FINAL ANIMATION ONE

The video which you can see above is my un-edited final animation. To make my animation, i used a medium thats called transparancies. As you can see in various points in my animation the transparancies don't work so well, but because of the storyline i'd chosen for my animation it seemed the best option to use as i could change the facial expressions of my characters sufficiently. It took me quite a while to get used to using the medium, but after about 2 lessons i got to grips with making it look effective. I found that using white paper as backing made the colours seem bolder, and made my animation look a lot less like an 8 year old had made it. The various stages if making my characters were irritating, because i couldn't get them to look the same each time but with different expressions. It took me quite a few attempts to get there, but i think it worked pretty well towards the end. My animations quite unusual, because its storyline makes no sense. I'd started off with the idea to have a love story where two characters meet on a ski slope from knocking into each other. It started off okay, with the downhill skiing, but as i progressed to zoom in on their facial expressions to show their emotions it became quite hard. You'll notice that at a point in my animation it zooms in on the orange characters face then changed into a heart background with him being in love. I had absolutely no idea how to combine these two parts of the scene together, but the best i could come up with was to try it by zooming in. I'm quite pleased with my animation because honestly, i never thought i'd have had the patience to see it the whole way through. I'm still browsing for some sound effects to put in the backing of it, but once thats done it will be fully complete.

There are a lot of strengths and weaknesses within my animation, which you can probably see for yourself. Th transparancies are a weakness in a few parts, because the colours appear different shades and you can actually see the outline of the transparancie. This makes my animation look quite un-proffessional, and i cant say im pleased about the way they turned out. Another weakness would be the movement within the animation. When the character is skiing down the slope at the beginning it doesnt look too disastrous, but once he meets the 2nd character it all seems to go downhill. The camera photos are out of sync so the animation is jumpy, which is really uneffective. There are some strengths with my animation though. I think the skiing scene actually works quite well with the arm movement, because it gives a real effect f skiing. I also think that how the facial expressions change is quite good, because it seems to run smoothly. Overall i don't think my animation was anything special, but i do have to say i'm pleased with it. Even though it doesn't look amazing i put a lot of effort into it, and just to see a finished product is good enough for me.

TEST ANIMATION ONE

This animation was my first test of my end project. I was quite pleased with this because i got the timing right, but as its only a few seconds its hard to see what i can work on from it. I found inspiration for this looking through books of cartoons. I saw the image of a dog, and decided to interpret it into my own character. I chose the word "slide" to base my animation on so a ski slope seemed a good idea. I've experimented with different types of movement, and found the best way to animate this scene is by taking 2 pictures per frame to make the movement smooth. This excercise helped me to find where i was going wrong in my attempts, and helped me to improve my animation greatly!

I think the weakness with this attempt is the way it looks on camera. All the lighting has changed and i moved the camera accidently a few times, changing the affectiveness greatly. I could have put more effort into the appearence of the character, as the colours seem rushed instead of blocks. I can learn from this animation all round within my camera shots, because seeing this has taught me about how important it is for the camera to stay still at all times. If i could do this again, i think i would do a claymation because it seems a lot easier and also less time consuming.

websites: www.youtube.co.uk

WHITEBOARD

This animation is a whiteboard that i made alone. I don't know where i got the inspiration from, it was just one of those ideas that spontaniously pop into your head. I think that doing this animation helped me to improve my drawing skills and using a steady hand, because it was quite challenging to draw without rubbing out pieces of my work. I think this animation actually went quite well because i worked independantly, and had the chance to try things out on my own. In this excercise i learnt how effective the simplest of things can be.

I think this is one of my better animations. In comparisson to my pixilation i'd say it was pretty good because i tried to put effort into this one. I can learn from this animaton, because it shows that things don't have to be complex and awkward to look good. If i was to do another i think I'd add a lot more to it because its quite short, and could have been made more interesting with a bit of time.

websites: www.youtube.co.uk

PIXILATION

This video was supposed to be a car crash that me, sable, hobie, and jake made at the beginning of the year. To create this video we used pixilation, which is a technique that makes images appear to be moving. I did this in a group, and although i wasn't actually in the video i took all the pictures. Making this animation helped me to progress in my camera skills, by giving me practise at getting the correct shot. There wasn't a particular animation that influenced us, it was just a creative idea we had in our heads which wasn't portrayed so well when we recorded. In this excercise i learnt just how complicated pixilation is, because before i didn't realise just how much effort it is create the right effect.

I dont think this animation was very good because we misunderstood the concept of making the movement look real. I don't have any animations i can really compare to this because my others fall into different criterias, but I think we could have improved this a lot more. I think from this i could learn to be more careful with planning, so the idea we come up with actually works. If i could change this animation, i'd scrap the whole idea and try to do something a bit more simple.

websites: www.youtube.co.uk

Metamorphis and Zoetrope Animation techniques

Above Left: Pictures for metemorphisis animation Right: Zoetrap animation strip

Metemorphis animation is a series of pictures put together to show an object expanding into another. It consists of drawing a beggining picture, and an ending picture then drawing all of the stages inbetween. The ways in which they merge can vary widely, from explosions on the page to shape shifting and size expansion or decreasing. The easiest way to merge the two is by finding shapes within both pictures that are similar in some way, and looking at the ways they can blend together. Zoetropes were first used in Roman times and are still used today as a form of entertainment. They consist of a series of drawings that change very slightly each time, and when spun inside a zoetrope give the illusion of a moving picture. The simpler the idea the more affective the outcome is, for example, using a ball is a simple idea but because its simple the effect can be played around with easily. Zoetropes are popular animations andare relatively simple to make.
On Friday 26th February, we went to the Norwich University of Creative Arts and had a go at making out own metemorphosis animations

We were taken there to have an insight of how they were made, and had the chance to make our own. We used shots of two to give a smooth running effect, without any blips to spoil it aswell as making the video in itself longer. The link posted below shows our final animation.


We started off by each taking a word out of an envelope and changing the word into a picture. Mine was a house so i drew a house trying to limit the detail to make transforming it easier. We then had to copy our partners drawing which in my case was a bicycle and then draw all the pictures inbetween. I managed to get the windows to turn into wheels, the chimney into a bike seat, and the roof into random parts of the bike, but it was hard work and isnt as easy as you'd think. We then went over to the A level students, and they took photos of our pictures on a rostrum and edited them all together on the computer. While they were doing this we started working on a zoetrope. The zoetropes were a lot easier than the metemorphisis animations, but were just as effective. Mine was a little creature sitting in a room and a box fell on his head then tumbled off. It sounds plain and boring, but thats all you need to make a good animation. You basically have to draw out the full animation twice however to make the running of it look smooth and not like a load of pictures just thrown together in a wheel. I found the experience really good because i didn't even know what metemorphisis animation was before going to the studio, so justlearning about them was something new to me. I found the day really good, and i learnt a lot of animation techniques including the use of lightboxes and rostrum use. I think the trip really benefited me, and i now have an insight of another 2 types of animation.

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