When I first decided to use animation as my channel of media, I made two very rough drafts and improvised the content, for the soul purpose of gaining experience with animation. These following two videos were simply made on the program 'Pro Animate' by taking around 20 photographs for each using the in built camera on the computer, and using 'onion skinning' to make sure the images didn't jump around too much. This is a process that shows the last image taken at a low opacity so you can line the camera up. The content of the videos has no relation to anything, they were just convenient and short and easy enough to do on the spot. It showed me that I need to use a lot more images than I previously thought, but I understood the general principle of stop motion.
Flower Stop Motion
Pro animate
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Friday, 26 November 2010
Existing Similar Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzWiug-PIaE
I think this is a very clever interactive video. Its contents are of people acting out an English idiom, and at the end the viewer guesses which idiom they were portraying. It has multiple choice answers, and whichever you press, it tells you if you were right or wrong. After this there is another display by the actors either congratulating you or being disappointed corresponding to your answer, then takes you to another idiom. I think this is a very clever way of getting people to understand idioms, but not exactly what I plan to do. What the actors do is interpretive, whereas my work will be very obvious and less ambiguous. The method used to film the video has no relevance to my project, but I thought doing research into idioms and how other people may have portrayed them would be beneficial to my work. This video is more informative and meant to teach people about the nature of idioms, whereas my work is for entertainment purposes. The similarity between the two is how the idiom is portrayed, as both have actors playing out the idiom. I think mine in some cases is easier to understand as the idiom is very obvious and could not be construed as anything else, whereas the interactive video could be portraying any of the multiple choice answers given.
I think this is a very clever interactive video. Its contents are of people acting out an English idiom, and at the end the viewer guesses which idiom they were portraying. It has multiple choice answers, and whichever you press, it tells you if you were right or wrong. After this there is another display by the actors either congratulating you or being disappointed corresponding to your answer, then takes you to another idiom. I think this is a very clever way of getting people to understand idioms, but not exactly what I plan to do. What the actors do is interpretive, whereas my work will be very obvious and less ambiguous. The method used to film the video has no relevance to my project, but I thought doing research into idioms and how other people may have portrayed them would be beneficial to my work. This video is more informative and meant to teach people about the nature of idioms, whereas my work is for entertainment purposes. The similarity between the two is how the idiom is portrayed, as both have actors playing out the idiom. I think mine in some cases is easier to understand as the idiom is very obvious and could not be construed as anything else, whereas the interactive video could be portraying any of the multiple choice answers given.
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
David Shrigley
David Shrigley is a Glasgow based animator. He's been featured in many exhibits, and has had a lot of his work published, as well as being a magazine illustrator. Three of his more basic work is as follows which are the pieces most relevant to my project.
Laundry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LKnbI-bNJE&feature=related
Bad Elephants:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgF-M5458dk&feature=related
Home Alone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fr42JFShkM&feature=related
All of these works are very similar to each other, from the way they are drawn and animated to the sound used. They all use very basic line drawing and as little detail as possible, which is probably because in this case Shrigley was more interested in the animation than in the artwork behind it. This is how I plan to do one of my animation drafts, that I will probably also include in my final piece. I want as little detail as possible as art is not my strong point, but it gets the message across. The actual animation is very fluid, but as the focus of the videos is more on the sound element it doesn't need to be very particularized or detailed. I think this is a clever way of animating as the video runs smoothly enough for it to work well, but as the sound is so important the other elements of the animation compliment each other.
Laundry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LKnbI-bNJE&feature=related
Bad Elephants:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgF-M5458dk&feature=related
Home Alone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fr42JFShkM&feature=related
All of these works are very similar to each other, from the way they are drawn and animated to the sound used. They all use very basic line drawing and as little detail as possible, which is probably because in this case Shrigley was more interested in the animation than in the artwork behind it. This is how I plan to do one of my animation drafts, that I will probably also include in my final piece. I want as little detail as possible as art is not my strong point, but it gets the message across. The actual animation is very fluid, but as the focus of the videos is more on the sound element it doesn't need to be very particularized or detailed. I think this is a clever way of animating as the video runs smoothly enough for it to work well, but as the sound is so important the other elements of the animation compliment each other.
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Idioms
I have decided to use an idiom as the base of my story and did some resarch into different idioms that I could use, but this is a very broad list. I refined the list from a collection from the website www.idiomsite.com and copied the definitions also. I will refine this list at a later date when I am looking to start my drafts.
I decided idioms would be a good basis for a plot as they will be easy to construe and won't have to include a detailed storyline. I was aiming for something that didn't need a lot of frames to easily portray the story, but detailed enough that it actually has a plot to work with. I feel a saying/idiom was the best choice as it is a good medium. Whichever I choose will have the content literally portraying the idiom, which is long and blatant enough to be understood, yet short enough to be only a few minutes long. As this will be my first time doing a project like this, I think it best that I start short and simple.
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I decided idioms would be a good basis for a plot as they will be easy to construe and won't have to include a detailed storyline. I was aiming for something that didn't need a lot of frames to easily portray the story, but detailed enough that it actually has a plot to work with. I feel a saying/idiom was the best choice as it is a good medium. Whichever I choose will have the content literally portraying the idiom, which is long and blatant enough to be understood, yet short enough to be only a few minutes long. As this will be my first time doing a project like this, I think it best that I start short and simple.
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Saturday, 20 November 2010
Saga Cruises Advertisement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V25pHKePk98&feature=channel
This advertisement for Saga Cruises is very alike to the 'Olympus Pen' advert. In both adverts images were developed then placed next to or on top of the previous to convey motion. The video uses the same techniques as I will use for my final product in the way it is laid on a surface and photographed again, but I could only find two animations that used this method. In this particular advert you can see how many photos were actually used just for the first few seconds, which implies it would have been quite a large project. This is one of the reasons I have decided to keep my own animation fairly short, as I feel the longer it is and the more photographs I require, the more chances there are for it to fail. If I had more experience in the animation area and had more resources available to me I would love to make something this advanced and detailed as opposed to just stop motion photography. However I don't think I have any programs or software available to create these transitions.
Friday, 19 November 2010
Stop Motion Advertisements
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PERiTMZ626M
This advertisement for the 'Kindle' uses very fluid stop motion photography. For an advert is relatively short, at 30 seconds, but is still effective. The content shows all the different ways you can use the Kindle but in quite an ambiguous way. The viewer is more focused on the animation than on the meaning behind it. There are quite a few images used for this animation, which is why it runs so fluidly. This is how smooth I am aiming for my final piece to be, which will require a lot of work. I think the actual actors in the film are laying on the floor which has objects on it to give the impression of it being a background. This would make it easier for the actors to move around and do things such as roll, or seemingly defy gravity, and you'd be able to capture the image with no trouble. I think this contains some resources that would be unavailable to me which is why I would not create my animation this way.
This advertisement for the 'Kindle' uses very fluid stop motion photography. For an advert is relatively short, at 30 seconds, but is still effective. The content shows all the different ways you can use the Kindle but in quite an ambiguous way. The viewer is more focused on the animation than on the meaning behind it. There are quite a few images used for this animation, which is why it runs so fluidly. This is how smooth I am aiming for my final piece to be, which will require a lot of work. I think the actual actors in the film are laying on the floor which has objects on it to give the impression of it being a background. This would make it easier for the actors to move around and do things such as roll, or seemingly defy gravity, and you'd be able to capture the image with no trouble. I think this contains some resources that would be unavailable to me which is why I would not create my animation this way.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Examples on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnIhN8mMpcY
This is a video on the internet of a man recording images with practically the same method as I intend to use. It has the same principle, as he is recording movement via still images then playing these images back. Although this animation is fairly amateur, it does portray the process I will also be using. The images that the animator uses are also heavily edited simply for effect which would have worked better in my opinion if the images had been jerkier. This is what I plan to do, except I shall be photographing this process, so it's slightly more complicated. I found there weren't that many videos on the internet of the process I plan to use but I tried to look into it anyway for the sake of research. These videos help give me an idea of how to plan and storyboard my own idea.
This is a video on the internet of a man recording images with practically the same method as I intend to use. It has the same principle, as he is recording movement via still images then playing these images back. Although this animation is fairly amateur, it does portray the process I will also be using. The images that the animator uses are also heavily edited simply for effect which would have worked better in my opinion if the images had been jerkier. This is what I plan to do, except I shall be photographing this process, so it's slightly more complicated. I found there weren't that many videos on the internet of the process I plan to use but I tried to look into it anyway for the sake of research. These videos help give me an idea of how to plan and storyboard my own idea.
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Olympus Pen
This commercial is exactly what I had in mind when I planned my project. This is the process I will use, except my developed photographs will not move. I either plan to have the photographs on a flat surface and re-photograph them from above, or have them in a photo frame so that it appears that the contents is moving. This would also help keep the photographs in position and make the whole process seem more professional and neat. There is a short section in this animation that includes this, which I think would've worked better if the camera had been on a tripod to keep the camera still so that the main focus is the content of the photographs as opposed to the surroundings. I think this advertisement is very unique in its processes and has many original features. The content is of a character going through life in a succinct manner. I think this is quite a modest and quaint plot, and has portrayed the passing of time very well. One of my favourite parts is where at the beginning it shows the child wearing old fashioned clothes and to show what era he's in, the images are in black and white which switch to coloured soon after to show the passing of time. The photographs move all over the surroundings, from down table legs to up walls. I think this is very imaginative but would require a lot of work and would also present more opportunities for it to go wrong. As I want my own animation to be as fluid as this it will require a lot more images than I had originally predicted, but my video won't be as long as this as my storyline isn't as complex and detailed. I think if I use this commercial for reference then my final product should be very professional and well planned.
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