Wednesday 30 March 2011

Unit 5 - Music Choice for Animation






These are the two music that may suit well with my animation. If you got some other suggestions on music, feel free to ask.

Unit 5 - Furtive Blimp Storyboard Animatic

Monday 28 March 2011

Unit 5 - Storyline Revised

Beginning
-The scene starts by seeing the full view of the city with searchlights before zooming in to where the Blimp is.

Middle
-The blimp is trying to escape the city.
-The blimp hides in several buildings in London.
-The blimp peeks out from behind a building, making sure it's clear before heading up and hiding behind a cloud.
-The blimp goes from cloud to cloud, still avoiding the searchlights.
-The blimp manages to get out of the city and into the open.


End
-A head shot of the blimp as it sighs in relief.
-A shot of the bird as it lands on the blimp.
-The shot shows the bird about to peck it before the whole scene turns black.
-You hear the Blimp burst before hearing the Bird laugh.

Unit 5 - Furtive Blimp Biography Revised

Name: Furtive Blimp
Occupation: An enemy blimp, spying around in London.
Age: 2 weeks
Description: During the Second World War, the Blimp was made by the Germans to spy around in London for information. As the Blimp found out the information it needed, all he needs to do is escape and head back to Germany. But, with all these searchlights around, he has no choice but to be furtive and try not to get spotted.

Thursday 24 March 2011

Unit 5 - Timeline - Ladislaw Starewicz (1882 - 1965)



Ladislaw Starewicz started animating in 1910 and continued until his death in 1965. He was born in Russia but moved to France over the 50 year period. Starewicz maintained a fasination with the strange, almost surreal properties, and exploring the realistic motion and movement in animations. His animation films he creates are mostly joyful but cruel with movement of the characters that are very close to annihilation.




The Mascot, also known as The Devil's Ball or Puppy Love, was created using toys and demonic vegetables. The film was aiming for children in the 1900's but if shown today, it would be thought of as strange and the situation the characters are in. This animated film betrays Starewicz inspiration from his longer work by using live-action techniques using a projection and the attention to details.

This animation I found adorable when the film focuses mostly on the dog character who is trying to get an orange for his owner. The situation starts to happen when the dog wants to go back home with the orange to give to his owner but is trying to get stopped by the other toys and the demonic vegetables. The characters are quite realistic when brought to life by the use of stop-motion animation but can be quite creepy which is why it's not recommended to kids now.


Danks, Adrian. (2004). http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2004/cteq/starewicz_mascot/ (Accessed on 29th March 2011)

Animation World Netwrok. (1999). http://www.awn.com/heaven_and_hell/STARE/stare1.htm (Accessed on 29th March 2011)

Wikipedia. (1910). http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8pKgDm9-eJ0/TL_iTxDnBPI/AAAAAAAAAec/pIypmqQThrw/s1600/Picture+25.png (Accessed on 29th March 2011)

Animation World Netwrok. (1999). http://www.awn.com/heaven_and_hell/STARE/stare1.htm (Accessed on 29th March 2011)

Unit 5 - Timeline - Lotte Reiniger (1899 - 1981)




Lotte Reiniger was born in Berlin 1899 to cultured parents. At a young age, she spent most of her time, creating silhouettes for her home-made shadow theatre. She self-taught herself on creating silhouettes by taking the ancient art of shadow plays. The start of silhouette animations started and ended with her and did not carried out any further than that. There is no trace of the original she had when she created her animations so all that is left is copies ones after another, lacking small details in the work.

She created an animation called Cinderella which was released in 1922. This animation shows that she was longing to create animations back in her earlier age which was the reason she started to be a silhouette animator.






The same animation came out in 1954 with voice acting which now telles its audience what they are saying. The animation in the 1922 didn't had that but, you can see the characters mouths moving seeing that they are talking. However, putting voices into animations weren't developed yet.




The animation reminds me when my class did a shadow play which we have to present to the whole school. The play only had a voice over on what is going on but no lip scyning was involved, neither was body movement in the puppets. This animation was the only one that brought back the ancient art of silhouettes before dying off again as it was not very popular. In my view, the use of silhouettes will properly be brought up from the dead and maybe get popular like a art genre.


MUBI. 2008: http://mubi.com/films/38439 (Accessed on 28th March 2011)

Worth, Stephen. 2011: http://www.animationarchive.org/pics/achmedreiniger.jpg (Accessed on 28th March 2011)

North, Dan. 2009: http://drnorth.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/vlcsnap-2009-10-15-20h56m23s72.png (Accessed on 28th March 2011)

Flickr. 2011: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3478/4014594287_e09c7144e1.jpg (Accessed on 28th March 2011)

Unit 5 - Timeline - Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940 - 2000)



Fantasia (1940) was produced by Walt Disney, the founder of Disney productions. He was also the creator of Mickey Mouse who soon came to be the productions mascot. Being successful over the years, Disney finally opened a theme park in Califronia in 1955 for kids and adults to go on rides, explore and meet familar characters such as Goofy, Donald Duck, Pluto, Snow White and so on. Disney also voiced as Mickey for The Sorcerer's Apprentice animated by Jim Salvati. Disney died from Lung Cancer in 1966 but, Disney continued creating fantastic animations.

Nutcracker Suite, an animation shown in Fantasia in the 1940. The animation was made by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky who created this wonderful piece by using nature itself. The use of the music for each animation under the name gives the animation on what they are representing. The music used in the films were recognized easy but viewers who have properly heard it on radio, adverts or in other animated films.









Fantasia 2000 was released in the 1999 with newly made animations, but one of the old animations was kept which was The Sorcerer's Apprentice. An animation short called The Pines of Rome was fantastically made and looked more 3D than being 2D. This goes beyond logic, giving its magic to what all Disney animations should have. It's what makes it fantastic and amazing. This animation was directed by Hendel Butoy.

Another animation called Firebird was brilliant. It shows the start of spring before getting wiped out by a lava flow. However, when spring is destroyed, it still flourished before the animation finishes. This shows that nature is good but the lava is not and is considered as the bad guy. How the animation got it's name because of the character design for the bad guy (lava). This animation was directed by Gaetan Brizzi and Paul Brizzi. This animation changed how Disney draw their human characters.






Fantasia 1940 would always be the best for me as it's the original, the music suited well with the animations and that it contains the magic what Disney had at the time. Fantasia 2000 tried to have the same magic which it had in 1940 but not very well. But, the two animations "Firebird" and "The Pines of Rome" were brilliantly made and created a wonderful atmosphere. The magic in these animations may be different to the ones in the 1940 but, it makes you feel alive watching it.


Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2011: http://www.notablebiographies.com/images/uewb_04_img0239.jpg (Accessed on 28th March 2011)

Snarkerati. 2007: http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/files/2009/03/sorcerers-apprentice.jpg (Accessed on 28th March 2011)

News from the Boston Becks. 2010: http://nighthawknews.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/disney-fantasia_1.jpg (Accessed on 28th March 2011)

Animation Artist. 2010: http://www.animationartist.com/movies/fantasia2000/Gallery/img0011.jpg (Accessed on 28th March 2011)

Cinematic Intelligence Agency. 2011: http://thecia.com.au/reviews/f/images/fantasia-2000-0.jpg (Accessed on 28th March 2011)

Unit 5 - Sketches 4





Unit 5 - 2D Walk Cycle Animation

Unit 5 - Life Drawing 12








Unit 5 - Timeline - Norman McLaren (1914 - 1987)



Norman McLaren was born in Scotland in 1914. At the age of 18, he entered the Glasgow School of Fine Arts to study interior design. However, he didn't earn the diploma as he began to have an interest in filmmaking which then became an acquainted with the great Russian filmmakers Eisenstein and Pudovkin and the German animator Oskar Fischinger. After seeing Oskar's abstract animated film, he was influenced.







Begone Dull Care was made in 1949. The animation is abstract and watching through it, you can see some human faces, etc if you look carefully. It may take a couple of watches to spot some or maybe if you already spotted them on your first try. The technique he used created a freedom feeling in this animation. The film and the music along with it reveals their essences, rich textures, patterns and energy.








Le Merle was made in 1958 which I found very amusing as it was animated by just using lines and dots to create the black bird. The song used in this film was quite catchy and suited very well with the animation. The animation was made to be surrealism as the black bird loses it's parts then gets them again. Also, it changes its form as well but gets its actual form at the end.








This animation uses horizontal lines that split when they are coming at each other at the centre at the same time. The lines will continue to split into many other lines until going back to normal by doing the same thing. The animation itself was made in 1962. while looking at this carefully, I noticed the lines bounce off each other one they touch, unable to go to the other side of the frame but when more lines appear, it gets more harder to notice it at all.









This image shown here is a good example on what the animation is like. The film was made in 1967 to show a frame by frame on animating to create a movement. I found this film to be very good and would suggest this to those who want to learn how to animate. It doesn't show you the frame by frame effect until later on in the film.



Taylor Albert. (1950). Norman McLaren. http://www3.nfb.ca/objan/lrg/Personnes/M/McLaren_Norman_60.jpg (Accessed on 24th March 2011)

Ortega Marcos. (1949). Begone Dull Careb Still. http://expcinema.com/images/albums/stories/mclaren/normal_vlcsnap-193094.jpg (Accessed on 24th March 2011)

Chelsea Space. (1958). Le Merle Still. http://www.chelseaspace.org/images/azumi/azumi_s_03.jpg (Accessed on 24th March 2011)

Daylife. (1962). Lines Horizontal Still. http://thumbnails.truveo.com/0018/A5/E7/A5E7E89249F22E11D4E6F2_Large.jpg (Accessed on 24th March 2011)

The Movie Doc. (1967). Pas de Deux Animated Loop. http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l9nol1F28R1qa4pypo1_500.gif (Accessed on 24th March 2011)

The Movie Doc. (1967). Norman McLaren. http://www3.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/filmmakers/Norman-McLaren/overview.php (Accessed on 24th March 2011)

Wednesday 23 March 2011

Unit 5 - Timeline - Winsor McCay (1871 - 1934)



Born in Michigan, USA, 1871. His name used to be Zenas Winsor McKay before he dropped Zenas for Winsor. He started drawing at an early age and never stopped. The details he puts in his work is amazing. At the age of 13, he drawn a shipwreck on the school blackboard which then was photographed which many copies have been sold.







In 1912, he made an animated film called How a Mosquito Operates. The film is also known to be called as Life of a Mosquito, The Story of a Mosquito or The Hungry Mosquito. The film shows a Mosquito looking for food before spotting a man that walks pass it and decided to follow him. Following to the man's bedroom, the Mosquito had a chance to drink the man's blood once he falls asleep. Getting that chance, the Mosquito starts drinking his blood. However, being too greedy, the Mosquito drank too much blood which ended up as a disaster.

I missed watching this animation as I was seeing Gaby at the time. However, I did watch it on youtube. When watching this, I felt uneased on how the man managed to go back to sleep without having to get up and check if there is any mosquitos around. I wouldn't like to wake up having mosquito bites on my face. That is why I use lemon spray so that they won't go near me.







In 1914, he created a film called Gertie the Dinosaur which he made to be interactive. By doing so, he says things for Gertie to do and she does it. I found this animation to be humorous when she eat things that is way beyond logic and that she throws Jumbo the Mammoth into the lake. This film was when things started to become serious for his work by the mass of details put into it. Also, I didn't know that there was an animation that was used to be an interactive. Sadly, the animation is only interactive to the animator itself as Winsor knows what to do and say to Gertie.








The Sinking of the Lusitania was a another animated film he made to show an actual event which happened in 1915. The animation was made 3 years after the event. 25 thousand photographs were taken to create this animation. The animation shows the sinking of the Lustitania which sanked when nearing the coast of Ireland before getting hit by a torpedo from a German U-Boat. Two years after the disaster, USA declared war on Germany which lead in World War 1. I didn't know what to feel when watching this but I knew that Germany were a nasty lot at the time, causing the war the first place then being defeated at the end.

Winsor's work inspired large successors like Walt Disney and Max Fleischer which helped develope the world of animations to what it is now. This made him to be the first animator to earn his place down in film history. In 1934, he died at the age of 64 in Brooklyn, New York, USA.



IMDb. (1990). Winsor McCay. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0565560/ (Accessed on 24th March 2011)

Ranju. (2008) Winsor McCay. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfqYBJBSIEgIobAqIhHoXq0opwUYRNJPNFBROblH8GW_rOqVAbnfCn3nv-N-s_np4AjDjKo8FKMlojbtUyWq-LJiJ1-EjH0DhtGP-6cx_TXeZyG0cmgRM9YDEEIyLrSg0Dv-iZj7dp12DO/s320/Winsor_McCay.jpg (Accessed on 24th March 2011)

World News. (2011). How a Mosquito Operates Still). http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zr58Gka6KTI/0.jpg (Accessed on 24th March 2011)

Animation Art. (2011). Gertie the Dinosaur Still. http://www.galerielaqua.de/galerielaqua/IMAGES/Original/animation%20art/036.gif (Accessed on 24th March 2011)

Big Cartoon DataBase. (1998). Sinking of the Lustitania Still. http://images.bcdb.com/ad_im/other/lust_6.jpg?u= (Accessed on 24th March 2011)

Sunday 20 March 2011

Unit 5 - Sketches 3

Unit 5 - IOR

Unit 5- IOR

Friday 18 March 2011

Unit 5 - City of London (1930) Influence Map




Another influence map on the city of London but based in the 1930s.

Monday 14 March 2011

Unit 5 - The Furtive Blimp - 3 Act Structure

The Furtive Blimp - 3 Act Structure

Unit 5 - My Final Idea on Storyline

I decided to use my 3rd idea which is based on the world war. The reason for why I chosed this idea was because that the blimp showed that it was being furtive by hiding from various of places so it wouldn't get spotted by the searchlights and get in trouble.

My 1st and 2nd storylines didn't work out as they didn't show that the blimp was furtive enough.

Unit 5 - Story Development 2

My previous storyline didn't show enough that the blimp was furtive and was told by Jackie to go back to my World War idea.

As I thought what I can do to show that my blimp is furtive. This idea came up.

The beginning starts at a city with search lights everywhere. The blimp comes in when the camera moves before looking down at the center of the city.

The middle starts when the blimp tries to escape from the city by hiding in various of places to avoid getting spotted by the searchlights. Getting a chance, the blimp heads into the sky and starts to hide from cloud to cloud.

The end starts when the blimp manages to escape the city. However, gets caught by one of the searchlights before getting blown to pieces.

Thursday 10 March 2011

Unit 5 - Sketches 1




Unit 5 - Life Drawing 11

Unit 5 - The Meaning, Definition and Synonyms of Furtive

Meaning: Attempting to avoid notice or attention, typically because of guilt or a belief that discovery would lead to trouble; secretive.

Definition: Sneaky, secretive.

Synonyms: Artful, calculating, cautious, circumspect, clandestine, cloaked, conspiratorial, covert, crafty, creepy, cunning, disguised, elusive, evasive, foxy, guileful, hidden, hush-hush, insidious, masked, scheming, shifty, skulking, slinking, sly, stealthy, sub-rosa, surreptitious, tricky, under wraps, under-the-table, undercover, underhand, underhanded, wily.

Unit 5 - Great Spotted Woodpecker Influence Map




A british woodpecker have strong beaks to peck through wood like trees to build their nests. I thought this bird will be a good example to use for my story.