To begin this rotation we started to look at the components of sound and how they are used in film. As a warm up, we were tasked with drawing the sounds we could hear around us. I completed mine from my bedroom.
I started with the black lines, representing the light hum from my static tv. As doors banged the lines became more jagged and a louder hum of voices appeared. I used the blue to represent the sounds of wind blowing outside my window. As a emergency vehicle drives past the sirens grow louder, shown with the pink swirls. Finally, a few loud bursts of laughter erupted from the hallway; i felt sudden red streaks suited this well.
For the next task I went slightly off brief. We were suppose to make a 20 second recording of a journey between 2 spaces made up of lots of different sounds. I decided to record parts of my whole day, documenting the journey I took through sounds. I though it would be interesting to see if my peers could figure out where I went and what I got up to just through the audio. It ended up being 1 minute 30 to fit everything in, but I think its worth the extra time.
For the final task I had to create 3 x 10 second ‘onomatopoeia club’ style films. The can be viewed here:
I created the sounds on Garage Band, which I had not used before. Being a drummer I went straight to the drums section and created my first sound basing it off club like music. I went for pretty obvious visuals with a girl dancing and lights changing colours but I think this fits the sound well. For my second sound I used a GIF I had created in my spar time previously and thought that some space sync sounds would suit it best. I am clearly less strong with a piano. Finally I wanted to created a dangerous sound so used a Chinese drum set to create this leading up to a battle sound. I mirrored this with a creepy stop motion of a doll and I think the constant spinning emphasizes the repetitive drumming sound. Overall I am happy with all of them however I definitely like my first piece most as I enjoy that type of music and it was fun to create.
Task: Create a 30 second short film that deals with and speaks to an issue or subject that you feel strongly about.
I decided early on in this project that I wanted to do stop motion. I absolutely love the likes of Jan Svankmajer and brothers Quay; and fortunately I a whole bunch of weird bits and pieces including china dolls, which reminded me of the work they do. However I still had no idea what the subject matter of my short film would be. I started to just experiment and refresh my stop motion skills. I started to put pieces together to create creepy characters and then used the stop motion app to create a short experiment. So far I definitely ant to include a dark humor theme, however I’m not yet sure how to incorporate something I feel strongly about.
After experimenting with stop motion my next step is to think about the actual subject matter of my animation. It has to be about something I feel strongly about; my point of view. So I started to mind map.
I like the idea of money and greed and I have some tissue notes that i could potentially use, maybe burn. Referring to the experiment from before, I liked how my character took of their face at the end, as if removing a mask revealing their true identity. This could all link into equality and justice by juxtaposing them and highlighting how unfair the world is instead. I am slightly worried about having such a big topic as much focus as originally I wanted to make my film about something small but dark.
After some further experimenting I have finally come up with a solid idea for my short film. Based around money and greed, I wanted to show how money and capitalism can do more harm than good. In todays society, there is such a high expectation to become ‘successful’ and that is usually interpreted as becoming rich. With the materials I have around me I have shown this through a mannequin character who is pretending to be a doll to hurt people. I thought this was a good representation as mannequins are fake people and also relate to money as they are used to sell consumeristic items. This mannequin then ‘helps’ a sad doll by giving them money which makes them go crazy and crack. I wanted this to symbolize how money actually changed people for the worse and isn’t always as good as it seems. In the end the mannequin takes of their ‘mask’ and is revealed to be the devil- I though they could also represent society and corporations in some way.
I decided have my film in black and white to keep to the creepy and dark subject matter. However in my screening version the image still feels very sunny. Thus for my final piece I will need to darken the overall image. I used coloured 2D animation over the top to elevate certain emotions and messages throughout the piece. I think this gives the idea of a fakeness to the reality, which mirrors the fakeness of money and the mannequin character. Obviously there is a lack of sound, which I simply hadn’t had time to add yet so that will make a big impact on the overall outcome.
I believe I took a different approach to this project than how I usually would. Rather than brainstorming ideas and stressing myself out because I couldn’t come up with anything, I started by experimenting with the material I had around me. I decided immediately that I wanted to do stop motion as I had these dolls and mannequins that I had wanted to use in a project for a while. When I think stop motion, I think Jan Svankmajer and Brothers Quay, thus that led me down a darker, creepier rout, which fit the material I was using well. Although I am happy with the outcome, I think my short film lacks the professional aesthetic I had envisioned at the end of the project. I spent a lot of time on the first time, getting the perfect angle and reshooting until I was satisfied. This energy burnt out by the time I got to the other scenes, and I think this effected the overall look. After receiving footage from peers, I changed the writing at the end to help connote my meaning better. By merging the word good into greed, I think it helps to symbolize the insincerity of money and corporations. Finally I think the use of sound builds the sense of worry. The music was taken from the ’Mirror Mask’ soundtrack, however all the sound effects I created myself and edited in Premiere pro.
For the sketching and drawing rotation we dived straight into location sketching, which is something I had not done before. When drawing people I found it much easier to draw them slightly stylized as there was almost not enough time to draw their realistic features. A lot of the characters I also had to partially draw from memory as they had already walked away. I tried some continuous line drawing which I think were effective for this exercise as you only focus on the key elements, rather than stressing over detail.
The drawing I decided to take further was actually my first drawing of a baby in a Grogu coat. I liked this drawing as I thought it had the most character and I immediately had ideas for a story. The child reminded me of Grogu in the way that he was cute looking, however was running around causing mischief. This led me making drawing showing how the child sees himself in Grogu and his father in Mando.
Analysis
Overall I really enjoyed this rotation. I have recently got into life drawing so having this rotation at this time was really suitable for me. Location drawing was really interesting and I enjoyed how it was less about thinking and more so just drawing what you see. I want to do more of that. As for my final piece I was worried about the lack of detail however I think it fits to the stylized characters. As the story is simple I wanted to reflect that through the drawing.
In this weeks rotation we looked at the four elements of design; relational, conceptual, practical and visual (shape, size, colour and texture). We started to look at photos in a different ways, focusing on what things seem like and feel like. To start the project we were tasked with going out and capturing a minimum of 10 digital photos, thinking about the shape, size and texture of the image. Unfortunately I had to use my phone camera which does not have great quality and I feel that greatly affective my process as the photos are not to the standard I want. I also think I took a lot of inspiration from colour, however as I will be editing them in black and white I am not sure this really helped.
I decided to make 3 compositions so I had choices for my final piece. Rather than putting too much though into it I decided to just chuck images together an experiment to find what I liked best. I think all three pieces ended up very different and I think that is down to the photos I chose to create with. The pieces created out of imagery of graffiti and posters gave a more chaotic feel where as the more structural images create more abstract imagery.
I have chosen the first image to submit. My initial concept was to keep it simple and really focus on the structure of my chosen images. I started with the image of the stairs as I liked the perspective and although being in black and white, the original picture was really colorful and I think this made the tones of the image quite exciting. Enjoying how the use of colour played out, the next image I used was of an arrangement of colourful blocks. I used a vector mask to remove he back ground and used a difference blending mode as I liked the bright contrast it gave to the darker parts of the stairs. Finally I vector masked an image of a mirror with some pipes, which ended up creating a character like figure. I duplicated one of the pipes to create a second sort of arm and liked the abstract shape I had created. The mirror had some stickers on and I enjoyed the texture it gave, thus kept the normal blending mode to show this effect. Overall I am happy with the piece; I think it shows perspective, shape and size in an abstract way. I also like how as a viewer, you’re not entirely sure what your looking at, so it makes you think less about the subject matter and more about the shapes you are seeing.
This rotation we looked at how to create movement using frame-by-frame animation; the traditional way.
In the first workshop we looked at principles Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose. For Straight Ahead, you draw one frame after the other, using the previous frame as your reference. It is the most immediate and free form of animation as you develop your work fluidly and with spontaneity. However this technique can lead to lack of continuity as scales and volumes tend to change over time. It is also difficult to pre-plan the timing. Pose to Pose allowed the animator to set out key poses and fill in the in-between frames afterwards. This is much easier for planning the actions so you know exactly what is happening and when. However there is a lack of create flow with this technique and the action can feel a little choppy and predictable.
For the first task we experimented with straight ahead. Using text fixer’s random word generator to produce two words (mine were seed and protest) we, working straight ahead, merged one interpretation of one word into the other. It was suppose to be 25 desperate drawings, however I went slightly over- which I guess is part of the freedom and fluidity of working straight ahead. It was also shot on twos.
For the next task we were to draw 3 facial expressions of one character then draw the breakdowns and in-betweens; working through pose to pose. The animation was to be 33 frames long and shot on twos. Overall I think I like this way of working as I feel as though I have more control.
In the second workshop we focussed on arcs of motion, time and spacing and squash and stretch. We did this through creating our own bouncing ball. The most natural and organic actions follow an arc shape, besides those of a robot. As the ball bounces it looks energy and its arc will diminish in height. Timing is where the action is timed out, where the accents are and how long they take. Spacing is how close or far apart the object is from frame to frame. The closer together they are from one frame to the next, the slower the object is moving and the further apart they are, the faster it is moving. Finally, when moving, organic matter has a flexibility and malleability to it, animators can take advantage of it and use it to accentuate and exaggerate certain movements- this is squash and stretch.
Our last workshop was focused around the principles of Ease-out and Ease-in. This fundamental principle of animation shows the acceleration of the body to reach its desired speed. Thus, using more in-betweens towards the beginning and end of an action will make it look more convincing. using an animation chart helps with this. For this workshop we produced a character (I chose a ghost to keep it seasonal) and drew 3 key poses. Then using 12 frame sin between each one, created in-between frames and breakdowns, working pose to pose. I shot this on ones and help each pose for 30 frames, however created 4 versions of each pose to give it a jittery effect.
Task: Go for a walk and stop every few minutes to draw what you see. Note what you feel, smell, hear . Consider the weather. Then make a map of of your walk and incorporate this material.
On my walk I quickly sketched everything that caught my eye on a very short walk. I wanted to overlap it all in a sort of explosion of images, not necessarily in chronological order. I added the colour and pen when I got back however I had to remember the colours, which I think makes the image more exciting as they are slightly exaggerated.
Motion Graphics is the transformation of still graphics I to create he illusion of motion using technology. It can be distinguished from typical animation through elements like not being character driven or story based. In this weeks rotation we were taught the three core principles of animation; Squash & Stretch, Anticipation and staging.
Squash and Stretch: Prevents rigidity or stiffness to the motion. It allows for a feeling of flexibility and elasticity to your animation. The stronger the squeeze and squash, the bouncier the film will be. Anticipation: Preparation for the main action. The action should be built and the reaction released. known as “broadcasting intent”. Staging: Clarity in expression and clarity in direction of action Non-verbal communication that comes from contrast, colour, camera angles, composition and arrangement.
In this rotation we were tasked with designing and digitally compositing a 10-15 second long motion graphics composition using Adobe After Effects, with the theme of ‘connection’.
Concept: After brainstorming, I settled on the rough idea of our connection with animals, pets in particular, and how we non verbally communicate with them. To make this project personal, I am going to focus around cats as I have a cat back home so I know what its like communicating with them. I have been thinking about how cats mimic the sound of babies when they meow to get humans attention and think I will base my short around a cat and it’s meow.
Analysis
Although I struggled with this project, I am happy with the outcome and started to enjoy it towards the end. I think I wasn’t so confident with my idea ( hence it being slightly different to the story board) and that led to me enjoying it less and I was unsure of how to move forward. I chose the super simple cat design as I didn’t want to over complicate things and also I though it was the cutest. I built it in After Effects with shapes and fills, then did the tail and blinking on different layers. The tail was probably the longest and hardest component of this short. I watched a YouTube tutorial which was slow and took a lot of concentration, however when I finally completed it I was really happy with the outcome. I changed the word to purr as I had the idea of making the text vibrate. I tried out a few different effects but found using a wave to be the most effective. As the purr is a more relaxing sound, I decided to have my character coming into the frame and smiling as it shows how pets can make us happier. I chose the second character design as I felt it was more similar to the cat with its simplicity and coclour pallet. If I had more time I would have like to found/made music that better fit the movements, however overall I’ve enjoyed the rotation and learnt new things about After Effects.
A story world is the shared universe in which the settings, characters, objects and events exist. Story and environment have an affective relationship; each informs and impacts the other. In this weeks rotation we were tasked with creating our own 3D world using Maya. To begin we was told to create a mind map and a mood board.
We were then taught how to use Maya, although I had previous experience so during this time I started to experiment with my idea. I produced a rough first draft which was analyzed by my tutor on Tuesday.
Feedback
For the final piece I was recommended to make the piece less square and more organic by creating rounder walls using the sculpting took- which I haven’t previously used. I was also told to create a floor plan for my final product.
Evaluation
Maya is so hard. Even with previous experience I really struggled with this rotation. If I had more time I would have liked to perfect this. I came across a few unsolvable problems and a handful of crashes, which made me feel like I was never going to get this finished. I am really proud of the glowing orb in the middle- turned out to be so much easy than what I was trying to do at first. When it came to colouring and texturing I realized I needed to UV map parts, but I didn’t have time, so this is something I would like to come back to at a future date. Overall I think my best asset was the modelling itself as I went into a lot of detail and made it quite realistic. Unfortunately the texturing let me down.
Update
I have since managed to UV map some of my objects, which now makes the cave look more realistic. Also I think it gives it a bit of an underwater effect which compliments the blue orb. I experimented further with lighting but still struggles with finding the perfect angle. I am much happier with it now.
Characters are the heart of animation. Audiences like stuff that has personality. In this rotation we began with looking at the most effective ways of building a character. Its best to work using base shapes: triangles, squares and circles. It is also best to avoid ‘ladders’ as it gives your character more temperament. To practice our structural skills we were given 15 minutes to draw outlines of characters using those base shapes.
We then began to look at aesthetics. I was told to consider thing such as an outline, stylized or realism, lighting or flat, texture and colour pallets. For the next task we were given objects and was told to create characters out of them.
Task: Selecting a prompt (winter), sketch a variety of character design ideas, choose one and create rough sketched of them in poses that show their personality.
Feedback
My tutor liked the variety of initial sketches and that my visual language is starting to be formed. I was suggested to experiment with a more masculine figure, like my reference, to make her seem more powerful. This has been done on my reference through her broader shoulders, her cut of top and how the sleeves come out by the elbows. I was told to maintain the themes of triangles throughout the bottom of the piece as well, as it get more boring the lower you get. Also I should make the legs longer to compliment the size of the head.
Reference
The Wicther 3: Yennefer. Lead concept artist: Bartlomiej Gawel
Task: Move your chosen sketch into rough colour thumbnails, considering the principles of aesthetics and designing for motion. Then, using a grid and rulers to guide your proportions, draw the character from two angles in neutral (front view, side view) considering the principles of aesthetics in how you render the final design.
Analysis
I chose the winter prompt as I felt it fit my visual language best and I could do some darker and supernatural designs. I began with 4 ideas; a magical tree, of which I disregarded immediately as we were told no monsters (I still wanted to draw it as an initial idea because I though it would be fun), a winter witch, a Russian Cossack and a Sami person (Indigenous people of Norway). I decided to go with the winter witch as this was more familiar to me; I’ve created lots of witch characters in the past. In some ways I wish I went a little more out of my comfort zone, however I aim to do this in the future in projects where we get a little more time. I used lots of triangle shapes when creating the structure of my witch and although I stuck to stereotypical shapes for females, I did try to make her shoulders broader to give her a more powerful pose. She isn’t the most diverse character, but I did try to make her quite alien-like through features such as her paper white skin and crystals in her forehead. Overall, I am happy with my final design; I could see my self potentially animating her. I do wish I went more out the box but I now know to push myself further and out of my comfort zone for future projects.
Task: In a group of 5 visit 2 galleries and find artists who use objects in their work. Choose one artist and create a 20 second fil that is considered a response to that artist.
After my groups first gallery visit to Tate Modern, an artists who used objects and particularly resonated with me was Germaine Richier. Richier created 5 human sized figures to represent pieces in a game of chess. Rather than the elegant designs of traditional chess pieces, these are grotesque hybrid figures; the night has a horses head, while the bishop resembles a hunchbacked jester. Richier used distorted animal and partly human figures to reflect the anxieties and despair of post-war Europe. ‘It seems to me that in violent works there is just as much sensibility as in poetic ones’, she said. ‘There can be just as much wisdom in violence as gentleness’. All I could think about is how I wanted to set them up and play a real life game deformed and cursed chess. I can picture how the characters would move as if it were some vexed chess horror story. This is a perfect inspiration for this project.
For our second gallery visit we decide to check out White Cube gallery, who were showing an exhibition of Ibrahim Mahama, titled ‘ Lazarus’. This exhibition addressed the passage of time, the notion of obsolescence and the potential for regeneration. The gallery refrains from having any information boards about the work, which make me question a lot more than usual. The exhibition made me quite confused, to be honest, but after researching the artist it began to all make sense. The most intense room was a room full of old sewing machines, with multiple making a loud drilling sound at the same time. Mahama’s work represents life in destruction, symbolizing historical colonial domination in relation to Ghana.
We decided to go with Germaine Richier’s chess pieces as we liked the meaning behind them and thought we could interpret it effectively. For the final piece we decided to create a chess battle with each part being in a different animated style. As the animation went on the images would become more distorted and more like Richier’s pieces, less like traditional chess pieces.
