Studio Notebook For Animation Skills

Animation Skills Evaluation of Module

I have found this module enlightening. I have enjoyed learning about the basic principles of animation and some basic techniques to experiment with. Starting with the first brief, although Storyboarding is not new to me I found it refreshing to deepen my understanding of a storyboard and go into more detail with the camera shots. I was surprised to be one of the only ones to go town with the presentation of it. I really love the thought that a storyboard should be a work of art. Being the first project I was probably overly enthusiastic about it in hindsight I wished I’d of spread this enthusiasm like peanut butter throughout the entirety of the module so that each bit had perfect storyboards. However I was able to take Mike’s criticism and improve my storyboarding for apply as it was a bit dreak by that stage. I also enjoyed creating the flip books and understanding squash and stretch. I really like working traditionally so doing this activity and the pendulum swing was a comforting way to work, and I found I work through these tasks swiftly and effectively. However saying that, I did enjoy learning how to create an animation via photoshop and went back to it in my own time, to create a walk cycle. I believe this is shown through the apply brief with the combination of hand drawn and then coloured in on the computer. One part of the module that I really struggled to get into however was the pixilation, I would say that I’m not fond of using the camera I really enjoyed the photography inductions, and I enjoy doing stop motions with models, I just really struggled to find the motivation to do it. Therefore I think this is why it’s the weakest part of my submission because I procrastinated for it so much and ended up doing it last minute. This leads in nicely to my Time management, on the whole (excluding the pixilation) I don’t think my time management was too bad. In future I would like to keep on top of all of the modules though and not let any slip away because I fear the deadline week for this module may of left me with a bit to catch up on in Visual Language. My Final brief was Apply and although this is my proudest piece of work for this module if I was to repeat this exercise I would like to have worked more into the background and made it rain more, I would of also like to have added sound. I think this is a crucial element I shall have to consider in future and make sure I leave enough time to include sound as it should not be overlooked. Finally I would like to mention my blogging although I feel I kept on top of it I realise that more work needs to go into my blogs and the only way to improve my vocabulary is to read more, and also I would like to design my own header in time for future submissions. I really enjoy looking at works in the industry and can’t wait till someone looks in awe at mine.

Pixelation Video

I had a very difficult time getting to grips with the pixelation and can guarantee that I wouldn't choose this process again, I just don't think this technique was for me. I found it very difficult to get my direction across and I did try the first two ideas but i had problems with my camera going out of focus each time and when using other people i just felt like it was a nuisance for them and that just made me not want to do it even more. So i procrastinated and in the end i sacrificed the people for models. Improvements, in this project would be managing my time better and using people who actually want to help, and also using the camera the right way round so the format's not portrait. But basically i just don't think this process because for me the motivation comes in the model making and playing with models and i just felt uninspired by the themes. So although I appreciate that this is a part of the module am I still glad I did it because it's made me more aware and sure of what I am interested in and now I know not to go back to this.

Apply Studio Task

 For this brief I decided to create my 5-10 second animation around the word longing, and chose to do an old man longing for his dead wife. I really enjoyed applying the skills we'd learnt throughout this module from storyboarding to hand drawing the animation to colouring in on photoshop. It was a real delight. I think if I had more time I would of liked to alter the backgrounds and made it looked like it rained more. I was very pushed for time when colouring in and I really didn't think it would take so long and therefore I don't think i would use this method again.

Nursery Rhyme Storyboard

I really enjoyed the first storyboarding task and took it quite literally when Mike said story boards are a work of art in there own right. Although I am really pleased with my mixed media outcome if I was to do it again I would include more detail of the camera shots with arrows of movement and boxes of pans and zooms, however i did want to lose the visuals on this piece so I would do it in a different way.

Final Six Images of Scarf

Photography Induction

 For the first day of the Photography induction, I had a play with the continuous shooting mode of the camera, and thought this might come in handy for the pixelation task. We were also shown the basic elements of lighting and how to cast shadows and create reflections with the glass tables. It was very interesting but also very technical and seems like it'd be something that would only come with practice and slight obsession.

I thought my photo's of the mexican man were very successful, i really like how the lighting gives a dark side to such an innocent character. It's theatrical.