Week 11 - Rescoping, AGAIN!
- Leighanne Fernandes
- Dec 11, 2020
- 7 min read
This week didn't start off on a good note for me and got me feeling a mix of emotions. I was struck by reality when we were asked about our progress in class. Everyone was nearly done and wrapping up their projects. I looked at my overall progress, and I wasn't even 50 percent there yet!
I had to make very difficult decisions this week. This sense of overwhelming pressure was translated to my team members and my advisor as well. They didn't know how to approach the situation and thought the information given to them was "too much to process".
In a way, it confirmed the fact that I'm actually dealing with too much for my own good. Just because I'm dealing with it well (or so I thought), doesn't justify the workload put on me for the term. This lead me to making a stance for myself.
What is the problem? How can I solve it?
ACT 1 - done, post production is pending
ACT 3 - 70 % done, worked on by collaborators so I need to make a few changes before finalizing
ACT 2 - might not be able to do it and want to take it out completely
Problem:
ACT 2 is significant to the story for the overall album but it is too time consuming for me to do alone at this stage
Some of ACT 2 shots require me to learn a new plugin for better simulation called TY flow. This is unrealistic to learn at this point because I won’t have time to get used to it. Doing it manually will bring down the overall quality of the project.
ACT 2 has other characters done by collaborators. These characters have technical problems with the file I’m using. Fixing these issues will take more time.
Solution:
To take out ACT 2 completely.
To spend the rest of my time finalizing ACT 3, rendering.
To take time perfecting post production on the already rendered shots.
If so, I can deliver with good quality by week 13/14.
What are the pros and cons to this decision?
Pros:
Will have more time to work on quality of the shots.
The way the shots are designed in all the acts, taking out ACT 2 won’t feel weird because the end of ACT 1 and beginning of ACT 3 can be cohesive through editing in POST.
The new meaning of the shorter version is actually more compelling towards the full project (more on this is explained below).
Cons:
ACT 2 which has the biggest “story” factor might disrupt the meaning of the whole project’s vision. This is because, the shots in ACT 2 are contrasted in the MV for Just a dream (the second MV done by the film department).
Will have to ask the Audio guy for a new shorter version of the song so that it can compensate for the absence of ACT 2 visuals. ACT 2 roughly takes up 45 to 50 seconds of the overall.
We won't be able to "see" Paradise anymore.
Is this the best decision? If so, why? Are there other ways to go about it?
To be very frank, I saw this coming way before time. Sometimes my anxiety actually preps me for things like this and allows me to come up with back up solutions if worse comes to worst. This was a plan I came up with in week 5/6 with Josh, our team lead. We both decided to keep this to ourselves just because it was too early in the trimester to make such a decision. He also thought it would be a bad idea to remove the whole of ACT 2. He was suggesting to remove just a few shots instead, but the issue with that is each shot is perfectly timed with the music. If I had to work with that choice, I would need to go back to the animatic phase to fix timings. This is more work on me.
Trying out methods to find solutions:
We even tried finding more people to help me out. We looked for people outside of SAE, fresh graduates, some of our seniors. But no one was available or able to help because they specialize in other fields than the one I was looking for.
Discussing with the team. What did they have to say?
Raihan, our audio artist of the album, was very overwhelmed by this decision. He said this came out of nowhere and was very upset but understanding of the situation. He suggested we have an urgent team meeting, which we did on Monday of this week.
After I voiced out my concerns and my biggest reason of wanting good quality as well as a reasonable amount of workload to graduate with, everyone felt very mixed about it. I even proposed a solution which required Raihan to make a shorter version of the song. However, Josh and Rai suggested that I work without ACT 2 just for the submission but then work on ACT 2 in my own time after I graduate. Although its not a bad idea, I wouldn't go back to a project after it is done. I will not be motivated, nor will I ever finish the project because of no time constraints. Moreover, my health has deteriorated so bad to the point where I need a proper break and therapy. I explained this to them.
They were very very upset at the fact that ACT 2 will have to go. They couldn't force me and valued my health more. At that point, I thought of the visual meaning of the story and it might actually be better to take out an act.
Visual Meaning
Below is a shorter version of Paradise that I cropped out from the shots and music from the final animatic of last term. The visual meaning still works because Paradise is a dream of one African American.
Being the intro to the album and the overall film, it could reflect his perspective of the BLM movement, which is evident in his relationship with the officer. Through acts 1 and 3, we see the relationship of the officer and Miles build nicely. There is no racism whatsoever. As he progresses into the OMELAS house and is boxed in a room full of media, it could be a reflection of what a single African American has to deal with in a vast community of Black people.
Just a dream, on the other hand, could be a reflection of the community of African Americans. We first saw the wish of every Black citizen with a supreme governmental force through a dream, and is now contrasted with the harsh reality of this same black person within a community. I think it makes perfect sense to work this way.
Hence, is this the best decision? I think so, yes. In theory it works. Through this rough draft, it works. The final CAN also work! Stay positive!
Project progress
With these things cleared and out of the way, the gantt chart looked somewhat like this.
The whole of ACT 2 being taken out meant that I only need to finish 9 more shots which are all w.i.p.s.
Here are the shots I worked on by myself with animations, modeling, texturing, lighting and scene placements.
Shot 26 - Twirl in front of OMELAS house
This shot was fun to animate because I filmed myself doing the action and studied it thoroughly to animate properly.
Renders
I got the approval on the look of the shot.
Animation preview
The feedback I received on this was actually good. The first half of the animation worked really well. I just need to change up the ending a bit. But this boosted my self esteem with animating.
Shot 27 - Opening door
I will admit that this shot was very rushed. I knew something felt off about this shot but I couldn't put my finger to it. When showing this shot to Rashed for feedback, I was told that the body turns the wrong way and the keyframes need to be adjusted. So I will be reworking on this.
I worked on the collaborators' shots, trying to fix things up. Here are some of the renders with new textures and lighting for SHOT 28 - Hanging Jacket.
Shot 28 - Hanging Jacket
This is an indoor shot done by Salma. I made a couple of changes to the lighting and textures as per my vision.
Renders
Animation Preview
This shot requires a lot more work! From the feedback session I had with Rashed during this week, I got a loot of critique on this. Instead of asking Shibani to fix these issues, I might as well do them on my own. The feedback received on this and the other shots have been documented on my notebook, which I will paste below.
Shot 29 - Sleeping
I had to redo the lighting on this shot for a lot of reasons. The textures were also redone a bit although most of what Salma worked on is evident in this shot. I'm considering her collaboration successful.
Renders
The last frame needs to match with the first frame of the match cut. Hence, with the animation preview I was able to test out whether the framing works well or not. for now, I just eyeballed the placement but I was really surprised that my judgement was quite close to perfect. See below for animation preview and match cut draft preview.
Animation Preview
This shot also requires A LOT of cleaning up. I have factored in some time to work on these fixes so hopefully it wont burden me too much.
Match Cut preview with animation
Feedback on these animations:
Back at it with the multiple plans (that might not work out, but hey, here's to planning):
And with that, another week is wrapped up. On another note, my special consideration for extension has been approved until the 9th of January. Hence, with the extra time, it has eased my mind a little more. Let me see how the next and final week of the trimester goes.
I will probably be documenting in my journals even after the term due to my extension.
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