Timothy Magilton
B00808309
Animation for the Creative Industries.
Introduction:
The task in this assignment was to create an animation regrading the face. I was originally going to do this in 3D but other assignments alongside trouble in Blender pushed me into 2D. Although I’m actually happy I went back into 2D as I have needed to expand upon it more since I last engaged with it.
Pre Production:
Software:
Before I even thought about what to animate, I had to know what software I was going to use, theme, style, colour pallet and should my chosen narrator be real or fictitious? Well, first and foremost I chose that if I were to animate in 3D, I’d use Blender and if in 2D I’d use Krita. This decision ended up being a mistake as I should have stuck with what I know but I kept in mind that the more software experience I gained during this assignment, the more I can add to my portfolio and the more I can put on my C.V. So I wanted to push myself well out of my comfort zone and did so with fair success.
What or who to animate?:
When saying earlier that I wished to push myself, this applies to that as well. The clip I chose to shadow animate from was an interesting one. I chose a 10 – 15 second audio extract from an intro cutscene, made by Trey-arc when they released The Call of Duty Black Ops One’s zombie map ‘five.’ However the part of the clip I chose had no animation. It was just a black screen with a voice over. But I did this on purpose because the unique animation technique I could use doing it this way.
Zombies trailer video clip:
The image below is the reference image I used to replace my head in the animation with J.F.K.’s:
Image Link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions_to_the_assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy
Animation theme and style:
I decided that the theme should be in a grainy cartoony setting. Like Max and Sam Freelance Police, Arthur or Bo jack Horseman’s kind of style. I made this choice as it reflected the era Kennedy was in rather well. Where everything is somewhat happy-go-lucky yet the Cuban missile crisis happened right in the middle of it.
One of the example mentioned, source image can be found here:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/34133/sam-max-season-two/
Good with lighting, Bo Jack Horseman really did well with its colour saturation, which gave me the idea to go back and fix J.F.K’s colour bleed from between the neck and the tie which I fixed by separating out the paint layers and locking the collar layer below the tie layer.
Also adding backgrounds of opposite colours made for a good point of contention in what Kennedy believed in, was a world undivided.
Source image:
https://news.sky.com/story/bojack-horseman-returns-as-tvs-most-human-show-10944707
Animation techniques:
The available techniques I could use was varied. But I chose to record myself, sat down, re-enacting what John F. Kennedy said in the clip. I then used this footage to make all of my keyframes, mainly a variety of poses that puts the main character in conversation poses. These poses often occur when someone is in deep thought in a debate, conversation or argument. I chose these mid-sentence poses to give the illusion that the animation of J.F.K is speaking directly with the audience.
The video I took of myself reciting the audio in the clip:
I decided to start the project this was because I wanted to use my own body as a humanoid reference and experiment with different portraits of other peoples heads or faces on my own, in this case, J.FK. Results at the start were rough but it turned out looking like an actual human, something I have struggled to get in 2D software.
Production phase:
Starting the project off, I’d take key frames where there was a lot of motion occurring, be it through my head, arms or mouth. The process list below contains the twelfth key frame. This section will go through each stage of the pipeline I used.
Step one;
Find a suitable image with a good amount of activity in its motion far enough away from the previous and next motion frames. In this case, a new image every 12 – 24 frames depending on the time stamp the image was taken. This is done to not only make the frames chronological but also makes for a smoother transition between frames.
Step two;
Adjust proportions of characters head over mine, align shoulder lines and any lines of clothing, (hence why I wore a suit.) to make the connection as seamless as possible.
Step three;
Align the collar of the body facing parallel with the bottom jaw. I did this in anticipation for the image being too big and looking goofy or unproportionate. But it ended up looking reasonable. Then I added finer details to the suit and fabric of the blazer on both arms and around any areas of tension, such as the jacket pocket.
Step four;
Add colour and small, rough details to make an expression have a heavier outline or make it easier to notice.
Step five;
Add a second or third layer of colour, polish any remaining mistakes or graphic irregularities, make facial details pop a lot more and make the eyes look human.
Project organisation:
Its always important to keep a tidy and organised workspace. I have only since improved my knowledge of 2D software and I’m really starting to enjoy the work these kinds of spaces provide. I used to be a bit afraid of it as I learned 3D first but now I see myself looking at more passion projects set in 2D.
Layers docket, always in chronological order to prevent selecting the wrong layer when working ,never knew how easy it is to do that until now so best to always have a tidy workspace.
Time line. I’d usually animate with more layers than this but but saying it was a frame by frame animation, details could be added in easily.
The onion skin, I keep the majority of the previous frames hidden as it makes it easier to avoid hapless mistakes. I’d rather fix a frame before it becomes an issue rather than discovering the fact later.
Final Product:
Below is the final render for my animation, sound files referenced here and in the references tab:
Audio Source:
Self-reflection:
Overall, I did better in some areas and need improvement in others. I’m happy I managed to pull off a humanoid character in a 2D space. These assignments in 2D may be a hurdle for me for some time but I’m always willing to improve however I can.
Despite the somewhat uncanny appearance of my narrative character, I quite like the quirky, over the top saturated 70’s theme. Its a style I wouldn’t have looked into, had I not gotten inspiration from media that uses cell shaded filters. All in all I really enjoyed this project. I learnt a lot and its fun to see animation style in areas other than 3D. I focussed a lot more on pose work and how a humanoid moves its limbs rather than mouth animation but I’m relieved to have gained some new 2D experience from this assignment.
References:
SnoopyAndCharlieBrown202070 (2023) Reactions to the assassinations of John F Kennedy, Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions_to_the_assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy (Accessed: 11/03/2023).
cinnabon7354 (2023) Black ops zombies ‘five’ trailer, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiJBsOxpeLY (Accessed: 09/03/2023).
Moby Games (2023) Sam and Max: season 2, Available at: https://www.mobygames.com/game/34133/sam-max-season-two/ (Accessed: 08/03/2023).
Sky News (2023) Bojack Horseman returns as tv’s most human show, Available at: https://news.sky.com/story/bojack-horseman-returns-as-tvs-most-human-show-10944707 (Accessed: 08/03/2023).
Krita (2023) Digital painting, Available at: https://krita.org/en/ (Accessed: 08/02/2023).
Veed.io (2023) VEED.IO, Available at: https://www.veed.io/pricing?gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3a2iBhCFARIsAD4jQB0KwxV-Yw1NmHRfV5T7GNLtsZEhWZmTfjoy69dunJ5XyQUC4oATn7oaAkLIEALw_wcB (Accessed: 18/03/2023).
Harvard university (2023) Referencing made easy…, Available at: https://www.qub.ac.uk/cite2write/old/harvard3l.html (Accessed: 27/04/2023).