Drawn Animation Research

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk8pAPv6TwQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u46eaeAfeqw
These two drawn animations are very similar to one another in the way that they are drawn and the ideas behind them. The one main difference is that one has the plot revolving round a particular character, a simple stick figure. Other than this, they are practically identical. One other similarity is that the stick figure animation has a coherent storyline as it is following him as he walks through town, whereas the other animation is seemingly random. This animation also includes colour.
The two animations involve shapes being 'pulled' and altered by the animators hand and being made into new objects or tweaked slightly. Other times these objects turn into something else entirely by morphing and twisting into a new shape. I think the plot behind these animations are unique and original and I would be interested in doing something similar. I think that both are entertaining and memorable for different reasons. The stick figure animation almost has a persona, and the animator encourages this by helping him in his every-day tasks and problems. The other animation is quirky and imaginative in the way that a creature or object can turn into something completely different in a straight forward but fluid motion. I think both of these animations would have required a lot of half work and planning, and both used a lot of photographs considering the length and how smooth the photographs run. I think these animations are good reference samples as this is almost exactly what I plan for my animation to be like, bar the animators input in changing the drawings.

3rd Draft- Flash Animation

This animation was created on Adobe Flash CS3 and the items were drawn using the same program.

I created this short video to experiment with different forms of animation. I hadn't used Flash a lot before so all the features were relatively new to me, so I kept the images and story as simple and short as possible. This also plays to my theme of idioms, as I chose "A Leopard Never Changes It's Spots" for the basis. The content is very blatant, which is a leopard walking through the jungle then it's spots changing colour then fading. I wasn't so much focused on the storyline as I was concentrating on the actual techniques and processes involved in using Flash, and the differences between it and other forms of animation.

2nd Draft- Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

This is my second attempt at a stop motion animation. I did stick to the idiom I chose and tried to follow the storyboard as much as possible, as this meant I had something to refer to and less things could go wrong. I am very pleased with the way the video came out, and I didn't have any problems when filming it. The one issue I did have was that the character was of a very young age and so perhaps wasn't as good at following instructions as a more mature person would have. However I needed a child to be in my film because if I had used an adult that had cried over milk, it would have given it a comedic effect which isn't what I intended. I think I used the right amount of frames between each movement and the filming was as smooth as I had wanted. However as I am now able to reflect on my work I th