2013 Animation Demo Reel

Oh yeah, this thing!  I remember this thing!

Well, I've been pretty busy working full time and doing the iAnimate online animation workshops simultaneously, but now that one of those things is over I figure I might as well post my new demoreel.

Everything here was animated by myself in my spare time over the last year or two.  A big thanks to Jason Ryan, Ted Ty and all the other awesome instructors at http://www.ianimate.net/ !

I also updated my drawing portfolio with a bunch of sketches and life drawings I've done over the past couple years:  http://adampockajportfolio.blogspot.ca/ .

Now that I'll have a little more spare time on my hands, I'd like to start updating this thing a little more frequently.  Hold me to it internet.   Hold me to it!

Adam

alive...

What's this? A post!? I am sorry to say I have neglected this here blog of mine for the last 8 months or so (as graduates often do), but I've been keeping busy on other things. Well, mostly just work actually. But it's fun work. The show airs next month, and Disney's started showing stuff from it recently.

Voila: http://disney.go.com/junior/pre/index.html

That's All Folks (or is it?)

Well guys, 4th year (and my post secondary education) is over, and I've got to say, it's been a blast. I mean, high school for the quiet artist type like me was not the most enjoyable experience, but coming here where all the quiet (and some not so quiet) artist types from around the world have gathered to do what we love was the best decision I ever made.

The program here was a little hit and miss, but the atmosphere and the people here have made the last 5 years the best I've ever had. Non-animators don't understand when I tell them that I spend every waking hour at school and still love it, but I guess what they don't realize is that we are all doing that. While other college students go to lecture halls filled with hundreds of people they will never talk to, and then spend their off times getting drunk enough to forget how boring their homework is, we go to an open studio space, hang out, draw, and try to figure out how we can make a living doing it. I think that is an amazing way to spend our college years. And the people in our class of 2010 have made it all the more amazing.

Being with the same hundred or so people for the past 4-5 years has been an incredible experience. Looking back on it all, I've kind of thought of our relationships with each other like this: In Art Fundamentals, we became acquaintances, strangers, with common interests (which, considering how weird our interests were was a pretty big deal). In 1st year, we became friends. In 2nd year, when we got our open studio space and really started living at the school, we became a family. In 3rd year, when we had to work together on a group film, we became a dysfunctional family. And in 4th year....well...I don't really know. It feels like I'm moving away from home again. It feels really weird to be leaving this place behind forever. Its kind of a relief to be done, but I'm really going to miss this place, and especially the people that have inhabited it. But I guess there's no sense dwelling on the past when the future could potentially be even better.

I was fortunate enough to get a job at a studio in Ottawa called Mercury Filmworks and will be working on a very cool looking TV show, the details of which I should probably not disclose here. And it seems that many of my Sheridan bretheren will be joining me in a couple weeks, which is awesome! I had contacted the studio pretty early this year and was able to land a job even before industry day, so I guess preparation and persistence pay off. Although part of me wishes I could stay in a state of limbo and relive the past five years over and over again, another part is excited to move on and start my career. And Mercury seems like a very cool place, and with some of my old classmates being there as well, I think it will be all the more awesome.

I think I recall about 5 years ago my high school guidance councillor thought I was nuts for going into animation. I had pretty good grades so I guess he thought I was going to go to university to get a fancy degree in business or something like that. I mean, why have a fun, art based career when you can sit in an office and type in numbers all day, right? But a relatively smart guy going into animation? He thought I was crazy. Nah, I'm not crazy. Crazy are the people who choose their careers based on the size of the paycheck. Crazy are the people who spend 40 hours a week doing something they hate for money. Money doesn't matter. Money is just something you have in case you don't die tomorrow, and if you give it any more value than that, then you've got it all wrong. I'm not crazy. I'm the only one who's not crazy. Well, not the only one. I can name about a hundred more not crazy people. And its been a pleasure working/hanging out with/growing up with every one of you. I wish all of my classmates the very best of luck in the future and I sincerely hope we'll meet again some day. (reunion in 20 years, anyone?)

Cheers,

Adam P

Carol of the Elves (alternate music)

Carol of the Elves (Alternate Music) from Adam Pockaj on Vimeo.

My 4th Year film again, this time with music arranged by U of T student Trevor Hewer. It was a collaboration between Sheridan animation students and University of Toronto music students to work together to make a soundtrack that we actually get legal rights to use on our films. Thanks Trevor!

Carol of the Elves

Carol of the Elves from Adam Pockaj on Vimeo.

Well, I finished the film last friday, so here it is. I may be tweaking a few things here and there over the next couple weeks, but this is pretty much it. I had a lot of fun making it, and I hope you have fun watching it!

P.S. I recommend Vimeo for uploading videos. The file was almost 300 megs and Vimeo took it like a champ. I think most video uploading sites limit it to 100megs, so if you want to keep good quality, Vimeo's the way to go

The First 30

The First 30 from Adam Pockaj on Vimeo.

The first 30 seconds is now DONE. Although since its mostly just a zoom in to a background its not that much work. I've still got a ways to go before the rest will be complete.

Another 24 Hour Film

24 Hour Film from Adam Pockaj on Vimeo.

Decided to take a break from the film by making another one. This time the word of the day was: curiosity.

Rough Animation Reel

Rough Animation Reel from Adam Pockaj on Vimeo.

The rough animation for the film is essentially complete. I'm kind of refining things a bit during cleanup, so hopefully it will look a bit better in the end.

What Happened on Virmire

Well, I just recently finished playing through a game called Mass Effect, and it got me thinking. Video games are awesome. And not just in a "that was pretty cool" kind of way, but in a spine tinglingly good, amazing storytelling kind of way.

Mass Effect, like Fallout 3 (another game finished recently) had a better story than most films, books, or TV shows I have ever seen. And I think the reason for this is simple. Storytelling can lend itself better to video games than any other medium. In a film, you've got to cram in as much story as you can into two, three hours tops. But a video game can be thirty hours long. A story can be so much richer and more complex when there is more than enough time to tell it.

Although few games have caught on to that, a couple (namely Mass Effect and Fallout 3) certainly have. The stories are so good, and there's character development and plot twists that rival the best Hollywood films. And because you spend so much more time with the characters, it has an even greater effect.

And especially in RPGs like Mass Effect, a lot of what happens in the game is based on the player's choices. Entire story arcs are often affected by what the player chooses to do. Sometimes its simply how other characters will react to what you say, or sometimes its a matter of life and death. In Mass Effect, there's a planet you go to called Virmire. There's a part where two of your teamates are in trouble and you have to choose which one to save. And the one you don't dies! And not just "oh, we'll bring him back to life with a phoenix down," but actually dies for good. I remember how big a deal it was when Aeris died in Finaly Fantasy 7, but in Mass Effect, you have to choose which of your teammates, and you can't save both. That kind of thing can never happen in a film. You just watch what the characters do, so there can only be so much emotional involvement. In a game, you are the main character, and its how you act around the other characters that determines what the story is going to be like. There are a whole lot of other WTF moments that happen on Virmire, as well as at many other times throughout the game but I won't give anything else away.

On top of all that, there's still so much more to come with video games. Books have been around for millenia, and films for a century, but games have only been here for a few decades. They are only in their infancy in comparison.

Basically, my point is, video games get a bad rap for being a waste of time or money, and the people who play them are generally looked down upon by film buffs and book enthusiasts, as if they are a lesser form of entertainment. But they shouldn't be. Don't get me wrong, I love films and TV shows and books too, but video games certainly belong on the upper tiers of entertainment with them. And if you don't think so, then you obviously haven't played Mass Effect or Fallout 3.

Feb 8 Reel

A few more additions. Still need to update the sound fx.

EDIT: I've been told the videos aren't loading for some people. I think it has something to do with blogger's video uploader. Here's another version that should work:

Carol of the Elves, Feb 8th Rough Cut from Adam Pockaj on Vimeo.

BGs

Some background paintings. It was slow going at first but I'm starting to get the hang of it. The whole painting thing, I mean.

Feb 3 Reel

More progress...

Scene 026

The first "finished" scene from the film. I'll probably be tweaking a few things, and I think the BG needs work. I don't know if I mentioned this but I am drawing it all on paper, not tradigitally as I had previously said I would. I kind of like the scratchier lines, not that normal people would even notice the difference. It was coloured digitally in Digicel Filpbook, with two tone, and a slight gradient over the whole character which I think looks cool.

There's a better quality version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWX21Jiy_jw

Electropolis Online (for real this time)

Electropolis from Kevin McCullough on Vimeo.

This was our 3rd Year Group Film that we made last year. My group members included: myself, Adam Trout, Allison Neil, Amanda Stocker, Dan Seddon, Dawnson Chen, Debbie Yu, Dimas Mohammad, Giorgio Mavrigianakis, Hank Choi, Jason Walmsley, Kevin McCullough, and Ki Eun Suh.

Just in Time for Christmas

A BG painting from the film. Santa's workshop from the outside.

Rough Cut With Some Animation

The most recent rough cut of the film so far. Mostly layouts with really rough poses, with a few scenes rough animated. Some of the sound effects are out of sync as I haven't updated them in a while

Almost Final Character Designs

A bunch of designs for the background characters that will not be used in the film because they are too individual. I don't know why I didn't think of it at the time, but as slaves it would be more likely that they would all wear the same uniform. Duh. I might keep the faces though.


I tried a bunch of variations on the costumes, one that would ideally work for all the Elves. And ended up with something like this:So, here is the official uniform for Santa's little helpers. Note the addition of pants on the male version. He originally had red and white striped tights too, but it looked a little fruity.

And here's Mr Claus. He's less wide than the older version (posted a little while ago), and I think this one is a lot more animatable. There's also more of a hip connection than there used to be.

Animation Test for the Ol' Film

A little animation test I did before starting any animating on the actual film. This was done completely digitally in Digicel Flipbook. I was planning on doing my entire film in it, rough animation, clean up animation, colouring, etc, but after doing a cleanup test today I'm beginning to have doubts. The perfect laser line you get from cleaning up the flipbook way sounded good in theory, but it really drained the life out of the drawing. I'll give it another shot tomorrow, but if it doesn't look good I might be doing it all on paper after all.

Layout/Pose Test Reel

This is the layout/pose test reel for the film. Layout (background drawing) was the part I was dreading the most, but it turned out to be somewhat less excruciating than I predicted. All the backgrounds are drawn now, however the character poses on this reel were pretty rushed. The actual animation pose tests will be a lot more refined. This was a good way to see how things work (or don't work) one step closer to the final film. There are a few things I'll have to adjust between now and the end, but this is more or less what it is going to be like.

Electropolis Online

Our 3rd year film from last year, "Electropolis" will be online from November 6th to Nov 15 for the Puchon international Student Animation Festival. Due to swine flu they decided to make the entire festival online, so that it can be accessed from the comfort of our own fallout shelters. You can check it out here .

EDIT: okay, it turns out you have to create an account on the PISAF website, and even then it doesn't seem to be working. I'll get back to you on that...

EDIT: okay, I'll be honest, I have no idea how that website is supposed to work. If I figure it out I'll keep you posted

EDIT: okay, it doesn't seem to work for me in Firefox, however, it does play in Internet Explorer (albeit not very well). So, if you want to see it, you can create an account and watch it in something other than Firefox.