Lend me a helping (animators) hand.

After concluding that I would need some animation assistance to keep to my production schedule, I contacted the BA Animation department at the University of South Wales. I spoke to their course leader, Sarah Strickett. I explained my reasoning for emailing her while submitting all relevant information in my pre-production bible, a brief description of my project and the timescale I wished to complete all animation. Sarah forwarded my email to the BA animation graduates in 2023. BA (Hons) graduate Davina Lote responded with interest in working on the project with examples of her work. After seeing her work and concluding her animation skills to be of an excellent standard, I arranged a Teams meeting to discuss the production process in greater detail. I had to ensure that whoever I collaborated with could do the shots required from a technical perspective.

During our Teams meeting, I discussed the project and my approach to animating with Davina, i.e., using video reference footage. I also stated there was no need for any clean-up, as I would do it to ensure consistency regarding style. Although others can mimic someone else's style, it can sometimes be noticeable. This was not to doubt Davina's capability but to merely focus on the animation and performance rather than the overall look and design.

Although Davina had my updated pre-production bible, I felt she needed to have the animatic I had produced as part of my last module, ‘Animation Application’, as she would have a better understanding concerning the timing, performance and mood I was hoping to achieve. Our meeting concluded, and shortly after, I emailed her a short list of shots for her to complete with an estimated deadline.

Throughout the weeks, I made sure to keep in contact with Davina, making sure that all was well with the animation. I gave as much information and direction as possible while trusting her capabilities to complete the listed shots. However, Davina exceeded my expectations, and her animation was up to a sophisticated standard for the project. I, therefore, gave her more additional scenes to complete as I felt comfortable with her professionalism and quality of work. Sometimes, it is difficult working with others, especially if it is a project one is passionate about and responsible for. However, this positive outcome has shown me that I am capable of working with others and, more importantly, able to trust in their abilities. Once I had received the animation back from Davina, I imported the footage into Procreate and then went over her animation in my style, as demonstrated below:

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/18b9e9_3387beb6c23d47ff99ba1b6b02802bb7/1080p/mp4/file.mp4