Movement research

In order to get the movement of my character walking and sitting on the seat, I thought it would be a good idea to take a few motion photographs of my sister walking. This will help me get the correct movement of each limbs in the walking motion, so that my character walks properly.

Research - Photographs

To be able to get a design for a bus scene, I went on a bus ride and took photo's of certain elements that I will need to study in order to draw a realistic looking bus.

Storyboard new idea

So, the storyboard for my new idea, which I am definitely way more pleased with is this:

(0-2 second) A bus will drive into view and then stop at a bus stop for the character to get on

(2-3 seconds) The feet of the character are shown walking onto the bus.

(3-4 seconds) The character gets the bus ticket from the machine

(4-6 seconds) The character walks towards the chair and sits down

(7-8 seconds) character notices there's a button on the back of the chair

(8-9 seconds) zooms up to the button

(9-10 seconds) character presses the button, that is labelled 'DO NOT PRESS'

(10-12 seconds) characters facial expressions change from happy to shocked, to worried to amazed.

(12-20 seconds) the bus shakes and begins to change and go underground

(20-30 seconds) this last ten seconds of the animation will consist of the bus going underwater. Then a few events that take place underwater such as fish swimming by, and image of the outside of the bus moving around. Closing with a shot of the characters face looking outside in amazement. 

The Character

I decided on the simple character at the bottom of the last post. So i just did some various expressions that this character, that may be used in the animation.

new idea character development

I wanted a happy but simple character because I really want to do a drawing cell animation, and so to draw 360 images, in the time I have, the character needs to be less detailed really.
I sketched some quick ideas that came into my head.

over the Easter break

I recreated a totally different idea. I listened to the music again and made some different words.

David Firth - more examples

This is another example of his animations, this being quite simple too, using just one colour, which might be a good idea in my animation. All of his animations are very unusual, which mine won't be, but they do make me laugh!

David Firth

David Firth is one of my favourite animators, so I have been watching a lot of his work as inspiration. Salad fingers being the most popular, I want to create a drawn animation like these, with a simple main character. I will draw each cell in fine-liner pen, using different colours for different outlines. And then if I have enough time, colour them in on photoshop, though this might be too much of a long process as I ill have to draw at least 240 frames!

Oh dear

I came back home and was sitting on the bus when I came up with a totally new idea. It is a shame because I have already done work for my original idea, but I feel that this one will be so much more interesting to create, and after my assessment, I am not feeling the old idea anymore...

Character development

I couldn't decide on how the main character would look, and whether to make it look realistic or cartoon like.  I roughly came up with a few ideas, both male and female. When I chose one I will re draw this in more detail.

Dancing animations

To gain a better idea of how to create the dancing movements in an animation I began looking for animations that included dance. I came across this by Ryan Woodward, I find it amazing to watch, the movement captured is beautiful and it flows perfectly.

Research- Movement

In order to get the movements right when my character begins dancing, I thought I should watch some typical 70's dance routines. This one shows quite a few of the dance moves that I hope to include.

Research - Design

I made some mood boards consisting of things to consider when designing the final character and the setting. This includes fashion aspects such as flared trousers, platform boots, and funky patterned shirts. From here I can start developing the characters finished look. 

This is the 70's decoration mood board, there are lots of aspects to this topic, such as beanbag chairs, and lavalamps etc. But for a disco scene all it really needs is discoballs and some sort of funky dance floor. This also makes each drawing less detailed, thus making the animation less complex.

I realised that the colours orange, yellow and brown are used a lot and walls have various bold patterns. This needs to be considered when creating the setting. To save on drawing time, it might be a good idea to create the patterns with coloured card first, to which I can then photograph and reuse to draw the character onto. 

Storyboard

The narrative of my animation will be based on a 70's disco theme. It begins with a shot of a vinyl player, to which the main character will put a vinyl on and begin dancing along to it. To make this more detailed I will develop a character, by looking at various 70's fashion styles. Also, the set in which it will take place, will include more detail within typical 70's decorations such as discoballs, light up dancefloors and lavalamps etc.

1

(1-3 seconds)

2

(3-6 seconds)

3

  'Afroman' character is introduced. Starts as a close up of his face, but gradually zooms out...

(6-10 seconds)

4

 ...to reveal the full body. Dressed in typical 70's fashion. Flared trousers, platforms etc.

This shot is fairly still, just to introduce the character. Only movement will be blinking.

(10-12 seconds)

5

 The character has a quick drink, then spins around...

(12-16 seconds)

6

 ...and begins dancing to the music. Various different moves.

(16-24 seconds)

7

(25-29 seconds)

8

30 seconds. End shot.

Ideas

To get initial ideas I made spider diagrams on words that came into mind related to the music.

After effects- Animation Test

I learnt a lot about how to use after effects during todays session. It is actually a lot less complicated than I predicted. So, using the drawings that I did in the narrative cell workshop, I created my small snail animation using this software.
I think it worked quite well as a moving image, even though it only lasted around 3 seconds, due to the fact we were limited to 12 frames a second and 36 frames.

The basic narrative is a snail, who is walking along, but gets to hot in the sun, and therefore his eye/antenna transforms into a mouth to eat the sun!

Animation Test 1

I aimed to experiment with giving various objects movement in order to to create fun animations similar to the one that I previously posted. This resulted in me creating this animation using both drawing and objects such as my hand. Overall, this gave it more character and therefore I think it makes it more interesting to watch than just a drawing.

Animations

I really enjoy animations like these, where the designers hand also plays a part in what takes place within the animation. They are so interesting to watch, and add a sense of humour.

Stop Motion Animation

This is a small animation that myself and a few others made using stop motion on a few plastic toys. We didn't have a storyboard to go off so just improvised but I think we did a good job.
For some reason the quality when we saved it isn't very good. But you can still see what we created.

Rayograms

In the dark room I produced a number of rayogram tests. This is done by placing different materials and objects ontop of the photopaper, so that when the light from the enlarger is turned on, various shapes are made by the materials blocking various parts of light in different ways.

As these tests show, the metal objects such as the key and the bottle opener, let no light through produces solid crisp white areas. Whereas, the plastic keyring lets some light through, and the key strap on the bottom image, creates a nice shadow effect where it wasn't flat to the paper. These effects can be taken into consideration when creating a final animation.

More animators

Malcolm Sutherland created this small film animation. I like the simplicity in the characters, and the roughness in each drawing. This makes sections such as the main characters helmet more animated, as each drawing of it isn't perfect and therefore it also gains movement.

http://vimeo.com/14844291

Music and initial ideas

As a brain storm of ideas for my piece of music I sat and listened to the music and thought of three words that best describe the music that I require to animate. 

The music I have to use is called Melting Pot (Coldcut Re-Rub), and I believe it is by a reggae artist called Boris Gardiner.

As soon as I hear it I think of summertime, as it is quite a jolly song. I also get an image of disco/dancing from the upbeat rhythms. It has a funky feel too, like a 70's classic vibe.

Therefore my three words which I will continue to make mood boards on are:
Summery, disco, 70's.

Already I feel like I know the sort of direction I can go with this. I have ideas of some sort of 70's disco bar, with a character acting cool puts on a vinyl disc and starts dancing away...

Research - Animators

Motomichi Nakamura produced this animation for electro band The Knife. I love the simplicity of using graphic shapes and designs and three block colours. The movement of the images makes the animation interesting also, such as the spiralling of the birds and swirls of the plants growing and scissors spinning. This all makes the animation more surreal and exciting to watch. 

Print to Pixel briefing

I have been briefed on the new project titled: Print to Pixel. Immediately I was interested in this project, was excited about doing something different, and the challenge of creating an animation. Also, as it is very closely linked to music, makes it even more interesting. I have done a bit of animation before, using cell animation and stop motion, but nothing as complex as creating a 30 second animation. So, it will be a very exciting challenge!