Finished! DONE! COMPLETED!!!

The development of a shot. From animatic, to line work, colour
and finishing touches.

The film is now handed in so I can say with confidence that the film is finished! I'm really proud that we managed to keep so ahead of schedule and still produce something so lovely. The people who worked along side me all did a fantastic job.

Pat was defiantly my star player, taking critique well and taking the brunt of the work. Without her I don't think we could of gotten this much done. Taking on the majority of the Pup shots was a brave task and she took it so well. You can tell that at the start she was a little shaky but she really got into the flow and produced some great work. Not only did she animate Pup but she also did the backgrounds for the outside, she pretty much planned the whole town, giving it an amazing consistency. Even on top of all this she helped with colouring to. Pat was a real pleasure to work with and sometimes I worry she's sometimes over looked when it comes to this animation course but I've never met anyone so hard working.

Ella did a great job also. It's a shame that I couldn't really give her much else to do besides colour work and background design for Jenny's room but without her I'm sure we'd still be colouring in right now. Ella was a hard worker and when it came down to it she got what we needed done on time. She was late coming in sometimes but once she was there she would knuckle quickly. Ella had her confidence knocked at the beginning of the third year when her pitch wasn't excepted so I hope her work on Pups had helped fill that gap. She really took the pressure off and it was great that she was part of the films production process.

Will, bless him, did more on my film than I thought he would. I knew when he decided to make his own film that our original plans to have him be my right hand man would have to be pushed aside. Still despite this he pitched in, doing small shots when he could. I took over the majority of shots planned for him in the end but the shots he managed to do look great. Will is a very expressive and talented animator so to have that level of animation in my film really gave it a shine. I'm very grateful and I tried to repay the favour by doing some animation on his film, although it can't compare to what he did for me.

The music for the film, done by Tom Britton, came out just how I thought it would. Absolutely fantastic. Each time he came back to me it was hard to think of things to say in terms of critique but we managed to communicate well, despite the majority of it being over email. I think the music really helped sell the emotion of the film and it's great to have his talent be apart of it.

I felt a lot stress at the start of the production, worries and and anxiety oozed out of me when I was writing up the initial schedule but I think it was that stress that pushed me to get so much done and in the end by the time I was finished I wasn't stressed at all. I feel comfortable and happy it's completed. Perhaps not a healthy directing method but it worked. It was a great experience being a director, despite all the initial stress. If possible I'd like to do it again, most likely on an independent basis.

There are a few things I wish I did during the production process, like actually going on that trip to the seal sanctuary to study seals for the day, or perhaps gone to study seaside towns on a more intense scale. I also wish I stood my ground a little more when it came to certain changes, like instead of having Jenny's shells in her front coat poach they were in a bucket instead, I liked how it showed Jenny was scruffy and also gave her a feeling of closeness to the shells, but it did give the story better flow so swings and roundabouts. I am glad that due to us being so a head of time I managed to do some final touches in After Effects. Adding shadows to certain shots, giving a slight burn around the edges to bring the eyes in and finally a slight water colour paper overlay to the whole thing to really bring out the storybook illustration look I wanted from the beginning.

With all that done and said it's strange to think it's over. For now I'm going to rest for a week or two and then get ready for the rest of my life. Nice.