Character and Narrative - Week Six

Animation fully commenced this week.
We all allotted ourselves to various scenes (Jess will be focusing on the important backgrounds before she attempts any animation herself) and got on with it. To start with, I completed the shot where the sloth has a bright idea. I will be using TVPaint, going frame by frame, for this project.

Character and Narrative - Week Five

I spent this week focusing on remaking our animatic.
Reason being is because ours looked substantially poor in comparison to everyone else's; it lacked movement, detail and clarity. It also needed updating to fit in all the general changes to the film we had received as feedback. With this finished, we hope to finally move on to animation next week.

Study Task 2 - Talk This Way

Here's the lip sync I rushed spent some time on using a voice clip of Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. I traced over the Preston Blair Phoneme Library to get the mouths. I used a dope sheet to time the mouth shapes with the sounds and, as bad as it looks, I think I understand how to do it. The same cannot be said for After Effects though. We were required to use the programme, and I cannot tell you how long it took for me to get started. I find the software to be difficult and confusing and I personally do not like using it.

Study Task 3 (Aesthetics)

A lot of what makes 2D animation appealing to both audiences and artists is that there are several well established animation styles. It also allows for much more creative freedom than its contemporaries. Hand drawn characters are typically more appealing to people as a whole and tend to age better over time, unlike 3D animation. The traditional process is also just more impressive to most people. The common consensus is that 2D animation takes more time and effort, and the results are more engaging to observe from a technical view point. From a production angle, 2D is easier to storyboard along with being (generally) cheaper to produce. However, 2D has a stigma of people “kiddy” to some groups as it cannot convey realism to the extent that CG can. Also, hand drawn animation has become synonymous with Disney, which is itself a very safe, family friendly brand that everyone recognises.

Sources:
https://www.quora.com/What-benefits-do-you-derive-from-2D-animation-videos-over-3D-animation-videos
http://www.slurpystudios.com/2d-animation-vs-3d-animation/

Study Task 3 (Process)

2D animation was by far the most popular form of animation throughout the 20^th century and it’s easy to see why; whatever one can draw, it can be animated. In this sense, the possibilities when using this method are endless, limited only by the skill of the artist. When traditional animation was pioneered, it was done so by using cells and paper. It wasn’t until the dawn of the new millennia that studios traded their expensive physical equipment for digital workspaces and graphics tablets. Despite the freedom 2D allows, the process requires a steep learning curve. Not just when it comes to artistic skill, but also when learning and taking full advantage of computer software. Programmes such as Photoshop, TVPaint and ToonBoom can take a lot of time to learn, and all offer different features and have their own share of flaws. This in turn might have caused 2D to become less accessible.

Sources:
https://www.bloopanimation.com/types-of-animation/
https://learn.org/articles/What_is_2D_Animation.html

Character and Narrative - Week Four

I made the animatic and at first it was 2 minutes and 15 seconds, which clearly meant that it needed some work done. The following day I spent most of my time trimming it down and speeding up/improving the pace of the film, with help from Rory. We're now at a reasonable 1 minute 30 seconds. Our film doesn't have that much intense animation, so the length hopefully won't be an issue.

I have also began work on the swan's turnaround sheet.
Overall, progress is running smoothly and animation should commence in the near future.