Le poisson sous-marin

Picking up from the last blog entry, we now look for sounds and then add them to the animation!

 I start looking for sound effects by going onto freesound.org which is a website that provides all kinds of sound effects that are free to use! The main sound effects I tried looking for to add in the animation are waves (as requested by Lily-Ane during our zoom call), bubbles, ocean ambience and machine-like sounds for certain parts of the invention. 

Once, I find the sounds that I think best suits the animation, I then download them and then add the sounds to the animation. I then continue to edit the sound until I feel like it flows with the animation. 

After that we export the animation and it’s done! Yay! :D
Overall, I'm really happy with how the animation came out and I hope Lily-Ane likes it! :D

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on animating the project! The process in how the animation is made starts with me drawing assets in Photoshop. Assets are the visuals or parts of the animation like the invention itself, backgrounds, and other elements that will get added in the animation. 

After I finish drawing the assets in Photoshop, I then take those assets and bring them into After Effects where I start using different tools in the program to animate the invention! 

During the process, I continue to edit and animate the invention until I am satisfied with the results. Some changes had to be made from the original plan such as having retractable claws instead of just having the claws in full length for easy mobility inside the invention. Don’t worry! Changes that happen during the process of a project is completely normal and often times can help improve it.

 From there, the animation is almost complete and now, we have to look and add sounds! :D

About 2 weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to finally get to meet and talk to my little inventor behind this wonderful invention idea, Lily-Ane! :D It was really nice to get to know and talk to her as well as get her feedback on what she thinks about the project so far! I also, had the pleasure to meet her teacher as well! I'm really happy that Lily-Ane seems happy with the progress of the project so far! Yay! :D We also, discussed about things she would like to add to the project too such as sounds! Also, I'm glad the meeting went well despite how nervous I was and the fact that I needed a translator to communicate to Lily-Ane since I couldn't speak and understand French fluently. So I'm really thankful that José was there to help with translating the conversation between me and Lily-Ane! As well, as thanks to Phoebe for arranging the zoom call! Overall, I’m excited to continue working on bringing this invention to life! :D

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on the storyboard through sketching it in Photoshop on a storyboard template and finding ways to best showcase the functionality of the invention. I decided that the best way to show this is by showing how the invention cleans the ocean based on how I interpreted Lily-Ane’s description of how it functions so far as well as having the invention be subtly surrounded by other living ocean habitants to show that the invention is considerate and friendly to the inhabitants living in the environment. . After getting some feedback and re-doing the storyboard a few times, I’m currently satisfied with the version I have right now and I’m excited to move on to the next step of this project! :D

A bit random but to help me understand the invention a bit better, I decided to make a mini model of one of the rough designs using clay, sticky notes, and a paper clip. I wish I had more clay colours on hand especially white and black so I could’ve added the distinct stripes and facial expression on the invention’s design. Though otherwise, I had fun making it!

Picking up from the last time, I managed to come up with two design ideas for the invention based on Lily-Ane’s drawing of the invention and references! Yay! Honestly, both designs are really similar to each other with the main differences is that one is rounder to portray a more friendlier approach, and the other one is more slim and longer as a reference to what some submarines look like in real life. Personally, I like the rounder design best. So I decided to explore it a bit more through some sketches while incorporating the functionality of the invention in mind as a placeholder for the final design. Since I wanted to get Lily-Ane's feedback on which design she likes best before finalizing it. I also, decided to explore a different color variation since from looking at some clown fish references, their colours vary between yellow-orange and dark orange.

As a starting point for most projects especially with this one, I like to gather and look at different references just to make sure I understand how things actually look like and sketch them. I do this because sometimes (at least for me), when I think I know what something looks like by memory, I tend to be proven wrong in the end when I search the pictures of the actual thing in question as I never realize that there are a lot of details that can be overlooked when remembering from memory. As well, references can also, help with inspiring different ideas so it’s really helpful!

With, Lily-Ane’s drawing of her invention in mind as well as a starting point, I started looking for references that bear similarities to the invention in hopes to understand not only the invention better but also, to explore and find ways to convey the invention as great as possible! I started looking at references for the clown fish and angler fish specifically because her invention’s design makes me think it’s a hybrid of the two. Though from looking at these references, I learned that angler fish are actually really scary looking in real-life! I also, looked at different submarine references such as real ones and the ones depicted in children’s media just to see the similarities and differences. Ultimately, these references will help me figure out how I would approach the design of this invention.