9 Week Project

 

We shared the making of the models between all of the group members as we had more than 3 characters. I made the individual mouth shapes for characters that need to be lip-synched.

 

 

The character I had the most input on was Count Spatula, who serves as the narrator for our advertisement. His name is a play on words and we wrote his lines to have puns in as well so he appeals to both children and adults. As our theme is similar to a stage play, this character narrates on stage in front of drawn curtains which is an instantly recognisable image.

 

 

We created the set together and chose the lighting by taking test photographs until it looked right.

 

When animating the piece we split the characters and worked on the ones closest to us so we didn't obstruct each other or knock anything over. This also made it easier to keep track of how each character was moving and how to move them in the next frame.

 

 

Frances and I chose to edit the frames using Sony Vegas as we both have a lot of experience with it. Myself and Dec (another classmate) provided the voice acting which I edited, added sound effects and music to in Audacity. I animated most of the lip synching and am pleased with how my part came out.

 

 

This is the final version of the video. It's a lot longer than we wanted it to be but we struggled to cut parts out whilst making sure the story made sense. I think it is very funny and entertaining to watch and the characters and effects look good. The animation is very simple and a little jumpy at times, such as when the Bat Scourer is flying off screen. It came out well and all of our group shared work and gave input towards the final piece.

 

 

 



1 Second (Week 10)

I liked doing the abstract shapes last week so for this animation I tried the same thing but with a character changing shape. It's quite strange and humorous; I like the way it came out.

Essay Draft 1: JOANNA QUINN & THE QUAY BROTHERS

I will be writing about the directors Joanna Quinn and the Quay Brothers as I enjoyed Quinn's 2D hand drawn short film "Body Beautiful" but not the stop-motion piece "Street of Crocodiles" by the Quay Brothers.

Body Beautiful was created in the early 90's when women were slowly becoming accepted as director's and respected in high positions in the creative industry. It is not strictly a feminist piece, but it breaks the mold by being a story for women and expressing the voices of women who are even today still widely not catered for in the media. It is written like a slice of life piece in the way it follows a normal woman with body confidence issues who has a normal blue-collar job. The way the characters banter and interact with each other is relatable and quite humorous.

Street of Crocodiles, however is a much more abstract and intensely metaphorical film. The protagonist is a silent puppet who wanders a dark world and becomes tempted by commercialism, only to find that trivial and material things are not as desirable as he once thought.

The style of animation used by Quinn is more relevant to my own work as I prefer 2D animation over CGI and stop-frame. Her work is captivating to watch due to the constant movement of her characters, which are almost like rapid life drawings made into caricatures of real people. She occasionally uses repeated sequences to show the monotony of working in a factory line, then bursts of exaggerated motion to show the excitement of her characters. I like how the colours are not overbearing but still with hints of bright colours such as red that keep the piece fun. Quinn uses many traditional methods from cartoon style to show movement in the film such as rapid lines and overlaying frames. Her characters are all very individual and instantly recognisable which is very important for following a narrative.

I dislike Street of Crocodiles because I find the models creepy and the doll eyes uncanny. The animation is overall quite unsettling and I struggle to enjoy watching things made in this way. The animation itself is well done as the Quay Brothers made inanimate and bizarre objects full of personality and life but to be honest I wish their characters would just stay dead. This film was made in the mid-80's so animation was not very advanced or perfected, but the film is revered for the way in which the brothers express movement and emotion, especially considering that the models themselves have no facial rigging aside from the eyes.

From researching both of these director's I have gained an understanding of the themes behind their work and the historical context they fall in to. I can appreciate the use of animation in both pieces, but I feel more strongly towards Joanna Quinn's work as I am naturally more attracted to 2D animation as well as her use of humour and narrative. In conclusion, I find a director to be more successful if their work is relatable.

1 Second (Week 9)

I decided to try something more abstract instead of the animal and human characters I had been drawing for this project. I chose to do several simple shapes all moving at once in different ways and directions and beginning to interact with each other. It is not necessarily a good animation but it was an interesting experiment.

Week Nine: ANNECY ANIMATION FESTIVAL

1990's

Caroline Leaf has a very surreal style with lot's of warm shading and expressive characters. She has animated with paint on glass, sand on glass, mixing paint and glycerine as well as scratching directly onto 70mm colour film. In "The Street" and "Two Sisters" the themes are mainly dark with subtle humour that explore human relationships.

Paul Berry was a stop frame animator who worked on well-known films such as "James and the Giant Peach" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas". His own film "The Sandman" brings a frightening character to life not only through the appearance of the models but in the way he makes the Sandman creep and dance across the set.

An Vrombaut made children's books and "64 Zoo Lane" as well as winning several awards with her short film "Little Wolf" which is an adorable 2D animation that is drawn in a very distinctive child-friendly style.

Alison Snowden and David Fine have worked together on children's shows such as "Peppa Pig" and "Shaun the Sheep". "Bob's Birthday" is a humorous 2D short about the mid-life crisis of a dentist.

PROJECT 9

Character Design

This is the original character I came up with for this project. It is inspired by myths and folklore which is one of my interests. In these initial sketches I created a design, personality, function and began to think about it in relation to it's environment. Fys is an animal/mythical creature as it fits this abstract personality/story more than a human character would.

After discussing my character with tutors, I drew and designed the smaller details that contribute to the character in order to explain it better.

This colour drawing is relevant to Fys' story.

I drew this to show off my character's glowing features and also wanted to show it in relation to the environment I am designing.

PROJECT 11

Environment Design

Drawing of where my character sleeps/hides as it is a solitary character.

Initial sketch of where Fys keeps the objects it finds as Fys has a love of collecting shiny things.

Colour drawing of the tree interior with possible objects Fys may collect and the way in which it's glowing green light may look on the surfaces.

1 Second (Week 8)

This one is a little boring as only one part of the dog moves, but I think I captured the movement of the tongue quite realistically as I based it off what I've seen my own dog do.

Week Eight: ANNECY ANIMATION FESTIVAL

1980'S

Marv Newland is probably best known for his short piece "Bambi Meets Godzilla"; he often animates jokes or gags in a cartoon-strip style such as "Gary Larson's Tales from the Far Side". Along with some TV commercials, he also worked on TV shows such as "Sesame Street" and "The PJ's".

Nicole Van Goethem worked with the themes of feminism and female liberation which was very relevant in this era as women were becoming more respected as equal to men in the creative industry. This is evident in her short 2D film "A Greek Tragedy" which uses humour to explore female/sisterly relationships and the changing place of women in society.

Raimund Krumme plays with perspective in the short "Seiltänzer" which features two characters moving constantly on a simple background in a way that constantly and cleverly causes the viewer to change the way they perceive the image.

Jonathan Hodgson teaches animation in Middlesex. "The Man with Beautiful Eyes" is a look through child's eyes at a man who would be considered a failure as an alcoholic but is considered a free spirit by the children who play in his amazing garden and have very uptight parents. The abstract, painted style reflects the children's imaginations perfectly.

Zbigniew Rybczynski created strange repeating films with figures on a green screen performing actions and reacting to the environment in such a way that they never cross each other making it almost hypnotic and quite fascinating to watch.

Mark Baker worked on "Peppa Pig" and also created animated short "The Hill Farm" which is a humorous and endearing 2D piece about the life of a farming family and how they overcome problems.

PROJECT 6

Sketches & Full Body Animations

Before I started animating I looked at my research and sketched these plans. They are very simple but I included some squash and stretch and arrows to help me plan how the figure would move.