Illustrator Induction Part 2

In the second part of our Illustrator induction, our task was to trace an image of Totoro and then fill him in to whatever colours we desired. I chose to fill it in the traditional colours to see how close to the original image I could get. 

We first outlined one half of the image, and then copied, pasted it and used the reflect tool to them make one whole outline of Totoro. This saved a lot of time and is a trick I am familiar with. However, since the options and tools differ slightly to Photoshop, it took a little while to figure out how to do it. I also found layers to be more confusing than usual. For example, if I copied something and pasted it again, it would past it into the same layer. So when I would highlight it, it would take whatever was on the same layer with it simultaneously, which was very frustrating. So I just created a new layer, pasted it there and then joined the previous and current layer to overcome this issue.

What seems like a small task, actually took me a couple of tries to get right because I was getting frustrated and pressing the wrong tools. But I do think Illustrator is a really great software and I think I could get a lot out of it, in terms of its graphical aspects, rather than sweating it out in Photoshop.

Illustrator Induction Part 1

In our Illustrator induction, we did a little exercise which got us used to using the pen tool, which I found to be SO much better than the ones Photoshop. I use Photoshop all the time, constantly and almost feel cheated that the one in Illustrator is so much more impressive and I never even knew it existed. I remember using Illustrator in high school to scan a drawing in and change it into a vector painting, but I have never used the pen tool.

I found there to be multiple differences between Illustrator and Photoshop. for example, even to go back a step on a mac uses less buttons, which is a major bonus. As far as the pen tool goes, both uses the left click which makes an anchor, and pressing 'alt' puts it back to a straight line. But in terms of the programme, you can use the space outside of the canvas to draw on, which I think could come in really useful in the future. You can also have a number of art boards, so you can do two pieces of work at once which something Photoshop also doesn't have. 

Illustrator uses vectors, which are like mathematical equations. Unlike pixels, they do not lose their quality for example, when you zoom in it isn't blurred or pixilated. Therefore you don't have to worry about the size of the piece, the ratio is more important.

In the exercise we traced over the lines using the instructions given, to help our familiarity with the tool. We then got the chance to fill in these shapes and experiment with the stroke. I love playing with colours and seeing which combinations work well together, so I chose to fill my shapes in with gradients and then play with the stokes afterwards.

In conclusion, I feel like I learnt a lot and I really enjoyed doing the little exercise and found it to help me become familiar with the pen tool a lot more easier.

Pose to Pose Pendulum

For our last explore brief we had to do a small project on pose to pose animation. This is when you draw the key frames first, and then do the in between frames afterwards. This process is more thoughtful, and you are able to see where you started and where you are aiming to go with the animation. For this brief, we were to do a pose to pose animation of a pendulum.

For this brief, it was a lot more easier to be accurate with the animation. For example when doing a flip book I often found my ball jumped all over the place or changed size drastically, where as with pose to pose, it is a lot more easier to track how your animation is developing. 

Timing was a big factor in this brief, and I found planning it out beforehand help a whole lot. For example as the pendulum drops, I added more frames to make the action slower, and then as it swings down, less frames to craft a faster and smoother movement. In the end I think I did fairly alright on this brief and I enjoyed doing it also!

Flip Book Research

                    

Before I attempted my watermelon flip book I wanted to do a bunch of research on really nice flip books from people who either do it as a living or have a deep interest in it. I came across this one by Reja Petrov and I just wish I could create one like this. Though it is really long, therefore has lots of frames and must have taken a really long time to put together, I love the style of it. I looked further into Reja Petrov and came across her website which I LOVE. She is obsessed with colour like me, as in neon and electric aesthetics and this makes me so pleased! I can't even begin to describe her art style. but it is portrayed in this flip book similarly as well and I just love it. She's really good at her use of timing and also squash and stretch for example her character watching the television, which just makes her flip book look so clean and realistic for what it is. And it has given me a good few ideas.

                   

This next flip book has a very modern and sharp aesthetic. It uses text which is something I never considered to add before, but I think it would be a nice touch to add to my own because I really enjoyed it here. It's frames do not easily transition into each other after the text sequence, because the styles of the illustrations are very different to the conventional flip book character animation. The horse reminds me of a chess piece, but I love how crisp and clear the illustrations are. Also there are no shadows and no colour, but I think it works really well because it's purpose is to provide a visual representation of how the Commando Group settled on how they chose their logo. It is vert simplistic, but it has prompted me to add text into my next flip book and see how that goes.

                   

The last flip book I decided to research about was 'Flip It' by James Webber. I LOVE the use of existing images. It's like a stop motion flip book, it's brilliant. James Webber is a graphic designer which explains why he used images of real life people and things as opposed to drawing them, but it is a really unique take on a flip book. I would love to try this out if I had the materials and facilities to produce one of these, but I think it is such a clever way to produce a flip book. I would have to pre plan the squash and stretch principle however, because I would not be drawing it, I would be taking an image of a person/object which I would imagine is a lot harder.

In conclusion my research on flip books has provided me with a BUNCH of ideas for my next flip book which has made me really excited. I would love to try using text and also changing up the style of my illustrations and see how it goes. But I found this research to be extremely useful, and will look at some more to see what else I can find.

Photography Induction

In our Photography Induction, we basically learnt how to use a DSLR camera. Although I have one of these, I never really fiddle with the settings, so for the majority of the duration, I was perplexed to say the least.

We went through the basics, such as setting the white balance depending on the current light source. For example if you are outside, you set it so 'daylight'. We also went over setting file formats which I didn't know was a thing until then. We set ours to JPEGs, but we also went over .raw files as well which apparently are much, much larger and take up a lot of space. 

Then I leant the more complicated things which I have to think really hard about to understand. The first is shutter speed. This is simply the amount of time the shutter is open, and is exposed to light. It is measured in seconds and can capture different things. A fast shutter speed, freezes an action and a slow shutter speed is usually used when it is dark, because it lets more light into the camera, or to add blur into the photo.

A fast shutter speed - FREEZES an action and a slow shutter speed - SLOWS it down.

The other tricky thing I learnt about is aperture. A wise aperture lets in more light than a narrow aperture. So basically, aperture is how long the lens is open for. But what aperture really affects is the depth of field. For a large depth of field, the image will be in complete focus whether is it far away or close to an object. Where are a shallow depth of field is when only part of the image is in focus. The higher the value, the more larger the depth of field.

We were given a small task to take four pictures illustrating each of the tricky parts of photography. So basically we had to take one picture with a fast shutter speed and one with a slow one. Then one with a large depth of field, and one with a shallow one. Here are the ones I captured:

Shallow depth of field

Large depth of field

Fast shutter speed

SlowER shutter speed

I found attempting a slower shutter speed to be the hardest hence why it is slower but not as slow as I wanted it to go. Overall I feel like i leant a lot in this induction even though it took me a while to wrap my head around a lot of it.

Wind & Tree

This is an animated short produced by Kinstantin Steshenko which I found on youtube whilst searching for ideas for my Animation Process and Production brief. It is the winner of Ottawa International Festival's Best Canadian Student Film 2013 and it is completely deserving.

This short is a love story between a tree and a lonely wind character. Whilst the wind is computer generated, everything else is stop motion, and I think this combination really works well, especially for this storyline. It only emphasises the fact that the wind and three are different entities, which makes the film even more sad.

The animation communicates themes of companionship, loss and solidarity all through making the audience feel a connection to the characters. Both, despite their aesthetic difference and difference in form, are willing to be together and this makes the audience align with them. Therefore when there is a storm, the audience has allegience with the 'couple' and therefore from conveying loss and grief, the audience also feels their sadness.

I think there could have been more detail in the sound to portray even further the themes, especially the one of loss, because the strings in the background is a little distracting, but other than that I think adding real life wind noises make the short just as effective. There are some points in the film where I find the computer animation looks slightly odd on top of the stop motion, but that is only because it look more obvious in close ups, rather than when there are two shots. 

Just by looking at the short I would not be able to tell what audience it is aimed at, even more so because there is no dialogue, but since it was entered in an academic festival, then I assume it's audience is primarily critical. However because I found it on Youtube, it's audience has been improved to everyone, since anyone of any age can view it for free. 

Overall I think it is a really nice combination of stop motion and computer generated animation, and it is the first time I have seen the two together so obviously. I am glad it won the award and I must have a look at what else they have made.

Stop Motion Animation

We finally got to look at stop motion animation which so far is my favourite type of animation and I was pleasantly surprised to see that there are so many different types!!

Stop motion basically, is where you manipulate objects and photograph them frame by frame so that when put together, they create this illusion of movement. Stop motion is so time consuming, but one of those arts that is just so satisfactory that it makes all the hard work and effort worth every second.

These are the types that I found to be of my most interest:

Clay Animation

• One type of clay animation is freeform, where you just go with it and come up with the product on the spot. Now that I am getting into planning EVERYTHING. I find this type of stop motion animation, crazy! Though I would imagine it to be extremely fun without having the stresses of pre planning. We looked at 'Dante's Inferno' and I actually thought it was quite frightening. The intricacy of the clay sculptures were brilliant but in combination with the drumming audio, there is something about it that gives this eerie, dark mood to it. Though whoever comes up with a full clay animation on the spot should have a lot more credit.
• Then there is another type to do with character. A good example of this is Wallace and Gromit which I am very familiar with! I love Wallace and Gromit and is the one love of animation that I share with my parents. It is quintessentially British and I think it is one of the best clay animations.
• Strata Cut is also related to clay in the sense that it is layers of imagery and is sliced to form an animation. This type of animation is so bizarre and confusing to me and I don't know how David Daniels came up with it. There are very few Strata Cut animations, but David Daniels' Clearasil commercial is one example and is unique in the sense it also involves live action. This is the first time I have seen this type of animation, but I am definitely open to seeing more.
• The last for clay animation is clay painting, and this is pretty self explanatory. The award winning films, 'Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase' is a perfect illustration of it. I thought the idea for this animation was very smart but it must have taken a lot of perseverance. However I am extremely surprised that there are this many clay animations, I feel like I was extremely ignorant in having heard of only one.

Pixilation

• Having experienced Pixilation first hand I am also familiar with this type of stop motion. It is simply manipulating not just an object this time, but it can also involve a person, by making them/it pose and then photographing it. I underestimated pixilation and even though it sounds like the simplest of stop motions, it it quite hard.

Pinscreen Animation

• This is the most technical of all stop motion animations! Jaques Druin's 'Mindscape' is so impressive. I've always been fascinated with pin screens as a child but would have never imagined one on such a large scale that you could create animation with it. There is so much dedication in this form of stop motion, but the outcome is seriously amazing. It is all technical, to do with shadows from the angle of the light but it is quite mind boggling how someone can do it.

Graphic

• Graphic stop motion animation uses pre-existing images, and even though too much of this could damage your eyes, I found it strangely fascinating. I researched 'Frankly Caroline (1998) by Frank and Caroline Mouris which included maps, flags, animals, bright colours, all do to with the world and genuinely liked it. When we watched some of Frank Mouris' other work in class it got quite a negative response, but I liked it. I love anything graphical to be honest but I loved the twist in this form.

Object Animation

• This is an animation of any non-drawn objects from the real world. An example piece of this is Micheal Gondry's video 'Fell in Love With a Girl' for the band The White Strypes. For one thing I realised I really like this band, and as for another, I thought this form on animation was nice. I liked the use of the primary colours and in context, the video went well with the song but I am curious as to know what else this type of stop motion can do. Lego animation is quite popular so I wonder what extents other people have visited.

Model & Puppet

• Lots of stop motion films use model and puppets, one example is Tim Burton's short 'Vincent'. I've seen this short before and I don't know where of WHY, but I remember seeing it without knowing who it was by and instantly recognising it was linked to Tim Burton. I LOVE the exaggeration of the model and puppets. From the faces, to the expressions to the movements. With puppets you can add whatever life you want into them and I think that's such a great concept. This is portrayed in 'Vincent' in the protagonist and his features and because the film is black and white, I feel like there not even a hint of a need of colour because the structure of the puppets compensate enough.

Overall, I found I loved stop motion even more than I did before know that I have been introduced to all these new and exciting types. I am excited to research and analyse some of these types in depth and see if I could possibly experiment with them in the near future!

ParaNorman Storyboards

Since I already own 'The Art and Making of ParaNorman' by Jed Alger, I thought it would be obvious to insert the storyboards from the actual book, here.

                       

I absolutely LOVE the style of these storyboards, especially this scene where there is a two shot of Norman and his grandma watching the television. I am more so satisfied with the fact that the designer coloured everything in this blue/dark grey tone to highlight the fact even through a storyboard, that this film is a child's horror.

"You make a stop-motion film twice... First in story, with drawings. Then you make it for real" - Chris Butler, Director of ParaNorman.

I love this quote by Chris Butler and I think it really embodies how much of an importance storyboarding really is. You can't just go into a entire film without a strategy and I find that is what this pre-production really is. Once you have a script or an idea, storyboarding helps you have a visual, a first glimpse of what could possibly come to life. Especially in terms of puppet stop motion animation where the film is not going to be a sort of upgrade from the storyboard, but more of a complete visual difference. I also like how the designer adds speech bubbles to his storyboard, as I have not yet seen this being done before as I thought it wasn't supposed to happen.

Within the book there are also several digitalised storyboards in larger scales, however I am extremely in love with this particular one. I know it is very anticlimactic when I say I really love colour, but I absolutely have this thing where if there is something which has beautiful colour combinations or just visually looks so enticing because of its specific colour palette, I will literally fall head over heels. I love bright, rich colours and that is perhaps why I love this digitalised frame. The contrast of the deep red to the watery blue creates this paradox of creating a warm but simultaneously chilling setting. It makes the story eerie, and I love it.

Here are further examples of beautifully combined colour palettes in the digitalised storyboard version of 'ParaNorman'. What I also think is very clever is that there are loads of camera shots which include the horizon, as if to always remind the audience of how small the characters are in comparison. Not only that, but it makes the setting of the film feel even more realistic. Unlike 'The Hand' by Jiri Trnka (which we looked at in our Context of Practice seminar), where the camera is always in the house making the film feel claustrophobic and voyeuristic, 'ParaNorman' has this open space, to help the audience feel like they could be in there with the characters, and also room to appreciate the stunning settings.

Overall I appreciate these storyboards so much. Even the rough sketches are lovely to look at, but it is the digitalised versions which I am more in love with. I think these storyboards bring the film to life before the film has even begun and as a fan of Laika, the creators of 'ParaNorman', it is so nice to just appreciate all the hard work and effort they have done to make this film.

Pixilation Final and Evaluation

                         

This is the end product of my Pixilation! There are many things I would change but overall I am quite happy with it. I am especially happy that I put the whole thing together and did extensive research and planning beforehand, and I am just generally satisfied with completing it. I really enjoyed this project even though we only had a week to put it together and it was stressful at times, it taught me a lot.

There are some parts which I had to change from the initial plans of my storyboards. For example due to the practicality of things, I had to change a prop which was to be stolen, from a coat to a shirt, but still the initial idea is there. I also added in a chase at the end because I found I had not enough frames. This is something that I truly underestimated. I thought 1200 frames would be alright, but I barely made it over 600. Pixilation is truly time consuming, and I never actually realised this.

Another MAJOR issue I had in this project was to do with After Effects. When I imported all my frames into the programme, because I had deleted some as I went along, the names of all the frames had jumped and changed and therefore the programme assumed that I had some missing and left gaps in my pixilation. Gaps that looked like this:

And I could not get my head around how to change it. I was told two different solutions but I just got so confused and ended up having to rename ALL six hundred and something frames in order to have their titles in a sequence. Next time, i'll either have to be less picky and stop deleting frames or just buy a beginners book in After Effects and get my head around the programme.

I also got the opportunity to get feedback from those around me. A lot of people liked my pixilation which I was therefore pleased with and it made them laugh. However, I did get some constructive criticism like I could have considered more the squash and stretch principle. I do agree with this and I find I was more worried about sticking to my storyboard that I almost forgot about some of the principles. I think if I were to do a pixilation again, which I am hoping to do some time soon, I would definitely take this into consideration and also focus more on timing and spacing. Though I wasn't strong on these, it has made me think about the principles A LOT more. Initially I saw them as guidelines that went over my head, but because I take criticism personally, I am more than sure that I will be applying them in everything else I go on to do. 

Pixilation Storyboards

I finally came up with a solid idea for my Pixilation after lots and lots of research and watching numerous other Pixilation videos. My basic storyline was that my protagonist is browsing on her computer, an error suspiciously occurs therefore she goes to check it out, gets electrocuted and suddenly has powers that can make things disappear. Using my 'Predator - Prey' theme, I decided that she is the predator, who then preys on others by snapping their favourite belongings with a touch of her finger, and keeps them to herself. I usually don't understand self seekers, so  as paradoxical as this might be, I thought it would be interesting to create a whole plot surrounding this. 

After I decided upon this and was happy with it, I then storyboarded it. From our previous briefing in storyboarding I didn't have the best experience, however this time I really, really enjoyed storyboarding my pixilation. I don't know if it's because I had full control over the whole concept or because I was slightly more confident in drawing but I really enjoyed putting it together. I also found that I stuck to it, I followed it as I was filming and found it came in extremely useful.

I storyboarded on sticky notes because I previously thought paper editing to be the most helpful thing ever, so I will scan them in and refine them afterwards.

Flip Book - Digital

I still wasn't 100% happy with my flip book illustrations, so I decided since I had some spare time I would go ahead and digitalise my watermelon one. This took less time than I expected, perhaps because we have advanced in our photoshop sessions, but I am more pleased now with this result. 

I find everything looks so much better in colour, and I think this is the best one I have done so far. I am excited to try and see what else I can come up with, because I really enjoyed our projects on flip books.

Either way, here is the before and after of my favourite fruit! 

Photoshop Session 3 - Timeline Animation

The third Photoshop session involved learning what timeline animation is and how to make one using a digital tablet. This session was very similar to the previous one in terms of using a time line to make a bunch of images, that when put together, move. However, instead of just scanning all images into the computer and them piling them all into photoshop, we were taught how to start from scratch and actually draw on each frame.

The thing I got most out of this session was centred around 'onion skinning'. This is when you are working on drawing/creating one frame and want to see the previous frame and post frame, but at a lower opacity. This was so useful because I could see where I wanted my next drawing to be, how I wanted to animate it. It would help if there was something like this when we were doing flip books.

What I found most difficult was when trying to copy something from the previous frame on the timeline and then pasting it, what happened was a new layer was being created every time, and I couldn't get it back on to the original layer I was working on and I was just getting so confused and couldn't work it out. I eventually sought out help and then just trimmed the new layer to the time frame that I wanted it and the animation ran smoothly.

We were then given a brief which consisted of creating up to a 5 second animation that involved at least two of the elements, fire, earth, wind and water. I chose fire and wind and then quickly transformed my fire into water at the end. Our teacher told us not to pick our first idea so I decided to do an animation on a background, so it looks like my animation is on the reflection of a pair of sunglasses. This animation took forever, because there was more to be animated than just a ball, however I think it turned out alright. 

Tangled Storyboards

I absolutely love Tangled. It's such a feel good film, but in particular I wanted to talk about its storyboards. There are several for the different stages in its production process, and each of them hold unique elements which are really interesting to look at and follow the processes. 

For the one shown above, at first glance you can obviously see that visually, the styling in the characters are completely different to the film. But that's because it's use is for visual aid and not for the final product. However in saying that, I think this storyboard specifically, is in great detail to others I have looked at. Firstly, there is an extensive use of colour. I say extensive because usually most storyboards, even in the final stages, are quick sketches or are shaded in black and white. But because the colour palette for this scene is quite neutral anyway, perhaps this is why colour is necessary. Either way, they're great to look at, and I think they could actually result into a final product for some sort of printed material. I also really love the lights in these storyboards, they add more depth to the simple images and they give this mystical feel, which is kind of the epitome of Disney really.

Then there is this more intricate storyboard for a specific scene. Though there is only colour illustrated on the frog, the detail in the character's expressions is what is more important. This storyboard follows mainly, the movement of the frog and then the character's reaction. This is more like a frame by frame time of storyboard in the sense that each frame is planned in a substantial amount of detail. Instantly I recognised what scene this is from, therefore this storyboard is successful in its job of putting it's purpose and ideas across. I really admire the artist who planned the frame by frame shots for this whole storyboard, because I find it such a challenge to even plan the various scenes and settings let alone go into this much detail. There is no also no detail in the background of this scene, however I don't really feel like it is needed because the focus is mainly on the two of these characters expressions.

The last storyboard I am going to analyse is the one above, which I loved because of it's angular shots. Especially the one on the bottom right because the angle is so drastic, it takes a high angle shot to a whole new level. It almost provokes the feeling of vertigo, and that's brilliant because it's just a rough sketch! I also love how Rapunzel's hair is the only thing that is coloured, to symbolise it's significance in the film. Since her hair is the key prop is the films entirety, then it only makes sense. I've never really thought about only shading one thing in a storyboard to differentiate it from anything else's significance in the film, however I would like to try it to see if it would be as effective as this one. In addition, thought these storyboards are so simple, yet at first glance they still look visually pleasing. They offer this visual satisfaction because of the use of different angles and change in mis-en-scene. They are interesting and tell a story, which is what storyboards are supposed to offer.

Overall I really love these storyboards and I think looking at the different stages and different types was extremely useful. I really want to use certain elements from these ones and hopefully they will improve how people perceive them.

Pixilation Initial Ideas

After not really knowing where to start with my pixilation project but knowing that I wanted to do the 'Predator - Prey' relationship, I thought there was no better way to come up with an idea that to start brainstorming. I don't have any routine to brainstorming but one of my friends told me to start with definitions and then find links from there, so that's where I began.

A lot of the definitions and synonyms I found were pretty useless in helping me form any comprehensive plot idea for a film, until I found one in particular. One definition I was given for predator was to do with not being something that has to kill, but can take something of significance or of slight importance from someone of something. Since being told we were doing pixilation I did want to experiment with telekinesis or some sort of power because of the frame by frame animation allowing availability to do this. Therefore I then linked the two via, the protagonist using this power to exploit/manipulate or take something it desires from someone else i.e its prey.

I then came up with a moodboard, (my very first one, which is probably why it is so amateur looking and could do with improvement) in order to see my ideas in some sort of visual format. I chose images from actual predator animals and their prey, to the idea or a thief, someone who steals, to actual telekenesis, to the idea of superiority, inferiority and vulnerability. Seeing my initial ideas progressing from thoughts to now images has really helped my idea for a pixilation further. The next stage I need to do is storyboarding which I am going to do as a paper edit first because I found that to be extremely helpful and one of the best things I could have learnt for initial plotting. And then hopefully have a much clearer idea on what I want to film. I have never really planned something for a project in this much depth before, but I think it has really helped my thought process and better understanding of what I want to achieve in this brief.

Photoshop Session 2

In the second Photoshop lesson, we scanned our flip book sketches into Photoshop and actually turned them into a frame by frame animation. Though it was a tedious and time consuming process to scan all images individually into the computer, it was worth it to turn them into gifs and see them come to life! I have never done anything like this before, so I was pretty amazed to see such a simple thing be turned into a digital animation.

Attempt at making a watermelon split.

Once they were all scanned, we were taught how to change the levels to reduce the pencil marks and 15% greyness of the white background. I love the levels option on Photoshop, i've used it to enhance colours on my photos before but I also thought it was pretty clever in instantaneously making pencil drawings look like digital paintings. Though again, it got pretty tedious in cleaning up image after image, and by the end I was just ready to see them move.

Second attempt.

We then also were taught how to use the crop tool to change the ratio of the image, and also change the resolution for web. I remembered briefly going over this last lesson, but actually applying it to something helped me remember it more clearly. However, the cropping tool came in extremely handy, because it made ALL of my images the same size, so that was actually pretty quick and straightforward. 

That was when Bridge was introduced. I'd never heard of this programme, but it seemed efficient enough in what we were using it for. Basically, we opened up all our retouched images from our flip books into Bridge and then with a click of a button put them all into a new Photoshop document with all the images as separate layers. This saved heaps amount of time of copying and pasting, and was done in literally 5 seconds. I don't actually know what else this programme is used for, but it definitely was useful for making a gif.

First attempt at making a gif.

To conclude I feel like I learnt a heap load in this session. It seems really simple now that i've done a few of my own after the induction and even though it is really quite time consuming, I am excited to add some more colour and try out some other animations from flip books!

Note: Also posted this on the wrong area of my blog so reposting it here!

Photoshop Induction 1

In our Photoshop Induction we learnt how to use the basic tools and shortcuts within the software so that we are able to create work faster and more efficiently. I also found out the fundamentals of resolution, so that for future reference I can create work that will have the best quality for both web and for printing. I have some experience with Photoshop, in terms of using it alongside a digital tablet, and also the basic tools like changing levels and adding new layers, but not so much in terms of blending images together and the technicalities of resizing images.

During the second half of the day we were taught on how to use layer masking and how to change specific areas on individual layers. I focused on masking large parts of images and then changing the hue, tone and colour on the areas that were left visible. I used this lesson more so to experiment with all the new tools and options that are available in photoshop hence why the colours on my images are so vivid and contrasting. I wanted to be able to see what I was changing, for example the pink canyons and the pink sky.

But overall I found I learn a lot in this induction, and I found using simple keys for shortcuts to access basic tools to be the most useful and convenient. And I look forward to using all the new tools in the future!

Note: Posted this blog post on the wrong area of my blog so I am reposting here where it is supposed to go.

Food - Jan Svankmajer (Pixilation Research)

Now I love food, and I have this thing for it because i'm a vegetarian and therefore have to scope out sufficient foods which actually don't taste like cardboard, however after watching the first part of this film I could have easily been put off it for a long while. Not that the food in it was unappealing, but the way in which the characters moved and the closeups of certain body parts in combination with revolting noises, quickly eliminates any appetite you could have had to begin with.

What started me off feeling uncomfortable was when the character on the left literally gets up on all fours on the table and leans on top of the character on the right to read instructions on his blazer. Whilst doing so, he is groping and rubbing the table and if that doesn't seem slightly disturbing then I don't know what does. In my head I kept saying to myself 'This is so weird! This is so weird' and I couldn't help it, I have never seen anything like it! It felt so intrusive and voyeuristic I really didn't know what to make of it.

I did like how Svankmajer incorporated this robotic element to the characters as if they have to be operated by someone else. The use of sound is critical in this pixilation in demonstrating that and also the particular camera angles. I would of thought considering camera angles when being caught up in creating a pixilation would be something you would least think about, but I feel like they truly add to making the viewer feel uncomfortable, and even though it may not be the most pleasant of feelings, at least it is provoking some sort of emotion. 

There is also a huge amount of cross cutting in 'Food' and usually cross cutting is done so much so that it is so natural you barely notice it. However because the repetition of going back and forth is so frequent, your status as being an outsider literally becomes the only thing you think about. Why are you there? What is actually happening? What is going to happen?

I found this pixilation to be really bizarre for me. I felt like I was too close to the characters at certain points and that I was violating the characters dignity. This animation taught me what makes an audience feel the opposite to appealed, attracted and enticed to a piece, but it has also taught me that sound is crucial, and if I have time I will definitely be attempting to add some to my own pixilation this week. As weird as I found 'Food', it really stuck in my head and made me want to write a blog post on it as soon as possible. Perhaps because it is so out there and different to any animation I have ever seen in my entire life, it has imprinted in my memory. 'Food' is most definitely not like Jan Svankmajer's other piece, 'Alice' and I am quite curious to see what other weird and wonderful subjects he has touched upon in his other works.

Her Morning Elegance - Oren Lavie (Pixilation Research)

The music video 'Her Morning Elegance' is sang by Oren Lavie and includes an animation that we were shown in our introduction to Pixilation. I instantly felt like I had seen this animation before however i'm not sure if it's because there are now several similar pieces, likewise in other music videos of similar style, or if I genuinely have seen it previously. But after re-watching it I knew I had to make a blog post about it.

First of all, it has to be one of the smoothest Pixilations that I have seen, though I have not seen many. Although the poses of the lady in the animation are dramatised, and all equally really well thought out, her movements are so fluid and create the illusion that she is actually vertically stood up when in reality she is lying down. I don't know who came up with the idea to lie down and act like you're stood up, however when put together frame by frame, it just works. 

My favourite sequence is the one where she is underwater. Her socks are used as a prop for bubbles and then again as fish, and the whole scene looks so effortless. Also thinking about staging/mis-en-scene, the change in colour on the bed sheets is also very creative and quickly changes the ambience of the pixilation. There is something about going from light colours to instant dark colours that heightens the atmosphere in any visual communication. I also think the elegance of her poses when swimming really mirror the soft, almost charming tone of the music greatly in the sequence. Not to forget the fluidity in her hair, the principle of secondary action, is also spot on.

In general, it's hard to make an analysis on this pixilation because it is one where you just have to watch it to see for yourself. Music videos are created to be observed, to communicate to its audience visually and audibly, and I think this light hearted, day brightening animation does just that. When I come to make my own pixilation, I am really going to try and make my props and the characters involved have very fluid and effortless movements because I think that it what really appealed to me in this specific pixilation.

Pixilation

Today we were introduced to our next brief which is centred around pixilation. Pixilation is a form of stop motion which uses live actors along with objects through taking pictures frame by frame and moving the character/object ever so slightly as the animation goes on. Though the end result of this animation is not very smooth, it is still artistically effective and the 12 principles of animation still apply. Some of these include anticipation, ease in and out, squash and stretch and also secondary action, which is especially important when considering hair. 

We also learnt that in pixilation, filmmakers shoot at 2 frames for every movement and if ever an action needs to be portrayed faster, they shoot at 1 frame or shoot at 2 frames, and just increase the distance from the previous action.

Throughout the lesson we were given a heap load of examples of European Pixilation animation which I thought was very intuitive seen as how the only artistic animation I have experience with is Jan Svankmajer's 'Alice'. Though it's a great piece, i've never really set my sights beyond it and I thought it was nice to see pieces which are so stylistically different to mainstream, conventional animation. Though I would like to individually analyse these animations on seperate blog posts, I did find that the principle of appeal is concerned more with taste. Obviously not everyone is going to watch these animations and think they are easy on the eyes, however it is more of an intellectual stimulation which attracts its audiences.

Our brief includes making a pixilation animation that uses no more than 1200 frames, and explores one of the relationships of the following:

• Predator - Prey
• Host - Parasite
• Parent - Child

At this moment in time I am completely clueless as to where to even start with this brief. The areas we can chose from are very broad and I really hope I can come up with something that will not only sound good but will actually be somehow visually appealing to those watching it. In terms of research, I am just going to watch a million and one different pixilation videos and hopefully come up with an idea! 

Flippin 'eck: Flip books 1

In yesterday's lesson we were introduced to another concept in animation named flip books. I don't really have much knowledge on flip books other than actually seeing them, but I have always been interested in the actual process and wondering how artists make them.

I distinctly remember seeing my first flip book in a Disney show on television named 'That's So Raven' when I was really young and was absolutely amazed how someone could make something move from a book, and on paper. I can clearly remember sitting there and not even bothering about watching the rest of the show but being just mesmerised by this flip book. So when I found out we were going to be experimenting with them I was really excited.

We also learnt about the '12 Principles of Animation', which were developed by Frank Johnston and Ollie Thomas and they consist of a bunch of principles that when applied, should create this common language between animators so they can competently speak to each other about their work.

Something I found particularly interesting was the 'squash and stretch' principle. Basically, what it is is when an object has to be stretched, the drawing of it has to be elongated and thinner. And if it to be squashed, it is then a shorter and compressed drawing. This became extremely useful when we were given the task of producing a flip book in which we had to make a ball bounce across the floor. At first I just began with drawing a circle for every stage of my flip book, but then I realised it was looking flat and not really animated, so when the ball reached the floor I used the squashing part of the principle and it made such a difference. I found I really struggled with keeping the ball the same volume throughout the flip book and it often became bigger and smaller throughout so that is something I have to work on.

Also given our tasks, we had to greatly concentrate on the principle of timing. This may seem like a basic principle, but it is also a rather complicated one. More drawings equate to a slower and smoother action and less drawings therefore produces a faster paced action. Logically, this is simple, however when actually participating in the practicality of it, it is something you can easily forget about and it can ruin your flip book, something which happened to me. However once I kept referring to my plan, I finally got the idea and was able to produce a competent flip book.

I actually found animating a ball bounce across the floor to be much more easier than animating a ball bounce vertically, however I really enjoyed playing with flip books, and I am very pleased with my end results!