J. Stuart Blackton was one of the first filmmakers to use the techniques of stop-motion and drawn animation. When shown this film "The Enchanted Drawing" i was really interested in how it was produced. The outcome fascinated me; the appearance of an image drawing itself. I want to experiment with this concept, testing it for myself.
Thursday, 7 April 2011
"Disappearing Ink Ball"
I wanted to test out the technique of stop motion, mixing in with some of the ink work we developed in our Obs and Comms module. I decided to use a paper ball to dab ink onto a page gradually pressing lighter to produce the appearance of the ink ball disappearing.
All the concept was interesting to test out, i defiantly think the idea needs to be developed. The ending works well, however, I feel the first dabs of ink do not quite fit in the other dabs, showing them to be out of place.
Cell Animation
After designing different characters, we had to pair up to create a 30 second animation using cell animation. I joined together with Hamish, intertwining his frog character with my ball; coming up with this simple storyboard outcome.
Character Design/Cell Animation Workshop
During one of our workshops we looked into cell animation and character design. We first began with sketching out several ideas for characters. I looked into personifying animals and shapes as well as designing human characters. I aimed to keep my designs simple as to allow them to be easily animated.
I was really interested in my fish design due to the comical face. It has a basic shape so the only aspect that would need to be animated would be the different facial expressions. I tested different expressions, experimenting with how the position of the eyes and the use of eyebrows can change the emotions. 
I decided the sketch out a quick story board planning a start, middle and end using a different character. I kept the humorous face, however just used a simple circle to portray a ball.
Stop Motion
I researched into different animations and stumbled across The Carphone Warehouse advert which I was amazed by. It used stop motion and a white board to create a moving image.
I decided to experiment with stop motion and created a short animation. It only required around 70 frames but then again the animation is only 4 seconds long. I enjoyed doing it, however, i'm not sure i could feel so inspired doing a 30 second long animation doing this technique.
Initial Thoughts
On first hearing my piece of music I listed several words that it reminded me off. Finally after several listens, I managed to pin these down to three descriptive words which really summed the music up for me!
FINAL THREE WORDS:
- Continuous
- Energy
- Summer
I then decided to break the song down, noting when instruments come in and deciding on a 30 second section of the song I wish to use. I chose to look at the first 30 seconds as I like how it is simple and where the instruments are introduced. I feel at these moments I can introduce different elements into my animation and create something that is in time with the beats. I also believe that there is a lot more to work with and i have already thought up several possible ideas in these first 30 seconds then in the rest of the song.
- 0.00 = Begins with a continuous beat
- 0.04 = Guitar kicks in
- 0.08 = Bongo drums
- 0.12 = Bass
- 0.16 = Organ
After 30 seconds a tambourine begins, however i don,t like how the tune begins to become complicated and sounding more like a church song then something that is summery and light.
Jim Lefevre
Jim Lefevre is a BAFTA and British Animation Award winning freelance film maker. He experimented with using a record player and a camera to create a different kind of zeotrope (phonographantasmascope).
I am fond of his idea and fascinated by how he has to managed to produce this. Perhaps an idea for my own animation?
Eaward Muybridge
Seen as I haven't really delve into the world of animation, I wanted to start by looking at early animations and research into other people's work. Eaward Muybridge, an English photographer; managed to produce one of the first motion pictures just by using a series of cameras to discover an answer to an argument. The debate concerned whether all four of a horse's hooves are off the ground at the same time. He used trip plates which triggered the cameras as the horse passed; to capture each movement. They were then placed together to form a moving image.
Terminology
During this module I want to keep a record of all the new terminology just for future reference!
a rapid display of static images to create an illusion of movement
FRAME =
static single image in an animation
FRAME RATE =
the number of frames shown per second which will affect the fluidity of movement (12 FPS/25 FPS/30FPS)
TIME LINE =
sequence of frames used in an animation
Print To Pixel
Starting a whole new module which involves creating an animation. Feeling very excited yet slightly nervous as it is a whole new thing for me; got to start somewhere! We have been allocated a piece of music in which we have to produce a series of animated images that communicates it.
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