Showing posts with label Animation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Animation. Show all posts
Monday, 1 July 2013
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Understand the requirements of working to a brief
Understand the requirements of working to a brief
When receiving a brief from the media industry, it could be received in various ways. Firstly you could receive the brief by it being outlined in an employment contract from the industry you are going to be working for, such as written work for publication. This would be known as a contractual brief. An example of this would be Bring Me The Horizon asking for a specific director to create their new music video.
Next, you may help the client by working with them to discuss and finalise the aims and objectives of the brief to then complete the brief. This is known as a negotiated brief. An example of this would be a production company asking the BBC to create a new programme but the BBC asking the company to change a few minor things to then finalise the idea.
Production companies could also call you or send you an email and discuss the requirements of what they would like; this is known as an informal brief. An example of this could be a production company calling you to discuss the requirements you need to become an editor for their company.
Some briefs are sent to several companies via post or email and inviting you to respond to their offer with your own ideas. This is known as a tender brief. In addition to this when entering a competition you will be provided with a brief explaining what the client wants you to deliver. An example of this would the competition E4 holds every year to create an E4 ESting. The brief for this competition shows that you need to create a video no longer than 10 seconds with a nice creative flair to it but also to use un-copyrighted material. The prize for this competition is to get your ESting featured on E4.
When we was given the E4 ESting brief, it stated that we needed to create an ESting video which was no longer than the 10 second limit but also the video must be posted on a blog and then send E4 the blog address. In addition to this the brief also said that we should research their brand first to understand the audience we are aiming for but also to make sure that they would prefer one really good ESting to three okay Estings as you can submit up to three each year.
When we received the brief we then had to negotiate it with our tutor by asking for her assistance on the ideas produced and if they would be suitable to the brief we were given from E4 and if not how we could amend these ideas to suit the brief and create a unique ESting.
Within the brief E4 had given us we were allowed to read the brief via the E4 website which then also shows the terms and conditions of the competition also within the brief we were not allowed to change or twist anything because this would then break the strict rules that E4 had given. In addition to this the brief E4 gave was strict because of the 10 second limit and uncopyrighted material but we were allowed to use any ideas we wanted and show our creativity.
When creating the ESting there would always be constraints in a production, one of these would be legal action if when creating the ESting we used copyrighted material such as a soundtrack but E4 were kind and gave the competitors some sample soundtracks available for download on their website. Another would be the regulatory companies such as Ofcom because E4 would not be able to show the ESting if does not accompany the broadcasting codes because if they show a violent ESting during the day this would then break the Ofcom broadcasting code.
Once the ESting was created, we uploaded it to Youtube and shared the link on other social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and received responses from those websites as well as creating questionnaires to pass round to friends after watching it and also using an online survey. In addition we then received feedback from the class and used this feedback as a focus group. Once all the feedback was received we then acted on the improvements to our video by recreating the E4 logo and trying to place the E4 logo better in the video to make the final part of the video look much better.
As we created a stop motion animation using real people we did not use any of the budget for the Claymation models however if the college did not have the correct equipment then this would have impacted our production hugely because we would have then needed a HD camera as well as other equipment.
In addition we did not get extra on the timescale aspect as the deadline for the ESting was the 9th November and if it is not submitted by then your video would not be entered. We only had around one day to get the ‘Punch’ video filmed and edited the other we was trying to amend the space invader video.
As well as having these minor occurrences the conditions did change because we had our minds set on creating the space invader idea but because this idea did not work out we needed to create another idea in a very short amount of time.
When given this brief I thought the idea of creating a stop motion animation would be very difficult but after having practice first I then went ahead in proceeding to get this video completed and looking at its finest. When creating the film I learned that it is vital you get sleight movements then take another picture otherwise the film jumps and it looks really bad, you want the film to flow smoothly and make it look as realistic as possible. Now I have created this film I am confident about creating stop motion animation films and know that if I needed or wanted to create another video I could and possibly make it even better than before because practice makes perfect.
Throughout this unit I have learnt new skills such as camera placement for doing a live action stop motion animation, this is because I now know that you need to include the whole body of the person you are taking photos of and not cut parts off as it ruins the effect of making the impossible possible. Again if I decided to create another stop motion animation I could use this feature.
When creating this film I think I did have to multi skill a little because I needed to take the pictures for the space invader idea as well as helping sam organise where the helpers should move to and when creating the punch film I also did the same by helping take the pictures of alex and tell him where to move.
My contributions to this project brief were that I said we could use one of the soundtracks E4 have made available to avoid legal action by using copyrighted material. In addition to this I also suggested changing the idea for the space invader idea but then when conditions changed and this idea did not go ahead, I helped suggest ways to develop the punch idea film into a good stop motion animation film to enter into E4s ESting competition.
Monday, 19 November 2012
ESting Evaluation
Here you can see a few screenshots I have taken, the first one on the top left hand side is a screenshot taken from the YouTube comment section on our video, and we received mixed opinions on our video. One comment said “it was a bit confusing in places”, from this comment we could have made our video a little better by making sure the viewer’s understood what was going on in the video to then get better feedback. Another comment said “I think that it’s a great stop motion animation and was really effective considering the time you did it in”. This really helped us as we get the feeling that viewers did enjoy our video. The time part of the comment was because our first idea did not work well, because the people that signed up did not show up to the time we asked them so we could film our space invader idea.
The next screenshot is of my post on Facebook trying to get all my friends to watch the animation video via a YouTube link and then to fill in the questionnaire I posted after. From this I can then gain their opinions on the video from a survey which I created on survey monkey. I received one comment on the Facebook post of “good” which means there is another positive response to the animation video I produced. The next screenshot shows my two tweets I posted onto Twitter to see if my followers would watch my animation video and also again to fill in the survey monkey questionnaire. Unfortunately I did not receive any responses from Twitter but I checked my survey monkey account and I can see from the analysis page that I have received eight responses to my questionnaire on this website, but also I have created some paper base questionnaires which I have handed around to some of my friends but also my family members that did not see it on the websites I posted on such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
One positive comment we received was the continuity throughout our video, this was a good piece of feedback because we wanted to keep the continuity consistent to ensure the video looks its best as well as trying to make the impossible possible because this is the main aim when creating a stop motion animation production. This piece of feedback was for the aesthetic level so we know that the video did look mostly good throughout, unfortunately the one part that did let down the whole video was the E4 logo at the end, it did not fit properly around the character and also the key framing could have been a lot better, but because we was running out of time to get the video completed we did rush this final part which did ruin the video. If we would have spent more time on this part of the video we could have made it look much better and also make it move smoothly. This would have then boosted the aesthetic level of our video more. 
Another positive feedback response we received was the 180 degree arc around the two characters just before the big punch, the audience thought this was a good feature added to the video and it set the scene of an intense fight, this was a good part on the technical level because of the camera movement and camera placements to make this 180 arc happen. I really enjoyed this feature of the video because I think it does set the fight scene, and it also mixes different camera shots. The final part that let down our video was that the audience felt that there was not enough impact when the punch happened, which I totally agree on I think we could have made it much more unrealistic to represent how hard the character was hit, this would then have increased the impact on the audience.
Part 2 evaluation:
As you can see this blog post is the format I have chosen to evaluate my animation video and also to show how this video was working to the brief given. This blog is a written report which is the way I find easiest to evaluate my productions instead of using a presentation or a viva voce. In addition I will also be adding quotes from the feedback received to my report as well as adding pictures onto the post.
When creating this production there were constraints we had to face the same as any production one of which was legal action, the reason for this was because we could not use any copyrighted music as we would face serious legal action, the way we overcome this problem was we visited the E4 website and used one of the songs they provided on their website. This way it was usable and we could not get sued for copyright as it was on their website for fair uses. Another constraint to our production was regulatory companies such as BBFC and Ofcom.
The reason for this would be that if this was to be aired on E4 BBFC may need to review this video and give this video a rating, on the other hand Ofcom have their broadcasting codes which means that if this video was to be aired that we would need to meet the requirements for it to be aired, such as not having lots of violence in the video if this video was to be shown during the day. Finally we also had to overcome financial issues, the reason for this is that we had no budget for our production, but if the college did not have the HD cameras available and the editing software already purchased then the production would have been a lot harder to film.
During the production we needed to manage many things to make sure the production ran smoothly but also looked aesthetical. The first part that we needed to manage was our time. We was given a deadline for when the production had to be filmed and then another for when the whole video had to be finished.
For our space invaders production we managed our time very well by spending half of the time scouting locations for the production and also getting people to sign up to help out, and the other half we spent trying to get the production filmed but there was setbacks, as we could only film for one lesson a week which was hard to do. In the end we did not get enough footage to continue with the space invader idea so to still meet the deadline we created a whole new production in one double lesson.
Everyone agreed to meet the deadline and also knew how long they had to film and get the video finished. The deadline was met with our new and final production the Stop Motion Animation Punch. We did not plan to fit the whole production in at last minute, but because the space invader idea did not work out we needed to create a production in that one day.
When we did get to film the space invaders idea, I needed to focus and make sure that everyone knew what positions they would be in and also make sure that they know what they need to do, I organised all the people that turned up into the space invaders format, and also made sure the camera was set up correctly. Once everyone was in position, I then went up to the camera position and helped Alex keep the camera in place and take the photos, whilst Sam was with the helpers and leading them in which way they need to go after the picture was taken. Alex and Sam communicated on the phone whilst I was suggesting ideas to Alex to then tell Sam.
When the space invader idea didn’t work out, I was in the punch production at the beginning and then myself and Sam took the photos of Alex jumping and also in the different camera positions. Our teacher did like our first idea but because it did not work out she was fine and praised our newer idea.
We received mainly positive feedback but also with minor improvements which would make the production better. I gathered information from many resources such as paper based questionnaire, online survey and social networking sites. I have learnt how to animate stop motion videos and also through this unit I have demonstrated the skills to animate, but also how to create claymation models all this this could be helpful if I wanted to pursue a career in animation, but in my opinion I do not like animation that much.
Monday, 22 October 2012
ESting Planning
Planning our own ESting
Our ESting is going to be created by the target audience so we can relate to what viewers would want to see on E4, also our ESting would give the viewer’s memories of a game they played in their childhood which would relate to them even more which would give the ESting a huge advantage.
The idea for our ESting would be suitable because it suits the main target audience which E4 are aiming for but also it gives the viewers a sense of their childhood back which could bring back memories and good times of possibly when they have played space invaders or watched it being played. Having the target audience teenagers and young adults is good because it could be easier to interact with as the ESting is being created by the main target audience for the target audience.
We did a location scout for our ESting and we have decided to use the college gym, it has a wide open area in which we need and with the correct equipment we can easily get the camera for the birds eye view in which we need it to be. The only down side is that the gym is used regularly and maybe in use the times we need to use it for filming. If this occurs too many times we may need to change location.
The idea for our ESting would be suitable because it suits the main target audience which E4 are aiming for but also it gives the viewers a sense of their childhood back which could bring back memories and good times of possibly when they have played space invaders or watched it being played. Having the target audience teenagers and young adults is good because it could be easier to interact with as the ESting is being created by the main target audience for the target audience.
We did a location scout for our ESting and we have decided to use the college gym, it has a wide open area in which we need and with the correct equipment we can easily get the camera for the birds eye view in which we need it to be. The only down side is that the gym is used regularly and maybe in use the times we need to use it for filming. If this occurs too many times we may need to change location.
We scouted the location we wanted and found out that there is a few periods in which the gym is completely empty this was a good sign for us as we could then use the gym without any interruptions. Once we found out when the gym was free we went to find the head of department to get their permissions to use the gym in the free times and to ensure nobody else could book as well as us. We then took a few test shots of the gym trying to ensure the perfect position for the camera and jib but also the perfect angle in which the camera could face to get more of the gym in and enhance the space we have to use.
Here is one test shot we took. This shot was almost perfect as we almost got all the gym in but sadly there was a sleight part of white wall which we really dont want, in addition to this the camera is slanted, this was a big problem because we was trying to even out the tripod and jib but it just kept moving down and then going slanted. To overcome this problem we touch the jib handle just a little to keep it in place but also to make the camera straight ahead and not slanted.
Here is another test shot we took. This shot was the best shot out of all out shots we got, this is because this shot shows basically all the gym with a sleight exception of a piece of wall, other than that you can see the whole gym floor which is what we want and we could get the most use out of, also in this photo the camera is completely straight which is another good thing.
We began our filming in this location, and we did actually create most of our stop motion animation is this location which we originally wanted but unfortunately luck was not on our side as when we originally planned to film on the Wednesday that the gym was free only half of the people that did sign up to help out turned up so we had to go find some people very fast and time was not on our side as we needed more people and had to try and get most of this animation done in one lesson.
By 9:20 we had a few more people and began to film because we really couldn’t waste any more time. Everyone was in their positions and we were taking many pictures then we needed to get a jacket so use as the gun shots. We took around 60 photos overall at the end which in fact isn’t even that much as we needed around 120-30 because we were working at a 24 frames per second production. We decided we would try again the Wednesday after to get the other half of the photos we needed, we attempted to get more people in case others didn’t turn up this time.
The Wednesday came and nobody turned up to the gym so that was our production over, we needed more photos and without any people this wasn’t possible. We then had to come up with a whole new idea for our production and in the end we decided to have a small fight with a big punch at the end and then have the E4 logo behind where he was punched. We got all the photos done in one double lesson and we were so close to finish the editing in that double lesson also.
Myself and Alex came back at lunch to finish the editing and get the film done by the deadline. But again the editing software would not recognise our PNG file I created and we couldn’t understand why. We tried many different things but in the end we had to save the image as an Adobe Photoshop PSD file, and then drag this file onto the editing timeline.
We then needed to change the blending options as there was a white background on the image, once we did this we then attempted to key frame the E4 logo around Alex and to keep it in the center.
This worked well but it could have been improved a lot but if the editing software had worked in the first place then this may have been an easier job to do.
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Slenderman Test Footage
Here is just a short test video of my slenderman moving, this 3 second clip consisted of 36 frames and was mainly testing to ensure that my claymation character would move nice and smooth. This test was successful as my character did move smoothly and if more frames were added then the film would have been longer and more movements could be added, but as I said this is only test footage. If my character did not move correctly in the full film then i would have to retake some frames to ensure that my character moves efficiently but also so make sure that the illusion of animation is given correctly, this would then create a better finished product. Another thing to remember if my character does not move correctly is that only small adjustments are made otherwise there will be a big skip which will then break the illusion. As you can see from the video i have minor skips, this is because i did fairly big movements but i can improve on this in the real film.
Here is the two pictures of my set design for my main animation video. I have chosen to set the scene in a dark gloomy forest, the reason i chose this is because the character i'm using is usually hidden in dark places and a forest gives the viewer a scary background to set my scary character in. I have also chosen to shade the trees because i want my main film to be in black and white because this will keep the gloomy effect but i may also had sleight colour correction to make some parts brighter. In addition i think the black and white effect would be the best to use for my film as it suits the scene but also will keep the effect i'm going for. I would use brown coloured paper to create the tree trunk and the scrunch up some green coloured paper for the top of the tree and use dark brown clay to stick the tree to the floor. I may add some more brown coloured paper for branches if the trees on their own look to bare. I also tried creating the trees so they look 3D this would then be good as I could have my character creep in between each tree getting closer to the camera. As you can see one is drawn and the other was created on Adobe Photoshop. I drew the first one just as an outline as to what i wanted and then recreated it on photoshop to make it look better but then also to add alot more detail onto the set design.
Monday, 15 October 2012
Character Designs
Character Designs
Name: Chubby Slenderman
Alias: Slendy
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Unemployed
Goals: Stalking people to creep them out and scare them
Movements: He mainly uses his feet to walk behind his prey but can climb trees and other objects with his tentacles to avoid detection.
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
History of animation
The Thaumatrope, which means "turning marvel" or "wonder turner", was a very popular victorian toy, the toy consisted of a piece of card with a picture on both sides attached to two pieces of string. Once the string is twirled fast the two pictures combine into one due to persistance of vision. It was mainly used for entertainment but was less interesting when modern cinema was developed. The invention of the Thaumatrope is usually credited to either John Ayrton Paris or Peter Mark Roget.
Persistance of vision was the theory that the eye would maintain images for a fraction of a second. This would then mean that images we see are a subtle blend of what we are looking at now but also what we have just seen.
Frame rate is the frequency in which an image is shown, the faster the frame rate the more smoother the image will appear. There are three main standards in which are used in TV and film these are 24p,25p and 30p. Low frames per second do not show the illusion of moving images efficiently.
Stop-frame animation is a form on animation in which makes inanimate objects appear to move on their own. When creating this effect the animator takes one picture, moves the object then takes another, this process is repeated until enough pictures are taken to then put together and create the animation.
You could also use plasticine to create stop-frame animation this is known by a different name called 'clay-mation'. Example of this would be Wallace and Gromit. Animation 'works in 2s', what this means is that only 12 frames show in every second of motion.
The Zoetrope is a device that produces the illusion of motion from a fast paced sequence of still images. These images are hand drawn and or painted onto a white paper strip which is then placed within the inside of the Zoetrope. Then the viewer would look through the small slits in the zoetrope to then see the illusion of motion from the still images.
William Horner was a British mathematician and invented the Zoetrope in 1834, this was a very popular palor toy until modern film technology. Horner originally called the device a daedalum, which means "wheel of the devil."
This device is similar to the Phenakitoscope. The Phenakitoscope is a device which is one disk attached to a handle and on the outside of the disk are the different drawn images with equal size slits in between the images, once the disk is spun the images appear to move due to persistance of vision.
This device was invented by Joseph Plateau, a belgian physicist in 1832. Plateau was the first person to demonstrate the illusion of a moving image.
The way Plateau discovered the illusion of moving images was because of his invention the Phenakitoscope, without this he would have never found out.
The Praxinoscope was a successor to the Zoetrope, like the Zoetrope this device also used a strip of images inside the cylinder of the device. The reason the Praxinoscope improved on the Zoetrope was because it replaced its narrow viewing slits with an inner circle of mirrors. This then enables the viewer to see the images in better light and more clearer than the Zoetrope.
The Praxinoscope was invented by Emile Reynaud, a french science teacher in 1877. He was also the first to show cartoon films on a public screen. The main idea for the praxinoscope was to amuse young children. Reynaud's most famous animation was the trapeze.
Edweard Muybridge was an English photographer and was most known for his work in motion picture projection. He then immigrated to the United States and in 1874 he shot and killed Major Harry Larkyns, his wife's lover, and was acquitted in a jury trial on the grounds of justifiable homocide.
Muybridge was hired by Leland Standford in 1872 to research if all the hooves of a horse could be off the ground at once. He proved Standford right but also created revolution for motion picture photography. Muybridge is known for his horses as he proved Standford's theory.
The Kinetoscope was known as the motion picture exhibition device, the original idea for the Kinetoscope was for the person using this device to see the motion picture through the viewer at the top of the device. Unfortunately only one person at a time could view this motion picture. The Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard of all cinematic projections. In 1894 the first exhibition was given of these devices, there was ten in one line showing the same motion picture. This device was invented by Thomas Edison in 1888.
Thomas Edison was an American businessman as well as an inventor. Edison held 1,093 US patents to his name. In addition to inventing the Kinetoscope, Edison also was credited to other inventions to do with telecommunications such as stock ticker, recorded music and motion pictures.
The Lumiere Brothers, Auguste and Louis, were the earliest filmmakers in history. The brothers worked for their father at his photography firm, it wasn't until their father retired that the brothers began to create moving pictures. The brothers did not stop there, they invented the device called the Cinematograph, this device was a motion picture film camera as well as a film projector and developer. The cinematograph itself was patented on 13 February 1895 and the first footage ever to be recorded using it was recorded on March 19, 1895. This first film shows workers leaving the Lumière factory.The cinematograph was the start of the revolution of motion. pictures.
George Pal was a Hungarian-born, American animator and film producer. His most famous animation was the series called the puppetoons which he created in the 1940s. The puppets for the series were carved and in each frame the puppet would change, the process for this is called replacement animation. In addition Pal then turned to live action filmmaking and created The Great Rupert(1950).
Willis O'Brien was an Irish American special effects and stop motion animation pioneer. Willis O'Brien helped create so many well known film, for example King Kong(1933) and The Lost World(1925). O'Brien won an academy award for Best Visual Effects in 1950, this was just a small recognition of what O'Brien had done for the animation industry. He was also hired by Thomas Edison to animate some short film with prehistoric a theme.
Ray Harryhausen was an American visual effects creator but also a writer and producer. 'Dynamation' was his brand of stop-motion animation models. Harryhausen's most famous work was the film Mighty Joe Young(1949), this film won an academy award for special effects, in addition this film he created with special effects pioneer Willis O'Brien.Harryhausen draws a distinction between films that combine special effects animation with live action and films that are completely animated
such as the films of Tim Burton.
Jan Svankmajer was a Czech filmmaker and artist. Jan is mainly known for his surreal animations, these then influenced many other people for example Terry Gilliam. Jan gained reputation for the use of the stop-motion technique but also how he made surreal yet funny images. Jan usually creating animations of inanimate objects and giving them life was a different approach to stop-motion but worked so well.
Stephen and Timothy Quay are American identical twins, they are more known by the name of Brothers Quay or Quay Brothers.These brothers are known to be infuencial stop motion animators. According to the brothers Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer is cited as a major influence even though they did not discover Jan's work until very late on. Jan was such an inspiration they even named one of their films after him called 'The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer'. Most of their animation films feature puppets made of doll parts and other organic and inorganic materials, often partially disassembled, in a dark, moody atmosphere.Tim Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. Tim has created so many well known films but his main well known ones would be 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' and 'Sleepy Hollow'. Tim has created many close friends since doing films one has been actor Johnny Depp and another was musician Danny Elfman. Burton has directed 16 films and produced 12, as of 2012.
Aardman Animations is a British animation studio which is based in Bristol, United Kingdom. The studio is well known for Wallace and Gromit, which are stop motion animation films made from plasticine characters. In addition it entered the computer animation market with 'flushed away'. As well as Wallace and Gromit, Aardman also created the hit film 'Chicken Run' and the short TV series called 'Creature Comforts'.
In the cinema there have been many animation releases, some good, some bad. In the earlier days most of the animation releases were not shown at cinemas but just small gatherings of a projection of the film. In 2010 'Pinocchio' , a stop motion animation film was released and was a big hit even though that stop motion is not used that much anymore and computer generate images is taking over.
TV animation is mainly used for childrens cartoon programmes, which are very interesting to children of all ages and are very well prepared before being shown, some are simple but are the most attractive with characters the children enjoy watching. On the other hand there are animation programmes that are not for children such as family guy, american dad and south park, although they are not for children they still have a huge audience watching these animations but the best would be the simpsons, this programme has been going on for absolutely ages and is still going today but has improved since the programme began.
Channel Idents are used to promote the channel the ident is on, they do this by doing a short speech of the channels name or showing a short video with the name of the channel on, and either during programmes or after programmes. For example BBC One have many short videos to promote themselves.
Animated music videos are becoming increasingly popular as they are a lot cheaper to produce compared to live action music videos, in addition to this some of the most simplest animated music videos can still be very popular. Most official lyric videos are simple animations in the background and then the lyrics appear on screen. On the other hand 'Gorillaz' use animated music videos for their songs and lots of people enjoy them.
Stop motion animation in mobile phones. Stop motion animation within the phone industry can be quite useful as there are apps but one app in particulaer called 'Stop Motion Recorder', this app allows users to create a stop motion film on their mobile with little effort.
Stop motion animation in websites. Stop motion animation is occassionally used on websites to promote competitions or channel idents. This is a simplistic form of promotion but can be very effective.
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