Set, Series, Sequence

On tuesday we received a new brief, Set, Series, Sequence. We had to pick a random word out of a hat and conduct visual research on it. The word I chose was 'slug.' At first I was put off by it because slugs aren't very interesting, but once I started researching I came across some interesting slug facts that I thought might work well if I illustrated them in a simple style.  I also drew the slugs in a realistic style and painted pictures of their texture and colour etc. I also explored the different types of slugs, for example there are some beautiful and cute sea slugs that look completely different to the common slug. I preferred illustrating the slug facts in a cute simple style rather than drawing realistic slugs, I felt this got across the facts better. In my initial brainstorm I also thought of slug as in a word for a punch, and slug as in shotgun bullets. I also used media such as watercolour, marker, biro and acrylic paint to see which would best represent the word slug. I quite like using a simple black marker to illustrate the slugs. I think my finished storyboard for the study

task will be based on a slug fact or a story about a sad slug. 

OUAN403- Studio Practice

10th-16th October 

This week marked the beginning of the "Telling Stories" brief in which we had to design a story board based on a nursery rhyme. I decided to choose the 'Crooked Man' story because I liked it as a child and I thought i could make it quite spooky in art style. While designing the story boards we had to consider how aspects such as composition, lighting and camera movement might communicate the story more clearly to the audience. I began by drawing out each frame in my sketchbook before moving on to sticky notes. I found it hard to get twelve different frames out of the nursery rhyme at first, as it is quite a short rhyme. I decided to use a simple art style because the size of the boxes didn't allow me to use a realistic one. I think this style suited the story in my opinion, as it could clearly illustrate how the man was literally crooked and wouldn't confuse the audience with too much detail. I tried to make the story board as easy to understand as possible, but found some aspects a bit challenging. For example I found it quite hard to design characters for the Crooked cat and Mouse, and to illustrate that the Crooked Man had walked a Crooked Mile. In retrospect I think I should have added more detail to the background and characters, but at the time I thought it might make the scene too confusing and add details to the story that weren't actually there. After I was happy with each of my frames I drew the final version of my storyboard out on the A3 storyboard template. I used only black biro as I wanted the storyboard to look quite spooky and to keep the story simple. I would like to do many more detailed and colourful storyboards in the future though. This brief was more challenging than I thought it would be at the start as it required you to strategically think about the best way to present a story so it is easy to understand for the audience.

Fairy Tale Critique

We began the week with a class critique on our fairy tale storyboards. The critique really helped me to understand the flaws in my storyboard and made me think about how I would do it differently next time. One of the main constructive criticisms I received from my peers was about the lack of different camera angles that I used in the storyboard. This is something that I didn't really think about too much when I was designing the storyboard and now that it's been pointed out to me I think it would really have improved it and made it much more interesting. I also got comments about adding more colour and background to the storyboard; I personally felt that adding colour wouldn't have helped communicate the story and I also liked my simple black colour scheme because I thought it suited the tone of the nursery rhyme, but I would like to use colour in future story boards. There was also the suggestion that I try to add more expression to my characters, which I agree with,but i found this difficult because of the small spaces to draw in the template and also because I struggled with giving the characters expressing whilst having them also remain "crooked" in looks. I also gathered from my feedback that I misunderstood how to write the annotations for the storyboard, essentially re writing the story as opposed to giving stage directions and indicating camera angles etc,and this was something else I will do differently in future story boards. I have inserted my finished storyboards below;

my first blog post

Flipbook

3rd-9th October

We began the first week of studio practice with an introduction to the 12 principles of Animation. I found learning about the principles was very interesting to see how professional animators give the illusion of life and how details we might think of as small or unimportant can make such a big difference to the end product. We attempted to use the first principle of animation, Squash and Stretch, to produce a few flipbooks of a bouncy ball. I really enjoy making flipbooks so this exercise was fun for me, and interesting to see how big of a difference adding the squash and stretch makes to the movement. I also made a flipbook of a little bunny jumping; this one I found more difficult to do as I had to consider the features of the bunny and I found it hard to keep his form consistent. I have linked my flipbooks below;

Storyboarding

Storyboards are used as a pre production process that allow you to plan your animation. They are also used in the production of films and other forms of moving image. We learned about the different kinds of shot frames there are as well and the different effects these can have. For example; Extreme Long shots can set the scene and shows an entire landscape; long shots are used to establish the whole scene and perhaps show a characters actions. Medium shots can show the subject in more detail and can show the relationship between the characters. Close ups help the audience know how the character is feeling and can help them relate to the character, while extreme close ups help create an intimate relationship with a character. I found learning about this process interesting because it is something so essential to the animation process but also something that i have never thought about in much depth before or thought I would enjoy doing. A story board can also break down a scene or even an entire script, allowing the producer to carry out the production in an organised way and efficiently.

I have inserted my first rough attempt at storyboarding for the "Telling Stories" brief, for which I chose the 'Crooked Man' nursery rhyme. I enjoyed the process because it makes you think about different elements of the story you are trying to portray and how you want to illustrate characters and their emotions. I have looked at some storyboards from the website "Living Lines Library" such as Bee Movie and Coraline, I found it really interesting to see the story illustrated in its first form. 

Bee Movie Storyboard

3rd-9th October- Tick Tock

This week we were also given the 'Tick Tock' brief, where we had to animate a pendulum swinging from one side to another, with the swing lasting one second each way. This exercise gave me an understanding of the importance of the principles of easing and timing. Easing is the idea of slow in, and slow out in animation. Animation looks more realistic if it has more drawings near the beginning and end of an action, emphasising the extreme poses, and fewer in the middle.Without this principle, movements become unnatural and robotic. Timing was important for this exercise because the requirements of the brief specifies the pendulum must swing for one second each way. I found this difficult to get right at the beginning but after thinking about the number of frames I must draw it made sense. I really enjoyed watching my first proper animation come to life. We also used the pegbar for the first time in this exercise, which made the task a lot easier.  Here is my finished swing;

3rd-9th October-Strike A Pose

We received our next brief, 'Strike a Pose', where we had to demonstrate the 'Pose to Pose' principle of animation in 24 frames. I designed a simple bird character called Cheep that I had to move from one place to another; I made him jump, fly for a bit, and then fall to the ground again. I used the lightbox for the first time for this brief, which made maintaining the volume and pose of my character much easier. I also used the principle of "Squash and Stretch" to do this animation when Cheep falls to the ground. If I were to do it again I would exaggerate this principle even more because I think its quite cute and shows he is soft and chubby. I then used Dragonframe for the first time to export my animation. I was quite pleased with the results as it is one of the first animations I've ever done. Here it is;