Location - Animatic

In this project we have been introduced into using animatics in our development stage in order to further from our storyboard. Animatics are used to work with the pacing of an animation – It let me work out how long I should extend each scenes as well as showing me how the pacing can add tension to a scene. For instance in my animatic I have a scene where road strips and the man’s eyes are juggling back and forth. I have made these couples of scenes slowly speed up emphasis his obsession growing at he counts more and more strips. It also let me decide if I needed certain elements of my animation – would it work better with or without? 

Location - Finished Animation

Above is my finished animation - although I haven't completely added all scenes and sounds it was as much as i could do in my time frame. I did over estimate how much i could do - the story was simple but was trying to explore background and different camera angles. Overall I am really happy with how this came out. The animation has a clear theme that is present throughout (and i am happy i was able to capture the colours of the real location within in this piece.) Furthermore I feel that I spent the longest on developing the character and the face I would use. Although i didn't fully complete the animation i did spend time looking at background, sound and the character design (which will help me for my final project.)

Location - Creating the Animation

Above is my finished walk cycle. After researching and looking at many guides on how to create the walk cycle I am happy with my result. I started first by drawing the body and legs and drawing the key frames. Afer this I began putting some frames in-between to create a smoother walk cycle. I really wanted my character to have a tall and skinny build to give him a strange feature to him physically. My character has OCD and I wanted to highlight this further through his clothes and his build. In addition I have made his legs bendy and flexible rather than with two limbs to give the walk cycle an extra smoothness (make him look as though he is gliding - extra perfection for his OCD side.) The second figure shows that I then added a head and arms - i decided to keep it simple and put the arms in his pockets rather than have them swinging (like I originally planned) this was mainly down to time however looking back, I feel that it makes him look more neater (again connecting back to the OCD.) Lastly, I then added the main outline and coloured it in (I went for a neat outline to make it more clean.) The clothes that he is wearing are to resemble the road which expresses his obsession and his subconscious mind. 

After creating my walk cycle I made it into a symbol and then create a classic tween in order to give the illusion that the character is walking from one side of the scene to the next. At first I had a little trouble when using this (as i forgot to extend the symbol out for it to animate) however I got some help and it was easily sorted. After making my character move I wanted to add sound to the bring the character and its surroundings to life. By using Premiere Pro I was able to remove the sound off of a video I had filmed of my location during my visit. When I was filming I was able to capture the sounds of footsteps really well and have decided to use this in my final animation. Above is an experiment of using this sound. I was able to put the audio and the video together in premiere Pro - By adding the sound we get a very strong feeling of the area that the character is in (even without having a background.) I feel that this sound works very well, it will just need to be edited into the right footing and will sound very good. 

Location Storyboard and character Design

After my development stage I created the finished storyboard - it has changed slightly from the animatic - this is because when I showed people my animatic, certain scenes were not clear enough or didn't make sense visually. Therefore it has slightly changed. My original idea was to have the stripy jumper man try to look under the cars to see the stripes, fail go home, wake up in the night and go back to the street however this would have made the animation longer than what i would have liked. Therefore after speaking with my tutor we decided to make the problem alot more internal. To show the OCD obsession with the road stripes, I am going to make the stripes become physical and start attacking him or surrounding him (as he can not think of anything other than these stripes.) The new ending will be more simple the traffic will clear and the 'physical' stripes will disappear and he will be able to continue counting the stripes. We have been discussing the way that animation could be used in my work in away that could not be captured by any other medium (e.g live action.) Therefore I decided to make the stripes come to life. The new idea is represented with the following storyboard:

Frame 1- Man walks around the corner of a street (we hear him counting - but it isn't clear exactly what) Sounds of traffic and people. Footsteps

Frame 2- Man continues counting (walks from top to bottom of screen)

Frame 3- Close up of his face still counting and walking

Frame 4 - Stripes in the road run past as he walks forward

Frame 5 - Close up of face (counting and walking)

Frame 6 - Stripes on the road

Frame 7 - Comes to the end of the street 

Frame 8 - Close up of horror

Frame 9 - Traffic covers the road so the stripes are not visible

Frame 10 - From behind him traffic is revealed further through his perspective

Frame 11 - Slowly walks backwards as he feels over whelmed

Frame 12 - Falls to the floor and stripes disburse from the floor

Frame 13/14/16 - Stripes continue to attack and surround him

Frame 17 - Looks up (emotion: fear and stressed)

Frame 18 - Traffic is cleared

Frame 19 - relief and he continues counting down the street.

Character Design
Above are some of my character development pages. When I tried to explore different expressions and face shapes and etc to capture the character I was trying to portray. What was most important when creating my character was the OCD aspect. He needed to look 'on edge,' 'strange' and 'nervous' looking. This [above] helped me to experiment and just draw out all of my ideas. I decided on my face from a combination of a few of these (I didn't select one, but a group.) The nose of my character was made here and the bags under the eyes was inspired here. I knew that throughout my Animation that my character will not be smiling alot and so these two pages let me try out different emotions. I will use this during the creation of the animation.

To the left is a style sheet that explores the background that I will use for my animation. The key point I wanted to show in these drawings was the orange and the blue. The exact location where I was sent, had buildings that were mainly orange and browns (hence the orange) and the sky was a blue colour that seemed to compliment the orange well. Although my animation is going to be made on Flash - I wanted to experiment with different tones and so used colouring pencils.

Location - The location and the idea

My idea was inspired by a man that I saw when drawing, he looked at me with a very suspicious look. He walked quickly and swag his arm quite widely. He wore a grey and yellow stripped jumper and grey trousers. This immediately made me think of the road and the double yellow lines. I then decided to give him a story of him counting the white stripes in the road as he walked along. Then I thought what is his goal? Why would he be counting stripes on the road. Then I thought back to when I was younger - I used to count the streetlights and the roads and would think that something bad would happen to my family or me if I did't finish. This can be recognized as OCD (obsessive, compulsive, disorder) today. I decided to make my character have OCD. And this gave me lots of ideas into how ii may late develop his visual character look. I then decided a basic story line of him counting the stripes and having traffic around a corner - meaning he could no longer count. And then show how he feels and the impact it has on him - basically to explore the deep routes of OCD and how it can feel like. 

The Location: 'Castle Lane,' 'Petty France' and 'Buckingham Gate'

The location I was given was a main road with two small roads either side - i stood on the corner to view all around me. Throughout that morning i recorded conversations (although not many as there were manly tourists asking me for directions - or just speaking a foreign language completely) or businessmen and women on their lunch break. Ever know and then elderly people of young mums passed me. The area was actually really beautiful thinking back. What i first noticed was the orange and brown buildings that surrounded me. It was one of the things that i noted down immediately. It striked me how the buildings seemed to match and work well among each other. (Below is a colour palette that shows the colours that I saw) 

Location - Introduction

www.directorsnotes.com

For the next three weeks we will be doing a project on Location. We were introduced into the next three weeks with a collection of short animations and films that depicted a location (mainly city area.) My favourite of the three was the Man Up animation that focused around a man that was trying to escape from the noise and crowding of the city with the use of a crane, only to reveal that there was no where to hide and so he jumps of the crane (killing himself.) I really like the simple concept behind this animation and the sense of the city that is portrayed as a suffocating jungle that continues to grow and grow - furthermore it shows the unstable mind of the leading character who's emotion eventually destroy him. I also really like the colours that are used within this piece to display the difference of the city and the sky. Lastly, one of my favourite scene is when a cut up montage of scenes are used to show time. The city in this animation was projected in a negative way. Other films and animations that we looked at however portrayed their locations in a different light. For instance the A-Z animation focused around the chaos of the roads and organizing roads. Other film showed a man narrating what was happening from a long distance for ten minutes and we as the audience had to decide what the film was about before finding out in the end.

After watching these films we were then taken along the Thames towards Greenwich to the Catty Sark to explore this area and practice our observational skills. Here I photographed and drew landscapes, objects, people, conversations I heard and characters. During the trek a group of us got lost and found our way after walking through narrow streets. We did this exercise to prepare for the location that will select later that day. Below are only a few of the photographs that I took during the journey.

After walking to the Catty Sark we went back to Ravensbourne where we were blindfolded and made to put a pin on a map of London. Where ever the pin was placed we would go on our own to record that location. My pin (white) was place around Buckingham gate/Petty France. I have never been to this location before and so was excited but nervous at what I might find. After I did this exercise i researched the local area and Buckingham palace and Westminster.

Freedom Final

Finished Animation

Above is my final animation for the freedom project. Unfortunately I was unable to complete the full animation (and add sound) so in place i have used animatic. Although i feel that it still works very well and perhaps emphasis the idea of freedom further (by having the part where she is expressing her self moving and the rest still) If I had longer time i would like to have fully completed the entire animation and make my pencil marks even darker. Directly above are a few f the still frames to - this animation took quite long because it was hand drawn. Although I am very happy with how this came out considering that I only had two weeks. Below is the animation that I had during my crit - it shows a very rough animatic at the start (in addition I used the song 'Little by little' by Oasis. However during my crit we discussed that this may not sort the animation well because it made it look more like a music video rather than an animation with a storyline. Therefore I would have added a base beat music at the start during the party and then used a nerdy 'guilty pleasure' song to express the freedom of not caring (and to show the difference in her personality when she feels free from judgment.)  

Animation during the final crit

Freedom - storyboards

This storyboard is read Left to right along each row (carries over to second page.)

Above is the final storyboard I have created - although it is very basic it is a guide of the different 'camera' angles and what scene follows where. In addition it lets me visually understand the where certain frames should go - for instance I may feel a close up shot should be used to display more emotion of the character. The final story is as follows:

Frame 1 - A crowd of people dancing (Birdseye view) to a low 'beaty' music (2 seconds)
Frame 2 - We are introduced to the main character, a girl who looks slightly out of place.
Frame 3 - close up of her face reveals her feelings of awkwardness
Frame 4 - Long shot shows her dancing among others (side to side) awkwardly
Frame 5 - Tries letting go abit and dances with her arms
Frame 6 - Sees people laughing and assumes its her dancing
Frame 7 - Feels very self conscious and feels all eyes on her
Frame 8 - closes her eyes thinking back to when she is at home
Frame 9 - Turns around and is dancing at home freely and without any prejudice
Frame 10 - More dancing...
Frame 11 - Finishes the dance at the party (she feels free)
Frame 12 - Happy

After I had filmed myself dancing I created several pages like the two above to note down key frames. Furthermore this process enabled me to go through all the footage and pick particular moves and transitions that I may like to use for my animation. This exercise also served as a good way to just start drawing out the layout - personally I find it easier to draw out exactly what I plan to animate so I can plan and discover what works and what doesn't. In addition it lets me cut out unnecessary frames and connect others together etc.

I have decided to hand draw my animation. And because I am focusing most of my animation on the human body I have filmed myself dancing as a reference film. I have created several videos of me dancing on my own - this is so that I can capture movements that are large and random and to see how they entwine into one another. I have filmed this footage and then in after affects split it into a Jpeg sequence where I can draw from these images as reference. Surrounding are some images from these films that I have created. I found that by doing this I could understand more about the way that I move and also more importantly experience the freedom that I am trying to depict in my story.

Freedom - Chosen Idea and research

Chosen Idea

The chosen idea that i have decided to create for my freedom project is based from a personal freedom that i have discussed previously. When I made a list of the freedoms that I feel in my own life I explained the idea of feeling comfort at home dancing when no one is looking. When at home I feel I can do pretty much anything without feeling judged by other people - I can dace around and sing Oprah if i felt like it (although I could do this elsewhere I just feel when your on your own you can be your true self without any consequences or judgement of anyone else.) Therefore my chosen idea is this concept of freedom from judgement - and freedom of being and acting on your own. The main concept will be explore a girl who is at a party and is very self conscious about how she dances. As she tries to let go a little she suddenly feels that people are looking at her and she goes back into her shell. I then want her to think about how she is at home when one one is looking at her - she dances crazy and free and this will help her trying to let go and eventually not caring about others. She will be expressing her freedom as well as displaying how free she is at home.

Crit: 24/1/2014

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

During my crit with some of my peers and tutor Andrew, we discussed my idea and how I will be creating this animation. I was given a few things to research into such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs - which looks into the important of certain things in our lives from the most important such as food and breathing through to creativity. It shows how humans minds and body are very complicated and their lives can be changes by the lack of some of the later things on this pyramid. As we look to the top of this diagram we find things that other people may not be able to provide for us - but we must find for ourselves. Other things that I was suggested to look at was Gillian Wearing she created a film called 'dancing in Peckham' which she projected on walls all round the city. It was her wearing headphones and dancing in a busy shopping centre (in the 90's when walkmans were only just appearing.) It is very funny as she is dancing within a personal bubble as she is dancing to music no one else can hear. I feel that i want to create an animation hand drawn - however we talked about the limitation of time and discussed other materials such as photographs and stop motion.

Napoleon Dynamite (2004) 

When researching on my chosen idea I wanted to look into film and discover how dance is used in story. I looked at Napoleon Dynamite since dance has been used in a real situation (instead of in a musical as part of the real world.) Napoleon dances in-front of the whole school body in order to help his friend in a school president campaign. This film is a comedy therefore has created a very funny dance - meanwhile being totally serious. However the performance is actually so funny that it is good. Firstly I really like the layout of this scene, there is a large empty space drawing all attention to the main character as he performs his dance. In addition it gives more space to dance into. The dance is the turning point of the film, which eventually leads to positive outcomes for all the main characters. The dance is a success among the school body and the audience react in the way that the people watching the film do. This is because the film shows the entire dance without cuts and this captures the entire art of the moves. Furthermore the song helps to aid the dance (audio can help to create extra atmosphere.)

Bonds Blog http://blog.bonds.com.au/we-love/the-most-famous-tees-in-film-history/

Thought of you - Ryan Woodward

This is an animation that i have always really liked. It is story about a couple in a relationship - which actually has quite a few different interpretation behind the true story. Never the less I'm in love with the movement and fluid animation style that has been used within in this 2D animation. The story is performed only with dance which gives the characters this fluid movement and intimate relationship. Throughout the animation the man appears to be chasing after the girl but she literally continues disappearing and re-appearing throughout. I really like the way that the animation is simple but yet displays alot of animation through the shapes of the characters and features such as the smoke (below) and wings etc. The characters are exaggerated to display the emotions they are feeling. Although they are only outlines the couple have depth and a very human feel even when they have inhuman qualities. 

Tumblr - Quid Nunc? http://sleepingthoughts.tumblr.com/post/28417480571

Singing in the rain

I have looked into 'Singing into the rain,' because i am using dance for a large section of my animation and this film has one of the most well known dance scenes. The main character is dancing and singing because of his overwhelming feelings of happiness. He is dancing even when everyone is inside - he is alone and expressing himself by dancing outrageously and he doesn't care because of his happiness. I have also really wanted to explore musicals as they use dance as part of that world. The are able to used the body to show a theme or emotion of a character which I feel is really powerful.

WiffleGif http://wifflegif.com/tags/24627-singing-in-the-rain-gifs 

Freedom Introduction and ideas

 Frances Taylor,  'Naked Rambler' documentary postponed by BBC one,'
 digitalspy.co.uk

Naked Rambler
Freedom. The project title over these two weeks is 'freedom' and we were introduced into this project by watching a documentary called the: 'Naked ramblers.' Which follows a couple walking from Lands end all the way to the top of Scotland naked. We followed not only this event but the relationship between Stephen and Melanie as they take on this task - we watch the views of these two and those witnessing the pair nude walk. I really enjoyed watching this film as it explored more than one idea of freedom. After watching this documentary as a class we discussed our views of the film. We talked about how 'one one has freedom because we are in society' - everyone freedom crosses the other. How can we be truly free without restrictions. Free to kill but be killed? Therefore are we moulding our behaviour into society's ideals. Our freedom is created for society rather than for ourselves at times. Are these two protesting for rights or are they getting pleasure from their actions - Stephen expresses his views openly (here are a few I noted:) "Freedom and love are entwined," and "The more I connect with myself, the more I can connect with others" He felt that he was not loved as a child by his mother and hence feels he cannot love? Without knowing freedom (like the act these two carry out) can we be free? One of the points that Stephen made was that we can not progress unless we fight for the freedom we need.

 Personal freedom 

Through the start of the week i have been researching freedom over history. I have been looking into war and concentration camps, and imprisonment. I have also researched the ways that campaigning has changed and stayed the same looking into the differences of women rights to vote and rape campaign (and propaganda.) However i have also been looking into personal freedom that I have in my own life. I have looked into when i feel a lack of freedom. Above is the mind map that I did at the beginning of the week - I noted all the events and things that remind me of freedom. From this I researched further. Although, after researching into the past and etc, I actually feel that I want to explore personal freedom - things that I believe gives me freedom. Even small things like putting my hair up in the summer when I get home. I like the idea of exploring my own freedoms. (Below are some of things i looked at in a second brainstorm.)

My Freedom

• Wearing glasses
• space
• swimming/ body surfing
• not being judged
• hair up
• Feeling while leaving work
• Wearing Pajamas
• No Coursework
• Watching a film
• Dancing and singing alone at home without judgement 
• Not caring about appearance
• No shoes

Lack of freedom

• Behavior/ formal
• Watching a horror movie
• Feeling scared/not safe
• Stranger sitting next to you on an empty bus
• Arguments
• Emotional
• Walking home alone

Title Sequence Finals

Final two title sequence

Above is the final version of the Tess of the D'urbervilles opening, i have changed the ending from a paper cut out all being a decorative piece (hand drawn) i feel that this has improved the outcome alot as it all looks like it fits together well. Also i have added sound from Premiere Pro in order to learn more about sound. Here i uploaded a whistle used in the series but then removed the noise and the background muffling through the effects on here so that a clean whistle is recorded. Above is the sound added (the main film is small at the moment.)

Title sequence - Wait until dark

I decided to choose the Thriller 'Wait until Dark' to create my second title sequence. I have always really liked thrillers because they normally leave the audience guessing whats going to happen - they keep the audience on their seats (So this is why I personally chose to create the titles for this sequence.) The thriller, 'wait until dark' which stars Audrey Hepburn. The concept that I have chosen is to explore light bulbs. There is one scene in the movie where Audrey Hepburn removes all the light bulbs in the house to give her an advantage to the criminals about to invade her home. I found scene very powerful in the film. And therefore I wanted to create a title that could foreshadow this. In addition I think it will be a good introduction - it will be eerie and display both light and darkness. The light bulb is also a good metaphor for how sight is going to be depicted within the film and the other senses.

Above is the first 'draft' of my opening sequence. I filmed lightbullbs around my own house, turning them on and off and watching how the light poured on. I have made a montage of these - However I still need to think about the sound and type that will be used on top of these. And I also need to edit them alot smoother. I might decide to film only one light bulb instead of half a dozen since I don't feel it is smooth enough. In my crit we discussed that some of these light bulbs did not suit each other. For instance the warehouse long bulb didn't work well (I initially used it to resemble the photography bulb from the film however after putting them together i can see that this hasn't necessarily worked smooth enough.) So I will select the light bulbs that look and feel the best for the purpose of my title sequence.

Film Title Sequence - Tess

After experimenting and researching into paper cut out design I have decided that I can no longer do this concept. I tried creating a short animation with this technique and found it really difficult to set up the camera take a picture, remove the paper, cut out the letter or pattern and then replace it in the exact same place and do it all over again. I kept accidentally hitting the tripod or my camera would turn of after i set it up to be zoomed and had to find the place. It took a very long time to complete a simple paper cut out f the title: 'Tess of the D'urbervilles' only. Therefore I have looked back at my thumbnails and other ideas and picked a different idea that still resembles the same concept (of the English countryside.)

Idea
When working in my sketchbook I was playing around with simple patterns that i could use to cut out. and stumbled upon one that looked like foliage - I continued playing with this, doodling and cutting it out. I now know that this is actually the pattern I want to use through out the title. I plan to draw this pattern around the handwritten type on paper. I played around with the colours - and decided my colours shall be: light green, white and black. I have used black with these colours as a metaphor of death and tragedy which is a large part of this English Period drama. I have used a lot of green because the drama series is based in the West - Thomas Hardy describes the scenery in the books and the series also spends alot of time displaying the beauty of the location. Below are two images of my rough experimental stage. I'm looking at how I could use both type and colour (two large focus points for my title sequence.) Before choosing my colour palette I also looked into 'red.' As this is a story about a girl having her virtue stolen. Red is also a passionate and bloody colour which also shows the love that she has for Angel Claire and her hate that she has for Alec D'urbervillle.

TYPE
For Tess of the D'urbervilles I have done alot of research into the type that I want to use. I have from this, decided that I want to use a handwritten type within in my title sequence. Originally I was going to use this type for a paper cut out however I realized with a lack of tools and time reasons that doing this was to difficult for a two week project. (I really liked this idea but have come to the conclusion it wasn't going to work out.) I looked into a very good typographical french script book. This is where I first felt that this type would work the best for the style I want to create for this drama series. During the time that Tess of D'urbervilles was set, hand written letters and messages were made and so i want to keep this raw and beautiful time alive even though the type - so when the audience are watching the titles they will understand the time period first.

Film Sequence Research and Ideas

After Monday I have been researching into some of the title sequences of my own. I have been trying to collect the sequences that I feel work very well in aiding the start of the film or tv series. By doing this I am able to gain new ideas and see how the themes of the film are carried through to the opening. Some of the films sequences that I looked at were the following: 'The Great and Powerful Oz' and 'Series of unfortunate events,' both of these opening titles are quite similar however they are both trying to aim for a dark comedy family film. Both of these use a very beautiful and unique style which covey the style of the films very well - they capture the audiences attention immediately with their bold story telling before the film starts. The style that they have been made into a animation that has bee created with mixed media, such as black paper and etc. I also looked into the 'Breaking dawn part 2' and the 'Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory' openings as they both use colour and imagery especially well. Starting with 'Willy Wonka', a montage of delicious chocolate imagery leaves the audience longing for the taste of this food - it also prepares the audience for the film that they are about to watch. The 'Breaking dawn' opening used the colours red, black and white throughout to expresses how the main protagonist has been transformed into a vampire. These colours are presented through image and the text. The imagery shows red objects freezing and becoming ice which connects to the idea of the beauty being preserved and the image of blood freezing also.

As well as this, throughout the second day I have been researching the four different genres and exploring the films that I may want to create the opening sequences too. Although I haven't decided on all four I have found two films and a tv drama that I'm interested in. I know that i want to create the opening for a TV drama and thriller as personally these are the two I am most interested in. The TV drama I have chosen is the BBC series based on the book by Thomas Hardy, 'Tess of the D'ubervilles.' Which is a period drama about a girl facing the aftermath of being raped and the reactions of those that she loves. For the Thriller I have found two films, the first is 'The Others' which is set in the 1940s it is about a mother whose home is disturbed by the presence of ghosts. The other film is 'Wait until dark' made is the 1960s stars Audrey Hepburn as a blind lady who is invaded by con men in her home, pretending to be friendly characters trying to find a doll containing a large substance of heroin.

Day 3 (Friday)
I've been looking at the art of 'paper cut out' recently, and wondering whether this may be a nice concept to use for one of my title sequences. In particular I think it would work best with Tess of the D'urbervilles - when speaking with some of my peers and tutor in a crit we agreed that it had a country feel to it. It reminded us of the decorative art pieces made by women in the English country during the period of time Tess of the D'urbervilles is set. In addition I feel that the paper cut is very beautiful and can have many possibilities within in animation. My initial idea would be to cut out the letters and patterns one at a time to reveal the title of the drama series - slowly and mysteriously. I would use white paper to represent the element of purity - a main theme of the story.