Exercise - Weight and Balance

 

Exercise - Locomotion, Run

Exercise - Locomotion, Walk

 This is one of the projects that I felt started testing my drawing skills and knowledge of key frames. For this project we were expected to create a walk cycle of a humanly proportioned character, I decided to use one that would be recognized as female. This then set up the question of what a woman walks like.
As I started thinking about this project I first looked at how a walk cycle is created.

This is an image taken from one of my lessons where my tutor explained the key frames of a walk, how you would set the timing for this walk and also then went on to give some examples of how different types of people walk.

I then went on to create my own sketches and take notes of how different characters would walk looking at 3 different types of people. Stereotypical women, stereotypical men and stereotypical old women.
I emphasize on stereotypical as this was not a task to give the character a personality, but in my studies I did wish to know the difference between a walk, particularity, of a 'woman' and a 'man'.

After taking these notes it was then that I had to create my own walk cycle. I think all in all I made a good effort at the movement of a woman's walk. I say good effort as I did not keep the anatomy correct and the woman stretches as she walks.  Other than this I think I got the timing right, along with all the small details of the walk. For instance a woman will bring up her knee as little as possible and will then flick her foot out forward. She will also do this with her arms, this will create a feminine swing to her overall walk in comparison to a mans walk where he will bring his knee up higher and generally walk with bigger and more rigid movements.

Exercise - Perspective

This animation I found quite easy to create, although I think my outcome could be improved on.

To create it one of my tutors gave me some very useful advice. The advice was to space the key frames apart by the size of the object that was coming in and out of perspective. So as it goes further away, the object gets smaller therefore you have more key frames. As the object gets closer, the object gets bigger, so less key frames.

Below is another perspective idea that I considered creating, but with this idea I couldn't have used the advice on spacing key frames as the objects stays in on position. This would mean that I would have had to spend more time figuring and planning rather than getting on with it and then moving on to other projects. If I had more time I would have liked to come back to this idea and experiment, teaching myself how to get around these types of problems.

I will post the final video soon as the file that I have at hand has become corrupt.

Exercise - Cycles

This project was looking at making a flag seem as though its flowing in the wind. We were to make the animation on a loop.
I think I succeeded in this animation exercise in creating my loop seamless, meaning that you can tell what frame is the start of it. But if I had more time I would have liked to clean my rough animation up, add more frames and maybe exaggerate the movements slightly more.

Execise - Timing

This exercise was to look at the timing of different weighted objects and how they would fall down a set of stairs. I had a little trouble with this one.

My balloon moves in a believable fashion in my opinion, but I think it falls too fast. I should of added more frames and made it move slower than it does.

My bowling ball I think moves very realistic. Its very heavy and made of a hard material so rolls slowly towards the edge of the step, falls very fast and then does not squash on impact.

My tennis ball again moves too fast I think, but also I don't think I have the arcs right. They arnt naturalistic enough and does not give the object the illusion of the weight of a tennis ball. Other than this though I did give the tennis ball a good squash that you can just about pick up within the final video.

Here are the final videos.

Flick Book - Open Brief, Jester

This flick book was an open brief so I tried not to create any sketches or plans for this one. I wanted this one to be just what it will be, start out with a dot and continue from there.

I like what I ended with but I think the idea could be expanded on, also I don't think I did enough mark making and experiments in things like colour.

Heres the final animation.

Comparative Analysis

A Twist of Fate - League of Legends Cinematic

Paperman - Disney Short Film

In this comparative analysis I will be comparing two animations that contrast in both function, pace, colour and overall how the audience takes in these differences. The first animation I will look at is a short film by the popular company Disney. Paperman is a film on how two people meet, and then meet again through what seems like fate when the male of the story throws a paper airplane out his works window. What I will compare this too is a trailer for a big online game called League of Legends. This animation, A Twist of Fate, showcases different types of playable characters in the game and their fighting skills within small, individual, dedicated scenes.

Directed by John Kahrs, Paperman is a daydream like story that, just like nearly every animation Disney has produced, is full of emotional and cheesy imaginative moments. This is one of the things that I feel defines Disney within the animation world unlike a lot of other animation studios. Paperman was released to theatres as a short film to accompany the movie Wreck-It Ralph which brings us on to the first difference between the two animations being compared.

Bitz_2008, a user on IMDb reviewing Paperman says “It's destined to be remembered for a long, long time.” And I think this sums up the function of Paperman very well, it’s remembered by watching it once. Yes, you can watch it multiple times but the way it is directed is that you get the full story, full emotion from only watching it once. This is very much unlike the next animation I would like to mention.

The second animation I will look at is the game trailer. League of Legends is a huge online, free, fast paced, competitive game with an even bigger fan base. To please all of the fans its not just the game they produce, but an array of different media like trailers, individual character spotlights and a music video, all animated in a realistic 3D digital style. The trailer for A Twist of Fate displays different characters within small fight scenes showing off their indivuality and special attacks. The finally of the trailer is a huge enemy bosses presence, to which, all of the opposing characters come together to begin the final fight.

The trailer is jam-packed with action, colour, characters and bits of rubble flying at the screen as well choreographed fight scenes play out. To finish my earlier point, this trailer was made to watch multiple times. This isn’t a summed up, story like that of Paperman, it is a trailer, its created for a viewer to feel as though they can jump in and complete the story themselves by playing the game.
Brandon Beck, Ceo/Co-Founder, says “We put so many fine details into the CG that, no matter how many times you watch it, you’re going to notice something new every time”
This again, makes it so fans will watch it, time and time again to discover everything there is to this trailer. This gets the video more views, likes and popularity. Which then, on websites such as, YouTube, will make the video more advertised placing it in a spotlight. This, in turn, brings more popularity to the actual game.

Pace is another one of the most notable differences between the two animations. Paperman starts off with a slow pace, gradually getting faster until the two main characters meet. This is usual for a story line as an audience can sit comfortable getting to know their surroundings in the slow place. Then as the story gets faster and things start moving faster the audience’s anticipation heightens and attention increases. Then as the climax is introduced the audience can relax and bask in the feeling that the story had brought out. The film is created in this way so that the audience has time to absorb every part of the movie that it notably important. Thus making it a one time needed viewing, a person will think about and process what they see during the watching of the film. This is made easier by the lack of a vocal script and the lack of colour as there is less to take into consideration.

Now this massively differs from the A Twist of Fate trailer. The trailer starts off fast, continues to be fast and then ends fast. The only time actions are slowed in the animation is when you are introduced to a new character. This excites viewers, as an audience’s attention is trying to keep up with the fast pace so it’s natural to miss a lot of information, this again supports the idea that it has to be watched multiple times. As a person watches this trailer they get caught up with the fast pace, it leaves no time for them to actually think, instead they sit back and let their eyes absorb the colourful, moving world in front of them. This non thinking behaviour allows a person to take in things that they view and see them for what they appear to be, so in this case in the exciting, colourful, fast world of League of Legends an audience member will naturally become excited and you will be left wanting more. After the trailer finishes your mind is then allowed to think back and review what you had just seen, what the world was, how the characters were, how you would fit in to that world and how to get into that world. This is the exact purpose of the trailer.

After looking at all the aspects I noted in my introduction I can conclude that each animation is perfectly created to fit their desired outcomes. They differ to each other dramatically, contradicting each other to what they are and how they are made. But they both relate to each other in fulfilling their purpose. Both do exactly what they say on their tins. For the Paperman movie I was emotional, happy and content with what I had seen. Watching it for the first time in the opening of Wreck-it-Ralph I was easily led into that world of Disney where all your child, cheesy dreams can come true. I was happy with only watching it once, although I did then go watch it a few more times for my own enjoyment. And for the game trailer I was led along, absorbing all these pretty colours, sounds, designs within the action packed realm of League of Legends. After watching I wanted to jump right in, create my own character, fight with others and join together to defeat the end boss that came to bring destruction to this world that I had fell in love with so quickly. In fact the first time I watched this trailer I was so absorbed and easily led that I then went on to view every other media this company had to offer me and if it wasn’t for my work I would have created my game account right there and then.

When creating a piece of animation, or any media for that matter, you have to carefully think about what you want to portray. You need to know what your audience wants and needs from you. After looking at these animations I hope to create a piece of work within my life that can become so personal to others and to perfectly do what I had intended.

Flick Book - Transformation

In this flick book I look to experiment in morphing an object into another.
Heres some of the notes and sketches I created in preparation to create my animation.

Flick Book - Interaction of Forms, Monster

After creating my first flick book I wanted to further my experimentation in interaction of forms. In this flick book I had a giant monster destroy a helicopter by hitting it out of the air. In this flick book I have also looked into camera positions and panning.

Here are the sketches and story boards I created and also the final recording of my animation.

Flick Book - Interaction of forms 1

  This is the first flick book was the first I attempted and created. The brief was to make create a flick book to explore interactions between two objects.
I planned for this flick book to be very simplistic this being just a test, and also it being my first animation, I didnt want to overcomplicated things for myself.

Here are some of the sketches of what I wanted to happen in the fick book.

 

Here  is also a video of my final animation.

I dont think this worked as well as I wanted it too. The cat stays in the air for too long as seems weightless, the actions where the cat and dog begin to run (cat running away from dog) should be faster and I think the dog should lift the cat more into the air when headbutting it.