Script writing

Script for 1 minuet film.

Once we had our ideas for our 1 minuet film we had to write an initial script. We wrote our scripts on a software called Celltx. I liked using celtx and I think it was easy to pick up and use. 

I thought writing my script was quite simple because I only had 2 scenes but keeping it short and to the point was quite hard.

Breakdown script

Once I had my final script finished I had to make a breakdown script so I could look at the different shots and camera angles. I liked doing the break down script because I found it quite interesting. Learning all the new terms for shots and angles was sometimes difficult to remember but I soon learnt them quite well. 

I liked doing my breakdown script. However, I thought that think up the different shot was a bit difficult and trying different camera angle to make it more interesting was also tricky, but it didn't take long for me to finish it.

Lip Sync

Lip Sync project.

for this project we had to find a sound clip of people talking, or record one of our own, and draw some simple characters to lip sync the sound too.
As well as drawing and syncing the mouth positions we also had to look at our old projects of body language, movement, and facial expressions. To create a good lip sync I combined all three of these to make the speech more realistic. 

For my lip sync animation I used a clip called "batphone" which is a batman parody. Because of this I made my characters two bats. 

One Minuet Film Presentation/Powerpointoih

One minuet Film Presentation - 3 Ideas Power-point

Over the holidays we were set the task to think of 3 different ideas for our semester two 1 minuet film. 

I started off by writing some notes and thinking off different ideas, I then picked my 3 favourite ideas to develop them.
Once I had chosen my ideas I thought about them more and developed the story so I could write a synopsis, once I had my synopsis I looked at each character separately and then how they work work together. I researched characters and looked at what animals, people and eras I was going to base them on.

Once I had done this research I did some initial sketches of my characters then made full character sheets for all of my characters.

I also did environment designs which I also based on research, around my characters and real life things such as caves and reefs. I looked at how my characters would interact and live in these environments before I designed them.

I really liked this project because I had to work hard to think of different ideas, and I really enjoyed developing them into stories and characters. I also really enjoyed researching my characters and environments looking at how I can combine different aspects of animals to create a unique character. I also did this with my environments looking at already existing things and developing them into designs.  

Advanced walk Cycles - Semester 2

Advanced walk cycles. 

For our first project in semester 2, we had to do 4 advanced walk cycles. I chose to do a run, sneak, tiptoe and a double bounce. We had a lesson with Jud before the Christmas holidays to help us with this. I also looked at different animations and walk cycle tutorials to learn about different techniques. Once I had done this I took a few films of my self doing these walks so I could get the general movements. I then exaggerated this for my animation.

The Run.

I thought the run was quite simple. However, I think the hardest part was getting the timing and spacing of the character speeding up through the air and slowing down on the ground. 

The Sneak.

I think out of all of the walks the sneak was the hardest because of the body shapes and how the character bends. I enjoyed trying to get the speeds right and make it look exaggerated but realistic. 

The Tip toe.
I liked doing the tiptoe because I think the outcome was the best. I also think it was the easiest because it is the same as a normal walk cycle but with a different body shape, and higher knees. 

The Double bounce. 

I like the double bounce and it is used in a lot of different cartoons because it's a great way to show emotion/ However, I think it is quite hard to animate because it looks unrealistic with too much bounce, and just wrong with not enough. I thought finding the balance was quite a challenge.

Animation History, 500 words – project 14, Frances Humphries

After researching a lot of different animators and their work, I think my favourite animator from the list was Adam Elliot. He is an Australian animator who is mostly based in Melbourne. As well as animating he also directs and writes his own short and feature length films, a lot of his films are based on true stories and family events. He has films named ‘Uncle’, ‘Brother’ and ‘Cousin’, all of them based on his family experiences. However, they are slightly exaggerated but not so the stories are unrealistic. Adam Elliot has a very dark specific style, his films are for adults and touch upon extremely strong depressing subjects while keeping a slight funny ‘tongue and cheek’ edge to the films.
Most animation is used for children or humorous films but Elliot uses dark colours, tones and slow movements to give a muted sad feel. He does this so the animation can be taken seriously and the strong points can be put across.

In his animations he touches upon, mental illness, death, suicide and other bad things. I think the slow style in which he animates works really well with the themes and characters of the films, and even though some people might find them disturbing and miserable to watch. I enjoy the dark humour and powerful realism behind his films.  

A lot of people also like his work for the same reasons and I think this is why Adam Elliot has become famous and will go down in animation history, his work will always be remembered because of the strong views and thought provoking meanings behind his films, and I believe that it’s extremely relevant to today’s society as well as animation community because it’s important for these views to be shared.

The animator I didn’t really like was Joanna Quinn. She was an animator and director during the feminist movements. She based a lot of her work on this and wanted her animations to be a voice for women. I think that this is the reason her animations are important in the history of animation, because they were important and stood up for a good cause. I liked this about her films and think that it was good how she showed her views though her work. However, I didn’t like the style in which she animated. She uses very rough drawn sketches and not much detail in her animating.

 Joanna Quinn based her animations on the average women’s life and made the characters very common, which I think made her short films quite boring. However, in a way it’s good because it’s an opinion and view not often seen.

I think that both Adam Elliot and Joanna Quinn use animations to show very strong views and points. However, I think that Joanna Quinn’s views were more important during the feminist movements and can be quite boring now. However, Adam Elliot’s animations focus on life problems that occur all the time and will always be very important in society.

Maya

 

We started off animating a basic walk cylce in maya. At first I thought it was quite hard, but once I played around with it, I got used to the tools and controls and it got quite abit easier. I think the basic walk cycle was quite easy to do. But making sure the weight and speed was right became quite difficult.

Once we were happy with the walk we moved on to doing short animations of emotions which linked to the body language project. I used some of my hand drawn animations as guides for the movements I needed.
Once I got into it I really enjoyed working with maya, sometimes somthing would go wrong and it would take a while to figure out. However, I think it is a really good tool and is fun to animate with.

The emotions I did was. Anger, Sadness, and joy.

Faical Animation

 



Once we had looked at body language we then moved on to facial animation and looking at how emotions are show through face movments and expresions.
I think facial expresions are extreamly important in animation because it can show a characters personality in very intresting ways. As well as showing moods feelings and emotions.
Facial expresions are very cleaver because even the subtlest of things can let you know someone's in a bad or good mood. It's very hard to understand someone if they have an expresionles face. Which is why it is imporant in animation because the audience needs to understand and relate to the character.

 

These are just some images from the animations I have done. I did very basic faces, because you only need the main features to create expressions.
I  did, annoyed, sad, scared and worrid. I also did a suprised face and just a silly face on Flash as small animations.