Introduction
Having started a new unit, the project now sees my focus 'shift' to how techniques used in the animation industry, can and do have a direct affect in informing the work of both game artists and designers (such as concept art and three-dimensional character work) with the concept of 'form and function' (and the relation between the two) as a prevelent theme running concurrently throughout the project.
The process of animation is a particularly prominant 'role' in almost all game development studios (be it independent, or a large transnational corporation.) The 'Animation Departmant' is integral in the construction of a game, the main purpose of which is often to instill a believability for the player (through environmental physics, or the locomotion of individual characters or interactive objects, for use in-game etc.) The technologies developed within this section of the industry (and as used in the creative 'pipeline' within the production of a game) is often intimately connected with the medium of 'Film' and moving imagery. The latter comment (in relation to the process of animation and its involvement within game development) is covered in greater detail within my 'Contextual Studies' blog, entitled 'Media Industries: Roles and Practice', the research of which will run concurrently with this project and another (project two of this unit.)
Initial research began with my studying as many books available (within the Universities Libraries collection) as related to the said subject matter of 'Animation.' The result of which were books that concerned not only the application of new techniques (particularly three-dimensional, digital animation, as well as the mediums traditional practises) but also the history of the industry itself, particularly as we understand it today but also the mediums lesser known influences (such as the development of photography and more notably the practise of moving imagery and cinematography.)
I have only ever attempted 'traditional' animation once before (to the extent of about 10 seconds of 'footage', at roughly 25 frames a second) and I have absolutely no experience in digital or three-dimensional techniques - both within sculpture, or as a form of animation - and so the project (which, whilst we are required to execute and submit examples of both forms) sees our focus to be on only one of the two practises, each of which contains both 'positives' and 'negatives', providing also new challenges and experiences (for me personally) unique to each.
Interestingly enough, what I discovered in my initial research at the Library, was that much of the techniques and 'theories' developed through 'traditonal' animation (by which I mean hand-drawn, two-dimensional animation) as still practised today, retains and still has direct reference to the arguably more 'prevelent' (at least within the context of contemporary work and the popularity of the medium within the media) three-dimensional, digital animation.
Initial Ideas and Research
I had been exposed, very briefly, to the study of animation during my Foundation course, when assigned a project whereby the requirements were to simply produce an animation (of any sought) in conjunction with another student (of which we were assigned to each other) on the course. In this situation, the focus of the project was essentially more so on successful collaboration (our ability to co-operate and function within a team) than it was so much as to simply produce a 'final outcome' (although it was this to.) This - the intended process and eventual 'outcome' - was in much the same way (in my opinion) as the initial 'Design a Board Game' project, at the outset of this (my current) course. The independent research that I provided for that project, during my Foundation course, focused primarily on the influence of the innovative photographer, Eadweard Muybridge and his work on depicting the locomotion of both animals and people (the individual photographs, essentially 'frames', of which, are of imeasurable importance, not only within its historical context, but also as a means of education and reference to practising artists and animators today.) My focus then, as is the case now, was on the techniques of traditional animation, though I also researched cultural influences on the practise, namely the similarities and differences between both Western and Eastern forms of animation (I'm not a fan, particularly, at all of the styles and content of 'Anime' or 'Manga', but the dominace that both artforms share and display within the contemporary practise and distribution of traditional animation, cannot be ignored.)
Returning to the work of Eadweard Muybridge and its relevance in relation to my current project, I intended, initially, to continue my exploration of animals and my consistant enthusiasm with retaining a sense of realism when implementing them within a given project. I'm well aware of the risks when attempting to portray a naturalistic representation of something that is widely understood and recognised, within an artificial context; the 'Uncanny Valley' theory often holds true in that the more visually 'believable' (or 'convincing') something becomes, the more exposed its flaws are as a result (by attempting realism within a medium, you are essentially 'forcing' the viewer/audience to relate whatever knowledge they have of that subject, as they understand it within 'real-life', to your own interpreation of that said subject, and the distraction essentially becomes, 'has this person captured an accurate likeness?' which is obviously not the primary intention of your work.) More abstract interpretations of a given subject, however, does not have this issue; within cartoons, for example, the person watching the animation is fully aware that the artist has not attempted a faithful representation, and has therefore eliminated (in their mind) that said 'distraction' that I mentioned previously; of course the audience is often not aware that this process is even happening, but it is an important consideration when attempting to animate from life (as Walt Disney was well aware of, which is something that I will be exploring the theories of, further within this blog.)
The Illusion of Life
"For some presumptuous reason, man feels the need to create something of his own that appears to be living, that has an inner strength, a vitality, a seperate identity - something that speaks out with authority - a creation that gives the illusion of life." - Thomas and Johnston (1981, pp. 13)
The 'Power' of 'Traditional'/Two Dimensional Animation
"You can do crappy, low quality... animation, but there's charm to it" -Tim Searle (2011)
Further down this blog, I have related both effective and ineffective examples of the 'Twelve Principles', as pioneered and developed by the early Walt Disney Studios (specifically outlined in the book, 'The Illusion of Life', as mentioned above.)
Tim Searle (in the quote I took above during his lecture on the 28th of January, 2011) raised a very interesting point and something I have felt to some degree for some time now (and believe many others do also.) Disney is a good example of the argument that perhaps traditional, hand-drawn (or other two-dimensional forms of animation) retain a quality, character, or a type of artistic sensibility that is perhaps lacking in the mediums three-dimensional counterpart.
What is often described as the 'golden age' of Disney cinema, the hand-drawn animated feature films of the Nineties, provided emotive experiences to a global audience that had never been witnessed to quite such an extent in animation before (and many of whom would argue have not been equalled since.) As the generation of the early Nineties has grown into young adults (a generation that I am apart of) there has always been this sense (whilst some of Disney's most successful works have been under the 'Pixar' brand name) that the constant almost convulsive 'need' by Disney to produce C.G.I. movie after movie, arguably at a reduced cost from hand-drawn animation, has resulted in movies thatdo appear to do everything 'correctly', such as following the 'Twelve Principles' etc. but is this enough? It all feels quite lacking in expression, detail and craftsmanship of the previous centuries work (again, do not get me wrong, the animators for Pixar are extremely talented individuals and the movies do hold value but perhaps the recent production of 'The Princess and the Frog' is an example of a market and the demand for such works in contemporary times.) I believe, to a certain degree, that as technology continues to advance, that our human instinct would be to either embrace it in its entirety, or have reservations, still demanding a 'connection' to older and more 'base' forms of human expression.
"With C.G., I think there is a very narrow band that people are willing to accept... I'd rather not do it than do it badly." - Tim Searle
Over a year ago now I was reading a book on the artwork of Dreamwork's 'Kung Fu Panda' and was very impressed by the quality of artwork produced during the conceptualising stage of the characters and scenery and of course, all of this is entirely of my own opinion but I could not help but think the expressiveness and creative originality was somehow reduced or lost partialy 'lost in translation' as the artwork was recreated digitally.
The Japanese culture towards animation (or 'anime') which while, I'm really not a fan of particularly, I know that such credited films as 'Ghost in the Shell' began to implement computer animation with hand-drawn animation, the result being 'Ghost in the Shell 2.0', the original (primarily hand-drawn animation) still retains a much greater popularity over its 'remastered' version as a result of and interest in purely traditional animation techniques (deeming the additions as 'unnecessary'.) The traditional animated film 'Spirited Away' is still in fact Japan's most successful film ever (indigenous within the country.)
When assessing the 'effectivness' of traditional forms of animation within the 'constraints' of the 'Twelve Principles', the appeal of this particular artform could just be that, appeal. Whilst it may be an effective/ineffective example of one of the 'Twelve Principles' of animation, the opposite could be true of the animation in regards to other 'Principles' and so this must be taken into account when assessing my own examples.
'South Park' is a good example of the awkwardness of animation that lacks an effective implementation of the 'Squash and Stretch' principle (in this example, it is entirely excluded) this, in turn, adds to the appeal of the animation and would therefore be effective in this latter principle.
The Twelve Principles of Animation
Known also as the 'fundamentals' of animation, the twelve basic principles were initially developed (through an entirely itterative process) by the the Walt Disney company. The 'Principles' are very obvious to us now, even if you have not studied the names and descriptions of the 'Principles' themseleves, having watched almost any form of animation, your are consciously (or perhaps subconsciously) aware of what is taking place, for they each either seek to define and exaggerate the laws of physics, or simply contextualize more abstract principles, such as timing or effective staging.
The 'Principles' were essentially a means to define or contextualize the obvious, what we see in everyday life, but subsequently distorted to facilitate the medium being used ('Squash and Stretch' is often exagerrated, as is 'Timing', to better suit the rigours of both traditional forms of two-dimensional animation and its more contemporary three-dimensional counterpart.)
I have always believed this to be true, that no matter how advanced, complex, or contemporary the medium, your fundamental understanding of the basics is vital in your application and manipulation of that said medium; and unfortunately, it takes prominant (and respected) members, within the industry (such as John Lasseter, below) to mention this (to be honest, fairly obvious but equally overlooked) practise, before people are willing to accept it...
This essential idea applies to almost all practises within the creative industry; story-writing adapted to a screen-play within the film industry, for example (atleast in its immediate commerical application) sees writers return to the stories and literary
works, sometimes of centuries old and in writing this within my own generation, I find writers consistently returning to literature for the purpose of re-interpretation or adaptation, as is this case with the works of William Shakespeare, or of course the recent interest in comic-book narratives within the film industry; with very little contemporary, 'original' work coming in to fruition.
Acting is another creative field by which the traditions of the theatre can have a great impact on the training and acting ability of those who choose to pursue a career in film. To return, however, to the relevance of this idea within my own practise, I pursued a closer study into the artists and practises of more 'traditional' media, such as painting with oils and acrylic and drawing with pen and pencil on paper etc. (with studies focusing particularly on the 'Old Masters', notably those during the 'High Renaissance'.) Originally, this was all to improve my traditional skills, so that they could be applied with greater affect to my digital practises (that is to say with a graphics tablet, and digital pen, using software such as the 'Photoshop Creative Suite' to mimic the application of paint and pencil, onto canvas) however, a much deeper appreciation and passion toward the 'old methods' and indeed the artists themselves, came about from this lifelong and ongoing exercise.
I have, for some years now, stressed the importance of traditional practises within my own field (or at least the area of work that I would like to enter, the creation of 'Concept Art') and that indeed, technology changes far too much to rely solely on one's ability to learn it; for you will almost certainly have to either relearn its latest iteration, or forget what knowledge you had, in favour of an entirely new form of technology; does stay constant throughout this evolutionary process, however, is your inate ability for design, along with your creative sensabilities and the skills in the application of that ability (which can only come through practise and careful observation.)
Life Drawing, for this very reason, is of an unbelievable importance for those who desire to draw the human figure (with some sense of conviction or believability.) I find it astounding how many people I come across who are naiive enough to think that they can learn to draw the human figure without having first studied this practise and understood its importance. The art of Life Drawing, indeed, is also for those who have no desire to recreate the human form on a canvas, for the act alone is the training of that invaluable skill, of observation, for to draw something, is to first see it, for what it is...
I was not adverse to this 'naiivity' that I speak of, for only three years ago I attempted a style of photorealism by simply copying what I saw (in a faithful manor) from a photograph. I would look at the photograph and then drew what I saw and I found it very easy to achieve a satisfying result, from very little effort, as in actual fact, all I was doing (besides observing and recording) was that I, unbenounced to myself, had removed the challenge of transferring a three-dimensional object, into a drawing, or painting, on a two-dimensional canvas. The photographer had already done this for me and whilst I wasn't tracing, I was essentially 'copying'.
In conclusion, the 'Twelve Principles of Animation' form the foundation by which all animators (and to a certain extent, filmmakers) draw from and build their knowledge upon, it is the universal 'language' of which both audience and animator are affixed and below I have included both an 'Effective and 'Ineffective' example for each of the 'Principles; however, it is important to note that
1. Squash and Stretch:
"By far the most important discovery was what we call Squash and Stretch... Anything composed of living flesh, no matter how bony, will show considerable movement within its shape in progressing through an action." - Thomas and Johnston (1981, pp.47-48)
The technique itself, essentially, involves the animator maintaining the volume of the subject in question, whilst the form contorts in reaction to movement, or a sense of motion. The principle is evident when animating the bouncing of a ball. The form of the ball, in a fixed position, is typically round; when falling, however, the force of gravity and air resistance acting upon the ball as it falls and gains speed, causes the shape to distort (within this example, 'Stretch') untill it makes contact with the ground, whereby the mass of the ball is simply displaced elsewhere and the form of the ball 'widens' to absorb the energy emitted when touching the ground (the ball experiences 'Squash'.)
Archimede's revelation concerning the method by which to measure volume (or 'mass') through his presumed 'Eureka' moment, of stepping into a bathtub and realising that the water displaced upon his entry into the tub, was equal in mass to that of the body part he had submerged; could be attributed also to this principle, as it explains that the volume (or mass) of an object is not lost as it experiences a transition between one position to the next, but is simply displaced. Some of the muscles of complex organisms (the human 'bicep', for example) evidences very succinctly this idea of mass displacement (or 'Squash and Stretch') as the volume is simply 'relocated' upon changing shape (a result of movement.)
Effective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkMOX7dgTIw
The example I have chosen to use in representing (what I believe to be) an effective implemention of the aforementioned principle, is an opening sequence as used by the company 'Pixar', as part of their branding.
I understand my contradiction to the statement quoted above, in representing the technique of the 'Squash and Stretch' principle, through referencing my chosen example (essentially an inanimate object) but it is due to this very reason that I wanted to emphasise, just how broad and effective the technique can be, when applied to even the most unexpectant and simplistic of objects, in this case a lamp (and the subsequent letter below it.)
The thirteen seconds of footage, evidenced within this sequence, highlights two forms of 'Squash and Stretch'; one, the much more common form (and in keeping with the quote above and the initial intentions of the techniques developer) can be seen through the displacement of volume of the letter 'I' that the lamp proceeds to jump up and down on. The much less obvious form of 'Squash and Stretch' (but arguably still within the basic concept of the principle) can be evidenced through the movement of the lamp (which in fact does not redistribute its mass, as characteristic of organic objects, but insead attempts to adhere to this principle through its 'silhouette' and overall posture.)
The original staff of the Walt Disney company, both as a means of testing and portraying this particular 'Principle', would animate one of the most simplistic and (again presumambly) 'unengaging' of objects, a flour sack. The potency of 'Squash and Stretch', however, was evident in the wide variety of emotion the animator could instill in so few lines and is a credit to the technique in suggesting an intention, through an emotive quality, by simply maintaining volume throughout the subject in motion.
Ineffective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbgAutQz1jc&feature=related
My choice for the 'Ineffective Example', is debatable and I'll explain, very briefly, as to why this is and my intentionality in using the example in the way that I have.
The still above is from a clip that I will include (and make reference to) as I have done so with all the other work within this blog, having used to help illustrate the 'Twelve Principles', but in this situation, I make a much more general reference to the programme as a whole (as opposed to any single piece of footage.) The animation is from the television 'show', 'South Park.'
The style and artistic choices of the animation are undoubtedly the main contributing factors in making South Park as unique and as recognizable as it is; therefore I would like to explore further the specific type of animation, in question, being used.
I had previous knowledge concerning the techniques deployed in the earlier animation of their characters, which followed a process/technique of animation known often as 'Cut-out Animation.'
This particular form of animation makes use of traditional media (such as paper, fabric, card etc.) that, as the name suggests, is literally 'cut out' to form the individual pieces of the characters and props and by moving each of the pieces individually, across a flat surface and recording these movements through a camera, the animator would than have (hopefully) achieved a sense of movement as a result.
'Cut-out Animation' is one of the earliest forms of animation. The first recorded animated feature films can be attributed to the pioneering animator Quirino Cristiani, making extensive use of this particular technique (of which he is also associated with the first ever animation created entirely using cardboard cut outs.) The first surviving animated feature film, 'The Adventures of Prince Achmed', also deployed this same process of animation (albeit, as a varient of the technique in what is known as 'Silhouette Animation'.) The aesthetics of this type of animation, whilst duly recognised for its own merits, is somewhat 'primitive' in comparison to perhaps other forms of animation (such as those that are hand-drawn or created in '3D') whereby the 'limits' of its technical development, is no so evident.
"I said let me make an animated film, now I've never done one before but I knew the principles and I had four-hundred pounds and two weeks to do it, so the only thing I could do was start cutting out images and moving them around in a very crude way and that's what I did... and over night I was an animator." - (Gilliam, 2009)
Terry Gilliam's work was a major influence on the creators of 'South Park' (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) most notably in the animation work that Gilliam had produced for the 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' comedy series (the direct influence of this, I believe, is most evident when actual photographs are used in the satirical representation of 'celebrity' figures, or people popular within the press.)
Trey Parker and Matt Stone's first animation 'Jesus vs. Santa', had established the style and form of comedy that would continue on into their most successful work, 'South Park', as to why I have chosen to include 'South Park' as an ineffective example of the animation principle 'Squash and Stretch', is simply because it lacks any and such exclusion makes the animation seem extremely awkward and 'unnatural' (lacking an organic 'quality'.) The technique, whilst it has become almost synonymous with the success of the show (to the extent where by the creators continue to 'mimic' this form of animation within a digital medium, long after its origins of 'traditional', 'Cut-out Animation') as with Terry Gilliam's work, I feel that its 'crude' animation style, when combined with the type of satire and comedic approach of each show, is a success more so for the principle of 'Appeal', than that of 'Squash and Stretch' (the economy in both time and money when creating in this form of animation cannot be ignored and the exclusion of basic 'Principles', of which this is one, for the benefit of comedic value, isn't always justifiable when outside the realsm of the Animations sense of 'Appeal'.)
2. Anticipation:
Effective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3dL2VAnXWM&feature=related
Ineffective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9QG_36n2DA&feature=related
3. Staging:
Effective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ6cw_MuTDE
Ineffective Example
- Straight Ahead Action
Effective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_ETSvTAo4A
Ineffective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMyuUtzLUdE&feature=related
- Pose to Pose
[The link to this video on Youtube has since been blocked due to copyright grounds.]
Ineffective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq_dMnQMQwM
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action:
Effective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7Nf-m6WGl4
Ineffective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAwIqvIObJ8
6. Slow In and Slow Out:
Effective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlmmyuwkSzA
Ineffective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOb51HkB9Ko&feature=related
7. Arcs
Effective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLvIFRNbqOs
Ineffective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkdRwEJGo08&feature=related
8. Secondary Action:
Effective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MTmEIMs90I
Ineffective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVbwmIb87WU
9. Timing:
Effective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwUX4lsb8GY&feature=related
Ineffective Example
10. Exaggeration:
Effective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEx9r5enZsk
Ineffective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsCQ1PIGcm0&feature=related
11. Solid Drawing:
Effective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd2gG7arxfg
Ineffective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hm3E2cGQE4
There are those that would argue that this in fact an effective example of solid drawing, in that if it conveys, instantly to the audience, a recognisable image (as in this example, the birght red, the four lines for the whiskers and of the percieved eight legs) than constitues as such. Though it is difficult to discover a crude form of animation that the animator has not created with this very intention in mind and often comedic 'value' is deployed to perhaps avoid the obvious flaws in its execution (again, I'm not suggesting that this is always the case.) Unffortunately for this paticular example, these are the 'Principles' as first established.
12. Appeal
Effective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs
Ineffective Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t24JtFFm5Q4&feature=related
It is easy to see the clear difference in popularity between this Link and the one established in the 'Zelda' games (even though they are technically one in the same character, simply depicted differently.) The highly influential music of the Zelda series is in fact used within these 'Zelda' animations yet this still does not at all protect it from negative reactions. The character of 'Link' retained his inability to speak, so himself with any known dialects or cultures, thus protecting an appeal to a much greater audience (an audience not restricted by language or cultural barriers, but instead embracing the most understood form of communication, body language. This was indeed a clever form of marketing, one where the player (within the game version of 'Link') imagines not only the name of the individual characters they play (as opposed to the default name of 'Link' but also what they should sound like or think.
2D 'Bouncing Ball' Animation
As a requirement of this project, we were to test these principles (specifically the principle of 'Squash and Stretch') by animating the motion of a ball falling via the influence of gravity (and slowing due to air resistance) before making contact with the ground and subsequently bouncing.
We were to hand draw the scene, frame by frame, using a graphics tablet and Photoshop software. I have only ever attempted animation once before (very simply, in a free to download software package entitled 'Plastic Animation Paper', in which I created a fairly realistic cat chasing a mouse/rat, the 'narrative' of which wasn't quite as cliché as it sounds and was in part a 'homage' to the medium's traditions) and this was using a graphics tablet also, though I had no knowledge that you could in fact animate within Photoshop and whilst initially I was a little sceptical, I soon became aware of the potential benefits to using the software in this way.
I deviated from the somewhat 'standard' (and at this point, all too obvious) cycle of a bouncing ball in motion and so I had my 'ball' transform into a character somewhat reminiscent of 'Flubber'; the animation (technically) is my second ever 'attempt' at animating anything and having not animated since my first attempt over a year ago now, I saw it more as an exercise or form of practice. The animation took around twenty minutes to create and is somewhat crude as a result.
3D 'Bouncing Ball' Animation and Character 'Pose'
This was actually my first ever attempt at animating anything in three dimensions (as well as my first introduction to the software 'Maya.)
The 'bouncing ball' and 'character' models we did not sculpt or 'rig' ourselves, for the excerise was purely a process of learning, quite simply, how to animate using the Maya software package. A new revelation to me about the animating process in general, was in fact how professional animation studios would require their animators to construct the animation within an almost 'standardised' and industry recognised 'format', a method known as 'Pose to Pose' or 'Keyframe' animation. The way I taught myself to animate during my first attempt and the subsequent two-dimensional bouncing ball 'test' above (and the process that was natural to me) is what I now understand as 'Straight-Ahead' animation, the difference between the two being that 'Straight Ahead' animation sees the animator produce the scene, frame by frame, in a consecutive order without any real structure beyond what the artist might have develope in a rough stroyborad prior to animating, the result can be highly liberating and without restraint, often allowing new ideas to spontaneously form whilst animating, though this can be fraud with issues when needing to animate to a specific timing, such as sound for example, requiring the animator to establish certain poses and positions to a specific time etc. 'Pose to Pose' animation, however, is alot more controlled in that it sees the animator's focus primarily on the 'key' constructs or moments within a motion that provide the greatest strength or 'impact' on that particular sequence (these 'moments' give the sequence of movement a direction and are most evidently seen by the audience.) The frames constructed between these 'key frames' are what are known as 'inbetweens' and are as they suggest, frames that develop the movement from one 'key frame' to the next. To a certain a degree (as with all the principles depicted above) I believe one is aware of this, whether they know it in its 'official' terminology or not. The first attempt at animation of mine (the mouse/rat and the cat) saw my concentration on the 'strength' (proportion and quality of line) of the drawings that were evident during moments of slow movement or even none at all, where the attention of those viewing the animation would 'linger' longer than on the frames that moved at such a pace that they were barely registered at all by the viewer's eye. Perhaps one of the biggest constraints on an animator is time, animation has always been considered a highly 'risky' and expensive form of story-telling, for the amount of time necessary to even produce six or seven seconds of rough line work can take over a month to produce (as made apparent with Glen Keane's work on 'Aladdin', as witnissed within the link below) though of course this can vary widely depending on the type of animation being deployed and the content in question, South park, for example, can take as little as four days to produce due to the simplicity of their design and the technology available.
I mentioned also another term that I had some knowledge of, yet no practical application (as it remains so) although it is still valuable information to know for those seeking to pursue a career in digital sculpture (a sculptor who understands this 'procedure' can save the animator alot of time) the process I refer to is known as 'rigging'. I won't delve too deep into the nuances of this particular practise (my focus at the moment really is on two dimenional animation) though put very simply, it places an ('invisible') skeletal structure within a particular sculpture, to be manipulated by the animator accordingly (the process of rigging a model necessary for animation is a skill in its self and often requires a knowledge of anatomy for an effective application. Below I have included two examples of my own attempts at three dimensonal animation (both of which were specifically asked of us to be created as part of the assessment criteria for this particular project, as my second ever attempet at manipulating a rig within 'Maya', with the intent of animation or to create a pose, I would have liked to have produced something of a greater complexity, however, we were given the ball and character sculpture, that we could not manipulate past using the rig to reposition sections of each.) The character sculpture, however, did have a rather impressive rigging set-up that allowed for a range of movement perhaps not evident in the simplicity of the sculptures form (the fact that we could not produce our own sculpture for the final 'character animation' immediatley dissuaded me from pursuing this, '3D Animation', further as content and a final response to be submitted for this project, naturally this meant that my final response was to be an exponant of 'traditional' or 'hand-drawn' animation, using a graphics tablet and Photoshop and deploying the techniques that I had begun to learn above, in terms of animating using Photoshop.)
Digital 3D 'Bouncing Ball' Animation
Digital 3D Character 'Pose'
The Character Animation - The Iterative Process
Initial Sketches and Storyboards (Ideas on Narrative and Design)
These images were the storyboards that I had developed right at the beginning of the project. I decided not to include these pictures towards the beginning of the blog so as to best portray the sought of transition that took place as I developed one idea further into another (before arriving at the final storyboard, idea and character animation as seen below.) Please note that these drawings are extremely rough and of a crude quality (they took several seconds each to create) and of course this was entirely intentional, for not only were they a means to quickly establish a perminancy of my ideas onto paper but also to test whether the 'strength' of the scene could 'hold' attention of the viewer and whether I'm making use of effective camera angles and timing to do so, even at this most basic level (I aimed for simple shapes and gestures, whilst suggesting the types of lighting and the action of each 'shot' of the scene; it makes no sense in rendering out a highly detailed piece of artwork if the message that you are attempting to convey in the scene is lost in translation, or simply wasn't there to begin with.) Concept art works on a similar premise in that the idea can only really be built upon effectively if you have explored many different interpretations/avenues first and once you have achieved that which you intended to convey, only then can you begin to develop it further (I know that this is all painfully obvious, but I felt it had to be explained none the less.) Similarly to another project of mine running concurrently to this, focuses on digital sculpture (and having recently learnt how and when to know to specifically increase the levels of polygons on the model is important in effectively developing an idea from a basic sculpt to a fully realised end result.)
The two images above and the one to the right are of the same scene (the second being a continuation of the first and the second of the third) and depict the second idea that I had developed very early on within the project. The first concept, which I mentioned very briefly towards the beginning of this blog, was a sought of continuation of the idea that I had developed for my 'Apple Interactive Concept', which specifically focused on the the feline form, depicted, very crudely, upside down in the image to the right, in which a cat dreams about becoming or being a lion; I intended to draw and animate this fairly realistically and had even collected much research in prepartion for this in the form of Muybridge's 'Animals In Motion' book but I later abandoned the idea in favour of this 'vampire' concept, partially as a means of attempting something different and making it unique to myself but also now looking back and with the subsequent revelation of the three audio/sound 'clips' that we were required to choose from and use within our animations (we had to animate specifically to the six second long 'clip') I believe that my final concept was more appropriate and relevent to my chosen audio/sound file (and whilst we were not allowed to animate any form of lip-synchization to the sound within our animation, requiring only really to establish the 'atmosphere' and nuances of the what it is that we think we are hearing, I felt I moved more closely into the right direction by pursuing the vampire 'theme' further as I developed a short narrative around my chosen sound 'clip'.) I'd also like to note that each of the three audio files were taken from established forms of moving imagery, though each of them I had know direct knowledge of and I felt it was important that it remained this way so that not to establish any similarities to the original version but so that I could take from it my own interpretation and percieved form of events.
The second of my ideas which I was intending to develop into the final animation (the three images above depicting this particular 'scene' in question) I also heavely researched into and even went as far as to record a fellow student (though from the 'Film and Moving Imagery' course, at the same university) acting out movements from some of the scenes I felt would prove the most difficult when animating, the resulting footage however became entirely irrelevent soon afterwards as I changed my idea yet again (I still have the clips actually, though I am not sure as to how I would go about altering the orientation of them, for they are currently horizontal at the moment; however, once again they were never used for reference and so aren't really that important in informing future ideas or the final animation, there were more an interesting idea at the time. The image to the top-right of this paragraph depicts another very basic storyboard that I had actually considered developing as a personal project (though have yet to do so) the accompanying image below that was also a quick means to establish a narrative that I have considered for some time now, again, following a similar theme and characters as the story-board prior and to the idea below.
This particular story-board (the image depicted to the left) is highly influential in informing what was to become the final idea that I developed for my character animation. The eyes in particular were a strong focal point and (even before I was allowed access to the chosen sound clips) I knew I wanted to create a sense of unease or use them as a method by which to alienate or seperate the protagonist from his humanity. The reason for the 'black eyes' (a design 'motif' that became apparent through the two vampire characters included within the final animation) is quite simple really.I had already decided on a number of vampire 'types' (or 'breeds') and unique designs for each in a narrative I was personally developing quite some time ago now, though it is never the less a great interest of mine.
Initially I wanted to produce the animation in colour, although it later became apparent (whilst in the process of developing the final animation) that this was not possible, due primarily to time constraints but also because of the way in which I drew each frame, requiring to 'clean-up' or even entirely re-draw most if not all of the animation (an issue I had forseen but underestimated in terms of the time it would have required to take.) There are, ofcourse, a myriad of other ways that I could have approached this, though my knowledge of Photoshop is, at best, very limited, however, having drawn the entire animation on one layer has meant that I can revisit it and apply colour beneath the line work, on a background layer, something I might possibly consider in the future.
The Final Character Animation
The Storyboard
The 'final' storyboard is again, as with the other sketches, very primitive and simple but in some ways it is more 'powerful' than the final idea in that it is still within a raw, 'unedited' format, it has yet to contain reason or have to adapt to issues that arise from technical or maybe even creative difficulties.The execution of the final image was relatively simple, though highly time consuming as problem after problem arose as I was not only dealt with tackling the issues of animating relatively complex objects, such as the human face and body and things like the hair etc. but a software package, that again, I have somewhat limited knowledge of. This is of course (if you are to include my 'bouncing ball' attempts, which I'm inclined to not really) my third ever attempt at animating. The image to the top-right was again, another quick sketch that I did very late into the animating process, the whole point of all of these crude scribbles were just to reinforce and to act as reminders for the images and sequences I had developed and retained within my head. This particular image and surrounding annotations focused on a potetional design for the appearence of the three men (that were, together, representing an ominous presence, or a single entity 'coming to get' the 'Barbara' character as mentioned in the audio clip.) I also mention possible ways of introducing 'Barbara' into the scene. I originally intended to have her simply standing in the background with her and dress blowing in the wind, after the vampire character at the front had finished panning his eyes across the screen to look at her, I was then going to have his face blur and then the (originally blurry) image of Barbara would then come into focus (mimicking a sought of 'depth of field' effect.) I didn't end up deploying this camera technique within the animation itself, although I would have liked to (you can also see this effect in the 'final' storyboard animation, albeit, very primitively drawn.)
'Barbara's' character initially started as a frightened human victim (and whilst she does still remain a victim of soughts in the final animation, she was later comitted with much greater power and dominance than previously.) I decided to change 'Barbara' from a frightened human, at first standing still and then running forward towards the camera, into a vampire, as not only was the cliché simply too much but I also wanted to convey a more interesting approach to her entrance onto the screen. Having her 'super-speed' and then subsequently 'super-jump' from the background into the mid-ground, provided me with an enjoyable excerise in primarily the principles of 'Timing' and 'Slow In and Slow Out'. The Close-up of 'Barbara's' face (in profile) was something that had changed very little from my initial concept and the graphic-novel or comic book 'style' in the way that I framed the image (again, a crude sketch of which is included in the image above) was an idea I had very early on; the three 'business men' type characters, facing the camera whilst being back-lit was another image that changed very little from concept to final execution.
The Final Animation (Still Frames)
I'm havign difficulty at the moment with uploading both my '2D 'Bouncing Ball' Animation' and my 'Final Character Animation' and so for the latter I have taking nine print-screens of the animation at various stages within the six second time line (all of the images are in fact from the final animation.)
Bibliography
Websites: [The URL links are provided below the appropriate videos above, each of which were accessed towards the beginning of January 2011.]
Books:
- Thomas, F. and Johnston, O., 1995. The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. New York: Disney Editions.
- Thomas, B., 1991. Disney's Art of Animation: from Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast. New York: Hyperion.
- Muybridge , E. 1957. Animals in Motion. New York: Dover Productions.
- Seder, R.B., 2007.Gallop!. New York: Workman Publishing.
- Muybridge, E. 1955. The Human Figure In Motion. Canada: General Publishing Company Ltd.
