 2009 bet Bitz.

Self Animated Portrait

Clearly not what I intended if you compare it to the Self Portrait Animatic down below. I had 1hr and 20mins of quiet in the house, and I used it to think, plan, film, and edit the clip that is now onlne. Inspired by inspirational videos…well..maybe you’ll be inspired how quick my mind can think sometimes.

Self Portrait Documents (so far)

SelfPortratiPack

Animated Title Sequence

The scrabble board: game of words, for all ages old and young. Best thing about it, theres heaps of letters that you can jumble around, meaning you’re set up for a title sequence. I want to reshoot this, as pointed by my teacher, that it’s relatively dark then at times it’s too bright (distracting), and that some of the letter transitions were a bit sluggish.

Character and Scene Design

A character and scene design for a project

Self Portrait Animatic

3D Trench