DJOSSI HEROES

The most stressful week of our entire STL adventure. We felt like it was the beginning when we were just days away from turning in a teaser and a video pitch. We had been working in synergy, pulling all-nighters. With only a few hours to go before the final prototype was due, we were still improving some of the sequences and at the same time we were worried about not sending our file in on time (which could cost us a disqualification, we thought about that really). We wanted to keep our promise to deliver a teaser + a pitch and we managed to do it. We found an alternative way to transition from live action to 3D to 2D and we were proud to have a prototype. 
We were lucky to have Scot in the last week to finish the sound part of our teaser and everything went well. It was really magical !!!!! 
Thanks to all the STL 3 mentors, especially our mentors, the THU team and all our fellow finalists.

Week 8 was rather busy for the 2D animation of the jossi hero project ... Nandy had to finish all the sketches of the animated sequences so that our teaser could be delivered on time. With the work on the side it was hot, but after a few sleepless nights he was able to advance. It allowed us to test the integration of a 3D set in one of the shots and it looks pretty good. The last meeting with Jinko was a great help. It allowed us to better manage the rhythm of the animation... Editing is going well, with the mentors we will choose the sequences to keep for the teaser and the structure of the video.

We started and finalized the editing and shared with the mentors. The feedback was very encouraging, informative and constructive. The mentors were again very helpful as always. Vani helped us to structure the teaser script better by excluding all the superfluous... Scot loved the music we came up with, as did the other mentors. He also gave us advice and his opinion of observer on the ideal length that our introduction should have, it was really great. 

Nanan Jinko asked that we see more of Salimata's face in the animatic during our last meeting with her. Nandy has been taking notes and refining his drawings, currently it is at the stage of finalizing the inks. We had to give feedback to Sonja to validate the texture and realism of the bowl. We also received several technical advices from Eugenie about tracking and exporting the camera for the fx inlay. We are currently putting these instructions into practice and hope to have the expected result. 

Piece by piece, the puzzle is taking shape 😊

Beginning of the editing. We started the derushage and then we focused on the interview of our characters. We extracted the interview and kept all the things that Salimata said and subtitled the video in English. The goal was to identify the good interventions and we went through our mentors who each made improvements. With Scot it was essentially the sound, the voice, he reassured us that our sound was not bad. 
Now we had to tackle the next week with the supporting music and the placement of the b-roll. The week went by quickly, the closer we got the more difficult it became and the more decisive the advice of the mentors became.

This week was quite difficult. We did not have a Masterclass with Sonja Christopher. She gave us some great tips on how to use knots to bring more realism to our pond modeling. Thursday was quite an eventful day. We started filming with Salimata following the storyboard validated by the mentors. We shot in the middle of the road in the middle of cars. It was crazy 😍 ! We are preparing the making soon

Today is Wednesday and it's time for our WEEK IN REVIEW.  A long week during which we had 5 meetings with our mentors. We learned as always. Week 04 in the STL adventure was the week of TESTS: where to shoot, what to shoot, how to transition from 2D to 3D, the type of footage and the different camera shots. We were able to advance and find the answer to many questions thanks to the TESTS. 
Following our meetings with Vany and Jinko we understood that it was important that our questionnaire for the interview should allow us to arouse the desired emotions in Salimata or at least to get closer to it, we also realized our story board and we also presented it to Jinko who appreciated it very much, this one not being finished yet, we received advices from her which help us for the continuation.

During our first week with the THU team, the mentors and the other finalists, we discovered a lot of tools and received a lot of information. A little under pressure because we were discovering a new world but we were able to get by anyway. we were able to set up an action plan, how to make the transition between live action and 2D thanks to the advice of our main mentor JINKO GOTOH (to whom we gave the nickname of Ablah Pokou, the mother of the Baoulé people Ivorian. We will explain the story to you later 🙃). We had a clearer idea of ​​our deliverable, eliminating certain aspects that may go beyond our skills. We've listed all the ideas and rated them, so you know what to do now and what can wait after. we now have tools that will allow us to test our ideas, how to make a prototype thanks to the advice of KEVIN YOUNG.

We were able to find through many searches to find a good reference image bank and inspiring videos. We took the opportunity to do some English lessons too! (even if the text has been translated online 😄 but we will get there step by step).

it was a hard but very rich week for the start of this adventure.

One last thing, our main mentor (JINKO GOTOH) said she loves our project, we are so proud of it. 🥰🥳