New Website and Showreel

I have created a new showreel to showcase my latest work and a fresh website that I will keep updated with projects as I work on them.

Click HERE to enter graemedaly.com 

Graeme Daly - Showreel 2019 from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

Lost Boy

Lost Boy from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

Lost Boy: End Scene Animating WIP

I have been going back and finessing the animation throughout Lost Boy as well as setting up the render settings for each shot - I will upload a progress report soon showing the more polished animation.  Here is a WIP of the start of the ending showing young Graeme and his Umbrella that I didn't get to animate previously, as well as frame renders - a few notes about the frame renders I notice now that the red is much too hot on shot 16 - I really need to render stills on my laptop as the colour quality on my external monitor where I animate with Maya is really subpar, also I forgot to dial up the colour on Present Graeme's Torso for Shot 7 and I think I need another light to the left of his face,

Shot 1 Frame 329

Shot 2 Frame 456

Shot_3_Frame_512

Shot_5_Frame_538

Shot 6 Frame 656

Shot 7 Frame 804

Shot 8 Frame 928 (Ball of tabacco Redner layer)

Shot 8 Frame 928 (Present Graeme Render Layer)

Shot 10_Frame_960

Shot_12_Frame_1587

Shot_13_Frame_1763

Shot_15_Frame_1829

Shot 16_Part_3_Frame_2163 

Lost Boy Shot 55 WIP from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

Major: Lost Boy - Reflective Statement

It's a smorgasbord of emotions to realise that the last two years of seeing this project is soon coming to an end. I have worked really hard to ensure that Lost Boy tells my story - past, present and future and it has been a joy to see it flourish even though its not finished yet. Because this project is really personal I found it hard in the initial stages to open up about my past and let it go and out into the world, but I cannot express how glad I am that I have done so as it feels cathartic to have it out of me,

I loved being as detailed as possible when it come to the world of lost Boy with particular emphases on the UVs and sets as those possessions I did own and things that were written on desks and pencil cases come from personal experience, I also enjoyed being kind of meta with the film as all I ever wanted to do from a young age was to create and to show this through Young Graeme felt like stepping into a time machine - having the bully rip apart the cover page of the art of was fun as it shows the struggle that I felt in school, and it was lovely animating the scene in the closet when present Graeme passes art with having more of the pages of the Art of littered on the desk to show that he never gave up and kept going forward with his art was enjoyable.

My least favourite aspect of this project had to be the rigging and skinning process as I had so many issues, I did and redid the pose space deformers for each character more times than I would like to say and it was really frustrating when something would fuck up and feeling like it wasn't your fault and trying to figure it out where it went wrong was tough, I had to completely redo the skeleton for Mrs Pratt when she was near completion as I had her joints in the wrong place, I also had to unbind rebind and repaint weights with all characters as the joints in them had rotations and the majority of the time the export paint weights option would produce horrendous results meaning that after correcting the placement of the joints I had to repaint the paint the weights which is so time consuming, all these mess ups have thought me that rigging and skinning is very time consuming and honestly it was something that I put off for Minor as I knew I would struggle with it, but I have learned a lot from having so many mess ups I definitely feel more confident in doing it for future characters.


I felt a tinge of apprehension with trying to find a composer for Lost Boy only because I am a perfectionist and it's kind of scary to hand the reins over to someone to bring the film to life through sound as sound is so important. It is hard to explain through words what you want the sound to be like as how can you describe what nostalgia sounds like? in the end I built a trust with Brian Freeland the composer as he understands the film and I loved it when he said he wanted to nail the ending as he said its important for the viewer to get the meaning of Present Graeme talking to his former self, I am glad that I let Brian do his thing as the sound turned out beautifully even though this is a first draft and it can only improve from here, I am confident that Brian will add an element of magic to the film through sound... I must admit I did well up when Brian gave me a chunk of the sound for when present Graeme's head pops off into the rocket to introduce Young Graeme - it really gets across the innocence and nostalgia, I am so glad that I went with Brian to do the score.


I am glad that I made a shot list for Lost Boy as it really helped me to stay on track for each shot as I had 72 in total it would have been easy to get muddled up with wondering how long each shot would last so it was handy to have the shot list next to me when animating a scene as I didn't have to worry about making a shot too long or short and then having to spend more time extending or editing a shot down in post.

Lost Boy has thought me that I want to be a director - I absolutely love messing with cameras to convey emotion and I find myself having to take a step back as I can get lost in camera movements and spend too much time trying to perfect them, I also really enjoyed the animation,
I think the heart of Lost Boy revolves around the three characters and although their animation can definitely be improved I think I have got across there persona's to a point - Mrs Pratt definitely needs more work as those tassel's are tough to animate and because of her long skirt no matter much time I spent painting the weights I couldn't get them to move right when I moved her feet - resulting in weighting everything to her pelvis which makes it kind of feel like her bottom half is too wooden but is something I can work on, The animation of the whole film still needs to be refined and can look so much better which I am looking forward to doing as I feel like I can animate now compared to the shots at the start of the film, My Art Of was rushed I had a lot more elements that I have screenshots for - rigging and skinning for example that I didn't get to include but this is something that I will work on so that it looks well when I get it printed.

I also enjoyed how collaborative it felt from Phil getting the story out of me and helping with edits to Alan helping me all the way through with Maya, to my classmates helping me with ideas that would work for the film. I am really proud of myself and my film and I honestly I found myself not wanting to do much else and got a bit obsessive with it because honestly I love my film and want to continue to make it the best it can be. I have grown my technical skills but also as a person, when I think back to the person I was in first year I think I am more confident in myself and my abilities and I know now that I will always work my hardest to see something through I just want to always move forward and take into consideration everything I have learned from the past three years into continuing to evolve creatively and personally - Now that I have the skills I need I cannot wait to take them into future projects and get those ideas and stores that I have always wanted to tell out into the open, I am exited to know that I can actually do that now  :)

Major: Submission - Lost Boy

Major: Lost Boy - Mrs Pratt Turnaround from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.
Young_Graeme_Turnaround_V4 from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.
Major: Lost Boy - Present Graeme Turnaround from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

Lost Boy Film from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

Major - Lost Boy - Mrs Pratt Turnaround

I am not satisfied with the lighting that goes across Mrs Pratt's hair, I have been having a lot of issues with renders where my textures won't show up when I render with Arnold or rendering sequence, it is hit and miss when it decides to work, I will return to this turnaround at a later date. 

Major - Lost Boy - Mrs Pratt Turnaround from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

Major: lost Boy - Young Graeme Turnaround

Major: Lost Boy - Young Graeme - Turnaround from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

Major: Lost Boy - Renders

Shot 8 Frame 903

Shot 9 Frame 907

Shot 12 Frame 1705

Shot 13 Frame 1766

Shot 18 Frame 2716

Shot 19 Frame 2898

Shot 19 Frame 2963

Shot 21 Frame 3084

Shot 21 Frame 3232

Major: Lost Boy - Present Graeme Turnaround

Lost Boy: Present Graeme Turnaround from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

Major: Lost Boy - Animation Progress #6

I have been animating with Young Graeme and have completed the airport scene and the classroom, I am now animating with Mrs Pratt and all three characters in the Art Room. Thanks to Emily Clarkson for breaking down how they achieved those nice fire effecst in the Marcus and the pudding pans for the Fishermans cottage I was able to replicate the effect for the rocket which added some choppy flames which I wanted, I decided to try the same effect with the lost Boy art that Young Graeme is drawing and use the blendshapes to crumple the paper up into a ball along with the animating paint splats on the ground - the blendshapes method worked like a charm for both I found myself really enjoying getting into modelling again as it feels like a while since I have done any so I wanted to really get into the characters heads by modelling little random bric a brac such as Young Graeme's art supples and Present Graemes airport items I have ideas for more such as a Nokia brick phone for Present Graeme and a school bag that is left by Young Graeme's table but I will return to that at a later date as animating is my main focus.

Lost Boy: Animation Progress 6 from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

paint bottle painted texture

 School Table Painted Texture

 Pencil Case Painted Texture

 Flame BlendShapes

 Flame Shape Editor

Paint Splats on ground made using Blenshapes

Major: Lost Boy - Mrs Pratt - Full Rig Demo

I will shortly start animating with Mrs Pratt, Since my last rigging post I have completed her teeth, tongue, and head controls and her rig is now fully complete. Lost Boy - Mrs Pratt Full Rig Demo from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

Major: Lost Boy - Young Graeme - Full Rig Demo

I am about to start animating Young Graeme, Since my last rigging post I have completed his teeth, tongue and facial controls and his rig is now fully complete.

Lost Boy Young Graeme Full Body Rig from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

Major: Lost Boy - Shot 17 Frame Renders

Shot 17 Frame 2164

Shot 17 Frame 2419

 Shot 17 Frame 2364

Major - Lost Boy - Frame Renders

I have been rendering frames for each shot for Lost Boy as I go

 Shot 1: Frame

Shot 2: Frame 511

 Shot 3: Frame 510

 Shot 4: Frame 529

 Shot 5: Frame 596

 Shot 6: Frame 629

 Shot 6: Frame 709

 Shot 6: Frame 716

Shot 7: Frame 863

Major - Lost Boy - Animation Progress #5

Lost Boy PostViz - Animation Progress 4 from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

 Boarding Pass Painted Texture

 Conveyer Belt Painted Texture

Tobacco Painted Texture

Major - Lost Boy - Animation Progress #4 - Shot 11

I was originally going to cut this shot for the hand in as it was a big chunk to lip sync but I wanted to do it as it really describes the Present Graeme's character and after hearing the sound that my composer Brian Freeland made I couldn't cut it. Shot 12 is near completion I have just been modelling the assets for that shot, including the clappaboard, conveyer belt and Present Graeme's knick knacks that are inside the airport tray for shot 13.

Lost Boy - Post Viz Shot 11 from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

 Shot 12 Clappaboard, Microphone Assets

Clappaboard Painted Texture

 Shot 12 Clappa Board, Conveyer Belt Assets

Shot 13 Assets WIP

Major: Lost Boy - Score - First Draft

The composer for Lost Boy - Brian Freeland has been busy bringing the film to life, Brians website details his skills and previous work and I choose Brian because I liked how he does classical elements but can also do more technical experimental pieces which I want to mesh together for Lost Boy.  I am really enjoying seeing these updates flourish - I love the leitmotif for Present Graeme, it's clumsy, comical with a dash of trouble. I really love the screechy sounds for the climax of the airport scene and the part where Young Graeme is introduced hit me right in the feels as it shows innocence, nostalgia and a dreamy vibe which correlates to him having his head in the clouds and always dreaming big. As this is just a first draft more elements will be added along with notes that I will make, so far hearing the sound bring the previz to life really gives me more incentive to keep on trucking and get this film made! I cannot wait to replace Moom with my polished sets and characters and see them manifest along with the score :)

Lost Boy Score Progress from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

@ALan Major: Lost Boy - Post-Viz - Animation Progress #3 Version 2

I have added in movement to present Graeme's spine and cog control and a breathe in and out for the exhale of his cigarette - I think he looks much more vivacious and alive now, I do think there is room for improvement, I still need to animate the eyebrows too.

Lost Boy - Shot_10_V2 from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

Major: Lost Boy - Post-Viz - Animation Progress #3

Todays Animation Progress - I enjoyed this one, I decided to have Present Graeme version 2 face the audience when rolling along his ball of tobacco - I think its more comical that way :)

Shot_10 from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

Major: Lost Boy Post-Viz - Animation Progress #2

I am really enjoying animating and I am getting quicker at it particularly with the lip sync as Alan advised me I didn't really have a mouth open - wide and narrow blend shape as the rest of the wide and narrow blendshapes were connected to a phoneme it slowed the previous lip sync on shot one down but now that I have created and connected the wide and narrow shapes I am finding myself not needing the majority of the phoneme blend shapes as most of it is done with the jaw, wide and narrow. I do think the running shot could be better I want to return to this also the shot where Present Graeme smacks his head with the nervous ball of energy flourishing from his eyeball I want to lip sync this part but did have the wide and narrow blend shapes done for that shot - I will return to it and reconnect in the blend shapes.
Animation Progress 2_720 from Graeme Daly on Vimeo.

 Wide Mouth Closed Blend Shape

 Wide Mouth Open Blend Shape

Narrow Mouth Open Blend Shape