2D animation Vine

This is my vine

2D Vine animation evaluation

On the whole I felt my 6 second animated vine went well, although my production didn’t quite go to plan due to the fact that I had to change the type of animation I used( Rotoscoping to Frame by Frame). As I was making my blog post of the production period I am very aware of what the main strengths and weaknesses of my animation are. The strengths of my animation include: the fluidity, during the production process I was ensuring that my animation flowed and the soundtrack was 100% in sync with the animation and the pace was not too slow or fast; I felt that the soundtrack was successful in representing the college atmosphere as I chose an upbeat, fun tune therefore making sure to attract my target audience to come to the college (the purpose of the animation).The weaknesses of my animation were: My time management skills could have been better. I spent a lot of time planning what I was going to produce so that when I came to doing it I didn't have enough time, as I had less time to produce the animation it meant that the characters were slightly less animated than originally thought. I didn’t animate the feet when the characters were moving however I felt that this actually added to the friendly tone of the animation as the characters pleasantly bounced onto the screen.

In terms of whether or not the finished product was what I set out to do I would say that it was. The themes in the animation are the same as presented in my pitch,For example: Diversity, friendship, freedom, fun and comedy are present and a simplistic tone, however I changed the type of animation half way through the design process so that could be counted as me not achieving what was originally planned for my animation.

If I completed this task again I would manage my time more efficiently and write down a written timetable of tasks that need to be done on certain days to ensure I have time to do everything I set out to do. I would also animate the characters more by moving their limbs when moving and change their facial expressions when they talk to give the animation a more professional feel. When doing the task again I would maybe create my own soundtrack (Record myself playing an instrument with a song I have made) to make the animation more original.

I feel that this animation marks progress with my animation abilities as I really got to grips with all the tools and techniques used to create my animation and it will really help me with my future tasks and projects. In the past when I have tried to portray comedy it hasn't gone well,but because the comedy element in this case was subtle I believe  it worked. 

I performed a focus group of people within my target audience (16-18) where they commented on my animation and the first question that was asked and all 3 candidates thought that my 2D Flowed well. The second question was about the motive (To advertise Esher College). Candidate one stated that ‘Yes it was to represent Esher’s social aspects to show people are friendly at Esher and willing to make friends’ this signifies that I did indeed achieve what I set out to accomplish when starting the task. Another open question I asked the candidates was about what I could improve? Candidate three said ‘More details to the character designs’. Candidate one shared that after seeing the animation ‘she would want to come to Esher as it portrays it as a friendly welcoming place’ From this feedback I can conclude that I did accomplish what I set out to do on my task although there were some bumps in the design process.

Production Diary

Production Diary

Firstly I planned what I was going to include in my vine, first I decided to use Rotoscoping but I felt like that would be far too time consuming and I would be able to make my vine a higher quality if I did Frame by Frame animation.

I then decided what the plot of my vine would be (A teenage boy worried about making friends and being reassured by another female student)

I made a mind map of what I wanted the aesthetics to look like.It included:

·        Bright Bold colours

·        Esher College Logo

·        Shows the diversity of the college (through music taste, ethnicity and gender within the character)

·        College mise en scene

·        Colourful bold attributes of the college flashing up on the screen using motion tweening

·        Esher College Logo popping up at the end so the audience are fully aware that the Vine is about Esher College

·        Comic like speech bubbles

·        Bold writing in the speech bubble

·        Used the college colours as the theme (Yellow,Grey,White and Black)

·        Simplistic character drawings

To create my animation I used to programme Flash.

I then drew my setting using the 2D shape tools to give it a simplistic feel and to save time for the character drawings and soundtrack as planning was more time consuming than expected. Whilst filling in the background I used the college logo colours so the target audience know which college the vine is talking about.

I later started drawing the main character in my vine:

To create the characters I used a variation of pre drawn shapes from the programme and the paint brush tool. I used the pre drawn shape for the boy’s head and hat and drew the body, legs and shoes with the paint brush tool to create a friendlier and more realistic body and the same for the females.

To make sure only the character moved when I pressed F6 to copy the frame I made sure all the characters were on different layers.

Sound Track

I then went on to create my soundtrack for my vine on Garage band. It was quite time consuming choosing what sounds to use. I wanted to have very upbeat music so the audience felt like Esher was a happy place to be.

Editing

I used the editing software Adobe premier pro as I have had experience using the programme with previous projects. I then imported the animation and made sure that the soundtrack and animation was in sync and the animation looked fluid. I then exported the animation and my task was complete.

Strength of my vine:

1.      It was well planned and thoroughly thought through.

2.      The soundtrack denoted the atmosphere of the college in a positive light as wanted

3.      It was fluid

        Weaknesses of my vine:

1.      As my planning took so long I didn’t have enough time to go forward with my original idea so my animation was slightly more simplistic then originally hoped

3 videos that inspired me for my animation

Video 1 :

A World Of Thing [ 2D animation ] Short movie

This video uses diegetic sound to create a realist atmosphere to the animation, this is very effective as it makes me as the viewer more connected to the story line and the characters well being. The non diegetic sound is also effective in denoting to the audience how the character is feeling by using sad nostalgic toned music. The contrast between the background and the characters this highlights the character making the animation far more eye catching. This animation is helpful in my research for my animation because it was made in the programme flash and that is what I am going to make my animation in so it gives a view on what kind of quality I can achieve. The use of sound to create a mood is defiantly something I will use in my animation and also concentrate on the colour scheme much like this 2D animation did.

Video 2 :

   Vines

      I enjoyed that it was a slowed down flip book so the viewer could fully see the images and therefore understood the plot more easily. I enjoyed the use of humour and the creativity with the plot. The non diegetic sound is significant in the piece as it provokes the audience to feel how the main character. This idea would be good for creating the surrounding atmosphere in my vine due to the fact that the potential students would need a good prospective on what the college looks like. 

Video 3 : 

Target Dreaming Girl Commercial

The video creates a happy positive atmosphere with the cheery up beat music played throughout. The bright colour scheme is also a contribution to the cheerful vibe this is helpful for my Esher college vine because I need to promote the college to be a happy nice place to come which can easily be easily done by the use of vibrant colours and up beat music.

Afordances of Animation

The Afordances of animation is a term referring to the fact that you can create exactly what you want with animation because you can draw it unlike in cinematography where you would have to pay lots for special effects.

For example in the clip from the video game Grand theft auto (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SX1eYn4TOg) you see a car blowing up compared to in Skyfall when the house explodes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R3N5ByTnIM) The cost to perform all the CGI and special effects in Skyfall would be monstrous compared to the animation used to make the explosions in Grand theft auto this highlights the theory of the Afordances of Animation.   

The 12 principles of animation

The 12 principles of animation 

Squash and Stretch

Squash and Stretch is used to give weight and flexibility to a drawn object. This principle can be used for comic effect when the principle is exaggerated.

Anticipation

Anticipation is used so the audience is aware something is about to happen on the screen.

Staging

Staging is to concentrate the audience’s attention to what is most important in the scene occurring. This can be done in multiple ways such as; angle and position of the camera; placement of a character in the frame and the use of shadow and light

Straight ahead action and pose to pose

The principle references how the animation is drawn.”Straight ahead action" means drawing out a scene frame by frame from beginning to end, while "pose to pose" involves starting with drawing a few key frames, and then filling in the intervals later."Straight ahead action" creates a more fluid, dynamic illusion of movement, and is better for producing realistic action sequences. On the other hand, it is hard to maintain proportions, and to create exact, convincing poses along the way. "Pose to pose" works better for dramatic or emotional scenes, where composition and relation to the surroundings are of greater importance. A combination of the two techniques is often used.

Follow through and overlapping action

This principle helps make movement look realistic and helps the audience believe the character abides by the law of physics. Follow through means that certain parts of a body should continue moving after the character has stopped and the parts should keep moving beyond the point where the character stopped to be "pulled back" 

Slow in and slow out

 

Slow in slow out is about how to make an animation look realistic. If it has more drawings near the beginning and end of an action, emphasizing the extreme poses, and fewer in the middle. This principle goes for characters moving between two extreme poses, such as sitting down and standing up, but also for inanimate, moving objects, like the bouncing ball.

Arcs

Arcs help realism in animation. Arcs allow movement to look real, for example limb moving can be obtained by rotating a joint, or a thrown object moving along a parabolic trajectory. The exception is mechanical movement, which typically moves in straight lines.

Secondary action

 

Adding a second action makes it look more realistic. For example a lot of people walk swinging their arms this is made by secondary action.

Timing

Timing is important for working out  a characters mood, emotion and reaction. The term timing refers to how many drawings or frames there are for a certain action.

Exaggeration

Exaggeration is useful in cartoons because it makes them look more surreal and therefore more interesting to watch. The level of exaggeration will depend on what motivates the artist and what message he/she feels the audience should take from it.

Solid drawing

The term Solid drawing means the draughtsmen has to take in to consideration the three dimensional space, volume, weight when drawing the image.

Appeal

Appeal is all about how interesting a character is so that the audience will be captivated

The important thing is that the viewer feels the character is real and interesting. There are many tricks so the audience like the characters Baby like faces, for instance, are very popular in this respect.

Notes on Contemporary Animators/Animations

Hanna Barbera

Hanna Barbera productions were founded in 1957 by William Hannah and Joseph Barbera.The first of the studios successful cartoons was Huckleberry Hound show in 1958 which later got sponsored of Kellog's. The studios became vastly popular and went on to create some extremely famous cartoons such as:The smurfs, Scooby-Doo,The Flintstones and Yogi Bear.The style of cartoon used has influenced other cartoons for example Family guy and The Simpsons. When Turner broadcasting system bought the company both William Hanna and Joseph Barbera served as mentors and looked over the creative input.

Warner Brothers

The Warner Brothers founders consist of brothers Albert,Harry,Sam and Jack Warner.The Warner Brothers studios was the first major film studio in the world.The use of Cel animation is present in the majority of their creations.The company mainly focusing on commercial animations.

Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki is a Film director,Animator and Manga artist.He belived that 'Traditional is better' hense why he hand draws his animations.His main insperation was the tale of the white serpant (1958).Hayao Miyazaki worked at Tooi animations in 1963 and created a legacy of iconic films since such as : My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited away.

  

Matt Groening

Matt Groening is a screenwriter,animator,author,producer and voice actor.He moved to LA in 1977 to pursue a job in writing.After a while he got a job at the Los Angeles Reader delivering newspapers,he showed his cartoons to the editor who liked them so much he gave him a spot in the newspaper.Since then Matt Groening has gone on to create some highly successful cartoons such as The Simpsons,Futurerama and Olive,The other reindeer.

  

Trey Parker/Matt Stone

Trey Parker and Matt Stone (Actors,Animators and Screen Writers) are most famous for their controversial creation of South Park South Park is the Third longest running animated series behind The Simpsons and Arthur. The work of Trey Parker and Matt Stone was heavily influenced by The Monty Python.

Monty Python

The Monty Python consists of Graham Chapmen,Eric Idle, John Cleese,Micheal Palin and Terry Jones.They are part of a Low budget comedy group that first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty Five episodes were aired over four series.The series provoked them making television series,stage shows,films,albums and books.The groups influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles influence on music.

Yellow Submarine

The Yellow Submarine animation was created by Bob Balser and Jack Stokes with the idea that it would increase the popularity of the Beatles.The inspiration of the Yellow Submarine was Strawberry fields forever.The animation has a major psychedelic vibe to it to connote the Beatles music at the time. 

A Scanner Darkly

A Scanner Darkly was directed by Richard Linklater in 2006. The film is an animated science fiction thriller. It was created by filming digitally then animated over by using a Rotoscope.The use of the Rotoscope creates a very distinctive style to the film which sets it apart from other animated films.It took 500 hours to produce just 1 minute of animation.The film stars Keanu Reeves,Robert Downey JR,Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder.

Gorillaz 

The Gorilliaz are an English band that first formed in 1998.The band consists of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.The band has 4 animated persona's.To create the characters Cell shading animation is used and high frame rate to make sure the animation is smooth and clear to give it a more realistic style. The Gorillaz were the first band to create an animated music video and influenced other bands such as the Arctic Monkeys and The young Folks.