Sunday 31 January 2010
Story board
I have finally decided on my story board and I think that I do have quite a good story. I have given my main character a hobby (painting) and by doing this I was able to come up with a story board.
Monday 25 January 2010
Research and inspiration- Kiwi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs
This is another short animation that I really like, the concept of it being a wingless bird that would take his life just for the chance to fly that one time :( The animation begins showing us Kiwi nailing tree's to the side of a cliff, at first it seems a little odd but the humorous body language of Kiwi; pulling out a hammer and nails from his back and nailing the tree to the cliff using his feet to hammer the nails, makes us think that something positive will become of this, only to Kiwi is it positive as he eagily finishes nailing all of the tree's to the side of the cliff. Seeing a long shot of the tree's nailed on the side of the cliff, this is where we begin to realise that this is odd and begin to question it even more. The next step is Kiwi putting on his goggles and jumping off the cliff, the camera is facing up right so that the tree's are still on their side, but then the camera (whilst Kiwi is in mid air) rotates showing the tree's standing as though they are up right and Kiwi is flying through the air. At this point soft chiming music begins and a tear falls from Kiwi's eye. This is where we really feel for Kiwi as we realise that he went through all of that trouble for one chance to fly and risks his life for that chance.
The thing that I like about this short animation is the change of story and also change of mood, it switches from humorous to upsetting and from the start to finish our minds are puzzling what is going on "what is he trying to make?" "what is this for?" and then as he jumps "why?" until the camera rotates and then I think it is here that we realise why he has jumped. I feel that this is an emotional animation and although we know that this is a nonsence character and a made up story line; there are people that do feel this way in simular situations. I think that this animation really does reflect the way we feel, we want to achieve all that we can and sometimes to get that there are sacrifices; although in Kiwi's situation it is something that birds should be allowed to do, because of this he feels useless and he wants to know how it feels to fly like a bird.
This is another short animation that I really like, the concept of it being a wingless bird that would take his life just for the chance to fly that one time :( The animation begins showing us Kiwi nailing tree's to the side of a cliff, at first it seems a little odd but the humorous body language of Kiwi; pulling out a hammer and nails from his back and nailing the tree to the cliff using his feet to hammer the nails, makes us think that something positive will become of this, only to Kiwi is it positive as he eagily finishes nailing all of the tree's to the side of the cliff. Seeing a long shot of the tree's nailed on the side of the cliff, this is where we begin to realise that this is odd and begin to question it even more. The next step is Kiwi putting on his goggles and jumping off the cliff, the camera is facing up right so that the tree's are still on their side, but then the camera (whilst Kiwi is in mid air) rotates showing the tree's standing as though they are up right and Kiwi is flying through the air. At this point soft chiming music begins and a tear falls from Kiwi's eye. This is where we really feel for Kiwi as we realise that he went through all of that trouble for one chance to fly and risks his life for that chance.
The thing that I like about this short animation is the change of story and also change of mood, it switches from humorous to upsetting and from the start to finish our minds are puzzling what is going on "what is he trying to make?" "what is this for?" and then as he jumps "why?" until the camera rotates and then I think it is here that we realise why he has jumped. I feel that this is an emotional animation and although we know that this is a nonsence character and a made up story line; there are people that do feel this way in simular situations. I think that this animation really does reflect the way we feel, we want to achieve all that we can and sometimes to get that there are sacrifices; although in Kiwi's situation it is something that birds should be allowed to do, because of this he feels useless and he wants to know how it feels to fly like a bird.
Saturday 23 January 2010
Research and inspration- Oktapodi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=badHUNl2HXU
This is a funny short animation about the love of two octopus's and their devotion to stay together. Beginning with showing them in a cooks fish tank we see the males desperate attempts to save his girl friend as she is taken away for a delivery. Successfully getting her out of the delivery van they try and escape to towards the ocean; jumping from swimming pool to swimming pool. Unfortunaltly the delivery guy does not give up and attemps to get her back but just as he fails a bird comes and gets the male octopus. The animation then ends as we see the female prepare to fight for her man!
This is the complete opposite to "Replay" and "The Piano". It's funny but also quite true, the way that we would fight for our loved ones. I like the animating in this animation; the exaggeration. I also like the first scene where it shows the octopus's thoughts and the style of animation changes from CG to 2D flash animation. I will also experiment with use of different media in my animation, I think that it does work with the complete change but I will also try having some of the mixed media with the CG animation.
This is a funny short animation about the love of two octopus's and their devotion to stay together. Beginning with showing them in a cooks fish tank we see the males desperate attempts to save his girl friend as she is taken away for a delivery. Successfully getting her out of the delivery van they try and escape to towards the ocean; jumping from swimming pool to swimming pool. Unfortunaltly the delivery guy does not give up and attemps to get her back but just as he fails a bird comes and gets the male octopus. The animation then ends as we see the female prepare to fight for her man!
This is the complete opposite to "Replay" and "The Piano". It's funny but also quite true, the way that we would fight for our loved ones. I like the animating in this animation; the exaggeration. I also like the first scene where it shows the octopus's thoughts and the style of animation changes from CG to 2D flash animation. I will also experiment with use of different media in my animation, I think that it does work with the complete change but I will also try having some of the mixed media with the CG animation.
research and references- Replay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-cFHeoXAw8
As I want to experiment with sound a little more this time having the sound going along as though telling the story this is a good reference in the way that they have used it. The animation is about a young boy and his older sister who live in a deserted town. Unable to go outside without an air mask; the young boys older sister comes back into the home after looking for objects to sell on. Along with a torch his sister also finds a recorder and as they play the recorder we hear the sound of children playing and laughing; a voice saying "do you want to play?" this of course is questioned by the young boy as he listens to the children playing; what he should be doing at his age. You feel quite sad for the boy at this point as you realise that he is lonely.
After waking up in the morning the girl finds that her younger brother is not there and niether is the recorder, worried she rushes to go and find him. We see the boy walking the deserted streets, playing the recorder as he goes. The sounds playing on the recorder reflect the places that he walks but in the opostite manner to how they look i.e a whistling bird playing on the recorder but we only see the wire in which it would be sitting, a horn of a driving car but the car is broken down and abandoned. I like the way that the sound has been used and the way that it has affect on the animation; with out the sound the animnation wouldn't have as much meaning as it shows the difference between the two worlds.
We see the boy sit on a round about still playing the tape. As the camera pans across past a tree we see two children throwing a paper plane, the plane flies past the little boy and lands on the window of a derelict building. Realising what the boy is missing out on, he takes off his mask and the dull deserted place transforms into a brighter place and how it would have been but with out the people. The boys robotic leg transforms into a real leg and we then hear the voice again "do you want to play?" the boy then runs up to the children. The camera then cuts back to his sister as she hunts for her brother but she is still in the dark and dull world so at this point we realise that something isn't right. We then see her as she runs up to her brother as he lies dead on the floor, the camera ends on the recorder as it comes to the end of the tape.
I love the twist in this film and it is that twist that gives the reaction from the audience. This film is also emotional, the way that the young boy sacrifices his life to be free and like a child. This isn't something that we suffer with today but with how the climate change is going, in many years to come they say that our world will be a simular place. The animation gives you a lonely and quite an upsetting feeling, the colours of the animation also add to this effect; being dull and dark portrays the mood of the animation, as he becomes free the darkness becomes light and that then makes you feel happpier. So that is another thing that I need to consider for my animation; the colours that I will use will also have affect on the animation and sound.
As I want to experiment with sound a little more this time having the sound going along as though telling the story this is a good reference in the way that they have used it. The animation is about a young boy and his older sister who live in a deserted town. Unable to go outside without an air mask; the young boys older sister comes back into the home after looking for objects to sell on. Along with a torch his sister also finds a recorder and as they play the recorder we hear the sound of children playing and laughing; a voice saying "do you want to play?" this of course is questioned by the young boy as he listens to the children playing; what he should be doing at his age. You feel quite sad for the boy at this point as you realise that he is lonely.
After waking up in the morning the girl finds that her younger brother is not there and niether is the recorder, worried she rushes to go and find him. We see the boy walking the deserted streets, playing the recorder as he goes. The sounds playing on the recorder reflect the places that he walks but in the opostite manner to how they look i.e a whistling bird playing on the recorder but we only see the wire in which it would be sitting, a horn of a driving car but the car is broken down and abandoned. I like the way that the sound has been used and the way that it has affect on the animation; with out the sound the animnation wouldn't have as much meaning as it shows the difference between the two worlds.
We see the boy sit on a round about still playing the tape. As the camera pans across past a tree we see two children throwing a paper plane, the plane flies past the little boy and lands on the window of a derelict building. Realising what the boy is missing out on, he takes off his mask and the dull deserted place transforms into a brighter place and how it would have been but with out the people. The boys robotic leg transforms into a real leg and we then hear the voice again "do you want to play?" the boy then runs up to the children. The camera then cuts back to his sister as she hunts for her brother but she is still in the dark and dull world so at this point we realise that something isn't right. We then see her as she runs up to her brother as he lies dead on the floor, the camera ends on the recorder as it comes to the end of the tape.
I love the twist in this film and it is that twist that gives the reaction from the audience. This film is also emotional, the way that the young boy sacrifices his life to be free and like a child. This isn't something that we suffer with today but with how the climate change is going, in many years to come they say that our world will be a simular place. The animation gives you a lonely and quite an upsetting feeling, the colours of the animation also add to this effect; being dull and dark portrays the mood of the animation, as he becomes free the darkness becomes light and that then makes you feel happpier. So that is another thing that I need to consider for my animation; the colours that I will use will also have affect on the animation and sound.
Research and inspiration-The Piano
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZJDNSp1QJA
This is an animation that I have looked at, it has been used in schools to show the children expression within a short film. I like the whole concept and the way that the music tells the story; when something happens in the story the music changes. The animation begins with an old man playing on a piano and as he plays the tune (Comptine d'un autre été: l'après midi) his wifes ghost appears and plays it with him. The first reaction I got when I saw this was a feeling of sorrow and it appears that the audience also thought this as there are comments stating this "I cry everytime I see this !! xx Its amazing and so affective!!" "i got showed this 3 years ago in school , and i cant forget about it, i remeber it so well , ha" "1st time I cryed bud I still love this song!". At some point in our lives we all loose someone that we love and most of the time we take this for granted. Music brings back so many memories and that is what I love so much about this animation because it really does show that.
As the music changes the animation then changes and the shot of the old man begins to fade into himself as a younger man fighting in the war, we then see another close person that he has lost in his life as he dies in his arms, I too relate to this as I was there when my mother passed away. As the old man looks up we are then shown a positive side to his life showing him as a little boy opening a christmas present, this will bring back alot of memories for so many people; getting the present that they wanted. It may give them mixed emotions; a feeling of happiness that they can remember getting their much wanted gift and also a feeling of upset as it is in the past and so long ago, espically for the older audience who's parents have passed away.
As he runs around on his new toy we then see a transformation as he then becomes his young grandchild; again another positive point in his life. The thing that I liked about this scene was that even when it was the old man as a young boy running around on his toy, he was still in the room with the piano. The animation end as his grandchild sits down to finish the last key in the music. This animation will relate to and touch alot of people looking back on the lives of thier own grandfather.
From this animation I will take the concept of memories and I will look at the different emotions that we get from them. I will also use my music in a story telling way having it changing at certain points in the animation.
This is an animation that I have looked at, it has been used in schools to show the children expression within a short film. I like the whole concept and the way that the music tells the story; when something happens in the story the music changes. The animation begins with an old man playing on a piano and as he plays the tune (Comptine d'un autre été: l'après midi) his wifes ghost appears and plays it with him. The first reaction I got when I saw this was a feeling of sorrow and it appears that the audience also thought this as there are comments stating this "I cry everytime I see this !! xx Its amazing and so affective!!" "i got showed this 3 years ago in school , and i cant forget about it, i remeber it so well , ha" "1st time I cryed bud I still love this song!". At some point in our lives we all loose someone that we love and most of the time we take this for granted. Music brings back so many memories and that is what I love so much about this animation because it really does show that.
As the music changes the animation then changes and the shot of the old man begins to fade into himself as a younger man fighting in the war, we then see another close person that he has lost in his life as he dies in his arms, I too relate to this as I was there when my mother passed away. As the old man looks up we are then shown a positive side to his life showing him as a little boy opening a christmas present, this will bring back alot of memories for so many people; getting the present that they wanted. It may give them mixed emotions; a feeling of happiness that they can remember getting their much wanted gift and also a feeling of upset as it is in the past and so long ago, espically for the older audience who's parents have passed away.
As he runs around on his new toy we then see a transformation as he then becomes his young grandchild; again another positive point in his life. The thing that I liked about this scene was that even when it was the old man as a young boy running around on his toy, he was still in the room with the piano. The animation end as his grandchild sits down to finish the last key in the music. This animation will relate to and touch alot of people looking back on the lives of thier own grandfather.
From this animation I will take the concept of memories and I will look at the different emotions that we get from them. I will also use my music in a story telling way having it changing at certain points in the animation.
My Brief
Specialist Study 2 Animation
Level 6
60 credits
Media-
Using your specialist area of animation explore other media's and use these in your animation. Think about how you will use the mixed media's and the style.
Target audience-
This animation will be showcased at a student animation festival so it must be appealing to both students and an older audience i.e students families, mature animators etc
15+
Brief-
Capture the emotions of your target audience by creating a short film animation. Create atleast one character and think about how your can encourage the audience to emphasise with the main character. By exploring film language find out what it is that makes a good quality character animation. How will you use this in your animation? What is it that makes the audience emphasise with the main character? Is it through like or dislike, torment or sympathy? Think about your own life experiences and what it is that triggers certain emotions? The animation will be showcased at a student animation festival so how will you make your animation stand out to the crowd?
Level 6
60 credits
Media-
Using your specialist area of animation explore other media's and use these in your animation. Think about how you will use the mixed media's and the style.
Target audience-
This animation will be showcased at a student animation festival so it must be appealing to both students and an older audience i.e students families, mature animators etc
15+
Brief-
Capture the emotions of your target audience by creating a short film animation. Create atleast one character and think about how your can encourage the audience to emphasise with the main character. By exploring film language find out what it is that makes a good quality character animation. How will you use this in your animation? What is it that makes the audience emphasise with the main character? Is it through like or dislike, torment or sympathy? Think about your own life experiences and what it is that triggers certain emotions? The animation will be showcased at a student animation festival so how will you make your animation stand out to the crowd?
Sunday 17 January 2010
Aim
My aim is to create a short film animation showing:
- clear understanding of visual communication
- use of atleast 2 media's
- good character development
- good quality animating
- sound reflecting aimation
- good use of lighting
Learning outcomes-
- having the audience emphasise with my character
- mixing CG with another media of animation
- Character design, modelling and texturing
- Animation
- Animating to sound
- Lighting
How will I achieve this?
- I will analyse refrences to get a good understanding of film language to ensure my animation is having some effect on the audience- I want a reaction no point if not
- I will explore other media's with CG; having a more unique style rather than all CG animation
- Creating a more simple character this time I will explore texture such as hair and clothes; having them move like actual fabric.
- I will have video references to follow for my animating, this will ensure I achieve the correct key poses and also smooth and fluent movement.
- This time I will animate to the sound rather than adding the sound to reflect the animation, this will also make it easier whilst animating.
- Rather than adding the lighting where I think it shud go I will look at stage lighting and other references.
Reflecting on my last project
At the beginning of the project I had a few different ideas and it was quite difficult to chose as my target audience had very different opinions. Once I decided on my brief I was able to get on with it.
Modelling- I felt that I had a good project in terms of good character design and development, but my rooster was a little complex when it came down to unwrapping the mesh for adding the texture. This time I need to create a more simple character and by doing this I will look at refrences to help me achieve a good strong character design. This time I want to try a human character as I always seem to create animals. I will go to life drawing classes to get a better idea of the human anatomy.
Texturing- I did struggle a little when it came down to the texturing, because of the way that i modelled my characters; having the texture on the form. I will think about the texturing before I come to model my charcter. I want to go further with the texturing; using hair and clothes.
Movement- I created blendshapes for my characters but for this project again I want to go further by having more of them being able to achieve more realistic looking expressions. My characters did not move quite how I wanted them to, so this time I will study the human anatomy and the bone structure looking at the way that the body moves and bends. Also to help me I will have recorded video refrences so that I can relate my characters movements to it and achieve realistic fluent movements. I want my character to move like an actual person; the skin, the hair and clothes.
Sound- One big regret that I have from the last project is that I didn't record my sound effects until after I had finished animating, for this project I will aim to have the sound recorded before I have started animating. By doing this it will help me achieve the expressions and showing the emotion of my main character whilst animating. A good idea would be to record the actors whilst performing my script as this would give me a good idea for the actions for my character. I want my animatio to ook proffessional and by having a good quality sound track and sound effects will help me achieve this.
Lighting- I need to look at how lighting is used in high quality proffessional films/commercials, In my last project I added the lights where I thought they should be i.e. for the moon light I placed the light infront of the moon but in some scenes it was easier said than done as the textures would look really odd in some lights and certain angles.
Timing- My timing wasn't perfect at all on my last project as I pondered too much on an idea, once I had my idea I was unstoppable (literally) which is a good thing as I love doing what i do. The bad thing about me is I can never decide on a final idea and is something that I have been aware of since a child, I am sooo indecisive! :( For this project I will keep to my timing to make sure that I dont have any problems and if I do have problems then I need to atleast leave time to fix solve these problems.
Modelling- I felt that I had a good project in terms of good character design and development, but my rooster was a little complex when it came down to unwrapping the mesh for adding the texture. This time I need to create a more simple character and by doing this I will look at refrences to help me achieve a good strong character design. This time I want to try a human character as I always seem to create animals. I will go to life drawing classes to get a better idea of the human anatomy.
Texturing- I did struggle a little when it came down to the texturing, because of the way that i modelled my characters; having the texture on the form. I will think about the texturing before I come to model my charcter. I want to go further with the texturing; using hair and clothes.
Movement- I created blendshapes for my characters but for this project again I want to go further by having more of them being able to achieve more realistic looking expressions. My characters did not move quite how I wanted them to, so this time I will study the human anatomy and the bone structure looking at the way that the body moves and bends. Also to help me I will have recorded video refrences so that I can relate my characters movements to it and achieve realistic fluent movements. I want my character to move like an actual person; the skin, the hair and clothes.
Sound- One big regret that I have from the last project is that I didn't record my sound effects until after I had finished animating, for this project I will aim to have the sound recorded before I have started animating. By doing this it will help me achieve the expressions and showing the emotion of my main character whilst animating. A good idea would be to record the actors whilst performing my script as this would give me a good idea for the actions for my character. I want my animatio to ook proffessional and by having a good quality sound track and sound effects will help me achieve this.
Lighting- I need to look at how lighting is used in high quality proffessional films/commercials, In my last project I added the lights where I thought they should be i.e. for the moon light I placed the light infront of the moon but in some scenes it was easier said than done as the textures would look really odd in some lights and certain angles.
Timing- My timing wasn't perfect at all on my last project as I pondered too much on an idea, once I had my idea I was unstoppable (literally) which is a good thing as I love doing what i do. The bad thing about me is I can never decide on a final idea and is something that I have been aware of since a child, I am sooo indecisive! :( For this project I will keep to my timing to make sure that I dont have any problems and if I do have problems then I need to atleast leave time to fix solve these problems.
Saturday 9 January 2010
UP
I love pixar films and I always try to compare my work to theirs (I know... I have a long way to go) but their charcter designs are amazing and also the story of the animations are interesting and keep the audience engaged. The thing that I loved about UP was that I was able to sympathize with the main character as he lost someone that he really loved and from my own experiences I can relate to him and how he was feeling.
Character- The audeince are able to sympathize with this character as he loses the love of his life. We all lose people that we love and are close to us so this is how we are drawn towards him; feeling sorry for him. I may use this in my story where the main character looses someone/something important as this will give the audience the opportunity to relate to my character. Another thing that the audience will relate to is age; no one wants to get old... and seeing the life of an old man being thrown out of his home where home where he has spent most of his life with his wife. Using "Age" as a theme could be a good idea as I think that my audience will relate to it and as everybody ages this will widen my target audience.
Mood- The mood of Up changes through out from up lifting to sad then up lifting again, also having its other moods in between. I need to decide what moods to go for in my animation; whether its just 1 mood or mixed.
Character- The audeince are able to sympathize with this character as he loses the love of his life. We all lose people that we love and are close to us so this is how we are drawn towards him; feeling sorry for him. I may use this in my story where the main character looses someone/something important as this will give the audience the opportunity to relate to my character. Another thing that the audience will relate to is age; no one wants to get old... and seeing the life of an old man being thrown out of his home where home where he has spent most of his life with his wife. Using "Age" as a theme could be a good idea as I think that my audience will relate to it and as everybody ages this will widen my target audience.
Mood- The mood of Up changes through out from up lifting to sad then up lifting again, also having its other moods in between. I need to decide what moods to go for in my animation; whether its just 1 mood or mixed.
FINAL PROJECT- INTRODUCTION
Well I have been thinking over Christmas about what to do for my next project; what kind of brief I want to work with and my target audience. The good thing about Christmas is there are loads of films/animations on TV in which I could gather inspiratiion and idea's. I will do critical studies on animations/films looking at the story and also the main character; how are the audience engaged with this charcter.
As I am specializing in CGI animation I want to show off the best of my abilities in creating a good quality animation with a high standard of character design. I want the story of my animation to keep the audince engaged and to make sure that I do achieve this I will anaylize high quality successful feature film animations, good quality short film animations/commercials and also animations that havn't been so sucessful. I will then do critical studies on each of them finding out what works in order to get the best qualities of producing a successful animation/film.
I really want to make the most of this final project and it is soooo hard trying to decide what to do. This year we are also arranging a festival and our work will be shown there, I hope that we can really pull this one off. We need to arrange for guest animators to appear, spokes man to introduce the festival and the work being shown, a venue would be a good place to start as this would give us an idea of the space we are going to be working with. We also need to arrange an opening to the festival, having a get together introducing the festival over a few drinks and snacks..... but of course this all involves money :-o so we need to get a fund and sponsers.
At the same time as being nervous; I am quite excited about this whole thing as it is a good opportunity for us to show our abilities to a larger audience.
As I am specializing in CGI animation I want to show off the best of my abilities in creating a good quality animation with a high standard of character design. I want the story of my animation to keep the audince engaged and to make sure that I do achieve this I will anaylize high quality successful feature film animations, good quality short film animations/commercials and also animations that havn't been so sucessful. I will then do critical studies on each of them finding out what works in order to get the best qualities of producing a successful animation/film.
I really want to make the most of this final project and it is soooo hard trying to decide what to do. This year we are also arranging a festival and our work will be shown there, I hope that we can really pull this one off. We need to arrange for guest animators to appear, spokes man to introduce the festival and the work being shown, a venue would be a good place to start as this would give us an idea of the space we are going to be working with. We also need to arrange an opening to the festival, having a get together introducing the festival over a few drinks and snacks..... but of course this all involves money :-o so we need to get a fund and sponsers.
At the same time as being nervous; I am quite excited about this whole thing as it is a good opportunity for us to show our abilities to a larger audience.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)