Here is my animated Christmas card, for our last project of 2012!
The idea for it is a magical reindeer flying over the city of Edinburgh and lighting up all the Christmas lights and decorations. I didn't really manage to animate the reindeer flying or anything like that, but I did put the reindeer in at the end there. The reindeer was animated on the computer with Adobe Flash, but the rest of the animation was drawn with pencil and pastels. I first walked around the city sketching the scenes from life and taking photos, then animated the Christmas lights. I put some scenes that are personal to me in as well - the castle view from Grassmarket, which I see on the way to uni, and the Conan Doyle Pub!
Anyway, hope you enjoy this Christmas card, and a very merry Christmas to everyone and a happy new year!!
Christmas Lights - Alison MacPherson from ECA Animation on Vimeo.
Monday, 17 December 2012
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Time for Tea
Here is the finished animation for the "When Balls Go Bad" project. It is a little over 20 seconds, and is all hand-drawn. I have decided to name it "Time for Tea"...
It goes very quickly and is maybe not too obvious or clear to viewers what is actually going on. The narrative I tried to put in this film was most likely far too complicated for a 20 second film! Hopefully the film explains itself but just incase viewers are confused (and I wouldn't blame them!!), then here is the reasoning - a brief synopsis of the film:
The dog is in an inventor's studio where a "tea making machine" is being built. The dog wants the rubber ball on the shelf so jumps on the shelf which sends the ball flying. The ball then hits the tea-making contraption which is only a 'work in progress', therefore the ball breaks the machine/ sends it into havoc as it is not yet finished or trustworthy! The tea tray hits the old piano which then wobbles and the piano wheel (which is supposed to be unstable in the first place) gets forced off only then to fly across the room like the original rubber ball and cause more havoc. In the end the room is somewhat destroyed by the sequence caused by the dog and the original rubber ball (which then bounces back over to him at the end of the film, the dog having forgotten about it in the midst of chaos). The dog is happy at the end because he is rewarded with a rubber ball and a tin of biscuits, ignoring the room that is now in a total mess!
Anyway I hope you enjoy the very short animation! It was a lot of fun to make, and I learnt much from this project again.
Lastly, here are some photos for those non-animation folks to see a little of what it is like making the animation. Here is a photo of the lightbox where almost all my drawing was done and a photo of all the sheets of paper that made up the finished animation!
It goes very quickly and is maybe not too obvious or clear to viewers what is actually going on. The narrative I tried to put in this film was most likely far too complicated for a 20 second film! Hopefully the film explains itself but just incase viewers are confused (and I wouldn't blame them!!), then here is the reasoning - a brief synopsis of the film:
The dog is in an inventor's studio where a "tea making machine" is being built. The dog wants the rubber ball on the shelf so jumps on the shelf which sends the ball flying. The ball then hits the tea-making contraption which is only a 'work in progress', therefore the ball breaks the machine/ sends it into havoc as it is not yet finished or trustworthy! The tea tray hits the old piano which then wobbles and the piano wheel (which is supposed to be unstable in the first place) gets forced off only then to fly across the room like the original rubber ball and cause more havoc. In the end the room is somewhat destroyed by the sequence caused by the dog and the original rubber ball (which then bounces back over to him at the end of the film, the dog having forgotten about it in the midst of chaos). The dog is happy at the end because he is rewarded with a rubber ball and a tin of biscuits, ignoring the room that is now in a total mess!
Anyway I hope you enjoy the very short animation! It was a lot of fun to make, and I learnt much from this project again.
Lastly, here are some photos for those non-animation folks to see a little of what it is like making the animation. Here is a photo of the lightbox where almost all my drawing was done and a photo of all the sheets of paper that made up the finished animation!
Sunday, 9 December 2012
When Balls Go Bad - Animation Development
Now that the final film is finished, I can post about the development of my animation during the time I was creating it! The final film will too be posted very soon...
I made quite a lot of development sketches before and while creating the animation. This helped me to figure out how the action would play out. Here are the storyboards I drew up (which I made into an animatic that I posted on the blog earlier on):
The environment had to be clearly altered by the ball's movement. So I wanted to show the room before the rubber ball was let loose by the canine character, the ball then beginning a chain of reactions with the objects within the room, then the room at the end of the film after it had been completely dismantled by the balls actions and everything is in a mess. But the dog is happy because he got the ball, plus a tin of biscuits that fell of a shelf! (loosely inspired by the risk project also, and all those quotes about taking risks like jumping on a dodgy shelf to get a rubber ball. It is sometimes a good thing to do and has it's benefits... like biscuits).
I wanted the room to be a sort of 'W.Heath Robinson/Inventor's studio' so I put in a contraption/invention that would help the chain of reactions and relate back to this original inspiration. It could also help the narrative and animation be a bit more dramatic, although probably quite far-fetched. Then again however - Robinson's inventions are very far-fetched and silly!
I decided this contraption should be a tea making machine because I noticed a few of his sketches included people having tea (I especially liked the one of a horse's head being used as a tea tray... very silly of course... but I managed to reference it very briefly in my final film, so see if you can spot it!!). Designing the tea making contraption was challenging and took a lot of thinking through and sketching out ideas! I took most inspiration from Robinson - his designs also included lots of cogs, wheels and strings. I think the final version of the invention in my film is still a bit unbelievable, but with more time maybe I could have made it work a bit better. Keep in mind when watching the final film that the contraption is meant to be a "work in progress" and any disturbance could cause havoc!
(also if you remember the video by "OK Go" in my initial research post, that is where the inspiration for the piano came from. There is something very comical about a piano... whether I achieve that in my own film I don't know, probably not, but I can but try!!).
I wanted to know whether the animation would work timing and movement wise - so I sketched all the scenes first which I would then go over later with pen, neatening up the animation and the sketch lines. Here is the sketch test I made:
This sketch test was the task that took the longest time during this project; I was a bit slow and relaxed when creating it, and I now think I should have made done this much quicker so I could focus more time on finishing up the final animation. But I have learnt much from this project again!
When working on this project I also realized the importance of the previous project! What I learned from making the simple bouncing ball animations was vital when creating this animation. Not only was I again animating a bouncy rubber ball but also a dog jumping, a tin falling of a shelf, a kettle and tea cup falling, and piano wheel - for all these things I had to think about weight, material, arcs, and the time these things would take to fall and jump and land etc.
The final film will be posted very soon...
I made quite a lot of development sketches before and while creating the animation. This helped me to figure out how the action would play out. Here are the storyboards I drew up (which I made into an animatic that I posted on the blog earlier on):
The environment had to be clearly altered by the ball's movement. So I wanted to show the room before the rubber ball was let loose by the canine character, the ball then beginning a chain of reactions with the objects within the room, then the room at the end of the film after it had been completely dismantled by the balls actions and everything is in a mess. But the dog is happy because he got the ball, plus a tin of biscuits that fell of a shelf! (loosely inspired by the risk project also, and all those quotes about taking risks like jumping on a dodgy shelf to get a rubber ball. It is sometimes a good thing to do and has it's benefits... like biscuits).
I wanted the room to be a sort of 'W.Heath Robinson/Inventor's studio' so I put in a contraption/invention that would help the chain of reactions and relate back to this original inspiration. It could also help the narrative and animation be a bit more dramatic, although probably quite far-fetched. Then again however - Robinson's inventions are very far-fetched and silly!
I decided this contraption should be a tea making machine because I noticed a few of his sketches included people having tea (I especially liked the one of a horse's head being used as a tea tray... very silly of course... but I managed to reference it very briefly in my final film, so see if you can spot it!!). Designing the tea making contraption was challenging and took a lot of thinking through and sketching out ideas! I took most inspiration from Robinson - his designs also included lots of cogs, wheels and strings. I think the final version of the invention in my film is still a bit unbelievable, but with more time maybe I could have made it work a bit better. Keep in mind when watching the final film that the contraption is meant to be a "work in progress" and any disturbance could cause havoc!
(also if you remember the video by "OK Go" in my initial research post, that is where the inspiration for the piano came from. There is something very comical about a piano... whether I achieve that in my own film I don't know, probably not, but I can but try!!).
I wanted to know whether the animation would work timing and movement wise - so I sketched all the scenes first which I would then go over later with pen, neatening up the animation and the sketch lines. Here is the sketch test I made:
This sketch test was the task that took the longest time during this project; I was a bit slow and relaxed when creating it, and I now think I should have made done this much quicker so I could focus more time on finishing up the final animation. But I have learnt much from this project again!
When working on this project I also realized the importance of the previous project! What I learned from making the simple bouncing ball animations was vital when creating this animation. Not only was I again animating a bouncy rubber ball but also a dog jumping, a tin falling of a shelf, a kettle and tea cup falling, and piano wheel - for all these things I had to think about weight, material, arcs, and the time these things would take to fall and jump and land etc.
The final film will be posted very soon...
Thursday, 15 November 2012
When Balls Go Bad - Update
At the moment I have started to animate the scenes for the 20 second "When Balls Go Bad" animation. So here is a wee peek at what I have done so far:
The dog jumping on the shelf took about 2 days and I drew up various versions of the movement till I was moderately happy with it. I will come back to it later and neaten it up. This took a long time to animate but I also think this is the hardest part of my idea to animate.
I did look at videos of dogs jumping along with using my own memory/experiences (I did have to be a bit inventive however as I have never seen a dog knock down a shelf before!!). I also thought a bit about the previous project, almost treating the dog as a ball himself - the arc of his jump, when his body would fall faster or slower etc.
So far I am really enjoying doing the actual animating, and even though this is just a sketch that I will later build on, it is very exciting to see the little story and canine character coming to life!
The dog jumping on the shelf took about 2 days and I drew up various versions of the movement till I was moderately happy with it. I will come back to it later and neaten it up. This took a long time to animate but I also think this is the hardest part of my idea to animate.
I did look at videos of dogs jumping along with using my own memory/experiences (I did have to be a bit inventive however as I have never seen a dog knock down a shelf before!!). I also thought a bit about the previous project, almost treating the dog as a ball himself - the arc of his jump, when his body would fall faster or slower etc.
So far I am really enjoying doing the actual animating, and even though this is just a sketch that I will later build on, it is very exciting to see the little story and canine character coming to life!
Thursday, 8 November 2012
Storyboard Animatic
Here is the animatic of the storyboards I have drawn up for the "When Balls Go Bad" animation. The basic idea at the moment is; my canine character trying to get the ball, the ball being let loose and starting a chain of reactions which quickly dismantles everything in the room, but the dog is then rewarded for his efforts with the ball and the biscuits that fall of the shelf! The room is still meant to be an 'inventor's' studio sort of room. I was originally thinking of a WW1-period theme for the setting (from W. Health Robinson's sketches) but I don't think this is really relevant/worthwhile for such a short animation so I have left that out. However, I wanted to have the bunting in there as it can fall off the wall easily and make the room at the end look more messy!
Anyway, here is the storyboard animatic to give a general idea of how the animation will flow, the timing and how the short narrative will progress. Now to move on to the actual animating!
Anyway, here is the storyboard animatic to give a general idea of how the animation will flow, the timing and how the short narrative will progress. Now to move on to the actual animating!
Monday, 5 November 2012
When Balls Go Bad - Further Research
I have been looking into several more inspirations lately for the "When Balls Go Bad" animation. My intial idea was to have a dog feature briefly, playing with a rubber ball, which would get the ball moving in it's environment (probably a room in which the ball would cause havic). After some brainstorming, I made this quick test to see how difficult it would be animating the dog. It is not the best animation I admit! But I think that animating the dog will be doable.
After looking at W. Heath Robinson's sketches, I really wanted to incorporate this sort of style in my animation. I especially like the WW1 cartoons, so I have been thinking about a WW1 setting. Also, that the dog and ball may be in a room that belongs to an inventor that makes contraptions like those in Robinson's sketches. The ball could then set of these contraptions and cause the sequence of events that will alter the environment. Thinking up the inventions however is the tricky part!! Here are some more of my sketches for this idea:
I looked about for a little more inspiration also from artists and videos. The very start of the opening scene from Back to the Future occured to me - the camera follows a line of contraptions/inventions (and a lot of clocks) which in the end opens a can of dog food. I found out also that this scene was inspired by Rube Goldberg. I would definately like my animation to have this sort of feel; a bit of narrative and a conclusion to the sequence of reactions, eg. like the dog food can being opened. This is depending on it being not too difficult and time-consuming to animate of course!
I also saw these concept sketches for 101 Dalmations of the London flat (from the book Before the Animation Begins in the ECA libary). I loved how messy and detailed the room was with all the objects and furniture. Also the sketchy pen lines that add to the busyness. This reminds me of a sort of inventors/creators room, in which my animation could maybe take place. Although with that amount of detail it would be very time-consuming to create, but I still really liked this illustration and have found it inspiring.
That is where I am at so far! I am hoping to get my storyboards drawn up this week so I can then start animating as soon as possible.
Thursday, 1 November 2012
When Balls Go Bad - Project Research
Looking through the various links on the project brief, there are a few that have really caught my eye. First of all, the video I was most impressed with was the "OK Go" music video based on Rube Goldberg style mechanisms. I really like the humour in this video and the extravagant mechanisms. Although random, the sequence of events are linked to the song which I think makes it more like a definate 'film' and more enjoyable to watch that just a un-related sequence of events. It is fun and silly but also has more of a point to it and a clear conclusion (the band being blasted with paint, which felt like a conclusion to me as I was wondering why were they covered in paint throughout the video! This for me brought the film together). I also felt the Honda advert was successful in this way.
The "OK Go" video led me onto researching more into the American Rube Goldberg and the very similar British artist W. Heath Robinson (both also on the portal). They are both very similar in their work, but I particularly liked Robinson's style for the intricacy of his illustrations/inventions. Also like the "OK Go" video, there is much humour in their cartoons. I especially liked Robinson's WW1 cartoons of very unusual "weapons" and war devices: http://www.ideafixa.com/voce-nao-desenha-nada-w-heath-robinson/
For my animation, I would like to use the same sort of style as W.Heath Robinson has used in his cartoons. I would also like to put a little bit of narrative into the animation; to give the sequence of events caused by the ball a bit more purpose!
The "OK Go" video led me onto researching more into the American Rube Goldberg and the very similar British artist W. Heath Robinson (both also on the portal). They are both very similar in their work, but I particularly liked Robinson's style for the intricacy of his illustrations/inventions. Also like the "OK Go" video, there is much humour in their cartoons. I especially liked Robinson's WW1 cartoons of very unusual "weapons" and war devices: http://www.ideafixa.com/voce-nao-desenha-nada-w-heath-robinson/
For my animation, I would like to use the same sort of style as W.Heath Robinson has used in his cartoons. I would also like to put a little bit of narrative into the animation; to give the sequence of events caused by the ball a bit more purpose!
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Bouncy Ball Project
Hello! I am going to blog about my research for the bouncy ball project. (At the moment I am having trouble uploading the actual animations as they are not working on my laptop, so I will add the videos later)
First of all; for the first animation (the usual bouncing rubber ball) I used "The Animator's Survival Kit" by Richard Williams to get me started! I made the ball more flexible/squishy than it would be in real life, as this would help me with the idea of movement and bouncing and I could animate the "squashing" and “stretching”. Again I was following the very useful "Survival Kit" for this one, as it was my first proper hand-drawn animation!
However, for the second ball (a ball of my choice) I choose a golf ball. The reasons for this choice:
-I actually have a golf ball that I could observe and play about with, which helped a lot when animating it.
-Unlike the "squishy" rubber ball, a golf ball is rigid and wouldn't squish at all.
-The golf ball is slightly heavier, and the material makes it very bouncy, creating faster movement. When I observed the golf ball it bounced in very sharp, quick arcs that also diminished quickly. The golf ball too has a sort of 'unique rhythm' to the bounces I thought, as the arcs get smaller, which I tried to re-create in the animation.
I feel this is my strongest animation. The golf ball was not too hard to animate I think, and it was very helpful having done the generic bouncing ball already and now having the actual object to observe for this one.
For the third animation, again a ball of my choice, I went for a balled up pair of socks. The reasons:
-This was something I could actually observe easily and experiment with.
-Although it is not too different in weight too the others (just slightly lighter) the material is very different. The cloth is not at all bouncy, but very soft and squashy. It would move in a very different way to the other two balls.
I found this ball the most difficult to animate and get right! As when I would drop the ball of socks, it would move in a different way each time. The soft, cloth material and the asymmetrical, non-spherical shape made it very unpredictable! The animation I have made was the sort of movement I noticed the most when I dropped the socks – bouncing very slightly or ‘flipping’ over, then rolling/rocking a bit.
This is probably my weakest animation and would maybe take a few more attempts to get the movement right. I think it is possibly too squashy, and I had a problem with size – the ball tended to get smaller and smaller as the animation progressed! But I think due to the difficulty I found in animating this, it was worthwhile and good practice.
Below are some notes I made while watching the movement of the balled up socks, this was before I starting doing any animating;
I added colour to the final video, and made the socks striped, which I think helped make the form and movement a bit more convincing:
First of all; for the first animation (the usual bouncing rubber ball) I used "The Animator's Survival Kit" by Richard Williams to get me started! I made the ball more flexible/squishy than it would be in real life, as this would help me with the idea of movement and bouncing and I could animate the "squashing" and “stretching”. Again I was following the very useful "Survival Kit" for this one, as it was my first proper hand-drawn animation!
However, for the second ball (a ball of my choice) I choose a golf ball. The reasons for this choice:
-I actually have a golf ball that I could observe and play about with, which helped a lot when animating it.
-Unlike the "squishy" rubber ball, a golf ball is rigid and wouldn't squish at all.
-The golf ball is slightly heavier, and the material makes it very bouncy, creating faster movement. When I observed the golf ball it bounced in very sharp, quick arcs that also diminished quickly. The golf ball too has a sort of 'unique rhythm' to the bounces I thought, as the arcs get smaller, which I tried to re-create in the animation.
I feel this is my strongest animation. The golf ball was not too hard to animate I think, and it was very helpful having done the generic bouncing ball already and now having the actual object to observe for this one.
For the third animation, again a ball of my choice, I went for a balled up pair of socks. The reasons:
-This was something I could actually observe easily and experiment with.
-Although it is not too different in weight too the others (just slightly lighter) the material is very different. The cloth is not at all bouncy, but very soft and squashy. It would move in a very different way to the other two balls.
I found this ball the most difficult to animate and get right! As when I would drop the ball of socks, it would move in a different way each time. The soft, cloth material and the asymmetrical, non-spherical shape made it very unpredictable! The animation I have made was the sort of movement I noticed the most when I dropped the socks – bouncing very slightly or ‘flipping’ over, then rolling/rocking a bit.
This is probably my weakest animation and would maybe take a few more attempts to get the movement right. I think it is possibly too squashy, and I had a problem with size – the ball tended to get smaller and smaller as the animation progressed! But I think due to the difficulty I found in animating this, it was worthwhile and good practice.
Below are some notes I made while watching the movement of the balled up socks, this was before I starting doing any animating;
Here is my initial idea for the movement:
I added colour to the final video, and made the socks striped, which I think helped make the form and movement a bit more convincing:
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Alison's New Animated Blog
Hello! This is my new animation blog for all my ECA projects and their development. Currently I am working on the 'bouncing ball' animations, I will get posting proper stuff soon...
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