Boat Evaluation

This is the first project where in which I have animated within after effects successfully. It was extremely difficult for me at first to get my head around making my objects move realistically and smoothly but as I have struggled through the project my skills have only got better. A personal trait of mine that I believe stops me from animating successfully is the fact I assume things are harder than they are going to be, therefore making me shy away from them. But within this project with some guidance from Rick I am now more confident in using after effects to animate my work.

However reflecting on the positives of this project there are still some parts that weren’t so successful, for example the sound. I always struggle with placing sound onto my work so I think as a pointer for my final major project I should start with sound and then animate to fit because my method doesn’t work for me. Another aspect I would like to have done is a making of; I didn’t film or record any footage from the beginning so I didn’t manage to create one. However for my next brief I will try it out to show my hand crafted processes.

Animation Continuity

So after managing to perfect the movement of the waves I needed to decide how I could successfully move the boat from one side of the screen to the other to make it appear continuos throughout the scenes. Since the start of the project I had literally been moving the boat from one side of the screen to the other and as the animation progressed the continuity of the boat on the screen was inconsistent so I needed to think of a way to improve this. It took me a while but I finally came to the simple conclusion of moving the sky across the screen instead of the boat so that on each scene I created the boat will be in the same place with the surroundings moving past.

Here is one of my original tests with the boat moving along the screen:-

This is my developed test moving the sky instead of the boat:-

I can really tell the difference and as I began to add the sequences together the overall flow of the piece started to fit together more successfully.

John Lewis Advert

After watching the new Christmas ad for John Lewis and I came across this older John Lewis advert and i was extremely interested in the transitions as i am finding it hard to gain successfully transitions within my boat animation. I love the way objects are used to create transitions to portray time passing which is exactly what i need to portray to my audience.

Struggling!

I have been having problems portraying the 'struggle' scene within my animation so i thought it would be best to step away from production. So i went back to you tube to really look at existing scenarios caught on camera of all types of boats getting caught it storms.

I have noticed that by just rotating the boat on the wave doesn't give the right affect - i need to use action/reaction so maybe use a wave that will crash into the boat or at least push the boat backwards. OR possibly spin and tip the boat upside down to show loss of control, as the boat is the character itself i need to make the audience feel for it. I could also maybe vary camera angles to show vulnerability and desperation.

Piecing Together The Scenes

I have been struggling with piecing together the scenes for my animation so i went back onto my blog and looked at Nelson Boles 'Little boat' to see how the narrative is continued through the scenes and one thing i noticed is that the boat stays in the same place but its surroundings move past it for example the sky. So i thought i would give it ago. I have notice that the piece is now flowing together a lot more nicely and it has made it easier for me to animate, it is rather late within the project as I was trying so desperately to perfect the movement of the waves but I am glad I have finally found a solution.
Another reason that I think my animation lacks structure is I have some how got lost within the technical side of things that I have almost forgotten the narrative and the order in which I portray this. But I have been thinking to show a journey and take the audience on my journey with me I have to show time is some way and I was thinking of starting in daylight progressing through the night and back into the morning. The day will portray a fresh start, excitement to start the day which will connote the beginning of my university journey. As the day progresses the sky will become darker, colder and stormy to show struggle and fear. The animation will end with almost a sunrise as the boat catches up to the rest to show relief and new beginnings possibly act as some sort of cliff hanger as to where I will go next.

Stop! Think!

After the group presentations last Thursday I came away feeling a bit disorientated about what I need to do as I felt I had all my ideas together but no specific plan of how they will appear on screen. So I need to stop trying to animate and rethink and plan exactly what I am going to do using an animatic, I do have a few different animatics but they don't include everything I want so I need to go back to the drawing board. Some advice given was to make an animatic out of the footage I had already animated so that I can keep adding to it until I get the final piece. I also need to work on sound asap because I felt that the piece was slow paced which isn't the message I wanted to portray and Chris mentioned that if I added in my sound it would feel less empty. Also the piece lacked energy in just appeared that the boat was moving at the same speed throughout the animation and I needed to show struggle/excitement/frustration/anger ECT... Another aspect it didn't think was working was the use of transition shots I need to think of more interesting elements to move from scene to scene as it isn't working well together, they work as individual scenes but do not flow nicely together.

Intertitles

While having a small discussion with Chris and Sarah we thought of maybe adding intertitles to show chapters in my journey like in a story or silent movie. So i had a quick look at what some of the very first intertitles looked like and some more modern intertitles to get a feel for their aesthetics and purpose. What i have noticed is they are used for dialogue within silent movies/to express emotions is silent movies/portray action scenes and to show chapters within narrative. The stereotypical look as you would imagine an intertitle to look like would show text in the centre of the screen with some sort of patterned border framing the type.

Even with the more modern intertitle for example 'Hey Arthur' still uses the patterned border to frame the dominant image and title however on this one it seems to have more pattern to make it appear more visually exciting to their target audience as it is less sophisticated.

So i would have to think of the correct aesthetic way of using an intertitle that relates to my animation. I need to think about the overall mise-en-scene, colour scheme and target audience for my animation to get it just right.

Boats with a narrative

Kirsty showed me a music video she came across over the weekend the song is the Arctic Monkeys - Crying Lightning (2009). The CGI effects within this video are fairly poor as you can tell the boat isn't in the environment as it doesn't move realistically with the water but is that the intended aesthetic? Aside from this the reason it has been useful to me is the use of colour/wave movement/weather is used to connote moods and tempo of the music which is similar to what i am trying to produce.

This is another example of where the audience is taken on a personal journey with the use of a boat but this time there is the use of a character. Aesthetically the piece is beautiful and the journey we are taken on shows the character struggling to keep control of the boat on rough tides and in stormy surroundings similar to what I want to show within my animation. Throughout this section of the animation you see the narrative as if you are looking at the character and then through the characters point of view, something I am currently experimenting with to try and make the audience engage with my struggle. As it draws near to the conclusion of the piece the colours brighten, the sea is calm and there is almost a low angle shot to portray the success of the character as she has finally made it to her destination. I feel that this piece will be very useful for me to use as inspiration and also to keep referring to, to make sure I am showing the right message with the right movement and aesthetics.

Twinings Tea Advertisement - 'gets you back to you'

Cut out Waves

Rick suggested to me to look at the end credits of Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events for inspiration for the aesthetics of my animation.

“…What was the purest example of visual elegance on the big screen in 2004? If you pushed for the final minutes of the Jim Carrey comedy, you’d get no argument from me. A miniature masterwork of mood, the end credits used paper cutouts, spectral graphics, and Thomas Newman’s dancing-skeleton score to conjure up an entire giddy universe of disasters…” The Boston Globe (www.jamiecaliri.com)

Land Ahoy was created in after effects from cut out paper which was scanned into photoshop looking at this i think i want to try cutting my shapes before scanning rather than drawing and filling in on photoshop it will give it a better 'cut out' feel!

- I have tried this technique but because of the patterns and textures i am using i lost the shape of the waves and it all became a blurry mess of colour.

I was recently watching the E4 channel and this sting came on and i thought the movement of the sea and colour pallet is lovely - it is one of the finalists for the Estings competition this year. I am going to use this as reference when looking over the colour scheme in my piece to make sure that i am portraying the correct mise-en-scene.

Little Boat by Nelson Boles

After my tutorial with Rick i was having a chat with Tom, Jack and John and Tom suggested i watched 'Little Boat' By Nelson Boles on a website called 'Cartoon Brew'. It is a basic boat shape and it travels through different weather conditions and scenarios where it gets destroyed and then rebuilt again, its a really great narrative as it gives an inanimate object a character/a life you really feel for the boat and feel what it is going through which is exactly what i want my audience to experience!
On the website www.cartoonbrew.com this animation is compared to a short film by Albert Lamorisse called The Red Balloon (1956). It is a story about a young boy who finds a red balloon on the way to school one morning and from then on the balloon seems to have a mind of its own following the boy throughout the film. It is similar to Little boat and my animation in the way that life has been given to an inanimate object which leads the audience to create emotions and attachments to the object.

Sunrise and sunset

During a group discussion Kirsty mentioned using a sunset to portray the element fire. Using colour to show mood i think is a much more subtle way of creating the mise-en-scene of my animation. So my animation will be all about the visuals, the colour, pattern and style of drawing with limited animation to portray what i feel. I have drawn a few examples into my sketch book but as i was looking at photos of sunsets i have realised that things in the foreground are almost silhouettes so i think i am going to make the boat into a silhouette in this scene and the background will be the dominant feature.

Then i thought of a sunrise and the colours are different in that of sunset - they are cool colours to represent new beginnings so i could use this to show inspiration the start of a new idea this could represent the element air.

Narrative ideas

I have now thought that i want my narrative to be personal to me so i thought about using the boat to show my struggle in confidence and how over the last two years of the degree course my confidence is improving. I was going to show this through the 4/5 elements but instead they have just become a starting point for me to brainstorm ideas.

For example i could use a storm to portray the battle with my ideas and frustration of my thought processes.

Michael Dudok De Wit

Michael Dudok De Wit is an animator, illustrator and directer from the Netherlands. He directs and animates commercials for cinema and television but has also created a number of short animated films which is what i wanted to look at. I also wanted to look at Michael Dudock De Wit because the short narratives he uses are so beautiful and powerful, showing me again that the narrative is hugely important and the aesthetics are there to drive it forward.

Andrey Shushkov

"I was born in 1986. I was interested in everything from my childhood. In the middle of teenage I realized that I want to create tales. Tales that should become real. At least for somebody.

In 2005 I started my film school in Saint-Petersburg University of Culture and Arts. I studied directing, photography, scriptwriting. At the same time I was learning as much as possible from internet, discover new things and new thoughts. I fell in love with animation. I started to work as a freelance photographer. " Andrey Shushkov (http://shushkof.com/bio.html)

"A love story from the world of gears and bolts. Inspired by Lotte Reiniger works and Antony Lucas’s Jasper Morello film." (http://animatedshortfilms.wordpress.com/category/directors/andrey-shushkov/).

I love the technique used within this animation, it almost looks like paper cuttings and also very 'Tim Burton' with the use of long, spindly silhouette characters. As well as the aesthetically being beautiful the narrative is what takes control. I need to nail a narrative before even thinking about how i want my animation to look as the aesthetics will help push the narrative and bring it to life.

Tip!

"The moving of the camera is the single best way to make your animations stand out." Will Kalif.

http://www.stopmotioncentral.com/articles-3.html

The 4/5 Elements

"The four elements considered the building blocks of the Earth"

After i did my presentation on Thursday i read through my feedback post it notes and one thing that kept popping up was the aesthetics of the boat look good but it needs a narrative behind it to bring it to life. When i was creating the tractor and the boat style frame i thought of maybe using the four elements as a starting point to the narrative so i have been looking into the meaning of each elements, where they have comefrom and how different cultures use/see them differently. The first thing i came across was that in a few cultures such as in Greek and Indian unlike the four states-of-matter describe matter the fifth element describes that which is beyond the material world this also occurs in Japan (Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Spirit). This is something completely new for me as i thought there were only 4 elements and i would presume that this would be the same for many people. I think this 'spirit' element would be nice to add into the animation as it contrasts with the 4 original elements and i could find some beautiful symbolism to portray this.

I also had a look into Analogy of the elements and this is what i found -

AIR-Thought
FIRE-Desire

WATER-Emotions
EARTH-Stability

This is why we may have sayings such as -
Cool breeze of reason (Air)
Flames of passion (Fire)
Swamped by emotions (Water)
Solid as a rock (Earth)
The Chinese on the other hand have a different 5th element that being metaland they are understood to be types of energy constantly interacting with each other similar to how earth, wind, air and fire interact with each other to create our planet. The Chinese also see these elements in two different cycles - a generation/creation cycle and an overcoming/destruction cycle almost a symbolism of life and death.
This is how the cycles are believed to work -

Generating

• Wood feeds fire
• Fire creates earth (ash)
• Earth bears metal
• Metal collects water
• Water nourishes wood

Overcoming

• Wood parts earth
• Earth absorbs water
• Water quenches fire
• Fire melts metal
• Metal chops wood

Also the 5 elements within the Chinese culture also play an important part in Chinese Astrology and the Chinese form of Geomancy known as Feng Shui which is very popular in our culture today.

I also looked into how the four elements fit in with Astrology (Horoscopes) ... the elements are split between the horoscopes giving the different signs traits relating to the human form.

So these are a few of the key words i picked up relating to each group of star signs-

Water - Emotion, psychism, mysticism, intuition

Air - language, intellect, reason

Earth - practicality, stability, materialism, realism

Fire - passion, energy, impulse, enthusiasm, inspiration, idealism, faith

Boat Tests (After Effects)

I have been playing around with the boat scene testing different movements like how the water will move and how that will then influence the boats movement but i have been finding it difficult to gain the right feel so i needed some sort of reference that i could look at to see how 'calm' waters would move along with the fishing boat. So i bought a toy boat and filled the bath with water to see if i could get some sort of reference of the movement by creating some small waves with my hand i think it will be useful because i am trying to create a relaxed, chilled out vibe not a vicious storm so i am sure that this will help
Here are some of the animation tests before i bought the toy boat.

Style Frame

This is what i keep seeing in my head for some strange reason ... yes a tractor i think it is from spending too much time in the countryside! So i thought of a way i could make it interesting and what better way to do it than to add some texture and pattern into the design. The hills are split into sections which is taken from my inspiration 'Tiny Wings' and as they use texture i have added pattern to make it slightly different and just as interesting and colourful. From my idea of using the 4 elements this one will symbolise earth as farmers literally live of the earth that is their source of income and how they survive. After i knew how i wanted my frames to look i thought of how i could portray the other elements and with a similar meaning to this i will use a fishing boat for water.
Note to self - these are not necessarily the final compositions as i need to play around with the colour/pattern and overall layout to make sure i portray the correct mise-en-scene to the audience. I still need to decide on what events will occur within each scene and that will then give me more of an incite into finding the correct colour scheme and composition.
(These are simply visuals that i keep imagining ... i wanted to make sure i documented them before i started my development.)

Even though they are just examples of what i want the final piece to look like i still haven't just placed different patterns and texture into my hand drawn images willy nilly i have tried to carefully consider the colour and the amount of pattern that goes into each individual section to make sure i get the hang of making sure the composition is clear and understandable to the audience. For example in the both of these style frames i have used pastel colours for a calm and relaxed vibe to portray a calm and peaceful environment.

Here is a quick test i am in the middle of developing in after effects of my rough thought process of how i want the animation to look, i want everything to be hand drawn in black Biro/ink, scanned in and then animated in after effects as i really want my after effects skills to improve! The test is currently only 2 seconds long and the movement of the boat is not great but i wanted to just make sure i would be able to animate successfully in after effects and i think the single splash i have created works successfully.

Henri Matisse and Picasso

After i realised what style i wanted to use i then wanted to look at line drawings by famous artists as all the components in my animation i shall hand draw by just using the outline and then later filling the spaces with wallpaper patterns and textures. I have mentioned Gustav Klimt already as he is one of my all time favorites and as i thinking about him i remembered some of the other artists i looked at in my first year of college in a life drawing lesson that i also really liked.
Similar to Klimt Matisse is another artist who used line drawings however they differ in the way that Matisse only uses one confident line to represent the shape of the female form. I think in this way the images are more simplistic and less realistic but again the movement, cures and grace are shown with just simple lines. But looking at the technique i want to use this style would be no use as there are too many gaps within the lines which gives an almost unfinished look and since i am adding detail into the spaces and shapes leaving gaps within the original drawing would make things a lot more difficult and messy.
Again this technique i wouldn't be able to use for the same reason as Matisse but i still wanted to mention Picasso's line drawings as again they are so very different. This time it is not a portrait, Picasso has looked at animals and used ONE line to create a shape that we as the audience would recognise. These images are so fantastic i think even though they are so unbelievably simple, they almost look like small illustrations for a children's story.

Ideas and Inspiration

Ok so i have realised i am into hand drawn/traditional animation but i don't think the frame by frame drawing is for me as i can't seem to get my head around it SO i thought about drawing the elements of my animation separately then scanning them into my mac and animating it in after effects rather than by hand but i am still using the hand drawn element. So my next step will be to test this! Another thing i have realised is i am not too good at drawing people and animating them correctly so i am going to try and steer clear of using characters within my animation until i feel confident enough to do so. (I am going to keep developing my life drawing skills throughout the year to see if i can crack it!).

INSPIRATION
I recently bought a game for my I phone and i love the graphics on it, the game is called Tiny Wings and here are some examples of a few of the levels.

I think the reason i like them is because the colour pallet within each level is very complimentary and very subtle, it all seems to feel peaceful and serene. For a game i think this is very unusual as you would expect the colours to be bright and bold. I also like the use of such simple shapes to portray the object within the game and you always know exactly what they are, its very abstract. This is the kind of look and feel i am going for.
Then i thought of what i could animate in this way and i thought of the 4 elements - water, earth, air, fire because i think this kind of feel would be most appropriate and as each level is a different colour scheme that is how i would show the elements. Over the summer i have spent a lot of time in wales and where better to collect bits and bobs from than the sea side! So i thought of representing Earth with a tractor and lots of fields in a similar style to 'Tiny wings' as they are almost like owners of the Earth, they live of it, its how they earn money to live. For water i took a photo at the start of the summer of a harbor at sunset with small fishing boats on it and again they are fishing for a living just like a farmer wood and it fits in with the whole peaceful and gracefulness of the animation. I am undecided about air and fire at the moment so i am going to test earth and water to see how it looks and then develop air and fire as i go along.