Evaluation

Overall in this module I feel I have learnt a lot, from demonstrating and understanding the animation process all the way to the basics. I am very pleased with my final outcome. I think it relates to my audio track well and runs nice and smoothly. Im glad I picked cell animation as my media to complete the animation, I feel it gives the right effect for its enviroment of being old fashioned/ classical.

I’ve picked up skills using different software’s  eg. Aftereffects/ istopmotion and a couple of others. I’d like to think I’l be able to carry on this type of graphics in my own time as I’ve very much enjoyed Print to Pixel. 

The Final Product

                                    
DJ Goldberg





  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sicCoDrg2qM



I couldnt upload my final to the blog so i've put the link to youtube instead which works fine.

Rendering

After the song was set to the right time and place i needed to render it so i clicked onto make movie and let it go into the render que.

I set the name as 'DJ Goldberg'. The settings were all right and i selected the audio out put to make sure my track played when id finished rendering. After it was saved to a quicktime i uploaded it to Youtube ready to come across to my blog!

Goldberg Variations

After i'd sorted out the imagery i brought in my music track. Im just playing it from the start because the length of my animation fits perfectly with the first verse which i'm very pleased with!

Into After-effects

I changed the timing to 26 seconds so it matched the frame rate and ran smoothely.

Into After-effects

After they were imported i whipped them down into the compo box and let them render through to play back. At first the timing frames weren't set to 12 it was on 30 so the animation only lasted about 12 seconds, so i changed it down.

Into After-effects

I saved all of my sketches after scanning them in to an animation folder and imported them into after effects.

I selected all of the images that i had put into a sequence and clicked the option 'sequence layers' and chose composition mode.

A lot of Sketches!

There was 296 sketches involved in scanning. The scanner was not very happy...

Process

These are the last sketches, from the blob of ink that re-appeared from the character that rolls forward leaks out to spell the words 'The End'.

Process

After my character has performed this, he will melt down back into a ball and roll forward a little bit.

Process

The Character then proceeds to whip the line so it follows on and flows all the way accross the page to the other side.

I've got this bit looking nice and smooth so i think its a nice touch.

Process

The character has moved his way along to the edge to grasp hold of the line infront of him.

Process

This is the backflip shortened to three slides just snapshots, as you can see the character leaves on the top line and lands on the one below.

Process

The ink blob has shrunk down a lot and turns into the character below. The character will then perform a cartwheel backwards to land on the next line down.

Process

This is the ink blob before it will shrink and turn into my character which is a little man made from the stems of notes.

Process

This shot is of the notes moving towards eachother to create the ink blob.

Process

This is the first scene in my Storyboard, i have sketched the notes onto the lines that had space on them. These notes will now move towards eachother to meet near the middle and create an ink blob.

Process

After i sketched out the frame i then added the notes, ready to scan in and copy. I like the pattern they're in, it looks like the page flows nicely. I've left clear we're il be sketching notes that are going to move cell by cell.

Process

I started by sketching out a page with lines ready to put the notes on, i made sure it was crisp and looked symmetrical .

StoryBoards 2

This is a second storyboard i have created. After speaking to Matt about my initial board i have decided to change it to this which suits better i think.

It starts the same with a normal manuscript with notes on, some of the notes then start to glide towards eachother to make an ink blob in the middle of the page. The ink blob gets small and wide then slims into my character. The character then does a backflip/cartwheel onto the line below and moves to the edge. He gets a hold of the line and whips it so it flows down to the end. After that sequence the character will turn back down into a little blob and melts in the words 'The End'.

StoryBoards

This is my story board, it starts with the manuscript with notes on just laid out normally, then the notes start to disapear and joining together to make my character. The character makes his way across the page doing various moves eg flips, cartwheels. The lines that the notes sit on then move up to make a diving board on the right hand page. The character climbs up, jumps off and does a couple of rolls and the animation finishes as he enters the water and makes a splash. The water is made from notes and lines dropping down to the bottom of the page to make a watery surface effect.

Puppet pin tool round 2!

This video is one i developed from earlier in the project, i've used the puppet pin tool again but received a much better effect from it. I pinned all the joints and moved them in sequence instead of just back and forward. Some of the limbs still look a bit bendy so i wouldnt use this type of animation for my final.

influences

I've found this amazing pencil Cell animation on youtube but it wont let me upload it to my blog because apparantly it is no longer avaidable - here is the link if you want a look at it 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CouOt3AWEjY&NR=1 

Its to do with the human form and how it moves and the artist which isnt named has captured it perfectly. I want to bring some life to my character and give it human qualities and this has inspired my ideas a lot.

Influences

This animation is called Nosy Bear by an Animator called Frank Rause. Its a cell animation so relates to my idea very well, i like it for its simplicity and sketchy look. I would like to relate my work to this, i like the wobbly sketchy lines its formed with, its also quite light - hearted which is one of my three words.

Hes also added onto it, the making of the video which is very interesting to see, its very helpful to see a professional animation from the very start out of the sketchbooks.  

Influences

Micky Mouse

As i was researching animations i came across this black and white cartoon of micky Mouse, i like it a lot, mostly because of the black and white. I think seeing as my songs old, very old infact was published in 1741! the older the animation the better its going to relate i think.

IDEA - The dancing man

After looking back through my sketches and deciding amongst them which i think is the best idea and will relate to my audio track and words is this. A character made from notes that will dance and leap around a page of music scripture. I need to sketch out a storyboard.

These are some position that my character will be performing, i've sketched out different poses and frames he will reach during the animation.

Im going to sketch out some main positions then sketch in between them to see what it looks like because im going to go for Cell animation as my media and run it through after effects.

Rayograms

These images are from the rayogram sessions i went to. I like the effect the print gives its kind of sephia/old style black and white.

These images below are of a carlsberg bottle i took to photograph. I thought it might give a nice effect and give a few different tones from where the bottles glass is thicker than other bits. I tore off all of the paper stickers and washed it out and crinkled a strip of paper inside to give a bit more detail to the picture.

I found it hard to get the settings of the camera to get the right to get a clean cut image. After trying a few times i finally got the time right to leave it in the light and came out with quite a nice image.

Developments

I have started to develop the music scripture idea.

One of the ideas is to have a character made from notes to dance along a set of piano keys. Above you can see the different shapes of the limbs i could create. 

I could incorporate different types of notes from crotches to clefs.

Another idea was to have a character made from notes dance around on a page of scripture. Maybe a classical dance and put some gymnastics eg flips, cartwheels, something to bring the page to life a bit.

My three words could relate to the animation if it was a bit naughty and the character maybe kicked some notes around during dancing etc.