January 13, 2007
Calon: Day 4 and 5
It's all over now, this is the write up of my last 2 days along with photos.
Day 4:
The day started with Set Dressing, which was great as it got me out of the workshop and doing some work down in the animation studio. Basically the job I had to do was to fill the holes in the set that were made by the animators for the models as they use a tie-down system. So I would fill the holes with these little pegs I had to cut up a few days before and then paint over them to blend into the set floor.
(Theatre Set, All the 2D characters and the background curtains were cut out by me)
So that was great as it got me right onto the sets working on them. I then got a chance to look around and talk to more people and watch a new set get put up, this involved placement of the set, camera set up/changing lenses and setting up the lights. I managed to talk to the guy who sorts out lighting and learnt alot to put towards my own film.
The day was pretty easy, there wasn't really alot to do, a few things to cut up and a few sets to sort out. I was allowed to sit in and watch an animator film a scene, this is where he explained everything he was doing and gave some tips, very useful stuff.
Day 5:
(Tatties)
Basically the same as the previous day, Set dressing, sitting in with animators and talking to more people. The new job I had for the day was making arms for another series being filmed called "Tatties". This was interesting and enjoyable to do. In the day a film crew were walking around the place filming a 'Behind the scenes' for Hana's Helpline. I believe they were from Planed Plant, so I was filmed a few times, one was me making the arms for Tatties, and another was in a passing shot while I was on set with an animator for Tatties.
(note: theres some information on Hana's Helpline on the Planed Plant website.. provided you can speak welsh of course, but it's nice to look at. Click here)
(Replacement arms for Tatties)
Cause it was the last day of the working week for Calon, they have a screening of the work done in the week where everyone comes down to see all thats been done and basically have a laugh. It was enjoyable and interesting to see the work done in the week, and see some blue screen shots composited into other scenes.
I had a good week at Calon, although there were boring moments, as it seemed at times they didnt know what to do with, as the person who deals with people on work placements was ill for the week. It was enjoyable and worthwhile being there. I have learnt alot of new things that I can put towards my final film and a better insight and understanding of the animation industry
Some other pics from my time at Calon:
Posted by Matthew at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2007
Calon: Day 3
Well basically today, my fingers ache!
All day cutting up foam based card, but it seems worth it when you get to see where the work goes to
The finished result is of the theatre finished in full, I havn't seen it completed yet, but this is how far I saw. I been cutting up the characters to fill each seat in that set, and I also cut out the background curtains the day before.
And heres another photo I took of a different set.. sorry for the blur
Posted by Matthew at 10:30 PM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2007
Calon: Day 2
Second dat at Calon, arrived just on time at 9.30am and got to work on cutting up foam to look like sweets and various objects that would be placed on a shelf in a shop. Unfortunatly I didn't get to finish it, which i'm kinda disapointed with as I didn't want it to carry over to tomorrow to work on, but other work was given to me where i was told to drop what I was doing to go help with.
I was in the workshop all day cutting out characters to be stuck onto foam for a scene with an audience or something. Took a long time to do but managed to get alot done with a few to finish off tomorrow.
In the lunch break I had a wander around the Animation Studios, I found the editing suite and spoke to two of the editors and found alot about there job and the software they use, including getting some advice on some editing on my final.
The studios were interesting, I really wanted to stay down there for the day and help out maybe. I had my camera with me today so I was able to take some pictures of sets. I got photos of this one set from different angles showing how the set was constructed and the equipment used. But me being an idiot, I accidently deleted all the photos, (don't ask), but somehow I managed to salvage one photo, and here it is
Posted by Matthew at 09:16 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2007
Calon: Day 1
Ok, Havn't updated in a while, but things have been going on which I will post in another update. In the meantime, today I started my first day at Calon for my work placement.
I arrived half an hour early as i misjudged the time it would take me to get to Calon. Anyway, got shown around the place and was impressed. I didn't really know what to expect, maybe a bigger place and a lot more people. Overall there seemed about 20ish people working there.
Two series' were being worked on "Hana's Helpline" and "Tatties", which made it interesting to see different models and sets instead of just the one series.
Today I basically was shown around the place, spoke to a few people and cut and stuck a few things. They said that Monday's are pretty slow, so tomorrow should be a bit more interesting.
I'm weak when it comes to model making, so I'm taking in what I can with this as the majority of work I am doing is model making/set dressing. The time I had today talking with animators down in the studios was worthwhile. Getting a chance to see the models and getting a chance to hold one to move about, seeing animators working and finding out how they work.
The time I spent in the animation studio, I didn't want to go back up to the workshop, I was quite happy watching and asking questions about it all. Hopefully I will have some photos soon, I'm taking in my new Digi Cam tomorrow to take pics of interest.
Tomorrow till friday I start early from 9.30am to 6.30pm
Posted by Matthew at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2006
Calon
Wahey!
I got a work placement wit Simon Quinn at Calon (formerly Siriol)
I start on the 8th Of January working on set dressing/model making and possibly animating for Hana's Helpline
So I'm quite excited at the moment as it is a local studio and they are most notable for Superted, Fireman Sam and Hilltop Hospital.
Posted by Matthew at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)