P2. Animation comparison

P2. Animation process write up

Dot 2010

Dot is the worlds smallest animation. Dot was created by Aardman animation. It was filmed on a Nokia N8. Dot is a 9mm tall girl. They created 50 replacements, 3 for each pose. They had to make this many because Dot was way to small to bend or move. The animators created 4 seconds a day of animation. To make the Dot figures they used a 3D printer that instead of creating flat ink it creates resign. To do this that had to make 2D drawings of what they wanted, which was scanned through the 3D printer and printed to resign. Once done it is taken of its support resign and attached to some very thin wire. The figures are then painted. To film the animation they had to make their own cell scope to get some depth rather than just seeing what's on the glass. They also made the set move under the camera. Once filmed they edited it in after effects and used a back plate to get rid of the wire. 

Peppa pig 2004-2012

Phil Davis worked at Middlesex University alongside the creators. They wanted a animation course and when the animation course teacher left they took over. They used a computer called the Quantel paint box. They then tested it out themselves and created a couple of  short films, which some aspects were used in Peppa pig for example the hills. They then decided that they wanted to make a kids programme called Peppa Pig, which is a kids animated kids programme. It is also a hand drawn animation and 2D. It started off with a 3 minute script and storyboard which they presented to a broadcaster. At first Peppa looked a lot more like George e.g the size. Then they decided that they wanted a show with a family because they haven't seen many like that. So they drew the family, Peppa, George, Mummy and Daddy. George replaced the original Peppa design and they made Peppa bigger and with flowers on her dress which was later changed. 

Process for each episode: 

1. Storyboard and scripts are completed 

2. Animators get the storyboards and make then pictures move and have colour

3. Dialogue is recorded and imported into animation where needed 

4. Episode is watched and they decide whether to edit it or release it how it is. If they want to change it they changed what they want then watch and release if happy. 

South Park 1995- present 

South Park is a young adult American animated show. It was originally created using cut outs but it took ages to create so they decided to use computer animation. South Park is created the same way as any other programme with a script and storyboard. However because it is animated they have to make each part bit by bit. They then record the voices and import it. To get the lips to sync with the dialogue they have to use eye,mouth and eyebrow positions to go with each word. They have over 50 different mouth shapes, this is why the cut outs took ages. The body and surroundings are then animated to go with the body language and script. The jokes and other ideas are all created and thought of during the storyboard process. This is done so they can see if the jokes would fit well with the action in that scene and to decided everyone's facial expression. This makes the process of lip syncing easier because they have a idea of how they would look from the storyboards they created. Once they are happy with the lip syncing and jokes etc they then release it. 

P2. Walking bear animation

1. First I downloaded the bear from the lrmt blog

2. I then opened it into after effects 

3. The bear opens in the composition workspace 

4. Then I changed the frame duration to 5 seconds. It was 16 frames long 

5. I then clicked the loop button in preview so it would repeat 

6. I connected the head and arms to the body using the drop down menu next to the layers 

7. Then I worked on making the legs move. To do this I started with the front leg then back I made them opposite each movement using anchor points. I put them like the walk cycle bellow. 

8. After I was happy with it I added a background and to get it to move I used anchor points and moved the background image frame by frame so it looked like it was moving. 

9. I then exported it and uploaded it to my blog 

P2. Researching Pixar

Pixar is an computer animation film studio based in California. It started in the 1970's when Alexander Schare was looking for someone to help him create an animated film from the sound recordings of Tubby the Tuba. He met Ed Catmull who was a computer scientist and set up a work

place at New York institute of technology, NYIT's long island campus to work on computer graphics. However Tubby the Tuba was never made, they did produce video artwork. In 1979 George Lucas suggested to move the team to the West coast to be part of the Lucasfilm Utd. They first started as a software company. Over the next couple of years Ed Catmull worked on a imaging computer called "Pixar". They used it to create high-tech graphics and animation sequences for Lucasfilm projects. They also worked on creating their own Renderman called Reyes. They perfected critical technologies for CG and animation tools. In 1982 they helped Industrial light & magic with special effects for their film sequences. 

In 1983 John Lasseter helped them make a short film called The adventures of Andre & Wally B. After a year he joined the company permanently as an interface designer. Then in 1986 Steve Jobs, co founder of apple acquired the computer graphics division from George Lucas,Lucasfilms. This made Pixar a independent film studio. Also in 1986 the short film Luxo Jr, directed by John Lasseter 

 was finished. It was the first film John Lasseter had directed. Luxo Jr was nominated for the Best animated short film Oscar, which made it the first three-dimensional computer animated film to be nominated for the award. In 1987 another short film, Red's dream directed by John Lasseter was created. By the end of 1988 a 3rd film, Tin Toy was partially completed. Just like the other two films it was screened for Siggraph in August. It was then shown at the Ottawa international film fest when finished. Tin Toy then won Best animated short film of 1988, which made it the first computer animated film to win an Academy award. In 1989 they produced their first stereoscopic 3D animation, Knick Knack. Also in 1989 the first commercial version of Renderman was released. Pixar's Renderman is used to render 3D animation and visual effects. Pixar has been using it on all short and feature films they have created.

In 1991 Pixar and Disney decided to make and distribute at least one computer generated animated film. In 1995 they has done one, Toy Story. It was the worlds first computer animated film. Toy Story made $192 million domestically and $362 million worldwide. It was also nominated for 3 awards, Best original song, Best original score and Best original screenplay by the Academy of motion pictures arts and sciences. By 1997 Pixar employed 375 people. They also had an agreement with The Walt Disney Studios that they will be producing five movies over ten years but in 2004 the agreement was having problems after the production of Toy Story 2. This was because Pixar wanted it to go straight to video release but Disney wanted it to go to theatres. However before creating Toy Story Pixar started making commercials, two of which won the CLIO award. Due to their short films they had a lot of people asking them to make them for them but Pixar was only interested if they would be involved in the designing and creativity of the adverts because they wanted recognition for their work. Then in 2006 The Walt Disney Company brought Pixar for $7.4 billion. This made Steve Jobs Disney's highest shareholder. 

During 1997-2011 Pixar released many short films and fourteen feature films such as A bugs life,Cars 1+2, Finding Nemo, The incredible's, Geri's game,For the birds and Lifted. All were nominated for awards and are all in the top 50 highest grossing animated films. Since 1979 they have won awards including 27 Academy awards, 7 Golden globes and 11 Grammys. Their films were all aimed at children but all ages enjoy them. Which has turned their films genre into kids and family. In 2002 Pixar made a short film, Mike's new car' using characters from one of their feature films. The short film was released as part of Monster Inc and was nominated for Best animated short film. Even though all their films have been successful their Cars sequel has been the least. The films have been very succesful compared to other studios animated films but wasn't as successful as Pixar's famous and popular movies such as Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc and Toy Story. In 2013 Pixar went back to producing adverts. They have recently done promotional adverts for Sky's broadband services. They used characters from their most successful movies, Toy Story. They also did a short Toy Story film, Toy Story of terror which was only played on Sky for Halloween and was promoted through their broadband adverts.

Pixar's success has mainly been because of technology and the time and effort they put into their work. Pixar develops and spends time trying to get the best out the technology they use. They make films using animation which many people thought would be impossible. Pixar also try to learn about what they need in their films by physically doing things that are related to their stories. For example when creating Finding Nemo they learnt how to scuba dive and when creating Ratatouille they learnt gourmet cooking. 

Pixar are well known for their cartoon computer animation however recently they have revealed videos of realistic and painted (stylising) animation. Realistic animation is where you use normal footage and just use a little bit of animation. For example in their short film "the blue umbrella" the people and surroundings are normal but the umbrellas have eyes and a mouth. However everything does have a slight animated feel to it and some of the buildings and objects around also have eyes and mouths. The painted (stylising) animation is where you paint 2D illustrations over a couple of the CG keyframes and the software will fill in the missing bits.

                                                           http://vimeo.com/64407522

P2. Animation products research

Animated film - Despicable me 

Despicable me is an computer animated kids film that came out in 2010.  It was made by Uiversal pictures and Illumination entertainment. It was Illumination entertainment's first film. The Directors were Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud. The target audience was kids however it attracted a lot of teenagers and adults. The purpose of the animation was to entertain and make people laugh so they would want to watch the rest of the sequel. Which was successful as it made over $543 million compared to the cost of making it, $69 million. I like this film because it is really funny and isn't just for one age group. 

Animated short film - The Lego story

The Lego story is a 3D animated short film created by Lego in 2012. The target audience is all ages and it's purpose it to educate kids and adults about their product. The short film was created to celebrate Lego's 80th anniversary. I like the film because I think it's a good way to educate people about their product. Also it is only 17 minutes long so people wouldn't be put of watching it because they might think if it was longer it might get boring.

Animated TV series - Batman: The animated series

Batman:The animated series came out in 1992 and stopped in 1995. The series was produced by Warner Bros and was shown on Fox network. It was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. It was developed by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski. It's target audience is anyone who enjoyed the first animated series and who like the DC Comics. The purpose of the animation was to get more people interested in Batman and DC Comics. I think that the TV series was good because it brought the comics to life so the people that read them could finally watch what they have been reading.

Animated web series - Bravoman

Bravoman is an animated web series that started in 2013. It is created by Jim Zub, Matt Moylan, Ashley Davis, Ryan North, Dax Gordine, Omar Dogan, Alex Culang and Raynato Castro. It is based on the Bravoman webcomic. Its target audience is people that like the webcomics or comics in general. The purpose is to get people to look at their webcomics and to entertain. I think that the webseries is good because it started of as a small webcomic which developed into a series. 

Animated music - Kanye West:Heartless

Kanye West's rotoscoped animated music video Heartless came out in 2008. It was directed by Hype Williams. The video pays tribute to Ralph Bakshi's 1981 film American Pop. It was the first animated video Hype Williams had directed. It's target audience is teenagers +. The purpose of the music video was to pay tribute to the film American Pop but also to get people to buy the song. I think that the video is good because it's very detailed and the people are realistic. I also like how the sky moves and the flashing of the lights. 

Animated advert-Twinings gets you back to you

Twinings advert "gets you back to you" came out in 2007. It was directed by Paul Brazier. It's target audience is people that like tea as that is what they're trying to sell. The purpose of the advert is to draw the viewer in so they would buy the tea because they would recognise the song and advert and associate it with the tea. It also promotes the song. I like the advert because the animation is really good. Also the actions in the advert goes with the music player.

P2.History of GIFs

Pros and cons of GIFs 

There are many pros for using GIFs for example they are really easy to make. Another thing is they have 256 different colours so the GIF will be never blurry because you can change the amount of colours you use to make it clearer. They are also good to promote your work or company. However there are some cons, GIFs are the oldest format on the web so they aren't popular all the time. Also depending on the GIF it might take up a lot of memory.

Ryan Seslow

http://theartofryanseslow.tumblr.com/

Ryan Seslow is an atists and graphic designer. I like his GIFs because he uses his artwork in most of them. Another thing I like is that he uses them to present his work instead of just having pictures to present his work in galleries he has GIFs playing. I also like how in some of his GIFs he uses existing images e.g of places.

 GIFs expression or for laughs? 

I think that GIFs can be used for anything. Either expressing,promoting and for fun.I think that they are a valid form of expression which anybody can use. 

    Examples of promotion and funny GIFs

 

P2. Robot GIF - Rotoscoping

For this GIF I used a bit of footage that we filmed of some people dancing. I used a wacom tablet to trace over the person. I traced over it by adding a new layer and drawing on that layer so you don't have the original footage underneath. I also drew the background. I made the first frame have the background, 2nd robot and background, 3rd half turned robot and background and so on.