Creation of Freya

Welcome to my research, analysis and development page related to the creation of my individual project. Here, you'll find a comprehensive overview of the references and sources that guided me from concept to completion. Join me on this journey as I share the creative process and share insights into the evolution of my work.

Main References

First sequence

Filmed myself reacting to the first three arrows which I exaggerated more in the animation.

Displays weight shift, gravity and centre of mass.

Jump

From a movie

Observed the anticipation, momentum, gravity, weight shift, centre of mass stance as well as the positions of the arms and legs

Last sequence

I filmed my friend landing then losing her balance, she looks back to see there is still danger and then rushes to get away.

Displays reaction to danger, regaining balance and weight shift.

First Sequence - Annotations

The first sequence demonstrates a natural forward walk with balanced weight. When danger appears, the character reacts suddenly by leaning backwards, shifting the centre of gravity behind the body. The arms respond instinctively in a defensive motion. As the situation develops, the head leads the body as it turns to assess the threat. The character then accelerates into a run, with forward lean and increased momentum reflecting urgency and fear.

The reference demonstrates realistic body mechanics and reaction timing.
There is a natural forward walk with balanced weight.
When the spear appears, the character reacts suddenly by leaning backwards which shifts the character’s centre of gravity behind them.
Arms move defensively by instinct.
After the step back I gave her a continued backwards motion of her still reacting which also made her less static.
When the arrow shoots behind, the head leads her torso as it turns since her head is the first to react to the arrow whilst her arms display a swaying motion.
Her whole body turns around as she assesses the danger, then runs away in a haste, almost losing her balance.
Reaction time is also key here as she assesses it and as she is still processing takes slower steps back before accelerating to run away.
Her upper body leans forward throughout.

Jump - Annotations

The jump demonstrates realistic body mechanics using anticipation and weight shift before take‑off, allowing force to be transferred through the legs.

I lowered the hips to display the force and anticipation for the movement. I used the motion trail to map out the motion with timing accelerating during ascent and deceleration at the peak, which helps to convey realistic physics.

Strong forward momentum is maintained throughout the jump, causing the body to continue travelling forward.

Last sequence - Annotations

Was the most challenging part to do. The position of the hands and feet were important. She looks back, sees there is more danger and then runs struggles to run as she is regaining her balance.

Recovery actions are attempted through corrective steps and rapid adjustments in posture.

After landing from the jump, the character loses balance due to forward momentum, causing a shift in the centre of gravity. Her hips then rotate as she lands on her side.

Whilst the centre of gravity shifts to her left, the head turns looking back acts as a secondary action, revealing additional danger and increasing a sense of panic. The recovery movement becomes unstable, reflecting both physical and imbalance and emotional fear.

The gravity shifts rapidly here. The hips rotate as she loses her balance and weight shifts as she attempts to regain it.

There is a forward motion throughout — her head leads this as she tried to get away quite clumsily.

When she lands the impact creates a slight jolt in her hips.

The character’s attempt to regain balance is unsuccessful due to ongoing momentum and panic‑driven movement.

Block out

The blocking stage was done in stepped tangent so that I would be able to place the key poses where I needed them.

The aim was to get these key poses down as a base before I could refine further.

I focused more on perfecting torso and upper body before touching arm and hand movements as I wanted to get the centre of gravity and positions right since that was the most challenging.

I also had to make sure the feet were steady in their positions especially when the character needed to turn.

Polishing

I used the motion trail a lot especially for the jump to detect the smooth movements, timing and spacing which was very useful.

The graph editor was also extremely effective. I was able to utilise this so that the animation would run smoothly as in many areas it seemed quite robotic, so I moved the keys around, deleted and added translate / rotation keys.

This helped especially for the short run as it was initially very stiff.

There were also moments where some body parts, especially the feet, shifted a lot that was not subtle and so I was able to fix that with the ease tool.

I learnt a lot about the graph editor as I needed it a lot and got used to using it to help make my animation as smooth as possible.

ARBELLA MATHAMS ANIMATION PORTFOLIO