Creating a Game

A Peer Review

For my Peer review, I have chosen the animation created by Rhys Jenkins, Dominic James and Aaron Vickery. Their animation approached the issue of Inclusion. Using Lego figures to depict the story behind a poem written by Randy Basset. 

I'll start by getting the criticisms out of the way as there aren't many. The only issue I felt was apparent was the sound. The reading of the poem overlapped into a different frame and the words disappeared before the verse had been read out. The boys explained about this issue, saying the had trouble with inputting sound onto Zu3D, which is completely understandable as I, myself, encountered similar issues.

Overall I really enjoyed the animation. It was beautifully creative and their choice of music added a feel-good factor to it. My favourite parts include when the characters walked forward, one by one whilst Sister Sledge's 'We are Family' played in the background. Also, when the Lego figures all took a bow at the end. It was such a short part of the film, that could have easily not been included, but really gave it something extra. 

I also loved the fact that all the Lego Avengers were included in the credits. Brilliant, guys. Really enjoyed this animation. Here it is....

Stop-motion Animation



This is the stop-motion animation created by myself and Feba Philip. We decided to do cut-out animation and were asked to convey any kind of message through in a short two minute animation.
We split the 'jobs' accordingly, which was difficult as some things required a lot more time than others.
Seeing as we had never attempted making an animation before, we decided to use the Zu3D software available on the university computers. It is fairly straightforward to use as it is designed for school children.
I had the task of drawing all the frames and cutting them out, where as Feba was responsible for taking pictures of every frame, sound effects and editing, as well as some of the drawing. We uploaded the images and sounds onto Zu3D together, although this was more Feba's strength because when a technological error occurred, I was totally baffled.
When first set this task, I was really looking forward to the process. However, I don't think either of us realised how time-consuming a task it would be. Drawing the images took me a total of nearly 30 man hours, what with aligning the images as much as possible so it flowed well, colouring in and cutting everything out.
If we had planned our time better, I think we could have gotten made the animation flow much better, as it is, its a bit 'jittery'. The software we used also made it difficult. Zu3D is very basic and easy to use. I think that the requirements we were looking for and thinking about for producing an animation, went beyond what Zu3D could offer. We didn't have too much of a problem with the imagery, however, it sticks in places. The sound was where most of the issues lay. Sounds would layer over other sounds, meaning it was difficult to move them about when adding/subtracting frames. Some sounds would completely disappear and although it is possible, the software would not let us turn the volume up/down on certain sound effects.
It was a very frustrating experience. If I had to do it again, I would definitely not choose cut-out, possibly 'claymation' instead. I would also plan my time better, so I would have more time to add the extra frames needed to make the animation flow.
I have massive new found respect for anyone who creates a good stop-motion animation.

Camera-less animation: Creating a Thaumatrope

As we are exploring stop-motion animation, we looked at some of the first types of moving imagery before the notion of animation and film was prevalent.
We each made a Thaumatrope. This was a popular toy in the 19th century. It consisted of two images, normally on circular pieces of card, stuck together, back to back, with a piece of string in between them. When twirling the piece of string rapidly the two images become one.
Here is an example. On one side is the brightly coloured bird, on the other is the cage, when twirling the string on the left and right of the images, they appear to become one.



Here is my attempt at making a Thaumatrope. To make it, I used a pencil, a permanent marker, two pieces of card, a long piece of string (doubled to make it thicker) a ruler and a compass.

 Firstly I measured the card and cut it into equal sizes. Then I drew a dog on the right side of one piece of card.

Next I drew a cat on the left side of the second piece of card.

I then glued the two pieces of card together, back to back. Making sure that the image behind is upside down and that the drawings were adjacent to one another. Next I measured the left and right sides of the card and made holes with a compass in the centre. I put the string through the holes and folded it in half so it was thicker for better grip and control when spinning the Thaumatrope.

I then coloured the images in with permanent marker as they would stand out better as silhouettes.

Here is how the finished Thaumatrope looks.

As you can see, I made a rectangular shape rather than a circular. After trying and testing it, I think a circular shape would work better. Also I attached separate pieces of string at either end instead of running a single length of string between the two pieces of card. I think the spinning motion would have been better had I made it that way.

Quote

"A truth whispered among animators is that 70% of a shows impact comes from the soundtrack" Michel Dougherty

Personally I believe the percentage of impact to be equal for both visual and audio. The emotion you feel when you are watching anything is hugely increased by the soundtrack accompanying it. The imagery can be anything from beautiful and moving to chaos and carnage, however I believe it to be the right soundtrack that provokes the wealth of emotions experienced.
As for the use of the word "whispered", this gives us the impression that it is a secret that animators don't want to admit. Understandably so as their job is to create the actual imagery we see before us so to admit that most of the impact comes from the music would be quite difficult for an animator. However it is the soundtrack that brings that animation to life. It is a collaboration, without the soundtrack we would not experience the amount of emotion intended and vice versa.

Stop-motion Animation

Stop motion animation is animation that is captured one frame at time, with physical objects that are moved between frames. It requires the animator to physically alter the scene, shoot another frame, physically alter, shoot again and so on and so forth. When you play back the sequence of images rapidly, it creates the illusion of movement.  Stop-motion is used all the time for movies, tv adverts, tv series and many more.

There are several different types of stop-motion animation. The first was the hand drawn images produced by the likes of the Walt Disney Company such as Snow White or Aladdin. As time has moved on Disney have come to use Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), another form of animation.





The most well-known type of stop-motion animation is 'Claymation'. This is where we use 3D objects

or characters sculpted from clay or other moldable material, and then taking a series of still pictures that are replayed in rapid succession to create the illusion of movement. One of the most famous 'claymation' productions in the UK is Wallace and Gromit.

 



 Another example of stop-motion is Cutout animation. This is where animations are created using 2D materials such as card and paper. South Park is one of the most famous Cutout animations.      
 Stop motion can be very time consuming to make but the end results are well worth the effort. Not having to hire actors to physically star in movies, stunt doubles, special effects etc, cuts costs of movie making. Those working on stop animation movies will be spending time rather than money.                                                          

The last animation I watched

I recently watched one of my favourite animated films, The Nightmare Before Christmas. It is a stop-motion animation that includes both silouhettes and claymation.

It was released in 1993 and was the first feature-length stop-motion animation produced by Hollywood. Many considered it a gamble to produce a feature-length film of this kind but it paid off and is now one of the best loved films of its time and a dual-holiday classic.
For one second of film, up to 12 stop-motion moves had to be made. It took around 100 people, three years to complete this movie.
Here is the trailer of the 21 year old movie.