Rocky's Risk (Final) animation video

This is mine and liams animation which we finished off today at Coleridge. We decided that we did not need any sound because it is being played among lots of things at Darwin University on tuesday, so we decided that we didn't need to apply sound to it.

Here is our final video:

L3 RISK - jahmal and liam FINAL from cmdiploma on Vimeo.

Evaluating my work in progress

What would you do if you could change anything about the project?:
If I could change anything about the 'capturing risk project' then I would most probably go for a task that is much easier, like making a short film about something rather than drawing out each frame to my animation, so that I could make it to the best quality. With the animation which I did with Liam, it was very difficult and challenging, and we didn't have enough time to add any music, so if I could change anything about the project then I would make my animation less complicated. I would also change my planning up to the animation and make it more clear what I was going to do each day leading up to actually doing the final piece, because in my planning I feel that I didn't really have much idea about what I was going to do on any particular day. Another thing which I would do would be to concentrate more on my work and work faster.

Looking back, how would you improve what you did?:
To improve my work, looking back I would most definitely do more research and more planning, becuase doing both this would make my work much easier when starting it. I would also improve what I did by adding humorus music which I didn't have time to do, and I would make sure that both me and Liam had our own set things to do, rather than just taking it in turns to do things, I think it would have been much simpler if we both did seperate tasks, so that when it came to editing we would put our pieces together. Obviously we would have a plan, so that we wouldn't be drawing random things and puting them together to see what we would come up with, as that wouldn't work.

How do you feel you have done in this project?:
I feel that me and Liam have achieved more than what we expected to achieve in the last few days, and I am very happy with what we have done. Although we have no music in our animation, I think that the viewers watching it will still find it humorus without any sound. Eventhough we both found our animation difficult to do because we had to edit separate frames into other frames and edit the lighting around the characters, I think that overall we have done a very good job out of it.

Evaluation of todays lesson

This is my final daily evaluation for this project. In todays lesson I continued with my timeline in photoshop and I completed it. I have added colours on the text but i have no pictures apart from the pencil in the middle which is my timeline. On the pencil I added a title 'Cell Animation' on it, and took out the existing title which said the name of the pencil and I replaced it with 'cell animation'.

I then continued to add things into my sketchbook and I have now completed it. I have now completed my blog and sketchbook and the risk project.

I am very happy with what I have achieved, and I hope that I have done enough to get a good mark.

evaluation of todays lesson

In todays lesson the first task which we did was to continue getting research for our timelines, but because I have already got all of the research which I need, I started doing my timeline on photoshop, but I do still need two book references. My timeline is in the shpae of a pencil as the medium is for my animation is cell animation, which is hand drawn animation. I have got all of the information that I need, so in tomorrows lesson I will continue and finish my timeline easily.

The next task which we had to do, was to 'pimp' up our sketchbooks. I have now done my title page, which is simple, but I think that it is good enough. To my title page I have added two paper springs, just to create more to look at on my front page.
Here is my sketchbook title page:

I am going to do some more on my sketchbook tonight, so that fo tomorrows lesson I will have a complete sketchbook to hand in.

Evaluation of todays lesson

In todays lesson at Coleridge, our first task was to fill in a self assessment sheet, reflecting on what we have done in this risk project, and the sorts of things which we have done to help others, and how others have helped us.

The next thing which I did was to find research on our film medium, which in mine and Liams case is 'cel animation'. The reason why we are getting research on this is because, by thursday we are to have a timeline on the medium which are animation is in. Me and Liam have already sketched out a rough guide of our timeline, and are ready to start on our actual timeline on photoshop tomorrow. The earliest stage of our timeline starts at 1824 where Peter Rogers presented his paper 'the persistence of vision with regard to moving objects' to the british Royal Society. The latest stage on my timeline is in 1995 where Toy story was the first full length 3d CG feature film animation.

Here is the rough guide of my timeline:

As I have now got my full timeline which I now need to transfer to photoshop, it should be very easy to complete.

Evaluation of todays lesson

In todays lesson our task was to watch all of the animations of our class, including mine and Liams 'Rocky's Risk'. When watching each of the animations we had to write a 'One word' positive and negative feedback about each of our peers animations.

When it came to watching our animation, our classmates had to write a one word feedback on the positives and negatives about our animation, me and Liam had to write them down and put a '+' with the amount of times people had said the same thing. The most common positives which showed up were 'Funny and Effort', and the most common negative which showed up was 'No soundtrack' because we didn't have any sound on our animation.
I agree that my animation is funny and humorous, and I also feel that it would be alot better with sound, as it would create alot more atmosphere. My favourite animation from our classmates has to be out of Loui's cell animation which I described as being an amazing animation, but the music wasn't too good, and also Max's creative art cell animation which I said was absolutely amazing, but the music was very annoying.

The next thing which we are going to do is make a timeline on the type of animation our animation is. As me and Liam have drawn our animation and taken pictures of each frame to make it look like it is moving, it is known as 'Cell animation'.

One word feedback

Me and Liam got some one word feedback on the positives and negatives about our animation from our peers.

Positives:

Text +2
Effort +2
Characters
Entertaining
Animation
Different
Titles
Funny +2
Good

Negatives:
End text +2
No soundtrack +5
Short
Length
Credits

Evaluation of todays lesson

in todays lesson at Coleridge I continued to work on my animation 'Rocky's Risk with my project partner Liam. We had to edit everything on final cut which was very hard. As we were having difficulty editing frames into other frames, and finding it hard to make moving frames, so we had some help from one of our class mates 'Sven' who I worked with in the previous project. With his help we managed to make everything into one animation.

The next thing which we did was to make all of the lighting on the frames the same lighting as each other because before we changed the lighting the whole animation looked terrible because both characters had boxes round them and you could see them as the light was different in them.

When we had finished our animation we had to put it in quicktime twice, one with an ident and one without. As we had no time left we didn't put any music on, which I would have liked to have done.

In my opinion mine and Liams animation was very risky, and now it is finished I think that it has gone very well. I have to admit, before we finished it I had very little confidence that me and Liam would have completed it in time. I have very much enjoyed this project even though we found it difficult to do, but atleast we have got a complete version of our animation.

Evaluation of todays lesson

In todays lesson I finished auto leveling each frame to my animation. The next thing which I did was put my animation into Istop motion and watched it. As it hadn't been edited at all, I then transfered it into final cut express and started to change things around.

I now have my animation in final cut express and I have started to edit frames into each other. I think that everything is going well, and if me and Liam work fast enough then we will have everything finished by tomorrow.

Our animation was very complex and difficult to do as we had to draw everything, but i think that we have done a very good job.

Ident version of my animation (Rocky's Risk)

This is my Ident version of my animation 'Rocky's Risk', in this animation at the start it shows mine and liams Idents, so that people can recognize who has done it.

L3 JAHMAL (J.C.A.C. Media Productions) IDENT from cmdiploma on Vimeo.

Evaluation of todays lesson and Planning for tomorrows lesson

Todays Lesson:

In todays lesson I started and finished taking pictures of my animation. For this I had to get a camera, a tripod, and some tape. I used the tripod to stand the camera on, I used the camera to take each picture frame, and the tape was to line up each frame I lay down, so that it was at the right angle.

Here are some pictures of me working on the project:

Me looking through the camera to get the right frame shot. The lamp is used instead of flash on a camera so that the lighting stays the same in each shot.

Picture from my point of veiw looking down at the camera and the work below.

It took me ages to take all of the frames as I had lots to do. After I had finished with this I uploaded all of my pictures to my laptop, and I have started to change the lighting to each picture.

Planning for tomorrows lesson:

In tomorrows lesson I have planned to carry on with changing the lighting of each frame so that they are all brighter to look at. I am hoping to finish this, and if I do, my next step for tomorrows lesson will be to edit everything so that my animation is in the right order, and I also need to edit frames together, so that all of the animation is as one. At the moment my background is by its self, so when I come to editing the background will be on its own separate layer, and I will edit the characters onto the same layer as the background, which will make everything fix in together.

Looking at music from cartoon introductions

I have been searching for music to go onto my animation which I am doing with Liam, and I have found some cartoon introduction music to help me out.
Here are some introduction music to cartoons:

Tom and Jerry


Looney tunes (inner/outer) theme tune:


Looney tunes (other theme tune):


Recess (theme tune):

I think that the Recess thme tune would be best suited for our animation because of the type of music it is. The music type is like an army based tune at the beginning, so it would look good when he is crossing the tight rope.

I like all of the theme tunes, but I think the Recess one stands out. I think that me and Liam will probably look for copyright free music similar to the Recess one, as I think it will work for the type of animation it is.

Evaluation of todays lesson

In todays lesson at coleridge I continued with my animation in the scratch-book. As we couldn't use the photocopier at coleridge, me and Liam went back to long road and used it there. We got 20 photocopies but in the end we decided not to use them because we can use the one original tight rope and use it as a background for the whole animation after the tight rope has built up. We have finished all of the drawings for the animation so all we need to do now is take photos of them and edit it on final cut which I am going to do tomorrow as Liam is away. Me and Liam thought it would be a good idea to take repeats of the same picture to put in our animation to save time, so in some parts there will be loops of certain frames. In some of the frames which we have done, there is only the man, because we are going to put in a background when we are editing.

Here are some pictures of the animation so far:

As you can see in this picture there is no tight rope, but when we edit the background into the frame, then he will be standing on a platform on the tight rope.

In this shot he will be half way across the tight rope which we will edit on a different layer.

As you can see in this frame the person is falling off the unicycle and his face is flat at the front. When we have editied it, he will be falling off the tight rope aswell, and also a pigeon will be flying in his face, which is why his face is flat.

This is the pigeon which will be flying in the mans face. Me and Liam have decided that we are going to use this shot repeatedly as a loop, for the pigeon.

At the moment we are still looking for music which we could use for our animation. The type which we are searching for has to be funny, but catchy. We also have to have sound effects, like when the man is falling off the platform when he makes it to the other side, we need to have the classic cartoon sound for when people are falling and hit the ground.

evaluation of todays lesson

In todays lesson the first thing which I did was complete the big yellow sheet. On the yellow sheet we have to put down everything which we are going to do in the next week, so basically it is something for planning on.

Afterwards me and Liam continued with our scratch-book animation. We have now finished the tight-rope, so we can now photocopy the tight-rope and use the copies for the rest of the animation. Our next step after we have done that is to draw the man and then take photos of each frame.

I enjoyed todays lesson because we could all get on with what we had to do, and in our pairs we can work to what we need to finish by friday.

Creative Risk

For a backup idea I have been looking at creative risks. I have already got my own example of creative risk with the painting where I merged two pictures together, which can be seen previously in my blog.

I have found some more examples of creative risks, and here are some which I have found:

Light Exposure:

This picture really interests me because of all of the lighting going round the christmas tree. I like how they have made it into the shape of the tree aswell. I think if this was a an animation, you would have to start from the bottom going round up to the top, and I could see it lasting 1minute if you made the credits with it as well.

I like the colours used in this picture of light exposure, and the wavy lines also catch my attention. If this was an animation it would definitely be a creative risk because making lots of different patterns with light exposure could look quite bad, especially when you do something as crazy as this.

Edited (photography):

This picture is obviously a camera trick, or maybe they have postioned eveything in such a way it looks as if some one is holding a frame which the other person is going through. I see this as a creative risk because you have to be very creative to think of something like this, and know how you would do it.

Parkour:

When I saw this picture I straight away thought of it as being a creative risk, because instead of it just being a picture of a man jumping, it is showing each step of what he is doing, and I can see, as an animation it would look very interesting if his previous steps followed him everytime he jumped, and then when he lands it could go back into his body until the next jump or drop.

All of the pictures above are possible ideas for a backup animation of creative risk, if my animation with Liam doesn't work out very well. It is always good to have backup ideas, just incase the one that you chose to do first doesn't go well.

Man On Wire

This video is the trailer to 'Man On Wire', the reason why I have put it on my blog is because my animation partly based on it.



As you can see in this film trailer, there is a man on a wire/tight rope, and he is trying to get from one side to the other side. In my animation, it is obviously a lot more humorus, as you want him to fall, whereas in this one you are on the edge of your seat because you don't want him to fall off. Even though I already had the idea, this film trailer inspired me to carry on and do it, but to make it funny.

In my animation instead of him falling off the tight rope, I thought that it would be funnier to make him get to the other side like in the trailer above, but just as you think it is about to end ,a pigeon attacks him and knocks him off the cliff.

Evaluation of todays lesson

In todays lesson we firstly worked on our sketchbooks. In my sketchbook I stuck all of the loose sheets in, and I also added some colour on pages where there was empty spaces.

Here are pictures of me working on my sketchbook:

The second thing which me and Liam did was work on our scratch-book animation. We have just about finished the two lines going up to the podiums which we haven't yet done.

Here is a picture of me working on the animation:

I also did alot of annotations on my work aswell so that when I look back at my sketchbook I have a clear understanding of what I was trying to do.

In todays lesson I mainly worked on my sketchbook to draw in some ideas, and I explained my backup idea a bit more, on the spidergram.

Possible text for my animation title and credits

Here are some websites which I have looked at where I have found possible texts for my 1minute animation:

http://cooltext.com/ - Lots of styled texts
http://www.textspace.net/index.php - On this website (text space) I have found that you can make ur own style of text, so this is most definitely a place where I can find possible text for my animation.

I could also use these texts:



As I am drawing my animation, I have decided that the main title will also be drawn, but I can copy one of these styles.
At the moment I am thinking of editing the titles on final cut or a similar program so that when I finish my animation and take the photo's, I can put some of my own text which I can create from one of the websites above, and put it on the credits to my animation.

Storyboard

This is my storyboard for my 1minute animation which I am working on with Liam:


In our storyboard we thought that it would be best to draw out all of the keyframes so that when it came to doing the real thing, we could note down where we were in the animation. We have 12 keyframes, and in the first one we have done 30 frames, so I think that we will have enough frames to get 1minute in total.

Here is a storyboard for an animation:

This is a storboard to another animation which is not mine. I thought that I would show another storyboard in contrast with the one which me and liam have done.

Explaining a storyboard: A storyboard is a board split up into squares, showing the keyframes of an animation, so that when it comes to doing the animation, you can use your keyframes as a guide to where you are.

Evaluation of todays lesson

In todays lesson, the first thing which I did was update my blog a bit more and I also looked in my sketchbook to see what I still needed to do. Todays lesson was to get on with your own tasks and we had to get on with the work which we planned out on the yellow sheet given to us yesterday.

After updating my blog, I then had to get a storyboard sheet, and draw the key frames to my sketch animation which I am doing with Liam. As we now have the keyframes to our 1minute animation it will be easier to complete, because when we get up to a keyframe we can cross it off, and know that we have less to do, each keyframe we get up to. In our storyboard we found that we have got 12 keyframes, and we have completed one. I believe that we will have enough frames in total to have a 1minute animation, as we already have 30 frames in just 1 keyframe.
Here is evidence of me working on the storyboard:

When the storyboard was complete we then moved on to doing the actual real thing. Our teacher gave us a scratchbook to do each frame in, and at the moment we have completed one keyframe, with 30 frames in it. In my opinion, me and Liam are getting along very well with the work, and we will have it completed by the 11th december, where the deadline is.
Evidence of me drawing in the scratchbook:

The very last thing which I did was fill in the yellow sheet which I previously talked about. On the sheet I put down what I am going to do for tomorrows lesson at coleridge, and I am going to carry on with my animation in the scratchbook, and I will also try and find some suitable music and sound effects for my animation when it is finished.
Here is the yellow sheet for planning ahead:

My cell animation timeline

This is my cell animation timeline which has lots of research on it about the history of cell animation starting back from 1824-2004. It includes a lot of things which I never knew about cell animation, which will help me to succeed with my animation which I am doing with Liam.

Here is my timeline:

Book reference (1)

Book title: The Animation Bible

Author: Maureen Furnis

Publisher: Laurence King

Page number: 32

Quote: Timing- "Animation in all its forms is concerned with timing, or the manner and speed of an object's movement, which typically is closely tied to the sound elements within the production...like The Skeleton Dance,1929."

book reference (2)

Book title: Animation Art

Author: Ryan Ball, et al.

Publisher: Nick Wells

Page number: 10

Quote: "The early days of animation were filled with invention and novelty- on screen and behind the scenes. This was the era of experimentation and, where techniques were created and refined...cartoonists attempted to adapt their pen and ink creations to the moving screen, and most of them succeeded."

Disney cel animation video

Here is a Disney cel animation, which was hand drawn and then edited on a computer.

The little mermaid: This was Disney's last cel animation before they started to use computer generated animations.

Information on Cel animation

Information from wikipedia:

The red parts are the key information needed for the timeline:

A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid (consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor) was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was largely replaced by cellulose acetate. With the advent of computer assisted animation production, the use of cels has been practically abandoned in major productions. Disney stopped using cels in 1990 when Computer Animation Production System (CAPS) replaced this element in their animation process.

Generally, the characters are drawn on cels and laid over a static background drawing. This reduces the number of times an image has to be redrawn and enables studios to split up the production process to different specialised teams. Using this assembly line way to animate has made it possible to produce films much more cost-effectively. The invention of the technique is generally attributed to Earl Hurd, who patented the process in 1914. The outline of the images are drawn on the back of the cel. The colors are also painted on the back to eliminate brushstrokes. Traditionally, the outlines were hand-inked but now they are almost exclusively xerographed on. Another important breakthrough in cel animation was the development of the Animation Photo Transfer (APT) process, first seen in The Black Cauldron, released in 1985.

Production cels were sometimes sold after the animation process was completed. More popular shows and movies demanded higher prices for the cels, with some selling for thousands of dollars. Some cels are not used for actual production work, but may be a "special" or "limited edition" version of the artwork, sometimes even printed ("lithographed") instead of hand-painted. These normally do not fetch as high a price as original "under-the-camera" cels, which are true collector's items. Some unique cels have fetched record prices at art auctions. For example, a large "pan" cel depicting numerous characters from the finale of Who Framed Roger Rabbit sold for $50,600 at Sotheby's in 1989, including its original background. Disney Stores sold production cels from The Little Mermaid (their last film to use cels) at prices from $2,500 to $3,500, without the original backgrounds. Lithographed "sericels" from the same film were $250, with edition sizes of 2,500–5,000 pieces.

My own Creative Risk idea

This is a picture of one of my own paintings of a creative risk:

I thought that for one of my ideas I would do a painting of something which is a creative risk. The reason why my painting is a creative risk can be told in two different ways. The first way would be because in the picture on the left side, it is drawn from an English landscape where everything is full of dull colours and a dull looking sky; and on the right side it is a painting of a place in the Carribean, where everything is bright with a nice bright blue sky. It is a risk because puting two totally different countries together can look rubbish because people will notice a massive difference, andc although I want them to notice, I want it to look smooth. The second way it can be seen as a creative risk, is because of mixing the two places together can also go wrong, for example: the two sky colours need to mix in together and fade in with each other, and if it isn't pulled off good enough it can look bad. Also getting the two compositions to merge into each other can go down hill, because if it goes wrong people can tell that both don't go together at all.

In my opinion, my two compositions merged in together have turned out looking quite good, and I am very happy with the final outcome. I see this idea more as a backup idea if the other one gets to complicated.

Resource Requirements- Technical Equipment

This is the list of all the technical equipment which I need to complete the project:

Resource Requirements- Art Equipment

This is a list of all the artistic things which I need to create my idea:

Resource Requirements- Miscellaneous

This is a list of all the picture references which I need to search for and look at:

Checkpoint 2

Here are the questions and answers for checkpoint 2:


Question 1: How successful have you been in completing your checkpoint 1 action plan?


Question 2: What changes have you made to your project in the last week?

Question 3: What do you plan in the next week?

Question 4: How will you ensure you meet the deadline?

For checkpoint number 2 we had questions which we needed to answer, more about what we are going to do in the next week and how we will complete our idea in time.

Evaluation of todays lesson

In today's lesson we started on our second checkpoint and we had to use the set questions, for example: "how successful have you been in completing your checkpoint 1 action plan?", and we have to answer them in our sketchbook and also on our blogs.

Here is evidence of me working on the checkpoint 2 planning:

We then got a big yellow sheet which had all the days we have left on it. With this sheet we had to write what we are planning to do for the remaining time, and as we don't know what we are going to be doing in two days time, so far I have just put down what I am going to do for tomorrows lesson, and then from there I will have an idea of what I will be doing in a few days time.

After that we then got another sheet called 'Resourse Requirements'. On this sheet I had to put down all of the stuff that I am going to need to complete this risk project. It is set out in three different section: technical equipment, art equipment and miscellaneous. In each section I had to put down all of the different things which I will need to have in the few days we have left to complete this project.

Todays lesson was all about planning ahead, and pinning ideas down so that we have a clear idea of what we are going to do, what we are going to need, and how we are going to complete the project in the remaining days we have left.

Evaluation of todays lesson

Tasks:
My first lesson was at coleridge, and the first task which we had to do was choose a computer which we will be on for the rest of the capturing risk project. In this project I am working with Liam, and at coleridge I looked at animations similar to the one which me and Liam are going to do which is using a scrapbook to draw in each frame of the animation. After that I looked at some possible music for my idea, and then on my blog I talked about my idea which me and Liam are going to do.

Whilst we were at coleridge a woman came in to interview each group in a room whilst filming us. She didn't know anything about the project so we had to explain to her what it is all about.
When me and Liam went in for the interview she asked us questions such as: "what is the project about?", "why did you choose your idea?", and we had to answer them.
We first explained that the project is about the concept of risk and capturing risk, and we then went on to explaining our animation idea.

Conclusion:
When we were back at Long Road, I did some blog work and also I did some sketchbook work and updating on that.
I feel that todays lesson was more of a lesson where we had to do our own things, and catch up on things which we had missed out.

Peer feedback

Tom Bailey was the person to give me peer feedback. He gave me my strengths and weaknesses of my blog, and this is what he said.

Strengths: Tom thought that my blog was well detailed, and that I have a lot of videos and pictures. He also thinks that I have quite a bit of writing.

Weaknesses: Tom said although my blog is good, I need more sub headings to stop making everything look like mini essays.

I agree that I need to add sub headings, because I do have mini essays but if I were to add headings to each section then everything won't look to long, as I would have labels for the important things. I also have lots of pictures and videos like he said and I think these videos and pictures will help me to plan ahead of my work.

I am going to listen to the points that Tom has made, and take them on board to achieve the best I can.

Websites to find copyright free music for my animation

http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/
http://derekaudette.ottawaarts.com/
http://www.alcljudprod.se/
http://www.freesound.org/
http://www.ljudo.com/
http://www.jamendo.com/
http://ccmixter.org/
http://www.unsignedbandweb.com
http://www.mobygratis.com

Animation similar to mine

This animation is similar to what me and Liam are going to do for our one. It is similar because we are going to do ours in a scrapbook, and this is done in a scrapbook, where they take pictures of each frame when they finish the animation.



As you can see this animation is fantastic, and the person doing it is obviously very experienced in doing this sort of animation. I like how he makes the cartoon come to life. It is 6 minutes long which shows he spent ages doing it, whereas we have to do 1 minute which will still be long, but is no where near as long as this one.

My idea (Tight Rope) animation

For mine and Liams final idea for this project, we are going to do an animation in a scrapbook. We are aiming to do eight frames per second, getting us 500 frames in total, creating a 1 minute animation. The whole of the project is on the concept of risk and capturing risk.

We are going to look for some music for our animation, and we want it to be quite comic and fast, also it will be something that the audience don't need to listen to if they don't want to. Another effect we will be looking at is getting some background music, for example when he spins around the rope, we will have classic cartoon sounds.

In our project idea, it starts with a man on a unicycle balancing on a tightrope. Half way through his journey his foot slips off the peddle and he spins round the rope numerous times. He finally gets to the end and lets out a sigh of relief, and then a pigeon flies in his face, knocking him off the edge, whilst he screams.

Me and Liam have decided that we are going to do 250 frames each, so that we can finish quicker, and be more successful.