Studio Brief 4- Apply- Final Animation & Evaluation

Final Animation & Evaluation

Here is my final animation that is in the genre of love. I found this task to be very interesting because i have done it in hand drawn animation style. I found this to be very difficult overall because you have to draw each slide, and when it is going at 12 frames per seconds, it all goes by very quickly.

I found the run cycle to be quite hard because of all the different frames needed for each body movements. When drawing these, i decided to leave them looking sketchy and rough because i like the overall effect it gives and the tones created from the slightly sepia toned background and the black and white characters.

The purpose of this animation is to show love. This is shown by the two lovers running into each others embrace which is quite obvious. I also added the spiralling effect because when you love someone you entangle yourself with them and become one, this is why they are shown fluidly spinning and merging into a heart shape before hitting the ground where they re-emerge.

I found for this task we were given enough time because it was just under 2 weeks, the only time i struggled with time was trying to get it all scanned in and edited so it was to a good standard that i am happy with. 

This does not mean i would not have improvements. I would colour the characters with a pen and ink lining so that when they merge the pen and colours all mix so its like the couple really do become one at some point so it adds to the overall story i am trying to portray. I do feel the theme does come across however because its very clear they are a couple and are in love therefore showing the theme.

I think next time i would do this on Photoshop, This is because the animation paper is very hard to keep neat and tidy, with no creases or smudges, so if it was on the computer it would be clean and a lot easier to draw and edit each stage as i could do a whole lot more with the software that i could not do on the paper with such a short amount of time.

I think something that went wrong to begin with would be that i worked out that from my design, i would finish early with a few more seconds that i needed to do. I amended this by adding more to my overall ending so that the couple re-emerge out of the pool on the floor. I do prefer this ending compared to them just being fluid as it is more of a complete ending and not something that could look incomplete.

Overall i am happy that i completed an animation that was 5 seconds long, at 12 fps and that was something that i was proud of. Even with many things to improve on, as a first attempt at a full animation with a story, I think i did well.

Studio Brief 4- Apply- Testing

Testing

As hand draw means you cannot see the overall finished animation till the end, i used a camera to take pictures and then uploaded them to Dragon Frame which put them all together. This is so i can see what i have been doing so far and what i need to look at.

This was my first test that was for the people running to each other as i wanted to see if my run cycle would work and look correct. I wasn't sure how it would turn out because it was a lot of frames yet still didn't take very long in seconds so i was hoping it wouldn't go too fast.

I this did turn out ok because i could see what was happening but also, i found i liked the ending where they come together because the male bends down slightly to meet her which i was hoping would come though and it does.

This was my second test that looked at the couple running to each other, when they spin and when they spin up and turn to liquid in a heart shape. I really liked doing the water aspect as i liked the fluid motion i was able to give it. I liked how it ended up as well as it moved at the right speed but you could also see the water splashes and the heart shape is very clear.

When i was using the camera, the way it was set up meant that it cut off the top section but since it was a test it didn't matter because i could still clearly see the whole thing but i will scan these images in when i am finished so the whole thing can be seen and the images wouldn't be drowned out by the light being too bright.

This is my final test as this is the end of my animation. This is where the couple re-emerge from the pool on the ground. I like how this turned out but i would have liked to see it without the light being to strong again but i still couldn't change the way it came out. This was still ok for the tests but i will now scan in the whole thing and then edit them in photoshop so i can make them look how i want.

Studio Brief 4- Apply- Development

Development

This was my page for characters. I knew what i wanted them to look like after seeing my different inspirations and what i mentally wanted them to look like. As the animation is so many frames and i would have to hand draw each one in a small amount of time, I like this type of style as well as it shows people in such a basic form so people have to pay attention to what is happening. This is also so i can pay close attention to changing the forms and shapes so it looks fluid, smooth and the story is seen.

I needed to storyboard my animation because i worked out that my original idea would be too quick because i thought it would last longer but it is actually short as we are working at 12 frames per second. This is why i added more to the love story and had them being 'reformed' after the liquid has landed. Now i feel there is more to the story that is interesting and adds to the story.

Studio Brief 4- Apply- First Storyboards

Apply- Starting Storyboard 

I wanted to just jot down some basic storyboards so i could visually see what my plan was and what i basically wanted to happen. This shows what i am wanting the couple to do when they are stretching up and spinning before turning more and more into liquid in the final heart shape.

Studio Brief 4 - Apply- References

Apply- Movement Reference

To make my animation more realistic and easier for me to produce i have looked at the way couples run towards each other in the stereotypical cheesy fashion because that is how the beginning of mine starts because you can instantly tell its love. I chose to find these clips because when i animate them they wont be as cheesy because my characters will try to have such fluid motions and they will be designed well. Slow Motion couple -Here is a link to one i have been looking at as it is slow so i can see all of the movements from each slide if it were an animation.

I have also found another similar one, Couples running to each other, This is so i can compare the two and whichever makes the animation work best, i can use more. Both are good as one spins slightly and one is lifted so i can look at both and see which i prefer.

This song of Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' was perfect to look at dancing and body movements so i could see how the couple could approach each other and how they can spin into the spiral that will turn and stretch them into water.

This is another reference by Eadweard Muybridge who studied cycles of movement as he shows people running and walking in images so i could draw the running knowing the positions are all correct and in the right place.

This type of referencing is overall very useful to me personally as it helps me see just how to draw certain things and how to plan each step and what will come up next.

Studio Brief 4- Apply- References

Apply- Animation Inspirations

This is one of the main inspirations i have found which is called 'Thought of You' by Ryan Woodward. I came across this animation a few days after i thought of the idea for my animation so it was perfect to show what i was imagining for my idea. As i wanted some simple characters that move very fluidly to come together in a tale of romance.

When i take all the pictures of this animation i will see if i can change the lighting to try to give it a more sepia tone but if not i will add colour to the characters so much like their light and dark i will have one light and pale coloured and the other dark with a dark colour attached to it, so when they come together in their spiralling dance, I can merge the colours and when they turn into fluid the colour can be the mix of the two.

This animation is very moving about how two people grew up together and fell in love. This is again set out like a form of dance where the camera is tracking their movements which makes this more visually stunning. I also really like the fact is is chalk and coloured pencil on dark blue backgrounds.

This animation is called Duet by Glen Keane and i was mostly inspired by the end spin as the couple in my animation are coming together and spinning in a sort of dance so i need to see how this was done, this is why this is helpful.

Studio Brief 4- Apply- Research

Apply- Research Planning and Ideas

This is my next stage where i have wrote clear titles for each section that i have to plan. For the concept i needed to just write which one i am going to follow and which i need to design for. My characters need to have clear aesthetics and designs as they have to be the same all the way though and cannot change, but also i want them to be interesting so the audience can get attached to them and keep interest in my design.

My method that i want to use would be pen and ink but i will initially draw them in pen and fully complete it and then add colour and water if the effects could look better. I wanted to do hand drawn as i wanted to draw a full animation so i could try out the method and understand how to do them in the old style of how animations were created.

For inspiration and research i will be looking at couples running towards each other as well as people dancing and fluid animations. I have found some animations that have inspired me so i will talk about how they have influenced me in my next blog post.This page was just so i could plan what i needed to do and what i needed to remember about this idea.

Studio Brief 4- Apply-Story ideas

Apply- Story generating

This is my next stage of planning as i was thinking of each individual title and what story i could do for each one. Some i found to be too hard to do, as they would be too hard to complete in the time frame and as this is the first animation i am doing so i want it to be completed. After writing all of these options, i found i like Love as a genre to follow and the first story i wrote down about two couples running towards each other then fluidly exploding and swirling into a water heart at the end.

My next stage is going to be about planning individual aspects of this task, like the research i need to do and character design as i need to be able to visualise the animation more clearly. I also found that i am radiating towards doing hand drawings so i need to be able to think about how i could draw each frame for each stage.

Studio Brief 4- Apply- Notes and Initial thougths

Apply Brief

These are my notes that i have taken down about this brief. When told that the animation can be about anything, we were given themes or genres to follow; Love, Hate, Lateness, Surprise, Longing, Happiness and Fear. When first given this brief i instantly had ideas that i could possibly do but i had to go away and think about the fact we have been given 2 weeks and it must be 5-10 seconds long, so i dont want to make it to over complicated and not be able to finish it to how i want it.

When told this we were also given the opportunity to do any type of animation, it could be Pixilation, Hand drawn or even on the computer. So this really made me think about what it could look like and the story it could tell.