Marketing: How others done it!

I have looked into how other Animators/Creatives have marketed there project. I have focused mainly around Student work and films that have been a success not just in the final film but the way its been advertised and marketed through websites and social networks.


Mac N Cheese
Facebook Page - http://www.facebook.com/MacNCheeseShort - Here is an example of MacNCheese using facebook as a hub to all other external links and events. This is a great way for use as fast and easy to get that started.

Vimeo - http://vimeo.com/27127177 - Again we plan to try do this once we have a good amount of videos that we can showcase

HaFF - http://www.haff.nl/nl/programma/competities-haff-2012/selectie-europese-studentenfilms/ - on the facebook page you can see all the different competitions that the group has entered into. This Haff students film competition is just one of 5 examples. This is what I mean by a hub where to branch off of as you can get people who have liked the page voting and viewing all your links and videos!


Meet Buck - http://salesmanbuck.com/- Meet Buck Animation also usese vimeo, youtube and facebook as well as a site that contains two of their films! This can be an idea for future films that we realise, putting alongside other films that already have followers.

Okapodi - http://www.oktapodi.com/ - This is a great reference for us, as we plan to design our own website and we think this is a lovely simple layout we can use showcase out work.

Polished Off - http://www.polishedoff.blogspot.com/ - This is a great example of Ravensbournes work! really well made film. The use of blogspot is a really easy and quick way to get work out there. Also you can show updates as you go along which sometimes attraches more and more people. For example the hobbit film production has been sending out updates on how the film is going and key things they are developing which creates a buzz around the film before its even released. (http://www.facebook.com/TheHobbitMovie)


Other films we have referenced for our film are more relative to the story and idea as its films like Shaun of the Dead or The Walking dead. But we have already we don't to make it have load of blood and gore as we want it to be appealing and able to be watched by the younger audiences.

These films to me represent how to get a film out there using social networks, video streaming sites to their advantage and using their 3D renders and abilities to improve on these things!

I have been looking at 3D world magazine and I think thats a very good way for us and myself individually to use. As 3D world magazine has a very big reader base and always showcases good student work whether it be group or individual. See below for a selection of examples:

http://www.3dworldmag.com/2012/02/23/short-cuts-swing-of-change/ is a link to an example of a project from a group of students being showcased! This is a great way to get noticed.

http://www.3dworldmag.com/category/showcase/shorts/ - again this link shows a selection of different animation shorts showcased on the website and in the magazine.

Some images below of the website:

Planing my time

I have been using iCalendar to plan help organise the group and organise the deadlines needed to keep the project working at a good pace and to make sure everyone can keep working as we rely on referencing and some jobs need others to complete their work before the other to get started.

We have been having weekly skype calls and a weekly meet up where we will discuss what work we have completed or whether things need changing by someone else in the group. The image below shows some of the key dates for our prodcuction. The dates in blue are also meeting dates as its a day where certain things need to be completed and thats when we either skype or meet up to go over the completed work.

We have used the social media website to help aid the google calendar as we can post images or videos to everyone working on the film who can look at them on a wide range of devices. This gives great advantage when receiving or giving feedback.

We have also used it to update each other on what we are working on and what changes we might of made to a referenced scene keeping the group in the loop on whats going on else where on the production. The image to the left shows a discussion (most comments hidden) that was had about the lighting development I was doing on one of the shots, this was a great way to see and make sure the lighting was going in the right direction, also giving the chance for everyones input.

Also we have been using Google Calendar and Face to set up dates for meetings and note taking for update models or shots. See the images below, they show discussions on reworks and plans for group meetings:

The first three images show us planning our week and what work is needed to be completed and also meeting we had with our sound engineer and an example (last image) shows quick message for our weeklies meeting.

The last image shows my updates to both the characters for the blendshapes and the model.

Designing our Website

HERE IT IS!  Now this is something that I think has really given the film a great boost. Not just because it gets some people interested but for the group we can all see that we are progressing and things seem to be working well! 

Above shows the front page, that contains links to all the other pages on the website. As you can see we have tried to show emotion in the characters and set the mood for the film! In the bottom left you can see our customised Facebook link which takes you to the Facebook page we have created! 

The About us page shows images of us but when you click on our faces you don't just see a zombie picture of us but a brief bio about the individual as well as the links to their work outside of the website. My page is found below and it links to my blog site that shows my showreel and latest work.

We wanted to show some of the Renders or drawings that have been created during the production of the film. The images are all downloadable and it shows how the film is developing and how we plan to make it look!

Below is an image of the enlarged poster design found on the Gallery page. As for posters we plan to make a selection of different sizes and designs.

For the website creation. I worked as render and worked on all of the 3D side of things for the renders found on the site. I worked with Joe and the rest of the group to render images suitable for the site. Greg then took all images I rendered and the layout Joe created in photoshop and applied them onto a flash document.

Using The Renderfarm

During this project I don't plan to use the Renderfarm how ever last year I rendered out one of  my turntables (see image below). The reason I don't plan to use the render farm at Ravensbourne is that I'm lucky enough to have access to Framestores render farm (unable to show images of their Renderfarm sever). I plan to use this instead as I have used it many times when working in the film department and its very easy and user friendly to set up when it comes to render layers and render passes in EXR format, I have tried to do this at ravensbourne and it was unable to render them out correctly or the render would fail.

Here are some of the notes found about the renderfarm:


- All project and texture files, reference files and of course scene files relating to your project should be in a single folder or sub folders thereof. This folder must be copied in its entirety to the \\vanguard\repository share.

All texture locations in your project must reference your project folder. So you must change all of these appropriately when you copy it to the \\vanguard\repository share.
Use Render Layers. By using Render Layers you can avoid making any individual frame too complex. This will minimise the potential impact of issues to a single layer as you are not putting all your eggs in one basket. And renders will be much quicker overall. 

Texture tips: 

Size. All texture sizes should be a power of two in each dimension e.g 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096 etc. 

Purpose. If you work for a special effects house huge textures 16384x16384 may be appropriate. However, textures of 512x512 or less are sufficient for most of the projects you are working on. 
Square textures. Usually, it is best to use textures that are square because Maya can use these more efficiently. However, it may be appropriate to use a non square texture if it suits the object being textured.

File Format. The tiff format is recommended because it is more detailed and is uncompressed, so suited towards processor intensive applications such as rendering. Avoid large jpeg’s altogether.

Optimise your Maya scene. This process will optimise the scene of all unassigned shader nodes. This is found on Maya’s menu under File>Optimise Scene Size.

Perform a render diagnostic to identify any problems that there may be with your scene. This can be started from the Render View window by selecting File>Render Diagnostics from the menu. Once this has completed the results will be displayed in the Maya Script Editor. Using this information you can fix problems that may prevent your scene from rendering or at least from doing so inefficiently.

Referencing

Throughout my second year at uni, myself and a few members of the group started using the referencing in Maya. We have slowly worked out a pipeline (shown in the image above) to use the referencing effective in a production pipeline.  We use render scene as a tester scene, this can be used whenever as it is all set up for a quick render to show what models, animations or effects look like under lights and with a simple render setup. This is great for models as the scene as a built in turntable scene also, with 3 lighting variations. (ALL renders used to create the posters, website and facebook page used this render Scene referencing all the rig and shaders needed to create the images).

We have a very rehearsed naming convention so we know that things will keep the reference working as if the names change then the reference file wont work and things such as the rig will break and start a chain reaction

The most recent development is using nuke and the ability to use the naming conventions when rendering started making it work across softwares as Nuke works with naming conventions with files so if the render scene keep the same file type and render settings all the adjustments we make in nuke will be carried across.

Below is a collection of images showing the use of Dropbox to organise our project using different folders for different stages of production. Using name conventions has also given a great way to link scenes through multiple software.

The next two images show the use of our referencing system in action. The first image is of the reference editor in maya, in this scene its referencing the ANIM scene for Shot0014 which in that file it contains references for the RIG/Character and finally the environment. As this is the Lighting scene I have referenced in the Intern Shaders which are now attached in the animated character.

Targets & Group Roles

Group Members & Roles:

Oliver Kane - Character Modeller & Texturing. Rendering and Compositor.

Nick Georgeou - Storyboard, Editing artist and Animator

Joseph Henson - Editing and Animator

Stephanie Joy - Lighting, Render & Compositor

Greg Martin - Rigging,  Set Modelling & TD

David Fish - Set modelling & texturing. Lighting

Below shows my individual and group contract we have made raedy for this project. This should keep myself and the rest of the team on task and will make sure we know what we are planned to do next or when work is needed to be completed.

Each role and member has their own vital role to play as most roles there is only one person working on that particular role.

We have used Google Calendar to plan deadlines and key dates we want to meet as dissertation has  heavy impact on work levels this term so planning is key. We want to start doing weeklies, this is a great way to see that we are on task and completing work on time and it will also give us a chance to look and critique eachothers work.

Introduction for Professional Skills & Our Target Market

For this term professional skills brief, we have to show a wide range of skills in organisation and planning. As well a a look at some of the technical aspects of Referencing and Rendering.

But firstly we have established a target market that we want our film to be aimed at. We are creating a zombie related film but with a twist. We want to aim our film at all ages. We have tried to stay away from the normal Zombie blood and gore design as we see that as unsuitable for younger age groups, so using brighter colours turns the Zombie into more of a comedic character rather than the normal horror monster. However we want to make sure our style appeals to all ages, by using light humour and comedic value we believe that our film can be appealing for a wide range of audience. We want to create an original style that will appeal to other students or other creatives as well as having high quality work at the end of it.


We have looked a number of films we really like and plan to try use them as a good reference on how to maybe create a successful short film!


Below is a list of things I plan to look at and do this term:

- With the group, we plan to identify our target market and what we want to get out of our movie.

- I'll show my groups way we use referencing and Dropbox to make things easier for us to work apart but still get all the updates and files we need to continue working.

- I'll research and develop the idea of rendering use the Rave renderfarm. As I work at a production company I know alittle about the renderfarm experience but being able to render at uni would be a big advantage we would really want to take.

- Another part of the project is to develop and advertise our group work, so we want to create a website, plan our end of year show, design posters and start to get our video out there.

- We are using google calendars to plan out deadlines and events we want to achieve for our project.

- For a more personal aspect of this project. I will develop my showreel to show at the end of year show but this will most likely develop.

- We will be looking at the quality control aspect as our videos need to hit a certain specifications that work on the big screens around uni and online, keeping as much quality as we can.

Out of this I plan to learn alot about professional skills that I need to keep developing ready for when I look for work. As being able to meet deadlines, advertise my work to a high standard.