Week 12: Original Scans

Below are images of every single drawing I did that contributed towards the animation. Some of them didn't even make the final cut - enjoy!

 

Week 11: Changes made to the final product

As my animation is nearing its final stages, I thought I'd post about some of the changes I made during the production period.

Sound
Originally I wrote: "I am going to use just naturalistic sounds". At the time, this seemed like a great idea. However, after the majority of the production process was finished, it felt as if something was missing. The silence throughout the scenes didn't really add anything to the 'eerie' feel that I was attempting to create. In an attempt to resolve this, I decided to try out some background music, to see if it would change anything - and it did! I spent hours searching the Internet for some copyright free music and found various horror tracks that I were able to use. However, a lot of these were dramatic and over the top - and this didn't fit with the minimal theme of my animatic. Fortunately, I managed to find various tracks that were minimal, and when I decided on which to use, I turned the volume of it down so the audience can hear it, without it being too much of a distraction from the narrative.

Rotoscoping
There is a previous post about this, please refer to that.

Relativity
I initially discussed about using the themes from Relativity by Maurits Cornelius Escher in my animatic, and although I admire the piece, the use of metamorphosis art didn't fit well in regards to the overall style of my project. In the end, I decided to focus my inspirational values more on Don Hertzfeldt work - rather than complicating the imagery by using the work of Escher. This, again, helped me keep to the minimal stylistic production values I was hoping to achieve.

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These were the only dramatic changes made, and I feel that my project has kept the same values from what I envisioned in the planning stage.

Week 11: Technical Experimentation Episode 3

To add a sense of realism to my characters, I wanted them to blink (just as humans do). However, as I want to add an 'eerie' effect to my animatic, I decided to make their blinks more random and less constant than that of a human.

This episode of technical experimentation will show how I added the blink effect.

1. Before animating anything, the first thing I did was import the 'blink' and the 'character's eyes' into After Effects.

I then placed the blink over the character's eyes as this is where the blink will appear when the eyes are closed (see below).

2. The second step involves the timing of the blink. Naturally, when the character's eyes are open I want the blink to disappear, and the same vice versa.

To do this, I had to change the Opacity of the blink. As I wanted my character's eyes to be open at the start of the scene, I changed the opacity to 0% at 0 seconds (see below).

I made sure that the character's eye and eye lid were set to 100% at the same time (so they would be visible when the blink wasn't).

3. I then had to decide when I wanted the blink to appear. I wanted the character to blink a 1 seconds so I had to make the blink reappear then.

However, it is not as simple as simply placing a marker at 1 second and changing the opacity to 100%. If I did this, the opacity would slowly appear between 0 seconds and 1 seconds. I wanted the blink to appear immediately and not gradually.

To do this, I placed a marker at a split second before 1 second and made sure the opacity was at 0%. This ensures that the opacity of the blink doesn't change between 0 seconds and just before 1 second.

Then, at 1 seconds I place another marker and change the opacity to 100%. This ensured the blink appeared immediately between 1 seconds and a split second before. 

4. The fourth step included doing the exact same thing with the eye and eye lid but with the opposite values. 

For example, at 0 seconds I ensured the opacity of the eye and eye lid were at 100%, and at a split second before 1 second it was still at 100% and finally at 1 seconds, I made sure the opacity was at 0%. This made it so that when the blink appeared, the eye and eye lid disappeared, creating the desired blink effect.

5. The fifth and final step was the opening of the eye. I did exactly the same as before, but with opposite values.

I then repeated this wherever I wanted my character's to blink!

Week 10: Technical Experimentation: Episode 2

Technical Experimentation: Episode 2

In this episode of technical experimentation, I will show how I added a blur effect to a blank area on After Effects. 

I looked at many guides on the Internet, but they only showed how to add a blur to an object - I wanted to add a blur to a blank area (I was creating semi-transparent automatic doors, so I only drew the door frames and left the 'transparent' areas as blank).

I couldn't find any useful tips online, so I decided to take matters into my own hand and do a little experiment. After much trial and error, I finally found out how to do it:

1. Below, are a set of door frames with the antagonist behind them. As you can see, they don't look much like a set of doors as they're completely see-through!

2. I wanted to add a blur to these to make them look like a set of automatic doors in an office.

To do this, I clicked on Layer > New > Adjustment Layer.

I figured it would be an adjustment layer as this allowed me to create a layer on top of my current ones. Even better, it allowed me to modify the layer to a size and shape of my choice.

3. As you can see below, I modified the shape of the layer to fit half of the door. I did this because I want each half to move in the opposite direction, just as an automatic door does. If I put the layer over both sides, it would only be able to move in one direction.

4. I now want to add the blur to the layer. This part was easy. All I did was Right Click (on the layer) > Effect > Blur & Sharpen > Box Blur (Note: you can test any of the blurs, I just preferred the style of the Box Blur)

5. Once I did this, an effects column appeared on the left. Here, it is possible to modify the intensity of the blur. I played around with these settings for awhile until I found the amount I desired.

6. And finally, shown below is my final blur effect. As you can see, it looks like a pair of automatic doors!

Week 10: Technical Experimentation: Episode 1

It's that day - I have finally begun work on my final animation. I am very excited and cannot wait to have the completed product on my computer screen.

As part of my final project, I have decided to document my progress. This is to show you, the readers of this blog, how I went about creating my animatic. It will also allow me to reflect on my work once it is completed - the mistakes I may have made, what I did well and what I can improve in the future.

Technical Experimentation Episode 1:

As previously stated, I want the visual style of my project to mirror that of Don Hertzfeldt's Rejected. In order for me to do this, I have decided to utilise the 'stick-figure' drawing style that Hertzfeldt's makes use of.

1. The first part of the creation process consists of drawing. A lot of drawing. In order for me to animate my characters and scenery to maximum potential, I have to draw each part of the drawing on a separate sheet, then put them together on my computer.

For example, in order for a character's legs to move separately, I have to draw them separately, scan them into my computer and put each one on a different layer in Photoshop.

Here is a screenshot of the legs I drew for the protagonist of the animatic:

2. The next part of the creation process consists of removing the white space from around the object. This is to ensure that the object doesn't interfere with other objects in my animatic.

As shown above, I used the Magnetic Lasso Tool to cut around my object. This tool proved useful as it easily recognised the object on the screen, and cut around it almost perfectly. However, it didn't remove all the white space around the object. To counteract this, I used the Rubber Tool to delete any of the remaining space (shown below).

3. I then copied the cut object, and pasted it onto a transparent background (shown below).

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4. The next part of process was slightly more complicated.

In order for me to be able to animate the eyes and mouth of my character separately, I had to isolate them and put them into separate layers. 

To do this, I used the Magnetic Lasso Tool to cut the desired object, copy it, and paste it into a new layer. I then deleted the object in the old layer.

This allowed me to view each part of the character's face separately, whilst remaining on the same canvas. 

As an example, below is a screenshot which depicts all the different layers, with the character's right eye turned off.

5. I then copied each individual layer and put them onto a transparent background. I used the Mouse Tool to put the objects together to create my character (shown below).

I did this mainly for convenience. By doing this, I had each separate layer ready to animate all in one .psd file.

6. I then opened the the file in After Effects ready to animate! 

Shown below is each separate layer, which I can animate individually.

Week 6: Storyboard for Creative Animation

One of the tasks for my creative project was to create a storyboard. This allows me to plan the narrative of my project carefully, and to ensure that I have a complete, working story when it comes to creating my 90 second animation (I have attempted to follow the narrative of The Fly, but transform it into my own version). This also enabled me to plan the sound elements that will be featured in my animation. Below is said storyboard (Note: this is a brief outline of the narrative, as we were limited to three sides of A4):

Sheet 1

As you can see, the visual style of my animatic has drawn great inspiration from rotoscope artist Don Hertzfeldt. As I have mentioned, I am fascinated by his style of animation and the rotoscope effect in general. Admittedly, I am not the best artist, so the use of stick-figures (instead of highly detailed visuals) is beneficial for me. That said, I believe that a great animation does not need to be the most aesthetically pleasing - as long as it contains meaning and provokes thought it can be very inspirational.

Scene 1

In the first scene the protagonist is sitting in an office, staring blankly ahead of him (as does Hertzfeldt's characters in his popular short Rejected). The only sound heard is a slight breeze and/or muffling noise. This scene lasts for 10 seconds, and along with the sound, creates an 'eerie' to provoke the audience to keep watching.

Scene 2

This scene presents the secondary character - or antagonist - of the short film. He is shown to be a scruffy man, who smokes and is overweight. He is revealed not to care about his looks, but his smile portrays that he is happy. In his hand is a CV, which sets the scene of a job interview. The accompanying sound is the opening of the door followed by a silence, and just as in scene 1 lingers for ten seconds, to create an 'eerie' effect.

Scene 3

The third scene is a close up of the protagonist, who is shown to be dishevelled and at an unease due to his disgust at the man in front of him. The only sound in this scene is the slow and heavy breathing from the protagonist followed by the dialogue: 'He is a mess' (which the protagonist thinks, rather than says aloud). The dialogue will be slow and muffled, to add a psychedelic effect which signifies that the protagonist is losing his mind. Just like the previous two scenes, scene 3 is 10 seconds long.

Also: scene 3 is the first scene of which the narrative of The Fly is presented to the audience: 

In the poem, the protagonist encounters a fly who he dismisses as insignificant, whereas in my animatic, the well-dressed protagonist encounters a poorly-dressed man, who he also dismisses as insignificant.

Sheet 2

Scene 4

The face of the protagonist turns from anger to terror. His eyes and jaw widen, and the 'shaky' effect of  the rotoscope increases. There are two sounds in this scene: a loud muffling accompanied by a horrific scream. This scene lasts for 5 seconds and creates a brief effect of horror.

Scene 5

The camera pans back to the antagonist, who is shown to have the head of a fly. A vignette appears to portray that the transformation of the antagonist is in the mind of the protagonist and not in reality. The antagonist says: "Hello" and as before, this is spoken in a muffled tone to portray that the terror is in the mind of the protagonist. The scene lasts for 10 seconds, but due to the three-sheet limitation, a scene is not shown: the camera pans back to the protagonist and zooms in, to initiate a dream sequence.

Scene 6

Scene 6 is the start of the protagonist's dream sequence. As before, this is shown using a vignette effect. In this scene, the protagonist is surrounded by flies and is carrying a fly swat. He begins to attack the flies in an angry manner. The sounds in this scene are indecipherable to create a sense of fear and anxiety. This scene lasts for 20 seconds and the rotoscope effect increases to reinforce the anger shown by the protagonist.

Sheet 3

Scene 7 (and following scenes)

Due to the limitation of three sides of A4, I wasn't able to show the complete dream sequence. However, the basis of this sequence is to portray the protagonist being attacked by a larger human being. He transforms to the size of the fly and begins being attacked as he just was attacking the flies. However the flies rescue him. The sounds in these scenes are the same as scene 6: indecipherable to create fear and anxiety with the audience. These scenes last for around 20 to 25 seconds in total.

Also: the dream sequence scenes are an attempt to portray the theme of capitalism that I spoke of in my project planning. The protagonist was once bigger than the flies - representing the relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. However, he is transformed to the size of a fly, to connote that there is always someone above you in the working world. The flies save him to portray that, despite being smaller and less human than him, there lives are as significant. This is the same transformation of mind that is shown in the The Fly.

Scene 8

This scene shows the end of the dream sequence as the protagonist slowly awakes from his dazed state. The rotoscope effect lessens and there is no sound, just silence. This is to provoke the audience to keep watching to see the outcome of story.

Scene 9

This scene shows the antagonist shaking hands with the protagonist. In a plot twist - the antagonist turns out to be the boss of the company and the protagonist is the interviewee. The reason that the protagonist mistaked the antagonist as someone who is of a lower class than him is due to his shallow mind state, which is a comment on a materialistic contemporary world. The sound in this scene is dialogue from the antagonist: "Congratulations, you have the job. You start next week... oh, and forget about wearing a suit, we're relaxed here".

The final scene is a close up of the protagonist. A fly lands on his shoulder, which the protagonist looks at, and smiles and winks.

Week 3 - First Animation: After Effects

In the practical workshop today, we had the task of creating our very first animation. This is what I had being waiting for since the course started; the chance to create. 

Our lecturer Paul sent us a .psd document which contained many different layers: a moon, a dark background, an alien, an eight ball, a wizard and a flame. It was our task to make a short animation using some or all of these layers.

To create the animation, we opened the .psd file in Adobe After Effects - a popular animating tool. In the previous workshop, Paul had shown us the basics of the programme and this was our time to show what we had learnt.

Below is the outcome...

As you can see, it literally connotes nothing and makes little sense. However, I am very happy with it. I thought it would be a very hard task to make images move in conjunction with each other, but After Effects makes the process simple.

This is my very first animation and is something I am proud of. At the end of this course I am going to compare my final assessed task with this, to see how much I have improved.