The Sketchbook Page seen below showcases the original notes and mind maps expanding on the narrative which will be in the final animated segment which will be produced in the next two weeks;

Further Sketchbook Pages below showcase two possible narratives that were considered for the animation with the ‘Hyter Sprite Transformation’ idea being the final one chosen. Storyboards were produced to showcase what bot ideas could’ve looked like if further expanded upon;

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The sketchbook page that can be seen below further expands on how the Fairy Transformation will look like with added notes dictating which animation techniques will be used on the fairy herself. Facial Expression storyboard depicts the prominent animation which will be prevalent on the fairy when she appears. Apart from her facial expressions that rest of the fairies body won’t move or at least this is what is planned at the moment;

The photo and screenshot that can be seen below showcase the critiques I made to Manon (Fellow Colleague) in relation to her current work development as well as comments from her relating to what I need to consider for the animation I’ll produce;

As is written in both the sketchbook pages above the animation project changed from the ‘Fairy Transformation’ back to the ‘Fairy Ring’ idea after gaining new enthusiasm for the idea which will incorporate unused VR photos that were taken earlier in the year.

The idea of the short film being the viewer will be in the centre of the ring seeing the fairies appear alongside the mushrooms before the said fairies disappear with only the mushrooms remaining. This came as quite a nice revelation considering I unsure on how the idea could be realised.

VR Footage was considered but i felt it was better using Photos as it’ll save space on the final film itself, focus on the animations of the fairies and the mushrooms themselves. I also at the time i written this down could’nt access the said footage for some unknown reason so the decision was made to use the photos which were accessible rather than spend time trying to recover the footage.

Three of the Insta360 Photos (taken originally for the ‘Graphic Design for the Web’ module) that were considered (one of them being chosen for the final film) can be seen below;

The 10 second YouTube clip embedded below showcases my attempt at the ‘Electric Ball VFX’ tutorial on YouTube which was considered for the transition effect for the mushrooms to appear. Despite creating this effect it became clear at the end that there was no way for the background to be transparent thus another tutorial called ‘Glowing Orb’ was used instead. Despite this I felt it was worth linking it to this post to show the experimentation I performed for this project:

Two screenshots below highlight key comments from the ‘Electric Ball VFX’ tutorial that answered questions to issues that I came across while watching the video. The ‘evolution’ issue was sorted but the transparent wasn’t thus why this VFX piece was not considered for the final VR film;

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The first experiment I performed with the ‘Lighting Effect’ (Mock Fairy) laid over the Insta360 Photo (IMG_20200227_171040_00_028.insp) can be seen below. I thought it looked really effective the risk of combining elements that could or could not have worked. As can be seen the second video produced on 15/10/20 it was a matter of making the animations small enough so the viewer can see them as well as the animations not disappearing off out of site, creating disorientation to the viewer in question;

The four embedded videos that can be seen below depict the individual animations produced on After Effects using tutorials which are Harvard Referenced in the ‘Research Word Document’ which will be be linked at the end of this blog post. The After Effects Animations are then placed within Premiere Pro as seen in the experimental videos above this paragraph;

On Friday 16th October 2020, i experimented on After Effects and Illustrator to produce a Mushroom animation which will be needed for the middle and ending parts of the VR film that’ll be produced for Project 2. The two PNG’s below showcase the early experimentation on Illustrator using the the ‘Watercolour brush tool and Wacom pen tool’ opposite the traditional ‘curvature tool’ technique. Research that informed the Illustrator experiments are Harvard Referenced in the Research Word Document which will be linked at the end of the this blog. After experimentation was done it became clear that the ‘Curvature’ Tool’ is not only quicker to produce an effective mushroom illustration but is also appropriate considering the short period that is given for this project:

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Two PNG Files that were used for the animation experiment performed on the 16/10/20 can be seen below. The animation technique I applied on the mushrooms as they fade in and out is the same one used for the ‘Great Stukely Logo’ in Project 1 called ‘Text Animation-Writing Text Effects- No Plugins’ which felt looked really affective and will look great in the final VR Film;

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The embedded Unlisted YouTube link can be seen below showcasing the finished Mushroom Animation with added distortion effects and a Glowing Orb Transition feature;

The experimental distortion effects i applied to the mushroom that appears in the middle section of the video above comprise of ‘Stroke’, ‘Bulge’, ‘Spherize’ and ‘Ripple’. I might apply these four effects during the transition phase when the mushroom is materialising into existence. Three Mushroom Animations will be produced surrounding the viewer of the VR film (create three different mushrooms?).

After some thought i will start the film with the VR photo being in monochrome initially till it changes to vibrant colours at the end emphasising the magical supernatural occurrence that is happening in the scene. I might include stock sounds of animals in the film if need be. Four to Five Mock Fairies will be created and multiplied within the film itself. Animations will be produced on After Effects first (Mushroom and Fairies) then applied within a Premiere Pro Program where the final VR Film will be rendered.

The seven second Unlisted YouTube link below showcases the 360 photo transition from Monochrome to vibrant colour which I referred to earlier in this blog. The use of tweaking the Opacity feature was used prominently for this sequence;

(17/10/20) The embedded clip below showcases the early development of how the final VR Animation will be structured. The ‘Bensound’ Royalty Free Music ‘Piano Moment’ felt more appropriate and whimsical compared to the other royalty free music I chosen which comprised of ‘November’ and ‘Relaxing’. The VR Transition I’ll use for the final film which can be seen below will be ‘VR Spherical Blur’ rather than ‘VR Chroma Leaks’ presented at the end of the mock film below;

Two JPEG’s that can be seen below depict the two final Mushrooms/Fungi that will appear in the final VR animation for Project 2 with added colour combinations that were used for the individual designs;

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The first 18 seconds showcase the Mushroom transformation scene that will appear in the final VR animated film. This is the second mushroom animation that I produced for the animated VR film ‘The Fairy Ring’. I felt it was appropriate to call the film @The Fairy Ring’ as links to the original English/Cornish Folklore that researched during Week 3;

The embedded Unlisted YouTube video below showcases the final opening title sequence to the VR Film which incorporates the techniques used for the mushroom animations. I thought it looked very nice after the brief period of experimentation thus why the clip below will be present in the final film. The font used for the opening title is ‘Viner Hand ITC’;

The embedded Unlisted YouTube Videos that can be seen below showcase the various final ‘Fairy Animations’ which will be incorporated into the final VR animated film. These animations were produced on Sunday 18th October 2020 using the YouTube link Harvard Refenced below this sentence. Experimentation performed using ‘Turbulent Disturbance’, ‘Wave Warp’, ‘Ripple’ and tweaks to the ‘Glow’ ratios achieve the final results present in this blog;

EQUILOUD, 2015. Light Strokes Effect with built in Plugins // After Effects Tutorial // HD. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prbCwL6V5qA&gt; [Accessed 16 October 2020].

(19/10/20) The two embedded Unlisted YouTube clips seen below showcase the updated ‘The Fairy Ring’ title sequence and ‘A CALLUM FORSTER FILM’ with the added glow effect to link to them of glowing fairies and magic that is present within the two minute VR Animation. Thought it would be cool to create my own opening title animations which feel turned rather nicely after a bit of experimentation using the ‘Distort’ features on the ‘Effects’ section;

(20/10/20) First Edit of the VR Animation ‘The Fairy Ring’;

The Embedded YouTube link below showcases the final edit of the Short VR Animation ‘The Fairy Ring’ completed before the final session dedicated to group critique on individual Project 2 development so far. The cog symbol on the bottom left of the video has to be selected with the ‘720’ option selected so the quality of the video is lowered to a blur (20/10/20):

(21/10/20) After receiving feedback from Tina during a Microsoft teams Meeting the selected tasks set out for me to complete before the 22/10/20 deadline is as follows;

Incorporate actual photos of mushrooms rather than Illustrator images (looks more effective and magical. Images will be found on the internet and Harvard Referenced in the Research Word Document at the end of this blog.

Make it clearer the fairies are creating the mushrooms. I will tweak the animations so a select few circle around the mushroom transformation until the mushroom is fully formed.

Tweak the opacity of the Fairy animations to make them look more ethereal or increase the colour adjustments of the VR Photo chosen for this project. I will attempt to tweak both these areas.

Four Images that were found on the internet that appear in the VR Animation ‘The Fairy Ring’ can be seen below alongside separate image files that were produced for the four after effects animations for the final animation;

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The Unlisted YouTube links seen below showcases the Mushroom animations using photos from the internet;

The final edit of the VR Animation ‘The Fairy Ring’ with added tweaks as suggested by Tina (Main Tutor) can be seen linked below;

The final thoughts that I have as a whole after completing this particular project is mostly positive considering the last minute change of concept from drawing a actual fairy to creating ‘The Fairy Ring’ narrative depicted in the abstract two minute VR Animation that I eventually produced.

The animations of the glowing fairies and the fade in/out transition effects on the mushrooms I thought looked very effective and high quality despite the large amount of time put into experimentation to achieve these particular effects as documented through screenshots and unlisted YouTube Videos throughout this blog.

The only negatives that occurred during the development of this film is how much time was dedicated to some sections of the film more than others (Focused more on Animations rather than standing back and see how the animations compliment the narrative I want to tell in the film) alongside trying to create to many assets within a short period of time which i only just managed to complete a day before the submission of this pilot project.

Improvements and factors that I’ll consider from this project is to be more productive during the first week rather than the second week as I wasn’t very productive in producing work during the first week of this project than I was in the second week. This would allow me to stand back and see how all the components work together and compliment the story as well as spend time on how to create a more polished VR Animation presentation which I felt I didn’t achieve for this particular pilot project.

The link to the ‘Research for Project 2: Harvard References’ Word Document can be seen below;