Today I had a portfolio visit with a company called Killogramme in Manchester. The visit has helped me open my eyes into the world of Flash animation, and has benefited me hugely in my direction of work, and has defined an area of specialism that i want to work towards.
I was taken all around the studio talking to people who work in the different areas, such as design and illustration, and the animators, who all work together to produce a piece of work. I caught up with them at the time they were working on their Christmas card animation short, and i was taken through the different stages of the process.
The company work a lot using tablets, and base their work on traditional animation. Drawing the design directly onto Flash, and use onion skins to help guide them through each frame. This piece below demonstrates the style of work and also gives an idea of their working methods.
(link to '2D Snippets' piece on vimeo) - working methods
'Mephedrone' Flash animation
So to begin with i talked to the head of department about my portfolio and my interest areas, and took him through each piece of my work. They took a shine to my 2D animations, especially my latest work on the 'Deal Me In' title sequence, that he said was directed well and particularly impressive animation with the hand featured at the opening of the sequence.
As they work mainly in Flash and After Effects, I was excited to show my Feelgood Frogs animation, and see how thy think i am progressing with the programmes. I was told it has a strong direction, and visually looks appealing. I feel this struck a positive note with Claire, who works in the animation area, as she later sat down with me and showed me some techniques in Flash animation (which i will talk about shortly)
I showed my 3D work, which are FX channel Ident and Masterchef title sequence, i got positive responses, but wasn't criticized as in-depth com
pared to my 2D work. I was told it showed skill in 3D and to quite good standards, however is not what Killogramme base their work on, and is a different field of work.
Next i was introduced to Claire, who was present at the time i was showing my Feelgood Frogs animation, and we sat and talked about the technicalities of using Flash, and her process of animating. This was a wonderful opportunity and i was very grateful that she would spend time to give me some pointers into the process of animating.
She started off by showing me examples of a characters head, that someone in the design area had made, and was shown how they break it apart into different features such as the mouth or eyes. This is known as using a 'Kit' that the animator prepares so they can animate efficiently by manipulating these separate features. Also she took me through how to use symbols to help you animate each feature, which really helped me get behind the complexities of Flash that i have been struggling with in the past.
So after this visit i have come out with a greater understanding of using Flash, and how a company that works in this area pull together to produce a piece of work. Also they were kind enough to supply me with some Flash swf and fla. files that they have worked on in the past, to help my learning of how they use symbols and kits.
Screenshot of flash doc
Also i have been recommended two books that will help my learning of the principles of animation, which they said is a huge help to them when they are animating. And also i was offered a chance to get some work experience with them for a week, which i am very excited about and will definitely be taking them up on the offer.
They gave me a card with their contacts on if i wanted to get in touch or send some work over, and Clair was kind enough to say: if i have any questions or get stuck on anything, then to get in touch with her and she will help me out. Over all the visit was unlike any other studio visit i have been to before, and i loved every minute of it! Will definitely be staying in close contact with them in the future.
Feedback emails from Claire
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