The Classical Elements: Development

In this animation I found it to be easy and efficient to make but only when I sorted out where all the layers and frames are going to be and which frame goes to which layer.

on problem that I had was that when I tried to render it all on photoshop the animation only lasted for a couple of seconds. So I decided to put all the frames into After Effects and make an image sequence out of the frames instead. 

 After I created the image sequence I placed in some audio to go along with the animation and tweaking the audio so that it would ease in/out of the animation. The audio that I used was 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head' by B.J.Thomas

I also added in some credits in the beginning and the end, to show what its called, who it's by etc.

The Classical Elements: Flip Book Anmations

In 1868 John Barnes Linnett invented a book that had a series of images which when flicked through fast enough it'll create the illusion of movement this was called the 'Flip Book'. This works on the same principle as the Zoetrope.

Flip Books are now known to be toys for children, but they have also been an effective promotional tool since there creation for such decidedly adult products automobiles and cigarettes.

The Classical Elements: Zoetrope Animation

Zoetrope animation is a type of animation thats from 1834, it's where you place pieces of card which show some sort of movement or animation in the inside of a cylinder. When you spin the cylinder around you'll be able to see the animation from the outside through the slits on the side of the cylinder.

William George Horner was the inventor of the zoetrope but he called it the 'Daedatelum'. A French inventor called Pierre Desvignes renamed it to zoetrope.

This pre cinema animation device is referred to in movies a lot but the main movie which people will recognise is Tarzan when he is figuring out who he really is.

Classical Elements: Development 2

After speaking to the tutor about the digital drawings he said that he thought that my animation would look more like an animation on Vimeo called 'The Trip'. So I watched the animation and it gave me inspiration to not bother with the background too much, so I'll add colour to the background instead.
the trip from antonio vicentini on Vimeo.

These are the new digital drawings that were inspired by the video above, but I decided to make the colour black and whit and only colour the raindrop so that it makes it stand out more.

Classical Elements: Development

After the Interim Crit I decided to work more on the backgrounds for my animation because I feel like I've been focusing on the actual raindrop. I also experimented with the style and colour of the animation and see which one works best.

The first digital drawing that I did was for the animatic/storyboard, but it wasn't the best of drawings because it was just a quick sketch but that was my first initial idea.

I then did another two drawings on photoshop but I used the lasso tool and coloured it in. I think that I like the style of it but these something about it which I wanted to change but I didn't know what it was.

Visual Language: 8 Developed Drawings

 1. this is a development from one of the 32 drawings from before,

2. same drawing but in pen and from a different angle as well.

 3. this is from a side view of the free runner in sketchy drawing,

4. free runner from above in pen and shaded in pencil.

 5. this is just a free runner doing a different pose drawn by pencil.

 6. Again free runners in different poses drawn in pencil but from the angle above front,

7.this drawing is of the free runner coloured in and from behind.  

8. for the last drawing i decided to do it digitally because I wanted to do a different media rather that pen/pencil.

Visual Language: 32 Drawings

Classical Elements: Animatic

This is my animatic that I've created to show how the animation might look like and for how long the animation will run for.

Classical Elements: Development

These are just developments on what things are going to look like in the animation. The frog may be changed throughout because I'm not liking the look of the one on the left.

I was also showing how the raindrops will fall off the leaves and how they will spiral round as they fall.

Also i was working out how the raindrop will fall at the beginning because it's got slow motion in it, so I figured out that if I add more frames in the middle of the fall it will hopefully look like the slow motion effect.

Classical Elements: Storyboard

These are some of the storyboarding I've done for the animation. I did the storyboard on sticky notes so that if I want to change anything or move any frames around I can do with ease.

I will further develop the storyboard on my computer in Photoshop because that's how I'm going to create/produce my animation.

Classical Elements: Narrative

After I came up with an idea I then added a narrative to explain whats going on in the story.

• First a cloud forms above a forest,
• the camera then moves in close to the cloud,
• a raindrop then falls out of the cloud towards the camera,
• camera follows the raindrop as it falls in slow motion passed it. 

•  Raindrop hits a bird on the head and it rolls down the back of the bird and drips off the end of the tail of the bird,
• it suddenly hits a vine and splits in two separate raindrops, 
• the two raindrops spin around each other, 
• then they both bounce on leaves and bump back into each other to become whole again.     

• the raindrop then falls towards the pond at the bottom,
• a tongue then appears to catch the raindrop just before it hits the pond,
• the tongue then retreats back with the raindrop still on it to be eaten by a frog,
• the end.

Classical Elements: Idea Generation

For the Elements Brief we have to come up with a 20 second animation which includes one of the elements: Water, Earth, Fire and Air. I chose water because I felt that I'd be able to introduce the 12 principles of animation more effectively, plus it was the element which I had the most ideas for.

On the image to the left are my first initial ideas like having water and fire having a battle, a life on a raindrop, or having Gandalf saying "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" to a massive wave of water.

I developed more on the water vs fire idea but then I realised that the concept fro this idea was a bit cliché, so I decided to go for the 'Life of a Raindrop' instead because theres so much I could do with the idea. And then i developed on the idea further.    

Frame by Frame Animtion Research

In this video the guy teaches you how to do a walk cycle using frame by frame animation. FBF animation is basically you draw something then go to the next frame and draw the same thing but with a slight difference, then you repeat that until you've got your animation complete.

Surprise MotherF**ker.2

This is the same pixilation as before but I decided to add sound to make it comical. I add some Benny Hill music, the scene from StarWars where Darth Vader says "I am your father", surprise motherf**cker sound and Bill Withers' 'Just the two of us'. I feel that this makes the pixilation comical because of the stupidity of the actions with the music.

Studio Brief Apply- Research

For my Pixilation I wanted to do the theme on surprise and the first thing that popped into my head what this video. But in my animation the guy isn't going to say anything and he's going to keep popping up to surprise this other guy.

Evatuation

Evaluation

Throughout this module we’ve had to produce a number of animations like stop motion animation, pixilation, flipbooks and pose to pose animation. But before I could start any of these I had to learn the 12 principals of animation, which will help my animations look and feel better. I feel that learning the 12 principals has given my more skill and knowledge about drawing animations because I’ve tried to use them in every animation that I’ve done so far. I’ve also learned about Timing and how many frames per second (FPS) are needed in an animation like 24fsp is the regular amount but can very between 23fps-30fps.

My first lesson on the 12 principals of animation was ‘Squash and Stretch’ while producing a flipbook about bouncing balls. I learnt how balls could squash when they hit something but can also stretch when flying through the air. In my opinion I feel that my flipbooks were good but maybe I could do with a little less stretching in some of my flipbooks.

I feel like my storyboarding has increased because I’ve learnt how to storyboard on sticky note before actually drawing it out on one big piece of paper. Doing this helped me realise which scene needed to be where and by using sticky notes it’s easier not to go off track of your idea you had in mind. I’ve also learnt how to show characters/objects movements and direction of actions onto a storyboard by just placing arrows to indicate the action, and how to show the camera how to zoom in at one exact point by putting a smaller box in the frame, which demonstrates a zoom in.

Pixilation’s in my opinion is an easier way to animate than stop motion because you don’t have to draw out every frame, you just have to move an inch then take a picture and repeat. But what I did learn was how to put all the photos into a sequence on After Effects to make a movie out of it, which was hard at first but I got the hang of it on my second attempt at a pixilation. What I like about my pixilation’s are that there smooth running easy to follow.

Learning to do Pendulum swings was my next task, this taught us how to ease in and out. This task is also known as Pose-to-Pose Animation, is about plotting out the key frames in the animation then filling in the inbetweeners later. My animation for this was a mushroom from Mario the game jumping over a the bullet from Mario whilst doing a flip, I feel that this went well but I could of done with a few more frames on the jumping and landing sections.

To sum up the whole module was enjoyable because I gained new skills and more knowledge about animation. I feel that all my animations were successful in achieving the principals of animation, and that the skills I’ve learnt will carry on throughout my work as an animator.       

      

Wreck-it Ralph

 Wreck-it Ralph has a good example of a moral lesson, which is that evil villains don't always have to be evil and that there's a bit of good in everyone. Also the evil villain can become the good guy with a little help and determination (this also shows in the movie Megamind).

Another lesson that this movie tells us is that when we think other peoples' life is so much better, but in some cases there life is actually worse. also at some point we see our jobs as meaningless and small, but we only see the big picture when we start to see the effect.

Example of Pose to Pose Animation

In this video the guy tells you about pose to pose animation, whats its about and how to do it yourself just by using a walking cycle animation. He says that you should plot out your key frames before you start drawing the full animation. Doing this will give you a good idea of what your animation will look like throughout the video.

Surprise Motherf**ker

In this pixilation I've created effects like gliding across the floor while in a running stance and I've also made people appear out of nowhere. The story is about how a guy gets surprised at a figure that keeps jumping out at him but at the end he finds out the figures identity and realises that it's his father and ends up hugging him. I like my pixilation because I think it shows some principles of animation, like anticipation, slow-in and slow-out, exaggeration and appeal and character personalities. One thing I would do differently if I had to do this again would be to rehears the actions to get them spot on and maybe have the figure character wear a mask so you can't actually see his face.  

Brave

 Throughout this Disney Pixar animation 'Brave' there are a couple of morals in the story for anyone to learn. Many movies from Disney Pixar have morals but in 'Brave' has introduced something different by creating a girl character as being the true hero.

The first lesson is that a girl be a hero by not letting a male character stand beside her (unlike Cinderella, Rapunzel and Mulan) throughout her journey in the movie. also she doesn't want a man in her life because she wants to be independent and increase her abilities of an archer/sword fighter.

Secondly, this story tells us that adults/parents can be wrong, because Merida's mother is trying to change her opinions and choose a different course for her to take by marrying a man. However, the story also teaches us that teens can be wrong by rebelling and acting out in anger and frustration but not considering the consequences of her actions.

      

Water Advert, Identify

This advert is a computer animation based on the safety of water and how it can effect people in third world countries. I think that this advert is effective because of the way it's presented to the viewer, by showing us how water can be contaminated without showing us disturbing images of actual water, which will put us off our tea or just change the channel when the advert comes on. The animation runs smooth and projects the narrative of what's been said throughout the video clearly and creatively. I think the purpose of this animation is to help the less fortunate by donating money so they can have clean water, and I think it works because it's appealing to the viewer to watch and will get them interested in the charity.

Pixilation Testing

This video to the left is my first test of making someone look like there running but actually gliding across. This gif was made from 4 pictures so I thought it would make the person look like there going fast but I don't think I achieved.

Although the video one the right was my second take of trying to make the person run. This gif is made up of about 13 pictures, which makes the video looks smoother and I think it's also a better running sequence because he looks like he's actually gliding across the ground.