See Hear - Week 5, Sand Animation

The next technique to try was sand animation; I liked the look of this technique from the examples we were shown on Monday. I researched Rebecca Manley a bit more after we were shown her work and I particularly liked this animation for a coffee advert:

 
Carte Noire - Steam from Rebecca Manley on Vimeo.

I love the golden background against the dark sand, resembling coffee of course, and creating a rich, warm atmosphere. Most of all I liked how the transitions between images were animated (the images forming from and dissolving back into steam from the coffee) - it is very fluid and lively, and worked very well with the sand medium I think.

For the next animation I wanted to do something different from what I had already done. So I decided to develop my original idea a bit and started to sketch a deer to add some character to the animation. I imagined my soundtrack taking place in a forest (a bubbling stream, floral or leaf-like shapes), which led to the deer idea, and a deer can also be drawn relatively simply/stylised. This idea may or may not be used in the final animation, but it was good to try something new and something a bit more complex that what I had done so far. I imagined the deer as more of an "idea" in the animation rather than a physical, realistic looking animal. As the camera follows this stream/river idea and down a waterfall, the deer could form form there and interact with the floral/leaf-like shape that floats up as part of the flute-part of the track:

Of course the gun shot then follows in the track, but I don't want to leave the animation on that note! So I am thinking that the deer figure could appear again after the gun shot - again this idea that the 'character' is less of an actual animal but more of a symbol for the environment, which is disrupted momentarly but then comes back...   just some new ideas floating about to add some more interest to the animation!

I then made more little thumbnails of each frame involving the deer to give me a rough guideline. The coffee advert inspired me in particular when working with sand. I wanted the line of the stream to form the deer and I think sand worked perfectly for trying this:



I really enjoying working with sand as it was easy to re-do things and draw into it, plus I think it has a nice-looking result. This is another short experiment, but I may do more animating with sand. The only problem is it will be harder to work with colour, unless I add colour digitally perhaps. I am happy with the deer idea and I think it worked quite well with the soundtrack - the large ears of the deer particularly can be quick and 'fluttery' in their movement, which suits the flute sound I think.
The new deer idea may also be a good way to play around more with the animation in terms of colours, movement and metamorphosis...

See Hear - Week 4, Full Paint Animation and Stop Motion Tests

From last week, I made a full animation of my soundtrack using oil paints. Previously I thought oil paints would suit my soundtrack, so I decided to make a full animation-experiment using the Rostrums. I had never animated with paint before so this was a good challenge. Thinking ahead was vital when using the paint, so I relied on my dope sheets and I sketched little thumbnails for each frame to reference when working with the paint. This was very helpful, and should come in handy throughout the project:

This is my first full animation based on the soundtrack. I painted onto the acetate sheet, with coloured paper underneath:

 

I really liked using the oil paints, so this may be a technique to build one, possibly combining it with other mediums...


The next technique to try out was cut-outs and stop-motioney things! 
From our film show on Monday, the film I liked best was "Accumulonimbus". This was also the animation that I related to the most - thinking this sort of style would suit my soundtrack the best:


Accumulonimbus from andy kennedy on Vimeo.

While scouring Vimeo for more inspiration, I found this animation made by Aardman that I also really liked:


Gulp. The world's largest stop-motion animation shot on a Nokia N8. from Nokia HD on Vimeo.

I loved the huge-scale style of this animation and the use of the sand on the beach - it has a very lively atmosphere to it! Plus we will be looking at animating with sand in our next tutorial...

I tried a little stop motion test on the Take 5s. It's very short as I just wanted to see how the clay stop-motion would suit the soundtrack, and the blue lines/bubbly part lasts most of the soundtrack and is fairly repetitive, so instead I just animated a snippet of this part. I mainly wanted to see how the stop-motion suited the track. I used clay for this animation, rather than cut-outs, as I thought this suited my animation idea best. Here is the short animation with the soundtrack (annoyingly, I wasn't watching where the black-card was enough, as it shifts about a bit):



I also created a loop animation without the soundtrack - so the same animation but looped a few times so you can observe it a bit longer and get as idea of what this part of the animation would be like in terms of 'flow':



Overall, there are aspects I liked and disliked about this medium/technique. Stop-motion is not normally my medium of choice, so it was good to try it out, it was a bit more challenging for me than the other drawn techniques. Although, overall I feel that the oil paints suited my soundtrack better than the stop-motion (due to the interweaving, airy nature of the sound), this has been a useful experiment and there are some aspects of the stop motion that I liked. First of, the colours in this wee animation (the blue and almost-black/dark background) allow the animation to really stand out. It is more clear and striking than my oil paint animation, and although I would like a calm, moody atmosphere for this part of the soundtrack, I also think it works better if the animation is a bit more dynamic than what I have previously done. I really liked the clarity of line in the stop motion, it made the animation much more lively!

See Hear - Week 3, Charcoal and Paint

This week I have tried a few new techniques for my animation based on our tutorial on Monday. It was good to experiment with some different mediums. I started off with some experiments on the Take 5s:

First I tried to tackle the gunshot scene in charcoal. I really liked this effect; the charcoal was easy to animate with and it creates these dirty (almost gunpowder like) marks that suit the sound affect. The charcoal is also very dense and dark, again perfect for what I was going for in this scene (I will also note that the painted background turned out pink, but I was going for red!). Here is my short test with the charcoal:



I also tried a very similar gunshot scene in Flash, but I wasn't as pleased with the result. I don't think Flash will be the right style or tool for this particular animation.
Next I did some short animations with the oil paints. The oil paints were challenging, especially getting the timing right (the dope sheet was very handy), but I really think this medium suites the soundtrack.
First I animated a part of the descending pizzicato scale that starts of the soundtrack:



Then I animated the middle scene, with the light flute part:



I know they are very short, but they were just experiments to try out the medium! I was happy with both these tests, so I definitely want to continue working with the oil paint and make more complex, finished animations. As I already mentioned, I think the oil paint suits the soundtrack best because of the soundtrack's rich moody, flowing atmosphere.
I wanted the gunshot ending to be very contrasting to the rest of the animation, and I really liked the charcoal effect for the gunshot - although I don't know if it will work putting both these mediums together in one animation, it may be a bit too different and like a completely different scene, but I will try and see how it turns out. At the moment I am working on a more finished oil paint animation on the Rostums...