The End

The creation of Once Upon a Time in Leningrad has been a rewarding experience. Not only has it allowed me to create a short animated film based upon my own ideas, but has allowed me to develop my skills further. I think that my progress through this year has been noticeable, and without the new knowledge I have gained, I would never have been able to complete the film. I feel that the third year has perhaps been the most rewarding out of my three years of University, as it has pushed everything that I already knew to a great deal, and forced me to adapt and learn new things as I went through production. As well as learning whole new areas of production from scratch (such as character rigging, and compositing), I feel that my skills have been mostly improved within three key areas.

Character Modelling

At the start of the year I had only limited experience of character modelling. I had not fully token the concept of typology on board, and was modelling characters as if they were to be statues in an animated piece, and not working rigs. After having to rig my own character, I now see how important typology is to character modelling. If you compare the model of the the character of the Old Man, I feel I can see that progress has been made. The below images show two versions of the character, the first created in my second year, and the second created during production this year. I think that the second model is clearly more appropriate to become a working character rig, and shows an improvement of my modelling skills.

Old Man character created within my second year

Old Man character created within my third year

Animation

Previous to this production, I had only had a limit exposure to animation within Maya. Creating the 3D animatic had given me an idea of how animation works within Maya, but it was within production that I pushed this knowledge further. As the majority of animation I had previously created had been within 2D programs, I created each shot within Maya as if it was a 2D drawing. I was considerate of trying to apply the twelve principles as I worked too. Animation os not one of my greatest skills, but I think that I have been able to adapt the skills I had to suit the piece.

Direction

Although I had directed a small group of people within my first year, this was my first experience of directing on a larger project, and especially one of this complexity. Although I have maintained throughout my time at University that I wished to act as a director, this production was the first where I felt that I really had to push myself within this role. Not only did I have to manage the work of others, but try to keep a control of my own creative vision, and adapt to any problems that myself or others were having. By being the director of this film I was able to see that the role of director not only means maintaining control of your own work load, but also taking on board and understanding the abilities and work load of others. Although the film has been challenging, being it's director has been extremely satisfying. I understand I have a lot more to learn, but I think that this production has given me a greater idea of what it means to be a director on a short film. The final reward of seeing my story created into an animated short has been extremely satisfying, and although the film is not perfect, I am happy that it has been able to stay true to my original intent as director.

Once Upon a Time in Leningrad - The Finished Film

The below images contain stills from my finished film. When compared to my storyboards and animatics, I think that I have been able to reflect my original intentions for the film very well, with little to no compromises. I am especially pleased with how the two lead characters appear on screen, as they are able to portray perfectly how I originally envisioned them. I wanted my CG film to resemble that of a stop motion film, and I think that this has been achieved. Each asset within the film looks like it is a solid object, and is indeed very tactile. I'm pleased that during production I have had to make little to no compromises, and my film maintains the same story, characters, and atmosphere as I originally planned. If there was anything that I could change in the film and production, it would have been more time devoted to lighting. Although I think that the lighting is workable within the film, and by no means spoils the piece, it is a little inconsistent, and could definitely be refined. Overall, I am happy with my film. It is great to see the final thing, and I am proud of what myself and my whole team have achieved. We have all worked hard to achieve a piece that we can by pleased with, and hopefully reflect the dedication we have put into the project throughout it's production.

Music

As with my animatic, the music I will use within Once upon a Time in Leningrad will consist of music by the Russian composer Pytor Ilich Tchaikovsky. I chose to use music by Tchaikovsky for a number of reasons. I have always been drawn to both animation and live action films that incorporate classical music into their scores in interesting and dynamic ways. I think that these pieces of music can be seen within a new light when applied to something that is unexpected, and brings a further appreciation to them, as well as supporting the visuals on display. Stanley Kubrick often incorporated classical music into his film scores, and as he is one of my favourite directors, I draw inspiration from him. Walt Disney's Fantasia is a prime example for the blending of classical music and animation, and reimagines some of the most famous pieces of classical music in interesting, if not always totally successful ways. Both Kubrick and Fantasia have led to my use of classical music here. Fantasia particularly uses little to no foley sound effects, and instead focusses purely upon the music used. This is another element I shall be replicating, with no foley sounds used at all within my film. 

Perhaps most importantly, I am an admirer of Tchaikovsky's music, and wanted to use it within my film. As the film is set in 1920s Russia, I felt that his music would fit perfectly. I will be using music from The Nutcracker, one of Tchaikovsky's most famous ballets. By taking this music and adding it to a different setting, I hope to invoke a similar response to other films that have successfully achieved this.

The copies of Tchaikovsky's music that I have used in my film were taken from musopen.org; a royalty free classical music archive.

Examples of Classical Music in Film

"2001: A Space Odyssey" - Stanley Kubrick

"Fantasia" - Multiple Directors

Rendering and Editing

All elements of animation have now been completed within the film, so the next step is to render the film. We are using the artificial sun and sky option within Maya to light the film, as this gives us the sense of sunlight that we want for our outside set piece.

We will be rendering two passes of our film; one colour and one using ambient occlusion. On it's own, the colour render does not give the full range of colour depth or shadow that I desire for the film, but by combing the two during editing, this desired effect will be achieved.

As my film has over 8,000 frames, rendering will be a sizeable task. As we are rendering out two copies of each frame (one colour, one ambient) the 8,000 frames now doubles to 16,000.

Undertaking Rendering 

Rendering took place over a period of two weeks, utilising over 15 different computers, which were all working continuously over this period. Stringent file management had to be taken during this period. Each of the eight sequences in the film was rendered together, and stored together within it's own file. Each shot would then be broken down into a sub file, containing the colour passes and the ambient passes. After a shot was completely rendered it would then be signed off, allowing me to make sure a shot wasn't rendered twice accidentally, something which could waste time.

Colour pass

Ambient occlusion pass

Editing

The film was edited in Adobe Aftereffects. As I have used this progrem a number of times in the past, I felt that my familiarity of it would help spped up the editing process. As I wanted to place a lot of colour correction upon my film, I knew that Aftereffects would allow me to do this. Some of my shots ended up rendering either too bright or too dark, so aftereffects allowed me to change this too. 

It was also within Aftereffects that I was able to merge my colour and ambient occlusion layers together. The effect that this process gives is impressive, and really adds another dimension and sense of depth to the film. 

Shot without ambient occlusion...

...And shot with it included.

The editing process is one I enjoy, as it allows me to finally bring together everything that has been created so far, and meld these elements together into my final finished film. 

Animation

The animation within Once Upon a Time in Leningrad will be undertaken mostly by myself; with James Ensor, and Peter taking over on some of the shots. Out of the 100 plus shots within the film, about 15 will be animated by James and Peter, and the rest by myself. 

I have broken the film up into 8 sequences. Each of these 8 sequences contain a number of shots, and are broken up by what I see as convenient points within the narrative. Each section will be a new scene within Maya, and I will animate each sequence all the way through, with only a few shots being animated separately when it doesn't make sense to include it within the same scene. For example, sequence 3 contains shots 17 to 33, and the majority of these shots will exist within the same Maya scene. However, within this sequence, shot 31 is animated separately, as it contains an abstract view of the Orphan character's imagination, and wouldn't make sense to be animated within this section. 

The animation process has been the most time consuming part of the creation of the film, but is also arguably the most important. Without the animation, I would have no film, so a lot of care has gone into it. I admit that the animation process itself is not one of key strengths, however I have been able to work with the skills I have learnt through my time at university, and create pieces of animation that I am very happy about. 

The Old Man - Walk Cycle 

The Old Man maintains the same walk throughout the whole film, without missing a beat, except when disturbed by the orphan towards the end of the piece. This is a key part of the Old Man's personality; showing he is a sturdy force of nature, who is hard to sway from his desired path. As the walk would remain constant throughout the whole film, I animated it separately, then imported it into the shots it was required. I did this as a way to save time within the animation process, meaning that I did not have to redo the same piece of animation over and over again.

The Crack in the Ice

During the middle, action heavy, section of the film, The Orphan lands onto a frozen fountain, causing a crack in the ice. This crack was created by Thaxnay Kapdee, and similar to the Old Man's walk cycle, was created outside of it's desired sequence. I was then able to import it into it's correct scene, and animate it as desired. The ice within the fountain was circular, but the crack could only be made on a rectangle plain. This at first caused a logistical problem, but I was able to overcome this through the camera work used within the scene, never allowing the rectangle shape to appear within the frame. 

Examples of Character Animation

Rather then putting every shot that I have animated within this blog, I have included just a few examples above. As I have animated all but about 15 of the 100 plus shots within the film, it would be more practical to see the extent of my animation work within the context of the finished film. The examples I have included show a different range of the animation I undertook within the creation of the film, including both character and vehicle animation. All the examples shown are taken from Playblasts within Maya, and do not reflect the overall finish of what the completed film will resemble.

The animation process has brought up new challenges that I have had to face, and is certainly the most animation I have ever had to undertake. I feel that I have been to meet this challenge, and create pieces of animation to be proud of. 

Textured Assets

As with the environment, Chelsea and Peter worked together to create the textures applied to the assets in the film. These include the vehicles, the loaf of bread, and perhaps most importantly, the gold coins. Again, each asset has been created to maintain the same style of the rest of the piece, and in that respect, I think they all succeed. I am very happy with how they have turned out, and although I did not create the models or textures myself, as director I was able to oversee their development.

 The Cars

The Trams

The Trucks

The Loaf of Bread

The Gold Coins

Textured Environment

Working together, Peter and Chelsea have been able to texture the complex environmental model for the film. As with the characters, the textures of the environment compliment the modelling skills, and really bring them to life. The colour scheme is based upon my own concept work, the work of others, and real life examples of the streets of 1920s Leningrad. The layout carries over the same aesthetic choice as the characters; turning a CGI world into a stop-motion inspired environment.

The snow, and ice on the fountain, has it's own unique shader created for it by Mikey McFadyen. Both the ice and the snow were created to keep to the aesthetic choices of the rest of the environment, and deliberately aims for a stylised, non-photo realistic feel.

Textured Character Models

Now that the characters have been completely modelled and rigged, the next stage for them was texturing. Chelsea, working from colour schemes I created within the pre-production stage, has created the textures for the two characters, as seen below. I think that the textured versions of the characters have turned out very well, and reflect the aesthetic I envisioned for them. The textures complement the models and turn them into the fully fledged characters I always hoped for them.

The Old Man

The Orphan

The characters have certainly been created in a deliberately stylistic way, as I wanted to avoid any sort of photo realism. I always saw the characters as perhaps resembling that of a stop-motion animated characters, with aspects of the characters appearing to be hand crafted solid objects; such as the Old Man's beard. The textures have added to this, creating what I see as a whole, complete character.