Planning - initial ideas

Characters

Zoetrope animation

I created the zoetrope animation by getting a long piece of paper which fitted into the zoetrope when it was made into a circle, it was divided up into boxes of equal size. I drew a simple picture in the first box, then moved it slightly before i drew it in the second box. When I reached the end of the strip i made sure it came back to the same starting point.

This animation worked well but you can't really see the words because they come and go too quickly, i could fix this by leaving out the words or using a bigger zoetrope so i have more boxes to draw in.

Claymation experiment - afro wars

This animation is a claymation; it is created by taking a picture of a clay character, moving the character slightly and taking another picture and repeating this process. I worked with Lauren and Chloe, i took the pictures and made two of the characters.

This animation is okay but where the sellotape is used to make the character jump it doesn't look very good because you can see the sellotape really clearly. I could improve this by using a different way for the character to jump down. It is good at the end where the character suddenly comes in but it could be longer becduase there isn't really a story to it.

websites used:

- www.youtube.com

Whiteboard experiment - seed

Whiteboard animation is created by drawing an image on a whiteboard, taking a picture, slightly changing the image and taking another picture. This process is repeated until the animation is finished. On this animation i worked with Chloe. I drew the image while Chloe took the pictures. I was trying to learn how to make this type of animation and the key elements that will be needed to make it good. I developed the skill of redrawing the same image in a different place and creating a simple image to use for this type of animation.

Compared to the other animations i have made the images aren't very smooth and they change alot from frame to frame. I would say this animation is quite good because it is smooth, but the images change too much and the lighting keeps getting lighter and darker. I have learnt to keep the flash on because that keeps the lighting the same throughout the whole animation. I would improve this by using more fromes because it is short and very repetative.

websites used:

- www.youtube.com

Pixilation experiment - tennis

This animation uses pixilation; this is made by taking a picture of a person and then moving them slightly and taking another picture and after repeating this process and putting all of the images together you get a video of the movement. I worked with Lauren, Ellie, Ashley and Chloe. I took all of the pictures while everyone else were the characters in the animation. By making this animation we were trying to learn about how pixilation works and how to create this type of animation. I learnt that it is very important to keep the camera still and which settings are best to use on the camera for this type of animation.

Compared to other animations i have made this is very jerky although it does contain different speeds which were created by moving the people larger spaces in between taking each picture. I would say this animation is good because it is smooth, the camera doesn't move too much although there isn't much depth or meaning to the animation. From this animation i can learn that you need to know exactly what is going to happen in the animation before you start otherwise you will need to retake it again and again because you will get some parts wrong. I would improve this animation by making sure nothing was moving in the background because the movement makes the animation look more jerky.

websites used:

- www.youtube.com

A Short Love Story in Stop Motion by Carlos Lascano

A Short Love Story in Stop Motion is about a daydream of a little girls life: she is sitting in school drawing a picture of a house and then she daydreams about living in that house with her husband, they have a baby and in the end they are old and looking at a picture of their son with his girlfriend, this is when the daydream ends and she is back sitting in school drawing a picture of a house.

It uses mixed digital and real tools, muted colours, a mixture of 2D drawn, clay, video and computer animation. Carlos uses green screens and puts the backgrounds on afterwards and all of the models have a wood and aluminium frame with a porcelain head.

I thought it was aesthetically pleasing and happy although the music made you sympathize with the little girl.

From this animation i will take his choice of music, the music suits how Carlos wants you to feel and doesn't clash with the animation.

websites used:

- www.youtube.com

Books used:

-Animators Guide

-Cracking Animation