This is a five-second animation made with my partner.
Category Archives: Unit 3, Unit 12 & Unit 53 – 2D Animation
Unit 3 – Ideas and Concept in Art and Design/ Unit 53 – 2D Animation Production / Unit 12 – Computers in Art and Design
Stop Motion Research
Stop motion is a form of animation, it uses inanimate objects to create lively and dramatic productions. It is a type of frame by frame animation, where instead of drawing out several frames, several ‘grabs’ are taken of the objects after they have been slightly moved. This allows for the illusion of movement and the more pictures taken the more accurate and fluid the animation.
Stop motion is a very time consuming and rigid animation form it requires about 30-50 frames per second in order to create the illusion, it can several years to finish a full-length feature production of a stop-motion animation. One very famous and successful stop-motion movie series ‘Wallace and Gromit’ had a very extensive production process as, it took a whole working day to get over 30 frames which totalled to one second of animation per day, so you can imagine how long it took to finish a full-length film.
When creating a stop-motion project it is imperative to keep a fixed camera, any sudden quick movements to the set up could destroy several frames and render them useless, as well as completely disrupt the illusion. A fixed camera ensures clean accurate frames to be taken, and it prevents people from having to hold a camera up for hours on end. Large production efforts would have several cameras at different angles focused on the scene so that multiple shots can be taken at the same time and is very helpful when implementing camera movements such as pans and dolly shots, as well as zooms.
In modern times new technology allows for even more materials for character build, previously they had been made with clay, paper cut-outs, puppets and other things. Now stop-motion studios such as Aardman; the creators of, Wallace and Gromit, have started implementing 3D printouts in their productions. As with many digital products 3D printers can come in handy as the artist would sculpt their character on various software and be able to print them out. 3D printouts can range from fully functional to exoskeletons and can be implemented into either pre-production and production. Some recent major stop-motion films that included the use of 3Dprintouts are; Coraline(2009), ParaNorman(2012), The Boxtrolls(2014) The Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists(2012) and Kubo and he two Strings (2016).
Idents are another popular use of stop-motion, MTV was notorious for these in the eighties, and now channel four also incorporated idents. Idents are shown prior to and during commercial breaks and are used to identify the network and so that a host can explain the incoming programme schedule.
Idents really took off in the 1980s when MTV made several in 2D animation, people were excited to see the short animated scened prior to viewing their show, colourful creative clips really broke up the monotony of the ads. But they all started back in the early 1950s when the BBC originated the ident. They started off really simple with still black and white photos that have now progressed into full out productions, a range of animation styles and music. They have now become a competitive industry as a stand-alone ident can really attract viewers to the channel or at least be a memorable event, E4 has some of the most commended idents.
Animation Treatment
Animation Treatment
Working Title: Eadweard Muybridge
Genre: Animation; Art, nature, science and photography history
Duration: 30 seconds
Target Audience: Suitable for all; as it is an education animation on a historical figure
Outline:
Sunrise over Yosemite Valley views glaze over the rich landscape, the waterfall comes into view and then you see the bird frozen in flight. The camera zooms in and then it’s as if a picture is taken and the bird moves to the next frame of flying. Then several ‘pictures’ are taken, increasing the bird’s wing movement and ‘restarting’ the filming process. The bird flight path then slowly progress into motion, like a zoopraxiscope roll, the bird flies up over the waterfall and the camera pans up to follow it until it’s out of sight. After this, the camera pans around to Muybridge with a wistful expression on his face. This is the main premise and is available for slight changes and adjustments.
Character Breakdown: Main/only Character; Eadweard Muybridge. A man who is a British photographer and inventor, this animation is supposed to capture an insight into the modern mind that is one of the founding fathers of film and a master photographer.
Visual Elements: Setting- Yosemite Valley, Props- Camera, Actors- birds, Eadweard Muybridge, Lighting- sunrise/sunset
Audio: I can create my own soundtrack for this animation using Logic Pro X and the recording studios available to me at college.
Rationale: Yosemite Valley is what gave Eadweard Muybridge his big break, and it is a visually beautiful place that I feel would really capture the attention of the audience.
Primary/Secondary research: Independent research conducted using online sources of information and posted on my blog, primary research includes visits to Kingston museum and taken note of things there.
Resources: A computer, Adobe After Effects, the Internet, Kingston Museum, paper, Photoshop,
Requirements: Must be 30 seconds long, age-appropriate, completed before 15th of May
Constraints and contingency: Problems That May Occur: – designing scenery, potential dialogue, fitting to a 30secs time limit.
Legal/Ethical Considerations: No copyrighted music, must have original animation concept, as this will be shown in a public domain, no crude, vile or distasteful imagery as this will be potentially be seen by both the elderly and the very young.
Budget: If I were a freelancer I would have to anticipate the costs of the hardware and software such as an Apple Mac, Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, stationary, and other miscellaneous costs.
Schedule: Deadline 22nd May Start Date: 22nd Feb. In this time there are the entire two months of March and April to complete the animation and up until the 15th /19th of May to fine comb for errors and perfect the project.
Final Major Project
This is my completed 30-second animation on ‘Beyond Muybridge’
Animation & Related Job Roles
There are many career paths regarding animation, and several different various roles in this creative field, this post will detail some of these roles varying from more commonly known ones, to more obscure and unique ones.
But first I will describe the general gist of what an animator does and is; an animator creates animation and visual effects for various forms of media such as TV, film, video games, mobile apps, online games and many more. They animate using either 2D or 3D animation after developing their creations by planning them out with storyboards, drawings and illustrations.
In companionship with animators, there are also film and video editors, who edit visual and film for cinema, TV and other sources of media. The increase of digital technology has increased the speed at which films are edited and released for both cinema function and DVD/home use. Editors need a keen eye to spot inconsistencies, errors or inappropriate footage. It is also important to keep consistency and continuity throughout the film, as it can ruin the chronological order of the film, or just ruin the overall experience for the viewer.
Lighting Technical Director- This person is responsible for all the lighting, ensuring the consistency, colour balance and overall mood of the set that is influenced by the lighting. They have to make sure that the lighting enables atmosphere and creates a sense of depth whilst contributing a sense of reality and nature as well.
3D Artist – This job involves creating textures, characters, environments, models and other things in a 3D setting. This work involves a lot of digital skill and knowledge of proportion, shadows, lighting and various other elements in order to make an impressive 3D element of the animation.
Motions Graphic Artist – This type of job involves creating visual effects and animation for live action footage, such as characters and graphics in advertisements, film and television their work is also prominent in title and end sequences in the form of 3D typography.
Stop Motion Animator – For this job the person would require a lot of patience and precision, for stop-motion involves using physical models, such as puppets, clay models or paper cutouts, in order to create an animated scene. Stop motion is like frame by frame animation but instead of drawings each frame a camera is used to capture the individual movements of the models. This is a very skilled profession as it requires both photography skills and lighting knowledge.
Video Game Designer – Designing video games require a lot of skill and technical know-how as it involves the combination of several different elements that are all challenging in their own right; maths, engineering, mathematics, art and design into one final product that must completely execute all these things well together.
Background Designer – These artists use both digital and manual means to create stunning backgrounds for the main product for the animation, they paint, colour draw and trace these. This can be very challenging as the painting must be kept consistent so that the animation can run its smoothest with zero consistency errors. It can also be frustrating as often very minute amounts of the background actually end up in the final animation but still required immense detail.
Interactive Media and Games Design ~ Guian Benson-Quarm 