Evaluation, evaluate, evaluated.

As the last project of the year, this was definately one to go out with a bang, I found all the projects challenging but this one by far was the most. There were a few words to describe this project other than challenging, words such a frustrating, in the sense that you have a fantastic idea and it was very hard for you to actually create what you were mentally thinking because either you were over complicating it or just didn't know how to go about it. Another was refreshing, it was so good to create a piece of communication which was not a poster, but a moving image, I was always learning something new with this project and I found that the new things I learned helped me become a better designer, to teach myself to persevere and not to give up on the idea if I cannot complete it.

My aims of this animation were to create an animation which was light-hearted and humourous with a slightly lateral edge to it. I wasn't intending to but it ended up that the style of animation was Wallace and Gromit personally or the work of Nick Aardman. Not just because I used plasticine but the animations mouth and teeth brought back nostalgic memories of watching Wallace and Gromit as a child, even till this day, I watch them over and over again. Also, at Christmas I anticipate to watch the Wallace and Gromit christmas special! So in the I took the chance to create something a little like this well frankly, another thing I learnt was that animation is definitely not my forte. After I have done this module, I have enjoyed it but by half has stressed me out too much. I just need to carry on building on the skills that I have learned so that in case I need to use the skills again,I won't need to refresh the skills I have now.

Overall I am pleased with my animation, I like the simple concept of the dual personality of the caterpillar/moustache upsetting the mans face by wriggling imitating the music that has been played. The comical value of the moustache. Also, the mixed media that I used of pen and plasticine work well but now that I feel more confident I would work all in plasticine or modelling clay. However to improve the outcome of this project, maybe the fear of the animation not working if I tried a more daring idea dragged me down and stopped me from taking those chances like I normally do in other projects which just endure drawing.
I have to repeat the issue that animation is not my forte and illustration is most probably what I will study next year.

There's a first for everything...

Well here it is, this is my first full length animation. Well the shortest full length animation I have ever done. I am proud of what I have achieved, I have added the text to the beginning of the animation to inform the viewer the title of the animation and who it was made by, I felt that I didn't need to add any more because I am leaving it for the viewer to interpret it, even though it is a simple concept. I would like to think that this would make the viewer chuckle, because of this light-heartedness and humourous storyline.

I am going to talk about my reasoning for my choices in my evaluation in the next post in greater detail.

The Man with the Moustache will forever be in my memory, much like that friggin' Babel - Nortec Collective song!

almost there...

This is my animation without title :)

I feel that the animation goes well with the intonation of the music, in the introduction the long notes represents the sliding movement of the moustache/caterpillar then the fluctuating imitates the fluctuation movement and shape of the caterpillars body. As the music plays, noises from the trumpets reenact the movements which the caterpillar is moving rolling increase in pitch sounds, causes the moustache to curl up tightly and sharp blown noise to straighten up the moustache.

I need to make a few adjustments to the animation for example, change the length, from 00:25 secs to 00:22 secs, that's why the red screen shows at the end. I need to change the colourisation of the actual images. I also need to experiment with the preset effects to see if a style added to the animation enhances it.

 So to add the title, I click the 'text option is the top bar of the near 'Composition and create a text box and drew the box out/

 Added a bubbly, bold text much like the title fonts used in Wallaces and Gromits short stories.

Then it was a matter of changing the duration of when they begin to appear then to disappear on which frames using the same method as the images and music by stretching and shortening the bar.(In this case it was a red bar to distinguish the media of it being text.

Just a cheeky image to show you what I used to create this animation :)

avoid cell animation like the plague...

There was a part in the animation where I wanted to make the mouth of my character move however for me to do it with great detail from a 2D flat surface it would make sense to make a cell animation, but after doing the workshop I was terrible, so I had to figure out a way how to create the action of the mouth opening and laughing.

I did this tester to make sure it looked ok...

These are the frames which make up the short clip....

I am happy with this method and I am happy for it to be included within the animation. I like the style of the plastecine being carried through to create the teeth, it was weird when I was making this, I felt nostalgic feelings when I made the clip because it reminded me of Wallace and Gromit series, just the shape of the teeth,even though this was not my intention.  I just need to make sure that I edit it properly when I putting the animation all together.

After Effects and Photoshop go hand in hand....

When I started using After Effects, I was quickly working out how to use it even though I felt clueless at the start, it was the fact that the set up was very similar, for example the way you could edit a layer on that programme instead of switching between the two which was so much more efficient.

There was the effects option at the right hand side of the screen...
This is where you could add an effect and presets to the animation once it's been rendered and saved.
Images could be brough up separately so you could edit a frame and replace it back into the timline. Shown in the second image below.                    

I didn't realise that you could do this on the programme initially and it made my life so much more easier because I wasn't wasting my time by switching between to programmes and fiddling around which wastes time.

After Effects is not my friend...

After attending the tutorials with Johnny for the After Effects session I know it was going to be a struggle like it always is in Mac session, however I have to admit that I am learning a lot more quickly than expected seen as I am a PC and surely but slowly I am being converted to Mac just for the pure fact that it is much more effecient that a PC.

The most simpliest things to do on a Mac like finding a programme (or in Mac language 'Application') is a bit of a challenge. However I was glad that I attended these session because I would have been CLUELESS. With photoshop, you can sit there for hours twiddling with settings to an image and 9 times out of 10 it's stroke of luck that something comes across that looks good. Anywho, I learnt these main things in the session which was very more relevant to my animation.

The Basics///

When you compose a new animation, you have some very important pieces of information to remember to ensure that your animation will play proper for different purposes also, to make sure that you save it in the correct format and ensure the size doesn't become to larger. This lesson helped me learn what different file formats were and which ones to use and when.

1. Remember to save the animation with a clear name, something you can remember that you can differentiate  which one because you may have different trials on the go, and getting them mixed up can become very messy and confusing (even more confused I could get by using this unfamiliar software! :D) 

2. Make sure the animation is set to a size of a 6 x 4 photograph and the images that you are going to use are of a 72dpi because this is best resolution the create an animation without it becoming pixelated or the files too big that it will grind down your laptop to a hault.

3. Make sure you insert the frame rate to whatever, in this case 12fps, anything higher or for television needs to be 24fps and in other countries for example China it's 36fps.

4. Another IMPORTANT thing I had to consider was what the pixel aspect ratio - this is universal settings at which things are used so they can be made abroad and are able to be broadcasted in other countries so they are compatiable. For the animation we have to use, squarepixels.

5. Then setting up the duration of the animation however both the fps and time amount can be edited during the making if needs be....

During making....

1. Insert files ,you need to make sure images are of 72 dpi which is better for web and you add these in frame order is you are using cell animtion or stopmotion but FILE>IMPORT>MULTIPLE FILES> ''select files'' > tick 'JPEG SEQUENCE'' - Then the files will be placed in order of the frames in the animation.

Then to make them start making an animation, you have to insert them into the timeline which is at the bottom of the screen. By highlighting them all and simply drag and drop them into the timeline in the desired sequence. Then it's just a matter of fiddling about with the slides appearing time so you can ovelap and make transititions from one image to another. I will go into more detail about this when I am showing you the making of my animation.

The making of the animation.... like above I imported all of the frames into AE5. Then copied them to the timeline.

(Below) I had to change the length of the duration at which the sequence played seen as I wanted some of them slightly longer than others and just for added effect or to play slightly quicker (referring back to the key frames at certain parts of the music)

I then added the music which was alot more easier to sort out than first expect by importing the music in the exact same way as the images, I had to shorten the green bar (indication of the audio file in AE5) from 03:25:00 to 00:22:00. Then align to which frame I wanted for the music start and end. 

It's always good practice to have the music at the bottom of the timeline so it's easy to compare with every other component in the timeline.

Timing is crucial....

Beacause I was using the first 22 seconds of the music clip that made it ultimately much easier because I didn't have the worry about other music fading into it. It was just a matter of getting certain sounds which I wanted to highlight in the music to correspond with the movement in the animation therefore I had to roughly work out the key frames which were able to give me the idea at what time the frame should look like at these points.

At 00:11 secs I want the moustache to quickly straighten out from being tightly rolled, the noise which goes with moustache movement can be described as a high 'bum' note which is played sharply.

At 00:13/4 secs a man begins to speak then laugh, this is the point where I want to introduce some kind of movement to the mouth, maybe in not so much detail but enough to aknowledge something has been said.

Again at 00:21 secs, the man speaks and pompously laughs, this is one of three keywords from the beginning of the project.

All in all, the animation is going to last for 00:22 secs. Here's the maths...

For a 12 fps animation....

12x2 = 24 frames (3secs)

12x10= 120 frames (10 secs)

12x20= 240 frames (20 secs) 

12x22= 264 frames (22 secs)

(I know it's not a rounded up number but it's even and as long as the numbers are even it's easier to work with)

So for the key frame at 00:11secs it roughly frame number 122/23 for the straight moustache
The key frame at 00:13secs is roughly frame number133/34 for an open and moving mouth
 The key frame at 00:21secs is roughly frame number 260-4 for a laughing/talking mouth. There will be a sequence that will be repeated three time tomake the action of the moving mouth.

materials explored....

The materials that I explored to create the moustache...

plasticine.
pipe cleaners
simply drawing the moustache.
But in the end, I just loved working with plastencine, it was so easy to work, add texture to, easy to place and move at little stages at a time. So I knew it would be the best medium to work the movement of the caterpillar into the handlebar tash!

Backgrounds... 

A tiled surface? Can;t really see the connection between, plus the sound wouldn't marry with the music, because it doesn't sound echoey like sound is often when you walk into a bathroom.

 The canvas seems more suitably background with a neutral beige colour it's not as harsh look and contrasting as  a white background, plus the pen on a canvas does not give a crisp pen line, which is something I admire about the mark.

 A white back ground is too plain, I need something that isn't like a piece of paper, I would like something with more texture but a plain colour.

 The thought of a heavily patterned surface would take your eye away from the actual animation and distract the viewer also this pattern is not suitable for the subject of the animation.

Development/Changes from the story board...

From my initial story board I wanted to created a build up of an intro, because of the music having a part where it sounds as the instruments are being warmed up. So I thought about having an intro of the face being created... having the face revealed through the process of stop-motion. However I changed this from the face just to making the moustache the main intro seen it is the main character during the short amount of time. I have made a quick draft animation for you to understand...

However, I would like to introduce the two-sided personality to the moustache (caterpillar) I want that flow in then start to crawl, and initially I am not sure if I can have enough time to include both introductions seen as the maximum time allocated for the animation is 30 second which is stated in the brief. But I will only know if I can create them and see if they work visually together.


Then I followed the orginial story board because I was genuinely quite happy with it, the simple concept that the moustache has a life and a mind of it's own, allows the audience to make a connection and gives a humourous extra to the animation, without that I don't think the animation would work at all!

So it was just a matter of making it...... Lord help me.

Stop motion workshop

One of the workshops we were given the opportunity to work in the stop motion animation suites, where we worked with iStopmotion software to put the animation together. We used childrens toys to create a story by interacting them with other toys. Unfortunately, the animation that I created in the work session was lost due to my mistake I was already signed in to somebody elses network and didn't have a USB stick at hand to save it. However, after grasping the main jist of how to make a stopmotion animation I decided to make little ones so I could demonstrate to you that I can make them.

I havent got a Mac, I haven't got iStopmovie. I have a PC and a webcam. So I downloaded a free trial stop motion software call Dragonmotion, where it uses the webcam as a camera. The actual setup of the programme was very similiar to iStopmotion, was extremely easy to use!

After taking some images I created the shortest of animation, (with the software being a trial version, you could only create aniamtions about 50 seconds long at maximum) so I started to play around with the software so I became more confident with the animation experience seen as I have never explored the area before.

Here are a few short clips :)

admittedly they are nothing impressive but they are just examples of stopmotion but my own examples rather than ones I have found on the internet! :)

the classics personally....

Nick Aardman seems to be the main animator that springs to my mind with classics such as Wallace and Gromit and Morph...

A couple of clips to amuse you... they amuse me greatly! 

However why is it that these characters make us laugh or cry so much?

They are animals? But, it's the animation of the rabbit, with the traits of human mannerisms which makes it able to relate to them and find it hilarious. It's the oneliners, that leaves us quoting them days after viewing the film.

As a bit of an excuse to watch a tonne animated movies I have been watching a selection from movies such as Despicable me to the nightmare before Christmas, The Corpse Bride and Coraline. (I'm a massive fan of the director Tim Burton!) 

Tim Burton films are a brilliant example of Stopmotion animation.

Laughter and lots of legs....

When I am making this animation, I need to consider some actions which are crucial to make sure that my animation looks as realistic as the movements in real life...

Caterpillars

Actual, videos of real caterpillars and millipedes up close to see the actual movement. 

The very hungry caterpillar, a famous story all read to us as a child, this is still a favourite story of mine because it brings back so many memories. However, I forgot how good the animated video was to this story! This video captures the movement of a caterpillar perfectly at 01:46.

Storyboarding...

My animation will commence with lines that appear little by little, creating the nasal area.

Then for the philtrum, and begin the lips.

Then to complete the face the lips are formed. This process will all be done by stop motion animation by drawing the same line a little longer at each frame.

So the music will commence, with a long tuba note at the begginning of the clip the moustache will slide in smoothly.

Then move much like a caterpillar, crawl across the frame. 

Start to curl up and bend due to the change in the pitches of the trumpets and trombones.

The moustache crawls on to the mouth and starts to wriggle like it were alive and the man is finding the whole experience distressing.

The moustache curls up tightly building up tension.

Then the moustache straightens itself out sharply due to the long blast of the trumpet.

The mouth of the man start to laugh thinking that he has his 'moustache' under control.

How wrong he was, the moustache wriggles more and more and rips off his upper lip. It has other plans...

It's off this face, it starts to vacate and crawl off the face.

And dies down as much like the music...