Last post!

It's the end of the semester, and thus the end of Elipante Animations :(

The premiere of Billy and the Sock Puppet was on Thursday 10th June at the Narratives in Animation Short Film Festival at Adelaide University - I'm not too sure how it went, hopefully not too badly :P

As a media student coming in to a digital media course I wasn't sure what to expect (in terms of the work and also what I was going to be capable of doing), but it's been a great semester (despite some mishaps at the very end :S) and I've had loads of fun learning how to use Flash and creating a faux animation company. Doing this course has piqued my interest in digital media and I would be very keen to do some more courses like this one!

1 week to go...

There is only one week left until the final animation is due and I'm starting to freak out a little bit :S

Helpful advice from Josh has put me back on track, but I still have a lot to do so I'm going to get back to it now!

:S

I'm having pretty big doubts about my animation. I've almost finished animating each individual scene and after viewing them all together I'm pretty disappointed with what I saw - it basically just goes between a walk and run cycle with different backgrounds! If *I* think that then I shudder to think what others will view it as.

I'm not sure if I change the storyline so late in the game (and I'm not sure why this didn't occur to me earlier on!) - I'd have to change it and then re-animate sections I've already done, which in turn will put me behind in everything else I have to do so I guess I'll just have to stick with it and see what I can do to fix it (maybe will music/sound FX, although to be honest I don't think that can save it now :S).

An update is well overdue (Sorry! I've been VERY busy working on the animation) The animation has been going well, I've finished two out of the five scenes (well, basically three, but there's a problem with the third one that I need help to fix). One of the scenes took FOREVER to do because I couldn't get fire that looked decent - it looks fine NOW, but it took a while to get there!

Other than that it's been smooth sailing. I'm on track with almost everything :D I hope to have the entire animation finished by Tuesday at the latest so then I start putting together my flash folio.

That's about all the news I have at the moment, make sure you visit our facebook page to see more updates!

PROMO PACKAGE

It's been a busy couple of weeks working on the promotional package and the animation so I haven't had much time to update this blog (or the other blog for my faux animation company).
Since I last posted an update I have completed the preliminary promotional package (including promotional posters, a DVD cover and a disk label for the DVD) -you can check out the final images on the Elipante Animations Facebook Group.

In addition to finishing the promotional package I've been working on the animation. I've completed the first scene (not with sound FX though - I'm going to add them last*), and I've begun to animate the next couple of scenes.
*I have found almost all of the sound FX I need (although I'm still looking for some background music).

So that's pretty much all I've been up to! It doesn't sound like much, but working on the animation is verrrry time consuming :P

More Updates

Visit our Facebook Page and check out the updated promo package (including posters, DVD cover and DVD label for the disk), PLUS loads more updates!

New Photos

Check out our Facebook page to see some new ideas for promo posters!

Update!

An update is LONG overdue, so I'll get right into it!
I've been working hard on the character and environment designs and after coming up with a few different versions of characters/environments I've settled on my final designs. To check them out, visit our facebook page - designing the characters and the environment was the most fun party of this whole pre-production process, and I hope that is reflected in my work.
I have also been working on assignment #3, some test animations, a developed synopsis, and looking into some music/sound FX for the animation - was all going well until I had to do them again :P

I've run into a few problems in the past couple of weeks (computers crashing, lost files, etc) - I swear, technology gets suicidal around me! :P BUT it's not too bad, I've been working overtime for the past couple of days to get back on track and I'm almost there! It's not as polished as I would've liked, BUT these things happen sometimes so you've just got to make the best out of a bad situation!

I think that will bring you all up to speed! Stay tuned for more updates, and visit our facebook page to see pictures, test animations, and more!

It's all about the timing...

I'm currently working on a revised storyboard and I'm finding it a bit hard to stay within the two minute limit...trying to figure out how to cut it down without losing content (or messing up the timing) is proving harder than I initially thought :S

I'll keep you all posted on my progress!

Work Update

I thought it was about time to update everyone on the progress of our debut animation Billy and the Sock Puppet. I've been hard at work designing and refining the characters and environments, as well as trying to simplify the storyline (to make the middle a little less convoluted).

I've decided to alter the appearance of the main character (Billy) - I've kept the same basic design, merely simplifying the original concept. I felt that the initial design was a bit static and didn't have the potential to move as organically as I would like (within the animation and when he's interacting with the environment). As for the Sock Puppet, I am still very happy with the initial design for this character so I haven't done much in terms of changing its appearance.

In terms of the environment, I've been busy designing a number of alternate environments and am yet to choose which will be used in the animation. There are a number of factors for me to consider when deciding between my final designs (including aesthetic value, practicality, and relevance -in terms of how appropriate it is in relation to the animation itself).

Well, now that I've updated everyone, I should probably get back to it!

Elipanté Animations

Elipanté Animations is an animation company located in Adelaide, Australia. It was founded in March 2010 by Natassja Serradura and aims to produce innovative and entertaining short animations. Our first production is a 2 minute animation titled 'Billy and the Sock Puppet'.

Stills from the animation, work in progress and various other updates will be posted here, on our company blog, and also on our facebook page.

*Stay tuned for updates on Elipanté Animations' debut short film, 'Billy and the Sock Puppet'...*