Sound project// Choosing Sounds and Producing Images

The sounds I've selected are ones I feel most interested by. The ones that make me go ' ooow, that's that? I don't know, owww ' Here are quick notes on these sounds...

1. A sound that sort of resembles what I can imagine a alarm clock filled of screaming bees would sound like
2. A sound that reminds me of an alien abduction
3. A sound that reminds me of a droplet of water
4. A sound that sounds that bubbling puke
5. A sound that makes me think of someone bubbling slime from their mouth

So, there you go... Better get drawing them.

Lets Talk About// Freak Kitchen - Freak of the Week

' Freak of the weak ' is a song produced by the experimental band 'Freak Kitchen and even if I don't like their taste in music I do really love this music video for the group.

Directed by Juanjo Guarnido it's clear why this animation has a so obvious 'Disney' style to it. Guarnido of course is best known for once being a Disney animator as he was the lead animator for 'sabor' in Tarzan. He is also best known for his illustration work on the comic books 'Blacksad'.

The animation in this music video is wonderful, but then again I'm a big fan of the 'modern Disney' style. Looking past the style, this video consists of a lot of interesting shots and movements, not own in characters but from the 'veiwpoint' moving around the scene. I also really love how each character is animated in a very exaggerating way when playing their instruments; it really speaks for the power being rock music and emphasises the sounds themselves to the viewer.

Lets Talk About// "Resonant Chamber" - Animusic

Animusic is a studio that produces short film/music videos, which visually represents music. Not in ways you might think however. Their videos consist of strange almost robotically machines that produce the music by giving the illusion the machine is creating it; as if mechanically. These machines/set ups are all animated.

This animation consists visually of multiple string instruments mashed together into a single 'machine'. I can only imagine this is animated in a sort of 3D world set up, where the animator first programs the 'models' to move in such a way then next moves the cameras view point across the 3D world they have just created. I don't think this is anything I'd like to try or would idolise in the future, but it really is entertaining to watch - seeing how the music is seemingly produced by this bizarre looking machine.

Let's Talk About// The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics

Originally 'The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics' was a book, both illustrated and written by Norton Juster 1963. However, two years later famous animator Chuck Jones (most known for his influence on the loony toons) adapted the book into an animation and won best animation short in 1965 also.

I really adore the storytelling in this feature. The comical flair to it is so clearly influenced by of course Chuck Jones own comedy but I also love how simplistic each character is and yet how expressive they are in movement. Not only that, But I think it's down to the music paired with each character that really helps bring out personalities within the story. The music also sets the emotion between each scene.

The character of the 'dot' is always paired with very innocent childish and yet graceful music, that best describes her shape. However the line (besides when the music displays his emotion) is always given quite quick sharp notes. Emotion isn't a physical 'thing' in fact it can be expressed differently from person to person; the music in this film works wonderfully well with the storytelling element and how the character develops past different emotions to all together improve himself.

Classical Elements// Final Evaulation

This project has been incredibly beneficial not only to my studies as an 'animation student', but for my opinion on the animation industry all together; not only have I become more aware of the historical element behind what we see on the screen today but I feel certain level of readability to other animators both professionals and hobbyists now.

Instead of picking one idea I morphed elements of many of my ideas into a singular thought. I love producing work with comedy and the idea of an animation with a hilarious love triangle was far too tempting to pass over. Character design was hard to begin with, automatically drawing out these characters in my sort of 'semi-realistic' style without much thought behind it. However after reflecting on how complex it was to draw my past animation (because of the complicated character design) I then simplified the characters further. I approached this brief with an understanding I wouldn't be able to have access to a computer over the holidays and would there for fall heavily behind on the schedule for completion; so from the very start decided I would animate everything by hand. Every second of footage in my animation is hand drawn, from colour to backgrounds. Despite having no other option at the start to do this in anything else besides 'traditional animation'  by my own hand I've become greatly fond of the technique. I'm a huge fan of 'handmade' to begin with, so after scanning all the frames in I absolutely loved the sketchy feel to the colouring of my animation but I must admit sometimes the colour is alit too 'jumpy'. I think if I was to develop this personal technique further I would focus on keeping a more concentrated colouring effect rather then scruffiness. Once again I found the computer element to this completion schedule very complicated, but not to the extend as my previous project. After effects was smoother then last time, partly because I named each frame correctly and partly because I learned from my mistakes from last time; I was even able to add effects to my animation with after effects, such as giving my 'flame woman' a slight glow to give the impression she was truely made of flames within her drawn environment.  I struggled with cropping my work, because I both animated and scanned my frames on an A4 sizing. But using keyframes on after effects I was able to position each 'sequence' to roughly it's original placing with I had in mind when storyboarding. For the audio I recorded 'non language sound effects' in the sound room and for sound effects in general I searched online for the MP3 files.

Personally I'd like to revisit this project regardless if I ties in with my uni work in the future; to develop the backgrounds further and possibliy improve certain elements of the animation.  But over all I am incredibilly proud of my animation ' Putting Out '.

Classical Elements// Final Animation // ' PUTTING OUT '

Finally, after weeks of planning, plotting and sketching I've completed the short 20second animation for this project. Here's the video...

Classical Elements// Recording sound and sound effects

I was introduced to the 'sound booth' which was quite intimidating to say the least, being surrounded by expensive equipment and all...  but it hadn't been my first time in there. After all I helped a few class mates with their recordings a few weeks back.

I asked three friends of mine to help with the narrations for the animation. To help with giving the characters a 'voice' I rendered the animation without any sound at all at a low quality to use as a 'reference' when recording. I then had my 'voices' watch the animation a few times before recording them 'narrate' the animation with sound effects in real time. It was pretty simple.

For the sound effects I searched the internet for them, such as the bubble effect, the forest effect and of course the splash effects.

When putting the sound files into after effects it took more effort then I originally thought to cut out all the laughter from each MP3. After I synced the sound with each character I then had to lower each 'sound wave' to the correct volume. Because the voice that narrated the mermaid was so soft and feminine was unbelievably quiet compared to the loud laughter from the two other voices.

Classical Elements// Editing on after effects

Personally I find After Effects pointlessly complicated but perhaps that is primordially based on the fact I've never really used it before to stitch together an animation. True, with the last project I did use this software briefly but only for rendering purposes.

However, after reading over the brief I discovered to my horror we were told to produce an animation at a certain size, not A4 which I had been animating at. But thankfully there is a 'resizing' element to after effects which I found useless. However, It would 'crop' all 240 frames the same way. So certain frames missed out the 'focus' point of what I wanted to get across and others just looked unappealing. Using the 'positioning' element to key frames I began to shift each sequence differently, so to get the animation in roughly it's original position to what I had in mind. Thankfully I managed to get everything I felt necessary into the 'cropped frame' (phew).

I noticed shortly after (and because I had more time then expected on my hands) that I could give the illusion of 'glow' to my flame woman. That way it would be more clear to the viewer when she is put out and that she is generally a flame. I created a simple 'mask' and reversed its effects on the frames, changed the shape and size with key frames between each sequence to really give her a glow and in all found it quite easily to give that effect of 'glow' in the animation. Even if it's very slight.

Next all I needed was sound...

Traditional Animation// CEL

CEL or celluloid is typically a transparent sheet on which traditionally animated sequences are traced onto or printed onto; this technique is primordially used to add colour or to add 'layers' to the animated sequence.

Normally the 'line' of the animation is drawn/printed on one side then the page is flipped and colour is added to the second side. It had only been since the late 1960s where the frames for the animation have been printed on, traditionally they were hand traced with ink by trained professionals for this purpose. The first artist credited for this technique is Earl Hurd who practised publically with using CELs in 1914.  

Watership down (1978)

Watership down is a British animated feature first released in 1978 and is a film I've loved ever since I first saw it. It still shocks me that this film was given a classification of a 'U' despite the spin chilling death scenes and themes involved. Written, producted and directed Martin Rosen who is also responsible for the movie 'plague dogs' (another favourite of mine). This story is utterly dark and disturbing, yet focuses on rabbits and nature. The main themes of this feature are clearly along the lines of political and rather religious in some areas...

The film is animated in traditional CEL animation with watercolour backgrounds. I love how wonderful the whole feature flows together and how the mixture of a rather 'cartoony' looking design for the rabbits blends so well with the raw natural backdrops and environments all around them.

1930's Animated Woman// Betty Boop and Snow white

In 1930's animation rarely was there any female character to feature as a main character, however there were these two characters.  Betty Boop and Snow White (1937) , both female characters from the 30's were two of the main representations of the 'female' stereotype from around that time.

Betty Boop first featured in an animated short in 1930, a short piece tilted 'Dizzy Dishes' and is the typical depiction of a 'flapper girl'. A carefree sex symbol, seen as more of an 'adult' cartoon character then most would of assumed at that time. Despite featuring as stereotypical roles such as a Maid and a nurse, Betty originally have a certain independent charm to her design. However, in later years and under new enforcing rules on representation within animation, her character was slowly redefined into a 'house wife' figure. Rather then a carefree sexually liberated female character.

Snow white is the classic cartoon example of a 'house wife' role in the movie 'Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs' regardless if she is a main character or not. Instantly she is seen as nothing more then a pretty face who is then casted out from her home because of this into a role as a 'house wife'. The house wife role is simply, (often) a female character who remains at home with little to no responsibly of her own besides cleaning, cooking and tending after other characters. It's clear from this movie she does just that. It's true she isn't the only female character in this movie, however the second is depicted as a 'villain' and is simply a vainer version of snow white herself. In the end she is tricked into a 'death' like state by this 'villain' character and is only then saved by a man. Who strangely kisses her dead corpse and brings her back to life.

It's strange how both characters appear similar. Snow white being modelled on the depiction of 'beauty' from that age, who's hair style resembles bettys slightly and both sharing the same 'make up' style to their characters. However unlike snow white, Betty was once an individual liberated character rather then just assumed to be a 'classic stereotype'. She was a sex symbol rather then a symbol of a 'house wife' and didn't conform to the 'rules' on what a woman should be until her whole character was censured.

The Fantastic Adventures of Unico (1981)

The Fantastic Adventures of Unico is a Japanese animated feature based on the childs manga 'Unico'.  In the story Unico is a unicorn that brings happiness to others, however is banished by the gods because they believe only they should be able to change peoples emotions. The story tells the tales of Unicos travels and his befriending of different characters, who he eventually helps improve the lives of. I remember watching his animated feature when I was younger and didn't quite understand any of it, but looking back on it I really like the direction this 'children's animated film' goes and how innocent the story telling is.

The animation looks to be classic CEL animation and Yoshiaki Kawjiri is the only documented 'key animator' for this feature.

Luxo Jr (1986)

Created by John lasseter, as an example of just what 'computer animation' could achieve in future years if the animation industry really opened up their arms and welcomed it with a smile. The animation is notaries for the character of Luxo, a lamp. The character has become a sort of icon for the whole animation student. 

This short animation is so heart warming, despite the two characters being lamps. With no human features we find ourselves somehow in awe over the adorable nature of the 'child' lamp and relating to Luxo himself(or herself) straight from the start.

Magic Lantern

The 'Magic Lantern' was an early form of a 'projector', this device not only inspired the invention of thousands of other motion projector devices but opened up the pathways to the cinematic industry.

 

Much like a lantern in it's design, the magic lantern displayed an image printed on glass onto whatever faced it. A powerful light behind the glass would 'push' the image forward. However, a magic lantern could be used for a certain form of animation. The operator could manually line up several layers of 'glass' frames and move them one by one, displaying a motion of colour or shapes to the audience. 

Classical Elements// Problems with animation

Today my class had a sort of 'screening' of everyone's animation and how their work was coming along; looking back at my work on the big screen I noticed areas I really wanted to improve and where others said I needed improvement. Such as pointless 'stops' with my animation. So I decided to scrap a few details from my animation and re-draw some of it to pull it all together...

 Here is the first version of my animation...

What I plan to do to 'improve' my work.

1. Add frames in for smoother movement
2. Resize animation
3. Remove certain frames to improve the flow of the animation

Wish me luck~

Phenakistoscop

A 'Phenakistoscop' uses a spinning disk of sequential images that creates the illusion of movement...

Invented in 1841 by Joseph Plateau, the device worked on a basic principle of turning motion images into what the our eyes see as ' movement '. Round disks printed with an animation sequence would be rotated, normally by turning a handle; and the still images would be transformed into living breathing images before the viewers own eyes. The device earned the nickname of 'magic disks' pretty quickly.

Fantasmagorie (Émile Cohl)

One of the earliest examples of traditional 'hand drawn' animation, created by Emile Cohl in 1908. Displayed using the 'magic lantern' device. The animation is very basic, hand drawn with 'traditional animation' and personally I find it hard to follow what is going on. The whole piece is very stylised and almost 'modern' looking. Despite being very simple and very hard to follow, I really enjoy the playful nature to this piece and the quirkiness to it's own style.

Émile Cohl worked on this piece between February and May of 1908 and all together drew an estimated 700 frames all together.

Gertie the Dinosaur (Winsor McCay)

Original Frame from the animation...

Gertie the dinosaur (1914) is an animated short film by Winsor Mccay, the famous cartoonist. The film depicts a dinosaur called Gertie who interacts with her 'master' by following commands such as lifting her foot and such. Originally made to be shown in front of a live audience with Winsor McCay interacting live with the film playing behind him - However it was later adapted with 'speech' frames to be shown in theatres without a live interaction there. This animation was also one of the firsts to use 'key frames'. 

Comic by Winsor Mccay

Winsor Mccay had a noticeable style, his earlier comic which featured a dinosaur is a very similar design to the Gertie. However the frames needed for this animation was well over what he was used to working by. Drawing out key frames by himself, he then handed them to inbetween animators to 'fill' out the film.

This animation would have been ground breaking when it was released, after all for a live entertainer to interact with an animation on screen was unheard of. I can't help but compare this animation technique to the one similar in 'Who framed Rodger rabbit', because the film works on a similar principle; where live action actors interact with animated characters. Gertie the dinosaur is a well animated piece, with a playful nature and good examples of the 'animation principles' such as squash and stretch and anticipation.

Eadweard Muybridge and the Zoopraxiscope

Eadweard Muybridge; An English photographer that ventured into the world of animation...
Muybridge became interested in studying 'motion' in the later years of his career and to settled a debate on wither all four of a horses hooves leave the ground when it is galloping.

His photos captured movement, both with animals and human studies. However to view such images back as 'moving images' he'd need of course to invent a device for this purpose. Later, this device would be referred to as an early movie projector of sorts.

 A Zoopraxiscope is a device used to displaying motion pictures, created in 1879. A sequence of images were printed onto glass disks and rotated at an extreme high speed and gave the impression of movement. This device later on inspired the 'Kinetodcope', which was another form of movie projector.

Interim Crit// Classical Elements

A few weeks ago I presented my work so far to my class. I showed a range of character designs, both early and expanded versions along with storyboards. I also talked about what gave me the idea to develop this idea from a scribble on a page to an animatic, which I also showed to the class.

After giving my little presentation I asked a few questions, mostly focusing on the narrative/sounds they thought would work best with this project. It was brought up that it ' would be nice ' to hear the characters speak or sounds from the characters, or possibly to give them their own sound effects rather then just a background soundtrack. Another question I asked was what media did they think I should do this in, one of my class mates pointed out that it would be nice to see it coloured by hand or something similar, but it would take far too long.   After reflecting later, on the advice given to me I decided to attempt to create this animation by hand; But I'm still not settled on what sort of 'sound' I want for this short animation...