Thinking about my final projects

I have been thinking about my final year at University and which area of animation I am going to specialize. I love all of the area's of animation that we have been introduced to but I am particularly interested in CGI animation. I have a lot of practicing to do but with the determination and patience I feel I will achieve my goal and ambition of becoming a CGI animator. I am really excited by special effects animation and I think that this is my chosen path in the animation industry. Although I will specialize in CG I will also use other techniques and materials to create drawn backgrounds and imagery.

For my final projects I will look at character design; I will design and develop my character/s looking at my specialist area and chosen module subject. I will draw inspiration from the people who I come across; looking at their body language, their style and how they portray themselves and their moods/personality. I will experiment with different mark making for my backgrounds looking at pattern and texture. As I am thinking of going into the special effects area of CGI I am going to concentrate on the backgrounds of my animation just as much as the character as I need to show of my modeling and texture skills. I will also look at lighting; depending on where my project is based I need to consider the lighting of the area. I want the piece to look elegantly done with a mature and enthusiastic approach.

Having discussed my final project with my tutor I have decided that one of my first options could be to do an Ident animation for E4. This would be a great opportunity for me, if I achieve a good enough animation this could be used on television (complimenting my portfolio) and would open the door for job opportunities. This would be a brilliant start to my career. Another option could be to do an animation for the D&AD student awards, I would have to request a brief from them and see what the project is based on and who the client is, of course this would narrow my choices of what to base my project on but will be the way of working in the animation industry; working to a clients brief and to a strict deadline.

I have done a little research on the previous Idents for E4 and I found that the main qualities that compliment the animations are the lively, continuous flow of energetic imagery. There are little narrative in the animations, no dialog and most of them are full of randomness; which is what makes them attractive and eye catching, they are 10- 30 seconds in length which is the appropriate time scale to attract and keep the audience engaged. I don't want to move too far away from the typical E4 style as it needs to be recognizable as E4; keeping to the correct colour palette, style of imagery and typography is important. I want to make the most of this project, creating a lively animation that is pleasing to the eye.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeJp-KHFP0Q - this one is really good, love how they have done it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seDYX7SBL4k&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS8sBa9SOoA&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU9mYm9JrIM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccplsbUza9Y&feature=related - inspired by Escher