For our fifth project we were given the task of creating a pix-elated animation. This excited me as I've worked on animations using this technique before, and know the fun and endless possibilities this type of animation hold.This project also marked the first time we were given any form of brief, in this case it was to base the animation on a recent or current news story, which proved moderately difficult as I hadn't watched news, or any form of television, since moving to Leeds (As far as my knowledge on recent global events goes, we could be at war with North Korea and I wouldn't have a clue). I was happy with this as I felt we as a class were becoming more adept at animating,and making progress, as well as understanding there would be requirements our work would need in the future.
To improve our historical and general understanding of this technique, we were shown different examples such as Neighbours, Animated in Bed, and an old PES advert. Since this technique is so open and possible to create nearly anything you want, it was difficult to give a detailed explanation of what the technique is other that 'making something move in a way it wouldn't normally' , and so the best way was to show different examples of animations using this technique, both old, and new. Once at home I spent a considerable time watching stop motion animation to gain ideas on what I could do, some notable examples I found were deadline, and Transformers Battle.
From the get go, my head started to fill with dozens of ideas for the animation. And after coming to an agreement that 4 of us from Opal would work together on one animation, I thought we would be able to create an impressive piece of animation, perhaps even a cardboard box race, that I've seen on YouTube a few times, and been itching to make for a while. But we quickly found our schedules differed greatly and there was no way we could all work on it at the same time, so we went back to working on individual animations as we had done with the previous projects.
Plot wise I chose a news story about a trawler sinking off the Irish coast.I wanted a fairly straightforward story, that I'd be able to animate without needing too advanced audio or movements for the viewers to understand the story. I decided I would create the necessary pieces out of cardboard and cartoons, as it would have been unnecessary to go out and buy material when I have some at home waiting to be thrown in the bin. Overall I'm pleased with the story I chose, even though I had to explain which story it is. Then again I don't expect the viewers to be informed of every boat sinking in Britain.
From a technical aspect I am pleased with the outcome. I decided to make all the necessary pieces out of cardboard, and use blu tac to hold them together. I'm happy with this decision as it saved me some cost, and was easier to work with. The FPS for it is high enough to give a smooth movement of the boat sailing and the sharks swimming (as great whites and makos infest the Irish seas, as we all know). Although the helicopter is a completely different story. It was an absolute ordeal shooting the frames for every scene showing the helicopter. The frames for the helicopter flying into the room and towards the half sunken boat was annoying, but fairly easy, but the scene of the helicopter hovering above the boat took a bit more time and imagination.
I went all Gilligan Island and made this set up using things lying around my room. I made it in order to make the helicopter appear as if it hovers. I'm satisfied with what I created to get the scene done, and although it had its problems (Most notably trying to keep the helicopter from rotating from left to right, which was a pain as I lowered the helicopter closer) . But considering the difficulty and complexity of the scene, I am happy with what I accomplished.
As for the audio, this is the first project were I have used it, and I believe it benefits it greatly. I downloaded the sound effect from a free sound bite website and then just cut them down to fit the scenes in windows movie maker. It adds to the feel of the animations, and greatly improves its quality, it also helps the viwere understand what I am trying to visually interpret, for example the carpet as the sea, and the cartoon as the helicopter. Which without the audio, would have been fairy difficult to realise.
If I could improve anything, I would like to add more scenes of the helicopter, which at the time felt there were enough of, but once put together and speed up, were too quick and easy to miss.
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