Final Animation

Evaluation

Evaluation

For the first task  of this assignment, as a class we had all chosen one animation company or animator from a list and then done research on what they do. I had chosen to do research on Aardman animations as I knew off some of their work. Aardman animation are a company who specialise in stop motion animation such as morph and chicken run. Doing research on them would allow us to get some ideas on how these companies had created there animations and the techniques which they had used to create the animations which would help us create ours. It had shown us what makes a good animation. Also looking at the animations which they had created had helped me come up with my idea on what I would like to create.

For the planning of the animation I had started off by writing down ideas which I could use to create an animation and once I had a solid idea I went on to the next stage which was to expand on it. I wrote down all the iconic movie moments which I may use in my animation and talked about what I would need to create it as well as how I would do it. Secondly I had created a mood board putting all my thoughts and ideas on such as props backgrounds characters and so on. I then went on to create a story board as it would allow me to know step-by-step how I would create my animation and keep me on tracks

We then moved on to creating our character and sets which we would animate. As a class we had started off by creating an armature with help from our teacher showing us what possible things you could do with stop motion animation. After starting it most off the class had given up on it as they weren't interested in making it however me on the other hand, I had decided to continue making it as I thought with the armature a could create something amazing as with stop motion animation anything you imagine is possible to make. Creating the armature had taken me a lot of time to do. After using wire and metal joints to create the skeleton I had moved on to make the head, hand and feet. It had taken me time to do as I kept on starting over because I wanted it to look perfect. After I had made the body parts I added paper mache to make it hard so it don’t lose its shape. This had wasted some time as I had to let it dry overnight. I then moved on to the next stage which was to add sponge to it to make it 3D. Adding the sponge was hard as I didn’t know what size to cut it so it took me a while to get the hand. Once the sponge was added I had moved on to add the tights which was the skin off my character which impressively I had done really quick. Once my character was completed, I had moved on to the final stage which was to paint it in gold paint making it look as much as an Oscars trophy as possible. The paint had taken a day to dry which had used a lot of valuable animating time. Creating the armature wasted a lot of time as I didn't know how to make it and needed a lot of help from my teacher however he wasn’t free that much so I had to wait till I could get hold of him if I wanted to proceed to the next step. Once I completed the character I moved on to create my set which was simple as I took a box I found lying around and added black sugar paper creating a completed stage.

Animating the work wasn’t as hard as I had got the hand off making a stop motion animation in the past trials I had. However creating my stop motion was slightly difficult at times as there were parts in my animation I had to keep my character bending backwards which was really hard and time consuming as  the character kept falling over which made me have to start over. Other things  which were hard was when trying to get the character to sit from the transition between him standing an him sitting it kept on dropping too fast and it was really hard to keep it in position without holding it up with something. This was also time consuming and wasted a lot of my editing time. I had used iStopMotion to create my stop motion animation. The software was easy to use and I had got the hand of it really. Editing the footage was also very easy and fast as I had many previous experience editing using final cut pro to edit footage such as when making a music video or when creating an ident. I had added sound to my video using final cut pro as well as some transitions between the clips.

When I had shown the final animation to my class I had a mixed variety of feedback. Some of the negative feedback I had gotten was that some people had no idea what the concept of the animation was and what was happening in the animation. However most off the people who felt this way were people who never watched many movies and for those who did watch movies, they were quick to pick out what movies referenced. More negative feedback which I had gotten was that the movement of the characters at time weren’t so smooth which made the clips hard to understand. Also, they said that the way the text was used wasn’t good and was poorly placed and colour was bad which could have been clearer. On the other hand I had received positive feedback such as the editing was good such as the sound level being clear and level throughout and transitions used well. More feedback I had gotten was when I had asked where it is most likely to get screened most people had said on a YouTube ad before videos such as movie trailer and videos. I agree with what they said as a lot of people would be able to see it. Another question I had asked was about the aesthetic qualities and they said that it didn’t look so good because the way that the character had moved was not so good and was shaking a lot and also the pace was not consistent throughout as some parts were really slow and some parts were really fast. When asking them about the creativity put into the animation most had said that a lot of creativity was shown as they saw the amount of effort put in and also the overall ideas was well thought of and unique. This also goes for the story line as once I explained what was going on many of them had said that the story was really good however the animation could use some improving on. I think that the overall feedback that we had gotten was really helpful and I agree with what they had to say so if I was to get another chance at making the animation I would improve on those factors.

Overall I think the overall animation had come out well and as I had planned. From doing this assignment I had learned many things about animation. For starters when doing research on Aardman I had learnt how they had created their animations and the processes they went through to complete their task. This had helped me when creating my animation. If I where to get another chance at doing this I would manage my time better and also improve on some parts when creating the animation.

Storyboard

Process of making armature

Step 1: i had first started of by making the skeleton of my armature  using wire to create it.

Step 2: i then added plaster to the armature so that it could be stronger

Step 3: i then added sponge using PVA glue which i added to shape out the body. i also shaped out the head using clay and added newspaper mixed with Pva glue to make it stronger

Step 4:i then added tights to the outside which was the skin

Step 5: i added latex to the armature and finally finished it off by adding gold acrylic paint.

Research on Aardman

Aardman Animations

http://www.aardman.com/about-us/history/

Aardman Animations is an animation company that was founded in 1972 by David Sproxton and Peter Lord. Aardman are known as a world leader in model animation. The two had begun to know each other when they were at school. They had been doing animation during their free time and used a camera that belonged to David’s father. There first project was to produce something for a show called ‘vision on’. They had used cell animation to create a short piece which featured a character called Aardman who was the first character they had created. BBC had bought the film which is the reason that in1972 the company was founded.

After graduating from school they moved to Bristol where they created the character Morph which was used for the children's programme 'Take Hart'. Morph made his first appearance in 1976 and the Amazing Adventures of Morph was screened in 1981.From the start Peter and David had always thought in building up an adult audience for animated films. They had created two short films BBC Bristol called Down and Out’ and ‘Confessions of a Foyer Girl’. BBC had decided to ignore it in 1978 however couple years later it was seen by channel 4. Also with films like Early Bird Aardman had shown that real people could be characterised with understanding, humour and sensitivity.

Peter and David had met someone called Nick Park while they were at the National Film and Television School while he was doing some work on his student film on his student film. The saw his work and then he had gone on to joining Aardman full time in 1985. One year later Peter had decided that they produce a new rock video with director Stephen Johnson and the Brothers Quay called sledgehammer. The music video had gone on and won many awards that year. The company was asked again in 1989 by channel 4 to produce five 5 minute length films. The series was a big success and it had looked at the world of animation by using real characters and voices. it had features many pieces of work such as Nick Park's Creature Comforts, Richard Goleszowski's Ident, Barry Purves Next, and Peter Lord's War Story and Going Equipped. The series had went on and in the year 1990 had Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

1933 was a great year for Aardman as they had won an Oscar award as well as over thirty different awards worldwide. A 30 minute film called The Wrong Trouser created by Nick Park is now seen as one of the most successful animated films ever made.Aardman had gone on to create their first full length film called chicken run which was funded by DreamWorks. After its release in 2000 the films reviews and box office spot was outstanding. Chicken Run had gone and grossed over £220M at the worldwide box office.

To mass critical acclaim and outstanding box office results, Wallace and Gromit's first feature film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was released by DreamWorks in October 2005. The film topped the box office charts in both the US and UK and garnered many prestigious international awards including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film and a BAFTA for Best British Film. As the studio's reputation has grown both in the UK and overseas, so has the demand for its commercials work. Aardman produce approximately 75 commercials each year, using a wide variety of animation styles. As well as working in stop frame, productions in CGI, Flash and mixed media are thriving. From Peter and David's tabletop beginnings, Aardman has grown into a major, world class studio. Their work continues to be innovative, entertaining, brilliantly characterised and full of charm, reflecting the talent, energy and personal commitment of all the people who comprise the Aardman team

Process of making an the animation

http://www.telepathy.co.uk/aardman/culture/tour/model.html

The company first start off with a 2d design of the model they would be designing and from the model they begin adding clay and sculpt their model to make it 3d. They then add fine tuning to make it look much better. They then can use the model after adding pieces and materials creating a puppet which can then be animated. Many different materials are used to create the model such as clay, rubber, foam latex and many more depending on the character you are going to create. Armatures are used by the company which are made by plates and drilled balls linked to rods to create a metal skeleton. Know Aardman use armatures in almost every single one of their characters apart from small puppets. Also morph was one character in the Aardman Company who had never had an armature used on and is made out of solid clay.

The company give their characters head that are made out of clay and there reason was that it makes it easier to move around and animate the facial expressions. For the way the animation talks, different types of methods are used. If the character has a minimal amount of expressions the person who is animating may sculpt the mouth shapes on the puppet's head whereas there is a lot of speech needed there would be separate mouth sculpted for each letter of the alphabet and then the animator would replace each mouth so that he could attain different word shapes. The company do not create sets and props unless for props such as hats and suitcases and other props which are able to be animated. They get companies who specialise in making sets and props to make it for them. Once the creating of the model is done they go on to the studio and start to animate.

Moodboard

Possible Movie Ideas

Platoon

For this movie, the clip which I would be using is the final clip of the whole movie where Elias who is the main character of the film, and after being shot several times, falls to the ground in a dramatic death and dies. For this clip I would not really need any props as people would be able to understand what is happening without any extra props.

King Kong

The clip which I would try to recreate from King Kong would be the clip where King Kong climbs up the empire state building because he just broke loose and him at the top of the building holding Ann Darrow in his hands and hitting away the planes trying to take him down. In order for me to go on and create this clip I would need some props. For starters I would need planes. I would most likely make the planes by using paper to create a paper plane. Also I would need to create an extra character to act as Ann Darrow. I would most likely use a Lego women as they are small and I would not have to go through the trouble of creating her which would save me a lot of time.

Pulp Fiction

The clip which I would be recreating from pulp fiction would be the dance of scene between Uma Thurman and John Travolta. This scene would not require any props. The reason is because it’s a dance off and rather than adding props once people hear the music playing in the background they would know what movie it is straight away.

Godfather

I would try to recreate the clip where Vito Corleone is in his office and him stroking his cat. If I was to do this I would need some props. The main prop that I would need is probably going to be a cat as he stokes a cat in the clip. I would be creating the cat out of clay as I thought it would be easy and simple creating a cat out of clay as it doesn’t have many features which require hard work. Also it is a small cat so I would be able to make it faster.

The Matrix

The scene I would be creating from the matrix is when neo goes into bullet time when getting shot at by Agent Smith on the roof. For this scene I would not need any props however I would need to learn how to add special effects to make it look better.

Proposal

For my stop motion I have decided that I would create an armature and make it re-enact some of the most iconic moments in movies. The armature would start of in the form of an Oscar and then it would go on to transform into different positions such as platoon death scene or the titanic scene when they spread their hands out at the edge of the boat. Each of the clips would be 5 seconds each. My armature would be painted fully gold like the actual Oscars trophy and would have a spotlight facing it. I may have to create some extra props in order to help me re-enact the moments. For the sound I would be using I was thinking that I would use the music that was used in the actual clip and fade them into the next song. I would use the music from the clip I would create. An example is if I was to create the pulp fiction dance scene, I would use the actual music used so that people could understand what the movie is.

The target audience for my animation would be aimed at people aged 17 and up. The reason I set the age range from 18 up is because most of the movies I am recreating are aimed for ages 18 up such as the godfather. Although I set the age 18 up most likely people above ages 35 and up would understand more as they are most likely to have watched the movies as most of the movies are from the 1980s and 1990s so they would be able to understand it more. It would be mainly for people who often watch movies and know a lot about them as the whole animation is referencing movies so if you don’t watch movies you would not understand anything that is going on.

The gender of the people who would be watching would be for both male and female audiences. Some of the movies that I would be referencing would appeal to women such as titanic and king Kong as they are romantic films and some of the movies which I would be referencing would be Godfather and Pulp Fiction which appeals more too male than female due to their gangster crime features.

My audience would people who have a good interest in movies so people who are studying media and media teachers would really enjoy watching the animation as it gives them the challenges of trying to figure out what movies are in my animation.

To make my animation I would be using an armature which most likely would be an armature which I would create. The reason I would use an armature to create my animation is because rather than using clay the armature would be easier for me to move around and the movements would be more crisp and clear. For the set I was thinking to use a plain black background as I wanted all the focus to be on the armature so that people watching would not get distracted and wouldn't miss anything which the armature would be doing.