We're flying through the production here - nearly all the shots that we have backgrounds for have been completed by this point, and some shots have had the animation done prior to the creation of the background, so we're at a point where 8/20 shots have been animated. Considering we seriously thought we were gonna be pressed for time, this is absolutely awesome!

The backgrounds Xinyi created look absolutely amazing, and at the pace we're going now, enough shots will be done before the end of next week that we'll be able to start putting the animation through After Effects, to add textures and shadows to the characters to make them feel more at home on these stages.

So by the end of today, we're looking to have completed another shot or two, putting us officially at the halfway mark in terms of animation, which considering other groups are still looking at next week as the start of their animating seems like quite an achievement, really.

I think the only trouble we're having is with the attendance of and communication with one of our team members, but even that should be cancelled out by the pace of progress.

Ok, so first, the big news, we've changed up the opening of the film. On the advice of one of our more competent lecturers this morning, we've decided to alter how our film starts, placing the Runner in the supermarket, rather than starting him out on the sofa.

This does render the animation I'd done before irrelevant, but I'm ok sacrificing it for a better film in the end.

On top of this, we also have some completed backgrounds from Xinyi, who is doing absolutely stellar work with it. Her art fits within the film's style while still looking gorgeous, and I feel I can't hype up her work enough.

Below is the first of the backgrounds she's produced so far, and several more should be following by the end of the day

On top of this, I've finished the running symbol we need for the fridge's run cycle, so now that can be plonked into the shots that we need it for, along with the Runner loop. Should speed things up.

Lewis is also working on his first shot, the one where the glass explodes from the energy drink. That should will likely be finished before or on Thursday. 

Progress is definitely being made.

Lewis and Yandi have been working throughout this week to prepare the symbols we'll be using to animate with, and they're pretty much finished by this point. A foot or two is the last step for the fridge symbols, and some finishing touches on the runner's 3/4 view is all that's left on him.

As such, we've been able to put together a run cycle that we'll be using throughout the film, whenever characters are running and no other animation is needed - and if you've watched the animatic, you'll know they're needed a lot.

So yeh, here's the runner's run cycle, symboled by Lewis, animated by Tim:

At the same time, Xinyi has some rough backgrounds that are complete enough for us to work with, so starting Monday, we will be able to start animating properly using these as guides, and then will be able to swap in the finished backgrounds as Xinyi finishes them.

At this time, she's focusing on the exterior backgrounds, as the architecture is complicated and takes more time to do than the interior shots. So yeh, expect some animation previews using these backgrounds over the next week or so!

Xinyi Guo, our amazing background artist, has begun working on the backgrounds for the short, and is already putting together some incredible stuff.

This incredible painted look was way beyond anything Lewis or me originally had in mind, and I'm sure is going to take the film to the next level. I'm just hoping me, Lewis and Yandi can do Xinyi's background justice with the rest of the film!

Ok, so the animatic is done - today we'll be trying to focus on getting character symbols ready and starting on backgrounds. Our aim is to be animating as quickly as possible - if we can start before the end of the week, then that's fantastic.

We'll also be sorting out who is tackling the sound today as well. The Staminaid advert will likely be voiced by either myself or Lewis.

Me and Lewis have started putting together the preparation work for our film, working title "Is Your Fridge Running?". I'm working on the animatic for it, currently at the 26 second mark, and probably just under half way through at the moment. Lewis is working on the symbols we'll be using to animate the face of our main character.

We'll be trying to use a mixture of symbol-based and straight ahead animation to give it a clean, professional looking feel - though we may decide to go with 12 fps on the animation simply to save us time (which we're already short on).

Our aim is to have the shots worked out and divided between us by the end of the week, so that we can begin animating as quickly as possible.

I'll be uploading some of the design work we did over the summer later today, probably, so you can get a better look at what's already gone into this.

EDIT: It's no longer just me and Lewis. We're also working with Lie Yandi Leonard, and Xinyi Guo.