#media practice

[animationfinalproject]

Frame Rates

Learning about timing charts and inbetweening lead me to consider examples of how these techniques manifests in animated film and television. 

 Looney Tunes is known for exaggerated motions and and visuals for comedic effect and playing with physics.  

Wile e Coyote is a signficant character of Looney Tunes in and is a character with a distinct animating style associated with him.  Pictures below show the recurring ending of shorts where Coyote falls off a cliff.  The stretching of his arms while his top half remains stationary is part of manipulation of the principles of animation.  In this case, though the anticipation is unnatural, in the context of Looney Tunes, it fits in with the comedic nature of the shorts.  

Below is an example from Frozen (2013) showing similar motions in animation to those in Looney Tunes.  With developments in digital animation, motion blur can be added to moving objects on top of timing of actions to make cartoon actions more visually comprehensive to the viewer.  

A breakdown of the sequence shows the key points in the animation and the way motions favour one of the other.  In the case of the first character there are two key frames resulting in sharper movements...

... while the movement of the second character has three key points and added motions of stretching an exaggerated anticipation.  

[project-development1]

Oskar Fischinger - Inspiration Mood Board

Allegretto (1936)

Kreise (Circles)

https://vimeo.com/55181698

What interests me most about the use of circles but more specifically the expanding ripple visuals.  In some ways, they are reminiscent of sound waves while also fitting in with the music.

In my own visualisation digital animation, I am using similar waves that will appear and disappear with the recurring flutes, most notably in the main theme of The Blue Danube

[ed339animation2]

Adobe Audition - Interview editing

This Audition mixdown showing how I cut down the interview to the parts that I used in the animation based on what would compliment the visuals and the overall message I wanted to present.  

For the same reasons, I made the decision to also use some further narration from the YouTube channel, Global Tea Hut,  about the history of gongfu tea, which is unique to China.

[animationfinalproject]

Examples of abstract animation appearing in mainstream film and television

Pinocchio (1940)

The effects showing the Blue Fairy’s magic in this film was made by abstract animator Oskar Fischinger whose visualisations was the main inspiration for my animation.

Cinderella (1950)

Abstract animations to show magic became a staple in Disney animations.  The looks of this animations are unique to certain characters and films and are informative about the tone of the films.

Frozen (2013)

Even in more recent 3D animated films, this abstract animations are still key, not only in visualising magic but fitting in with overall themes as seen in the difference between spiralling silver sparkles and glowing snowflakes that indicate enchanted objects.

Frozen II (2019)

Abstract animations in this film have a 2D appearance that are a call back to earlier Disney animations as well as looking deliberately opposite to the established normal world of the film.  Though abstract, these animations are simplified yet still recognisable so as not to clash with other objects/figures. 

The simplifying of objects within my own animation reflects the nature of music as well as allowing for the viewer’s own interpretation of visuals.

The Princess and the Frog (2009)

The water like form of the abstract in this film fit in with its narrative and the journey the characters go on.  Ripples and illustrations of water are similar to those in my own animation that alludes to the river, the Blue Danube that Strauss’ composition is named after.  

Other Examples

Miraculous Ladybug (2015)

Avatar: Legend of Aang (2005)

[animationfinalproject]

Walk cycle experimentation

This screenshot of Adobe after effects shows the walk cycle animation that I experimented with during a workshop using the puppet tool.  Each part of the man was on a separate shape layer that I then parented to its corresponding parts.  For instance the forearm, lower arm and wrist.  I used this method in my final animation when animating swimming fish and have improved in terms of making natural movements since first attempting a walking cycle.

[animationfinalproject]

A timelapse video showing the colouring process of one of my flipbooks. In colouring I ensured to have consistent colour combinations in one sequence and not to use too many colours, even if it means repeating the use of some. In this sequence, circles bounce off the largest centre circle which takes on the colour of the smaller circle when they touch. I’ve been using cotton buds to blend colours into each other and have smooth finishes.

[animationfinalproject]

Change in animating method

In order to make the animating process go more smoothly, I have decided to create my music visualisation using flipbooks.  I am doing this as I feel it is the best way to make the animation move, look and feel how I would like it to since this it is my perception of the Blue Danube.  

My inspiration for this is both the work of original Disney animators and Oskar Fischinger who used hand drawn images to create sequences Snow White as well as Oskar Fischinger.  This process is called cel animation of ‘divisionist’ technique.

This can be seen in the video below showing the inking process of Disney animators used in Snow White.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQkJM13PMKw

While I feel most comfortable using flipbooks to create my animation, I still intend to scan in the pages of the the books and to compile them in Adobe Premiere to make the final product along with what I have already digitally animated.  On scanning in the pages I will decide whether or not I colour them further using Photoshop or Illustrator.  Overall, the piece will look consistent in colour and movement but I still would like the hand drawn style of the flipbook sequences to show.  For me this project is an experimentation of musical perception/visualisation and so I am happy to include both digital and hand-drawn methods to show the potential of animation to depict music.  

This merging of the hand drawn as well as digital animation is a style I have seen used in animated movies and television shows that I find inspiring and engaging in terms of how meaning and understanding is made using well-timed visuals.  

Example 1 (below): Star Wars the Clone Wars changing animation style.  Becomes more organic look with hand drawn elements in Season 7.

Example 2: Spider-man into the Spider-verse

Example 3: Telltale Games’ Walking Dead