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

Project Log 2

What have you done since last time?
Since last time i have drawn up all the backgrounds and characters i am using for my animation and have created two test animations. Last week i was going to begin animating properly, but there was a technical fault with the camera.
What worked? What didn't?
The first test animation i did wasn't successful because i had left too little space between each of my scenes making it drag on for longer than it really needed to. The test animation didnt work, but it did help me to realise where i was going wrong with my animation. After this i did another test which i could have potenentially used in my real animation, but the camera settings made it all turn out black ruining all my pictures.
What soloutions have you found?
I have found that when making my character move, i should take about 4 shots each time to make it go on for longer. If i move my character about 1cm each time, it will give the illusion of movement more smoothly.
What do you need to do next?
The next thing i need to do it actually start my animation, and then possibly make a moodboard if i finish all my work. I also have to start and complete my evaluation

*no websites used

"A short love story in stop motion" By Carlos Lascano

A Short Love Story In Stop Motion
A short love story in stop motion is a mix between lots of different animation types. It mainly uses stop motion and claymation, although it has other animation types including video and computer edits. The characters are all made differently, starting with the little girl who starts off the animation. She is made out of clay, but as she grows older she progresses to be a 2D animation and a partial computer edit. All the sets are made from carboard and wood, that Carlos Lascano uses as replicas before editing them digitally. The storyline is simple yet affective due to the background music, and the dramatic affect of the colour tone. The story starts with a little girl daydreaming and doodling in a class room, ending up with two of the birds shes drawn unwinding all the tales behind the life she progresses to lead. Its a touching story because it show her growing up, and eventually falling in love, having a husband and becoming an old married woman. The story is affective to its audience because of the music played in the background and the general scene of the animation. Both these factors combine together to create an atmosphere of love, bringing the animation to life. It targets peoples affectionate emotions, and makes you feel all warm inside. I think that the imagery is more important than the storyline in this animation, because there's so many different types of imagery involved. The story is easy to follow, but working out what different animation technique represents is quite complex. I can use the idea of different animation types for my animation, mixing ideas together. I like the idea of editing in real life features such as eyes also, but i think that would be a bit too complex to do. Other animations like this that i've seen include Harvey Crumpet because of the contrast in lighting and the overall unique factor about both animations. I haven't had a chance to watch anymore of Carlos lascano's animations yet, but im told there very similar to this. i look forward to watching them.

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

websites: www.youtube.co.uk

www.imdb.com

Project Log 1

What have you decided to do?
Ive decided to do a whiteboard animation/claymation. In my animation a dog is struggling to ski down a mountain but falls over as the pink brain ski's past him. He instantly falls in love with her and tries to impress her, but he ends up falling down the hill as a giant snowball. I'm possibly going to use some sound effects and props including fake trees, and a moving background.

What planning have you done so far?
I have:
made a proposal form
developed my ideas
come up with an original idea to elaborate on
started to create a storyboard
This as well as all the work we have done this year has been used to help us prepare for making our animation.

What do you need to do next?
The next thing i need to do is to make a mood board, dope sheets with times, finish my storyboard, and create a production schedule.

What skills are you going to work on?
I'm going to try and improve my skills on premiere animator, and meeting deadlines. I'm also going to work on improving my ability to make animations move at different speeds.