Animation research

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujr3OVgKK8Q Animals animation by “TheAliveful”

This short animation made by “TheAliveful” demonstrates wildlife from all eras interacting with each other. I like the animation style as it is similar to my own and could be used as a guide. It has rough, sketchy line art mixed with a water-colour styled colouring. I enjoy the simple backgrounds as they highlight the animals as the main subjects. The animation focuses on the movements and fluidity of animals and transitions, the transitions make the whole video look smooth and the connection between scenes with separate animals appear natural.

Although not within the brief of my assignment, I find that music elevates animations, bringing them to life and making scenes more impactful.

I love the movement of the animals and their transitions, they are av

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9dZQelULDk&t=5s Happiness by Steve Cutts

Happiness is a short animated film by Steve Cutts, it mirrors our society and the pursuit of happiness in misplaced interests. It represents our society through rats and constant advertising that leads to consumerism. Every time the rats give into the ads and buy products they get more and more unhappy, they are betrayed by the messages in the ads. The message is very direct but somewhat concealed by the replacement of humans with animals. I like the storytelling and the ability to communicate a narrative through animals and actions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vppaBE1GBKw The Dog by ARA studios

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V4Lf1V1130 The Dog- Draft

The Dog is a short animated film that depicts a Dog with a purpose. The film is in black and white which would save a lot of time but still maintains a clean polished look. I feel that the narrative of this story is quite similar to one of my ideas and the tragic ending evokes strong emotions in the viewer. I think this would be very beneficial in a video for a cause as it creates a very memorable experience and long lasting effect.

I like the sound effects in this film as it feels like it is from the dog’s perspective, you can hear the tone of the people but the words are incomprehensible, through sound and visuals we are put in the dogs position, the dog is clearly distressed but unable to communicate adding to the distress.

I found the draft for this animated film which shows the storyboarding phase and the rough outline for the animation. This video simplifies the animation greatly and exposes the keyframes. I will be using this as a template for laying out my own storyboards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pIH02B1bfo Old fur new teeth by Hannah Stevens

Storyboarding research

45 Professional Plot Diagram Templates (Plot Pyramid) ᐅ TemplateLab

In the exposition stage, the characters, location and situation are set up, this stage provides the viewer with the necessary information to engage in the story. The second stage is the confrontational stage, the characters face a dilemma, challenge or complication which they have to overcome. The end of stage two is the climax, the characters are faced with a crisis, this marks the turning point for the series. The third stage is the falling action, the crisis is resolved, the story goes down, the audience’s mood calms down and the story finally concludes.

Animation Techniques

Squash and stretch
Anticipation
Staging
Straight-ahead action and pose-to-pose
Follow through and overlapping action
Slow in and slow out
Arc
Secondary action
Timing
Exaggeration
Solid drawing
Appeal

Frames

Eadweard Muybridge was an English photographer, best known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion. He created an animation of a galloping horse by setting up multiple cameras to capture the different positions in the stride. Muybridge’s animal locomotion is made up of 12 still images shown in rapid succession, this is the basis of animation and frames. Looking into Muybridge helped me understand the concept of animation as a whole and how to effectively use frames.