'Gopher Golf' Publicity

Here's the official DVD cover, poster and still image for my film, 'Gopher Golf'.

DD3992: Looking Back on my Final Film

Yesterday, after several months of hard work, I finally completed all work on my film 'Gopher Golf', along with my latest show-reel, CV, action plan, poster and official still shot for the film.

There's no doubt that my final film is a lot different from how I first imagined it would look. Over the course of the last eight months, the narrative of the film has become a lot stronger. I am strongly against being able to predict how films will end, so I was pleased with my audience feedback because a mystery had been set up in the film - "we know the Gopher's going to get his revenge, but how?", as one comment from the feedback asks. The film is stronger as a comedy as well, and the final version generated more laughs than the original pitch for the film back in September.

I'm also pleased that the film's visual style is a lot stronger than in many of my earlier works. A lot more time and effort went into trying to make the film look better - I'm still happy today with the narrative and animation in my second year film, although time constraints and various issues meant I couldn't put as much effort into the sets and pre-production as I would've liked.

However, I've felt unsure many times whether the narrative and visual style would work together or not. The narrative has become a lot more focused on surreal comedy and slapstick, much like classic Disney or Looney Tunes cartoons from the "Golden Age of American Animation". Therefore, I've wondered many times if the film would work better if it was entirely 2D, not a mixed media - 2D, or traditional animation, is a lot more suited to surreal humour than either stop-motion or CGI, in my opinion. I only started to feel more comfortable about the film being a mixed media after the positive feedback it received. I have learnt a lot about different directors who have their own styles, so I became quite relaxed after feeling like I have achieved my own look. After seeing the final film all together, I feel very pleased with the end result.

DD3992: Music, Sounds and Voices

Unusually for an animated film, the voices for 'Gopher Golf' were one of the last parts of the production to be completed. The two main characters, Golfer and Gopher, were voiced by husband and wife Rob Kennedy-Parr and Sarah Ann Kennedy-Parr respectively, who have had plenty of experience in voice acting with roles in shows such as 'Peppa Pig' and 'Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom'.

Right from the beginning, I didn't want the final film to have dialogue in it. I imagined the Golfer and Gopher would make noises to show their emotions rather than use words - similar to how the Farmer and his animals communicate on 'Shaun the Sheep'. By doing this, I can focus a lot more on the slapstick and visual humour. Therefore, Rob and Sarah watched the film on a TV monitor in the sound booth, simply running their own commentary over the finished picture. Every once in a while, the Golfer makes noises which sound like English words such as "yes" and "no", but it felt natural for a human character to make such noises and it made him more relatable. Also, the words "yes" and "no" are now understood in almost every major world language due to the impact of the media - even in languages where the words for "yes" and "no" are different.

The sounds were all royalty free, available from a large library of sounds so I had no difficulty choosing the right sounds. However, when I test screened the film with sound, some of the sounds were too loud compared to the voices and music tracks, which were at the right level. The sounds will be increased when played back on a larger screen at the degree show, so some time had to be spent adjusting the sound levels.

The music is also royalty free, composed by Kevin MacLeod. He had composed his own take on the famous tune, "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (German for "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"), which is the track I used instead of the more famous version heard in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey". I also used his music piece called "Scheming Weasel" - I was reluctant to use it at first because it has been featured in countless YouTube videos, but then I remembered "Also Sprach Zarathustra" was even more well known so that argument was invalid! "Scheming Weasel" also captures the style of comedy I'm looking for and matches the visuals very well, so I'm pleased with the end result.

AX3003: Editing a Showreel

 Recently I put together a showreel, with the aim of demonstrating my best animation work in the space of one minute. I knew in advance which clips I wanted to see in the showreel - especially my most recent work which, in my opinion, is far superior to what I was capable of a few years ago. The showreel includes footage from my graduation film 'Gopher Golf', my first and second year films 'Catch of the Day' and 'Cheese Please', additional university and personal projects such as 'Quench' and 'The Time I Like Best', my A2 media studies piece 'Intoxicated' and the short film I directed on work experience in China, 'Travelling by Food'. I especially felt it was important to include the latter on my showreel, as it was the first time I had directed a team of animators on a project.

A clip I animated for 'Travelling by Food', showing the words "let's go!", opens the showreel. I did this to hopefully gain the viewer's interest straight away. Clips from 'Gopher Golf' immediately follow this and also close the showreel, because I feel that this film specifically shows my best work.

Choosing a suitable piece of music was slightly more difficult, because it had to match the energetic tone I wanted to give my showreel. It also had to be close to one minute in duration. I was unable to find a composer, so I managed to find a royalty free piece of music online which, in my opinion, suits the fast-paced, energetic, exciting feel I wanted to give my showreel. I particularly enjoyed editing clips in time with the music, such as the final clip, which helped decide which clips should be placed where. The clips all blend in, such as water in 'Gopher Golf' fading into water in 'Catch of the Day' and, as a result, I feel the showreel has a better narrative and almost feels like a short film in itself.

Gopher Golf: Feedback from Second Viewing

Today I showed my film to an audience for the second time, with some people who had seen the first version and some who hadn't. The film was edited together in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, my preferred editing software. It was the first time I was able to render the film in a H.264 format in 1080p HD.

The response to the film was a lot more positive than the first viewing. The comedy and timing worked a lot better and the audience laughed to most of the jokes, particularly the ending. There was a feeling that the film would work with noises coming from the Golfer and Gopher, such as annoyed grunts or chuckling noises, which I have always intended to include in the film.

The compositing also needed sorting out in some places. Notably, in this scene, when trying to use matte choker to erase the outline on the Golfer in After Effects, the golf club disappeared with it. I had to add the golf club again digitally and improve the lighting.

Before

After

There was also a scene showing the Golfer receiving the money during the end game, where it was unclear whether it was a dream or not. Therefore I added a white outline to make it more obvious it was a dream, matching the scene at the beginning where he dreams of the same thing.

The feeling from my audience was that the film will work a lot better with sound, but the narrative was highly praised and the film worked very well.

DD3992: Making a Splash

During a sequence in 'Gopher Golf' when the Golfer is practicing golf in his garden, the golf ball lands into a pond in a shot which only lasts for three seconds. However, creating the water for this one shot needed careful thought, as water is often hard to make realistic in 2D or stop-motion animation.

Scaling the fence to a realistic height, based on the feedback from the test screening of my film.

The entire shot was animated in Adobe After Effects, using motion blur to make the movement of the ball look effective. For the water, I actually reused a clip from one of my earlier films, 'Catch of the Day', where I had created water in stop-motion quite effectively. The water is made from different sizes of see-through clingfilm over sheets of blue tissue paper. In 'Catch of the Day', the clingfilm was animated at different speeds depending on how quickly the water was supposed to be flowing. For instance, some parts were double-framed (animated at 12 frames a second) when the mood was meant to be tranquil, then animated at 25 frames when a man is later seen being carried down the river.

I think the result of this shot in 'Gopher Golf' works particularly well and blends in with the film's style, created using mixed media. Like the explosion and smoke effects I demonstrated in an earlier post, the splash generated by the golf ball was a CG effect free for use.

My first year film, 'Catch of the Day', can be viewed online. Two years later, I'm still pleased with the water effects I created, although I feel my animation skills have greatly improved since then!


Catch of the Day - Uni Short Project from Christopher Blower on Vimeo.

DD3992: Test Screening and Feedback

Recently I completed the first draft of my film 'Gopher Golf', without sound. I aim to have the first version with sound complete in one week's time but, for now, I was keen to test the film itself and find out if the animation and narrative both worked.

When I first showed the film to an audience, notable points from my feedback included:

• The Golfer wanting to buy a mansion needs to be set up at the beginning.
• Some timings need to be worked on.
• The golf post and the fences need re-scaling.
• The aspect ratio needed correcting.*
• The comedy was strong and the audience laughed at most of the jokes.
• The green screen and mix of 2D and stop-motion was very well received.

*Due to a computer problem I was not able to access Adobe Premiere Pro (my preferred editing software) whilst editing the first draft. I had to use an alternative which meant the aspect ratio was affected, but the feedback for the first draft was mostly positive regardless.

AX3003: Notes from the Creative Festival

These notes were taken from lectures given at the Creative Festival, where the following animation professionals were talking:

• Tristan Oliver (Wallace & Gromit, ParaNorman, Fantastic Mr Fox)
• Simon Partington (Old Jack's Boat, Slumberless)
• Jean Flynn (Cosgrove Hall)