Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Monday, 19 March 2012
Review: Evaluation of Artefact
HOW DID YOU THINK THE PROGRESS WENT
WHAT WAS GOOD
WHAT WAS BAD
WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE BETTER IF YOU DID IT NEXT TIME OR WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING DIFFERENTLY?
For my Extended Project, I decided to produce a 2D Animation about a boy and his bird with strong emotional themes. When it comes to evaluating my work and looking back at the progress of production of my final draft I felt that a few things went well but more things didn't go so well as production for me was on and off a lot of the time.
I found the animation progress to be rather difficult and more time consuming than I thought it would be. I had to experiment with several programs such as Adobe Premier Pro and Photoshop and whilst I have had time and experience with these programs before, putting them into an animation proved more difficult. I had to keep cutting my animation down from a five minute or so epic with a strong tale with something extremely simple but what I felt was ultimately effective and that's what I liked about my animation, the concept.
It stills meets the goal of producing a 2D Animation with a strong sense of emotion and a boy and his bird but it's a different kind of emotion, style, tale and more than I originally planned to do so it still has some of the bearings the original idea had, just in a different light. Even though I spent a few hours producing the final draft in order to meet deadlines, I felt the animation fluidity was very nice but that came with a cost as against more frames and having smoother animation came a much shorter animation but I didn't want it to drag and I would rather have a smoother image that lasted a shorter time span and I felt my audience would too, considering it's more catered to a younger audience of children but can still be enjoyed by all sorts as the concept of bird poop on someones head is something I see to myself as a "fart joke" so it's rather light hearted humor.
I feel the simple design of the characters and the environments helped fit the mood very well and made the smoothness of the animation seem more apparent. It's a lot more colourful than I originally planned but it targets a younger audience more so when you look at stills of my animation at face value so that is something I enjoy. As I have mentioned several times when gathering research, music seemed to be of great importance and I very pleased with the music choice I went with a song titled "I'm Like a Bird" by Nelly Furtado and it was the how fitting it was with the animation that set it apart from others. It had a rich, friendly nature to it and cutting it off at the last second only heightened the comedic value of it I felt. A lot of the animation had to be timed and associated with the music choice and choosing a song like this, I felt it was better for it. It's quite a repetitive song but you wouldn't think that with such a short animation so I felt I could get away with that.
Lastly, what I enjoyed was the change of emotion. I chose humour and humour isn't typically my strong suit but the fact that it worked pretty well and shared a few smiles across my clients made me very pleased. I thought doing sadness and the sense of loss would be something very interesting to do and whilst I'm not denying that, I feel capturing that is a lot harder as you seem to have to work length, character development and have a strong story behind you from the research I gathered for your audience to really have a strong connection with the characters on screen. Switching up was a good decision and I'm all better for it.
When it comes what I disliked, I disliked the length of animation. Perhaps having a 20-30 second animation was very suitable for having that grasp of humour but the animation didn't really have much if any in terms of story unless you decide to look at my blogger site and the rest of my work pieces to try and gather some kind of back story. It is a simple concept of a boy meeting his friend on a field but gets distracted by the birds marvelous nature and before he notices, the boy in the purple/pink has been pooped on but that simple story, I felt, hurt the animation quite a lot and I feel with the all the research and pre production I took into account, I think people in my class, my tutor and me personally was expecting a lot more.
I did enjoy how it conveyed the emotion of happiness/humour but in a way, I still think deep down having loss would've been a slightly better move. When it came to time constraits, humour was a good option but if I perhaps worked a lot harder into the production of the 2D Animation and spent my time evenly, I probably would've produced something a lot more interesting and originally with those themes inside what is eqvuipvelent to a "fart joke".It didn't go with my originally intentions and because of this, a lot of story was cut out which is a shame I feel and due to the fact that the animation was produced on one day with little to no pre production for the final draft and was made to pretty much meet deadlines as such, the animation felt a little rushed.
I decided that to add annotations such as "This is a bird" would lighten the prospect of me not taking the time or consideration to animate a fully featured bird and it ways it worked but the movement of the characters, the effects, it's less of what I feel I am capable of and because of this, I ultimately feel a little disapointment as you can tell that this animation was rushed but I can still say I was a bit pleased with the result, even if it was a quick effort but that quick effort does result in the final factor of what I disliked of the animation and it was the purpose.
With my original intention it was meant to be viewed so the original purpose would be summed up in the form of moral at the end of the animation whether that be "not take drugs" or "love your neighbours" or whatever that might be but when you watch this, the stronger purpose it could have been lost and that is a shame so just like the animation itself having to be simplifed through various stages, the purpose has and as a whole, it's pretty much for an audience who wants a quick laugh if they are into that type of humour.
If I was to produce this again however and do something similar, I would take the original idea with the original intentions and make the lenght of the animation at least 5 minutes long because whilst a lot of feedback I got discussed the music and fluidity, I feel length would make it more interesting and you can build quite a lot in a 5 minute timespan. Environments, characters and sound effects could all be used and convey something a lot stronger with a moral I would appareicate to showcase but that's if I was to reproduce or try again rather on this 2D Animation Extended Project but if I was to have a chance at producing something different, it would probably be something to with Video Games, a personal hobby and passion of mine and what type of media that would be I am not sure but it would probably be something incorporating Video Games in the form of a video as video production is something I feel I specialise in and work well.
WHAT WAS GOOD
WHAT WAS BAD
WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE BETTER IF YOU DID IT NEXT TIME OR WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING DIFFERENTLY?
For my Extended Project, I decided to produce a 2D Animation about a boy and his bird with strong emotional themes. When it comes to evaluating my work and looking back at the progress of production of my final draft I felt that a few things went well but more things didn't go so well as production for me was on and off a lot of the time.
I found the animation progress to be rather difficult and more time consuming than I thought it would be. I had to experiment with several programs such as Adobe Premier Pro and Photoshop and whilst I have had time and experience with these programs before, putting them into an animation proved more difficult. I had to keep cutting my animation down from a five minute or so epic with a strong tale with something extremely simple but what I felt was ultimately effective and that's what I liked about my animation, the concept.
It stills meets the goal of producing a 2D Animation with a strong sense of emotion and a boy and his bird but it's a different kind of emotion, style, tale and more than I originally planned to do so it still has some of the bearings the original idea had, just in a different light. Even though I spent a few hours producing the final draft in order to meet deadlines, I felt the animation fluidity was very nice but that came with a cost as against more frames and having smoother animation came a much shorter animation but I didn't want it to drag and I would rather have a smoother image that lasted a shorter time span and I felt my audience would too, considering it's more catered to a younger audience of children but can still be enjoyed by all sorts as the concept of bird poop on someones head is something I see to myself as a "fart joke" so it's rather light hearted humor.
I feel the simple design of the characters and the environments helped fit the mood very well and made the smoothness of the animation seem more apparent. It's a lot more colourful than I originally planned but it targets a younger audience more so when you look at stills of my animation at face value so that is something I enjoy. As I have mentioned several times when gathering research, music seemed to be of great importance and I very pleased with the music choice I went with a song titled "I'm Like a Bird" by Nelly Furtado and it was the how fitting it was with the animation that set it apart from others. It had a rich, friendly nature to it and cutting it off at the last second only heightened the comedic value of it I felt. A lot of the animation had to be timed and associated with the music choice and choosing a song like this, I felt it was better for it. It's quite a repetitive song but you wouldn't think that with such a short animation so I felt I could get away with that.
Lastly, what I enjoyed was the change of emotion. I chose humour and humour isn't typically my strong suit but the fact that it worked pretty well and shared a few smiles across my clients made me very pleased. I thought doing sadness and the sense of loss would be something very interesting to do and whilst I'm not denying that, I feel capturing that is a lot harder as you seem to have to work length, character development and have a strong story behind you from the research I gathered for your audience to really have a strong connection with the characters on screen. Switching up was a good decision and I'm all better for it.
When it comes what I disliked, I disliked the length of animation. Perhaps having a 20-30 second animation was very suitable for having that grasp of humour but the animation didn't really have much if any in terms of story unless you decide to look at my blogger site and the rest of my work pieces to try and gather some kind of back story. It is a simple concept of a boy meeting his friend on a field but gets distracted by the birds marvelous nature and before he notices, the boy in the purple/pink has been pooped on but that simple story, I felt, hurt the animation quite a lot and I feel with the all the research and pre production I took into account, I think people in my class, my tutor and me personally was expecting a lot more.
I did enjoy how it conveyed the emotion of happiness/humour but in a way, I still think deep down having loss would've been a slightly better move. When it came to time constraits, humour was a good option but if I perhaps worked a lot harder into the production of the 2D Animation and spent my time evenly, I probably would've produced something a lot more interesting and originally with those themes inside what is eqvuipvelent to a "fart joke".It didn't go with my originally intentions and because of this, a lot of story was cut out which is a shame I feel and due to the fact that the animation was produced on one day with little to no pre production for the final draft and was made to pretty much meet deadlines as such, the animation felt a little rushed.
I decided that to add annotations such as "This is a bird" would lighten the prospect of me not taking the time or consideration to animate a fully featured bird and it ways it worked but the movement of the characters, the effects, it's less of what I feel I am capable of and because of this, I ultimately feel a little disapointment as you can tell that this animation was rushed but I can still say I was a bit pleased with the result, even if it was a quick effort but that quick effort does result in the final factor of what I disliked of the animation and it was the purpose.
With my original intention it was meant to be viewed so the original purpose would be summed up in the form of moral at the end of the animation whether that be "not take drugs" or "love your neighbours" or whatever that might be but when you watch this, the stronger purpose it could have been lost and that is a shame so just like the animation itself having to be simplifed through various stages, the purpose has and as a whole, it's pretty much for an audience who wants a quick laugh if they are into that type of humour.
If I was to produce this again however and do something similar, I would take the original idea with the original intentions and make the lenght of the animation at least 5 minutes long because whilst a lot of feedback I got discussed the music and fluidity, I feel length would make it more interesting and you can build quite a lot in a 5 minute timespan. Environments, characters and sound effects could all be used and convey something a lot stronger with a moral I would appareicate to showcase but that's if I was to reproduce or try again rather on this 2D Animation Extended Project but if I was to have a chance at producing something different, it would probably be something to with Video Games, a personal hobby and passion of mine and what type of media that would be I am not sure but it would probably be something incorporating Video Games in the form of a video as video production is something I feel I specialise in and work well.
Review: Presentation Questions
During my Presentation I was presented with several questions from my peers discussing various different topics across my Extended Project Unit. Whether that be the actual Extended Project 2D Animation, Research and more. These were the questions and my response to them when I was asked them during the presentation which you can find in the few remaining minutes of the video presentation above.
Q: Who is your target audience?
A: My Target.. Well, I would say like bird poop on someones head is kinda like a fart joke so kinda a general audience really so kids or teenagers or adults or something like that.
Q: Do you think this has helped you or encouraged you rather to develop these skills in animation for later life?
A: Well later life 2D Animation is probably always going to be an interest of mine. I liked how I managed to experiment with something and do something I've never done before, that was really fun but yeah I do think it's actually developed them, it's just I wish I did them in a different way.
Q: Why did you decide to simplify the animation?
A: That was because I kept narrowing down the original idea which was very serious and was meant to be something like 3 or 4 minutes long and very kinda sad at the end and have a lot of effects and stuff like that,so I thought if I am going to simplify that idea down to it's core I should really simplify the animation. I thought that it looked more plesant and suited the music more and the actual idea.
Q: Are you hoping to use this work in future portfolios for perhaps university or perhaps finding a career?
A: I am not really sure because that animation took probably like 3 hours to make and something really short and I'm quite proud of it but it's not something I would like to put in a portfolio to showcase my work professionally but I still think it's quite something fun to show.
Q: Who is your target audience?
A: My Target.. Well, I would say like bird poop on someones head is kinda like a fart joke so kinda a general audience really so kids or teenagers or adults or something like that.
Q: Do you think this has helped you or encouraged you rather to develop these skills in animation for later life?
A: Well later life 2D Animation is probably always going to be an interest of mine. I liked how I managed to experiment with something and do something I've never done before, that was really fun but yeah I do think it's actually developed them, it's just I wish I did them in a different way.
Q: Why did you decide to simplify the animation?
A: That was because I kept narrowing down the original idea which was very serious and was meant to be something like 3 or 4 minutes long and very kinda sad at the end and have a lot of effects and stuff like that,so I thought if I am going to simplify that idea down to it's core I should really simplify the animation. I thought that it looked more plesant and suited the music more and the actual idea.
Q: Are you hoping to use this work in future portfolios for perhaps university or perhaps finding a career?
A: I am not really sure because that animation took probably like 3 hours to make and something really short and I'm quite proud of it but it's not something I would like to put in a portfolio to showcase my work professionally but I still think it's quite something fun to show.
Review: Idea Explanation
My idea for my Extended Project was a 2D Animation that had a strong sense of emotion that featured a boy and his bird or rather, a bird. My original plan was to produce a rather lengthy, rather sad animation that had a moral towards the end of the production but due to time constraints and other reasoning, I decided to do a simplify the idea and change the sense of emotion as my animation was meant to feature a strong sense of emotion. The emotion felt was changed from sadness to happiness/humor but some themes of sadness, embarrassment and other similar themes can be felt when the person in the purple/pink shirt has bird poop placed on his head.
If I was lead a "story" to this, it is a simple tale of a boy meeting up to talk to his friend on a field but before he meets up with him, he notices a "magnificent" bird in the sky and decides to watch over it but without realizing, the bird poops on the girls head but that scene was cut and instead I decided to show a two shot image of the two characters with the person in purple/pink having poop on his head for dramatic effect. An additional note to be made is that the sun glare is meant to represent the magical nature and power of the bird and not the sun itself as well as the note saying "This is a bird by the way" to represent my poor drawing skills of birds as well as animating them.
So in short, it's a very short 2D animation that features a colorful song to lighten the mood of this comedic tale of a boy walking up to his friend on a field when the glorious look of the bird distracts him and forgets to notice his friend with bird poop on his head which can be seen similar to a "fart joke" in my eyes and should be taken lightly just like the animation tone, colors and music.
If I was lead a "story" to this, it is a simple tale of a boy meeting up to talk to his friend on a field but before he meets up with him, he notices a "magnificent" bird in the sky and decides to watch over it but without realizing, the bird poops on the girls head but that scene was cut and instead I decided to show a two shot image of the two characters with the person in purple/pink having poop on his head for dramatic effect. An additional note to be made is that the sun glare is meant to represent the magical nature and power of the bird and not the sun itself as well as the note saying "This is a bird by the way" to represent my poor drawing skills of birds as well as animating them.
So in short, it's a very short 2D animation that features a colorful song to lighten the mood of this comedic tale of a boy walking up to his friend on a field when the glorious look of the bird distracts him and forgets to notice his friend with bird poop on his head which can be seen similar to a "fart joke" in my eyes and should be taken lightly just like the animation tone, colors and music.
Develop and Realise: Second Draft Feedback
Just like my First Draft, my Second Draft had me asking various people including my peers, my tutor and more for Feedback. I did the same exact process I did for my First Draft of my Artefact for my Extended Project and also broke it down into the same three areas which were: Positives, Negatives and What to Do Next Time. This is my last passage of feedback before my final idea and this was the results broken down into those three areas from the extensive information I managed to recieve:
Positives:
+ Animation is more detailed
+ The animation is longer and more exciting
+ There isn't an excessive amount of effects or fades used
+ It feels more like an animation as the boxes have been removed which would be more favourable in a comic book
Negatives:
-Still a lack of sound or music
-The emotional might seem a bit smooth but it seems shaky as the sketches are quite low quality
-Lack of colour takes you out of the environment
-The animation seems to change from being quite serious to something rather comedic at the end
-Lack of consistently
What to Do Next Time:
It seems that what I need to do for my final draft is produce a lot of the elements I was meant to produce for this draft after getting the feedback from the first draft. Which would be adding the use of sound and music, it seems to be a key competent and not only that but colour seems to play a big part so I'll have to see what I can do and hone my skills and make something that I'm proud of and what people will enjoy but still holds my intention of being an emotional animation. I might have to simplify the idea or use a different program so that will be something I'll do for my final draft since I'm getting less of a result with the more time I take.
Positives:
+ Animation is more detailed
+ The animation is longer and more exciting
+ There isn't an excessive amount of effects or fades used
+ It feels more like an animation as the boxes have been removed which would be more favourable in a comic book
Negatives:
-Still a lack of sound or music
-The emotional might seem a bit smooth but it seems shaky as the sketches are quite low quality
-Lack of colour takes you out of the environment
-The animation seems to change from being quite serious to something rather comedic at the end
-Lack of consistently
What to Do Next Time:
It seems that what I need to do for my final draft is produce a lot of the elements I was meant to produce for this draft after getting the feedback from the first draft. Which would be adding the use of sound and music, it seems to be a key competent and not only that but colour seems to play a big part so I'll have to see what I can do and hone my skills and make something that I'm proud of and what people will enjoy but still holds my intention of being an emotional animation. I might have to simplify the idea or use a different program so that will be something I'll do for my final draft since I'm getting less of a result with the more time I take.
Develop and Realise: Final Draft
Being that the final draft animation cannot be uploaded to blogger, you'll have to download the file and watch it from your desktop. You can access the film by downloading it from the link below:
Instructions:
>Please the green download button to save to your computer
>Save to a destination on your computer
>Once the filed is saved, double click the file and open it up. It should open automatically with it's flash player
Develop and Realise: Second Draft
Link to the Animated .gif flipbook I created as a Second Draft for my Extended Project Animation:
Develop and Realise: First Draft Feedback
When it came to my First Draft, I decided to ask various people including my peers, my parents, my tutor and other people for feedback on the First Draft of my Extended Project 2D Animation. There were many pieces of information to be said from the various people I asked for feedback, so I decided to break them down and sum them up in this post with: Positives, Negatives and What to Do Next Time. This was the feedback I got from my First Draft:
Positives:
+ Decent representation of what you wanted the layout to be
+ It's clear you took inspiration from your Research
+ It might be short but it's easy to see what is to come in each scene
+ The fades are nice and timed well
+ Plenty of unique moments happen within the short time span
Negatives:
- No evidence of music or sound effects
- I cannot grasp a sense of the "emotion" in this short first draft
- The drawings aren't very well detailed and don't illistrate the backgrounds or environments well enough
- It is too short
- The fades are timed nicely but perhaps aren't necessary all of the time as you don't see fades in all the time in the Research pieces you looked into but instead zooming animations
- The backgrounds make it look untidy and bland
- No colour makes the animation look dull
- It doesn't feel like an animation but more a collection of images faded together, similarly with a slideshow
- There isn't really a sense of style as the drawings aren't very detailed
- The story is about a boy and a bird but no bird is present in this short first draft
What to Do Next Time:
I should include music and sound effects in order to elaborate on the draft and create a sense of atmosphere, I should remove the layout boxes, add some colour and create more detailed characters and environments in order for there to be a clear sense of style and make it more enjoyable and interesting to watch in the long run. I should not fade in as much but instead use the zooming effect to my advantage and make sure that perhaps there is dialogue in there or more of a story to create that sense of emotion since it is quite a big part of the animation and not forgetting that even with it's short length, that with the next draft to include the bird.
Positives:
+ Decent representation of what you wanted the layout to be
+ It's clear you took inspiration from your Research
+ It might be short but it's easy to see what is to come in each scene
+ The fades are nice and timed well
+ Plenty of unique moments happen within the short time span
Negatives:
- No evidence of music or sound effects
- I cannot grasp a sense of the "emotion" in this short first draft
- The drawings aren't very well detailed and don't illistrate the backgrounds or environments well enough
- It is too short
- The fades are timed nicely but perhaps aren't necessary all of the time as you don't see fades in all the time in the Research pieces you looked into but instead zooming animations
- The backgrounds make it look untidy and bland
- No colour makes the animation look dull
- It doesn't feel like an animation but more a collection of images faded together, similarly with a slideshow
- There isn't really a sense of style as the drawings aren't very detailed
- The story is about a boy and a bird but no bird is present in this short first draft
What to Do Next Time:
I should include music and sound effects in order to elaborate on the draft and create a sense of atmosphere, I should remove the layout boxes, add some colour and create more detailed characters and environments in order for there to be a clear sense of style and make it more enjoyable and interesting to watch in the long run. I should not fade in as much but instead use the zooming effect to my advantage and make sure that perhaps there is dialogue in there or more of a story to create that sense of emotion since it is quite a big part of the animation and not forgetting that even with it's short length, that with the next draft to include the bird.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
Uses Resources: Other useful Research Material - Secondary Research
Other useful Research Material:
Screenplay
Screenplay for Toy Story:
http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/toy_story.html (Accessed 03/03/2012)
Upon further Research, I decided to look into less visual pieces of media and more literal with the case being a screenplay or script. I am going to have a right a short yet interesting, convincing screenplay for my 2D animation if I am going to have it be successful since I want this animation to be fully featured and I find it be extremely difficult to convey emotion with a silent 2D animation and whilst it could work, I do not feel I am up to the challenge.
So when looking at the screen for Pixar's Toy Story one full-featured 3D animation film, there are scenes in their that are witty, fun and work very well. The opening comes to mind and similarly with the cutscenes from sonic and the secret rings it makes me think how important the opening is but also how important dialogue can be and when to use it, how to deliever it and more.
It is for these reasons why I feel looking at a script such as this is rather important and helps brings out the literary concept side of my 2D animation more so than the visual aspects.
Uses Resources: Community-Based/Profitable Company-Based Animations - Secondary Research
Community-Based/Profitable Company-Based Animations:
Community-Based:
Sonic: Nazo Unleashed Stage 3 Special Edition (Part 2) Animation:
Community Based or Profitable Company-Based Animations were not something I thought I would look into apart from the exception down below but when it comes to Sonic: Nazo Unleashed Stage 3, in this case the second part of the special edition, I couldn't deny it's ending and how important that is when it comes to characters and being emotion.
I found the ending of this animation quite emotional after watching the rest, being the Sonic The Hedgehog fan I am and whilst I would agree it is mostly down to the push of the music, a large part of why I found the ending to this so successful in convey emotion was it's character development throughout and concept which is why I decided to insert it here.
The characters have a hard fought battle against this being known only as Nazo and it's that hard fought battle that makes me think how I could portray emotion successfully. It all comes to a stunning climax and whilst it might be difficult with my 2D animation since I only really want to have two characters on scene at all times, throughout the whole animation and have it no longer than a minute or so, I still feel it's possible so long as you have strong character development.
The previous examples of other types of media make it clear that character development is important and when looking back to this, it's clear too. I find this piece important as a community based animation isn't something you would usually consider researching into but because I am making a community based one and the fact that it has a good example of strong character progression it seems suitable and makes me think how important a strong conclusion to my 2D animation is just as important as everything else because whilst the opening might hook them, it's the conclusion that should ultimately have their emotions flow out but with in this case of researching, character development is the key to get that out along with music and other elements as well.
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Profitable-Based Company (SEGA) Animation:
Cutscene One from the "Sonic & The Secret Rings" Video Game for the Nintendo Wii:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxZT5UlYZg8 (Accessed 27/02/2012) - RELIABLE
The cutscenes in the Nintendo Wii Video Game, Sonic & The Secret Rings is the biggest and most important example for my Research. The concept of the layout is the biggest thing, the whole style of the cutscenes featured in this game is what I primarily want my 2D animation to look like as I feel it would be not only manageable to pull off but convincing.
The way in which the individual images slide in, the characters and their backgrounds and the slight movement really build to something I really enjoy watching and that's just the layout I'm talking about but it's the layout that's the most important.
When I was thinking of building and producing my 2D animation, this was the first example that came to mind. It's simple and I ultimately find it to be very effective, it might seem a tad "lazy" but when you watch the animation slowly and multiple times, you truly see the skills and hard practice that goes into producing a cutscene such as this.
Backgrounds are typically left the same and if the characters are in the same shot multiple times but move for what ever reason, it's faded together which is simple yet effective but it's the way the other elements are shot. Everything really feels like it's in a book which is what the game takes place in, a book and you would think this style wouldn't fit mine since it isn't based inside a fairytale or inside a book itself but the style and layout is so appealing to me, I can't help but decide upon it.
Furthermore, when looking at characters, it's not really the design of them but the way they act and how it ties in together, another example of strong character development. Throughout his journey that sense of loss comes through with Shara the genji losing her life and Sonic having to transform to rescue you and whilst the cutscene featured above doesn't showcase that emotion, it makes me think about how important a strong opening is.
This example is very important I feel to my research as not only does it give the clearest view of how I want my 2D animation to act, move and behave but it makes me think how important a strong opening is and makes things a lot clearer on the elements I need to feature throughout the animation and how to do them. Have silence when their is an emotion sense or a sense of loss for example and make sure everything flows at a good face, it makes me think of flow and these elements only really come about due to the simple fact that this 2D animation, this cutscene, is the closest and clearest example of what I want my 2D animation to be.
Uses Resources: Concept Art and Characters - Secondary Research
Concept Art and Characters:
2D Animation:
Bleach:
When looking into concept art and characters, since the premise is about a boy and his bird, I didn't feel that researching into the bird aspect would be needed to be done heavily so instead it becomes move of a focus on the boy and when I thinking about the concept or design of the boy, it became very clear that Bleach was a good example.
I really enjoy the design of the characters as whilst they can seem quite wacky and hold a very traditional japanese-anime style, it is the main character, Ichigo that stands out for me, mostly his hair. It's very basic and whilst I would like my character to stand out, I don't want to make his hair ginger/orange but instead just black, something to reflect the mood of the story, characters and such, plus the fact that his hair is rather spiky and such really helps give off the edginess of the animation.
In that regard, I felt it was useful to Research in the 2D Animation of Bleach as not only does it give a eastern viewpoint but the design of the characters aren't too over the top and it made me think about how the design of characters can be used to reflect and illustrate the mood of the animation and how they can make it stand out a lot by changing things such as having Ichigo have ginger hair, something you don't typically see and that being unusual can have great benefits and makes you remember that character.
http://i.neoseeker.com/ca/bleach_shattered_blade_conceptart_jVdgk.jpg (Accessed 17/01/2012) - RELIABLE
http://www.concept-art.org/images/concept_art-bleach-005-small.jpg (Accessed 17/01/2012) - RELIABLE
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Pokémon:
The Pokémon Anime in terms of it's concept and characters isn't something I expected to take much inspiration from for the characters but instead the bird. The world of Pokémon features some very unique and interested creatures and when thinking about the bird once it has transformed downwards the last few moments of the animation, Pigeot was a bird Pokémon that came into mind right away.
It's long hair on it's head and the way in which the colour strips merge look pretty impressive and make it stand out and I like I said when researching Bleach the anime, having unusual features and design choices for your characters can not only help them be remembered but also reflect on the mood of the animation and since the animation seems to brightened up in the middle and later portions of the animation, I felt having a colourful yet vibrant bird design would be a suitable choice and considering the Pokémon Pigeot came to mind right away, it seemed right to focus and research into that.
So when I think about how it was useful to look into Pokémon, it's useful for the same reasons researching into Bleach was, it helped me think about how unusual design choices can make a character or in this case an animal stand out and reflect the mood of the animation quite a lot since they are taking the main stage and taking up most of the scenes in the animation, that's not to say backgrounds aren't as important, as discussed earlier, backgrounds can be incredibly important but an animation to me is stronger with just the characters than the backgrounds as they are the pushing force for an animation as that's where a major bulk of the story is told from, the characters.
http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/5/57/018Pidgeot.png (Accessed 02/02/2012) - RELIABLE
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Comic Books:
Teen Titans:
When it comes to concept and characters, it isn't the design in particular that I like from Teen Titans and find it a fine choice for research in this field but instead the personalities the characters have and the comic book style layout.
The comic book style layout is something I want to incorporate into my own animation since I find it very interesting and unique and it a lot simplier in motion and can provide an easy outlet to get my emotional storya cross without putting hundreds of hours in a project that usually would be done by many people over the course of a few days like most 2D Animations.
It simplifies things and I really like that and as for characters, the designs are interesting and something I personally like but not something I want to incorporate but Teen Titans is one of those comics and cartoon series that have quite strong and what I find ti be, rather interesting character development. When looking into characters and concepts it is wise to look not just at them at face value with their designs but also the elements that brings these characters and concepts to life such as tone and personality.
This is one of the reasons why researching Teen Titans was important along with providing me a unique and interesting way to convey my 2D Animation. As you'll see later in my research, it comes clear that I want to take very heavy inspiration from not only this in terms of it's comic book style layout but also a cut scene from the video game Sonic and The Secret Rings for the Nintendo Wii that has cut scenes that I want my 2D animation to be very similar too.
http://static.flickr.com/117/289090740_d4c5d99e6d_o.jpg (Accessed 05/02/2012) - RELIABLE
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs11/i/2006/253/5/1/Teen_Titans_comic__page_1_by_JessKat83.jpg (Accessed 05/02/2012) - RELIABLE
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs20/f/2007/283/e/3/Teen_Titans_comic__page_21_by_JessKat83.jpg (Accessed 05/02/2012) - RELIABLE
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3D Animation:
Disney Pixar's Up:
The characters and environments in the film Up can be dark in places and might seem like they fit the mood of my animation but typically Disney Pixar's Up is full featured 3D animation movie that is very lively, colourful and bubbly with rather bold characters that don't fit the style of my animation but can prove to be useful assets in my research.
As I mentioned earlier with the researching on the Teen Titans comic, I feel it is wise to not just look at things at face value and with Up, it seems apparent that looking into character development and progressing could be very important as it might help make a 2D Animation with an emotional story a lot easier.
Disney's Up features many scenes that can be heart warming or heart breaking, especially the introduction and outro. I think this is important to look at something like this as it not only brings a wide spectrum of pieces of media to research but because it helps build on the underlining tones of my animation with Up featuring great story and character progressing in my opinion.
That sense of loss seems to be a very common theme in these animations when they want to convey emotion and should be something I definitely consider for mine. Up is no exception and really pulls it out of the bag very well making it a good choice to research and a good reason to research it regardless.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYzdzlB_ojoDi-CAGCVqINcB8_ySDZ4Q_V-wAZ5blTG1vcWnPvfJUVjE9lIAJiaAMND_3GqazZfJeF5Wlxq8xWmc8FPXzR_330_nzWbhOzOXre2x8woIwnnrDJm6O5PsYyfOWmT38F6D0/s320/Up43%257Bnewanimationworld.blogspot.com%257D.jpg (Accessed 10/02/2012) - RELIABLE
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Photography:
Photography was not a form of media I expected to research or even consider looking into when researching into characters and concepts but with a simple google search I managed to find this boy with black hair, a dark hoodie and a background that seems to fit not only the colour tones highlighted in the image but portray a mood and sense of emotion.
I feel this is important to research as not only does this image have a boy that looks very similar to the design of the boy I want in my 2D animation, even though it is a photography from real life but it makes me think about how important tone can be and how it can be useful to portray a mood of a sense of emotion.
The background doesn't really give much insight on what it could be apart from some blury dying trees you would find in the winter season and an empty field but perhaps that is something I might want to consider. Making the environments blurred in order to give a cinematic view but not forgetting I want this in a rather urban setting but if that proves too difficult, a rural setting is fine just so long as I meet my goal by completing this so photography, to my surprise, was a rather important type of media to research into and with this image, it really gives off what I want my character to look like and that's very important when he taking the main role and will most likely be in every single scene.
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| http://data.whicdn.com/images/12302648/beautiful-black-hair-boy-eyes-hoodie-Favim.com-112126_large.jpg (Accessed 12/02/2012) - RELIABLE |
Uses Resources: 2D Animation with Interesting Settings - Secondary Research
2D Animation with Interesting Settings:
The first 2D Animation I am going to analysis with which I feel has an interesting setting is:
Full Metal Alchemist
Opening #1 of Full Metal Alchemist in Japanese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp4e7AUTMps (Accessed 14/01/2012) - RELIABLE
Why I've decided to research Full Metal Alchemist is that, in the introduction you can see several shots of a cityscape/urban environment. Considering most of my animation will take place in a cityscape area, with some more rural areas in the beginning of my animation, I thought it was fitting to research Full Metal Alchemist's environments. When I was thinking about my animation, the environments I was thinking of were heavily inspired by this anime in my mind so there isn't really any better source than the original itself to research on.
It has a more realistic tone than my other example and detail is subtle and I really like that and it's something I want to incorporate into my own. Whilst it might seem like any other cityscape in an anime, to me, I find it interesting and it reminds me of Venice or other cities in Italy. I thought looking at this anime would provide as being useful as it's the closest thing to my imagination of what I imagine the setting of my animation to have. It looks stunning and having some of the rural environments in the background of the ever-glistening cityscape is a nice touch.
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The second 2D Animation I am going to analysis with which I feel has an interesting setting is:
Yu Gi Oh
Opening #2 of Yu Gi Oh in Japanese:
Why I've decided to Research Yu Gi Oh is that it features many cityscape environments, which you can see in this opening of the show. As mentioned before, a cityscape environment with some rural areas is what I want to feature in my animation but why I decided to research Yu Gi Oh in particular was being it's more expansive. The city looks a lot more exaggerated than Full Metal Alchemist and whilst the show has a lot of Egyptian themes and environments, the city and the fictional company known as Kiba Corp play a big role in the story.
This prove useful because not only does it make me think that glorious, tall buildings that are heavily exaggerated can be very effect but it makes me think that the setting can play just as much into the story as the characters if done right and there is something I might like to incorporate into my animation. A good example would be if the boy from my idea had to run away from school and have the next scene of a shot taken further away but in the distance you can see the other pupils of his class look out of the window to see him run out of the entrance of the school.
This also proves useful as not only does it make me consider story integration into my animation or exaggeration but that a clean look can look very nice and make the animation seem very modern and high class but it could lose some of it's character and feel like a generic city with very tall, white or grey buildings with no scratch or graffiti on them in sight.
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Reasoning behind not including Western 2D Animation Settings:
There is reasoning behind not including Western 2D Animation settings however. Whilst you could argue that because I'm looking for cityscapes for my settings/environments, it would seem suitable to look at Western 2D Animation as well but the setting I envision for my animation is a lot more anime based.
Western 2D Animations tend to stick very close to real life locales and counterparts and if they are to be very fictional, it is not something to my taste and because I want to incorporate Eastern and Western Animation themes, I think it's best to use Eastern 2D Animation's City Environments because that is what I want to focus on and use as a backdrop for my animation. Eastern 2D Animations tend to feature settings that are a lot more exaggerated and feel a lot more interesting and appealing to me, so in that sense, it feels a little redundant in my view to look into Western 2D Animation's settings/environments when a more Eastern approach for a setting is what I'm looking for and leading towards as a goal.
Uses Resources: 2D Animations with Emotional Stories/Emotional Scenes - Secondary Research
2D Animations with Emotional stories/emotional scenes
Why focus on 2D Animations with Emotional Stories/Emotional Scenes and not Comics or 3D Animations with similar traits and why focus on looking at both Western and Eastern Examples of 2D animations with Emotional Stories/Emotional Scenes?
I've decided to focus on 2D Animations only for the Emotional Stories/Emotion Scenes instead of Comics and 3D Animation as I mentioned earlier as, not only will I be researching them later in what I feel is a more suitable area for Researching those two different types of media but the fact that I want to Research into things that stick closely to what I'm wanting to produce which is a 2D Animation with a strong emotional story and I don't think I can get any better than sticking to the closest thing imaginable and that is 2D Animations themselves.
The reasoning behind researching eastern and western 2D animations is that both highlight different forms of emotion and present them in a very varied manner. Whilst what could work for a Western 2D animation, might not work for an Eastern 2D Animation and I feel researching both is very important as it gives understanding on what works from both cultures. Whilst you could argue that could lead some confusion with my 2D Animation, wondering what culture this is for, I live in the United Kingdom and that in a Western Cultured environment so it would seem fitting to just focus on Western 2D Animations but I think there is a lot to learn from Eastern 2D Animations and they hold some very strong emotional stories/scenes. My 2D Animation in particular hosts a combination of both cultures which is a final reason why I feel it's important to look at both cultures take on emotional stories/emotional scenes in 2D Animation respectively.
EASTERN
2D animations with emotional stories and or emotional scenes is an element in my 2D animation I want to focus on as my overall goal is to produce a success, professional 2D animation with a strong sense of emotion. Since I will want to be looking at both the eastern and western variety of 2D animation to combine them in an interesting way, one of the animes I want to look into and research is Dragonball Z. Whilst this over-the-top action anime isn’t too strong in its story nor its characters there is a pretty emotional scene whereby Goku has to sacrifice himself in order to save not only Earth but his beloved son, Gohan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ES7ErsP8L8 (Accessed 13/01/2012) - RELIABLE
Video Summary:
Dragonball Z - Episode 95
"Bye-Bye Everyone! This is the Only Way to Save the Earth"
In a desperate attempt to destroy Earth, Cell begins to self-destruct. With mere seconds left, Goku says goodbye to his son and teleports himself and Cell to King Kai's planet, the only safe place he could think of. Upon arrival, Cell finally explodes, destroying the planet and killing everyone there. As Gohan is left on Earth to grieve, Goku and King Kai realise that Cell hasn't accompanied them to the Other World, and therefore must have survived the explosion. Using Goku's Instant Transmission technique, Cell returns to Earth, where he kills Trunks with a single blast through the chest. He then reveals that not only did his nucleus survive the explosion, but he was able to regenerate into his perfect form - and thanks to his Saiyan genetics, he is far stronger than ever before. Enraged by the death of his son, Vegeta unleashes a furious barrage of ki blasts at Cell, but is easily defeated and is only saved from certain death when Gohan intercepts Cell's blast and takes the full force of the attack. With Gohan injured and nobody left to challenge him, Cell prepares one final Kamehameha to destroy Gohan and the Earth once and for all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonball_Z_Kai (Accessed 13/01/2012) - RELIABLE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grampa_vs._Sexual_Inadequacy (Accessed 14/01/2012) - RELIABLE
I feel this would be useful to look at as my animation isn’t just going to be all emotional, there is going to be quite a fair amount of action and it would be interesting to see how this example in particular can translate from action-packed brutal fighting to slower, more thoughtful emotional fighting between a father and his son.
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Another anime example from the eastern side of the world I want to look into is Sonic X.
In the anime Sonic X, a character named Cosmo, a green plant like creature, decides to sacrifice herself for the good of the characters and the entire galaxy, it is the only emotional scene in Sonic X that I personally find that runs through and works very effectively. Since one of the trees that is destroying the galaxy is still around, Sonic and his friends can't seem to destroy it and thus Cosmo must sacrifice herself in order to restore it bad to normality and give the universe it's peace again. It was quite an emotional scene, especially with Tails response to Cosmo's death as there was a quite heavy love interest going on there and for people who enjoyed Cosmo and Sonic X, it provides quite a fitting conclusion to the series and Sonic and his gang's adventure across the galaxies.
American & Japanese Comparison Video of the scene:
Japanese vs American:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc0GFgo7nEg (Accessed 13/01/2012) - RELIABLE
Video Summary:
Sonic X- Episode 77
"A Fearless Friend"
"What I Can Do For You" (Kimi no Tame ni Dekiru Koto (君のためにできること)
When the giant seed finally reaches the final stage of its metamorphosis and starts sucking the life out of everyone except for Cosmo, she takes the Chaos Emeralds to Eggman, thinking that he'll know what to do. Dark Oak attacks Cosmo, who drops the Chaos Emeralds into space. Thankfully, the planet egg is respond the Chaos Emeralds and the Chaos Emeralds's power is restored again. Sonic and Shadow, who use them to transform into Super Sonic and Super Shadow, and attack the Metarex seed. Cosmo feels helpless but her mother, in her mind, assures her that she is the one who will save the galaxy. She then transforms into a new form and becomes determined to stop this once and for all. She flies over to the planet, passes through the gravitational force that neither Super Sonic nor Super Shadow could pass through, and plants herself on top of it. She then becomes a tree, saying that she has now immobilized Dark Oak. She tells Tails to load and fire the Sonic Driver and shoot it at the planet. Everyone is shocked and does not know whether or not to risk saving the galaxy if they're going to kill Cosmo in the process. However, Tails is very hesitant, but Cosmo re-assures him that her seeds will be spread throughout the galaxy (American and European dubs only). He then thinks back to all of the good times they've had and their love and, tearfully, admits that he loves her (Japanese dub only), and fires Super Sonic and Super Shadow at the planet, completely destroying it, including Cosmo. In a white void, Cosmo thanks Tails about what he done for all of the good times and Cosmo said "I love you Tails" before she disappears(Japanese dub only)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sonic_X_episodes (Accessed 13/01/2012) - RELIABLE
When analysing the scene however, there are several reasons why I found this example is pretty important to consider when producing a 2D Animation with an emotional story/emotional scenes other than it being one of my more favoured animes. Why this is so important is largely down to the music, music can produce a lot of emotion and power in all forms of media, whether it be a 2D Animation, 3D Animation or any sort of film or audio pieces.
When analysing the scene however, there are several reasons why I found this example is pretty important to consider when producing a 2D Animation with an emotional story/emotional scenes other than it being one of my more favoured animes. Why this is so important is largely down to the music, music can produce a lot of emotion and power in all forms of media, whether it be a 2D Animation, 3D Animation or any sort of film or audio pieces.
If you noticed in the Japanese Voiceover, the music is drastically different to the American Voiceover. It's a lot more subtle and peaceful and reflects better with the mood of the scene. The voice work seems to work better and the voice actors in the Japanese version seem to reflect a lot more emotional that feels a lot more authentic. The American Version tries to do it's job, catering to a different audience but personally I feel it should've been left untouched except for the voice actors, which they should've hired better ones that carry more emotion and you will find this quite a lot with anime fans as they prefer the Japanese Version over the American or English re-release as it just seems to fit better and because I have these feelings on the scene, it makes it even more important.
It makes it even more important as it makes you think about your audience, you need to know clearly what type of audience you are catering for and if you're going for a mixture like myself, you need to think outside the box a little and think that it's enjoyable for both but as a whole, I chose this scene because of the music and how impactful music can be when portraying emotions and that I'm going to have to produce music that fits my 2D Animation nicely, whilst not forgetting voice work that does bring those emotional swings and perhaps pulls some heart strings, if possible.
WESTERN
When looking into the Western side of 2D Animation with emotional stories/themes, the first thing that came to my head was Episode 10 of the Sixth Season of The Simpsons. Titled "Grandpa vs Sexual Inadequacy", I feel the episode is very useful in giving a taste of what it takes to build an emotional story from a personal or general view. Personally, this was the only episode of the Simpsons to this day where I almost cried and it still holds true. Watching the episode makes me think how useful this is as it combines all the elements in a great way to convey emotion. The episode in essence is about Homer and his father teaming up to sell a drug, but one chain of events leads to another and they split both ways, showing two different sides of the characters but they end up at the same spot, the old house, their home.
Video Link:
http://www.wtso.net/movie/404-610_Grampa_vs_Sexual_Inadequacy.html (Accessed 14/01/2012) - RELIABLE
Video Summary:
The Simpsons - Episode 10 of Season 6 (Episode No. 113)
"Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy"
When Homer and Marge's marriage becomes boring due to their fading sex life, Grampa pieces together a tonic that is guaranteed to put the sparks back into their relationship. The effectiveness of the tonic results in Homer and Grampa going into business together, selling "Simpson and Son’s Revitalizing Tonic" to the public utilizing a medicine show. They travel from town to town selling the product, but after visiting the farmhouse where Homer grew up, the two get into an argument. Grampa yells at Homer in the car, saying that if he had not taken the tonic years ago, Homer would not have been born, finally shouting "You were an accident!" Homer, deeply hurt, throws Grampa out of the car, and proceeds to shut his father out of his life. It also causes him to change the way he acts as a father to his own children, whom he vows to show the attention and love he never received from Grampa. Bart and Lisa, however, feel he is overcompensating, and find that they prefer the "old" Homer.
Bart and friends attempt to figure out why all of the adults disappear after they buy the "Simpson and Son's Tonic". They come up with numerous conspiracy theories, none of which have to do with the tonic. Lisa, a skeptic, sarcastically offers up the possibility of all the adults being "reverse vampires" and having to be home before dark, which frightens the rest of the children more than their serious ideas.
Depressed at having failed to be a good father even when he is trying, Homer goes back to the farmhouse to think. He sees old photographs, including one of himself as a child on Christmas morning, where he thinks "my dad was not even there that Christmas when I finally got to meet Santa Claus". Homer then realizes that it was his father in a Santa costume, proving that Grampa did really care for him. Homer quickly reunites with Grampa, whom by coincidence has also gone to the farmhouse to reflect. Both of them accidentally set fire to different parts of the building at the same time (Homer accidentally setting fire to the photo and Grampa throwing a bottle of his tonic into a fireplace) and bump into one another on the front porch while fleeing the blaze. The two both admit they are "screw-ups" and reconcile.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grampa_vs._Sexual_Inadequacy (Accessed 14/01/2012) - RELIABLE
The tight writing, brilliant use of music and subtle events such as Homer lighting a match to find a photo of him and his father in a happy light, only to burn it down by accident is a great addition to the episode but it's the bonding r that seals tat the end when they seek each othehe deal. This theme of seeking someone or something is something I want to incorporate into my 2D animation as I feel it's a good way to lay in some strong music and character to give that emotion. The clip, starting 19:39 on wards until the end, the clip illustrates what I mean in great detail and it's a strong, firm choice for analysis.
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Another Western 2D animation example I am going to look at help build understanding for emotional stories/scenes/themes/elements is by the same producer as The Simpsons episode above, Matt Groening. Only this is from a different show, Futurama. Titled "Jurassic Park" this episode is the one that raised the bar if Grampa vs Sexual Inadequacy was the one that set it in the first place, personally, this episode made me cry and many others. Once again the tight writing and music really show it off but there is a strong sense of emotion conveyed more in the actions on scene and the overall story. The story is something people can relate to, the lose a pet and wanting to get it back and it's that set of wanting the main character Fry to succeed and find this dog that works so well.
Futurama is set in the year 3000, with Fry from the year 2000, being set into the future by a strange time capsule. He wakes up the world is completely different around him but in this particular episode he finds a prehistoric fossil of his dog and with this, he tries to find a way to bring his beloved dog back to life, Semore.
Video Link:
http://www.watchcartoononline.com/futurama-episode-502-jurassic-bark (Accessed 14/01/2012) - RELIABLE
Video Summary:
Futurama - Episode 7 of Season 4 (Episode No. 61)
"Jurassic Bark"
When Fry takes Bender to a museum exhibit, he is shocked to find a fossilized dog on display, which he recognizes as his pet from the 20th century, Seymour. For three days he protests in front of the museum by dancing to "The Hustle" by Van McCoy, demanding they give him Seymour's body, which proves successful. Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth then examines Seymour's body, and concludes that, due to his unusually rapid fossilization, a DNA sample can be made to produce a clone, and it would even be possible to recreate Seymour's personality and memory.
Fry begins to prepare for the dog and Bender becomes jealous, especially when Fry refers to Seymour as "my best friend". Just when the professor is ready to clone Seymour, Bender arrives. Angry that Fry will not spend time with him, he grabs the fossil and throws it in a pit of lava, believing that destroying it will restore his friendship with Fry.
Fry is furious at Bender and extremely upset at having lost Seymour. Bender realizes how Fry could love an inferior creature and apologizes for what he did. The professor explains that the fossil may not have instantly melted, as it was made of dolomite. With this in mind, Bender, claiming to be partly made from dolomite, dives into the lava and recovers the fossil.
The professor begins the cloning process and his computer informs him that Seymour died at the age of 15, meaning he lived for twelve years after Fry was frozen. Fry has a change of heart, and aborts the cloning process, believing that Seymour must have moved on with his life, found a new owner, and forgotten about him, saying "I had Seymour until he was three. That's when I knew him, and that's when I loved him. I'll never forget him. But he forgot me a long time ago." Aflashback then shows that in the years that passed after Fry left, Seymour had faithfully obeyed Fry's last command, which was to wait in front of Panucci's Pizza until he returned. Seymour stays there as the years pass and he, the pizzeria, and Mr. Panucci begin to show their age. In the final shot, Seymour lies down and closes his eyes.[2]
The episode works very well and whilst some might not like pets, having an animal companion or animal attachment in my animation is something I feel would work very well. Unlike humans, some people feel that animals aren't the same, that some don't feel emotion but others will argue that and I want to put that point across of animals having emotion as well as humans but if I was to include an animal I want it to be a strong part of the story, just likes Fry's dog. The biggest scene of this whole episode from Season 5, Episode 2 of Futurama, begins at 13:27 until the very end that shows a montage of the dog getting progressively older, wanting his Fry back. That wanting, that seeking, that loving seems to be a theme that runs common in these emotional stories, Western or Eastern and is something I feel I must nail to get the emotional right. Lastly, like The Simpsons, the stories are typically quite light hearted, being that they are of comedy but I would like to take something more serious but when the cartoon gets serious, it really does and this Futurama episode really does show that producer Matt Groening really put his heart and soul into this episode.
Uses Resources: Introduction - Secondary Research
RESEARCH
For my research I am going to look into various different sources and outlets in order to provide research for my artefact. My main types of research are going to be that of the internet and imagery, whether that be videos or pictures as I feel that’s fitting for the artefact that I am going to go forward with, being a 2D animation that is of moving imagery. Other types of research I am going to undercover are that of Comics, Comics-Translated Feature Films and 3D Animations whether they be for the big screen or small screen as I feel they relate nicely when doing a 2D Animation since Comics very much feel like Animations that have no yet been animated and Comics such as Watchmen have translated nicely into Film and giving a good sense of motion, staying true to the comic which is why I'll be researching comics but I'll also be researching 3D Animations as 3D Animations seem to be the next step up from 2D animations. Considering 2D is a two dimensional field of view and 3D is a three dimensional field of view. I will also be appealing Harvard referencing to all of my research and looking at comparisons between Western and Eastern pieces of Research as they can provide very different outlooks when all things considered.
Uses Resources: Primary Research
Primary Research
Questionnaire and Responses
Question #1:
What do you think of my final idea as a whole?
"I find your idea rather interesting and would like to see how it is going to be produced.
"The idea sounds cool. I voted on it when you asked me which of your three ideas you presented and I think it could make for an exciting story."
"The story seems to be the strongest aspect you're taking into this animation but I fear about the actual quality of the animating itself."
Question #2:
How do you think I should convey an emotional story?
"With death. Death scenes seem to work very well just long as the viewer becomes attached with the character but that might be pretty hard since it can take several episodes of an anime for a viewer to be that attached with them."
"You should convey an emotional story with the loss of something, just don't make it sudden."
"I feel you should convey an emotional story by making sure it's subtle and not having it be a loss since that seems too generic."
Question #3:
Which style of animation do you think I should go for?
"Anime."
"I think an anime style would work well with this just so long as it isn't too taxing."
"I like the idea of your bridging the gap or combining a mixture of both but I'm not sure how you'd portray western themes or styles very well so I feel anime and eastern themes would work best. As for layout, that idea of using 2D animation on a comic book style sounds brilliant, unique and I feel strongly about that. Sounds good!"
Question #4:
What features would you like to see included in this animation?
"Colour, voice acting and a good choice of music."
"Perhaps another animal or an elements that makes the purpose of the bird clearer."
"I would like it to be simple and flow nicely with each of the frames. Some special effects would be nice on a grand level but I do not care too much for colour, voice acting or anything like that, just so long as the animating itself is good."
Additional Comments:
"I have no additional comments."
"You can do it Ryan!"
"I would say keep the animation short, 1 or 2 minutes and hook them with a strong opening and a good conclusion but make sure the middle portion isn't too boring or not very interesting. Make it unique and make it yours."
Questionnaire and Responses
Question #1:
What do you think of my final idea as a whole?
"I find your idea rather interesting and would like to see how it is going to be produced.
"The idea sounds cool. I voted on it when you asked me which of your three ideas you presented and I think it could make for an exciting story."
"The story seems to be the strongest aspect you're taking into this animation but I fear about the actual quality of the animating itself."
Question #2:
How do you think I should convey an emotional story?
"With death. Death scenes seem to work very well just long as the viewer becomes attached with the character but that might be pretty hard since it can take several episodes of an anime for a viewer to be that attached with them."
"You should convey an emotional story with the loss of something, just don't make it sudden."
"I feel you should convey an emotional story by making sure it's subtle and not having it be a loss since that seems too generic."
Question #3:
Which style of animation do you think I should go for?
"Anime."
"I think an anime style would work well with this just so long as it isn't too taxing."
"I like the idea of your bridging the gap or combining a mixture of both but I'm not sure how you'd portray western themes or styles very well so I feel anime and eastern themes would work best. As for layout, that idea of using 2D animation on a comic book style sounds brilliant, unique and I feel strongly about that. Sounds good!"
Question #4:
What features would you like to see included in this animation?
"Colour, voice acting and a good choice of music."
"Perhaps another animal or an elements that makes the purpose of the bird clearer."
"I would like it to be simple and flow nicely with each of the frames. Some special effects would be nice on a grand level but I do not care too much for colour, voice acting or anything like that, just so long as the animating itself is good."
Additional Comments:
"I have no additional comments."
"You can do it Ryan!"
"I would say keep the animation short, 1 or 2 minutes and hook them with a strong opening and a good conclusion but make sure the middle portion isn't too boring or not very interesting. Make it unique and make it yours."
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Manage: Written Proposal
EXTENDED PROJECT
Written Proposal for my Artefact
What am I doing for my Artefact?
For my Artefact, I am going to produce a 2D animation based around one of the following stories:
· A boy who finds himself in a troubled life but with the aid of a mysterious, mythical bird he journeys on an adventure that he never saw coming
· An old man who loses his hair along with a great loss of his wife and decides to change things by purchasing a top hat but doesn't realising the complications of the magical powers it beholds in front of him
· A brawl between two brothers has they fight for supremacy for their fathers land but what ends up being a brawl becomes a disaster as the one who rains supreme has to cope with the loss of his brother which will ultimately result in suicide
The 2D animation will take one of those stories and combine drawings produced by me, voice acting by me and possibly some of my friends if they are willing to undergo the process and little editing effects to make the 2D animation a bit more flashy, exciting and modern. A lot of the 2D animation will be like a comic book, moving slide to slide with animations in each slide to keep things bizarre and unexpected.
Why am I doing this for my choice of artefact?
The reason for choosing such an artefact is varied. In terms of the story, a lot of the stories I have listed up above are quite bold. A lot of the inspiration for these stories comes from experiences I’ve had in real life that I want to portray in a fictional setting or simply animes and cartoons I’ve watched that have rich stories that I want to take elements from. Furthermore, I feel choosing one of these three stories will reach one of these goals, which is to use a 2D animation to convey a strong sense of emotion.
2D animation is also something I haven’t really done before but something I have a personal interest in and therefore want to go for it and learn the ways of producing a 2D animation. I have some skills the drawing, writing and voice acting field so it seems a good fit to choose a 2D animation.
The comic book slide styling of American Comic Books with the over-exaggerated feel and action of Modern Japanese Magna/Anime Comics are two elements I wanted to combine. I have interests of both, I like the thrill of Magna’s exciting moments, especially with action and I enjoy the fictional tales of them, things that you wouldn’t expect from your typical American Comic Book but the American Comic book has strengths that appeal to me greatly, how the story lines itself up and fits together. Combining these two elements is reasoning for choosing 2D animation is that I feel I could achieve this style of combing both of them better. 3D animation is quite difficult and would be very time consuming and I don’t feel I have the time nor patience to go for a 3D animation, I enjoy watching 3D animation but it’s not something I feel I would enjoy making. 2D animation is also quite traditional and brings me back to when I was younger and would draw a lot, so that’s probably a small reason why I’m stuck to 2D animation, but lastly, why am I doing this for my choice of artefact isn’t just all these points but the fact that I want to go into the research and find 2D animators and artists. Learn about them, how they produce such wonders, the tricks involved and whether I can take those things and do a good job of it as I don’t just want to produce a 2D animation that can convey a strong sense of emotion with its story, characters and more but produce an animation that’s fun to watch, exciting, entertaining and is of good quality so that people want to watch it through all the end as I feel if my audience is bored of the animation after the first minute, I’m clearly doing something wrong and this is something I want to nail correctly.
How am I going to produce this artefact?
Being that this 2D animation is going to be the biggest part of this Extended Project, it only makes sense that it will take a while to produce. To produce such artefact I’m going to have to go and do some research into 2D animation as a whole. Find out how it’s produced, watch some tutorials, take some tips and tricks on all kinds of things, look into journals, websites and books and figure how they do such things. It will be an interesting time but I also think it’s wise to look at some biographies of some quite famous 2D animators and/or artists. See what their experiences are like but also look into Manga and Comic books. Manga/Anime and Comic Books are two styles from two opposing sides of the world that I want to combine to bring a rich and interesting flavour to my 2D animation, so I will have to look at that, whilst deciding on my final story to undergo.
After looking into research, I will have to analysis and take certain pieces that can help provide ideas I want to incorporate for my 2D animation, such as how characters and settings should look, good ways to convey emotion, watching examples and see how other 2D animations from professional artists and animators do such wonders. With the Research and Analysis done, its then time to get into actual production as that with the pre-production stage which is very important to a 2D animation or any artefact for that matter as you don’t want to leave yourself clueless and without knowledge when you have a quite long-lasting project such as this.
I want to go straight into writing, have the script for the characters and how the story is going to play out over the course of the few minutes of my animation; I can then get into the screenplay section as I want to have voice acting and sounds in my game. Whilst I feel some silent animations are quite interesting to watch, it’s not a style I want to go into as I think it’s not suitable for the modern age or my modern audience.
Drawing can then begin with concept of characters as you can have a blank backdrop and still be quite fine, but it’s the characters that pull it through but I’ll have to make sure I get those right, just like the script as those are the two biggest elements for my animation is I want to convey that sense of emotion. The looks in their eyes, their facial expression, and their posture are things I’ll have to consider if I want to make that section of my 2D animation a success. However, whilst you can have a blank backdrop, they are still very important in giving a sense of awareness, so I’ll have to get the character concepts completed first, backgrounds then after and see what type of emotion or action I want the character to do over it.
I am going to draw a tile sheet, similar to those seen in comic books and fit each section in bit by bit. The background, the characters and the speech bubbles or little additional such as some sparks or fire to add some more action to it but I am going to leave these tiles blank as I will then scan the drawings, edit them in Photoshop with a graphics tablet and make the lines more bold, have the colours pop out more and perhaps use dark colours for the background as I want the characters to pop out more in each slide. With that, it’s then adding the little touches of the editing stage to produce the first draft. I’ll connect the images/scenes together using a video editing program such as Adobe Premier Pro or Sony Vegas and such the tools in those programs to pan from each slide to another, zooming in when necessary. After that, it’s importing in the voices and sound effects, one of the last stages of the animation. I’ll piece it together and once that’s done and dusted, I can replay it back, see if it works fine and export it as a video file as a first draft so I can show it to my audience for reviewing or just for my presentation. I’ll gather the feedback, primary and secondary and if there are any adjustments to be done, I’ll apply those and have the final draft of my artefact done. My artefact for my Extended Project complete.
Written Proposal for my Artefact
What am I doing for my Artefact?
For my Artefact, I am going to produce a 2D animation based around one of the following stories:
· A boy who finds himself in a troubled life but with the aid of a mysterious, mythical bird he journeys on an adventure that he never saw coming
· An old man who loses his hair along with a great loss of his wife and decides to change things by purchasing a top hat but doesn't realising the complications of the magical powers it beholds in front of him
· A brawl between two brothers has they fight for supremacy for their fathers land but what ends up being a brawl becomes a disaster as the one who rains supreme has to cope with the loss of his brother which will ultimately result in suicide
The 2D animation will take one of those stories and combine drawings produced by me, voice acting by me and possibly some of my friends if they are willing to undergo the process and little editing effects to make the 2D animation a bit more flashy, exciting and modern. A lot of the 2D animation will be like a comic book, moving slide to slide with animations in each slide to keep things bizarre and unexpected.
Why am I doing this for my choice of artefact?
The reason for choosing such an artefact is varied. In terms of the story, a lot of the stories I have listed up above are quite bold. A lot of the inspiration for these stories comes from experiences I’ve had in real life that I want to portray in a fictional setting or simply animes and cartoons I’ve watched that have rich stories that I want to take elements from. Furthermore, I feel choosing one of these three stories will reach one of these goals, which is to use a 2D animation to convey a strong sense of emotion.
2D animation is also something I haven’t really done before but something I have a personal interest in and therefore want to go for it and learn the ways of producing a 2D animation. I have some skills the drawing, writing and voice acting field so it seems a good fit to choose a 2D animation.
The comic book slide styling of American Comic Books with the over-exaggerated feel and action of Modern Japanese Magna/Anime Comics are two elements I wanted to combine. I have interests of both, I like the thrill of Magna’s exciting moments, especially with action and I enjoy the fictional tales of them, things that you wouldn’t expect from your typical American Comic Book but the American Comic book has strengths that appeal to me greatly, how the story lines itself up and fits together. Combining these two elements is reasoning for choosing 2D animation is that I feel I could achieve this style of combing both of them better. 3D animation is quite difficult and would be very time consuming and I don’t feel I have the time nor patience to go for a 3D animation, I enjoy watching 3D animation but it’s not something I feel I would enjoy making. 2D animation is also quite traditional and brings me back to when I was younger and would draw a lot, so that’s probably a small reason why I’m stuck to 2D animation, but lastly, why am I doing this for my choice of artefact isn’t just all these points but the fact that I want to go into the research and find 2D animators and artists. Learn about them, how they produce such wonders, the tricks involved and whether I can take those things and do a good job of it as I don’t just want to produce a 2D animation that can convey a strong sense of emotion with its story, characters and more but produce an animation that’s fun to watch, exciting, entertaining and is of good quality so that people want to watch it through all the end as I feel if my audience is bored of the animation after the first minute, I’m clearly doing something wrong and this is something I want to nail correctly.
How am I going to produce this artefact?
Being that this 2D animation is going to be the biggest part of this Extended Project, it only makes sense that it will take a while to produce. To produce such artefact I’m going to have to go and do some research into 2D animation as a whole. Find out how it’s produced, watch some tutorials, take some tips and tricks on all kinds of things, look into journals, websites and books and figure how they do such things. It will be an interesting time but I also think it’s wise to look at some biographies of some quite famous 2D animators and/or artists. See what their experiences are like but also look into Manga and Comic books. Manga/Anime and Comic Books are two styles from two opposing sides of the world that I want to combine to bring a rich and interesting flavour to my 2D animation, so I will have to look at that, whilst deciding on my final story to undergo.
After looking into research, I will have to analysis and take certain pieces that can help provide ideas I want to incorporate for my 2D animation, such as how characters and settings should look, good ways to convey emotion, watching examples and see how other 2D animations from professional artists and animators do such wonders. With the Research and Analysis done, its then time to get into actual production as that with the pre-production stage which is very important to a 2D animation or any artefact for that matter as you don’t want to leave yourself clueless and without knowledge when you have a quite long-lasting project such as this.
I want to go straight into writing, have the script for the characters and how the story is going to play out over the course of the few minutes of my animation; I can then get into the screenplay section as I want to have voice acting and sounds in my game. Whilst I feel some silent animations are quite interesting to watch, it’s not a style I want to go into as I think it’s not suitable for the modern age or my modern audience.
Drawing can then begin with concept of characters as you can have a blank backdrop and still be quite fine, but it’s the characters that pull it through but I’ll have to make sure I get those right, just like the script as those are the two biggest elements for my animation is I want to convey that sense of emotion. The looks in their eyes, their facial expression, and their posture are things I’ll have to consider if I want to make that section of my 2D animation a success. However, whilst you can have a blank backdrop, they are still very important in giving a sense of awareness, so I’ll have to get the character concepts completed first, backgrounds then after and see what type of emotion or action I want the character to do over it.
I am going to draw a tile sheet, similar to those seen in comic books and fit each section in bit by bit. The background, the characters and the speech bubbles or little additional such as some sparks or fire to add some more action to it but I am going to leave these tiles blank as I will then scan the drawings, edit them in Photoshop with a graphics tablet and make the lines more bold, have the colours pop out more and perhaps use dark colours for the background as I want the characters to pop out more in each slide. With that, it’s then adding the little touches of the editing stage to produce the first draft. I’ll connect the images/scenes together using a video editing program such as Adobe Premier Pro or Sony Vegas and such the tools in those programs to pan from each slide to another, zooming in when necessary. After that, it’s importing in the voices and sound effects, one of the last stages of the animation. I’ll piece it together and once that’s done and dusted, I can replay it back, see if it works fine and export it as a video file as a first draft so I can show it to my audience for reviewing or just for my presentation. I’ll gather the feedback, primary and secondary and if there are any adjustments to be done, I’ll apply those and have the final draft of my artefact done. My artefact for my Extended Project complete.
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