1920 Assignment Production
- Marie-Therese Philson
- May 19, 2021
- 5 min read
Updated: May 19, 2021
Production In our meetings and throughout the build-up of gathering references and information, we had given out the roles which we would all work on together and separately to create our final animation in unreal. We decided on the final output of a 3D animation with both designing Maya 3D models and animations, a set-up of the animation in Unreal Engine and for the main subject we were going to make the dresses which would be both showcased and animated in Marvellous Designer. These were going to be all the software’s we were to use to create our animation and the final brief of the animation which we agreed on was a beginning scene of a security guard walking through a dimly lit Ulster museum exhibition room, to then at the end of the room find the three main 1920’s dresses softly spotlighted.
This was going to be pushed into a zoomed shot into the three main dresses and from there began the animation sequence of taking the audience through a variety of rooms that you would find these dresses within, such as a bar, a dining hall, and a dance hall all partaking in a both relaxed atmosphere and also party scene.
(Ulster Museum-1920 Exhibition)
This image really stood out to me and was a reason for why I had chosen to work on the theme the 1920’s. Even though we are focusing on the fashion of the woman of the 1920’s and how they partied and went to grand events, it is always said that these women were able to go to parties and leave their houses without their husbands and live their lives as independent woman because of the historic evets that happened in the 1920’s. A import decade in the history for woman and all feminists alike.
Everyone was happy with what they had to work on and I had access to both Maya and Unreal Engine, however my home computer was not able to support the software Marvellous Designer and given these restrictions I was not able to partake in creating the 1920’s dresses. However was accepting in the roles of making 3D models in Maya for other scenes, animating actions in Maya and then setting up my own scene and the base of my work which was the museum scene, in Unreal Engine.
(Ulster Museum-1920 Exhibition)
I began my production by drawing up some 2D animations storyboards and concept art of how I was going to set up my museum scene and also to have an idea of what way I was going to create in Maya and how I was going to film the shots for my animation in Unreal Engine.
(Ulster Museum-1920 Exhibition)
The gathering of references was enjoyable for the 1920 group project, as it is a high history based subject and I was able to look over some different videos and images and gather some knowledge about the events which occurred during the 20’s. I needed to gather references for both my filming in the museum set up, the walking and dancing animations and then the miscellaneous 3D models I needed to create for both my museum scene and to be used in the rest of the group scenes as they wish.
Having these images of what the exhibit would look like when everything has been placed inside the show rooms and even how the light is directing the audience’s attention to important part of the exhibition, helped give me ideas when setting up my final rendering and lighting.
(Ana Owens)
Ana had provided me with her last semesters final video of her murder in a bathroom scene, as the narrative of her filming was a detective walking around a crime scene and focusing in on certain important areas of the room and taking photos. Ana was able to portray a first-person camera view of someone walking with the bobbling movements and then leaning into take a clearer view of the area which sparked their interest. This was what we wanted to also do for the museum filming, as we wanted to portray a first-person security guard walking round and nosing around the museum until they suspiciously spot the three dresses in the end.
This was really helpful to be able to use a reference, as I was able to understand what she was trying to explain and how it could potentially look.
(3D Maya Animation-Marie)
My two models above are rough video renders of the two actions which I needed to animate for the groups project so that they could be used as animated fillers for the background of everyone’s shot. It was a feminine walk and a minimal dance.
All of our characters were going to be woman so I was able to re-create the walk from my last semesters animation walk cycle and just use Emma’s rig that she had created instead, as for the dance animation I referenced the popular 1920 dance the ‘Charleston”. This was a common dance back in the 20’s, so was fitting to the scene of a bar filled with people dancing but the dance needed to be toned down, as there was too much movement and it could have distracted from the main point of the scene which was the dresses. So I needed to make both the arm and leg movements softer and create more of just a few shuffling people in the background, as to not distract from the main character of the scene.
(3D Maya Walk Cycle- Marie)
The feminine walk as I had already animated it before, so was familiar and believed I had done a good job and was more confident in animating the walk this time. However due the difference of rigs and me being unfamiliar with the different settings and rigs in Maya. The end result of the feminine walk had not worked out how it had before had and was presenting jumpier that I needed, with buckling hands and legs. This was also the case for my minimal dance which in the video I would need to be recreating a more toned-down version of the fast and bouncing ‘Charleston’.
(JazzMAD London- Charleston Dance)
This time I had spent gathering references and creating my own references for my roles within the group, meant that I had the ability to push on with my work, knowing what style and the look things needed to be created in. The work that I had then processed through and created was something that I had worked hard on and although happy with what I had done, I am improving within my animation with each project and I hope I have developed my skills and will continue to do so.
(Ulster Museum-1920 Exhibition)
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